Ex-state worker arraigned on drug charge

The former manager of the Registry of Motor Vehicles office in North Attleborough has been charged with buying marijuana while at work. Laura Preibis of Norwood pleaded not guilty to a possession charge Thursday in Attleboro District Court. She was freed without bail. State Police were tipped off June 5 by a witness who reported seeing an alleged drug transaction involving the 52-year-old Preibis in her office. A Registry employee told police June 12 that Preibis had been involved in an alleged drug buy in the Registry parking lot. Police confronted Preibis in her office and recovered a small amount of marijuana from her car. (AP)

State foresters have put a 90-day moratorium on cutting down trees on state land so they can reevaluate forest management plans. The moratorium was endorsed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation earlier this month. Department commissioner Richard Sullivan said the break gives the agency time to assess recent changes in its tree-cutting regulations. Officials also tell the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester that it is a chance to take a fresh look at the role of public forests in society, particularly given concerns about climate change. The moratorium applies to projects proposed after June 30. Sullivan said there could be some exceptions to allow limited cutting for firewood, given concerns about winter energy costs. (AP)

Students at a Westfield elementary school got an extended summer vacation when yellow jackets buzzed into five rooms on the first day back to class. A large yellow jacket's nest was found in the ventilation system. Principal Jim Kane said about 400 students, as well as 85 staff members, from Juniper Park Elementary were moved to buildings on the campus of Westfield State College on Thursday while exterminators dealt with the problem. No one was stung. Kane said yesterday's classes were canceled, and because Monday is a holiday, students won't return until Tuesday. (AP)

Leicester police say the husband of a woman who was killed in a head-on car crash on Route 9 has died from his injuries. Chief Jim Hurley said 83-year-old Russell Mosman of North Brookfield died yesterday. Mosman's wife, 89-year-old Dorothy Mosman, was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the Thursday afternoon crash at the intersection of Route 9 and Town Beach Road. Russell Mosman was flown to UMass Memorial Medical Center after the crash. Police say an eastbound car driven by Adwoa Gyamfi of Worcester crossed into the westbound lanes and struck the car driven by Russell Mosman. Gyamfi was also taken to a hospital, but police said her injuries were not considered life-threatening. (AP)

New Hampshire public health officials are warning residents to keep their children and pets away from wild mushrooms that are having a banner year because of the rainy summer. Health and Human Services Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas says there has been an increase in calls to the regional poison control center reporting toddlers eating potentially poisonous mushrooms in their yards. He says many kinds of mushrooms grow in the state and some can cause serious injury or death. (AP)

Police searched yesterday for a 38-year-old Hopedale man who they believe robbed an elderly priest on Sunday at the Our Lady of Fatima shrine. Juan C. Cruz, who is known to frequent the Milford and Woonsocket, R.I. area, has not been seen since the crime, police said in a statement. This time, a man waited for the Rev. Gerard Furlan, 77, to transfer about $500 from the donation box to a carton to carry it to the rectory. Shortly before 6 p.m., the man grabbed the carton from the priest and sprinted through the woods to a waiting van, which police said was driven by a woman.