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Crews battle fire at building in Reading

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Reading Monday after a fire broke out in a building on Mineral Street, officials said. The Reading Fire Department said the fire started on the third floor of the building near Mineral Street’s intersection with Hancock Street. Reading police in a subsequent post on Facebook shared photos showing smoke rising from the building as emergency crews responded. Part of Mineral Street was shut down as of around 9 a.m., according to police.Reading fire officials said seven apartments had to evacuate as a result of this fire. Two dogs were also rescued.The fire department said one apartment was damaged. There were no injuries.

Healey calls out ‘poor judgement’ leading to sweeping GLX track issues

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Governor Maura Healey spoke Monday on the sweeping track issues in the Green Line Extension project, again calling out “poor judgement” of officials overseeing the project and insisting the agency is now staffed with officials who take their “responsibility seriously.”“What’s important is that it was not disclosed, and it was not addressed,” Healey said, when asked for updates how the issues were not disclosed. … “Under the prior administration senior management at the T, for whatever poor judgment, made the decision not to disclose identified failures and then made the poor decision not to address those failures prior to the opening of the Green Line extension.”MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng announced last week that large sections of the GLX tracks were built too narrow — and officials within the MBTA knew about the problems throughout the process.Narrow tracks throughout half of the Union Square branch and 80% of ...

Tyson Bagent is in line to start again for the Chicago Bears as QB Justin Fields is doubtful for Sunday’s game

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus met with reporters Monday to recap his team’s 30-12 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders at Soldier Field.Here are three things we learned from that session.1. Rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent is likely to start against the Los Angeles Chargers.Eberflus said after Sunday’s game that quarterback Justin Fields would return to the starting job when his right thumb heals. But that isn’t likely to happen this week.Eberflus said Fields is doubtful to play in the “Sunday Night Football” game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., because he is “just not there yet” in his recovery. Eberflus didn’t offer many other details besides saying Fields is “progressing” while working with trainers. He reiterated that Fields is not on a path to needing surgery.The Bears previously said Fields needs to improve his grip strength before he can return.Bagent, an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd, is in line ...

It’s Day 20 with no House speaker, and lower-level names seek Trump’s support and race for the gavel

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

By LISA MASCARO (AP Congressional Correspondent)WASHINGTON (AP) — On Day 20 without a House speaker, Republicans found themselves starting over on Monday — bumbling ahead with few ideas about who will lead, what they are fighting over and when they will get Congress working again.Nine lower-level Republican lawmakers are now running to be speaker, leader of the House and second in line to the presidency — none with any clear shot for the gavel. Many of them are appealing to Donald Trump for support, but he is having little positive to say.“There’s only one person who can do it all the way: Jesus Christ,” he declared.Senior-most among the hopefuls is Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the former campaign chief who is now the GOP whip. The gruff former hockey coach is disliked by Trump, but the two had a polite call over the weekend.Trump speaking in Concord, N.H., on Monday, downplayed, even derided, Emmer, the third-ranking House Republican, presenting ...

Toronto health asking for $5.1 million to fight upcoming virus season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Toronto’s Board of Health is asking the city for an additional $5.1 million to add to their budget in order to prepare for the fall and winter virus season as COVID-19, RSV and flu cases are already popping up.Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, said the extra annual funding would be used for Infection Prevention and Control hubs that help prevent and mitigate the impacts of outbreaks, particularly in long-term care and retirement homes, shelters and group homes.“[The hubs] are absolutely crucial to the response particularly within congregate settings congregate living settings like long-term care homes, where people live together and where you have people who are at higher risk and how those hubs work,” said Dr. de Villa. She said they are expecting the extraordinary COVID-19 funding provided by the province for the last few years to wrap up despite the city still facing challenges.“This is the kind of thing that we anticipate is going to be need...

