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DeSantis Lobs Most Forceful Attacks Yet Against Trump, Days Before Iowa Caucuses

This has been updated to reflect news developments. Of all that’s been said and written about the war between Israel and Hamas, nothing has cut through the mental fog quite so brightly as a remark this month from Hillary Clinton on “The View.” “Remember,” the former secretary of state said, “there was a cease-fire on Oct. 6 that Hamas broke by their barbaric assault on peaceful civilians and their kidnapping, their killing, their beheading, their terrible, inhumane savagery.” Those three words — “that Hamas broke” — aren’t trivial. They give the lie to the “Cease-Fire Now” mirage, or imposture, that has become a rallying cry at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They are at the heart of what the war is about, and the key to how it can end. And they are the bright dividing line between those who would allow Hamas to get away with murder, and those who would refuse. Why should it matter that it was Hamas that broke the cease-fire when Palestinian civilians are being killed in large numbers by Israeli bombs and bullets? Those saying that it shouldn’t matter argue that questions of culpability become secondary, if not irrelevant, when kids’ lives are at stake. If Israel has the power to save those kids by halting its campaign, goes the argument, then it has a moral obligation to do so. But wait: Doesn’t Hamas also have the power? Hamas has a long record of firing those rockets from the vicinity of schools. It has sought to prevent ordinary Gazans from obeying evacuation orders, deliberately putting them at increased risk. It hides in a vast network of tunnels while civilians must fend for themselves above ground. The Israeli government and Hamas agreed on Wednesday morning to a four-day cease-fire in which Hamas would free 50 of the hostages. But Hamas did that only because it’s under intense military pressure. It could get a real and lasting cease-fire for the people of Gaza — and probably safe passage out of the territory for many of its members — in exchange for releasing all the hostages, surrendering its arms and renouncing its rule in favor of some other Arab power. That Hamas has done none of these things isn’t shocking: It’s a terrorist death cult. What’s shocking is that people in the Cease-Fire Now crowd don’t appear to have much interest in making any demands of Hamas equivalent to those they make of Israel. They want Israel to stop firing. But do you often hear them insisting that Hamas return the favor? They want Israel to provide Gaza with humanitarian relief in the form of electricity, fuel and other goods. But I haven’t seen those protesters in the street demanding that Hamas provide Israel with humanitarian relief in the form of immediately freeing all hostages. They claim to want a “free Palestine” for all its people. But I never hear them criticize Hamas’s dictatorship, or its contempt for the civil and human rights of its own people, or its members’ avowedly antisemitic boasts of slaughtering Jews. There is a buried, unwitting compliment to Israel in this asymmetry — an assumption that, as a Western democracy, the Jewish state is susceptible to moral suasion, public shaming, or at least diplomatic pressure in a way Hamas and its patrons in Iran aren’t. Yet that compliment is rarely accompanied with even a gesture of respect for Israel’s grief, or the legitimacy of its grievance with Hamas, or its need to keep its citizens safe, or even its right to exist as a sovereign state. Even when Israel’s notional right to self-defense is briefly acknowledged, every exercise of it is immediately deemed a war crime, whatever the evidence. For Israelis, what “Cease-Fire Now” means is “Surrender Now.” No wonder they decline to heed the call. What about for Palestinians — women, children and noncombatant men for whom the calls for a cease-fire are supposedly intended? Would they benefit? In the short term, of course: Palestinian lives would be saved if Israel held its fire. But a cease-fire wouldn’t spare just civilians. It would spare, and embolden, the main fighting force of Hamas. It would also embolden terrorist allies like Hezbollah. That’s a virtual guarantee for future mass-casualty attacks against Israel, for ever-larger Israeli retaliation, and for deeper misery for the people of Gaza. No Israeli government of any political stripe is going to allow the territory to rebuild so long as Hamas remains in charge. That gives a second meaning to “Cease-Fire Now”: Either a demand for Israel’s total capitulation, or a recipe for a perpetual cycle of violence between a terrorist group sworn to Israel’s destruction and a Jewish state that refuses to be destroyed. Whatever else one thinks of Israel, no country can be expected to sign its own death warrant by indulging those who, if given the chance, would annihilate it. There are good intentions, if also ignorance and shortsightedness, among many of those demanding a cease-fire. But there is also the bottomless cynicism of others who accept, and even celebrate, Hamas as it uses living Gazans as human shields and dead Gazans as propaganda victories. The tragedy of these protests, like so many “antiwar” movements in the past, is that the naïve and earnest are again being manipulated as tools of the cunning and cruel. Instead of Cease-Fire Now, we need Hamas’s Defeat Now. Only on that basis does a lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike have any chance to follow.

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As Black Voters Drift to Trump, Bidens Allies Say They Have Work to Do

Black voters are more disconnected from the Democratic Party than they have been in decades, frustrated with what many see as inaction on their political priorities and unhappy with President Biden, a candidate they helped lift to the White House just three years ago. New polls by The New York Times and Siena College found that 22 percent of Black voters in six of the most important battleground states said they would support former President Donald J. Trump in next year’s election, and 71 percent would back Mr. Biden. The drift in support is striking, given that Mr. Trump won just 8 percent of Black voters nationally in 2020 and 6 percent in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. A Republican presidential candidate has not won more than 12 percent of the Black vote in nearly half a century. Mr. Biden has a year to shore up his standing, but if numbers like these held up across the country in November 2024, they would amount to a historic shift: No Democratic presidential candidate since the civil rights era has earned less than 80 percent of the Black vote.

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Writers made good points about danger of Trump, positives of Westfield (Letter)

Robert M. Solow, who won a Nobel in economic science in 1987 for his theory that advances in technology, rather than increases in capital and labor, have been the primary drivers of economic growth in the United States, died on Thursday at his home in Lexington, Mass. He was 99. His son John confirmed the death. Professor Solow (pronounced solo) taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he and a fellow Nobel laureate, Paul A. Samuelson, forged the M.I.T. style of economic analysis, which emerged as a leading approach in the second half of the 20th century and played an important role in economic policymaking. His work demonstrated the power of bringing mathematics to bear on important economic debates and simplifying the analysis by focusing on a small number of variables at a time. Beyond the impact of his own research, Professor Solow helped launch the careers of a stunning number of future superstar economists, including four Nobel laureates: Peter Diamond, Joseph E. Stiglitz, William D. Nordhaus and George A. Akerlof. “My pride and joy,” Professor Solow said.

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The Best, Worst and Weirdest Political Stories of 2023 - The New York Times

It has been such a special political year, brimming with extraordinary, even historic moments. From an ex-president indicted to a Senate staffer busted for making porn at work, each fresh development made you proud to be an American. Singling out the exceptional events and players was tougher than ever. I mean, when Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t even merit a mention …. But making hard calls is part of my job, and the true standouts deserve a shout-out. Most Likely to Be Picked Last in Gym Class: Matt Gaetz Many Americans fantasize about taking up their pitchforks and storming the boss’s office. But in the history of Congress, only this Florida Man has succeeded — metaphorically, of course — leading a coup against his own party’s speaker. The ouster of Kevin McCarthy, followed by the chaotic scramble for his replacement, became a slow-rolling, breathtaking fiasco that ground the House to a halt and made the entire Republican conference look like a pack of petty, pouty, incompetent preschoolers. Way to build the brand, guys! Most Fabulous Fabulist: George Santos Many politicians lie, but this recently ousted congressman from New York approached the task with a baroque panache of which few could even conceive. Falsely asserting that the Sept. 11 attacks “claimed” his mother’s life? That he was a college volleyball star? That he was a producer of the Broadway atrocity “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”? So macabre. So pointless. So bizarre. Cannot wait to see his next act.

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House Republicans Target Biden by Focusing on His Sons News Conference

Twelve hostages who had been held captive by Hamas since its Oct. 7 attack on Israel were released today, as the cease-fire entered a fifth day and appeared to be holding. Not long afterward, the Israeli authorities said they had released another 30 imprisoned Palestinians. The release of the hostages came just hours after the two sides accused each other of violating their truce for the first time since it went into effect last Friday. Israel said that explosive devices were detonated near its troops in two places in northern Gaza. Hamas said its fighters had engaged in a “field clash” provoked by Israel. But neither side suggested that it might pull out of the agreement. Here’s the latest. Officials have raised their expectations that both sides will agree to more short extensions. The truce has succeeded in freeing dozens of hostages — a central Israeli objective — while also allowing aid into Gaza and giving Palestinians a break from the hostilities. But the longer that dynamic lasts, the greater Israel’s conundrum: Each daily prisoner release boosts Hamas’s popularity, and a long pause slows the momentum of Israel’s invasion, endangering its stated goal of removing Hamas from power. In the U.S., administration officials say they have warned Israel to fight more surgically. Also, President Biden has faced anger among supporters and even from some staff members over his solidarity with Israel.

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Donald Trumps 2024 Campaign, in His Own Menacing Words

To house the evacuees of Grindavik, the Icelandic town where lava poured into some houses last week after a volcanic eruption, a former prime minister proposed building a new town from scratch. A politician said Airbnbs around the island nation should be restricted to make room for the residents. And a radio host suggested turning away asylum seekers to focus resources on helping “refugees” from Grindavik. “To evacuate 1 percent of the nation,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said, “is a major challenge.” Grindavik, a fishing town in southwestern Iceland, is still under the threat of volcanic eruptions, and experts consider it uninhabitable in the near future. About 3,700 people lived there before the eruption, a significant number of residents for Iceland, whose total population is only 400,000. The authorities are scrambling to house the residents and contain their financial losses, and the issue is dominating the national debate. Residents of the town are living in hotel rooms, in summer cottages, in temporary rental apartments or are being hosted by family members.

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Tackling Climate Change in the Birthplace of Oil

For the second year in a row, the United Nations climate summit known as COP will take place in a petrostate. COP29 will be in Baku, Azerbaijan, and overseen by Mukhtar Babayev, who worked for more than two decades at Socar, Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company. There’s a precedent: Last year’s climate summit was controversially hosted by the United Arab Emirates and led by Sultan Al Jaber, who also runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Many activists fiercely opposed Al Jaber’s involvement, but COP28 was ultimately seen by many as a success. His ability to corral fossil-fuel-producing countries like his own helped yield an agreement that saw countries pledge to “transition away” from fossil fuels. It remains to be seen whether Babayev, a former low-ranking executive who is now Azerbaijan’s environment minister, will have the same impact. But there is also a poignant historical resonance to COP29: By some measures, Azerbaijan is where the modern oil industry began.

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Opinion | The Anti-Democratic Quest to Save Democracy From Trump

Let’s consider a counterfactual. In the autumn of 2016, with American liberalism reeling from the election of Donald Trump, a shattered Hillary Clinton embraces the effort to pin all the blame on Vladimir Putin. She barnstorms the country arguing that the election was fundamentally illegitimate because of foreign interference. She endorses every attempt to prove that Russian disinformation warped the result. She touts conspiracy theories that supposedly prove that voting machines in Wisconsin were successfully hacked. She argues that her opponent should not be allowed to take office, that he’s a possible Manchurian candidate, a Russian cat’s paw. And she urges Democrats in Congress and Vice President Joe Biden to refuse to certify the election — suggesting that it could somehow be rerun or even that patriotic legislators could use their constitutional authority to make her, the popular-vote winner, president instead. Her crusade summons up a mass movement — youthful, multiracial and left wing. On Jan. 6, 2017, a crowd descends on the National Mall to demand that “Trump the traitor” be denied the White House. Clinton stirs them up with an angry speech, and protesters attack and overwhelm the Capitol Police and surge into the Capitol, where one is shot by a police officer and the rest mill around for a while and finally disperse. The election is still certified, and Trump becomes president two weeks later. But he is ineffective and unpopular, and it looks as though Clinton, who is still denying his legitimacy, will be the Democratic nominee again. At which point right-wing legal advocacy groups announce an effort to have her removed from primary ballots, following the guidance of originalist scholars who argue that under the 14th Amendment, she has betrayed her senatorial oath by fomenting insurrection and is ineligible to hold political office.

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Biden Condemns Trump as Dire Threat to Democracy in a Blistering Speech

The Republican-led House on Thursday formally rebuked Representative Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, for setting off a false fire alarm in a House office building in September, the latest in a series of partisan reprisals using a once-rare form of congressional punishment. The censure resolution, which was introduced by Representative Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, passed 214 to 191, largely along party lines, with five members voting “present.” After the vote, Mr. Bowman stood in the well of the House floor to be officially reprimanded. Democrats lined up in support behind him, with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts each placing a hand on his shoulders. Mr. Bowman was caught on video setting off a false fire alarm on Sept. 30 as Democrats were stalling for time to review a Republican-written stopgap spending bill unveiled just moments before a vote. The false alarm prompted an evacuation of the building and contributed to the mayhem that day as Congress rushed to stave off a government shutdown set to begin that night.

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Fractious Immigration Vote Exposes Cracks in Macrons Alliance

Inflammatory warnings from politicians. Knife-edge votes in Parliament. A looming election against a backdrop of national crisis. Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has been caught up in a clamorous debate over deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, which has at times sounded like a not-so-distant echo of Brexit. Yet for all the fury it has generated, the Rwanda plan is little more than a sideshow in the surprising story of immigration in post-Brexit Britain. While refugees who make hazardous crossings of the English Channel in rickety boats pose a humanitarian challenge, they constitute a fraction — less than 5 percent — of the number of people who immigrate to the country legally every year. Far from closing its borders, Britain has thrown them open since voting in 2016 to leave the European Union. And as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided, legal immigration has exploded. Net legal migration — the number of people who arrived, minus those who left — reached nearly 750,000 people in 2022. That is more than double the number in the year before the Brexit referendum. Immigration is replenishing Britain’s labor force and deepening the diversity of its cities — a deliberate, if largely unspoken, strategy that is perhaps Brexit’s most tangible early legacy. But it has come as a shock to people who voted to leave to make the country’s borders less porous. And that has made it a volatile political issue for the Conservative Party, which played on fears of a foreign influx to propel the Brexit campaign, only to find itself presiding over a new era of mass legal migration.

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Shop Southwick Dine Southwick will offer chance at prizes for local shoppers

America’s Democratic governors brag about booming local economies, preside over ribbon-cuttings of projects paid for with new federal legislation and have successfully framed themselves as defenders of abortion rights and democracy. Almost all of them are far more popular in their home states than the Democratic president they hope to re-elect next year. While President Biden is mired in the political doldrums of low approval ratings and a national economy that voters are sour on, Democratic governors are riding high, having won re-election in red-state Kentucky last month and holding office in five of the seven most important presidential battleground states. The governors, like nearly all prominent Democrats, are publicly projecting confidence: In interviews and conversations with eight governors at their annual winter gathering at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix over the weekend, they expressed on-the-record optimism that Mr. Biden would win re-election.

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Westfield boys basketball rally to beat Belchertown in overtime, 58-55

National News How the Supreme Court may rule on Trump’s presidential run The legal issues are novel and tangled, experts said, and the justices may be wary of knocking a leading presidential candidate off the ballot. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, battered by ethics scandals, a dip in public confidence and questions about its legitimacy, may soon have to confront a case as consequential and bruising as Bush v. Gore, the 2000 decision that handed the presidency to George W. Bush. Until 10 days ago, the justices had settled into a relatively routine term. Then the Colorado Supreme Court declared that former President Donald J. Trump was ineligible to hold office because he had engaged in an insurrection. On Thursday, relying on that court’s reasoning, an election official in Maine followed suit. An appeal of the Colorado ruling has reached the justices, and they will probably feel compelled to weigh in. But they will act in the shadow of two competing political realities. Advertisement: They will be reluctant to wrest from voters the power to assess Trump’s conduct, particularly given the certain backlash that would bring. Yet they will also be wary of giving Trump the electoral boost of an unqualified victory in the nation’s highest court. Chief Justice John Roberts will doubtless seek consensus or, at least, try to avoid a partisan split of the six Republican appointees against the three Democratic ones. He may want to explore the many paths the court could take to keep Trump on state ballots without addressing whether he had engaged in insurrection or even assuming that he had. Among them: The justices could rule that congressional action is needed before courts can intervene, that the constitutional provision at issue does not apply to the presidency or that Trump’s statements were protected by the First Amendment. “I expect the court to take advantage of one of the many available routes to avoid holding that Trump is an insurrectionist who, therefore, can’t be president again,” said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a law professor at Harvard University. Such an outcome would certainly be a stinging loss for Trump’s opponents, who say the case against him is airtight. But the Supreme Court would be attracted to what it would present as a modest ruling that allows Trump to remain on the ballot. Advertisement: “This is a fraught political issue,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. “I think there will be an effort for the court to coalesce around a consensus position for a narrow, unanimous opinion. That probably means coalescing around a position where Trump stays on the ballot.” If there is a consensus among legal experts, it is that the Supreme Court must act. “For the sake of the country, we need resolution of this issue as soon as possible,” said Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Republican primary voters deserve to know if the candidate they are considering supporting is eligible to run. Otherwise they waste their votes on an ineligible candidate and raise the risk of the party nominating an ineligible candidate in the general election.” Trump was disqualified in Colorado and Maine based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars officials who have taken an oath to support the Constitution from holding office if they then engage in an insurrection. Stephanopoulos said those determinations were legally sound. But he added that he was “highly skeptical” that the Supreme Court, which has a six-justice conservative supermajority, would agree. Advertisement: “I think Roberts very much doesn’t want the court disrupting a presidential election, especially based on a novel legal theory that doesn’t have years of support from conservative judges and academics,” Stephanopoulos said. “I also doubt that the court’s conservative justices want to start a civil war within the Republican Party by disqualifying the candidate whom most Republican voters support.” Tara Leigh Grove, a law professor at the University of Texas, said the court has no options that will enhance its prestige. “Although many members of the public would, of course, embrace a decision affirming the Colorado Supreme Court,” she said, “others would recoil at the decision. I don’t think there is any way for the Supreme Court to issue a decision on this issue that will clearly enhance its legitimacy with the public as a whole.” She proposed a general rule of thumb: “Whenever the Supreme Court considers a truly extraordinary constitutional case, it must confront at least two issues: first, what is the better answer to the legal question; and second, how confident are the justices in that answer.” “When it comes to cases that will have a massive impact on society,” she said, “one might assume that the confidence level has to be particularly high.” In her ruling Thursday, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows of Maine wrote that the facts about Trump’s conduct were “not in serious dispute.” “The record establishes that Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on Jan. 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power,” she wrote, adding: “The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multimonth effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match.” Advertisement: Like the Colorado Supreme Court, Bellows put her ruling on hold while appeals move forward. That means the U.S. Supreme Court has some breathing room. The Colorado case is already before the justices in the form of a petition seeking review filed by the state’s Republican Party, which urged the court to resolve the case by March 5, when many states, including Colorado and Maine, hold primaries. Otherwise, they said, voters “will face profound uncertainty and the electoral process will be irrevocably damaged.” The six voters who prevailed in the Colorado case asked the justices to move even faster, culminating in a decision on the merits by Feb. 11. Hasen said the ruling from Maine added to the need for prompt resolution. “The fact that a second state, at least for now, has ruled Trump ineligible for the ballot puts major pressure on the Supreme Court to intervene in the case and to say something about how to apply Section 3 to Trump,” he said. “The plaintiffs bringing these lawsuits are relentless, and they will keep trying to get Trump removed.” Agreeing to hear the case is one thing. Resolving it is another. As the Colorado Supreme Court recognized, there are at least eight discrete issues in the case, and the voters challenging Trump’s eligibility must prevail on all of them. “For Trump to win, he only needs to win on one issue,” Muller said. “There are many options at the court’s disposal.” On the other hand, leading conservative law professors who have examined the original meaning of Section 3, which was adopted after the Civil War, have recently concluded that it plainly applies to Trump and bars him from another term. Such originalist arguments generally resonate with the court’s most conservative members. Advertisement: But other considerations may prevail. “As much as the court may want to evade politics in its decisions, it’s unavoidable,” Muller said. “The best it can do right now is try to achieve consensus to avoid the appearance of partisanship.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First

Yoshinobu Yamamoto won’t be playing for the Red Sox in 2024, but he’s still looking forward to playing Boston — and is hopeful to pitch to one specific player: Masataka Yoshida. The Dodgers formally introduced the pitcher at his introductory press conference Wednesday after signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with Los Angeles. Afterwards, the pitcher spoke to MLB Network’s “MLB Tonight” crew, and was asked if there is someone he’s looking forward to facing in 2024. “If (there’s) anyone (I’m) looking forward to playing against, it’s Masataka Yoshida of the Red Sox,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “He was an old teammate in Japan. To be able to face him in a real game over here would mean a lot.” Both Yoshida and Yamamoto were part of Team Japan that won it all in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The Red Sox outfielder made his MLB debut last year with Boston after signing a five-year deal with the club. He slashed .289/.338/.445 with 15 home runs and 72 RBI in 140 games. Yoshida also finished sixth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. BET ANYTHING GET $250 BONUS ESPN BET CLAIM OFFER MASS 21+ and present in MA, NJ, PA, VA, MD, WV, TN, LA, KS, KY, CO, AZ, IL, IA, IN, OH, MI. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. The Red Sox make their way to Dodger Stadium for a three-game set beginning July 19. There’s a chance Yamamoto will pitch in one of those three games and get a chance to pitch against his former teammate. But even if the 25-year-old doesn’t see the mound, he’ll probably try to seek out Yoshida at some point during the series.

