WINCHENDON — The evening was dark but the graveyard was elegantly lit by a set of candelabras, with each resting on the fieldstone, cast-iron gated entry. The night was just beginning for those who came to learn about the people who settled Winchendon and were buried in Old Centre Burial Ground.The Winchendon History and Cultural Center recently held multiple tours of the cemetery to celebrate October. Guides Amy Scott and Caitlin Staples did research on how the burial yard was ..read more

[Courtesy photos]    ..read more

ASHBURNHAM — Police from Winchendon and Ashburnham responded to a fatal dirt bike crash that occurred in a remote wooded area on the line between the two towns on Sunday, Oct. 26.According to authorities, after police arrived at the scene of the crash they determined that it had occurred on a trail in Ashburnham, and that the male driver of the off-road dirt bike had died from his injuries.Other details of the incident and the identity of the victim have not been ..read more

FITCHBURG — Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases at the school, students at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School will move to full remote learning through Friday, Nov. 6. Officials said the decision was also made due to the number of students and faculty who were already in quarantine.Superintendent-Director Sheila Harrity, in a letter sent out on Monday, Oct. 26, said parents and students had been informed the previous week about two instances of in-person members ..read more

GARDNER — Hundreds of cars lined up at Gardner Middle School for the last day of the Farmers to Families food program. Nearly 400 boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked meat, eggs and milk were handed out between 11 a.m. and noon by volunteers, who said the line of cars began forming at around 9:30 a.m.The federal program, which began in the spring, was established to move the nation’s agriculture directly to the public during the coronavirus pandemic. The USDA ..read more

GARDNER — A history of A. Jandris and Sons, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, is really the history of the community for the past 10 decades.Since being established by Austrian emigrants (who were uneasy about the direction the political winds were blowing in their homeland) on High Street in 1920, the concrete company did not merely observe as the community grew around it — its workers played a pivotal role in making it happen. A. Jandris and Sons was ..read more

BALDWINVILLE — Students in Narragansett Regional School District will switch from hybrid to remote learning this week after officials said in a letter to the community that a staff member may have contracted COVID-19. The news came just days after parents were informed that a member of the school community had tested positive for the virus.“On the weekend of October 17 and 18, unknowingly, a Narragansett staff member came in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person ..read more

A fire was set Sunday in a Boston ballot drop box holding more than 120 ballots in what appears to have been a “deliberate attack,” Massachusetts election officials said.The state has asked the FBI to investigate the fire that was set around 4 a.m. in a ballot drop box outside the Boston Public Library downtown, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin's office said.In a joint statement, Galvin and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called it a ..read more

Voters are required to sign their signature in several voting steps, including when registering to vote and for mail-in ballots. But some voters print their name, something that likely will become more common since public schools are not required to teach students the script writing style known as cursive.“Generally, there is a small percentage of people who do not realize what the word 'signature' means,” Ware Town Clerk Nancy J. Talbot said about what she has ..read more

[News staff photo by Doneen Durling]   ..read more