Official says he will challenge vote recount

Town Manager Michael Driscoll announced last night that he intends to file a complaint in Middlesex Superior Court challenging the results of a recount of the town's Nov. 6 election. In last Friday's recount, longtime Councilor at Large Marilyn Petitto Devaney gained 11 votes to recapture a council seat she's held for nearly three decades. She had lost by five votes on Nov. 6 and won by six votes in the recount. In a statement last evening, Driscoll said "significant discrepancies" exist between the original voting tally and the recount. The complaint will seek, at a minimum, to review and recount ballots in precincts 4 and 5, where vote totals appeared to shift most dramatically, swinging 10 votes to Devaney, Driscoll said. Council President Clyde L. Younger said many councilors question whether Driscoll can bring suit against the Board of Election Commissioners, a four-member panel he appointed and the council confirmed. Younger has called for a special executive session Monday night to discuss Driscoll's action.

Police arrested a suspect in the stabbing death of a Jamaica Plain man found near Jamaica Pond last fall. Boston police's Fugitive and Apprehension Unit captured Michael Rosado, 30, in Hollywood, Fla. Rosado, who had been a Hyde Park resident, had been wanted in the stabbing since Sept. 30, when police obtained a warrant for his arrest. Police found the victim, Robert Kelley Jr., on the sidewalk along the Jamaicaway around 1 a.m. on Sept. 26, bleeding from multiple stab wounds. Massachusetts officials are having Rosado extradited. When he is returned, he is expected to be arraigned in West Roxbury District Court.

A Suffolk County Superior Court jury convicted a Roxbury man yesterday of beating his uncle to death, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said in a statement. Yisbert Manuel Gonzalez Lara, 25, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of Federico Lara, 46, of Jamaica Plain on June 25, 2003. He will serve a mandatory life sentence.

People who need food stamps can now apply for them online, the state announced yesterday. No longer will people need to apply in person at a state office, said Alison Goodwin, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. They now have the option of applying from their own homes, from a computer in a library or a school, or they may continue to do so in person at a state office, Goodwin said. Online applications will be sent to the department for processing.

Two more Rhode Island men have been arrested in the slaying of a man found dead in Foxborough in October. Ariel Morales, 32, of Central Falls and Jose Perez, 29, of Pawtucket were arrested at their homes yesterday for their alleged involvement in the slaying of Carlos Gomez, 29, of Central Falls. Luis Lopez, 24, of Central Falls had previously been charged with murder in the case. Morales and Perez are to be arraigned today in Wrentham District Court, the Norfolk district attorney's office said in a statement. A motorist driving on Route 106 in Foxborough found Gomez's body in the eastbound lane just after 1 a.m. on Oct. 15.

A 62-year-old Brockton man was convicted yesterday of murder for ramming another man's car two times after a traffic dispute, then shooting him in the head as he removed his 9-month-old daughter from a car seat. Walter Bishop was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing Sandro Andrade, 27, the Plymouth district attorney's office said in a statement. The killing happened following a traffic dispute about 7:50 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2005, on Main Street in Brockton. Prosecutors said Bishop fired at least three rounds. The child was drenched with blood, but she was unharmed. Bishop also was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police have arrested three people in connection with at least seven armed robberies in the New Bedford and Dartmouth area over the past month. Jonathan O'Berg, 20, of Edmonton, Ky., along with Joshua DaSilva and Adam Simmons, both 18 and from New Bedford, face multiple counts of armed robbery. All three are being held on bail. (AP)