Massachusetts, 25 Other States to Continue Fight Against Ticketmaster

BOSTON – Despite a pending settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell says she will join with attorneys general of 24 other states and Washington D.C. to continue antitrust litigation against the company.

“For years, Live Nation’s illegal monopoly has driven up prices, squeezed out competition, and left consumers with few choices and little recourse, said Campbell.. “The DOJ’s settlement falls far short of protecting consumers, artists, and venues from the harms that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have caused.”

Campbell said she will “continue to pursue litigation against Live Nation and keep fighting to protect consumers, restore competition, and hold Live Nation accountable for its illegal behavior.”

In 2024, Campbell joined the DOJ and 39 other attorneys general in an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, claiming it monopolized the live entertainment industry. The lawsuit alleged that Ticketmaster’s market dominance led to higher consumer fees, fewer choices, and less innovation in the industry. The lawsuit alleged Live Nation:

• Forced venues to agree to restrictive long-term agreements that require these venues to exclusively use Ticketmaster for ticketing;
• Threatened that venues would lose access to Live Nation-controlled tours and artists if they sign with a ticketer that is not Ticketmaster;
• Used its extensive network of amphitheaters to coerce artists into selecting Live Nation as a promoter instead of its rivals;
• Threatened rival promoters to attempt to prevent their entry into the United States market; and
• Serially and strategically acquired promoters, venues, and festivals to eliminate competition in the live entertainment industry.

According to Campbell’s office, LIve nation owns or controls 265 concert venues across the United States and manages over 400 musical artists. Ticketmaster controls primary ticketing for roughly 80 percent of major venues.

The DOJ and Live Nation agreed to the terms of a settlement on Monday, a week after the antitrust trial began in New York. The judge in the case must approve the terms of the settlement.

The Federal Settlement Agreement

The pending settlement agreement between the DOJ and Live Nation includes an extension of a consent decree the two reached in 2010 as part of the approval of the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The DOJ sought to modify that agreement in 2019 after it claimed repeated violations by Live Nation. It extended the agreement into 2025 and added an automatic penalty of $1 million for each future violation.

The DOJ and 39 states filed the antitrust lawsuit in 2024.

Teh settlement agreement between the DOJ and Live Nation announced on Monday includes:

• Eight-year extension of the consent decree;
• A cap on service fees of 15 percent of face value;
• Ticketmaster will provide a ticketing platform that allows third-party companies (i.e. Seatgeek, Stubhub) to offer primary tickets.
• Live Nation would divest 13 exclusive booking agreements with amphitheaters nationwide;
• Live Nation must divest ownership or control of 13 major amphitheaters across the U.S.;
• Live Nation-controlled amphitheaters must allow competing promoters to book shows and distribute up to 50 percent of tickets through other marketplaces;
• Live Nation agrees to strict prohibitions on retaliation against venues that choose a competing ticket service.

The states that did not join the DOJ settlement agreement and will continue litigation against Live Nation are Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Exclusive Interview: Potathan, Worcester’s Most Famous Pothole

(Editor’s Note: This article contains satire)

A local resident’s satirical posts on Reddit as Potathan, the pothole at the corner of Salisbury Street and Park Avenue in Worcester, has received attention from several city residents across social media. Some have posted some of Potathan’s content from Reddit to other social media sites, expanding the reach of the pothole’s first-person narrative.

You can follow their journey on Reddit here: Potathan Speaks.

This Week in Worcester secured an interview with the pothole that everyone is talking about. Here is the complete interview with Potathan.

1. What inspired you to get into holing?

I was born into it, really. But even if I hadn’t been, how could I have looked at these beautiful, neglected roads and not felt compelled to hole? I never would have pursued holing at UT-Divot if I hadn’t seen the private roads of Worcester. What kind of city even has private roads at this point? It’s a truly special place.

2. What are your goals for your career?

I’m focusing on acting at the moment (be sure to look for me in Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel!), but it’s my hole work in Worcester that keeps me grounded and most of my career goals concern ruining people’s alignments around town. This is where I feel like I’ll make a real difference.

3. How much do you think Worcester’s leadership has played a role in your growth?

I absolutely would not be the hole I am today without the city’s leadership seemingly being surprised every year when it snows here and never feeling any peer pressure to maintain Worcester’s roads as well as its neighbors’. I think they do a great job, though. I understand if residents don’t feel the same way, given that I get a lot more love and consideration from the city than they do.

4. Who are your inspirations?

A lot of holes look down to the Darvaza gas crater or Golly Hole, but I feel much more inspired by real dirt of the earth local guys. The holist who works on that low section of Webster St. underneath the bridge? Amazing stuff. It’s incredible holers like that guy who get me excited to open up each day and ruin someone’s morning.

5. What do you want the people of Worcester to know about you?

I want them to know that I really care about them: they’re the most important people in the world to me. There’s no greater joy in the world than hearing someone curse you and the city they live in after destroying their car’s alignment in you, and Worcester provides more opportunities for destruction than any other place I’ve known. Also, no, not all potholes are related, even if we look the same; we’re just peers who share a love of holing.

Potathan studied at UT-Divot (thesis was on the increasing the weight of vehicles and its impact on pavement vulnerability). They have acting credits that include Hole #3 in Michael Bay’s reimagining of Louis Sachar’s Holes and Field Hole in Goodfellas. Potathan resides and works at the corner of Salisbury St and Park Ave, where you can visit anytime throughout the day.

Image Credit: Google

As Gasoline Prices Explode, See 30 Ways to Increase Vehicle Efficiency

WORCESTER – As American and Israeli attacks on Iran continue, the price of crude oil, and by extension, gasoline prices are exploding.

Crude oil prices increased by around 30 percent last week, the biggest weekly gain since 1983. On Sunday, crude oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel.

Increases in gasoline prices followed, with the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded increasing over 15 percent in the last seven days. That increase is the highest since 2022, when gasoline prices increased 60 cents in the week following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March.

One week ago, on March 2, consumers paid an average of $2.91 per gallon of regular unleaded in Massachusetts. That price only increased a single penny over the prior month.

On March 9, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded rose 40 cents to $3.31 per gallon. Nationwide, the average increased 48 cents since a week ago. In the Worcester metro area, prices have increased at nearly the same rate as the statewide average, from $2.91 a week ago to $3.32 on March 9.

Tips to Maximize Your Miles Per Gallon

With the increased financial burden on drivers and commuters, AAA Northeast provides the following tips to maximize the efficiency of the fuel you use in your vehicle.

