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Bills’ Damar Hamlin ‘cleared’ and ‘working out’ to make NFL return

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been “cleared” physically by specialists to make his NFL return and is already “working out” with the team, GM Brandon Beane said Tuesday morning.“Damar is prepared to come back and play,” Beane told reporters at his pre-draft press conference. “He’s fully cleared, he’s here, and he is of the mindset, he’s in a great headspace to come back and make his return.”Bills trainers and Cincinnati doctors saved Hamlin’s life when he went into cardiac arrest on Jan. 2 during a game between the Bills and Bengals that was ultimately canceled.Beane was at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with Hamlin and his family when the worst was still a possibility. He marveled at the progress Hamlin has made since then.“Such a great kid, such a great family,” Beane said. “It’s exciting to go from a guy who was fighting for his life to who is now, his story hasn...

Alleged Brighton storage unit killer held without bail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

The man prosecutors say is behind the two men found in plastic storage containers in a Brighton storage unit is being held without bail as the pieces of his case are put together.Leonid Volkov, 37, of Medford, appeared in Somerville District Court Tuesday morning, shackled and wearing the same Jurassic Park t-shirt that appeared in his booking photo from his Saturday arrest. He was charged with one count of murder and one count of larceny from a building, to which he pleaded not guilty.The Middlesex District Attorney’s office on Friday issued the photos of Pavel Vekshin 28, and Kiryl Schukin, 37, in an attempt to get the public’s help in locating the Medford married couple who coworkers and friends told police they hadn’t heard from since March 30.The next day, the bodies of the two men were located in a Brighton storage unit. Schukin’s body, prosecutor Ceara Mahoney said Tuesday, was dismembered with different pieces scattered between three different containers. Vekshin’s body was ...

Jury seated to hear case about Fox’s false election claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

By DAVID BAUDER, RANDALL CHASE and GEOFF MULVIHILL (Associated Press)WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury was seated Tuesday to hear a voting machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in a trial that will test First Amendment protections and expose the network’s role in spreading the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election.Jury selection came a day after the judge granted a one-day delay that offered time to see if the two sides could work out a settlement.Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems aims to hold Fox accountable for airing false allegations of election fraud that continue to roil U.S. politics.Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis gave no explanation for the brief delay. But he suggested the companies try to mediate their dispute, according to a person close to Fox who was not authorized to speak publicly about the lawsuit’s status and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The case will put under scrutiny the libel standard tha...

Update: Southwest flights taking off again after nationwide grounding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines planes were stopped from taking off nationwide for what the airline called an intermittent technology issue, causing more than 1,500 flight delays Tuesday just four months after the carrier suffered a meltdown over the Christmas travel rush.Southwest and the Federal Aviation Administration said by late morning on the East Coast that the pause had been lifted.“Southwest has resumed operations after temporarily pausing flight activity this morning to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure,” the Dallas airline said in a prepared statement. “Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost.”By late morning on the East Coast, Southwest accounted for well over half of all delays nationwide, but the airline had canceled fewer than a dozen flights, according to FlightAware.In December, Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights over the Christmas holiday due to bad ...

Woman speaks out after alleged random assault in downtown Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

A Toronto woman says she is sharing her story of an alleged random downtown assault in hopes of raising awareness about the need to address violence in the city.Brigitte Truong’s story of being attacked outside a downtown Starbucks has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on Tiktok. She says she believes others are listening and engaging because they’re concerned about their own safety.“At the root of it, I think we need to talk about mental health,” Truong tells CityNews. “Do we have the right resources in place?”She says many of the people commenting on her now viral Tiktok, particularly female users, are sharing similar stories.“Based on the comments I’m seeing on social media, I’m certainly not the first person who has been assaulted on the streets of Toronto.”   @brigittetruong Please be careful out there #toronto #assaulted ♬ original sound – Brigitte In an April 14 Tiktok, a tearful Truong recou...

