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Crocodile captured in Coral Gables neighborhood released safely into Biscayne Bay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

A 60-pound, five-and-a-half-foot American crocodile made a grand entrance into a Coral Gables neighborhood over the weekend causing quite the commotion. Fearing for the safety of residents, Pesky Critters Wildlife Control trappers, also known as FWC Crocodile Agents, were called in to handle the situation.With local police on standby Saturday, the area was secured to ensure no one got hurt while the female crocodile played hide-and-seek in the bushes right in front of a house. Todd Hardwick and Noah Dean, trappers from Pesky Critters, wasted no time in nabbing the reptile and bringing it into custody.“When they are in the middle of the road, that’s not a good thing,” said Hardwick. This isn’t the first time an alligator or crocodile was found and trapped in a residential neighborhood. Last month, an alligator was spotted in a lake at the Colony Lakes Apartments in Homestead. “In this case, the best thing for that crocodile… I have no doubt the ani...

Officer injured after police cruiser and MBTA train collide in Rockport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

A police cruiser and an MBTA train collided in Rockport on Sunday, leaving an officer injured, according to police. Police Chief John Horvath in a statement said the incident happened around 8 p.m. at the Poole’s Lane crossing, while both the train and the cruiser traveling at a slow speed. Police said the officer was in the cruiser at the time of the crash and was taken to an area hospital. None of the ten train passengers reported any injuries. The incident remained under investigation by MBTA Transit Police as of Monday afternoon. 

Family marks somber anniversary 20 years after remains of Molly Bish were found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

A Massachusetts family is marking a somber anniversary this week, 20 years after the remains of Molly Bish were found. Bish was 16 when she disappeared, sparking the largest search in Massachusetts history. Bish’s killer has never been brought to justice in the year’s since. Haunted by unanswered questions, Bish’s sister recently spoke with 7NEWS.“I still miss my sister every day,” said Heather Bish. “I miss her and I love her and my grief is so deep.”Molly Bish had been working as a lifeguard at a pond in Warren. Her mother dropped her off for work 23 years ago. Molly was then never seen again. “I’m still trying to find out who did this to Molly,” she continued. “Who could have taken her? Who could have wanted to harm her in that way?”Molly Bish’s remains were identified in Palmer, just miles from the site where she went missing, three years after her disappearance. “I remember looking out the car window before she was found t...

Robbins: Debt deal done, score one for the grownups

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

In his new book “The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two,” journalist Steve Drummond tells the little-known story of how a little-known Senate committee headed by a little-known senator from Missouri led a bipartisan battle to strengthen America by exposing self-interest and waste in our military establishment. Regarded by students of Congress as The Gold Standard of Congressional investigations for its effectiveness, the investigation was conceived and spearheaded by Harry Truman. Formed in 1941, when the Nazis were rapidly overrunning Europe and America was utterly unprepared for what lay ahead, the Truman Committee proved to be a model of bipartisanship, as much a relic of the past as a telephone booth.It was a time when Republicans and Democrats viewed themselves as competitors, with different ideas about getting to the same place, rather than as bitter enemies. Despite the GOP’s venom toward President Franklin Roosevelt...

After humpback whale breached onto boat off Plymouth last summer, NOAA offers safety tips for navigating near whales

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

After humpback whales put on a show close to shore in Plymouth last summer, including a high-profile incident when a whale breached onto a boat, NOAA has issued tips to help people safely operate their vessels around whales this year.Large whales can be a safety hazard for recreational boaters and fishermen because they can surface unexpectedly, and are hard to detect in certain weather conditions.“As whales feed at the surface and close to shore, the chances of encountering one increases,” NOAA wrote on its website. “Accidental collisions with these large animals can be dangerous for everyone involved and can result in costly repairs to your boat.”Officials are emphasizing the “See a Spout? Watch Out!” boater education program to keep safe when operating a vessel in waters shared by whales.“Did you see a spout, a tail, or a breaching whale? Slow down and post a lookout,” NOAA wrote. “Some whales dive 20 minutes or more. Seeing o...