• Avoid buying gas when there’s a delivery truck at the station. Recent deliveries stir up sediment, which can clog your fuel filter.
• Annual tuneups and inspections are vital. Check your vehicle’s owners manual for recommended maintenance intervals and be sure to inspect suspension and chassis parts for possible misalignments. Problems such as bent wheels, axles, bad shocks and broken springs all create engine drag (and are unsafe when traveling at high speeds).
• Avoid overfilling your gas tank, which can cause spills and waste. Never fill the gas tank past the first “click” of the fuel nozzle.
• After filling up, make sure the gas cap clicks three times. Improperly sealed gas caps allow fuel to vaporize and could even trigger your check engine light.
• Properly inflated tires are safer, last longer and can improve your gas mileage by more than 3%, according to the Department of Energy. Check your tire pressure at least once a month and compare it with the recommended pressure listed in your owners manual and on the placard in your car door. Inflate your tires as needed and be sure to check tire pressure when your tires are cold. A good time to check is early in the morning after your car has been idle overnight.
• Save money with self-service whenever possible and choose to pay in cash if there is an extra charge to use a credit card.
• Keep your eyes open to find good prices at the pump. You could even apply for a credit card which offers gas savings when using the card for purchases.
• Keep windows closed when traveling at highway speeds. Open windows cause aerodynamic drag, which consumes fuel.
• Think ahead when approaching hills. Only accelerate before you reach the hill, not while you’re on it.
• Slow down! Although vehicle reach their optimal fuel economy at different speeds, gas mileage usually decreases rapidly over 60 mph.
• Both acceleration and deceleration waste fuel. Try to drive at a constant speed and avoid tailgating. The driver in front of you could be unpredictable, making you brake or speed up more than necessary. Plus, it’s dangerous.
• Use cruise control whenever possible. The small, more precise adjustments made by the car’s cruise control system will keep your speed constant and save you fuel.
• Even on cold mornings, avoid warming up your engine at idle. Today’s cars are designed to start and go, saving you gas.
• If you have a manual transmission, don’t keep your left foot on the clutch pedal while driving. The slightest pressure puts mechanical drag on components, wearing them down prematurely.
• Avoid driving along rough roads whenever possible. Dirt and gravel can cost you on gas mileage.
• Use alternate roads when they prove to be safer, shorter and straighter. Corners, curves and lane jumping all require extra gas. The shortest distance between two points is always a straight line.
• Traffic lights are generally timed for your motoring advantage. By traveling steadily at the legal speed limit, you increase your chances of getting more green lights throughout your trip. Pay attention to the lights on your daily commute and try to anticipate whether they’ll turn green or red by the time you get there.
• Gas stations near major highways often charge more for gas because land is generally more valuable in these locations, increasing overhead costs. Those higher costs are passed on to consumers. Before a road trip, fill up at your local station. If you must fill up near the highway, try stations near state border lines, which tend to price their gasoline less aggressively.
• Remove snow tires during good weather seasons; traveling on deep tire treads hurts your fuel economy.
• Operating the air conditioner on the maximum level can reduce your mpg by 5% to 25%, compared to not using it. Try to park your car in the shade so you won’t have to keep the AC working as hard. Turn off the air conditioning five minutes before you reach your destination.
• Remove excess weight from the trunk or inside of the car: extra tires, child seats, unnecessary heavy parts, etc. Extra weight reduces mileage, especially when driving up inclines.
• On large sport-utility vehicles and minivans, one of the simplest gas saving tips is to remove unneeded third-row seating. Some third-row seats weigh over 100 pounds. This is extra weight your engine has to deal with, which can waste gas.
• Carpools reduce travel monotony and gas expenses. They also reduce traffic congestion.
• Combining errands into one trip saves you time and money. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a longer multi-purpose trip covering the same distance with a warm engine. Trip planning ensures that traveling is done when the engine is warmed-up and efficient.
• Turn off your engine when your car is just sitting. Idling burns 1 gallon of gas per hour and will earn you zero mpg. You’ll not only save fuel, but you’ll also help the environment by not releasing more emissions from your car than absolutely necessary.
• Wax your car and keep it clean. This will reduce aerodynamic drag, thus providing better mileage.
• Walk between stops. Once you get into town, some of your stops may be near each other. Park between some or all of them and walk or park in the first spot you find. If you wander all over the parking lot looking for a really close parking space, you’ll use more gas.
• Track your mileage in real time. You may know what your consumption looks like from tank-to-tank, but that’s really not enough. Knowing the mileage you’re getting in real time and comparing it to what you got yesterday is one of the most useful gas saving tips you can practice.
• Run errands during off-peak traffic hours. These days, many offices offer more flexible hours, so errands can be run at almost any time. Avoid being stuck in traffic if all you have to do is leave 30 minutes earlier or come in 30 minutes later.
• Try to purchase vehicles that get good gas mileage. The difference between 20 and 40 mpg can be big for your wallet.
• Don’t use premium fuel if it’s not necessary. If your car specifies regular fuel, don’t buy premium under the mistaken belief that your engine will run better. Most cars are designed to run just fine on regular gasoline. Check your owners manual to find out what grade your car requires.
• Use your garage. Parking there will help your car stay warm in winter and cool in summer, so you don’t have to depend as much on your air conditioning when you drive.
• Try to avoid traffic on busy days or times when it is raining, windy or barometric pressure is high. Rain and high barometric pressure create extra air drag that uses more fuel to create and maintain forward motion.

