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More Than 400 Families On Emergency Shelter Waitlist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

More than 400 families are on the waitlist to access the state’s overburdened emergency shelter system, a top Healey administration official said Thursday, less than a week after the state abruptly opened a new overflow site in Cambridge.During a 90-minute virtual community meeting, city and state leaders candidly explained how they selected the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds building and began welcoming families, including migrants, last Friday with little public notice or engagement. About three-quarters of families stuck on the waitlist have been directed to temporary shelter and overnight arrangements.Officials have been scrambling to open temporary overflow sites since the shelter system hit Gov. Maura Healey’s 7,500-family capacity limit in November amid a surge of new arrivals, and each day brings about 10 additional families to Massachusetts, Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice said. When Secretary of State William Galvin offered up the east Cambridge pro...

The Chicago Bears have played 3 times on New Year’s Eve and 5 on New Year’s Day. Here’s how they’ve done since 1988.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

Fans at Soldier Field on Dec. 31, 1988, settled in to watch a divisional playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles in unexpected comfort.There was bright sunshine, little wind and temperatures heading for the 40s.Until, a sudden slap in the face.“A fog that rolled in from the lake late in the first half left the spectators to stare into a gray shroud from which the players would emerge with maddening infrequency,” Tribune reporter Phil Hersh wrote at the time.Few of the 65,534 spectators were able to see the final moments of the Bears’ 20-12 victory due to the thick haze.The “Fog Bowl” — which marked the first time the Bears ever played on New Year’s Eve — is now one of the franchise’s most memorable games.The Bears will play on Dec. 31 for the fourth time Sunday. They face the Atlanta Falcons at noon at Soldier Field.Here’s a look back at the results for each of the team’s previous year-ending or year-beginning ga...

Self-serve ramen restaurant coming to Mid-City, says San Diego celebrity chef

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego celebrity chef and Food Network star Lauren Lawless took to social media Thursday to announce a new concept for an eatery she said will open in Mid-City. Described as "the nation’s first-ever self-serve ramen restaurant," Lawless said she plans to open RAMEN WORLD next summer, though a specific address has yet to be disclosed. 25 Southern California restaurants added to Michelin Guide in 2023 For a little back history, instant ramen noodles were brought to fruition in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, an inventor and businessman who founded Nissin Food Products Co. According to Britannica, the idea came to Ando after the end of World War II during a time of food shortages in Japan. He sought to come up with a nutritious, inexpensive, and simple way to prepare ramen -- and that's when this noodle craze began. Fast-forward to present day, self-serve ramen restaurants can be found all over Japan as well as other Asian countries. Lawless now wants to bring that concept int...

Stock market today: Stocks drift on the final trading day of a surprisingly good year on Wall Street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting on the final trading day of a year of surprisingly robust gains for Wall Street. The benchmark S&P 500 index is sitting just below the all-time high Friday and is up 24.6% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit another record Thursday and is up more than 13% in 2023. The Nasdaq is up 44% for the year, driven by gains in big technology companies, including Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft. Treasury yields edged higher and crude oil prices rose.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.U.S. stock futures are little changed Friday as the market puts the wraps on a year of surprisingly robust gains.The benchmark S&P 500 index is just 0.3% from an all-time high after a gain of 24.6% in 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sits at a record 37,710.10. The Nasdaq shows a year-to-date gain of 44.2%, driven by gains in big technology companies.The so-called Magnificent 7 companies — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon...

Federal Liberals will announce ‘renewed’ housing plan in 2024, minister says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

OTTAWA — Housing Minister Sean Fraser says Canadians can expect to see a full plan from the federal government in 2024 that lays out how it will tackle the housing crisis. “We’re working to develop a plan that will pull together the measures we’ve announced and the next measures we will announce into a single place for Canadians to see the full renewed approach,” Fraser said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.The plan would build on the housing policies recently announced by the Liberals, which include eliminating GST charges on rental developments, increasing the amount of low-cost financing available to developers and launching consultations for a catalogue of pre-approved home blueprints that would speed up approvals for projects. The housing minister has also been travelling the country to sign agreements with municipalities as part of the housing accelerator fund, a program that offers federal dollars in exchange for changes to bylaws and re...

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon asks Canadians to commit to kindness in year-end message

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

OTTAWA — Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is calling on Canadians to commit themselves to kindness in her annual year-end message. The Governor General says the year 2023 presented challenges brought on by climate change and global conflict. But she says Canada also took “important strides in reconciliation” and marked new chapters in history. Simon alternates between speaking English, her native Inuktitut and French — which she is still learning — in her address.She says people are adapting to change in different ways, including with kindness. And she says that over the past year, she honoured people who turned challenges into opportunities.Their stories should serve as an example of the “Inuktitut word ajuinnata,” she says, which means “never giving up.” It’s the same word Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended his address to Parliament with back in September, saying Simon shared it with him when they met. Simon ends her new year’s addres...

Rescue mission underway at high-rise fire in Uptown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

CHICAGO — A rescue mission is underway to help get residents out of a high-rise fire in Uptown.The two-alarm fire has a heavy blaze located on the sixth floor of a building in the 1000 block of West Foster.Residents are at windows looking to get out and ladders are being raised, CFD said.Crews are currently on the floor of the fire.WGN News has a crew headed to the scene and will update this story once more information becomes available.

Man conducts armed robbery at Bolingbrook Best Buy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — A man conducted an armed robbery at a Best Buy in Bolingbrook Thursday.Officers responded to the store, located in the 300 block of North Weber Road, on the report of an armed robbery.Police learned the man presented several items to the cashier and then displayed a gun. The suspect, described as a Black man approximately 6' tall wearing all black and a face mask, fled with the items in a black sedan with no license plate.No injuries were reported and no one is in custody.Anyone with information can call police at 630-226-8620.

Early-morning crash on Dan Ryan Expressway involves several squad cars

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

CHICAGO — A crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway involving multiple squad cars early Friday morning resulted in two people, including a State Trooper, being transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.According to Illinois State Police, preliminary information indicates that an ISP squad car rear-ended a passenger vehicle in an Interstate 94 southbound lane near 95th St. in Cook County. Both vehicles became disabled in the lane of traffic.Another ISP squad car and a Chicago Police Department squad car activated their emergency lights and stopped behind the first crash to alert motorists. The trooper and the driver of the passenger vehicle were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, reports ISP.However, shortly after, ISP says a passenger vehicle failed to move over for the initial crash and emergency vehicles and struck the rear of the CPD squad car, pushing it forward into the rear of the assisting ISP squad car. The squad cars were unoccup...

Israeli-American woman killed in Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Joe Biden confirms an American-Israeli woman who had been thought to be held hostage by Hamas was instead killed in the October attack that triggered the war.President Biden says he's devastated after learning of the death of Judih Weinstein, a 70-year-old American-Canadian-Israeli woman who had been thought to be held hostage by Hamas.Her kibbutz announced Thursday she was instead killed in the October 7th attack that triggered the war.Weinstein's husband was also pronounced dead last week."We would love all of our loved ones to come back and be with us,” said Liz Naftali, great aunt of a former hostage.Families of American hostages have been meeting with President Biden who issued a statement saying families "have been living through hell for weeks. No family should have to endure such an ordeal."Protesters across the world continue to call for a new ceasefire deal to release the remaining hostages.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan...