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‘Trees down and branches everywhere’: South Shore residents describe damage after storm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Restoration efforts continued on the South Shore Tuesday, one day after the region was hit hard by Monday’s major storm. Ramping up overnight into Monday morning, powerful wind gusts sent debris flying, knocking down trees and leaving nearly all residents in Scituate in the dark. As the new day dawned Tuesday morning, a clearer picture emerged of the damage left behind.“At one point, I did leave and it was a little scary just to be driving around,” said Norwell resident Alison Demong.As of around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, 34% of Scituate energy customers were still without power, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Sixty-six percent of customers in Norwell were impacted, while more than 50% of customers in Hanson, Pembroke and Duxbury were in the dark. Elsewhere, 62% of energy customers in Rochester were without power.National Grid said it brought in crews from other states and Canada to support restoration efforts. Crews were then visible around town...

Crews work to put out house fire in Pembroke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Firefighters in Pembroke were able to contain and put out flames at a home on Station Street Tuesday.On the department’s Facebook page, the Pembroke Fire Department described how it was alerted to a structure fire Tuesday afternoon and, with assistance from Pembroke police and several neighboring fire departments, crews were able to respond and contain the blaze.As of 4 p.m., Pembroke FD said it was still investigating the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported.Image provided by the Pembroke Fire Department“We would like to stress the importance of proper generator use during these prolonged periods of power outages,” the department’s Facebook page mentioned.Officials also shared several images from the scene, including the blaze and its aftermath, as well as a cat being placed under an oxygen mask.

Pedestrian hit by car in Milford

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Milford Tuesday after a pedestrian was hit by a car. The crash happened near Beaver Street and East Main Street. Witnesses said a man was trapped under a truck. Another car appeared to have rear-ended the truck. Jazzman Acker, who works nearby, said she heard a loud crash and now hopes everyone is OK. “I heard that they pulled him from underneath the truck and he was lifeless,” Acker said. Milford police confirmed a pedestrian was hit and said the area was closed to traffic around 1:20 p.m. Roads later reopened but there was no word as of around 4 p.m. on the condition of the person who was hit.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Retailers looking to boost delivery speeds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

NEW YORK — Haven’t ordered any of your holiday gifts yet?Well, you might find solace in discovering some of America’s biggest retailers are working to increase their shipping speeds to please shoppers expecting faster and faster deliveries.Walmart, Target and Amazon are all-in on the shipping wars, a move retail experts say will help them maintain a competitive edge against low-cost retailers Shein and Temu, which were founded in China. For Walmart and Target, their investments are also aimed at narrowing the gap in delivery speed with Amazon, which has set the standard for fast shipping.Amazon packages have been arriving at the doors of Prime customers even faster this year under the company’s new distribution model, which divides the country into eight regions and predominantly ships items from warehouses in those areas. The idea, according to Amazon, is to get shipments to travel shorter distances with fewer touchpoints, which helps the company not only speed up...

Ticker: Xfinity notifies customers of data breach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Hackers accessed Xfinity customers’ personal information by exploiting a vulnerability in software used by the company, the Comcast-owned telecommunications business announced this week.In a Monday notice to customers, Xfinity said there was unauthorized access to internal systems as a result of this vulnerability — which was previously announced by software provider Citrix — between Oct. 16 and 19.Xfinity discovered the “suspicious activity” on Oct. 25, and in the following months determined that information was “likely acquired.” On Dec. 6, the company concluded that information included usernames and hashed passwords — and, for some customers, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, account security questions, birthdates and contact information.Analysis of the breach is still continuing but to date, Xfinity is “not aware of any customer data being leaked anywhere, nor of any attacks on our customers,” the company said in a statem...

Immigration and declines in death cause uptick in US population growth this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

By MIKE SCHNEIDER (Associated Press)ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Immigration powered population gains in the United States for a second year in a row and — coupled with a drop in the number of deaths from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic — caused an uptick in the U.S. growth rate in 2023, according to estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The United States added 1.6 million people, more than two-thirds of which came from international migration, bringing the nation’s population total to 334.9 million people. Population gains or losses come from births outpacing deaths, or vice versa, along with migration. After immigration declined in the latter half of last decade and dropped even lower amid pandemic restrictions at the start of this decade, the number of immigrants last year bounced back to almost 1 million people. The trend continued this year, growing to 1.1 million people, the highest number of immigrants in more than two decades, according to ...

South Carolina couple is charged with murder in the 2015 killings of four of their family members

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

PENDLETON, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina couple has been charged with killing four older family members in a gory 2015 Halloween attack in the victims’ home.Amy and Rosmore “Ross” Vilardi remained jailed Tuesday in Anderson County on four counts of murder each. They have a preliminary court hearing scheduled for Feb. 20.The case hadn’t been added to the state’s online court records system as of Tuesday, and a spokesperson for the county sheriff’s office said the agency has not identified an attorney who might speak on their behalf. In interviews with news outlets since the killings, the couple has said they are innocent.During a news conference Friday to announce the charges, Sheriff Chad McBride declined to say why they were brought so long after the killings, adding that such details would be reserved for court.“God bless this family. They’ve been through so much,” McBride said. “They’ve waited for a long time.”The killings shocked Pendleton, a rural town of...

Quebec health minister asks public to avoid emergency rooms amid overcrowding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is asking the public to avoid the province’s overcrowded emergency rooms.He says people who don’t need urgent care should seek help from clinics staffed by family doctors or nurse practitioners.Dubé says patients can also call 811 to speak to a nurse and obtain an appointment at a medical clinic.The comments come four days after a group representing chief doctors in the province’s emergency departments sent a letter to Dubé saying the situation in ERs is “out of control.”Health data website Index Santé says the average ER occupancy in Quebec was 131 per cent this afternoon. Three emergency room doctors who spoke to The Canadian Press on Monday said Quebec hospitals are struggling to transfer patients out of ERs and into wards.—Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.This report by The Canadian Pr...

Zac Efron and Lily James on the simple gesture that frames the tragedy of the Von Erich wrestlers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Zac Efron didn’t realize how much he needed a hug.He’d transformed himself into a mass of muscle and repressed emotion to play professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich in the new film “The Iron Claw.” It was a taxing role and unlike anything he’d done before, both physically and psychologically. He often found himself with real bruises from recreating fights in the ring. Downtime between shots, too, was usually spent lifting.But he hadn’t quite realized how much it was affecting him until he and Lily James sat down to film the first date between his character and the woman who would marry him. Pam tells Kevin that he has oldest brother syndrome. Kevin tells her that he’s not actually the oldest: That brother died in an accident when he was 6 and Kevin was 5. He says he’s fine, but Pam gets out of her seat, walks around the table and drapes her arms around Kevin, who seems to melt in the warmth of a love that’s not conditional.“It felt very needed, that hug,” Efron told The Associated P...

Migrant child’s death and other hospitalizations spark concern over shelter conditions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The death of a 5-year-old migrant boy and reported illnesses in other children living at a warehouse retrofitted as a shelter has raised fresh concerns about the living conditions and medical care provided for asylum-seekers arriving in Chicago. Medical professionals have worried for months about the disjointed healthcare system, saying new arrivals in the U.S. face numerous health issues. For many, the problems are either related to their journey, including trauma, or from living in crowded group settings where infections spread easily and quickly.Five-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez was a resident at a shelter in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood when he suffered a medical emergency, then died shortly after arriving at Comer Children’s Hospital on Sunday afternoon, the city said. Four more people living in the same shelter — a 1-year-old girl, a 4-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl, and an 18-year-old woman — were hospitalized with fevers this week, according to the Chicag...