Massachusetts News

The snow has stopped but we are still seeing the lingering impact of it at Logan airport on Saturday morning. According to FlightAware, there have been 36 delays and 79 cancellations so far. This comes during a huge weekend for traveling as people try to get to their holiday destinations. Officials at Logan are expecting a busy but not record breaking weekend, as they expect 62,000 going through security checkpoints. “We usually stay at home the four of us and just have a chill christmas but the school break because of how the holidays fell this year was longer so we thought if we’re going to do the trip this year is the year to do it” said Joel Collins, whose family’s flight to Hawaii has been delayed and are worried about missing their connecting flight. If you plan on flying out this weekend, here’s a few things to keep in mind: Arrive with plenty of time to spare, around two hours for domestic flights. TSA recommends using gift bags instead of wrapping. Put liquid or spreadable foods in a checked bag. Travel 20 hours ago Another record for holiday travel: Drivers, fliers set to break six-year mark news 22 hours ago What a government shutdown could mean for air travel Weather Dec 20 FIRST ALERT: Rain, then snow Friday could impact holiday travel in New England

Two elementary schools in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood are merging, but parents and teachers are frustrated by plans to move students around during the school year. The Philbrick School and the Sumner School will join to become a single school serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, with a new setting in the former Washington Irving School on Cummins Highway. Fifth- and sixth-graders from Sumner have already moved to the Irving building, but it is undergoing a massive renovation project to be ready for everyone in fall of 2025. Those students will now move out, with some relocating to the Roslindale Community Center in late January. Get top local stories in Boston delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Boston’s News Headlines newsletter. In an email to parents, school officials say the general contractor has shared that the renovation project is at risk of significant timeline delays, and the students have to go elsewhere so that renovations can move more quickly. “Are people going to be buzzed in? Are they going to sign in? Is there going to be a secretary here from BPS?” asked Jennifer Dines, a Boston Public Schools teacher and parent who lives in Roslindale. She’s concerned about safety and security, worried about the public having access to the community center while school is also operating inside. “They haven’t even said it’s going to be secured,” said Dines. “They said nothing about that, just said, ‘Oh, there’s going to be this transition.’ I saw nothing in that email that this is how we’re going to keep children safe and secure.” “Due to construction that can be, at times, disruptive for teachers and students and in an effort to open the renovated building as close to on schedule as possible, it is in the best interest of our students in grades 5 and 6 to temporarily relocate,” Boston Public Schools said in a statement. “The three relocated classrooms in the BCYF Roslindale Community Center will be in a single, secure area with restricted access, which will allow them to continue their learning.” A community meeting is scheduled to take place after the holidays but before the relocation. It’ll be a chance for parents to learn more about the move and how it’ll work. “Moving students and educators mid-year is disruptive to the learning process,” said Erik Berg, president of the Boston Teachers Union. “It’s really not ideal, and we think this whole thing could have been avoided with adequate prior planning.” More on Boston Public Schools Massachusetts Dec 19 Woman accused of posing as Boston student in court. Is a plea deal near? Boston Dec 17 High school basketball opener canceled due to Boston school bus delay Dorchester Dec 13 6-year-old boy severely burned at Boston school

A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty to giving his dog fentanyl before stabbing the animal to death earlier this year. Jonathan Paluzzi, 45, of Kingston, received a sentence of five to seven years in state prison after entering a guilty plea to two counts each of animal cruelty and witness intimidation, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said Friday. Paluzzi was arrested on Jan. 31 after a 911 call to his Kingston Collection Way apartment. A caller reported hearing noises including shuffling and a dog whining, followed by silence. Police found the body of Paluzzi’s dog, a 60-pound bull-terrier mix named Brutus, with stab wounds. Get top local stories in Boston delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Boston’s News Headlines newsletter. Paluzzi was initially charged with animal cruelty and possession of a Class A drug. Authorities said that Paluzzi had tried to have Brutus euthanized by a veterinarian, but that animal care centers refused to do so because the dog was healthy. He then tried to poison Brutus by giving him fentanyl. When this also failed to kill the dog, authorities say Paluzzi fatally stabbed him with a set of bent grill prongs. Paluzzi’s parents told NBC10 Boston after his arrest that he loved Brutus and tried to give the animal up because he was trying to go into rehab. “They were joined at the hip,” Paul Paluzzi, John’s father, said Tuesday about his son and Brutus. “Anytime my son would leave to go out or have a smoke or he put down his dog food, he wouldn’t touch it until John came back.” His mother, Janice Paluzzi, said he wanted to combat his drug addiction, but realized his parents couldn’t take care of the dog on their own. “‘I’m sick and tired of getting high, taking advantage of you guys, and feeling like this,’ and he said, ‘So I’ll have to put Brutus down,'” she said. Paluzzi’s parents said he was high on fentanyl when he killed the animal, and that they’re praying he gets the help he needs. Prosecutors noted that the high end of Paluzzi’s sentencing range, seven years, is the maximum penalty for animal cruelty under Massachusetts law. More Kingston news Massachusetts Nov 8 ATF Boston urges security measures at religious institutions after recent arson cases Jul 4 Kingston church vandalized; Pride, Black Lives Matter flags destroyed Kingston Sep 23 Police chase ends when stolen car crashes into Mass. fire station

