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Huddleston: Antitrust laws could hit your favorite ‘dupes’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

If you spend any time on social media platforms, you have probably encountered videos or other content promoting alternative “dupes” of popular or expensive products. Consumers have long looked for cheaper versions of popular products, and various retailers have taken information on these consumer trends and provided cheaper alternatives under in-house brands.As many consumers worry about inflation and the possibility of a recession, it is unsurprising that “dupes” are a social media trend. However, some proposed changes to antitrust laws could make it harder for Amazon or other popular retailers to offer their own store brands — including some of the consumers’ favorite dupes.In recent years, the word “dupe” has proliferated on social media, especially through niche influencers who share various hacks for shoppers on a budget. Their recommended products are similar to the original in looks or quality but come at a significantly lower cost and are more affordable to the typical cons...

True crime meets history in ‘Broadway Butterfly’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

The unsolved murder of the beautiful Dot King captivated New York. But the hype around the case proved insufficient motivation to catch the killer. So what happened?In “Broadway Butterfly,” a jazzy true crime historical thriller, author Sara DiVello unearths piles of evidence and presents them through witnesses, detectives and journalists in an attempt to find out what happened to the fast-living, generous and ambitious young woman whose life was suddenly and mysteriously snuffed out.The chapters go around between reporter Julia Harpman, inspector John D. Coughlin, and Dot’s maid and confidant Ella Bradford. Each takes on their own lexicon for a personal feel of character — Julia is obsessed with reporting and the hustle of being a pioneer newspaperwoman, and sees herself as a righteous champion of women. Coughlin is a hardened policeman whose preconceived ideas of others are solidified, and he’s constantly surprised at “girls these days” living and traveling alone, and at Broadway ...

Friends plan to confront high school tormenter in ‘Speech Team’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

Tim Murphy’s novel “Speech Team” begins with a short scene featuring four friends who reunite after years apart to “avenge the mortifications of youth.”It is February 2013 and all have briefly swapped the cold and damp of the Northeast for an undertaking in Sarasota, Florida. As they drive to a mystery address in a rental car, they each try to keep their nerves under control. But when they approach their destination, a ranch home on a residential street, one passenger panics at the sight of an old man on the front steps and tells the driver not to stop. Fear wins, ruining any chance of the reckoning they had planned.An aborted mission would normally make for an anticlimactic opener. However, Murphy ensures there is enough character outline and plot potential to keep readers turning the pages. A potent sense of mystery lingers: Who are these people, what did they set out to accomplish and what triggered the alarm that derailed their plan?Murphy’s n...

Editorial: Mass & Cass runoff a water hazard – cue fed funding

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

If there’s a silver lining to concerns that untreated stormwater runoff from the drug addiction detritus from Mass and Cass is polluting Boston Harbor, it’s this: perhaps now the city can get federal muscle and money to finally fix the crisis at Methadone Mile.After all, now the environment is affected.These days, climate change and environmental issues are the magic words to open up the floodgates of funding.As the Herald reported, the city is applying for a grant from the CDC to monitor the Fort Point Channel for communicable diseases.Catch basins in the Mass and Cass encampment drain into the Fort Point Channel where fishing and kayaking remain popular right across from the Children’s Museum.“We have recently learned that catch basins in the area known as Mass & Cass dump right out into Boston Harbor via the Fort Point Channel without any filtration,” a group of lawmakers said in a letter sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That letter, obtained...

A stylish summer is in the bag

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

One of the best things about summer is switching to accessories that just don’t fly the rest of the year. Case in point: the ultra-casual but ever-so-chic allure of straw bags. I love their freshness and hint at country romance and innocence. They complement everything from denim shorts and most maxi dresses to mini sundresses and linen jumpsuits to navy nauticals.And then there’s their incredible utility: With their flexible material and variable sizes — these things can get huge — they range from demure little cases that stay buttoned-up for evening to big baskets that are so roomy I could fit just about everything I need for the day in them. So here, according to what I’m using them for, are my current favorites for the rest of the summer:For the office: The Chloe Sense Woven Palm Basket Tote ($850 on nordstrom.com) is both a big statement and a big tote. It’s inspired by Spanish market bags, but sports big wide leather straps that keep it very much within the working world. It’s...

