Massachusetts
Massachusetts Boy Band NKOTB Never Included Mark Wahlberg
Michael Dukakis recently retired at age 90. He leaves an impressive resume, including the Democrat presidential nominee for 1988 (he got creamed by George H.W. Bush), Northeastern University professor, and two-term Governor of Massachusetts (1983-1991).
One of Dukakis’ less-than-shining moments was when he went for a cruise in an army tank while sporting a blue helmet. Another was declaring April 24, 1989, New Kids on the Block Day in Massachusetts.
That was 35 years ago. I had almost forgotten until it popped up on social media.
New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) was a boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts, active between 1984 and 1994, only to reemerge in 2008.
NKOTB’s original members included 15-year-old Donnie Wahlberg and his schoolmates Jamie Kelly, Jordan Knight, his older brother Jonathan, and Danny Wood. When Kelly left the group, 12-year-old Joey McIntyre replaced him.
Massachusetts Boy Band NKOTB Never Included Mark Wahlberg
Some fans insist Donnie’s brother Mark Wahlberg was a founding member of New Kids on the Block, but that is not quite accurate. Wahlberg was with the group briefly but it was when it was known as Nynuk before it adopted the name New Kids on the Block.
The change from Nynuk to New Kids on the Block occurred after Mark Wahlberg left the group, became Marky Mark (with and without the Funky Bunch), acted in films, and opened hamburger joints.
Technically, Mark Wahlberg was never a member of New Kids on the Block.
Mark Wahlberg ran afoul of the law and developed an addiction to cocaine while running as a young pre-teen in the Boston area. After 45 days in jail and some coaching from his brother Donnie, Mark got his act together and has had a successful career.
New Kids on the Block is touring this summer with a stop in Connecticut in July and a show at Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts on August 10, 2024.
NKOTB Flashback: New Kids on the Block MixTape Tour 2019
In 2019, NKOTB embarked on their first MixTape tour that grossed over $53.2 million dollars and sold over 650,000 tickets across the United States. The tour featured special guests Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Naughty by Nature and Debbie Gibson. It included a stop at what was at the time Taco Bell Arena on June 4, 2019. These are some of the epic photos we caught outside the show!
NKOTB returns to the Treasure Valley on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 for a show at the Ford Idaho Center.
Gallery Credit: Michelle Heart
Own a Piece of New Kids on the Block History
Gallery Credit: Gazelle
Massachusetts
Swimmer pulled from Houghton’s Pond after search
A teenager was pulled from a pond in Milton, Massachusetts, after he went missing while swimming Saturday night.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said the teenaged male was taken to a Boston area hospital following the incident at Houghton’s Pond. It’s unclear how long the teen was under water, and there was no immediate word on his condition.
State police had said earlier that they responded to the pond shortly after 7 p.m. for a person who entered the water and didn’t resurface. State police divers, detectives, troopers, and the Milton Fire Department were all on scene involved in the search.
The DA’s office is conducting an investigation with state police that remains ongoing. Further information is not being released at this time.
This story will be updated when we learn more
Massachusetts
Mass. man charged with posing as teen, exposing himself to 12-, 13-year-old girls
A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges for allegedly engaging in inappropriate communications and exposing himself to children.
Orate Kyle Graham, 20, of Bridgewater, was arrested this week on two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor and one count of accosting or annoying another person.
Bridgewater police said they were made aware Tuesday of allegations involving interactions between several girls age 12 and 13 and an individual known to them only as “Jay.” The individual said he was 17 years old during conversations with the girls through FaceTime and in person.
Through an investigation, police identified “Jay” as Graham, and also found that he had regularly engaged in interactions with the minor victims. During those interactions, he allegedly exposed himself and asked the girls to expose themselves to him.
He was arrested Thursday and taken to the Plymouth County House of Correction, where he was held on $25,000 bail. The case remains under investigation by Bridgewater police and the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.
Massachusetts
Fisherman reels in white shark off Massachusetts, then snags the hook from its toothy mouth
BILLERICA, Mass. (AP) — Elliot Sudal didn’t need a bigger boat, but he did need to find a way to get a hook out of a shark’s mouth.
Sudal, a veteran angler and boat captain, reeled in the nearly nine-foot shark — also commonly known as a great white shark or a great white — on June 7 on Nantucket. White sharks are a protected species in the U.S. and must be released immediately when accidentally caught.
That presents a nasty problem for a fisherman because the white shark is a formidable apex predator best known for the 1975 movie Jaws, in which Roy Scheider utters the famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” upon seeing the big fish. Sudal, who caught the shark while fishing from shore, decided to use his encounter to demonstrate how to respond to such a situation.
Sudal posted a video of himself removing the hook to his social media accounts. In the video, Sudal climbs onto the back of the shark, secures the fish in the surf, and removes the hook from its mouth. By the end of the short video, the shark is back in the water.
White sharks typically have about 300 teeth arranged into five rows, so speed was key.
“Hooks out and back on her way in 15 seconds, not sure how to do it better,” Sudal wrote in an Instagram post that included a video of the shark release.
Sudal is no stranger to sharks, and has caught and tagged hundreds of them over the years. He said in a social media post that this month’s encounter with a white shark was the first time he has ever caught one of them in more than a decade of the work.
Sudal’s practices have sometimes attracted the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, such as in 2017, when the agency investigated his handling of a smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, in Florida. The agency said in 2018 that it sent Sudal a letter “informing him of the Endangered Species Act issues and the safe handling protocol for sawfish.”
White sharks are not listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, but are subject to special federal protections. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them vulnerable globally.
Sightings of white sharks off New England have ticked up in recent years, and some scientists have pinned that to the greater availability of the seals that they prey on. Dangerous encounters between white sharks and humans are extremely rare, and only a few dozen fatal white shark bites on people have ever been recorded.
___
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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