MassHighway selects new chief engineer

The state Highway Department has a new chief engineer. Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky says she opted to break with a long tradition at the agency of hiring the top engineer from within MassHighway. Instead, Paiewonsky tapped Frank Tramontozzi for the top position. Tramontozzi is a senior vice president at Burlington-based Fay, Spofford & Thorndike. He previously served as commissioner and chief engineer for the Boston Transportation Department. Tramontozzi begins his new duties at MassHighway in early November. (AP)

A Woburn-based company has pleaded guilty to charges it shipped drugs and medical devices to hospitals without Food and Drug Administration approval. US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan says Bryan Corp. also tried to hide evidence from the FDA about the operation. The company has agreed to pay more than $485,000 plus interest to resolve potential civil claims after admitting it shipped its sterile talc powder without results of testing to ensure it was indeed sterile. Bryan Corp. also sold an additive to bone cement without first getting FDA approval. (AP)

Governor Deval Patrick has named new members to the state's chief civil rights agency and to a key advisory panel. Malcolm Medley joins the three-member Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which hears complaints alleging bias. Medley is a Boston lawyer whose practice focuses on cases involving discrimination based on race, age, disability, and ethnicity. He also worked as a lawyer for the Boston School Department from 1993 to 2000, advising in cases involving discrimination, student assignment criteria, and court orders on desegregation and staffing. Patrick also appointed Thomas Gallitano, Albert Toney, and Tani Sapirstein to an advisory board that works with the commission. (AP)

The state auditor is rejecting a request from a Senate Republican to audit the Massachusetts Lottery. Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci says the lottery already gets reviewed by an accounting firm, but he may conduct a lottery audit next year. Senator Richard Tisei of Wakefield made the request, arguing that lawmakers need a better sense of the lottery's fiscal health. Money from the lottery goes to local cities and towns. Tisei's request came after state Treasurer Tim Cahill warned Governor Deval Patrick and legislative leaders about having reasonable expectations for the lottery when crafting the next state budget. (AP)

A Massachusetts National Guard soldier serving in Afghanistan was killed by a roadside bomb Monday, the Department of Defense said. Major Jeffrey R. Calero, 34, of Queens Village, N.Y., died of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was on dismounted patrol, the Defense Department said. Calero was assigned to the First Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Massachusetts National Guard, based in Springfield.

The family of an 11-year-old boy killed in September expressed relief yesterday at a report released by the city that found the city bears some responsibility for his death when a gate at the Tenney Grammar School fell on him, said a lawyer for the family. The 1,600-pound gate that crushed Timothy DiLeo had been left off its hinges, leaning against a brick wall for at least four years, according to a copy of the report obtained by the Globe. "There's an acknowledgment that the gate should not have been there and there was a mistake on the part of someone in the city to leave it there for so long," said Robert Gilbert, an Andover lawyer who represents the DiLeos. According to the report, the city may have violated the child trespassing statute, which holds landowners responsible for any "artificial condition" that may injure children in an area where they are likely to trespass.

John Nazarian, the longest-serving president of Rhode Island College, is retiring in June from the job he has held since 1990. An undergraduate and instructor at the college in the 1950s, Nazarian, 75, says he has been privileged to be involved with the school for so long. The Board of Governors for Higher Education will decide on Nazarian's replacement. (AP)