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Democratic Maryland governor Wes Moore signed a bill establishing the first statewide gun violence prevention center earlier this week.
The project, which is called the Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention, will operate within the Maryland Department of Health. Its mission is to “consolidate and better coordinate Maryland’s public health approach to preventing gun violence,” according to a press release published by the governor’s office on Thursday.
“The center will partner with local governments, advocates, and medical professionals engaged in violence intervention programs to build upon the critical gun violence intervention programs that were pioneered in Maryland and help ensure that they are adequately funded and informed by the best available data,” the statement explained.
Moore follows in the footsteps of President Biden, who established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention in September 2023. The Old Line State is the first to adopt a statewide agency against gun violence, Moore said.
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore established a Biden-inspired statewide gun prevention center. (Getty Images | iStock)
“Maryland became the first state in the nation to officially answer President Biden’s call,” the governor told reporters.
Moore also signed the Growing Apprenticeships and the Public Safety Workforce (GAPS) Act, which is aimed at better funding police departments in the state.
“With police departments across the state facing challenges with hiring and retaining officers, the bill proposes short and long-term actions to help address the problem by reforming the existing apprenticeship model for public safety officials – with the goal of making apprenticeships a more viable pathway to law enforcement, and requiring the establishment of a model policy for law enforcement officer wellness programs to ensure officers receive the support they need in their often challenging work,” the statement explains.
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Gov. Wes Moore talks about ongoing work at the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse site, during an interview with The Associated Press in his office on April 8, 2024, in Annapolis, Maryland. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
The laws come as Baltimore continues to be ravaged by crime. According to the Baltimore Police Department’s website, there have been more than 1,800 aggravated assaults and 1,200 robberies since 2024 began. In addition, there have been 155 shootings and 62 homicides this year.
“When we entered office, we made public safety our number one priority, and we said we were going to move differently on this issue – because the status quo wasn’t working,” a statement from Moore read. “Today, we make Maryland safer by signing bills to support victims, build stronger pipelines to law enforcement jobs, and tackle the gun violence epidemic, head-on.”
“We’re making progress, but our work is far from done. Together, we will continue to take an all-of-the-above approach to public safety.”
President Biden greets then-gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore during a rally on the eve of the midterm elections, at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland, on Nov. 7, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Moore’s office for additional comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.
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When reminiscing about sports moments and personalities of days gone by, the familiar anecdotes are often a joy to hear again and again.
Even better, though, is when there are fresh new stories to be told by those who were there.
The new YouTube channel Front Row to Boston Sports offers both familiar tales and ones you may not have heard before, as told by four of the most connected journalists and best storytellers in the modern annals of sports in this region.
Legendary former sports anchors Mike Lynch (Channel 5) and Bob Lobel (Channel 4), along with Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy and former Globe columnist Bob Ryan, have teamed up to share the funniest, most heartfelt, and illuminating tales from their storied careers, from press row and the locker room.
The project is the brainchild of Peter Brown, a former news director at Channel 4, where he spent 22 years before moving on to an accomplished career in public affairs and communications.
“You come from a news background, you’re always thinking about what’s the best way to tell a story,” he said. “What better story is there to tell than those about Boston sports? Everyone who is from here or has lived here is in some degree a fan. I thought a look back at some great moments and some behind-the-scenes details that only the most plugged-in reporters would know would be a fun thing to do.”
So Brown reached out to Alan Miller, a former sports producer at Channel 4 who worked with Brown during the local news heyday in the 1980-90s. Miller, who later worked at the Globe and in the Channel 7 newsroom before retiring in May 2024, has long been one of the most well-liked figures in the Boston sports media landscape, someone who knows everyone and whose word is as good as a signature on the dotted line.
Miller thought it was a super idea, and reached out to his close friend Lobel, along with Lynch, Shaughnessy, and Ryan. They all said yes immediately.
“We basically said, just tell us your best stories,” said Miller. “We wanted the stories that maybe you couldn’t tell on TV or in the newspaper, but the ones you might have told your buddies at the bar. The ones about what people are really like and what gets said behind the scenes. The ones about relationships. These were the four perfect guys to tell those.”
Currently, there are eight clips posted on the channel, ranging in length from just longer than three minutes (Ryan talking about his top five all-time Celtics) to 13 minutes (Shaughnessy sharing an assortment of Terry Francona stories). One of Lobel’s clips includes an emotional discussion of Ted Williams, while Lynch is especially insightful talking about Bill Belichick’s candor off camera during their old Bellistrator segments.
Brown and Miller plan to sprinkle out a few new clips each week. Since the project has been in the works for approximately a year, they were able to build up a catalogue of 30 clips before launch.
Miller said there’s another reason that everyone involved wanted to be part of the project — the fear that institutional knowledge about Boston sports isn’t what it used to be because of the changing media landscape.
“When I was at Channel 7, John Havlicek died, and I think there were about three people in the newsroom who knew how John Havlicek was,” he said. “It’s not their fault, a lot of them are 20-something kids and half of them are from out of town.
“But there can be a real lack of knowledge about the past. And Boston sports, as you know, has an amazing past. You’d like the legacy and the memories to stay alive.”
It’s no surprise that Patriots television ratings have risen this season corresponding with the team’s return to prominence.
But even if the rise in ratings is logical, some of the heights that they are reaching — or returning to, a half-dozen years after Tom Brady’s final season in New England — are remarkable.
Take last Sunday’s 35-31 loss to the Bills, which aired at 1 p.m. on CBS as a regional broadcast. The game had a 31.4 household rating and 78 share in Boston.
That household rating — the percentage of households in a defined area tuned in to a program at a given time — is the highest for any Patriots game on any network since the regular season finale against the Dolphins in 2021. That also happens to be the last season the Patriots made the playoffs.
The 78 share — the percentage of households with television in use — is reminiscent of the viewership the Patriots enjoyed during the dynasty. As noted here previously, the Patriots averaged a 35.3 household rating and 66 share in 2018, their most recent Super Bowl-winning season.
Nine of the Patriots’ 14 games have aired on CBS this season. Those broadcasts have averaged a 25.7 household rating and 73 share, up 35 percent from last year (19.0/59) through the same span.
Overall last Sunday, the 1 p.m. slot — which also included the Chargers-Chiefs matchup — was a massive success for CBS, averaging 18.9 million viewers across the games. That made it the most-watched regional window on any network in 37 years.
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A woman was rushed to the hospital after being seriously hurt in a fire Saturday in Rocky Hill.
This all unfolded during the late morning hours at a home on Main Street.
Fire officials say they had to rescue the woman from the home and her injuries are considered life threatening.
Hoarding conditions did a play a factor in the fire, according to the fire department.
No other injuries were reported. Further details pertaining to the fire weren’t immediately available.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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