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New Healey administration information technology chief to focus on accessibility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

A newly-created chief information technology accessibility officer Gov. Maura Healey announced Wednesday will be tasked with making the state’s digital applications more accessible and “fully functional” for all residents.The position, established through an executive order Healey was expected to sign, will oversee the Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board, a panel of state experts tasked with strengthening and advancing digital accessibility in government operations.Healey said the board and the chief information technology accessibility officer will work with “secretariat IT accessibility officers,” new state employees placed in each of the executive departments. Metrics tracking the board’s progress will be displayed on a “public-facing” dashboard, Healey said.“The establishment of the Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board represents our commitment to supporting individuals with disabilities and making government more accessible and equitable for all...

London jury acquits Kevin Spacey of sexual assault charges on his birthday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

LONDON  — Kevin Spacey was acquitted of sexual assault on Wednesday after the Oscar winner’s testimony as a witness in his own defense spared him a possible prison term and gave him a shot at a career comeback.Tears rolled down Spacey’s cheeks as the final “not guilty” verdict was read. It was his 64th birthday.Spacey’s wide-ranging testimony climaxed as he choked up speaking of the six years he’d gone without work after sex abuse allegations surfaced against him during the #MeToo movement in the U.S. in 2017.“My world exploded,” Spacey testified. “There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.”Three men accused the Oscar winner of aggressively grabbing their crotches. A fourth, an aspiring actor seeking mentorship, said he awoke to the actor performing oral sex on him after going to Spacey’s London apartment ...

Patriots enter training camp in good health, down only 3 players at Wednesday practice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

FOXBORO — Three Patriots players were missing at Wednesday’s opening training camp practice, a strong sign for the overall health of the team’s 90-man roster.Offensive linemen Mike Onwenu and Calvin Anderson were the headliner absentees. Onwenu is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, while Anderson was placed on the Non-Football Illness (NFI) earlier this week. Onwenu, the team’s starting right guard, is recovering from offseason ankle surgery.Veteran special teamer/safety Cody Davis, who is also on the PUP list, was the only other player missing. Second-year special teamer/linebacker DaMarcus Mitchell was present, indicating he’s been taken off the team’s Non-Football Injury list.The team’s complete attendance report is below.Non-contact jersey: LB/S Marte MapuPUP: OL Mike OnwenuNon-football ilness: OT Calvin AndersonNotes: Second-year special teamer/linebacker DaMarcus Mitchell

McDonald's San Diego restaurants have a new dessert to try

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A new dessert menu item has made its debut at McDonald's locations across San Diego.For those who can't decide between cookies or pie when their sweet tooth strikes, now they won't have to. The Cookies & Crème Pie features the best of both worlds: a chocolate cookie crumb crust filled with fluffy vanilla crème and big pieces of chocolate sandwich cookie, according to McDonald's.The warm handheld dessert started appearing on menus at participating regional restaurants earlier this month and will only be around for a limited time. Grimace has inspired a new McDonald’s meal. But what the heck is he? And McDonald's lovers have another sweet treat they can expect to see on the menu soon: the Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry. Vanilla soft serve is mixed with crispy cereal mix and pieces of chocolatey peanut butter cookie to create this new flavor, available at participating stores starting Aug. 9.Happy ordering!

These 10 gas stations have the cheapest fuel prices in San Diego County: GasBuddy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- With oil prices nudging fuel costs upward in recent weeks, filling up your gas tank in San Diego County may feel like it's breaking the bank. With California being the second most expensive gasoline market in the country as of July, according to AAA data, some drivers are choosing to shop around to find the best deal at the pump.GasBuddy, a technology company that helps track crowd-sourced locations and prices of gas stations, has compiled a list of the 10 cheapest places to purchase gas across San Diego County.Grab your wallets and head to one of these locations below the next time you need to fill up to save a few bucks. Fire burns 105 acres on MCAS Miramar base *These prices reflect reported costs as of Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 7:30 a.m. and are subject to change.-- Sycuan Market (4915 Dehesa Rd. in El Cajon): Regular $4.39; midgrade $4.55; premium $4.65; diesel $4.49. -- Mohsen Oil #7 (3205 Main St. in Chula Vista): Regular $4.33; midgrade $4.53; premium $4.63...

