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Ticker: Gas prices continue climb; Simon & Schuster sold to private equity firm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

Gas prices in Massachusetts continued their climb over the past week, tacking on 7 cents to land at $3.74 a gallon in the latest survey by AAA.Last week’s climb comes on top of the 10 cent jump the week before.Gas on Monday was running 19 cents higher than the price a month ago, though that was still 64 cents lower than a year ago when the price at the pump was $.38 a gallon.“Last month’s extreme heat played a role in the recent spike in gas prices due to some refineries pulling back, but now operations are getting back to normal,” said Mark Schieldrop, Public Affairs Specialist for AAA Northeast. “Coupled with tepid demand and oil prices trending somewhat lower, this may help take the steam out of the tight supply price jolts we’ve seen lately.”Gas in Massachusetts is running lower than the national average, which hit $3.82 in AAA’s most recent survey.Simon & Schuster sold to private equity firmSimon & Schuster has been sold to the private equity firm KKR, months after a fe...

Birds of prey grab breakfast in Falmouth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

With piercing chirps, two ospreys circled high in the sky and then dove for their breakfast.It was a majestic air show on Great Pond in Falmouth that stopped joggers mid-stride.“What a sight!” one runner declared as one raptor hit the surface of the water in a splash that sounded as if a kid was diving in for a morning dip.The sleek bird, a member of the hawk clan, powered up its wings towing a heavy fish in its talons as it headed for home.Photographer John McCosh of South Boston captured it all from a small dock Monday. Osprey, he said, are our summer neighbors who return to South America in September. It’s a nearly 3,000-mile trek with stops along the way. For now, they are enjoying their Cape escape.An Osprey, a member of the raptor family, claims its hard-earned breakfast in Great Pond in Falmouth Monday. (John McCosh/LightFlex Studios)The osprey peers at onlookers admiring its fishing prowess in Falmouth’s Great Pond. (John McCosh/LightFlex Studios)The ...

Indiana teacher with ‘kill list’ of students, staff sentenced to 2½ years on probation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A former fifth-grade teacher in northwestern Indiana who was charged with felony intimidation after authorities say she told a student she had a “kill list” of students and staff has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years on probation.Angelica Carrasquillo, 25, of Griffith pleaded guilty Friday to an intimidation charge in Lake County Superior Court, court records show.The terms of a plea bargain bar Carrasquillo from working at a school or daycare while on probation. It also requires court-monitored mental health treatment, and she is barred from contacting victims in the case, news outlets reported.If she successfully completes probation, she can petition to reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor, under terms of the plea bargain.Court documents say Carrasquillo communicated “a threat to commit murder” on Oct. 12.Once officials at the school where she was employed, St. Stanislaus in East Chicago, learned of the threat, they immediately confronted her and escorted he...

Father of missing girl Harmony Montgomery insists he didn’t kill his daughter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

A New Hampshire father proclaimed his innocence in the murder of Harmony Montgomery, his 5-year-old daughter who vanished in 2019 after he was awarded custody and is presumed dead.Adam Montgomery, 33, spoke before being sentenced Monday on unrelated gun charges. Harmony was reported missing in November 2021, nearly two years after investigators say her father killed her. The body has not been found, but Harmony’s stepmother has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.Dressed in an orange prisoner jumpsuit, Montgomery acknowledged that a jury had found him guilty of possessing weapons despite his previous felony convictions. But he asked the judge not to consider his daughter’s murder case when sentencing him.“I did not kill my daughter Harmony and I look forward to my upcoming trial to refute those offensive claims,” he said, acknowledging that he was an addict and would use his time in prison to “change things about myself”“I could have had a meaningful life but I blew tha...

