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A New Jersey homeowner says she has identified some salami-slinging “bandits” while police continue investigating why they sprinkled pepperoni slices outside her home in a case of vandalism.
“What is this?” Heather Dougherty told PIX 11 of her reaction when she made the discovery on Jan. 24. “I am on camera, so I cannot say the words I exactly used, but ‘What is this?’ From the door to the edge of the porch and then strategically placed down the stairs to the driveway, and four slices on the hood and four slices on the trunk.”
The Manville native has lived at her home on South Street for 16 years, and it has never been vandalized before, she told the local news station.
“We’re trying to figure out who goes around with two loaves of pepperoni in the middle of the night and cuts it up into slices and throws it on people’s property,” Dougherty said. “You have nothing better to do with your time?”
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Large pepperoni slices are shown outside a New Jersey woman’s home on the morning of Jan. 24, 2024. (Heather Dougherty/Local News X/TMX)
The meat was not just spread around her home but also her car, causing her to worry about the paint job since it’s unknown how long the greasy product often used as a pizza topping was sitting there.
Dougherty posted pictures of the scene on Facebook with the description: “The Bandits, as I call them, have been identified by myself. The police are still investigating, and charges are pending the outcome of such police investigation.”
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This image shows the size of the pepperoni slices that were strewn outside Heather Dougherty’s home. (Heather Dougherty/Local News X/TMX)
Local pizza shop owner Anthony D’Aniello told PIX 11 the meat looks larger than the kind commonly used on pies.
“Certainly of the family of pepperoni, salami; exactly what, I cannot be certain,” D’Aniello said. “As an Italian, it hurts the heart.”
The pepperoni slices involved in the alleged vandalism look like they may have been cut by hand. (Heather Dougherty/Local News X/TMX)
Slices of pepperoni are strewn all over Heather Dougherty’s patio. (Heather Dougherty/Local News X/TMX)
The Manville Police Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News inquiry about the alleged crime.
“It is funny, however, it’s wrong,” she said. “You should not be trespassing; you should not be vandalizing people’s properties.”
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A 13-year-old boy was flown to a Boston hospital after he was found unresponsive in a swimming pool at a home in Beverly on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
Police and firefighters were called to a home on Parramatta Road after bystanders pulled the boy from the pool, the Beverly Police Department wrote in a press release.
Bystanders administered CPR until first responders arrived, according to police. First responders continued CPR and other “life saving measures,” police said.
An ambulance took the boy to Beverly Hospital where he was stabilized. He was then taken by medical helicopter to a Boston hospital, police said.
The incident is currently being investigated by Beverly police, the department said.
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Two years ago, in his postseason press conference, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas specifically cited the Washington Capitals as one of two teams that were models for rebuilding without using the hockey equivalent of gasoline and matches to first burn it down.
On Wednesday, Washington completed their second big trade in two days, significantly bolstering their top two lines when they acquired Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres in a sign-and-trade that netted Tuch an $84 million payday and Buffalo a mere third-round pick.
To this point, the Penguins and Washington rebuilds have followed similar paths, though Washington had a good head start.
In the last 24 months, each team has made the playoffs, and each team has seen its AHL affiliate go on an extended AHL playoff run. Washington surprised most by making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25, and the Penguins surprised most by making the playoffs in 2025-26.
However, it’s in the various states of rebuild that this week, Washington showed the advantage of that head start.
While Dubas stated he wanted to acquire a player aged in his later 20s who was an impact player, it was Washington who pulled the trick by acquiring high-scoring winger Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues.
Then, with their impact player in hand, Washington doubled down by executing a sign-and-trade with Buffalo for free-agent-to-be Tuch. Washington then lavished an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $10.5 million on the player who turned 30 last month.
A gritty winger, Tuch has scored at least 33 goals in three of the last four seasons as he found a greater role in Buffalo than his bottom-six duty in Vegas.