Exclusive: AI Error Likely Led to Girl’s School Bombing in Iran

This Week in Worcester spoke with multiple sources who confirmed that the military’s deployment of AI led to the missile strike against the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, a city in southern Iran, on Saturday. Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said ​the strike killed 150 students. There has been no independent confirmation of that death toll.

The Pentagon is currently investigating the matter, and according to a report from Reuters, officials within the military confirmed the US’s potential responsibility for the attack. There is no evidence at this time that the U.S. military intentionally targeted the school. A compound near the school was previously associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

This Week in Worcester spoke with a Department of Justice appointee on the condition of anonymity, citing an ongoing and active investigation. “The immediate theory is that the AI program included the school’s position based on older, archived intelligence. The logic behind the launch, and the mechanics of who authorized it is unclear.”

This Week in Worcester spoke with a logistics programmer in the Department of Defense (DOD), who said that the department rapidly scaled up its use of a Claude-based system over the past year, integrating it with many core operational decisions.

“They are gung-ho about this program, and want to use it for everything. Most of their operational planning is done using this software, although there is some things we have designed in-house,” said the appointee.

The incident in Iran is currently under investigation by military investigators.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Reuters, “While the Department of War is currently ​investigating this matter, the Iranian regime targets civilians and children, not the United States of America.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in response to being asked about the incident: “We’re investigating that. ​We, of course, never target civilian targets. But we’re taking a look and investigating that.”

Multiple news agencies reported on the military’s use of Claude AI, made by Anthropic.

This week, the Trump Administration declared Anthropic a supply chain risk over the company demanding that the government not use its technology for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous vehicles. The military has six months to eliminate Claude usage. The administration signed a contract with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, after the announcement about Claude.

This Week in Worcester previously reported that AI errors led to delays in the release of the Epstein files, with many files being either mistakenly redacted or unredacted without human supervision. The same source there says that some of the files being moved on and off the DOJ’s Epstein website are, “being double-checked by human attorneys.”

Image Credit: Touch Of Light, The Pentagon, Headquarters of the US Department of Defense (cropped2), CC BY-SA 4.0

Grafton Man with Significant Disabilities Scheduled for Eviction March 5

GRAFTON – An eviction due to a mortgage foreclosure in North Grafton, approved by the Massachusetts Housing Court and scheduled for Thursday, March 5, will send a significantly disabled man and his sister into homelessness if it moves forward.

Esther Ngotho lives with her brother, Sam Gichuhi, at 10 Valley View Drive in Grafton. The home has modifications to accommodate Gichuhi’s disabilities, which require the use of a motorized wheelchair. He lives on one floor of the home, which accommodates his needs.

That floor is not at ground level. In the uncommon occurrence that Gichuhi leaves the home, he uses the backyard of the home, up a hill, to get to ground level and access to street level.

During eviction proceedings in housing court at the Worcester District and Superior Courthouse, at 225 Main Street, the housing court judge hasn’t appeared to consider Gichuhi’s disability in decisions.

In an effort to avoid her and her disabled brother becoming homeless on March 5, Ngotho, representing herself as the “next of friend” to Gichuhi, filed an emergency motion to cancel the eviction as life-threatening to her brother.

Ngotho decided to bring her brother to court for the hearing on her motion so that the judge could see the challenges Gichuhi’s disabilities present. A Grafton police officer and multiple Grafton firefighters helped dig through snow and ice to enable Gichuhi to reach a specialized van that accommodates his wheelchair.

The motion, made available to This Week in Worcester, appears to have merit.

Part of the motion relies on MGL Ch. 239 § 9, which allows for stays of judgement and execution for 12 months “in the case of premises occupied by a handicapped person.” The motion also argues that the court has already endangered Gichuhi’s life by failing to issue such a stay, as he has postponed life-sustaining radiation treatment for five months for uncertainty about his living situation.

