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Biden admin picks Massachusetts as home of new healthcare network hub

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

The Biden administration has selected Massachusetts as a focal point in a planned “nationwide health innovation network.”Cambridge was announced Tuesday as the future site of the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s Investor Catalyst Hub, one of three such locations nationally that represent the official launch of ARPANET-H, a National Institutes of Health initiative aimed at fostering collaborations between researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to speed the pace of discovery in medical science.“This is a huge win for Massachusetts and an opportunity to bring economic development while strengthening our role as a nationwide leader in life sciences,” Gov. Maura Healey said following the announcement. “This hub leverages our state’s world-class life science ecosystem while building a national network of researchers and entrepreneurs to invest in meaningful solutions to the biggest health care challenges.”A second hub, the Customer Experien...

Mass General Brigham expanding Home Hospital program to Newton-Wellesley Hospital

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Mass General Brigham is expanding its popular Home Hospital program to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, allowing more patients across the region to receive care without having to travel.The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state Department of Public Health recently granted the program authorization to expand to the Newton healthcare facility, officials announced Tuesday.Patients in the program receive comprehensive treatment that involves daily in-home or virtual visits, an opportunity that officials say provides acute care for those who’d traditionally need inpatient hospitalization.The model, officials say, is more advanced than traditional home health services, with a nurse practitioner and physician assistant teaming up with paramedic, nurse, therapist and home health aide to meet a wide range of needs.“Bringing high-quality healthcare directly to patients’ homes, where they can be more comfortable and achieve better outcomes, reflects our commitment to innovative, ...

Body found on sidewalk; SDPD investigating

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police are investigating after a body was discovered in the Skyline neighborhood Tuesday morning, the department confirmed.Around 6:30 a.m., officers from the Southeastern Division responded to the 100 block of Royal Oak Drive after receiving a report of the death. According to SDPD, a resident in the area called 9-1-1 after noticing an unresponsive man lying on the sidewalk behind a silver Dodge Charger.When law enforcement arrived on scene, officers found the man on the ground, "obviously deceased," SDPD said. San Diego Fire-Rescue arrived at the same time and confirmed the death.It is unclear how long the man was lying unresponsive before he was discovered. La Mesa could join El Cajon in using license plate-reading cameras His identity has not been confirmed at this time. Authorities described him as a Black man in his 30s. The vehicle he was found behind is also believed to be his, SDPD said.The San Diego Medical Examiner's Office will be working to do ...

Mexican mother bravely shields son as bear leaps on picnic table, devours tacos, enchiladas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican mother bravely shielded her son after a bear leapt on a picnic table and devoured the tacos and enchiladas meant for the boy’s birthday dinner, inches from his face. Silvia Macías of Mexico City had traveled to the Chipinque Park on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey to celebrate the 15th birthday of her son, Santiago, who has Down syndrome.Soon after they sat down to eat the food they had brought, the bear showed up and gulped down french fries, enchiladas, tacos and salsa. A video shot by her friend, Angela Chapa, shows Macías sitting stoically, inches from the bear’s mouth, holding Santiago and shielding his eyes with her hand. She kept her eyes downcast, to avoid anything the bear might consider a challenge.“The worst thing was that Santiago might get scared,” Macías recalled Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. “Santiago is very afraid of animals, a cat or a dog, any animal scares him a lot.”“That’s why I...

Eddie Irizarry’s relatives distraught after charges dropped against officer who fatally shot him

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge dismissed murder and other charges Tuesday against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up window — a confrontation police initially described as the officer shooting the driver after he lunged at him with a knife outside the car.Municipal Judge Wendy Pew agreed with defense attorneys who argued the officer could have feared for his life because he thought the driver, 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, had a gun. Police body camera footage shown at the preliminary hearing of fired Officer Mark Dial showed Irizarry holding a knife near his right leg as police approached his stopped vehicle. The officers had pulled Irizarry over on a residential street after a short pursuit prompted by erratic driving.The ruling came after a courtroom, packed with police and relatives of Irizarry, watched about 20 minutes of the harrowing video footage. His attorneys argued that Dial acted in self-defense when he fired his weapon at close ran...

