The Boston Globe
Takedowns and rising up
HOLLISTON — That saturday started before sunrise for East Boston high school’s fledgling wrestling team, a scrappy band of nine teenagers who boarded a bus and headed west into the suburbs, chasing a shot at the state tournament. They strode into the...
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Pressed for cuts, officials count the cost of zoos, libraries, rinks
The finances of massachusetts cities and towns have gotten so bad that one community can no longer afford to keep lacey the Amur leopard and other animals of the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro. Faced with rising costs and limited revenue, Attleboro is...
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Officer pleads not guilty to manslaughter charge
For the first time in more than three decades, a boston police officer has been charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting a suspect in a carjacking last week, a swift decision from prosecutors who determined the officer had no justification for...
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COST OF WAR COMES HOME
iran’s domestic energy sector came under heavy attack wednesday after airstrikes hit critical infrastructure used to generate electricity for its industries and homes, just hours after israel killed iran’s intelligence minister in another blow to the...
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Gardner mystery gets a little more fodder
is it possible that rembrandt’s only seascape, “christ in the storm on the sea of Galilee,” stolen 36 years ago from the isabella stewart Gardner museum in Boston, was delivered to mobsters in philadelphia in a chicken truck? That’s what an informant...
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‘Really hitting our schools hard’
Amanda crowley’s heart sinks every time she drops off hunter, her lively 11-year-old son with special needs, at Williams intermediate school in Bridgewater. The special education teacher assigned to his class was lost to budget cuts last spring, and a...
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Over the past decade, the life expectancy gap between Black residents and other Bostonians has doubled.
massachusetts residents are living longer than nearly the rest of the country, but in Boston you’ll find the life expectancy for Black residents is lagging far behind the rest of the city. The gap between how long Black residents are living compared...
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Six months later, fire in mulch still burns
wilmington — in September, the town of wilmington was alerted to a fire in a mulch pile at an old farm property at 333 Andover St. when the Fire Department responded, what they found was no ordinary mulch pile. it was more like a mulch mountain,...
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State goes big on early college as a way to cut student costs
Massachusetts leaders believe they have found an answer to the problem of students forgoing higher education because of the cost — help thousands of high school students graduate with college credits for free. Early college has been around for about...
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A family story finally unveiled
Tamara Lanier’s long odyssey to research her family tree all the way back to “Papa Renty,” made in a promise to her dying mother 16 years ago, culminated Wednesday when historic photographs of her enslaved ancestors went on display to the public for...
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It’s history
demolition has begun on Matthews Arena, the more than century-old home of northeastern University athletics and a former host of the Celtics and Bruins. it opened in 1910 and was recognized as the world’s oldest multipurpose athletic building and the...
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Boston graduation rates reach new high
High school graduation rates for Boston Public schools reached a record high in 2025, ending a two-year slide, according to new state data. But Massachusetts’ largest school district continues to lag behind the state as a whole in getting diplomas...
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Putting budget out of alignment
Glenn Wilder fixes cars for a living, and even he can hardly believe what it costs these days. Wilder is a third-generation car mechanic and owner of Wilder Bros. Tire Pros, a shop in north scituate that’s been repairing vehicles since 1907. And while...
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Trump demands ‘unconditional surrender’
A few days after the United states and Israel launched the attack on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, disbelief turned into perpetual distraction for hamid hosseini, a fourth-year PHD student at northeastern University. “to be...
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As war intensifies, vets stress human cost
American military veterans are voicing strong reactions about the intensifying war in Iran: support for confronting a brutal regime, wariness about the long-term consequences, and questions about government transparency and trust. In interviews,...
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Conflict spreads past Mideast
The 5-day-old war with Iran spread far beyond the Middle East on wednesday as an American submarine torpedoed an Iranian navy ship off sri Lanka and NATO air defenses shot down an Iranian ballistic missile that was heading toward Turkish airspace. The...
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No home for Gen Z
Eye-popping rents for small quarters. grocery costs that seem to tick up each week. a tough job market for new college grads, and, for those lucky enough to get hired, salaries that barely allow them to scrape by. There’s no question that gen zers in...
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Generating more heat than light
Worthington — helen sharron Pollard and the couple down the road, timothy sena and catherine Rudesena, had been neighborly for decades, stretching back to when Pollard picked potatoes on the senas’ farm to earn money for college. that is, until the...
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No more a shining symbol of city’s revival, mall faces dimming future
PROVIDENCE — Inside the former tiffany & Co. store at the heart of the massive downtown providence place mall, the jewelry cases remain illuminated, but empty. dust clings to the glass shelves where diamonds once sparkled. there isn’t a little blue box...
