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‘Nice try:’ Ursula von der Leyen stays mute on second term as Commission president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen refused to say if she will put herself forward for a second five-year term in the Berlaymont. “Nice try,” the German conservative told POLITICO with a large grin after being asked if she was running again, as she stepped out of a meeting with top MEPs in the European Parliament on Wednesday, surrounded by aides and bodyguards. Speculation is bubbling in Brussels about what von der Leyen will do after the European election next June, which will spark a reset of the bloc’s top jobs. Her name has also cropped up in discussions about who will succeed Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO. Even if she does declare an intention to stay in the Commission post, there is a major question mark about whether she would embrace the informal lead candidate (or Spitzenkandidat) process, or expect to be simply appointed as happened in 2019.Von der Leyen spent over an hour with the heads of the Parliament...

Britain to unveil deal on rejoining EU’s Horizon scheme within days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

LONDON — Britain and the EU are set to announce a post-Brexit agreement on rejoining the bloc’s flagship Horizon science funding project within days.U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been considering a draft deal on the scheme — which Britain has been shut out of since Brexit — over the summer.Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Sunak has now told officials to finalize an agreement. Two well-placed U.K. government officials confirmed that report to POLITICO Wednesday. The first said a deal should be announced in the “coming days.” An EU spokesperson said it appeared talks were “moving very quickly in the right direction.”Britain left the EU’s science funding system when it formally quit the bloc in January 2020. Talks on re-associating with Horizon as a third country then stalled amid a bitter row over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland. Discussions resumed in earnest in March, after London and Brussels struck the Windsor Framework deal o...

Boston students set to go back to school amid hot weather

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

With Boston public schools about to open in the midst of hot weather this week, plans are underway to keep students cool. The first day of school for most students is set for Thursday when high temperatures could rise past 90 degrees in some spots. “It takes an incredible amount of planning and coordination and staff time and resources to try to manage when many, many of our buildings are just old and need to be updated,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Wu said most but not all of Boston’s public schools have some kind of air condition — either from central air systems or from more than 3,000 window units installed during the past five months. Getting to school cool and comfortable, though, is a challenge since most buses don’t have air conditioning, officials said. With the region’s latest round of warm weather already upon the city of Boston, leaders on Wednesday were also thinking about keeping children cool and healthy outside the classroom. “We’ll b...

Proposed Mass. rent control, MCAS test ballot questions clear major hurdle 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

Proposed Massachusetts ballot questions over rent control and the MCAS test cleared a major hurdle Wednesday as part of a larger batch of 34 possible ballot questions certified to move forward in the state’s ballot question process, the Attorney General’s Office announced. Petitioners previously submitted a total of 42 initiative petitions to be considered for inclusion on next year’s November ballot. In its announcement on Wednesday, the office of state Attorney General Andrea Campbell said it determined the 34 proposals met the requirements for ballot questions outlined in Massachusetts’ constitution. Among the certified questions are two potential questions aimed at scrapping the MCAS test as a graduation requirement. One other potential question certified this week would enable cities and towns to enact rent control provisions, among other “tenant protection” options.Massachusetts voters in 1994 voted to ban rent control through a ballot question. Rent control has...

The writer who won a sex abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump scores another victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

By JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Four months after a civil trial jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means that an upcoming second trial will concern only how much more he has to pay her.The ruling stands to streamline significantly the second trial, set for January. It concerns remarks that Trump made in 2019, after Carroll first publicly claimed that he sexually attacked her in a dressing room after a chance meeting at a luxury department store in 1996. He denies that anything happened between them.The first trial, this spring, concerned the sexual assault allegation and whether some 2022 Trump comments were defamatory. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million, finding that she was sexually abused but rejecting her allegation that she was raped.“The jury considered and decided is...

Massachusetts has seen a jump in out-of-state abortion travelers after Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

The Bay State has seen a significant rise in out-of-state abortion travelers, including from Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling last year.Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers on Wednesday reported an estimated 37% increase in the number of out-of-state residents seeking abortion care in Massachusetts. The study’s researchers also found a jump in nonprofit funding covering costs for out-of-state residents.The federal right to provide abortion care was overturned by the Supreme Court last June, sparking rapid changes to state laws, including 15 complete abortion bans. Since the court overturned Roe v. Wade, there has been a documented increase in interstate travel to access abortion care.“Before Dobbs, there was conjecture that certain states would get all the interstate traveling patients based on geographic proximity to states with complete abortion bans,” said study corresponding author Elizabeth ...

Lawsuit contends Constitution’s ‘insurrection’ clause bars Trump from running again for president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI (Associated Press)DENVER (AP) — A liberal group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to bar former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.”The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. It was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by the group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington.It will jolt an already unsettled 2024 primary campaign that features the leading Republican candidate facing four separate criminal cases.Liberal groups have demanded that states’ top election officials bar Trump under the clause that prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding higher off...

How to avoid the top text message scam putting your cash at risk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

By Ruth Sarreal | NerdWalletThe Federal Trade Commission recently revealed the most reported text message scam: bank impersonations.Reports of bank impersonations by text in 2022 jumped to 20 times the number reported in 2019. According to the FTC, consumers reported a loss of more than $330 million to text message scams in 2022. And cash that’s lost because of bank fraud or scams isn’t covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or National Credit Union Administration.Banks are a safe place to keep your money, but there are still a few basic but important precautions you can take to ensure you don’t fall for a bank-impersonation text scam. Here’s how to protect your money from text message scams impersonating your financial institution.» LEARN: How to stay safe from financial scamsDon’t make money moves under pressureText message scammers will try to make you feel like action is required immediately — at the risk of losing your money. It may come as an urgent message warni...

Devin McCourty believes Patriots are happy Matt Patricia ‘experiment is over’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

If the Patriots are going to be a better team in 2023 than they were last season, it will likely come down to offensive coaching.Head coach Bill Belichick made a much more traditional choice to run the team’s offense by hiring Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and Adrian Klemm as offensive line coach. They replace Matt Patricia, who was offensive line coach/play caller and Joe Judge, who served as the team’s quarterbacks coach.Patricia is now a senior defensive assistant with the Eagles — whom the Patriots play on Sunday — while Judge is working with the Pats’ special teams as an assistant head coach.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Bill Belichick Patriots to have Jack Jones vs. Eagles, won’t confirm status beyond Week 1 New England Patriots | Callahan: Matt Patricia knows the Patriots better than any ex-coach ever — and they don’t care New England Patriots | Patriots outlook: NFL s...

The Great Salt Lake is shrinking rapidly and Utah has failed to stop it, a new lawsuit says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:06 GMT

By JESSE BEDAYN (Associated Press/Report for America)Utah state government officials have pushed the Great Salt Lake to the brink of an ecological collapse by decades of allowing upstream water to be diverted away from the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River and primarily to farmers growing alfalfa, hay and other crops, says a new lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of environmental groups. The lake first hit a record low in the summer of 2021, fueling renewed attention from Utah’s Republican-led Legislature. But lawmakers’ actions have not been enough to assuage the concerns of a coalition that includes Earthjustice, the Utah Rivers Council and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, among others. They want a court to step in and force the state to let more water reach the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, which is an oasis for millions of migratory birds, an engine for Utah’s billion-dollar mineral industry and a tourist attra...