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Quiet Week, Weekend Storm

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

The forecast remains cold and quiet for the rest of the week. We keep our clear skies overnight and that will allow temperatures to fall off once again. We might salvage a few degrees on top of this morning’s lows, but we’ll still fall to near 20° by sunrise tomorrow.Tomorrow is similar to today with a few extra clouds in the mix. We continue to increase the clouds on Thursday and with that a widely isolated rain or snow shower possible.The storm moving through from the Great Lakes, responsible for the few showers will eventually be the big player in our weekend storm potential. It’s less about the “L” itself and more about that cold front coming along with it. That cold front will open the door for cold air to move in and set up shop Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Of course with our next system running into that cold air… snow lovers rejoice, it looks like our first real snow of the season!I say this regarding our next storm with the disclaimer th...

Revolution sign midfielder Emmanuel Boateng to one-year deal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Midfielder Emmanuel Boateng was one of the glaring omissions when newly minted Sporting Director Curt Onalfo released his roster of returning players on Dec. 2.On Tuesday, Boateng was returned to the fold to occupy a supplemental roster spot. The Revolution resigned the 5-6, 150-pound dynamo from Accra, Ghana to a one-year MLS contract with a club option for 2025.“Ema Boateng has been an important contributor to our attack and has been a productive player in our league throughout his career,” said Onalfo.In his eight seasons in MLS, Boateng has recorded 187 appearances with 96 starts, 15 goals, 23 assists with two goals and an assist in nine playoff games. Boateng played for first-year Revolution coach Caleb Porter with Columbus in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when the Crew won the MLS Cup.Boateng came to the Revolution in 2021. He made 66 appearances and scored six goals with 10 assists in two full seasons. Boateng gave the Revolution an attacking presence, primarily as a sub...

Mass. Senate eyes wheelchair warranty, police interaction, fentanyl test strip reforms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Massachusetts senators meet Thursday in the first formal session of the year where they are expected to take up three bills dealing with wheelchair warranty protections, interactions between police and persons with autism, and fentanyl test strips.In a brief meeting Tuesday morning to close out the first half of the two-year 2023-2024 legislative session, Senate lawmakers teed up the trio of bills for debate later this week.The Thursday session represents the first major actions of the year in a chamber where its top leader identified prescription drug reform and early education care as 2024 priorities.Legislation from Sen. John Cronin, a Lunenburg Democrat, requires wheelchair manufacturers who sell their products directly or through a dealer to provide consumers an “express warranty” that lasts at least two years and cover any needed repairs for a “nonconformity.”The proposal also directs manufacturers to provide wheelchair customers with a temporary loaner within four business da...

Recipes: Here are 3 delicious dishes to make with potatoes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Whether you call them potatoes, spuds, or taters, to my way of thinking they are the ultimate comfort food. The texture of these luscious tubers varies; some are flaky and others are waxy, some landing somewhere in between. Varieties include a wide assortment of colors, shapes, and sizes, all of which are appealing. All have rich, earthy flavor profiles.According to the 2022 Farmer’s Almanac, the average American eats 124 pounds of potatoes each year. That’s double the amount of the next largest consumed vegetable. But indeed, is the humble potato a vegetable?According to botanists, potatoes are vegetables. But the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is considering reclassifying spuds from veggie to grain. Imagine.Here are three delicious, potato-centric dishes that showcase different varieties of spuds.A recipe for Tartiflette, a potato, bacon and cheese dish served at chalet restaurants on French ski slopes, is taken from Diana Henry’s cookbook, “Roast Figs, Sugar Snow.” (P...

Methuen woman dies after being struck by alleged drunken driver on I-495 in Andover

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

A 32-year-old Lawrence woman faces drunken driving charges after she allegedly drove while intoxicated, striking and killing a 75-year-old Methuen woman on Interstate 495 in Andover, over the weekend, according to authorities.A bail clerk has suspended and seized Jaymee K. Miller’s license and set bail at $20,000 plus the mandatory $40 bail fee following the Saturday night crash that killed Luzmila Quispe, Massachusetts State Police said Tuesday.Quispe, a backseat passenger in the car that Miller allegedly struck, died from her injuries at a Boston hospital on Monday.State troopers responded to reports from motorists of a hit-and-run on I-495 north in Andover, south of Exit 99, at around 10:45 p.m. Saturday.Initial findings indicate a 2014 Ford Edge sedan was traveling northbound when it crashed into the rear of a 2009 Honda Fit hatchback in the area of the 98.8 mile marker. The impact of the collision caused the Honda to be pushed across a breakdown line before it struck a guardrai...

