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Boston City Council weighing vote on police contract

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

The city’s new police contract opens the door for civilian flaggers to take on paid detail assignments, now held exclusively by BPD officers, but officials indicated that those lucrative roles will likely go to retired police officers.The five-year collective bargaining agreement, discussed at a Tuesday City Council hearing and up for a potential vote on Wednesday, includes a number of reforms around paid details, including prioritizing assignments for events with the greatest risk to public safety and boosting stipends to attract more coverage.One of the more notable reforms, a union concession that has drawn past opposition from the president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and support from progressive politicians and community members, would allow non-police officers to take on paid detail assignments for the first time.“We want to implement that as soon as possible,” said Lou Mandarini, labor advisor to Mayor Michelle Wu. “The goal was to end the monopoly on who cou...

Nikki Haley gets N.H. Gov. Sununu’s endorsement — will it be enough?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. — After months of political courtship evenly spread between all of the non-Trump presidential candidates touring the state, New Hampshire’s governor has finally broken his silence on the matter and announced he’s all in on Nikki Haley.Since the start of the 2024 election cycle, Gov. Chris Sununu has played coy over who he might eventually endorse for the party’s nomination, often making appearances at campaign stops alongside Haley, or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and then prevaricating when asked if his presence at any particular event was indicative of his endorsement.On Tuesday, the governor removed all doubt.“You bet your ass I am, we are all in on Nikki Haley,” he said. “When you look at her poll numbers, when you look at the ground game that Nikki has laid, it’s been absolutely unbelievable.”Sununu’s vote of confidence comes as Haley surges in early-state polls, pulling past both DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswam...

Chicago Bulls announce the creation of a Ring of Honor and will celebrate the inaugural 13-person class in January

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson and 11 other legendary Chicago Bulls players, coaches and executives will be honored in January as the team celebrates its history with the creation of a Ring of Honor.The Bulls announced the inaugural class Tuesday. In addition to Jordan and Jackson, it includes Artis Gilmore, Johnny “Red” Kerr, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Toni Kukoč, Bob Love, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker and Tex Winter.The entire 1995-96 team — which went 72-10 on its way to the NBA championship, the Bulls’ fourth of six titles in an eight-year span — also will be inducted into the Ring of Honor. That includes players Jordan, Kukoč, Pippen, Rodman, Randy Brown, Jud Buechler, Jason Caffey, James Edwards, Jack Haley, Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley, John Salley, Dickey Simpkins and Bill Wennington; coaches Jackson, Winter, Jim Cleamons, Erik Helland, John Paxson and Jimmy Rodgers; and front-office members Krause, Ivica...

Argentina sharply devalues its currency and cuts subsidies as part of shock economic measures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

By DÉBORA REY (Associated Press)BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina on Tuesday announced a sharp devaluation of its currency and cuts to energy and transportation subsidies as part of shock measures new President Javier Milei says are needed to deal with an economic emergency.Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a televised message the Argentine peso will be devalued by 50% to 800 to the U.S. dollar from 400 pesos to the dollar. “For a few months, we’re going to be worse than before,” Milei said, two days after the libertarian was sworn in as president of the second largest economy in South America and immediately warned of tough measures.Milei said the country didn’t have time to consider other alternatives. Argentina is suffering 143% annual inflation, its currency has plunged and four in 10 Argentines are impoverished. The nation has also a yawning fiscal deficit, a trade deficit of $43 billion, plus a daunting $45 billion debt to the Inter...

SDPD sergeant shot in head in shootout identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Police Officers Association has released the name of the San Diego police sergeant who was shot in the head last week during a shootout in 4S Ranch.Sgt. Anthony Elliott, a husband and father of two children, was critically injured Friday in the shooting. As of Monday, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said he remains in stable condition.The shooting happened when authorities were alerted about a possible stolen vehicle suspect, who also had an unserved Emergency Protection Order against him tied to a prior domestic violence incident. The suspect, identified as 46-year-old Curtis Harris, was located in the parking lot of a shopping plaza in the 10500 block of 4S Common Drive, a short distance away from the home of the victim in the protective order signed by a judge, per SDSO.When officers tried to contact Harris, he ran to the outside of the Ralph's grocery store and began firing multiple rounds at officers, according to law enforcement. Pedestri...

