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Healey leaving the state … again

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey will be out of the state again Tuesday and Wednesday for her second trip to Washington, D.C., in the span of a few days.Healey plans to depart the Bay State on Tuesday morning to attend the Select USA Investment Summit in the nation’s capital, her office said Monday afternoon. She will speak on a panel about economic prosperity and job creation and meet with “several foreign dignitaries” before returning to Massachusetts on Wednesday.Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will serve as acting governor from Tuesday morning until Wednesday afternoon, which she did over the weekend while Healey attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.Late Monday morning, Healey’s office announced it hired Will Rasky as director of federal affairs and said he began his work “today as Governor Healey will be attending the Select USA Investment Summit.” POLITICO reported early Monday morning that the governor would return to Washington, D.C. t...

Easthampton School Committee member who backed ‘ladies’ superintendent candidate has resigned

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

An Easthampton School Committee member who backed the superintendent candidate who wrote “ladies” in an email has resigned, becoming the second member to leave their post in recent weeks following the controversial search for a district leader.School Committee member Laurie Garcia in a last ditch effort a week ago tried to get the school board to again re-enter contract negotiations with the top pick for superintendent — Vito Perrone, who lost his job offer when he used the term “ladies” in an email to the committee chair.Garcia’s effort was unsuccessful yet again as the School Committee voted 2-5 for Perrone. A few days after that vote, Garcia submitted her resignation.“After deep consideration, it is with utmost regret that I write this letter to inform you of my resignation, effective immediately,” Garcia wrote to the school board. “I can no longer work with a committee that has proven to act in ways that are detrimental to ou...

Solo Gisele Bündchen dazzles in Chanel in first Met Gala appearance since Tom Brady split

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

By Dan Clarendon, New York Daily NewsGisele Bündchen once again mingled with fashion’s elite on Monday night, attending the 2023 Met Gala solo following her divorce from Tom Brady last year.With her Chanel ensemble, the 42-year-old honored the 2023 Met Gala theme. The event, like the Met’s new Costume Institute exhibition, is devoted to the controversial Karl Lagerfeld, who worked as Chanel’s creative director.Gisele Bündchen attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)Bündchen had a long working relationship with Lagerfeld. In 2014, for example, she became the face of Chanel No. 5 perfume.Bündchen last attended the Met Gala in 2019, wearing a blush-hued Dior gown for that year’s “Camp: Notes on a Fashion” theme. Brady joined her on the pink carpet at the time, complementing his then-wife’s outfit with a maro...

Emerson College will put period products in all women’s, men’s, gender-neutral bathrooms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

The Emerson College Boston campus will soon have menstrual products in all women’s, men’s and gender-neutral bathrooms after a major push from students.The period products will be free to all members of the Emerson community.This move from the college comes after the student advocacy group Emerson Flows launched a petition for period products in all Emerson bathrooms.“Thanks to the advocacy of Emerson Flows and the Class of 2026 class council, the college is pleased to announce that Facilities Services will begin stocking all public restrooms with menstrual products beginning July 1, 2023,” the Emerson dean for campus life and the president of Emerson Flows wrote to students over the weekend.“Once this expanded program begins, facilities services staff will routinely check and replenish supplies,” they later added in the letter. “Any community member who becomes aware of a restroom needing additional supplies is encouraged to contact the fac...

New Hampshire mayor eyes Gov. Chris Sununu’s job as he ponders presidential bid

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

The mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire, announced Monday she would explore a campaign against the state’s thrice re-elected Republican governor as the latter apparently mulls a run at the White House.Democrat Joyce Craig, first elected as the mayor of the Granite State’s Queen City in 2017, said through a campaign email she has formed an exploratory committee aimed at the New Hampshire State House for 2024, when Gov. Chris Sununu will potentially find himself in the middle of a race toward Washington.“As I’ve had discussions with local leaders across New Hampshire, it is increasingly clear that the same challenges we’re working to tackle in Manchester are seen in communities across the state” Craig said along with her announcement. “As a Mayor, I’ve collaborated with mayors and town and city officials to address these challenges – and we’ve made real progress. But there is a lack of support for cities and towns at the state level and I know we can do better.”Sununu, whose political ...

