Northeast
Survivors of boarding school for troubled teens expose shocking abuse in new docuseries
![Survivors of boarding school for troubled teens expose shocking abuse in new docuseries Survivors of boarding school for troubled teens expose shocking abuse in new docuseries](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The_Program_Cons_Cults_and_Kidnapping_E3_00_22_23_23.pngThe_Program_Cons_Cults_and_Kidnapping_E3_00_22_23_23.png)
A new docuseries chronicling abuse of troubled teens at the hands of New York’s Academy at Ivy Ridge has prompted a wave of new police reports from former students and a police investigation into the now-shuttered boarding school.
Netflix’s “The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping” follows director Katherine Kubler and her former classmates as they visit the site of the school that closed in 2009. Student files, including Kubler’s, were all still at the abandoned site, giving the students more insight to process what happened to them.
They said they spent years isolated from their families and were “treated like prisoners, undergoing mental, physical and sexual abuse,” according to the series.
The former students claim they underwent abuse ranging from abduction from their homes, strip searches, starvation, sleep deprivation, corporal punishment and solitary confinement. Meanwhile, they said, they received no formal education.
Kubler, pictured at 14 years old with her father, Ken, said that she was abducted by two men, placed in handcuffs and taken to the program for troubled teens after she was expelled from boarding school for having alcohol. (Netflix)
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Teens in the program were reportedly not allowed to smile, speak or have any communication with the outside world. Phone calls and letters to parents were closely monitored, and any attempts to tell their loved ones about the abuse they endured would be intercepted and punished.
Victims said they were “brainwashed” by a program that painted them as drug-addicted, manipulative and hopeless — and that still-existing programs for troubled teens throughout the country use the same damaging methods.
![Abandoned Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, New York](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Survivors-of-boarding-school-for-troubled-teens-expose-shocking-abuse.pngThe_Program_Cons_Cults_and_Kidnapping_E3_00_.png)
Katherine Kubler and a group of her former classmates visit the abandoned school where they said they were physically and psychologically tortured. Along with chilling graffiti, student records — including their own — were left behind at the quickly-shuttered school. (Netflix)
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Several former students reported sexual abuse at the institution, which filmmakers called an “open secret at Ivy Ridge.”
“They dehumanize the kids, that these kids are liars, manipulators, and they use that to create compliance,” one interview subject said.
Kubler and her classmates described mandatory endurance exercises called “seminars” — in one, they would spend about an hour screaming and slamming towels wrapped in duct tape on the ground. If they stopped the exercise, they said, they were sent to a new seminar meant to break them.
![The Academy at Ivy Ridge](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Survivors-of-boarding-school-for-troubled-teens-expose-shocking-abuse.pngThe_Program_Cons_Cults_and_Kidnapping_E1_00_.png)
St. Lawrence County, New York, District Attorney Gary Pasqua said new reports have been pouring in since the documentary aired on March 5. (Netflix)
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Two former students who attended the program for 22 months when they were 15 years old said that they had to sit on a chair and repeat the words “palms up, palms down, palms together, palms apart” while acting out the instructions with their hands for eight uninterrupted hours.
In high school, Kubler said, she found herself “drinking, smoking, sneaking out at night… typical teenager stuff.”
She was expelled from her boarding school during her sophomore year in 2004 for having alcohol and assumed her father would pick her up. Instead, her parents had arranged for two men to abduct her and take her to Ivy Ridge.
Kubler said the trauma she endured there followed her for the rest of her life, with one college roommate telling her that she “[didn’t] need to explain the program to everyone [she] met.”
![Katherine Kubler](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/1710868957_81_Survivors-of-boarding-school-for-troubled-teens-expose-shocking-abuse.pngThe_Program_Cons_Cults_and_Kidnapping_E3_00_.png)
Filmmaker Katherine Kubler said she was forever changed by her 15 months at the school. (Netflix)
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“They really drill into you this complete sense of shame, and that you’re this horrible person for being there, so I felt like I had this disclaimer I needed to say to people,” she said.
The St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s office and state police said at a Monday press conference that complaints of abuse at the school near Ogdensburg have been pouring in every day since the series first aired on March 5.
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District Attorney Gary Pasqua urged the public not to call the DA’s office to harass staff or inquire about the investigation. He also asked that the public not trespass on the abandoned Ivy Ridge property.
“I understand the reaction that is going to come from watching some of the things that were on those videos. But it is not a reason, it does not give you a free pass to go and harass anyone, whether it be a person or a business,” Pasqua said. “Please. Let us do our job.”
Former staffers of the school have also been harassed and even threatened with violence, Pasqua said.
The documentary claims that staff members at the school were untrained and had no credentials — neither did those who created the program itself, according to the three-part docuseries.
In the last episode of the series, titled “Follow the Money,” filmmakers explored where the profits from these programs went. Robert “Bob” Lichfield founded the Worldwide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools, and the Academy at Ivy Ridge was one of more than 25 boarding schools or youth programs affiliated with the Utah-based group worldwide.
The organization made millions each year until it dissolved amid legal battles over abuse allegations, according to the docuseries.
“There are glimmers of hope, but these places are like Whac-a-Mole,” Kubler said. “You get one shut down, and it’ll open again under a new name… sometimes in the same building with the same staff.”