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IN THE MIDDLE OF A MELTDOWN
This is where mountains of snow from monster blizzards go to die: into a bubbling cauldron of steaming water atop an ungainly contraption of metal, pipes, and gauges that can eat as many as 135 tons of it an hour. “it’s a hot tub, basically,” said...
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Praying for a resolution
WESTWOOD — A brass bell rang out on a recent midwinter afternoon at the Monastery of st. Clare, calling together the property’s 11 nuns. Their monastic schedule starts at 6:15 a.m. with morning prayer, then Mass, breakfast, and meditation, much as...
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Piles and piles of work to be done
Travel bans have been lifted, airports have reopened, and many students will return to class Wednesday in Eastern massachusetts and Rhode island after a monster blizzard extended February school vacation. But the ravages of the historic storm are...
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Nor’easter tears across region
certain phrases strike fear into the heart of every parent: Please check your child for head lice. We still need chaperones for a field trip to an ant farm 50 miles from civilization; the bus leaves at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. and the biggie: School has...
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Patrons, owner rally to try to save vintage diner
SOMERVILLE — Through the windows of Buddy’s diner, the old-school 1920s lunch car with the big, friendly red-and-blue sign, you can still catch a glimpse of better days for this local landmark. since a plumbing issue forced it to close three years...
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Artists’ refuge is going to pieces
The cinder-block hulk on Atherton street in Jamaica Plain isn’t much to look at, a crumbling relic of another era in a now-vibrant urban neighborhood. inside the building’s drab walls, a vital piece of Boston’s Black cultural heritage is on the...
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Health care’s gains mask a sorry job market
the massachusetts job market has been treading water. Without hospitals and other health care providers, it would have drowned. Local employers shed a total of 4,500 jobs in 2024 and 2025. that’s not a big number in a state with more than 3.7 million...
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Mass. pot businesses fall short on equity
When recreational marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts, making the industry equitable was front and center. Groundbreaking programs were put in place to help communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs benefit from legal weed, and...
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Grief and disbelief after fall through ice
EASTHAM — they were former high school sweethearts, married for more than five decades, taking a walk on valentine’s day morning with their beloved black labrador along a remote stretch of Cape Cod. then a bystander saw their dog, Casey, soaked and in...
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For rural districts, a harsh math lesson
a dramatic decline in enrollment in massachusetts rural school districts over the last quarter century has created a vicious cycle of budget cuts and diminished academic opportunities for tens of thousands of students. from the Berkshires to martha’s...
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In bids to help save grandkids, they look to Mass. for assistance
After 17 years and 218,000 miles, Karen Gardner’s Jeep Grand cherokee died for good a few weeks before christmas. Without it, she cannot take her grandson, who is autistic, to the doctor, chauffeur her granddaughter to play rehearsals, or shop for...
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THE HEARTS HAVE IT
It’s Valentine’s day and there will be plenty of celebrating, particularly now that Boston is out of the freezer and endless winter for a few days. At stapleton Floral design in Chelsea, there was plenty to get ready for the big day, and Macy’s in...
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Slimmer pickings on midrange gym options
in downtown crossing, a budget gym membership at planet Fitness will cost you $15 a month. For something a little more upscale, your nearest option is the Avery street Equinox, where monthly dues are well over $200. At first glance, it’s a wide range...
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Want a crack at the Charles? Don’t.
Surely, at some point during this year’s supremely cold and icy Boston winter, you’ve been tempted. Perhaps you’ve glanced out the window of a Red Line train on the way to work, seen the frozen expanse of the charles River, and imagined yourself...
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seconds with firsts
The United States picked up three silver medals on Wednesday, with Southborough, mass., native Korey Dropkin and partner Cory Thiesse losing to Sweden in the final of mixed doubles curling but being the first Americans to medal in the event. Vermont’s...
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THE GREEN WAY AROUND
The “Frostival Ferris Wheel” has been lighting up rose Fitzgerald kennedy greenway in Boston. The 75-foot gondola Ferris wheel, next to the greenway Carousel, is part of meet Boston’s Frostival campaign and will be in operation on selected days through...
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FROM MAGIC TO MISERY
Santa Clara, Calif. — for the Patriots, this one had it all. all bad. bad bunny. bad offense. bad pass protection. bad quarterbacking. bad karma. Just a bad night all around for the heretofore indomitable upstart new england Patriots. Your Pats, who...
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In Gloucester, a familiar grief
GLOUCESTER — Ricky Beal, layered for the cold, walked slowly into the rear of a fishermen’s hangout near this small city’s historic harbor. Beal, a day fisherman himself, quietly took a seat close to his friends at the long, rectangular bar at the...