State’s unemployment bill still unclear, lawmakers say fact finding continues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

The state’s leaders are still not precisely sure how Massachusetts came to spend the wrong money on pandemic-era unemployment benefits, or even how much, but you can bet the erroneously spent dollars were a topic of discussion.Beacon Hill was abuzz last week, after a routine audit revealed that the Baker Administration, in the middle of his second term, apparently spent $2.5 billion in federal funds on unemployment insurance payouts that were supposed to be covered by Massachusetts tax dollars.Gov. Maura Healey was the attorney general when that money was spent, so it would be incorrect to imply there is blame to lay at her feet for the error, nevertheless, the state’s current chief executive was immediately asked to answer for the apparent misplacement of billions in COVID funds after she left an afternoon meeting with the House Speaker and Senate President.“This is something that we became aware of very, very recently,” Healey said alongside Speaker Ron Mariano and Sen. Pres...

Tax relief is coming despite state potentially owing billions to feds, Sen. Pres. says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

Despite the obvious similarities, there will not be a repeat of last year’s failed effort to provide tax relief, the state Senate president said Monday when asked if reports Massachusetts owes billions to the feds might somehow mirror last year’s unexpected $3 billion tax rebate requirement.Related ArticlesPolitics | State’s unemployment bill still unclear, lawmakers say fact finding continues State Sen. President Karen Spilka, speaking to reporters after meeting with both Gov. Maura Healey and House Speaker Ron Mariano for one of the trio’s somewhat regular “leadership meetings,” said last summer’s sudden shelving of a unanimously accepted economic development bill, brought about after lawmakers learned they had taken too much from taxpayers and would need to send billions back under a rarely invoked 1986 law, will not serve as a precedent for a second slow-walk on tax relief.“We are proceeding with a tax relief package — as I’ve said for many months — we will...

Commission: Florida judge should be reprimanded for conduct during Parkland school shooting trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

By TERRY SPENCER (Associated Press)FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida judge who oversaw the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz should be publicly reprimanded for showing bias toward the prosecution, failing to curtail “vitriolic statements” directed at Cruz’s attorneys by the victims’ families and sometimes allowing “her emotions to overcome her judgement,” a state commission concluded Monday. The Judicial Qualifications Commission found that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer violated several rules governing judicial conduct during last year’s trial in her actions toward Cruz’s public defenders. The six-month trial ended with Cruz receiving a receiving a life sentence for the 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the jury could not unanimously agree that he deserved a death sentence. The 15-member commission found that Scherer “unduly chastise...

Approval for Idaho phosphate mine reversed after judge rules US didn’t assess prairie bird impact

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

A federal judge has yanked approval for a phosphate mining project in southeastern Idaho, saying federal land managers in the Trump administration didn’t in part properly consider the mine’s impact on sage grouse, a bird species that has seen an 80% decline in population since 1965.U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s Friday decision came five months after he found fault with the way the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the Caldwell Canyon Mine in 2019.The mine has been proposed by P4 Production LLC, a subsidiary of German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG. Three environmental groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians — sued.In January, Winmill agreed with the conservation groups that the federal agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws on several counts when it approved the mine, including failing to consider the indirect effects of processing ore at a nearby plant and the cumulative impacts on s...

Lawyer says Rep. George Santos would go to jail to keep identities of bond cosigners secret

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:46:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Rep. George Santos’ lawyer said Monday the indicted New York Republican would risk going to jail to protect the identities of the people who cosigned the $500,000 bond enabling his pretrial release.The lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged a judge to deny a request by news outlets to unseal the names of Santos’ bond suretors, suggesting they could “suffer great distress,” including possible job losses and physical harm, if they’re identified publicly.“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” Murray wrote in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields.Murray asked that she give them time to withdraw as cosignors if she decides to unseal the suretors’ names, which Shields kept off the public court docket at the lawyer’s request.Murray said he, Santos and Santos’ staff have been receiving threatening and harassing calls and messages, including death threats. The lawyer said...