The city treasurer in Holyoke, Massachusetts got an email message asking for a wire transfer of an amount less than $10,000 and wired the money as requested, later realizing it was a scam. The email message "appeared to be from another municipal financial department" but was actually from a scammer on Long Island, said Mayor Alex B. Morse, according to MassLive.com; the incident occurred in June 2017, but is only coming to light now; city councilors aren't happy.
A recent meditation retreat for "brown and black youth from Hampshire College" at a same-sex couple's "Zen Buddhist home temple" in Westhampton, Massachusetts is what led neighbors to file a complaint about an existing garden shed that was built several years ago within a 20-foot setback required by the local zoning code, says the couple who hosted the retreat. Neighbors' complaints about trespassing, dumping on their property, and that the couple's driveway "looks like a parking lot in Springfield" with "suspicious cars and people" are just covers for racism, the couple says, according to MassLive.com.
