Fitchburg Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

ORCESTER — A local man pleaded guilty Tuesday, Sept. 30, in federal court to distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material he sent through the messaging app Kik, federal prosecutors said.

Sean Pettigrew, 50, of Fitchburg, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution and one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman set sentencing for Jan. 21, 2027.

Pettigrew was identified in April 2025 as a member of a Kik Messenger group devoted to child sexual abuse, according to prosecutors. He sent images depicting the abuse in private messages to an undercover agent posing as a group member, and a subsequent search of his account found he had sent additional files to other users on the app, prosecutors said. He was arrested in July 2025 and had been held pending trial.

The charge of distribution of child pornography provides for a sentence of no less than five years up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

Poll Shows Voters on Track to Retain legal Cannabis and 2024 Gun Law

by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Beacon
September 29, 2026

Massachusetts voters look like they’ve largely made up their minds on two of the highest-profile questions on the November ballot. They seem on track to retain legalized recreational marijuana and a sweeping new gun law passed in 2024, according to a new poll.

In a MassINC Polling Group survey (Toplines | Crosstabs) for CommonWealth Beacon, attitudes toward the other seven ballot questions were more mixed, with percentages of likely voters saying they expect to vote yes hovering in the high 40s and low 50s.

But the two final questions on the ballot are bucking that trend. Sixty-one percent of likely voters said they would vote no on Question 8, which if approved would end legal sales of recreational marijuana and create civil penalties for possessing more than a small amount of recreational cannabis. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would vote yes.

Question 9, a referendum on whether to keep the state’s sweeping 2024 firearms law, looks set for a resounding affirmation of the law, with 70 percent of respondents saying they would vote to keep it and 18 percent saying they would repeal it.

These two are also the questions voters seem most sure about, with just 11 percent of voters undecided on each. That is the lowest undecided share of any of the nine questions on the ballot.

“People don’t want to go backwards on these two things,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group.

“They might not love the Legislature,” Koczela said of voters, pointing to their strong support two years ago for a ballot question to audit lawmakers. “But they approve of what the Legislature did on firearms, at least.”

The survey of 800 likely voters was conducted online September 14 through 22. It has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Question 1, which would apply the public records law to the Legislature and governor’s office, has the support of 63 percent of respondents with 14 percent opposed. That’s lower than the support seen in a UMass Amherst/WCVB poll in August, which found 84 percent support for the measure with just 7 percent opposed.

The public records question is considered a natural heir to state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s successful ballot push last cycle to allow her office to audit the Legislature. That audit attempt, which the Legislature has vocally resisted, is stuck in a political and legal morass at the moment.

The CommonWealth Beacon survey asked voters to name their top issues at the ballot box in their own words. When the polling group reviewed those answers, guns and marijuana were the only ballot questions people cited as reasons to get out and vote.

“Those are your two marquee ones that were actually drawing people out,” said MPG vice president Rich Parr.

In 2016, nearly 54 percent of voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana. A decade later, they are being asked to become the first state to dismantle the market. The repeal campaign is led by the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts and is backed by the national anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which is funding a similar effort in Maine.

The ballot question would still allow adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of pot without criminal penalty, and it would leave the state’s medical marijuana law in place.

Question 9 is a veto referendum, a mechanism that lets voters decide whether to keep a law the Legislature has already passed. The 2024 law cracked down on ghost guns and 3-D printed guns, strengthened the state’s red flag law, and expanded the definition of assault weapons, among other changes. Gun rights groups gathered enough signatures to force a referendum but missed the window for the 2024 ballot.

Most of the other seven questions still lean toward a win, but by less, and with 20 to 25 percent of voters still undecided. That puts them in “kind of a gray area where it really could move,” said Parr.

Question 6, which would create a conservation fund that would still depend on legislative appropriation, has 56 percent support to 24 percent opposition.

Four questions failed to crack 50 percent support in the poll, or just made it over that line, which public opinion experts and ballot question veterans agree leaves the campaigns on shaky ground.

“It’s different than a candidate poll where the margin is the best predictor,” Koczela said. In ballot questions, “the yes percent tends to be the best predictor. And if you have a yes percent that’s right around 50, then you’re watching nervously.” What’s more, pollsters generally expect undecided voters on ballot questions to break toward the status quo.

