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$130M in student loan relief announced for CollegeAmerica students in Colorado

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Some 7,400 people who attended a now-defunct college in Colorado will get $130 million in student loan forgiveness, officials announced Tuesday.Those people attended Colorado-based locations of CollegeAmerica. Attorney General Phil Weiser led a yearslong investigation into the school's parent company, with a judge ultimately finding the school misrepresented itself to prospective students. Judge blocks Biden policy limiting asylum for migrants but delays enforcement "CollegeAmerica knowingly took advantage of students by luring them into high-priced, low-quality programs with promises of high-earning potential and job placement that it knew were not attainable," Weiser said in a statement. "Protecting borrowers from predatory lending and helping Coloradans navigate through student loan burdens will continue to be a priority for our office."Student loan relief automatic for CollegeAmerica studentsWeiser led a multi-year investigation into the Center for Excellence i...

Miami man wins $2 million from scratch-off ticket

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

A South Florida man hit the jackpot when he won $2 million from a scratch-off ticket.On July 24, the Florida Lottery announced that 24-year-old Ryan Rahma of Miami is the lucky winner of a $2 million top prize from the $2,000,000 BONUS CASHWORD Scratch-Off game. Rahma claimed his prize at the Lottery’s Miami District Office and opted to receive a one-time, lump-sum payment of $1,645,000.00.The winning ticket was purchased at Biscayne Gas, located at 5402 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. As a result, the retailer will be awarded a $4,000 bonus commission for selling the fortunate Scratch-Off ticket.The $10 game $2,000,000 BONUS CASHWORD, which made its debut in May 2022, offers players eight chances to win the top prize of $2 million, as well as 20 second-tier prizes of $100,000. With overall odds of winning at 1-in-3.12, the game has garnered significant interest among players.Scratch-Off games remain a vital component of the Lottery’s game portfolio, accounting for approxim...

The crisis in israel is just getting started

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

JERUSALEM — It’s a strange experience to observe the place you live in slide from controlled crisis into utter chaos in just under 24 hours.Crisis is a fairly common situation in Israel. There is always something going on. Hamas launches rockets; Israelis enjoy brunch. Hezbollah threatens to annihilate the country; Israelis know their air force will chortle.This may be one of the reasons Israelis developed a “there he goes again” indulgence toward Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and an eternal bad boy of local politics. Last November, he managed to pull off reelection, barely, while on trial for corruption.Yet this time — with skunk water cannons turned on peaceful protesters, army reservists resigning and global banks and credit ratings agencies downgrading Israel — Israel’s seven-month crisis is past and chaos has taken over. It feels as if the country’s DNA has been transformed. As always, it’s been a long time coming, but the chan...

Wind damage, flooding reported as storms move across Mass. 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

Storms moving across Massachusetts brought heavy rain, lightning and wind Tuesday afternoon, prompting reports of wind damage and flooding in several communities.In Framingham, city officials said part of at least one local road was closed after “a potential microburst” shortly before 4 p.m.In Boston, one driver said he had to wait on the roof of his car for first responders after flash flooding stalled his vehicle. The National Weather Service’s Boston office documented several other reports of downed trees largely in Middlesex and Worcester County. Storms in the region have triggered a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Massachusetts scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. A flash flood warning was also in effect as of around 4:45 p.m., scheduled to remain in effect through 7 p.m.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

State commission fines all three Massachusetts casinos for offering betting on unauthorized events

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

The Mass. Gaming Commission dinged all three of the physical casinos it oversees on Tuesday for taking illegal bets on Massachusetts college sports at their sportsbooks, levying a cumulative $50,000 in fines for violations that occurred in the earliest days of legal sports wagering here. Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville was fined $20,000 for taking bets on a Feb. 2 regular season men’s basketball game between Merrimack College and Long Island University, MGM Springfield was hit with a $20,000 penalty for offering action on regular season Harvard men’s basketball games on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett was fined $10,000 for taking a bet on a Feb. 2 regular season game involving the Boston College women’s basketball team.Massachusetts law prohibits wagering on events that involve Massachusetts colleges unless it is part of a tournament of at least four teams. The Gaming Commission determined the incidents were each “a serious violati...

