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Millionaire’s tax money will be exempted from rebate law under House plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

The state House began deliberations over their $56 billion fiscal 2024 spending proposal on Monday by rejecting a Republican plan to include money from a newly enacted millionaire’s tax along with the rest of revenue when calculating mandatory taxpayer rebates.“This is a simple amendment, but one that we feel is still very important,” state Rep. Kim Ferguson said. “The amendment removes the exemption of the millionaire’s tax revenues deposited into the education and transportation fund from counting toward allowable state tax revenues under Chapter 62F.”Representatives will likely spend most of this week arguing over exactly how and where to spend billions in state revenues during fiscal 2024, before the spending package is sent to the Senate for revision and, eventually, to Gov. Maura Healey for her veto or signature.Before any vote on the budget itself can occur, lawmakers must first dispense with the over 1,500 amendments that representatives have filed to the original pack...

Bruins notebook: Taylor Hall has provided much needed scoring depth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

As the Bruins steamrolled their way toward the playoffs, winning their last eight games on the record-breaking run, it was anyone’s guess what to expect from Taylor Hall come playoff time.After suffering a lower body injury in Vancouver on Feb. 25, he missed most of the rest of the regular season, returning to play just three of the last four games. He went scoreless in all of them and, even before his injury, he’d had an inconsistent season from a production standpoint.But in this playoff series against the Florida Panthers, Hall has shown some of the flashes that made him a Hart Trophy winner five years ago when he was with the New Jersey Devils. Hall leads the B’s in scoring with 4-3-7 totals in the four games, including his 2-2-4 afternoon on Sunday.It was in Game 1, in which he actually did not get on the scoresheet, that Hall showed he was ready to contribute. He twice made strong defensive plays that he immediately turned into 2-on-1s with his speed.“Taylor&...

Markey, Pressley take another shot at expanding fare-free public transportation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

Public transportation is a public good, Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Ayanna Pressley argued Monday, announcing the reintroduction of their national “Freedom to Move” fare-free transit legislation.“To truly create world class public transportation across the United States and to advance justice and equity, we need to make public transit free,” Markey said at a press conference outside the Ruggles T station Monday afternoon. “And that is why I am proud to stand with Congresswoman Pressley today to reintroduce our ‘Freedom to Move Act.'”The act, first introduced in 2020, would provide $25 billion competitive grants over five years to support state and local efforts to implement fare-free public transportation systems, the sponsors said, as well as investing in public transportation safety, quality and equity efforts.Advocates pointed to results from fare-free programs throughout Massachusetts. Using pandemic relief funding, Boston made bus routes 23...

Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon let go from Fox News, CNN in bombshell media shake-up: ‘Two very different firings’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

The cable news world was flipped on its head Monday as both Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon were ousted from their respective roles at Fox News and CNN in a bombshell media shakeup.The departure of the polarizing Carlson from Fox News came a few days after Fox’s massive $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems — and in the wake of Carlson’s private texts coming to light because of that defamation suit over the network’s false election fraud claims. Also, Carlson had been named in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a Fox News producer who was fired.CNN soured on Lemon following his comments a couple of months ago about presidential candidate Nikki Haley, stating on air that women in their 50s are no longer in their prime.“Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are two very different firings,” Tobe Berkovitz, associate professor of Advertising emeritus at Boston University, told the Herald on Monday.“Carlson went because he besmirched Rupert Mur...

AP source: Rockets hire ex-Celtics coach Udoka as new coach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

By KRISTIE RIEKEN (AP Sports Writer)HOUSTON (AP) — Ime Udoka has been hired as the new coach of the Houston Rockets, a source familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals last season, then was suspended for this season after the disclosure of an inappropriate relationship with a female Celtics employee.The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the team had not officially announced the move.He replaces Stephen Silas, who was fired after three seasons.The Rockets had the worst record in the previous two seasons and finished tied with the Spurs for the second-worst record this season, earning another lottery pick in this year’s draft.The 45-year-old Udoka led the Celtics to a 51-31 record in his one season in Boston. The Celtics finished the regular season on a 26-6 run and beat Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami in the playoffs before falling to Golden State in six games in the NBA Finals.Udoka wasn’t drafted and ...

