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MCAS results still lag pre-pandemic, but improving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

Results of statewide standardized tests from last school year show that students are still performing well below pre-pandemic levels, though education department officials say the scores show that the “achievement slide” from COVID-19 “has halted and recovery is underway.”In English and math, students in grades three through eight are still about 10 percentage points behind where they were in 2019, prior to learning losses from the pandemic, though overall achievement went up from last year.These results from the 2022-2023 school year represent the first time since before COVID-19 that students in all tested grades took the full MCAS exam.Compared to 2022, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math increased by 2 percentage points in third through eighth grade, at 41 percent. Exactly half of all tenth graders met or exceeded expectations in math this year, the same percentage as the year before.Students in tenth grade also remained s...

Bruins release training camp roster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

The Bruins released their training camp roster on Tuesday. Players will report to Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday for testing and physicals and the first on-ice session will be on Thursday at 10 am.Thursday at BOSTON BRUINS 2023 TRAINING CAMP ROSTERForwards: Joey Abate, Vincent Arseneau, John Beecher, Jesper Boqvist, Justin Brazeau, Patrick Brown,  Alex Chiasson, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, John Farinacci, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, A.J. Greer, Curtis Hall, Brett Harrison, Danton Heinen, Trevor Kuntar, Jakub Lauko, Milan Lucic, Fabian Lysell, Brad Marchand, Marc McLaughlin, Jayson Megna, Georgii Merkulov, David Pastrnak, Owen Pederson, Matt Poitras, Anthony Richard, Oskar Steen, Luke Toporowski, James van Riemsdyk, Pavel ZachaDefensemen: Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Brandon Carlo, Jackson Edward, Derek Forbort, Matthew Grzelcyk, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Ryan Mast, Charlie McAvoy, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Dan Renouf, Ethan Ritchie, Kevin Shattenkirk, Reilly Walsh, P...

Man accused in deaths of 22 elderly women in Texas killed in prison by his cellmate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

By JAMIE STENGLE (Associated Press)DALLAS (AP) — A man accused of killing nearly two dozen older women and who was convicted last year in the slayings of two was killed Tuesday morning by his cellmate at a Texas prison, an official said.Billy Chemirmir, 50, was found dead in his cell, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Hannah Haney. She said that Chemirmir’s cellmate, who is serving a sentence for murder, was identified as the assailant, but said she couldn’t release the cellmate’s identity or how Chemirmir was killed.Authorities said Chemirmir preyed on older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span, killing them and stealing their valuables. Time after time, their deaths were initially determined to be from natural causes, even as family members raised alarm bells about missing jewelry. He was caught after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack in 2018 and told police Chemirmir had forced his way into her apartment at an independent ...

Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana sentenced to 22 months in prison for insider trading

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former U.S. congressman from Indiana was sentenced Tuesday to 22 months in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he left office.Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, 64, a House Republican from 1993 to 2011, was also ordered to forfeit $354,027, representing the amount of illegal gains, and to pay a $10,000 fine.Buyer, a lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran, once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at ex-President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.Buyer was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.Defense lawyers had requested home confinement and community service as a punishment while prosecutors urged a three-year p...

California may limit how much company behind Arrowhead bottled water can draw from mountain springs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials may vote Tuesday to slash how much water the company that makes Arrowhead bottled water can pull from a watershed in the San Bernardino National Forest, the latest action in a yearslong dispute.The State Water Resources Control Board will consider whether to issue a cease-and-desist order against BlueTriton, the company that produces the widely-known Arrowhead water.For more than a century, the company has drawn water from certain points in the San Bernardino National Forest. The water board’s order wouldn’t bar BlueTriton entirely from taking water from the mountains but would restrict it.The proposal comes after years of fighting between the bottling company and residents who want to protect the watershed and see it restored to its natural state.The controversy began years ago after residents of nearby communities raised questions about the drying habitat in places that once had springs supporting wildlife including fish. ...

