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Shambles in Granada: Mega-gathering of European leaders ends with a whimper

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

GRANADA, Spain — A summit gathering close to 50 European leaders, dozens of aides and legions of journalists ended as a damp squib when those gathered failed to make any significant progress to resolve conflicts on Europe’s doorstep — or any other regional issue. The third edition of Emmanuel Macron’s pet project, the European Political Community, was billed by advisers as an opportunity to broker peace between warring Armenia and Azerbaijan, de-escalate tensions in the Balkans and hold a strategic conversation about the Continent’s security. While leaders did rally around Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in Granada to shore up Europe’s support amid U.S. jitters on Ukraine aid, they failed to make headway on the other conflicts in the absence of key players. Hope among attendees in taking steps to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh were dashed when both Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to skip the g...

Judge rules deadly officer-involved shooting in Cambridge was justified

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

A judge has ruled a deadly officer involved shooting in Cambridge earlier this year was justified, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office announced on Thursday. The shooting happened back on Jan. 4. In his recent report, Judge John Coffey said officers “had been pursuing (Sayed Arif) Faisal through Cambridge streets for approximately ten minutes, during which time Faisal was cutting himself with a knife with a foot-long blade.”Coffey said Faisel did not respond to officers’ commands to stop and drop the knife and “refused to engage with any of the officers’ attempts to communicate with him.”Coffey said Faisel “was not subdued or seemingly affected” by a less-lethal shot and instead turned and walked toward a Cambridge police officer. “At the moment that Officer McMahon fired his weapon, a reasonable law enforcement officer in the same position would reasonably believe that he, along with his fellow officers and others, were in imminent danger of being serious...

Summer Stretch Ends, Fall Feel Returns

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

What a week we’ve had to kick off the month of October! While the leaf change may have it looking like October outside, it certainly doesn’t feel like it… at least for now. That will change by the weekend and next week. Tonight, we’ll stay on the warm and muggy train like the last couple of nights. That low level humidity and moisture will once again lead to fog out the door early tomorrow morning. Clouds will increase overnight, which combined with fog and higher humidity will keep our overnight low temperatures on the warm side.Tomorrow will still bring above average temperatures, but you’ll notice some changes with more clouds than what we’ve seen the last few days. A mostly cloudy sky returns, and while not as warm as the last few days, temperatures will climb back above average to the lower 70s — we should be in the mid 60s.The clouds are ahead of our rain chances that will return for the first part of your weekend. Saturday looks to be...

Crews battle fire at hotel in Boston

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

Firefighters responded in Boston Thursday after a fire broke out in a hotel off Arlington Street, officials said. The Boston Fire Department in a post on X said companies were on scene at the Newbury Boston hotel as of around 1:45 p.m. Smoke was coming from the roof of the building and officials said a second alarm had been ordered. Guests were seen clearing the hotel while crews fought the flames inside.In a later update, fire department officials said the fire started in a pizza oven in one of the hotel’s restaurants. Officials said the fire then spread through ductwork from the 16th to the 18th floors.Officials said building inspectors will have to assess damage to the hotel after this fire. There were no injuries reported.

COVID wastewater data jumps south of Boston; Massachusetts launches new viral respiratory illness dashboards

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

The COVID wastewater data for the south-of-Boston region has been jumping in the last few days, while overall reported virus cases across the Bay State ticked down last week.Meanwhile, Massachusetts health officials on Thursday launched several new dashboards to track viral respiratory illness trends in the state. The new dashboards are focused on COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial syndrome (RSV).“As we experienced to a certain extent last year, we’re heading into a winter where COVID-19, influenza and RSV are likely to co-circulate,” State Epidemiologist Catherine Brown said during a recent briefing about the dashboards.“We all experienced kind of the predominance of COVID for so long, and then last season with the tripledemic, we started to really see what our future might look like,” Brown added. “And it was during that tripledemic where everybody needed information about what was happening with more than just COVID. We needed to lo...

