GREAT BARRINGTON — Preservationists for a 130-year-old black church with ties to civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois have received federal grant money to turn it into a community center.
The Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area was awarded $389,000 Tuesday to restore the Clinton AME Zion Church in Great Barrington, near the New York and Connecticut borders.
The National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grants Program awarded the grant.
The building dates to 1887, around when southern African-Americans migrated to the area. It’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Du Bois was a Great Barrington native.
The church closed its doors in 2014 and the building fell into disrepair. A preservation group that bought the church said the restoration will cost about $1.2 million.
REVERE — The manufacturer of such iconic candies as Necco wafers, Clark bars and those heart-shaped Sweethearts decorated with romantic sayings says it will shut down and lay off nearly 400 workers unless it finds a buyer.
Necco CEO Michael McGee wrote in a letter last week to Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo the company would close its plant in the city north of Boston if it can’t find a buyer by May 6. Negotiations with potential buyers are ongoing.
Necco, which stands for New England Confectionary Co., traces its roots to 1847 and calls itself the nation’s oldest continuously operating candy company.
The company’s headquarters was sold last year for $54.5 million to developers who envisioned robotics, biotech and laboratory space at the site, with enough room to continue candy making.
BOSTON — Data shows Massachusetts police departments nearly doubled their ownership of stun guns from 2015 to 2016, with a record high of 1,084 uses of the guns in 2016.
The state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security reports police departments owned 6,008 stun guns in 2016.
The Boston Globe reports State Police have accounted for most of the increase, with officials spending about $1 million to buy 895 devices in the spring of 2016.
State Police spokesman David Procopio says the device gives troopers another option to resolve a confrontation before it reaches a point where deadly force is necessary.
Police say the device’s $1,000 price tag has kept some departments from buying them. Other departments, such as Arlington, say they don’t use stun guns over concerns about the optics.
METHUEN — A New Hampshire man is facing charges after police say he beat a woman following a car crash on a Massachusetts highway.
Joseph Falero, of Manchester, N.H., was arrested Monday on a warrant charging him with assault with intent to murder in connection with the accident last week on Interstate 93 in Methuen.
Massachusetts State Police say on the night of March 6 the 30-year-old woman’s car was sideswiped by another vehicle. Police say both drivers stopped and the suspect beat and kicked the woman when she tried to call police, then fled the scene.
Troopers found the woman covered in mud and snow and suffering from facial cuts.
From Associated Press