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Scratch ticket rebound lifts lottery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

Sales at the Massachusetts Lottery were up more than 20% in February, due in large part to a sizable bump in sales of a key product that Lottery officials have been concerned about in the last year.The Lottery sold $513.3 million worth of its products last month, an increase of $88.5 million or 20.8% over February 2022. Scratch tickets accounted for about 71% of February sales, or $363.8 million, up $82.3 million or just more than 29%, according to a report by Interim Executive Director Mark William Bracken.The month’s sales combined with a $23.9 million decrease in scratch ticket grand prizes paid out during the month to help the Lottery turn a monthly profit of $94.3 million, $23.5 million more than in February 2022. The Lottery also paid out a smaller percentage of its revenue in prizes last month, 74.72% compared to 76.26% in February 2022.Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and the Mass. Lottery have been closely watching scratch ticket and Keno sales for months because those two ...

Ticker: MassHealth dashboard planned; Consumer confidence ticks up in March

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

Beginning in May, MassHealth officials will begin publishing a public dashboard that will show where the people who are losing MassHealth coverage live, their demographics, and the reasons behind lost coverage.As pandemic coverage rules change, state officials are undergoing a redetermination process that the Healey administration believes will pull about 300,000 people off of MassHealth and force them to find health insurance coverage elsewhere.Consumer confidence ticks up in MarchConsumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines, even as persistent inflation, bank collapses and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households.The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from 103.4 in February. Optimism about current conditions fell, though consumers grew slightly more positive about the short-term future. That’s a reversal from recent surveys.The board said that despite the uptick in ...

Boston College guard Kyle Hergel powered up to play in the ACC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

Kyle Hergel is meticulously building himself into an ACC guard at an institution famous for placing them in the NFL.Hergel is one of the 14 players Boston College coach Jeff Hafley fished out of the NCAA transfer portal to bolster the program for the 2023 season.Hergel performed the duties of guard and center during the Eagles’ eighth spring football practice on Tuesday inside the Fish Field House. The session will conclude with the Jay McGillis Memorial spring football game on April 15 at Alumni Stadium.“He is playing center guard and we are moving guys around,” said Hafley. “He is a guy that has the ability play center and guard and I think that is good for his future.“He is in the mix for the guard spot but you have to have a back-up center. For Kyle’s own sake and looking at his own future, you must have some versatility. So, we are trying to teach him and train him to snap the ball.“I am glad he is here. He is one of the strongest guys on the team and he is tough. He brings and...

Man sought for sexually assaulting woman in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a man after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted when she exited a TTC bus in the city’s Annex neighbourhood last month.Investigators say that the incident happened in the early-morning hours on February 11, just before 4:30 a.m., in the Bathurst Street and Wells Street area.It’s alleged that the female victim, a 29-year-old woman, was travelling northbound on TTC bus route 307 from Bathurst Street and King Street West. A male suspect was on the same bus and would exit at the same stop as the woman.The man followed the woman on foot and sexually assaulted her. Police said the suspect left the area while possessing the woman’s cell phone, and the woman pursued the man. She was sexually assaulted a second time but was able to break free from the man and flee.Police updated their investigation and have identified the male suspect as 39-year-old Juan Carlos Montes Martinez of Toronto. He is wanted for sexual assault and extortion.He...

Russia convicts father of teen who drew antiwar picture

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday convicted a single father over social media posts critical of the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to two years in prison — a case brought against him after his daughter’s drawing at school opposed the invasion, according to his lawyer and activists.But Alexei Moskalyov fled house arrest before his verdict was delivered in his Russian hometown of Yefremov and is at large, court officials said. His 13-year-old daughter Maria, who has been taken from him by the authorities, wrote him a supportive letter for his trial from the orphanage where she is living, according to his lawyer, telling him, “Daddy, you’re my hero.”Moskalyov’s case has drawn international attention and was a grim reminder that the Kremlin is intensifying its crackdown on dissent, targeting more people and handing out harsher punishments for any criticism of the war. The broad government campaign of repression has been unseen since the Soviet era.Moskalyov, 54, was a...

