Telegram & Gazette
DOJ cuts grants, halting public safety efforts across U.S.
The United States is experiencing one of the steepest declines in violent crime in modern history, including a murder rate at its lowest point in more than a century. Homicides across 35 major American cities fell 21% in 2025, amounting to 922 fewer...
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SUV crash, shooting at Sturbridge hotel
STURBRIDGE – The Sturbridge police, state police and Worcester County District Attorney’s office are investigating a shooting at 400 Haynes St., the Sturbridge Plaza Hotel. A large hole is visible in the side of the hotel where a vehicle crashed...
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Man found not guilty in Worcester State killing
WORCESTER – A jury Tuesday, June 16, found Kevin J. Rodriguez not guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of Randy A. Melendez Jr., 19, who was killed in October 2023 on the Worcester State University campus. Lawyers for Rodriguez, 21, of Lawrence, had...
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Jury starts deliberation in Worcester State murder trial
WORCESTER – Jurors started deliberations Tuesday morning, June 16, after closing arguments in the murder trial of Kevin J. Rodriguez punctuated a week of testimony about a double shooting on the Worcester State University campus that rocked the city in...
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Graduation day
Between March and June, the T&G followed the Worcester firefighter cadet class from the first paperwork to the final burn drill, documenting what it takes to become a firefighter. This is the final installment in a three-part series. WORCESTER –...
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Making the climb
Between March and June, the T&G followed the Worcester firefighter cadet class from the first paperwork to the final burn drill, documenting what it takes to become a firefighter. This is part two of a three-part series. March 2 Week one, day one, in...
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Lessons for life
Between March and June, the T&G followed the Worcester firefighter cadet class from the first paperwork to the final burn drill, documenting what it takes to become a firefighter. This is part one of a three-part series. District Chief The big red...
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WINDS OF CHANGE
The United States is in a bizarre situation in 2026: It’s facing a looming energy shortage, yet the Trump administration is making deals to pay offshore wind developers nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to walk away from energy projects. These...
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One sweet Cookie
UPTON – Jenn Grenier and her family are doing their best to make life a little easier for Cookie, the French bulldog they are fostering. “We’ve tried wrapping her in towels, using pool noodles, getting different beds, just anything to make it easier...
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HAPPY LANDING Worcester Airport executive director Davis to retire
WORCESTER – If anyone is familiar to the old adage, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” it’s Andrew B. Davis. Davis, director of the Worcester Regional Airport, will retire next month after nearly 17 years at the airport. Prior to Worcester, Davis...
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RISE OF THE PHOENIX
WORCESTER – The Worcester Housing Authority unveiled the first phase of its Curtis Apartments redevelopment, highlighting new building features and improvements. “It looks like a Marriott, or a Sheraton,” Steve Alavarez, chief facilities management...
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Worcester buyers say dealer stuck them with ‘lemon’ used cars
Terry Silveira, 61, has been buying used vehicles since she was in her 20s. So, when her 2013 Nissan Altima topped 220,000 miles in June 2025, she didn’t think twice about purchasing a used Buick Encore from a Worcester car dealer recommended by a...
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Worcester Alternative School holds final graduation
WORCESTER – Worcester Alternative School held its graduation at Polar Park Thursday, June 4. The graduates: Charles Atherley Angel Bueno Pereira Luis Cotto Preston DeMello Dennis Laprade Elena Lapriore Rivera Carlos Oliveira Jennavecia...
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‘Unreal for a moment’
WORCESTER – After Dalina Hanna, 28, gave birth to her first child in the early morning hours of May 23, she told her mother to head home and get some rest. She’d soon pick up the phone to tell her to come back to the hospital – Hanna’s sister, Jouliana...
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Courtroom cleared after video of homicide sparks emotion
WORCESTER – The trial of a city man accused of gunning down two brothers outside a bar in 2021 opened Tuesday, June 2, with a graphic video of the shooting preceding an outburst from an onlooker that prompted a recess. “You’ll be alright, buddy....
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COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SAFETY
Assistant Fire Chief Adam Roche speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new South Division Fire Station June 1 in Worcester. See more,
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FANS PACK POLAR PARK FOR MAYE FUNDRAISING EVENT
WORCESTER – Polar Park was buzzing with excitement Sunday, May 31, perhaps more than with any other time in the five-year history of the Triple-A ballpark. A lineup of professional football players, notably Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, took the...
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When The Bird was the word
Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1976, the nation had a big party, celebrating its 200th birthday with fireworks, parades and cookouts. As the country’s 250th birthday bash on July 4 is approaching, it’s time to remember a man from Northborough known...
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Best and brightest
WORCESTER – Worcester’s Class of 2026 valedictorians highlight the diversity of backgrounds in the city. The students who topped their respective classes hail from three different continents and entered the Worcester Public Schools with various levels...
