Massachusetts
America's Safest College Town for 2024 is in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has been known as a top state when it comes to education. With colleges like Harvard University, MIT, Boston College, and Emerson to name a few it’s no surprise that Massachusetts gets high marks when it comes to education.
Aside from educational reputation, when it comes to applying to a college there’s no doubt that safety is a high priority but aside from safety on campus what about safety surrounding the campus? Sure it’s great that the campus and culture of the college or university are safe but it’s probably a good idea to know about the safety of the town or city that houses the college.
Massachusetts is Home to Two of the Top Five Safest College Towns in America
Research.com shared a report by Safewise.com ranking the 50 safest college towns in the U.S. There are eight Massachusetts towns on the list. Two of them are in the top five, and one of those towns tops the list.
Wellesley ranks #4 in the top 50 safest college towns in America. Research.com stated the following:
Aside from being among the top 5 safest college towns in the U.S., Wellesley is also among the safest cities in Massachusetts and across America. It is home to the famous Babson World Globe, a 28-foot, 25-ton freestanding giant globe at the entrance of Babson College.
Population: 29,681
Colleges: Wellesley College and Babson College
Undergrad population: 4,753
Violent Crime Rate: 0.4
Property Crime Rate: 4.2
Milton ranks #1 in the top 50 safest college towns in America making it the safest college town in the country. Research.com stated the following:
The city is the fourth safest city in the State and the tenth safest in the entire country. Milton is known for its friendly and hospitable people. It was also voted as among the best places to raise a family in Massachusetts. It is famous for being the birthplace of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
Population: 27,642
College: Curry College
Undergrad population: 2,342
Violent Crime Rate: 0.4
Property Crime Rate: 2.2
Other Massachusetts towns that made the list include the following:
- #14 Beverly
- #16 North Andover
- #25 Bridgewater
- #32 Medford
- #34 Easton
- #49 Waltham
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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.
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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