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Victims’ families protest in Surfside ahead of commissioners’ vote on future development of condo collapse site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

A battle continues to brew in Surfside over what’s being built at the site of the deadly condominium collapse, and despite the developers’ announcement that they will be changing some of the plans, families of the victims are still upset.Families of the victims of the June 24, 2021 collapse peacefully protested outside Surfside Town Hall on Wednesday before commissioners meet for a final vote on future development at the site of the tragedy and Surfside memorial.“Is this normal? is it normal for 98 people to get killed in a place they called home and have to rally for respect?” said Martin Langesfeld, who lost his sister and brother-in-law in the collapse.The victims’ families have been fighting for a memorial on 88th Street and have been meeting with commissioners and the developers. They have voiced their concerns about the placement of a garbage collection area and a loading dock for the new luxury condo that will be built in the same location.“...

Chinese hackers nab 60,000 emails in US State Department breach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole around 60,000 emails from the unclassified inboxes of 10 U.S. State Department employees as part of a high-profile hack earlier this summer, according to a readout from a Senate staff briefing on Wednesday.The new details of the previously known hacking incident, which also impacted U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, are likely to only exacerbate concerns on Capitol Hill about Chinese hacking efforts, which have ramped up this year.According to a Senate staffer for Senator Eric Schmitt (Republican, Missouri), granted anonymity in order to discuss a private briefing, top officials from the State Department revealed the new details of the hack during a Capitol Hill briefing for staffers.The officials, who included State Department Chief Information Officer Kelly Fletcher, told attendees the focus of the hack was on Indo-Pacific diplomatic efforts, with nine of the 10 email accounts breached at the State Departme...

US lawmakers thwart hard-right push to gut Ukraine funding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

House Democrats and Republicans teamed up to defeat a pair of proposals to gut Ukraine funding in annual defense spending legislation, though each vote showed sizable GOP opposition to continued aid for Kyiv.The amendment votes on Wednesday serve as a barometer of Republican views on further support for Kyiv as the war with Russia drags on, with funding for Ukraine becoming a major sticking point in Capitol Hill talks to avert a government shutdown.Lawmakers rejected 104-330 an amendment from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) to strip $300 million from the bill for the Pentagon to train Ukrainian soldiers and purchase weapons for Kyiv. A second amendment from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that would have barred security assistance to Ukraine failed in an even wider 93-339 vote.Ukraine funding has become a political football just days before a possible shutdown. While the two votes show bipartisan support for helping fight off Russia’s invasion, nearly half of House Repub...

Fantasy Fixer: Week 4

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

7’s Morey Hershgordon has the inside scoop on who to start and sit this week in Fantasy Fixer. Go set your lineups!

LA-based operator of Green Card mill pleads guilty to fraud

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

Call off the honeymoon — the wedding’s a fraud.Marcialito “Mars” Biol Benitez, 49, a Philippine national living in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Boston to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud. The charges come with a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.The feds say he operated a sham wedding agency in California that married off immigrants — including at least three Massachusetts residents — to U.S. citizens, often homeless women, for payment.Benitez operated what then-U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins called, at an April 2022 press conference announcing the indictment of Benitez and 10 others, a “one stop shop” for immigration fraud. Benitez is the seventh person indicted in the fraud to plead guilty.The feds say that a foreign client would pay between $20,000 to $30,000 for the service, which they saw as a quick route to permanent residency and possible future c...

Healey: ‘It’s time’ to look at MCAS changes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey once again indicated her administration is “looking at” changes to the MCAS and the question of whether the test should remain a graduation requirement.“When it comes to something like MCAS, I think what’s important here is that we have a test that actually works,” Healey said on WGBH’s “Ask the Governor” segment Tuesday. “It’s there as an assessment tool. So I think it’s time, and I’ve charged my department with evaluating what it is we’re testing; are there changes that need to be made.”The governor’s comments come amid a legislative and high-profile ballot question push to overturn the MCAS graduation requirement spearheaded by the Massachusetts teachers’ union and advocates. If the MCAS ballot question gains enough signatures by mid-November, the opportunity to overturn the testing requirement will go to voters in November 2024.Healey did note that the ballot questio...

Senior grounds director Dave Mellor is unsung hero of second-rainiest Red Sox season on record

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

If there is an unsung hero in this dreary, disappointing Red Sox season, it’s David Mellor.Throughout endless rain delays, suspended games, and subsequent doubleheaders, Fenway Park’s senior grounds director is a ray of sunshine.“If it’s not the rainiest, it’s certainly one of the rainiest (seasons) in my Red Sox career and 39 years in the Majors,” Mellor told the Herald on the brisk but mercifully-sunny Wednesday afternoon, hours before the team’s final home game of the year.In fact, this was one of the rainiest summers on record for the city. Between June and August, Boston took on over 20 inches of rainfall, the second-highest total since the National Weather Service’s records began in 1872. Eight of the first 13 weekends of the baseball season included at least one rainy day, and made this year even busier for Mellor and his crew.Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, Alex Cora singled out Mellor, praising him for keeping the club afloat.“Shoutout to Dave again,” Cora said....

Enough fentanyl to kill more than 500K people seized in Lawrence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

Police seized enough fentanyl from one trafficker in Lawrence to end the lives of 566,000 people.A collaborative investigation between the Massachusetts State Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last Wednesday ended with the seizure of more than a kilo of fentanyl — wrapped up in aluminum foil like a burrito, according to photos provided by the State Police — from a single alleged trafficker.Police arrested Jacobo Medina-Mendoza, 39, of Lawrence, that day and he was later arraigned on related charges at Lawrence District Court.Police say that the package contained 1,132 grams of fentanyl. The DEA states that they consider any dose of 2 milligrams or larger to be a potentially lethal dose, meaning that the package was capable of killing as many as 566,000 people, depending on their size and weight.That’s 245 times the number of people who the state confirmed dead from opioid-related overdoses last year alone — 2,310, a record-high for the state and a number that is it...

‘Still segregated:’ Leaders reframe history of school desegregation, busing ahead of 50th anniversary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

Leaders and stakeholders in the early movement to desegregate Boston school reflected on buried experiences and lessons of the period at the first forum marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of the momentous busing order — and pushed for continued action.“When we think about our schools today, we know that they’re still segregated,” said former Mayor Kim Janey, who moderated Tuesday’s event and was bused as a BPS student. “And we know that the quality that parents were fighting for 50 years ago, they’re still chasing that today.”The first forum in a series of five marking the anniversary, titled “Organizing for Education Equity, 1960-1974, Led by the Black Community; Before Busing,” was held Tuesday evening at Roxbury Community College.The anniversary series was announced on Sept. 7 by the 40-member Desegregation and Busing Initiative Committee, along with a plan to develop BPS curriculum about the period.The event featured...

Tech trade group ‘evaluating’ legal challenge to Legislature’s tax cap law reforms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:00 GMT

The House approved a compromise tax relief bill Wednesday that lowers the state’s short-term capital gains tax and boosts several housing-related initiatives that top Democrats have said will help residents struggling with the cost of living.But as the bill advances to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to take final votes Thursday, at least one group is weighing a potential legal challenge to a provision that requires refunds under a tax cap law known as Chapter 62F to be distributed in equal amounts to all residents regardless of how much they paid into the system.The Massachusetts High Technology Council argued the change to the distribution formula is unconstitutional. The voter-approved law has only been triggered twice, 1987 and 2022, and refunds were distributed based on personal income tax from the preceding tax year.The council is “evaluating” whether it will take the matter to court, said Elizabeth Mahoney, vice president of policy and government affairs at the Massa...