Massachusetts
Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign Announces Details of 40+ Week Effort to Mobilize Millions – Af-Am Point of View
Simultaneous mobilizations efforts announced for 32 state capitols, Washington D.C., to kick off campaign
Submitted by Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival
BOSTON – Refusing to accept poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in America and declaring their votes are demands for living wages, voting rights and other policies to save lives and democracy itself, the Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign announced recently the details of its major effort to mobilize millions of poor and low-wage voters statewide ahead of November’s election.
Pledging to wake the great, untapped power of the “sleeping giant” of poor and low-wage people, organizers said on February 20th during a press conference on the Massachusetts State House steps that teams of 30 state campaign leaders from various counties across Massachusetts will be trained locally to engage voters and drive them to the polls.
Campaign Tri-Chairs across the country also participated in simultaneous press conferences, where leaders explained that the reason poor and low-wage voters participate in elections at lower rates is not because they have no interest in politics, but because politics is not interested in them.
“I lost my home. While I am housed now, I still feel the effects of what happened. My sister, Doreen, had cancer and died because she lost her home while battling it. If she had not lost her home, she would still be alive. Housing security is public health. Her death was the result of policy choices. We again and again are not heard and people elsewhere decide our fate. We are here today to say that ends – our votes are demands, and we will be heard,” said Lady Lawrence, a person impacted by losing her home and racism.
“We declare today that poor and low-wage voters are coming together with religious leaders and moral advocates to say, ‘our votes are demands.’ We are not voting for personality; our votes are for policy. If a candidate wants our votes, then they must talk to the very voters they have been leaving behind,” The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and co-chair of the 2024 mobilization, recently stated: “The Poor People’s Campaign is waking up the sleeping giant of low-wage voters who have been ignored for far too long.”
Local Poor People’s Campaign leaders joined impacted voters in announcing plans for simultaneous actions March 2 at state capitols to further the campaign and highlight the policies being promulgated in state houses across the country that are hurting the poor, or distracting from addressing the real issues facing poor and low-wage people, which in Massachusetts is 2.4 million people or 34% of the population. In Massachusetts, the 2024 voter mobilization plans include Waking the Sleeping Giant of voters in the state, home of 1.3 million poor and low-income eligible voters who make up 23% of the electorate. Massachusetts leaders plan to Mobilize, Organize, Register, Empower and Educate voters.
The voter mobilization and March 2 actions will take place in Alabama, Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Organizers Tuesday declared they will not accept poverty as the fourth leading cause of death in the country when it is preventable and laid out in vivid detail data that shows poor and low-wage people have the power to fundamentally shift elections and demand that critical issues like voting rights, living wages, health care for all, women’s rights, environmental justice and more are addressed.
“Organizing low-wage voters holds great – and largely unrecognized – potential to shift electoral outcomes,” the Rev. Dr. Barber said, citing Poor People’s Campaign election data. “Low-income voters accounted for at least 20% of the voting electorate in 45 states – and that share grew to near or above 40% in battleground states, including in states that flipped in 2020 or that retained very small margins of victory. “This goes squarely against the commonly held belief that poor and low-wage people are either apathetic about politics or marginal to election outcomes,” he added.
Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin were all states with very tight presidential races in 2020. In all but Texas, the margin of victory was near or under 3%, making possible a victory for either of the two contending political parties. In Texas, the margin of victory was just over 5%.
In states where the margins of victory were less than 3%, low-wage voters accounted for at least one-third and in some cases over two-fifths of the total voter population. Given the small margins of victory in these states, it is possible that the broader population of eligible low-wage voters could decide the election in 2024. In Massachusetts, there are 1,357,674 poor and low-income eligible voters, including 1,083,681 white voters, 116,937 Latino voters, 26,679 Asian voters, 71,484 Black voters and 140 Indigenous voters. Together, they account for 23.31% of the electorate.
