The preliminary injunction ordering SchoolCare to continue paying Dover educators’ health care claims may have implications for the 89 other school districts that paid SchoolCare’s special assessment, according to Anthony Carr of Shaheen and Gordon.

“This could be significant for those 89 other towns and districts,” said Carr, who is representing Superintendent Christine Boston in the lawsuit against SchoolCare.

SchoolCare threatened to stop paying claims on May 1 if Dover failed to pay a special assessment of $1.7 million above and beyond its normal monthly premium in order to cover the insurance risk pool’s losses. Dover refused to pay the special assessment, arguing that it was illegal.

Superior Court Judge John Curran, finding that school employees covered by SchoolCare could face “irreparable harm,” ordered SchoolCare to continue to pay “covered healthcare claims of Dover employees, spouses, dependents, and retirees.”

The acclaimed Apple TV series “Widow’s Bay” has become the latest streaming sensation to captivate viewers and critics alike—earning rave reviews across the board, thanks to its witty dialog and dark, eerie undertones.

Starring Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, and Stephen Root, the series, which premiered on April 29, is set in a fictional New England town for which the show is named, and focuses on the efforts of the local mayor, Tom Loftis, to turn the quaint locale into “the next Martha’s Vineyard.”

Yet Loftis, who is portrayed by Rhys, runs into one major hurdle in his scheme: Widow’s Bay, while both charming and picturesque on the surface, is also plagued by a series of unexplained supernatural events that have led its residents to decide that the town is “cursed.”

Though the mayor refuses to be swayed from his plans to market Widow’s Bay as the ultimate New England escape, he faces a steep uphill battle when it comes to conquering the town’s very sinister past, which includes tales of not one, but two, suspected serial killers—as well as claims that anyone born in the town will die if they dare to venture to the mainland.

Rather than lean into this sordid history and turn the town into a haunted attraction, Loftis is determined to move away from the town’s past and embrace a new future, a dream that, perhaps unsurprisingly, hits more than a few snags along the way.

Thus far, the show has received rave reviews—while also sparking a great deal of speculation about whether Widow’s Bay was inspired by a real-life location, having been shot across a number of Massachusetts towns, including Worcester, Rockport, and Gloucester.

In the show, Widow’s Bay, much like Martha’s Vineyard, is described as being a small island town off the coast of Massachusetts. However, its comparisons to the upscale New England hot spot end there.

Showrunner Katie Dippold has made clear that the mystery surrounding Widow’s Bay is part of its appeal, telling the Boston Globe: “It’s a long ferry ride, you don’t know exactly if the ferry comes from Massachusetts or Maine, but I purposely wanted to keep that a little vague.”

In fact, the only real-life source of inspiration that Dippold has credited for helping her to craft Widow’s Bay is located nearly 300 miles away from Massachusetts, in New Jersey, where the show’s creator was raised.

Speaking to Gizmodo, Dippold revealed that she wanted Widow’s Bay to conjure up the same kind of fear that she experienced as a child, when she would visit a local “haunted” house with her family.

“I would say the inspiration was trying to capture a certain feeling that I’ve always wanted,” she said.

“As a kid in New Jersey in the ‘80s, there was a haunted house that I would always go to with my family. It’s terrifying. I was way too young for it. But I loved that I would go, and it was terrifying, and I would scream, but we would also laugh, and it’s very communal.

“And so I’ve wanted to capture that feeling. And I’ve always wanted a place like this to actually exist.”

Dippold explained that she had always wanted to one day visit a town like the one that she has now created: an idyllic coastal community where every turn brings a new mystery and a sense of sinister energy lingers in the air.

“Like, I want to go to this island,” she shared. “I want to go to the weird inn, and I want to go to the Salty Whale. Just to feel like there’s these nooks and crannies you can discover is very exciting to me.”

A “haunted” house was not the only place where Dippold found inspiration, however—particularly when it came to creating that authentic New England “vibe,” as she described it.

