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Questions on MCAS repeal, rent control clear hurdle for ballot

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

Attorney General Andrea Campbell gave the green light to two ballot questions nixing the MCAS as a graduating requirement for students and peeling back Massachusetts’ ban on rent control.Wednesday’s certification of the questions represents the first major hurdle supporters had to clear to land the issues on the ballot. The AG reviewed the questions to determine if their language met constitutional muster. Supporters who want to pursue their proposals must now collect more than 75,000 signatures in roughly three months to place the issues before voters in the fall of 2024.The rent control question, backed by state Rep. Mike Connolly, a Cambridge Democrat, would reverse a voter-approved 1994 statewide ban on rent control.The proposed law would allow municipalities to regulate residential evictions, rents and fees, brokers fees, and the removal of of housing units from the rental market.Connolly collected the legal paperwork from the Attorney General’s office around 11 a.m. Wedn...

Judge rules Trump in 2019 defamed writer who has already won a sex abuse and libel suit against him

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

By JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Four months after a jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means that an upcoming second civil trial will concern only how much more he has to pay her.The ruling stands to streamline significantly the second trial, set for January. It concerns remarks that Trump made in 2019, after Carroll first publicly claimed that Trump sexually attacked her in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s, which he denies.The first trial, this spring, concerned the sexual assault allegation itself and whether more recent Trump comments were defamatory. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million, finding that she was sexually abused but rejecting her allegation that she was raped.“The jury considered and decided issues that are common to both cases — includi...

Cirque du Soleil returns to San Diego with seven-show stint

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A charming contemporary circus performance is coming to Pechanga Arena this week to wow San Diegans.Entertainment company Cirque du Soleil is bringing its "Corteo" production to America's Finest City in a seven-show stint between Sept. 6-10. Directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, "Corteo" first premiered in Montreal in April 2005. Since then, the show has been performed for over 10 million spectators in 20 countries. First-ever Del Mar Wine & Food Festival set to take over parts of San Diego County According to Cirque du Soleil, "Corteo" is "a festive parade imagined by a clown." While describing the production further, the company says "the show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth."Cirque du Soleil is coming to Pechanga Arena. (Photo: MajaPrgomet; Costumes: Dominique Lemieux; Courtesy of ...

More post-secondary students rely on parents, stay home to finish school: RBC poll

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

TORONTO — Inflation is driving more post-secondary students to stay home with their parents as they complete their studies — a shift from more than a decade ago, a poll published by RBC on Wednesday shows.Almost half of respondents aged 18-29, or 47 per cent, said they plan to live with their parents this school year, compared to 36 per cent of students in 2013, the online survey reported.The survey, which was conducted by Ipsos and surveyed 1,000 Canadian post-secondary students between June 29 and July 12, found 43 per cent of respondents assumed their parents would be taking care of their financial needs, compared to 29 per cent in 2013.The poll shed light on how post-secondary students are fighting to keep up with the cost of living despite staying home with their parents. About half of them said they plan to take up part-time work as they attend school full-time, cut back on non-essential spending, stick to a prepared budget and regularly monitor their expenses.Almost all...

Feds award $15 million contract to Sun Life to lay groundwork for dental care program

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government has awarded a contract worth up to $15 million to lay the groundwork for a new national dental insurance plan.Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Health Minister Mark Holland announced today the contract was awarded to Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. The federal government says this interim agreement will allow for the “timely launch and successful operation” of the plan, while details of the main contract are finalized.The federal government is working to set up the new insurance plan to replace an interim benefit system that launched last year.A national dental care program is a cornerstone of the supply-and-confidence agreement between the NDP and Liberals.The spring budget promised $13 billion over the next five years to implement the national dental care plan, which the federal government says will insure up to nine million Canadians.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2023. The Canadian Press

