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Massachusetts Senate on budget hot seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

Senate budget writers who have the next shot at crafting the 2024 state budget say their outlook remains on track despite a massive shortfall in revenues reported in April, which is typically the most significant revenue month of the year.A one-month reversal of Massachusetts’ strong tax figures hit hard on Beacon Hill Wednesday when state officials reported collections for April came in nearly $1.5 billion below original projections for the month and $2.2 billion under collections from the same time last year.But the Senate’s chief budget writer said his chamber has been planning for a decline in revenues given recent forecasts and economic volatility.The Senate has “deliberately been cautious in our spending and revenue projections,” said Michael Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat who heads up the Senate Ways and Means Committee.“While we must be fiscally prudent moving forward, our actions thus far have put us in a strong position as we face this uncertainty,” he said in a statement....

Ukrainian migrant arrives in Boston thanks to an army of volunteers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

Alina Chernyakova spent weekdays in a bomb shelter in the Ukrainian city of Sumy when Russia first invaded the country last year.The city is less than 20 miles from Russia and was one of the first to be occupied by Russian forces after war broke out. It was a dangerous place to live, Chernyakova said, and her situation was made more difficult because her late husband was dealing with cancer.But on Thursday, Chernyakova landed at Logan and walked into the international arrivals area with a job lined up in Needham and an army of volunteers ready to help her settle into a new life in Massachusetts.Holding a small Ukrainian flag, Chernyakova said “I stand with Ukraine” as she laid eyes on a group of people waiting for her.“I would like to begin in a new way in my life, because I have no job in Ukraine,” she told reporters at the airport. “But the difficult situation may be temporary. I hope it will be okay soon. I hope.”Chernyakova is in line to work as a teacher at Temple Beth Shalom i...

Howie Carr: Jeffrey Epstein’s Harvard tentacles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

Is there any more depraved and greedy crew of Beautiful People anywhere than the Democrats from Harvard who sucked up to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein before his, uh, suicide in 2019?Talk about greedy — every last one of Epstein’s sycophants couldn’t stop rump-swabbing the Democrat pervert, despite the fact that all of them were already fabulously wealthy and privileged and hated everybody who didn’t have a trust fund like they did.C’mon down, “Dr.” Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary and ex-president of Harvard University.Kudos to the Wall Street Journal, which in addition to running the usual two or three anti-Trump columns and editorials every day, has also this week been running a series of stories about Epstein’s interactions with what passes for the carriage trade these days.State-run media are giving these deliciously gossipy stories a good leaving-alone, for the obvious reason. Professional courtesy.The best tale so far concerns Larry Summer. It’s from 2014, whi...

How (and when) to watch King Charles’ coronation in the US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

King Charles III’s coronation Saturday will mix of a thousand-year tradition with the streaming age.The pomp and ceremony will be unmissable for U.K. residents, but what about royal watchers across the Atlantic? There are plenty of options to watch the regalia-heavy event that serves as a formal confirmation of King Charles’ dual role as head of state and titular leader of the Church of England — for those willing to wake up early enough.While it might seem odd that Americans might want to tune in, there have been large audiences for previous royal milestones, such as the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 and the weddings of their children, William and Harry.The longevity of the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, means that many people alive have never seen a coronation. WHAT TIME DOES THE CORONATION START?Well, first King Charles and his wife Camilla have to get to the ceremony. That begins with a procession to Westminster Abbey, which will get started at about...

Russia’s Wagner boss threatens Bakhmut pullout in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military contractor threatened Friday to pull his troops out of the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week, accusing Russia’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition and causing them heavy losses.Yevgeny Prigozhin, a notorious millionaire with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9. That day is a major Russian holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.But, Prigozhin said, his force hasn’t received enough artillery ammunition supplies from the Russian military since Monday. Known for his bluster, Prigozhin has previously made unverifiable claims and made threats he hasn’t carried out.Hours before releasing the statement, Prigozhin’s spokespeople published a video of him angrily demanding ammunition from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov.In the video, ...

