Chris Van Buskirk
State House News Service

Juneteenth is a step closer to becoming a state holiday in Massachusetts after the House on Wednesday agreed to mark June 19 as Juneteenth Independence Day.

The holiday took place last Friday and residents across the state took the streets in large numbers to peacefully celebrate the occasion against a backdrop of nationwide protests against police violence and systemic racism. State officials, including Gov. Charlie Baker, have filed police reform bills they hope to pass before the end of session on July 31.

Rep. Bud Williams of Springfield filed Juneteeth amendment and called its addition to a COVID-19 spending bill a “big step” during a speech during Wednesday’s House session.

“This a real important day,” he said. “We filed this in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter. In terms of making this state holiday, it will go a long way in bridging the racial gap between individuals.”

Juneteenth is a celebration of the day when enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Several bills were filed in the House and Senate last week that would make it an official state holiday in Massachusetts.

The Senate still needs to act on the Juneteenth proposal and leaders in that branch have indicated support for making the day a state holiday.

Williams said the discussion around making Juneteenth a state holiday started two weeks ago during a weekend phone call with Rep. Mindy Domb (D-Amherst). Domb offered the idea and then Sens. Jo Comerford and Sonia Chang-Diaz and Reps. Maria Robinson and Chynah Tyler became involved in the effort, Williams said.

“Certainly, we’ve tried this many, many times. And this is part of Black history. And you can’t talk about the American history without talking about Black history,” he said. “And most individuals in the Commonwealth have no idea what Black history is.”

Tyler said she grew up attending an annual Juneteenth celebration in Boston’s Franklin Park in honor of the continued fight for freedom of African Americans.

“Today, we are making a tremendous pivot and truly delivering freedom to the African Americans with this amendment,” she said at Wednesday’s sesion. “Although this is the beginning of the road, I’m committed to helping us as a team deliver a more equitable Commonwealth for African Americans.”

House Speaker Robert DeLeo threw his support behind the amendment on Monday.

“#Juneteenth reminds us of the most painful parts of America’s history and shows us that while progress is possible, we have much more to do,” he said in a Tweet. “Proud to sign on to Rep. Williams’ Amendment #81 to make Juneteenth a state holiday.”

Gov. Charlie Baker issued a Juneteenth proclamation Friday, and said he looks forward “to working with our legislative colleagues to recognize this important day more widely going forward.”

Asked about the the holiday bills during a press conference last Friday, Baker said he “would look forward to working with the Legislature to come up with an approach to this that puts a much finer emphasis and a bigger point on Juneteenth.”

Today, at about 11:35 a.m., Troopers from State Police-Milton responded to a crash involving a motorcycle on the ramp from Route 93 Northbound to Route 24 Southbound in Randolph that resulted in the death of the 48-year-old male operator from Walpole.

Preliminary investigation indicates the man operating a 2016 Harley Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle and a 2012 Acura MDX were merging onto Route 24 Southbound. For reasons still under investigation the two vehicles came together and the operator of the Harley Davidson was thrown from the motorcycle. The motorcycle operator was determined to be deceased on scene, as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. The operator of the Acura was uninjured.

The name of the victim will not be released at this time.

Two lanes on the southbound side of Route 24 were closed for approximately four hours.

The crash remains under investigation by Troop H of the Massachusetts State Police along with the Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, and Crime Scene Services Section, and Norfolk County State Police Detective Unit. Troopers were assisted on scene by MassDOT, Randolph Fire and EMS.

Katie Lannan
State House News Service

The state’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 8,000 on Friday, with the report of 50 new fatalities. Thirty-nine of those deaths were among patients with test-confirmed cases of COVID-19, while the other 11 were from probable cases, which the Department of Public Health defines as someone with a positive antibody test who either had COVID-like symptoms or experienced likely exposure to the respiratory disease.

Of the 8,013 people in Massachusetts whose deaths are attributed to COVID-19, the bulk — 4,996 people — were aged 80 and older. Sixty-three percent of the deaths, or 5,051, were reported in long-term care facilities.

The state’s total caseload now stands at 108,070, including 103,071 test-confirmed cases and 4,999 probable cases indicated by antibody tests. Friday’s report included 149 new confirmed cases, from 8,545 viral tests, and 84 new probable cases.