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Potential Iran deal puts Trump in a bind
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump finds himself in a bind as he seeks to end the war against Iran: He is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get U.S. gasoline prices down but at the same time faces a potential backlash from Iran hawks...
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Our 157th Year
for an early-morning attack near Bandar Abbas airport and that any repeat would lead to a “more decisive response,” Tasnim news agency reported. Kuwait condemned the attack and demanded that Iran immediately halt what it called a serious escalation....
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After crime on Worcester Common, a call for action
WORCESTER – After a second downtown stabbing in a month, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President Timothy P. Murray is calling on city leaders to address safety concerns in the area. “All the stakeholders need to be at the table, committed to...
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IN FULL BLOOM
Kate Johnson of Worcester shops for free flowers with her children, Donovan, 4, and Siobhan, 2, next month, at the Downtown in Bloom Flower Giveaway at City Square Park near the corner of Front Street and Mercantile. The event is hosted by the Downtown...
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Worcester remembers fallen service members
WORCESTER – Rain ponchos and umbrellas could not mask attendees’ stars and stripes any more than the unrelenting showers could drown out the remembrances of those who died serving in the Armed Forces during Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony, May 25 at...
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EVER IN MEMORY
AUBURN — Family, friends and law enforcement colleagues of Ronald Tarentino Jr. gathered at the memorial outside the police station to honor the fallen Auburn police officer. A wreath was placed at the Police Memorial on Friday, May 22, 10 years after...
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From dream to nightmare
WORCESTER – It all started with gurgles and a foul smell coming from the basement toilet on a weekend in late November. While city workers flushed the main street drain near their home on Greenwood Street for a repair, Aisar Maran and his wife, Misam...
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Ambition with local accent
WORCESTER — Out of all the colleges in Worcester, Quinsigamond Community College, by its nature as a community college, has the most local vibe. When graduates of QCC’s Class of 2026 walked across the stage at the DCU Center on Thursday afternoon, May...
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‘A big deal’ beloved
AUBURN – Without the slightest hint of ego, Ronald Tarentino Jr. used to self-deprecatingly say to friends and loved ones, “I’m kind of a big deal.” It wasn’t until he was gunned down 10 years ago that people learned how true these words...
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STORM CLEANUP BEGINS
The short but intense thunderstorm that hit the region late May 19 was soon converted to wood chips and brush piles. Homeowners and contractors spent much of May 20 tending to downed limbs and trees. Utility workers did their part, repairing downed...
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Unmarked graves
WESTBOROUGH – The first public reform school for boys in the United States existed in this town from 1848 to 1884. It was called the State Reform School for Boys, and it was essentially replaced on the other side of Lake Chauncy by the Lyman School for...
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Clark University graduates encouraged to reach for stars
WORCESTER – Members of Clark University’s Class of 2026 were encouraged to ignore doubts and blaze their own trail, with the advice coming from one of the world’s top minds in astronomy. Wendy Freedman, a professor of astronomy at the University of...
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‘Sack is back’
UPTON – During the middle of his team’s home baseball game on April 27, Blackstone Valley Tech sophomore Jake Greenstein brought a small multicolored beanbag out from the dugout and onto the dirt near the third-base line. Dressed in black sweatpants,...
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Police case with holes
WORCESTER – Less than 48 years after the Lincoln Square police headquarters opened amid much fanfare, City Manager Eric D. Batista has authorized $5 million in the city’s capital funds to fix up the police station. “Even if we were to build a brandnew...
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Headlines and deadlines
ASHBURNHAM – The current state and future of journalism are among the most debated topics in society, and high school students at Oakmont Regional High School are learning all the details on the fly. The school newspaper, The Oakmonitor, recently...
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Pothole pantomime piques public interest
WORCESTER – Wilson Lam, 24, is usually traveling around the city and other parts of Central Massachusetts filming TikToks and trying locally-owned restaurants. Recently he took his creativity to City Hall. During the City Council meeting May 5, Lam...
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Trinket trading post
WORCESTER – There are dozens of “little free libraries” across Worcester and beyond, often offering those walking by a book and even a place to sit and enjoy a few pages. On Charlotte Street, just a few feet from Park Avenue, a new kind of library has...
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Southbridge McDonald’s employees could face tampering charges
SOUTHBRIDGE – Police Chief Shane Woodson said his department has new information that could lead to charges against a McDonald’s employee seen in a video putting fries in her mouth before possibly serving them to a customer. Police have not found the...
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WITH THE BIG WHEELS
WORCESTER – Before Monster Jam made its scheduled return to the DCU Center, an estimated 80 auto technology students from Blackstone Valley and Bay Path regional vocational technical high schools were invited to get dirty with professional drivers and...
