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Gold Star memories

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

Military families wearing yellow roses and blazers in honor of loved ones who died protecting their country found consolation this holiday season from state lawmakers and officials Monday who expressed poignant appreciation and ongoing support for veterans.Standing near a Christmas tree decorated with photographs of fallen service members, Massachusetts Gold Star families — including spouses, parents and young children — recited the names of their departed relatives.Sawyer Degon is held by his mother Courtney as he mentions his father Sgt. Mac Degon of Quincy who died while serving as an Army Ranger in 2021. (Chris Christo/Boston Herald)The father of U.S. Air Force member Jacob Galliher, the 24-year-old Pittsfield native who died in an aircraft crash off Japan on Nov. 29, read his son’s name during the annual ceremony as Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Veterans’ Services Secretary Jon Santiago, Senate President Karen Spilka and other elected officia...

Robbins: Biden deflects Left to stand strong with Israel

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

Taking the podium at an event in Boston last Tuesday, Joe Biden wasted no time taking aim at a leading progressive’s hemming and hawing when asked to condemn Hamas’ mass rape of Israeli women on Oct. 7. Two days earlier, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal had tried to duck journalist Dana Bash’s questioning about Hamas’ atrocities, which included rapes so violent that they broke women’s pelvic bones before Hamas gunmen shot their victims in the genitals and the head.Biden summoned reporters into the closed session precisely in order to broadcast his repudiation of Jayapal to the world. “Over the past weeks,” he began, “survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty. Reports of women raped – repeatedly raped – and their bodies mutilated while still alive, of women’s corpses being desecrated, Hamas’ terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It’s appalling.”Calling out...

15 airmen disciplined after Jack Teixeira investigation at Massachusetts Air National Guard base

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

The fallout continues from Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira allegedly posting military secrets online, leading to 15 airmen being disciplined, including commanders who “were not vigilant in inspecting the conduct of all persons who were placed under their command.”FULL TEXT: Air Force IG reportThat’s according to the results of an Air Force Inspector General investigation that was sparked by the federal arrest of Teixeira, who’s accused of leaking classified documents. Teixeira was an information technology specialist at the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod.The Air Force IG report blamed Teixeira’s alleged actions as the primary cause of the top secret leak, but there were “also a number of contributing factors, both direct and indirect, that enabled the unauthorized disclosures to occur and continue over an extended period of time,” the investigators found.Beginning in September, Air Nati...

Jaw-dropping details emerge regarding Shohei Ohtani’s contract

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

When news of Shohei Ohtani’s historic 10-year, $700 million deal broke, reports suggested a significant amount of the money would be deferred to help reduce the Dodgers’ luxury tax burden.They weren’t kidding.According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, $680 million of Ohtani’s $700 million will be deferred to the end of the contract. Ohtani will be paid $2 million annually over the life of the deal, and the remaining money will be paid without interest from 2034 to 2043.Ohtani reportedly proposed the idea himself, and by deferring such a large portion of his salary, Ohtani will substantially reduce his contract’s luxury tax burden on the Dodgers, allowing the club to continue spending and add even more talent to their roster. According to Ardaya, Ohtani’s deal is expected to carry an average annually luxury tax hit of about $46 million.Deferred money in MLB deals is nothing new. The New York Mets are famously still paying six-time All-Star Bobby B...

Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the ongoing malaise in the toy business

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO (AP Retail Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Toy maker Hasbro said Monday it is cutting about 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season.The nearly century-old Rhode Island-based company behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in a memo to employees published in a regulatory filing. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. The company said that the reductions are on top of 800 job cuts that have been taken so far in 2023 as part of moves announced last year to save up to $300 million annually by 2025. As of year-end 2022, the company said it had 6,490 employees.Like many toy companies, Hasbro is struggling with a slowdown in sales after a surge during pandemic lockdowns when parents were splurging on toys to keep their children busy. Last holiday season, many toy companies had to slash prices to get rid of merchandise due to weak demand. And the ...

