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Massachusetts heading in ‘wrong direction’ on tax policies, business groups argue

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

Massachusetts is moving in the “wrong direction” on tax policy compared to other states and state lawmakers can “no longer be complacent” as they negotiate tax relief proposals on Beacon Hill, local business groups said Tuesday.A panel of six lawmakers has been negotiating a tax relief proposal since late June after the House passed its version on April 13 and the Senate on June 15. The legislation, which legislators have discussed in some form for more than a year, sat idle as Beacon Hill dealt with an overdue state budget.The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs called on negotiators to “quickly finalize the first step in strategic tax reform that will benefit residents, families, businesses, and the economy.”The two groups want reforms of the “archaic” estate tax, reducing the short-term capital gains tax, rejecting joint filing requirements “that raise taxes,” and increasing housing, family, and transit tax deductions and credits.“To protect o...

Live updates | Hurricane Idalia heads into Georgia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Follow live updates about Hurricane Idalia, which has made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 storm, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.— Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is rapidly strengthening as it bears down on Florida — A rare blue supermoon could play a role in an unfolding disaster as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida’s west coast — Florida’s Big Bend is one of the last truly natural places in the state. Now it’s in the bull’s-eye of a major hurricane Idalia remains a hurricane after its center crossed into Georgia with top winds of 90 mph (150 mph). Forecasters say it will punish the Carolinas overnight as a tropical storm. It’s too soon to know what will become of Idalia after it heads out to sea, but that hasn’t stopped internet speculation that it could loop southward and make another run at Florida. Long-range models ha...

Kremlin says ‘deliberate wrongdoing’ is a possible cause of the plane crash that killed Wagner chief

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — “Deliberate wrongdoing” is among the possible causes of the plane crash that killed Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last week, the Kremlin’s spokesperson said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters during his daily conference call, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that “different versions” of what happened exist and “are being considered” by Russian investigators, including, “let’s put this way, deliberate wrongdoing.” A business jet carrying Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the private military force Wagner, and his top lieutenants crashed halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg a week ago, killing all seven passengers and three crew members. The Interstate Aviation Committee, the Moscow-headquartered body that oversees civil aviation in most former Soviet republics, said in an online statement Wednesday that it was not currently investigating the crash, although the agency has...

Brazilian Day Festival coming to San Diego

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A cultural event embodying all things Brazilian is debuting in Point Loma this weekend. The first annual Brazilian Day Festival is set to host a wide array of artists and varying acts, along with food and merchandise vendors at Liberty Station NTC Park on Saturday. According to event organizers, the festival will feature a large stage for national and local headliners. There will also be a VIP area with backstage access. These ticketholders will have an opportunity to mingle with the talent. Pete Davidson to perform in El Cajon "For the Brazilian Day Festival this year, we have a mix of everything you can possibly imagine," said event organizer Mariana Farmer. "So we are going to have obviously, the food, the live music with a bunch of artists from Brazil. It's going to be amazing."As far as the lineup, "Main Stage" performances include pagode group Calisamba, samba group Resenha, a set from Brazilian DJ Flavia Xexeo, among other performances.There will also be group ...

North Korea launches a missile toward the sea after US flies bomber during drills with South Korea

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after the U.S. flew at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the North. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the launch occurred Wednesday but gave no further details, such as how far the missile flew.Japan’s Defense Ministry also announced that North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile. Earlier Wednesday, the United States flew a B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula as part of field exercises with South Korea. The field training is being held on the sidelines of an ongoing annual U.S.-South Korean computer-simulated command post exercise called “Ulchi Freedom Shield” that began Aug. 21.North Korea views U.S.-South Korean military drills as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a larg...

Preliminary hearing postponed for Quebec man charged with killing 3 people with truck

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

AMQUI, Que. — A preliminary hearing for a Quebec man charged with killing three people with his truck has been postponed until January 2024.A spokesperson for the province’s prosecutions office says the request was made by Steeve Gagnon’s lawyer on Tuesday.Gagnon, 38, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and nine counts of attempted murder in connection with the alleged attack on March 13 in Amqui, Que., about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.A truck drove into several groups of pedestrians on a main street in the town in what police have described as an intentional act.Gagnon turned himself in after the alleged attack, which claimed the lives of three people: Gérald Charest, 65; Jean Lafrenière, 73; and Simon-Guillaume Bourget, 41.A three-day preliminary hearing had been scheduled to begin on Sept. 5, but the prosecutors office says the hearing will now start Jan. 15, 2024.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2023.The Cana...

Judge enters default judgment against Giuliani in defamation lawsuit from Georgia election workers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge entered a default judgment Wednesday against Rudy Giuliani in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of participating in fraud during the 2020 presidential election.U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also ordered Giuliani to pay more than $130,000 in lawyers’ fees and other costs for shirking his duty to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.Their lawsuit from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and a confidant of the former Republican president, of defaming them by falsely stating that they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defa...

Pennsylvania is considering an earlier 2024 presidential primary, partly to avoid voting on Passover

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is considering changing the state’s 2024 presidential primary to an earlier day, although the proposed move may do little to give the state’s voters more say in deciding presidential nominees.State lawmakers plan to vote on legislation Wednesday that would change Pennsylvania’s primary from late April to late March.The state is a premier battleground in presidential elections, but it hasn’t hosted a competitive presidential primary since 2008, when Hillary Clinton pulled off a win to stay alive against Barack Obama, the leader in delegates and eventual winner of that year’s Democratic nomination.For now, President Joe Biden faces a couple of Democratic challengers, but is expected to secure his party’s nomination, while former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have dominated the early Republican race in a field that is about a dozen deep.Under current law, Pennsylvania’s primary date is the fourth Tuesday in April, which t...

The only defendant in the Georgia election indictment to spend time in jail is released on bond

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The only person who spent time behind bars as a result of the sweeping indictment related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump ‘s 2020 election loss in Georgia was released from jail Wednesday after he was granted bond a day earlier.A lawyer for Harrison William Prescott Floyd on Tuesday negotiated a $100,000 bond with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.Floyd was charged along with Trump and 17 others in an indictment that accuses them all of illegally conspiring to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants had all negotiated bonds before their clients surrendered at the Fulton County Jail by the deadline last Friday. Floyd had turned himself in Thursday without first having a bond and, therefore, had to remain in jail. A judge denied him bond during a hearing Friday, saying the issue would be addre...

Stock market today: Wall Street moves higher, adding to recent gains

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose in late morning trading on Wednesday following several updates showing that the job market continued cooling, but economic growth remained resilient.The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and continued to chip away at the market’s losses in August. The benchmark index is coming off of three straight gains.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points, or 0.1%, to 34,872 as of 11:24 a.m. and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.Technology stocks led the market’s gains. Apple jumped 1.4% and Palo Alto Networks rose 1.3%.HP was on the losing end with a 8.2% slump after cutting its profit forecast for the year.Wall Street’s focus this week remains a broad mix of economic updates that investors hope will paint a clearer picture of where the economy is headed and whether the Federal Reserve has enough reason to hold off on any additional interest rate hikes.A survey of private-sector employers in the U.S. showed that hiring cooled more than expected by economi...