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Lakewood's new police chief starts work on Monday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — Lakewood's new police chief begins work on Monday, according to the city.Philip Smith has been the police chief in Roswell, New Mexico, for the last nine years, according to a release from Lakewood. He's also taught at the university level on cultural diversity, law enforcement ethics and police administration."I am honored to have been selected as Lakewood's police chief and look forward to working with the community and the Police Department to build a safer, stronger and more connected community," Smith said in a statement.The city said Smith has more than 37 years of law enforcement experience and described him as "dedicated to transparent policing" and improving police-community safety and relationships. They say he created "an innovative program" that enhanced public trust and safety in Roswell. Over a dozen SROs bound for Denver high schools, including East City Manager Kathy Hodgson hired Smith, as the city charter requires. Smith made the cut thro...

Rock musician who suffered heart attack thanks 911 dispatcher, surgeon who helped save his life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

A South Florida musician expressed his gratitude toward the 911 dispatcher and Broward Health surgeon who helped save his life after he suffered a heart attack.Rock ‘n’ roll guitarist Sal Italiano jams his bass on stage. His musical career has taken him around the world. But on Friday, there was a much quieter moment at Broward Health Medical Center.Italiano and his wife Christine thanked the people who kept his heavy metal heart beating after his medical emergency back in December.“I woke up and my husband wasn’t breathing, and I grabbed my phone and I called 911,” Christine said.Dispatcher Jason Savitt would answer that call, and what he did over the next several minutes saved Italiano’s life.“When she said he wasn’t breathing, I knew I had to get right into the CPR and help him out,” Savitt said.A new Florida law mandates that dispatchers are able to walk callers through CPR.Italiano’s surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz, said it was the difference...

Local artist restores Worcester mural to fallen police officer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

The Worcester Police Department is thanking a local artist for restoring a recently vandalized mural to fallen Officer Manny Familia, who died trying to rescue a teen from a pond in 2021.Artist Ferdinand Nazario returned to the mural on Friday to restore it after it was vandalized last week.“Mr. Nazario know how much we appreciate your talent and kindness! Thank you,” the department wrote in a release.https://twitter.com/WorcesterPD/status/1641515209050185744

Owners of big cat refuge from ‘Tiger King’ selling property

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The owners of a Florida-based sanctuary made famous by the Netflix docuseries, “ Tiger King, ” say they plan to move most of their big cats to an Arkansas facility and eventually sell their 67-acre (27-hectare) property.Howard Baskin wrote in a post on Big Cat Rescue’s website that he and his wife, Carole Baskin, had entered into an agreement with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge to move most of their big cats to the accredited sanctuary in Arkansas.“”We have always said that our goal was to ‘put ourselves out of business,’ meaning that there would be no big cats in need of rescue and no need for the sanctuary to exist,” Howard Baskin wrote earlier this week in the post.Because recently passed federal law and a change in industry practices had reduced the size of the “cub petting” industry at roadside zoos and circuses, there were fewer big cats in need of caring, Baskin said.The cost per big cat of running t...

Remarkable Reunion: Medford dog found in NH nearly a year after going missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

It was a heartwarming reunion in Medford after a 5-year-old Hound/Pit mix named Bo was returned home to his owners nearly a year after going missing. “I was doing some yard work, my wife was in and out of the house, Bo was just relaxing on the patio, I went away for a little bit and he was gone,” recalled his owner, Ross Morrow, who said he and his wife had walked about 50 miles searching for their best friend.Now, 10 months later, Bo is back home after he was found wandering the streets of Pelham, New Hampshire, some 30 miles away from where he first went missing.He was brought home after investigators scanned his microchip.After Bo went missing, his family added a puppy sister to the family that he will now get to spend his time with.

