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Massachusetts tax competitiveness drops to fifth worst in the country, report finds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

The business tax climate in Massachusetts has declined significantly over the past year, with the Commonwealth dropping to the fifth worst state in the country for competitiveness, according to a new report from a national tax watchdog.Massachusetts had the steepest fall from last year in the nation, dropping 12 spots to 46th for overall taxation in the 2023 State Business Tax Climate Index, a ranking published by the Tax Foundation that compares state tax systems.“That means we are overtaxing our employers and our residents, both,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “To be in the bottom five states, it’s not a good sign to either our tax-paying families or to employers, current or prospective. We’ve got to work on this.”A driver behind the nosedive in tax competitiveness, the Tax Foundation found, is the state’s new Fair Share Amendment – or Millionaire’s Tax – which taxes incomes over $1 million an extra 4%.“While the $1 million threshold at w...

Jewish groups urge Boston-area universities to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine chapters for applauding Hamas after terrorist attacks in Israel

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

Jewish groups are calling on universities and colleges to take a close look at Students for Justice in Palestine campus chapters after SJP student groups applauded Hamas following the terrorist organization’s deadly attacks in Israel.Tufts SJP was one of the student chapters that posted in support of the terrorists, who killed Israelis and took hostages earlier this month.After many SJP student groups did the same in backing Hamas, the Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center recently wrote a letter to the presidents of nearly 200 colleges and universities. The Jewish groups are urging the colleges and universities to investigate the activities of their SJP chapters — including for possibly violating the ban against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization.The Boston-area colleges and universities that received the letter include: Tufts University, Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University and UMass Boston....

Harvard creates task force to support ‘doxxed’ students who signed anti-Israel letter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

A task force at Harvard is providing resources to students who feel uncomfortable after they signed a scathing letter that blamed Israel for the Hamas terrorist attacks earlier this month.The task force is supporting students who have experienced “doxxing, harassment, and online security issues” following the widespread backlash they’ve encountered after signing the letter, according to campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.A student reporter accessed an email that Dean of Students Thomas Dunne sent Tuesday to “doxxed students,” outlining the purpose of the task force and how it will be in operation until at least Nov. 3.“We are truly grateful for all the tremendous work that students have put forth in supporting each other through this most difficult time,” Dunne wrote, “and we appreciate the collaborative spirit in which students, faculty, and staff have come together to repel this repugnant assault on our community.”The task force will serve as a single point of contact and commu...

Red Sox Mailbag: After chaotic search, do Sox regret moving on from Chaim Bloom?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

The Red Sox have a new chief baseball officer, and once the World Series wraps up Craig Breslow will have a chance to hit the ground running. Now with the offseason set to officially kick off within the next week or so, it’s as good a time as any to empty the mailbag and answer your questions.Today we cover the chaotic head of baseball operations search that led to Breslow’s hiring, Boston’s top offseason priorities, potential trade targets and more.Would the Red Sox have just stuck with Chaim Bloom if they knew in advance that they’d have such a hard time interviewing top, experienced candidates? — Adam V.My intuition is no, but on some level Red Sox ownership must realize now how badly they’ve damaged their own standing within the wider baseball landscape.Once upon a time being the Red Sox’ head baseball executive would have been considered a top three job in the sport, one anybody would leap at the opportunity to have. Red Sox ownership clearly felt ...

4 takeaways from an ugly Chicago Bulls loss, including Zach LaVine’s career-high 51 points — and the Detroit Pistons dominating in the paint

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

A career night from Zach LaVine paid the Chicago Bulls a brutal reminder Saturday night — one player can’t save this team from themselves.LaVine scored 51 points in a thunderous offensive performance. His output matched the rest of his teammates combined in another dismal night of shooting by the Bulls that resulted in a 118-102 loss to the Pistons.The Bulls are 1-2 as they continue a three-game trip with upcoming stops in Indianapolis and Dallas.Here are four takeaways from the loss.1. Zach LaVine breaks out with a career night.After a sluggish opening two games of the season, LaVine erased any doubts of his scoring ability with his career-high performance.LaVine could have missed the game after suffering back spasms Friday night against the Toronto Raptors. He was listed as probable before the game, and coach Billy Donovan said his availability would be a game-time decision. But LaVine pushed to play, logging 37 minutes.LaVine made a big statement in the first quarter,...