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3 ways Trump signaled to white Evangelicals for the Iowa Caucus win

Sign up for Reckon’s latest weekly newsletter covering the three topics never to be discussed at the dinner table. Enter your email to subscribe to Matter of Faith. Former Pres. Donald Trump took a massive victory at Monday’s Iowa Caucus, securing his place as the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s presidential candidate for 2024. Coverage of Monday night’s meetings and elections featured poll data about white Evangelicals, a key part of the GOP’s voter base. Reporters talked to Iowa voters who braved the cold and gathered data to create “entrance polls” – that is a poll based on responses from people who come out to vote. CNN entrance poll data found 55% of caucus-goers identified as a “born-again or evangelical Christian.” The polls also found 65% of caucus-goers said they’d consider him fit for office even if he were convicted of a crime. He faces charges in four cases but denies all wrongdoing. Nearly the same percentage (66%) said they believe the election was stolen with 80% of Trump supporters saying the same. It all matters because Trump is gaining massive ground among evangelical voters, who made up 55% of Trump voters in Iowa. Since the 2016 Iowa Caucus, where 21% of evangelicals supported Trump, the former president has more than doubled his evangelical support. With the vast majority of his supporters (69% according to CNN data) believing Trump actually won the 2020 election, what was once a “fringe” view is spreading and has clearly spread among Republicans who caucused Monday. Reckon looked at the results, data and reporting surrounding the nation’s first major event of the 2024 electoral calendar to see what Trump signaled to white Evangelicals to obtain his victory and how those tactics could help him take the election. 1. “God made Trump” There are more than enough bizarre clips of Trump that are popular with evangelicals, but one recent campaign ad signaled to them directly. The campaign featured the controversial AI-driven ad, shared widely online and at rallies, invoking religious language and mimicking the voice of conservative radio icon Paul Harvey, appealing directly to Evangelicals who believe Trump is divinely appointed. The ad first appeared on Trump’s Truth Social account, but has since spread across the internet and the campaign stage. Trump reportedly played the video before he took the stage at several rallies in Iowa over the weekend ahead of the caucus. “God said, ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office, and stay past midnight at a meeting of the state, so God made Trump,” the narrator says. The video appears to use artificial intelligence to mimic the voice and style of of Paul Harvey, a conservative radio broadcaster who died in 2009. While poll data clearly shows Trump is leading with the evangelical crowd, some Christians pastors took offense to the video, calling it “concerning.” “The original sin of Satan or Lucifer is not that he wanted to take over God’s position but that he wanted to be like God. There is only one god, and it’s not Trump or any other man,” Pastor Joseph Brown of the Marion Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, Iowa, told The New York Times last week. Brown said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020 but says he will not this year. Despite Brown’s opinion, many evangelical voters do believe that Trump was ordained by God. Since 2016, internet memes and faith leaders alike have claimed Trump was divinely appointed. That idea has filtered into voters’ ideals, as observed in Iowa in the past month. “I believe Trump is appointed by God—appointed-slash-anointed, however you want to say it,” Joannie Firkins, 63, of Iowa told the Boston Globe at a Trump rally in Coralville, Iowa in December. “He’s the only one that’s speaking the truth.” 2. Strategic messaging on faith Trump strategically emphasized his alignment with white Evangelicals, using campaign messaging and events to present himself as the defender of conservative Christian principles. Trump had planned to hold a campaign event at First Church of God in Des Moines last week featuring Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, and her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former presidential candidate, before weather forced the event to be canceled, the Associated Press reported. The event was billed as part of the former president’s “Team Trump Iowa Faith Tour,” where he met with faith leaders and other prominent conservatives supporting his campaign. The tour also included events with former presidential candidate Ben Carson, who visited Grace Family Church in Davenport and Grace Baptist Church in Marion. Trump has also collected significant support from faith leaders in Iowa aside from those who hosted campaign events ahead of the caucus. Trump has an easier time reaching evangelicals now than in the past two election cycles, in part because of more evangelical influencers, Tim Alberta, author of “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” told Axios. “Trump benefits today from a decentralized cast of less-established, more-online influencers,” Alberta said. “He once needed the name-brand Christian conservatives to vouch for him.” Iowa voters who participated in entrance polls were asked to choose from a series of “reasons” why they were caucusing for their candidate. Reasons included that they felt that the candidate “shares my values,” “has right temperament,” “fights for people like me,” and “can defeat Biden.” Trump supporters overwhelmingly–82%–selected “fights for people like me” as their reason why they picked their candidate. 3. Focusing on one key issue: Immigration White Evangelicals are more opposed to immigration reform and hold more negative views toward immigrants than any other demographic group, according to 2015 data from the Public Religion Research Institute. For Trump supporters who turned out Monday night, 65% said immigration was the most important issue for them. No other candidate’s supporters came near this figure for Trump. The data tells other interesting stories about GOP issues with abortion being the biggest issue for DeSantis supporters and foreign policy taking top concern for Haley supporters. Abortion, another issue important to Evangelicals, was also measured in the entrance poll data. CNN’s enrance poll found 55% of Trump voters said they would support a total abortion ban, compared to 25% of DeSantis voters and 10% of Haley voters who said they would do the same. What’s next? The next important GOP primary event will be held in New Hampshire next week. The election will be Jan 23. There, New Hampshire Republicans will vote for their pick for the GOP Presidential candidate–among three remain: Trump, DeSantis and Haley. Unlike in Iowa, which uses a “caucus” system, voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots much as they would during any other vote. Trump’s massive win in Iowa is a strong showing, but Haley’s campaign says they expect to have a bigger showing in New Hampshire. Haley announced she would not participate in two scheduled debates ahead of the New Hampshire primary unless Trump joined her on stage — suggesting she plans to ignore Ron DeSantis, who took second place in Iowa. The debate was canceled Wednesday following her announcement. The Republican Party will nominate its candidate for the 2024 presidential election against incumbent Pres. Joe Biden at the Republican National Convention in July.

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A Missile, a Rocket or a Satellite? Chinese Flyover Sows Confusion in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s defense ministry issued an urgent alert Tuesday about a Chinese satellite launched on a rocket flying over the island, an alarming message that interrupted the final days of campaigning before a major election and spurred accusations of a political ploy. The alert was sent to mobile phones across the island of 23 million people, where presidential and legislative assembly elections will be held Saturday. In English, the initial alert cautioned there was a missile flyover — an error quickly corrected by Taiwanese officials. “It was a satellite, not a missile,” President Tsai Ing-wen said during a campaign stop in the southern city of Kaohsiung. “Don’t worry.” Taiwan’s defense ministry issued a statement about an hour later, apologizing for the mistake. But by then, the warning had created an awkward scene for the governing Democratic Progressive Party or D.P.P.

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Opinion | The Best Sentences of 2023

Over recent days, I took on a daunting task — but a delightful one. I reviewed all the passages of prose featured in the For the Love of Sentences section of my Times Opinion newsletter in 2023 and tried to determine the best of the best. And there’s no doing that, at least not objectively, not when the harvest is so bountiful. What follows is a sample of the sentences that, upon fresh examination, made me smile the widest or nod the hardest or wish the most ardently and enviously that I’d written them. I hope they give you as much pleasure as they gave me when I reread them. I also hope that those of you who routinely contribute to For the Love of Sentences, bringing gems like the ones below to my attention, know how grateful to you I am. This is a crowdsourced enterprise. You are the wise and deeply appreciated crowd. Finally, I hope 2024 brings all of us many great things, including many great sentences. Let’s start with The Times. Dwight Garner noted how a certain conservative cable network presses on with its distortions, despite being called out on them and successfully sued: “Fox News, at this point, resembles a car whose windshield is thickly encrusted with traffic citations. Yet this car (surely a Hummer) manages to barrel out anew each day, plowing over six more mailboxes, five more crossing guards, four elderly scientists, three communal enterprises, two trans kids and a solar panel.”

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Iranian Navy Says It Seized an Oil Tanker Off the Coast of Oman

Iran’s Navy said it had seized a vessel loaded with crude oil off the coast of Oman on Thursday after an armed group wearing military-style uniforms and black masks boarded the ship. The vessel, previously named the Suez Rajan, was involved last year in the U.S. government seizure of Iranian oil that was being transported in violation of American sanctions. The ship eventually unloaded the oil and continued to sail, but under a new name, St. Nikolas. “This vessel stole Iran’s oil under the order of the U.S. and transported it to American shores,” the Iranian Navy said in a statement, which was carried on state media. Iran claimed the ship was an American tanker, but the Greek company that manages the St. Nikolas said the vessel was no longer American-owned. A spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Central Command said the United States military was monitoring the situation but had no further immediate comment. The incident came at a moment of heightened tensions in Middle Eastern waters after weeks of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, located on the other side of side of the Arabian Peninsula. The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has pledged to prevent any vessels from reaching Israel until it ceases its bombardment of Gaza.

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Why did Claudine Gay resign? The Harvard president tenure ends

But she said that “after consultation with members” of Harvard’s top governing board, it became clear to her that “it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.” She will return to teaching and scholarship as a tenured faculty member. A daughter of Haitian immigrants who rose through the sharp-elbowed politics of higher education to reach the pinnacle of academia, Gay described her decision to resign as “difficult beyond words” in a message sent to the Harvard University community. CAMBRIDGE — Claudine Gay’s tenure as the first Black president of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious university came to a bitter end Tuesday after her brief term was derailed by controversies stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, campus antisemitism, and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly works. Harvard provost Dr. Alan Garber will serve as interim president, the board said Tuesday. Advertisement Gay’s resignation is an embarrassment for the elite university and its powerful oversight board, known as the Harvard Corporation, which selected Gay and helped orchestrate her ascension from within Harvard’s ranks. Gay’s six-month tenure as president is the shortest in Harvard’s history. Since Oct. 7, Gay pinballed from one controversy to another, never managing to fully resolve the last before the next arose. It began with withering criticism that her initial statement about the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel was late and weak, and then escalated with allegations that she was too slow to respond to reports of resurgent campus antisemitism. Public pressure for her ouster intensified after she gave legalistic answers during a Dec. 5 congressional hearing to questions about whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s rules. Finally, allegations emerged in December that she had committed plagiarism in some of her scholarly works. Harvard has publicly acknowledged instances of “inadequate citation” and “duplicative language” in two of Gay’s peer-reviewed journal articles and in her PhD dissertation, completed in Harvard’s government department in 1997. Advertisement Gay’s decision comes at an unsettled and anxious moment for higher education, especially the country’s most elite institutions. Conservative leaders have denounced universities as incubators of a rigid progressive ideology, at odds with meritocracy and open debate. Supreme Court justices and lawmakers have moved to restrain, through political force, what they view as universities’ excesses, including the way top universities factored race and ethnicity into admissions decisions. Those battles were the backdrop for an extraordinary political conflagration in recent weeks in which some conservatives attacked Gay’s academic lapses and caricatured her as a kind of diversity, equity, and inclusion apparatchik, while Harvard professors denounced the attempts of lawmakers to intervene in the university’s affairs. The partisan rancor, and a sense that right-wing elements were weaponizing Gay’s missteps to fight other ideological battles, scrambled internal debates, especially among faculty, about the gravity of the plagiarism claims and the seriousness of her misstep at the congressional hearing. Asked at the hearing whether calls for genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s rules, Gay said, “It depends on the context.” She later apologized. University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill was criticized for offering similar testimony at the hearing, and subsequently resigned on Dec. 9. MIT president Sally Kornbluth, who also answered similarly and faced denunciations, received a public and unconditional vote of confidence from the executive committee of MIT’s governing board days after the hearing. Advertisement Some Harvard professors and students viewed the backlash over Gay’s testimony as motivated, at least in part, by racism. Some also viewed the unearthing of the plagiarism allegations as a partisan campaign to damage a university known for left-leaning values, and to smear a leader who has championed diversity initiatives and affirmative action in higher education admissions. (The plagiarism allegations were first widely circulated by a conservative activist and a conservative news outlet, the Washington Free Beacon.) A Globe review of the allegations found that some sentences and passages in Gay’s work matched, nearly verbatim, language from other sources. Several scholars said some amounted to plagiarism. Some faculty members and students also argued that an undergraduate would face discipline, including suspension, for similar transgressions. On Monday, the Free Beacon published additional allegations of plagiarism against Gay. By that time, Gay had already decided to resign, according to a person close to her. “[I]t has been distressing,” Gay wrote in her Tuesday message, “to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.” Gay, 53, will now “return to the faculty, and to the scholarship and teaching that are the lifeblood of what we do,” she wrote. Advertisement Lawrence Bacow, Gay’s predecessor as president, said he was saddened by Gay’s resignation. “Claudine is a person of great intellect, integrity, vision and strength,” he said in an email. “She had much to contribute not just to Harvard, but to all of higher education. I regret that she will not have that opportunity.” Her resignation follows months of unrest at American universities prompted by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza. Protesters at numerous campuses have occupied buildings and barged into lecture halls with megaphones to protest Israel’s prosecution of the war, which has killed more than 20,000 people, according to Palestinian officials. “People are calling this the Vietnam War moment of our generation,” Nadine Bahour, a recent Harvard graduate who is Palestinian, said of the protests. Meanwhile, some Jewish students, at Harvard and other campuses, have reported that antisemitism is on the rise. They pointed to controversial protest slogans, such as “Globalize the intifada” or “From the river to the sea,” that some Jews hear as calls for violence against Jews and Israelis, but that pro-Palestinian protesters say are peaceful calls for liberation. The maelstrom over antisemitism and free expression came to a head at the Dec. 5 congressional hearing, convened by a Republican-controlled committee. Gay’s answers to the genocide question prompted new calls for her resignation, and pushback from faculty against outside influence on the university. After the plagiarism allegations emerged several days later, the corporation publicly backed her on Dec. 12. Advertisement “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,” the board’s 11 appointed members formally known as the Fellows of Harvard College wrote in a statement. But they also acknowledged her missteps and said an independent review of her academic writings had revealed “a few instances of inadequate citation.” Calls for her resignation intensified after Harvard announced, on Dec. 20, a second round of updates to her scholarly work due to “duplicative language” in her PhD dissertation. In her resignation message, Gay wrote, “Sad as I am to be sending this message, my hopes for Harvard remain undimmed. When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity — and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education.” Gay is the second Harvard president in two decades to step down amid controversy, following the resignation of Lawrence Summers in 2006 after clashes with faculty members and blowback about remarks he made about women in science. His tenure lasted five years. Garber, an economist and physician, who is Jewish, will serve as interim president “until a new leader for Harvard is identified and takes office,” according to the corporation’s Tuesday message. He has been Harvard’s provost since 2011 and helped guide the university through the COVID-19 pandemic. But his ascension isn’t stopping the cavalcade of critics taking aim at Gay. In October, in the days after the Oct. 7 attack, an activist group called Accuracy in Media sent trucks to Harvard Square displaying photos of pro-Palestinian students beneath the words “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites.” This week, the group’s president, Adam Guillette, said he will send U-Haul trucks to Harvard as Gay moves out of the presidency. Mike Damiano can be reached at mike.damiano@globe.com. Hilary Burns can be reached at hilary.burns@globe.com. Follow her @Hilarysburns.

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Israeli-American Thought to Be a Hostage Was Killed on Oct. 7, Her Family Says

Judih Weinstein Haggai, a 70-year-old who was believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, was actually killed during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, her family and Kibbutz Nir Oz said in statements on Thursday. Ms. Haggai’s husband, Gadi Haggai, had also been listed as a hostage but the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum announced last week that he, too, was killed in the attacks. The forum said the couple were shot while on their morning walk through the fields of the kibbutz, and that Ms. Haggai had managed to inform friends that they had been injured, her husband critically so. Ms. Haggai was, in fact, fatally wounded, and her death has now been confirmed, Kibbutz Nir Oz said on Thursday. Its statement did not specify how it learned that she had died in the attack. The couple’s bodies are being held by Hamas, according to the kibbutz, their family and the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. The groups said the couple were citizens of both Israel and the United States, and that Ms. Haggai also had Canadian citizenship. President Biden said he and Jill Biden, the first lady, were holding the couple’s “four children, seven grandchildren and other loved ones close to our hearts.” “I will never forget what their daughter, and the family members of other Americans held hostage in Gaza, have shared with me,” he said in a statement. “They have been living through hell for weeks.” Ms. Haggai would be remembered “for the creative life she built with her husband,” her family said, adding that “their murders are a reminder for leaders everywhere to bring the hostages home now before it is too late.”

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Representative urges Boston City Council to accept $13 million federal antiterrorism grant

A spokesperson for Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office said Friday that the mayor will refile the grant for the council’s approval before the body’s first full meeting of the year, set for the end of the month. The City Council voted 6 to 6 to reject the grant in December, blocking funding meant for the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, which comprises Boston and eight neighboring municipalities, including Brookline, which is part of Auchincloss’ district. US Representative Jake Auchincloss sent a letter to Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune on Thursday, urging members to accept more than $13 million in federal antiterrorism funding he described as crucial “considering heightened threats of terrorism fueled by antisemitism and anti-Zionism.” Advertisement In the letter sent Thursday evening, Auchincloss, who is Jewish and a Democrat, urged the council to approve the funding when it is brought back in front of the body. “The Israel-Hamas War has heightened our region’s need for counter-terrorism security measures,” Auchincloss wrote. “Greater Boston is a national hub for the Jewish community. As antisemitism proliferates, counter-terrorism funding is more pertinent than ever. Impeding its disbursement could undermine the trust of Greater Boston’s Jewish community.” The US Department of Homeland Security grants the funds annually to the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, which includes Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop. The grant has been in existence for more than 20 years, and was originally formed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks so local, state, and federal government agencies could more efficiently collaborate and share information, according to Shumeane Benford, Boston’s chief of emergency management. Boston was established as the administrator and fiduciary for the region, and is responsible for approving and then distributing the funds. Last year, Brookline used the funds for “personnel training, technology upgrades, new public safety vehicles, and community preparedness measures,” Auchincloss stated in the letter, adding that the grant is designated for cities with a high risk of terrorism activity, and has historically been approved unanimously by the council. Advertisement At the Dec. 13 City Council meeting, Councilor Michael Flaherty introduced the grant by stating its importance to Boston specifically, considering the city’s past history of external threats. “It’s not lost on us that September 11 was launched at Logan, and that we had the Marathon bombing,” Flaherty said. “There have been a number of incidents we have been dealing with as a city.” However, six councilors voted against accepting the grant over concerns about the police intelligence-gathering operation known as the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, or BRIC, which would receive at least part of the funds. The council approved other controversial BRIC grants last year, despite opposition from some councilors over the center’s gang database and concerns about racial profiling. Louijeune, who is currently council president, said in the December meeting she would be voting no because “we need more community conversation” before the grant could be accepted. Louijeune was not immediately available for comment on Friday. Auchincloss slammed the council for the December vote in Thursday’s letter, saying the $13.3 million in funding is urgently needed. He cited recent congressional testimony by FBI director Christopher Wray, who said he sees “blinking lights” — terror threats — “everywhere,” and is “especially concerned about the possibility of Hamas supporters engaging in violence on the group’s behalf.” Advertisement Auchincloss also expressed concern over preliminary data collected by the Anti-Defamation League, which indicate that reports of antisemitic incidents have “skyrocketed” since Oct. 7. In an interview with the Globe, Benford said he is optimistic the council will ultimately approve the funds, under the mayor’s leadership. All the mayor’s endorsed candidates won their races in the November election, significantly shifting the makeup of the council. Benford was confident in the meantime that there will be no impact on safety or security in the region as a result of the delay. Last year, the council did not approve the grant until the end of January. “If there was an unlikely scenario where these funds would not be accepted, period, then we would have issues and concerns,” said Benford. “This is really about sustaining the capacity of working long term, but in the short term, there can be no question that we have full capacity to be able to respond to threats based on capacity that we built up.” Globe correspondent Alexa Coultoff contributed to this report. Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.

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Auction of Nelson Mandela Items Set After Court Fight With Government

Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter is moving forward with an auction next month of the former president’s personal belongings after a two-year legal battle with the South African government, which had tried to block such a sale saying the items were artifacts of national heritage. The proposed sale had drawn attention when it was announced in 2021. South African officials balked, objecting in particular to the sale of a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Mr. Mandela was held. Proceeds from the auction are intended to finance a memorial garden honoring Mr. Mandela, who dedicated most of his life to emancipating South Africa from white minority rule, the organizers said. He died in 2013 at 95, 23 years after his release from prison and 19 years after he was elected president.

