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COVID-19 public health emergency in Massachusetts to end on Thursday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

The COVID-19 public health emergency in Massachusetts will end on Thursday, the same day the federal government’s emergency order is set to expire. The end of the public health emergency will mean individuals will no longer have to wear a mask in hospitals or other health care settings.While the emergency is ending, officials from the state Department of Public Health have said it is still important for people to understand how to protect themselves from COVID-19 in the future. “People should continue to look around their communities and understand how they can protect themselves in the ways that they may want to layer in prevention strategies like masks and testing,” said DPH Commissioner Robert Goldstein. Gov. Maura Healey announced in March that she would lift the state’s modified public health emergency on May 11 to match the day the federal emergency ends. Massachusetts has been operating under the public health emergency status since 2021, when a previous ...

7 Investigates: Inside the Hunt

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

Residents of a tiny Massachusetts town say their neighborhood is crawling with dangerous predators.Tonight 7 Investigates goes inside the secret hunt for Nahant’s coyotes.  Dan Hausle has the story –“They follow us,” one concerned resident said. “It shouldn’t be that you fear living and walking out your door,” Nahant resident Gail Hyde said.It’s a well-founded fear, because, for months, aggressive coyotes have terrorized the small seaside town of Nahant.   “We see them all on our cameras,” Hyde said.Coyotes often lurk in Gail Hyde’s backyard.  She worries they’ll attack her dog. “I have to look around to see if the coyote is in the backyard and they’ve been here numerous times.”She carries a golf club for protection whenever she’s outside. “I’m ticked off,” Hyde said. “They’ve become very aggressive,” another...

Buck Showalter gets ejected for the 1st time as Mets manager during team’s 7-6 loss to Reds

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

The Mets continued their dreadful play with a 7-6 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night. The team got another short start from David Peterson. But batters came alive later in the game in attempt to spark a late rally.To make matters worse, manager Buck Showalter got ejected from the game in the fifth inning with his team losing, 4-1, which served as a microcosm of frustration during the early struggles for his club this season.Before the Reds extended the lead to 7-1, Showalter was tossed after arguing that Reds outfielder Will Myers interfered with a live ball in the infield. Reds shortstop Kevin Newman hit the ball up the middle near second base, as Myers slid with his right arm extended into the direction of Francisco Lindor. Myers’ arm obstructed the star shortstop from making a clean play, justifying Showalter’s frustration.Showalter voiced his displeasure with the umpires in an angry rant, leading to his first ejection as the Mets skipper. Myers’ ...

Grayson Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman bounce back in Orioles’ 4-2 win over MLB-best Rays

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

Grayson Rodriguez learned a valuable lesson after his start last week.Pitching against the lowly Kansas City Royals, Rodriguez had the worst outing of his nascent big league career, as a lineup with few recognizable major leaguers tagged the top prospect for eight hits and six runs in 3 2/3 innings.“Really it doesn’t matter who you face, what their record is,” Rodriguez said. “They’re all big league hitters.”Rodriguez didn’t have those same issues Tuesday.Substitute the Royals for the MLB-best Tampa Bay Rays and the ineffective version of Rodriguez for a resolute version, as the right-hander battled through a career-high 5 2/3 solid innings to lead the Orioles to a 4-2 win over their division foe.Rodriguez (2-0) wasn’t as dominant as he was in Detroit in late April or throughout his minor league career, but he also didn’t unravel in any inning as he did in most of his previous starts this season. The 23-year-old scattered seven h...

Column: Willson Contreras has a lot to learn about being a true villain at Wrigley Field

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

It’s not hard to become a villain at Wrigley Field, especially when you’re wearing a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.The formula is pretty simple.Be a star player. Have some big moments against the Cubs in Chicago. Rub it in their faces. Bonus points if you’ve ever been suspected of cheating.Former Cubs catcher Willson Contreras happily accepted the challenge this week in his return to his old home, waving his arms in the air after getting on base Monday to coax Cubs fans into booing him louder.It was entertaining to watch, unless perhaps you were the Cubs manager.“Every team has a different celebration — that could be to his teammates,” a grumpy David Ross said after the game. “I don’t know who that’s for, so that’d be stupid to comment on.”Baseball is entertainment, so kudos to Contreras for playing along and trying to breathe some life into a rivalry that has seen better days. Since Ryan Braun retired from the Milwauke...