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From first breath
WORCESTER – It was a once in a lifetime event for the maternity nurse who resuscitated a tiny infant, born prematurely at 25 weeks in the early hours of a September morning in 1972. The nurse, June LaJeunesse, had never performed the mouth-to-mouth on...
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Setting the course
WORCESTER – Over 600 women from across Central Massachusetts gathered at the DCU Center on Thursday, May 7, for the 17th annual Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference, presented by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. The one-day event kicked...
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One year later
WORCESTER – It was just another day for Dave Roy. He drove out of his neighborhood on Eureka Street, heading toward Main Street, when he spotted a group of men converging not far from his home of 40 years. Roy didn’t think much about them at the...
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Westminster residents still waiting for clean water
WESTMINSTER – When Norma Avelar opened her front door, she greeted her guest with a tongue-in-cheek question. “Would you like some water? It’s bottled.” There’s a lot to unpack here. It starts with bottled water delivered to Avelar’s home in...
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Parent-run libraries instill love of reading in students
WORCESTER – Many Worcester elementary schools have libraries, but due to staffing cuts and other issues over the years, the schools have not had the ability to staff them with professional librarians. However, at schools across the city, groups of...
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Who was Audrey Paquin?
After the death of her aunt, Hingham resident Kerry Christopherson had the daunting task of going through her belongings in Braintree. When she came across a canvas in a bin labeled “art stuff,” she knew she had a mystery on her hands. “I know nothing...
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Pleasure to serve you - again
HOLDEN – More than a month after a car slammed into the brick exterior of the 122 Diner, shuttering the eatery, the business has rebounded. It reopened Friday morning, May 1. “We’re back!!! After 5 long weeks, we’re reopening tomorrow!,” the...
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PAPER CHASE
WEST BOYLSTON – To the untrained eye – and even the trained nose – the short stack of legal papers lying on a table at the county jail one recent morning looked like, well, legal papers. “This is one hundred thousand dollars worth of drugs,” Sgt....
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Prediction markets see explosive rise
Though prediction markets have been legal in the United States for less than 18 months, they can’t stop making news and making money. On prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, users can stake real money on just about anything, from the...
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TROUBLED WATERS
HARDWICK – It’s the biggest damremoval project in Massachusetts, and some aren’t too happy about it. Luke Wright owns a hydroelectric dam in Ware that’s about 10 miles downriver from the Wheelwright Pond Dam in Hardwick that the state is in the...
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1976 was a big year for young fan of Evel Knievel
WORCESTER – A big anniversary year is in store for Raymond Violante Jr. of Worcester. Fifty years ago, Violante’s picture was featured in the Sunday Telegram on May 30, 1976. The same year, he also saw his childhood idol, Evel Knievel, do a...
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Store owners say prom dress sales are down
While prom shops might have the dress fit for the occasion, for shoppers it may not be fitting the budget. Acknowledging inflation, owners of the some of the city’s formalwear stores say sales of prom gowns, typically floor-length numbers, are down...
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Local Catholics optimistic about Pope Leo’s leadership
WORCESTER – Many parishioners were smiling as they filed in and out of Mass at Christ the King Church Sunday, April 26. When asked about Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, attendees’ grins widened. “I think he’s exactly what we need,” said Anthony Zamarro, an...
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In memory of John Fitch
ASHBY – It was a long time coming, 230 years to be precise. But thanks to the Ashby Historical Society and its supporters, John Fitch – Fitchburg’s namesake and the man who also helped found neighboring Ashby – finally has a headstone to mark his...
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Separation of church and plate
WORCESTER – Phil Cunningham knows a thing or two about feeding the hungry. The 51-year-old financial analyst spent five years at a large Catholic refugee service in the Middle East and Africa a decade ago, seeing firsthand the devastating impacts of...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, April 25, the 115th day of 2026. There are 250 days left in the year. On this date in: 1859: Suez Canal construction began as ground was broken at Port Said, Egypt. Initial work was done by forced laborers digging with picks and...
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Environmental advocates in MA decry fish hatcheries
WORCESTER – What looked like an inflated kiddie pool wasn’t filled with happy, bouncing children. Instead, youngsters reached in to grab one of the large rainbow trout swimming inside the inflatable. Shrieks of excitement were heard, and others had...
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‘We just want ... a chance to change our lives’
WORCESTER – After several years of financial struggles, a social service agency affiliated with UMass Memorial Health that serves some of Worcester County’s most vulnerable residents is headed for permanent closure, according to a recent agency...
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Daffodils take their place at New England Botanic Garden
BOYLSTON – Since 1991, a blanket of yellow and white has come into bloom at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. More than 25,000 daffodils (Narcissus) pop about the third week of April, in time for school vacationers to soak in the hues. The...
