Cop Killed In Head-on Crash Made Lemonade Out Of Lemons: Patch PM

Today is Friday, June 26.

Dana Mazola, the off-duty Salem police officer who died in a head-on crash Thursday night, was a decorated patrolman and a veteran of the department. But it may have been a call in 2005 that best illustrates what Chief Mary Butler meant when she said Mazola "had a heart as wide as the whole outdoors."

The offense Mazola was called to look into that day? A sausage vendor called police on two boys who were running a lemonade stand on Salem Common.

Their crime? The 9-year-old and 11-year-old did not have a vendor's license.

Read more about the story here

Passing (On) MCAS?

State lawmakers have proposed a three-year moratorium on MCAS testing due to concerns that the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted education too much.

Apart from the three-year ban, the law would create a commission to collect data on school performance, and create a grant program to fund school districts creating their own diagnostic tests.

In April, the Legislature allowed MCAS testing to be canceled this spring due to coronavirus. The federal Department of Education also waived standardized tests across the nation due to the pandemic.

RI Might Pump Reopening Brakes

Despite continued declines in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo said Friday she is taking the weekend to determine whether the state can move into phase 3 of its reopening plan, and what that will mean for eased restrictions on gathering limits.

Raimondo was expected to give the go-ahead on Friday for phase 3 to begin as of Tuesday, but alarming surges in cases in other parts of the country caused her to take at least another couple of days before giving the next phase the green light.

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