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State lawmakers unveil new $1 billion tax relief package

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts lawmakers unveiled a tax relief package Tuesday aimed at delivering $561 million in reductions to taxpayers and companies during the current fiscal year through a slew of tax credits and other steps aimed at lowering tax burdens.The proposal — which would top $1 billion in tax relief by the 2027 fiscal year when fully phased in — includes more than a dozen specific tax proposals, from eliminating the tax for estates under $2 million to increasing the child and dependent tax credit from $180 to $330 per child or dependent in the current tax year to $440 for the 2024 tax year.Lawmakers say the increased child tax credit will benefit 565,000 families and will be the most generous universal child and dependent tax credit in the country.The bill would also increase the cap on the rental deduction from $3,000 to $4,000, reduce the tax rate on short-term capital gains from 12% to 8.5% and allow cities and towns to adopt a local property tax exemption to encourag...

Suspect wanted in connection with 2022 Weymouth HS student’s shooting death arraigned after his arrest in Puerto Rico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

A suspect wanted in connection with the shooting death of a 17-year-old Weymouth High School student appeared in court on Tuesday, days after being taken into custody in Puerto Rico and returning to Massachusetts.Appearing in Norfolk District Court on Tuesday, Keniel Diaz-Romero was the last co-defendant wanted for the 2022 shooting death of Nathan Paul, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.He and another suspect, Jaivon Harris, were originally indicted on murder and larceny charges three months after Paul was fatally shot in Quincy on Feb. 15, 2022.While Harris was arrested and arraigned that year, authorities found Diaz-Romero had left the state, leading to an investigation that resulted in Quincy and Massachusetts State Police traveling to Puerto Rico to take the suspect into custody.During his arraignment on Tuesday, Diaz-Romero pleaded not guilty to the charges he now faces and was ordered to be held without bail.Members of Paul’s family could be heard cryi...

7 Investigates: Radon Danger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

Radon, a toxic gas that often lurks in basements, is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US. 7 Investigates recently found rainfall hitting New England is making the threat posed by radon even worse.“My situation could be anyone’s situation,” said Lindi Campbell, a lung cancer survivor.Campbell was stunned when she found out her childhood bedroom in her parent’s basement may have made her sick.  “We played down there,” she said. “We watched TV down there.”Years after moving out, Campbell was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had never smoked.She had the bedroom tested for radon, a naturally occurring odorless and colorless gas that forms when uranium in rock and soil break down. The gas seeps into the lower levels of homes through foundations.“That exact room tested 21.6 picocuries which is the toxicity level equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day,” Campbell said.7 Investigates found one in four Massachusetts homes has high radon levels.Experts...

Senate unveils stopgap bill in bid to avert shutdown, setting up showdown with the House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

(CNN) — With just days to go before the government runs out of money, the Senate has unveiled a bipartisan stopgap bill in a bid to avert a shutdown – but there’s no guarantee that it will be able to pass in the House.The release of the Senate bill, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, sets up a stark contrast – and a showdown – with the House, where the Republican majority faces deep divisions and the demands of hardline conservatives have been highly influential in driving the agenda as a shutdown looms.The two chambers are now on a collision course as the House voted Tuesday night to advance a package of appropriations bill that are dead on arrival in the Senate and would not avert a government shutdown.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has little room to maneuver with only a narrow majority. Hardline conservatives have railed against the prospect of a short-term funding extension and many oppose additional aid to Ukraine, two major obstacles to finding...

Dansby Swanson returns to Atlanta with the Chicago Cubs, plus a Jeimer Candelario injury update and Ian Happ’s walks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

Dansby Swanson perched on the top step of the visitors dugout Tuesday night at Truist Park, a familiar yet inherently different perspective.Swanson, in his Cubbie blue jersey, took in the Atlanta Braves’ almost two-minute tribute video before the Cubs’ series opener in his homecoming. He tipped his hat to the crowd in acknowledgment of their ovation and to where he won a World Series title with his childhood team.“I just want to be able to soak it all in when it does happen,” Swanson said beforehand. “I spent, six, seven years of my career here and nothing but great memories and support from everyone from obviously the people up top to the guys that you grind it out with every day to obviously the fans here. Everyone’s always showing me a lot of love and respect and especially when it’s your hometown and where you grew up, it obviously means a ton, if not a little bit more so.“I‘ve been so grateful to play for the fan bases in ge...

