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October 31, 2007

A bewitching night in Salem

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Salvatore Callender walked with his wife, Esmay, down Derby Street in Salem today. He is in the Army and stationed in Hawaii.

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

Gypsies, monsters, pirates, princesses and, of course, witches streamed through Salem's streets tonight as more than 75,000 people visited the Halloween capital of the state, looking for spooky chills and thrills.

Trick-or-treating kids mixed with adult revelers and street corner evangelists preaching against wickedness.

Salem police, monitoring the situation on foot, bike, and horseback, expected the crowd to get a little rowdier later in the night when families go home.

"As it gets a little bit later, you'll see the crowds change. When the alcohol gets involved, sometimes we have some problems," Sergeant Harry Rocheville said.

Police are hoping the crowd will clear out after the 10:15 p.m. fireworks -- a first for the Halloween festival.

Halloween in town has gotten bigger and bigger every year, annoying some residents who have to deal with the traffic and noisy crowds, the Globe reported today. Business owners say the festivities are good for the city and call the night bigger than Christmas.

Meanwhile, in other communities around the state, kids are heading out right now to load their bags full of candy.

Boston police offered some tips for a safe evening, suggesting, among other things, that parents bring a flashlight; that kids wear bright, reflective, flame-retardant clothing; and that other adults drive carefully all evening.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)

State police probe Marlborough crash

By Globe Staff

A woman was killed this afternoon in a crash on Interstate 495 in Marlborough, state police said.

A 2003 Ford Windstar van was traveling north at around 2:39 p.m. when it abruptly went off the roadway into the median, police said after a preliminary investigation.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Police withheld her name pending notification of next of kin.

The crash is under investigation, police said in a statement.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:19 PM | Comments (0)

New trial denied in Wellesley doctor's murder case

By Globe Staff

A Norfolk Superior Court judge has denied a request for a new trial from Dirk Greineder, the once-prominent Wellesley doctor who was convicted of killing his wife eight years ago.

Judge Paul A. Chernoff denied the request today in a 68-page decision, the Norfolk district attorney's office said.

"We are pleased with the decision of the trial judge and hope that it provides some small measure of comfort to Mae Greineder's sister and niece on this, the eighth anniversary of her death," District Attorney William Keating said in a statement.

Greineder murdered his wife on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1999, in a park near their home. He was convicted of first-degree murder on June 29, 2001.

Jamie Sultan, Greineder's attorney, said Greineder had filed an appeal with the state Supreme Judicial Court that was put on hold during the new trial motion. Now, Sultan said, the appeal will go forward and the issues from the new trial motion would likely be added to it.

"We assumed all along the SJC would decide this case and I think that's still the case," he said.

At the high-profile trial in 2001, prosecutors argued that Greineder bludgeoned his wife and cut her throat to keep hidden a secret life involving prostitutes, calls to phone sex lines, and trysts sought on the Internet.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Greineder said his wife was killed by an unknown person after the two separated for 10 minutes while walking their German shepherd.

Greineder choked back tears as he called his wife "the most wonderful person I ever met."

Posted by mfinucane at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

Two dead in high-speed crash in Attleboro

(Rose Lincoln for The Boston Globe)

By Globe Staff

Two people were killed this morning when the cars they were driving at high speed went out of control on a highway in Attleboro, State Police said.

The crash happened at about 11 a.m. on Interstate 95 north at Interstate 295. Television footage showed two badly burned cars off the side of the roadway.

State Police said a preliminary investigation indicated that a 2008 Nissan sedan and a 1998 Honda sedan were headed north at a high rate of speed, switching from lane to lane and passing traffic.

As they approached Interstate 295, they made contact with each other in the right lane and both vehicles lost control. They continued off the right shoulder of the roadway, headed up an embankment, and crashed into the concrete abutment for the Route 295 overpass.

The vehicles came to rest on their roofs and burst into flames, police said. Attleboro firefighters responded to the scene but were unable to extricate the victims before they were engulfed in flames.

The names of the drivers are being withheld until they can be identified and their next of kin can be notified, police said.

The crash is being investigated by the State Police.

Sergeant Mike Rafferty, a State Police spokesman, said there was "some kind of aggressive driving" going on but couldn't confirm media reports that the two cars were racing.

The right two northbound lanes of Interstate 95 were closed this afternoon, as well as the ramp from Interstate 295 to 95. Police urged travelers to seek alternate routes.

Posted by aryan at 4:06 PM | Comments (0)

Beverly officer claims he suffered a seizure before fatal crash

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Beverly police officer suffered a seizure just before his cruiser rammed into another car in January, killing a 61-year-old woman, the officer's attorney said today.

"I believe he had a medical emergency that rendered him unconscious prior to the impact. He was not in control of the car. He had some type of seizure," said Neil Rossman, who is representing Stuart Merry.

Merry, 40, pleaded not guilty today in Peabody District Court to motor vehicle homicide and other charges stemming from the Jan. 20 crash on Cabot Street that killed Bonney Burns.

Merry was charged after a monthslong investigation by State Police and Essex County prosecutors. A clerk magistrate held a hearing earlier this month and found probable cause to issue the charges.

The officer is facing criminal charges of motor vehicle homicide and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle as well as civil speeding and marked lanes violations.

Burns, who was sitting in her car in front of her home when she was hit, was described by friends and relatives as a semi-retired registered dietitian who loved to square dance.

In a telephone interview, Rossman said Merry has had another seizure since the crash, but declined to be more specific, citing Merry's right to privacy.

Merry was released on personal recognizance and is currently on medical leave from the department, Rossman said.

"He wants nothing more than to get this thing off his back and get physically cleared to come back to work and go back out on the street," Rossman said. "He loves his job, and he's a good man."

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office said it had no comment on the case because it was pending in the courts.

Posted by mfinucane at 2:32 PM | Comments (0)

Appeals court: Christmas tree farms would be wise to post warning signs

By Globe Staff

A Natick woman who sued a "pick-your-own" Christmas tree farm after she slipped and fell while selecting a tree in 2002 received an early present today from the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

The appeals court reinstated Ellen S. MacFadyen's lawsuit against Robert L. Maki and Star of the East Christmas Tree Farm.

MacFadyen was walking through the rows of trees at the farm on Dec. 7, 2002, when she tripped over a tree stump that had been covered by snow the night before. When she fell, her right elbow struck a second snow-covered stump and was fractured.

Maki hadn't posted signs required by state law warning people that he could not be held liable for any injury.

MacFadyen argued that since Maki hadn't posted those signs, he was, in fact, liable.

A Superior Court judge said the wording of the law was ambiguous, ruling that farms are protected from liability even if they don't post the signs.

But a three-judge panel of the appeals court said, "We disagree that the statute is ambiguous."

In a four-page opinion, the court said "an owner of a tree farm must post a warning sign ... in order to avail himself of the protection of the statute."

MacFadyen's attorney, Robert R. Berluti, said the tree farm was in Sutton, but the property had since been developed.

"It seemed to us to make sense that if you failed to post the sign ... there should be a consequence," he said. "You accept the risk by going to pick your own tree and if you don't get that warning, then a consumer doesn't realize that it is accepting the risk."

Maki's attorney, James T. Scamby, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Posted by mfinucane at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

State political leaders salute Red Sox at State House rally

By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick did his best impression of a boxing announcer today as he tried to fire up a crowd on the State House steps during what may be the final ceremony this fall honoring the world champion Red Sox.

"Allllllright, Red Sox nation!" Patrick yelled in a deep, gravely voice into a microphone at a podium under a huge Red Sox banner hanging from the State House dome.

"Thank you for the lift you have given to this city and to the Commonwealth," Patrick said. "And doing it in four games so we could get back to sleep."

Attended by Red Sox owners and two of the team’s catchers -- Doug Mirabelli and Jason Varitek -- the ceremony allowed the state’s top political leaders to join the Red Sox revelry with a few one liners.

"I'd like to say to all those people in New York," said House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, "how do you like them Red Sox now?"

Senate President Therese Murray added: "Winning championships isn't easy, but I think we can get used to this ... Red Sox Nation is on top of the world to stay."

Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner thanked fans for their support and promised to bring home more World Series trophies. Mirabelli and Varitek spoke briefly, underscoring the importance of the fans after they fell behind to the Indians 3-1.

"When we came back from Cleveland we knew we had a severe advantage because we were coming home," Varitek said, "On behalf of the Red Sox, the players, my teammates -- thank you."

Posted by mfinucane at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

Horns blasting for Halloween, Greenbush train makes first regular run

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

Dr. Andreas Klein of Duxbury rode the Greenbush train this morning on his commute to New England Medical Center.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

ABOARD THE GREENBUSH TRAIN -- After a bevy of test runs and a ceremonial ribbon cutting, the Greenbush commuter rail began its first regular day of service this morning, bringing South Shore commuters into Boston on smooth diesel-powered locomotives.

The cars glided past yellow and auburn foliage, lush green golf courses, and over marshes, carrying working people in business suits, nostalgic old timers, and giddy children taking their first train ride. Halloween inspired seasonal accessories, with some riders wearing black witches' hats and orange pumpkin earrings. Most passengers were just excited that the Greenbush was finally running after 25 years of talk, controversy, and planning.

"I'm delighted," said Jay Silva, 50, a salesman from Scituate who road a Greenbush train this morning. "I've been waiting ... two decades for it to get here."

As it passes today through five towns -- Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate -- it will blow its horn for Halloween, warning trick-or-treaters with four toots at street crossings that there is a new train rolling on the tracks. On Thursday, the horns will go silent as a horn-free zone goes into effect, one of many controversies to dog the Greenbush.

The $513 million train line will make two dozen trips a day between Scituate and South Station with regular stops at North Scituate, Cohasset, Nantasket Junction, West Hingham, East Weymouth, Weymouth Landing, and Quincy Center. Each run takes just under an hour.

Fares are set by zones and range from $6.75 one way to Boston from the Greenbush station to $4.75 from the two Weymouth stations. Monthly passes range from $223 from the Greenbush station to $151 from Weymouth.

Posted by aryan at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

Cape stabbing suspect arrested

By Emily Canal, Globe Staff

A man is expected to be arraigned today on Cape Cod on two charges of attempted murder after police said he stabbed two men Sunday in South Yarmouth.

John Windland, 35, was arrested Tuesday night during a traffic stop in Barnstable. He will also be charged with assault and battery with a knife when he appears today in Barnstable District Court.

According to police, Windland entered a home on Angus Avenue and stabbed a 27-year-old man in the arm and a 40-year-old man in the shoulder and upper bicep. The victims, whom police did not identify, were taken to Cape Cod Hospital, treated, and released.

Posted by aryan at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

State police probe fatal crash on Route 2

By Globe Staff

A 65-year-old Westminster woman was killed this morning when she apparently lost control of her car on Route 2 in Leominster, state police said.

Barbara A. Oja was driving eastbound on the road at about 6:35 a.m. when she traveled off the left shoulder and struck the Jersey barrier in the median strip.

She was taken to Leominster Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. State police say they're investigating the crash.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)

All aboard! Greenbush commuter rail line poised to open

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)

The inaugural train pulled into the Weymouth Landing station today.

By Globe Staff

It was a moving celebration. Literally.

Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray and other state and local officials boarded a Greenbush commuter train today for its inaugural run, making stops for ceremonies at stations in five towns. The line opens for regular service tomorrow morning.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas predicted that the new line will be well-used.

"There is just an amazing appetite for expansion of public transportation and commuter rail service, in particular," he said.

The $512 million line features seven new stations with a combined total of 3,100 parking spaces. State transportation officials expect that the line will eventually carry about 8,600 customers every weekday. The opening of the line completes the full restoration of the Old Colony Railroad, which stopped operating in 1959.

The first paying customers on the revived line will board tomorrow at 5:44 a.m. at Greenbush Station.

It wasn't an easy task to get the line completed. Controversies erupted in courts, town halls, and state and federal bureaucracies.

The MBTA has undertaken a major safety campaign in recent months to try to prevent accidents on the tracks, organizing programs in area schools, holding open forums, and offering training for local public safety personnel.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)

Thousands of Red Sox fans flock to World Series victory parade

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

By Globe Staff

With thousands of fans screaming their hearts out, a caravan carrying Red Sox players rolled through the streets of Boston today in a celebration of the team's second World Series victory in four years.

"This is just incredible. Two championships. It's hard to even imagine it," said David Charleau, 35, of Everett, who was holding his 2-year-old son, Matthew, on his shoulders along the crowded parade route near Boston Common.

The "rolling rally" to mark the Red Sox sweep of the Colorado Rockies included about two dozen duck boats -- amphibious vehicles used for tours of the city -- that spewed red, white, and blue confetti.

It took about two hours for the caravan to make its way along the route from Fenway Park to City Hall, as players and their families, coaches, executives, and other members of the Red Sox organization waved to a wildly cheering crowd.

The Sox completed their sweep of the Rockies with a 4-3 victory on Sunday in Denver. In 2004, the Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals, a victory that came after the team had suffered an 86-year championship drought, leading some to believe it was cursed.

In a day celebrating the team's indomitable pitching, the best save was made by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who stumbled coming off a stage but did not drop the World Series trophy.

Slugger Manny Ramirez used the public address system as the caravan rolled along to invite fans back to his house for free beer.

Catcher Jason Varitek held up a sign saying "Re-sign Lowell," echoing the concerns of some fans that the team might lose World Series MVP Mike Lowell, who is now a free agent.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon, who rode on a flatbed truck with fellow relievers Hideki Okajima and Mike Timlin, ignited a frenzy when he performed his trademark jig along the route.

At City Hall Plaza, all three pitchers capered to the music provided by the Dropkick Murphys band. And Papelbon, who had donned a red kilt, brandished a broom, symbolic of the Series sweep, as a guitar.

By 3:30 p.m., Boston police had arrested 18 people on disorderly conduct charges. Details were not immediately available.

Fans vying for spaces along the parade route had to endure cool temperatures early in the morning, but by midday the temperature neared 60 and the sky was clear.

First baseman Kevin Youkilis, taking a mike from a broadcaster on the street, echoed the sentiment of every member of Red Sox Nation, saying, "We hope we can do this every year."

After the rolling rally ended, the players returned to Fenway Park, where they were met by more fans before they headed home.

Posted by mfinucane at 2:47 PM | Comments (0)

Mayor Menino takes one for the team -- injures leg but doesn't drop Sox trophy

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) stumbled while walking off a stage today at Fenway Park.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

It was supposed to be a glorious moment.

Mayor Thomas Menino was hoisting the World Series trophy this morning at Fenway about an hour before the parade kicked off.

As he walked off a stage set up at the park, Menino, still holding the prize, failed to see the stairs that were obscured by the golden trophy. He tripped and injured his leg.

"He hyperextended his knee," said his spokeswoman, Dot Joyce. "He's fine."

After driving back to City Hall, his leg still bothered him, so he decided to visit his personal doctor, she said. Now, he has returned to watch the rolling rally from City Hall, Joyce said.

"Our poor mayor," she said. "It's a big day for him today and he loves this stuff, but what can you do?"

Luckily, the trophy did not hit the ground during the mayor's mishap.

"He saved the trophy," Joyce said. "He was more concerned about the trophy than himself."

Posted by mfinucane at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

And the crowd goes wild ...

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Fans erupted in cheers when the Red Sox rally rolled through Copley Square.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The roar of the crowd filled Copley Square like a wave as the advancing duck boats rolled down Boylston Street, shooting red, white and blue confetti.

College students climbed trees, scurried up light poles, and climbed on top of a bus shelter for a better view.

Businessmen in ties and trenchcoats stood on their toes like children, straining to get a glimpse of the World Series-winning Red Sox.

Spontaneous chants erupted: "Sign Mike Lowell," "Yankees Suck," and "Dice-K," when the Japanese star rolled by.

Eamon McQuaid, 8, sat on the shoulders of his father, John, who bounced up and down in rhythm with the cheers.

Looking over the crowd, Eamon was trying to catch a glimpse of the only player near his size.

"Where's Dustin Pedroia?" he asked. While Eamon looked, his sister, Aisling, 5, let out a shriek from her perch on her mother's shoulders.

"Big Papi!" she screamed, grabbing her brother's arm and pointing toward the back of a duck boat.

John McQuaid echoed his daughter's shouts. "Big Papi!" he screamed, bouncing his son higher in the air.

David Ortiz turned from the back of the duck boat and seemed to look right at the McQuaid children. Eamon and Aisling smiled like it was Christmas morning and screamed Ortiz's name again.

The rolling rally to celebrate the Red Sox sweep of the Colorado Rockies started just after noon at Fenway Park and proceeded through deafening cheers down Boylston Street toward a gigantic, raucous rally at City Hall Plaza.

Halfway through the route, the caravan stopped in Copley Square, where closer Jonathan Papelbon, who was riding with fellow pitchers Hideki Okajima and Mike Timlin and the Dropkick Murphys band, drove the crowd into a frenzy with his trademark jig.

City officials estimated some 35,000 feet of barricades were erected for today's festivities. The confetti blowers on the duck boats were loaded with 800 pounds of confetti.

Fans had come early, prepared for cold weather, using folding chairs and stools to save their places along the metal barriers lining the parade route.

They waved signs bearing messages like "Marry me, Jacoby," "Thank you, Red Sox," and "Save the Last Dance for Boston 58." (Papelbon wears number 58)

"When we came before, we stood for three hours," said Linda Gendall, 37, who began her trek to the parade route with her daughter, Jamie, 8, at 8 a.m. from Stoneham.

This time, the Gendalls brought beach chairs that they set up on Boylston Street near the Central Burying Ground.

Jamie wore her mother's oversized gray Red Sox sweatshirt and a blue 2004 World Series hat pulled tight on her head. She said, "I want to see them dance."

Near the corner of Tremont and Boylston, Dan Acheson, 19, an Emerson College sophomore from Sanbornton, N.H., had secured his perch at 9 a.m.

"I'm sitting on a stool that the school provided in my dorm room," said Acheson, who skipped a sociology class so he could belly up to the metal barrier for the parade.

Fans came wrapped in Red Sox blankets, hoisted brooms to signify the Red Sox sweep of the Rockies, and clutched cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee to stay warm.

One of the youngest new members of Red Sox Nation, Max Avalone, 2, sat in a jogging stroller that had been adorned with a Red Sox World Series pennant.

"This is pretty historic for him," said his mother, Laura, 39, of Boston's Back Bay. "He doesn't know it yet, but it is."

The T was jam-packed this morning, with long lines to buy Charlie tickets, and commuter trains were busy.

Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that commuter lines have had their busiest days in history during past football and baseball championship celebrations, as suburban residents flocking to greet their team shared the train with regular business commuters.

Posted by mfinucane at 1:22 PM | Comments (0)

Red Sox rolling rally duck boat order

Cigar-chomping Jonathan Papelbon, a crowd favorite, is expected to dance on the flatbed truck carrying him, the Dropkick Murphys, Mike Timlin and Hideki Okajima down the parade route.

Here's a list of the occupants of some of the other vehicles in the parade:

Duck Boat 2:
Red Sox owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino.

Duck Boat 4:
Red Sox legends, including Dwight Evans, Joe Morgan, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, Rick Miller, and Frank Malzone.

Duck Boat 5:
Terry Francona and other coaches.

Duck Boat 6:
Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Tim Wakefield.

Duck Boat 10:
Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Eric Hinske.

Duck Boat 11:
Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester.

Duck Boat 12:
Manny Delcarmen, Kyle Snyder, Eric Gagne, Bryan Corey and Javier Lopez.

Duck Boat 13:
Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Timlin.

Duck Boat 16:
Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew , Bobby Kielty.

Duck Boat 17:
Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Royce Clayton, Julian Tavarez.

Duck Boat 18:
Jason Varitek, Doug Mirabelli, Kevin Cash.

Duck Boat 19:
Julio Lugo, Mike Lowell, Alex Cora.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2007

Red Sox return home to cheering fans

By David Abel and Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The Red Sox landed this afternoon in an out-of-the-way corner of Logan International Airport, far from the bustle and glare of the main terminals. That didn't stop a few intrepid fans from greeting the World Series champs.

Al Siciliano, 41, of East Boston took the day off from his job washing windows because he knew the Red Sox would be coming through Logan's south gate, where presidents and other VIP's often exit the tarmac.

"I wanted to be the first fan to welcome them back," said Siciliano who wore a Red Sox cap and T-shirt. "If I could say one thing to them, it would be, 'Thank you, and thank you we don't have to want another 86 years.' "

At about 4:30 p.m., the team rolled out of the south gate in several buses, lead by a State Police cruiser, with Manny Ramirez riding shot gun and holding up his index finger.

In one of the buses, David Ortiz could be seen smiling broadly. Pena Perez, 23, a secretary who works in Logan's cargo department, began to shriek. "I'm going to die of happiness," she said.

On Yawkey Way in the shadow of Fenway Park, over a thousand fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their returning heroes and the glittering World Series trophy. While waiting for the buses to arrive, they chanted "Let's Go Red Sox," sang "Sweet Caroline," and bounced around beach balls as if they were sitting in the bleachers.

"Last time it was for our parents," said Maureen Fredette, 53, of Stoneham. "This time it's for us and our kids."

Posted by aryan at 6:11 PM | Comments (0)

Increased subway service, parking restrictions for Red Sox parade

By Globe Staff

The MBTA will run subway service on a rush-hour schedule all day Tuesday to accommodate fans flocking to Boston for the Red Sox victory celebration, with trains running every two to three minutes on the Green Line along the parade route.

Extra trains will also be running from the Route 128 commuter rail station in Westwood, allowing fans to park outside the city and ride trains to South Station. From the north, commuter trains will also be running from Anderson RTC in Woburn.

"We strongly encourage people to purchase round-trip fares on their way into town to avoid lengthy lines when leaving," said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The Boston Transportation Department issued an advisory this afternoon that outlined street closures and parking restrictions. Cross streets along the parade route will be closed starting at 10 a.m. The parade route will include Boylston Street, Park Drive, Tremont Street, Cambridge Street, and New Chardon Street.

At 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, parking will be banned on:

-Lansdowne Street, both sides from Brookline Avenue to Ipswich Street
-Van Ness Street, both sides from Ipswich Street to Kilmarnock Street
-Yawkey Way, both sides from Boylston Street to Brookline Avenue
-Arlington Street, both sides from Beacon Street to Columbus Avenue
-Avery Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street
-Beacon Street, both sides from Somerset Street to Tremont Street
-Berkeley Street, both sides from Columbus Avenue to Commonwealth Avenue
-Bowdoin Street, both sides from Cambridge Street to Derne Street
-Boylston Street, both sides from Park Drive to Washington Street
-Bromfield Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street
-Brookline Avenue, both sides from Park Drive to Beacon Street in Kenmore Square
-Cambria Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Saint Cecilia Street
-Cambridge Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Charles Circle
-Charles Street South, both sides from Stuart Street to Boylston Street
-Charlesgate East, both sides from Boylston Street to Ipswich Street
-Clarendon Street, both sides from Newbury Street to Saint James Avenue
-Court Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Congress Street
-Dalton Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Belvidere Street
-Dartmouth Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Newbury Street
-Exeter Street, both sides from Newbury Street to Boylston Street
-Exeter Street, west side from Boylston Street to opposite Belvidere Street
-Fairfield Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Newbury Street
-Gloucester Street, both sides from Newbury Street to Boylston Street
-Hadassah Way, both sides from Park Plaza to Boylston Street
-Hemenway Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Haviland Street
-Hereford Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Newbury Street
-Ipswich Street, both sides in west Fenway area from Boylston Street to Lansdowne Street
-Ipswich Street, both sides in east Fenway Area from Boylston Street approximately 200 feet north to bend in roadway
-Jersey Street, both sides from Peterborough Street to Boylston Street
-Kilmarnock Street, both sides from Van Ness Street to Peterborough Street
-Massachusetts Avenue, both sides from Beacon Street to Westland Avenue
-New Chardon Street, both sides from Cambridge Street to Merrimac Street
-Saint Cecilia Street, both sides from Boylston Street to Scotia Street
-Staniford Street, both sides Cambridge Street to William Cardinal O’Connell Way
-School Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street
-Sudbury Street, both sides Cambridge Street to Bulfinch Place
-Temple Place, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street
-Tremont Street, both sides from Stuart Street to Cambridge Street
-West Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street
-Winter Street, both sides from Tremont Street to Washington Street

Posted by aryan at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)

Red Sox rolling rally will be similar to 2004

By Donovan Slack and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Boston is planning a victory celebration Tuesday for the world champion Red Sox that will be similar to the "rolling rally" in 2004, with a duck boat parade starting at noon that will carry the team from Fenway Park through the streets of the Back Bay and past the Boston Common and City Hall Plaza.

The parade will pass three jumbo television screens and include a flatbed truck carrying the Dropkick Murphys, the Irish-style punk band whose music has become the soundtrack for the spirited Sox closer -- and step-dancer - Jonathan Papelbon.

"He promised the people he would do the dance," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said today at a press conference at City Hall, "and he will do the dance."

The duck boats will not take to the Charles River as they did in 2004. Instead the parade will end at New Chardon Street near City Hall Plaza.

"The players didn't want to go into the water," Menino said. "There were a lot of folks who came into the water who weren’t part of the parade. It was dangerous for them to be in the water while the ducks were going down the river."

Planning for the festivities began late last week, but city officials said nothing was finalized so as not to jinx the World Series. That left a flurry of planning for this morning. The Red Sox clinched the Series at 12:05 a.m.

Menino declined to estimate how many people are expected to attend the rally. Police are in the process of posting road closure signs along the route. City schools will remain in session Tuesday during the parade. “The kids are in school, that’s the toughest part for me,” Menino said.

In 2004, throngs of fans packed the 7-mile parade route, which began near Fenway Park and traveled on Boylston Street past Boston Common to City Hall Plaza. The day before the celebration, Menino added an amphibious leg to the parade that took the team up the Charles River aboard duck boats, past the Esplanade and the Cambridge bank of the river. Menino added the river portion after Boston police and some crowd-control specialists expressed concerns the original street route could create a safety hazard for paradegoers and leave thousands without a clear vantage point to see the players.

Unlike the cold rain that dampened the parade in 2004, the weather forecast for Tuesday’s victory celebration is encouraging. The forecast calls for temperatures near 60 degrees, ample sunshine, and only a 10 percent chance of precipitation.

