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State lawmakers introduce new tax relief plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

Top state lawmakers on Tuesday revealed a long-awaited plan to provide tax relief to families across Massachusetts, detailing a number of changes aimed at making life in Massachusetts more affordable and competitive. The plan would provide roughly $561 million in relief in the current fiscal year, with more than $1 billion in relief expected by the 2027 fiscal year, as reported by the State House News Service. “We wanted to provide something that was a little more balanced, a little more equitable across the board,” said Aaron Michlewitz, the chairperson of the state House Committee on Ways and Means. Relief measures in the plan include an envisioned increase to the state’s child and dependent tax credit from $180 to $310 for this year. The credit would increase again in 2024, making Massachusetts’s child and dependent credit the most generous in the country, according to lawmakers.Relief measures would also increase Massachusetts’ earned income tax credit from 30% to 40% ...

Trump’s latest debate dodge the last chance for a few candidates to stand out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

Six presidential hopefuls will take a stage in California on Wednesday to attempt a debate in the absence of the person they’re all trying to beat.The second of three scheduled Republican Primary debates will kick off at 9 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California, where half-a-dozen conservative candidates will appear and debate despite the fact front-running former President Donald Trump will be elsewhere.“Unlike most presidential debates, on the one hand they are fighting for the nomination, on the other hand, the almost insurmountable lead that Donald Trump has has them walking the line between acting as if they could be a potential vice presidential candidate whilst trying to distance themselves,” Frank Irizarry, a public relations professor and debate coach at Suffolk University, told the Herald.According to Irizarry, in three decades of watching debates, he’s never seen anything quite like what has developed in the Republican...

Tournament Management Committee meeting: Patience preached to schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

MIAA Tournament Management Committee chairman Shaun Hart is a firm believer that patience is a virtue.Rather than rush through a variety of different changes to statewide tournament formats for the 2024-25 season, Hart feels giving all schools some time to sift through everything will be beneficial in the long run.“It is my hope that everyone sees it and we can move ahead and put it to a vote in October or November,” Hart said. “Then we can finalize things in December and put everything out by January 1.”Among the areas that Hart and the committee will be looking at are venues, upgrading the medals and signage, providing venues with more hands-on help from MIAA and school officials, consistent cutoff, bracket and tournament release dates, margins of victory in other sports and adding a visible win component to the power ratings.Scituate athletic director Scott Paine, who runs the statewide hockey tournament, pushed back a bit. He was hoping action would be taken soon to avoid some o...

Biden admin picks Massachusetts as home of new healthcare network hub

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

The Biden administration has selected Massachusetts as a focal point in a planned “nationwide health innovation network.”Cambridge was announced Tuesday as the future site of the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s Investor Catalyst Hub, one of three such locations nationally that represent the official launch of ARPANET-H, a National Institutes of Health initiative aimed at fostering collaborations between researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to speed the pace of discovery in medical science.“This is a huge win for Massachusetts and an opportunity to bring economic development while strengthening our role as a nationwide leader in life sciences,” Gov. Maura Healey said following the announcement. “This hub leverages our state’s world-class life science ecosystem while building a national network of researchers and entrepreneurs to invest in meaningful solutions to the biggest health care challenges.”A second hub, the Customer Experien...

Mass General Brigham expanding Home Hospital program to Newton-Wellesley Hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

Mass General Brigham is expanding its popular Home Hospital program to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, allowing more patients across the region to receive care without having to travel.The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state Department of Public Health recently granted the program authorization to expand to the Newton healthcare facility, officials announced Tuesday.Patients in the program receive comprehensive treatment that involves daily in-home or virtual visits, an opportunity that officials say provides acute care for those who’d traditionally need inpatient hospitalization.The model, officials say, is more advanced than traditional home health services, with a nurse practitioner and physician assistant teaming up with paramedic, nurse, therapist and home health aide to meet a wide range of needs.“Bringing high-quality healthcare directly to patients’ homes, where they can be more comfortable and achieve better outcomes, reflects our commitment to innovative, ...