Food and liquor license for Monica’s Trattoria temporarily suspended after owner arrested in connection with North End shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

The food and liquor license for Monica’s Trattoria in the North End has been temporarily suspended after the restaurant’s owner was arrested in connection with a shooting in Boston earlier this month.The Boston Licensing Board announced the suspension on Tuesday, saying the license will remain suspended “until such time as a new manager can be duly appointed and approved.”Patrick Mendoza was arrested on Friday of last week, just over a week after police said he allegedly tried to shoot a man outside Modern Pastry on Hanover Street. The victim took cover behind a nearby vehicle and eventually ran off. No one was hurt in the shooting, but the incident left a bullet hole in one of Modern Pastry’s windows. Court documents obtained on Friday revealed Mendoza and the man he is accused of shooting at had a long-running feud that may have led up to the shooting. Mendoza was arraigned on several charges following his arrest in Falmouth. He is due back in court on Wed...

Celtics’ Jaylen Brown agrees to $304M extension, biggest in NBA history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

The Celtics are set to give Jaylen Brown the biggest contract extension in NBA history, agreeing to a 5-year, $304 million super-max deal.The contract goes into effect for the 2024-25 season, during which Brown will earn $52.3 million, his agent told ESPN on Tuesday. The extension runs through the 2028-29 season, when the forward will make $69.1 million.His deal beats the previous record of $276 million given to the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic last year. Jokic, a two-time regular season MVP, led Denver to its first NBA championship last month.Brown, 26, is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he averaged career-highs with 26.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. His 49% field goal percentage was also the best mark of his seven-year career.The Celtics went 57-25 last season, finishing as the No. 2 seed in the East and advancing to the Conference Finals. They were eliminated in seven games by the Miami Heat, with Brown averaging 19 points on 41.8% shooting in that series.Brown was secon...

Cape Cod beach closes to swimming after lifeguards spot great white shark: ‘Plenty of activity today’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app has sure been busy in the last week.The shark activity along Cape Cod continued on Tuesday, as a beach closed to swimming for some time after lifeguards spotted a great white shark close to shore.Wellfleet’s Marconi Beach shut down to swimming early Tuesday afternoon for one hour following the shark sighting.“!! SHARK ALERTS !! plenty of activity today,” tweeted MA Sharks, which is run by local shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app.“Make sure you download the @sharktivity app to stay up to date,” Chisholm added.Shark alerts on the app are issued when a white shark sighting is confirmed close to a public beach. A notification goes out with each alert.Earlier on Tuesday, a shark alert was issued for a great white shark spotted about a quarter-mile off of Longnook Beach in Truro.Another shark sighting was reported off of Chatham’s North Beach I...

The painful legacy of ‘law and order’ treatment of addiction in jail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

Renuka Rayasam | (TNS) KFF Health NewsJASPER, Ala. — Megan Dunn, who has struggled with addiction since her teens, points to the moment her life went “deeply downhill.”After dropping out of high school, she gave birth at age 19 to a son she named Preston. Six weeks later, Dunn said, he died of sudden infant death syndrome.“From then on, I went into this, like, PTSD, depression,” said Dunn, now 28.Megan Dunn visits Jasper Mall in Alabama. Dunn has been arrested on charges related to illicit drug use. While in Walker County’s jail, she says, she was once placed in a holding cell known as the “drunk tank,” a concrete room that lacks water, a bed, or a toilet. (Renuka Rayasam/KFF Health News/TNS)Shortly after the baby’s death, Dunn said, she started using pain pills again. Eventually, she said, she was arrested on charges related to her illicit drug use, such as trespassing. She said she has had more than 30 stays in Walker County’s jail, a brick building in downtown Jasper. And each ti...

Karen Read case: Judge will not recuse herself in case of alleged murder of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:55 GMT

The Karen Read murder trial has gained national attention, and it showed in a full-blown rally in support of the defendant held on the Norfolk Superior Court steps ahead of a 2 p.m. motions hearing Tuesday afternoon.Read is accused of running over her boyfriend of two years, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022.At the top of a stack of defense motions — which remained impounded ahead of the hearing, with the clerk citing personal information contained within them that the judge would need to clear before public consumption — was a motion to have Judge Beverly Cannone recuse herself from the case.Cannone denied the motion after a brief recess to review the matter after arguments.“Your honor, there has been an undeniable erosion of the public’s confidence” in the court’s ability to impartially oversee this case, defense attorney Alan Jackson said during the hearing.“It is not an indictment of this court...