Telegram & Gazette
‘Give it hell, T’
Dedication is what Taylor Nunez-Murray is all about. As a teacher, Nunez-Murray works with students at Worcester’s Gerald Creamer Center, an alternative high school for students who have faced life challenges that have made attending high school...
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Fallen by the wayside
WORCESTER – The faded clapboard structure sits at Salisbury and Forest streets, a decaying beacon to the city’s West Side. Absent to passing motorists is any indication of the history of the vacant house at 274 Salisbury St. Two centuries ago, it was...
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Nepal, China resume flood rescue
NUWAKOT, Nepal – Nepal and China resumed rescue operations that had been suspended briefly in the flood-hit Himalayas on Aug. 28 after risks from an overflowing lake were found to be manageable, easing fears of fresh devastation. The catastrophic...
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New citizens in bloom
BOYLSTON – They have likely heard the Pledge of Allegiance recited throughout their years living in the United States while attending ceremonies and events at their children's schools. But on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 44 people participating in the...
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Summer vacation over, football season begins
With summer family getaways in the books and homework days away, football is the focus for hundreds of high school athletes in Central Massachusetts. Preseason practice sessions are in full swing. It’s a mix of getting in shape, learning the plays and...
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Search reaches a week for Karen Solomon
WORCESTER – With Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. looking on, searchers scoured Coes Pond Monday, Aug. 24, as authorities looked for clues in the Karen Solomon case. As of midafternoon, officials had not reported any developments...
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TIME FOR SLIME
Maura Looney, 6, and Liliana Fontes, 8, learn to make slime in the Oopsie Doopsie Crafts tent during the weekly Auburn Summer Farmers & Cultural Market. The market runs every Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. through Sept. 3 at Pappas Recreation Complex.
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In the principal’s office
WORCESTER – Olga Papadopoulos once walked the halls as a student at South High Community School. Now, she runs the school. “The building has changed but what is happening inside has not, and that was one of the biggest draws for why I wanted to come...
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Search continues for Karen Solomon
WORCESTER – Investigators returned to Coes Pond on Friday morning as the search continued for Karen Solomon, the Worcester woman who is being sought in connection with the death of her husband, Worcester Police Officer Kurt Solomon, on Tuesday. Earlier...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Aug. 21. On this date in: 1831: Believing that God had chosen him to lead his people to freedom, enslaved minister Nat Turner began the deadliest slave revolt in the United States. The rebellion killed 60 people and required a 3,000man...
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Slain officer mourned
WORCESTER – A police officer who spent three decades with the Worcester Police Department is being mourned, as the investigation into his death continues. The search for Karen Solomon continued the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 19. A manhunt for the...
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Poll: Trump approval rating hits new low
President Donald Trump’s polling woes continue as he fell to a new record low since his return to the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey, with only one in three Americans approving of his job performance. The poll, released Aug. 17,...
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Finding the spotlight
WORCESTER – For the first time in 40 years, a standalone festival to recognize the history and culture of Puerto Rico was held in the city. The U.S. territory was celebrated on the Worcester Common on Sunday, Aug. 16, with a lively mix of food, music,...
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IN THE LION’S DEN
x Operating the yellow lion, Andrew Tran and fellow Eternals Lion Dance team members entertain people at the new RICEMA at 75 Webster St. RICEMA is an arts and education center that preserves, shares and celebrates refugee and immigrant cultures,...
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SQUELCHED
FITCHBURG – When it rains in Fitchburg, water races down Spring Street, the steep hill next to Longsjo Middle School. As it flows, it picks up oils, animal feces and other pollutants that lay atop the asphalt and funnels them straight into a storm...
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U.S. tells Iran it will step up pressure
LONDON – Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Aug. 14 after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely. A senior Iranian source said...
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HOT OFF THE GRID
WORCESTER – It’s a season that can run from hot to cold, at least when the measuring stick is the temperature. The Holy Cross football team is in the midst of training camp, with the summer sun a worthy foe. The Crusaders will spend August getting...
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Trump discusses covert Air Force One switch
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Aug. 11 he was acting on the advice of Secret Service when he was covertly carried off Air Force One in a catering container in July and flown out of Turkey on another military jet. It was a ploy to protect the...
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Mom against the odds
LEOMINSTER – The secret is out. Elizabeth Wood wants the world to know that at 44 she gave birth to a daughter, defying the pregnancy odds for many women her age. Today, Wood’s 17-month-old daughter, Hannah, is as healthy as can be and loves...
