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Surfside commission approves luxury condo plan at Champlain Towers collapse site

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

The Surfside commission voted 3-1 in favor of approving a luxury condo site plan for the location once occupied by the ill-fated Champlain Towers South. The contentious meeting saw intense exchanges between Commissioner Nelly Velasquez and Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, who has been accused of voicing racially insensitive comments towards Velasquez. After Mayor Danzinger adjourned the meeting, Commissioner Velasquez continued to voice her opinion. “I’d like to speak before we adjourn,” she stated. Before she could finish her sentence, Mayor Danzinger continued with a vote. “You see this?” Commissioner Velazquez exclaimed. “He wants to make a motion to adjourn so I can’t make another motion to change. You see this?” Emotions ran high as former and current commissioners, Surfside residents, and the families of the victims turned out to protest the proposal. They gathered outside the chambers, voicing their concerns and demanding respec...

Former Methuen police chief, former officer indicted on fraud, other charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

Former Methuen Chief of Police Joseph Solomon and former Methuen police officer Sean Fountain have been indicted on several charges including fraud, officials said Thursday. The Essex County District Attorney’s office and the state Attorney General’s office announced indictments Thursday afternoon.The DA’s office in a statement said the charges are “related to fraud and corruption.” The indictments, in turn, come after a monthslong investigation that started in January after a review of “various reports from the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission and Office of the Inspector General’s Office outlining past serious misconduct by Methuen Police Department officials,” the DA’s office said.The AG’s office said charges against Solomon “arise from Solomon’s deployment of part-time intermittent officers into full-time positions in circumvention of the civil service laws and his subsequent efforts to deceive others into believing that part-time intermittent officer Sean Fountain had...

Two Sharon police officers fined thousands for entering exclusive suite at Pats game without tickets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

Two Sharon police officers have paid civil penalties for using their position to get into an exclusive suite at a New England Patriots game without tickets last year, officials announced.The State Ethics Commission announced Thursday that Officers John Avelar and Robert Awad paid $8,000 and $4,000 respectively for violating the state’s conflict of interest laws by their positions to obtain privileges and benefits.Avelar asked Award, who was working the security detail at the game on Dec. 1, 2022, to get him and his friend into the Gillette Stadium Putnam Club – a high-end indoor suite with tickets ranging from $6,000 to $10,000.Awad, who had been an officer for less than a year and was in his probationary period, met Avelar and his friend outside Gillette before escorting them to the club. Once in the club, security tried to remove Avelar and his friend. The State Ethics Commission said Awad said, “What’s wrong, don’t you like cops?” and, “Why don’t you trust me?” to the securi...

Former Methuen police chief indicted on 17 fraud counts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

The former police chief for Methuen, described as akin to a mafia “Don,” was indicted by a statewide grand jury on 17 fraud-related charges.A 203-page report, released March 27vand commissioned by Methuen, alleged that former Chief Joseph Solomon, which it described as running the department like a “‘Don’ of an organized crime family,” conspired to get Sean Fountain, an unqualified city council president, a police detective job that defrauded the city out of $400,000.“On 1 July 2016, Fountain was appointed an Intermittent Police Officer by the City of Methuen’s Police Chief Joseph Solomon. Fountain was the beneficiary of a level of preferential treatment that was so blatant that it was criminal,” the report states. “He was treated differently from the four intermittent officers hired when he was.”The offices of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Essex District Attorney Paul Tucker partnered to further investigate reports of “past serious misconduct ...

Sharon police officers fined for plan to get into Gillette Stadium suite without tickets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

A pair of Sharon police officers are paying up after the two tried to devise a plan that would have allowed one of them and a friend to enjoy a Patriots game at Gillette Stadium from a high-end suite without tickets.Officers John Avelar and Robert Awad have paid $8,000 and $4,000 civil penalties, respectively, for violating the conflict of interest law, as the two tried to sneak their way into the Putnam Club without tickets last December, according to the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission.Tickets to the Putnam Club, a suite where fans can watch the game from the indoors as well as exclusive outdoor seats, and enjoy upscale food and drinks, range from $6,000-to-$10,000 per season and are only available to the general public as part of season ticket packages.But officials say Avelar tried to ignore that by seeking assistance from Awad who had been scheduled to work security detail at the Dec. 1 game against the Bills.Several weeks before that Thursday night tilt, Avelar contacted...

