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Drought affecting Northeastern’s arboretum, but the team has a plan to keep plants healthy

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Drought affecting Northeastern’s arboretum, but the team has a plan to keep plants healthy


Greater than half of the contiguous United States is experiencing drought circumstances, as a dryer and warmer summer time than standard blasts the nation. New England, and Massachusetts particularly, has been topic to decrease than standard rainfall for the previous six months, inflicting circumstances to deteriorate throughout a lot of the commonwealth.

The inside of Massachusetts—in addition to Boston—was categorised as being at Stage 3, “essential drought” circumstances, this month by Bethany Card, secretary of the state’s Vitality and Environmental Affairs workplace.

For college students on co-op at Northeastern College’s arboretum, the consequences hit near house. 

“One factor that has been obvious the previous few weeks is the bodily modifications within the arboretum,” says Alegra Germain, who research environmental and sustainability science and is considered one of two co-op college students who assist take care of the college’s arboretum. Unfold all through the college’s Boston campus, the arboretum includes 11.5 acres of inexperienced house, and greater than 6,000 bushes and shrubs.

A pink sign with white lettering and green and blue images shows plans for water conservation due to drought outside the ISEC building on Northeastern's boston campus. The sign is placed in some water surrounded by green plants.
Photograph by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern College

Germain, who’s answerable for posting to the arboretum’s devoted Instagram web page, is out and about each day, trying intently on the hundreds of bushes and shrubs on campus. “Currently I’ll return to a plant I noticed simply 48 hours in the past, and it’ll present important harm that wasn’t there earlier than,” she says. 

The area is roughly 10 inches behind in rainfall in comparison with this time final yr, says Stephen Schneider, director of horticulture and grounds at Northeastern.

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“Final yr was positively a wet summer time, but when you concentrate on 10 inches of water—that’s important,” he says. It’s important sufficient that, with out correct mitigation strategies, soils can dry out a lot that they develop into “hydrophobic,” Schneider says. A waxy residue builds up on the floor of very dry soil and varieties a water-repelling layer, making it tough for water to get all the way down to the deep roots of a plant. 

The few summer time storms Massachusetts has seen haven’t helped a lot, dumping half an inch of water in solely an hour or so. “Most of that simply rolls off the floor,” Schneider says. 

Sensible design can assist. The landscaping close to the college’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Advanced features a rain backyard, designed to carry rainfall and slowly recharge the earth. Schneider says any new building on campus is using all these mitigation methods. 

Elsewhere, it’s as much as the arboretum group to maintain vegetation wholesome.

“Once we had zero rain and 100 diploma climate, that’s actually when issues have been at an excellent essential level,” he says. “We’re beginning to flip the nook, however it’s nonetheless essential to remain up to the mark in order that water is delivered in an environment friendly method.”

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The grounds crew at Northeastern has been ready for a problem like this. Greater than 60% of the vegetation within the arboretum are reaching maturity, and saving these from drying out is the precedence. 

Mature bushes, that are bushes which have reached their full dimension and cover, present important shade and cooling on campus. Take a stroll down Huntington Avenue, the place there are comparatively few mature bushes, and cross onto Centennial Widespread, the place there may be loads of shade cowl, to really feel the distinction in temperature. 

To guard these important bushes, the services group has been deployed throughout the campus arboretum to maintain an eye fixed out for dry spots that might spell bother. With additional hoses that snake from campus buildings, they’ve been watering the bushes slowly and steadily to make sure the soil doesn’t develop into hydrophobic and to permit the bushes’ deep, well-established root techniques entry to water. 

A student-run soil brigade helps, too. 

Indira Holdsworth, a former arboretum co-op and a pupil of evolutionary biology and ecology, began the brigade. The volunteer undertaking presents a chance for college kids to be taught extra concerning the soil circumstances within the arboretum—and provides to a rising cache of essential knowledge concerning the well being of the system general. 

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College students take soil samples from round campus and analyze them for important vitamins, salinity, and pH, Holdsworth says. 

