Massachusetts
Treasure hunt trophy worth $26,000 found in Massachusetts, but who is the winner?
BOSTON – A treasure hunt that spanned much of the northeast before being narrowed to the woods of Massachusetts has turned up gold. The creators of Project Skydrop said that somebody picked up the trophy worth $26,000 on Tuesday evening.
Where exactly was the trophy found and who was the lucky winner? That information hasn’t been revealed yet. A map on the Project Skydrop website indicates it was somewhere in a 21-mile radius just north of Amherst along the Route 91 corridor.
Project Skydrop trophy came with big prize
The golden trophy contains a code to access a much bigger prize: A bounty of more than $87,000 made up of entry fees from people who paid $20 for access to special clues for the hunt.
The Project Skydrop website says that in order to claim the prize, the winner must record a first-person video of themselves retrieving the trophy from the woods and then upload it publicly to YouTube. So far, that doesn’t appear to have happened.
New Hampshire video game developers Jason Rohrer and Tom Bailey, who created Project Skydrop, haven’t heard directly from the trophy finder yet. But they did talk to a couple who encountered the winner on his way out of the woods, and understand he is a meteorologist who studied tree habitats as well as sky and weather patterns in images on the treasure hunt website to track down the trophy.
What’s next for Project Skydrop?
The hunt came to an end earlier than the creators expected, and they’ve stopped people from signing up for now. But there is talk of possibly keeping the adventure going with second and third place prizes.
More details are coming soon, according to the Project Skydrop website.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Cannabis Consumption Sites Remain in Limbo
For some, cannabis cafes are long-overdue recreational spots for like-minded adults to gather to smoke weed. Others see the cafes as just another way to funnel intoxicated drivers onto the state’s highways.
For more than seven years, state regulators have been trying to find the best way to allow cannabis consumption sites, including cannabis cafes, to open in Massachusetts. The Cannabis Control Commission considered a 12-community pilot program but decided against the approach last year.
State House News Service reported, “Regulators hope to present their latest framework for rules that will govern establishments where adults could use marijuana together in a social setting before the end of this year, more than seven years since the Cannabis Control Commission started wrestling with the issue.”
SHNS said the CCC plans to consult with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and “other key stakeholders.”
Massachusetts voters approved a ballot initiative in 2016 legalizing adult-use marijuana and the establishment of so-called cannabis cafes. Some liken the cafe concept to a barroom.
The CCC is considering a $500,000 public awareness campaign, training for consumption site employees, and municipal outreach.
Marijuana consumption lounges are legal in 14 states, including Massachusetts. Cannabis Creative said Massachusetts is the only state out of the 14 that has not “established a plan to implement it.”
Statista.com said Massachusetts is among the states with the highest percentage of adult marijuana users at 29.74 percent. Only Vermont, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Alaska and Washington had higher percentages than Massachusetts.
25 of the Best Names for Cannabis Shops in Massachusetts
Gallery Credit: Ginny Rogers
WBSM’s Top Stories 9/23 to 9/29
These are the top stories in New Bedford and across the SouthCoast for the week of September 23, 2024. Click the photo or title to read the complete story.
Gallery Credit: Tim Weisberg
Massachusetts
Massachusetts beach extends swimming ban due to ‘persistent’ shark sightings; dog owners told to keep dogs out of water
A popular local beach will continue to ban swimming because of “persistent” great white sightings amid peak shark season.
Crane Beach in Ipswich has had a swimming closure for weeks due to white shark sightings along the North Shore beach. That swimming ban has now been extended through the end of October, according to the Trustees of Reservations.
“For the last few weeks, we have had persistent Great White Shark sightings off of Crane Beach,” a spokesperson for the Trustees said in a statement on Tuesday. “We had the beach closed to swimming week by week as we worked with local public safety officials and marine biologists.
“Sharks are still being sighted, as recently as yesterday when the Ipswich Harbormaster did a patrol, so we decided after consulting with our experts to keep the beach closed to swimming through October,” the spokesperson added.
The Trustees are urging dog owners to keep their dogs out of the water due to the sharks being spotted close to shore.
“Today the beach did open to dog walking, but out of an abundance of caution, we are asking folks to keep their dogs out of the water,” the spokesperson said. “October 1 usually marks the end of the shorebird nesting season at Crane, thus we allow dogs back on the beach.”
While swimming is banned, the beach remains open for walking, hiking, and other recreation.
These shark sightings come amid peak season for white sharks along Cape Cod and Massachusetts.
September and October are typically very busy for great white shark activity along Cape Cod. Last year, September had the third most shark detections and October had the most shark detections, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Logbook.
Great white sharks hunt for seals along the Cape coast throughout the summer and fall. The sharks feed on seals close to shore.
Massachusetts
Treasure hunt for gold trophy with massive prize narrowed to Massachusetts woods
AMHERST – The Project Skydrop treasure hunt for a gold trophy and a massive prize has zeroed in on western Massachusetts.
Jason Rohrer and Tom Bailey, video game developers from New Hampshire, hid a pure gold trophy valued at $26,000 somewhere in the woods. Whoever finds the trophy also gets the “prize bounty,” which is currently over $80,000, made up of entry fees from people joining the hunt.
Where is the Project Skydrop trophy?
When the search started on Sept. 19, a map showed that the trophy could be in a 500-mile radius that encompassed much of the northeast and areas as far south as Virginia. Now the circle’s diameter is only 35 miles within Massachusetts, stretching from South Hadley to the border of Vermont.
Massachusetts communities inside the circle include Northampton, Amherst, Williamsburg, Easthampton, Deerfield, Montague, Greenfield, Ashfield, Shutesbury, Shelburne Falls and Charlemont.
The circle will continue shrinking until it’s only one foot in diameter on Oct. 10. By then, someone will have figured out where the treasure is hidden.
Joining the Project Skydrop hunt
For $20, hunters get access to daily clues in the form of aerial photographs that show more of the surrounding landscape every day. They can also discuss the clues in a members-only chat group.
The Project Skydrop website has a live webcam view of the trophy location and screenshots of motion detected nearby. So far, cameras have only captured squirrels and other wildlife creatures checking out the treasure.
To claim the growing prize bounty, the winner must take a first-person video of themselves walking up to the trophy and upload it to YouTube.
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