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‘We shouldn’t be swimming in poopy water’: Report highlights unsafe US beach pollution levels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

With beach season in full swing, researchers unveiled a report that showed roughly 55% of U.S. beaches had at least one day of potentially unsafe contamination levels last year.“The places we love to go and swim and play in the water are not always as clean and as safe as we’d like them to be,” said John Rumpler, clean water program director for Environment America Research and Policy Center.Rumpler’s team pored over pages of tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, in which each beach was given a Beach Action Value (BAV) — a score the EPA uses to put out safety advisories or closings based on bacteria levels in the water.On unsafe days, the EPA estimated that the high pollution levels could cause illness at a rate of 32 people out of every 1,000 swimmers. Environment America scientists discovered that at the 3,192 beaches the EPA tested last year, more than 1,750 had at least one day on which fecal contamination had high scores.“Whether itR...

Hot and Hazy Week Ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

Following another day of record heat in both Miami and Marathon on Saturday, there is no sign of the heat letting up any time soon. While only Marathon is forecast to break its record for the date this Sunday, it will be another very hot day across South Florida.A Heat Advisory is in effect for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties this Sunday from 11AM through 7PM for peak feels-like temps of up to 105-109F.The day will begin with a mix of sun and clouds with warming temperatures, reaching the low to mid 90s by the early afternoon. Then during the mid to late afternoon hours is when we’ll have our best chance for seeing scattered showers and thunderstorms across the area. Rain chances will be lower at a 40% chance as some Saharan dust continues to move in from the south, which helps to prevent rain and storm development.This dust will be most in place on Monday with some drier air lingering into Tuesday, meaning rain chances will be down to a 20-30% chance. This dust will help keep...

Polish politicians attack migrants for electoral gain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

WARSAW — There’s a lot of electoral mileage in Poland from attacking migrants.Both the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and the centrist opposition led by former European Council President Donald Tusk are raising fears about Muslim immigrants ahead of this fall’s parliamentary election.PiS seized on the issue over the last few weeks. The government held out against an EU deal on relocating migrants — drawing the ire of most fellow member countries as well as the European Commission. Party leader and the country’s de facto ruler Jarosław Kaczyński called for a referendum on the issue to be held alongside the election.“We will not agree to this. The people of Poland also do not agree to this,” Kaczyński said during a rally Saturday, referring to the EU relocation plan.It’s an effort to replay the scenario that helped the party win power in an election held during the peak of the EU’s migration crisis in 2015. At that time, Kaczyń...

Howie Carr: For Boston insiders, Bob Popeo was a bargain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

Like most everybody who knew him, I learned a lot from Bob Popeo, the ultimate Boston lawyer who died last week at age 85.One time I was slightly jammed up about something or other, and I explained the terrible unfairness of it all to Popeo.“Bob,” I said, “I’m innocent.”He chuckled.“Howie,” he said, “you are not ‘innocent.’ Don’t ever forget that. Nobody is ‘innocent.’ The most you, or anybody else, can ever hope to be is ‘not guilty.’”It was like a legal interpretation of what the nuns used to call “original sin.” Everybody’s dirty starting out, which is why you need… baptism. And once you get older, if you’re in business — monkey business, anyway — you need a great lawyer like Bob Popeo.Everybody of a certain age and class in Boston understood this. In 2016, they were dedicating a room at the State House to Bob Crane, one of Popeo’s former clients, the former state treasurer who retired in 1990.It was a big day for the old gang, and I do mean gang.Popeo arrived a little late. Afte...

