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Sweden moves closer to NATO membership after a deal with the Turkish president

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

By KARL RITTER, LORNE COOK and SUZAN FRASER (Associated Press)VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Sweden’s membership of NATO took a big step forward on Monday after Turkey agreed to remove one of the last major roadblocks in return for help in reviving Turkey’s own chances of joining the European Union.At talks in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are meeting for a two-day summit starting on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan committed to put the Nordic country’s accession protocol before Parliament “as soon as possible,” the head of NATO said. “This is an historic day because we have a clear commitment by Turkey to submit the ratification documents to the Grand National Assembly, and to work also with the assembly to ensure ratification,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a series of high-stakes meetings.Sweden’s NATO accession has been held up by obje...

2023 MLB draft, Day 2 tracker: Orioles continue run on college players, select five more pitchers

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

After drafting Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. in the first round of the MLB draft Sunday night, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias detailed the confidence he has in the organization’s scouting of college players.“We pour a ton of data analysis resources into college statistics and college data,” Elias said, “so anytime we can take an elite college player, we feel good about the work that’s gone into that.”But Bradfield was just the beginning of the Orioles’ run on college players. Each of Baltimore’s first 10 selections were college players, including North Carolina outfielder-third baseman Mac Horvath and Florida State right-hander Jackson Baumeister on Day 1 and seven more on Day 2.Baumeister’s selection was somewhat of a surprise considering the Elias regime’s preference to pick position players early in drafts. At No. 63 overall, Baumeister became the first pitcher Baltimore has...

Dig begins for the remains of dozens of children at a long-closed Native American boarding school

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

By TRISHA AHMED and CHARLIE NEIBERGALL (Associated Press)GENOA, Neb. (AP) — In a remote patch of a long-closed Native American boarding school, near a canal and some railroad tracks, Nebraska’s state archeologist and two teammates filled buckets with dirt and sifted through it as if they were searching for gold.They’re trying to find the bodies of dozens of children who died at the school and have been lost for decades, a mystery that archeologists aim to unravel as they dig feet deep and meters wide in a central Nebraska field that was part of the sprawling campus a century ago.People toting shovels, trowels and even smaller tools are searching the unmarked site where ground-penetrating radar suggested a possible location for the cemetery of the Genoa Indian Industrial School. Genoa was part of a national system of more than 400 Native American boarding schools that attempted to assimilate Indigenous people into white culture by separating children from their fami...

Downtown effort: Wu launches office-to-residential conversion program

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

The city is looking to solve at least some of the region’s housing crunch by converting empty downtown office space into residential units.Mayor Michelle Wu’s office office on Monday announced the initiative that will offer tax breaks of up to 75% to building owners who jump on the chance to convert.“We must take every possible action to create more housing and more affordability so that Boston’s growth meets the needs of current and future residents,” said Wu in a release announcing the push. “This program will help us take advantage of the opportunity we have to rethink Downtown as a space where people from all over come together to collaborate, create, live, and play.”Post-pandemic vacancies are running about 20%, according to a study released last fall and cited in Monday’s announcement.The tax discount is intended to offset the high cost associated with converting office space, which is designed and engineered differently, to residential uses.According to a study conducte...

Bruins avoid arbitration with Ian Mitchell, sign defenseman to one-year deal

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

The Bruins settled one outstanding arbitration before it went to a hearing. They have two more to go.The B’s inked recently acquired defenseman Ian Mitchell, obtained in the Taylor Hall trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, to a one-year deal worth $775,000. The 24-year-old had an NHL salary of $1.05 million last season, but played only 35 games in Chicago. As it appears now, the right-shot Mitchell will be in direct competition for playing time with veteran Kevin Shattenkirk, who was signed as a free agent on July 1.The B’s have just under $5.5 million in salary cap space according to puckpedia.com, with two more outstanding arbitration cases that promise to chew up significantly more cap space than Mitchell’s deal. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman’s last deal carried an average annual value of $1.05 million and Trent Frederic just finished a deal with $1.137.5 million AAV.Both players should get decent raises. Frederic is coming off a 17-goal season while Swayman, af...

