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Storms roll through New England, bringing downpours, flooding – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Storms roll through New England, bringing downpours, flooding – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


Storms swept through parts of New England Friday, causing flooding in several communities and briefly triggering a tornado warning for part of Worcester County. 

With storms finally moving out of the region around 11 p.m., several communities were left dealing with flooded roads and other damage. 

One video shared with 7NEWS showed hail falling in Leominster Friday afternoon, while another video captured the moment lightning appeared to strike the ground in Gardner. 

Photos from Lowell showed multiple cars in a flooded area near the intersection of Moore Street and Gorham Street. At least one police cruiser was spotted nearby blocking the roadway.

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On another road in Lowell, video showed a car driving down a street covered in water before getting stuck.

The Hubbardston Fire Department in a tweet asked community members to avoid the area around Main Street due to “significant flooding” shortly before 6 p.m.

In Billerica, local police said part of Mt. Pleasant Street was closed Friday afternoon due to flooding near the MBTA rail bridge in the area. 

Part of Route 20 in Worcester was also flooded shortly after 8 p.m., MassDOT spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard said.

Downpours in Boston sent water pouring down stairways at Fenway Park, as shown in several videos on social media. Already in a rain delay, the Red Sox announced around 10:15 p.m. that Friday’s game against the New York Mets had been suspended due to rain. The game is scheduled to resume at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday. The Red Sox’s previously scheduled 4:10 p.m. game on Saturday will now begin at 7:10 p.m.

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In Deerfield, flooding hit several locations, slowing travel on some roads and completely washing out others Friday afternoon. 

The shoulder of Route 5 in one spot in Deerfield was damaged with roughly 300 feet of a gas line “exposed and out of alignment,” according to Goddard. Crews, Goddard said, will need to work to fix the line and reconstruct the roadway shoulder when the floodwater recedes. 

MassDOT also reported flooding in communities including Greenfield and Leominster. 

In Conway, Mass., one person shared video of a road left covered in rocks and debris after floodwaters swept through the area.

In rail travel, an Amtrak train had to end service in Springfield Friday night due to a washout between Northampton and Greenfield. Buses were scheduled to pick up riders as of around 10:20 p.m. but Goddard said it would be several hours before the buses arrived.

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In addition to flooding, storms brought periods of intense lightning Friday, with lightning striking one home in Haverhill while a family was inside.

Wellesley police shared video of flames burning in a tree near Schaller Street after a lightning strike.

Within Boston, lightning was seen lightning up the sky on several occasions.

The National Weather Service’s Boston office estimated more than six inches of rain fell between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. near Deerfield on Friday. Larger sections of Connecticut and Central Massachusetts received two or more inches of rain during the same period, according to the same NWS report.

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“Thus all the flooding that we’ve seen,” the NWS said in a tweet.

A flash flood warning was in effect as of around 11 p.m. for the Metro Boston area and for much of Metro West, scheduled to remain in effect until 12:45 a.m. Saturday.

Storms are expected to move out of the region overnight ahead of drier weather expected this weekend.

Read more on the 7WEATHER Blog.

(Copyright (c) 2022 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Massachusetts

Lucas: Ayotte’s shots at Healey over immigration hit mark

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Lucas: Ayotte’s shots at Healey over immigration hit mark


Hardly had Kelly Ayotte, the new governor of New Hampshire unloaded on Massachusetts over its immigration policy, than another illegal immigrant was charged with rape in the Bay State.

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Disciplinary hearing for suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continued to 2nd day

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Disciplinary hearing for suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continued to 2nd day


Suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s Trial Board disciplinary proceedings will go on to a second day.

Proctor’s trouble publicly began when he testified during the murder trial of Karen Read last summer. During a tense examination by the prosecution and even more intense cross examination, Proctor admitted to inappropriate private texts that he made as the case officer investigating Read.

“She’s a whack job (expletive),” Proctor read from compilations of text messages he sent to friends as he looked at Read’s phone. The last word was a derogatory term for women that he at first tried to spell out before Judge Beverly Cannone told him to read it the way he wrote it.

“Yes she’s a babe. Weird Fall River accent, though. No (butt),” he continued under oath on June 10, 2024.

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He also texted them “no nudes so far” as an update on the search through her phone. He also testified that he told his sister that he hoped that Read would kill herself.

On Wednesday, Proctor sat through a full day of trial board proceedings at MSP general headquarters in Framingham. When that concluded in the late afternoon, the board decided to continue for a second day on Feb. 10. Neither Wednesday’s proceeding nor the second day is open to the public.

Proctor was relieved of duty on July 1 of last year, which was the day the Read trial concluded in mistrial. He was suspended without pay a week later. The State Police finished its internal affairs investigation last week and convened the trial board to determine the next step in the disciplinary process.

The trial board makes disciplinary recommendations to the superintendent, who determines the final outcome.

“A State Police Trial Board shall hear cases regarding violations of Rules, Regulations, Policies, Procedures, Orders, or Directives,” states the Department’s Rules and Regulations.

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“In the event that the Trial Board finds guilt by a preponderance of the evidence on one or more of the charges, the Trial Board shall consider the evidence presented by the Department prosecutor pertaining to the accused member’s prior offenses/disciplinary history, and shall make recommendations for administrative action,” the rules and regulations state.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing the death of O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston Police officer when he died at age 46 on Jan. 29, 2022. Read’s second trial is scheduled to begin April 16.

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

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Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe


Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

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But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

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Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.


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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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