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Arizona governor’s aide resigns after controversial tweet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — The press secretary of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has resigned after a controversial social media post made in the wake of a fatal shooting at a Tennessee school.Gubernatorial spokesperson Josselyn Berry posted a tweet Monday night with an image of a woman holding pistols in each hand and the caption, “Us when we see transphobes.” The image was from the 1980 movie “Gloria.”The post was made hours after the shooting at a Christian school in Nashville that left three children and three adults dead. The shooter was killed by police and has been identified as a 28-year-old former student at The Covenant School who was transgender.Berry’s post drew widespread criticism for appearing to promote gun violence. Twitter later removed the post with a notice saying it violated the platform’s rules.Berry reportedly resigned Tuesday night and the governor’s office said Wednesday that Hobbs had received and accepted the resignation.“The governor does not condone violence in any form,”...

Cup Noodles’ new ramen flavor puts your breakfast cravings into a cup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

(CNN) — The high price of eggs and other breakfast staples is forcing some to look for cheaper breakfast alternatives. How about ramen?Cup Noodles, the budget-friendly food company, has created a breakfast version of their instant ramen, which mixes together the flavors of sausage, maple syrup pancakes and eggs in a saucy texture designed to come to life with water.Aptly titled “Cup Noodles Breakfast,” the meal takes four minutes to cook in the microwave and results in a soup-based ramen that also contains “visible ingredients” of sausage and eggs. Eaters are encouraged by the company to customize it with hot sauce, more syrup or even rice.Priscila Stanton, senior vice president and marketing for Nissin Foods USA, compared it to a “classic diner breakfast in a cup,” without the hassle of making a full meal with all of those ingredients.“This idea was about how you bring all of those great breakfast cravings into a cup,&#...

Pet cats and dogs may help protect infants from food allergies, study suggests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

(CNN) — Children who live with cats or dogs during fetal development and early infancy may be less likely than other kids to develop food allergies, according to a new study.The study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, analyzed data from over 65,000 children from Japan. It found that children exposed to cats or indoor dogs had a 13% to 16% lower risk of all food allergies compared with babies in pet-free homes.“Our findings suggest that exposure to dogs and cats might be beneficial against the development of certain food allergies, thereby alleviating concerns about pet keeping and reducing the burden of food allergies,” the authors wrote.The study found that children exposed to cats were less likely to develop egg, wheat and soybean allergies, while those exposed to dogs were less likely to have egg, milk and nut allergies.Although there was no association between turtles and birds and food allergies, hamster exposure during fetal development was l...

Report: Travel Nurses Aiding, Disrupting Mass. Hospitals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

An increasing reliance on travel nurses is contributing to high turnover rates among nurses in Massachusetts, as health care remains strapped by labor shortages here and around the country, according to a Health Policy Commission report. Registered nurse vacancy rates in Massachusetts hospitals doubled from 6.4 percent in 2019 to 13.6 percent in 2022, with especially high vacancy rates in community hospitals, the HPC report says. When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, hospitals turned to traveling health care workers to fill workforce gaps at facilities around the country that were overwhelmed. As of 2021, these contracted workers represented about 5 percent of hospital patient care labor costs, the report says. Across the state, health care facilities paid $1.5 billion to these workers in fiscal 2022 — a 145 percent increase over the previous year. Travel nurses are not employed by a specific facility, but take temporary jobs in high-need areas. They are often paid more than their pe...

Gallery: Mayor Wu gets tour of Fenway’s improvements

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu gets a tour of Fenway Park from Red Sox management two days before Opening Day

Heat’s Oladipo not quite feeling the burn about being thrown into the fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

Having filled in for Jimmy Butler on Tuesday night in Toronto, when Butler was sidelined with neck pain, Victor Oladipo found himself in limbo again in the Miami Heat rotation on Wednesday, with Kyle Lowry making an effort to play on consecutive nights for the first time since returning from a monthlong absence due to knee pain.Prior to Tuesday, Oladipo had been held out of four of the previous five games. He then played 22:53 against the Raptors, his longest stint since March 11.He then was expected back in the mix for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, but that came into question when the Heat announced that Lowry would attempt to play on consecutive nights for the first time since December.Asked if he felt like he was being thrown into the fire amid such erratic playing time, Oladipo, 30, admitted it was hard to feel the burn.“I mean it’s different, obviously,” he said of the uneven minutes. “I just imagined ...

Authorities investigating $500K heist at Colorado casino

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

Colorado authorities are investigating a mountain town casino heist of $500,000 in cash — the biggest theft from a casino that state regulators can remember since gambling started again in 1991.The theft from the Monarch Casino Resort and Spa, located 34 miles west of Denver in Black Hawk, occurred March 12. Casino cashier Sabrina Eddy, 44, has been jailed on suspicion of theft and was still in her cell Tuesday afternoon, according to a Gilpin County Clerk deputy who spoke on the condition her name wouldn’t be used.Monarch officials declined to say how money was removed from inside the casino.“While we can confirm that the theft occurred,” Casino spokeswoman Erica Ferris said, “this is currently an active and open investigation and Monarch is making no comment.”According to a Gilpin County District Court affidavit issued in support of a warrantless arrest, Eddy was working shortly after midnight in the Monarch as the “cage cashier” responsible for casino money when she received phon...

Man charged with murder in 2020 Toronto mosque stabbing found not criminally responsible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

A man accused of killing a 58-year-old Muslim man outside a Toronto mosque has been found not criminally responsible in the case.Guilherme (William) Von Neutegem had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, who was stabbed outside the International Muslim Organization in west Toronto on Sept. 12, 2020.The Ministry of the Attorney General says Von Neutegem was found not criminally responsible by an Ontario court on Friday, and the matter was referred to the Ontario Review Board.Guilherme “William” Von Neutegem, suspect arrested in the stabbing death of a mosque caretaker, is seen in this Instagram photo.The board decides if and how not criminally responsible patients should be detained.Psychiatric reports filed with the court said Von Neutegem suffered from schizophrenia.One of the reports said he was not diagnosed or treated for mental illness at the time of the attack on Zafis.

Trump grand jury poised to take pre-planned break from case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money paid on Donald Trump’s behalf is scheduled to consider other matters next week before taking a previously scheduled two-week hiatus, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. That means a vote on whether or not to indict the former president likely wouldn’t come until late April at the earliest.The break, which was scheduled in advance when the panel was convened in January, coincides with Passover, Easter and spring break for the New York City public school system.The person who confirmed the grand jury’s schedule was not authorized to speak publicly about secretive grand jury proceedings and did so on condition of anonymity. A message left with the district attorney’s office was not immediately returned.In a statement released through a lawyer, Trump said: “I HAVE GAINED SO MUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY.”The grand jury has been meeting regularly Monday and Wednesday afternoons. It met Monday and a l...

International development groups say budget cut will end Canadian programs abroad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:42 GMT

OTTAWA — Humanitarian groups are giving Tuesday’s federal budget a thumbs down, saying a projected $1.3-billion cut to foreign aid will end Canadian projects andcreate a backslide in progress on fighting disease and hunger.“There is certainly a gap between rhetoric and reality in this year’s budget,” said Kate Higgins, the head of Cooperation Canada, which represents more than 95 non-profits.“It undermines progress on development and Canada’s contribution to progress on development around the world.”The Liberal budget projects that Ottawa will spend nearly $6.9 billion for international development in the coming fiscal year, a 16 per cent drop from last year’s allocation.That’s despitePrime Minister Justin Trudeau tasking International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan to increase aid spending every year.The Liberals had budgeted for $6.6 billion in foreign aid for the 2019-2020 financial year before the pandemic began, and the govern...