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City announces $4M investment in free community college program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

Boston will make a $4 million investment into allowing any Boston resident to attend one of six community colleges tuition free, city officials announced at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design on Thursday morning.“Expanding Boston’s Tuition Free Community College is a critical step in ensuring more of our city’s residents are eligible to pursue a higher education right here in the city,” Mayor Michelle Wu said. “This funding will  increase community college enrollment and connect more residents with quality jobs.”Previously limited to income-eligible recipients, a city release stated, the investment will allow the program to cover costs for all Boston residents to enroll in up to three years at a partner college. The funds are split between $3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and $1 million through the Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s Community Project Funding.Eligible schools include Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology...

Red Sox notebook: Comeback bid falls short

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

Give the Red Sox credit for this much, they made things interesting in the end.On a day where it felt like the game was as good as done by the middle innings, the Red Sox offense came to life and clawed its way back down the stretch, ultimately falling one swing short in a 10-9 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.The Red Sox scored five runs from the eighth inning onwards, and in the bottom of the ninth Masataka Yoshida came to the plate with two on, one out and a chance to win the game with one swing of the bat.Yoshida grounded into what should have been a game-ending double play, but the Orioles’ sloppy defense gave the Red Sox life as Jorge Mateo botched the throw to first. That brought Adam Duvall to the plate with the tying run at second, but he struck out to end the game.Devers starts off strongOne silver lining from Thursday’s loss? The play of Boston’s new $313.5 million man, Rafael Devers.Devers had a strong Opening Day showing after notably struggling in the World Baseball Class...

Middlesex DA charges suspect in 2000 cold case rape of a 13-year-old girl in her Cambridge home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

In the Middlesex District Attorney’s office’s latest cold case breakthrough, investigators have charged a man they believe to be the perpetrator of a 2000 sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl in her home in the middle of the night, in what the DA called “every parent’s nightmare.”In the early morning of Oct. 18, 2000, a man entered a Cambridge home while its occupants were sleeping, prosecutors said in a statement Thursday. The man climbed to the second floor and walked to the bed of a 13-year-old girl where he covered her mouth with his hand and ordered her silence. He then proceeded to rape her.As he assaulted the girl, he allegedly asked her how old she was and she told him. When she got a chance to escape, she took it and screamed for help as the man ran past her, down the hairs, out of the house and disappeared. The case went cold.Nearly 22 and a half years later, prosecutors have named Roger W. Reddick, Jr., 41, who at the time lived less than a half mile away in Cambridge, as...

Trump indictment live updates: Latest news, developments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first ever criminal case against a former president, Donald Trump has been indicted on charges involving payments made during his 2016 campaign to quash claims of two extramarital affairs. Prosecutors in New York focused on money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep the women from going public with claims that they had sexual encounters with him.Trump, who’s running for the White House again in 2024, called the decision by a Manhattan grand jury to indict him “political persecution and election interference at the highest level.” ___KEY DEVELOPMENTS:Minutes after the indictment was announced Thursday, Trump released a lengthy statement calling it the next step in a “witch-hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.” “The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable ̵...

Gwyneth Paltrow not at fault for ski collision, jury decides

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

By SAM METZ (Associated Press)PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow won her court battle over a 2016 ski collision at a posh Utah ski resort after a jury decided Thursday that the movie star wasn’t at fault for the crash.A jury dismissed the complaint of a retired optometrist who sued Paltrow over injuries he sustained when the two crashed on a beginner run at Deer Valley ski resort, siding with Paltrow after eight days of live-streamed courtroom testimony that made the case a pop culture fixation.Paltrow, an actor who in recent years has refashioned herself into a celebrity wellness entrepreneur, Paltrow looked to her attorneys with a pursed lips smile when the judge read the eight-member jury’s verdict in the Park City courtroom. She sat intently through two weeks of testimony in what became the biggest celebrity court case since actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard faced off last year.The dismissal concludes two weeks of courtroom proceedings that hinged largely ...

