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Massachusetts wildlife officials receive $773,000 to help prevent pandemics, respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

State wildlife officials have received nearly $800,000 to get ahead of wildlife disease outbreaks before they cross the barrier from animals to humans and become pandemics.The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) was recently awarded $773,300 in Zoonotic Disease Initiative grant funds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The $773,300 will be used over a three-year period to develop a wildlife health and public outreach program for Massachusetts — and to research wildlife diseases, and prevent their spread within the Northeast.Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted between wildlife and humans. This federal funding is intended to help regions respond to wildlife disease outbreaks before they become pandemics.“Recent disease issues like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in birds and white-nose syndrome in bats have highlighted the need for building capacity within MassWildlife and other groups in the region to respond quickly using the latest sci...

Just in time for Shark Week, Cape Cod shark researchers tag first great whites of the season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

A few days before the start of Shark Week, the region’s top great white shark expert has successfully tagged the first sharks of the season.Greg Skomal, an accomplished marine biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, was out tagging apex predators along Cape Cod on Thursday.The first shark that Skomal tagged was swimming about a mile north of a popular Truro beach on the Outer Cape.“Let the shark tagging commence!” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tweeted on Friday. “Yesterday, @GregSkomal of the @MassDMF working with the AWSC, tagged 2 sharks!“This video shows the first shark tagged of the day (and season)!” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy added. “It was a 10 foot white shark that was tagged about a mile north of Head of the Meadow beach.”Let the shark tagging commence! Yesterday, @GregSkomal of the @MassDMF working with the AWSC, tagged 2 sharks! This video shows the first shark tagged of the day(and se...

Battenfeld: Group opposed to Mayor Michelle Wu and ultra liberal pols fizzles amid controversy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

A fundraiser planned for a Michelle Wu opposition group has erupted into controversy and fizzled, with Boston politicians now scrambling to run away from the effort.What began as a birthday party for former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, then a fundraiser for his son, City Council President Ed Flynn, then a gathering to “Save Our City” from leftist politicians is now back to being a fundraiser for Ed Flynn.The gathering planned at PR mogul George Regan’s house on Cape Cod was at one time supposed to launch the emerging “Save Our City” group – billed as an effort to “save the City of Boston from the negative impacts of the ultra-progressive policies that dominate the current City Council and current administration at Boston City Hall.”The list of attendees included Flynn, Councilor Erin Murphy, Councilor Frank Baker, Councilor Michael Flaherty and council candidates Bridget Nee Walsh and John Fitzgerald.But after questions emerged about the legality of the group and its opposition to Wu, an...

Celtics’ Jaylen Brown focuses on the kids of Boston with Dorchester court project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

Celtics star Jaylen Brown says he is all about the kids and bettering the Boston community.On Friday, a large crowd greeted Brown at Dorchester’s Fenelon Street Playground, where the Celtics forward is spearheading a court redesign in partnership with Northeastern University junior Kaiya Santos and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.Brown has stayed busy this summer, just returning from a trip to Spain, as he remains in negotiations for a contract extension. If the Celtics offer him $304 million over the next five years, and he accepts the super-max, he’d have the richest contract in NBA history.But none of that really mattered to Brown on Friday. Kids sporting Celtics jerseys excitedly met their idol and posed with him for selfies.“It’s always about the next generation,” Brown said. “I know as an athlete sometimes you’re removed from these spaces, they put you in these areas where you forget about the communities where you come from. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been refusing...

RMV hired 52 employees after driver’s license law took effect on July 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

The Registry of Motor Vehicles has hired 52 employees since the start of the month when a new law took effect allowing people without lawful proof of presence in the United States to seek out standard driver’s licenses.New hires have been placed at service center locations across the state just as roughly 100,000 requests for learner’s permits appointments have come in since July 1, an agency spokesperson said this week.Officials at the registry said they expected some 280,000 people to apply for a driver’s license within the first four years of the law, with the biggest demand in the first six months. The Healey administration set aside $28 million to pay for the implementation of the law.Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie previously said the RMV wanted to hire more than 200 new employees in anticipation of the law. Most of those people would be frontline service center workers who handle most of the license application work.The RMV is in the process of hiring 21 employees...

