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Extension of drinks to-go, other pandemic-related provisions, likely to be renewed under state spending plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

Pending a signature from Gov. Maura Healey, Bay State residents are likely to continue being allowed to purchase espresso martinis and other to-go libations with takeout meals from their favorite restaurants.State lawmakers have approved a spending plan that would extend drinks-to-go and other provisions that popped up during the pandemic, such as outdoor dining regulations and remote access to public meetings.Selling cocktails, beer and wine with takeout and delivery orders proved to be a lifeline for restaurants, especially when they shuttered during the pandemic’s infancy, said Lesley Delaney Hawkins, former executive secretary of the Boston Licensing Board.Restaurants are likely to keep that option for another year if and when Healey greenlights the $389 million supplemental budget request.“The pandemic is on the back burner, but the impacts are still very real. You’re still seeing restaurants that didn’t reopen,” Delaney Hawkins told the Herald. “People aren’t necessarily comfo...

MBTA $29M over budget for South Station improvement project

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

The MBTA is paying $29 million more than anticipated for track and signal upgrades at South Station.Dan Beaulieu, commuter rail project manager for the MBTA, said the $98.6 million construction contract awarded to low bidder The Middlesex Corporation was roughly $29 million above the engineer’s estimated cost.The MBTA performed a root cause analysis, he said, to “understand the variances from the engineer’s estimate to the low bid estimate” by Middlesex Corp., and determined that the prevailing conditions of the contract drove up the final cost.Those conditions included market saturation, the specialized work that will be performed at South Station, and “the very difficult construction arrangement that we have to go through in order to do all this work on weekends and nights only,” Beaulieu said.“We determined that a lot of the regional contractors did not bid this job because the commitment of the workforces to nights and weekends over a four-and-a-half-year period would take them ...

For the Orioles to once again exceed expectations, these 5 players are the key

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

A couple of years ago, coming up with five Orioles players who were capable of being key contributors to a winning ball club was a challenge.Now, the challenge is limiting the list to only five.From new veterans like Kyle Gibson to the team’s core anchored by Cedric Mullins to the youngsters headlined by Adley Rutschman, the Orioles have a bevy of interesting players entering the 2023 season.Coming off a surprise 2022 campaign, the excitement from the fan base and the team’s own expectations are higher than at any point since executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias took over after the 2018 season. Projected to be the worst team in the majors last year, the Orioles defied expectations by competing for a wild-card spot and ending the campaign with an 83-79 record — the best mark for an American League club that did not make the playoffs.While the organization expects to compete for a playoff spot, the projection systems and sportsbooks don’t. Ba...

Howie Carr: Wake up, Biden! Canada good, China bad

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

It’s Weekend at Brandon’s, when we check in on the recent senile babblings of Dementia Joe Biden.We have a lot of poetry and statistics to get to today, but first, a very telling Freudian slip from Friday, when he was speaking to the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.All dialogue guaranteed verbatim.“So today I applaud China for stepping up excuse me I applaud Canada. I’m –” He was briefly sentient enough to realize that he’d given the entire game away, so he chuckled, maybe because the MP’s were also hooting it up. Even those woke fools got the gag.“You can tell what I’m thinking.”Oh yes we can. Whenever Biden checks his bank balances, he thinks of… China. As do all the other members of his family of multi-millionaire grifters and con men who have never worked an honest day in their tawdry lives.Canada has been on his, uh, mind, of late, and not just because he has a son who tried to drink Canada Dry. Here’s another statement that he read off the teleprompter this month:“We acted...

