WALPOLE

A Massachusetts school district has announced plans to change the controversial nickname of its mascot. Long the home of the “Rebels,” schools in Walpole will abandon the name over its racist historical ties. The school committee voted unanimously Thursday to stop using the name for athletic teams. It’s been a controversial topic for decades. In the 1980s, the schools...

Walpole’s high school is planning to change its longstanding nickname due to its racist historical ties.

Rob Gronkowski may have joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but he’s still a Massachusetts resident, and on Friday he showed his gratitude to a pair of his local fire departments by donating personal protective equipment to them. He and his girlfriend, Camille Kostek, dropped off masks and face shields with the Walpole and Foxboro fire departments. And in classic...

A gas leak closed a road in Walpole overnight Friday as crews dug in to make repairs, according to authorities. Washington Street was closed early Saturday between High Plain St. and Pilgrim Way as Columbia Gas of Massachusetts works to fix leak, Walpole police said. Residents in the area may get to their homes from the Polley Lane side while…

A former police officer in Walpole, Massachusetts, is facing sexual assault charges for allegedly inappropriately touching another police officer while she was driving after a night at a restaurant last year. Christopher Mackenzie was a deputy police chief in Walpole, in the same department as the alleged victim’s husband, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. The victim is...

A former deputy police chief in Walpole, Mass. is accused of assault.

Christopher Mackenzie, the former deputy chief of the Walpole Police Department, is accused of sexually assaulting a female police officer from a nearby community when she was driving him home in his cruiser.

Two men have escaped from a truck that plunged into a frozen pond early Sunday morning in Massachusetts. Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael says the pickup truck somehow “slid off” Oak Street and crashed into a nearby pond. The truck was submerged in about 10 feet of water and both men had to escape through a window, he said. The…

The two men in Walpole managed to get out through a window of the truck.

The crash happened on North Street near Bubbling Brook.

Police in Walpole, Massachusetts are responding to a stabbing.

A home in Walpole, Massachusetts, may have to be torn down after fire tore through it on Thursday. The fire at the 2-story East Street home started at about 10:30 a.m. and quickly reached two-alarms. Neighbor Marjory Goodwin said she had been next door to pick up her friend when the fire started.

A fire nearly destroyed a home in Walpole, Massachusetts, Thursday.

A large marijuana grow house was recently discovered at a vacant gas station in Walpole, Massachusetts, according to police. A police officer said he noticed a suspicious car in the parking lot of the vacant gas station on Route 1 Monday. When the officer pulled into the parking lot, he found John Diarbakerly unloading boxes. Diarbakerly allegedly ran inside the...

A Massachusetts man is facing charges for an illegal marijuana grow operation at a vacant gas station in Walpole.

Police have made an arrest in an investigation into multiple bank robberies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Joseph Hickson, 31, of Walpole, Massachusetts, was taken into custody at Plainridge Park Casino. He’ll be arraigned on Thursday morning. The exact charges he is facing have not been released.

A 35-year-old Rhode Island man was arrested at a local casino in connection to several bank robberies. The FBI aided local police with the investigation..

A Massachusetts man accused of assaulting his mother with a meat tenderizer on Wednesday night has been captured in Vermont. Walpole police said Ian Crowley was taken into custody without incident in Hartford, Vermont, on Friday. No other details were immediately available. “Thanks to the agencies that assisted in the search and to the media outlets and general public who...

The search for a man accused of attacking his mother with a meat tenderizer continues in Walpole, Mass.