Mayor challenges immigrants to vote

Mayor Thomas M. Menino challenged the city's immigrants yesterday to vote in the upcoming presidential election. At an event organized by the Greater Boston Ya Es Hora ("It's time") Alliance, Menino said Bostonians "cannot allow this election to be a discussion of issues that don't affect people." The event at the Downtown Crossing offices of Service Employees International Union Local 615 drew a largely Latino crowd of about 100. It was part of a national effort to bring out the vote among the 6 million people who became American citizens last year. The SEIU and Ya Es Hora, teaming with community, church, and civic groups, plan to hold meetings in various parts of the city, call residents, and go door to door encouraging people to vote in November, said Rocio Saenz, Local 615 president, who coordinates the Ya Es Hora's "Mi Familia Vota" program.

A 20-year-old man was in critical condition after he was shot multiple times on Dorchester Avenue in the Fields Corner neighborhood, Boston police said. The shooting occurred about 4 p.m. outside a restaurant, said Officer James Kenneally, Boston police spokesman. No arrests had been reported last night, but police were looking for two men who fled on foot behind a bank, said Deputy Superintendent Rafael Ruiz. The victim, whose name was not released, was in critical condition last night, police said.

Police were investigating two stabbings yesterday that occurred a few hours and just blocks apart in the Allston-Brighton area. At 12:45 a.m., officers responded to a call of a person stabbed on Allston Street. There they found two men with wounds not considered life-threatening. Shortly after 3 a.m., police responded to Linden and Pratt streets, where they found two men and a woman stabbed, the result of an apparent fight with four men. None of the injuries were life-threatening. No arrests have been made, and police said they have not determined whether the two attacks are connected. Police are asking anyone with information to call 617-343-4256.

Republican Jim Ogonowski, who lost his bid for Congress to Niki Tsongas in October, has been meeting with Republicans across the state and may be testing the waters for a run in November against Senator John F. Kerry. "There's nobody in Washington who represents the status quo more than John Kerry," Ogonowski, who has not officially declared his candidacy, told the Associated Press yesterday. He did not return calls from the Globe, but Ogonowski has been speaking to Republicans across the state recently to try and revitalize the state party and get more challengers for congressional candidates, said Peter Torkildsen, chairman of the state Republican Party. In his first run for political office last year, Ogonowski got 45 percent of the vote.

The Middlesex district attorney's office says a Lowell man charged with assaulting his 22-month-old son was high on ecstasy and cocaine at the time of the alleged attack on Nov. 17. Chan pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell on Friday. He was held on $10,000 bail. Chan has been ordered not to have contact with any children under age 16. He was also ordered held under house arrest if he is released on bail. Chan's next court appearance is Feb. 5. (AP)

Acting on a tip, police in Lawrence have questioned a Methuen snowplow operator and subsequently seized his truck, plow, and plow schedule in connection with the Dec. 16 hit and run crash that killed a city resident, Police Chief John Romero said yesterday. The snowplow driver has not been charged, and police are awaiting lab test results on the plow and truck, Romero said. He declined to identify the driver. Deborah Hoare, 39, was struck and killed on Route 114 while walking home from work.

Nearly 100 same-sex couples have been joined in civil unions since they became legal in New Hampshire on New Year's Day. William Bolton, director of the state Vital Records Administration, said 183 civil union licenses have been issued since Dec. 10, when the paperwork became available; most, 171, were issued to New Hampshire residents. The licenses are valid for 90 days. Officials know of 95 ceremonies that have taken place, and 63 happened on Jan. 1, the day the civil unions law went into effect. Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage. (AP)