WEEKLY ROUNDUP – ABINGTON

HOVERBOARD LAWSUIT BLAMES DEVICES FOR HOUSE FIRE

An insurance company is suing the maker of a recalled hoverboard after two caught fire while charging in an Abington garage in 2020. Harleysville Worcester Insurance Company, part of Nationwide, filed the lawsuit last month against the New Jersey-based Digital Gadgets LLC, seeking $71,000 to recoup the money it paid out to Abington homeowner Hector Dejesus.

BRIDGEWATER

ANNUAL MOTORCYCLE RUN HELD

Motorcycles rolled from Bridgewater to Plympton the annual Frosty Nuts Motorcycle Run hosted by the Bridgewater 49ers Club. The day began with breakfast at the 49ers Club at 161 High St. in Bridgewater, and concluded at the Upland Club in Plympton. Spectators lined the street cheering as they left the club.

BROCKTON

BIENNIAL INAUGURATION

CEREMONY HELD

The city's biennial inauguration is typically well-attended, with officials, their family members and other guests shoulder-to-shoulder packed in the Brockton City Hall Council Chambers. But there was a stark difference with this year's event. The inauguration, held in person on Monday morning, was closed to the public and livestreamed on Brockton Community Access' YouTube page.

CARVER

BOY WHO STARTED FOOD PANTRY BATTLES CANCER

A boy who started a charity food program with his family has been hospitalized with acute myeloid leukemia. Shane McColgan, 14, is being treated at Boston Children's Hospital and his family is raising money through Go-FundMe to help with medical bills and finances. When Shane was 7, he started working with his family to collect food donations for the holidays. The mission grew into Shane Gives Thanks, a nonprofit that now runs a food pantry and also helps provide food for students in need.

EASTON

COUPLE BRINGS AID TO KENTUCKY IN BACK OF A HORSE TRAILER

Mark and Heidi Terezakis Fowler brought a horse trailer filled with donations for tornado victims to the Marshal County Nonprofit Foundation disaster relief organization in Benton, Kentucky. The couple had been so moved by the need following the deadly tornadoes that struck Kentucky on Dec. 10 that they decided to spend their holiday collecting donations and delivering them to those in need.

HOLBROOK

PROJECTS RECEIVE FUNDING

A Randolph-Holbrook-Braintree tri-town water treatment plant and IT improvements in Holbrook are just a couple of the projects on the South Shore that will be paid for by $8.7 million approved by the Legislature earlier this month. The money is part of a $4 billion Massachusetts spending bill funded by federal COVID-19 relief money and surplus tax revenue. The money will go to municipalities, nonprofits and civic organizations. South Shore municipalities and private organizations will get 0.22% of the total $4 billion allocated by the legislature.

RANDOLPH

SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT EARNS

EAGLE SCOUT

Maxwell Stecker, a Life Scout in Randolph's Troop 47 chartered to the First Baptist Church, reached the summit of his Eagle Scout service project. Stecker is a 21-year-old special needs student at the May Center who has been granted permission to remain in the Scouting program and continue to work toward the Eagle Scout Award after turning 18 as part of the Boy Scouts of America's longstanding inclusion program. His project was to revitalize the living accommodations for some of the winged inhabitants of Powers Farm Community Park.

RAYNHAM

TEEN FLOWN TO HOSPITAL AFTER HEAD-ON CRASH

Police and Fire departments responded to a crash on King Street involving a pickup truck and a Poland Spring water delivery truck. Emergency crews found the passenger of the pickup truck, a 16-year-old Raynham male, unconscious and trapped inside. First responders used hydraulic rescue tools to free the passenger, who was then transported by medical helicopter to a hospital in Rhode Island.

ROCKLAND

GARAGE FIRE DESTROYS BOAT, CAR

A fire on West Pleasant Street burned a car in a garage and also destroyed a boat and caused extensive smoke and heat damage to a house. The homeowner knew something was wrong when the smoke detectors started going off. She called 911 and got her husband out of the house. When firefighters arrived, they could see flames coming out of the garage windows. Deputy Chief Thomas Heaney requested mutual aid from Whitman, Abington, Hanover and Holbrook.

TAUNTON

HIGHEST WEEKLY TOTAL OF NEW

COVID CASES

The city reported its highest weekly total of new COVID cases of the entire pandemic so far. There were 1,015 new cases of COVID-19 in Taunton last week, according to Thursday's weekly report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Across the Greater Taunton area, there were 2,490 new COVID cases. This is the third week in a row that more than 1,000 cases were reported across Greater Taunton.