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Two brutal alleged murders head to trail in Boston

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

Jury selection has begun in two murder trials at Suffolk Superior Court, one for gunning down a man as he celebrated Father’s Day in a Roxbury park and another for the brutal stabbing of an 18-year-old woman to death in an East Boston parking garage.Parking Garage massacreOn June 15, 2016, construction workers walked to their worksite at a parking garage at 54 Princeton St. in East Boston and came across a horrible sight: a young woman, her face “covered in blood,” lying on top of pieces of wood with one arm over her face, according to Herald reporting at the time.Police would identify the dead woman as Blanca Lainez, 18, who would have turned 19 just two weeks later. An examination of her body and the scene would conclude she had been stabbed 15 times and beaten with a propane tank, according to the Suffolk DA’s office.Prosecutors say her murder occurred between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. the night before, based on security camera footage of Lainez and the suspects.The body was found jus...

Vice President Kamala Harris to offer keynote speech at NAACP Convention in Boston

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to travel to Boston later this month to address the NAACP’s national convention scheduled to take place in the Seaport, the White House said Thursday morning.The convention is “one of the few places” where Americans can engage with some of the nation’s most influential voices, said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. The week-long convention is scheduled to run from July 26 to Aug. 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.“I am confident that Vice President Harris’ presence at convention will further motivate our members and supporters’ continued fight for racial justice across all 50 states,” Johnson said in a statement. “We look forward to hearing from the Vice President on how the administration is enacting its commitment to addressing the issues that are top-of-mind for Black America.”The White House said Harris plans to address the conference on July 29 as part of a multi-day “whirlwind” trip where she is scheduled to attend...

Watch Live: John Kerry grilled on Climate Office budget; says Herald FOIA will have to wait

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

This could finally be the day Climate boss John Kerry thaws his budget out. To what degree we’ll find out as the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability grills him. Follow along below and stay here for updates and a full report:10 a.m. — Chair Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) just started the meeting and didn’t hold back on Kerry has “managed to avoid oversight and accountability.”Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) jumped in next saying global warming will drive up bills and put Americans at risk, taking a softer tone before Kerry speaks.Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) warned Kerry that playing nice with China could prove to be lethal. He’s the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and is “deeply concerned” about talks with China. “We don’t have to make concessions before we even get to the table.” He added that this all comes as “an American citizen” Mark Swidan of Texas faces death i...

OPP bust 11 as part of Canada-wide 3D gun probe

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

Advanced 3D printing technology is being used to make guns that are being sold to “dangerous offenders,” Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) warned Thursday while announcing a slew of arrests connected to the manufacturing of the untraceable weapons.The OPP said the probe started in Montreal, ultimately leading to search warrants and arrests across Canada — with 11 people charged with 58 offences across Ontario.“This investigation began after police became aware of a business that was selling firearm parts,” the OPP said.Investigators added that the parts aren’t compatible with other guns and are used “exclusively to create personally manufactured firearms.”Even more troubling, the OPP added, is that the guns are totally untraceable.“While all prohibited weapons pose serious risks to community safety, this is especially true for personally manufactured firearms. Unlike other firearms, they do not bear serial numbers and cannot be tra...

House Republicans interrogate FTC’s Khan over ethics, antitrust issues

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans who say the Federal Trade Commission has been overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden are interrogating agency head Lina Khan, bringing her before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday for the first time amid her court battles with big technology companies.Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has criticized Khan in recent months on a multitude of issues, including what he says are politically motivated actions directed at Elon Musk after he acquired Twitter last year, questions about whether she should have recused herself from certain cases and her legal actions against tech giants on antitrust issues. In April, the committee subpoenaed Khan after an investigation by the panel that concluded the FTC “harassed” Twitter in the wake of Musk’s acquisition.In her opening statement, Khan defended her attempt to aggressively regulate the country’s biggest tech companies. “Our competition mission is driven by the tenet that vigorou...

Corus Entertainment selling Toon Boom Animation subsidiary for $147.5M

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

TORONTO — Corus Entertainment Inc. says it has signed a deal to sell its Montreal-based animation software subsidiary Toon Boom Animation Inc. to Integrated Media Company (IMC) for $147.5 million in cash.Colin Bohm, executive vice-president of content and corporate strategy at Corus, says the move will free up capital, increase the company’s financial flexibility and sharpen its focus.Toon Boom’s software is used for animation, storyboarding and production management.Founded in 1994, Corus bought a 50 per cent stake in Toon Boom in 2004 and acquired the remaining interest in 2012. Corus says the deal is expected to generate about $142 million in net proceeds that will be used to repay debt.Shares in Corus were up 20 cents or nearly 15 per cent at $1.56 in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CJR.B)The Canadian Press

Top UN court rejects Nicaragua’s case in a long-running maritime dispute with Colombia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court on Thursday rejected a case brought by Nicaragua in a decades-long dispute with Colombia over maritime borders and entitlements in the Caribbean.The International Court of Justice dismissed Nicaragua’s bid to gain economic rights over an area of the Caribbean sea that lies more than 200 nautical miles (380 kilometers) from its shores.Nicaragua wanted the international court to review the limits of its continental shelf, and determine new maritime boundaries for the Central American nation.Colombia already claims exclusive economic rights in much of the area that lies to the east of Nicaragua’s 200 nautical mile boundary. Bogota argued that there is no precedent for extending a country’s 200-nautical-mile zone, when it clashes with that of another nation.The area has long been claimed by both countries, and Nicaragua gained fishing rights over a big portion in a 2012 ruling by the world court in The Hague. But Co...

1 of 3 suspects wanted in shooting death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat arrested

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

One of three men wanted in an east-end shooting last week that killed an innocent bystander is under arrest. Police say 32-year-old Damian Hudson has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting that resulted in the death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat.The 44-year-old wife and mother of two was walking in the area of Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue to pick up lunch when gunshots rang out just before 12:30 p.m. on July 7 when she was struck by a stray bullet. She was taken to a nearby trauma centre where she was later pronounced dead.Police say there was a physical altercation between three men in the area and two of them pulled out handguns and began shooting at each other. Investigators continue to search for two other suspects. A GoFundMe page which has been set up by friends of the Huebner-Makurat family has collected more than $247,000 of the now $350,000 campaign goal since it launched five days ago.

The gunman who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue is found eligible for the death penalty

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury announced Thursday, setting the stage for further evidence and testimony on whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.The government is seeking capital punishment for Robert Bowers, who raged against Jewish people online before storming the Tree of Life synagogue with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack. The jury agreed with prosecutors that Bowers — who spent six months planning the attack and has since expressed regret that he didn’t kill more people — had formed the requisite legal intent to kill.Bowers’ lawyers argued that his ability to form intent was impaired by mental illness and a delusional belief that he could stop a genocide of white people by killing Jews.The jurors found among other things that Bowers intended to kill, that substantial planning went into the attack, and that he ta...

Even the most populous places are pushing for US census corrections to boost funding

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:25:27 GMT

A misplaced naval ship in California. Overlooked college students in New York City. Missed inmates in Texas.These are some of the reasons why the two most populous states and the largest city in the U.S. filed last-minute requests for corrections to their 2020 census figures right before the deadline at the end of last month. California, Texas and New York City were joined by a dozen and a half other stragglers, including Illinois and New Orleans, that made down-to-the-deadline appeals over the numbers that help determine political power and the annual distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal funding.In total, nearly 200 requests for corrections were filed by local, state and tribal governments through two programs started by the U.S. Census Bureau to give governments opportunities to have their population totals reviewed and corrected if need be.If successful, any corrections will be applied only to future population estimates used for the rest of the decade in determining federal ...