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Ticker: Fundraiser for missing, exploited kids; Massachusetts revenue receipts remain hot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

Willie’s Bar at Victory Point Restaurant at Marina Bay in Quincy had kids top of mind.William GrossThe newly renovated bar, named for former Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, hosted a fundraiser to benefit The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Thursday night.The non-profit’s mission is to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization. NCMEC works with families, victims, private industry, law enforcement, and the public to assist with preventing child abductions, recovering missing children, and providing services to deter and combat child sexual exploitation.State revenue receipts remain hotJune is usually the second- or third-biggest month of the year for tax collections, and a mid-month report shows receipts outpacing last year’s pace over the first roughly two weeks of the month.Total tax collections for the month-to-date period were $2.277 billion, $36 million or 1.6 percent more than the collec...

What happens during a catastrophic implosion? Titan submersible occupants likely died instantly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

The Titan submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion that likely killed its pilot and four passengers instantly amid the intense water pressure in the deep North Atlantic, experts said.Maritime researchers called an implosion the worst possible outcome of all the scenarios envisioned during the desperate round-the-clock search to find the missing vessel.The craft went missing Sunday and probably imploded that same day, according to an “anomaly” detected by a U.S. Navy acoustics system, but the international search effort continued because authorities did not consider the information to be definitive.The Coast Guard announced the deaths from a “catastrophic implosion” on Thursday. Crews are still looking for evidence of what occurred near the Titanic shipwreck, 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface. Experts had cautioned that under intense pressure at extreme depths the Titan’s hull could implode, which would result in instant death for anyone aboard the vessel.“I don’t thi...

What role will liability waivers play in the aftermath of the Titan sub tragedy?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Before they boarded the submersible that imploded near the Titanic wreck, the passengers who died this week were most likely asked signed liability waivers.One of the waivers, signed by a person who planned to go on an OceanGate expedition, required passengers to acknowledge risks involved with the trip on the Titan vessel and any support vessels. The waiver, which was reviewed by The Associated Press, said that passengers could experience “severe injury, disability, disability, emotional trauma, other harm, and/or death” while on board the Titan, according to the waiver. Passengers also waive the right to take action for “personal injury, property damage or any other loss” that they experience on the trip.The form also makes it clear that the vessel is experimental and “constructed of materials that have not been widely used for manned submersibles.”The waiver could play an outsized role as families of those who died consider their legal options. Legal experts s...

South Africa says 31 illegal miners believed killed in explosion in May, only now coming to light

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 31 illegal miners are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a shuttered gold mine in South Africa that happened more than a month ago but is only now coming to light after people reported their relatives missing, authorities said Friday.The miners are all believed to come from the neighboring country of Lesotho.A search of the mine was being delayed because methane gas levels were still dangerously high in the ventilation shaft where the miners are thought to have died, the national Department of Mineral and Energy Resources said in a statement.The mine in the city of Welkom in the central Free State province was previously operated by South Africa’s largest gold-mining company but had been shut down in the 1990s, the department said.The department, which is the government ministry responsible for mining, said it was still piecing together the details of the accident. A spokesperson for Lesotho Prime Minister Sam Matekane said relatives of some min...

Russia opens criminal probe into Wagner Group head over alleged threats to oust defense minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The owner of the Wagner private military contractor escalated his direct challenge to the Kremlin on Friday, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by opening a criminal investigation into Yevgeny Prigozhin.Prigozhin posted a series of angry video and audio recordings in which he accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering a rocket strike Friday on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine, where his troops are fighting on behalf of Russia. Prigozhin said his troops would now punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance. “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin declared.The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, said he would be investigated on charges of calling for an armed rebellion. The state news agency Tass said President Vladimir Putin was kept informed.Wagner’s forces ...

