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Roxbury residents weigh ideas for playground near Mass and Cass

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

A month after encampments cleared out of Mass and Cass, officials overseeing the redesign of Clifford Playground remain adamant that the future of the dilapidated park needs to be one that is welcoming to the entire community.Close proximity to the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, a longtime homeless encampment that the city had struggled to control, often resulted in activity spilling over into the 8-acre recreational space, with needles, trash and human feces littering the park.City officials ordered all tents to be taken down in November, and designers leading the Clifford project said a major goal is to improve the park’s “openness and visibility.” Security cameras and improved lighting would be among the measures taken to achieve that priority, they said.“We want a park where there’s a lot of activity of the good kind with people coming and playing sports, using it at night,” said Ricardo Austrich, lead project manager for consultant BSC Group. “T...

Crime Briefs: Postal worker stole $18K, stamp sale by stamp sale

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

That’s a lot of postage.A Marblehead postal worker made off with more than $18,000 through a couple schemes that boiled down to pocketing money people paid for stamps and money orders.On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris sentenced Zeon Johnson, 28, of Saugus, to just time served — a day in jail — and two years of supervised release. It’s a sentence that finds a middle ground between the prosecution’s ask of 30 days in prison with three years of supervised release and the defense’s ask of time served with one year of supervised release, according to their respective sentencing memos.He’ll also have to fork over the $18,206 he stole from the U.S. Postal Service.While that sum is only a 74th of the $1,351,250 a single Inverted Jenny — often listed as the most valuable U.S. stamp in history — sold for at auction in 2016, it’s enough to have sent out 27,667 regular letters or 35,805 postcards to family and friends at current postage rates.BPD officer pepper sprayed while a...

US Navy says it will cost $1.5M to salvage jet plane that crashed on Hawaii coral reef

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy estimates it will cost $1.5 million to salvage a jet plane that crashed on a coral reef in Hawaii nearly two weeks ago, officials said Saturday.Navy spokesman Mohammad Issa said the salvage efforts are focused on protecting the environment and safely recovering the aircraft in a way that retains its combat capability. He said $200,000 has already been spent on the operation. The Navy plans to use inflatable cylinders to lift and roll the jet plane off the reef where it crashed on Nov. 20.The P-8A, the military’s version of a Boeing 737 jet, slammed into an environmentally sensitive bay about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Honolulu when it overshot the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. None of the nine people on board were injured. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Rear Adm. Kevin Lenox, the commander of Carrier Strike Group 3 who is leading the salvage effort, said Friday he is confident the operation can be carried out without further dam...

Mississauga man arrested in human trafficking investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

Investigators from Peel police’s Vice and Human Trafficking Unit have arrested and charged a man in relation to a sex trafficking investigation involving two women. It is alleged that the man forcibly confined one of the victims and forced her to into the sex work industry while also obtaining a second victim, controlling numerous aspects of their lives and profiting from their work. On Nov. 29, a 46-year-old man, Andre O’Connor of Mississauga, was arrested and charged with 12 criminal offences including forcible confinement, assault, assault with a weapon, human trafficking, receiving material benefit, advertising sexual services, failure to comply with a release order, procuring, assault causing bodily harm, and possession of opioids and controlled substances.He was held for a bail hearing and appeared before the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton.Investigators believe there may be additional victims, in the Greater Toronto Area specifically.

Father, 13-year-old son, victims in Richmond, B.C. double homicide, investigators say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

RICHMOND, B.C. — British Columbia’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says a 13-year-old boy and his father were the victims in a targeted double homicide in the suburban Vancouver city of Richmond. The boy and his 46-year-old father were killed at their home on Thursday, IHIT Sgt. Timothy Pierotti said Saturday at a news conference.He said the investigation is in the early stages, but initial evidence suggests it was a targeted incident and police are still working to determine a motive.Pierotti said it appears the double homicide was not gang related.“This does not appear to be a connection to anything like that, any sort of gang connection,” he said. “What I can say is we believe this to be targeted, and what I mean by that is we believe someone attended that residence with the intention of committing a murder.”The names of the father and son have yet to be released.Pierotti said the father and son, who were not known to police, were alone in th...

