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Battenfeld: Ruthzee Louijeune emerging as top contender for bickering Boston City Council presidency

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

Bickering Boston city councilors are already jockeying for the next president’s race, with rising star Ruthzee Louijeune emerging as one of the top favorites to lead the famously feuding council.Louijeune is expected to compete for the presidency with at-large Councilor Julia Mejia, who is more on the far left and is also angling for the top spot, sources said. District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell also might be a potential candidate.Current Council President Ed Flynn – the target of sniping from his fellow councilors – is prohibited by term limits from running again in January, but he could cast a key vote in determining the next leader.It’s unclear if Mayor Michelle Wu might try to tip the race by throwing her weight behind someone.A lot will depend on the outcome of this year’s council election. All 13 councilors will be on the ballot for the September preliminary contest, and the top vote-getters will hold more clout.The top two vote-getters in each district will face off and the t...

Ukraine will get F-16 fighter jets from the Dutch and Danes after the US agrees to allow transfers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United States has given its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, officials in Washington and Europe said Friday, in a major gain for Kyiv, even though the fighter jets are unlikely to affect the war any time soon.It was not immediately clear when the first F-16s might enter the conflict, but Ukrainian pilots will first have to undertake at least six months of training on the aircraft, according to officials.Ukraine has long pleaded for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge. It recently launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s forces without air cover, placing its troops at the mercy of Russian aviation and artillery.Even so, Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, told reporters in Washington he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take “four or five years,” he said.But in...

Fired founder of right-wing org Project Veritas is under investigation in New York

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The founder of Project Veritas, a conservative nonprofit known for its hidden camera stings, is under investigation by a suburban New York prosecutor’s office in the latest fallout after his ouster from the group over allegations that he mistreated workers and misspent organization funds.The Westchester County district attorney’s office confirmed Friday it is “looking into” matters concerning James O’Keefe, who was suspended in February and later fired as chairman and CEO. The Project Veritas board said he spent “an excessive amount of donor funds” on personal luxuries.Jin Whang, a spokesperson for District Attorney Mimi Rocah, declined to discuss the subject or details of the investigation, or what potential charges, if any, O’Keefe could face. Whang cautioned that investigations can have a variety of outcomes, not necessarily resulting in criminal charges.News of the probe was first reported by The Nation.O’Keefe’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, blamed the i...

Dominican officials say plastics company to blame for explosion that killed 31 people

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Dominican authorities announced late Friday that they are pursuing a criminal case against a plastics company based on evidence found during an investigation into a powerful explosion this week that killed at least 31 people.Police and the Public Ministry issued a joint statement saying the blast occurred at a business called Vidal Plast, rather than at a bakery as authorities had said initially. The explosion occurred Monday afternoon in a bustling commercial center in San Cristobal, a city just west of the capital of Santo Domingo.“The Public Ministry has evidence that compromises the criminal responsibility of those responsible who, with their actions, caused the death of dozens of people and caused millions in losses,” the statement said, citing prosecutor Fadulia Rosa Rubio.The ministry said it was investigating several people, but did not identify them.The owners of Vidal Plast could not be immediately reached for comment. The company r...

Connecticut man convicted of killing roommate with samurai-like sword after rent quarrel

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man was convicted Friday of killing his roommate with a samurai-style sword after a rent dispute, prosecutors said.A jury found Jerry David Thompson, 45, guilty of murder in the 2020 stabbing death of Victor King. Thompson owed rent on his room in King’s downtown Hartford home, and King was trying to evict him, the Hartford state’s attorney’s office said in a news release, citing trial evidence. King called police twice on the morning of July 25, 2020 — first telling a tip line that Thompson was menacing him with a sword, and then calling 911 to report that his roommate was threatening him, according to prosecutors. Surveillance video showed Thompson walking toward the home later that morning with a long object in his hand, then walking back to his car in different clothes about 20 minutes later, prosecutors said. Some of King’s friends called the police the next day, alarmed that they couldn’t reach him. Police found the ...

