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Massachusetts municipal officials say greener power wrapped in red tape

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

Municipalities want to create programs to provide cheaper, greener power for their residents, and are backing a bill to cut through regulatory red tape and would allow them to get approval more quickly and easily.City council and select board members from 120 towns and cities sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee asking them to favorably report a Rep. Tommy Vitolo bill (H 3852) to break down barriers and backlogs at the Department of Public Utilities in their consideration of the municipal aggregation programs.The municipal aggregations programs allow local governments to procure and provide electricity for their residents at competitive rates. Advocates say the initiatives give cities and towns more control over their power sources — allowing them to choose renewable alternatives to make progress toward their carbon reduction goals while also often lowering utility rates for consumers.Of the 177 programs the department ...

Live Review: Madonna’s Celebration Tour kicks off in London after health scare

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Madonna kicked off her career-spanning Celebration Tour at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night, marking her first performance since suffering what her manager called a “serious bacterial infection” that led to hospitalization in an intensive care unit for several days back in June. “I’m on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life,” the pop superstar wrote on Instagram this summer, shortly after news of the ICU stay broke. “My focus now is on my health and getting stronger and I assure you, I’ll be back with you as soon as I can.”On stage, Madonna, 65, said she’d had a “crazy year” that neither she nor her doctors thought she’d make it through. She said her children spurred her on and that she had to “survive for them.” The opening night of the tour also marked the 27th birthday of daughter Lourdes Leon, who appeared on stage with her mother. After a brief technical hitch, the opening night of the tour was ind...

Four injured, including child, in multi-vehicle crash in Etobicoke

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

Four people, including a child, were taken to hospital following a multi-vehicle crash on the Gardiner Expressway.First responders were called to the eastbound lanes of the highway after three vehicles collided near Islington Avenue just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Three adults were taken to hospital, one with serious but non-life threatening injuries and two others with minor injuries. A child was also transported to hospital with minor injuries. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Security guard hospitalized after shooting in Grand Crossing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

CHICAGO — A security guard is in critical condition and a man is in custody after a shooting on the South Side, police say.According to Chicago police, the shooting happened in the 100 block of West 79th Street in the city's Grand Crossing neighborhood, just before 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. 8-year-old boy killed, woman injured after stabbing in Plainfield Township Officers say the victim, who is a security guard, was shot in the neck by a man who then fled the scene.According to police, the person responsible was later caught in the 7900 block of South Michigan Avenue in Chatham and was taken into custody. Police say they recovered a handgun during his arrest. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines Officers say the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition and an investigation is underway.Currently, it is unclear what led to the shooting and police have not identified anyone involved.

Chicago alderman, nonprofit host workshop to help migrants apply for Temporary Protected Status

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

CHICAGO — As Chicago faces the task of welcoming nearly 20,000 migrants into the city, a small number are being helped by a troop of volunteers who are trying to ease the burden of government paperwork.34th Ward Alderman Bill Conway and the Instituto del Progreso Latino hosted a workshop to help new arrivals from Venezuela apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which enables migrants from 16 countries designated unsafe by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to legally work and live in the United States for up to 18 months."Chicago is a welcoming city. You know, if you look back one, two, three generations, we all come from immigrants. People that came here that want to work. And when I've spoken to the folks who’ve come out here today, that’s all they are trying to do," Conway said. ‘A humanitarian disaster:’ Chicagoans voice concerns for loved ones trapped in Gaza The 13-page application for Temporary Protected Status must be completed in English, so volunteers at the ...

Gaza's desperate civilians flee or huddle in hopes of safety, as warnings of Israeli offensive mount

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Desperate Palestinians scrambled for escape from northern Gaza on Saturday or huddled by the thousands at a hospital in the target zone in hopes it would be spared, as Israel intensified warnings of an imminent offensive by air, ground and sea following Hamas militants’ deadly rampage in Israel a week ago. While workers at an Israeli military base continued efforts through the Jewish Sabbath to identify the more than 1,300 people killed in the Oct. 7 assault, Israel dropped leaflets from the air and redoubled warnings on social media for more than 1 million Gaza residents to move south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a concentrated campaign against Hamas militants in the north, including in what it said were underground hideouts in Gaza City. Hamas urged people to stay in their homes.The U.N. and aid groups say such a rapid exodus along with Israel’s siege of the territory would cause untold human suffering. The World...

Theater review: Guthrie’s ‘For the People’ is an entertaining culture clash

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

Larissa Fasthorse is concerned about a lack of laughter. The Lakota playwright from South Dakota has said that popular culture’s stories of Indigenous Americans are too often suffused with tragedy and drama, while Indigenous people often place a high value on humor.So she’s spending much of 2023 cutting into the comedy deficit around issues affecting Indigenous people. Her hit Broadway show, “The Thanksgiving Play,” satirizes a group of white people trying to create a more historically accurate account of the first Thanksgiving and tumbling headlong into multiple blind spots. And now she’s teamed with Ty Defoe to create another comedy, “For the People,” which premiered on the Guthrie Theater’s Proscenium Stage on Friday night.The Guthrie not only commissioned Fasthorse and Defoe to write the play, but asked them to develop it through conversations with Native elders in Minneapolis. The ensuing production employs almost exclusively Indigenous actors (and a couple of designers, too).T...

PHOTOS: The 2023 Broncos Girls High School Flag Football Tournament

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

The Denver Broncos hosted the Broncos Girls High School Flag Football tournament bringing together Denver Public Schools, Cherry Creek Schools and Jeffco Public Schools to compete for the championship title.

Arvada West wins girls flag football title as sport’s popularity explodes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

Quarterback Saylor Swanson dodged a pass rusher, glanced downfield and let loose a perfect throw. Sara Walker caught the ball in stride and danced in the end zone with her teammates.That was the spark to Arvada West’s 34-14 runaway victory over Cherry Creek in the title game of the Broncos Girls High School Flag Football championship tournament Saturday at the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.The Wildcats, runners-up to Chatfield last season, won four games Saturday at the Broncos complex to finish their season a perfect 22-0.Swanson’s 30-yard bomb was just one of a plethora of highlights in a day that showcased 16 teams from the Front Range and athletic girls who showed why high school flag football is spreading like wildfire.“Today was so much fun and just so crazy,” said Sawson, a junior who wears No. 18 in homage to former Broncos QB Peyton Manning. “I’ve been thinking about this game for a while now, so I was a little bit nervous coming into today.̶...

Avalanche Journal: Jonathan Drouin, Anthony Duclair are childhood friends at similar, but very different, career crossroads

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:13:42 GMT

SAN JOSE — Jonathan Drouin was about to play in the biggest tournament of his young life, so there was one number he definitely wanted to wear.Drouin called his coach ahead of the Brick Invitational, one of the marquee youth hockey tournaments in Canada, to request No. 99. Turns out that one was already spoken for.“The coach told me that ‘Dukes’ had already called him and asked for it,” Drouin said. “We both always wanted that number and we’d fight over it. I ended up wearing No. 87. It was such a super fun experience at that age.”“Dukes” is Anthony Duclair, who became one of Drouin’s best friends and a future teammate on multiple youth teams in the Montreal area. They’ve remained close, and skate together in the offseason.Drouin and Duclair, who was traded to the Sharks over the summer, faced each other Saturday night at SAP Center. They are both in a contract year and facing potentially profitable, but also very dif...