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Both sides rest their case in rape trial of former prosecutor Gary Zerola

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

Former prosecutor Gary Zerola did not end up taking the stand to testify in his own defense in his rape trial, and his side only called one witness before they rested their case.Zerola, 51, of Salem, who served as a prosecutor in both Essex and Suffolk counties before becoming a defense attorney, has pleaded not guilty to accusations that he raped a 23-year-old woman in a friend’s Beacon Hill apartment the morning of Nov. 10, 2016.Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday morning at 9 a.m.At the beginning of Thursday morning’s Suffolk Superior Court session, the third day in the trial, prosecutor Tom Brant said that the commonwealth was resting its case. While rumors and indications abounded around courtroom 815 that Zerola would take the stand as a defense witness.Instead, defense attorneys Joseph Krowski Jr. and Rosemary Scapicchio called only one witness: another defense attorney named Paul Moraski, who lives on Beacon Hill and is a friend of Zerola’s.Moraski testified that he c...

Gunnar Henderson hits go-ahead 2-run homer in 8th as Orioles rally late to beat Brewers, 6-3, avoid sweep

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

Gunnar Henderson made a defensive blunder that was a catalyst for the Brewers’ three-run first inning.Playing shortstop, the 21-year-old went up the middle for a soft ground ball that should’ve been an out, but he pulled up as second baseman Adam Frazier approached, allowing it to trickle into center field. Three more hits followed.But Henderson more than made up for the early mistake, hitting a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning to propel the Orioles to a 6-3 win over Milwaukee. The clutch home run was his second of the road trip after his solo shot in the seventh inning of Friday night’s win over the San Francisco Giants gave the Orioles a 3-2 win.Henderson came up with the Orioles trailing by a run and just four outs away from being swept. But the rookie barreled up the first pitch he saw from Brewers reliever Peter Strzelecki, hammering the high-and-away fastball and hitting it 366 feet over the left field wall.Baltimore’s offensive woes conti...

The bulls are back; Stocks climb 20% from last fall’s low

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

NEW YORK — Stocks rose just enough Thursday for Wall Street to barrel into a new bull market as the S&P 500 keeps rallying off its low from last autumn.The index rose 0.6% to carry it 20% above a bottom hit in October. That means Wall Street’s main measure of health has climbed out of a painful bear market, which saw it drop 25.4% over roughly nine months.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 168 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, led the market with a 1% rise. That’s been the norm so far this bull run, as chip maker Nvidia and a handful of other big tech stocks have been responsible for the lion’s share of Wall Street’s gains.Declaring the end of a bear market may seem arbitrary, but it offers a useful marker for investors. It also provides a reminder that investors able to hold on through downturns have nearly always made back all their losses in S&P 500 index funds eventually.Even though it was driven by so many superlatives — the w...

As tourists flock to view volcano’s latest eruption, Hawaii urges mindfulness, respect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii tourism officials urged tourists to be respectful when flocking to a national park on the Big Island to get a glimpse of the latest eruption of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Kilauea, Hawaii’s second-largest volcano, began erupting Wednesday after a three-month pause. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Thursday lowered Kilauea’s alert level from warning to watch because the rate of lava input declined, and no infrastructure is threatened. The eruption activity is confined to the closed area of the park.“Out of respect for the cultural and spiritual significance of a volcanic eruption and the crater area for many kamaʻāina, the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority urges mindfulness when planning a visit to the volcano,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday night, using a Hawaiian word often used for Hawaii residents. For many Native Hawaiians, an eruption of a volcano has a deep yet very personal cultural significanc...

New York lawmakers vote on bill that considers reparations for slavery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York would create a commission to consider reparations to address the lingering, negative effects of slavery under a bill being voted on by the state Legislature on Thursday. “We want to make sure we are looking at slavery and its legacies,” said state Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages before the floor debate. “This is about beginning the process of healing our communities. There still is generational trauma that people are experiencing. This is just one step forward.”New York is following the lead of California, which became the first state to form a reparations task force in 2020. That group recommended a formal apology from the state on its legacy of racism and discriminatory policies and the creation of an agency to provide a wide range of services for Black residents. They did not recommend specific payments amounts for reparations. The New York legislation would create a nine-member commission that would examine the extent to which the federal and state g...

