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Gathering for St. Patrick’s Day? Boston health officials recommend wearing a mask as COVID cases go down

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

While COVID cases keep dropping in the city and across the region, Boston health officials ahead of St. Patrick’s Day recommended that people gathering for the holiday wear a mask in public indoor spaces.“Keep your weekend filled with luck and happiness (and not COVID-19)!” reads a poster from the Boston Public Health Commission.“Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day?” the Boston Public Health Commission tweeted on Thursday. “While Boston is experiencing lower levels of COVID-19 spread, it’s still very easy to get sick when gathering in large crowds. Consider wearing a mask and be sure to stay home if you’re sick and to test for COVID before and after gathering.”Meanwhile, the city’s virus wastewater data is continuing to fall. Data from the city’s wastewater surveillance program shows that the number of COVID particles in the wastewater dropped 46% over the past two weeks.The citywide average is now 479 viral RNA copie...

Michelle Wu pushes energy-efficiency ordinance, grants

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

In the latest part of her “Green New Deal” push, Mayor Michelle Wu’s proposing legislation to move Boston to the state’s new electricity-focused standards and is putting federal recovery money toward retrofitting affordable housing to be more environmentally friendly.Wu said she’s going to be filing an ordinance that would put Boston in line with the state’s “stretch code,” a set of regulations that cities and towns can opt into that’s aimed at reducing emissions from residential buildings.“Building a Green New Deal city means improving on our existing infrastructure as well as investing in future resilient development,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “This new green building code will help ensure that we set the foundation for healthy, resilient growth throughout our neighborhoods.”If passed by the city council, the ordinance change would require new residential buildings to add wiring for future conversion to electri...

Source: Patriots re-sign LS Joe Cardona to 4-year deal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

The Patriots have re-signed long snapper Joe Cardona to a 4-year deal with a $1 million signing bonus, a source confirmed to the Herald.Cardona, 30, is the team’s second-longest tenured player after special teams captain Mathew Slater. The Patriots selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft out of Navy. Cardona is viewed as an important locker room leader. The team’s punt and field goal operations missed Cardona at the end of last season when he missed multiple games with a partially torn tendon in his foot.He becomes the 11th free agent the Patriots have retained this offseason, including restricted free agents the team has tendered. The lone exceptions have been safety Devin McCourty, who retired, and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who signed with the Raiders.The NFL Network first reported Cardona’s new deal.

MIAA state boys basketball finals preview and picks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

When Mansfield and Malden Catholic face off on Friday night for the Division 2 state title, it will be a battle between two of the winningest coaches of the last decade.Mike Vaughan is looking to lead No. 2 Mansfield to its second championship in program history as the Hornets play in their third state final. The Hornets have overcome injuries to a pair of starters in impressive fashion by winning each of their tournament games by 20 plus points. Eddie McCoy has been the star during the postseason run alongside 6-foot-7 stretch forward JT Veiking. Chris Hill has been at the center of the Hornets’ success all season long.On the other side will be John Walsh, who coached the Lancers to a state championship a year ago to add to his previous collection of three at Danvers High School. Top seed Malden Catholic has also overcome its share of seemingly killer injuries. Catholic Conference co-MVP Nick Martinez is one of the premier defensive players in Eastern Mass., while sophomore g...

Russian fighter jet dumps fuel on US drone before hitting propeller, Pentagon video shows; Seth Moulton calls it ‘reckless’ behavior from Putin’s military

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

A Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on a U.S. drone before hitting its propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea, according to a new declassified video released by the Pentagon, as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Moscow.This latest incident of Russian fighter pilots harassing U.S. aircraft happened between two Russian Su-27s and a $32 million U.S. Air Force surveillance MQ-9 Reaper drone — which ended up getting damaged and crashing into the sea.This was the first time since the Cold War that a U.S. aircraft went down during a confrontation with Russia.“By targeting an unarmed, unmanned U.S. plane in international airspace, Putin’s military knowingly and deliberately violated the law,” Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said in a statement.“This type of behavior is reckless and will not deter the U.S. from continuing to conduct its security missions wherever the law allows,” added Moulton, a military veteran.Several...

