Massachusetts
Editorial: Migrants overwhelm NYC – is Massachusetts next?
When will Gov. Maura Healey have her Eric Adams moment?
Healey has been adding help and housing options across the state as an influx of migrants continues unabated. But like New York City Mayor Eric Adams can attest, the need for housing and help extends beyond the immigrant community.
The Healey administration announced Monday that a dorm at Eastern Nazarene College will serve as emergency shelter for up to 58 families experiencing homelessness, including newly-arrived migrants. This is the second “welcome center” in Massachusetts, following the June opening of a center in Allston. There are also housing options at Joint Base Cape Cod.
The Brazilian Worker Center, which runs the operation in Allston, has recruited locals to serve as hosts for newly-arrived families who do not have housing.
As of July 21, there were 15 to 20 host families in Massachusetts, mostly active in hosting newly arrived families on the weekends, a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said.
“Our administration continues to explore all options for expanding shelter capacity, including evaluating whether the host family program could be expanded,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald earlier this month.
College campus, host families, welcome centers – Healey is stepping up to help those in need of housing and services.
“Our administration has been working hard to meet this unprecedented need and use every resource at our disposal to help families,” she said in a June statement after the Cape Cod base plan was unveiled.
But as Texas and other border states have demonstrated, the need will continue as more migrants cross the southern border. These states sounded the alarm and were largely ignored until they started sending migrants up north, to the places which talked a good compassion game, but hadn’t yet had to deal with border crisis firsthand.
And now we are.
Mayor Adams hit the wall first. As Politico reported, photos, videos and interviews from the street outside the midtown Manhattan hotel doubling as an intake center circulating online and in the national media are hammering home the point Adams has been making to President Biden.
“We need help,” Adams said Monday. “And it’s not going to get any better. From this moment on, it’s downhill.”
Groups of newly arrived men resigned to sleeping on cardboard boxes have found that, as Adams has repeatedly warned the White House, there is no room for them.
Adams has blamed the White House for not sending enough financial aid or acting on requests like expedited work authorization. More than 93,000 migrants have come to the city since last spring. More than half remain in its care.
As much as Biden tries to lay the blame for the border crisis at the feet of former President Donald Trump, this is happening under his watch. Northern states like Massachusetts are new hotspots for migrants, while we have our own homelessness crisis spurred in part by rising housing costs.
The well is not bottomless, and Massachusetts is in line to become another New York in terms of need outpacing supply.
Enough with touting Bidenomics – the president needs to pull out the stops to help states dealing with the border crisis fallout.
It’s cold and gray and the idea of heading outside is literally chilling. You need beauty, history, intrigue and warmth.
Fortunately the Bay State is blessed with fantastic museums, both major institutions and small, unique versions.
Consider adding these museums to your cold winter venture list.
The One With the Heist
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (https://www.gardnermuseum.org) is worth a winter visit for its beautiful indoor courtyard, lovely café and intimate art display rooms.
But there’s so much more. First, the story behind how the museum was founded is told via photos and written word along one wall of the museum. It’s a great story with a female lead: Isabella herself commissioned it all after the art collector inherited just under $2 million back in the late 1800s.
But then there’s The Heist: the largest and still-unsolved art theft that went down in the wee hours of March 18, 1990 is the stuff of legend – and documentaries. Read up – or watch up – on it before a visit.
The One With the Murder Mystery
Did Lizzie Borden take an ax? Head down to Fall River and spend some time in the home where the infamous murders took place on Aug. 4, 1892. The Lizzie Borden House (https://lizzie-borden.com) offers property tours, ghost tours, cemetery tours and even a 10 p.m. -midnight ghost hunt.
The day tours are the only time you get access to every room, including the one that Abby Borden, Lizzie’s stepmother, was murdered in.
You can stay overnight should you wish, sleeping (or staying awake listening for ghostly creaks) where it all happened.
Hosts share facts and encourage opinion and speculation about the murders, the existence of ghosts and more.
“The Trial of Lizzie Borden” by Cara Robinson is a perfect fireside read, and will get you up to speed on all the nuances of the case before you visit.
