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Fort Lauderdale PD Chief retires after more than 35 years of service

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

The City of Fort Lauderdale’s top policeman announced that he’s ready to retire.Chief Patrick Lynn is a long-time veteran of the force with a career spanning more than 35 years.He began his career as a patrol officer in Pembroke Pines back in the early 1980s, rising through the ranks, and serving as deputy chief.Lynn moved to the Davie Police Department, becoming Chief of police until 2017, then eventually moving to Chief of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.His last day is set for December 15th.

Bijou Phillips files for divorce from Danny Masterson

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

(CNN) — Bijou Phillips has filed for divorce from embattled actor Danny Masterson, according to public records.Phillips filed a petition for divorce on Monday in Santa Barbara. The pair were married in 2011 and share one daughter together.The filing comes less than two weeks after Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for his conviction on two rape counts.“Ms. Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time. Her priority remains with her daughter,” Peter Lauzon, Phillips’ attorney, told CNN in a statement on Tuesday, adding, “this period has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family.”CNN has reached out to a legal representative for Masterson for comment.Earlier this month, Phillips was present at Masterson’s sentencing where he received the maximum “aggregate” penalty of 30 years to life in prison for the crimes, CNN reported at the time.Following his initial arrest in 2020, Masterson had pleaded...

Melrose woman accused of assaulting city councilor’s husband and making racist statement ordered to take sensitivity training

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

A judge has decided the Melrose woman who allegedly told a Muslim city councilor to “go back to her country” and assaulted the councilor’s husband last year must take sensitivity training. 68-year-old Joan DiTomaso admitted she pushed the husband of City Councilor Maya Jamaleddine back in December. The attack itself was captured on cellphone video Jamaleddine’s husband took after he confronted DiTomaso for targeting his wife, who was wearing a Muslim headscarf. “I did say ‘Go back to your country,’” DiTomaso said in court Tuesday. DiTomaso was not charged with a hate crime. Instead, she was charged for assaulting Jamaleddine’s husband. Jamaleddine’s husband was previously in court for DiTomaso’s arraignment in June. While he was too distraught to come to court for sentencing this week, his wife read his words to the judge.“I couldn’t believe that this person hated us for how we looked and for our religion,” Jamaleddine read. “I felt angry and betrayed. I hav...

BPS on track to avoid state takeover, Wu tells education board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

After a tumultuous year, Boston Public Schools is on track to meet the requirements of a plan to avoid a state takeover of the district, Mayor Michelle Wu told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education at a Tuesday morning meeting.“It’s very clear that what we have accomplished over the last year is a product of our collaboration,” Wu said. “BPS has met the deadlines for 29 of the 31 deliverables in the (Systemic Improvement Plan) with two remaining, bathroom renovations and the facilities plan, projected to be finish by the end of the year.”The Systemic Improvement Plan was a deal struck between the city and state in June 2022, outlining various transportation, inclusion, infrastructure, achievement and other benchmarks the district must meet to avoid a “chronically underperforming” status and a state receivership.The district has been plagued with a number of high-profile issues, especially regarding school buses’ on-time...

‘Recovery is fully underway:’ MCAS testing scores resurface from pandemic plunge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

For the first time since the pre-pandemic 2019 results, MCAS scores are ticking up, according to state education data released Tuesday.“We are pleased to see both the 2023 English Language Arts and Mathematics results indicate that the achievement slide caused by the pandemic appears to have halted, and recovery is fully underway,” said Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey Riley at an embargoed briefing Monday. “In both ELA and math all grades, three to eight, maintained or increased the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations from 2022.”While results remained below 2019 levels, all districtwide ELA and math from third to eighth grade increased or remained level.The test was administered fully for the first time since pandemic closures in 2022, following two years of cancelled and mitigated MCAS testing. 2022’s results reported a mixed bag of gains and losses — with particularly hard hit to younger students E...

