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Healey: Mass. Will No Longer Guarantee Shelter In ‘New Phase’ Of Crisis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

While its right-to-shelter law will remain in place, Massachusetts may not be able to guarantee shelter for immigrant families as soon as the end of this month when the state’s shelter system reaches capacity, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday.There are close to 7,000 families enrolled in the state’s emergency shelter system, Healey said Monday — more than double the number of individuals enrolled at this time last year, and up significantly from the 5,600 families being housed when Healey declared a state of emergency in August.“We do not have enough space, service providers or funds to safely expand beyond 7,500 families. We expect to hit that limit at the end of the month,” Healey said during a State House press conference. “From that point on, we’ll no longer be able to guarantee shelter placement for new families entering.”At over 23,000 people, the rapidly growing number of people in emergency shelter housing has now exceed...

Boston police announce passing of K-9 Dexter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

The Boston Police Department has announced the passing of retired K-9 Dexter.Police say he proudly serviced for more than 7 years and retired in January 2022. “Dexter will be missed by all at BPD and we send our condolences to his former handler & family during this sad and difficult time,” the department wrote.

Police investigating after bicyclist struck, seriously injured in Lowell

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

Police are investigating after a bicyclist was struck by a semi-trailer truck in Lowell on Monday afternoon, officials said.Officers responding to a report of a bicyclist struck at the intersection of Broadway and Adams streets around 12:30 p.m. found a man suffering from serious injuries, according to Lowell police.He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital before being transported by helicopter to a hospital in Boston for further treatment.The driver of the truck that hit him remained on scene and spoke with investigators.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Leader of local non-profit chapter describes escaping violence in Israel and efforts to send aid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

A Boston woman who was in Israel for volunteer work is back in the United States after escaping violence that broke out in the country last week.“You’re afraid you are going to die,” Jewish National Fund-USA Boston President Rhonda Forman said. “You’re just afraid you’re going to die.”Forman told 7NEWS she was still reeling from what she witnessed in Israel, where she was volunteering at a rehabilitative hospital just miles from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas fighters launched a series of attacks, including violent assaults on civilians and rockets being fired into the nation.Left feeling numb after getting to safety, she said one of her fellow workers was killed in such an attack.“On the road that I drove every single day, her car was hit by a rocket,” she said. “That hit me very hard personally because that Saturday morning, I would have been on the road at that sae time.”Forman was north in Tel Aviv when Hamas launche...

Rite Aid goes belly up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell part of its business as it attempts to restructure while dealing with losses and opioid-related lawsuits.The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations or shop online while it goes through its voluntary Chapter 11 process. But that process also will allow it to speed up its plan to close underperforming stores.Going through Chapter 11 will help “significantly reduce the company’s debt” while helping to “resolve litigation claims in an equitable manner,” Rite Aid late Sunday.Rite Aid Corp. said in its federal bankruptcy filing that it runs more than 2,000 stores. Most of its locations are on the East and West Coasts.The Philadelphia company, which is marking its 60th birthday this year, has posted annual losses for several years and has been cutting costs and closing stores as it dealt with long-standing financial ...

Northeastern opens gleaming new lab, research space

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

Northeastern University on Monday officially opened it’s new EXP Center on Huntington Ave. an 8-story scientific research and creation space with labs ranging from robotics, to drug discovery to wireless communications.Among the specs for the new facility, Northeastern said the new center boasts 375,000 square feet including a 15,000 square foot maker-space, a 12-ton ceiling mounted crane inside a two-story robotics lab, 21 3-D printers, and 10 chemistry teaching labs.“You will plant the seeds for new companies and new branches of industry and that is so exciting,“ said Gov. Maura Healey, a Northeastern alumna  during Monday’s ceremony.Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun looked toward the future in his remarks.“We are here today not to celebrate the building, but to celebrate a commitment to a better world and this is something that will endure for many many generations to come,” he said.Students are already at work at the one of the many labs in Northeastern University’s new EXP ...

Barricaded stabbing suspect prompts SWAT standoff in Spring Valley

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

SPRING VALLEY, Calif. -- A stabbing suspect was barricaded inside a Spring Valley motel room on Monday, prompting a SWAT standoff.Around 11 a.m., authorities received a call about a stabbing at Crown Inn & Suites in the 9600 block of Campo Road, San Diego County Sheriff's Department said to FOX 5. A man was found with an injured hand and was taken to a hospital, SDSO said on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Female migrant dies after crossing the border in California "Our Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) is on site and talking to the suspect to reach a peaceful confusion to this situation," SDSO added.The Chula Vista Police Department's SWAT team was also at the scene.Authorities have closed Campo Road at Hollyhock Lane, Rogers Road and Kenwood Drive, and the state Route 94 onramp from Kenwood Drive. IRS postpones tax filing deadline one month for California storm victims Authorities did not immediately know the relationship between the suspect and the victim, or what ...

Lowrider cruising to become legal after Newsom signed bill repealing bans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A bill to legalize lowrider cruising across California was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, ending a decades-long ban on the popular pastime.Assembly Bill 436, introduced by National City Asm. David Alvarez, repealed regulations in the state vehicle code that allowed local governments in the state to place restrictions that directly target lowrider vehicles.This includes the regulation of cruising, which is when a vehicle is driven "low and slow," on streets and the operation of vehicles that have been modified from their original design to make the body of the car closer to the ground than the bottom of its rims. IRS postpones tax filing deadline one month for California storm victims “On behalf of the thousands of advocates who supported this culturally significant legislation, the low rider communities and car clubs from all over California, I would like to thank the Governor for signing AB 436 into law," Alvarez said in a statement. "The law will al...

San Diego State is No. 17 in the preseason men's AP Top 25

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

Bill Self likes to remind his team that the faces may change at Kansas but the expectations within his program never do.Expectations outside the program? Turns out they are as high as possible this year.The Jayhawks were the clear No. 1 pick in the AP Top 25 preseason men's basketball poll released Monday, earning 46 of 63 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Purdue. It's the third time since Self's arrival in Lawrence in 2003 that his team will start the season on top but the first time since the 2018-19 season.“You know you'll have a target on your back playing at Kansas,” said Kevin McCullar Jr., who decided to return for a second season with the Jayhawks and fifth in college hoops. "We'll have that chip on our shoulder, you know, prove everybody wrong, and state why you should be the No. 1 team in the nation. You go out there and use that. You use that as fuel every day.”The Jayhawks had a disappointing follow-up to their 2022 national title last season, ...

Four men held in central Georgia jail escaped and a search is underway, sheriff says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:05 GMT

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Four men detained in a central Georgia jail escaped through a damaged window and a cut fence early Monday morning, authorities said. Bibb County Sheriff David Davis identified the four as Joey Fournier, Marc Kerry Anderson, Johnifer Dernard Barnwell and Chavis Demaryo Stokes. During a news conference Monday, Davis said that jail staff noticed a break in the perimeter fence around 6 a.m. After watching video footage, they discovered the four men were able to escape via a window in a second-floor dayroom and then through the fence around 3:30 a.m., he said.“They could be anywhere,” the sheriff said, adding that he was not aware of any connections between the men before they entered the jail and doesn’t know whether they stayed together once they escaped.Video footage also showed a blue Dodge Challenger that had been just outside the jail earlier in the night and appeared to show someone tampering with the fence. That person then brought some items into the encl...