Heat’s Kevin Love deals with jolt after Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane goes nuts | Video

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

It might not have been intentional, but that didn’t necessarily matter to Miami Heat forward Kevin Love when Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane went nuts Wednesday night.So even after the Heat’s rout was completed, their fifth victory in seven games, Love still took a moment to gather his thoughts on the moment that left Bane with his first career ejection.With 6:44 to play in what turned into the Heat’s 138-119 victory, Bane was charged with an offensive foul.In this case, offensive was somewhat the operative word.As the officiating staff indicated an initial willingness to continue play with a mere common foul on Bane, the Heat’s in-house video operations almost immediately showed a replay of Bane’s left forearm and elbow swinging directly into Love’s groin, with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and assistant Chris Quinn waving to both lead official Marc Davis and the video board.On the televised replay, Heat analyst John Crotty referred to Bane̵...

Despite Mets closer Edwin Diaz’s knee injury, players quick to say don’t blame the World Baseball Classic

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

The World Baseball Classic has reached peak controversy.Mets star closer Edwin Diaz was taken off of the field in a wheelchair Wednesday night in Miami after suffering what appeared to be a serious knee injury during Puerto Rico’s post-game celebration. Diaz had just pitched a perfect ninth inning in a 5-2 win over the Dominican Republic.Diaz is expected to undergo an MRI Thursday afternoon with the results likely available later in the day.Despite outrage from Mets faithful on social media over the thought of possibly losing their All-Star closer for the season due to a freak celebration in an outside competition, Major League players are rallying to defend the international spring tournament.Mets reliever Adam Ottavino — who is pitching in the WBC for Team USA — said it was just a “fluke thing.”“It could’ve happened in any type of situation, regardless,” Ottavino told reporters after Team USA’s victory over Colombia Wednesday n...

Microsoft adds AI tools to Office apps like Outlook, Word

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

NEW YORK — Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its Office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails.The company said Thursday the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word and animate slides in PowerPoint.Microsoft is marketing the feature as a tool that will allow workers to be more productive by freeing up time they usually spend in their inbox, or allowing them to more easily analyze trends in Excel.The tech giant based in Redmond, Washington, will also add a chat function called Business Chat, which resembles the popular ChatGPT. It takes commands and carries out actions — like summarizing an email about a particular project to co-workers — using user data.“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” Microsoft CE...

Top seed BU takes on Providence in Hockey East semifinal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

The Boston University Terriers are back in an old familiar place under a new head coach.BU will make its 25th appearance in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals when the No. 5 ranked Terriers (25-10-0, 18-6-0) encounter the Providence College Friars (16-13-7, 9-9-6) in the opener (4) on Friday night at the TD Garden.Coach Jay Pandolfo guided the Terriers to the conference regular season title. Pandolfo was recently named the Hockey East Coach of the Year in his first season behind the bench of his alma mater. BU closed out the regular season with a home and home series sweep against the Friars.BU drew the No. 1 seed and advanced with a 7-3 win over Vermont in a quarterfinal match at Agganis Arena on March 11. Providence entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and advanced with a 2-1 overtime upset win at No. 15 ranked Northeastern on March 11. No. 2 seed Merrimack and No. 5 seed UMass Lowell will face off in the nightcap scheduled for 7:30.“We are looking forward to this weekend,”...

What drove these people to clown school? A need for joy in face of layoffs, cancer and anger.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:09 GMT

In First Presbyterian Church of Englewood’s basement Sunday afternoon, five Coloradans dressed in wacky regalia and big, honkin’ shoes marched before their loved ones — and past a painting of the Last Supper — belting “Pomp and Circumstance” on kazoos.An audience of family, friends and plainclothes clowns squinting to recognize each other without white-painted faces cheered on as the five men, women and teens each leveled up from layperson to professional goofball.It was graduation day for the 2023 cohort of Colorado Clown Alley’s 10-week clown school. The newly-inducted jesters are now not only card-carrying members of a different variety of postsecondary institution, but rising masters of belly laughs, balloon animals and spreading joy in uncertain times.The clown class of 2023 tickled Clown Alley president Isabel Nuanez as there were multiple young members, she said, inspiring hope for a rebound in the clown industry.Whether people were compensating for the bleakness of the pande...