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ffd73e14d77cc26f1254e36b2d349d82 | 0.494969 | Jeffrey Epstein court documents released with names unsealed | 1. How relevant is this ad to you?
Video player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
51c0732769e12ff0f42b385d023aedb8 | 0.408164 | Watch the First Meteor Shower of 2024 Reach Its Peak | Unfortunately, the darkest skies across the United States, from New Mexico to Idaho, will likely be coated in clouds Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Things don’t look much better along the East Coast, where clouds will dominate the sky, other than some coastal areas in New England.
The best spots, as far as weather is concerned on Wednesday, will be the south-central U.S.
Those hoping to catch residual fireballs after the shower’s peak ends will have mixed opportunities. Thursday night should offer better viewing across the Eastern U.S. and portions of the Southwest with little to no cloud cover. But the Northwest won’t ever catch a break in the clouds the next two nights, and the weather system hanging over the Rockies on Wednesday will blanket the central U.S. on Thursday.
Where meteor showers come from
There is a chance you might see a meteor on any given night, but you are most likely to catch one during a shower. Meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the rubble trailing a comet or asteroid as it swings around the sun. This debris, which can be as small as a grain of sand, leaves behind a glowing stream of light as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteor showers occur around the same time every year and can last for days or weeks. But there is only a small window when each shower is at its peak, which happens when Earth reaches the densest part of the cosmic debris. The peak is the best time to look for a shower. From our point of view on Earth, the meteors will appear to come from the same point in the sky.
The Perseid meteor shower, for example, peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus. The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
b591618c922c9fbb68410c94d82e8eda | 0.998262 | Updates emerge with Patriots Trent Brown drama | ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As his teammates took on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon, Trent Brown was a healthy scratch for the first time in his Patriots career.
The hulking tackle didn’t have a stall set up in the visitor’s locker room at Highmark Stadium, and Vederian Lowe took every snap at left tackle in a 27-21 loss to the Bills. The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed reported the team has struggled to keep Brown motivated since he lost money on playing time incentives, and Bill Belichick was tight-lipped on the decision to scratch him after the game.
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“We played the players we wanted to play,” Belichick said, declining to comment on Brown’s motivation.
Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal offered a deeper dive into the issues with Brown, who suffered a pair of injuries during a late October loss to the Dolphins. Since then, he’s missed four games, and hasn’t shouldered a full workload when he’s been active.
“Internally, I’m told, there was belief Brown could have returned before (Week 12) and did not,” Giardi writes. “The belief was that he was protecting himself and his future earnings in a season without the promise of a postseason. With the number of players on the roster who were playing through injuries — including those on the offensive line — needless to say, that hasn’t gone over very well.”
Giardi then cited an anonymous player, who told him, “A lot of us — almost all — are fighting for each other and for pride, even though the results aren’t what any of us want. It sucks that not everyone is willing to put it out there. I hope people who sign the checks are paying attention.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
82f021f0336c9b1284934ef7e551acf5 | 0.439143 | Mass. communities declare snow emergencies, parking bans ahead of Sunday storm | MASS. — Communities across the state are getting ready for the first major snow of the season, and many towns have declared snow emergencies and parking bans ahead of Sunday’s storm.
Belmont
Parking ban from 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, January. 6 until further notice.
Braintree
Street parking will be off-limits starting at 9:00 p.m. and will reopen once snow removal has finished.
Chelmsford
Parking ban in effect beginning on Saturday, January 6 at 10 p.m. until Monday, January 8 at 8 a.m.
Dedham
To aid in the snow removal process Dedham has issued a parking ban that will be in effect beginning Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight (12:00 AM) until noon on Sunday.
Fall River
Citywide parking ban from 12 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6 until further notice.
Fitchburg
Parking Ban in effect from 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 6, 2024, to 7:00 a.m. on Monday, January 8, 2024.
Foxboro
Parking ban starting Sunday, January 7th at 12:01 a.m. until further notice
Haverhill
Snow Emergency starting Saturday, January 6th at 11:59 pm and ending on Sunday, January 7th at 10:00 pm. Parking is prohibited on both sides of the streets along the Snow Emergency Routes
Leominster
A snow-related parking ban will be in effect from 6:00 PM Saturday until midnight Sunday into Monday.
Lowell
Citywide parking ban declared from 12 p.m. on Saturday, January. 6, begins at 6 p.m. until further notice.
Manchester-By-The-Sea
Parking ban from 10 p.m. on Saturday, January. 6 until further notice.
Marlboro
An emergency storm operations parking will be in effect from Saturday at 5 p.m. to Monday at 8 a.m.
Methuen
Methuen prohibits parking on any public way from Saturday into Sunday.
Milford
Parking ban from 6 p.m. on January 6 until further notice.
North Attleboro
Parking ban will be in effect beginning at midnight on Sunday, January. 7, until further notice.
Plainville
Parking ban from 6 p.m. on Saturday, January. 6 until 6 a.m. on Monday, January. 8.
Salisbury
All on-street parking is prohibited beginning at 6:00 p.m. Saturday evening. The ban will expire when snow removal finishes.
Somerville
Snow emergency effective 4 p.m. Saturday, January 6. Move cars to the odd-numbered side of the street by 8 p.m. on Saturday January. 6.
Springfield
Citywide parking ban as of 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 6, 2024
Waltham
A snow emergency and parking ban will begin at 11:45 pm on Saturday, January 6th for all streets.
Watertown
Snow emergency effective 6:00 PM, Saturday, January 6, 2024. On-street parking will be banned
Westboro
Parking ban from 7 a.m. Sunday till 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Worcester
Winter parking ban beginning 10 p.m. on Saturday, January 6.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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2e0cda104e693efe4d9d42fba340eadc | 0.345887 | 5 MA Doughnut Shops Make List Of Those 'Worth The Drive' | Business & Tech 5 MA Doughnut Shops Make List Of Those 'Worth The Drive' A Boston publication says these five Massachusetts doughnuts are worth traveling for.
A Boston publication says these five Massachusetts doughnut shops are worth traveling for. (Shutterstock)
ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS — Five Massachusetts doughnut shops are among Eater Boston's "New England Doughnuts Worth the Drive."
Whether it's classic flavors like cinnamon or chocolate or unusual ones like tres leches and java caramel, these are the doughnuts deemed worthy of travel. The five doughnut makers in Massachusetts on the list are: Brothers' Brew Coffee Shop in Rockport
Ziggy & Sons Donuts in Salem
Doughnut Homies in Worcester
Hole in One Bakery & Coffee Shop in Eastham
Back Door Donuts in Oak Bluffs Doughnut shops in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island also made the list. The only question is: how far are you willing to go for the perfect doughnut?
"When planning travel around New England, throw away all thoughts about traffic or car problems," Eater Boston wrote. "Instead, start thinking about all the places to grab doughnuts along the way because — what’s better than a doughnut and iced coffee? "Whether the trip calls for a dozen potato doughnuts; funky flavors like Earl Grey; or a classic old fashioned; there’s a sweet option available."
The Massachusetts shops on the list range from the "interesting and Instagrammable" Doughnut Homies in Worcester to the "old fashioned dough boys" at Ziggy's & Sons' "unassuming storefront." Check out the full list at Eater Boston. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
97e774468eb04dd36678f508043baf02 | 0.692861 | Powerball: See the winning numbers in Wednesdays $20 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 Michigan won $842 million in the January 1 drawing. Is this your lucky night?
Here are Wednesday’s winning lottery numbers:
30-31-38-48-68, Powerball: 08, Power Play: 10X
Double Play Winning Numbers
08-09-17-31-56, Powerball: 23
The estimated Powerball jackpot is $20 million. The lump sum payment before taxes would be about $10.1 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. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
075d4cc8bfd87636ca4983da5e4fcdd3 | 0.540504 | Women at Fast-Growing Realty Firm Say They Were Drugged and Assaulted | It was a declaration of eXp’s culture: Work hard, play harder — and build wealth in the process. But in more than 30 interviews with current and former eXp agents, women said the culture has an underbelly. The company’s highest earners are granted star status, and allegations of misconduct are ignored.
In two lawsuits, the first filed in February and the second on Thursday, five women described a yearslong pattern of predatory behavior by two marquee agents. The women said the agents drugged them during alcohol-soaked eXp events, and four of the women said they were then sexually assaulted. Executives ignored complaints about the men for years, acting only after the first lawsuit was filed, agents said.
In addition, current and former agents said the company ignored allegations about other sexual misconduct, and the company has not changed its culture.
eXp Realty has a unique structure — agents are recruited by other agents who then take a cut of their earnings, so everyone is funneling money to people above them. That means there is little incentive to root out high earners even when they are accused of assault, women said.
“Everyone is just a recruiter. They’re not there to sell homes and represent the client,” said Tricia Turner, 53, a Houston broker who left eXp in August. “The ones that grow their teams the fastest are the center of attention for the company and the cheerleaders for the company. And unfortunately, it’s like they can do no wrong.” | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
c8295d75b19d25ae05282e8a27be6d90 | 0.449973 | NASA Streams Cat Video From Deep, Deep Space | Every year, our critics review numerous movies, television shows, musicals, plays, operas, dance performances, music and more. And come December, they whittle down their favorites to a list of 10.
But what are best-of lists if not an invitation to critique?
An unscientific collection of reader comments suggests that people most wanted to see “Barbie” in the top 10 list for best movies, while “Ted Lasso” and “For All Mankind” were mentioned the most as favorite TV shows of the year.
Here’s a look at readers’ comments across several popular categories. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
239dca0b083599c1e9cef72ebf58d82a | 0.632488 | Soggy Christmas Eve - Boston News, Weather, Sports | Wet weather continues overnight as a dying system passes through New England.
Light rain, fog, and mist is expected to continue overnight, with visibility occasionally dropping below 1/2 mile in spots.
Although it’ll be soggy, it will also be mild with temperatures staying in the 40s.
Santa’s also bringing some mild weather, with temperatures above average all week long. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
55c6a6178e0664585a396f6920ea874d | 0.836932 | Iceland Scrambles to Shelter Residents Made Homeless by Volcanic Eruption | Brazilian officials served up an array of plans and figures at the recent COP28 climate summit in Dubai, presenting itself as a world leader, on track to protect its forests and the people who live there.
But on Thursday, Brazil’s Congress approved a law that threatens Indigenous people’s rights to most of the land they inhabit or claim, potentially opening vast territories to deforestation, farming and mining.
The new law requires that Indigenous people must provide concrete evidence that they occupied the land they claim on Oct. 5, 1988, when the country’s current Constitution was enacted — a requirement that many of them have little or no hope of meeting.
Under the new rule, not only can Indigenous land claims currently going through the legal process be thrown out for lacking such documentation, but established legal protections for Indigenous territories can also be challenged in court and rescinded. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
16949dd8224265f96f43bfbb522324e7 | 0.572371 | Your favorite classic Christmas music might have New England ties | There's nothing like a classic Christmas song to get you in the holiday spirit. You probably know many of the time-worn melodies and cheery lyrics by heart, even if you didn't mean to memorize them.
But, did you know that some of the most well-known tunes have New England ties?
Radio Boston revisits its 2021 conversation with Joe Bennett, a professor and musicologist at Berklee School of Music, about some local Christmas classics that we've come to love over the years. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1ddbce5c20fd3c8ec18e98d927bc5a7f | 0.451328 | How The Nutcracker Has Been Reimagined, for Better and Worse | Brian Setzer’s career has been defined by a revivalist energy. First, his rockabilly group Stray Cats looked back to the rock ’n’ roll of the 1950s through the eyes of the 1980s. After the group split, he founded the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a boogie-woogie, jump blues band straddling originals and jazzed-up covers.
“The Nutcracker Suite,” originally arranged for Les Brown and his Band of Renown by Frank Comstock, wasn’t the only time that the Brian Setzer Orchestra dabbled in classical rearrangements. In the 2007 album “Wolfgang’s Big Night Out,” Beethoven’s “Für Elise” became the Django Reinhardt pastiche “For Lisa,” and Johann Strauss II’s “The Blue Danube” became the bluesy swing chart “Some River in Europe.”
An unlikely source brought the group’s take on Tchaikovsky into holiday tradition: Buddy, in the movie “Elf.” As the lights dim in Gimbels, the store that Buddy (Will Ferrell), has tasked himself with redecorating overnight, the Brian Setzer Orchestra trumpets strike up, playing the fanfare call from “March of the Toy Soldiers.” But what follows is not the impish, pizzicato response that usually accompanies the toys’ jolting movements: A drum kit crashes in, and snarling, swinging saxophones accompany Buddy’s commando rolls across the aisle behind a security guard. The whole arrangement pits clipped precision against swirling chaos.
Drew McOnie and Cassie Kinoshi: ‘Nutcracker’ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4049e9d7f7fcf004ccde1055c0f0f868 | 0.498248 | ChatGPT launched one year ago. AI will never be the same. | Though artificial intelligence programs have been around for years, ChatGPT is something else — a “generative” AI system that seems capable of original thought (emphasis on “seems”). With a few typed commands, anybody can use it to crank out essays, poems, images, and even computer software with humanlike sophistication.
The message from OpenAI founder Sam Altman appeared on Twitter on Nov. 30, 2022: “Today we launched ChatGPT. try talking with it here: chat.openai.com .”
ChatGPT became one of the fastest-growing online applications ever. And one year later, it attracts about 100 million users each week.
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Even the recent palace coup at OpenAI, in which Altman was fired as chief executive but rehired days later, will probably have little impact on the popularity of ChatGPT. There’s speculation that the move was inspired by fears that he was too quick to release generative AI services into a world not yet prepared to use them safely.
But the dam has already burst. Similar AI programs like Bard, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have also signed up millions of users. And billionaire Elon Musk is about to launch another generative AI system called Grok. In all, the generative AI boom is the biggest in digital tech since Apple’s iPhone ignited the smartphone market in 2007.
“It’s only been a year, and I feel like it’s changed the public conversation about science and technology,” said Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science in Boston. “I’m not sure I’ve seen anything unleashed that has made such a big difference so quickly.”
And yet, one year isn’t nearly long enough to answer the big questions about AI. It’ll take much longer to understand its real impact, its astounding risks, its vast capacity for error, and the downsides of relying on machines to do our thinking and communicating for us. What’s more, the new AI applications haven’t even had that much impact yet. But the same was true of the iPhone’s early days: It took a few years for smartphones to become indispensable.
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So where do things stand?
The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
People are finding practical applications for AI systems, with new ones arriving every day. There are the obvious ones, like corporate memos and legal briefs generated automatically from a handful of notes, suggested travel itineraries for specific destinations, or elegant illustrations created in seconds by people without a scrap of artistic talent. There’s also the prospect that AI will enable anybody to write powerful software apps, just by asking.
“What you’re going to see is the ability of more and more nontechnical people to become software developers without even knowing it,” said Bret Swanson, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “I can essentially tell a computer what I want it to do in my normal voice.”
There are other uses as well. Next time you need to step away from a teleconference, AI might bail you out. Jeetu Patel, a senior vice president at telecom giant Cisco, said his company’s WebEx video conferencing system knows when you go off-camera. The system tracks what’s said while you’re away and displays an on-screen summary to help you catch up. Patel said the same AI technology can generate summaries of messages in a user’s voice mailbox, or edit a seven-minute corporate marketing video down to a 30-second highlight reel.
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AI is even learning to play instruments. Google’s DeepMind lab earlier this month demonstrated a tool that lets users compose music merely by humming. The software can replay the tune using realistic audio synthesis that can feature a single instrument or an entire orchestra.
Amid all the hype, business leaders are trying to figure out how best to use AI technology and account for its myriad effects.
“Everyone is recognizing that AI can have an impact on their business, and they’re just wondering exactly how,” said Daniela Rus, director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. She compared it to the “digital transformation” that occurred as businesses embraced the internet.
But the backlash against generative AI has been remarkable. Six months after ChatGPT’s launch — amid other alarm bells — prominent scientists warned that AI could soon prove too powerful for humans to control, and become as dangerous as “other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
Many ridiculed this claim, but there’s good reason to worry about less catastrophic threats. Educators worry that students are using AI to complete assignments and avoid the hard work of learning. Data security experts say that cybercriminals can use AI to launch online fraud campaigns on a massive scale, and hostile nations could serve up vast quantities of disinformation through social media networks.
And of course, machines that can emulate humans could be career-killers for many workers. Movie and television actors and screenwriters went on strike against AI earlier this year. They forced Hollywood production companies to accept strict limits on using AI to write screenplays or replacing actors with digital simulations.
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Members of the Writers Guild of America picketed outside Fox Studios on May 2 in Los Angeles. Ashley Landis/Associated Press
But commercial artists and illustrators haven’t been as lucky, said Scott Nash, executive director and founder of the Illustration Institute. Because of competition from AI-generated art, “the young artists I know are not getting paid what they’re worth,” Nash said. “They’re getting paid what we were getting paid in the 1980s.”
University of Chicago computer scientist Ben Zhao said that many artists can’t find work at all. “All the best people who do this are losing their jobs,” he said. To make matters worse, generative AI programs are trained on human artworks with no compensation to the original artists.
In response to such concerns, the nonprofit Responsible Innovation Labs is drafting voluntary guidelines for AI startup companies. These companies will commit to understanding the risks of the AI systems they develop. They’ll promise to secure permission to use the intellectual property of others for training purposes. They’ll also pledge to test their systems to ferret out security flaws and identify biases that could cause AIs to produce results that discriminate on the basis of race or gender.
The goal, said executive director Gaurab Bansal, is an AI ecosystem where concern for the technology’s social impact is built in at the beginning. “It’s very hard to retrofit a company for responsibility,” Bansal said.
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Governments worldwide have more aggressive policies in mind. The European Union is putting the finishing touches on AI regulations it’s been considering since 2021. The EU plan would require companies to reveal the kind of data used to train AI systems, and all AI-generated materials would have to be identified as such.
The Biden administration last month issued an executive order calling for stricter regulation of AI systems. The order would force developers of AI “that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety” to report their activities to federal regulators.
It’s an open question whether Biden can enforce his plan without action from Congress. But the sheer speed of the administration’s response is revealing.
For now, AI experts and observers remain optimistic but vigilant.
MIT’s Rus said she foresees “a future where generative AI is not just a technological marvel, but a force for hope and a force for good.”
Ritchie, from the Museum of Science, puts the onus on all of us. “The thing that hasn’t changed is human nature,” he said. “AI will only be as good as what humans put into it.”
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeTechLab. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
c33549d7cd2555ef14bb5ebab932c718 | 0.999092 | 2023 All-Western Mass. Girls Cross Country: Selections announced for fall season | MassLive announced its All-Western Mass. teams for girls cross country on Dec. 28. Take a look at the first and second teams in Class A and Class B below:
Class A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
42e086f1237194376b66ce71c7248785 | 0.200873 | Read Your Way Through Utah | What is the state of reading in Utah?
It begins by reading the land. Start with “The Broken Land: Adventures in Great Basin Geology,” by Frank DeCourten, paired with Stephen Trimble’s beautifully penned and photographed “The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin.” For the high desert emblematic of Utah’s national parks, consult “The Geology of the Parks, Monuments and Wildlands of Southern Utah,” by Robert Fillmore. And for a more personal sense of Arches and Canyonlands, “Blow Sand In His Soul: Bates Wilson, The Heart of Canyonlands,” by Jen Jackson Quintano, is a spirited biography of Wilson, who advocated their protection. “A Naturalist’s Guide to Canyon Country,” by David B. Williams, is an essential companion, with more than 270 plants and animals identified and described within their ecological communities.
Indigenous voices are strong and varied in Utah. Ute historian Forrest S. Cuch’s excellent “A History of Utah’s American Indians” introduces the eight federally recognized tribal nations located in the state. “Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge Religion,” by Karl W. Luckert, provides transcripts of oral histories made by Diné elders who shared traditional knowledge associated with Rainbow Bridge, one of the world’s largest sandstone arches, accessible by boat on Lake Powell. “Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears,” edited by Jacqueline Keeler, is an evocation of why these sacred lands matter to Native communities; it includes voices such as Regina Lopez Whiteskunk, Willie Grayeyes and Jonah Yellowman. Stacie Shannon Denetsosie’s stunning debut collection, “The Missing Morningstar: And Other Stories,” was recently published, to rave reviews.
Which books can lead to a desert state of mind?
Begin with the classics, such as “Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness,” by Edward Abbey, an anti-memoir on wildness set in Arches National Park in the years when Abbey was a park ranger there. Published in 1968, it can be considered a Thoreauvian counterpoint to the turbulence surrounding the Vietnam War. Then, for a romp of a novel with a bent toward sabotage, Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang” may inspire you — as it did the environmental group Earth First! — to reimagine the Colorado River without Glen Canyon Dam. If you find Abbey’s politics problematic, I suggest the saucy “Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness,” by Amy Irvine.
“The Last Cheater’s Waltz: Beauty and Violence in the Desert Southwest” and “The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone and Sky,” by Ellen Meloy, are sharp-edged works with quick-witted storytelling that use cultural tensions between the land and a politics of extraction — of uranium, oil and gas or coal — to complicate the scenery. Craig Childs’s elegant exploration of archaeology in “House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest” takes the reader back in time to pre-Puebloan cultures whose pictographs and petroglyphs tell stories on stone near the cliff dwellings they left behind. And his book “The Secret Knowledge of Water” could not be more germane to our current megadrought.
Which books can feed a Mormon state of mind?
Two biographies create a bedrock for understanding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling,” by Richard Lyman Bushman, and “Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet,” by John G. Turner. Both authors present these iconic figures in human terms. The charisma of Smith as a mystic and Young as a visionary pragmatist led the “saints” into a theology of western expansion only to find that they had a salt desert to tame. Two of my other favorite Mormon books are Maurine Whipple’s novel “The Giant Joshua” and Annie Clark Tanner’s autobiography “A Mormon Mother.” Both are tough and tender commentaries about how patriarchy and polygamy shape women’s lives as they endure heartbreak and deepen their spiritual strength. “Mormon Country” and “Recapitulation,” by Wallace Stegner, are wise works of historical intelligence, with rich renderings of Salt Lake City following settlement. And Jonathan T. Bailey’s “When I Was Red Clay: A Journey of Identity, Healing and Wonder” is a courageous memoir of growing up gay in a rural Mormon community and avoiding erasure by finding refuge in wilderness. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
f57cd80409222bc6818baee7cc07c53e | 0.354971 | Hitting a Home Run on Their First Date, With the Help of a Furry Friend | On July 18, 2021, the day Patrick Alan Pennel was supposed to meet Margaret Ann Kretzmer for a first date, he canceled to spend time with someone else he was getting to know. When Ms. Kretzmer offered to meet him the following day instead, he said OK but brought the other girl along.
Mr. Pennel, 40, wasn’t being a cad, he just didn’t have much choice: He had recently moved to Santa Monica, Calif., by himself and, to stave off Covid loneliness, was adopting a dog. Emma, the shepherd mix he brought home the day of the postponed date, was too new to leave alone. So on July 19, she came with him to meet Ms. Kretzmer at Ashland Hill, a Santa Monica bar.
“I was still very much getting to know Emma,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect.” Nervous barking or a date cut short by a needy new pet he could have anticipated. Feeling the first stirrings of love for an Los Angeles Dodgers fan: not as much.
Mr. Pennel and Ms. Kretzmer met on Hinge, where an app-generated prompt on Ms. Kretzmer’s profile connected them. To the query, “We’ll get along well if …” Ms. Kretzmer had written “ … you like baseball.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
42931248550ae9bea8352232648761b2 | 0.711847 | How much snow are we getting Sunday? What to expect from this weekend's storm | Our quiet stretch continues with a blend of sun and clouds and highs in the low 40s for many of us Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night, we’ll drop into the 20s under partly cloudy skies and some snow showers in far northern New England.
As a cold front sweeps through the region from northwest to southeast Thursday, scattered snow showers in northern and western New England through midday will drop a coating to a couple inches with elevations in the mountains and deliver a passing rain or snow shower elsewhere.
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After reaching highs in the low 40s (30s north), noticeably colder air will arrive by Thursday evening. Despite full sunshine on Friday, we won’t get out of the low to mid 30s for highs (20s far north).
While plowable snow is likely for portions of New England, what remains uncertain is the exact track and strength of the storm center, which will play a critical role in determining the intensity of the snow and where the rain/snow line will set up. With water temperatures in the low to mid 40s and an east wind forecast for a time, even if we start as snow in eastern Massachusetts, a transition to rain seems probable, before flipping back to snow toward the tail end.
Snow forecast this weekend in Mass.
Saturday will be cold too, with increasing and thickening clouds ahead of a storm that will be advancing through the Mid-Atlantic by Saturday afternoon. For us here at home, areas of snow are likely to arrive sometime Saturday late evening and continue into Sunday.
The wind doesn’t look too intense, but some gusts to 40 mph are possible at the coast.
The bottom line? While this doesn’t look like a blockbuster storm – it will bring the plows and crews out in many cities and towns.
Boston snowfall: A look back
Another snowstorm next week?
After things wind down later Sunday, quiet weather will greet us next week before the next system arrives. There are strong signals that a burst of wintry mix later Tuesday will change to rain as milder air works into the region with highs around 50 on Wednesday.
After that, we turn cooler again for the end of next week as seen in our exclusive 10-day forecast. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
9c92d5eff1eaa7ded57deb5cae488c60 | 0.472518 | How to watch the new episode of 1,000-Lb. Sisters on TLC, stream for free | A new episode of the hit TLC show “1,000-Lb. Sisters” will air on the network on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. ET.
The series is also available for streaming on platforms like Philo, FuboTV and DirecTV. All platforms offer a free trial for those interested in signing up for an account.
The show follows the personal lives of Amy Slaton-Halterman and her sister Tammy Slaton — who both weigh in at over 1000 pounds between the both of them. Throughout the seasons, viewers are able to see both sisters attempts at weight loss and weight loss surgery.
In Tuesday’s episode titled “Caleb surprises Tammy with a romantic dinner date, but it goes south when Tammy learns what’s on the menu; the Slatons attend a Zumba class together, but Amy’s lack of self-care leads to a meltdown that has the whole family feeling déjà vu.”
How can I watch the premiere if I don’t have cable TV?
Viewers can watch on streaming platforms like Philo and FuboTV. Both platforms 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 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. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
24662bc1de184c45f067a32da048c183 | 0.442319 | The Threads of Identity in a Palestinian Craft | In 2021, UNESCO added Palestinian embroidery to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognizing it as “a widespread social and intergenerational practice in Palestine,” a symbol of national pride and a way in which women supplement family income. But like other Indigenous handicrafts across the world, it faces threats, including mechanization and abandonment of old styles of dress.
Now there is a push to revive the handicraft in younger generations and to preserve old thobes that tell Palestinian history.
Those efforts include plans to reintroduce embroidery in curriculums in Palestinian schools, to include it as part of school uniforms and to open an academy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank dedicated to the handicraft, overseen by the Palestinian Authority’s cultural ministry.
In July, the museum inaugurated a Textile Conservation Studio to preserve Palestinian thobes and other heritage fabrics and to provide training for conservation and restoration.
“We need to practice our heritage so we don’t lose it,” said Maha Saca, the founder and director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem, who helped submit the UNESCO application and is now working on opening the academy. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
882fbb143d67b72e939c620623c061fc | 0.78813 | Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed as Present Experience | At the root of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a memory that cannot be controlled. It may intrude on everyday activity, thrusting a person into the middle of a horrifying event, or surface as night terrors or flashbacks.
Decades of treatment of military veterans and sexual assault survivors have left little doubt that traumatic memories function differently from other memories. A group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai set out to find empirical evidence of those differences.
The team conducted brain scans of 28 people with PTSD while they listened to recorded narrations of their own memories. Some of the recorded memories were neutral, some were simply “sad,” and some were traumatic.
The brain scans found clear differences, the researchers reported in a paper published on Thursday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The people listening to the sad memories, which often involved the death of a family member, showed consistently high engagement of the hippocampus, part of the brain that organizes and contextualizes memories. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
078016668f79511a0b2fc17207e12d89 | 0.800108 | Lauren Boebert, Far-Right Firebrand, Is Switching House Districts in Colorado | Now that abortion is restricted and affirmative action is hobbled, the conservative legal movement has set its sights on a third precedent: Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
The 1984 decision, one of the most cited in American law but largely unknown to the public, bolstered the power of executive agencies that regulate the environment, the marketplace, the work force, the airwaves and countless other aspects of modern life. Overturning it has been a key goal of the right and is part of a project to demolish the “administrative state.”
A decision rejecting Chevron would threaten regulations covering — just for starters — health care, consumer safety, government benefit programs and climate change. (My colleague Charlie Savage has written more on the possible implications.)
After three and a half hours of lively arguments on Wednesday that appeared to divide the justices along the usual lines, it seemed that the court’s conservative majority was prepared to limit or even eliminate the precedent. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2c6f67c7cefe8c2dda0801eb1865c6be | 0.455351 | Servicio de mascotas busca ayudar a los animales puertorriqueos | Vanessa Henriquez and Kassandra Perez launched a fundraising event at the View Street Tavern Sunday to raise money to feed abandoned dogs and cats on Puerto Rico. (Dave Canton /The Republican)Dave Canton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2b63f96a28e6579f63fd2bcd4ab587a4 | 0.538213 | Transit police nab man accused of trying to smash ATM with shovel - Boston News, Weather, Sports | BOSTON (WHDH) - Transit police arrested a Boston man accused of tying to smash his way into an ATM with a shovel at Ashmont Station.
Officers responding to a report of a person trying to break into an ATM with a shovel around 6 a.m. Saturday learned the suspect had fled in a vehicle, which was later spotted on Dorchester Avenue, according to transit police.
The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken into custody.
No additional information was immediately available.
12/30 6AM #MBTA Ashmont. Outstanding police work results in the arrest of Dorchester man who attempted to break into the ATM w/a shovel. SP fled in a vehicle. An eagle eyed TPD off spotted the V on Dot Ave. SP placed into custody-TPDHQ for booking. SP also had warrants. pic.twitter.com/SefLK0QF9v — MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) December 30, 2023
(Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
86eea6906b3b2bd5a573f8547d796ffa | 0.703658 | Tuskegee vs. Alabama State How to watch college football | This year marks the 99th Turkey Day Classic, featuring Tuskegee and Alabama State, two of the most storied football programs among HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities). The two schools recently signed an agreement to renew the rivalry for the next three seasons.
Both schools are coming off losses in their conference finals, but this is a historic rivalry and usually a compelling matchup.
Tuskegee is 39-32-1 all-time against Alabama State.
Fans looking to watch this college football game can do so with ESPN+. ESPN+ plans are $9.99 a month or $12.99 a month if you bundle with Hulu and Disney+.
Who: Tuskegee vs. Alabama State
When: Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023, 3 p.m ET
Where: Hornet Stadium, Montgomery, AL
Stream: ESPN+. ESPN+ plans are $9.99 a month or $12.99 a month if you bundle with Hulu and Disney+.
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.
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Tuskegee (7-3) and Alabama State (6-4) have split their last 10 meetings, though Alabama State has won the last three head-to-head matchups. The teams didn’t meet last season.
ASU quarterback Damon Stewart is a player to watch. He threw for 372 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort against Prairie View A&M recently.
The Associated Press contributed to this article | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
25454f027594a85b6133d42033412c5a | 0.534761 | India and Maldives Trade Barbs After Modis Beach Visit | Since the 1970s, the Maldives has become one of the global jet set’s preferred resort destinations, earning $3 billion in tourism revenues in 2019, worth about a quarter of its national economy. After coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns took effect, when outbound Chinese tourism stopped in its tracks, India became the Maldives’ biggest source of high-spending visitors.
India had always kept tinier Lakshadweep under wraps. Until recently its islands saw only 10,000 visitors a year, nearly all of them Indian. In 2021, Mr. Modi’s government indicated that it saw great untapped potential there. If Lakshadweep’s coral-shaped lagoons can be sold to the world as an alternative to the Maldives, they would strike at the small country’s economic lifeblood.
Just as the war of words with India hit fever pitch, with some Indian celebrities swearing they would restrict their luxury vacations to India’s own shores, the Maldives’ new president, Mohamed Muizzu, was starting a five-day state visit in China. His trip was planned much earlier, but rivalries with India were already on the agenda.
The Maldives, like several other countries around South Asia, has for years bobbed along the surface of a great-power competition between India and China. Successive governments have been more pro-China, like Abdulla Yameen’s, from 2013 to 2018, or pro-India, like the one led by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih until November. Mr. Muizzu, who defeated him in the polls, had campaigned on a platform of “India Out.”
Mr. Muizzu had already broken with tradition by skipping visiting India and spending his first state visit in Turkey. So it was little surprise that he chose China for his second state visit. His government also intends to eject the 80 or so Indian military personnel who operate aircraft based in the Maldives. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5a5a95d0a2cda457c460b057b75e34a1 | 0.499725 | This Venezuelan Family Won Asylum. Days Later, They Lost It. | A Radical Agenda
To be sure, some of what Mr. Trump and his allies are planning is in line with what any standard-issue Republican president would most likely do. For example, Mr. Trump would very likely roll back many of President Biden’s policies to curb carbon emissions and hasten the transition to electric cars. Such a reversal of various rules and policies would significantly weaken environmental protections, but much of the changes reflect routine and longstanding conservative skepticism of environmental regulations.
Other parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda, however, are aberrational. No U.S. president before him had toyed with withdrawing from NATO, the United States’ military alliance with Western democracies. He has said he would fundamentally re-evaluate “NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission” in a second term.
He has said he would order the military to attack drug cartels in Mexico, which would violate international law unless its government consented. It most likely would not.
He would also use the military on domestic soil. While it is generally illegal to use troops for domestic law enforcement, the Insurrection Act allows exceptions. After some demonstrations against police violence in 2020 became riots, Mr. Trump had an order drafted to use troops to crack down on protesters in Washington, D.C., but didn’t sign it. He suggested at a rally in Iowa this year that he intends to unilaterally send troops into Democratic-run cities to enforce public order in general.
