Northeast

Pat Collins, mother of GOP Maine Sen. Susan, dead at 96

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2024

Pat Collins, mother of GOP Maine Sen. Susan, dead at 96

Patricia “Pat” Collins, a civic-minded matriarch who raised six children, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and led a life of public service, died Tuesday at age 96, the senator announced.

Pat Collins was raised in Port Jervis, New York, after coming to the United States as a girl from Colombia, and she put down roots in Maine after attending the University of Maine, marrying husband Donald in 1948, starting a family and becoming the first woman to be elected mayor in Caribou and a chair of the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.

SUSAN COLLINS, KEY SENATE GOP MODERATE, WON’T BACK TRUMP IN 2024

She also was an artist who painted watercolor portraits of her husband’s colleagues in the Maine Senate, earned an art degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle and was “a fabulous cook who published two cookbooks,” the senator said.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the investigation of Hunter Biden’s laptop during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing to discuss the fiscal year 2023 budget of the Department of Justice at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022. (GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills called Pat Collins “a friend and trailblazer” who loved her state, “especially her cherished Aroostook County.”

“Pat will be remembered for her extraordinary character, marked by grace and integrity. She leaves behind a deep legacy of service,” Mills wrote in a statement.

Pat Collins found time for many other public service-minded posts while raising her family. She served on the advisory committee of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, as a court-appointed special advocate for children and chair of the Catholic Charities Maine Board of Directors and the Catholic Foundation of Maine Board of Trustees.

She was married for 70 years to her husband, who died in 2018. Surviving are five other children in addition to the senator, 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

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Boston, MA

Red Sox shed light on plans for outfield, including Ceddanne Rafaela’s role

Published

37 minutes ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Red Sox shed light on plans for outfield, including Ceddanne Rafaela’s role

Last year the Red Sox had a unique and enviable problem, which was that at full strength the club had more starting-caliber outfielders than it had available lineup spots.

Injuries kept that from being an issue most of the season, but for some stretches the only way the club could accommodate everyone was by playing Gold Glove center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela at second base.

With Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Rafaela all set to return for the 2026 campaign, the Red Sox could face a similar logjam, but both manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow signaled that they’d prefer not to move Rafaela to the infield again.

“We’ll talk about that one, but probably not,” Cora said.

“Ceddanne is an incredibly gifted athlete and can impact a game in so many ways, and it makes it really easy when you can put him at second base or play shortstop for a long time for us like in ’24 when Trevor (Story) was hurt, but he is game-changing in center field,” Breslow said. “We saw that this year, and giving him the consistency of playing the same position every day also has benefits for his offense.”

Rafaela delivered a breakout season in the outfield last year, ranking second in MLB across all positions in defensive runs saved at center (plus-20) en route to his first career Gold Glove.

His impact defensively at second, however, was much more modest. In 24 games at the position he was just plus-one defensive runs saved.

Recognizing Rafaela’s value in the outfield, it was widely expected that the Red Sox would clear a spot by trading one of their incumbent players, most likely Duran or Abreu. But up to this point that hasn’t happened, and Breslow said it was never something he considered an urgent priority.

“It was never likely in my mind,” Breslow said. “We’ve got really talented outfielders and when teams call that’s what other executives point to. They’re young, they’re controllable, they’re dynamic, they’re talented, they can impact games in multiple ways. It’s really nice to be able to say they’re also members of the Boston Red Sox.”

So how will the Red Sox accommodate everyone if Rafaela isn’t going to play second? Cora said he expects to rotate players through more regularly, though he added that Rafaela and Abreu — both Gold Glove winners — will likely play more often than not.

“I think keeping guys healthy is something we always talk about,” Cora said. “They’re good outfielders, all of them, as a unit they’re the best in baseball. We just have to figure out the stadium, workload, and all that, but Willy and Ceddanne, they’re the best in the business, they probably will be playing the most in the outfield.”

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Pittsburg, PA

Masontown Borough unanimously votes to reinstate police department

Published

1 hour ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Masontown Borough unanimously votes to reinstate police department

During an emergency meeting on Saturday night, Masontown borough council voted 6-0 to reinstate its police department after council initially voted on Monday to lay off the entire department, citing budgetary reasons as the leading factor for the decision.

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Connecticut

Dog found dead in Willimantic River

Published

3 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

A dog was found dead on the ice in the Willimantic River on Friday, according to the Willimantic Police Department.

The Windham Animal Control was notified after a report of a small dog lying motionless near the center of the river close to the waterfall.

Emergency personnel responded and found that the dog was already dead and had been laying on a cardboard box on unstable ice.

While the police and fire department worked to create a plan to rescue the dog, the ice broke apart, and the dog was carried downstream.

It is still unknown how the dog ended up in the river, and what the causes of death were.

Animal control and the Willimantic Police Department are currently investigating the incident and are looking to find out who was involved and how the dog entered the water.

Anyone with information can call the police department at 860-465-3135.

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