The seven-day weighted average of the positive molecular test has been below 2 percent since June 20, according to the Department of Public Health, but ticked up slightly on June 25, to 1.9 percent from 1.8 percent the previous two days. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by 31 in Friday’s report, to 791, with 156 patients in intensive care units and 99 intubated. Two of the state’s hospitals were using their surge capacity, down from four the previous day.

The Traffic Commission reminds motorists using metered parking spaces that enforcement of parking meters resumes Monday, June 29.

Metered parking enforcement was suspended when restaurants and retail stores closed in-person dining and shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic, until the reopening of indoor dining in New Bedford.

Governor Charlie Baker announced the resumption of indoor dining effective Monday, June 22, and following that announcement metered parking will be enforced beginning next Monday, June 29.

Bishop Stang High School is proud of the accomplishments of our students, and recognizes those students earning Honor Roll distinction. Students on the President’s List have an average 95 or above, and a 90 or above in all courses. Students receiving First Honors have an average 90 or above, and an 85 or above in all courses. Those with Second Honors have an average 85 or above, and an 80 or above in all courses.

The following students from our area are being recognized for their academic achievement at Bishop Stang High School for their performance in the fourth quarter:

Acushnet

President’s List
Mikayla Brightman ’23
Cameron Pereira ’22
Aaron Sylvia ’22

First Honors
Connor Araujo ’21
Ellen Hamel ’21
Kerry Lenihan ’20
Kaitlynn Peirce ’20

Second Honors
Veronica Bernier ’22
Kate Carreau ’23
Matthew Murray ’23
Caden Plante ’23
Jacob Seiders ’22
Kirsten Sumner ’21

Assonet

President’s List
Alexander DiGiammo ’22
Maya Joncas ’20

First Honors
Andrew DiGiammo ’20
Abigail Fernandes ’21
Lindsay Honeycutt ’20
Christopher Marchand ’20
Caitlyn Moore ’20

Second Honors
Madeline Azar ’23

Berkley

Second Honors
Daniel Paquette ’20
Isabelle Paquette ’22
Joseph Paulo ’20

Bristol

President’s List
Samuel Miller ’23

First Honors
Gemma Laroche ’21
Isabella Merritt ’22

Second Honors
Emily Merritt ’20

Dartmouth

President’s List
Aimee Cabral ’22
Isabella Caldwell ’23
Sophie Caldwell ’23
Katia da Silva ’22
Alexander Fernandes ’23
Neda Habboosh ’22
Tyler Hunt ’22
Madeleine Kippe ’22
Jake Landers ’23
Bridget Markey ’23
Iliana Marshall ’23
Ryan Martins ’22
Zachary Moses ’21
Marcus Mourato ’23
Taylor Oliveira ’23
Katherine Patys ’22
Olivia Perriera ’21
Dominic Ridolfi ’20
Julia Rosenberg ’21
Patrick Vescio ’21
Patrick White ’20

First Honors
Judith Bonneau ’22
Olivia Brousseau ’23
John Brum ’23
Aiden Cardoza ’23
Cody Clark ’22
Harrison Costa ’23
Landen Costa ’23
Sierra Da Rosa ’22
Jiniah Dumas ’21
Nicholas Ferreira ’23
Andrew Fortin ’23
Michelle Franco ’23
Ava Gardiner ’23
Harrison Gardner ’23
Steven Gaughan ’23
Emma Gomes ’23
Nicolas Hirschmann ’22
Kassidy Howarth ’20
Caleb Hughes ’20
Joshua Kulpinski ’22
Andrew Magalhaes ’21
Charles Menard ’23
Shawn Mills ’20
Aidan O’Malley ’21
Ava Pacheco ’23
Ella Pacheco ’23
Logan Pianfetti ’21
Benjamin Rocha ’22
Noah Souza ’21
Liam Whelan ’21
Yangyang Zhai ’20

Second Honors
Christian Alves ’21
Liam Baker ’20
Sophia Canastra ’22
Cali Correia ’22
Samuel Costa ’21
Miah Couto ’22
Mason DeAlmeida ’23
Hannah Fortin ’23
Justin Gouveia ’22
Nashwan Habboosh ’21
Drew Kelly ’20
Callista Levy ’23
Gretchen Linhares ’20
Isabella Loranger ’20
Breckenridge Marshall III ’23
Ava Meehan ’23
Aiden Roderick ’22
Makayla Silva ’22
Holly Tetreault ’21
Jackson Tingley Prince ’23
Randall Weeks ’21
Colin White ’21

