The Halifax Police Department, in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is hosting a drug take back event at the Halifax Police Station, 540 Plymouth St., Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event allows residents or any member of the public to discard medications or prescription drugs in a safe and secure environment.
Acceptable forms of medications that may be discarded include tablets, capsules, patches, and any other solid forms of medication. Liquid products, such as cough syrup, should remain sealed in their original container and be tightly sealed to prevent leakage. Syringes, sharps, and illicit drugs will not be accepted during the collection event.
For more than a decade, this event has helped Americans easily purge their homes of unneeded medications—those that are old, unwanted, or expired—that too often become a gateway to addiction.
Take Back Day offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at close to 5,000 local drop-off locations nationwide and has removed 9,285 tons of medication from circulation since its inception.
For questions, please contact the Halifax Police Department by calling (781) 294-8713 or e-mailing Chief Chaves at [email protected] or Deputy Chief Benner at [email protected].

T-Mobile has announced its latest round of 25 Hometown Grant recipients, each set to receive as much as $50,000 in funding from T-Mobile to support local development projects to revitalize their communities. The town of Kingston will receive a $29,000 grant to update the Kingston Public Library lobby, replacing 27-year-old furnishings and making the space ADA compliant, providing a welcoming, accessible space to patrons.
Since kicking off its five-year commitment to small towns and rural communities in April 2021, the Un-carrier has provided more than $16 million in Hometown Grants to 375 communities across 48 states and Puerto Rico. Hometown Grants has sparked more than 150,000 volunteer hours, bringing people together to uplift their communities in big ways.
“When we started Hometown Grants nearly four years ago, we knew T-Mobile could make a real difference in small towns across the country, but the impact has exceeded all expectations,” said Jon Freier, President, T-Mobile Consumer Group. “With this latest round of grants, communities will be able to fund everything from new fire hose technology to expanded food pantry space — creating important, life-changing improvements for the people who call these towns home.”

Writers Emily Franklin, Dawn Tripp, and Adelle Waldman will visit the Adams Center (33 Summer Street, Kingston) on Sunday, March 23 at 2 PM, for an author talk celebrating Women’s History Month.
The trio will talk about the female characters in their novels, the ways in which authors researched individuals in stories, and the subject matter. Franklin and Tripp recently authored books featuring Isabella Stewart Gardner (The Lioness of Boston) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Jackie) while Waldman published a fictionalized book inspired by her experience unloading boxes at a big box-store, Help Wanted.
Franklin is the bestselling author of more than 20 novels for both adults and young adults, as well as a poetry collection titled, Tell Me How You Got Here. Her award-winning work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, and other numerous publications. The Lioness of Boston was a Boston Globe and Indie Bookstore bestseller, as it was featured on WBUR’s “Local Authors.” She has been featured on NPR and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Franklin lives outside of Boston with her family and two large dogs. You can follow her at https://emilyfranklin.com.
Tripp is the nationally bestselling author of Jackie and Georgia (a fictional novel about Georgia O’Keefe), was a finalist for the New England Book Award and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. Her three other previous novels are Game of Secrets, Moon Tide, and The Season of Open Water, which won the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, Conjunctions, AGNI, and NPR.
Tripp graduated from Harvard and lives in Massachusetts with her sons. For more information about Tripp, her website is https://dawntripp.com
In addition to the novel Help Wanted released in March of 2024, Waldman has also written The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. It was named one of the years best books by the New Yorker, The Economist, NPR, Slate, Bookforum, and the Guardian. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, e Wall Street Journal, Slate and other publications.
Waldman lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and daughter. You can read more about her by visiting https://adellewaldman.com.
Books will be on sale following the event for all three authors. This event is generously sponsored by the Kingston Public Library Foundation.
To register for this event, please visit – https://kingstonpubliclibrary.org. For more information, you can contact Steven Miller, Reference Librarian at (781) 585-0517 x6272 or at [email protected].

