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State’s Shelter Guarantee Could Lapse At Month’s End, Governor Healey Says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

While it’s right-to-shelter law will remain in place, Massachusetts may not be able to guarantee shelter for immigrant families as soon as the end of this month as the state’s shelter system reaches capacity, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday.The governor appointed a new emergency assistance director to lead operations “in this new phase” of the ongoing emergency shelter crisis. Lt. General Leon Scott Rice, former director of the Air National Guard and adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, will take the job to “work across our incident command structure in a close collaboration with local officials and stakeholders.”There are close to 7,000 families (close to 23,000 people) enrolled in the state’s emergency shelter system, Healey said Monday — over double the number of individuals enrolled at this time last year, and even up significantly from the 5,600 families being housed when Healey declared a state of emergency in Augu...

Rite Aid files for bankruptcy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

New York (CNN) — Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday, a casualty of a miserable environment for drug stores, exacerbated by its runner-up status to bigger chains and expensive legal battles for allegedly filling unlawful opioid prescriptions.The bankruptcy was not a surprise. Its bigger rivals, CVS and Walgreens, are also facing many of the same problems. They, too, are closing stores as Amazon and big-box chains like Walmart, Target and Costco serve as more customer-friendly alternatives to nationwide pharmacy chains.But Rite Aid is in much worse financial shape than its competitors and unable to weather the storm that has been beating down on the industry. On Thursday, it filed a notice to the US Securities and Exchange Commission saying it would be unable to file its latest quarterly financial report because it was looking at “strategic alternatives,” which is Wall Street speak for “considering bankruptcy.”In that filing, the company sai...

Documentary recounts early years of Patrick Henry High

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A documentary on the unique history of San Diego's Patrick Henry High School premiered this weekend."Give Me Liberty: The Early Years of Patrick Henry High" tells the story of when the school participated in the Model Schools Program, which was designed to inspire students to think independently and take on more responsibility. An open campus, flexible electives and enhanced tutoring were hallmarks of the program.The school's current students served as the location crew, camera and sound operators end editors for the film, and composed and performed its soundtrack. California will give some Mexican residents near the border in-state community college tuition FOX 5 spoke with students from the school's class of 1971 about the film."I was part of the very first class that went all the way through Patrick Henry, beginning from 1968 through '71," said seven-time Emmy award-winner David Plaut, who produced and directed the film. "Our high school was brand new and it was a ...

Judge weighing gag order on Trump in 2020 election case says prosecutors’ proposal may be too broad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s federal election interference case forcefully pushed back against the defense’s claims that a proposed gag order would unfairly censor the Republican’s political speech, but she also suggested on Monday she believed prosecutors’ request could be too broad. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is considering a request to impose the narrow gag order aimed at reining in Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about potential witnesses, prosecutors and others involved in the case. In seeking the order, special counsel Jack Smith’s team has accused the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner of using online attacks to try to undermine the public’s confidence in the justice system and taint the jury pool. Trump’s lawyer John Lauro accused prosecutors of “seeking to censor a political candidate in the middle of a campaign.” But the judge shot back that Trump “does not have a right to say and do exactly as he pleases.” “Y...

Natasha from ‘Natasha’s Kitchen’ makes waves in the food world with a simple approach to dishes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It started with a simple salad. Natasha Kravchuk began building a cooking mini-empire by combining cucumber, tomato and avocado. When a TV anchor shared the recipe on Facebook in 2015, the dish went viral. “I think that was the recipe that kind of gave us the first lift,” says Kravchuk, whose online hub Natasha’s Kitchen has grown to some 13 million followers across social media. “I think that’s trademark for what you can find on Natasha’s Kitchen.”Kravchuk’s philosophy is indeed mixed into that salad — flavorful food that doesn’t take a long time, uses regular ingredients and doesn’t hurt the pocketbook.“It’s turning humble and just simple ingredients into something really delicious,” she says. “That just has always carried through with me. I don’t think you need saffron to make something taste incredible, you know?”This fall, Kravchuk has put her expertise into her debut cookbook, “Natasha’s Kitchen: 100+ Easy Family-Favorite Rec...