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Fire chief: Body of missing man found in Lake Quinsigamond
SHREWSBURY – The body of a man who had been missing for nearly 20 hours was found in Lake Quinsigamond before noon Monday, Aug. 10. Fire Chief Seth H. Colby confirmed to the Telegram & Gazette that the man was located. The man, whose identity was not...
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Back in the saddle again
HUBBARDSTON – Seven miles from where the Liberty-Belle Farm on Main Street is offering horseback riding lessons, there are still signs of everything lost when a fire ripped through its former location two years ago, consuming everything but 22 horses...
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RAISING A STINK
WORCESTER – John Cogswell stood outside the business his family has owned for over 40 years and shared his problem. It’s not that sales at Cogswell Sprinkler Co. Inc. are down, or that Cogswell is having a hard time finding qualified workers to design...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Aug. 8. On this date in: 1829: America’s first steam locomotive, the Stourbridge Lion, made its trial run. The 7-ton, Englishbuilt machine traveled at 10 mph on wooden tracks in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. 1844: Elders of the Church of Jesus...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Aug. 7. On this date in: 1782: Gen. George Washington created the first U.S. military decoration, the Badge of Military Merit, now called the Purple Heart. Noncommissioned officers and privates were eligible, not just high-ranking officers....
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Neighborhood divided over Chandler Street roundabouts
WORCESTER – Tensions are flaring over a Chandler Street project that aims to replace two of the artery’s intersections with roundabouts. A scattering of yellow placards, standing out against the lawns of Worcester’s West Side, have proliferated in...
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GIVING ‘EM THE SLIP
An early birthday party for Lenox Ellis of Auburn, who turns 15 on Aug. 31, had about 17 of his friends using a soapy homemade waterslide at Lemansky Park in Auburn on Aug. 3.
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Sunny sides up
WORCESTER – Mike Legere’s invitation sounded harmless, until you realize that he might completely change the way you look at your lawn. “I would like to show off my garden,” Legere said. “I use all natural things, no fencing, old techniques like...
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Course set for safety
On the many ponds, lakes and rivers that make up the Bay State’s “inland ocean,” members of dozens of flotillas that make up the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Massachusetts keep busy educating the public about safe boating as well as state and federal...
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NOT DRY BUT WAY TOO HIGH
It seems higher prices are everywhere these days, including at the gas pump, in grocery store aisles and for just about any product or service we need. h Loud complaints are ringing out, but none may be louder than what’s emanating from the small town...
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Gearing up
WORCESTER — Traffic will be heavy in Worcester early Saturday, Aug. 1. But this time it will be twowheeled vehicles overtaking the roads. The Pan-Mass Challenge bike-a-thon, with more than, 6,500 riders, will originate from the College of the Holy...
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Good egg rescues duck trapped at Salisbury Pond spillway
WORCESTER – Volunteer duck savior Gabrielle Darling recorded another rescue on a very rainy Wednesday, July 29. At the Salisbury Pond spillway in Institute Park, she used stone blocks and wood to divert rolling waters around an escape ladder that had...
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Fauci invokes 5th at contentious hearing
WASHINGTON – Dr. Anthony Fauci may be held in contempt after refusing to answer Republicans’ questions about the origins of COVID-19 as he sat in a witness chair invoking the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The former head of the...
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Oman presents Iran with Hormuz plan
DUBAI – Oman has presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on July 28. The plan could serve as a basis to end...
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Iran appears to test latest American pause
DUBAI – Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reported drone attacks on July 27, two days after the United States abruptly suspended a two-week campaign of air strikes against Iran, as Tehran appeared to put President Donald Trump’s latest strategic Uturn to...
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New faces in class
WORCESTER – Kindergartners will not be the only ones beginning their school careers this fall, as new teachers are prepping to start their careers in education across Worcester County. The T&G caught up with several firsttime teachers who are debuting...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is July 26. On this date in: 1775: The Post Office Department, predecessor of the U.S. Postal Service, was established by the Second Continental Congress, which appointed Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. 1788: New York became...
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‘This place means the world to me’
WORCESTER – While Chad Tracy sat inside his office at Polar Park around 5 p.m. on April 25, the former WooSox manager made a rare call to his wife, Emily, during the middle of a Triple-A game. Drenched in sweat and coated in mulch from her fingertips...
