It's today's top story, and the race — which had been postponed from April to Sept. 14 due to coronavirus — will be held instead as a virtual event(?).
It should be the final straw in the political career of a one Marty Walsh (unless he knows something about September that we do not). I mean, his policies have destroyed Boston. Even the milquetoast sports jocks on radio are complaining about it. It will soon be a city of tumbleweeds, although that is just an opinion:
"The thrill of city living is gone; Maybe a takeaway from the coronavirus is that the suburbs really are better" by Tom Keane May 4, 2020
One possible lesson from the coronavirus pandemic: Maybe the suburbs really are better.
I live in downtown Boston, in a too-small place for too much money, but the argument I always made to myself was that it was worth it. There was the energy and intellectual ferment of folks packed together. There were culture, sporting events, and nightlife right outside the door. Instead of chain restaurants, we had cool little bistros and chef-driven haunts, the better to stretch the palate.
Well, that’s all gone.
The building I’m in used to have amenities like a workout room and roof deck. They’re now shuttered because of stay-at-home orders imposed to stem the spread of COVID-19. Increasingly, that’s true for parks and other recreational areas. Walking outside is discouraged anyway, and if you do, the state has ordered you to wear a mask.
Meanwhile, my friends in the suburbs find the pandemic quite a different existence. For one, most have yards and decks. They can lie in the sun, throw a ball to one another, and pretty much live out their lives normally. Sidewalks are generally uncrowded; social distancing is relatively easy. And, of course, given that a dollar spent on a suburban home buys two to three times the space as in a city, suburbanites have room to roam. (The median price per square foot in Boston is $758, according to real-estate website Zillow; for the rest of the state it’s just $269.) They don’t have to work from home at their kitchen tables; instead they can simply turn the extra bedroom into a home office.
In addition, and perhaps most important, people in the ‘burbs aren’t running the same health risks as those in the city. Pandemics spread when people are near one another. Sure, I’m behind the four walls of my apartment, but going outside for groceries means riding the elevator with other residents, walking through a crowded lobby, and making my way down narrow sidewalks.
In the suburbs, folks just get in their cars. Perhaps suburban grocery stores are as dangerous as Boston’s, but the trip there is a lot less risky.
Someday, of course, the lockdown will end and we’ll eventually be able to venture out of our homes, but even so, the city will probably be the last to loosen its strictures; the governor is looking at reopening in mid-May or June while Boston Mayor Martin Walsh is talking summer or fall, and when that happens, strong remnants of social distancing will remain. No more crowded bars, restaurants, or food halls. Hanging out in coffee shops will be discouraged. Full stands at Fenway and the Garden may never return. All of this will remain in place until the disease is genuinely conquered, either through herd immunity or a vaccine.
It was the moment that Boston died.
Still, after COVID-19 is but a memory, the fear will probably remain. We’ve learned a big lesson from the coronavirus: Pandemics are real, and they can happen to us. Doubtless, another one looms. We don’t know when, but the epidemiologists who have been warning us for years will now be taken seriously.
It’s too bad. Over the last decade, Boston and other urban areas have seen a resurgence in their populations as people moved in, seeking the excitement only a city can provide. Boston, for instance, built entire new neighborhoods — such as the Seaport District or the revitalized Fenway — adding more than 75,000 residents over the last 10 years. Does that continue? I doubt it. The thrill of city living is gone, perhaps never to return. Couple that with our newfound fear of crowds, and I expect we’ll soon see urbanites heading out to the suburbs they once disdained.
We don't want you out here, and I hope it was worth it to you, Walsh!!!
The British couldn't destroy Boston, but you did.
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The Globe then has the temerity to then wax about the power of cities and how the coronavirus provides an opportunity to revitalize cities to be more relevant, more vibrant, and more healthful -- with an opportunity to reimagine Boston’s open spaces during this moment of tabula rasa in parks and the city as a whole and "even as the city copes with massive uncertainty under siege from the coronavirus, Mayor Martin J. Walsh gets to play the role of city patriarch and chief Mason.
