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Crisp: We could go to Mars – but why should we?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

Last week NASA announced the names of the four astronauts who will crew Artemis II, a 10-day mission planned for November 2024. The expedition will boost humans out of an Earth-bound orbit for the first time since 1972 and put them into orbit around the moon, in preparation for subsequent missions that will include lunar landings.Experienced astronaut Christina Koch, who will be the first woman to reach the moon, is thinking beyond the lunar surface. During her 328-day stay at the International Space Station, she read aloud from a children’s book titled “Hey-Ho, to Mars We Will Go.”Visionary Elon Musk isn’t bothering with the moon. He has announced his goal to colonize Mars by establishing a city of 1 million people on the Red Planet by 2050.In some respects, travel to the moon and other planets seems logical and thoroughly consistent with our history. Civilization has often been driven by the inherent human instinct to explore, discover and colonize, then to exploit, exhaust and mo...

Editorial: Strengthen ICE, don’t abolish it

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

ICE is a four-letter word in progressive circles.Whether openly calling for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or undermining its mission through the creation of sanctuary cities, pols on the left have made their position clear: ICE is the bad guy.Its mission statement is straightforward: to protect national security, public safety and the integrity of the U.S. borders through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.Democrats cry foil. Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wants to “completely reshape and reform our immigration enforcement system, including breaking up ICE and CBP and redistributing their functions to their proper authorities.”ICE and Customs and Border Protection are the proper authorities, it’s just that arresting and deporting those who break the law by entering the country illegally are anathema to the open borders crowd.Back in 2020, Mas...

“Little Richard: I Am Everything” doc rocks

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Little Richard: I Am Everything”Not Rated. At the AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square and suburban theatersGrade: A-A stirring addition to such revisionist rock and roll-related documentaries as “Summer of Soul (Or… When The Revolution Could Not be Televised”), “The Velvet Underground” and “Moonage Daydream,” Lisa Cortes’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything” takes perhaps the original rock music pioneer and argues that he was marginalized because of his sexual orientation and never given the acclaim and riches he deserved.Before James Brown, before Otis Redding, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and Prince, there was Little Richard aka Richard Wayne Penniman, one of 12 children of hard-pressed parents from Macon, Georgia. His father was a preacher, who ran a nightclub and moonshine. Richard’s granddaddy had a piano. The boy played. The family attended the Baptist Church in New Hope and the local AME Church. His peers called him “siss...

Girls Wrestling All-Scholastics

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

Ashley Dehney (Central Catholic)Jaclyn Dehney (Central Catholic)Sydney Diauto (Silver Lake)Ayla Goldman (Middleboro)Lindsay Laws (Silver Lake)Sara McLaughlin (Scituate)Freya Munshi (Newton South)Asher Polanco (Methuen)Nora Quitt (Ashland)ASHLEY DEHNEYCENTRAL CATHOLICThe junior — an honor roll student — earned her second straight All-State title, winning all four of her matches in the 147-pound category. Dehney earned World Team Trial All-American honors.JACLYN DEHNEYCENTRAL CATHOLICThe All-Merrimack Valley Conference performer competed in the boys tournament and took a fourth in the Div. 1 North sectionals and fifth at the Div. 1 States, ending her career with 101 wins. On the national women’s scene, Dehney was the 2021 Pan Am Gold Medalist and is a two-time Super 32 champion. The honor roll student trains at Doughboy Wrestling.SYDNEY DIAUTOSILVER LAKEThe 106-pound senior captured the All-State title on her way to a 24-14 record against mixed competition (10-2 against girls). ...

Dear Abby: MIL’s gambling addiction strains marriage

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband and I have been happily married for 28 years. We rarely have a problem we can’t settle, but I’m stymied over this issue. His 72-year-old mother took up gambling several years back, and it has become an issue. Over the past year, she has been asking us for “loans” of $300 to $500 to cover her gambling losses. More than once, she has told us for weeks on end not to cash the check she gave us to repay us. We were late paying our insurance because she has yet to repay us. This is stressing me out.We have financial responsibilities of our own. We both work, but we are not wealthy. We have medical bills, as well as car and house payments. We have children attending college. I tell my husband that we are not a loan institution for his family. I feel he is enabling his mother by lending her money. I think she needs to suffer the consequences of her behavior. I’m willing to pay a bill for her, but giving her an open-ended loan is not, in my...