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WANTED: TENANTS
WORCESTER – City Hall wants to give a tax break to a prominent real estate project that has struggled to attract tenants. It’s called tax increment financing, and the city believes it will help bring companies to GreenTech Park, a 51-acre site along...
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FIT FOR A ROYAL
A monarch butterfly gets a drink of nectar from a thistle plant at the Greater Worcester Land Trust’s Sibley Farm conservation area in Spencer.
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is July 22. On this date in: 1793: Scottish explorer and fur trader Alexander Mackenzie became the first recorded person to complete a journey across North America, starting from Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, Canada, before finally reaching the...
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Bus drivers want to form own union, leave EAW
WORCESTER – The contract between the Educational Association of Worcester and Worcester Public Schools expired at the end of June and bus drivers in the district are saying they will refuse to sign a new contract until they are allowed to leave the EAW...
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Going with the flow
ASHBURNHAM – A portion of Whitney Pond Dam, classified by the state as a “significant hazard,” was taken down because it could fail and cause severe damage downstream. The state announced the removal on July 14, a year after the center portion was...
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TOP OF THE TOWN
WORCESTER – “The cool, boarded-up place on a hill overlooking north Main Street.” The formal name of the house is unknown to many, rarely used. To historians and preservationists, it’s the Bowker House, dating to the 1870s and its original...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is July 18. On this date in: 1817: English novelist Jane Austen, known for classic works including “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma,” died in Winchester, Hampshire, England, at age 41 from what is thought to be either...
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Plug-in solar could help renters save on power
Worcester, like many cities, has a ton of renters. Home could be in one of the city’s 5,000 three-deckers or one of many new apartment buildings popping up like weeds. h Skyrocketing rents are the norm, but many renters don’t live in buildings with...
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Canadian wildfires create yellow haze in Worcester
An air quality alert was in place for all of Massachusetts Wednesday, July 15 as smoke from a large swath of wildfires in Canada and northern Minnesota blanketed the area. The alert is specifically for fine particles that present a challenge for...
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Honoring America’s founding
A teamwork approach to the Declaration of Independence, a document on which 56 people weighed in, was evident outside City Hall Tuesday, July 14, 250 years after Worcester publisher Isaiah Thomas recited the document, reading from a copy. A lineup of...
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Women’s wall of fame
WORCESTER – Muralist Sharinna Travieso has been hanging out with some of the city’s most prominent women. But not in the way you might imagine. Over the past several months Travieso and assisting artist Jennessa Burks have been finalizing the design...
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Political world pays tribute to Graham
WASHINGTON − Tributes for Sen. Lindsey Graham poured in from his colleagues early July 12 after the South Carolina Republican’s office confirmed his sudden death the night before. Graham’s death marks the passing of a longtime conservative fixture of...
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Trump picks hold near perfect record
With five months left until the 2026 elections, President Donald Trump holds a near perfect record when it comes to endorsing winning Republican primary candidates. In only a few cases has his preferred candidate lost this year, demonstrating that even...
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BUDDING BUSINESSES
The first foray that Lilac Hedge Farm took into the new Kids Market concept, launched last year in Massachusetts after successes on the national level, was so successful that the farm’s owner expanded the dates, with the next in August. h “It was a...
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FINGER-STICKIN’ GOOD
Jackie Dillman of Grafton and her daughters, Riley, 6, and Reece, 8, right, enjoy sticky yum buns from Bread Guy Breads on Grafton Common during the farmers market, which runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays. It’s the season for outdoor shopping, with...
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Dirty hands, good deeds
WORCESTER – Muddy knees, dirty hands and hard work are nothing for a group of Worcester-area teenagers who are spending their time getting down and dirty to help their community. WooServes is a program run by the United Way of Central Massachusetts,...
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Platner mulls future of Senate bid
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the head of Senate Democrats’ midterm operation, told Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, to immediately withdraw after a woman said he...
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Be Like Brit moves mission HQ to remote operations
WORCESTER – The Be Like Brit Foundation headquarters – with its big blue letters under a parade of gold stars – is closing its doors on Pullman Street, but the 16-year-old nonprofit is not ending its campaign of bringing hope, happiness, healthiness...
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‘A noble calling’
DOUGLAS — Kelly Manning has been named the town’s new fire chief, making her one of only four women fire chiefs in the state. “I’ve been serving here in the town of Douglas for 20 years. So I just look at this [being promoted to fire chief ] as a...
