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Editorial: Instead of banning plastic bags, why not recycle?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

Cities and towns across Massachusetts started banning plastic bags around 2015, and environmental organizations won’t be happy until residents in all 351 are lugging home groceries in paper or reusable bags.“The Commonwealth is behind where it should and can be when it comes to reducing plastics,” said Lydia Churchill of Environmental Massachusetts. “Nothing we use for a few minutes should pollute our environment and threaten our wildlife for hundreds of years.”Agreed.Though estimates differ on how long it takes a plastic bag to decompose – 20 years or 500, no one wants to see them litter the landscape, or wind up damaging marine life in our oceans.But what happened to the recycling option?A visit to mass.gov leads to the “how and where to recycle” page. It says: “Most supermarkets and numerous other retailers accept plastic bags and wraps for recycling at no cost. Visit the Wrap Recycling Action Council to find a nearby drop-off location.”A click...

Graham: PBS warns about Trump rhetoric, gives Biden pass

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

PBS isn’t for the “public.” It’s taxpayer-funded content for Democrats.Last September, when President Joe Biden gave a nasty speech in front of a blood-red backdrop at Independence Hall, proclaiming, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” PBS streamed this harsh rhetoric live with no “explanatory” text on screen for charges the Republicans are authoritarians.But on June 13, when Trump spoke in New Jersey after being arraigned in Florida, the PBS livestream felt inexorably compelled to insert opinions on screen. Near the end, there was this: “Experts warn that inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials or people in power can prompt individual actors to commit acts of violence.”Even the liberal website Mediaite called it a “jawdropping warning label” in its headline about the speech. Founding editor Colby Hall called it “a concern...

Dear Abby: Guest’s showering habits leave host high and dry

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

Dear Abby: I invited a friend to spend the weekend with me on my parents’ boat. She insisted that she must shower twice a day, as that is her usual routine. She said she can’t wake up without a shower, and needs to shower to be clean at the end of the day. I believe showering twice a day is excessive. Even showering once a day isn’t necessary unless someone has been working or exposed to dirt.I have been criticized for “judging” her hygiene habits. They say she may suffer from a germ phobia. I have known her more than 10 years, and she has worked as a professional cleaning lady. I don’t think she’s a germaphobe but high-maintenance and vain.I suggested she could wash up with face cloths and wipes, and shower once a day. The lake is so clean you don’t need to shower after a swim. (For anyone who doesn’t understand why I’m questioning this, it’s because fresh water on a boat is in limited supply.)Should a guest be asked...

1 hurt in North County house fire

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

POWAY, Calif. -- Authorities are investigating a fire that destroyed a home Saturday in the Poway area.The blaze occurred around 7 p.m. in the 16000 block of Martincoit Road, Sgt. Anthony Portillo with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) said in a news release Monday.When deputies arrived on scene, they found the home fully engulfed in flames, prompting several nearby homes to evacuate, according to law enforcement.Witnesses described seeing a 68-year-old woman run back into the fiery house. She later emerged from the bottom level of the home and was taken to a hospital with minor scrapes and held for a mental health evaluation, per SDSO. Police investigating fatal stabbing at City Heights park; no arrest made "She had been living in the home after it was recently condemned by the city and sold," Portillo said. "City officials and the Sheriff's Department have been working with the new owner to remove anyone from the home."The fire, which was knocked down after severa...

Germany’s biggest theme park to reopen after large fire forces evacuation

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest theme park will reopen to visitors on Tuesday after a large fire the day before sent a dense plume of black smoke billowing into the sky that was visible for miles.The Europa-Park in the town of Rust, near the French border, was to open with only minor restrictions after the blaze Monday, the German news agency dpa reported. The fire broke out in a control room for an attraction on Monday afternoon at a time when some 25,000 people were visiting the park. Fire alarms functioned properly and the park was evacuated as some 450 firefighters, police and emergency personnel rushed to the scene, dpa reported. Two firefighters were lightly injured but no visitors were harmed. The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the area directly around the scene will remain closed while the rest of the park is reopened, officials said.Europa-Park is a popular tourist destination that drew more than 6 million visitors last year, mostly from Germany, F...