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Lawrence Akers named Springfield police superintendent; he will be departments first African-American leader

Springfield’s next police superintendent will be Lawrence Akers, a 38-year member of the city’s police force and the first African-American to lead the department. Akers will replace Cheryl Clapprood as police superintendent, following her retirement this year. Akers has been a deputy chief. In announcing his choice of the city’s next police superintendent, Mayor Domenic Sarno noted Akers’ experience with nearly all facets of Springfield policing. Sarno called Akers a “gentleman, a good man, good cop and a good leader.” “I have witnessed firsthand and I am very impressed with Deputy Chief Akers’ street command presence dealing with some very difficult situations and just as important his compassion and empathy he exhibits to all in our community,” Sarno said in a statement. “He has been an integral part of my community stakeholder’s roundtable team meetings and has the respect of the rank and file under his command,” he said. Akers’ father, Charles, served with the department for 29 years. “To think that this second-generation Springfield police officer and motorcycle cop will serve as Police Superintendent is a great honor,” Akers said in a statement. “I am very proud and humbled by this promotion. I want to thank my family, especially my wife Mary, for always being by my side during good times and challenging times.” Akers served at one point with the Traffic and Motorcycle Unit. His career in Springfield includes oversight of the city’s Metro Unit, supervisor in the Special Victims Unit and Gaming Enforcement Unit and as a member of the Springfield Police Honor Guard, according to the mayor’s office. Clapprood said in a statement that she has “utmost confidence” in Akers’ ability “to move our Springfield and the department forward with all of the numerous reforms, initiatives and programs. When I appointed him to serve as Deputy Chief, I knew he would excel and embrace that leadership role within our department.” “His passion to serve is second-to-none, and he will be a good Police Superintendent,” Clapprood said. Akers is a graduate of the High School of Commerce and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. This story will be updated.

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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's 2nd State of the City speech

AND THE DUDLEY. AND THIS IS OUR DEMOCRACY AT WORK. WE ARE CINDY FOR ALL VOICES TONIGHT A STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS STARTED WITH ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE STAGE. PROTESTERS INTERRUPTED MAYOR MICHELLE WU JUST AS THE ADDRESS WAS GETTING UNDERWAY. SOME CARRIED A PALESTINIAN FLAG. OTHERS HUNG A BANNER FROM THE BALCONY. OUR POLITICAL REPORTER SHARMAN SACCHETTI IS LIVE AT THE MGM MUSIC HALL RIGHT NOW WITH THE DEMONSTRATORS AND WHAT THE MAYOR HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE STATE OF THE CITY TONIGHT, SEAN ED SEVERAL OF THOSE PROTESTERS WERE ARRESTED. IT’S UNCLEAR TONIGHT WHAT THEY’LL BE CHARGED WITH, BUT WE DO UNDERSTAND THEY WILL BE IN COURT TOMORROW MORNING. AS FOR THE MAYOR, SHE MOVED RIGHT AHEAD WITH HER SPEECH. GOOD EVENING. BOSTON. MOMENTS INTO THE MAYOR’S SPEECH. PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS SHOUT AND UNFURL A BANNER. SEVERAL OF THEM ARE ARRESTED. THIS IS OUR DEMOCRACY AT WORK. WE ARE A CITY FOR ALL VOICES. AS THE MAYOR MOVING AHEAD, TAKING A VICTORY LAP FOR CLEARING TENTS FROM MASS AND CASS, SETTLING THE POLICE CONTRACT, FILLING. THOUSANDS OF POTHOLES AND LANDING BOSTON A SEAT ON THE MBTA BOARD. THE STATE OF OUR CITY IS STRONG, MAYOR WU, PLEDGING TO TACKLE THE HOUSING CRISIS BY CHANGING ZONING RULES TO TURN SPACES LIKE BASEMENTS AND GARAGES INTO HOMES. AND SHE SAYS HER PLAN TO TURN EMPTY OFFICE SPACE INTO HOMES IS WORKING. WE LAUNCHED AN OFFICE TO RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION PROGRAM THAT’S ALREADY ATTRACTED PROPOSALS TO TURN EIGHT DOWNTOWN BUILDINGS INTO HOUSING, THE MAYOR ALSO PLANNING THOUSANDS OF NEW PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS IN THE NEXT DECADE, AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL PROVIDE MORE THAN $100 MILLION A YEAR TO MAINTAIN THEM. MAYOR WU SAYS SHE’S MAKING BIG INVESTMENTS IN SCHOOLS. TEN MAJOR CAPITAL PROJECTS ARE UNDERWAY. THE MAYOR BECAME EMOTIONAL TELLING A STORY ABOUT HER MOTHER BRINGING HER TO A MUSEUM AS A CHILD. ON A DAY WHEN IT WAS FREE. AND IN THIS MOMENT, THIS MOM WITH NO MONEY AND NO WORDS IN THIS LANGUAGE, FEELS LIKE THE BEST MOM ON EARTH BECAUSE SHE HAS GIVEN HER DAUGHTER THE WORLD FOR A DAY. MY MOM HAS HAD SOME CHALLENGES IN HER LIFE WITH MENTAL HEALTH AND I’M SO GRATEFUL TO HER FOR HER EXAMPLE OF STRENGTH AND THE REASON THE MAYOR BROUGHT THAT UP, SHE SAYS. NOW ALL FAMILIES WILL BE ABLE TO GO TO BOSTON MUSEUM. SEVERAL OF BOSTON’S MUSEUMS AND TH Advertisement Boston mayor pushes through protests to deliver State of the City speech focused on homes, schools Share Copy Link Copy During her second State of the City speech on Tuesday night, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu outlined her plans for the year ahead, emphasizing the theme of home and emphasizing her plans to address the housing shortage. She also spoke at length about addressing challenges for Boston Public Schools.Before she could get through the customary greetings to family members and elected officials, however, Wu faced chants and protests. Two people were escorted out past the stage with a Palestinian flag and others unfurled a banner from the upper seats. "This is our democracy at work. We are a city for all voices," she said as security led the pair with the flag away from the stage. When she got back on track, Wu opened her speech by noting the celebration of Boston’s first-ever Pop Warner national champions and using their persistence as a metaphor for the whole city.“The grit, courage, and deep sense of community that drives us to overcome the impossible—for the people we love and the place we call home. It’s that spirit that the world needs most right now, when so much feels impossible: peace and safety, prosperity and stability; pride in our democracy, and hope for a tomorrow with a little more light.”Wu returned to the MGM Music Hall at Fenway, the site of her first State of the City speech last year, to present her second speech on Tuesday night. After the introductory ceremonies, her remarks began around 7:30 p.m.Tuesday's speech was also Wu's opportunity to highlight her achievements at the midpoint of her first term. On that list, she included the removal of encampments in the troubled neighborhood known as Mass and Cass, a new contract with the city’s police union, and a ban on using fossil fuels in new city buildings. During last year's speech, Wu renewed her call for the city to get a seat on the MBTA Board. As she pointed out Tuesday, that became law through a change embedded in a state budget and Wu appointed a board member in September.Wu also spoke about her restructuring of the Boston Planning and Development Agency and the launch of what she called “the first comprehensive rezoning in decades.” She also said that the city’s office-to-residential conversion program has attracted proposals to turn eight downtown buildings into housing. “The State of our City is strong. Not because the challenges that remain are simple or small. But because they’re big, and they matter, and we are rising to meet them. And that starts with housing, because home is the place where everything starts.”In the year ahead, Wu pledged to eliminate barriers to help multigenerational families build accessory dwelling units and set a goal of identifying locations for 3,000 new public housing units to be built over the next decade. Rent control was not a part of Wu’s pitch this year, but she did speak about launching a new fund to make apartment buildings more affordable and prevent the properties from being scooped up by private investors. She set a goal of protecting 400 family homes in the year ahead. Nearly a quarter of Wu’s speech was focused on education, a topic that was being closely watched in light of a recently published long-term facilities plan that cited the need to "consolidate or combine schools."“After decades of underfunding, we’re building and renovating schools to reflect our students’ aspirations: state-of-the-art science labs, performing arts spaces, locker rooms befitting the City of Champions,” Wu said. “Today, ten major BPS capital projects are underway—as many as were built in the last 40 years, combined.”Wu also touted use of a $20 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to add 50 electric school buses to the city’s fleet. Wu promised in the year ahead to begin work on “restoring Franklin Park to its fullest potential” by hiring a park administrator, expanding the maintenance staff and renovating the park’s stadium.“We’re excited to renovate the historic White Stadium at Franklin Park into the first sports venue in the country that will co-house a pro sports team and a public school athletics program,” Wu said. Starting February, the mayor announced, all Boston Public School students and their families will get free admission at the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Science, the Boston Children’s Museum, the New England Aquarium, and the Franklin Park Zoo on the first and second Sundays of each month. A Boston police spokesperson said several protestors arrested at the State of the City would have charges filed. They were expected to be arraigned in Boston city court on Wednesday.

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Trump Has Made Claims About Caucus Fraud. What if He Underperforms?

The last time Donald J. Trump participated in competitive Iowa caucuses, he lost narrowly, accused Senator Ted Cruz of Texas of stealing the contest, claimed fraud, demanded that Iowa Republicans nullify the results, and called for a rerun. While Iowa has a history of troubles with its caucus results, there’s been no evidence of fraud. The 2016 Republican contest was, in fact, the only one since 2008 that had gone off without a hitch. And yet if Monday night ends with Mr. Trump underperforming expectations, both his history and his rhetoric during this year’s campaign suggest he won’t hesitate to cry foul and refuse to accept the result. Mr. Trump has already accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida of “trying to rig” the caucuses. Laura Loomer, a far-right and anti-Muslim activist whom Mr. Trump last year considered hiring for a campaign post, suggested on social media that “the deep state” was engaging in “weather manipulation” to instigate Iowa’s Friday snowstorm and subzero temperatures to depress Trump turnout on Monday. And Donald Trump Jr. suggested in a Telegram video that “we can’t take anything for granted, or assume that everything is going to be on the up and up. We’ve seen this rodeo before.”

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Israeli Teenager Recounts Her Time as a Hostage in Gaza

Hila Rotem Shoshani had invited her friend Emily Hand over for a sleepover in Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel. The girls, then 12 and 8, woke early the next morning, Oct. 7, to the sound of thundering booms — the start of the deadliest attack in the history of their country. For about six hours, Hila and Emily hid in the home’s safe room with Hila’s mother, Raaya Rotem, 54, as Hamas attackers overran the kibbutz. Then armed gunmen burst in with guns and knives and took the three out into a landscape of horror, past dead bodies and burning buildings, to a car. One of the attackers noticed Hila clutching a stuffed animal. He grabbed it and tossed it aside. “I had it in my hand the entire time. I didn’t notice,” Hila said on Friday in an interview in New York, before she spoke at a rally in support of the remaining hostages. “When you’re afraid you don’t notice.” Hila was one of more than 30 children kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, and held until late November, when they, along with dozens of adults, were released during a brief truce. Hila, now 13, is the youngest of the returned hostages to speak out about the harsh conditions in which they were held, seeking to highlight the plight of more than 100 hostages who remain in Gaza.

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The U.S. Is Looking to Use Russian Assets to Aid Ukraine

The Biden administration has quietly signaled support for seizing more than $300 billion in Russian central bank assets held in Western countries and using the funds to aid Ukraine’s war effort. Until recently, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had argued that seizing the funds without congressional action would be illegal. Others had cautioned that it would cause concern among other nations that are holding their funds in the U.S. Seizing such a large sum of money from another sovereign nation would be without precedent. But with financial support waning, and Ukrainian leaders warning of the dire consequences, American officials have begun urgent discussions over whether to use existing authorities or seek congressional action to use the funds. A small portion of the Russian assets, perhaps $5 billion or so by some estimates, is in the hands of U.S. institutions. As a result, diplomatic negotiations are underway over how to gain access to funds held in Europe.

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Newton teachers go on strike beginning Friday

Students will be out of class Friday after the Newton Teachers Association voted overwhelmingly for a strike as educators seek a new contract. Teachers in Newton, Massachusetts, have voted to go on strike. The Newton Teachers Association has been locked in a contract battle with the school committee that's been dragged out since October 2022. The district says it's offering competitive compensation for teachers while the union argues the proposed pay raises aren't even keeping up with inflation. Thursday afternoon, the union's president, Mike Zilles, announced that educators had voted overwhelmingly to strike Friday. The Newton Teachers Association has voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. "What I want to announce right now is that 98% of our membership tonight voted yes to begin a strike tomorrow morning," Zilles said. In total, 1,641 teachers voted for the strike. Schools will be closed Friday, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced. "The underfunding of schools has created conditions that make it impossible for our teachers to do their jobs," Parents Educator Collaborative founder Alison Lobron said earlier. Last-minute contract negotiations were underway Thursday ahead of a vote on whether teachers for Newton Public Schools should strike, one that the administration has moved to prevent. Follow NBC10 Boston on... Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston "It breaks my heart for our teachers and our families that a strike is being contemplated. The adults belong at the negotiating table, children belong in our classrooms," Fuller said earlier. An update from the teachers' union was expected at a news conference and rally scheduled for 5 p.m. at Newton City Hall. In the meantime, the district went to court Thursday morning to try to stop the strike. Fuller said that if the district needs more funding, Newton will have to pass a Proposition 2½ override, a kind of tax increase. "If we want to increase the funding for the Newton Public Schools, we'll have to convince our voters to do so," she said. But the union and a member of the City Council's finance committee, Bill Humphrey, allege Fuller is choosing to withhold existing taxpayer money from the schools. Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter. "For a wealthy community like Newton, it is not the responsibility of the educators to take an effective pay cut against inflation in order to subsidize the level of services that this community wants to provide," Humphrey said. If the teachers vote to go on strike Thursday afternoon, as expected, Fuller has said there will be no school in Newton Friday. Parents have been among the people rallying in support of teachers this week.

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Terror attack' in Israel leaves 1 dead, more than a dozen injured, police say

Read this article for free! Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account! Please enter a valid email address. By entering your email, you are agreeing to Fox News Terms of Service and Privacy Policy , which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive . To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided. Israeli police say two assailants are in custody Monday following a "terror attack" that has left one person dead and at least 16 others injured in the city of Ra'anana, just north of Tel Aviv. The vehicle ramming attacks unfolded after an assailant stabbed a woman and carjacked her vehicle, police say. Central District commander Avi Biton later announced that two individuals from the same family in the Hebron area of the West Bank, who worked nearby, were taken into custody. "Following an unusual incident currently in Ra'anana, police forces are on the scene, and the circumstances of the incident are being investigated," Israel Police said in a statement, according to The Jerusalem Post. "The public is asked to be vigilant and obey the police officer's instructions." At least 16 people have been injured in the attacks. One woman who was critically injured later died at a local hospital. Three other people are said to be in serious condition. ISRAELI WOMAN, SON KILLED BY ANTI-TANK MISSILE NEAR LEBANON BORDER Images taken at one of the scenes showed a heavily damaged white sedan that appeared to have been driven into a bus stop. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Schools in the area where the attacks happened have been placed on lockdown, The Jerusalem Post reports. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.

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In the battle to build more housing, Massachusetts is making gains

The law was controversial because it diluted home rule, something legislators have treated as sacrosanct despite a century’s worth of evidence that towns have used that authority to limit growth, promote segregation, and harm the state’s overall economic well-being . This year began with a lot of anxiety about housing — and, in particular, whether Boston’s suburbs would comply with a controversial new state law that requires them to allow more of the kind of apartment and condo buildings that many of them have a well-earned reputation for resisting. A few local politicians made noise about resisting the law. But so far, municipalities have largely complied, often with an enthusiasm that belies their histories as hotbeds of NIMBYism. Advertisement In one suburb after another, towns adopted new zoning that in some cases went even beyond the law’s requirements. In town meetings, the vote was often lopsided in favor of change: Lexington, 107 to 63; Arlington, 189 to 35; Brookline, 207 to 33. Those actions will make building new construction easier and more predictable, hopefully leading to more of it. Get The Primary Source Globe Opinion's weekly take on politics, delivered every Wednesday. Enter Email Sign Up A view of construction underway in Everett. A new state law has prompted communities to loosen their zoning regulations for multifamily housing, which should lead to more of it over time. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff It hasn’t all been smooth sailing: Newton’s City Council ended up doing just about the bare minimum to comply. Milton’s Town Meeting approved its plan, but citizens appear to have gathered enough signatures to force a referendum seeking to overturn the vote. But the bottom line is that, so far, each of the 12 communities with a deadline this year has at least tried to meet it. To a certain extent, the local votes show just how bad the housing shortage and resulting price inflation in Massachusetts has become. When even voters in places like Lexington and Brookline are willing to allow the kind of multifamily housing that they and their ancestors fought so hard against, you know it’s gotten bad in the market. The price of housing rose more than 10 percent in Greater Boston in 2023, and the median single-family home went for $829,950, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. Rents are similarly stratospheric. Suburban homeowners may like those rising property values, but they don’t like seeing their kids move far away because they can’t afford to live here. There is also far more public attention on the damaging environmental and social consequences of exclusionary zoning, which may be shifting public opinion in a more altruistic direction. Advertisement Still, there’s no reason to imagine so many large suburbs would have rezoned in a single year without prompting. Which is why legislators should view the law’s early success as vindication for state intervention — and proof that a stronger state hand in housing is not only the right thing to do but also might even be welcome. Indeed, the strong margins in town meetings are enough to make you wonder if the hostility to housing in the suburbs was never more than just a bugaboo for the small minority that happened to show up at meetings. State pressure is necessary because Boston's suburbs have a well-earned reputation for resisting new housing. In 2004, a sign protested proposed construction of a proposed development in Bedford. By giving localities the legal tools to thwart housing, the state let them create the housing shortage Massachusetts finds itself in now. Pat Greenhouse Regardless, the next step should be for the state to build on this law and extend the state’s role. In her first year in office, Governor Maura Healey has taken several notable steps on housing, including appointing a housing czar and championing funds for market-rate housing. Her most important decision, though, may have been a provision in her proposed housing bond bill that requires communities to allow “in-law” apartments, which would build on the precedent of the MBTA law by again forcing communities’ hands. It is projected to add 8,000 new housing units statewide. Advertisement Defenders of home rule oppose that proposal. But the positive results of the MBTA law so far are a strong argument that the state can and should exert more power over housing — and not just over zoning but also over the whole gamut of financial, logistical, and environmental policies that determine how much is built, where, and for whom. The Globe editorial page has made the case this year for some of the ways the state could step up. It could, for instance, put more teeth in the Community Preservation Act, to force towns that accept state funds for the program to spend more of it on housing. It could standardize applications for income-restricted housing. It could change the way it awards tax credits to pressure developers to build subsidized housing for families, not just senior citizens. People waited in line for an income-restricted housing lottery in Boston in 2017. Housing set aside for low-income people is hard to find and hard to apply for. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff For the Healey administration, it should mean continuing to hold towns to account if they violate either the letter or the spirit of the law. In 2024, scores more municipalities will be required to zone areas for denser housing. Healey’s housing czar, Edward Augustus, sent a good message when he implicitly threatened that the administration would yank funding for a commuter rail station in Newton if the city didn’t include its vicinity in the rezoning plan. The city ended up including it, and other communities hopefully got the message that the state really means business. Advertisement Sustained pressure and leadership from the state is essential, because the truth is that the state’s housing deficit will take years to overcome. Massachusetts needs up to 200,000 new housing units by 2030, which would require it to produce housing at a much faster rate. The state only approved 18,940 private housing units in 2022, according to the St. Louis Fed, and the numbers for 2023 are shaping up to be even worse. The zoning changes approved in towns this year are only a first step at fixing the imbalance; now developers have to actually take advantage of those loosened regulations. A view of a condo development in Danvers. Massachusetts is still not building nearly enough new housing to meet its needs. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Until those numbers rise, house hunters will continue to suffer from rising housing prices. Businesses will find it harder to attract employees. Renters will crowd into unsafe living conditions. Homelessness will linger. For a place that proudly insists on calling itself a commonwealth instead of merely a state, Massachusetts has tiptoed around the sacred cow of local control for far too long. That is finally starting to change. If there’s one important takeaway from 2023, it’s that the state’s role in housing can’t be merely to ask politely for more. It’s time to use all the powers at the state’s disposal to insist on it. Advertisement Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.

