Northeast
Far-left green activists 'surround' Joe Manchin event in New Hampshire just weeks after White House invite
A far-left climate protest organization that was recently granted a private White House meeting said Friday that it had surrounded Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in New Hampshire in an effort to confront him over energy and climate policy.
Climate Defiance — a Washington, D.C.-based group known for its high-profile disruptive protests targeting politicians — said its members had cornered Manchin, forcing him to hide in an “old” building in Goffstown, New Hampshire. The group’s actions came shortly after the Democratic senator addressed the New Hampshire Institute of Politics’ “Politics & Eggs” forum which is often attended by presidential candidates.
“We are *swarming* Joe Manchin’s presidential forum in New Hampshire,” Climate Defiance said in an X post Friday morning. “This man is a murderer. The blood of thousands is encrusted on his hands. As we write he cowers behind lines of armed cops, afraid and humiliated.”
“As we write, Joe Manchin is hiding from us in an old, red brick building in Goffstown, New Hampshire,” the group added an hour later. “We have surrounded the premises. We have staked out all the exits. We will hold this man to account. He cannot hide from us forever.”
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It is unclear whether Manchin remains surrounded by the activists and a spokesperson for Manchin didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Over the past week, Climate Defiance has publicly called for volunteers to join its protest to “shut down” Manchin’s event in New Hampshire. The group said it sought to disrupt the event over Manchin’s longstanding support for fossil fuels, pointing to his actions pushing the Mountain Valley Pipeline natural gas project and personally owning a coal company.
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“There is no community this man will not destroy to enrich himself. No person he will not condemn to a fiery death to help his fossil fuel cronies,” the group said in a posting earlier this month. “He is committing horrific crimes every single day, and we will resist him with all we’ve got. We will do so on January 12th, in New Hampshire. We ask you to join us there.”
The announcement that Climate Defiance would seek to protest Manchin’s event Friday in New Hampshire came shortly after the group was granted a White House meeting.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on March 7, 2023. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
On Dec. 15, the group met privately with senior White House adviser John Podesta. Following the meeting, the group publicized a letter it handed Podesta.
“Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today,” Climate Defiance wrote to Podesta. “We appreciate your willingness to heed our deeply-held concerns. Echoing the voices of millions of Americans, we write to you in the eleventh hour of the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced: planetary and societal collapse due to the continued burning of fossil fuels.”
“We urge you to wield your utmost authority to implement a swift end to any federal support for new fossil fuel infrastructure. Both the urgency of this action and the severe consequences of further delay cannot be overstated,” it continued. “Climate Defiance recognizes your commitment to climate action and commends you on your vital work developing and implementing the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Meanwhile, last year, the group disrupted events where Podesta, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were speaking.
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New York
Computer Outage Disrupts Student Exams in New York State
Thousands of students across New York State this week were unable to finish annual standardized tests after a technological issue disrupted the computer-based exams for the second consecutive year.
Students in grades three through eight from Buffalo to New York City encountered error messages on Wednesday when they tried to log in to their math or English language arts exams, which do not affect students’ ability to advance to the next grade. While some could sign in and complete the tests, others were kicked offline, frustrating students, teachers and parents.
For the past three years, New York State has been transitioning to digital exams, with this spring marking the first time that every student in those grades had to take them on a computer. So when students encountered issues on Wednesday, there were no paper exams available as a backup.
The developer of the state test, NWEA, an educational testing and research group, said it had worked overnight to identify the source of the disruption, which was identified as a problem with a server, and repaired it before school started on Thursday.
After problems emerged a year ago, the company pledged that it would not happen again. The New York State Education Department has awarded $116 million in contracts to NWEA to develop the untimed, federally required assessments.
The repairs this week came too late for many New York City students who were taking the math portion of the state assessment. Education officials in the city had advised principals on Wednesday not to reschedule the math test for the next day out of concern that the system could remain offline.
But some schools resumed the math exams on Thursday after the outage had been resolved, said Dominique Ellison, spokeswoman for the Department of Education. The remaining schools will administer the test in the coming days.
“I know this issue has been challenging and frustrating for schools, students and families who have been working hard in preparation for these exams,” Kamar Samuels, the schools chancellor, said on Wednesday night at a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, an oversight group.
It was unclear how many students in New York State had to scrap the exams, but the disruption appeared to be widespread. JP O’Hare, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, said that 116,000 students had taken the tests on Wednesday without problems.
It was also unclear how many students were scheduled to take the exams on Wednesday because school districts have a window of several weeks in April and May in which they can administer the tests. There are about a million third-through-eighth-grade students in the state.
On Wednesday, Buffalo Public Schools stopped all math exams for students, while more than 1,600 students at Zeta Charter Schools in New York City had to give up on their English language arts assessments.
“The current system is failing, creating unnecessary challenges for students, teachers and administrators,” Emily Kim, the chief executive of the charter school network, said. “Our students deserve a testing experience reflecting the same level of preparation, care and accountability we ask of them.”
Boston, MA
Police Blotter: Sticky fingers: Boston cops looking for South End candy store robber
Those must be some extra sticky fingers.
The Boston Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying a man they say robbed a South End candy shop at knife point.
The man, captured on surveillance video, entered Madeleine’s Candy Shop at 47 Clarendon St. just before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. He then walked up to an employee while holding “what appeared to be a knife,” according to a BPD statement, and demanded cash. He fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
Police describe the man as a white or light-skinned Hispanic man wearing a maroon sweatshirt, a gray wool cap, gray sweatpants, and a black mask.