Diehl sets sites on state Senate, with $31.35 in bank

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

After a pair of unsuccessful statewide campaigns, veteran Republican candidate Geoff Diehl of Whitman might now be eyeing a second pass at joining the Massachusetts Senate.Diehl filed paperwork Monday updating the office sought on his campaign account from governor, for which he challenged last year, to the Senate’s Second Plymouth and Norfolk District.With the change, Diehl will start his potential campaign with $31.35 in the bank, according to the last monthly report filed with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.The potential campaign could be a rematch. While serving as a state representative, Diehl lost to current Democrat Michael Brady of Brockton in a 2015 special election for the Second Plymouth and Bristol Senate District.Brady continues to represent the district, which is now the Second Plymouth and Norfolk District following the latest decennial redistricting. He cruised to reelection in 2022 over Republican challenger Jim Gordon with nearly 64 percent of t...

Google's Year in Search: What San Diegans searched for the most this year

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diegans searched "pickleball courts near me" more than any other place in the U.S. did this year. Did you search for what everyone else did? Here's how you can find out. Did you search for Hurricane Hilary on Google this year? Dillon Danis vs Logan Paul? How about Pilates near me? If you did, then you are part of the millions of San Diego County residents who also did. San Diego among SoCal cities ranked ‘Best Places to Live in the U.S.’ by Money California-based tech giant Google released its "Year in Search" roundup of this year's top searches globally, nationally and locally. The Israel-Hamas war dominated the trending news for the year globally, along with other worldwide events. Top searches this year included the Titanic submarine, turkey earthquake, and Hurricane Hilary, which came through San Diego County as Tropical Storm Hilary in August -- the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. Hilary was downgraded from a hurricane ...

Tensions between Congo and Rwanda heighten the risk of military confrontation, UN envoy says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Tensions between Congo and Rwanda have escalated, heightening the risk of a military confrontation that could draw in Burundi, the top U.N. official in Congo warned the Security Council on Monday.Special representative Bintou Keita’s warning came shortly before the ambassadors from Congo and Rwanda traded accusations in the council, and nine days ahead of Congo’s Dec. 20 presidential election, in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a second term against two dozen candidates.As voting nears, Congo’s government is also doubling down on a push to have regional and international peacekeeping forces withdraw, including the U.N.’s more than 17,700-member force. A regional force of officers from East African countries began leaving eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, last week.Tshisekedi has long accused Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, of providing military support to M23 rebels, the latest iteration of Congolese Tutsi fighters to seize towns in p...

Boeing promotes insider to chief operating officer, putting her in the discussion about the next CEO

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Boeing has promoted the head of its services business to chief operating officer, putting the female executive in discussion as a potential heir apparent to CEO David Calhoun in a male-dominated industry.Boeing said Monday that Stephanie Pope’s elevation to the job, which includes the title of executive vice president, takes effect Jan. 1.Pope has spent nearly 30 years at Boeing, holding down key financial jobs in the company’s defense, commercial airplanes and services divisions. She became CEO of the services unit last year.Some industry observers were quick to tap Pope, 51, as a contender to become the aerospace company’s next CEO. Richard Aboulafia, managing director of aerospace consultant AeroDynamic Advisory, named Pope and Chief Financial Officer Brian West as potential successors to Calhoun.Calhoun, 66, has held the top job since January 2020, when he replaced Dennis Muilenburg, who was fired during the fallout from two fatal crashes involv...

George Santos is in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:10:59 GMT

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos is in negotiations to resolve his federal criminal fraud case, prosecutors said in a court filing Monday.“The parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace’s office wrote in the filing.Santos is scheduled to appear in court on Long Island for a hearing in the case Tuesday. He acknowledged in an interview that aired Sunday that he hadn’t ruled out pleading guilty.“The trial is not until September and a plea is not off the table. So there’s obviously conversations taking place, especially after what happened in Congress, and we’ll see,” he said in the interview with CBS 2, referring to his expulsion from Congress earlier this month.Asked if he is afraid of going to jail, Santos responded: “I think everybody should be afraid of going to jail, it’s not a pretty place and uh, I definitely want to work very hard to avoid th...