The motion cites the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act in requesting reasonable accommodations for Gichuhi’s disabilities. It also cites MGL Ch. 239 § 10, which says that if the applicant for a stay of eviction “cannot secure suitable premises for himself and his family elsewhere,” then “the court may grant a stay.”

While the stay is not mandatory, § 10 also says that “upon application for such a stay of proceedings, the court shall hear the parties.”

After the effort to enable Gichuhi to get to the courthouse, and despite the apparent requirement to hear arguments on the motion, Judge Jeffrey Winik denied the motion without a hearing.

Suspended Due Process Rules

The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) issued a report in 2025, “Due Process Rights Rescinded in MA Housing Court’s Eviction Cases.” The report argues that in anticipation of the reopening of housing courts across the state in October 2020, after pandemic-related closures, “the Housing Court Division suspended for itself the Due Process Rules unique to eviction cases (Uniform Summary Process Rules).”

The official state website page for the Massachusetts Trial Court’s Uniform Summary Process Rules has the following note:

Note: Any provisions that are inconsistent with Housing Court, District Court, or Boston Municipal Court standing orders are suspended by Trial Court Administrative Order 21-2: Trial Court Order Suspending Certain Provisions of Trial Court Rule I: Uniform Summary Process Rules, effective June 15, 2021.

The report highlights 41 areas, over 121 pages, where the authors say the housing courts have eroded the due process rights of homeowners and tenants, as due process rights remain indefinitely suspended.

Grace Ross, a co-founder of MAAPL, says those due process rights remain indefinitely suspended.

Ross has assisted Ngotho in her defense against foreclosure. Ross also founded the Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team, which provides assistance to residents and homeowners facing foreclosure and eviction proceedings.

Like Ngotho, most defendants in housing court represent themselves. The MAAPL report says that 75 percent of defendants represent themselves in housing court, while landlords represent themselves in 25 percent of cases.

In mortgage foreclosure cases, the plaintiffs are typically banks or investors. In almost all cases, these defendants have attorneys experienced in housing law..

Worcester Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug Distribution Charges

WORCESTER – A local man pleaded guilty to drug distribution charges in federal court in Worcester on Wednesday, March 4.

Tong Tran, 35, of Worcester, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Charges were filed against Tran in April 2025. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Guzman scheduled sentencing for June 4.

According to federal prosecutors, in September 2024, Tran shipped a package from a Worcester Post Office. A search of the package found 2.4 kilograms of orange pills with methamphetamine included. The pills were concealed inside a children’s toy.

The wrapping material inside the package contained a partial fingerprint matching Tran.

Law enforcement searched Tran’s home in April 2025. That search revealed a pill press, binding agent and additional equipment used to manufacture pills, including pill dyes.

The search also located 3.3 kilograms of methamphetamine and around $8,000 in cash.

The charge of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million.

21 Attorneys General Demand Action from GoFundMe on Unauthorize Fundraising

BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined 20 other attorneys general in a letter to GoFundMe, a crowdsource fundraising platform, to express concern over allegations that the website created fundraising pages for over 1.4 million charities without their prior knowledge or consent.

The letter cites a report by an ABC affiliate in California about the pages being created.

The attorneys general said that GoFundMe creating the pages left the charities unable to have control of their fundraising or brand. The letter also said that included within GoFundMe’s created pages with the following issues:

• Inaccurate Charity Information: some pages provided inaccurate names, logos, social media sites, and charitable purposes of many charities were displayed on the pages created by GoFundMe.
• Disclosure about Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) Structure: some pages did not clearly disclose that contributions were made to a DAF sponsor rather than the featured charity, explain the nature of a DAF vehicle or its implications for donor intent and fund distribution, and thereby risked deceiving and confusing the public.
• Impression of Charity Affiliation: the overall page presentations likely gave donors the impression that the pages were operated by, or directly affiliated with, the named charities.
• Default Tip: GoFundMe’s donation pages may have applied a default “tip” of approximately 16.5% intended to pay GoFundMe directly.

