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Massachusetts dog dies in alleged dog training scam in Connecticut: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

A 3-year-old French Bulldog died before returning to its owner in North Reading following training in Connecticut, according to authorities, who accuse the trainer of running a scam.The North Reading Police Department has secured a criminal summons against the trainer who authorities say made false and misleading statements during interviews, to hinder the investigation, Chief Mark Zimmerman said in a Tuesday release.The dog had been emaciated at the time it died, according to a necroscopy performed at the University of Connecticut.The trainer, who police have identified as a 27-year-old woman of Haddam, Conn., faces charges of larceny over $1,200 by false pretense, and obstruction of/misleading a police officer, both felonies.Authorities did not release the woman’s name.Initial investigation findings determined the dog died on or about Sept. 4, but authorities say the trainer sent photos that made the owner believe the training was continuing after that date.North Reading police re...

Cannabis control commission hits back at ‘endless string of scandals’ accusation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

The Cannabis Control Commission is firing back at lawmakers accusing their agency of “an endless stream of scandals.”In a letter sent to the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy and shared with the Herald, Chief Communications Officer Cedric Sinclair says he would like to “respectfully reject” the notion the commission’s work has been clouded with controversy.“Hopefully, your own experiences working with our agency, and the new authority with which you entrusted us through the passage of Chapter 180 of the Acts of 2022, suggests you do, too,” Sinclair, writing on behalf of Executive Director Shawn Collins, told the committee.Sinclair’s letter comes in response to another sent to the same committee last week by a bipartisan group of lawmakers asking committee members to hold a hearing on the cannabis commission, which the lawmakers assert has been mired in a series of media-grabbing messes from its inception.“As we all know, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is no...

Las Vegas hospitality workers could be the latest major labor union to go on strike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

By RIO YAMAT (Associated Press)LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas hospitality workers may be the latest major labor union in the U.S. to go on strike after tens of thousands of members voted Tuesday on whether to authorize a walkout that could impact some of the city’s most iconic casinos and hotels.The Culinary Workers Union, a political powerhouse in Nevada, hasn’t gone on strike in more than three decades. Results of the vote are expected to be released Tuesday night. The union said it has not yet set a deadline for a strike as it continues bargaining for better pay and benefits and improved working conditions with the top employers on the Las Vegas Strip, including MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts. A walkout could disrupt operations at more than three dozen resorts on the Strip and in downtown, the city’s economic backbone. “We are the glue that keeps these hotels together, and we should be paid what we deserve,” Deann...

Cuba’s ambassador to the US says Molotov cocktails thrown at Cuban embassy were a ‘terrorist attack’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cuba’s ambassador to the United States says a weekend incident in which at least one incendiary device was thrown into the Cuban embassy compound was a “terrorist attack.”The Cuban embassy’s chief of mission, Lianys Torres Rivera, told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that the Sunday night incident was part of a pattern of attacks directed at Cuban overseas missions over the course of the last ten years.“We think that it’s a terrorist attack that according to that and according to the history of a terrorist attack, that for decades it has been done against Cuban diplomatic missions,” she said.She could not comment on the motivation of the attacker, who remains at large, but said “we think that the origin, the roots, it’s in this case in this a policy of aggression and hatred against Cuba that for decades has been the one of the difference a U.S. administration against our country.”The incident remains under investigation by the Washington D.C. ...

California man who spent 28 years in prison is found innocent of 1995 rape, robbery and kidnapping

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for kidnapping, robbery and rape has been declared innocent and freed, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Tuesday.DNA testing helped exonerate Gerardo Cabanillas in a 1995 attack on a couple sitting in a parked car in the city of South Gate, the county district attorney’s office said in a statement.Cabanillas’ case was reexamined by the Conviction Integrity Unit of the DA’s office, and last week a judge reversed his conviction, found him factually innocent and ordered his permanent release.“I extend my deepest apologies to Mr. Cabanillas for the miscarriage of justice and the failure of our criminal legal system,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.Cabanillas was convicted in 1996 and spent 28 years in prison. He confessed to being one of two armed men who approached the couple, forced the man out and drove the woman to an abandoned house where both raped her. Another couple in a car in t...

