No pain, no gain. If you’re one of the hundreds of drivers who line up each morning on Halfway Pond Road waiting to enter Long Pond Road, you may want to repeat those words to yourself over and over. Because finally after more than a decade’s delay, the difficult and hazardous intersection is going to […]
Author Archives: Andrea Estes - Independent Staff
Posted inPolice & Fire
Big boom: State bomb squad detonates ‘unstable and hazardous’ materials
The Massachusetts State Police bomb squad detonated hazardous materials – including ammunition-making supplies – discovered in a vacant home for sale on Summer Street Thursday evening. Bomb technicians wearing protective gear safely removed the items from the basement of the century-old home at 132 Summer St. Thursday and took them to sandpits behind the town’s […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Judge rules Plymouth man shot by police in 2018 gunfight can proceed with lawsuit
He admitted shooting at Plymouth police, pleading guilty to 18 firearms-related charges. Even so, a judge has ruled, the imprisoned Michael Walsh can sue four officers who returned fire during a 2018 gunfight outside his Federal Furnace Road home, severely injuring him. “It’s outrageous that police officers who risked their lives and got shot at […]
Posted inGovernment
Badger was the only Democrat to vote in favor of auditing the Legislature
Newly elected state representative Michelle Badger was the sole Democrat this week to vote in favor of cooperating with Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s proposed audit of the Legislature. Legislators voted 24-127 on Tuesday to reject a Republican-sponsored amendment to House rules that would have forced compliance with DiZoglio’s audit. The plan was wildly popular […]
Posted inEducation
Special education director steps down after seven months on the job
The town’s top special education official has resigned — days after a parent threatened legal action against her. Christine Smith, Plymouth Public Schools’ director of special education since July, quit in early February, after just seven months on the job, according to town records. Her resignation came less than two weeks after a parent alleged […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Plymouth police officers to start wearing body cams
It’s taken more time than expected and a lot more money than initially set aside, but Plymouth police officers are finally being outfitted with body-worn cameras. The department, which plans to unveil the cameras soon, hailed their arrival in a Facebook post as “a big step forward.” “These cameras will enhance public safety, strengthen trust […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
‘The entire hospital is short-staffed’
A man showed up at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth’s emergency room one morning last month suffering from Covid and struggling to breathe. He remained in the ER for more than 12 hours while waiting for an intensive care unit bed. But at 1 a.m., the patient went into cardiac arrest, according to a report […]
Posted inBusiness
State agency says downtown bar served underage man who later died in a car crash
The Plymouth Select Board this week spent an hour debating whether the owners of Proof 22 should be punished for letting an intoxicated man enter the downtown bar and restaurant. In the end, the board — which serves as the town’s licensing authority — voted 3-2 against doing anything, concluding the alleged infraction didn’t warrant […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
With an assist from a sharp-nosed dog, police arrest three in two drug busts
Police believe there is less crack cocaine and fentanyl being sold on the streets of Plymouth today following two busts this week that resulted in the arrest of three men for alleged drug dealing. On Tuesday, they charged two Boston men after approaching a suspicious car idling on a Plymouth street, police reports said. Police […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Plymouth woman bilked out of almost $450,000 by scammers posing as Vince Gill
Patricia was a huge Vince Gill fan, traveling to the country music star’s shows and following him on social media. So it didn’t seem odd when someone purporting to be Gill responded after the Plymouth resident posted a message on his Instagram page in the fall of 2022 — “hope you come to Boston!” That […]