Cape Cod Regal Cinemas Reopening Next Month: Patch PM

FALMOUTH, MA — It's Tuesday, March 23. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Regal Cinemas will reopen its theaters across the country next month, including its Cape Cod locations in Hyannis and Mashpee.
• Seven students were taken to the hospital with what were described as minor injuries after their school bus crashed with a tractor trailer.
• A Lowell Regional Transit Authority employee told a Black immigrant woman "Shut up you low-class Black person," according to a complaint filed on behalf of the woman Monday by Lawyers for Civil Rights.
• A rope found tied to a tree branch in a way that gave it a "noose-like appearance" was found in Linscott Park in Swampscott on Monday morning.

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

Today's Top Story

Cineworld Group is reopening all its Regal Cinemas theaters across the country next month, including its Cape Cod locations in Hyannis and Mashpee.

The reopening comes after a prolonged closure that began in October amid the coronavirus pandemic. The reopening comes just in time for big-budget releases like "Godzilla vs. Kong" and other upcoming films like the new James Bond movie "No Time to Die."

The New York Post reported the reopening came after Cineworld struck a deal with Warner Bros. to run its movies exclusively for 45 days, starting next year.

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

Pedestrian deaths on decline statewide: As speeding, distracted and impaired driving, and other dangerous driver behaviors spiked, nearly 3,000 pedestrians were killed on U.S. roads during the first six months of the pandemic. But Massachusetts was among those where pedestrian deaths actually decreased during that time period, according to the GHSA's Spotlight on Highway Safety.

7 students injured in bus crash: A Shrewsbury school bus carrying ten children and a tractor-trailer crashed on Route 20 on Tuesday morning. Seven students who were on their way to Al-Hamra Academy, were taken to the hospital with what were described as minor injuries.

Passenger accuses transit agency of racism: A Lowell Regional Transit Authority employee told a Black immigrant woman "Shut up you low-class Black person," according to a complaint filed on behalf of the woman Monday by Lawyers for Civil Rights. Lucia Appia's complaint outlines other accusations of harassment, discrimination and violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

North Shore noose: A rope found tied to a tree branch in a way that gave it a "noose-like appearance" was found in Linscott Park in Swampscott on Monday morning. Police said they are investigating the origins of the rope tied with a loop at the bottom that made it resemble a noose. Police said the bottom of the loop is approximately 4 feet from the ground.

By The Numbers

863: The number of flowers staff at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital planted in front of the main entrance Monday. Each flower represents a coronavirus patient the hospital has treated since the start of the pandemic.

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