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Wisconsin’s alcohol industry gets behind update, greater enforcement of laws

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s smallest craft brewers, including the maker of the popular Spotted Cow beer, large retailers like the Kwik Trip convenience store franchise and other producers, wholesalers and retailers are getting behind a rapidly moving proposal that would overhaul the state’s alcohol laws and lead to stricter enforcement efforts.The measure, hammered out in secret the past five years largely between Republican lawmakers and the multi-billion dollar alcohol industry, is moving quickly through the GOP-controlled Legislature. It was introduced on Friday and was scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday. The Legislature is expected to pass it in two weeks.Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration has also been involved with negotiations.Most of the changes would not be noticeable to average alcohol consumers in the state, those who worked closely on the bill said. But the creation of a new division to oversee liquor laws could lead to the enforceme...

Trump travels to Florida as history-making court appearance approaches in classified documents case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump traveled to Florida on Monday ahead of a history-making federal court appearance this week on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department’s efforts to get them back.Trump’s Tuesday afternoon appearance in Miami will mark his second time since April facing a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a New York case some legal analysts derided as relatively trivial, the Justice Department’s first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say jeopardized national security, with Espionage Act charges carrying the prospect of a significant prison sentence.Ahead of his court date, he and his allies have been escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests. He’s ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case, calling Jack Smith “deranged” as he repeated without any evi...

Woman shot 11 times in Pinellas County expected to survive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

PINELLAS COUNTY, Florida (WFTS) — The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) opened an investigation that began early Sunday morning in Pinellas County when a woman was shot many times by a family member.PCSO responded to a call at approximately 1:30 am to the home on 134th Street North after the woman made it out of the house and into a neighbor’s house to call 911.According to Chief Deputy Paul Halle, the woman was shot about 11 times, most of which were to the chest and head and several in the legs.The sheriff’s office said that the man, who they believe to be the suspect, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was later identified as Wayne Lovell Dew, 65.“It’s amazing, you think of somebody who’s been shot that many times, that is still able to walk out of her house, walk across the street to a neighbor and tell them what happened,” Chief Deputy Paul Halle said.Police said the situation is now resolved but did not ...

MBTA replaces majority of Green Line B branch service with buses after derailment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

A large section of the Green Line’s B branch service is being replaced by shuttles after a trolley derailment, according to the MBTA.The transportation authority said around 2:10 p.m. that what was first reported as a disabled train turned out to be a derailed trolley at Packard’s Corner.As crews respond, officials said service between Blandford Street and Washington Street stations would be replaced with shuttle buses in the meantime.“Expect delays as Buses are dispatched,” the MBTA tweeted out.In an update 30 minutes later, officials said the switch to shuttle bus service had been extended to between Kenmore and Washington Street. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/1668319680254156802

Tour boat capsizes in cave along the Erie Canal in upstate New York

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

(CNN) — A tour boat capsized in an underground cave along the Erie Canal in Lockport, New York, on Monday, police said in a Facebook post.Seven people were transported to Eastern Niagara Hospital, and all were in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries, according to hospital spokesperson Patricia Kingston-Brandt.Multiple agencies responded, police said, and surrounding streets were closed to allow rescuers better access, police said.The boat was touring the Lockport cave, police said. Located about 20 miles east of Niagara Falls near the US-Canada border, the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Tour takes people along the Erie Canal through an underground cave.“Embark on one of America’s longest underground boat rides along the Erie Canal and experience a trip of wonders,” its website states. “Visitors are awestruck as they take a ride that has been described as both ‘peaceful and eerie’ as the boat glides through the lifeless water, illuminated only by smal...

