Year In Review: Top 5 Massachusetts News Stories Of 2021

MASSACHUSETTS — This week, we're highlighting the top news stories in Massachusetts in 2021. Today, we take a look at the biggest news stories of the year with a recap of Patch's ongoing coverage of the issues surrounding them.

1. Coronavirus

For a second straight year, the top news story in Massachusetts — and the rest of the world —was the COVID-19 pandemic. And despite a recent Omicron variant-fueled surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, a lot of the coronavirus news in 2021 was good, at least when compared to the coronavirus news in 2020.

Massachusetts began easing business restrictions and lifted a stay-at-home advisory in January. By spring, there was optimism as the state ramped up efforts to vaccinate residents —with help from an Arlington mom who built a Website to help people find vaccination appointments. By the end of May, enough people had been vaccinated for the state to remove all coronavirus restrictions.

Cases continued to drop during the summer and, by September, most Massachusetts students were back in the classroom full-time for the first time in 18 months. Then along came the Omicron-variant, with Massachusetts confirming its first case on Dec. 4. For many, over-crowded hospitals and renewed debates over vaccines and mask mandates has the end of 2021 feeling a lot like the beginning of 2021, at least as far as the pandemic goes.

2. Schools

Coronavirus had an impact on several other top news stories in Massachusetts in 2021, and that impact was felt most in coverage of public schools. The debate started in the spring, when the Baker administration pushed local school districts to bring students back to the classroom, and intensified at the state and local level over the summer as school boards tried to adopt measures to reopen normally, or as close to normally as possible, in September.

Even without coronavirus, it was a tough year to be a superintendent or school committee member in Massachusetts: from social media threats of school violence to debates over school mascots, school officials were on the front line of the cultural civil war being fought in Massachusetts and across the nation. One of those heated debates — Melrose's decision to scale back Halloween celebrations in schools — was quirky enough to end up as a punchline for late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

"Sounds to me like maybe [Melrose Superintendent] Julie Kukenberger couldn't think of a fun costume so she ruined it for everybody," Kimmel riffed. "Maybe I'm being obtuse, but who's being marginalized by a Halloween party? Goblin-Americans?"

Other controversies Massachusetts school systems faced in 2021 could not be joked about— most notably a rash of racist and homophobic graffiti and incidents. Hardest hit was Danvers, which had so many incidents this fall it took the drastic step this month of saying it would no longer disclose the incidents.

"Our fear is that the constant attention created by doing so is simply encouraging more of the same, which in some cases simply may be attention-seeking and in others truly may be statements of hate intended to do harm," Danvers officials said in a joint statement.

3. I-95 Standoff

Fortunately, the court hearings stemming from a July 4th weekend standoff on Interstate 95 in Wakefield have been more volatile than the standoff itself. That standoff, which started when a police officer stopped to check on cars stopped in the breakdown lane, ended peacefully.

Over the holiday weekend, Massachusetts residents learned about the Rhode Island-based Rise of the Moors. The group is connected to the Moorish Sovereign Citizen movement, which the Southern Poverty Law Center says is extremist.

Almost as bizarre as the standoff were the court appearances and hearings that have followed, with some of the suspects initially refusing to identify themselves. Most of the defendants refused court-appointed lawyers and objected at nearly every routine step of their arraignment hearings in July.

"They don't have jurisdiction over me with anything," Jimenez yelled during the reading of his charges during a September hearing. "I am not a U.S. citizen."

4. Mikayla Miller

In early May, activists began calling for more transparency into the Middlesex District Attorney's investigation into the apparent suicide of a Hopkinton teenagers on April 18. What started as as a barely-noticed local tragedy drew national media attention and statements from U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and state Senate President Karen Spilka.

Miller's family and supporters alleged the teen may have been lynched, and that state police, Hopkinton police and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan have tried to write off the death as just a suicide. Law enforcement has largely rejected the lynching claims. Ryan held a news conference to show her office is taking the matter seriously, saying the investigation is open and ongoing.

The 16-year-old was a Hopkinton High School sophomore, a basketball player and an honors student, according to mother Calvina Strothers. Miller, who was a member of the LGBTQIA community, wanted to attend a historically Black college or university to study journalism.

Supporters held two rallies, one in Hopkinton and one at the Middlesex District Attorney's office in Lowell. But the case was closed when the DA's office finalized its ruling that Miller had died by suicide after a fight with an ex-girlfriend.

5. January 6

Massachusetts had a role in one of the biggest National news stories this year. In addition to a Bay State-based hate group that traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Jan. 6 rally-turned-riot, the FBI was able to identify and charge several Massachusetts residents who stormed the Capitol.

After returning to Massachusetts, some participants were labeled as "pariahs." But some participants fared okay, including Matt Lynch. Lynch resigned from his job as a teacher at Braintree High School after returning from D.C. Later this year, he was elected to the town's school committee.

More Year In Review Coverage On Patch:

• The Top Massachusetts Business Stories Of 2021: Year In Review
• The Oddest, Funniest Massachusetts Stories Of 2021
• The Top Massachusetts Celebrity Sightings In 2021
• Notable Massachusetts Deaths In 2021