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2023 was a year of turmoil – here is some of what made headlines

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

With the books closed on 2023 it’s fair to say it was a year filled with turmoil both domestically and internationally.The nation began the year with egg prices sitting at historic highs, struggling to overcome the lingering impacts of inflation, and dealing with increased energy prices driven by COVID-19 recovery and a war in Europe. The 2024 election had officially begun with former President Donald Trump’s announcement he would seek a second term for a second time.The drama continued in January with a new Republican led U.S. House of Representatives, whose first action was to spend days struggling to select a speaker.After 15 ballots, the most since the Civil War era, California Republican Kevin McCarthy won the gavel. He would hold it for only nine months, after members of his own party eventually moved to replace him with a relatively unknown U.S. Representative from Louisiana, now-Speaker Mike Johnson.After the drama in D.C., in February the nation turned its eyes to the...

Red Sox could have new long-term 2B in Vaughn Grissom

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

It was Aug. 10, 2022, and the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves were in town for what promised to be among the most interesting series left on the schedule. The floundering Red Sox had fallen three games under .500 and if they harbored any hope of turning their season around, they’d need to start winning big games against teams like this.Then, in the seventh inning and with the Braves leading 3-1, an unknown rookie stepped to the plate and stunned the Fenway Park crowd.Vaughn Grissom, batting ninth and making his MLB debut, smoked a two-run home run over the Green Monster, stretching Atlanta’s lead in what ended up an 8-4 win. Grissom was at the time regarded as one of Atlanta’s top prospects, and since then he’s made the most of the few opportunities he’s gotten in Atlanta’s All-Star laden infield.Now he could call Fenway Park home for years to come.Acquired Saturday in exchange for accomplished but oft-injured veteran Chris Sale, Gr...

Massachusetts politics saw everything from alleged political corruption to shelters bursting at the brim

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey knew coming into office at the start of 2023 that Massachusetts’ emergency shelter system was already experiencing issues as more people sought refuge in state-funded temporary housing.But an influx of migrants fleeing unstable home conditions and rising housing costs hurting vulnerable residents already here pushed the shelter network to the brink, producing a logistical headache for Beacon Hill and one of the top political stories of the year.“I certainly knew that we had a migrant crisis when I took office,” Healey said in an interview with the Herald earlier this month. “What I didn’t know is that it would grow exponentially worse.”From the overburdened shelters to former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins resigning in disgrace and continued woes at the MBTA to legislative action (or inaction), 2023 shaped up as a head-spinning year for those in power in the Bay State.Shelters burst with newly-arrived families and those from right here at hom...

UN chief closes tribunal founded to investigate 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the U.N. chief’s spokesperson said Sunday.Over the years, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of the militant Hezbollah group guilty in connection with Hariri’s death in a massive Feb. 14, 2005 truck bombing. The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, sentenced the three — Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi – to five concurrent sentences of life imprisonment.Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that members of the group were involved in the suicide attack and refused to deal with the tribunal. The bombing killed Hariri and 21 others, and wounded 226.The trial judges had said there was no evidence Hezbollah’s leadership or Syria were involved in the attack but noted the assassination hap...

Drag performer slur perpetuates myths, Ont. judge rules, defamation suit advances

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

A lawyer for a drag performer says a recent Ontario court ruling signals people using dangerous anti-LGBTQ slurs can’t hide behind certain free speech protections to shield themselves from legal accountability. The ruling this month out of Thunder Bay, Ont., clears the way for lawyer Douglas Judson’s client to advance a defamation suit against a man who allegedly used a slur on his self-identified “media/news” Facebook page to accuse drag performers of predatory behaviour. In rejecting the man’s attempt to have the suit dismissed before trial, the judge wrote that “groomer” is a slur and his comments describing performers as such perpetuated hurtful myths and stereotypes about LGBTQ people. The decision indicates the man claimed the lawsuit was meant to stifle his comments on a matter of public interest, arguing he was stating his opinion about current events and a CBC’s alleged promotion of the drag performance at a lib...

