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Traffic exhaust could increase blood pressure, study finds

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

David Kroman | The Seattle Times (TNS)SEATTLE — Even brief exposure to highway pollution could cause significant increases in blood pressure, a new study from the University of Washington has found, adding to a growing body of work correlating vehicle exhaust with negative health outcomes.The effects are near immediate: Two hours in Seattle’s rush hour was enough to increase blood pressure by nearly 5 millimeters of mercury, a jump that would push someone with normal levels to elevated or from elevated levels to stage 1 hypertension.The peer-reviewed study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted by a team at the UW, led by Dr. Joel Kaufman, a university physician and professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. The increase, he said, was about what you’d expect to see in someone who switched from a low-salt to high-salt diet.“It’s a real interesting, important number that if you think of millions of people having this exposure every day, that’s m...

Procedural war over controversial budget bill continues Friday on Beacon Hill

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

A procedural war over a budget bill that includes critical funding for union contracts and the state’s ability to respond to an influx of migrants continued Friday as Massachusetts Republicans pledged to keep up their blockade.Democratic leadership in the House and Senate released a compromise version of a nearly $3.1 billion supplemental budget Thursday that included $250 million for Massachusetts’ struggling shelter system and nearly $400 million for 95 union contracts.But Republicans, who had voiced concerns with the shelter aid for weeks, blocked the advancing agreement after attempting to move consideration of the bill from an informal session — where any one lawmaker can object to a proposal — to a formal session, where legislators can debate and take recorded votes.After a private meeting Friday afternoon with other House Republicans, House Minority Leader Brad Jones said he believed minority party members would continue to object to the supplemental budget if Dem...

What happened to mortgage rates this week? There’s room ‘to fall further’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

Jeff Ostrowski | Bankrate.com (TNS)The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages retreated to 7.41% this week, down from 7.55% the previous week, according to Bankrate’s weekly national survey of large lenders.The recent reprieve could signal a prolonged drop in mortgage rates, housing economists say. The average rate on 30-year home loans in October topped 8%, but that’s changing because of a number of factors, including a slowing job market and signs that the Federal Reserve’s ongoing war on inflation is working.“Part of it is the Federal Reserve is pausing on interest rate hikes,” says Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, a real estate listing service in the Mid-Atlantic region. “Of course, mortgage rates are affected by things other than what the Fed does. For example, mortgage applications are down, and lenders are competing for a shrinking pool of applicants.”Meanwhile, yields on 10-year Treasury bonds, an informal benchmark for 30-year mortgage rates, have dropped fr...

Source: Boston Police union, city reach tentative 5-year contract deal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

The city has reached a deal with the largest union representing the Boston Police Department, the Herald has learned.The city and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association have reached a breakthrough 5-year tentative contract deal that is pending ratification by the union members, according to a source familiar with the matter.The union was not immediately available for comment or to provide further details. The mayor’s office would not immediately confirm whether a release with information was coming today.The basics of the deal include changes to arbitration rules, the detail system that has been under fire in recent months and “union retention time.”This is a developing story.

Aria Mazza, ‘dragged’ to NBA games for brother’s violin performances, is proving instrumental for Benet

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

Benet junior Aria Mazza has been playing basketball for about eight years.It all started because of her older brother’s violin.Giovanni Mazza, 18, is an elite violinist who has played during dozens of NBA games since he was discovered during a Chicago Bulls youth talent search in 2015.“I’ve got to go to all these games, and that’s kind of how I got into basketball,” Aria Mazza said. “Just being dragged to every NBA game, I started watching the games, and I started to love the game.”Mazza is beginning to make music of a different kind in her first season with the Redwings (4-2) after transferring.The 5-foot-7 guard started at Conant last season but is usually the first or second player off the bench for Benet.“During middle school, I wanted to come here, but COVID kind of changed the plans up,” Mazza said. “Now that I’m here, it’s a little more competitive in practices, but I think it’s really helped me, an...

