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Massachusetts SJC defends free speech in public comments, even of calling public figures ‘Hitler’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

The state’s highest court looked to the intentions, practices and philosophies of Founding Fathers Samuel Adams and John Adams to declare that, yes, you have the right to call public officials Hitler.“The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble … to request of the legislative body, by the way of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they suffer,” reads Article 19 of the state’s Declaration of Rights, one of the prime documents in informing the SJC’s ruling that reversed a lower court’s decision and found that public bodies can’t bar the public from criticizing them.The article was written by none other than John Adams, the second president of the United States and the namesake of the courthouse on Pemberton Square where the state Supreme Judicial Court issued its ruling Tuesday that also found this provision, informed by John Adams’ fiery cousin Samuel Adams, “expressly envisions a poli...

Celtics’ Grant Williams speaks after missing potential game-winning foul shots at Cleveland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

In the wake of his missed last-second free throws at Cleveland, which would have clinched a critical Celtics win Monday night, Grant Williams draws on the death threats.The death threats Williams said he received amid a serious slump in the 2020-21 season, the worst of his play bringing out the worst in fans. He remembers how he felt and then rebounded following a simple game plan.It’s the plan Williams is executing now, after declaring he would make both foul shots against the Cavs before they fell away in an eventual overtime loss that sparked an avalanche of criticism.“I’ve learned playing this sport long enough now that you can’t ever give people the satisfaction in a way,” Williams said before Wednesday’s game against Portland. “There’s always going to be somebody saying something about you. My second year, I was getting death threats. … You’ve gotta tune it out.”Williams did not meet with reporters after Monday&...

North End restaurants file amended lawsuit over outdoor dining regulations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

Some North End restaurateurs are claiming Mayor Michelle Wu made them pay thousands to provide outdoor dining last year because of her bias against “white, Italian men.”The allegation is included in an amended version of a lawsuit the owners filed last year when they said the fees from the mayor — $7,500 to entertain guests outdoors and $480 for parking – created “unfair” competition with the city’s other neighborhoods.The North End was the only neighborhood that faced fees last year. Wu and other city officials cited burdens to the residents’ quality of life — increased noise, trash, traffic and a loss of parking — behind the decision.“The Plaintiffs had a right to be treated the same as other restaurants in the city who were granted outdoor dining and not be singled out to pay fees that other restaurants were not forced to pay in order to have outdoor dining because of their sex or national origin/ethnicity as appears in this case,” reads the am...

Video shows Utah traffic stop ending in barrage of gunfire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Body camera footage released Wednesday by a suburban police department in Utah shows five officers repeatedly firing into all sides of a car in a fatal shooting after yelling “Gun!” several times. The deceased’s family called the incident “brutal murder” in the lead-up to the release of the footage.The March 1 shooting came after Chase Allan, 25, refused to give officers his driver’s license or comply with most of their commands. He instead responded with a litany of antigovernment views calling into question their authority to pull him over. He was initially stopped by an officer for having what police later called an “illegitimate license plate.”Farmington Police Chief Eric Johnsen told reporters during a news conference Wednesday that officers opened fire after Allan reached for a gun. The footage is unclear about what happens seconds before the shooting because the body cameras’ view of Allan’s hip holster is obstructed by the car do...

Fifth American told police friends feared missing in Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — The frantic effort to rescue four Americans taken captive in Mexico in a kidnapping that left two of them dead came after a fifth person traveling with the group contacted police when they did not return to the U.S. side as expected.Cheryl Orange, who did not cross into Mexico with the others, told The Associated Press in a text message that her three friends were supposed to return within 15 minutes after dropping off their companion, Latavia McGee, for cosmetic surgery in the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday.Orange stayed behind at a motel in Brownsville, Texas, and said she grew concerned as the hours passed and she did not hear from the others. The five friends had driven a rented minivan from South Carolina on Thursday to the southern tip of Texas, according to a police report based on Orange’s account. Four of them left Friday morning around 8 a.m. to go to Mexico.Orange’s statements and the report offers the most detailed account s...

Ex-Navajo President Zah, guided by love for people, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Peterson Zah, a monumental Navajo Nation leader who guided the tribe through a politically tumultuous era and worked tirelessly to correct wrongdoings against Native Americans, has died. Zah died late Tuesday at a hospital in Fort Defiance, Arizona, after a lengthy illness, Navajo President Buu Nygren’s office said. He was 85. Zah was the first president elected on the Navajo Nation — the largest tribal reservation in the U.S. — in 1990 after the government was restructured into three branches to prevent power from being concentrated in the chairman’s office. At the time, the tribe was reeling from a deadly riot incited by Zah’s political rival, former Chairman Peter MacDonald, a year earlier.Zah vowed to rebuild the tribe, and to support family and education, speaking with people in ways that imparted mutual respect, said his longtime friend Eric Eberhard. Zah was as comfortable putting on dress clothes to represent Navajos in Washington, D...

Police identify man wanted for sexually assaulting woman in Toronto’s PATH

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

Toronto police have identified a 27-year-old man wanted for sexually assaulting a woman while she was walking through Toronto’s underground PATH network.Investigators were called to the underground pedestrian walkway just before 10 p.m. on Sunday in the section closest to St. Andrew Station.It’s alleged that a 21-year-old woman entered the PATH network at Wellington Street West when the suspect, already in the PATH, began following her.The male suspect engaged the victim in conversation and then sexually assaulted her. The woman attempted to flee, and a struggle ensued, during which the suspect continued to sexually assault the victim.The man then ran through the PATH and fled.The suspect has been identified as 27-year-old Samoual Elamam of Toronto. He’s wanted for sexual assault, and police say an arrest warrant is being sought.

Xi accuses US of trying to hold back China’s development

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Is the United States out to sabotage China? Chinese leaders think so.President Xi Jinping accused Washington this week of trying to isolate his country and hold back its development. That reflects the ruling Communist Party’s growing frustration that its pursuit of prosperity and global influence is threatened by U.S. restrictions on access to technology, its support for Taiwan and other moves seen by Beijing as hostile.Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, tries to appear to be above problems and usually makes blandly positive public comments. That made his complaint Monday all the more striking. Xi said a U.S.-led campaign of “containment and suppression” of China has “brought unprecedented, severe challenges.” He called on the public to “dare to fight.”On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang sharpened the warning, saying Washington faces possible “conflict and confrontation” if it fails to change course.“The foreign minister is speaking on behalf of a wi...

Man charged for spraying pepper-spray-like substance on TTC subway rider

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

A man has been charged for allegedly assaulting and spraying a man with a substance believed to be pepper spray during an unprovoked altercation on a TTC subway train.Toronto police say the incident happened around 10 p.m. on Feb. 28 when officers were called to Coxwell Subway Station in the Danforth.It’s alleged that two men were travelling eastbound on the Bloor-Danforth line between Donlands and Greenwood Stations when one man randomly sprayed another man in the face with an unknown, pepper-spray-like substance. Police said he was resprayed each time the victim stepped away from the attack.On Wednesday, police arrested 44-year-old Greg Ferris of Toronto. He was charged with administering a noxious substance and assault.He’s expected to appear in court on April 19.

House votes down bill directing removal of troops from Syria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation directing President Joe Biden to remove some 900 U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days was soundly defeated in the House on Wednesday as opponents of the measure warned that it could allow a dismantled Islamic State group to reorganize and endanger the U.S. and its allies.The resolution introduced by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., was voted down 321-103. Gaetz introduced the measure after four U.S. servicemembers were wounded during a helicopter raid last month in northeastern Syria that killed a senior IS leader. Despite their defeat in Syria, IS sleeper cells still conduct attacks around Syria and Iraq where they once declared a “caliphate.”In arguing for his legislation, Gaetz said he didn’t believe that “what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate are the 900 Americans who have been sent to this hellscape with no definition of victory.”Support is growing in Congress for ending decades-old authorizations for the use of American militar...