Meanwhile, the new Boston fire commissioner says ‘we’re doing everything that we normally do’:
At the Boston Fire Department headquarters, the commissioner's driver Paul Capeless (left) brought the new helmet and coat to the new fire commissioner, John Dempsey. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Yeah, note the lack of social distancing with no masks as it's all smiles!
That was in my May 4th paper, folks.
"It was 8:25 p.m. on Thursday, April 29, 1852. A concerned citizen, J.H. Goodale, noticed a small fire coming from a house on the corner of what is now North Washington Street. Rather than yell “Fire!” or signal for the church bells to ring, as was customary at the time to alert firefighters, he rang the electric fire alarm box installed the day before on the corner of Endicott and Cooper streets. Knowingly or not, Goodale ushered in a new era for the fire department — one that would be characterized by instantaneous alerts and quick responses, saving countless buildings and lives from potentially destructive blazes. With call boxes on the streets, the fire alarm system, “was highly successful in reducing property loss and deaths due to fire and was subsequently adopted throughout the United States and in Canada,” said Stephen F. Keeley, superintendent of the Boston Fire Alarm Division, in a statement. Today, the fire alarm system still serves the community. Over 9,000 calls are put out through the alarm system, which has over 1,200boxes around the city, Keeley said. In recent years, the alarm which Goodale rang in Box 1212, has hardly become obsolete. In December 2018, a nationwide network outage left dispatch centers unable to receive calls for emergency services. At 5:15 a.m. on Dec. 28, 2018, "an astute Boston resident, unable to reach emergency services through the 911 system, used the street fire alarm box to signal a fire in the clothes dryer at 94 Endicott St. in the North End,” Keeley said."
Let's take a swing around the city, shall we?
Braintree man shot by police Saturday is recovering in hospital, will face assault charge
Man arrested in connection with Saturday night shooting in Cambridge
Driver killed in Andover crash identified
Was driving too fast as he accessed the off-ramp.
Body pulled from Merrimack River in Haverhill
County officials say no foul play is suspected after local police and firefighters responded to a call reporting a body floating in the river.
"A Boston man was arrested after he was allegedly caught stealing packages in front of a home in East Boston Wednesday morning, police said. Around 10:20 a.m.officers received a report of a larceny in progress at a house on Princeton Street, Boston police said in a statement. The suspect, later identified as 22-year-old Steven Ayala-Conde, was allegedly seen putting packages in his coat and pants before fleeing on foot toward Meridian Street.An officer on detail saw Ayala-Conde walking near Border Street and tried to apprehend him, police said. Ayala-Conde escaped, but dropped several items including packages and a cellphone. A Boston police K-9 unit searched the area and found Ayala-Conde hiding under the back porch of a vacant building at 7 Monmouth St.,police said. Ayala-Conde was arrested and is facing charges of trespassing; larceny under $250; and buying, receiving, or concealing stolen goods, police said. He is expected to be arraigned in East Boston Municipal Court."
"Citing civil liberty and racial inequity concerns, Boston city councilors Wednesday discussed barring the city from using facial recognition technology. Council President Kim Janeycq was among those to express concern that facial recognition technology continues to produce false matches, particularly when it comes to identifying people of color. Citing a study, she said Black and Asian faces had a much higher rate of false positives in such systems than white faces. Janey said it was clear that databases utilized in the technology “are not reliable for any serious use, let alone law enforcement, so we have to be really careful.” “The benefits of that technology, right now, don’t outweigh the risk,” said Janey during the meeting, which was conducted virtually via Zoom. Other local communities, including Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville have instituted similar bans on facial recognition technology. Boston currently does not use such software, but Councilor Michelle Wucq said a contract relating to the city’s surveillance system is due to expire next week, and that an upgrade could come with a patch that allowed for such tech. “We know that this particular type of technology is not only a potential risk for civil liberties and for basic rights, but also has been documented to be racially-biased,” said Wu. The proposed ban would make it illegal for local authorities to obtain or use a face-surveillance system, to use information derived from such a system, or to enter into a third-party agreement for surveilling faces. “A lot of people are already fearful of government, and I don’t think we need to add any more fear,”said Councilor Julia Mejiacq of facial recognition technology."