Biden is ready to fete India’s leader, looking past Modi’s human rights record and ties to Russia

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is, on many counts, a curious choice for President Joe Biden to honor with a state visit.Since Russia’s Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine 16 months ago, India has boosted its economy by purchasing increasing quantities of cheap Russian oil.Human rights groups and political opponents have accused Modi of stifling dissent and introducing divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities. And India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has espoused a worldview in which there are no allies or friends, only “frenemies.”But Biden, who will welcome Modi to the White House on Thursday for a state visit, has made clear he sees U.S. ties to India — the world’s biggest democracy and one of its fastest growing economies — as a defining relationship. New Delhi, as Biden sees it, will be essential to addressing some of the most difficult global challenges in coming years, including climate...

Disciplinary hearing against Trump attorney John Eastman begins in California

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An effort to disbar conservative attorney John Eastman, who devised ways to keep former President Donald Trump in the White House after his defeat the 2020 election, will begin Tuesday in Los Angeles.Eastman is expected to spend the day testifying before the State Bar of California in a proceeding that could result in him losing his license to practice law in the state. He faces 11 disciplinary charges stemming from his development of a dubious legal strategy that was aimed at helping Trump remain in power by disrupting the counting of state electoral votes.The State Bar’s counsel will seek Eastman’s disbarment during a hearing before the State Bar Court that’s expected to last at least eight days. If the court finds Eastman culpable of the alleged violations it can recommend a punishment such as suspending or revoking his law license. The California Supreme Court makes the final decision.Eastman is scheduled to testify in his own defense Tuesday...

What we know about the Titanic-bound submersible that’s missing with 5 people onboard

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

A search is underway for a deep-sea vessel that went missing with five people aboard after it dove toward the deteriorating wreck site of the Titanic ocean liner. The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the search for the small craft, named Titan, in the North Atlantic Ocean. The remote area is where the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew.The Titan’s dive on Sunday is one of many that have been made to the wreck by OceanGate Expeditions since 2021. The sunken ship is about 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers) below the surface.The undersea exploration company has been chronicling of the ship’s decay as well as the underwater ecosystem that has sprung up around it over the last century. What we know so far: WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TITAN GO MISSING?The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard. The vessel was reported o...

Living la vida yoga: India’s Modi will bend leaders into shape on International Yoga Day

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s prime minister has a reputation of casting himself as an ascetic. So when Narendra Modi leads foreign dignitaries and bureaucrats in a session for International Yoga Day on Wednesday at the United Nations’ Secretariat in New York, millions of Indians will take note. Yoga, an ancient discipline first practiced by Hindu sages, is now one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. And it’s become a piece of India’s diplomacy. Surinder Goel, a 61-year-old yoga instructor in the capital, New Delhi, practices daily. He says the activity is “India’s contribution to the world.”“Our prime minister has done a great job in spreading yoga to the world,” Goel said. “Today, even the Muslim countries learn and follow it, only because of the PM.”Goel says yoga should be a daily practice worldwide, no matter how busy a person is.“He (Modi) is the busiest man, despite that he practices daily. When our PM can do Yoga daily, why can’t the common pe...

Inside the deepening rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:58:17 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump.”DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to mock Newsom’s apparent “fixation” on Florida while insisting that the Democratic governor’s “leftist government” is destroying California.Welcome to one of the fiercest rivalries in U.S. politics, featuring dueling term-limited governors who represent opposite ends of the ideological spectrum from two of the nation’s largest and most influential states. Newsom and DeSantis will not face each other on any ballot in 2024, but in many ways, they are defining the debate from their corners of America as the presidential primary season gets underway.Newsom addressed his contempt for DeSantis and his loyalty to President Joe Biden in a recent interview just as the Florida governor laun...