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What to know about changes to this year’s FAFSA application for college students

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is available for the 2024-2025 school year, but only on a limited basis as the U.S. Department of Education works on a redesign meant to make it easier to apply.That means the Free Application for Federal Student Aid students can usually fill out starting in October isn’t yet available to everyone.A soft launch period opened last week and the Department of Education said it will continue to make the new form available for short periods of time. Students who want to submit their applications now will need to monitor the studentaid.gov website since it’s available at different times during the day.Since the soft launch was announced, there has been limited availability and some students and their families have experienced glitches.“Even by soft launch standards, this weekend’s rollout was challenging and students, families, and financial aid administrators who have been waiting for this...

Women at retirement community in Hingham pose for calendar to benefit good cause 

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

A group of women living at a retirement community in Hingham are striking a pose for a good cause as part of a new calendar project. Dubbed the Lovely Ladies of Linden Ponds calendar, the pictures have been generating chatter as residents ranging in age from 69 to 92 bare it all to benefit their neighbors and their facility’s resident care fund. “We’re not doing it for ourselves, we’re not doing it for the publicity, we’re doing it for our resident neighbors,” said one participant in the project. The resident care fund ensures residents can continue living at the Linden Ponds community even when money runs out.As of Tuesday, the women behind this calendar project had sold 750 calendars — halfway to their goal. Despite appearances, the ladies said the photos are all an illusion.“We were fully clothed or at least had a bathing suit on,” one person said. From a former opera singer to corporate professionals, each lady has a story to tell.With their calend...

Part of MBTA Green Line to shut down Wednesday in first of several January closures

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

Part of the MBTA’s Green Line will shut down Wednesday in the first of several planned closures this month. Closures along parts of the B, C, D and E branches will span 23 days, the biggest impacts will be felt on the C and D branches between North Station and Kenmore station. Service between North Station and Kenmore will be suspended from Jan. 3 through Jan. 12. The stretch will reopen for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend before closing again from Jan. 16 through Jan. 28. Service on the B branch between North Station and Babcock Street and on the E branch between North Station and Heath Street will also be suspended during the same timespan.A series of shorter service suspensions is scheduled on the Green Line Extension throughout January.The T outlined some of the upcoming changes and later adjusted part of its timeline late last month as it continues maintenance efforts throughout its system.Speaking on Wednesday, riders shared their outlook on the w...

Trump’s name drawn bingo-style to appear fifth on Mass. ballot, insurrection aside

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

Constitutional law, political perspective, and the practicalities of printing came to a sudden collision in the Massachusetts State Library, when the nation’s longest serving secretary of state made it very clear that former President Donald Trump should appear on his state’s Republican primary ballot, regardless of any alleged participation in insurrection.Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin, on Tuesday, added an envelope containing a folded white card marked only with the name “Donald J. Trump” to a gold-painted metal-mesh basket, where it joined similar card-carrying envelopes, each containing the name of another of six Republican presidential candidates.Galvin spun the basket by hand several times, both clockwise and counter, before drawing a single envelope. It’s fair to note the sealed envelopes were too big to receive a genuine shuffle.“Chris Christie,” Galvin said, reading the first card shortly after 11 a.m.Next drawn, Christian radio host Ryan Binkley, wh...

Massachusetts emergency shelter spending for FY24 up to $247M, report says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey’s administration reported an additional $42 million in spending on the emergency assistance shelter system in the span of two weeks in December, according to a report filed Tuesday with the Legislature’s budget writing committees.The financial details are spelled out in a document that also sheds light on a state-run list for families with children and pregnant people waiting for shelter placement, indicating that nearly 1,400 families have applied for shelter since the system reached Healey’s self-imposed capacity limit of 7,500 families.Spending on the emergency assistance shelter system — which temporarily houses local and migrant families pursuant to a decades-old right-to-shelter law — covers shelter services, National Guard activations, assessment sites, intake centers, and temporary shelters, according to the report.In its first report released two weeks ago, state officials said Massachusetts had spent a total of $205 million on the emergency assistance hou...

