School Basketball, Hockey Players To Mask Up This Winter: PatchPM

Today is Friday, Nov. 20. Here are some of the top stories we are covering.

High school basketball and hockey will be played with masks and social distancing modifications, while indoor track is pushed to February with the hopes of a spring wrestling season, after the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors voted on sport-specific modifications because of the coronavirus health crisis at their Friday meeting.

The MIAA Board of Directors voted to set a Dec. 14 opening to the indoor school sports season. The season was to begin on Nov. 30.

Basketball, hockey, gymnastics, skiing and swimming will get the go ahead for the winter season.

Read the full story here

Other top stories

Massachusetts Unemployment Rate Falls For Fourth Straight Month

The state's unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in October, down from 9.6 percent in September.

Massachusetts was one of 37 states to see its unemployment rate drop in October, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was the fourth straight month the state's unemployment rate has declined since peaking at 17.7 percent in June.

Despite the improvements, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts in October 2020 was well above the 2.8 percent reported in October 2019. And the state's unemployment rate was still among the 10 highest in the nation.

Notorious Sex Offender Now Living In Medford

A notorious Massachusetts sex offender is now living in Medford. Wayne Chapman was released from MCI-Shirley in 2019 after 40 years in prison. He was convicted in 1977 of luring two Lawrence boys into the woods and sexually assaulting them.

Chapman was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison and held longer after prosecutors argued for his continued incarceration as a "sexually dangerous person" in 2007. He petitioned for a review in 2018 and was determined by two psychologists to no longer be a danger.

That same year, he was accused of exposing himself to prison staff just days before his release. A Middlesex Superior Court later cleared him of those lewdness charges.

Also

Reading Legislators Call On MBTA To Halt Service Cuts

Lawmakers say the MBTA's proposal would cut Reading's bus service in half and challenge the town's longstanding economic development plans.

Brookline Town Meeting Passes Proposal To Phase Out Tobacco Use

"This will not impact any of the 3,200 smokers in Brookline, nor our small businesses current customer base. This Warrant Article aims to reduce regret from initiating smoking," said Anthony Ishak who proposed the move.

Detroit-Style Pizza Restaurant Coming To Route 9

A University of Michigan graduate is opening Square Mfg. Co. in Natick, offering a Midwestern take on pizza.

Waltham's Homeless Shelters To Expand Winter Hours After Pushback

The agency that runs the city's two homeless shelters said its decision had nothing to do with advocates pushing for the change.