How did the Chicago White Sox home run jacket come to be? Elvis Andrus on the inspiration behind the fashion.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

Elvis Andrus came up with two on and one out in the fifth inning Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. The Chicago White Sox trailed by three runs at Great American Ball Park.That changed with one swing as Andrus homered to left on a 2-2 pitch to tie the game.Not only was it Andrus’ first home run of the season, it was also his first time getting to wear the team’s home run jacket that he was instrumental in bringing to the Sox dugout.“It was awesome,” Andrus told the Tribune on Saturday of slipping on the jacket. “It was my idea. I was one of the few guys without a homer. I was like, ‘OK, I like putting it on (a teammate), but I want to put it on myself too.’“Very happy I was able to get the feeling with the jacket on.”Team home run celebrations are all the rage. The Toronto Blue Jays had a jacket, which reportedly was retired recently. The Minnesota Twins have a version that serves as a nod to fishing.Teammates are liking the Sox...

Chasing Horse asks Nevada high court to toss sex abuse case

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A “Dances With Wolves” actor charged with sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for more than a decade has asked Nevada’s high court to toss his sweeping indictment in state court.Nathan Chasing Horse and his lawyers have argued that his accusers wanted to have sex with him.The 46-year-old’s appeal to the state Supreme Court, filed Tuesday, marks his latest attempt to get his case dismissed as he remains jailed in Las Vegas on charges that could send him to prison for decades — or life — if convicted.“Nathan is pursuing this extraordinary writ because the trial court refused to dismiss the charges contained within the indictment in this case,” Deputy Clark County Public Defender Kristiy S. Holston wrote in an affidavit attached to the formal appeal to the high court.The presiding judge in the state’s case, Carli Kierny, upheld Chasing Horse’s indictment last month, writing in an order that prosecutors in Clark County presented enough ev...

Grief book author’s murder charge tangled in estate dispute

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A children’s book author who prosecutors say killed her husband has been battling with his relatives over the family estate since his death last year, court documents show. Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in a small mountain town near Park City, according to charging documents.The murder charges filed this week come months after Richins self-published “Are you with me?” — an illustrated storybook chronicling a young boy who wonders how his deceased father remains a presence in his life.Prosecutors allege Richins called authorities in the middle of the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.” She told officers she had made her husband a mixed drink to celebrate him selling a multimillion-dollar home. She then went to soothe one of their children to sleep in the next bedroom. When she returned, she found her husband unresponsive, and she called ...

CBC resumes activity on some of its Twitter accounts after hitting pause over labels

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

The CBC and Radio-Canada are returning to Twitter after pausing activity last month over their designation as “government-funded media” by the social media platform.CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon says in a blog post that it is resuming activity on a handful of umbrella accounts but will “significantly reduce” its overall Twitter footprint.In April, Twitter CEO Elon Musk applied tags to accounts belonging to the CBC and other outlets, including the BBC and National Public Radio, labelling them as “government-funded media.” The tags had their wording changed multiple times without warning or explanation, before ultimately disappearing.The CBC has said it does not meet Twitter’s definition of “government-funded media” and that its editorial independence is enshrined in the Broadcasting Act.Fenlon says the CBC will continue to assess Twitter against its social media strategy.This report by The Canadian Press was first publish...

Dog co-owned by country's Tim McGraw wins new breed at show

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:49:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A Bracco Italiano named Lepshi won his breed's debut at the United States' most prestigious dog show. And dog lovers just might not be the only audience that won't forget something like that.Lepshi (pronounced LEEP'-she) happens to be co-owned by country music and “1883” series star Tim McGraw. But that distinction was just playing in the background of a chorus of cheers as Lepshi and eight other examples of his handsome Italian hunting breed took their turns in the ring Tuesday at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.“He's a wonderful ambassador for the breed,” handler Ryan Wolfe said after the 6-year-old's win. Lepshi aces the breed's trademark ground-covering trot, Wolfe explained, and “he loves everybody." Popular US breeds that have never won the Westminster Dog Show McGraw, known for hits including “Something Like That,” and his wife, country luminary and “1883” co-star Faith Hill, have had a number of Bracchi at home and featured them in social media posts. ...