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State steps in to extend Mass and Cass Roundhouse program through July

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

Some services at the old Roundhouse hotel on Mass and Cass now will run through the end of July, the state now says, to allow for a “winddown” rather than the March 31 closure that Boston Medical Center had planned.The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health & Human Services said in a statement that it and Boston joining forces to extend the clinical services at the former hotel in the troubled area.“EOHHS, in partnership with the City of Boston, will continue to provide funding to Boston Medical Center to maintain clinical support services at the RoundHouse program through July 31, 2023, to allow for a well-planned winddown of services and transition of patients to appropriate clinical settings as needed,” the state said Wednesday.The state added, “EOHHS and the Commonwealth will continue to work diligently on long-term multifaceted interventions that include closure of the RoundHouse and identification of longer-term placements outside the area.&...

These San Diego County roads are closed due to inclement weather conditions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- It was a wet and windy morning for San Diegans on Wednesday with moderate to heavy rainfall dampening the morning commute. With stormy weather comes downed trees, flooding and delays for travelers. For those headed out in the rain, there are several road closures across the county that may affect your route. Moderate rainfall continues to soak San Diego, but a break is expected Here's a list of areas experiencing closures due to inclement weather conditions, according to the San Diego County Department of Public Works.-- Sandia Creek in the De Luz area is closed from Santa Margarita Preserve to Rock Mountain due to flooding.-- Camino Del Rey is closed from Via Maria Elena to Camino Del Cielo due to flooding.-- Cole Grade dip is closed from Spring Valley to Old Cole Grade.-- Harmony Grove Road is closed between Wilgen Road and Wild Willow due to flooding.-- Magnolia Avenue in the Ramona area is closed from Highway 78 and Magnolia Heights Road due to flooding in the di...

Chemical attack in Milton leaves woman with severe burns, family member charged

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

A woman has life-threatening injuries after suffering severe burns when a female family member threw a chemical substance on her in an attack in Milton.Halton police said on March 9, just before 1:30 p.m., a woman was walking in the Syer Drive and Maxted Crescent area when another woman approached her on foot.The female suspect allegedly threw a chemical on the woman, causing severe burns to her face and body. Police said the suspect stole the victim’s cell phone and fled the area.The female victim was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, which police deemed life-altering.Police said investigators were able to identify the suspect to be a family member of the victim. She was taken into custody in Montreal.A 57-year-old woman from Quebec was charged with aggravated assault, administering a noxious substance and robbery. She’s been held in custody pending a bail hearing.Police are not identifying either woman to respect the family’s privacy. The ...

Israel says Hezbollah may have been behind roadside bomb

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli army said Wednesday that soldiers killed an armed man suspected of entering the country from Lebanon and blowing up a car, raising the risk of renewed tensions with Hezbollah.The security situation in Israel prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut in half his planned for a two-day visit to Germany this week, his office said.The army said soldiers stopped a car carrying the bombing suspect at a checkpoint Monday shortly after a roadside explosion seriously injured a driver near Megiddo Junction in the country’s north. The suspect was wearing a suicide vest and had a rifle and a gun when he was stopped near the border with Lebanon. The army said it shot and killed the man and is questioning the driver.The army said the device exploded at a 90-degree angle, which is unusual for the area. That led officials to suspect that the man infiltrated from Lebanon and may have been linked to Hezbollah.The army said it did not release the details of t...

Texas announces takeover of Houston schools, stirring anger

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas officials on Wednesday announced a state takeover of Houston’s nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political. The announcement, made by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s education commissioner, amounts to one of the largest school takeovers ever in the U.S.It also deepens a high-stakes rift between Texas’ largest city, where Democrats wield control locally and state Republican leaders have sought increasing authority in the wake of election fumbles and pandemic restrictions.Other big cities including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Detroit in recent decades have gone through state takeovers, which are generally viewed as last resorts for underperforming schools and are often met with community backlash. Critics argue that past outcomes show little improvement following state interventions. The state began making moves toward a take...