Why was White the only ethnicity that doesn't deserve a capital letter in the $upremaciSt Joo paper?
City Council to consider ban on facial recognition, surveillance oversight, school information-sharing rules
Soon after, Rep. Liz Miranda positive for coronavirus while asking the community to continue precautions when dancing in the street, and after charges of racism, the MFA has agreed to create a $500,000 diversity fund even as the Boston museum experience is definitely diminished.
For a distraction, the Boston Pops released its ‘Summon the Heroes’ video honoring first responders and in a major loss for the region’s summer performing arts landscape, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has canceled this year’s Tanglewood festival for the first time since World War II, due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19.
"The city of Boston says it is awarding $7.5 million in small business grants, enabling the city to fulfill all eligible requests that were submitted during the brief application process in April for a new relief program to help business owners cope with the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown. City officials said they expect to help about 1,900 small businesses. The city is using $6.6 million from federal Community Development Block Grant funds (including $5 million in new money from the federal CARES Act), $300,000 from city operating funds, $200,000 from Citizens Bank, $100,000 from Eastern Bank, and $50,000 from the state attorney general’s office. The grants range in size from $2,500 to $10,000, depending on the size of the business."
Related: Facebook gives grants to 156 small businesses in Greater Boston
You will be able to bike to work:
"A cyclist was killed and another was injured after they were struck by a car in Arlington Tuesday evening, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. Charles Proctor, 27, of Somerville, and a 32-year-old womanCwere riding their bikes through the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Appleton Street when they were hit by a car at about 6:30 p.m. according to the statement. Proctor was taken to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, where he died from his injuries, officials said. The woman, whose name wasn’t released, was taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Officials said the cyclists were traveling easton Massachusetts Avenue while the car, a Hyundai Sonata, was traveling weston the same road. The 20-year-old Cambridge man who was driving the Hyundai and the vehicle’s two other occupants stayed at the scene after the incident, officials said. Investigators allegedly found a loaded shotgun in the Hyundai’s trunk, authorities said. The driver was charged with possession of a loaded shotgun or rifle in the motor vehicle. He was licensed to have a firearm, officials said. The man will be summonsed to Cambridge Municipal Court for the charge at a later date. The crash remains under investigation."
She was skating on thin ice:
"A skate park at Rupert A. Nock Middle School has been covered in mulch to keep out youth who ignored social distancing guidelines while hanging out there, Mayor Donna D. Holaday said. All city parks were closed about six weeks ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, Holaday said. Even though closed signs are posted around the skate park and its gate is locked, Holaday said young people have been climbing over the park’s fence to meet up with large groups of friends. Children were caught using the skate park on several days last week, but left without issue, Holaday said. That wasn’t the case with a group of more than 15CQ young people who were found in the park on Thursday“They were incredibly rude when asked to leave,” Holaday said. “After numerous requests to follow rules regarding park closures including addressing this issue in my weekly video updates, we felt we had no choice. We do not have the staff to stand at the skate park monitoring all day.”City officials dumped five wheel barrels of mulch around the skate park Fridayto keep skaters from using it, Holaday said. Other cities have covered their skate parks with sand, but she said mulch would be easier to clean out once the park reopens."
Sweet!
"For now, Sweet said, he has extended an invitation to all of the performers who were confirmed for this year’s festivals — among them Randy Newman, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones, and Wynton Marsalis — to appear in Newport next year. “So far, every single one of them has said, ‘Tell us where and when,’ ” said Jay Sweet, the executive producer of the Newport Festivals Foundation. While Sweet anguished in recent days about breaking the bad news to artists and fans, he relied on the wisdom of George Wein, the 94-year-old founding organizer of both festivals, who began grooming Sweet as his successor more than a decade ago....."
Grooming kids is something Epstein did.
Anybody for an Encore?
Encore Boston Harbor loses $60.6 million in coronavirus-shortened quarter
They also furloughed more than 10 percent of their full-time workers and halted part-timers’ checks, and it’s going to take years to get those jobs back as the house of cards collapses so time to start rebuilding as long as social distancing is followed:
"Walsh set to ease ban on construction work in coming weeks; The city will allow some projects, such as major housing developments, to resume, as along as they comply with safety requirements" by Tim Logan Globe Staff, May 6, 2020
The City of Boston is getting ready to let construction work resume.
