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Maura Healey’s DPU appointments indicate MBTA watchdog change, observers say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

Notably missing from Gov. Maura Healey’s three appointments to the Department of Public Utilities was a commissioner with transit safety expertise — a deficiency highlighted by state and federal lawmakers in past MBTA oversight hearings.Two observers said the move to appoint commissioners focused on climate and energy rather than transportation signals a larger plan from Gov. Maura Healey to shift MBTA safety oversight from the DPU to a new state agency, pointing to legislation that has already been filed for such a change.But the Healey administration denied this on Wednesday, saying that the governor’s appointments are part of her efforts to create a “21st-century DPU, which includes expanded, in-house expertise in transit safety.”Healey’s EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper appointed Jamie Van Nostrand, a 30-year veteran of the energy industry, as DPU chair and Staci Rubin, vice president of environmental justice at the Conservation Law Foundation, as commissioner.Cecile Fraser, a...

Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse all donated to Massachusetts Democrats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

Several Bay State politicians find themselves thrust into the middle of the worst banking collapse since 2008 after it was revealed their campaigns took thousands in donations from suddenly shuttered lenders or their employees.California-based Silicon Valley Bank’s assets were seized by federal regulators on Friday to prevent a quick-building run on the bank’s funds. Signature Bank, in New York, was stopped from doing business on Sunday among similar concerns when, in an attempt to calm any budding panic, the Treasury and Federal Reserve announced it would guarantee even uninsured deposits.Despite this, news of the banks’ failure and their own financial concerns seemed to cause the value of Swiss bank Credit Suisse to fall sharply to start the week; it continued to drop after their largest backers, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, declined to provide extra funding.Before their decline, all three banks, as reported by the New York Post, “donated nearly $1.2 million to Democrats bet...

Car crash into gas pipeline prompts evacuations; 1 hurt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Authorities Wednesday are evacuating residents near a crash that impacted a gas pipeline in the Mira Mesa area, officials said. The collision occurred around 3:18 p.m. on Gold Coast Drive and Black Mountain Road when a car struck against a gas pipeline, according to the San Diego Police Department's Watch Commander."This is a large diameter gas main break with a vehicle on top," Mónica Muñoz with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said. These San Diego County roads are closed due to inclement weather conditions One person was taken to the hospital, where their status is unknown at this time, per first responders.As of 4:30 p.m., 20 units in an apartment building near the crash were evacuated, Muñoz said. Numerous residences will be evacuated, with residents being allowed to go to Miramar College. San Diego Gas & Electric is currently working on pinching the gas line, Muñoz said.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Lawyers seek removal of judge in Texas school shooting case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school in 2018 are seeking to have the judge handling the case removed, accusing him of bias for pushing to have experts deem the former student competent to stand trial.Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 22, has been at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon since early December 2019 after he was determined to be incompetent to stand trial.Pagourtzis, then a 17-year-old student, has been charged with capital murder for the attack at Santa Fe High School on May 18, 2018, when he was a student there. Eight students and two teachers were killed at the school, located about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Houston.In February, state District Judge Jeth Jones ordered Pagourtzis be held at the hospital for up to another year.But last week, Jones held a last-minute hearing in which he ordered Pagourtzis to be evaluated by an outside expert to determine his competency.In their motion Tuesday to recuse Jones,...

Storms end Southern California water restrictions for 7M

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s 11th atmospheric river left the storm-soaked state with a bang Wednesday, bringing flooded roadways, landslides and toppled trees to the southern part of the state as well as drought-busting rainfall that meant the end of water restrictions for nearly 7 million people.Even as residents struggled to clean up before the next round of winter arrives in the coming days — with some 27,000 people still under evacuation orders statewide Wednesday — the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s decision brought relief amid the state’s historic drought.The district supplies water for 19 million people in six counties. The board imposed the restrictions, which included limiting outdoor watering to one day a week, in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties last year during a severe shortage of state water supplies.But weather woes remained Wednesday, as an additional 61,000 people remained under evacuation warnings and em...

