Massachusetts
Massachusetts Has Lost Another Once-Thriving Mall
When Eastfield Mall opened in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1968, it quickly became the place to shop. To the detriment of downtowns everywhere, shopping malls became the rage.
And then they weren’t.
Eastfield Mall, owned by Mountain Development Corporation, was constructed in 1967 by the Rouse Company. The mall’s three original anchors were Forbes & Wallace, Steiger’s and Sears. As with many shopping malls in these days of online shopping, retail stores came and went. Then there were no more.
In 2011, JCPenney, Macy’s and Sears anchored Eastfield Mall. JCPenny closed that year and Macy’s closed in 2016. Sears folded in 2018. The mall closed on July 15, 2023.
Demolition of Eastfield Mall began in August of 2023.
What remained of the mall was bulldozed just before Valentine’s Day 2024. The former Sears building, owned by a different company, remains standing, at least for now.
Another Once-Thriving Massachusetts Mall Is Demolished
A sign erected at the Boston Road property says “Springfield Crossing,” which appears to be an open-air retail complex similar to Fall River’s SouthCoast Market Place. The sign says, “New Development Coming Summer 2025.”
Folks here along the SouthCoast recall when the once-thriving Silver City Galleria Mall attracted shoppers to Taunton in droves. That mall failed when shoppers stopped showing up and was demolished in February 2021.
SouthCoast Marketplace replaced Fall River’s failed Harbour Mall, and the former Swansea Mall is now the struggling Swansea Center, currently in development under Brady Sullivan Properties. Work on the property is also expected to include a residential community.
Several online websites pay tribute to past malls, including some from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, that have closed.
The New Level99 at Providence Place Is Unlike Any Other Mall Experience
Ever since word came out last spring that Level99 in Natick was expanding with a second challenge venue location in Providence, people have been eager to see what types of games they would be bringing.
Now you can find out with a sneak peek inside the Providence Place Mall’s newest hotspot.
Gallery Credit: Nancy Hall
Welcome to Your New Humble Abode: A Providence Shopping Mall
America’s oldest indoor shopping mall is now home to more than 40 micro-lofts, some as tiny as 250 square feet. But they sure are convenient and a great option in downtown Providence. Check out the inside of one of these tiny living spaces at The Arcade. This one’s even currently on the market!
Gallery Credit: Kari Jakobsen
How Many of These Iconic Mall Food Court Restaurants Do You Remember?
From retro favorites to the icons that are still serving customers today, take a walk down memory lane with our roundup of the most iconic mall food court restaurants of the ’80s and ’90s.
Gallery Credit: Meg Dowdy
Massachusetts
Swimmer pulled from Houghton’s Pond after search
A teenager was pulled from a pond in Milton, Massachusetts, after he went missing while swimming Saturday night.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said the teenaged male was taken to a Boston area hospital following the incident at Houghton’s Pond. It’s unclear how long the teen was under water, and there was no immediate word on his condition.
State police had said earlier that they responded to the pond shortly after 7 p.m. for a person who entered the water and didn’t resurface. State police divers, detectives, troopers, and the Milton Fire Department were all on scene involved in the search.
The DA’s office is conducting an investigation with state police that remains ongoing. Further information is not being released at this time.
This story will be updated when we learn more
Massachusetts
Mass. man charged with posing as teen, exposing himself to 12-, 13-year-old girls
A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges for allegedly engaging in inappropriate communications and exposing himself to children.
Orate Kyle Graham, 20, of Bridgewater, was arrested this week on two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor and one count of accosting or annoying another person.
Bridgewater police said they were made aware Tuesday of allegations involving interactions between several girls age 12 and 13 and an individual known to them only as “Jay.” The individual said he was 17 years old during conversations with the girls through FaceTime and in person.
Through an investigation, police identified “Jay” as Graham, and also found that he had regularly engaged in interactions with the minor victims. During those interactions, he allegedly exposed himself and asked the girls to expose themselves to him.
He was arrested Thursday and taken to the Plymouth County House of Correction, where he was held on $25,000 bail. The case remains under investigation by Bridgewater police and the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.
Massachusetts
Fisherman reels in white shark off Massachusetts, then snags the hook from its toothy mouth
BILLERICA, Mass. (AP) — Elliot Sudal didn’t need a bigger boat, but he did need to find a way to get a hook out of a shark’s mouth.
Sudal, a veteran angler and boat captain, reeled in the nearly nine-foot shark — also commonly known as a great white shark or a great white — on June 7 on Nantucket. White sharks are a protected species in the U.S. and must be released immediately when accidentally caught.
That presents a nasty problem for a fisherman because the white shark is a formidable apex predator best known for the 1975 movie Jaws, in which Roy Scheider utters the famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” upon seeing the big fish. Sudal, who caught the shark while fishing from shore, decided to use his encounter to demonstrate how to respond to such a situation.
Sudal posted a video of himself removing the hook to his social media accounts. In the video, Sudal climbs onto the back of the shark, secures the fish in the surf, and removes the hook from its mouth. By the end of the short video, the shark is back in the water.
White sharks typically have about 300 teeth arranged into five rows, so speed was key.
“Hooks out and back on her way in 15 seconds, not sure how to do it better,” Sudal wrote in an Instagram post that included a video of the shark release.
Sudal is no stranger to sharks, and has caught and tagged hundreds of them over the years. He said in a social media post that this month’s encounter with a white shark was the first time he has ever caught one of them in more than a decade of the work.
Sudal’s practices have sometimes attracted the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, such as in 2017, when the agency investigated his handling of a smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, in Florida. The agency said in 2018 that it sent Sudal a letter “informing him of the Endangered Species Act issues and the safe handling protocol for sawfish.”
White sharks are not listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, but are subject to special federal protections. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them vulnerable globally.
Sightings of white sharks off New England have ticked up in recent years, and some scientists have pinned that to the greater availability of the seals that they prey on. Dangerous encounters between white sharks and humans are extremely rare, and only a few dozen fatal white shark bites on people have ever been recorded.
___
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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