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UMass financial aid rises to $395M

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

UMass’s financial aid continued a rising trend this academic year, the university reported Tuesday, increasing to $395 million.“Keeping a UMass education world-class and affordable is our highest priority,” said UMass President Marty Meehan in a release, calling that the university’s “primary mission.”The financial aid from the institution — as opposed to state or federal grants or loans — rose $22 million between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, UMass reported. The $395 million includes grants from university sources and reductions of the “sticker price” for students. Over the last decade, the total has risen $185 million.The average cost at one of the five UMass campuses ranges between $30,000 and $32,000 as of the 2022-23 school year.According to College Board statistics, grants from colleges across the country increased about 50% in the last decade up to 2021 and most dramatically for private four-year colleges. On...

Several Massachusetts elementary school students hospitalized after eating pepper gum

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

Several elementary school students in Orange were brought to the hospital on Tuesday after they ate a pepper gum product that burned their mouth and esophagus, according to officials.Some kids that didn’t eat the gum suffered eye irritation because they rubbed their eyes after touching the gum.A total of six children from Dexter Park School were transported to the hospital by ambulances, while other students were transported to the hospital by their parents. Several other kids were evaluated by paramedics at the school.A student had purchased the gum online, and offered the gum to classmates during recess.“The product contained levels of pepper, which, when some students ingested it, caused digestive issues, including burning in the mouth and esophagus,” Orange Superintendent Elizabeth Teahan-Zielinski wrote to the school community.“Additionally, students who accepted the product but did not ingest it suffered immediate skin reactions, including eye irritatio...

Boston joins ‘violence reduction’ program amid rising homicides

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

City and law enforcement officials are clamping down on gun violence in Boston, where homicides are occurring at twice the rate they did last year.Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox announced Tuesday that Boston was selected for a new “Violence Reduction Center Cohort,” a weeklong training program for law enforcement, community leaders and service providers that aims to reduce gun-driven homicides in cities.Despite the need for such a program, buoyed by statistics from the Boston Police Department that show 11 homicides have been committed this year, far outpacing the five that occurred by this time last year, Wu insisted that the Hub is still “one of the safest large cities in the country.”“But I am here to emphasize that historic lows are not good enough when it comes to public safety incidents,” Wu said at a press conference in the Tobin Community Center in Roxbury, which followed the first sessions of a multi-day workshop that concludes on Friday.“We are commi...

Yankee right-hander Hamilton’s hybrid pitch the result of teenage tinkering

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

Aaron Boone created some confusion Monday when discussing Ian Hamilton’s arsenal.The right-hander, who joined the Yankees’ roster and made his pinstriped debut Monday, throws a slider-circle change hybrid with a grip that resembles the latter. Boone and the team call the pitch a “slambio,” which required an explanation. It turns out the moniker stems from the Spanish word for “change,” which is “cambiar.”Following his first appearance with the Yankees, when Hamilton allowed three hits but struck out two over 1.2 scoreless inning, the reliever said that he’s been throwing the pitch since high school. In a follow-up with the Daily News, Hamilton said that he used to practice the offering by throwing it at a tree in his backyard.“If it was missing the tree, I knew it was decent,” Hamilton said.A non-roster invitee, Hamilton used the pitch to twirl nine scoreless frames during spring training and crack the Yankees’ ...

Red Sox notebook: Revamped bullpen has been good as advertised early

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

The Red Sox starting rotation has not gotten off to a good start. Entering Tuesday, three of the club’s first four starters had given up five runs or more and put the team in huge early holes.One silver lining? The new-look Red Sox bullpen has mostly been good as advertised.Outside of an Opening Day hiccup, the bullpen has done well keeping the Red Sox in games. The group played an instrumental role in both weekend wins over Baltimore, and even though the Red Sox couldn’t complete the comeback on Monday, the bullpen still shut Pittsburgh down and made sure it remained a one or two-run game.Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen, the group’s veteran leader and one of baseball’s most decorated closers, said it was important they set the tone early when things are still getting settled.“Once our starting rotation figures it out, which they will, they’re going to have our back most of the time,” Jansen said. “It’s early in the season right now, we’ve got to set the tone. When you take pressure of...

