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Healey’s ‘Climate Czar’ broke ethics rules in leaving EPA, watchdog group alleges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

The Healey Administration’s climate chief violated ethics rules at the EPA after she began the process of seeking a job with the state, according to an ethics complaint filed by a government watchdog group.In a letter dated Aug. 1 and sent to Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, a group called Protect the Public’s Trust said their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the departure of Melissa Hoffer from her position as EPA Principal Deputy General Counsel revealed the Bay State’s Climate Chief failed to follow the agency’s ethics rules for seeking work outside of the federal government.“Ms. Hoffer served as one the highest-ranking lawyers at EPA, yet she apparently failed to comply with routine ethics obligations when seeking employment with a non-federal entity. While certainly not the first instance PPT has identified at the EPA, the apparent ‘look-the-other-way’ approach to ethics violations under the current administrati...

Graves Light not in the town of Hull, judge rules, settling long-running land dispute

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

A decade after the sale of the long-abandoned Graves Light, a judge ruled it is not in — or subject to taxes from — the town of Hull.“It was basically a history lesson going back into the 1600s, with really old parchments and maps and things like that,” said Dave Waller, co-owner of Graves Light, also known as Graves Ledge. “(Judge Diane Rubin) walked through the evidence, and she really did make the right decision I think.”In a 50-page decision based on documents dating back to the 17th century and expert testimony, Judge Rubin said “Graves Ledge lies neither within the municipal land nor tide water boundaries of the Town of Hull.”The Land Court case kicked off in 2019, six years after Dave and Lynn Waller bought the lighthouse on the Boston Harbor ledge for a record-setting $933,888, when they received a tax bill for $3,461 from the town of Hull.The Wallers said previously the bill came as a surprise, since the deed said the property...

‘Boston has been engaging in blatant discrimination’: Satanic Temple to appeal opening prayer ruling

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

The Satanic Temple plans to appeal a federal court decision that allows the Boston City Council to exclude Satanists from delivering an opening prayer at meetings, saying that the judge who issued the ruling “never hid her bias.”Malcolm Jarry, co-founder of the Salem-based Satanic Temple, said U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley demonstrated “dangerous and corrupt” disregard for the First Amendment when she chose to dismiss the group’s lawsuit against the city.“Boston has been engaging in blatant discrimination, which they even admitted,” Jarry wrote in a Wednesday email to the Herald. “However, during the entire proceedings, U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley never hid her bias.”He added, “Twice she vacated the City of Boston’s defaults. She also interfered with our discovery process by not letting us depose Michelle Wu, who was president of the Boston City Council when we applied to deliver an invocation.”The Satanic Temple filed suit against the City of Boston in January 2...

Monica’s Trattoria anticipated to reopen in the North End this weekend with new manager

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

Monica’s Trattoria has a new manager, and its attorney believes the North End restaurant will reopen this weekend after it shuttered last week while its former leader is being held without bail on attempted murder charges.The Boston Licensing Board on Wednesday unanimously approved a petition to change the manager of Monica’s from Patrick Mendoza to Amanda McQueen, a six-year employee of the popular Italian eatery.“We are hoping to be serving food this weekend,” attorney William Ferullo told the Licensing Board during a quick hearing and meeting in which no members from the public offered testimony.McQueen, a resident of Danvers, said she started at Monica’s in 2017 on the administrative side before becoming a server, floor manager and most recently, an operations manager.In her operations manager role, McQueen said she was at the restaurant for about 40 to 50 hours a week, overseeing 31 employees while also being responsible for interviewing, hiring and training new employees, cond...

Niger’s military ruler warns against foreign meddling, urges population to defend the country

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s new military ruler lashed out at neighboring countries and the international community in a nationally televised speech Wednesday night, and he called on the population to be ready to defend the nation.In one of few addresses to the West African country since seizing power from Niger’s democratically elected president a week ago, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani warned against foreign meddling and military intervention against the coup. “We therefore call on the people of Niger as a whole and their unity to defeat all those who want to inflict unspeakable suffering on our hard-working populations and destabilize our country,” Tchiani said.Tchiani, who commands Niger’s presidential guard, also promised to create the conditions for a peaceful transition to elections following his ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.His speech comes amid rising regional tensions as the West African regional bloc ECOWAS threatens to use military force if Bazoum isn’...