Novelist’s book is canceled after she acknowledges ‘review bombs’ of other writers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A debut author who used fake accounts to “review bomb” other writers on the influential online platform Goodreads has been dropped by her agent and had her book deal cancelled.Cait Corrain’s novel “Crown of Starlight” had been scheduled to come out next year through Del Rey, a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. Both Del Rey and Corrain’s agent, Becca Podos, announced this week that they would no longer work with Corrain, who had a two-book deal.On Tuesday, days after the scandal broke online among Goodreads users, the author posted an apology on Instagram, blaming her actions in part on struggles with mental health and substance abuse.“Let me be extremely clear: while I might not have been sober or of sound mind during this time, I accept responsibility for the pain and suffering I caused,” she wrote, “and my delay in posting this is due to spending the last few days offline while going through withdrawal as I s...

US proposes replacing engine-housing parts on Boeing jets like one involved in passenger’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are proposing modifications and additional inspections on nearly 2,000 Boeing planes in the United States to prevent a repeat of the engine-housing breakup that killed a passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight in 2018.The proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday largely follows recommendations that Boeing made to airlines in July. It would require replacing fasteners and other parts near the engines of many older Boeing 737s. Airlines will have until the end of July 2028 to make the changes, which Boeing developed.The work won’t be required on Max jets, the newest version of the 737.The FAA said it is responding to two incidents in which parts of the cowling that cover the engines broke away from planes. One occurred in 2016, and the fatal accident happened two years later on a Southwest jet flying over Pennsylvania.Both incidents started with broken fan blades. In the second one, the broken blade hit the engine fan case a...

Black man choked and shocked by police died because of drugs, officers’ lawyers argue at trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Lawyers for three Washington state police officers charged in the 2020 death of a Black man told the jury Tuesday that his death was the result of drug use, not excessive force that included officers choking, shocking and holding him facedown.Manuel Ellis was addicted to methamphetamine, and it caused him to be violent, unpredictable, and paranoid, said Wayne Fricke, who represents Tacoma police Officer Christopher Burbank.“This is a situation where he created his own death,” Fricke said during closing arguments in the officers’ nine-week trial on murder and manslaughter charges. “It was his behavior that forced the officers to use force against him because he created a situation that required them to act.”Fricke’s remarks followed closing arguments by special prosecutor Patty Eakes, who urged the jury to compare the officers’ statements with videos and witness testimony to determine the officers’ credibility. Eakes is prosecuting the cas...

Fashion retailer Zara yanks ads that some found reminiscent of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Spanish fashion brand Zara has pulled advertising images that to some appeared to reference Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The images for a line of jackets included what the company called “unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio.” But some online critics said one image of a model holding a wrapped-up mannequin resembled someone holding a corpse. Other photos included a mannequin with missing limbs and a figure wrapped in fabric or plastic on the floor, according to news reports.The company apologized in a statement posted on Instagram Tuesday and said the campaign was conceived in July and photographed in September. Hamas attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, prompting Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.Zara said the campaign was created “with the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context.” While acknowledging the offense critics took to the images, the company said these people “saw in them something far from wh...

Lawsuit challenges Alabama inmate labor system as ‘modern day slavery’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:22:25 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Current and former inmates announced a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Alabama’s prison labor program as a type of “modern day slavery,” saying prisoners are forced to work for little pay — and sometimes no pay — in jobs that benefit government entities or private companies.The class action lawsuit also accuses the state of maintaining a discriminatory parole system with a low release rate that ensures a supply of laborers while also generating money for the state. “The forced labor scheme that currently exists in the Alabama prison system is the modern reincarnation of the notorious convict leasing system that replaced slavery after the Civil War,” Janet Herold, the legal director of Justice Catalyst Law, said Tuesday. The Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama attorney general’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses the state of violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, anti-human traff...