The Netflix film advocates for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which calls for more thorough accountability for these programs. The proposed legislation would formally ban the use of restraints and seclusion, designate a group to make recommendations on the length of students’ stays and collect outcome-oriented data on students at least six months after they are sent back home.
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Connecticut
Boar's Head May Be Tough to Find Around Connecticut Tonight
![Boar's Head May Be Tough to Find Around Connecticut Tonight Boar's Head May Be Tough to Find Around Connecticut Tonight](https://townsquare.media/site/677/files/2024/07/attachment-RS37883_GettyImages-179133144-scr.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural)
You might want to ‘Compromise Elsewhere’, Boar’s Head deli meat fans. Numerous grocery store chains are temporarily shutting down their deli departments for a deep-cleaning following a reported multi-state outbreak of listeria.
Big Y has announced that their deli’s will be temporarily closed after Boar’s Head Provisions Co recalled all of their liverwurst product. Boar’s Head has also more of their deli meats that may have been produced on the same production line. According to Big Y, the USDA has recommended a deep-cleaning/sanitization of all surfaces, and to discard any open meats and cheeses in the deli. The other Boar’s Head meats that have been recalled are:
- Virginia Ham – Old Fashioned Ham
- Italian Cappy Style Ham
- Extra Hot Italian Cappy Style Ham
- Bologna
- Beef Salami
- Steakhouse Roasted Bacon Heat & Eat
- Garlic Bologna
- Beef Bologna
All of the Boar’s Head deli meats have sell-by dates of “AUG 10”, and the Heat & Eat Bacon has a sell-by date of “AUG 15”.
Big Y did not offer Boar’s Head deli meats in their Connecticut markets for the longest time, I recall that it’s only been a year or two that I’ve been able to buy my favorite – Boar’s head low-sodium ham, at the Big Y – Torrington and New Milford locations.
Stop & Shop supermarkets around Connecticut will also temporarily close their deli’s for a deep cleaning according to nbcconnecticut.com. The good news is that if your local deli does not carry Boar’s Head deli meat, there should be a pile of clean, shaved beef waiting for you.
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Maine
Maine state police bomb team at a home in Penobscot County
![Maine state police bomb team at a home in Penobscot County Maine state police bomb team at a home in Penobscot County](https://gray-wabi-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/F54ZESDMMRB67BSBQ6UVIUYX2E.jpg?auth=7f6c6fad68da279bcd0493815f895da8e0d832c5f7b1a78631d5bab2c7ce3ffe&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
MILFORD, Maine – The Maine’s State Police Bomb Team is at a residence on Call Road in Milford processing a scene for potential hazardous devices.
Officials say there is no danger to the public.
This is a developing story.
Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts State House working last minute to pass bills ahead of Wednesday deadline
![Massachusetts State House working last minute to pass bills ahead of Wednesday deadline Massachusetts State House working last minute to pass bills ahead of Wednesday deadline](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/04/19/760bef22-4ffd-46f3-b59d-82cce834c670/thumbnail/1200x630/d853649a0c4b7f92c0bdde4948efc0ef/statehouse.jpg?v=5501038cbc281520ff9fdc308faab7dc)
BOSTON – The Massachusetts State House is typically quiet on Fridays but not this week, as state lawmakers work to push major pieces of legislation to the governor’s desk, including a possible return of Happy Hour.
“This place is going to be buzzing”
“I think for the next five days, this place is going to be buzzing,” State Sen. Barry Finegold told WBZ-TV from his Statehouse office. Buzzing with fellow legislators, lobbyists and stressed-out staffers racing to beat the Wednesday deadline. “We’re very hopeful that it’s going to get done.”
Republican State Rep. Marc Lombardo is frustrated by the procrastination, pointing to the House, Senate and corner office being dominated by Democrats. “It’s a tornado of activity that really doesn’t have to wait until the last week of July,” he said.
The House and Senate have until Wednesday to hammer out their differences on key bills. Bills that don’t get voted out of conference committee essentially “die” on Beacon Hill.
Finegold heads the Joint Economic Development Committee, working on a multi-billion-dollar package that could pave the way for a new soccer stadium in Everett for the New England Revolution.
Will Happy Hour come back to Massachusetts?
How about bringing Happy Hour back to Massachusetts?
“We’re hopeful to get that passed as well,” Finegold explained. “We do have a lot of younger people in our city and throughout Massachusetts and we want to do things that we think they’ll like.”
While Rep. Lombardo can see how this could help the economy, he’s not a fan of the last-minute rush to the finish line.
He said lawmakers are “expected to read bills very quickly as they come out of conference committee…hundreds of pages of documents and yet forced to get a vote because we’ve waited to the last moment to put things on the floor.”
Complex legislation, packed with all sorts of line items.
The CEO of Boston Pads is watching the housing bill closely as lawmakers debate whether or not to ban broker’s fees for renters.
“These agents spend a lot of timing calling all day. It’s not uncommon for them to show an apartment at eight or even nine o’clock at night,” said Demetrios Salpoglou.
It’s a vote that he said could have crippling impacts on the real estate industry in Massachusetts.
This is just a glimpse of the mad rush and closed-door negotiations at the State House.
“This is what it takes,” Finegold said. “We have to get things done.”
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