Massachusetts

A Marshfield, Massachusetts, woman convicted earlier this month of second-degree murder in the 2021 stabbing of her Boston firefighter husband is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.

Christine Ricci, 49, was convicted Aug. 2 on charges of second-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the Jan. 28, 2021, stabbing death of her husband, 51-year-old Michael Ricci, 51, in their Moraine Street home.

Authorities said the couple argued before Ricci grabbed a knife, stabbing her husband twice, in the heart and the upper back. Emergency personnel located a knife when they responded to the home.

“This is an awful tragedy,” the Boston Fire Department said in a statement immediately after the incident. “Michael was a valued member of the Boston Fire Department for 23 years. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.”

In a court appearance after her arrest, Ricci collapsed due to a medical emergency, with the judge clearing the courtroom. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

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Another prison in Massachusetts is set to close

Massachusetts is closing another prison, this time in Bridgewater.

The Department of Correction announced Thursday “plans to conclude housing operations at the Old Colony Correctional Center minimum-security men’s facility,” saying the facility would need $2.6 million in capital investments to continue on.

There are 70 people incarcerated at the facility, which was built to accommodate about 160 people.

“The strategic decision to end operations at OCCC-Minimum and relocate its population and staff is based on a thorough assessment of the facility’s age, maintenance needs, and required renovations,” the DOC said.

The Department of Correction described the facility as a 40-year-old prefabricated modular structure located on a campus alongside Bridgewater State Hospital, the Massachusetts Treatment Center and the Old Colony Correctional Center-Medium Security Facility.

The other three facilities will remain open, and the DOC plans to move 26 correctional staff at minimum-security facility to the medium-security facility on the same campus.

The announcement comes months after the commonwealth announced that MCI Concord was being closed.

Officials have told NBC10 Boston that the decision to close MCI Concord, Massachusetts’ oldest prison, was spurred by a declining statewide prison population as well as sky-high upkeep costs at the aging prison, which dates back to 1878.

At the start of the year, the Department of Correction’s statewide prison population was 6,148, a 43% decrease from the 10,813 who were behind bars on the same date in 2015.

Researchers and public officials have pointed to a number of factors to explain the drop, including crime prevention, treatment and better re-entry support.

NBC10 Boston’s Matt Fortin contributed to this report.

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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s second act — billed “Bennifer 2.0” — has been a rollercoaster ride from the start, and this week, it officially came to an end with Lopez filing for divorce from the Massachusetts-raised actor.

Lopez filed the papers in Los Angeles on Tuesday, confirming rumors that have swirled for months that the couple was on the cusp of a breakup. The divorce filing revealed that they have been separated since April, according to media reports.

The divorce came after two years of marriage for Affleck and Lopez, who wed in a small ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel shortly after midnight in July 2022. They hosted a larger ceremony at Affleck’s Georgia home the following month, exactly two years prior to Lopez’s divorce filing.

Affleck, who was born in California but raised in Massachusetts, was previously married to Jennifer Garner, whom he has three children with. Garner and Affleck were married from 2005 until their divorce in 2018.

Lopez has had three other marriages. She’s had two broken engagements, as well — one with former MLB player Alex Rodriguez in 2021, and a prior engagement with Affleck that was called off in 2004.

Affleck and Lopez do not share any children together.

Media outlets and the public have speculated for months that there was trouble for the couple — between ring-less paparazzi shots, real estate re-shuffling and photos where the couple looks less than pleased with each other.

The two have kept busy professionally throughout their second go around. They even starred in two SuperBowl Dunkin’ commercials, the first of which was shot at a Medford Dunkin’ location where Affleck himself was serving customers at the drive-thru. Lopez drives up as the commercial concludes, seeming annoyed and asking if this is what her husband means when he says “he goes to work all day.”

The follow up advertisement debuted during the 2024 SuperBowl, and featured Affleck showing up to Lopez’s studio session decked out in a “DunKing” outfit alongside fellow Massachusetts legends Tom Brady and Matt Damon.

Another Massachusetts native, “The Office” star Mindy Kaling, gave Affleck a shout-out at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, encouraging him to “Hang in there!”

Meanwhile Lopez’s ex, Rodriguez, seemed to hint at the situation on his Instagram story the day the divorce was filed, writing, “You either go one way or the other, you might as well be the one deciding the direction.”

It seems to have been a tough year for Lopez professionally, as well.

Her first studio album in 10 years, released in February, did not fare well on the charts, and its supporting tour was canceled. Titled “This Is Me… Now,” the album was almost entirely about her romance with Affleck, including songs that reference their relationship like “Midnight Trip to Vegas” and “Greatest Love Story Never Told.”

It was a follow up to her 2002 blockbuster release, “This Is Me… Then,” which spawned mega hits like “Jenny From the Block” and “All I Have” amid her first relationship with Affleck.

Her 2024 release coincided with a documentary about her love story, which received mixed reviews. In the film, Variety reported at the time of its release that Lopez’s friend, Jane Fonda, expressed concerns over the optics of her and Affleck’s marriage.

“Like, it feels too much like you’re trying to prove something instead of just living it. You know, every other photograph is the two of you kissing and the two of you hugging,” she told Lopez.

Affleck was back in New England this week, seen moving his daughter into Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, for her freshman year of college.

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