“We are able to use that knowledge to determine what the fertilization plan must be for various elements of the arboretum, primarily based on what the nutrient availability is at completely different areas,” she says. Through the winter, members of the brigade will regulate soil close to roadways, the place runoff could also be dumping extra street salt.

And, throughout drought circumstances, the information offers essential details about soil nutrient ranges—an indicator of the well being (and moisture ranges) of the soil general. 

With no actual finish in sight but—forecasters hope for regular ranges of rain within the fall—the services group will proceed to handle drought circumstances inside the arboretum. Within the meantime, the hands-on expertise has been eye-opening for Germain and Grace Arents, the second arboretum co-op pupil, who can also be learning environmental and sustainability science. 

“It’s actually proven me how linked the whole lot is inside the bigger ecosystem we have now right here,” Germain says. She seen not too long ago the birch grove nestled beneath Robinson Plaza was affected by significantly dry, sandy soil. Tracing it out, she may see for herself how the circumstances have been affecting all of the vegetation close by, as nicely. 

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“Till now, it was at all times very a lot theoretical,” she says, of the fragile connection that threads life collectively on the planet. “Now it’s actual.”





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Massachusetts

Scores of recruits injured at Mass. State Police Academy in recent years, data show

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Scores of recruits injured at Mass. State Police Academy in recent years, data show


Broken bones, muscle tears, concussions, even a gunshot wound — those are just some of the injuries sustained by Massachusetts State Police recruits during their training in recent years.

After a recruit died following a training exercise in September, the NBC10 Investigators began asking how many other recruits have been injured during training.

There have been 185 injuries reported across recruiting classes since 2018, according to police records obtained by NBC10 Boston. Among the injuries are broken fingers and broken ribs, torn ACLs, dislocated limbs, back injuries, eye injuries and two cases of rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life-threatening condition caused by overexertion of the muscles

Dozens of these injuries have resulted in 180 recruits being awarded workman’s compensation, and from those recruiting classes, 49 recruits resigned from the academy following their injuries.

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Asked about the data, a police spokesman said in a statement the agency is committed to all employees’ health and safety, and that an on-site medical team monitors trainees throughout their time at the police academy to ensure they can physically perform their duties “with excellence.”

Enrique Delgado-Garcia died after a defensive tactics training exercise. His mother Sandra Garcia told NBC10 Boston at the time that the training is too brutal. An outside investigator was tapped to look into Delgado-Garcia’s death.

The NBC10 Investigators were invited inside the academy walls to get a firsthand look at what it takes to become a Massachusetts state trooper and the extremely demanding training involved after we began asking questions about the high attrition rate of this class.

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Massachusetts military secrets leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison

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Massachusetts military secrets leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison


The Massachusetts Air National Guard tech support member responsible for “one of the most significant leaks of classified documents and information in United States history” will spend a decade and a half behind bars.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Jack Teixeira to 180 months, which is 15 years, in federal prison at a sentencing hearing in federal court in Boston’s Seaport on Tuesday afternoon. She also ordered, among other conditions, that he enter a mental health treatment program and barred him from taking any jobs where he would have access to sensitive government materials. She did not impose a fine because he did not have the resources to pay a fine.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harm I’ve wrought and I’ve caused,” Teixeira, wearing an orange Plymouth County Correctional Facility jumpsuit, said before Talwani delivered her sentence.

“I can’t really sum up how contrite I am that my behavior has caused such a maelstrom,” the 22-year-old continued, “affecting my family and everyone overseas. I understand that all of the responsibility and consequences come on my shoulders alone and I accept whatever that will bring. I’m at your mercy, your honor.”

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Teixeira, of Dighton, was arrested in April 2023 and pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira, who served as a Cyber Defense Operations Journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, leaked more than 40 highly classified military documents, including many regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine, to a cadre of fellow video game players on the social media platform Discord.

