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Harvard Pilgrim says patient information may have been taken during hack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

Patient information may have been stolen during a ransomware incident that hit Harvard Pilgrim earlier this year, the healthcare company said this week. Point32Health, which serves as the parent company for Harvard Pilgrim, said it learned about the incident on April 17 and took systems offline while working to identify the cybersecurity problem. Just over a month later, Harvard Pilgrim said an investigation into the breach showed signs that data was copied and taken from Harvard Pilgrim systems between March 28 and April 17 before systems went offline. Information that may have been taken during the incident, officials said, includes patients’ social security numbers, taxpayer information and phone numbers. Harvard Pilgrim said the beach could impact current or former subscribers and dependents, as well as contracted providers. In its statement, Point32 said law enforcement has been contacted and cybersecurity experts are still reviewing what happened. “Harvard Pilgr...

Suspect in murder of Concord, NH couple indicted on additional charge 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

The person accused of murdering a Concord, New Hampshire couple last year has been indicted on another charge, state and local officials announced Tuesday. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood said a Merrimack County Grand Jury indicted Logan Clegg, 27, last week on a charge of falsifying physical evidence. Clegg was previously indicted on other charges including second degree murder and other falsifying physical evidence charges after prosecutors said he allegedly killed Stephen and Djeswende Reid on April 18 of last year.The couple was found on a hiking trail near their home. Clegg, officials alleged, later destroyed or removed information from his laptop computer on April 21.Clegg was arrested in October of last year at a library in South Burlington, Vermont. He later pleaded not guilty to various charges at an arraignment in January.Clegg was being held without bail as of Tuesday. 

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles buys $2M Lincolnshire home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and his wife, Katie, in November paid $2.07 million for a newly built, five-bedroom, 5,200-square-foot house in Lincolnshire.Poles, 37, was hired as the Bears’ general manager in January 2022 after a lengthy career as an executive for the Kansas City Chiefs.In Lincolnshire, the couple’s new home was constructed in 2022 by Arthur J. Greene Custom Builders. The two-story, modern farmhouse-style home first had been listed for $2 million and sold for above its asking price, likely due to certain upgrades.Because Ryan and Katie Poles bought the house from a homebuilder, very few details are available. The house has a wood and stone exterior with a four-car garage.The couple bought the house through an opaque land trust that conceals their names. Real estate agent Lori Glattly, who represented Ryan and Katie Poles in their purchase, declined to comment on the deal.Ryan and Katie Poles previously had sold their five-bedroom, 3,182-square...

South Carolina ready to renew abortion ban around 6 weeks of pregnancy after Senate vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

By JAMES POLLARD (Associated Press/Report for America)COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy — before most people know they are pregnant – and sent it to the governor who has promised to sign it.The proposal restores a ban South Carolina had in place when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year — a ban that, once it took effect, was overturned by the state’s highest court because it violated the state Constitution’s right to privacy.Republicans have been searching for an answer to that ruling because it left abortion legal through 22 weeks of pregnancy and sharply increased the number of abortions taking place in South Carolina as most other Southern states enacted stricter laws.The bill includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patient’s life and health, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. Doctors could face felony char...

Nikki Haley hits New Hampshire as Republican field grows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

Nikki Haley is back in the Granite State just as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce he’s joining her in the GOP presidential field.Haley announced she would make a requisite yet traditional campaign stop for breakfast in New Hampshire.Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, will be in Goffstown Wednesday morning at the Saint Anselm College for the “Politics and Eggs” speaker series.Presented by The New England Council and The New Hampshire Institute of Politics & Political Library at Saint Anselm College, the morning event is a pre-presidential “must stop” and has been since its start in 1995.Though Haley is the first declared candidate to take the stage in Goffstown, she isn’t the only presidential prospect to stop for scrambled eggs and bacon this cycle.The event has already hosted Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, though before he announced his campaign, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ...