Judge’s Surprise Retirement Gives Healey High Court Pick

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

Supreme Judicial Court Justice Elspeth Cypher plans to step down in January, giving Gov. Maura Healey a chance to appoint someone to the state’s highest court early in her first term.The SJC announced Monday that Cypher, who turned 64 in February, will retire from the court on Jan. 12, 2024 after a nearly seven-year tenure. A court spokesperson said Cypher “wants to devote her time to teaching and research.”Cypher will take a position at Boston College Law School for the spring 2024 semester as a Huber Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law. She said in a statement that she is “looking forward to pursuing my love of teaching.”Her departure will come several years before Cypher turns 70, the mandatory retirement age for Massachusetts judges, and creates the first vacancy on the SJC since Healey was elected in November.Healey’s predecessor, former Gov. Charlie Baker, saw the entire court turn over during his two terms and appointed all seven curren...

Driver hauling 8,500 gallons of fuel lost control and crashed, causing the inferno that toppled part of I-95 in Philadelphia, official says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

(CNN) — The fire that caused part of Interstate 95 to collapse in Philadelphia started after a tanker driver took an off-ramp and crashed into a wall, state officials said Monday.The truck driver was driving northbound on I-95 Sunday morning, took an exit ramp and then lost control, hitting the wall while trying to navigate a curve, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said Monday.The truck “landed on its side,” and the crash into the wall ignited the fire, Carroll said. The truck was carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline, Pennsylvania State Police said.No injuries or fatalities have been reported after the tanker truck caught fire around 6:20 a.m. Sunday, causing a section of the overhead northbound I-95 highway to collapse atop the truck, authorities said.But it remains unclear whether the driver or anyone else was trapped at some point in the burning truck.Officials will not launch a criminal investigation into the collapse, Pennsylvania St...

Judge gives American Airlines and JetBlue more time to end their partnership in the Northeast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge who ordered American Airlines and JetBlue Airways to end their Northeast partnership is giving the airlines more time to unwind the deal.U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston said in an order Monday that the injunction he ordered last month will take effect 21 days after he issues a final judgment imposing terms on the airlines. It’s not clear when that will be.The airlines had faced a deadline next weekend, just 30 days after the judge’s May 19 decision in favor of the U.S. Justice Department, which sued to break up the deal.In a post-decision filing Friday, American and JetBlue asked the judge to let them keep some parts of their Northeast Alliance, which covers flights in New York and Boston. They want to continue selling tickets on each other’s flights, called code-sharing, and offering reciprocal frequent-flyer benefits.The Justice Department opposed the airlines’ request, although it said the airlines should be allo...

Officials say driver lost control of gas-filled tanker before fire collapsed main East Coast highway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

By RON TODT, MIKE CATALINI and MARC LEVY (Associated Press)PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver of a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline lost control on an off-ramp and flipped the tanker truck on its side in a wreck that set it afire and destroyed a section of the East Coast’s main north-south highway, Pennsylvania’s top transportation official said Monday. In the first official accounting of a wreck that threw hundreds of thousands of morning commutes into chaos and disrupted untold numbers of businesses, state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said the driver was northbound “trying to navigate the curve, lost control of the vehicle, landed on its side and ruptured the tank.”As a result, Interstate 95 will be closed in both directions for weeks at the start of summer travel season. The elevated southbound portion of I-95 will have to be demolished, as well as the northbound side, Carroll said. Motorists should avoid the northeast corner of the sixth-larges...

MBTA Green Line trolley derails with 30 aboard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:48 GMT

Part of Green Line B Branch service is being replaced by shuttle buses after a trolley derailed near Packard’s Corner in Allston, the MBTA said.Roughly 30 passengers were aboard when the derailment occurred around 1:40 p.m. Monday, and were able to safely exit the westbound train. There were no injuries, MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said.Riders are being told to expect delays as buses are dispatched.“Buses are replacing B branch service between Kenmore and Washington Street while T personnel work to re-rail the trolley car,” Pesaturo said. “The cause of the derailment is under investigation.”The derailment was reported to both T oversight agencies, the Department of Public Utilities and the Federal Transit Administration.Initially communicated by the T as a “disabled train near Packard’s Corner,” follow-up tweets from the agency later said that delays were being caused by a trolley that had, in fact, derailed.Related ArticlesLocal News | Alleged MBTA bus creeper a...