Supporters of Hassan Diab say extradition must not be ‘instrument of persecution’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government’s representative in the Senate says he misspoke earlier this spring when he suggested that France had requested the extradition of Ottawa sociology professor Hassan Diab.In a new letter to Justin Trudeau, over 130 members of the Canadian legal community referred to the April 27 remarks by Sen. Marc Gold in urging that extradition must not be used as “an instrument of persecution and scapegoating.”Diab, who has always claimed innocence, was tried in absentia in Paris for a 1980 attack on a synagogue that killed four and wounded 46 people.A French court sentenced Diab to life in prison on April 21 and issued a warrant for his arrest.The letter to Trudeau notes Gold subsequently told fellow senators that an extradition request from France had been received and was “being examined.”Gold now says that he will not comment on any potential extradition requests, and suggested that Canada has not yet reviewed the written reasons f...

Man who killed manager, shot colleagues at Long Island supermarket gets 50 years to life in prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A shopping cart collector who killed a manager and wounded two workers at a Long Island grocery store in 2021 was sentenced Thursday to 50 years to life in prison.Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, 33, was convicted last month of murder and attempted murder in the shooting at the Stop & Shop store in West Hempstead.Police said Wilson, a “troubled employee” who had been reprimanded for threatening and sexually harassing colleagues, opened fire in an office about 40 minutes after talking to a supervisor about transferring to another store.The slain manager, Ray Wishropp, was shot in the chest at point-blank range, police said.Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Wilson has show no contrition or remorse and that she hopes his long prison sentence “provides some measure of justice for (Wishropp’s) family, friends, and coworkers still mourning his tragic loss.”Wilson fled the store after the shooting and was arrested about four hours later at an apa...

California jury returns $63M verdict after finding Chevron covered up toxic pit before selling land

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

A California jury has returned a $63 million verdict against Chevron after finding the oil giant covered up a toxic chemical pit and then sold the land to a man who built a house on it and was later diagnosed with a blood cancer. Kevin Wright, who has multiple myeloma, unknowingly built his home directly over the chemical pit near Santa Barbara in 1985, according to his lawsuit. Starting in 1974, Chevron subsidiary Union Oil had used the land as a sump pit for oil and gas production, a process that left the carcinogenic chemical benzene in the ground, court papers said. The company sold the property to Wright in 1983. Nearly three decades later, Wright was diagnosed with the cancer that attacks plasma cells in the blood and can be caused by benzene exposure, court documents said. The jurors in Santa Barbara on Wednesday returned the $63 million verdict, said Jakob Norman, an attorney for Wright. Norman called the case a “blatant example of environmental pollution and corporate malfe...

CP NewsAlert: Wildfire triggers evacuation order for Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

VANCOUVER — An immediate evacuation order has been issued for residents of the British Columbia District of Tumbler Ridge, a community of 2,400 people in northeastern B.C, due to the threat posed by an encroaching wildfire.More to come. The Canadian Press

Saputo says earnings rose in fourth quarter, financial year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:56 GMT

Saputo Inc. says its net earnings for the fourth quarter were $159 million, up from $37 million a year earlier. The Montreal-based company says revenues for the quarter ended March 31 were $4.5 billion, up from $4.0 billion the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share were 38 cents, up from nine cents a year earlier. Net earnings for the full financial year were $755 million, up from $485 million, while revenues rose to $17.8 billion from $15.0 billion. President and CEO Lino A. Saputo said in a press release that the company delivered a solid performance in its fourth quarter through pricing initiatives, strong international markets and favourable commodity prices. Saputo said the company expects a year of organic growth ahead despite a challenging macro backdrop. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:SAP)The Canadian Press