2 dead after canyons flood near Utah-Arizona line

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two men were found dead after floodwaters poured into a slot canyon near the Utah-Arizona border, endangering three groups of hikers who had to be hoisted out by helicopter.Kane County Sheriff’s Lt. Allen Alldredge said the first man who was found dead was among a group of three hiking south to Lees Ferry across the Utah-Arizona border. Another man in the group was rescued and taken to the hospital, where he was being treated for hypothermia and bodily injury after days of exposure. Authorities found a second body on Wednesday afternoon across the Arizona border. Although they couldn’t immediately confirm it was the man identified as missing earlier in the week, Alldredge said they “were very confident that it was our missing individual” and called off additional search.Alldredge said authorities received a call Monday from the spouse of a hiker who had not returned home from a hike they began Friday. The hikers were on a multiday trek from Wire Pas...

EXPLAINER: Next steps for Black reparations in San Francisco

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco supervisors have backed the idea of paying reparations to Black people, but whether members will agree to lump-sum payments of $5 million to every eligible person or to any of the more than 100 other recommendations made by an advisory committee won’t be known until later this year. The idea of Black reparations is not new, but the federal government’s promise of granting 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves was never realized. It wasn’t until George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody in 2020 that reparations movements began spreading in earnest across the country.The state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco are among jurisdictions trying to atone not just for chattel slavery, but for decades of racist policies and laws that systemically denied Black Americans access to property, education and the ability to build generational wealth. WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT FOR REPARATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO? B...

Stanford University employee charged with lying about rapes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 25-year-old Stanford University employee was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony perjury for allegedly lying about being raped twice last year on campus, authorities said. Jennifer Ann Gries, of Santa Clara, first reported a false sexual attack in August when she told a nurse at Valley Medical Center in San Jose that a man grabbed her while she was at a campus parking lot, dragged her to a restroom and sexually assaulted her, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office said. In October, she went to Stanford Hospital to get another rape examination and told the nurse conducting the exam that she was returning to her office from lunch when an unknown male grabbed her arm, forced her into a basement storage closet and raped her, prosecutors said. She again declined to speak with police, they said. Both of Gries’ sexual assault examination kits were analyzed quickly “given the extreme public safety risk of a potential sex offender,” prosecutors ...

Tennessee GOP advance new narrow abortion exemption bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican lawmakers on Wednesday took another swing at adding a narrow exemption to one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States. Nearly a month ago, a Republican legislative panel defied political threats made by the state’s influential anti-abortion lobbying group and advanced legislation clarifying situations where abortion could be allowed in Tennessee.However, despite the committee’s endorsement, the legislation was almost immediately considered doomed inside the GOP-dominant Statehouse, owing to the reluctance of the members to support efforts to loosen the strict abortion ban. After weeks of political negotiating, Tennessee Right to Life announced on Monday they would support a newly crafted proposal that’s even much more narrowly focused than the original version. The House Health Committee then advanced the proposal Wednesday.Currently, Tennessee has no explicit exemptions in its abortion ban. Instead the law i...

Minnesota meat processing firm accused of employing minors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:40 GMT

A meat processing company in Minnesota employed children as young as 13 to work in hazardous conditions, such as operating meat grinders, while they worked overnight shifts and longer hours than allowed by law, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry said Wednesday.The state agency is asking a district court to issue a temporary restraining order against Tony Downs Food Company, based in Mankato, while it investigates the allegations.According to the complaint, the meat processing company employed at least eight children ranging from 14 to 17 at its plant in Madelia. Investigators also have identified other employees who were hired before they were 18 years old, the department said.The young employees, one of whom was 13 years old when hired, operated meat grinders, ovens and forklifts on overnight shifts and also worked in areas where meat products are flash frozen with carbon monoxide and ammonia, according to the complaint. They also allegedly worked longer hours than perm...