Latest news with #NewEngland
CBS News
2 hours ago
- General
- CBS News
Italian tribute painted over on Newton, Massachusetts street, outraging neighbors
The Nonantum community in Newton, Massachusetts is seeing red because for 90 years, the red, white, and green lines painted on Adams Street have been a symbol of Italian heritage. But now they say the City of Newton crossed the line, painting over the Italian lines without warning. Neighbors surprised, upset "Everybody is pissed off, it's terrible," said Jim Donovan, owner of Pressed Café Newton. "People have kind of been up in arms here today; there's been a lot of people on the street being very vocal." "It's upsetting," said Adams Street resident Paul Lupo. Parade on Adams Street in Newton, Massachusetts. CBS Boston "What's going on?" asked neighbor Margie Magraw. It's just three weeks before the before the St. Mary of Carmen Society Italian Festival and parade. Society Chairman Chuck Proia says even they weren't given notice. "In the last seven years there's been nothing that the city has told us they had a problem with, why now?" said Proia. "We had no idea that was going to happen last night, as a matter of fact I was working as a firefighter last night for the City of Newton, and I had no idea at all." Mayor cites safety reasons But Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller says by state and federal law the yellow center lines must be on Adams Street for safety reasons because of its traffic volume and width, adding she's been communicating with the group for months. The red, white and green lines on Adams Street in Newton were painted over with yellow. CBS Boston "What we're doing is marrying public safety and tradition," said Mayor Fuller. "What we let them know for quite a few months now is that we're going to have public safety with yellow center lines and also simultaneously allow the festival volunteers to paint the green, white and red of the Italian flag colors next to the yellow lines." Again, volunteers say they didn't know about that plan to paint the flag colors next to the yellow center lines. "I hope she's going to do it for us then, if that's the case, have her come down, take these yellow lines out and put the red, white and green back," said Proia. It's clear Italian pride is on full display in this community and neighbors can't help but feel their heritage is being chipped away. "Newton is very proud of its Italian community, truly it's a long-standing community," said Magraw. "It's a big deal for our community it really is," said Lupo.
New York Times
5 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Another Anfernee Simons trade coming? Celtics looking at ways to shed more salary
Anfernee Simons is smooth with the ball in his hands. He has proven himself as a big-time shot maker. He will likely fill up the basket next season. He just might do that somewhere away from Boston. Looking to continue shedding salary, the Celtics have explored the idea of flipping Simons' $27.7 million expiring contract, according to league sources. In such a move, they would be aiming to accomplish two organizational directives Brad Stevens emphasized after the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday: regaining more roster flexibility and setting up a path to retain free agents Luke Kornet and Al Horford. Advertisement Even after offloading the contracts of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis in a pair of trades this week, the Celtics have significant work left to do if they aim to escape the luxury tax entirely. At the moment, they appear hopeful of accomplishing that goal, which would help them initiate the process of resetting the repeater tax. Though they currently sit about $15 million above the luxury tax threshold, they would need to cut more salary than that to position themselves far enough under the threshold also to afford to keep Kornet and Horford. Stevens, who called the veteran big men 'huge parts of this organization' on Wednesday night, has stated he would like to re-sign both players. Speculation has surrounded Sam Hauser's future because it likely wouldn't be difficult to find a taker for his four-year, $45 million contract (which would also fit inside another team's non-taxpayer mid-level exception), but the Celtics are said to be more focused on avenues that would allow them to hold onto Hauser, who has proven himself as a valuable rotation piece and one of the NBA's best shooters. The team agreed to acquire Simons and Georges Niang this week, but both players are candidates to be moved before they ever play a game for Boston. The Celtics have already had an active offseason, but Stevens set the stage for more activity after the draft when he said he wants to retain Kornet and Horford. The team currently has minimal flexibility under the second apron and would need to cut even more salary to keep both big men while avoiding the tax. With Jayson Tatum 'a long, long time' away from even having a projected timeline for his return from a ruptured Achilles, according to Stevens, the Celtics have more incentive to escape the tax now while he is still recovering from his injury. Resetting the harsh repeater tax, which they would do by avoiding the luxury tax for two consecutive seasons, would set them up with more of a runway to spend big in the future. 'Our owners, old and new, are committed to spending,' Stevens said Wednesday. Advertisement At the same time, Stevens acknowledged, 'There's a lot of things that go into these moves and a lot of things that are really important. And, listen, again, it goes back to prioritizing our flexibility.' The Celtics knew they would eventually need to face cost-cutting decisions when they put together their 2024 championship roster. They are now dealing with the harsh reality of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Vice president of basketball operations Mike Zarren said, 'The fact of the matter is the new CBA is set up so that teams can't spend enormous amounts of money for long periods of time.' 'There's a bit of wistfulness always when guys move on,' Zarren said Thursday after the second round of the draft. 'But at the same time, the rules are the same rules for everyone and we've got a lot of good players here and a lot of good assets here and we feel like we'll be set up to compete really, really well in the near future. So that's always heartening when you know that you're in that spot. There's a lot of teams that feel further from that than we do, I'm sure.' Zarren said, 'there's a banner that will be here forever' because the Celtics were as aggressive as they were in the 2024 offseason. 'We sort of realized where we were a couple summers ago that we could take advantage of the situation with the assets we had and the salary situation we were in and the quality of players we already had,' Zarren said. 'We could make a jump before the rules got as punitive as they were going to get. That was a very conscious decision at the time, and it worked.'