East Freetown

First Honors
Ismael Ramirez ’21
Second Honors
Kaitlyn Beard ’20
Emma Chausse ’20

Fairhaven

President’s List
Hannah Arede ’20
Julia Clough ’20
Cameron Garde ’20
Aiden Guay ’22

First Honors
Christian Arede ’23
Noah Carreiro ’22
Collin Johnson ’22
Emma Liarikos ’21
Andrew Martin ’23
John-Paul Martin ’21
Luke Massari ’20
Allison Pereira ’22
Trevor Squire ’23
Second Honors
Jennifer Dias ’21
Justin Hankins ’20
Ryan Jones ’23
Khloe Miguel ’23
Francesca Saber ’21

Fall River

President’s List
Alisha Nagpal ’23
Matalin Silvia ’22
Catherine Tetreault ’22

First Honors
Mackenzie Bell ’23
Giovanna Ferrara ’23
Veronica Medeiros ’23
Brendan Resende ’23
Second Honors
Evan Brady ’20
Priamos Koumas ’21
Hailey Nasiff ’20
Sean Reis ’22
Paul Saucier ’20
Molly Timberlake ’21

Lakeville

President’s List
Jillian Sferrazza ’22
Noelle Vincze ’21
First Honors
Naomi Cooper ’22
Aili Ramsden ’21
Tayden Shaw-Nelson ’23
Lily Shields ’22

Second Honors
Alyssa Clarke ’22
Carter Dennis ’23
Julia Govoni ’20
Aislinn Leary ’23
Abigail LeFever ’23
August Pauliks ’20
Lily Wynn ’22

Marion

President’s List
Raquel da Costa ’21
Maeve Egger ’22

First Honors
Fiona Lonergan ’20
Sophie Lynch ’21
Redmond Podkowa ’23
Luke Tougas ’23
Laurenne Wilkinson ’20

Second Honors
Bridget Clavell ’21
Morgan Miedema ’22
Matthew Quinlan ’23
Catherine Russo ’20
Aaron Wilkinson ’20
Nellie Zygiel ’22

Mattapoisett

President’s List
Julia Downey ’23
Kathleen Downey ’20
Liam Downey ’21
Ella Meninno ’21
Hannah Ramalho ’23
Eleanor Senna ’23

First Honors
Chloe Lanagan ’20
Claire Surprenant ’22
Second Honors
Cole Dube ’21
Christopher Gauvin ’21
Lauren Lapointe ’20
Cameron Letourneau ’23

Middleboro

President’s List
Erin Robinson ’22
First Honors
Hayley Devine ’20

New Bedford

President’s List
Rebecca Antonio ’23
Julia Bala ’22
Sarah Barboza ’22
Ryan Barros ’22
Katie Carlisle ’23
Alex Chan ’20
Sydney Demers ’22
Jasmine Duncan ’23
Mackenzie Fillion ’20
Samantha Gonsalves ’22
Thomas Marcotte ’20
Morgan Murphy ’22
Izabel Paiva ’22
Skylar Samanica ’20
Kevin Santiago ’23
Savannah Shea ’23

First Honors
Aryana Abu-Raya ’23
Mikayla Amado ’21
Sophia Babineau ’22
Ashley Benavides ’22
Phoenix Carreiro ’20
Jeremy Carvalho ’21
Kelsey Correia ’23
Elayna Fernandes ’20
Samuel Figueroa ’21
Myles Forgue ’20
Alexia Freitas ’23
Tiana Frias ’20
Michael Golden ’23
Rachel Golden ’21
Francisco Hernandez-Manon ’21
Savannah Kofton ’21
Solange Lima-Soares ’21
Katherin Marcotte ’21
Xavier Markey ’20
Seamus Marshall ’22
Samuel Martin ’23
Zoelle Morrissey ’20
Lilly Oliveira ’21
Sara Pereira ’21
Yoselin Rivas ’21
Ellen Scarano ’21
Luis Vega ’22
Jonathan Wang ’21

