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Massachusetts Ethics Commission: Former Methuen police chief violated conflict of interest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

State ethics officials are continuing to press the former Methuen police chief who resigned in 2021 after a scathing report from the inspector general questioned his handling of contracts that would have sent ranking officers’ pay soaring.The state Ethics Commission on Thursday issued an order to show cause alleging Joseph Solomon violated the conflict of interest law by changing a draft collective bargaining agreement to increase his salary and providing unwarranted benefits to five intermittent officers.The commission’s Enforcement Division says Solomon had an opportunity to resolve the matter through a disposition agreement before it filed the order as it found “reasonable cause” regarding a conflict of interest.A hearing on the allegations against Solomon will be scheduled within 90 days.A bulk of the complaint accuses Solomon of never informing the mayor or any other Methuen official that he consulted with the leader of the superior officers’ union to add a contract provision t...

Emanuel Lopes trial: Jury continues to deliberate verdict in double-homicide case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

Jury deliberations will continue for a sixth day in the case of Emanuel Lopes, the Weymouth man on trial for the 2018 murders of a cop and 77-year-old bystander.Lopes, 25, is accused of shooting Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna, 42, and bystander Vera Adams, 77, in the early hours of July 15, 2018, nearly five years ago. The defendant has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges in Norfolk Superior Court, including two counts of murder.One juror was replaced on Wednesday, further complicating long-running deliberations.Through detailed testimony from officers and witnesses, the case laid out a brutal series of events that Saturday night into Sunday morning.Lopes was having a normal time swimming and socializing with his friend and their girlfriends, witnesses testified, before a heated call with his girlfriend’s former fling abruptly shifted the tone of the night.Eventually in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, according to testimony, the defendant was in a highly emotional state, crashing...

American Shad making a comeback on the Taunton River

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

American shad — fish that migrate from oceans to rivers every spring to spawn — are making a comeback in New England’s longest coastal river without dams.That’s the goal behind a new MassWidlife initiative which looks to stock about 2 million larval shad each year over the next five in the Taunton River, stretching 37 miles from Bridgewater to Fall River.“They were once abundant in large Massachusetts rivers like the Taunton, but now only a small portion of their historical population remains,” MassWildlife said in a release this week. “Special techniques are needed to restore these migratory fish so that they become connected to a certain freshwater location.”Shad are what wildlife biologists classify as diadromous, meaning they spend portions of their lives in both the ocean and freshwater rivers.Newly born shad, still attached to their egg sacks, are being stocked in the Taunton River, allowing them to gain an “imprint on the unique characteristics of the river,” Mass...

Dead seal with shark bites found on South Shore beach, sharks ‘having a feast’ off Nantucket

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

It seems like a bad time to be a seal in the Bay State.While most of the focus is on great white sharks hunting for seals along Cape Cod, another dead seal with shark bites was recently spotted on a South Shore beach.“Dead seal found on Humarock Beach (Scituate) with visible shark bites,” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app posted with a photo of the seal on Wednesday.Meanwhile, a shark was spotted thrashing in the water off of Great Point Nantucket Island on the Fourth of July, as the apex predator devoured prey. Blood could be seen in the water.“Sharks having a feast,” a viewer from Nantucket posted on Facebook.Related ArticlesLocal News | Cape Cod shark sightings rise with more eyes on the water, seals with shark bites spotted Local News | ‘Sharks suffer from a bad reputation’: Researchers look at peoples’ perceptions of sharks in new study Local News | Great white sharks...

Biden administration says judge’s social media order could cause ‘grave harm’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

A Louisiana-based federal judge’s order broadly limiting executive branch communications with social media companies could cause “grave harm” by preventing the government from “engaging in a vast range of lawful and responsible conduct,” Biden administration attorneys said in a motion filed Thursday with a federal appeals court.The request to stay the order was the administration’s first substantive response to a July 4 ruling by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe. Doughty, a conservative nominated to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, issued an injunction Tuesday blocking multiple government agencies and administration officials from meeting with or contacting social media companies for the purpose of “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”The order also prohibits the agencies and officials from pressuring social media companies “in any ma...

