The police officer who was seriously wounded in one of three related shootings in Springfield, Massachusetts, last week was released to applause Thursday from a Boston hospital where he’d been recuperating.
Still wearing an eye patch, Spring…
Massachusetts
Mass. high court rules voters can decide question to raise wages for tipped workers
Massachusetts’ highest court has tossed out a challenge to a proposed ballot question that would raise the minimum wage businesses must pay to workers who rely on tips and permit tip pooling among both tipped and nontipped employees.
The Supr…
Second man charged in May shooting at Cambridge park
A man has been arrested in a double shooting at a park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month.
Machyus Battle, 19, is charged in the shooting near Donnelly Field on May 23, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. He is …
Great white shark back off Cape Cod after epic journey to Mexico
The first tagged white shark has been detected off Cape Cod this season, and she’s a bit of a legend.
LeeBeth, a 14-foot shark, made history this February off the coast of Mexico, just south of the Texas border, the furthest west that one of the animals, often referred to as great whites, with a tracking tag has ever been detected.
By Tuesday, LeeBeth was back off Massachusetts, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. She’s the first tagged shark to show up on the nonprofit’s popular shark-tracking app, Sharktivity, this summer.
LeeBeth was tagged by AWSC researcher Megan Winton off South Carolina on Dec. 8, and the organization said Wednesday that she’s now traveled more than 6,000 miles in all — that’s nearly 1,000 miles a month.
It’s not yet clear if LeeBeth will stick around in Cape Cod, where signs of sharks have been ticking up in recent weeks, or if she’ll continue swimming north — a white shark was spotted off the Canadian coast, east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 29, according to Sharktivity.
White sharks, made famous by the 1970s hit movie “Jaws,” roam the ocean searching for their favorite food, marine mammals, and were once hunted without discrimination. Some scientists believe growing populations of seals in parts of the Atlantic Ocean are helping the sharks, which were designated a protected species in 1997.
Winton said this March that LeeBeth’s presence so far west indicated that the western edge of the Gulf of Mexico could also be important to other white sharks, and that international cooperation is important to protect the sharks, whose worldwide populations are recovering from decades of overfishing.
“We don’t know how many white sharks travel that far west, but it’s a good indication they do,” Winton said. “There are only a handful of sharks that have been tracked west of the Mississippi.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More Massachusetts ocean wildlife news
Multiple power lines down in Canton, heavy delays expected
Multiple power lines are down in Canton, Massachusetts, and heavy delays are expected, according to police.
Police issued a traffic advisory around 10:45 a.m. saying that multiple power lines and a pole were down in the area of 95 Washington Street at Cobb Corner.
“Expect heavy delays in the area throughout the day,” they said, noting that there will be no access to the intersection.
Aerial footage from the scene showed a tractor-trailer that appeared to have gotten caught in some wires near a local Starbucks store. One utility pole was lying on the back of the trailer and another was on the ground.
Eversource workers and trucks could be seen near the tractor-trailer, but police said there is no word on when the work will be completed.
Motorists are being advised to seek alternate routes.
Brockton to honor boxing legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler with ‘stunning’ statue
The city of Brockton, Massachusetts, will honor boxing legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler on Thursday.
A “stunning” $150,000 statue of Hagler will be unveiled at 11 a.m. at a new park and street bearing his name near 28 Petronelli Way, city officials said.
“Brockton is known worldwide as the ‘City of Champions,’ largely because of the incredible and historic athletic achievements of Marvelous Marvin Hagler,” said Mayor Robert Sullivan.
The bronze statue, commissioned by Brodin Studios, was funded through a $150,000 grant secured by Massachusetts state Rep. Gerry Cassidy, according to officials.
The public will be able to see the statue in the new Marvelous Marvin Hagler Park on the newly named Marvelous Marvin Hagler Way, which is next to the former Petronelli Brothers’ gym, officials said.
Hagler was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to Brockton in 1969, where he trained with the Petronelli Brothers for many years. He later became the undisputed middleweight boxing champion of the world.
Hagler fought and beat the “era’s best,” including Tommy “Hitman” Hearns, Roberto Duran, Vito Antuofermo and Mustafa Hamsho.
He has a “prodigious record” of 62 wins and three losses, defeating 52 by knockout, including 12 title defenses.
Hagler held the middleweight title from 1980 to 1987 and was one of the biggest and most recognizable sports starts in the world throughout the 1980s, according to officials.
He has also been credited for helping launch HBO boxing and the pay-per-view fight era, officials said.
Hagler retired from boxing in 1987 and moved to Italy, where he became an action movie star. Six years later, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York.
Hagler died unexpectedly in March 2021 at the age of 66 at his home in New Hampshire.
“Marvelous Marvin was a global boxing icon who embodied all the best attributes of our great city: toughness, perseverance, community and dedication. This statute will stand as a symbol of his spirit for generations and inspire people to always strive to be the best that they can be,” said Sullivan.
