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Investigation underway into cheating accusations at Mass. police training academies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

An investigation is underway and testing has been suspended after cheating accusations at Massachusetts police training academies, the state Municipal Police Training Committee’s executive director said on Friday. Municipal Police Training Committee Executive Director Robert Ferullo discussed the situation in a letter sent to police chiefs. In his letter, Ferullo said officials found several officers at academies in Holyoke and Boylston “compromised the integrity of testing procedures and materials in violation of our agency’s honor code and academy policies.”Ferullo said the committee had launched an internal investigation as of Friday. He also said the committee will also bring in an outside investigator to review the matter and provide policy recommendations. As investigations continue, Ferullo said the committee has suspended testing and added new measures including a new course quiz and test questions and enhanced test-taking software with more security measures.To da...

Dorchester man sentenced to life for binding, burning New Jersey woman in Bridgewater

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

A Dorchester man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of a 29-year-old New Jersey woman, who he bound, gagged and set on fire alongside commuter rail tracks in Bridgewater more than seven years ago.A Plymouth Superior Court jury on Wednesday found Fernando Owens, 51, guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping of Ashley Bortner, 29, of New Jersey, a woman he thought was involved in the death of his own son earlier that day.On Friday, Judge Elaine Buckley sentenced Owens to life in prison. He is the second of three people charged in connection with the murder. Julian Squires, 49, was found guilty of the same counts in June of last year and is currently serving life in state prison. Shannon Squires, 46, is next scheduled to appear in court on July 20.“I am proud of the work that this jury did to come to a just verdict in this case,” said Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz in a statement following Owens’ verdict. “They heard the evidence of what t...

Crews rescue dog trapped in Los Angeles County storm drain

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

Crews rescued a dog trapped in a storm drain in Avocado Heights Friday afternoon following an hours-long rescue mission.Authorities received calls about the trapped canine in a neighborhood on the 1500 block of South Delamare Drive around 4 p.m.Los Angeles County Fire Department crews responded to the scene. A firefighter initially lowered himself into the drain for some time before returning above ground without the dog.The dog appeared to be in a difficult position to reach or was scared and uncooperative.Crew members dropped a long dog harness into the sewer drain before asking a neighbor for a piece of rope to elongate the dog harness. Later, it appeared a hotdog sausage was attached to the rope to lure the dog.Firefighters rescued a dog trapped in a storm drain in Avocado Heights on June 23, 2023. (KTLA)Firefighters rescued a dog trapped in a storm drain in Avocado Heights on June 23, 2023. (KTLA)Firefighters rescued a dog trapped in a storm drain in Avocado Heights on June 23,...

Big Bay Boom among top July 4 fireworks in US: Yelp

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Looking for one of the best firework shows in the country? You don't have to go far if you are a San Diegan. Yelp ranked the Big Bay Boom as No. 2 on its list of best places in the U.S. to watch Fourth of July fireworks.Known as the biggest Fourth of July fireworks show on the West Coast, the Big Bay Boom fireworks launch from four barges across the San Diego Bay. Big Bay Boom: How to watch the fireworks show Popular locations to watch the show include the Flight Deck of the USS Midway, Shelter Island, Harbor Island, the Embarcadero, Seaport Village and the Coronado Ferry Landing.The show, which is expected to bring in up to half a million people, starts at 9 p.m. Coverage begins at 8 p.m. on FOX 5 and on fox5sandiego.com.Another California spot that made the list is the Fourth of July Celebration in Santa Barbara, which takes place along the city's waterfront.

What the Titanic submersible saga and the Greek migrant shipwreck say about our reactions to tragedy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

Across the span of nearly a week, the saga of a lost submersible that had gone into the depths of the ocean to see the Titanic wreckage rippled across the national and global conversation — culminating in news that the craft had imploded and its five occupants were dead.But a far bigger disaster days earlier, the wrecking of a ship off Greece filled with migrants that killed at least 80 people and left a horrifying 500 missing, did not become a moment-by-moment worldwide focus in anywhere near the same way.One grabbed unrelenting, moment-to-moment attention. One was watched and discussed as another sad, but routine, news story. What makes these two events at sea different in how they were received? Viewed next to each other, what do they say about human reactions to tragic news? And why did the saga of the submersible grab so much attention?AN UNKNOWN OUTCOME AND (WE THOUGHT) A TICKING CLOCKBy the time the world learned about the Greek shipwreck, the event had already taken place an...

