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Massachusetts firefighters heading to Quebec to battle wildfires, smoke from fires has impacted East Coast

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

Nearly a dozen state wildland firefighters are heading to Quebec to battle some of the more than 124 wildfires that have burned since the start of June.The out-of-control wildfires have wreaked havoc on Canada, and the smoke from the wildfires has impacted the air quality across Massachusetts and along the East Coast.Gov. Maura Healey and other officials on Thursday sent off the 11 firefighters at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Bureau of Forestry and Fire Control headquarters in Carlisle.“Over the last several years we have seen the impacts of the climate crisis here at home and around the world, in the forms of extreme weather and increasingly severe wildfires that continue to ravage our forests,” Healey said.“We are proud of these 11 Massachusetts wildland firefighters who are heading up to assist our Canadian partners in battling these intense wildfires,” the governor added.Related ArticlesLocal News | Massachusetts ...

Crime Briefs: Taunton mayor’s daughter missing from Ohio rehab facility; Feds: former Bosnian prison guard lied about his past to get US citizenship

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

The 18-year-old daughter of Taunton’s mayor has disappeared from an Ohio rehab facility and may be presenting herself under an alias.“Ted and I are devastated and extremely worried about her safety and well being,” Shaunna O’Connell posted on her Facebook page Wednesday afternoon.“We are working with the facility, police and missing persons to find her as soon as possible to bring her home. We are praying for Riley’s safe return. Please keep Riley in your thoughts and prayers,” the one-time GOP state rep added.O’Connell said that her daughter, Riley O’Connell, went missing the night before from the Evoke Wellness, a facility in Ohio that according to its website offers “medical detox and residential treatment programs. She was last seen wearing red shorts, a white tank top and no shoes, according to a wanted poster shared by the mayor.Riley O’Connell is 18 years old, 130 pounds, 5-foot-5, with long blonde hair with red tips and may be going by the aliases “Tiffany Rose” ...

Landon Thome savors Nazareth’s state title. Having his dad, Jim Thome, in the dugout ‘makes it even better.’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

Shortly after Nazareth won its second straight Class 3A state title on June 10, freshman second baseman Landon Thome posed for photos with the championship trophy.Joining him was a very special assistant coach: his father, Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who played for the Chicago White Sox from 2006 to 2009. They soaked in the moment together.“That was great,” Landon Thome said. “Getting to experience this with him makes it even better. It’s something that really hit me when it happened. Not many people get to have their dad with them throughout their baseball lives, so it’s really cool.”The 2023 season was certainly an amazing journey for the Thomes.Landon Thome cracked the starting lineup and was a significant contributor for the Roadrunners, who beat Grayslake Central 7-2 in the Class 3A state championship game at Duly Health & Care Field in Joliet.Jim Thome, meanwhile, got to be part of it all as an assistant.“I never won a state title,...

Florida executes Duane Owen, convicted in rapes and murders in Boca and Delray

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

STARKE — Duane Owen was executed Thursday for killing a 14-year-old babysitter and a 38-year-old mother of two in separate attacks months apart in 1984 while children were sleeping in the homes he targeted in Palm Beach County.Owen was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. One of Florida’s longest-held death row inmates, Owen was 23 at the time of the attacks and 62 when he was executed.He was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1984, rape and stabbing attack on Karen Slattery, 14, in Delray Beach and for the rape and killing of Georgianna Worden, 38, in May 1984, in Boca Raton.Owen attacked two other women in Palm Beach County who survived. All four attacks occurred just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Of the more than 290 people on Florida’s death row, Owen was one of the longest held there.Besides his death sentences, he also received six life sentences.Owen awoke at 7 a.m. Thursday and recei...

