Massachusetts

Dozens of residents in Revere, Massachusetts, could be forced out of their homes soon if an apartment building gets condemned.

Earlier this week, NBC10 Boston learned that the Water’s Edge Apartment building has been plagued by issues for years. The Department of Public Health will decide Thursday night if it will remain open.

The issues have been brewing for the last 20 months, starting in November 2022 when a flood in the building damaged fire panel.

The panel was put in when the building was built decades ago, and the fire department says the parts needed to fix it aren’t made anymore.

Further investigation found more issues inside, according to the fire department. In December 2022, the building’s owner was told repairs must be addressed.

However, fire officials say nothing has been done since.

The fire department worries history could repeat itself. There was a fire at a nearby building on the same street during the summer of 2022.

Recently, the fire department and city officials met with the 40 or so units still occupied inside 364 Ocean Ave., telling them they may be forced to move — a move the current building’s owner would have to pay for.

NBC10 Boston has reached out to the owner of the building. Someone from the company said they were not interested in an interview.

The Department of Health’s meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Three years after it was believed Sandra Birchmore took her own life, a former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police detective was arrested for her murder.

Former Stoughton Police Det. Matthew Farwell, 38, is accused of killing her in her own Canton home while she was pregnant.

It was a three-year long investigation, starting with an internal investigation with Stoughton police, and then the FBI investigation.

And, as cell phone video shows, it culminated in this SWAT team arrest Wednesday morning of Farwell, of North Easton.

Investigators allege Farwell had an ongoing illegal sexual relationship with Birchmore, beginning when she was just 15 years old.

The two met when Birchmore was in a youth explorers’ program that Farwell was running.

Prosecutors now allege the married detective fatally strangled Birchmore in her Canton apartment in 2021, amid claims that he was the father of her unborn child.

Investigators said they now believe that Farwell staged the 23-year-old’s death to look like a suicide.

“Matthew Farwell’s gun and badge did not grant him authority to violate the constitution. And it certainly didn’t entitle him to sexually exploit, abuse and rape a child, before killing her and her unborn baby in an attempt to cover up his alleged crimes,” said Stephen Kelleher, FBI assistant special Agent in charge.

“He used his knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer to stage her death to look like a suicide. He allegedly attempted to cover his tracks to literally try and get away with murder and he almost did,” said Joshua Levy, acting U.S. attorney.

Farwell is charged with one count of killing a witness or victim. He faces a minimum of life in prison if convicted.

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An East Boston church that recently took in dozens of migrants who have nowhere else to go says they will soon have to leave.

An East Boston church that recently took in dozens of migrants who have nowhere else to go says they will soon have to leave.

Massachusetts has been dealing with a surge of migrants in need of shelter. Earlier this month, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church opened its doors to help.

There was concern at the time that the solution would not be a long-term one, and now, church leaders say those people will need to find somewhere else to stay by Tuesday.

“This church is only half the size of the people we’re sponsoring,” Pastor Don Nanstad said Wednesday.

The church is housing Haitian, Dominican and Venezuelan families, with about 40 migrants staying there. But with the number of families growng, the church says it can no longer support the influx of migrants walking through its doors.

“It’s just going to be miserable to let them go,” said Nanstad. “I just love these people.”

The majority of the church’s leadership who speak Spanish and Creole plans to leave in the coming months.

“That leaves the third active person — me,” said Nanstad. “No Spanish, none at all.”

The loss of support from local organizations like the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network would also limit medical and mental health support for families.

“This is actually not central to their core mission, so they can’t continue to do something like this,” Nanstad explained.”So they’re going to pull back – which means we will receive somewhat — quite a bit less support.”

The church offered its services after the state’s shelter regulations limited migrants and homeless families living in shelters to only stay for five days.

Nanstad says he is communicating with about 30 Pentecostal churches in East Boston in an effort to get each to house about three or four families. In the meantime, after Tuesday’s deadline, he expects the families to end up back around the Wollaston MBTA station in Quincy.

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Massachusetts has secured more than $20 million in federal funding to help cover the state’s overburdened emergency family shelter system, Gov. Maura Healey’s office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Healey’s office said the money — the largest sum that Massachusetts has received to date from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program — comes after the administration filed an application in June with the City of Boston.

“Massachusetts urgently needs federal support as we work to meet unprecedented demand on our family shelter system as a result of a surge in immigrant families arriving in our state,” Healey said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration has taken important steps to address this federal problem in light of Congress’s failure to act, and they are seeing results with illegal border crossings down significantly. But more needs to be done. Congress needs to step up and pass the bipartisan border security agreement.”

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The state is receiving the bulk of the award and will steer the funds toward temporary shelters, where families are now limited to five-day stays, a controversial change from the Healey administration that’s drawn criticism from anti-homelessness and immigration advocates.

Boston will receive about $1.3 million of the award, Healey’s office said.

A surge in demand, from Massachusetts-based families and migrants arriving from other countries, has caused state spending on family shelters to approach $1 billion per year.

Guests at nearly three dozen Boston hotels could experience less-than-desirable visits fueled by staff shortages as early as this weekend should thousands of hospitality workers go on strike due to unsuccessful contract negotiations.

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