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Ukraine must join the European Union

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the founder and chairman of Rasmussen Global and is currently working pro bono with the Ukrainian President’s Office on security issues. He is former NATO secretary-general (2009-2014) and former prime minister of Denmark (2001-2009). “Today we have closed one of the bloodiest and darkest chapters in European history. Today we have opened a new chapter. Europe is spreading its wings. In freedom. In prosperity. And in peace. It is a truly proud moment for the European Union. It is a triumph for liberty and democracy.”Twenty-one years ago today, I uttered these words to a group of journalists gathered in Copenhagen. I had just presided over the European Council summit in which European leaders agreed to invite the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to join the EU.It wasn’t a decision we took lightly, but ultimately all of us assembled in that room recognized the historic moment we faced. We saw that despite the challenges, expanding the EU eastward was th...

Now Free For Some, Community Colleges See Enrollment Climb

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

The number of students studying at the state’s community colleges shot up in the fall semester, driving the first undergraduate enrollment increase at Massachusetts public colleges and universities in a decade, officials announced Tuesday.There were 152,739 undergraduates enrolled this fall across state universities, University of Massachusetts schools and community colleges, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to fall 2022, according to new Department of Higher Education data.While the jump marks the first time total undergraduate enrollment was higher than the prior year since 2013, the trend was not universal across all campuses. The number of undergraduates dropped 1 percent at UMass campuses and 0.6 percent at state universities from fall 2022 to fall 2023, though officials said the decline at state universities was more muted than in recent years.A sizable single-year increase — 8 percent — at community colleges drove the overall trend upward, the data s...

Supreme Court to decide whether to restrict abortion drug nationwide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

(CNN) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider whether to restrict access to a widely used abortion drug — even in states where the procedure is still allowed.The case concerns the drug mifepristone that — when coupled with another drug — is one of the most common abortion methods in the United States.The decision means the conservative-leaning court will again wade into the abortion debate after overturning Roe v. Wade last year, altering the landscape of abortion rights nationwide and triggering more than half the states to outlaw or severely restrict the procedure.The new case could be decided by July, inserting the Supreme Court into the middle of the presidential election, where abortion access is once again a key issue.For now, mifepristone remains available and not subject to restrictions the lower courts have said should be imposed on its use. The high court determined in April that access to the drug would remain unchanged until the ...

Bill Belichick responds to report Robert Kraft has already decided to part ways

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

FOXBORO — According to a report from NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran, Patriots owner Robert Kraft decided last month he will part with head coach Bill Belichick after the season.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Bill O’Brien, Troy Brown preview Chiefs matchup New England Patriots | Patriots coach Troy Brown reacts to fellow assistant leaving midseason New England Patriots | Patriots lose backup QB to AFC rival Ravens after minimal playing time New England Patriots | Will Taylor Swift be in Boston for the Patriots-Chiefs game? New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe credits Patriots O-line with fast start, takes blame for later struggles Kraft reached his decision after the Patriots’ 10-3 loss to the Colts in Germany, according to Curran, who shared his report Monday evening during a televised discussion on Belichick’s future.“When they came out of G...

Patriots attempted to keep Malik Cunningham before Ravens poached rookie QB

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

FOXBORO — Head coach Bill Belichick understood what the Patriots were up against when the Ravens signed rookie Malik Cunningham away.The Ravens signed Cunningham off of the Patriots’ practice squad and onto their 53-man roster on Tuesday. Belichick said Wednesday morning that the Patriots did attempt to keep Cunningham, who had been elevated from the practice squad onto the game-day roster in each of their last two games.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Bill O’Brien, Troy Brown preview Chiefs matchup New England Patriots | Patriots coach Troy Brown reacts to fellow assistant leaving midseason New England Patriots | Patriots lose backup QB to AFC rival Ravens after minimal playing time New England Patriots | Will Taylor Swift be in Boston for the Patriots-Chiefs game? New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe credits Patriots O-line with fast start, takes blame for late...

