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Local lawmakers, advocates say more needs to be done to prevent tragedy as gun control debate continues

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

From Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill, many people are calling for stronger laws on the books to stop gun violence in the aftermath of the recent deadly school shooting in Nashville. As the conversation moves forward, though, there is a difference in opinion on how to stop mass shootings.  The group “Moms Demand Action” gathered at the Massachusetts State House on Wednesday, rallying in favor of stricter gun control legislation. For Jody Marchand, the rally was personal. Marchand was 50 when her husband shot her in the head 13 years ago in Westford with a semi-automatic pistol she bought him for Christmas. Marchand’s husband also murdered their 17-year-old daughter Olivia before he turned the gun on himself. “How do we fix it?” Marchand said. “We make stronger gun laws.”The attack in Nashville killed three adults and three young children. Speaking this week, Beacon Hill lawmakers noted Massachusetts has some of the toughest laws on the books.“The tragedy that oc...

Snow showers overnight, cold wind tomorrow

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

7Weather- After a frosty start, temperatures rebounded to the 50s for a lot of us today! The seabreeze kept it cooler along the coast this afternoon. A lot of sun today too. Clouds will increase tonight ahead of a cold front sweeping the region overnight. That cold front will bring some snow and rain showers while we’re sleeping. Temperatures will drop, and the wind will pick up making it feel much colder tomorrow.There’s a window between midnight and predawn that the front will slide across the region. That’s when we can expect snow and rain showers across the region. Any accumulation will mainly be for the higher elevations. There could be a coating to an 1″ around central Mass on untreated surfaces. Behind the cold front, dewpoints fall and the wind increases. That will prevent slick spots tomorrow morning.That’s while we’re sleeping. Waking up tomorrow morning, you’ll notice the cold! Temperatures will drop to the mid 20s for the hills, ...

Moms, lawmakers demand change after 130th mass shooting of 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

The scheduling of a Moms Demand Action advocacy day at the State House could be called tragically timed if the group’s yearly meeting with lawmakers didn’t always seem to occur shortly after another mass shooting.“Unfortunately it’s a question of when, not if. So it’s unfortunate that Nashville happened a couple of days ago; we do stand in solidarity with them. It does make the work that we’re doing here that much more important,” Jennifer Robinson, the group’s state co-leader, told the Herald Wednesday.As the nation continued to recover from the impacts of arguably the 130th mass shooting this year, the 15th at a school since Columbine, more than 100 Massachusetts moms gathered on Beacon Hill to call for the state to do more to protect kids and families from gun violence.The group’s annual lobbying day — held about 48 hours after the horrific murder of three students and three adults at a Nashville church-based school — gives residents directly touched by gun violence a chance to o...

Healey signs first major piece of legislation

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

With about a week to go until she hits the three-months-in-office mark, Gov. Maura Healey has finally signed a major piece of legislation.“I’m proud that the first major bill signed into law by our administration dedicates crucial resources to help Massachusetts families access safe and secure housing, keep food on the table, and pay for child care,” Healey said along with an announcement she had signed a fiscal 2023 supplemental budget.“Additionally, this bill supports our health care workforce, crucial housing and economic development programs like MassWorks, and our efforts to compete for federal funding,” she continued.The new law authorizes $388.7 million in additional spending on top of the about $53.3 billion already approved for the 2023 financial year, as well as an additional $740 million in borrowing.“This includes $400 million for MassWorks, $104 million for the Clean Water Trust and $125 million for matching grants to be competitive for federal dollars...

Two dead in fatal New Bedford fire that destroyed a 31-unit apartment building

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

New Bedford and state public safety officials on Wednesday recovered a second victim who died inside a four-story, 31-unit apartment building destroyed by a catastrophic fire Tuesday.Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III identified the first fatal victim recovered from the building Tuesday night as 59-year-old Manuel Moreira.“On behalf of the New Bedford Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences to Mr. Moreira’s family and loved ones,” New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said in a release. “It was deeply important to all of us at the scene that we recover him with respect and dignity as soon as it was possible to do so.”Officials are still working to determine the identity of the second victim, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the state Department of Fire Services. The origin and cause of the blaze also remained under investigation Wednesday evening.At least 20 occupants who had been inside what authorities are describing as a rooming house were able t...

