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Monday, August 12, 2024
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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, has deemed more than 60 beaches and water locations throughout the state closed due to high bacteria levels.
It is working in conjunction with the Department of Recreation and Conservation.
High bacteria levels close beaches
“No, I didn’t know that and I think it’s pretty gross and I won’t get in the water,” said Dorchester resident Caitlin Couture at Savin Hill Beach.
DCR calls it excessive bacteria. They conduct weekly water quality tests to count bacteria levels.
The Department of Public Health has posted signs warning people not to swim to avoid risk of illness.
Michael Campbell has lived near Savin Hill Beach for 18 years and is not surprised, which is why he’s keeping his family at the water’s edge.
“We just were telling him we’re going to wash our hands if we’re playing before we eat anything and keep our head out of the water,” said Campbell.
Trevor Hawkins is being extra careful with his dog Scout.
“Knowing that there’s high levels of bacteria in the water is definitely keeping us out and being cautious with her going in.
She doesn’t really go up past knee level and we usually rinse her off over at the showers.”
Morgan Ronzca said she wishes the no swimming signs were more noticeable.
“The only reason I know is because I work at a Boys and Girls Club,” said Ronzca.
Meanwhile, folks at the beach spent Sunday making the most of the incredible weather.
“It’s just a little frustrating when it’s really hot outside and you want to cool off but it’s still nice to get out and enjoy the breeze,” said Campbell.
The Department of Public Health said they will continue to publish and update daily a list of beach closure so the public is well aware of which locations are closed and which are safe to swim in.
What beaches were closed Sunday?
Amherst – Puffers Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
Amherst – Stanley Street Swimming Hole (Bacterial Exceedance)
Ashby – Damon Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Ashland – Ashland Reservoir-Main Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Athol – Ellis Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Beverly – Dane Street (Bacterial Exceedance)
Beverly – Mingo (Bacterial Exceedance)
Boston – Constitution (Bacterial Exceedance)
Boston – Malibu (Bacterial Exceedance)
Boston – Savin Hill (Bacterial Exceedance)
Boston – Tenean (Bacterial Exceedance)
Braintree – Smith Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Brewster – Upper Mill Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Concord – Walden Pond – Red Cross (Other)
Danvers – Sandy Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Dartmouth – Hidden Bay (CSO/SSO Event)
Dartmouth – Jones Town Beach North and South (CSO/SSO Event)
Dartmouth – Moses Smith Creek (Bacterial Exceedance)
Framingham – Learned Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Grafton – Silver Lake Beach (Other)
Harwich – Sand Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Haverhill – Plugs Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
Hingham – Hingham Town Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Holland – Collette Drive Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Hubbardston – Asnacomet Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Lowell – Merrimac River – Bath House (Bacterial Exceedance)
Lynn – Kings (Bacterial Exceedance)
Lynn – Lynn Shore Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Nahant – Nahant Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Nantucket – Sesachacha Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Natick – Cochituate State Park Beach (Bacterial Exceedance and Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
North Andover – Stevens Pond – Center (Bacterial Exceedance)
Northampton – Musante Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Oxford – Carbuncle Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Salem – Camp Naumkeag (Other)
Salem – Children’s Island – Back, Dock and Wally (Bacterial Exceedance)
Salem – Collins Cove (Bacterial Exceedance)
Salem – Juniper Point (Bacterial Exceedance)
Salem – Ocean Avenue (Bacterial Exceedance)
Salem – Osgood (Bacterial Exceedance)
Salem – Willow Avenue (Bacterial Exceedance)
Saugus – Pearce Lake at Breakheart Reservation (Bacterial Exceedance)
Shutesbury – Lake Wyola (Bacterial Exceedance)
Springfield – Bass Pond (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Swampscott – Fisherman’s (Bacterial Exceedance)
Swampscott – Kings (Bacterial Exceedance)
Taunton – Watsons Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
Templeton – Beamans Pond (Bacterial Exceedance)
Townsend – Pearl Hill Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Truro – Longnook (Other)
Wayland – Wayland Town Beach (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
West Stockbridge – Card Pond Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
West Tisbury – Seth’s Pond (BActerial Exceedance)
Westboro – Lake Chauncey Beach (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Williamstown – Margaret Lindley Park (Bacterial Exceedance)
Winchendon – Lake Dennison State Park (Bacterial Exceedance)
Winchester – Shannon Beach at Upper Mystic (Bacterial Exceedance)
Winthrop – Halford (Bacterial Exceedance)
Winthrop – Winthrop Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Worcester – Indian Lake Public Beach (Sherburne Avenue) (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Worcester – Lake Quinsigamond – Lake Park Beach and Regatta Point Beach (Bacterial Exceedance)
Worcester – Shore Park (Harmful Cyanobacteria Bloom)
Tags: Beach, massachusetts
Local News
New Hampshire is leading an effort from 25 states to challenge a Massachusetts gun law, and this month, they’re taking it to the Supreme Court.
