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Massachusetts pot boss suspended by State Treasurer Goldberg

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg has suspended the state’s top cannabis boss, an office spokesperson has confirmed to the Herald.Shannon O’Brien, the $181,722 chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Commission, was suspended on Thursday, according to Andrew Napolitano, director of communication for the Office of the Massachusetts State Treasurer.Napolitano did not provide any other information aside from confirmation that O’Brien has been suspended.“We cannot comment on a personnel matter,” Napolitano said.The suspension comes just over a month after O’Brien apologized for an outburst, saying she was too blunt in saying the state’s legal weed rollout was in a “crisis.”The Bay State hit a new one-month high in legal weed sales — $136 million in July.O’Brien, the former state treasurer, oversees a commission which regulates the $3 billion cannabis industry.She surprised the commission during the middle of a regulator discussion in July when she announced Executive Directo...

Workers strike at all 3 Detroit automakers, a new tactic to squeeze companies for better pay

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

By TOM KRISHER, MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and JOHN SEEWER (Associated Press)DETROIT (AP) — Nearly one in 10 of America’s unionized auto workers went on strike Friday to pressure Detroit’s three automakers into raising wages in an era of big profits and as the industry begins a costly transition from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles.By striking simultaneously at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler owner Stellantis for the first time in its history, the United Auto Workers union is trying to inflict a new kind of pain on the companies in hopes of clawing back some pay and benefits workers gave up in recent decades.The strikes are limited for now to three assembly plants: a GM factory in Wentzville, Missouri, a Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, and a Jeep plant run by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio.The workers received support from President Joe Biden, who dispatched aides to Detroit to help resolve the impasse and said the Big 3 automakers should share their “reco...

Ask the Pediatrician: How can schools prepare for sudden cardiac arrest?

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

Dr. Alex B. Diamond and Dr. Stuart Berger | (TNS) American Academy of PediatricsDid you know sudden cardiac arrest is the main cause of death in young athletes? This fact may be surprising. But it has prompted 43 states to require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training for all high school students before graduation. In addition, many states now require automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools.What happens with sudden cardiac arrest?Sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops beating. It can cause death within minutes. Certain conditions can lead to sudden cardiac arrest, but not all the causes are known.Sudden cardiac arrest is rare in young people. When it happens, it’s often to young athletes during competition or practice. But sudden cardiac arrest can happen at any time to any young person, even if they aren’t in sports.When a person’s heart stops beating, quick action can mean the difference between life or death. CPR and AEDs save ...

Bird, Magic, Isiah and Michael are the basketball stars of Rich Cohen’s ‘When the Game Was War’

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

Rick Kogan | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Rich Cohen writes … and writes and writes and writes.This child of Glencoe, Illinois is among the most prolific writers on the planet and the wonder of it all is that not only does he provide a steady stream of books, they are very good books.There have been 16 so far, beginning with “Tough Jews” in 1998. Some have been based on his own interesting life, one about one of his sons in 2021′s “Pee Wees: Confession of a Hockey Parent” and another about his fascinating father, 2022′s “The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World’s Greatest Negotiator.” He’s written about a pirate and a banana business mogul, and collaborated on the memoir of producer Jerry Weintraub in “When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead,” and written about Chess Records and the Rolling Stones.All the while he has written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and the Wall Street Journal, where he is currently a columnist. He and his wife Jessica Medoff live in Connecticut w...

Dominican Republic closes all borders with Haiti as tensions rise in a dispute over a canal

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic shut all land, air and sea borders with Haiti on Friday in a dispute about construction of a canal on Haitian soil that taps into a shared river, as armed Dominican soldiers patrolled entry points and military planes roared overhead.Flights were canceled and border towns usually teeming with vendors and Haitians crossing daily to work in the Dominican Republic were subdued. Crowds of people on the Haitian side gathered under the shade of trees as they observed the scene on Friday. Nearby, a white flag fluttered in the breeze under a Haitian flag in a sign of peace.It was unclear how long the rare closure of the borders will last, with Dominican President Luis Abinader saying the measure will remain in place “as long as necessary.” The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the canal project violates a 1929 treaty and “must be halted immediately before pursuing any other dialogue.”Abinader ordered...

