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This popular flower is in sensational form in New England this summer

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This popular flower is in sensational form in New England this summer

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Locals and visitors flocking to the Northeast for a New England summer travel experience may notice an exceptional bloom of hydrangea bushes. 

The bushy, luscious flowers in bright blues, pinks, purples and whites are in or reaching peak bloom.

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Hydrangeas are native to the Western Hemisphere and eastern Asia. There are about 23 species that are known.

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Garden communicator C.L. Fornari told Fox News Digital that in the Northeast, the hydrangeas this year are amazing for several reasons.

She said that with a wet summer and fall last year, all kinds of good flower buds developed this year. “With these plants, you have to take the ‘hydra’ part of their name seriously,” she said. 

These flowers are common from New England to New York through Illinois and Missouri, south to Louisiana and Florida and in Kansas and Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Forest Service. (iStock)

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“We followed that wet haul with a mild winter and all of those buds that they formed in the late summer last year made it through the winter. Now we’ve got spectacular blooms,” said Fornari, who is based in Massachusetts.

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Mark Richardson, director of horticulture at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, Massachusetts, concurred with that.

He told Fox News Digital that temperature and cultural factors are important. 

New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill is a 200-acre, four-season botanic garden located in Boylston, Massachusetts. (New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill)

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“I think for this year in particular, we had a lot of rain last year, and we had a very mild winter,” he said. “The combination of those two things really led to a great year for hydrangeas.”

Wild hydrangeas are usually found in a mesic forest, often along streams or in rocky areas, but also grow in drier areas.

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They are common from New England to New York through Illinois and Missouri, south to Louisiana and Florida, and in Kansas and Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Pink, purple and blue hydrangeas are photographed on Nantucket, Massachusetts. (iStock)

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Fornari said peak bloom for hydrangea bushes is dependent on the type of plant.

Bigleaf or Hydrangea macrophylla are the most common type in North America. 

They have a classic mophead – or open lacecap – bloom reminiscent of Cape Cod’s signature plant, according to the National Garden Bureau.

Fornari said the big blue big-leaf flowers seem to be at peak bloom now.

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Richardson said that hydrangeas are a great attraction for visitors at the museum this time of year.

“Early summer tends to be a bit of a lull in the garden, just in terms of what’s in bloom, and the hydrangeas are really filling in that gap,” he added.

One garden communicator told Fox News Digital to make sure the estimated size of hydrangeas meets the location by sighting them appropriately. (Ashley J. DiMella/Fox News Digital)

Fornari said that when planting hydrangeas, make sure their estimated size meets the location by sighting them appropriately.

“There is no way you can make them shorter. They will place their height in one summer and the more you cut them back, the fewer flowers you have,” she said. 

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Her second piece of advice is to “give them the sun or lack of sun that they want.”

The hotter the summer, the more the bushes will need afternoon shade, so it is important to make sure they are getting the relief from the sun they need.

Garden communicator C.L. Fornari told Fox News Digital when it comes to winter preparation, “prayer works as well as anything else. Some of it is the luck of the draw on winter temperatures.” (Ashley J. DiMella/Fox News Digital)

It is important to make sure the bushes are watered deeply, but deep soaking less often is better than watering a little every day.

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Fornari warned people to steer clear of relying on fertilizer to help hydrangea bushes.

“It’s not a solution to problems with the hydrangeas,” she said. 

“Fertilizer can sometimes make the plant a little bigger, but those become weaker stems and the big flowers end up in the mud.”

It is important to make sure the bushes are watered deeply, but deep soaking less often is better than watering a little every day, said one expert.  (iStock/New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill)

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When it comes to winter protection, “prayer works as well as anything else… Some of it is the luck of the draw on winter temperatures,” Fornari said.

She is founder of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, which began in 2015 with proceeds going to various local nonprofit organizations.

During the event, Cape Coders open their beautiful gardens to admirers across the southeastern part of Massachusetts extending to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The festival is two weeks long and began on Friday, July 5th. 

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Connecticut

Family called Connecticut police about suspect in D.C. Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Trump says

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Family called Connecticut police about suspect in D.C. Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Trump says


Family members of the accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner alerted police in Connecticut with concerns about the man, the president said Sunday.

In an interview with Fox News Channel, President Donald Trump said the man — who was armed with guns and knives — had written about targeting Trump administration officials.

Separately, police in New London confirmed in a statement that a person contacted them at approximately 10:49 p.m., about two hours after the incident. Police said the person expressed concern about events that unfolded earlier that evening at the dinner.

“The reporting individual wanted to share information they believed to be pertinent to the matter,” the statement said.

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New London police immediately contacted federal law enforcement partners. Both local and federal officers then interviewed the person, according to the statement.

“The New London Police Department remains committed to working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners at all levels to ensure public safety,” the statement said.