NFL Notes: Re-setting Patriots roster needs with an eye toward the draft

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

With NFL free agency winding down, teams have made most of their significant moves.While the Patriots didn’t jump in with the kind of mega-splash they made in 2021, they still pulled off a number of notable moves that should impact the team going forward. Some in a positive direction, others not so much.Whether it was signing wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Mike Gesicki, re-signing cornerback Jonathan Jones, trading tight end Jonnu Smith, or not doing much to re-sign top receiver Jakobi Meyers, they basically ran the gamut.That said, it’s debatable how much they truly improved. At wide receiver, they essentially swapped out Meyers for Smith-Schuster. While Smith-Schuster is a better player on paper, it’s going to be tough to beat Meyers’ consistent production and connection with Mac Jones. Tight end was a more obvious gain, as they dumped an unproductive Smith and added Gesicki. They also lost running back Damien Harris to the Bills, but brought in James ...

Technical issues at Lufthansa cause delays in Frankfurt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Lufthansa’s operations were disrupted Sunday at Frankfurt airport because of technical problems, German news agency dpa reported.Check-in systems on the airline’s website and at the counter, as well as boarding, were affected at Germany’s biggest airport, a Lufthansa spokeswoman told dpa. Some flights were delayed or would have to be canceled because of the problems.Check-in was still possible using cellphone browsers on smartphones or tablets, and the Lufthansa app.The technical problems were caused by external IT service providers, dpa reported. Lufthansa asked travelers to check the status of their flights and said it was working with “high-pressure” to resolve the issues.Last month, cable damage during construction work in Frankfurt caused Lufthansa computer systems to fail, resulting in flight cancellations and delays worldwide.Sunday’s problems came a day before a national strike in Germany is set to bring the country’s traffic...

Turkmenistan votes for new, opposition-free parliament

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Voters in Turkmenistan headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament that is expected to be opposition-free and loyal to the government of the gas-rich Central Asian nation. A total of 2,602 polling stations opened in Turkmenistan at 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) to accommodate about 3.5 million registered voters, with another 42 polling sites set up at embassies abroad. Voters will elect 125 members of parliament out of 258 candidates, put forward by three political parties or running independently. All of them support President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.Berdymukhamedov, 41, was elected last March to succeed his father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who had run the isolated ex-Soviet country for more than a decade. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov came to power after the death of the eccentric Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006 and established a pervasive personality cult similar to that of his predecessor. Under his rule, Turkmenistan has remained difficult for outsiders ...

P.E.I. Green Party wasn’t ready for election, may lose seats from 2019: experts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

CHARLOTTETOWN — As the Prince Edward Island election approaches its final week, the Green Party is fighting to hold onto its historic gains from the last provincial vote — a battle some experts say could result in lost seats.Hannah Bell, a Green MLA who decided not to seek re-election, says the party simply wasn’t ready for this campaign. While Progressive Conservative Leader Dennis King did call the vote six months before the province’s fixed election date, Bell says all political parties knew a campaign was coming this year. She says her party was not doing enough grassroots work or planning in the months and years leading up to the April 3 vote, leading her to believe the party’s seat count may suffer.“I do feel, and I have been saying this internally and externally, that the Green Party has missed an opportunity to build momentum in advance of an election,” Bell said.“You need to start planning for the next election the minute you finish an election. And in hindsight … the...

As economy faces potential recession, Liberals to release ‘tricky’ budget Tuesday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are set to unveil a budget on Tuesday intended to showcase their plans to keep Canada competitive amid the clean energy transition while supporting Canadians who are struggling with affordability.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has promised to accomplish as much over the last few weeks, while also pledging to keep the budget fiscally restrained. But that balancing act isn’t expected to be easy. A slowing Canadian economy could weigh on government coffers.“It’s going to be very tricky for the federal government,” said Randall Bartlett, a senior director of Canadian economics at Desjardins. The Liberals are expected to invest considerably in Canada’s clean energy transition, in an attempt to keep Canada competitive with the United States as it launches its own aggressive measures.The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law last August by U.S. President Joe Biden, invests nearly US$400 billion in everything from critical m...

Israeli group asks court to punish Netanyahu over legal plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:30 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.The request by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel intensifies a brewing showdown between Netanyahu’s government and the judiciary, which it is trying to overhaul in a contentious plan that has sparked widespread opposition.The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so, saying he was not above the law.“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against pr...