Red Sox pitchers can’t find plate in jarring Opening Day performance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

When the Red Sox assembled this year’s pitching staff a special emphasis was placed on avoiding walks. No matter what else happened the Red Sox weren’t going to keep shooting themselves in the foot by giving opposing batters a free pass.Maybe in the long run that’ll still work out, but Thursday the staff couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.Red Sox pitchers were all over the place Opening Day, surrendering nine walks and 15 hits in the 10-9 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. They also surrendered five stolen bases and at points looked completely uncompetitive.“Too many walks, a lot of traffic, right? We’ve got to be better at that,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Nine walks as a team, we’ve been talking about throwing strikes and attacking the zone. … Not great, we’ve got to be better in that aspect.”The performance was particularly shocking given that it began with Corey Kluber. No starter in the big leagues was better at avoiding walks in 2022, and last season he had only one g...

Minnesota train derailment, ethanol fire renew safety fears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

By JOSH FUNK and TRISHA AHMED (Associated Press)PRINSBURG, Minn. (AP) — Hundreds of people had to evacuate their Minnesota town after a train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire early Thursday, but authorities were hopeful that the quick response and cold weather would help limit the impact of this latest crash.Still, those pushing to improve rail safety said the derailment only added urgency to the debate over reforms that Congress and regulators are considering, even as officials seemed to apply some of the lessons learned after last month’s fiery derailment near East Palestine, Ohio.Minnesota officials said the BNSF train derailed around 1 a.m. in Raymond, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Minneapolis. That prompted the evacuation of essentially all of the town’s 250 homes because they were within 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometers) of the derailment. The evacuation order was lifted around noon.The nation has been increasingly focused on railr...

Red Sox season opens at Fenway Park; fans express confidence but say team needs to do more

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

Red Sox fans, dressed in winter coats, hats and gloves didn’t let the bitter temps cool their optimism on Opening Day.It took just a few innings for the sellout crowd to start booing as the Orioles jumped out to an 8-2 lead through the midway point of Opening Day before eventually walking away with a 10-9 victory. The crowd showed life when the Red Sox scored five runs between the eighth and ninth innings, cutting a six-run deficit to one.Methuen resident Jake Conway, 28, attended his first Opening Day with his father John, 69, both long-time Red Sox supporters.“I feel like they did enough to sneak into the Wild Card,” Jake said, expressing more confidence than his father. “There’s always the probability of ‘We tried, we made it. We’re in the playoffs, we’re in the hunt.’”John Conway has attended around 20 opening days, as he used to walk plenty of times to the ballpark from his nearby childhood home. He said he’s encouraged third baseman Rafael Devers signed a 10-year, $313.5...

Franz Wagner focusing on having a bigger rebounding impact for the Magic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

Although others also brought it to his attention, Orlando Magic second-year Franz Wagner didn’t need to be told an aspect of his game he needed to improve.“One thing I got to get better at is rebounding,” Wagner told the Orlando Sentinel during a conversation after the team’s Thursday practice at Georgetown University. “That was one of my focuses these last couple of weeks.”Wagner’s concerted effort on rebounding has been evident in the box score recently.He averaged 5.8 rebounds in 33.2 minutes in the Magic’s previous nine games entering Friday’s road game against the Washington Wizards (34-42).Wagner’s averaging 4.1 rebounds in 33 minutes on the season and was collecting 3.8 boards per game in his previous 66 games before the recent stretch.He grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds in the Magic’s March 16 road loss to the Phoenix Suns and Sunday home win over the Brooklyn Nets. His four-highest rebounding games have come...

Trump’s legal worries extend far beyond charges in New York

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:36 GMT

By The Associated PressThe hush money case in New York that has led to criminal charges against Donald Trump is just one of a number of investigations that could pose legal problems for the former president.Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, confirmed Thursday that he had been informed that the former president had been indicted on charges involving payments made during the 2016 campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. The specific charges were not immediately made public.Trump faces a string of other inquiries as he campaigns for another term in 2024, including a criminal investigation over top secret documents found at his Florida estate, a probe in Washington into his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, and an investigation in Georgia looking into whether he and his allies illegally interfered in the state’s 2020 election.Trump, a Republican, has denied any wrongdoing and says he is being targeted by Democrats trying to keep ...