Baker Activates National Guard For School COVID Testing: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Tuesday, October 12. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Walmart is pulling some lots of Parent's Choice Rice Baby Cereal from its shelves in Massachusetts stores after the baby food tested above U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended levels for naturally occurring arsenic.
• Dedham police are seeking the public's help in retrieving an 8-week-old puppy stolen during a home burglary Sunday night.
• The Red Sox advanced to the American League Championship Series with Monday night's win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

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

Today's Top Story

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated 450 National Guard members Tuesday to help test for COVID-19 in schools and prisons across the state.

Up to 200 National Guard members will assist with testing in K-12 public schools, the Baker Administration said. Staffing shortages are causing serious testing delays across many school districts, and extra testing is needed.

With training beginning this week, guard members are expected to help administer tests in public schools Monday.

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

Dedham Dognapping: The Dedham Police Department is seeking the public's help in retrieving an 8-week-old puppy stolen during a home burglary Sunday night. Police said they responded to a housebreak at 72 Bussey St. Sunday, Oct. 10 at 8:20 p.m. The homeowner said someone had forced their way into the home through the back door while they were gone, stealing a myriad of items and the pit bull puppy.

Walmart recalls baby food: Walmart is pulling some lots of Parent's Choice Rice Baby Cereal from its shelves in Massachusetts stores after the baby food tested above U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended levels for naturally occurring arsenic. Maple Island Inc., the manufacturer of the Parent's Choice products, said its voluntary recall is "out of an abundance of caution." The product was distributed nationally, both in Walmart stores and online.

MA coronavirus hospitalizations primarily among unvaccinated: The vast majority of hospitalizations in Massachusetts due to COVID-19 are among unvaccinated people, according to statistics available from the Department of Public Health. Over the past month, 76 percent of the 2,609 statewide hospitalizations due to the virus were among persons who had not received the shot. That's from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, the dates of weekly state reports on coronavirus among vaccinated residents.

Happy 8th anniversary, Kate! I love you!

Picture This: Two-Headed Turtle On Cape Cod

"No, you are not seeing double!" That's what officials with the Cape Wildlife Center said when they shared a picture of a two-headed turtle that just hatched. The diamondback terrapin hatchling was born with a rare condition called bicephaly. It occurs because of genetic and environmental factors influencing the embryo during development, according to wildlife officials. And along with two heads, the turtle also has six legs.

They Said It

"We always said we had a good baseball team that had some holes, and we still have some holes, but at the end, for how bad it looked sometimes, we're still here. We're still in the dance."

• Red Sox manager Alex Cora after the team advanced to the American League Championship Series with Monday night's win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

In Case You Missed It

Best Massachusetts middle, elementary schools: A new ranking sorts out the best elementary and middle schools in Massachusetts, according to a new list released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report. The top-ranked elementary school is Martha Jones School in the Westwood Public School District. The top-ranked middle school in Massachusetts is probably one you never heard of. Thomas Prince, a K-8 school, is located in Princeton and part of the Wachusett Regional School District.

By The Numbers

7 percent: The amount of people with substance abuse disorders who reported breakthrough COVID-19 cases in a new study. The general population's rate is 3.6 percent.