Massachusetts
Massachusetts has a rich history of classic pranks
By Sharon Oliver, Contributing Writer
Photo/NewtonCourt/Wikipedia
REGION – When it comes to pranks, jokes, and outrageous shenanigans, the people of Massachusetts can give or take it with the best of them.
False volcano eruption report
Well, in most cases, that is. There has been a joke or two that had gone awry―case in point―the 1980 Blue Hills April Fool’s Day Panic. On April 1, 1980, WNAC-TV Channel 7 (now WHDH) reported that the Blue Hills in Milton were erupting, sending some people in the streets out of fear of a volcanic eruption. There are no volcanoes in the state.
The report claimed lava and ash were spraying onto homes and used edited clips from President Jimmy Carter and Governor Edward J. King, calling the situation serious. Keep in mind, that the eruption of Washington State’s Mount St. Helens five days earlier was still fresh in the minds of many throughout the nation. Making matters worse, the Massachusetts Department of Civil Defense fielded dozens of calls from people wanting to know if they should evacuate.
At the end of the broadcast, reporter Jim Harrison held up a sign that read: “April Fools.” Residents were not amused. Angry viewers called into the station and executive producer Homer Cilley was ultimately fired the next day for “his failure to exercise good news judgment” and for violating Federal Communications Commission’s rules on showing stock footage without properly identifying it.
State House “codnapping”

Photo/Wikipedia
Another example of hijinks for the record books is Harvard Lampoon’s 1933 abduction of the “sacred” cod from the Massachusetts House of Representatives chamber. The shocking “codnapping” was carried out by three staff members of the Lampoon who pretended to be tourists. Demand for the mascot’s return was high and the sentiment was deep since it symbolized how cod fishing fueled the colony’s growth since the early 1700s. Police even dredged the Charles River and a manhunt (or fish hunt) had spread down to New Jersey. The story made national news and the Los Angeles Times printed a poem about the fishy crime:
From Winthrop Beach to Bunker Hill,
From Cambridge to Revere,
The voice of happiness was still,
One heard no note of cheer.
A pallor whitened every face.
All eyes were red and swollen;
A dreadful crime had taken place —
The Codfish had been stolen.
Accounts vary as to how Charles Apted, Chief of Harvard Yard Police, came into possession of the cod but he was able to bring it back to its rightful place in history.
Of course, not all pranks caused Bay Staters such angst. Take the time when the “Candid Camera” TV show came to town, for example. The show’s “There Goes the Neighborhood” is a classic 1960s episode featuring the hilarious reactions of Boston residents when they are tricked into believing a disco is moving in next door.
MIT “hacks”
Photo/Michael Bauer – hacks.mit.edu
Not to be outdone, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) brainiacs have a longstanding penchant for jaw-dropping pranks. These “hacks” are designed to demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness, along with commemorating pop culture and historical topics, and have garnered national attention over the years.
Some of their most famous creations include placing a replica of a campus police cruiser on the roof of the Great Dome and using a remote-controlled device to move bulletin boards up and down whenever the calculus professor approached the board. The day after AMC’s hit television series “Breaking Bad” finale aired, students turned the school’s Alchemist into an homage to Heisenberg, an alias of the show’s main character, Walter White.
More recently, this year Newton native and “The Office” actor B. J. Novak was pardoned for a prank he pulled at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston while he was in high school in 1997.
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Massachusetts
Police to address Princeton death during child sexual abuse material investigation
Authorities will speak Friday after a death occurred while police were serving a search warrant for child sexual abuse material in Princeton, Massachusetts.
The subject of the search warrant “was a person of trust in communities in Worcester and Middlesex Counties,” Massachusetts State Police said.
Authorities said little about the case ahead of the press conference, which will begin at 6 p.m. and be streamed in the player above.
State police will be hosting the conference, which will include Princeton Police Chief Paul Patricia, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.
Check back for more as this story develops.
Massachusetts
Mass. unveils $250 million in subsidies to protect residents from premium hikes – The Boston Globe
Audrey Morse Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, said the financial bulwark that benefited 270,000 residents is “part of the reason that we’re hanging in there in terms of enrollment and keeping people covered.”
But Thursday’s announcement won’t translate into any additional help.
Healey’s news conference coincided with the beginning of an election year in which three Republicans are vying for her job and voters are expected to be particularly focused on the state’s high cost of living. One survey last year found Massachusetts had the second highest cost of living in the country. People who saw their insurance premiums increase this year said it was one pricey bill amid an onslaught of growing expenses.
“I can’t believe how much it is when we go to the grocery store. Our electricity has gone up,“ said Judith O’Gara, whose family was hit with a $400 increase a month in insurance premiums for their ACA plan in January. ”We were just bracing ourselves to try to stretch the paycheck further.”
O’Gara, of Millis, is a part-time editor at community newspapers, and her husband is a self-employed computer animator and mural artist. She has added hours at work, she said, but it still wasn’t enough to qualify for health coverage through her employer, leaving the couple to buy insurance through the connector.
