School Day Ending With Few Incidents, Loads Of Anxiety: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Friday, Dec. 17. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Firefighters worked relentlessly beginning early Friday morning on a massive, eight-alarm fire in a commercial building in Brighton. One firefighter was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
• A 33-year-old woman is facing murder charges in connection with the death of 26-year-old Michael Norton in Saugus last weekend.
• Massachusetts reported its highest weekly average death rate since April Thursday as coronavirus metrics remain high across the state. The state reached 5 million people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus this week, but the winter surge shows not sign of abating yet.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

Some Massachusetts parents spent Friday morning wrestling with the decision of whether to send their kids to school. Others huddled with their teenagers over smartphones, scrolling through TikTok and looking for threats that shook school systems across the country this week. Others took to the more familiar Facebook to discuss the chill a social media prank gone wrong had cast over their families.

As the school day winds down Friday — the day students were encouraged students to threaten gun violence at their schools as part of the latest TikTok challenge — there have been no major incidents reported at Massachusetts schools. There was, however, a visible police presence outside many schools, while inside there were more empty desks than usual after parents kept kids home.

"I have all faith in her school's staff and Auburn Police, but as history has shown us time and time again, it only takes one person. Just one to take it too far," said Erin McIntyre, who kept her third-grader home Friday but did not tell her daughter why. "She thinks it's hang out with mom and baby brother day. Movies and pizza. I'll take it over a day filled with anxiety. It is not worth it."

Read the full story.

Friday's Other Top Stories

Arrest after deadly fire in Franklin: One person was killed after a fire was intentionally set at a home in Franklin Friday morning. Emergency crews worked to put out the heavy fire on Grace Lane that firefighters say started around 8 a.m. A man outside the home was taken into custody, WCVB reported. The victim's name has not been released.

Woman charged in Saugus murder: A woman is facing murder charges in connection with the death of a man in Saugus last weekend. Angjeliki Hodaj, 33, of Saugus, has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of 26-year-old Michael Norton on Dec. 11, the Essex District Attorney's Office said. On Sunday, the district attorney's office, in conjunction with Saugus police and Massachusetts State Police, confirmed they were investigating a fatal incident at the Essex Landing apartment complex, located near the orange dinosaur landmark on Route 1.

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Picture This: 8-alarm fire in Brighton

Firefighters worked relentlessly beginning early Friday morning on a massive fire in a commercial building in Brighton. One firefighter was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Boston Fire Commissioner John "Jack" Dempsey says the fire initially started around 4:30 a.m. Friday and has since been named an 8-alarm fire. The fire spread through multiple floors, eventually making it to the roof of the former Brookline School of Dance at 185 Corey Road, said Dempsey.

In Case You Missed It

COVID rates continue to surge in MA: Massachusetts reported its highest weekly average death rate since April Thursday as coronavirus metrics remain high across the state. The state reached 5 million people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus this week, but the winter surge shows not sign of abating yet. Over 70 percent of Massachusetts communities reported rising positive test rates over the last two weeks, according to town-by-town data released Thursday. Just three Massachusetts communities didn't report a single positive test over the last two weeks.