In 1965 at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said the greatest fear of the southern aristocracy was for masses of people to come together across races and form a voting block that can fundamentally shift the economic architecture of this country. On February 20th, organizers with the Poor People’s Campaign vowed to be that bloc, and carry out the nation’s unfinished business.
“We are taking back the mic, putting forward our demands, and calling our legislators to the task of building a third reconstruction,” said Tri-Chair Savina Martin.
**For additional information, please email massachusetts@poorpeoplescampaign.org ** ■
The meteor responsible for a loud boom heard in Rhode Island and Massachusetts Saturday afternoon was approximately 5 feet in diameter and weighed more than 12,000 pounds, according to NASA.
The object entered Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 42,000 mph, a NASA spokesperson said. It then traveled through the atmosphere from northwest to southeast for 26 miles before breaking up and producing a meteorite fall into Cape Cod Bay.
The energy released when the object broke up at an altitude of 31 miles is estimated to be equivalent to about 230 tons of TNT, according to NASA.
Professor Ralph Milliken of the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University spoke with NBC 10’s Mike Cerullo. (WJAR)
While it’s not very common to experience a 5-foot-wide meteorite, there is a significant amount of debris from space that reaches Earth.
“The estimates are that we probably have about 5,000 tons of cosmic dust and material and meteorites landing on Earth. The vast majority of that is super tiny stuff, we’re talking things that are smaller than a grain of sand, or the thickness of a human hair,” said Professor Ralph Milliken of the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. “For something of this size a few feet across, it’s not that common, but a few a year. Most of these would occur over uninhabited areas, over the ocean, and we wouldn’t be able to see them, but they are detected.”
Because of its size, a meteorite with a 5-foot diameter is difficult to track before it enter Earth’s atmosphere.
“It’s virtually impossible to kind of know in advance of this size object coming,” Milliken said.
The area where a meteorite crashed in Cape Cod Bay. (WJAR)
Scientists are, however, able to track much larger space objects. NASA has been developing technology to try to deflect larger objects if needed.
Events like what occurred in New England over the weekend are recorded. Although other fireballs enter Earth’s atmosphere throughout the year, many of them materialize over water and uninhabited areas.
Massachusetts
Winners’ circle: Tracking every 2026 spring high school championship – The Boston Globe
Championship season is upon us, and we’re tracking every title winner in Massachusetts this spring.
From the golf sectionals in late May to championship weekend June 11-14, a four-day stretch in which 31 titlists will be crowned across boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, boys and girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ rugby, boys’ volleyball, softball, and baseball, we’ll have you covered.
Find all the dates, brackets, seedings, matchups, and links to our postseason previews here.
Follow us on X @GlobeSchools, Instagram @BGlobeSchools, and Facebook to stay up to date.
Over at Globe.com/Schools you’ll find our daily scoreboard, nightly Takeaways, game coverage, videos, live streams, and our weekly Varsity News newsletter (sign up for free) to keep you in the know.
Division 1: Lexington girls, St. John’s Prep boys
Lexington girls graduate to two-time Division 1 track champions, St. John’s Prep sprints to boys’ title
Division 2: Billerica girls, North Andover boys
Billerica girls unphazed by move up to Division 2, going back-to-back as North Andover boys dominate
Division 3: Canton girls, Walpole boys
Canton girls cap greatest season with first Division 3 track title, Walpole boys win by thinnest margin
Division 4: Duxbury girls, Newburyport boys
Historic win for Duxbury girls, Mohoric paces Newburyport boys to Division 4 outdoor track championship
Division 5: North Reading girls, Weston boys
It’s four in a row for North Reading girls, two straight for Weston boys at Division 5 track championships
Division 6: Ayer Shirley girls, Abington boys
Ayer Shirley girls pick up where they left off, Abington boys twinning at Division 6 track championships
Day 1, Divisions 1, 2, and 5: Lexington boys and girls setting the pace at Division 1 track & field championships
Day 1, Divisions 3, 4, and 6: Canton girls make a strong run to first at Division 3 track championships
South: Walpole | With Tori Adams as its driving force, Walpole scores third straight MIAA South girls’ golf championship
North/Central/West: Hopkinton | Concord-Carlisle’s Sophie Redmond, Hopkinton rule MIAA girls’ golf championship for North/Central/West
With titles for Natick and Peabody and smiles for all, MIAA unified track championship ‘beyond inspiring’
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.