For those who remark that Tuch’s contract is expensive, don’t forget that the salary cap is going to spike again next season to something close to $113 million, and probably keep going up for years after that. Some estimates say it could be over $130 million in just a few years.
Today’s $10 million is tomorrow’s bargain, just like Rickard Rakell’s $5 million AAV Penguins contract was hefty when he signed it four years ago. Whether or not Tuch’s deal will age well is beside the point–half of the contract will be prime years, and a couple more should be quite serviceable. Washington can worry about 2034, many years from now, when that contract is less than 7% of the salary cap.
Indeed, Dubas had hoped to be able to acquire a Kyrou type. And if he did, a Tuch type would have made sense, too, because the Penguins have nothing in the middle. They have a bevy of 25 and under players, a few players who are at least 33, and still more three players who are 38 and older.
Jason Robertson remains unsigned in Dallas, and perhaps Dubas can leverage the farm for him, though plenty of teams are interested. The simple truth is that Washington was able to go big this year because they started a couple of years ahead of the Penguins. Dubas can play catch-up, but he’s not yet there.
And now Washington has made the huge leap forward. Their top nine is impressive with only two players 30 and older (Tom Wilson, 33, and Tuch, 30). They have four players who are 25 and under (and three were draft picks) with big-time potential who have already had some success in the NHL (Alieksai Protas, Ilya Protas, Ryan Leonard). And 24-year-old Justin Sourdif had 15 goals from the third line this season, too.
Oh, and they have Cole Hutson, thought to be a stud defenseman ready to make the leap. He had 10 points (3-7-10) in 14 NHL games at the end of the season after his Boston U campaign ended.
If Dubas tries to make the big splash, he very likely does not have enough trade capital to acquire a big name and have anything left. Yes, the Penguins have young players like Rutger McGroarty on the way, with Ben Kindel already here, but the depth and quality are not similar.
Yet.
It’s OK that Washington is ahead. It proves that Dubas is on a plausible path and lights the way. Penguins fans should also note that Washington didn’t spend assets too soon, and now they are packed with players under 30, most of whom are 25 and under, and they could easily (and should) send Alex Ovechkin’s call to voicemail when he wants to return.
Dubas was right to emulate Washington, and he would be right to do so when the time is right.
Categorized:NHL Trade Rumors Penguins Trade Talk
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A new report is highlighting deep economic and racial disparities across Connecticut’s public school districts, ranking the state among the most segregated in the country.
The study by the nonprofit Brown’s Promise found Connecticut has some of the nation’s most pronounced divides — placing sixth worst for economic segregation and 11th for racial segregation.
Researchers measured economic segregation by the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.
According to the report, some of the highest concentrations of low-income students are found in districts just miles from the state’s wealthiest communities.
“We provide this measure of how much is it happening between districts, like across those district lines, versus inside districts like what you would find in larger school districts,” said Stephen Owens, a researcher with Brown’s Promise.
The findings may seem surprising, as Connecticut and other Northeastern states show higher levels of segregation than some Southern states that once legally enforced it.
But Owens said those historic boundaries — and the way communities developed — continue to shape access to education today.
“If your schools were built out of like the lines of the towns, the municipality, then it means that the residential patterns, where people choose to live or where they grew up, end up being copied right onto the schools,” he said.
State and local leaders across the political spectrum have long acknowledged with variations of a phrase that has become alarmingly common.
“You are essentially going to attend the school where your ZIP code is,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said poverty plays a central role.
“It has nothing to do with the quality of education being provided. It has everything to do with poverty,” Elicker said.
Efforts to address the issue have long been debated at the state Capitol.
To varying degrees, Democrats have pushed for increased education funding, progressives often jousting with moderates about size and scale. Republicans tend to emphasize the charter school model. There is bipartisan agreement that the state’s current education aide system needs to be retooled.
Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged the challenge, saying the state must continue working toward improvement.
“You’ve got to try every day to do better,” the Democrat said.
The issue is expected to play a major role in Connecticut’s upcoming gubernatorial race, with the three candidates offering their own solutions.
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