The Walsh administration Tuesday outlined plans to gradually restart many building projects over the next few weeks, with work on most so-called “essential” projects — including large housing developments — able to get underway by the end of the month.
In a memo to contractors and developers, the city’s chief of operations, Patrick Brophy, laid out dates when projects can resume, as long as they file detailed COVID-19 safety plans with the city. Site work, to prepare for a return to construction, could begin as soon as Tuesday. Certain projects — road and street work, hospitals, and small residential projects — and open-air work such as digging foundations and erecting steel can start on May 18. Other state-defined “essential” projects, which include large housing developments, can resume on May 26. That, Brophy wrote, should give contractors time to design safety plans and train their workers in them.
Projects that don’t meet the state’s definition of essential — such as office buildings or hotels, for now — will not be able to go forward until the state eases its restrictions, Brophy wrote.
Construction has been largely halted in Boston since mid-March when Walsh — who was a longtime leader of the region’s building trades unions — became the first big-city mayor in the country to shut down job sites over coronavirus safety concerns. The move stopped the city’s long-running building boom nearly overnight, and threw thousands of construction workers out of work, though it was widely hailed by the city’s unionized building trades and at least grudgingly accepted by developers. Cambridge and Somerville quickly followed suit — and projects there remain shut down — but Governor Charlie Baker resisted calls for a statewide shutdown, saying that many essential projects should continue if they can do so safely.
In the weeks since, large construction companies, unions, and the city have been working on guidelines to safely restart, and as those have taken shape, the Walsh administration has signaled an increasing willingness to re-open. Industry experts expect construction will go ahead at a slower pace, with fewer workers on site and far stricter safety guidelines. But, they say, it can be done safely and needs to be, so that billions of dollars worth of projects can be finished.
The city plans to closely monitor construction sites to make sure safety precautions are being followed, Brophy said, and will launch a construction industry coronavirus testing site with Tufts Medical Center at the Josiah Quincy School in Chinatown.
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Related:
"Boston’s construction industry started rumbling back to life this week, but building in a pandemic won’t look like it has the last few years. Temperature checks at the project gate. Sensors that beep when workers stand too close to each other. Elevators only one-third full,with everyone standing facing outward. Those are all among the tactics and tools that contractors and construction unions have put in place to get building again, safely....."
Looks like a long hot summer is coming to Bo$ton:
"Boston is facing a quiet summer: July Fourth celebration latest to be canceled due to coronavirus" by Danny McDonald, Adam Vaccaro and Diti Kohli Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, May 8, 2020
One of the nation’s signature Fourth of July events has been canceled, as city officials and the Boston Pops on Friday nixed the annual concert and fireworks display that draws a half million people to the Charles River Esplanade and is broadcast into the homes of countless more.
The symbolism couldn't be starker!
The cradle of American Liberty has now indicated -- and appropriately so -- the grave of it!
Announced hours after the national unemployment rate spiked to a jaw-dropping 14.7 percent, the cancellation was just the latest sign that, even as the region eyes reopening from the long COVID-19 shutdown, life will not soon return to normal.
Or EVER, for that matter!
Other events that draw sizable crowds in the city, such as the Boston Pride parades, had already been canceled, but the announcement Friday by Mayor Martin J. Walsh that Boston will not host any large-scale parades or festivals until at least Labor Day confirms that a city that draws tourists from near and far is facing a quiet summer.
“If you have an event that brings crowds together in close contact like a concert, a road race, a flag raising, you should start looking at alternatives right now,” Walsh said. “This is a public health decision and it’s the right decision.”
The cancelling of the venerated Boston Marathon, more than a century of consecutiveness gone, was the cherry on top.
The decision marks the first-ever outright cancellation of the concert since it began in 1929. The date has occasionally been moved or the event abruptly cut short due to weather conditions.
The Pops instead plan to broadcast a concert to television and online audiences, with fireworks from a previous Fourth celebration bringing the show to a close. Conductor Keith Lockhart said the concert will pay tribute to front-line workers, whom he called “the glue holding our communities together since this health crisis began.”