Travel issues force Celtics to spend extra night in Milwaukee, delay return to Boston before Jazz game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

Grant Williams confirmed that the Celtics dealt with travel issues following their win over the Bucks on Thursday night in Milwaukee and the team landed in Boston later than usual before their game on Friday night against the Jazz.“We couldn’t get out last night after the game so we scrambled, stayed the night and flew out this morning,” Williams said.Williams said the team was on the plane for about 25-30 minutes before unforeseen circumstances forced them to spend an extra night in Milwaukee. The Celtics ultimately departed Milwaukee at 10:30 a.m. and landed in Boston at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, six hours before opening tip against the Jazz.Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla downplayed the travel issues they experienced and refused to acknowledge that something happened. They didn’t want to use it as an excuse.“At the end of the day, you have to be professional,” Williams said. “It can’t deter your energy, you can’t use it as an excuse. It’s easy to cop out if a team beats y...

Tornadoes slam Arkansas, shredding rooftops and tossing cars

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

By ANDREW DeMILLO (Associated Press)LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A tornado raced through Little Rock and surrounding areas Friday, splintering homes, overturning vehicles and tossing trees and debris on roadways as people raced for shelter. There were early reports at least two dozen people hurt, some critically.Another tornado hit the town of Wynne in the eastern part of the state near the Tennessee border, and officials reported widespread damage there including destroyed homes and downed trees. There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa, damaging hail fell in Illinois and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, part of a massive storm system threatening a broad swath of the country that is home to some 85 million people in the South and Midwest.The destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi a week ago and promised the government would help the area recover. The Little Rock tornado tore first through n...

Former Brockton RMV manager pleads guilty to fraudulently handing out learner’s permits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

A former manager of a Brockton Registry of Motor Vehicles location in Brockton pleaded guilty to giving out passing test scores to those who failed if they bribe her.Mia Cox-Johnson, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper has scheduled sentencing for July 20, when Cox-Johnson could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.Cox-Johnson was criminally charged in federal court in Boston on March 2, but she accepted a plea agreement she reviewed the day before, according to the date on the signature lines of the agreement filed with the court.According to the charging document, an applicant, identified in the document as “Individual A,” for a Massachusetts learner’s permit had taken the test in the applicant’s “primary language six times on the computer and had failed each time.”One of the co-conspirators told another that there was a person at the Brockton RMV...

MassGOP Chair: Geoff Diehl campaign liable for bulk of party’s $600K debt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

MassGOP officials say the party should not be on the hook for its whopping $600,000 debt, pointing to an audit that shows losing Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl’s campaign is responsible for a majority of the charges.Party Chair Amy Carnevale said the bulk, or $404,000 of the $602,000 in unpaid invoices she inherited from past Chair Jim Lyons are from advertising and media-related expenses authorized and signed by the Diehl campaign, “but incredibly were billed well after Election Day to the MassGOP.”“Not on my watch,” Carnevale said in a Friday email to state Republicans. “We are auditing all these invoices to determine who is ultimately responsible for paying them because we have not received sufficient documentation from the vendor.”The majority of these charges were for radio and television ads related to the governor’s race, according to MassGOP Executive Director John Milligan. The audit, he said, will differentiate between what expenses the party is liable for,...

Clarke Schmidt gets his first real chance to stick in Yankees’ rotation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:59 GMT

Clarke Schmidt has gotten the short end of the stick during his Yankees tenure.The 2017 first-round pick spent nearly his entire college and minor-league career as a starting pitcher however, despite a few spot starts here and there, he’s yet to have a real opportunity to become a mainstay in the Bombers’ rotation.That will change beginning Saturday afternoon.Schmidt will take the ball for the Yankees — with a tough act to follow after Gerrit Cole’s record-setting Opening Day performance — in their second game of the season against the San Francisco Giants.The right-hander began spring training in competition — after Frankie Montas’s shoulder surgery that will keep him out until at least the second half of the season — with Domingo German to become the clubs’ fifth starter. However, a forearm injury to the newly-signed southpaw Carlos Rodon and a lat injury to Luis Severino has extended that competition through the beginning week...