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Vivek Ramaswamy ends presidential bid following Iowa caucuses

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has suspended his campaign and is throwing his support behind former President Trump after falling short at Monday's Iowa Caucuses, Fox News Digital has confirmed. Ramaswamy earned roughly 8% support among caucusgoers, trailing behind both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley finishing at second and third each at roughly 20% while Trump shattered contested caucus records earning more than 50% of the vote. Ramaswamy, who entered the race in February of last year with virtually zero name recognition, outlasted several big-name Republicans including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence. TRUMP WINS IOWA, FOX NEWS DECISION DESK PREDICTS DESANTIS WILL TAKE SECOND PLACE A big focus of his campaign was restoring America's identity and his call to demolish the bureaucratic state by dramatically cutting the size of federal government. The 38-year-old also argued that Republicans needed to elect a candidate with "fresh legs" in an attempt to draw contrast between himself and 77-year-old Trump, who he had regularly declared the "greatest president" of his lifetime. While the Iowa caucuses didn't go his way, it wasn't because Ramaswamy didn't put the effort in. His campaign touted that he had completed the "Full Grassley" twice, meaning he had visited all of Iowa's 99 counties at least two times. And he held more campaign events than any other candidate running in the Hawkeye State. Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire, largely funded his own campaign. Even Trump himself appeared to be threatened by Ramaswamy in the late stages of the race, attacking him on Truth Social within days of the Iowa Caucuses. VIVEK RAMASWAMY WITHHOLDS ‘FRIENDLY FIRE’ AFTER TRUMP ATTACK: ‘I’M NOT GOING TO CRITICIZE HIM' The biotech entrepreneur began earning attention in conservative circles with the release of his 2021 book "Woke, Inc.," which put a spotlight on how identity politics and social justice movements have plagued corporations. But he started becoming a household name for his bombastic performances at the Republican debates, sparring with several of the establishment-friendly GOP candidates, especially Haley, who he had branded as "corrupt" on a notepad he held up in what quickly became a meme on social media. RAMASWAMY URGES SUPREME COURT TO OVERTURN COLORADO DECISION, FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF TRUMP Ramaswamy's rise in the polls throughout 2023 may be credited to his embrace of media appearances, rarely saying no to an invitation regardless of the size of the platform and how adversary the outlet, while other candidates were more cautious when it came to granting interviews. The young political outsider was widely praised for how he would engage with hostile attendees at campaign events who would confront him on issues like abortion, climate change and trans issues, often becoming viral moments with Ramaswamy being heralded as an effective communicator. He was also cheered on by the conservative base for his combative exchanges with members of the legacy media. Critics hit Ramaswamy for constantly defending Trump amid his legal woes and showering him with praise throughout his candidacy, so much so that Ramaswamy was accused of being a de facto Trump surrogate in the race. He faced accusations of being a flip-flopper on various issues like his views of Jan. 6. Ramaswamy was also heavily targeted by GOP rivals for his foreign policy positions during the debates. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ramaswamy was frequently joined on the campaign trail by his surgeon wife Apoorva and their two young boys. He often spoke about how his Hindu faith was aligned with the values of Evangelical Christian voters in the state. While his White House aspirations were cut short in 2024, many believe Ramaswamy has a long future in conservative politics, with some thinking he will land a spot in Trump's cabinet and others predicting another presidential bid in the not too distant future.

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politics

Pritzker Is Among Democrats Making Case for Biden in Iowa

All the political action in Iowa may be among Republicans, but President Biden’s campaign sought on Monday to get a piece of the action, sending three top surrogates to Des Moines to promote his agenda and trash his potential opponents. Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota and Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Hollywood megadonor and a campaign co-chairman, all made their case for re-electing Mr. Biden before a dozen TV cameras and a gaggle of journalists in a conference room at the Iowa Events Center. Mr. Pritzker said there was no difference between former President Donald J. Trump and his G.O.P. rivals, Ms. Smith warned that Republicans would ban abortion nationwide if they won back the White House and Mr. Katzenberg did a victory lap on the campaign’s latest fund-raising announcement. “Tonight’s contest is simply a contest of whether you like MAGA in its original packaging or in high heels or with lifts in their boots,” Mr. Pritzker said, jabbing at Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who quipped during a debate about wearing heels, and at Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has been suspected of wearing lifts in his shoes.

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politics

Why North Korea Is Offering New Reasons to Worry - The New York Times

Carlin and Hecker both told me that they don’t know when an attack by Kim, the country’s leader, would happen or what form it might take. “Is it going to be an all-out attack?” Carlin asked. “I have no idea what the thinking of his army is right now. I suspect it is making plans and they’re arguing about it. And some of them are saying, ‘This is nuts. We can’t do it.’ Others are saying: ‘This is what the leader wants, and we’re going to do it. And actually, we have enough missiles and nuclear warheads that we can.’ ” North Korea excels in bluster and insults (remember “dotard”?), and my general view is that Kim is a pragmatist who uses bombast for bargaining leverage. That may be the case this time: We’ve never much understood what’s going on with North Koreans, and perhaps they’re just seeking attention. My inclination would be to dismiss these warnings — if they were coming from anyone else. But Carlin and Hecker are pros who deserve to have their alarm taken very seriously. It has been evident for some time that something is afoot in North Korea. Kim invested his hopes in a 2019 summit with President Donald Trump in Hanoi — and that fell apart, leaving Kim humiliated. For decades under three leaders, North Korea sought a deal with the United States involving trade, prestige and economic benefits, but now it seems to have given up on that. Instead, it has bolstered ties with Russia, improved its nuclear weapon capabilities and escalated its rhetoric. This week North Korea announced that it would take a much harsher approach to South Korea, changing its constitution and its longstanding policy on reunification, and would not respect traditional boundary lines. Kim said his army was making preparations for “a great revolutionary event,” which Carlin said is a phrasing that previously has been used to describe war with South Korea.

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He Was One of the Central Park Five. Now Hes Councilman Yusef Salaam.

Yusef Salaam stood at the front of the City Council Chamber in Lower Manhattan with his right hand raised and his left hand on the Quran held by his wife. It was the one that his mother gave him when he was 15 years old and standing trial for a crime he did not commit. Its pages, filled with notes and bookmarks, were kept intact by a cloth cover that Mr. Salaam made during nearly seven years in prison. Surrounded by relatives including his mother, sister and some of his children, Mr. Salaam was asked by Michael McSweeney, the city clerk, to repeat an oath. With each passage that Mr. McSweeney recited and Mr. Salaam repeated, their voices took on volume and urgency: “I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York,” Mr. Salaam said. “I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member of the ninth district, in the borough and county of New York, in the City of New York, according to the best of my ability.”

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Hunter Biden Text Cited in Impeachment Inquiry Is Not What G.O.P. Suggests

Mr. Dubinsky answered, “Absolutely.” But a close examination of the circumstances surrounding the 2019 text message, along with others that have been cited by Republicans during the impeachment inquiry and elsewhere to suggest that Hunter Biden’s foreign income was shared with or benefited his father, shows the extent to which the contents of the communications have been misunderstood or outright distorted. And while it does not rule out the possibility that House Republicans could unearth evidence showing wrongdoing by President Biden, it underscores the flimsy nature of the material they have presented publicly so far. The story behind the message, as explained by the Bidens and backed up by other interviews and a review of Hunter Biden’s emails and text messages, offers sometimes unflattering insights into the family’s finances and internal dynamics. And it adds more detail to what is known about Hunter Biden’s erratic and irresponsible behavior while in the throes of addiction. But it is very different from the story being promoted by House Republicans and their allies. Rather than evidence that Hunter had split his foreign income with his father, the 2019 message was a reference to a story from Hunter’s youth that he repeated to his daughters when they became teenagers. It was prompted by a family dispute, fueled by Hunter Biden’s drug use, money troubles and personal resentments, according to the review of Hunter Biden’s communications and interviews with Biden aides, family friends, and Hunter and Naomi Biden. It started with a freak ski accident at the start of 2019. Naomi Biden, 25 at the time, and her then-boyfriend, Peter Neal, were having lunch at the slope-side Handle Bar Restaurant & Pub at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole ski resort in Wyoming. They received a frantic phone call from Naomi’s younger sister Finnegan, who had skipped lunch with them to continue skiing.

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How the Iowa Caucuses Work

The Iowans who will brave frigid temperatures Monday for the first test of support for Republican presidential hopefuls will be caucusing — a process that’s distinct from other ballot-box affairs. Unlike in other elections, Iowa’s Democratic and Republican parties, not the state’s government, organize and run the caucuses. And members of the two parties will conduct business a little differently. What happens during a caucus? Once participating Republican voters arrive at the caucus precinct, they must check in with precinct workers, who will verify that they are eligible to participate. (Only registered Republicans may participate in G.O.P. caucuses, but party rules allow unregistered voters, Democrats and independents to register or switch their party affiliation at the caucus site.)

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Governor Healey asks residents to house migrant families amid growing shelter crisis

The state’s shelters are reaching capacity and now the governor is asking residents to help by opening their doors. That was part of Governor Maura Healey’s announcement--as she also is looking for help from the federal government. The governor said anywhere between 10 to 30 migrant families a day are coming into Massachusetts. There are 40 hotels across the state helping to house them, but the governor is now pleading for help from the federal government—as well as you. Governor Healey says close to 5,600 families are currently housed in the state’s emergency shelter system. That number is 80% higher than one year ago. Massachusetts is the only state in the country with a right-to-shelter law that guarantees homeless families access to emergency shelters. She says Massachusetts has been spending around $45 million a month to help assist these families. The situation is so bad, the Healey administration is now asking people to open their homes and businesses to help people in need. “Most importantly, if you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Housing and shelter is our most pressing need and become a sponsor family,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. Paul Craney, the President of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, is a first generation American who understands what migrant families are going through, but he believes the focus should be on securing the borders. “At some point, we also have to have compassion for the people that are here,” said Paul Craney. “If Massachusetts can’t care for the people that are currently here, then why should we bring in more people in the state.” Governor Healey is hoping the emergency declaration will provide more federal funding, and expedite work permits for immigrants. New York state has also declared a state of emergency, as well as the cities of Chicago, El Paso and Washington, DC. The governor’s administration also announced it created a migrant families relief fund. It’s a coordinated effort with the local United Way to raise private donations. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group

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Opinion | Things Have Gotten Pretty Weird With New Yorks Mayor

David Firestone: Hi, Mara, and welcome to a year that’s going to be full of news about Mayor Eric Adams and the long-term health of New York City. City Hall is playing nothing but defense these days, and it seemed fitting somehow to learn that Adams is considering removing reporters from Room 9, the municipal press room, as well as the press offices in One Police Plaza. Between his personal scandals, the big budget cuts and widespread accusations that he has mismanaged the migrant crisis, there has been very little good news to cover about the Adams administration. Flailing politicians often lash out at the press, and for Adams, who clearly hates the coverage he has been getting, that seems like a substitute for doing a good job. Mara Gay: Hi, David! I’m glad we’re having this conversation. So many eyes are focused on a hugely important presidential election this November. But what’s happening with the mayor of the nation’s largest city is pretty weird. Embattled by investigations into his campaign and the rest of the problems you mention, David, the mayor seems to be acting in some erratic ways and picking unnecessary fights. This week Adams lashed out in a personal attack against the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, for supporting a bill he doesn’t like that would require the Police Department to report more complete data on police stops throughout the city. “He lives in a fort,” Adams said at a police briefing, referring to Williams, who rents a private apartment in a development inside the U.S. Army garrison at Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn. Williams told reporters later the mayor “sounded like a 5-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.”

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Boston City Council 'not serious about public safety': outgoing president Flynn says

Outgoing City Council President Ed Flynn said the vote to block $13.3 million in federal counter-terrorism funding for the metro region showed the council was “not serious about public safety,” an attitude he hopes will shift with four new members. Flynn, who had been pushing last week for an emergency meeting to reconsider the funding should the mayor fail to refile the federal grant by the end of the year, has since backed off of that last-ditch effort in 2023. “I wasn’t able to mobilize my colleagues together to assemble for a meeting,” Flynn told the Herald. “There wasn’t any support for it. So, I’m committed to working with the mayor in January to get this passed.” Flynn, whose two-year term as the body’s president ends this month, is now seeking a new vote on the matter by the end of January, after four new councilors are sworn into office. Mayor Michelle Wu, through a spokesperson, has already stated her intention to refile the grant in the new year, after the council turns over. Three of the incoming councilors, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana and Benjamin Weber, are progressives who were endorsed by the mayor for the fall election. The fourth new councilor, John FitzGerald, is seen as more of a conservative Democrat. Another Wu-backed progressive candidate, Sharon Durkan, who first won her seat in a July special election, was among the six councilors who voted in favor of the $13.3 million U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant earlier this month. “I’m confident, although not positive, I’m confident we’re able to pass it sometime in January,” Flynn said. “I think the new councilors coming in understand the importance of public safety and security, and how important this grant is to Boston and the surrounding cities and towns.” The Council’s 6-6 vote to block the federal funding set off a firestorm this month, criticism that led state Sen. Nick Collins to file a bill that would strip the body of its authority to approve future public safety grants. The grant was earmarked for the mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, but would have been distributed to the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, which includes Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville and Winthrop. Seven votes are needed to release the funds, for training and operational needs to “help prevent, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents,” according to a communication from the mayor, who put the grant forward for Council approval. Flynn, who favors the Collins bill, said his colleagues “failed” its fiduciary responsibility, in terms of accepting the grant funds on behalf of the eight other cities in the metro Boston region. “Half of that money,” he said, would have gone toward supporting counter-terrorism efforts in those neighboring communities. “When we vote against a grant that came from a Democratic president to a Democratic governor to the city of Boston to deal with biological-, chemical- and nuclear-related issues — when we voted against that, that showed to me that we are not serious about public safety in Boston and across Greater Boston as well,” Flynn said. “And that hurt the city and made us less safe, in my opinion,” he added. The Council’s vote to reject the funding was not only slammed by Flynn and outgoing Councilor Michael Flaherty, but drew criticism from the head of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Boston and statewide firefighters unions, along with other groups. Two councilors who voted against the grant, Ruthzee Louijeune, who is predicted to become the next council president, and Liz Breadon, both cited a desire for further community conversations and public information. Breadon previously told the Herald that she wanted more clarity on how the grant would be used to respond to natural disasters, but generally supports the counter-terrorism piece, having voted for the funding in prior years. The grant was discussed at a lengthy committee hearing two days before the Dec. 13 vote, and when asked, Flynn said he does not think another committee hearing is needed. “However, if it’s necessary for my colleagues to have a hearing, I support that,” Flynn said. “But I want to see an immediate vote on it. And I’d like to see this vote take place sometime before the end of January.”

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How College-Educated Republicans Learned to Love Trump Again

Working-class voters delivered the Republican Party to Donald J. Trump. College-educated conservatives may ensure that he keeps it. Often overlooked in an increasingly blue-collar party, voters with a college degree remain at the heart of the lingering Republican cold war over abortion, foreign policy and cultural issues. These voters, who have long been more skeptical of Mr. Trump, have quietly powered his remarkable political recovery inside the party — a turnaround over the past year that has notably coincided with a cascade of 91 felony charges in four criminal cases. Even as Mr. Trump dominates Republican primary polls ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Monday, it was only a year ago that he trailed Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in some surveys — a deficit due largely to the former president’s weakness among college-educated voters. Mr. DeSantis’s advisers viewed the party’s educational divide as a potential launching point to overtake Mr. Trump for the nomination.

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New York City migrant refugees to be evicted from shelters after 60-day stay limit

A roundup of conversations we're having daily on the site. Subscribe to the Reckon Daily for stories centering marginalized communities and speaking to the under-covered issues of the moment. New York City’s 60-day shelter stay limit goes into effect this week amid outcry from advocates who say migrants will now have to navigate a complicated system in the middle of winter to find a safe place to stay. The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and its allies held a rally on Monday, protesting the shelter limits one day before the rule’s implementation. Demonstrators chanted, “We are here in love” and “We will not throw people out of shelters.” Officials said 4,400 families received 60-day notices. City officials announced in October that migrant families would need to leave shelters after 60 days in an attempt to speed up the resettlement process and reduce the strain on emergency services. The city said then it was “full and past its breaking point” due to an “unsustainable” spike of migrants in recent years. “New York City is facing a humanitarian disaster that demands real solutions, not policies like the 60 Day Rule, which harasses families and forces them out of shelter every two months, rips children from their schools, disconnects asylum seekers from the support networks they’ve built and pushes them onto the streets — all during the coldest months of the year,” said Christine C. Quinn, the president and CEO of New York City’s largest shelter for families, Win. Dr. Ted Long, the senior vice president of population health at NYC Health + Hospitals, said during a press conference Monday that the stay limit is “not just” the amount of time given to a family before they need to move out, but is also a deadline for authorities to identify possible barriers that prevent migrants from finding a stable home. Officials said families facing evictions would be provided “intensified casework services” to find alternative housing before they are removed. Since August 2022, New York City has welcomed about 126,700 refugees. Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent more than 33,600 migrants to New York City. By October, 64,100 asylum seekers were still in the city’s care, with thousands more arriving each week. Deputy Mayor Anne Williams‑Isom on Monday said New York City officials “want to do what our sister cities are doing” to address the high numbers of new arrivals. She said Chicago, Denver and Massachusetts have already implemented time limits at their shelters to move people quicker. “We’re running out of space, we’re running out of personnel and we certainly are running out of funds, and so we really have to move from an emergency to managing this in the way that makes sense,” she said. Advocates said the 60-day notice would have evicted families around Christmas, but Mayor Eric Adams’s administration postponed the expected start date to Jan. 9. A 30-day limit was enacted in November for single adults in shelters, leading to long lines of people waiting in the cold to reapply for a place to stay, according to the NYIC. The coalition said the shelter limits will displace families, causing major disruptions for children attending New York City schools. “These children were just able to settle down in schools, parents were able to seek work all because of the small modicum of stability shelter provided as they worked to get on their feet,” said Comptroller Brad Lander in a statement. “City Hall must reverse its 60-day shelter policy, one of the cruelest policies in generations, in the greatest immigrant city the world has ever known.” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday announced an investigation into the “poorly communicated” 60-day rule to review the plan’s process, how case management resources are being distributed and the social effects and financial impacts of the policies. Officials will investigate if evictions and shelter relocations impact migrants’ immigration status or their ability to obtain work permits. The comptroller’s office requested a response from Adams by Jan. 15 and asked to receive information from the city by Jan. 22. Lander also asked for weekly updates beginning in late January. Long said about 40 families with children at the Row Hotel checked out on Tuesday. He said the families met with case workers to determine their next destination. The city will prioritize placing remaining families with small children in Manhattan, where they’d ideally stay in a hotel near their school, Long added. “This is not going to be a city where we’re going to place children and families on the street,” Adams said. He said New York City has helped “normalize and stabilize” about 57 percent of people who go through the shelter system. Officials did not comment on how long it takes for migrants to access stable housing. Advocates say the 60-day rule puts unneeded stress on families and puts them at risk of homelessness in direct opposition to New York City’s right to shelter order, which was enacted in 1979. “The City’s Right to Shelter mandate keeps tens of thousands of people — men, women and children — from sleeping out on the street. It is that simple,” said New York City Councilmember Sandy Nurse in a statement. “And while shelters will never be the solution to homelessness, we must defend the right to shelter both as a legal right and moral obligation.” Migrant advocates called for politicians to develop permanent pathways to housing, enhance legal services and remove obstacles to obtaining a bed and shelter. The eviction notices come days after New York City announced a lawsuit against Texas charter bus companies seeking $708 million to cover the cost of caring for migrants sent from the southern border.

98f0c5f9551c9ccda5aea7bba7308d9d

politics

Houthi Militia in Yemen Presents a Special Challenge for U.S.

When Iranian-backed militias repeatedly targeted U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq this fall, the Biden administration struck back with force. Action was needed, officials said, to deter the groups from turning Israel’s conflict with Hamas into a wider war. But the United States has not yet retaliated against one Iranian-backed group: the Houthis of Yemen. In the past month alone, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, crippling traffic there. So why has the United States taken a different approach with the Houthis? The reasons are many. What does the Gaza conflict have to do with the attacks in the Red Sea? The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at vessels in the Red Sea and seized an Israeli-linked ship during more than two months of war between Israel and Hamas.

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politics

Opinion | The Anti-Democratic Quest to Save Democracy From Trump

Let’s consider a counterfactual. In the autumn of 2016, with American liberalism reeling from the election of Donald Trump, a shattered Hillary Clinton embraces the effort to pin all the blame on Vladimir Putin. She barnstorms the country arguing that the election was fundamentally illegitimate because of foreign interference. She endorses every attempt to prove that Russian disinformation warped the result. She touts conspiracy theories that supposedly prove that voting machines in Wisconsin were successfully hacked. She argues that her opponent should not be allowed to take office, that he’s a possible Manchurian candidate, a Russian cat’s paw. And she urges Democrats in Congress and Vice President Joe Biden to refuse to certify the election — suggesting that it could somehow be rerun or even that patriotic legislators could use their constitutional authority to make her, the popular-vote winner, president instead. Her crusade summons up a mass movement — youthful, multiracial and left wing. On Jan. 6, 2017, a crowd descends on the National Mall to demand that “Trump the traitor” be denied the White House. Clinton stirs them up with an angry speech, and protesters attack and overwhelm the Capitol Police and surge into the Capitol, where one is shot by a police officer and the rest mill around for a while and finally disperse. The election is still certified, and Trump becomes president two weeks later. But he is ineffective and unpopular, and it looks as though Clinton, who is still denying his legitimacy, will be the Democratic nominee again. At which point right-wing legal advocacy groups announce an effort to have her removed from primary ballots, following the guidance of originalist scholars who argue that under the 14th Amendment, she has betrayed her senatorial oath by fomenting insurrection and is ineligible to hold political office.

