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Wildfire smoke will impact Massachusetts yet again, possible ‘air quality concerns’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

Is that wildfire smoke and haze from Canada coming back to the Bay State?After the smoke plume made its way to Massachusetts earlier this month, meteorologists had warned that it could return this summer depending on how the wind blows. Now a few weeks later, it’s likely that the smoke from the out-of-control wildfires will yet again impact the Bay State and the local air quality.The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s forecast for Thursday mentions the Canadian wildfire smoke in an air quality alert.“AIR QUALITY: Wildfire smoke from Canada will likely enter western and central portions of the State and influence particle pollution levels,” MassDEP’s forecast reads.“Fine particle levels will likely average in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups range in these western and central areas,” the forecast states. “Moderate levels are forecast for eastern areas on Thursday.”Sensitive groups include people with heart or...

Red Sox notebook: Marlins’ Luis Arraez a throwback to a different era

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

They don’t make them like Luis Arraez anymore.In an era of exit velocity and launch angle, the Miami Marlins leadoff hitter is an old school contact hitter in the mold of Rod Carew and Ichiro Suzuki. Since he debuted in 2019 nobody has been better at getting the ball into play and avoiding strikeouts, and now he’s making a push to become the first player since Red Sox legend Ted Williams to bat .400 for a season.Arraez came to Fenway Park this week in better position to challenge for .400 than anyone in a generation. He entered the series batting .399 and remained at that mark heading into Wednesday after going 2 for 5 in Miami’s series-opening 10-1 win.His .399 average leads baseball by 69 points, and Arraez also leads MLB in OBP (.450) and hits (113) while ranking fourth in OPS (.945) and fifth in offensive WAR (3.5). He’s also struck out 16 times in 313 plate appearances and has a strikeout rate of 5.1%, miles ahead of the MLB average (22.9%).To put what A...

Chrissy Teigen, John Legend welcome 4th child in surprise announcement

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

Peter Sblendorio | New York Daily NewsChrissy Teigen and John Legend welcomed a baby boy via surrogate this month, the couple revealed in a surprise announcement Wednesday.Wren Alexander Stephens is their fourth child. Teigen gave birth to daughter Esti in January.Teigen suffered a pregnancy loss with a baby boy, Jack, in 2020. In Wednesday’s announcement, Teigen said she and Legend reached out to a surrogate agency in 2021 about enlisting two surrogates, before she decided to try to carry a child again and restarted the in vitro fertilization process.“Around this same time, we also met the most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine, Alexandra,” Teigen wrote. “I knew she was a perfect match for us the moment we spoke to her.”Teigen said the first embryo they tried with Alexandra did not survive. Then, during Teigen’s pregnancy with Esti, the surrogate became pregnant with Teigen and Legend’s son. View this post on InstagramA post shared by chrissy teigen...

US Coast Guard says 'presumed human remains' found in wreckage of Titan submersible

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says it has likely recovered human remains from the wreckage of the Titan submersible and is bringing the evidence back to the United States. The submersible imploded last week, killing all five people on board. The vessel was on a voyage see the wreck of the Titanic.The return of the Titan debris to port in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday is a key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded. Twisted chunks of the 22-foot submersible were unloaded at a Canadian Coast Guard pier.The U.S. Coast Guard said late Wednesday it had recovered debris and evidence from the sea floor and that included what it described as presumed human remains. “I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,” U.S. Coast Guard Chief Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement. “The evidence will provide investigators from sev...

Amtrak train with 198 passengers derails after hitting truck on tracks in Southern California

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — An Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a county work truck and derailed on Wednesday in Southern California, critically injuring the truck’s driver, authorities said.Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. Fourteen people on the train were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, while the truck driver was taken to a trauma center with a head injury, McGrath said. Parts of the demolished Ventura County Public Works truck were scattered all around the derailed train cars. McGrath initially said the truck’s driver was believed to have gotten out of the vehicle before the crash, but later clarified that the circumstances leading up to the impact weren’t known. “No one’s talked to him, so the whole situation is still being investigated,” he said.The derailed train cars remained upright on tracks adjacent to an orchard and bare sect...