“You look at any Democrat-run state, and it’s just not the same — it doesn’t work,” Mr. Trump told the crowd, calling cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco crime dens. “We cannot let it happen any longer. And one of the other things I’ll do — because you’re supposed to not be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in — the next time, I’m not waiting.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2c41183741ab6a14a59abef2f50e3573 | 0.34181 | No Labels Asks the Justice Department to Investigate Its Critics | No Labels, the centrist group that could field a third-party presidential bid, has asked the Justice Department to investigate what it calls unlawful intimidation by groups that oppose it.
The group filed a complaint on Jan. 11, accusing a number of political figures and other critics of engaging in voter suppression and violating federal law, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which is often used to combat organized crime.
Leaders of No Labels who described the complaint during a news conference on Thursday pointed largely to previously reported details of efforts to oppose the group, as well as incendiary statements that some of its critics had made on political podcasts.
The group compared the efforts of its opponents to those of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1950s and ’60s and the fictional mob boss Tony Soprano. A montage of clips shown by the group included Rick Wilson, a founder of the anti-Trump Republican group the Lincoln Project, saying last spring that the group had to “be burned to the ground,” using an expletive — although the clip had been cut off before Mr. Wilson adds the word “politically.” (After being asked about the shortened clip, the group uploaded a version of the video with the full statement.) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6177a7eaa7bd69f1a44d987ca5f8076a | 0.30499 | Multi-vehicle crash with injuries on I-93 in Boston causes delays | A multiple-vehicle crash with injuries on Interstate 93 north in Boston caused delays on Wednesday morning.
The crash was reported around 11:30 a.m. by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. They said the crash occurred in the area of Exit 13B, the Morrissey Boulevard/Savin Hill exit.
The two center lanes were closed for almost an hour, causing significant delays.
Multi-vehicle crash with injuries in #Boston on I-93-NB at Exit 13B. Two center lanes are CLOSED. Expect delays. — Mass. Transportation (@MassDOT) December 6, 2023
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All lanes had reopened as of 12:18 p.m., MassDOT said. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8049ce341751e98b7bcc0ad795b01aa5 | 0.851991 | 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.
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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! | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
68974c7a8a865507fb81b020d172a3fb | 0.89295 | Storm to bring heavy rain, flooding, and hazardous winds to Massachusetts | The inclement weather will is expected to make the Monday morning commute difficult, as rain will pelt Boston before noon, when it will start waning, Joe Dellicarpini, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said in a phone interview.
Rain is expected to drench the Boston area early Sunday afternoon with a south wind up to 21 miles per hour during the day and gusts as high as 45 miles per hour Sunday night.
Damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding, and hazardous seas are expected in Massachusetts Sunday afternoon and overnight into Monday as a storm rolls through New England, according to the National Weather Service.
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Between 1 and 2 inches of rain are possible Sunday evening with patchy fog after 3 p.m., according to the weather service. The storm has been on its way up through Rhode Island Sunday morning.
“For those folks whose basements typically are prone to flooding, this is probably going to be an issue for that. It’s a good idea today to make sure the sump pumps are working and make sure there aren’t any valuables in places that could flood,” Dellicarpini said.
The weather service warned about the possibility of downed trees and power lines along the South Shore, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket Sunday night into Monday morning. Significant street flooding and minor river and stream flooding west of I-95 could occur, as well.
“With the expectation of heavy rain, there could be some flooding of some of the smaller rivers and streams, especially when you get out towards the Merrimack Valley, north and west of the city, and then out towards Worcester,” Dellicarpini said.
Eversource prepared crews and materials to respond to any power outages caused by the incoming storm, the company said in a statement Sunday morning.
“You can get ready, too, by assembling a kit with essentials,” Eversource said on Facebook.
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Conditions on the water could be dangerous for boaters with high winds Sunday night into Monday, the weather service said. Monday morning will bring a high tide to the South Shore, which could cause minor flooding of coastal roads, the forecast said.
For Greater Boston, the worst of the storm is predicted to be around 10 p.m. Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday, Dellicarpini said.
Rain and possible thunderstorms are in the forecast for Monday before noon, with only a slight chance of rain between noon and 1 p.m., the weather service said. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall, and patchy fog might roll through before 8 a.m., according to the forecast.
There will be a south wind around 24 miles per hour, with wind gusts as high as 40 miles per hour in the morning, the forecast said. The winds will become west in the afternoon.
“We’re telling folks to expect a slower than normal commute tomorrow morning — plan in some extra time. There’s likely to be some street flooding and low visibility, which is going to slow the commute, Dellicarpini said.
Bailey Allen can be reached at bailey.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @baileyaallen. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
9f8ac63f4ccc2065a6185d1af317beab | 0.825091 | Author readings around Boston through Jan. 27 | (” Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine ”) will be in conversation with Renée Graham at 6 p.m. at the Brattle Theatre . (Tickets are $10 for admission only, $34 for admission and a copy of the book.) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
73b59a96ed989884a0b273bf8dea5eae | 0.70816 | New Jersey mayor says buses of migrants bound for New York are being dropped off at NJ train stations | Politics New Jersey mayor says buses of migrants bound for New York are being dropped off at NJ train stations File -- Secaucus, New Jersey, Mayor Michael Gonnelli. KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey mayor says buses of migrants bound for New York City have been stopping at the train station in his town and others in an apparent effort to evade an executive order by New York’s mayor trying to regulate how and when migrants can be dropped off in the city.
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli said Sunday that Secaucus police and town officials had been told by Hudson County officials about the arrival of buses at the train station in Secaucus Junction beginning Saturday. He said four buses were believed to have arrived and dropped off migrants who then took trains into New York City.
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Gonnelli said the executive order signed recently by Mayor Eric Adams of New York requires bus operators to provide at least 32 hours’ advance notice of arrivals and to limit the hours of drop-off times.
“It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination,” Gonnelli said in a statement. He suggested that the order may be “too stringent” and is resulting in “unexpected consequences.”
Gonnelli called the tactic a “loophole” bus operators have found to allow migrants to reach New York City, and added that state police have reported that “this is now happening at train stations throughout the state.” Gonnelli vowed to work with state and county officials and to “continue to monitor this situation closely.”
A message posted on a social media account for Jersey City said the city’s emergency management agency reports that “approximately 10 buses from various locations in Texas and one from Louisiana have arrived at various transit stations throughout the state, including Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison, Trenton.” About 397 migrants had arrived at those locations since Saturday, the post Sunday said.
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“This is clearly going to be a statewide conversation so it is important that we wait for some guidance from the governor here on next steps” as buses continue, the post said.
Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, told lehighvalleylive.com that New Jersey is being used as a transit point for migrants, almost all of whom continued on to New York City. Jones said New Jersey officials are “closely coordinating with federal and local officials ”including our colleagues across the Hudson.”
In New York City, a spokesperson for City Hall said Monday that the city had “led the nation in responding to this national humanitarian crisis, providing compassion, care, shelter, and vital services to more than 161,000 migrants” since spring 2022. The spokesperson characterized the executive order as “part of that effort, ensuring the safety and well-being of both migrants and city staff.”
The Texas governor, the spokesperson said, was treating asylum seekers “like political pawns” and dropping off families in surrounding areas “in the cold, dark of night with train tickets to travel to New York City” as was done in Chicago in response to a similar executive order there.
“This is exactly why we have been coordinating with surrounding cities and counties since before issuing our order to encourage them to take similar executive action to protect migrants against this cruelty,” the spokesperson said.
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Adams last week joined mayors of Chicago and Denver to renew pleas for more federal help and coordination with Texas over the growing number of asylum-seekers arriving in their cities by bus and plane.
“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night,” Adams said at a virtual news conference Wednesday with the other mayors. “This not only prevents us from providing assistance in an orderly way, it puts those who have already suffered” so much in danger.
The Democratic mayors, who met last month with President Joe Biden, want more federal funds, efforts to expand work authorization, and a schedule for when buses arrive. Cities have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to house, transport and provide medical care for migrants. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
f366cc09fd5c75f14a3e67685cfeda86 | 0.929087 | Massachusetts weather: Arctic air, below-zero wind chills forecast this weekend | Weather Snowy Shot Of Winter Precedes Weekend Warmup In Latest MA Forecast After a cold stretch this week temperatures are expected to rebound well above normal by this upcoming weekend.
After a nice Monday and seasonable Tuesday, things will turn colder Tuesday night as a chance of snow moves in after midnight. (Shutterstock)
MASSACHUSETTS — While it could begin to look a lot like Christmas during a cold stretch with a shot of snow across the state over the next couple of days, the forecast of a weekend warmup could have things feeling a lot more like early fall than less than two weeks before the official start of winter.
After a nice Monday and seasonable Tuesday, things will turn colder Tuesday night as a chance of snow moves in after midnight. The National Weather Service is calling for a 40 percent chance of widespread snow showers that could be enhanced along the coast with ocean-effect snow. While it could be too warm for the white stuff on the outer Cape, the National Weather Service said the best chance of getting up to an inch of snow will be in the Greater Boston area.
That will pave the way for a cold Thursday with a high temperature of 35 before a nice weekend warmup. The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 44 degrees as winds shift around to the southwest on Friday, then a high of 53 degrees on a partly sunny Saturday and 57 degrees with a chance of rain on Sunday.
Even better news for those who are not ready to bundle up for the season is that the 8-14 day temperature outlook suggests New England will have above-normal temperatures from Dec. 11 to Dec. 17 with no frigid cold expected anywhere across the country except for the far Northwest and Alaska.
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d465cdb64509f0ccfbf9cb951cfef258 | 0.289422 | Sam Altman returns to OpenAI in a bizarre reversal of fortunes | 1. How relevant is this ad to you?
Video player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
709375983d0d24d47708c18ba3759a2e | 0.189857 | Five-bedroom home sells for $2.8 million in Wellesley Hills | A 3,809-square-foot house built in 1950 has changed hands. The spacious property located at 106 Bristol Road in Wellesley Hills was sold on Nov. 27, 2023. The $2,800,000 purchase price works out to $735 per square foot. This two-story house boasts a generous living space with five bedrooms and four baths. Inside, a fireplace adds character to the home. The property is equipped with hot water heating and a cooling system.
Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:
On Bristol Road, Wellesley Hills, in June 2023, a 5,203-square-foot home was sold for $4,632,750, a price per square foot of $890. The home has 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.
A 4,978-square-foot home at 146 Lowell Road in Wellesley Hills sold in October 2023, for $4,525,000, a price per square foot of $909. The home has 6 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms.
In August 2023, a 2,576-square-foot home on Lowell Road in Wellesley Hills sold for $1,315,000, a price per square foot of $510. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a204aa249b4c4c36c9cfca1e071ced59 | 0.339404 | Jingle Bells was written by a Masshole but was it written in Massachusetts? | A Boston-born composer, James Pierpont, wrote one of the most well-known Christmas songs. But did he do it while he was in Massachusetts?
Two states, Massachusetts and Georgia, are in what’s known as the “Jingle Bell Wars.”
There is a plaque in Medford near 19 High St. that claims it’s the spot where Simpson Tavern was located and that in 1850, Pierpont wrote the song “Jingle Bells” there in the presence of Mrs. Otis Waterman, “who later verified that the song was written here.”
Pierpont later had it copyrighted while living in Georgia in 1857, which is why the state claims it was written there instead.
Kyna Hamill — who volunteered with Medford Historical Society, is a faculty member at Boston University and has become an expert on Pierpont — worked to get to the bottom of the legend.
“I don’t have the definite answer to where he sat down and wrote the song,” Hamill told Boston University in 2016. “But — and this is where my town is going to be mad at me — it was absolutely not written in 1850 at the Simpson Tavern in Medford.”
Instead, during that time, Pierpont was in California trying to cash in on the Gold Rush. He returned to Boston broke in 1851 after a San Francisco fire burned down his shop, BU Today explained.
The song was originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh.” Hamill found a playbill from Harvard Theater Collection that puts the song’s first performance at impresario John Ordway’s Ordway Hall, on Washington Street in Boston, with a troupe called Ordway’s Aeolians on Sept. 15, 1857, according to the university.
Ordway Hall, near the Old South Meeting House, was known for white men performing in blackface, “offering a racist caricature of people of color as middle-class entertainment,” the university said.
Read more: Stranger leaves wedding rings to Salvation Army in act of holiday charity
“Sleigh songs were having an important moment in the 1850s. Sleigh bell songs were common,” Hamill told Itemlive. “The songs would often exist in their parlor version and in the blackface version, where they’re put into ‘black’ dialect.”
But it’s not clear if Pierpont was even there for the debut.
Around the same time, Pierpont moved to Savannah, Georgia, which is where he copyrighted it. It was re-copyrighted as “Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh” in 1859, the university said.
Hamill also points out the timing for Georgia doesn’t match up.
He was often in need of money, she said. So, he wouldn’t have kept it to himself for that long.
Although, another historian, Dr. Christopher Hendricks, a professor at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, told Fox News, San Francisco should be added to the list of possible places where he wrote the song.
Still, Massachusetts might be able to claim Pierpont’s “Jingle Bells” for itself. Hamill’s guess is that Pierpont wrote the song at a rooming house not far from the Old State House in downtown Boston.
Was Pierpont a Masshole?
Beyond the song’s complicated history, Pierpont was also a complicated man.
“He’s kind of a jerk, actually. He would leave all of the time. He went out west to try to make his way with the gold rush. He went all over the place and left his wife with his father,” Hamill told CBC News.
After his wife died, he quickly remarried and abandoned his three children, the news outlet reported.
He had been adventurous since an early age.
When he was 14 years old, he ran away and set sail on a whaling ship named Shark, according to Valdosa Daily Times. He later served in the U.S. Navy.
During his time in Georgia, Pierpont enlisted with the Confederacy. According to the news outlet, he was first a clerk with the First Georgia Battalion which later became part of Fifth Georgia Volunteer Cavalry, adding that he also wrote patriotic songs during his war years, including, ‘We Conquer or Die,’ ‘Our Battle Flag’ and ‘Strike for the South.’”
It wasn’t until after he died that “Jingle Bells” became popular.
Originally performed as a Thanksgiving song, it didn’t resonate with audiences as much due to its lack of religious themes or mentioning of Christmas, Valdosa Daily Times reported.
But over time, and with some possible song changes, it began clicking with audiences. Now, you’re unlikely to make it through the holiday season without hearing it at least a dozen times. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
02045a090694556dd216008ab081a88f | 0.70816 | Credit card skimmers found at grocery store in Sudbury - Boston News, Weather, Sports | SUDBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - An investigation got underway over the weekend after credit card skimmers were found at a grocery store in Sudbury, officials said.
Roche Bros. Supermarkets in a statement said the skimmers were found on two self-checkout pin pads at the chain’s Sudbury Farms location off Boston Post Road on Sunday.
Roche Bros. said it “immediately took steps to secure all registers at all locations and launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity.”
Roche Bros. operates 20 grocery stores around Massachusetts. As of Sunday, the chain said it determined the Boston Post Road Sudbury Farms store was the only store impacted.
While there was no confirmation that any customer data had been compromised, Roche Bros. said anyone who shopped at the Sudbury Farms site on or before Sunday may have been impacted.
Roche Bros. CEO Kevin Barner addressed the situation in his company’s statement, saying “Roche Bros. has strong policies in place to protect against these types of incidents, including conducting multiple security checks daily on our registers.”
“Roche Bros. is committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of our customers’ information and are issuing a press release to try and reach affected and potentially affected customers who we are not able to specifically identify,” Barner said.
Roche Bros. said it notified law enforcement after finding the skimmers.
Sudbury Chief of Police Scott Nix later confirmed his department responded, saying the incident remained under investigation Monday morning.
While authorities investigate in Sudbury, this is not the first time this year that skimmers have been found in local grocery stores.
Indeed, other devices have been found at various grocery stores in communities including Chelsea; Somerville; Reading; Haverhill; Concord, New Hampshire and Nashua, New Hampshire.
Police have launched investigations into other skimmer sightings.
The Better Business Bureau, in the meantime, has shared tips for shoppers to protect themselves.
Among tips, the BBB advises:
Keep a close eye on your bank and credit accounts.
Be wary if your card gets stuck in a chip reader.
Use contactless payment methods.
Go inside to a teller to withdraw cash from the bank
Use ATMs in banks
Cover the keypad
Don’t proceed if you feel resistance when your card is inserted.
(Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
04fe7063ea08e5679917c7fcd1d00063 | 0.315165 | Flash freeze expected to accompany weekend snowstorm in Mass. | If a foot or more of snow wasn’t enough to worry about this weekend, the National Weather Service is predicting a “flash freeze” amid the storm, which could make travel even more hazardous.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Kyle Pederson explained that the flash freeze will take place on Sunday.
“As we get later into Sunday, areas that maybe received the more rain-snow mix could see what we call a flash freeze, which is where the temperatures drop really quickly and they are below freezing,” Pederson said.
Roadways that are wet from rain or melting snow could then quickly be covered in ice, he said.
A message posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, encouraged people to plan to get snow and slush cleared on Sunday morning if possible and be prepared for slippery travel once temperatures drop.
