City cracks down on abandoned vehicles

BOSTON

Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced yesterday a crackdown on abandoned vehicles in Mattapan and Dorchester. In response to residents' concerns, the city has developed a plan to remove the vehicles quickly and issue citations to scofflaw property owners. Inspectors from the Fire Department and the Inspectional Services Department will check on complaints from residents and community groups about vehicles parked illegally in driveways, yards, and vacant lots. They will issue citations and order property owners to remove the vehicle within 24 hours.

Slaying, shooting trial begins
A trial opened yesterday for a man charged with killing a Roxbury man and then later firing on the detective investigating the murder, Suffolk district attorney's office spokesman David Procopio said. John Powell, 33, of Roxbury, allegedly shot and killed Paul Gauthier, 43, in his home on Sept. 5, 2002. On Sept. 16, Sergeant Detective Daniel Keeler tried to stop Powell in a car, but Powell allegedly drove the car in reverse and then left it and tried to carjack another vehicle, Procopio said. Hearing a shot from Powell's gun, Keeler shot him, he said.

Romney assails welfare plan's 'loopholes'
Governor Mitt Romney yesterday criticized state lawmakers for advancing a welfare plan that would not impose work requirements on about 5,600 recipients who are considered disabled under state standards but not under federal ones. ''I think there are loopholes in the state requirement for work that need to be closed, and that we should conform to the federal work requirements," Romney said. The governor said, for example, that the state doesn't impose the work requirement on some welfare recipients who are extremely obese, while the federal government only exempts those who have health problems resulting from obesity. The Bay State has been operating under a waiver from federal welfare rules since 1995, but the waiver expires at the end of this month.

CAMBRIDGE

2 teens held, 1 sought after cat killed
Two Cambridge teens were arrested and another was being sought after they allegedly shot and killed a cat belonging to a Clifton Street woman with a BB gun. The cat, named Molly, was shot about 9:30 p.m. Sunday as her owner, whose name was not released, watched from inside her house, Cambridge police spokesman Frank Pasquarello said. Cambridge police arrested two suspects, a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, minutes after the shooting, Pasquarello said. Officers found the weapon discarded near the scene. A 17-year-old male who fled will be summonsed to court later this month, Pasquarello said.

ATHOL

Encephalitis virus kills pair of emus
Eastern equine encephalitis killed two emus in town, state health officials said yesterday. The two birds died earlier this week at the same farm. It is the first time the mosquito-borne virus has been detected in western Worcester County this year. Emus are large, flightless birds native to Australia. Specialists say they are very susceptible to infection from the disease and often die soon after they become ill. Four human cases of Eastern equine encephalitis, two of them fatal, have been reported this year in Massachusetts, all in Plymouth County. Horses in Wrentham, Haverhill, and Merrimac have also been infected. (AP)

HOPKINTON, R.I.

500-pound safe is stolen from Town Hall
Police were investigating the theft of a 500-pound safe from Town Hall earlier this week. The metal combination safe, which contained a small amount of cash and residents' tax checks, was removed from the tax collector's office after a meeting of the Town Council on Monday night. A Town Hall employee reported the theft at 7:10 a.m. on Tuesday. Police Chief John Scuncio said the 3-foot high safe, which had wheels, was taken out of the building through an emergency exit and wheeled down an adjacent ramp. (AP)

Framingham

Police identify woman killed on Pike
The pedestrian killed by a tractor-trailer on the Massachusetts Turnpike Wednesday night was identified as Dawn L. Riopel, 41, of Natick, State Police said. Riopel was in the right travel lane on eastbound Interstate 90 about 7 p.m. No charges had been filed against the truck driver, Ivan Monsalve, 43, of West Long Beach, N.J., by yesterday afternoon. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.