Massachusetts

All indoor ice rinks and ice skating facilities in Massachusetts are prohibited from operating for the next two weeks due to rising coronavirus cases connected to indoor ice hockey, the state’s Department of Public Health announced Thursday night. Officials say the new public health order is in response to multiple COVID-19 clusters occurring at rinks throughout the state following...

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll on Wednesday detailed new coronavirus restrictions for Halloween in the Witch City in a continued attempt to deter people from visiting and spreading COVID-19. After adding new safety rules last week, Baker and Driscoll announced new, more stringent measures for the last two weekends in October, which are normally bursting with…

New data on isolated outbreaks will show up when health officials release the state’s latest coronavirus risk map this week. The updated color-coded coronavirus hot spot map, which highlights communities with the highest rates of transmission in red, will be included in the state’s weekly coronavirus public health report. State health officials plan to start incorporating coronavirus clusters in locations...

A Massachusetts woman charged with assaulting a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran out supporting President Donald Trump in Douglas over the weekend faced a judge on Monday. Kiara Dudley, 34, of Douglas, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault and battery on a person of 60 during her arraignment in Uxbridge District Court. She was released on $250 bail. It was…

People who live in or near some Massachusetts communities at high risk for COVID-19 transmission were getting alerts on their phones Monday afternoon reminding them about coronavirus safety rules. It’s the first time a Wireless Emergency Alert is being sent about the coronavirus in Massachusetts, a Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center spokesman said. The first of the alerts were going...

A two-year-old Massachusetts girl is recovering after she was attacked by a raccoon in her Arlington backyard this past week. The toddler was attacked in the backyard of her family’s Fountain Road home this past Wednesday. The girl’s mom was able to stop the attack and chased the animal away. Officials later captured the raccoon and euthanized it. The...

A car crashed into a South Boston building Saturday night, displacing 17 residents, fire officials said. The Boston Fire Department responded for a technical rescue after a car crashed into the East Third Street building around 7:15 p.m. All residents of the building were evacuated, and all utilities have been shut off, fire officials said. Three units at 614 and…

The pandemic has hit the restaurant industry especially hard, and rather than stay open as temperatures drop in Massachusetts, some are choosing to close for the winter. The owners call it “hibernating,” and they say it is their best chance of reopening in the spring. Steve “Nookie” Postal owns the Commonwealth restaurant in Cambridge, which is now in hibernation. As…

Massachusetts’ latest weekly data on the coronavirus pandemic, including the updated community-level risk assessment map, shows 63 communities considered at the highest risk for transmitting COVID-19, a new high and an increase of 23 since last week. For the first time since introducing the map, the commonwealth itself has climbed into the highest risk level. The data, from the Department…

Something fishy has people calling the police in a coastal Massachusetts town. And environmental officers are telling them to stop already. The Wareham Department of Natural Resources said Monday that it’s aware of the sunfish residing in Buzzard Bay’s Broad Cove, and there’s no need to call the cops about it. In a Facebook post, officials said they have...

A baby girl is safe after having trouble breathing thanks to a Massachusetts police chief. Brockton Police Chief Manny Gomes and new mom Juliette Leger embraced outside of the hospital Thursday. It was the first time they saw each other after Gomes saved Leger’s 3-month-old daughter, Audrey, that morning. Audrey was choking on her own mucus. “She couldn’t breathe....

Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is joining a growing chorus of voices seeking answers following an incident on Tuesday where a jogger recorded video of an encounter with federal agents in Boston. Pressley, a Democrat, sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday expressing concern over the incident, in which Bena Apreala, who is Black, said he was...

Boston area hospitals say they are preparing for a long winter as COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Massachusetts and across the globe. Over the past week alone, more than 4,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the state, including 1,226 over the weekend. The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, on average, is at 1.1%, compared to…

On Monday, much of Massachusetts will begin Step 2 of Phase 3 of the state’s re-opening plan for the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes even as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to tick up in Massachusetts — on Saturday, 600 new cases were reported, along with 17 more deaths, while the average percentage of tests coming back positive remained held…

The head of a Massachusetts veterans’ home that was the center of a deadly coronavirus outbreak has resigned from his post, 10 days after his firing was overturned by a judge. Superintendent Bennett Walsh submitted his resignation to the board of trustees Friday. Walsh had been fired in June, but the move by Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration was invalidated last…

Election officials in Massachusetts rejected close to 18,000 ballots cast in the primary, according to new figures released Tuesday, suggesting a massive expansion of mail-in voting in the Bay State came with hiccups for some voters. Of the 1.7 million votes cast in Massachusetts in this month’s primary, 814,013, or about half, arrived by mail, according to Secretary of State…

Police are looking for a man who attacked a woman and threatened to rape her Monday morning in Downtown Boston. The victim was walking at Boston Public Garden when a man approached her, putting his hand over her mouth and trying to remove her clothes while making sexually explicit threats, according to police in Boston. The woman broke free from…

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that the state will relax coronavirus restrictions on restaurants starting Monday, increasing the number of people allowed per table from six to 10 and allowing establishments to use bar seating for food service. Bars and nightclubs remain closed until Phase 4 of the state’s reopening, which isn’t expected to happen until a vaccine has…

A home where Lizzie Borden lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, is on the market again.

Charges have been filed in the case of a high school party in Sudbury, Massachusetts, that led to the local school district moving to remote learning for the start of the year, police said Monday.