Welcome to climatological spring! The cold is ousted Friday with a simple shift in the wind and a ton of March sun.
While the comeback won’t be remarkable, it will be respectable. We’ll aim for highs in the low and mid-40s Friday aftern…
Massachusetts
Massive fire overnight at 43-room Oakhurst Manor in Northbridge
A massive fire caused extensive damage at the historic, 43-room Oakhurst Manor in Northbridge, Massachusetts, overnight.
According to the Grafton Fire Department, they responded to assist with the large fire at 120 Hill St. early Friday morning. When they arrived they said flames were already shooting from the roof of the mansion and the battle quickly turned into a defensive operation. Smoke continued to billow out from the roof as of 5 a.m.
The fire started at 1:04 a.m., Northbridge Fire Chief David White said. When firefighters arrived he said they found heavy fire in the second and third floors of the building.
“These buildings are old and very hard to put out. We went to a defensive attack quickly,” he said.
At one point, White said the roof of the building collapsed.
The fire was declared under control around 5:45 a.m., but firefighters were still continuing to douse hot spots.
“It’s a historic building, as you can tell,” White said. “It’s one of the old mansions in town. It does have a little value there.”
No injuries were reported, White said. The extent of the damage is not yet known but he said he doesn’t think the building will be a total loss.
About seven residents were believed to have been living in the building, White said, and all of them got out safely and are staying in another structure on the back side of the property as they await next steps.
Photos shared by the Grafton Fire Department showed a huge fire response, with numerous ladder trucks surrounding the building and flames and heavy smoke coming from the roof.
The mansion, also known as the Whitin Lasell Estate, is located in Whitinsville, a village within the town of Northbridge.
According to the Worcester Telegram, the 20,000-square-foot mansion sold in 2021 for $1.35 million. The property was once operated by the Catholic Archdiocese as the Oakhurst Retreat, but now serves as Estate of Mind, an event center that allows artists to showcase their talents and work on their crafts. Several events planned at the facility on Friday have been canceled, according an updated posted to their website.
“Due to a fire early this morning at Oakhurst Manor, all events on Friday March 1st are cancelled,” Estate of Mind owner Victoria Dobbs said in the update.
“We are relieved to report that all residents & guests who were inside the manor exited safely and there are no known injuries at the time of posting,” she said. “The cause of the fire and scope of the damage remain to be determined.”
Dobbs assured anyone with upcoming visits or events scheduled that they will be reaching out with information on next steps and additional details as soon as they have time.
More local stories
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Wind rips off part of Gardner Fire Department’s roof
Security footage captured part of a Massachusetts fire station’s roof being blown off early Thursday morning as heavy winds whipped.
The Gardner Fire Department shared video Thursday showing a piece of standing seam metal roof flying out of p…
Boston leaders look to protect residents of closing Mission Hill nursing home
With health care centers in Boston facing a capacity crisis, a nursing home’s plan to close could exacerbate the problem.
The Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center in Mission Hill, which opened in 1927, is set to shut down soon.
“Two w…
Ex-councilor in Holyoke fled US before trial on child pornography charge, authorities believe
A former city councilor in Holyoke, Massachusetts, has gone from a local public figure to a fugitive from justice facing serious charges.
Wilmer Puello-Mota represented District 2 in Holyoke when he was arrested in 2020 in Warwick, Rhode Island, an…
Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira expected to plead guilty in federal case
Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking highly classified military documents on a social media platform, is expected to plead guilty in his federal case, according to court papers filed Thursday.
Prosecutors asked the judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for Monday, but no other details were immediately available. Teixeira had previously pleaded not guilty.
Teixeira was indicted on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The Massachusetts U.S. attorney’s office declined further comment. An attorney for Teixeira didn’t immediately return a phone message Thursday.
Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been behind bars since his April arrest for a leak that left the Biden administration scrambling to assess and contain the damage among the international community and reassure allies that its secrets are safe with the U.S.
He was accused of sharing classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other sensitive national security topics on Discord, a social media platform popular with people who play online games. Investigators believe he led a private chat group called Thug Shaker Central, where enthusiasts shared jokes, talked about their favorite types of guns and discussed wars, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Authorities say Teixeira, who enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, began around January 2023 sharing military secrets with other Discord users — first by typing out classified documents and then sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. Teixeira worked as a “cyber transport systems specialist,” essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks.
Authorities have said that Teixeira was detected on April 6 — the day The New York Times first published a story about the breach of documents — searching for the word “leak” in a classified system. The FBI says that was reason to believe Teixeira was trying to find information about the investigation into who was responsible for the leaks.
Prosecutors say he continued to leak government secrets even after he was warned by superiors about mishandling and improper viewing of classified information. After being admonished by superiors, he was again seen viewing information not related to the intelligence field, not his primary duty, according to internal Air National Guard memos filed in court.
Authorities have provided few details about an alleged possible motive, but accounts of those in the online private chat group where the documents were disclosed have depicted Teixeira as motivated more by bravado than ideology.
Prosecutors had urged the judge to keep Teixeira jailed while the case played, in part because of an arsenal of weapons found at his home and his history of disturbing online statements. They included one social media post saying that, if he had his way, he would like to kill a “ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded.”
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani last year denied Teixeira’s bid for release, saying “No set of release conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community, or prevent destruction of evidence.”
In pressing for their client to be freed from jail, Teixeira’s attorneys pointed to the pretrial release of former President Donald Trump and others in high-profile classified documents cases. Teixeira’s lawyers noted that prosecutors did not seek to detain Trump — or his co-defendant, Walt Nauta — even though they said the former president and his valet “possess extraordinary means to flee the United States.”
