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Editorial: MA needs to get tough on swatters

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

Mayor Michelle Wu was the latest victim of swatting in Boston – and on Christmas Day, no less.True to form, the hoaxer informed the Boston Police Department that a violent shooting had taken place at an address matching the mayor’s home in Roslindale, as the Herald’s Flint McColgan reported.There was, of course, no such incident, but the hoaxer’s damage was done: police time wasted and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent.It’s harassment, plain and simple, although sometimes the results are lethal, as in the death of the target who had been falsely accused of a violent crime like a homicide, a hostage situation or a bomb threat.Surely, the punishment for masterminding a swatting incident must be harsh.Wrong.The current law in Massachusetts states “Whoever intentionally and knowingly makes or causes to be made a false report of a crime to police officers shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred doll...

Fashion finds for a stylish, fun new year

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

The mistletoe is on its last legs, the cookies all but gone. And those gifts you spent so much time finding have been gifted and unwrapped.As much fun as the holidays are, they’re exhausting. And after a long year of hard work, you can use a few days of rest. Or maybe a few weeks.At the very least, you could use a few big fashion boosts to let you march into this upcoming year with your spirits lifted. So here are four great looks to help ring in 2024.Something luxurious and ultra-comforting: That could mean a lot of different things to different people. Bottom line, it means this to many of us: cashmere. And not just in a blanket or in scarf form, but as a sweater. Because that means we get to wear it all day long. I recommend looking into Vince’s Plush Cashmere Funnel Neck Sweater ($425 on vince.com). Is it a steal? Nope. Is it a big statement-maker? Nope. But will it make you happy every time you slip on its incredibly soft, cosseting, flattering, high quality magic? Yes, so go f...

Johnson & Palladino: Savings $$ should be added to alimony in MA

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

As we prepare to greet another New Year, resolution-making abounds. Often included in the laundry list are financial goals – save money, spend more wisely, create a budget and live by it.  All admirable goals, as long as you are not a recipient of alimony in Massachusetts.The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is currently deciding whether a divorcing 53-year-old  mother, who during the long-term marriage supported her spouse’s career while managing  primary responsibility for the family’s home and six children, may receive an amount of alimony over and above her basic expenses (such as mortgage, utilities, food) so that she could save for emergencies and future needs such as retirement.Though it’s Financial Planning 101 to maintain an emergency fund and save for retirement, it’s not so in Divorce 101 in Massachusetts. The court’s Financial Statement form, which all divorcing parties are required to complete and judges rely on to determine alimony, does not  include a line item fo...

Dear Abby: Baby’s here, BF’s iffy on relationship

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been seeing the same man for a year and a half. In the beginning, we were, basically, friends with benefits, and we were OK with that. Having both gone through recent breakups or divorce, neither of us wanted anything serious. However, after six months passed, I started falling for him. He always made clear that if he didn’t want to go down that road, we would break ties, but the way he acted indicated that maybe one day there would be more.After eight months, we found out I was two months pregnant. Our baby changed how we both felt about a relationship, but we had things we needed to work through before going down that road. I started therapy — not for him, but because I knew I needed it for myself and, ultimately, our daughter.We moved in together five months ago. Being together with our daughter has been wonderful. It has made me fall even more in love with him. When I recently told him I want to officially be his lady, he said there are still a few ...

Man sentenced in hit-and-run that killed one-year-old girl

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced on Wednesday that a defendant who drove drunk, struck and killed a 1-year-old child, Annaleeh Rodarte, has been sentenced to 15 years-to-life in prison, plus an additional four years in prison for leaving the scene. “Our family has been torn apart because of this,” said one of the grandma’s of Annaleeh.The family of Annaleeh fought back tears to hear the fate of the man, 47 year-old Margarito Angeles Vargas, who killed the baby of the family.“I’m hurt, I will never be the same. I can’t look at my kids in the face anymore as much as I can. I’m not the same mother,” said Carina Rodarte, Annaleeh’s mother.In September 2022, prosecutors said Angeles Vargas drove with a blood-alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit. Prosecutors said as Annaleeh was walking with her sisters and grandparents in an unmarked crosswalk in City Heights, Angeles Vargas hit the toddler.Prosecutors said he kept driving, however, a...

