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State Senate says ‘No’ to payroll transparency from quasi-public agencies

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

The state Senate has rejected a plan by the Republican Minority Leader which would have required quasi-public agencies to make their payroll data available.Related ArticlesPolitics | Your Tax Dollars at Work Politics | Quasi-state 2022 payroll, including Massport: Your Tax Dollars at Work Gloucester state Sen. Bruce Tarr, one of three conservatives serving in the state Senate, offered an amendment to the upper chamber’s fiscal 2024 spending plan which would have aimed at increasing transparency by requiring every one of the state’s at least 42 public adjacent agencies to post their payroll on the state Comptroller’s website.“This is a matter of fundamental accountability,” Tarr said, as the Senate worked to digest the over 1,000 amendments filed to their budget.“We speak frequently in this chamber, and rightly so, about the need for increased transparency and one of the areas where transparency is particularly important is around government spending,”...

Marcus Smart denies report that Celtics still impacted by Ime Udoka’s dismissal

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

MIAMI — The cloud of Ime Udoka’s dismissal has hovered over the Celtics all season. For most of the year, they seemed to handle the challenging circumstances well. But as they hit adversity in the Eastern Conference Finals, the topic resurfaced.With the Celtics on the brink of elimination, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the players came to grips with the departure of Udoka, who was issued a season-long suspension on the eve of training camp in September and ultimately let go in February after he committed violations of team policies.“This team, this locker room, they never got over Ime Udoka’s dismissal as head coach,” Wojnarowski reported. “These players did not accept the organization’s reasoning for doing it. They thought it was a wild overreaction.”At Tuesday morning’s shootaround prior to Game 4, Celtics guard Marcus Smart denied that Udoka’s dismissal was still affecting them.“No. No. Regardless of if Ime was here or not, we’re the ones out there playing,” Smart said....

No tweaks to MIAA Statewide Tournament for at least another year

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

Those hoping for tweaks to the MIAA Statewide Tournament will have to apparently wait one more year.On Tuesday morning the MIAA Tournament Management Committee announced that there will be no changes to margin of victory or the power rankings formula used to determine state tournament seeding for the 2023-24 interscholastic athletic season.At its June meeting the TMC will vote on whether or not tournament games should be played at neutral sites prior to the state semifinals as currently outlined.“I disagree with waiting (to discuss tweaks) but I get it,” Wellesley athletic director and TMC member John Brown said. “I think once we get to the spring season’s conclusion we should look at the two full years of data and see if we have to make adjustments. That’s what we said we would do. That’s what I would do. We will see if we do that.”Back in June 2021, the Tournament Management Committee and Board of Directors both outlined a two-year window ...

1 dead, 1 wounded in downtown shooting at Central Library

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- One person was killed and another wounded in a shooting at the downtown Central Library Tuesday afternoon, according to San Diego police.Officers were dispatched to the San Diego Central Library, located in the 300 block of Park Avenue, around 12:15 p.m. after receiving reports of gunshots at the building. According to Lt. Jud Campbell with the SDPD Homicide Unit, Central Division officers found the two victims upon arrival and began providing aid.One of the victims, identified as a 20-year-old man, was pronounced dead on the scene, Campbell said. The other victim, a 24-year-old man, was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.The suspect, described as a man of an unknown age and height wearing dark clothing, has not yet been identified, according to SDPD.It is not known at this time whether the victims knew each other or the suspect. South Bay elementary school secured after firearm found in student’s backpack The firearm used in the shoot...

JPMorgan Chase defends lawsuit by blaming US Virgin Islands for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase defended itself on Tuesday against a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands accusing it of empowering Jeffrey Epstein to abuse teenage girls by arguing in court papers that it was the islands, not the bank, that enabled the financier to commit his crimes.Lawyers for the bank said in the Manhattan federal court filing that the government of the Virgin Islands was complicit, letting high ranking officials be bought off by Epstein and actively working with him while “reaping the benefits of his wealth.”“He gave them money, advice, influence, and favors. In exchange, they shielded and even rewarded him,” providing lucrative tax breaks worth millions of dollars, they wrote.Most troubling, they said, was that officials from the islands “protected Epstein, fostering the perfect conditions for Epstein’s criminal conduct to continue undetected.” The lawyers added: “For two decades, and for long after JPMC exited Epstein as a client, the entity that most directly fa...

