Robert Hanlon art exhibit at Christ Church

The Essex Youth Commission will hold the second annual Soap Box Derby Races and Yard Sale on Saturday, Oct. 4 on Story Street in Essex.

While it may seem like an annual event to some, the high-powered Manchester Essex field hockey team earned a berth in the MIAA tournament with a victory over Triton on Monday. And while the team was excited to make it into the tourney again, they might have been even more excited to get team leader Lee Stroman back. Stroman, who has been missing for the first half of the season due to a recovering from a torn ACL, has already made her presence felt by scoring goals in wins over Pentucket and Triton.

As Massachusetts home foreclosures mount at a record pace and credit markets seize up around the world, state and local housing officials offered Monday a smattering of policy prescriptions but cautioned that they were largely uncertain how the developing crisis would play out.

Researchers were excited, thrilled and surprised to see a rare blue whale during their research on Sunday, Oct. 5, according to Mason Weinrich, executive director of The Whale Center of New England.