Second Honors
Kiera Ackah ’21
Giuliana Amaral ’20
Alee Braga ’22
Cassandra Carola ’20
Angiolina Chessa ’20
Sofia Coholan ’22
Jonathan Dee ’22
Jacob Figueiredo ’21
Carmen Gomes ’20
Xiaoxi Guo ’20
Sariah Hyacinth ’20
Yutong Jin ’20
Aaron Mimoso ’20
Nathan Monteiro ’22
Henri Morrissey ’23
Ashley Rivas ’21
Madeline Rivera Carranza ’22
Myles Rosa ’21
Jacob Wicherski ’23
Myra Wong ’20
Xincong Yu ’20

Rochester

First Honors
Dylan Aguiar ’21
Maxwell Brulport ’21
Briana Pothier ’22

Second Honors
Isaac Ouellette ’21

Somerset

First Honors
David Habboosh ’20
Ashley Reynolds ’22

Swansea

First Honors
Benjamin LeBoeuf ’21

Taunton

Second Honors
Sophia Thomas ’22

Wareham

President’s List
Lavina Burman ’22
Olivia Gowell ’21
Natalie Morrison ’23
Taylor Voner ’21

First Honors
Sarah Baldwin ’20
Liam Cogliano ’21
Zachary DeMarco ’22
Alyssa Farias ’21
Heather Gauvin ’20
Jacqueline Morrison ’21
Grace Motto ’23
Tyler Sylvester ’23

Second Honors
William Byrd ’21
Lily Cogliano ’23
Kyle Farias ’23
Benjamin Gowell ’21
Casey Petronelli ’20

Westport

President’s List
Deirdra Aguiar ’20
Nicole d’Almeida ’20
Holland Erickson ’23
Camille Gendron ’22
Avery Macomber ’20
Christopher Pacheco ’23
Megan Perry ’21
Victoria Raposo ’21
Zoey Reis ’22
Chantel Salem ’23
Katelyn Silva ’23
Samantha Silva ’20
Ellie Sullivan ’22
Quinn Sullivan ’20
Matthew Walsh ’20
William Walsh ’20

First Honors
Yihan Bao ’20
Grace Botelho ’20
Ava Cambra ’23
Luke Cambra ’22
John Campbell ’22
Alexis Cole ’22
Emily DeFreitas ’22
Cristina DeSousa ’23
Taylor DiNardo ’20
Maeve Donaldson ’23
Griffin Ferreira ’21
Gabriel Hall ’20
Hannah Lafrance ’22
Julia Lavoie ’21
Lindsey Leonard ’20
Tongtong Li ’20
Philip Manchester ’21
Caleb Martin ’20
Abigail Morley ’23
Gina Resendes ’20

Second Honors
Andrew Caldera ’23
Emily Costa ’20
Jenna Domagala ’22
Angelina El Khoury ’23
Meghan Ferrarini ’21
Owen Friedrichsen ’23
Clayton Harrison ’22
Sean Hurteau ’23
Emily Kiely ’21
Sophia Lima ’21
John Messier ’20
Aidan Morley ’21
Gabrielle Oliveira ’22
Tyler Resendes ’21
Collin Walsh ’20

Congratulations to these outstanding Students!

After the Northampton City Council voted to cut their police budget by 10%, the Northampton police chief announced that the department is cutting five full-time police positions and eliminating the full-time School Resource Officer.

The following was posted yesterday by the Northampton police chief on their Facebook page:

“Good Afternoon Northampton,

Last week the City Council voted to cut the police budget by 10%. A significant portion of the cut ($475,426) was directly from our personnel services (staffing) budget. As a result, we have cut five full-time sworn police positions from the department.

Who was cut? We had one vacant position that will remain unfilled. We have an individual who is currently working for us and who was scheduled to attend the next academy. Two additional employees are currently in the police academy and are scheduled to graduate in a few weeks. Those three individuals were notified that they were being laid off as of June 30, 2020. An additional officer resigned yesterday, and the position will remain vacant.
As a result of these cuts, we have had to remove Officer Josh Wallace from his position as the full-time School Resource Officer. Josh will now be serving as part of the patrol unit.
In these increasingly difficult times, we remain committed to best serving the complex public safety needs of our community.”- Chief Kasper

The City of New Bedford has roadwork sites for the upcoming week of June 29, 2020 –July 03, 2020 and they are as follows:

Eversource:

Eversource will replace the gas mains at the following locations:

• Kings Hwy – Tarkiln Hill Rd. to Mt Pleasant St.
• Summer St. from Durfee Ct. to Locust St.
• Hill St. from Hillman St. – Mill St.
• Hillman St. from County St. – Pleasant St.
• Cottage St from Parker St – Campbell St

