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4politics

Trump Ruling in Colorado Will Test Conservative Approach to Law

Specifically, the clause says that people are ineligible to hold any federal or state office if they took an oath to uphold the Constitution in one of various government roles, including as an “officer of the United States,” and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or aided its enemies. The clause also says a supermajority vote in Congress could waive such a penalty. According to a Congressional Research Service report, a criminal conviction was not seen as necessary: federal prosecutors brought civil actions to oust officials who were former Confederates, and Congress refused to seat certain members under the clause. Congress passed amnesty laws in 1872 and 1898, lifting the penalties on former Confederates. Is the president an ‘officer of the United States’? Mr. Trump is unique among American presidents: He has never held any other public office and only swore an oath to the Constitution as president. That raises the question of whether the disqualification clause covers the oath he took. While as a matter of ordinary speech, a president is clearly an “officer of the United States,” there is a dispute over whether it excludes presidents as a constitutional term of art. In 2021, two conservative legal scholars, Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law Houston and Seth Barrett Tillman of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, published a law review article about the clause arguing on textualist and originalist grounds that a president does not count as an officer of the United States. Among other issues, they focused on language about “officers” in the original Constitution as ratified in 1788 — including language about oaths that can be read as distinguishing appointed executive branch officers from presidents, who are elected. Last summer, two other conservative legal scholars — William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas — posted a law review article that invoked similar methodology but concluded that Mr. Trump is ineligible for the presidency. “Essentially all the evidence concerning the original textual meaning” of the clause pointed in that direction, the scholars argued. Among other things, they wrote that phrases like “officer of the United States” must be read “sensibly, naturally and in context, without artifice” that would render it a “‘secret code’ loaded with hidden meanings.”

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3entertainment

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation: How to watch part 1 of the reunion for free

A new episode of “The Amazing Race” kicks off Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 9:30 p.m. on CBS. Fans can also watch the season 35 on streaming platforms like FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Both platforms offer a free trial for new users who are interested in signing up for an account. The show is an adventure reality game in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with 11 other teams. In the new episode of season 35, “teams continue racing in Slovenia, carefully travelling on foot carrying wooden pieces on their back, descending deep into a cave, assembling a giant dragon, and scraping off mussels and barnacles in the waters.” How do I watch the show if I don’t have cable TV? Viewers can stream the new season on FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Both platforms offer a free trial for new users. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels. What is DirecTV Stream? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. DirecTV also offers a free trial for any package you sign up.

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5science

Flowers Are Evolving to Have Less Sex

Every spring, trillions of flowers mate with the help of bees and other animals. They lure the pollinators to their flowers with flashy colors and nectar. As the animals travel from flower to flower, they take pollen with them, which can fertilize the seeds of other plants. A new study suggests that humans are quickly altering this annual rite of spring. As toxic pesticides and vanishing habitats have driven down the populations of bees and other pollinators, some flowers have evolved to fertilize their own seeds more often, rather than those of other plants. Scientists said they were surprised by the speed of the changes, which occurred in just 20 generations. “That’s rapid evolution,” said Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Montpellier in France who led the research. Dr. Cheptou was inspired to carry out the study when it became clear that bees and other pollinators were in a drastic decline. Would flowers that depend on pollinators for sex, he wondered, find another way to reproduce?

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4politics

White House Eyes Possible Threat to Good Friday Agreement: Rwanda

Hampshire Regional High School students walked out of class on Tuesday morning to demonstrate support for the district’s teachers bargaining for a new contract. Meanwhile, the district’s teachers union called on the School Committee not to renew the contract of Superintendent Diana Bonneville due to ”a trend of poor decision making and significant errors in judgment,” according to a statement by the Hampshire Regional Education Association.

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1crime

Gunman Who Killed 3 U.N.L.V. Faculty Members Wanted College Jobs, Officials Say

The man who shot and killed three faculty members on Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was himself a professor who had tried and failed to get several jobs at colleges in the state, the authorities said on Thursday. The gunman, Anthony Polito, 67, was living in a Las Vegas suburb and was killed by the police during a shootout after his rampage, officials said. Mr. Polito also shot and injured a fourth person, a man identified as a 38-year-old visiting professor who was being treated at a hospital for life-threatening wounds. Shortly before the shooting, the police said, Mr. Polito had mailed 22 letters to employees at universities across the country, at least one of which contained an unknown white powder that was later determined to be harmless. The contents of the additional letters were not clear. Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Mr. Polito had used a 9-millimeter handgun to carry out the attack and brought 11 magazines with him, two of which had been emptied by the time he was killed.

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1crime

New Bedford teen dies after thrown from car in Dartmouth Friday

A New Bedford teen was killed after being thrown from a car in Dartmouth Friday night, according to police. Jacob Pothier, 18, of New Bedford, was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, according to a post on the Dartmouth Police Department’s Facebook page. It appears Pothier and another person in the car, Kathleen Martins, 44, of Dartmouth, were thrown from a 2022 Honda Accord in the area of Gulf Road at Smith Neck Road in Dartmouth some time before police arrived at 10:35 p.m. Jan. 5, police said. That stretch of two-lane roads is a T-intersection surrounded by Apponagansett Bay near a causeway leading to the village of Padanaram, according to Google Maps. Emergency responders found Pothier and Martins unresponsive in the roadway near the heavily damaged Honda, police said. They treated them at the one-car crash scene and brought them to St. Luke’s, where Pothier was pronounced dead, police said. Martins was seriously hurt, with life-threatening injuries, police said, and her condition is “guarded.” The Dartmouth Police Department Crash Reconstruction Unit, Massachusetts State Police and Dartmouth Police Department detectives are investigating the crash.

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5science

The Emerald Tutu: Using nature to fight climate change on Boston's coast

We got a first-hand look at some of the first threads in what Northeastern research scientists hope will weave into a vast array of green pods dancing around the Boston shore in a kind of emerald tutu that helps protect the shore from climate change. "Solutions like the Emerald Tutu are better designed for an uncertain climate future because they can adapt — because they're living organisms, they can adapt to conditions that we can't yet fully predict," said Julia Hopkins, a lead scientist on the project.

090c080f129e61ce28ccaeeeeffad1f2

1crime

News helicopter from northeast ABC affiliate crashes, killing pilot and photographer

A news helicopter from Philadelphia crashed Tuesday night in a heavily wooded area of Burlington County, New Jersey, killing the pilot and a photographer, WPVI’s news station, 6ABC, said on its website early Wednesday. “We know that a pilot and a photographer from our news team went down with Chopper 6 while returning from an assignment at the Jersey Shore,” the news station said. The crash occurred shortly after 8 p.m. near Quaker Bridge Atsion Road and Mullica Hill Road, a section of Wharton State Forest in Washington Township. The helicopter was a 2013 American Eurocopter AS-350A-STAR, which 6abc leases from U.S. Helicopters Inc. based in North Carolina, the news station said. The names or the conditions of the victims were not released. “They have a long history with our station. They’ve been working as part of the Action News team for years,” Katherine Scott, general assignment reporter for 6ABC, said in a report from Washington Township. New Jersey State Police located the wreckage deep in a wooded area and the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, according to the station.

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3entertainment

Happy Days at 50: The Fonz Bought Me a House

On Tuesday night, Jan. 15, 1974, Richie, Potsie, Ralph and Fonzie entered our living rooms for a visit that would end up lasting more than a decade. Created by Garry Marshall, “Happy Days” arrived as a comic but earnest chronicle of adolescence in 1950s Milwaukee. It revolved around Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and his equally hormonal pals — Warren “Potsie” Weber (Anson Williams) and Ralph Malph (Donny Most) — along with the rest of the Cunninghams: Richie’s younger sister, Joanie (Erin Moran); mother, Marion (Marion Ross); and father, Howard (Tom Bosley). (Chuck, an older brother played by a series of actors, disappeared early in the show’s run.) “Happy Days” didn’t really take off with viewers until a couple of seasons later, when it was retooled into a broader multicamera sitcom oriented around the local tough turned mentor and guardian angel, Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler), known the world over as the Fonz. In the 1976-77 season, “Happy Days” became the most-watched show on television, supplanting “All in the Family.” It ran until the summer of 1984, a total of 11 seasons, while generating multiple spinoffs — “Laverne & Shirley,” “Mork & Mindy,” “Joanie Loves Chachi” — and untold tons of Fonzie merchandise. In December, the surviving members of the original core cast — Howard, 69; Most, 70; Williams, 74; Winkler, 78; and Ross, 95 — met in a video chat to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Happy Days.” (Bosley died in 2010, Moran in 2017.) They reminisced about the special bond they felt at the time and have felt ever since, and how the elevation of Fonzie was integral to the show’s popularity. (Disclosure: I helped Williams on his campaign for mayor of Ojai, Calif., in 2022, and we are friends.)

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0business

How late is Starbucks open on New Years Eve 2023?

Looking to end the year with a caffeinated bang? Well, good news for coffee lovers because you can head to your neighborhood Starbucks before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve 2023. Starbucks will be open on New Year’s Eve, but it’s unlikely stores will be up until the stroke of midnight. The company said Starbucks store hours will run on holiday hours, which means they may close early for New Year’s Eve. “This holiday season, Starbucks store hours vary by location and stores may occasionally adjust their hours based on business and customer needs,” the chain’s website reads. “We recommend customers look for specific store hours using the Starbucks app or by visiting our website store locator.” People can check if their local Starbucks is open by clicking here. Just be sure that if you grace your baristas with your presence, you wish them a happy and healthy new year.

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6sports

How Patriots legend Matthew Slater hopes to be remembered

The AFC East division is on the line in the Week 18 finale when the Buffalo Bills visit the Miami Dolphins to wrap up the 2023 regular season. The Dolphins are looking to bounce back from a 56-19 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens — who clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC — and will be without star pass-rusher Bradley Chubb after he tore his ACL late in the Week 17 game. The Bills, meanwhile, have won four straight games and look to end the season on a high note. The game will air on NBC for those who have cable. Fans looking to watch this NFL game can do so for free by using FuboTV or DirecTV Stream, which both offer a free trial and RedZone. SlingTV has promotional offers available, and NFL+ airs all local market games. Through the end of 2023, fuboTV is also offering $20 off the first two months of subscription (in addition to the 7-day free trial). Who: Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins When: Sunday, Jan. 7 at 8:20 p.m. EST Where: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida Stream: fuboTV (free trial + $20 off your first 2 months); or Sling; DirecTV Stream or NFL+ Tickets: StubHub and *VividSeats *New customers who purchase tickets through VividSeats can get $20 off a $200+ ticket order by using the promo code MassLive20 at checkout.* Gear: Shop around for jerseys, shirts, hats, hoodies and more at Fanatics.com Sports Betting Promos: NFL fans can wager online on Massachusetts sports betting with enticing promo codes from top online sportsbooks. Use the FanDuel Massachusetts promo code and the DraftKings Massachusetts promo code for massive new user bonuses. RELATED CONTENT: ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — No one is disputing Stefon Diggs’ status as the Buffalo’ Bills top playmaker. And quarterback Josh Allen once again insisted Wednesday it’s important to get Diggs more involved in the offense. But all the talk lauding the receiver’s ability doesn’t match the sudden drop in his production over the past six weeks. So what gives? “There’s a lot of stuff that goes into that,” Allen explained. Buffalo (10-6) closes the regular season Sunday night with a critical showdown at Miami (11-5). The AFC East title — and potentially the Bills’ playoff chances — hang in the balance after they climbed back into postseason contention with Diggs playing a diminished role. “Obviously, there’s times where he wants the ball and deservedly so. He’s one of the best, if not the best, receivers in the game,” Allen said. “He gets a lot of attention from defenses, so sometimes it’s just how it plays out. But I’ve got to be better in that aspect, too.” Bills coach Sean McDermott echoed Allen’s comments by saying, “It’s a little bit here, a little bit there.” The coach then suggested the focus on Diggs’ numbers is overblown. “I understand you guys want to make it about this thing over here, and that is important because it does help us win,” McDermott said, referring to the media. “At the same time, it’s about making sure we’re going with the ball where we need to go with the ball, and we’re moving the chains and scoring points. So that’s the goal.” McDermott has a point. Coincidentally or not, the Bills have won four straight games and five of six with Diggs producing less. Following a 24-22 loss to Denver on Nov. 13 that dropped Buffalo to 5-5, Diggs was tied with Keenan Allen for the NFL lead with 73 catches. He was tied for second with seven touchdown receptions and ranked sixth with 868 yards receiving. Six games later, the Bills are 10-6, and Diggs has plummeted down the rankings with only 27 catches for 228 yards and a score since. Buffalo’s running attack has made up part of the difference, with James Cook averaging 20 more yards from scrimmage since Week 11. Also playing a role is Allen spreading the ball in finding secondary threats. Khalil Shakir has doubled his yards receiving total to 506 over the past six weeks. During the same span, tight end Dalton Kincaid has 21 catches for 199 yards, while receiver Gabe Davis has 12 catches for 256 yards and two scores. Playing time has also been an issue, with Diggs sitting out 83 of Buffalo’s 192 offensive snaps over the past three games. Interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady said that’s partially on him, and partially by design to keep Diggs rested. Brady said he missed an opportunity to get Diggs back on the field to open the second half Sunday, when the receiver stood on the sideline watching Buffalo cap a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive in a 27-21 win over New England. “Look, I know we’re better when Stef’s on the field,” said Brady, whose promotion after Ken Dorsey was fired following the loss to Denver coincided with Diggs’ slipping numbers. “I have to continue working through finding ways to get (the ball) to him regardless. It’s nothing Stef isn’t doing.” Diggs hasn’t spoken to reporters in three weeks, since saying he was frustrated by constant double-team coverage. While saying it’s smart for opposing defenses to do so, he stressed it doesn’t make him happy. “I try to motivate guys. And I can’t be in a low spirit or low energy. ... And part of that kind of uplifts myself,” Diggs said about trying to remain upbeat. “But it’s damn sure frustrating. I’m not going to lie. I get furious out there.” Even so, with four catches on Sunday, Diggs reached 100 this season and became the third NFL player to have four or more consecutive seasons with 100 receptions, joining Antonio Brown (2013-18) and Marvin Harrison (1999-2002). Veteran cornerback and practice-squad member Josh Norman, whose locker is two down from Diggs, can see both sides of the picture. “He’s a big part of the offense. Think about it, I saw on one video where he took three guys with him,” Norman said. “But people don’t see that. They see, ‘Oh, Stef ain’t got a catch.’” He also understands Diggs’ frustration, stemming from his competitive drive. “He’s getting paid handsomely. I’m sure he’s going to be OK,” Norman said. “But the inner spirit, the warrior spirit, that’s something that’s completely different. You can’t control that. That’s not about money,” Norman added. “It’s about going out and proving you’re the best every single time.” The Associated Press contributed to this article

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6sports

HS Girls Hockey: See where WMass teams stand in first postseason rankings

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association released its first power rankings of the winter season Friday morning. The rankings include schedules and scores updated through Jan. 12 at 4 a.m. The state athletic association will update the rankings every Tuesday and Friday throughout the remainder of the regular season.

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1crime

4 people wanted in random attacks in Boston

As Seen On

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3entertainment

This concert series for Boston-area homeless shelters takes inspiration from the shelter clients themselves

Music This concert series for Boston-area homeless shelters takes inspiration from the shelter clients themselves The public can hear Shelter Music Boston's "Songs of Life" program at a free performance on Sept. 27. Shelter Music Boston performs at CASPAR Emergency Shelter in Cambridge in 2019. Carrie Eldridge-Dickson Shelter Music Boston’s latest concert series, “Songs of Life,” was inspired by — and created for — the clients of local homeless shelters, recovery centers, and affordable housing communities. Shelter clients aren’t the traditional audience for classical music, artistic director Adrian Anantawan admitted — but that’s the whole point. Shelter Music Boston has been performing at Boston-area shelters and substance use recovery centers for years. They’re musicians, but they also see themselves as delivering a social service. Classical music can be therapeutic, Anantawan explained; it can restore dignity; it affirms our shared humanity. Advertisement: “‘Songs of Life’ was a response to the continual feedback that we get from our audiences of, ‘Oh, can you play this piece of music that is important to me in my life?’” Anantawan told Boston.com. “I thought that it would be really lovely to … use those stories and the songs that are meaningful to them to inspire new pieces of classical music so that our audiences really had a form of agency in the music that we’re playing.” Anantawan — a prolific violinist himself, as well as an educator and disability advocate — asked four composers to take shelter audience suggestions and adapt them into new, classical compositions. Composer and violinist Dr. Francine Trester, a Berklee College faculty member who has collaborated with Shelter Music Boston before, chose to riff off of Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger.” Trester’s quartet takes the recognizable motifs of “Eye of the Tiger” and reworks them into something new. Composing with the theme of “hope” in mind, Trester paid special attention to the song’s opening lyrics. “One of the lines is ‘rising up,’ and that really spoke to me,” Trester said. “So one of the things that my music does is [it] gradually rises from a low C, it climbs to a higher C.” Advertisement: For Trester, the process of reworking a preexisting piece and imbuing mimicked the fundamentally human experience of adapting to life’s unexpected twists and turns. “You take what you’re given, and then you make something for yourself out of it,” she said. “I mean, that’s an act of hope, in a way. So I hope that [the audience hears] something familiar in it, but then hear that it’s been taken someplace else, and that they translate that process, that journey, to their own trajectory.” In addition to Trester’s take on “Eye of the Tiger,” the “Songs of Life” program includes original compositions by Ché Buford (who drew inspiration from the Brazilian pop/alternative rock band Tribalistas’ “Eu Gosto de Você”), Anthony R. Green (inspired by A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”), and Sato Masui (inspired by Dead Prez’s “Happiness”). The concert series consists of five private performances by Shelter Music Boston’s string quartet at shelters and recovery sites the week of Sept. 18, plus one free, public performance on Sept. 27 at St. Cecilia Parish in Back Bay. Reservations for the concert are recommended. Advertisement: Dwayne Brown is a volunteer services coordinator for the Boston Public Health Commission who has worked with Shelter Music Boston to set up performances at the Southampton Street and Woods Mullen shelters. “The guests really, truly love Shelter Music Boston coming in,” Brown told Boston.com. “Music sets a tone. It gives you a certain feeling.” “Being in the shelter setting, it’s very busy.” Brown continued. “You’re doing a lot… your mind is full, [but] then by the end of their selection, you’re feeling more relaxed.” At a time when most of the headlines about homelessness in Boston invoke a “crisis” at Mass. and Cass, or reduce struggling people to statistics on a page, Anantawan hopes the public concert leaves people feeling empathy toward the shelter clients whose input shaped the program. “Music is one of those shared languages that we have across cultures, across time, and especially across, just, the people that we see all the time who are going through these challenges,” Anantawan said. “Music provides its own type of shelter,” Trester said, “which everybody needs.”

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4politics

Michigan Supreme Court Decides Trump Can Stay on Ballot

The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday gave Donald J. Trump an important victory in the legal battle over his eligibility to return to the White House by allowing the former president to appear on the state’s primary ballot in February. But in a narrow ruling, the court left the door open for a new challenge to bar Mr. Trump from the general election ballot in the key battleground state over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The decision was the latest in the high-stakes efforts to block Mr. Trump from returning to power. It follows the bombshell ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which on Dec. 19 determined in a 4-to-3 opinion that Mr. Trump should be removed from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Colorado Republican Party said it had asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear an appeal of the decision. Lawyers across the country are venturing into largely unexplored legal terrain that could have far-reaching implications for future elections as they argue over a constitutional amendment passed after the Civil War.

b29881e92957173ee99f3c4ed5e46c82

5science

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno tests positive for COVID-19

SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced this morning. Sarno has been vaccinated and received booster shots. He had kept a busy schedule and is currently experiencing mild symptoms.

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0business

Boston Properties Inc. stock underperforms Friday when compared to competitors

Shares of Boston Properties Inc. BXP, -1.16% slipped 1.16% to $64.01 Friday, on what proved to be an all-around great trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.67% rising 0.67% to 4,405.71 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.73% rising 0.73% to 34,346.90. The stock's fall snapped a two-day winning streak. Boston Properties Inc. closed $23.60 short of its 52-week high ($87.61), which the company reached on September 12th. The stock underperformed when compared to some of its competitors Friday, as W. P. Carey Inc. WPC, -0.36% fell 0.36% to $64.35, Highwoods Properties Inc. HIW, -0.39% fell 0.39% to $22.84, and Kilroy Realty Corp. KRC, -0.91% fell 0.91% to $34.93. Trading volume (928,995) remained 726,985 below its 50-day average volume of 1.7 M. Editor's Note: This story was auto-generated by Automated Insights, an automation technology provider, using data from Dow Jones and FactSet. See our market data terms of use.

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2culture

Mike Grgich Dies at 100; His Wine Stunned the French by Besting Theirs

Mike Grgich, the winemaker at Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley, and his staff were taken aback on May 25, 1976, after they received a surprising telegram. It read in part, “STUNNING SUCCESS IN PARIS TASTING.” What tasting? What success? Without their knowledge, Montelena’s 1973 chardonnay had been entered in a blind tasting held in Paris the day before. The tasting pitted American wines against some of France’s most famous, hallowed bottles. Nine French judges, including some of the leading names in the French food and wine establishment, had selected the Montelena chardonnay as their top white. This result was indeed shocking. American wines back then were considered simple and rustic at best, and no match for the majestic French wines. While the French judges shrank in embarrassed bewilderment, the Americans celebrated. “Not bad for kids from the sticks,” said Jim Barrett, the owner of Montelena. But it was Mr. Grgich, who died on Wednesday at 100, who had made the wine.

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1crime

Police charge Quincy man with lighting a raccoon on fire, report says

Authorities are investigating Monday night’s deadly shooting on Albemarle Street in Springfield. Springfield Police Department responded to the incident at 6:05 p.m. in the 0-100 block of Albemarle Street after a ShotSpotter activation. First responders found a man with a gunshot wound and brought him to Baystate Medical Center. He later died at the hospital, police said. Police have not released the victim’s name nor any arrests in connection with the shooting. The Springfield police homicide unit is investigating under Captain Trent Duda along with the Hampden District Attorney’s Murder Unit. If you have any information on this incident, police urge you to call the detective bureau at 413-787-6355 or anonymously Text-A-Tip. Text CRIMES type SOLVE and your tip. Police are also investigating after a body was found in the pond at Van Horn Park on Monday afternoon. Police responded at 4:20 p.m. to the park at 629 Armory St. to reports of the body, said Ryan Walsh, police spokesman.

