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Record $100M gift to Brigham and Women’s Hospital to be used for immunology, inflammation research

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital plans to use a $100 million gift to establish a new institute to study immunology and inflammation, hospital officials announced Wednesday.The gift from biotechnology entrepreneur Gene Lay, though his Laygend Foundation, is the largest in the history of the hospital, which traces its roots to 1832.Lay, the founder and CEO of San Diego-based BioLegend Inc., said he has always been fascinated by the immune system’s ability to heal the body.“With this gift, I am bringing together the best scientific minds I know to translate research discoveries into therapies for immune-mediated diseases rooted in chronic inflammation,” he said.The Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation’s primary areas of research will include basic understanding of immune-mediated diseases, aging and cancer, with the goal of developing new immunotherapies, the hospital said.Dr. Vijay Kuchroo, an immunologist and principal investigator at...

Authorities recover body of missing Massachusetts man from Bow Lake in Strafford, NH

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

The body of a man from Plymouth, Mass., was recovered in New Hampshire a day after authorities said he was reported missing.Officials with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Law Enforcement Division said a dive team located the body of Allan Schuh around 10 a.m. on Tuesday while searching Bow Lake in Strafford.According to authorities, Schuh had been reported missing the day before by his wife after he did not return home from fishing.A search operation was launched soon afterwards on Monday and went on until late at night, before being called off until the following morning.“The cause of the accident is under investigation, unfortunately Schuh was not wearing a life jacket,” the agency said in a statement. “New Hampshire Fish and Game and Marine Patrol would like to remind all boaters that water temperatures are still cold and state law requires each boater to have a wearable life jacket with them whenever recreating on New Hampshire’s waterbodies.”A...

Connecticut seeks to rein in high TCH marijuana products

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — After discovering cannabis products are being sold in convenience and CBD stores across Connecticut with higher levels of THC than regulated dispensaries, legislators moved Tuesday to impose new restrictions on the amount of marijuana’s main intoxicating component in these products.The bipartisan legislation, which cleared the state House on a nearly unanimous vote, marks the first major update of the state’s fledgling recreational marijuana program that kicked off in January.“All we’re trying to do is make sure that any products that are sold with a significant amount of THC in Connecticut are sold in our regulated marketplace through the dispensaries, where there’s labeling requirements, there’s per package requirements, there’s per container requirements,” said Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, who held out a handful of large, colorful THC gummies that were being sold legally at an unregulated store due to a “loophole” in federal law concerning CBD...

Prince Harry’s lawyer says British tabloid spied on ‘industrial scale’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

By BRIAN MELLEY (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — The British publisher of the Daily Mirror apologized for one instance of snooping on Prince Harry, but denied his other claims as his first phone hacking trial began Wednesday with his lawyer accusing the newspaper of unlawfully gathering information on “an industrial scale.”While the admission that the publisher employed a private investigator for a 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” may have marked a tiny victory for the Duke of Sussex, the story in question wasn’t one of the nearly 150 that Harry alleges were the result of skulduggery.The seven-week trial that opened in London is Harry’s biggest test yet in his legal battle against the British media. He and three others, including two soap opera actors, are suing Mirror Group Newspapers for alleged misuse of private information between 1991 and 2011.Harry wasn’t in court as his attorney, David Sherborne, began his opening statement, saying unlawful acts were “wides...

Yankees Notebook: Deivi Garcia makes MLB return as a reliever

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

Deivi Garcia was a starter the last time he pitched in the majors in 2021. His next big league outing will come as a reliever.The Yankees recalled the former consensus top-100 prospect on Wednesday morning, adding a fresh arm to their bullpen after demoting Greg Weissert following a rough Tuesday night. Garcia, part of a 40-man roster that didn’t offer many other options, had a 4.50 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and a career-worst 7.2 BB/9 over 10 games and 20 innings at Triple-A, where he’s transitioned into a multi-inning reliever following a few difficult seasons as a minor league starter.“We’ve seen, over the last couple of years, his stuff fluctuate to where it was really down, to back up,” Aaron Boone said of the 23-year-old righty. “For the most part, really since the start of spring, his stuff has been good. Hopefully, this role kind of lends itself to that.”Garcia threw the ball well in relief during spring training, recording a 1.93 ERA and 10 stri...

USCG launches search and rescue efforts for downed aircraft near San Clemente Island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- A search and rescue operation has been launched by U.S. Coast Guard Air Station San Diego after reports of a downed aircraft near San Clemente Island, officials said.In a tweet at 8:51 a.m. Wednesday, USCG Southern California said an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew is searching for three people who were onboard an aircraft that they say went down about one mile southwest of San Clemente Island.This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.

Egyptian TV station announces Gaza cease-fire, but Israeli-Palestinian fighting persists

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Wednesday, while Israel pressed ahead with a series of airstrikes that have killed 21 Palestinians, including three senior militants and at least 10 civilians.As the fighting continued, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt had brokered a cease-fire. But shortly after the announcement, more rockets were fired toward Israel, raising questions about if or when a truce would take effect.The rocket fire set off air-raid sirens throughout southern Israel and as far away as Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean Sea, 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. Residents had been bracing for an attack since Israel launched its first airstrikes early Tuesday.It was the heaviest fighting between the sides in months, pushing the region closer toward a full-blown war. But in signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targ...

George Santos charged with fraud, including stealing from campaign to buy designer clothes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, has been indicted on charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve, prosecutors said Wednesday.The indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit that prosecutors say overlapped with Santos’ fantastical public image as a wealthy businessman — a fictional biography that began to unravel after he won election last fall.Santos surrendered on Wednesday and was taken to a federal courthouse on Long Island, where he was expected to make an initial court appearance on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress.Among the allegations, prosecutors say Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campai...

Federally regulated workplaces will soon provide menstrual products for free

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

Federally regulated workplaces are expected to begin offering free menstrual products to workers starting in mid-December.Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan has announced changes to the Canada Labour Code that would ensure access to such products beginning Dec. 15.The Liberals promised in their 2021 election campaign to make free tampons and pads available in federally regulated workplaces, and set up a fund to make menstrual products available to vulnerable people.The 2022 federal budget allocated $25 million to establish a national pilot for the menstrual equity fund, which aims to help make menstrual products available to people who may have challenges affording them.Increased awareness of “period poverty” — a term used to describe financial barriers to accessing menstrual products — has led various jurisdictions to make menstrual products more widely available.Scotland passed a law last year to make menstrual products free for anyone who needs them.

4 arrested in North Macedonia after cocaine bust in Greece

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:58 GMT

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Four people have been arrested in North Macedonia, police said Wednesday, following cooperation with Greek authorities over a cocaine shipment seized in neighboring Greece a day earlier.A total of 14 people have now been detained in both countries as a result of Tuesday’s operation in Greece’s northern port city of Thessaloniki, where Greek officers confiscated 105 kilograms (230 pounds) of cocaine.The drugs from South America had been brought to Thessaloniki on a cargo ship, and were hidden in hollow external sections of shipping containers that held a consignment of bananas from Ecuador.North Macedonia’s police said in a statement that they arrested two men and a woman Tuesday, and a third man Wednesday as he was allegedly trying to cross the border from Greece. All four were nationals of North Macedonia, and are suspected of belonging to an international organized crime ring, the statement said.It added that the drug shipment was ordered...