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Robbins: Donald Trump prepares to face the music

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

Sir Walter Scott’s famous line about what a tangled web it is that we weave when first we practice to deceive was written in 1808, but the poet might as well have prophesied Donald Trump’s ill-fated one night stand with Stormy Daniels when he wrote it.The “assignation,” let’s call it, was suffused with dishonesty at every stage, and it is that dishonesty that may soon result in the most famous mug shot in history.The sexual liaison between the real estate mogul and the porn star occurred in Lake Tahoe, while Trump’s wife Melania was back home with their newborn son. Not a great start to the story for Trump. He had numerous conferences in 2015 and 2016 about how to keep that adulterous tryst and at least one other one hidden. When the public disclosure of the “Access Hollywood” tape threatened to torpedo his chances of winning the 2016 election just before the voting began and the additional risk that the revelation of his decidedly non-business meeting with Daniels would...

Dog stolen in Beacon Hill has been found safe: ‘We’re so glad she’s back home’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

A small dog that was stolen by two men in Beacon Hill Monday morning has been found safe and is back home, according to the nonprofit Missing Dogs Massachusetts.Boston police has been investigating the dognapping incident after Rose — a 9-year-old mixed breed female terrier — was grabbed by a Hispanic man who then got into a blue Honda Civic with another Hispanic man.Several hours later on Monday, Rose was reunited with her owner.“We’re so glad she’s back home and that she’s safe,” Erin Thomas, a volunteer for Missing Dogs Massachusetts, told the Herald Monday evening.Police did not immediately confirm that Rose had been found as of 7:45 p.m. Monday.Before noon on Monday, the dog walker had tied up Rose and two other dogs to a pole in the area of Mount Vernon and Walnut streets in Beacon Hill when the 11-pound tan canine was stolen. The dog walker had tied up the three pups to pick up another dog on Walnut Street.The two suspects in the blue...

Monica Cannon-Grant, husband arraigned on new federal charges

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband were back in court, pleading not guilty to the expanded raft of federal charges the controversial former Boston nonprofit activist now faces.Cannon-Grant, 42, and her husband, Clark Grant, 39, only were in court remotely for a hearing that lasted around 10 minutes on Monday, according to authorities following the court event that wasn’t publicly available due to a technological snafu, but the pair entered the pleas of not guilty that are typical for arraignments.The couple was originally charged nearly a full year ago on March 15, 2022, with 18-fraud related counts that hinged on three distinct conspiracy allegations. The first is the misuse of donations to the couple’s charity Violence in Boston for personal use, the second is the misuse of public funds — including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program — and the third is alleged fraud related to the mortgage on the couple’s Taunton home.The pair now face a total of 27 fraud-related c...

Mayor Wu’s MBTA ceiling panel joke knocked as ‘insensitive’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

One of Mayor Michelle Wu’s jokes at the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast was an egg, some say.Wu, appearing to knock the MBTA for its frustrating slow zones, used the example of a ceiling panel that fell March 1 at the Harvard station nearly hitting a woman as a comedic hook.Wu joked at the breakfast that Gov. Maura Healey gave her an update on the toppled panel and said “the MBTA’s internal investigation was complete and it said the tile was actually scheduled to fall an hour-and-a-half before that but there were some delays.”She got some laughs and quickly added she “still rides the T.”Mela Bush-Miles, director of the MBTA Riders’ Union, said the mayor’s joke writer needs to find the straphanger who was “nearly killed” and make “sure she’s OK.” A 25-pound ceiling panel just missing you isn’t comedy — it was almost a tragedy, Bush-Miles added.“That was insensitive,” Bush-Miles tol...

No telling how much more snow coming for Sierra Nevada

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — No one really knows how much snow fell on the infamous Donner Party when the pioneers were trapped atop the Sierra Nevada for months and dozens died near Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1846-47. But this season has now etched its way into the history books as the second snowiest in the 77 years of record-keeping at the Central Sierra Snow Lab — more than 56.4 feet (677 inches, 17.2 meters) with no end in sight.And there’s still a chance it could surpass the record of 67.7 feet (812 inches, 20.6 meters) set in 1951-52 when more than 200 passengers on a San Francisco-bound luxury train from Chicago were stranded for three days near Donner Pass west of Truckee, California.Over the weekend, the “winter that just doesn’t want to end” as the National Weather Service in Reno put it, topped the previous No. 2 record of 55.9 feet (651 inches, 17 meters) set in 1982-83. That was the second of back-to-back blizzard buster seasons remembered most for an avalanche that killed...

Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino accepts job at St. John’s

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Rick Pitino is back in the Big East Conference.St. John’s hired the Hall of Fame coach Monday to boost a storied program that’s been mired in mediocrity for much of this century. The school announced that Pitino will be introduced during a news conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.Following a successful run at nearby mid-major Iona, the 70-year-old Pitino was plucked away to replace Mike Anderson, who was fired after four seasons in charge of the Red Storm without making the NCAA Tournament.Reports quickly surfaced that St. John’s planned to target Pitino, who grew up on Long Island not far from the school’s Queens campus in New York City.“Coach Pitino is one of the most brilliant minds in the history of the game and has won at the highest levels everywhere he has coached,” athletic director Mike Cragg said in a press release. “There is no doubt in my mind he will restore a championship-level program and culture for St. John’s Basketbal...

Gun used in kidnapping of Americans in Mexico came from US

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A man who admitted to purchasing firearms that he knew would be going from the U.S. to a Mexican drug cartel has been arrested in Texas after the discovery that one of the weapons was linked to the deadly kidnapping of four Americans, according federal court records.Roberto Lugardo Moreno made an initial appearance Monday at a federal court in Brownsville and was appointed a public defender, who did not immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment. His detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.The kidnapping occurred in Matamoros, Mexico, which is located just across the border from Brownsville.According to a federal complaint filed Saturday, Moreno has been charged with conspiring to illegally export a firearm. The complaint said that he admitted to buying firearms for people he knew were going to provide them to a member of the Gulf Cartel in Mexico. The serial number of a firearm he purchased in October 2019 matched that of a gun recovered by aut...

Could Joey Votto be traded to the Blue Jays? Reds GM says maybe

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

Cincinnati Reds general manager Nick Krall says he could be open to trading Joey Votto to the Blue Jays if the Reds are out of contention at the trade deadline and the Toronto-born infielder wants to play for his hometown team.Krall made the comments Monday when asked what he’d do if Votto approached him on GMs Corner with Jim Bowden and Steve Phillips on the SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio channel on Monday.“If he came to that and we’re not in it at the trade deadline, we’d have a conversation,” Krall said. “I think it’s something to sit down and have a conversation and see where it goes. But we want him to be a lifelong Cincinnati Red, and that’s our goal.”Krall said any thoughts of a trade would be up to Votto.“At this point, he’s got a full no trade-clause, so he can control whatever he wants to control. I think for us, we envision him as a lifelong Cincinnati Red, just like Barry Larkin,” Krall said.The 39-year-old Votto is in the final y...

Trump legal woes force another moment of choosing for GOP

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — From the moment he rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his first presidential campaign, a searing question has hung over the Republican Party: Is this the moment to break from Donald Trump?Elected Republicans have wavered at times — whether it was Trump’s condemnation of John McCain’s war record, his racist attack against a Mexican-American judge, his sexually predatory language caught on video, his alleged extramarital affairs, his decision to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence, his promotion of false allegations of election fraud and his incitement of a violent mob that threatened the lives of lawmakers in both parties.But after almost eight years of near-constant scandal, Republicans have ultimately rallied behind Trump over and over and over again.Now, on the eve of a new presidential campaign season, that loyalty is being tested anew as Trump prepares for the possibility that he may soon become the firs...

Federal judge blocks key parts of California handgun law

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:01:03 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked key provisions of a California law that drastically restricts the sale of new handguns in the state, saying parts of the legislation violate the Second Amendment. A lawsuit challenging the law was filed last year by the California Rifle & Pistol Association and other gun rights supporters following a landmark 2022 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that set new standards for evaluating firearm restrictions. The ruling left many laws aimed at regulating and limiting the sale and use of guns — in California and nationwide — at risk of being struck down.U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney, sitting in Santa Ana, wrote Monday that California’s requirements for new handguns are unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Because of these restrictions, Carney wrote, no new models of semiautomatic handguns have been approved for sale since 2013 and Californians are forced to buy older and potentially less safe models.He issue...