Free Republic

Officials have asked Gov. Maura Healey to send in the Massachusetts National Guard to stop violence and address security concerns at a troubled high school in a city south of Boston, some school committee members said Monday. Four of the seven members of the Brockton School Committee backed the National Guard request amid teacher shortages and budget deficits, but city officials weren't unanimous in their support. The governor's office acknowledged the concerns about Brockton High School, where teachers reported fighting and drug use in the hallways, and verbal abuse of staff. “Our administration is committed to ensuring that schools are...

Another supermarket in Brockton is closing down, leaving a vacant plaza on Belmont Street, one of the main corridors into the city. Citing flagging financial returns, Stop & Shop said it plans to close its store at 683 Belmont St. on the West Side of Brockton after 25 years in business. It is scheduled to close on March 28, the company said. “Stop & Shop has made the difficult decision not to renew the lease for our store on 683 Belmont Street in Brockton, Massachusetts, as the store was not meeting financial expectations,” according to a statement from the company...

Brockton, Mass., is known as the birthplace of boxing legend Rocky Marciano. But with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushing for a $1 billion Native American casino less than 20 miles away, struggling blue-collar Brockton's competing casino bid might not stand a fighting chance. Brockton Mayor William Carpenter slammed Warren's bill on behalf of the Masphee Wampanoag tribe, which would override a federal judge's decision last year to block the tribe's plan for a luxury gaming resort in East Taunton. He says Warren seems to be acting on behalf of special interests instead of people like Brockton's struggling residents.

A Brockton mother of five fatally stabbed her 8-year-old son 50 times with a kitchen knife as part of a “voodoo” ritual, then went after his little brother when she thought she had “failed” with the older child, authorities said. “It came out ‘wrong’ with the first one and for that reason she had to move on to the second child,” assistant Plymouth District Attorney Jessica Kenny said of Latarsha L. Sanders, now held without bail for the murders of her two youngest children.

The first sightings of the ark in more modern times took place in 1856 when a group of English scientists climbed the mountain to search for the Ark. They asked a young Armenian boy, Haji Yearman, and his father to guide them up the mountain and show them the ark of Noah. Haji Yearman and his father did just that! This upset the scientists, because their object was to prove that the ark was not there. These scientists were atheists, and they tried to burn the ark. They said it would not burn, so they tried to destroy it, but...

BROCKTON — Firefighters driving to work at the Pleasant Street station on the edge of downtown started reporting interference on their car radios this week. Then on Wednesday, music started playing over the speakers in the station used for dispatching fire engines and garbling emergency communications. “In the station, those speakers are used to alert firefighters to an incident, and that’s how we get the type of call and location,” said Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Galligan. “Any interference is a serious issue.” Galligan called officer Scott Uhlman, the Brockton Police Department’s radio guru, and City Councilor Dennis DeNapoli to help...

BROCKTON— First came a barrage of gunfire last night; then a thunderous crash and fireball. Valter Monteiro and Adilson Tavares, two local men, were caught in the middle of it all. Monteiro, 24, was fatally shot as he attempted to drive a gray-colored sedan from a housing development on 433 West Elm Street. Tavares sustained life-threatening wounds and is listed in critical condition, authorities said. “I don’t know why this happened, my brother was trying to change his life around,’’ said Luis Depina, 22, Monteiro’s brother, speaking this morning in front of the family’s modest two-story home less than a...

Rep. Barney Frank to attend Brockton foreclosure prayer vigilSunday meeting also will update residents on homeowners assistance program By Erik Potter GateHouse News Service Posted Oct 23, 2010 @ 11:51 AM BROCKTON — Rep. Barney Frank and Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Barbara Anthony will join the Brockton Interfaith Community for a community meeting and prayer vigil Sunday afternoon. The purpose of the meeting is to update citizens on a new federal homeowners assistance program that was included in the Frank-Dodd banking bill passed in July. The meeting will be Sunday at St. Patrick Church, 335 Main St.,...