Green Line Extension Opening Delayed – Again: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Thursday, Oct. 21. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• The Tufts University student who died over the weekend choked during a charity hot dog eating contest.
• Mystic Valley Regional Charter School placed a teacher facing charges in another state on administrative leave.
• After Wednesday's loss, the Red Sox need to win Friday and Saturday in Houston to keep their World Series hopes alive.

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

Today's Top Story

The partial opening of the Green Line Extension has been delayed once again.

The smaller of the two branches, which adds a single stop to Union Square, is now expected to open in March, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Thursday. It is the second time the branch's opening has been delayed – it was originally slated to open this month before being pushed to December amid supply chain issues over the summer.

"Senior MBTA and GLX leadership are working closely with GLXC to bring this project to fruition on this updated timetable," Poftak said in a statement. "We're strongly committed to GLX and very close to safely bringing extended Green Line service into Somerville and Medford."

Officials did not announce changes to the longer branch, which includes six stops in Somerville and Medford, although they are evaluating whether the timeline needs to be adjusted.

Read the full story.

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Thursday's Other Top Stories

More details on accident that left Tufts student dead: Madie Nicpon, a junior on the women's lacrosse team at Tufts University, was participating in a hot dog eating contest as part of the "Play for Pink" fundraiser on Saturday. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she died the next day. About 3,000 students, faculty and staff gathered Sunday at the Gantcher Center in Nicpon's memory, before heading to Bello Field for a candlelight vigil, university officials said. A GoFundMe campaign to assist her family with funeral and medical expenses had raised more than $158,000 as of 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Teacher facing charges placed on leave: A teacher at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School has been placed on administrative leave, Director Alex Dan said in a message to families Monday. Dan said a teacher at the high school has legal charges pending in another state. "There is nothing to indicate that the charges are connected to this teacher's employment with the school," he wrote.

Picture This: Red Sox One Loss From Offseason

Boston Red Sox fans watch during the eighth inning in Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros at Fenway Park Wednesday. After Wednesday's loss, the Red Sox need to win Friday and Saturday in Houston to keep their World Series hopes alive.

They Said It

"It is an emergency situation. Mass General Brigham is a major health care provider in a major metropolitan area with a very strong interest, as I said, in providing the safest possible facility as well as creating a public perception of safety."

• U.S. District Court Chief Judge Dennis Saylor in denying an injunction filed by Mass General Brigham workers to stop the healthcare provider from placing them on unpaid leave for not cooperating with the system's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

In Case You Missed It

Sox lose, but at least they didn't cheat: The Red Sox and Astros have a, ahem, spotty recent history when it comes to gaining what some might call competitive advantages — and others might call cheating. So when a light was shining out of the centerfield garage during the two teams' ALCS Game 5 Monday evening at Fenway Park, suspicions were aroused. But there was nothing mischievous about the mysterious glow. Boston 25 was filming a segment in the Bleacher Bar, a popular bar nestled inside the exoskeleton of Fenway that has a small eating area where fans can watch the game from a unique centerfield perspective.

Child rapist dead: Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman, who was also suspected in the disappearance of a 10-year-old boy in Lawrence 45 years ago, is dead. Chapman died at a nursing facility in Connecticut Wednesday night. Chapman was convicted in 1977 of luring two Lawrence boys into the woods and sexually assaulting them. He was also suspected in the 1976 disappearance of 10-year-old Andy Puglisi and admitted to molesting up to 100 boys in multiple states.

By The Numbers

200: The number of jobs at Amazon's new Westborough robotics manufacturing plant. Workers will assemble mobile drive units for machines that sort and fulfill orders inside Amazon warehouses. The 350,000 square-foot facility will also house corporate and research and development labs.