Massachusetts
Massachusetts' Kennedy Clan and Underworld Bootlegging
For as far back as I can remember, there have been tales of how the Kennedy clan of Massachusetts amassed enormous wealth trading in illicit liquor during Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933.
The Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, was allegedly paid for with money made through illegal bootlegging – but are the stories true, or are they larger-than-life legends?
David Roos writes for History.com that Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, in fact, “amassed great wealth partly by selling alcohol, but he also made savvy deals and sales that became extremely lucrative.”
The Kennedy’s Of Massachusetts And Underworld Bootlegging
“As it turns out, one of the greatest American political dynasties of the 20th century was funded only in part by alcohol,” Roos wrote.
According to the book The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by biographer David Nasaw, only some of what you have heard is true.
“I tracked down every rumor I could find, and none of them panned out,” Nasaw wrote.
According to Nasaw’s book, rumors of Kennedy’s bootlegging ties only surfaced in the late 1960s and 1970s “when conspiracy theorists were looking for reasons why the mafia might have played a role in the assassination of JFK.”
The Kennedy’s Of Massachusetts And Underworld Bootlegging
JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) was elected president in 1960 and assassinated in 1963. He was one of nine children of Joseph P. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Nasaw wrote that Richard M. Nixon, who lost to Kennedy in 1960, hired opposition researchers to investigate the Kennedy family during the election.
“They found all sorts of dirt on Joe Kennedy, but not that he was a bootlegger,” he wrote.
Kennedy served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
$55M Summer Estate of Massachusetts’ Own Jackie Kennedy Up for Sale
Gallery Credit: Jolana Miller
RANDOLPH, Mass. (WWLP) – A Randolph resident has won a $1 million prize through the final drawing of the Massachusetts State Lottery “$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler” instant ticket game.
Brenda Mellor of Randolph claimed the game’s tenth and final $1 million prize.
She selected the cash option and received a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes. Mellor said she plans to use the winnings to pay for home improvements, including renovations to her roof and pool.
The winning ticket was purchased at The Variety Store at 2 Mazzeo Drive in Randolph. The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
Massachusetts
Mass. is getting more granny flats. But it’s still hard to build them. – The Boston Globe
Massachusetts took a big step in 2024 when the Legislature legalized so-called “accessory dwelling units” statewide as part of an effort to rein in the state’s housing crisis. More than a year later, it’s clear that the law is working — but that it also needs tweaks before accessory units can meet their full potential.
These small units, nicknamed “granny flats,” can be constructed in someone’s backyard, or they can simply be renovated third floors, garages, or basements. They’re a popular option for seniors seeking to downsize and families looking for some rental income.
Prior to the state law, some communities allowed accessory units, but many did not. Even among those cities and towns that did tolerate accessory dwelling units, zoning often varied from one municipality to the next, making it difficult for builders who needed to decode each municipality’s rules. Some towns also included unreasonable restrictions, like requiring that only a homeowner’s family members could live in the accessory units.
Housing advocates viewed allowing accessory dwelling units statewide as a “low-hanging fruit” policy — a way to add housing that was relatively cheap and avoided some of the cost and political obstacles that housing measures often encounter. The state legislation also overrode some zoning restrictions, including those that limited accessory units to family, while leaving some other local rules intact.
One year after the law went into effect, this approach has proved fruitful: Towns across the state have approved 1,200 ADU permits and seen even more applications, in some cases up to a threefold increase from previous years.
A study published last week by Boston Indicators (the research branch of the Boston Foundation) and Abundant Housing Massachusetts found that forcing the hand of municipalities on accessory dwelling units accomplished more in one year than 50 years of zoning reform efforts at the local level.
The problem, though, is that municipalities retained too much power. As the study recommends, there should be clear, uniform state regulatory standards for ADUs, with minimal opportunities for municipal-level variation.
“A comprehensive agenda is needed to address regulatory barriers to housing production, spanning building, fire, energy, septic system, wetlands, and stormwater rules,” the study’s authors wrote. “The barriers include the fragmented complexity of the regulatory system itself.”
