NEW ENGLAND IN BRIEF
Advocates urge children's health coverage
Politicians and children's health advocates pushed for renewal of federal funding for children's health insurance in an event at Children's Hospital yesterday, citing a poll that says 90 percent of Massachusetts voters favor providing health coverage to all uninsured children. US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry and Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston joined Diluvina Vasquez Allard of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network and Dr. James Mandell, chief executive of Children's Hospital, in calling for passage of a law authorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The poll was conducted by the New England Alliance for Children's Health.
Officers join evidence tampering probe
Additional Internal Affairs officers have joined the investigation of evidence tampering at the Police Department's central drug warehouse, Commissioner Edward F. Davis said yesterday. The decision, which Davis would not detail, was made after a supervisor at the facility complained to commanders that auditors assigned to the investigation were arriving at work late, doing little while there, and leaving early, according to a police officer with direct knowledge of the complaints. Davis said through a spokeswoman that the investigation remains "active and ongoing." The warehouse stores drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and marijuana from thousands of cases.
Man sentenced for attacking own lawyer
A former Dorchester man was found guilty of assault and battery yesterday for attacking his lawyer inside Suffolk Superior Courthouse in May. John Gomes, 30, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for putting his cuffed hands around Bruce Carroll's neck and pushing Carroll across the courtroom, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Gomes remains jailed, awaiting trial on murder charges. He attacked Carroll after the judge presiding over the murder trial declined to remove the lawyer from the case.
Guilty plea in man's death near Common
A Boston man pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter in the 2003 killing of a 70-year-old Chinatown man, the Suffolk district attorney's office said. Tyrone Burris, 31, made his plea in Suffolk Superior Court and was sentenced to serve between 11 and 14 years in jail. Sheng Hao Tang, who died from blunt force trauma to the head, was returning home from his morning ritual of Tai Chi on Boston Common when he was attacked, possibly in a robbery attempt, police have said.
Suit says bias led to protester's detention
A Cambridge man has filed a federal lawsuit against the US Secret Service and Boston police, asserting that he was detained and interrogated during the Democratic National Convention in 2004 because of his race. Vijay Shah, a US citizen of Indian descent, says in his suit he has suffered "shock, anxiety, fear, and emotional distress" as a result of his detention. According to his suit, Shah was marching from Boston Common to the convention site with the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition on July 25, 2004, when Secret Service agents and police "forcibly removed him from the march, handcuffed him, detained him, and interrogated him." Shah, who was not charged, says in his suit that authorities accused him of acting suspiciously. (AP)
MARSHFIELD
Suspected thief flees, is arrested at school
Three Marshfield schools were briefly locked down yesterday morning after an alleged car thief led police on a chase on Route 139, then fled on foot to the Marshfield Public School complex on Forest Street. Police Lieutenant Phil Tavares said the suspect first tried to get inside the middle school but found the doors were locked, then tried the back doors to the high school, which were also locked. The suspect then attempted to enter the high school by walking in the front door, where he was immediately stopped by school security, Tavares said. State Police said that Christopher P. Pina, 24, of Brookline was arrested in the student parking lot and charged with receiving stolen property, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to stop for police.
FOXBOROUGH
Teens accused of bringing bullet to school
Police arrested two teenagers yesterday accused of leaving a bullet in a hallway that prompted the lockdown of Foxborough High School. Police Chief Edward O'Leary said investigators searched lockers at the school while an officer questioned students. Police did not identify the teens. 