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DeSantis’ board says Disney stripped them of power

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Board members picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the governance of Walt Disney World said Wednesday that their Disney-controlled predecessors pulled a fast one on them by passing restrictive covenants that strip the new board of many of its powers.The current supervisors of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said at a meeting that their predecessors last month signed a development agreement with the company that gave Disney maximum developmental power over the theme park resort’s 27,000 acres in central Florida.The five supervisors were appointed by the Republican governor to the board after the Florida Legislature overhauled Disney’s government in retaliation for the entertainment giant publicly opposing so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as well as lessons deemed not age-appropriate.In taking on Disney, DeSantis f...

Closing arguments end in murder trial of former Presidente supermarkets owner

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Closing arguments have ended and jury deliberations are expected to begin in the trial of a former supermarket chain owner accused of orchestrating the murder of his ex-wife’s lover.Prosecutors rested their case in the trial of Manuel Marin, the former owner of several Presidente supermarkets, Wednesday afternoon.Defense attorneys then delivered their closing arguments to the jury.“In criminal law, it’s what you do that can get you in trouble. It is what you do that could get you convicted, not what somebody else did,” said a defense attorney. Marin is accused of hiring hitmen to kill 43-year-old Camilo Salazar back in June 2011.When his body was found in the Everglades, police said, officers discovered that his throat was slit and his head was beaten.Dr. Emma Lew, the Miami-Dade chief medical examiner at the time of the incident, testified for the state earlier in the day.“I went to the scene of death, yes,” she said.Lew described what she saw wh...

Second body recovered from scene of fatal New Bedford fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Authorities say the body of a second victim was recovered from the scene of a massive fire that burned through a rooming house in New Bedford on Tuesday.The State Fire Marshal’s Office provided the update Wednesday afternoon as officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire at 1305 Acushnet Avenue.According to a news release, the second victim had been found while investigators were using heavy equipment to examine the burnt out, four-story structure.One person had still been unaccounted for as of Wednesday morning, following the fire that killed one other person and injured several others. At least two dozen people were displaced as a result of the fire at the corner of Tallman Street and Acushnet Avenue.Officials identified the previous victim as 59-year-old Manuel Moreira, who lived in a unit on the building’s fourth floor.“On behalf of the New Bedford Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences to Mr. Moreira’s family and loved ones,” New Be...

Police track down driver in deadly Lynn hit-and-run

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Police have identified a driver who they said was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Lynn that left a 55-year-old woman dead on Wednesday, officials announced. Lynn officers responded to the incident just after 6 a.m. Wednesday on Route 107 northbound between Ida and Cooper Streets.Police said the woman was struck in a crosswalk in the area. Within hours of the crash, officials said detectives using city surveillance cameras had identified the driver and located the damaged car in Boston inside a parking garage in the area where the man behind the wheel worked. The driver had not been charged as of Wednesday afternoon. “The investigation has to continue,” Lynn Police Lieutenant Mike Kmiec said. “There’s obviously parameters that we have to follow with regards to what you can arrest somebody for,” Kmiec continued. “There’s obviously misdemeanor charges involved that, if they’re not occurring in our presence, there will be a summons at a later date.”Lynn polic...

Matt Damon, Casey Affleck seen in Quincy as movie filming continues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Filming of the movie “The Instigators” resumed Wednesday in the Boston area, with actors Matt Damon and Casey Affleck spotted outside a bar in Quincy. Film equipment was spread out in the area along Granite Street.  Cell phone video captured images of Damon getting his hair touched up during activity in the area.“The Instigators” follows two crooks who go on the run with their therapist when a robbery goes wrong. The film brought crews to Boston last week, with filming at multiple locations including City Hall Plaza, in Back Bay and in Fort Point.

