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Massachusetts East-West Rail vision gets $108M federal boost

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has secured $108 million in federal funding to begin the process of implementing an East-West passenger rail service, by improving connections between Springfield, Worcester and Boston.The grant, awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration and announced on Friday, will go toward the total project cost of approximately $135 million. MassDOT and Amtrak plan to cover the remaining amount, at $18 million and $9 million, respectively.The two entities, with the support of CSX, applied for the grant last December.“I am thrilled we were able to secure this critical funding for central and western Massachusetts, which will lay the foundation for West-East Rail,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.Healey credited the Biden administration for making the investment, and the federal delegation for helping to secure the funds.The funding will add two new daily round trips on the Amtrak Inland Route, to improve connections between Boston, Worces...

Howie Carr: When Rupert Murdoch saved Boston media

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

Thank you, Rupert Murdoch, for saving this newspaper so many years ago.He kept Boston a two-newspaper town, back in those long-gone days when newspapers actually mattered.If you’re depressed about how everything has been going steadily downhill in Massachusetts for decades now, all I can tell you is that if the Boston Globe had been allowed to have a monopoly on public discourse since 1982, the situation would be even more dire.Any city with two newspapers, no matter how bad, is better served than any city with one newspaper, no matter how good.Herald archiveThe cover of the Dec. 4, 1982, edition of the Boston Herald American declaring “You Bet We’re Alive! Murdoch, unions make the deal.” (Herald archive)Rupert Murdoch “stepped aside” the other day from his role running Fox or News Corp. or whatever it’s called now. He’s 92.He’s not what he used to be, and neither is his empire, full of careerists, time servers, clerks and Democrat party apparatchiks — just like ev...

California bill to have humans drivers ride in autonomous trucks is vetoed by governor

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill to require human drivers on board self-driving trucks, a measure that union leaders and truck drivers said would save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state.The legislation vetoed Friday night would have banned self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) — ranging from UPS delivery vans to massive big rigs — from operating on public roads unless a human driver is on board. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, head of the California Labor Federation, said driverless trucks are dangerous and called Newsom’s veto shocking. She estimates that removing drivers would cost a quarter million jobs in the state. “We will not sit by as bureaucrats side with tech companies, trading our safety and jobs for increased corporate profits. We will continue to fight to make sure that robots do not replace human drivers and that technology is not used to destroy good jobs,” Fletcher said in a statement la...

Lots of dignitaries but no real fireworks as the Asian Games open

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

HANGZHOU, China (AP) — The opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday in China offered all the staples of a major international sports event.Dignitaries greeted General Secretary Xi Jinping, fans packed the 80,000-seat Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou to capacity, and many of the 12,417 participants from 45 nations and territories paraded to officially open the two-week show.By comparison, next year’s Paris Olympics will field about 10,500 competitors.One big thing, however, was missing: real fireworks, the exploding kind that smell of power and burnt fuses. Instead, the high-tech games — billed of course as “green games” — offered electronic flash, three-D animations, and a virtual torchbearer.Xi was greeted by wild cheers when he appeared, and fans were handed LED star lights, adding sparkle to the stands when the lights dimmed and eight well-polished soldiers arrived carrying the national flag above their heads.The loudest cheers were for the Chinese delegatio...

Speaker McCarthy gives in to hard-line conservatives in hopes of solving government funding impasse

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Staring down a fast-approaching government shutdown that threatens to disrupt life for millions of Americans, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has turned to a strategy that so far has preserved his tenuous hold on House leadership but also marked it by chaos: giving hard-right lawmakers what they want.In his eight months running the House, McCarthy has lived by the upbeat personal mantra of “never give up” as he dodges threats to his speakership and tries to portray Republicans as capable stewards of the U.S. government. He has long chided Washington for underestimating him. But with the House GOP majority in turmoil, all but certain to hurl the country into a shutdown, McCarthy has set aside the more traditional tools of the gavel to keep rebels in line. Instead, he has acceded to a small band led by those instigating his ouster, even if that means closing federal offices.It’s an untested strategy that has left McCarthy deeply frustrated, his allies rushing to his sid...