Some RMV driving-related info could again become public under proposed regulations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

Some information found on driving records could again see the light of day under proposed regulations from Attorney General Andrea Campbell that attempt to clarify what documents are considered public records after the implementation of an immigrant driver’s license law this summer.But it is unclear if entire driving records will be accessible to the public as they once were before the so-called Work and Family Mobility Act took effect on July 1, a law that has given the Registry of Motor Vehicles cover to deny records requests for the documents over the last two months.“We have sought to strike the right balance between transparency in the public interest and the protection of personal information for all applicants for licenses and learners permits in the commonwealth,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement to the Herald. “We look forward to hearing more from the public on the proposed regulations at a public hearing later this week.”A hybrid public hearing on the p...

Top House Democrat wants ‘hard numbers’ on emergency shelters as Healey’s funding request idles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

House Speaker Ronald Mariano wants “hard numbers” on the emergency shelter crisis and migrant influx in Massachusetts before moving forward with a $250 million funding request from Gov. Maura Healey for the shelter system.Less than a week after Healey submitted a multi-billion spending bill to close the books on fiscal 2023 that included the shelter dollars, Mariano said Tuesday that House lawmakers are still “searching for some answers on the total potential expenditures that we’ll be dealing with.”“There’s a lot of questions around the number that needs to be tightened up and we’re dealing with a problem with getting information from people coming in and the organizations that are servicing it,” Mariano said. “The administration is doing the best that they can do to gather all this information and give us some hard numbers. And it’s not an easy thing to do.”The Healey administration’s housing department estimates the state could see 1,000 families — local h...

Suspect in University of North Carolina shooting is not competent for trial, his attorneys say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) — Attorneys for a University of North Carolina graduate student accused of killing his academic advisor said in court on Tuesday that a doctor has found their client not competent to proceed with trial. Defense attorneys for Tailei Qi told Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour they plan to file a motion challenging Qi’s capacity to proceed. Meanwhile, the judge granted a request from prosecutors to get a separate competency evaluation. Qi is charged with killing Dr. Zijie Yan inside a campus laboratory on Aug. 28. Police were alerted when a 911 caller reported gunfire at Caudill Labs. Qi was not at the building when officers arrived soon after. Police arrested the Chapel Hill resident without force off campus less than two hours after the shooting. He is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property. The attack and hourslong lockdown terrified students and faculty who had just returned to campus fo...

Acting Temple University president JoAnne A. Epps dies after falling ill on stage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

By RON TODT (Associated Press)PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Temple University acting president JoAnne A. Epps died Tuesday shortly after becoming ill on stage during a memorial service, officials said, describing her loss as a gut punch and struggling through emotion as they recalled her nearly four decades of service.Epps was attending a memorial service at the university for Charles L. Blockson, a curator of a collection of African American artifacts, when she suffered what a doctor speaking at a news conference described as a “sudden episode.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Epps, who was scheduled to speak at the service, slumped in her chair shortly after the event began and was carried out in the arms of a uniformed officer after the announcer asked if there was a doctor in the house.Epps was taken to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, the university said. She was 72.Ken Kaiser, senior vice president and chief op...

Witness said man was punched before he died at a New England Patriots game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:37 GMT

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Police are investigating the death of a New Hampshire man at a New England Patriots home game, after a witness said he saw a Miami Dolphins fan punching the man in the head.Police and personnel responded to the upper deck at Gillette Stadium shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday against the Dolphins. Dale Mooney, 53, of Newmarket, New Hampshire, “was in apparent need of medical attention,” the Norfolk County district attorney’s office said in a news release Monday. Mooney was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the news release said.“Numb. I just feel numb. I just can’t even believe this is for real,” his wife, Lisa Mooney, told WCVB-TV. “I want to know what happened. What caused this?”In an interview with several local media outlets, Joey Kilmartin said he saw Mooney confront a rival Dolphins fan who he had been arguing with during most of the game.“He (Mooney) went over to Section 311 and he basically engaged in mutual combat with another fan,R...