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Florida Senate passes ‘Live Local’ affordable housing bill unanimously

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

The current Florida legislative session promises to be a battle of the bills, but one measure that aims to address one of the state’s biggest crises appears to have widespread support from both parties. The crisis, as lawmakers in the Florida State and House repeatedly pointed out on Wednesday, is housing.“We are in a housing crisis,” said Florida State Sen. Alexis Calatayud.It’s not something lawmakers need to tell most residents of the Sunshine State.Akilya Drake, an assistant public defender who lives in Broward County, said she understands what’s at stake all too well.“It was more than half my paycheck, the raise in rent for the same apartment,” she said. “I’m not living on South Beach; I’m living in Tamarac.”Wednesday evening, the Florida Senate passed what’s called the “Live Local” bill The measure would funnel millions of dollars to state housing programs, provide tax incentives for developers...

Emerson College graduates among Oscar nominees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

Two of this year’s Oscar-nominated directors have ties to Boston as graduates from Emerson College. As the Oscars approach, one of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s former professors said he remembers the pair well.Kwan and Scheinert, known as “the Daniels,” directed “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”The pair met while studying film at Emerson. They thanked Professor John Craig Freeman while on stage this weekend for an awards ceremony.“We would not be here without the advocates, the cheerleaders, the people who really believed us and snuck us into the back door, starting with our teachers,” Kwan said.Kwan said Freeman “taught us how to teach ourselves.” “Thank you,” Kwan said. 7NEWS spoke with Freeman, the duo’s visual and media arts professor, who said the recent shoutout was the ultimate compliment coming from students he remembers well. “They were self actualizing artists, and they very much knew what they wanted to do, and they tr...

Lucas: Newbie Healey should hold her fire on DeSantis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

Memo to Gov. Maura Healey:Don’t tug on Superman’s cape.You are too new to the job to take on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is probably the most successful  governor in the country. And we are talking about 50 governors here, including you.Wait a while. We know you, as a new governor, need a headline or two, especially to divert attention from those who think you are in over your head — particularly in dealing with the MBTA nightmare. But you have time.And we know it must be irksome to watch fellow newcomer State Auditor Diana DiZoglio steal the show by launching a performance audit of the ailing transit agency right under your nose.But be patient. Grin and bear it. DiZoglio graciously did offer to share the results of her audit with you and the new MBTA general manager you will appoint, if you can find anyone crazy enough to take the job.You should stick to going after Donald Trump, which you were  good at, suing him a hundred times or so when you were Massachusetts attorney genera...

Recapping the Chicago Bulls: A 117-96 upset of the Denver Nuggets breathes life into postseason hopes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

The Chicago Bulls didn’t have any advantage on their side when they arrived in Denver — not the odds, not the altitude, not their recent momentum.The Bulls entered with a two-game losing streak after giving up a potential play-in tiebreaker to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, and they risked a drop to 12th in the Eastern Conference with another loss.Their offensive rating had plummeted since January as they dropped repeated clutch games and struggled to string together wins. And after a strong start to the season against the top teams, the Bulls hadn’t beaten a team above .500 since Jan. 6.But they didn’t need Wednesday’s 117-96 win over the Western Conference-leading Nuggets to make sense. They just needed it to spark something — life, enthusiasm, belief — back into a season plagued by inconsistency.When Zach LaVine vaulted in the air with his arm ratcheted backward for a ferocious hammer dunk in the third quarter, he seemed to crush the ball ...

‘Scream VI’ takes another stab at extending slasher franchise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Scream VI”Rated R. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theatersGrade: BIt’s hard to believe we are at our sixth “Scream” film with those Edvard Munch-like “ghostface” masks. But enough people have enjoyed the films (and worn the masks) to keep them coming, including a TV series. The most recent film based on the series created by Kevin Williamson arrived only last year, and two actors from that film, Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera, return in “Scream VI” under somewhat different circumstances. Barrera, a breakout actor in the 20021 release “In the Heights,” deserves better than two “Scream” films as her reward for her fine work in the musical. For her part, Ortega plays the title role in the Netflix smash “Wednesday” and has become a household name.In “Scream VI,” a meta-movie that juggles the terms “sequel,” “prequel” and “requel,” we hear a lot about the fictional film series “Stab” based on the (fictional) book “The Woodsboro Murders” by (fict...