The parade will begin at Fenway Park and take Boylston Street to Boston Common. It will go left on Tremont Street and follow Cambridge Street until the intersection of New Chardon Street, where the parade will stop near City Hall Plaza. The jumbo television screens will be set up at Boston Common, Copley Square, and City Hall Plaza.

"Come down, enjoy the day," Menino said. "It will be a fun day in the city of Boston."

(Jim Davis/Globe Staff/file)

Posted by aryan at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

Turnpike board approves toll hike

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority today gave final approval to a toll hike that will increase the cost at the Allston-Brighton and Weston toll booths by 25 cents and the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels by 50 cents.

The toll hike, which had been scheduled for nearly a decade as part of the plan for paying off Big Dig debt, will take effect in January. The final approval came on a 3-2 vote after the board had initially moved to delay a decision to look at ways to lessen the impact on commuters from the western suburbs by increasing the cost of the tunnels. However, turnpike staff determined that there wasn't enough time to look at another option because they said there was a risk of missing deadlines established by the authority's bondholders.

"It's a sad, sad day today for toll payers," said board member Mary Connaughton, who voted against the hike.

The board gave preliminary approval to the hike on Oct. 4 and then held five public hearings.

Tolls are now $3 for cash-paying customers at the tunnels and $1 at the other two toll booths. The cost of the tunnels will increase to $3.50, and the toll booths will go up to $1.25.

Posted by aryan at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2007

Thousands come to Common, rally against war

During an anti-war protest, triplets Sara, Kelly and Alicia Casilio from the performance group Triiibe, stand on crates on Boston Common. (Boston Globe Staff photo by John Tlumacki)

By Stephanie M. Peters, Globe Correspondent

As an antiwar rally waged behind her on swampy Boston Common on Saturday, Linda Tobin and her two children crouched over a pair of dusty black boots, one of 156 pairs representing each New England casualty of the Iraq war.

"There are so many ways other than war to communicate, especially in this day and age," Tobin said as she moved down a row of boots, part of the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit. Her conviction brought her the 2-plus hours from St. Johnsbury, Vt., with six family members, including children ages 6, 4, and 2.

"It’s especially important for the kids to see this because they’re the next generation," Tobin said.

Tobin, 36, was one of an estimated 10,000 people who gathered on the Common to listen to speakers, including historian Howard Zinn and Councilor Felix Arroyo, and march to Copley Square and back.

The rally was one of 11 large antiwar held nationwide Saturday as part of the National Day of Action to end the war.

Despite the drizzle, the crowd was a sea of rainbow-colored peace flags, yellow balloons, and homemade signs bearing messages such as "Support our communities, fund human needs," "Vermont says no to war,"and "Bush wants your children for cannon fodder."

Zinn, author of "A People’s History of the United States," spoke for about 15 minutes and received the loudest reception.

"You can’t have a war on terrorism; war is terrorism," he said. "When enough soldiers refuse to fight, this war will not be able to go on, and we need to support them any way we can."

Zinn is renowned for an antiwar speech he gave in nearly the same spot in 1971, at the height of Vietnam War protests.

Paul and Lois Doerr, of Wayland, attended that speech and said a stronger antiwar movement packed Boston Common then.

"I'm not convinced of the value of this," Paul Doerr, 58, said, motioning around him. "The polls indicate that everyone’s against the war ... but Bush is still getting the funding he asks for."

Last Monday, Bush asked Congress for another $46 billion for 2008 to continue war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The rally attracted many passersby, who stopped to learn what the loud music and large crowds were about, said Angela Kelly, an organizer for the New England United Coalition, which sponsored the rally.

"As soon as they found out what it was about, many people decided to stay and pick up material," she said. "I think it was a powerful demonstration that the peace majority is growing each and every day ... we certainly brought more people in to build our movement."

No rally-related arrests were reported.

Posted by gwitherspoon at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2007

Child drowns in Quincy, sibling removed from home

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

The Norfolk district attorney’s office and the state Department of Social Services are investigating the death in Quincy of a 9-month-old girl, who apparently drowned Saturday morning in a bucket of cleaning solution.

Quincy police Chief Robert Crowley said Saturday night that investigators told him the baby fell in the bucket. Firefighters who arrived on the scene just before 10 a.m. tried to resuscitate the child, but the baby was pronounced dead at 11:07 a.m. at Quincy Medical Center, he said.

David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating’s office, said an autopsy could be completed Sunday.

"It’s under investigation," Traub said by phone. "A key portion of this is the anticipated medical examination."

Officials did not identify the child or her mother or indicate if charges might be forthcoming.

Crowley, reached by phone, said he visited the Sumner Street apartment where the drowning occurred.

The girl’s mother went to the hospital while the father remained at the apartment Saturday morning, Crowley said.

Alison Goodwin, a spokeswoman for DSS, said the mother was caring for the baby and her 2-year-old son at the time of the drowning. Goodwin declined to elaborate.

State officials removed the boy from the home and placed him with relatives, Goodwin said.

Quincy Fire Department officials, who also reported to the scene, said they would make a report of the case public on Monday.

Globe correspondent Adam Sell contributed to this report. Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.

Posted by gwitherspoon at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2007

Firefighter rescues two children from Fall River fire

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

FALL RIVER -- A firefighter made two trips into a burning apartment early this morning to save two young children after their mother's former boyfriend allegedly set fire to their home, police said.

The children -- a 6-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy -- were rushed to hospitals, where they are in critical condition, according to a release from the Fall River Fire Department.

The mother's former boyfriend -- identified by police as Luis Berrios, 20, of Norton -- was arrested by State Police during a motor vehicle stop on Interstate 95. Berrios pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Fall River District Court to charges of arson, home invasion, kidnapping a minor by a relative, and nine counts of attempted murder. He was ordered held on $750,000 cash bail and is due back in court on Nov. 23.

His lawyer, John Connors, said Berrios, who works for a trucking company, had been involved with Kedys Torres, 24, for five years. The couple had a 6-month-old daughter.

"He went to the apartment, he wasn't happy with the situation, he took his child out of the apartment," Connors said. "It was his child. There are no orders keeping him away from the child."

"I think it's a situation that he never meant to happen, but it got out of control."

Police responded to the apartment on Waluppa Heights at 12:49 a.m. and saw smoke pouring from the windows. The officers tried to enter the apartment but were driven back by heat and flames, police said.

The Fall River Fire Department arrived a few moments later, and Lieutenant Michael Cabral ran into the apartment and rescued the little boy from a bedroom, police said. Cabral then went back into the apartment to save the girl, police said.

Another firefighter performed CPR on the two children. The girl was rushed to St. Anne's Hospital and flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The boy was taken to Charlton Memorial Hospital and transferred to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, R.I.

"Our concerns are with those two children," said Chief John M. Suza, who called Cabral a hero today at a press conference at the Fall River Police Department "Hopefully, although they are critical, they are going to survive."

According to police, Berrios was angry when he came to the apartment, took his 6-month-old daughter, and set fire to a bedroom before leaving. Nine people were in the apartment when he allegedly set the blaze. Berrios brought his daughter to a relative's home in Providence before his arrest, police said.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.

Posted by aryan at 4:33 PM | Comments (0)

Man wrongly convicted in Boston police shooting found dead

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

On Jan. 23, 2004, Stephan Cowans walked out of Suffolk Superior Court a free man after 6½ years in prison following his exoneration in the shooting of a police officer. Cowans was found shot to death Thursday in Randolph.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

RANDOLPH -- Three years after being exonerated in the shooting of a Boston police officer, a 37-year-old former Roxbury man was found shot to death Thursday afternoon in his new home, prosecutors said today.

Stephan Cowans, who spent 6½ years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of shooting Sergeant Gregory Gallagher in 1997, was apparently shot by someone he let into his home, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said at a news conference today in front of Randolph Police Department.

"There's a sad kind of irony that a person who had a second chance found himself in this position,” Keating said. "We're trying to find out exactly what happened."

The wrongful conviction led to the temporary closure of the police department's fingerprint unit and changes in how evidence is gathered and analyzed.

Cowans was exonerated in the wounding of Gallagher in 2004, following 6½ years in prison, after DNA evidence recovered near the crime scene was tested at the urging of the New England Innocence Project. It was not his. Authorities reexamined a fingerprint found at the scene and determined that police had misidentified it as belonging to Cowans.

In August 2006, Cowans received a $3.2 million settlement from the city and was also given $500,000 in compensation from the state for being wrongfully imprisoned. Today in Randolph, yellow police tape surrounded Cowans's four-bedroom, two-story colonial home, which he bought this year.

Keating would only say there was a fight between an assailant and Cowans. He provided little other detail about the shooting. Cowans's body was found Thursday afternoon, but investigators did not say when he was killed.

Posted by aryan at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)

Body found in car near Dorchester elementary school

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Globe Staff

The body of a man in his 20s with a bullet wound in his head was found this morning slumped in a car parked behind the John J. Marshall Elementary School in Dorchester, police said.

Boston police have blocked off the area around the car, which is a Toyota. The driver's side window has been shattered. The body was discovered at about 7:45 a.m.

Homicide investigators are at the school.

Posted by aryan at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

Greenbush trains to blow horns for trick-or-treaters

By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff

Toot-toot for trick-or-treat.

South Shore officials girding for the Oct. 31 return of commuter trains to the Greenbush line today asked federal railroad regulators to direct MBTA engineers to sound their horns as they pass through two-dozen grade crossings from 9 a.m. to midnight, but just on Halloween.

The same five towns -- Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate -- have successfully demanded that the Federal Railroad Administration keep the Greenbush line a horn-free zone, with engineers exempted from the usual requirement to give four blasts on their horn every time they trundle through a street crossing.

But several local police chiefs in recent days expressed alarm that having trains start service the same day that thousands of children are out trick-or-treating, especially after dark, could be a threat to public safety, even with the flashing lights, bells, and gates installed at the grade crossings.

Acting on behalf of all five towns, Scituate town administrator Richard Agnew today sent a letter to the railroad administration asking officials to lift the horn ban just for those 15 hours on Halloween.

"We have concern for our children's safety on the first day of operation,'' Agnew wrote, adding, "I assure you this request will not repeat itself.''

Railroad administration spokesman Warren Flatau said, "We do not see any problem with the request'' for a one-day lifting of the horn ban and expect it will be approved soon.

MBTA officials said they never backed the horn-sounding ban in the first place, saying that having trains blast the customary long-long-short-long warning as they come through grade crossings provides a crucial extra measure of public safety. Federal rules always allow engineers, even at a horn-free crossing, to sound their horn if they see a hazard such as someone walking or driving onto the tracks.

Posted by aryan at 4:54 PM | Comments (0)

Heady fans predict Sox sweep. Players aren't so cocky

(David L. Ryan/Globe staff)

A "Go Red Sox" sign strung between two buildings on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus got a look today from a jogger on Memorial Drive.

By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff

When Josh Beckett arrived at Fenway Park just before 3:30 this afternoon with his luggage for the upcoming road trip to Colorado, one fan couldn't help himself and offered the Red Sox star pitcher a little traveling advice.

"Just pack for two days, Josh," said Bill Hagan, a Norwood man scouring the streets outside Fenway for tickets to Game 2 of the World Series tonight.

Beckett -- undefeated and pretty much untouchable this postseason -- didn't respond. His playoff scowl remained intact. But fans like Hagan were beginning to get a little cocky in the afterglow of last night's 13-1 dismissal of the hometown team's World Series foe, the Colorado Rockies.

The feeling on the sun-kissed streets outside Fenway this afternoon is that the Red Sox aren't just going to win tonight, they're going to sweep the Series in four.

Thus Hagan's advice that Beckett needn't pack for more than just two games in Denver.

"It can change on a dime," conceded Hagan, who was unlikely to pay the $1,000 necessary to buy just a single ticket to tonight’s game. "But right now it's looking good. After 2004, everything changed. We went from being pessimists to optimists, Red Sox fans."

It is a feeling shared by most everyone today outside Fenway Park. From 77-year-old Fran Bush, who's old enough to remember fans razzing the late, great Ted Williams, to her teenage granddaughters Maura and Emily Houghton, who weren’t even born when the Sox lost the heartbreaking 1986 World Series. From Wes Rosen, at the wheel of his red Ford Thunderbird decorated with Red Sox emblems, to Tony LoConte, the last man in the long line for day-of-game tickets.

"I think there’s going to be a sweep," said LoConte, a real estate agent in Norfolk. "That's what I'm looking for. They're too powerful a team. They've got the hitting, and they’ve got the pitching."

So optimistic was LoConte that even being last in line for tickets didn’t get him down. As he figured it, his chances of getting into the game were good. "I'd say about 75 percent," he said.

These are, indeed, days for dreaming in the Fens. The rain clouds have parted. The sun is shining. Game 2 of the World Series is here, and the predominant feeling among the Red Sox faithful is that nothing can go wrong.

That's how Kelsie Thames felt this afternoon until she spotted a petite blonde dropping off rookie center fielder and Sox-heartthrob-of-the-moment Jacoby Ellsbury outside the stadium.

"I'm not going to lie," said Thames, a 20-year-old student at Fisher College in Boston who ogled Ellsbury recently at the Red Sox playoff rally. "I could have sworn we had a moment at the rally … He was on stage and we locked eyes."

Now Thames had a blurry photograph as proof: There was another woman in Ellsbury's life. She sighed and placed her hand on her chest. But she expected the pain over Ellsbury will have faded by game time tonight.

"It'll be healed,” she said, "once I see him in that uniform."

Posted by aryan at 4:42 PM | Comments (0)

After two-week trial, T Radio is silenced

(Jim Davis/Globe Staff file photo/2004)

Buskers such as folk singer Lisa Bastoni, shown above in 2004, will once again be able play instruments on MBTA platforms without being drowned out by corporate disc jockeys. T Radio has been stopped after a two-week trial.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Some T riders complained about the Phil Collins music and the lame trivia. Others balked at hearing commercials in yet another public space. Then there were those who wondered why the young guitarists who play live music on subway platforms were being drowned out by the radio gaga of corporate disc jockeys.

But today, these disparate T riders are united in joy and a degree of quiet. The two-week-old experiment in bringing disc jockeys and music to MBTA platforms, "T Radio," has been shelved, at least for now.

"There is a God," said Tom Augello, a multimedia editor from Cambridge.

Augello is still bitter from a trip to South Station, hearing Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight," a song that got stuck in his subconscious and refused to leave.

"Not just Phil Collins, but somebody really inanely explaining the back story for that song," he added.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority says it may bring back the private radio venture, after a period of study. But a spokesman conceded that the agency received an overwhelming number of e-mails – 1,800, mostly complaints – about the live radio station that played in platforms at South Station, North Station, and Logan International Airport.

"Staff has not been dividing the e-mails in specific categories. I can tell you that some customers had favorable things to say. Many had mixed things to say," said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the MBTA. "Most expressed displeasure with the concept."

Pesaturo said T Radio could come back with a new format, but he did not say when. MBTA general manager Dan Grabauskas had initially said the trial run would go until at least Thanksgiving, but Pesaturo said 1,800 e-mails gave staff enough feedback to realize most riders do not like it, at least in the current format.

The Boston Globe provided some of the content for T Radio and promoted its products between the songs, trivia, and snippets of celebrity gossip.

"The end of torture radio," Roslyn Klein said when she heard the news.

Klein, 60, heard T Radio every morning at South Station on her commute from Lowell.

"It’s 6:30 in the morning …I really think there is such a thing as noise pollution," Klein said.

Posted by aryan at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)

New Yorkers charged with scalping bogus World Series tickets at Fenway

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Even though the Yankees fell short, it seems some New Yorkers still couldn't resist trying to spoil a World Series at Fenway Park.

Police arrested four New York residents last night before Game 1 and charged them with selling fake World Series tickets and scalping seats for $300 a pair, police and prosecutors said. One of the men -- Jamel Bennett, 31, of Bronx, N.Y. -- allegedly took a swing at officers who approached him and another man about selling bogus tickets at 7 p.m. near Boylston and Hereford streets.

Bennett pleaded not guilty today in Boston Municipal Court to charges of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, larceny over $250 (stemming from counterfeit tickets), a peddling violation (stemming from counterfeit tickets), occupying the street for resale of tickets, and possession of marijuana.

At the same time, officers also arrested Wendell Baker, 43, of Bronx, N.Y., who pleaded not guilty today to ticket resale by owner, occupying the street for resale of tickets, peddling without a license, and possession of marijuana. Both men were ordered held on $2,500 bail.

Earlier Wednesday night, officers in plain clothes were approached by two men from Albany, N.Y., who said, according to police: "You guys want tickets ... I got two for $300." The officers arrested Anthony Hicks, 30, and Michael Williams, 40. Both men pleaded not guilty to ticket scalping and were released on personal recognizance.

Posted by aryan at 2:54 PM | Comments (0)

Teen charged with disrupting Boston police radio communication

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A West Roxbury High School senior today pleaded not guilty to charges that he repeatedly interfered with Boston police radio transmissions over the past month, allegedly blocking the transmission of information from 911 callers to officers on the street.

Paul Lydon Jr., 17, was arrested Wednesday night at his Child Street home. Police said they found him holding a two-way radio that caused feedback on department issued radios.

Wearing a white T-shirt and wispy goatee, Lydon was silent today during his brief arraignment before Judge Mary Driscoll in West Roxbury Municipal Court. He was charged with disturbing the peace and receiving stolen property. Police allegedly also found a dozen calculators stolen from the high school.

The teen's parents, Paul Lydon Sr. and Diane Genovese, said after the arraignment that their son has wanted to go into law enforcement since he was a toddler and that he has a fascination with electronics, especially radios.

"His dream is to be a cop. That's why he plays with radios,'' Diane Genovese said. "But he doesn't think before he acts.''

Paul Lydon Sr. said that staff members at the high school turn to Lydon to fix electronics and that his son has a ham radio license.

The couple said that their son was an honors student at West Roxbury High School, had not missed a class in 2 1/2, and was also attending classes at a Boston technology college. They said he had been given the calculators by staff because they were being thrown out.

Jennifer O'Keeffe, Suffolk assistant district attorney, said in court that Lydon was previously convicted as a juvenile of impersonating a police officer and calling in a false fire alarm. She described Lydon's alleged electronic sabotage as "a very dangerous thing for the police department.'' She said the Federal Communications Commission has been notified by police about his actions.

Bail was set at $500 cash, an amount Lydon's parents said they would post today.

Posted by aryan at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

Man killed in Lynn by bullet fire through window

By Globe Staff

A 26-year-old man was killed in Lynn early this morning by a bullet shot through the window of an apartment on Johnson Street, according to the Essex district attorney's office.

The bullet killed Michael Reyes, who was in the apartment with other people at about 1:45 a.m., prosecutors said. It is not clear whether Reyes was the intended target.

Police have not identified any suspects, but investigators are interviewing witnesses and following leads, prosecutors said. Anyone with information about the slaying is asked to call Lynn Police at 781-595-2000.

Posted by aryan at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

A distant comet explodes, another Red Sox omen?

(Dennis diCicco / Sky & Telescope magazine/Globe file photo)

On Oct. 27, 2004, a lunar eclipse when the Red Sox were winning their first championship in 86 years. Wednesday night, a comet discovered 115 years ago exploded in a burst of light and Boston scored 13 runs in its second World Series in four seasons.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The Red Sox may have been favored in Game 1 of the World Series, but no pundit predicted that Boston would explode for 13 runs and wallop the Colorado Rockies. If baseball writers would have looked skyward, they might have noticed an omen on the northeast horizon.

"There is a cosmic explosion event that mimics the Sox outburst," Richard P. Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said today in an e-mail.

A distant comet exploded in a blast of light that shined a million times brighter than the night before.

"Comet Holmes, which has been orbiting quietly since its discovery in 1892, has undergone a million-fold brightness increase on October 24 -- and is now visible to the naked eye (though difficult from under the lights of Fenway)," Binzel said.

The comet was discovered by Englishman Edwin Holmes in November 1892 -- the same year the Boston Beaneaters went 102 and 48 and captured the National League Pennant. The Beaneaters team, which would eventually change its name to the Braves and move to Milwaukee and Atlanta, beat the Cleveland Spiders that year in the World Championship Series.

Can the Red Sox' fortunes be predicted by celestial events? Some fans may recall the lunar eclipse of Oct. 27, 2004 -- the night Boston won its first World Series in 86 years. For Game 2 tonight, there may be another sign in the sky.

"There will be a full moon (but no lunar eclipse as in 2004) for tonight's World Series game," Binzel said.

Posted by aryan at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

Working with Microsoft, Coakley fights cybercrime

By Globe Staff

More than 250 law enforcement officers from across the state will learn how to investigate websites, domain names, and IP addresses and scour e-mail messages, chat rooms, and instant messages for evidence as part of a forensic computer training next week at Microsoft Corp. in Waltham.

"Cyber Crimes 101" has been organized by Attorney General Martha Coakley, who today released a 12-page plan to combat digital crimes in Massachusetts.

"With the Strategic Plan as our guide, Massachusetts is now prepared to take the necessary steps not only to better investigate and prosecute cybercrime when it occurs, but also to prevent such criminal activity in the first place," Coakley said in a statement. "The priorities defined in the plan are both practical and tangible and provide clear benchmarks for our work in the months ahead."

To read the plan, click here.

Microsoft has provided similar training to law enforcement in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Utah.

Posted by aryan at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2007

Outside Fenway, fans brimming confidence for Game 1

(AP Photo/Lisa Poole)

Boston Red Sox fans, including Mike Mooney (right) of Malden, cheered today outside Fenway Park as they waited in line for tickets to Game 1 of the World Series.

By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff

With the confidence of fresh-faced champions -- not historic losers -- Red Sox fans are gathering outside Fenway Park this evening under gun-metal gray skies, predicting sure victory over the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series. Or at least a victory in Game 1.

"The Sox are going to win tonight," said Becky Stosse, a Sox fan who drove from Connecticut to be at the game. "The Sox are definitely going to win tonight. With Beckett on the mound, we can't go wrong."

For those of you living off the grid -- or perhaps in a cabin tucked away in the Rocky Mountains -- Stosse is talking about Josh Beckett, the American League Championship Series MVP and the Sox Game-1 starter tonight.

In Beckett, a Nation believes.

Or maybe it's just that Sox fans don't respect the Rockies, a team that has won 21 of their last 22 games, yet for now remains mostly unknown to people living in the Eastern Time Zone.

"They're a young team," said Steve Harvey, a Hopkinton man going to the game tonight. "I think it's beginner's luck."

Harvey, who purchased $100 worth of souvenirs for his daughters and wife outside the stadium today, predicted a comeuppance for the Rockies.

But near the front of the day-of-game ticket line, where some have been waiting for more than 48 hours in the hopes of getting last-minute tickets to tonight's game, two Rockies fans, Eric Gardner and Chris Bianchi, predicted otherwise.

"The Rockies took two of three (games) against the Sox this year," said Gardner, a Ft. Collins , Colo., native and student at the Berklee College of Music. "Everybody's underestimating them."

It has been a long two days for the two Rockies fans, sleeping on the pavement among the Sox faithful. There have been both boos and chants directed their way. And then, Bianchi said, things almost got uglier.

"There were some guys who wanted to beat us up last night," said Bianchi, a Boston University student. "But cooler heads prevailed."

The fact is, said Liz Roderick, Sox fans almost pity the few Rockies fans bold enough to wear purple and black outside Fenway.

"We've been giving them a heck of a time," conceded Roderick, a Boston waitress who has been skipping shifts for the last two days hoping that she too might land a ticket to tonight's game. "But it's all in good fun. It's not like there's a rivalry between us. We kind of feel bad for them."

Only time will tell whether Rockies fans need any sympathy. But these are heady days in Boston, where fans talk no more of World Series collapses (see 1986) but rather World Series championships (see 2004). And a little sympathy for the other team is apparently OK.

But Jim Morgan, a concession stand worker on Yawkey Way, still found it in him to gloat a little bit today, hours before game time as he grilled up a batch of sausages – "October sausages."

"October sausages are sausages that they don't serve in Cleveland, they don't serve in New York, and they don't serve in Anaheim," he said. "We're still working – that's the thing. The concession workers in Cleveland and New York are all out golfing."

Posted by aryan at 5:59 PM | Comments (0)

Mayor, police urge fans and students to behave during World Series

By Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and police issued a plea today to fans and college students, urging them to behave during the World Series.

"The City of Boston continues to work with area establishments and colleges and universities to ensure public safety," Menino said in a statement. "I want to thank everyone for celebrating responsibly during the [American League Championship Series] tournament. This may be a long series, and public safety is our number one priority."

The city is coordinating its security plan with Massachusetts State Police and local universities. Menino said any student arrested will not only face criminal charges, but will also be subject to penalties imposed by their school. Police have increased patrols around Fenway Park.

Authorities said additional security measures are in effect, including:

•Truck restrictions are in place around the perimeter of Fenway Park, including Boylston and Ipswich streets and Brookline Avenue.
•After 6 p.m., all trucks larger than the size of an average van will be asked to seek alternative routes.
•Ticketholders are asked not to bring backpacks into Fenway Park.
•Fans should expect more thorough searches of bags and purses upon entry into the park.
•Police dogs will be inside and outside Fenway Park.

Posted by aryan at 4:24 PM | Comments (0)

The American League pennant, a new beacon atop the old Hancock

( David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

Fenway Park flagmen Kurt Jackson, Marc Champagne, and John Coyne climbed the antenna atop the old Hancock building today and hung a 2007 American League pennant.

By Andrew Ryan and David L. Ryan, Globe Staff

Since 1950, the illuminated beacon some 500 feet atop the old John Hancock building has told Bostonians the weather: steady blue for clear, flashing blue for cloudy, steady red for rain, and flashing red for snow.

Today, the landmark on Berkeley Street is sending a new signal: The Red Sox won the 2007 American League pennant and are in the World Series.

John Coyne, flag coordinator at Fenway Park, and two colleagues scaled the antenna atop the Hancock with a replica of the pennant three times the size of the flag the Red Sox won Sunday night. It took four hours today and plenty of 1/4-inch-thick steel cable to hang the blue flag, which is 20 feet high and 30 feet wide.

"It was intense, just because of the squalls," Coyne said after climbing down. The pennant "acts like a sail because the wind fills it up."

