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Brutal decision: Commission recommends landmark status for City Hall

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

The Boston Landmarks Commission has recommended the City Hall’s exterior and interior main lobby space be designated as a landmark in a report released last week.The move to landmark City Hall, which has landed on lists of the ugliest public buildings for years, and ranked number 4 in the world in a Buildworld analysis in January, started after a public petition was submitted to the commission back in April 2007.City officials began to prioritize urban renewal in the 1950s, with Boston losing roughly 100,000 people, mainly in middle-class families during the decade, according to the report.“Not only the architectural significance, which is undeniable, but we also have to think of the moment that this building was built in,” Nicholas Armata, senior preservation planner for the commission told the Herald.Boston’s Scollay Square, at the time, was flooded with tattoo parlors and burlesque houses, businesses that drove out those families, according to the report. The area wou...

Columbus Day debate continues in Massachusetts

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

More than 300 cities and towns across Massachusetts will be recognizing Columbus Day on Monday, while around two dozen will be celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day.But Indigenous people and their allies say the divide between what towns and cities formally recognize on the second Monday of October should not exist. They are behind a push at the State House to establish it as Indigenous Peoples Day, doing away with Columbus Day.Opponents, on the other hand, say Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, is worthy of a holiday because they believe he represents a part of Italian heritage.An Indigenous Peoples Day bill, pending in the state Legislature for the third straight session, would recommend residents observe the day with “appropriate exercises in the schools and otherwise, to acknowledge the history of genocide and discrimination against Indigenous peoples, and to recognize and celebrate the thriving cultures and continued resistance and resilience of Indigenous peoples and the...

Business confidence returned to pessimistic territory to close out summer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

After a strong summer showing, confidence about the future among the state’s businesses slipped into pessimistic territory in September.On the heels of a narrowly averted government shutdown, according to the Monthly Business Confidence Index published by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, confidence slipped 2.6 points to 49.8%, dropping into pessimism for the third month this year.“The decline was driven by weakening views of both the Massachusetts and US economies. The US Index measuring conditions throughout the country fell 6.5 points as Congress drew the nation within hours of a government shutdown,” the Association wrote with the release of their monthly report.Confidence climbed above the 50% mark, the level that indicates optimism, through July and August after falling into negative territory for the first time in years in May and June. September’s confidence index came in a full 4.1 points lower than was reported 12 months ago.According to AIM, business senti...

Nobel economics prize goes to professor for enhancing understanding of women’s labor market outcomes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel economics prize has been awarded to Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.”Hans Ellegren, Secretary-General, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the award Monday in Stockholm. Goldin is only the third woman to win the prize.The Nobel Prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million). Winners also receive an 18-carat gold medal and diploma at the award ceremonies in December in Oslo and Stockholm.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the final prize of this year’s Nobels season, is set to be announced in Stockholm on Monday.The winner or winners unveiled by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences follow the awards in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace that were announced last week.The economics award was created in 1968 by Sweden’s ...

At least 15 people have been killed in floods set off by heavy rains in Cameroon’s capital

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — At least 15 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in floods set off by heavy rains in Cameroon’s capital, authorities said Monday as rescuers searched for those missing following the deluge the previous day. The rains unleashed floodwaters in the district of Yaounde 2 of the country’s capital on Sunday, sweeping away buildings and reducing many to rubble. Rescue workers are still digging through the mud and rubble “with the hope of saving lives,” Daouda Ousmanou, the top government official in the district, said Monday. Floodings have been frequent in Cameroon in recent years, with experts often blaming climate change, and their impact has been exacerbated by shoddy construction that often circumvents regulations. In the city’s Mbankolo neighborhood, at least 30 houses were swept away while several collapsed on residents inside, Ousmanou said. Others drowned as they were swept away by floodwaters. Ernest Zebaze, a 24-year-old universit...

