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AR-15 style weapons banned under new House bill, gun rights groups not pleased

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

The Speaker announced the House will move forward with a controversial new gun control bill that would ban new purchases of AR-15s in Massachusetts.Formerly known as HD.4420, the new bill offered by state Rep. Michael Day offers many of the same provisions seen in a bill the Stoneham Democrat released in June. Day toured the state, making 11 stops, and met with gun rights groups in recent weeks before releasing a new version of his earlier offering on Thursday. According to House Speaker Ron Mariano, the complaints of gun rights groups were heard.“This is a huge pile of crap,” Jim Wallace, the Executive Director of the Gun Owners Action League, told the Herald after the bill was announced.Despite the previous bill being mired in legislative limbo since Day first offered it, gun rights groups responded with alarm when they learned the bill would ban them from carrying otherwise lawfully possessed concealed firearms in most private property without the express permission of prop...

Ravens vs. Steelers scouting report for Week 5: Who has the edge?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

The Ravens overwhelmed a debuting quarterback to beat the Cleveland Browns, 28-3. The Pittsburgh Steelers played dismal offense in falling, 30-6, to the Houston Texans. Which team will have the advantage Sunday?Ravens passing game vs. Steelers pass defenseLamar Jackson played masterfully against a Cleveland Browns defense that had smothered its first three opponents, completing 15 of 19 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He’s averaging a career-low 6.8 air yards per attempt but threw a pair of beautiful downfield passes, including a 43-yard, on-the-run strike to rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers that set up a touchdown. He’s completing a career-high 74.3% of his passes. Jackson worked without two of his top targets in Odell Beckham Jr. (ankle) and Rashod Bateman (hamstring) in Cleveland. Flowers (24 receptions on 29 targets, 224 yards) has been the team’s most prolific pass catcher. Tight end Mark Andrews appeared fully recovered from the quadriceps injury ...

Thousands of US workers are on strike today. Here’s a rundown of major work stoppages happening now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been a big year for labor organizing in the U.S. And from auto production lines to Hollywood, all eyes are on strikes taking the world of work by storm.The boiling point we’re seeing today comes amid soaring costs of living and rising inequality, including growing pay gaps between workers and top executives. Now, thousands of workers who were asked to make sacrifices during the pandemic even as corporate profits soared are asking for better pay and protections — and walking off the job if progress isn’t made in heated contract negotiations.At least 453,000 workers have participated in 312 strikes in the U.S. this year, according to Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. candidate and the project director of Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker. This year’s work stoppages have spread across multiple industries — including transportation, entertainment and hospitality.Here’s a rundown of some of the largest strikes...

The Nobel literature prize goes to Norway’s Jon Fosse, who once wrote a novel in a single sentence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

By DAVID KEYTON, MIKE CORDER and JILL LAWLESS (Associated Press)STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, whose work tackles birth, death, faith and the other “elemental stuff” of life in spare Nordic prose, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday for writing that prize organizers said gives “voice to the unsayable.”The novelist and playwright said the prize was recognition of “literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations” — an ethos expressed in dozens of enigmatic plays, stories and novels, including a seven-book epic made up of a single sentence.Fosse’s work, rooted in his Norwegian background, “focuses on human insecurity and anxiety,” Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel literature committee, told The Associated Press. “The basic choices you make in life, very elemental stuff.”One of his country’s most-performed dramatists, Fosse said ...

US resumes some food aid deliveries to Ethiopia after assistance was halted over ‘widespread’ theft

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United States Agency for International Development said Thursday it is resuming food deliveries to hundreds of thousands of refugees in Ethiopia, four months after assistance was halted over a widespread scheme to steal supplies.The decision was made after Ethiopia’s government agreed to remove itself from the dispatch, storage and distribution of refugee food supplies, a USAID spokesperson said. Food aid will be restored to roughly 1 million refugees from Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and elsewhere.However, food assistance has not resumed for the 20.1 million Ethiopians who rely on it as the country grapples with internal conflict and drought.The agency also said it has implemented measures including biometric tests and GPS tracking across its operations worldwide to help address risks of diversion and to “help ensure food assistance gets to those who need it most.”“We continue to work with the Ethiopian government on additional reforms that will ...

The average long-term US mortgage rate surges to 7.49%, its highest level since December 2000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The cost of financing a home surged again this week as the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed to its highest level since December 2000, further dimming the affordability outlook for many would-be homebuyers.The average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 7.49% from 7.31% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.66%.Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loan, also increased. The average rate rose to 6.78% from 6.72% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.90%, Freddie Mac said.High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford in a market already out of reach for many Americans. They also discourage homeowners who locked in rock-bottom rates two years ago from selling. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now more than double what it was two years ago, when it was just 2.99%. The combinat...

Developed nations pledge $9.3 billion to global climate fund at gathering in Germany

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — Developed countries pledged $9.3 billion to help poor nations tackle climate change at a conference held in the German city of Bonn on Thursday, authorities said. However, nongovernmental groups criticized the outcome, saying the funds fall short of what is needed to tackle climate change.The pledges will help replenish the South Korea-based Green Climate Fund, established in 2010 as a financing vehicle for developing countries. It’s the largest such fund aimed at providing money to help poorer nations in reducing their emissions, coping with impacts of climate change and boosting their transitions to clean energy. The pledged money at the conference in Bonn will be used to finance projects in developing and emerging nations between 2024 and 2027. The German government alone pledged 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion). Twenty-five countries came forward with fresh pledges while five said that they would announce theirs in the near future.“The collected sum will likely turn ...

Russia has tested a nuclear-powered missile and could revoke a global atomic test ban, Putin says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has successfully tested an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, while also warning that the country’s parliament could revoke its ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests.In a speech at a forum of foreign policy experts, Putin announced that Russia has effectively completed the development of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile and will work on putting them into production.“We conducted the last successful test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered global-range cruise missile,” he said without elaborating. His statement was the first announcement of a successful test of the Burevestnik, which translates as “Storm Petrel.” It was first mentioned by Putin in 2018.Little is known about the Burevestnik, which was code-named Skyfall by NATO, and many Western experts have been skeptical about it, noting that a nuclear engine could be highly unreliable.It is beli...

Reba McEntire on collaborating with Dolly Parton, looking ‘tough sexy’ and living ‘Not That Fancy’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Want to live like Reba McEntire? You’re in luck.On Friday, the country music and entertainment icon will release a new album to partner with her new book, “Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots.”The book, which arrives Tuesday, is a collection of recipes, memoir, photos, and lifestyle tips. The “Not That Fancy” album is a collection of acoustic covers of McEntire’s biggest hits, with a few surprises thrown in. Like Dolly Parton, who takes the place of Linda Davis on “Does He Love You.”The book, McEntire explained over the phone, is “about things not having to be so fancy or structured. Whether it’s a dinner party or going out to eat, having friends over. If you don’t have your brand-new couch in, you’ve got to cover your old couch, that’s fine. People don’t care. They just want to get together and have fun.”Re-recording some of her most recognizable songs in an intimate fashion just felt like the perfect partner...

US shoots down Turkish drone after it came too close to US troops in Syria

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Thursday shot down a Turkish drone that had come in too close to U.S. troops on the ground in Hasakah, Syria, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. The official said the drone had been flying in an “unsafe” and “unsychronized” manner. Typically, the U.S. and Turkish militaries, which are NATO allies, work in close coordination in conducting air maneuvers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident before an announcement.The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria conducting missions to counter Islamic State group militants.Tara Copp, The Associated Press