It took two safety lines to keep Coyne and his fellow climbers attached to the antenna atop the old Hancock, which is now called the Berkeley Building.

"This is pleasure to me -- we enjoy it. I like climbing, I like heights," Coyne said, describing a misty vista that stretched to Massachusetts Bay. "It's smashing up there, I can't even tell you how beautiful it was."

In 2004, the weather beacon flashed red and blue in honor of the Red Sox World Series win. While this pennant help history repeat itself?

"Not necessarily," Coyne said. "But I hope we get through this quick. Two here and two in Colorado. Then we’ll hang a red World Series banner next week when we win."

Posted by aryan at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)

Coast Guard blocks LNG terminal in Fall River

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

A proposed LNG terminal that whipped up public fears for its proximity to densely populated Fall River was blocked today by the US Coast Guard. It was determined that the narrow confines of the lower Taunton River and its bridges would make it unsafe for liquefied natural gas tankers.

US Coast Guard Captain Roy A. Nash wrote that the waterway is unsuitable for navigational safety, given the size, frequency, and type of marine traffic that the LNG terminal would bring.

A primary barrier was the old Brightman Street Bridge -- a decaying, structurally deficient drawbridge that area congressmen kept standing in an attempt to block outsized LNG tankers from the river.

Though the developer found a way around the bridge blockade -- proposing to send smaller tankers to the site more frequently -- Nash ruled that it would be too dangerous for tankers to navigate the old bridge and the new one replacing it. He also found that some segments of the river are not deep or wide enough for tankers to turn around, if necessary, and could require ships to back up or be towed long distances if they face trouble.

Weaver's Cove Energy immediately vowed to appeal the decision, saying that the recommendation "lacks the necessary factual support."

"The decision disregards critical facts in the record and introduces both new data and new concerns on which Weaver's Cove Energy was not provided an opportunity to comment," said a statement by the company, a subsidiary of Hess LNG.

The project has been despised by local residents and politicians who feared an accident or terrorist attack on LNG tankers that would travel the river to the terminal at the former Shell Oil site at least two or three times a week.

Posted by aryan at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

Suspect arrested after Winchester shooting leaves man dead, brother hospitalized

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

WINCHESTER -- A man has been arrested in connection with a home invasion in Winchester early this morning that left a 50-year-old man dead and his brother hospitalized with a bullet wound in his chest, police and prosecutors said.

Wally Jacques Simon, 30, was arrested today in Boston and booked at the Winchester Police Department on charges of assault with intent to murder and home invasion, according to Corey Welford, a spokesman for the Middlesex District Attorney's office.

Officials released few details about the arrest of Simon, who will be arraigned today in Woburn District Court. He has not been charged with murder, but the shooting remains under investigation, Welford said.

Winchester police responded to a 911 call at about 1:30 a.m. from a 48-year-old man who told the dispatcher that he had been robbed and shot at his home on Irving Street. Police found the man on the second floor with a bullet wound in his chest. He was taken to a local hospital.

On the third floor, police found the man's brother, who had been shot in the head. He was pronounced dead.

"We do not feel that this was a random attack, and the safety of the community is not at risk," police said in a statement.

Police did not release the names of the two brothers, who neighbors said were longtime residents of Irving Street. They lived in a three-story house with brown vinyl siding next door to their mother and across the road from their sister, neighbors said. One of the brothers ran a chimney sweep business out of their home, according to neighbors and a sign outside.

Neighbor Leo LePore said he was friendly with one of the brothers. He was shocked that the shooting occurred on their quiet, dead-end street.

“It just blows me away. This is crazy,” LePore said. “He’s just a great guy.”

Posted by aryan at 2:55 PM | Comments (0)

With Meehan at helm, UMass-Lowell unveils $80m expansion

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts at Lowell announced plans today for an extensive expansion featuring a $80 million center for emerging technologies, marking the first major move of Chancellor Martin T. Meehan's tenure.

The center, which will concentrate on nanotechnology and bio-manufacturing research, would be the first new academic facility on campus in more than 30 years. School officials say it will serve as the cornerstone for a broader plan to expand and modernize the 112-year-old college.

"We need the very best facilities to meet the 21st-century needs of teaching, research, and service," Meehan said at a press conference this morning at the Lowell campus. "We must have them if we are going to put Massachusetts in a position to compete and succeed both nationally and globally."

Meehan, a UMass-Lowell graduate who became chancellor in July after a 15-year stint in Congress, also unveiled plans for two other academic buildings, a 500-space parking garage, and additional student housing.

The technology center will stand on what is now Smith Hall, a dormitory built in 1948. A $15 million parking garage will be constructed adjacent to the center. The site was chosen over four others on the recommendation of campus leaders, city officials, and neighbors.

Political leaders said the research facility will benefit the region's economy by spurring collaboration with high-tech and manufacturing firms.

"From the heyday of the textile mills to today, UMass-Lowell has helped drive the regional economy,” state Senator Steven Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. "This emerging technologies center – like a rock dropped into the Merrimack River – will generate waves of new technologies, new industries, and new jobs."

The state has designated $35 million for the new center, and Governor Deval Patrick's higher education bond bill filed earlier this month includes $26 million for one of the other academic buildings.

Posted by aryan at 2:03 PM | Comments (0)

Where is Whitey? FBI looking in London for Bulger

(FBI)

The task force looking for James "Whitey'' Bulger. launched a media blitz throughout Europe after a couple resembling the gangster and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, 56, were videotaped by a vacationing federal agent as they strolled through the Sicilian resort of Taormina in April.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

FBI agents from Boston are in London today, huddling with detectives at Scotland Yard, as part of the worldwide manhunt for fugitive gangster James "Whitey'' Bulger.

"It is part of a continuing effort to increase the international awareness of the hunt for Bulger,'' Thomas Larned, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said today.

The Bulger task force launched a media blitz throughout Europe after a couple resembling Bulger, 78, and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, 56, were videotaped by a vacationing federal agent as they strolled through the Sicilian resort of Taormina in April. The FBI posted a portion of the video on its website in September after efforts by American and Italian law enforcement officials to locate and identify the couple were unsuccessful.

"We are continuing efforts to identify the individuals who were seen in Taormina in April,'' Larned said.

A crew from Fox TV's America's Most Wanted and the show's host, John Walsh, are in London today talking with the FBI and were in Boston two weeks ago, interviewing law enforcement officials, former Bulger associates, and others familiar with the case. A segment on the gangster is slated to run Nov. 17, according to Matt Jablow, one of the show's producers.

Bulger, one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted, fled just before his January 1995 federal racketeering indictment and was later exposed as a longtime FBI informant and charged with 19 murders. The last confirmed sighting of the gangster was in London's Piccadilly Circus in September 2002, according to the FBI.

Posted by aryan at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Aquinnah Wampanoags join with New York tribe to build casino

By Globe Staff

With the aim of building a casino in Massachusetts, the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe from Martha's Vineyard announced today that it has partnered with another tribe that built a $750 million gaming empire in Western New York.

By joining forces with the Seneca Nation of Indians, the Aquinnah Wampanoags have injected competition into the race to build a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts. The move also complicates Governor Deval Patrick's proposal to license three resort-style gaming facilities in the state, a plan that would give preference to federally recognized Massachusetts tribes.

"The Aquinnah Wampanoag and Seneca tribes have formed a unique development group that is ready to work with state officials to create a successful Native American gaming destination in Massachusetts," Donald A. Widdiss, chairman of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe, said today in a statement. "Unlike other proposals, an Aquinnah Wampanoag casino will be a locally owned and locally developed project that ensures that the significant economic benefits remain in the Commonwealth, and are not solely enjoyed by outside interests."

Before Patrick unveiled his plan, the Mashpee Wampanoag from Cape Cod had already reached an agreement with the town of Middleborough to build a $1 billion casino with 4,000 slot machines, table games, and a broad offering of amenities. The Mashpee plan has been backed by Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman, the billionaire developers of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Under Patrick's plan, three areas of the state would be designated for resort casinos, including one in Southeastern Massachusetts. The Aquinnah Wampanoag and the Seneca said today they are primarily interested in building a casino in that region, but would also consider sites in Boston and Western Massachusetts, according to a statement. The Aquinnah Wampanoag have not settled on a location.

"We have a proven track record of bringing casino projects to completion in neighboring New York," said Maurice A. John Sr., president of the Seneca Nation. "We are very honored to be working with the Aquinnah Wampanoag and we want to help the Wampanoag replicate that success here in Massachusetts ... Our casinos are beautifully designed and constructed, and faithful to the cultural traditions of Native Americans."

The Seneca Gaming Corp. was established in 2002 and built the Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca, N.Y., and the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo.

Under terms of the agreement announced today at a press conference at the Omni Parker House in downtown Boston, the Seneca will help the Aquinnah Wampanoag analyze market conditions, obtain financing, negotiate with public officials, and secure a license, which under Patrick’s plan would be sold at auction.

Posted by aryan at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

Light rain may dampen World Series opener

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

On-and-off rain showers are expected to sprinkle Fenway Park tonight for the first game of the World Series.

"I don't think Boston will be having a steady rain," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, "but it's not going to be a beautiful night in the city, that's for sure ... It would be good to bring an umbrella."

Temperatures are expected to be hovering in the mid 50s when Red Sox ace Josh Beckett fires the first pitch. Winds will be blowing out of the north at 5 to 10 miles per hour.

Clouds are expected to cloak the city through Thursday afternoon. By Game 2, the skies should be clear with temperatures in the upper 40s.

"It will be chilly with a northeast wind," Dunham said.

Posted by aryan at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

Prosecutor: Gang members killed teen for no reason

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A Suffolk prosecutor today described a slaying last March in which he said two gang members who belonged to the Mass. Ave. Hornets drove through Roxbury one afternoon looking for somebody to kill.

The defendants -- Antwan C. Carter and Daniel Pinckney Jr., both 19 -- found Cedirick Steele, 18, standing near the intersection of Centre and Highland streets and allegedly opened fire, shooting him seven times, according to Paul Treseler, an assistant district attorney. Steele, a student at Bunker Hill Community College who worked at Meals on Wheels, just happened to be standing there.

"There was nothing more than his age and his manner of dress and where he was standing that day" that led to Steele's death, Treseler said. "He had no ill will toward the Mass. Ave Hornets."

Carter and Pinckney were arraigned today in Roxbury Municipal Court and charged with murder in the shooting death of Steele on March 14. Lawyers representing the two men and about 15 of their relatives who were in court declined to discuss the case with a reporter. In another section of the courtroom, about 50 of Steele’s relatives listened to the brief proceeding and became agitated when they heard details about his death.

Outside court, the families got into a shouting match that turned physical. A dozen police officers interceded. At least one of Steele’s relatives was taken into custody.

Posted by aryan at 5:09 PM | Comments (0)

Wellesley student accused of stabbing former boyfriend at MIT

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A 20-year-old female student at Wellesley College was charged today with breaking into a dormitory at MIT and stabbing her former boyfriend seven times as he slept, according to police and prosecutors.

Anna Tang was ordered held without bail after her arraignment this afternoon in Cambridge District Court on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and home invasion.

Suzanne Kontz, an assistant Middlesex district attorney, said in court that the victim, a 19-year-old student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, woke up to Tang stabbing him seven times. The couple had been romantically involved for eight months but broke up three weeks ago and the relationship took a violent turn, Kontz said.

Kontz said that Tang sent the victim threatening e-mails and then broke into his dorm room today at about 6:30 a.m. Tang was arrested by Cambridge police inside the dormitory on Memorial Drive. The name and condition of the victim were not released.

John Valerio, an attorney who represented Tang, described his client as a “meek and mild mannered” young woman who had been taking classes at MIT. Valerio said he will investigate the accusations.

The victim identified Tang as a suspect, according to a statement released by the office of Middle District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. Investigators found Tang’s jacket covered with blood and a black folding “buck” knife was found in her backpack, according to the statement.

“We allege that the defendant traveled to MIT last night, entered her ex-boyfriend’s dorm room, and then stabbed him multiple times while he was in his bed,” Leone said. “We believe this to be an isolated incident done with specific intent to critically harm the defenseless victim.”

Tang is scheduled to return to court for a dangerousness hearing on Oct. 30.

Posted by aryan at 3:02 PM | Comments (0)

Conjoined Egyptian twins meet local philanthropist who paid for surgery

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff

They sing their ABC's and play with an energy that's almost exhausting to watch. It's hard to believe that Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim were once conjoined twins, confined to a bed and condemned to die.

A 34-hour surgery saved their lives four years ago. Today, the boys got to meet the couple who runs the Braintree-based foundation that gave them another chance.

"I'm so proud to be able to say we helped," said Ray Tye, the liquor magnate turned philanthropist who oversees the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation.

In 2003 Tye read a story about Mohamed and Ahmed, Egyptian brothers who were joined at the tops of their heads, a rare form of conjunction that affects just two in 250 million people.

Now 6, the boys had been brought from Egypt in 2001 to be separated, but upon their arrival doctors determined they would require a more serious and much more expensive surgery. After 18 months in the United States, doctors were considering canceling the surgery because they did not have the money needed to pay the hospital bills.

"They were going to be sent home to die," Tye said.

The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation gave $100,000 for the boys’ 2003 surgery, which took place at the North Texas Hospital for Children in Dallas.

The twins returned home to live in Cairo, but came back to the United States this month for a check up in Dallas. Before flying back to Egypt, they stopped in Boston, where they met Tye today at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport.

Posted by aryan at 2:09 PM | Comments (0)

Man killed in Melrose crash

By Emily A. Canal, Globe Correspondent

A man in his 30s was killed in Melrose this morning when the car he was driving crashed into a tree, police said.

The man was driving a 2002 Honda Accord at 8:22 a.m. when he hit a tree at the intersection of Howard and Cochrane streets, according to Detective Sergeant Barry Campbell of the Melrose police. The man, whom police did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The car flipped and landed on its roof in the yard of a house on the corner," Campbell said.

The driver was the only person in car. It appears that speed may have been a factor, Campbell said.

"I heard a loud thump and looked out the window as the car hit the tree and flipped on its roof," said Jane Beardsley, a resident on Howard Street who called 911. "I saw a young man run to check on the driver and put his head in his hands when he looked inside.”

Posted by aryan at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)

Politicians bet steaks, seafood on World Series

By Globe Staff

Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter is betting a box of steaks that the Rockies will defeat the Red Sox and win the team's first baseball championship.

Ritter plans to discuss the wager this afternoon in a telephone call with Governor Deval Patrick, whose staff has not yet announced what New England delicacy will be bet on Boston.

The Colorado meat includes beef from state Representative Kathleen Curry's Tomichi Creek Ranch in Gunnison and organic buffalo steaks from the Maverick Ranch. Not that Ritter expects to ship anything to Massachusetts.

"The governor is very confident that the hottest team in baseball will do just fine in the World Series," said spokesman Evan Dreyer.

The hottest team in baseball is the Rockies, Dreyer added, having won 21 of their last 22 games. Not the Red Sox, which outscored the Cleveland Indians 30 to 5 in the last three games of the American League Championship Series.

US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts made their own wager with their colleagues from Colorado, betting New England clam chowder and lobster rolls that the Red Sox will win their second World Series in three years.

Colorado's US senators, Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar, met the wager with Colorado-raised beef. The losing senators have agreed to donate the winning food to charity.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.

Posted by aryan at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)

Galluccio to be sworn in as senator

By Globe Staff

Democrat Anthony D. Galluccio, a former mayor of Cambridge, will be sworn in today as a state senator representing parts of Suffolk and Essex counties. The oath will be administered in the Senate chamber at the State House.

Galluccio, 40, beat three other Democrats in a special primary election to fill the seat held for five years by Jarrett T. Barrios, who left to become president and chief executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. No Republicans ran for the seat, so Galluccio run unopposed in a special general election Oct. 9.

Galluccio has said his priority in the Senate would be education, expanding healthcare, protecting the environment, and improving public housing. He was mayor of Cambridge in 2000 and 2001. He lost a bid for state representative in 1996. In 2002, he lost to Barrios in a three-way primary race for the Senate. Last year, he withdrew before the election and endorsed Barrios when the incumbent decided to seek reelection rather than run for district attorney.

In the special primary for Barrios's seat, Galluccio beat Timothy R. Flaherty and Jeff Ross, both Cambridge lawyers, and eight-term City Councilor Paul Nowicki of Chelsea.

Posted by aryan at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2007

Lane on upper Tobin Bridge to reopen today

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

The third lane on the upper level of the Tobin Memorial Bridge will reopen today after being closed for more than a week while cracks were repaired in a support beam.

The northbound lane will be opened at about 3:30 p.m. because "final repairs on the crossbeam are far enough along," said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the 57-year-old bridge.

On the southbound lanes on the lower level, lane restrictions will remain in place during ongoing inspections, Brelis said.

On Oct. 12, state highway officials banned trucks, buses, and commercial vehicles from the bridge's southbound lanes after inspectors found a series of small cracks in a floor beam that supports the southbound deck. By the next afternoon, most of the restrictions were lifted and the bridge was reopened to all traffic.

Posted by aryan at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)

New Tibbs trial to start in January

By Globe Staff

Prosecutors will return to court in early January to retry a man in a 12-year-old murder case after a monthlong trial ended Friday with a jury hopelessly deadlocked, the Suffolk District Attorney's office announced today.

Jury selection in the second trial of John Tibbs will begin on Jan. 2 in Suffolk Superior Court. He is accused of gunning down Tennyson Drakes, 17, in 1995 and wounding two friends on a Dorchester street. On Friday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants declared a mistrial after a jury deliberated six days without reaching a verdict.

This will be the third trial stemming from Drakes's death.

A Cambridge man, Marlon Passley, was convicted in 1996 in the attack and served more than four years in prison before prosecutors said he was innocent. Passley was convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of Drakes and the wounding of two friends on Aug. 11, 1995. One of the victims was left paralyzed. Another was shot nine times but survived. The gunman fired at a third man but missed.

Sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, Passley was exonerated and freed after Boston drug dealers cooperated with federal investigators and identified Tibbs as the gunman.

In the opening arguments of Tibbs's trial in September, prosecutor David E. Meier told the jury that an innocent man had gone to prison for Drakes's slaying and that it was now his job to correct that mistake and send the "real killer" to prison.

But at trial, the three survivors of the attack and three eyewitnesses insisted that Passley was the gunman.

Tibbs is serving a federal sentence in connection with the murder of Steven Sealey in September 1995. He was acquitted in December in the Oct. 25, 1995, slaying of 20-year-old Bellamy Williams.

Posted by aryan at 2:46 PM | Comments (0)

Man shot on Dorchester street

By David Abel, Globe Staff

An 17-year-old man was shot on a Dorchester street today and rushed to a hospital with what police describe as life- threatening injuries.

Residents reported hearing six gunshots on Harvard Street just before noon. The man was found bleeding on the street. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center.

Police did not release the name or condition of the victim, who was shot several times. Police did not report making any arrests.

Posted by aryan at 1:38 PM | Comments (0)

26 arrested after Red Sox win pennant

(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

Police kept order overnight in Kenmore Square.

By Globe Staff

Boston police made 26 disorderly conduct arrests across the city overnight after the Red Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians to win the American League pennant at Fenway Park.

There were no major incidents stemming from the celebration, but the 26 people made excess noise and went too far, according to Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman.

"Once the fun starts to infringe on the rights of others, then you are going to get arrested," Kenneally said.

The 26 people who were arrested will be arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court and Brighton District Court.

To contain the revelry overnight, hundreds of Boston police officers, many in riot gear and armed with pepper spray, surrounded the ballpark determined to keep the celebration peaceful while avoiding a tragedy like the one that struck the 2004 league championship celebration when a fan was killed outside the park.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis began the day with a call for restraint, announcing that no one would be allowed to enter or mull around Fenway Park after the start of the seventh inning.

At the Cask 'n Flagon pub on Brookline Avenue, patrons watched columns of officers march by, shoulder-to-shoulder, toward Kenmore Square. Some fans, lucky enough to be inside the park or in nearby nightspots before the streets were closed, snapped pictures of police in riot gear.

"I knew we were going to win," said Shannon Coldwell, who drove from Haverhill to see the game. She did not have tickets, but wanted to be near Fenway, so she settled for the glow of the stadium lights and the noise of the crowd on Lansdowne Street. "I just knew it," she said, cracking a giddy smile as the game came to a close.

Davis said police would use surveillance video around the ballpark and Kenmore Square. Many bars shut down following the sixth inning.

The measures were intended to head off the tragedy that struck following the Red Sox's 2004 playoff series win over the New York Yankees. Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove died after being struck in the eye by a pellet from an officer's pepper-pellet gun. Fans had converged on the park following the game, which was played in New York.

Boston police banned the use of pepper-pellet weapons like the one that killed Snelgrove after the 2004 death. An independent commission blamed the 21-year-old student's death on poor planning and decisions by police.

Last night's game fell on the third anniversary of Snelgrove's death.

Menino, who immediately donned an American League Championship T-shirt in a luxury box after Coco Crisp caught a fly ball for the game's final out, said the city was well prepared for the celebration.

"This is great for the city," he said after the game. "We have put in a lot of planning."

Officers in fluorescent jackets lined up, 40-deep, on Boylston Street in the bottom of the eighth. More than a dozen police officers on horseback headed toward Lansdowne, preparing for the game's finale.

Posted by aryan at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2007

Boston police investigate shooting of 22-year-old in Dorchester

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Boston police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester early this morning.

Miguel Perez was found shot in the head shortly before 1 a.m., police said.

Police released few details. Investigators worked throughout the night on the case, said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. She wouldn't speculate on the motive for the shooting.

Perez was described by his family as a man who was quick to smile and who loved hanging out with his buddies.

A makeshift memorial was set up this morning on the sidewalk by Perez's family and friends, who called him "Tricks" or "Tito." The flames from seven candles flickered in the wind, and mourners took turns signing a sheet of white posterboard taped to the wall of a laundromat.

By afternoon, about a dozen mourners, mostly teenagers and young adults, gathered at the spot.

Posted by mfinucane at 7:27 PM | Comments (0)

Five-alarm blaze hits Cape restaurant

(David G. Curran for The Boston Globe)

The sign remains -- but little else -- as fire rips through the restaurant.

By Sarah E. Metcalf and Danielle Capalbo, Globe Correspondents

A five-alarm blaze broke out this afternoon at the Mezza Luna restaurant on Main Street in Bourne, a Cape Cod landmark that has been in business for 70 years.

Fire departments from several neighboring towns helped in battling the fire that broke out around 4:30 p.m.. No injuries were reported, fire officials said.

Tony Cubellis, head chef of the restaurant, said he wasn't at the restaurant when the flames broke out but he lives right next door.

"I don't where it started, to be honest," he said. "All I know is someone saw smoke and they called the fire department."

Cubellis's family has owned the Italian family eatery since it opened in 1937.

Posted by mfinucane at 7:03 PM | Comments (0)

Wildlife officials looking into possible wolf attack in Shelburne

(Lisa Poole for The Boston Globe)

A file photo of a gray wolf.

By Sarah E. Metcalf, Globe Correspondent

The animal that attacked more than a dozen sheep in a western Massachusetts town last weekend may have been a wolf, state wildlife officials said.

A farmer in Shelburne shot and killed the animal, which appeared to be either a full-blooded gray wolf or a wolf-dog hybrid, said Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for MassWildlife. The 85-pound carcass has been sent for DNA testing.

If it is a wolf, it would be the first sighting of one in the state since the 1840s, said Tom French, assistant director of Mass Wildlife.

Since the animal is not native to Massachusetts, he said, he believes it was an escaped or released illegal pet.

"It's suspicious for a variety of reasons. The closest wild population we have is about 400 miles away," French said. "This is not likely to be a wild animal."

French also said the animal did not eat many of the sheep it killed. That suggests, he said, that it's a domesticated animal rather than a wild animal killing for hunger.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

Two dead in early morning crashes on the Pike

By Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent

Two women were killed in separate crashes on the Massachusetts Turnpike that occurred within hours of each other early this morning.

Jane Ziergiebel, 23, of Gloucester was driving a 1990 Mazda Miata westbound when she crashed just before 1 a.m. in Palmer. Christine M. Docarmo, 31, of Chicopee was driving a 2004 Ford sport utility vehicle eastbound when she crashed about four hours later in Chicopee.

Ziergiebel lost control of the Miata while driving in the left lane and crashed into the guardrail in the median just before Exit 8. She was pronounced dead at the scene. State police said she was not wearing her seat belt.

Docarmo collided with the back of a tractor-trailer that was parked in the breakdown lane just east of Exit 5 at 5:20 a.m., state police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Ricky J. Thomas, 42, of Springfield, was uninjured.

State police said there was inclement weather at the time of the crashes, but it has not yet been determined to be a cause.

Both crashes are under investigation.

Posted by mfinucane at 2:53 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2007

Nantucket man faces child porn charge

By Daniel Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

A 54-year-old Nantucket man was arrested at a Barnstable hotel today on a charge of possessing child pornography, police said.

William H. Constable allegedly had left behind in one of the hotel's rooms a digital camera that contained graphic sexual images. The hotel contacted police.

When Constable returned to the hotel to retrieve his camera, he was interviewed by detectives and arrested, police said in a statement.

Constable was held at the police lockup on $10,000 cash bail. He was to appear Monday in Barnstable District Court.

Barnstable, Nantucket, and state police were investigating, along with the Barnstable district attorney's office.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)

Readers describe walls shaking, windows rattling

By Globe Staff

A 2.5 magnitude earthquake rattled Littleton at 1:23 a.m. today and reverberated in more than a dozen nearby cities and towns. Readers described the tremor, in their own words:

Lynn in Littleton

Yes, I did feel the earthquake. We had no sooner fallen asleep after watching the Red Sox game last night when it woke me up. The first thing I remember was hearing this rumbling noise. Then the whole house shook. It came in almost a wave and was over in about 5-10 seconds. But it woke our dogs and made them a bit anxious. We have a pet cockatiel parrot and it really spooked him, as well. At first, I thought something had hit the house. I got out of bed, looked outside, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary (except that some of my neighbors had their house lights on -- rare for 1 a.m. on a Friday). I waited a little while, and when things seemed to have settled back down, I went back to sleep. My husband, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Richard in Littleton

My house was right in the area of the epicenter. Sound of a very loud explosion rather than a typical rumble. Whole house shook and windows rattled. Thought something had blown up in the general vicinity. Don't believe there's any damage to my house, but haven't had the chance to check everything out yet.

