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On August 8, 2023, Associate Justice John F. Coffee, in the Lowell District Court of Massachusetts, wrote an opinion that found the charge of carrying a firearm without a license is unconstitutional on its face when applied to non-residents. The opinion was based on the Supreme Court decision of Bruen. The case involves a New Hampshire resident, Dean Donnell, who was charged with carrying a firearm without a license in Massachusetts. Donnell could legally carry a firearm in his home state. The court held the right to carry outside the home was at issue, and the conduct in this case...

There have been at least two cases where local judges in Massachusetts have held the license to carry law, which was passed in defiance of the Supreme Court Bruen decision and is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. On May 14, 2024, Judge Kevin J. Finnerty granted a petition against the denial of a Firearm Identification Card (FID). Without an FID, the License to Carry is suspended.On May 20, 2024, Judge William P. Hadley ordered Police Chief David Pratt to issue Randy Westbrook a License to Carry (LTC).The two cases are discussed in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly:Smith noted that Fall River District...

The Second Amendment case of Morin v Lyver, granted certiorari, vacated, and remanded back to the First Circuit, has been decided in favor of the plaintiff, Alfred Morin.In June of 2022, the Supreme Court published a clarification of how the Second Amendment should be treated by the Courts in the Bruen decision. Bruen gave clear guidance on how Heller should be applied. This was necessary because the Circuit courts had created a complicated two-step process that was used to sidestep the Heller decision. In Bruen, the court said the two-step process was one too many. The Court laid out a...

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Candidate for Springfield mayor Justin hurst is being accused of voter fraud just five days away from election night. In affidavits obtained by Western Mass News, the allegations from Springfield election department officials detail what they witnessed this past weekend during early voting at city hall. They described voters being brought to the polls and expecting cash after casting their votes for hurst. Hurst outright denied the claims that his campaign committed voter fraud and told Springfield citizens ahead of Tuesday’s election that he’s running a clean race. “Any accusations that my team paid residents in...

Massachusetts towns are facing a "reality check" straining to provide for crowds of migrants seeking shelter in the state, according to the New York Times. A report from the Times Sunday detailed how the small town of Woburn, Massachusetts, and other areas in the state have been struggling to meet the demand of the migrant crisis amid the state's "right-to-shelter law." The article characterized the locals’ plight, stating, "Barely two weeks had passed since the migrant crisis arrived in their city of 40,000 people, 10 miles northwest of Boston, but the volunteers gathered at a church in Woburn on a...

On the doorstep of a new year and on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler wants educators to greet each day in the Zulu spirit of Sawubona.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Tuesday declared a state of emergency as the state’s shelter system struggles to house newly arrived migrants without work authorization. In a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey blamed a number of factors for her state’s inability to cope with new arrivals. “This state of emergency arises from numerous factors, among them federal policies on immigration and work authorization, inadequate production of affordable housing over the last decade, and the end of COVID-era food and housing security programs,” wrote Healey.

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning antisemitism and stating that Israel is not a racist state, NBC News reported. The vote was 412-9, with 195 Democrats joining all Republicans in voting yes. Nine Democrats voted against the non-binding resolution, several of whom have previously denounced Israel as an “apartheid state”. One Democrat voted present. The resolution was a Republican response to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who over the weekend called Israel a “racist state”, before walking back the comments and stating that she had directed them at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s...

Capt. Samuel Whittemore, a seventy-eight year old American farmer, became a legend on April 19, 1775 when he was shot in the face by British soldiers, bayoneted at least six times, and clubbed in the head with the butts of their muskets. Armed with a musket and horse pistol, Whittemore had crouched behind a wall near his home as the British retreated to Boston through Menotomy.[1] As a flank-guard approached, he shot two soldiers dead and possibly killed one more. Inevitably, the soldiers discovered the old farmer and inflicted their wrath upon him, leaving him for dead. Certainly we all...

