Massachusetts
Golf tournament held to benefit Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog
AGAWAM, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – Local law enforcement and supporters joined together for the first Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog Memorial Fundraising Golf Tournament at Crestview Country Club in Agawam on Monday. The event honored Frankie, who was the first K-9 in Mass. State Police history to be killed while serving on July 26, 2022. He was also the first K-9 to receive emergency care under Nero’s Law, which was established following the injury of Yarmouth Police K-9 Nero in 2018.
“You know, I’m passionate about dogs. I love police canines and I don’t think people realize how instrumental canines are in law-enforcement,” said David Shilale, president of Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog.
All proceeds from the event will support the Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog general fund. Shilale told Western Mass News that Vest-A-Dog provides essential training and safety equipment for K-9 law enforcement teams across the state. He added that these canines are more than just furry friends on the force.
“They’re not just for bad guys, but for tracking lost people, tracking evidence for criminals, narcotics, explosives, and then, of course, the bad guys, finding the bad guys that are hiding somewhere,” Shilale explained.
He said the tournament is a wonderful way to honor K-9 Frankie and support the incredible work k-9 dogs and their handlers do every day.
“These handlers spend 24/7 with these dogs and the partnership is just unbelievable, so it’s something that we value and that we just want to support anyway we can,” Shilale noted.
Founded in 2000, the Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog non-profit organization has provided over 700 bulletproof vests and essential training equipment to law enforcement agencies across the state and Shilale said the local fundraiser in Agawam will add to that success.
“They’re just an incredible resource and the relationship and the bond that I’ve seen over the years I’ve been with Mass. Vest-A-Dog between the dog and the handler is second to none,” Shilale said.
Copyright 2024. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.
Massachusetts
How Mass. leaders are responding to Trump's mass deportation promises
Elected officials in Massachusetts are reacting to President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants by declaring a national emergency and using military assets.
Trump campaigned on a promise of the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, and he says he intends to deliver on it.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who declared a state of emergency around migrant arrivals last year, says something needs to be done, but she expressed concern about communities being uprooted.
“I think it’s absolutely appropriate that there be enforcement and deportation of individuals who commit crime, including violent crime. That’s very, very important,” Healey said. “We recognize it would be devastating if there were mass raids, here and across the country, that took out people who’ve been working in this country for a long time, who have families and kids here.”
While Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, it has eight sanctuary cities.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called attention to the Trust Act, passed in 2014. It distinguishes the difference in roles between Boston police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
“We know that the fear of someone who might be living, coming from an immigrant family, not then reporting crimes or not speaking out about different issues, actually then makes the entire community less safe,” Wu said.
Cambridge is also a sanctuary city — it has been since 1985.
“Cambridge affirms the basic human rights and dignity of every human being and provides education, health and other critical services to all residents of Cambridge, regardless of their immigration status,” a city spokesperson told NBC10 Boston in a statement.
Leaders in Worcester, the state’s second-largest city, say it will always remain inclusive and will never target individuals based on their immigration status.
At the former ICE detention center in Dartmouth, there are no plans for the sheriff to reimplement any future detention programs.
“This organization has been there and done that,” said Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux.
ICE closed the detention center in 2021 after President Joe Biden took office.
Heroux’s predecessor, former Sheriff Tom Hodgson — a strong ally of Trump who served as the president-elect’s campaign chairman in Massachusetts — blasted the Biden administration and called the center’s closing “a political hit job” orchestrated by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Massachusetts
Mass. says some police officers have been bypassing required training
Massachusetts officials have notified police chiefs that some officers have been getting around parts of their online training.
In a letter last week, Municipal Police Training Committee Executive Director Jeff Fanrsworth said officials had learned that some police officers have been “bypassing their TY25 online training by using technologies that override controls meant to prevent fast-forwarding through the training.”
Farnsworth noted that the committee had found “instances where trainings that should take hours to complete are finished in a matter of minutes.”
The committee is working with Acadis, the company that operates the training system, to look into the issue and determine what needs to be done to address it.
Police chiefs whose departments have members who finished online courses in less than the minimum expected runtime are being notified, Farnsworth said. Those officers will be required to do all their training for this year in person.
“Any officer that has failed to complete any required training in its entirety will be required to attend in-person training and their names will be forwarded to [the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission] for failure to successfully complete in-service training,” Farnsworth wrote in the letter.
The POST Commission, established by a criminal justice reform law in 2020, maintains lists of disciplinary records, suspensions and decertifications for Massachusetts police officers, handling claims of misconduct.
Massachusetts
Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Sickens MA Residents, Prompts Carrot Recall
MASSACHUSETTS — Public health officials are investigating a multi-state E. coli outbreak that has been tied to multiple brands of recalled organic carrots, and has sickened people in Massachusetts and nearly two dozen other states.
Grimmway Farms recalled multiple sizes and brands of bagged organic whole and baby carrots on Nov. 16 because they may be contaminated with a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The carrots were sold at a number of retailers including Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Wegmans, and Whole Foods.
A total of 39 people have gotten sick nationwide after contracting E. coli from this outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person from California died, and 15 had to be hospitalized.
“The recalled carrots should no longer be available for purchase but may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers,” the Food and Drug Administration added.
For bags of organic baby carrots, the best-if-used-by date ranged from Sept. 11 to Nov. 12.
Brands selling these carrots included 365, Bunny Luv, Cal-Organic, Compliments, Full Circle, Good & Gather, GreenWise, Grimmway Farms, Marketside, Nature’s Promise, O-Organic, President’s Choice, Raley’s, Simple Truth, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Wholesome Pantry.
Packages of whole organic carrots were available for purchase in stores from Aug. 14 to Oct. 23, according to the CDC. The brands distributing these carrots included 365, Bunny Luv, Cal-Organic, Compliments, Full Circle, Good & Gather, GreenWise, Marketside, Nature’s Promise, O-Organic, President’s Choice, Simple Truth, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and Wholesome Pantry.
There was no best-if-used-by dates on the bags of organic whole carrots, the recall states.
Consumers are asked not to eat these carrots if they still have some in their refrigerator or freezer, and either throw them out or return them to the store. Also, the CDC advises that consumers wash any items and surfaces that may have touched the recalled carrots, using hot soapy water or the dishwasher.
E. coli can cause serious symptoms, including high fever, diarrhea, consistent vomiting, and dehydration. Anyone who experiences any of these symptoms is advised to call their healthcare provider.
The CDC also said that the true number of sick people in the outbreak is likely much higher than reported, and that it takes three to four weeks to determine if an ill person is part of an outbreak.
Illnesses have also been reported in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington.
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