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New Englanders past and present come together on other coast
san FRANCISCO — They’ve come from Watertown and Lexington, or pepperell by way of Kansas; some are longtime transplants to northern California, or just moved here from Brookline. They are among the diehards of pats nation who have gathered in san...
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OUT OF THE RED
People departed the citizenm boston back bay hotel through a red rotating door on Massachusetts avenue on Wednesday. the one Dalton building was seen through the door.
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Pumping some life Into downtown springfield
The vision is grand. in this city with a reputation as a down-on-itsluck former manufacturing hub, where the median income is $53,000 and a quarter of residents live in poverty, in a spot where there are now boarded-up storefronts, just up the street...
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ICE transfer operations spark uncertainty and fear in Maine
families of immigrants arrested in a federal surge in Maine last month are scrambling to find out even basic information about their loved ones, as the government swiftly transfers them to detention facilities hundreds of miles away. Erik...
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‘Help us understand this loss’
GLOUCESTER — Every pew and standing space at Saint ann Church in this coastal city was filled Sunday with parishioners and members of the tight-knit fishing community. They came, church leaders said, to honor “the families and all of those who have...
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As country rages, a closer look
the Justice Department said it has opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Alex pretti, a significant reversal in the department’s approach to his death that comes as masses of protesters took to frigid streets in Minneapolis,...
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We’re not ready for her close-up
Are you excited to see “melania”? not “moana” — “melania,” the new documentary about first lady melania Trump. The consensus, in most parts of deepblue massachusetts, is an emphatic no. But don’t be surprised if the movie, which arrives in theaters...
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A year after tragedy, the pain lives on
On Jan. 29, 2025, 67 people were killed when their flight collided with an army helicopter in washington. among the victims were several people affiliated with the skating club of boston: skater spencer Lane (left); husband-and-wife coaches Evgenia...
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‘I want my mom’
biddeford, maine — five-year-old keyli camila espin Vaca expected her mother to come pick her up after school on friday, just as she always did. but her mother never came. mayra Vaca Latacunga, 25, had dropped camila off at the biddeford primary school...
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A bone-chillin’, slip-smackin’, glorious return to Super Bowl
DENVER — It was just about suppertime back in snowy new England when patriot sophomore quarterback drake Maye effectively ended the afc championship game in snowy denver. With less than two minutes to play, on third and 5 from his own 41, Maye took the...
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A storm for the ages
a behemoth of a storm system thousands of miles wide and stretching across three time zones is headed to New england on sunday, expected to dump as much as 2 feet of snow in parts during one of the deepest cold spells of the season. it will be the...
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Maine officials get no answers on ICE
LEWISTON, Maine — Officials across Maine took a public stand against the Trump administration on Thursday, denouncing its enforcement tactics as immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carry out a sweeping immigration operation in the state. “in...
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LGBTQ hockey players, fans revel in TV show’s moment
On Thursday night, Td Garden will be bathed in rainbow lights, and the Boston Bruins will festoon their sticks with rainbowcolored pride Tape to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during their annual hockey is for Everyone night. The event, which began...
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‘I thought I was going to die’ in Brown attack
providence — with a broad smile on his face, but a bullet still lodged in his leg, spencer yang returned to Brown University on Monday, 38 days after he was wounded in a mass shooting on campus that killed two fellow students and wounded another eight...
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The 411 on complaints to Boston’s 311 system
A 500-square-foot apartment rents for $3,400 here. Leggings are $100. seafood curry is $43. And parking in this high-end slice of the seaport? Well, that’s oftentimes worth a complaint to 311. during 2025, a stretch of Congress street was the most...
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An ugly win gives Patriots a beautiful shot at Super bowl
foxborough — Playing for three-plus hours in what we like to call “wintry mix,” the Patriots beat the dome-home houston texans, 28-16, at gillette on sunday and will face the top-seeded denver broncos in the afc championship game at mile high next...
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picturing the bicentennial
Old cameras, tripods, portraits on a brick wall, and stacks of narrow trays with more than a million slides are all around the eclectic East Boston home and studio of photographer Lou Jones. he’s taken pictures of Central American war zones, 13...
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A memorable breakthrough
QUINCY — brigadier general Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse II, a Roxbury native and one of the last surviving Tuskegee airmen, celebrated his 99th birthday Wednesday in Quincy, surrounded by longtime friends and fellow patriots — and a giant gingerbread cookie...