Editorial: Everyone takes a hit in Biden’s ‘tax the rich’ plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

Joe Biden never played with dominoes as a kid.If he had, he’d know that when one falls, it sends the rest tumbling after. It’s a simple lesson in cause and effect.For Biden, it’s all about tipping over a domino and walking away, convinced that physics will take a day off. Pushing through $1T+ bills to fund his climate change agenda and other pricey bits of legislation spurred the breakneck inflation the country is still feeling. Turning off the spigot on the Keystone Pipeline in his war against fossil fuels helped elevate the price of gas.Lessons learned? Nothing.Biden keeps doubling down, pushing his student loan forgiveness scheme that will make our already enormous national debt balloon further. That the Supreme Court is on the fence about the legality of the plan hasn’t been taken as a chance to consider the fallout should it pass. A nay vote is seen as a potential catastrophe for Democrats and the young voters they court.Now the president is targeting ta...

F. Murray Abraham gives Mozart an encore with ‘The Magic Flute’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

It took F. Murray Abraham over 30 years to come to terms with his Oscar-winning performance in “Amadeus” and the result is Friday’s big-screen version of Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute.”Murray was named Best Actor for the hit film adaptation of the stage drama that questioned how God could bestow musical genius on low-class Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart while his God-fearing rival, Abraham’s Antonio Salieri, recognizes that he’s, at best, mediocre.A critical and box-office sensation, “Amadeus” (’84) won 8 Academy Awards and made Abraham a star.  “There was a time after I did ‘Amadeus,’” Abraham, 83, recalled in a phone interview this week, every role he was offered was in that same groove.“I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. I thought, ‘I’m more than that movie. There are other things I can do.’ So I started doing more theater, classical stuff. But after all these years, I’m falling in love with the idea of still being associated with it because it still lives &...

Walters: Watershed moment in U.S. history gets a woke rewrite

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

Boston is known as the “Cradle of Liberty,” as the American Revolution that gave birth to the United States began here. The Old South Meeting House, where the Sons of Liberty denounced British rule and the Boston Tea Party began, and the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre, are two of Boston’s most significant historical landmarks.Managing and operating these two special sites is Revolutionary Spaces, an organization whose mission is “bringing people together to explore the American struggle to create and sustain a free society.” In 2019, before the pandemic, I helped create the  “Reflecting Attucks” exhibit that honored Crispus Attucks, the first martyr for the cause of independence in America. Historians from many backgrounds worked together to assemble this singular installation, and we made something very special: an exhibit that put the past front and center, untarnished by partisanship or political correctness.On March 5, 1770, colonists ...

This year’s Oscar slate spotlights diversity & firsts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

Salute this year’s Oscars — the 95th edition is televised live Sunday on ABC — as a monument to a diverse group of new faces.For the first time in Oscar history since 1934 ALL five Best Actors are first-time nominees: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Brendan Fraser, “The Whale,” Paul Butler, “Elvis,” Bill Nighy, “Living” and Paul Mescal, “Aftersun.”Also, of this year’s 20 acting nominees, 16 are first timers. Only Cate Blanchett with 8 nominations (and 2 wins), Michelle Williams (5), Angela Bassett (2) and Judd Hirsch (also 2), have previously been honored.Another first: All five Best Director nominees are also nominated for Best Screenplay: Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans,” Martin McDonagh, “Banshees,” Todd Field, “Tár,” Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Sweden’s Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness.”Asian-Americans, habitually under-represented by the Academy, are spotlighted this year with nominees for Best Actr...

Throwback Thursday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:10:18 GMT

They were the hottest tickets in town, if you could get them. Few could, but that didn’t keep U2 fans from swarming the area near the Somerville Theatre, hoping for a miracle, or even a glimpse of the band. The group played a private concert at the 1,000-seat theater, with tickets gone by showtime – most through local radio stations. When this March 11, 2009 photo was taken, Michelle Higgins of South Boston holds up her ticket and a local newspaper.  (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)