The fireworks are my favorite.
The pandemic has sickened more than 3.9 million people and killed more than 273,000 worldwide. In the United States, nearly 1.3 million people have been sickened and more than 76,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Massachusetts on Friday reported an additional 1,612 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 75,333. The number of deaths rose by 150, increasing the total to 4,702. The state also reported 14,391 new tests administered, with the rate of positive results for the day at around 11 percent, which is lower than the most recent seven-day average.
In his own briefing at the State House, Governor Charlie Baker noted that after some disappointing statistics on Wednesday, the numbers had improved on Thursday, keeping with positive recent trends, but he cautioned that any single day report did not tell the whole story.
“No single day is indicative of a trend,” he said. “Data trends have to be looked at over time. … We need to see the numbers continue to improve and to see that curve gradually slope downward.”
He's found religion in Massachusetts!
Walsh shared a small bright spot of news out of Boston: For the first time in the pandemic, the city on Thursday recorded more recoveries from COVID-19 than new cases, but he, too, stressed that one day does not necessarily represent a turning point.
Walsh also announced that the Boston Resiliency Fund, which was launched to help with the response to the public health emergency, surpassed $30 million in money raised. He said $16 million has been distributed so far in grants, including to “diverse grass-roots organizations” meant to help and support needy residents, but city and state leaders were criticized in a separate news conference Friday held by a group of Black community activists, who said neighborhoods like Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester are in need of much more assistance.
In Boston, Walsh’s office said his ban applied to events requiring city permits, and said no event should be held that would involve more than 10 people gathering or that could draw a crowd of any size. Walsh’s edict does not address whether the Red Sox will play home games in front of fans at Fenway Park this year. Those discussions, he said, are happening at the state task force level and among sports leagues, who have largely floated ideas that would not include spectators. "It’s hard to physically distance at a baseball park,” Walsh noted.
He won't have to worry because there is not going to be any baseball this summer.
The mayor’s latest announcement applies to events through Sept. 7, ending just a week before the rescheduled Boston Marathon, which was postponed from its usual April date due to the virus.
Also Friday, the Federal Transit Administration announced that it would transfer more than $820 million to the MBTA, a grant award that was included in the CARES Act that the T is relying on to cover gigantic fare revenue losses over the next year....
That should get them back up to $peed, huh?
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"MIT Sloan study: Summer’s heat and humidity not going to stop the coronavirus" by Martin Finucane Globe Staff, May 8, 2020
Don’t expect the coronavirus to disappear with the arrival of hot and humid weather this summer.
That’s the message from new research led by the MIT Sloan School of Management that looked at how the coronavirus pandemic has been affected by weather since it first erupted.
“Even though high temperatures and humidity can moderately reduce the transmission rates of coronavirus, the pandemic is not likely to diminish solely due to summer weather,” said Hazhir Rahmandad, an associate professor of system dynamics, in a statement from the Sloan School.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence that COVID-19 is unlike the seasonal flu, which does dissipate as the weather warms. Most studies have found weak evidence that high temperatures and humidity will vanquish the virus, the Globe reported last month.
The team that worked on the latest study included researchers from Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Connecticut, and Virginia Tech.....
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That is straight from the belly of the beast.
Cambridge says coronavirus tests now available to those eight years old and older
How do you think your youngster will react to this scary sight?
Cambridge residents drove up to receive a coronavirus test at a Cambridge Health Alliance site on Friday. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
He or she will be ready to jump off a bridge.
"Coronavirus deaths poised to pass 5,000 in Massachusetts" by Andy Rosen and John Hilliard Globe Staff, May 10, 2020
The state is approaching the milestone as other data points suggest there’s measured progress in the fight against the virus. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Massachusetts stood at 3,128 Sunday, continuing a days-long decline that has reduced the number to levels not seen since early April.
In Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, the city is “giving everything we have to fight this pandemic.” The city has, among other things, banned large events such as festivals and parades at least until Labor Day. “Our focus remains on slowing its spread to save lives, and getting everyone impacted the care and support they need," the mayor said in a statement.
The grocery chain Whole Foods Market said Sunday that it had temporarily closed its Lynnfield store after employees there tested positive for coronavirus. The store is undergoing “professional deep cleanings and disinfections,” the company said. A spokesperson said Whole Foods will pay workers who miss shifts due to the closing. The company did not say how many people tested positive at the store.
The statewide lockdown, aimed at protecting public health, may also have consequences for public safety. Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said Sunday that she believes many cases of domestic violence and child abuse and neglect are going unreported because the victims are confined to their homes. Speaking to WBZ-TV political analyst Jon Keller, Rollins said there has been an increase in domestic violence cases in the county, but she believes there are even more people who are becoming victims in their homes.....
Here is a quick drive-by at what is going ons in her office.
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The fatalities are over 6,000 now, here are dozens of events not happening this summer.
"In Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he wanted to temper expectations regarding what Monday will bring, saying authorities are moving toward reopening with decisions grounded in data, not a certain date. He said he supported a “cautious, phased-in approach” that included public health guidelines for each industry. He warned that reopening too quickly could cause a spike in cases. “It’s not public health versus the economy,” said Walsh at a City Hall news conference. “They can only move forward together.” Boston reported 542 pandemic-related deaths of city residents as of Wednesday. In a statement, Walsh said that the city has launched a hot line to help city residents who are eligible for the federal economic pandemic stimulus payments. Those with income under $75,000, including those with no income, may be eligible for the full $1,200 payment, according to Walsh’s office. Across the country, even as many states continued to reopen, some leaders offered more sobering assessments. The mayor of Washington, D.C., extended the district’s stay-at-home order through June 8, saying in a tweet the criteria for reopening had not yet been met, and the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, put an even finer point on it in a TV interview. “We’ll never be completely open," he said, "until we have a cure.”
Garcetti (Jewish) caught flak for intending to lockdown until August, and what if there is never a cure? Coronaviruses mutate, you know.
"The NAACP National Convention, scheduled to be held in Boston in July, has been recast as a virtual event, Tanisha M. Sullivan, president of the Boston branch of the organization, said Monday. The annual meeting of the nation’s largest civil rights organization has been planned as a showcase that Boston could be an attractive and welcoming destination for thousands of Black activists. But those plans unraveled in the face of a pandemic that has disrupted travel and turned the city’s major convention center into a health care facility. While the event was postponed several weeks ago, local NAACP leaders had held out hope that the planned convention would be held in Boston eventually, but for this year’s gathering, the NAACP will hold its sessions online. Sullivan stressed that her chapter will still have a major role to play. The group is completing a report on the state of Black Boston, and it plans to continue with some events planned for the week of the convention — if they are permitted under public health guidelines. “While the national convention will be virtual to allow for participation across the country, locally we are working on a plan that will allow for a hybrid, if the CDC, state, and city public health data allows,” Sullivan said. “ This would include service days and forums. We will continue to work with the national office, the city, and state and do what’s best for our members and partners.” Sullivan said the estimated economic impact of the convention has been $11 million. That’s not counting dollars the group had hoped to push for in the form of increased contracting by the city and state with minority-owned businesses, among other initiatives, but Sullivan stressed that the convention has been reconceived, not canceled. She said the national NAACP has been conducting regular issues forums online, drawing as many as 20,000 participants. “The reality is that we are still having a convention — it’s just going to be virtual,” Sullivan said, “and we are likely to have more people participating in the virtual convention than we would have had at the physical convention.” Regardless of format, Sullivan said the local chapter and the NAACP as a whole will continue to push city and state leaders to address issues of racial inequity that she said have been amplified by the coronavirus crisis. “The convention is still happening,” she said. “The work still goes on.”
It will be like they are running from the Boston cops in the virtual Marathon.