A man has pleaded guilty to 10 racially-targeted burglaries in four Massachusetts communities in 2021. The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office said Friday that 32-year-old New York resident Juan Castano had pleaded guilty to 21 indictments in connection with burglaries at homes of Asian and South Asian families in Newton, Wellesley, Andover and Quincy. A codefendant, Wendy Reyes, is due to face trial on April 14. “Juan Castano chose homes to break into based specifically on the ethnicity of the residents,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. “He specifically came to Massachusetts from the New York area to commit these crimes. His plan not only violated the victims’ sense of safety, but, in one instance, he created a physical threat for the family, including children, who were at home during the break.” Get top local stories in Boston delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Boston’s News Headlines newsletter. Four homes in Newton, four in Quincy, one in Wellesley and one in Andover were burglarized in June and July of 2021. Prosecutors say Castano scouted the homes by approaching the front door with a clipboard. “The perpetrators” broke windows and glass doors to get inside, the district attorney’s office said. About $200,000 worth of property was stolen from the homes, including cash, watches, jewelry and a gun. Investigators used geolocation and cellphone data to identify Castano as the user of an account that was on site at each break-in, authorities said. He faced a litany of charges, including unarmed burglary, breaking and entering, larceny of a firearm and larcenies in buildings. Castano is already serving a sentence of five-and-a-half to 11 years in New York “for similar conduct,” according to prosecutors, who did not say when that sentence began. For his Massachusetts crimes, he has been sentenced to four to five years in a sentence that will run consecutively with the one in New York. He must also serve three years of probation after his release. The district attorney’s office did not specify what burglaries Castano committed or why he targeted Asian and South Asian families. NBC10 Boston reported in 2021 that Newton police were investigating five break-ins that occurred between June 13 and July 10 in which all of the victims were Asian residents. Earlier this year, Ryan announced the bust of “a very sophisticated ring of homebreakers,” with the arrests of four Rhode Island residents suspected of orchestrating at least 43 break-ins targeting the homes of Indian and South Asian families in 25 Massachusetts communities between 2018 and 2024. Andover was one of the towns affected in that case. The people arrested in that case were identified as Jovan Lemon, Paul Lemon, Paul Miller and Steven Berdugo. “Those homes were being targeted largely because there was a belief … that because of their cultural heritage, those homes would have a lot of gems, gold jewelry, and they would have a lot of cash,” Ryan said at the time, adding that her office was looking into whether hate crime charges would be appropriate. The announcement of Castano’s guilty plea comes a day after federal prosecutors in Rhode Island announced a two-year prison sentence for 28-year-old Basneyareth Rebollar-Martinez of Stamford, Connecticut, in a separate set of burglaries targeting Asian homes between July of 2022 and January of 2023. U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary Cunha said Thursday that Rebollar-Martinez, a Mexican national, faces deportation after her sentence. He said she pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, admitting to working with others in burglaries in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, among other states. “Residences were targeted based on a belief that they would contain large sums of cash, valuable jewelry, heirlooms and other items,” Cunha’s office said in a press release. More on targeted break-ins Boston Apr 26 Police bust ‘very sophisticated ring of homebreakers' that targeted South Asians' homes in Mass. Sudbury Aug 3, 2023 2 home break-ins reported in Sudbury over 2 days

The snow that fell in the Boston area Friday evening brought several inches to a wide swath of the area — and half a foot to parts of the city itself. The winter storm hitting Boston Friday into Saturday had been expected to bring up to six inches of snow, and that forecast looked accurate, with various parts of Boston getting more than five inches, including Logan airport, according to the National Weather Service. Milton, just south of the city, had even more snow — 6.5 inches. Here's a look at your snowfall reports from the last 24 hours. Thank you to everyone who reported! https://t.co/10xTZHLSBD pic.twitter.com/ywgSx6OMNr— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) December 21, 2024 We want to see your pictures of the snow in Boston! Send them to shareit@nbcboston.com. For context, five inches of snow is already half the amount that fell in Boston all of last winter. Here’s how much snow fell as of Saturday morning, the most recent snowfall totals shared by the National Weather Service. Explore the Boston-area snowfall total map here. City/townSnowfall amount (in inches)Milton, MA6.5Fenway Park, MA6Beacon Hill, MA5.5Canton, MA5.5Westwood, MA5.5Walpole, MA5.5Needham, MA5.5Norwood, MA5.5Boxford, MA5.4Danvers, MA5.3Logan Airport, MA5.2Topsfield, MA5Cambridge, MA4.9Stoughton, MA4.5Dedham, MA4.5Newton, MA4.5Norfolk, MA4.5Boston, MA4.4Chelsea, MA4.3Brighton, MA4Randolph, MA4Seekonk, RI3.6Mansfield, MA3.5Millis, MA3.5Allston, MA3.3Brookline, MA3.2Rehoboth, MA3.2Wakefield, MA3Winchester, MA3Somerville, MA3Harrisville, RI3Blackstone, MA3Providence, RI2.8Vernon, CT2.8Weston, MA2.6Lexington, MA2.6North Attleborough, MA2.6Yarmouth, MA2.5Franklin, MA2.5Warwick, RI2.5Coventry, RI2.5Milford, MA2.4Tolland, CT2.4 More on the Boston area's snowfall Weather 19 hours ago FIRST ALERT: Snow totals for Friday-Saturday storm upgraded, 3-6 inches for some Traffic 18 hours ago Snow snarls roads, highways across Mass. amid holiday travel