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Threat of EU trade war would not push UK government to override Northern Irish concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

The threat of a trade war with Europe would not give the British government cause to overrule unionist objections to future EU trade laws in Northern Ireland, a senior U.K. minister has pledged.Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris made the commitment Tuesday to the Commons EU scrutiny committee, on the eve of a parliamentary vote to approve regulations governing the so-called Stormont Brake.The “brake” is a key part of the Windsor Framework, the wider U.K.-EU agreement on making post-Brexit trade rules work in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland remains the only part of the U.K. still bound to EU goods regulations. The new laws published Monday offer unionists in the Northern Ireland Assembly the power to object to future EU laws governing goods standards — but also gives London ill-defined wiggle room to disregard such a unionist petition if U.K. ministers cite “exceptional circumstances.”Democratic Unionist MP Gavin Robinson told Heaton-Harris the Stormont Brake was there...

3 students taken to hospital after ingesting edibles at school in Dorchester

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Three students were taken to the hospital Tuesday after eating what appeared to be cannabis edibles at a school in Dorchester, officials said. Boston school officials said students were taken to the hospital as a precaution, with EMS crews responding shortly after 12 p.m. Police later confirmed an investigation was ongoing as of Tuesday afternoon.The incident happened at the Henderson Upper School in Dorchester, where the school’s interim head of school sent a letter to school community members discussing the situation. Interim Head of School Stephanie Sibley said school staff notified Boston Public Schools Safety Services and Boston Police as well as the school nurse and the families of all students involved. Sibley said Boston EMS was also notified. Sibley noted that drugs and paraphernalia are banned on school grounds, adding that school staff will conduct searches if needed. Students who bring or distribute illegal substances will also face disciplinary action und...

Police investigating after man found unconscious in Boston 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Boston police were investigating as of Monday after a man was found unconscious in Downtown Crossing on St. Patrick’s day last week. Police said they responded to a report of an unresponsive person around 9 p.m. last Friday after the man was beaten into unconsciousness near an ATM on Winter Street Police said the man was rushed to a hospital. The Boston Police homicide unit was called in to investigate in the meantime due to the severity of the man’s injuries, which were believed to be life-threatening at the time, according to police. Days after this incident, business owners in the area said they are worried about recent violence and shocked that such an incident could happen on a busy night like St. Patrick’s Day. “There were a lot of people around there,” one business owner said of the scene last Friday night. “I don’t know if it has got worse, but it definitely could get better,” that same business owner said of the level of violence in the a...

Lonzo Ball’s knee injury: A timeline of the recovery for the Chicago Bulls point guard — and the unknown road ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball had another surgery on his left knee, the third procedure in the last 14 months.Ball underwent a cartilage transplant on March 20. Uncertainty has shrouded every step of Ball’s recovery since the injury occurred in January 2022, but this procedure throws Ball’s future into completely unprecedented territory.Cartilage transplants are rare in professional sports. The procedure is relatively new, designed as a step down from a full knee replacement to maintain the integrity of the knee joint. No NBA player has undergone a cartilage transplant and returned to the court.Ball hasn’t played since Jan. 14, 2022, when he suffered a small tear in the meniscus in his left knee. That has spiraled into an increasingly confounding injury requiring three surgical procedures and continuing to cause him pain.Here’s how it all has played out for the Bulls point guard.Timeline of Lonzo Ball’s knee injuryJan. 14, 2022: Ball suffers meni...

Mike Lupica: Willis Reed, who was the beating heart of the champion Knicks, dies at 80

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

It couldn’t have happened without all of them, without Clyde who played the game of his life in that Game 7 against the Lakers that May night in 1970, the night at Madison Square Garden when the Knicks finally won it all, thirty-six points from him and 19 assists and seven rebounds. It wouldn’t have happened without Dave DeBusschere, the bartender’s kid from Detroit, and Bill Bradley, the Rhodes Scholar out of Crystal City, Mo., and then Princeton. And it sure wouldn’t have happened without Red Holzman, the basketball lifer out of the NBA in the 1950s, the quiet leader of the band, growling at them to all see the ball.But none of it could possibly have happened without Capt. Willis Reed, who limped out that night on a ruined leg and made two jumpers against Wilt Chamberlain and the Lakers, in the greatest basketball moment of them all in New York City, the one that officially turned what Pete Hamill used to call the Basie band of pro basketball into as belove...

