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Qatargate MEP returns to work

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

BRUSSELS — He’s back.Three months after being arrested by Belgian police as part of the ongoing investigation into corruption allegations that rocked the European Parliament, EU lawmaker Marc Tarabella was spotted back at work on Wednesday.He attended a fisheries committee meeting in the morning and was spied grabbing a drink in the Parliament’s third-floor café in Brussels.A staffer who saw Tarabella said “he looked rather drained but was sitting with someone, so he is clearly not as alone and untouchable as Kaili” — a reference to Eva Kaili, one of the other lawmakers still under detention.Tarabella was able to move freely to work on Wednesday because he had his electronic ankle bracelet removed two weeks ago — although certain restrictions remain. The two other current MEPs involved in the so-called Qatargate probe — Kaili and Italian Andrea Cozzolino — have also been clamoring to return to work but cannot do so as they are still under house arrest.Tara...

Late Showers/Storms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

While the focus will be on the warm-up this afternoon and the risk for some late-day showers and storms, it is no doubt a chilly start this morning for many. In fact, for large swaths of Southeast Mass, temps started off on the record low side for May 24th, with a morning low of 30 across the Vineyard, 38 Nantucket, 35, Provincetown and many other locations in the mid to upper 30s. Boston, points northwest, no record cold was recorded, but it certainly was a sweatshirt/light jacket worthy weather with temps in the 40s. The bounce back is quick today with a south to southeasterly breeze kicking in. Highs today will range from the 60s across the North Shore/Cape Ann/Cape Cod to near 70 in Boston and 75-80 inland. Showers and storm rumble through late today into this evening. The timing of them favor the 4-6pm timeframe northwest of 495 and inside 495 from 6-9pm. That’ll leave most of the daylight hours dry for many of us, but showers could interrupt those little league games lat...

WATCH: Animal Rescue League searching for person caught on camera abandoning cat in Boston

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

The Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Department is turning to the public for help after a person was caught on camera taking a cat out of a vehicle in its pet carrier and dumping it on college property on Beacon Street in Boston. The incident in April is being investigated as a case of animal abuse and new video is prompting the rescue league to call on area residents to see if they recognize person or vehicle involved.The 2-year-old male cat, now named Fish, received a thorough veterinary exam upon arrival at ARL, and was found to be in good health, with no obvious signs of abuse or neglect. Fish has been neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and will soon be made available for adoption to start the next chapter of his life.Surveillance video shows what is believed to be a white male, wearing orange gloves, dark jacket and a baseball hat park in front of the college campus on Beacon Street. The suspect then removes the carrier from the back of the vehicle, throwing it ...

Karen Read murder case takes dramatic turn as others add legal muscle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

Two new defense attorneys have entered the Karen Read murder case — but explicitly not in Read’s defense.Instead, attorneys Kevin Reddington and Gregory Henning each filed new motions asking Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone to quash Read defense requests for live testimony from their own clients for a motions hearing scheduled for Thursday.It’s getting so hot that the court scheduled an additional hearing for Wednesday — with only a day’s notice — to make some sense of all the conflicting interests at play.Reddington and Henning represent Boston Police Officer Brian Albert and Jennifer McCabe respectively.Albert owned 34 Fairview Road, the home where the body of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe was found at around 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.McCabe was a longtime friend of O’Keefe’s who reportedly invited O’Keefe and his girlfriend Karen Read — who is charged with his murder — to Albert’s home the evening before, as the Canton bar they were all at had closed for the night....

Howie Carr: Council cowards

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

So the Boston City Council today won’t even consider whether to expel Ricky Ricardo Arroyo after his despicable conniving last summer with disgraced ex-US attorney Rachael Rollins.Pitiful.Remember, the Council has expelled at least one of its members before – the late Chuck “Superfly” Turner, back in 2010, after he was convicted of taking a $1,000 payoff from an undercover G-man.Granted, Turner won a state lawsuit later, when the Supreme Judicial court said the Council should have waited 10 days, until he actually began his sentence in Club Fed, before stripping him of his job and his office.But the point is, politicians at every level sometimes need to be put on the record, as to which side they’re on.Framing people, or not framing people.The fact is, what Turner did by taking a bribe was small potatoes compared to City Councilor Arroyo’s shocking behavior last summer.He was basically lobbying a federal prosecutor to frame the sitting district attorney of Suffolk County, as Arroyo ...

Editorial: Please, elect anyone but another Democrat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

There’s nowhere for the state Republican party to go but up.It’s glaring how one-sided the state Legislature has become — and that’s bad news for everyone no matter what party you register under. Some decisions, especially on taxes and expenditures, beg for balance.How can that happen when the House has 132 Democrats, 25 Republicans and 1 unenrolled rep?On the state Senate side, the 37-to-3 split is stark.That’s why a special election for a seat expected to open up in June when state Sen. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) leaves the Legislature is so pivotal.This is a perfect opportunity for newly elected MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale to push for a strong Republican candidate and back that person. The party needs to start small and get behind voters who are growing frustrated with Beacon Hill’s elitist attitude.A recent report from the Pioneer Institute should alarm all of us who care deeply about Massachusetts. Learning that high-income residents have been fle...

Crime Briefs: Slicing woman’s face with razor, serial bank robber and NH trail slayings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

Ismail Mohamed, 40, was charged in municipal court in Charlestown with slicing a woman’s face with a razor blade while she was unconscious.Mohamed, of Charlestown, is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, mayhem and kidnapping. Judge Lisa Grant ordered him held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Thursday.Boston Police responded to a 911 call at 5:50 a.m. and proceeded to a basement apartment on Cambridge Street where they found Mohamed sitting on a bed while the victim was on the floor bleeding from her face.Mohamed allegedly told officers that he and the victim were fighting and that he then went to sleep and woke and found the woman suffering from injuries — and that he had used a razor blade to slit her face to reduce the swelling around her eyes.According to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, Mohamed called 911 himself and both he and the victim denied having a relationship.“We se...

Housing costs, transportation reliability factors in high levels of outmigration in Massachusetts: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

Congestion, cost of living, transportation reliability, workforce shortages, and talent outflow have led to the highest rate of outmigration Massachusetts has experienced in the last three decades, according to a report released Monday.The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that more than 110,900 people left the state between April 2020 and July 2022. And some of the trends pushing residents out of Massachusetts might sound all too familiar to those still here.“We’re seeing the future of our workforce, people aged 26 to 35, high wage residents, and those in key sectors, dominate the outflow of residents and talent. Massachusetts is facing a critical moment and it is imperative we address these challenges promptly to secure a prosperous future for our commonwealth,” Mass. Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said in a statement.With people leaving, Howgate said the historical abundance of highly educated and skilled workers and continuous influx of fresh talent from loca...

US aircraft carrier arrives in NATO member Norway, to take part in drills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them “a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.”The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometer (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was.Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday. It is then expected to take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces. The ship’s first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television. Onlookers, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and ev...

UK home secretary won’t face investigation over speeding ticket meddling claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. interior minister won’t face investigation over allegations that she tried to pull strings after getting a speeding ticket, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday, in an attempt to lay to rest one of several ethics claims dogging the Conservative government.Sunak said he had consulted his standards adviser over the claims about Home Secretary Suella Braverman and decided her actions didn’t breach the code of conduct for government ministers.But Sunak gently chastised Braverman, saying “a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.”The case centers on a speeding ticket Braverman got last year, when she was the U.K. attorney general. The Sunday Times reported that Braverman had asked civil servants to arrange a private speed-awareness session for her, rather than the usual group course for drivers who commit minor offenses. The newspaper said that civil servants refused to get involved.In a letter...