BC tops Virginia Tech 11-7 in ACC tournament opener

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

Boston College kicked off the ACC baseball tournament with an 11-7 victory over Virginia Tech in Pool C play on Tuesday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.The No. 6 seed Eagles improved to 35-17 and will take engage the No. 3 seed Clemson Tigers on Friday morning (11) with a trip to the semifinals on the line. BC is 3-1 against Virginia Tech this season.Down 3-0 in the third, BC got a pair of two-run doubles by Joe Vetrano and Nick Wang to take a 4-3 lead. The Hokies responded with three runs in the top of the fourth to go up 6-4.BC center fielder Barry Walsh opened the bottom of the sixth with a solo 400-foot home run. Wang followed with a three-run single down the third base line to put the Eagles up 8-6. BC added two more in the seventh on a two-run single by Vetrano and scored one in the eighth. Wang drove in five or more runs in a game for the third time this season.Henry Leake threw 2.1 innings of scoreless middle relief to pick up his fourth win. Andrew Roman came o...

Ticker: Father and son duo jailed in lottery scheme; Medicaid to audit high price drugs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

A father and son from Watertown have both been sent to prison for running an elaborate lottery fraud scheme designed to enrich themselves and help prize winners avoid paying taxes on their windfall, prosecutors said.Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, both of Watertown, cashed in 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a roughly 10-year period, laundered more than $20 million in proceeds, and then lied on their tax returns to cheat the IRS out of about $6 million, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston announced Monday.The Jaafars purchased winning lottery tickets at a discount from people who wanted to avoid identification by the state lottery commission, which withholds taxes and outstanding child support payments from payouts.Medicaid to audit high price drugsThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Tuesday it is planning to conduct a yearly audit to verify the prices drug makers charge on a handful of the costliest prescriptions covered by Medicaid.Drugs that cost ...

Racial abuse against Vinícius Júnior brings arrests and partial closure of Valencia stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police took action Tuesday after the latest case of abuse against Vinícius Júnior, arresting seven people accused of racially insulting the Real Madrid player.Spanish soccer officials also acted, fining Valencia 45,000 euros ($48,500) and closing part of the team’s stadium for the next five games.Three people were detained in Valencia for alleged abuse against Vinícius in Sunday’s match between Valencia and Madrid. Four were arrested in Madrid for allegedly hanging an effigy of the player off a highway bridge in January.The arrests came after an outpouring of support for Vinícius after he said he was abused in Valencia. The case prompted widespread reaction from sports figures and government officials in Spain and worldwide.The section of Mestalla Stadium that will be closed is where the insults against Vinícius came from, behind one of the goals. It’s also where the club’s more hardcore fans usually are located.The Spanish federation...

Wes Anderson on his new ’50s-set film ‘Asteroid City,’ AI and all those TikTok videos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — When Wes Anderson comes down from Paris for the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France, he and his actors don’t stay in one of Cannes’ luxury hotels but more than an hour down the coast and well outside the frenzy of the festival.“When we arrived here yesterday, we arrived at a calm, peaceful hotel,” Anderson said in a interview. “We’re one hour away, but it’s a total normal life.”Normal life can mean something different in a Wes Anderson film, and that may be doubly so in his latest, “Asteroid City.” It’s among Anderson’s most charmingly chock-full creations, a much-layered, ’50s-set fusion of science fiction, midcentury theater and about a hundred other influences ranging from Looney Tunes to “Bad Day at Black Rock.”“Asteroid City,” which Focus Features will release June 16, premiered Tuesday in Cannes. Anderson and his starry cast — including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, ...

Maine’s top gambling regulator on paid leave following tweets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:57 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s top gambling regulator has been placed on paid administrative leave following tweets posted from his personal account about women and a white nationalist group, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Public Safety said Tuesday.Milt Champion, executive director of the Gambling Control Unit, was placed on leave May 17 because of the tweets, Lt. Thomas Pickering, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.Champion’s case is “pending a review that is being conducted by the Bureau of Human Resources,” Pickering wrote. “Given that this is an ongoing, personnel-related matter, the department is unable to comment further.”Messages sent to Champion and members of the Gambling Control Unit were not immediately returned Tuesday. The tweets were sent May 6 and May 14, and had been removed by Tuesday. In one of them, Champion tweeted about being told it was inappropriate to refer to women as “lad...