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Biden and McCarthy are projecting optimism, but there’s still no debt limit deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

(CNN) — The clock is ticking for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to come to agreement to avoid a first-ever default on the nation’s debt. And although there are some positive signs suggesting they’re closer to a consensus, there is still no deal.They face a looming deadline, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reaffirming in a letter to McCarthy on Monday that it is “highly likely” that the US Treasury will not be able to pay all of its bills in full and on time as soon as June 1.While McCarthy emerged from a meeting at the White House with Biden on Monday evening without a deal, he underscored that both parties are united in their goal of reaching an agreement to raise the nation’s debt limit before the country defaults.“I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet, but I did feel the discussion was productive in areas that we have differences of opinion,” McCarthy said outside the West Wing, adding that the “tone” of Mo...

Boston will install more speed humps, increase ‘No Turn on Red’ intersections as fatal pedestrian crashes jump across Massachusetts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

With drivers speeding down side streets in city neighborhoods and fatal pedestrian crashes rising across Massachusetts, Boston will soon install more speed humps and add more “No Turn on Red” intersections in the hopes of making streets safer.Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday announced the city’s “Safety Surge,” a street safety program designed to curb speeding, reduce crashes, and make neighborhoods safer for walking, biking, and driving.As part of the Safety Surge, the city will build 10 speed hump zones each year. Speed humps encourage driving at speeds of no more than 20 to 25 miles per hour.“As more and more speeding cars are cutting through our residential side streets, even front yards on a previously quiet neighborhood residential street are now quite scary for parents,” Wu said at a Monday press conference in Mattapan.“In many cases, kids are no longer able to play outside in the front yard,” she added.Fatal pedestrian crashes...

‘Labor of love’: Melissa McCarthy, Halle Bailey splash on making of ‘The Little Mermaid’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

The live action reboot of Disney’s classic animated “The Little Mermaid,” expected to swamp the Memorial Day holiday box-office, has been a long time coming.“This has been such a long labor of love” Melissa McCarthy observed in a virtual global press conference. “It has taken a while to make this beautiful thing.”Looking every bit like the gazillion dollars it took to make, this is an extravagantly mounted mix of actors – Javier Bardem’s King Triton, McCarthy’s Ursula the Witch, Halle Bailey’s Little Mermaid Ariel – and Ariel’s animated allies, the forgetful fish Flounder (voiced  by Jacob Tremblay), the protective crab Sebastian (Daveed Diggs) and the ditzy diving bird Scuttle (Awkwafina).McCarthy credits Rob Marshall, the Oscar-nominated directing veteran (“Chicago,” “Mary Poppins Returns”) who first boarded this starry ship in 2018, with making “Mermaid” work.“Rob sets up this world. It feels so small but it’s this enormous thing,” she said.“The idea is if we all do our best, may...

Orioles minor league report: Jackson Holliday off to ‘rare’ start at High-A, where other top prospects struggled

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

In the opening game of High-A Aberdeen’s series last week at Winston-Salem, Orioles shortstop prospect Jackson Holliday came a single shy of a cycle. He hit a two-run home run in his first at-bat, a two-run double in his second and a two-run triple in his third, but a fourth never came. Rain in North Carolina ended the game after five innings.“I was kind of bummed out for him,” Aberdeen hitting coach Zach Cole said. “He’s like, ‘It’s fine. I’ll do it again. We’ll be there again.’”There’s little reason to doubt Holliday, ranked baseball’s No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 6 prospect by Baseball America. At 19 years old, the first overall pick in the 2022 draft is dominating High-A, a level many of his predecessors among top Orioles prospects have struggled. A day after the rain-shortened game, he went 5-for-6 with two singles, a double and two triples, driving in five more runs. He ended the week batti...

Red Sox prospect Chase Meidroth turning heads

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

This time last year Chase Meidroth was still in college, a junior infield standout looking to help the University of San Diego baseball team gear up for its conference tournament.He could scarcely have imagined the journey that awaited in the weeks and months to come.Taken in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Meidroth has rocketed through the Red Sox minor league ranks and now stands as one of the fastest-rising prospects in the organization. Since making his professional debut last August, the 21-year-old has been promoted three times, playing three games of rookie ball before earning promotion after just one month at both Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville.Since being called up to Double-A Portland earlier this month he’s shown no signs of slowing down, but amid all the early success Meidroth is striving to live in the moment and enjoy the ride.“It’s been fun. I’m just trying to embrace every moment,” Meidroth said last week. “I haven’...

