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Senate passes nearly $600 million tax cut plan, setting up conflict with House

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

The state Senate unanimously approved their version of a tax cut plan last night, a significantly pared down set of reform proposals than that which was previously offered by the House, setting up a second summer of conflict over how the Commonwealth can balance competitiveness and the cost of living.Coming in at around $590 million, the Senate’s “An Act to improve the Commonwealth’s competitiveness, affordability, and equity” offers the sort of progressive tax cuts that Sen. Pres. Karen Spilka has maintained for years she would support, without including some changes sought by the business community.“The scope of the House bill is more responsive to the cost of competitive challenges,” Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told the Herald. “We’re still going to crunch the numbers, but the hope would be that the final package would include good ideas from both proposals.”The Senate opted against lowering the short term capital gains tax from ...

Why ‘Playoff Jimmy’ Butler adds more pressure for the Chicago Bulls to find success with Zach LaVine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

Although it once again didn’t end with a ring, the 2023 NBA playoffs added another chapter to the lore of ”Playoff Jimmy.”That nickname has hovered around Jimmy Butler throughout his 11-year streak of playoff appearances — and apropos of any memes or jokes, his postseason impact is undeniable.Over the last four seasons, Butler has averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the postseason while leading the Miami Heat to 38 playoff wins and two Finals — the best record in the league during that span.And this season, Butler powered every step of the Heat’s improbable run starting with the play-in tournament. After holding off the Bulls with a 13-point fourth quarter to advance, he dropped 56 points in a clinching Game 4 performance as part of a herculean effort to overwhelm the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.Butler has joined a unique class of players in NBA history to record a higher average of points, rebounds, ass...

4 homers — and a 4-run lead — not enough for Chicago White Sox in a 5-4 loss in 11 innings to Los Angeles Dodgers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

The Chicago White Sox hadn’t hit back-to-back home runs all season. They did it twice Thursday against the Los Angeles Dodgers — and it still wasn’t enough.The Sox saw a four-run lead slip away on one swing, a grand slam by Chris Taylor in the sixth. The game went to extras, where Freddie Freeman ended it with an RBI single to give the Dodgers a 5-4 victory in 11 innings.“A four-run lead, it’s a tough one to lose,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.The Sox built the lead with the four solo homers.Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez homered consecutively in the first. Jake Burger and Andrew Vaughn did the same in the fourth.“When you are up 4-0, you feel like you have a good chance,” Burger said. “That’s baseball. After (Vaughn) hit his home run, we didn’t get any more runs. It’s on us.”The Sox only had one more hit after the fourth inning, a double by Elvis Andrus in the seventh. He was later erased on a cru...

Hard to believe John Mara will let this get to a Saquon Barkley Giants holdout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

Saquon Barkley would be risking a lot if he held out this season. The Giants also would be risking a lot if they dared him to.There are internal and external expectations for the Giants to build on last season’s playoff berth and Wild Card round victory. They paid Daniel Jones, traded for Darren Waller and spent plenty of capital on defense, and there is optimism in East Rutherford.Those good feelings could quickly and easily evaporate, however, if Barkley and the Giants don’t reach a deal by the July 17 deadline and the team’s top offensive player doesn’t show up for the start of training camp.Barkley’s absence would become a daily distraction. It would put pressure on head coach Brian Daboll to keep his locker room focused. And more concretely, it would threaten the Giants’ ability to put their best possible team on the field this fall.For all of those reasons, it’s difficult to believe that Giants co-owner John Mara would allow this stand...

Justice Department expected to announce findings of investigation prompted by George Floyd’s death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The findings of a two-year investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, prompted by the death of George Floyd, are expected to be announced Friday by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.The Department of Justice on Thursday announced a news conference “on a civil rights matter” was scheduled for Friday morning at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. Justice Department and city officials declined to confirm about whether they will announce findings of that police department investigation.A Justice Department advisory said Garland will be joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara and others. A link to a Justice Department public webinar scheduled for Friday afternoon has the heading: “DOJ Presentation for MPD Investigative Findings.”The “pattern or practice” investigation was launched in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of...

