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Mpox is down, but US cities could be at risk for summertime outbreaks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

The mpox health emergency has ended, but U.S. health officials are aiming to prevent a repeat of last year’s outbreaks.Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, infections exploded early in the summer of 2022 in the wake of Pride gatherings. More than 30,000 U.S. cases were reported last year, most of them spread during sexual contact between gay and bisexual men. About 40 people died.With Pride events planned across the country in the coming weeks, health officials and event organizers say they are optimistic that this year infections will be fewer and less severe. A bigger supply of vaccine, more people with immunity and readier access to a drug to treat mpox are among the reasons.But they also worry that people may think of mpox as last year’s problem.“Out of sight, out of mind,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who is advising the White House on its mpox response. “But we are beating the drum.”Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert to U.S. doc...

MIAA Girls tennis tournament pairings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

MIAA GIRLS TENNIS TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS DIVISION 1SEEDS: 1. Boston Latin (16-0); 2. Acton-Boxboro (9-1); 3. Lincoln-Sudbury (12-3); 4. Wellesley (18-1); 5. Lexington (19-1); 6. Newton South (10-6); 7. Westford Academy (11-5); 8. Andover (16-2); 9. Winchester (14-3); 10. Hingham (18-2); 11. Bishop Feehan (13-2); 12. Needham (11-5); 13. Brookline (12-6); 14. Arlington (13-7); 15. Concord-Carlisle (5-8); 16. Central Catholic (10-3); 17. Belmont (10-8); 18. Methuen (15-1); 19. North Andover (10-7); 20. Natick (8-8); 21. Newton North (7-10); 22. King Philip Regional (14-6); 23. Shrewsbury (13-5); 24. Wachusett Regional (11-7); 25. Franklin (12-6); 26. Waltham (4-10); 27. Cambridge Rindge & Latin (5-11); 28. Braintree (9-7); 29. North Quincy (10-10); 30. Algonquin (10-8); 31. Beverly (8-8); 32. Bridgewater-Raynham (11-3); 33. Taunton (11-9); 34. Malden (14-2); 35. Peabody Veterans (8-6); 36. South High Community (13-3); 37. Durfee (9-9); 38. Medford (9-6)PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesd...

Lefty Matt Krook earns promotion to Yankees after 8 minor league seasons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

After eight years as a minor leaguer, Matt Krook is one step closer to his big league debut.The Yankees added the left-hander to their active roster Saturday morning. He replaces Randy Vasquez, who made his major league debut Friday night against the Padres. Vasquez mostly impressed in a loss, but his immediate return to Triple-A was expected since the Yankees needed a spot starter Friday and a fresh arm moving forward.Krook can be that guy, as the converted starter has been working in a multi-inning relief role with the RailRiders. The job has suited him well, as he recorded a 1.04 ERA over 12 games and 17.1. innings at Triple-A. He also struck out 34 batters while walking 12.“I really like it. It allows me to face the lineup one time usually. I can throw all four pitches, face a guy one time, so it’s been good for me,” said Krook, whose arsenal leans on sinkers, sweepers, cutters and changeups. “When starting, you’re facing a guy three times. Sometime...

Yankees manager Aaron Boone calls his 1-game suspension a ‘weird experience’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

Aaron Boone spent Friday’s loss in Brian Cashman’s box at Yankee Stadium, as the manager served a one-game suspension for his recent conduct toward umpires.“Weird experience,” Boone said Saturday while reflecting on the suspension.Boone was ejected from Thursday’s game against the Orioles. It was his fourth ejection of the year and his third in the Yankees’ last 10 games.The manager was tossed after arguing Edwin Moscoso’s strike zone. The skipper insisted that his initial comments shouldn’t have resulted in an ejection, but Boone became fiery when Moscoso turned his back on the manager.Crew chief Chris Guccione had to get in between Moscoso and Boone, and some spittle from Boone’s mouth flew in Moscoso’s direction.Boone said that he had multiple conversations with Michael Hill, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president for on-field operations, the night of the ejection and Friday afternoon. Boone found out about ...

'Hazardous swimming conditions' expected in San Diego Memorial Day weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Memorial Day weekend is upon us and the National Weather Service San Diego has issued an advisory for beachgoers.In a tweet Friday, NWS alerted the region of a possible increase in rip currents on top of below normal temperatures and cold water. In another advisory Saturday, weather officials say elevated surf and rip currents will create hazardous swimming conditions along San Diego's coast. The marine layer explained: Why San Diego’s coastal areas are foggy What is a rip current? Weather officials have described these events as "powerful currents of water moving away from the shore" that can sweep "even the strongest swimmers" away from shore.With a moderate rip current risk on the forecast, surf height may be between 2-4 feet and water temperatures are expected to be between 61-63 degrees, according to NWS predictions. Alex Tardy, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NWS, told FOX 5 that informative boar...

