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Boston City Council backs tax breaks for businesses hurt by Mass and Cass mess

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

City Councilor Erin Murphy’s double-barreled approach to tackling the “public health crisis” at Boston’s Mass and Cass was praised for giving businesses there a break, but knocked for assertions that street cleaning equipment was spreading diseases.Murphy’s proposal came in the form of two hearing orders, both of which were discussed at a Wednesday City Council meeting.One hearing would look into providing a property tax abatement to Newmarket-area businesses adversely affected by the open-air drug dealing and violence occurring around Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue.“We know they’re struggling through none of their own doing, and we’ve failed them in not providing a safe environment,” Murphy said. “Many have been adversely impacted by the deteriorating conditions of the neighborhood that aren’t accurately reflected in their property tax valuation.”Sixty-five business owners from the 200-member Newmarket Business Association have collectively spent $3.9 mi...

'It felt like we were in hell': Men jump in ocean to escape Maui fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON) -- With fires raging on Maui, two men felt there was nowhere to escape the flames – except for the ocean. The two men live in Lahaina, a historic part of Maui loved by tourists, which appears to be heavily damaged by this week's raging fire. They described a terrifying scene as they evacuated from Prison Street, right in the heart of Lahaina."I saw a couple people just running, I heard screams out of hell ... explosions. It felt like we were in hell, it really was. It was just indescribable," one of the men told Nexstar's KHON. They didn't give their names in the on-camera interview. PHOTOS: Intensifying fires wreak havoc on Maui "You couldn't really see anything, sometimes it was just blacked out by the smoke, but you could still see the flames," said the other man. They said they were sheltering by a home near the wharf Tuesday evening, but winds were blowing heat from the fire toward them, and it began burning their skin. After about 30 minutes, they said the h...

Blocks of a historic Maui town have been destroyed by Hawaii wildfire. Follow along for live updates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

Follow along for live updates of wildfires that are racing across part of Maui in Hawaii, destroying sections of a historic town on the island and forcing some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where the Coast Guard rescued them. The fires forced evacuations in some areas, including the popular tourist spot of Lahaina Town. The National Weather Service says Hurricane Dora, which is passing south of the island chain at a safe distance, was partly to blame for strong winds driving the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters. WIND-WHIPPED WILDFIRE WREAKED DEVASTATION THROUGHOUT HISTORIC LAHAINAThe wildfires ripping through Maui left a swath of devastation for blocks in the historic town of Lahaina, videos and photos of the tourist destination show. Historic buildings along Lahaina’s popular Front Street were charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday, powerlines were draped across roadways and abandoned cars were blackened husks. Richard Ols...

B.C. firefighters honour fallen colleague Zak Muise at memorial and on frontline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

PENTICTON, B.C. — Firefighters on British Columbia’s northern wildfire frontline wore black bandanas Wednesday while others carrying helmets and axes marched in Penticton during a memorial procession to honour colleague Zak Muise.Muise, 25, died late last month fighting the massive Donnie Creek wildfire in B.C.’s northeast.First responders, including municipal and forest firefighters, police, paramedics and others formed a procession at the Okanagan city’s Skaha Lake Park, followed by an outdoor public memorial for Muise, who grew up in Ontario and was the youngest of six siblings.Andrew Bird, training officer at the Penticton Fire Department, took part in the honour guard.Bird said Muise’s parents marched in the procession and were presented with a folded Canadian flag.“We’re all here looking out for each other. It was an honour to be there for him and Zak’s family,” Bird said.Bird said firefighters from California, Washington state a...

Disney to hike streaming prices and crack down on password sharing amid pressure on earnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger vowed to make its streaming services profitable via a planned October price hike on its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans and a crackdown on password sharing expected to extend through next year.The increases, expected to take effect later this year, will raise the monthly cost of ad-free Disney+ by $3, or roughly 27%, to almost $14. The cost of ad-free Hulu will likewise rise $3 to almost $18 — a 20% hike that will make it more expensive than the most popular ad-free tier at Netflix.Iger spoke following Disney’s release of mixed earnings for its fiscal third quarter ended July 1. The company reported a substantial net loss while shedding customers in both domestic and international markets. Overall, Disney reported a 4% increase in revenue for the quarter but swung to a net loss of $460 million from a year-earlier profit of $1.4 billion. Disney shares, which closed at $87.49, rose roughly 2.5% to around $90 in after-hours trading.While Disney reporte...