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Healey slams Trump for canceling $45M to protect farms, forests and wetlands in WMass and beyond
The Trump White House's decision to pull the plug on more than $45 million in already awarded federal funds to protect farms, wetlands, and forests across the Bay State threatens jobs and leaves the state vulnerable to natural disasters, the Healey administration said Friday. President Donald Trump 'is yet again taking action that will hurt Massachusetts' rural communities, farmers, and economy,' Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. 'This is funding that would have been used to ensure clean water, provide access to fresh local food, and support our agricultural economy,' Healey said, accusing the Republican president of 'making us less healthy and weakening our economy. He should reverse these cuts immediately.' The state announced the money, awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in October 2024. It includes $20.8 million earmarked for protecting farms and wetlands that would have especially benefited the state's smaller and more rural communities, Healey's office said. The White House also canceled $25 million that would have gone to Mass Audubon to protect more than 10,000 acres of 'vital' forest and wetlands along the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts. Read More: 'Legal battles of our lives': AG Campbell testifies in DC on all-hands effort to counter Trump That money 'epitomized government efficiency and effectiveness. Not only would the grant have protected 10,000 acres of land that safeguards the public's drinking water and benefits wildlife,' David O'Neill, Mass Audubon's president and CEO, said in the administration's statement. The now-canceled cash also 'would have leveraged tens of millions of private funds, and, importantly, kept working lands in the hands of private farmers,' O'Neill continued. 'When we terminate grants that conserve our forests, keep working lands working, act as a flood protection buffer for communities, and leverage millions from other funding sources, we all lose.' The money that would have headed to farmers 'strips [them] of critical tools to keep their land in agriculture through voluntary conservation easements,' state Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle said. Read More: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear 'Without this support, farmers lose options – and some may be pushed to sell, putting local farming at risk," Randle said. The USDA announced last month that it was cancelling the Climate Smart Commodities Program — a $3 billion effort to fund projects across the country to improve soil health, sequester carbon, reduce methane emissions and encourage other climate-friendly farming practices, The Wisconsin Examiner reported. The USDA dismissed the program as a 'Biden era slush fund,' and argued that it was 'built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers.' Earlier this week, state Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell, joined by colleagues nationwide, asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the White House from using an obscure clause in federal law to cut off funding to the states. The Republican White House has wrongly used the 'agencies priorities clause' to block funding to the states for programs ranging from fighting violent crime and education to protecting clean drinking water and addressing food insecurity, Campbell's office said in a statement. Chicopee's next budget is 6% hike from this year. Here's where spending has increased Trump says he's terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on technology firms Mass. lawmakers get a deal; gun for first on-time (ish) state budget in years 'You have been the worst': Secretary Hegseth blasts former Fox colleague Mass. AG Campbell vows to fight on after Supreme Court hands Trump birthright citizenship win Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
WATCH: Greasy pole contestant nabs the flag in Friday's competition
Gloucester's greasy pole competition returned Friday as part of St. Peter's Fiesta. After the flag was accidentally knocked into the water, it was replaced on the pole and, eventually, nabbed by the night's champion.
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Automotive
- CBS News
Mandatory annual car inspections to be eliminated in New Hampshire with new law
Lawmakers in New Hampshire have voted to eliminate mandatory yearly car inspections in the state. The bill now heads to Gov. Kelly Ayotte. who is expected to sign it into law. Those who were favor of the bill said inspections are costly for people and drivers should determine when their car needs to be seen by a technician. Deputy Speaker of the House Steven Smith, who spoke with WBZ-TV on the matter in April, said there's no real evidence that inspections are making the roads any safer. Instead, he believes the inspections are nothing more than a money grab for inspection station owners and the state, as drivers get caught paying for repairs that have nothing to do with safety. "We have all these other states where everybody didn't die when they got rid of their inspection provisions," Smith told WBZ-TV at the time. Some mechanics and the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers' Association were against the bill, saying car inspections save lives. The plan would be for police to keep an eye out for unsafe cars during their regular patrols but New Hampshire State Troopers have also testified against the bill saying they're already stretched too thin to also be looking for things an inspection would normally catch. Only 14 states require a safety inspection every year, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. There are only nine states that require statewide emissions testing. Some states only test emissions in the most congested counties. The law will go into effect in January 2026.
