Massachusetts is creating overnight shelter spots

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts has begun awarding grants to local agencies to set up temporary housing sites for homeless families as officials grapple with finding newly arriving migrants places to stay after hitting a state-imposed limit of 7,500 families in the state’s emergency homeless shelter system. Catholic Charities Boston is the first organization to be awarded a grant to provide temporary rooms to extremely low-income families with children and pregnant individuals, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay announced this week. The grant will pay for a site in the greater Boston area that opened on Tuesday evening and can accommodate up to 27 families, or about 81 people, as they wait to enter the state’s emergency shelter system, officials said.

Victims in Niagara Falls border bridge crash identified

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — The two people killed when their car crashed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fiery wreck were identified Friday as a western New York husband and wife whose family owns a lumber business and several hardware stores in the Buffalo area. The Niagara Falls Police Department named the couple as Kurt P. Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, New York, a leafy Buffalo suburb close to the falls. Online business records and the company website indicate the victims’ family owns Gui’s Lumber and seven Ace Hardware locations in western New York, his family operating the business since the mid-1980s.

Father arrested in Thanksgiving shooting death of 10-year-old son in Nebraska

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A father has been arrested in the Thanksgiving Day shooting death of his 10-year-old son. Omaha police said in a news release that officers rushed to a home late Thursday and found Kendrick McDonald wounded. He later died at a hospital, and several witnesses inside the home were questioned. His father has been arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide, use of a weapon and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Thanksgiving shooting in Memphis leaves 4 wounded, 2 suspects at large

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A shooting in Memphis on Thanksgiving left four people wounded, according to police, who said they are searching for two suspects who fled on foot after abandoning a stolen vehicle. Four people were taken to hospitals, two of them with critical injuries, police said in a social media post Thursday night. A 23-year-old woman remained in critical condition on Friday morning, police spokesperson Officer Theresa Carlson said in an email. A 47-year-old man, 19-year-old woman and 17-year-old girl have been discharged, Carlson said.

Mississippi deputy wounded as officers exchange gunfire with possible suspect

MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi sheriff’s deputy was shot and wounded Friday as officers exchanged gunfire with a possible suspect in a killing that occurred hours earlier, the state Department of Public Safety said. The person who shot the Lauderdale County deputy was arrested, and the deputy was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, the department said in a statement. The department did not release names.