China’s foreign minister says Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco would not be ‘smooth-sailing’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister considers that the road to an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden would not be “smooth-sailing” and that both sides must work together to achieve results, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.Wang Yi met with Biden, as well as secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan, during a three-day visit to Washington. Both sides agreed to work toward a bilateral meeting at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in San Francisco in November.In an statement released by China’s foreign ministry summarizing the discussions with members of the “U.S. strategic community,” Wang said that the road to the bilateral meeting would not be “smooth sailing” and that they could not rely on “autopilot” to make it happen.Wang’s three-day visit to Washington came at a time when tensions between the two countries remain high, including over U.S. export controls on ad...

Israeli settler shoots and kills Palestinian harvester as violence surges in the West Bank

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Jewish settler shot dead a Palestinian man harvesting olives near the West Bank city of Nablus, the man’s uncle said Sunday. This brings the number of Palestinians reported killed by settlers to seven since Hamas’s bloody incursion into Israel three weeks ago.Tayseer Mahmoud said his nephew, Bilal Saleh, was working in the grove in the village of Sawiya with his wife and their four children on Saturday when a group of settlers attacked them. Saleh, concerned about the safety of his children, tried to leave the area, but a settler shot him in the chest, Mahmoud said.Mahmoud said he didn’t witness the confrontation but was close by and reached the scene within minutes of the shooting. Saleh died before he could be taken for medical care, he said.Settler leader Yossi Dagan said in a video posted on the social media p(platform Facebook Saturday that the shooter was accompanied by family members and fired in self-defense after they were “attacked with rocks by do...

Thousands loot UN aid warehouses in Gaza as desperation grows and Israel widens ground offensive

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a U.N. agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war, three weeks after Hamas launched a brutal incursion into Israel. The widening ground offensive came as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.The bombardment — described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war — knocked out most communications in the territory late Friday, largely cutting off the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people from the world. Communications were restored to much of Gaza early Sunday.The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, provides basic services to hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. ...

Nicholas Firkus murder trial jurors didn’t get to hear from his 2nd wife. She says he lied to her about finances, too.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

Rachel Brattin believed her husband was lying to her, but it wasn’t until she looked in his sock drawer that she realized how big of a secret he was keeping.Hidden in the drawer was a document saying they were behind on their property taxes and their Mounds View home was in danger of foreclosure. Her husband at the time, Nicholas Firkus, was in charge of their finances.Brattin knew Firkus’ previous home had been foreclosed on years earlier and then there’d been a tragedy that ended with the death of his first wife.Now, she had questions. “I wasn’t sure how mad he would be that I knew,” she said recently of finding the paperwork about their home. “I didn’t know how desperate he would feel. I just wasn’t sure and I wasn’t willing to risk the safety of my kids to find out.”She woke the three children she had with Firkus, buckled them into their carseats and drove away while Firkus slept.In the years that followed, prosec...

Chasing the music: Widely praised as Frankie Valli in CDT’s ‘Jersey Boys,’ St. Paul native Will Dusek is an actor to watch

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:10:11 GMT

As the lights go down on “Jersey Boys” at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Frankie Valli rips off his bow tie and whips it around his head.Backstage, actor Will Dusek transforms from the famous Four Seasons falsetto back into himself. Putting his costume away is almost automatic by this point, he said, so he’s thinking: Gotta go get gas. Gotta walk the dog, as a favor to his grandma, with whom he lives. Gotta run to the grocery store. Gotta eat something. He’s ravenous.“After the show, I always need to get something in my system,” he said. “My nightly ritual is to eat my fridge and then stay awake for two hours because you’re just wired after the show.”Actor Will Dusek sings as Four Seasons legend Frankie Valli during a 2023 performance of “Jersey Boys” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Dusek, 23, said it takes plenty of practice and lengthy vocal warm-ups to emulate Valli’s famous high-pitched voice. (Photo courtesy Dan Norman / Chanhassen Dinner Theatres)Dusek, 23, g...