The One with the Cat in the Hat
You never grow out of Dr. Seuss, and a winter visit to The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield (https://seussinspringfield.org) is a great place to celebrate Theodor Geisel – his childhood in Springfield, creativity, success and more.
There are family friendly games, amazing displays and a setting that warms your heart. You’re treated to kid-friendly biographical information, and a Seuss trivia quiz.
The One With the Heroes
The Hull Lifesaving Museum isn’t big, but it packs a huge and amazing story.
Located in the former Point Allerton US Lifesaving Station on Nantasket Avenue (https://www.hulllifesavingmuseum.org) which opened in 1889 under the leadership of Joshua James who is considered a “father” of the US Coast Guard, the museum celebrates not just the founding of the Coast Guard, but “skills, courage and caring,” the hallmarks of sea lifesaving programs,
You’ll learn about the history of these lifesaving skills, the people who helped innovate those programs and more about the sea, ships and more.
The Museum has a standing collection as well as special exhibits and is open year-round. Before your visit, read up on the deadly Great Blizzard of 1888 in which more than 200 ships were either grounded or wrecked on the East Coast.
Massachusetts
Search underway for missing woman Owen Kasozi in Beverly, last seen walking dog on Christmas Eve
BEVERLY – A search is underway in Massachusetts for missing woman Owen Kasozi, who police say is “possibly endangered.” Police said she was last seen on Tuesday at about 3 p.m. near the JC Phillips Nature Preserve in Beverly.
Her family tells WBZ-TV she was walking her dog at the time.
I-Team sources say police are looking into reports that Kasozi was walking or running after her dog when she went missing. A dog believed to be Kasozi’s was found wet in Topsfield, and her car was found nearby.
A Massachusetts State Police helicopter was helping to search the area around 801 Cabot St. in Beverly on Wednesday. Anyone who has seen Kasozi or has information is asked to call Beverly police at 978-922-1212.
It’s Christmas Day! Time to open presents, be with loved ones and celebrate the beauty of giving. Even on Christmas, there are still a few places you can go for last-minute provisions. But can you go to the bank or post office or catch a bus?
Here’s what is open and closed on Dec. 25, 2024.
Government
City and town offices: Closed
State offices: Closed
Registry of Motor Vehicles: Closed
State and local courts: Closed
Federal courts: Closed
Finance
Banks: Closed. Most ATMs will remain open.
Stock market: Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are closed.
Alcohol and recreational drugs
Liquor stores: Open
Cannabis dispensaries: Massachusetts regulators don’t identify specific holidays when cannabis dispensaries must close, according to the Cannabis Control Commission. It’s up to the respective cannabis store as to whether they choose to be open or closed on Christmas Day.
Convenience stores and gas stations
Gas stations are allowed to be open on holidays, according to Massachusetts labor laws.
The following gas stations and adjoining convenience stores should be open on Christmas:
- BP
- Citgo
- Circle K
- Cumberland Farms
- Exxon Mobil
- Gulf
- Irving Oil
- Neon Marketplace
- Season’s Corner Market
- Sunoco
- Shell
- Speedway
- 7-Eleven
Shopping
Auburn Mall: Closed
Holyoke Mall: Closed
Hampshire Mall: Closed
Eastfield Mall: Closed
Natick Mall: Closed
Big Y: Closed
Stop & Shop: Closed
Market Basket: Closed
Price Rite: Closed
Star Market: Closed
Walmart: Closed
Target: Closed
Wegmans: Closed
Safeway: Open
Costco: Closed
CVS: Open
Walgreens: Closed
Aldi: Closed
Whole Foods: Closed
Trader Joe’s: Closed
Parcel services
Post offices: Closed
FedEx: Closed
UPS: Closed
Transportation
Lowell RTA: Lowell RTA will be closed
MBTA: Subway, bus and The RIDE will run on a Sunday schedule. Meanwhile, the Commuter Rail will run on a weekend schedule.
Merrimack Valley RTA: Buses won’t be running
MetroWest RTA: Buses won’t be running
Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: Buses won’t be running
Worcester RTA: Buses won’t be running
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