The showrunner points to author Stephen King‘s storied works as being one of the many places she found ideas for the sinister underbelly of Widow’s Bay, while a restaurant in Marblehead, MA, helped to fan the flames of what would one day form the quintessential New England town.

“I really wanted to tap into that Stephen King atmosphere,” Dippold told the Globe. “And then also, a couple years ago, I went to this diner in Marblehead, MA. It’s called the Driftwood, and it was just everything you could possibly want.

“It was off the sea. There’s just big coffee mugs with old stains and locals in flannel shirts talking about the day. It was very cozy and very lived in, and I just never wanted to leave. It was out of a Stephen King book.”

Dippold also turned to another major Massachusetts-based thriller when it came to creating that prevalent feeling of terror: Stephen Spielberg‘s acclaimed 1975 hit “Jaws,” which was shot on Martha’s Vineyard.

However, she noted that the intent was never to create a “spoof” of the movie, but rather draw from the feeling of panic it creates among audiences.

“It was important for us to feel like [we weren’t doing] a parody of it or doing it exactly—but just the spirit of it,” she explained to Gizmodo.

PAWTUCKET — Rhode Island FC was under pressure at the start of both opening whistles.

Goals in the fourth and 48th minute doomed the home side against Birmingham Legion FC. The visitors halted Rhode Island’s recent success in USL Championship and tournament play.

The 3-1 loss saw Birmingham score twice over the final 45 minutes in front of 7,596 at Centreville Bank Stadium on Saturday, May 2. Rhode Island (2-3-2) attempted to change its tempo with a triple substitution in the 66th minute. But it was too late against the two-goal deficit.

Rhode Island returns to Pawtucket on May 9 against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Start time is slated for 7:30 p.m.

“I thought we started the game poorly,” RIFC coach Khano Smith said. “We worked our way back into the game and I thought we were the team with the intensity to close out the first half. And then the second half, just for me, it’s a couple of moments of ill-discipline. If you do that at this level, you get punished. If we want to be an elite team in this league, we cannot concede three goals at home.”

Rhode Island’s backline was leaky from the start as Dawson McCartney’s cross from the left side curled its way through the defense and Sebastian Tregarthen buried it to the far post for Birmingham. And in the 12th minute, before Rhode Island answered, Hamady Diop was stripped on the back line and Ronaldo Damus hit the post to nearly double the advantage on the sequence.

Birmingham’s second goal came off a set piece from the top of the box. It was punched away initially by Koke Vegas, but fell to Phanuel Kavita for an easy rebound score that proved to be the eventual winner.

“I’m sure we’ve made mistakes in games in the past,” Smith said. “And tonight we were just punished. We made mistakes on the second goal and the third goal. We talked about how we want to press on goal kicks, and that was not a goal-kick pressing structure.”

Damus’ goal in the 57th minute forced Vegas to rally the group at midfield. It’s an uncharacteristic loss for Rhode Island, which entered with just nine goals conceded on the year.

“There’s one thing we always talk about, it’s the intensity between the defense, midfield and forwards,” RIFC forward Leo Afonso said. “Everyone has to match the same intensity, and I think tonight it wasn’t matched between the three groups.”

The Ocean State club scored seven goals across its last two USL Championship games, with a penalty-shootout win over Hartford Athletic in the Prinx Tires USL Cup. The offensive side showed that confidence as Leo Afonso equalized Birmingham in the 17th minute. Clay Holstad carried possession up the middle before dropping off to Afonso for a right-footed shot to the near post.

JJ Williams had scoring chances in the second half and Rhode Island held a 19-11 shots margin and finished with 61% of the game’s possession. The three substitutions added Zach Herivaux and Dwayne Atkinson to the midfield and Nick Scardina to the defense as Smith tried to spark the back line. 

“It felt like we came off on the back foot a little bit,” Afonso said. “The rotation last week, most of the starting 11 didn’t start. So, I think maybe a little flat-footed from the beginning of the game and letting in easy goals that we were blocking in games before.”