German police appeal for images taken of an attack in which Americans were pushed down a steep slope

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Police in southern Germany are appealing for photos and videos taken by witnesses of an attack near Neuschwanstein castle in which an American man allegedly pushed two women down a steep slope, killing one of them. A suspect was arrested following the attack.German news agency dpa quoted police as saying Friday that they have so far received about a dozen submissions on a specially created website, but assume many more images were taken by tourists present at the site.“We are looking for photographs which, by chance, show two young women and a man (approx. 30 years old) who were staying east of the Marienbruecke,” Kempten police said on their website. “These persons may have been walking together or separately.”The Marienbruecke, or Mary’s Bridge, is a popular vantage point for photos of Neuschwanstein, the most famous of the castles built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 19th century. According to the initial police investigation, the suspect met the two fema...

Agricultural producers and food businesses throughout nation getting $320 million boost from USDA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeding agricultural producers and food businesses with millions of dollars in investment funds to improve markets, create and strengthen jobs, control food prices and improve nutrition, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday.“We’re here to underscore the important role that local and regional food systems play for American agriculture and farmers, and to announce $320 million of variety of loans and grants which are designed to strengthen the supply chain, to make the food system more resilient and to create a number of opportunities for mid- and small-size operators,” he said.He spoke during a visit to the Fresh Start Market in Manchester, New Hampshire. The market sells fresh fruits, vegetables and other products grown by immigrant farmers, some of which are distributed via a community-supported agriculture program.“Thanks to our partnership with federal officials, including Secretary Vilsack’s Department of A...

Cleanup begins after tornadoes hit in Texas and Florida, killing 4 and destroying homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

PERRYTON, Texas (AP) — Cleanup efforts were beginning Friday morning after severe storms spawned tornadoes that left at least four dead, three in the Texas Panhandle and one in the Florida Panhandle as another series of fierce storms carved its way through Southern states.In Perryton, Texas, Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard said three people were killed when the tornado struck Thursday afternoon and rescue efforts continued.Another person died Thursday night in the Florida Panhandle when at least one confirmed tornado cut through Escambia County, toppling a tree onto a home, county spokesperson Andie Gibson told the Pensacola News Journal.Of the homes searched so far in Perryton, all but one of the occupants had been accounted for, so the main priority was going back over the area and the debris field to find that person, Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said on NBC’s “Today” show.Dutcher estimated that 150 to 200 homes in the community had been destroyed and said that in the...

Rural Utah abortion clinic closes amid staff shortages, plans to reopen in August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There is now one fewer place to access abortion in Utah after Planned Parenthood closed its only clinic outside the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah said on Thursday that the Logan clinic has long been staffed with one provider, who left to take another position in March. The northern Utah city of 52,000 is home to Utah State University and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Idaho, where abortions have been banned except for in cases of rape or incest since last year.Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it was training new staff and planned to reopen its clinic in August, in addition to a new facility in Ogden. In the meantime, it has attempted to help Logan patients schedule appointments at nearby health centers. In addition to abortion, the organization’s facilities provide sexual and reproductive health services including birth control and STI and pregnancy screenings.“We apologize for the challenges a...

Canada’s population expected to reach major milestone today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:04 GMT

Canada is set to hit a major milestone on Friday, with the country’s population expected to hit 40 million.According to Statistics Canada’s population clock, which follows trends in births, deaths, and migration in real time, the milestone should come around 3 p.m. ET.“This is an exciting milestone for Canada,” says Chief Statistician Anil Arora in a statement. “It is a strong signal that Canada remains a dynamic and welcoming country, full of potential.”The country added a million residents in one year for the first time ever, between January 2021 and 2022. In 2022, every single province and territory, with the exception of Northwest Territories, saw its population grow.Canada currently leads all G7 nations in population growth, at 2.7 per cent, the highest level since 1957. In that year, immigration and the baby boom pushed the country’s population growth to 3.3 per cent.Similar projections from Statistics Canada suggest the country will h...