Third Democrat launches bid for western Wisconsin swing congressional district

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A third Democratic candidate has announced that she’s running for a western Wisconsin congressional seat held by freshman Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in one of the presidential battleground state’s swing districts.Former La Crosse County Board Chair Tara Johnson on Wednesday joined former small-business owner Rebecca Cooke, who ran for the seat and lost last year in the primary, and Aaron Nytes, a Harvard Law School student, in seeking to represent the Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District, which is comprised of parts of central, southwestern and western Wisconsin, including moderate exurbs of Minnesota’s Twin Cities.Johnson, 61, said she was running to fight for working families, rural communities, abortion rights, affordable health care and prescription drugs, and protecting Social Security and Medicare. She spent 20 years on the La Crosse County Board before stepping down in 2020.In an statement, Johnson said Van Orden, who flipped t...

Connecticut farm worker is paralyzed after being attacked by a bull

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

HARWINTON, Conn. (AP) — A 59-year-old Connecticut man was seriously injured after being attacked by a bull at the farm where he was working.Family members told Hearst Connecticut Media that the bull attacked Randy Janquins on Friday at a farm in Harwinton, Connecticut, as he was putting several cows back into a barn after milking them. “The bull was in heat because it’s their mating season at this time of year,” Ellen Hull, Janquins’ sister, told Hearst. “Randy basically was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”Janquins, of Winsted, Connecticut, suffered a broken neck and is paralyzed from the waist down, Hull said. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors fused vertebrae in his neck, she said. Janquins told his sister he was lying in the farmer’s field for “quite some time” before someone found him. The Associated Press

Christie says DeSantis put ‘politics ahead of his job’ by not seeing Biden during hurricane visit

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie says Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had put “politics ahead of his job” by declining to meet with President Joe Biden during the Democrat’s weekend visit to survey Hurricane Idalia’s damage in DeSantis’ state.“Your job as governor is to be the tour guide for the president, is to make sure the president sees your people, sees the damage, sees the suffering, what’s going on and what needs to be done to rebuild it,” Christie said about his rival for the 2024 nomination in a Fox News interview Tuesday.“You’re doing your job. And unfortunately, he put politics ahead of his job,” Christie said. “That was his choice.”No one knows better than Christie how such a sticky political situation can create an enduring image. Photos of then New Jersey Gov. Christie giving a warm greeting to Democratic President Barack Obama during a visit after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 earned Christie scorn among national...

Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Bruce Guthro remembered as exceptional musician

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

HALIFAX — Bruce Guthro, a legendary singer-songwriter from Cape Breton, has died.Guthro’s friend and colleague Dave Gunning confirmed Guthro died Tuesday at the age of 62.Guthro was lead vocalist for the Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig from 1998 until 2018, and also pursued a successful solo career in Nova Scotia, earning several East Coast Music Awards.In July, Guthro posted to social media that he would be taking a break from performing due to health concerns.Pete Wishart, a Scottish member of the U.K. Parliament and Guthro’s former bandmate, described him online as “an exceptional singer, musician and songwriter taken far too soon.”Tributes to the singer-songwriter poured in on social media.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2023.The Canadian Press

NATO member Romania says it has found drone pieces from Russian attacks in Ukraine on its territory

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:52:33 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s defense minister said Wednesday that pieces apparently of a drone from Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine’s port on the Danube River have been found on the territory of his country. Romania is a NATO member.Angel Tilvar, the minister, told local news channel Antena 3 CNN that parts of what was most likely a drone were discovered in the eastern Tulcea county, an area of the Danube that forms a natural border between Romania and war-torn Ukraine.“I confirm that in this area, pieces that may be of a drone were found,” he said, adding that the pieces didn’t pose a threat. It’s unclear if Romania has determined when or from where the drone was launched. There has been a series of recent attacks by Russia on Danube ports in Ukraine, which are close to Romania, a NATO member since 2004.Tilvar’s comments come after Romania’s Ministry of National Defense “categorically denied” claims made on Monday by the spokesperson of Ukraine’s Ministry of F...