William J. Kole, Author at Daily Hampshire Gazette

FILE - Karla Hailer, a fifth-grade teacher from Scituate, Mass., takes a video on July 19, 2017, where a memorial stands at the site in Salem, Mass., where five women were hanged as witches more than three centuries years earlier. Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday, May 26, 2022, formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

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Last Salem ‘witch’ is pardoned, 329 years on

by William J. Kole Associated PressMay 26, 2022

BOSTON — It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem “witch” who wasn’t has been officially pardoned.Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of…

Ruby, a working K-9 for the Rhode Island State Police and former shelter dog, stays down outside the state police barracks in North Kingstown, R.I., Feb. 16.

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‘Rescued by Ruby’ a canine tale of redemption

by William J. Kole Associated PressMarch 10, 2022

Phil Saviano, regional coordinator for the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, poses for a portrait in his Boston home, Feb. 15, 2002.

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Saviano, whistleblower on clergy sex abuse, dies at 69

by William J. Kole Associated PressNovember 28, 2021

FILE- Supporters of Native Americans pause following a prayer during the 38th National Day of Mourning at Coles Hill in Plymouth, Mass., on Nov. 22, 2007. Denouncing centuries of racism and mistreatment of Indigenous people, members of Native American tribes from around New England will gather on Thanksgiving 2021 for a solemn National Day of Mourning observance. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)

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Tribes to mourn on Thanksgiving: ‘No reason to celebrate’

by William J. Kole Associated PressNovember 25, 2021

Chloe Taub and Anthony Brobenzano, of Hollywood, Fla., look at the 9/11 memorial at Logan International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Boston. The two were the only visitors during a three-hour span that afternoon. Tucked in a grove of ginkgo trees, the glass cube at Logan Airport pays tribute to those lost aboard the two jetliners that took off from Boston and were hijacked by terrorists who flew them into the World Trade Center towers. But it's mostly silent homage. The memorial...

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Subdued 9/11 remembrances reflect Boston’s invisible scars

by William J. Kole Associated PressSeptember 9, 2021

In this image provided by the American Ancestors & New England Historic Genealogical Society, a digitized copy of a page from a handwritten 18th century diary by the Rev. Ebenezer Storer, during a period of smallpox, in Boston, shows an April 1764 entry that includes a prayer Storer wrote weeks after arranging to have his own children inoculated. In the prayer, Storer gives thanks for the recovery of family members from the disease.

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Old records shed new light on smallpox outbreaks in 1700s

by William J. Kole Associated PressMay 21, 2021

This photo shows a love letter that John F. Kennedy wrote to a Swedish paramour a few years after he married Jacqueline Bouvier, according to Boston-based RR Auction. The auction house says Kennedy wrote letters to aristocrat Gunilla von Post in 1955 and 1956, and announced, Wednesday, May 5, 2021, that they will be going up for auction. (Nikki Brickett/ RR Auction via AP)

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‘Anxious to see you’: JFK letters to Swedish lover auctioned

by William J. Kole Associated PressMay 5, 2021

A 17th century Arabian silver coin, top, that research shows was struck in 1693 in Yemen, rests near an Oak Tree Shilling minted in 1652 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, below, and a Spanish half real coin from 1727, right, on a table, in Warwick, R.I., March 11.

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Ancient coins may solve mystery of notorious pirate

by William J. Kole Associated PressApril 1, 2021

FILE - In this April 17, 2017, file photo, runners head down the stretch to the finish line in the 121st Boston Marathon in Boston. Rival camps in the running world began snapping at each other's heels in March 2021 after the Boston Athletic Association, which still hopes to hold a truncated in-person edition of the footrace in October, said it would award medals to up to 70,000 athletes if they go the distance wherever they are. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

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Boston Marathon plan to hand out 70,000 medals roils runners

by William J. Kole Associated PressMarch 4, 2021

This undated photo released by RR Auction shows locks of hair from the heads of the first United States President George Washington, right, and from his wife Martha, left, up for auction between between Feb. 11-18, 2021, by the Boston-based auction firm. (Nikki Brickett/RR Auction via AP)

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A quirky Presidents Day sale: Washington’s hair, JFK sweater

by William J. Kole Associated PressFebruary 9, 2021