Stoughton middle school student taken to hospital after consuming marijuana edible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

A middle school student in Stoughton was taken to a hospital Wednesday after officials said the student ate a marijuana edible and got sick.Students at O’Donnell Middle School told 7NEWS a shelter-in-place announcement was made around 1 p.m. In an email sent to students and staff, officials said there was no safety threat. Instead, officials said the shelter-in-place announcement was made because officials wanted to clear hallways while a student received medical attention.Police said a school resource officer was at the building and responded. An ambulance was also sent. 7NEWS reached out to the school district but had not heard back as of around 5 p.m.Police said an investigation was ongoing as of Wednesday afternoon into where and how the student got the edible.

Red Sox Opening Day first pitch forecast: Winter-like wind chill around 32 degrees; Fenway flyover planned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

As Red Sox players take the field at chilly Fenway Park for the season opener, a few might be wishing they were still enjoying the Florida warmth.Sox fans should bundle up for Opening Day against the Baltimore Orioles, with the National Weather Service predicting a winter-like wind chill of around freezing for first pitch at 2:10 p.m. Thursday — feeling more like football than baseball weather.The Boston-area high temp is expected to be 40 degrees, with the feels-like temp in the low 30s during the unseasonably chilly day. Wind gusts could hit 25 mph throughout the afternoon. At least it will be dry and sunny.It was significantly warmer during the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 2, when Logan International Airport recorded a high temp of 52 degrees.Ahead of that hockey game at Fenway, there was a flyover that triggered alarm across the region. Thursday’s baseball game will also have a flyover.“The longtime tradition of a flyover on Opening Day will be maintained with tw...

Lawmakers say Fed lax before bank failure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers accused top bank regulators Wednesday of dawdling as Silicon Valley Bank hurtled toward the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and questioned whether tougher regulations would have made a difference.Regulators closed the bank March 10, shaking the U.S. financial system and triggering fears of a broader banking crisis. But Federal Reserve supervisors had first raised questions about Silicon Valley’s risky practices far earlier — in 2021 — and had warned the bank’s management about them in the fall of that year.“That doesn’t sound like a very urgent supervisory process,” Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, said at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Financial Services Committee into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and of New York-based Signature Bank on March 12. Signature Bank’s collapse was the third-biggest in the nation’s history.In response to the crisis, some Democrats are calling for stricter...

Jeremy Renner gives emotional first interview since being critically injured in snowplow accident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Jeremy Renner remembers all of the pain he experienced after being critically injured by his snowplow three months ago, he said in an emotional first interview since the accident.The “Avengers” actor suffered a collapsed lung, a broken clavicle and shoulder, eight broken ribs and multiple broken bones in his face and legs when his 14,000-pound snowplow ran over him on Jan. 1. ABC released a preview clip Wednesday of Renner’s conversation with Diane Sawyer about the incident.“I was awake through every moment,” Renner, 52, says in the interview, which is set to air April 6 at 10 p.m.Renner was injured near his Reno-area home when he attempted to stop the moving snowplow from hitting his nephew, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada said in a January report.“I’d do it again, because it was going right at my nephew,” Renner told Sawyer.The interview marks the most detailed account of the accident by Renner, who has chronicled his recovery on social media. In January, Renner tweet...

Ticker: Adidas drops BLM trademark challenge; Mortgage rates ease to 6-week low

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:43 GMT

Adidas is withdrawing its challenge to a Black Lives Matter trademark application featuring three parallel stripes, two days after it contested the image with the U.S. Trademark Office.Adidas had submitted a notice of opposition with the office Monday, saying in the filing that it took issue with Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s application to trademark the use of three parallel yellow stripes on various items such as clothing and bags.By Wednesday, the sneaker giant said it had changed its mind.“Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application as soon as possible,” the German athletic gear company said in a statement.It did not provide any further details as to why it was withdrawing the application, but the company recently lost a trademark battle with fashion designer Thom Browne.Mortgage rates ease to 6-week lowU.S. mortgage rates edged down to a six-week low of 6.45%, helping dr...