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BPS lays out transportation bus contract, accountability demands

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

BPS has laid out a thorough explanation of the new transportation contract with controversial incumbent-bidder Transdev — finally providing fuller answers to questions long-raised by watchdog investigators and a skeptical community.“We have put out a contract that requires (Transdev) to put their money where their mouth is,” BPS Transportation Director Daniel Rosengard said. “They have shown us and told us that they are willing to take on that challenge and that they believe they can continue to improve and hit the performance targets that we’ve set.”The contract was awarded to Transdev, the only bidder and BPS’s current transportation provider,  for a five-year term with the option of three one-year extensions at $17.5 million in December. BPS has presented the finalized version, including a long list of accountability measures.Major areas of adjustment in the contract, Assistant Director of Contract Operations and Fleet Jackie Hayes said, ...

Key additions on defense — but what’s next for offensive line? Brad Biggs’ 6 thoughts off Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles’ availability.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

Six thoughts after Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles conducted a brief media availability Thursday morning, recapping the trade of the No. 1 overall pick and the team’s initial foray into free agency.1. Like it or not, Ryan Poles will be linked to the 2023 draft’s No. 1 pick for years to come.If the Carolina Panthers select a quarterback that becomes a superstar, it will be the player Poles could have had. If another team finds a quarterback later in the draft that reaches the upper echelon — like the Kansas City Chiefs did in 2017 when Patrick Mahomes was the 10th pick and second passer chosen — it will be the player Poles could have had.Staying the path with Justin Fields and building around him makes sense for Poles and the Bears, and that is why continuing to surround the QB with talent and executing the trade to add wide receiver DJ Moore is easy to understand.“To add capital this year in the draft as well as the future and set ourselves up ...

Trump lead over DeSantis grows, Quinnipiac poll shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

Former President Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican party, according to the latest polling out of Quinnipiac University.“DeSantis might be the buzz in the GOP conversation, but for now Trump is seeing no erosion and, in fact, enjoys a bump in his lead in the Republican primary,” Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, said with the newest poll’s release.According to those polled, the 45th president’s lead among Republicans or Republican leaning voters against the governor of Florida has more than doubled over the last month, from 42-36 to 46-32.DeSantis is not running for president — officially — to do so would require him to leave office as the Sunshine State’s 46th governor; Trump announced his run in November.Despite this, and the fact the race does officially include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the contest for the conservative ticket, if you ask Republican voters, seems to center around the two Florida residents.“Trump’s gaining...

International Association of Fire Fighters files lawsuit in Dedham to remove ‘cancer-causing’ PFAS chemicals from gear

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

The International Association of Fire Fighters has filed a lawsuit to remove “cancer-causing” PFAS chemicals from firefighter protective gear.The labor union on Thursday in Dedham’s Norfolk County Superior Court sued the National Fire Protection Association, citing NFPA’s role in imposing a testing standard that effectively requires the use of PFAS in gear.PFAS, toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are found in firefighter bunker gear and have been linked to cancer, the leading cause of firefighter death. Nearly 75% of those honored at the 2022 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial died of occupational cancer.“The very gear designed to protect firefighters, to keep us safe, is killing us,” said General President Edward Kelly, adding that the testing standard from NFPA “needlessly requires the use of PFAS in firefighter gear.”“It’s about removing the cancer-causing chemicals in our gear and finding justice for our brother and ...

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations going on in Greater Boston this weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

Boston is going green this weekend at the annual parade in Southie isn’t the only fun to be had in town. Here’s a handful of events:FRIDAYOf course, it wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without a plate of corned beef and cabbage. Can’t cook? Head to the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton, there you will be greeted by Irish dancing and music, and vendors delivering Irish goods. Corned beef and cabbage will be served all day.The event runs from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Admission is $20, not including food and beverage.There will be many pub crawls in Boston the entire weekend. If you’re out of work Friday afternoon, head on out to Landsdowne Street for what’s dubbed as the city’s largest organized bar-hopping event for the holiday.The pub crawl starts at 1 p.m. at Game On and will make its way to a handful of other nearby bars. It runs through the day and night until 2 a.m. Saturday, so take it easy.SATURDAYPub crawls may be all the talk, but what about a pup crawl? Polkadog Bakery in Che...

Bluff collapses in North County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

CARDIFF, Calif. -- A bluff collapsed Thursday in the Cardiff area.Around 3:45 p.m., SkyFOX was over San Elijo State Beach, where a large amount of rocks and dirt were found piled onto the shoreline. Westbound SR-78 closure to last into weekend for emergency sinkhole repairs There are no injuries reported at this time.Check back for updates on this developing story.

REVIEW: Brother, the immigrant experience in the GTA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

Being the child of immigrants means living a life your parents work for and dream for. They take jobs cleaning, gardening, working security all in the hope that their children can live a better life. Brother is a film about living as that child, and the immense pressure that can come from that.Lamar Johnson and Aaron Pierre in Brother, courtesy of Elevation Pictures.Long time Toronto-based director Clement Virgo’s latest film takes a story of two brothers born and raised in Scarborough. Both of them react to the pressure of being a second generation immigrant differently. Michael (played by Lamar Johnson from the Last of Us) is the younger of two brothers born to Jamaican immigrant Ruth (played by Marsha Stephanie Blake from When They See Us). She works as a cleaner, barely making rent for their tiny two bedroom apartment, all in the hope that her two sons will be something better. The elder son, Francis (played by Aaron Pierre from Old), dreams for something more.Obsessed wit...

For 1st time, scientists create mice with cells from 2 males

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

Scientists have created baby mice with two fathers for the first time by turning male mouse stem cells into female cells in a lab.This raises the distant possibility of doing the same for people – although experts caution that very few mouse embryos were born alive and no one knows whether the same technique would work in human stem cells.Still, “It’s a very clever strategy that’s been developed for converting male stem cells to female stem cells,” said Diana Laird, a stem cell and reproductive expert at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research. “It’s an important step in both stem cell and reproductive biology.”Scientists described their work in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. First, they took skin cells from the tails of male mice and transformed them into “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which can develop into many different types of cells or tissues. Then, through a process that involved growing them and tr...

Newsom pledges 1,200 tiny homes for California’s homeless

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will spend about $30 million to build 1,200 small homes across the state this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday, part of a plan to help house the nation’s largest homeless population and to address an issue that has persistently plagued the state during the governor’s time in office.The homes, some as small as 120 square feet (11 square meters), can be assembled in 90 minutes and cost a fraction of what it takes to build permanent housing. Newsom said the homes can create space to help clear homeless encampments that have sprung up across the state’s major cities. Federal courts have ruled cities can’t clear homeless encampments if there are no shelter beds available.“We need to focus more energy and precision on addressing encampments,” Newsom said. “There’s no humanity there. People are dying on our watch.”Newsom announced the plans in Sacramento on the first stop of a planned four-city tour, where he has ...

10 charged in Irvo Otieno’s death at mental hospital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:22:59 GMT

DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — Video from a state mental hospital shows a Black Virginia man who was handcuffed and shackled being pinned to the ground by deputies who are now facing second-degree murder charges in his death, according to relatives of the man and their attorneys who viewed the footage Thursday.Speaking at a news conference shortly after watching the video with a local prosecutor, the family and attorneys condemned the brutal treatment they said Irvo Otieno, 28, was subjected to, first at a local jail and then at the state hospital where authorities say he died March 6 during the admission process.They called on the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying Otieno’s constitutional rights were clearly violated. “What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was traumatic. My son was tortured,” said Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko. Otieno’s case marks the latest example of a Black man’s in-custody death that ha...