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Cost of housing migrants in state-funded hotels, motels unclear as Massachusetts witnesses influx

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

A Republican state lawmaker accused the Healey administration of providing a “woefully incomplete” response to a request for the costs associated with housing migrant families in 38 hotels and motels on an emergency basis.A spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey pushed back against Rep. Peter Durant, saying the Spencer Republican agreed to a pared-down “narrative” answer to a records request asking for the number of hotels and motels contracted with the state to house migrant families and the total cost to taxpayers.Durant said the administration did outline the cities and towns that currently have state-contracted hotels for migrants, undocumented immigrants, refugees, and displaced families. But there is “so much more that we requested, and so much more information that we need,” he said.“This is about what we’re spending in taxpayers’ dollars to house, feed, secure those who are in the country illegally,” said Durant, who is running for a state Senate seat in Central Mass...

Missing hiker in Yosemite National Park found dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

YOSEMITE, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - The body of the missing hiker in Yosemite has been recovered, according to the family.24-year-old Petaluma native Hayden Klemenok tragically went missing at Yosemite National Park on Sunday, July 2, during a hike with friends. Missing Yosemite hiker’s family conducts own search to bring him home His family traveled to Yosemite shortly after in an effort of locating him but revealed on Tuesday that their effort was met with devastating news."On Sunday morning, we were notified that Hayden had been located. Due to the complexity of his location, it took another 24 hours to formally recover him. While a few further steps remain in the investigation, Hayden's cause of passing is presumed to be an accidental drowning," the family posted on Facebook.The family added that memorial service plans are in the works.Taylor McKinnie, Hayden's sister says he was a recent graduate of San Diego State and a lifelong athlete.

Amtrak, Metrolink service to resume after second landslide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- The tracks through San Clemente are set to reopen for passenger rail service next week after a month-long emergency closure due to a landslide in the area, the Orange County Transit Authority said.The landslide, which prompted a partial-stoppage of service along the Los Angeles to San Diego rail corridor, occurred behind a historic San Clemente landmark on Monday, June 5 -- about a week after the tracks reopened following a previous collapse of the same hillside.Following the landslide, crews worked to build a temporary barrier to protect the track. The barrier is about 250 feet long and 12 feet high, the transit company said, with the piles set roughly 32 feet beneath the ground.According to OCTA, the emergency work has since been completed. The rail line has been cleared to open for passenger service, like the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink, to resume from Oceanside to Irvine on Monday, July 17. Nevada license plate that’s short for ‘Go back to California’ ...

Police: Items believed connected to jail escapee still being found; reward increases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities searching for a homicide suspect who used bedsheets to escape from a northwestern Pennsylvania jail last week say items found in the last 24 hours lead them to believe he is still in the area.Authorities added that reward money in the case has more than doubled.Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police earlier said campsites and small stockpiles believed to be related to escapee Michael Burham had been found, and he said Tuesday that searchers “are still finding some items that we do believe are connected to him.”“Those lead me to believe that there is still a likelihood that he is here; I also look at the absence of proof that he has gone anywhere else,” Bivens told reporters in a regular late afternoon news conference at the Youngsville, Pennsylvania, municipal building.Burham, 34, fled the Warren County Prison late Thursday by climbing on exercise equipment, climbing through a window and then down a rope fashioned from jail beddi...

Montreal police raid illegal magic mushroom store on opening day, arrest four people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

Montreal police on Tuesday raided a store selling illegal magic mushrooms and arrested four people, but a spokesperson for the shop said he expected it to reopen within 24 hours.The first FunGuyz location in Quebec opened in Montreal Tuesday offering pills, dried fungi and chocolate bars, all containing the psychedelic agent psilocybin, a substance subject to sale and possession bans in Canada.Hours later, Montreal police confirmed they had launched an operation against the store in the city’s Village neighbourhood, making four arrests.The store spokesperson, who identified himself as Edgras Goban, described the raid as a “simple” product seizure and “waste of taxpayers’ money.” FunGuyz, he said, has already been the target of police raids in Ontario, where it has 10 franchises. He said the company has “been through this multiple times before.” The spokesman has been identified in media reports as the co-owner of Ontario-based FunGuyz ...

