Sobriety Checkpoint in Worcester County March 20 to March 21

WORCESTER – The Massachusetts State Police announced there will be a sobriety checkpoint in Worcester County from Friday, March 20, to Saturday, March 21.

Police are required to announce the dates and county in which sobriety checkpoints will appear. The checkpoint will appear on a public way within Worcester County.

According to the state police, the purpose of sobriety checkpoints is “to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness of the need to detect and remove motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways.”

A grant from the Office of Grants and Research, a division of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, funded the operation.

New State Loan Program Supports Accessory Dwelling Unit Construction

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey’s office announced the launch of a state loan program for homeowners across Massachusetts to add a second unit to their homes. The statewide accessory dwelling unit (ADU) loan program provides borrowing through a second mortgage of up to $250,000 to enable homeowners to add a second unit to their homes.

An ADU is a small residential living space located on the same lot as a single-family home.

The Affordable Homes Act, which Healey signed into law on Aug. 6, 2024, created the right for any single-family homeowner in Massachusetts to add an ADU attached to their home or a detached unit on the same lot.

The program supports the construction of new ADUs. The loan will carry a 5.25 percent interest rate with a 20-year term. Those with an income over 135 percent of area median income, around $165,345 in Worcester County, will not qualify.

Applicants must secure local permits and be ready to move into construction when applying.

“Expanding housing options for Massachusetts residents is one of our administration’s top priorities, and accessory dwelling units are one of the most practical ways to create housing and drive down costs in communities across our state,” said Governor Maura Healey. “This program will open the door for families to create new homes, support loved ones and strengthen neighborhoods across Massachusetts.”

Applications are now open at the MassHousing website.

Worcester City Council Approves $25 Million Loan Order to Pay Holden

WORCESTER – The Worcester City Council approved a request by City Manager Eric Batista to borrow $25.5 million to pay the Town of Holden during the council’s meeting on Tuesday, March 17.

In another item on the council’s agenda, Batista requested the council approve a $10 million transfer from an account for reserve funds for sewer service to an account for sewer maintenance.

In a letter to the city council, Batista says the transfer will allow him “the ability to complete discussions with the Town of Holden to address the final judgement rendered against the City of Worcester.”

Holden Town Manager Peter Lukes told Spectrum News earlier this month that “The time for settlement negotiations comes BEFORE the final judgment (and appeals), not after.” He also said that “The courts have spoken. Their decision(s) ARE the settled outcome.”

The attorney representing Holden, Christopher Petrini, told Spectrum that “every day payment is delayed an additional $8723.96 of post-judgment interest is added to the amount due.”

The City of Worcester owes Holden over $35 million for what a jury decided was “unjust enrichment” in August 2022, after an eight-day trial. Holden filed the lawsuit in 2013, alleging that Holden paid overcharged fees for sewage treatment. The 2022 judgement in the case awarded Holden $14.6 million.

Worcester pursued overturning the case. In April 2023, a Worcester Superior Court judge upheld the jury’s verdict. The finalized judgement at this time, including costs and pre-judgement interest, was nearly $27 million.

The City of Worcester continued to pursue appeals and asked the Massachusetts Supreme Court to review the case while interest continued to accumulate. In February, the court declined the Worcester request for review of the case.

By then, accumulating interest pushed the amount due to Holden to over $35 million.

Batista’s letter to the city council concludes with: “I will continue to keep the City Council apprised as terms are finalized and the impact on the Sewer Fund and rate payers is determined.”

Uxbridge Man Sentenced for Child Sex Abuse Content

WORCESTER – A federal judge in Worcester sentenced a local man for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Friday, March 13.

Scott Morrill, 52, of Uxbridge, received a sentence of 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release. Morrill pleaded guilty in October 2025 after being arrested and charged in April 2025.

According to federal prosecutors, Morrill used a Google account to store hundreds of images of CSAM. Google identified the use of its services to store the material and notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The resulting investigation discovered the content within Morrill’s Google account and on a computer in his home.

At the time of the crime, Morrill remained on supervised release for a 2013 conviction for distribution of child pornography, for which a judge sentenced him to five years in prison.

Lawsuit Claims Mental Health Discrimination in Worcester Emergency Response

WORCESTER – Three mental health organizations filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Worcester on Monday, March 16, alleging the city’s 911 emergency response program discriminates against children, youth, and adults with mental health disabilities.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Central Massachusetts, NAMI-Massachusetts, and the Parent-Professional Advocacy League filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city, alleging its 911 program violates Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Section 504 requires “that People with Disabilities Have Equal Access to, and an Equal Opportunity to Benefit From, the Services, Programs, and Activities of a Public Entity’s 911 Program, Including by Making Reasonable Modifications to a Public Entity’s 911 Program,” according to the complaint.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that calling 911 in Worcester in response to a physical health emergency, like a heart attack, brings qualified healthcare professionals like EMTs and paramedics to the scene. Calls in response to a mental health emergency, like suicidal ideation or post-traumatic stress episodes, bring armed police officers to the scene.

