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Massachusetts will again have an air quality alert due to wildfire smoke: ‘Unhealthy for sensitive groups’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

The smoke from the out-of-control Canadian wildfires is expected to still impact the region heading into the holiday weekend, with state environmental officials extending an air quality alert for parts of Massachusetts.The Department of Environmental Protection has issued an air quality alert on Friday for five counties in western and central Massachusetts: Worcester, Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties. The Canadian wildfire smoke will likely continue to influence particle pollution levels.“Air quality is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups,” MassDEP wrote in its alert. “Sensitive groups include people with heart or lung disease, such as asthma, older adults, children, teenagers, and people who are active outdoors. People with either lung disease or heart disease are at greater risk from exposure to air pollution.“MassDEP advises people in sensitive groups to reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion, take more breaks, do less int...

Connecticut native Ryan Preece making the grade with Stewart-Haas Racing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

Stability is the payoff for perseverance in the rough and tumble world of motorsports.That’s certainly been the case for NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, the operator of the No. 41 IUOE Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.Preece, 32, is a native of Berlin, Conn., who methodically worked his way up through the NASCAR hierarchy to the fringes of the Cup Series Tour.Reese’s fortunes took an upswing when he gained the confidence of upper management at SHR and took over the No. 41 from Cole Custer. That’s the closet thing to job security that an upstart driver can expect while establishing his presence on the Cup Series Tour.“Coming from where I have come from and the work I have put in and everything it takes to get to this level, it is nice to have people at the organization to have my back,” said Preece.“At the same time, we can grow and continue to build and continue to get better. I love being at SHR. It’s a place where I’m at the race shop all the time as if it were my own an...

For some Yankees fans, Domingo German’s imperfect past made his perfect game hard to root for

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

The pursuit of perfection often unites the baseball world.As a spotless pitcher marches toward the final outs, baseball diehards and casuals alike will turn their TVs on in hopes of witnessing history. Even those who don’t root for the team involved will lend their support, as only 24 perfect games have ever been recorded.But the 24th — twirled by the Yankees’ Domingo German in an 11-0 win over the A’s on Wednesday night — brought about more mixed reactions than the typical perfecto. Some, including Yankees fans, simply couldn’t bring themselves to root for a pitcher who, in 2019, was suspended 81 games for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.“My first thought was, ‘Oh, god, we’re gonna have to celebrate this guy for doing this,’” Stacey Gotsulias, a fan who hosts the “Locked On Yankees” podcast, told the Daily News. “So I took it as being happy that the perfect game happ...

Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action: Here is what justices wrote in the opinion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

The Supreme Court on Thursday banned affirmative action in college admissions.Here are some of the key excerpts from the ruling:Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion: “The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual –not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”“We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today. At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”Justice Clarence...

Emanuel Lopes trial: Jurors yet to reach a verdict in Weymouth cop-killer case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

A Norfolk Superior Court jury has gone a second day without a verdict in the case of the 25-year-old man charged with the murder of Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna, 42, and bystander Vera Adams, 77, nearly five years ago.Emanuel Lopes, 25, faces a total of 11 charges. In addition to the murder charges, he stands accused of attempted murder, weapons, assault and other charges. Lopes has pleaded not guilty.Jurors received the case on Wednesday, and continued to deliberate on Thursday.At opening arguments three weeks ago on June 8, prosecutor Greg Connor outlined the day of July 14, 2018, and the horrific scene early the next morning that would result in the deaths of Chesna and Adams, who was sitting on her porch nearby as the violence unfolded.Connors said at the start of the trial that on that summer day, Lopes was getting along with his friend he was staying with, Garret Hunt, along with Hunt’s girlfriend Kim Moreia, and Lopes’s girlfriend Mary Cronin. Later that night, Lopes p...

