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Clarence Thomas officially discloses private trips on GOP donor Harlan Crow’s plane

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

(CNN) — Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid for private jet trips for Thomas in 2022 to attend a speech in Texas and a vacation at Crow’s luxurious New York estate, as ethics questions continue to rock the Supreme Court.In one instance, Thomas said he took the private transportation in May because of “increased security risk” following the leak of the Dobbs opinion overturning Roe v. Wade that had occurred a few days earlier.Newly released financial disclosure forms Thursday also amend prior reports to include information that had been “inadvertently omitted” from past forms including a real estate deal between Thomas and Crow back in 2014.Thomas made the disclosures after receiving an extension to file the yearly reports that were originally due in May 2023. Justice Samuel Alito released his financial disclosures Thursday as well.The filing comes as Thomas has been under fire from critics who say h...

Boston police seek help IDing person in connection with North End break-in 

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

Boston police asked for the public’s help Thursday in efforts to identify a person in connection with a break-in earlier this week. The incident happened around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Hanover Street and Blackstone Street, according to police. Police shared photos of a suspect in the case and described him as a white male wearing a Boston Bruins hat, a blue/white/black plaid long-sleeve shirt, blue pants and brown shoes.Boston police said their investigation into this incident was ongoing as of Thursday afternoon and asked anyone with information to contact detectives at (617) 343-6150.Those wishing to reach out anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Decisions on playing time impending with Mets sending up prospects Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

Ronny Mauricio is headed to Queens but where he’ll play is a different story.The Mets are expected to call up Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty from Triple-A Syracuse when rosters expand to 28 on Sept. 1. This will mark the first time Mauricio, Baty and fellow prospects from the 2023 class Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez have all been on the major league team together. However, the Mets have a difficult task ahead of them when it comes to determining where three of the four will play in the future. They can start to determine that Friday.As there are with every rookie, there are questions about Mauricio’s game that he’ll have to answer and can start to answer with this call-up. As of now, he doesn’t really have a defensive position.Mauricio was signed as a shortstop in 2017 during the international signing period, but he’s been blocked by Francisco Lindor since 2021. The Mets have had a few years to prepare for this but only started moving him around the...

New rule to expand background checks on gun sales proposed

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

WASHINGTON  — The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would require thousands more firearms dealers to run background checks, in an effort to combat rising gun violence nationwide.The proposal comes after a mandate from President Joe Biden to find ways to strengthen background checks following the passage of bipartisan legislation on guns last year.People who sell firearms online or at gun shows would be required to be licensed and run background checks on the buyers before the sales under the rule proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The bureau estimates that the rule would affect anywhere from 24,500 to 328,000 sellers. It is aimed at those who are in the business of gun sales, rather than those with personal collections.Background checks help prevent guns from being sold to people convicted of crimes, teenagers and others who are legally blocked from owning them, said the agency’s director, Steve Dettelbach. Federally licensed firear...

Two ex-Proud Boys leaders get some of longest sentences in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Two former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group were sentenced to more than a decade each in prison Thursday for spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.The 17-year prison term for organizer Joseph Biggs and 15-year sentence for leader Zachary Rehl were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. They were the first Proud Boys to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who will separately preside over similar hearings of three others who were convicted by a jury in May after a four-month trial in Washington that laid bare far-right extremists’ embrace of lies by Trump, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Enrique Tarrio, a Miami resident who was the Proud Boys’ national chairman and ...

Canada issues US travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ community about laws that may affect them

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

By ROB GILLIES (Associated Press)TORONTO (AP) — Canada this week updated its travel advisory to the U.S., warning members of the LGBTQ+ community that some American states have enacted laws that may affect them.The country’s Global Affairs department did not specify which states, but is advising travelers to check the local laws for their destination before traveling.“Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the U.S. have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events,” Global Affairs spokesman Jérémie Bérubé said Thursday in an emailed statement.“Outside Canada, laws and customs related to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics can be very different from those in Canada,” the statement added. “As a result, Canadians could face certain barriers and risks when they travel ou...

From car battery to coffee maker

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Batteries in older Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are getting a new life as portable power sources that can be used to run gadgets on the go or deliver emergency power in disasters.Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. has sold more than 650,000 Leaf EVs. Their batteries often retain a charging capacity longer than the car’s life span.Nissan says it is using the old batteries in portable power sources it developed with electronics maker JVCKenwood Corp. and 4R Energy Corp., a company co-owned by Nissan and Sumitomo Corp. which works on ecological vehicles and power storage systems.The 32-pound power source sells for 170,500 yen or about $1,170, in Japan. Overseas sales are not yet set.Each Leaf uses 48 battery modules. The portable power stations contain two modules.Nissan officials said they are testing the batteries in Leafs after their owners stop driving them, and reusing those that can still hold a charge.EV batteries use expensive rare metals and other raw...

Swingman Svi Mykhailiuk reportedly agrees to one-year contract with Celtics

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

The Celtics have reportedly signed well-traveled swingman Svi Mykhailiuk to a one-year contract.The Athletic’s Shams Charania was the first to report the deal. Mykhailiuk, a 6-foot-7 small forward/shooting guard, hails from the Ukraine, but played four seasons at the University of Kansas.He was drafted 47th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.He has played in 252 regular-season NBA games, seeing action with the Lakers, Pistons, Thunder, Knicks and Hornets in his five-year pro career.Mykhailiuk has averaged 6.6 points as an NBA player. Last season, he split time between the Knicks and Hornets. He was productive in his 19 games with the Hornets, averaging 10.6 points per game and shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range.The 26-year-old averaged 14.6 points during his senior season at Kansas.

Housing advocacy group donates $50K to rent control ballot question committee

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

An out-of-state advocacy group is throwing its weight early into a ballot question push to institute rent control in Massachusetts, handing $50,000 to supporters looking to repeal a 1994 ban on the measure.Housing Is A Human Right made the donation to a ballot question committee run by state Rep. Mike Connolly, the Cambridge Democrat said in a statement. The organization has taken part in successful rent control campaigns in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Pasadena, California.“We are engaging with a broad set of stakeholders to build consensus for the roll out of a full-fledged signature-gathering campaign this fall,” Connolly said in a statement. “We’re also working with experienced campaign professionals to map out a winning campaign plan for the 2024 general election and hoping to bring everyone to the table in support of housing justice in our commonwealth.”Housing Is Human Right is the housing advocacy division of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare, a global ...

Efforts to punish Fani Willis over Trump prosecution are ‘political theater,’ Georgia Gov. Kemp says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:16:10 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday offered his strongest denunciation to date of efforts by his fellow Republicans to go after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, dismissing the moves as “political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment.”Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia have been attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis since even before she announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Kemp said that any calls for a special session to impeach Willis or defund her office were wrong and that she had done nothing to merit removal.A special session, the second-term governor said, “would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.”“The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms...