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Commuter rail service returns to Lynn months ahead of schedule, T says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

Commuter rail service is scheduled to return to Lynn Monday after more than a year of disruptions.MBTA officials said an interim platform will open nine months ahead of schedule, with the first train expected to arrive around 5:30 a.m. before carrying onto North Station, according to a train schedule. The resumption of service was first announced in October.“By ensuring Lynn is connected to Boston and other major cities, it increases job opportunities, access to essential services, and the vibrancy of its downtown area. Through the acceleration of bringing service back to Lynn, we are reconnecting communities and the public we serve,” MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said in a Friday statement.Lynn Station closed in October 2022 after the MBTA said they wanted to address deterioration issues as part of a $72.5 million renovation project. Bus service shuttled passengers from Lynn Station to nearby Swampscott Station.The temporary platform stands only blocks away from the original sta...

Feds award Massachusetts nearly $400M to replace Sagamore Bridge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

The Biden administration awarded Massachusetts nearly $400 million Friday to replace one of the Cape Cod bridges deemed “functionally obsolete” and no longer meeting the needs of the traveling public.U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating said the federal Department of Transportation approved an application from the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for $372 million to start replacing the Sagamore Bridge.“This funding is a critical down payment on the effort to replace the Sagamore and Bourne bridges and a recognition that replacing the aging bridges will bring immense economic, environmental, and social benefits to Cape Cod, the Islands, and the entire Commonwealth,” the trio said in a statement.Both the nearly 90-year-old Bourne and Sagamore Bridges are the only roadways leading onto Cape Cod, and a March 2020 report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found the “most cost effective” means of providing safe and reliable crossings would be provi...

VIDEO: Coyote seen prowling Mt. Soledad neighborhood, but why?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A coyote was caught on video prowling the driveway and yard of a Mt. Soledad home on Friday morning.This occurrence is something local resident Robert Feliciano says has become a lot more common lately. His Ring camera captured the moment, showing the coyote approach from the street and then hop his fence before making its way to the side area of the home. This La Jolla restaurant just earned Michelin Guide status The sighting happened around 7:30 a.m., a time in which Feliciano says his neighbors are usually walking their dogs around the block."I also mentioned it to my wife -- to take caution as she opens the garage door or front door for this is the normal time that we are heading out," Feliciano told FOX 5.Is this something that should raise alarm in the community? The good newsAccording to Varment Guard Wildlife Services (VGWS), a company that offers humane wildlife solutions for homes and businesses, coyotes rarely attack people. In fact, VGWS explained that coy...

Quaker Oats recalls granola products over concerns of salmonella contamination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Quaker Oats on Friday recalled several of its granola products, including granola bars and cereals, saying the foods could be contaminated with salmonella.Salmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In rare cases, the bacterial disease can be fatal.Quaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said in a news release that it has not received any reports of salmonella infections related to the recalled granola products. The full list of recalled foods includes granola oats cereals and Quaker Chewy Bars, which are also sold in PepsiCo’s snack mixes.The affected products have been sold in all 50 U.S. states, as well as U.S. territories, Quaker said. The company is asking customers with recalled products to throw them away and contact its customer support line or visit the recall website for more information and reimbursement.According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Pre...

The leaders of Italy, the UK and Albania meet in Rome to hold talks on migration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

ROME (AP) — The leaders of Italy and the U.K. agreed on Saturday to tackle irregular migration to Europe, pledging to intensify cooperation in the fight against human trafficking.Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who held talks in Rome, were also joined by Albanian counterpart Edi Rama, who is seen as a key ally in the efforts to manage migrant arrivals from North Africa to European shores.Meloni’s office said in a statement after the meeting that the talks with Sunak “focused primarily on the joint work in the field of migration within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in London” in April.The two leaders reportedly agreed to co-fund a first Italian-British project of assisted voluntary repatriations to countries of origin drawn up by the International Organization for Migration for migrants stranded in Tunisia.Meloni, Sunak and Rama agreed on the need to manage irregular migration “in an increasingly structured manner, further...