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politics

Gaskin: Boston needs a DEI plan, stat

When Mayor Marty Walsh was assembling his Imagine Boston 2030 strategic plan for the city, I wrote and spoke to him about making inclusion a key part of it. He agreed and told me to talk to the people working on the plan. I did, but I was told there was no need for a special section focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion because these elements were already in every aspect of the Imagine Boston 2030 plan. If you look hard you might see some inferences in the plan, but nothing will jump out at you. Although Mayor Walsh hired Karilyn Crockett as the city’s first chief of equity and signed an executive order to expand opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses, among other actions, there was never a specific DEI plan, and the city stumbled from one diversity crisis to the next. In a 2017 Northeastern University forum, people pointed out to Walsh the level of discrimination people experience daily in the city. “People are tense for a reason, because in most cases they have experienced something traumatic… and some experience it everyday,” he said. Racism in Boston is real, and while it wasn’t Walsh’s fault, it was his problem. Therefore, he was responsible for doing something about it. At the time, I spoke to then City Councilor Michelle Wu, who agreed there should be such a plan and added that it should have goals and timelines to promote accountability. Well, now she’s mayor and there still isn’t such a plan. After the public apology for the wrongs committed by the city in the Charles Stuart case, most agree that more should be done so something like that doesn’t happen again. Perhaps Mayor Wu could announce in her upcoming State of the City address that she is asking all city agencies to produce plans for increasing inclusivity, with goals and timelines. It would be great to know what she plans to achieve by the end of her first term. Ideally, the city would call upon Dr. Atyia Martin, who served as Boston’s first chief resilience officer and authored the city’s resilience strategy, to work with the agency heads on developing their plans. It would be great to see the blueprints for every agency that were developed with the lens of equity. Imagine Boston 2030 focused on 12 themes: Waterfront City, Green City, Connected City, Climate Ready City, Entrepreneurial City, Programmable City, Creative City, Expanded Neighborhoods, Thriving Downtown, Neighborhoods That Are Affordable, Economically Mobile Residents, and Healthy Residents. Not included was a future city where people’s differences would not only be accepted but embraced and celebrated. That oversight has created an opportunity for Mayor Wu to address. What makes a city livable is not only the cost and accessibility of housing, transportation, parks, and greenspaces but how comfortable and accepted people feel. A city may own millions of dollars worth of buildings, land, roads, bridges and other infrastructure, but its true assets are its people. Creativity, productivity and acceptance of others are key to the character of a city. If we truly want Boston to be a livable city, then we must make it an inclusive city that is comfortable for everyone who lives here, which means ensuring that citizens feel accepted for who they are. Imagine Boston in 2030 as a city that celebrates diversity in every arena, including education, health care, housing, policing, business, and economic opportunity. Imagine if we could address disparities in environmental, climate, energy, and spatial justice and promote acceptance of diverse housing and neighborhoods. We must figure out how to accept, serve, and benefit from people who differ ethnically, culturally, economically, and otherwise. Boston’s past includes some infamous examples of opposing diversity, such as segregated public housing projects and anti-busing protests. People who come here from around the globe to attend our schools and universities often comment that Boston is a great place to be from but not necessarily a great place to be. Recent elections in the United States and in Europe have exposed deep divisions and hostilities among people of different backgrounds. We can do better. We need to be intentional in how we ask our city government to provide quality services to all residents and how we expect people to treat each other here. Those who visit from around the world should be treated hospitably when they come to Boston. In the same way, we have to work to make our city greener, we need to work to improve our human relations. We want a city that leads by example. To achieve this objective, we need a plan, just as we’ve created plans to improve transportation, housing, arts, and culture. Our inclusivity plan must address: How we treat each other. We can take a lesson from Atlanta’s slogan: “A city too busy to hate.” How we benefit from and enjoy our differences. Boston’s diverse food, festivals, art, goods, and services all add economic vitality to the city and improve the quality of life here. These differences make Boston a destination for employers, students, and tourists. How civil servants can provide quality services to all. We must address implicit bias and provide equal access to services and opportunities with measures such as multilingual signage. Given the levels of antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, and other types of prejudice that divide us, we need a plan that will help unite us. Boston has plans and initiatives to accomplish many other goals. Now we need a specific initiative to become an inclusive city where everyone feels they belong. Ed Gaskin is Executive Director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets and founder of Sunday Celebrations.

1eced6cd22820f6b3887744f7dc0fc85

politics

The House G.O.P.s Incredible Shrinking Majority

When Republicans assumed control of the House early last year after winning a narrow majority in the 2022 midterms, Representative Earl Blumenauer, a veteran Democrat from Oregon, made a bold prediction: His party had a slight chance of reclaiming power before the next election — through sheer attrition. Republicans commanded just a thin edge over Democrats, 222 to 213, Mr. Blumenauer reasoned, and typical turnover in recent years suggested that could shrink further. Plus, a certain new Republican representative from New York by the name of George Santos did not seem likely to survive a cascade of ethics issues and criminal charges. Still, Mr. Blumenauer’s prognosticating seemed more like liberal wish-casting given the dominoes that needed to fall to fulfill it. A year later, though still highly unlikely, it suddenly doesn’t seem all that far-fetched. Day by day, thanks to a combination of coincidence, scandal, health issues and political turmoil, the G.O.P. majority keeps getting smaller.

ceb10f56a7175b9c0ab8d6d48236903c

politics

Ann Arbor School Board Passes Resolution Supporting Cease-Fire in Gaza

In the United States, some labor unions, city governments and town councils have weighed in on the Israel-Hamas war, issuing statements in support of a cease-fire — often over vociferous objections from some of their own members and constituents. On Wednesday night, the school board in Ann Arbor, Mich., became one of the first public school districts in the country to vote in favor of such a statement. Supporters of the resolution, including Palestinian American and Jewish board members, said that the statement was an urgent moral necessity amid a humanitarian crisis. But the vote — 4 to 1, with two members abstaining — was divisive in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan and sizable Arab and Jewish populations.

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politics

CNNs Iowa Debate Will Be a DeSantis-Haley Showdown

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

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politics

Chris Christie to drop from GOP race at N.H. town hall, source tells AP

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is planning to announce he’s dropping his Republican presidential bid at his New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday night. That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the former New Jersey governor’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions. Christie has been under intense pressure to exit the Republican presidential primary race as critics of Donald Trump work to unify behind a viable alternative to the former president. Christie is scheduled to host a town hall meeting in Windham at 5 p.m., hours before two of his rivals, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meet for the fifth GOP presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. It is the only debate that Christie did not qualify for. The news comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, rebuffing growing calls for him to step aside as he continued to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president. “I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump,” he said at a town hall in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had stepped up to the plate. “I’m famous enough. ... I’ve got plenty of titles. ... The only reason to do this is to win,” he added. “So I’d be happy to get out of the way for somebody if they actually were going against Donald Trump.” But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/UNH poll conducted in the state this week found Trump’s lead down to the single digits, with 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third now choosing Haley.

27429bb2f57613dd889ca3650d3f13a7

politics

Violence Rises in West Bank, Leaving at Least 9 Palestinians Dead

Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, held meetings on Sunday with leaders in Jordan and Qatar as part of a weeklong eastern Mediterranean and Middle East tour aimed at reducing the risk that the war in Gaza could spread in the region. Mr. Blinken met separately in Amman with King Abdullah II and Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister. He thanked the king for Jordan’s role in sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the two agreed to keep coordinating on aid, according to a statement by a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller. The U.S. has been pressing Israel for months to allow more aid into Gaza. Mr. Blinken reinforced that message with a visit to a warehouse with boxes of canned food that were intended to be brought to Gaza on trucks organized by the United Nations World Food Program. Sheri Ritsema-Anderson, the resident U.N. coordinator in Jordan, told reporters that in her 15 years working in the Middle East, she had never seen a humanitarian situation as dire as the one in Gaza, describing it as an “epic catastrophe.” She said about 220 trucks of various types of aid and fuel are now getting into Gaza daily, but that is only a fraction of the amount needed. Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that prompted Israel to launch airstrikes and a ground invasion in Gaza, which has forced most of the territory’s 2.2 million Palestinians from their homes, about 600 to 800 trucks carried supplies into Gaza each day. The territory has been under a de facto blockade by Israel, with the assistance of Egypt, for more than 16 years. Mr. Blinken praised the U.N. food program, saying it was doing its work “at tremendous risk” — a reference to the dangers posed by Israeli airstrikes. And he emphasized the need to effectively distribute the aid “everywhere in Gaza.” Aid trucks are entering Gaza through border crossings in the south, after being inspected by Israeli authorities. Although Israel has been withdrawing some combat forces from northern Gaza, much of the aid is not reaching the north, the most devastated part of the strip. In his meeting with the king, Mr. Blinken also reiterated that the U.S. was against moving Palestinians out of Gaza, according to Mr. Miller. Two far-right Israeli ministers endorsed that idea last week, drawing harsh rebukes from the U.S. and other countries. Mr. Blinken flew into Doha, Qatar, in the afternoon and met with the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and with the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, who also acts as the foreign minister. The officials spoke about possibilities for trying to get Hamas to release more hostages and for ensuring the conflict does not spread across the region. “This is a moment of profound tension in the region,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference with the prime minister. “This is a conflict that could easily metastasize.” Mr. Blinken pointed to the recent attacks in the Red Sea by the Houthi militia of Yemen, which have jeopardized global shipping. Dealing with the threat from the Houthis was one of the topics discussed by American and Qatari officials in Doha. Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, joined Mr. Blinken’s delegation in Doha for the talks. Mr. Blinken also expressed sadness at the killing on Sunday in Gaza of Hamza Dahdouh, a freelance journalist who was the eldest son of Wael Dahdouh, the bureau chief for Al Jazeera in Gaza. Sheikh al-Thani said that Qatar was trying to push forward with hostage talks, despite the potential for the recent fatal bomb attack in Lebanon against Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy political leader of Hamas, to set back discussions. The bombing has been attributed to Israel. “It has been ongoing,” the sheikh said of the hostage talks, adding that there have been “challenges, ups and downs, throughout the process.” After his meetings in Doha, Mr. Blinken flew to Abu Dhabi to have meetings with officials in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. Mr. Blinken was in Turkey on Saturday, meeting with his Turkish counterpart and with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he discussed the need to keep the Gaza conflict from spreading, among other subjects, according to a State Department statement. Later, he met with Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on the island of Crete. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Blinken indicated that Turkey could play a role in a plan for postwar Gaza. “I think from our conversations today, it’s clear that Turkey is prepared to play a positive, productive role in work that needs to happen the day after the conflict ends,” he said.

f9bd1e19f6a97d090372ce8512ee2f41

politics

Ramaswamy Repeats Call for Ballots to Be English Only

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican tech entrepreneur running a long-shot campaign for president, doubled down Friday on his pledge to tighten voting laws if he is elected. In his remarks in Ames, Iowa, he reiterated his promise to make English the only language on ballots. The language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act prohibit such English-only ballots in many cases. His promise, which he has highlighted frequently in recent months, is one of many voting reforms that have become popular among Republican voters that he has seized on. “One thing I will work with Congress to deliver is a minimal federal standard for our federal elections,” he told voters at the Friday event. That standard would include “single-day voting on Election Day, as a national holiday with paper ballots, government-issued voter ID to match the voter file, and yes, English as the sole language that appears on a ballot.” Mr. Ramaswamy, who is polling far behind his Republican rivals in Iowa at fourth place, has long called for extraordinary rollbacks to voting rights in other ways as well. Early on in his campaign, he generated attention by calling for Americans under 25 to be barred from voting, unless they pass the civics test required of immigrants seeking citizenship or unless they serve in the U.S. military or as a first responder.

78d64efb23b473b704ff849c66560fbf

politics

Opinion | What Will Happen to Gazas People?

Conventional wisdom has generally held that Israel’s government lacks a strategy for the Gaza Strip beyond toppling Hamas. “Israel has no plan for Gaza after war ends, experts warn,” the BBC reported in October. In November The Washington Post observed that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “has come under criticism for not offering a clear plan for what happens in Gaza if Israel succeeds in its goal of deposing Hamas.” A headline in Foreign Affairs in December lamented “Israel’s Muddled Strategy in Gaza.” But there are signs that some members of the Israeli government do indeed have a strategy, or at least a preference, for what happens next. It’s implicit in the kind of war Israel has waged, which has made Gaza largely unlivable. And a growing number of Israeli officials are saying it out loud: They don’t want to force just Hamas out of Gaza. They want many of Gaza’s people to leave, too. The calls for population transfers started long before Gaza was reduced to the ruins that it is today. Six days after Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, the Intelligence Ministry proposed permanently relocating Gazans to the Sinai region of Egypt. On Nov. 14, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he supported “the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world.” Five days later, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel endorsed “the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the strip.”

ef4a24a4c017affb4151baedd9af8783

politics

DeSantis, Once a Darling of Conservative News Media, Now Rails Against It

As the Iowa caucuses draw near, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has increasingly focused on a peculiar target as he looks to win the Republican nomination: the conservative news media ecosystem that supports former President Donald J. Trump. Desperate to make his case that he is a better candidate than Mr. Trump — while trailing by wide margins in recent polls — Mr. DeSantis seems to have turned on many of the news outlets that once promoted his candidacy, for being unfair in their coverage. “He’s got basically a Praetorian Guard of the conservative media — Fox News, the websites, all this stuff,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters outside his campaign headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa. “They just don’t hold him accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers. And they don’t want to have the ratings go down.” He added: “That’s just the reality. That’s just the truth, and I’m not complaining about it. I’d rather that not be the case. But that’s just, I think, an objective reality.”

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politics

With Chris Christie Out, Nikki Haley Is Poised to Benefit in New Hampshire

The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s decision on Wednesday to drop out of the presidential race shook up a contest for the Republican nomination that had appeared to be former President Donald J. Trump’s for the taking, giving a huge shot of adrenaline to Nikki Haley just five days before ballots begin to be cast in the monthslong nomination fight. The most obviously altered battleground is likely to be New Hampshire, where Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Mr. Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, is within striking distance of the former president. Even without his endorsement, many New Hampshire voters who planned to side with Mr. Christie as an opponent of Mr. Trump’s are likely to flip to Ms. Haley, as is potentially some of Mr. Christie’s leadership team. But the jolt will have much broader implications, argued John Sununu, a former New Hampshire senator and the brother of the current governor, Chris Sununu, both of whom have endorsed Ms. Haley. A contest that has centered on Mr. Trump’s return and the fight between Ms. Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida for second place will now focus squarely on the threat Ms. Haley poses to Mr. Trump’s coronation. A memo that Mr. Trump’s campaign blasted out after Christie’s announcement on Wednesday night did just that, broadcasting what it called internal polling that showed Mr. Trump beating Ms. Haley in a head-to-head contest 56 percent to 40 percent.

433ea46f2208253fccaf0241b97dc5be

politics

Right Where We Want Him, 30 Points Up: Chasing Trump in Iowa

At the start of the 2024 Republican primary campaign, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida was considered by many in his party to be the biggest threat to Donald Trump. He was seen as someone who could win over the voters who were tired of Trump’s antics, and also bring along the MAGA movement. But it didn’t work out that way. And as Mr. DeSantis has struggled, one main opponent, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, has seen her star — and her standing in the polls — rise. Still, as the Trump alternatives crisscross Iowa and New Hampshire trying to appeal to voters, polling averages put the former president ahead by an average of 35 points. Now, with just days to go until the Iowa caucuses, we ask: Did anti-Trump Republicans rally around the wrong candidates? And have they run out of time to fix it?

faff631795311271b0611b01854abb23

politics

Chris Christie Goes Down Swinging at Trump and Pleading With His Party

Chris Christie closed out his second presidential campaign much as he began it, with a blistering and personal takedown of Donald J. Trump designed to prompt a reckoning in his party. Anticipation had been building all day for the remarks from Mr. Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, after news had spilled out hours earlier that he was telling close allies about his decision. With all three major cable news networks airing the speech live, Mr. Christie used the rare spotlight — something that had largely eluded his campaign — to make an urgent appeal to the better angels of his party. He framed his animosity toward Mr. Trump in sweeping, historical terms and cast himself as the experienced party elder warning of the possible dangers ahead. “Imagine just for a moment if 9/11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk,” Mr. Christie said. “The first thing he would have done was run to the bunker to protect himself. He would have put himself first before this country, and anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves to be president of the United States.”

00364472e90dcc30ca275831ccf3951f

politics

Who Is Lai Ching-te, Taiwans Next President?

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

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science

Medical Notes: Dec. 25, 2023

Local legislators presented a check from the Commonwealth of Mass to the PHIWM SPRINGFIELD - Local legislators presented a $200,000 check from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM) to support its 413Cares initiative, which connects people with the critical resources they need in an online portal. The event took place at PHIWM offices, 127 State Street in Springfield. The check presentation was attended by State Senator Adam Gomez, State Representatives Michael Finn and Carlos Gonzalez, and an aide representing Senator John Velis, along with representatives from organizations partnering with the Public Health Institute on the 413Cares initiative. The funding was secured for 413Cares in the FY2024 state budget as the result of a legislative earmark, sponsored by Representative Finn and Senator Gomez. Funding was secured through the Department of Public Health. Launched in 2019 by PHIWM with the support of Baystate Health, 413Cares.org is an online community resource database for Western Massachusetts. The platform has reached more than 100,000 searches and over 111,000 interactions with programs in the region. Top searches were for housing, food resources and health-related resources. PHIWM has received funding from the Commonwealth in the past two legislative budgeting cycles to support 413Cares, which is managed by PHIWM. Resources from the State have been used to collect data during and after the pandemic and have also been utilized to improve and update the 413Cares.org website, and raise awareness of the resource in the region. This year, the state resources are funding three new regional partners to provide outreach, promotion and support of the platform: Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, Quaboag Hills Community Coalition, and the Hilltown Community Health Center. This is in addition to existing regional partner Community Action Pioneer Valley, funded by Baystate Health. Youth Grief Support Program WILBRAHAM – Rick’s Place provides free, peer grief support groups for youth (ages 5-18) and their caregivers. Rick’s Place offers young people and their families a place to remember their loved ones and to avoid the sense of isolation that such losses can produce Rick’s Place was established in 2007, in memory of Rick Thorpe, who died in Tower Two of the World Trade Center on 9/11. This is for young people and their families from all over Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut and offered at no charge. To participate in these free grief support programs provided by Rick’s Place, email info@ricksplacema.org or call 413-279-2010. NAMI online/phone support group HOLYOKE - The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-WM) of Western Massachusetts would like to inform the public that the NAMI Connection Recovery Support Groups have resumed in a virtual format. Mondays, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Access online with zoom: https://us02web.zom.us/j/88206475051; access by phone, 646-558-8656, meeting ID: 88206475051. Wednesdays, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Access online with zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82690755017; access by phone, 646-558-8656, meeting ID 82690755017. For more information, contact the office or go to namiwm.org/support. For members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Wednesdays, 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. For more information email: triciafitz7@gmail.com. Shiloh SDA Church and The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-WM) of Western Massachusetts announces a new Family and Friends Support group for black and brown communities. The Black & Brown Family & Friends Support Group meets on the first Thursday of every month. A Zoom link will be provided for participants. For more information, contact the NAMI-WM office at 413-786-9139 or email information@namiwm.org. A diagnosis is not required to attend any group. Anyone with mental health condition is welcome to attend any group without prior registration. NAMI – Western Massachusetts Family Support Group GREENFIELD – The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Western Massachusetts announces that their Family Support Group in Greenfield is resuming in person. The group meets monthly on the last Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Clinical Support Options (CSO), 296 Federal Street, across from Sandri’s Gas Station. In NAMI Family Support Groups, families join a caring group of individuals helping one another by utilizing their collective lived experiences and learned wisdom. Family members can achieve a renewed sense of hope for their loved one living with mental health challenges. NAMI’s support groups are unique because they follow a structured model, ensuring everyone can be heard and get what they need: free, confidential, and safe; designed for adult loved ones of people with mental health conditions; led by family members of people with mental health conditions; no specific medical therapy or treatment is endorsed. For more information, contact the NAMI-WM office at 413-786-9139 or information@namiwm.org. MJD Support Group LUDLOW – The Michael J. Dias Foundation provides education, area resources, peer support, and hope for family members and friends coping with a loved one with a substance use disorder. A support group gathers on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 6 to 7:15 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Parish Center, 438 Winsor St. anyone needing support is welcome to attend. Masks are required and guests will be seated six feet apart. If you have any questions, contact Maureen at 413-563-6226. Grief support group CHICOPEE – Saint Rose de Lima Grief Support Group meets every Monday except major holidays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. This free weekly grief support group is for people who have experienced the loss of a spouse, partner, family member or friend. All are welcome. The group meets at Saint Rose de Lima Pastoral Center, 15 Chapel St. Online Stroke Support Group SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield College Occupational Therapy (OT) Department offers a free weekly support group for people living with stroke and their caregivers. The group meets in a virtual format on Zoom every Thursday from 3 to 4:00 p.m. Facilitated by Kathy Post, Professor Emeritus, with the assistance of 1 or 2 OT graduate students, the group provides opportunities to meet other stroke survivors from western Massachusetts, and to share challenges, successes, questions, and resources. For further information and the link to the meetings, email Kathy at kpost@springfieldcollege.edu Narcotics Anonymous AGAWAM - To find a local Narcotics Anonymous support group, visit NERNA.ORG or WesternMassNA.org or call 866-NA-HELP-U. Survivors of Suicide Loss EAST LONGMEADOW - Survivors of Suicide Loss, a support group for adults who have lost a loved one to suicide, meets on the 3rd Monday of each month (except major holidays or severe weather) at the Forastiere Smith Funeral Home, 220 North Main St. from 6:30 to 8 p.m. This is a peer-facilitated group. The meetings are open, meaning new members are always welcome. The meeting room is set up to allow for recommended social distancing and attendees are required to bring and wear their own mask while in the meeting room. If circumstances allow, some meetings may be held outdoors. Free accessible broadcast readings SPRINGFIELD - Free 24/7 accessible local news and information is available from Valley Eye Radio for those in the Pioneer Valley no longer able to read independently due to visual and other medical and physical challenges. Contact them at www.valleyeyeradio.org or (413) 747-7337 for details on how to listen from one of their special radios or through their website, smart speakers, cable access channel, or mobile phone.

