Stories

Spectators camped out in the wind and rain along Boylston St. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

The Crisis Of Confidence That Nearly Ended Des Linden’s Running Career

April 5, 2019

For more than three decades, no American woman won the Boston Marathon.

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Dan Evans is a forester at Pachaug State Forest in Voluntown. Along with a treaded vehicle called a "bombardier," Evans' job is to "hold" the fire. He watches closely to maintain established perimeter lines as seven acres of grass at Harkness burns. Photo by Patrick Skahill for Connecticut Public Radio

Snapshots Of A Controlled Burn On Connecticut’s Coast

April 1, 2019

Recently, part of Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford caught fire. But this shoreline blaze wasn’t a disaster. It was actually a carefully-planned “burn” aimed at preserving what’s been called the “last remnant” of eastern prairie in Connecticut.

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Veteran Steven Mandile make the first purchase of recreational marijuanain Massachusetts at Cultivate in Leicester. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR

The Clubby, Corporate Marijuana Market New York Wants To Avoid Is Right Next Door

April 1, 2019

Recreational marijuana legalization is stalled in both New York and New Jersey—partly because some lawmakers of color say the proposals don’t go far enough in making certain that the communities hit hardest by arrests from illegal drugs aren’t locked out of the newly regulated weed industry. Across the border in Massachusetts, experts and regulators say that New Yorkers are right to be worried.

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Angelo Paul Ramunni in his New England Accordion Connection and Museum. Photo by Carlos Mejia for the New England News Collaborative

New England Museum Houses Massive Collection of Accordions

April 1, 2019

Tucked away in the northwest corner of Connecticut, just a few miles from the Massachusetts border, stands the New England Accordion Connection and Museum Company. The museum houses over 600 accordions, thousands of pages of sheet music, and a juke box filled with accordion music.

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Sir Babygirl in her childhood bedroom in New Hampshire. Photo by James Napoli

Rising Pop Star Sir Babygirl On Her Rural New England Roots

March 28, 2019

Kelsie Hogue, a.k.a. Sir Babygirl, isn’t the type of performer you might expect to see in an old firehouse turned museum in rural New England. But Hogue’s been here for the past year, since she moved back in with her parents.

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This rack sorts the clam, and fishermen toss back any that are small enough to fall between the cracks. Photo by Sofia Rudin for The Public's Radio

Inside Rhode Island’s Quahog Industry, A Shrinking Workforce

March 28, 2019
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CMP's proposed transmission line would cross right over the trail Duane Hanson uses to get to his off-the-grid home near the Canadian border. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public

‘It Has Not Been Fun’ — CMP Transmission Project Divides Western Maine Communities

March 28, 2019

To get to the backwoods homestead where Duane Hanson started his family four decades ago — deep timber territory, 16 miles from the Canadian border — you have to snowmobile sometimes more than 8 miles in from Spencer Road in Jackman. Eagles and other raptors patrol the air above.

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"We're like a deer in headlights -- we're staring at other states around us and yet we're afraid to do it because we're a conservative state," said East Hartford resident Mark Titan regarding movement on the legalization sports betting. Photo by Frankie Graziano for Connecticut Public Radio

Connecticut Residents Bet In Rhode Island As Local Lawmakers Look For Ways To Cash In

March 26, 2019

Last year, the United States Supreme Court opened the door for states to make it legal to bet on sports. More recently, Connecticut lawmakers voted to send a bill that would legalize sports betting to the floor of the state legislature. But what could legalized sports betting look like here in the Land of Steady Habits? To answer that question, let’s take a look first at neighboring Rhode Island, which debuted sports betting in November.

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Tuoro Synagogue in Newport, RI. Photo by Shane McKeon for the Public's Radio

Inside The Touro Bells Dispute: How A NY Congregation Came To Own A Historic Newport Synagogue

March 23, 2019

A six-year court fight between America’s oldest Jewish congregation and Touro Synagogue in Newport, the country’s oldest synagogue, is finally over. A court ruled that the New York congregation owns the Newport synagogue, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal. It’s a head-scratching conclusion if you don’t know the history.

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Stop & Shop’s autonomous robot “Marty” patrols a food aisle at the store in Clinton, Conn. Photo by Robin Lubbock for WBUR

Cleanup On Aisle 9: Robots Arrive At Grocery Stores Near You

March 22, 2019

Stop & Shop’s parent company, the Dutch food retailer Ahold Delhaize, has started deploying robots named Marty to more than 100 Massachusetts locations.

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