Shopify optimistic about ‘new shape’ of business following layoff, AI announcements

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

Shopify Inc.’s president said a recent move to streamline operations with a significant layoff and bolster merchant offerings with technology like artificial intelligence has left the company well positioned for growth.“The new shape of Shopify is enabling us to make faster decisions, flex with the rapid pace of technology and deliver innovative solutions that increase our merchants’ odds of success,” Harley Finkelstein said on a Wednesday call with analysts.“Even after 17 years and all the changes we have made recently, we know the opportunities for Shopify are only growing.”He said he feels those opportunities lie across several domains: online and in-person commerce, small and medium businesses, direct-to-consumer models, and domestic and global markets.Finkelstein’s optimism comes amid a period of immense change at Shopify, a Canadian tech darling turned e-commerce stalwart that counts Unilever, Nestle and even pop star Taylor Swift amon...

Surfs up takes on new meaning as California waves get bigger as Earth warms, research finds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Waves are getting bigger and surf at least 13 feet (about 4 meters) tall is becoming more common off California’s coast as the planet warms, according to innovative new research that tracked the increasing height from historical data gathered over the past 90 years.Oceanographer Peter Bromirski at Scripps Institution of Oceanography used the unusual method of analyzing seismic records dating back to 1931 to measure the change in wave height.When waves ricochet off the shore, they collide with incoming waves and cause a ripple of energy through the seafloor that can be picked up by seismographs designed to detect earthquakes. The greater the impact, the taller the wave is.Until now, scientists relied on a network of buoys by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that collect data on wave height along U.S. coasts, but that data along the California coast only went back to 1980.“Until I stumbled upon this data set, it was almost impossible to make that co...

Train crashes into bus at crossing in Mexico, killing 7 and injuring 17

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

EL MARQUES, Mexico (AP) — A train smashed into a small commuter bus at a grade crossing, killing seven people and injuring 17 early Wednesday, authorities in central Mexico said.Alejandro Vázquez Mellado, head of civil defense for the township of El Marques, said several of the 17 injured were in critical condition. Queretaro state interior secretary Guadalupe Munguía later said the death toll had risen to seven.The town is in Queretaro state north of Mexico City.Photos of the scene showed the crumpled wreckage of the bus tossed to one side of the tracks. The vehicle was apparently dragged about 50 yards (meters) along the tracks.Such accidents are frequent at railroad crossings in Mexico that lack signals or barriers.The Associated Press

Pair mortally wounded in shootout with Ohio state troopers following pursuits, kidnapping

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

VANDALIA, Ohio (AP) — A police pursuit in Ohio eventually led to the kidnapping of a tractor-trailer driver, spurring another pursuit and a lengthy standoff that culminated in a shootout between two suspects and Ohio state troopers, leaving both suspects mortally wounded.The initial pursuit began around 1 a.m. Wednesday in London, when a police officer stopped a van. London Police Chief Glenn Nicol said a man and a woman in the van gave the officer false information, then drove away as the officer walked back to his cruiser.The van ultimately stopped at a truck stop on US 42. The two van occupants got out and were briefly chased on foot by police, including an officer who tried to stop the pair with a stun gun. The male suspect also pointed a gun at the officers but did not fire it, authorities said.The man and woman then got into a tractor-trailer cab that was unlocked and did not have a trailer attached. The truck driver was in the vehicle at the time, and the truck was soon drive...

Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice accuses liberals of ‘raw exercise of overreaching power’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:54:51 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The conservative chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court accused her liberal colleagues of a “raw exercise of overreaching power” after they flexed their new majority Wednesday and fired the director of the state’s court system.The four liberal justices, on just their second day as a majority on the court after 15 years under conservative control, voted to fire Randy Koschnick. Koschnick held the job for six years after serving for 18 years as a judge and running unsuccessfully as a conservative in 2009 against then-Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, a liberal. “To say that I am disappointed in my colleagues is an understatement,” Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, now a member of the three-justice conservative minority, said in a lengthy statement after Koschnick was fired. Ziegler said the move undermined her authority as chief justice. She called it unauthorized, procedurally and legally flawed, and reckless. But she said she would not attempt to stop i...