Brockton Public Schools is looking to turn the corner after controversies surrounding violence, safety and academic performance have plagued the high school.
Officials announced a series of measures during a school committee meeting Tuesday night, …
Massachusetts
Harvard responds to video of confrontation over removal of Israeli hostage posters
A person working at Harvard was caught on camera tearing down Israeli hostage posters, leading to a confrontation with a student who tried to stop him.
The video, now circulating on social media, shows the student approach the worker and question why he was taking the fliers down. In the video the pair can be heard arguing over Harvard policy and Massachusetts law, with the worker saying it is his job to take the posters down, and the man recording pushing back, claiming there are certain days set for the posters or any other fliers to be removed.
The person taking the video said they were doing so on behalf of Harvard Chabad. On social media, Harvard Chabad said they have been sponsoring the posters and that they have been repeatedly ripped down.
During the confrontation, the worker can be heard using profanity and telling the man recording to leave. At one point, a third man interrupts, apparently trying to defuse the situation. That third man can be seen physically holding the worker back as the situation escalates.
Harvard University is now condemning the worker’s actions, saying in a statement:
“Harvard strongly condemns the individual’s conduct reflected in the video of the incident, and, as a result, the contract worker was directed to leave campus, and his employer has been notified that the individual may not be assigned to return to campus to perform work in the future.”
Student groups are allowed to post in designated areas of the campus. There is a long-standing procedure at Harvard to remove the public postings in Harvard Yard on Mondays and Thursdays. The video was recorded on a Wednesday morning.
The “kidnapped” posters are meant to serve as a reminder of those believed to be held hostage by Hamas, and have been spotted in multiple Massachusetts communities.
This is not the first time the posters become a flashpoint, with tensions high over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. A dentist was fired after she was recorded taking down similar posters in Chestnut Hill. In Newton, a hate crime investigation is underway after similar posters were allegedly defaced by vandals.
The violence and humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to lay siege following the terror attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
More on the Israel-Hamas war
DeSantis threatens to send migrants fleeing violence in Haiti to Martha’s Vineyard
Amid chaos in Haiti, Florida’s governor is threatening to send Haitian migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
Full-time residents of the island remember September of 2022 all too well. Fifty migrants arrived unannounced, sent by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“It was just a mad house for almost three days,” said Rev. Chip Seadale of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.
Father Seadale’s church played host to the visitors, setting up cots in meeting rooms and providing food before the state of Massachusetts stepped in to assist.
The moment itself only lasted a few days but could potentially happen again. DeSantis is threatening to do something similar, this time with those fleeing violence in Haiti.
“If Haitians land in the Florida Keys, their next stop may be Martha’s Vineyard,” said DeSantis said on “The Dana Show.”
The comments were met with criticism from elected officials. Massachusetts Representative, Ayanna Pressley writing in a statement, “families fleeing unspeakable violence in Haiti and other countries deserve to be met with compassion, not used as pawns in Republicans’ cruel political games.”
Locals on Martha’s Vineyard shared similar sentiments.
“Seems like politics to me,” said one full-time resident, “you know a lot of people are getting a lot more immigrants than us.”
Seadale though, sees a role he and his church can play if called upon.
“Whether it’s a hurricane that hits us, we all have to deal with each other and what ends up before us,” he said. “We can and we will.”
No Haitians have arrived on Martha’s Vineyard at this point.
AI is helping businesses stop shoplifting in their stores
Organized retail thefts and smash-and-grab incidents have made headlines recently.
But the small-scale shoplifting that happens every day is an ongoing problem that cuts into the profits of small businesses.
At the Wild Duck Wine & Spirits store in Boston, shoplifting is a daily problem, and managers have turned to cutting-edge AI technology to try to stop it.
“It’s pretty bad here this area,” said store manager Smitesh Patel. “Sometimes the gang up, they come, like, you know, like five or six people together.”
He says it’s a frustrating problem.
Managers have tried to monitor the dozens of security cameras in the store, but it’s a daunting task. So, they’ve added another layer of artificial intelligence to them. All 24 of them feed into an AI system developed by a French tech company called Veesion.
It analyzes the video feeds for specific movements that suggest someone is stealing. Veesion’s Pablo Blanco explained how it works.
“So, in this video, we can see this guy on the left is the same as the guy on the right. Every time he takes an item from the store the system is going to analyze the gestures, is going to detect if he is stealing and is going to send out an alert,” says Blanco.
The algorithm doesn’t care what someone looks like, it’s just recognizing gestures. It alerts store employees in about 15 seconds by sending out a video alert of the suspicious incident, so they can stop thieves before they leave the store.
We asked him what specific gestures the technology picks up on.
“When someone takes an item, they put the item inside the pocket. Inside the trousers, or inside the jacket,” explained Blanco. “Second one, when they are drinking or eating inside the store….third one is baby strollers, women with babies they take a bottle, they put the bottle inside the baby stroller and they leave without paying.”
The technology also picks up the motion of putting something into a backpack or tote bag. If a store employee receives a video alert, they can confront the shopper or watch to see if they bypass the register.
We tried to conceal a bottle of vodka in the store, and a video of the action quickly popped up on a manager’s phone.
“When you stop someone from stealing. $20, it’s not just $20,” said Blanco. “You’re stopping this person from coming back all the time, every day. So, at the end, this is more than $20. It’s way more than that.”
The Veesion system is easy to install and only costs the store a couple hundred dollars a month, much less than it would cost to hire a security guard.
Patel is still getting used to it but hopes it will work as a deterrent and the message will get out that the store is not an easy target for shoplifters.
“Let’s see how it’s going to work in future. If it is more good, good for us,” said Patel. “Always try something. If you don’t try, then how do you know?”
Veesion says its system is used widely across Europe. They only launched it in the United States a year ago, and now have 500 stores equipped with it. Currently only about 30 of them are in Massachusetts, but they say that number will triple in the coming months.
Window breaks at Boston high-rise
Aerial footage showed a shattered window a number of floors above a busy part of Boston Wednesday afternoon.
The incident happened on Avery Street in the area of South Station. There was a construction site below where a collection of beams could b…
PFAS found in Simpson Spring water, Mass. health officials say
Do not drink from Simpson Spring products, Massachusetts health officials said Wednesday, saying water bottles from the Easton-based company were contaminated with potentially harmful chemicals known as PFAS.
PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” is the name for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals used in industrial and consumer products that have been associated with adverse health outcomes.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which has been monitoring bottled water for PFAS and other contaminants for three years, recently found samples of PFAS higher than the state drinking standard in water from Simpson Spring’s facility in Easton, the agency said.
Simpson Spring told investigators it has temporarily stopped bottling water and disconnected its vending machines, according to the Department of Public Health, which also found sanitary violations during inspections.
Anyone who has Simpson Spring water should not drink it, DPH said, but pour it down the drain and recycle the bottle instead.
The company said on March 2 that 10 of its half-liter bottles were found to have PFAS above Massachusetts’ minimal levels.
“During this time period, all of our vending units and sale of bottled water have been suspended. We are working with the state and local government and we will keep our page updated,” they said in a Facebook post.
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Days later, Simpson Spring said it was bringing in Berkshire Springs water to provide its clients.
