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Instagram and Facebook are adding more parental controls. Critics say they aren’t enough

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

By BARBARA ORTUTAY (AP Technology Writer)Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta is adding some new parental supervision tools and privacy features to its platforms as social media companies face increasing scrutiny over their effects on teen mental health. But many of the features require minors — and their parents — to opt in, raising questions about how effective the measures are.Instagram will now send a notice to teens after they block someone, encouraging them to let their parents “supervise” their account. The idea is to grab kids’ attention when they might be more open to parental guidance. If a teen opts in, the system will let parents set time limits, see who their kid follows or is followed by, and allows them to track how much time the minor spends on Instagram. It does not let parents see message content.Instagram launched parental supervision tools last year to help families navigate the platform and find resources and guidance....

Matthew Nilo, alleged Charlestown serial rapist, faces new charges tied to North End rapes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

The New York City attorney accused in a string of sexual assaults in Charlestown now faces charges that are tied to a spate of rapes and sexual attacks in the North End, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.Matthew Nilo, 35, of New Jersey, has been indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on seven charges connected to alleged rapes and sexual attacks in the North End in 2007 and 2008. The series of Charlestown rapes were also in the same time period.The new charges stem from five attacks on four women in the North End, according to the Suffolk DA’s Office.One of the victims was attacked twice, 11 days apart. The attacks occurred in January 2007, July 2007, January 2008, and July 2008.The incidents followed a similar pattern, prosecutors noted. The victims were attacked while they were walking alone, in the dark, either at night or early in the morning. The attacks happened when Nilo was living in the North End.The new seven charges are: one count of rape, o...

Orioles minor league All-Stars: New major leaguer Jordan Westburg, new No. 1 Jackson Holliday highlight top first-half performers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

Within a day after the first half of the minor league season ending, Jackson Holliday reached the top of one ranking of baseball’s top prospects, Jordan Westburg ascended to the majors, and Holliday and Heston Kjerstad were named as participants in the MLB All-Star Futures Game.Such is the state of the Orioles’ top-ranked minor league system, where accolades can come in quick succession. Holliday is MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, Westburg is a major leaguer, Kjerstad has reestablished himself as a rising talent and many others join them in marching toward Camden Yards, where the Orioles hold the American League’s second-best record.“This is what healthy organizations do,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “They have not just a talented major league team, but they have guys competing in the minor leagues, also.“We have a lot of fun guys to watch right now and more guys who will be making their debuts for the next couple years.”To...

Big Apple eyes big tolls to fight congestion

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

NEW YORK — New York has received a critical federal approval for its first-in-the-nation plan to charge big tolls to drive into the most visited parts of Manhattan, part of an effort to reduce traffic, improve air quality and raise funds for the city’s public transit system.The program could begin as soon as the spring of 2024, bringing New York City into line with places like London, Singapore, and Stockholm that have implemented similar tolling programs for highly congested business districts.Under one of several tolling scenarios under consideration, drivers could be charged as much as $23 a day to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, with the exact amount still to be decided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is overseeing the long-stalled plan.The congestion pricing plan cleared its final federal hurdle after getting approved by the Federal Highway Administration, a spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday.“With the green light fr...

Canadian wildfires are causing the worst air in the US in cities like Chicago and Detroit

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region and in parts of the central and eastern United States.The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed parts of Illinois, lower Michigan and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon, and Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee had air quality categorized as “very unhealthy.”In Minnesota, a record 23rd air quality alert was issued Tuesday through late Wednesday night across much of the state, as smoky skies obscure the skylines of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued an air quality alert for the entire state. Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources also issued an air quality advisory for the state.In Chicago, officials urged young people, older adults and residents with health issues to spend more time...

Man, 28, fatally stabbed in Scarborough identified as Nigerian student

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

A man fatally stabbed in a Scarborough plaza parking lot last weekend has been identified as a 28-year-old student from Nigeria.Toronto police were called to a strip mall on Eglinton Avenue just west of Brimley Road around 7 p.m. on Sunday after getting reports that two people were fighting.When they arrived, they found a man suffering from stab wounds. He was taken via emergency run to a nearby trauma centre, where he was pronounced dead.The victim was identified as 28-year-old Ifeanyichukwu Oseke of Nigeria.Police said the male suspect is described as having medium-length dark hair and was last seen wearing a light-coloured tank top, pants and shoes.He was last observed getting into a dark-coloured sedan, travelling south on Brimley Road from Eglinton Avenue East.

Oak wilt found in Canada for first time sparking concern disease could spread and kill trees

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

For the first time, federal government officials say a fungal disease called oak wilt has been confirmed to be in Canada — a discovery that is sparking concern about how it could impact oak trees.“At this point, there’s no cure for oak wilt. Once a tree becomes infected, it will die. If it’s a red oak, it’ll die within one growing season. Oak wilt can survive with the pathogen for a little longer,” Nicole Mielewczyk, a plant health survey biologist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), recently told CityNews when asked about the severity of the disease.Mielewczyk said the agency received a pest report from an arborist on May 23 after they were called to remove three dead trees in northern Niagara Falls. A week later a laboratory confirmed it was oak wilt.She said the CFIA has been anticipating the arrival of the disease for years, forcing staff to come up with a response plan once it showed up. The prospect of the disease spreading oak ...

US arrests 4 Mexican nationals in 2022 deaths of 53 migrants found trapped in hot tractor trailer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

SAN ANTONIO — U.S. authorities on Tuesday announced the arrests of four men they say were part of a human smuggling effort last year that ended in the deaths of 53 migrants, including eight children, who were left in a tractor trailer in the scorching Texas summer.Authorities said on the anniversary of the June 27, 2022, tragedy that the four Mexican nationals had a planning role in the smuggling operation, and were aware that the trailer’s air-conditioning unit was malfunctioning and would not blow cool air to migrants trapped inside during the sweltering three-hour ride from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died.It was the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico. The dead included 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.The driver and another man w...

SiriusXM is shutting down its Stitcher podcast app to emphasize its flagship app

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of August in favor of its own SiriusXM app, part of a larger effort to emphasize its own brand.Many of the podcasts featured on Stitcher are already available on the SiriusXM app, and all podcasts on Stitcher “can also be found anywhere else podcasts are distributed,” the company said. SiriusXM Holdings Ltd. does not have exclusive podcasts.The company is sending existing Stitcher users an offer for a free six-month trial of its platinum SiriusXM service, which includes the company’s streaming services for music, sports and sports talk, other talk shows and news.No layoffs are planned as part of the change. Stitcher, which SiriusXM acquired in 2020 for $325 million, has emphasized the simplicity of its app, noting on its website that it was “designed for podcasts and nothing else.” Its app and website had a combined 900,000 unique visitors as of March, according to...

David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan cast as Superman and Lois Lane in James Gunn movie

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:18:44 GMT

James Gunn has found his new Superman and Lois Lane in David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan. The DC Studios co-chair, who is also writing and directing “Superman: Legacy ” for July 2025, tweeted about the casting Tuesday, which a representative from Warner Bros. also confirmed.There has been much speculation over who would fill Superman’s shoes after Henry Cavill’s decade playing the character on the big screen. Corenswet reportedly won the role over the likes of Nicholas Hoult and Tom Brittney. The 29-year-old Philadelphia native starred in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “The Politician” and “Hollywood,” as an aspiring actor, and more recently played a theater owner who gets mixed up with Mia Goth’s aspiring actress in Ti West’s “Pearl.”Brosnahan is the more well-known of the two having recently concluded her run leading “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for five seasons. Her portrayal of Midge Maisel earned her an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards. Emma Mackey and Phoebe Dynevor were...