Sunday Flash Freeze:
Temps will start out near/above freezing Sunday then will rapidly drop into 20s Sunday afternoon (blue shading).
Plan on getting snow/slush cleared Sunday AM if possible. Be prepared for slippery travel once temps drop.#ctwx #mawx #riwx pic.twitter.com/y2hLX8oDFL — NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) January 5, 2024
Affected areas include the coastline and southeastern Massachusetts, where there is likely to be a rain-snow line.
“Where there’s going to be heavier snow, it’s not going to be as big of a concern because it’s already going to be below freezing in those areas,” Pederson said.
Icy roadways will likely continue through Sunday night and even into the Monday commute, he said.
“On the Monday morning commute, there still could be some icy spots out there, hopefully not as bad as Sunday though,” he said. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
d16b0313e570b547e7499825f0925718 | 0.700879 | Detroit Man Charged in Stabbing Death of Synagogue President | A man was charged on Wednesday in the killing of Samantha Woll, a synagogue president who was found stabbed to death in October outside her Detroit home, the authorities said.
Ms. Woll’s death appeared to have taken place during a break-in at her home, Kym L. Worthy, the Wayne County prosecutor, said at a news conference.
“This is an extraordinarily sad and tragic case,” Ms. Worthy said, adding that “there are no facts to suggest that this defendant knew Ms. Woll and there are no facts to suggest that this was a hate crime.”
Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, was charged with first-degree felony murder, a charge that carries a penalty of life in prison without parole. He was also charged with home invasion and lying to a peace officer. Mr. Jackson-Bolanos was being held in custody on Wednesday evening, and it was uncertain whether he had legal representation. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
e7ca42692974f42ce697bbc0461edd48 | 0.652711 | Two cars crash through former Boston Market in Saugus | Local News Two cars crash through former Boston Market in Saugus A Boston man crashed into a parked car, police said, and will face a string of charges related to the crash including drug possession. Courtesy of Saugus Police Department
Two vehicles flipped into a former Boston Market in Saugus Monday night after a man crashed into a parked car, police said.
Saugus police said a 62-year-old man from Boston driving a Volvo crashed into a unoccupied Toyota Prius around 7:23 p.m. on Monday, and both vehicles flipped into the restaurant at 168 Broadway. A dramatic photo shows the two overturned vehicles inside the building’s storefront.
The man driving was the only person involved in the crash. He was transported to a medical facility with non-life threatening injuries.
An investigation showed the Volvo was traveling very quickly going northbound on Route 1 when it left the roadway and struck the parked car, Saugus police said.
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Saugus police said the driver is facing pending charges of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating with a suspended license, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and possession of a class A substance, which the police said they believe is fentanyl or heroin.
The man will be expected in court as the charges are filed. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
7c16e8389393466a0bc48c34fbeea4d2 | 0.732334 | Congressional Leaders Unveil Stopgap Bill to Head Off Shutdown | Congressional leaders unveiled stopgap legislation on Sunday to avert a partial government shutdown, teeing up a race to pass the bipartisan spending deal into law before a deadline at the end of the week.
The bill, which came out of a spending deal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, would temporarily extend funding for some federal agencies until March 1 and for others through March 8. It would keep the government funded at its current spending levels, without any policy changes or conditions.
Facing opposition from hard-line House Republicans and a razor-thin G.O.P. majority, Mr. Johnson will most likely need to rely on the same coalition — made up of Democrats and mainstream Republicans — to pass the bill that both he and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy have relied on to keep the government funded.
In a sign that Democrats were preparing to muster the bulk of the votes to pass the bill, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, signaled his backing of the bill on Sunday night. He wrote to his caucus that he was “in strong support of the effort to keep the appropriations process moving forward and avoid a disruptive partial government shutdown.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
fea8af955437fb6806a2dcafb62119e3 | 0.553484 | A Ski Resort Rebrands as Ultraexclusive, and Some Locals Feel Left Out | Windham Mountain, a ski resort just over two hours north of New York City, was in need of revamping. The lift lines were too long. The food and drink quality had declined.
So when word got out that a new ownership group was taking over, the change was initially welcomed.
But then the new owners, led by the founder of a national restaurant chain and a hotel group scion, unveiled a slick website that laid out their plans for an ambitious rebrand in October. Windham Mountain would now be known as the Windham Mountain Club. The resort promised skiers “a rare time in rarified air.” The club’s restaurants would receive a “gastronomique glow up.”
Memberships to access the new amenities would come at a steep price: $175,000 for those who joined right away, and $200,000 for those who waited until March. If current members, some of whom paid as little as $25,000 for their spots, did not opt in, their memberships would be terminated on May 1.
“It’s no secret that they’ve managed to alienate and, frankly, piss off a lot of people,” said Nick Bove, who owns Windham Mountain Outfitters, a local equipment store. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
562991aadeed4d7b45e961e7a9b0607c | 0.927629 | Boston weather: After scattered storms clear out, weekend looks good | Most of Massachusetts has a strong chance of receiving at least six inches of snow during a storm that’s expected to hit the state late Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The eastern half of the state — minus Bristol and Plymouth Counties, the coast, the Cape and the Islands — has a 70 to 80% chance of getting more than 6 inches of snow, the weather service said. The western half of the state has a 60 to 70% chance of receiving more than a half a foot of snow.
Read more: Here are Massachusetts weekend snow predictions in 5 maps
The Massachusetts coast, as well as Bristol and Plymouth Counties, have a 10 to 50% chance of receiving more than 6 inches of snow, according to the weather service. That chance is greatest along the Route 1 corridor and decreases moving southeast towards the Cape.
The chance of any precipitation stops just before you reach the Cape and Islands. Bristol and Plymouth Counties — plus the coast — have the highest chance of receiving rain instead of snow, but also have the greatest risk of experiencing power outages, according to the weather service.
This map from the National Weather Service shows the likelihood of receiving 6+ inches of snow during the storm this weekend across Massachusetts.National Weather Service
The weather service predicts that the storm will hit Western Massachusetts first, between 4 and 9 p.m. Saturday. The central part of the state is expected to see snow by 9 p.m. Saturday, and the eastern part should see snow by 1 a.m. Sunday. The snowfall is expected to lessen around 3 or 4 p.m. Sunday, and then largely cease by 9 or 10 p.m. that day.
There is also a slight chance of snow across Massachusetts this morning, largely before 8 a.m., according to the weather service. Skies are expected to stay cloudy in the morning before clearing as the day goes on. Highs across the state should be in the low 40s.
Lows overnight this week are expected to be in the high teens and low 20s, except for overnight Saturday when temperatures will be in the low 30s and high 20s, according to the weather service. Friday is expected to be sunny with highs in the low 30s across the state, and Saturday should see mostly cloudy skies with highs in the mid 30s before the storm hits.
Temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s during the storm Sunday, according to the weather service. Monday should be clear with highs in the mid 30s. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
f82d0db02c7da557cda1a87890e92253 | 0.51346 | Lego Masters episode 10: How to watch on FOX for free Dec. 7 | The newest episode of “Lego Masters,” airing on Thursday, December 7, will count down the top 100 moments from four seasons of “LEGO Masters” on FOX.
The newest episode of season 4 will air at 9 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on FOX. Viewers looking to stream the premiere can do so by using FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Both streaming services offer free trials.
According to a description of the show by FOX, in “Lego Masters,” teams of two LEGO® enthusiasts go head-to-head, with infinite possibilities and an unlimited supply of LEGO® bricks. “Throughout the competition, host Will Arnett and expert judges encourage the amateur builders, introduce incredible challenges and put the creations to the test,” according to FOX. The competing pairs who impress the judges the most progress to the next round. In the finale, the top teams face off for a cash prize, the ultimate LEGO trophy and the grand title of LEGO® MASTERS.
In episode 10, they’ll be counting down the top 100 moments from four seasons of “LEGO Masters.”
Here is a look at season 4 from FOX’s YouTube channel:
How can I watch “Lego Masters” without cable?
The newest episode of season 4 will air at 9 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on FOX. Viewers looking to stream the premiere can do so by using FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Both streaming services offer free trials.
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, like sports, news, entertainment and local channels. It offers DVR storage space, and is designed for people who want to cut the cord, but don’t want to miss out on their favorite live TV and sports. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4bc28ce3a54f169113bbfb40ebadb2c9 | 0.499333 | Spenser is the guy you want to write: Author Mike Lupica picks up the legacy of Bostons famed PI | Spenser is back. And Mike Lupica couldn’t be happier about it.
With “Broken Trust,” the veteran journalist and author has taken up the voice and mantle of Boston’s most famous (fictional) private investigator. It’s the 51st book in the series, originated by the late Robert B. Parker, a Beantown mainstay, who died in 2010, and continued by author Ace Atkins.
“I’m proud of this book. I’m proud of the way I have carried on (Spenser and Parker’s legacy),” Lupica told MassLive last week during an interview from his home in Wellington, Fla.
The new book, a complicated and twist-filled tale of tech, business mergers and murder in the Boston’s financial district, finds Spenser back in the Back Bay, and amid his familiar haunts along Berkeley, Arlington and Marlborough streets.
Locals may delight at mentions of such local institutions as the Street Bar in the Newbury Hotel, Marathon Sports and Bistro du Midi, which overlooks the historic Public Garden in the heart of downtown.
While it’s his first Spenser novel, Lupica, 71, is no stranger to the Parkerverse. He’s already written several installments of Parker’s best-selling “Jesse Stone” and “Sunny Randall” series.
“If you loved Bob Parker, and you loved his work, Spenser is the guy you want to write,” Lupica told MassLive, adding that he’s passed the baton for Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone to other authors so he can focus exclusively on Spenser. Indeed, the 52nd book in the series is already in the works.
In a wide-ranging interview, Lupica, a New Hampshire native with deep ties to Boston, talked about Spenser and the cast of supporting characters that make the books complete, his love for the Bay State’s biggest city, and why he’s sometimes stumped by titles.
The conversation below has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
MassLive: You wrote some of the “Jesse Stone” books, you wrote some of the “Sunny Randall” books, and now you’re taking up [Spenser] from Ace Atkins ... Does this feel like getting the call-up to the Big Club in some ways?
Lupica: “You probably know, Bob [Parker] was a friend of mine. We used to email frequently during the baseball season. I visited the [Parkers’] house in Cambridge ... I first bought [the debut Spenser novel] “The Godwulf Manuscript” at a Brentano’s on Boylston Street when I was in college. And so, this man’s voice has been in my head ever since.
“ ... But I never planned to do this. I used to listen on walks, and long rides, all the time, to the Parker books — even the books that I have read and reread. And I was on my way up to Vermont from Connecticut, and my daughter was reading Sunny Randall ... And when I got up there, I called [my agent], and I told her [Parker’s] westerns had been continued, Spenser got continued, and Jesse got continued you know, by multiple writers. How come no one ever kept Sunny going? ... She said ‘I would want you to write a sample chapter.’
“And I said ‘No, no, no, I wasn’t pitching myself, I have more than enough to do.’ And she said, ‘Write the sample chapter.’ I got up in the morning, at this house we were renting up there, and wrote the 10 pages that essentially became the first chapter of [the Sunny Randall novel] ‘Blood Feud.’ And that easily, and quickly, I was in the Parkersphere. And the minute I started writing ... I knew I was in my comfort zone.
“... And then they asked me if I wanted to do ‘Jesse [Stone],’ and I said ‘Yeah.’ And I would still be doing all three — just the way Bob did it, except [James] Patterson came into my life ... I keep telling people that if there were 16 months in the year, I would continue all three characters.”
(Editor’s Note: Lupica and the author James Patterson have collaborated on a series of books.)
MassLive: What’s it like inhabiting that voice, that Spenser voice, making sure you [capture it]?
Lupica: “If you go back, I wrote three mysteries back in the ‘80s and ‘90s about a New York investigative reporter, Peter Finley. So if you go back and read it, or if you’ve ever read my column, you know we have very similar voices. That kind of side-of-the-mouth, ironic, smart-ass stuff is [me]. So I’m not trying to ghost him. I’m just carrying on ... I think it’s more an attitude ... and so I’m thrilled when people say ‘Oh I can’t tell whether this is Parker or me.’ Which is incredibly high praise ... It’s been a very natural progression.”
MassLive: In many ways, Parker was the voice of contemporary American mystery fiction. He’s such a gold-standard.
Lupica: “ ... Spenser, in so many ways, has taken his place, and I think he’s at the head of the list with, you know, [fictional private detectives] Philip Marlowe, Travis McGee. We can go through that whole list. [Spenser’s] humor, his attitude, the whole knight-errant quality to him. It’s fitting that Bob made him come from Laramie, Wyo., because there’s an Old West, cowboy feel. And ... nobody did it better than [Parker] did.”
MassLive: There is no more relationship, real or fictional, than the relationship between Spenser and [Boston] and the city and Spenser. It’s always so much a character in the books.
Lupica: “The only other person [where] the city becomes as much a character as Boston as in Spenser is [with] my friend Robert Crais. Los Angeles is such a powerful character in the ‘Elvis Cole/Joe Pike’ books. But, again, you can see my love of Boston. You can see [Crais’] love of Los Angeles.
“I think I figured out one time that even having gone to New York, and had a newspaper career there, I think I’ve spent, just professionally, a year of my life, in Boston hotels. And then you go back again to college and for all my kids’ graduations, and visits ... my love for the city is profound. I grew up, you know, Nashua (N.H.) is 45 minutes away from downtown Boston.”
(Editor’s Note: Lupica is a Boston College graduate.)
MassLive: This book, “Broken Trust,” is contemporary in the themes that it takes on, our worship of the Rich Guy Genius and the dominance of the tech sector.
Lupica: “Rich guys are celebrities ... Their money makes them rock stars ... One thing, working in New York, as long as I have, I’ve always said all really rich people and really famous people have a tremendous fear of heights. Because when they look down from their perch, falling scares the crap out of them.”
MassLive: What do you want people to take away from this book, if they’re coming to Spenser for the first time, or if they’re coming back?
Lupica: “I think the people who come to this book will know Spenser, and they will know Robert B. Parker’s work ... People who love this man’s work, and love this man’s characters, I believe, they know that they’re in good hands; [with] someone who will honor them, and have fun with them, and hopefully continue to present them to readers in an interesting way.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1f8c70b9ca7a64d4cc9d8b6acb90f9d3 | 0.758514 | Former Celtics coach ejected after LeBron James altercation | With 8:35 left in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ game against the Lakers, Ime Udoka appeared to have some choice words for LeBron James. Referee J.T. Orr was right next to them hearing the conversation as whatever was said resulted in a double technical foul for both of them.
While it was James’ first tech of the game, Udoka received his second of the night as he was ejected from the contest. The Lakers went on to beat the Rockets 107-97 in Los Angeles. Here’s a look at the interaction as caught by the television cameras.
$200 INSTANT BONUS DRAFTKINGS MASS CLAIM OFFER BET $5, GET $200 BONUS BET FANDUEL MASS CLAIM OFFER BET $50, GET $250 BONUS CAESARS MASS CLAIM OFFER $1,000 FIRST-BET BONUS BETMGM MASS CLAIM OFFER MA only. 21+. Gambling Problem? If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with gambling, please call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org for 24/7 support. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234 MA Gambling Helpline. MA only. 21+. Gambling Problem? If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with gambling, please call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org for 24/7 support. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234 MA Gambling Helpline.
After the game, both Udoka and James were asked about the altercation.
“Thanksgiving,” James said of their conversation. “How much we enjoy Thanksgiving.”
“They didn’t like what they heard,” Udoka said.
The Rockets were a pleasant surprise earlier this season, but they have slipped recently to an 8-9 record in Udoka’s first season at the helm. Udoka was set to lead the Celtics after a successful 2021-22 season where he led them to the NBA Finals. But after violating team policies, he was suspended from the C’s just days before training camp opened up then eventually dismissed later on in the season.
After taking all of last season off, he was hired by the Rockets to lead their franchise starting with the 2023-24 season. Houston had low expectations this season, but it did add free agent pieces like Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks into the fold. Meanwhile, the Celtics are 15-4 on the season with second-year coach Joe Mazzulla leading the way. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
b3d7f907ad20fc2c0c0a400dcd7e46e6 | 0.196665 | 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.” | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
bc1084f18d558ae928c3216fe05e8a35 | 0.744751 | WMass Boys Basketball Season Stats Leaders: Who leads the region by class? | In the whirlwind that was Kristaps Porzingis deal, there was plenty of uncertainty when it came to the Celtics acquiring the talented big man. But before all of those trade negotiations, Porzingis himself had to pick Boston because of the unique position he was in with his contract.
Porzingis had until midnight June 21 to decide whether to opt into the last year of his deal. It was either that or hit free agency, where suitors would line up after his career-best year in Washington. So while there was drama in the negotiations — Marcus Smart was part of the deal instead of Malcolm Brogdon — it also hinged on Porzingis picking Boston over free agency.
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The big man broke down that decision on his appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast, “The Old Man and The Three.” While it was officially a trade with Washington, Redick noted that it was similar to free agency in that Porzingis had the option to choose where he wanted to go in some regards. So Porzingis could have also left some money on the table by choosing the Celtics over free agency.