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6sports

What is next for the Boston Celtics after the Jrue Holiday trade?

The Boston Celtics have traded for a pair of stars to fortify their roster for title contention in 2023-24, starting with big man Kristaps Porzingis, and finishing with point guard Jrue Holiday. After making a splash with the Holiday deal, what’s next for the storied ball club in its pursuit of Banner 18? There remains the issue of shoring up the depth they sent out in the trades for both stars, with Boston especially thin in the frontcourt after losing center Robert Williams III and reserve forward Grant Williams. But the guard rotation also took a hit in those trades with veteran floor general Marcus Smart and 2023 Sixth Man Malcolm Brogdon being traded away to complete those deals. The hosts of the CLNS Media “Winning Plays” podcast took a long look at what other pending issues the Celtics organization has to sort through this season. Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they think that is. Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ [lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=590969556

4c61f0f1b152c9fdd905f746f55dfd0d

2culture

Whats Ahead in 2024? The Cookie Cutters Tell All.

Ben Clark may be uniquely qualified to predict the outcome of the next presidential election. He’s not a pollster or political strategist. He makes cookie cutters. The metal baking tools are an uncanny cultural bellwether, said Mr. Clark, who runs Ann Clark, the largest cookie-cutter manufacturer in the United States. Just after the 2016 election, he noticed that percentage sales of his Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump cutters roughly aligned with the vote. Last spring, guitar and musical-note shapes began selling at a rapid clip, just as Taylor Swift was starting her Eras tour. In July, cookie cutters shaped like lipsticks and convertible cars picked up steam, thanks to Barbie mania. On a recent morning at the factory in Rutland, Vt., Mr. Clark was puzzling over next year’s election — specifically, how to create a cookie cutter of President Biden, whose silhouette isn’t all that recognizable. Suddenly, it hit him.

3ff9857eb7f0faaebb0a031ed670cb40

1crime

Jurors Find San Francisco Homeless Man Not Guilty in Pipe Beating

A homeless man who beat a former San Francisco city official with a metal pipe was found not guilty of assault charges on Friday, capping a case that had drawn national attention as a symbol of the city’s crime and homelessness problems until a public defender unearthed a surprising back story. The defendant, Garret Allen Doty, 25, faced as many as seven years in prison had he been found guilty of the charges that stemmed from an altercation in San Francisco’s wealthy Marina district. On the evening of April 5, police responded to a neighborhood resident, Don Carmignani, 54, who had a fractured skull and severe injuries to his face that required more than 100 stitches. Multiple witnesses identified Mr. Doty as the assailant, and police arrested him minutes later. But the public defender in the case, Kleigh Hathaway, determined that Mr. Carmignani had sprayed a canister of what appeared to be bear mace before Mr. Doty attacked him. Ms. Hathaway surfaced eight unsolved cases in which pepper spray or bear mace had been used against homeless people in the neighborhood. It was enough, she felt, to argue that Mr. Doty had responded in self-defense. Jurors ultimately agreed on Friday. “This case shows us that the citizens of San Francisco can still tell the difference between right and wrong,” Ms. Hathaway said afterward in an interview.

df673a98ab6e8d1bd78462b1b0ec6251

5science

Seeking a Big Edge in A.I., South Korean Firms Think Smaller

ChatGPT, Bard, Claude. The world’s most popular and successful chatbots are trained on data scraped from vast swaths of the internet, mirroring the cultural and linguistic dominance of the English language and Western perspectives. This has raised alarms about the lack of diversity in artificial intelligence. There is also the worry that the technology will remain the province of a handful of American companies. In South Korea, a technological powerhouse, firms are taking advantage of the technology’s malleability to shape A.I. systems from the ground up to address local needs. Some have trained A.I. models with sets of data rich in Korean language and culture. South Korean companies say they’re building A.I. for Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian audiences. Others are eyeing customers in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, and in industries like medicine and pharmacy. This has fueled hopes that A.I. can become more diverse, work in more languages, be customized to more cultures and be developed by more countries. “The more competition is out there, the more systems are going to be robust: socially acceptable, safer, more ethical,” said Byong-Tak Zhang, a computer science professor at Seoul National University.

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5science

Old Farmers Almanac makes prediction for White Christmas in Mass.

Snowy, white Christmases go way back, further back than when Bing Crosby first sang about them. With a year of turbulent weather almost behind it, what does Massachusetts have to look forward to this holiday season? Will there be snow? The Old Farmer’s Almanac came out with its prediction on Nov. 30, giving people an idea of what to expect this Christmas for much of the United States, and especially Massachusetts. The Almanac predicts snow to be “above normal across the most snow-prone areas, except for the Pacific Northwest.” Narrowing that down, it said New England is on track to see a white Christmas “in the mountains, but not in the foothills and along (Interstate 95).” A map featured in the Almanac’s extended forecast for the end of the year going into 2024 shows New England being labeled as having milder conditions but still snowy. “Along with above-normal snow, we’ll see normal to colder-than-normal temperatures in areas that typically receive snow,” the forecast said. “Expect just the right amount of chill in the air for an afternoon of adventurous snow sports or enjoying a big ol’ mug of hot cocoa by a crackling fire. Only snowy New England and the Atlantic Corridor will enjoy winter temperatures milder than typical for their regions.” “Wetter-than-usual weather is coming to the southern portions of the Deep South, Texas, and California, with potentially drought-quenching rain,” the forecast added. “As the winter map shows, much of the U.S. coastline, from New England down to Florida across the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Southwest, will experience mild to cool temperatures.” The Nov. 30 forecast said that on average, central and southern New England have a 50% chance of having snow on Christmas in a random year, with Boston’s odds as low as 20%. What’s most expected to drive this winter forecast is El Niño, which should strengthen through the winter, the extended forecast said. El Niño going into 2024 would mean warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. This also results in warmer-than-average temperatures across the country, from the southwest to New England, the Weather Channel announced in November. A couple of different factors could affect El Niño’s impact in the winter, the Weather Channel warned. One is an atmospheric response to those warmer waters in the Pacific. No responses “means that Arctic air intrusions could be more common in comparison to typical strong El Nino winters, according to Dr. Todd Crawford, Vice President of Meteorology at Atmospheric G2,” the Weather Channel cited. The other issue relates to polar vortexes weakening later during the winter season, forecasters said. The spilling of cold air trapped in the Arctic out towards Canada, the U.S., Asia and Europe is caused by a “jet stream (that) becomes more blocked with sharp, southward meanders, sending more persistent cold air southward toward the mid-latitudes,” the Weather Channel said. A recent climate report also suggested snowy winters in Massachusetts and across New England could be a thing of the past. The Fifth National Climate Assessment warned of wet rather than snowy winters for parts of the country that historically see snow during the winter. Smaller snowpack levels in the west would mean less impact runoff in states like California and Nevada. In those parts of the country, “small rural water providers that often depend on a single water source or have limited capacity are especially vulnerable,” the report said. Precipitation consisting of rain, though, is expected to increase upwards of five inches, the report said.

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1crime

Charlotte Sena kidnapping suspect Craig Ross Jr. arraigned overnight

Craig Ross Jr., the 46-year-old New York man accused of kidnapping a 9-year-old girl off a bicycle trail at a state park near Lake George, was arraigned on first-degree kidnapping charges around 3 a.m. Tuesday, according to jail records. Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a late-night news briefing that the suspect had been identified after allegedly leaving his fingerprints on a ransom note that state police witnessed him stuffing into Charlotte Sena's mailbox around 4:20 a.m. Monday. Jail records show he was booked into the Saratoga County Jail in Ballston Spa, New York, around 3:40 a.m. A mugshot was not immediately available. State and federal tactical teams on Monday evening stormed a camper behind his mother's double-wide trailer in Milton, just outside Saratoga Springs. CHARLOTTE SENA RESCUED FROM CAMPER CABINET, KIDNAPPING SUSPECT BUSTED AFTER LEAVING RANSOM NOTE "Within the camper, they located the suspect, ": Hochul said during a Friday evening news briefing in Latham. "After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and immediately the little girl was found in a cabinet, covered. She was rescued." Charlotte was taken to a local hospital, where she reunited with her family, Hochul said. VIDEO: FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION SCULPTOR REBUILDS CHILD VICTIM IN BID TO IDENTIFY JANE DOE Ross was still being questioned when the governor spoke around 11 p.m. Monday, she said, and court documents were not immediately available before business hours Tuesday. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP CLICK HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS "We are just elated she came home," Jene Sena, Charlotte's aunt, told Fox News Digital Monday evening after the arrest. Fox News' Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.

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0business

Here are 8 bakers' favorite pastry shops around Greater Boston

Nothing is better than walking into a local bakery and being hit with the smell of freshly baked bread, warm chocolate chip cookies or hints of cinnamon. But before you decide which decorated goodies will tantalize your taste buds, you have to first figure out where to stop for a treat — and the Boston area has a wide range of bakeries to choose from. So, we asked some of the top local bakers to give us recommendations for where they get their favorite baked goods (when they're not whipping them up themselves). Here are the bakers behind the recommendations: Joanne Chang, owner of Flour Bakery and James Beard Foundation Award winner for Outstanding Baker in 2016 Daisy Chow, owner of Breadboard Bakery Soheil Fathi, pastry chef, and Sarah Moridpour, owners of La Saison Chris Goluszka, pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton Maura Kilpatrick, executive pastry chef and owner of Sofra Bakery Or Ohana, cofounder of Bakey Tzurit Or, pastry chef and founder of Tatte Bakery Nicole Walsh, co-owner of Clear Flour Bread From festive treats to every day eats, here are the bakeries they frequent most often and their favorite things to order. And you can read on to get advice on how to judge a bakery's quality (good news: it involves croissants). Bova's Bakery 134 Salem St., Boston — 617-523-5601 Cannoli on display at the counter of Bova's Bakery in Boston's North End. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR) Goluszka's holiday go-to: "If it's a dinner party, Bova's in the North End is my favorite. Their Florentine cannoli is my favorite." Breadboard Bakery 203A Broadway, Arlington — 781-777-2863 Walsh's favorite daily treat: Cinnamon rolls. Clear Flour 178 Thorndike St., Brookline — 617-739-0060 Choosing a new bakery Clear Flour Bread co-owner Nicole Walsh's advice is to stick with something classic and simple. "If they offer laminated pastries, which are like croissants, I'm going to get something that's more basic — like a plain or pan au chocolat croissant just to see how they do," Walsh said. "It's how they make dough, it's how they handle it, and how they follow it through its life cycle. I think it's definitely telling of a bakery who knows what they're doing when they can kind of nail something that's simple and not sort of filled with cream or over the top with crushed candy on top." "I love Clear Flour bread in Brookline. You really cannot go wrong; everything on the menu is incredibly delicious, fresh and so well done," Or said. "Whenever I walk in it always remind me of our first [Tatte] location where we baked in the back. I love it." Or's favorite daily treat: "I usually buy their seasonal crostata — individual size — and eat it all by myself. It's incredibly delicious and fresh. I always get an Epi [bread] to snack on too." Or's favorite loaf: "Back when I started Tatte during the farmers market days and before we started making our own bread, we used Clear Flour bread for all our sandwiches. My daughter grew up eating their bread daily, addicted to their Epis and flower shaped French bread." Ohana's favorite loaf: "Easy pick every day is their Sourdough 2.0." Cocorico Boulangerie 450 Summer St., Boston — 617-476-6664 Chang's favorite daily treat: "It's hard not to recommend pretty much everything made here. The raspberry cruffin, the classic canele, flaky gorgeous pain au chocolat, cinnamon morning bun." Formaggio Kitchen 358 Huron Ave., Cambridge — 617-354-4750 94 Hampshire St., Cambridge — 617-714-5758 268 Shawmut Ave., Boston — 617-350-6996 Chang's holiday go-to: "They are the gold standard for a reason. Their cheeses are unique and top quality; they have a huge selection of crackers and nuts and cookies and chocolates (I love the McCrea's dark chocolate caramels); the staff are all really kind and helpful. It's like Willy Wonka's factory for adults who love food." House of Lavash 7 Cushing Ave., Belmont — 617-484-1575 Fathi on their bread: "We're addicted." Iggy's: The Bakery 130 Fawcett St., Cambridge — 617-924-0949 Chang's favorite loaves: "They make an ancient grain that has almost a custardy interior that I can't stop eating and their francese is on every holiday table in the city — or should be. My all time favorite is the cranberry pecan. It makes excellent toast with a big hunk of butter." SALT Patisserie 792 Beacon St, Newton Centre — 617-467-0695 Kilpatrick's holiday go-to: Their beautiful tarts, in large and individual [sizes]. Ohana's favorite daily treat: "I really like their traditional butter croissant." Kilpatrick's favorite daily treat: "Canelé. It's perfectly toasted, [with a] burnt exterior." Sofra Bakery 1 Belmont St., Cambridge — 617-661-3161 Walsh's favorite daily treat: "I never leave Sofra without one of their earthquake cookies. They're like heaven-sent cookies. If I'm wanting something savory I usually get one of their spreads with one of their crick cracks, which are so good." Tatte Bakery and Café Over 20 locations across Massachusetts A patron walks into Tatte Bakery in Harvard Sq. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Why Ohana goes here for holiday parties: "They have great variety and it's always packed in style and looks amazing." Yi Soon Bakery 112 Brighton Ave., Allston — 617-254-3099 Chow's favorite daily treat: Almond cookies. "They're basically flat almond tuiles with an addictive crunch. Their custard buns and roast pork buns are so light and delicious." VINAL Bakery 222 Somerville Ave., Somerville — 617-718-0148 Goluszka's favorite daily treat: "Their English muffin breakfast sandwiches are the best (flora with an egg, can never go wrong) and they have a good rotating selection of morning pastries. And they have a good maple scone." With additional reporting by WBUR's Amy Gorel.

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1crime

Daughter of couple found dead in Dover mansion was brilliant student

Among the family members who were found dead at their Massachusetts home last week was a first-year college student who was actively involved on campus, according to school officials. Arianna Kamal, a member of the Class of 2027 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, was found dead along with her parents, Teena and Rakesh “Rick” Kamal, at their Dover home on Thursday, Dec. 28. Melissa Hammerle, visiting assistant professor of education studies, described Arianna Kamal as “a brilliant student and an amazing singer,” Middlebury College President Laurie Patton and Vice President for Student Affairs Smita Ruzicka said in a message sent to the Middlebury community on Friday, Dec. 29. “She was connected and engaged in class, and passionate about everything she did,” Hammerle added. “She was a beautiful writer and always did things 110 percent. She was a deeply spiritual person and dove into the material in the first-year seminar course.” Read More: DA identifies family members found dead in Dover mansion The 18-year-old was enrolled in a first-year seminar, taught by Hammerle, involved in MiddMyco, an organization for students with an interest in foraging, as well as the Women in Computer Science club. Arianna Kamal, who also recently read at Middlebury’s Lessons and Carols service and who sang in the College Choir, ”loved singing and was interested in going to Italy with the College opera group,” Hammerle added. “She loved singing together, and her choir community was deeply meaningful to her in her first semester,” said Jeffrey Buettner, director of choral activities and Christian A. Johnson professor of music. Patton and Ruzicka said they have not been in touch with Arianna’s family, but have been communicating and offering support to students who live at Stewart Hall — the same residence hall as Arianna. The school is looking plan a vigil for her once students return from the holiday break later this week. “We know that this news will be difficult for those who knew Aria, those with experiences of domestic violence, those grieving other losses, and for our whole community,” the statement concluded. “Take care of yourselves as you transition into a new year.” The Dover police department got a 911 call from a concerned relative shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, after they’d stoped by the Kamal’s home at 8 Wilson’s Way to check on them, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office said. According to property assessment records in Dover, the home at 8 Wilson’s Way is an 11-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion built in 2000. Characterized as a single-family home, the property’s total value is listed at nearly $7 million. Dover is one of the richest communities in the state. Inside the home, officers found a man, a woman and their teen daughter dead, the office said. Morrissey said that a gun was found by Rakesh Kamal’s body. The most recent homicide in Dover was in 2020, he added. Mark Cautela, head of communications for Harvard Business School, confirmed to MassLive Friday that Rakesh Kamal, 57, served as Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Harvard Business School Online from 2015 to 2019. Cautela said Rakesh Kamal had not worked at Harvard since 2019, and that they weren’t aware of him having any publications published by the university. Meanwhile a spokesperson with the American Red Cross also confirmed to MassLive Friday that Teena Kamal, 54, served on the regional Board of Directors and served as vice-chair of the Massachusetts Tiffany Circle. “The American Red Cross is deeply saddened by the tragedy in Dover,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to their loved ones during this devastating time.” Though the ongoing investigation is still in preliminary stages, detectives believe the family’s deaths were the result of domestic violence, the district attorney’s office said. Officials do not believe an outside party was involved and stated there is no danger to the public. The medical examiner’s office is still investigating the cause and manner of the deaths.

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2culture

A Cozy One-Pot Chicken for a Fuss-Free Holiday

But the tsimmes I grew up with were simple vegetable side dishes, a pretty mix of orange-hued roots dotted with dark prunes and glistening with honey, baked until plush and velvety. Sure, there was some peeling and chopping, but next to frying latkes, pinching kreplach and rolling matzo balls, a pan of tsimmes was the one fuss-free part of the holiday preparation. With that ease in mind, I created this tsimmes as a convenient holiday showpiece. Since Hanukkah is approaching, I wanted a one-pot dish that was festive enough for a holiday meal, yet easy enough to leave time to make latkes. Tsimmes recipes vary greatly, but the version I grew up with included honey and orange juice to nudge the natural sweetness of the root vegetables and dried fruit. For this main-course version, I decided to nix the honey and use only orange juice, which reduces during simmering to a vibrant, tangy glaze.

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4politics

Another take on Henry Kissinger: Cambodian-Americans in Mass. see man who destroyed their country

And for many his death has resurrected painful stories of a homeland wracked by decades of civil war, and the US’s deadly legacy continues to this day as Cambodia labors to demine and clear the countryside of tons of unexploded ordnance. But to some Cambodian Americans in Massachusetts and across the country, Henry Kissinger was something else entirely: the man who directed the secret US bombing of their home country and paved the way for the rise of a genocidal regime. He has been described since his death Wednesday as a “noted statesman,” a “scholar-turned-diplomat,” and a giant of American foreign policy who helped avert nuclear war. Advertisement “People are posting [on social media] that he’s evil or that they’re surprised he lived to 100 [considering] the acts he was involved with,” said Sovanna Pouv, a longtime leader in the Cambodian-American community in Lowell, the city with the second-biggest Cambodian-American population in the country, after Long Beach, Calif. Pouv, like so many Cambodian Americans, came to the United States as a refugee after the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group, took over the country and killed at least 1.5 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. The personal tragedies of that brutal period were vividly rendered in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields. Some historians and Cambodian Americans believe Kissinger’s actions in Cambodia during the Vietnam War created the circumstances for the rise of the regime. During that war, Kissinger, serving under President Richard Nixon first as national security advisor and then secretary of state, directed the carpet bombing of broad swaths of Cambodian territory where, he said, Vietnamese communist soldiers were hiding out. In an now-infamous excerpt from a transcript of phone calls in 1970, Kissinger relays Nixon’s order for an expanded bombing to his assistant, Gen. Alexander Haig. Advertisement “He wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn’t want to hear anything. It’s an order, it’s to be done,” Kissinger said. “Anything that flies, on anything that moves. You got that?” The bombing began as a covert operation against a neighboring state. It killed at least 50,000 civilians, but likely many, many more, and destabilized the country. “That really laid the foundation for the Khmer Rouge genocide,” said Vesna Nuon, one of Lowell’s three Cambodian-American city councilors. “They used [the bombing] as propaganda and a tool for recruiting a large group of Cambodians to join them.” The 60-year old Nuon recalled that as a child in Cambodia, he sometimes overheard his father and his father’s friends discussing Kissinger in the early 1970s. “My father would talk about how bitter he was and how Kissinger and the others who planned [the bombing] got away with it for a long time,” he said. “Have you ever once heard [Kissinger] say that what he did to Cambodia was wrong?” Nuon said. “I don’t think he ever once said that.” A foremost practitioner of realpolitik, Kissinger largely dismissed criticisms of his Cambodia record, sometimes defending himself as a man making pragmatic choices among terrible options. Critics have alleged his decisions in Cambodia amounted to war crimes. State Representative Vanna Howard, whose district includes Lowell, said her uncle was killed in the US bombing of Cambodia. Her father, both maternal grandparents, and her three younger siblings were killed in the civil war that followed. “Only my mom and I survived,” she said. Advertisement “It’s unfortunate [Kissinger] was never brought to justice,” she added. Pouv, 43, said that not all Cambodian Americans are aware of Kissinger. “I didn’t know about him until I was in my 30s,” he said. Pouv was born in a refugee camp near the Thai border and came to the United States with his family as a toddler. The family moved to Lowell in the mid-1980s, he said. His mother never talked about the bombing or the civil war preceding the Khmer Rouge’s takeover of the country. “She lost her parents in the war and was separated from her sister,” he said. Once they reached the United States, “she was trying to survive in this new country and…she kind of brushed a lot of it under the rug.” At Lowell High School, Pouv said, “they barely talked about the Cambodian genocide.” He graduated in 1999 and, later, educated himself about Kissinger, the bombing, and the civil war. (Pouv was the executive director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell from 2014 to 2021, and then moved to Long Beach.) Sokhary Chau, 50, the mayor of Lowell, said many older Cambodians, including his elder siblings, came to the US as young adults and were too old to enroll in school. “They started working right away,” he said, and may never have caught up on details of Cambodia’s history. Kissinger’s death, Pouv said, “is a big opportunity to educate the community about what he did.” Advertisement Chau said his father was killed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. He was just a young boy when his mother managed to bring all seven children out of Cambodia in 1979. But Chau said he only learned of Kissinger “after many years in school in the US.” Over the years, he has come to take a more expansive view of Kissinger’s legacy that acknowledges his record beyond Cambodia. “I laud Mr. Kissinger for many valuable and successful foreign policies around the world,” Chau said. Kissinger is credited with brokering China’s opening to the United States and with remaking the US-Soviet relationship during the Cold War. He was also jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 with his communist counterpart Le Duc Tho for negotiating the armistice in Vietnam. Two members of the Nobel Committee quit the committee in protest and Le Duc Tho refused to accept the prize. But Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under two presidents and advised many more, was also accused of being the architect of other US foreign policy outrages, including supporting the coup that toppled Chilean president Salvador Allende and ushered in the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. US Congresswoman Lori Trahan, whose district includes Lowell, is the chair of the Congressional Cambodia Caucus. She said on Thursday: “Secretary Kissinger will undoubtedly be celebrated for the diplomatic breakthroughs he negotiated… At the same time, many Cambodian and Vietnamese families here in Massachusetts and across our nation will remember him for the dark legacy he left in their home countries.” Advertisement Mike Damiano can be reached at mike.damiano@globe.com.

