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TikTok trending fake Harvard acceptances
What, like it’s hard? People are pretending to get into Harvard to expose the “highly rejective” nature of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
It’s no secret that Massachusetts is home to some of the world’s most prestigious colleges, from Harvard University to Babson College.
People from all walks of life — even big-name celebrities — flock to the Bay State to learn from some of the best in academia.
From actors to politicians, many famous faces got their start as students at the various universities around the state.
Some celebrities are known for their Massachusetts ties, while others may surprise you. Here’s a list of 20 living celebrities who went to college in Massachusetts.
The 44th President of the United States attended Harvard Law School and earned his juris doctorate degree in 1991. While there, he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Obama’s presidential predecessor also attended Harvard University. Bush earned a master of business administration degree in 1975.
The former first lady also attended Harvard Law School, though not at the same time as her future husband.
Before becoming the second person to walk on the moon, Aldrin earned a doctorate degree in astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963.
The six-time Emmy Award-winning actor graduated from Harvard University in 1967.
Poehler, a Burlington native, went to Boston College, where she earned a degree in media and communications.
The two-time Emmy Award winner grew up in Norwell and went to Emerson College.
The longtime actor went to Harvard, where he majored in English literature and graduated in 1969.
Winkler, an actor and director, graduated from Emerson College in 1978. He also later went to nearby Yale University for graduate school.
The Academy Award-winning actress went to Boston University.
The actress is another Harvard graduate on this list.
A former radio and television host, Williams is a graduate of Northeastern University.
Mayer, a singer and Connecticut native, is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston.
A famed activist, Davis graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham in 1965.
The former Olympic figure skater studied business at Emmanuel College.
The “Fast car” singer went to Tufts University in Medford.
An actor known for roles in “While You Were Sleeping” and “Independence Day,” Pullman earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Before playing in the NFL, Flutie was a quarterback at Boston College.
Andover native and comedian Leno went to Emerson College.
The Supreme Court justice graduated from the College of the Holy Cross.
Melina Khan is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY Network – New England, which serves more than a dozen affiliated publications across New England. She can be reached at MKhan@gannett.com.
Local News
New Hampshire is leading an effort from 25 states to challenge a Massachusetts gun law, and this month, they’re taking it to the Supreme Court.
The centerpiece of the argument is the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., which reaches across state lines into Tyngsborough. If shoppers park on the south side of the mall’s parking lot, they might end up crossing state lines during a visit.
The attorneys general of New Hampshire and 24 other Republican-led states say this poses a potential problem for firearm holders. A New Hampshire resident who is legally carrying a firearm on their home state’s side of the parking lot may inadvertently be breaking the law when they cross the lot into Massachusetts, where it is illegal to carry without a permit.
Joining New Hampshire are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, who are calling the arrangement unconstitutional. The states have rallied behind Phillip Marquis of Rochester, N.H., to ask the Supreme Court to protect out-of-state residents from Massachusetts’ firearms regulations.
“The geography of the mall is such that a New Hampshire resident might find themselves in Massachusetts if she parks on the south side of the parking lot or visits Buffalo Wild Wings,” reads a brief from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to the Supreme Court. “If that person is carrying a firearm without a Massachusetts license — which would be constitutionally protected activity in most of the mall—that person risks being charged as a felon and facing mandatory incarceration in Massachusetts.”
The trouble began for Marquis in 2022 when he was in a car accident in Massachusetts, according to the brief. When police arrived, he informed them that he had a pistol on him and was subsequently charged with carrying a firearm without a license.
Marquis previously sued the Commonwealth for the burdens that Massachusetts’ firearms permit law creates on out-of-state visitors, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied his claims. They ruled in March that the state’s nonresident firearms licensing laws were constitutional, according to court documents.
Claiming that the Massachusetts court denied him his Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Marquis has petitioned the Supreme Court to federally overrule that court’s decision. In his petition, Marquis invoked New York State Rifle & Police Association, Inc. v. Bruen, where the court established that state firearms restrictions must be covered by the Second Amendment or adhere to historical firearms regulations.
Using Bruen, Marquis and the Republican attorneys general supporting him are aiming to prove that there is no justification for applying Massachusetts’ firearms restrictions to out-of-state residents and that to do so would be unconstitutional. However, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court found the law constitutional even under Bruen because it intends to prevent dangerous people from obtaining firearms, just as historical regulations have done.
“To the extent that the Commonwealth restricts the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry firearms within its borders, the justification for so doing is credible, individualized evidence that the person in question would pose a danger if armed,” the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision read. “Both case law and the historical record unequivocally indicate that this justification is consistent with ‘the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”
It’s not immediately clear if the Supreme Court will respond to Marquis’ appeal or when it will make any kind of decision, but lower courts are at something of a crossroads with how and when to apply Bruen to gun possession cases. As such, they are looking to the Supreme Court for a more definitive answer.
Since the proof of historical context that Bruen requires has led to some uncertainty, any ruling that these lower courts make is likely to amount to a partisan decision. However, if the Supreme Court provides more substantive clarity in a response to Marquis, these lower courts just might find the answer they are seeking.
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Massachusetts State Lottery players won two $100,000 prizes Friday from the day’s “Mass Cash” drawings.
The winning tickets were sold at the Roslindale Food Mart on Washington Street and McSheffrey’s of the South End convenience store (with Mobil gas) on Main Street in Woburn.
Mass Cash drawings happen twice daily, at 2 p.m. and at 9 p.m. It costs just $1 to play.
Overall, at least 625 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Monday, including 6 in Springfield, 22 in Worcester and 14 in Boston.
The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.
The two largest lottery prizes won so far in 2025 were each worth $15 million. One of the prizes was from a winning “Diamond Deluxe” scratch ticket sold in Holyoke, and the other was from a “300X” scratch ticket sold on Cape Cod.
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