MassGOP, MassDems chairs meet for the first time

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

The chairs of the state’s two leading political parties met for the first time this week, when the pair of newly elected politicians found plenty to disagree about.Amy Carnevale, elected in January to replace Jim Lyons as the head of the MassGOP, and Steve Kerrigan, who last week won an unopposed contest to lead the state’s Democratic party, both joined WGBH’s Margery Eagan and Jim Braude on Monday to discuss plans to grow their parties in a state dominated by unenrolled voters.Carnevale said her first order of business is to rebuild the MassGOP, which controls few seats in the Legislature, no constitutional offices or congressional seats, and last year lost the governor’s office.“My primary objective first is to stabilize the party and work on the messaging of the party. It is clear that the party has gotten off track in recent years,” she said.Kerrigan, who oversees a state party in full control over all parts of the government, said it’s his job to explain the value of the party ...

Park Ridge’s Peter Skoronski heads to NFL after first-round draft pick by Tennessee Titans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

With friends and family at his side in Chicago April 27, Park Ridge’s Peter Skoronski took a phone call that moved the offensive lineman from playing football at Maine South High School and Northwestern University into the NFL with the Tennessee Titans.Holding off onrushing defensive linemen amid the clash of literal human titans in line play, the 21-year-old, 315 pound, 4.92 high school GPA Skoronski brought a combination of brains and brawn to NFL executives searching for skilled blockers.A former valedictorian at Park Ridge’s Maine South High School, Skoronski carries the heritage of his late grandfather Bob Skoronski Sr., an offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers and member of five 1960s NFL championship teams coached by Vince Lombardi.Parents Bob, himself a former Yale University defensive lineman, and Anne Skoronski accompanied their son to make the rounds at Titans headquarters in Nashville on Friday, a day after the team selected Peter Skoronski as the 11th p...

Robbins: Trump’s actions in NY civil trial speak for themselves

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

As Donald Trump solidifies his support among Republicans for their party’s 2024 presidential nomination, a civil trial underway in federal court in Manhattan will adjudicate whether or not next year’s presumptive Republican presidential nominee is a rapist.Writer E. Jean Carroll has sued Trump for battery and defamation. The battery claim is based on Carroll’s charge that Trump sexually assaulted her; the alleged defamation arises from Trump’s accusations that she is lying. There is really only one question that the jury which began hearing testimony last week will have to answer: did Trump rape Carroll or didn’t he?Carroll provided a highly detailed account of what she maintains Trump did: where she was, what transpired in the minutes preceding the alleged assault and precisely what she contends occurred in a dressing room in the lingerie department of a fashionable New York department store.Trump’s lawyers have a few arrows in their quiver. An event as shocking and traumatic as th...

Met Gala 2023 live updates: Fashion highlights from carpet

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion’s biggest night is underway — after all, it is the first Monday in May. Follow along for real-time updates on the 2023 Met Gala from The Associated Press. We’ll be bringing you news in all formats, all day and all night, from the carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and behind the scenes. This year’s theme revolves around late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.Live updates are contributed by Leanne Italie, Jocelyn Noveck, Beatrice Dupuy, Lindsey Bahr, Elise Ryan, Mallika Sen and other AP journalists.___DOJA CAT. THAT’S THE HEADLINE.Doja Cat leaned into her name and love of cats for her first Met Gala look. The rapper arrived on the carpet with makeup and prosthetics that gave her a feline’s face, cat claws for her nails and sequined dress with cat ears.“I’m just really happy about it and I feel sexy,” she said of the look.The makeup took 45 minutes to an hour and getting the dress on took about 20 minutes.Doja Cat said the inspiratio...

At least 6 dead after dust storm causes crashes in Illinois

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:02 GMT

DIVERNON, Ill. (AP) — A windstorm in southern Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields Monday, causing numerous crashes that killed at least six people on Interstate 55, police said.The late morning crashes involved 40 to 60 cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said.He said at least six people died, all in the northbound lanes, and more than 30 people on both sides of I-55 were transported to hospitals with injuries.“The only thing you could hear after we got hit was crash after crash after crash behind us,” said Tom Thomas, 43, who was traveling south to St. Louis. I-55 was shut down in both directions in Montgomery County, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of St. Louis, and likely won’t reopen until Tuesday.Starrick told reporters that it was a spring version of a “whiteout situation” typically seen in winter snowstorms. Gov. J.B. Pritzker described the scene as “horrific.” “The cause...