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Poll Adds To Debate Over School Receivership Powers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

An ongoing battle over state power to take over underperforming schools and districts comes to a new head this week, as a new poll released Tuesday shows most state residents support the state-control policy — the day before opposition advocates are scheduled to rally on Beacon Hill for its removal.A bill dubbed the “Thrive Act” would remove the power of the state to “receive” schools and districts with low performance, partially based on statewide standardized testing. The state’s teachers’ unions have thrown their support behind the Thrive Act, and will be among the educators, students, parents and other advocates who knock on lawmakers’ doors on Wednesday to ask for them to sign on to the bill.Democrats for Education Reform, a more moderate education group that supports charter schools, keeping statewide standardized testing as a graduation requirement and state receivership, commissioned the poll conducted by MassINC Polling G...

Trump makes video appearance in New York criminal case, trial date tentatively set for late March

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump made a video appearance Tuesday in his New York criminal case, with the judge tentatively setting a trial date for late March of next year. The hearing lasted about 15 minutes.Trump’s video feed was muted most of the hearing, allowing him to confer freely with his lawyer, Todd Blanche, who sat by his side in Florida in front of a backdrop of American flags.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.NEW YORK (AP) — A recent $5 million defamation verdict hasn’t kept Donald Trump quiet. Will a stern warning from the judge in his Manhattan criminal case?That’s the question looming over a hybrid hearing Tuesday where the former president is set be instructed on new rules barring him from using evidence in the hush-money case to attack witnesses who could testify against him.Trump won’t have to show up to court for the afternoon hearing at a M...

Russia extends arrest of US journalist Evan Gershkovich by 3 months, his parents barred from hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months in a closed-door hearing emblematic of the secrecy that has marked the case against the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges.Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the U.S. government have denied the charges.Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing wasn’t announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.Russian authorities haven’t detailed what — if any — evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges. Various legal proceedings have been closed to the media. No details immediately emerged about whether Gershkovich attended Tuesday’s hearing or what was said. Tass said the session was closed because the report...

The FDA approved a new drug for hot flashes. Here’s why it shows ‘a lot of promise’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

Hanna Webster | Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Food and Drug Administration last Friday approved fezolinetant, or Veozah, to treat hot flashes for women in menopause. The non-hormonal drug treatment is the first of its class and represents an option for women who cannot take hormones.Menopause occurs when women do not get a period for 12 consecutive months, usually beginning between ages 45 and 55. Hot flashes are the most common menopausal symptom and can interfere with quality of life. Of those in menopause, more than 80% of them suffer from hot flashes.More women are entering menopause as well, as people are living longer and the substantial Gen X generation ages into menopause.“It’s great that this is going to market,” said Dr. Beth Prairie, an OBGYN and preventive medicine physician at Allegheny Health Network Midlife Women’s Associates and the chief medical officer of West Penn Hospital. Dr. Prairie has specialized in menopausal medicine for more than 15 years and said...

South Bay elementary school secured after firearm found in student's backpack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police officers secured a South Bay elementary school campus on Monday after a firearm was discovered in a student's backpack, according to district officials.Officers with SDPD were dispatched to Finney Elementary School, a Chula Vista Elementary School District campus near Palm Avenue, after receiving a report from the school that there was a firearm in the backpack of a primary student.According to Chula Vista Elementary School District officials, the firearm was reportedly put in the backpack of the student by an adult at home by mistake.Finney Elementary School was placed on a secure campus notice by law enforcement, but the district said it was not under a lockdown. The firearm was then safely retrieved by officers. No gunshots or injuries were reported. MTS routes still impacted as strike enters second week Finney Elementary was reopened after police determined that there was no longer a threat to students and staff.All parents and guardians were noti...