Hundreds flee from wildfire in South Korean seaside city

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of South Koreans were forced to flee a wildfire fueled by strong winds that burned parts of an eastern coastal city Tuesday, destroying dozens of homes.More than 700 firefighters and 300 vehicles were dispatched to fight the fire that started on a mountain in a central part of Gangneung, according to the Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.At least 44 homes were destroyed and more than 300 residents evacuated to facilities that included an ice-skating arena and a middle school gym. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, according to the ministry. It wasn’t immediate clear how long it would take firefighters to bring the flames under control as the high winds made it difficult to deploy aircraft. Kim during a televised briefing said firefighters are establishing barriers while focusing on preventing the fire from spreading to more populated areas of Gangneung. Photos showed firefighters s...

Less than half say next vehicle is an EV: AP-NORC/EPIC poll

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago shows that the Biden administration’s plans to dramatically raise U.S. EV sales could run into resistance from consumers. Only 8% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household owns or leases an electric vehicle, and just 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid vehicle.Even with tax credits of up to $7,500 to buy a new EV, it could be difficult to persuade drivers to ditch their gas-burning cars and trucks for vehicles without tailpipe emissions. Auto companies are investing billion...

Maryland lawmakers pass gun bills, cannabis, by session end

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

HANNAPES, France — Maryland lawmakers adjourned late Monday from their annual legislative session after approving measures for gun control, abortion rights, a licensing framework to open a recreational marijuana market and a push to expand offshore wind development.The Maryland General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that would prevent someone from carrying a concealed handgun in certain areas. The measure would prohibit people with permits to carry concealed handguns in sensitive areas like school playgrounds, hospitals or polling locations. “The goal that we have in passing this bill is not to chip away at Second Amendment rights, as hard as it may be for some minority party members to believe. It’s to reduce gun violence of all kinds: gang violence, mass shootings, self-inflicted gunshots,” said Del. Marc Korman, a Montgomery County Democrat who is the House majority leader. But opponents expressed doubts the measure would stand up to inevitable le...

DeSantis flexes executive powers while eyeing White House

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Suspending an elected Democratic prosecutor. Forbidding gender-affirming treatments for minors. Expanding the “Don’t Say Gay” law to high schools.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has exercised his executive powers to advance elements of his aggressive conservative agenda, drawing on appointees, boards and the state Constitution in a deliberate manner as he builds toward an expected presidential candidacy. The approach displays the Republican’s willingness to leverage his office to notch political wins and punish political enemies, even as the GOP-dominated Legislature has sped his proposals through the statehouse. It also signals the meticulous style that underpins his brash public persona and offers hints about how he could govern if elected president. For DeSantis, the unilateral moves are part of his broad mandate as the elected chief executive of Florida. He is coming off a dominant reelection victory last fall where he campaigned on a host of conservativ...

Marcus Foligno and Marcus Johansson spark Wild to comeback win

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:50:50 GMT

CHICAGO — The lineup resembled that of an exhibition game, and so, too, did the effort from the Wild for prolonged stretches.After leaving Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin at home to avoid potential injury, the Wild lacked urgency against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night at the United Center.In the end, though, the Wild did just enough to earn a 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. That keeps their slim hopes of winning the Central Division alive at least for a few more days.“We have a good enough team to still go out and play better than we did tonight even though we’re missing some guys,” said Marcus Johansson, who put the team on his back with a pair of goals. “We still have something to play for.”On a night that former Gophers captain Brock Faber made his NHL debut, and top prospect Marco Rossi made his highly anticipated NHL return, the Wild at times looked like they had very little interest playing in an NHL game.Ult...