A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. Now his family is suing Texas officials

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The family of a Black high school student in Texas who was suspended over his dreadlocks filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Saturday against the state’s governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles. Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31. Officials with the Houston-area school say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code. George’s mother, Darresha George, and the family’s attorney deny the teenager’s hairstyle violates the dress code, saying his hair is neatly tied in twisted dreadlocks on top of his head.Darryl George’s supporters allege the ongoing suspension by the Barbers Hill Independent School District violates the state’s CROWN Act, which took effect Sept. 1. The lawsuit also alleges that Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, i...

In Milan, Ferragamo’s Maximilian Davis woos the red carpet with hard-soft mix and fetish detailing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

Every look in Ferragamo creative director Maximilian Davis’ latest collection, shown Saturday on the fourth day of Milan Fashion Week, offered a little mystery to unravel, some detail to marvel.At just 26, Davis is taking the fashion world by storm. His third collection marked an evolution, with a focus on fluidity while also adding sculptural details, playing with prints and incorporating hardware elements.Davis has taken Renaissance inspiration from Florence, Ferragamo’s home. This season, he playfully mixed in fetish details, which he claims as part of his DNA: leather chokers that flow into a pleated chiffon dress, thick ankle straps on stiletto heels and horsetail fringe that caresses the leg through deep slits in long dresses.The collection mixed the hard and soft. Viscose dresses have organic shapes that cling to the body, quietly ruched for movement. Long kaftans are anchored by thick hardware incorporated as jewelry, with oversized prints of a Venus flytrap. Super-wide belt...

Researchers discover attempt to infect leading Egyptian opposition politician with Predator spyware

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A leading Egyptian opposition politician was targeted with spyware after announcing a presidential bid, security researchers reported Friday. They said Egyptian authorities were likely behind the attempted hack. Discovery of the attempt last week by researchers at Citizen Lab and Google’s Threat Analysis Group prompted Apple to rush out operating system updates for iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and Apple Watches to patch the associated vulnerabilities.Citizen Lab said in a blog post that recent attempts to hack former Egyptian lawmaker Ahmed Altantawy involved configuring his connection to the Vodaphone Egypt mobile network to automatically infect his devices with the Predator spyware if he visited certain websites not using the secure HTTPS protocol. Bill Marczak, the researcher involved at the University of Toronto-based internet watchdog, declined to provide more detail on how he and Google researcher Maddie Stone discovered the spyware exploit chain, which he said ...

Auto workers still have room to expand their strike against car makers. But they also face risks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

Even after escalating its strike against Detroit automakers on Friday, the United Auto Workers union still has plenty of leverage in its effort to force the companies to agree to significant increases in pay and benefits.Only about 12% of the union’s membership is so far taking part in the walkout. The UAW could, if it chose to, vastly expand the number of strikers who could hit assembly plants and parts facilities of General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, the owner of the Jeep and Ram brands.Yet the UAW’s emerging strategy also carries potentially significant risks for the union. By expanding its strike on Friday from three large auto assembly plants to all 38 parts distribution centers of GM and Ford, the UAW risks angering people who might be unable to have their vehicles repaired at service centers that lack parts.The union’s thinking appears to be that by striking both vehicle production and parts facilities, it will force the automakers to negotiate a relatively quic...

New York City further tightens time limit for migrants to move out of shelters

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Beleaguered by a continuing influx of asylum seekers, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is further tightening shelter rules by limiting adult migrants to just 30 days in city-run facilities — to help ease pressures on the city’s already struggling shelter system and perhaps dissuade more migrants from coming.The move was immediately criticized by advocates for migrants and homeless people as unnecessary and heartless.But the mayor called the move “another step in our efforts to help asylum seekers take the next step in their journeys.”Adams announced the tightened restrictions on Friday, after the Biden administration said last week it would grant temporary protected status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had arrived before July 31, a designation that would allow them to more quickly gain authorization to work in the United States.The move by the federal government has long been sought by Adams and other big city mayors, whose shelter systems are...