Service changes are coming to the Green, Orange, Mattapan, Red and Haverhill lines next month, the MBTA said Wednesday.
The T says the changes will happen in August as it continues “working to maintain its infrastructure and improve rel…
Massachusetts
Vermont man accused of threatening family with gun during road rage incident in Mass.
A Vermont man is accused of threatening a family with a gun during a road rage incident on Cape Cod earlier this week.
The incident happened just after 4 p.m. Tuesday on Route 28 in West Chatham, according to police.
After the victim provided officers with a description of the suspect and the vehicle he was driving, officers stopped Tracy Douse shortly after and arrested him, Chatham police said.
A loaded Glock 19 handgun was recovered from Douse’s vehicle, police said.
Douse, 42, faces multiple charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a large capacity firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.
The 42-year-old Douse, who’s from Johnsbury, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Orleans District Court. It’s unclear if he has an attorney who could speak to his charges.
Damaged offshore wind blade ‘may detach soon,’ Vineyard Wind exec says
More debris is falling into the ocean from a damaged offshore wind turbine blade, and project developer Vineyard Wind said Wednesday night that a remaining piece of the blade could soon plummet.
Vineyard Wind announced just after 9 p.m. Wednesday that crews reported an “observed compromise to the integrity” of the blade, which already sustained significant damage over the weekend.
“While part of the blade remains attached to the turbine, we believe there is an increased possibility it could detach soon. There has been a 500-meter safety zone implemented around the turbine and GE Vernova blade since Saturday night, and it has been under constant surveillance,” the company said in a statement. “We have mobilized our response team and have also witnessed new debris enter the water.”
Vineyard Wind said it was notifying federal, state, local and tribal authorities, including the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which previously ordered work at the turbines to be suspended.
A mysterious incident damaged one blade on a turbine undergoing testing over the weekend, scattering debris that later washed up in the form of large and small fiberglass and foam pieces on Nantucket’s southern beaches more than 15 miles away.
The 107-meter blade sustained damage about 20 meters out from where it connects to the rest of the turbine. Although the incident flung blade pieces into the water, it did not fully sever the blade, and most of the blade spent several days hanging parallel to the tower.
Vineyard Wind and GE have not yet announced what caused the problem. At a Nantucket Select Board meeting Wednesday, Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller described an alarm that tripped Saturday night.
“One of the blades on one of the positions was broken and folded over, bended over, and was not pointing in [the] direction that it should,” he said. “The way the system acts, it’s an automatic system, so the system actually shuts it down. And that’s what happened here.”
Moeller and other Vineyard Wind and GE representatives spent several hours before the Select Board, answering some questions and hearing criticism from a frustrated, worried crowd.
Just before 8 p.m., Moeller suddenly announced he needed to leave to deal with a new problem affecting the “rest of the blade.”
“I want to apologize for our look at [our] phones, I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but it was because we were informed just now that there’s been a development to the integrity of the blade,” Moeller told the board and attendees at the livestreamed public meeting. “We know very little because we’ve been sitting here, but I just want to inform you that there’s a development on the integrity of the rest of the blade, and I need to respond to that.”
Nantucket Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr called it “an emerging issue with the remainder of the blade.”
“I think it’s reasonable to ask the team to go find out what’s going on,” she said, noting that other Vineyard Wind representatives could answer questions after Moeller’s departure. “Folks, this is the definition of crisis management. Things change by the minute, okay. We can only know what we know in the moment, so please, go and find out what’s going on and come back and let us know immediately.”
Residents and other interested parties who attended the meeting expressed outrage about the incident, its impact on the island and potential consequences for marine life.
While environmental groups have said they have not observed any harm on marine life, attendees told Nantucket’s Select Board they’re worried about lasting impacts from small plastic particles that might have fallen off the damaged blade.
Galen Gardner, a retired teacher, said Vineyard Wind and blade manufacturer GE “contributed gobbledegook science and corporate-speak to address the situation.”
“We are here tonight in a packed house to express our anger and dismay over the rape of our oceans, our peace, our prosperity, our beloved marine life,” Gardner said.
Vineyard Wind has 10 operational turbines that, before being shut down, were delivering about 136 megawatts of power to the regional grid. Project leaders eventually plan to scale up to 62 turbines providing 806 megawatts.
The company did not publicly reveal the Saturday incident until Monday, and similarly did not disclose that it shut down power production on Saturday night until Wednesday — one day after federal safety officials said work at the project is “shut down until further notice.”
Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira to face a military court-martial, Air Force says
Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who pleaded guilty in March to federal criminal charges for leaking highly classified military documents, will now face a military court-martial.
Teixeira admitted to illegally collecting …
Could a member of the Kraft family run for mayor of Boston?
Josh Kraft’s name has surfaced in media reports for months as a possible candidate for mayor of Boston in 2025, and while he’s not currently running, it appears he is working with a politically wired local firm.
Sources say Keyser Public Strategies is working with Kraft as he considers a run for mayor of the state’s largest city. The firm is led by partners Will Keyser, a strategist behind former Gov. Charlie Baker’s campaigns, and Eileen O’Connor, who are married.
Mayor Michelle Wu has not formally announced her intentions about a possible campaign for a second term next year.
Contacted by the News Service, Keyser Public Strategies declined to confirm or deny working with Kraft, the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Josh Kraft is president of the New England Patriots Foundation and responsible for the family philanthropic initiatives such as the Patriots Foundation, the Revolution Charitable Foundation, and the Kraft Center for Community Health. He previously spent 30 years with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB), starting there in 1990 as a program coordinator at what is now the Edgerley Family South Boston Club.
The Kraft Group is pushing legislation to clear a path for a new soccer stadium in Everett for the New England Revolution. The bill has drawn support, but the City of Boston continues to harbor concerns about the project’s potential negative transportation impacts.
Crash temporarily shuts down on-ramp to Route 128 in Waltham
A crash temporarily shut down an on-ramp to Route 128 in Waltham, Massachusetts, Wednesday night.
The crash happened near Trapelo Road just after midnight.
Video of the scene shows a tow truck pulling the car out of a nearby marsh.
It&…
