Police are investigating afternoon killing

Chelsea police are investigating a late-afternoon homicide. Police refused to release any additional information last night, referring all questions to the district attorney's office. A spokeswoman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley did not return several calls for comment last night. Fox 25 reported on its website last night that police arrested a 16-year-old and a 21-year-old in the stabbing death of a 25-year-old man on Chester Avenue at about 5 p.m.

Massachusetts has received a near-failing grade for its efforts to protect children from abuse. Only 10 states fared worse than Massachusetts, which got a D- in a study by the Children's Advocacy Institute and the watchdog group First Star. A report on the study said the state has failed to report on near-fatal child abuse and operates under a shroud of secrecy. It cited several high-profile examples of Department of Social Services failures, including Haleigh Poutre's case. The girl was beaten into a coma while in foster care after DSS dismissed more than a dozen allegations of abuse. The study also mentioned Rebecca Riley, the 4-year-old whose parents are charged with manslaughter after she died from a prescription drug overdose. (AP)

Jobanny Matias, an 11-year-old Leominster boy being treated for carbon monoxide exposure, was released from Massachusetts General Hospital yesterday, said Tim Connolly, a spokesman for the Worcester district attorney. On Friday, Matias and Alejandro Thomasian had been left in a sport utility vehicle that was stuck in mud in the woods of Lunenburg when a blocked exhaust pipe caused the vehicle to fill with the colorless, odorless gas. Both boys were ultimately airlifted to Mass. General, where Thomasian, 9, was pronounced dead Sunday.

A prosecutor on the team that won a conviction against shoe bomber Richard Reid has been nominated to be a state Superior Court judge. Timothy Q. Feeley, 58, of Marblehead, has served more than 17 years in the US attorney's office, rising to chief of the office's Major Crimes Unit. Feeley also worked for nine years on complex civil litigation at the former Boston law firm of Gaston & Snow, where he was a partner, the governor's office said in announcing the nomination yesterday. Governor Deval Patrick also nominated Maureen H. Monks, 49, of Jamaica Plain, a partner in the Women's Law Collective in Cambridge, to the Middlesex County Division of Probate and Family Court. Lawrence Moniz, 60, a Taunton lawyer, was nominated for a position on the Bristol County Division of the Juvenile Court, the governor's office said.

A group of educators and others serving on the governor's Readiness Project are trying to determine the total cost of educating a child from prekindergarten through college. Governor Deval Patrick told school superintendents participating in a State House lobbying day yesterday that he, lawmakers, and education groups will use that estimate, expected soon, to debate how much of that cost the state can afford. Patrick has said he supports universal prekindergarten and free community college tuition for all Massachusetts residents. (AP)

Lawyers for a man charged with killing a Manchester police officer are asking for a delay in his trial. Michael Addison's lawyers say they have been too busy defending him in three other trials to prepare adequately for the capital murder trial set to begin in September. They are asking for at least a three-month delay. Addison is charged with fatally shooting Officer Michael Briggs in October 2006. (AP)

The University of Vermont is offering a free ride to eligible low-income Vermont students this year. Grants and scholarships will cover tuition and fees estimated at $21,378 for qualifying students. Officials say the tuition program will help retain students and keep them enrolled without racking up debt. Of the 600 incoming Vermont freshman this year, about 150 will be eligible, said Chris Lucier, a vice president of the university. UVM officials hope to continue the program for four years. (AP)

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