Chad Allan, founding member of Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dies at 80

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

Celebrated musician Chad Allan, who carved a place in Canadian rock music history as co-founder of iconic bands the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died. He was 80.Jamie Anstey, vice president of Regenerator Records which reissued a number of his early albums and recordings, said Allan died Tuesday but his family asked friends to delay announcing the news to give them time to grieve privately.Allan had suffered a number of strokes since 2017 and had spent time in hospitals and a care home near his home in Burnaby, B.C.“He was kind of a guy that never really made it in terms of fame and fortune, but he was certainly a pioneer and a founder of two huge Canadian groups, which I think is really special,” Anstey said in an interview Saturday. Randy Bachman, a member of both bands, issued a Facebook poast in which he said he was grateful to have known and worked with Allan. He described his former bandmate as “a quiet, gentle soul with a peaceful voice.”...

21 men arrested in child sex sting in Indiana

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. (WXIN) — A child solicitation sting conducted Nov. 28-30 in Greenwood, Indiana, resulted in 21 men — including a public servant — being arrested. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office, the United States Secret Service, and several local law enforcement organizations orchestrated a string over several months where the adults involved believed they were there to meet a 14 or 15-year-old child at a home in Greenwood. This operation follows an investigation that occurred in April 2023 that resulted in 32 arrested in a child sex sting. "The only way to protect our citizens is to be proactive, think outside of the box, and have a prosecutor who is willing to go the extra mile," said Johnson County Sheriff Duane E. Burgess.From 2019 to 2023, officers arrested 100 people in six different child solicitation stings. The Edinburgh Police Chief Doyne Little said that he works on these cases to, "allow our children to enjoy their childhood innocence while we, the police, shiel...

Westlake claims Battle of the Lakes II 21-14 over Lake Travis for 6A DI semifinal berth

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two Texas high school football powerhouses went toe-to-toe at The Pfield in Pflugerville on Saturday, and Westlake punched its ticket to its seventh-consecutive 6A semifinal 21-14 over Lake Travis to win the 6A Division I Region IV championship.Leading 14-7 with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter, Westlake put the game away on Jack Kayser's 4-yard touchdown run, the 69th career rushing touchdown of his career and second of the game. An interception off a deflected pass by Westlake's Denim Collins set up the possession that Kayser ended with a score. Lake Travis quarterback Chaston Ditta fired a pass to Kadyn Leon that bounced off his arm. Collins dove underneath the ball to make the big play and get the ball back for the Chaps.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersLake Travis scored a touchdown with 0:27 left in the fourth quarter to get it back to a one-score g...

Much warmer Sunday ahead of our next cold front

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Low clouds Saturday morning and high clouds in the afternoon kept temperatures in the 60s for most of us, but it was still a beautiful Saturday.We'll have high clouds and stars in the sky tonight with lows dropping into the mid 40s, which is normal for this time of year.Sunday morning low temperaturesAhead of a Monday morning cold front we'll notice a much warmer day on Sunday with highs jumping into the mid 70s, roughly 5-8 degrees warmer than Saturday was.Sunday afternoon highsWe'll have sunshine and high clouds with the majority of our clouds in the eastern sky. It'll be a bit breezy as winds shift to the southwest and gust up to 20 mph.Our next cold front is a dry one and comes in Monday morning with a wind shift and cooler temperatures. Highs are back in the 60s on Monday, but with plenty of sunshine.Highs next few days70s return Tuesday and we'll stay in the 70s for the rest of our forecast. Our only chance of rain for the next week comes as we head into next ...

In need of hero, Erie’s Braylon Toliver found a lane and delivered: “That doesn’t surprise any of us”

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:19:39 GMT

FORT COLLINS — With Erie clinging to a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter against top-ranked Palmer Ridge, the injuries were piling up in the Tigers’ backfield.Senior quarterback Blake Barnett was hopping around on one leg — his one-man magic act sapped by a sprained left ankle. And starting running back Gavin Lusk was being tended to on the sideline after suffering an injury of his own.If the second-ranked Tigers were going to grind out Saturday’s Class 4A state football championship, the ball was going to Braylon Toliver, and everyone inside Canvas Stadium knew it.“I felt like it was on me,” Toliver said. “I’ve got to do whatever I can to make a play.”The sophomore did just that, helping save Erie’s state title hopes with a 32-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that all but sealed a 20-6 victory over previously unbeaten Palmer Ridge.A starting defensive back in his second season on varsity, Toliver had spent mos...