Chicago White Sox 3B Yoán Moncada returns to the the injured list with lower back inflammation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

Yoán Moncada’s back has landed him back on the injured list.The Chicago White Sox placed the third baseman on the 10-day IL with lower back inflammation, the team announced Thursday. Moncada previously was on the IL from April 11-May 12 with lower back soreness.Moncada has a .232/.279/.370 slash line with eight doubles, three homers and 13 RBIs in 38 games. He was not in the lineup Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with manager Pedro Grifol saying before the game at Dodger Stadium they were “giving him the day” and that the back was “going to be an ongoing thing.”“We’ll see how we move forward on that and take care of that,” Grifol said Wednesday. Jake Burger started at third and homered twice in the 8-4 victory.Moncada’s IL stint is retroactive to Wednesday. In Thursday’s corresponding move, the Sox selected the contract of infielder Zach Remillard from Triple-A Charlotte.A 10th-round pick by the Sox in 2016 ...

Column: Could the Chicago Bears choose your suburb as their new home? 20 more sites for a potential stadium.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

Your suburb could be home to a professional football team, making it the envy of all your neighbors.Chicago Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren is accepting applications.Act now before this offer expires.The Bears’ pursuit of a new state-of-the-art stadium to replace Soldier Field has gone off the rails since Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi called an audible, significantly raising the valuation of the Arlington Park property the McCaskey family purchased for $197 million.Naperville officials quickly pounced on the fumble, holding two meetings with the Bears about the possibility of moving to their leafy suburb 40 minutes west of downtown Chicago. Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor then wrote Warren proposing a lakefront stadium there, and a Rockford politician chimed in to lobby for his town.Everyone wants to be associated with the Bears.To no one’s surprise, the Bears, estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.8 billion, appear to be using the towns’ interest to help leverage a...

Massachusetts shark season is ramping up: Seal with shark bite washes up on North Shore beach

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

While much of the local shark focus is centered along Cape Cod, researchers want to remind people that sharks hunt for seals all along the state’s coast — as seen in a recent confirmed shark sighting.A seal with a shark bite washed up dead on a North Shore beach on Wednesday, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app. The dead prey was reported at Beverly’s West Beach.This doesn’t happen too often along the North Shore, but scientists get these reports from the north of Boston region every year, according to shark researcher John Chisholm.“They’re not super common, but they do happen every year,” Chisholm, who runs the MA Sharks Twitter account and confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app, told the Herald.“Most of the focus is on Cape Cod, but these sharks can show up everywhere,” he added. “They travel all along the coast.”In addition to this dead seal from a shark bite in Beve...

SDPD officer hit by vehicle in Pacific Beach

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego Police Department officer was struck by a vehicle Thursday in the Pacific Beach area, authorities said.The crash occurred at Garnet Avenue and Kendall Street, the SDPD watch commander confirmed with FOX 5 at 3:45 p.m. Bartender fighting for life after hit-and-run while walking to work According to police, the officer was hit from behind by the vehicle.The status of the officer is unknown at this time.No other details were released about the incident.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Evacuation orders lifted in B.C. and Alberta towns as wildfires recede

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

Tumbler Ridge resident Joline Couture feared the worst last week when she prepared to pack up and leave under an evacuation order as wildfires loomed outside the small community in British Columbia’s northeast. “It was absolutely terrifying,” Couture said. As a Canadian Ranger, Couture was also waiting on orders to go door to door to tell people to get out as winds whipped up the flames and pushed them toward the town. “We were told it’s not a matter of if the fire was gonna hit Tumbler Ridge, it was a matter of when it was gonna hit, so that was pretty terrifying, to know that I was going to be knocking at doors and telling people to pack everything that they could because they might not have a place to come home to,” she said. “And there were some people who said that they didn’t want to leave.”Now the imminent risk to the town has dissipated.Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, Tumbler Ridge’s roughly 2,000 reside...

Virgin Galactic to send Italian researchers to space, then regular commercial flights

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:14:54 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that monthly commercial flights to the edge of space will begin for ticket-holders in August, following a research flight planned for the end of June.The space tourism company will be taking up a team of specialists with the Italian Air Force and the National Research Centre of Italy to conduct microgravity research. The window for that research flight will begin June 27 and span the next three days, with timing depending on the weather. After that, those who have been waiting more than a decade for their ride aboard Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered space plane are expected to get their chance. The company said the first of those flights will begin in early August, with monthly flights following that.“This next exciting chapter for Virgin Galactic has been driven by innovation, determination and a commitment to delivering an unparalleled and truly transformative customer experience,” CEO Michael Colglazier said in a s...