Prosecutors say Sen. Menendez cashed in by linking Qatari royal family member with NJ businessman

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez publicly supported the government of Qatar and enabled a member of the Qatari royal family, a principal in a company with ties to the government of Qatar, to invest tens of millions of dollars in a New Jersey businessman’s real estate project, a rewritten indictment alleged Tuesday.The superseding indictment in Manhattan federal court did not identify the member of the Qatari royal family but said the individual was the principal of the Qatari Investment Co., an investment fund. Menendez, D-N.J., already was charged with wielding his political influence to secretly advance Egypt’s interests.The indictment said the Qatari investor eventually negotiated a multimillion-dollar investment finalized in 2023 in the real estate project planned by Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen charged in the indictment along with the 70-year-old senator and his wife. All have pleaded not guilty.Adam Fee, a ...

Grab a free SeaWorld Preschool Fun Card for little ones for 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Parents of toddlers in San Diego and Orange counties can now grab a free Preschool Fun Card for their children to get unlimited admission to SeaWorld San Diego for 2024.Limited amounts of the Preschool Fun Cards are now on sale on SeaWorld San Diego's website. The passes are listed as free, then $24 once the free passes are all sold out. Watch: Celebrate the holiday season with animals at SeaWorld San Diego, San Diego Zoo All kids ages 3 to 5 that live in San Diego or Orange counties are eligible to get the Preschool Fun Card, which allows toddlers unlimited year-round admission to the park through Dec. 31, 2024. SeaWorld says the passes go fast, so grab yours today. As a parent with a toddler, this author snagged hers Tuesday morning, but be warned the load times are pretty slow while everyone is on at the same time trying to get theirs. Once you get the Preschool Fun Card, you must register online and visit the park by May 31, 2024 in order to activate the card. Ke...

Elections head in Nevada’s lone swing county resigns, underscoring election turnover in key state

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The rapid turnover among election officials in Nevada continued on Tuesday, when the top election official in Nevada’s lone swing county abruptly announced her resignation less than a month before early voting commences for the Feb. 6 presidential preference primary.Washoe County Registrar of Voters Jamie Rodriguez said in her resignation letter that she wanted to pursue opportunities away from elections and spend more time with family ahead of a crucial 2024 election cycle.Her last day will be March 15, though she will use her accrued time before then.Eleven of Nevada’s 17 counties have had turnover in top county election positions since the 2020 election, most of which occurred between 2020 and the 2022 midterms, according to an Associated Press tally. That already included Washoe County, whose past registrar of voters, Deanna Spikula, resigned in June 2022 due to death threats and harassment.The county had no additional comment on Rodriguez’s departure, other th...

‘We had to do something different’: Leafs’ GM details plan for Samsonov

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

Something, anything had to change.The goaltender Brad Treliving took to arbitration over the summer because the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t believe in him enough to commit long-term no longer believes in himself.So, with the trade prices too steep for the GM’s liking in a goalie market flooded with buyers and short on sellers, Treliving had a choice: (a) keep trotting out Ilya Samsonov in back-to-back situations and hold his breath, or (b) give the goalie a break from NHL spotlights and red lights and reluctantly call up the kid.The plan for his $3.55-million goaltender? Practice.Yep, we’re talking about practice.“We know Ilya has gone through a difficult time,” Treliving told reporters Tuesday, following the Leafs’ morning skate at Crypto.com Arena. “I just felt strongly we had to do something different to help Ilya.”While Samsonov was waived to the AHL and prospect Dennis Hildeby recalled prior to the club’s California road trip...

Court injunction against law banning public drug use disappointing, say police chiefs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:20:43 GMT

VANCOUVER — A top British Columbia law enforcement official says a recent court decision placing a temporary injunction on a law to restrict public drug use takes away police enforcement tools.Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Const. Fiona Wilson, who’s also president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police, says officers are disappointed with the B.C. Supreme Court decision last week that blocks the provincial law.Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled in favour of an application by the Harm Reduction Nurses Association and imposed the temporary injunction until March 31, pending a constitutional challenge of the law, saying “irreparable harm will be caused” if it comes into force.The Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act was passed by the legislature in November, allowing fines and imprisonment for refusal to comply with police orders not to consume drugs in places including parks, beaches, sports fields and near business entrances and bus stop...