Larry the K's Lineup

  Some of the about 200 toys donated to the Christmas Is For Kids gift drive at the Turkey Trot. Want a feel-good story during these horrible and bleak times where hatred has a big lead over love? Then read on! ******** More than 450 runners and walkers turned out for the Second Annual Leftover Turkey Trot in downtown North Attleboro on a clear, but chilly, Sunday morning (Nov. 26, 2023) to raise more than $10,000 for Christmas Is For Kids. The second annual fundraiser for the Attleboro area's largest gift drive, now in its 41st year, drew 461 participants, said Kelly Fox, the driver's longtime chairperson. Fox said that money will provide gifts for 300 of the 1,000 children and teens that the drive expects to serve this holiday season. In addition, the entrants donated about 200 toys to the drive, Fox said. The race was organized by the Town of North Attleboro, in partnership with the gift drive and was followed by the annual Santa Parade through downtown North Attlebo...

  Today (Nov. 22, 2023) marks 60 years since President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated during a campaign trip to Dallas. It was a Friday afternoon, less than a week before Thanksgiving, when Kennedy was gunned down by Lee Harvey Oswald --- or by the CIA, FBI, Cuban hit men, the Mob or by an alien from outer space, depending on which crazy conspiracy theory you happen to believe. But regardless of conspiracy theories, one thing is clear: The United States lost its innocence and idealism forever that day. Kennedy’s assassination ushered in more than a half-century of mistrust of government bureaucracy and officials --- and that negativity toward government is stronger than ever in 2023 and shows no signs of dissipating.   Although that may have been for the best, the deep cynicism that followed JFK’s death has nonetheless hurt the United States in the long run. Vietnam and the lies that led to a wider war there and Watergate followed, and although those scandals pal...

  With the horrific Middle East war raging --- along with the 21-month-old war raging in Ukraine --- it may be difficult to find reasons to give thanks in less than two weeks during the American Thanksgiving. In this column, which appeared in the November edition of Jewish Rhode Island of Providence (published on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023), I give 10 reasons why I will be giving thanks this Thanksgiving Day despite the non-stop wars and the fractious country, where hatred of everyone seems far more popular than love, empathy, sympathy or generosity. The reasons listed in this column in no way minimize the horrors appearing nightly on the national news and 24/7 on the non-stop cable TV networks, but it IS to suggest that Americans remain extremely fortunate, despite all of the constant negativity that we are bombarded with   --- not to mention the incessant negativity and hatred that has taken over social media. The link to this column, as it appears on the Jewish Rhode Island’s ...

Being a fervent student of the space race in the 1960s --- and someone who was a working journalist covering several space shuttle launches and the first shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida --- I well know that the word “Godspeed” is associated with the Mercury flight of another of America’s astronaut heroes, John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, which he did three times on Feb. 20, 1962. But I’m using it here to salute another true American hero, Frank Borman, the commander of the Apollo 8 flight in December of 1968, who died this week (Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023) in Billings, Mont., at the age of 95. Borman and his capsule mates, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, made history when they became the first humans to see the moon up close. Their “TV show “that was aired live as they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve that year would have gone viral with billions of views --- if there was something called social media in 1968. That’s because as they orbited the moon, ...

Here's my attempt to catch up on some New England sports topics as we get ready to fall back --- yes, that means returning to Eastern Standard Time and NOT Daylight Saving Time (as has been mistakenly reported at this time often in the past), which we've been following since March --- at 2 a.m. this Sunday (Nov. 5). ***** Welcome, Craig Breslow Unlike some in the media who started trashing Chaim Bloom's replacement as the chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox the minute he was announced as the team's choice for the job, I extend a hearty welcome to the former southpaw relief pitcher for the Sox (2006-07 and 2012-15). For one thing, anyone who graduated Yale with majors in    molecular biophysics and biochemistry as an undergraduate and then went on to a successful baseball career is someone I want to lead my favorite baseball club. But I heartily welcome Breslow back to the Sox because he worked hard while he toiled out of the bullpen and was mostly successful as...

NORTH ATTLEBORO --- In what’s becoming a Thanksgiving weekend tradition in downtown North Attleboro, r unners and walkers will again have a chance to work off the extra calories from their Thanksgiving Day feast by participating in the Second Annual Leftover Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk/Wheelchair event at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 26. The race again will benefit the Attleboro area’s biggest gift drive, Christmas Is For Kids. The longstanding holiday drive serves children and teens in Attleboro, North Attleboro, Plainville, Norton, Seekonk and Rehoboth. Participants will be encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the drive, which is organized by the Greater Attleboro Area Council for Children. The race’s start and finish lines will be outside of North Attleboro’s Town Hall, 43 South Washington St. The course will start on flat pavement and transition into rolling hills on residential streets before heading back to the finish line. The top three men and women finishers will receive...