Proposed sand mine continues to receive community pushback in East County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- An East County community continues to pushback against a proposed sand mine on a golf course. Local Rancho San Diego residents packed a meeting Tuesday to hear about the project’s environmental impact report and provide their own feedback.“We have to keep everybody involved, because you don’t hear anything that 'oh it’s over.' Either they won or we won and there’s no sand mine, but neither is the case,” said Elizabeth Urquhart, Chair of Stop Cottonwood Sand Mine. San Diego homeless encampment ban begins Sunday, in certain areas Five years after Cottonwood Sand Mine was first proposed on 214 acres of Cottonwood Golf Course, the community is as committed as ever to stop the project.“It’s hard to imagine a 214 acre open pit sand mine being shoehorned into a residential community and then pumping out air pollution, water pollution, traffic congestion, and that not having a significant impact on our community,” said Brian Lorenz.The project is near homes and a school. The ...

Israel’s top court to hear petitions against first part of contentious judicial overhaul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s highest court said Wednesday that it would hear petitions in September against a divisive law weakening its power that the country’s parliament passed earlier this week. Israeli civil society groups and others have filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law enacted Monday — the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader program to overhaul Israel’s judiciary. The far-right government’s plans to limit judicial power has unleashed the country’s biggest protests in history and exposed its deep social fissures. The case — which pits the Supreme Court against the government — could push Israel toward a full-blown political crisis, with the country’s justices set to rule on a law about the scope of their own authority. Critics of the overhaul describe it as a blow to democracy, arguing that Israel’s judiciary represents the primary check on the powers of the parlia...

The Americans dominated their Women’s World Cup opener. They face a tougher task against the Dutch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The United States and the Netherlands meet again on the Women’s World Cup stage — with smaller stakes than the 2019 title game won by the Americans — and the Dutch team collecting injuries at a terrible time of the tournament.The Netherlands will most likely be without forward Lineth Beerensteyn, who was hurt early in her team’s 1-0 victory over Portugal to open the tournament, when they play the Americans on Thursday in New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington.The Americans are the two-time reigning World Cup champions and Netherlands coach Andries Jonker said on the eve of the match “we would need a miracle” for Beerensteyn to be ready to play.”And if that doesn’t happen, then she won’t participate,” he said.The Netherlands came to the tournament in Australia and New Zealand already missing leading scorer Vivianne Miedema, who ruptured her ACL while playing for Arsenal in December. The forward is the Netherlands’ leading s...

Samsung unveils two new foldable smartphones in a bet on devices with bending screens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled two foldable smartphones as it continues to bet on devices with bending screens, a budding market that has yet to fully take off because of high prices.The clamshell-designed Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5, a larger device that opens and folds like a book, will be available for pre-orders starting July 26 in certain markets including the United States and South Korea.Built with 6.7-inch and 7.6-inch main screens, the phones have bigger displays than Samsung’s previous folding devices and are equipped with more advanced cameras, providing crisper visuals and more features for work, text and video chats, movies and games, the company said. Designed to be compact and easy to carry, the Flip 5 is also built with a 3.4-inch cover screen that allows it to be used folded in half.The phones, which run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor chips, are slightly sleeker and lighter than their predecessors but designed...

A freighter carrying nearly 3,000 cars catches fire in the North Sea and a crew member is killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:08 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars was burning out of control Wednesday in the North Sea, and the Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died, others were hurt and it was working to save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement. The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known, and it wasn’t clear how the crew member died.The Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore when it caught fire about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland.As the blaze continued throughout the day, a salvage company sent an expert to assess the possibility of fastening a cable to the ship that could be used to tow it, the coast guard said.Some of the crew members jumped off the ship’s deck into the sea ...