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Friends plan to confront high school tormenter in ‘Speech Team’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

Tim Murphy’s novel “Speech Team” begins with a short scene featuring four friends who reunite after years apart to “avenge the mortifications of youth.”It is February 2013 and all have briefly swapped the cold and damp of the Northeast for an undertaking in Sarasota, Florida. As they drive to a mystery address in a rental car, they each try to keep their nerves under control. But when they approach their destination, a ranch home on a residential street, one passenger panics at the sight of an old man on the front steps and tells the driver not to stop. Fear wins, ruining any chance of the reckoning they had planned.An aborted mission would normally make for an anticlimactic opener. However, Murphy ensures there is enough character outline and plot potential to keep readers turning the pages. A potent sense of mystery lingers: Who are these people, what did they set out to accomplish and what triggered the alarm that derailed their plan?Murphy’s n...

Editorial: Mass & Cass runoff a water hazard – cue fed funding

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

If there’s a silver lining to concerns that untreated stormwater runoff from the drug addiction detritus from Mass and Cass is polluting Boston Harbor, it’s this: perhaps now the city can get federal muscle and money to finally fix the crisis at Methadone Mile.After all, now the environment is affected.These days, climate change and environmental issues are the magic words to open up the floodgates of funding.As the Herald reported, the city is applying for a grant from the CDC to monitor the Fort Point Channel for communicable diseases.Catch basins in the Mass and Cass encampment drain into the Fort Point Channel where fishing and kayaking remain popular right across from the Children’s Museum.“We have recently learned that catch basins in the area known as Mass & Cass dump right out into Boston Harbor via the Fort Point Channel without any filtration,” a group of lawmakers said in a letter sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That letter, obtained...

A stylish summer is in the bag

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

One of the best things about summer is switching to accessories that just don’t fly the rest of the year. Case in point: the ultra-casual but ever-so-chic allure of straw bags. I love their freshness and hint at country romance and innocence. They complement everything from denim shorts and most maxi dresses to mini sundresses and linen jumpsuits to navy nauticals.And then there’s their incredible utility: With their flexible material and variable sizes — these things can get huge — they range from demure little cases that stay buttoned-up for evening to big baskets that are so roomy I could fit just about everything I need for the day in them. So here, according to what I’m using them for, are my current favorites for the rest of the summer:For the office: The Chloe Sense Woven Palm Basket Tote ($850 on nordstrom.com) is both a big statement and a big tote. It’s inspired by Spanish market bags, but sports big wide leather straps that keep it very much within the working world. It’s...

Julius Randle envisions next season as his mental and physical prime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

A relaxed Julius Randle, no longer wearing a cast from his ankle surgery, predicted next season as the best of his career because of a confluence of the most important basketball attributes.“Me and my trainer were just talking about this, we were talking about prime years,” Randle said Wednesday as a guest on ‘The Shop Uninterrupted.’ “And I feel like your prime is when your mental and physical kind of meet. And physically I feel like this is going to be my best year. But mentally I feel like I’ve taken a tremendous step because I’ve had to slow all the way down. I wasn’t allowed to train.”Randle, 28, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle nearly two months ago. The procedure followed two sprains to the same ankle in a short span and a disappointing performance in the playoffs.The ending left a bad taste after a strong regular season from Randle, who became just the second Knick since Allan Houston to earn two All-Star ...

Lucas: Beacon Hill Dems losing grip on patronage jobs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

The Democratic Party is not what it used to be—at least not in Massachusetts.The party has gone so woke as to be unrecognizable to regular Democrats who still cling to hope that the party will eventually rediscover common sense.Yet the problem goes beyond that.It is party patronage — the lifeblood of the party — or what has become of it.It concerns how Beacon Hill Democrats allowed four new high-paying jobs at the MBTA to go to guys from New York — New York! — rather than to guys from Boston or from the Democratic-controlled State House or to other connected Democrats.We are not talking about low level but essential jobs at the T that nobody seems to want, even though you can sleep on the job. No, we are talking about some of the top paying positions in the state.And nobody has said a word about caving into New York, not Gov. Maura Healey, not Senate President Karen Spilka, not House Speaker Ron Mariano, all Democrats.What is the world coming to?Never would that have hap...

