Woman killed, 2 hurt in crash

Police are investigating a fatal crash that closed part of Interstate 495 for three hours yesterday. Lynn Anderson, 27, of North Billerica, was driving a 2006 Volkswagen sedan about 4:18 p.m. when her car collided with a 2002 Jeep Liberty. The driver of the Jeep, Claire Morley, 56, of Plymouth, lost control of the vehicle, and it entered the median and rolled, police said. Morley was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. Her passenger, Karen Donovan, 54, of Billerica, also was ejected. She was taken with serious injuries to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen. Neither had been wearing a seat belt, police said. Anderson continued driving south until she lost control of her car and struck a guardrail near Interstate 93 in Andover. Anderson was taken to Saints Memorial Hospital in Lowell.

Two New Hampshire police officers killed in the line of duty were honored yesterday with congressional law enforcement awards. New Hampshire's bipartisan congressional delegation announced posthumous career service awards for Manchester Officer Michael Briggs and Franconia Corporal Bruce McKay. The 2007 New Hampshire Law Enforcement Awards "pay tribute to the dedicated men and women in public safety who make personal sacrifices to keep our homes and communities safe," Senator John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, said in a statement. Briggs was shot and killed while on bicycle patrol on Oct. 16, 2006. McKay was shot and ran over May 11 during a traffic stop. (AP)

Federal funding ends today for a police housing program for juveniles, leaving Seacoast law enforcement agencies wondering how to fill the gap. For 17 years, the Exeter Police Department provided temporary shelter for juveniles through its Youth Attendant Program, taking in teens picked up by police in surrounding towns and the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department. Federal money paid for police supervision, meals, and a room in the police station library. Local officials say Exeter's program provided youth housing for police from as many as 19 communities, including Portsmouth and Stratham. (AP)

A Vermont National Guard engineering unit has returned to Vermont intact after serving nearly a year in Iraq. The 75 members of the 131st Engineer Company arrived home Saturday, their 737 jetliner landing early. They were welcomed and praised by Governor Jim Douglas, Vermont National Guard Adjutant General Michael Dubie, and their commander, Captain Jake Roy, who said they were "really happy to be home." Their expertise is in road construction, but in Iraq their duty was to clear roadside bombs. Over the course of a year, the engineers defused about 1,200 improvised explosive devices with no fatalities and only minor injuries, Roy said. (AP)

The mayor of Johnston said he has been interviewed by the FBI in an investigation into Senator Stephen D. Alves, Democrat of West Warwick and chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Mayor Joseph M. Polisena said he was asked by federal investigators if he knew that a bill designed to lure a trucking company to the city by offering tax incentives was killed by Alves because Polisena refused to invest the city's pension funds with Alves, a stockbroker. Alves, who recently left his job at UBS Financial Services, did not respond to detailed messages from the Providence Journal seeking comment. He has denied any wrongdoing. (AP)