Mexico probes video showing gunmen demanding protection money from bar hostesses at gunpoint

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico said Friday they’re investigating a video that appears to show gunmen from a drug cartel forcing female bar hostesses to kneel on the floor in a mock execution and extorting money from them.The video, posted on social media, shows one of the gunmen holding a pistol to the head of one woman as she is forced to lie flat on the floor. His foot is on her shoulder as she pleads with him not to shoot. “Yes, yes, yes. Please don’t shoot. Please,” says the woman in the video.“This is so you know, the owner of the escort business is the CJNG,” the masked gunman says, referring to the initials of the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Those initials also appear on the tactical vests the gunmen are wearing.“You have to report to us every week,” the gunman says, though he did not say how much the women will be forced to pay.The Jalisco cartel is one of the groups that have waged a bloody years-long turf war in the north-central state of Guanajuato, whi...

Jennifer Lawrence on ‘No Hard Feelings,’ the R-rated comedy made with the Oscar winner in mind

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jennifer Lawrence has wanted to do a big comedy for years. She has always been funny and vibrant in her television appearances. And while she has brought humor and physical comedy to many of her roles for David O. Russell and others, she also hasn’t exactly gotten the big, broad “Dumb and Dumber” or “Anchorman” experience, to cite some of her favorites (or at least the ones she’s memorized). That changes Friday with “No Hard Feelings,” a classic, raunchy R-rated comedy that was tailor made for the Oscar winner. “I’ve always wanted to do a comedy. And I’ve read a lot of them,” Lawrence told The Associated Press during an interview about the highly anticipated summer movie season. “I just didn’t read anything that was funny enough.”“No Hard Feelings” was inspired by a real Craigslist ad posted by parents who were seeking a woman to “date” their son to bring him out of his shell the summer before he went to college. There are debates over just how real the ...

ACLU lawsuit says Georgia school district ignored racism targeting Black students

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Four Black students sued a Georgia school district in federal court Friday, saying teachers and administrators violated their civil rights by fostering “a longstanding and ongoing environment of racial discrimination.”The American Civil Liberties Union filed the civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Effingham County School District in southeast Georgia.The unnamed teenage plaintiffs, identified only by their initials, allege that school officials ignored complaints of white students casually using racist slurs, and at times made Black students feel like troublemakers for reporting them.A Black student identified only as N.T. said that after posting his reaction on social media to racist comments by white peers, his high school’s athletic director “blamed Black students for the White students’ language, asserting that White students used racial epithets because Black students used racial language when talking to each other,” according to th...

Park Ridge warning community of man impersonating police officer, assaulting teen girls

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- The Park Ridge Police Department is investigating two reported incidents of a man who impersonated a police officer while approaching teenage girls.On Wednesday, June 14, two teenage girls were walking near Touhy Ave and Seminary Ave when they were approached by a man who started to question them about why they were out past curfew.During the June 14 incident, Park Ridge PD report that the man grabbed the buttocks of one of the teenage girls and offered to walk them home. Mother instructed 14-year-old son to shoot, kill man at hot dog stand, court docs allege Just after midnight on Friday, June 23, two different teenage girls were walking near Courtland Ave and Albion Ave when they were approached by the same man who identified himself as a police officer.The man reportedly asked the girls if they knew they were out past curfew and again grabbed the buttocks of one of the teenage girls.The man is described as White or Hispanic, 30-years-old, 5-foot-10, weighin...

Schumer encourages bipartisan approach as Democrats, Republicans concerned about potential of AI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are concerned about the potential of artificial intelligence and what it could do if the U.S. doesn't get ahead of it.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about AI and properly use it."Congress cannot behave like ostriches in the sand," Schumer said.Schumer said even though AI can transform our lives for the better, lawmakers cannot ignore the possible dangers, such as "workforce disruptions in a very serious way, misinformation and new weapons (and) threats against our elections."He says developing AI regulations will help build public trust."If people don't think innovation can be done safely without danger, that will stifle AI's development and even prevent us from moving forward," Schumer said.Schumer is encouraging a bipartisan approach to learn about AI and set the proper guardrails to make it safely work for the country."So I think Congress' role right no...