Orioles shut out Nationals, 1-0, for 3rd time this year behind Kyle Bradish’s gem, Gunnar Henderson’s homer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

Kyle Bradish isn’t viewed as an American League Cy Young candidate, but he pitched like one Tuesday.Gunnar Henderson, meanwhile, is the AL Rookie of the Year front-runner, and he hit like it Tuesday.Bradish twirled eight shutout innings, Henderson hit a leadoff home run and the Orioles held on to beat the Washington Nationals, 1-0, and lower their magic number to win the AL East to two.The shutout victory at Camden Yards over the local foe was the third in as many games this season. The Orioles claimed the first two games of the Beltway Series at Nationals Park in April with 1-0 and 4-0 wins.Bradish emerged this summer as the Orioles’ ace, and he maintained that reputation Tuesday, scattering just three hits and two walks to blank the Nationals for the second time this season. The scoreless start is the 27-year-old’s second straight after he threw six clean innings against the Houston Astros last week.Despite his ascendance, Bradish isn’t considered a candida...

Brooks Robinson: Baseball world and beyond remembers ‘Mr. Oriole’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

Legendary Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson died Tuesday at the age of 86.Robinson spent all of his 23 major league seasons with Baltimore, making 18 All-Star teams and winning 16 straight Gold Glove Awards from 1960 to 1975. He was a member of the Orioles’ World Series teams in 1966, when he was also Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game, and 1970, earning MVP honors for that series. Robinson was the 1964 American League MVP and finished in the top 10 of voting six other times.Tributes poured in recognizing a player fittingly known as “Mr. Oriole.”The OriolesBrooks Robinson truly was Mr. Oriole. He played the game for 23 years with a childlike spirit, earning MVP awards in the American League, All-Star Game and World Series. Third basemen from all levels of the game will forever look to Brooks for inspiration, most notably for his play in the field during the 1970 World Series, which cemented his election into Baseball’s National Hall of Fame. Off th...

Peter Schmuck: Brooks Robinson was one of the greatest baseball players ever. He was an even better man. | COMMENTARY

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

This is all you need to know about Brooks Robinson. In the early days of the commercial sports autograph boom, a fellow Hall of Famer sidled up to him and told him that he was signing way too many free autographs, which was lowering his value on the memorabilia circuit.Brooks just went on signing. He didn’t have anything against making a few dollars off his signature, but he clearly did have something against saying no to anyone who met him on the street and wanted it.That’s why just about every self-respecting Orioles fan has one and remembers the time and place when Brooksie flashed his homespun Brooksie smile and said “Sure, kid” — just like the guy in that famous Norman Rockwell painting.Robinson died Tuesday, his family said in a joint statement with the Orioles. He was 86.To say that he was a nice guy is like saying that Abraham Lincoln was a good president or Rembrandt could paint a little bit. It’s true, of course, but it sure doesn’...

Column: Home cooking for Dansby Swanson and sleepless nights for David Ross as the Chicago Cubs enter the final week of the wild-card chase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

David Ross participated in seven postseasons as a player with four different teams, and one season on “Dancing With the Stars.” But the pressure Ross faced before is nothing like what he’s going through now managing the Chicago Cubs in this crazy National League wild-card chase.The challenge of getting this Cubs team into the postseason has been one of the biggest of his life, and is why Ross sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night.“Way different as a manager than as a player,” Ross said Tuesday before the Cubs’ game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s fun, and you try and prepare and keep it all the same, but inside you’re riding it.“We also have a lot of different guys in different scenarios in the back end of games right now that haven’t been there all year. So it’s a little like pulling the right lever is important, and doing all your homework and tru...

Brooks Robinson’s 10 greatest moments as an Oriole

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:27 GMT

No Oriole was more beloved or more integral to the story of the franchise than Brooks Robinson, who died Tuesday at age 86.Robinson played his first game for the Orioles in 1955, the year after the franchise arrived in Baltimore, was a key member of the club’s first four World Series teams and lasted long enough to suit up with a new generation of stars, led by Eddie Murray.Here are 10 moments that capture what Robinson meant to baseball and to Baltimore.1970 World SeriesAfter watching Robinson dismantle the Cincinnati Reds with his glove and his bat, Pete Rose put it simply: “Brooks Robinson belongs in a higher league.”What else was there to say about Robinson’s magnum opus? He hit .429 over five games, with two home runs and six RBIs. His home run off Gary Nolan provided the winning margin in Game 1. His two-run double put the Orioles on the board in their 9-3 win in Game 3.But it was Robinson’s incomparable glove at third base that left the strongest...