Unlike qualified medical professionals, the qualifications and training provided to police officers prepare them for maintaining public order, ensuring public safety, and promoting prompt compliance from the public, not emergency mental health response, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also cites a quote attributed to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Law Enforcement Policy Center: “the mere presence of a law enforcement vehicle, an officer in uniform, and/or a weapon . . . has the potential to escalate a situation’ when the person is in crisis.”

Estimated 35,000 Mental Health Calls

The lawsuit quotes Deputy Chief of Police Ed McGinn Jr., cited as telling the Human Rights Commission on July 11, 2022, that, “upwards of 25% [of] calls on a daily basis are people who are experiencing some sort of mental health crisis. We are the epicenter of all things social service here in Worcester.”

Based on the number of total calls reported in 2024, that would amount to over 35,000 mental health calls that year received by the City of Worcester Emergency Communications department, which dispatches calls to the Worcester Police Department, Worcester Fire Department, and Worcester Emergency Medical Services.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Emergency Communications Department has inadequate practices to serve mental health emergencies.

According to the complaint:

“Emergency Communications has no specific intake procedures for mental health emergencies. There is no behavioral health specialist employed by Emergency Communications who can triage calls or provide specialized intake for mental health emergency calls. There are no intake questions or protocols that are used for answering mental health emergency calls, despite the fact that Emergency Communications receives thousands of mental health emergency calls per year.”

The Emergency Communications Department’s protocols, according to the lawsuit, are also inadequate for responding to mental health calls. It says that the department’s procedures require dispatching medical personnel to calls reporting physical injuries, while calls related to mental health emergencies require dispatching armed officers.

The city’s dispatchers have specialized training and protocols for physical health emergencies, according to the lawsuit, but not for mental or behavioral emergencies, according to the lawsuit. It also alleges that the Emergency Communications Department has limited guidance for intake and classification of mental health emergency calls.

The lawsuit also cites several studies, including from both the state and federal government.

The “Massachusetts 911 Call Study” by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and the Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security (EOPSS), released in June 2023:

“A system in which law enforcement is the default responder to an individual experiencing a behavioral health crisis increases the potential of avoidable adverse outcomes for the subject, such as being arrested, involuntarily hospitalized, traumatized, or subjected to harm. These adverse outcomes disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).”

It also cites national guidance by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published in 2020, which says that “[p]olice involvement in crisis situations can provoke fear, anxiety, and trauma response or re-traumatization, particularly among Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) youth and families and those in low-income, segregated communities.”

SAMHSA’s 2025 guidelines for behavioral health crisis response, which is also cited, say:

“Communities that already face disparities in access to services and resources may be further marginalized through primary law enforcement response to behavioral health crisis and extended stays in emergency departments (EDs). Crisis responders may refer individuals in crisis to psychiatric inpatient services when they may have better outcomes in less restrictive and more inclusive community-based services.”

In situations of involuntary commitment under M.G.L. Ch. 123 § 12 (commonly referred to as Section 12 or “being sectioned”) the lawsuit says that the law prohibits the use of “any restraint that is unnecessary for the safety of the person being transported or other persons likely to come in contact with the person.” The Worcester Police Department’s Emergency Mental Health Procedures policy states that in cases of involuntary commitment ““restraint during transport is virtually always warranted.”

The full passage from the department’s policy:

“7. RESTRAINT, SEARCH & TRANSPORTATION:

Restraint:

Pursuant to MGL Ch. 123 § 21; any person who transports a mentally ill person to or from a facility for any purpose authorized under Chapter 123 shall not use any restraint which is unnecessary for the safety of the person being transported or other persons likely to come in contact with him. Since a person who is taken into custody pursuant to Section 12 has or is demonstrating a “likelihood of serious harm” as defined by Section 1 of Chapter 123, restraint during transport is virtually always warranted. In those rare and isolated cases where physical restraint is contraindicated, alternative methods such as close police guard must be used to insure the patient’s safety and that of the others.”

The complaint also alleges that the crisis response services pilot, which the city contracted with Community Healthlink to create for an 18-month pilot program, “was limited in time, place, and resources for its short, one and one-half year duration, failed to provide meaningful alternative responses to people with mental health disabilities and produced little, if any, diversion of 911 mental health emergency calls.

It also says that currently, the city has “no professional clinical health response for 911 mental health emergency calls.”

The City of Worcester maintains a policy that it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

See the full complaint.

