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The Passover ritual of the seder meal helps its participants to relive the Israelites’ terrifying transition from slavery to freedom in ancient Egypt. At the seder, eating the unleavened bread called matzah allows us to literally ingest this transitional experience.  According to the Bible, the Israelites baked matzah because they had no time to bake regular bread as they fled Egypt on their way to freedom.  Yet matzah is also called the bread of affliction and economic poverty that our enslaved ancestors ate in Egypt.  When we Jews eat matzah we are trying to get a taste, actually and symbolically, of what it feels like to live with one foot in slavery and one foot in freedom.  Hopefully, that makes us more appreciative of the meaning of both.

Massachusetts drivers will soon have an opportunity to purchase a “Boston Strong” license plate.

Gov. Deval Patrick on Friday signed into law a bill creating the specialty license plate. Proceeds from the sale of the $50 plate will go to benefit victims of  the  Boston Marathon bombing. The phrase “Boston Strong” became popular after the attacks. It was pointed to as a rallying cry by people who in a recent survey said the terrorist attack had left Boston a better place, according to Western New England University polling director Tim Vercellotti.

The Vermont Department of Labor says the state's unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percent last month to 3.4 percent, the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the country.

New York State Police say a mother and her 30-year-old son have been killed after the car they were driving went off the shoulder of a road, got airborne and slammed into a tree.

Troopers say in a statement Friday that Mervyn Albert of Schenectady was driving a 2005 Mazda too fast in the town of Saratoga when he lost control, ran off north shoulder and hit the tree.

Troopers say the accident occurred at about 2:30 p.m.

They say 56-year-old mom Angeli Persaud was in the passenger seat. The two family members were pronounced dead at the scene by the county coroner.

Vermont State Police say the pilot of a small plane that crashed next to Interstate 89 in Highgate on Friday suffered minor injuries after parachuting out of the plane to safety.

As college student loan debt continues to climb nationally, lawmakers in Massachusetts are proposing some ways to help.

A subcommittee of the  legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education approved a report this week that contains nine recommendations including trying to decrease the time it takes to earn a college degree, increase state aid, and require all Massachusetts high school students to take a financial literacy course.

Spring flooding has been occurring across the North Country this week as snowmelt runs into the region’s rivers and then flows into Lake Champlain. But most waters have receded and damage, if any, has been minor.

A NASA Astronaut aboard the International Space Station spoke with students from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY live via Skype.

Astronaut Rick Mastracchio, who earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from RPI in 1987, spoke Friday with students at his alma mater. He was floating miles above the Earth.

"RPI, I hear you loud and clear! Welcome to the International Space Station," said Mastracchio.

Meteorologist Garett Argianas delivers the evening weather forecast for Friday, April 18, 2014.

The body of a small child was discovered along a highway in central Massachusetts Friday, and it appears to be that of a boy who went missing while in the care of the state’s child welfare agency.

   Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said the body was found wrapped in a type of blanket inside a suitcase or duffel bag in a grassy area about 40 feet off a busy interstate highway.  He said an autopsy will be performed and it appears to be a homicide.