I’m Brian MacQuarrie with a story on why, for hundreds of veterans, this year’s Veterans Day will be different from any other.
But first, here’s what else is going on:
- A jury has found former police detective Matthew Farwell guilty of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child. Birchmore “had plenty to live for” and wouldn’t leave this world without a fight, Yvonne Abraham writes.
- The Kennedy family has joined the legal battle against Trump’s proposed 250-foot-high arch, saying it will mar the JFK and RFK gravesites.
- A lame-duck Republican House voted to refer the impeachment of Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to a committee, likely delaying the key vote until a Democratic-led House takes over in January.
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TODAY’S STARTING POINT
This Veterans Day marks a promise kept.
The promise is a gleaming, new $484 million facility that has arisen beside the former Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, where at least 76 elderly veterans died six years ago in the nation’s deadliest COVID outbreak at a long-term care facility.
Incompetence, inexperience, and appalling judgment by managers and leadership from the Holyoke home to Beacon Hill helped enable that tragedy. Veterans with and without COVID symptoms were forced to share locked rooms as the disease spread. Communication breakdowns underreported the true toll of the virus.
That was then, this is now
Today, an eight-story, state-of-the-art building stands atop Cherry Hill, thanks in part to veterans, advocates, and family members of the deceased who pushed for a facility that combines enhanced staffing, rigorous infection control, and spacious living quarters for 234 veterans.
A ceremonial ribbon-cutting was held recently, and all veterans still living in the old building are scheduled to move into their new rooms by January. There will be 212 single rooms of 150 square feet each, 11 doubles, and oversize views of the Pioneer Valley throughout. Private bathrooms are now the norm.
“The state did what they said they would do,” said John Paradis, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who resigned as deputy superintendent of the Soldiers’ Home a decade ago in protest over conditions there.
Honoring a sacrifice
Paradis called the curved, new landmark near the Connecticut River “a phoenix rising from the ashes.”
The veterans about to decamp into rooms with 55-inch televisions and gas fireplaces are appreciative. To their minds, this is respect, comfort, and care on a top-level and previously unimagined scale.
“It’s spacious, and it’s gorgeous,” said Elizabeth Brewer, a 97-year-old Army veteran and one of six women at the facility, now called the Veterans Home at Holyoke.
To Governor Maura Healey, who prosecuted the home’s former superintendent and medical director when she was attorney general, the facility represents a commitment to service members for many Veterans Days to come.
“I hope it provides a measure of comfort to the families who lost loved ones there, that their loved ones’ sacrifice is honored,” she said.
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Read: A new veterans home is reborn six years after COVID tragedy.
Plus: Honoring veterans from four lost Quabbin towns, one gravestone at a time.
🧩 2 Down: Spooky | ⛅ 56° Chilly start
POINTS OF INTEREST
Kraft data center: Bucking voter anger and market uncertainty over AI, the billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft wants to build the nation’s fourth biggest data center in a rural town in Central Mass.
Health insurance: Premiums in Mass. have climbed 38% since 2019, outpacing the national average, report finds.
Tracking software, seized devices: Read new police details of the attempted escape to Maine by the beleaguered head of the exclusive Suffield Academy boarding school.
Awaiting justice: The man accused of killing Dejah Jenkins-Minus was arrested five years ago. Her family is still waiting for his trial.
Smith protest: What happens when a women’s college wants to close its century-old child care center? (We’ll have more on this story in an upcoming Starting Point.)
Measles: Vermont has confirmed “a small number” of measles cases in northern Orleans County.
Army soldier accused of spying for Russia: The 41-year-old senior official based in Britain was “entrusted with sensitive information.” (Washington Post)
Field hockey: Boys are allowed to play field hockey in Massachusetts. It’s still a touchy subject, writes Dan Shaughnessy.
Nvidia spy: CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy could cause collateral damage for America.
Fence Viewer: That’s the title of a real job in Mass. The “viewer” is a mediator who lowers the temperatures of wrangling neighbors and can wrangle a wandering cow, too. In other news, cows Bessie and Clyde have been captured in Marshfield after five days on the run.
BESIDE THE POINT
By David Beard
🥪 ‘My new favorite sandwich’: On payday, our writer springs for a triple-layer stack of crispy chicken, creamy egg salad, and bright pickled cabbage. Yum. Also, why our dining critic keeps eating at Prairie Fire.
🍩 Betting on doughnuts: Why this South End restaurateur is moving on from Banyan to go big on sweets. Plus, these Boston restaurants will cater your Thanksgiving dinner.
🥊 Being Rocky: Yo Adrian! Sylvester Stallone gave the director of the new movie “I Play Rocky” one very important piece of advice. Plus, our “I Play Rocky” review.
🛳️ Last call! Cruises from Boston are booming as first-time customers turn to affordable international travel.
🔬 Tiny wonders: Zoom in for the best photos of the year taken with microscopes. (SmallWorld)
Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by David Beard and produced by Asia Alexander.
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Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at brian.macquarrie@globe.com.