“Just the ability to win a championship, compete for a championship,” Porzingis said. “That’s what excited me. That opportunity. When that was presented on the table, I didn’t think too much about it. I knew my game would fit well with (Jaylen Brown) and (Jayson Tatum) and the guys that were here. I was just hoping that because of the trade deadline and when it was coming close, it was like last moment and I didn’t know what was going to happen. When it came true, I was really happy.”
The early returns have impressed as the Celtics are tied for the best record in the East at 15-6. Porzingis has been as advertised on both ends of the court as he’s fit in well with the C’s stars. He’s missed the past four games with a left calf strain, but there hasn’t been any huge injury that has kept him out an extended period of time.
Porzingis himself said he’s loved his time in Boston thus far. He also already signed a two-year, $60 million extension that will keep him with the Celtics through the 2025-26 season.
“It’s been great honestly,” Porzingis said. “Fans welcomed me with open arms here from Day 1. Joe has been great. Playing at TD Garden is special. What else can I ask for, playing with these kind of guys, these kinds of players. It’s a perfect scenario.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
ebca27302f64dfbc19d2dceb753bb305 | 0.337713 | Westfields Arm Brook Dam project clears federal hurdle before construction | WESTFIELD — The federal government recently ruled the rehabilitation of the Arm Brook Multipurpose Dam will not require an environmental impact statement before the project gets underway in 2025.
“This is absolutely good news,” said Allison McMordie, the city engineer, when asked about the report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service on Nov. 22. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
145ccbb27dde06035e6157b2ded21e00 | 0.45211 | Apple Is Doing Its Part to End Green Bubble Shaming. Its Our Turn. | For more than a decade, smartphone users everywhere have faced a major problem in how we communicate: the “green versus blue bubble” disparity.
When iPhone users send texts to other iPhones, the messages appear blue and can tap into exclusive perks like fun emojis and animations. But if an iPhone user texts an Android user, the bubble turns green, many features break, and photos and videos deteriorate in quality.
Over time, the annoyance and frustration that built up between blue and green bubbles evolved into more than a tech problem. It created a deeper sociological divide between people who judged one another by their phones. The color of a bubble became a symbol that some believe reflects status and wealth, given a perception that only wealthy people buy iPhones.
Now part of this problem will soon be addressed.
This month, Apple announced that it would improve the technology used to send texts between iPhone and Android users, starting next year, by adopting a standard that Google and others integrated into their messaging apps years ago. Texts sent between iPhones and Androids will remain green, but images and videos will look higher-quality and security features like encryption may eventually arrive, Apple said. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
7c912abebbfcdef34f332a377de3f882 | 0.304618 | Biden Says Its Self-Evident That Trump Supported an Insurrection | President Biden said on Wednesday that it was “self-evident” that former President Donald J. Trump had supported an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, but that the courts would decide whether he should be on the ballot in 2024.
The president was responding to a reporter’s question about the Colorado Supreme Court decision on Tuesday that said that Mr. Trump was disqualified from being on the 2024 ballot in the state’s Republican primary because he was part of an insurrection.
“Not going to comment on it,” Mr. Biden said after landing in Milwaukee for a speech to the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce.
And then he did.
“It’s self-evident. You saw it all,” Mr. Biden said, adding that it would be up to the court to decide whether Mr. Trump was in violation of the 14th Amendment, which says that acts of insurrection can disqualify someone from office. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
fd888028fcbc883575991cd69f637d71 | 0.298243 | Sixth Grader Killed and 5 Others Injured in Iowa School Shooting | A gunman killed a sixth-grade student and injured five other people at a high school in Perry, Iowa, early Thursday morning just as students were arriving back to school after their winter break.
Four of the injured were students, and one was an administrator, Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said at a news conference on Thursday. One of the injured victims was in critical condition.
The administrator was identified by Easton Valley Community School District as Dan Marburger, the principal at Perry High School, where the shooting took place. Officials did not release the names of any other victims.
The gunman, identified as Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at the high school, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Mr. Mortvedt said. Law enforcement officials believe he acted alone and said the motive for the attack was not yet known. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
72c99b2ddd1110bdc6cf318ceb5fc823 | 0.309234 | People without assault rifles have right to freedom from fear (Letter) | A recent opinion piece (“America’s Rifle Fetish Is Destroying its Freedom,” The Republican, Nov. 2) by Jamelle Bouie describes a dystopian American society in which the possession of guns has become a fetish and one gun in particular, the AR-15 assault rifle, has become iconic.
Mr. Bouie poses this question: “How free are you really when you know a trip to the grocery store or a morning in prayer or a day at school or a night at the movies can end in your death at the hands of a gun?”
This question is particularly relevant, considering the 597 mass shootings this year. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1d410a9d4a55ed6118519ad8ad98a731 | 0.273419 | Boston mom says 9-year-old daughter sexually assaulted on bus, suing school | A Boston woman has filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against the Boston Public Schools, a private bus company and a local charter school claiming her 9-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted several times.
The suit, which was filed Friday by attorneys from Morgan and Morgan, a personal injury law firm, claims the 9-year-old was sexually assaulted by an 11-year-old numerous times during a seven-month period in the 2022-2023 school year.
The lawsuit names the city of Boston, the Match Foundation, Inc. and Transdev Services Inc., a transportation company, as the defendants, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained and reported by the Boston Globe.
“The sexual assaults took place just a few feet from the bus monitor and the bus driver on the ride home after school from the Match Charter Public School,” the lawsuit said.
Read More: Suspect arrested after 2 Boston University students sexually assaulted
The girl, who was named Child Doe in the suit, attended Hyde Park school and took a bus from the Boston Public Schools owned by Transdev, Inc., according to the lawsuit.
The girl was unable to finish the fourth grade because she was scared she’d be sexually assaulted again, according to the Boston Globe. The 11-year-old boy had threatened the girl with physical violence if she ever reported her abuse.
In May, the girl’s family alerted the school about their child’s sexual assault, the lawsuit said. Although Transdev required the bus to be equipped with video cameras, no footage could be found from October 2022 to May 2023.
“Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their own policies that directly led to this young child’s assault,’’ attorneys from Morgan and Morgan said in a statement to the Globe. “Our client will experience a childhood haunted by trauma and flashbacks, and we will do everything in our power to hold the defendants accountable and prevent anything like this from happening to another child in our city.” | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
b7f331881e4a96a4d6f436ee15c70ae2 | 0.786215 | Chicopee man indicted by federal grand jury for allegedly robbing, assaulting confidential informant | SPRINGFIELD — Federal authorities say a Chicopee man has been charged with allegedly holding up a confidential informant at gunpoint for $1,400 in government money.
Hector Laureano, 38, was charged by a grand jury with assault with a dangerous weapon on a person assisting an officer or employee of the United States. He is also charged with brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and armed robbery, according to an announcement by Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
96559ccdf4b75e8ad2f500805b4c7244 | 0.783792 | Man Who Attacked Las Vegas Judge Gets Up to 4 Years in Prison | Detroit is on track to record the fewest murders since the 1960s. In Philadelphia, where there were more murders in 2021 than in any year on record, the number of homicides this year has fallen more than 20 percent from last year. And in Los Angeles, the number of shooting victims this year is down more than 200 from two years ago.
The decrease in gun violence in 2023 has been a welcome trend for communities around the country, though even as the number of homicides and the number of shootings have fallen nationwide, they remain higher than on the eve of the pandemic.
In 2020, as the pandemic took hold and protests convulsed the nation after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, the United States saw the largest increase in murders ever recorded. Now, as 2023 comes to a close, the country is likely to see one of the largest — if not the largest — yearly declines in homicides, according to recent F.B.I. data and statistics collected by independent criminologists and researchers.
The rapid decline in homicides isn’t the only story. Among nine violent and property crime categories tracked by the F.B.I., the only figure that is up over the first three quarters of this year is motor vehicle theft. The data, which covers about 80 percent of the U.S. population, is the first quarterly report in three years from the F.B.I., which typically takes many months to release crime data. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
b2eb7821b3ae97f63f2b58db197c7440 | 0.593345 | How to watch the new season of Southern Hospitality, stream for free | The Tesla technicians who walked off their jobs in Sweden say they still support the mission of the American company and its headline-grabbing chief executive. But they also want Tesla to accept the Swedish way of doing business.
They call it the Swedish Model, a way of life that has defined the country’s economy for decades. At its heart is cooperation between employers and employees to ensure that both sides benefit from a company’s profit.
Instead, four technicians who walked off their jobs on Oct. 27 said, they have been subjected to what they described as a “typical U.S. model”: six-day workweeks, unavoidable overtime and an unclear evaluation system for promotion.
“Just work, work, work,” said Janis Kuzma, one of the technicians on strike.
The union representing the Tesla workers, IF Metall, won’t say how many of the company’s 130 technicians have walked out — it may be only a few dozen. The company’s 10 service centers remain open. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3ae5abbcd1a398f7442ba04ed720124d | 0.4644 | Researcher calls for investigation into the relationship between Harvard and Facebook | Joan Donovan, a prominent disinformation scholar who left Harvard University last summer told NBC10 Boston's @Issue that she was terminated from her position at the university as she launched a deep dive in late 2021 into a trove of Facebook files she considers the most important documents in internet history.
The actions impacting Donovan's work coincided with a $500 million donation to Harvard by a foundation run by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
"I am calling for an investigation into understanding how Facebook and Harvard in particular interact," Donovan told Cory Smith and Sue O'Connell.
In a whistleblower disclosure, Donovan accuses Harvard of betraying academic freedom and the public interest to protect Meta, Facebook's parent company. Donovan is asking Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay, Harvard's general counsel, the Massachusetts attorney general's office and the U.S. Department of Education to look in what she calls "inappropriate influence."
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"As researchers and as academics, we have to be above the fray," Donovan told @Issue." We have to be in a position where we can't be bought. And that requires the university to say you as an academic are telling the truth and we support you. And if a lawsuit comes, we will protect you. It's cowardice to tell a researcher they're not protected by academic freedom."
The CEO of Whisteblower Aid, a legal nonprofit supporting Donovan, called the alleged behavior by Harvard's Kennedy School and its dean a “shocking betrayal” of academic integrity at the elite school.
"Whether Harvard acted at the company’s direction or took the initiative on their own to protect (Facebook's) interests, the outcome is the same: corporate interests are undermining research and academic freedom to the detriment of the public,” CEO Libby Liu said in a press statement.
In response to NBC10 Boston, the Kennedy School rejected the disclosure’s allegations of unfair treatment and donor interference. “The narrative is full of inaccuracies and baseless insinuations, particularly the suggestion that Harvard Kennedy School allowed Facebook to dictate its approach to research,” spokesman James F. Smith said in a statement.
"By longstanding policy to uphold academic standards, all research projects at Harvard Kennedy School need to be led by faculty members. Joan Donovan was hired as a staff member (not a faculty member) to manage a media manipulation project. When the original faculty leader of the project left Harvard, the School tried for some time to identify another faculty member who had time and interest to lead the project. After that effort did not succeed, the project was given more than a year to wind down. Joan Donovan was not fired, and most members of the research team chose to remain at the School in new roles.
Harvard University and Harvard Kennedy School continue to carry out pathbreaking research on misinformation and the role of social media in society. For example, a Kennedy School faculty member has constructed and posted online the Facebook Archive, the only academic archive that makes available to researchers thousands of leaked Facebook documents. As another example, a Kennedy School faculty member publishes and edits the only peer-reviewed academic journal on misinformation, the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. By policy and in practice, donors have no influence over this or other work.”
During her interview on @Issue, Donovan pushed back against that statement.
"The... thing that's confounding about their statement is... that research staff don't have academic freedom. Now, if anything in my disclosure kept me up late at night was the description of the one on one meeting I had with (former) Dean Douglas Elmendorf, where I make the claim that he intimidated me by saying I don't have academic freedom, which meant to me if I proceeded with the Facebook project, I could be personally liable. He's since doubled down on that in the Harvard Crimson and in (Washington Post) suggesting that that is the rule at Harvard. This raises huge concerns for the over 6000 academic research staff that publish at Harvard that aren't faculty. I believe that that is one of the crucial things that come out of this whistleblower complaint, especially.
Before Donovan spoke with NBC10 Boston, Latanya Sweeney, a professor who leads Harvard's Public Interest Tech Lab, responded to Donovan's whistleblower complaint in a statement provided to NBC10 Boston by the Harvard Kennedy School.
“The number and nature of inaccuracies and falsehoods in the document are so abundant and self-serving as to be horribly disappointing. FBarchive was under my charge from the beginning. Meta exerted no influence over FBarchive or any of our/my work. Just a few weeks ahead of the public launch, we offered Meta the chance to review the archive for security and privacy concerns and suggest redactions, which we independently elected to accept or reject.”
Meta spokesman Andy Stone told NBC News the company had no comment on the dispute between Donovan and Harvard.
In its statement, The Kennedy School said it “did not receive any portion of the Chan-Zuckerberg gift,” which went to Harvard University for an unrelated artificial intelligence initiative.
Both Chan and Zuckerberg went to Harvard, where Facebook was first launched.
.A representative for their philanthropic organization told CNBC that the group “had no involvement" in Donovan’s "departure from Harvard and was unaware of that development before public reporting on it.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
e9533595efc7e436d8238870486aed5e | 0.398546 | Corey Taylor cancels tour due to health concerns | Slipknot’s frontman, Corey Taylor, stated on Instagram Friday, January 5, that he is canceling his North American solo tour due to “mental and physical health” concerns.
Taylor canceled his run of solo tour dates, a month after announcing them because “he reached a place that was unhealthy for him and his family.” Fans who have bought tickets or VIP packages for the tour will get a full refund. Here is the full statement he posted to his Instagram:
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the cancellation of my upcoming North American tour. For the past several months my mental and physical health have been breaking down, and I reached a place that was unhealthy for my family and I. I know this decision will come as a shock to some and may be regarded as unpopular by others - but after taking a hard look at where I am and where I was going, I need to pull myself back and be home with my family for the time being. Those of you who bought tickets and VIP packages for this upcoming run will get a full refund.
I send my love to the fans, my band, my family & friends, and everyone who’s helped me get here thus far. I promise I’m doing everything I can to be as healthy as I can be. Until then, my apologies to everyone we would have seen on the tour - and hopefully, we’ll see you again down the line.”
Slipknot has a European and UK tour scheduled for this year, as well as a handful of US festival appearances, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut self-titled album. As of now, those are still happening and tickets for those shows can be purchased on StubHub and VividSeats. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
f0253647328d537864fd63d9b21d212f | 0.219132 | One Hulking, One Gaunt: Two Very Different Macbeths | There is more than one way to tell a story. In England, two equally impressive new productions of “Macbeth” prove this, both featuring major stars in the title role and adopting strikingly different approaches to Shakespeare’s classic tale of hubris and betrayal.
The first, starring Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu,” “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”), runs at the Depot, a cavernous converted warehouse on an industrial estate in Liverpool. Despite its grittily authentic set design and costumes, it is for the most part a conventional, realist treatment. The second, at the Donmar Warehouse, in London, and starring David Tennant (“Doctor Who,” “Des”), is a rather more high-concept affair, heavy on ambience and atmospherics.
The leading men are, likewise, a study in contrasts: Fiennes’s Macbeth is a hulking, lugubrious presence, whereas Tennant’s is a gaunt, energetic bundle of angst.
The Fiennes “Macbeth,” directed by Simon Godwin, runs through Dec. 20 at the Depot in Liverpool, before moving on to Edinburgh, London and Washington, D.C., in 2024. The makeshift playhouse features an immersive set: To get to their seats, theatergoers must file past a bleak, dusty landscape of rubble and burned-out cars, suggestive of a war zone. The stage set is an elegant geometric structure in forbidding gray, comprising a number of doors, balconies and stairways, representing the various Scottish castles in which much of the action unfolds. Thin, vertical streaks of blood gradually materialize on its walls as the story progresses. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
bc89903853ebca87e902c3962aebec9f | 0.635109 | The Results Are In: These Are the Best Holiday Movies According to Our Instagram Followers | Hey BU Blog | The Results Are In: These Are the Best Holiday Movies According to Our Instagram Followers
Film & TV The Results Are In: These Are the Best Holiday Movies According to Our Instagram Followers It’s time to get watching, BU!
It’s that time of year again, Terriers! As the weather gets colder and the holidays creep up, it’s only natural that you begin your movie-binging. There’s nothing quite like snuggling up with loved ones and indulging in heartwarming films that capture the magic of the holidays! With that being said, it can be time-consuming to find a film that everyone will agree on, so we let the Terriers who follow @bostonu on Instagram do the picking for you. Here’s a list of the top five holiday classics our followers agreed on:
1. Elf
Courtesy of giphy.com
It’s funny, heart-warming, and great for the whole family. Laughing is pretty standard when watching any Will Ferrell movie, no matter what age you are. The comedy follows Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole, as he embarks on a journey to New York City to find his real father, Walter Hobbs. Buddy’s childlike innocence clashes with the bustling and cynical world of humans until he’s able to spread holiday cheer.
