Bill to curb driver cellphone use is idling

A ban on driving while talking on a cellphone or texting made it to the floor of the Massachusetts House yesterday, but not to a final vote. With 16 amendments proposed, lawmakers gave the bill preliminary approval, but postponed further action, saying they wanted to look closer at the bill. The bill, approved Tuesday by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation, would fine drivers $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second, and $500 for subsequent violations. Drivers under 18 also could face license suspension. The legislation would ban drivers from using pagers, personal digital assistants, and laptops. Hands-free technology would still be allowed. During the House session, some lawmakers wondered whether drivers should be allowed to dial their phones.

Matthew J. Amorello, former chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, will face the State Ethics Commission this summer. Yesterday the commission set a July 15 administrative hearing on civil charges that Amorello improperly approved policy changes that allowed workers to cash in half their unused days upon leaving their jobs. Three of the workers affected by the change were on Amorello's senior staff. The commission can bring only civil charges, punishable by fines of $2,000 per violation. Amorello maintains his innocence and has rejected a state offer to settle the matter. Amorello resigned in 2006. (AP)

Attorney General Martha Coakley issued 31 citations to mall retailers yesterday for violating child labor laws during the holiday season. Coakley said there were 177 violations at stores in malls from Cape Cod to Western Massachusetts. The attorney general's office said one of the worst offenders was Hollister Co., a clothing store owned by Abercrombie & Fitch. Its Hyannis location at the Cape Cod Mall was cited in 15 instances of working 16- to 17-year-olds past 10 on a school night, violating a law passed last year. The store was assessed $6,000 in child labor penalties. Coakley also said Hollister's Burlington Mall location employed 57 minors without work permits. (AP)

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs will visit Middleborough to hold a hearing regarding a Massachusetts tribe's plans for a casino. The visit is part of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's application to take into trust 540 acres on which it wants to build a $1 billion resort casino. The site would include a casino, hotel, restaurants, entertainment venues, convention facilities, a golf course, and a water park. A hearing scheduled for March 4 in Middleborough will be limited to testimony about environmental concerns. (AP)

Fire officials say an electrical problem ignited the blaze that killed a Ware woman in her apartment this week. The state fire marshal and Ware's police and fire chiefs say the woman, whose name has not been released, was found in her second-floor bedroom Monday. They say an electrical wire in the floor under that room appears to have failed and started the blaze. Authorities say the electrical system may have been overloaded by the woman's use of portable heaters, heating pads, and a hot plate. The woman's identity and cause of death will be released after an autopsy, officials said. (AP)

For the second consecutive year, the House has rejected calls to double the governor's term to four years. The House voted yesterday to kill a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made the change effective in 2010. The 167-to-166 vote was well short of the three-fifths necessary to move it to the Senate. (AP)

Worcester officials have issued a coyote alert after about two-dozen sightings of the animals in six weeks. Derek Brindisi, public health director, said coyotes have been spotted throughout the city, including downtown, but that no attacks on humans or pets have been reported. A state wildlife official said the surge in coyote sightings in the state's second-largest city is no surprise because the animals live in every Massachusetts community except those on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. (AP)