Shooting at apartment complex wounds 1

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Officers arrested a 25-year-old suspect Monday after a shooting in El Cajon left one person wounded, police said.Shortly after 11 a.m., police received a call about multiple gunshots at an apartment complex in the 200 block of Van Houten, El Cajon police said in a news release. When officers arrived, they found one victim who had been shot in the leg. Paramedics took the victim to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Brothers found dead inside East County home Officers then found and arrested the suspect, 25-year-old Quinton Darensbourg, about one block away in the 200 block of El Cajon Boulevard.Police say the suspect and the victim knew each other and were in an argument before the shooting.

Pennsylvania police searching for escaped homicide suspect find possible campsites near jail

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — A homicide suspect who used bed sheets to escape from a northwestern Pennsylvania jail is likely still in the area and someone may be helping him to evade capture, police said after discovering possible campsites in nearby woods.Michael Burham, 34, fled the Warren County Prison late Thursday by climbing on exercise equipment, climbing through a window and down a rope fashioned from jail bedding, authorities said. Burham was being held on $1 million bail and was charged with kidnapping, burglary and other counts.“We have located small stockpiles or campsites in wooded areas in the general vicinity of Warren, and we believe that at least some of those may be associated with Burham,” Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police told reporters Sunday afternoon at Youngsville Fire Hall.Bivens said Monday that the stockpiles consisted of “supplies that would assist him with a prolonged stay in a wooded area.” He declined to be more specific but said investiga...

Sex charges dismissed against reality TV doctor and girlfriend

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A California judge has dismissed sex charges against a reality TV show doctor and his girlfriend who had been accused of drugging and raping women in a case that drew international attention.Court records show that charges of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense were dismissed Friday against Dr. Grant Robicheaux, a surgeon who previously appeared on a Bravo TV show called “Online Dating Rituals of the American Male,” and girlfriend Cerissa Riley. The decision came after a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen, who determined there was not sufficient evidence on the sex charges to proceed to trial, the Orange County Register reported. The pair also faces drug charges and is due to appear in court July 19. Robicheaux is also charged with possession of an assault weapon. They previously pleaded not guilty.The state attorney general’s office, which has been prosecuting the case, said the agency is reviewing the ...

James Lewis, the suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed 7 in the Chicago area, has died

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed seven people in the Chicago area, triggered a nationwide panic, and led to an overhaul in the safety of over-the-counter medication packaging, has died, police said on Monday.Officers, firefighters and EMTs responding to a report of an unresponsive person at about 4 p.m. Sunday found James W. Lewis dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Cambridge Police Superintendent Frederick Cabral said in a statement. He was 76, police said.“Following an investigation, Lewis’ death was determined to be not suspicious,” the statement says. No one was ever charged in the deaths of seven people who took the over-the-counter painkillers laced with cyanide. Lewis served more than 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, demanding $1 million to “stop the killing.” He and his wife moved to Massachusetts in 1995 following his release. Listed numbers for his wife were not in servi...

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher ahead of updates on inflation, profits

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:29:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ticked higher on Wall Street Monday ahead of a week with updates on where inflation and corporate profits are heading.The S&P 500 rose 10.58, or 0.2%, to 4,409.53, coming off just its second losing week in the last eight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 209.52, or 0.6%, to 33,944.40, and the Nasdaq composite added 24.77, or 0.2%, to 13,685.48..FMC, which sells herbicides, insecticides and other products to the agricultural industry, tumbled 11.1% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500 after it warned of a sudden drop in business around much of the world toward the end of May as partners burned through inventory levels. It said the “unforeseen and unprecedented” declines would hurt its results for the spring and full year.On the winning side of Wall Street was Helen of Troy, which said profit and revenue fell by less last quarter than analysts expected. The company behind OXO, Hydro Flask and other brands jumped 18.5%. But it also warned of expect...