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Green burden: Higher costs come with climate regs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

Climate-friendly building regulations could “push homeownership out of reach” for some Massachusetts families without additional financial support, according to a new report from the the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts.The report estimates that the state’s new “net zero” residential building code updates are likely to increase the cost of home construction by roughly 1.8% to 3.8% — adding about $10,000 to $23,000 to the median cost of a single-family home. The researchers also estimated a 2.4% rise in construction costs for large multi-family buildings.State laws call for the state to reach its climate target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Currently, more than one-quarter of carbon emissions comes from the building sector, according to the report, most through on-site combustion of oil and methane for heating residential and commercial buildings.New state regulations seek to make these buildings...

Grant Williams open to returning to Celtics, but acknowledges challenges that could lead to departure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

Grant Williams saw Marcus Smart get surprisingly traded by the Celtics last week and knows there’s a chance he might be the next core player leaving this summer.But the Celtics forward is leaving the outcome out of his hands.Williams will be a restricted free agent when free agency begins on Friday, meaning the Celtics will have the ability to match any contract offer he receives. After four seasons with the Celtics since being drafted in the first round in 2019, Williams is open to returning to the only NBA franchise he’s ever known. But he also recognized that looming salary cap limitations coming with the new collective bargaining agreement will make a deal to come back to Boston challenging.Williams discussed his future at an event sponsored by Fanatics in partnership with the Patriots on Tuesday in Foxboro, where Jayson Tatum was also in attendance.“Absolutely,” Williams told reporters on the possibility of returning. “It’s just a matter of, it’s a decision whether or not it’s ...

Revs’ keeper Djordje Petrovic named to MLS All-Star Team

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

The New England Revolution announced on Tuesday that goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic has been selected to the MLS All-Star Team.The MLS All-Stars will take on English Premier League power Arsenal on Wednesday, July 19 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. The Serbian national is the fifth Revolution goalkeeper to be selected to the MLS All-Star squad. Former Revolution keeper Matt Turner, the 2021 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, now competes for Arsenal.Petrovic was one of 26 players named to the roster and one of the dozen athletes selected by MLS All-Star head coach Wayne Rooney, the game manager of host D.C. United.Petrovic, who recently returned from international duty with the Serbian National Team, has a 9-3-6 record with six clean sheets, 75 saves and a 77.1 save percentage.

NU’s Mike Glavine named Northeast Regional Coach of the Year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

Northeastern Huskies’ head coach Mike Glavine was named the Northeast Regional Coach of the Year for the second time by the American Baseball Coaches Association and the ATEC.The Huskies enjoyed a record-breaking season in 2023 by going 44-16 while earning an at-large bid to compete in the College World Series. NU recorded the most wins in program history and earned its first Top-25 ranking by DIBaseball.com.The Huskies broke several team and individual records this season. In addition to the most wins, the Huskies recorded 106 home runs, 459 runs scored, 614 hits and tied the mark with a .295 batting average.Glavine, a Billerica native, was earlier named CAA Coach of the Year for the fourth time. Glavine was the ABCA-ATEC Regional coach in 2018.

Judge, rejecting Trump arguments, signals he’ll let New York criminal case stay in state court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York City signaled Tuesday that the state criminal hush money prosecution of former President Donald Trump will soon be returned to state court because Trump cannot prove that he was acting in his capacity as president when he made payments to his private attorney.Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said he saw “no relationship to any official act of the president” in the actions cited in a prosecution that led Trump to plead not guilty in state court in April to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide 2016 hush money payouts to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.He said he’ll officially rule within two weeks on Trump’s effort to move the prosecution to federal court from state court.The judge said there was “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered by the state court.” Trump was indicted on charges that he falsified records at his company to cover up payments made in 2017 to...