Most of the ballot campaign money tends to be spent between Labor Day and Election Day, Koczela noted, and “you do kind of see support move the most just in the last eight to 10 weeks.”

On Question 4, allowing Election Day voter registration, yes holds the lead, 53 percent to 33 percent. Question 7, which lowers the lot size requirements to build single-family homes, has support at 51 percent and opposition at 24 percent.

Question 2, letting Committee for Public Counsel Services employees unionize, fell below half support, with yes in the lead, 48 percent to 25 percent. Question 5, rewriting the state’s revenue cap, is also narrowly below majority support, with 47 percent in favor and 26 percent opposed.

Apart from the two repeal efforts, Question 3 to create all-party primaries looks most endangered, even as the margin stays close. It had the support of 43 percent of likely voters, with 36 percent opposed and 20 percent undecided.

Despite the record-tying number of questions, and the irritation from Beacon Hill with advocates doing an end-run around the usual legislative process, voters aren’t eager to hand over their direct democracy leverage.

More than three-quarters of respondents said “it is a good thing for the voters to decide these issues” and just 15 percent said lawmakers should be deciding more of them.

With nine questions on the ballot, the pollsters said the usual rules may not apply. Campaigns will compete with one another for attention, which could blunt opposition spending.

“The numbers may be more sticky than they usually are,” Koczela said. “Or some of these undecideds might just not have heard about the ballot question and might be very persuadable.”

Many of those undecided voters face unfamiliar subjects, he noted.

“Some of these are esoteric issues,” Koczela said. ”They’re not all things like marijuana legalization.”

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Two Worcester County Firms Part of $40M Life Sciences Awards

WORCESTER — Two Worcester County companies were among 38 life sciences firms statewide sharing nearly $40 million in tax incentives Gov. Maura Healey announced Tuesday, Sept. 22, a round expected to create 1,644 jobs across Massachusetts.

• Eyepoint Inc., which is expanding in Northbridge, received $1,000,000 tied to a commitment of 40 new jobs.
• Rentschler Biopharma Inc., expanding in Milford, received $517,500 for 23 jobs.

Healey announced the full round of awards at SMC Ltd.’s facility in Devens, alongside Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Interim CEO Liz Graham. The awards were made through the center’s Tax Incentive Program, which supports companies expanding research, development and manufacturing operations in the state. Of the 38 companies receiving awards, 31 are expanding outside Boston and Cambridge and account for 71% of the new jobs expected from this round, according to the state.

“Massachusetts leads the world in life sciences because we invest in the people and companies that are creating the jobs, treatments and technologies of the future,” Healey said in a statement.

Since the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center was established, companies participating in the tax incentive program have committed to creating more than 22,300 jobs, according to the state. In November 2024, Healey signed the Mass Leads Act, which raised the statutory cap on the program from $30 million to $40 million and made other changes intended to strengthen it.

Recipients are required to maintain their job commitments over a three-year period and must file regular reports documenting jobs created. The program is jointly administered by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, which handles its technical administration.

The remaining 36 companies receiving awards in this round, all outside Worcester County, are listed below.

Pulse Magazine Founder and Political Advisor Paul Giorgio Dies at 75

WORCESTER, Mass. — Paul Giorgio, a Worcester publisher who once advanced overseas trips for Vice President Al Gore and later built a pair of magazines devoted to the city’s arts and LGBTQ+ communities, died Saturday, Sept. 26. He was 75.

Giorgio died surrounded by loved ones, according to his obituary from Mercadante Funeral Home & Chapel.

His partner of 48 years, Bernard Whitmore, described their lives as closely bound. “Like most spousal relationships, everything we did was intertwined,” Whitmore told MassLive. “He was my gateway to Worcester.”

Born in Worcester to the late Joseph F. and Rose (Arena) Giorgio, he graduated from North High School. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from what was then Assumption College and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Clark University.

Giorgio’s political work took him to Washington, where he served on the White House staff organizing international travel for Gore and helped plan events for the 52nd presidential inauguration, according to the obituary. He was also a member of the Democratic State Committee.

After returning to Worcester, he became president of Pagio Inc. and held business and real estate interests in the city. He chaired the board of the Worcester County Food Bank and sat on the board of the Worcester Business Development Corp. He also served with the Worcester Housing Authority and helped found the Shrewsbury Street Merchants Association.

