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Montgomery County launches accelerator to bring cutting-edge tech to hospitality sector

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) has launched a tech accelerator to introduce promising technologies to an industry that plays such a vital role in the county’s economy: hospitality.The accelerator debuted this week with a cohort of six companies, all developing technologies focused on sustainability. MCEDC chose sustainability as the theme of the first cohort after noticing that homegrown companies like Bethesda’s Marriott International Inc. and Rockville’s Choice Hotels International Inc. had been setting aggressive targets for things like reducing waste and lowering carbon emissions. Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR), for example, has said that by 2025 it wants to reduce food waste by 50% and generate a minimum of 30% of its energy from renewable sources. Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) has set its own sustainability initiatives, such as phasing out the use of single-use polystyrene by 2023 and eliminating single-use shampoos and other bath amenit...

Troopers remove reluctant student from state Capitol

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- What was supposed to be a peaceful student protest at the state Capitol Wednesday turned into an altercation between a few students and police, with one boy being physically removed from the session. Body-worn camera video provided by Colorado State Patrol shows a Capitol employee engaging in conversation with students sitting in the House balcony section. State troopers surround the students and one girl begins shouting during the session. The session is immediately put into recess during the disruption. The video shows troopers then move in and tell the students in the row with the girl, that they need to move so they can get to her and remove her. One trooper explains that he's not asking them to leave but to move so they can get to her and if they don't they will be moved. One boy stands and leaves and another boy sitting next to her refuses to move. Hundreds of students walk out of Colorado schools to protest gun violence The troopers continue to tell him h...

Police investigating Lakewood shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) -- The Lakewood Police Department is investigating a shooting in the area of West 14th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard Thursday afternoon, the department said. Police said Sheridan is open but W. 14th Avenue is closed from Sheridan to Chase Street.Details of the shooting, possible victims or suspects, have not been released yet. FOX31 has a crew on the way and will provide updates when they are provided.

Colorado women earn more than most, particularly in Boulder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado's women workers do very well compared to elsewhere in the country, particularly in cities where women are not employed full time at high rates. Retirees are fleeing Colorado, but one city still attracts them Financial adviser Smartest Dollar analyzed the yearly earnings for women workers in 354 U.S. metro areas ranging from small burbs to global megacities such as New York. Colorado cities have some of the highest wages in the country for women - though not all of them have high shares of women in the workforce.Boulder is at the top of the list when it comes to women's pay, but near the bottom for the share of its women who are working full time. Boulder has the nation's fourth-highest pay for full time women workers with a median yearly adjusted wage of $64,531. Of 354 metro areas, only in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco and San Jose metro areas do women make more. The Denver metro area isn't far behind. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area has the nation...

Gold fever alive and well in Centennial State

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

GOLDEN, Colo. (KDVR) — The Colorado gold rush may be long gone, but that hasn't stopped members of the gold-seeking club Gold Prospectors of the Rockies from splashing in creeks and rivers in search of the yellow treasure.In the 1800s, this little stretch of Clear Creak was a “pretty fer piece” from the state Capitol. Today, it is about a fifteen-minute drive by automobile from Interstate 70, which spans the creek, forever looming overhead. Alpaca farm satisfies outdoor longing The gold rush may be long gone, but its fever is alive and well. “Well it’s not fatal, but it does cause you to get a little crazy,” said JJ Long, a member of Gold Prospectors of the Rockies.Kevin Singel is another member in good standing with the group. He contracted gold fever when he was just a boy. “When I was 6 years old, my dad read me a National Geographic article about people gold prospecting here in Colorado in the modern day and I was jazzed by that. Went out in the front yard the next morning an...

6 months of misery: How the Scottish National Party fell off a cliff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

LONDON — As half years go, the Scottish National Party have had better ones. Six months ago the SNP faithful were excited to return to the party’s first in-person conference for three years. Today, SNP activists anxiously wait for further developments and the political fallout which will follow Wednesday’s arrest of Peter Murrell, the party’s ex-chief executive and husband of former leader Nicola Sturgeon. Murrell was released without charge pending further investigation Wednesday night.Here’s POLITICO’s first draft of the historic six months that toppled the Sturgeon regime — and may ultimately result in the end of the SNP itself.October 8 2022: The SNP’s first in-person party conference since the pandemic begins in Aberdeen. Worried lawmakers and activists exchange whispers about Nicola Sturgeon’s risky strategy for gaining independence — involving a Supreme Court bid and the use of a general election as a so-called de-facto referendum. Mu...

Fight at the museum: Brussels art hall cancels police boxing match due to threats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

BRUSSELS — An art museum in Brussels canceled plans to stage a boxing match between police and local athletes on Thursday evening, saying it received threats on social media. The MIMA contemporary art museum in Molenbeek had planned to host a sparring session between around 20 amateur boxers from the Ixelles branch of the Brussels police and two local boxing clubs in an on-site boxing ring.But the museum canceled at the last minute, citing “tensions on social media,” in a post on its website which added that it took this decision for the safety of the museum and its artistic directors, after receiving threats. On Facebook, some had argued that the event presented police as citizens’ natural adversaries, while others complained that it made the police look good and ignored victims of police violence.The museum had framed the event as “a festive encounter, giving a thrashing to the prejudices that can exist between police and citizens.”“Many comment...

Suspect turns self in following fatal West Bridgewater hit-and-run crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

A 33-year-old man from Brockton turned himself in following a deadly crash in West Bridgewater, authorities announced.Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said Juan Leonardo Parra Altamirano surrendered at the MSP Middleborough Barracks Thursday morning, and has been charged in connection with a crash on Route 24 that killed a 46-year-old woman from Raynham Monday night.Erpharo Gilbert had been driving in West Bridgewater around 10:30 p.m. when the driver of a Toyota Scion changed lanes and made contact with her Honda Accord.According to state police, the impact pushed her vehicle into a median where it struck a concrete barrier. Authorities said while the Scion drove away, a Ford Maverick pickup then struck the Accord, causing it to become fully engulfed in flames.Gilbert was pronounced dead at the site of the crash while the driver of the Ford was uninjured.Procopio said Altamirano turned himself in days later and now faces charges that include:Leaving the scene of ...

Delta pilot mistakenly detained by federal agents at Boston hotel during botched training exercise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

Federal agents went to the wrong room and detained the wrong person during a Department of Defense training exercise in a Boston hotel on Tuesday, the FBI confirmed.In a statement, the FBI said the incident happened around 10 p.m. while the FBI’s Boston Division was aiding the Department of Defense in an exercise “to simulate a situation their personnel might encounter in a deployed environment.”“Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player,” the FBI said.A Boston police report said the incident happened at the Revere Hotel. 7NEWS sources said the person who was mistakenly detained is a pilot for Delta Air Lines.Nobody was injured in the incident, according to the FBI. The FBI said Boston police were called to confirm the situation was a training exercise.The Boston Police Department’s report filed after the incident described the response. It said officers responded to the...

$35 political contribution to Democrats raises fresh scrutiny of Judge Merchan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:10 GMT

(CNN) — Judge Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York, donated $35 in political contributions to Democrats in 2020, including a $15 contribution to the campaign of Trump’s opponent, President Joe Biden.The political donations are undoubtedly small, but they nevertheless raise questions about Merchan’s impartiality as he has come under attack by the former president as a “Trump-hating judge.”“While the amounts here are minimal, it’s surprising that a sitting judge would make political donations of any size to a partisan candidate or cause,” said Elie Honig, a senior CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.According to federal election records, Merchan made the three donations in July 2020 through ActBlue, an online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and causes.Merchan contributed $15 earmarked for the Biden campaign, and made two $10 contributions, one earmarked to the P...