Helicopter crashes into remote Alaska lake, no survivors found, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — No survivors were found after a helicopter carrying four people crashed in a shallow lake in Alaska’s North Slope region, officials said Friday.The helicopter had been chartered by a government agency, according to the company that operated the flight. It was reported overdue late Thursday night.A North Slope Borough search and rescue team in a helicopter found debris matching the description of the missing helicopter, but no bodies had been seen or recovered, D.J. Fauske, the borough’s director of government and external affairs, said in a text to The Associated Press on Friday.The wreckage was found in a shallow lake about 50 miles south to southwest of Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow and the northernmost city in the U.S., said Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region. The flight originated in Utqiagvik and was supposed to return there, Johnson said, but he did not immediately have further information on the flig...

Russia comes under pressure at UN to avoid global food crisis and revive Ukrainian grain shipments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia came under pressure at the U.N. Security Council on Friday from its ally China and developing countries as well as Western nations to avert a global food crisis and quickly revive Ukrainian grain shipments. Moscow was also criticized by the U.N. and council members for attacking Ukrainian ports after pulling out of the year-old grain deal and destroying port infrastructure — a violation of international humanitarian law banning attacks on civilian infrastructure.In response to Russia declaring wide areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping, the U.N. warned that a military incident in the sea could have “catastrophic consequences.”Russia said it suspended the Black Sea Grain Initiative because the U.N. had failed to overcome obstacles to shipping its food and fertilizer to global markets, the other half of the Ukraine grain deal. The Kremlin said it would consider resuming Ukrainian shipments if progress is made in overcoming the obstacles, includi...

Comedians energize the picket lines as Hollywood actors and writers strikes enter second week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The combined strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters entered its second week with no swift end in sight, and union leaders and star strikers, including a bevy of comedians attempted to boost morale Friday as the novelty of picket lines wears off.“The momentum is still building,” said stand-up comic, writer and actor Marc Maron outside Netflix headquarters. “I got some of my comedy buddies — we’re like, let’s go, let’s make sure we’re there and we show up for our union. There’s a lot of people here and look, eventually they have to, they have to negotiate, right?”Maron starred on the series “GLOW” for Netflix, whose headquarters in an increasingly hip section of Hollywood has been a bustling hub during the strike, with music blasting and food trucks serving ice cream, shaved ice and churros. His fellow comedians and comic actors abounded on the picket line, including “Saturday Night Live” and “Portlandia” alum Fred Armisen, “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, “Broo...

The Fargo shooter used a binary trigger. Here’s what to know about the device that’s worrying police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

Sitting in a parked car with an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, the man who fired on police officers in North Dakota earlier this month chose to use the one gun in his vehicle that was modified with a binary trigger. The device allowed the gun to fire so rapidly that it sounded like an automatic weapon. The July 14 shooting in Fargo, which killed one officer and wounded two others and a civilian, has put a spotlight on the device and other trigger modifications that are a growing concern for law enforcement. Mohamad Barakat, 37, opened fire on the officers as they responded to a car accident. He shot from his vehicle loaded with guns, a homemade grenade, gasoline canisters, propane tanks containing improvised explosives, and more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition, police said. Barakat was killed by a fourth officer who returned fire.North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said on Friday that he believes the violence could have been the beginning of a bigger attack, as the Downto...

Tar balls are being found 100 miles downstream from Yellowstone River train derailment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:26 GMT

LAUREL, Mont. (AP) — Tar balls have shown up 100 miles (161 kilometers) downstream of a railroad bridge collapse last month that sent numerous tank cars carrying petroleum products plummeting into Montana’s Yellowstone River, officials said Friday, as dropping water levels and rising temperatures hinder cleanup work.More than 66 tons (60 metric tonnes) of the black, gooey stuff have been removed from the river since the June 24 accident, officials said. Most of the spilled material — a binder for asphalt that sticks to river rocks and gets harder to handle as it warms — is expected to get left behind.Cleanup crews working this week on an island near the town of Laurel pulled long, taffy-like pieces of the asphalt from among the river rocks. They used shovels to pull apart sandbanks where receding water levels revealed pockets of contamination. The globs — along with some rocks and sand — were bagged for disposal and carried away by power boat.Navigating the river is getting ha...