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How Luis Alberto Urrea honors his mother’s WWII service in ‘Good Night, Irene’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

Luis Alberto Urrea is no stranger to historical fiction. The author earned rave reviews for his 2005 novel “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” which told the story of his great-aunt, Teresita Urrea, the legendary 19th-century curandera, or healer, and folk hero known as the “Saint of Cabora.” A sequel to the novel, called “Queen of America,” was published six years later; it followed Teresita fleeing Mexico for the U.S., where she meets a variety of Americans and immigrants near the turn of the 20th century.Urrea turned to his family history again for his latest novel, “Good Night, Irene,” published by Little, Brown on May 30. The book is inspired by his mother, Phyllis McLaughlin, who served in the Red Cross Clubmobile Service in World War II. The “Donut Dollies” followed American troops around Europe, driving trucks that offered the soldiers comfort in the form of hot coffee and freshly made treats.Related: Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more“Good Nigh...

When should social workers separate families? A federal lawsuit raises thorny questions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

By STEVE LeBLANC (Associated Press)BOSTON (AP) — When child welfare workers and police knocked on Sarah Perkins’ and Joshua Sabey’s front door well past midnight one weekend last summer, the parents were shocked to learn the state of Massachusetts had come to take their two young sons.It’s the kind of harrowing scene that plays out daily across the country as social workers motivated by a desire to protect children run up against confused and concerned parents.What followed was emotional anguish, a bureaucratic battle, vindication for the parents and a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a legal advocacy group. The couple hopes for a favorable ruling that will increase oversight of child removals nationwide.The children were taken in Massachusetts because of a child abuse report stemming from a hospital visit. On July 13, 2022, Perkins whisked their 3-month-old son Cal to an emergency room. He had a 103-degree fever.An X-ray checking for pneumonia found a rib fracture the couple had...

Belichick: Patriots ‘moved on’ after losing 2 workout days for NFL rules violation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

Patriots coach Bill Belichick says the team has moved on after losing two days of workouts for violating NFL offseason workout rules.“It’s in the past. We’ve moved on,” Belichick said Wednesday as his team resumed their optional offseason conditioning program.The team announced last week that a scheduled workout that was supposed to be open for reporters to attend had been canceled. Another workout originally slated for this week was also canceled.The violation reportedly was for holding a mandatory meeting that was required to be optional.“Had a good long weekend,” Belichick said when asked what effect the lost workout time had on the team. “The whole situation is in the past and we moved on.”Belichick confirmed the violations occurred over three days of Phase 2 of the nine-week program in which teams are allowed to conduct workouts on the field.The Patriots were originally allotted 13 days of workouts. They will now hold a total of 1...

Here’s how Jordan’s royal wedding will reverberate across the region and beyond

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

The Middle Eastern country of Jordan is set to host its biggest royal wedding in years on Thursday as the country’s young Crown Prince Hussein exchanges vows with Rajwa Alseif, daughter of one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest and most influential families.With a VIP list that includes First Lady Jill Biden, White House climate envoy John Kerry and members of several European and Asian royal families, the wedding is sure to provide plenty of fodder for tabloids and gossip columns.But the ceremony will reverberate across the region in other ways as well. It is a test of sorts for Jordan’s ruling family, which has gone through a rough patch in recent years due to economic troubles and some public infighting. It deepens the ties between two countries in a turbulent region. And perhaps most importantly, it will give the world its first glimpse of the man tapped to one day rule this desert kingdom.Longtime AP journalist Josef Federman has been covering the Middle East for two decades, and in ...

Justice Department should investigate beatings at Georgia jail, attorney says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — An attorney for two men whose beatings by guards were recorded by security cameras at a county jail in Georgia called Wednesday for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate what he called a systemic pattern of sheriff’s officers abusing detainees.“They are beating people indiscriminately inside this jail,” civil rights attorney Harry Daniels told reporters at a news conference outside the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, about 95 miles (152 kilometers) south of Savannah. Daniels represents Jarrett Hobbs, a 41-year-old Black man booked into the Camden County jail for a traffic violation and drug possession charges on Sept. 3. Security cameras recorded jailers rushing to Hobbs’ cell and repeatedly punching him before hurling him against a wall. On March 24, video from a camera in the jail’s lunchroom showed 23-year-old Zyaire Ratliff, a Black man detained for violating his probation and failing to appear in court, being shoved to the floor...

