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Massachusetts faced wildfire smoke, tornadoes, relentless rain, flooding, and more in ‘very active’ year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

One of the grossest weather years in recent history is finally in the rearview.Some of the most memorable weather events that impacted the Bay State in 2023 included nasty wildfire smoke, several tornadoes, and relentless rain throughout the summer that sparked major flooding.Parts of Massachusetts even had to shovel out from more than 3 feet of snow after a whopper of a mid-March nor’easter.The most unusual weather of the year was the smoke from the Canadian wildfires, which caused the air quality to plummet across the region. The hazardous haze and smoke impacted the area at times for many weeks because the remote wildfires were out of control.“During the summer, we got caught in a persistent pattern where we had winds coming out of Canada, bringing that smoke into the area,” Bill Leatham, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Boston office, told the Herald this week.While the wildfire smoke was a major story of the summer, so was the rain that ne...

Two Southie churches broken into, K-9 Duke helps bust suspect in basement: Boston Police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

A couple of Southie churches were broken into within a few hours overnight, according to police who arrested three suspects with the help of K-9 Duke.The break-ins Wednesday night and early Thursday were reported at the old St. Vincent Catholic Church on E Street, and St. Monica Catholic Church on Old Colony Avenue.Police officers first responded at around 11:50 p.m. for a breaking and entering call at St. Vincent’s after two suspects were reportedly seen heading into the church with two bags.As responding officers were about to enter the church, the two suspects exited the building and were detained, police said.“Upon further investigation it was revealed that both suspects had broken into the church to steal copper wire,” police said in a statement. “The officers located the suspects bags they had entered the church with and it contained hand tools and numerous pieces of copper wire obtained from the building.”Southie men Michael Donovan, 37, and Bren...

World population up 75 million this year, topping 8 billion by Jan. 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

By MIKE SCHNEIDER (Associated Press)The world population grew by 75 million people over the past year and on New Year’s Day it will stand at more than 8 billion people, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.The worldwide growth rate in the past year was just under 1%. At the start of 2024, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected worldwide every second, according to the Census Bureau figures.The growth rate for the United States in the past year was 0.53%, about half the worldwide figure. The U.S. added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year’s Day of 335.8 million people. If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in U.S. history, yielding a growth rate of less than 4% over the 10-year-period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.The slowest-growing decade currently was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 19...

Environmental groups announce intent to sue over South Bay sewage spill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO — San Diego environmental groups are pursuing a lawsuit against the federal commission that regulates water infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border over the ongoing spill of sewage that has hobbled access to the region's southernmost beaches for years.San Diego Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF) announced their intention to sue the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) over what they say are "hundreds of violations" of federal law in a 24-page letter sent to the agency on Thursday.These alleged violations stem from failing infrastructure at a sewage treatment facility near the border that has contributed to the "chronic" discharge of waste into the Tijuana River. Since the 1990s, the groups estimate that billions of gallons of waste have flowed to the Pacific Ocean through releases from this facility and another in Tijuana. Lifeguards prepare for high surf at local beaches The sewage has "overwhelmed" coastal marine wate...

Missouri school board to reinstate Black history classes with new curriculum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Students at a suburban St. Louis school district can continue to take elective Black history courses, school leaders announced Thursday in a reversal of a vote last week by the conservative-led school board to end the classes.But the Francis Howell School District board first must approve a new curriculum “that is rigorous and largely politically neutral,” the board president and superintendent said in a statement Thursday to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “After thorough discussions, we believe there is an appropriate path forward to offer Black History and Black Literature with an updated curriculum standard in the 2024-2025 school year,” board President Adam Bertrand and Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos said.The Francis Howell School District board voted 5-2 last week to stop offering Black History and Black Literature courses that had been offered at the district’s three high schools since 2021. A little over 100 students took the courses this semester in the predom...

