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State lawmakers weighing new watchdog for the MBTA

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

State lawmakers have proposed legislation that would move safety oversight of the MBTA from the Department of Public Utilities to a new independent agency.The bill, filed by the Joint Committee on Transportation, envisions a new agency that would act as the state safety oversight authority for the MBTA, a role that would also be extended to other public transit modes.Oversight of the ferry system, buses, regional transit authorities and the commuter rail would fall under this new “Office of Transit Safety,” State Rep. William Straus, co-chair of the Transportation Committee, said.“We decided that it’s more than just the Boston subway issues,” Straus said. “Even though the DPU has been tasked with oversight over ferry operations, that’s something they’ve never even attempted to do. I mean, talking decades here.”He added, “We decided to just bring all public transit together, and at least for the safety oversight, having this one office with a single executive director.”The office’s e...

Federal Reserve raises rates for 11th time to fight inflation but gives no clear sign of next move

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER (AP Economics Writer)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate Wednesday for the 11th time in 17 months as part of its ongoing drive to curb inflation. But it provided little guidance about when — or whether — it might hike rates again.Wednesday’s move raised the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate from roughly 5.1% to 5.3% — its highest level since 2001. Coming on top of its previous hikes, the Fed’s latest action could lead to further increases in the costs of mortgages,auto loans, credit cards and business borrowing.Speaking at a news conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was noncommittal about any expectations for future rate hikes. Since it began raising rates in March 2022, the Fed has often telegraphed its upcoming action. This time, though, Powell said the Fed’s policymakers may or may not raise rates again at their next meeting in September.“It is certainly possible that we will ...

Column: Moment of truth arriving for Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer, who has a big decision to make

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

One of the dilemmas facing Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer as he makes his big trade-deadline decision is whether to break up the nucleus of a team that fans really seem to like.What makes sense business-wise might not be the right call in terms of satisfying the customers, and all fans are customers, whether it’s buying tickets or merchandise or a direct-to-consumer streaming product from the team-owned TV network that airs their games.Trading Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellinger should bring back a slew of players who could help the Cubs down the road, perhaps as early as 2024. Keeping them and trying to get over .500 and into the 2023 postseason, knowing they could very well leave after the season, would be risky and potentially could set the timeline for winning back a year.The fact the Cubs have begun to take advantage of a soft spot in their schedule, winning six of seven from the Washington Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox, adds to the degree of diffic...

Henry Lee, forensic scientist who testified in OJ Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey trials, defends work in overturned murder convictions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

Forensic scientist Henry Lee on Wednesday defended his 1985 examination of evidence in a murder case in which two convictions were later overturned, stating that he did not fabricate evidence about blood found on a bathroom towel.In 2019, the state Supreme Court threw out the 1989 murder convictions of two New Milford teenagers, Ricky Birch and Shawn Henning, in the murder of Everett Carr and ordered a new trial. They then filed a wrongful-conviction suit against Lee, eight police investigators and the town of New Milford.On Friday, U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden ruled that Lee fabricated evidence in the murder case and is liable for potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages in their wrongful-conviction suit.Daniel Shular / Hartford CourantHenry Lee is seen at a July 2019 news conference.“I have no motive nor reason to fabricate evidence,” Lee wrote in his statement. “My chemical testing of the towel played no direct role in implicating Mr. Birch and Mr. Henning or anyon...

Massachusetts fire officials suspend fireworks shooter’s license after unexploded fireworks washed up on Chappaquiddick Island

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

The state fire marshal has suspended a fireworks shooter’s license after unexploded commercial-grade fireworks shells washed up on Chappaquiddick Island following a Martha’s Vineyard Fourth of July show.The technician who ran the Edgartown show is now banned from pyrotechnics work in Massachusetts for the next five years.Also, his employer Central Maine Pyrotechnics could face a two-year suspension in the Bay State if the company violates the terms of a licensing disposition reached on Wednesday, according to State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey.The suspension handed down from state fire officials comes after the discovery of more than two dozen unexploded commercial fireworks shells, which washed ashore on Chappaquiddick Island after the fireworks display.The shells ranged from three to eight inches in diameter and were highly explosive, with the potential to cause grave physical injury or worse, officials said.“Fireworks are inherently dangerous,” Ostroskey s...