Homes ablaze in battle to save West Kelowna, B.C., from devastating wildfire

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

Homes were still burning in West Kelowna, B.C., on Friday after a devastating wildfire destroyed a significant number of properties overnight, in a battle that the city’s fire chief likened to “100 years of firefighting.”Residents and officials described frightening and uncanny scenes — people leaping into Lake Okanagan to escape the fire, and the historic Lake Okanagan Resort engulfed in flames as explosions rang out. One evacuee watched remotely though a doorbell camera as trees outside his home burst into flame.Evacuation zones were being expanded across the lake into the city of Kelowna late Friday afternoon, widening the scale of the crisis. The fire was “exponentially worse” than expected, said Jason Brolund, chief of the West Kelowna fire department.Wildfires across the province experienced what the BC Wildfire Service called “extreme” growth Thursday and Friday amid a weather shift that brought high winds and dry lightning.Abou...

Residents of east Washington community flee amid fast-moving wildfire

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire prompted the evacuation Friday of residents in and around the eastern Washington community of Medical Lake.The so-called Gray Fire began around noon and was burning in grass, timber and wheat, according to the state fire marshal’s office, which said the fire was threatening homes, a hospital, Highway 202 and the community of Medical Lake.Level 3, or “go now,” evacuations were issued for the community of about 4,800 people.The National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning, with a strong breeze contributing to dangerous fire conditions following a dry week.Medical Lake is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Spokane.The Associated Press

Website set up to donate directly to Maui educators

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Dozens of Lahaina teachers have been left with nothing, but the teachers union wants the public to know that there are ways to help.The Hawaii State Teachers Association set up a website where anyone can donate directly to affected educators.Justin Hughey, a third-grade special education teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary School, is still trying to make sense of it all. Free childcare services at Napili Park in West Maui "The next morning when they, when there were some helicopter shots going around and saying, you know, 'It looks like a war zone,' I could see the school just next to the harbor and it was all gone," Hughey said.FILE - A burnt shell is all that is left of the first-grade classroom at King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina, Hawaii, August 2023. (Photo/Mindi Cherry)"One teacher that was here today said it's not post-traumatic stress. It's, it's like traumatic stress because it's just constant right now."Justin Hughey, King Kameham...

Ahead of Paxton impeachment trial, House dumps 4,000 pages of evidence and new allegations

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Since the beginning of discussions around impeachment, suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton and his lawyers have decried the effort as a "political witch hunt," and said there is no evidence to support the allegations against the Republican. But late Thursday night, the House impeachment managers released nearly 4,000 pages of exhibits after teasing for months that "damning" evidence to back their case for removal from office.Managers on Wednesday began to release new evidence, after publicizing allegations they said show Paxton went to great lengths to conceal his relationship with Nate Paul — an Austin real estate investor at the center of Paxton's corruption allegations — even though top officials in the Office of Attorney General had warned Paxton numerous times that Paul was a "crook."In one interview from the exhibits, a former deputy attorney general said Paxton was "literally obsessed" with helping Paul, while "tying up resources of the most senior people...

APD seeks help identifying suspect involved in north Austin robbery

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

Editor's Note: The video above shows KXAN Live's top headlines for Aug. 18, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department said it was searching for a suspect involved in a north Austin robbery.According to APD, the robbery occurred at 10:20 p.m. July 16 at a Quick Trip in the 500 block of West Wells Branch Parkway. APD asked for help identifying a suspect and vehicle involved in the gas station robbery.APD said the suspect attacked a woman in front of her young child before driving away southbound on Heatherwilde Boulevard.The suspect was described as a man in his late teens – early 20s last seen wearing a black hoodie, with a white t-shirt underneath, dark pants (possibly joggers or long shorts) and black shoes.Austin Police said the suspect vehicle was described as possibly being a Black four-door Toyota Corolla or similar vehicle with noticeable damage to the front bumper and right front fender near the turn signal.Image of suspect vehicle involved in Wells Branch Parkway Quic...