California education chief Tony Thurmond says he’s running for governor in 2026

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s top education official, Tony Thurmond, on Tuesday announced his bid for governor in 2026, a move that comes amid debates about the rights of students and parents, and what role the state should play as school boards approve class materials.If elected, Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction, would be the first Black person to become California’s governor. He says he wants to address income inequality, ensure schools are better funded and speed up the state’s transition to renewable energy.“Our campaign isn’t about any one person. It’s about people who are struggling across our state,” the Democrat said in an advertisement announcing his campaign. “California should be a place where everyone has a chance to succeed.”He joins an already crowded race for governor, though the election is more than three years away. California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and former state Controller Betty Yee, both Democrats, ha...

Brooks Robinson, Orioles third baseman with 16 Gold Gloves, has died. He was 86

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, has died. He was 86.The Orioles announced his death in a joint statement with Robinson’s family Tuesday. The statement did not say how Robinson died.The Orioles held a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Nationals, and the teams lined up outside their dugouts to pay their respects. Also before the game, fans gathered around the 9-foot bronze statue of Robinson inside Camden Yards.“Great player, great guy on the field, great guy off,” said fellow Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was overcome with emotion. “Respectful, kind. And you don’t meet too many guys like that. Brooks was a genuine person. There was no acting. Brooks was just a genuine person.”Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly...

As mental health worsens among Afghanistan’s women, the UN is asked to declare ‘gender apartheid’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s most powerful body must support governments seeking to legally declare the intensifying crackdown by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on women and girls “gender apartheid,” the head of the U.N. agency promoting gender equality said Tuesday.Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, told the Security Council that more than 50 increasingly dire Taliban edicts are being enforced with more severity including by male family members. That is exacerbating mental health issues and suicidal thoughts especially among young women and is shrinking women’s decision-making even in their own homes.“They tell us that they are prisoners living in darkness, confined to their homes without hope or future,” she said. Under international law, apartheid is defined as a system of legalized racial segregation that originated in South Africa. But a growing consensus among international experts, officials and activists says apartheid can also apply to gender in cases like...

Oregon man convicted of murder in fatal shooting of sheriff’s deputy in Washington state

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A jury has convicted an Oregon man of murder in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy in Washington state. The Clark County Superior Court jury found 28-year-old Guillermo Raya Leon guilty Tuesday of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Brown, The Columbian reported. Raya Leon was also convicted on charges of trafficking in stolen property, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and two counts of having a stolen gun. The jury also found in favor of the aggravating factor that Raya Leon knew Brown was a law enforcement officer, along with a firearm enhancement on four of the counts.Aggravated murder carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Raya Leon’s sentencing was set for early October.Brown was shot on July 23, 2021, as he was doing surveillance in his unmarked SUV at an east Vancouver apartment complex. Law enforcement officers were investigating Raya Leon, his brother and his brother’s wife ...

Senate votes to advance short-term funding bill to avoid government shutdown 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a short-term funding measure to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. The Senate voted 77 to 19 to advance the legislative vehicle they will use for a continuing resolution funding government until Nov. 17. The vote puts the Senate on a path to pass a continuing resolution (CR) later this week that it could then send to the House to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1. The House has been stuck on how to move forward with funding the government amid disputes among Republicans in the majority. If the Senate does approve a CR, it could put pressure on the House to bring it to the floor and avoid a shutdown, particularly in the lower chamber has not made much progress on its own. The Senate legislation will fund the federal government until Nov. 17, the week before Thanksgiving, and provide approximately $6.15 billion in funding for Ukraine and $5.99 billion in disaster assistance.  The legislation will also temporarily extend the expiring a...