The letter also says that GoFundMe may have violated various laws related to charitable solicitation and consumer protection in multiple states, including failing to obtain required consent, deceptive or misleading conduct, and insufficient or omitted disclosures.

They demanded that within 14 days the company provide proof it has removed all unauthorized donation pages, demonstrate the takedown procedures to remove the pages, and explain how it would modify its search engine optimization practices to ensure the fundraising and websites by the charities are not disadvantaged.

Along with Campbell, the attorneys general that signed onto the letter are from the states of California, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

GoFundMe provided the following statement to This Week in Worcester:

“GoFundMe is committed to helping nonprofits reach new donors by making it easier for the millions of people on our platform to discover and support the causes they care about. Nonprofit Pages were created using publicly available information to help people support nonprofit organizations, with donations going to the intended nonprofit.

After hearing feedback from nonprofit leaders in October, we acted quickly to make Nonprofit Pages fully opt-in, removed and de-indexed unclaimed pages, and turned off search engine optimization by default. The immediate changes we made in October directly addressed the concerns outlined in the letter received today from the state Attorneys General, and reflect our continued commitment to transparency, accountability, and partnership with the nonprofit sector. We welcome the opportunity to share with the Attorneys General the concrete steps we have already implemented in response to the issues raised.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 6 to include the statement from GoUndMe. 

Massachusetts Students Set Record for Passing AP Tests

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) announced that a record percentage of Massachusetts students who graduated high school last year scored a three or higher on an AP exam.

In 2025, 35.8 percent of high school graduates across the state scored a three or higher on an AP exam. That percentage is the highest in the United States and the highest percentage ever recorded. A score of three or higher out of five points shows that the student can complete the work required for an introductory college course in the same subject. Many colleges award college credit to students who score three points or higher on an AP exam.

Black students in Massachusetts achieved the second highest percentage across the country. Only Washington D.C. saw a higher percentage of Black students scoring three or higher.

Massachusetts students also took at least one AP exam at the third highest percentage in the country.

New York students had the second highest rate of scoring a three or high on at least one AP exam, with 34.4 percent. New Jersey (33.2%) California (31.8%, and Illinois (31.4%) round out the top five.

Across the nation, an average of 24.8 percent of students in each state achieved the same score.

The states with five lowest percentages are Kansas (11.3%), West Virginia (11.1%), Louisiana (10.7%), Oklahoma (10.7%) and Mississippi (9.4%).

Worcester City Council Celebrates Itself and ‘Miracles’ by WPD

The Worcester City Council took on the important task of staring at crime stats for nearly two hours on Tuesday, Feb. 24, both congratulating themselves for how wonderful they are and the police department for the statistics presented, which show reductions in crime in 2025.

The stage show reeked of a campaign commercial, full of very simple explanations that all, naturally, proved just how wonderful the police department is.

Councilor Kate Toomey, eager to continue to showcase she’s more a volunteer lobbyist for police unions than an at-large city councilor, won the kiss the ring contest, at one point saying that Chief of Police Paul Saucier created “miracles” in crime statistics while being around 60 officers short of the total the budget allocates to the department.

Nobody is upset about reductions in crime. The statistics presented by Chief Saucier are great news. Homicides down from 16 in 2024 to two in 2025. Other violent crime was down, as was property crime.

Saucier said the unit he began, which focuses on taking illegal guns off the street, seized 150 firearms in 2025. He also spoke about efforts in community policing, including a requirement for patrol officers to walk within the city and engage with residents as part of their shift. Those are good things.

With the exception of Councilor Khrystian King, who mentioned that crime statistics in the city are in line with national trends, there was no effort to contextualize the statistics.

Crime across the country trended downward in 2025. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, which tracks “13 violent, property, and drug offenses reported to police in American cities,” across 35 cities which provided homicide data, “the rate of reported homicides was 21% lower in 2025 than in 2024.” It also found that “reported levels of 11 of the 13 offenses covered in this report were lower in 2025 than in 2024; nine of the offenses declined by 10% or more.”

