Coronavirus Trends Improve In Local Cities, Towns: Patch PM

FRAMINGHAM, MA — It's Friday, Feb. 12. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Several communities in the MetroWest and Worcester areas have moved off the state's high-risk list for coronavirus infections.
• The recognition of Christopher Columbus takes another hit as officials get ready to discuss a new name for a Medford school.
• A Cape Cod school district is being sued by the family of a developmentally disabled girl who was assaulted in a school bathroom in 2018.

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

Monday’s Top Story

Thursday's weekly statewide report on coronavirus trends in cities and towns across the state had some good news for local communities.

Framingham, Milford and Worcester were all removed from the "red" high-risk list for the first time in months. Now almost every community between Worcester and Wellesley is either yellow or green on the state map, an indication the second wave of the virus may be on the wane. Hudson, Marlborough and Southborough are the only three in the area that remain red.

Nearby News

• Downtown-Area Worcester Building Damaged In Fire
• 2 Arrested In Framingham By Drug Task Force
• Natick Man Linked To Fatal Overdose Faces More Federal Charges
• 11 Framingham Restaurants That Deserve National Attention

Today’s Other Top Stories In Massachusetts

Parents sue school after daughter’s sexual assault: The parents of a disabled high school student sued the Dennis-Yarmouth Public School District after their daughter was sexually assaulted in a high school bathroom by another student. According to the lawsuit, the sexual assault happened in February 2018 at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School. The girl was 16, but had the mental capacity of a 6-year-old child because she was born with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes significant cognitive impairments. As part of her learning plan, she required around-the-clock supervision while she was in school.

Andrea Bocelli Elementary?: Official talks over a new name for the Columbus Elementary School won't begin until next month, but the School Committee briefly touched on some ideas for the renaming process at its meeting Monday. Some members said the new name should reflect Medford's Italian-American population. "I would hope if the name is going to be changed, we would think about other Italian-Americans or Italians that we would be able to recognize and honor the culture," Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent said. An example: Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, whose music the superintendent said she "loves."

‘We Did It!’: One of the first people to get the vaccine in Westford was Hartwig "Dr. Hart" Achenbach – at age 99 last month. Now, the facility where he's staying is hoping to help him celebrate his 100th birthday surrounded by the well wishes of the community.

By The Numbers

106: That’s how old S. Prestley Blake, the co-founder of Friendly’s, was when he died Thursday. The businessman and philanthropist, born in 1914, co-founded the ice cream shop in 1935.

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