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Massachusetts police seek charges against 3 teenagers after a trans teen was allegedly beaten at a party | CNN

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Massachusetts police seek charges against 3 teenagers after a trans teen was allegedly beaten at a party | CNN




CNN
 — 

Police in Gloucester, Massachusetts, are seeking charges against three teenagers who allegedly assaulted a transgender teen, who says he was punched and called slurs during the attack.

The Gloucester Police Department filed applications for assault and battery charges in Gloucester Juvenile Court against two 17-year-old males and one 16-year-old male, according to a news release.

Evidence from the investigation did not support the pursuit of hate crime charges, police said in the release. But the alleged victim and his mother are hopeful that will change, their attorney told CNN.

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The teenagers, unnamed by the police department, will now attend a hearing where a clerk magistrate will determine whether there is probable cause for the charges, the release says. It’s unclear when the clerk magistrate hearing will take place.

Police responded to a reported assault during a party in the woods on August 30, the release says. One “juvenile” male was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries, according to the release.

Although the news release doesn’t identify the victim, 16-year-old Jayden Tkaczyk told CNN affiliate WCVB he was stomped on, punched in the face and called homophobic slurs during the incident.

Tkaczyk “sustained lacerations and contusions, including black eyes, and serious nervous damage” due to the “severe beating,” his attorney, Craig Rourke, told CNN. Tkaczyk had previously experienced bullying at school, Rourke added.

The police department said its investigation, which included a specially trained hate crime investigator from the Massachusetts State Police, “did not ultimately support hate crime charges.”

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Tkaczyk’s lawyer and his family are calling for hate crime charges, citing slurs they say the attackers used.

Tkaczyk’s mother, Jasmine Tkaczyk, told WCVB that her son “told me as they were stomping on his face they were using the F slur, so I don’t know how anyone can justify that and say that’s not a hate crime.”

Tkaczyk told WCVB, “Especially chasing me into the woods and saying that same thing, because they were calling me that slur, and they were calling me worse slurs.”

Rourke told CNN they were “glad that the charges are being pursued” and “hopeful that hate crime charges will follow in the future.”

Rourke described Tkaczyk as someone who was “targeted and picked on for being who they are.”

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Rourke’s team is optimistic the magistrate will find probable cause for the charges and the case will move forward, he added. “Hopefully, maybe that’ll bring some closure to this incident,” he said.

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat, previously denounced the attack on Tkaczyk.

“There should be no place in our Commonwealth or our country for violence against trans children,” the senator wrote on X in September. “We must love, protect & respect trans kids.”

Hope Watt-Bucci, the president of North Shore Pride, an LGBTQ group based in Manchester, Massachusetts, told CNN she was “horrified” to learn about the attack on Tkaczyk. Watt-Bucci said attacks against the LGBTQ community in Massachusetts’ North Shore were growing significantly, including “microaggressions, public displays of discrimination and hatred towards our community or physical violence.” The Justice Department says that there were 23 hate crimes motivated by gender identity in 2022 in Massachusetts, a significant increase from 10 in 2021 and 11 in 2020.

North Shore Pride will “continue to stand in solidarity and continue to stand for the same freedoms and protections for all people,” she added.

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Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit

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Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit


Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.

Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.

Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”

Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.

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“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”

Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.

“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”

The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.

It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.

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Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.

Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.

The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”

“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”

Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.

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He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”

It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.

Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”



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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston

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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston


BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.

LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.

The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.

LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.

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The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.

Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer


A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.

The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.

Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.

“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”

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“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”

The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.

Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”

“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”

Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.

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The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”

“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”

They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.

“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”

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