Giorgio created Pulse Magazine, which spent more than two decades covering Worcester’s arts, entertainment and dining scene. He later launched Central Mass Pride magazine to serve the region’s LGBTQ+ readers. He recently sold both titles to Merit House Media, a Worcester company backed by Rucker Investments, according to the Worcester Business Journal. The Beverly-based investment firm is run by Worcester Railers owner Cliff Rucker and his wife, Susan.

Mayor Joseph Petty paid tribute in a social media post, calling Giorgio a dedicated public servant. “His commitment to our city, his generosity toward others, and his love for this community will not be forgotten,” Petty wrote.

Former Worcester Mayor Konstantina Lukes, writing on the funeral home’s tribute page, said she met Giorgio 40 years ago and called his political advice invaluable. “It will be a long time, if ever, that a political force like Paul’s will emerge on the political landscape,” she wrote.

In addition to Whitmore, Giorgio is survived by his brother Ronald Giorgio and Ronald’s wife, Dolores, of Shrewsbury; a nephew, Michael Giorgio; and a niece, Alexandra Kelly, her husband, Tim, and their children, Jack, Evelyn and Luke.

Calling hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, at Mercadante Funeral Home & Chapel, 370 Plantation St. A celebration of life will follow at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at the funeral home. Burial beside his parents in St. John Cemetery will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Central Mass Housing Alliance, 18 Chestnut St., Worcester, MA 01608, or online at cmhaonline.org/donate.

It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my longtime friend, Paul Giorgio.

Paul was a proud lifelong Worcester resident who dedicated so much of his life to our city and to the Democratic Party. He was a tireless campaign worker, a member of the Democratic City and… pic.twitter.com/tyLLnihX2k

— Joe Petty (@MayorJoePetty) September 27, 2026

Image courtesy of Mercadante Funeral Home & Chapel.

Worcester Community Foundation Awards $1.47M in New Scholarships

WORCESTER — Greater Worcester Community Foundation has awarded $1.47 million in new scholarships to Worcester County students pursuing college this year, the foundation announced Thursday, Sept. 24.

The foundation distributed an additional $494,000 through existing renewable scholarships to students already enrolled in college. In total, the awards include 247 new scholarships for high school seniors starting college this fall — 145 one-time awards and 102 renewable awards — along with renewable payments to 241 students already in school.

The scholarship program, founded in 1978, now includes 150 funds. Average awards have grown to $2,000 for one-time scholarships and $12,000 for renewable ones, according to the foundation.

The largest scholarship in the foundation’s history was awarded this year through the Becker Scholarship Fund: $104,000 to Michael Sobolewski to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Another Becker recipient, Aedan Gonzalez, received a $68,000 award to attend Assumption University, which will match it with up to $5,000 per year under a partnership with the foundation, bringing his total to $88,000. Vanessa Biddy, a Hoosac Valley High School student, received a $32,550 Grace S. Hampel Becker Scholarship to attend college in Worcester County; the Assumption matching partnership will bring her total to $52,550.

“These scholarships represent the hopes and aspirations of generations of donors who believe deeply in the potential of local students,” foundation President and CEO Pete Dunn said in a statement.

The foundation’s Harold R. Jensen Memorial Scholarship, one of its largest funds, supported more than a dozen students this year, including Nathan Lopez of Worcester, who plans to study biology at Boston University. According to the foundation, Lopez was inspired to pursue cardiology after his younger sister underwent multiple surgeries for a heart condition.

Another of the foundation’s largest funds, the Mary T. Cocaine Scholarship Fund, was established after the foundation received a $4 million gift from the Mary T. Cocaine Trust in 2023, according to the nonprofit news outlet Massnonprofit.org.

This year’s new scholarship recipients come from 66 cities and towns in Worcester County and beyond. More than two-thirds will attend school in Massachusetts, including 44 enrolling at institutions in Worcester County; UMass Amherst, Worcester State University, UMass Lowell, Assumption University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute were among the most common destinations, the foundation said.

Earlier this year, the foundation announced a new Scholarship Emergency Fund to help recipients cover unexpected costs that could otherwise interrupt their education. The foundation is partnering with the national nonprofit Scholarship America to administer the fund, which it expects to launch by the end of the year.

Founded in 1975, Greater Worcester Community Foundation manages a $270 million endowment made up of more than 650 named charitable funds and has awarded more than $186 million in grants, according to the foundation.