Ontario proposes to change consumer protections, double fines for businesses

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Ontario plans to give people a new way to exit timeshare agreements, make it easier to get out of a gym membership, and prohibit businesses from making false claims about prize offers, under new legislation.Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Todd McCarthy introduced a new consumer protection bill Monday, saying the laws haven’t been comprehensively updated since 2005, and in that time practices have changed a lot, including the use of apps and increasing online shopping.McCarthy says most people know someone who has dealt with an unscrupulous business in the home renovations, appliance installation, and timeshare industries, and the rules need to be simpler, clearer and “reflective of a dynamic and increasingly digital-first marketplace.”The legislation would allow owners to exit a timeshare contract after 25 years, if they want — no mandatory exit right currently exists — and would also set new rules for long-term leases for heating, ventila...

Movie Review: ‘Persian Version’ finds laughter, tears in Iranian American tale of resilient women

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

Let nobody say writer-director Maryam Keshavarz doesn’t know how to start a movie.The first time we see Leila, her alter ego in the autobiographical, warm-hearted, personal, funny but also somewhat chaotic “The Persian Version,” she’s walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Headed to a Halloween party, she’s carrying a surfboard and wearing what she calls a “burkini” — a sexy bikini, but paired with a niqab, the face-covering garment worn by some Muslim women.It’s surely not an accident that Leila is crossing a bridge, because her film (and Halloween costume) is about bridging two identities — her Iranian heritage, and her American life. Leila (an engaging Layla Mohammadi) is a New York born-and-raised aspiring screenwriter (she wants to be an Iranian Martin Scorsese) who, we learn, has never been fully comfortable in either world. American kids would call her names at school; Iranians saw her as too Americanized.There are other bridges to be crossed here, too. The most important ...

EPA proposes banning cancer-causing chemical used in automotive care and other products

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed banning the cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene, which can be found in consumer products including automobile brake cleaners, furniture care and arts and crafts spray coating. The move would end a nearly four decade battle to ban the chemical known as TCE, which can cause sudden death or kidney cancer if a person is exposed to high levels of it, and other neurological harm even at lower exposure over a long period.EPA’s recent risk-evaluation studies found that as much as 250 million pounds of TCE are still produced in the United States annually. One of the first places the chemical raised concern was in Massachusetts, where it was linked to contaminated drinking water in the city of Woburn. Two locations there were ultimately designated as massive Superfund sites. Monday’s news conference was held at one of them, a location which now serves as a transportation center.“For far too long, TCE ...

Man wounds himself after Georgia officers seek to question him about 4 jail escapees, sheriff says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

MACON, Ga. (AP) — A man shot and wounded himself Monday when officers sought to question him about four escapees from a Georgia jail, authorities said.Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told reporters deputies got a tip about a man who might have information about the escapes.“Let me make that clear– he is not one of our escapees,” Davis told reporters. “But he is a person that we feel has knowledge of where they might be, that has knowledge of the escape, and who has some connection to at least one or two of the people we’re looking for.”The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force went to a Macon apartment, but when officers knocked on the door, someone shot through the door from inside, Davis said. When a SWAT team arrived, they found the man wounded, apparently having shot himself, the sheriff said.Davis said no officers fired their guns. He did not say anything about how seriously wounded the man was.Officers took a second person at the apartment into custody for questi...

Former NSA worker pleads guilty to trying to sell US secrets Russia

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:15 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A former National Security Agency employee from Colorado pleaded guilty Monday to trying to sell classified information to Russia. Federal prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than about 22 years in prison for Jareh Sebastian Dalke when he is sentenced in April, but the judge will ultimately decide the punishment.Dalke, a 31-year-old Army veteran from Colorado Springs, had faced a possible life sentence for giving the information to an undercover FBI agent who prosecutors say Dalke believed was a Russian agent.Dalke pleaded guilty during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore. He only spoke in answer to questions from Moore about whether he understood the terms of the deal. He acknowledged that he has been taking medications for mental illness while being held in custody for about a year. Dalke was arrested on Sept. 28, 2022, after authorities say he arrived at Denver’s downtown train station with a laptop and used a secure connection set up by investigat...