Gay rights advocacy group names leader
Joe Solmonese, a Massachusetts native who is chief executive officer of EMILY's List, the nation's largest political action committee, yesterday was named president of the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay and lesbian advocacy organization. Solmonese, 40, replaces former Massachusetts state senator Cheryl Jacques, who resigned in late November. Solmonese said that when he takes office on April 11, he will tour the country to meet with advocates as he helps to shape the organization's agenda. Gay rights activists have been debating whether to continue pursuing marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in the aftermath of last fall's political backlash.
WALTHAM
Boy's 911 call saves his mother's life
A 7-year-old boy is being credited with saving his pregnant mother's life by calling 911 after finding her lying on the floor of their home Sunday afternoon. Cole Soave found his mother, Gloria, passed out from dehydration on the kitchen floor of their home and quickly phoned 911, according to the Daily News Tribune of Waltham. Gloria Soave, who is 24 weeks pregnant, was taken to the hospital about 3 p.m. and released about 7 p.m. ''It was outstanding," said Waltham Police Lieutenant Richard Couture. ''Every parent hopes their kid knows what to do in a situation like that."
CAMBRIDGE
Visa granted to parents of dead student
The parents of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student who died last week have been granted visas to the United States, an MIT spokeswoman said yesterday. Zhenxiu Mao, 23, was found dead in his apartment on Otis Street on Feb. 28. Police are awaiting the results of a toxicology report, which is expected to take six to eight weeks, but have no reason to suspect foul play was involved, Cambridge police spokesman Frank Pasquarello said. MIT is paying for the parents' travel, and had been working to obtain visas for the parents since Mao's death, said MIT spokeswoman Denise Brehm. He was a first-year graduate student in math and had earned master's degrees from Yale University in math and computer science. Mao turned 23 six days prior to his death. Last summer, he married Jing Qi Sun, who remains in China. MIT has been offering counseling to students, and has one counselor who speaks most dialects of Chinese, Brehm said.
Boston
Nurse in overdose case put on leave
A Brigham and Women's Hospital nurse who gave two newborns a tenfold overdose of Tylenol on Sunday has been placed on administrative leave with pay while the hospital's internal investigation continues, a hospital spokesman said yesterday. The nurse, said spokesman Peter Brown, ''won't be caring for patients." The length of the leave had not been determined yesterday, he said. Both babies were given an antidote for Tylenol after the incident and have not shown any signs of ill effects. One baby was discharged on Tuesday, and the other is expected to be discharged today, Brown said. He said the investigation will be complete in seven to 10 days.
Retroactive pay hike for college staff OK'd
Employees at the state's public colleges and universities will get a retroactive pay raise after the Legislature overrode a budget veto from Governor Mitt Romney yesterday. Late last month, Romney had vetoed nearly $30 million for the pay hike, saying the state could not afford the extra spending. But lawmakers in the House and Senate swiftly overrode Romney's veto and approved the raises. Every Republican in the House and Senate split with Romney and sided with Democrats to allow the increases. (AP)
State won't reopen review of BU lab plan
State officials have decided not to reopen their environmental review of Boston University's plan for a high-security laboratory in the South End to study dangerous infectious diseases. In a letter to BU officials, dated Tuesday, state environmental secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder said the infection last year of three researchers with tularemia in a less-secure lab ''does not . . . significantly increase the environmental consequences of the project." Herzfelder had previously signed off on the lab based on outdated reports from BU stating that there had been no lab-acquired infections of workers in a decade.