Calls are mounting for Menendez to resign as Democrats grapple with ‘shocking’ bribery allegations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez came under heavy pressure to resign Tuesday as a surging number of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including fellow New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, urged him to step aside over the federal bribery allegations against him. More than 20 Senate Democrats have now said that Menendez should resign, including several Democrats running for reelection next year. Calls for his resignation came in quick succession after Booker’s statement, including from the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters. Menendez has refused to leave office but has not yet said whether he will run for reelection next year. Menendez, the longtime chairman and top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine are accused in an indictment released Friday of using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend, among oth...

Memphis officer won’t be charged in Black man’s shooting after attempted traffic stop

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — No criminal charges will be brought against a Memphis police officer who fatally shot a Black man after a high-speed chase and an attempted traffic stop, the top state prosecutor in the city said Tuesday.Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said his office’s Justice Review Unit looked at evidence in the shooting of 20-year-old Jaylin McKenzie and concluded Officer Nahum Dorme should not be charged.Memphis police had said officers out on patrol on Dec. 16 saw a suspicious car and tried to stop it, but the driver sped off before losing control and driving into a park. McKenzie and three other Black men ran from the vehicle, and all of them had guns, authorities said.Officers went to chase one of the fleeing men, who then shot at the officers, authorities said. One officer, identified as Dorme, fatally shot the suspect. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation started looking into the shooting.During a news conference Tuesday, Mulroy said he sent a lett...

B.C. sets housing targets for 10 municipalities, urges immediate federal support

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

SAANICH, B.C. — British Columbia has announced its first set of targets for new homes to be built in 10 municipalities in a provincial strategy to tackle the ongoing housing crisis.Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says the 10 communities, located mostly within the Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria regions, will have five years to deliver on the new housing-unit goals set out in the plan.Kahlon says the province will assess the progress in six months and that an “independent person” may be put in place in municipalities where actions toward increasing housing aren’t being taken. The announcement comes as Premier David Eby says “it’s pretty clear” the federal government is not yet ready to share its renewed housing strategy or how it will work with British Columbia’s plans to take on the provincial housing crisis. Kahlon says the housing crisis is so dire in B.C. that the province is going ahead with its plans without guarantees of federal fund...

Guns used in 2022 random killing spree in Montreal were homemade, coroner hears

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

MONTREAL — The weapons used to murder three people in the Montreal area at random in August 2022 were homemade by the killer, an expert witness told a coroner’s inquiry on Tuesday.The two guns found on suspect Abdulla Shaikh were “ghost guns” — firearms without serial numbers that are assembled piece by piece, said Marc-André Dubé, a Montreal police firearms expert assigned to the RCMP-led National Weapons Enforcement Support Team.“Without a serial number on the frame, it’s very difficult to identify,” Dubé said of the guns, which are designed to be untraceable. But screenshots on Shaikh’s various electronic devices suggest he likely built the weapons himself, he said.Dubé testified on Day 2 of the coroner’s inquest into the murders of André Lemieux, Mohamed Belhaj and Alex Lévis-Crevier. All three were seemingly chosen at random by Shaikh over a 24-hour shooting spree.The coroner’s inquest heard Monday that within a one-hour per...

Alberta NDP asks minister to quash application for Rocky Mountain coal mine

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Alberta’s New Democrat Opposition is asking the provincial government to step in and quash applications for coal mining exploration in the Rocky Mountains. In a letter to Energy Minister Brian Jean, environment critic Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse says he should tell the Alberta Energy Regulator to reject applications from Northback Holdings for drilling and water use.Last week, Northback applied to the regulator to revive the Grassy Mountain project, which was denied by a joint federal-provincial review panel in 2021. The regulator has said it is considering whether documents submitted under that version of the proposal apply to the current application, which would make it an “advanced project.” It would then be exempt from the government’s current moratorium on coal development, which was issued after a slew of mine proposals caused a public outcry. But Calahoo Stonehouse says Albertans have made their views clear over open-pit mines in the Rockies. She points to...