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A RECORD-SETTING DAY
It was a day for repeat winners at the 130th Boston Marathon Monday, April 20. John Korir and Sharon Lokedi, both of Kenya, won the men’s and women’s races, respectively – each for the second consecutive time. Korir won the men’s division with a...
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Strong numbers
WORCESTER – If it weren’t for the matching yellow “LIVESTRONG at the YMCA” T-shirts, they’d look like any other workout group. But the dozen or so adults rotating through their exercise circuit, complete with pushups and stints on the rowing machines,...
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A song takes flight
WORCESTER – The days are getting warmer, the flowers are starting to bloom and the sun sets later. Those are some of the exciting and hopeful signs of spring. So are the returning sounds of birds. We don’t hear much from them in the winter, especially...
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Out from under
LEICESTER – A pickup reported stolen more than four decades ago was pulled from the depths of Rochdale Pond, with a fisherman credited with the catch of the 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit. A front-end loader from the Highway Department was used to pull the...
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DOUBLE TIME
WORCESTER – Worcester firefighter and U.S. Air Force veteran Andrew Staruk and his wife, Nicole, have a 4-year-old daughter and are expecting their second child in May, so Staruk figured it was now, or not for quite a while, that he would have the time...
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‘A collaborative space’
WORCESTER – After a decade of planning and 17 months of construction, Creative Hub Worcester is officially moving into its new home, the former Boys & Girls Club building at 2 Ionic Ave. A grand opening celebration will take place Thursday, April 16,...
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‘You all got to love her’
WEBSTER — The community came together to honor the Park Avenue Elementary School fourth-grader who died after after getting hit by a car near her School Street home. Marleigh Guevara, 10, died the afternoon Saturday, April 11. A candlelight vigil was...
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Love Worcester?
Even without his nearly complete Worcester-themed sleeve tattoo, Derek Herman’s love for the city has proven indelible. The 37-year-old city native first tattooed a Worcester Red Sox logo on his left arm five years ago. Since then, a tattoo piece has...
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U.S. to blockade Strait of Hormuz, Trump says
A day after failed peace negotiations between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy will start blockading the Strait of Hormuz. In back-to-back social media posts on April 12, Trump said the United States...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2026. There are 263 days left in the year. On this date in: 1633: Catholic Cardinal and chief inquisitor Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola and the church accused Galileo Galilei of heresy for...
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The high cost of U.S. health care
In announcing its “Great Healthcare Plan” in January, the Trump administration became the latest in a long history of efforts by the U.S. government to rein in the soaring cost of health care. h As a physician and professor studying the intersection of...
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Nuts to the nut
WESTBOROUGH — A proposal to replace downtown’s longtime rotary at West Main, East Main, Milk, Brigham and South streets with a “peanutshaped” roundabout hasn’t been sitting well with the town’s peanut gallery and business owners. With an estimated...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, April 9, the 99th day of 2026. There are 266 days left in the year. On this date in: 1682: Explorer and fur trader René-Robert Cavelier reached the Gulf of Mexico (which was renamed by the American government as the Gulf of America...
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A day in their life
STURBRIDGE – Deb Knight likes to say she gets to and from work by gas-powered time machine. In 21st century speak, that means car. h Knight is a longtime employee of Old Sturbridge Village, the outdoor history museum that mimics the look and feel of an...
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Artemis II photos show views before lunar flyby
More breathtaking images released over the weekend from NASA’s Artemis II mission showed both the moon and Earth in all their cosmic glory as four astronauts headed toward our celestial neighbor. The three Americans and one Canadian have captured some...
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Prosecutor hints at cover-up in death of state police recruit
WORCESTER – Minutes after Enrique Delgado-Garcia was knocked unconscious in the state police academy boxing match that preceded his death, then-Sgt. Jennifer Penton learned he had complained of concussive symptoms before the match to a fellow trainee,...
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SIGNALING ANXIETY
WORCESTER – Heather Morillo has quit her job. Only six months after Morillo began working at Maxwell Luciano’s restaurant inside Union Station, she handed in her two-week notice, citing safety concerns. “I enjoy it. Working the events was fun, but I...
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Trump funding cuts axed nutrition program
If the government had found a way to save $10 for every dollar it spent helping low-income people get healthier, wouldn’t it make sense for it to keep doing that? Well, that’s exactly what the U.S. government did when it piloted the SNAPEd program in...
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‘A new language’
WORCESTER – It’s been about a month since Edward M. Augustus Jr. took over as chief executive officer at locally based UniBank, time that to him has been like having to learn a new language. Leading a bank with $3 billion in assets and more than a...
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