Warnock calls on Atlanta officials to be more transparent about ‘Stop Cop City’ referendum

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on Friday urged Atlanta’s mayor to be more transparent in how city officials handle a petition drive led by opponents of a proposed police and firefighter training center, saying he is “closely monitoring” the issue.Warnock’s letter comes after weeks of calls from “Stop Cop City” activists who were furious that the state’s top Democrats had stayed largely silent over the city’s plan to adopt a signature-matching verification process. Activists and prominent voting rights groups have decried the restriction as voter suppression.“I am concerned by the past application of signature match in Georgia that likely led to discrimination and potentially the disenfranchisement of eligible voters,” Warnock wrote as he asked Mayor Andre Dickens more than a dozen specific questions, including why officials plan to use a signature-matching process and how residents can fix potential errors to prevent their petition from being ...

Officials in North Carolina deny Christmas parade permit after girl’s death during last year’s event

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials in North Carolina have denied a permit for a Christmas parade after a truck towing a float struck and killed a girl during last year’s event.The city of Raleigh announced Thursday that it denied the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association’s request for a permit for the Raleigh Christmas Parade, news outlets reported.“The decision was made out of an abundance of caution for parade participants and spectators, as well as respect for Hailey Brooks’ family and friends,” according to a city statement.Hailey Brooks, 11, was killed during last year’s parade when she was hit by a pickup truck towing a float after the driver lost control. Landen Glass, then 20, was initially charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, careless and reckless driving, improper equipment, unsafe movement and carrying a firearm in a parade. In March, a grand jury elevated his charges to felony involuntary manslaughter.The Brooks family was not consulted and they oppose the decisi...

New Mexico governor amends order suspending right to carry firearms to focus on parks, playgrounds

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday narrowed an order that broadly suspended the right to carry firearms in and around Albuquerque to apply only to public parks and playgrounds where children and their families gather.The governor’s announcement Friday came days after a federal judge blocked part of the order with criticism mounting over the Democratic governor’s action and legal challenges by gun-rights advocates. U.S. District Judge David Urias said Wednesday the order was unconstitutional and granted a temporary restraining order to block the suspension of gun rights until another hearing is held in early October. Earlier in the week, scores of demonstrators defiantly wore holstered handguns on their hips or carried rifles during a rally by gun-rights advocates. The second-term governor imposed the emergency public health order Sept. 8 that suspended the right to openly carry or conceal guns in public places based on a statistical threshol...

Defence in Ibrahim Ali murder trial suggests sex partner, killer not same person

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

VANCOUVER — A defence lawyer at the Ibrahim Ali murder trial in British Columbia Supreme Court has put forward the theory that the person who had sex with the alleged murder victim may not be the one who killed the teenager. Kevin McCullough has finished cross-examining forensic biologist Christine Crossman, focusing on the fact Ali’s genetic profile only matched samples found in the victim’s vaginal and anal areas.McCullough questioned the decision by investigators not to test some evidence that may establish another suspect in the case, asking Crossman to confirm if she has an idea whether stains found on the girl’s clothing contained DNA.The body of the 13-year-old girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban, was found in Central Park in Burnaby, B.C., in July 2017. McCullough asked Crossman if she or the police noted that it was important to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the time of death and the time of sexual contact in this case, to which Cro...

Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier, designer of public spaces, dies at 63

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:29:01 GMT

MONTREAL — Claude Cormier, a celebrated Canadian landscape architect who helped design some of Montreal and Toronto’s best-known public spaces, has died at 63.His firm, Claude Cormier + Associés, said Cormier died Friday in Montreal following complications from Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that predisposes carriers to multiple cancers.  An obituary on the firm’s website says Cormier was the creative force behind some of Canada’s most “beloved, joyous and critically acclaimed” public spaces, including Toronto’s Berczy Park with its famous dog fountain, and the canopy of pink — and later multicoloured — plastic balls that hung for years in rows above Montreal’s Village district.“Cormier’s joyful and subversive designs blended conceptual clarity with a studied instinct for making enduring places,” the obituary says.“His ability to design public spaces with broad public appeal stemmed from multiple qualities: audaci...