Zelenskyy: Russia is weaponizing food, energy and children in its war against Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders Tuesday that Russia is “weaponizing” everything from food and energy to abducted children in its war against Ukraine.While the world has various agreements that restrict arms themselves, “There are no real restrictions on weaponization,” he said at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual top-level meeting.Zelenskyy took to the world stage at a sensitive point in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight. Nearly 19 months after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces are three months into a counteroffensive that has not gone as fast or as well as initially hoped.Ukraine and its allies cast the country’s cause as a battle for the rule of international law, for the sovereignty of every country with a powerful and potentially expansionist neighbor, and for the stability of global food, fuel and other supplies that have been rocked by the war. The commodity upheaval ha...

B.C. human rights commissioner calls out anti-LGBTQ rallies planned across Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, says she is disturbed about “hate-fuelled marches” planned in several communities around the province and across Canada on Wednesday.Posters created by a group called “1MillionMarch4Children” says participants are “standing together against gender ideology in schools,” which is a reference to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity programs being taught in B.C.’s public schools.The statement from Govender says peaceful demonstration protects democracy and generates debate, but the human rights of the trans and LGBTQ community “is not up for debate.”She says an inquiry by her office showed almost two-thirds of LGBTQ students don’t feel safe at school, compared with 11 per cent of heterosexual students, and attempts to erase them from school curriculums are hateful.A statement from the City of Whitehorse says it is aware of a march planned for Sept...

Michigan State football coach Tucker says `other motives’ behind his firing for alleged misconduct

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Suspended Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker said Tuesday that he is “disappointed — but not surprised” that the school intends to fire him for misconduct involving activist and rape survivor Brenda Tracy and suggested that “other motives are at play” in the school’s decision.The university informed Tucker on Monday that he will be fired without compensation for misconduct involving Tracy, who said Tucker sexually harassed her during a phone call in April 2022. She later filed a complaint with the school’s Title IX office, which completed its investigation in July.Tucker, 51, has said the allegations against him are “completely false.”He said in a statement Tuesday that he is “disappointed — but not surprised — to learn that MSU intends to terminate my contract over Ms. Tracy’s improper public disclosure of the entire 1200-page investigation file regarding her baseless complaint against me.”Tracy is known for her work with college t...

Swings in inflation not ‘unusual,’ but underlying price pressures still high: BoC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

REGINA — Bank of Canada deputy governor Sharon Kozicki says swings in the inflation rate are to be expected in a speech coming after the latest consumer price index report showed inflation climbed in August for the second month in a row.Statistics Canada reported today that inflation ticked up to four per cent last month.Kozicki weighs in on the numbers during a speech she is delivering today at the University of Regina.According to her prepared remarks, Kozicki said the Bank of Canada pays attention to core measures of inflation in order to look through extreme swings in prices to the fundamentals.She said these measures show inflation is still well above the two per cent target, even when mortgage interest costs are excluded from the calculation.Economists reacting to today’s inflation report say the data spells bad news for the central bank, though many expect the Bank of Canada to continue holding rates steady as the economy slows.This report by The Canadian Press was first publ...

IDOT announces next round of inbound Kennedy ramp closures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:02 GMT

CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Tuesday the next round of inbound ramp closures related to the Kennedy rehabilitation project.Beginning on Monday at 6 a.m., the following closures will take place due to ongoing bridge rehabilitation and ramp repairs.Pulaski Avenue to inbound Kennedy — anticipated to reopen in two weeks.  Montrose Avenue to inbound Kennedy — anticipated to reopen late October.Kedzie Avenue to inbound Kennedy — anticipated to reopen late October.Inbound Kennedy to Fullerton Avenue — anticipated to reopen late October.The inbound project is anticipated to be completed late fall, with all lanes and ramps reopening and the express lanes resuming normal operations. The express lanes will be worked on in 2024, with project focused on the outbound Kennedy in 2025. Looking to avoid the Kennedy Expressway construction? Here’s what you should know The current ramp closures are as follows.Diversey Avenue to inbound Kennedy — anticipated...