Massachusetts
Parents struggle to find child care amid teachers strike in 3 Massachusetts communities; “We’re all overwhelmed”
BEVERLY – As schools remain closed in three Massachusetts communities due to a teachers strike, some parents are struggling to find child care for their children.
“We’re all overwhelmed”
“We’re all overwhelmed,” said Sarah Roy, a mother of two at Ayers Ryal Side Elementary School in Beverly.
Since last Friday, she’s been juggling her full-time job while also caring for her 6-year-old son Owen and her 11-year-old daughter Annabelle.
“It’s hard to focus on one or the other when you’re trying to do both at once,” she said.
Last Thursday, educators in Beverly announced their decision to go on strike, cancelling school Friday and now Wednesday as well. Teachers in Gloucester and Marblehead are also on strike in hopes of getting a new contract with better pay and other benefits.
“This is a good example to my kids that you should always stand up for what you believe in,” said Roy. She told WBZ-TV she fully supports Beverly educators going on strike, despite the fact that it is illegal in Massachusetts. “The fact that they are getting paid so low is so upsetting. It feels like a reflection of our values and that’s not what I signed up for. Those aren’t my values,” she said.
Hundreds on child care
In the past week Roy said she has spent $600 for child care. “That was an unexpected expense, that a lot of people don’t have because they’re living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. The mother of two has hired a babysitter, including local middle schoolers, to watch her children while she works. She says she’s also benefitted from free childcare at the Ryal Side Civic Association Center.
“We have 25 kids coming in the morning, 25 kids coming in the afternoon,” said Meredith Quinn, Ayers PTO President. She organized the volunteer run child care sessions at the community center so that working parents like herself and Roy can drop their kids off for games and movies.
“We’re definitely not teaching or learning, but we’re trying to keep the skills sharp while they’re out of school.”
It is still unclear when school will resume for Beverly students. The Beverly Teacher Association and the School Committee are still negotiating a contract. Until they reach a fair agreement, Roy says this is, “just another reminder that we can do hard things, and we make it work.”
A teenager was pulled from a pond in Milton, Massachusetts, after he went missing while swimming Saturday night.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said the teenaged male was taken to a Boston area hospital following the incident at Houghton’s Pond. It’s unclear how long the teen was under water, and there was no immediate word on his condition.
State police had said earlier that they responded to the pond shortly after 7 p.m. for a person who entered the water and didn’t resurface. State police divers, detectives, troopers, and the Milton Fire Department were all on scene involved in the search.
The DA’s office is conducting an investigation with state police that remains ongoing. Further information is not being released at this time.
This story will be updated when we learn more
A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges for allegedly engaging in inappropriate communications and exposing himself to children.
Orate Kyle Graham, 20, of Bridgewater, was arrested this week on two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor and one count of accosting or annoying another person.
Bridgewater police said they were made aware Tuesday of allegations involving interactions between several girls age 12 and 13 and an individual known to them only as “Jay.” The individual said he was 17 years old during conversations with the girls through FaceTime and in person.
Through an investigation, police identified “Jay” as Graham, and also found that he had regularly engaged in interactions with the minor victims. During those interactions, he allegedly exposed himself and asked the girls to expose themselves to him.
He was arrested Thursday and taken to the Plymouth County House of Correction, where he was held on $25,000 bail. The case remains under investigation by Bridgewater police and the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.
Massachusetts
Fisherman reels in white shark off Massachusetts, then snags the hook from its toothy mouth
BILLERICA, Mass. (AP) — Elliot Sudal didn’t need a bigger boat, but he did need to find a way to get a hook out of a shark’s mouth.
Sudal, a veteran angler and boat captain, reeled in the nearly nine-foot shark — also commonly known as a great white shark or a great white — on June 7 on Nantucket. White sharks are a protected species in the U.S. and must be released immediately when accidentally caught.
That presents a nasty problem for a fisherman because the white shark is a formidable apex predator best known for the 1975 movie Jaws, in which Roy Scheider utters the famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” upon seeing the big fish. Sudal, who caught the shark while fishing from shore, decided to use his encounter to demonstrate how to respond to such a situation.
Sudal posted a video of himself removing the hook to his social media accounts. In the video, Sudal climbs onto the back of the shark, secures the fish in the surf, and removes the hook from its mouth. By the end of the short video, the shark is back in the water.
White sharks typically have about 300 teeth arranged into five rows, so speed was key.
“Hooks out and back on her way in 15 seconds, not sure how to do it better,” Sudal wrote in an Instagram post that included a video of the shark release.
Sudal is no stranger to sharks, and has caught and tagged hundreds of them over the years. He said in a social media post that this month’s encounter with a white shark was the first time he has ever caught one of them in more than a decade of the work.
Sudal’s practices have sometimes attracted the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, such as in 2017, when the agency investigated his handling of a smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, in Florida. The agency said in 2018 that it sent Sudal a letter “informing him of the Endangered Species Act issues and the safe handling protocol for sawfish.”
White sharks are not listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, but are subject to special federal protections. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them vulnerable globally.
Sightings of white sharks off New England have ticked up in recent years, and some scientists have pinned that to the greater availability of the seals that they prey on. Dangerous encounters between white sharks and humans are extremely rare, and only a few dozen fatal white shark bites on people have ever been recorded.
___
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-
Virginia14 seconds agoWay-Too-Early 2026 Virginia Tech Football Preview and Prediction: Week 2, vs. Old Dominion
-
Wisconsin12 minutes agoShowers Return to Southern Wisconsin for Father’s Day
-
West Virginia15 minutes agoBlennerhassett Island to commemorate West Virginia Day Saturday – Mountain Media, LLC
-
Wyoming20 minutes ago
How Investors May Respond To Black Hills (BKH) Customer‑Funded Wyoming Data Center Infrastructure Plan
-
Crypto27 minutes agoLatam Insights: Inside Argentina’s Tax Relief for Exchanges and El Salvador’s Growing Bitcoin Stack
-
Finance30 minutes agoSan Diego County finances teetering toward structural deficit, watchdog study finds
-
Fitness35 minutes agoAt 31, I’m the Strongest I’ve Ever Been—This Female-Focused Training Plan Is to Thank
-
Movie Reviews45 minutes ago‘Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu’ Tribeca 2026 Review: A Travelogue of Old Friends, Older Knees, and Same Absurd Timing