US military leaders head to Israel and will offer advice on shifting to the war’s next phase in Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top two U.S. military leaders are traveling to Tel Aviv to advise the Israeli government on how to transition from major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza to a more limited and precise campaign — the kind of strategic shift they both have considerable expertise in.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown served in leadership roles as U.S. airpower and ground forces moved from major combat to lower-intensity counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is not clear how deeply their advice from lessons learned will resonate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governmentIsrael is still stinging from the deadliest attack ever on its homefront and has pledged to continue its bombardment of Gaza until Hamas, which orchestrated the Oct. 7 attacks, is fully destroyed.Their trip highlights the increased efforts by the Biden administration to convince Israel that it should scale back its offensive, which has f...

Estranged spouse charged with murder of Newfoundland woman seven years after death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Police have charged the estranged husband of a woman from Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula with first-degree murder in a case that stretches back seven years.Jennifer Hillier-Penney disappeared on Nov. 30, 2016 in St. Anthony, N.L., and the RCMP said today they are still searching for her remains.RCMP Insp. Tracy Edwards said that investigators have collected enough evidence to lay charges against Dean Penney, in what she described as a case of intimate partner violence.Edwards declined to provide information on why the investigation required seven years before charges could be laid, other than to indicate it is a “complex” case. The inspector told reporters that the 50-year-old accused was arrested in Deer Lake, N.L., on Friday in the middle of the day.She said he is expected to make a brief appearance in provincial court today.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16The Canadian Press<!– Photo: 2023121...

It’s raining microplastics: Hurricane Larry dropped plastic particles all over N.L.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

When hurricane Larry made landfall in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021, the powerful storm brought heavy rain and wind across the province — and millions of microplastic particles originating from the Atlantic Ocean, researchers from Dalhousie University have found.“So we have a saying … it’s raining cats and dogs,” Tony Walker, a professor in Dalhousie’s school for resource and environmental studies, said in an interview. “But now it’s raining cats and dogs and microplastics.”Larry offered researchers a unique opportunity because the hurricane never flew over land between its formation off the western coast of Africa and its landfall in Canada. The storm, however, passed through a patch of the North Atlantic where thousands of tonnes of rubbish accumulate.“What was important about this hurricane is typically hurricanes kind of pass through the Caribbean and then come up through Florida and the United States, and they probably would h...

Cardinal is convicted of embezzlement in big Vatican financial trial, sentenced to 5 1/2 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican tribunal on Saturday convicted a cardinal of embezzlement and sentenced him to 5 ½ years in prison in one of several verdicts handed down in a complicated financial trial that aired the city state’s dirty laundry and tested its justice system.Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the first cardinal ever prosecuted by the Vatican criminal court, was absolved of several other charges and nine other defendants received a combination of guilty verdicts and acquittals among the nearly 50 charges brought against them during a 2 ½ year trial.Becciu’s lawyer, Fabrizio Viglione, said he respected the sentence but would appeal.Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi said the outcome “showed we were correct.”THIS IS BREAKING NEWS: The previous story is belowA once-powerful cardinal and nine other people learn their fates Saturday when a Vatican tribunal hands down verdicts in a complicated financial trial that has aired the tiny city state's dirty laundry and tested its justice s...

The states that are — and aren't — raising their minimum wages in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:10 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — While it seems that inflation is seeming to ease in some categories, the cost of nearly everything is still high. A recent analysis even determined most American households would need to spend an additional $10,000 or even more to afford the same goods and quality of life they had in early 2021. Fortunately for some, more than half the country is set to raise their minimum wage in 2024. The federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 an hour next year, the same rate that it's been since 2009. Twenty states will remain at that level while another 25 and the District of Columbia will mandate an increase. In most cases, the increases are set to take effect on January 1, 2024. In D.C., for example, the minimum wage is currently $17, higher than any other state. That is expected to increase on July 1 based on the Consumer Price Index for the area. You need up to $15,000 more just to live like you did in 2021, analysis finds Come July, Nevada's minimum wage will increase to ...