House hikes pay of revenue panel leaders

The House of Representatives approved raises yesterday for three leaders of the Joint Committee on Revenue. Republicans opposed the measure, which will double the stipend currently received by Representative John J. Binienda of Worcester and Senator Cynthia Creem of Newton, the cochairmen, from $7,500 to $15,000. The House vice chairman, William M. Straus of Mattapoisett, who now gets no additional pay for his committee duties, will receive an extra $7,500. Robert Willington, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, called the 121-to-20 vote "business as usual up on Beacon Hill." He accused Democrats of giving themselves "gluttonous pay raises," while failing to increase aid to cities and towns. The Senate will take up the measure today.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury found serial rapist Che Sosa guilty yesterday of assaulting a woman in 1995 at her home in Jamaica Plain. The jury deliberated three days before finding Sosa guilty of two counts of aggravated rape. The 38-year-old was identified as a suspect in the crime in 2003 after his DNA was entered into a national database in another case. The victim was described as a woman in her 50s. Sosa is scheduled to be sentenced today. He is already serving up to 55 years in prison for a conviction in Norfolk Superior Court that included nine counts of aggravated rape and stabbing his lawyer with a makeshift plexiglass knife during his trial. With the jury out of the courtroom, Sosa told the judge he expected to be convicted. When the jury was present, however, he emphatically denied raping the woman in Jamaica Plain in 1995. He is scheduled to be sentenced today.

State Senator Marian Walsh said yesterday that she had removed her name from consideration for a judicial appointment from Governor Deval Patrick. Walsh declined to answer questions on the matter, telling reporters, "That's all I have to say." An early political supporter of Patrick in the 2006 campaign, Walsh's rumored interest in a job on the bench had provoked broad interest in her district, which includes parts of Boston and the towns of Dedham, Norwood, and Westwood. (State House News Service)

A warrant was issued yesterday for the arrest of a woman from Hawaii who failed to show up in Wrentham District Court yesterday for arraignment on charges related to the alleged theft of her adult son's golden retriever. Tyson Doughty of Medway reported the dog missing Sunday, after his mother, Margaretha Doughty, failed to return the dog at 5 p.m. The dog had been the focus of a custody dispute between the two, resulting in the mother receiving visitation rights. Medway police learned that Margaretha Doughty had planned to fly from New York to Hawaii on Tuesday with the dog. Authorities in New York detained the mother and dog before releasing them. Margaretha Doughty and the dog were later located in Worcester, where she was arrested. She was charged with larceny of property over $250 and posted bail Tuesday.

A convicted sex offender accused of raping a 6-year-old boy in a New Bedford library will be kept behind bars as he awaits trial after a judge deemed him too dangerous to be released. Corey Saunders, 26, is charged with luring the boy into the library's magazine stacks and raping him as his mother worked on a computer just feet away. Saunders did not appear at his dangerousness hearing in New Bedford Superior Court yesterday. His lawyer conceded that there was enough evidence for the judge to find that Saunder's could pose a danger to children if he was released. Saunders served four years in prison for attempting to rape a 7-year-old boy. He was released in 2006. (AP)

Mayor David Cicilline wants to secure a $10 million loan to help deal with a national foreclosure crisis that has left abandoned properties across Providence. Cicilline made the announcement yesterday on a West End block where neighbors live beside six foreclosed homes. The City Council must approve Cicilline's request to seek money from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cicilline says the money would be used to buy foreclosed properties, rehabilitate them, and sell them to new owners using no-interest or low-interest loans. Additional money would be used to board up vacant houses. (AP)