Worcester

9 Stories

Library Comes Up With Purrfect Way to Forgive Lost Books

Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts is granting amnesty if you bring in cat pics

(Newser) - A Massachusetts library has implemented a temporary—and arguably purrfect—forgiveness program for those who've lost or damaged materials they've borrowed. The New York Times reports on the "March Meowness" initiative currently happening at the Worcester Public Library: For this month only, borrowers whose library cards have...

The JetBlue Plane Landed, but Workers Had Gone Home
Pilot: 'I Have Something
Embarrassing to Tell You Guys'
in case you missed it

Pilot: 'I Have Something Embarrassing to Tell You Guys'

Passengers were temporarily stuck on board at Massachusetts' Worcester Regional Airport

(Newser) - The eagerness to get off the plane once it's landed is a feeling pretty much every air traveler can relate to. But for those passengers traveling on JetBlue Flight 676 early Tuesday, a weird problem: There were no JetBlue staffers at the airport to get them off the plane....

Police: Teens Threw Bricks at Cars, With Grave Consequences

Emanuel Oliveras was seriously injured

(Newser) - Massachusetts police say four teens hurled bricks at 19 cars while driving about the streets of Worcester on Saturday afternoon—with serious consequences. Police say Emanuel Oliveras suffered a number of broken facial bones and "very serious, permanent injuries" after a brick shattered the windshield of the car he...

Runner Finds Creative Solution to a Mix-Up

Massachusetts woman runs her own half-marathon after signing up for far-away race

(Newser) - A Massachusetts woman thought she was signing up to run a half-marathon near her home, not across the Atlantic Ocean, per the AP . Sheila Pereira learned too late that the Worcester City Half Marathon was actually being held in Worcester, England, and not Worcester, Massachusetts, on Sept. 15. She decided...

Massachusetts Woman Dies After Falling in Fire Pit

Investigators say she was unable to climb out

(Newser) - A Massachusetts woman died from severe burns after falling into a fire pit outside her home, authorities say. Jacqueline Cardinal, 71, was pronounced dead at the scene of the Saturday night accident in Worcester, MassLive.com reports. Michelle Gay, one of her two daughters, says her mother was outside the...

Church's 3K-Pound Gargoyles Go Missing

No one in Worcester, Mass., has a clue where the giant historic statues could be

(Newser) - A 119-year-old Massachusetts church that had been slated for demolition almost 10 years ago was saved by a local preservation society—but now no one can find the 1.5-ton gargoyles that used to grace its exterior. Officials for Preservation Worcester, the city's Historical Commission, and Liberty Church are...

Man Who Plotted to Imprison Child Gets 27 Years

Cops found dungeon in his Mass. home

(Newser) - A sentencing today in Worcester, Mass., makes for rough reading: Prosecutors say 40-year-old Geoffrey Portway plotted to kidnap a child and then imprison, torture, kill, and cannibalize him in his homemade dungeon, reports the Boston Globe . The feds arrested Portway and a co-conspirator before anyone was abducted and seized a...

Tamerlan's Undertaker: 'I'm Not Honoring a Terrorist'

Owner of Worcester funeral home believes everyone deserves decent burial

(Newser) - Burying Tamerlan Tsarnaev isn't for the faint of heart—protesters gathered last night around a funeral home where the Boston bomber's body was initially taken after the state released it —but Peter Stefan is determined to do it. "I'm not honoring a terrorist," Stefan...

Mass. Man Held in Rape of 2-Year-Old

Was supposed to be babysitting girlfriend's toddler

(Newser) - Massachusetts police have charged a 22-year-old man with raping his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, setting fire to her blanket, violently resisting arrest, marijuana possession, and a litany of other charges, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports. Christopher C. Mundell was supposed to be babysitting the toddler, and was highly intoxicated...

9 Stories