Lucy in Westford

I was awake at the time and heard and felt it. I jump up and screamed, "what the xxxx was that?" My first thought was that something had exploded, maybe our furnace. My husband calmly said "I think it was another earthquake".

Maria in Littleton

It felt like a crane or something heavy fell over. It was a quick hard jolt.

Christine in Westford

Yikes! It woke me up, and I immediately looked at the clock, saw the time of 1:24 a.m., thinking "earthquake??!!?"

It was as if lightning had hit the house with a huge clap of thunder, except there was no lightning. The house shook, but nothing fell. I waited to hear car alarms go off all over town, but there was nothing. That's when I started to doubt my initial response.

I knew I hadn't imagined the noise, but I was thinking "explosion? In Westford? Of what, horse manure?" "Fireworks? Did the Red Sox win the series? No that can't be it." "Thunder? But there was no lightning."

Rich in Shrewsbury

Lying in bed at about 1:30 a.m., and heard a large truck go by. It shook the windows. The only weird thing, is that we live at the end of a dead end street. No trucks go by. Or anything else, for that matter. Pretty cool!!

Mark in Chelmsford

I felt the tremor. I was in a deep sleep, then thought I twitched or shivered and woke up for a couple seconds then went back to sleep. I didn't even remember it until I heard the news report on the radio this morning and immediately remembered waking up briefly. No big deal. This was nothing compared to the 6 a.m. Sunday morning quake about 5-6 years ago, during that one I jumped up out of bed and thought a truck was driving through my front door, my ceiling fan was swaying back and forth.

Todd in Marlborough

I was just reading about the Sox win and felt the quake. Nothing huge, and it only lasted a few seconds but definitely noticeable and nothing I've ever experienced here before.

Amy in Groton

Felt like a huge truck was driving by outside his house and felt confused. I had the TV on, and I paused it because I had no idea why that would be happening. I actually thought, "is this an earthquake?

Jess in Needham

Yes, I felt it. I was up late working in my office on the first floor on my home in Needham. I thought I was imagining it!

Thomas in Littleton

I fell asleep watching the Red Sox and woke up a little after 1:00. I was just dosing off when I heard a loud bang and then the house seemed to shake for about 5 seconds. I knew it was not thunder. I figured something had blown up and was waiting to hear the sirens but never did.

Bill in Haverhill

That wasn’t an earthquake, it was the Red Sox winning!

Posted by aryan at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

Small earthquake rattles Littleton

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A small earthquake rattled Littleton and at least 12 other cities and towns early this morning but caused no damage, according to police and a seismologist. The epicenter of the 2.5 magnitude tremor struck near Littleton Common at 1:23 a.m. and woke up most of town.

"We had so many 911 calls they were going to our backup, which is Ayer," said Sergeant Robert Romilly of the Littleton Police Department. "We had two people working the phones, and we still couldn't keep up. It was just one after the other after the other."

The quake appears to have been followed by a 0.9 magnitude aftershock at 6:04 a.m. and several other smaller rumbles, said John Ebel, the director of Weston Observatory at Boston College. Ebel was still studying seismic charts to determine the number and size of the aftershocks.

People reported feeling the quake in Groton, Shirley, Boxborough, Ayer, Harvard, Townsend, Westford, Pepperell, Acton, and Fitchburg, according to the US Geological Survey's website. The area has experienced roughly a dozen small tremors since the 1970s, Ebel said.

In Littleton, the quake shook the walls of the police station. Then the switchboard lit up. Callers told dispatchers that it sounded like a plane crash or a building exploding or a major accident on Interstate 495.

Police cruisers canvassed the interstate and drove through town looking for a calamity or "a glow in the sky" from an explosion, Romilli said. Officers found nothing, then learned what it was.

"The earthquake was the lesser of two evils. There was no damage," Romilli said. "Actually, I live in town, and I slept right through it."

Posted by aryan at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)

Slay suspect arrested in Sturbridge

By Globe Staff

A teenager accused of fatally shooting a 24-year-old man in New Bedford last month was arrested early this morning and will be arraigned on a murder charge.

Michael V. Feliciano, 17, was arrested in Sturbridge at about 2:15 a.m. during a traffic stop by State Police, according to the Bristol district attorney's office. A $5,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest of Feliciano. Authorities did not describe the events that led to his capture.

Feliciano is accused of shooting and killing Albon Wilson, 24, around 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 30 while Wilson was standing near the intersection of Bonney and Thompson streets. It was the first gun-related homicide in New Bedford of 2007.

Feliciano will be arraigned in New Bedford District Court. More details about the case are expected to be revealed in court.

Posted by aryan at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2007

Dangerous infection strikes pupil, triggers cleanup

By Calvin Hennick and Marc Robins, Globe Correspondents

A cleaning crew worked to sanitize a Wrentham elementary school Thursday night after a second-grade girl was diagnosed with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, but Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden said other children are not at risk.

"There's no issue with kids" contracting the disease, Mardsen told the Globe, because the infection is most commonly spread through skin-to-skin contact. In a letter to parents sent home with pupils from the Delaney School Thursday, Marsden said "there is absolutely no evidence that the student contracted the disease at school."

The child is suffering from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which has erupted recently onto the national health radar, with officials saying it is much more common than previously thought.

It caused more than 94,000life-threatening infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States in 2005, according to a study published in the Oct. 17 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A Virginia high school student died earlier this week from the disease, and a 4-year-old New Hampshire girl died earlier this month. Recent cases have been reported in Connecticut, Maryland, and Ohio.

Marsden said he learned about the Wrentham girl’s diagnosis Thursday, but he was not sure when or how the ailment had been detected. He had spoken with the pupil’s mother, and "the report was that she was doing very well" at home. She has not been hospitalized, he said.

"The mom was shaken up, was scared, but was positive about how her child was responding," he said. "From what I understand, it’s not the same strain of MRSA that’s causing some of these serious issues. We’re told it’s not the most dangerous, but still serious for a kid, no doubt about it."

Marsden said that he did not know when the student would return to school, but that classes would go on as usual on Friday.

Posted by gwitherspoon at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

Gloucester toddler who underwent heart transplant 'doing great'

(Globe file photo)

Jackson Altieri before the operation.

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

A Gloucester toddler whose battle with a heart condition sparked an outpouring of support in his community is "doing great" as he recovers at Children's Hospital from a heart transplant, his grandfather said today.

"He's always laughing. No matter what they do to him, he's always smiling," said Fran Aliberte, grandfather of Jackson Altieri.

"He's just like any normal 18-month-old, except he has a new heart," Aliberte said.

Jackson, who had a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, underwent his transplant last week. He was one of two Gloucester boys with heart conditions who inspired sympathy this year.

J.J. Nicastro, a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, died July 12 at Children's before he could receive a transplant. He had been stricken suddenly in June with myocarditis.

The community responded to the boys' plight with a public campaign called "Two Hearts, One Gloucester" that held blood and organ donor drives and organized a fund raising concert, Globe North reports today.

Posted by mfinucane at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)

Cape Cod Commission denies wind farm permit

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Proponents of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound were dealt a setback today when the Cape Cod Commission denied them a permit.

The regional land use agency denied the permit on procedural grounds, saying the developer had failed to provide enough information or enough time for the commission to make a ruling.

The proposal was denied without prejudice, which means proponents are free to bring it back before the board.

The vote at a Barnstable meeting was unanimous.

Though the wind farm itself is planned in federal water -- outside the reach of most state and local agencies -- the electric cables delivering power from the turbines would run under the ocean and make landfall in Barnstable County.

Cape Wind president Jim Gordon said the fight was "absolutely not" over. "It's a disappointing decision that delays important renewable energy benefits for Massachusetts citizens," he said.

"We have been diligently working on this project for over six years and we're committed to moving the project forward and ensuring that Massachusetts becomes a global leader in offshore renewable energy."

Supporters say the Cape Wind project would be a marvel, reaping clean energy out of the winds that whip across the ocean off the Massachusetts coast.

But opponents say the wind farm, which would place about 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, would reduce tourism, harm wildlife and pose a boating hazard.

Cape Wind also has another option: it could appeal to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board, which has already granted a permit for the cables and has the power to override local decisions on energy projects.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:36 PM | Comments (0)

Charges filed in Brockton Hospital crash deaths

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

A 76-year-old Rockland woman whose car plowed into an entrance of Brockton Hospital Monday, killing two staff members, has been charged with motor vehicle homicide.

Jane Berghold, a breast cancer patient, was at the hospital for an appointment when her car crashed into the hospital, killing Dr. Mark A. Vasa, chief of radiation therapy, and fatally injuring Susan Plante of East Bridgewater. Two other staff members were injured in the crash.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz has charged Berghold with two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation and one count of operating a vehicle to endanger, said Bridget Norton Middleton, a spokeswoman.

She would not elaborate on why prosecutors filed charges. An initial court date has not been set.

Berghold, her husband, and her son have said she tried to stop the car. A man who answered the phone today at the Berghold residence said the family would not comment.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:46 PM | Comments (0)

With toll hikes looming, turnout varies at public hearing

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

As the final vote on a proposed toll hike approaches, turnout has varied at a series of public meetings held by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

At the first meeting at a school in East Boston, roughly 14 people showed up and only about eight stepped up to a microphone to offer an opinion, according to Turnpike spokesman Mac Daniel. A few days later in Framingham, people lined up for two hours to tell officials what they thought at a hearing that drew some 50 attendees.

The Turnpike board gave preliminary approval to a proposal that would increase fares by 25 cents at the Allston-Brighton and Weston toll booths and 50 cents at the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels. The hike has been scheduled for nearly a decade as part of the plan for paying off Big Dig debt and would increase the charge at Allston-Brighton and Weston to $1.25 and the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels to $3.50, effective in January.

The plan will be the subject of another public hearing tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at Worcester Vocational Technical High School. The final public hearing will be held at the Framingham Memorial Building on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. The Turnpike board is scheduled to take a final vote Oct. 29.

In September, the board discussed increasing the $3 tolls on the tunnels to as much as $6 and hiking the $1 tolls in Weston and Allston to as much as $1.75. The authority put off a major toll hike in the hopes that Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to reorganize the agencies that oversee transportation will save money by eliminating redundancies.

Posted by aryan at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)

Teen drivers surprised by checkpoints at South Shore schools

By Globe Staff

Teens driving to 10 high schools south of Boston this morning were halted at checkpoints by Registry of Motor Vehicles inspectors and police who were checking on their compliance with the state's junior operator laws.

Out of 802 drivers stopped, 598 passed the inspection and were rewarded with coupons for pizza and other goodies. But the inspectors and police found 49 were carrying fellow students in violation of the junior operator laws, 151 weren't wearing seat belts, and four were talking on their cell phones.

The teens were issued warnings for the passenger and seat belt violations. Talking on a cell phone while driving isn't illegal, but the practice is increasingly being questioned.

Penalties for junior operators -- drivers who are 16 1/2 and 17 years old -- were toughened beginning this March.

"We rewarded those who we found in compliance with the law and at the same time drove home the message that crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers," Registrar Anne L. Collins said in a statement.

State officials said that a third of drivers will be involved in a crash during the first year they are licensed.

The operation, which was called, "Operation Every Teen Counts," took place at high schools from Milton to Plymouth.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:36 PM | Comments (0)

Mild winter seen ahead

(Josh Reynolds of The Boston Globe/file)

Last winter, many shovels sat idle because of mild temperatures and a lack of snow. Forecasters expect that this winter may be similar.

By Globe Staff

The air is getting crisper and cooler. Leaves are fluttering down from the trees. Soon winter will put the area in its icy grip.

But there's good news today: Forecasters say the winter months are likely to be milder than usual.

Ken Reeves, director of forecasting operations at AccuWeather.com, the commercial weather forecasting company, said temperatures overall will average 2 to 3.5 degrees above normal, a little warmer than last winter, when temperatures averaged 1.7 inches above normal.

Reeves said that after a mild October, the weather will turn noticeably cooler in November. Then the weather will turn relatively warm again in January and early February.

"During the heart of this cold weather season ... we are going to be looking at the greatest departures from normal temperatures to the warm side," he said, noting that colder temperatures will return in late February and March.

Reeves emphasized that the numbers are averages and that individual cold days and snowstorms could still happen.

Neal Strauss, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Taunton office, also predicted a mild winter.

"We're thinking that, yes, we will be looking at, in general, milder than normal conditions" during December, January, and February, he said.

The mild temperatures are expected in part because of cooler water temperatures near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, according Mike Halpert, the head of forecast operations at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center. The phenomenon, know as La Nina, can push the jet stream north and bring milder temperatures to New England.

"We are not saying that the whole winter every day will be warm," Halpert said, "but we’ll expect to see less cold air outbreaks."

Posted by mfinucane at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)

After taking oath, Tsongas votes to override veto

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Niki Tsongas (third from left) posed today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (center) after taking the oath of office. Tsongas was joined by her daughters Ashley, Katina, and Molly.

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Although new US Representative Niki Tsongas was sworn in today in time to join the vote, a Democrat-led effort to overturn President Bush's veto of a bill to expand a children's health insurance program fell short.

Tsongas, who won a special election Tuesday in the Fifth Congressional District, took the oath of office at about 10:45 a.m. She was joined on the House floor by the other nine members of the state's House delegation and by US Senator John Kerry. The state's senior senator, Edward M. Kennedy, recovering from surgery to remove a partial blockage from a neck artery, sent flowers and watched the ceremony via C-Span.

After the official swearing-in, Tsongas followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Pelosi's office, where she placed her hand over a Bible -- held by daughters Ashley, 33, Katina, 30, and Molly, 26 -- for a ceremony with family and friends in front of TV cameras.

Tsongas, the widow of former US Senator Paul Tsongas, returned to the floor after lunch and voted two hours later to overturn the president's recent veto of the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

"It felt wonderful," she said moments later in the speaker's lobby, before the outcome was known, "to be able to make that vote on behalf of children."

The House voted 273 to 156 against the veto but fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.

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After burst steam pipes, Trigen to use infrared cameras to identify problems

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Inspectors for the company that operates Boston's 22-mile network of subterranean steam pipes will be flying over the city with infrared cameras over the next two weeks to identify areas that are leaking or may rupture.

Representatives from Trigen-Boston Energy Corp. met with city officials as part of a comprehensive assessment of its entire network prompted by one pipe that burst and another that released a blast of steam. The company also plans to accelerate manhole inspections over the next several weeks as part the assessment, which is scheduled to be completed in December.

"The recent steam pipe ruptures in our streets continue to be a concern for me as mayor and for the people of Boston," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. "I am pleased, however, that Trigen has brought forward the necessary resources to inspect their entire system and ensure that it is in safe working condition."

Flying over the city at various altitudes at night, inspectors will take infrared images that will be compiled into a thermal map. Operators will use the map to pinpoint sections of pipe that are too hot or too cold and need to be inspected. Independent experts from Tri-Mont Engineering will review the findings and examine Trigen's operating and maintenance procedures.

At today's meeting with city officials, Trigen representatives detailed the preliminary findings of the cause of two recent steam pipe mishaps which sprayed insulation containing asbestos onto several streets. The burst pipe at Summer and Otis streets on Sept. 12 was likely caused by a phenomenon called a ''water hammer,"
which creates shock waves and can break pipes. It occurs when steam is introduced into a pipe that contains water, or when a pipe containing steam is exposed to a large amount of cold water, according to the mayor's office.

The Oct. 6 steam leak at New Chardon and Merrimac streets was likely caused by a bad expansion joint. Both incidents remain under investigation.

Posted by aryan at 3:12 PM | Comments (0)

New Bedford man charged with murder in alleged shaken baby death

By Globe Staff

Prosecutors filed a murder charge today against a man accused of shaking a 10-month-old boy to death in New Bedford in August.

Manuel Antonio Lopez, 28, will be arraigned today in New Bedford District Court, according to a release from the Bristol district attorney's office. He is accused of killing Josiah Pacheco, who died Aug. 14 at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence three days after Lopez called 911 because the baby was not breathing.

The child was diagnosed with diffuse brain edema and bilateral retinal hemorrhaging, which are both symptoms of shaken baby syndrome, according to the district attorney.

Lopez had been living with Josiah's mother. Before the baby died, Lopez pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery on a child and assault and battery of a household member.

Posted by aryan at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

Citing fuel costs, authority increases fares to Nantucket

(Globe file photo)

The Eagle, a Steamship Authority ferry, sails into Nantucket Harbor.

By Globe Staff

Citing the rising cost of fuel, the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority is raising fares to Nantucket.

The authority's board voted yesterday to raise one-way adult fares for the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket from $29 to $30. The board raised the car rate from $190 to $195 during the summer and $130 to $135 during the off-season. The board also hiked the rate for trucks.

H. Flint Ranney, the Nantucket representative on the five-member authority board, said the rising cost of oil, which increases cost of the diesel fuel that runs the ferries, is the problem.

The board did not raise fares for its ferry line from Woods Hole to Martha's Vineyard. But Ranney warned that further increases could be possible on both lines.

"If the cost of oil keeps going up, that's going to be a very major problem," Ranney said.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:32 PM | Comments (0)

Patrick will endorse Obama, officials say

(Patricia McDonnell for The Boston Globe)

Obama lent Patrick a helping hand in last year's governor's race.

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is throwing his support to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, an endorsement that will give the Illinois senator a much needed boost in New Hampshire and help blunt Hillary Clinton's courting of African-American leaders.

Senior administration officials confirmed that Patrick called Obama today to confirm his plans to endorse his presidential candidacy. The two talked briefly and aides began working out details for a large public rally in Boston next week.

The Patrick political organization today sent out e-mails to its list of 40,000 workers and supporters, telling them of his decision to back Obama.

Patrick, the nation's only black governor, who is considered a rising star in a new generation of African-American leaders, also called Clinton today to inform her of his decision. He has strong ties to her and former President Bill Clinton, in whose administration he held a top justice department post. Both Clintons lobbied him for his endorsement.

Patrick chose Obama because he believes the country is hungry for his new style of leadership that cuts across both racial and party lines and stirs up strong voter enthusiasm, according to the senior administration officials. The governor is expected to argue that Obama can lead what he terms a ''generational call'' -- a rally to rebuild the country and restore its standing around the world.

Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry said Patrick's endorsement will be most significant because it will reinforce Obama's most potent skills as a candidate, his broad based appeal to voters. ''For Obama, a Patrick endorsement is another sign there is a new young generation of dynamic black leaders who can appeal across racial and partisan lines,'' Berry said.

With the exception of opening a Democratic presidential debate last June in Washington, Patrick has spent his first year in office keeping a low national profile. His aides said Patrick expects to make appearances for Obama in New Hampshire and Iowa after the Massachusetts Legislature wraps up its session in mid November.

Posted by aryan at 5:02 PM | Comments (0)

Tsongas thanks voters, flies to Washington to override veto

(AP Photo/David H. Brow, Lowell Sun)

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

Fresh off a 6-point victory over her Republican opponent, Niki Tsongas hopscotched across the Fifth Congressional District today, thanking voters in Lowell, greeting supporters in downtown Lawrence, and waving to passersby in Concord.

The Democrat plans to fly this evening to Washington, where she will be sworn in Thursday in the US House as Massachusetts' first woman in Congress in more than 25 years. Tsongas will take office in time to vote to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

"It looks to me like it's close," Tsongas said today of the veto override, "but it shows you how every vote counts and why this election here was so important because first of all, it sends an additional vote. But second of all, I think it does put pressure on those who are reluctant to override the veto that there is a strong will in this country to have children's health insurance."

Tsongas defeated Republican Jim Ogonowski in a special election Tuesday that she tried to frame as a referendum on the Bush administration and the Iraq war. She garnered 51 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent for Ogonowski, winning most strongly in the cities of Lowell and Lawrence and the southern towns of the district, such as Concord and Acton.

Tsongas will take the seat that was once held by her late husband, Paul Tsongas. She will immediately succeed Martin T. Meehan, a Democrat who resigned this summer during his eighth term to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

The election results were certified this morning by Secretary of State William Galvin, who faxed a letter to the clerk of the US House.

Posted by aryan at 3:35 PM | Comments (0)

Slaying defendants apologize to victim's parents

(Globe file photo)

Abdirauf Abdullahi was "truly an innocent victim," the judge said.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Before being led away to serve their prison sentences, two teenagers apologized today to the parents of the 19-year-old Somalian native they killed last year in the South End.

Mwase Potts and Eloy Sierra pleaded guilty to manslaughter before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano as the parents of Abdirauf Abdullahi looked on with disapproval.

"As life goes on, don't hold a grudge, because I am deeply sorry for my actions," Potts said, turning to the parents.

"As far as what happened, I send my condolences," said Sierra. "I hope I find a way to act better and make better choices in the future."

Abdullahi was shot to death in the South End in June 2006. He was about to leave Boston to attend a pharmacy college in the South on a scholarship.

Sierra, who actually pulled the trigger, was sentenced to 19 to 20 years in state prison and Potts was given nine to 10 years under a plea agreement reached with Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.

In court and in a later interview, Abdullahi's parents said they wanted longer sentences because the defendants -- Sierra was 15 at the time of the crime and Potts was 16 -- will still be able to see their families and will one day be freed.

The victim's father, Abdigafar Abdullah-Salah, said he wished Massachusetts had a death penalty because the death of his son's killers was the only way he will find peace.

"When someone kills somebody the only way you can feel better or get peace of mind is when you know the other person got what he deserved and he got killed," the father said through an interpreter, Layla Guled. "That's when you get peace of mind."

Abdullahi and a friend had left Peter's Park on Shawmut Avenue around 11:30 p.m. on June 25, 2006, when two people wearing dark hooded sweatshirts opened fire, fatally wounding Abdullahi.

From the bench, Gaziano said Abdullahi was "truly an innocent victim."

But the judge also said he believed the sentence was just, noting that the two teens had limited or no criminal records when they shot and killed Abdullahi.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

BU sophomore arrested in Internet sex case

By David Abel, Globe Staff

A 20-year-old Boston University sophomore is facing charges that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl he met on the popular website Facebook.com, prosecutors said.

James Bogush, of Ridgewood, N.J., was arraigned a week ago in Scarsdale Village Court on charges of second-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor, both misdemeanors, said Christina Frantom, a spokeswoman for the Westchester County district attorney's office.

Bogush and the girl, who also met on Espinthebottle.com, had been chatting online for about three weeks before they met for the first time near her house in Scarsdale on Oct. 5, Scarsdale police said. Bogush allegedly told her he was 16 years old. The two also met the next night.

On the second night, Bogush "forcibly touched her in her private areas," said Lieutenant Bryant Clark. Police that night did not find Bogush, who had dropped the girl off near her house. He turned himself into police before his Oct. 10 arraignment.

Colin Riley, a spokesman for Boston University, said officials there would evaluate the facts to determine whether to conduct an investigation.

Bogush's attorney didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Posted by mfinucane at 1:36 PM | Comments (0)

40 years after conviction, birth control activist returns to former Charles Street Jail

(Janet Knott/Globe Staff/file)

Bill Baird, the reproductive rights activist shown above in 1995 picketing outside Brookline District Court, is returning today the former Charles Street Jail, where he served 37 days for giving an unmarried woman a condom during a speech at Boston University.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

At the new Liberty Hotel, there is an intimacy kit in the mini-bar of each room that includes a condom. That amuses Bill Baird, the reproductive rights activist who served 37 days in the building when it was the notorious Charles Street Jail.

"The ironic part is that is what I was in jail for," said Baird, who was convicted 40 years ago today. "Giving out one condom. One. And giving a young woman some birth control foam."

As a challenge to existing law, Baird was purposely arrested in April 1967 when he displayed birth control devices during speech at Boston University. His conviction on Oct. 17, 1967, would ultimately be overturned by the Supreme Court in a ruling that legalized birth control for unmarried people and helped lay the foundation for Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

To mark today's date, Baird, 75, is holding a press conference at the Liberty Hotel, where his picture appears next to other famous inmates who spent time in the jail, including Boston Mayor James Michael Curley and the suffragettes, who fought for women’s right to vote.

"We realize that there is a very dark history to this building and we want to honor the history, but at the same time we want to create a happy, enjoyable environment," said Regan Dillon, the director of public relations for the Liberty Hotel.

Baird began serving his three-month prison term at the Charles Street Jail on Feb. 20, 1970, but was released after 35 days when the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case. In 1972, the decision in Baird v. Eisenstadt legalized birth control for unmarried people as a right of privacy.

In the Charles Street Jail, Baird said he slept on a blood-stained mattress infested with lice. There were rats in his cell, bugs in his food, and "the horrors of people screaming at night." He hasn't been in the building since it was converted into a luxury hotel.

"I don't even know how I am going to react to it," said Baird, who has driven past the former jail in recent years on trips to Massachusetts General Hospital. "Every time I go past that building my body still shakes."

"But I'm thrilled to see, like the phoenix out of the ashes of despair, some good has come," Baird continued.

Posted by aryan at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)

Aunt of 8-year-old shooting victim charged with possession of firearms, drugs

(Globe Staff Photo / Barry Chin)

Antonia Gadson, shown on the left in June after the death of her nephew Liquarry Jefferson, was charged today with possession of guns and cocaine. She is next to Lakeisha Gadson (center), Liquarry's mother, and Elaine Gadson, his grandmother.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

The aunt of Liquarry Jefferson, the 8-year-old boy who police believe was fatally shot by his cousin in June, was arraigned today on two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, trafficking in more than 300 grams of cocaine in a school zone, and possession of Ecstasy.

Antonia Gadson, 28, whose 7-year-old son allegedly shot Liquarry by accident on June 24 while the two boys played with a gun, was held on $15,000 cash bail for the charges, which stem from the May 2006 slaying of Dwayne Turnbow, who was shot in a parking lot. No one has been charged with Turnbow's death.

Gadson appeared in Suffolk Superior Court. She is accused of taking a .38-caliber revolver from Turnbow's car and bringing it to her house on Blue Hill Avenue, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.

After Boston police detectives investigating Turnbow's death learned that she had taken the gun, they obtained a search warrant for her apartment and found the gun, a second firearm, ammunition, 54 Ecstasy tablets, and a large quantity of crack cocaine, according to Conley's office. Police also found measuring scales, plastic bags, and $4,800 in cash in the apartment, according to Conley's office.