DUI suspected in I-15 crash that killed 2, including 4-year-old

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

FALLBROOK, Calif. -- A driver suspected of driving under the influence was arrested following a deadly weekend crash on Interstate 15 that killed two people, including a 4-year-old, law enforcement said.Erick Arambula, 23, was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter, Officer Hunter Gerber with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release Monday. The multi-vehicle collision occurred near Fallbrook on southbound I-15, located north of State Route 76, according to CHP. I-805 closure: Man with knife shot by officer, CHP says Authorities claim Arambula, who was driving a black Toyota Tacoma, veered onto the right shoulder in the northbound lane of Old Highway 395, slammed into a chain link fence and traveled down an embankment that ended in a head-on collision with a black Kia Forte and white Tesla 3 in the southbound lanes of I-15.The Kia driver, a 29-year-old of San Marcos, and a 4-year-old passenger died due to their injuries, Gerber said. Arambu...

CN Rail unveils new continental shipping service in bid to match rival’s vast network

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co. announced a new North American container shipping service Monday, upping its financial forecast for the year on the heels of record first-quarter revenues brought on by a bumper grain crop and higher oil prices.Dubbed Falcon Premium, the intermodal service marks an agreement between CN, Union Pacific Railroad and GMXT, a Mexican railroad operator and metals miner. It connects CN’s tracks, which stretch from Vancouver to Halifax, with the UPR line in Chicago and GMXT terminals several hundred kilometres north of Mexico City.In a bid to match rival CP Rail’s recent merger with Kansas City Southern, the deal also aims to nab customers south of the border from trucking companies with clients in auto parts, food, appliances and temperature-controlled products.“How do we convert the Mexico business over from the road to intermodal?” asked chief marketing officer Doug MacDonald. “We need a consistent, quick transit time...

Smith declines to disavow comments urging out-of-pocket payments for health care

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith is declining to say whether she stands by or disavows earlier comments she made proposing Albertans pay out-of-pocket for medically insured services as a way to keep the health-care system sustainable.Smith has declined four times over the past nine days to say whether she stands by a policy paper she wrote in 2021, which urges Albertans to pay for some services covered by medicare, including visits to a family doctor.Smith’s United Conservative Party government has committed to not delisting any current medically insured services or having Albertans pay for services or prescriptions currently covered by medicare.Smith, when asked today by reporters where she stands on Albertans paying out of pocket, pointed to a long-term health funding deal the province recently signed with Ottawa that includes a commitment to the principles of medicare.Asked three times on her radio call-in show last week whether she stands by her policy paper, Smith said she is ...

Democracy, values give West an edge in race for green technology, Trudeau says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

OTTAWA — Democracies like Canada can be “reliable suppliers” of goods that espouse both environmental sustainability and the rule of law, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday.Trudeau spent the day at various events with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was in Canada for an official visit.If global companies make their imports contingent on environmental responsibility and barring slave labour, they will turn to goods produced in countries like Canada, Trudeau said. That would also allow Canada to become a global leader in industries like lithium mining.“Democracies can also be those reliable suppliers of what actually matters,” Trudeau said.His comments come as Canada and its allies seek to establish more reliable supply chains with each other and reduce dependence on countries like Russia and China, who may seek to exploit that dependence to influence foreign politics.Trudeau said investors like the stability of countries with strong social...

DuPont ordered to pay $16M in Texas plant leak that killed 4

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:03 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A chemical company was ordered to pay $16 million and sentenced to two years of probation for its role in a poisonous gas leak that killed four workers at a Houston-area plant nearly a decade ago, federal prosecutors announced Monday.The employees at the now-closed DuPont chemical plant in LaPorte, Texas, died in November 2014 when a chemical used in the manufacturing of insecticide and fungicide, methyl mercaptan, was released.U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani, who is based in Houston, said the deaths were the result of “DuPont’s criminal negligence.”“The sentence imposed today sends a clear message of my office’s dedication to holding managers at industrial facilities, and the corporations that own and operate those facilities, accountable for violations of … laws meant to protect the safety of workers and nearby communities,” Hamdani said.During a court hearing Monday, DuPont, along with Kenneth Sandel, who ran the unit at the plant where the employees who die...