Body found on sidewalk; SDPD investigating

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police are investigating after a body was discovered in the Skyline neighborhood Tuesday morning, the department confirmed.Around 6:30 a.m., officers from the Southeastern Division responded to the 100 block of Royal Oak Drive after receiving a report of the death. According to SDPD, a resident in the area called 9-1-1 after noticing an unresponsive man lying on the sidewalk behind a silver Dodge Charger.When law enforcement arrived on scene, officers found the man on the ground, "obviously deceased," SDPD said. San Diego Fire-Rescue arrived at the same time and confirmed the death.It is unclear how long the man was lying unresponsive before he was discovered. La Mesa could join El Cajon in using license plate-reading cameras His identity has not been confirmed at this time. Authorities described him as a Black man in his 30s. The vehicle he was found behind is also believed to be his, SDPD said.The San Diego Medical Examiner's Office will be working to do ...

Mexican mother bravely shields son as bear leaps on picnic table, devours tacos, enchiladas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican mother bravely shielded her son after a bear leapt on a picnic table and devoured the tacos and enchiladas meant for the boy’s birthday dinner, inches from his face. Silvia Macías of Mexico City had traveled to the Chipinque Park on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey to celebrate the 15th birthday of her son, Santiago, who has Down syndrome.Soon after they sat down to eat the food they had brought, the bear showed up and gulped down french fries, enchiladas, tacos and salsa. A video shot by her friend, Angela Chapa, shows Macías sitting stoically, inches from the bear’s mouth, holding Santiago and shielding his eyes with her hand. She kept her eyes downcast, to avoid anything the bear might consider a challenge.“The worst thing was that Santiago might get scared,” Macías recalled Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. “Santiago is very afraid of animals, a cat or a dog, any animal scares him a lot.”“That’s why I...

Eddie Irizarry’s relatives distraught after charges dropped against officer who fatally shot him

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge dismissed murder and other charges Tuesday against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up window — a confrontation police initially described as the officer shooting the driver after he lunged at him with a knife outside the car.Municipal Judge Wendy Pew agreed with defense attorneys who argued the officer could have feared for his life because he thought the driver, 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, had a gun. Police body camera footage shown at the preliminary hearing of fired Officer Mark Dial showed Irizarry holding a knife near his right leg as police approached his stopped vehicle. The officers had pulled Irizarry over on a residential street after a short pursuit prompted by erratic driving.The ruling came after a courtroom, packed with police and relatives of Irizarry, watched about 20 minutes of the harrowing video footage. His attorneys argued that Dial acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon at close ran...

Calls are mounting for Menendez to resign as Democrats grapple with ‘shocking’ bribery allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez came under heavy pressure to resign Tuesday as a surging number of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including fellow New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, urged him to step aside over the federal bribery allegations against him. More than 20 Senate Democrats have now said that Menendez should resign, including several Democrats running for reelection next year. Calls for his resignation came in quick succession after Booker’s statement, including from the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters. Menendez has refused to leave office but has not yet said whether he will run for reelection next year. Menendez, the longtime chairman and top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine are accused in an indictment released Friday of using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend, among oth...

Memphis officer won’t be charged in Black man’s shooting after attempted traffic stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:20 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — No criminal charges will be brought against a Memphis police officer who fatally shot a Black man after a high-speed chase and an attempted traffic stop, the top state prosecutor in the city said Tuesday.Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said his office’s Justice Review Unit looked at evidence in the shooting of 20-year-old Jaylin McKenzie and concluded Officer Nahum Dorme should not be charged.Memphis police had said officers out on patrol on Dec. 16 saw a suspicious car and tried to stop it, but the driver sped off before losing control and driving into a park. McKenzie and three other Black men ran from the vehicle, and all of them had guns, authorities said.Officers went to chase one of the fleeing men, who then shot at the officers, authorities said. One officer, identified as Dorme, fatally shot the suspect. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation started looking into the shooting.During a news conference Tuesday, Mulroy said he sent a lett...