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Battenfeld: Massachusetts lawmakers passing few laws good news for beleaguered citizens

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

The shocking news that the do-nothing, Democratic-dominated Massachusetts Legislature has passed only 10 laws this year is actually great news for beleaguered taxpayers.Two handfuls? Even that’s too much for our lawmakers, whose favorite thing is to meddle with voter-approved laws and saddle citizens with even more taxes.The less ridiculous bills House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka conjure up and tell their flunkies to vote for, the better for us all.The 10 laws passed this year, most of them minor, are the least in decades, but if you look at the numbers, this is not surprising.The Massachusetts Legislature regularly delays business until the very end of the two-year session, when it usually passes a flurry of ill-conceived and little-studied bills that lawmakers don’t even read. Asking them to pass laws this early in the year is a bit much for our overworked representatives.And getting them to meet in the summer or on Mondays and Fridays or during vacation ...

Massachusetts assault weapons ban targeted in federal suit

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

A national gun rights group has asked a federal judge to immediately halt the state’s longstanding ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines while the court decides whether the law should stand at all.The National Association for Gun Rights, a Colorado-based Second Amendment advocacy group, on Tuesday was heard by First Circuit U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in their attempt to overturn a 1998 assault weapons weapon ban made a permanent law in 2004 by then-Gov. Mitt Romney.“Massachusetts has been directly violating the Second Amendment for decades,” NAGR President Dudley Brown said. “Under Bruen, there is no doubt in my mind the days of Romney’s Assault Weapons Ban are numbered. The National Association for Gun Rights will see to it that the rights of the people of Massachusetts are restored.”The gun rights group says that their lawsuit comes following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which str...

Why this season will be a critical one for the Ravens’ offensive line | ANALYSIS

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

Last season’s Super Bowl opponents were strikingly similar. The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles both went 16-3, scored 546 points and averaged 4.6 yards per carry. But there was another, more significant, commonality integral to their success: a dominant offensive line.While much has changed in football through the decades, there’s little argument that having a great offensive line goes a long way. Of the 20 teams to play in the past 10 Super Bowls, 12 of them had an offensive line that finished in the top 10 of Pro Football Focus’ annual rankings. Last season, the Eagles’ offensive line was the best in the NFL, per PFF, while the Chiefs were fourth.The Ravens weren’t far behind: PFF graded them as the league’s second-best offensive line, and for good reason. In addition to being the least penalized unit in the NFL, All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley’s return in Week 5 from a devastating ankle injury that cost him nearly all of 20...

European summit in Moldova tackles Ukraine war, regional conflicts

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

BULBOACA, Moldova (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took his quest for more arms and support to a sprawling summit of some 50 European leaders in Moldova on Thursday, becoming the focal point of an event that seeks to quell regional conflicts and shore up unity in the face of Russia’s war. The meeting of the pan-continental European Political Community, which embraces all European nations other than Russia and Belarus, gathered the heads of state and government from 47 countries but its attention was on the continent’s south and east — a region pushed to a turning point in its relationship with Moscow because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.The 27-nation EU wants to use the summit to reach out to many Eastern European countries that spent decades either within the Soviet Union or under its immediate sphere of influence, and to bolster the continent’s unified response to Russian aggression.The choice to hold the summit in Moldova, a former Soviet re...

Live Updates | Jordan’s royal wedding

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The Latest on the royal wedding in Jordan of Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Alseif:Excitement has gripped Jordan over the royal wedding and preparations for the nightlong celebrations are underway. In downtown Amman, traffic was sparse and streets were quiet in in anticipation of the late afternoon nuptials on Thursday.Vendors capitalized on the wedding fever, hawking Jordanian flags, posters of the betrothed and the red-and-white checkered shemagh fabric traditionally worn by the Hashemites to those excited enough to get an early start.“She looks like such a princess that I think she deserves him,” Suhair Afaneh, a 37-year-old businesswoman, said of the bride, lingering in front of a portrait of Hussein in a dark suit.“But so what, I’ll still be in love with him.”She contemplated buying Hussein’s portrait to hang in her bedroom but her nieces persuaded her that her husband might not approve.___More on the royal wedding in Jordan:— Jordan’s royal wedding g...

Pakistan’s military says 2 soldiers killed in militant attack near border with Iran

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked a Pakistani security post near the country’s border with Iran on Thursday, triggering a shootout that killed two soldiers, the military said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the area of Singwan in restive southwestern Baluchistan province. The military said the two slain troops “embraced martyrdom while fighting bravely against the terrorists.”The military launched a search and Iranian authorities were alerted to watch for the assailants trying to escape, the statement said.The Iranian Embassy in the Pakistani capital condemned the attack and expressed condolences to the families of the two soldiers. In a post on Twitter, it urged for cooperation between the two neighboring countries “to combat terrorism.”Last month, five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group near the Pakistani border. Militants often target Pakistani and Iranian border guards in the region.Small...

Flower power and diplomacy: Versailles perfume gardens transport public back in time

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

VERSAILLES, France (AP) — The Versailles flower gardens were once a symbol of the French king’s expeditionary might and helped water-deprived courtiers perfume their skin. Now, they have been reimagined to give today’s public a glimpse — and a sniff — into the gilded palace’s olfactory past.Holding secrets to the original concept of flower power, scents of Bulgarian rose, mint and citrus from hundreds of vividly colored historic blooms unveiled this week waft into the nostrils of paying visitors at the Chateauneuf Orangery of the Grand Trianon, transporting them back in time.“Those discovering the gardens will, from flower to flower, understand what we loved in history,” Versailles Palace president Catherine Pegard said. “Many are the original scents.”The aim of the Perfumer’s Garden is to unlock the mysteries and significance behind the scented flowers of the 17th-century French court — yet also remind us that it was no accident that the Versailles Palace was the very place where t...

In Denmark, potatoes on key bridge cause havoc

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A 57-year-old truck driver was detained Thursday after loads of potatoes were found spilled on a key bridge linking two Danish islands, police have said. The driver was held on suspicion of causing reckless endangerment to life. A first spill was reported on the westbound side of the Storebaelt bridge at 6.35 a.m. (0435 GMT), police spokesman Kenneth Taanquist said. The bridge connects the island where the capital, Copenhagen, is located to the rest of Denmark. A similar incident happened on the eastbound side a short time later, Tanquist added. ”It looks weird,” he said. “We are working on two hypotheses: it is either an accident or it is something that has been done deliberately.”Police said the roads had become slippery and urged drivers to drive slowly. According to the Danish Road Directorate, lines of vehicles were reported on either side of the roughly 18-kilometer (11 .2 miles) bridge and tunnel link between the islands of Funen, where Odense...

Know any airplane mechanics? A wave of retirements is leaving some US industries desperate to hire

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kwasi Bandoh, a senior recruiter for an airline, stood before a group of aviation mechanic students at their graduation ceremony last month and congratulated them for all having jobs.As some of the students began nudging each other, Bandoh realized that perhaps not every one of them had already been hired. “Who doesn’t have a job?” Bandoh demanded, surveying the 15 graduates before him at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics’ training facility in Hagerstown, Maryland. “Who doesn’t? Because I have a job for you.”The crowd of about 70 friends and relatives, gathered in a hangar where the students had been trained, laughed appreciatively. Fourteen of the 15 graduates did have jobs, and the only one who didn’t had an interview lined up for the next day.As happy as the moment was for the graduates, it epitomized the struggles of recruiters like Bandoh, who are desperately seeking mechanics for the airlines, plane manufacturers and repair shops...

EU data authority warns Frontex of action over migrant interview breaches

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:34:34 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s border and coast guard agency is collecting information from migrants that could end up identifying vulnerable people seeking sanctuary from persecution in their homelands, according to a report by the EU’s data protection supervisor.The agency, Frontex, said Thursday that it conducts “debriefing interviews” with migrants entering Europe without authorization “on a voluntary and anonymous basis.” It said the interviews aim to collect information about migratory routes and cross-border crime and help to plan its operations.But in a report submitted to Frontex last week, the European Data Protection Supervisor, or EDPS, said that some debriefings reveal “a combination of distinguishing features about that individual and their journey that would be sufficient to render those individuals identifiable.”The data protection supervisor said this means the information gathered would amount to “personal data” under EU laws, and it has “serious doubts” abou...