Crime, cocoa, COVID

The Patriot Ledger
·6 min read

We hope when this finds you Sunday morning that the storm wasn't as bad as predicted and that your back survived the shoveling. Go to PatriotLedger.com to see all our storm coverage.

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Thanks for reading. Thanks for subscribing. Have a great week, Ledgerland.

Now, for some news you may have missed this past week, as well as what we have brewing.

South Shore Plaza shooting

The shooting at South Shore Plaza has been one of the week's biggest headlines. Don't miss all our coverage:

South Shore COVID-19 cases dramatically down, state data says

We've started our weekly COVID-19 stories on the local number of cases again. See the town-by-town numbers on the South Shore here - they're way down, according to the latest state numbers. (Or see them earlier at Patriotledger.com every Friday morning.) We're also launching a Coronavirus Watch newsletter this week – to be delivered straight to your inbox each Friday morning. You can sign up here. In other COVID news this week:

Some South Shore high-profile cases go to trial this year. Here's where they stand.

ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS. From a Quincy woman charged with murder of her baby niece to a Weymouth man charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of police officer Michael Chesna and local woman Vera Adams, we have the updates. We have the latest on 10 big cases. Read the full story here.

Plenty to gobble up here – our latest food and drink stories

Two cases of alleged workplace violations in South Shore towns

A Norwell company may have to pay back more than $3 million to workers and lose lucrative federal contracts after the Department of Labor accused Clean Harbors Environmental Services and its subcontractors of not paying proper overtime and wages to nearly 4,000 employees. Read the full story here.

ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS. The federal Department of Labor is suing a Holbrook tree service over allegations that he failed to pay $82,122 in overtime to eight employees and threatened a teenager who he feared cooperated with investigators. Read the full story here.

Stories to look forward to this week

We'll have reporter Joe Difazio's sit-down interview with Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros and Police Chief Mark Dubois to talk South Shore Plaza safety and how their meeting with mall officials went – ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS, the latest on that controversial development on Rockland's "unbuildable" lot, an upcoming Hull medical marijuana dispensary and concerns over the redevelopment of a gas station in Weymouth's Jackson Square. And more.

Hollywood's local ties

"Boston Strangler" films at old Foster School in Braintree. And Elle Fanning stars as Michelle Carter in texting-suicide drama "The Girl from Plainville." Looking for more entertainment news – a local blues concert or maybe a play? Go to patriotledger.com/entertainment.

'Horror show' or clean soil at Rockland site?

Contamination questions linger for a proposed Rockland 40B project at the Shingle Mill site. Rockland Zoning Board of Appeals Member Greg Tansey says a report to the town was full of so many disclaimers and caveats, it may as well have not been written in the first place. Read the full story here.

Vote for your favorite high school athletes

ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS. Every week, readers get a chances to vote for an Athlete of the Week in various high school sports. Check out the voting opportunities any time at other sports stories at patriotledger.com/sports. Specific voting open now:

Sports pros make local news

There aren't many high school athletic programs with a former pro on its bench. The Archbishop Williams High girls hockey team is one of them. Doug Nolan, a Quincy native, was drafted 282nd overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft and played 12 years across the AHL and overseas leagues. Read the full story here.

Milton's Keith Yandle broke the NHL's Iron Man streak by playing his 965th consecutive game. (And not pro news, but just a great story about friendship that also involves sports: Hockey player Buck Finerty remembered with gift to Ulin Rinkin Milton.)

A story of brotherly love with the saddest ending

ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS. You probably remember the story of Whitman's Vinny Lirosi going missing in New Hampshire, then found dead in a marshy area. Initial police reports determined his death an accidental drowning. Now, you can read a new interview with his brother. And the latest from police.

“To me, he was the type of person to go missing and be found immediately, so I really wasn’t worried about it at all,” Giovanni Lirosi said. “I thought he would be fine.”

Read the full story here.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Your Week on the South Shore for Jan. 30, 2022: Crime, cocoa, COVID