Available for streaming on: Max & Hulu (free with subscription)
2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Courtesy of giphy.com
🎶 Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight! 🎶
Rudolph, of course, is a holiday classic. The film is right up there with the animated Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman movies everyone knows and loves from their childhood. The film tells the story of Rudolph, a reindeer with a luminous red nose that sets him apart from his peers. Originally shamed for his unique feature, Rudolph discovers that his special ability becomes the key to guiding Santa’s sleigh on a foggy Christmas Eve.
Available for purchase on Amazon Prime ($7.99)
3. Home Alone
Courtesy of giphy.com
Could this be a must-watch holiday movie list without Home Alone? This was Terrier’s most loved holiday movie, winning by a landslide vote. In case you somehow haven’t watched it, the story follows a young boy who is accidentally left behind during his family’s vacation. While home, Kevin must defend the house against a duo of goofy burglars. It’s an original comedy classic!
Available for streaming on: Disney+ & Hulu (free with Premium subscription)
4. Love Actually
Courtesy of giphy.com
This film follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
The overriding message? The holidays are better when you spend them with the people who care about you, and that’s good enough for us.
Available for streaming on: Netflix (free with subscription)
5. The Polar Express
Courtesy of giphy.com
Cozy up with a cup of HOT… HOT…HOT… HOT CHOC-O-LATE and catch The Polar Express! The film follows a young boy on Christmas Eve who embarks on a magical adventure to the North Pole on the Polar Express while learning about friendship, bravery, and the spirit of Christmas.
The train conductor, played by Tom Hanks, shared one of the most iconic lines in holiday film history when he said, “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”
Available for streaming on: Hulu, Max, and Amazon Prime (free with subscription)
Happy holidays, Terriers! Let us know if we missed one of your favorites in the comments below. ⬇️ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3a89952bc74e15d0a8604b7a93a39f14 | 0.283224 | Texas Woman Asks Court to Allow Her Abortion | A pregnant Texas woman whose fetus has a fatal condition sued the state on Tuesday seeking an emergency court order to allow her doctor to perform an abortion, despite the state’s strict bans on the procedure.
The lawsuit is believed to be one of the first attempts in the nation to seek a court-ordered abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, allowing states to make their own abortion laws.
Texas is at the forefront of states that restrict abortion, and has overlapping bans that outlaw abortions from the point of fertilization and allow private citizens to sue others who might help a woman obtain an abortion. The laws allow some exceptions to save the health and life of the pregnant woman, though abortion rights advocates argue that they are unclear, putting women with pregnancy complications at risk.
The vagueness of the exceptions in Texas have prevented doctors from performing the procedure in most cases, lawyers for the woman, Kate Cox, have argued. A decision in her case could force the state to more clearly define what is allowed under the law. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
f09671bc5b7a8dd4cd2e3c056d309853 | 0.203496 | Ex-Patriots assistants shouldnt be ruled out to replace Bill Belichick (report) | With the end of the New England Patriots’ regular season on the horizon, questions about Bill Belichick’s future are only becoming more frequent. Whether Belichick will return to New England in 2024 remains unclear, but the latest report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero shed light on what could be coming in the weeks and months ahead.
Including two interesting candidates to take over for Belichick should he not come back.
“If Belichick does move on, speculation has centered on (Jerod) Mayo as his successor. That’s not a guarantee, though, and other options — particular coaches with Patriots ties, such as Josh McDaniels or Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores — shouldn’t be ruled out,” Rapoport and Pelissero wrote.
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McDaniels spent time as the Patriots offensive coordinator, but his head coaching success, or lack thereof, has been on full display with the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders — who fired him earlier this season. Flores, meanwhile, was with the Patriots in different roles for 10 seasons. He was the Miami Dolphins coach for three seasons before he was fired, which led to a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL. Flores is in his first year as defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.
It’s also worth noting that Rapoport and Pelissero reported that Belichick “intends to coach in 2024″ and team owner Robert Kraft has “consulted numerous people about how to move forward.”
There are a lot of questions surrounding the Patriots going into the offseason, but perhaps none more important than what comes next with Belichick, who’s helped lead the team to six Super Bowl championships. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
fe794667cc15f558b4dc87a4153d4513 | 0.641258 | Dedham Total Wine employee assaulted at knifepoint by group in parking lot | A male employee of Total Wine & More in Dedham was assaulted by a group of people at knifepoint in the store’s parking lot Sunday evening, according to Dedham police.
Dedham Police Chief Michael d’Entremont said the attack stemmed from an incident Saturday during which the employee denied service to a man at the Dedham mall store.
On Sunday, about half a dozen people assaulted the employee in the store’s parking lot around 8 p.m., d’Entremont said. Two of the people were wielding knifes.
Read more: Early morning Boston shooting leaves man with life-threatening injuries
The group eventually fled, d’Entremont said. The employee was evaluated by paramedics at the scene, but declined further medical assistance.
Police are still looking for suspects in the case. Total Wine & More did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3bdd23c2c5d272290c0c4e839714fbe5 | 0.24939 | Southwick Conservation Commission approves outlay to acquire Middle Pond parcel | SOUTHWICK — The Conservation Commission approved covering the cost of acquiring a parcel of property its owner wants to donate to the town on the Middle Pond of Congamond Lake at its meeting Monday night.
“Here’s my favorite one,” said Commission Vice Chair Dennis Clark about the commission’s agenda item to appropriate the money needed to pay the legal fees and for a survey needed for the town to accept the lot at 13 Berkshire Ave. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
e700b73823798dbadb8097b698d9d31e | 0.672743 | Malaysian Prisoners Plead Guilty to Conspiring in 2002 Bali Bombing | Two Malaysian prisoners at Guantánamo Bay pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring in the October 2002 nightclub bombings in the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, that killed more than 200 people.
The guilty pleas were the first step in a slowly unfolding proceeding that began when the men, Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, 48, and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, 47, were charged in 2021 — 18 years after their capture in Thailand. Sentencing is scheduled for next week.
The pleas were also seen as a breakthrough for military commission prosecutors, who had been seeking deals to resolve long-running cases against former C.I.A. prisoners. Similar talks with the accused plotters of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ended last year after the Biden administration declined to consider health care and confinement conditions sought by the prisoners.
Both defendants were held for years in the C.I.A.’s secret overseas prison network. They were transferred to Guantánamo Bay in 2006 for trial at the special national-security court that President George W. Bush set up after the Sept. 11 attacks. While in agency custody, according to their lawyers, they were tortured, along with their accused ringleader Encep Nurjaman, an Indonesian prisoner known as Hambali. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
74b609e67a323d8090e7b41f2a2dd128 | 0.698227 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu endorses Enrique Pepn for City Council, rejecting Ricardo Arroyo | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu endorsed her former employee Enrique Pepén for the District 5 seat on the City Council, scorning the embattled incumbent Ricardo Arroyo, a longtime ally she’s supported in prior elections.
In a Monday statement, Wu described Pepén as “exactly the kind of leader we need in government,” saying that he “not only knows City Hall inside out, but has lived the challenges of our community through growing up in Boston and now raising his two young kids here.”
“He’ll be a fantastic partner on the Council with the shared progressive values, determination, and heart for service to make Boston a city for everyone,” Wu said.
The endorsement, first reported by Politico, is the mayor’s latest effort to back her former employees in the Boston City Council race, ahead of the Sept. 12 preliminary. Pepén worked as the executive director of the Boston Office of Neighborhood Services under Wu.
Wu has also backed Henry Santana, her former director of civic organizing, for councilor-at-large, and Sharon Durkan, a political fundraiser who worked for the mayor when she was a city councilor, for the District 8 seat.
Pepén previously worked for former City Councilor Tito Jackson, former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III and former Mayor Marty Walsh. The son of Dominican immigrant parents, he was born and raised in Boston and lives in Roslindale with his wife and two children, according to his campaign website.
“I am profoundly humbled and honored to receive the support of my mentor and friend Michelle Wu,” Pepén said in a Monday statement. “I share Mayor Wu’s dedication to serve our community and meet people where they are.”
The two other challengers vying to unseat the progressive incumbent are Jose Ruiz, an officer with the Boston Police Department, and Jean-Claude Sanon, a small business owner.
While the endorsement may be seen as the mayor’s latest attempt to reshape a City Council prone to infighting and scandals over the past two years, it may also be interpreted as a direct indictment on Arroyo, the current District 5 councilor.
Wu’s statement did not mention Arroyo by name, but she did yank her support for him ahead of last year’s preliminary election for Suffolk County district attorney, when old sexual misconduct allegations came to light.
In a Monday statement, Arroyo said he was “proud to be the only candidate in this race with a proven independent and progressive record.”
“Like the residents of District 5, I am focused on the issues that impact their daily lives and will continue to be a champion for racial, environmental, economic and social justice,” Arroyo said.
The mayor had initially stuck by Arroyo after the 2005 and 2007 misconduct allegations surfaced, but eventually joined big-name progressive politicians U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey in pulling their support, after a Boston Globe report revealed one of the women was a minor at the time.
Still, Wu said on a prior GBH Boston Public Radio appearance that she had voted for Arroyo in the Suffolk DA primary. She also backed him during his initial bid for City Council in 2019.
Arroyo has denied the allegations and charges were never filed.
It was later revealed in two federal reports that former U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins colluded with Arroyo to tip the outcome of the election for Suffolk District Attorney, by leaking information that led to damaging pre-primary stories about his opponent that were published by the Globe.
The Herald chose not to publish the leaked information until after the primary.
Arroyo has denied any wrongdoing, stating that he had no knowledge Rollins was leaking sensitive information on his behalf, and denied pressuring the state’s top prosecutor to investigate his primary opponent, now-DA Kevin Hayden. Rollins resigned when the two reports were made public in May.
In late June, Arroyo admitted to a state ethics violation, and agreed to pay a $3,000 fine for continuing to represent his brother, Felix G. Arroyo, in a 2018 civil lawsuit involving the city after he became a city councilor. The lawsuit involves sexual assault allegations made against his brother by a former city employee.
Arroyo was also one of three city councilors named in a bullying and harassment complaint made by a City Council attorney in April, the Herald reported last week. He dismissed the complaint as “baseless.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
f74a235a80438e2d7ab40e5db2c9ee09 | 0.462763 | Beyonc's Renaissance look sparks debate about colorism and white-fishing | A weekly newsletter for the chronically online and easily entertained. Honey dishes us savvy analysis on culture, entertainment and power to make you the group chat MVP. Subscribe today!
Music icon Beyoncé has once again ignited conversation about race and identity with her latest look.
On Nov. 25, global superstar Beyoncé Knowles hosted the world premiere of her film “Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé,” a movie chronicling the journey of creating and performing the “Renaissance” Tour, in Los Angeles. On the chrome carpet, she wore a long silver Versace dress complete with platinum hair.
While many social media users loved the metallic look now synonymous with the tour, others questioned if the singer was trying to look lighter than what she truly is.
“Can we just keep it funky and acknowledge that Beyoncé looks light enough to be white in those photos? And we know sis understands lighting, so publishing photos looking like Khaleesi was…a choice,” X user Donovan Ramsey said in a Nov. 28 post.
People quickly came to Knowles’ defense, including her own mother, Tina Knowles.
“She does a film where the whole theme is silver with silver hair, a silver carpet, and suggested silver attire and you bozos decide that she’s trying to be a white woman and is bleaching her skin? How sad is it that some of her own people continue the stupid narrative with hate and jealousy,” Knowles said in a Nov. 28 post on Instagram.
As her mother said, the commentary surrounding Beyoncé's premiere look is sparking conversations around “racism, sexism, [and] double standards.” Along with this, the differences between “white-fishing” versus “Black-fishing” and representation are being discussed online as well, according to a Nov. 29 Cosmopolitan UK article.
This isn’t the first time in her decades-long career this issue of colorism has come up.
In 2008, the company L’Oréal was accused of altering Beyoncé's complexion to look lighter for their hair care advertisement with her. In 2021, Tiffany and Co. in their own advertisement with Beyoncé were accused of lightening her skin as well, worrying fans.
These conversations are part of “the longstanding pattern in the entertainment world of assessing women more for their appearances and what they are wearing than discussing the actual projects on which they have worked,” Cornell University professor Riché Richardson said.
The public’s reproach
From artist Katherine Harris’ perspective, she saw the critiques of Beyoncé “attempting to look more white” as delusional.
“Beyoncé constantly uplifts women and especially Black women. Everyone has a right to their opinions, but it’s crazy to watch people try to find something wrong or something to criticize about almost everything in life. Most melanated individuals experience various appearances based on environment, lighting, and appearance enhancers such as makeup,” Harris said.
After a white journalist from TMZ reached out to Beyoncé's hair stylist Neal Farinah for a statement on Beyonce’s skin tone, Knowles had enough.
Posted along with a fan edit of Beyoncé to her song “Brown Skin Girl,” Tina Knowles wrote that the situation “made my blood boil, that this white woman felt so entitled to discuss her Blackness. What’s really most disappointing is that some Black people, yes you bozos that’s on social media. Lying and faking and acting like you’re so ignorant that you don’t understand that Black women have worn platinum hair since the Etta James days,” asking if the other Black celebrities who have worn platinum hair are trying to be white as well.
Despite public denial, X user Shaniqua in a Dec. 2 post said that “one of the biggest lies to emerge in recent years is the ‘white women want to have Black features’ claim. In reality it’s the exact opposite. The biggest Black superstars want to be white. Beyonce is the perfect example.”
White-fishing and colorism
“White-fishing” is a term used to describe when people of color adopt physical or cultural attributes typically associated with whiteness. Critics of Beyoncé's look argue that it perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Black beauty and contributes to the erasure of Black identity.
Critics jumped to the conclusion that Beyoncé is trying to promote Euro-centric features, author Elena Chabo said in her Nov. 29 Cosmopolitan UK article.
According to author Jacqueline Arias in a 2019 article for Preen.PH, white-fishing and Black-fishing are both forms of erasure that promote Euro-centric features while ignoring minority communities.
There is evidence of Beyoncé proudly claiming her Black culture throughout her career. For example, her 2016 song “Formation” and its following music video was seen as a “deeply personal look at the Black and queer bodies who have most often borne the brunt of our politics,” writer Syreeta McFadden said in a 2016 article for The Guardian.
In her 2020 song “Black Parade,” released on Juneteenth weekend, Knowles celebrates her Blackness. She sings about getting peace and reparations for her people, letting her natural hair free and showing Black love to all.
“During the past decade, as an artist, Beyoncé stood at the forefront of Black activism and showcased the platforms of such movements as Black Lives Matter, #SayHerName, and #TakeAKnee in her artistry, particularly in work such as ‘Formation’ and on the larger ‘Lemonade’ album. It’s not fair to attempt to troll her or to brand her as any kind of ‘sellout,’ Richardson said.
Despite Beyoncé not having issues when it comes to skin whitening, that doesn’t mean that this and colorism aren’t prevalent issues in the music industry. Artists such as rapper Lil Kim have been accused of changing their Black features to meet Eurocentric standards. In a 2000 interview with Newsweek, Lil Kim said that “I have low self-esteem and I always have. Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type. Really beautiful women that left me thinking, ‘How can I compete with that?’ Being a regular Black girl wasn’t good enough.”
A 2021 survey done by Black Lives in Music found that out of the Black women surveyed, 48% said they were far more likely to be forced into altering both their behavior and their appearance (44%). Another 2021 study focusing on the differences in disadvantages between light skin and dark skin Black women found that “darker skin was associated with disadvantage across socioeconomic, health, and psychosocial domains.”
Research and data suggests that colorism is still an issue today. A study by Villanova in 2011 found that “light-skinned Black women served 11% less time in prison than dark-skinned Black women.”
In pop culture, there are examples of colorism, a form of discrimination or prejudice that favors people with lighter skin over those with darker skin, still being prevalent.
Experiencing colorism can lead to those to face mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression. The phenomenon also has an impact on how successful a person can be in the entertainment industry.
For example, singer Chris Brown allegedly said in 2021 that he allows “no darkies” in his club section, causing controversy. Shows such as “Grown-ish” in 2018 have been called out for a lack of dark-skinned characters, despite covering topics such as colorism on their show. Even when it comes to reality TV, the hit show “Real Housewives of Potomac” had a spotlight put on them earlier this year for how the dark-skinned cast members are unable to express themselves like their light-skinned peers.
Looking back at colorism’s history, “for a long time, advertisements in the Black press for skin lighteners and hair straighteners proliferated and were very real. Similarly, depictions in the Black media as well as in the cultural mainstream, particularly in the years prior to the Black Power movement, tended to embrace more Eurocentric beauty standards…,” Richardson said.
What’s next with this complex issue?
On the flip side, musical artists have also been accused of “Black-fishing” in order to gain personal profit and approval. “Black-fishing” “refers to a non-Black person’s manipulation of Black aesthetics for the purpose of attaining social capital or monetary benefit,” according to a 2022 article from Ms Magazine. Some recent artists accused of “Black-fishing” include singer Jesy Nelson of girl group Little Mix, singer Rita Ora and rapper Iggy Azalea.
Journalist Taylor Crumpton sees Black-fishing as a way for non-Black people to be able to profit off of the attention and movements around Black identity and culture.