Worcester Offers Free Parking Ahead of Weekend Wind Storm

WORCESTER — The city will offer free parking at two municipal lots during an approaching storm, giving residents in flood-prone areas a place to move their vehicles, Worcester officials said Friday, Sept. 25.

The free parking applies to the lot at 40 Highland St. and the McGrath library lot at 40 Salem St., starting at 8 p.m. Friday. Normal rates resume at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, but vehicles already parked in the lots will have until noon Tuesday to leave without being charged.

The offer does not extend to any other municipal garages or lots, which will charge their usual rates, the city said.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for southern Worcester County, in effect until 8 a.m. Sunday, forecasting northeast winds of 15 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. The weather service said the advisory’s long duration, combined with heavy rain and fully leafed trees, raises the risk of downed tree limbs and power outages, and warned that the winds could make driving difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles.

Rain is expected to move in overnight Friday and continue through the weekend, with the heaviest totals expected on Saturday.

Worcester Council to Hold Hearing on City Charter Review Sept. 28

WORCESTER — The City Council’s Municipal and Legislative Operations Committee will hold a public hearing Monday, Sept. 28, on a review of the city’s charter, the City Clerk’s Office announced.

The hearing is set for 5 p.m. in the Esther Howland Chamber on the third floor of City Hall, 455 Main St. The committee is inviting residents to share ideas and ask questions about a possible charter review, according to a flyer the clerk’s office is distributing in English and Spanish.

Worcester has operated under a modified Plan E charter since January 1987, which established the city’s council-manager government, an 11-member City Council with six at-large and five district seats, and a popularly elected mayor. The charter was last amended in 2022.

The committee has previously discussed two distinct paths for changing the charter: a voter-initiated charter commission, which would require signatures from 15% of registered voters and election of commission members, or narrower amendments pursued through the council or special legislation.

Substantial structural changes, such as altering the makeup of the council, would require the commission route rather than council action, the outlet reported.

Residents unable to attend Monday’s hearing can submit comments to the City Clerk’s Office at clerk@worcesterma.gov.

Four New Brands Coming to Blackstone Valley Shops in 2027

MILLBURY — The Shops at Blackstone Valley announced Thursday, Sept. 24, that four new brands — Caffè Nero, Topcoat Nail Bar & Spa, Lovesac and First Watch — will open at the Central Massachusetts shopping center in 2027.

The four new brands are:

• Caffè Nero, an international coffee house chain;
• Topcoat, a nail and beauty salon brand;
• Lovesac, a modular furniture retailer; will open in two newly built, centrally located buildings at the open-air center. First Watch, a breakfast, brunch and lunch chain, will open in a separate location across the property.

Topcoat and Lovesac will open in two newly built buildings.

The two buildings are part of a nearly 35,000-square-foot expansion first announced in late 2025 by WS Development, the Chestnut Hill-based real estate company that owns the shopping center, according to the Worcester Business Journal. The expansion added 10 retail, restaurant and wellness tenants along with new walkways, landscaping and electric vehicle charging stations.

Yard House, a Florida-based restaurant chain, opened in one of the two buildings this past summer.

The additions follow the previously announced arrivals of Shake Shack and Sweetgreen to the same expansion, along with the recent openings of Apple, Coach, the food hall concept Wonder and the clothing brand Aerie.

Avvio Ristorante, an Italian-American restaurant chain based in Rhode Island, is set to open its first Massachusetts location at the center this fall.

The Shops at Blackstone Valley, at 70 Worcester-Providence Turnpike, spans about 788,000 square feet of leasable space and is billed by its owner as the largest open-air shopping center in Central Massachusetts. Other tenants include Lululemon, Warby Parker, Sephora, Ulta, Barnes & Noble, Kohl’s, Nordstrom Rack, Target and a 14-screen Cinema de Lux theater, according to WS Development.

Image courtesy of the Shops at Blackstone Valley

Mass. OIG Flags Audit Gap in Service Plaza Lease Deal

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General on Tuesday, Sept. 22, issued a required review of the state’s draft contract to redevelop and operate the Commonwealth’s 18 highway service plazas, flagging one “material objection” and recommending stronger audit rights, record keeping, and financial safeguards.

Under state law, the inspector general and the attorney general must notify the Public-Private Infrastructure Oversight Commission within 30 days of any material objections to a draft contract prepared through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s public-private partnership procurement process.

