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Our critic’s picks: Best mystery fiction books of 2023

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

Compiling the annual favorite mysteries of the year is a labor of love, and a true labor that begins with the first novel of the year. Annually, it becomes harder to narrow down the list from the 120 or so mysteries I read during the year. And 2023 was another banner year. Major trends in the genre continue to be diversity, regional stories, veterans and domestic suspense.Happy reading.Ivy Pochoda’s decidedly noir novels excavate a part of Los Angeles most people would prefer to ignore — the homeless camps, the run-down motels, the bits of sidewalks and alleys where someone has carved a home of sorts. She peoples this landscape with women on the margins who are plunged into one chaotic situation after another. A bleak setting to be sure, but brilliantly explored as Pochoda burrows deep into her characters’ psyches. “Sing Her Down,” Pochoda’s tour de force, looks at the rage women may carry, why a person — in these cases women — would abandon a comfortable, middle-class living for cr...

Republican National Committee blasts President Biden for attending Boston fundraisers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

The Republican National Committee is blasting Joe Biden’s “weak leadership” and “misplaced priorities,” as the president is in Boston for a trio of fundraisers today to benefit his campaign and the broader Democratic Party.“Joe Biden is taking the day off to cozy up to his elite donors while Hamas is still holding as many as eight Americans hostage,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement earlier. “His weak leadership has emboldened our enemies, and his misplaced priorities are disgraceful.”Air Force One landed at Logan International Airport just after 11:18 this morning, and Gov. Maura Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu greeted Biden on the tarmac minutes later.The Biden motorcade arrived at Westin Boston Seaport around 11:45 a.m. for the first fundraising event of the day, and the president later traveled out of the city, making a stop in Weston.Boston’s branch of the Party for Socialism & Liberation will be picketing and rallying at Biden’s last stop of the day – a conce...

Report: Red Sox to extend offer to pitcher Seth Lugo

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

The Red Sox are ramping up their efforts to bolster their starting rotation.A source confirms that they are expected to make an offer to Seth Lugo. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Boston is one of at least four teams interested in the right-hander’s services. The Atlanta Braves are another.Overall, Lugo owns a 4.01 ERA and 1.279 WHIP across 64 career starts. However, he primarily worked out of the bullpen throughout the first seven years of his Major League career, all spent with the New York Mets. Over 275 total games in blue and orange, including 38 starts and 66 games finished, he posted a 3.48 ERA, 3.63 FIP, and 1.164 WHIP. He held opposing hitters to a .236 average and .675 OPS, struck out 508 and only issued 137 walks across 494 2/3 regular-season innings.The righty, who just turned 34, joined the San Diego Padres on a one-year deal and worked exclusively out of the rotation for the first time. Over 26 starts totaling 146 1/3 innings, he posted a 3.57 ERA, 3....

Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara to argue dismissal of charges related to crash at January court date

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

The latest hearing in the Kendra Lara car crash legal saga was a short and confused one that ultimately ended in yet another date to argue the latest motion to dismiss.Councilwoman Lara was scheduled to lead a City Council hearing at the same time as the 2 p.m. hearing in municipal court in West Roxbury. While the court appearance lasted about 7 minutes, the city council hearing began 35 minutes late.Lara faces charges related to a June crash into a Centre Street home in Jamaica Plain. In October, charges of speeding and reckless operation were removed from her charges, leaving her with charges of recklessly permitting bodily injury to a child under 14 years old, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving with a suspended license, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving an unregistered vehicle, and not placing a child under 8 years old and under 58 inches in a car seat. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.Following the incident, the Herald reported that Lara had not been a lice...

Recipes: Olive oil is the star at Hanukkah, but everything doesn’t have to be fried

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins on Thursday evening, Dec. 7.The miracle of Hanukkah is said to have involved oil, probably olive oil. The story goes that pure oil was needed for rekindling the eternal light of the Holy Temple in Ancient Jerusalem, after invaders were chased out of the city; amazingly, the oil lasted for eight days instead of just one. In recent years, more and more people have been using olive oil to fry Hanukkah specialties.For making latkes, a traditional Hanukkah dish of fried patties, the ingredient of choice has long been potatoes; but these tubers, which originated in the New World, were not available in Ancient Israel. There people could make patties from lentils or vegetables. Today we make delicious latkes from a variety of vegetables such as chayote squash, zucchini, corn and winter squashes.Yet food for Hanukkah doesn’t have to be fried. Romesco sauce and roasted ratatouille, which are traditionally made with olive oil, are fine choices fo...