Lifeguards prepare for high surf at local beaches

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego lifeguards are increasing staffing along the coast in preparation for high surf forecasted to start Thursday and go through Sunday. They plan to arrive earlier and leave later to protect the county shorelines. On Wednesday, lifeguards conducted approximately 40 rescues along the coast and say the number one mistake for beachgoers is getting too close when the surf gets high. "We are upstaffing beaches for the next four days," said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Jacob Magness. "You have several feet of water that comes in with each wave and all you need is a little water to take you out to sea." Orca sightings have surged in SoCal. What experts believe is keeping the whales here Lifeguards say surfers should avoid hitting the waves unless they're experts. Any novice or intermediate surfers should stay clear of the water. "What we see with surfers is their board breaks and leash breaks and that’s their tool. Without that, they get lost out there and have no flot...

AP concludes at least hundreds died in floods after Ukraine dam collapse, far more than Russia said

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (AP) — They recognized the TV repairman. The residents of Oleshky in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine could not identify many of those they buried after a catastrophic dam collapse in June sent water coursing through their homes and shattered their lives. The bodies were too bloated and discolored, volunteer rescuers and health workers said. They described seeing faces that resembled rubber masks, frozen in that last frenzied gasp for air. But to those secretly keeping count of the drowned, Yurii Bilyi was no stranger.The cheerful 56-year-old was a town fixture. He had serviced many homes and spent his days working from a shop just across the street from the churchyard where he was buried, in a hurriedly dug mass grave, The Associated Press has learned.Anastasiia Bila, his daughter, remembers his last words clearly over the unstable phone connection. “Nastya,” he affectionately called her, hoping to soothe her anxieties as flood waters rose quickly, inundating 600...

Gypsy Rose Blanchard set to be paroled years after persuading boyfriend to kill her abusive mother

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the Missouri woman who persuaded an online boyfriend to kill her mother after she had forced her to pretend for years that she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses, is set to be paroled on Thursday. The case sparked national tabloid interest after reports emerged that Gypsy Blanchard’s mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who was slain in 2015, had essentially kept her daughter prisoner, forcing her to use a wheelchair and feeding tube.It turned out that Gypsy Blanchard, now 32, was perfectly healthy, not developmentally delayed as her friends had always believed. Her mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which parents or caregivers seek sympathy through the exaggerated or made-up illnesses of their children, said her trial attorney, Michael Stanfield.“People were constantly telling Dee Dee what a wonderful mother she was, and Dee Dee was getting all of this attention,” he said.Throug...

Takeaways from AP investigation into Russia’s cover-up of deaths caused by dam explosion in Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating chapters of the 22-month war in Ukraine — the flooding that followed the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region.The AP’s reporting focused on Oleshky, one town in the vast area flooded by the dam. Health workers and others who were in Oleshky told The Associated Press that Russian authorities hid the true number of dead by taking control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately removing bodies not claimed by family, and preventing local health workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead, threatening them when they defied orders. Still afraid, many Oleshky residents and health workers declined to speak, fearing reprisal. The AP’s investigation is based on the accounts of those who did, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity or on condition only their first names be used, fearing ...

House where 4 University of Idaho students were killed is set to be demolished

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:56 GMT

The house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year was set to be demolished Thursday, marking an emotional step for the victims’ families and a close-knit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal stabbings.The owner of the rental home near the university campus in Moscow, Idaho, donated it to the university earlier this year. It has since been boarded up and blocked off by a security fence. Students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were fatally stabbed there in November 2022. School officials, who in February announced plans to raze the house, view the demolition as a key step toward finding closure, university spokesperson Jodi Walker said. “That is an area that is dense with students, and many students have to look at it and live with it every day and have expressed to us how much it will help with the healing process to have that house removed,” she said.Contractors estimated that it would take a few hours f...