Toronto adding more Traffic Agents to deal with nerve-wracking congestion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

Long commutes and short tempers have become the norm in The Big Smoke, but in an attempt to alleviate the seemingly endless traffic snarls, the City of Toronto says it is deploying more Traffic Agents to some notably troubled intersections.In a release Tuesday, the City said the first wave of 30 new Traffic Agents have already been deployed to “critical intersections” across Toronto, with more on the way.What are Traffic Agents?The City began its Traffic Agent pilot program in 2016 and says it was hugely successful with “at least a 90 per cent reduction in blocked intersections during the pilot period and at least a 70 per cent reduction in blockage of intersections by pedestrians.”“Expanding the City’s Traffic Agents Program is an important step in our efforts to manage traffic congestion in Toronto with common sense solutions,” said Deputy Mayor, Jennifer McKelvie.“Increasing the number of Traffic Agents will help us provide better service to th...

New to volunteering? A How-To-Guide to find the right fit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

Over the last 20 years, fewer and fewer people in the U.S. have donated their time through volunteering with nonprofits. While it’s not the only way to give back to your community, volunteering through nonprofit organizations is a powerful way to make a difference. Nonprofits support many of our society’s most vulnerable people. They nurture art, expression and sports. They can conduct scientific research and care for our natural spaces. The possibilities are many, though it may take some looking. Tim Delaney, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, calls nonprofits the “invisible sector,” one that is both everywhere and often never seen. Here are some things to expect as you look for a volunteer opportunity that is a good fit for you and some steps you can take to succeed: KNOW YOURSELFThe first step in finding an organization to support with your time is to assess your goals, your skills and your passions. Are you seeking to find new friends, learn som...

US reporter held by Russia on spying charges denied release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

MOSCOW — A Russian judge ruled Tuesday that American journalist Evan Gershkovich must remain behind bars on espionage charges in a case that is part of a Kremlin crackdown on dissent and press freedom amid the war in Ukraine.Appearing in public for the first time in weeks, the 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter stood in a defendant’s glass cage in Moscow City Court, wearing blue jeans and a navy blue gingham checked shirt. He paced at times with his arms folded, talking through an opening with his lawyers and occasionally smiling as he acknowledged the other journalists crammed into the courtroom.Gershkovich is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges, and his arrest rattled journalists in the country and drew outrage in the West. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release.“Evan is a member of the free press who right up until he was arrested was engaged ...

Putin, Zelenskyy rally troops with war poised for new phase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited command posts of the Kremlin’s forces fighting in Ukraine for the second time in two months, officials said Tuesday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his latest trip to positions near the front line.The visits sought to stiffen the resolve of soldiers as the war approaches its 14th month and as Kyiv readies a possible counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons.A video released by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin arriving by helicopter at the command post of Russian forces in southern Ukraine’s Kherson province and then flying to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in Luhansk province, which is in the east.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the visits took place Monday. The trip represented an apparent attempt by the Russian leader to rally his troops and demonstrate his authority. Dressed in a dark suit, Putin appeared to chair meetings with hi...

U.S. crackdown on fentanyl trade underway as Canada vows ‘public health approach’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

WASHINGTON — Senior members of President Joe Biden’s cabinet will be in Ottawa in the coming weeks to meet with their Canadian counterparts about cracking down on fentanyl. The timing of this year’s Cross-Border Crime Forum is still unconfirmed, but U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are expected to attend. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says a continental strategy for dealing with fentanyl will be a key priority during the meetings. The U.S. has already embarked on an aggressive law-enforcement approach, seizing more than 2,200 kilograms of fentanyl in the last month — virtually all of it coming across the southern border. Mendicino says in addition to enforcement efforts, Canada will be advocating a “public health approach” to fentanyl to mitigate the trauma and social harm caused by the opioid crisis. Some Republican voices in the U.S. are pushing for what critics are calling a literal war on dr...