The centerpiece of the argument is the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., which reaches across state lines into Tyngsborough. If shoppers park on the south side of the mall’s parking lot, they might end up crossing state lines during a visit.
The attorneys general of New Hampshire and 24 other Republican-led states say this poses a potential problem for firearm holders. A New Hampshire resident who is legally carrying a firearm on their home state’s side of the parking lot may inadvertently be breaking the law when they cross the lot into Massachusetts, where it is illegal to carry without a permit.
Joining New Hampshire are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, who are calling the arrangement unconstitutional. The states have rallied behind Phillip Marquis of Rochester, N.H., to ask the Supreme Court to protect out-of-state residents from Massachusetts’ firearms regulations.
“The geography of the mall is such that a New Hampshire resident might find themselves in Massachusetts if she parks on the south side of the parking lot or visits Buffalo Wild Wings,” reads a brief from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to the Supreme Court. “If that person is carrying a firearm without a Massachusetts license — which would be constitutionally protected activity in most of the mall—that person risks being charged as a felon and facing mandatory incarceration in Massachusetts.”
The trouble began for Marquis in 2022 when he was in a car accident in Massachusetts, according to the brief. When police arrived, he informed them that he had a pistol on him and was subsequently charged with carrying a firearm without a license.
Marquis previously sued the Commonwealth for the burdens that Massachusetts’ firearms permit law creates on out-of-state visitors, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied his claims. They ruled in March that the state’s nonresident firearms licensing laws were constitutional, according to court documents.
Claiming that the Massachusetts court denied him his Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Marquis has petitioned the Supreme Court to federally overrule that court’s decision. In his petition, Marquis invoked New York State Rifle & Police Association, Inc. v. Bruen, where the court established that state firearms restrictions must be covered by the Second Amendment or adhere to historical firearms regulations.
Using Bruen, Marquis and the Republican attorneys general supporting him are aiming to prove that there is no justification for applying Massachusetts’ firearms restrictions to out-of-state residents and that to do so would be unconstitutional. However, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court found the law constitutional even under Bruen because it intends to prevent dangerous people from obtaining firearms, just as historical regulations have done.
“To the extent that the Commonwealth restricts the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry firearms within its borders, the justification for so doing is credible, individualized evidence that the person in question would pose a danger if armed,” the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision read. “Both case law and the historical record unequivocally indicate that this justification is consistent with ‘the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”
It’s not immediately clear if the Supreme Court will respond to Marquis’ appeal or when it will make any kind of decision, but lower courts are at something of a crossroads with how and when to apply Bruen to gun possession cases. As such, they are looking to the Supreme Court for a more definitive answer.
Since the proof of historical context that Bruen requires has led to some uncertainty, any ruling that these lower courts make is likely to amount to a partisan decision. However, if the Supreme Court provides more substantive clarity in a response to Marquis, these lower courts just might find the answer they are seeking.
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Massachusetts State Lottery players won two $100,000 prizes Friday from the day’s “Mass Cash” drawings.
The winning tickets were sold at the Roslindale Food Mart on Washington Street and McSheffrey’s of the South End convenience store (with Mobil gas) on Main Street in Woburn.
Mass Cash drawings happen twice daily, at 2 p.m. and at 9 p.m. It costs just $1 to play.
Overall, at least 625 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Monday, including 6 in Springfield, 22 in Worcester and 14 in Boston.
The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.
The two largest lottery prizes won so far in 2025 were each worth $15 million. One of the prizes was from a winning “Diamond Deluxe” scratch ticket sold in Holyoke, and the other was from a “300X” scratch ticket sold on Cape Cod.
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