Amy Redford accents family drama in thriller ‘What Comes Around’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

Amy Redford, a second generation actor-director following in the footsteps of her Oscar-winning father Robert, has made something personal with Friday’s thriller “What Comes Around.”Summer Phoenix, of the acting clan that includes her Oscar-winning brother Joaquin, is Beth, a mother who discovers her daughter Anna’s (Grace Van Dien) 17th birthday heralds a complicated step into adulthood.Suddenly, there’s a man in Anna’s life, Tim (Kyle Gallner), an older, mysterious guy she met on the internet who has driven hundreds of miles to surprise her – and maybe seduce her — on her birthday.  As alarm bells ring, as confrontation ensues, “What Comes Around” pivots dramatically.It all began, Redford, 52, said in a Zoom interview this week,  when she read Scott Organ’s play.  “I realized what a wonderful opportunity it would be adapt it for the screen, especially during COVID times. It was Trojan Horse-ing some interesting ideas through genre.”Specifically, in the unraveling of who Tim ...

Dear Abby: Recovering alcoholic fights to get life back

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

Dear Abby: I am a married man (15 years) with three children, and I am a recovering alcoholic. My marriage has been a roller coaster filled with lies, infidelity (my wife’s), abuse and drinking. I am in an outpatient alcohol program to save myself, my family and my marriage.My wife is talking to other men. She constantly tells me they are better than I am, that I’m a loser and I’ll get what I deserve (meaning losing her and the children).I still want to save my marriage. I know I have been a poor husband due to the drinking, but that is changing. I keep trying to convince her to give me a little time to prove that I can be a brand-new, sober, honest man. She says it’s too late and that I pushed her into the arms of others. She says she no longer loves me and is going to divorce me. She evidently has hired an attorney.Our children beg her all the time to not divorce me, not to seek others and to let Dad show he is changing. I’m lost, angry, hurt and anxi...

El Cajon to deploy license plate-reading cameras program

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Just one day after San Diego city officials approved the use of 500 Smart Streetlights, the City of El Cajon is gearing up to start using its new cameras to track license plates.Forty new sets of eyes -- by way of surveillance cameras -- will soon call the streets of El Cajon home. The cameras will track license plates in real time, an effort police say to get criminals off the streets quicker."Time is the biggest impact on our job, time to investigate crimes and having this real-time information to respond immediately to get people in custody or recover stolen property," said Lt. Jeremiah Larson with the El Cajon Police Department.Police activated the cameras for a brief test run last week and say in that short time, the cameras tracked two cars that were reported in violent crimes -- one was involved in a carjacking and robbery and another was a stolen vehicle. Police dog killed in ‘violent shooting’; suspect pronounced dead Police say thanks to the cameras, ...

Indonesia buys 12 surveillance and reconnaissance drones from Turkish Aerospace

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has bought 12 surveillance and reconnaissance drones worth $300 million from Turkish Aerospace to be used by its military to strengthen the nation’s defenses, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.The purchase aims to increase the variety, quantity and quality of Indonesia’s military defense equipment with the contract signed Feb. 3 with Turkish Aerospace, which is headquartered in the capital, Ankara. The 12 units of ANKA drones are expected to be delivered before November 2025.Indonesia will also get training, logistic support and related equipment as well as a warranty period of two years or 600 flying hours.The 12 ANKA drones will be used by Indonesia’s air force, army and navy. The 8.6-meter (28-foot) drone can fly around 30 hours at an altitude of 9,100 meters (30,000 feet). The Turkish air force has used them since 2010.In January, Indonesia sealed another deal worth $805 million to buy a dozen advanced Mirage 2000-5 fighter...

Trump supporters view the latest indictment as evidence of a crime – against Trump

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his supporters are reacting to a third indictment against him with a now-familiar playbook: deflecting with unrelated accusations, distracting with misleading claims about the charges, and demonizing the prosecution.Instead of convincing his followers about the seriousness of the charges, Tuesday’s indictment is being held up as proof of a conspiracy to take down Trump and a continuation of the effort by Democrats, the media and the so-called deep state to interfere with the nation’s elections.For years Trump has told his supporters that elections can’t be trusted and that he is a victim of a corrupt persecution by the government and media. With that narrative endorsed by conservative news outlets and amplified on social media, it’s only natural that many of Trump’s supporters will accept it, said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University historian who studies authoritarian propaganda. “He’s set up the ide...