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Ticker: Bay State rail grant up to $108B; Healey to overhaul clean energy permitting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

The Biden administration announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with much of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law.Among the grants, up to $108 million is on the way to Massachusetts for design and construction on the Inland Route Project.“These projects will make American rail safer, more reliable, and more resilient, delivering tangible benefits to dozens of communities where railroads are located, and strengthening supply chains for the entire country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.Other projects include $178.4 million to restore passenger service in parts of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi along the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.Healey to overhaul clean energy permittingThe governor plans Tuesday to sign an executive order that will address the process by which clean energy projects and infrastructur...

Boston man arraigned for shooting in Lowell condo building

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

LOWELL — A Boston man was arraigned in Lowell District Court Monday in connection with a Friday shooting incident on Market Street that resulted in a man being hospitalized.Luis Morales, 18, was arraigned by Judge Daniel Crane on charges of carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury, and armed robbery.The charges stem from an incident last Friday in which prosecutors allege that Morales shot a man in the back in the alleged victim’s condo. Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Isabelle Bertolozzi said during the arraignment that the alleged victim was the one who made the 911 call.According to the police report from the incident, two women known to Morales were approached by him Friday afternoon, and he asked them whether they knew anyone who would sell him marijuana. The two women brought Morales to a man they knew at a condo un...

David McCallum, star of hit TV series ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ and ‘NCIS,’ dies at 90

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

By BOB THOMAS (Associated Press)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular “NCIS” 40 years later, has died. He was 90.McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.“David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away,” said a statement from CBS.Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films “A Night to Remember” (about the Titanic), “The Great Escape” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (as Judas). But it was “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a househ...

John ‘Zip’ Connolly’s Florida parole hearing an unexpected twist, lawyer says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

Ex-FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly’s longtime lawyer is flummoxed by Florida’s decision to question his client’s medical parole.Attorney Peter Mullane said he has no idea what triggered Tuesday’s hearing, saying we’ll all find out when the Commission on Offender Review starts its meeting at 9 a.m.“It came out of the blue,” Mullane told the Herald Monday. “It was a surprise to everyone.”He said the “mystery” after “nothing has changed” with Connolly’s case.As the Herald reported over the weekend, the 83-year-old Connolly was allowed to return to Massachusetts on a medical release on Feb. 17, 2021, because he had about a year to live after being called “terminally ill.” He remains alive.Connolly is on the agenda as the 11th on the list of convicts set for “Parole and Conditional Medical Releases/Revocations.”Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 for wearing his FBI-issued sid...

More charges filed against 2 teens held in fatal bicyclist hit-and-run video case in Las Vegas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

By KEN RITTER (Associated Press)LAS VEGAS (AP) — Prosecutors filed additional criminal charges Monday against two teenagers being held as adults in the video-recorded killing of a retired former Southern California police chief as he rode his bicycle on a Las Vegas road.The teens, ages 18 and 16, are due in court on Tuesday following what police say were at least three hit-and-run incidents the morning of Aug. 14 — including the apparently intentional crash that killed cyclist Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64. The Associated Press is not naming the teens due to their ages. Probst retired in 2009 as police chief in the Los Angeles-area city of Bell.Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he filed five felony and two misdemeanor charges against the 18-year-old, including attempted murder, battery with a weapon, leaving the scene of a crash and possession of a stolen vehicle.A battery with a weapon charge was added to the murder and attempted murder counts ag...

Monday marks 45 years since PSA Flight 182 crash in North Park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Monday marks 45 years since Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 crashed in San Diego's North Park neighborhood.A memorial ceremony was held at Dwight and Nile streets to commemorate the deadliest aviation crash in California's history.At 9:03 a.m. on Sept. 25, 1978, PSA Flight 182 collided mid-air with a Cessna. The Cessna broke apart, and fragments of the commercial flight came down. A total of 144 people, including those on the ground, died. Woman stabbed in Vista; pursuit ends in suspect arrest During the ceremony, each victim's name was read aloud. A rose for each person was placed in a flower pot. Three San Diego police cars from the era also made an appearance."It was 45 years ago. I was only 31 then," Richard Carlson, who was on the ground after the deadly crash, said to FOX 5. "It was hard to understand the magnitude of it because when I got here, there were still flames in the air. As it died down, you could see what the carnage had been from this. It was l...

A small group of Lahaina residents returns to homes destroyed by deadly wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A small group of Lahaina residents returned to their devastated properties Monday for the first time since the Hawaii town was destroyed by wildfire nearly seven weeks ago.Some families who came back stopped for a moment of reflection and others looked for mementos they might want to collect, said Darryl Oliveira, interim administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency. By midmorning, about 16 vehicles carrying residents had entered the burned area, he said.“They’re very appreciative to get in here, something they’ve all been waiting anxiously for,” Oliveira said. “People who haven’t been here since the fire are taken aback by the amount of and extent of the destruction.”The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape. The Aug. 8 wildfire killed at least ...

Flag raising at B.C. legislature honours residential school survivors, lost children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

VICTORIA — A brisk wind helped mark a flag-raising ceremony Monday at the British Columbia legislature honouring residential school survivors and remembering children who never came home.The orange and white Survivors’ flag will be flown on a pole at the front lawn of the legislature until sundown on Saturday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.Indigenous leaders and politicians representing B.C.’s New Democrats, BC United and Greens participated in the flag-raising ceremony ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation when the flag will be flown at federal, provincial and municipal buildings across Canada.Raj Chouhan, Speaker of the legislature, said Monday he is committed to ensuring the legislature is a welcoming, inclusive place for everybody and the flag is a symbol of that. “The parliament buildings are a physical symbol of colonialism. Politicians have enacted laws that have done serious harm to Indigenous people of B.C.,” he said....

Ford pausing construction of Michigan battery plant amid contract talks with auto workers union

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it’s pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively.The move comes as the company is in the midst of national contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, which wants to represent workers at battery factories and win them top wages.The UAW went on strike against Ford and the other two Detroit automakers, General Motors and Stellantis, on Sept. 15. The union at first targeted one vehicle assembly plant from each automaker, and last week expanded it to parts warehouses. But Ford was spared from the expansion because the union said progress was being made in negotiations.In February, Ford announced plans to build the plant in Marshall, Michigan, employing about 2,500 workers to make lower-cost batteries for a variety of new and existing vehicles. Marshall is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Detroit and is near two major interst...

Regulator rules in favour of Trans Mountain route deviation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:12 GMT

CALGARY — The Canada Energy Regulator has approved Trans Mountain Corp.’s application to modify the pipeline’s route, a decision that could spare the government-owned pipeline project from an additional nine-month delay.The regulator made the ruling Tuesday, just one week after hearing oral arguments from Trans Mountain and a B.C. First Nation that opposes the route change. It didn’t release the reasons for its decision Tuesday, saying those will be publicized in the coming weeks.By siding with Trans Mountain Corp., the regulator is allowing the pipeline company to alter the route slightly for a 1.3-kilometre stretch of pipe in the Jacko Lake area near Kamloops, B.C., as well as the construction method for that section.Trans Mountain Corp. had said it ran into engineering difficulties in the area related to the construction of a tunnel, and warned that sticking to the original route could result in up to a nine-month delay in the pipeline’s completion, as wel...