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Opinion | This Tiny Parcel of Paradise Could Be Devoured

In 1950, when Grand Teton National Park was expanded eastward across Jackson Hole, Wyo., its new boundaries nearly subsumed a square mile of state land. Like the national park, forest and elk reserve surrounding it, this is no ordinary piece of ground. Called the Kelly Parcel for its proximity to the village of Kelly, where I’ve lived for 37 years, this 7,000-foot-high stretch of rolling hills, sagebrush meadows and aspen groves has magnificent views of the Teton Range and provides important habitat for elk, moose, pronghorn antelope, bison, mule deer and bighorn sheep. The annual migration of up to 150 miles by pronghorn from Grand Teton National Park to the Green River Basin — one of the longest mammalian migrations in the contiguous United States — goes through the Kelly Parcel. So does a long mule deer migration. This square mile, 14 miles northeast of Jackson, is also home to grizzly and black bears, wolves, mountain lions, ruffed and sage grouse, raptors and Neotropical birds. Eighty-seven species that Wyoming has labeled “of greatest conservation need” count that land as habitat. In short, the Kelly Parcel is an elemental part of the surrounding Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which is facing ever increasing threats from development, recreation and a warming climate.

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Here are WBURs top local health stories of 2023

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's weekly health newsletter, CommonHealth. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here. 2023 is nearly over, and for many of us, this is a time to reflect on all that’s happened in our lives and in the world over the past year. There were plenty of big health stories: We witnessed the advent of revolutionary new obesity drugs, the burgeoning use of AI in medicine, the approval of the first treatment using CRISPR gene-editing technology, the complicated aftermath of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, the devastating humanitarian crisis still unfolding in Gaza and more. Here are some of WBUR’s top local health stories of 2023. They drew lots of readers and listeners like you, and their implications are sure to last into the new year, and likely beyond. PFAS are everywhere Scientists are still learning a lot about PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” But we know they can be in everything from dental floss to food containers to drinking water. They can be absorbed into the body and are linked to some serious medical concerns. My colleague, Gabrielle Emanuel, told us the story of a woman whose well water was contaminated with PFAS and helped us understand how to mitigate our own PFAS risk. Wendy Thomas' house in the woods, near Wildcat Falls in Merrimack, New Hampshire. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR) Boston Marathon bombings, 10 years later This year marked a decade since the shocking attack near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. At that time, medical workers and hospitals responded rapidly to save lives. And they developed special bonds doing so. But as I reported, the medical system would be more challenged in responding to a disaster today, because hospitals are already so crowded and short-staffed. A volunteer offers a high-five to a runner during the 126th Boston Marathon. (Mary Schwalm/AP) COVID entered a new phase The state and federal COVID public health emergency declarations expired in May — and along with them, several major government policies designed to protect people from the virus came to an end, too. That includes universal masking inside hospitals. COVID is far from gone, as most of us know from personal experience, but experts say it is not hitting most people as hard as it used to, mainly because of built-up immunity and treatments that help prevent severe illness. A UMass surgical medical student prepares doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Boston's life expectancy gap Here are a couple numbers to help us think about health inequities: two and 23. In Boston, there’s a 23-year difference in life expectancy between Back Bay and Roxbury, neighborhoods that sit just two miles apart. My colleague Martha Bebinger reported this disparity stems from several interconnected problems, including racism, chronic stress and substandard housing conditions. It was one of WBUR's most-read online stories of the year. The corners of Dudley, Mt. Pleasant and Dearborn Streets in Roxbury. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Crime scene at the Harvard morgue This has to be the creepiest health-related story of the year, and devastating for the families affected. A manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue was accused of stealing and selling body parts that had been donated for medical research, as my colleague Ally Jarmanning reported. A review found there was little oversight of the morgue's day-to-day workings. Harvard Medical School, Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR) An influx of migrants land at Logan Airport Thousands of migrants have entered the state's family shelter system, according to official estimates. The situation became so dire over the summer that workers at Logan Airport started setting up cots for the new arrivals. For the first time in the family shelter program's history, there is a waitlist. More than 300 families are on it, and many of them have medical needs.

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Salmonella concerns prompt recall of 11,000 pounds of dried meat

A New Jersey-based food company — Fratelli Beretta USA, Inc. — is recalling more than 11,000 pounds of ready-to-eat meat products after concerns over Salmonella bacteria contamination, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. The potentially contaminated products include Busseto Foods brand charcuterie meats. The product subject to recall are 18-ounce plastic tray packages called “Busseto Foods Charcuterie Sampler Prosciutto, Sweet Sopressata, and Dry Coppa” with lot code L075330300 and “Best if used by APR 27 24.″ The products are sold as a twin pack with two 9-ounce packages. The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 7543B” inside the USDA mark of inspection and “EST. #47967″ printed with the lot and date codes. The Food Safety and Inspection Service was told a sample collected by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture tested positive for Salmonella. The packages were shipped to Sam’s Club distribution centers in eight states, including Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. People who have bought the products, which were produced in October, should throw them away or return them to their place of purchase. The test was taken as a part of an ongoing investigation into a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Salmonella bacteria cause an infection of the intestinal tract. Infections with Salmonella are common, according to the Mayo Clinic — most people develop diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps between eight hours and three days after exposure. While most people recover within a few days to a week, in some cases severe dehydration caused by the infection can require medical attention, according to the Mayo Clinic. Life-threatening complications can occur if the infection spreads beyond the intestines, the clinic said.

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New biomedical institute launching in Cambridge

Backed by deep-pocketed investors including Steve Pagliuca, the former co-chair of Bain Capital and Celtics co-owner, and high-tech mogul Michael Dell, Arena has already lured top scientists from academic labs with lucrative compensation packages, but so far has publicly named only a few. The institute, called Arena BioWorks, will put drug discovery and company creation under one roof, upending the traditional model where academic research and venture-backed drug development are separate. A team of high-powered scientists and billionaire investors said Friday that they’re launching a biomedical institute in Cambridge’s Kendall Square with $500 million in private funding with the aim of shortening the path from research breakthroughs to life-saving medicines. Advertisement But already Arena’s hiring spree has raised some concerns of a brain drain at universities, leaving them to struggle to compete for the top researchers and train new generations of scientists. Arena has been in the planning stages for more than two years. For the past six months, it has operated in stealth mode at 399 Binney Street, near the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, with an initial staff of about 50 scientists, most plucked from academic labs at universities in Massachusetts and across the country. It’s being led by cofounder and chief executive Stuart Schreiber, a Harvard scientist who was also one of the founders of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Schreiber recently stepped away from his Broad role and Harvard teaching post to devote his time to building Arena. On Friday, a Broad spokesperson, Allessandra DiCorato, said the institute was “excited to see this new addition to Kendall Square“ and would explore opportunities to collaborate with Arena. “The world needs both nonprofit research institutes and for-profit companies to power progress and improve human health,” she said. Schreiber and his Arena colleagues have enticed scientists to leave tenured posts at universities for bigger salaries than those offered by academic labs, which rely heavily on government grants. Arena scientists will deploy next-generation technologies, from gene editing to machine learning, to tackle cancers, brain diseases, immune system disorders, and maladies linked to aging. Advertisement “We fund the basic science, we build drug discovery capabilities with a laser focus on disease, and try to get at unique understandings of disease we think is translatable” into medicines, Schreiber said. “It turns out that human biology and fixing disease is really, really, really hard . . . [but] we can get the very best academic researchers and biotech researchers and have them work on problems that can’t be solved in a short time frame.” Two other Arena cofounders will join Schreiber on the institute’s management committee: Pagliuca, who will be executive chair, and Tom Cahill, founder of venture capital firm Newpath Partners. Arena will launch with a core scientific team that includes Schreiber and J. Keith Joung, an innovator in the gene editing field who left a job at Massachusetts General Hospital to join Arena. The institute said it will announce other scientists on its team at a later date. Pagliuca said the idea for Arena, which takes its name from a Teddy Roosevelt quote lionizing “the man who is actually in the arena,” sprang from a 2020 conversation with Schreiber and Cahill. The trio, who had advised the state and federal governments on fighting COVID, asked whether the warp-speed development and rollout of vaccines could be replicated in more normal times, Pagliuca said. Advertisement “We learned that discovery can be a lot quicker in a crisis,” he said. “Why can’t it be a lot quicker anyway so we can cure more diseases?” That, they concluded, would require overhauling the current research model where basic discoveries at academic labs are turned over to other organizations to commercialize. Arena plans to compensate scientists in part from revenue generated by all of the companies it spawns, not just those in the scientists’ research areas, said Pagliuca, who has invested in health care for three decades. Schreiber said the $500 million commitment from Arena’s investment team is just the start. Arena is talking to other investors about its plan to combine basic research with launching companies Up to 30 percent of the profits from the companies it creates will go to investors, Schreiber said. The remainder will be used to compensate scientists and company employees, support Arena operations, and bankroll an endowment to fund ongoing research. “The model would enable continued funding beyond 10 years,” Schreiber said. Schreiber’s involvement in a new for-profit venture was rumored for months. In September, the Broad confirmed that he was scaling back his work at the renowned biomedical center and “transitioning his status . . . as he enters the next phase of his career.” But the Broad had provided no further details. Arena’s model, if embraced more widely, could disrupt the teaching and incentive structures at traditional institutions, potentially reducing reliance on university technology transfer and venture capital outlays. Advertisement Ruth Lehmann, head of the MIT-affiliated Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a nonprofit, said she was disappointed that veteran Arena scientists were leaving academia and depriving students and post-doctoral researchers of the mentoring essential to producing a new generation of scientists. “Somebody has to educate the next generation, and that’s happening at universities,” said Lehmann, who also teaches biology at MIT. The new profit-driven entity, she said, “was creating haves and have-nots, and it’s a shame that universities have to say now that we’re the have-nots.” Robert Langer, the prolific inventor and biomedical engineering professor at MIT, has been involved in scores of startup biotechs. He agreed with Lehmann about the importance of nurturing younger scientists in academic settings, estimating that 400 of his former students and postdocs are now professors around the world. But “I don’t think it’s necessarily an either or,” said Langer, whose lab is located in the nonprofit Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. “I think what the Whitehead does is fantastic, but this is great too.” Langer said he just wants to see money going into cutting-edge research “that can save people’s lives.” Arena has set up shop in a neighborhood chockablock with nonprofit research institutes affiliated with universities. Among them are the Broad, the Whitehead, the Koch, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and the Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics. The new institute will be fueled by a group of investors that, in addition to Pagliuca, and Dell, founder of Dell Computer, include Michael Chambers, founder of life sciences manufacturer Aldevron; Jim Breyer, founder of venture firm Breyer Capital; and, Elisabeth DeLuca, the widow of Subway cofounder Fred DeLuca. Advertisement Robert Weisman can be reached at robert.weisman@globe.com. Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.

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I.R.S. to Begin Trial of Its Own Free Tax-Filing System

All those free options remain available, the I.R.S. said, and its test version will just be another option. But with the new direct file service, the I.R.S. aims to further streamline the filing process. In one possible scenario included in the agency’s report to Congress, the I.R.S. could fill out tax returns with information it already has, like data from W-2 wage statements. For the pilot, however, participants will have to enter their own financial information, the I.R.S. said. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ordered the I.R.S. to study direct filing. In May, the agency submitted a report to Congress that found a majority of taxpayers would be interested in using a direct-file tool, and it began preparing for a pilot test. In the report, the I.R.S. estimated that the annual cost of a direct-file system could range from $64 million to $249 million, depending on the scope of the service. (A separate report from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, however, said that the design of the surveys conducted in the earlier report might have “overstated” taxpayer interest and that the department couldn’t determine the “reasonableness” of the agency’s cost estimates.) The pilot system was built at the I.R.S. by a team of tax experts, product managers, software engineers, designers and data scientists, according to the agency. The I.R.S. said it was collaborating with special teams within the government that help agencies develop digital services. The I.R.S. says direct file will walk users through the steps of preparing a return, as commercial software does. The service will be “mobile friendly,” and available in English and Spanish. Users can get help from the agency via a live online chat function and will have the option to speak with a customer service representative on the phone if needed. In online summaries, the agency has said that to make sure the pilot works well, it will initially be opened to “a small group of taxpayers” during the 2024 filing season. As the season progresses, “more and more” eligible taxpayers will be able to use the service.

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Southampton crash shows how Eversource routes power around damage

SOUTHAMPTON — Power outages caused Tuesday night after a car hit a power pole on County Road illustrates how Eversource uses remote switching and remote circuit breakers — also called smart switches — that sense damage to the system and shut off power, so repairs can be made safely. On County Road in Southampton on Wednesday night after a car crashed into a utility pole, the remote devices shut power down to stop the flow of electricity, Eversource spokeswoman Priscilla Ress said today. About 3,000 customers lost power for about a minute. Then, Eversource system operators analyzed the damage, isolated the damaged area and restored as many customers as safely possible, even before crews arrived. Read more: Eversource builds ‘Rapid Pole’ fleet across New England to speed power restoration The system is designed in a loop scheme, allowing power to be rerouted, Ress said. Within another hour and a half, hundreds of other customers had the power restored as our crews arrived on the scene to further access the damage and make repairs. The remaining eight customers had power restored early this morning. The Southampton Police Department also reported that the road had been reopened this morning. Southampton police are not yet identifying the driver, said Chief Ian Illingsworth. Police arrived on the scene to find the car, the pole split in half and the downed wires, but no driver. There was blood, too, indicating an injury. A police dog and handler from neighboring Easthampton searched the woods, but no driver was found.

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Woman Rescued From Rubble in Japan Five Days After Deadly Quake

Police and other rescue workers pulled a woman in her 90s out from under a collapsed house on Saturday in western Japan, five days after a powerful earthquake struck the region, killing more than 126 people. Few details were available, but video footage showed a fleet of rescuers surrounding the site in Suzu, one of the hardest-hit villages. According to the Metropolitan Police Department cited by the Yomiuri newspaper, the woman appeared to be suffering from hypothermia but was responsive. The woman, who was not identified, had been trapped underground beneath the first floor of a two-story house. She was rescued around 8:20 p.m. and taken to the hospital, according to officials in the crisis management office of Ishikawa Prefecture, where Suzu is located.

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Why Clearing Clutter Can Feel Impossible

A camera pans around Abegael Milot’s bedroom. The floor is mostly invisible, hidden by piles of clothes. Four large plastic baskets are stacked on top of each other, some filled with laundry, others with electronics. There are eight abandoned cups of coffee on the desk and bedside table. On the floor lie two half-empty water bottles, a novelty bottle of tequila with a glass cactus inside, and a pet food dispenser. “Today we’re going to be cleaning my depression room,” the 24-year-old YouTube star, who posts videos as Abbe Lucia, tells the camera. “I fear that the only way that I will make myself clean this room is if I film it.” The term “depression room” is relatively new, popularized by videos on TikTok and YouTube that have accrued hundreds of millions of views. But experts have long recognized the link between messiness and mental health. The clutter that can accumulate when people are experiencing a mental health crisis is neither a form of hoarding, nor the result of laziness. The culprit is extreme fatigue, said N. Brad Schmidt, a distinguished research professor of psychology at Florida State University. People are “oftentimes just so mentally and physically exhausted that they don’t feel like they have the energy to take care of themselves or their surroundings,” Dr. Schmidt said. “They just don’t have the capacity to engage with housecleaning and upkeep that they probably once did.”

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Why Are Frogs and Other Amphibian Species Disappearing Worldwide? - The New York Times

We met the ecologist Karen Lips in Washington, D.C. One morning, she picked us up from a Metro station and took us to Shenandoah National Park, keen to show us a species of salamander. Dr. Lips describes herself as an amphibian forensic scientist. For decades, she has been researching the disappearance of amphibian species, and what she told us that day was shocking. As filmmakers, we’ve covered the extinction of species and other ecological issues in our work for years. Mammals, reptiles, insects, fish — much of the planet’s wild fauna is threatened with extinction. But no other vertebrate class is as threatened as amphibians. Herpetologists like Dr. Lips don’t just fear for individual species; they fear for the class Amphibia as a whole. No one else we had met and interviewed on this subject seemed to be as affected by it as Dr. Lips. To put it simply: Frogs, salamanders and all amphibians are her life. For her, their increasing disappearance from our planet is a personal drama.

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Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno tests positive for COVID-19

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

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Oprah Says She Is on a Weight Loss Drug and Done With the Shaming

In 1988, Oprah Winfrey tugged a red wagon filled with fat across the stage of her television show to represent the 67 pounds she said she had lost on a liquid diet. Just a few years later she renounced dieting, but her fluctuating weight and the bias she has experienced because of it have remained frequent topics of discussion for both Ms. Winfrey and the media in the decades since. Now, Ms. Winfrey, 69, has once again joined the discourse around diet, revealing on Wednesday that she had started taking a medication to manage her weight. Her announcement comes as demand has soared for new drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound that can help people lose weight, in part by suppressing appetite. “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she told People Magazine. Ms. Winfrey said she had decided to start taking a weight loss medicine after hosting a panel discussion, which she said had disabused her of the myth that weight hinges solely on a person’s self-control. “I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control,” said Ms. Winfrey, who did not name the drug she was taking. A representative for Ms. Winfrey did not respond to a request for comment.

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Highest court in Mass. nixes life without parole for adults under 21

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled Thursday that sentencing adults under 21 to life without the possibility of parole violates the state’s constitution. In addition to prohibiting judges from newly issuing such sentences, the 4-3 ruling in Commonwealth v. Sheldon Mattis makes it possible for people who were between the ages of 18 and 20 when they committed a crime that earned them a sentence of life without parole to litigate in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence. The legal logic behind the ruling A mandatory sentence of life without parole for minors was already prohibited as a result of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The following year, the Supreme Judicial Court took this a step further, ruling that sentencing a minor to life without parole in any circumstance violates Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights by inflicting a “cruel or unusual” punishment. In this new decision, the court considered whether the logic of its previous decision applies to “emerging adults,” or people aged 18, 19 or 20. Its conclusion was that it did, meaning that mandatory sentences of life without parole for people in this age range violate Article 26. Chief Justice Kimberly Budd wrote in the decision that the court looked to several Supreme Court decisions which indicated that “youth matters” when applying the U.S. Constitution’s 8th Amendment. The justices also considered the opinions of 23 retired Massachusetts judges, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and 17 neuroscientists, she wrote. “Advancements in scientific research have confirmed what many know well through experience: the brains of emerging adults are not fully mature,” Budd wrote. “Specifically, the scientific record strongly supports the contention that emerging adults have the same core neurological characteristics as juveniles have.” How the ruling will affect prisoners While Budd wrote that the judges considered how youth development plays into “diminished responsibility” for crimes, she also emphasized that the decision should not be construed to suggest that people who can now undergo resentencing under the decision should automatically be paroled. “By providing an opportunity for parole, we do not diminish the severity of the crime of murder in the first degree because it was committed by an emerging adult,” she wrote. According to WBUR, the decision makes Massachusetts the first state to eliminate mandatory life sentences without parole for people aged 18 to 20, and will affect an estimated 300 people. It is being touted as a major victory for criminal justice reform, The Boston Globe reported. “We know that a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old are simply not the same person by the time they’re 35. There’s an enormous amount of growth that happens and that you need to have another look,” Lael Chester, director of Columbia University’s Emerging Adult Justice Project, told the Globe. The case behind the ruling The case stems from Sheldon Mattis’ first-degree murder conviction in the death of 16-year-old Jaivon Blake, which resulted in a mandatory sentence of life without parole. According to the facts of the case laid out in the ruling, in 2011, when Mattis was 18, he handed a gun to his friend Nyasani Watt, who then shot Blake. Mattis was convicted under a legal theory known as “joint venture,” which holds that a person is guilty of a crime if they intentionally help someone commit that crime. According to The Boston Globe, Watt was also convicted of first-degree murder, but because Watt was days away from turning 18, he avoided a mandatory sentence of life without parole. The Supreme Judicial Court reviews all first-degree murder convictions in Massachusetts, and in 2020, it affirmed both convictions. But, the Globe reported, in that decision, the court questioned whether the discrepancy between Watt’s and Mattis’ sentences was constitutional. Mattis eventually appealed his sentence until his case was brought back up to the state’s highest court, the Globe reported. The court’s decision Thursday means that Mattis’ case will be sent back to a lower court for resentencing.

