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Why Biden’s return to Ireland, his ancestral homeland, may not be a storybook trip

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Joe Biden returns to his ancestral home of Ireland this week, in what’s slated to be a politically triumphant and personally sentimental tour through a country he credits for shaping his life.But, as with any homecoming, there are pitfalls everywhere. And the administration knows it.The four-day tour through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland comes as the island grapples with the prolonged consequences of Brexit, ratcheting up tensions that threaten the very peace treaty Biden plans to celebrate.Europe as a whole faces a host of rising political and security threats, alongside the constant demands of a grinding war in Ukraine with no clear end in sight and with newfound complications owing to leaks of strategic documents.And as Biden departs for his first overseas trip since February, the challenges at home are multiplying: Deepening divides over the rise in gun violence, a court ruling aimed at further restricting abortion access, and lingering...

Police continue search for suspect after 12-year-old boy shot in Mattapan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Police are searching for the person responsible for a shooting in Mattapan Sunday night that left a 12-year-old boy injured.Officers responding to a report of shots fired in the area of Cummins Highway just after 8 p.m. found the boy suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, according to Boston police.The victim, identified as Luis Amparo, was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for his injuries and is expected to be okay.After this incident, the boy’s family said they are scarred by the shooting and want the person or people responsible to come forward.“I am very angry that all the violence is happening,” said Alta Gracia-Lorenzo, Amparo’s stepmother.Gracia-Lorenzo said her and her family were getting ready for bed Sunday night when the shots were fired.She said one bullet hit her stepson in the leg and another bullet almost hit her 16-year-old stepdaughter.Gracia-Lorenzo yelled for everyone to drop to the ground while her stepson cried for h...

As Louisville police investigate what led up to bank shooting that left 5 dead, several victims remain hospitalized

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

(CNN) — As Louisville investigators piece together what led up to a mass shooting inside a downtown bank that left five people dead, several victims remain hospitalized, including a police officer in critical condition after a shootout with the 25-year-old gunman.The gunman, identified by police as employee Connor Sturgeon, was livestreaming online as he carried out the shooting at Old National Bank, officials said. He opened fire inside a conference room during a morning staff meeting, Rebecca Buchheit-Sims, a manager at the bank, told CNN.Buchheit-Sims, who was attending the meeting virtually, watched in horror as the shooting played out on her computer screen, saying the incident “happened very quickly.”“I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that,” she said.One of the hospitalized victims, 57-year-old Deana Eckert, died later Monday, police announced, though it is unclear if she was among the three peopl...

UMass Dartmouth honors two deceased students at somber candlelit vigil

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

UMass Dartmouth held a somber candlelit vigil Monday night to honor two deceased students,  Frank Petillo Jr. and Alexandra Landry.Hundreds gather to remember Petillo, who was hit and killed by a vehicle on campus Thursday evening, and Landry, an art student who unexpectedly passed away earlier in the week. Speaking at the ceremony, Petillo’s sister said he was one of the kindest people. “Hearing the news of his passing crushed my heart alongside many others,” she said. “This is the worst thing that could have happened to me and my family. He didn’t deserve this, not a single bit.”Students are now calling for improved safety for pedestrians. The school says they have added more speed bumps and patrols.

Warming Up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

After another frosty start yesterday, temps warmed up nicely as highs pushed up well into the 60s during the afternoon. With dew points low, relative humidity fell to 10-15% inland, elevated the brush fire danger. Both today and tomorrow will see gusty breezes and relative humidity near or below 25%, fueling a high fire danger and prompting a red flag warning. That basically means that any brush fire that gets going will be hard to contain and could spread quickly. No outdoor burning on days like today. High temps take off with the sunshine getting to work early, as we cruise to near 70 by lunch, and top off in the mid 70s mid afternoon. Enjoy! Tomorrow, take a few degrees off, but it’s a very similar day with highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s. The warmth peaks Thursday and Friday, especially on Friday as temps run 80-84 in the Worcester Hills, 84-88 around I-95 to 495, and 70-80 near the coast before a sea breeze knocks temps back. Friday will have the best chance of breaki...

ASK IRA: Is Heat’s Jimmy Butler ‘stupidly locked in’ again for postseason?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Q: Ira, which Jimmy Butler are we going to see? I remember him being “stupidly locked in” against the Bucks two years ago and then they were swept. Last season, he didn’t say anything and they went to the East finals. – Steve.A: For all the talk, bravado and bluster, the Heat are not built to be a one-player team. So when Jimmy Butler and the Heat were swept out of the first round by the Bucks in 2021, it was more of a case of the Heat being a No. 6 seed, simply lacking the talent to keep up with Milwaukee. Last season, the Heat were a No. 1 seed, with a well-crafted core and quality depth. This time around, as a No. 7 seed entering the play-in tournament, the Heat are probably closer to where they were in 2021. And that requires the heaviest of lifting So against the Hawks, Jimmy certainly could be able to get the Heat through to the playoffs. But it will take more than merely the best of Butler to get past Boston or Milwaukee in the first round. “Stup...

New Ravens WR Odell Beckham Jr. is a star, but his past six seasons show he also comes with risk | ANALYSIS

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

If Odell Beckham Jr. was not the best wide receiver in the world, he did not have to stand behind more than two or three people in line.The year was 2016, and Beckham, 24 years old, was finishing up his third NFL season. Since he was drafted 12th overall out of LSU, he had never failed to make the Pro Bowl, never failed to reach at least 90 catches, 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns over a 16-game schedule. If anything, his highlights — who could ever forget the one-handed, full-extension touchdown catch against the Dallas Cowboys? — lit up imaginations even more than his statistics.That version of Beckham was such a phenomenon that his name still carries enormous weight with NFL fans and players. This became evident as soon as the Ravens announced they had signed the 30-year-old wide receiver on Sunday afternoon. A pall lifted for fans who had suffered through months of unsettling news regarding the future of franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson. Beckham’s new teammate...

Battenfeld: Mayoral candidate Mel King was ahead of his time, influenced generations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Mel King was way ahead of his time – his breakthrough as a mayoral finalist in 1983 came decades before Boston finally elected its first non-white mayor.The civil rights activist paved the way and influenced generations of other Black politicians and progressives, including current Mayor Michelle Wu, the city’s first Asian American chief executive.They all owe a debt of gratitude to King, who will be memorialized on Tuesday in a funeral service at Union United Methodist Church in the South End.King leaves a legacy of being a principled and civil politician and public servant, one that is a rare combination today.He wasn’t a backslapping pol who talked out of both sides of his mouth. He didn’t have to shout or attack to get noticed.King was in many ways a visionary who spoke out for housing rights, civil rights and voting rights long before it became fashionable. He was the grandfather of the Rainbow Coalition that the Rev. Jesse Jackson adopted nationally.King also provides a lesson...

Volcano eruption on Russia’s Kamchatka spews vast ash clouds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A volcano erupted early Tuesday on far eastern Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, spewing clouds of dust 20 kilometers (65,600 feet) into the sky and covering broad areas with ash.The ash cloud from the eruption of Shiveluch, one of Kamchatka’s most active volcanoes, extended over 500 kilometers (more than 300 miles) northwest and engulfed several villages in grey volcanic dust.Officials closed the skies over the area to aircraft. Local authorities advised residents to stay indoors. Schools in several affected communities were shut, and two villages had their power supplies cut. Ash fell on 108,000 square kilometers (41,699 square miles) of territory, according to the regional branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Geophysical Survey. The scientists described the fallout as the biggest in nearly 60 years.The Kamchatka Peninsula, which extends into the Pacific Ocean about 6,600 kilometers (4,000 miles) east of Moscow, is one of the world’s most concentrated ar...

French building collapse death toll rises to 6; 2 missing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:39:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French investigators are treating the deaths of at least six people who were killed when a building collapsed in the city of Marseille as a possible “involuntary homicide” case, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Prosecutor Dominique Laurens said an investigation was opened on that basis after the first body was found in the building, which collapsed in a fiery explosion early Sunday. Four of the six victims have been formally identified, Laurens said: a 74-year-old couple and two women, ages 88 and 65, who were neighbors. Rescuers continuing searching Tuesday for two people who remained unaccounted for following the emergency in France’s second-largest city. Investigators “are now working on the hypothesis of a gas explosion” as the cause of the building’s collapse, Laurens said during a Tuesday news conference. A gas meter was found in the rubble that may help determine whether there was atypical consumption in the 24 hours prior to the explosion. In 2018, t...