We see some sun emerging Friday afternoon. Clouds roll in from the northwest, and will continue to roll in from the southeast and sit around the Cape and Islands.
A couple showers continue to linger around to the southeast with a northeasterly bree…
Massachusetts
Jennifer McCabe, highly anticipated witness in Karen Read trial, to take stand
A highly anticipated witness will be on the stand Friday in the Karen Read murder trial.
It comes after a week of testimony from fellow partygoers, including various members of the Albert family.
Jennifer McCabe, who’s the sister-in-law of the man who owned the home where John O’Keefe’s body was found, is expected to take the stand after cross-examination is completed with her husband, Matthew McCabe, who we first saw Thursday.
Watch the Karen Read trial live on nbcboston.com, NECN, NBC Boston streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV) and NBC10 Boston’s YouTube page. Every night of the trial at 7 p.m., come back for analysis and more.
He admitted to being with a large crowd that included his wife, Read and O’Keefe at Waterfall Bar and Grille — the night before O’Keefe was found dead.
McCabe said the plan was for the group to go Brian Albert’s home on Fairview Road to keep the party going but Read and O’Keefe never arrived. He also said he saw a dark SUV at the Albert home.
Read is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, her boyfriend. He was found in the snow outside retired Brian Albert’s home in Canton. Prosecutors say Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV, while Read says she has been framed in a wide-ranging coverup, claiming the Albert family and the state’s lead investigator, a family friend, put the blame on Read.
Read has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
When it comes to Jennifer McCabe, an FBI analysis of her phone will come to light, which is a pivotal piece of evidence for the defense.
For a look back at Thursday’s testimony, watch last night’s “Canton Confidential” special below:
Workweek ends with partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures
Milder temperatures, more sunshine. We’re back in the saddle Friday. There are caveats, of course.
Firstly, the clouds will move in and out throughout the day, so it’s not all blue skies. Second, the onshore breeze continues, so there&#…
2 swans found dead, apparently shot, in Westford, police say
Police are investigating the deaths of two swans that were apparently shot, officials in Westford, Massachusetts, said Thursday, asking for the public’s help in finding anything suspicious that might have taken place in the area.
The swans we…
What can Mass. schools do when students don’t feel safe?
“She had grabbed my hair and threw me onto the ground.”
That’s how a Boston eighth grade student remembers her beating, by a fellow student down the street from their school, this March.
The 13-year-old Condon School student suffered a broken rib, cuts and bruises, and says she’s now scarred physically and emotionally.
“It traumatized me,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep for a while because I kept getting flashbacks and nightmares.”
The attack is one of several recent examples of violence playing out at Massachusetts schools and, like others, it was glorified on social media through an Instagram account.
More on violence in Mass. schools
The teen said she told school staff she was being bullied and accused of being a snitch in the days leading up to her attack, but the school didn’t do anything to protect her.
The student described the school environment as “not safe.” Her mother called the beating “heartbreaking.”
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement the district works continuously to create a safe environment: “The safety and well-being of our young people is our highest priority and violence of any kind is unacceptable.”
There’s an ongoing criminal investigation in the Condon School attack.
Violence has also been in the spotlight at Boston Tech, where a student was stabbed; in Lynn, where an assistant principal was stabbed; and multiple brawls in Brockton.
A high school student said to me, ‘Right after COVID, we came back to school and it was like we forgot to talk to people from other groups.’
Dr. Meghan McCoy, Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center psychologist
Discipline data for the largest school districts in Massachusetts shows the percentage of students being disciplined has dropped in recent years.
Last year Brockton had the highest discipline percentage in that group last school year, followed by Springfield, Lowell, Lynn, Worcester, Boston and Lawrence.
Kevin McCaskill stepped in as principal at Brockton High School in January. After a spike in violence months ago, there were calls from some in the community to bring in the National Guard to restore the peace.
“We did create an in-house suspension program for some students who needed to have some redirection and so those little pieces have really added to try to clean up the culture of the building,” he said.
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He described the calls to bring in the National Guard, which Gov. Maura Healey eventually ruled out, as “a rallying point” for staff and students alike — “we are nowhere near that point where we need the armed forces coming in to corral students.”
School police make the rounds on campus, everyone passes through metal detectors before stepping foot in the building, IDs are scanned and more security has been added. McCaskill and his staff also have increased their presence in the halls and worked to build relationships with students here.
One of the biggest challenges, McCaskill said, is the lack of staff day to day, leaving many kids hanging in a supervised study hall in the cafeteria.
Each school has its own challenges at a time when many students are struggling socially, emotionally and with their mental health. Experts say the pandemic, peer pressure, video games and social media are having a huge impact on their behavior in schools.
Dr. Meghan McCoy, a psychologist from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, visits schools across the state on a mission to help kids navigate the complex world of social media and relationships and to prevent violence.
“What I’ve heard from teachers and in schools and administrators is kids just don’t know how to get along and it leads to more aggression and more violence,” McCoy said. “A high school student said to me, ‘Right after COVID, we came back to school and it was like we forgot to talk to people from other groups.’”
McCoy said we need to decrease the normalization of disrespectful behavior that is sometimes rooted in the online world and put the phones away, especially in school.
“One of the big things that I’m coming back to over and over again is trying to provide kids some space where technology is not a part of it,” she said.
Many schools are looking into banning cellphones to help. Next year, Brockton High School students will lock their phones in pouches during school hours, which many schools in Boston already do.
‘Just hit me in the face’: Berklee student sucker-punched in random attack
A 22-year-old woman attending Berklee College of Music was sucker-punched by a stranger in Boston Friday.
Payton Taylor had just left a rehearsal at the school when she spotted a couple of friends on the street and headed their way.
“Someb…
