Massachusetts
Sinkhole swallows 3 Cadillacs at Massachusetts dealership during flash flooding
LEOMINSTER, Mass. – After almost 9 inches of rain fell in just hours Monday in northern Massachusetts and triggered flash flooding, a sinkhole opened up under three brand-new Cadillacs and swallowed them.
“I’ve been here 33 years and never seen anything even close to this,” Durand Cadillac co-owner Joel Baker told FOX Weather.
“I didn’t expect the water to come rushing like this,” he continued. “The water came rolling down from a hill about 200 yards away from the dealership. It kept coming down.”
‘The ground let go underneath’
Baker said the dealership is on the bank of the Nashua River, and he always assumed that would be the flooding danger. However, rain falling on a hillside was funneled down Main Street across a bridge, just recently completed, and into the driveway of the dealership.
“We removed all of the vehicles that were in harm’s way and thought we were going to be fine, and then the ground let go underneath the three vehicles,” he said.
The cars dropped about 6 feet into the gaping hole. The front of the dealership washed away, and inches of floodwater rushed into the showroom. He said, thankfully, no one was hurt.
7 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FLASH FLOODS
A crane carefully pulled the three cars out of hole.
Baker told FOX News’ Kailey Schuyler earlier that the damage appeared to be “much more minor than originally thought.” He said he would need to check the interiors, though, to see if the water got in. In that case, the cars would go to auction, meaning a potential loss of $140,000.
HOW MUCH FLOOD WATER DOES IT TAKE TO DAMAGE A CAR? DOES IT MATTER IF IT IS SALT OR FRESH?
Back to normal by first snow
As soon as the floodwater receded, Baker said employees were able to clean out the flooded dealership. He said that while most of the inventory survived, the dealership will take a little longer to get back to normal.
“Actually, we didn’t really sustain that significant of damage to our inventory,” Baker said. “We’ve got over 150 vehicles in stock, and with only three having any damage at all, I think we’ve done pretty well.”
POTENTIAL DAM ISSUES AFTER FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY PROMPTS EVACUATIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS
“The sinkhole is going to take some significant time to repair,” Baker said. “We’ll get some ideas on how we can fill the sinkhole and shore it up a little bit better going forward.”
He said he hoped to get repairs completed by the first snow.
The dealership is open for business already, but the city still has Main Street in front of the business closed.
Rare Flash Flood Emergency
The NWS issued a rare Flash Flood Emergency for Worcester County, where Leominster is located, when radar showed rainfall rates of 7-8 inches per hour. Officials declared a state of emergency due to the flash flooding.
HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER
Schools are closed, and one is being used as a shelter. Crews evacuated residents living in low-lying areas.
More sinkholes were forming behind Schuyler while she reported live. She said that several homes had feet of water inside when the streets turned into rivers.
“I was talking to law enforcement earlier today, whenever I pulled up asking about some of the damage in the area, they were actually ordering rain gear for their crews for the days and weeks to come on the road to recovery,” Schuyler said. “So, they tell me it’s going to take a few days to get semi-back to normal in this area.”
The danger for the area is not over yet. Heavy rain is in the forecast through Thursday morning.
Massachusetts
Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations
The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.
The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”
The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.
“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.
Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.
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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.
Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).
Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.
Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.
The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.
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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.
The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.
“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”
A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.
Massachusetts
Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust
A Revere city councilor says the state’s right-to-shelter law is a “perfect example” of how “woke” ideologies are harmful, as he addressed the arrest of a migrant who allegedly had an AR-15 and 10 pounds of fentanyl at a local hotel.
Originally Published:
Massachusetts
Massachusetts senator seeks to extend deadline for TikTok ban | TechCrunch
Senatory Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is planning to introduce legislation to extend the TikTok ban deadline by 270 days. TikTok has warned of a looming shutdown in just five days, but the new legislation, officially called the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act, would give TikTok more time to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, if approved by Congress.
TikTok is currently expected to “go dark” on January 19, unless the Supreme Court intervenes to delay the ban. The Supreme Court is weighing the ban, and is expected to decide sometime this week whether the law behind the ban violates the First Amendment.
“As the January 19th deadline approaches, TikTok creators and users across the nation are understandably alarmed,” Markey said in a Senate floor speech on Monday. “They are uncertain about the future of the platform, their accounts, and the vibrant online communities they have cultivated. “These communities cannot be replicated on another app. A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process.”
Markey noted that while TikTok has its problems and poses a “serious risk” to the privacy and mental health of young people, a ban “would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood.”
Markey and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), along with Congressman Ro Khanna (CA-17), recently submitted a bipartisan amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to reverse the D.C. Circuit Court’s decision that upheld the TikTok ban. The trio argued that the TikTok ban conflicts with the First Amendment.
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