Magic Mushrooms, MDMA would be legalized under Republican’s plan

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

A former law enforcement officer turned Republican state representative has offered three pieces of legislation that would see a broad range of psychedelic drugs made legal for adult use.Mushrooms, as they’re usually referred to, could help those suffering from mental health issues, said state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga.“People are suffering from debilitating mental health issues such as PTSD, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, and depression. These psychedelic compounds and plant medicines are offering hope and healing to those that were once hopeless,” state Boldyga added.According to the Southwick Republican, who calls himself “widely regarded as the most conservative member of the Massachusetts Legislature,” the so-called war on drugs has led to “disastrous consequences” and prevented society benefiting from what prevailing research has demonstrated are medicinally useful substances.“Plant medicines have been used for thousands of years by various cultures around the world,...

Eye of the storm

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

It was a wild day in Manhattan. When isn’t it? Here’s proof as former President Donald Trump was arraigned.Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on in New York City. Trump was arraigned during his first court appearance today following an indictment by a grand jury that heard evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. With the indictment, Trump becomes the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense. (Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (C) arrives at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in New York City, on April 4, 2023. – Donald Trump will make an unprecedented appearance before a New York judge to answer criminal charges that threaten to throw the 2024 White House race into turmoil. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)Supporters of ...

Funeral held for custodian killed in Nashville attack

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian who was among the six people killed in last week’s attack at a Nashville elementary school, was remembered Tuesday for his loving nature, his culinary skills and his faith.Hundreds of friends and family members turned out for Hill’s funeral at Stephens Valley Church, where pastor Jim Bachmann said the hearts of the congregation were aching for the man they called “Big Mike.”“He was big, and he was strong, and he was tough,” Bachmann said. “But he was also soft and tender.”“He hugged my kids and he hugged your kids, and he knew them by name,” Bachmann said. “As the first victim — maybe this is a sentimental thought, but it’s a comfort to me to think that Mike was there to welcome the children through the pearly gates.”Hill was among the three adults and three 9-year-old students who were killed in the March 27 mass shooting at The Covenant School. Police shot and killed the 28-year-old former student w...

B.C. nurses contract aims to recruit, retain and increase nurse-to-patient ratio

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia will become the first Canadian province to adopt a nurse-to-patient ratio as part of its plan to improve workload standards in public health. The move is a key plank in the tentative contract reached between the province and the Nurses Bargaining Association last week.Health Minister Adrian Dix said Tuesday that setting a nurse-to-patient ratio is “the leading international practice” for retaining nurses and delivering quality health care. Dix said the government will also work with the B.C. Nurses’ Union on a “national and international” recruitment plan, backed by $750 million in new funding to support the higher nurse-to-patient ratio over the next three years.Premier David Eby said the new model will transform the way people are cared for and allow nurses to do what they do best. “They want to provide better, more people-focused services and that’s what this tentative agreement allows. It sends a strong messag...

Indigenous anti-mining activist found slain in Mexico

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:10 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An indigenous anti-mining activist has been killed in a dangerous part of western Mexico, authorities confirmed Tuesday.The killing of Eustacio Alcalá comes just over two months after two other community anti-mining activists disappeared near where Acalá’s body was found. It reinforced Mexico’s reputation as the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land defense activists, according to a report by the nongovernmental group Global Witness, which said Mexico saw 54 activists killed in 2021.Alcalá was found dead days after he disappeared while driving on a highway known for violent incidents.Alcalá had led a largely successful fight to prevent an iron ore mine from opening near his Nahua village of San Juan Huitzontla. Resident argued the proposed mine would pollute waterways and damage the environment.The village is near the townships of Aquila and Coalcoman in the western state of Michoacan. The area has been on the front line of drug cartel turf...