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After overcrowding situations, cats finding new homes through the Animal Rescue League of Boston

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

Kitty love is abounding so far this year at the Animal Rescue League of Boston.Just a handful of cats taken in last week from an overcrowding situation in Bristol County remain up for adoption. The 19 others from the bunch of two dozen have already found new homes, ARL media relations officer Mike DeFina told the Herald on Friday.“These cats for the most part are social, they are friendly,” DeFina said. “They may need a little bit more time to settle into their new homes, but really it’s only a matter of having patience and letting them settle in on their own. They will be great pets.”DeFina declined to comment where specifically the cats came from in Bristol County, but their caretaker had been working with the ARL over the past several years to ensure the cats were in good care, he said.The ARL has taken in three other large influxes of cats that had been involved in separate overcrowding situations, and less than a dozen remain available.Altogether, the organization has rescued m...

Robbins: Jan. 6 becomes Rashomon for Republican Party

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

Former Vice President Mike Pence made news last Saturday by saying something that shouldn’t have been news at all. Twenty-six months after an insurrectionist mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, beating the daylights out of police and seeking to overthrow an election so that Donald Trump could remain in power, Pence was ready to make a momentous announcement. “Make no mistake about it,” he told attendees at the Gridiron Club’s no-cameras-allowed dinner, “what happened that day was a disgrace, and it mocks decency to portray it any other way.”To Pence’s credit, confirming what everyone playing with a full deck could see with their own eyes is political suicide for anyone harboring a modicum of hope of winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, and somehow or other Pence harbors half a modicum. His speech was a direct challenge to Fox’s Tucker Carlson, who has amped up his Off-The-Deep-End Tour by stitching together snippets of Jan. 6 footage to make it look like noth...

Massachusetts, here comes a nasty nor’easter: Up to 22 inches of snow in spots, ‘blizzard-like conditions at times’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

After a pretty quiet December, January and February, of course now comes a wicked powerful nor’easter in mid-March.The strongest snowstorm of the year will likely be a real feast-or-famine situation across the Bay State, with close to 2 feet of heavy snow getting dumped on some spots while others might not even record an inch.But wherever you live in Massachusetts, this whopper of a storm is going to bring potentially damaging wind gusts that could spark power outages.Heavy wet snow weighing down on trees and power lines could also lead to power outages — with the highest risk for snow load issues in central Massachusetts and the Berkshires.“The biggest snow totals will be in the higher elevations of northern Worcester County and in the slopes of the Berkshires, where they could see 18 inches,” said Alan Dunham, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Boston office. “Locally, some spots could see up to 22 inches.”Boston could record ...

BPS expands early college and career pathway programs

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

BPS is taking a step forward in their commitment to expand assistance to students on the path to college and careers, the district announced Monday, with the launch of the pilot “Year 13” and STEM technical programs in the 2023-24 school year.“These partnerships are a shining example of what can be achieved when post-secondary, business and philanthropic institutions come together as a village to support BPS and our students,” said Superintendent Mary Skipper in a BPS release. “Expanding early college and career pathways across BPS is a key part of our strategy.”The Year 13 program will be implemented at Fenway High School through a partnership with UMass Boston, allowing seniors to remain in high school for an extra year to take college coursework at UMass Boston. Under the program, seniors may ultimately complete their first two years of college for free while in high school.The STEM Tech Career Academy will likewise be implemented at Dearborn S...

MassGOP advised to drop suit against party treasurer begun under ousted chair

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

The outside legal counsel hired by the MassGOP to help them sort through some ongoing inter-party drama is advising them to drop a lawsuit started by the ousted former chairman against his own treasurer.“It is my strong recommendation that the Committee agree to voluntarily dismiss this lawsuit in an exchange for an agreement by Mr. Crowley to drop his counterclaims,” Brian Kelly, a former federal prosecutor, wrote to the party committee. “There is no valid economic or legal reason for the Committee to continue to pursue this litigation.”Kelly, perhaps best known as the prosecutor who put infamous Winter Hill Gang boss James “Whitey” Bulger away for life, was brought on by the state Republican party in February after it was revealed that the MassGOP, under former Chairman Jim Lyons, had accumulated upwards of $600,000 in outstanding bills which were coming due in the midst of ongoing legal action started by Lyons.The former chairman, who lost his job in January to Chairw...