Tory Lanez’s father pleads for mercy at rapper’s sentencing for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Tory Lanez ‘s father grew emotional in court as he described his son losing his mother at age 11 as a judge prepares to sentence Lanez on Monday for shooting and wounding hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet.Los Angeles prosecutors are asking a judge to hand down a 13-year sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.His father Sonstar Peterson, a Christian minister, choked back tears as he talked about his wife, Luella, dying just a few days after showing the first symptoms of a rare blood disorder that would lead to his death. “I don’t think anybody ever gets over that,” Sonstar Peterson said about the reaction of their youngest child, Lanez. “But his music became his outlet.” The elder Peterson was one of several people who gave statements on Lanez’s character and charitable giving. Dozens more wrote letters to Judge David Herriford, including the mother of Lanez’s young son, who spoke of his qua...

Boeing’s 1st astronaut flight bumped into next year, more repairs needed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Already running years behind, Boeing’s first astronaut flight is now off until at least next March. Problems with the parachute lines and flammable tape surfaced during final reviews in late spring, ahead of what should have been a July launch for the Starliner capsule. Boeing said Monday that it should be done removing the tape in the coming weeks. But a redesigned parachute system won’t be ready until December. If a parachute drop test goes well late this year, company officials said the spacecraft should be ready to carry two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as early as March. Starliner’s first crew flight will need to fit around other space station traffic, however, so it’s too early to set even a tentative date, according to officials. To ensure there are no other problems, NASA and Boeing are conducting independent reviews.Boeing program manager Mark Nappi said technicians are almost halfway done peeling off flammable tape that was...

Judge says man charged with killing 3 in suburban Boston mentally incompetent for trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — A man charged in connection with the triple homicide of a couple marking their 50th wedding anniversary and the woman’s 97-year-old mother in suburban Boston was found by a judge on Monday to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.During a hearing in Newton District Court, the judge ordered Christopher Ferguson, 41, of Newton, to remain at Bridgwater State Hospital, a state psychiatric facility for people who have either been convicted of or are awaiting trial on criminal charges.Prosecutors said at the hearing that the state couldn’t show that Ferguson was competent to stand trial “as of today.”“Based on that information, I will make a finding today that the defendant today is not competent,” Judge Jennifer Queally ruled.Ferguson is charged in connection with the killings of Gilda D’Amore, 73, Bruno D’Amore, 74, and Lucia Arpino, who were found dead on June 25 at a home in Newton after the couple failed to show up at Our Lady Help of Christians Chur...

DC area braces for destructive evening storms, hail and tornadoes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of federal employees were sent home early Monday as the Washington area faced a looming forecast for destructively strong storms, including tornadoes, hail and lightning.The Office of Personnel Management announced Monday that all non-emergency employees would have to depart before 3 p.m., when all federal offices would close. This rare step comes ahead of an impending storm that meteorologists have predicted could be unusually destructive. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m., as well as a flood warning extending through Tuesday morning. A special Weather Service statement warned, “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”The White House pushed up by 90 minutes President Joe Biden’s departure on a four-day trip that’s taking him to Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Th...

Simon & Schuster purchased by private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Simon & Schuster has been sold to the private equity firm KKR, months after a federal judge blocked its purchase by rival publisher Penguin Random House because of concerns that competition would shrink in the book market. The private equity giant will buy Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion in cash, said Paramount Global, the parent company of the storied book publisher. Simon & Schuster, where authors include Stephen King, Colleen Hoover and Bob Woodward, is one of the so-called “Big Five” of New York publishing, with others including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins Publishing, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan. HarperCollins, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, had reportedly been interested in buying Simon & Schuster. “All of the executives at Simon & Schuster who met with KKR came away from those conversations impressed with the depth of KKR’s interest in our business and their commitment to helping us grow, thrive and become an even...

Appeals court upholds Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sex abuse images

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:22 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sexual abuse images, rejecting the former reality television star’s argument that a judge should have suppressed statements he made to investigators during the search that found the images.A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal by Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” Duggar was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 12 1/2-year prison sentence.Federal authorities investigated Duggar after Little Rock police detective found child sexual abuse material was being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.Duggar’s attorneys argued that statements he made to investigators during the search of the dealership should not have...