Making standards more uniform doesn’t have to mean lowering them — it just means moving away from patchwork rules that make it harder for companies to build accessory units at scale.
Chris Lee at Backyard ADUs, a company that designs and builds modular dwelling units in New England, says the report’s findings make sense. The inconsistent interpretations across 350 towns and cities cause builders and engineers to “struggle to design work for the town that will be accepted,” he said. (The state’s 351st municipality, Boston, isn’t covered by the law.)
The potential is significant. The report calculates that if just 2 percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts added an accessory unit, the state would see more than 30,000 new homes that advocates say are generally more affordable. Building an accessory dwelling unit inside a pre-existing house can cost between $75,000 and $100,000; and a detached unit usually runs between $250,000 to $350,000, making them much more affordable than purchasing a single-family home in most regions of the country.
“For developers of missing middle housing to benefit from an economy of scale, they have to undertake many projects, across jurisdictional lines,” according to the study. “The ADU case study has shown just how challenging this is.”
Lee estimated that he could reduce up to $30,000 of preconstruction costs such as surveying and architecture if his company could work with consistent regulations across towns, which he said could enable them to double their production.
Streamlining permitting for accessory dwelling units isn’t a panacea. Landlords still must be willing to actually build them and rent them to long-term residents. Retirees must believe it’s worth downsizing to one. But the fact that so many have been permitted over the last year point to the clear demand and makes the case for policy makers to keep refining the law.
There is precedent. California, for example, had an equally ambitious goal but has blown past it, going from only 1,300 permits approved its first year to more than 30,000 nine years later. “It is important to understand that California did not accomplish its ADU outcomes with one legislative reform,” the study’s authors wrote. “California’s success required sustained legislative attention.”
Massachusetts should be able to realize those kinds of results too. Conversely, if even the “low-hanging fruit” of zoning reform falters in the Commonwealth because of local red tape, then the state has bigger problems ahead to solve its housing crisis.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
Massachusetts
Meteor over Massachusetts causes explosion reports, sightings from Delaware to Montreal
Reports of an explosion from people across New England Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard about 2:30 p.m. were actually caused by a meteor about 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
Fire program monitor Robert Lunsford said the society received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball — which he said looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky.
“It was definitely bigger than a normal fireball, about a yard wide,” he said.
But Lunsford said it’s unlikely the meteor struck the ground.
“We would need more information about the trajectory the speed and other aspects to know for sure if it hit the ground, but if it didn’t burn up, then it would have landed in the ocean,” he said. “Most of them do burn up before they hit the ground.”
People in a handful of states posted on social media about feeling the buildings they were in shaking. Several videos on the X platform captured what sounded like two quick booms, with no fire, smoke or other visual causes.
Several people filed reports with the U.S. Geological Survey, registering the shaking they felt with the National Earthquake Information Center, agency spokesman Steve Sobie confirmed.
The agency opened an event page, based on the number of “Did you feel it?” reports it received on its website. But Sobie said there was no event registered on the agency’s seismographs. meaning the shaking was not due to an earthquake.
-
Texas21 seconds agoTexas A&M’s Regional Final revealed ahead of Sunday night matchup
-
Utah3 minutes agoUtah Celtic boys wrap up unprecedented run of 4 straight national tournament titles at MLS NEXT Cup – KSL Sports
-
Vermont8 minutes agoEssex’s Hannah Knickerbocker and Burlington’s Niah LeMay capture singles titles
-
Virginia15 minutes agoDeadly crashes on Interstate 95 over 2 days prompt safety concerns along Virginia’s busy corridor
-
Washington18 minutes agoSelesnick, Azorius Momo, Wins Washington DC Regional Championship
-
Wisconsin23 minutes agoTwo critically injured in motorcycle crash near Illinois-Wisconsin state line: officials
-
West Virginia30 minutes agoWest Virginia Rallies in the Ninth to Upend Kentucky
-
Wyoming33 minutes agoYour Wyoming Sunrise: Monday, June 1, 2026