Aid agency chief: Taliban say guidelines on female NGO staff resuming work close to finalization

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of a major international aid agency said Tuesday that key Taliban officials told him in meetings that they are close to finalizing guidelines that will allow Afghan women to resume working for nongovernmental organizations. But they were unable to give a timeline or details when pressed.The Taliban last December barred Afghan women from working at NGOs, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab — the Islamic headscarf — correctly and were not observing gender segregation rules. In April, they said this ban extended to U.N. offices and agencies in Afghanistan. There are exemptions in some sectors like health care and education.Days before the NGO order came into effect, the Taliban barred women from universities, having already stopped girls from going to school beyond sixth grade. Last November, women were banned from public spaces, including parks. In January, the Taliban said they were working on guidelines for women to return to work at ...

Pedro Almodóvar rides into the Western in a Cannes short about gay cowboys

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — “Pedro! Pedro!” shouted the Cannes crowd before Pedro Almodóvar unveiled his latest film, “Strange Way of Life,” a 31-minute Western starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as cowboys and former lovers.There’s nothing quite like the fervor that greets a new film from Almodóvar, one of the world’s most beloved filmmakers. But that may have been doubly so for “Strange Way of Life” even though it’s a quarter the length of his usual output. So frenzied was the scene that many ticketholders never got in. When Almodóvar introduced his all-male cast on stage at the film’s Cannes Film Festival premiere, some in the audience had to cool themselves. John C. Reilly, president of this year’s Un Certain regard jury, kindly reached across the aisle with his hat to fan one excited moviegoer.“I was not sure that I’d make a Western in my life but at least I made a short,” Almodóvar said smiling the next day in an interview on a hotel terrace overlooking the Croi...

Recent shark attacks are worrying beach-goers, yet experts say they’re very rare

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Recent shark bites in Florida and Hawaii and a suspected case in New Jersey have piqued interest in an age-old summer question for beachgoers — is it safe to go in the water?Scientists and researchers who study sharks said the overwhelming answer to that question is yes, it is safe. Potentially dangerous interactions between humans and sharks are uncommon, and serious injuries and deaths from the bites are vanishingly rare, scientists said.Nonetheless, the dramatic nature of shark bites and the stories of survivors, such as Hawaii surfer Mike Morita’s tale of fighting off a shark in April, capture the imagination. It’s a good idea to remember just how rare shark bites truly are, scientists said.HOW OFTEN DO SHARK BITES OCCUR?There have been typically around 70 to 80 unprovoked shark bites annually, worldwide, over the past decade. And not only are shark bites rare, they’ve been especially rare recently.There were only 57 unprovoked bites last...

Lawyer who spat on anti-racism protester picks jail over probation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A white lawyer who spat on a Black high school student during an anti-racism march in suburban Milwaukee in 2020 has chosen jail over probation. Stephanie Rapkin, a 67-year-old Shorewood attorney, was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in April in connection with the incident. Milwaukee County Judge Laura Crivello on Tuesday offered Rapkin leniency, staying a 60-day jail sentence for a year of probation with the condition that she put in 100 hours of community service, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.But Rapkin said no one would ever accept her and she wanted to go to jail.“It’s not viable,” she said. “I’d rather go to jail right now and take care of it.”Crivello imposed the 60-day sentence and bailiffs led Rapkin out of the courtroom in handcuffs.It wasn’t immediately clear what exactly Rapkin meant by her comments. Her attorney, Anthony Cotton, told reporters the day she was convicted that her career has been ruined. Cotton didn’t immediately resp...

Ohio farmer behind viral ‘it’s honest work’ meme dies in Illinois crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:46 GMT

URBANA, Ill. (AP) — A prominent Ohio farmer whose image was used in a popular social media meme touting the value of “hard work” has died after he was injured in a vehicle crash in Illinois.David Brandt was a nationally known proponent of no-till farming who traveled around the country talking about sustainable agriculture techniques and soil health. But he became well-known for comments he made in 2012 at a Natural Resources Conservation Service event held on his farm.While discussing his occupation, Brandt said “it ain’t much but its honest work,” a statement that became a symbol of traditional values and work ethic after it was turned into a meme a few years later.Relatives have said Brandt enjoyed the meme, which showed him clad in overalls and standing in a field, even though he didn’t know what a meme was until he learned he was one from a bank teller who showed the image to him on her phone.A Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Brandt and his wife, Kendra,...