Larry Nassar was stabbed in prison cell, attack not seen by surveillance cameras, AP source says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

Investigators probing disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar’s stabbing Sunday at a federal penitentiary in Florida are lacking a key piece of evidence: video of the assault.Nassar was attacked inside his cell, a blind spot for prison surveillance cameras that only record common areas and corridors, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. In federal prison parlance, because of the lack of video, it is known as an “unwitnessed event.”It’s the second time Nassar, the former U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor, has been assaulted in federal custody while he’s serving decades in prison for sexually abusing athletes and possessing explicit images of children.The attack, which left Nassar hospitalized in stable condition with injuries including a collapsed lung, underscored persistent problems at the federal Bureau of Prisons.Despite the Biden administration’s vow to fix the broken prison system — with new leadership and an emphasis ...

Alabama senator says white nationalists are racists after weeks of declining to say so

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday backed off his defense of white nationalists, telling reporters in the Capitol that white nationalists “are racists.”Tuberville’s brief comment in the hallway, after a regular weekly lunch with his GOP Senate colleagues, follows several media interviews in which he has repeatedly declined to describe white nationalists as racist. And it comes as the Alabama Republican is also receiving criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his monthslong blockade on the confirmation of all senior military officers in protest of a Defense Department abortion policy.In a May interview, Tuberville suggested that the Biden administration’s efforts to expand diversity in the military were weakening the force and hampering recruitment, though the Army has said that the real problem is that many young people do not see enlistment as safe or a good career path.“We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment,...

Suspect arrested in downtown Cleveland shooting that sent 9 to hospital, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — A suspect has been arrested in an early morning shooting in a nightclub area of downtown Cleveland over the weekend that sent nine people to the hospital, police said Tuesday.Federal marshals and city police arrested the 25-year-old suspect in Lorain in the Cleveland suburbs just after 3:45 p.m. Tuesday and were planning to search his home for additional evidence, according to authorities. Police are still searching for the weapon and investigating the motive.Chief Wayne Drummond, of the Cleveland police department, said the suspect is believed to be the person who opened fire on a group of people standing outside a bar in the Warehouse District shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday as the clubs were closing. Seven men and two women between the ages of 23 to 38 were struck, and one man was seriously injured. Drummond said Tuesday that two victims have been released from the hospital while the others are still being treated, but injuries all are non-life-threatening. Polic...

Farmers pulls out of Florida property insurance despite efforts to stabilize the market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Farmers Insurance became the latest property insurance company to pull out of Florida on Tuesday despite repeated efforts by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature have made to try to calm the volatile market that is making homeownership less affordable.Farmers informed the state that it is discontinuing new coverage of auto, home and umbrella policies. The company said in a statement that the decision affects policies issued through its “exclusive agency distribution channel.” It said there will be no effect on 70% of current policies in Florida. Critics of DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, say he has focused too much effort on divisive cultural issues and not enough on making housing and insurance more affordable. The Legislature has grappled with the issue each of the last two years, including a special session in December.Most of the focus has been on shielding insurance companies from lawsuits and setting aside ...

SUV reported stolen with infant inside in Alabama may have rolled into thick brush, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:48 GMT

PARRISH, Ala. (AP) — An SUV that was reported stolen with an infant inside in Alabama may have instead rolled into thick brush where it lay hidden, AL.com reported Tuesday.Officers found the SUV in vines Tuesday morning, roughly 100 yards (90 meters) from where it was reported stolen about 12 hours earlier, Parrish police Chief Danny Woodard told the news site. The girl, 9-month-old Harlow Darby Freeman, was safe in her car seat.Investigators now say it’s likely the car was not stolen and Harlow was not kidnapped. Instead, the SUV may have rolled down an embankment when the driver failed to put it in park, Woodard said. He said police were still investigating and planned to conduct more interviews.“This is not something that happens in a small town like Parrish,’’ he said. “This is a strange turn of events.”Parrish is about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Birmingham. Dozens of officers began searching for Harlow late Monday after her family reported the SUV stolen outside a hous...