California EDD dropping BofA for unemployment benefits payments

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

(KRON) -- The California Unemployment Development Department is dropping Bank of America as its partner for distributing unemployment benefits. In a news release on Friday, the EDD said it would be replacing BofA with financial provider Money Network.Just as BofA did, Money Network will issue prepaid debit cards with microchips to benefits recipients. However, the EDD announced it will also be adding a new direct deposit option. Nearly two dozen Bank of America branches closing across Bay Area In addition to unemployment benefits, the change is expected to impact those who receive disability and Paid Family Leave benefits. The EDD began sending letters to the 850,000 Californians with active benefit claims on Monday to inform them of the key transition dates and actions. The official switch to Money Network will take place on Feb. 15, 2024, according to the EDD. Claimants, according to the EDD, can continue using their current BofA prepaid debit cards as they normally do, for now....

Federal Trade Commission is investigating ExxonMobil’s $60B deal to acquire a Texas oil company

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators are investigating ExxonMobil’s $60 billion deal to acquire a Texas oil company in what would be one the largest mergers in the energy industry in two decades, according to securities filings.The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal antitrust law, has asked for additional information from the companies about Exxon’s proposed acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. The request is a step the agency takes when reviewing whether a merger could be anticompetitive under U.S. law. Pioneer disclosed the request in a filing Tuesday. The investigation comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators urged the FTC to investigate the Exxon-Pioneer deal and a separate acquisition by oil giant Chevron, a proposed $53 billion purchase of Hess Corporation. Both deals are among the largest petroleum deals in U.S. history and could violate antitrust law, the Democrats said. There’s no public indication of a feder...

US officials want ships to anchor farther from California undersea pipelines, citing 2021 oil spill

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials on Tuesday recommended increasing the distance from undersea pipelines that vessels are allowed to anchor in Southern California, citing a 2021 oil spill they said was caused by ships whose anchors were dragged across a pipeline after a storm.The leak occurred in a ruptured pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy. National Transportation Safety Board officials concluded damage to the pipeline had been caused months earlier when a cold front brought high winds and seas to the Southern California coast, causing two container vessels that were anchored offshore to drag their anchors across the area where the pipeline was located.The October 2021 spill of 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) sent blobs of crude washing ashore in Huntington Beach and nearby communities, shuttered beaches and fisheries, coated birds with oil and threatened area wetlands.The Beijing and MSC Danit — each measuring more than 1,100 feet (335 meters) long — ha...

St. Louis prosecutor who replaced progressive says he’s ‘enforcing the laws’ in first 6 months

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Prosecution of violent crime in St. Louis is rising sharply in the six months since an embattled progressive prosecutor was replaced by an appointed circuit attorney, according to the prosecutor’s office.Gabe Gore said Tuesday that his office has prosecuted 45% more cases than in the same six-month period of 2022, when Kim Gardner was the city’s top prosecutor. Gore, speaking at a news conference, said his office also has made a dent in a backlog of pending criminal cases by resolving about 2,500 of them — mostly violent crimes in a city with one of the highest homicide rates in the nation.“There’s no type of crime that we are looking the other way on,” Gore said. “We are enforcing the laws. We don’t accept the notion that as a citizen of the city of St. Louis you have to accept a certain amount of property crime, or what people would refer to as petty crime, as a cost of living in the city.”Gore, a Democrat, was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike P...

Senate censures Sen. Michael MacDonald for ‘insensitive’ comments on ‘Freedom Convoy’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:07 GMT

OTTAWA — Senators have voted to condemn one of their own, following a colourful rant covertly recorded during the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” protest last year.The Senate ethics watchdog found this spring that Conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald violated the code of conduct.The Nova Scotia senator was caught on video in February 2022 castigating downtown Ottawa residents who complained about the protests, saying locals were overpaid and underworked.MacDonald apologized for his remarks in the Senate, and he told media he had been drinking on the evening in question.The Senate’s ethics officer ruled he had breached six sections of the code that governs senators, including two related to his conduct and four others for a lack of compliance in the investigation itself.The ethics officer determined that the Red Chamber must formally censure members whose conduct undermines the Senate’s reputation, and senators recently voted to do so.On Nov. 30, the chamber voted...