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Florida eases path for death penalty after Parkland verdict

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday ending a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing, a response to a verdict that spared the life of a school shooter who killed 17 people.DeSantis, a Republican, signed the bill in a private ceremony with families of victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland.The new law, which went into effect as soon as the governor signed it, allows capital punishment in Florida with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. Only three states out of the 27 that impose the death penalty do not require unanimity. Alabama allows a 10-2 decision, and Missouri and Indiana let a judge decide when there is a divided jury.“Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I’m proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what th...

Twitter begins removing blue checks from users who don’t pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

This time it’s for real.Many of Twitter’s high-profile users are losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform.After several false starts, Twitter began making good on its promise Thursday to remove the blue checks from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee to keep them. Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system — many of them journalists, athletes and public figures. The checks began disappearing from these users’ profiles late morning Pacific Time.The costs of keeping the marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Twitter does not verify the individual accounts to ensure they are who they say they are, as was the case with the previous blue check doled out during the platform’s pre-Musk administration.C...

Man believed to be connected in multiple crimes follows woman into Sunrise apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

Ring camera footage from last month shows, what police said, is an unidentified man following a woman in broad daylight and entering her apartment in Sunrise. The woman, who had been running errands, proceeded to scream and made a lot of commotion, which lead the man to flee. According to neighbors, that man had been around the building before.Police said other crimes occurred around the same time by possibly the same man who exposed himself to people in the area.Sunrise Police believe this man is responsible for several crimes in this area.If you have any information on this crime, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.

Ukraine grain strain — Von der Leyen 2.0 — EU diplomacy in review

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Stitcher .st0{fill:#EB8A23;} .st1{fill:#FAC617;} .st2{fill:#612368;} .st3{fill:#3792C4;} .st4{fill:#C33727;} Acast We’re back from a break and straight into tackling the geopolitical tensions that underlie a sudden ban on Ukraine’s grain exports by neighboring Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. We also discuss Ur...

The more seriously wounded of 2 cheerleaders shot in a Texas parking lot is recovering from surgery, team official says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

(CNN) — The most seriously injured of two teenage cheerleaders shot in a Texas parking lot this week — an incident in which one said she’d opened the wrong vehicle door — is recovering from surgery as her team prepares to compete in a world championship without her, an official with her cheer company said.Payton Washington was shot in the leg and back during the early Tuesday attack in the city of Elgin, damaging her pancreas and diaphragm and requiring her to undergo surgery to remove her ruptured spleen, Lynne Shearer, managing partner of the Woodlands Elite cheer program, told CNN on Wednesday.A suspect is in custody, police have said.Washington’s cheer team is set to perform in a championship competition this weekend in Orlando, though the high school senior will not be able to compete, Shearer said.“The realization of the fact that she’s not going to be competing this weekend — it was starting to set in,” she told ...

State trooper on motorcycle left with minor injuries after being struck by vehicle in Brookline

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

A Massachusetts State Police trooper is recovering after being struck by a vehicle in Brookline while on a motorcycle, officials say.An MSP spokesperson said it was around 10:40 a.m. on Thursday when a member of the state police’s Motorcycle Unit was hit by a vehicle on Hammond Pond Parkway while providing an escort.According to the spokesperson, the trooper was taken to a local hospital for injuries that “appear to be minor at this time.”The cause of the crash remains under investigation. No details on the condition of the vehicle’s driver or if any charges were filed have been released.

MBTA Preparing To Tap Reserve $$$ Amid Plateaued Subway Ridership

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

MBTA overseers want to press ahead with a budget that uses hundreds of millions of dollars in one-time funding to boost the agency’s spending by nearly 7 percent next fiscal year, much of it on new safety and training initiatives.The T’s Board of Directors on Wednesday unanimously approved a $2.72 billion preliminary budget for fiscal 2024, sending it to an outside organization for review ahead of a final vote expected in the summer.But while officials pitched the nearly $175 million spending increase as necessary to address myriad safety and infrastructure problems, they simultaneously warned that the MBTA’s needs continue to outstrip its consistent resources, especially with ridership lagging more than three years after the pandemic began.“While I am deeply grateful that staff has found a way to fund the full budget for next year, it is clear to anyone looking at this presentation that this is not a sustainable financial situation,” said MBT...

Giants’ Joe Schoen can’t say if Saquon Barkley will be on field in Week 1: ‘I haven’t talked to him’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

Giants GM Joe Schoen could not say Thursday whether he expects Saquon Barkley to be on the field in Week 1 for the Giants.“You’ll have to ask him,” Schoen said at the team’s practice facility in East Rutherford. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what his plan is. I haven’t talked to him in probably three weeks.”Asked if Barkley still wants to be a Giant, Schoen added: “I haven’t talked to him.”If Schoen spoke to Barkley three weeks ago, around the NFL’s owners meetings, that would be a new development. That week in Phoenix, both Schoen and co-owner John Mara said they hadn’t spoken with Barkley directly in 10 days.Regardless, Schoen’s point seemed to be that they have made zero progress since tabling negotiations after placing the $10.1 million franchise tag on his running back in mid-March.Barkley, 26, has not signed the franchise tag tender and therefore is not reporting to the team’s facilit...

Bruins notebook: Center Patrice Bergeron still on sidelines for Panthers series

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was on the ice Thursday morning but his status for Friday night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers will be determined by the team’s medical staff.Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was uncertain if Bergeron would make the trip to Sunrise, Fla., where the Bruins will play the next two opening round games at FLA Live Arena.“He skated just now so that is obviously a positive sign,” said Montgomery during a press briefing at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton.“But I have not talked to the medical staff and the athletic trainers about where he is at to determine if he will be on the trip or not.”The Bruins’ captain suffered an undisclosed upper body injury in the season finale at Montreal and missed the first two games against the Panthers.Bergeron’s leadership and prowess in the faceoff circle was sorely missed in the Bruins’ 6-3 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday night at the TD Garden.“He carries himself with such confidence and h...

Boston Athletic Association meets with Black running groups after Boston Marathon police presence: ‘We did not deliver on our promise’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:32 GMT

The head of the Boston Athletic Association is admitting that the Boston Marathon organizer must “do better” after Pioneers Run Crew and another racially diverse running group were blocked by police officers at their cheering spot in Newton on Marathon Monday.B.A.A.’s leaders met with Pioneers Run Crew and TrailblazHers Run Co., on Wednesday night after Newton Police officers with bicycles lined up at their tent along Heartbreak Hill at Mile 21. This restricted the group’s cheering access to the road and their ability to give out high fives to runners. Cops also took positions behind the group’s tent.The police officers did this after the B.A.A. had alerted police three times about spectators crossing the rope barrier and impeding runners. Pioneers Run Crew and other running groups have noted that thousands of spectators jump onto the course, but this type of police presence only happened to a group of predominantly Black and Brown spectators.In the wak...