The service plazas project, a 35-year lease covering fuel, food, retail, and parking facilities along the Mass Pike, Route 95/Route 128 and Routes 3, 6 and 24, is the first time the state has used that process for highway facilities.

Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro said the draft contract does not explicitly state his office’s right to audit and investigate the eventual operator, which he identified as the report’s sole material objection. Shapiro’s office also recommended that MassDOT clarify that government access to records extends beyond investigations of noncompliance to include routine audits and reviews.

“The OIG acknowledges MassDOT’s meaningful efforts to use the ‘lessons learned’ from the initial procurement to improve its processes,” Shapiro said in a letter accompanying the report. He said his office was issuing its findings both to fulfill its legal obligation and to help ensure an effective procurement for facilities used by millions of travelers.

Shapiro’s office went beyond its narrow statutory mandate and produced a fuller review of MassDOT’s procurement process. Due to the scale of the project, his office opted for a discretionary full review step was warranted given that this marks the state’s first use of a public-private partnership for highway infrastructure.

That review recommended MassDOT consider requiring a performance bond to guarantee the plazas are properly maintained and handed back to the state in good condition at the end of the lease. Shapiro’s report also reccomended MassDOT adopt stronger record keeping to document project milestones and decisions.

The review follows a failed first attempt to procure an operator.

MassDOT sought a single operator in 2024 to rehabilitate and run the plazas, most of which are over 20 years old, under a 35-year lease with a 10-year renewal option. After a two-stage evaluation of six proposals, the agency’s Board of Directors voted in June 2025 to award the contract to Applegreen LLC over competitor Global Partners LP.

Global Partners sued in Suffolk Superior Court that September seeking to block the award, and Applegreen terminated its contract negotiations with MassDOT roughly a week later, saying the two sides could not agree on a final contract.

The inspector general’s office reported in February that the first procurement suffered from an inadequate conflict-of-interest disclosure form, an apparent employee conflict of interest, contact-rule violations, unclear selection criteria, weak scoring documentation, and other flaws.

MassDOT restarted the process in October 2025, announcing it would split the 18 plazas into three regional groupings and use the new public-private partnership commission structure for its second attempt.

The report released Tuesday found MassDOT has incorporated most of the inspector general’s prior recommendations into the new draft lease and request for proposals, including clearer revenue-sharing terms, operator accountability provisions and a closed, sealed scoring process to replace the live scoring used in the first round.

The report also found MassDOT only partially addressed the audit-clause and record keeping recommendations.

The state’s current service plaza operators — McDonald’s Corp., Gulf Oil and Global Partners — generated roughly $31.2 million in revenue for MassDOT in fiscal year 2023 under leases that expire between December 2025 and June 2027, according to the report. MassDOT has said it aims to have a new operator agreement in place by July 1, 2027, though the inspector general’s office noted the timeline for the oversight commission’s review has already slipped by several weeks.

The oversight commission is scheduled to meet again Oct. 15 before voting on whether to approve the request for proposals.

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

BHN to Hold Worcester Listening Session on CHL Transition

WORCESTER — Behavioral Health Network (BHN) will hold a community listening session Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Worcester as it takes over services formerly run by Community Healthlink, the organization announced.

The session takes place at the Central Community Branch YMCA, at 766 Main St, at 5 PM.

BHN executives and community engagement staff will lead the discussion, which is open to the public. The organization intends the session to gauge behavioral health needs in the Greater Worcester area and to introduce residents to BHN’s programs and approach to care.

BHN said it plans to hold additional listening sessions and will post updates on its CHL transition page.

Community Healthlink, a UMass Memorial Health affiliate that has served Worcester County for more than 40 years, announced in April that it would close because of years of financial strain. The agency served roughly 20,000 patients annually for substance use, homelessness, and mental health services.

State regulators approved a plan dividing its programs among several providers, including BHN, which is taking over the Worcester Community Behavioral Health Center. Other organizations receiving programs include Clinical & Support Options, Eliot Community Human Services, Mentor South Bay, Open Sky Community Services, and the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance.

BHN, founded in 1938, is one of the state’s largest behavioral health providers, offering mental health, recovery, crisis intervention, developmental disability, autism and family support services across Massachusetts.

Image Credit; Goog;e