Boston, MA
Battenfeld: Elizabeth Warren wins as Amazon abandons iRobot deal, forcing 350 layoffs
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who urged federal regulators to kill the Amazon-iRobot merger, finally got her wish this week when Amazon abandoned the deal, forcing the layoffs of 350 workers at the Massachusetts-based robotics company.
The Massachusetts senator has been noticeably silent about the collapse of the iRobot acquisition and the loss of the jobs even though she’s railed against Amazon for years.
“I have serious concerns about the Amazon-iRobot deal – dominant companies like Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to just buy their way out of competing,” Warren said in a 2022 statement. “The FTC should oppose this proposed merger to protect competition, lower consumer prices, and rein in Amazon’s well-documented anti-competitive activities.’
The Federal Trade Commission – which is now led by a Warren acolyte – did raise concerns about the deal and worked with the European Union, which eventually blocked the merger.
iRobot, which makes the popular Roomba vacuum cleaner, did not say where the job layoffs would be but the company is based in Massachusetts.
As a result of the collapse, iRobot head Robin Angle — a star in Massachusetts high-tech circles – announced he was stepping down. Angle said in a statement that he and the iRobot board decided “that iRobot will be better served by a new leader with turnaround experience.”
Amazon had to pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee for ending the deal to add the robotics company to its portfolio, which would have allowed them to sell iRobot products directly on its website.
Amazon is also a major employer in Massachusetts, with a robotics innovation facility in Westboro that opened in 2021.
Warren’s office did not respond to a Herald request for comment about the layoffs and the blow to iRobot, which is expected now to restructure, possibly triggering more layoffs.
The far-left Massachusetts Democrat has for years had Amazon and other big high-tech companies in her sights for their anti-competitive, anti-consumer behavior. Along with a phalanx of other liberal lawmakers, she sent a letter to the FTC urging them to kill the $1.65 billion iRobot acquisition in 2022.
But the loss of jobs? Not so much as a word out of Warren about that.
She puts policy and partisan politics over people.
Warren lives a millionaire lifestyle in her Cambridge house and has no idea how ordinary people struggle to get by. She does softball interviews with CNN and other friendly outlets and rarely exposes herself to hostile questions.
Boston, MA
Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback
It’s going to be a little while longer before Roman Anthony returns to action.
The Red Sox outfielder has suffered another setback in his recovery from a sprained right hand and will be shut down from swinging for a couple of days.
Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters in Cleveland that Anthony tried hitting off a tee Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury on May 4, but that he found doing so to be painful.
“He hit off the tee (yesterday) and had some discomfort, so we’re going to slow play it,” Tracy said, per MLB.com’s Henry Palattella. “It’s going to be day-to-day, or even the better way is ‘action-to-action.’ (We’re going to be asking), ‘What did he do today, is that uncomfortable and do we have to wait?’ ”
Originally thought to be a minor issue that might not even require a stint on the injured list, Anthony has now missed 21 games and likely won’t be back until early-to-mid June.
The recovery process has also been halting. Anthony has continued doing most other baseball activities, including running and throwing, but it wasn’t until earlier this week that he could swing a bat free of discomfort.
Once he was able to comfortably take dry swings — or swing a bat without hitting the ball — the next step was hitting off a tee. Now he’ll be given a couple more days to heal and likely won’t try again until the Red Sox return home from Cleveland and are back at Fenway Park on Tuesday following Monday’s off day.
Tracy acknowledged that the recovery hasn’t gone as smoothly as expected, but emphasized that isn’t because of anything Anthony’s done wrong.
“That’s not Roman’s fault, it’s not anyone’s fault,” Tracy said. “It’s just he got hurt, and it’s a nagging injury on a hand when he’s trying to hit.”
Speaking to Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast prior to Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Anthony clarified the exact nature of his injury, which was officially announced by the team as a right wrist sprain. Anthony said he has a partially torn ring finger ligament, specifically his ring finger CMC (carpometacarpal).
The sprain versus torn verbiage has generated some confusion among fans, though medically there isn’t a meaningful distinction between the two.
“I know stuff came out yesterday about tear versus sprain versus strain and all these different things, and I don’t know what to say other than any of those are a tear,” Tracy said. “You strain a hamstring and that’s a partial tear; fibers let go a little bit and they need to heal.
“I don’t think anything is portrayed differently or wrongly. If a guy strains his hamstring, I won’t come out here and say he tore his hamstring. That’s not how that works.”
Prior to suffering his injury, Anthony was batting .229 with one home run and a .675 OPS through his first 30 games this season.
Boston, MA
Saturday storm will bring bursts of rain, strong winds, and… snow?
Surprise: Another weekend and there’s more rain on the way. It’s bad enough we’ve had to post a First Alert.
For now, we’ll watch as clouds thicken today. We’ll squeeze out some drops later this afternoon and evening.
A weather maker is winding up in Canada, wrapping in cold air. All of that is going to dive down to New England.
We’re in the thick of it tomorrow. Rain will be coming at us in bursts with some dry time in between. Winds will likely push past 50 mph in Boston.

Those winds will eat away at temperatures; with wind chills barely above freezing. And no – not just in the morning – but the afternoon, too!
It’s so cold there’s the threat of snow as that rain bumps into colder air over the Berkshires, Worcester Hills and southern New Hampshire right up to Mount Washington.
The snow isn’t going to pile up but just know there could be some flakes flying over our highest hills.
The blue on our Futurecast map marks the spots where snow could mix with rain.
Rain spins out by Saturday evening but not before dumping about half an inch over Boston.
We’ll try to salvage the rest of the weekend with temperatures in the upper 60s by Sunday. Still, there’s the threat of bits and pieces of rain.
By the way, this isn’t any weekend, it’s the last weekend of spring. Meteorological summer starts on June 1.
The first day of summer remains drab and dreary with more rain chances and temperatures in the low 60 on Monday.
Boston, MA
House GOP demands ‘sanctuary city’ info from Boston law enforcement
Federal immigration demands are once again centered on Massachusetts.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent three letters to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden demanding, among other things, information on how many ICE detainers BPD has received and declined to honor from 2022 to 2026 and any communication between the three departments related to immigration.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement that “releasing repeat criminals back to the streets solely because of their immigration status is crazy, and that’s exactly what Boston is doing.”
But Democrats push back on that framing.
“You’re familiar with Jim Jordan and his antics,” said Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. “This is more circus, it’s more theater and it’s not making our community safe.”
A spokesperson for the City of Boston wrote, “the city has provided this information many times…” going on to say “…these policies are part of keeping Boston the safest major city in America.”
The letters call for the documents to be sent to the House Judiciary Committee by June 10th at 5:00 pm. District Attorney Hayden’s office told NBC 10 they are reviewing the letter, neither Commissioner Cox or Sheriff Tompkins responded to requests for comment.
-
Fitness9 seconds agoReviewers Share the Only Gear You Need for the Ultimate Home Gym Setup
-
Movie Reviews8 minutes agoFilm Review: “Pitfall” – MediaMikes
-
World18 minutes ago
AI helped a musician with Parkinson’s finish his new album when he could no longer play guitar
-
News23 minutes agoVideo: Judge Orders Removal of Trump’s Name From Kennedy Center
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoBack from Cannes, a critic shares the films he’s most excited to see again
-
Technology1 hour agoNvidia, Microsoft, and Arm are all teasing Nvidia’s new N1X laptop processors
-
World1 hour agoChristian farming communities under siege as US report names Fulani militants Nigeria’s deadliest threat
-
Politics1 hour agoFBI arrests protester who threatened to kill ICE officer’s family at NJ detention center protest, Blanche says



