WORCESTER COUNTY

The state of Massachusetts has appointed a new receiver to oversee the Southbridge schools. He'll be the latest in a string of leaders who have tried to improve the district.

The Exchange Street Bridge, in Athol, Mass., remains closed after a chunk of ice hit the bridge over the weekend. 

Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien says time is running out to strike a deal with the PawSox and keep the baseball team in Rhode Island. Grebien said that if lawmakers fail to approve the latest proposal on the table, Pawtucket is ready to take matters into its own hands.

GOP lawmakers in Massachusetts are celebrating a seat gained after a special election Tuesday. 

Worcester is the ideal Massachusetts location for Amazon to build a second headquarters and the technology company could help pay for high-speed rail linking both ends of the state, gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren said Friday.

Worcester's mayor said he's hoping school bus drivers in his city vote on Wednesday to accept a five-year contract.

The bus drivers nearly went on strike this week, which could have delayed the first day of school in Worcester. But Mayor Joseph Petty said he asked union leadership to keep talking.

They did and now have a deal, although union members still must approve it.

"My understand [is] it's a good contract," Petty said. "So hopefully they will ratify it, and we won't have to worry about the buses...not running."

Updated at 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2017: A statement from the mayor's office Monday night said the union and bus company reached a 5-year deal, "with the goal of ratification by the union members on Wednesday night."

The union representing school bus drivers in Worcester had considered a strike starting Monday, the first day of school, but agreed to stay on the job for three more days while negotiations continue.

A Massachusetts state lawmaker representing the North Quabbin said she's leaving the Republican Party.

Susannah Whipps has served in the state House since 2015, part of the small Republican minority in the Democratic dominated legislature.

A proposed memorial honoring World War II veterans is causing controversy. The dispute focuses on just who should be honored.

The memorial is designed to be an exact copy of one that was removed in 1959 to make way for a new highway. It honored black veterans who served in World War II, but only covers those who enlisted or were drafted through 1943.

It's been a little over two months since the Worcester police introduced officers on horseback. There are four horses and seven officers in the new mounted unit.

They've been patrolling parks, the Worcester Common and across the city. Police Chief Steven Sargent said they're also sent out to a neighborhood after a report of a shooting.

Massachusetts education officials must find a new leader for the Southbridge school district, following the resignation of its state-appointed receiver.

For the first time in more than sixty years, police officers on horseback will soon patrol the streets of Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Worcester police decided to bring four horses into the force because they offer unique advantages. They can help reach places inaccessible by car or bike, including wooded areas in the city's sixty parks. They can also make community policing easier, providing a conversation starter with residents.

What's more, Police Chief Steven Sargent said, horses — or "mounts" — are an effective force multiplier.

Athol, Massachusetts, may soon build a handicapped accessible dock on the Millers River. It will allow people to paddle to an existing accessible dock, a little downstream.

The dock would enable people to move from a wheelchair to a kayak or canoe on the Millers River.

The first weeks of the Trump administration have been marked by controversy, including a court battle over the president’s first executive order on immigration, unsubstantiated accusations against a former president and numerous Trump tweetstorms.

But supporters of the president say he’s delivering exactly what he promised. That’s what we heard again and again in several towns in central Massachusetts that voted for Trump, including Ware, which was once a booming mill town known as “the town that can’t be licked.”

Although we think of Massachusetts as a solidly “blue” state, more than a million of the state’s residents voted for President Trump in November.

Trump’s support came mostly from Plymouth County south of Boston, and from central Massachusetts. There, in the central part of the state, you can drive from the New Hampshire border south to the Connecticut line, and pass through a line of towns that all voted for Trump.