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Antisemitic crime up by 94% in Florida, 70% in Mass., states warn

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Antisemitic crime up by 94% in Florida, 70% in Mass., states warn


Antisemitic crimes rose in Florida and Massachusetts in 2023 compared to 2022, government reports showed.

Antisemitic crimes increased by 94% in Florida and 70% in Massachusetts, according to Florida Attorney-General Ashley Moody’s 2023 Hate Crimes in Florida Report and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Hate Crimes in Massachusetts 2023 report.

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“Following the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Jewish community was increasingly targeted on college campuses, places of worship, and other areas of our country,” said Moody.

“To protect Jewish Americans, we took action – calling for a zero-tolerance policy for hate crimes and urging Florida college and university police chiefs to protect Jewish students and other religious groups.”

Moody’s office collected 311 reported hate crimes in 2023, a 36% increase from the 229 reports in 2022. Among these 311 incidents, there were 70 anti-Jewish motivated crimes. Antisemitic crimes accounted for 22% of all hate crimes in the state.

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Anti-Israel slogans are on display at the University of South Florida. (credit: #EndJewHatred)

Hate crimes motivated by antisemitism

Almost 71% of all religion-motivated crimes were motivated by antisemitism in Florida in 2023. Anti-religion-motivated crimes represented 31.5% of all hate crimes in 2023, second only to racially motivated crimes, which made up 38% of the reports. Twenty of the 2023 hate crime incidents took place at a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque.

Thirty-eight of the anti-Jewish crimes recorded by the Florida Attorney-General’s Office were acts of vandalism, and 15 were acts of intimidation. There were also four incidents of simple assault and the same number of aggravated assaults.

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In 2023, 278 agencies participated in the reporting system, with 75 reporting hate crimes, compared to 58 the previous year.

Eighty-nine municipal police departments, 14 campus police agencies, and the Massachusetts Environmental Police submitted a total of 557 hate-motivated crimes in 2023. Some 314 agencies had no bias crimes to report, and 41 agencies didn’t participate in the project. There were a total of 578 separate offenses, and 634 reported bias incidents in 2023.

Hate crimes in Massachusetts increased by 26.5%, according to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security report. This was the highest amount of hate-motivated crimes reported since 2002.

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The most frequent bias for these hate-motivated crimes has consistently been anti-black crimes, said the state body, followed by anti-gay, antisemitic, and anti-white crimes. Anti-Jewish crimes represented a total of 18.8% of the 634 bias incidents reported to police in Massachusetts. The amount of antisemitic crimes reported to police rose from 70 in 2022 to 119 in 2023.

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Massachusetts police received anti-Jewish bias reports for 82 vandalism incidents, 23 intimidation incidents, four simple assaults, and two aggravated assaults in 2023. Churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques were host to 35 bias incidents in 2023.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security detailed that hate crimes are not reported as a stand-alone offense “but rather as part of a separate criminal violation, ranging from vandalism to harassment to violent crimes.” 





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Massachusetts

Is it really going to snow in New England tomorrow? Here’s what to expect from storm

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Is it really going to snow in New England tomorrow? Here’s what to expect from storm


We’re still on the good side of the forecast today. We’ll see a good supply of sun to start, then the clouds will increase and a few showers will sink down from the north in the afternoon. We still manage to make it near 70. (Yay.)

Tomorrow’s high temperatures, however, comes after midnight tonight — before falling toward Saturday morning. If you think that’s confusing, try explaining the snow that’ll be flying in the higher elevations across New England (with solid accumulation above 4k feet).

Yes, the weather is upside down for late May.

We can blame an intense, compact upper-level pool of cold air that broke loose from a larger pool near the Arctic Circle days ago.

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The pattern across North America has dropped it in our laps for a day, with cold, rainy, windy consequences.

Rain, wind and… snow?

This will be a sneaky storm. Early on, there might even be a calm, bright sky (very) early Saturday morning. Then the clouds move in and the wind intensifies from the northeast. Gust will briefly peak at 50+ along the coast (40+ inland).

Rain will mix with snow in northern New England, and perhaps in the highest elevations of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.

This also depends on the intensity of the precipitation. Heavier bursts of rain can drag down colder air aloft, helping the snowflakes make it from cloud base to your home place (if you live above 1k feet).

Ironically, we’re not expecting a deluge from this storm. Most spots keep near a half inch, with higher amounts near an inch in northeast Mass./southern NH.

And then just like that, it’s over. The storm pulls away Saturday evening, the skies clear and we’re back to sun Sunday. Highs recover to near 70 with the slightest chance for a shower late day.

Better chances – and cooler temps – come both Monday and Tuesday.

Will summer ever take hold? We know from past years that June can really struggle. It appears that the start of the month may not live up to expectations. Although we are at least climbing back to the 80s late next week.

Have a good weekend.

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Massachusetts Top Cop Off the Hook for Secret Recording Program

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Massachusetts Top Cop Off the Hook for Secret Recording Program


The head of the Massachusetts State Police can’t be sued for an alleged program that secretly recorded officers’ phone conversations with civilians and used them to bring criminal charges, the First Circuit said Thursday.

A group of Massachusetts residents filed a putative class against against Superintendent Geoffrey Noble, as well as Motorola and other companies, over the secret recordings, which were used to propose criminal charges in at least 181 cases without prosecutors’ knowledge, the three judge panel said.

The opinion by Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said the residents, led by Jason Courtemanche, failed to show how they’d be directly …



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How Hard Health Care Hits MA Family Budgets

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How Hard Health Care Hits MA Family Budgets


Massachusetts families are spending 8% of their monthly income on health care, according to a new study. That puts the Bay State toward the higher end of the scale, coming in at No. 12 in the country.

The analysis from personal finance website WalletHub examined where people are spending the most and the least on health care.

Alaska was No. 1 in the U.S., spending over 10% of their income on health care. On the other end of the scale, Utah residents spend 5% of their income on health care.

“Sharp increases in health care costs in recent years have made it difficult for some people to seek essential care,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Even in states with lower-than-average health care prices, residents’ incomes may not be enough to keep up with the cost, especially since virtually every part of Americans’ budgets have been impacted by inflation over the past few years.”

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To determine how much families are spending, WalletHub analyzed the prices of five key health care components across all 50 states, then combined those costs and compared them with each state’s median household income.

Read more: 1 MA Town Among 250 Best Places To Live In US News Ranking

Massachusetts spends the most on health care compared to other states in the region, according to the study. Vermont is the next-highest state in the Northeast, ranking at No. 14 with residents spending 7.98% of their income on health care.

Here are the top 10 states where people are spending the most on health care:

  1. Alaska
  2. Oregon
  3. Maine
  4. Mississippi
  5. West Virginia
  6. New Mexico
  7. North Carolina
  8. Montana
  9. South Dakota
  10. Louisiana

Check out the full study at WalletHub.





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