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Velis looks back on accomplishments during 2023 session (Letter)

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. As we head into the new year, I’ve been feeling grateful for what we were able to accomplish in 2023, and I look forward to what’s to come. As we end the year, my team’s schedule has been full of community celebrations of all the holidays. Tuesday morning, Team Velis visited Chicopee for the city’s second annual flag-raising ceremony to mark the first day of Kwanzaa, a truly special event that showcased the incredible culture of our community. Wishing a happy Kwanzaa to all who celebrate! This Thursday, I was honored to receive the Extreme Esteem Award from Self Esteem Boston, an organization that has a proven track record of helping Massachusetts residents through self-esteem education and training in technical skills. It’s been a true pleasure to support the organization in the Legislature and I am incredibly grateful to have received this award.

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Opinion | What No One at COP28 Wanted to Say Out Loud: Prepare for 1.5 Degrees

That came with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees Celsius,” published in 2018, which gave rise to the climate strikers and the protest group Extinction Rebellion and breathed oxygen into the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal. Even those concerned on the sidelines had a clearer sense of just how short the timeline really was: that to avoid really dangerous warming required cutting global emissions almost in half by 2030. We are now halfway through that period, and emissions are higher than they were when the report was published. The report also collated an entire scientific literature about the two warming levels, which has only grown since. Between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees, it is estimated, more than 150 million people would die prematurely from the air pollution produced by the burning of fossil fuel responsible for that level of warming. Around the world, flooding events that used to arrive once a century, typically marking local cultures or even whole civilizations for generations, would instead strike annually — and in some places more often than that. Going from 1.5 degrees to 2 degrees, most scientists believe, would be a death sentence for the world’s coral reefs. And many believe that, in that range, the planet will lock in the permanent loss of many of its ice sheets, which could bring, over centuries, enough sea level rise to redraw the world’s coastlines. If warming grows beyond those levels, so will its impacts. At 3 degrees, for instance, New York City could be hit by three 100-year flooding events each year and more than 50 times as many people in African cities would experience conditions of dangerous heat, as Bloomberg recently summarized. Wildfires would burn twice as much land globally, and the Amazon would cease to be a rainforest but a grassland. Potentially lethal heat stress, almost unheard of at 1.5 degrees, would become routine for billions at 2 degrees, according to one recent study, and above 3 degrees would impact places like the American Midwest. In some ways, these projections may sound like old news, but as we find ourselves now adjusting to the possibility of a future shaped by temperature rise of that kind, it may be clarifying to recall that, almost certainly, when you first heard those projections, you were horrified. The era of climate reckoning has also been, to some degree, a period of normalization, and while there are surely reasons to move past apocalyptic politics toward something more pragmatic, one cost is a loss of perspective at negotiated, technocratic events like these. Perhaps it was always somewhat fanciful to believe that it was possible to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But as the writer and activist Bill McKibben has recently suggested, simply stating the goal did a lot to shape action in the years that followed — including by demanding that we all look squarely at what the science told us about what it would mean to fail. Five years on, for all the progress that has been made, those stakes are still the stakes.

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Old Farmers Almanac makes prediction for White Christmas in Mass.

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

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Raw Oysters May Have Sickened 200 in Southern California, Officials Say

Gastrointestinal illnesses potentially linked to raw oysters sickened nearly 200 people, according to health officials in Southern California, who urged residents to take extra precautions with shellfish. The illnesses, recorded in Los Angeles County and San Diego, may be associated with oysters imported from a specific harvest in northwest Mexico. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement on Wednesday that there were “more than 150 suspected local cases of gastrointestinal illness linked to the consumption of raw oysters, likely caused by norovirus.” Officials there warned people to ask restaurants about where they sourced their oysters from, and to avoid eating oysters from Laguna De Guerrero Negro and Laguna Manuela in Baja California, Mexico, and from Bahia Salina in Sonora, Mexico. The department said it was still working to confirm the source of the illness.

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This Cake Maker Finds Beauty in Change, Time and Even Life and Death

A decade ago, Jasmine Rae de Lung, a San Francisco-based cake maker, wanted to test out some new decorating elements. She headed to Clement Street in the Richmond, a neighborhood with several Asian markets. Her haul that day included some rice paper sheets, typically used to form Vietnamese spring rolls. Back in her Mission District kitchen, de Lung realized the sheets wouldn’t work for draping on a cake; they became flimsy when wet and shrank and shattered when refrigerated. The diaphanous material offered greater potential, though, in detailing: Cut into pieces, dyed, dried and attached to wire, the rice paper resembled delicate flowers. But de Lung also learned the paper couldn’t be commanded; it curled and changed in unexpected ways. Instead, she had to create multiple versions and choose which ones worked best with the cake. “You have to let it be the beauty that it wants to form,” she said.

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Westfield Public Health Bulletin: Be informed, get vaccinated against COVID, flu

Winter solstice greetings! The shortest day and longest night of year celebrates the return of the light. Unfortunately, winter viruses are rampant during this month of many celebrations. As predicted, COVID-19 cases are increasing along with influenza, RSV, strep and many other respiratory illnesses. The newest coronavirus subvariant, JN.1, is rapidly spreading and becoming the most dominant variant. The World Health Organization has classified it as a “variant of interest.” To be a variant of interest it must have genetic changes that impact its characteristics and growing in a way that makes it a risk to global public health. To date there is no evidence of it causing more serious illness. The updated vaccine appears to be active against JN.1. Symptoms are similar to previous strains. Worse symptoms and outcomes are more dependent on a person’s immunity and overall health. The CDC reports emergency room visits, hospitalizations and death rates for COVID-19 cases are elevated nationally. In the Midwest emergency visits are increasing to last year’s surge numbers.

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Will Dyeing the Connecticut River Help Keep It Alive?

They are fighting back with an unlikely weapon: red tracer dye. The dye will not harm the hydrilla. Instead, it is meant as a test run for herbicides the scientists plan to put into the river next year. They will track how quickly it dissipates in specific areas to decide how much herbicide to use. Their goal is to find a sweet spot: enough herbicide to kill the hydrilla, but not enough to hurt native plants. “We’re using that dye as a surrogate to inform us using as little herbicide as possible,” said Benjamin Sperry, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center who specializes in aquatic plants. The scientists, many of whom work with the Army Corps of Engineers, sometimes start applying the dye before sunrise. It disperses quickly in the water, vanishing to the naked eye. But it leaves fluorescent traces that appear when scientists shine sensors into the water. At the same time, scientists are studying this new strain of hydrilla — considered genetically distinct from other varieties found in the U.S. — to understand its growth patterns.

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Westfield Public Health Bulletin: How to calm a cough

Are you still coughing? You are not alone. It seems everyone is coughing and coughing and coughing. With all the respiratory illnesses circulating, coughs are lingering. Cases of RSV, influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses are prevalent locally and throughout the country. Whooping cough (a highly contagious bacterial infection preventable by vaccine) cases have joined in. A cough occurs when an irritant stimulates nerves that send a message to your brain. The brain directs your chest and abdominal muscles to push air out your lungs to eliminate the irritant. Coughs are persisting for many reasons. People may have overlapping infections especially after holiday gatherings. Immunities are diminished after the pandemic. Vaccination rates are down. And of course, our society dictates that we just keep going even when we don’t feel well. Many have limited or no sick time and can’t afford to stay home or lose their job. An acute cough is defined as lasting for three weeks and is usually due to a viral illness. Most people expect to feel better within a week and this isn’t always realistic. Pneumonia is considered when symptoms include fever, chills, shortness of breath and purulent phlegm. A subacute cough lasts three to eight weeks. A post infectious subacute cough may be due to bacterial sinusitis, upper airway irritation and inflammation and postnasal drip. A chronic cough continues over eight weeks and may be caused by but not limited to asthma, medication, acid reflux, smoking, chronic bronchitis and other more serious etiologies. Acute illnesses can also exacerbate chronic conditions such as asthma and COPD.

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Skull of Ancient Sea Monster With Dagger-Like Teeth Discovered in England

In the spring of 2022, Philip Jacobs, an artist and fossil hunter, was walking along the Jurassic Coast in southern England when he came across a snout. It was about two feet long, complete with teeth, and appeared to have come from an ancient ocean predator known as a pliosaur. When crews returned days later with a drone, they found the snout had fallen from a cliff towering over the beach — embedded in the cliff was the rest of the skull. The more than six-foot-long fossil, with the skull intact and no bones missing, is the “discovery of a lifetime,” one expert said. “There are some special features in it that we haven’t seen on the previous ones that have been discovered,” Steve Etches, a paleontologist who has been collecting fossils for more than 40 years and was involved in the excavation, said by phone on Monday. “And it’s the most complete. So the whole skull is there, there are no bones missing.”

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Why Were Stuck in a Constant Cycle of Drug Shortages - The New York Times

When there is the potential for a shortage, drug manufacturers are required to notify the F.D.A. at least six months in advance or as soon as possible if less lead time is available. Upon being notified, the F.D.A. is supposed to identify and push for alternative sources of drug production, or it may temporarily lower standards on quality so drugs can be made available faster. But crucially, the F.D.A. cannot require manufacturers to produce drugs. Large hospital chains can readily monitor shortage risks and preemptively place large orders. This panic buying can wipe out inventory, and leave hospitals with fewer resources strapped since they may get notice of a drug shortage only when it’s too late. There is little penalty for over-ordering because unused drugs can often be returned. Some patients in dire need have to rely on nonprofits such as Angels for Change to coordinate with manufacturers, wholesalers and hospitals to secure small orders of emergency supply. The combination of quality issues and panic buying is precisely what has produced shortages of two major chemotherapy drugs, carboplatin and cisplatin. An F.D.A. inspection last year revealed poor manufacturing practices at a plant that produced these cancer drugs. The manufacturer, Intas Pharmaceuticals, quickly stopped production at the plant. Though there are other manufacturers, panic buying by health providers led to hugely inflated orders, intensifying the supply problem. The problem is that the generic drug system is built to be fragile. Manufacturers compete against one another for orders from price-conscious health care providers, cutting costs where they can to offer the lowest prices. This leads to a race to the bottom of minimum accepted standards, including a lack of investment in quality systems and limited redundancy. The F.D.A. has stringent quality standards but has limited reach and is pressured to allow for flexibility whenever there is a risk of shortage. Based on my own conversations in the industry, I find that health care providers and the group purchasing organizations that negotiate contracts on their behalf are generally unwilling to pay more for drugs made on higher quality manufacturing lines or spend money to hold adequate inventory buffers.

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3 dead in Nahant; authorities eye high carbon monoxide levels

Three people have died in a Nahant home with elevated levels of carbon monoxide, according to authorities. Police and fire personnel were sent to a house on Cottage Street Monday night to check on the people there, according to a press release from the North Shore town. They found the bodies of three adult family members as well as elevated carbon monoxide levels in the home, according to Police Chief Timothy Furlong and Fire Chief Austin Antrim. Authorities said foul play is not suspected and Furlong said in the release there is no danger to the community. People were asked last night around 10:45 p.m. to avoid the area while investigators, including the Nahant Police and Fire departments and State Police detectives assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office were on the scene. Cottage Street is a dead-end road with about five houses on it only a couple blocks away from Stony Beach and Nahant Bay, according to Google Maps. “Wonderful people — salt of the earth. Wonderful people. You wouldn’t get better people. Just wonderful. It’s shocking,” neighbor Ted Mahoney told WCVB.

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Garden Notes: Dec. 6, 2023

Upcoming Berkshire Botanical Garden programs STOCKBRIDGE – Berkshire Botanical Garden presents the following upcoming programs. Saturday, Dec. 16, 1 to 5 p.m. “Chainsaw Maintenance.” Come and learn 10 ways (at least) to keep your saw running efficiently and cutting great with Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll and Bear LeVangie. BYOS – Bring your own saw, tools, and PPE (and things you have questions about). Cost is $75 members, $90 nonmembers; Saturday, Dec. 16, 9 a.m. to noon, “Winter Tree Identification.” Learn how to identify species of trees and ID a tree by its bark on Dec. 16, 9 a.m. to noon. Come join in the journey of the magic of trees, starting with how to identify them in the landscape and forest settings. Led by certified arborists Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll and Tom Ingersoll. Cost $50 members, $65 nonmembers. To register or for more information, visit www.berkshirebotanical.org. Berkshire Botanical Garden is located at 5 West Stockbridge Road. Send items for Garden Notes to pmastriano@repub.com two weeks prior to publication.

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Earth Was Due for Another Year of Record Warmth. But This Warm?

Earth is finishing up its warmest year in the past 174 years, and very likely the past 125,000. Unyielding heat waves broiled Phoenix and Argentina. Wildfires raged across Canada. Flooding in Libya killed thousands. Wintertime ice cover in the dark seas around Antarctica was at unprecedented lows. This year’s global temperatures did not just beat prior records. They left them in the dust. From June through November, the mercury spent month after month soaring off the charts. December’s temperatures have largely remained above normal: Much of the Northeastern United States is expecting springlike conditions this week. That is why scientists are already sifting through evidence — from oceans, volcanic eruptions, even pollution from cargo ships — to see whether this year might reveal something new about the climate and what we are doing to it.

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Subbing plant-based milk for dairy options is a healthy decision

Re “Cow. Almond. Oat. Hemp. Oat. Flaxseed. Pea, even! Which milk to choose?” (Food, Dec. 20): As a dietitian, I recommend fighting heart disease, breast and prostate cancers, and other health conditions by choosing a plant milk instead of dairy milk. A review I co-authored last year looks at the health implications of plant and animal milks. Dairy milk contains more fat and saturated fat than most plant milks. The review cites a meta-analysis showing that higher milk consumption is associated with a greater risk of death from heart disease. Research shows that replacing dairy fat with vegetable fats or high-quality carbohydrates, such as whole grains, can help reduce heart disease risk. Cow’s milk also contains estrogens and increases insulin-like growth factor 1 levels, which are hormones linked to breast and prostate cancers, while soy milk contains isoflavones, which are associated with reductions in both prostate and breast cancer risk.

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In Tokyo, Rescuing the Residential Spaceship That Fell to Earth

In 1972, residents of Tokyo looked up to see something extraordinary looming over downtown. It looked like something out of a science-fiction film — a futuristic tower composed of 140 detachable capsules, each suitable for a single resident and with a porthole looking out, like a pile of eyes fixed on the city. With its modular design and minimal aesthetics, the 13-story Nakagin Capsule Tower was a marvel of 20th-century design intended to express a postwar Japanese theory of architecture as a living organism. Metabolism, as explained by the architect Kisho Kurokawa, who designed the tower, envisioned cities and buildings with modular parts that could be attached and detached as needed, just as some organisms grow new appendages. “If you replace the capsules every 25 years, it could last 200 years,” Kurokawa said in an interview in 2007, the year he died. “It’s recyclable. I designed it as sustainable architecture.”

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Most money for endangered species goes to a small number of creatures, leaving others in limbo

Politics Most money for endangered species goes to a small number of creatures, leaving others in limbo Of the roughly $1.2 billion a year spent on endangered and threatened species, about half goes toward the recovery of just two types of fish. This image released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a flower from a shrub known as marrón bacora on March 21, 2021. The flowering shrub, found in dry forests on St. John’s, Virgin Islands, is threatened by predation, invasive species, urban sprawl, and climate change. (USFWS via AP) AP BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act 50 years ago, more than 1,700 plants, mammals, fish, insects, and other species in the U.S. have been listed as threatened or endangered with extinction. Yet federal government data reveals striking disparities in how much money is allocated to save various biological kingdoms. Of the roughly $1.2 billion a year spent on endangered and threatened species, about half goes toward the recovery of just two types of fish: salmon and steelhead trout along the West Coast. Tens of millions of dollars go to other widely known animals, including manatees, right whales, grizzly bears, and spotted owls. Advertisement: But the large sums directed toward a handful of species means others have gone neglected, in some cases for decades, as they teeter on potential extinction. At the bottom of the spending list is the tiny Virginia fringed mountain snail, which had $100 spent on its behalf in 2020, according to the most recent data available. The underground-dwelling snail has been seen only once in the past 35 years, according to government records, yet it remains a step ahead of more than 200 imperiled plants, animals, fish and other creatures that had nothing spent on their behalf. With climate change increasing threats to organisms around the planet and adding to the number that qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act, government officials are struggling in many cases to execute recovery actions required under the law. Some scientists even argue for spending less on costly efforts that may not work and putting the money toward species with less expensive recovery plans that have languished. “For a tiny fraction of the budget going to spotted owls, we could save whole species of cacti that are less charismatic but have an order of magnitude smaller budget,” said Leah Gerber, a professor of conservation science at Arizona State University. Advertisement: An Associated Press analysis of 2020 data found fish got 67% of the spending, the majority for several dozen salmon and steelhead populations in California, Oregon and Washington. Mammals were a distant second with 7% of spending and birds had about 5%. Insects received just 0.5% of the money and plants about 2%. Not included in those percentages is money divided among multiple species. Species drawing no spending at all included stoneflies threatened by climate change in Montana’s Glacier National Park, the stocky California tiger salamander that has lost ground to development and flowering plants such as the scrub lupine around Orlando, Florida, where native habitat has been converted for theme parks. Such spending inequities are longstanding and reflect a combination of biological realities and political pressures. Restoring salmon and steelhead populations is expensive because they are widespread and hemmed in by massive hydroelectric dams. They also have a broad political constituency with Native American tribes and commercial fishing interests that want fisheries restored. Congress, over decades, has sent massive sums of money to agencies such as the Bonneville Power Administration that operate dams along rivers the fish once traveled up to spawn. The money pays for fish ladders around dams, habitat restoration projects, monitoring by scientists and other needs. Advertisement: More than half the species protected under the Endangered Species Act are plants, but the entire plant kingdom was almost excluded from the landmark conservation law when it was adopted in 1973, according to the Congressional Record and Faith Campbell, who interviewed people involved in the bill’s passage for a 1988 study published in the Pace Environmental Law Review. Plants initially were left out when the measure passed the Senate, with opposition led by influential Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. They were added back at the 11th hour following a push by botanists from the Smithsonian Institution and Lee Talbot, a senior scientist at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, according to Campbell. Botanists at the time proposed more than 2,500 plants as threatened with future extinction. However, most failed to get protections because federal officials failed to act prior to a Congressional deadline. Today, more than 900 trees, ferns, flowers, and other flora are protected. Combined, they received about $26 million in 2020. “In terms of numbers, they’re catching up, but as far as money and attention, they’re still not getting their share,” said Campbell, a longtime environmental advocate who now works at the Center for Invasive Species Prevention. “The threats are serious, they’re the same as the threats to animals. Yet they don’t have the political clout of, say, a couple dozen of the big animal species that attract favorable attention or get in people’s way.” Most plants receive less money than recommended under their recovery plans, according to Gerber and others. Researchers say that has direct consequences: species tend to decline when allocated less funding than needed, while they have a higher chance of recovery when receiving enough money. Advertisement: Gerber has suggested redirecting some money from species getting more than their recovery plans seek — the bull trout, the gopher tortoise and the Northern spotted owl among them — to those receiving little or none. Her ideas have stirred pushback from some conservationists. Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark said debating how to allocate scarce resources for rescuing endangered species is a distraction. “The issue is not where the money is spent,” said Clark, now president of Defenders of Wildlife. “The issue is that there isn’t nearly enough of it.” Gerber said she doesn’t want to let anything go extinct but that a strategic approach is needed with the shortage of resources. “Unfortunately, the clock is ticking,” she added. “We need to take action.” Wildlife officials say they are trying to do just that with money for endangered species in the climate law signed last year by President Joe Biden. It included $62.5 million officials said will allow them to hire biologists to craft recovery plans to guide future conservation work, initially for 32 species and for as many as 300 over coming years. Among them are a colorful fish known as the candy darter that lives in rivers in the southeastern U.S., a flowering shrub from the Virgin Islands called marron bacora, the Panama City crayfish of Florida and the pocket-sized Stephens’ kangaroo rat in southern California. The extra money is intended to provide some relief after the agency’s environmental review staff fell 20% over the past two decades, even while new species were listed, according to officials. Increased funding is especially important because more than half the agency’s existing recovery plans are more than two decades old, according to Lindsay Rosa, vice president for conservation research at Defenders of Wildlife. Advertisement: Also in the law was $5.1 million for recovery projects that could benefit hundreds of species from four groups that officials said have historically been underfunded: Hawaii and Pacific island plants, butterflies and moths, freshwater mussels and desert fish in the southwestern U.S. “Each of these species are part of this larger web of life,” Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in an interview. “They’re all important.” Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan. Data journalist Nicky Forster contributed to this story from New York. Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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How to See Californias Spectacular Monarch Butterflies

The monarch butterflies that come each year to California are, in a word, spellbinding. Up and down the state, thousands of butterflies shelter in eucalyptus trees in clumps resembling enormous twitching beehives. Their wings appear dull when folded, allowing them to mostly blend in with the leaves. But now and then, as I was lucky enough to witness recently, a single butterfly will erupt in a spasm of orange and black as it flutters overhead, revealing its miniature stained-glass-window wings that make the species so beloved. The monarchs are a spectacular sight, and their arrival is a longstanding California holiday tradition. Beginning in October, populations of monarchs that live west of the Rocky Mountains start arriving in California to breed and wait out the winter, and then head back inland in the early spring. The journey each way takes many weeks — longer than the life span of an adult butterfly — so several generations will live and die along the way. (East of the Rockies, monarch populations make a similar migration southward to Mexico and Florida every autumn.)