He was looking at a maximum of more than 16 years for his crimes, if Talwani had followed the plea agreement, which she wasn’t bound by in calculating sentencing. Teixeira entered the plea agreement in late February and finalized with his guilty pleas days later on March 4.

Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen called Teixeira “a textbook example of an insider threat.”

“His actions compromised military plans, sources and methods, and allowed our most significant adversaries access to some of our most closely guarded intelligence,” she continued in a press conference following sentencing.

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Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy at the same press conference said that the “heavy price” of the sentence “sends a powerful message to every individual who holds a top secret clearance.”

“I expect that starting tomorrow, Jack Teixeira’s name will be mentioned when people are trained about the gravity of a top secret clearance and the consequences if you leak information,” Levy said.

Sentencing arguments

The federal prosecutor, Jared Dolan, in arguing for a sentence of 200 months, called Teixeira’s crimes “exceptionally serious” and compared his actions to those of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. He said that the sentence should be large enough to be a huge deterrent to anyone else who is considering such disclosures.

“Our military is built on a backbone of people his age and younger,” Dolan said. “And we trust that the training for those individuals put them in a place to succeed and that’s what they do every single day.”

“The defendants job was to not tell anyone else, what he promised to not tell anyone else,” he continued. “Youthful brains make impulsive decisions, but this was not an impulsive decision and if it was then it was an impulsive decision that he made every day for more than a year.”

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Talwani spoke at length about her thought process on sentencing a crime for which there was “very little case law.”

“It seems to me that this is not one harm, this is multiple harms,” Talwani said when arguing that she disagreed with the plea agreement’s argument that the crimes could be grouped. She compared it to rape or robbery, to where even if the victim remained the same each new offense was a different crime.

“Yes the victim is the same here, the victim is the United States,” she continued. “But I don’t know how you can say it’s the same if he did it for one month instead of 13 months. … Each time you are creating a new risk, each time is new information, new disclosure.”

In sentencing memos filed last month, the defense recommended a sentence of 11 years whereas the prosecution recommended a sentence of 16 years and eight months, citing not only the need for Teixeira’s adequate punishment but to deter anyone else from even considering similar actions.

Defense attorney Michael Bachrach argued that Teixeira had no intention whatsoever to harm the United States, and that “motive matters.”

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Unlike Manning and Snowden, who each chose to disclose secrets with purpose, Bachrach argued that Teixeira’s “truly bad decision making” was built on both his youth and his autism and wanting to find a community.

“What he cared about was having a community to speak to because he didn’t have that community at Otis Air Base,” Bachrach said, adding that his recommended sentence of 11 years is “significant” and is more time than half of the defendant’s life at the time of the crimes.

Talwani took some exception with Bachrach’s argument but did agree that she was leaning toward a downward departure based on Teixeira’s age.

Margaret Small via AP, File

This artist depiction shows Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, right, appearing in U.S. District Court in Boston, April 14, 2023. (Margaret Small via AP, File)

Jack Teixeira of Dighton is taken into custody in April 2023. (AP photo)

AP photo

Jack Teixeira of Dighton is taken into custody in April 2023. (AP photo)

 

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Winning $50,000 Powerball ticket sold in Massachusetts

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Winning ,000 Powerball ticket sold in Massachusetts


A lottery player won $50,000 playing Powerball in Massachusetts on Monday.

The winning numbers for the Powerball drawing on Nov. 11 were 3, 21, 24, 34, 46 and Powerball: 9. The multiplier was a 3X.

The $50,000 ticket sold in Massachusetts matched four of the first five numbers, and the Powerball number. It was sold in Waltham at a 7-Eleven.

Overall, at least 200 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Monday, including eight in Springfield, seven in Worcester and 20 in Boston.

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The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.

So far, the largest lottery prize won in Massachusetts this year was worth $1 million a year for life.

The prize was from the lottery’s “Lifetime Millions” scratch ticket game. The winner claimed their prize through a trust on July 10, and opted to receive a one-time payment of $15.4 million.



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