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Sen. Gobi Tapped For New Healey Admin Post

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

Veteran Sen. Anne Gobi will leave the Legislature to fill a newly created post in the Healey administration, triggering a special election in the central Massachusetts district she represents.Gov. Maura Healey announced Monday that she tapped Gobi to become the state’s first director of rural affairs. The Spencer Democrat will serve “as a dedicated advocate and ombudsman cultivating economic development within rural communities,” Healey’s office said.Gobi will start her new job June 5, according to Healey’s office. Her Senate departure date is unclear.The Senate this week plans to meet over several days to advance its $55.8 billion fiscal year 2024 state budget.“We are building an economy that benefits all communities, businesses, and people in Massachusetts, particular [sic] those that are too often overlooked and underrepresented like rural and small towns,” Healey said. “Senator Gobi’s fierce advocacy of rural equity, agricult...

Turning grief into purpose: Woman and local org look to end stigma around discussing suicide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and a woman from Boston has made it her mission to help people who are struggling.Samantha Joseph was devastated when her aunt Gail died by suicide.“She was a giant – everything she did really had magic.” she told 7NEWS. “Losing her to suicide was so painful.”A publicist and comedy division manager who worked with the cast of “Friends” and “Will and Grace,” Gail Joseph was a titan in the comedy business and also very close to her niece when she died in Nov. 1999 at age 39.For years, Samantha searched for answers.“Really trying to piece together as much information as I could about what might have happened or how much pain she was in that we really didn’t understand,” she explained.She said the journey to healing has been a long one and took her all across the U.S.“The ‘why?’ haunted me for many years. It took me to California to meet her friends – to t...

The world’s most expensive, cheapest passports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

Australia is the most expensive country in the world when it comes to passport fees in 2023.Expat insurance provider William Russell recently analyzed the costs of identification and travel documents across the globe to reveal which countries’ documents are the most expensive and cheapest to secure.At a total cost of $230, Australia’s travel document is by far the most expensive. What’s more, Australia charges the most for a student visa with an average fee of $452.Australia is followed by Mexico at $170. Switzerland ($140) and Italy ($135) aren’t far behind, narrowly edging out the United States. At a total cost of $130, the U.S. is the fifth-most expensive country when it comes to passport fees. The U.S. also charges the most for a tourist visa at an average fee of $127.It’s worth pointing out that the country charging the least for a student visa is Mexico, with an average fee of $36.On the other end of the spectrum, a Czech Republic passport costs j...

4 questions ahead of Jets OTA practices this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

Monday marked the beginning of voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) for 20 teams, including the Jets.Although Gang Green has been participating in on-field work since last month, the OTA portion of the offseason will be a bit different. Phase Three of the offseason will allow the Jets to get on the field for non-contact practices.That will consist of three weeks of practices without full pads. However, teams can have 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills without contact. The Jets will also hold mandatory minicamps from June 13-15 before having a five-week break before the start of training camp near the end of July.The media will have availability access during four OTA practices beginning on Tuesday. Here are the four areas worth watching during the next few weeks.How does Rodgers look in his new neighborhood?With the addition of Aaron Rodgers, the Jets have been projected not only to make the playoffs for the first time since 2010, but possibly to contend for the Super Bowl.Of course, ...

Interest rates on federal student loans to be highest in decade

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

College will cost more for students borrowing during the 2023-24 academic year as federal student loan interest rates climb to heights not seen in a decade or longer.As of July 1, undergraduates who take out new direct federal student loans will see interest rates rise to 5.50%, the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office said Tuesday — up from 4.99% in the 2022-23 academic year and 3.73% in 2021-22.Interest rates on graduate direct loans, available to graduate and professional students, will rise to 7.05% from 6.54% the year prior. PLUS loans, which parents and grad students can use to fill in education funding gaps, will jump to 8.05% from 7.54%. Here are the higher 2023-24 rates for each type of federal student loan, compared with the 2022-23 academic year:Undergraduate direct loans: 5.50%, up from 4.99%.Graduate direct loans: 7.05%, up from 6.54%.PLUS loans: 8.05%, up from 7.54%.Undergraduate direct student loan interest rates haven’t been this high since 2013. Interes...

