Nantucket residents are blasting state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Cape and Islands, for not staying at a Select Board meeting that addressed Vineyard Wind, while the senator is connecting his departure to travel logistics.
Cyr traveled to Nantucket for Wednesday’s Select Board meeting, his first appearance at a meeting following last month’s incident, resulting in a debris mess across the island and region.
But the senator told the board and residents in attendance he couldn’t stay for the entire meeting because he had to catch a ferry to get back to Provincetown, where he lives. He added he’d listen to the rest of the meeting remotely.
State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, who also represents the island, didn’t attend the meeting, featuring representatives from federal and state environmental agencies.
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“It is a disgrace that Mr. Cyr has left, and we haven’t seen Mr. Fernandez,” resident Amy DiSibio said. “I actually feel very sorry for this Select Board because this is way beyond the scope of what you should be doing.”
Speaking with the Herald on Thursday, Cyr said he showed up at Nantucket Town Hall around 4:45 Wednesday afternoon and spoke with several concerned residents. His arrival came after an hour-and-a-half drive from his home in Provincetown to Hyannis to board the ferry, he said.
The Select Board, Cyr said, offered him and other guests to speak virtually, but he opted to go in person because he found the meeting “important.”
“Obviously, there’s quite a bit of travel involved with going to them due to the boat schedule,” Cyr said. “I had to get a boat so I stayed at the meeting and listened, and then I listened the whole rest of the way.”
“I am actually pretty present on the island,” he added. “At the end of my remarks, I said I was going to stay as long as I could and I was going to be listening to the rest of the meeting on the ferry ride home so I was pretty transparent about that.”
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Val Oliver is the founding director of ACK4Whales, a group of concerned residents fighting the Vineyard Wind project. She voiced frustration over how Cyr and the state as a whole have responded to the blade failure.
“My main comments are going to be for our senator,” Oliver said, “but I see his interest, as usual, is not in helping Nantucket, and he has left. He didn’t care enough to come when it happened.”
“Our state government is in an all-on push for this regardless of what the outcome is,” she added. “They have set these lofty goals and really don’t know what’s going to happen, and it’s evident by all of the agency speak that we get.”
A Herald analysis last month found that employees who list Avangrid, Vineyard Wind’s parent company, as their employer had made 217 donations totaling $57,677 to dozens of state and local campaigns since March 2018, two months before the Baker administration selected a Vineyard Wind bid for contract negotiation.
Cyr has collected 17 contributions for $3,036 since 2021, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Five of those, totaling $1,300, came from his former chief of staff, Patrick Johnson, who currently serves as Avangrid’s director of public affairs.
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In a statement he read to the Select Board, Cyr commended the town for its “leadership and calmness” in the aftermath of the debacle. He demanded better communication from GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind, saying he was “deeply disturbed” that he found out about the failure two days later.
“Of course, we have been strong partners in representing this island going on eight years,” Cyr told the board of the connection he and Fernanes share with Nantucket. “ Of course, we will continue to stay in close contact. We really view our role here as going to bat for the town and the town’s needs, desires and wishes.”
Cyr’s departure didn’t make a good impression on his challenger, Christopher Lauzon, a Republican from Barnstable vying for the Cape and Islands Senate seat.
“We are not here for political campaigning tonight, I’ll be honest with you,” Select Board Chairwoman Brooke Mohr told Lauzon before allowing him to speak during public comment.
“This is a serious problem for the entire district,” Lauzon said in a statement Thursday. “We need a senator who cares and doesn’t have a conflict of interest with Avangrid. As the next senator I will protect the environment and interests of the district, not corporations.”
Up the road from Gillette Stadium, a town neighboring Foxboro is pressing for funding to meet public safety demands arising from the World Cup, with the first match just over a month away.
Walpole’s state delegation has written a letter to the state Office of Travel and Tourism requesting approval of the town’s request for nearly $200,000 to support “essential public safety personnel,” as officials expect “significant spillover impacts” from the premier soccer tournament.
As the Walpole/Foxboro town line on Route 1 is a handful of miles north of Gillette Stadium, officials are expecting increased traffic congestion and pedestrian activity to amount to “heightened public safety demands.”
“As outlined in the Town’s proposal,” the state delegation wrote in the letter it sent to the state last week, “Walpole will play a critical role in ensuring safe and efficient operations for both residents and visitors.”
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“This funding will help close a critical gap and ensure that Walpole can safely support this internationally significant event,” the delegation added.
The state Office of Travel and Tourism confirmed to the Herald that it received the letter from state Reps. John H. Rogers, Paul McMurtry, Ted Philips and Marcus Vaughn and Sen. Mike Rush. The office said it will announce decisions in the coming weeks about round two of the $2 million grant program that supports municipal public safety needs tied to the World Cup.
The first round of the program, a $10 million competitive initiative, awarded funding earlier this year to 17 communities to support tournament-related events, including fan festivals, watch parties and regional activations.
This comes after the Foxboro Select Board battled the Boston Soccer 2026 nonprofit host committee and Kraft Sports & Entertainment, which operates Gillette Stadium, for months to ensure it received full funding to cover all security personnel and equipment.
In mid-March, the David vs. Goliath fight concluded, with Boston Soccer 2026 and the Krafts agreeing to cover Foxboro’s $7.8 million request.
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Gillette, which will be rebranded as “Boston Stadium,” is set to host seven matches – five in the group stage and two knockout games – between June 13 and July 9. The World Cup is considered a SEAR 1 event, the highest risk level for public gatherings in the country.
“These matches will bring an excitement that this town has never seen,” Foxboro Police Chief Michael Grace said before the Select Board voted to grant an entertainment license for the matches to go on.
Gillette Stadium. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
No other city in the country boasts more championships than Boston, giving Massachusetts a sporting pedigree unlike any other.
What’s unique about many of the state is that several of the stars from those championship-winning teams were Massachusetts natives.
Before they were winning the Stanley Cup, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, World Series or a gold medal, those athletes were high school standouts.
Which high schools in Massachusetts are considered the best for athletes today?
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According to a study conducted by Niche, which accounts for survey feedback from students and parents—accounting for “reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school”—and data from the U.S. Department of Education, these are the top 25.
BOSTON (WHDH) – It was a powerful moment on Friday during the annual Law-Enforcement Memorial Ceremony at the State House, as the ceremony remembered those lost in the line of duty, including State Trooper Kevin Trainor.
Trainor was killed in a wrong-way crash this week. Trainor’s family was in attendance.
“We’re here today with the Trainor family as another tragedy and agonizing time in policing has found us,” Larry Calderone, Boston Police Union President, said.
The day brought a moment to pause and remember the 30-year-old who is being hailed a hero after he was struck and killed Wednesday morning on Route 1 in Lynnfield.
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“We’ve lost a brother,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble said.
The fallen trooper’s fiancée spoke out for the first time since losing the love of her life. She posted to social media, “I am beyond proud of the amount of love you have been given by those who loved and cared about you shows us who you really were, a friend, a partner, a brother, a son, and a hero. You weren’t just a hero to me but a hero to all.”
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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