"A 39-year-old man who allegedly broke into several businesses in Boston proceeded to spit on officers after he was arrested Monday morning, police said. Shortly before 8 a.m., officers responded to a report of a possible breaking and entering at the Planet Fitness in Downtown Crossing, Boston police said in a statement. Noises were coming from the building, according to the caller, but officers were unable to locate a suspect when they arrived. Officers learned that the suspect was wearing an orange t-shirt at the time that he broke into the Planet Fitness, police said. Officers also learned that the suspect, later identified as Richard Lawson, of Boston, was wanted for several other break-ins in the area. Several hours after the report, officers spotted Lawson by Washington Street and Water Street, police said. When approached, Lawson began to resist and push the officers. After he was put in handcuffs, Lawson began spitting at the officers. While in the cruiser, he threatened to physically harm the officers and continued to try to spit on them. Lawson is facing charges of breaking and entering, threats to commit a crime, and assault and battery on a police officer, police said. He will be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Tuesday. Additional charges could be pending, police said."
Also see:
Police arrest 2 with loaded AK-47 at vigil for homicide victim
Man stabbed early Sunday morning in Lynn
Man killed in head-on crash in Easton
They took him to the coronavirus field hospital, but they had stopped taking admissions.
"The Needham Board of Health adopted an emergency order Tuesday requiring people to wear face coverings while at businesses, work sites, and government buildings starting Friday, officials said. The requirement takes effect May 1 at 6:01 a.m. and will remain in effect through June 16, the board said in a statement. Employees will be required to wear a face covering when interacting within the public or whenever they are within six feet of a co-worker or customer, according to the emergency order. People are also required to wear a face covering while entering, exiting, or in a common area of a residential or commercial building complex with more than two units, the statement said. The order does not apply to anyone younger than five years old, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the mask with assistance, the order said. It also does not apply to outdoor settings where people are staying six feet away from each other."
Time to take the mask off and PARTY:
"Malden’s city council president hosted a large birthday gathering for her daughter. Now some people want her to resign" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff, May 20, 2020
More than 130 people have signed an online petition calling for the resignation of Malden City Council President Jadeane Sica, after she hosted a large family party in a parking lot last week. Critics say the event drew some 50 people, in violation of COVID-19 social distancing protocols.
Sica, in a lengthy Facebook post Friday, issued an apology that said in part, “I am guilty. Yup, I said it, I’m guilty. Let me explain.”
Like many parents, she wrote, she’s struggled with the pandemic’s affect on her children, a high school senior and an older daughter who just turned 21. So last week on Wednesday night, she wrote, she decided to hold a gathering to mark her older child’s birthday.
“We had a little parade, mostly my family, some friends,” she wrote. “Since my street is small we met up in the back parking lot of Mixx 360 (with the permission of the owner). We were there maybe 30 mins or so.”
Sica said the revelers had no intention of being there longer than an hour, and that the party included a DJ who’s a family friend, and, the councilor wrote, some folks may have gotten too close to one another.
“Were there some people closer than 6 feet together? Sure, people who lived together most likely,” she wrote. “I won’t proclaim it was the most perfect execution of the social distancing guidelines, but I was surprised when someone called the police, who responded and just reminded us of the importance of observing such measures.”
The petitioners, however, want stiffer consequences for the elected official. The document had garnered 169 signatures by late Wednesday evening.
How about a good flogging?
Would that satisfy the fearful, bloodthirsty mob?
“Leaders lead by example, and Councillor Sica is telling the community with this action that COVID-19 is an inconvenience, not a serious threat to this community, nation, and planet,” the petition said. “Not only might this party become a spreading event for the coronavirus, but it has the effect of inspiring other such events, as community members say, ‘if the council president can have a party, I can too.’”
The petitioners said they’re asking “that she resign from her position immediately to demonstrate that she understands and accepts the consequences of her actions.”
In her written apology, Sica — whose Facebook profile background contained a message Wednesday that said “the longer you don’t comply with social distancing, the longer we’re going to have to do it” — gave no indication as to whether she’ll step down, but she acknowledged the flap could tarnish her record.
“I’m proud as hell at how we’ve rallied as a community in this difficult time,” Sica wrote. “My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost a loved one. While it’s disappointing to see someone motivated to embarrass me over this, I guess if I . . can finish my political career with this being the worst someone can say about me, I’ve probably done ok.”
Voice and e-mail messages left with Sica weren’t immediately returned Wednesday.
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You can watch the golf match while you are working out at the gym.
