Jacques nominated for judicial post

Governor Deval Patrick has nominated former state senator Cheryl Jacques to serve as an administrative judge with the Department of Industrial Accidents. The Needham Democrat was the state's first openly gay lawmaker. She also successfully pushed for an assault weapons ban. After an unsuccessful run for Congress following the death of Representative Joseph Moakley, Jacques served as president of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, a national gay rights organization. She left the group after 11 months following its failure to defeat gay marriage referendums in 11 states during the 2004 midterm elections. She now serves as counsel with the law firm of Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten. (AP)

"Congratulations! You're corrupt." That was the message on three wooden, gold-embossed plaques sent from Puerto Rico to the Lawrence Police Department. The plaques delivered Sunday appeared to be awards, but accused officers, including Chief John Romero, of corruption. Romero estimated the plaques cost about $200 each to make and $75 to deliver. Police have notified the postal inspector in Boston, and the sender could face federal charges for using the Postal Service to "threaten, harass, or intimidate." (AP)

Students at Holy Ghost Preparatory High School in Bensalem, Pa., are mourning a classmate who died suddenly during a visit to Harvard University. According to a statement on the Bensalem school's website, Yuriy Tutko, 15, died Saturday while attending a forensics tournament at the Ivy League school. Police were called to a hotel near Harvard's campus just after 7 a.m. Tutko was found in a bathtub, but authorities say there appeared to be no sign of foul play. The cause of his death has not been determined. Holy Ghost Prep's forensics team was competing among more than 200 schools from around the country at the Harvard National High School Invitational Forensics Tournament. (AP)

Natural gas supplier Distrigas is donating $1 million to bolster a program that helps low-income households pay heating bills. The Citizens Energy-Distrigas Heating Assistance Program is funded by Distrigas and administered by Citizens Energy, run by Joseph P. Kennedy II. The program offers $150 credits on the natural gas bills of residents who face financial hardships and either do not qualify for other fuel-assistance programs or exhaust those benefits. Kennedy, Distrigas chief executive Clay Harris, and US Representative Richard E. Neal announced the donation yesterday. (AP)

James Mullen Jr., president of Elms College in Chicopee, will become the 21st president of Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., on Aug. 1, officials have announced. Mullen, 49, will replace Richard Cook, who is leaving at the end of this academic year. Mullen was previously chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville and senior vice president of Trinity College in Washington, D.C. (AP)

A former high school teacher from Boothbay Harbor has agreed to a $320,000 settlement with the town and school district over false allegations accusing him of having a sexual relationship with a student. Longtime shop teacher Fred Lewis won a jury verdict in Lincoln County Superior Court in July in his defamation lawsuit. Besides the payout, the settlement includes an apology from the school superintendent and high school principal. Lewis said he has spent much of the past six years trying to clear his name in court. (AP)

An 18-year-old is facing charges of spray-painting graffiti on the Bennington Battle Monument, Vermont's tallest man-made structure, police said yesterday. David Cowan of Bennington has been cited to appear in court on March 25 on unlawful mischief charges, Police Chief Richard Gauthier said. "Heroes?" was written in red near the base of the 306-foot obelisk, along with a capital "A" inside a circle, which is the symbol for anarchy. The graffiti was discovered last Thursday. (AP)

Correction: An Associated Press item in this New England in brief column incorrectly identified former state senator Cheryl Jacques as the state's first openly gay lawmaker. Jacques was the first openly gay member of the Massachusetts Senate, according to the AP.