Silver Line gets boost toward US funding

Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy, along with Representatives Michael E. Capuano and Stephen F. Lynch, announced yesterday that the Federal Transit Administration has notified Congress that within days it will approve the entry of Phase III of the Silver Line project in Boston into preliminary engineering, a milestone in the federal review of the project that is required to make the project eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal support. The project consists of a 1.1-mile tunnel under downtown Boston, connecting Roxbury to Logan International Airport. It also allows for the building of new platforms at two subway stations and surface-bus lanes between Charles and Washington streets. The Silver Line Phase III project is expected to cost $1.2 billion. If the Federal Transit Administration gives the project final approval, the federal government may provide about $700 million in funding.

A Dorchester man was sentenced yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court to 18 months in prison for downloading and viewing child pornography on his personal computer and at the Hyde Park YMCA, where he was employed, the Suffolk County district attorney's office reported. Mark D. Smith, 31, pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of possessing child pornography and will serve 10 years of probation following his prison sentence, with conditions that require him to register as a sex offender and to seek treatment.

State Transportation Secretary John Cogliano acknowledged yesterday that Deval L. Patrick, the governor-elect, could quash the plan to eliminate tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike west of Route 128 once he takes office in January. After the tolls are removed, the roadway must be transferred to the state Highway Department for maintenance, something the state highway commissioner will have to sign off on. But once Patrick takes office in January, he will be able to appoint his own highway commissioner, who could refuse the offer. Cogliano said that such a refusal would derail the toll plan. But Cogliano said he hopes to show Patrick that the plan makes sense. (AP)

FALMOUTH

The district attorney's office dropped an accessory charge, involving a shooting, against a former juror in the Christa Worthington murder trial. The Cape and Islands district attorney, Michael O'Keefe, said yesterday there was not enough evidence to charge Rachel Huffman, 22, as an accessory after the fact of attempted murder in the Nov. 11 shooting of Michael Hendricks. Her boyfriend, Kyle Hicks, is one of two men charged in the shooting. Huffman was on the jury for a man accused of Worthington's 2002 rape and murder. She was dismissed Nov. 14 after she was heard disparaging police and talking about news reports of the trial in recorded conversations with the jailed Hicks. An alternate replaced her, and the jury convicted Christopher McCowen two days later. Huffman still faces other charges, including larceny under $250. (AP)

FOXBOROUGH

The driver of a landscaping truck that struck and killed a 10-year-old girl in Foxborough on Saturday was cited yesterday for not having the proper class of driver's license. The citation has no bearing on the ongoing investigation into the death of Rose Shatz as a potential vehicular homicide, said David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney. The driver, Aaron Fine, 33, was cited for driving a class B truck without having the proper license. Fine can fight the charge and have a hearing in Wrentham District Court. Shatz was hit about 2 p.m. on Willow Street. She was a fourth-grader at Mabelle M. Burrell Elementary School.

QUINCY

A Holbrook carpenter pleaded not guilty yesterday to motor vehicle homicide charges in a hit-and-run accident in Randolph that killed 57-year-old Shirley A. Sutton as she was walking home from work Friday. Quincy District Court Judge Kevin O'Dea ordered John F. Kenny, 43, held on $20,000 cash bail. Police say that Kenny hit Sutton with his pickup truck around 6 p.m. on Warren Avenue and drove off. Randolph police discovered Kenny's 1993 pickup Saturday with front-end damage. Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Jonathan Rutley said Kenny told police that he knew he hit a shopping cart, but had no idea he hit a person. Kenny's defense lawyer, Anne McDonough, said in court that Kenny stopped after the impact but did not see anyone in the road, and no one flagged him down. Kenny, a father of two, is due back in court Jan. 2.