Police ask that anyone who recognizes the man or who has information on the theft to contact detectives at (617) 343-5619 or to provide information anonymously through the CrimeStoppers tip line by calling 1-800-494-TIPS (8477), texting the word “TIP” to CRIME (27463), or through the online portal at Police.Boston.gov/CrimeStoppers/.
FBI recovers stolen 17th century Italian urn
Boston FBI agents recovered and returned a 17th century urn stolen from an Italian church.
“It’s incredibly exciting when the FBI can recover a piece of history that carries such deep emotional and cultural significance,” said Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of the Boston FBI. “After all, this reliquary urn is a tangible link to intense religious devotion and a connection to the generations who lived and prayed with it.
It represents the intersection of faith, history, and art – elements that are invaluable to the people of Italy and to humanity as a whole,” he continued. “This case highlights the power of international cooperation and our collective commitment to safeguard the world’s cultural treasures, no matter where they may be.”
The reliquary urn, which authorities say is a significant piece of Italian history and is registered with the Historical Artistic Heritage Items of the Italian Episcopal Conference, was stolen sometime in August 2022 from the church of San Michele Arcangelo di Cangiano.
The piece turned up in the hands of an antiques dealer in the American Northeast on Feb. 11, 2026. The dealer, who purchased it at some point from an Italian dealer, voluntarily relinquished the urn to the FBI, who gave it back to the Italian Ministry of Culture.
Boston-based FBI agents worked with the agency’s art crime team, its attaché in Rome and with the Italian Carabinieri, a paramilitary national police agency. The FBI’s art crime division was launched in 2004 and has recovered more than 20,000 items valued at more than $1 billion, according to the agency.
A reliquary is a medieval holder of a relic, according to Bowdoin College’s art history department, an item that “belonged to a saint … or, in many cases, the relics were believed to be body parts of a saint, truly powerful objects in the eyes of many medieval Christians.”

2 teens arrested for Haverhill mill fire
Two teens have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Haverhill mill building earlier this week.
Firefighters responded to the mill at 14 Stevens St. at around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday after callers reported heavy smoke and flames. Firefighters arrived to “intense fire conditions that required a coordinated, multi-alarm response,” according to the Haverhill Police Department.
Crews worked the scene all day and were still fighting hot spots at least as late as 11:22 that night, when the firefighter union made its own post on the efforts.
The building was determined the next day to be a total loss, according to a statement issued by Mayor Melinda Barrett, Fire Chief Christopher Cesati, and city Building Inspector Thomas Bridgewater.
“Due to the intensity of the fire, the resulting heat severely compromised the structural steel supporting the four-story building,” the update stated. An independent structural engineer “determined that the building sustained a critical loss of structural integrity and will require full demolition.
That same day, Haverhill PD announced the arrest of 18-year-old city resident Isabella Sargent, who they charged with arson of a structure and conspiracy to commit arson.
On Thursday, police announced they had also arrested a second teen, this one a 17-year-old juvenile, on charges of arson and related offenses.
Police report that there were no civilian injuries related to the fire and that the incident remains under investigation.
The police ask that anyone with any information contact them by calling 978-373-1212 ext.1551.
Police search for Roxbury shooters
Boston police are looking for three males they say are responsible for shooting two other males on Kendall Street in Roxbury last month.
Police responded to 3 Kendall St. in Roxbury a little after 7 p.m. on March 29. There they found two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
One suspect fled toward the parking lot behind that address while the other two fled toward where Kendall Street intersects with Shawmut Avenue.
Police on Wednesday released a surveillance still of the suspects and ask that if anyone recognizes them or has any information regarding the shooting to contact detectives at (617) 343-5619 or through the CrimeStoppers tip line. Crimestoppers information is detailed at the bottom of the first Crime Briefs entry.

Pittsburg, PA
Supporters ready to cheer on runners at Pittsburgh Marathon
More than 50,000 people will run in one of the Pittsburgh Marathon events this weekend. It’s capped off by the marquee event of the marathon itself.
Call it a runner’s high or insanity; the marathon takes just about everything a person can muster up physically and mentally. That’s why supporters line the course, especially the tough miles down the stretch.
“It gives you a boost. It gives you a little bit of that rush to keep going, knowing that people are standing out there in sometimes not great conditions cheering you on,” said Ali Ewig with Dancing Gnome Running Club, which will be cheering around mile 23.
Running clubs, which are recent additions to the cheering sections, along with neighborhood groups like the Bloomfield Citizens Council and the Highland Park Community Council, which have been cheering for decades, all do their part. It can feel more like a block party with the vibes the groups give off as they help every runner get back Downtown.
“It’s a blast to finally be able to celebrate a sport that a lot of people do by themselves en masse together with everyone,” Dan Lampmann of Yinz Run Club said. His group will have a cheer section near PNC Park and on the South Side.
Arguably one of the toughest stretches can be crossing the Birmingham Bridge and climbing up the hill to get into Oakland. It can be a real gut check time for runners. So, Scottie Brown, dressed as Spiderman, will run up the hill with people to keep them going.
“I just run with them, encourage them, bring light to their day as they are halfway through the race, hitting that tough hill,” Brown said over Zoom.
And whether they are a yinzer running through town or someone from the other side of the world, there is pride in cheering people through the city’s neighborhoods.
“I think that we all have a lot of pride in cheering on these people that are maybe for the first time or maybe for the 50th time running this monumental personal goal for themselves,” Jessica Bowser Acrie of the Highland Park Community Council said. Her team will be set up around mile 20.
Sunday morning promises to be another marathon with miles of cheers.
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