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Prepping for Swifties: Locals, authorities, businesses in Foxboro prepare and brace for impact of Taylor Swift concerts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

The stage is nearly set at Gillette Stadium for Taylor Swift’s three performances this weekend, with thousands of Swifties expected to have a big impact on the area.All the while, throughout the run of shows that start on Friday, authorities will be cracking down on who can get anywhere near the stadium.“Our goal is provide a safe and secure environment for everyone that goes to Gillette,” Foxboro Police Deputy Chief Richard Noonan said.It’s a departure from how things went down during the singer’s tour stop in Philadelphia last weekend, where some fans crowded the venue’s parking lot and set up lawn chairs instead of buying stadium tickets, leaving some “Bad Blood” with officials.It’s a workaround that won’t be an option in Foxboro, though, with a Kraft Sports and Entertainment spokesperson telling 7NEWS:“Guests will be required to show an event ticket to get into the parking lot and guests not holding a ticket will ...

Freezing temperatures overnight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

7Weather – After a Red Flag Warning was in place for increased fire danger today, the wind will relax and temperatures will fall at/below freezing with a Freeze Warning for inland locations tonight. Meanwhile, pollen is accumulating and driving our allergies crazy. We’ll look to the weekend for our next chance for rain.Windy, cooler and drier today. Highs this afternoon were mainly running 15 to 25 degrees cooler than yesterday in the upper 50s/low 60s. You likely noticed the gusty wind more than anything today! The wind combined with dry conditions created an increased risk for fire danger today. The Red Flag Warning that’s been up for a majority of Southern New England will expire at 8 pm. The wind will fade inland tonight. We’ll stay dry, clear and cooler. Those conditions will combine to really drop our temperatures overnight. You’ll want to bring in any potted plants on your porch or patio and cover sensitive vegetation to prevent damage. Take a lo...

Ticker: Ford recalls trucks for air bag issues; Maine regulators greenlight hydropower work 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

Ford is recalling more than 310,000 trucks in the U.S. because the driver’s front air bag may not inflate in a crash.The recall covers certain F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 Super Duty trucks from the 2016 model year.The company says dust can accumulate in a cable inside the steering wheel, interrupting the electrical connection. Ford says it’s not aware of any crashes or injuries caused by the problem.Dealers will replace the steering wheel wiring assembly at no cost to owners, who will be notified starting July 5.Owners may hear popping or clicking noises inside the steering wheel, or steering wheel switches and the horn might not work. They may also see an air bag warning light notifying them of the problem.Maine regulators greenlight hydropower workThe construction of a 145-mile transmission line in Maine will be able to resume now that the state has removed a suspension order on the project.The New England Clean Energy Connect project is no longer suspended, as it had bee...

MIAA Board of Directors: How can state attract more officials/referees?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

FRANKLIN — By now, it has become apparent that the official shortage in high school sports has morphed into quite a problem, and on a national level, no less.This recent development can be attributed to a multitude of issues, many of which truly reared their ugly heads during the worldwide pandemic. Now the MIAA is attempting to combat the problem directly by partnering with a unique organization, RefReps.“Your membership is saying that you’re the association of the Commonwealth,” said MIAA Executive Director Bob Baldwin. “What are you going to do to help us with the referee shortage? So, there’s a lot of things we’re doing. We’re helping sponsor some of the legislative bills, being behind those to make it safe for officials. But we need to set the tone with that, and we need to provide support and resources for the membership so we can grow the pool of officials.”During a meeting that lasted nearly two hours Wednesday, the MIAA and its Board of Directors attempted to cover a wide a...

Every state offers victim compensation. For the Longs and other Black families, it often isn’t fair

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

By CLAUDIA LAUER and MIKE CATALINI (Associated Press)The cold formality of the letter is seared in Debra Long’s memory.It began “Dear Claimant,” and said her 24-year-old son, Randy, who was fatally shot in April 2006, was not an “innocent” victim. Without further explanation, the New York state agency that assists violent-crime victims and their families refused to help pay for his funeral.Randy was a father, engaged to be married and studying to become a juvenile probation officer when his life was cut short during a visit to Brooklyn with friends. His mother, angry and bewildered by the letter, wondered: What did authorities see — or fail to see — in Randy?“It felt racial. It felt like they saw a young African American man who was shot and killed and assumed he must have been doing something wrong,” Long said of the decision from what was known as the New York Crime Victims Board. “But believe me when I say, not my son.&#...