Ticker: Fed hikes key rate 11th time; Automakers partner on DC charging network

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate Wednesday for the 11th time in 17 months, a streak of hikes that are intended to curb inflation but that also carry the risk of going too far and triggering a recession.The move lifted the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate from roughly 5.1% to 5.3% — its highest level since 2001.Coming on top of its previous rate hikes, the Fed’s latest move could lead to further increases in the costs of mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and business borrowing.A key question swirling around  the Fed is whether Wednesday’s increase will be its last or whether it will hike again later this year. At his news conference, Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made no decisions about any future rate increases.“The process of getting inflation down to 2% has a long way to go,” Powell said.Automakers partner on DC charging networkGeneral Motors Co. and Stellantis NV are joining five other automakers to create a joint ven...

Ohio officer fired after letting his police dog attack a surrendering truck driver

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A police officer in rural Ohio was fired Wednesday after he released his police dog on a surrendering truck driver despite state troopers telling him to hold the K9 back.The Circleville Police Department said Ryan Speakman “did not meet the standards and expectations we hold for our police officers” and his termination is “effective immediately.” His firing comes a day after the department said he was on paid administrative leave, which is standard during use-of-force investigations.The town’s civilian police review board has found Speakman didn’t violate department policy when he deployed the dog, Wednesday’s police statement said, adding that the review board doesn’t have the authority to recommend discipline.Department officials said they would have no further comment on the matter “at this time” since it’s a personnel matter. Messages seeking comment from Speakman were not immediately returned.The Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Associat...

Trainer of champion Maximum Security gets 4 years in prison in racehorse-drugging scheme

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The trainer of racehorse champion Maximum Security was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a widespread international scheme to drug horses to make them race faster.Jason Servis was sentenced by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in Manhattan federal court after pleading guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor charge alleging that he used unapproved drugs on the horses he trained. He was also ordered to pay $311,760 in forfeiture, $163,932 in restitution and a $30,000 fine.“You have undermined the integrity of the sport of horse racing,” Vyskocil told Servis as she announced the sentence. “You cheated. You lied, and you broke the law.”Servis, 65, of Jupiter, Florida, was among more than 30 defendants, including veterinarians, charged in March 2020 after a multiyear federal probe of the abuse of racehorses through the use of performance enhancing drugs.Authorities said participants in the fraud — affecting races in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio,...

Mangrove forest thrives around what was once Latin America’s largest landfill

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It was once Latin America’s largest landfill. Now, a decade after Rio de Janeiro shut it down and redoubled efforts to recover the surrounding expanse of highly polluted swamp, crabs, snails, fish and birds are once again populating the mangrove forest.“If we didn’t say this used to be a landfill, people would think it’s a farm. The only thing missing is cattle,” jokes Elias Gouveia, an engineer with Comlurb, the city’s garbage collection agency that is shepherding the plantation project. “This is an environmental lesson that we must learn from: nature is remarkable. If we don’t pollute nature, it heals itself.”Gouveia, who has worked with Comlurb for 38 years, witnessed the Gramacho landfill recovery project’s timid first steps in the late 1990s.The former landfill is located right by the 148 square miles (383 square kilometers) Guanabara Bay. Between the landfill’s inauguration in 1968 and 1996, some 80 million tons of garb...

3 US Marines found at North Carolina gas station died of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:59 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Three U.S. Marines found unresponsive in a car at a North Carolina gas station died of carbon monoxide poisoning, the local sheriff’s office said Wednesday.Deputies from the Pender County Sheriff’s Office found the three men Sunday morning in a privately owned Lexus sedan parked outside a Speedway gas station in the coastal community of Hampstead. Autopsies performed Wednesday by the North Carolina Medical Examiner determined that all three deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the sheriff’s office. The Pender County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately make clear whether their deaths were accidental.“I am saddened by the timeless and tragic death of these three young men, who served our country honorably,” Sheriff Alan Cutler said. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families and colleagues during this time.”The lance corporals, identified by the U.S. Marine Corps as Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, of Madison, Wisconsin...