North Carolina GOP bars promotion of certain beliefs in state government, 1 of 6 veto overrides

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s GOP-dominated legislature swept six bills into law Tuesday with veto overrides, including one barring promotion of certain beliefs in state government workplaces that some lawmakers liken to critical race theory and another placing new limits on wetlands protection rules.The measures, which also address green investing in state government, consumer loans and local government finances, became law after a succession of votes with margins large enough to overcome Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s formal vetoed objections earlier this month. Five of the veto overrides were completed Tuesday with House votes, which followed several similar Senate votes over the past week. A sixth veto override effort cleared both the House and Senate on Tuesday. The state constitution deems an override successful if at least three-fifths of the members in each chamber present and voting agree to enact the bill anyway despite the governor’s objections.The...

Golden anniversary turns tragic as couple, relative are fatally stabbed and beaten

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Jill D’Amore helped make Our Lady Help of Christians Church beautiful, tending to flowers and decorating the parish season by season. Her mother, 97-year-old Lucia Arpino, never missed morning Mass until the coronavirus pandemic hit. And Jill’s husband, Bruno, proudly flipped burgers at the parish picnic.Their apparently random beating and stabbing deaths over the weekend — when the church had planned to celebrate the D’Amores’ 50th wedding anniversary in a post-Communion blessing — have shaken the parish and the wider community of Newton, a city comprising a network of villages in suburban Boston.“It’s a shocking loss, the grief is horrifying. But I’ve got to say the love coming forth from the people has just been not surprising but so edifying and inspiring,” said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dan Riley.Christopher Ferguson, 41, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Newton District Court to a murder charge in the death of Jill D’Amore, 73, alon...

Honduras copies El Salvador’s playbook in anti-gang crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A crackdown in Honduras on gangs in the nation’s prisons is eerily similar to one carried out last year in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, observers said Tuesday. Like authorities in El Salvador, police in Honduras who launched a prison sweep Monday have distributed dramatic videos of tattooed inmates being frog-marched around, though their videos have lacked Bukele’s slick production values and media savvy.“It’s the same phenomenon,” said retired police commissioner Henry Osorto, but added that the crackdowns should be scrutinized to see whether “standards and international treaties are being violated.” Rights groups in Honduras cited apparent abuses as prisoners were forced to sit spread-legged, half-naked and nestled against one another in open prison yards. And as they did in El Salvador, officials in Honduras angrily brushing off criticism, saying the street gangs abused civilians more. “These criminals violate p...

Toronto Star owner Nordstar in talks to merge with Postmedia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

TORONTO — Postmedia Network Canada Corp. says it is in talks to merge with Nordstar Capital LP, the owner of Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star.The publisher says the proposed merger would see an even division of voting rights between the two companies, while Postmedia shareholders would hold a 56 per cent economic interest and Nordstar would hold a 44 per cent interest. Jordan Bitove, publisher of the Toronto Star and owner of Nordstar, would be chairman of the merged entity and Andrew MacLeod, CEO of Postmedia, would be CEO.Postmedia says discussions to consider a combination are so far non-binding and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached.The proposal would see the Toronto Star maintain editorial independence through the incorporation of a new company that would manage its editorial operations.Postmedia says the deal would involve converting some of its outstanding debt to equity, resulting in “significant economic dilution” to existing shareholders. Th...

Deputies accused of abusing Black men are fired by Mississippi sheriff amid federal probe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:12 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Deputies accused of beating and sexually assaulting two Black men before shooting one of them in the mouth, prompting a federal civil rights investigation, have been fired, a Mississippi sheriff announced Tuesday. The announcement comes months after Michael Corey Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker said six deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department burst into a home without a warrant. The men said deputies beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy and shocked them repeatedly with stun guns in a roughly 90-minute period during the Jan. 24 episode, Jenkins and Parker said. Jenkins said one of the deputies shoved a gun in his mouth and then fired the weapon, leaving him with serious injuries to his face, tongue and jaw. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced Tuesday that deputies involved in the incident had been fired, but he would not provide the names of the deputies who had been terminated or say how many law enforcement officers were f...