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State looking into sudden closure of Compass Medical facilities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

The sudden closure of a group of medical centers based out of Quincy is turning heads at top levels of state government, with the Healey administration saying they are “concerned” by Compass Medical’s decision to shutter all of its facilities in Massachusetts.Compass Medical, which has 450 employees in the state, announced an “imminent plan” to close all of its facilities in a statement posted to its website Wednesday that left many scratching their heads. It comes after the company lost a lawsuit to a Dallas-based physicians group, costing them millions.At an unrelated press conference inside the State House Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey said anytime someone’s access to health care is interfered with, “that’s troubling.”“It’s very concerning and distressing, and I think I appreciate the real distress that causes for patients out there affected by this,” Healey told reporters. “We are working closely with our secretary of Health and Human Services, who has already reached out to...

Tourists warned about thieves on motorcycles racing through Tijuana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Baja California's Attorney General Iván Carpio Sánchez is warning residents and tourists to be on the lookout for gangs on motorcycles who have been robbing people and businesses along busy streets and tourist destinations in Tijuana.During a news conference with reporters this week, Carpio Sánchez stated the thieves are using the same "modus operandi" and it's become apparent it's the same group of robbers.In recent weeks, he says restaurants frequented by visitors, shops and businesses have been robbed with the suspects riding away in their motorcycles. The thieves are also said to be robbing people who are simply walking along busy streets and intersections."We have a lot of developing information where the suspects spot someone with expensive watches and other items, then follow them until they pounce on their victims," said Carpio Sánchez.The attorney general said recently, a suspect tried to rob a bank and flee on a motorcycle only to be stopped by a police office...

White House imposing sanctions as Sudan’s warring sides fail to abide by cease-fire deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Thursday that it will impose sanctions against key defense companies and people who “perpetuate violence” in Sudan as the warring sides failed to abide by a cease-fire agreement in the northeastern African nation.New visa restrictions apply to officials from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces and leaders from the former government led by Omar al-Bashir who are “responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Sudan’s democratic transition,” according to the State Department.President Joe Biden on May 4 laid the groundwork for the penalties when he issued an executive order that expanded U.S. authorities to respond to the violence and help bring an end to the conflict.“These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.The Treasury Department said in a statement tha...

Russian bombardment of Ukrainian capital kills at least 3, including child

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a pre-dawn missile barrage at the Ukrainian capital Thursday, killing three people, including a 9-year-old and her mother, and damaging apartment buildings, schools and a children’s hospital, officials said. It was the highest toll from a single attack on Kyiv over the past month.A 33-year-old woman died as she and others waited to enter a locked air raid shelter, which left the group at the mercy of falling missile fragments, according to her husband. Officials ordered an investigation.The latest attack, using what Ukrainian officials said were short-range, ground-launched Iskander missiles, coincided with events scheduled in Kyiv to celebrate International Children’s Day. Those events were canceled.Ukrainian air defenses shot down all 10 cruise and ballistic missiles, but falling debris caused damage and wounded 16 people, authorities said.Russia has kept up a steady barrage on the capital and other parts of the country in recent weeks as Kyiv ...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises with hopes for pause to rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rising Thursday with hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on its hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in afternoon trading after a suite of reports painted a split U.S. economy. The job market remains remarkably solid, but manufacturing is weakening and shoppers of all kinds are feeling more pressure. Altogether, investors saw the data pushing the Fed to refrain from hiking rates at its next meeting in two weeks, which would be the first time that’s happened in more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 170 points, or 0.5%, at 33,073, as 1:38 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was leading the market with a 1.2% gain. It’s full of technology companies and other high-growth stocks that tend to benefit most from lower rates.One positive for the market came late Wednesday when the House of Representatives approved a deal to prevent a possibly catastrophic default on the U.S. government’s...

Man sentenced to life in killing of mother of 2 New Mexico State Police officers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Mexican national convicted of the 2019 slaying of the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers in a case that drew national attentione has been sentenced to life in prison.Luis Talamantes-Romero also received an additional prison term of 26 1/2 years on Wednesday for eight other felony convictions in the death of Jacqueline Vigil.He declined to address the court before his sentencing.Talamantes-Romero, 35, was convicted in April of first-degree murder along with aggravated burglary, attempted armed robbery, tampering with evidence, conspiracy and other charges.Authorities said Vigil, 55, was killed outside her northwest Albuquerque home in an attempted burglary in November 2019. She was shot in her driveway as she prepared to leave for a gym.The case went unsolved for months, drawing the attention of then-President Donald Trump as he pushed his tough-on-crime agenda. Vigil’s family also traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump.Prosecutors sai...

Champions League final referee under UEFA scrutiny for links to far-right leader in Poland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — An anti-racism group called on soccer’s top referee Thursday to distance himself from a far-right politician in Poland, and UEFA said it wanted “urgent clarification” ahead of the Champions League final.“A further announcement will be made (Friday), after reviewing all the evidence,” UEFA said.Szymon Marciniak has been picked by UEFA to referee the biggest game in club soccer between Manchester City and Inter Milan on June 10. He also handled the Argentina-France World Cup final for FIFA this season.The Never Again group in Warsaw said Marciniak “reportedly promoted and participated in a recent event organized by a Polish far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen.”’We are shocked and appalled by Marciniak’s public association with Mentzen and his brand of toxic far-right politics,” Never Again co-founder Rafal Pankowski said in a statement. “It is incompatible with the basic values of fair play such as equality and respect.”Mentzen is a leader of the populist Konfederacja (Con...

‘Two beautiful souls’: Families of couple slain in landlord-tenant dispute speak out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

The families of two people killed by their landlord after a dispute about mold growing in their rental apartment in Stoney Creek have released a statement through Hamilton police, calling them “two beautiful souls” who were set to marry this summer.Carissa MacDonald, 27, and Aaron Stone, 28, were shot to death on Saturday by their landlord, who lived in the unit above them.On Wednesday, a spokesperson with Hamilton Police confirmed that a dispute over the state of their basement apartment — specifically mold — ultimately led to the fatal shootings.It was also revealed that MacDonald and Stone, identified by police on Tuesday, were preparing to move out of the unit on Thursday, June 1.“They were days away from moving into their new home and starting the next chapter of their lives,” their families said in a joint statement Thursday.“They were planning on getting married this summer,” they added.“They were such family-oriented peop...

Biden tells US Air Force Academy graduates their leadership needed in increasingly confusing world

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come.“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets in remarks on the sun-splashed field at Falcon Stadium in Colorado. “Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing,” he added. “They’ll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”Biden said they will need the qualities of resilience, creativity, endurance and commitment that they learned during their four years of training at the academy — learning that was interrupted by the C...

Jordan’s capital turns into open-air party for first major royal wedding in years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:39 GMT

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s capital turned into an open-air party on Thursday as crowds gathered to celebrate the desert kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years and bask in the event’s unmistakable demonstration of Jordan’s influence and importance.Jordanians from all walks of life shared an infectious excitement about the union between Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, momentarily forgetting their differences and troubles in a Mideast country regarded as a rare beacon of stability in a turbulent region.The wedding fever had been building for weeks. As the day began, Jordanians decked out in traditional red-and-white scarves and other elaborate get-ups — including T-shirts printed with pictures of the couple and body paint congratulating the prince — gathered around huge screens nationwide to watch the ceremony unfold. Royals and dignitaries from around the world descended on Amman for the occasion.The traditional Islamic wedding service lasted mere minut...