Regional Vaccine Effort Inches Forward: Patch PM

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

• 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

The Gantcher Center at Tufts University is a potential location for a regional vaccination site that will serve nine greater Boston communities.

On March 16, the state approved a proposal from the Cambridge Health Alliance, Tufts University and the communities of Arlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, Somerville and Winthrop to create the Metro North COVID-19 Vaccination Partnership, Claude Jacob, Cambridge's chief public health officer, told the Cambridge City Council Monday night.

The Cambridge Health Alliance's vaccination center near Target in Somerville is another shortlisted location. Other sites are to be determined, according to Jacob's presentation.

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

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.

For information on getting a coronavirus vaccine in Massachusetts, visit Patch's information hub.