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BOSTON (AP) — The question of whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi can stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild was resolved Thursday when the Massachusetts governor stepped in to protect Nibi. The state issued a permit to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue for Nibi to remain at the rehabilitation facility and serve as an educational animal. "Nibi has captured the hearts of many of our residents, mine included," Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said Thursday. "We're excited to share that we have i...
The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread. College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and arrests nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy. Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony — Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned Dec. 9. Gay, Harvard's first Black president, announced her departure just mont...
BOSTON (AP) — In 1648, Margaret Jones, a midwife, became the first person in Massachusetts — the second in New England — to be executed for witchcraft, decades before the infamous Salem witch trials. Nearly four centuries later, the state and region are still working to come to grips with the scope of its witch trial legacy. The latest effort comes from a group dedicated to clearing the names of all those accused, arrested or indicted for witchcraft in Massachusetts, whether or not the accusations ended in hanging. The Massachusetts Witch-Hunt...
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency Tuesday, citing an influx of migrants seeking shelter at a time when the cost of housing — already in short supply — continues to rise. There are nearly 5,600 families or more than 20,000 people – many of whom are migrants -- currently living in state shelters, including infants, young children and pregnant women. That is up from around 3,100 families a year ago, about an 80% increase, Healey said. Many of the migrants are arriving by plane from other states. In the...
BOSTON (AP) — When U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss decided to deliver a speech on a bill that would create a U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence center, he opted to let the AI do the talking. The brief two-paragragh speech read by the Massachusetts Democrat on the floor of the U.S. House on Wednesday was generated by the online AI chatbot ChatGPT. His staff said they believe it's the first time an AI-written speech was read in Congress. Auchincloss said he prompted the system in part to "write 100 words to deliver on the floor of the House of R...
BOSTON (AP) — Officials from companies with fleets of trucks are urging governors across the country to embrace a rule meant to speed the adoption of zero-emission trucks and reduce a potent source of greenhouse gases spewed from the large commercial vehicles. In a letter released Friday, representatives of companies including IKEA, Nestle, Siemens, Etsy, eBay, Ben & Jerry's and Unilever joined with environmental activists and investors to call for the wide adoption of the Advanced Clean Trucks rule. Transportation is a leading cause of g...
BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for the federal government to confront the opioid addiction crisis like it ultimately attacked the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The Massachusetts Democrat said Friday that she will be unveiling legislation next week with Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, that would pump $100 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years to help communities battle the crisis that claims tens of thousands of lives each year. Warren said the goal is to make sure funding goes directly to the h...
BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is hoping to defuse an issue that has dogged her for years, her claims of Native American heritage, ahead of a possible run for president in 2020. Last month, Warren addressed the National Congress of American Indians, trying to cast her family's story in the larger context of challenges facing native peoples. The prominent Democrat has also met with tribal leaders, signed on to legislation supported by Native American activists, and called on Republican President Donald Trump to nominate a director f...
BOSTON (AP) — Members of Massachusetts' all-Democratic congressional delegation are faulting U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling for saying participants in the state's voter-approved marijuana trade could be at risk of prosecution. Lelling said Monday he "cannot provide assurances that certain categories of participants in the state-level marijuana trade will be immune from federal prosecution" after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved to rescind an Obama-era policy that called for non-interference with state-level legal marijuana operations. S...
MALDEN, Mass. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is faulting Republicans for blocking Democrats from negotiations on the Senate version of a health care overhaul bill. The Massachusetts Democrat said Monday that Senate Republicans are trying to get the bill to the floor of the Senate as quickly as possible. "The Republicans have literally locked the Democrats out of the negotiations over the Senate health care bill," Warren said. "The Republicans right now seem to think they're going to be able to write this bill all by themselves and then c...
BOSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil has been ordered to hand over documents related to a state investigation into whether it misled the public about the impact of fossil fuels on the climate. Wednesday's decision by a Suffolk Superior Court judge is a win for Attorney General Maura Healey, who's trying to determine if the company deceived investors and consumers by hiding what it knew about the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change. An Exxon Mobil Corp. spokesman said the company, based in Irving, Texas, is reviewing the decision to determ...
BOSTON (AP) — In the gaming world, Brianna Wu has earned a reputation battling the online harassment campaign known as Gamergate, a fight that led to rape and murder threats from the darker recesses of the male-dominated realm. Now the 39-year-old Boston-based software engineer is setting her sights on another male-dominated institution: Congress. Wu, a Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter, said she made the decision almost immediately after the November election. "On election night I was standing 30 feet from where Hillary should have a...
BOSTON (AP) — Some disaffected voters, including a few public officials, have vowed to write in the name of their ideal candidate rather than pick among Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and other names printed on the ballot. Most of those write-ins are almost by definition protests votes — whether they're for Mickey Mouse or Mitt Romney — but whether they are actually counted depends on where a voter lives. The names of write-in candidates often end up being lumped into a single category, unless a write-in hopeful has alerted state election offic...