UAE releases Lebanese detainees after death in custody raised allegations of mistreatment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A group of Lebanese citizens detained in the United Arab Emirates have been released, Lebanon’s foreign ministry said Saturday.Lebanon’s ambassador to the UAE notified the ministry of the release of 10 Lebanese detainees who had been arrested there about two months ago, the ministry said in a statement.The release comes after the death earlier this month of a Lebanese man who was detained in the UAE on unknown charges. A committee of family members of Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE alleged in a statement that Ghazi Ezzedine, 55, had died under torture, and rights groups raised concerns about the Emirati government’s lack of transparency regarding Ezzedine’s case and the linked detentions.Emirati authorities have not commented on the case or on the release of the other detainees.Afif Shouman, head of a group of Lebanese families with relatives detained in the Gulf country, said seven Lebanese citizens remain detained in the UAE, none of whom have been convicted o...

Impeachment vote nears for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in state’s Republican-held House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ GOP-led House of Representatives was set to hold historic impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday as the scandal-plagued Republican called on supporters to protest a vote that could lead to his ouster. The House scheduled an afternoon start for debate on whether to impeach and suspend Paxton from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust — just some of the accusations that have trailed Texas’ top lawyer for most of his three terms. The hearing sets up what could be a remarkably sudden downfall for one of the GOP’s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral defeat of Donald Trump. Only two officials in Texas’ nearly 200-year history have been impeached. Paxton, 60, has called the impeachment proceedings “political theater” based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims,” and an attemp...

Mexican authorities make arrest in mid-May killing of Quebec man in seaside town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

Mexican authorities say they’ve made an arrest in the killing of a Quebec man earlier this month in the Pacific coast beach town of Puerto Escondido.The Oaxaca state attorney general says in a statement issued Friday that an arrest warrant was executed for a man in Puerto Escondido identified only by his initials in connection with the homicide of Victor Masson.Prosecutors said Masson was found dead in his car on May 15 in a neighbourhood where few tourists stay. A few days after the discovery, a senior prosecutor for the region said Masson’s killing stemmed from an altercation with people he had met the previous night over an unpaid bar tab at a local restaurant.Masson, 27, hails from the province’s Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region north of Quebec City.Mexican authorities said Masson was a tourist who had arrived in the port town the day before the killing with his Mexican girlfriend.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2023.The Canadian Press

Florida man at center of fatal human smuggling case pleads not guilty in Minnesota

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Florida man charged with human smuggling after four migrants were found dead last year near the Canadian border has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. Court records show that Steve Shand, of Deltona, Florida, entered the plea Friday in a hearing for his arraignment held via video conference. Federal authorities arrested Shand in January 2022 after authorities found the bodies of the four, who had frozen to death during a blizzard, near Emerson, Manitoba, which borders Minnesota and North Dakota. According to a federal criminal complaint, the dead were a family of four, including an infant and a teenager, and were identified by surviving immigrants as being Indian nationals.Five other Indian nationals were also found on foot in Minnesota and two more were found in Shand’s van, officials said.Shand is charged with bringing two people into the country illegally and illegally transporting them once in the U.S. His trial has been set for July 17, but that...

Taylor Swift fans have full-circle moment with singer over 8 years later

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:38 GMT

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – A Connecticut woman and her son got the surprise of a lifetime from Taylor Swift last Saturday, when the singer singled out the boy to give him a special gift — for the second time in a decade.Stephanie and Leyton Barnett were in the crowd at Swift's concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts, when Swift hand-picked Leyton to come toward the stage. She then gave him her hat during a performance of her song “22," just as she has done for other attendees of concerts on her current Eras tour.“It was very exciting, it was amazing," Leyton said. NJ gov. renames 'official state sandwich' after Taylor Swift But Leyton's mother, speaking with Nexstar's WTNH, said this was not the first time Swift has reached out to them personally.Back in 2014, Stephanie Barnett shared a social-media post about her previous struggles with infertility issues, and how one of Swift's songs helped her to cope. Swift reached out in response, and later showed up at their West Haven home wit...