MBTA reveals cause of Orange Line track fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

A fire on the Orange Line tracks near Tufts Medical Center was caused by an overheated third rail insulator, an MBTA spokesperson said.The incident, first reported by a train operator at 11:50 a.m. Wednesday, caused major delays on the Orange Line.Service was suspended between North Station and Back Bay for more than an hour while the fire department investigated and the T’s power department made repairs, MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston said.Regular service resumed, with delays, at approximately 2 p.m.Related ArticlesLocal News | Somerville’s Community Path a recreational oasis Local News | Sumner Tunnel shutdown will back up traffic for miles, state highway chief says Local News | MBTA Red Line dragging death caused by ‘short circuit’ in train door Local News | Portion of Green Line to close for 12 days in July to replace track where trolley derailed last week Local News | Under review: En...

Travelers endure another day of airport agony. One airline has by far the most cancellations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

By DAVID KOENIG (AP Airlines Writer)DALLAS (AP) — Air travelers endured another wave of flight disruptions Thursday despite better weather along much of the East Coast, while United Airlines continued to account for the majority of canceled flights nationwide. United vowed to get back on track over the July 4 holiday weekend, when the number of air travelers could set a pandemic-era record.Hundreds of thousands of people have had travel plans thrown in the air after a wave of storms raked the Northeast over the past few days and frustrations are running high. Airports in Chicago, Denver and Newark, New Jersey — all hubs for United — were seeing the most delays on Thursday, according to FlightAware.By early evening on the East Coast, United had canceled more than 400 flights, the bulk of the 600-plus cancellations toted up by FlightAware. The Chicago carrier was poised to lead all U.S. airlines in cancellations for a sixth straight day. United CEO Scott Kirby has bl...

France mobilizes tens of thousands of police to head off unrest after police fatally shot a teenager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

By SYLVIE CORBET, JOHN LEICESTER and ALEX TURNBULL (Associated Press)NANTERRE, France (AP) — France mobilized tens of thousands of police officers on Thursday in an effort to head off widespread urban rioting following the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that shocked the nation, with commuters rushing home before transport services closed early to avoid being targeted by rioters.The police officer accused of pulling the trigger on Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.” Despite government appeals for calm and vows that order would be restored, smoke billowed from cars and garbage set ablaze in the Paris suburb of Nanterre following a peaceful afternoon march in honor of the teen identified only by his first name, Nahel.After a morning crisis meeting following violence that injured scores of po...

Kristaps Porzingis excited to join Celtics, return to big stage: ‘This is a different level’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

On the night he was traded – finally – to the Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis was just as clueless, just as uncertain about what was happening as the rest of the basketball world.So, he went to sleep.Porzingis was back home in Latvia last Wednesday, when reports of a three-team trade that sent him to the Celtics and Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers seemed to be set in stone. But then, suddenly, as he was about to go to bed, Porzingis saw the news that the trade had broken down.“So that kept me up for a little bit longer,” Porzingis said.But by 4 a.m. local time, Porzingis was done waiting. He finally went to bed, unsure of what team he’d be on when he woke up.“I was like, OK, I’ll go to sleep and see what happens,’” Porzingis recalled. “Wake up in the morning, I saw that it happened, the trade happened, and I was just extremely excited, and extremely happy.”The deal, of course, was finally agreed upon at midnight in Boston. It sent cornerstone Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies in a franchise...

Harborfest kicks off Fourth of July celebrations in Boston

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:29 GMT

Fourth of July celebrations arrive early in Boston, with the Harborfest kicking off Friday with an arts market, music by local groups and other attractions.Secretary of State William Galvin continued his holiday preparations on Thursday, previewing historical documents to be displayed at the Commonwealth Museum’s annual Independence Day exhibit.In years past, several hundred people have flocked to the Columbia Point museum the morning of the Fourth before they head off to other celebrations. Galvin said he’s excited for that tradition to continue Tuesday.The museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and visitors will get a chance to get up close to the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Watertown — a July 1776 international agreement that was the first to recognize the new United States as an independent nation — and other historic passages.“It brings to life the history of our state but also of our country, very much the case that the history of our state is th...