BU loses bid to open Qatar media branch

BOSTON
Boston University has lost its bid to open a communications branch in an elite education complex in Qatar. The university was contacted by officials from Qatar's Education City late last year and was attempting to join five other American universities offering degree programs in the exclusive complex. Tobe Berkovitz. BU's assistant dean of communication, confirmed that the university is out of the running. Several media organizations reported that Northwestern University, which will lend resources from its Medill School of Journalism and School of Communication, was the winning school.

A Suffolk County jury convicted a US Department of Commerce agent yesterday of severely injuring a South Boston man when he swerved his government-issue vehicle into the victim's motorcycle during a road rage incident last year. One day after he was convicted of leaving the scene of the crash, Thomas Porro, 35, of West Roxbury was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon, the Suffolk district attorney's office announced. While driving on Congress Street last March, Porro cut off Frank Merlonghi, 46, and later struck him and his motorcycle, knocking Merlonghi onto a median strip. Porro left the scene, but witnesses reported his license plate to police. "These verdicts are a victory not for police or prosecutors, but for Frank Merlonghi, who will always carry scars from the events of March 29, 2006," said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley in a statement. Porro is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has ordered a former sunroom dealer from North Andover to pay more than $2 million for failing to follow through with construction plans for 97 customers, the state attorney general's office announced yesterday. James Brien was ordered to pay back the almost $1.4 million in deposits that customers paid him to build sunroom additions. He was also ordered to pay $485,000 in violations and $162,500 in court costs. Brien took the money from customers and used it for personal expenses. The judgment, issued last week, includes a permanent injunction that bars Brien from selling any product or providing any service at any time in the state, the attorney general's office said. There is also a criminal action pending against Brien for violations of the Home Improvement Contractors Act.

PROVIDENCE

Members of the rock band whose pyrotechnics ignited a nightclub fire that killed 100 people have asked to be removed from lawsuits filed by survivors and victims' relatives, saying they had no role in setting off the explosives or deciding to use them. Musicians from Great White are among dozens of defendants sued in federal court after the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, which began when a fireworks display at the start of their show set fire to flammable foam used as soundproofing around the stage. Three of the band members -- Mark Kendall, Eric Powers and David Filice -- maintain in new court papers that they had no managerial duties with the group, had no contact with the owners of the club, and did not participate in preparing or lighting the devices. The band's lead singer, Jack Russell, is among the defendants, but did not join in the motion. Steven Richard, a local lawyer for the band, would not comment yesterday on why. But in the lawsuit, Russell faces different claims than his bandmates. He is accused of managing many aspects of the band's performances, including its use of pyrotechnics. He and other defendants have until Monday to file papers to be dropped from the case. (AP)

The brigantine Sally set sail from Providence to the African coast in 1764, carrying gallons of rum and boxes of candles, plus pistols, handcuffs, and leg shackles. That year, Brown University was formally chartered. The Brown family ties the two events together. The four Brown brothers who organized the voyage through their merchant firm were also leading benefactors of the university, which later took its name from a member of the family's next generation. A new exhibit at Brown, on display at the John Carter Brown Library, looks at the relationship some of the university's founding fathers had with slavery and chronicles the early spread of the slave trade through Rhode Island and New England. The exhibit is part of a comprehensive examination of Brown's centuries-old link to slavery. A report released by an internal committee last fall suggested the creation of a slavery memorial and an academic center focused on slavery and injustice. The Ivy League school, responding to the report, said it would raise $10 million for an endowment to help Providence public schools. (AP)