Stocks mostly hold steady as Wall Street regains stability

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed Tuesday as Wall Street regains some stability at the tail end of what’s been a turmoil-filled month.The S&P 500 dipped 6.26 points, or 0.2%, to 3,971.27, though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 37.83, or 0.1,%, to 3,394.25, and the Nasdaq composite fell 52.76, or 0.4%, to 11,716.08. There was relative calm even in the bond market, which has been home to some of Wall Street’s wildest moves since fears flared about the banking system earlier this month. Yields were rising only modestly following their historic-sized moves in prior weeks. This month has been dominated by worries that banks around the world may be cracking under the pressure of much higher interest rates. But some calm has returned to the market recently after regulators made big moves to protect the system. That has much of Wall Street’s attention back on interest rates and what central banks will do next with them. The Fe...

Court backs victim’s family in Adnan Syed’s ‘Serial’ case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland appellate court on Tuesday reinstated Adnan Syed’s murder conviction and ordered a new hearing in the case, marking the latest development in the protracted legal odyssey chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial.”Though Syed’s conviction has been reinstated, he will not immediately be taken back into custody.In a 2-1 decision released Tuesday, the Appellate Court of Maryland ruled a lower court failed to give sufficient notice to the victim’s family when it scheduled the September hearing that vacated Syed’s conviction and allowed him to regain his freedom after more than two decades behind bars.The court’s order does not go into effect for 60 days.Maryland law provides victims with the right to prior notice of such hearings, and that right was violated in the case of Hae Min Lee’s brother, the appellate court ruled. Syed was convicted of killing Lee, his high school ex-girlfriend whose body was found in a makeshift grave after h...

AP sources: Judge rules Pence must testify before grand jury

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence will have to testify before a grand jury in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.That’s according to two people familiar with the decision, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because it remains under seal.The people said, however, that Pence would not have to answer questions about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building as Pence was presiding over a joint session of Congress to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. But he would have to testify about any potential illegal acts committed by the former president, one of the people said.Pence and his attorneys had cited constitutional grounds in challenging the grand jury’s subpoena. They argued that, because he was serving in his capacity as president of the S...

Nine police officers recently killed in Canada; here is a look at their deaths

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

A veteran Quebec provincial police officer was stabbed to death Monday night after she tried to arrest a suspect in Louiseville, Que., about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Sgt. Maureen Breau, who had two children, had more than 20 years of experience and was four days away from starting a new job as an investigator. The 35-year-old suspect, whose identity has not been released, was later shot and killed by other officers who arrived on the scene.At least eight other police officers have been killed in Canada since September 2022. Here’s a look at their cases and who they were.Const. Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30The Edmonton police officers were shot when they responded to a call about a family dispute at an apartment on March 16.A 16-year-old boy fired multiple shots at the officers as they approached the suite, and the officers didn’t have a chance to fire back. The teen then shot and wounded his mother during a struggle for the gun, and shot and k...

Budget 2023: Liberals follow through on big promises in deal with NDP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:49:20 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government has continued to fulfil its promises to the NDP within its second federal budget since the parties struck a confidence-and-supply agreement in March 2022.New Democrats have agreed to prop up the minority government on key votes, including budgets, until June 2025 in exchange for movement on shared priorities. Here are the key NDP-approved initiatives that were penned into the agreement and made it into this year’s budget: Dental care: More than $13 billion, including an initial $107 million in 2023-24, is earmarked over the next five years to create a new Canadian dental care plan. The measure aims to provide dental coverage for uninsured Canadians who have an annual family income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000. The new coverage is projected to begin by the end of the year and be administered by Health Canada. GST rebate: The federal government expects to spend nearly $2.5 billion this year on an affo...