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Report: Travel Nurses Aiding, Disrupting Mass. Hospitals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

An increasing reliance on travel nurses is contributing to high turnover rates among nurses in Massachusetts, as health care remains strapped by labor shortages here and around the country, according to a Health Policy Commission report. Registered nurse vacancy rates in Massachusetts hospitals doubled from 6.4 percent in 2019 to 13.6 percent in 2022, with especially high vacancy rates in community hospitals, the HPC report says. When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, hospitals turned to traveling health care workers to fill workforce gaps at facilities around the country that were overwhelmed. As of 2021, these contracted workers represented about 5 percent of hospital patient care labor costs, the report says. Across the state, health care facilities paid $1.5 billion to these workers in fiscal 2022 — a 145 percent increase over the previous year. Travel nurses are not employed by a specific facility, but take temporary jobs in high-need areas. They are often paid more than their pe...

Gallery: Mayor Wu gets tour of Fenway’s improvements

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu gets a tour of Fenway Park from Red Sox management two days before Opening Day

Heat’s Oladipo not quite feeling the burn about being thrown into the fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

Having filled in for Jimmy Butler on Tuesday night in Toronto, when Butler was sidelined with neck pain, Victor Oladipo found himself in limbo again in the Miami Heat rotation on Wednesday, with Kyle Lowry making an effort to play on consecutive nights for the first time since returning from a monthlong absence due to knee pain.Prior to Tuesday, Oladipo had been held out of four of the previous five games. He then played 22:53 against the Raptors, his longest stint since March 11.He then was expected back in the mix for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, but that came into question when the Heat announced that Lowry would attempt to play on consecutive nights for the first time since December.Asked if he felt like he was being thrown into the fire amid such erratic playing time, Oladipo, 30, admitted it was hard to feel the burn.“I mean it’s different, obviously,” he said of the uneven minutes. “I just imagined ...

Authorities investigating $500K heist at Colorado casino

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

Colorado authorities are investigating a mountain town casino heist of $500,000 in cash — the biggest theft from a casino that state regulators can remember since gambling started again in 1991.The theft from the Monarch Casino Resort and Spa, located 34 miles west of Denver in Black Hawk, occurred March 12. Casino cashier Sabrina Eddy, 44, has been jailed on suspicion of theft and was still in her cell Tuesday afternoon, according to a Gilpin County Clerk deputy who spoke on the condition her name wouldn’t be used.Monarch officials declined to say how money was removed from inside the casino.“While we can confirm that the theft occurred,” Casino spokeswoman Erica Ferris said, “this is currently an active and open investigation and Monarch is making no comment.”According to a Gilpin County District Court affidavit issued in support of a warrantless arrest, Eddy was working shortly after midnight in the Monarch as the “cage cashier” responsible for casino money when she received phon...

Man charged with murder in 2020 Toronto mosque stabbing found not criminally responsible

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

A man accused of killing a 58-year-old Muslim man outside a Toronto mosque has been found not criminally responsible in the case.Guilherme (William) Von Neutegem had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, who was stabbed outside the International Muslim Organization in west Toronto on Sept. 12, 2020.The Ministry of the Attorney General says Von Neutegem was found not criminally responsible by an Ontario court on Friday, and the matter was referred to the Ontario Review Board.Guilherme “William” Von Neutegem, suspect arrested in the stabbing death of a mosque caretaker, is seen in this Instagram photo.The board decides if and how not criminally responsible patients should be detained.Psychiatric reports filed with the court said Von Neutegem suffered from schizophrenia.One of the reports said he was not diagnosed or treated for mental illness at the time of the attack on Zafis.

Trump grand jury poised to take pre-planned break from case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money paid on Donald Trump’s behalf is scheduled to consider other matters next week before taking a previously scheduled two-week hiatus, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. That means a vote on whether or not to indict the former president likely wouldn’t come until late April at the earliest.The break, which was scheduled in advance when the panel was convened in January, coincides with Passover, Easter and spring break for the New York City public school system.The person who confirmed the grand jury’s schedule was not authorized to speak publicly about secretive grand jury proceedings and did so on condition of anonymity. A message left with the district attorney’s office was not immediately returned.In a statement released through a lawyer, Trump said: “I HAVE GAINED SO MUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY.”The grand jury has been meeting regularly Monday and Wednesday afternoons. It met Monday and a l...

International development groups say budget cut will end Canadian programs abroad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

OTTAWA — Humanitarian groups are giving Tuesday’s federal budget a thumbs down, saying a projected $1.3-billion cut to foreign aid will end Canadian projects andcreate a backslide in progress on fighting disease and hunger.“There is certainly a gap between rhetoric and reality in this year’s budget,” said Kate Higgins, the head of Cooperation Canada, which represents more than 95 non-profits.“It undermines progress on development and Canada’s contribution to progress on development around the world.”The Liberal budget projects that Ottawa will spend nearly $6.9 billion for international development in the coming fiscal year, a 16 per cent drop from last year’s allocation.That’s despitePrime Minister Justin Trudeau tasking International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan to increase aid spending every year.The Liberals had budgeted for $6.6 billion in foreign aid for the 2019-2020 financial year before the pandemic began, and the govern...

Businesses praise credit card fee relief but consumers savings not guaranteed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

Small business owners are praising a measure in the federal budget to lower credit card interchange fees, but some industry representatives argued the move will do little to save costs for consumers.Ottawa announced it has reached deals with Visa and Mastercard to lower such fees by up to 27 per cent from their current average rates for more than 90 per cent of credit card-accepting businesses.The government estimated this would save businesses $1 billion over five years.Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly called it the “biggest win” of the federal budget.“Credit-card usage has just ballooned over the last number of years and therefore the business is just on the hook for a much larger chunk of sales,” said Kelly.“With margins being constrained for small businesses, costs going up on almost every line of their budget, some relief on this one would be hugely beneficial.”Rich Gowman, owner and operator of Amplifiers Plus ...

Murdaugh judge Newman not surprised by jury’s quick verdict

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — The judge who presided over Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial in South Carolina told his law school he wasn’t surprised the jury came back with a guilty verdict in three hours.Judge Clifton Newman returned to Cleveland State University where he earned his law degree in 1976 to discuss his career and the topic on everyone’s minds — the six-week trial that ended in Murdaugh’s murder convictions for killing his wife and son and life sentence.The three hours of deliberation after hearing from 75 witnesses was about normal, considering they were paying close attention for so long.“When they go back to deliberate, they don’t want to look at those 800 exhibits. They don’t want to spend their time combing through everything they have laboriously sat there and listened to for that period of time,” Newman said.Newman was born in South Carolina, but moved to Cleveland for college and law school after graduating as valedictorian at his racially segregated hig...

Montreal mayor denounces vandalism of synagogue defaced with antisemitic graffiti

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:06 GMT

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is expressing her support for the city’s Jewish community after a historic synagogue was defaced with antisemitic graffiti.Plante says there’s no place in Montreal for discrimination and racism, adding that the city is working hard to ensure everyone’s safety.Her comments come after Jewish organization B’nai Brith Canada circulated photos that showed swastikas spray-painted on the 102-year-old Bagg Street Synagogue.B’nai Brith Canada’s national director for its human rights league also sent a letter to Plante’s administration, asking them to do more to combat antisemitism and a rise in reported hate incidents targeting Jews.Marvin Rotrand says the red-brick property on Bagg Street is the province’s oldest active synagogue building and is recognized as a heritage site by Quebec and Montreal.Montreal police say they’re aware of the incident, and a number of other Jewish organizations, including Friends...