Massachusetts
Meteor Lands In Cape Cod + Bus Crash Kills 5 From MA + Wind Storm Knocks Out Power To Thousands: MA Weekend
MASSACHUSETTS — Residents throughout New England were simultaneously startled as a meteor that landed in Cape Cod caused a sonic boom this past weekend.
Meanwhile, a bus driver is facing charges after five Massachusetts residents died in a crash on a highway in Virginia.
Plus, another State Trooper was caught handling a wrong-way driver situation on Route 1.
Mysterious Boom Heard Across MA Was An Exploding Meteor, Experts Say
The noises were heard around 2:11 p.m. Saturday, with people describing a sudden bang that rattled windows and even shook some homes. The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard were actually caused by a meteor about three feet wide entering the atmosphere near the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Residents as far as Ipswich and Johnston, Rhode Island, reported hearing and feeling the sensations. Meteorologist Nick Stewart shared satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showing where the meteor entered the atmosphere and combusted while traveling at 75,000 miles per hour above the ocean.
Bus Driver Charged After MA Family Of 4, Worcester Woman Killed In VA Crash
Jing S. Dong, of Staten Island, New York, now faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the collision, which occurred around 2:35 a.m. Friday on southbound I-95 near Quantico. Among those killed were a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. All were in the Acura, which police said caught fire after the collisions. Police on Saturday evening identified the fifth person killed as Priscilla R. Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was riding in the Suburban struck by the bus.
In total, about 44 people were transported to area hospitals, including three with critical injuries.
State Trooper Hospitalized After Route 1 Wrong-Way Crash In Peabody
State Police said the trooper was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after police acted in coordination to protect traffic and stop the driver, who was traveling southbound on Route 1 North in Peabody. The incident occurred not far from the location on Route 1 where State Trooper Kevin Trainor was killed when his cruiser was hit head-on in a wrong-way crash in Lynnfield last month. The driver in Sunday’s crash was also hospitalized and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a state highway.
Rapidly Expanding Grocery Chain Has Big Plans For MA
Sprouts Farmers Market is slated to launch up to 40 locations throughout the region in the coming years. Construction has begun for the first Massachusetts spot in Weymouth, which has an opening date of 2028. The Phoenix-based organic grocery chain has more than 480 stores in 25 states.
Saturday’s Meteorite Was ‘Fishy Squisher’ And NASA Knows Where To Find It In Cape Cod Bay
Data from NASA suggest fragments of the meteorite lie in waters from the middle of the bay to about 10 miles northeast of the town of Sandwich. The agency said late Saturday it picked up radar signatures of the fragments from four radar sites, and termed the strike a “fishy squisher.” The meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere about 40 miles above the Bay State and southern New Hampshire, creating the sonic boom. Water in the bombarded portion of Cape Cod Bay is about 100 feet deep.
35K Without Power As Winter-Like Storm Pummels MA With 55+ MPH Winds
Massachusetts residents throughout the North Shore were without power on Saturday morning as a winter-like storm tore a path of tree damage, downpours, and fierce winds throughout New England. Widespread tree damage was reported across the state, with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reporting 34,228 customers without power as of 11:20 a.m. Wind speeds reached a high of 55 miles per hour. Temperatures dropped into the 40s with wind chills in the 30s as the storm arrived across the Bay State. The unsettled weather will continue through Monday and Tuesday before a warming trend takes hold later in the week.
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