Amassive six-alarm fire ravaged a 160-year-old Massachusetts church, a blaze that the interim pastor believes may have been started by a lightning strike. An automated alarm brought firefighters to the First Congregational United Church on Main Street around 3 p.m. Friday. Sign up for our Newsletters Firefighters did not see any fire or smoke when they first arrived at the church, but when they went inside, they discovered smoke inside the steeple. The flames spread quickly from there and grew in intensity.

LEGO officials announced that the company will be clearing out of its Enfield office by the end of 2026.

Eversource: On Jan. 1, a residential customer using an average of 600 kWh will see an increase in their bill of approximately 26% compared to December.....The supply portion of your bill, or the cost of electricity (Basic Service), is significantly higher this winter because of record high natural gas prices, which are having the biggest impact on bills. This is especially true in New England where natural gas is used to generate much of the region’s electricity. [see comment]

In 2022, the officials of Nahant, Massachusetts, started noticing they had a coyote problem. The coyotes had become so disdainful of people they had snatched, killed and eaten three pets directly from leashes. Numerous other pets were killed and eaten. No one knows precisely how many. From December 15, 2022, abcnews.go.com: Local officials said eight to 12 coyotes inhabit Nahant, a densely settled town of about 3,300 people on a peninsula about 15 miles north of Boston. The animals have killed pets, including three that were taken straight from leashes held by their owners, said Antonio Barletta, the town administrator.Coyote...

A car crashed into an Apple Store Monday morning in Hingham, Massachusetts, according to emergency officials. There has been no official word on injuries, but multiple people could be seen being taken from the scene on stretchers. Many of the victims were taken to South Shore Hospital. What appeared to be a silver SUV was still in the store as of just before noontime.

Driving up prices are supply troubles with natural gas, used in New England’s gas distribution and electric systems. November is here, and so are higher utility rates for Massachusetts customers. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved suppliers’ new gas and electric rates, WCVB reported, with bills expected to rise after new rates went into effect Tuesday. National Grid previously warned residential heating customers that they could see their bills increase 22% or 24% from last winter, depending on whether they fall under Boston Gas or Colonial Gas. Massachusetts’ other major utility company, Eversource, similarly predicted that average residential...

The U.S. Supreme Court has shot down a Massachusetts gun control law, overturning a lower court's approval and returning it to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a determination that aligns with the high court's recent precedents. Fox explained that ruling was thought to be a "landmark" in 2nd Amendment jurisprudence, opening the door for a multitude of challenges to state limits. "The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not 'a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'" Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the...

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) does not plan to endorse the state’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, who is backed by former President Trump, according to a spokesperson. “The Governor and Lt. Governor [Karyn Polito (R)] said months ago they don’t plan to get involved in the gubernatorial election so they can focus solely on finishing strong,” Baker spokesman Jim Conroy confirmed to The Hill. “That’s still the case.” Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, who had the endorsement of former President Trump, was projected on Tuesday night to win the Republican primary in the Massachusetts governor’s race, beating out moderate businessman Chris...

Votes still being counted but election has been called

ANDOVER, Mass. — A portion of Interstate 495 in the Lawrence and Andover area was closed Tuesday evening, and video from the scene showed police with guns drawn. A witness who was stuck in the stopped traffic shared video from the scene. Advertisement The video shows police with guns drawn surrounding what appears to be a vehicle on the median of the highway. "There's about 12 different police vehicles, state police that are all across the highway," Gina Sabella told WCVB. "Everyone is behind their vehicle with guns drawn and some have helmets on. All of them have chest protectors...

In Massachusetts, the Attorney General’s office has issued guidance as to how agencies in the state may comply with the United States Constitution’s Second Amendment as ruled in the NYSR&PA v. Bruen decision. From the Massachusetts AG Guidance: The Supreme Court made clear in Bruen that States may, consistent with the Second Amendment, require licenses to carry firearms in public. Bruen, slip op. 4-6 & 6 n.2; id. (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (“the Court’s decision does not prohibit States from imposing licensing requirements for carrying a handgun for self-defense”).The AG office issues this further executive summary:It remains unlawful to carry a...