In today’s daily 5 Things You Need to Know feature, ThisWeekinWorcester.com explores five important items and stories that Worcester and Central Massachusetts residents should keep a close eye on.
These five things can cover a whole range of subjects and issues that we feel are pertinent to understanding what’s going on in the city and the cities and towns surrounding Worcester.
In today’s edition — Friday, Feb. 28 — the Worcester Fire Department Hockey Team is raising money for charity, Dunkin’ introduces a new snack, JetBlue suspends change and cancel fees, Massachusetts is one of the least representative states of the entire US electorate, and the Massachusetts Attorney General warns of Social Security scams.
Worcester Fire Department Hockey Team Raises Money for Charity
The Worcester Fire Department will compete for the fourth consecutive year in the BFit Heroes Cup in Marlboro. The hockey tournament will be held April 24-26 at the New England Sports Center at 121 Donald Lynch Blvd. in Marlboro.
The tournament brings police, fire, EMS and military hockey teams from all over North America. Last season teams from as far as Maryland, Missouri and Los Angeles made the trip to Marlboro.
Worcester Firefighters will be playing for National Education for Assistance Dog Services [NEADS], Genesis Club, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Onsite Academy.
Last year, with the help of WFD Hockey, the WFD6K was able to donate almost $50,000 to these charities.
You can donate to the fund for this event and sponsor the WFD team here.
New Bacon Lovers Snack at Dunkin’s
Dunkin’s has introduced a item for the spring season: Snackin’ Bacon!
These snackable bacon strips come with eight half-slices of bacon with sweet black pepper and served in a sleeve. Just bacon. They are available today at participating restaurants nationwide.
Dunkin’s also announced the return of Irish Creme flavored coffee and Dunkin’ Bowls.
JetBlue Suspends Change and Cancel Fees
JetBlue has announced it will suspend change and cancel fees for new flight bookings through March 11, 2020 for travel completed by June 1, 2020.
Although there are no current travel restrictions, the policy is to give customers confidence to book their travel plans without risk of coronavirus concerns continue to evolve.
The policy extends to all fares offered by JetBlue including Blue Basic and JetBlue Vacations.
Massachusetts Ranked 46th Most Representative of US Electorate
Wallethub has studied every state in the nation is most representative of the US population.
It used five measures to determine the final scores: sociodemographics, economy, education, religion and public opinion.
Massachusetts finished 46th in their ranking with an electorate representation index of 80.19%.
Illinois finished first at 94.8%.
The study was inspired by discussion around the presidential primary process and early states not being representative of the nation as a whole.
Attorney General Warning on Social Security Scams
Since it’s tax time once again, callers claiming to represent the Social Security Administration are again starting to pop up.
The Massachusetts Attorney General warns that these callers often say there is a problem or give some other reason why you need to give them your Social Security number.
Ignore your caller ID no matter what it says and NEVER give personal information to unsolicited callers.
The Social Security Administration will NEVER call asking for your number, asking you to pay anything or threaten your benefits. Hang up and call the Social Security Administration at (800) 772-1213.