If we are to believe that the police are a primary force in preventing crime, rather than responding to reports of crime and arresting culprits, then why did some of the same councilors not criticize the department for the increase in homicides from six in 2023 to 16 in 2024? What happened between June 18 and June 21, 2025, when both homicides in the city occurred within a four-day span? Why did the police department allow this?

Nobody should ask those questions because they are equally ridiculous to the stage show put on Tuesday. Police departments can do some things to mitigate crime. A department cannot control the intentions of other human beings. To take the nearly endless variables that affect the occurrence of crime and boil it down to “police, good,” is just insulting.

Analysis Absent

In what should be surprising to no one, the council made no effort to evaluate the performance of the police department in any meaningful way. After all, some councilors in Mayor Joe Petty’s majority coalition inside the council actively participated in promoting Alex Jones level conspiracy theories about interns at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) writing its pattern and practice investigation report on the police department and imposter cops being the culprits that led to allegations of sexual assault in that report. Honest evaluation is not their agenda.

That’s the most infuriating part of the non-stop campaign run by some councilors. They are so busy proving their loyalty to police union officials for endorsement and campaign support, they have not even a remote interest in evaluating the effectiveness of the department in any meaningful way.

What does a meaningful evaluation look like?

I had no idea, so I dug in.. After a few hours, I came up with a series of meaningful metrics that would provide far more insight into the effectiveness of the department’s policing strategies. I have no doubt it is far from perfect, but it’s more effort than the Public Safety Committee of the Worcester City Council has put into the topic in over a decade.

I consulted the following:

• “Compstat: Its Origins, Evolution, and Future in Law Enforcement Agencies” by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance;
• “Measuring Community Trust” by the International Association of Chiefs of Police;
• “Measuring Performance in a Modern Police Organization” by Malcolm K. Sparrow, professor of public management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University;
• “Proactive Policing: Effects on Crime and Communities” by the Proactive Policing Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
• “PEEL assessments 2025-2027: Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy” by HMICFRS (UK)

Metrics that Matter

In each of these metric sets, reasonable analysis requires a rolling 12-month average, comparison to the same time frame in previous years, and broader historical data with breakdowns by district.

1. Safety Measured by Harm Caused

• Violence Trends: homicides, nonfatal shootings, aggravated assaults.
• Violence Hot Spots: Locations with repeat shootings, aggravated assaults, robberies, etc over multiple different time periods (ex. 12, 24, and 36 months). Is the list shrinking or growing?
• Serious Traffic Crashes and Pedestrian-involved crashes: Fatalities and Serious Injuries based on crash data, not citations issued. The goal is measuring harm, not police activity.
• Traffic Crash Hot Spots: Intersections and sections of streets between cross streets with multiple serious crashes over multiple different time periods, separately for crashes and pedestrian-involved crashes.

2. Quality of Service

• Response Time: Median and 90th percentile of each call priority level. NOT average.
• Call Completion: percentage of calls answered and handled without long holds or the calls being abandoned
• Repeat callers and call locations: Number of repeat callers over multiple time periods. Are the problems actually being solved? Is the number growing or shrinking?

3. Investigations

• Clearances: Rate of case clearance for homicides, shootings, aggravated assault, robbery, etc.
• Clearance Quality Audit Results: Case file audits to avoid cases cleared on paper only
• Victim Communication: Time to first meaningful contact, update communications. Including random sample audits, surveys, etc. Not only self-reported metrics.

4. Harm Minimization, Legal Compliance

• Use of Force: rate per 1,000 arrests, rate per 1,000 encounters, injury rate for civilians and officers.
• Resident Complaints: rate of complaints, not internal investigation results, per 100 officers, time to resolution, number of officers with repeat complaints over multiple time periods (Is the number shrinking over time?)
• Efficiency of Stops, Searches: Stops per 1,000 residents, percentage of stops that result in searches, percentage of searches that result in contraband, percentage of search results by type of contraband (gun, other weapon, drugs, etc.)
• Vehicle Stops, Occupant Removed: Vehicle stops per 1,000 residents, percentage of stops that result in an occupant exit order, percentage of exit orders by Article 14 justification, percentage of exit orders resulting in arrest. Rolling and historical.
• Charges Filed: Number of arrested individuals per 1,000 residents, percentage charged, percentage of cases pending, percentage of charges dropped, percentage of guilty pleas, percentage of guilty verdicts.