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SET ADRIFT
WORCESTER – The Haitian national anthem rang out at Polar Park on Thursday night, June 25, the French hymn for unity preluding the first pitch of America’s pastime for the park’s long-planned Caribbean Heritage Night. Just hours earlier, the U.S....
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RED, WHITE AND WOO
WORCESTER — The city’s annual Independence Day Celebration brought families to Cristoforo Colombo Park (East Park) for an evening of food, music and fireworks. The event, on Thursday, June 2, has an “America 250” theme.
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Did Anna Maria break promise to alumni family?
PAXTON – In fall 2023, a family with deep ties to Anna Maria College appeared poised to receive a “lifechanging” gift. David Roy of Paxton, an alumnus whose parents, court records indicate, owned the college’s food service for three decades, had asked...
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Violent incident spans two communities
BERLIN – Two men are dead – one in Berlin and the other on Interstate 495 in Lowell – after an incident that began Tuesday afternoon, June 30 with a shooting at The Shops at Highland Commons and concluded hours later about 20 miles north after police...
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High court upholds birthright citizenship
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on June 30 rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American, striking down the limits on birthright citizenship that were a centerpiece of his hard-line approach to immigration. The ruling landed...
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Worcester swimming spots, spray parks open
WORCESTER — Summer is about to become a lot cooler for the kids of Worcester. City pools, beaches and spray parks open Tuesday, June 30. Residents can cool down at the following locations: Crompton Park Pool, 50 Canton St. Bell Pond Beach, 238...
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Man of letters
WORCESTER – Longtime mail carrier Keith Amidon delivered his last letter Friday, June 26. He delivered his first 37 years ago. “I’m going to miss the people, the people that I work with and the people I deliver the mail to,” Amidon, 63, said the day...
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Closer to home
SPENCER – The Spencer Rescue and Emergency Squad will end its 67-year run as the town’s nonprofit emergency medical service at midnight June 30. But its building, equipment and many employees assuming the state’s highest court issues a timely approval...
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Trump sees wins on immigration, guns
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump victories in two immigration cases June 25. In the divide between gun rights and gun violence, the justices struck down another state law, this one in Hawaii, aimed at curbing guns in public...
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Amazon plant in Westborough builds robots to help fill orders
WESTBOROUGH – Whether it’s for an order of a pack of toothbrushes or a plush cat toy with a fluffy feather on it, machines used by Amazon warehouses are able to recognize the texture and shape of each package to independently sort them through...
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‘I knew we wouldn’t lose’
WORCESTER – Roughly 40 miles from the Worcester Common, a major cultural event was taking place for the city’s large Ghanaian community: Ghana was playing in the World Cup. In Worcester, hundreds gathered on the Worcester Common for a watch party, to...
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A badge and a crown
For Westborough Police Officer Ashlyn Mercier, crowned Miss Massachusetts June 20, the signs that it was her year to win were all there. The sash worn by the winner of the annual scholarship pageant was red, white and blue – the colors of the...
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U.S.-Iran war talks wrap ‘successfully’
The first round of peace talks between the United States and Iran in Switzerland “concluded successfully,” mediators said on June 22, after negotiations appeared strained over the Strait of Hormuz and persistent fighting in Lebanon. “The discussions...
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FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR
Mio George, 1, of Fitchburg gets one more berry to add to the one already in her mouth as her family picks their own strawberries on
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AMERICA’S BIRTHDAY
America is turning 250, but some of its greatest treasures don’t sit behind museum glass. h The awe-inspiring scenes that take your breath away and remind you of the beauty of our nation are hidden along winding roads, tucked into mountain valleys,...
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DOJ cuts grants, halting public safety efforts across U.S.
The United States is experiencing one of the steepest declines in violent crime in modern history, including a murder rate at its lowest point in more than a century. Homicides across 35 major American cities fell 21% in 2025, amounting to 922 fewer...
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SUV crash, shooting at Sturbridge hotel
STURBRIDGE – The Sturbridge police, state police and Worcester County District Attorney’s office are investigating a shooting at 400 Haynes St., the Sturbridge Plaza Hotel. A large hole is visible in the side of the hotel where a vehicle crashed...
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Man found not guilty in Worcester State killing
WORCESTER – A jury Tuesday, June 16, found Kevin J. Rodriguez not guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of Randy A. Melendez Jr., 19, who was killed in October 2023 on the Worcester State University campus. Lawyers for Rodriguez, 21, of Lawrence, had...
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