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4politics

Why Iran Is the Common Link in Conflicts From Gaza to Pakistan

Israel and Gaza. Yemen and the Red Sea. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq — and now Pakistan, too. At every flashpoint in a set of conflicts spanning 1,800 miles and involving a hodgepodge of unpredictable armed actors and interests, there’s been a common thread: Iran. Tehran has left its imprint with its behind-the-scenes-backing of combatants in places like Lebanon and Yemen, and with this week’s direct missile strikes on targets in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. The Iran connection stems partly from Iran’s decades-long efforts to deter threats and undermine foes by building up like-minded militias across the Middle East. In addition, Iran itself, like neighboring countries, faces armed separatist movements and terrorist groups in conflicts that readily spill over borders.

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1crime

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, wants license back after deadly crash

A commercial truck driver from Ukraine who faces a deportation order is trying to get his driving privileges back now that he’s been acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire. “I would like to request a hearing to get my license back,” Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 28, of West Springfield, wrote to the New Hampshire Department of Safety in September, according to records obtained by The Associated Press under the state’s open records law.

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6sports

Myrtle Beach Bowl: How to watch Georgia Southern vs. Ohio for free

Bowl season kicks off Saturday morning in Conway, South Carolina, as the Ohio Bobcats (9-3) take on the Georgia Southern Eagles (6-6) in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. It’s the first-ever meeting between the two schools and each team’s first bowl game in Myrtle Beach. Kickoff is at 11:00 a.m. ET with the game set to air on ESPN. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Georgia Southern is a 3.5-point favorite over Ohio. The over/under is set at 48.5 points. Fans looking to watch this college football game can do so for free on fuboTV, which offers a free trial (as well as RedZone, for you NFL fans) or on DirecTV Stream, which also offers a free trial. SlingTV has promotional offers available, as well. Through the end of 2023, fuboTV is also offering $20 off the first two months of subscription (in addition to the 7-day free trial). It’ll also stream live on WatchESPN and ESPN+. Who: Ohio vs. Georgia Southern — Myrtle Beach Bowl (ESPN) When: Saturday, Dec. 16 — 11:00 a.m. ET Where: Brooks Stadium in Conway, SC Stream: fuboTV (free trial + $20 off your first 2 months); or Sling; or DirecTV Stream Tickets: StubHub and *VividSeats *New customers who purchase tickets through VividSeats can get $20 off a $200+ ticket order by using the promo code MassLive20 at checkout.* Gear: Shop around at Fanatics for jerseys, hats, polos, sneakers, shirts and more Sports Betting Promos: Football fans can wager online on Massachusetts sports betting with enticing promo codes from top online sportsbooks. Use the FanDuel Massachusetts promo code and the DraftKings Massachusetts promo code for massive new user bonuses. RELATED CONTENT: Ohio is looking for its second-straight 10-win season when the Bobcats face Georgia Southern in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. The game will takes place on the campus of Coastal Carolina about 15 miles West of the Grand Strand beach area. This will be the first meeting between Ohio of the Mid-American Conference and the Eagles of the Sun Belt. Neither team has appeared in the Myrtle Beach Bowl before. This is the Bobcats 15th overall bowl game while Georgia Southern is playing in its sixth bowl contest. Ohio (9-3, Mid-American) vs. Georgia Southern (6-6, Sun Belt), Dec. 16, 11 a.m. ET LOCATION: Conway, South Carolina TOP PLAYERS Ohio: QB Kurtis Rourke, 2,207 yards passing, 11 touchdowns, five interceptions. Georgia Southern: QB Brin Davis, 3,341 yards passing, 22 touchdowns, 16 interceptions. NOTABLE Ohio: The Bobcats have recorded consecutive nine-win regular seasons for the first time in school history. Georgia Southern: The Eagles were bowl eligible by the end of October, but lost their past four games. LAST TIME This is the first-ever meeting between Ohio and Georgia Southern. BOWL HISTORY Ohio: First appearance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, 15th bowl game in school history. Georgia Southern: First appearance in Myrtle Beach Bowl, sixth bowl game in school history. The Associated Press contributed to this article

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1crime

Man suffers life-threatening injures in Boston shooting; suspect under arrest

A Quincy man was arrested after police say he tried to light a raccoon on fire, according to a report. Police arrived at the backyard of a home on Royal Street in Quincy on Dec. 30, according to NBC Boston. Police told the outlet that, upon arrival, they saw two people arguing and a raccoon in a cage that appeared to have burn injuries. Police got video of a 63-year-old Quincy man making a fire in a tin can, then placing the cage with the raccoon inside on top of the burning trash can, according to NBC Boston. The man was charged with animal cruelty and was arraigned on Tuesday, while the raccoon was taken to an animal hospital, where it survived, but the severity of the injuries was unknown, NBC Boston said.

03158ab9ff89adfb542d4a67717230fa

1crime

Gypsy Rose Blanchard out of prison years after persuading boyfriend to kill her abusive mother

Mejía’s son is a second grader in the South End at Blackstone Elementary School, where 48 percent of the students are non-native English speakers and classes are taught entirely in English. Although Mejía speaks in Spanish with her son at home, she fears, little by little, he’ll lose their common tongue, and with that, his connections to his roots and any academic and professional opportunities afforded by being bilingual. “You can put the language in front of him and he won’t understand it,” Mejía, 45, of Roxbury, said through an interpreter. A few months ago, María Mejía’s son traveled to her native Dominican Republic with his grandmother. Almost immediately, the 8-year-old wanted to go home, she said. No one spoke English, he complained. He felt uncomfortable in a country where Spanish is the dominant tongue. His admission nearly broke his mother’s heart. Advertisement Mejía and other parents from diverse backgrounds have long complained about how Boston Public Schools teach their children, prioritizing learning English through immersion over retaining and developing their native language skills. But the district’s latest plan for educating its multilingual students has stroked fears that BPS is not only putting children’s bilingualism at risk, but their ability to learn other subjects, such as math, science and history. On Oct. 18, BPS unveiled a multipart inclusion plan to overhaul its special education and multilingual programs, made as part of a deal with the state to avoid a takeover of the district and being labeled “underperforming.” But the plan has been mired in controversy from the start: Two weeks after BPS formally introduced the plan, nine members of a 13-person task force charged with advising the School Committee on how to best serve the needs of English learners resigned in protest, calling the changes “ill-advised” and “harmful” to students. Advertisement Some Spanish-speaking families have also begun circulating an online petition, demanding that BPS immediately postpone implementing the inclusion plan, arguing that parents weren’t given enough time to participate in or understand it. In late December, several met with representatives from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is overseeing the BPS’s progress in addressing its long-standing problems, to urge the agency to push back on the district. “They’re trying to make a plan for inclusion,” said Mejía, one of the parent advocates who met with DESE, “but it’s going to hurt a lot of children.” Critics claim BPS has historically failed to serve the needs of its English learners, who equal nearly a third of all students in the district. The district’s treatment of English learners has been subjected to state and federal intervention for failing to provide them with appropriate services, and the office in charge of English learners has been rife with turnover. BPS sees “concerns mostly in Black or white,” said former School Committee member Miren Uriarte, who resigned from the English learners task force. “And immigrant kids,” she added, “did not fit on either side.” Uriarte said the district should significantly expand bilingual programs, so non-native English speakers can learn core academic subjects in their primary language. A retired UMass Boston professor, Uriarte has conducted research on the district’s methods for teaching students learning English and found that English learners who are only taught in English have worse academic outcomes, including far higher drop out rates. Advertisement Under the district’s plan, students learning English will be split from their English-speaking peers for up to an hour and a half of direct English instruction a day, rather than spending their entire days in Sheltered English Immersion, or SEI, classrooms, where they are taught separately from their English-speaking peers. The plan will gradually take effect and by the 2026-27 school year, all English learners in grades K-12 will be taught in inclusive settings with access to English as a Second Language, or ESL, services. Teams at every school were expected to deliver school-level plans on Dec. 5, including recommendations on shifting resources and ensuring they have the necessary staff. BPS guidance for inclusion planning teams states the future of English learner education in the district could include dual-language programming — considered among researchers to be the gold-standard of bilingual education — if schools choose to offer it. The district’s incoming chief of of multilingual and multicultural education, Joelle Gamere, the seventh person to helm the office since 2019, told the Globe in an interview she was committed to expanding dual-language programs, noting that students who are taught in both their native language and English yield better results based on her experience starting Mattahunt Elementary’s Haitian Creole academy. At the same time, the district has rolled back specific goals for expanding dual language: In a strategic plan submitted to the state last year, the district said it would add 25 new bilingual programs by June 2025. A revised plan from October makes no mention of the 25 new dual-language programs the district had previously pledged to launch. Advertisement Sarah Fuller, an inclusion specialist at the Blackstone school, said while teachers support inclusion, schools haven’t been given enough time to develop their inclusion plans — especially for implementing more complex programs like dual-language — and guidance from the district has been limited and unclear. And to make inclusion work, Fuller said, high-needs schools like hers will need additional staff, including more ESL teachers. But after submitting Blackstone’s plan earlier this month, which calls for hiring more personnel, the district told school leadership they “were asking for too much,” Fuller said. “We’re just so frustrated,” she said. “It all seems like the district is either ignoring or does not care.” A SEI teacher on the inclusion planning team at a high-needs elementary school said she also is in favor of inclusion in theory, but she worries students like hers, many of whom have low-level English proficiency, will fall behind in a general education setting without more thoughtful planning and more staff. In SEI classrooms, non-native English speakers are taught with curriculum designed specifically for them, and they have more opportunities to communicate with peers and teachers in their native language. “If they’re fully surrounded in English, it’s very overwhelming,” said the teacher, who asked not to be identified to protect her job, which hangs in the balance under the district’s new plan. “They don’t participate. They’re not really getting work done.” Advertisement District officials have said the new inclusion plan aligns with feedback from and standards set by DESE and the US Department of Justice. A routine monitoring assessment last summer by DESE of the district’s SEI programs found they do not meet current state requirements and that some students in these programs feel isolated from their English-speaking peers. BPS has also defended the plan, citing an August 2022 letter from the Justice Department stating the district must avoid “unnecessarily” segregating English learners. The Justice Department has never mandated the complete dismantling of BPS’s SEI programs, said Roger Rice, executive director of Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy, an organization that sued the district in the ‘90s for failing to adequately support its growing English learner population. In 2010, after probes by the US Department of Justice and Department of Education found the district had violated the civil rights of English learners, BPS reached a settlement agreement with the federal government, requiring the district to reform its programs for English learners. The settlement lists a variety of programs that BPS can provide its English learners, including SEI and bilingual education, stipulating only that the district must avoid completely segregating them from their English-speaking peers and include them in general education classes such as music, gym and art. “In other words, DOJ is not telling Boston how it has to teach [English learners],” Rice said. The state’s current guidance on English learner services also explicitly encourages school districts to use a variety of English learner programs, including SEI, dual language, and transitional bilingual programs, noting that students’ needs vary significantly. “It’s all a cover to move kids from their current placements in SEI into general ed. with ESL,” said John Mudd, one of the task force members who resigned, of the district’s plan. “They’re doubling down in the wrong direction.” Just 7 percent of English learners are in the district’s dual-language programs in which students receive instruction in two languages. Meanwhile, nearly half of beginner to intermediate level English learners already are being taught in general education classrooms, with as much as an hour and a half of ESL instruction during the school day, according to district projections, while the rest are mostly in SEI classrooms. If the Blackstone had offered a dual-language program, Mejía said she would have seized on the opportunity for her son. She wants him to retain his ability to speak Spanish as she considers his future career and college prospects. “He’ll go to university, get a job, and he’ll be able to help a lot of people who speak multiple languages,” she said. “If they know more than one language, they’re able to open many doors.” Deanna Pan can be reached at deanna.pan@globe.com. Follow her @DDpan.

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4politics

Who Is Lai Ching-te, Taiwans Next President?

In 2014, when Lai Ching-te was a rising political star in Taiwan, he visited China and was quizzed in public about the most incendiary issue for leaders in Beijing: his party’s stance on the island’s independence. His polite but firm response, people who know him say, was characteristic of the man who was on Saturday elected president and is now set to lead Taiwan for the next four years. Mr. Lai was addressing professors at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai, an audience whose members, like many mainland Chinese, almost certainly believed that the island of Taiwan belongs to China. Mr. Lai said that while his Democratic Progressive Party had historically argued for Taiwan’s independence — a position that China opposes — the party also believed that any change in the island’s status had to be decided by all its people. His party was merely reflecting, not dictating, opinion, he said. The party’s position “had been arrived at through a consensus in Taiwanese society,” Mr. Lai said.

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4politics

Poll: Americans sour on primary election process, major political parties

By Nicholas Riccardi and Linley Sanders WASHINGTON (AP) — With the GOP presidential primaries just about to start, many Republicans aren’t certain that votes will be counted correctly in their contest, as pessimism spreads about the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About one-third of Republicans say they have a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that votes in the Republican primary elections and caucuses will be counted correctly. About three in 10 Republicans report a “moderate” amount of confidence, and 32% say they have “only a little” or “none at all.” In contrast, 72% of Democrats have high confidence their party will count votes accurately in its primary contests. Democrats are also slightly more likely than Republicans to have a high level of confidence in the Republican Party’s vote count being accurate. Republicans continue to be broadly doubtful about votes being counted accurately — in the early contests or beyond them. About one-quarter of Republicans say they have at least “quite a bit” of confidence that the votes in the 2024 presidential election will be counted accurately, significantly lower than Democrats. Slightly fewer than half of U.S. adults overall (46%) believe the same, which is in line with an AP-NORC poll conducted in June. The skepticism among Republicans comes after years of former President Donald Trump falsely blaming his 2020 loss on election fraud. Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed. “Nothing will be fair because the last election was rigged,” said Julie Duggan, 32, of Chicago, a Trump voter, referring to 2020. “I don’t trust any of them at this point.” The AP-NORC poll found a widespread lack of trust in both major political parties among U.S. adults overall. About one-quarter of U.S. adults say they have “only a little” confidence or “none at all” that both the Democratic Party and Republican Party have a fair process for selecting a presidential nominee. About half of independents have that low level of confidence in both party’s processes, compared with one-quarter of Republicans and 19% of Democrats. Slightly fewer than half of U.S. adults — 46% — say they are pessimistic about the way the country’s leaders are chosen. About half of U.S. adults are pessimistic about the future of the Republican Party, including one-third of Republicans and 45% of independents. The poll found 45% of U.S. adults are pessimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, including about one-quarter of Democrats and 41% of independents. Former President Donald Trump listens as he speaks with reporters while in flight after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport in Texas on March 25. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)AP “The way they’re spending our money, sending it all over the world and not protecting our people here in the United States of America,” said Gary Jackson, a 65-year-old retired trucker and Republican in Boise, Idaho. “Right now, I’m not impressed with either party.” Christine Allen, a political independent in Gambrills, Md., sees her state’s last governor, Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican, as a model for the country. But Hogan refused to run in the GOP presidential primary, which she sees as emblematic of how the two-party system prevents talented leaders from holding office, “Everybody right now is a bunch of children, stomping their feet until they get their way,” Allen, 44, said. “Everybody’s at fault here. There’s no winners.” Nonetheless, Allen thinks the primaries will be fair. “They’re fairer than the Electoral College,” she said. Even those who identify with the two political parties are uneasy about whom their organizations will nominate. A recent AP-NORC poll found that Democrats and Republicans are also not especially confident that their party’s primary contests will result in a candidate who can win the general election in November. Additionally, there are some doubts on both sides that the emerging candidates will represent their party’s views or Americans overall. Only three in 10 Democrats say they are confident the Democratic party’s process will result in a candidate whose views represent most Americans. About one-quarter of Democrats believe the process will produce a candidate whose views represent their own. Similarly, about three in 10 Republicans say the GOP process will produce a candidate who represents a majority of Americans. About one-third of Republicans expect they’ll get a nominee whose views represent their own. Mark Richards, a 33-year-old middle school teacher in Toledo, Ohio, and a Democrat, said he expects President Joe Biden will be nominated again by the party, despite his low job approval numbers. The incumbent faces only token opposition in the Democratic presidential primary. “I feel like there’s got to be someone better out there, but I don’t think another Democrat is going to unseat Joe Biden,” Richards said. Though Richards thinks the primaries will be fair and the votes accurately counted, he sees the nominating system as inherently flawed. “It’s all about money, who can get the most money from PACs and Super PACs,” he said, referring to political committees that donate to candidates or spend millions of dollars on their behalf. The poll of 1,074 adults was conducted Nov. 30–Dec. 4, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4%.

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0business

Alaska Airlines cancels all flights on Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft through Jan. 13 after mid-air door blowout

Alaska Airlines has canceled all flights on Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft through January 13 after a mid-air blowout forced an emergency landing in Portland as startled passengers clutched oxygen masks with a gaping hole in the plane. In an online update Wednesday, Alaska Airlines said it continues to wait for documentation from Boeing and the FAA to begin inspection of the airlines's 737-9 MAX fleet. "We regret the significant disruption that has been caused for our guests by cancellations due to these aircraft being out of service. However, the safety of our employees and guests is our highest priority and we will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaska’s stringent standards," the update shared online said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS "As of this morning, we have made the decision to cancel all flights on 737-9 MAX aircraft through Saturday, Jan. 13 while we conduct inspections and prepare fully for return to service," Alaska Airlines continued. "This equates to between 110-150 flights per day. We hope this action provides guests with a little more certainty, and we are working around the clock to reaccommodate impacted guests on other flights."

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4politics

Springfield to collect Christmas trees in January; plus a post-holiday recycling advisory

SPRINGFIELD — The Department of Public Works will collect Christmas trees on residents’ regular recycling days for most of January. The tree pickup program runs from Jan. 2 to 26. Trees should be placed on the curb, free of all decorations. They should not be placed in plastic bags, and trees that are covered in snow or buried in snowbanks will not be collected, city officials said. Residents also can drop their trees off at Bondi’s Island at no charge. For more information about holiday collections, people can call the city’s landfill at 413-787-7840. In other holiday refuse requirements, the following should be recycled: flattened, corrugated, cardboard boxes with no tape, and paperboard gift boxes; greeting cards with no metallic inks or glitter; gift wrap, gift bags and tissue wrap, free of foil or glitter; paper shopping bags regardless of handle; paperbacks and phone books; junk mail; and aluminum cans and foil. The following should not be recycled: ribbons, bows and tinsel; packing peanuts and any type of plastic foam; holiday lights; glass, such as light bulbs, dishes, glasses, Pyrex, ceramics and any broken glass; plastic bags, pizza boxes and used paper plates, cups, napkins and toilet tissue.

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0business

New head of JCC has eye on expansion

With the help of chief development officer Jillian Kohl , Rabinoff-Goldman got to work. Many donors stepped up, led by three seven-figure gifts from developer Arthur Winn and his family, the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation (cofounded by former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman ), and the Chleck Family Foundation . That was in the summer of 2022, and Rabinoff-Goldman was recruited from her administrative job at the Gann Academy to take over for the Newton-based organization following the retirement of longtime chief executive Mark Sokoll . One of the first items on her to-do list: raise $5 million to renovate and update the lobby areas of the JCC’s complex in Newton. Lily Rabinoff-Goldman had barely settled into her then-new job as CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston when she had to start raising money. Such is the life of a nonprofit executive. Advertisement They pulled it off, and construction finally is set to begin this week on the 11,000-square-foot project. The remodeling of the 1980s-era lobby includes a new “J-Cafe” and teen lounge as well as new communal seating areas. Rabinoff-Goldman hopes contractor Elaine Construction Co. will have the bulk of the work done in time for a gala honoring former JCC chair Lou Grossman in April. The project represents the last phase of a series of upgrades to the facility that began in 2015 but were put on hold early in the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has felt really exciting that people wanted to be part of the next phase,” Rabinoff-Goldman said. “It gives people a sense of community. That’s the thing that we emerged from COVID wanting filled. ... Essentially, we are creating new ways to gather for informal and more formal programming within the building.” She also has had to help the JCC navigate a much larger project next door, the construction of a 174-unit senior living complex by 2Life Communities, a project that required the JCC to use its emergency back entrance as its main front gate. Advertisement Remodeling aside, it’s been “an amazing learning curve” getting up to speed on the organization and its various services, including its fitness center and summer camps, she said. The JCC employs about 450 people year-round (and many more in the summer), brings in about $26 million a year in revenue, and has about 2,500 members. “This is a JCC that’s not afraid to try new things,” Rabinoff-Goldman said. “This is a super-creative and innovative organization.” Jim Rooney, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Chamber chief has an eye on crime During her State of the City speech last Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu highlighted the drop in gun violence under her watch. But she didn’t mention another crime stat that Jim Rooney, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, brought up two days later in a video address to chamber members, in which he conveyed “growing concerns” about personal safety in downtown Boston, among many of the issues he cited that the chamber will be watching in 2024. “Shootings are down,” Rooney noted, “but overall crime in the city increased 2 percent from the year before.” Rooney also cited a busted-up transit system and lack of affordable child care as obstacles to bringing more workers back downtown after the office towers emptied out early in the pandemic. In a subsequent interview, Rooney said he regularly hears from people who live or work downtown and feel it has become less safe since before the pandemic. Yes, Boston is safe when compared to many other cities of its size, Rooney said, but he doesn’t want civic leaders to be lulled into complacency. Rooney says he has expressed these concerns to Wu, and believes she takes them seriously. Advertisement “It’s tricky for a chamber president and for a mayor to say things out loud that might dissuade people from coming downtown,” Rooney said. “I don’t want to be the person painting the picture that downtown isn’t a safe place. It is. [But] I don’t want to be the Amityville sheriff either, [saying] ‘go in the water while the shark swims by.’” Marketing maven Colette Phillips, pictured on April 5, 2021. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff With new book, Phillips highlights allies who promote diversity In 2014, marketing maven Colette Phillips did something unexpected for a Black woman known for highlighting people of color: She shone the spotlight on white guys instead. Phillips came up with a list of diversity supporters, dubbed “White Men Who Could Jump,” to highlight white executives who are working to make their companies more inclusive. Now, Phillips has taken it a big step further, by writing a book about the topic, called “The Includers.” She’s scheduled to talk about the book on Tuesday, its publication date, at the ‘Quin House, alongside one of her “includers,” Eastern Bank chief executive Bob Rivers. Other prominent local executives who get shout-outs in her book include State Street’s Ron O’Hanley, Liberty Mutual’s Tim Sweeney, and Tim Ryan at PwC. The book is jam-packed with strategies for improving an organization’s diversity, examples of how it’s done, and descriptions of the tangible benefits. Advertisement The book arrives at a time when corporate diversity efforts, known collectively as “DEI,” are under fire. The new wave of criticism — Phillips calls it “anti-woke rhetoric” — makes her book, published by BenBella Books, even more timely. “I got pushback from people of color: ‘You’re Miss Diversity in Boston, I can’t believe you’re going to honor all white men,’” Phillips said. “My contention is, you have to amplify and spotlight the white guys who get it ... so that others will emulate them.” North Carolina-based Honeywell has hired Interise to run its “StreetWise MBA” program for potential city contractors, to help diversify Honeywell’s Boston-area roster of suppliers as it proceeds with various upgrades to city buildings. Justin Sullivan/Getty Honeywell teams up to boost minority contracting While the city of Boston has been criticized for awarding relatively few city contracts to Black- or Latino-led businesses, a partnership between a giant industrial conglomerate and a Boston-based nonprofit is trying out a new approach to change that. North Carolina-based Honeywell has hired Interise to run the nonprofit’s “StreetWise MBA” program for potential city contractors, to help diversify Honeywell’s Boston-area roster of suppliers as it proceeds with various upgrades to city buildings. The StreetWise MBA program, usually taught over the course of a dozen or so classes, teaches management, procurement, and business development skills. “They want to bid on more city contracts, and retain the one they have when it comes up for renewal,” Interise chief executive Darrell Byers said, in reference to Honeywell. Representatives from 15 contractors are set to begin Interise classes at UMass Boston on Jan. 25. If this pilot program proves successful, Byers said, Honeywell may try it in other cities, and it could be a model for other Boston companies to replicate. He added: “We’re taking away that stigma that we can’t find minority businesses.” Advertisement In November, Kate Haranis left her role as a senior manager in corporate public relations at Boston Scientific to launch Haranis & Co., which aims to help local life sciences tell their unique stories. The Boston Globe/Boston Globe Haranis pursues a dream she didn’t know she had When she was young, Kate Haranis didn’t dream about becoming a med-tech PR consultant. But then, as she would be quick to point out, what kid does? However, as her career progressed, at PR shops Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications and Denterlein, and then as a senior manager in corporate public relations at Boston Scientific, Haranis realized she did have that dream, after all. In November, she left Boston Scientific to pursue it. She is launching Haranis & Co. to help local life sciences companies tell their unique stories. For now, she’ll work out of her Southborough home, which may or may not come in handy while raising two young children. Haranis got her start at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, with the help of Levi Garraway, now chief medical officer at Roche, and also learned from mentors such as Geri Denterlein and the late Larry Rasky. While Haranis doesn’t have an M.D. or Ph.D. after her name, she does have something important to offer the region’s med-tech cluster. “I’m not scientifically gifted [but] what I am good at is storytelling,” Haranis said. “Better storytelling isn’t just helpful to a company’s reputation and bottom line. It can actually make connections that accelerate innovation.” Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.

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6sports

3 Takeaways from undermanned Bruins loss to Devils

Jack Hughes’ wrist shot, 2 minutes, 47 seconds into overtime eluded Jeremy Swayman’s catching glove en route to the overtime goal that gave the Devils a 2-1 win over the Bruins on Thursday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Bruins (18-6-3) scored late in the first period, but never again as the Devils built momentum from there. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. With Pavel Zacha out, the Bruins were hoping Morgan Geekie could help fill the offensive void and put him on a line with David Pastrnak to open the game. That combination didn’t score, but Geekie turned a terrific individual effort into his third goal of the season to put Boston ahead 1-0 with 3:09 left in the first period. The Bruins were living dangerously in the second period into the early third but Swayman kept New Jersey off the scoreboard until former Boston forward Erik Haula’s grind in front led to Dawson Mercer’s tying goal that eventually forced overtime. Boston stays on the road, but doesn’t go far. They’re at the New York Islanders on Friday. Here are three takeaways from the Bruins’ road loss: New Jersey dominated overtime — The Devils’ talented young roster is well-suited for the three-on-three overtime session and they dominated the Bruins in the extra session. Boston didn’t get a single shot, while Swayman made six of his 34 stops after regulation. Jack Hughes, who has played well against the Bruins throughout his young career got a clear look for the winning goal. The shorthanded Bruins leaned heavily on their veterans — With Charlie McAvoy and Derek Forbort both out of the Bruins lineup, Jim Montgomery pushed Brandon Carlo and Hampus Lindholm for iron man efforts. Lindholm played 23:35, while Carlo skated 22:03. Jim Montgomery chooses not to play Jesper Boqvist — One of the reasons Montgomery said the Bruins chose Boqvist as the player to call up for Wednesday’s game at New Jersey was that Boqvist had spent his entire career in the Devils organization before signing with Boston during the offseason. Montgomery reasoned that players often had extra juice against their former teams to prove that team shouldn’t have let them go. Boqvist might have had that juice, but Montgomery didn’t play him. Instead, Jakub Lauko and Oskar Steen both were in the lineup on the fourth line.

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2culture

Loneliness Is Inescapable. So Lets Talk About It. - The New York Times

The Opinion video above gives voice to the lonely. We are publishing it at the end of a year in which loneliness started getting the kind of attention it has long deserved — an effort led, in large part, by the surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy. In a guest essay last spring, he revealed that he, too, had struggled with loneliness and said the nation was facing “an epidemic of loneliness and isolation.” Several days later, he issued a surgeon general advisory about the problem, calling it a “public health crisis” and outlining a strategy to confront it. The New York Times invited readers to share how loneliness was affecting their lives. More than 1,400 people responded — young and old, from every corner of the country, every walk of life. Each response was like a message in a bottle cast into the water from a distant island. “I should have recognized my malaise long before I found myself lying on my living room floor each night after work,” wrote Karen S., a 37-year-old from California. “I’d just lie on the hardwood and stare at the ceiling for hours, paralyzed. In December 2019, I suffered a heart attack. I believe stress and loneliness caused, if not contributed, to the attack.” John W., 51, from Massachusetts wrote: “I feel most lonely when my spouse comes home after a long day and decompresses with social media. I keep it to myself, since expressing my loneliness to my spouse is only met with gaslighting. It would be nice if someone would extend an invite to coffee or something.”

206adb2f19a356b26f86f8e81a4cd026

3entertainment

The year of the Meganverse: Here are the best and worst Megans of 2023

For better or worse, this has been the year of the Megans. Featuring gay icons and literal royalty, here are our picks of the best and worst of 2023. Reckon’s Best Megans: M3GAN The horror movie “M3GAN” was released Jan. 6, but the movie was trending since the trailer dropped. The story focuses on M3GAN, a lifelike doll powered by AI who becomes best friends with her creator’s niece. However, M3GAN’s true evil intentions begin to show, putting her creator and family in danger. With killer dance moves and vocals to match, social media adopted the doll as a gay icon. “I love how one cute little hiproll elevated M3gan into instant gay icon status and now her movie is LGBT cinema. Well tf played,” X user Stevie Mat said in a Jan. 6 post. The idea of having a “found family” also deeply resonated with those in the LGBTQIA+ community, with M3GAN’s creator’s niece losing her parents and finding comfort through the doll. The sequel “M3GAN 2.0″ was confirmed to be released in Jan. 2025, so there’s a potential for more dance routines and memes to come. Megan Thee Stallion Rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion, also known as Megan Pete, has not only been able to give back, but take over the entertainment world this year, too. As the “Hot Girl Dean” of Flamin’ Hot University, a collaboration with the brand Frito-Lay’s, she established the $175,000 Flamin’ Hot Scholarship fund at her alma mater Texas Southern University earlier this year. Ms. Pete collaborated with the mental health organization “Seize the Awkward” in order to raise awareness about checking in on those you care about, especially the “strong ones.” Her organization, the Pete & Thomas Foundation partnered with organizations like Houston’s Bread of Life, Inc. to be able to feed and provide resources for those in need in the area. Entertainment-wise, she had her big screen debut in A24′s “Dicks: The Musical,” which started limited releases on Oct. 6. Weeks earlier, she performed her mega-hit “Savage Remix” with global icon Beyoncé Knowles at their RENAISSANCE World Tour at both Houston shows Sept. 23 and 24. Also, she started “Act One” of her new musical era and released her single “Cobra” on Nov. 3. The single gave listeners an inside look of her mental health and inspired other “strong Black women” around her. Megan Rapinoe Acclaimed soccer player Megan Rapinoe announced July 8 that she would be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year’s National Women’s Soccer League season. While playing with Team USA, Rapinoe won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, two World Cups in 2015 and 2019, and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games. Throughout her career, she was an advocate for voting rights, racial inequality, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more. For example, in a July interview with TIME, Rapinoe spoke out against the politics attempting to ban trans women from women’s sports. “It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized. Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bulls**t. Show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening,” Rapinoe said in the interview. Social media as well as Rapinoe’s teammates like Ali Krieger have shown their respect towards Rapinoe’s impact on the sport and beyond. “There’s just legacy that she’s leaving. Not only just being a great footballer, but an incredible person and advocate for what’s right…I’m inspired by her,” Krieger said about Rapinoe in Aug. 2023. Reckon’s Worst Megans: Megan Fox With a resume including the “Transformers” franchise and cult favorite “Jennifer’s Body,” actress Megan Fox is well-known in Hollywood. However, she recently came under fire for her Halloween costume choice and its Instagram post. On Oct. 28, Fox posted a picture of her costume as Gogo Yubari from 2003′s “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” Her caption simply tagged the labor union @sagaftra, who posted rules on Oct. 19 concerning Halloween costumes that year due to the Hollywood strike. Stating that actors should stay away from costumes from “struck content,” actors including Fox made fun of the announcement. “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn,” actor Ryan Reynolds said in a post on X Oct. 19. Others in Hollywood, however, did not find Fox’s post to be funny. Actress Lisa Anne Walter called out Fox for her post on Oct. 29 on X, stating, “What a rebel. Keep posturing for stupid s***, pretty lady. Meanwhile we’ll be working 10 hours a day - unpaid - to get basic contract earners a fair deal,.” Meghan McCain Yes, there is an extra “H,” but they are still Megan. Despite leaving the TV show “The View” in 2021, McCain, the daughter of former U.S. senator John McCain, has still made moves in the entertainment industry this year. McCain launched her production company Citizen Cain Productions in Oct., which will “produce podcasts, scripted, unscripted and documentary content for all platforms with a mission to tell female-led and American stories,” according to an Oct. 13 article by Variety announcing the news. On her new podcast, “Meghan McCain Has Entered The Chat,” which also launched in Oct., she features guests including Senator Ted Cruz. Regardless of the career choices she has made, people are still not fans online. A Reddit thread from Oct. titled “Meghan McCain is a disgusting human being” has numerous comments calling her “arrogant” and “hateful.” X user Tony Posnanski in Mar. 2021 said that they “hate Meghan McCain more and more each day because she always trends for being absolutely horrible.” From controversial remarks she has made to controversial guests like former congressman George Santos on her podcast, McCain has remained a figure that receives criticism in person and online. Meghan Markle Double the Meghans. In August 2022, the podcast “Archetypes” from Meghan Markle started its first season. Featuring guests such as Issa Rae and Jameela Jamil, the season had 12 episodes total. Despite earning positive reviews and even a People’s Choice Award, it was announced in June that the show was canceled. The podcast was part of a deal that Markle and husband Prince Harry created with Spotify to create original content. Along with the Spotify loss, USA Today reported on Dec. 13 that the couple had suffered a donation drop of $11 million this year towards their Archewell Foundation. A Newsweek report also released on Dec. 13 found that Markle’s approval ratings slightly improved in America this year, but are still low. Out of those surveyed, Markle is liked by “38 percent [of those surveyed] and disliked by 23 percent putting her on plus 15, a swing of 13 points compared to September, when she was on minus 2.” Megyn Kelly Another Megan variant. Journalist and host of the “Megyn Kelly Show,” Megyn Kelly, came back to the debate stage on Dec. 7. In August 2015, Kelly called out Trump for his misogynistic comments. In response, Trump called her a “bimbo” and said that there was “blood coming out of her wherever.” Since that debate, Kelly has launched her own show interviewing controversial conservative figures such as Tucker Carlson and Michael Franzese. Telling people to boycott public figures like Taylor Swift on Dec. 12, people called out Kelly for her harmful commentary. X user Kathy on Dec. 12 said “what a sad, pathetic take, Megyn. She attended a comedy show with proceeds going to support HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS in Gaza, where thousands have died and more will,” When it comes to how Kelly handles herself in debates, social media has plenty to say on that, too. “So, what I learned from reading about the debates - Megyn Kelly is still an ass. Else not much,” X user Gene J said Dec. 7.

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0business

Lifelike sculpture removed from downtown roof after concerned person reported it, official says

“We’ve had a dialogue with BFD for a few days now about our artworks, so they knew today before removing the artwork that it was indeed art and did not pose an immediate public safety threat,” Nichols said in a text message sent to a reporter Sunday night. “But it is our understanding they heard from at least one concerned member of the public and were responding to that. On Sunday, the Boston Fire Department removed the piece from its perch overlooking School Street near the corner of Washington Street after someone saw the figure and was “concerned” enough to report it, according to Michael Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, the organization behind the free public art displays in the Downtown Crossing area. A lifelike sculpture of a person sitting on the roof of the Old Corner Bookstore in downtown Boston, part of the recently installed Winteractive art experience , appeared a little too real for some. “We understand and respect the position they were in and hope to have a dialogue in the days ahead about potentially returning the sculpture to public view.” Advertisement The sculpture was styled as a fisherman and seated on the roof over a Chipotle restaurant, its legs dangling over the ledge — three stories up from the sidewalk that runs along School Street. In a photo posted on social media by the BID, the figure appeared to be dressed in tan pants with dark shoes, a dark jacket, and a black ski mask, holding a fishing rod out over the open space with a red heart symbol attached to the end of the line. The piece is one of five components that make up a work named “Untitled” by American artist Mark Jenkins. The other four pieces are also realistic sculptures showing people in peculiar locations around downtown, including a girl sitting on a swing strung between two buildings high over the entrance to Winter Street near the Park Street MBTA station and a person walking upside down on the underside of a fire escape along Bromfield Street. Advertisement Jenkins’ work has appeared in cities around the world, from London and Moscow to Winston-Salem, N.C., and Washington, D.C. “Cast at human scale and in ordinary clothes, these disarmingly realistic trompe-l’oeil sculptures have passersby doing double-takes to make sure they aren’t real people in alarming positions,” Downtown Boston BID said in a social media post Friday. “Through the strong reactions they provoke, Jenkins’ installations invite us to reflect on our norms for acceptable behaviour in public space and on the blurring boundaries between what is fake and what is real.” A message was sent to Jenkins through his website seeking comment Sunday night. The Boston Fire Department and the mayor’s office did not respond to messages seeking comment. Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.

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6sports

East Longmeadow boys hockey defeats Longmeadow in rematch of last years Class A championship (photos)

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Behind a hat trick from Cody Shaw, the East Longmeadow boys hockey team earned its revenge against Longmeadow by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday during the team’s first meeting since last year’s Western Massachusetts Class A championship.

642e762de35a85d9b5b4ded8ee102d50

2culture

Ski areas in Western Mass. open for night skiing

Now that the cold weather is returning, night skiing is getting in full swing with most Western Massachusetts mountains open. Berkshire East, in Charlemont, announced that its first day of night skiing is today. For the rest of the season, it will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday nights and 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The remaining ski areas opened Christmas week for night skiing. Otis Ridge will operate from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; Jiminy Peak, in Hancock, operates from 3 to 10 p.m. daily; and Catamount, in Egremont, opened on Dec. 27 and operates 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 3 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Wachusett Mountain, in Princeton, also is open for night skiing daily until 9:30 p.m.

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0business

WG&E predicts rates will eventually increase as state phases out natural gas

WESTFIELD — Massachusetts is transitioning too quickly to an electric-powered future, which will cause an increase in electric rates, according to Western Gas & Electric General Manager Tom Flaherty. “Coming from a company that supplies natural gas, it’s a little quick to get rid of a stable, cost-effective, cost-efficient heating fuel,” he said. Flaherty was responding to two state clean energy initiatives: Department of Public Utilities Order 20-80, which requires natural gas companies to consider non-gas initiatives before building new gas infrastructure, and the Clean Heat Standard, a proposal to require energy suppliers shift away from using fossil fuels to supply heat, in exchange for credits. WG&E emailed the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection a response to a draft Clean Heat Standard framework on Dec. 21, in which they described the state’s decarbonization plan as “an electrification-only approach.”

9ba7722c3fb8544607379e552d25642f

0business

Split board rejects proposed interview panel for Southwick police chief search

SOUTHWICK — After the Select Board adopted the job description it will use to vet candidates to replace retiring Police Chief Robert Landis, the board decided against seeking outside to help it choose the next chief, despite board member Jason Perron’s request to use one. “People have asked … Ms. Gale, mostly … why it is a good idea to seek outside assistance in choosing a new police chief,” Perron said with a slight chuckle and smile directed toward Select Board member Diane Gale, before answering his own question. “None of us here are experts,” Perron said, who has proposed having the candidates seeking to replace Landis appear in front of an “oral board” to answer questions developed by an

ef9bab774c9faff9da40416e43f91b08

4politics

Trump Turns His Attention to Iowa as Caucuses Grow Near

Former President Donald J. Trump will return to Iowa on Friday for the first time this year, and will hold four campaign rallies in two days there as he looks to cement his dominant lead in the polls as the Iowa caucuses draw nearer. Mr. Trump has visited the state infrequently, at least compared with his rivals in the Republican primary. His schedule this weekend is an unusually concentrated burst of campaigning for him that more closely resembles the way that other candidates have barnstormed the state. But the former president has remained popular in Iowa. His events consistently draw hundreds, if not thousands, of supporters — dwarfing the attendance at more traditional meet-and-greets and voter town halls. In speeches over the last month, he and his allies have urged his supporters to caucus and have asked them to ensure their friends and neighbors help deliver a strong victory to Mr. Trump on caucus night. Even as Mr. Trump turns his attention to Iowa, he continues to campaign as if he is already the Republican nominee. His speeches focus heavily on how he expects to roundly defeat President Biden in November, with only glancing attacks at his two closest, relatively speaking, rivals in the race, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor.

d6b1a7f5d693e6dbc3290c125adbab71

6sports

Bruins need more concerted effort amid four-game losing streak

The Bruins are in the midst of their worst losing streak since the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Toronto bubble. There are several things not working in Boston’s favor, including not playing a full 60 minutes. Saturday was the latest example of such. The Bruins got out to a strong start against the Minnesota Wild, taking a 1-0 lead into the second period thanks to David Pastrnak’s 20th goal of the season. But, as has been the case all season, the second period saw the Bruins struggle. They were outshot in the middle frame 19-6, and eventually lost, 3-2. For coach Jim Montgomery, he felt the “momentum shift” at the end of the first period when Brad Marchand was called for roughing with 15 seconds left in the first period. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. “You don’t like taking a penalty in the last minute (of a period) because you give a team fresh ice in the second,” Montgomery told reporters in Minnesota after the loss. “I thought they built a lot of momentum off that.” The Wild indeed built momentum from there on out, taking a 2-1 lead in the second before adding a third goal in the final period. Minnesota has been surging under John Hynes since he was named head coach late last month. They’re undefeated at home under Hynes, and are 10-3-0 since he took over. The Bruins started strong, and showed some life at the end of the game. But Minnesota capitalized when it needed to — something the Bruins have been unable to do on a consistent basis. “I liked the first 15 minutes of our game, and I liked the last 10 minutes of our game,” Montgomery told reporters. “We just need a more concerted effort.” The Bruins now have a few days off for the NHL’s holiday break, and it’s coming at a good time for Boston. “It’s a good time to be with family so you get away from it mentally,” Montgomery said. “We gotta get back to playing the right way, and we’ll have to do that on the 27th (against the Buffalo Sabres).”

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7weather

New Weather Predications For MA As Meteorological Winter Begins

Weather New Weather Predications For MA As Meteorological Winter Begins Above-normal temperatures could make for a winter that is more wet than white in Massachusetts. An updated NWS forecast shows it might be a good winter for those who are not fans of the deep freeze and a disappointment for heavy snow fans. (Rachel Nunes/Patch) MASSACHUSETTS — Winter officially begins in less than three weeks and the National Weather Service's (NWS) updated predictions offer a glimpse of how the season will shape up. An updated NWS forecast shows it might be a good winter in Massachusetts for those not fans of the deep freeze and a disappointment for heavy snow fans. Massachusetts could be in store for above-normal to well-above-normal temperatures again this winter, while precipitation — which would trend toward rain over snow — is forecast to be slightly above normal, according to NWS's updated map released on Nov. 16. (National Weather Service) A driving force behind what Massachusetts can expect this winter can be attributed to El Niño, a climate cycle that results in the unusual warming of equatorial Pacific Ocean waters. The United States hasn't had an El Niño winter in four years. (National Weather Service) El Niño conditions are already inevitable, according to a consensus of scientists, with sea temperatures in the Pacific several degrees warmer than usual. This warmer water impacts what weather is carried by the winds to the United States. It's now considered very likely that this will keep temperatures warmer across much of the eastern seaboard, and conditions will likely "squash any widespread and meaningful cold in Northern Eurasia and eastern North America for weeks and possibly even months to come," Judah Cohen, with the Atmospheric and Environmental Research, said last week. Overall, Massachusetts residents should still keep their snow shovels handy, even if we don't get dumped on as much as a typical New England winter.

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0business

Springfield Pharmacy, city plan 10 to 2 apartments with North End redevelopment

SPRINGFIELD — Locally owned Springfield Pharmacy has the prescription for the city’s housing shortage. In an agreement finalized last month, Springfield Pharmacy bought the now-vacant lot at Main and Waverly streets in the Memorial Square neighborhood for $30,000. As part of the deal filed with the Hampden County Registry of Deeds on Dec. 28, Springfield Pharmacy also promises the city to build affordable housing. Right now, the plan is to build a larger, 3,000- or 3,200-square-foot drug store with a nextdoor medically-related commercial space on the first floor with 10 to 12 affordable apartments upstairs, said Tobias Billups, a co-owner of the drug store with partner Alexander Wu. It’s a $4 million to $6 million project that‘s still in its early stages and at least 6 to 8 months away from groundbreaking, Billups said. Read more: Housing study calls for 17,000 more apartments across the Pioneer Valley amid affordability ‘crisis’ “It’s obviously wise for me, but it does benefit the community,” he said. “We’re a good neighbor.” “And I’m busting out at the seams.” They’ve owned the pharmacy since 2019 and need to grow. The current location has a Main Street address, but is back off the street. Growing in the North End is a natural progression. Tobias Billups, owner of Springfield Pharmacy in Springfield's North End, has purchased an empty lot at Main and Waverly streets in Springfield and will be building a new pharmacy with apartments above. (Don Treeger / The Republican)The Republican “We try to give back as much as we get from the community as we can, maybe little bit more,” he said. Springfield Pharmacy didn’t just want to get a larger store. Billups said the partners wanted to own the new space instead of leasing, as he does now. The city advertised repeatedly for developers interested in taking over over the parcel, said Chief Development Officer Timothy Sheehan. “I don’t think there was much success the first couple of times,” he said. The property — measuring 14,174 square feet or about a third of an acre — was once the site of a four-story apartment building that burned and was demolished in 1998. Today, the land is zoned for business and was assessed for tax purposes at $72,700. The site is just opposite the Puerto Rico Market & Bakery and a few blocks from Baystate Medical Center. The city took the property in 1997 from owners Brightwood Development Corp. for nonpayment of taxes, according to documents on file at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds. Brightwood bought it at a mortgage foreclosure auction in 1993, also according to documents at the registry. A photo from 1939 shows a handsome tree-shaded four-story apartment block with a grocery, Waverly Cash Market, on the corner. It was owned by Jacob Chiz, according to a city directory from that year. This 1939 photo from Springfield city files shows the four-story apartment building that once stood at Main and Waverly streets in the city's North End. (Photo courtesy of the city of Springfield) The Springfield Pharmacy proposal is exactly the kind of infill development the city wants to encourage in the business districts, Sheehan said. The storefronts up and down Main Street in the North End are mostly filled, he said. And the city has a long-standing shortage of livable apartments. Fire has claimed much-needed apartments in the neighborhood over the years, said Jose Claudio, the chief operating officer of the New North Citizens’ Council. Billups and Wu met with the council a few years ago to discuss expansion, Claudio said. “I said the neighborhood needs housing,” Claudio said. “It makes sense for him to build it. That’s a home run for the neighborhood.”

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3entertainment

How to watch the new episode of The Family Chantel, stream for free

A new episode of “The Family Chantel” will air on TLC on Monday, Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. ET. A new episode will air each Monday at the same time. Those without cable can catch “The Family Chantel” for free either on Philo, on FuboTV or on DirecTVStream, each of which offer a free trial to new users. “90 Day Fiancé fan favorites Pedro and Chantel weather the ups and downs of marriage as they try to come together with their feisty extended family members in a unique modern family,” TLC wrote in a description of the show. In the new episode, “Pedro discovers alarming information about Scott; Chantel meets up with an old friend who knows a lot about Pedro’s past; Lidia and Nicole plot their revenge after learning that Karen is having them investigated.” How do I watch “The Family Chantel” if I don’t have cable? Viewers can stream the new episode on Philo, FuboTV and DirecTV Stream, which all offer a free trial for new users. What is Philo? Philo is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers 60+ entertainment and lifestyle channels, like AMC, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and more, for the budget-friendly price of $25/month. What is DirecTV Stream? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels.

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3entertainment

I ate it so you dont have to - masslive.com

The best fast-food salad is the Market Salad from Chick-fil-A. It’s not even close. It’s got some nice chicken. It’s well-balanced with the sweet fruit and granola. The blue cheese isn’t overbearing. It’s a rare example of a salad that feels like an actual meal and not like “eating a salad.” So if you want to do the bare minimum in trying to eat healthy this year, you can go for that. I say “bare minimum” because it’s a bleak, wilted salad landscape out there. The options are all underwhelming and overly expensive — like trying to eat lunch at a highway rest stop in Connecticut. That’s what happens when half the competition simply gives up. Fast food salads, ranked worst to best (Review) It turns out that healthy foods are more costly to make, which was a big problem for fast food chains during the pandemic. That’s why McDonald’s cut their salads from menus at most locations (including everything within miles of me). Taco Bell’s Fiesta Salad? That’s gone. Burger King? Yeah, try walking into a Burger King and asking if they have a salad on the menu. I can tell you, it’s not a fun experience. So what’s left? There were only four fast food chains within reasonable driving distance of me that offered some form of salad. I totaled 10 different salads across my visits. Dairy Queen: Chicken Strip Salad Subway: Tuna Salad, Chicken Salad Wendy’s: Apple Pecan Salad Cobb Salad, Parmesan Caesar Salad, Taco Salad Chick-fil-A: Cobb Salad, Spicy Southwest Salad, Market Salad Let’s be clear: Every single one of these salads is the same base concept with a different coat of paint. It’s all the same: a bed of iceberg or romaine lettuce squares that have some combination of ancillary veggies and special toppings. Corn, bacon and egg? That’s a cobb. Parmesan and croutons? Caesar. Craisins, apples and candied pecans. That’s, well, an apple-pecan. It all boils down to who actually puts in the effort and who actually adds decent ingredients. How do they rank? 10. Dairy Queen Chicken Strip Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst.Nick O'Malley, MassLive 10. Dairy Queen Chicken Strip Salad | Price $7.09 | Calories: 380 (before dressing) (Topped with chopped chicken tenders, shredded cheese, bacon bits, diced tomatoes, croutons) This is the least amount of effort I’ve ever seen put into a salad. They could at least try to sprinkle the ingredients throughout the salad. Instead, they’re tucked away in different little ingredient pods, like groups of angsty teens in a school cafeteria who don’t want to talk to each other. It’s like this product is designed to look like a salad with the least amount of effort possible. But they never considered that someone would actually order it. If even a C+ effort went into this salad, it could be elevated to “sort of good.” Instead, it’s a chore to eat. Every component is hard to pick up with a fork. I had to go get a big spoon from my drawer to actually get decent bites. I will say, Dairy Queen’s chicken strips are good. Whenever I get them, I’m always surprised by how much I like them. They’re quite peppery and well-seasoned. 9. Wendy’s Parmesan Caesar Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 9. Wendy’s Parmesan Caesar Salad | Price: $8.49 | Calories: 530 (Topped with shaved Parmesan, croutons, grilled chicken and Caesar dressing) The problem here is that the typical Caesar salad you see in most places is a lazy, poorly-designed effort restaurants can make to check a box that says, “Yes, we serve a salad.” Here, we have the typical lineup of shaved parmesan, grilled chicken and croutons. It’s all hard to eat with a fork and gets blasted into salty oblivion by the dressing. You can do better than chicken and croutons. 8. Subway Tuna Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 8. Subway Tuna Salad | Price: $8.19 (Topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, cheese and sweet onion sauce) I actually liked this. When I got the tuna, veggies and sauce in one bite, it was reminiscent of sushi with pickled ginger and soy sauce. With that said, the tuna is a bland gray paste of fish. It’s best if you don’t pay attention to it. It’s quite fishy and the texture is offputting. Say what you want about Subway, but its sauces are tasty — probably because they’ve got a good amount of sugar. 7. Wendy’s Cobb Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 7. Wendy’s Cobb Salad | Price: $8.49 | Calories: 670 (Topped with lettuce, bacon, chicken, shredded cheese, ranch dressing) Cobb is the Frappuccino of salads. It’s what people order when they don’t like salads. Here, you get most of the flavor from the bacon and chicken — and you do get plenty of chicken here, which is nice. It’s cool to see actual strips of bacon here. It lets you actually get some decent bites instead of having bits just fall to the bottom. The tomatoes are advertised as diced. But the ones I got here were sliced and mealy. It shows why most salads stick with cherry tomatoes. 6. Wendy’s Taco Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 6. Wendy’s Taco Salad | Price $8.49 | Calories: 690 (With tortilla chips, chili, salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream) This is not a salad. This is a DIY nacho bowl with lettuce underneath. It’s actually very fun to eat with the tortilla chips. Going in with the tortilla chips to get a mix of ingredients makes for a varied eating experience. But if you use a fork, you’re just gonna get chunks of lettuce with a random smattering of salsa, chili, cheese and sour cream. This salad feels like it needed one more component to close it out, like ground beef or chicken. 5. Subway Grilled Chicken Salad | $9.09 (Topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, shredded cheddar, olives and Subway Vinaigrette) Grading a Subway salad is hard because it’s so customizable. The salads are a little underwhelming in size. But they’re also the only place where you can get a salad topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumbers, peppers and olives. No other place really lets you pile on veggies. Most other places, it’s salad mix with other ingredients on top. This was the closest to a salad I’d make at home. Well, I guess I did make it. But it stood out because of how veggie-heavy it is without incorporating more flashy toppings. 4. Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad with Nuggets | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 4. Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad with Nuggets | Price $9.99 | Calories: 830 (Topped with lettuce blend, grilled chicken, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, chopped eggs, bacon, crispy fried onions, and avocado lime ranch dressing) The choice to add four bulbous cherry tomatoes in each corner is strange. How do these fit in with the rest of the salad? They’re so out of place. As for the rest of the salad, it gets quite creamy and satisfying when you mix up with the egg, the ranch and the cheese. It’s hearty, the most filling salad you’ll get on this list. The corn is a nice touch, adding an element of sweetness and a much-needed fresh vegetable complement. The avocado lime ranch is fascinating. It’s got a bit of zing and acidity to it. But it doesn’t carry a ton of flavor. It’s very much a background character, so there’s no reason to put a ton of it on. It’s a glue guy, literally helping you stick pieces of salad together to make it easier to eat. 3. Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 3. Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad | Price: $10.19 | Calories: 680 (Topped with tortilla strips, black beans, tomatoes, shredded cheese, spicy chicken, creamy salsa dressing) The creamy salsa dressing isn’t messing around, neither is the spicy chicken. This thing is legit spicy. This salad is satisfying to eat and comes with a hefty amount of kick. It’s very much a meal, with the tortilla strips, beans and corn adding a nice amount of body to the salad itself. Overall, this is a nice balance of crunchy, spicy and flavorful. But it may actually be a bit too much for those who don’t like spicy things. 2. Wendy’s Apple Pecan Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 2. Wendy’s Apple Pecan Salad | Price: $8.49 | Calories: 540 It’s baffling to me that this costs the same as the Caesar Salad at Wendy’s. You get so much more for your money. This was my No. 1 pick the last time I ranked fast food salads. It’s still a solid pick. You get so much more in terms of tang and sweet and color and pops of flavor. The apples, craisins and candied pecans add a really nice sweetness and nuttiness, just enough to make you believe you’re eating real food and not just “a salad.” At least that’s how it’s supposed to go. This time around, the apples were particularly tart and acidic. They also went a bit heavy with the blue cheese. As a result, the funky and astringent elements overpowered everything else. Sometimes, you just get a bad salad. It’s good when it’s more in balance. 1. Chick-fil-A Market Salad | Fast food salads, ranked best to worst. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive 1. Chick-fil-A Market Salad | $10.19 | 550 calories (Topped with apples, strawberries, granola, almonds, blueberries, grilled chicken, zesty apple cider vinaigrette) This is the best salad and it’s not even close. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, savory and filling. It’s bright and colorful. It’s varied — and most importantly — balanced. Because there are so many dimensions to the ingredients, the balance and flavors change depending on what you get on your fork, making you want to take another bite. It’s fun to eat, the opposite of the usual doldrum of eating a salad (looking at you, Caesar). I really like the inclusion of the granola, it adds a nice crunch and sweetness. The apple cider vinaigrette is also one of the best dressings of the bunch. The blue cheese funk is present, but is balanced out nicely with the other elements. The final word It’s unfortunate how the landscape of salads has changed in recent years. You can see restaurants streamlining their menus to go with simpler, more profitable items. As you can see on the list, the salads at these fast food chains don’t come cheap. Chick-fil-A has the best salads overall. But Wendy’s gives you the best value. With all of that said, these things are healthier than most fast food options. But that doesn’t automatically make them truly healthy -- especially when you have the fried chicken nuggets and ranch dressing involved. Still, it’s a step in the healthier direction. --- “I ate it so you don’t have to” is a regular food column looking at off-beat eats, both good and bad. It runs every other Thursday-ish at noon-ish. You can send any praise/food suggestions to nomalley@masslive.com. Please send all criticisms and defenses of Connecticut’s rest stops to tsanzo@masslive.com. You can check out the rest of the series here.

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3entertainment

Reggie Wells, Makeup Artist for Oprah Winfrey and Other Black Stars, Dies at 76

Reggie Wells, who parlayed a background in fine art into a trailblazing career as a makeup artist for Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Michelle Obama and other Black celebrities, died on Monday in Baltimore. He was 76. His death was confirmed by his niece Kristina Conner, who did not specify a cause or say where he died. For Mr. Wells, every face was a canvas to explore. One of his most famous clients was Ms. Winfrey, for whom he worked as a personal makeup artist for more than 20 years at the height of her television career.

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1crime

21 Injured in Explosion at Fort Worth Hotel

At least 21 people were injured in an explosion that was most likely caused by a gas leak and substantially damaged a hotel in downtown Fort Worth on Monday afternoon, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition and four were seriously injured, the police said in an evening update. Fourteen people were transported to a hospital, and one person went to a hospital on their own, the police said. Earlier, the authorities had said that one person was missing, but they noted later that the person had been found.

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4politics

Ann Arbor School Board Set to Vote on Israel-Gaza Ceasefire Resolution

Update: The Ann Arbor school board voted in support of a cease-fire in Gaza. The public school district in Ann Arbor, Mich., is looking to hire a new superintendent. It is building several new schools. And it is revamping how it teaches young children to read. But over the past month, the Board of Education has debated many hours over whether to support a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war. The closely divided board is now set to vote on that resolution on Wednesday, and could become one of the first public school systems in the country to pass such a statement. Supporters of the proposed resolution, including the board’s Palestinian American president and a Jewish trustee, have said that the statement is an urgent moral necessity amid a humanitarian crisis. A few opponents of the resolution have said that they oppose a cease-fire because Israel has the right to defeat Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, after the Oct. 7 attacks.

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3entertainment

Best Movies of 2023

The newest episode of “Southern Hospitality” will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 9 p.m. ET. on Bravo. Viewers without cable looking to stream season 2 and the rest of the show can watch it online using DirecTV Stream, Sling, and fuboTV. DirecTV and fuboTV both offer free trials. “Accepting nothing short of perfection from her staff, Leva runs a tight ship, but her once-close-knit team faces a multitude of obstacles as they try to keep their jobs while maintaining their friendships and relationships,” Bravo wrote about the show. In the new episode, “Joe questions where to take his relationship with Salley; Grace reconsiders her future with Liam and plans an escape to save her cat; as Maddi scrambles to save her job from Emmy, new cheating evidence against her boyfriend, Trevor, spreads.” How can I watch the newest episode of ‘Southern Hospitality’? Viewers looking to stream can do so by using FuboTV, Sling or DirecTV Stream. Both FuboTV and DirecTV offer free trials when you sign up and Sling offers 50% off your first month. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels. What is DirecTV? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. DirecTV also offers a free trial for any package you sign up.

6e41fff913d489eba0edbc6d554619e2

0business

Heres which Northampton businesses might soon get all-alcohol liquor licenses

After much anticipation, Northampton is one step closer to receiving seven new all-alcohol liquor licenses. A piece of legislation which would allow for the additional licenses, also known as H.3952, was passed by the state Senate and House last week but is still awaiting authorization from Gov. Maura Healey.

ec61e69d6f0fa9305317004880d02a4c

1crime

Authorities investigating after several car windows smashed in Hyde Park - Boston News, Weather, Sports

Severe weather is possible Friday, especially over northern and western New England. As a frontal system approaches, a band of showers and thunderstorms will move east. The highest risk for severe weather today is over western New England, but some of these storms, in weekend fashion, could make it to the coastline. Clouds and humidity have returned to conclude the work week. A few showers crisscrossed northern Massachusetts earlier, but we are really waiting for the afternoon for the more significant precipitation Friday. Due to the higher amount of moisture in the air, there could be a few downpours. Street flooding will be possible in any of the heavier cells. With the limited sunshine, temperatures will hold mainly in the 70s. However, with the humidity, it still feels very summery. There will be a line of showers and storms moving east this afternoon and evening. There is the potential for some of these storms to “train” and create a lot of rain in a localized area. “Training” is when storms keep moving over the same general spot and leave a lot of rainfall. A general line of showers and storms is forecast to press east into the evening. Some could contain heavy rainfall. WeatherBELL The showers and storms will wind down this evening. As the line exits the coastline, I expect skies to become partly to mostly sunny on Saturday. If you’re a very early riser it still could look a little murky, but cloud cover is forecast to diminish. Advertisement The map below shows the percentage of clouds forecast at noon on Sunday. Notice there’s going to be more blue than gray. The percentage of clouds Sunday is forecast to be quite low. The higher numbers represent more clouds. WeatherBELL Temperatures will reach around 80 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday there should be a little more sunshine and somewhat lower humidity. If you’re headed to the beach and you get out of the water, the drier air will make it feel a little bit cooler as the water evaporates off your skin. Lower dew points Sunday bring a warm and dry feeling to the air. WeatherBELL A couple of notes about daylight this time of the year. This evening is our final sunset in the 8 p.m. hour. The next time will be later in May 2024. Advertisement We’re also losing just over 2 minutes of daylight each 24-hour rotation of the planet, and in the next few weeks it becomes even more noticeable. As the daylight continues to decrease, average temperatures are also following. Boston still has not had an official heat wave this summer. The last time there was a year without three consecutive days of temperatures 90 degrees or higher was 2014. There’s still the possibility for us to have an official heatwave, but we are slowly running out of time. There was not an official heat wave in Boston in 2014, which was the last time we didn’t experience three consecutive days of 90 degree weather. NOAA DATa

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3entertainment

I ate IHOPs purple Willy Wonka pancakes so you dont have to

The purple Willy Wonka pancakes from IHOP are colorful, strange and cartoonishly droopy-looking. But they’re actually pretty darn good, and made with much more tact than I expected. Most of IHOP’s limited-edition Wonka menu — a tie-in to the upcoming Willy Wonka prequel movie — has this whimsical, flamboyant nature to it that’s actually a bit unsettling when you see it in real life. But when you actually try a bite, it makes you go, “Oh, that’s actually pretty good.” In all fairness, that’s pretty on-brand for the actual character of Willy Wonka. This is the same dude that had Mike Teavee’s mom eating frosting from a giant mushroom within 30 seconds of walking into the chocolate room. Weird? Yes. But let’s be honest, that mushroom frosting was probably awesome. The IHOP Willy Wonka Menu Gene Wilder in the 1971 Willy Wonka told me that I can change the world around me with pure imagination. That’s why it was perfectly acceptable for me to roll in to IHOP at 11:30 a.m. on a Wednesday to order a stack of purple-dyed pancakes and roughly a liter of sugar-drinks and pretend that it was “breakfast.” That included a class of purple-pink lemonade that had a “sprinkles rim” and a tuft of cotton candy. Adulthood is a scam. Here’s what I got: Wonka’s Perfectly Purple Pancakes: Four pancakes that are dyed purple and feature cheesecake mousse, purple cream cheese icing and gold glitter sugar Dreamy Lemonade: Prickly pear flavored lemonade served with a ”cream cheese icing rainbow sprinkle rim” and topped with a cloud of cotton candy Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate: Hot chocolate flavored with strawberry syrup, topped with whipped topping, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and gold glitter sugar. Fun fact: The last one is called “Chocolate Caliente Supercaldisustancioso con Fresas” in Spanish, according to the menu. What do they taste like? Wonka's Perfectly Purple Pancakes from IHOP (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive Wonka’s Perfectly Purple Pancakes I was expecting this to be a big ol’ pile of food coloring and sugar. Instead, I got a pretty well-balanced stack of pancakes — with a good amount of purple food coloring. The pancakes themselves are standard IHOP fare. They’re just dyed purple, so don’t expect them to taste like schnozberries or anything. Where things take a turn is with the cheesecake mousse and cream cheese topping. Both elements add a good amount of creaminess and sweetness — but also some tang. To be clear: There’s a whole lot of dairy in this. But at no point did I feel overwhelmed. Each element played its part in making a whimsical presentation that was fun to dig into. It was refreshing to try a familiar pancake with a less-common topping. The cheesecake mousse does most of the heavy lifting here, adding a tangy sweetness that makes you want to take another bite. Everything else is there mostly for presentation. Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate from the IHOP Willy Wonka menu. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate While this is the most difficult item to spell on the menu, it’s the most straightforward. It’s hot chocolate with a big hit of strawberry syrup topped with whipped “topping.” The strawberry flavor here is quite potent, with the chocolate working as a secondary character. There’s a good interplay between the two flavors, with the zing of the berry really shining through every sip. The Dreamy Lemonade from the IHOP Willy Wonka menu. (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)Nick O'Malley, MassLive Dreamy Lemonade I thought this was simply going to be sugar-riddled pink lemonade. Instead, it’s a surprisingly tangy prickly pear-flavored lemonade. The smear of cream cheese icing on the side acts as a glue for some sprinkles. It makes for a cool visual effect, but is tricky to actually eat. Then there’s the topping. It’s surprisingly resilient as cotton candy goes. It actually holds strong if it makes contact with the liquid — inside of dissolving like a lot of cotton candy does. Besides that, it’s pretty straightforward, if a bit heavy, cotton candy. As for the lemonade, the prickly pear flavor comes through strong and tart, providing a worthy counterpart to all the sugary components. There’s also a layering effect here. As the waitress, Linda, reminded me, it’s important to swirl it around to make the drink go from pink to purple. She also apologized to me that the cotton candy was pale and white instead of pink. Linda was an awesome waitress. If anyone skimps on Linda’s tips, they’re a bad egg. So are they any good? Surprisingly, yes. I expected the pancakes to turn me violet like a blueberry and leave me needing to be rolled out of the restaurant. But I’d happily go back and order those again. Now, I realize I’m a maniac for getting both the hot chocolate and lemonade in one meal. That’s a bit much. The final word This whole Wonka menu was pretty good for something that’s a tie-in to the new movie starring Timothée Chalomet. I’ll admit, I’m hesitant about the guy from “Dune” going into such a different lane. But I was just proven wrong by a stack of purple pancakes, so who am I to judge? If Heath Ledger can pull off an excellent Joker, then who am I to question whether the Kwisatz Haderach* can also do Willy Wonka. *If you know what this is, you’re either a huge nerd like me, or watched “Dune” with subtitles on. --- “I ate it so you don’t have to” is a regular food column looking at off-beat eats, both good and bad. It runs every other Thursday-ish at noon-ish. You can send any praise/food suggestions to nomalley@masslive.com. Please send all criticisms and reports of Nick potentially spelling ‘scrumdiddlyuptious” incorrectly to ssudburough@masslive.com You can check out the rest of the series here.

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4politics

Republican Tempers Flare as Speaker Fight Continues, Paralyzing the House

Follow our live coverage for the House Speaker Vote. House Republicans spent Thursday fighting among themselves in closed-door meetings, trading blame and insults and casting about for a way forward as they failed again to coalesce around a speaker candidate. It was a day of uncertainty and whiplash on Capitol Hill, and the House remained paralyzed as war raged overseas and a government shutdown grew near. House members were unable to act on even the most basic of legislation while President Biden prepared to request a $100 billion emergency national security spending package that included aid for Israel and Ukraine and would need congressional approval. By Thursday evening, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the hard-right Republican nominee for speaker, appeared no closer to winning the post after meeting with some of the 22 mainstream G.O.P. lawmakers opposed to his candidacy. Nevertheless, Mr. Jordan said he would push for another vote to become speaker, scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., even though he was bleeding support and calls were increasing for him to step aside. “He needed to know there is no way forward for his speakership,” Representative John Rutherford of Florida, one of the holdouts, told reporters after meeting with Mr. Jordan.

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3entertainment

Dreaming of a white Christmas? You might try Alaska

For most Americans dreaming of a white Christmas, this year’s prospects aren’t good. Although parts of the Rockies and Midwest already have snow or could get a fresh dusting by Monday, other parts of the country that are normally coated in white this time of year are still sporting their drab late-fall look. “Some people will get their dream, their wish, and get a white Christmas right at the last minute,” said Judah Cohen, the director of seasonal forecasting at Verisk Atmospheric and Environmental Research. “But most of the country will have a brown Christmas.” Among the areas more accustomed to snowy Decembers is the Northeast, where a powerful storm blew in this week and dumped heavy rain on the region’s ski areas, wreaking havoc on the snowpack. “It didn’t wash out our trails. But it was crazy rain,” said Tom Day, the general manager of Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, New Hampshire. He hiked the ski area Monday, when it was closed, as 3.5 inches (8.8 centimeters) of warm rain fell and the wind howled. “That’s a four-letter word, rain, in our business,” Day said. The snow cover across the U.S. is at near-record lows for this time of year, said Cohen, who doesn’t expect much change by Christmas Day. “There is a storm that is supposed to come out of the Rockies and head toward Canada, so it looks like some fresh snow in the western Plains, from Kansas to North Dakota,” he said, adding that snow could fall as far west as Denver and as far east as Minnesota. The National Weather Service also doesn’t foresee a white Christmas for much of the country. But on the bright side, “At least the weather is favorable for most people who have plans to travel this year,” the service wrote in its holiday forecast. So where should snow lovers turn? “The best chance for a white Christmas by far is in Alaska,” the service wrote. “Anchorage’s record snow depth on Christmas Day is 30 inches, which was set back in 1994, and this year’s snow depth could be close to the record.” Climate change is playing a role in diminishing Christmas snow, Cohen said, although he noted it remains a complicated picture, with extreme cold snaps and unusual weather events occurring. “Certainly, the globe is warming. Winters are getting shorter. Overall, they’re getting warmer,” Cohen said. “December, I’ve seen the strongest warming. So I feel like December really no longer qualifies as a winter month. The early-season skiing is becoming more and more challenging.” Despite the challenges, Northeastern snow lovers aren’t giving up. After closing for rain on Monday, Gunstock reopened Tuesday, while many other ski areas took a day or two longer to rebuild trails. Ryan Sloan, who drove five hours from New York through “intense” rain on Monday to go snowboarding, said Gunstock’s trails on Tuesday weren’t as washed out as he feared they would be. “The conditions are actually pretty good,” Sloan said. “When you get up to the top, the trails are pretty decent. There are some rocky spots, some icy spots, but overall, pretty good.” Extensive drainage systems allowed the resort to keep its trails intact, Day said. In Vermont, the rain caused ski areas to lose some of their natural snow and close some trails, said Bryan Rivard, a spokesperson for Ski Vermont. But he said cold nighttime temperatures forecast for late this week would help them recover. “Vermont ski areas have some of the most powerful and efficient snowmaking systems in the world, which allows them to stockpile and distribute snow quickly,” Rivard said in an email. In the Rockies, ski areas have been struggling to open lifts and trails on meager early-season snow. Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado, for instance, currently has about 30% of its terrain open, while Mammoth Mountain in California has 48 of its 176 trails open. And in Eagan, Minnesota, organizers called off the 2024 Minnesota Ice Festival, which had been scheduled to open Jan. 5. The event was going to feature an ice-skating rink, ice slide and a huge ice maze at the Minnesota Vikings’ headquarters, but the warm weather made it risky, Minnesota Ice CEO Robbie Harrell said in a statement. The good news for Northeast snow lovers is they might not need to wait long after Christmas for fresh powder. Cohen said the weather should get colder just before New Year’s Day and into the first week of January. “So, new year, hopefully new fortunes as far as snow goes here in the eastern U.S.,” Cohen said.

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4politics

Where Is Navalny? A Search Is On for the Missing Russian Dissident.

After two weeks without word from Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, his lawyers and allies, fearing the worst, are running a frantic campaign to find him. Their efforts have included requesting information from dozens of Russian prisons and taking to social media to raise awareness of Mr. Navalny’s disappearance and to call on the Russian government to reveal his whereabouts. Many Russians living abroad have gone to their country’s diplomatic missions to protest. Some have held up posters saying “Where is Navalny?” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, told journalists on Friday that the Kremlin had “neither the possibility, nor rights or desire to trace the fate of convicts,” referring to Mr. Navalny.

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4politics

Key Hamas Plotters of Oct. 7 Elude Israels Grip on Gaza

Fluttering down from the skies over Gaza on a recent day were clouds of fliers dropped by the Israeli military asking for tips on the whereabouts of top Hamas leaders. “The end of Hamas is near,” the fliers proclaimed in Arabic, promising hefty bounties to anyone who helped bring about the arrest of those who had “brought destruction and ruin to the Gaza Strip.” The Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, headed the list in exchange for a reward of $400,000 — more than 1,500 times Gaza’s average monthly wage. Israel’s stated goal in the war is to destroy Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that rules Gaza and set off the war there by attacking Israel on Oct. 7. But despite a military campaign that has caused nearly 20,000 deaths in Gaza and reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble, Israel has yet to locate Mr. Sinwar and other senior Hamas figures considered key plotters of the attack 10 weeks ago.

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4politics

African Migration to the U.S. Soars as Europe Cracks Down

The young men from Guinea had decided it was time to leave their impoverished homeland in West Africa. But instead of seeking a new life in Europe, where so many African migrants have settled, they set out for what has become a far safer bet of late: the United States. “Getting into the United States is certain compared to European countries, and so I came,” said Sekuba Keita, 30, who was at a migrant center in San Diego on a recent afternoon after an odyssey that took him by plane to Turkey, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua, then by land to the Mexico-U.S. border. Mr. Keita, who spoke in French, was at a cellphone charging station at the center among dozens more Africans, from Angola, Mauritania, Senegal and elsewhere, who had made the same calculus. While migrants from African nations still represent a small share of the people crossing the southern border, their numbers have been surging, as smuggling networks in the Americas open new markets and capitalize on intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment in some corners of Europe.

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2culture

What Haunts Child Abuse Victims? The Memory, Study Finds

For generations, our society has vacillated about how best to heal people who experienced terrible things in childhood. Should these memories be unearthed, allowing their destructive power to dissipate? Should they be gently molded into something less painful? Or should they be left untouched? Researchers from King’s College London and the City University of New York examined this conundrum by conducting an unusual experiment. Researchers interviewed a group of 1,196 American adults repeatedly over 15 years about their levels of anxiety and depression. Unbeknown to the subjects, 665 of them had been selected because court records showed they had suffered mistreatment such as physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect before age 12.

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1crime

Police investigating active shooter scene at Perry, Iowa, high school

The Perry Police Department is responding to an active shooter scene at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday morning, Fox News Digital has learned. Multiple law enforcement agencies are responding to reports of an active shooter situation at the school, according to local reports. Police officers were dispatched to the scene on Thursday morning after receiving a report of an active shooter, the Perry Police Department confirmed. Multiple EMS vehicles were sent to the scene at 1200 18th Street, according to public safety radio traffic. Officials have not released further details at this time. Perry High School belongs to the Perry Community School District, about 25 miles northwest of Des Moines. About 1,785 students are enrolled at the school, according to its website. Thursday was the first day of school after winter break, according to the school's calendar. This is a developing story and will be updated.

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0business

Are Market Basket, Shaws or Big Y grocery stores open in Mass. on New Years Day?

If you’re struggling to fulfill your New Year’s resolution of not procrastinating, then you’re in good hands. Those who forgot to pick up snacks or decorations for their New Year’s Day celebration will still have time for a last-minute trip as some, but not all, grocery stores will be open on Jan. 1. So before you can fully toast to 2024, see below for grocery store information. Aldi Aldi is closed on New Year’s Day. Big Y Big Y will be open with regular hours on New Year’s Day. Costco Costco is closed New Year’s Day. Market Basket Market Basket is open New Year’s Day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the store’s website reads. Price Chopper Price Chopper stores are open New Year’s Day. You can check your local store for exact holiday hours. Price Rite Price Rite stores will be open at 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Shaws Most Shaws stores are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day, according to HolidayShoppingHours.com. You can check your local store for exact hours. Star Market Most Star Market are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day, according to HolidayShoppingHours.com. You can check your local store for exact hours. Stop and Shop Stop and Shop stores and fuel stations will be open for normal hours on New Year’s Day, according to The Pioneer Woman. Pharmacies may have limited hours. Target Target is open for regular hours on New Year’s Day. You can check your local store for exact hours. Trader Joe’s Trader Joe’s is closed on New Year’s Day. Walmart All Walmart stores are open with normal business hours on New Year’s Day, according to Good House Keeping. Wegmans Wegmans stores in Massachusetts opened at 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day. You can check your local store for exact hours. Whole Foods Whole Foods stores in Massachusetts are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on New Year’s Day. You can check your local store for exact hours.

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6sports

Pacers vs. Heat: How to watch NBA online for free

Sports Betting Dime provides exclusive sports betting content to MassLive.com, including real-time odds, picks, analysis and sportsbook offers to help sports fans get in on the action. Please wager responsibly. Get an instant bonus for college football on Saturday with the latest DraftKings Sportsbook promo code offer. Click here to unlock this offer and find other bonuses for the conference championship games. The promo code will be applied to your account when using our links to register. Place your first $5 wager on any college football game after activating the DraftKings Sportsbook promo code. This will automatically result in a $150 bonus to use this weekend. DraftKings BET $5, GET $150 BONUS BETS CLAIM OFFER STATES: AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV. 21+ and present in participating states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. 21+. Physically present in MA. Eligibility restrictions apply. Valid 1 per new customer. First-time depositors only who have not already redeemed $200 in bonus bets via OH or MA prelaunch offer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. $200 issued as bonus bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at http://draftkings.com/ma. There are eight conference championship games on Saturday. Several teams are hoping to make their case for a spot in the College Football Playoff. That includes No. 7 Texas, who will be playing No. 18 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship at noon ET. Other matchups include No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 8 Alabama, No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 16 Iowa, and No. 14 Louisville vs. No. 4 Florida State. You can choose to save some of your bonus bets for a full day of NFL action on Sunday. Click here to unlock the DraftKings Sportsbook promo code on Saturday. Bet $5 on any college football game to receive $150 in bonus bets. DraftKings Sportsbook promo code for college football conference title games The Crimson Tide still have a chance to make the CFP, but they have to win the SEC title against the Bulldogs. Georgia is going for their 30th straight win on Saturday afternoon. They are favored by 5.5 points on DraftKings. Your first $5 wager can be on this game or any other conference championship. Click here to activate the DraftKings Sportsbook promo code and create an account. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app on your mobile phone and enable location services. Deposit $5 or more using PayPal, online banking, or another accepted banking method. Place a $5 wager on any college football game The outcome of this wager doesn’t matter, so you are guaranteed to gain $150 in bonus bets. Use a 33% college football profit boost on Saturday Go to the promotions page to opt-in to a 33% college football parlay boost. This will increase your potential profits for a 4+ leg parlay or SGP. I’m taking Georgia -5.5, Louisville +2, Michigan -22.5, and Michigan vs. Iowa over 34.5 points. There is also a special boost for the SEC title game. Get bonus bets for NFL Week 13 Save some of your bonus bets for NFL games on Sunday. The Patriots have a home game against the Chargers at 1 pm ET. There is a big NFC matchup between the 49ers and Eagles at 4:25 pm. Then, the day ends with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs taking on the Packers. Check out some of the unique features available on the app, such as DraftKings Social. I have created a group with friends to see who they are betting on every weekend. If you are new to betting online, there is a guide that explains parlays and the different types of wagers. Sign up here to unlock the DraftKings Sportsbook promo code offer on Saturday. Make a $5 wager on a college football matchup to gain a $150 bonus. DraftKings BET $5, GET $150 BONUS BETS CLAIM OFFER STATES: AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV. 21+ and present in participating states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. 21+. Physically present in MA. Eligibility restrictions apply. Valid 1 per new customer. First-time depositors only who have not already redeemed $200 in bonus bets via OH or MA prelaunch offer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. $200 issued as bonus bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at http://draftkings.com/ma. Get the latest sports betting news, advice and promos sent straight to your inbox. Enter your email here: Think you know Patriots football? Play the MassLive.com Prop Bet Showdown for a chance to win prizes! If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Massachusetts Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org to speak with a trained specialist to receive support. Specialists are available 24/7. Services are available in multiple languages and are free and confidential. 21+ and present in participating states. 18+ in Kentucky. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.

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5science

Longmeadow wrestling escapes Westfield with narrow victory, 42-39

WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School wrestling team finally met its match. In an emotionally-charged matchup, Longmeadow escaped Westfield with a narrow 42-39 victory. Although it was the first league loss of the season for the Bombers, they still managed to clinch a share of the Valley Wheel league title. Ludlow won the league title a year ago.

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3entertainment

Friends of the Agawam Public Library 4th Open Judged Virtual Photography Show

Agawam - The Friends of the Agawam Public Library is looking for entries to their 4th Open Judged Virtual Photography Show, to be on display after March 15. The show provides a platform to recognize and encourage photographers and benefits the Agawam Public Library. Twenty-one awards totaling $1,540 will be determined by judging done on March 1. Dave Roback and Tim Donelan, both well recognized photographers will be the judges. The show is divided into four categories of photography: creative, nature, photojournalism and pictorial. The entry fee is $25 per entry. deadline for submissions is Feb. 15. If there is not sufficient entries, the show will be cancelled and all fees returned. All images must be original, made by the photographer, captured by film or digitally, and cannot be previous entries in their show. The Prospectus and Entry Form can be accessed by going to www.agawamlibrary.org, and scrolling down to the Friends of the Library widget. From there you will be able to click on a link to the show’s information. For further information, contact Bob Kadis at r.kadis@comcast.net or call 413-789-4814.

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0business

That QR Code Youre About to Scan Could Be Risky, F.T.C. Warns

QR codes, the square bar codes that can be scanned and read by smartphones, are seemingly used everywhere: to board flights, enter concerts and look at restaurant menus. But scammers trying to steal personal information have also been using QR codes to direct people to harmful websites that can harvest their data, wrote Alvaro Puig, a consumer education specialist at the Federal Trade Commission, in a blog post Wednesday on the agency’s consumer advice page. Would-be scammers hide dangerous links in the black-and-white jumble of some QR codes, the F.T.C. warned. The people behind those schemes direct users to the harmful QR codes in deceptive ways, using tactics that include placing their own QR codes on top of legitimate codes on parking meters or sending the patterns to be scanned by text or email in ways that make them appear legitimate, the post said.

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0business

Davis Closes $73M Deal For One Of Boston Areas Largest Development Sites

An aerial view of the 100-acre ExxonMobil site in Everett that The Davis Cos. purchased. In a highly anticipated deal, a 100-acre fuel tank farm has sold to a real estate firm with plans for a massive redevelopment along Everett's waterfront. The Davis Cos. purchased a former ExxonMobil site for $72.5M, according to public records. The property is one of the biggest pieces of developable land near Boston, and Davis previously said it was interested in building a major mixed-use project. “We have been attracted to the tremendous potential of this site for quite some time,” Davis Chief Development Officer Michael Cantalupa said in a statement. “The size and configuration of the tank farm parcels can accommodate a wide mix of uses, including critically needed housing, clean energy uses, advanced research facilities, and high-tech manufacturing.” Davis had backed out of an agreement to acquire the Exxon site in September 2022, a lawsuit from Conservation Law Foundation against Exxon revealed at the time. The suit claimed the gas company's practices on the site led to pollution risks exacerbated by climate change. But Davis later resumed talks to acquire the site, and the CLF suit was settled along with the acquisition closing, the foundation announced Tuesday. As part of the settlement, CLF said it has obtained an “enforceable prohibition on the property” that won't allow it to be used to store fossil fuels. “Closure of the facility will protect the community and eliminate a major pollution threat to Boston Harbor and its tributaries,” CLF President Brad Campbell said in a statement. “Forever prohibiting a similar facility on the site further reduces fossil fuel’s chokehold on Everett and the broader region’s energy system, landscape, and economy.” As part of the acquisition, the site will need to go through an estimated $100M in remediation and cleanup, which could take up to four years to complete, the Boston Globe reported. Davis applied to the Massachusetts Brownfields Covenant Not to Sue program, which would protect the firm from any lawsuits brought by neighboring communities due to potential pollution from the site. The acquisition marks a step closer to the resurgence of Everett's waterfront from an industrial port into a mixed-use hub. The city's Commercial Triangle has already begun to be reshaped, with thousands of housing units set to deliver, but its waterfront hasn't seen the same fate — until recently. In October, Wynn Resorts won city approval to move forward with the expansion of its Encore Boston Harbor casino and hotel. In August, Boston-based V10 Development proposed a 591-unit residential development along the Malden River in Everett. “Now, with the possibility of a full-scale redevelopment of the site, we are excited to discuss ways to transform this parcel into a community asset from its presently decrepit state,” Everett Planning Director Matt Lattanzi wrote in an email to Bisnow last month.

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0business

In Mass. and Cass, Boston health commission hires private security

The health commission confirmed to the Globe that it first hired the company, Ware Security of Norwood, in November 2021 to provide what a spokesperson called “additional exterior security” around a homeless shelter and engagement center the organization operated on Atkinson Street, by the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. They are not police officers, though, and they don’t make arrests. None of them have fired their weapon while on patrol in Mass. and Cass. They are members of a private security force that the Boston Public Health Commission has contracted to help secure the area — at a cost of more than $2.3 million this calendar year alone. They have been fixtures over the last two years in the thick of the open drug market known as Mass. and Cass: armed, uniformed guards and their marked vehicles patrolling for signs of violence or property damage. Advertisement At the time, the area had become overwhelmed by makeshift tents and shelters in what had become Boston’s version of a large “tent city,” with scores of people living on the streets and openly selling and injecting drugs. The city has several times cleared the streets of the encampment, most recently earlier in November, and police are monitoring the area from a 24-hour mobile command center on Atkinson Street. The health commission’s contract with Ware Security is to set expire Dec. 31, but the commission plans to continue to pay for some level of security into the next year, spokesperson Jonathan Latino said. The organization recently signed a contract through June with New England Security, which provides similar services for a private business organization in the area. The health commission contract with the firm does not specify a final cost, but it spells out requirements for posting security guards at health commission sites, including a new homeless center on Massachusetts Avenue. Advertisement When the health commission, a taxpayer-funded, quasi-city organization, closes out its contract with Ware at the end of the year, it will have paid the company more than $3.1 million in total, according to documents reviewed by the Globe. Latino said the funding has come from COVID-19 relief funds the city received under the American Rescue Plan stimulus package. Health advocates and some community leaders said the use of public funds for private security is unfortunate but needed for public safety, a reflection of the violence and lawlessness that has taken hold in the area. Though the city removed the tent encampments in January 2022, shortly after Ware Security was hired, they returned several times, and vagrancy continues to plague the neighborhood. The engagement center was closed after a series of stabbings. Several social-service organizations pulled their outreach workers from the area over the summer because of concerns for their safety. Latino said the security work has “been vital to promoting public safety in the area and supporting our outreach workers and clinical partners to connect individuals to housing, health care, life saving harm reduction services, and other supports.” But City Council President Ed Flynn said he is “concerned” about putting so many resources to private security on city streets. “Although I understand these private companies provide security services to residents, businesses, and the public, they should not be used as a replacement of Boston police,” Flynn said. He added that the concern for safety is a sign that the city should continue to hire more police officers. Advertisement Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, also took issue with the ongoing use of private firms, saying, “They’re subcontracting our work out.” “If the City of Boston is in need of police intervention on a City of Boston street, that falls under the sole jurisdiction of the men and women of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association,” he said. Ware representatives declined to comment, saying they didn’t have permission from the health commission. New England Security also declined to comment. Latino said the contract with Ware increased over time: At first, two guards patrolled the health commission sites, and then four began patrolling in March 2022. As conditions worsened again earlier this year, with tents popping back up on Atkinson Street, the health commission paid Ware to deploy seven guards during the day and eight overnight, he said. The contract with the company calls for the security workers to be “highly visible,” and also “empathetic” to those living on the streets. Latino said there have been no complaints against the Ware guards. The area has been a health and public safety concern for well over a decade. City officials have repeatedly embarked on sweeps to break down the encampments, but they return. In August, Mayor Michelle Wu said the area had reached “a new level of public safety alarm,” leading her to introduce changes to city law aimed at making it easier to remove tents more quickly. Advertisement After the City Council approved her proposal in October, the city cleared tents and closed Atkinson Street to public congregation while seeking to connect people on the street with services. On a recent evening, a man in an SUV with Ware insignia watched over the area, as a few people straggled to and from the shelter. The Boston Police Department mobile operations center was parked on Atkinson, where tents previously stood. Several police cruisers were also stationed nearby, their blue emergency lights flashing. The Police Department did not respond to a request for comment about the department’s interactions with private security. The Newmarket Business Improvement District has a contract with New England Security for patrols in the area. Executive director Sue Sullivan said her organization spends nearly $1 million a year on the security contract, which was first signed in June 2022. The Business Improvement District is funded by an additional assessment on the area’s businesses, and that money pays for the security, as well as street cleaning and other upkeep. The private security, Sullivan said, “is probably the biggest benefit” to the businesses. She said New England Security has received 39,000 calls this year related to Mass. and Cass, ranging from reports of overdoses to complaints of people breaking into the companies’ trucks, or individuals causing trouble in the McDonald’s drive-thru line. Sullivan’s group’s contract is for unarmed guards, though individuals who have licenses to carry firearms can, and sometimes do. Advertisement She praised New England Security, saying that its guards make a point of connecting with people on the street, and that they’re willing to handle any type of issue. “I’ve seen them disperse crowds of 30 or more just by showing up and saying, ‘Hey, you guys have got to go,’ ” she said. “Most people, believe it or not, are not looking for an altercation.” Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com.Follow him @cotterreporter.