Robert Kraft’s son reveals prostate cancer diagnosis, pushes for screening with advanced prostate cancer rates on the rise

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

One of Robert Kraft’s sons on Wednesday revealed that he has been treated for prostate cancer, as he pushed others to get screened with advanced prostate cancer rates on the rise.Joshua Kraft, 55, announced that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 when he was 51, and he received treatment at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center. He underwent surgery in 2019 to remove the prostate gland.When follow-up tests showed the cancer was starting to return, the president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation received radiation and hormone therapy.Today, Joshua has no signs of cancer. His prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level — used to gauge the presence of prostate cancer — stands at zero.“When prostate cancer is caught early, it’s treatable and often curable,” Joshua said. “I tell people all the time to get their PSA tested or have a digital exam. It’s one form of cancer that getting ahead of it allows you to get rid of it be...

Christopher Keeley indicted in murder of Marshfield couple in their 70s

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

The man prosecutors say brutally murdered a Marshfield couple in their home last November has been indicted on the charges.A Plymouth County grand jury has indicted Christopher Keeley, 28, on two counts of murder for the deaths of Carl and Vicki Mattson, both 70. Prosecutors say police found the Mattsons’ bodies “bludgeoned to death” in their Gotham Hill Drive home in Marshfield in November.In addition to the murders, Keeley faces charges of misuse of a credit card, larceny of a motor vehicle and animal cruelty, the last one for allegedly killing the Mattsons’ dog. He will be arraigned in Plymouth Superior Court at a later date.Keeley stood out in crime news at the tail end of 2022 thanks to the mugshot issued after police Florida found and arrested him on Dec. 2.In it, Keeley’s hair is dyed pink or red and he sports a beard that could only be described as scraggly. His left brow had a laceration that cops in Florida suspected came from an altercation with another man — who ended up...

Trump turning to video messages to bypass traditional media

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump rails against a possible indictment in New York, his team is leaning into a strategy that has quietly become a cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign: releasing made-for-social media videos reacting to the news and outlining his agenda for a possible second term.The videos feature the former president speaking directly to camera on topics ranging from Ukraine and “saving” the suburbs to dismantling the “deep state, ” and they are often laced with his familiar dark rhetoric and conspiracies. But his team sees them as a tool to bypass the traditional news media and speak directly to supporters, and as part of a broader effort to steer Trump toward policy instead of his own grievances and obsessions with the past. “It certainly lays down a marker for President Trump and the campaign on very specific policy prescriptions. No campaign has done it thus far and it sort of harkens back to 2016 where President Trump was pushing out policies ...

Fatal stabbing casts a pall over downtown Vancouver neighbourhood as court date set

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

VANCOUVER — The fatal stabbing of a 37-year-old father outside a downtown Vancouver Starbucks is casting a pall over the normally bustling block.Passersby were pausing Wednesday to pay their respects to Paul Stanley Schmidt at a makeshift memorial of flowers, pictures and notes outside the café.Police have said he was stabbed around 5:40 p.m. Sunday after a brief altercation.The accused, Inderdeep Singh Gosal, was arrested at the scene moments later when bystanders flagged down a constable patrolling the area, police said.The 32-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder and a hearing has been scheduled in Vancouver provincial court on April 11.A search of online court records shows no prior convictions for Gosal, while Const. Tania Visintin said Gosal “has had limited police interactions.”The killing was captured in a gruesome video shared on social media.Guilherme Gomes, manager of the nearby Sciué Italian Bakery Caffé, said patrons seemed shaken by the stabbi...

West Virginia governor signs ban on gender-affirming care

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:31:06 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, joining at least 10 other states that have enacted laws restricting or outlawing medically supported treatments for transgender youth.The bill outlaws those under 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy and fully reversible puberty blockers. It also bans minors from receiving gender-affirming surgery, something physicians say doesn’t even happen in West Virginia.Unlike measures passed in other states, however, West Virginia’s law contains a unique exemption: It permits doctors to prescribe medical therapy if a teenager is considered at risk for self-harm or suicide. Under the law, which will take effect in January 2024, a patient can be prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy after receiving parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two doctors, including a mental health provider. Gender dysphoria is defined by medica...