Foxborough Getting A Seasonal Craft Beer Garden: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Monday, May 3. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Foxborough is getting a seasonal craft beer garden just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
• Massachusetts is closing four of the state's seven mass vaccination sites by June, including sites in Danvers, Foxborough, Natick and at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.
• Tufts University in Medford is investigating two incidents of racial hate reported on campus last week.
• Helicopters started dropping oral rabies vaccine baits in southeastern Massachusetts and on Cape Cod Monday.

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

Today's Top Story

A popular craft brewery will open a seasonal beer garden in Foxborough Memorial Day Weekend, following the selectmen unanimously approving its pouring license.

The license allows Shovel Town Brewery, of Easton, to run the beer garden at a vacant lot behind the Chestnut Green Plaza. The license is for 30 days and runs through July 11. If all goes well, the brewery can get an additional two 30-day licenses, which would allow the beer garden to remain open until the end of October.

Board members said they preferred this licensing approach because the town has never done something like this before, and neighbors have criticized the beer garden over concerns of noise and potential safety issues.

The beer garden will consist of a 20-foot by 30-foot tent with 28 picnic tables, on-site parking for 58 vehicles and food service available either from nearby restaurants, food trucks or a temporary food stand.

Read the full story.

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Monday's Other Top Stories

Vigil organizers say teen girl was lynched: Organizers of a rally and vigil scheduled for Thursday say a 16-year-old girl was beaten and lynched in Hopkinton last month. The rally's organizers include former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson and Violence in Boston, a nonprofit. Mikayla Miller,16, died sometime over the weekend of April 17 in Hopkinton. But police and the Middlesex District Attorney's office are offering few details in the case.

State closing mass vaccination sites: Massachusetts is closing four of the state's seven mass vaccination sites by June, including sites in Danvers, Foxborough, Natick and at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts is outpacing the rest of the country by "leaps and bounds" in COVID-19 vaccinations and will hit its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million people within weeks. About 1.2 million of those doses have been administered at the mass vaccination sites.

A different kind of vaccination effort: Helicopters started dropping oral rabies vaccine baits in southeastern Massachusetts and on Cape Cod Monday. The Cape Cod & Southeast Massachusetts Rabies Task Force is planing to drop 68,000 baits through May 8. Although the baits are not typically harmful to people or pets, residents are asked to obey leash laws and call 877-722-6725 if a bait is found.

Hate incidents on campus: Tufts University in Medford is investigating two incidents of racial hate reported on campus last week. In the first incident, several Asian students were walking along Professors Row when they were "verbally assaulted with hateful anti-Asian rhetoric from the occupants of a passing vehicle." Members of a Tufts sports team also found a large swastika painted on the Bello Field shed, according to a letter from President Tony Monaco to the campus community.

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

They Said It

"This is blatant union busting, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association will not tolerate what is happening in Falmouth. Union educators in Falmouth, like their colleagues across the state, have been advocating for safe working and learning conditions. The district's unwillingness to bargain and then to concoct a campaign designed to intimidate educators and create a chilling effect is despicable and unacceptable."

• Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which plans to rally in Falmouth Tuesday.

By The Numbers

70: The number of drivers and mechanics for Shaw's and Star Market who went on strike Monday. The drivers have not had a contract since October.