Alex Murdaugh pleads not guilty – for now – to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Alex Murdaugh was arraigned Wednesday on federal money laundering and wire fraud charges for indictments saying he stole money from his clients, and although he pleaded not guilty for now, his lawyer said that might change soon.Murdaugh is already serving a life sentence in a South Carolina state prison for killing his wife and son, and the details of the 22 financial charges aren’t new. State prosecutors have indicted Murdaugh on similar charges, saying he diverted money meant for clients and a wrongful death settlement for his family’s longtime housekeeper who fell at Murdaugh’s home to his own bank accounts.Murdaugh’s lawyers said in a statement last week the former attorney has been cooperating with federal investigators, and they anticipated the latest charges would be “quickly resolved without a trial.”A federal guilty plea to the charges that all carry at least 20 years in prison would guarantee a long time in prison for Murdaug...

Former Connecticut lawmaker gets 27 months in prison for stealing over $1 million in coronavirus aid

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former Connecticut state representative was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Wednesday for stealing more than $1.2 million from the city of West Haven — most of it in federal coronavirus-related aid — and using a good chunk of it to fuel his gambling addiction.“I stole that money. That is on me,” Michael DiMassa said as he apologized during sentencing before Judge Omar Williams in federal court in Hartford. “It’s hard to find the word to express how I feel. I feel ashamed, embarrassed, mortified.”The 32-year-old West Haven Democrat pleaded guilty in November to three counts of wire fraud conspiracy, admitting he, his wife and others billed the city for services never rendered.DiMassa could have gotten more than four years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. But the judge gave him credit for fully accepting responsibility, cooperating with investigators and testifying against a co-defendant. DiMassa — in dark gray suit, maroon shirt and bl...

Evacuation order issued for N.W.T. community as wildfire nears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

SAMBAA K’E, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES — The Northwest Territories government says a community near the Alberta boundary is under an evacuation order due to a nearby wildfire. N.W.T. fire says the 980-square-kilometre fire is now about 30 kilometres from Sambaa K’e, previously known as Trout Lake. About 97 people live in the community in the territory’s Dehcho region.An evacuation centre is being set up in Fort Simpson.Approximately 490 square kilometres of the wildfire, which spans across the boundary with Alberta, are burning in the territory. The territory says two crews and two helicopters are working to protect the community from the fire including with sprinklers and by widening the fire break. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2023. The Canadian Press

Committee will oversee changes recommended by inquiry into N.S. shooting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has appointed a retired appeals court justice to head a committee to oversee the changes recommended by the public inquiry into the April 2020 mass shootings in Nova Scotia. Linda Lee Oland will help the government to take a “hard look” at the 130 recommendations made by the Mass Casualty Commission, Mendicino said. “I’m going to keep a very open mind about what recommendations will be implemented,” he said. “I’m not striking out the possibility of excluding any of them, but I do think it is important to underline that we have already moved on a number of concrete recommendations.” The commission, which released its final report in March, found widespread failures in how the RCMP responded to the shootings and the way the force communicated with the public during and after the killings on April 18 and 19, 2020.A gunman dressed as an RCMP officer murdered 22 people, including a pregnant wo...

Man, 21, charged with murder in double homicide of Mississauga teens

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:08:52 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have charged a 21-year-old man with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two teenagers from Mississauga.Just before 3:00 a.m. on May 22, officers from the Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment responded to a residence on Mackay Street in Pembroke, Ont., where two male teenagers were discovered with critical injuries.OPP said the two victims were taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.The victims were identified as Noah Nathaniel Annis and Alando Omario Davidson, both 16, of Mississauga. A post-mortem determined they died from gunshot wounds, police noted.A third teenage victim, also 16 of Mississauga, was seriously injured. Investigators said the three victims were targeted.On Tuesday, police arrested 21-year-old Zacharie Robert Lamoureux of Ottawa. He’s facing two counts of first-degree murder and the attempt to commit murder using a firearm.OPP did not reveal whether the accused and the victims knew each other.An OPP spokesperson sai...