Chinese businessman arrested in $1 billion fraud conspiracy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A business tycoon long sought by the government of China and known for cultivating ties to Trump administration figures including Steve Bannon was arrested Wednesday in New York on charges that he oversaw a $1 billion fraud conspiracy.Guo Wengui, 54, and his financier, Kin Ming Je, faced an indictment in federal court in Manhattan charging them with various crimes, including wire, securities and bank fraud. Guo was charged in court papers under the name Ho Wan Kwok.U.S. prosecutors said the indictment stemmed from a complex scheme in which Guo lied to hundreds of thousands of online followers in the United States and around the world before misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars.Kin Ming Je, 55, has not been arrested. Guo was expected to appear in court Wednesday. His attorney did not immediately comment.The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, said in a release that Guo was charged with “lining his pockets with the money he s...

Swiss bank drags down big lenders as fears spread to Europe

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Shares in the globally connected Swiss bank Credit Suisse plunged Wednesday and dragged down other major European lenders as fears about deeper problems in the world banking system spread in the wake of bank failures in the United States.At one point, Credit Suisse shares lost more than a quarter of their value, hitting a record low after the bank’s biggest shareholder — the Saudi National Bank — told news outlets that it would not inject more money into the bank, which was beset by problems long before the U.S. failures.The turmoil prompted an automatic pause in trading of Credit Suisse shares on the Swiss market and sent shares of other European banks tumbling, some by double digits. That fanned new fears about the health of financial institutions following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the U.S.Speaking Wednesday at a financial conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann defended the bank, sa...

St. Louis prosecutor: Ouster effort is politically motivated

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The elected prosecutor in St. Louis, under intense criticism after a visiting teenage athlete lost her legs in a crash blamed on a man who remained free from jail despite multiple bond violations, is accusing Missouri’s attorney general of seeking her ouster for political gain.Democratic Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a court response late Tuesday to Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s lawsuit that seeks to remove her from office. Bailey’s effort includes criticism that too many cases, including homicides, go unpunished, that victims and their families are left uninformed, and that Gardner’s office is too slow to take on cases brought by police.Criticism of Gardner escalated last month after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball standout from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car as she and her family walked to their hotel following a tournament game in downtown St. Louis. The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bon...

Rap artist Hurricane Chris acquitted in man’s death

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana jury has acquitted rapper Hurricane Chris, known for the hit “A Bay Bay,” in the 2020 death of a man shot several times at a gas station in Shreveport.The panel late Tuesday found the 34-year-old artist, whose real name is Christopher Dooley, not guilty of second-degree murder in the slaying of Danzeria Farris Jr., 32, and illegal possession of stolen things, news outlets reported. A Caddo Parish Grand Jury indicted Dooley in October 2020 in connection with the June 19, 2020 slaying of Farris who was shot several times at a Texaco station. He was pronounced dead at an area hospital.Dooley had been on trial in state district court for more than a week before Tuesday’s verdict. Prosecutors called several witnesses, while the defense presented two, including Dooley.“I wanna thank God, my attorneys at the Washington & Wells Law Firm, and my family for standing with me as my life was on the line,” Dooley told The Shade Room. “They ...

Here’s how an AI tool may flag parents with disabilities

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:42 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — For the two weeks that the Hackneys’ baby girl lay in a Pittsburgh hospital bed weak from dehydration, her parents rarely left her side, sometimes sleeping on the fold-out sofa in the room.They stayed with their daughter around the clock when she was moved to a rehab center to regain her strength. Finally, the 8-month-old stopped batting away her bottles and started putting on weight again.“She was doing well and we started to ask when can she go home,” Lauren Hackney said. “And then from that moment on, at the time, they completely stonewalled us and never said anything.”The couple was stunned when child welfare officials showed up, told them they were negligent and took their daughter away.“They had custody papers and they took her right there and then,” Lauren Hackney recalled. “And we started crying.”More than a year later, their daughter, now 2, remains in foster care. The Hackneys, who have developmental disabilities, are struggling to understand how taking t...