Man who killed 8 in NYC terrorist attack gets 10 life sentences plus 260 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — An unrepentant and defiant Islamic extremist received 10 life sentences and another 260 years in prison on Wednesday for killing eight people with a truck on a bike path in Manhattan on Halloween in 2017, as a judge decried his “callous and cowardly” crimes.“The conduct in this case is among the worst, if not the worst I’ve ever seen,” said U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, as he announced a sentence designed to underscore the severity of the terrorist attack Sayfullo Saipov claimed he carried out on behalf of the Islamic State group.A life sentence was mandatory after a jury rejected the death penalty in March, but prosecutors had asked Broderick to impose eight consecutive life sentences and two concurrent life sentences. They also wanted an extra 260 years to send a stern message to other like-minded terrorists. And that’s what the judge did.Broderick cited the defiance of Saipo...

Chicago Bears call latest state plan to aid Arlington Heights move an ‘excellent foundation,’ but talks will continue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

Negotiations over proposed state assistance for the Chicago Bears’ move to northwest suburban Arlington Heights will continue into the summer as the team on Wednesday weighed in publicly for the first time on a plan before lawmakers that would offer the property tax “certainty” sought by club owners.The team and a coalition of business and labor groups said in a statement read during an Illinois House committee hearing that a proposal from Democratic state Rep. Marty Moylan of Des Plaines “provides an excellent foundation for the Chicago Bears to work closely with its coalition partners, including business and labor leaders, and with all the concerned municipalities to develop legislation over the summer that meets the needs of the Chicagoland region and powers one of the biggest construction projects in the state’s history.”Moylan told the committee that he plans to continue negotiating with the team and representatives from Chicago, Arlington He...

Three-way duel over app-based drivers’ classification returns to Beacon Hill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

A three-way duel over benefits, union representation, and employment classifications for app-based drivers is heating up again on Beacon Hill after a failed ballot question campaign last year.Massachusetts for Independent Work Coalition, backed by some of the largest gig companies, is advocating for legislation that would classify app-based rideshare and delivery drivers as independent contractors with some benefits like an earnings guarantee of $18 an hour.An opposing group says the proposal offers no protections to drivers and keeps them working for long hours with little pay. The Drivers Demand Justice Coalition wants state lawmakers to pass legislation that would give rideshare drivers the right to unionize.Some drivers with the Massachusetts Independent Work Coalition say unionization is a bad move that pigeonholes gig workers.Oscar Rendon said he has driven with Uber and Lyft for more than two years, which has allowed him the flexibility to take care of his mother and take her...

Study: Baltimore children moved from high-poverty to low-poverty areas saw their asthma improve

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

Angela Roberts | The Baltimore SunChildren with asthma whose families participated in a Baltimore program that helped move them from high-poverty neighborhoods to low-poverty ones saw their disease get significantly better, according to a study published Tuesday.The children experienced fewer asthma attacks after moving and struggled with symptoms on fewer days — improvements on par with medication used to treat the chronic condition, said Dr. Craig Pollack, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Hopkins School of Nursing and one of the study’s lead authors.Between 2016 and 2020, Pollack and a team of about a dozen other researchers followed a group of children whose families were working with the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership — a housing program established as a result of a legal settlement that seeks to combat housing segregation by providing housing vouchers and support to help families move to better resourced neighborhoods.Before mov...

Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm was playing with a broken foot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:39 GMT

So now we have a clue as to why Bruins’ defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s game dropped off so dramatically in the playoffs.In a communication with the Swedish publication Aftonbladet last week in explaining why he could not represent Sweden in the World Championships, Lindholm revealed that he’d just found out that he’d been playing with a fractured foot “for the past month,” he wrote in a text.Lindholm blocked a shot in the Bruins’ March 11 win over the Red Wings and did not play in the second half of the weekend back-to-back the next day. He was also given the March 26 game in Carolina off to take care of a nagging injury, coach Jim Montgomery said at the time.Those were the only two games he missed all season. Whether the fracture occurred in that March 11 game or there was subsequent trauma that caused the break is not clear.In the first year of an eight-year, $52 million deal, the big Swede enjoyed a breakout season in which he set a career high in poin...