Julius Randle envisions next season as his mental and physical prime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

A relaxed Julius Randle, no longer wearing a cast from his ankle surgery, predicted next season as the best of his career because of a confluence of the most important basketball attributes.“Me and my trainer were just talking about this, we were talking about prime years,” Randle said Wednesday as a guest on ‘The Shop Uninterrupted.’ “And I feel like your prime is when your mental and physical kind of meet. And physically I feel like this is going to be my best year. But mentally I feel like I’ve taken a tremendous step because I’ve had to slow all the way down. I wasn’t allowed to train.”Randle, 28, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle nearly two months ago. The procedure followed two sprains to the same ankle in a short span and a disappointing performance in the playoffs.The ending left a bad taste after a strong regular season from Randle, who became just the second Knick since Allan Houston to earn two All-Star ...

Lucas: Beacon Hill Dems losing grip on patronage jobs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

The Democratic Party is not what it used to be—at least not in Massachusetts.The party has gone so woke as to be unrecognizable to regular Democrats who still cling to hope that the party will eventually rediscover common sense.Yet the problem goes beyond that.It is party patronage — the lifeblood of the party — or what has become of it.It concerns how Beacon Hill Democrats allowed four new high-paying jobs at the MBTA to go to guys from New York — New York! — rather than to guys from Boston or from the Democratic-controlled State House or to other connected Democrats.We are not talking about low level but essential jobs at the T that nobody seems to want, even though you can sleep on the job. No, we are talking about some of the top paying positions in the state.And nobody has said a word about caving into New York, not Gov. Maura Healey, not Senate President Karen Spilka, not House Speaker Ron Mariano, all Democrats.What is the world coming to?Never would that have hap...

Amy Redford accents family drama in thriller ‘What Comes Around’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

Amy Redford, a second generation actor-director following in the footsteps of her Oscar-winning father Robert, has made something personal with Friday’s thriller “What Comes Around.”Summer Phoenix, of the acting clan that includes her Oscar-winning brother Joaquin, is Beth, a mother who discovers her daughter Anna’s (Grace Van Dien) 17th birthday heralds a complicated step into adulthood.Suddenly, there’s a man in Anna’s life, Tim (Kyle Gallner), an older, mysterious guy she met on the internet who has driven hundreds of miles to surprise her – and maybe seduce her — on her birthday.  As alarm bells ring, as confrontation ensues, “What Comes Around” pivots dramatically.It all began, Redford, 52, said in a Zoom interview this week,  when she read Scott Organ’s play.  “I realized what a wonderful opportunity it would be adapt it for the screen, especially during COVID times. It was Trojan Horse-ing some interesting ideas through genre.”Specifically, in the unraveling of who Tim ...

Dear Abby: Recovering alcoholic fights to get life back

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

Dear Abby: I am a married man (15 years) with three children, and I am a recovering alcoholic. My marriage has been a roller coaster filled with lies, infidelity (my wife’s), abuse and drinking. I am in an outpatient alcohol program to save myself, my family and my marriage.My wife is talking to other men. She constantly tells me they are better than I am, that I’m a loser and I’ll get what I deserve (meaning losing her and the children).I still want to save my marriage. I know I have been a poor husband due to the drinking, but that is changing. I keep trying to convince her to give me a little time to prove that I can be a brand-new, sober, honest man. She says it’s too late and that I pushed her into the arms of others. She says she no longer loves me and is going to divorce me. She evidently has hired an attorney.Our children beg her all the time to not divorce me, not to seek others and to let Dad show he is changing. I’m lost, angry, hurt and anxi...

El Cajon to deploy license plate-reading cameras program

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:49 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Just one day after San Diego city officials approved the use of 500 Smart Streetlights, the City of El Cajon is gearing up to start using its new cameras to track license plates.Forty new sets of eyes -- by way of surveillance cameras -- will soon call the streets of El Cajon home. The cameras will track license plates in real time, an effort police say to get criminals off the streets quicker."Time is the biggest impact on our job, time to investigate crimes and having this real-time information to respond immediately to get people in custody or recover stolen property," said Lt. Jeremiah Larson with the El Cajon Police Department.Police activated the cameras for a brief test run last week and say in that short time, the cameras tracked two cars that were reported in violent crimes -- one was involved in a carjacking and robbery and another was a stolen vehicle. Police dog killed in ‘violent shooting’; suspect pronounced dead Police say thanks to the cameras, ...