Prigozhin, the mercenary chief urging an uprising against Russia’s generals, has long ties to Putin

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine. As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership.Prigozhin, owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, has escalated what have been months of scathing criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war by calling Friday for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and urging Prigozhin’s arrest.In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infrastructure, Tass ...

FAFSA deadline is quickly approaching

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

(WOOD) — The deadline is quickly approaching for U.S. students to submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid.According to a recent report, LendingTree estimates a 22% decrease in FAFSA applications for this upcoming academic year compared to last year, likely due to the pandemic. Judge blocks Florida ‘anti-drag’ law in response to Hamburger Mary’s lawsuit "We compared it to the first academic year of COVID, and we see that it is in fact lower just because there's been more time where people might not have been going to university and therefore not filing FAFSA," said Michael Kitchen, student loan managing editor at LendingTree.Despite the drop in total applications, there has been an increase in high school students applying. Kitchen said this shows a potential recovery in the number of people going to college and a decrease in the amount of available money left on the table."... College is, of course, very expensive, and so, any aid that you can get is really worthwhil...

Kenta Maeda dominant in Twins’ 4-1 victory over Detroit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

DETROIT — The Twins already have one of the best rotations in baseball, one that started Friday ranked first or second in six major pitching categories.Did it just get even better?Kenta Maeda, who finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting after the COVID-shortened 2020 season, made a brilliant — if relatively short — return to Minnesota’s rotation on Friday and mowed down the Detroit Tigers in a 4-1 victory at Comerica Park.Maeda scattered three hits in five scoreless innings, walking two and striking out eight, and Max Kepler hit a two-run home run as the Twins won three straight games for the first time since May 31-June 2.Jhoan Duran struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 10th save.After missing the last month and a half of 2021 and all of 2022 because of an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, Maeda struggled in four early starts this season, going 0-4 with a 9.00 earned-run average. He was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right triceps ...

17-year-old pleads guilty to random 2022 shooting death of businesswoman in St. Paul

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

A 17-year-old being tried as an adult pleaded guilty Friday in the “random and unprovoked” St. Paul shooting death of a 34-year-old businesswoman driving home from shopping for a dinner party.Melvin Dump Williams, of St. Paul, who was 15 at the time of the Feb. 16, 2022, shooting on the East Side, did not offer an explanation for why he shot Yuliya (Julia) Li after entering his guilty plea.Melvin Dump Williams (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)In exchange for his plea, the first count of second-degree intentional murder was dropped and he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder (drive-by shooting) in connection with the crime.According to the criminal complaint, Li was shot shortly before 7 p.m. after leaving a supermarket where she bought food and other items for a dinner party she had planned for Feb. 20.She was behind the wheel of her gray 2017 Mercedes‐Benz on Payne Avenue. She was waiting for traffic to clear so she could make a left turn onto Cook Aven...

Man charged with wounding 3 in St. Paul shooting, including his girlfriend and man walking his dog

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:59 GMT

Charges accuse a man of shooting and wounding three people in St. Paul this week — his girlfriend, her cousin and a 64-year-old man out for a walk with his dog — before climbing onto a roof to get away from officers.The Ramsey County attorney’s office on Friday charged Jaleel Jackson-Bey, 34, with felony domestic assault, possession of a firearm after conviction of a crime of violence and three counts of second-degree assault.The criminal complaint gives the following information:Jaleel Jackson-Bey (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)Multiple people called 911 about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday to report gunfire in the area of Cliff and Superior streets, off West Seventh Street. Officers found three people shot.A 25-year-old woman, Jackson-Bey’s girlfriend, was wounded in her leg, knee and wrist. A 22-year-old man, who the girlfriend said is her cousin, was shot through his foot. A man who lives in the area had substantial bleeding from his leg and a...