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Lawmakers Tap One-Time State Funds To Fuel Spending Boost

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

The Legislature in its new annual budget agreement used about $1 billion from the state’s new income surtax to push state spending up by more than $3.5 billion, but also tapped more than $600 million from other state funds and sources to fuel the spending surge.The record $56.2 billion fiscal 2024 budget that the House and Senate sent to the governor’s desk Monday will drive education, transportation and health care investments, and House and Senate Democrats used an array of tactics to come up with the pool of money needed to make fiscal ends meet.The budget (H 4040) cleared the Senate unanimously and the House 156-2, winning support from all but two House Republicans.Gov. Maura Healey will have ten days to review the month-late annual spending bill, and on Monday signed a second, $6 billion interim budget to keep state government running while she considers budget amendments and vetoes.The proposed spending represents a 6.6 percent, or $3.5 billion increase f...

Legislature Reviving Program To Prevent Evictions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

A pandemic-era program that paused roughly 10,000 eviction cases while tenants sought financial aid could return as a permanent tool if Gov. Maura Healey joins lawmakers in support.The compromise fiscal year 2024 annual state budget approved by the Legislature on Monday revives “Chapter 257” protections. Anti-homelessness advocates say the protections are a key strategy to keep Bay Staters in their homes while landlord groups say tenants have exploited the program.Language in the conference committee report filed Sunday night effectively mirrors the previous program, which lawmakers kept in place for much of the COVID-19 emergency before allowing it to expire on March 31.“This program has been wildly successful and effective in keeping people in their homes and has helped avert the tsunami of evictions in the commonwealth that many have been concerned about since the 2020 pandemic started,” Rep. Aaron Michlewitz said Monday before the House approved...

US slips into round of 16 of Women’s World Cup after scoreless draw with Portugal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Two-time reigning champions United States came an inch short of Women’s World Cup elimination, but Portugal’s late near-miss helped the Americans avoid the biggest upset in tournament history.The Americans slipped through to the knockout round Tuesday despite a listless, uninspiring 0-0 draw against Portugal. The U.S. won only one game in group play for the first time in tournament history.In a hold-your-breath moment, the Americans came an inch away from elimination when Ana Capeta nearly scored in stoppage for Portugal. Her shot hit the right post and the Americans preserved the draw.The tie helped the United States avoid the biggest upset in tournament history and was just enough to ensure the Americans advanced to the knockout round. The U.S. looked shaky at best in a game the Americans were expected to win.The Americans, the most successful team ever at the World Cup with four titles, have never been eliminated in the group sta...

Battenfeld: Boston city officials, police desperately need new strategy to combat gun violence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

After Boston’s most violent night of the summer – in the middle of an important NAACP national convention – city officials and law enforcement are in desperate need of a new strategy to deal with the surge in shootings.Mayor Michelle Wu, hours after the spate of shootings and stabbings that had police rushing from scene to scene in Dorchester and Roxbury, focused instead on her executive order banning fossil fuels in new city buildings.“Week after week, we see the signs of extreme heat, storms and flooding that remind us of a closing window to take climate action,” she said.Wu also announced that the city would be holding the second biennial Roxbury Poetry Festival on Saturday.In her regular interview with WBUR Radio, Wu was not asked about the violence.It’s discouraging that Wu did not tackle the violence head-on yesterday the way she has done with previous deadly incidents in the city.Perhaps Wu did not want to shift the focus to the shootings just after NAACP delegates toured Bos...

Massachusetts suddenly evolves into a high school quarterback factory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

It’s the sort of thing you expect from California, or Texas, or Georgia.Or, for that matter, anywhere but Massachusetts.But in another sign that times are changing in the football recruiting world, the state has suddenly produced a boatload of quarterback talent.In the classes of 2024 and ’25, some major talents from the Bay State have committed to the most big-time of big-time powerhouse programs. And the party feels like it is going to continue.In the ’24 class, Xaverian’s Henry Hasselbeck has pledged to Michigan State. Marblehead native Miles O’Neill, who will attend his senior year at the Hun School in Princeton, N.J., has verballed to Texas A&M. Central Massachusetts natives Dante Reno of Cheshire Academy, and Ryan Puglisi of Avon Old Farms, are committed to South Carolina and Georgia, respectively.For the ’25 class, Central Catholic’s Blake Hebert has already committed to Clemson.That all followed Springfield Central’s Willia...

At least 20 dead and 27 missing in floods surrounding China’s capital Beijing, thousands evacuated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — At least 20 people were killed and 27 are missing in floods surrounding China’s capital Beijing, with thousands of others evacuated to safety, state media reported Tuesday.Days of heavy rains have prompted authorities to close train stations and evacuate people in vulnerable areas to school gyms. Homes have been flooded, roads torn apart and cars piled into stacks by the rushing waters. The level of rainfall is rarely seen in Beijing, which generally enjoys moderate, dry summers but has experienced record-breaking extended days of high temperatures this summer. Flooding in other parts of northern China that rarely see such large amounts of rain have led to scores of deaths. Seasonal flooding hits large parts of China every summer, particularly in the semitropical south, while some northern regions this year have reported the worst floods in 50 years. Indicating the level of urgency, President Xi Jinping issued an order for local governments to go “all out” to rescue t...

Scarborough shooting leaves man in life-threatening condition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

A man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries following an overnight shooting in Scarborough on Tuesday.Paramedics tell CityNews they responded to the area of Pharmacy Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East around 2:25 a.m. for reports of a shooting.A man was rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition.This is a developing story. More to come.

BP profits are cut in half to $2.6 billion as oil and natural gas prices fall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Energy giant BP said Tuesday that it earned nearly $2.6 billion in the second quarter, almost half what it posted in the first three months of the year as oil and natural gas prices that surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have fallen.The company’s underlying replacement cost profit, which excludes one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, was down nearly 70% from the April-to-June period a year ago, when London-based BP brought in $8.45 billion.It’s the latest oil and gas major to see profits fall from record highs last year, following British rival Shell, France’s TotalEnergies and U.S.-based ExxonMobil. Energy prices spiked after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, raising fears about Moscow’s supplies of oil and natural gas before it cut off most of its gas heading to Europe.Energy costs were a major driver of inflation around the world, stirring outcry as households and businesses faced skyrocketing electricit...

India’s northern Haryana state tense after 5 killed in communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

NUH, India (AP) — Indian authorities imposed a curfew, suspended internet service and deployed thousands of paramilitary forces on Tuesday to parts of northern Haryana state after deadly communal clashes spread to Gurugram, a city just outside the capital, New Delhi.The violence began Monday afternoon when Hindus and Muslims clashed with each other in Haryana’s Nuh district during a religious procession by a Hindu nationalist group, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. At least four people, including two police officers, were killed in the clashes.More than 20 police officers were injured in the violence and dozens of cars were set on fire, a police statement said.Tensions later spilled over to Gurugram, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from New Delhi, where mobs torched a mosque and killed a Muslim cleric late Monday night. Police said some attackers have been arrested.There were no reports of fresh violence from either place on Tuesday, but authorities said they had ordered...

Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI’s hallucination problem is fixable

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:47 GMT

Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods.Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to compose documents and get work done. Some are using it on tasks with the potential for high-stakes consequences, from psychotherapy to researching and writing legal briefs.“I don’t think that there’s any model today that that doesn’t suffer from some hallucination,” said Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude 2.“They’re really just sort of designed to predict the next word,” Amodei said. “And so there will be some rate at which the model does that inaccurately.”Anthropic, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and other major developers of AI systems known as large language models say they’re working to ...