Cher asks court to give her conservatorship over her adult son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cher has filed a petition to become a temporary conservator overseeing her son’s money, saying the 47-year-old’s struggles with mental health and substance abuse have left him unable to manage his assets and potentially put his life in danger. The Oscar and Grammy winning singer and actor on Wednesday filed the petition in Los Angeles Superior Court that would give her temporary control of the finances of Elijah Blue Allman, her son with musician Gregg Allman. Cher’s petition says that Elijah Allman is entitled to regular payments from a trust fund. But “given his ongoing mental health and substance abuse issues,” she is “concerned that any funds distributed to Elijah will be immediately spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself and putting Elijah’s life at risk,” the petition says.Reached through his attorney, Elijah Allman said in a phone call with The Associated Press, “I am well, and able, and of sound mind an...

Toronto Wildlife Centre rescues Mexican snake found in tomato box at food terminal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

Processing boxes of tomatoes at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto is no doubt a routine task, but the discovery of a surprise slithering traveller weeks ago has prompted a lengthy process to get back to Mexico.Nathalie Karvonen, the executive director of the Toronto Wildlife Centre, told CityNews a handler named Troy was unpacking a crate of tomatillo tomatoes toward the end of November and discovered an orange-and-white, northern cat-eyed snake.“We get calls … probably like once a year about animals that have been accidentally transported either in produce, sometimes in flowers, one time we had someone come in with their suitcase to the front desk, opened it up and then there was a scorpion inside,” she said.“It does happen that animals get into the wrong place at the wrong time.”However, this was the first time a northern cat-eyed snake was brought to the centre. Northern cat-eyed snakes are mildly venomous and it doesn’t spark a concern for ...

Biden administration grants Louisiana power to approve carbon capture wells

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

The Biden administration is handing Louisiana regulators new power to attract and approve carbon capture projects at a time when the state’s influential energy sector wants to make the Gulf Coast a hub for the rapidly expanding industry.Louisiana will be able to issue permits for wells that store carbon dioxide, a critical component of carbon capture and removal technology. In all but two other states, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting. Proponents of the change say it will speed up approvals of new projects that are critical for reducing climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.Environmental groups had opposed the move, doubting that a state home to a concentrated stretch of oil, gas and petrochemical plants commonly called “cancer alley” is capable of proper industry oversight and protecting residents. The EPA said the Louisiana agreement includes safeguards to protect poorer, often majority-Black communities that live near those facilities — and tha...

Light snow possible for New Year's Eve

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

It's been a rainy, damp day across Chicago—even as snow fell with modest accumulations in Chicago northwest suburbs.  Snow also fell and accumulated across downstate Illinois in a swath from St. Louis across to Champaign.Accumulations unofficially estimated at anywhere from a dusting as much as an inch or two came down in some areas toward the Wisconsin line in parts of McHenry, Boone and Winnebago counties.The weather system responsible was a very slow moving cut off upper low pressure which is in its 6th day of affecting the weather in Chicago. It's slow movement is the product of an unusual atmospheric blocking pattern which sent the system from Kansas eastward across downstate Illinois.Because Chicago was north of the system's counterclockwise winds, an easterly flow at the steering levels above Chicago actually swept rains westward into Illinois from Michigan while other rains and snow fell directly beneath the cold, unstable pool of air downstate.The westward spread ...

Indiana man rescued from truck days after crash improving, hospital says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

A man who survived a crash along Interstate 94 that left him trapped inside his vehicle for nearly a week is improving.Matt Reum, 27, of Mishawaka, Indiana survived six days on rainwater prior to being rescued from a mangled truck, according to Indiana State Police. Related: Indiana man rescued after surviving 6 days in wrecked truck thankful for ‘outpouring of support’ He was previously listed in critical condition after being airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Beacon Health System shows car crash survivor Matt Reum. On Thursday, the hospital released a statement that said Reum's condition has now improved to serious.Representatives from Reum's union said part of Reum’s left leg was amputated “about mid-shin down” following the crash and rescue. In a statement issued on his behalf Wednesday, Reum sought to “thank everyone for the outpouring of support and all the well wishes, including the good Samaritans who found him, the first ...