Grant program funding two overnight shelters opening in North Central Massachusetts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

United Way of Massachusetts Bay awarded a grant Wednesday to open two overnight shelters in North Central Massachusetts as the Healey administration continues to contemplate how to use $50 million for an overflow site.Opportunities for Hope will provide 23 bedrooms across the two sites as well as facilities management and maintenance while the Spanish American Center will offer “multilingual, culturally competent resource coordination and connections to local supports.”This is the second grant the nonprofit organization has handed out to a community group to stand up overnight shelters after Gov. Maura Healey shuttled them $5 million in federal cash. The sites come online as the emergency shelter system in Massachusetts is still at the 7,500-family limit the governor put in place earlier this year.United Way of Massachusetts Bay President and CEO Bob Giannino said United Way of North Central Massachusetts, Opportunities for Hope and the Spanish American Center thought “creatively ab...

Authorities investigate string of armed robberies across San Diego County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- An overnight crime spree has prompted a countywide investigation after reports of multiple armed robberies in San Diego County.According to both the San Diego Sheriff's Department and San Diego Police, two or three black male suspects reportedly held up locations stretching from North County down to San Diego. Authorities say the description of the robbery suspects appear to match for each location aside from one. From around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night until shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, the following areas were targeted in this string of robberies: SDPD sergeant shot in head in shootout identified Stockton neighborhoodPolice say three black male suspects entered a store on the 3000 block of Market Street around 11:28 p.m. They reportedly ran up to the register and removed it from the counter. They all ran out of the store with the register and were last seen running northbound 30th St. The three suspects were said to be between 19 and 25-years-old. One was r...

14-year-old dirt bike rider struck by suspected DUI driver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A 14-year-old boy was sent to the hospital Tuesday after a dirt bike crash involving a suspected DUI driver in Ocean Beach.According to the San Diego Police Department, a 47-year-old man was driving a Land Rover LR3 southbound on the 1400 block of Ebers Street around 7:53 p.m. Authorities investigate string of armed robberies across San Diego County At that same time, police said a 14-year-old boy was riding a Talaria electric off-road dirt bike northbound on Ebers Street. Both the driver and rider entered the intersection with Point Loma Avenue, authorities explained. The driver began to make a left turn onto eastbound Point Loma Avenue and the dirt biker continued straight on Ebers Street. The 14-year-old boy impacted the Land Rover on the right side and went under the vehicle. SDPD confirmed. He was reportedly dragged several feet. The dirt bike rider sustained a fractured pelvis to both the left and right side, police said. He was transported to a local hospital f...

The last residents of a coastal Mexican town destroyed by climate change

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

EL BOSQUE, Mexico (AP) — People moved to El Bosque on the Gulf of Mexico in the 1980s to fish and build a community. Then climate change set the sea against the town.Flooding driven by some of the world’s fastest sea-level rise and by increasingly brutal winter storms has all but destroyed El Bosque, leaving twisted piles of concrete where houses used to line the sand. Forced to flee the homes they built, locals are waiting for government aid in rentals they can scarcely afford. The U.N. climate summit known as COP28 finally agreed this month on a multimillion-dollar loss-and-damage fund to help developing countries cope with global warming. It will come too late for the people of El Bosque, but by 2050 millions more Mexicans will be displaced by climate change, according to the Mayors Migration Council, a coalition researching internal migration.Just two years ago over 700 people lived in El Bosque; barely a dozen are left. Between those numbers lie the relics of a lost community. ...

Ontario housing minister to make announcement amid talk of Peel’s future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:58 GMT

Ontario’s housing minister is set to make an announcement later today amid reports the government is considering reversing course on dissolving the Region of Peel.Paul Calandra has reversed several big government moves since he took over the housing portfolio in September after his predecessor resigned amid the Greenbelt scandal.The government passed the Hazel McCallion Act in the spring to dissolve Peel Region, which is made up of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon.The act fulfilled a promise Premier Doug Ford made to the former longtime mayor of Mississauga that it would stand as an independent city Related: Peel dissolution will leave Brampton with $72 million deficit every year: new report Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has recently said the dissolution would cost more than $1 billion and leave his city with no choice but to raise taxes.Mississauga mayor and new Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie wants Peel to dissolve and has questioned the accuracy...