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Trump faces blowback as probe of Fed chief roils Washington
Washington — With Americans still struggling with the high cost of living, President Trump has scrambled recently to show he’s working on the problem: calling for a cap on credit card interest rates, touting efforts to make housing more affordable, and...
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IT’S Official, THEY ARE READY TO SERVE
Top, Jabulani D. Lindsay with his son, Kenzo, 2; daughter, Janiyah, 5; and sister Tamauya Lindsay, as Police Commissioner Michael A. Cox looked on at the graduation ceremony Friday for the boston Police Department Recruit Class 66-25. Left, a cheering...
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For relatives of overdose victims, some much-needed help
At times, sandra spadafora feels trapped in the memory of the september afternoon in 2019, when she learned her 33-year-old son, Andrew brown, had gone missing. there were frantic calls to boston area hospitals and drug detoxification centers before a...
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THE FLU IS BACK. AND IT’S SURGING.
Massachusetts is experiencing a sharp, unusually fast-moving surge of flu illnesses, with cases and hospitalizations climbing to “very high” levels that are well above what physicians typically expect at this point in the winter. the state is on high...
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Maduro, calling self a POW, arraigned as drug kingpin
two days after being ripped from a compound in caracas, venezuela, nicolás Maduro, the captive president of venezuela, appeared in a new york city courthouse and pleaded not guilty to federal charges, declaring himself a “prisoner of war.” Maduro, who...
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For these homeowners, new Cape bridge exacts own cost
Joyce michaud never envisioned having to surrender her Cape Cod home and the views it offered of the sagamore Bridge. But in about a week, she’ll have to. Down the street, Dave Collins won’t have to give up his house — but wonders if it would be...
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charities see intimidation in harder mass. cass line
it was approaching noon on the frigid saturday before Christmas when a caravan of vehicles packed to their ceilings with backpacks of winter clothing, hygiene products, and the opioid-reversal drug narcan arrived near the troubled intersection of...
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When police are allowed to police themselves
Prosecutor brooke hartley was 18 seconds into her defense of a fentanyl bust when a judge interrupted. he wanted to know if boston police had really refused to tell the district attorney almost anything about the confidential informant at the heart of...
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With warm memories, skating club carries on after tragedy
For the late Jinna Han, the Skating club of boston’s annual First night performance at boston common was a chance to show off the skills that had made her a rising star in competitive figure skating at just 13. “She was born to captivate a crowd,”...
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With a journalist’s voice, she wrote of family’s latest tragedy
Tatiana schlossberg, an environmental journalist and a daughter of caroline kennedy — and granddaughter of president John f. kennedy — whose harrowing essay about her rare and aggressive blood cancer drew worldwide sympathy and praise for Ms....
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At last, their day in the sun
It was particularly cold and windy for a November day, but that didn’t matter to Ginger Gonsalves and becky Kelliher. The sun was out, and no one counted the seconds in the open air. No one suggested retreating inside. “I don’t know why my eyes water...
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$100,000 H-1B visa fee could gut special education at schools
When president trump announced this fall that employers would have to start paying $100,000 to hire foreign-born workers on an h-1b visa, he focused on big companies like amazon and google being “very happy” to pay. at the higashi school in Randolph,...
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In a race to save the oceans’ diversity
nahant — On a rocky outcropping a few miles northeast of boston harbor, scientists are racing to build a library of tissue and dna from ocean creatures — before it is too late. It’s a last-ditch effort. as global warming drives ocean temperatures ever...
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A couple little miracles
Abby Wood had wanted to be a mother for as long as she could remember. “Ever since i was little, i used to play teacher, and i used to play mom,” she said. What she didn’t expect was how much would stand in the way. Wood, of Epping, n.h., began...
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THE JOYS OF TOYS
Jeremias Dacosta, 5, laughed with santa (otherwise known as William schaaf ) at the annual Menino toy Drive on Wednesday. Dacosta’s family was one of 300 who received free holiday gifts at the Catholic Charities teen Center at st. Peter’s parish in...
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Keeping the flame burning
south DEERFIELD — it might seem like the world is falling apart sometimes, but there is one place where “it’s always Christmas,” just like the sign says, and that’s the scented-candle flagship store known as yankee Candle village. people come to this...
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As chaos, peril gripped Brown, these firefighters charged in
Providence — Two young students were on the pavement of manning walk, bleeding from gunshot wounds. Bystanders sought to comfort them, trying to reassure them as the students groaned in agony. They would be OK. One took off his shirt and pressed it...
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O’ holy-moly Night!
ipswich — it started small. That’s what they all say, when asked how it got beyond big. rich Galicki used to decorate his family home with his mother, and a few times they even won a silver bowl that used to be given out for the best holiday display...
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