Evacuations ordered as remnants of Typhoon Koinu hit southern China

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — People have been moved to shelters and nearly 2,000 boats recalled to port as the remnants of Typhoon Koinu slammed into southern China on Monday after leaving one dead and over 300 injured in Taiwan. The storm bore down on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan on Monday, just south of the financial center of Hong Kong and the key manufacturing regions in the surrounding area on mainland China. The Hong Kong Observatory said on its website that Koinu was weakening from a typhoon into a tropical depression as it moved southwest along the coast of China’s Guangdong province.Air and rail services have been suspended as Koinu, meaning puppy in Japanese, rolled into the region. Koinu arrived a month after southern China and Hong Kong were lashed by Typhoon Saola, which triggered Hong Kong’s highest storm signal on a scale of 11. A week later, Guangdong province and Hong Kong were hit with the heaviest rains in almost 140 years. The storm also broke a winds...

Viladecans, Vilnius, and Treviso win 2025 European Green City awards

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

The winners of the European Green Cities 2025 Awards were announced yesterday afternoon. Vilnius (Lithuania) will be the 2025 European Green Capital, and the title of European Green Leaf 2025 for smaller cities went to Viladecans (Spain) and Treviso (Italy). This year's European Green Capital, Tallinn, hosted the Awards ceremony.Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said: “Bravo to Vilnius, Viladecans and Treviso! Welcome to the European Green Cities group. You have been working hard to make your cities greener, healthier and more pleasant places to live. Climate change will exacerbate extreme weather events such as droughts and floods that we faced this summer. The answer to those has to be greener cities – cities with lower pollution, which care more for citizens' well-being. That is exactly what today's winners are doing.”The expert jury crowned Vilnius as the 2025 European Green Capital Winner for its commitment to a sustainable future, including ...

Word Game: Oct. 9, 2023

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — TRAVAIL (TRAVAIL: truh-VALE: A physical or mental exertion; a work of a painful or laborious nature.)Average mark 16 wordsTime limit 30 minutesCan you find 19 or more words in TRAVAIL? The list will be published tomorrow.SATURDAY’S WORD — SECTION scent scion scone sect sent since sine site snit snot sone sonic stein steno stoic stone cent cento cite coin cone cosine cost cote tine tone tonic icon insect inset into once onset otic nest nice nicest noes noise nose note noticeTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or ...

Single family residence sells for $4.1 million in Palo Alto

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

2313 Santa Ana Street – Google Street ViewA 2,309-square-foot house built in 1999 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 2300 block of Santa Ana Street in Palo Alto was sold on Sept. 1, 2023, for $4,050,000, or $1,754 per square foot. This single-story house provides a generous living space with its four bedrooms and three bathrooms. On the exterior, the home features composition shingles on the roof. Inside, a fireplace enhances the ambiance of the living area. In addition, the house features a one-car garage, allowing for convenient vehicle storage.Additional houses that have recently been sold close by include:On Greer Road, Palo Alto, in August 2023, a 1,944-square-foot home was sold for $3,500,000, a price per square foot of $1,800. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 1,324-square-foot home on the 2300 block of Greer Road in Palo Alto sold in December 2022, for $2,090,000, a price per square foot of $1,579. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In Novem...

Ask Amy: These are the five reasons I don’t want to go to Paris with my wife

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:52:24 GMT

Dear Amy: My stepson and his spouse intend to go to Paris in March to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, and have invited both sets of parents to join them there.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: The neighbors’ girl was crying in the street, and what I saw in the house scared me Advice | Ask Amy: They kept talking during the minute of silence. What should I have done? Advice | Ask Amy: I want to change my children’s names, but one of them may not be happy about it Advice | Ask Amy: I’m hurt that they’re going to the wedding after what the groom’s mom did to me Advice | Ask Amy: They’re not shallow people but their wedding plan seems shifty My wife wants to go. I don’t.Primary reasons I don’t want to go are: 1) we don’t drink, the others do; 2) our interests don’t coincide (for example, they want to tour wineries); 3) the other parents are considerably more “fre...