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Massachusetts House speaker rejects audit of Legislature

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano said Friday that the House won’t meet with state Auditor Diana DiZoglio about an audit DiZoglio has launched into the Legislature.DiZoglio, a Democrat who served as both a state representative and senator, described the audit as the first such review in a century of the Legislature that she hopes will “increase transparency, accountability and equity in an area of state government that has been completely ignored.”Mariano said in a letter to DiZoglio Friday that the House’s financial accounts are already public.Any “performance assessment” by DiZoglio of House actions including “active and pending legislation, committee appointments, legislative rules, and its policies and procedures” would violate basic separation-of-powers principles, he said.Any such assessment is the sole responsibility of the House, he said, adding that voters are the final decision-makers of the performance of elected officials.“Therefore, given...

Former Boston bouncer honored for tackling man in flight attack

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

EXETER, N.H. — An airline passenger who helped tackle a man trying stab a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon was honored Friday by his hometown police department.Jeff Neil, a former bouncer who now works for a software company, received the “Citizen Award” for his actions earlier this month, which were caught on video by another passenger.At a ceremony in Exeter, Neil said he doesn’t consider himself a hero but acknowledged the significance of what happened.“I truly was in the right place at the right time,” he said.Neil’s wife Libby was sitting with him on the plane. She said she wasn’t surprised he jumped into action.“We both knew that he would be getting up,” she said.Francisco Severo Torres, 33, of Leominster, was arrested and accused of attacking a flight attendant and attempting to open the door of United Airlines Flight 2609. The plane was about 45 minutes from Boston when the crew noticed the door handle had been ...

Regular exercise can slow physical decline, provide community for seniors

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

Regular exercise can help senior citizens slow down age-induced muscle and bone decline and preserve aerobic capabilities, and a doctor has advice and encouragement for seniors who either want to start or continue exercising.According to Sport and Exercise Medicine Specialist Matthew Kampert of Cleveland Clinic’s South Pointe Hospital in Ohio, it is best to start exercise while young and continue throughout life.For people looking to start exercising as seniors, he said to “start where you’re at,” consult with a doctor and focus on building up endurance.Kampert compared physical fitness to retirement, noting that it’s important to start investing early for better results later. Seniors who started earlier should continue exercising as they age in order to lower aerobic and muscle decline.“The earlier you start the better it is, because you can build more muscle mass and bone density and it’s easier to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness when you’re young,” he said.Kampert explain...

Johns Hopkins study highlights promise of IV mistletoe extract for cancer therapy

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

Angela Roberts | The Baltimore SunIvelisse Page already had 15 inches of her colon and 28 lymph nodes removed to treat her colon cancer, but in the winter of 2008 she received more devastating news.The cancer had spread to her liver.Page’s doctor, Dr. Luis Diaz – an oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — gave her an 8% chance of living for more than two years.Since chemotherapy and radiation wouldn’t increase her chances of survival, Page decided not to undergo either of the intensive treatments. Instead, she and her husband considered another treatment suggested by an integrative practitioner at Baltimore’s Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center: mistletoe therapy.Though European mistletoe extract isn’t approved as a cancer treatment by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it’s one of the most commonly prescribed therapies used to treat cancer in Europe and has been used for centuri...

Heat’s Kyle Lowry ‘looks fantastic’ in current role, Spoelstra says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

Since veteran point guard Kyle Lowry returned to the court on March 11, he has been steadily improving while playing in a reserve role for the Heat.Lowry, who was listed as questionable for Miami’s crucial matchup with the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday due to left knee soreness, has been working his way back to full health.“It’s clear he’s moving way better than what he was doing before,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was grinding through it. You have to respect his toughness, his competitiveness. But if your body isn’t right in this league — it’s so competitive, the athletes are world-class, the speed and the quickness — you want to be able to move the way you’re capable of moving.”Lowry missed 15 games in February and March, and Miami went 7-8 in that stretch. He returned earlier this month and played 36 minutes in an overtime loss to Orlando, but since then, he has played between 19 and 25 minutes.In his fi...

CP NewsAlert: Biden and Trudeau announce updates on Norad, cross-border migration

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

OTTAWA — President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say in a joint statement they are bolstering Norad, updating the Safe Third Country Agreement and launching a one-year energy transformation task force.They are also announcing new spending on alternative fuel corridors, critical minerals, semiconductor projects, the Great Lakes and Arctic radar.More coming.The Canadian Press

Joe Biden takes shot at Maple Leafs during Parliament speech

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs are certainly hated across Canada, as their fans are constantly reminded of their playoff failures and not winning a Stanley Cup since 1967, but a shot from the current President of the United States is another matter altogether.During a speech in the nation’s capital on Friday, Joe Biden took a moment to let everyone know that he does enjoy hockey and Canada’s many sports teams — except for one.“Our labour unions cross borders. So do our sports leagues — baseball, basketball, and hockey. Listen to this, hockey. I have to say, I like your teams, except the Leafs,” Biden quipped, leading to, you guessed, a standing ovation and raucous cheers.“I’ll tell you why. They beat the [Philadelphia] Flyers back in January, that’s why. If I didn’t say that, I married a Philly girl; if I didn’t say that, I’d be sleeping alone, fellas. I like you. I don’t like you that much.”Joe Biden just ...

US-Canada migration deal aims to end walk-around crossings

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vermont (AP) — The immigration deal expected to be announced Friday by U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aims to shut down a process that has enabled tens of thousands of immigrants from across the world to move between the two countries along a back road between New York state and Quebec.Since early 2017, so many migrants entered Canada via Roxham Road outside Champlain, New York that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police staffed a reception center to process them, less than five miles (8 kilometers) from the official border crossing where they’d be returned to the United States. Mounties warned they’d be arrested, but once on Canadian soil, they were allowed to stay and pursue asylum cases that can take years to resolve.The new policy says that any asylum seekers who lack U.S. or Canadian citizenship and are caught within 14 days of crossing will be sent back across the border. It was set to take effect a minute after midnig...

Macron’s office: Algeria envoy returning to Paris, spat ends

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Algeria’s ambassador to France, recalled home in February, will be returning to his post in the coming days, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Friday in a sign that the latest diplomatic spat between the two countries has been resolved.Ambassador Said Moussi was recalled after a well-known Algerian militant was whisked to France from Tunisia on Feb. 6 with the help of French diplomats, a move that defied an official demand for her to be returned home. Amira Bouraoui also holds French nationality. She was not supposed to leave Algerian territory and authorities in Algiers said her flight to France amounted to an “illegal exfiltration.”President Abdelmadjid Tebboune informed Macron in a phone call that the ambassador would be returning to Paris shortly.“This exchange allowed for the lifting of misunderstandings,” Macron’s office said, adding that the two leaders agreed to strengthen communication channels between services concerned to ensure “that this regrettable t...

LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr issues warning to users in Egypt

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:29 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A popular gay social networking application said Friday that it is issuing a warning to its users in Egypt, as police impersonate community members to target LGBTQ+ individuals. Users in Egypt will see the following warning appear in Arabic and English when they open the app:“We have been alerted that Egyptian police is actively making arrests of gay, bi, and trans people on digital platforms. They are using fake accounts and have also taken over accounts from real community members who have already been arrested and had their phones taken. Please take extra caution online and offline, including with accounts that may have seemed legitimate in the past.”Egypt, though it technically does not outlaw homosexuality, frequently prosecutes members of the LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of ‘debauchery,’ or ‘violating public decency.’ In 2017, it arrested seven for raising a rainbow flag at a rock concert. And arrests of homosexuals and non-gender conforming individuals r...