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Massachusetts Football Opens 2023 Campaign With 41-30 Win At New Mexico State – University of Massachusetts Athletics

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Massachusetts Football Opens 2023 Campaign With 41-30 Win At New Mexico State – University of Massachusetts Athletics


LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The University of Massachusetts football team scored 31 second half points to secure a 41-30 win over New Mexico State at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening. In his UMass debut, quarterback Taisun Phommachanh threw for 192 yards on 10-for-17 passing, while rushing for 96 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown.  

Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams totaled 79 yards on 15 carries and found the end zone twice. Anthony Simpson also contributed a TD and had 27 yards on the ground to go along with three receptions for 65 yards. Christian Wells hauled down a 68-yard catch to pace the Minutemen receiving corps.  
 
Defensively Isaiah Rutherford pulled down a pick six, one of three turnovers recovered by UMass on the day. Tyler Rudolph led the squad with eight tackles and a sack, while Marcus Bradley had six tackles, including five solo stops. Michael Oppong grabbed an interception and Billy Wooden recovered a fumble to help the Minutemen win the turnover battle, 3-0. 
 

How It Happened   

Oppong deflected a Diego Pavia pass and then tracked the ball for his first career interception, setting the Minutemen offense up at the New Mexico State 35-yard line. Phommachanh then had a nine-yard run, completed a 16-yard pass to Simpson and handed it off for a 10-yard touchdown run by Simpson for a 7-0 lead. 

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After the Aggies made it a 7-7 game on an 80-yard run, the Minutemen responded with a nine play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 33-yard Cameron Carson field goal and a 10-7 lead. The drive was highlighted by a 22-yard reception by George Johnson III, a 14-yard run by Lynch-Adams and a 17-yard rush by Simpson. 

With three seconds remaining in the first half, New Mexico State made a 36-yard field goal to tie up the contest, 10-10.  

After stopping the Aggies, Phommachanh converted a third and four with a 22-yard connection to Simpson, setting up a 29-yard field goal for Carson to give UMass the 13-10 lead.  

The teams traded touchdowns in the opening 1:33 of the fourth quarter with Phommachanh running the ball in himself from the 11 to complete a three-play 80-yard drive for the Minutemen. New Mexico State countered with a 62-yard strike as Diego Pavia found Trent Hudson 62-yard touchdown pass to keep the Aggies within a field goal.  

Midway through the frame, UMass gained some breathing room when Lynch-Adams finished off a 5-minute, 40-second drive that went 75 yards with a 10-yard TD run. Rutherford’s pick six then put the Minutemen up 34-17 with 6:40 remaining. 

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Jordin Parker’s 40-yard touchdown grab brought the Aggies’ deficit back to 10 before Lynch-Adams went to the house for the second time in the quarter, a 21-yard rush. New Mexico State put up the final points of the evening with a one-yard touchdown run from Hudson as time expired. 

Notes 

  • Billy Wooden and Josh Atwood served as the Massachusetts captains.
  • Michael Oppong came up with his first career interception to set up the game’s first touchdown.  
  • Tyler Rudolph registered his first career sack.
  • With 10 minutes left in the second quarter, CJ Kolodziey posted a career-long 62-yard punt (previous long was 55 yards).  
  • Isaiah Rutherford’s interception, which he returned 55 yards for a touchdown, the first pick six since Jordan Mahoney’s against Stony Brook on September 17, 2022. 
  • 41 points marked the highest offensive output for UMass since defeating Liberty 62-59 in 3OT on November 3, 2018 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. 
  • Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams matched his career high in carries (15) and had his first career game with multiple touchdowns on the ground. He also posted his longest career rush (66 yards) and single-game best for rushing yards (79).  
  • The Don Brown defense had two interceptions and recovered a fumble while registering three sacks for 21 yards. 24 individuals had at least one tackle in the contest for the Minutemen.  
  • The 28 points UMass scored in the fourth quarter matched the most points the team has posted in one quarter in the program’s FBS era. The Minutemen also scored 28 vs. Charlotte in the first quarter on September 22, 2018 and 28 in the first quarter vs. Georgia Southern on October 21, 2017.

Next Up  

Next weekend the Minutemen will head to Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama for a 3:30 p.m. ET game against Auburn on Saturday, September 2. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. 



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Massachusetts

Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe


Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

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But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

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Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.


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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations


The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”

The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.

“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.

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Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.

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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.

Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).

Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.

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Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.

The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.

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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.

The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.

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“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”

A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.





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Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

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Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust


A Revere city councilor says the state’s right-to-shelter law is a “perfect example” of how “woke” ideologies are harmful, as he addressed the arrest of a migrant who allegedly had an AR-15 and 10 pounds of fentanyl at a local hotel.

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