Ticker: Roger Berkowitz goes virtual; February home sales down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Roger Berkowitz, former President and CEO of Legal Sea Foods has launched a new venture to bring fresh, flash frozen seafood to your home.Roger’s Fish Co.is open for business now as an online portal to order fish and prepared seafood specialties, including a Double Clam Chowder, Loaded Lobster Mac and Cheese and a variety of seafood pizzas for home delivery.“Product offerings comprise premium New England seafood for cooking at home, restaurant quality prepared meals, limited-time features, seafood gift boxes, and even pet treats,” reads an announcement of the fishmonger’s virtual market.Customers can check out the offerings at www.rogersfishco.com.February home sales downCompleted single-family home sales were down 20%  in Massachusetts last month, but the Massachusetts Association of Realtors pointed to the fact that the percentage decrease was not as severe as previous months as an optimistic signal.February’s 1,899 closed sales on single-family houses were well below Februa...

Arkansas man driving dogs to sell in Boston illegally armed to teeth, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

A man who made the trek from Arkansas this weekend is now behind bars not for the three dogs he schlepped up here to sell, but for, police allege, the assortment of four guns and three large-capacity magazines he brought with him for “protection.”State Police pulled over Tayvian Chamberlain, 20, of Bentonville, Arkanasas, shortly after midnight on Sunday on Day Boulevard in South Boston because, they say, he had an expired paper license plate on his Dodge Durango SUV.Chamberlain had three “young dogs” in the car — two labradors and one Italian mastiff — who he told police he’d driven up from the Bear State to sell to people in the Boston area.But the dogs, who all appeared fine, were less of the troopers’ concern was the armory strewn around the vehicle, according to the state police.After he left the car at troopers’ request, the cops saw the driver’s seat was also occupied by a Canix pistol with a magazine holding 18 9-millimeter rou...

‘Potentially impactful wintry weather’ could arrive in parts of Massachusetts for first week of spring

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Here we snow again?Just as the first spring weekend arrives, a “potentially impactful wintry weather” system could hit parts of Massachusetts.The National Weather Service is tracking the chance for wet snow across areas of the Bay State’s interior and higher terrain.As of right now, any snow associated with this system looks to stay confined to the higher elevations with a cold rain for everyone else, including the Boston-area.“This (weekend) will be our next opportunity for potentially impactful wintry weather,” reads the National Weather Service’s forecast discussion.“At this point, risk appears highest across the Berkshires/Worcester Hills and a cold rain elsewhere,” the NWS discussion states. “There could even be some wintry mix in there as warmer air surges in late aloft, but for now have kept the forecast rain/snow… Stay tuned especially if you’ve got travel plans.”There are also some early signals of stro...

METCO lobbies for boost in budget

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Hundreds of students and parents roamed the halls of the State House on Tuesday to ask state lawmakers to support increased funding for the largest school integration program in the country.Advocates want to bump up the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity’s (METCO) line item amount in the fiscal year 2024 budget, despite Gov. Maura Healey’s recommendation to level-fund the program. Healey’s version of the budget also does not renew a one-year $500,000 earmark that METCO says it needs to implement a new racial equity system.METCO is a “voluntary school desegregation” program, which sends 3,103 Boston area students to 33 districts in surrounding suburban communities known for their high-achieving public schools. Of Boston-area METCO participating students, 64% are Black, 26% are Hispanic and 3% are Asian.“METCO was started 57 years ago, before many of us were even thought of, but we know that they were fighting for racial integration an...

Feds looking at expanding FDIC coverage, sources

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

U.S. officials are studying ways they might temporarily expand Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage to all deposits, a move sought by a coalition of banks arguing that it’s needed to head off a potential financial crisis.Treasury Department staff are reviewing whether federal regulators have enough emergency authority to temporarily insure deposits greater than the current $250,000 cap on most accounts without formal consent from a deeply divided Congress, according to people with knowledge of the talks.Authorities don’t yet view such a move as necessary, especially after regulators took steps this month to help banks keep up with any demands for withdrawals, the people said, asking not to be named describing confidential talks.“We will use the tools we have to support community banks,” White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa said, without directly addressing whether the measure is being studied. “Since our administration and the regulators took decisive action last weekend, we h...