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Bike, bus lanes increasing in Greater Boston; Malden City Council says no to ban

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

Bicycle and bus lanes are popping up all over Greater Boston, causing a great divide between supporters and opponents.Malden is the latest municipality to join the growing feud, with the City Council turning down requests for voters to have a say this November on whether lanes should be banned.City Councilor Jadeane Sica looked to place two non-binding questions on the ballot that would have removed all existing lanes and prohibited new ones from being created.One question specifically focused on Route 60 which runs through the city’s downtown, and if approved, funds used to create the lanes would have been returned to their originating source.But the City Council rejected both measures, 8–3, last week, with councilors saying the lanes enhance safety and access for all users of the road. This is the second time in three years that Sica has sponsored such requests, the first in 2021.Sica said she brought the questions forward because she wanted to “represent the voice of the people” ...

2024 Republican prospects Trump, DeSantis, others vie for attention at the Iowa-Iowa State football game

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump crossed paths with several Republican rivals Saturday as he attended Iowa’s in-state college football grudge match, one of the former president’s few visits so far to the state that holds the first nominating caucus next year.Trump waded into one of the state’s largest sports crowds at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, where Iowa State was hosting Iowa. Also at the game were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and several other candidates, putting in face time with Iowa’s elected officials and football fans.With the race entering its traditional ramp-up after Labor Day, Trump has largely skipped holding town halls or participating in many of the state’s cherished campaign traditions, but has not paid a price so far. Trump remains far ahead of DeSantis and other rivals in Iowa and nationally.Trump has made a habit of visiting Iowa on the same day as DeSantis, whom Trump treats as his main threat. Both were in and around the stadium before ...

Red Sox notebook: Alex Cora explains top prospects’ sporadic playing time

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

When the Red Sox called up Triston Casas on Sept. 4, 2022, they were 66-68, with 28 games left to play. In his first month as a Major Leaguer, the rookie first baseman played in 27 of them, including 21 complete games.This summer, the Red Sox were 66-60 and 69-63 when they called up Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela, respectively. Entering Saturday, Abreu has 11 big league games under his belt, including four complete ones, Rafaela has nine, only two of which were complete.The obvious difference is Abreu and Rafaela got the call because Jarren Duran’s season is over. In Casas’ case, the Red Sox demoted fellow first baseman Bobby Dalbec to give Casas a shot.On Saturday, Alex Cora offered an additional reason for the rookies’ limited playing time.“All depends where we’re at, who we’re facing,” the Red Sox manager said.“Last year, we were OUT out,” Cora said. “This year, we’re still kind of like, in the hunt, you know? It doesn’t look great, but we’ve still got games. We’ve still got g...

Phoenix has set another heat record by hitting 110 degrees on 54 days this year

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — How hot is it in Phoenix? In what has been the hottest summer ever measured, the sizzling city in the Sonoran Desert broke yet another record Saturday when temperatures topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius).It was the 54th day this year that the official reading at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport made the mark, eclipsing the previous record of 53 days set in 2020.Matt Salerno, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the hot streak could reach 55 days.“We do have one more day,” he said.An extreme heat warning remained in effect, with temperatures forecast at 111 F (43.9 C) on Sunday and 106 F (41.1 C) on Monday.Salerno said Phoenix experienced the hottest three months since record-keeping began in 1895, including the hottest July and the second-hottest August. The daily average temperature of 97 F (36.1 C) in June, July and August passed the previous record of 96.7 F (35.9 C) set three years ago.The average daily temperature was 102.7 F (39.3 C) in July, Saler...

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologize for ‘pain’ their letters on behalf of Danny Masterson caused

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologized Saturday for character letters the celebrity couple wrote on behalf of fellow “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson before he was sentenced for rape this week.A judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced Masterson to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women in 2003. In a video posted on Instagram, Kutcher and Kunis said they were sorry for the pain they may have caused with the letters, which were made public Friday.Kutcher said the letters that asked for leniency “were intended for the judge to read and not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way. We would never want to do that and we’re sorry if that has taken place.”Kutcher said Masterson’s family approached them after the actor was convicted in the rapes in May and asked them to write character letters describing “the person that we knew for 25 years.” The letters were posted online by The Hollywood Reporter and other digi...

Vicky Krieps on the feminist Western ‘The Dead Don’t Hurt’ and how she leaves behind past roles

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Vicky Krieps noticed that while there’s plenty of instruction for getting into a role, there’s curiously little about getting out of one.For Krieps, the disarmingly natural Luxembourgish actor of “Phantom Thread,”“Corsage” and “Bergman Island,” it’s not a small issue. It may even be the most important part of the process. If she’s still stuck the headspace of a character, she can’t keep moving forward.After struggling in the aftermath of her breakthrough in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” in which she starred opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, Krieps found a solution. She could put a capstone on the character through music.“I have to leave my characters in a peaceful way and say: Now she lives in song,” says Krieps.Krieps, 39, has since followed every performance by writing a song for the character. She sings and plays acoustic guitar. She’s currently recording an album of those songs but she took a break to travel to the Toronto International...

Gunmen attack vehicles at border crossing into north Mexico, wounding 9, including some Americans

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A convoy of vehicles crossing into Mexico from the U.S. was attacked by armed civilians early Saturday, and nine people, including American citizens, were wounded with gunshots, Mexican authorities said.The Tamaulias state security department said the attack happened on the international bridge that connects the town of Miguel Aleman with Roma, Texas.The department’s statement on social media gave no further details on the extent of injuries or on the attack.A state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that the injured included both Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.In recent months, there has been a wave of violence in Tamaulipas that has prompted federal authorities to send in hundreds of soldiers to reinforce security patrols in the border cities of San Fernando, Reynosa and Matamoros, where cells of the Gulf Cartel and other criminal organizations operate.Fabiola Sanchez, Th...

Greek authorities say a 77-year-old man is 11th victim of flooding. At least 6 people are missing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The body of a missing 77-year-old man was found Saturday, raising the death toll from floods in central Greece to 11, authorities said. The number of missing increased to six, but there could be more.The man was living in the seaside village of Paltsi, in the mountainous Pelion peninsula situated between the Aegean Sea to the east and Pagasitikos gulf to the west. He had refused to leave his home, despite the entreaties of his wife, who evacuated. “I have been through storms,” he had told her.The man’s body drifted in the Aegean, past the island of Skiathos, to another island, Evia, where it was found late Saturday, authorities said.Pelion was hit by torrential rains first on Tuesday, with some locations reporting close to 30 inches of rain in less than a day. The rest of the region of Thessaly, to the west, was struck later Tuesday and on Wednesday and Thursday.Another village near a major Greek city was ordered evacuated Saturday afternoon as authorities fran...

Chicago police investigate robberies near DePaul University

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

CHICAGO — Two robberies were reported early Saturday morning near DePaul University in Chicago.The first happened on Sheffield Avenue near Webster Avenue when three women around 20 years old were robbed by three people, according to information from the Chicago Police Department. Authorities begin to remove plane after crash in Elk Grove Village Minutes later, two 19-year-old women had their possessions taken by two people on Fullerton just west of Halsted Street.No injuries were reported.Police continue to investigate and anyone with information is asked to call them.

Powerful earthquake in Morocco kills more than 2,000 people, damages historic buildings in Marrakech

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:24:51 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force. More than 2,000 people were killed, and the toll was expected to rise as rescuers struggled Saturday to reach hard-hit remote areas.The magnitude-6.8 quake, the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief late Friday. One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet. The quake brought down walls made from stone and masonry, covering whole communities with rubble.The devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’ steep and winding switchbacks in similar ways: homes folding in on themselves and mothers and fathers crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.Remote villages like those in the drought-strick...