BOSTON – A program aimed at keeping ex-offenders from relapsing into drug abuse and crime shows early signs of success in Worcester, one of several communities where it's being assessed for wider adoption.
The program, known as HOPE/MORR, aims to keep probationers out of prison by imposing immediate punishment, including jail time, for even the most minor violations. The program targets those considered most likely to re-offend and shows signs of successfully reducing the recidivism rate in Worcester, the state's second-largest city.
A teenager from Sharon, Mass., was one of three people murdered in Israel on Thursday afternoon when a Palestinian man attacked cars stuck in traffic in the West Bank.
Ezra Schwartz, 18, a recent high school graduate, was spending a "gap year" in Israel studying and performing community service through a program at Yeshiva Ashreinu. Schwartz and five other yeshiva students were in a minivan driving to bring snacks to Israeli Defense Force soldiers when the gunman opened fire with a submachine gun on a road near the settlement of Alon Shvut.
