Massachusetts

David Ferguson needs a new heart, and he needs it badly. The 31-year-old father of two, with another on the way, is fighting for his life at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he underwent an hours-long surgery Tuesday. Doctors are still working to stabilize his heart, but his family said that’s only a temporary solution, and he...

A man was critically injured Saturday afternoon in a shooting at a shopping mall in Braintree, Massachusetts, and the suspect is still on the loose, police said. State and local police responded to a call of shots fired with a person down at South Shore Plaza around 3 p.m., Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said during a second press…

A Massachusetts boy is fighting to save Chuck E. Cheese and his animatronic musician friends from extinction. Logan Carreiro, 12, of Swansea, started up a “Save Chuck E. Cheese” petition on social media after hearing that some Chuck E. Cheese locations were getting a new interior look and saying goodbye to the animatronic creatures. “I’ve always thought it was cool,…

Country music star Garth Brooks announced Wednesday that he will make a tour stop at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on May 21 — the first time he’s ever played at the stadium. The concert will be Brooks’ only New England stadium tour stop. Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. at www.ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks. They can also...

Six stranded hunters were flown from a marsh on Cape Cod Saturday by a Coast Guard helicopter, the agency said. The rescue came when wind chills around Massachusetts were below zero, but no one was hurt, the Coast Guard said Sunday. Their boat had become grounded at Slough Point in Barnstable, near Duck Island and the Great Marshes and they…

Federal prosecutors are recommending dropping charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was accused last year of hiding work he did for the Chinese government while also collecting U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday that the state has secured an order for 26 million new COVID-19 rapid antigen tests that will be prioritized for K-12 schools and child care centers over the coming months. Baker said the order was placed with iHealth, the same California-based manufacturer that provided the 2.1 million tests purchased last month and distributed to select…

Just before Thomas Randele died, his wife of nearly 40 years asked his golfing buddies and his co-workers from the dealerships where he sold cars to come by their home. They gathered to say goodbye to a guy they called one of the nicest people they’d ever known — a devoted family man who gushed about his daughter, a golfer…

The omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread in New England, but it still is not dominant, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which also revised down the agency estimate of omicron’s prevalence the week before.

As New Zealand gears up to introduce one of the world’s toughest anti-smoking laws, a similar ban has already been instituted nearly 10,000 miles away in a Boston suburb.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday he is activating up to 500 members of the National Guard to assist hospitals with the COVID-19 surge and updating the state’s mask advisory. The state Department of Public Health released an updated mask advisory Tuesday urging all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask or face covering in indoor public spaces. They…

The omicron variant of COVID-19 is well on its way to becoming the dominant strain in New England, but it isn’t yet, despite becoming far more common in just a week.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced new proof of vaccination requirements for restaurants and other indoor venues including gyms and theaters on Monday. She also said all city employees must be vaccinated along that same timeline, eliminating a weekly testing option that had existed previously. “This is just one step in an aggressive approach the city has already been working hard…

A deer went on quite the adventure Wednesday morning in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The animal went crashing through a window at Hempire, a CBD health and wellness shop on Main Street. Store owner Kirby Mastrangelo says Amesbury police called her Wednesday morning and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I thought it was a prank call. I really didn’t...

Two men were killed Wednesday morning after a shooting outside of a bar in Worcester, Massachusetts. Police found the men with multiple gunshot wounds lying on the sidewalk of Grafton Street outside the Diamond Inn just before 2 a.m. Wednesday. They were taken to an area hospital where they were pronounced dead. The shooting occurred around closing time. Cruisers blocked…

The MBTA will cut services this winter as a result of a worker shortage, it announced Tuesday. Officials say the MBTA can’t find enough bus and train operators to keep everything moving, and that more people are leaving than it can hire. Effective Dec. 19, about one in every 20 scheduled bus trips will be dropped, the MBTA said. Off-peak…

An alligator that had been spotted swimming in the Westfield River in western Massachusetts on multiple occasions in recent months was captured on Tuesday. The alligator was captured by a Good Samaritan, West Springfield Animal Control said in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon. The elusive reptile is now in the custody of Massachusetts Environmental Police. Animal control officials said the…

The omicron variant of COVID-19, first detected in South Africa, has made its way to the United States. After it was initially discovered stateside in California, the variant has now been detected in some parts of New England. U.S. health officials have said that omicron is likely to spread to more states, as well. It remains unclear whether or...

The new, highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in Massachusetts for the first time, the state Department of Public Health said Saturday. The person is a woman in her 20s from Middlesex County who had traveled out of Massachusetts. She is fully vaccinated, had a mild case of COVID-19 and didn’t need to be hospitalized,...

DNA recovered from the interior of a conch shell thought to have been used as a weapon in the 2001 killing of a Massachusetts woman has led to the indictment on a murder charge of the victim’s half-brother, prosecutors said.