Emergency beach repairs start in New Jersey shore town amid $33M legal fight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A bulldozer began moving sand along a stretch of badly eroded beach Monday in a Jersey Shore town where the bitter fight over how to protect its rapidly shrinking shoreline has led to $33 million worth of litigation.Before the summer tourism season kicks off this weekend, North Wildwood hopes to repair dunes in the most heavily eroded section of its beach and restore beach access points to usable condition. The state Department of Environmental Protection granted permission for emergency repairs last week.The town and the state have been fighting for years over how best to protect North Wildwood’s shoreline as it waits to become the last part of the state to receive a beach replenishment project that is still at least two years away.The state has fined North Wildwood $12 million for past unauthorized work on its beaches that the state claims could actually worsen erosion.North Wildwood, in turn, is suing the state for $21 million, which it says is h...

In Cannes, standing ovations stretch on and on – but they’re designed to

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — The Cannes Film Festival is on, which means stopwatches are out.Nowhere are the length of standing ovations at high-wattage premieres more carefully recorded and parsed than in Cannes. Did a movie garner a triumphant eight-minute standing ovation? Or did the audience stand for a mere four or five minutes?How has such an unlikely metric come to reverberate around the world within minutes of a premiere? And why is everyone standing for so long? Doesn’t anyone’s hands get tired?Such effusive displays of enthusiasm have come to be a hallmark of Cannes and, sometimes, a bit of marketing gimmick for films looking to resonate far from the Croisette. If Cannes, the world’s largest and glitziest film festival, stands for cinematic excess, its thunderous standing ovations can seem like its greatest overindulgence. No one needs a bathroom break?Less widely understood, though, is how the pageantry of Cannes shapes and distorts standing ovations. When audi...

Puerto Rico to decentralize its Education Department in bid to improve services

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s Education Department, long considered a bureaucratic behemoth, will be decentralized to better serve students, officials said Monday.The announcement comes amid continuing criticism that the department is inefficient, corrupt and struggling to stem an increase in dropouts.“We want the day-to-day decisions to be made at the regional level and the resources to reach our children directly,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona traveled to the U.S. territory for the announcement and said he supports the change to overcome what he called the system’s challenges.Officials are expected to outline a decentralization plan and submit it to the governor and island’s education secretary within three months. The change is expected to help deploy federal resources more quickly to where they are needed and give regions and schools more autonomy.Puerto Rico has the sixth largest school district in a U.S. jurisdictio...

Sheriff: Girl, 16, fights off mom to save a sister from being drowned after 2nd sister killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A mother drowned one of her daughters in their South Carolina home and was trying to kill another child when the oldest daughter was awakened by screams and managed to save her sister, a sheriff said.Jamie Bradley Brun, 37, was charged with murder and attempted murder after the attack early Friday in their home on St. Helena Island, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said at a news conference.Brun has talked to investigators and Tanner called it a horrific crime but told reporters he wouldn’t say why Brun wanted to kill her children.“I’m not a mental health expert. It’s not my job to determine if someone has a mental health problem,” the sheriff said.Brun’s 16-year-old daughter was asleep around 1:30 a.m. Friday when her 8-year-old sister’s screams woke her up. The sheriff wouldn’t detail how the mother was trying to drown her child, but said the child’s cries were coming from the bathroom.The teen went into the bathroom and manag...

Air Force looks to better control access to classified data after intelligence leak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force said Monday it is looking at ways to better control access to classified information, in the wake of revelations that superiors of the Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified documents had raised concerns internally about his handling of sensitive data. Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters that the Air Force needs to better enforce the rules that govern access to classified information based on whether someone with the correct security clearance also has a need to know the information.“It’s a long standing tenet that you don’t get to look at something classified unless there’s a legitimate reason for you to look at it,” Kendall said. “Just because you happen to have a certain level of clearance doesn’t mean you get access to all the material at that level. So we’re taking a hard look at some practices around that.” He said he doesn’t think the service enforced that rule strongly enough. Justice Department...