Trump won’t try to move Georgia case to federal court after judge rejected similar bid by Meadows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

By KATE BRUMBACK and JEFF AMY (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will not seek to get his Georgia election interference case transferred to state court, his attorneys said in a filing Thursday, three weeks after a judge rejected a similar attempt by the former president’s White House chief of staff.The notice filed in federal court in Atlanta follows a Sept. 8 decision from U.S. District Judge Steve Jones that chief of staff Mark Meadows “has not met even the ‘quite low’ threshold” to move his case to federal court, saying the actions outlined in the indictment were not taken as part of Meadows’ role as a federal official. Meadows is appealing that ruling.Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including an alleged violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He was indicted last month along with Meadows and 17 others.The notice, fi...

Will Grier: Patriots ‘didn’t interrogate me’ about Cowboys

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

FOXBORO — Contrary to Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s insinuation, the Patriots did not hold a light over quarterback Will Grier’s head and grill him about his time in Dallas’ offense this week.Schottenheimer said his team would change hand signals this week out of fear that Grier and running back Ezekiel Elliott — both ex-Cowboys — would be “interrogated” by Patriots coaches.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots offseason approach with Matt Judon paying off New England Patriots | Patriots-Cowboys injury report: Dallas gets healthier, 5 Patriots remain limited Thursday New England Patriots | Patriots look healthy before Cowboys game — with one exception New England Patriots | Patriots rookie Christian Gonzalez recognized for stellar start to career New England Patriots | How JuJu Smith-Schuster feels about role on Patriots through ...

Cardin eyes changes on Egypt, Turkey and around the world as he takes powerful Senate foreign post

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pointed Thursday to possible policy shifts affecting Egypt, Turkey, the war in Ukraine and other issues around the globe as he took over the powerful leadership of the panel, replacing indicted Sen. Bob Menendez.Sen. Ben Cardin, a veteran Maryland Democrat, will have an abbreviated term leading the committee because his term expires in January 2025 and he is not seeking reelection. He described him unexpectedly inheriting the chairmanship, with its power to help shape how the United States approaches the rest of the world, as a “pinch yourself” moment.Cardin spoke to reporters under the chandelier and vaulted ceiling of the historic 19th-century committee room on his first full day on the job. Menendez was indicted on Sept. 22 on charges he and his wife, Nadine, accepted bribes including cash and gold bars in transactions that included using his position as committee chairman to influence some U.S. policy d...

Officers kill man who killed a police dog and wounded two people in South Carolina

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A man who shot two people, including a sheriff’s deputy, along the South Carolina coast was killed by officers after he fatally wounded a police dog, authorities said.The dog, named Rico, was sent into a home on Johns Island, west of Charleston, Thursday afternoon to search for Ernest Robert Burbage III in places a robot couldn’t reach, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said. After killing the dog, he came out of the home and pointed the same high-powered rifle at officers, who shot and killed him, authorities said, ending the daylong ordeal.Law enforcement had been looking for Burbage since he randomly fired at a car on the island on Wednesday, authorities said. After shooting at the vehicle, Burbage fired on members of a SWAT team as they got out of an armored vehicle late Wednesday, and one of the shots struck the deputy driving the vehicle in the head, Sheriff Kristin Graziano said.Charleston County Master Deputy James Gilbreath...

Authorities in Maui will open more of the burn zone to visits by residents next week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:26 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Authorities in Maui are opening more of the burn zone from last month’s devastating wildfire for visits by residents and property owners who lost homes.Early this week, officials began permitting those who lived in a small section in the north end of Lahaina to return for the first time since the Aug. 8 wildfire demolished the historic coastal town. Next Monday and Tuesday, residents of three more streets in that area will be allowed back, Maui County said in a news release Thursday.The wildfire killed at least 97 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes. It first erupted in the morning when strong winds appeared to cause a Hawaiian Electric power line to fall, igniting dry brush and grass. The fire was initially declared contained, but one flared up again in the same area around 3 p.m. and raced through the town.Lawmakers probing the cause of the wildfire did not ge...