Make no mistake, the current makeup of the Worcester City Council will never demand this information or anything like it.

In 2025, the city settled two lawsuits for civil rights violations for $2.25 million. One man was held on a murder charge for five months. He couldn’t have been at the scene of the murder, and in no way did he match the description provided by witnesses. Another man, Natale Cosenza, served 16 years incarcerated before a Worcester Police officer gave radically different answers in the civil case than he did during the criminal trial about the most important piece of evidence in the case.

In Worcester, that’s not called perjury. That’s not called lying. That’s called heroic. You disagree? You just hate cops.

The officers involved faced no discipline for their actions in either case.

No investigation, not even a single hearing, by the Worcester City Council has taken place to try to determine how these things happened and present recommendations on how to prevent them from happening again.

Wrongful incarceration is a small price for someone else to pay for the reelection of the Mayor’s majority.

Mass. Inspector General Blasts MassDOT’s Procurement for Highway Plazas

BOSTON – The office of Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro sent a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) last week calling the procurement process to select a new operator for the state’s 18 highway service plazas “not a model procurement.” He also said that “no procurement of this size, scope, and significance should rest on a weakened foundation.”

In June 2025, MassDOT named Applegreen, founded in Ireland, as the winning bidder for the 35-year project contract. The company planned to rebuild nine of the plazas, and significantly upgrade nine others. Of the 18 state-owned plazas included in the bidding process, 11 sit along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Global Partners, another bidder which currently operates four plaza locations, claimed its bid was nearly $1 billion more than the selected bid from Applegreen and filed a lawsuit. Both MassDOT and Applegreen disputed the claim.

In September 2025, Applegreen said it was not able to reach an agreement with MassDOT and withdrew from the project. It cited “commercial realities” and “continued litigation threats from an opposing bidder that have jeopardized the project’s timeline and financing,” according to CBS News.

The following month, Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt resigned. Neither Tibbits-Nutt or Governor Maura Healey attributed the resignation to the controversy around the plazas contract.

The state extended the contract of the current leaseholders of the plazas, McDonald’s and Gulf Oil, until June 30, 2027, and relaunched the bidding process. They were initially to expire on Dec. 31, 2025.

The failure of the first procurement process will likely delay the project for about two years. The new, modernized facilities are unlikely to open until 2028 or beyond.

IG’s Findings

The review by Shapiro’s office included eight key findings, which were included in the letter to MassDOT.

1. MassDOT’s Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement was inadequate for selection committee members involved in the selection process to disclose relationships that could pose a conflict of interest.
2. MassDOT Undersecretary Scott Bosworth’s regular communications with individuals associated with Applegreen and its affiliates created the appearance of a conflict of
   interest that diminished the integrity of the process.
3. Applegreen affiliates violated Rules of Contact by communicating with a selection committee member to discuss the procurement during the period of no contact.
4. MassDOT did not weigh subfactors in the evaluative criteria, leaving selection committee members without a common understanding of the criteria.
5. Three of the seven selection committee members did not follow the instructions to record their scoring justifications on the evaluation worksheets.
6. The evaluation procedures did not address adequately whether and when it is appropriate for an individual selection committee member to reach out to other divisions within MassDOT and subject experts for information to assess a proposal.
7. MassDOT’s use of a live, in-person scoring method increased the risk of perceived bias in the procurement process.
8. The MassDOT Board of Directors subcommittee, the Capital Programs Committee, did not feel that it had enough information and time to approve the procurement.

Image Credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel, McDonald’s at Eastbound Ludlow Service Plaza Massachusetts, CC BY-SA 4.0