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Three locations in Springfield water system test high for possible carcinogen

SPRINGFIELD — Three of the eight locations across the city’s water system tested in December show elevated levels of possible carcinogens haloacetic acids, according to the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are chemical byproducts that appear when water disinfectants like chlorine react with naturally occurring chemicals in the water. The state Department of Environmental Protection has said children and pregnant people could be more susceptible to their effects. While saying the elevated levels do not constitute an emergency, the commission issued a notice that it violated drinking water standards on Jan. 5. While the standards say a testing location cannot average more than 60 parts per billion of haloacetic acids in a year, three of the eight sample locations tested over the maximum contaminant level for the byproducts: North Main Fire Station at 62 parts per billion, 1043 Sumner Ave. with 63 parts per billion, and Catalina Pump Station at 66 parts per billion. The Fire Station is located in Springfield’s North End and Catalina Pump Station is in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood. In a press release, the commission said the public had little to worry about: “The exceedance was not an immediate health hazard and customers may continue consuming and using their water as normal,” it said. However, the commission’s notification of the violation states: “Some people who drink water containing haloacetic acids in excess of the (maximum contaminant level) over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.” The commission first exceeded the standards for haloacetic acid in December 2018. The current drinking water treatment plant was most recently updated in 1974 and is unable to maintain levels of natural organic matter to the extent necessary to meet disinfection byproduct regulations, the commission has said. A new plant is currently being constructed and is due to be completed in 2028. Studies have found that haloacetic acids are possible carcinogens and can pose harmful effects on the liver, kidneys, and reproductive system and on development, but the severity of the effects is unknown, according to MassDEP. In its press release, the commission did not directly state the increased risk that people who are pregnant and nursing and infant children face from consuming haloacetic acids. Instead, it included a link to MassDEP’s “Haloacetic Acids In Drinking Water Information for Consumers” fact sheet, where the dangers to the above populations are listed. The commission did mention the risks in its public notification of violation, which could be found in a link on a rotating banner on the front page of its website. Katie Shea, spokesperson for the commission, said the commission uses the press release as an addition to the notification. “Some of the language in the public notification is required language from MassDEP and then our press release is just supplemental information for us to have the opportunity to explain what the commission is doing to address (disinfection byproducts) and permanently resolve the issue,” Shea said. The commission’s notification, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommends “nursing mothers continue to breastfeed their babies because of the numerous protective health benefits, despite the potential presence of environmental contaminants.” It also states that bottled water is a viable option for pregnant people and those caring for young children who are concerned about the health risks associated with tap water.

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Biden Administration Announces Rule to Cut Millions of Tons of Methane Emissions

But the vice president, who was a late addition to the summit after Mr. Biden decided to skip it, highlighted what she said was nearly $1 trillion in new spending approved under the Biden administration for clean energy and climate efforts. She pushed for world leaders to go even further. “We must have the ambition to meet this moment, to accelerate our investments and to lead with courage and conviction,” she said. While many activists at the summit welcomed the methane announcement, they criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to end the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The United States has seen a surge in domestic oil production over the past year, and Mr. Biden has approved some new drilling leases that have drawn criticism from environmental groups. “To keep global warming under internationally agreed limits, we need a fair, fast and funded phaseout of fossil fuels,” Lorne Stockman, a research director of the environmental group Oil Change International, said in a statement after the announcement. “So far, none of the methane actions announced by the U.S., the world’s largest oil and gas producer, meet the bar.”

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What Happens to My Body During Dry January?

Q: What are the health effects of Dry January? Can cutting back on alcohol for a month have long-term benefits? Champagne, eggnog, mulled wine — for many, the holiday season is a time for celebration, which typically involves copious amounts of alcohol. So it’s no surprise that an estimated 15 to 19 percent of U.S. adults in recent years have pledged to participate in Dry January, or “Drynuary,” in an effort to atone for their December choices and, hopefully, slightly unpickle their livers. There’s been little research into what, exactly, a month off alcohol can do for your health. And the benefits will depend on how much and how frequently you drank before, said Danielle Dick, a professor and director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center.

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Sign Up for Wells Mediterranean Diet Week

When we published an article on the merits of the Mediterranean diet last year, the reader response was overwhelming — and for good reason. The Mediterranean diet is an approach to eating with health benefits backed by decades of research. It has been linked to reduced risks for cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline and certain types of cancer. And unlike many other popular diets, it’s not a restrictive program, but more of a “lifestyle,” as one expert put it, that emphasizes whole, mostly plant-based foods. We have since heard from many readers who wanted to know exactly how to get started. What foods should you buy? Which recipes are best? And what does a day of eating on the Mediterranean diet look like? We’re here to help.

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Effort to produce a blight-resistant American chestnut fails, but local efforts continue

GRANVILLE – While The American Chestnut Foundation recently announced an effort to produce a transgenic blight-resistant American chestnut was a failure, two orchards in Granville continue on the quest to restore the tree once known as the “redwood of the east” for its massive size. “Is it a setback? Yes, but we’re not sure yet how much of a setback it is,” said John Meiklejohn, who is a volunteer orchard manager in Granville at one of the 37 research orchards established by the Massachusetts-Rhode Island Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation.

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What the Japan Airlines and Alaska Airlines Incidents Tell Us About Airline Safety - The New York Times

It was only when I attempted to make small talk with my visibly squirming seatmate on a Raleigh-Durham to New York flight that I realized it was me causing that look of horror on his face, rather than the slight turbulence we had been experiencing since takeoff. A friendly chat, I had thought, might help distract him from flight anxiety. But then I noticed his eyes — wide with fear — were fixed on my computer screen, which displayed an investigative report on an airplane crash I had been reading. I slammed the laptop shut, stammered an apology and mumbled about how these detailed crash reports were, in fact, highly comforting, and it had just slipped my mind where I was, and it hadn’t been my intention to spread worry … Well, never mind. But it’s true. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation report reads like a how-to book for pulling off miracles and achieving seemingly incredible levels of safety. These reports renew one’s faith in what humanity can achieve if we apply our brainpower and resources to it. But they also remind us that, much like liberty, these exceptional levels of commercial airline safety require eternal vigilance against the usual foes: greed, negligence, failure to adapt, complacency, revolving doors at regulatory agencies and so on.

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Families of Hostages in Gaza Are Desperate for Proof of Life

“We share the frustration. We understand the pain,” said Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the Red Cross. “We’re not bulletproof, and it’s not possible for us to walk into a conflict zone in hostile territory without permission — to walk up to a group of people, most certainly holding guns that they will use, and demand that they let us inside. It’s not possible.” The Red Cross has about 130 employees in Gaza, he said, giving it some ability to deliver humanitarian aid and to visit the scenes of destruction from the war. But even with that access, meeting with the hostages requires an agreement with Hamas. Mr. Straziuso said Red Cross officials were talking to Hamas, Israel, the United States and other nations about the condition of the hostages. But those talks have been shrouded in secrecy. In a statement on Monday, the Red Cross said the group is “insisting that our teams be allowed to visit the hostages to check on their welfare,” but added that “the I.C.R.C. does not take part in negotiations leading to the release of hostages. As a neutral humanitarian intermediary, we remain ready to facilitate any future release that the parties to the conflict agree to.” Separate discussions about a possible release of some hostages are being conducted through intermediaries, with Israel and the United States communicating with Hamas only by way of messages passed back and forth by negotiators in Egypt and Qatar. A leader of Hamas said in October that not all of the Israeli hostages who were taken to Gaza were being held by the group, a claim that most likely complicates negotiations for their release. Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Lebanon, said other groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a separate organization that is an ally of Hamas, were also holding some of the hostages. In late October, Israeli forces rescued one hostage, and four others were released by Hamas about a week earlier. But there have been no further breakthroughs. Warring nations have blocked the Red Cross from visiting hostages or prisoners of war in previous conflicts. In 2022, eight months into the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Red Cross still had little access to prisoners held by either side. In a statement at the time, the group wrote that “blaming the I.C.R.C. for being denied full and immediate access does not help prisoners of war or their families.” But the fact that there is no definitive playbook in the case of hostages during wartime, no exact timing for reporting about whether they are dead or alive leaves the family members with little to hold on to as the days slowly pass. Liz Hirsh Naftali, the great-aunt of Abigail Idan, recounted on NBC News how the 3-year-old Abigail watched on Oct. 7 as Hamas fighters shot and killed her mother and ran with her father and two siblings. “Abigail was in her father’s arms,” Ms. Naftali said on “NBC Nightly News” with Lester Holt. “And as they ran, a terrorist shot him and killed him, and he fell onto Abigail.” She added, “We learned that Abigail actually had crawled out from under her father’s body and, full of his blood, went to a neighbor, and they took her in.” Hamas later seized the neighbor, her three children and Abigail, Ms. Naftali said. Rachel Goldberg, who is married to Mr. Polin, and other family members have said they have no idea when — or whether — they will discover anything definitive about their loved ones. Ms. Goldberg detailed the grief of a mother who has no idea if her son is alive “or if you died yesterday, or if you died five minutes ago.” (In 2004, before moving to Israel, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg’s son, Hersh, attended the same preschool as my children in Richmond, Va.) Inside Israel, where the faces of the hostages are plastered everywhere on posters that proclaim them “KIDNAPPED,” activists have mounted an aggressive campaign to demand swifter action from the Red Cross.

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science

Im Often Wide Awake at 3 A.M. How Do I Get Back to Sleep?

It’s normal to wake up a few times during the night, as the brain cycles through various stages of deeper and lighter sleep. Older people also often have to get out of bed to use the bathroom one or two times during the night. Waking up at night is usually harmless. Most people have no trouble falling back asleep and may not even remember their nighttime awakenings the next morning. But if you frequently wake up in the middle of the night and find yourself struggling to fall back asleep, there could be an underlying problem. If this occurs at least three times a week over a period of at least three months, it could be chronic insomnia, said Dr. Kannan Ramar, a sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Two of the primary drivers of insomnia are stress and anxiety. If you wake up and look at the clock and then start worrying about having to be rested for work the next day, paying your bills or other life stresses, it could activate your sympathetic nervous system, which controls what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. Levels of adrenaline, the so-called stress hormone, will rise, increasing your heart rate and leading to a state of heightened arousal, making it particularly difficult to ease back into sleep. “You might ask yourself, ‘Is this the same time I woke up last night? Why does this always happen?’” Dr. Ramar said. “Those thoughts are not helpful in terms of falling back asleep.”

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science

Opinion | A Terrible Phone Call and What Came Next

Early on the morning of Friday, Nov. 10, my phone rang with terrible news: My wife, Nancy, has a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. Even as I type these words, I know there are countless readers who know the exact sensation. Either they’ve received a similar diagnosis or they love someone who has. And each of those readers knows the surreal feeling of having your life change instantly. Nancy and I lived in one reality before the phone call and another reality afterward. It’s like the difference between peace and war. In peacetime, you can dream and plan. True joy may be elusive, but it seems like an attainable goal. In wartime, you dig deep. You fight. And the goal is not joy but survival itself. Peace has its many challenges, but war is emotionally shattering. The fight is so very hard and can feel unending. Imagine how much harder that fight, any fight, would be if you fought it alone. But ever since the deep darkness of that November phone call, Nancy and I have experienced countless bursts of light shining through, each one coming through the love and care from other people. My son immediately decided to give up his final quarter of in-person college and take his last classes online, so that he could move across the country back home to help his mom. Our church small group immediately started organizing meals. My friends from college raked our leaves so that I could sit with Nancy in chemotherapy. My fantasy baseball league collected funds for wigs.

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science

Whats in a Name? The Battle of Baby T. Rex and Nanotyrannus.

When fossil hunters unearthed the remains of a dinosaur from the hills of eastern Montana five years ago, they carried several key characteristics of a Tyrannosaurus rex: a pair of giant legs for walking, a much smaller pair of arms for slashing prey, and a long tail stretching behind it. But unlike a full-grown T. rex, which would be about the size of a city bus, this dinosaur was more like the size of a pickup truck. The specimen, which is now listed for sale for $20 million at an art gallery in London, raises a question that has come to obsess paleontologists: Is it simply a young T. rex who died before reaching maturity, or does it represent a different but related species of dinosaur known as a Nanotyrannus? The dispute has produced reams of scientific research and decades of debate, polarizing paleontologists along the way. Now, with dinosaur fossils increasingly fetching eye-popping prices at auction, the once-esoteric dispute has begun to ripple through auction houses and galleries, where some see the T. rex name as a valuable brand that can more easily command high prices.

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science

A Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance

How much does it cost? In 2023, a 60-year-old man buying a $165,000 policy would typically pay about $2,585 annually for a policy that grew at 3 percent a year to take inflation into account, according to a survey by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, a nonprofit that tracks insurance rates. A woman of the same age would pay $4,450 for the same policy because women tend to live longer and are more likely to use it. The higher the inflation adjustment, the more the policy will cost. If a company has been paying out more than it anticipated, it’s more likely to raise rates. Companies need the approval of your state’s regulators, so you should find out if the insurer is asking the state insurance department to increase rates for the next few years — and if so, by how much — since companies can’t raise premiums without permission. You can find contacts for your state’s insurance department through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ directory. Should I buy it? It’s probably not worth the cost if you don’t own your home or have a significant amount of money saved and won’t have a sizable pension beyond Social Security. If that describes you, you’ll probably qualify for Medicaid once you spend what you have. But insurance may be worth it if the value of all your savings and possessions excluding your primary home is at least $75,000, according to a consumers’ guide from the insurance commissioners’ association. Even if you have savings and valuable things that you can sell, you should think about whether you can afford the premiums. While insurers can’t cancel a policy once they’ve sold it to you, they can — and often do — raise the premium rate each year. The insurance commissioners’ group says you probably should consider coverage only if it’s less than 7 percent of your current income and if you can still pay it without pain if the premium were raised by 25 percent. Many insurers are selling hybrid policies that combine life insurance and long-term care insurance. Those are popular because if you don’t use the long-term care benefit, the policy pays out to a beneficiary after you die. But compared with long-term care policies, hybrid policies “are even more expensive, and the coverage is not great,” said Howard Bedlin, government relations and advocacy principal at the National Council on Aging.

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Princess of Wales to Be Hospitalized for 10 Days After Abdominal Surgery

Two of the most senior members of Britain’s royal family have been hit by health concerns, with Catherine, the Princess of Wales and the wife of Prince William, undergoing abdominal surgery in London on Tuesday, while King Charles III will receive treatment for an enlarged prostate next week. Catherine will be hospitalized for 10 to 14 days, according to the couple’s office in Kensington Palace, and will convalesce for two to three months after that. The king’s recovery is expected to be swifter, according to Buckingham Palace, which described his treatment as a “corrective procedure” for a common, benign condition. Kensington Palace did not offer details on Catherine’s diagnosis or prognosis, other than to say that the surgery had been planned and was successful, and that her condition was “not cancerous.” It said the princess, who is 42, would recuperate at home after she left the hospital and would not return to public duties until after Easter. “Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales was admitted to the London Clinic yesterday for planned abdominal surgery,” Kensington Palace said in a four-paragraph news release. It added: “She hopes the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

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Springfield Technical Community College receives $791,000 grant to improve energy efficiency

SPRINGFIELD – Springfield Technical Community College will use $791,694 in state money to replace windows and doors, weatherize buildings and make other improvements to reduce use of fossil fuels. The money comes from Fair Share funds, generated from a 4% surcharge on income from people who earn more than $1 million annually. Spending is earmarked to pay for education, public transportation and to repair roads and bridges. The state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance provided $11,875,404 to be divided among the 15 community colleges. Each received $791,694 to help them meet Massachusetts’ decarbonization goals and advance energy-efficiency. “Combating climate change and securing resources for environmental justice communities continues to be a priority of mine for my district and our commonwealth,” said Sen. Adam Gomez, D-Springfield. He said the grant will help the state meet the net zero carbon goals it set in 2021. Gomez joined with Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in announcing the grant. The college will also use the money to catch up on deferred maintenance, officials said.

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Newton approves pared-down zoning plan to increase housing production

While Newton City Council approved a sweeping zoning change Monday meant to increase housing production in its village centers, some councilors say changes to the plan to reduce its scope means the city is still not doing enough to address its housing crisis. The new zoning ordinance will allow multifamily housing by right in certain areas in Newton’s village centers, and will increase the height restrictions for buildings in those areas. While the city’s plan goes above the requirements of a new state law that forced Newton to make the changes which had been discussed for a few years, it is a scaled-back version of the original proposal brought to the City Council, and was seen by many as a necessary compromise. “There is a lot that’s good in this. It is beginning to restore what was allowed in this city ... up until 1987 (when Newton passed more restrictive zoning),” said Councilor Deborah Crossley, who leads the Zoning and Planning Committee, at Monday’s meeting. “In our time, where we have this serious housing crisis and we have this existential climate crisis, it has become necessary for us as a community, as a commonwealth, as a nation to understand how our development patterns have strangled us. ... I don’t know why it had to take almost three years to do a better plan, a much better plan, in order to get this piece of it, but I’m very pleased that we’re getting the piece of it.” Read more: Opposing groups with same name cause confusion in Newton housing debate The MBTA Communities Act passed in 2021 requires Newton, as well as 176 other municipalities served by the MBTA, to have at least one zoning area near public transit where multifamily housing is allowed by right. The plan is estimated to allow for 8,745 new housing units to be built, 415 above the 8,330 required by the state, although there is no guarantee that any housing will be developed in these areas. Newton’s new ordinance, known as the Village Center Overlay District (VCOD), will be submitted to the state for approval as its plan for complying with the law before its end-of-year deadline. While state approval is needed for the city’s compliance with the MBTA Communities Act, the ordinance will still go into effect regardless of the state decision. Newton, which has 13 village centers rather than one downtown, designed the VCOD to allow multifamily housing in these centers, despite strongly voiced opposition from some residents. The original proposal would have targeted all 13 village centers, but the final plan passed Monday focuses only on six, Newton Centre, Newton Highlands, Waban, West Newton, Newtonville and Auburndale, encompassing just over 3% of the city’s total land area. Buildings covered by the overlay district will be limited to 3.5 or 4.5 stories, depending on the area. Developments that have at least 50% affordable units will be allowed to add an additional story. Some councilors expressed concerns that the high percentage would prevent affordable developments from being economically feasible. Councilor Alicia Bowman pointed out that affordable housing advocates had recommended projects with 35% affordability be allowed two additional stories and those with 25% affordability be allowed one extra story. “Nonprofit developers of affordable housing said, ‘This is what would make it possible for us to build to increase the amount of affordability in units,” she said. “The nonprofit developers can still and will still hopefully propose a project or two or three in the city in the coming years for 100% affordability, but going to 50% is definitely going to take out the for-profit developers.” One major concern from proponents of the VCOD was the inclusion of the village of Auburndale, which some had suggested removing from the plan. An MBTA commuter rail station there is slated for major upgrades in the next few years, and the estimated $170 million project hinges on state funding that could have been taken away if more housing was not allowed there. “The state has made clear that housing is their No. 1 priority, so it was made clear to us that if we don’t rezone in and around Auburndale, the Healey administration will lower that area on their prioritization list,” said Councilor Joshua Krintzman. “I’m not willing to give up the transportation infrastructure upgrades along the commuter rail and I don’t want to gamble with other people’s use of the commuter rail.” Advocates for the proposal celebrated the decision on Tuesday, saying that it was a step forward for the city. “Given a decades-long history of exclusionary zoning and the sad fact that multi-family housing has been the third rail of Newton politics for decades, this is an advancement worth celebrating,” wrote Charles River Chamber CEO Greg Reibman in an email to Chamber members. “Newton will be a better, more welcoming and more economically vibrant city because of it.” The Newton For Everyone Coalition, a group formed to support the VCOD proposal, said in a statement that its passage was “the most significant zoning update in decades.” Read more: Brookline OKs home rule petition to bring back rent control in town “These environmentally responsible reforms will build village vitality and support our businesses. They are the result of three years of public outreach, analysis, debate, and compromise,” the group said. “There is still more to be done to bring housing opportunities and economic development to the additional six villages not included in the new zoning.” Still, not everyone was happy with the vote. Councilor Alison Leary, who along with Councilor Brenda Noel were the only dissenting votes due to their disappointment with the amendments curbing the ordinance’s scope (Councilor Holly Ryan was absent for the vote), said she hoped the council would revisit and expand the VCOD in its next term. “What we’ve done is essentially eviscerated our work in the last three years,” Leary said. “We’ve undercut so much and given up so much that very little, I think, will get built.”

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Vision 2040: Transportation is a vital component in towns future

SOUTHWICK — During the two-year process of drafting the town’s Master Plan, called Vision 2040, to help guide the decisions elected and appointed town officials make to chart a successful future for the town, the Master Plan Advisory Committee made two strategy recommendations to improve transportation throughout town. To develop the strategies it eventually recommended, the committee first looked at current conditions, trends, and issues and opportunities to identify deficiencies in the transportation system. The town has a mix of rural, suburban and commercial uses within its boundaries. Most commercial uses are located on Route 202 and along Route 57 to the east of Route 202. Southwick’s road network consists of 90 miles of roadways of which Southwick is responsible for maintaining 82% or 73.7 miles, according to the plan.