Elise Stefanik cheers after Claudine Gay resigns as Harvard president: ‘TWO DOWN’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who has been calling for Harvard University President Claudine Gay to resign following the president’s congressional testimony about antisemitism, took a victory lap on Tuesday after Gay stepped down.Stefanik’s questioning of Gay and other university leaders during the Capitol Hill hearing went viral, sparking outrage about how the campus presidents were handling the spike of antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.Following the news broke that Gay resigned, Stefanik posted on social media, “TWO DOWN,” which is a nod to the two presidents who have quit since that congressional hearing: Gay and the former leader of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill.Stefanik, a Republican from New York, called Gay’s resignation “long overdue.”“Claudine Gay’s morally bankrupt answers to my questions made history as the most viewed Congressional testimony in the history of the U.S. Congress,” Stefanik poste...

Ticker: Warren Buffett tops 2023 charity donors; Turbine tested, but no power to grid, yet

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Investment guru Warren Buffett topped The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the biggest charitable donations in 2023, with his $541.5 million gift to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife, who died in 2004.The 2023 list of gifts from individuals or their foundations totaled more than $3.5 billion. Four universities received big gifts, along with four scientific research institutes and a health-care system. The other gifts went to a family foundation and a racial justice group. The list has 11 gifts because of ties. Eight of the donors are multibillionaires, and their combined net worth is $305.1 billion.Buffett’s gift is followed on the list by a donation from the mathematician and hedge-fund founder James Simons and his wife, Marilyn. The couple gave $500 million through their Simons Foundation to the State University of New York at Stony Brook.Turbine tested, but no power to grid, yetThe calendar flipped to 2024 on Monday, but Massachusetts...

A Hamas official killed in a Beirut strike had been on Israel’s hit list for years

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

By BASSEM MROUE (Associated Press)BEIRUT (AP) — Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, had been in Israel’s sights for years before he was killed in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before Hamas carried out its deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the ongoing brutal war in Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.Israel had accused Arouri, 57, of masterminding attacks against it in the West Bank, where he was the group’s top commander. In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Arouri as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist offering $5 million for information about him.Asked about assassination threats against him in an interview with Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen in August, Arouri said, “It is not strange for us for the commanders...

Michigan Republicans call for meeting to consider removing chairperson Karamo amid fundraising woes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A group of Michigan Republicans plan to meet Saturday and discuss whether to remove Michigan GOP Chairperson Kristina Karamo following months of infighting among party members ahead of key Senate and presidential contests in the swing state.It’s unclear whether enough party members will attend for the gathering to be official, and Karamo has made clear that she won’t recognize the vote either way, but the call for the meeting signals a remarkable decline in support for the chairperson among her grassroots supporters. An election conspiracist who unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in 2022, Karamo had been overwhelmingly elected in February to lead the state party through the next presidential election.A lack of fundraising and transparency during Karamo’s tenure has pushed many of her former supporters to seek to oust her. Karamo revealed during an Oct. 19 meeting that the party had nearly $500,000 in debt and opponents have argued that ...

Gun rights groups sue Colorado over the state’s ban on ‘ghost guns,’ which lack serial numbers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Gun rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on so-called ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers assembled at home or 3D printed that are difficult for law enforcement to trace and allow people to evade background checks.The litigation filed Monday is the latest of several Second Amendment lawsuits aimed at a slew of gun control regulations passed by Colorado’s majority Democratic legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last year. The ban on ghost guns took effect Monday and follows a dramatic rise in their reported use in crimes, jumping by 1,000% between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The law bars anyone in Colorado except licensed firearm manufacturers from creating gun frames and receivers, which house internal components. It also prohibits the transport and possession of frames and receivers that don’t have serial numbers. The lawsuit filed by th...