Police charged her with trafficking in a school zone because Gadson’s apartment is less than 1,000 feet from the Rockwell Early Education Academy Inc.

Posted by aryan at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)

4 hurt in 6 vehicle crash in Tip O'Neill Tunnel

By Globe Staff

Four people were taken to hospitals this morning after a six-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 93 at the exit of the Tip O'Neill Tunnel, just before the Zakim Bridge, according to State Police.

The 7 a.m. crash involved a tractor-trailer truck and closed the right and left lanes of the interstate for an hour, said Trooper Thomas Murphy. It was not immediately clear how badly the four people had been injured, he said.

The accident backed up traffic for several hours. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Posted by aryan at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

Governor Patrick to lead trade mission to China

(Greg Baker/AP)

Visitors walked past Beijing's Tiananmen Gate today.

By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick will travel to China in late November, making stops in Beijing and Shanghai, hoping to promote Massachusetts in a country that is a rising economic power.

"In today's global economy, competition is worldwide, and so are the opportunities. No state can afford to sit back and wait for the benefits of foreign trade and development. ... We have to take bold initiative to move Massachusetts forward and compete on the international stage," Patrick said today in a statement.

Patrick will travel with a team of business executives, academic leaders, and senior government officials. The delegation is tentatively slated to leave Boston on Nov. 30 and return Dec. 8.

"China will be an important partner in the years ahead, especially as it becomes one of the world's economic superpowers and thus provides a major market for Massachusetts goods and services," University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson, who is going on the trip, said in the statement issued by the governor's office. “We need the Governor to lead the way in tapping this important market.”

Posted by mfinucane at 5:52 PM | Comments (0)

Foxborough shooting victim identified

By Globe Staff

Police have identified the man who was found shot to death on Route 106 in Foxborough early yesterday as Carlos Gomez, 29, of Central Falls, R.I.

State and local police continue an "intense investigation" into the slaying, the Norfolk County district attorney's office said today in a statement.

The authorities asked anyone with any information about the case to contact Foxborough Police at 508-543-4343 or State Police at 508-820-2121.

No futher details of the case will be released today, said Norfolk district attorney's spokesman David Traub.

It was the first homicide in town in 11 years, the Globe reported today.

The man was shot and killed on Green Street where the road, also known as Route 106, passes underneath Interstate 95. District Attorney William R. Keating said shell casings were found at the scene.

A man leaving a nearby office park spotted the body lying on the street at 1:07 a.m. and then summoned police, Keating said

The prosecutor said the killing was deliberate, calculated, and cruel, as the shooter or shooters fired more than 10 rounds at the victim, with an unknown number striking him.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)

A Spectacular acquisition for the state

(Mass Audubon photo)

Lower Spectacle Pond stretches for 62 acres.

By Globe Staff

It's been billed as one of the state's largest conservation land purchases in recent years, a gem of a property in the Berkshires where the eastern hemlock trees predate the sailing of the Pilgrims.

State officials and environmental and recreation activists are gathering today at Spectacle Pond Farm in Sandisfield to celebrate the acquisition of the 900-acre property, which also includes 62-acre Lower Spectacle Pond.

The $5.2 million purchase was announced in July. Officials said they had worked to acquire the property for 10 years.

The state says the pond is one of only two 50-acre-plus lakes in the Berkshires with a shoreline both completely undeveloped and -- until it was purchased -- unprotected. The property had been eyed for potential development of 60 large homes.

Sandisfield, a town of about 670 people, is 35 miles west of Springfield and 125 miles southwest of Boston.

Posted by mfinucane at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)

Arrest announced in 2006 Medford slaying

(Middlesex district attorney's office photo)

Prosecutors say Paula Doherty, 48, was murdered during a robbery.

By Globe Staff

A Medford man has been arrested in the slaying of a woman who was found beaten to death in her home last year.

Tom Evans. 54, was indicted by a grand jury yesterday on a first-degree murder charge and arrested the same day, the Middlesex County district attorney's office said. He is to be arraigned today in Middlesex Superior Court.

Evans allegedly murdered Paula Doherty, 48, who was found dead in her Medford home with head injuries in early October 2006.

"Paula Doherty was brutally murdered more than one year ago and our investigation did not stop until we had the person we allege to have committed that murder in custody," District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement.

Prosecutors said an investigation had found that Evans and Doherty knew each other and that they and others were together at Doherty's Fellsway apartment on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006. Witnesses said Evans and Doherty were the last people at the residence that night. Doherty died later that evening.

Prosecutors alleged that while the two were in the apartment, Evans stole a large amount of cash from Doherty. During the course of the robbery, Evans allegedly struck and killed Doherty.

Doherty's body was found that Monday, Oct. 2.

Posted by mfinucane at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

Moment of truth today for Fifth Congressional District candidates

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

Voters in 29 cities and towns northwest of Boston are heading to the polls today in a special election in the Fifth Congressional District, where Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski are vying to fill the seat vacated by former Representative Martin T. Meehan.

Jane Lee, 66, a retired nurse from Chelmsford, said she voted for Ogonowski. "I just think he's an honest, hard-working man, and I just like him," said Lee. A registered Democrat, she said she votes the person, not the party. "I just like the way he thinks."

Esther Davenport, 76, who retired from a promotions job with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said she voted for Tsongas, partly because of her opposition to the war in Iraq. "Niki represented all the things I was really interested in, particularly the war in Iraq. That has been bugging me for a long time," she said.

Tsongas, 61, is a dean at Middlesex Community College in Lowell and the widow of former US Senator Paul Tsongas. Ogonowski, 50, is a Dracut hay farmer and retired Air Force and Air National Guard officer.

Today's ballot also includes the Constitution Party's Kevin Thompson, a religious school principal from Brockton, and independent candidates Patrick Murphy, a Lowell bricklayer, and Kurt Hayes, a Boxborough businessman.

Tsongas has called the election a referendum on President Bush, focusing on her opposition to the war in Iraq and her support for a children's health insurance bill recently vetoed by the president.

Ogonowski has run a populist campaign, pitching himself as a regular guy who wants to change "politics as usual" in Washington. He has made illegal immigration his No. 1 issue, calling for construction of a border fence and tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

Meehan resigned earlier this year to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Local clerks and election analysts predicted that turnout today would be a few points higher than it was for last month's primaries, which drew less than 20 percent, but well below the numbers typical of a general election. Still, turnout was brisker than expected in some places today.

"It's wonderful," said Katherine Leslie, warden for Precinct 1 in Chelmsford, where more than 12 percent of the precinct's 2,400 voters had gone to the polls by 10:45 a.m. "We didn't expect this many, but we're glad they're here."

Posted by mfinucane at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

New U-turn ramp on Pike closes after crash

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The U-turn lane on the Massachusetts Turnpike at the Allston-Brighton tolls – which just opened Saturday – was severely damaged last night when a tractor-trailer smashed into it because the driver could not handle the sharp curve.

The crash just before midnight closed the lane to traffic this morning after the truck, which blew two tires, destroyed 50 feet of the guardrail. The lane reopened a little after noon.

The truck driver was not supposed to be using the $1.6 million ramp, said Mac Daniel, spokesman for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. The lane is only open to taxicabs and commercial vehicles with three axles.

Eric Lamarque, 26, of Quebec, Canada, was charged with using the lane illegally, an illegal U-turn, and hauling a trailer without registration, Daniel said.

The lane is designed to allow commercial traffic to flow from the Back Bay to South Boston and the airport without using city streets.

Officials had originally planned to delay opening the ramp until January, when a systemwide toll increase is scheduled to take effect. They said they did not want to have to set tolls for the ramp, only to raise them in a few months.

But after the Globe published a story about the artificial delay, the authority received complaints from the public and agreed to open it earlier.

Daniel said the crash does not signify a design flaw: The road is not supposed to carry long tractor-trailers and the driver tried to make too tight of a turn.

Daniel said there is concern at the Turnpike that unauthorized vehicles will try to use the lane. A police officer is assigned to monitor the lane until 11 every night.

New roads are always under evaluation during their first few months of operation. Daniel said it is too soon to decide whether there will be adjustments on the ramp.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

Man who fled country sentenced to 18 months in jail

By Globe Staff

John W. Canadyan won't be going back to Canada any time soon.

The 54-year-old Revere man fled to Canada in August to avoid charges that he sexually assaulted a seven-year-old neighborhood girl. Now he's facing 18 months in jail.

Canadyan pleaded guilty yesterday in Chelsea District Court to two counts of indecent assault and battery. Judge Sarah Singer handed down the jail sentence and also ordered him placed on probation for five years afterward.

"Like many child sexual abuse suspects, John Canadyan counted on silence from his victim," Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. "What he didn’t count on was that young girl’s bravery and her family’s strength."

"It was with their help that Revere Police and Suffolk prosecutors were able to build a strong case and ultimately hold him accountable for his actions," Conley said.

Canadyan allegedly assaulted the girl in July. He was arraigned on July 30. In August, after posting bail, he fled the country and was tracked to an Indian reservation in Canada.

He was arrested the next month as he attempted to cross the border on a train bound for New York.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Second person dies after car crashes into Brockton Hospital

(Photo courtesy of Brockton Hospital)

Susan Plante's hospital ID photo.

By Globe Staff

A second person has died after an accident yesterday afternoon in which a car crashed into an entrance at Brockton Hospital.

Susan Plante, 59, of East Bridgewater died last night as a result of the injuries she sustained in the accident, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said this morning in a statement.

Plante had worked as a secretary in the hospital's radiation therapy department for 20 years, a hospital spokesman said.

Plante's family issued a statement today through the hospital, thanking the doctors and rescue workers who tried to save her life and offering condolences to the family of Dr. Mark A. Vasa of Norwell, who was also killed in the accident.

"Susan was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. She offered friendship and love to everyone who came into her life, including the many patients she worked with every day. She enjoyed celebrations, and treated everyday as a celebration of life," the statement said..

The crash happened at about 1:30 p.m. at the entrance to the hospital's radiation therapy center.

Jane Berghold of Rockland, a 76-year-old breast cancer patient who was at the hospital to deliver an X-ray to Vasa, was the driver of the car, her husband, Robert Berghold, said. She was treated for minor injuries and released.

"It's a terrible thing," Berghold told the Globe in a telepone interview yesterday. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"I feel awful. I feel sick to my stomach. I'm shaking inside," Jane Berghold told WBZ-TV. Berghold's license was revoked today because of the crash.

Authorities are investigating the crash. Two other staff members were injured.

Cruz said yesterday that investigators were probing whether there was a mechanical problem with the car or whether the accident was the result of driver error.

Posted by mfinucane at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

Dighton-Rehoboth student allegedly made hit list

By Globe Staff

A 14-year-old Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School student is facing charges that he compiled a hit list of 15 youths.

"He had a list of people that he allegedly wanted to shoot," said Bristol County district attorney’s spokesman Gregg Miliote. Miliote said the list included the student's fellow high school students as well as some middle school students.

The teen faces 15 counts of making threats to kill and 15 counts of making threats with serious public alarm, Miliote said.

The teen is being held in a juvenile lockup after his arraignment yesterday afternoon in Taunton Juvenile Court. A hearing will be held tomorrow in the same court to determine if he poses a danger or can be releaased, Miliote said.

Dighton Police Chief Robert MacDonald said police had searched the Rehoboth teenager’s home but found no weapons.

He said a friend of the teenager had seen the list of 15 names, which was labeled “hit list,” and brought it to the attention of the school principal.

He credited school administrators with doing “a good job reporting this. As soon as they found out, they called us right away.”

Posted by mfinucane at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2007

Soldier from Belchertown killed in Iraq

By Elizabeth Ratto, Globe Correspondent

Army Private First Class Kenneth J. Iwasinski and his father had plans when the soldier returned from war duty in Iraq.

They were going to work on a car together and catch up, the father, Dominick Iwasinski, said Monday night.

Instead, the elder Iwasinski was remembering his son -- killed Sunday in Baghdad -- for his strong sense of patriotism and commitment to protecting his country.

"He was very patriotic," Dominick Iwasinski, said in a phone interview from his home in Belchertown. "He believed in everything he was doing [in Iraq], he just believed in it."

Iwasinski, 22, was a member of the Second Infantry Division’s Second Brigade Combat Team, based in Fort Carson, Co. He was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations, the Department of Defense announced. His family was notified of his death early Monday, his father said. Iwasinski was a gunner on the vehicle when he was killed, his father said.

"When he came home on leave, you could see that he saw a lot of bad things, but he still walked proud," Dominick Iwasinski said.

He said his son had left Belchertown High School before graduating and enlisted in the Army just days after receiving his GED in March 2006.

"When he enlisted, he knew he was going to Iraq," Dominick Iwasinski said. "He enlisted in the infantry. He knew he was going into harm’s way."

Iwasinski lived with his father and step-mother, Tawnia Iwasinski, in Belchertown. His mother and sister, Tracy and Amanda Taylor, live in Chicopee, his father said.

According to the military, 3,819 US service people have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. A marine from Belchertown, allegedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq, took his own life in 2004.

Dominick Iwasinski said his son had served in Iraq for a year and had been due to return to the states earlier this month, before his duty was extended until January.

Funeral arrangements will be made once Iwasinski is flown back, probably later this week, his father said.

For now, Dominick Iwasinski said he is remembering his son for his big heart and his accomplishments.

"It takes someone special to do something like that and a special kind of commitment ... I have to believe in what he believed in," Iwasinski said.

Posted by gwitherspoon at 7:14 PM | Comments (0)

Stuck drawbridges create headaches for rail commuters

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Commuter train service from North Station was delayed this afternoon by as much as an hour because two drawbridges were stuck in a partially raised position -- preventing trains from passing.

The bridges were stuck for about an hour, beginning at 3:45, said Lydia Rivera, spokeswoman for the MBTA.

"The Fitchburg line took the hardest hit," Rivera said. Trains were delayed by as much as an hour on that line at the height of the slowdown and passengers continued to experience 30 minute delays even after service was restored.

The Haverhill, Lowell, Newburyport and Rockport lines were also affected.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)

Weymouth man arraigned in 6-year-old cousin's slaying

By Globe Staff

A Weymouth man who allegedly killed his 6-year-old cousin in August pleaded not guilty today in Norfolk Superior Court.

Ryan Bois, 20, faces murder, rape, and other charges in the attack on Joanna Mullin of Weymouth, prosecutors said.

Bois was held without bail. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Paul A. Chernoff slated another hearing for Oct. 31.

Bois was arrested in the early morning hours of Aug. 5 by police who pursued him for speeding and driving erratically and then found the girl’s body in the back seat.

Bois’s attorney, Beverly Cannone, didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Prosecutors today also revealed that early that morning, shortly before police began chasing him, Bois unsuccesfully tried to call James S. Winquist of Weymouth eight times.

Winquist was arrested himself later in August and was charged, along with another man, with murder in a separate case: the 2005 killings of two homeless men whose bodies were found in an old military bunker just outside a Hingham park.

Norfolk County district attorney’s spokesman David Traub had no comment on why Bois called the number.

A spokeswoman for the Plymouth County district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Winquist, didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:32 PM | Comments (0)

One killed, four injured when car slams into Brockton Hospital entrance

(Brockton Hospital photo)

Dr. Mark Vasa was a well-respected radiation oncologist.

By Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

One person was killed and four were injured when a car slammed into the front entrance of the radiation treatment center at Brockton Hospital this afternoon.

Dr. Mark Vasa, 58, chief of radiation therapy at the hospital, died in the accident. Vasa had worked at the hospital for 20 years.

Police said the driver, a 76-year-old woman, lost control of the car at about 1.30 p.m. on Centre Street and went through the front doors, hitting a reception desk.

One of the injured was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital and is in critical condition, officials said. The other injured people, including the driver, were treated and released from the hospital.

"All of the services needed to assist these people were here immediately," said Fire Chief Kenneth Galligan.

Vasa was well-respected within the insular community of radiation oncologists in Massachusetts, having last year been named a fellow of the American College of Radiology.

Dr. Max Rosen, a past president of the Massachusetts Radiological Society, said Vasa valued the doctor-patient relationship.

"He felt that a field advances by each relationship you have with a patient," said Rosen, a radiology oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "How you act and how you take care of people on an individual basis ... is how you make your mark on medicine."

Rosen said the society recommended Vasa for the American College of Radiology, which he said is an honor a relatively small number of radiologists can claim.

The hospital said the radiation therapy center would be closed tomorrow, but it had not sustained structural damage and would reopen Wednesday.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:05 PM | Comments (0)

Pedestrian killed in Route 3 crash

By Globe Staff

State police are investigating a crash this afternoon that killed a pedestrian on Route 3 in Norwell.

A truck traveling southbound on the road south of Route 228 at about 12:30 p.m. was unable to stop when a man entered the roadway, police said, based on a preliminary investigation.

The pedestrian was declared dead at the scene. His name was withheld by police pending notification of his family.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)

Candidates make last-minute push for votes in Fifth District

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

With the special election in the Fifth Congressional District looming tomorrow, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski are making last-minute appeals to voters.

Ogonowski, a Dracut hay farmer and retired Air Force and Air National Guard officer, planned more than two dozen appearances today in 11 cities and towns, including visits to a commuter rail station, supermarkets, coffee shops, and community centers.

Tsongas, a community college dean and the widow of former US senator Paul Tsongas, started her day by standing with supporters on a busy corner in Concord, waving to morning commuters. Other scheduled stops included visits to senior centers and a 5 p.m. appearance at a rotary in Methuen.

"Jim's feeling great. He's out in the community meeting the voters, meeting the people he intends to represent in Washington, and every place he goes he hears a new story and gets even more inspired about what he's doing," said Alicia Preston, a spokeswoman for Ogonowski.

Katie Elbert, a spokeswoman for Tsongas, said, "There's a lot of enthusiasm for Niki's candidacy and we've been seeing that in her visits throughout the district as well as in the feedback we've gotten from people making phone calls and going door to door."

Posted by mfinucane at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

Judge in Herald libel case defends his actions

(Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)

Judge Ernest B. Murphy at work in 2005.

By John R. Ellement and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy said today he tried to convince Boston Herald publisher Patrick J. Purcell to settle a libel lawsuit because the judge believed the newspaper was making a "great big mistake."

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct is considering whether Murphy violated ethics rules for judges by sending a letter on court stationery to Purcell at a time they were locked in litigation.

Murphy testified today before a hearing officer that he believed Purcell was "an honorable man" who was getting bad legal advice about the validity of Murphy's libel claims.

In 2005, a Superior Court jury awarded Murphy $2.01 million after finding that the Herald had libeled him in a series of stories. Murphy wrote the letter after the jury verdict. The newspaper went on to appeal the decision, eventually losing in the state Supreme Judicial Court.

Murphy said that he wrote the letter to get Purcell to "wake up and smell the coffee." Murphy said it was clear that the verdict would not get overturned and he wanted to get the case over with.

"I was trying to get my family out of this thing. That’s why I wrote the letter," Murphy said.

Purcell, who also testified today, had a different view of the letter. He said that when he received it in February 2005, "I couldn't believe I was getting this from a judge.To me it looked like a ransom note. It was very strange.'"

He said he viewed the letters as a threat and an effort to intimidate the Herald into abandoning its effort to appeal.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct filed charges in July, alleging that Murphy's letter to the Herald constituted "willful misconduct which brings the judicial office into disrepute."

Murphy told the newspaper in his letter, "You will bring to that meeting a cashiers check, payable to me, in the sum of $3,260,000. No check, no meeting." He also wrote that it was in Purcell's "distinct business interests" to give him the money.

A one-page postscript warned Purcell that telling anyone about the letter would be "a BIG mistake." The Herald printed it on its front page.

Murphy received $3.41 million in June, which covered the award and the accrued interest.

The dispute began when the Herald published a series of articles that portrayed Murphy as being soft on crime. The stories contained several explosive quotes attributed to Murphy by unnamed sources.

Purcell said he still stood by the story and didn't believe the newspaper owed Murphy an apology.

"I have believed all along that we did our job and that we had the story correct," Purcell said. "I have continued to have faith in our reporters and our coverage of this story and I stand by it today."

After hearing the evidence, the adminstrative hearing officer will make a recommendation to the commission.

Posted by mfinucane at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

With new system, traffic info is just a short dial away

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Boston-area commuters who want to know where the traffic snarls are before they get to them can dial 511 from now on.

The new number replaces star-1, which was not available to T-Mobile customers and did not link up with traffic alert systems in other states.

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen and other officials announced the number switch today. The new system links Massachusetts with 27 other states, including all the New England states except for Connecticut.

Massachusetts had the nation’s first telephone traveler alert system in 1993 and it remains the most popular, with 575,000 calls per month.

Luisa Paiewonsky, commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department, hopes an advertising blitz for the new number will increase calls by 10 percent to 20 percent.

Commuters who want to access the system from a land line can call 617-374-1234. Commuters can also call both numbers to report road debris or get updates on ongoing traffic projects. To get traffic updates, punch in the route number when prompted.

SmartRoute Systems runs the program through a $1.5 million annual contract with the state, though the company has billed Mass Highway 20 percent less than that in most years, said Jeff Larson, general manager of SmartRoute.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)

One-quarter of high school students fail new statewide science test

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

About a quarter of Massachusetts high school students who took state exams in biology, chemistry, physics, and technology and engineering in the spring flunked the tests, highlighting a need for improved science education, state officials said.

Twenty-six percent of the students failed, with rates ranging from 22 percent on the physics exam to 39 percent in chemistry, according to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Education today in the first measure of high school students’ competency in individual science subjects.

Beginning with the class of 2010 (students currently in 10th grade), students must pass at least one of the four tests in order to get their diplomas.

"We have to significantly improve the quality of science education if we are to achieve our goal of proficiency," Board of Education chairman Paul Reville said in a statement.

"The 2007 results show that we are still a ways from our goal of all students performing proficiently in science and technology/engineering," Acting Education Commissioner Jeffrey Nellhaus said.

But Nellhaus also said that once high stakes are attached to an exam, educators, parents, and students "take them much more seriously, do more to prepare in advance, and ultimately rise to the occasion."

Officials said they were particularly concerned about the scores in the state's large urban communitiies. Sixty high schools -- most of them in urban areas -- had passing rates of less than 50 percent on at least one of the exams.

More than 100,000 students participated in the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) tests this spring, including 38,741 ninth-graders and 63,068 10th-graders.

The 31,553 ninth-graders who passed one of the tests won't have to take the test again. All other students currently in the 10th grade will have to try again this spring.

Students are already required to pass the English and math MCAS tests in order to get their diplomas.

To try some sample questions from the test, click here.

Posted by mfinucane at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

Woman out for a walk killed in Seekonk hit-and-run

By Globe Staff

A 38-year-old Seekonk woman was killed by a hit-and-run driver last night and police are urging the driver to come forward and take responsibility.

Maria Aguiar was walking east on Chestnut Street at about 6:22 p.m. about a quarter of a mile from her home on that street. Aguiar was accompanying her daughter, who was riding a bike.

Aguiar was struck and killed by a vehicle that continued west on the road. The accident is being investigated by state and local police.

Seekonk Police Chief Ron Charron asked people to keep an eye out for a white SUV-type vehicle with damage on the front passenger side and/or damage to the windshield.

"We’re asking the public for any help," he said. He urged the driver "to do the right thing and turn themselves in for the benefit of the family."

Posted by mfinucane at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

Body with multiple gunshot wounds found on Foxborough street

By John A. Ellement

The body of a young man with multiple gunshot wounds was found lying in the street early this morning on Green Street in Foxborough.

A passing motorist reported the body just after 1 a.m., Foxborough Police Chief Edward T. O'Leary said in a statement.

O'Leary said that officers arriving at the scene discovered a young male lying in the eastbound lane, near the Interstate 95 bridge underpass. Efforts to revive the victim were unsuccessful.

Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating said the victim was in his late teens or early 20s and has not been identified yet.

"We are doing our best to find out who he is, and then we will have a better idea how he got there," he said.

Keating said law enforcement authorities believe the shooting wasn't random, so residents don't need to fear for their safety.

"We assume that he was in a car and he knew the people he was with. If that's the case, the people in Foxborough and Mansfield don't have to worry about someone out there posing a danger to them," he said.

Posted by mfinucane at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2007

Citibank abandons Concord center storefront plan

By Jennifer Fenn Lefferts
Globe Correspondent

Facing intense opposition from residents and business owners who feared losing the cozy feel of their quaint downtown, Citibank has abandoned plans to move into a Concord center storefront.

After months of negotiation with town boards, a spokesman for the company said on Wednesday that it no longer plans to open a branch on Walden Street.

"The lease has been terminated," spokesman Robert Julavits said in a story published in Sunday's Globe NorthWest section. He would not say whether Citibank has dropped all interest in Concord, or whether it will try again at a different location.

Part of Citigroup, a financial services company with 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, Citibank had signed a lease to move into 14A-18 Walden St.

The bank had hoped to move into the space by the end of the year. Julavits said the branch would have created up to 10 jobs in town.

Posted by ddahl at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

Police beef up patrols near Fenway Park

Police gathered outside Fenway Park prior to tonight's game. (Stan Grossfeld / Globe Staff Photo)

Globe staff

Boston Police are out in force tonight around Fenway Park and Kenmore Square to keep the peace during and after the Red Sox playoff game against the Cleveland Indians.

"Commanders have devised a strategic operational command to ensure a smooth event," said Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll.

"Officers will be ensuring strict compliance with all alcohol laws. They will be visiting licensed premise locations to make sure restaurants and bars are adhering to the alcohol laws."

Driscoll said the police department is encouraging "patrons to celebrate responsibly." Mayor Thomas M. Menino met with owners of restaurants and bars yesterday to encourage them to help maintain a peaceful environment.

The Boston police have also been in close contact with universities and colleges in the area.

"We are encouraging them to talk with students about celebrating responsibly."

Posted by mbello at 7:11 PM | Comments (0)

Faust installed as Harvard president

Drew Faust held the ceremonial keys to Harvard at the inauguration today. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

By Linda K. Wertheimer, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- As thousands watched, Drew Gilpin Faust was officially sworn in as Harvard University’s first woman president today. She defended American higher education against recent attacks on its quality, but also pushed for the Ivy League school to keep evolving.