Eversource will be doing final street and sidewalk restoration at various locations city-wide

Other:

• Contractor (PA Landers) to continue drainage work at MassDOT Project #606709, New Bedford- Roadway Reconstruction and Related Work (including signals) along a section of Kings Highway and Tarkiln Hill Road, Construction to take place during regular working hours (Monday – Friday), police details and traffic controls will be in place.
• Department of Public Infrastructure will be filling potholes on a continuous basis throughout the city.
• Contractor (P Gioioso and Son) is scheduled to begin the replacement of the Nelson St. water main between Crapo St. and County St. During working hours Nelson St. may be closed to thru traffic with access by local traffic only. Traffic will be directed to either Jouvette St. or Scott St. Detour signage, police details and traffic controls will be in place.
• Department of Public Infrastructure conducting its annual street sweeping program city-wide.
• The contractor (WES Construction) is scheduled to continue construction of the new pumping station and installation of the site utilities at the Front St./ Elm St. site. Elm St, between JFK Memorial Highway (RTE 18) and Macarthur Dr. will be closed to westbound traffic. Westbound traffic will be detoured via MacArthur Drive. There will be detour signage and traffic controls in place.
• Due to ongoing construction at the High Hill Reservoir residents may experience discolored water. The water is safe, and the discoloration will be temporary. We recommend allowing the water to settle for a few hours and then flushing your service line by letting the bathtub run for a few minutes until the water clears.

** Please note: Contractors will continue to follow guidelines and protocol regarding COVID-19 social distancing while conducting work in construction zone.

Due to the current COVID-19 situation the Department of Public Infrastructure will be closed to the public entry. Office staff is available to assist by email and telephone.

Katie Lannan
State House News Service

Combating the “thousands and thousands of attempts to steal money from the Unemployment Trust Fund” through fraudulent claims has been an “enormously difficult issue,” Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development in late May warned of a “national unemployment fraud scheme” involving the use of stolen personal information to file benefit claims, and said that payments may be delayed as unemployed workers are asked to provide additional identifying information.

“We’re not happy about the fact that we can’t just continue to make the funds available as quickly as we possibly can, but people are working really hard to make sure that people are in fact who they say they are,” Baker said Thursday. “And when you’re dealing with people who are as sophisticated as these people are that can often be complicated, and I wish that we didn’t have to deal with this, but we do.”

Baker said there have been specific cases where people “are calling a variety of places complaining about the fact that they didn’t get their check.” In some cases, he said, those complaints are legitimate, and in others “there’s somebody who’s working on behalf of the fraudsters to try to get funds released that we’ve already determined are, in fact, fraudulent to begin with.”

The state has been putting in mechanisms, recommended by federal officials to double-check, and in some cases triple-check, filers’ identities, Baker said. More than a million initial claims for regular unemployment insurance were filed in Massachusetts from March 15 to June 20, and 624,091 people have filed initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance since April 20, state labor officials reported Thursday.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. yesterday Troopers assigned to State Police-South Boston responded to reports of a pedestrian that had been struck by a vehicle on Route 93 northbound in the area of Exit 9 in Milton.

Upon their arrival they located a pedestrian, identified as Tat Segundo, 49, of Mattapan, in the roadway suffering from serious injuries. Emergency aid was rendered prior to him being transported to Boston Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries.

Preliminary information reveals two vehicles were involved in the crash. The first vehicle, a 2014 Honda CRV operated by a 25-year-old female, struck the pedestrian with the passenger side mirror. The second vehicle, a 2007 Dodge Caliber operated by a 30-year-old male, struck the pedestrian with the front bumper of his vehicle.

The exact cause and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation by Troop H of the Massachusetts State Police, Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Troopers were assisted on scene by MassDOT, Milton Fire and EMS.

Last night around 9:00 pm, a New Bedford police officer was struck on E. Rodney French Blvd. while directing traffic during a traffic stop of another car.

The unnamed male officer was struck by a dark sedan and knocked unconscious. The driver, also a male, stayed on scene until police and emergency personnel arrived.

The officer was transported to Rhode Island hospital. His condition at this time is currently unknown.

Eyewitnesses report that the impact was powerful enough to shatter the windshield.

At this time, the driver is not suspected to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs.