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Gov. Healey appoints Patrick Lavin as MassDOT Chief Safety Officer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey has appointed Patrick Lavin to the position of MassDOT Chief Safety Officer, city officials said in an announcement Monday.Lavi, who begins his new role on May 8, has 40 years of experience in transportation safety and operations, including as a subject matter expert and technical writer to the MBTA Safety Review Panel in 2019. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Safety Officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Senior Director for Operations in the Office of System Safety of New York City Transit.The MassDOT Chief Safety Officer is a new position created by Healey. In this role, Lavin will report directly to the secretary of transportation and MBTA general manager and serve as the primary representative for overall safety issues relating to transportation.“Pat Lavin is a dedicated public transportation expert who shares our administration’s commitment to improving safety and reliability across our transportation sys...

At least 9 teens injured after shots fired at Texas after-prom party

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

(CNN) — At least nine teenagers suffered non-life-threatening injuries after shots were fired at an after-prom party in Texas, according to local police.Deputies from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office responded to a disturbance at a home north of Jasper just after midnight, the agency said in a Facebook post on Sunday morning.Deputies found nine victims with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Facebook post.The victims range in age from 15 to 19 years old, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Karli Cherry told CNN in an email Sunday morning.The injured victims were sent to local hospitals for treatment, according to the sheriff’s office.“This investigation is ongoing and people of interest are being questioned,” the post added.Jasper is located in eastern Texas, around 40 miles west of the Texas-Louisiana border.

Luis Severino guiding Jhony Brito through his early MLB arrival

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

Hours before Jhony Brito’s final start of spring training, Luis Severino checked in with the pitcher who ultimately replaced him in the Yankees’ rotation.News of Severino’s latest injury, a lat strain, broke the day before, and everyone around the Yankees knew Brito’s start doubled as an audition. Everyone, that is, except for Brito.The possibility of beginning the season in the majors “never crossed my mind,” Brito told the Daily News. “I didn’t think it was possible.”The 25-year-old had never pitched above Triple-A, and he ranked 27th on the organization’s list of prospects. Brito assumed that, after already losing Carlos Rodon and Frankie Montas, the Yankees would add an experienced starter as teams made cuts at the end of camp.Severino set the youngster straight and explained the opportunity.“I just told him, ‘This is it, bro. If you impress today, you’re gonna make the team,’” Severino tol...

Pat Leonard’s 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Projecting picks 1 through 31

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

The Daily News’ one and only 2023 mock draft has the Giants and Jets both going offense and five quarterbacks getting drafted in the first round.Here is how the News’ Pat Leonard believes the board could fall on Thursday night:1. Carolina Panthers (from Chicago): Bryce Young, QB, AlabamaAn expensive trade up from No. 9 overall lands owner David Tepper a new franchise QB.2. Houston Texans: C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio StateThe Texans have Davis Mills and Case Keenum at quarterback right now. We’ll believe Houston GM Nick Caserio is going to pass on a QB here when we see it.3. Arizona Cardinals: Devon Witherspoon, CB, IllinoisNew GM Monti Ossenfort would like to trade back with a QB needy team. But if he doesn’t, new coach Jonathan Gannon gets a tough, consensus All-American corner to build his secondary.4. Indianapolis Colts: Will Levis, QB, KentuckyGM Chris Ballard should be trading for Ravens former MVP Lamar Jackson. Instead, he selects the strong-armed Wildcats Q...

Mayor: Napoli title will set off ‘big earthquake of joy’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Before Gaetano Manfredi was elected mayor of Naples in 2021, he was a university professor specializing in seismic engineering — preparing and designing buildings to withstand earthquakes.As Manfredi rose up to become chancellor of the University of Naples Federico II, a study was commissioned to measure the impact of fans celebrating goals scored by the Napoli soccer club inside what is now known as the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.“The engineering department building is near the stadium and there’s a seismograph there that whenever Napoli scored would record enough shaking that it nearly registered as an earthquake,” Manfredi told The Associated Press in a recent interview.So what magnitude might the university seismograph record when Napoli wins its first Italian league title in more than three decades? With a 17-point lead and seven games remaining, the first chance to clinch comes this weekend — a long holiday weekend for May Day (Europe’s Labor Day)...

Syrian pro-government media say Israel shelled border town

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian pro-government media said Israel shelled targets in southern Syria early on Monday, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, causing unspecified material damage. There was no immediate comment from Israel or a statement from the Syrian government.The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper and Sham FM radio said Israeli forces targeted the town of Talat Qars al-Nafl in Quneitra province but did not mention any casualties. Al-Watan posted a video of the attack, showing an explosion from what it said was one of the targets being hit in the distance.A Britain-based war monitor, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the shelling targeted militias linked to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in Quneitra. It said that Israel had struck targets in the same area last Tuesday. Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighboring Syria in recent year...

Waste Connections founder and exec chairman Ronald Mittelstaedt returns to CEO role

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

TORONTO — Waste Connections Inc. says founder and executive chairman Ronald Mittelstaedt has returned to his role as chief executive officer after the departure of Worthing Jackman from the top job.The solid waste services company says Jackman has also stepped down from its board of directors and withdrawn his name as a nominee at the company’s 2023 annual meeting.Mittelstaedt served as chief executive from 1997 until July 2019, when ‎he moved into the role of executive chairman.In connection with his reappointment as chief executive, Mittelstaedt will remain on the board but give up his role as executive chairman.Michael Harlan, the company’s lead independent director, has been named chairman.The company also reaffirmed its financial outlook for 2023 that it provided in February. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:WCN)The Canadian Press

Minnesota officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright freed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kim Potter, the Minnesota police officer who mistook her gun for a Taser and killed Daunte Wright in 2021, was released from prison early Monday.The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Potter was set free around 4 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution.” The department confirmed Friday she would be released Monday but declined to say what time out of security concerns.Potter, a white officer for a suburban Minneapolis department, fatally shot Wright, 20, who was Black, during a traffic stop in April 2021. The shooting happened during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed George Floyd, and Wright’s death set off several days of protests.The Associated Press

Report: Yacht with 3 Russians, 2 Egyptians missing off Yemen

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A yacht carrying three Russians and two Egyptians reportedly went missing days ago off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea. Its owner alleged on Monday that armed pirates took the vessel. The reported disappearance of the 30 Minutes, a 19-meter (62-foot) yacht registered in Panama to a Russian based in Dubai, comes as other vessels have faced attacks from Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels amid the war tearing apart the Arab world’s poorest nation. However, the Houthis did not immediately acknowledge taking the vessel and details about the ship remain scarce. The 30 Minutes last sent location data showing that it was off Farasan Island near Jazan, Saudi Arabia, on April 19, owner Dmitriy Chuguevskiy told The Associated Press. The vessel then disappeared, not reaching Djibouti, where it had been scheduled to arrive, he said. Chuguevskiy said the ship did not carry an Automatic Identification System transponder, which is standard for ship...

Proud Boys leaders’ trial jurors to hear closing arguments

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A historic trial over the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection is drawing to a close, with prosecutors and defense lawyers set to make their final appeals to jurors before they decide the fate of Proud Boys extremist group leaders charged with plotting to use force to keep then-President Donald Trump in power. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to begin hearing closing arguments on Monday after more than three months of testimony in the seditious conspiracy case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants. Tarrio is one of the top targets of the Justice Department’s investigation of the riot that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump. Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C., that day but is accused of orchestrating an attack from afar.The Justice Department has already secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and m...