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Massachusetts opioid overdose deaths spike to a record-high: ‘A tragedy and alarming’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

Opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts continued to spike last year, yet again hitting a record-high with fentanyl present in 93% of fatal opioid ODs.There were 2,357 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths in the Bay State last year, surpassing the previous peak in 2021 by 57 deaths. That’s a 2.5% increase year-over-year.Fatal OD rates among Black, non-Hispanic residents made up the largest increase, according to preliminary data released on Thursday by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.“The increase in opioid-related overdose deaths is a tragedy and alarming,” said DPH Commissioner Robert Goldstein. “We know overdose deaths are preventable.“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on mental health and substance use, especially among marginalized communities,” Goldstein added. “We are working to reverse these troubling trends by continuing to build on our data-driven and equity-based approaches toward re...

You’ll probably live longer than you think — what to know about life expectancy for retirement planning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

Women often don’t score as well as men in surveys of financial literacy. One area where we seem to do better is “longevity literacy,” or understanding how long we’re likely to live.Longevity literacy is essential to smart retirement planning. Overestimate your longevity, and you could retire too late or scrimp too much. Underestimate it and you could run short of money.In a recent TIAA Institute study, 43% of women correctly estimated the life expectancy of 60-year-old women in the U.S. (The right answer was 85.) Only 32% of men chose the correct answer for the life expectancy for 60-year-old men, which was 82. Men also were far more likely than women to underestimate life expectancy — and that’s a huge potential problem for both sexes.A man who expects to die in his 70s might draw too much from retirement funds or start Social Security too early. That could leave him — and the spouse who may outlive him — with too little income later on.“A lot of people do OK in their first 10 year...

A ‘debris field’ was found in the search for the missing OceanGate Expeditions Titanic sub

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

A “debris field” has been found in the search area for the missing OceanGate Expeditions sub that explores the Titanic wreck site with five people aboard, according to the Coast Guard out of Boston.The 21-foot submersible has been missing in a remote area of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 900 miles off of Cape Cod, since Sunday. The 96-hour oxygen supply on board was expected to expire on Thursday.Early Thursday morning, a Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic deployed a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) — reaching the sea floor to search for the missing sub.“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” the First Coast Guard District tweeted a few hours later on Thursday.“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard added.Related ArticlesLatest Headlines | Debris has been found near the Titanic during search for submersible, US Coast Guard says Lat...

King Charles III claims his 1st Royal Ascot winner; Dettori rides to victory in Gold Cup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

ASCOT, England (AP) — King Charles III has claimed his first Royal Ascot winner as the reigning monarch.Watching the race alongside Queen Camilla from the Royal Enclosure, the king saw Desert Hero — wearing the royal silks and an 18-1 shot — win by a short head in the King George V Stakes on Thursday.“Royal winners at the royal meeting are extremely special, especially this one,” jockey Tom Marquand said. “It will live high in my career, probably at the top for the rest of my days in the saddle.”The king and queen were seen waving toward Marquand and Desert Hero after the race.Desert Hero’s trainer, William Haggas, said “the king and queen are absolutely thrilled.”“It is obviously very important for racing, but it is important that the king and queen enjoy it, which they clearly appear to do, and long may that continue,” Haggas said.The late Queen Elizabeth II was a big fan of horse racing and had 24 winners at Royal Ascot in her long reign.In the signature race of...

Hail injures dozens of concertgoers and forces cancellation of Louis Tomlinson show near Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A storm pummeled concertgoers at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver with golf ball-sized hail, sending them scurrying for cover, injuring dozens and forcing the cancellation of the show’s headliner, former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.Up to 90 people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries caused by Wednesday night’s storm, including seven who were taken to a hospital, West Metro Fire Rescue said. Some were hurt by the hail and others were hurt while trying to get away from the storm, sustaining injuries such as lacerations, bruises and broken bones, spokesperson Ronda Scholting said Thursday. The hail piled up like snow in some spots in the amphitheater. The show was initially delayed because of the weather, with fans told to take shelter in their vehicles, according to tweets from the venue, which was carved out of a sedimentary rock formation in the foothills. It was later canceled. Beth Nabi, 44, had flown to Denver from Dublin to watch o...

