Drop-in child-care convenient, but fraught with hidden danger

Judith Melisi has been on a mission for more than a year now. But last June it became personal.

For months the Halifax mother had been trying to alert the owners of the health club where she works out to the dangers she saw in the child-care room. Candy that little ones could choke on brought in by older kids. Hot coffee brought in by a worker. The bathroom door left open. An electric outlet exposed.

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A pet project hit by fiscal reality

When I was looking for a dog a few years ago, I came across the Metro South Adoption Center, the satellite shelter for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A friend suggested the place, which is located on a rural street in Brockton. I took my grandson, Adam. He was 2 at the time.

I expected a few dogs and cats, not rooms full of animals waiting to be adopted. But there they were, a Disney-esque lineup: rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, birds, mice, dogs, cats, even a rat.

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