Massachusetts
Boxing training suspended at Massachusetts police academy after recruit's death
The Massachusetts State Police have suspended full-contact boxing training activities among recruits until further notice after a trainee died, a police spokesperson said.
Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, of Worcester, died at a hospital on Sept. 13, a day after the exercise in the boxing ring at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree, in Worcester County, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of Boston.
Delgado-Garcia was wearing boxing gloves and headgear during the exercise. The medical team determined he required urgent care and took him to the hospital, where he died.
His manner and cause of death have not been released. Family members told reporters that he suffered broken teeth and a neck fracture.
“The Academy suspended full-contact boxing training activities between trainees until further notice,” Tim McGuirk, a state police department spokesperson, said in a statement Sunday night.
On the day of the exercise, Col. John Mawn Jr., head of the state police, requested an investigation by the agency’s detective unit that is assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office, McGuirk said.
Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said last week that he will name another agency to investigate because of a conflict of interest. Delgado-Garcia worked in his office as a victim witness advocate before joining the state police training program in April.
“The department is fully cooperating with investigatory authorities and urges the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office to name an independent investigator as soon as possible,” McGuirk said.
Mawn also directed the state police’s Division of Standards and Training “to comprehensively review the Academy’s defensive tactics program,” McGuirk said.
“That review remains ongoing and will ensure that the program delivers relevant skills safely and effectively to those preparing to become troopers,” he said.
The review is assessing safety protocols, training methods and curriculum, as well as medical and health considerations, he said. It is soliciting feedback from recruits, instructors, and others.
Details on the boxing training exercise Delgado-Garcia participated in have not been released.
The boxing training has been part of a 25-week, paramilitary-style curriculum that is “both physically and mentally demanding,” the academy says on its website. “While it’s designed to be challenging, it isn’t meant to be impossible.”
Delgado-Garcia’s class is scheduled to graduate Oct. 9. He was administered the oath of office by state police in the final hours of his life.
Born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, Delgado-Garcia came to Worcester as a young boy, according to his obituary. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State University in Springfield, Massachusetts.
“Enrique was an exceptional young man who devoted himself to the service of others,” the obituary said. “He had always dreamed of becoming a state trooper and to be someone big who made a difference in the lives of the people in his community.”
A funeral service has been scheduled for Saturday.
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) announced Wednesday that it is distributing 5,063 internet-enabled devices to 45 organizations across the state.
The statewide effort, administered through the Connected and Online program, aims to expand economic opportunity by increasing digital access. This program is a $31.6 million initiative funded through the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund that provides Massachusetts-based organizations with laptops, tablets, and desktop computers to help residents access the internet.
Equipment provided through the program also includes supportive items, such as braille keyboards, intended to assist vulnerable populations.
Both Gateway Cities and rural communities are supported by the Connected and Online program, as residents are provided with direct access to devices through lending programs or resources at publicly accessible locations.
“The Connected and Online program opens doors for communities to access critical services and build relationships with their neighbors,” said Governor Maura Healey. “By partnering with trusted local organizations, we’re helping more people get online, access essential services, and connect to new educational and economic opportunities.”
To date, the program has provided nearly 32,000 devices and more than 13,000 pieces of supportive equipment. These devices have been distributed to hospitals, municipalities, nonprofits, public libraries, elder and youth aid groups, and workforce training organizations across the Commonwealth.
This latest award announcement follows a prior distribution launched by MBI on April 2, which included nearly 27,000 devices to over 200 organizations across the state.
“MBI is leveraging strong relationships with local and regional organizations to deliver digital devices for Massachusetts residents,” said MBI Program Executive Jody Jones. “The Connected and Online program is a statewide effort to expand access, increase digital skills training, and, at its core, expand the ability to connect to the internet.”
For a full list of awardees, visit broadband.mass.tech.org.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.
If you want to help people in poverty, don’t drive the wealthy out of state.
That might be something the state senators in the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities should keep in mind after they advanced a sweeping bill going full bore at reducing the state’s poverty rate.
Sen. Sal DiDomenico told the State House News his proposal (S 3095) “is a compilation of many bills that have already been filed.” According to his office, the bill, as originally filed, included provisions that would increase the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children cash benefits for pregnant people, families and caregivers; increase Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children cash benefits; codify related benefits and allowances; and bar the government from taking any amount of child support payments from low-income parents.
His office also said the bill would direct the state to replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cash benefits “stolen by criminal rings through skimming or phishing”; ensure access to free menstrual products in public schools, homeless shelters, prisons and county jails; raise farmworker wages to at least the state’s minimum wage; establish a “baby bonds program”; and “enhance” the attorney general’s ability to “ensure companies pay their employees the wages they deserve and hold employers accountable when they steal workers’ wages.”
It’s a tall order, and an impressive one. But the hurdle isn’t just getting it on the Senate’s agenda before the July 31 deadline, it’s how to pay for it.
The idea of front-loading assistance appears sound: helping people escape poverty means they won’t need to rely on social services down the line. But it will still take a sustainable revenue source to keep it all going.
And Massachusetts has been shooting itself in the foot when it comes to keeping revenue inside state borders.
According to Moneywise, Massachusetts millionaires took $4.2 billion in income out of the state in 2023, new Internal Revenue Service data revealed.
As reported by Bloomberg, that’s an 8% increase from the year before, and it comes just as the state began enforcing a new 4% surtax on incomes above $1 million. Higher-income households are now accounting for a larger share of total departures from the state. In 2023, top earners accounted for roughly 70% of total income outflow. That doubles their share from just a few years earlier.
We need to keep them, and their tax payments, here.
But that won’t happen if efforts to lower taxes are met with derision, and the notion that tax breaks only benefit the very rich. The deep-pocketed set that’s heading to tax-friendlier states are gifting their new home turf with a cumulative windfall, even if the individual tax amount is lower than the Bay State.
The same goes for companies who see better opportunities elsewhere.
The senators working on anti-poverty measures have some great ideas, and they should have a budget to implement them. Lifting people up from poverty uplifts the state.
But we can’t pay the bill if we keep driving out high-earning taxpayers. To help the poor, we must keep the rich.
Trombetta’s Farm, at 655 Farm Rd., is listed as a Central Massachusetts stop on the Massachusetts Ice Cream Trail, a state-backed guide launched in 2024 to promote ice cream shops, farm stands, and dairy farms that use Massachusetts dairy products, according to GBH.
The trail features more than 100 destinations across Massachusetts and is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. The map includes dairy farms with ice cream stands, farms selling packaged ice cream, and shops selling Massachusetts ice cream products, according to the tourism office.
-
Lifestyle5 minutes agoTrump relished in being compared to dictators like Hitler and Stalin, journalist says
-
Technology17 minutes agoSkullcandy’s bass-boosting Crusher headphones now come with Bose’s ANC
-
World23 minutes agoWATCH: Russian soldier thrown through air as Soviet-era helicopter gun spins out of control
-
Politics29 minutes agoLindsey Graham’s final act reverberates in Senate as sister is urged to “keep pedaling”
-
Health35 minutes agoIs lettuce still safe to eat amid Taco Bell illness probe? Doctors answer
-
Sports41 minutes agoMarcello Hernández roasts Jake Paul, Tiger Woods and Bill Belichick in ESPYS monologue
-
Technology47 minutes agoYou paid for it. So why is your device showing ads?
-
Business53 minutes agoParamount shareholder lawsuit accuses Ellisons of corruption