New US rules, aimed at curbing China, could make it harder for EV buyers to claim a full tax credit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

By MATTHEW DALY (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans could have a harder time finding electric vehicles that qualify for a full $7,500 federal tax credit under new rules proposed Friday that are likely to hinder President Joe Biden’s goal that half of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. run on electricity by 2030.Plans outlined by the departments of Treasury and Energy would limit EV buyers from claiming the full tax credit if they purchase cars containing battery materials from China and other countries that are considered hostile to the United States. The new rules, required under Biden’s signature climate law approved last year, are likely to slow consumer acceptance of electric vehicles just as Biden is trying to ramp up sales to help meet his goal to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. EV sales have tripled since Biden took office, but the U.S. still depends on foreign sources, especially China, for many of critical minera...

Dead longhorn found on Oklahoma State fraternity lawn the day before championship game with Texas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

Police say a dead longhorn cow was found on the lawn of an Oklahoma State University fraternity on Friday, the day before the school’s football team plays the University of Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 championship game.Police were notified just after 6:30 a.m. of the dead animal on the lawn of Farmhouse fraternity, according to Stillwater police Officer TJ Low.The carcass had an expletive carved into its side and the stomach was cut open, according to the campus newspaper, The O’Colly.“It’s a very cruel crime to be committed, especially right before the Big 12 Championship,” Low told The Oklahoman. “Nothing is worth doing that kind of crap.”A representative for the fraternity, which was founded in 1905 by agriculture students, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.Oklahoma State University said in a statement that it “is appalled at the disturbing display of animal cruelty … at an off-campus location near a fraternity house.”The university sai...

New York’s College of Saint Rose will close in May 2024 amid financial woes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The College of Saint Rose, a century-old Roman Catholic College in Albany, New York, will close in May 2024 after years of financial struggles, college officials announced Friday.“It is with a heavy heart that the Board decided to close the college at the end of this academic year,” Jeffrey D. Stone, chair of the college’s board of trustees, which voted to close the school on Thursday, said in a statement. “The Board determined that the College does not have the financial resources to operate for the full 2024-2025 academic year and therefore cannot remain a standalone institution.”Stone added, “We are devastated that despite all our efforts we were unable to avoid closure. Our goal now is to ease the transition for our students, faculty, and staff.”The college will help students either graduate in May or continue their studies elsewhere, officials said, and the human resources department will assist faculty, administrators and staff in their job se...

More than 30 people are trapped under rubble after collapse at a mine in Zambia, minister says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — More than 30 people are trapped under rubble at an open-pit mine in Zambia after part of a waste pile was thought to have collapsed on them, a government minister said on Friday.Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu said in Parliament that the collapse happened in the city of Chingola, in Zambia’s copperbelt, about 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of the capital, Lusaka.“May I just inform the nation that we have a tragedy that is brewing in Chingola, where a number of our people have been affected by a collapse of the open pit,” Mwiimbu said. “We have more than 30 people under the rubble and we are struggling to retrieve them.”He said rescue teams were at the site.Mines and Minerals Development Minister Paul Kabuswe was also at the scene and said no one had yet been found and it wasn’t clear exactly how many people were trapped under the rubble.Informal artisanal mining is common in Chingola, although the ministers didn̵...

Kangaroo spotted running along Oshawa roadside: lost pet group

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:32 GMT

A lost pet search group has posted a video that appears to show a kangaroo running along an Oshawa street on Friday morning.The group, Team Chelsea, says the video was recorded at around 7:45 a.m. this morning on Winchester Road and was later posted to its site by one of its followers. The kangaroo can be seen running westbound on Winchester from Harmony Road.“If you see the kangaroo, do not approach it,” the group’s Facebook post states, adding that the animal has not been spotted since.According to the University of Melbourne, kangaroos can be dangerous, with potentially deadly kicking power.“Kangaroos are wild animals,” an article on the unversity’s website says.“It’s important to remember that while they can make interesting pets, they have never been domesticated, so their behaviour is driven mostly by instinct.“While a kangaroo’s first response is usually to flee, it will attack if feels cornered…”There’s no wor...