UMass medical school to name chancellor

August 15, 2008

The University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester plans to appoint Dr. Michael Collins as the new chancellor. A search committee recommended yesterday that Collins, who has run the medical school on an interim basis for more than a year, be appointed its permanent leader. He would replace Dr. Aaron Lazare, who stepped down after 16 years as head of the state's only public medical school. Collins is a former chancellor of UMass-Boston and a former president of Caritas Christi Health Care System, a large Catholic hospital network. Jack Wilson, UMass president, and the board of trustees must approve the appointment.

Prosecutors intend to file a misdemeanor homicide charge against a Gloucester man involved in a boat collision last month in Buzzards Bay that killed a retired businessman. Fred M. Bevins III was driving his 63-foot motorboat July 18 when it collided with a 35-foot sailboat, throwing passenger David J. Walsh into the water between Round Hill Beach and Cuttyhunk. Walsh was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital. Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol district attorney's office, said Bevins was negligent in the operation of his boat and will be charged with one count of homicide by vessel. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, prosecutors said. The misdemeanor charge carries a sentence of 30 days to 30 months and a fine of up to $3,000.

An 11-year-old East Boston girl who had been missing since 6 p.m. Tuesday returned home last night unharmed, police said. Marizali Aponti was reported missing by her mother after she went to pick up her two children from a McDonald's near Central Square in East Boston, but only her 7-year-old son was there, police said. "She's returned home safe and sound," Officer James Kenneally said. "It appears like no foul play and things of that nature. The important thing is that she's home." Her mother told police Aponti had disappeared before, about nine months ago, but returned home after only a few hours, police said.

A man was shot to death yesterday in Lowell, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney said. Police responded to a report of a shooting on Morse Street at 6:39 p.m. and found a male victim, who has not been identified, with gunshot wounds, said Corey Welford, a spokesman for District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. The victim was transported to Saints Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. State Police assigned to the district attorney's office and Lowell police are investigating the shooting, Welford said. "Based on our initial investigation, we do not believe this to have been a random act," Welford said. No arrests had been made as of late last night, Welford said.

A firefighter and a resident suffered minor injuries in a house fire last night, fire officials said. The firefighter and the female occupant of the house, neither of whom were identified, were taken to Jordan Hospital in Plymouth for treatment, Fire Chief Robert Heath said. The fire, which began on the second floor of the building just before 7, caused an estimated $50,000 in smoke and water damage, officials said.

A water boiling advisory has been issued in Fire District 2, which covers South Hadley and parts of Granby, after Escheria coli bacteria were found in the public water supply. William Selkirk, Water Department superintendent, said that tests show the contamination is not from his district's water source, but that it entered the system some other way, possibly through a water main break. Chlorine is being added. (AP)

A Framingham woman who is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 11 on charges that she helped her daughters beat up a 16-year-old girl at a mall has also been charged with restraining her son with belts. Framingham police arrested Marilyn Camacho, 41, late Tuesday night and charged her with assaulting the 12-year-old boy. Police found him in the street with his legs and arms restrained. Camacho's lawyer, Mark Finkel, said Wednesday in Framingham District Court that his client was just trying to stop a misbehaving child who had struck a family member. (AP)