Dairy Farmers of Canada recommend delaying farmgate milk price adjustment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

OTTAWA — The Dairy Farmers of Canada are recommending that an upcoming adjustment to the farmgate price of milk be delayed amid ongoing food inflation and pressure on the food industry to stabilize prices. In a statement on their website Friday, Dairy Farmers of Canada president David Wiens said the organization recommends that the Canadian Dairy Commission delay any price adjustment on milk until further notice. The recommendation comes after the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers last week called for a pause on any further increases to milk prices. The Canadian Dairy Commission is a Crown corporation that reviews the price dairy farmers are paid for their milk every fall, with adjustments to that price made in February.This year, the commission’s formula determined that price could go up 1.77 per cent in February. However, if one or more stakeholders invoke an “exceptional circumstance mechanism,” which the independent grocers did, the price adjustment wi...

FBI report: Violent crime decreases to pre-pandemic levels, but property crime is on the rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Violent crime across the U.S. decreased last year — dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI’s annual crime report released Monday.The report comes with an asterisk: Some law enforcement agencies failed to provide data. But a change in collection methods in compiling 2022 numbers helped, and the FBI said the new data represents 83.3% of all agencies covering 93.5% of the population. By contrast, last year’s numbers were from only 62.7% of agencies, representing 64.8% of Americans.Violent crime dropped 1.7%, and that included a 6.1% decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaughter. Rape decreased 5.4% and aggravated assault dropped 1.1%, but robbery increased 1.3%. Violent crime had also decreased slightly in 2021, a big turnaround from 2020, when the murder rate in the U.S. jumped 29% during the pandemic that created huge social disruption and upe...

Olympic committee president Thomas Bach says term limits at the IOC ‘are necessary’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

One day after some Olympic officials urged him to scrap term limits and stay for four more years, IOC president Thomas Bach said Monday they “are necessary.” The German lawyer also took a public swipe at potential successor Sebastian Coe because some colleagues think he is campaigning too early.The proposal on Sunday to remain as president, which Bach declined to dismiss, heaped negative headlines on the International Olympic Committee. It made the Olympic body seem ready to override a key anti-corruption reform passed following the Salt Lake City bid scandal 25 years ago.Bach, whose 12-year presidential term ends in 2025, also said Monday his supporters were opposed to any campaigning by one potential candidate — Coe, the president of track body World Athletics and a two-time Olympic champion runner.“A number of these colleagues think and feel that an election campaign so early before the election would be disrupting the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris, which are so import...

S&P/TSX composite up nearly 200 points, U.S. stock markets also higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in the base metal and technology stocks helped lead a broad-based rally as Canada’s main stock index rose nearly 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 180.22 points at 19,643.08.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 392.41 points at 34,062.70. The S&P 500 index was up 48.95 points at 4,376.73, while the Nasdaq composite was up 147.25 points at 13,554.48.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.40 cents US compared with 73.20 cents US on Friday.The November crude contract was down 64 cents at US$87.05 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down 16 cents at US$3.08 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down US$8.50 at US$1,933 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$3.58 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) The Canadian Press

Women’s voices being heard at Vatican’s big meeting on church’s future, nun says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:15:43 GMT

ROME (AP) — A prominent Irish nun said Monday that women’s voices are being heard at Pope Francis’ big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church, and said delegates are also acknowledging the hurt caused by the church’s position on homosexuality.Sister Patricia Murray, executive secretary of the main umbrella group of women’s religious orders, provided an update on the status of discussions halfway through the Vatican’s nearly month-long synod, or meeting.Francis called the gathering to press his vision for a church that is more inclusive and welcoming, where ordinary Catholics have a greater say in decision making than the all-male priestly hierarchy. A central theme has been the role of women in church governance, but other hot button issues are also on the agenda, including acceptance for LGBTQ+ Catholics and priestly celibacy.Murray is one of the 54 women granted the right to vote for the first time at a synod. She was also elected to the commission that will draft the synthe...