Robbins: Democrats the ones with egg on their faces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

From National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to Congressman George Santos, Donald Trump has promoted, deployed and spawned an epic parade of dishonest lawbreakers in his own mold. Democrats have had a justifiable field day pointing out what can euphemistically be called the “unsuitability” of Trump’s acolytes for public office.Now it is the Republicans’ turn for a field day. Hours before the release of reports by the Justice Department’s Inspector General and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel detailing her arrogant spree of rule-breaking and law-breaking, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachael Rollins announced that she would be resigning.The reports documented a series of violations of the Hatch Act – the federal criminal statute prohibiting one in Rollins’ position from using her office for partisan political purposes – as well as ethical rules and the law making it a federal crime to knowingly make false statements under oath. Rollins had committed them...

Don Orsillo forever connected to Red Sox

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Two walls of Don Orsillo’s office at Petco Park are covered in photographs.It’s a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of baseball legends and current stars he’s worked with throughout his career. Commissioner Rob Manfred, Pedro Martinez, Dennis Eckersley, and of course, his close friend and longtime Red Sox partner, the late Jerry Remy, feature prominently.But it’s a small cloth patch smack-dab in the middle of the larger wall’s array that draws the eye. Its circular shape contrasts with the angular photos that surround it, as does the embroidery atop the black background: a large, white ‘2,’ and ‘Remy’ in smaller, red letters above it.It’s one of the patches Red Sox players wore on their jerseys throughout the 2022 season in honor of Remy, who’d passed away the previous October after battling cancer for many years. Orsillo wasn’t able to be a part of the April 2022 ceremony at Fenway, a situation that pained him deeply.It’s the first of many topics about which he’s an ope...

Double shooting in Mississauga leaves male, female in critical condition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

Two people are fighting for their lives in hospital after a shooting in Mississauga.Police were called to the area of Bristol Road and Whitehorn Avenue, just east of Creditview Road, after 9:30 p.m. on Monday.A male and a female were found a the scene with gunshot wounds. Both victims were brought to hospital in life-threatening condition.Police tell CityNews there was an outdoor gathering in the area when shots were fired.The suspects fled the area before officers arrived. No suspect information has been made available.Investigators say the shooting was an isolated incident and there are no public safety concerns.Anyone with information is being asked to contact police.

Blinken warns rival Sudanese generals to respect latest truce or face possible sanctions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sudan’s rival generals to abide by the latest cease-fire or face possible sanctions as residents reported sporadic fighting Tuesday between the warring sides in the capital of Khartoum and a northern city.Sudan descended into chaos after fighting erupted in mid-April between the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting has killed hundreds, wounded thousands and turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. Early on, foreign governments raced to evacuate their diplomats and nationals as thousands of foreign residents scrambled to get out of Sudan. More than 1 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes by the fighting.Over the past weeks, the United States and Saudi Arabia have been mediating in talks between the warring sides, held in the kingdom. A new truce was announced over the weeken...

Police in Portugal resume search for Madeleine McCann, British child missing since 2007

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:23 GMT

ARADE DAM, Portugal (AP) — Portuguese police aided by German and British colleagues on Tuesday resumed their search for Madeleine McCann, the British child who disappeared in the country’s southern Algarve region 16 years ago.Between 20 and 30 officers, some in uniform, could be seen in the area by the Arade dam, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old was last seen alive in 2007.Portuguese police had set up a blue base tent and cordoned off the area to the media and public. Eyewitnesses said police began searching shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday in an area some kilometers (miles) away from the tent. More than a dozen cars and police vans could be seen arriving in the area.On Monday, Portuguese detectives issued a statement saying the search was being resumed at the request of German authorities and with help from British officials.German prosecutors in Braunschweig said in a written statement Tuesday that “criminal procedural measures are currently taki...