Stoughton Has 2 Finalists For School Superintendent: Patch PM

STOUGHTON, MA — It's Tuesday, July 13. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• More than 70 Massachusetts residents who were fully vaccinated from the coronavirus died from COVID-19.
• Police on Martha's Vineyard don't know where a department pistol is or who took it.
• A 27-year-old Wilmington man faces nearly 20 drug-, gun- and driving-related charges following multiple June 28 crashes in Woburn.
• North Andover native Steven Hajjar was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft Monday.

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

Today's Top Story

Stoughton school officials narrowed down their search for a new superintendent to two finalists.

Preliminary interviews were conducted from July 6-8, and the Stoughton Superintendent Search Committee named Thomas Raab and Andrew Stephens as finalists, school officials announced Tuesday.

Raab has served as the assistant superintendent for Hanover Public Schools since July 2018. He's been in Hanover's district for more than 13 years, also serving as the district's business manager and as the high school principal for six years.

Stephens spent the last four years as Lexington High School's principal Prior to his time in Lexington, Stephens was the principal at Memorial Middle School in Fitchburg and then at Duxbury High School. He also was the assistant principal at Hull High School from 2003-2006.

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

COVID-19 kills 70 fully vaccinated MA residents: More than 70 Massachusetts residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus have died from COVID-19, according to public records obtained by the Boston Herald from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. While alarming on the surface, the data actually show that vaccinations are working. The 3,907 vaccinated people who tested positive for the coronavirus after being fully vaccinated represent just 1.3 percent of the 297,753 confirmed cases since the state's first residents were vaccinated in January. Of the 5,057 reported COVID-19 deaths during the same time period, just 1.4 percent were attributed to breakthrough cases of the coronavirus.

Police are missing a gun: After Tisbury Police Chief Mark Saloio recently announced his retirement, he also gave some perplexing news: a pistol has been missing from the Tisbury Police department "on or about July 2017," according to a memo obtained by the Martha's Vineyard Times. The missing gun has sparked the question of who last had the pistol, as many officers denied ever having it and a lack of paperwork just begs more questions.

One driver, two crashes, 19 charges: A 27-year-old Wilmington man faces nearly 20 drug-, gun- and driving-related charges following multiple June 28 crashes in Woburn. State Trooper Gregory Gough responded around 9:30 p.m. that night to a crash on Interstate 93 Southbound in Woburn. He found that a vehicle had been rear-ended and the other driver had fled the scene, state police said in a news release. As Gough was investigating and securing the scene, he heard on the police radio about another crash down the road, "involving a vehicle matching the description provided by the operator and witness he had been speaking to which had caused the first crash."

Ex-T cops accused of OT theft: After an investigation by the MBTA Transit Police department, three former members of the TPD are facing charges of receiving more than $14,000 in overtime and regular pay that they did not earn. Former TPD Lt. Kenneth Berg, Sgt. Michael Adamson and Sgt. Jason Morris have been charged with one count each of larceny of more than $250 by a single scheme.

Shark closes South shore beach: Duxbury officials reopened a beach after a reported shark sighting Tuesday morning. Lifeguards ordered swimmers out of the water and shark flags were flying overhead just after 7 a.m. according to Duxbury Beach Operations.

Eat fresh: Patch's 2021 Massachusetts Farmers Market Guide

Picture This

North Andover native heading to Minnesota: North Andover native Steven Hajjar was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft Monday. A left-handed pitcher for the University of Michigan, Hajjar was selected 61st overall by the American League team. Hajjar is from North Andover and went to Central Catholic High School in Lawrence (Photo: University of Michigan).

In Case You Missed It

Not very nice: Sacha Baron Cohen, the filmmaker, comedian and social satirist behind Borat, Ali G. and other characters, filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Boston Monday accusing a Massachusetts marijuana dispensary of using his Borat character in advertising without permission. Solar Therapeutics in Somerset had used an image of Borat giving the thumbs up and, as a caption, a take on his "Very nice!" catchphrase. Cohen is seeking $9 million in damages and a court order requiring Solar Therapeutics to take the offending billboard down.

Standoff ended with a (sonic) boom: Police used a sonic blast to incapacitate most of the Rise of the Moors suspects in the I-95 standoff earlier this month, according to Wakefield's chief of police. Chief Steven Skory appeared Monday night before Town Council to provide an update on the July 3 incident that shut down I-95 for hours and resulted in a localized lockdown. A Massachusetts State Police Trooper and Wakefield police spent about 1 hour 40 minutes speaking to the men until informing them they would likely be arrested. At that point, three of the men started loading weapons and eight others went into the woods, prompting the call to the regional SWAT team.