Ravens free agency tracker 2023: Tight end Josh Oliver to Vikings, guard Ben Powers to Broncos

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

Welcome to the Ravens’ free-agency tracker, which will be updated throughout the offseason.With the NFL’s new league year beginning Wednesday at 4 p.m., teams can officially announce signings and trades. Here’s a rundown of who the Ravens have agreed to sign, who they’ve lost and who’s still on the open market:Free agent lossesTight end Josh Oliver: The 25-year-old who spent the last two seasons in Baltimore and was one of team’s most improved players last season agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal with the Vikings on Monday, a source confirmed to The Baltimore Sun.A third-round pick by the Jaguars in 2019 who was traded to the Ravens in March 2021, Oliver played in all 17 games last season, starting nine of them. In addition to being one of the league’s better blockers, he also caught 14 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns.In return, the Ravens are in line to get a compensatory sixth-round draft pick in 2024, per a formula that tak...

Orioles observations on Hudson Haskin’s home run, Kyle Gibson’s strong start and more

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

One swing in a Grapefruit League game between two split-squad teams won’t change the organizational perception of a player, but Hudson Haskin took advantage of the opportunity presented to him Monday.Baltimore’s second-round pick in 2020, Haskin was perhaps the most notable exclusion when it came to prospects the Orioles brought to major league spring training as nonroster invitees. An outfielder Baseball America ranks as the organization’s No. 26 prospect, Haskin got his first opportunity to play in a big league exhibition on the home side of Monday’s split-squad contest, homering as a pinch hitter in his first at-bat.“Anytime you can get out here, big league atmosphere, is something to try not to take for granted,” Haskin said. “I was glad I was able to go out there and do something positive, help the team.”Haskin, 24, had an .821 OPS with 15 home runs last year with Double-A Bowie. The Orioles’ nonroster invitees included an o...

Celtics’ Marcus Smart fined $25,000 after scuffle with Hawks’ Trae Young

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

Marcus Smart was fined $25,000 by the NBA for “initiating an on-court altercation” with Hawks star Trae Young near the end of the Celtics’ victory in Atlanta on Saturday night.With 1:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, Smart was trailing Young on a drive into the paint when the Hawks guard inadvertently kicked him in the groin while going up for a shot. Smart, clearly thinking the contact was intentional, immediately confronted Young. The two went face to face before Smart looked like he lost his balance. He fell to the ground and brought Young with him in the scuffle.After a lengthy review, Smart and Young were assessed double technical fouls but Smart was ejected. After the game, crew chief Sean Wright explained that Smart was ejected for the “grab and take down” of Young, but that Young’s actions “did not rise to the level of an ejection.”Young made both technical free throws to cut the Celtics’ lead to six but Boston closed out a 134-125 victory to start the road trip.Smart has ...

Giants OL Nick Gates lands big payday with Washington Commanders: sources

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

Nick Gates’ three-year free agent agreement with the NFC East rival Washington Commanders isn’t surprising considering how close he was to not being a Giant last season.Gates had tears in his eyes in the Giants’ locker room early in the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 6. Quarterback Daniel Jones crossed the room, hugged him and said a few private words.Gates had been informed just days before the team’s Week 1 opener in Tennessee that he was going to be released.He was still rehabbing from his devastating 2021 compound leg fracture. He was being cut without ever getting the chance to prove he could still play in the NFL.In the next few hours, after some conversations, the Giants’ plans changed. The team retained Gates, eventually opened his practice window, and gave him a chance to prove he could still play.Gates played in 10 regular season games, starting eight, and played in both playoff games, helping the Giants to their first postseason appearance since...

Nets’ No. 1 defense responsible for season-swinging stretch

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:37 GMT

One thing has become increasingly clear about the second rendition of the 2022-23 Brooklyn Nets as they look to position themselves in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.The defense is no fluke.It’s become evident of a Nets team now in the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 seed after winning five of their last six games, including a 4-1 record in their last five road games with the final leg of a five-game trip coming in Oklahoma City against the Thunder on Tuesday.The offense may be a concern, specifically in crunch time, but the Nets will always be able to lean on their defense, and it’s largely responsible for the team’s newfound success in the aftermath of the trades that sent Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving out West.Scoring, of course, was the most glaring concern in the days immediately following the Feb. 9 NBA Trade Deadline: The Nets shipped out Irving, and then Durant, within 48 hours of one another, forfeiting two of the most feared scorers in NBA histor...