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Gov. Maura Healey plans to announce Thursday that the state will spend $180 million as part of a bid to temporarily reduce residential electric and gas bills this winter. Under the plan, electric bills would be reduced by 25% and natural gas bills by 10% for “every Massachusetts residential utility customer” in February and March 2026, with the state covering the cost of some of the reductions. The proposal, unveiled by the governor’s office early Thursday ahead of Healey’s State of the Commonwealth address in the evening, comes as energy affordability has become a central policy and political issue on Beacon Hill and is shaping early debate around the 2026 gubernatorial race. “I called on the utilities to lower bills this winter, and now relief is on the way,” Healey said in remarks released by her office. Some of the relief is truly temporary, and it only applies to residential customers of National Grid, Eversource, Unitil, Liberty Gas and Berkshire Gas. The administration said its use of $180 million from alternative compliance payments can only go toward electric ratepayer relief and covers an estimated 15% reduction in electric bills. The rest of the near-term reduction for electric customers comes from deferred payments that will be recovered by the utilities on bills in April through December, the administration said. And the 10% reduction in February and March gas bills will be recovered from most customers (all except Liberty Gas customers) during the off-peak months of May through October, Healey’s office said. The announcement follows heightened scrutiny over rising and volatile utility bills, as well as the causes of those increases. In December, National Grid proposed gas rate increases averaging about $24 per month for customers in its Boston Gas territory and roughly $25 per month for customers in its Colonial Gas territory. Regulators have also stepped in. Earlier this winter, the Department of Public Utilities opened an investigation into electric and gas delivery charges, examining whether certain fees should be capped, consolidated or eliminated. The probe was initiated after Healey noted in an October letter that some customers saw bills increase by as much as 50% compared with the prior winter. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said the administration views the bill reductions Healey announced Thursday as short-term relief while broader reforms are pursued. “Families cannot support big winter energy bills right now, so we called for more relief,” Tepper said, adding that the administration continues to push for structural changes aimed at lowering costs over time. Healey has filed a bill intended to increase the energy supply, allow utilities greater flexibility to secure lower-priced power, and reduce delivery costs. House members are meeting privately this week to draft a bill meant to lower costs. Environmental activists raised concerns last year about any retreat on decarbonization plans. Operations launched this month on a new transmission line bringing hydropower into Massachusetts, which officials estimate will lower electricity costs by about $1.50 per household per month. With Democrats nationally emphasizing affordability as a core message, energy costs have taken on added political significance in Massachusetts. Healey’s decision to highlight ratepayer savings ahead of her annual address places added emphasis on the topic as Beacon Hill wades deeper into legislative and election cycles.

The husband of a Massachusetts woman who is accused of killing their three children at the family’s Duxbury home back in 2023 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the providers who treated Lindsay Clancy in the months leading up to the tragedy. Patrick Clancy’s civil suit was filed in Norfolk Superior Court Wednesday against psychiatrist Jennifer A. Tufts, certified nurse practitioner Rebecca H. Jollotta, Aster Mental Health, and South Shore Health System. The suit alleges that treatment by these providers exacerbated Lindsay Clancy’s mental health struggles, and resulted in her allegedly killing the couple’s three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — on Jan. 24, 2023. “Indeed the bevy of diverse and powerful medications they misprescribed coupled with their abject failure to appropriately monitor Lindsay resulted in Lindsay’s mental health deteriorating to the point of suicidal ideation and requiring in-patient care. Ultimately, Defendants’ negligent treatment of Lindsay, including their complete failure to recognize and address the radical erosion of her mental health, resulted in tragedy, namely, allegations that Lindsay took the lives of her children,” the lawsuit reads. “If Defendants had not acted negligently, and rather had provided adequate care, it is more likely than not that Patrick and Lindsay’s children would still be alive today.” Prosecutors have said Lindsay Clancy killed her three children by strangling them with exercise bands after sending Patrick Clancy to get takeout food from a specific restaurant that she included as part of her plan. Following the attacks, officials allege Lindsay Clancy cut her wrists and neck before jumping from a second-story window in the home in an attempt to end her own life. She has been confined to a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the sternum down as a result, according to her attorney. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support. Patrick Clancy’s lawsuit details a number of steps that Lindsay Clancy took trying to help herself before this incident occurred but was reportedly failed by her providers at every turn. Prior to the murders, Lindsay Clancy sought medical treatment beginning in September 2022 for her anxiety and increasingly poor and deteriorating mental health condition, the lawsuit shows. Over the next few months, she was prescribed sertraline (also known as Zoloft), trazodone, fluoxetine (also known as Prozac), zolpidem tartrate (also known as Ambien), mirtazapine (also known as Remeron), clonazepam (also known as Klonopin), quetiapine fumarate (also known as Seroquel), diazepam (also known as Valium), and lamotrigine (also known as Lamictal). The medications did not help, according to the lawsuit, and Lindsay Clancy was experiencing worsening anxiety, bad insomnia and paranoia of getting suicidal thoughts. She was only sleeping three hours eventually and felt disoriented, disconnected from her body and like she was in a panic state. Lindsay Clancy sought treatment in an emergency room in November 2022 at which point she reported feeling afraid something awful might happen. The lawsuit alleges she quickly reported the negative impacts of the medications she was prescribed, noting feeling of numbness and panic attacks. It was the end of November and beginning of December when she first reported suicidal ideation, the lawsuit shows. On Dec. 5, 2022, she contacted ASPIRE crisis support due to having intrusive thoughts of wanting to die. She reported that she believed her ongoing symptoms were connected to the medications she was being prescribed. A few days later on Dec. 9, Patrick Clancy called the nurse’s office and said it was fairly urgent that they speak about his wife’s…

WALSENBURG, Colo. (KRDO) – The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is launching an investigation into an officer-involved shooting that happened on Wednesday in Walsenburg after police attempted to arrest a wanted suspect out of Crowley County. According to the CBI, the incident began shortly after 3 p.m. on Jan. 21, when officers with the Walsenburg The post CBI investigating officer-involved shooting in Walsenburg appeared first on KRDO.

Por Jessie Yeung, CNN Hace apenas unos días, los líderes europeos se apresuraban a responder a la retórica cada vez más agresiva del presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, sobre tomar el control de Groenlandia, y se preparaban para una avalancha de insultos cuando el mandatario llegara a hablar en su propio territorio del Viejo Continente. The post Mark Rutte, de la OTAN, emerge como el principal confidente de Trump tras dramático cambio de postura en Davos appeared first on KRDO.