Samantha Perry
Express correspondent
Officially known as the Head of Youth Services for Kingston Public Library, Holly Iannucci is better known to the kids of Kingston as “Miss Holly”. She is warm and welcoming, a joy for parents and children alike. Holly’s dedication to what she does is clear to all who have the pleasure of spending time in the Kingston Public Library’s Children’s Room. An education major in college, Holly spent the first 14 years of her career in early childhood education before moving on to the Holmes Public Library in Halifax, and then the Kingston Public Library she now calls home.
Holly’s family has lived in Kingston for generations and it was always a goal of hers to give back to the community she grew up in. You may know her grandfather as the owner of Kingston Block which has been in business since 1948. She recalls spending her free time at the Kingston Public Library growing up, shelving books alongside then-librarian, Joan Enriquez. Joan quickly became one of Holly’s greatest mentors.
Holly describes the library the way some people describe trusted family and friends: safe, comforting and resilient. “If you are new in town and don’t know anyone, if you need a safe place to go, go to the library,” she says. “Libraries have been here since the ancient Greeks, they will always be here, they just won’t always look the same.” Holly explains that the landscape of libraries has already changed drastically to accommodate for the shifts in our world. It used to be a space where community members typically came to work quietly or in solitude. Children’s Programs such as Storytime were offered in the past, but often felt serious and structured. “Now,” Holly says, “Learning is Loud!”
Kingston Public Library offers many Children’s programs that Holly refers to as educational entertainment. Kids can come as they are, pick up a variety of skills and have fun while doing it. Holly describes the Children’s Room as a “community living room where children can come and learn through play.” As a Kingston parent myself, I have had the pleasure of joining Miss Holly for Babies and Bubbles where parents, caregivers, and their little ones gather together for songs, stories and – of course – bubbles! It is a wonderful chaos of little voices, tiny hands clapping, caregivers chasing after fast feet, knowing glances from one mama to another, and many wide-eyed babies just taking it all in. At first glance the program is very much geared towards babies and creating a safe space for learning, but in so many ways it is for caregivers also. “There are mothers at home who need to get out of the house for their own mental health, nannies can make friends with other caregivers, and infants can make their first friends,” Holly says. The benefits are boundless. Babies and Bubbles is offered on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for children 0-2 years.
Preschool Storytime is also offered at Kingston Public Library on Thursdays and most Fridays at 11:30 a.m. for children 3+ years. Children can expect lots of laughing, silly songs, learning their numbers and letters, crafts and – of course – storytime! For children who have not yet entered Kindergarten, Preschool Storytime is great practice for them. “When kids go to kindergarten so much is expected of them,” Holly explains. For some children, particularly those who are not enrolled in preschool programs, this is the first time adults other than their parents or caregivers are giving them instruction. Holly has created a safe space where kids can be free to have their first outside-of-the-home learning experience with loved ones nearby.
Holly’s passion for her work, and for libraries, is contagious. She explains that libraries have the ability to level the economic playing fields within the communities they support. “For lots of kids it is the first time they use a computer,” Holly shares. Kids who are looking for the latest book, video game, or even boardgames can get them for free at the library. There are a variety of apps included with a Kingston Public Library card such as Kanopy, Hoopla and Libby where members can access eBooks, audiobooks, movies, TV, music and more – all for free.
Holly urges us all to explore these resources and get involved in your local library. “It doesn’t matter if you use our library, just use a library. No matter where you stand in this world, how rich or poor, your race or your gender, you are welcome at the library.”
The Kingston Public Library is located at 6 Green Street in Kingston, MA and their website is https://kingstonma.gov/219/Library.

Senator Dylan Fernandes issued the following statement in response to Governor Healey’s announcement directing the pause of the planned closure of the Pocasset Mental Health Center.
“I am deeply grateful to Governor Healey for supporting mental health beds in our region and working to keep the Pocasset location open. We spoke out and rallied against the Department of Mental Health’s decision to close the in-patient center and we are incredibly fortunate to have a Governor who listens and deeply cares about the closure’s impact to our geographically isolated region and to people struggling with lack of access to care.
We are going to keep fighting for healthcare access on the Cape & South Shore and I want to thank everyone who stood alongside us – especially the Pocasset mental health workers and patients who understand what these beds mean to our district more than anyone.”

Middleborough Police Chief Robert Ferreira reports that the Middleborough Police Department is investigating two motor vehicle thefts reported early Monday morning, Feb. 10.
At 7:38 a.m., on Monday, Feb. 10, Patrolman Cameron Amaral was dispatched to Ashley Lane to investigate two stolen vehicle reports.
One resident told police that their 2024 Chrysler Pacifica was stolen overnight. A second resident reported their 2016 Hyundai Elantra GT also was stolen overnight.
Middleborough Police broadcast an alert about the thefts to departments in surrounding communities.
The incidents remain under investigation.