What would be banned under proposed Massachusetts gun law? Here’s a brief rundown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

A broad-ranging new gun control bill unveiled in Massachusetts on Thursday would ban most so-called “assault-style” firearms.“No person shall possess, own, offer for sale, sell or otherwise transfer in the commonwealth or import into the commonwealth an assault-style firearm, or a large capacity feeding device as defined in section 121,” it reads.What are those guns? The bill would change section 121 of the state’s Chapter 140 laws to replace “assault weapon” with “assault-style firearm” and define the latter as one of five things.Any semi-auto, magazine-fed centerfire rifle with a folding or telescopic stock, thumbhole or pistol grip, forward grip, the ability to accept a flash suppressor, or that has a heat shield on the barrel.Any semi-auto, magazine-fed pistols threaded to accept a flash suppressor or silencer, a forward grip, or that has a heat shield that isn’t part of the slide.Any semi-auto, magazine-fed shotgun wit...

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Worst Chicago pro sports teams

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

If you’re a fan of Chicago’s professional sports teams, then it’s been a mostly forgettable year.Okay, there have been a few highlights. The Blackhawks selected 17-year-old Canadian phenom Connor Bedard with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft. The Bears also had the first pick for the first time in 77 years in April’s NFL draft but traded it to the Carolina Panthers.Otherwise, disappointment has been a common theme. The Bulls let a late lead slip away in a 102-91 loss to the Miami Heat on April 14, ending their season 1 win shy of a playoff berth and then lost the NBA lottery for a first-round pick. The Sky, despite losing star players and their coach/general manager James Wade, made the first round of the WNBA playoffs in September — but were quickly swept by the Las Vegas Aces, the league’s reigning champions.Need more proof? Take Sunday, for example. The Cubs were shutout 4-0 by the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field and closed the s...

Patriots-Saints injury report: Rhamondre Stevenson (thigh) limited again Thursday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson was limited for a second straight practice, along with nine other players who did not fully participate.Outside linebacker Matt Judon and cornerback Christian Gonzalez were the only players missing. Both are expected to miss most of, if not all, of the rest of the season.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | J.C. Jackson appears in Massachusetts court one day after returning to the Patriots: He must complete reckless driving course by next week New England Patriots | Patriots captain explains what he really loves about veteran addition New England Patriots | J.C. Jackson wears new number, chats up Robert Kraft at Patriots practice Thursday New England Patriots | Patriots veteran expects J.C. Jackson to make immediate impact New England Patriots | Callahan: J.C. Jackson trade a no-brainer for the Patriots, so what’s next? In New Orleans, three players ̵...

How Celtics view championship window after Jrue Holiday trade

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

Brad Stevens long coveted Jrue Holiday dating back to his days as the coach of the Celtics. Now that he has him, and now that he has the power to do so as the team’s president of basketball operations, he can keep him even longer.Holiday has two years left on his contract – including a 37.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season – and while he will be 35 when he’s set to his free agency in 2025, it seems as though the Celtics are interested in signing their new guard to a contract extension.“We’ve wanted him here for a long time and when the time comes and we’re allowed to talk about those types of things, this is something we hope can be a long-term relationship,” Stevens said Wednesday.The financials to make such an extension possible certainly get complicated going forward. Jaylen Brown’s supermax extension kicks in next summer. Jayson Tatum’s expected supermax would start in 2025. The C’s already have Kristaps Porzingis locked in through 2026.The Celtics, as it stands now,...

'Ravioli-sized' big skates born at Birch Aquarium

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:59 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- There's a new sight to see at Birch Aquarium -- but look closely, or you might miss them.Several big skate babies were born this week, the aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego announced Wednesday. Though the newborns are the size of raviolis right now, big skates can grow to be eight-feet long -- about the size of a surfboard. As their name implies, big skates are the biggest skates species found in North America. California man comes face-to-face with coyote that entered through doggie door While skates look a lot like stingrays, they're a different species. Skates don't have a stinging barb and don't give live birth.The newborns will live in the nursery habitat in the Hall of Fishes and "behind-the scenes," the aquarium said. When they get bigger, they'll be moved around the aquarium.