Rachael Rollins ethics investigation transcripts withheld from the Herald

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

A Herald request for the interview transcripts behind the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel’s investigation into ex-U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins has been denied in full, with the agency citing “personal privacy” exceptions.“I am writing in response to your request dated May 19, 2023, in which you asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to provide you with ‘the complete transcripts of the OIG interviews with U.S. Attorney and all others interviewed,’” Chauncey Lawson of the agency’s FOIA team wrote in a Friday letter to this reporter..“In reviewing your request under the FOIA, OSC identified 183 pages of responsive records,” his letter continued. “However, all 183 pages will be withheld in full” under three exemptions to the law.Those are exemption 5, which “protects from disclosure inter-agency or intra-agency information that is normally protected from discovery in civil litigation based on one or more legal privileges (including, in this instance, the delib...

Pope Francis names 21 new cardinals, including prelates based in Hong Kong and Jerusalem.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he has chosen 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong — places where Catholics are a small minority. The pope announced his picks during his customary weekly appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square, saying the ceremony to formally install the churchmen as cardinals will be held on Sept. 30. Among those tapped are several prelates holding or about to assume major Vatican posts, like Argentine Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, whom the pope just named to lead the office for ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy. The new cardinals also include Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Sau-yan Chow and the Vatican’s top official in the Middle East, Monsignor Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.The Associated Press

UN chief says Sudan on the brink of a ‘full-scale civil war’ after nearly 3 months of fighting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sudan was on the brink of a “full-scale civil war” as fierce clashes between rival generals continued unabated Sunday in the capital, Khartoum.He warned on Saturday evening that the war between the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary force is likely to destabilize the entire region, according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general.Sudan descended into chaos after months of tension between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and his rival Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in mid-April.Health Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim said in televised comments last month that the clashes have killed over 3,000 people and wounded over 6,000 others. The death tally, however, is highly likely to be much higher. More than 2.9 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries, a...

Prime Minister Trudeau heads to NATO summit, where leaders face critical decisions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to the NATO leaders’ summit in Lithuania this week, where Canada is likely to play a larger-than-usual role in two critical discussions: the alliance’s expanding membership and its efforts to refocus on collective defence. Trudeau is expected to depart for Riga, Latvia, from Ottawa on Sunday evening. He is due to meet with that country’s leaders on Monday before heading to the Lithuanian capital for the first day of the NATO summit on Tuesday. At last year’s summit in Madrid, NATO leaders identified Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area” in a strategic concept document that set out their intent to strengthen deterrence and defence in the region. That came after a meeting in Brussels in March 2022, when leaders agreed to deploy four new multinational battle groups on the eastern flank in Bulgaria, Hungary, Rom...

The BBC is under pressure over claims a well-known presenter paid a teenager for explicit photos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Senior British politicians on Sunday called on the BBC to rapidly investigate claims that a leading presenter paid a teenager for explicit photos.The publicly funded national broadcaster is under pressure after The Sun newspaper reported allegations that the male presenter gave a youth 35,000 pounds ($45,000) starting in 2020 when the young person was 17.Neither the star nor the youth was identified. Amid speculation on social media about the identity of the presenter, several of the BBC’s best-known stars spoke up to say it wasn’t them.Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it’s a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.The Sun said the young person’s mother had complained to the BBC in May. It was unclear what if any action the broadcaster had taken.In a statement, the BBC said “we treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them.”“If, at any point, new information comes to light or is p...

Brush fire in Hays County about 85% contained

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:21 GMT

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – A brush fire near Hilliard Road in Hays County is about 85 acres in size as of late Saturday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.Mike Jones, Hays County director of emergency services, said that emergency responders are calling it the "Vineyard Fire.""We've got plenty of water on hand," said Jones.No homes are currently at risk from the fire, and Jones said that his agency is not planning any evacuation of civilians. As of around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, the fire is 85% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.A brush fire near Hilliard Road in Hays County has reached nearly 150 acres as of 9 p.m. Saturday (Photo Courtesy Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra).A brush fire near Hilliard Road in Hays County has reached nearly 150 acres as of 9 p.m. Saturday (Photo Courtesy Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra).A brush fire near Hilliard Road in Hays County has reached nearly 150 acres as of 9 p.m. Saturday (Photo Courtesy Hays County Judge Rube...