Lithium-ion battery fire in a cargo ship’s hold is out after several days of burning

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After lithium-ion batteries burned in a large cargo ship’s hold for a number of days, the U.S. Coast Guard said late Saturday that the fire was out and directed the ship to anchor near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The 19 crew members of the ship, Genius Star XI, were uninjured and technicians from the Salvage and Marine Firefighting team remain onboard to ensure the fire doesn’t return, according to a Coast Guard press release.“This protected anchorage … will allow the vessel to remain stable, minimizing risk of any re-flash of the fire as we continue our response,” Capt. Chris Culpepper said in the press release, which said an investigation into the fire’s origins will begin once response efforts wrap up. Genius Star XI was shipping lithium-ion batteries from Vietnam to San Diego. The crew alerted the Coast Guard early Thursday morning to the fire, after pumping carbon dioxide into hold No. 1 — where the blaze began — and sealing it, ...

Shecky Greene, legendary standup comic, improv master and lord of Las Vegas, dies at 97

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shecky Greene, the gifted comic and master improviser who became the consummate Las Vegas lounge headliner and was revered by his peers and live audiences as one of the greatest standup acts of his generation, has died. He was 97.His widow, Marie Musso Green, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her husband died early Sunday at their home. She said her husband of 41 years died of natural causes.Those who saw Greene in his decades of comedy dominance on the Vegas Strip in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s said that with a mic in his hand he could roam a room and work a crowd like no other.He couldn’t wait to abandon written jokes for the shared thrill of improv.“I’ve never had an act,” Greene told the Las Vegas Sun in 2009. “I make it up as I go along.”Greene made huge fans of his fellow entertainers including Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and, most famously, Frank Sinatra, who hand-picked him as his opening act for a stretch. Greene couldn’t resist the gig with the biggest st...

Man charged with murder after fatal stabbing at Burger King in Des Plaines

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

DES PLAINES, Ill. -- A suburban man has been charged with murder after a man was stabbed to death outside a Burger King in Des Plaines, police said.According to the Des Plaines Police Department, 42-year-old Antonio Solorio of Mount Prospect faces a felony of first-degree murder. Police were able to identify Solorio as a person of interest through several witnesses and surveillance footage in the area. He was taken into custody outside a family member's residence in Streamwood Friday afternoon. 6-month-old baby dies after hit-and-run crash on South Side: CPD Police said Solorio gave full confession to investigators. Investigators say Solorio got into a fight outside the Burger King in the 800 block of South Elmhurst Road on Wednesday night with a man, who he then chased inside and stabbed. Mario Jara-Antemante, a 28-year-old man from Mt. Prospect, suffered multiple stab wounds and died at the hospital.Investigators found that Solorio and Antemante knew each other from the area an...

Student debt fight ends year on disappointing note

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

(The Hill) -- Student loan borrowers began 2023 with money and hope. The year will end with resumed monthly payments and only limited debt relief.At the start of the year, student loans remained in their pandemic pause, as President Biden’s debt relief plan headed to the Supreme Court. But the administration decided that once the Supreme Court ruled on the legality of his loan forgiveness plan — regardless of the outcome — borrowers should have to restart their payments.  In June, the conservative-majority court ruled Biden’s plan to forgive at least $10,000 for all student loan borrowers was illegal. Here are the states with the highest average student debt “I think the low point is definitely the loss at the Supreme Court and, with that, payments coming back on. I think that's actually in some ways equally as bad to see [loans turned back on] after we fought so long to keep them off,” said Natalia Abrams at the Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC).The White House moved forward from...

Muddy Paws Cheesecake’s fight to survive boosted by TV personality buying $40K worth of pies

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:56:17 GMT

Muddy Paws Cheesecake, a fixture in St. Louis Park for the past 30 years, put out a plea for help after it closed this week, saying without nearly a quarter of a million dollars in donations, it would shutter its doors forever.Marcus Lemonis, television personality and philanthropist, bought $40,000 worth of pies from St. Louis Park’s Muddy Paws Cheesecake to help keep the business afloat. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP, File)Marcus Lemonis, a television personality and philanthropist, stepped in this weekend and offered to buy $40,000 worth of pies if the bakery agreed to give them away on Instagram.Best known for scooping up sinking small businesses on the CNBC show “The Profit,” Lemonis clarified on Instagram that his help was to keep the business going while also bringing attention to needed improvements in the bakery’s business practices:“The purpose of the process is to keep the business alive,” he commented on the bakery’s announ...