North Shore In Store For Nasty Dose Of Winter: Patch PM

DANVERS, MA — It's Thursday, April 15. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• A North Shore business owner is facing some hefty fines for forbidding employees and customers in her office from following the state's coronavirus mask mandate.
• From NYC to the Witch City as Salem names a New York City lieutenant detective as its next police chief.
• An Andover doctor was accused in federal court of illegally filming a woman while he was having sex with her.
• Federal officials are charging a Maine man following a series of vandalism incidents at a Black church in Springfield that culminated in a devastating fire on Dec. 28.
• While it's late in the season for snow in Massachusetts, we won't be breaking any records if a forecasted storm materializes. The latest snowfall in a season recorded in Massachusetts was on May 10, 1977.

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

Today's Top Story

Winter weather is expected in parts of Massachusetts Thursday, and a winter storm watch has been issued for parts of Worcester County and western Middlesex County as a nor'easter approaches the region.

While it's late in the season for snow in Massachusetts, we won't be breaking any records. The latest snowfall in a season recorded in Massachusetts was on May 10, 1977.

The storm could drop anywhere from a trace to up to 7 inches in central Massachusetts, with higher totals in the Berkshires. There are no storm warnings in effect east of I-495, with mostly rain expected in the Boston and MetroWest areas, according to the latest forecasts.

Read the full story.

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Thursday's Other Top Stories

Should Massachusetts adopt a coronavirus vaccine passport? Take the Patch reader survey.

Ex-Lahey doctor arraigned: An Andover doctor was accused of illegally filming a woman while he was having sex with her. Glenn Gutierrez, formerly a Lahey Hospital employee, was arraigned Friday for two counts of illegal wiretapping. A woman accused him of secretly filming her in the shower and having sex with him from 2011 to 2013.

From NYC to the Witch City: Salem chose a 30-year member of the New York City Police Department as its new police chief on Thursday. Lucas Miller, a detective lieutenant in the NYPD since 2017 and member of the NYPD FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, will replace Acting Chief Dennis King in May. Miller has spent the past 16 years as an NYPD supervisor and has ties to Massachusetts dating back to when he started his career in the Wellfleet Police Department in 1991.

Feds say Maine man burned Black church in MA: Federal officials are charging a Maine man following a series of vandalism incidents at a Black church in Springfield that culminated in a devastating fire on Dec. 28 that destroyed the chapel. Dushko Vulchev, of Houlton, Maine, is being charged with damage to religious property and use of fire to commit a federal felony, according to court documents. Vulchev posted videos on Facebook of several vandalism incidents, and has a history of using racial epithets toward Black people, court documents say.

OSHA fines business owner over mask policy: A North Shore business owner is facing more than $136,000 in fines for refusing to implement coronavirus mask guidelines and other pandemic safety measures. The U.S. Department of Labor said in a statement that Liberty Tax Service owner Ariana Murrell-Rosario not only refused to enforce the state mask mandate, but also violated federal workplace safety guidelines by prohibiting her employees and customers from wearing them. Murrell-Rosario put up signs in her Lynn office that read: "Masks are not allowed in the office."

Learn more about getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts at Patch's information hub.

In Case You Missed It

• Cape Weather Service Site Closes Because It Could Fall Into Ocean
• U.S. Rep. Clark Tours Medford School, Praises Federal Relief Plan
• Brockton Fair Canceled For Second Year Due To Coronavirus

They Said It

"If we have learned anything in the last 20 years it is that there is nothing worse for America's service members than leaving positions and returning the next year with more troops to fight and die for the same goals we failed to achieve the last time we were there. I want to bring home our troops, but we must bring them home for good."

• Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Salem, on the Biden administration's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. Moulton is a veteran who served in Iraq.

By The Numbers

$241,000: The amount Framingham pays to station police officers in public schools. The city is considering removing the police officers, with some local students saying they feel threatened by the presence of school resource officers.

Review: "This Is A Robbery" on Netflix

The streaming television service released "This Is A Robbery," a four-part documentary series, on April 7 to mostly positive reviews. While the series doesn't break any new ground, it collects most of the key pieces of the 31-year saga in one package and concludes with a convincing case of who most likely committed the world's biggest art heist.

Spoiler alert: it's not notorious Boston art thief Myles J. Connor, who sat for a rare, extended interview with the filmmakers.

Read the full review.