Mark Pratt, Author at Valley News

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Honeybee health blooms at federal facilities across the country

by Mark Pratt Associated PressJune 6, 2023

CONCORD — While judges, lawyers and support staff at the federal courthouse in Concord keep the American justice system buzzing, thousands of humble honeybees on the building’s roof are playing their part in a more important task — feeding the…

An empty miniature bottle that once contained liquor rests on a street near a sidewalk, Monday, April 3, 2023, in Boston. A Boston city councilor has proposed barring city liquor stores from selling the single-serve bottles that hold 100 milliliters or less of booze both as a way to address alcohol abuse and excessive litter. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Police-Fire-Courts

Bottle battle: Boston talks of banning tiny bottles of booze

by Mark Pratt Associated PressApril 6, 2023

This undated photo provided by Atlantic White Shark Conservancy shows Great White Shark Turbo. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, the organization that tracks the white shark population in the waters off Cape Cod, Mass., identified 55 new individual sharks during its most recent research season, but experts say that's no reason for the tourists who flock to the vacation haven every summer to be afraid of going in the water.(Atlantic White Shark Conservancy via AP)

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Researchers document 55 more white sharks in Cape Cod waters

by Mark Pratt Associated PressMarch 16, 2023

A man walks on sea wall near Spring Point Ledge Light, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in South Portland, Maine. The morning temperature was about -10 degrees Fahrenheit. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Mount Washington experiences record-setting minus-108 wind chill

by Mark Pratt Associated PressFebruary 4, 2023

FILE - Students walk on the Northeastern University campus in Boston on Jan. 31, 2019. A Northeastern University employee who said he was injured when a package he was opening on the Boston campus exploded last month was charged Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, with fabricating the incident. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi, File)

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Former Northeastern employee charged in campus bomb hoax

by Mark Pratt Associated Press, and Alanna Durkin Richer Associated PressOctober 5, 2022

From left, Wyatt Smith, 17, of Waterville, Maine, Tessa Dutil, 9, of Sidney, Maine, and their grandmother Anne Smith, of Watervillle, Maine, react to a hit during the game between the Portland Sea Dogs and the Hartford Yard Goats, Sunday, August 28, 2022, at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine. Across the northeastern U.S., outdoor businesses are profiting from the unusually dry weather. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Silver lining: Northeast drought benefits some businesses

by Mark Pratt Associated PressSeptember 3, 2022

Michelle Dunbar, of Lebanon, N.H., walks her two-year-old golden retriever Winnie, named after Winnie the Pooh, Lake Winnipesaukee and Winston Churchill, along the Northern Rail Trail in Lebanon, N.H., on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. “We’re on mile three, but you would think we just got out here,” Dunbar said as she watched Winnie playing in the snow. (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

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Winter storm snarls travel, gives some schools the day off in the Northeast

by Mark Pratt Associated PressJanuary 7, 2022

In this July 1908 photograph provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear sits at anchor while on Bering Sea Patrol off Alaska. The wreckage of the storied vessel, that served in two World Wars and patrolled frigid Arctic waters for decades, has been found, the Coast Guard said Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. (U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office via AP)

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Coast Guard: Wreck found in Atlantic is storied cutter Bear

by Mark Pratt Associated PressOctober 14, 2021

FILE - In this May 21, 2018, file photograph, Nathan Carman, a Vermont man accused by family members of killing his millionaire grandfather and possibly his mother in an attempt to collect inheritance money, attends a probate court hearing in Concord, N.H. Carman told a New Hampshire court Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, that he still lacks money for an attorney to defend himself against a lawsuit aimed at keeping him from benefiting from the deaths, in which no one has been charged. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, Pool, File)

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Judge denies new trial in boat sinking case

by Mark Pratt Associated PressDecember 30, 2019

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2017, file photo, Pete Frates, right, who inspired the ice bucket challenge, looks at his wife Julie during a ceremony at City Hall in Boston by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declaring the day the Pete Frates Day. Frates, who was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, died Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. He was 34. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)

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Spark behind ice bucket challenge dies

by Mark Pratt Associated PressDecember 9, 2019