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Amid violence, Boston Schools and Police look to formalize response agreement

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

Boston Public Schools and the Police Department are formalizing an agreement that would clarify when officers should be called to respond to violence and other safety incidents occurring on school property.Officials said the memorandum of understanding would not put police officers back in schools, but it would clear up some of the confusion that followed the Massachusetts Police Reform Act of 2020, and ensure clarity as to each department’s obligations under that law.The agreement has been in the works for the past two years, according to Superintendent of Schools Mary Skipper, and comes amid a recent spate of violence in the district and poll results released last month that indicated two-thirds of BPS parents had concerns about their children’s safety.“We’re living in a time where incidents of violence in schools are becoming more and more common, and we see it in cities across the country,” Skipper said at a Friday City Council subcommittee meeting on school safety.“So I do hear...

MSTCA Coaches Invitational: Oliver Ames star Ryan Sarney puts on a show in the mile

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

NORTON — Oliver Ames’ Ryan Sarney was very much aware of what the meet record was in the mile and came oh so close to dethroning a legend.Dropping down from his specialty in the two mile, Sarney looked smooth and in control as he led from the gun and was never challenged on the way to breaking the tape in 4 minutes, 15.47 seconds at Saturday’s MSTCA Coaches Invitational.The time was a six-second personal best for Sarney, who owns a PR of 9:09 in the two mile, and was just off the 4:15.20 run by the great Bobby Goss of Chelsea way back in 1978.Sarney will run one more mile race at the Hockomock League Championships off the 60-65 miles a week he is packing in for the two mile.“This is the only mile I’ll run in a big race for the rest of the season,” said Sarney. “I felt so good doing it. I’m a two-miler and I wanted to get a fast mile time.”The Tigers also picked up the mile win on the girls’ side and it was impressive. Katie Sobie...

Haverhill Police seeking 6 missing siblings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

Authorities are searching for six siblings ranging in age between 7-months- and 9-years-old who went missing from their Haverhill home for days.Haverhill police responded to a report of child abuse that Wednesday when another sibling, the oldest, reported that her mother and stepfather abused her and her seven siblings.The location of the six youngest children is unknown, with a Massachusetts State Police statement indicating that “the parents and other family have been uncooperative with attempts to locate the children.”The children could be in the Randolph area, according to the statement, but there is no reason for this listed.The oldest missing child is Jatari Baker-Wooden, 9. The five other missing children all the share the last name Great: boy Omnisty, 7 months; boy Cypher, 11 months; girl Cyphaya, 3; girl Journea, 5; and girl Odyssea, 6. All are described as black and are the six youngest children in the attached, undated photograph.Anyone with any information on...

Delaney Moquin tosses gem as Silver Lake blanks Middleborough

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

MIDDLEBOROUGH — A huge Saturday non-league matinee broke out on Mother’s Day Weekend, and everything came out roses for Silver Lake.Delaney Moquin tossed a one-hit shutout and struck out 10 as the Lakers blanked Middleborough 3-0 in a regular-season battle that had some playoff atmosphere between the two South Shore juggernauts.Moquin struck out five of the first six batters she faced and only allowed a clean single to Mackenzie Conlon in the bottom of the third with two outs.“I can’t say enough about Delaney. For a young team, we opened up some people’s eyes,” said Silver Lake head coach Tony Pina. “(Delaney) is a sophomore in name only, has the poise of an upperclassman, the focus of an upperclassman, and there were times she was down 2-0 or 3-0 in the count and got strikeouts or fly balls. She has exceeded expectations; she is only getting better.”The Lakers (14-1, 12-0 in Patriot League play) finally got to Sachems starter Cassidy Machado with all three runs coming in the ...

This tribe’s land was cut in two by US borders. Its fight for access could help dozens of others

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

For four hours, Raymond V. Buelna, a cultural leader for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sat on a metal bench in a concrete holding space at the U.S.-Mexico border, separated from the two people he was taking to an Easter ceremony on tribal land in Arizona and wondering when they might be released.It was February 2022 and Buelna, a U.S. citizen, was driving the pair — both from the sovereign Native American nation’s related tribal community in northwestern Mexico — from their home to the reservation southwest of Tucson. They’d been authorized by U.S. officials to cross the border. But when Buelna asked an agent why they were detained, he was told to wait for the officer who brought him in.“They know that we’re coming,” said Buelna, who has made the trip for a variety of ceremonies for 20 years. “We did all this work and then we’re still sitting there.”Now, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is trying to change this — for themselves and potentially dozens of other tribes in the U.S. Tr...

