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Crews to build temporary road for residents stranded after Leominster flooding as repairs around city continue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

Cleanup efforts continue in Leominster after heavy flooding left multiple homes and roadways with serious damage this week, all while Hurricane Lee may bring further rain to the area.75 tons of sand were being bagged and prepped ahead of the weekend as homeowners and businesses prepare for whatever Lee might churn toward central Mass.“We don’t need this next storm – it’s the least thing we need right now, but we can’t change that, so we’ll deal with it” Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said during a news conference on Thursday as he detailed the latest work being done following Monday night’s severe flooding.Flash floods swept away entire sections of road and more, creating sinkholes that swallowed up pavement and vehicles while dealing significant damage to buildings in the downtown area and beyond.While some properties are still drying out, other spots, like a string of houses stranded off of Exchange Street, require far more extensi...

Angry and frustrated, McCarthy challenges right-flank colleagues to try to oust him from his post

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Angry, frustrated and unable to lead a fractured and unruly Republican majority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday told the colleagues threatening to oust him: Do it.The embattled Republican leader essentially dared his hard-right flank to quit holding the risk of a vote to remove him from the job. If you’re going to do it, go ahead and try, McCarthy told the Republicans behind closed doors.“File the f—- motion,” McCarthy said, using a profanity for emphasis, according to those in the private meeting.With a government shutdown looming, McCarthy is confronting the same stubborn problem that has driven Republicans before him from the speaker’s job — trying to lead a ruptured GOP majority that’s split between what’s left of the traditional party and a harder-right element largely allied with former President Donald Trump.Even his decision to launch an impe...

Hunter Biden is indicted on federal firearm-purchasing charges after plea deal fails

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest step in a long-running investigation into the president’s son that puts the case on track toward a possible high-stakes trial as the 2024 election looms. Biden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm in October 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction to crack cocaine, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Delaware by a special counsel overseeing the case.The indictment comes weeks after the collapse of a plea deal that would have averted a criminal trial and distracting headlines for President Joe Biden.The court fight doesn’t seem likely to end soon. Hunter Biden’s defense attorney argues he didn’t violate the law and remains protected by an immunity provision that was part of the plea deal. The charges, meanwhile, are rarely filed as stand-alone counts and...

Taking it to the brink: Detroit automakers, UAW far apart as strike looms 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

The United Auto Workers union and Detroit’s three automakers remained far apart during negotiations Thursday as the clock ticked on a strike deadline and the likelihood the union would walk out at select facilities.GM increased its wage offer Thursday and Ford said it was looking for a counteroffer as the union charged it was going to take a strike to get what it was looking for.“We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifices and contributions our members have made to these companies,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “To win, we’re likely going to have to take action. We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.”Ford CEO Jim Farley countered that his company has made four offers without getting a “genuine counteroffer.” The company said it was waiting for one late Thursday afternoon, a departure from the usual last-minute flurry of bargaining. Executives said they aren’t ...

NASA says more science and less stigma are needed to understand UFOs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA said Thursday that the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unidentified flying objects are perceived. The space agency released the findings after a yearlong study into UFOs.In its 33-page report, an independent team commissioned by NASA cautioned that the negative perception surrounding UFOs poses an obstacle to collecting data. But officials said NASA’s involvement should help reduce the stigma around what it calls UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena.“We want to shift the conversation about UAPs from sensationalism to science,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. He promised an open and transparent approach.Officials stressed the panel found no evidence that UAPs had extraterrestrial origin. But Nelson acknowledged with billions of stars in billions of galaxies out there, another Earth could exist.“If yo...

