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Biden visits Maui as 850 more still unaccounted for after wildfire

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

KAHULUI, Hawaii — President Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Maui on Monday to comfort survivors of the devastating wildfires that ripped through the western part of the Hawaiian island, as his administration responds to the devastation whose full scope is still unknown.The Bidens lingered briefly on the tarmac after arriving at Kahului Airport to console Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his wife Jaime Green as well as members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation who came to the airport to greet them.The president and first lady embraced each of their greeters before boarding Marine One to get an aerial tour of the devastation caused by the fires.The Bidens interrupted a weeklong vacation in the Lake Tahoe area for the five-hour flight to Lahaina, a historic town of 13,000 people that was virtually destroyed by the flames. The couple will meet with first responders and be briefed by state and local officials about the ongoing response.The Democratic president will deliver ...

Hilary sweeps north with ‘catastrophic flooding’ in California

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, swept people into swollen rivers, toppled trees onto homes and flooded roadways as the massive system marched northward, prompting flood watches and warnings in more than a half dozen states.The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern U.S., along with record-breaking rainfall. There was the potential of flooding in states as far north as Oregon and Idaho. Remnants of the storm were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.Hilary, which first slammed into Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninsula, causing one death and widespread flooding, was one of several potentially catastrophic natural events affecting California on Sunday. Besides the tropical storm, which produced tornado warnings...

Struggling Yankees promote top prospects Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza: reports

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

Short on options and low on time, the Yankees are promoting two of their top prospects.The team will add outfielder Everson Pereira and infielder Oswald Peraza to the major league roster before starting a series with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.Friday marked the first day that teams can call prospects up without them accruing 45 days of major league service time and therefore losing rookie eligibility in 2024.The 22-year-old Pereira is considered the Yankees’ third-best prospect, according to MLB.com. The Venezuelan native, in the organization since he was 17, ranks 80th in all of baseball.Pereira has enjoyed a stellar minor league season split between Double-A and Triple-A. In 81 total games, the right-handed hitter is slashing .300/.373/.548 with 18 home runs, 64 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He’s been hitting .312/.386/.551 with eight homers and 33 RBI over 35 games since joining the Triple-A RailRiders.A hard-hitting Pereira has walk...

LEGO announces location of new Boston headquarters

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

LEGO is now well on its way to gathering the building blocks for a new Boston headquarters, announcing a planned 1001 Boylston St. location Monday.“We’re incredibly excited to be moving to a new location with such a rich history, ideally located in Back Bay, between Boston and Cambridge,” said Skip Kodak, President of the LEGO Group in the Americas, in a release Monday. “1001 Boylston Street represents an investment in our future and a commitment to our employees.”The Back Bay location sits at the intersection of Boylston Street, Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street. The building will be comprised of five floors and more than 100,000 square feet, the LEGO Group said.The company said it is aiming to have the new location open by the second quarter of 2025 and complete its move by the end of 2026, closing the Enfield office.LEGO initially announced it would move its headquarters from the 47-year location in Enfield Connecticut to Boston in January. The LEGO presid...

Hurricane season ‘heating up’ with Tropical Storm Franklin, Tropical Cyclone Nine: Will Massachusetts be impacted?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

After a slow start, hurricane season in the tropics is suddenly “heating up” with Tropical Storm Franklin and Tropical Cyclone Nine about to make landfall and dump life-threatening buckets of rain.Tropical Storm Franklin in the Caribbean Sea on Monday was moving north — with the center of the storm heading straight toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti.Like with Hurricane Hilary in California over the weekend, the biggest threats with Franklin are heavy rainfall, flooding and mudslides, according to the National Hurricane Center. Potentially life-threatening flash flooding is possible.“We could get up to 15 inches of rain, let me say that again, up to 15 inches of rain possible over Haiti and the Dominican Republic as the center moves over on Tuesday and Wednesday,” said National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome.Meanwhile, a new fast-moving system in the Gulf of Mexico formed on Monday. Tropical Cyclone Nine was expected to strengthen into...

Environmental groups sue to keep Virginia in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Monday in Virginia that challenges Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s move to pull the state out of a regional carbon cap-and-trade initiative. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the long-promised lawsuit in Fairfax County Circuit Court to try to keep Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, also known as RGGI, which involves power plant emissions. The lawsuit argues that Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board and the Department of Environmental Quality lacked the authority to leave the initiative, which has been lowering Virginia’s carbon footprint. “Carbon dioxide emissions from Virginia power plants have declined by 16.8 percent in the first two years of participation,” the lawsuit stated. Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted 4-3 in June to repeal Virginia’s participation in RGGI (pronounced “Reggie”).Virginia’s Republican governor has made withdrawal from the comp...

This year over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed, highest since 2005, UN says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis so far this year – already surpassing last year’s annual figures and the highest number since 2005, the U.N. Mideast envoy said Monday.Tor Wennesland told the U.N. Security Council that the upswing in violence is being fueled by growing despair about the future, with the Palestinians still seeking an independent state.“The lack of progress towards a political horizon that addressed the core issues driving the conflict has left a dangerous and volatile vacuum, filled by extremists on all sides,” he said.While Israelis and Palestinians have taken some actions toward stabilizing the situation, Wennesland said unilateral steps have continued to fuel hostilities.He pointed to the unabated expansion of Israeli settlements – which are illegal under international law “and a substantial obstacle to peace” – as well as Israel’s demolition of Palestinian houses, its operations in the ...

Teva to pay $225M to settle cholesterol drug price-fixing charges

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The generic drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed Monday to pay $225 million to settle price-fixing charges related to sales of a major cholesterol-lowering drug. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement also requires Teva to divest its business making and selling the drug, pravastatin, a generic version of the brand-name medicine Pravachol. Another generic drug maker, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, agreed to pay a $30 million criminal penalty and to divest its pravastatin business as well.In a statement, the U.S. arm of Israel-based Teva blamed a single former employee for striking agreements with Teva competitors that limited competition between 2013 and 2015. That employee left the company in 2016, Teva said.DOJ had charged seven generic drug makers, including Teva and Glenmark, with price fixing, bid rigging and market allocation schemes. The seven companies have settled their cases with deferred prosecution agreements. Had any of the cases gone to trial, ...

Southbound DVP closed between Don Mills and Bayview/Bloor

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

Toronto police have closed a section of the southbound Don Valley Parkway during the height of rush hour on Monday. Police closed the DVP from Don Mills to Bayview/Bloor at around 5:22 p.m. for an investigation. Northbound traffic on the DVP is not impacted. Millwood Road is also closed in both directions from Donlands Avenue to Overlea Boulevard.Police have not indicated when the roadways will reopen.

Virginia judge largely sides with ex-patients in hospital’s effort to pare down lawsuit abuse claims

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:11:54 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Most of the claims of sexual abuse and other mistreatment made in a lawsuit by dozens of former patients of a Virginia children’s hospital can move forward, a judge has ruled, rejecting arguments that many of the allegations were time-limited under the state’s medical malpractice law. Judge Bradley Cavedo issued the ruling Aug. 14 in favor of most of the dozens of plaintiffs who are suing publicly traded health care company Universal Health Services Inc. and its co-defendants. His decision came two weeks after a hearing on the matter in Richmond Circuit Court, where attorneys for UHS, related corporate entities and the doctor at the center of many of the allegations urged him to whittle down the claims.“I think it is an incredibly important decision but ultimately a decision that we expected and anticipated would go this way,” said Kevin Biniazan, an attorney for the plaintiffs, all former patients of the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolesce...