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Another arrest is made in investigation into Maine corrections official accused of taking kickbacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A second arrest has been made in the investigation into a Maine corrections official accused of steering purchases to certain vendors in exchange for kickbacks in a long-running scheme, officials said.Melanie Ann High, who was arrested Thursday in Florida, is accused of using kickbacks to induce Gerald E. Merrill, deputy superintendent at the Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston and Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport, to make repeated purchases from companies she controlled, according to court records.High, 67, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was being held without bail Friday at a jail in Broward County, Florida, on Maine charges of theft by unauthorized taking and bribery in official and political matters, according to records.The state charges against Merrill and High indicate the spending threshold of the crimes surpassed $10,000, but the actual amount of money transferred over a period of about 10 years is believed to be far ...

Massachusetts lawmakers agree on a final state budget, a month overdue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Nearly a month after it was due, Massachusetts lawmakers said Friday they’ve agreed on a final state budget.Lawmakers are expected to vote Monday on the spending plan that will start July 1.The heads of the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees said they have reached an agreement “in principle reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions” of the budget.“Our respective teams are actively engaged in ironing out the details and working diligently to finalize the agreement,” Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of Boston, both Democrats, said in statement.The two — who did not reveal details of the final spending plan — are part of a six-member conference committee charged with hammering out a compromise version of the separate proposals.That compromise version is the sent to each chamber for a vote and cannot be amended.“We are confident that the Conference Committee Report will be filed in the coming days, ensuring ...

Feds arrest, charge Chelsea felon they say deals machine guns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

Lots of gang members get charged with carrying machine guns, but the conversion kits have to come from someone — and the feds and Chelsea Police teamed up to arrest just such a “switches” dealer.Michael Williams, 49, of Chelsea, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of transferring or possessing a machine gun. He appeared before Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell in federal court in Boston Friday afternoon for an initial appearance and is scheduled to return on Monday.The charge refers not to possession of an actual machine gun itself, but for Williams allegedly selling a conversion kit, or a “Glock switch,” which would convert a semi-automatic gun into fully automatic firing capability, to undercover FBI agents working with a neighborhood informant in January, according to an affidavit backing up the criminal complaint.The feds say that Williams met up with the two agents and the “Confidential Human Source,” or CHS, in a vehicle outside his home in Chelsea on Jan. 12.Duri...

Automaker Tesla is opening more showrooms on tribal lands to avoid state laws barring direct sales

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

Tesla is ramping up efforts to open showrooms on tribal lands where it can sell directly to consumers, circumventing laws in states that bar vehicle manufacturers from also being retailers in favor of the dealership model. Mohegan Sun, a casino and entertainment complex in Connecticut owned by the federally recognized Mohegan Tribe, announced this week that the California-based electric automaker will open a showroom with a sales and delivery center this fall on its sovereign property where the state’s law doesn’t apply. The news comes after another new Tesla showroom was announced in June, set to open in 2025 on lands of the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York. “I think it was a move that made complete sense,” said Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, which has lobbied for years to change Connecticut’s law. “It is just surprising that it took this long, because Tesla had really tried, along with Lucid and Rivian,...

Mexico to set up center for third-country migrants and U.S. will take referrals for possible refuge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government announced Friday it will take referrals of Haitian, Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan citizens from Mexico for possible resettlement as refugees in the United States. Mexico announced earlier this week it will set up a service center offering jobs and resettlement for people from those four countries. It said the center will be on the southern border with Guatemala, but did not specify where or when it would open.When the U.S. government began requiring asylum seekers to apply on line or from their home countries, many of them had already begun the journey to the U.S. border and wound up up stuck in Mexico. The Mexican center is meant to serve those people.“We are announcing our full support for an international multipurpose space that the Government of Mexico plans to establish in southern Mexico to offer new refugee and labor options for the most vulnerable people who are currently in Mexico,” saidU.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan s...

Kurdish groups: Turkish strikes in Syria, Iraq kill eight fighters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish-led armed groups in Iraq and Syria alleged that Turkish airstrikes killed a total of eight of their fighters Friday.The counterterrorism service of the regional government in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq said in a statement that four members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were killed and another wounded in a Turkish drone strike in Sharbazher district in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish region of Iraq.The drone targeted a vehicle carrying PKK fighters near the village of Rangina, it said.Also Friday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls much of northeast Syria, said in a statement that four of its fighters were killed by a Turkish drone attack on the village of Khirbet Khwei in the Amuda region.The statement accused Turkey of “aiming at undermining security and stability in the region.”There was no immediate comment from Turkey on the strikes.The violence was the latest in a monthslong escalation between Turkey a...

Montana judge temporarily lifts ban on drag performances ahead of major Pride event

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge in Montana on Friday temporarily blocked a new law that restricts drag performances just days before thousands of people are expected to attend Montana Pride’s 30th anniversary celebration in Helena.The way the law is written “will disproportionally harm not only drag performers, but any person who falls outside traditional gender and identity norms,” including transgender people, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said.The law seeks to ban minors from attending what it calls “sexually oriented” performances, and bans such performances in public places where minors might be present. However, it does not adequately define many of the terms used in the law, causing people to self-censor out of fear of prosecution, plaintiff’s attorney Constance Van Kley with Upper Seven Law argued Wednesday. “Plaintiffs, along with the approximately 15,000 Montanans who wish to attend the (Montana Pride) events, cannot avoid chilled speech or exposu...

Judge allows suit alleging that hospital ignored parents and performed fetal autopsy without consent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a Delaware hospital system performed an autopsy on a 16-week-old fetus despite the parents refusing to give their consent.Superior Court Judge Patricia Winston denied a motion this week by Christiana Care Health Services and Christiana Care Health System to dismiss a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress filed by Maryland residents Meredith and Brandon Boas.The couple had adequately stated a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, Winston said. The offense is defined as “extreme and outrageous conduct” that intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another.Attorneys for the hospital system argued that performing a fetal autopsy without consent and against the express wishes of the parents does not rise to the level of being “beyond all possible bounds of decency.”“Plaintiffs do not allege that the autopsy was performed in an indecent manner or that CCHS int...

100+ new affordable homes coming to a southeast Austin neighborhood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Habitat for Humanity celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony Friday with some Austin city leaders for the future housing development of 126 affordable homes. Homes in the new community, called Persimmon Point, will be available at affordable prices to qualified low-to-moderate-income households, with individuals earning up to 80% of the local median income, around $36,000 annually.  MORE: New street in southeast Austin paves way for affordable housing “We're looking to help our essential workers, help the people in that 60 to 80% median family income bracket. Homeownership, from a market perspective, is pretty unattainable to those income earners,” said Billy Whipple, Senior Vice President of Construction for Austin Habitat for Humanity.“They're out there, they're working [and] they're super important people to our community,” he continued. “We want to make sure that they have the option and the opportunity to own a house in Austin if they want to. Th...

Texas rat, Arkansas skunk may soon be protected by an Act

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:27 GMT

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will issue decisions on 31 southeast animals and plants and two southwest animals that may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.On July 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to issue decisions on whether these species need protective status. The agreement came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. “We could lose two out of every five wild species if we don’t act now,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. She adds that we need urgency from the Fish and Wildlife Service. LIST: Endangered species that can be found in Central Texas According to Curry, twenty-four of the species will be considered for protection stated before the end of the year, including the Texas kangaroo rat, the Alabama hickory nut, the Eastern spotted skunk, the Jackson prairie crayfish, the speckled burrowing crayfish, spiny tail crayfish, and the Yazoo...