New booster seat law takes effect today

July 10, 2008

The state's new booster seat law goes into effect today. The law requires children to ride in either car seats or booster seats until they turn 8 years old. The purpose of a booster seat is to position the safety belt across the child's waist and shoulder, rather than halfway up his or her midsection or neck. Children at least 4 feet 9 inches tall would be exempt from the child-seat requirement. The new law carries a $25 fine. Police can stop a car if they see a child who is improperly restrained.

The state Public Health Council unanimously approved rules yesterday that make it harder for Boston's teaching hospitals to expand into the suburbs, where community hospitals feel under siege from their powerful rivals. It was the first time in more than two decades that the state has overhauled regulations governing expansion. Hospitals that want to add overnight beds at outpatient facilities will have to prove that they are not duplicating services provided by local hospitals.

The House of Representatives gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill that could put presidential elections more directly in the hands of voters. House members voted 119 to 36 for the bill, which would allocate all the state's Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Proponents fought off unfriendly amendments that would have created a commission to study the proposal and postponed debate. If the measure is approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the state would become the fifth to adopt the system.

The state has adopted a system to alert physicians when patients go "doctor shopping" in pursuit of potent painkillers and stimulants. Substance abuse specialists and regulators say they are concerned that prescription-medication abuse now rivals use of heroin and other street drugs as a health threat. The tracking program adopted unanimously by the state Public Health Council requires that anyone holding a prescription for Schedule II drugs, such as opiates, must present identification to the pharmacist, so the information can be entered into a state database.

Mitt Romney will serve as chairman of the state delegation to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis Sept. 1 to 4, the state GOP announced yesterday. Former state party chairwoman Jean Inman will serve as the delegation's vice chairwoman. While the former governor fell short in his campaign for the convention's top spot, Romney may still be in the running for the number two post. Presumptive presidential nominee John McCain is thought to be considering Romney among his potential vice presidential running mates. (AP)

Harvard plans to sharply reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in the next eight years. The initial, short-term goal for the university will be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from a 2006 baseline by 2016, Drew Faust, the university president, said Tuesday. "All of us share a compelling interest in confronting the challenge of environmental sustainability," she said. ". . . Reducing the emission of greenhouse gases is a crucial part of rising to that challenge.

Divers recovered the body of a 16-year-old Worcester resident from Lake Quinsigamond about 10 a.m. yesterday. Authorities said Stanley Francisco was in about 12 feet of water about 115 feet off shore. Authorities were told of the missing teenager shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Cape Cod doctor Ann Gryboski, who fatally shot her husband in self-defense in April 2007, plans to return to her medical practice next month, her lawyer said yesterday. The state Board of Registration in Medicine, which licenses doctors, cleared the way for Gryboski to start seeing patients again by terminating an agreement not to practice medicine she had signed shortly after the slaying. A grand jury decided not to charge Gryboski last August. Witnesses testified that her husband, Patrick Lancaster, had abused her for years.