I-93 exit with access to Logan is reopening

BOSTON
State officials said yesterday that Exit 20 off Interstate 93 North will open early this morning, allowing South Shore residents easy access to the Ted Williams Tunnel and Logan International Airport. The opening of Ramp L ends the last major closure in and around the connector tunnels since the July 10 ceiling collapse that killed a Jamaica Plain woman and created a firestorm over workmanship and oversight of the $14.6 billion Big Dig project. Opening the exit ramp will end the use of the South Boston Bypass Road as a major detour route. State Police are expected to give drivers a grace period of about a week before the road reverts to commercial use only. The last piece of the connector tunnel still closed is the high-occupancy vehicle lane, which is expected to open this spring. A portion of the lane leading to South Station and Kneeland Street opened earlier this month.

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said yesterday that she dislikes "being all alone on the court," now that it's been nearly a year since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor. Ginsburg, speaking to an assembly at Suffolk Law School, said she sees increasing numbers of women in law school, arguing before her court, and sitting as federal judges. But she laments that there is just one female perspective on the nine-member high court. "We have very different backgrounds," Ginsburg said of herself and O'Connor. "We divide on a lot of important questions, but we have had the experience of growing up women, and we have certain sensitivities that our male colleagues lack." Ginsburg did not take questions afterward. (AP)

Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan declared a mistrial yesterday after members of a Suffolk County jury told her they were hopelessly deadlocked in a murder case. Ricardo Gittens, 32, of Dorchester was facing first-degree murder charges for the Feb. 27, 1996, slaying of Anthony Regis, 24, of Mattapan. Last night, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley's office said prosecutors would push for another trial. Gittens's lawyer, John Gregory Swomley, could not be reached for comment.

The Vatican has dismissed from the priesthood Paul William Hurley, who was convicted last year of sexually abusing a minor, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced yesterday. The archdiocese said that it will no longer provide financial support for Hurley and that he will be barred from public ministry. Hurley had been on leave since 2001, when he was accused of sexual misconduct. He was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in a Cambridge rectory in 1987 and 1988, and is now incarcerated at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Plymouth.

A member of the Governor's Council and his campaign committee have agreed to pay $7,325 in penalties for a series of finance violations linked to a failed campaign for state Senate, the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance said yesterday. Councilor Michael Callahan of Medford will also file three disclosure reports he should have filed in the 2005 special election for the Second Middlesex Senate seat, vacated by the death of Charles Shannon. Callahan did not immediately return messages seeking comment. (AP)

Former state representative Nicholas Paleologos has been chosen to head the state's reconstituted film office. Richard Krezwick, managing director of the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, said the selection of Paleologos will be announced Monday. A two-time Tony Award-winning theater, television, and film producer, Paleologos served in the state Legislature for 14 years and holds a master's degree in public administration from Harvard. His producing credits include the movies "Hurlyburly" and "Ghosts of Mississippi." He won Tonys for the Broadway revival of "Private Lives" and also "The Goat or Who is Sylvia."

Senator Richard T. Moore, an Uxbridge Democrat, has filed a resolution calling for more scrutiny of the Real ID Act of 2005, which requires states to replace driver's licenses with forgery-proof cards by May 2008. The cards will be embedded with private information that could be digitally stored as part of a nationwide database. Moore said that the federal government has allocated $40 million for the initiative, but he has estimates that converting to the cards will cost taxpayers $11 billion. He also said the initiative could expose more people to identity theft.