Maryland’s highest court to hear appeals in case chronicled by ‘Serial’ podcast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Supreme Court of Maryland announced Wednesday it will hear an appeal from Adnan Syed, whose conviction for killing an ex-girlfriend was reinstated by a lower court after he was released from prison. The court scheduled legal brief deadlines for August and oral arguments for Oct. 5. The court also said it will hear appeals from the victim’s family.Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” was convicted in 2000 of killing Hae Min Lee. He was freed from prison last year after Baltimore prosecutors found flaws in the evidence presented at trial and a judge agreed to vacate his conviction. However, Lee’s relatives appealed the decision, contending they didn’t receive sufficient notice to attend the hearing that set Syed free. In March, the Maryland Appellate Court agreed and reinstated Syed’s conviction and ordered a redo of the hearing. Syed’s attorney, Erica Suter, then appealed that ruling to the state’s highest cour...

Hundreds in Puerto Rico protest proposed increase in electricity bills

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hundreds of people including religious leaders, economists, teachers and retirees on Wednesday protested a proposed increase to already high electric bills that a growing number of people in the U.S. territory are struggling to pay.The crowd marched toward the governor’s mansion, where they hoisted Puerto Rican flags up high and held up signs warning that an increase in power bills would lead to an unsustainable rise in the island’s already expensive cost of living.The proposed increase is part of a debt restructuring plan to pull Puerto Rico’s power company out of bankruptcy, an effort that has failed multiple times as bondholders threaten to sue to recuperate their investments. If approved, the current residential rate of 25 cents per kilowatt hour would nearly double over the span of 30 years.A federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy process held a hearing Wednesday on the issue after delaying approval of the proposed debt restructuring pl...

Utah woman accused of killing husband after writing book about grief is sued for over $13 million

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY — A lawsuit against a Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and now stands accused of his fatal poisoning was filed Tuesday, seeking over $13 million in damages for alleged financial wrongdoing before and after his death.The lawsuit was filed against Kouri Richins in state court by Katie Richins, the sister of Kouri Richins’ late husband Eric Richins. It accuses the woman of taking money from the husband’s bank accounts, diverting money intended to pay his taxes and obtaining a fradulent loan, among other things, before his death in March 2022. Kouri Richins has been charged with murder in her late husband’s death. “Kouri committed the foregoing acts in calculated, systematic fashion and for no reason other than to actualize a horrific endgame — to conceal her ruinous debt, misappropriate assets for the benefit of her personal businesses, orchestrate Eric’s demise, and profit from his pas...

‘Presumed human remains’ found in wreckage of Titan submersible: U.S. Coast Guard

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

The U.S. Coast Guard says it has likely recovered human remains from the wreckage of the Titan submersible and is bringing the evidence back to the United States.The submersible imploded last week, killing all five people on board. The vessel was on a voyage to see the wreck of the Titanic.Debris from the Titan submersible was returned to land Wednesday. The return of the debris to port in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded.In a statement late Wednesday, the Coast Guard said it had recovered debris and evidence from the sea floor, and that included what it described as presumed human remains.“I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,” U.S. Coast Guard Chief Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement.“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdic...

Mississippi farms pay overdue wages for favoring immigrants over local Black workers, agency says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:41:54 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Forty-four farms in Mississippi exploited local Black workers by paying higher wages to immigrants who were in the United States on temporary work visas, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.The department announced it completed investigations that it began last year in the rural flatlands of the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest areas of the U.S.The 44 farms include catfish growers and operations that raise crops such as rice, soybeans and corn. They have paid $505,540 in back wages for 161 workers, plus $341,838 in civil penalties, the department said.“The outcome of these investigations confirms that employers in the Mississippi Delta denied a large number of marginalized farmworkers their lawful wages, and in some cases, violated the rights of U.S. workers by giving temporary guest workers preferential treatment,” said Audrey Hall, district director of the Wage and Hour Division in Jackson, Mississippi.The Labor Department announced its findings six...