AP Massachusetts State News – 7/18 /2019

STATE NEWS       7/18/2017        

DETROIT (AP) - Communities nationwide are bracing for a record-breaking heatwave that's already roasting much of the U.S. to continue through the weekend. Weather officials say temperatures could soar to dangerous levels as more than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, buildings are being offered as cooling centers and residents are being asked to check on family and neighbors.

BOSTON (AP) - A black artist says he's withdrawing his proposal for a slave memorial in front of Boston's Faneuil Hall after the NAACP objected. Steve Locke said on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter he won't go forward with the project because NAACP Boston President Tanisha Sullivan has warned him the group will come out strongly against it.

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts public health officials say the potentially fatal eastern equine encephalitis virus has been detected in the state for the first time this year. The Department of Public Health said Wednesday that EEE was detected in mosquito samples collected Monday in Easton and New Bedford. No human or animal cases of EEE have been found in the state so far this year and there is no elevated risk level associated with the finding.

BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have dropped a case accusing Kevin Spacey of groping a young man at a Massachusetts resort island bar in 2016. The Cape and Islands District Attorney said yesterday that they were dropping the indecent assault and battery charge brought against the actor last year. Spacey was accused of getting an 18-year-old man drunk and then groping him at a Nantucket restaurant and bar where the teen worked as a busboy.