See the Neighborhood Meetings This Week in Worcester

WORCESTER – The Worcester Police Department is encouraging residents to attend their neighborhood watch meetings to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in their neighborhoods and to share any concerns or questions they may have. Representatives from the city also regularly attend these neighborhood meetings.

There are over 50 Neighborhood Watch Groups in Worcester. Meetings are held regularly — often once a month in various locations in the city.

Contact the Worcester Police Department’s Neighborhood Response Team at (508) 799-8664 for more information.

Here are the neighborhood meetings this week in Worcester.

Wednesday, March 18

• Indian Lake Neighborhood Meeting, Worcester Business Center, 67 Millbrook St. – 6 PM

Thursday, March 19

• Mill Street Area Neighborhood Meeting, Stearns Tavern, 140 Mill St. – 6 PM

Wednesday, March 26

• Whittier Terrace Neighborhood Meeting, Whittier Terrace, 86 Austin St. – 4 PM
• Quinsigamond Village Neighborhood Meeting, Journey Church 46 Greenwood St. – 6 PM

Thursday, March 27

• Columbus Park Neighborhood Meeting, Stearns Tavern, 140 Mill St. – 6 PM

Wednesday, April 1

• Seabury Heights Apartments Neighborhood Meeting, 240 Belmont St. – 4 PM
• Coes Pond Village Apt. Meeting, Coes Pond Village 39 First St. – 5:30 PM

Thursday, April 2

• Lincoln Village Neighborhood Meeting, Victoria Building, 116 Country Club Blvd. – 4 PM
• Webster Square Neighborhood Meeting, Our Lady of Angels Church, 1222 Main St. – 7 PM

Mass. Launches Portal to Report Misconduct by Federal Agents

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced a new portal on the state website where residents can report unlawful actions or misconduct by ICE and other federal agents in Massachusetts.

According to Campbell’s office, the design of the portal will help the state track and identify patterns of potential misconduct, support affected residents, and inform possible legal or policy actions by the state.

“The people of Massachusetts deserve to know that their rights will be respected, their safety protected and their concerns about misconduct taken seriously,” said Governor Healey. “This new reporting portal will help us gather information, support residents and ensure federal agents operating in our state are following the law.”

The form for submitting reports also accepts both photos and videos.

See the portal for reporting misconduct by federal agents

Campbell’s office also announced the release of an updated version of her officer’s “Know Your Rights” guidance. The guidance includes updated information about holding federal officials accountable, the role of the Customs and Border Patrol agency, the rights of protestors, and other information.

Campbell’s office also maintains a page on the state website with information and resources for immigrants living in Massachusetts.

Image Credit: “Gov. Maura Healey” by Office of Governor Healey is licensed under CC BY 2.0

O’Connor’s Restaurant in Worcester Closes After 36 Years

WORCESTER – O’Connor’s Restaurant and Bar, at 1160 West Boylston St. in Worcester, announced through its social media accounts that it has closed.

Brendan and Claire O’Connor opened the restaurant in 1989, a year after immigrating from Ireland. In 2021, Taste of Massachusetts named O’Connor’s the most popular Irish pub in Massachusetts

In 2022, after over 30 years of operating the restaurant, the O’Connor’s sold the business and retired. It has since been owned by Dennis and Jennifer Maxwell and their son, Kyle.

Last week, a pipe burst inside the restaurant, causing it to close for several days. First announced as a temporary closure, a message posted to its social media accounts on Wednesday, March 11, said restaurant announced it would not reopen, citing the burst pipe and rising business costs.

See the full O’Connor’s farewell message below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by O’Connor’s Restaurant & Bar (@oconnorsrestaurant)

Opioid Settlement Payouts for Every Municipality Released

BOSTON – A new dashboard on the official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides details on the distribution of over $45 million from opioid settlements expected to reach Worcester County municipalities. The state also made expected payouts to each municipality available.

The dashboard shows that from 2021 to 2025, the state received nearly $340.8 million in opioid settlement funds. Of that sum, the state distributed $114.3 million to municipalities, with $13.9 million distributed to Worcester County. The remaining $226.4 million remains at the state level.

Worcester received the largest share of distributions to Worcester County through 2025, with the city receiving $4.4 million. The next largest recipient, Leominster, received $910,627 over the same time.

The state’s data also shows projected payouts through 2039. From 2026 to 2039, the state projects $31.8 million coming to municipalities in Worcester County. Those projections show Worcester receiving $9.9 million and Leominster receiving just over $2 million.

The two largest annual payouts to municipalities have already passed. In 2023, the state distributed over $42 million to municipalities. In 2025, that total increased to over $50 million in before dropping to just under $22 million in 2025.

Find the full list of Worcester County municipalities and the current and projected payouts to each below. Each column is sortable on desktop, or you may search for a specific municipality using the search feature.

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.