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6sports

Powerball: See the winning numbers in Saturdays $620 million drawing

It’s time to grab your tickets and check to see if you’re a big winner! The Powerball lottery jackpot continues to rise after one lucky winner in California won $1.73 billion in the October 11 drawing. Is this your lucky night? Here are Saturday’s winning lottery numbers: 09-14-17-18-53, Powerball: 06, Power Play: 3X Double Play Winning Numbers 20-37-39-40-43, Powerball: 01 The estimated Powerball jackpot is $620 million. The lump sum payment before taxes would be about $312 million. The Double Play is a feature that gives players in select locations another chance to match their Powerball numbers in a separate drawing. The Double Play drawing is held following the regular drawing and has a top cash prize of $10 million. Powerball is held in 45 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The Double Play add-on feature is available for purchase in 13 lottery jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania and Michigan. A $2 ticket gives you a one in 292.2 million chance at joining the hall of Powerball jackpot champions. The drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. Eastern, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The deadline to purchase tickets is 9:45 p.m.

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1crime

Ray Epps, Target of Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory, Is Sentenced to Probation

Ray Epps, the former Trump supporter who became a target of a conspiracy theory that he was an undercover government agent who helped to instigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, was sentenced on Tuesday to a year of probation for his own small role in the riot instead of the six months in prison that prosecutors had requested. The probation sentence, imposed after Mr. Epps had pleaded guilty last year to a single count of disorderly conduct stemming from his presence in the pro-Trump mob near the Capitol, brought his prosecution to a close. But it was unlikely to end the persistent false narrative that he was a provocateur out to entrap his fellow conservatives on Jan. 6 even though he, his lawyer, the prosecutor and even the judge overseeing the case all asserted in open court that the tale was preposterous. “Trust in elected officials and Fox News led to my gullibility in believing the election was stolen,” Mr. Epps told Judge James E. Boasberg in Federal District Court in Washington. “What I witnessed was rage and vulgarity on a level I’ve never seen before, and it was generated by people like me, not the F.B.I. or antifa.” Speaking in the same courthouse where former President Donald J. Trump was attending a federal appeals court hearing related to his prosecution on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election, Judge Boasberg told Mr. Epps, “While many defendants have been vilified in a way unique to Jan. 6, you seem to be the first to have suffered for what you didn’t do.”

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6sports

Meet the 2023-2024 Western Mass. boys basketball captains

MassLive released its Super 7, Top 20 rankings and returning All-Western Mass. recipients for boys basketball on Jan. 5. Get to know more about the teams by looking at the captains for the local programs below. Coaches, add your captains to the list by emailing sports@masslive.com.

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4politics

On Vivek Ramaswamys R.I. nomination papers: Signatures of dead Rhode Islanders

And now, election officials have found the names of dead people on nomination papers submitted on behalf of Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate for president. Last year, election officials found the names of dead people on nomination papers submitted on behalf of Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, a Democrat then running for the First Congressional District seat. PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island is seeing dead people, again. The signatures of dead people on candidate nomination papers, that is. The Warwick Board of Canvassers reported finding the names of “several deceased voters” on Ramaswamy’s nomination papers, and the boards of canvassers in Providence, Hopkinton, and Coventry reported that they have invalidated “an unusually high number” of signatures on Ramaswamy’s nomination papers, said Ben Smith, a spokesperson for the state Board of Elections. Advertisement On Friday, Board of Elections spokesman Christopher Hunter said West Greenwich officials contacted the board on Thursday night to report an unusually high number of Ramaswamy disqualifications due to signature mismatch. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up “The Board of Elections asked for local boards of canvassers to be extra vigilant and to notify them if they see patterns of fraudulent signatures,” Smith said. “They were asking to take a closer look at all nomination papers, and in this case the nomination papers for Ramaswamy.” A spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign, Tricia McLaughlin, said the campaign used an outside vendor, Ground Game LLC, to collect signatures for nomination papers in Rhode Island. She said an investigation began as soon as the campaign heard the report about deceased voters, and it found that one of the vendor’s employees had intentionally used the names of deceased individuals on those forms. That person has been fired, and the campaign will work with law enforcement on any review of the matter, McLaughlin said. She said it is common for national campaigns to use vendors to collect signatures for nomination papers. Advertisement Miguel J. Nunez, the Board of Elections’ deputy director of elections, sent local boards a message Wednesday, saying the Coventry Board of Canvassers had “invalidated an unusually high number of signatures on the nomination papers submitted on behalf of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, which were collected by Heidy Moore and Michael Michols. Please vigilant when processing forms collected by these individuals, and contact me if you believe any contain a pattern of fraudulent signatures.” Also, Nunez wrote, “We have also been notified by the staff of the Warwick Board of Canvassers of several deceased voters on the nomination papers submitted on behalf of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.” And, he said, “We have also been notified by the staff of the Cranston Board of Canvassers that they have found names of several deceased voters on petitions from the No Labels Rhode Island Party. Likewise, please notify me if you observe any patterns of fraudulent signatures on these petitions.” Smith, a board of elections spokesperson, explained that the No Labels Rhode Island Party is trying to get on the Rhode Island ballot for the first time and faces a separate deadline in August. He said both Cranston and Jamestown election officials have invalidated an unusually large number of signatures on No Labels petitions. The deadline for presidential candidates to submit nomination papers to the local boards of canvassers was 4 p.m. Thursday. Earlier this week, some Republican candidates had been struggling to gather more than the 1,000 valid signatures required to appear on the April 2 ballot in Rhode Island. Advertisement On Tuesday, state Republican Party Chairman Joe Powers sent out an email — with the subject line “This is not a drill” — asking for help in gathering signatures. “Folks,” Powers wrote, “There is no easy way of putting this. But if we do not get the minimum of 1,000 signatures in the next 3 days, our Republican Presidential candidates will not be on the April ballot. Unfortunately, a few Board of Canvassers have rejected some signatures without a clear reason. As of now, understanding the cause is not our priority; we can address that later. What’s crucial is that we need EVERYONE’s help to gather as many signatures as possible.” As of 4:42 p.m. Friday, the secretary of state’s office reported the following totals of “validated signatures” for Republican candidates: Former President Donald J. Trump: 2,502 Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley: 2,202 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: 2,196 Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie: 1,573 Biotechnology entrepreneur Ramaswamy: 1,273 Businessman and pastor Ryan L. Binkley: 293 Christie dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the following totals were reported for Democratic candidates: President Joe Biden: 1,632 US Representative Dean B. Phillips: 1,059 The secretary of state’s office reported zero valid signatures for Democratic hopefuls such as Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur. Self-help guru Marianne Williamson did not file to take part in the primary in Rhode Island, according to the secretary of state’s office. On Thursday, Republican Party executive director Jesus Solorio Jr. said the state party reached out to the campaigns for six candidates, and four of those campaigns accepted the party’s help in collecting signatures: Trump, Haley, DeSantis, and Christie. He said the party did not hear back from the campaigns for Ramaswamy or Create Church pastor Ryan Binkley. Advertisement “We are still collecting signature but pretty confident all our candidates will be on the ballot,” Solorio said. “The deadline is 4 o’clock today. We are running to the tape.” Candidates always aim to submit more than the minimum number of signatures required, he noted. “So we had a call to action to make sure we have more than the bare minimum,” he said. Faith Chybowski, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, explained that local boards have until Jan. 24 to “validate” those signatures and send the nomination papers to the secretary of state’s office, which then certifies that the candidates submitted the required number of signatures. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.

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4politics

Political Pressures on Biden Helped Drive Secret Cell of Aides in Hostage Talks

Aides said the president was also hopeful that the hostage release could be an early step toward a broader peace in the region once the immediate crisis ends. In an opinion article published in The Washington Post on Sunday, Mr. Biden described how far his ambitions stretch beyond the four-day pause in fighting agreed to on Tuesday. “Our goal should not be simply to stop the war for today,” he wrote. “It should be to end the war forever, break the cycle of unceasing violence, and build something stronger in Gaza and across the Middle East so that history does not keep repeating itself.” Mr. Biden and his top aides have repeatedly said they do not tell Israel how to respond to the slaughter of 1,200 people inside their country, and Mr. Netanyahu made it clear on Tuesday that he intended to resume military operations against Hamas as soon as the hostages were freed in accordance with the deal. “The war will continue,” Mr. Netanyahu said. But some senior American officials have signaled they would not be disappointed if the pause became a more permanent cease-fire. If the White House tries to use the hostage deal to press for a longer-term cease-fire and start moving toward the bigger questions about occupation and a two-state solution, that could put Mr. Biden on another collision course with Mr. Netanyahu when the fighting is scheduled to resume. A top administration official, who briefed reporters on Tuesday in the hours before the deal was finalized, said the pause in fighting was a step toward an eventual push for peace. But the official cautioned that such a possibility was a long way off. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a deal that had not yet been finalized. In the short term, the president and his aides say they are focused on ensuring that Hamas lives up to the promises the militant group made during weeks of negotiations that often seemed destined to fail. The first sign of progress came in late October, when U.S. officials received word through intermediaries in Qatar and Egypt that Hamas could accept a deal to release women and children. In return, they wanted Israel to free Palestinian prisoners, pause the fighting, and delay a ground invasion. With Israeli troops massing outside Gaza, officials in Israel and the United States debated whether to accept the deal. Israeli officials did not think Hamas was serious about the offer and refused to delay the ground offensive. Hamas refused to provide any proof of life about the hostages. Negotiations stalled. At the White House, Mr. Biden and his foreign policy team kept pressing. On Nov. 14, hope swelled again after Mr. Netanyahu called the president to say he could accept the latest offer from Hamas. But just hours after the call, Israeli military forces stormed Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which they said served as a Hamas command center. Suddenly, communications between Hamas and the officials in Qatar and Egypt went silent. When Hamas resurfaced hours later, they made it clear: The deal was off. For several days, the militant group demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from the hospital, which Israel refused. It took several days for the talks to resume, following a call from Mr. Biden to the emir of Qatar. Administration officials continued pressing Israel and, through the intermediaries, Hamas. After Mr. Biden’s call, top aides, including the director of the C.I.A., met with the emir in Qatar to go over the latest draft — a six-page text with detailed steps for implementation on both sides. Within a week, the diplomatic pressure paid off. On Tuesday evening, as the Israeli cabinet took its final vote to approve the deal, Mr. Biden headed out of Washington for a five-day Thanksgiving vacation with his family on the island of Nantucket. The Israeli decision, announced by Mr. Netanyahu’s office, would allow for a pause of at least four days in the fighting in Gaza. If it holds, it will be the longest halt in hostilities since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks prompted Israel to begin its bombardment of Gaza. In a statement on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden pledged to work with regional leaders “to ensure this deal is carried through in its entirety,” adding, “It is important that all aspects of this deal be fully implemented.” But even with the deal in place, Mr. Biden faces challenges ahead. There are still Americans being held hostage in Gaza, and the tensions in the United States, and within his own party, show few signs of diminishing. Officials said they were keenly aware that the horror for the families of those still in captivity in Gaza will not end until their loved ones are home. For Mr. Biden, it could not happen soon enough. “As president, I have no higher priority than ensuring the safety of Americans held hostage around the world,” Mr. Biden said in his statement, adding, “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released.”

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0business

Bashaw stepping down as Westfield State University baseball coach

WESTFIELD - Westfield State baseball coach Nathan Bashaw will be stepping down after nine seasons at the helm of the Owls program, effective January 12, 2024 to pursue private business interests outside of coaching, the school recently announced. “It was a very difficult decision, but this new professional opportunity will allow me to spend more time with my wife and kids,” said Bashaw. “I will greatly miss the relationships and competition fostered in college athletics, but am looking forward to investing more time into my own kids’ lives.”

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6sports

Live Wire: Field Day 2024 lineup announced

Field Day, the summer music festival in Northampton, just announced the lineup for 2024. The festival, which will expand to multiple days, will be held at the Three County Fairgrounds from May 31 to June 2. This year acts will include Indigo De Souza, Nation of Language, DEHD, Geese, Butcher Brown, Sheer Mag, The Heavy Heavy, NTH Power, This Love, Cooper B Handy, Sun Parade, and Prewn, among others. Visit the Field Day website for more information.

d74cdf7367b8b1e5582bdfe91bfc48cd

4politics

Much of the Green Line will be closed (again) for most of January. Here's what to know

Much of the Green Line will be closed (again) for most of January. Here's what to know Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here. It’s a new year! While we get to work on the resolutions you all suggested for Boston in 2024 (mine is fewer rainy weekends), here’s a look at what’s ahead during this first week of the year: The MBTA is resolving to get rid of slow zones in 2024 — and that effort begins with another big Green Line closure covering over two-thirds of January. Starting tomorrow, the T shuts down trolley service between North Station and Kenmore, as well as the entire southern leg of E branch and part of the B branch (out to Babcock Street). The closure runs through Jan. 12, and will be followed shortly after by another identical 13-day diversion from Jan. 16 to 28. In other words, it’s basically one long closure running almost all of January, with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend break in the middle. (Just keep repeating the mantra: “short-term pain for long-term wins.”) How to get around it: The two shutdowns are mostly the same as the Green Line shutdown that happened just over a month ago, with one small difference: Shuttle buses will drop off riders directly at Back Bay station (rather than Copley) so they can take the Orange Line if they’re going downtown. Otherwise, you can still refer to our guide to the previous Green Line diversion for a branch-by-branch breakdown of your transportation options. (The commuter rail will again be free between South Station and Lansdowne, as will the 39 and 57 buses.) What else: The T also scheduled more Green Line Extension shutdowns so contractors can finish fixing the defective tracks. The plan includes two weekend shutdowns this month (Jan. 6-7 and Jan. 20-21) and nighttime closures starting at 8:45 p.m. on most weekdays — though those don’t start until next week. Click here for the T’s full guide to all the Green Line and Green Line Extension disruptions and detours this month. January 2024 Green Line closures. (Image courtesy of the MBTA) The Boston City Council officially has a new leader: Ruthzee Louijeune was elected by her colleagues yesterday to be the chamber’s new president. The at-large councilor and Hyde Park native — who was the top vote-getter in November’s election — is the first Haitian-American and third Black woman to serve as Council president. Why it matters: The Council president has the power to give fellow councilors (or strip them of) committee leadership positions, as well as lead meetings. The council president also steps in as acting mayor if the mayor goes out of town or leaves office. Zoom out: After two divisive and messy years, the Council swore in four new members yesterday, and Louijeune tried to ring in 2024 on a unifying note. WBUR’s Arielle Gray has more here. The minimum wage went up yesterday in four New England states — though not Massachusetts. For the first time since 2018, the Bay State will see no bump in its minimum wage. In fact, Connecticut is taking the lead in New England’s minimum wage race, after tying its rate to inflation. While the minimum wage will remain at $15-an-hour here, Connecticut’s will go up to $15.69. What’s next: WBUR’s Zeninjor Enwemeka reports some labor advocates are expected to ramp up their push for a $20-an-hour minimum wage in Massachusetts this year. After forgoing a 2024 ballot campaign, supporters are focusing their advocacy on the State House. (That said, there is a potential 2024 ballot question that would raise Massachusetts’ tipped minimum wage.) Ballot battles: President Joe Biden’s two long-shot Democratic primary challengers will be on the ballot in Massachusetts after all. Secretary of State Bill Galvin announced yesterday that Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson are both nationally recognizable candidates and will be on the March 5 primary ballot — even after the state Democratic party only submitted Biden’s name. Next steps: Galvin will hold the random drawing for the order of names on the state’s presidential primary ballots today at 11 a.m. Buses in the New Bedford and Fall River area are free for the next six months. Thanks to a state grant, the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority is eliminating its $1.50-per-ride fare for all of its routes through June. Check out the schedules here. P.S.— CitySpace is kicking off the New Year with a Tiziana Dearing-led discussion this Thursday about the industrial wellness complex and principles for genuine self-care. Check out the full 2024 winter lineup to see all the events coming up this season and snag your tickets early!

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0business

Hotel Owners Push Back on Merger of National Brands

When Patrick Pacious, the chief executive of a large portfolio of hotel brands, promoted a blockbuster attempt to acquire a competitor in October, he said the proposed merger would lower costs and attract more customers for the families and small businesses that own most of the company’s locations. “Our franchisees instantly grasped the strategic benefit this would bring to their hotels,” Mr. Pacious, who leads Choice Hotels, said on CNBC. As the weeks have passed, however, the reaction has not been positive. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the target of the proposed deal, rejected the offer from Choice, which is now pursuing a hostile takeover. And in early December, an association representing the majority of hoteliers who own Choice and Wyndham-branded properties came out strongly against it. “We all don’t know what’s driving this merger. Many of us feel it’s not needed,” said Bharat Patel, the chairman of the organization, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. The group surveyed its 20,000 members and found that about 77 percent of respondents who own hotels under either brand or both thought a merger would hurt their business.

4788c22b93cff7a6793af81f28987dd2

5science

How to Take Care of Your Skin in the Fall and Winter

As the outside air cools and the heat starts to crank on indoors, you may notice your skin becoming flaky, maybe even a bit itchy. Welcome to fall and winter. Your skin’s main job is to “keep the inside world in and the outside world out,” said Dr. Brittany Craiglow, an associate adjunct professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine and a dermatologist in Fairfield, Conn. The outermost layer, the lipid barrier, which is composed of fatty compounds, helps to prevent germs and toxins from entering your body and hydration from leaving it. When temperatures drop, the air gets drier — both indoors and outdoors — and moisture gets pulled from the lipid barrier. With less hydration, the turnover of skin cells is impaired and they start to clump together, which people can experience as dry, flaky or even scaly skin, Dr. Craiglow said. Some are more susceptible to developing dry skin in cooler weather, particularly older adults and those with eczema, said Dr. Jeffrey Weinberg, a clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. But it can happen to anyone.

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3entertainment

Stream These 9 Movies Before They Leave Netflix in January

In January, several big movies from an impressive coterie of marquee directors — including Sofia Coppola, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Spike Lee, Jordan Peele and Robert Rodriguez — leave Netflix in the United States, along with a zippy comedy, an entertaining animated sequel and what may be the most famous runner-up in Oscars history. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.) ‘BlacKkKlansman’ (Jan. 5) Stream it here. Better late than never: Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar for co-writing the screenplay to this deft combination of social satire and police procedural, which he also directed. It details the true story of how the Colorado police detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan — despite the fact that Stallworth is Black. Lee plays Stallworth’s ruse, achieved with a clever combination of phone calls and undercover work by his white, Jewish partner (Adam Driver), for laughs. But the danger of the operation is ever-present, building considerable tension to a conclusion that ingeniously and gut-wrenchingly ties the past to the present. ‘Get Out’ (Jan. 5) Stream it here. When Jordan Peele’s crossover to feature filmmaking was announced in the mid-2010s, most audiences — familiar only with his work as half of the sketch comedy team Key & Peele — presumed he would continue to work in that wild comic style. No one could have predicted that he would turn the entire horror genre upside down, but that’s exactly what he did with this nail-biting combination of social commentary and scary movie. What begins as a “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” riff — a wealthy young white woman (Allison Williams) bringing her Black boyfriend (Daniel Kaluuya) home to meet her parents — turns into something far more sinister and unpredictable; Peele’s insights as a screenwriter are pointed and even profound, and his directorial instincts are striking from Frame 1. ‘Spy Kids’ (Jan. 12) Stream it here. Just as it’s hard to remember that Peele wasn’t always associated with horror, recall that there was once a time when the idea of Robert Rodriguez — known then for his hyperkinetic action movies — making a family film was shocking. But he changed all of that with this 2001 smash, in which two average kids (the charismatic duo of Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega) discover that their seemingly boring parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino, both delightfully game) are in fact globe-trotting super spies; a mission has gone awry, and the kids have to save them. Rodriguez’s imaginative scenario plugs right in to childhood play, and his handmade style is a smooth fit for kid-friendly cinema. (The second and third chapters in the franchise leave Netflix the same day.)

8049ce341751e98b7bcc0ad795b01aa5

7weather

Mild start to December but morning sun gives way to clouds, chance of rain

The mild temperatures peak Friday as sunshine holds sway through the morning. Although limited these days, it should be enough to boost us into the low and mid-50s this afternoon. Breezes from the southwest continue as the clouds slowly increase from the west. Showers are moving east as well. While this isn't a big rainmaker, we should see some wet weather by late afternoon/evening. All of it will fall in the first half of the night, then make a quick exit by morning. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. We're left with a lot of clouds Saturday, but we can't rule out a few rays of sun from time to time, either. This will be our only dry day of the weekend. Sunday's showers will get a jump on us early, but the heaviest rain will wait until Sunday night. As colder air works in from the north, the rain/snow will drop south late night. Some mix could come into the picture by Monday morning in central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, but the prospects for accumulation remain low — and limited to higher terrain — given the mild temps near 50 on Sunday and the gradual nature of the cooling. Our storm departs on Monday, but there still may be a few showers around through at least early afternoon. Have a great weekend!

