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Thursday, April 25, 2024

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SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

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"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Boston Marathon Bombing: A Witness' Story

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013   

HARTFORD, Conn. - When the explosions went off that killed at least two and injured scores more along the route of the Boston Marathon Monday, Curt Gilmore was at a tent beyond the finish line helping give food and drink to exhausted runners.

"So I was at that tent out on Boylston Street, with a straight view of the finish line, when I heard the explosion," he recounted. "I had my back to it. I immediately ducked as if something was going to be hitting me, because the compression in my chest was so great."

He remembered an overloaded electric power transformer had exploded in the Back Bay at last year's marathon, but soon realized that this was something far worse. Gilmore said wild rumors flew the rest of the afternoon, and some media reports were inaccurate as well. He noted that one thing he noticed earlier in the day was the large numbers of police dogs, out in strength, which led him to believe security was tight.

"It just seemed like overkill," he related. "They were sniffing everything and everywhere, places that made no sense - the gutter, where there was absolutely nothing - and I thought, 'Well, this is certainly very thorough.'"

Gilmore said he spent a lot of time calming down friends and family.

"My son called, said 'Dad, I understand in Harvard Square, bombs are going off.' I said 'Calm down. Do not react to the things that you're hearing' because, unfortunately, reports get thrown out in the immediate aftermath that are just erroneous."

While he feels terrible for those directly harmed by the bombs, Gilmore said it was sad for the runners in a race that will now be remembered only because people died on a day - Patriots Day - which is usually one of Boston's best days of the year.





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