Truck makers pledge to comply with new California rules phasing out gas-powered vehicles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Some of the nation’s largest truck makers on Thursday pledged to stop selling new gas-powered vehicles in California by the middle of the next decade, part of an agreement with state regulators aimed at preventing lawsuits that threatened to delay or block the state’s emission standards.California is trying to rid itself of fossil fuels, passing new rules in recent years to phase out gas-powered cars, trucks, trains and lawn equipment in the nation’s most populous state.It will take years before all of those rules fully take effect. But already some industries are pushing back. Last month, the railroad industry sued the California Air Resources Board to block new rules that would ban older locomotives and require companies to purchase zero-emission equipment.Thursday’s announcement means lawsuits are less likely to delay similar rules for the trucking industry. The companies agreed to follow California’s rules, which include ba...

TTC receives ‘B’ grade for service and reliability, but how accurate is the ranking?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

The Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBOT) recently gave the TTC a ‘B’ grade for service and reliability using various criteria, but how does the ranking line up with bus, streetcar and subway services on a typical summer day?In a report released on Wednesday looking at 11 transit organizations in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, TRBOT staff gave the TTC an overall composite score of 69.21 per cent (0.11 per cent behind Mississauga, which was top).Toronto’s transit agency had just an on-time percentage of 57.98 (more than 20 percentage points below Mississauga), but scored much higher when it came to frequent service coverage for residents and where jobs are. The TTC also received extra marks for 24-hour service.CityNews embarked on a full-day tour of Toronto by travelling on seven bus routes, three streetcar routes and two subway lines to assess how trip times adhered to schedules, how full vehicles were, and other indicators of reliability.CityNews travelled...

How Connor Bedard got to know Chicago this week - including food

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

CHICAGO — As he gets to know some of his new teammates in the Blackhawks' organization, the team's No. 1 overall pick is also getting to know the city he'll call home. Connor Bedard had a number of times to do that since the team selected him as the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft on June 28 in Nashville. He arrived in Chicago for an introductory news conference last Friday and has been on the go with activities on and off the ice ever since."It's been a lot of fun," said Bedard said of his time since the draft. "Getting to the city and see everything, and obviously meet all the staff, all the players, being here to see the facilities and everything.""I loved it and had a lot of fun."Of course, a lot of that time was consumed with activities at Fifth Third Arena in a new off-ice developmental camp that the Blackhawks had for Bedard and other prospects. It was the chance for him to get to meet those in the organization he'll be hoping to grow with as the team continues its rebuil...

Destination Illinois: Mercado on Fifth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

It's a celebration of culture across the Quad Cities, showcasing minority entrepreneurs, inspiring Hispanic cultural pride and providing access to bilingual enrichment and educational opportunities for our community. Local 4's Linsey Tobin takes us to the fiesta at Mercado on Fifth in Moline for Destination Illinois.For more information, click here.

'Peaky Blinders' team slams DeSantis for using show footage in anti-LGBTQ+ political ad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:42 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The team on the Netflix hit "Peaky Blinders" is slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for using a clip of the show in a recent political ad that appears to target the LGBTQ+ community. Posted to Twitter on June 30, the last day of Pride Month, the ad takes shots at DeSantis' ally-turned-rival, former President Donald Trump, for allegedly being soft towards the LGBTQ+ community. Gov. DeSantis unveils list of invalid out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to undocumented immigrants The video was posted by the "DeSantis War Room" Twitter account, the governor's "rapid response operation," which shares posts about his campaign. "To wrap up “Pride Month, let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…," the Twitter caption read. The ad features clips of Trump interviews and headlines that suggest he might support the LGBTQ+ community, depending on one's interpretation. Halfway through the video, it jump cuts to clips of DeSantis,...