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4politics

Inspector General to Investigate Handling of Austins Hospitalization

Mr. Austin, 70, was in severe pain and rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Jan. 1. He was put in intensive care after complications from a surgery he underwent on Dec. 22 to remove his prostate, the hospital disclosed this week. But several senior aides at the Defense Department did not learn of the secretary’s hospitalization until the next day, Jan. 2. The White House was not notified until Jan. 4, a major breach in protocol at the highest national security levels. Further complicating matters, neither Pentagon nor White House officials learned until Tuesday that Mr. Austin had been diagnosed with cancer last month. “It’s not good,” John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman and a former Pentagon spokesman, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. “It’s certainly not good, which is why we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” While Mr. Biden’s aides said this week that he would not fire Mr. Austin, they acknowledged the breakdown in communications and moved to assert new discipline over the administration. Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff, ordered a review of procedures and sent a directive to cabinet secretaries making clear that they are to inform the White House when they are unable to perform their duties. The episode has raised questions about Mr. Austin’s credibility as well as his department’s overall competence. The Pentagon’s shifting stories, put forth by junior officials seeking to protect their boss, have not helped matters. The stark breach of protocol has also lessened the overall credibility of the Defense Department, lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials said, with both the White House and Congress.

2896d2e59fe416e5dbf94e557c890ba4

6sports

Celtics injury report: 1 starter listed for Spurs game

The Celtics and Knicks will meet five times in the regular season, mainly because of the NBA’s in-season tournament. Both teams lost in the quarterfinals of the knockout stage as they didn’t make it to Las Vegas. As a result, the C’s will play their division rivals five times this season. Boston has defeated New York already twice this season, once at TD Garden and the other at Madison Square Garden. The C’s hope Kristaps Porzingis will also be available after missing the past four games. What TV channel is the game on? What time will it start? Friday’s game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET in Boston, Massachusetts. The game will air on TV via NBC Sports Boston in New England. Live stream info: NBC Sports | Sling | fuboTV - If you have cable and live in New England, you can use your login credentials to watch the game via NBC Sports. If you don’t have cable, you can stream the game on smart TVs and streaming devices via Sling and fuboTV, which has a free trial. More coverage via the Associated Press New York Knicks (12-8, fifth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Boston Celtics (15-5, first in the Eastern Conference) Boston; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: New York visits the Boston Celtics after Julius Randle scored 41 points in the Knicks’ 146-122 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics are 8-1 against Atlantic Division teams. Boston averages 116.5 points and has outscored opponents by 8.4 points per game. The Knicks are 1-2 against opponents in the Atlantic Division. New York averages 111.5 points while outscoring opponents by 4.0 points per game. The Celtics are shooting 47.4% from the field this season, 0.1 percentage points higher than the 47.3% the Knicks allow to opponents. The Knicks are shooting 44.8% from the field, 0.7% higher than the 44.1% the Celtics’ opponents have shot this season. The teams meet for the third time this season. The Celtics won 114-98 in the last matchup on Nov. 14. TOP PERFORMERS: Jayson Tatum is averaging 27.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown is averaging 19.3 points over the last 10 games for Boston. Randle is scoring 21.5 points per game with 10.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is averaging 27.2 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 50.8% over the last 10 games for New York. LAST 10 GAMES: Celtics: 7-3, averaging 113.4 points, 46.8 rebounds, 24.7 assists, 6.7 steals and 6.8 blocks per game while shooting 47.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.3 points per game. Knicks: 7-3, averaging 114.5 points, 44.5 rebounds, 24.0 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.7 points. INJURIES: Celtics: Kristaps Porzingis: day to day (calf). Knicks: DaQuan Jeffries: day to day (illness), Evan Fournier: day to day (illness).

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4politics

Reports Say Pope Francis Is Evicting U.S. Cardinal From His Vatican Home

Almost as soon as Pope Francis became the head of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, Raymond Burke, an American cardinal, emerged as his leading critic from within the church, becoming a de facto antipope for frustrated traditionalists who believed Francis was diluting doctrine. Francis frequently demoted and stripped the American cleric of influence, but this month, the pope apparently finally had enough, according to one high-ranking Vatican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Francis told a meeting of high-ranking Vatican officials that he intended to throw the cardinal out of his Vatican-subsidized apartment and deprive him of his salary as a retired cardinal. The news of the possible eviction was first reported by the conservative Italian newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, which is close to Cardinal Burke and recently sponsored a conference featuring the prelate criticizing a major meeting of bishops convened by Francis. The newspaper’s report comes only weeks after Francis removed another vocal conservative critic, Joseph Strickland, the bishop of Tyler, Texas, after a Vatican investigation into the governance of his diocese. “If this is accurate, it is an atrocity that must be opposed,” Bishop Strickland said in a post on the social media platform X on Monday. “If it is false information it needs to be corrected immediately.”

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Newton teachers go on strike beginning Friday

This month, the internal dissension has erupted into an attempt to oust Ms. Karamo, which, if successful, would be the first removal of a leader of the Michigan Republican Party in decades. Nearly 40 members of the Michigan Republican Party’s state committee called for a meeting in late December to explore forcing out Ms. Karamo. Just before Christmas, Malinda Pego, Ms. Karamo’s running mate for state party chair and the co-chair of the committee, signed onto that effort, in an ominous sign for the embattled chairwoman. And on Thursday, eight of the 13 Republican congressional district party chairs asked Ms. Karamo to resign in a joint letter, pleading with her to “put an end to the chaos” by stepping down. But that meeting has now been delayed, with no definite date on the calendar. Ms. Karamo has vowed to fight back, railing against the effort as illegitimate. The pitched battle for control of the state party in a pre-eminent presidential battleground is the most extreme example of conflicts brewing in state Republican parties across the country. Once dominated largely by moneyed establishment donors and their allies, many state parties have been taken over by grass-roots Republican activists energized by former President Donald J. Trump and his broadsides against the legitimacy of elections. These activists, now holding positions of state and local power, have elevated others who share their views, prioritizing election denialism over experience and credentials. The result has been fund-raising problems and division. The Republican Party of Arizona spent much of this year in debt.

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0business

See all homes sold in Cape Cod, Nov. 26 to Dec. 2

The following is a listing of all home transfers in Cape Cod reported from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2. There were 63 transactions posted during this time. During this period, the median sale for the area was a 1,350-square-foot home on Cynthia Lane in Dennis Port that sold for $600,000. Barnstable 109 Palomino Drive, Barnstable, $802,500, 1,592 square feet, $504 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Brewster 1117 Millstone Road, Brewster, $340,000, 1,148 square feet, $296 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 13 Oyster Leaf Lane, Brewster, $1,135,000, 1,990 square feet, $570 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Buzzards Bay 13 Hideaway, Buzzards Bay, $320,000, 578 square feet, $554 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 19 Alden Ave., Buzzards Bay, $460,000, 1,032 square feet, $446 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. 25 Eel Pond Road, Buzzards Bay, $535,000, 744 square feet, $719 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. Cataumet 48 Scraggy Neck Road, Cataumet, $625,000, 1,756 square feet, $356 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Centerville 346 Great Marsh Road, Centerville, $510,000, 1,064 square feet, $479 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 21 Micah Hamlin Road, Centerville, $685,000, 1,874 square feet, $366 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 100 Bay Lane, Centerville, $850,000, 2,218 square feet, $383 per square-foot, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. Chatham 104 Arbutus Trail, Chatham, $1,750,000, 3,213 square feet, $545 per square-foot, three bedrooms and four bathrooms. Cotuit 217 Sandalwood Drive, Cotuit, $517,000, 944 square feet, $548 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Dennis Port 14 Myrtle Lane, Dennis Port, $330,000, 572 square feet, $577 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 3 Third Mate Row, Dennis Port, $392,500, 984 square feet, $399 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 50 North Street, Dennis Port, $450,000, 1,496 square feet, $301 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 39 Cynthia Lane, Dennis Port, $600,000, 1,350 square feet, $444 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. 62 Baxter Street, Dennis Port, $825,000, 1,777 square feet, $464 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. East Falmouth 23 Edmar Road, East Falmouth, $550,250, 1,288 square feet, $427 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 31 Sunrise Lane, East Falmouth, $1,565,000, 2,844 square feet, $550 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Eastham 27 Beach Plum Lane, Eastham, $880,000, 1,186 square feet, $742 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. Falmouth 4 Old Dock Road, Falmouth, $1,200,000, 2,479 square feet, $484 per square-foot, three bedrooms and four bathrooms. Forestdale 18 Weeks Pond Drive, Forestdale, $454,949, 1,600 square feet, $284 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 24 Tabor Road, Forestdale, $475,000, 1,000 square feet, $475 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Harwich 12 Pamela Way, Harwich, $547,000, 1,540 square feet, $355 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 123 Depot Road, Harwich, $695,000, 1,638 square feet, $424 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 9 Robert Road, Harwich, $1,050,000, 2,089 square feet, $503 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 10 Colonial Way, Harwich, $1,110,000, 1,612 square feet, $689 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 339 Queen Anne Road, Harwich, $1,580,740, 1,290 square feet, $1,225 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. Hyannis 61 Bettys Pond Road, Hyannis, $328,000, 1,560 square feet, $210 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 452 Bishops Terrace, Hyannis, $425,000, 768 square feet, $553 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 50 Sterling Road, Hyannis, $539,950, 1,239 square feet, $436 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. Marstons Mills 4 Mor Way, Marstons Mills, $680,000, 1,754 square feet, $388 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Mashpee 114 James Circle, Mashpee, $375,000, 1,888 square feet, $199 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 10 Kettle Lane, Mashpee, $535,000, 1,685 square feet, $318 per square-foot, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. 68 Mid Iron Way, Mashpee, $600,000, 1,034 square feet, $580 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 24 Stratford Ridge, Mashpee, $760,000, 2,169 square feet, $350 per square-foot, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. North Chatham 193 Northgate Road, North Chatham, $1,285,000, 2,083 square feet, $617 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Orleans 170 Barley Neck Road, Orleans, $600,000, 1,030 square feet, $583 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 10 Locust Road, Orleans, $600,000, 3,518 square feet, $171 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 152 Monument Road, Orleans, $1,000,500, 2,108 square feet, $475 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Pocasset 94 Bellavista Drive, Pocasset, $725,000, 1,916 square feet, $378 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 333 Circuit Ave., Pocasset, $730,000, 1,232 square feet, $593 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. Provincetown 15 Cottage Street, Provincetown, $600,000, 367 square feet, $1,635 per square-foot, one bedroom and one bathroom. 5 Brewster Street, Provincetown, $909,000, 1,145 square feet, $794 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 8 Mechanic Street, Provincetown, $1,000,000, 840 square feet, $1,190 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. Sandwich 3 Salt Kettle Lane, Sandwich, $520,000, 1,032 square feet, $504 per square-foot, three bedrooms and one bathroom. 42 Triangle Circle, Sandwich, $590,000, 2,026 square feet, $291 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. South Dennis 1706 Route 6a, South Dennis, $340,000, 695 square feet, $489 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 45 Dunstable Cross Road, South Dennis, $515,000, 1,480 square feet, $348 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 46 Wildwood Street, South Dennis, $580,000, 1,824 square feet, $318 per square-foot, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. 56 Island Street, South Dennis, $835,000, 1,700 square feet, $491 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 653 Airline Road, South Dennis, $970,000, 2,133 square feet, $455 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. South Yarmouth 11 Windjammer Lane, South Yarmouth, $490,000, 960 square feet, $510 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 161 Captain Nickerson Road, South Yarmouth, $540,000, 1,428 square feet, $378 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. Teaticket 233 Falmouthport Drive, Teaticket, $730,000, 1,352 square feet, $540 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 11 Montauk Street, Teaticket, $759,500, 1,344 square feet, $565 per square-foot, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Wellfleet 36 Cove Road, Wellfleet, $250,000, 500 square feet, $500 per square-foot, two bedrooms and one bathroom. 135 Old Truro Road, Wellfleet, $785,000, 1,300 square feet, $604 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 86 Old Wharf Road, Wellfleet, $916,750, 1,931 square feet, $475 per square-foot, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. West Harwich 189 Route 28, West Harwich, $785,000, 1,754 square feet, $448 per square-foot, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. West Yarmouth 441 Buck Island Road, West Yarmouth, $440,000, 1,080 square feet, $407 per square-foot, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 46 Acres Ave., West Yarmouth, $650,000, 1,624 square feet, $400 per square-foot, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. 30 Moss Road, West Yarmouth, $1,625,000, 2,166 square feet, $750 per square-foot, five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data. See more Real Estate News

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4politics

CNNs Iowa Debate Will Be a DeSantis-Haley Showdown

A Republican presidential primary debate that CNN plans to host in Des Moines next week will be a one-on-one showdown between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who are fighting to emerge from the state’s caucuses as the definitive alternative to former President Donald J. Trump. Both Mr. DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, are long shots to win the caucuses, given that they are trailing Mr. Trump in polls of Iowans by more than 30 points on average. But if either one is to have even a small chance of claiming the nomination, that person needs to drive the other out of the race, which they could do — or at least take a first step toward doing — by beating them for second place in Iowa. Mr. Trump did not participate in the official debates sponsored by the Republican National Committee last year, and he will not participate in the CNN debate in Iowa either. (The Iowa event will be followed by a similar one in New Hampshire.) And no other candidate qualified by the deadline on Tuesday. Participants needed at least 10 percent support in three national or Iowa polls that met CNN’s criteria, including at least one poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers. The entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who has largely ignored Iowa in favor of campaigning in New Hampshire; and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas did not meet that mark.

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0business

What Investors and the Fed Will Look For in the Jobs Report

Jobs report: the numbers to watch Wall Street, the White House and the Fed will all be watching Friday’s jobs report for signs of how the labor market is holding up. The numbers may also deliver clues on the central bank’s next move on interest rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the nonfarm payrolls number at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Here are the data points to watch: 160,000. Economists polled by FactSet expect the report to show that employers added roughly 160,000 jobs last month, a drop from the 199,000 positions created in November. They also forecast that the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8 percent in December, from 3.7 percent the previous month. 2.7 million. If those predictions are correct, it would bring total hiring in 2023 to about 2.7 million, a strong showing in a year marked by strikes and layoffs by large firms across multiple sectors. Heading into an election year, it’s a data point that President Biden is expected to trumpet to voters still unconvinced about his handling of the economy. 3.9 percent. The big number investors will be watching is wage growth. The consensus estimate is that average hourly wages grew by 3.9 percent on an annualized basis last month, roughly in line with figures from November.

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0business

Feinsteins Name Could Soon Grace an Airport Terminal and a Navy Ship

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s final years were marred by her deteriorating health, the loss of her husband and a bitter family dispute over money. But since her death in September at age 90, her admirers have moved quickly to honor her accomplishments as the first woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco and the first woman to become a U.S. senator from California.

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4politics

Do Political Ads Even Matter Anymore?

Welcome to Massachusetts, Mr. President. On the off chance you pick up a Herald today, we’d like to offer you some advice. First, don’t run for re-election. We’re getting right to the point, but someone needs to. The Democrats didn’t want Hillary Clinton again and Liz Warren is annoying, so the DC elite set you up for an Oval Office reservation. It’s time to check out. Secondly, and most importantly, if you insist on running, please drop Vice President Kamala Harris. If you could do that now, we’d all appreciate it. Thanks for reading this far, so we’ll keep going. John Kerry continues to insult every American who works hard to put food on the table. It’s baffling as to why you put up with this smug, globetrotting polluter who’s vain enough to believe others don’t see right through his “do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do” persona. Please fire him. Full disclosure: we’re a little sore here because Kerry has informed the Herald the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to him. Clearly, he was another failed presidential candidate, so you tossed him a bone to let him hopscotch across the planet trying to dictate what others should all do. We’d like to see what his carbon footprint is lately. But back to the advice. Ironically, if you did jettison Harris and Kerry and choose a better running mate, your chances in 2024 would improve dramatically. Is that why you had California Gov. Gavin Newsom debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the other night on Fox? Please share those focus group results with all of us. Today would be nice. We realize you won’t toss Harris or Kerry, and that’s why you need to announce you’ll be stepping down next year. Being decisive is not your forte. The world needs leadership more than ever. Putin, Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and all the rest are watching you equivocate with every move you make. We’ve avoided mentioning your birthday — happy 81 — but going soft does come with age. America can’t risk another four years of your administration. Your indecisiveness with migrants crossing the border — or entering the country through all the others holes in the immigration system — is bankrupting major cities across the nation. Our state’s end-of-year supplemental budget was held up for a few days by heroic Republicans who want better controls on the migrant mess. Yet, you just delegate this to VP Harris — again, why she needs to go — while mayors and governors beg for millions to bail you out. We’ll bet this topic won’t come up today as you hobnob behind closed doors while being serenaded by James Taylor. Again, if you stood on the tarmac and Logan Airport right after you land to declare you’re here to make a major announcement on the migrant flood, you could actually win over fed-up voters. But you won’t. We understand the political playbook instructs that while in Massachusetts, don’t bother to be bold because Democrats rule the roost. But since this is an advice column, be careful. Independent-minded voters have Nov. 5 marked on their calendars. That’s the message you’ll receive — loud and clear — when you are pushed out. Why not take our word for it now?

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6sports

Bailey Zappe, Patriots can't find end zone as New England is shut out at home on rainy Sunday

You may have felt the tremor: A jacked-up beast of a guy has wandered into TV Land, and his name is Reacher. Season 1 of the Amazon series that bears his name was a monster hit when it dropped in early 2022, and Season 2, which concludes on Jan. 19, appears to be even bigger, becoming Prime Video’s No. 1 title globally on its debut weekend. And the series is crushing it critically the way Reacher crushes a villain’s skull. As of early January, the new season had a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 84 percent audience score — when do critics ever rate a brawny action show higher than the audience? Everybody loves this “Reacher.” And by everybody, the reviews seem to suggest, that mostly means every man. A review in Paste Magazine offered this pithy summation: “I’m not saying it’s only for dudes, but I think we’re in safe territory saying it’s mostly for dudes.” And what dudes appear to like is minimal emoting and maximal fisticuffs, delivered by a mountain of muscle — a former Army investigator turned peripatetic crime-solver, who doesn’t waste time wringing his enormous, meaty hands over petty details like having a fixed abode or even a change of clothes. But here’s the thing about “Reacher”: Women watch it, too. Sure, 58 percent of the viewers for Season 1 were male, according to Nielsen. Still, that leaves a rather large number of people who are not. Common wisdom when it comes to Jack Reacher’s popularity is that men want to be him and women want to be with him. But I’ll venture that some women want to be him, too. Or at least, they want some of his freedom.

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4politics

The Carters Hometown Mourns for the Love of a Lifetime

Most abortion opponents did not expect the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the passage of state abortion bans to lead to the expansion of legal abortion in much of the United States. But this in fact is what happened: While 16 states ban most or virtually all abortions a year and a half after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in June 2022, abortion numbers went up in states where it is legal. As anti-abortion groups prepare for their annual March for Life on Friday, they face the reality that the past year brought a string of defeats for their cause, with abortion-rights supporters winning victories in every abortion referendum submitted to voters, even in conservative states. Opponents of abortion are now on the defensive. That’s largely because their strategy has focused on passing bans, which have been politically polarizing and have alienated members of the Democratic Party — a party that only a few decades ago included many supporters of the pro-life cause. It didn’t have to be this way. As a historian of the anti-abortion movement and abortion politics, I wrote in early 2021 that the end of Roe may “only marginally reduce the number of legal abortions” in the United States and “at worst, may lead to a pro-choice Democratic backlash that will expand the number of legal abortions.”

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6sports

Udonis Haslem said (expletive) Bill Russell in a pregame speech

After Bill Russell died last year ahead of the 2022-23 season, the NBA went above and beyond to honor the former Celtics legend and Hall of Famer. The league retired his No. 6 jersey across the league as the Celtics themselves honored the 11-time champion and civil rights activist. That’s natural considering Russell’s legacy, which goes beyond his contributions on the court. Still, it turns out that some players weren’t exactly happy about seeing Russell’s No. 6 jersey hanging in the rafters. Bam Adebayo recounted a story of a Udonis Haslem pregame speech on “The OGs Show,” which is hosted by Haslem and Mike Miller. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. “We playing Boston, so you know his feelings,” Adebayo said. “We’re in the huddle. Cap come in there, he gave his pregame speech and you know they retired Bill Russell’s jersey for everybody in the league. So they got 6 in our rafters. And he’s in his pregame speech — (expletive) Bill Russell, too.” Haslem expanded on his thought process a little bit in the clip. “I love Bill,” Haslem said. “No disrespect to Bill. I love you. He just caught that stray. But will you ever see a Miami Heat jersey hanging in the Boston rafters? Respect Bill Russell, I love him. Why the (expletive) he got to hang in here.” Of course, the Heat and Celtics have had a rivalry that has gone back different generations and core. Haslem was a part of those battles from the LeBron James days to the more recent seasons where Jimmy Butler and Adebayo have gone up against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Haslem played all 20 of his NBA seasons in Miami, though he was a veteran presence in his final playing days and didn’t see the court much at all. There certainly wasn’t much love lost for any members of the Celtics, even a legend like Russell who was a trailblazer in his career. Russell’s impact as a human is a huge part of his legacy, which is also why the NBA honored him league-wide. Even if Haslem didn’t love seeing a Celtics jersey in the rafters, it was also symbolic of Russell’s wide-ranging legacy.

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3entertainment

Author readings around Boston through Dec. 16

(” Everything Possible ”) will read his new children’s book at 6:30 p.m. at the Medford Public Library at an event hosted by All She Wrote Books

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6sports

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula on his player development philosophy

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla believes in the importance of a holistic approach to player development, including personal growth alongside skills improvement. He recently broke down his beliefs in a video for the Basketball Immersion YouTube channel. Mazzulla believes in building awareness, active listening, effective questioning, ownership and accountability as key values in his development system, emphasizing player development is an ongoing lifestyle, not just a job. Mazzulla’s philosophy revolves around nurturing players both on and off the court, which he expounds at length in the clip embedded below. Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