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Boston Marathon requires 9,000 volunteers to run, turns away hundreds each year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

On Monday, runners from all over the world will descend on Hopkinton to begin the 26.2-mile trek toward Boylston Street where they will cross the finish line of the 127th Boston Marathon.Along that route, scattered among the hundreds of thousands who gather to cheer and support the athletes attempting the race, will be thousands of race volunteers, coming from at least 44 states and 19 countries, who donate their days and hours to ensure the renowned endurance test goes off without a hitch.Putting together a race that stretches more than two dozen miles through multiple municipalities requires some serious work, according to the Boston Athletic Association. In total about 9,000 people will be needed both on and before race day, including 1,900 medical personnel and an undisclosed but substantial number of law enforcement and security staff, according to a BAA spokesman.Most volunteers work eight-hour shifts, the spokesman said, and over two-thirds are returning to volunteer for at l...

10 Years later: A Red Sox oral history of the Boston Marathon bombing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

On April 15, 2013, the city of Boston changed forever.That was the Marathon Monday when two brothers detonated pressure cooker bombs full of shrapnel by the finish line on Boylston Street, killing three and injuring hundreds.For the Red Sox, who play a special mid-morning game each Marathon Monday, the events of the week galvanized the team, and became forever embedded in the DNA of the franchise.Ten years later, the Boston Herald spoke with five members of the organization about their recollections of that week, from Marathon Monday through the first game back the following Saturday. Here’s Sam Kennedy (team president, CEO), Dr. Charles Steinberg (former executive vice president, current Triple-A WooSox president), Brian O’Halloran (then-assistant general manager, current GM), Tom Caron (NESN sportscaster), and Will Middlebrooks (2013 third baseman, NESN analyst), in their own words:Marathon Monday(Marathon Monday fell on Jackie Robinson Day that year, so the Red Sox were wearing t...

Sudan’s army and rival force clash, wider conflict feared

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force erupted Saturday in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken nation.In Khartoum, the sound of heavy firing could be heard in a number of areas, including the city center and the neighborhood of Bahri.In a series of statements, the Rapid Support Forces militia accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases in south Khartoum. They claimed they seized the city’s airport and “completely controlled” Khartoum’s Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency. The group also said it seized an airport and air base in the northern city of Marawi, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of Khartoum. The Associated Press was unable to verify those claims.The Sudanese army said fighting broke out after RSF troops tried to attack its forces in the southern part of the capital. Later, the military...

Bus with musicians crashes in western India, killing 13

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said.The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city, where the musicians held a performance, said Atul Zende, a police officer. The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.Zende said most of the passengers who died were part of the music troupe from Mumbai. He said rescue workers pulled out the badly injured from the wreckage of the bus and sent them to a hospital.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sorrow over the accident and announced monetary relief to the victims’ families. Deadly road accidents are common in India due to reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles. More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police.The Associated Press

Macron’s unpopular pension plan enacted into French law

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 was enacted into law Saturday, the day after the country’s constitutional body approved the change.Macron’s signature and publication in the Official Journal of the French Republic allowed the law to enter into force. On Friday, the Constitutional Council rejected some parts of the government’s pension legislation but approved the higher minimum retirement age, which was central to Macron’s plan and the focus of opponents’ protests. The nine-member council’s decision capped months of tumultuous debates in parliament and fervor in the streets. Spontaneous demonstrations took place in Paris and across the country after the ruling.France’s main labor unions, which organized 12 nationwide protests since January in hopes of defeating the plan, have vowed to continue fighting until it is withdrawn. They called for another mass protest on May 1, which is Int...

Trudeau’s cross-country town halls are back with a new format — and new skeptics

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

OTTAWA — Every town hall begins the same way: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in a blue or white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, takes the microphone, waxes poetic about the state of the world and acknowledges the challenging years Canadians have recently faced. The people in the crowd who will have the chance to ask unvetted questions of the prime minister are no stranger to those struggles. There’s the Muslim mother who fears for the safety of her children. Immigrants who worry about their future in Canada. The blue-collar worker who can’t afford to eat. People who can’t find work or access mental-health supports. Young adults who lose sleep over climate change. Indigenous people who say they feel left behind.At the 14 hour-long town halls Trudeau has attended in the past 11 weeks, the prime minister has put himself in a position to hear their concerns during the question-and-answer sessions that follow his speeches. But though some attendees who participated...

Sainted & Tainted: The Jimmy John drivers called his name and held his hand

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

SaintedWe’d like to thank the Jimmy John drivers who stopped to help us in Shoreview on Sunday, Feb. 19.My husband was unconscious on the sidewalk. They kept calling his name and holding his hand while I called 911. My husband has some serious injuries, but he is healing.Thank you for stopping and staying until the police and medics arrived. They were very kind and helpful as well.We appreciate all the helping hands that afternoon.  What a blessing you all were to us.J. and G. Smothers, Shoreview SaintedGuardian Angels are alive and well here in Cottage Grove. All winter long we peered out the frosty windows to see our driveway had been cleared completely to the curbs, some 70 feet away from the garage. And this was at the crack of dawn, we observed a gent leaving, bundled up against our latest Alberta Clipper … he was guiding his 17-year-old snow machine down the street to yet another neighbor’s needy driveway. Every time it snows, we hear this old machine chugging...

Ask Amy: Struggling relative wants to RSVP well

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

Dear Amy: I’ve struggled with the thoughtful way to RSVP to certain events in the past and now that I’m once again facing this issue, I wonder if you could please offer me your considered opinion.I’m part of a large extended family (siblings, cousins, etc.), who are all truly successful and incredibly wealthy. I am proud of all their successes; however, I am in a far different situation.I am a retired adult who is solely responsible for the full-time care of my disabled adult child and live on a quite limited budget. That said, when I’ve been invited to some large celebratory events that require long flights, expensive travel plans, and managing difficult time zone shifts with my child, I’ve simply RSVP’d that we were sorry that we couldn’t attend (we DO attend events held at locations within our state).We’ve now been invited to another extravagant celebration overseas, planned over the course of a few days.Although it sounds amazing, ...

Word Game: April 15, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — ATTRIBUTE (ATTRIBUTE: AT-rih-bute: A quality or characteristic closely associated with someone or something.)Average mark 39 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 55 or more words in ATTRIBUTE? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — SCATHED sachet sate scad scat scathe seat sect shad shade shed stead cadet case cash cast caste cesta chase chaste chat cheat chest aced ache acted tach teach tech haste hate head heat each east etch dash date death detachTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually...

Bridge: April 15, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:34:59 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.“To vacillate or not, that is the question; at least I think it might be.” — graffitiMany learning players are resolute about drawing trumps first; they have been taught that bad things can happen if the missing trumps are left as a threat. Worse things can happen if declarer draws trumps too soon.Today’s North-South reached a spade game that depended on finding East with the king of clubs. When West led the king of diamonds, declarer took dummy’s ace and … drew trumps with his A-K-Q and dummy’s jack.DOWN ONESouth next let the ten of clubs ride. The finesse won, but when he led a second club to his queen, West discarded. Dummy had no more entries, and East got his king for down one.In case of a 4-1 club break, South should lead a club to his queen at Trick Two. After he draws all the trumps, he passes the ten of clubs and leads a third club to his jack to lan...