What’s driving Maui’s devastating fires, and how climate change is fueling those conditions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

A dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging, including high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation. Experts also say climate change is increasing the likelihood of more extreme weather events like what’s playing out on the island of Maui, where at least six people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated. “It’s leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we’re seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” said Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry. “What these … catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.”Here’s a look at the Maui fires, and what’s behind them:WHAT’S FUELING THEM?Major differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive f...

Toronto doc director Daniel Roher remembers Robbie Robertson as risk-taker and artist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

TORONTO — An Oscar-winning Toronto director who credits Robbie Robertson with helping to launch his career remembered the legendary singer-songwriter as a risk-taker and musical talent who “created a bridge across time.”Daniel Roher says he felt a great loss upon learning the gravelly voiced rocker died Wednesday in Los Angeles. Robertson was 80.Before he won an Oscar in March for “Navalny,” a portrait of Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny, Roher wrote and directed “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band.”The documentary, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, traces the formation of one of the most enduring groups in popular music, including interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Martin Scorsese and Peter Gabriel.Roher says he was an unknown filmmaker when Robertson gave him his big shot, mirroring the way rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins gave Robertson his big shot at age 16 and unleashed a musical talent whose blended influences w...

Minister launches review of B.C. port strike case to uncover ‘structural issues’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

VANCOUVER — Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan is launching an examination of the recently resolved British Columbia port dispute to see if “structural issues” in negotiations led to a 13-day work stoppage last month.In a written statement released Wednesday through social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, O’Regan said officials will immediately begin by reviewing reports on previous, similar disputes.O’Regan said the goal is to create “a harmonious working environment” between unions and employers in future collective bargaining, in order to prevent future stoppages similar to the port strike from happening.“Another dispute and disruption on that scale is still possible, and that’s not good enough,” O’Regan said in the statement. “The workers and businesses that depend on our ports deserve long-term solutions. They deserve answers.”The port labour dispute between the International Longshore...

UN says agreement to reopen crossing to Syria’s northwest will safeguard independent UN operations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The agreement the United Nations reached with Syria to reopen the main border crossing from Turkey to its rebel-held northwest for six months “safeguards” the independence of U.N. operations and allows it to provide aid to all parties, the U.N. said Wednesday.The agreement, which was announced Tuesday night, will reopen the Bab al-Hawa crossing, which had been used for 85% of deliveries to the northwest Idlib region, home to about 4.1 million people.U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. is ready to resume operations through Bab al-Hawa as soon as possible but it will take some time to get trucks moving and “I don’t expect anything to happen in the next few days.”The U.N.-Syria “understanding” on Bab al-Hawa, announced by Haq Tuesday evening, followed his announcement earlier in the day that Syria agreed to keep two other crossings to the northwest, Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai, open for three months until Nov. 13.Haq said Wednesday that Secretary-General ...

A wildfire on Maui kills at least 6 as it sweeps through historic town, forcing some into the ocean

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:39 GMT

KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) — A wildfire tore through the heart of the Hawaiian island of Maui in total darkness Wednesday, reducing much of a historic town to ash and forcing people to jump into the ocean to flee the flames. At least six people died and dozens were wounded.Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke said the flames “wiped out communities,” and urged travelers to stay away. “This is not a safe place to be,” she said. The wind-driven conflagration swept into coastal Lahaina with alarming speed and ferocity, blazing through intersections and leaping across wooden buildings in the town center that dates to the 1700s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Aerial video revealed entire blocks of homes and businesses flattened, including on Front Street, a popular shopping and dining area. Other images portray a scene of near-complete devastation. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront and gray smoke hovered over the leafless skeletons of scorched trees. “It...