“It would be remiss not to connect the wave of ‘Black-fishing’ social media influencers to digital campaigns around #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and #BlackGirlsRock. If whiteness is power and Blackness is currency, then white people will always feel an incentive to adorn Black elements and components in order to get rich,” Crumpton said.
As Chabo said in her Nov. 29 Cosmopolitan UK article, accusing someone of “white-fishing” is a way to try to make “Black-fishing” seem invalid.
In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of colorism, and there are a number of organizations and initiatives that are working to combat it. For instance, organizations such as The Representation Project are working to raise awareness around these issues and increase the representation of girls and women of color in the media. They release films such as “Miss Representation” and “The Mask You Live In” to be able to tell the stories of those that are often ignored in society.
“No matter who you are or where you live, intersectional gender stereotypes are hurting you and those you love. Through film, education, and activism, The Representation Project awakens consciousness, spotlights the cost of these stereotypes, and invites everyone to build a more equitable future,” the organization stated.
It remains to be seen if the issues of Black-fishing, representation and colorism will be properly addressed in our society.
“Conditions must improve and barriers must be removed for Black artists to be themselves, which means interventions and change must be enacted at all levels for artists in order to be free,” said Crumpton. “As Beyoncé says on ‘Church Girl,’ ‘I was born free.’ Work has to be done for all of us to be able to enjoy our freedom.” | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
bcc4f0f66e0112514d773ac0ca910736 | 0.829981 | Rep. Lori Trahan takes place in key Democratic Caucus position ahead of 2024 election | Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan just took a step up into a prime position as co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communication Commission, the main messaging arm of the Democratic House Caucus.
What message does she want voters to hear ahead of the 2024 election year?
Rep. Trahan joined Radio Boston to talk about her new role. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
d1bb190c2e9e8fd8d78fc7b25ec3d035 | 0.482801 | How an Obscure Song Became an a Cappella Sensation | The arrangement marked one the first times that all 14 members of the Virginia Gentlemen had their own vocal part on a song, he said.
They submitted their recording to Sharon, who liked it enough to put it on one of the first “Best Of College A Cappella” albums in the mid-1990s.
From there, the record hit campuses and the arrangement began to spread the old-fashioned way: word of mouth.
Other groups copied the arrangement by ear. A member of the Wesleyan Spirits who had performed a version in high school brought it to the Spirits. That arrangement made its way to the Vineyard Sound, a group based on Martha’s Vineyard. Similar arrangements were performed at the University of Rochester and Plymouth State.
“This song is what made me fall in love with my group,” Michelle Shankar, who was part of the Dartmouth Dodecaphonics from 2008 to 2012, said. “They open almost every show with this piece. It’s high energy, super upbeat, at least the a cappella version of it is. And it just starts with this wall of sound — that really high belt that’s like, ‘Whoaaa!’, and that just became an iconic line.” | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3bf3c91d397ce3ad221dca29de677ec5 | 0.27597 | What is trisomy 18, the condition causing a Texas woman to flee the state for abortion? | Sign up for Reckon’s latest newsletter dedicated to the fight for reproductive justice, a weekly repro rundown covering the good, the fair-to-middlin' and the ugly in repro news. Enter your email to subscribe to Reproductive Justice with Reckon.
A Texas mother-of-two is making headlines and becoming the face of the battle for exceptions in abortion bans.
On Nov. 27, at 20 weeks pregnant, Kate Cox learned that her wanted pregnancy would likely be unviable, as her baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18 – a medical condition linked to miscarriage, stillbirth and death in infancy. Texas has a near-total abortion ban, with exceptions for cases that threaten the life of the pregnant person, though Cox’s story illustrates that those defining lines are not so black and white.
The mother-of-two looked to the courts to approve her abortion. A Dec. 5 court filing details her travels to three emergency rooms, where doctors told her she would have to allow the baby to die inside of her or carry the pregnancy, risking complications of a third c-section and the likeliness that the baby would die soon after birth.
Cox was granted a temporary restraining order to terminate the pregnancy on Dec. 7 by Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, to which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded by letter to three hospitals, according to the Texas Tribune. In the letters, which were shared on Twitter, he threatened the potential of civil and legal liability for anyone involved in the abortion process.
“We remind you that the TRO [temporary restraining order] will expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires,” wrote Paxton, who also asked the higher court to step in.
On Monday afternoon, the Center for Reproductive Rights, who is representing Cox, announced she had left the state to receive her abortion. Soon after, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that her case did not qualify for a medical exception, and overturned the restraining order.
Though her whereabouts have not been disclosed, Cox presumably has or will soon have terminated her pregnancy.
“This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making healthcare decisions for pregnant people—they are not doctors.
What you need to know about trisomy 18
Trisomy 18, also known as Edward’s syndrome, is a genetic condition that occurs when a baby is born with three copies of chromosome 18 instead of the usual two. This extra chromosome disrupts normal development and leads to a range of physical and intellectual disabilities.
In 2012, Republican candidate Rick Santorum cut his campaign for president short to tend to then-3-year-old daughter Isabella, who had a medical emergency linked to her trisomy 18.
“When the cells are dividing when a woman is still pregnant, an accident happens… and the child ends up with too much genetic material, sort of extra genetic material, and it can affect every single part of the child’s body…” said Elizabeth Cohen, CNN senior medical correspondent said during an on-air interview with Soledad O’Brien.
Trisomy 18 is a serious condition and there is no cure. Unfortunately, the majority of infants with Trisomy 18 do not survive their first year. However, some children born with Trisomy 18 can live for several years with appropriate medical care and support. Only 13 in 100 born with trisomy 18 live past their first birthday.
Medical News Today reports that those who do survive face issues such as low birth weight, intellectual disabilities, cleft lip, abnormally shaped heads, overlapping fingers, structural brain issues and more. Over 90% of infants with this condition have congenital heart defects, and 50% experience hearing loss.
Trisomy 18 is not a hereditary condition, but rather, an abnormality of the chromosomes that causes issues in the development of organs. While most people are born with two chromosome 18s out of our 23 pairs of chromosomes, those with trisomy 18 have an extra one in all or some of their cells.
According to WebMed, there are three types of trisomy 18:
The most common type, full trisomy 18, occurs when an extra chromosome is present in every cell of the baby’s body.
Partial trisomy 18 is when part of an extra chromosome 18 attaches to another chromosome in the egg or sperm cell.
Mosaic trisomy 18 affects only some cells. Only about 5% of those with trisomy 18 have mosaic trisomy.
Numerous outlets report that trisomy 18 impacts 1 in 5,000 live births, including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). NICHD also points out that this is much more common, though most pregnancies diagnosed with the condition don’t survive past the second or third trimesters. The Trisomy 18 Foundation estimates that 1 in 2,000 pregnancies are affected.
For more information about trisomy 18, visit www.trisonomy18.org. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
32a4714a1e241a31e6d629324994cb20 | 0.891149 | Boston weather forecast: Sun before rain arrives this weekend | Two manhole explosions in Boston on Wednesday have resulted in cutting power to two apartment buildings, Eversource said in a statement.
The explosions happened on St. Stephen Street, Eversource said in the statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. The street is very close to Northeastern University. Boston police started getting calls about the explosions at around 10:07 a.m., Boston Police Sgt. John Boyle told MassLive.
“The substantial rainfall overnight likely played a role,” Eversource said about the “underground issue.” “We’ll look into the exact cause while crews make repairs.”
In order for repairs to begin, Eversource said it “had to de-energize the line and two apartment buildings and are without power. We have generators on the way to restore power to these buildings while our crews complete their work.”
“I was in the shower, and I heard a big explosion and some car alarms go off. And then 10 minutes later, I was getting dressed, and then the same thing happened,” Kerem Vasoglu told WCVB, which confirmed that vehicles near the explosions were damaged.
While the investigation into the explosions continue, Boyle asked anyone who typically drives along St. Stephen Street to seek “alternate routes, as we’re detouring cars in that area to avoid it for the time being.”
Read more: Flooding shuts down Milford Street in Medway after overnight storm
No injuries have been reported, Boyle said. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
a943897d843de9aba4b08ea72e95e0b6 | 0.51346 | Eradicating the Stigma: jarrett hill | Stories that will make you laugh, cry and question everything you thought you knew. Step into a portal where LGBTQ+ folks can live authentically, free from hate and where their contributions to art and culture are celebrated. Sign up for the QueerVerse newsletter today!
Editor’s note: For World AIDS Day 2023, Reckon interviewed people from across the U.S. about living with and battling the persistent stigma that people living with HIV/AIDS still confront today. From those deeply personal, wide-ranging interviews, we published profiles of five people about their journey and fight to eradicate stigma.
On World AIDS Day 2021, jarrett hill, 38, shared his HIV status publicly for the first time, a stark contrast to his 2012 diagnosis when he was muzzled by stigma and shame shaped by his religious upbringing. Since then, the award-winning journalist, professor, author, and co-host of the FANTI podcast has made a splendid slice of life for himself in Inglewood, California. But this rich-fueled life of opportunity, love, and community wasn’t always something hill thought was possible. For the first time, hill shared with Reckon his experience living with HIV and his hopes for eradicating the stigma.
“I completely shut down, never talked about it with anyone, and ignored it for a very long time. When [I received] my diagnosis, I remember immediately thinking, ‘Who’s gonna love me now?’ Like that would not be a possibility for me as a person who’s always been a hopeful romantic,” hill tells Reckon.
At the time, the 26-year-old hill didn’t have health care insurance, was unaware of the resources available to him and stigma kept him from inquiring to seek treatment. For years, every time he had a headache, caught a cold, or nicked his finger, hill thought, ‘This is going to be the thing that kills me.’
“I lived with that for years and years and eventually did get sick enough that I got concerned because I had started to lose weight, and it was different than just having a cold,” he says.
Eventually, hill found community resource AHF, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and got access to treatment and a therapist. “It was lifesaving and affirming because it was a community built for people like myself and a full circle moment as I previously worked at AID Atlanta prior to my diagnosis, helping to organize their AIDS Walk,” he says.
Today, being positive isn’t something hill thinks about every second of his day. According to hill, even when taking a pill, HIV is not something that he worries about nor does he fear the things that concerned him before. Fully aware of the magnitude of the disease and better equipped with education about treatment, hill knows that the depictions in society and media of HIV as this “horrible, terrible alternative life” and othering is far from reality.
“I live such a full life that has so many other things to be concerned about than HIV. I’m really grateful for that, but I don’t know that I would have expected that when I got my diagnosis,” he tells Reckon.
The silence that stigma causes loomed, the weight exacerbated by working in a public-facing career. For a long time, he was concerned about not using his platform and influence to share this part of himself until very recently.
“I want to combat the stigma of people who are living with HIV feeling like they can’t talk about it and be safe to share. I know people get awful responses when coming out about it, but ultimately, the freedom of it is much better than the prison of the secret,” he says.
Not until hill watched FX’s Pose did he see an accurate depiction of his experience receiving his diagnosis. In one episode, Billy Porter’s character, Pray Tell, gets diagnosed with HIV; he chooses not to share and live with that secret.
“I didn’t do a good job of pretending and just shut down. But I wonder how my life would have been different if I had told someone or if I would have felt safe to; I wasn’t ready,” he says.
This World AIDS Day, hill says the best way others can show up for folks living with HIV is to educate themselves on what it’s like to live with the diagnosis today. “I think it would be incredibly valuable for us all. I’m still sometimes surprised by how many people don’t know much about HIV/AIDS and how far medication has come along to help you be able to live a full life,” he says.
As a person who grew up Christian and immersed in church, hill believes communities of faith should be thoughtful about the ways that they engage conversations and people aboutHIV/AIDS.
“We have pastors, preachers, ministers, etc., tasked with service within churches who are doing a lot of harm, sometimes without even knowing it. I’ve heard my own pastor refer to having HIV/AIDS amongst being a murderer, you know, all of these other terrible things. Communities of faith are tasked with being welcoming, inclusive, and sharing love, and I don’t believe many of them are doing that as well as they could,” he says. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
345f719bac9255c4fba844a83a78f83d | 0.610588 | Probable cause hearings announced for alleged clients in Mass. brothel bust case | Dates have been set for probable cause hearings in the cases against 28 people accused of paying for sex in a high-end brothel network alleged to have been operating in Massachusetts and Virginia.
The names of the accused have yet to be released, but the hearings will be open to the public after requests from NBC10 Boston and other news outlets. The hearings are set for Jan. 18, Jan. 19 and Jan. 22 in Cambridge District Court, starting at 10 a.m. each morning.
Capacity is limited and attendees will be allowed in on a first come basis. If no probable cause is found further details will not be made public. If it is, court paperwork will be made available.
This is significant because typically these hearings, called "show cause hearings" are closed to the public, a concept unique to Massachusetts' criminal justice system. It allows people accused of misdemeanors who haven't been arrested to have closed-door hearings with clerk magistrates. Typically, the cases are only made public if the magistrate decides there is enough probable cause to approve the criminal charges.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
Federal prosecutors are now laying out new state charges connected to a case involving an illegal brothel ring uncovered in Massachusetts.
But following media requests, Cambridge District Court Clerk-Magistrate Sharon Shelfer Casey allowed the proceedings to be open to the public, citing public interest in the case.
The arrests of three people in connection with the brothel organization alleged to have operated in Massachusetts and Virginia drew public attention, and acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy of Massachusetts previously said that the list of accused clients included politicians, professors, military officers and pharmaceutical executives. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
9acc032b3266293c80521026c852e3e7 | 0.999405 | How Astronomers Are Saving Astronomy From Satellites For Now | In December 2020, astronomers documented a burst of highly energetic light in one of the most distant galaxies ever observed. But less than a year later, the paper’s claims lay in limbo. Other scientists said it had merely been a passing satellite.
“I was a bit sad that the gamma ray burst turned out to be just an artificial satellite,” said Krzysztof Kamiński, an astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory Institute in Poland who said he matched the position, time and brightness of the discovery to an orbiting spacecraft.
Linhua Jiang, an astronomer at Peking University in Beijing who led the original finding, said his team stood by their work, adding that the probability of a satellite passing directly in front of the distant galaxy at exactly the right moment was minuscule at best.
The dispute likely will not be the last time that scientists argue over whether a passing satellite is being mistaken for an astronomical discovery. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
bb1238d22ec0a9091cb2d5e22029d888 | 0.821353 | Montana vs. SDSU: Free stream, start time, TV, how to watch FCS Championship Game | It’s the FCS National Championship Game as South Dakota State takes on Montana. Sunday’s game will air on TV via ABC. Fans can watch college football games for free by signing up for a trial of fuboTV
LIVE STREAM: Sign up here to watch the FCS championship game
SDSU come in not only as the reigning national champs, but are red-hot after a 59-0 blowout win over Albany in the semifinals. Star quarterback Mark Gronowski has led the way for the Jackrabbits, who are a perfect 14-0 this season. On the other side, Montana is coming off a dramatic win over FCS powerhouse North Dakota State in the semifinals, winning in double overtime. The Grizzlies now head into their first title game appearance since 2009 and will be looking for their first championship since 2001. But to do that, the 13-1 Grizzlies will have to snap the Jackrabbits’ 28-game winning streak.
How to watch SDSU vs. Montana | FCS National Championship Game
What time does the game start? What TV channel will it air on? - Sunday’s game will start at 2 p.m. EST from Frisco, Texas. The game will air on TV via ABC.
Live stream info: fuboTV | Sling | ESPN+ | DirecTV - Fans can stream Sunday’s game from any of these services, provided the game is on in their area. DirecTV Stream and fuboTV offer free trials for games broadcast in your area. The game will air stream on ESPN+.
Fans who have a cable subscription can also use login credentials from their TV provider to watch games online or streaming on apps. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
d9eb96de10d8ffe7cab47c79afe86b08 | 0.253652 | Mass. State Lottery winner: 2 $1 million, 3 $100,000 prizes claimed same day | Two $1 million and three $100,000 lottery prizes were won or claimed from tickets sold across Massachusetts the day after Christmas.
One of the $1 million prizes claimed on Dec. 26 was from the Massachusetts State Lottery’s $50 scratch ticket game called “Billion Dollar Extravaganza,” and was sold in the Western Massachusetts city of Greenfield from the Elks Lodge.
The other $1 million prize claimed Tuesday was sold in Oxford from a shop called Rte. 12 Variety, and was from the lottery’s scratch ticket game called “$1,000,000 Snow Much Money.”
Two of the $100,000 prizes claimed in the state the day after Christmas were both from the scratch ticket game called “300X.” One was sold in Uxbridge from a store called Brothers Liquor, and the other was sold in Franklin from Old Gold Convenience Store.
The third $100,000 ticket was from the “Mass Cash” drawing for Dec. 26. The winning numbers for the drawing were 5, 11, 13, 23 and 27, and the winning ticket was sold in Braintree from Liberty Wine & Spirit.
Overall, there were at least 924 lottery prizes worth $600 or more won or claimed in Massachusetts on Tuesday, including 23 in Springfield and 38 in Worcester.
The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of all the winning tickets each day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.