Ukraine delegate hits Russian at Black Sea summit in Turkey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Ukrainian and Russian delegates have had to be separated after a scuffle during a meeting of Black Sea countries in the Turkish capital Ankara.Oleksandr Marikovski, a Ukrainian member of parliament, landed several blows to the head of a Russian official after his Ukrainian flag was ripped from his hands during a summit at the Turkish parliament building on Thursday. A video posted on Marikovski’s Facebook page shows him waving the flag behind Russian delegate Ola Timofeeva as she records a video on her phone. A man approaches, grabs the flag and is chased by Marikovski.During a brief altercation in parliament’s hallway, Marikovski grabs the flag back, pushing the man in the face. Others separate the men and plead “please, no fighting.” Marikovski replies: “It’s our flag. We’re going to fight for this flag.”In a caption to his Facebook video, Marikovski wrote: “Paws off our flag, paws off Ukraine, Russian filth!”The outburst happened at the Parliamentary Assembly of t...

Arab ministers to meet over Syria’s return to Arab league

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Diplomats from Arab nations are planning an emergency meeting in Cairo over the weekend about the fighting in Sudan and the prospect of Syria’s return to the Arab League more than a decade after its membership was suspended, an official said Friday.Sunday’s meeting, confirmed by Gamal Rushdy, a spokesman for the Arab League, comes as some Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have opened up relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad and their foreign ministers have visited Damascus in recent weeks. Syria’s foreign minister also visited Cairo and the Saudi capital of Riyadh in April, the first such visits in more than a decade.Syria’s membership in the 22-member Arab League was suspended in the early months of the war 12 years ago, and Arab countries later imposed economic sanctions. The conflict has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Saudi Arabia is hosting the ne...

China, Russia foreign ministers among group meeting in India

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

PANAJI, India (AP) — Foreign ministers from a group of nations led by China and Russia met Friday in the Indian coastal resort state of Goa, where they were expected to discuss regional security, combating terrorism and deepening economic and cultural ties.India’s Foreign Minister Subhramanyam Jaishankar in opening remarks to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a group that includes China, Russia and several other Asian countries — criticized global institutions’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to resolve geopolitical upheaval, saying that alternative forums like the SCO have an opportunity to help address such challenges.He said the developments have disrupted global supply chains, especially in energy, food and fertilizer, and hit developing nations the hardest.“These crises have also exposed a credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and efficient manner,” he said. “With more than 40% ...

DOJ finds 'insider witness' in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents probe: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

(The Hill) - The Justice Department has found an “insider witness” as investigators probe former President Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to a new report.The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the unidentified person now cooperating confidentially with the investigation has worked for Trump at Mar-a-Lago. According to the report, the scope of how the insider witness has helped the federal prosecutors is not yet clear, nor is the timeline of the person’s cooperation, but the witness reportedly gave investigators a picture of the storage room where some materials were held. The investigation, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, has shown signs of intensifying. The new insider witness, the Times reports, appears as part of a broader effort to figure out whether Trump personally ordered boxes of the sensitive material to be moved out of the storage room. Investigators are looking into whether Trump failed or refused t...

Leaked video shows Tucker Carlson musing about 'pillow fights' in women's bathroom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

(The Hill) - Newly revealed video of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson shows him asking a female makeup artist about what goes on in the women's bathroom. “Can I ask you a question?” Carlson is seen asking. “You don't have to answer, it’s personal ... I’m not speaking of you, but more in general with ladies, when they go to the ladies room and powder their noses, is there actually nose-powdering going on?”"Sometimes," the makeup artist says, to which Carlson replies "Oh ... I like the sound of that.”"Do pillow fights ever break out?” Carlson asks, “You don’t have to, you don’t have to ... OK. Not in the bathroom. That’d be more a dorm activity.”The host is then seen telling the artists that she is a "good sport" and thanking her for applying his makeup. The video is just the latest in a string of videos of Carlson leaked to Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog, since his exit at Fox News. Earlier videos showed him referring to a woman as "yummy" and deriding Fox's...