2 killed, others hurt in severe storms north of Houston

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

CONROE, Texas (AP) — Two people were killed and several others were hurt Tuesday afternoon when a home that was under construction collapsed as strong storms hit north of Houston in the Conroe area. A home under construction in the Ladera Creek area fell sometime after 3 p.m., news outlets reported. Two workers were killed and seven injured victims were taken to a hospital, according to Conroe Assistant Fire Chief Mike Legoudes. The conditions of the injured workers weren’t known. Conroe Fire Chief Ken Kreger stopped short of saying that the collapse was caused by the storms, but said that his department got the call just after the storms passed. The series of storms prompted warnings in the area of incoming tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Storm damage was also reported north of Conroe in Huntsville.More than 18,000 customers were without power as of Tuesday evening in Montgomery County, where Conroe is located, as well as in neighboring Walker County, where Huntsville is locate...

More than half of N.W.T. wildfires so far this season caused by humans: officials

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. — Officials in the Northwest Territories say more than half of the wildfires in the territory this year were started by people. A total of 15 wildfires have burned 161 square kilometres across the territory so far this season, eight of which are suspected to have been caused by humans.Wildlife information officer Mike Westwick said usually between eight and 20 per cent of wildfires in the territory are human-caused each season. Nine fires are actively burning in the N.W.T., including an out-of-control wildfire about 32 square kilometres in size on the K’atl’odeeche First Nation that is believed to have been human-caused. About 3,500 people from the reserve and nearby town of Hay River remain displaced after evacuation orders were issued May 14. The First Nation said 18 buildings have been damaged on the reserve while no damage has been reported in Hay River.“This kind of incident can happen to any of us in our communities, which are susceptible to...

Concern about Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano changes with the wind

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

AMECAMECA, Mexico (AP) — Concern about the Popocatepetl volcano changes with the wind. While east of the mountain residents swept streets and didn’t remove their masks on Tuesday, here to the west, they casually watched the gas and ash plume emerging from its crater.The 17,797-foot (5,425-meter) mountain just 45 miles (about 70 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City and known affectionately as “El Popo,” has been belching for days, dusting towns and crops in Puebla in a super-fine ash.“When nothing is happening we worry,” said a cheerful Viridiana Alba, who has been selling flowers in Amecameca’s central plaza for 25 years. “El Popo,” as the volcano is affectionately known, rises directly across from her stand.“We know that right now it’s releasing smoke, that’s freeing the energy that it holds,” she said. Ash still rests on the awning that shades her plants from when the wind blew her way last weekend. The town was shaken by the volcano’s tremors, but as long as the ash remains light...

South Korean supplier plans $40 million auto parts plant in Georgia near new Hyundai complex

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A South Korean company will build a $40 million factory in coastal Georgia to make heating and cooling systems near a Hyundai Motor Group auto assembly plant.Hanon Systems announced Tuesday that it would build the plant in Statesboro, with plans to hire at least 160 new employees.Hanon Systems is the eighth major supplier to locate in the region after Hyundai said in 2022 that it would build a $5.5 billion plant to assemble electric vehicles and batteries in Ellabell, Georgia. The site could grow to 8,100 employees and is slated to begin producing vehicles in 2025.Hanon Systems and seven other suppliers have since pledged to invest more than $2 billion and hire 4,800 people.“Today’s announcement aligns with our strategy to support the industry shift toward electrification while growing our North America footprint,” Hanon Systems CEO Ming Sun said in a statement.Like a number of South Korean suppliers, Hanon Systems already supplies a Hyundai assembly pla...

New Mexico homelessness spikes as housing costs surge

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:12:32 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A tally of the homeless population in New Mexico shows an abrupt jump in the number of people living without permanent housing or with no shelter at all, according to the legislative agency focused on budgeting and accountability.A spot-count commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a winter night in January identified about 3,850 homeless people, 48% more than a year earlier, a report released Tuesday found.The count reflected many more unsheltered people — mostly in Albuquerque, where authorities are grappling with encampments on sidewalks and riverside parks.The change interrupts a gradual, decade-long decline in homelessness in New Mexico, which has the highest poverty rate in the western U.S., according to the nonpartisan research agency.“Poverty rates are high, labor participation is low. There is high substance abuse rates,” Kathleen Gygi, a program evaluator, told a legislative panel at the state Capitol. “These are all th...