Healey also used the news conference to weigh in on a high-profile effort in Congress to revive the federal subsidies. Also on Thursday, the US House, with help from 17 Republican defectors facing competitive reelection races, passed a bill that would extend the subsidies for another three years. A small group of senators is considering proposing their own extension of the subsidies.
“We need to see people in Congress step up and take action and fight the president on this and get him to focus on the domestic agenda and how to make life more affordable for people,” Healey said.
The governor said she didn’t announce the influx of funds earlier because she had hoped Congress would act before the end of 2025.
“We gave up until the deadline to see if they take action,” she said.
ACA open enrollment extends through Jan. 23.
The infusion of funds from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund brings the state’s total commitment to the insurance marketplace to $600 million, which Healey said is the largest support from any state in the country.
Federally subsidized insurance policies were first made available to people making less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $128,600 for a family of four, in 2009 under President Barack Obama’s ACA, also known as Obamacare. In 2021, Congress made those subsidies more generous for many recipients and extended them to people earning up to 500 percent of the federal poverty level. The expanded tax credits doubled participation in the ACA exchanges over the past four years, and by last year 337,000 people in Massachusetts received subsidized insurance through ConnectorCare.
The increases were slated to expire after four years, and without congressional action to preserve them, premiums reverted to pre-2021 levels for this year. People earning more than 400 percent of the poverty level became ineligible to receive subsidized insurance. State officials have estimated roughly 300,000 people could become uninsured statewide over the next decade, in part due to the expiration of the tax credits.
Democrats staged a 43-day shutdown last fall, the longest in US history, in an unsuccessful effort to preserve the expanded subsidies.
The Commonwealth Care Trust Fund predates the 2021 coverage expansion, said Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit budget watchdog, and was established to support ConnectorCare programs. Massachusetts has long had a robust public insurance program, and the 2021 expansion essentially allowed the state to shift the cost of subsidies it had been paying to the federal government. Tapping the trust fund now essentially returns Massachusetts to the support levels it provided prior to 2021, Howgate said.
Regardless of the timing of Healey’s announcement, it is a reality that Massachusetts has a uniquely robust commitment to health insurance access, Howgate said.
“I do think that the idea that the state is able to offset some of those impacts is an important message to get out there,” he said. “This is real money.”
According to Healey’s office, a 45-year-old couple with two kids making $75,000 in Fall River previously paid $166 per month for the lowest-cost coverage. Without state action, their premium would have more than doubled. But with the infusion from the trust fund, they will pay $206 per month.
There’s only so much the state can do to mitigate the impacts of the expired subsidies, though. Because Congress didn’t extend them, people between 400 and 500 percent of the federal poverty level simply are ineligible to sign up for subsidized policies through the ACA marketplace. There are roughly 27,000 people statewide who cannot benefit from the state’s effort to compensate for the lost federal money, and those people are among those facing the biggest new insurance expenses.
Christa, 56, a hair dresser, and her husband, Gary, 69, a truck driver, earn less than $105,750 annually combined, just shy of 500 percent of the poverty level. The couple, who asked not to be named to protect their privacy, went from paying $282-a-month for Christa’s insurance with no deductible, to a private plan costing $725 a month with a $2000 deductible.
Gary, who is enrolled in Medicare, is still counting on Congress for a reprieve.
“I believe the Senate will be forced to do something, and we’re hoping,” he said.
Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin.
Massachusetts
Healey shares plan to limit health insurance cost increases for Massachusetts residents
Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday that the state is spending an additional $250 million to limit premium increases for residents who have insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector.
After Congress let Affordable Care Act tax credits expire at the end of last year, more than 300,000 people in Massachusetts have been facing a potentially steep increase in their health care bills.
The governor’s office said those enrolled in ConnectorCare who make below 400% of the of the federal poverty level, which is $62,600 for an individual or $128,600 for a family of four, will see “little to no premium increases.”
Under the plan, Healey’s office said a 45-year-old couple with two kids in Fall River will see their monthly health insurance costs rise from $166 to $206. Without the new funding, the governor says they would be paying $452 a month.
“While President Trump continues to increase health care costs, we are taking the strongest action in the nation to address them and keep costs as low as possible for families,” Healey said in a statement. “Despite this increased state investment, far too many people will still see their premiums increase because of the White House.”
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to approve a three-year extension of the health care tax credits. While it appears unlikely to pass the Senate, senators have talked about a compromise plan that could include a two-year extension with added reforms. President Trump hasn’t offered a specific health care plan, but said subsidies going to insurance companies should “go to the people” instead.
The $250 million is coming from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund, which gets its money from employer medical assistance contributions and financial penalties from residents who violate the state’s health care insurance mandate.
Massachusetts residents can sign up for health insurance coverage or switch their Health Connector plans until Jan. 23 if they want to be covered by Feb. 1.
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