The two largest lottery prizes won in the state of Massachusetts so far in 2023 were $33 million and $31 million Mega Millions jackpot prizes. The tickets were each sold a week apart.
The $33 million ticket for the Tuesday, Jan. 24 drawing was purchased from a Stop & Shop in Belchertown. The winner came forward to claim the prize on March 1 through the Skylark Group Trust.
The $31 million Mega Millions jackpot ticket was won on Jan. 31. The winning ticket was bought in Woburn from a Gibbs gas station, and the winner claimed the prize on March 8 through S & L Trust. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
d581d3db136b31a911b73d2a007d3b87 | 0.999479 | Chloe Parsenios leads late comeback as Lenox girls basketball edges Greenfield in OT | LENOX – It may have taken a little longer to find an offensive rhythm than Lenox coach Nicole Patella wanted, but once her team found it, they never looked back.
Despite being up early, the Millionaires surrendered their lead to Greenfield and found themselves down by double digits throughout the second, third and fourth quarters.
Most of the fourth that is. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a77b10bc17ce884bcb3645fa7d046914 | 0.385945 | 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. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1b29e70bfd4d49bc2d0c0863158327e0 | 0.475911 | EBNHC Launches New Behavioral Health Urgent Care Service The Boston Sun | Special to the Sun
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC), the largest community-based primary care health system in Massachusetts, gathered with city, state and community leaders last week, to officially announce the opening of its new Behavioral Health Urgent Care Service (BHUCS). Part of the EBNHC’s integrated behavioral health program, the BHUCS provides same-day and urgent mental health services for children, adolescents, and adults, in East Boston and surrounding communities, transforming how community members — predominantly low-income immigrants — can access the high-quality behavioral health services they need and deserve.
“Timely access to high-quality behavioral health services is a common challenge across the Commonwealth, especially for vulnerable families. I’m proud to say that EBNHC’s Behavioral Health Urgent Care Service addresses this growing need head on,” said EBNHC President and CEO, Greg Wilmot. “Our industry must offer innovative ways to close long-standing gaps in care. This expansion of our behavioral health program is a monumental step in the right direction as we strive to achieve health equity for our patients and neighbors.”
The new service is innovative and different from other behavioral health urgent care options across the state as it is co-located with the state’s only community-based satellite emergency facility, operated by EBNHC. Additionally, the service is fully integrated within the health center and EBNHC’s larger behavioral health and recovery services program. This unparalleled care model allows patients in the community to be connected to a wide range of care services, seamlessly and immediately moving from the BHUCS to emergency medical care, primary care, additional behavioral health care, and other health and wellness programs available through the Center.
Addressing health equity gaps, like disparities in access to behavioral health care for Black and Latinx communities, has long been a focus for EBNHC which was recently recognized by the Department of Health and Human Service’s Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) as a 2023 National Quality Leader and one of the nation’s leading health centers in reducing health disparities.
To help put patients at ease, the new BHUCS suite features state-of-the-art behavioral health care design. A calming space, intentionally constructed to be safe and aesthetically pleasing for those struggling with a mental health or substance use disorder, the BHUCS provides access to immediate crisis evaluation, next-step planning, and support for all patients ages six and above. The BHUCS currently welcomes walk-ins five days a week and will move to seven-day a week access in early 2024.
“We are in the midst of a behavioral health crisis that requires new ideas, more resources, and a strong investment to meet this demand,” said EBNHC Executive Vice President and COO, Ryan Boxill, PhD, MBA. “Since our soft-opening last month, we’ve already seen great demand for this service that will be especially vital for low-income and non-English speaking patients. Our highly trained, diverse, multi-disciplinary behavioral health team members are eager to welcome many first-time patients and are equipped to offer care in their native language.”
Thanks to earmarked state funding advocated for by Massachusetts State Rep. Adrian Madaro, EBNHC has hired more than 20 diverse new staff, experienced in providing behavioral health care to adults, adolescents, and youth.
“Behavioral health care providers are still seeing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, for many children was a two-year hiatus from achieving key developmental, academic and social milestones,” said Michael Mancusi, MSW, LICSW, EBNHC Vice President and Chief Behavioral Health Officer. “This has had a deleterious effect on the mental health of our young people, and we realized a better model was needed to address community behavioral health — one with an immediately accessible entry point and a range of care to match our patients’ needs. That is why we created the BHUCS — to provide an urgent response to an urgent health care crisis.”
Patients can now access the following services at the BHUCS, Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (weekend hours will be available in 2024):
• Same-day clinical triage, crisis evaluation, next step planning and support
• On-site medical evaluation and necessary laboratory tests
• Psychopharmacology evaluation and medication prescription
• Crisis response and stabilization
• Care navigation and care coordination
• Enrollment in EBNHC primary care, based on availability
EBNHC has also expanded mind/body offerings for patients, such as reiki, trauma-informed yoga, community peace circles and other community interventions to meet interest in non-traditional, indigenous, and culturally relevant healing methods. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
663ddbbc72cdbf1e2ca1f9863abd8b9f | 0.500333 | Theres momentum at last for East-West Rail, but Postal Service still stands in the way | Just look at what’s happened lately. MassDOT is seeking $108 million from the feds for rail improvements between Springfield and Worcester. Governor Maura Healey set aside $8.5 million in her first proposed state budget for track upgrades in Pittsfield and $4 million for a station study and design in Palmer. A new commission reconvenes on Tuesday to hash out the best governing structure for passenger rail operations in Western Massachusetts. Amtrak and CSX are finally all aboard. And Senate President Karen Spilka was just out touring Palmer, where she pledged that it’s a matter of “when, not if” improved train service between Pittsfield and Boston gets done.
After years of being stuck on the siding, East-West Rail sure seems like it’s on the right track now.
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But there’s one big obstacle no one seems to be talking about: the US Postal Service’s sprawling mail-sorting complex along the Fort Point Channel. State officials can do all the track and station work they want out west. With the massive USPS facility blocking a South Station expansion in Boston, East-West Rail could be going nowhere.
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This isn’t just an issue for adding to Amtrak’s meager one-train-a-day, east-west service. The upcoming commuter rail expansions to Fall River and New Bedford can’t reach their full potential without more South Station capacity. Dreams of running frequent, subway-like service on the Fairmount line through Dorchester can’t really come true, either. South Station is jam-packed, at capacity. That’s why MassDOT has spent years nudging forward a South Station expansion, one with space for up to 10 tracks to augment the 13 there today. However, to pull it off, the USPS needs to move.
An Amtrak train pulls into South Station. Expanding the station could allow the rail line to add service in Boston, including a long-planned route across Massachusetts. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Representative Bill Straus, the longtime point person for transportation issues in the House, plans to raise the issue on Tuesday to the Western Massachusetts Passenger Rail Commission in Springfield. He wants to draw attention to the logjam while East-West Rail is in the spotlight.
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Trying to dislodge the USPS from Fort Point has been a saga that has lasted for years, if not decades. Several previous state transportation secretaries told Straus they were optimistic a deal would get done. But it never has. And while the USPS no longer needs to be near rail lines, Straus notes there’s only one place South Station can expand: the property next door.
About eight years ago, MassDOT seemed to be closing in on a deal that involved a land swap with the Massachusetts Port Authority. The USPS would have moved to Massport land in South Boston, off Pappas Way by the Reserved Channel, while Massport would have received some land that the USPS uses for parking near A Street, closer to downtown. Talks broke down as the value of the Postal Service’s land grew amid a development boom.
MassDOT hasn’t given up. Spokeswoman Jacque Goddard said “high level discussions” were held last fall with the USPS about a relocation, and “the lines of communication remain open.” In other words, the ball is with the people who run the Postal Service. No word yet from them.
Straus said he hopes Healey and her transportation secretary, Gina Fiandaca, will find a receptive audience with rail fans in the Biden administration, including possibly the president himself, and that the USPS can be convinced of the broader public good. (Trump-era appointee Louis DeJoy is still in charge, though.) The focus, Straus said, shouldn’t be on making a killing in the real estate market.
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When asked about her East-West Rail efforts, Healey said she wants a fully functioning transportation system for the entire state. Translation: It’s not just about Greater Boston, and the beleaguered MBTA.
To ensure that vision doesn’t get derailed, Healey is going to have to reckon with the South Station dilemma — and that means dealing with the post office.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
324613a69a555c4ce0e78c97e02208b0 | 0.214149 | Don't compare me to the almighty.' The origin of Biden's saying. | “Don’t compare me to the almighty,” White said in launching his bid for a fourth mayoral term. “Compare me to the alternative.”
His impromptu statement didn’t last long and wasn’t captured on audio or video. But a bit of it still echoes in American politics and voters could hear it often this year.
WASHINGTON — The TV camera crews had departed Boston City Hall after a news briefing on May 21, 1979, when Mayor Kevin H. White surprised a clutch of lingering reporters and his own aides with an announcement that wasn’t expected for weeks: He was running for reelection that fall.
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President Biden adopted the saying years ago and sometimes attributed it to the late White, a fellow Irish-Catholic politician whom he admired, while other times he cites his father, or no one at all. Ascertaining its true source is complicated, but determining its meaning is not. It neatly defines Biden’s political persona — at once religious, pragmatic, self-effacing, and pugnacious — and succinctly frames his challenge in overcoming low approval ratings to win a second term in a likely rematch against Donald Trump.
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“It is actually the antithesis of the Trumpian statement, ‘I alone can fix it,’ " said former Biden speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum. “Trump says, ‘I alone can fix it,’ and doesn’t. Joe Biden says, ‘Don’t compare me to the almighty’ and comes pretty damn close to getting everything done that people hoped for him to do.”
Biden’s frequent use of the almighty comparison has pushed it into the political lexicon, with other politicians picking it up and some citing him as the source. But as with many political sayings, its origin is unclear.
Boston Mayor Kevin White and his wife, Kathryn White, stand on stage during his victory party at the Copley Plaza in Boston on Nov. 6, 1979, after White won a fourth consecutive term for mayor. David L. Ryan
White himself in 1979 attributed the phrase to the Canadian prime minister at the time, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, according to the Globe’s story on his announcement. But there’s no record in the Canadian media of Trudeau saying it himself and it appears to have first been said about him.
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“We don’t have to compare him to the ideal,” Finance Minister John Turner said of Trudeau days before Canada’s 1972 elections, according to The Montreal Star. “We don’t have to compare him to the almighty. We just have to compare him to the alternative.”
Other members of Trudeau’s Liberal Party adopted the saying, and it was used in a party election strategy document reported in news stories in April 1979, just weeks before White quoted it in Boston. Trudeau used a bland variation in a 1978 press conference, “Considering the alternatives, I’m the best man,” according to his biographer, John English. But English said in an email that he wouldn’t be surprised if Trudeau adopted it and failed to cite Turner.
“The two of them came to dislike and distrust each other, and Trudeau would never give him credit for the origins of his comment,” said English, a retired history professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and former Liberal member of the Canadian Parliament. “He undoubtedly knew of it. In fact, Trudeau had a remarkable memory and drew upon it for quips that became identified with him.”
Trudeau was known for his eloquence, as was White, who was Boston mayor from 1968-84. The trait helped make White a finalist to be the running-mate of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972.
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White’s former press secretary, Boston public relations executive George Regan, who was his aide for 11 years, said he had never heard him use the almighty comparison before the 1979 reelection announcement. Neither had Micho Spring, his chief of staff from 1978-84.
“He thought it captured the essence of what an election is — a choice between two actual candidates — not between an incumbent and an ideal,” Spring, now a reputation strategy consultant, said in an email.
But Ira Jackson, who was White’s chief of staff from 1972-75, said he remembered White using it earlier than 1979.
“I think it’s very much the way he viewed himself,” Jackson, who now teaches a course on leadership and social change at Harvard. “Just the fact that he would say, ‘Don’t compare me to the almighty’ suggested that might be a reference point that people had in mind, himself included. But it was a wonderful way of Kevin positioning himself: a little bit of humility, a little bit of humor, a lot of Irish and very competitive.”
Those characteristics, particularly the Irish part, help explain the connection to Biden, who also leans into that heritage.
“He was a very big fan of Kevin White’s. They just really hit it off,” said Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden aide who was appointed as his Senate replacement when he became vice president. “He was always really respectful of mayors and how difficult that job is.”
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and President Reagan, in Ottawa during an international summit on July 18, 1981. GEORGES BENDRIHEM/AFP via Getty Images
As Biden told it during a 2011 forum in Washington, he was in Boston for a Democratic Party event during his first year in the Senate in 1973 and heard White use the slogan as reporters were hounding him.
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“And the gaggle of press got him as he came out of the mayor’s office and basically said, ‘Well, wise guy, hot shot ... how do you feel now?’ " Biden said. “And he looked at them. I’ll never forget what he said. He said, ‘Look, don’t compare me to the almighty. Compare me to the alternative.’ ”
Biden was at a Democratic event in Boston in 1973, according to the Globe archives. He was the luncheon speaker at a political seminar at the Sheraton Boston Hotel on Dec. 8, 1973, sponsored by the Democratic State Committee. But White, “who was invited and listed as a panelist, was conspicuous by his absence,” the article said.
A search of the Congressional Record, news archives, and White House transcripts indicates Biden first began using the almighty comparison in public while campaigning for Democrats ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.
“You know, there used to be a mayor of Boston ... this is way back in ‘72. His name was Kevin White. He said, ‘Don’t compare me to the almighty; compare me to the alternative,” Biden told the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in St. Louis on Aug. 20, 2010, drawing laughter and cheers before repeating the saying for emphasis, according to a transcript.
But Biden, typically careful to attribute other people’s words after a 1987 plagiarism scandal derailed his first White House bid, has shifted the attribution from White to his father over the years.
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“My dad used to have an expression. He’d say, “Joey, don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative.” Biden told a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser in Boston on Sept. 12, 2022. And sometimes Biden doesn’t attribute the saying at all.
Kaufman said Biden used it well before he became vice president in 2009, the point when almost all his public comments were chronicled by the White House and news media.
“He doesn’t always attribute it to his father, but that’s how I remember it, especially when he first got started,” Kaufman said. “His father was good at this kind of stuff, so it wouldn’t surprise me that his father told him that.”
A Biden campaign spokesman declined to comment on the origins of the saying. Kaufman said Biden primarily uses it when campaigning.
Biden and White have similarities that would lead both to embrace the almighty comparison, said Nussbaum, who researched a speech White almost gave, defying Boston’s court-ordered school busing, for his 2022 book, “Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History.”
“Look at [White’s] old speeches, they were this wonderful combination of progressivism, civic hope, good governance, and idealism, combined with a real political savvy. And, of course, the Irishiness of it all,” said Nussbaum, who was Biden’s speechwriter from February 2021 to May 2022 and now is a partner at the Washington public affairs firm Bully Pulpit International. “I think a lot of that is in Biden’s DNA. And White was a peer of a lot of the people who Biden admired and modeled himself after.”
Former Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh said the saying is a perfect fit for Biden.
“It’s coming from his heart, it’s coming from his gut,” said Walsh, who is close to Biden and served as his labor secretary before stepping down in March. “He wouldn’t be running for president if the alternative was stronger, and he’s concerned about the alternative.”
For Jackson, White’s former chief of staff, the almighty comparison indicates Biden is willing to take the fight directly to Trump. And it’s an ideal way to sum up the choice facing Americans next fall, as it was for Bostonians in 1979.
“It’s so useful. It’s so memorable. It’s so penetrating. It’s so simple,” Jackson said. “It’s wonderful that Biden occasionally attributes it to Kevin White. That’s a sign of his humility and that sort of fraternity of Irish pols who respect one another. But it’s not necessary. And I don’t think Kevin White thought it was necessary to always refer to Pierre Elliott Trudeau. And who knows where Trudeau got it, if he got.”
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
88131e16f8d5bd51b3c8cdfbe70cf02e | 0.665625 | Mass. State Lottery winner: Stop & Shop sells $100,000 prize | Someone who stopped by the grocery store and picked up a Massachusetts State Lottery ticket claimed a $100,000 prize on Thursday, the same day a $1 million lottery prize was claimed.
The winning $100,000 ticket was from the “300X” scratch ticket game, which still has 69 prizes valued at $100,000 remaining as of Dec. 22. The winning ticket was sold at a Stop & Shop in Brookline by Coolidge Corner.
The $1 million prize claimed on Thursday was from the lottery’s crossword-style scratch ticket game called “$2,000,000 50X Cashword,” and was sold at a convenience shop called Girlies Variety Store in Taunton.
Overall, there were at least 511 lottery prizes worth $600 or more won or claimed in Massachusetts on Thursday, including 17 in Springfield and 20 in Worcester.
The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of all the winning tickets each day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.
The two largest lottery prizes won in the state of Massachusetts so far in 2023 were $33 million and $31 million Mega Millions jackpot prizes. The tickets were each sold a week apart.
The $33 million ticket for the Tuesday, Jan. 24 drawing was purchased from a Stop & Shop in Belchertown. The winner came forward to claim the prize on March 1 through the Skylark Group Trust.
The $31 million Mega Millions jackpot ticket was won on Jan. 31. The winning ticket was bought in Woburn from a Gibbs gas station, and the winner claimed the prize on March 8 through S & L Trust. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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