Transgender sports ban heads to North Carolina governor’s desk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Transgender girls in North Carolina would no longer be allowed to play on the school sports teams that align with their gender identity under a proposal that received final legislative approval on Thursday.The GOP-controlled state House voted 62-43 to send the bill to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has little power to block it now that Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. House Republicans were joined by one Democrat — Rep. Michael Wray of Northampton County — in voting for the measure.Initial votes in the House and Senate indicate any veto from Cooper, a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, would likely be overridden in the final weeks of the session. Cooper’s office did not respond immediately Thursday to an email seeking comment.At least 22 other states have now banned trans athletes from participating in the school sports consistent with their gender identity. North Carolina, like many other Republican-led stat...

Group promoting plant-based eating wants a new name for Macon Bacon baseball team

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

MACON, Ga. (AP) — A doctors’ group that promotes plant-based eating and animal rights is makin’ a fuss over the Macon Bacon baseball team.The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has sent a letter urging the Georgia summer collegiate team to change its name, WMAZ-TV reported. The group has also sponsored a billboard imploring Macon fans to “keep bacon off your plate.”“Macon Bacon’s glorification of bacon, a processed meat that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases, sends the wrong message to fans,” Anna Herby, the group’s nutrition education program manager, wrote to the team’s president.The Macon Bacon had its first season with the Coastal Plains League in 2018 after the name was chosen in a vote by fans. The team’s mascot, Kevin, won over “Footloose” actor Kevin Bacon, who once wore a Macon Bacon hat in an Instagram post.And it’s not just a name. The ballpark concession menu includes bacon-wrapped bacon, steak-cut baco...

Canada, United States expand agreement to help each other fight wildfires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada and the United States are expanding an agreement to share people and equipment to fight wildfires.Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and U.S. Ambassador David Cohen are signing the memorandum of understanding in Ottawa today.The two countries have repeatedly relied on each other to help when the wildfire situation grows beyond what they can handle on their own.The new agreement replaces a number of separate deals between the two countries in a bid to make the sharing of firefighters, incident managers and equipment more efficient.It comes as Canada continues to battle its worst wildfire season in history, with more than 61,000 square kilometres of land burned so far this year, which is about the same size as Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island combined.The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says nearly 2,000 international firefighting personnel are in Canada right now, including several hundred from the U.S.This report by The Canadian Press was first...

Rep. George Santos’ aunt and dad signed his bail bond to keep him out of jail while awaiting trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The two people who bailed Rep. George Santos out of federal custody have been revealed to be his father and his aunt, a detail the Republican fought to keep secret as he faces criminal charges and swirling questions about his finances.Gercino dos Santos Jr. and Elma Preven were named in a court filing on Thursday as the co-signers of Santos’ $500,000 bond, which enabled his release as he awaits trial on federal charges of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds. Santos, R-N.Y., had fought to keep their names secret. They were revealed after media organizations, including The Associated Press, petitioned the court for the records to be unsealed, citing the right of public access to court proceedings.In a court filing earlier this month, his attorney, Joseph Murray, said Santos would rather go to jail than subject his guarantors to the “great harm” that could come from public disclosure. Under the bond agreement, the co-signers did not have to pay any m...

Live updates | Search for Titan shows need for more deep-sea technology, researcher says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

Follow along for live updates on the submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.___SEARCH FOR TITAN SHOWS NEED FOR MORE DEEP-SEA TECHAn underwater researcher says the search for the Titan shows the desperate need for more deep-sea technology in the U.S.The unsuccessful efforts have “really opened up people’s eyes that we need a much more robust capability over larger areas of the ocean to be able to detect and sense where things are,” said Nick Rotker, who leads underwater research for non-profit research and development company MITRE.The U.S. needs more underwater robots and remotely operated underwater vehicles, known as ROVs, to ensure safety, he said, especially as private exploration of the ocean expands.“The issue is we don’t have a lot of capability or systems that can go to the depth this vessel was going to,” Rotker said.Several ROVs are in the North Atlantic waters to search for the missing submersible. One found a debris field near...