"If this is a day to transcend the ordinary, if it is a rare moment when we gather not just as Harvard, but with a wider world of scholarship ... it is a time to reflect on what Harvard and institutions like it mean in this first decade of the 21st century,” Faust, a Civil War historian and former dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, said in a speech at her 2 p.m. inauguration.

She said she was offering a "compass" for Harvard as well as for all American universities.

The audience included some 60 members of her family, Governor Deval Patrick, and faculty and representatives from more than 200 universities around the world.

Faust, 60, did not outline priorities for her presidency or offer a list of programs she intends to launch. She said lists were “too constraining” as she reflected on the meaning of her installation as Harvard’s 28th president from a stage on the steps of Memorial Church.

In an interview with the Globe before the inauguration, Faust criticized the stances that US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and others have taken about the nation’s colleges.

Spellings has called on colleges to do a better job measuring students’ academic growth. The government, out of concern that American colleges are not preparing students well enough to compete globally, wants to make colleges more accountable for students’ performance, similar to the movement for more testing in K-12 education.

“The emphasis of the Spellings report really is on economic competitiveness. That’s a very truncated notion of what higher education is about,” Faust said. “When we talk about accountability for higher education, it is not something we can measure by testing a student with a multiple-choice test in a freshman year, and testing that student again in senior year and seeing how the score has changed.”

Harvard and other universities should take the lead in defining accountability for colleges, she said.

Faust, who replaces the outspoken Lawrence Summers, who stepped down in 2006 after a stormy five-year tenure. (Faust profile)

She said she would not shy away from using her position as a national platform.

“It’s inevitable for the Harvard president,” she said in the interview. “I do think the bully pulpit for university presidents should be related to issues of higher education, and I would doubt that I would be making proclamations about a wide range of public affairs or international affairs.”

In the interview and her speech, she reiterated support for some of the priorities set by Summers, whose tenure was controversial more because of his statements about women in science and about a prominent African-American scholar than his initiatives. She said she would continue Harvard’s efforts to increase financial aid and would also try to remove barriers between schools and departments.

Faust, with a conciliatory and down-to-earth demeanor, has stirred hopes and excitement among Harvard professors, many of whom said they were devastated by the discord that grew between schools during Summers’s tenure.

Kay Kaufman Shelemay, a music and African-American studies professor, said she believes Faust will be able to carry off ambitious goals because of her nonconfrontational style.

"Drew is extraordinarily diplomatic," she said. "She listens well and is simply spectacular at human relations."

Faust said she hopes others will see inclusiveness as an emblem of her presidency.

“The message is independent of what has come before or of any controversies,” she told the Globe, referring to her inaugural address. “It really is just a message of who I am and what I hope Harvard can be, which is widely inclusive, joyous, both serious and celebratory.”

The ending of her inaugural speech sums up her hopes. She urges the Harvard community to “knit together... as one,” and adds: “Let us take up the work joyfully, for such an assignment is a privilege beyond measure.''

Posted by rgreene at 6:40 PM | Comments (0)

Crack in beam on Tobin Bridge causes truck, bus detour

By Peter J. Howe, Globe staff

Officials this afternoon began diverting all southbound commercial trucks and buses indefinitely off the Tobin Memorial Bridge in Chelsea after discovering a crack in a beam supporting the upper level of the Route 1 span.

The move does not affect northbound traffic or cars, or passenger vehicles coming southbound. It's not clear how soon the bridge will fully reopen for soutbound trucks, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the bridge.

Brelis said at 5 p.m.: "As part of the foot-by-foot inspection of the Tobin conducted every four years, this afternoon we discovered a crack in a transverse floor beam on the upper level of the bridge. As a precaution, Massport decided to place a weight restriction on the bridge. We are prohibiting truck travel on the upper level of the Tobin at this time. Inspectors and engineers are on site investigating the root cause of this abnormality.

Temporary and permanent repairs will be made as quickly as possible.''

The bridge opened in 1950. Including the approaches in Charlestown and Chelsea, the Tobin overall is 2 1/4 miles long, with a main center span 800 feet long that sits 135 feet above the Mystic River, according to Massport's website. Brelis said the cracked beam is in the main center span.

Stretches of one northbound lane have been closed and remain closed this evening for an ongoing painting and maintenance project separate from the inspection work that led to the southbound truck ban.

State Police are diverting southbound trucks onto Route 16, the Revere Beach Parkway.

Posted by mbello at 6:34 PM | Comments (0)

Elderly man found slain in Roxbury apartment

Globe staff

A man in his 60s was found stabbed to death in a Roxbury apartment this afternoon, police said.

The victim was found in a building on Elm Street about 2 p.m. He had been stabbed multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, Boston Police spokesperson Elaine Driscoll said.

Boston Police homicide investigators are at the scene. No arrests have been made in the case. Its the 54th homicide in Boston this year.

Authorities were led to the apartment after residents noticed a strong odor. Investigators believe the victim had been dead for some time.

Posted by mbello at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)

Boy, 10, awarded $26.5 million in malpractice case

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe staff

A Brockton boy who was born with severe brain damage following a traumatic delivery at Brigham and Women's Hospital has been awarded $26.5 million by a Suffolk County jury who saw the nearly blind 10-year-old wheeled into the courtroom with a feeding tube in his stomach.

The award to Jose E. Bejarano Jr. and his family Thursday afternoon was the biggest in a medical malpractice case in Massachusetts this year and among the largest in state history, David Yas, editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said today.

The family’s lawyers had argued that two residents at the hospital, Julie D. Miner and Alisa B. Goldberg, should have delivered Bejarano by caesarean section on March 13, 1997, when it became obvious that he and his mother were in distress. Instead, they let the labor go for eight hours before delivering him with forceps.

"They allowed it to go on way too long,'' said Forence A. Carey, one of the attorneys. "He was not getting the oxygen he needed because her blood pressure soared.''

Lawyers for the two physicians were not immediately available.

Brigham and Women's said in a statement that it was "shocked and saddened'' by the verdict that the jury delivered after 2 1/2 days of deliberations.

"Despite the talents and skills of our medical teams, events can arise during a pregnancy, and, tragically, not all outcomes are perfect,'' the hospital said. The hospital acknowledged the pain felt by the Bejarano family but insisted that "the actions of our physicians were appropriate and consistent with our high-quality practice.''

Posted by mbello at 3:05 PM | Comments (0)

Faust's inaugural address

Prepared remarks by Drew G. Faust for delivery at her installation today as Harvard's 28th president.

I stand honored by your trust, inspired by your charge. I am grateful to the Governing Boards for their confidence, and I thank all of you for gathering in these festival rites. I am indebted to my three predecessors, sitting behind me, for joining me today. But I am grateful to them for much more – for all that they have given to Harvard and for what each of them has generously given to me – advice, wisdom, support.

I am touched by the greetings from staff, faculty, students, alumni, universities, from our honorable Governor, and from the remarkable John Hope Franklin, who has both lived and written history. I am grateful to the community leaders from Boston and Cambridge who have come to welcome their new neighbor. I am a little stunned to see almost every person I am related to on earth sitting in the front rows. And I would like to offer a special greeting of my own to my teachers who are here – teachers from grade school, high school, college and graduate school – who taught me to love learning and the institutions that nurture it.

We gather for a celebration a bit different from our June traditions. Commencement is an annual rite of passage for thousands of graduates; today marks a rite of passage for the University. As at Commencement, we don robes that mark our ties to the most ancient traditions of scholarship. On this occasion, however, our procession includes not just our Harvard community, but scholars – 220 of them – representing universities and colleges from across the country and around the world. I welcome and thank our visitors, for their presence reminds us that what we do here today, and what we do at Harvard every day, links us to universities and societies around the globe.

Today we mark new beginnings by gathering in solidarity; we celebrate our community and its creativity; we commit ourselves to Harvard and all it represents in a new chapter of its distinguished history. Like a congregation at a wedding, you signify by your presence a pledge of support for this marriage of a new president to a venerable institution.

As our colleagues in anthropology understand so well, rituals have meanings and purposes; they are intended to arouse emotions and channel intentions. In ritual, as the poet Thomas Lynch has written, “We act out things we cannot put into words.” But now my task is in fact to put some of this ceremony into words, to capture our meanings and purposes.

Inaugural speeches are a peculiar genre. They are by definition pronouncements by individuals who don’t yet know what they are talking about. Or, we might more charitably dub them expressions of hope unchastened by the rod of experience.

A number of inaugural veterans – both orators and auditors – have proffered advice, including unanimous agreement that my talk must be shorter than Charles William Eliot’s – which ran to about an hour and a half. Often inaugural addresses contain lists – of a new president’s specific goals or programs. But lists seem too constraining when I think of what today should mean; they seem a way of limiting rather than unleashing our most ambitious imaginings, our profoundest commitments.

If this is a day to transcend the ordinary, if it is a rare moment when we gather not just as Harvard, but with a wider world of scholarship, teaching and learning, it is a time to reflect on what Harvard and institutions like it mean in this first decade of the 21st century.

Yet as I considered how to talk about higher education and the future, I found myself – historian that I am – returning to the past and, in particular, to a document I encountered in my first year of graduate school. My cousin Jack Gilpin, Class of ’73, read a section of it at Memorial Church this morning. As John Winthrop sat on board the ship Arbella in 1630, sailing across the Atlantic to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he wrote a charge to his band of settlers, a charter for their new beginnings. He offered what he considered “a compass to steer by” – a “model,” but not a set of explicit orders. Winthrop instead sought to focus his followers on the broader significance of their project, on the spirit in which they should undertake their shared work. I aim to offer such a “compass” today, one for us at Harvard, and one that I hope will have meaning for all of us who care about higher education, for we are inevitably, as Winthrop urged his settlers to be, “knitt together in this work as one.”

American higher education in 2007 is in a state of paradox – at once celebrated and assailed. A host of popular writings from the 1980s on have charged universities with teaching too little, costing too much, coddling professors and neglecting students, embracing an “illiberalism” that has silenced open debate. A PBS special in 2005 described a “sea of mediocrity” that “places this nation at risk.” A report issued by the U.S. Department of Education last year warned of the “obsolescence” of higher education as we know it and called for federal intervention in service of the national interest.

Yet universities like Harvard and its peers, those represented by so many of you here today, are beloved by alumni who donate billions of dollars each year, are sought after by students who struggle to win admission, and, in fact, are deeply revered by the American public. In a recent survey, 93 percent of respondents considered our universities “one of [the country’s] most valuable resources.” Abroad, our universities are admired and emulated; they are arguably the American institution most respected by the rest of the world.

How do we explain these contradictions? Is American higher education in crisis, and if so, what kind? What should we as its leaders and representatives be doing about it? This ambivalence, this curious love-hate relationship, derives in no small part from our almost unbounded expectations of our colleges and universities, expectations that are at once intensely felt and poorly understood.

From the time of its founding, the United States has tied its national identity to the power of education. We have long turned to education to prepare our citizens for the political equality fundamental to our national self-definition. In 1779, for example, Thomas Jefferson called for a national aristocracy of talent, chosen “without regard to wealth, birth, or other accidental condition of circumstance” and “rendered by liberal education ... able to guard the sacred deposit of rights and liberties of their fellow-citizens.” As our economy has become more complex, more tied to specialized knowledge, education has become more crucial to social and economic mobility. W.E.B. DuBois observed in 1903 that “Education and work are the levers to lift up a people.” Education makes the promise of America possible.

In the past half century, American colleges and universities have shared in a revolution, serving as both the emblem and the engine of the expansion of citizenship, equality and opportunity – to blacks, women, Jews, immigrants, and others who would have been subjected to quotas or excluded altogether in an earlier era. My presence here today – and indeed that of many others on this platform – would have been unimaginable even a few short years ago. Those who charge that universities are unable to change should take note of this transformation, of how different we are from universities even of the mid 20th century. And those who long for a lost golden age of higher education should think about the very limited population that alleged utopia actually served. College used to be restricted to a tiny elite; now it serves the many, not just the few. The proportion of the college age population enrolled in higher education today is four times what it was in 1950; twelve times what it was before the 1920s. Ours is a different and a far better world.

At institutions like Harvard and its peers, this revolution has been built on the notion that access should be based, as Jefferson urged, on talent, not circumstance. In the late 1960s, Harvard began sustained efforts to identify and attract outstanding minority students; in the 1970s, it gradually removed quotas limiting women to a quarter of the entering college class. Recently, Harvard has worked hard to send the message that the college welcomes families from across the economic spectrum. As a result we have seen in the past 3 years a 33 percent increase in students from families with incomes under $60,000. Harvard’s dorms and Houses are the most diverse environments in which many of our students will ever live.

Yet issues of access and cost persist – for middle-class families who suffer terrifying sticker shock, and for graduate and professional students, who may incur enormous debt as they pursue service careers in fields where salaries are modest. As graduate training comes to seem almost as indispensable as the baccalaureate degree for mobility and success, the cost of these programs takes on even greater importance.

The desirability and the perceived necessity of higher education have intensified the fears of many. Will I get in? Will I be able to pay? This anxiety expresses itself in both deep-seated resentment and nearly unrealizable expectations. Higher education cannot alone guarantee the mobility and equality at the heart of the American Dream. But we must fully embrace our obligation to be available and affordable. We must make sure that talented students are able to come to Harvard, that they know they are able to come, and that they know we want them here. We need to make sure that cost does not divert students from pursuing their passions and their dreams.

But American anxiety about higher education is about more than just cost. The deeper problem is a widespread lack of understanding and agreement about what universities ought to do and be. Universities are curious institutions with varied purposes that they have neither clearly articulated nor adequately justified. Resulting public confusion, at a time when higher education has come to seem an indispensable social resource, has produced a torrent of demands for greater “accountability” from colleges and universities.

Universities are indeed accountable. But we in higher education need to seize the initiative in defining what we are accountable for. We are asked to report graduation rates, graduate school admission statistics, scores on standardized tests intended to assess the “value added” of years in college, research dollars, numbers of faculty publications. But such measures cannot themselves capture the achievements, let alone the aspirations of universities. Many of these metrics are important to know, and they shed light on particular parts of our undertaking. But our purposes are far more ambitious and our accountability thus far more difficult to explain.

Let me venture a definition. The essence of a university is that it is uniquely accountable to the past and to the future – not simply or even primarily to the present. A university is not about results in the next quarter; it is not even about who a student has become by graduation. It is about learning that molds a lifetime, learning that transmits the heritage of millennia; learning that shapes the future. A university looks both backwards and forwards in ways that must – that even ought to – conflict with a public’s immediate concerns or demands. Universities make commitments to the timeless, and these investments have yields we cannot predict and often cannot measure. Universities are stewards of living tradition – in Widener and Houghton and our 88 other libraries, in the Fogg and the Peabody, in our departments of classics, of history and of literature. We are uncomfortable with efforts to justify these endeavors by defining them as instrumental, as measurably useful to particular contemporary needs. Instead we pursue them in part “for their own sake,” because they define what has over centuries made us human, not because they can enhance our global competitiveness.

We pursue them because they offer us as individuals and as societies a depth and breadth of vision we cannot find in the inevitably myopic present. We pursue them too because just as we need food and shelter to survive, just as we need jobs and seek education to better our lot, so too we as human beings search for meaning. We strive to understand who we are, where we came from, where we are going and why. For many people, the four years of undergraduate life offer the only interlude permitted for unfettered exploration of such fundamental questions. But the search for meaning is a never-ending quest that is always interpreting, always interrupting and redefining the status quo, always looking, never content with what is found. An answer simply yields the next question. This is in fact true of all learning, of the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities, and thus of the very core of what universities are about.

By their nature, universities nurture a culture of restlessness and even unruliness. This lies at the heart of their accountability to the future. Education, research, teaching are always about change – transforming individuals as they learn, transforming the world as our inquiries alter our understanding of it, transforming societies as we see our knowledge translated into policies – policies like those being developed at Harvard to prevent unfair lending practices, or to increase affordable housing or avert nuclear proliferation – or translated into therapies, like those our researchers have designed to treat macular degeneration or to combat anthrax. The expansion of knowledge means change. But change is often uncomfortable, for it always encompasses loss as well as gain, disorientation as well as discovery. It has, as Machiavelli once wrote, no constituency. Yet in facing the future, universities must embrace the unsettling change that is fundamental to every advance in understanding.

We live in the midst of scientific developments as dramatic as those of any era since the 17th century. Our obligation to the future demands that we take our place at the forefront of these transformations. We must organize ourselves in ways that enable us fully to engage in such exploration, as we have begun to do by creating the Broad Institute, by founding cross school departments, by launching a School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. We must overcome barriers both within and beyond Harvard that could slow or constrain such work, and we must provide the resources and the facilities – like the new science buildings in both Cambridge and Allston – to support it. Our obligation to the future makes additional demands. Universities are, uniquely, a place of philosophers as well as scientists. It is urgent that we pose the questions of ethics and meaning that will enable us to confront the human, the social and the moral significance of our changing relationship with the natural world.

Accountability to the future requires that we leap geographic as well as intellectual boundaries. Just as we live in a time of narrowing distances between fields and disciplines, so we inhabit an increasingly transnational world in which knowledge itself is the most powerful connector. Our lives here in Cambridge and Boston cannot be separated from the future of the rest of the earth: we share the same changing climate; we contract and spread the same diseases; we participate in the same economy. We must recognize our accountability to the wider world, for, as John Winthrop warned in 1630, “we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”

Harvard is both a source and a symbol of the ever expanding knowledge upon which the future of the earth depends, and we must take an active and reflective role in this new geography of learning. Higher education is burgeoning around the globe in forms that are at once like and unlike our own. American universities are widely emulated, but our imitators often display limited appreciation for the principles of free inquiry and the culture of creative unruliness that defines us.

The “Veritas” in Harvard’s shield was originally intended to invoke the absolutes of divine revelation, the unassailable verities of Puritan religion. We understand it quite differently now. Truth is an aspiration, not a possession. Yet in this we – and all universities defined by the spirit of debate and free inquiry – challenge and even threaten those who would embrace unquestioned certainties. We must commit ourselves to the uncomfortable position of doubt, to the humility of always believing there is more to know, more to teach, more to understand.

The kinds of accountability I have described represent at once a privilege and a responsibility. We are able to live at Harvard in a world of intellectual freedom, of inspiring tradition, of extraordinary resources, because we are part of that curious and venerable organization known as a university. We need better to comprehend and advance its purposes – not simply to explain ourselves to an often critical public, but to hold ourselves to our own account. We must act not just as students and staff, historians and computer scientists, lawyers and physicians, linguists and sociologists, but as citizens of the university, with obligations to this commonwealth of the mind. We must regard ourselves as accountable to one another, for we constitute the institution that in turn defines our possibilities. Accountability to the future encompasses special accountability to our students, for they are our most important purpose and legacy. And we are responsible not just to and for this university, Harvard, in this moment, 2007, but to the very concept of the university as it has evolved over nearly a millennium.

It is not easy to convince a nation or a world to respect, much less support, institutions committed to challenging society’s fundamental assumptions. But it is our obligation to make that case: both to explain our purposes and achieve them so well that these precious institutions survive and prosper in this new century. Harvard cannot do this alone. But all of us know that Harvard has a special role. That is why we are here; that is why it means so much to us.

Last week I was given a brown manila envelope that had been entrusted to the University Archives in 1951 by James B. Conant, Harvard’s 23rd president. He left instructions that it should be opened by the Harvard president at the outset of the next century “and not before.” I broke the seal on the mysterious package to find a remarkable letter from my predecessor. It was addressed to “My dear Sir.” Conant wrote with a sense of imminent danger. He feared an impending World War III that would make “the destruction of our cities including Cambridge quite possible.”

“We all wonder,” he continued, “how the free world is going to get through the next fifty years.” But as he imagined Harvard’s future, Conant shifted from foreboding to faith. If the “prophets of doom” proved wrong, if there was a Harvard president alive to read his letter, Conant was confident about what the university would be. “You will receive this note and be in charge of a more prosperous and significant institution than the one over which I have the honor to preside ... That ... [Harvard] will maintain the traditions of academic freedom, of tolerance for heresy, I feel sure.” We must dedicate ourselves to making certain he continues to be right; we must share and sustain his faith.

Conant’s letter, like our gathering here, marks a dramatic intersection of the past with the future. This is a ceremony in which I pledge – with keys and seal and charter – my accountability to the traditions that his voice from the past invokes. And at the same time, I affirm, in compact with all of you, my accountability to and for Harvard’s future. As in Conant’s day, we face uncertainties in a world that gives us sound reason for disquiet. But we too maintain an unwavering belief in the purposes and potential of this university and in all it can do to shape how the world will look another half century from now. Let us embrace those responsibilities and possibilities; let us share them “knitt together . . . as one;” let us take up the work joyfully, for such an assignment is a privilege beyond measure.

Posted by rgreene at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

Sen. Kennedy undergoes surgery to remove blockage

By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff

Senator Edward M. Kennedy is "expected to make a full recovery" following surgery early today to clear a blocked artery in his neck that put the senator at risk of a stroke, according to his surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"The surgery was routine, uneventful and successful," said Dr. Richard Cambria, MGH's chief of vascular and endovascular surgery, speaking at a telephone news conference this afternoon.

Kennedy, 75, is expected to be discharged over the weekend and return to work in about a week without any limitations. The Senate is currently in recess.

Cambria said the operation was performed to prevent a possible stroke, which could be triggered if the blockage in Kennedy's left carotid artery prevented oxygen and blood from getting to the brain. Kennedy had no symptoms from the blockage, as is typical in many patients. The problem was discovered Tuesday night in a routine series of MRI scans conducted to check on the senator's back and neck, which were injured in a 1964 plane crash.

Although patients with blockages in the neck artery often have other symptoms of heart disease, Kennedy's doctors said he had passed a cardiac stress test prior to the surgery. The doctors would not, however, discuss whether tests had turned up other evidence of blockages or problems, but said there was no need for any treatment on his right carotid artery.

"His overall health is excellent," said his personal physician, Dr. Larry Ronan. Kennedy already takes medicine to control his blood pressure and cholesterol and has to watch what he eats, Ronan said. But the doctor said he did not expect that Kennedy would have to change his lifestyle to prevent future health problems.

"His diet is very, very good," Ronan said, and the senator swims daily for exercise.

Posted by mbello at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

Mass. Pike to open turnaround ramp tomorrow

By David Abel, Globe staff

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority tomorrow will open its new turnaround ramp to make it easier for visitors to get from Back Bay to Logan International Airport and the South Boston waterfront. But the ramp will only be open to cabs and buses.

The ramp opening was going to be delayed until Jan. 1, but the Turnpike Authority bowed to pressure to open it earlier. Turnpike officials said they didn't want to have to set tolls for the ramp, only to raise them again in a few months.

Tolls for the ramp will be $2 for cabs and $3 for buses.

The $1.8 million ramp, located at the Allston-Cambridge interchange, was originally scheduled to open last year. Construction stalled after the Interstate 90 tunnel ceiling collapsed and workers found soil contamination at the site.

Do you think it should be open to general traffic, and if so, why? Please include your name, age, hometown in any response, and a way for a reporter to contact you.
Responses should be sent to dabel@globe.com.

Posted by mbello at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

Gov. Patrick responds to call from murdered youth's family

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick leaves home of Steven Odom, 13, who was fatally shot last week. (Evan Richman)

By Maria Cramer, Globe staff

Kim Odom stood in the cold rain on Evans Street, where her 13-year-old son Steven was fatally shot one week ago, and called on Governor Deval Patrick to meet with her and her family to discuss how to stem violence in the city and state.

Odom said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, and other officials had visited the family to try to comfort them. But they had yet to hear from Patrick or members of his administration since Steven Odom was killed last week by a gunman police believe was targeting someone else.

"Now, Governor Deval Patrick, we need some answers from you," Kim Odom said, surrounded by her husband and their four other children, who huddled under umbrellas with dozens of other friends and relatives near an enormous makeshift memorial of teddy bears and candles, protected by a plastic tarp.

"Now as a hurting mother, I extend myself to speak for other hurting mothers," Odom said during a press conference in Dorchester, just around the corner from her house. "What is your office doing to end this hurt across the Commonwealth?"

Three hours later, Patrick showed up at the family’s house. He left about 40 minutes later without speaking to reporters.

The Odoms’ plea marked the second public appeal in two months by Boston residents for Patrick to respond to crime in the community.

"The governor has taken the issue of violence in our community very seriously," Kyle Sullivan, Patrick’s spokesman, said Thursday night. He said Patrick has spent millions of dollars for additional police and violence prevention programs, such as summer jobs for young people.
‘‘More still needs to be done, and his administration is committed to working with the Legislature, mayors, and concerned residents across the state to continue this concerted effort to curb urban violence,’’ Sullivan said.

He added that members of the governor’s staff had spoken to family representatives before Thursday’s press conference about meeting with the Odoms.

‘‘The governor’s thoughts and prayers are with the family,’’ he said.

Reba Danastorg, a family spokeswoman, said that Kim and Ronald Odom agreed to meet with Patrick again soon.

"He heard their heart," she said. "They were too numb as parents to do anything other than to share their hearts."

Kim Odom said she and her husband, Ronald, had decided to hold a press conference to tell the public how the death has affected the family and to send a message to their son’s killer.
Since his death, she said, she and her husband have awakened before dawn each morning and wept.
‘
‘To the person who did this act of violence, although our hearts are hurting, it holds no hate,’’ Kim Odom said during the press conference. ‘‘God is a god of second chances. You can be forgiven.’’

Odom said the family would ask Patrick to restore funding that has been cut in recent years to violence prevention programs and change the Criminal Offender Record Information law, which allows employers and landlords to obtain the criminal records of ex-convicts.
Patrick has said he wants to reform the records law.

Kim Odom also called on the Police Department to take more guns off the street and on the city to hire more staff to work with young people on the streets and to provide year-round jobs to young people.

"We need to give our young people some hope, to let our people know that we do care," Odom said after the press conference. "Everyone is feeling helpless, and that shouldn’t be."

Sitting in their dining room, Kim and Ronald Odom said they want to understand what led the person who shot their son to commit such a violent act.

"I’m trying to know what caused that person to get to a place that, for whatever reason, they felt they had to take such a wrong step," she said. "I can’t help but feel some sort of compassion. I know it sounds strange, but that’s how it is."

