Fortunately, there were only minor injuries involved on Park Street in Mansfield after a vicious fire broke out in a couples home on Monday evening. The wooden house that they had lived in since 1965 suffered major damages and the loss of a beloved pet cat. Foxboro firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to tame the fire at around 2am. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Is your home covered? Massachusetts homeowners insurance offers a helping hand in piecing your life back together after an awful disaster such as a fire.

Sitting in his West Bridgewater backyard, John Giunta Jr. heard the loud whistle and the rumbling sound of the train going past his home Tuesday afternoon, and broke down crying.

That sound could haunt him forever.

His son, John R. Giunta, was struck and killed after he put himself in front of a commuter train near the West Street (Route 106) crossing in East Bridgewater, about a mile from his home, about 6:30 p.m. Monday. He was 25.

Tears streaming down his face, his father spoke Tuesday of his son’s long battle with schizophrenia, hoping to help another family
struggling with a loved one with a mental illness.

“I am very proud of my son. I love my son,” he said. “He made a decision that most people can’t even comprehend. However, it was his decision.”

At 18, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia with psychotic tendencies, a condition that ran in his family, his father said.

For years, John R. Giunta and his family struggled with his mental illness. He took medication, received counseling and was hospitalized four or five times, with hospital stays lasting up to a month, his father said.

“It’s very frustrating to watch your child suffer, to get help,” he said. “You don’t know what to do.”

Funeral arrangements were incomplete on Tuesday.

His father said his son’s legacy will be to remind people to love one another, and have patience.

“John is telling us that we need to love our children, children love your parents, and that we need to treat each other with love and
respect,” he said.

Danroy “DJ” Henry was a big fan of the rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z, so much so that West’s song “Champion” was featured last October during Henry’s memorial service in Boston.

Now West and Jay-Z have paid tribute to Henry, the 20-year-old college student from Easton shot to death by police in Pleasantville, N.Y. “Murder to
Excellence,” a song on the CD released at midnight Sunday, is dedicated to him.It opens with the line: “This is to the memory of Danroy Henry.”

“He would be so happy and so humbled by this,” Henry’s mother, Angella, said Tuesday.  The dedication came as a big surprise to the Henrys, who learned of it when someone sent them a Twitter message on Monday morning. Henry’s father, Dan Henry, immediately went to his computer and downloaded the song, Angella said.

It is no surprise that saving for college is not only hard, but EXPENSIVE.  With the average private college or university costing well over $50,000 most parents are urging their kids to attend state schools, where the cost, although still pricey, is about $15,000-$20,000.  With this large amount of money looming over parents’ heads, C&S Insurance, located in Mansfield, recommends that it is time to start thinking about college tuition insurance.

College tuition insurance is like a backup plan for if something was to happen to your child while he or she is away at school.  It provides the reassurance to parents that their money will not be completely wasted if their child, for whatever reason, has to leave the school mid-semester.  For individual rates and regulations it is important to contact your local agent.

Still don’t think you can afford the high tuition?? Take a look at the Princeton Review’s best value colleges, both private and public.  Lucky for us here in Massachusetts, many colleges and universities here in the state made the list: Harvard College, Williams Colleges, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Amherst College, and Wellesley College!

After calling it “popular” but not necessarily “prudent,” Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts on Monday signed a bill creating a two-day sales tax holiday later this month that will give shoppers a brief respite from the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax.

His signature gives retailers almost two full weeks to prepare for the shopping blitz, which usually includes advertising campaigns
centered around the holiday to lure shoppers into stores for purchases they have been waiting to make or “impulse buys” motivated by the desire to avoid taxes.

Under the bill, sales tax will not be collected on Aug. 13 and Aug. 14 on purchases up to $2,500. The holiday will be the seventh in the last eight years after lawmakers opted not to approve the sales tax break in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis.

The Department of Revenue believes the weekend saves shoppers roughly $20 million in sales taxes over that weekend.
The two-day holiday gave taxpayers a much needed break, enabling families to save money on back-to-school shopping and generating higher taxes in other areas for the state, including income taxes from the increased number of employees who will be asked by retailers to work that weekend.

Advocates said consumers will spend more throughout the economy that weekend, paying gas taxes and meals taxes while they are out shopping and creating momentum for the economy while recovering some sales that might have lost to the Internet or New Hampshire.

With the price of gas expected to skyrocket up to $5.00 a gallon over the summer, it is necessary to find the lowest prices around. When you are expecting to fill up your tank, take the extra five minutes to do a little research on where the cheapest gas prices are in your area.

However, if you have a smartphone, such as a iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry, it can take as little as 30 seconds! The Gas Buddy app alows smartphone users to locate the cheapest gas within the user’s vicinity using a GPS locator. The app will work all the way from Massachusetts to Texas and back up throughout all of Canada.

The app also has a website, http://gasbuddy.com/, that allows you to check prices from your computer before you leave the house!

Mansfield Police are seeking the public’s help regarding the brutal assault on a Westwood teenager during a Tim McGraw concert at the Comcast Center on Sunday.

Police say the victim, Michael J. Skehill, 19, was jumped from behind and knocked to the ground while he was standing with his brother on the lawn section of the outdoor venue.

The assailant then punched Skehill in the ribs several times before a second man stepped in and kicked him in the head. Four people were involved the attack, witnesses said.

Skehill, a graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School, was flown with serious injuries to Boston Medical Center where he underwent surgery. He was reported to be awake and alert earlier this week.

Comcast Center does a good job controlling liquor sales, he said, but concert- goers bring in alcohol.  Police made 27 arrests and took 31 more people into protective custody for public intoxication.  Another four people were issued civil citations for possession of marijuana.

Mansfield police are asking anyone who may have seen the assault to contact the Detective Division 1-508- 261-7300. Officer Roy Bain is leading the investigation.

A ‘Hazardous Weather Outlook’ has been issued for the Southeastern Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon. There is a ‘Severe Thunderstorm Watch’ in effect until about 10 p.m. tonight

Showers and thunderstorms are expected, mainly before 11pm. Some storms could be severe, with large hail, hail, damaging winds, and gusty winds. Patchy fog after 1am. Low around 62. West wind between 6 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

There was a tornado warning posted near West Springfield going toward Chicopee, Palmer and Monson. Ludlow Police are reported widespread damage and hail covering the ground.

After new legislation has been put in place to change the nutrition standards in Massachusetts’ public schools, students in Easton may become frustrated with their new menu options.

All artificially sweetened and sugar filled beverages, as well as all fried food will be cut from the menus.  These foods will be removed not only because they do not comply with the schools’ new standards of healthy eating, but also because they are proved to cause obesity in young children.

In Easton, school lunch prices and assorted items will remain the same for the upcoming school year as they have for the past three years with one notable exception. The price of a la carte French fries will go up to $1.50 not because of the impending ban but because the district has decided to offer the fries to all students again next year.

School committee Chairman Jane Martin said perhaps by increasing the price for the fries students would be dissuaded from purchasing them.  She also said the legislation did not remove the item from school menus in the upcoming school year. The committee ultimately voted unanimously 5-0 to again offer the fries a la carte next year and to revisit the topic when the nutrition standards need to be implemented.