IRS will pause taking claims for pandemic-era tax credit due to an influx of fraudulent claims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

By MAE ANDERSON (AP Business Writer)The Internal Revenue Service is pausing accepting claims for a pandemic-era tax credit until 2024 due to rising concerns that an influx of applications are fraudulent. The tax credit, called the Employee Retention Credit, was designed help small businesses keep paying their employees during the height of the pandemic if they were fully or partly suspended from operating. The credit ended on Oct. 1, 2021, but businesses could still apply retroactively by filing an amended payroll tax return.A growing number of questionable claims are coming from small businesses who may or may not be aware that they aren’t eligible. Because of its complex eligibility rules, the credit quickly became a magnet for scammers that targeted small businesses, offering them help to apply for the ERC for a fee — even if it wasn’t clear that they qualified. The credit isn’t offered to individuals, for example.“The IRS is increasingly alarmed abo...

As captured fugitive resumes sentence in the U.S., homicide in his native Brazil remains unsolved

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When the Brazilian prosecutor in charge of a homicide case targeting Danilo Cavalcante saw footage of the 34 year-old crab-walk out of a U.S. prison last month, he thought the fugitive might try to head home, where he stood to receive a considerably lighter sentence.Cavalcante fled Brazil in 2018, several months after allegedly shooting a man whose family members said owed him money. Today, Cavalcante faces life in a U.S. cell for the brutal killing of his girlfriend.“I thought he wanted to escape to Brazil,” Tocantins state prosecutor Rafael Pinto Alamy told the Associated Press on Thursday. “He would have to comply with the prison rules here, which are much more lenient.”A court hearing in Cavalcante’s Brazilian homicide case has been set for Oct. 11. The case is expected to go to a jury, probably next year, Alamy and Cavalcante’s lawyer told the AP.Brazil does not deliver life sentences. Even had Cavalcante been sentenced to the maximum 30 years, Alamy...

In Congress, a mounting push to bring Latin American countries under USMCA umbrella

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

WASHINGTON — A bipartisal duo of U.S. senators is leading a growing push to open up the continent’s “gold standard” trade agreement to include parts of Latin America in order to build a better bulwark against China’s geopolitical might. Earlier this year, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy enlisted Democratic counterpart and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet to co-sponsor the Americas Trade and Investment Act, which would expand the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “Just looking at it from the U.S. viewpoint, we get more return on our foreign expenditure if we invest it with our neighbours than if we invest it overseas,” Cassidy told a USMCA panel discussion. “As Mexico becomes more prosperous, it benefits the U.S., and as U.S. prosperity goes, that benefits Mexico and Canada. That is the beauty of capitalism: everybody wins. And that’s what I’m trying to do — everybody’s a winner.”The event marked the launch Thursday of a new Counc...

Explosion at world’s largest railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smoke

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An explosion inside a shipping container at the world’s largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.Around noon, an explosion occurred inside an intermodal container on a railcar at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, though it wasn’t clear what caused the explosion, railroad spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said. No one was injured, and no cars derailed.Authorities evacuated everyone within a one-mile radius of the explosion in the western end of the railyard because of the smoke, and U.S. Highway 30 was closed between North Platte and Hershey. Interstate 80 wasn’t affected by the smoke. It wasn’t immediately clear how many homes were included in the mostly rural area that was evacuated on the edge of the city. North Platte, which is about 230 miles (370 kilometers) east of Denver and about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Oma...

Milwaukee suburb delaying start of Lake Michigan water withdrawals to early October

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:36 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Officials in a Milwaukee suburb have pushed plans to withdraw water from Lake Michigan back to early October, saying they need more time to clean out reservoirs and address problems with their pumps.City officials in Waukesha had planned to begin pulling millions of gallons per day from the laIke to serve as the city’s public water supply in mid-September, possibly as early as this week. But Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility, said in a statement Thursday that withdrawals won’t begin until Oct. 9.He said that city officials have decided to empty and refill their reservoirs to minimize any taste or odor problems during the transition to lake water. They’ve also encountered programming issues with new pumps and the manufacturer needs time to get people to Waukesha to correct them.The city asked regulators in 2010 for permission to withdraw Lake Michigan water because its wells are contaminated with radium. The city is und...