Israel, Islamic Jihad reach cease-fire to end 5 days of fighting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire late Saturday, ending five days of intense fighting that left 33 Palestinians, including at least 13 civilians, dead. Two people in Israel were killed by rocket fire. The cease-fire took effect just after 10 p.m., with a last-minute burst of rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes stretching several minutes past the deadline announced by Egypt.While the calm brought a sense of relief to Gaza’s more than 2 million people and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who had been confined to bomb shelters in recent days, the agreement did nothing to address the underlying issues that have fueled numerous rounds of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office put out a statement thanking Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi for his efforts to restore calm. Egypt frequently acts a...

One killed as tornado hits south Texas near the Gulf coast, damaging dozens of homes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

LAGUNA HEIGHTS, Texas (AP) — One person was killed when his mobile home was crushed as a powerful tornado tore through a community near the southern tip of Texas before dawn Saturday, damaging dozens of residences and knocking down power lines, authorities said.At least 10 others were hospitalized, including two people who were listed in critical condition, said Tom Hushen, the emergency management coordinator for Cameron County. Many residents also suffered cuts and bruises.The tornado hit at about 4 a.m. as most people were in their homes asleep in the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights, located on the mainland across from South Padre Island, off the Gulf of Mexico. The county has among the highest poverty rates in Texas and is dotted with substandard housing.There was no advance warning. Instead, the first warning of a tornado “went out at the same time it was touching ground,” said Barry Goldsmith, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in ...

DeSantis in Iowa warns of GOP ‘culture of losing’ as weather sidelines Trump’s event in the state

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Warning of a Republican “culture of losing,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought Saturday to weaken former President Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP as he courted voters in battleground Iowa.DeSantis, expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign any day, briefly flipped burgers and pork chops at a picnic fundraiser in Sioux Center that drew hundred conservatives to the northwest corner of the state. At the podium, he highlighted his willingness to embrace conservative cultural fights and sprinkled his remarks with indirect jabs at Trump.“Governing is not about entertaining. Governing is not about building a brand or talking on social media and virtue signaling,” said DeSantis, who wore a blue button-down shirt without a tie or jacket. “It’s ultimately about winning and producing results.”Trump, a candidate since November, had hoped to demonstrate his political strength with a large outdoor rally in Des Moines, the capital, later in the day, but he ...

Michigan boy uses a slingshot to save his sister from being abducted from backyard, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

ALPENA, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan girl was able to escape an attempted kidnapping when her brother used a slingshot to strike the would-be attacker, authorities said this week. Mlive.com reports that the Michigan State Police arrested the accused assailant in the city of Alpena on Wednesday. The 17-year-old’s name has not been released though he has been charged as an adult with one count of attempted kidnapping/child enticement, one count of attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder, and one count of assault and battery.Michigan State Police said in a news release that the 8-year-old girl was in her backyard when the alleged assailant came out of the woods, grabbed her and covered her mouth. Authorities said the girl’s brother, 13, hit the alleged attacker in the head and chest using a slingshot. Police later arrested the 17-year-old based on another family member’s description of the suspect. Authorities also said the teenager had visible wounds fr...

End of Title 42 hasn’t stopped migrants’ push north to US from across the Americas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:08 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — For weeks, Solangel Contreras raced.The Venezuelan migrant and her family of 22 trudged through the dense jungles of the Darien Gap and hopped borders across Central America.They joined thousands of other migrants from across the Hemisphere in a scramble to reach the United States-Mexico border and request asylum.They raced, unsure what changing migratory rules and the end of a pandemic-era border restriction, Title 42, would mean for their chances at a new life in the U.S.But after missing that cutoff, robbed in Guatemala and crossing into Mexico shortly after the program ended Thursday night, Contreras, 33, had only one certainty in her mind: “We’re going to keep going.”Confusion has rippled from the U.S.-Mexico border to migrant routes across the Americas, as migrants scramble to understand complex and ever-changing policies. And while Title 42 has come to an end, the flow of migrants headed north has not.From the rolling mountains and jungles in Central Americ...