New London police said their investigation into the matter is no longer active and directed further inquiries to the U.S. Secret Service. The federal agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The suspect, identified by law enforcement officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was expected to face criminal charges on Monday from the Justice Department, whose acting leader, Todd Blanche, said the suspect traveled by train from California and checked in as a guest days earlier at the Washington hotel where the Saturday night gala dinner was held with its typically tight security.

Authorities said Allen attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.

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Fox reported Sunday that the White House said Allen’s brother contacted New London police and reported Allen had sent family members “an alleged manifesto outlining his intent to target administration officials.”

During a live telephone interview, Fox News journalist Jacqui Heinrich asked the president to comment on information she said was provided by the White House about the suspected shooter and his motive.

“I’m being told that he had a manifesto saying he wanted to target Trump administration officials,” Heinrich said. “He had a lot of anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on his social media accounts, and left a manifesto in his hotel room that his brother had notified New London police about prior to this incident.”

She added that secret service agents had been talking to Allen’s family members, and that Allen attended a No Kings protest in California. She asked Trump for his reaction to the new details.

“I heard about the London situation and I wish they would have told us about it a little bit,” Trump said. “But it is what it is.”

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A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press the suspected shooter sent writings to family members minutes before the attack in which he railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin.”

The writings made repeated references to Trump without naming him directly and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions and recent events, including U.S. strikes on drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific, the official said Sunday.

The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Allen’s brother contacted police in New London after receiving the writings, according to the official.

This story has been updated. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Maine

Maine Governor Vetoes Landmark Data Center Moratorium

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Maine Governor Vetoes Landmark Data Center Moratorium


Earlier this month, Maine was firmly on track to become the first state to institute a moratorium on AI data centers.

The state’s Democrat-controlled legislature officially passed a bill that would ban data centers that carry a load of 20 megawatts or more until November 1, 2027, and create a 13-member council to evaluate the impact of data centers. The bill had moved on to Governor Janet Mills for approval.

But this weekend, Mills vetoed the bill, and Maine joined a growing list of states that have tried and failed to instate a data center moratorium.

Mills’ opposition to the moratorium stems from a single data center project planned in a small town in Franklin County.

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“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Mills wrote in a letter announcing her veto decision. “But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.”

The Town of Jay had been reeling from the job loss following the 2023 closure of a mill, and according to Mills, had been looking forward to the hundreds of temporary construction jobs and the several permanent positions that would be created by the data center that is planned for construction on the site of the old mill. Mills said that officials from the Town of Jay, Franklin County Commissioners and the regional Chamber of Commerce all sent letters to her expressing support for the data center project and asking for an exemption.

“I supported the exemption and would have signed this bill if it had included it,” Mills said.

Although she vetoed the bill, Mills announced that she would sign a separate bill that would block data center projects from participating in some state tax incentive programs and would still establish a council that would “examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine.”

If it had passed, the Maine bill would have been the first significant regulatory outcome in the U.S. of rising public dissent against AI and the unprecedented data center buildout it has led to. Artificial intelligence has become a concept particularly unpopular in the public eye, in large part due to its negative impact on mental health, war, the environment, and the job market.

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On top of that, local activists around the country are also staunchly against data center projects, worried about the soaring utility bills, water shortages, air pollution and increased local temperature often associated with the mega structures. In some instances, the opposition has even turned violent, like in Indianapolis, where a shooting took place at the home of a local politician who is in favor of a controversial local data center project. Just a few days after the Indianapolis incident, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco was hit with a molotov cocktail.

A big tenet of the anti-AI data center push calls for moratoriums on new project developments to give researchers and policymakers time to catch up to the rapidly evolving technology and understand its true impact on local communities, human health, the economy, and the environment. Moratorium supporters claim that with a clearer understanding of AI’s impact, governments can introduce adequate guardrails to ensure the responsible development of these AI data centers.

Mills’ decision in Maine could soon be judged at the ballot box. The governor is running for the Democratic Senate seat in the upcoming Maine primaries, and is currently trailing her opponent Graham Platner in polls. Platner had recently told the press that he thinks Mills should sign the bill into law.



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Massachusetts

Coast Guard search underway for a crew member overboard on Boston-bound cruise

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Coast Guard search underway for a crew member overboard on Boston-bound cruise


A search is underway after a report that a crew member of the C/S Norwegian Breakaway was seen falling from the Boston-bound cruise ship, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Sunday.

The Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a report from the C/S Norwegian Breakaway regarding a crew member who had fallen overboard about 12 miles east of Wellfleet. The C/S returned to the last known place of the person and deployed their rescue boat and life rings.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene at around 1 a.m. to assist the search along with a crew from the Coast Guard Station Provincetown, officials confirm.

Officials are currently still conducting an aerial search as of SUnday morning along with the Station Provincetown Crew.

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