But, Odom said, she wants the perpetrator caught. "There is forgiveness, but there is also accountability," she said.

During the press conference, she said the family would continue to fight to prevent violence. ‘‘We are fully aware of what has violently and tragically happened to our son, our child, our baby, baby boy,’’ she said. ‘‘And his life and death will not be in vain.’’

John C. Drake of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.

Posted by mbello at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)

Two Mass. servicemen among 9 identified in World War II plane crash

By Globe staff

Two Massachusetts servicemen have been identified among the remains of nine US servicemen found at a site in Germany where an American plane crashed during World War II, military officials announced today.

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office identified the servicemen as: First Lieutenant David P. McMurray, of Melrose, Mass.; First Lieutenant Raymond Pascual, of Houston; Second Lieutenant Millard C. Wells Jr., of Paris, Ky.; Technical Sergeant Leonard J. Ray, of Upper Falls, Md.; Technical Sergeant Hyman L. Stiglitz, of Boston; Staff Sergeant Robert L. Cotey, of Vergennes, Vt.; Staff Sergeant Francis E. Larrivee, of Laconia, N.H.; Staff Sergeant Robert J. Flood, of Neelyton, Pa.; and Staff Sergeant Walter O. Schlosser, of Lake City, Mich.; all were in the US Army Air Forces.

According to a press release today, the men were aboard a B-24J Liberator that departed North Pickenham, England, on July 7, 1944, on a mission to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane was last seen by US aircrew members in that vicinity. Officials said the captured records revealed that it had crashed near Westeregeln, about 20 miles northwest of the target in what later became the Soviet sector of a postwar divided Germany.

In 2001, the release stated, a group of German citizens interested in recovering wartime relics and remains learned of a potential crash site south of Westeregeln. Later that year and in 2002, the group found the site and uncovered human remains from what appeared to be two burial locations. The remains and other personal effects, including identification tags, were turned over to US officials.

In 2003, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team combed the crash site and recovered additional remains along with identification tags and nonbiological evidence.

Posted by mbello at 2:35 PM | Comments (0)

Ex-director arraigned in theft of Red Cross funds

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

The former executive director of an American Red Cross chapter pleaded not guilty during her arraignment today in Leominster District Court to charges that she used the charity's money to pay for personal expenses, according to a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph E. Early Jr.

Deanie M. Harris faced one count of larceny over $250 by scheme for allegedly misusing gift cards donated to the Leominster Red Cross office for victims of Hurricane Katrina and for allegedly using Red Cross funds to pay for personal expenses, such as having her personal SUV detailed at the cost of $200, according to a summary of the case filed in court.

John M. Dombrowski, Harris's attorney told the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, "She's maintaining her innocence, so right now we are preparing for trial. ... She's going to have her day in court."

According to court records, local churches and businesses donated nearly $3,000 in gift cards for Katrina victims that allegedly were never provided to them, but instead diverted by Harris for her personal use.

Harris was formerly the executive director of the North Central Massachusetts Chapter of the American Red Cross, which has since merged with the Worcester chapter.

She was released on personal recognizance and is due back in court Nov. 19, according to Early's office.

Posted by mbello at 2:11 PM | Comments (0)

Ten guns stolen from Easton store

Globe staff

Thieves robbed an Easton ammunition store, making off with 10 guns early this morning.

Police said the Zero Hour Arms gun store on Renker Drive was broken into shortly after 5 a.m.

Authorities said the bandits attached chains to security bars outside the window and used a four-wheel drive vehicle to separate it from the building.

The thieves then reached into the store and stole the 10 weapons, including handguns and shotguns.

"The bars on the inside of the window were separated enough that they were able to reach through enough of a gap and steal the guns," said Deputy Chief Allen Krajcik of the Easton Police. "The thieves did not proceed to go any further."

Krajcik said the store has security cameras only inside the facility. "Because they didn't enter the building, they are not on the security footage," said Krajcik.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is also involved in the investigation.

Posted by mbello at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)

One shot on Roxbury street

Globe staff

A man was shot on Maywood Street in Roxbury shortly after noon today in an apparent drive-by shooting.

Police say the victim was wounded in the leg and rushed to Boston Medical Center about 12:30 p.m. The injuries appear to be non-life threatening.

Witnesses reported hearing at least five shots ring out.

A white car was seen fleeing the scene, police said.

Detectives are canvassing the area looking for possible suspects.

Posted by mbello at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2007

Pint of Guinness, side of theology

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Bad Abbots, a pub in Quincy with 10 beer taps, is preparing tonight for a crowd of more 100 people who aren't coming to hear Irish music or watch Gaelic football.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, will be speaking about faith and evangelization as part of an effort to reach young people.

"It's not thumping the Bible by any means or saying that you should be in church," said Peter Kerr, the owner of Bad Abbots. "It's just reaching out to 21- to 35-year-olds."

O'Malley is appearing as a part of "Theology of Tap," a program started in suburban Chicago in 1981 designed to draw reach out to young Catholics.

"It's an opportunity to talk about church and the experience of God outside Sunday Mass," said Anastacia Stornetta, the coordinator of young adult ministries for the Archdiocese of Boston.

Last October, O'Malley spoke at The Brewery Exchange in Lowell. At Bad Abbots, the cardinal is one of 10 speakers who will appear over several months. Others have included Sister Olga Yaqob, an Iraqi nun who spent seven years serving the prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

O'Malley is scheduled to be speaking 7 p.m. Bad Abbots is located at 1546 Hancock St.

Posted by aryan at 3:09 PM | Comments (0)

Panel named to investigate substance abuse in Boston Fire Department

(Handout/Globe file photo)

James M. Shannon (left), president of the National Fire Protection Association, and Craig P. Coy, former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, along with Dr. Sheila Chapman (not pictured), will review policies and procedures at the Boston Fire Department.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is tapping a national fire-code specialist, a doctor who specializes in substance-abuse treatment, and the former head of the Massachusetts Port Authority to review Boston Fire Department policies and procedures after revelations last week that two fallen firefighters may have been impaired when they died in a West Roxbury fire.

James M. Shannon, president of the National Fire Protection Association; Dr. Sheila Chapman, a practitioner of addiction and internal medicine at Boston Medical Center; and Craig P. Coy, former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, were scheduled to meet with the mayor today and discuss the scope of their investigation, according to two city officials briefed on the plan.

Menino announced Thursday that he would commission an outside review of the fire department. The Globe reported last week that two government officials briefed on autopsy results said firefighter Paul J. Cahill was legally drunk and firefighter Warren J. Payne had traces of cocaine in his system when the two died fighting a fire Aug. 29 at a Chinese restaurant on Centre Street. Fire officials also said last week that 159 firefighters -- - more than 10 percent of the current force -- have been ordered into substance-abuse treatment in the past three years.

Shannon, Chapman, and Coy will be charged with reviewing the fire department's drug- and alcohol-testing policy, which currently doesn't allow for random, mandatory testing. They will also examine other policies and procedures, said the city officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly about the panel.

Shannon has been president and chief executive officer of the NFPA since 2002 and has spearheaded several key fire-safety initiatives, including convening an emergency committee after The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island that led to amendments in recommended building and safety codes in places of assembly, according to the organization's website. The NFPA issues national guidelines for fire codes that are adopted by many states, including Massachusetts.

Along with her practice at BMC, Chapman is an assistant professor of medicine for Boston University School of Medicine. Chapman is listed as a co-investigator and faculty member for a substance-abuse treatment project and other programs focused on alcohol-abuse screening and intervention, according to the Boston Medical Center website.

Coy took over the helm of Massport in 2002 when complaints of lax security at Logan International Airport forced his predecessor to resign shortly after two hijacked jets that took off from the airport crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York. Before Massport, Coy spent 20 years in the US Coast Guard as an officer and helicopter pilot, according to a Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin.

Menino is expected to announce the review-panel appointments after the meeting at City Hall this afternoon, the city officials said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com

Posted by aryan at 2:03 PM | Comments (0)

After 21 years, Acushnet man charged in death of wife

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Twenty-one years after his estranged wife disappeared, a man appeared in court today and was charged with beating her to death and dumping her body in a flooded Dartmouth quarry, where it was weighted down with a cinder block.

Robert Roy, 44, pleaded not guilty in New Bedford District Court and was ordered held without bail by Judge John M. Julian. He was indicted by a grand jury after witnesses were re-interviewed as part of an effort to solve cold cases and investigators uncovered new evidence, prosecutors said.

Bristol Assistant District Attorney William M. McCauley said Roy was considered a suspect in March 1986 when his wife, Marni Roy, disappeared after visiting him in Acushnet. Roy told police during the initial investigation that he had beaten her and committed other acts of domestic violence during their relationship, McCauley said, but he insisted that he did not kill his 19-year-old wife, whose maiden name was Larkin.

Police conducted a massive search for the woman in 1986. Her body was finally discovered in 1990 by recreational divers beneath 30 feet of water in the quarry. An autopsy showed that Marni Roy had been beaten to death and may have been alive when she was tossed into the water, McCauley said.

Defense attorney Kevin J. Reddington called the charges "ludicrous'' and said Roy stayed in the area even though he knew police considered him a suspect in his wife's death. He said Roy drove his mother to New Bedford Superior Court on Tuesday where she was called to testify before a grand jury investigating the case. Police arrested Roy when he arrived at court.

Reddington, who represented Roy in the 1990s, said the murder charge is based on "speculation'' and not evidence. He also said the victim, who worked as a bartender, was on the periphery of a drug ring at the time of her disappearance and had been threatened by drug dealers.

Prosecutors said that Roy made incriminating statements to friends who were recently re-interviewed by police. One person told police that Roy described killing his wife and tossing her body "into a bottomless pit," McCauley said. Prosecutors refused to say whether the witness spoke to police during the initial investigation.

McCauley said another witness told police that Roy said he put tape over the mouth of his estranged wife so she "would have to listen to him."

Posted by aryan at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)

Wanted: Doubles for Dane Cook, Kate Hudson from the back

(Getty Images/ David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

For the film "Bachelor No. 2," directors are looking for doubles for the backs of Dane Cook and Kate Hudson.

By Globe Staff

Casting directors are looking for photo doubles who can stand-in for Kate Hudson and Dane Cook as they finish filming "Bachelor No. 2" in Boston. But they aren't interested in look-alikes or impersonators of the stars.

The directors need someone with curly blond hair down past her shoulder blades who could pass for Hudson from the back. For Cook, the search is the same -- someone who looks like the actor without turning around.

"It's not a facial thing -- its really height, coloring, and hair," said Kevin Fennessy, who runs a Boston-area casting company that bears his name.

For Hudson, directors are searching for a Caucasian woman with a slight build who stands 5 feet 7 inches tall. The double must be willing to dye her hair and be available Thursday and Saturday. The stand-in for Cook must be a Caucasian man standing 6 feet tall with black hair that is "short with a little bit of length," Fennessy said.

Candidates can send photos showing the front or back of their heads to Bachelor2@bostoncasting.com

Posted by aryan at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

16-year old Weymouth girl dies in car crash

By Milton Valencia, Globe staff

HINGHAM -- A 16-year-old Weymouth High School student was killed Tuesday night when the car she was riding in smashed into a guard rail, ejecting her and the driver and seriously injuring a third passenger.

Catherine Crocker died early this morning, Hingham police said in a statement.

The driver, Thiago Caldeira, 22, of Holbrook, and a 17-year-old girl suffered serious injuries, police said.

Police said Caldeira was driving a Dodge Neon entering Hingham from Hull on George Washington Boulevard when the vehicle apparently lost control, striking a guardrail then striking the bridge abutment, spinning across the opposite side of the roadway before coming to a stop. The accident occurred at about 10:45 p.m.

Caldeira and Crocker were ejected, police said. The 17-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was wearing a seat belt, police said.

Police said speed appears to be a factor, and that the accident remains under investigation. Caldeira has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, operating to endanger, failure to stay in marked lanes, speeding, and failure to wear a seatbelt.

Posted by mbello at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

Without life jackets, 3 fisherman rescued off Marblehead

By Caitlin Castello, Globe Correspondent

Three men who went fishing without life jackets had to be rescued last night when their canoe capsized off Marblehead, authorities said.

The canoe flipped about 100 yards off Marblehead Lighthouse at about 10 p.m., according to Captain Mike Porter of the Marblehead Fire Department.

The three men -- identified as Roberto Tejada, 35, Mario Fuentes, 31, and Rogue Viera, 42 -- were in the water for 30 minutes before a fire department rescue team arrived. The men were treated for hypothermia and
taken to Salem Hospital, Porter said.

Posted by aryan at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

October 9, 2007

Driver in fatal Roxbury crash charged with homicide

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

A 21-year-old Dorchester man has been charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide after two people were killed Monday in a Roxbury crash.

Rohan Blackwood, who was arraigned in his hospital bed this afternoon, was also charged with three counts of operating under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury and one count of speeding.

Prosecutors say that Blackwood had been drinking at a party Sunday night before driving home early the next morning in his Nissan Maxima with five passengers. Witnesses said Blackwood was speeding down Blue Hill Avenue and frequently crossing into oncoming traffic, nearly hitting two other cars, according to a press release from Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Blackwood's car eventually smashed into a tree and through a picket fence.

The crash killed two 20-year-old passengers, who were identified by the district attorney's office as Christopher Lawrence and Janine King. The three other passengers were injured.

Blackwood's bail was set at $50,000.

Posted by aryan at 6:39 PM | Comments (0)

Ogonowski, Tsongas to face off in final Fifth District debate

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

With the special election just a week away, the leading candidates to represent the Fifth Congressional District will debate tonight for the third and final time.

In the closing weeks of the campaign, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski have both leaned heavily on their biographies, presenting themselves as solutions to the status quo. With increasingly pointed ads, mailers, and press releases, they have painted each other as politicians who would perpetuate what is wrong with Washington.

Tsongas, the widow of former US senator and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, has tried to make the election about the war in Iraq and President Bush, much as successful Democratic congressional candidates across the country did last year. Tsongas wants to set a timetable to begin troop withdrawal from Iraq and released two TV ads about the war last week. One includes a shot of Bush on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003, under a "Mission Accomplished" banner. The other says, "One vote can help end this war: Yours."

Ogonowski, whose brother was killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has tried to make the election a campaign to replace "business as usual" in Washington. The Dracut hay farmer and retired Air Force and Air National Guard officer has cast himself as a homespun populist.

Tonight's debate will be held at 7 p.m. in Durgin Hall at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The debate is open to the public, and cosponsors WBZ, Lowell Telecommunications Corp., the Lowell Sun, and the UMass-Lowell Political Science Club have invited voters to attend.

The debate will also stream live on the web at WBZ1030.com, ltc.org, lowellsun.com, and uml.edu and will be aired live on the radio on WUML-FM 91.5 and on LTC Channel 8 on Lowell cable. The candidates will be asked questions submitted by voters at RunPolitics.com.

The debate will feature Tsongas, Ogonowski, and the three other candidates who will appear on the Oct. 16 ballot: the Constitution Party's Kevin Thompson and independent candidates Patrick Murphy, a Lowell bricklayer, and Kurt Hayes, a Boxborough businessman.

Ogonowski's campaign released a new television ad today that reminds voters that his brother, John Ogonowski, was an airline pilot whose plane was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center six years ago. In the ad, Peg Ogonowski, John's widow, says Jim was a rock for the family after his brother's death. "I don't know that we would have been able to keep this house and farm if it weren't for Jim," she says. "He's someone that you would want representing us in Congress."

The two candidates differ sharply on several issues, including immigration. Ogonowski opposes all forms of amnesty and wants more border security and enforcement of existing laws. Tsongas also wants stronger border security and the enforcement of labor laws, but has said a path should be created to give the 12 million illegal immigrants already here a chance to earn citizenship.

The campaigns last week filed comprehensive finance reports with the Federal Election Commission that covered mid-August through Sept. 26. The reports showed that Tsongas had raised considerably more for the primary and general elections, collecting more than $600,000 in the reporting period and nearly $1.9 million overall. Ogonowski raised $201,000 during the reporting period and $434,000 overall.

Posted by aryan at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)

Nantucket lighthouse moved to new perch

By Caitlin Castello, Globe Correspondent

The Sankaty Head Lighthouse has finally been moved to its new resting place on Nantucket.

The 157-year-old lighthouse was set in its new home about 11 a.m. today. Officials said it took nine days to move the 500-ton, 70-foot tall structure about 405 feet.

"Although it's been fun, it has been exhausting for the crew and volunteers," said Robert Felch, president of the 'Sconset Trust.

The move started Monday, Oct. 1, at 8:30 a.m. with a crew of 12, transporting the 500-ton lighthouse on hydraulic jacks. A group of 70 volunteers helped the visitors navigate around the construction site.

The lighthouse was originally 75 feet from the bluff; now it will rest 270 feet away. The bluff loses an average of 3 feet of land each year due to erosion. "We're hoping it'll buy us at least 100 years," said Felch.

The funds for the move were raised by the community. The fund-raising started last July, and the 'Sconset Trust has been able to raise $3.7 million. The goal is $4 million.

The last step in the move will begin tomorrow with the setting of the foundation. It will be finished at the end of the week, said Felch. A relighting ceremony will held at the end of the month.

Posted by aryan at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)

Small earthquake rattles Merrimack Valley

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A small earthquake that sounded like thunder briefly shook the ground early Monday as it rumbled beneath the surface of Merrimack Valley.

The quake, which struck at 7:15 a.m., had an epicenter in the town of Merrimac and could be felt in several surrounding communities, including Amesbury. It measured 1.8 on the Richter scale, said John Ebel, the director of Weston Observatory at Boston College.

No damage or injuries were reported. Seismologists were alerted to the quake after 20 to 25 Amesbury residents living near Kimball and Lions Mouth roads called police.

"This event was so small that the computer didn't quite get it," Ebel said.

When scientists at the observatory reviewed the data they determined that a quake had struck at exactly 16 seconds after 7:15 a.m. Earthquakes that inflict damage usually register at least 5 on the Richter scale, Ebel said. Seismologists typically record several small earthquakes a year in Massachusetts.

In Amesbury Monday, police were taking roll call when the tremor hit, said Sergeant William Scholtz.

"We felt it here. Heard it here," Scholtz said today by telephone. "Just quick. Like a big bang. Real quick, like something hit the building."

The sergeant ran outside and expected to see a traffic accident but found nothing. Then, the phone started to ring.

"We didn't have an answer for them until about midmorning," Scholtz said. "Then we were told it was an earthquake."

Posted by aryan at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

3 injured in Swampscott scaffolding collapse

By Emily A. Canal, Globe Correspondent

A scaffolding collapse at a Swampscott home this morning sent three construction workers to the hospital after plunging 20 feet to the ground, police said.

The three men in their mid-30s were working at 41 Buena Vista St. at 10 a.m. when a wall bracket broke and sent the scaffolding crashing to the ground, said Sergeant Tim Cassidy of the Swampscott Police Department.

Two of the workers were rushed by ambulance to Boston Medical Center, Cassidy said. The third was taken to North Shore Medical Center. The conditions and identities of the men were not released.

Town building inspectors and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the collapse, Cassidy said.

Posted by aryan at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Bentley students take antibiotics after bacterial meningitis death

By Tania deLuzuriaga and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

WALTHAM -- Some 30 students at Bentley College have been given precautionary antibiotics after a first-year student died over the weekend from bacterial meningitis in New York.

School officials said today at a press conference that they have found as many as 50 students who may have had contact with Erin Ortiz, 18, who died while visiting her family in New Hampton, N.Y.

"We are working day and night to identify students who may have had contact with her," said Gerri Taylor, director of Bentley Student Health Services. "It's a health service's worst nightmare. It's a college's worst nightmare."

No additional cases have been reported. Bacterial meningitis is passed through close contact, including kissing and sharing food. Bentley officials are encouraging anyone with symptoms to seek medical attention. Symptoms include high fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion, and sleepiness.

Ortiz's father urged his daughter's fellow students not to ignore symptoms, said Bentley vice president Kathleen Yorkis. "He felt that in her desire to be an active college student Erin may not have paid enough attention to the signals her body was sending her," Yorkis said.

Ortiz has always dreamed of going to Bentley, a business college in suburban Boston, and was in the investment club, which invested the school's money.
The college had a four-day weekend for fall break and Ortiz took the train home to New York, according to Yorkis, who spoke to her father. She told her family she felt as if she was getting sick and slept late on Saturday.

The family went out to dinner that night and Ortiz went to bed early, Yorkis said. She woke up about midnight and told her sister she had a horrible headache. They went to the hospital, and she died.

"We lost our daughter in 36 hours," Ortiz's father said, according to Yorkis.

In 20 years, the Bentley has only had one of case of bacterial meningitis, which was in 2002, and the student recovered. Last year, Massachusetts recorded 21 cases of the illness.

Posted by aryan at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

Toll hike public hearings start tonight

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

Motorists will get their say about proposed toll hikes tonight at the first of several public hearings to discuss a plan to increase fares by 25 cents at the Allston-Brighton and Weston toll booths and 50 cents at the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels.

The hearing at Mario Umana Harbor Side School in East Boston will tackle a toll hike by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority that has been scheduled for nearly a decade, as part of the plan for paying off Big Dig debt.

Other public hearings have been planned for Wednesday in Newton, Friday in Framingham, and next Thursday, Oct. 18, in Worcester. An additional hearing may be scheduled in Framingham after residents complained about the timing of the one scheduled Friday night.

Last week, the Turnpike board gave preliminary approval to hikes that were much smaller than had been anticipated. In September, the board discussed increasing the $3 tolls on the tunnels to as much as $6 and hiking the $1 tolls in Weston and Allston to as much as $1.75.

Instead, the authority put off a major toll hike in the hopes that Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to reorganize the agencies that oversee transportation will save money by eliminating redundancies. Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, who is also chairman of the Turnpike Authority board, said last week that he will give the Legislature a year to work with him and other members of Patrick's administration to find savings.

The current proposal would increase the tolls at Allston-Brighton and Weston to $1.25 and the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels to $3.50, effective in January. After the public hearings, the turnpike board will take a final vote on the toll hikes at a meeting tentatively scheduled for the end of the month.

Details about the three scheduled public hearings are:

Tuesday, Oct. 9, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Mario Umana Harbor Side School
312 Border St., East Boston

Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Veterans' War Memorial Auditorium
1000 Commonwealth Ave., Newton

Friday, Oct. 12, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Framingham Memorial Building
150 Concord St., Framingham

Thursday Oct. 18, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Worcester Vocational Technical High School
1 Skyline Dr., Worcester

Posted by aryan at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 8, 2007

Two killed when car slams into tree in Roxbury

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Two people died and four were injured in an early-morning car crash in Roxbury when their vehicle skidded across Blue Hill Avenue, jumped the curb and smashed into a tree and through a picket fence.

Boston Police said they believe speed was a factor in the accident, which occurred just before 5 a.m.

Patrice Lawson, who lives next door to the crash site, awoke with a start and ran downstairs in her pajamas to find a badly damaged car in an empty dirt lot beside a three-story home.

"I heard a loud bang, it sounded like an explosion," she said. "Scare you enough to make you run."

The driver was slumped over and unconscious, she said. None of the passengers was making any noise. She immediately called 911, and emergency personnel were on the scene within minutes, Lawson said. They extricated the passengers from the crumbled Nissan Maxima by tearing its top off.

Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash, and that the four injured passengers were being treated at local hospitals. They did not release the names of the victims.

Lawson said it had not started raining at the time of the crash and that the car left long skid marks at a 45 degree angle on the straight two-lane stretch of road. After hitting the curb, the car evidently hit the tree some five feet off the ground, then spun through the air, crashing in the narrow empty lot facing the street.

"It was a miracle it didn't hit the house," Lawson said.

Later this morning, a white teddy bear had been fastened to the gouged tree with yellow police tape. The name Christopher had been written twice on a red heart on the rain-stained stuffed animal. Slats of the fence were strewn across the empty lot, and a bent metal railing lay beside the steps of the house.

"It's sad, so sad. Such young people," Lawson said.

Posted by ggil at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2007

Trigen steam pipe ruptures -- again -- in Boston

By Sarah Metcalf, Globe Correspondent

A three-story apartment building on New Chardon Street was evacuated today after a steam line ruptured beneath the road outside and possibly released asbestos into the air, the Boston Fire Department said.

Around 1:30 p.m., a 12-inch steam line across from 41 New Chardon Street ruptured, causing a geyser of steam to erupt through the road, said Steve MacDonald, spokesman for the department.

"When it ruptured, it blew the steam up through the road, and sent asphalt flying in about a 50-foot diameter," he said. Although no injuries were reported, the area was sealed off and the building was evacuated because of worries that asbestos could have been released.

Boston fire officials were monitoring the situation with air meters until Trigen Boston Energy Corp., which owns most of the steam pipes under Boston, can get an environmental company to evaluate the situation, MacDonald said.

On Sept. 12, another of Trigen's steam pipes ruptured on Otis Street, sending steam up through a manhole and causing asbestos contamination in a limited area.

Nancy Sterling, a Trigen spokeswoman, said late yesterday afternoon that crews were still on the scene. The company believes the rupture was caused by failure of an expansion joint, she said.

"We are just grateful that nobody was injured," she said.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:20 PM | Comments (0)

Mourners gather for Quincy soldier killed in Afghanistan

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Several hundred people carrying flags lined the route of the funeral procession, including Hannah Murphy, 6, of Quincy.

By Brian Ballou, Globe Staff

A crowd of about 2,000 people turned out this morning in Quincy for the funeral of Ciara M. Durkin, a 30-year-old Army National Guard soldier from that city who died last week in Afghanistan from a gunshot wound.

Durkin was remembered as a quirky woman whose smile lit up a room and who considered the well-being of others before herself. Her sister, Aine Durkin, read a 24-line poem dedicated to her sibling, each paragraph ending with a reference to Ciara Durkin's "wild red hair."

After an almost two-hour-long funeral, hundreds of mourners, including Governor Deval Patrick and US Senator John Kerry, formed a loose circle around the soldier's family, seated outside in front of the church.

