Meet The MA Dad Who Sparked GameStop Stock Craze: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Friday, January 29. Can you still feel your fingers and your toes? If you stayed inside, you probably can (see more about that below). Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• That GameStop stock craze you’ve been hearing about all week? You’ve got a 34-year-old Massachusetts dad to thank for that.
• Johnson & Johnson, which has worked with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in developing a new coronavirus vaccine, has good news on that front.
• A high school senior who suffered a serious injury playing hockey this week sees an avalanche of donations.

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

Friday’s Top Story

The YouTube and Reddit user who was in large part responsible for the recent Gamestop stock craze is a Wilmington father and former MassMutual employee, the Wall Street Journal reported in an interview with him Friday.

Keith Gill, 34, is known on YouTube as Roaring Kitty and on Reddit by an (ahem) a different expletive-laced handle. Until recently, Gill worked in marketing for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. He has a 2-year-old daughter and films his popular YouTube cases for the stock from his Wilmington basement so as to not wake her up, the Journal reported.

As of Thursday, Gill had posted a $33 million total gain on his bet on the video game retailer, although he was down nearly $15 million overnight on the stock's wild volatility this week. Read the full story.

Nearby News

• Cambridge Police Arrest Accused Man of Harvard Square Bank Robbery
• Brookline Postpones Virtual Renaming Ceremony For Devotion School
• Newton Coronavirus Positive Rate Declines As Infected Hits 3K
• Brookline Not Likely To Drop Cannabis Mitigation Fee

Today’s Other Top Stories In Massachusetts

Congresswoman gets COVID: U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday afternoon, according to her office. Trahan, a Democrat who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District, said she is asymptomatic and self-quarantining at home. She was among members of Congress who sheltered in offices during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Some members of Congress contracted the virus that day. Trahan had tested negative several times before her positive test this week, her office said.

They’ve got one shot at this: As public health officials and scientists grapple with new virus variants, manufacturers of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate, this one a single dose, reported Friday that it was 66 percent effective overall in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 cases 28 days after vaccination. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center collaborated with the company’s pharmaceutical arm to support the development of the latest vaccine candidate.

Donations pour in for injured hockey player: A Bishop Feehan hockey player who was injured during a game in West Springfield Tuesday night has received over half a million dollars in donations through a GoFundMe page set up by a family member and other private contributions. A.J. Quetta, a senior from North Providence, was playing against Pope Francis School when he went headfirst into the boards and was unable to move. He was transported from Baystate Health in Springfield to Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday evening to undergo spine surgery.

By The Numbers

7 degrees: That’s how cold it got in Boston Friday morning, the lowest temperature the city’s seen in just over two years. If you're a regular runner, that didn't likely stop you from heading outside in the negative 8 degree windchill chanting something about no bad weather only bad outfits, (but if you were the guy running around Chestnut Hill reservoir in shorts at 8 a.m. this morning wow, just wow). Still, the lowest recorded wind chill today belongs to Worcester, where it hit 19 below.

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