There, in a brief ceremony, representatives from the Army handed the soldier's mother several awards given to Durkin posthumously. Then the crowd shuddered as a deafening noise pierced the air -- a rifle salute to the Durkin, who was posthumously given the rank of corporal.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:07 PM | Comments (0)

MBTA riders abandon train

(Casey Cortes for The Boston Globe)

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Overheated Red Line passengers took matters into their own hands yesterday, pushing open doors on a subway car stopped on the Longfellow Bridge and clambering down to the street to walk into Boston, according to an MBTA spokesman and an eyewitness.

The impromptu -- and unauthorized -- evacuation happened after a smoky trash fire at the Park Street station led Boston firefighters to request a power shutdown between the Harvard and Broadway stations. Electricity was off for about 50 minutes, said MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo.

While the Park Street station was evacuated and firefighters dealt with the fire, some passengers on the six-car inbound train on the bridge used emergency handles to open doors, said Pesaturo.

Citing an MBTA official who was on the scene, Pesaturo estimated that more than 200 passengers left the train, with most walking into the city on Cambridge Street.

Posted by mfinucane at 1:19 AM | Comments (0)

October 5, 2007

Slain boy, 13, was not intended target of shooter, police say

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Brian R. Ballou and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The 13-year-old boy killed steps from his Dorchester home was not the shooter's intended target and investigators have been going door-to-door distributing brochures for an anonymous tip program to encourage witnesses to come forward, police said this afternoon.

"As a community, we all share the same objective and desire to hold the person or persons who perpetrated this cowardly act responsible," Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said in a statement. "As a father and a member of law enforcement, I am outraged."

The city's new acoustic gunshot detection system picked up the sound of gunfire prior to the first 911 call Thursday night. When officers arrived on Evans Street at 7:56 p.m., Steven Odom was face down, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center and pronounced dead.

"Our hearts go out to the Odom family as they grieve the loss of their young son," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. "There is no place for violence in our city. Not on our streets, not in our homes and not in our schools. We need to remain united in our commitment to end the violence and solve this heinous crime. Together, we can take back the streets and start a new era of hope."

Police have not reported making any arrests.

Earlier today, a steady stream of mourners left stuffed animals, a Matchbox car, and candles outside Odom's Dorchester home. His family called on city officials to staunch the bloodshed in urban neighborhoods.

"Words are empty and inadequate to expressive our grief and sense of loss," said his cousin, Keith Odom. "This death further highlights the need for the city to find a remedy to the escalating problem of violence on our streets."

Steven Odom was returning from a basketball game at 8 p.m. when his mother heard gunshots outside their home. She ran outside and discovered that her son had been hit.

This morning, family friends remembered the eighth grader as good kid who enjoyed hanging out with neighbors. He was a drummer at his church and was not involved with gangs, the family said.

Detectives are anyone with information about the shooting to call the Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. To remain anonymous, call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS (8477) or text ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Posted by aryan at 4:05 PM | Comments (0)

Credit union employees foil heist, sit on alleged robber

By Emily A. Canal, Globe Correspondent

A robbery at a credit union today in Fall River was thwarted by three female employees who pinned an alleged assailant to the ground and sat on him until police arrived, authorities said.

Just before 11:30 a.m., a man with a fake firearm walked into St. Michael Credit Union on Garside Street, according to Sergeant Paul Bernier of Fall River Police. The man was later identified as Jose Dias, 34, of Fall River.

"The three women got Dias to the ground and sat on him until authorities arrived," Bernier said. "He is in custody, and we recovered the replica firearm."

The incident remains under investigation. Police did not release any additional information, including the charges against Dias or the identities of the women who held him down.

Posted by aryan at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)

N.H. man was one of the first to track Sputnik

(AP File Photo)

This first official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I was issued in Moscow October 9, 1957, showing the satellite with its four antennas resting on a pedestal.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A New Hampshire man was one of the first people in the United States to spot the track of the Soviet Union's Sputnik satellite, the 184-pound spiked metal ball that launched the Space Age 50 years ago.
Sputnik was launched by the Soviets on Oct. 4, 1957. But no one knew at the time where it would appear in the sky.

Richard Brown, 65, of Windham was 15 at the time. He and his father, Robert, a professor of earth sciences at New Haven State Teacher's College, along with an amateur astronomer, were observing the skies at 6:23 a.m. on Oct. 10, 1957 when they spotted the rocket that was traveling with the satellite.

"My father had predicted that it would appear that morning of the 10th somewhere low in the northern sky," he said. "I turned around and caught a quick glimpse of it just when it went over the horizon."

After the news of the launch several days earlier, Brown said, "Everybody and his dog knew about it. Everybody was anticipating seeing it. Everybody was looking at the skies and yelling at the government and Eisenhower, why didn't we do something like that?"

"It was a long time ago, that's for sure," he said. "It was just a very chilly morning and the sky was very clear, very dark ... The rocket itself was very bright, even in that light."
A headline in the Oct. 11, 1957, New York Herald Tribune proclaimed the "First U.S. Sight of Satellite." The story said American scientists were "zeroing in on the orbit" of Sputnik with the first sighting in New Haven.

"These observations will enable American astronomers to place the satellite in space within a couple of hundred feet," the article said.
Historians say the launch of Sputnik kicked off the Space Age by heightening interest in America in space and science. Worried that the Soviets might gain a technological edge, the US government increased tenfold the money spent on science, education and research.

Actually, it turns out that experts say the first sighting was a few days earlier in Alaska. But that hasn't stopped Southern Connecticut State University (the successor to New Haven State) from planning an Oct. 10 forum with Brown as the keynote speaker.

Brown, who has been married 43 years and is a software and hardware engineer who works in Lawrence, Mass., said it was a thrill to see the satellite.

"It virtually changed the world. No question about it," he said.

Posted by mfinucane at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 4, 2007

Teen shot and killed on Dorchester street

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff
and Daniel M. Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

A 13-year-old boy was shot in the head and killed near his neatly kept house in Dorchester shortly after 8 o’clock tonight, making him one of the youngest homicide victims in the city this year.

Relatives identified the victim as Steven Odom, a student at James E. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury.

He was on the way home from playing basketball when he was shot, said his uncle Eddie Mallory, who huddled with family last night at Boston Medical Center, where the victim was taken.

"He always had a smile on his face, he played the drums. He was involved in church, he was just a wonderful kid," said Mallory.

The fatal shooting occurred about 8:16 p.m. on Evans Street, police said. No other details on the incident were provided.

The city’s new gunshot detection system also detected 4 shots fired, police at the scene said. It was not clear how quickly police arrived.

Marion Robinson, 65, the victim’s neighbor, said she heard four shots and saw the boy lying face down on the street when she went outside to check on the commotion.

‘‘I’m scared, I’m nervous, it’s bad enough you can’t walk on your street. You’re not safe right outside your house,’’ said Robinson.

She said the boy’s mother is a nurse who is extremely protective of her four to five children. ‘‘She doesn’t even let the kids go off the porch. She’s very protective, very religious,’’ said Robinson.

Neighbor Gary Robinson, 44, said the family went to Bible study on Wednesday and church on Sundays. ‘‘He’s a good kid; he plays the drums. His father was trying to start up a church."

John Drake of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Khristopher Flack and Marc Robins contributed to this report.

Posted by gwitherspoon at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)

Eighty-eight pound marijuana find leads to plea

By Marc Robins, Globe Correspondent

A Springfield man is facing a drug trafficking charge and a Springfield woman has pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge after 88 pounds of marijuana were sent to their apartment via air mail in July, the attorney general's office said today.

James Robinson, 47, was indicted today on a charge of trafficking more than 50 pounds of marijuana. Vershon Rouse, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation, the attorney general's office said.

Two packages addressed to the Springfield residence, one containing 33 pounds of marijuana and the other 55 pounds, were discovered when a delivery truck driver at an airport in Connecticut detected an unusual smell, prosecutors said.

The US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency and state police arranged July 6 for the packages to be delivered to the apartment. After they allegedly signed for the packages, the two were arrested.

Robinson's arraignment date has not yet been set.

Posted by mfinucane at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

When in Rome... try not to look like Whitey Bulger

(FBI Photo)

One of the photos being studied by Italian police.

By Globe Staff

Italian police appear to have their eyes peeled for James J. "Whitey" Bulger, the aging fugitive gangster who may have been sighted there in the spring. Two couples have stepped forward in recent days with tales of being stopped by police because they bore a resemblance to Bulger and his girlfriend.

Vincent Kavanagh, 69, and his wife, Mary, 63, were taken into custody by police in Rome for seven hours, the Globe's Kevin Cullen reports in his column today.

After their ordeal, the New Jersey couple were driven to a nice restaurant, where 20 percent was taken off the bill.

"The Kavanaghs had the veal, and it was delicious," Cullen reports.

Terri and Bob Dowdy, both 68, of Rhode Island, were on a two-week vacation when they were stopped three times by police in the northern Italian town of Perugia -- and the third time police asked them to go to the station.

"The first two days were funny," said Terri Dowdy, a retired attorney whose husband is a salesman.

The third day was ruined by the trip to the station, she said, but the hotel maitre d' gave them a big bowl of fruit, wine, and an apology, and dinner was on the house at the restaurant they went to that night.

In mid-September, the FBI said that Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, may have been spotted in Sicily in April. The FBI posted a video and stills of the possible sighting to the Internet, hoping for publicity in Italy and throughout Europe.

Bulger, 78, is one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted," and Greig, 56, is believed to be traveling with him.

Bulger, a longtime FBI informant, was warned to flee just before his January 1995 federal racketeering indictment in Boston by his former handler, retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. Bulger has eluded authorities ever since, despite a worldwide manhunt. Since he fled, he's been charged with 19 murders. The FBI is offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to his capture.

Posted by mfinucane at 7:44 PM | Comments (0)

Red Sox fan assaulted in New York

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

A 25-year-old carpenter from Quincy is in serious condition after he was assaulted outside a Yonkers, N.Y. hotel last night by a group of men he said had earlier asked about his allegiance to the Red Sox.

Two men were arrested in the assault, authorities said.

Carlos Ortez was watching the Red Sox-Angels playoff game in the lounge of a Ramada Inn with other workers for Holden-based Woodmeister Master Builders, who were in town working on a construction project at a Manhattan hotel.

Ortez was sitting at the bar with co-worker Walter Ostromecki, 30, of North Brookfield, who was wearing a Red Sox hat and T-shirt, when another patron at the end of the bar asked the two men whether they had pride in Boston, said Lieutenant Philip Collins of the Yonkers Police.

Immediately after the 4-0 Red Sox win, the two men left the hotel, when they were approached from behind by the man who'd made the earlier comment, along with two other men.

Ortez and Ostromecki walked in opposite directions, but then Ostromecki looked back and saw Ortez was being attacked. As Ostromecki approached them, the assailants ran toward a parking lot.

Ortez was lying in a pool of blood and his face was swollen. He's in intensive care with multiple facial fractures at Westchester Medical Center, said Chris Komenda, of Woodmeister Master Builders.

Duane Somers, 32, of Huntingdon, Pa., and Edward McConaughey, 42, of Orbisonia, Pa., were arrested and charged with second-degree felony assault, said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Westchester District Attorney's office.

They were arraigned this morning, and their bail was set at $10,000 apiece, Chalfen said. He could not say whether they had made bail. A Westchester County Jail employee said the men were not listed as inmates. They are set to appear in court again Wednesday, Chalfen said.

Komenda said two executives from the firm are at the hospital with Ortez, and that the other four employees have been moved to a different hotel.

Authorities said Somers and McConaughey also were carpenters in town for a construction job.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)

Animal welfare activists say ad rejected by billboard company

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

The elephants from the circus lumber down Memorial Drive on their way to the TD Banknorth Garden.

By Globe Staff

Animal welfare activists say a sign company rejected their request to put an ad critical of the treatment of circus elephants on a mobile billboard.

Nicole Paquette, general counsel for the Sacramento, Calif.-based Animal Protection Institute, said the company, Alternative Outdoor Advertising of Framingham, told the activists that the ad would traumatize children.

A message left at the sign company offices wasn't immediately returned.

The animal welfare activists are planning to hold a news conference tomorrow, which is the day the Ringling Bros.and Barnum & Bailey Circus will open here.

Paquette's group and other animal welfare organizations are suing the circus in federal court in Washington, alleging that the Asian elephants in the circus are treated cruelly and that their treatment is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. The legal battle has been going on for four years.

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, denied the allegations, saying they were "completely unfounded and unsupported."

He said the circus's animal care team spends 24 hours a day with the animals, they get good veterinary care, and "visitors who come to the circus can see firsthand how well the animals are treated."

He also said the treatment of the animals is monitored by local, state and federal authorities.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:41 PM | Comments (0)

Judge lifts injunction on WHDH-TV

By John Ellement, Globe Staff

A state Appeals Court judge this afternoon lifted the preliminary injunction that barred WHDH-TV from broadcasting its version of the story on the autopsy results for two Boston firefighters who were killed in a late August fire.

"After consideration of the submissions of the parties, and after hearing, the preliminary injunction ... is vacated," Judge Andrew Grainger wrote in his decision, saying a lengthier explanation would follow later.

Ruling on a request by the city firefighters' union, a Suffolk Superior Court judge yesterday had barred the station from reporting on the autopsies.

But the Globe reported last night that sources familiar with the autopsies of the two men said that tests had found high levels of alcohol in one man's system and cocaine in the other's.

During the hearing this afternoon, the lawyer for the TV station said other media outlets had already published the story. The firefighter's union pressed for the injunction to be upheld. But the judge noted that it seemed to him "the universe has changed."

"It landed on my doorstep when I went to get the paper," the judge said of the story.

Paul J. Cahill, 55, of Scituate and Warren J. Payne, 53, of Newton were killed Aug. 29 in West Roxbury in what appeared at first to be a simple grease fire in the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant.

Firefighters did not know that flames had been smoldering for an hour above a drop ceiling, which exploded in a ball of fire.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:06 PM | Comments (0)

Holliston man sentenced in child porn case

By Globe Staff

A 25-year-old Holliston man has pleaded guilty to charges that he distributed child pornography, prosecutors announced today.

Michael Curley received a 2 1/2-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation for 10 years.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse yesterday also ordered that Curley register as a sex offender, provide a DNA sample, undergo sex offender treatment, and pay a victim witness fee.

Curley allegedly disseminated pornographic images of children through the Internet in late 2005, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office said. He was arrested in February 2006.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:08 PM | Comments (0)

Tsongas pledges vote for children's health care

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

Democrat Niki Tsongas says that, if elected, one of her first votes would be to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand health insurance coverage for children. And she's calling on her Republican opponent in the Fifth Congressional District race, Jim Ogonowski, to take a firm stand on the issue.

"He's ducking letting us know what his position would be," she said today. "I know that as a member of Congress I'll vote to override the veto."

The State Children's Health Insurance Program is a federal-state program that provides health insurance to children of lower-income families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford to buy private insurance. Bush vetoed the bill Wednesday, portraying it as a costly entitlement program that benefits middle class families.

Ogonowski has not decided whether he would vote to override the veto, a spokesman said today. But previously, Ogonowski has been critical of the bill, saying it would allow undocumented immigrants to take advantage of the program.

"The current bill takes money away from poor kids and gives it to illegal immigrants," Ogonowski said Wednesday in a statement. "I support SCHIP, but Congress screwed it up."

The special election in the Fifth District is slated for Oct. 16. The House vote on overriding the veto is set for Oct. 18.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

Family of slain Quincy soldier expresses confidence in Army probe

(Durkin family photo)

Ciara Durkin, 29, died last week in Afghanistan.

By Globe Staff

The family of a Massachusetts National Guard soldier from Quincy who died in Afghanistan says family members met with Army investigators last night for about four hours and were reassured about their probe into her death.

"The family is confident that the Army is conducting a thorough investigation of Ciara's death and intends to give the Army time to complete its inquiry," the family of Ciara Durkin said in a statement released this morning.

The family said earlier this week it had a number of questions about the Army investigation.

Durkin died Friday in Afghanistan in what the military has called a "non-combat-related" shooting. Her family has wondered whether she was targeted by someone because she was gay. US Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy and US Representative William D. Delahunt have called for a thorough investigation.

Durkin's family has said that the Army told them she was found with a single bullet in her head, lying near the church where she worshipped on the secure Bagram Airfield. The Army has not publicly disclosed whether a weapon was found near her body.

Posted by mfinucane at 1:19 PM | Comments (0)

Menino calls for review of fire department procedures after firefighter autopsy revelations

By Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino says he will order "an extensive look at the procedures and practices" of the Fire Department after revelations that autopsies found alcohol and cocaine in the systems of two firefighters who died in a late August fire.

"We all have to be very concerned for the two families and concerned about the procedures in the Fire Department," Menino said.

Sources briefed about the contents of the autopsies of firefighters Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne told the Globe that one man was legally drunk and the other had cocaine in his system when they responded to the Aug. 29 fire at a Chinese restaurant in West Roxbury.

Meanwhile, the scene was eerily quiet today at the firehouse where the two men once worked.

With the sun out and the weather fair, the bay doors were closed and all the blinds were drawn. A firefighter at the door declined to talk to a reporter and referred all questions to headquarters.

On the front of the firehouse, rosaries still hung beside a picture of Jesus. Flags and stuffed animals remained along the entrance.

A sign hung above the bay doors. It read, "The members of Engine 30 and Ladder 25 thank everyone for your support, prayers, and generosity."

A block away from the fire station at the Real Deal sandwich shop on Centre Street, patrons were saddened to hear the news.

"I was so sad I could have cried," said Marilyn McAuliffe, 70, of West Roxbury. "I mean, how sad. My heart just sinks. We all have our faults and failings."

Roslyn Pedlar, 45, of West Roxbury said she thought the firefighters must have been really stressed.

"This is a job with a lot of down time and a lot of stress," she said. "It's not necessarily an indication of character. These are stressful jobs. I just hope people in that situation get help."

Alan Sarro, 45, of Dedham said he thinks the person who leaked the autopsy information to the media should be fired.

"I think it's disgusting the media would print this kind of thing. They're just hurting the family, embarrassing them after everything they went through. They're way off base. You let sleeping dogs lie," he said.

Posted by mfinucane at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

MCAS scores released for individual schools and districts

By Globe Staff

The Department of Education today released school and district results for state standardized tests. To view the MCAS results of specific districts and schools, click here.

Across the state, test scores improved for students in all grades this past spring after two years of largely stagnant or declining results. However, a persistent achievement gap has remained between minority-group and white students.

"The progress we saw this year was unprecedented in most grades and serves as a reminder of just what our students can achieve with the right support systems in place," Acting Education Commissioner Jeffrey Nellhaus said in a statement. "But our work is far from over, and we must dedicate ourselves now to ensuring that all children in the Commonwealth be given the tools they need to succeed and reach their academic potential."

Nellhaus released the score this morning at the Orchard Gardens School in Roxbury with Principal Yolanda Burnett, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson.

According to the Department of Education, the top improving schools on each test were:
· William R. Fallon School in Lynn: up 43 percentage points in Grade 3 English
· Prescott Elementary School in Groton-Dunstable: up 47 percentage points in Grade 3 Math
· Samuel Bowles School in Springfield: up 53 percentage points in Grade 4 English and 52 percentage points in Grade 4 Math
· Washington School in Springfield: up 41 percentage points in Grade 5 English
· Allendale School in Pittsfield: up 40 percentage points in Grade 5 Math
· Israel Loring School in Sudbury: up 38 percentage points in Grade 5 Science
· Lawrence Family Development Charter School in Lawrence: up 33 percentage points in Grade 6 English
· Young Achievers School in Boston: up 49 percentage points in Grade 6 Math
· Holyoke Community Charter School: up 31 percentage points in Grade 7 English
· Lieutenant Clayre Sullivan Elementary School in Holyoke: up 32 percentage points in Grade 7 Math and 26 percentage points in Grade 8 English
· Boston Collegiate Charter School: up 39 percentage points in Grade 8 Math
· Tisbury Elementary School: up 32 percentage points in Grade 8 Science
· Foxborough Regional Charter School: up 33 percentage points in Grade 10 English
· New Bedford Global Learning Charter School: up 39 percentage points in Grade 10 Math.

Posted by aryan at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

Channel 7 appeals injunction in firefighter case

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Lawyers for WHDH-TV appealed a ruling this morning by a Superior Court judge that barred Channel 7 from reporting on findings from the autopsies of two firefighters who died fighting a blaze in a Chinese restaurant in late August.

The eight-page motion filed with the state appeals court argued that Suffolk Superior Court Judge Merita Hopkins went too far when she stopped the station from publishing because autopsy results are exempt from disclosure under state public records law and can only be released with permission from next of kin. The station is asking the appeal court to throw out the injunction.

"This order constituted an impermissible prior restraint of free speech," the motion says.

Prior restraint refers to a government ban on publication or broadcasting before it takes place. Requests for such bans are rarely granted except when they relate to matters of national security. Perhaps the most famous prior restraint case in US history was the Pentagon Papers case, in which the Nixon administration sought unsuccessfully to block The New York Times and The Washington Post from publishing excerpts of a top-secret archive on the history of American involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Boston firefighters' union sought the injunction from the judge after learning Wednesday morning that the television station intended to report on the autopsy findings. Hopkins sided with the union and agreed that the records were confidential and could not have been obtained legally.

The Globe reported today that a source who was briefed by a person with knowledge of the autopsies said that Paul J. Cahill had a blood-alcohol level of .27, which would have placed him at more than three times the legal limit. Warren J. Payne had traces of cocaine in his system, the source said.

Posted by aryan at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

Feeling chipper? It may be the sunshine

(Essdras Suarez/Globe Staff)

Watertown residents Vicki Sohigian, Lilit Hachikian, and Lian Perl took advantage of the recent nice weather, taking their children for a stroll in Watertown.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Feeling chipper these days? Got a spring in your step? Finding yourself enjoying the outdoors more than usual? Maybe it's because of the sun-splashed weather we've been having.

The Blue Hill Observatory in Milton reports that September was the third sunniest September ever recorded. The August-September period was the second sunniest ever recorded.

Today's clouds are expected to clear by afternoon and give way to sunshine that is predicted to last through the weekend, continuing a recent trend. In the last two months, Boston has only seen six really cloudy days, according to the National Weather Service.

The sun, of course, is the good news. The dry conditions are the bad news. The Blue Hill Observatory said the August-September period was also the third driest on the record, with a scant 2.52 inches of rain falling.

National Weather Service meteorologist Neal Strauss said his agency no longer keeps sunshine measurements, but the Blue Hill numbers are in line with his agency's data on precipitation and cloud cover.

"That makes sense to me. We had many dry, beautiful weekends to go outside and enjoy summer," he said. "The weather certainly has been cooperating for those who like to go outside and do whatever they like to do for fun."

Posted by mfinucane at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

Turnpike Board approves smaller than expected toll hike

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority approved a preliminary toll hike today that was smaller than anticipated, putting off bridge repairs and other expenses in hopes that the governor's plan to reorganize transportation will create some "breathing room."

The proposed hike on Jan. 1 would raise tolls at the Allston-Brighton and Weston booths by 25 cents to $1.25. Tolls in the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels would increase by 50 cents to $3.50. Increases discussed last month were as high as 75 cents on the tolls and $3 in the tunnels.

"We are taking a short-term step," said Michael Angelini, a board member. "It's hardly heroic."

The proposed increases still need to survive several public hearings and a final vote by the board.

"We owe it to the toll payers" to keep any toll increase modest, said Bernard Cohen, state transportation secretary and chairman of the Turnpike Authority board.

The increase has been pending since 1999 to meet obligations in repaying bonds issued in the late 1990s as part of the Big Dig project. Turnpike staff members said last month they need to raise an extra $100 million a year to cover debts, pay employees, and repair weak bridges.

Posted by aryan at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

Arrest made in Park Street subway stabbing

(MBTA)

Christopher Casey, identified above as suspect 1, was arrested overnight. Ariel Ortiz, identified above as suspect 2, will be charged with assault and battery for allegedly throwing a punch. The woman will not be charged.

By Globe Staff

A 22-year-old man from Dorchester has been charged with a double stabbing inside the Park Street MBTA subway station a few hours after the Red Sox rally Monday at City Hall.

Christopher Casey was arrested overnight and will be arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of assault while armed with intent to murder.

After the attack on the southbound platform of the Red Line, transit officials released released images taken from surveillance video of two men and a woman wanted in connection with stabbings. The man wearing a red hat in the video was identified as Casey by Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The victims -- a 19-year-old from Rockland and a 20-year-old from Abington -- were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Pesaturo said. The victims have been released from the hospital.

Transit police are no longer seeking the other two suspects. "The only person wanted in connection with the stabbing is in custody," Pesaturo said.

The other male suspect, Ariel Ortiz, 24, of Dorchester, will be summoned to court. Transit police will ask a clerk magistrate to issue an assault and battery complaint against Oritz, who allegedly threw a punch, Pesaturo said. The woman will not be charged.

Posted by aryan at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)

Opinions differ on leaking of firefighters' autopsies

(Boston Fire Department/Globe file)

Paul J. Cahill (left) and Warren J. Payne died in a blaze at the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant on Aug. 29.

By Globe Staff

Boston talk radio is crackling this morning with people calling in to voice their opinions on the reports that alcohol and cocaine were found in autopsies of two Boston firefighters.

"These guys are extraordinary gentlemen and they don't deserve this," said Steve, a caller on Tom Finneran's WRKO-AM show.

But on WTTK-FM, host Michael Graham fielded a call from Susan, who said, "I don't believe the ones who passed away were heroes." She said she had been a firefighter's wife and alcohol and drug abuse were problems on the force.

Lance, a Boston police officer who called into WEEI-AM, said, "I hope this doesn't affect the money that goes to the families ... Their families deserve what's coming to them. (The firefighters) have already paid for it with their lives. Don't make their families pay for it."

To vote in Boston.com survey about the leaked autopsy results, click here. To share your thoughts on a message board, click here.

Posted by aryan at 8:58 AM | Comments (0)

October 3, 2007

Sources: autopsies found alcohol, cocaine in fallen firefighters' systems

By Jonathan Saltzman and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

One of two Boston firefighters who died fighting a fire in a Chinese restaurant in August was legally intoxicated at the time, and the other had cocaine in his system, according to two officials who were briefed today on the autopsy results.

A source who was briefed by someone with knowledge of the autopsy reports of Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne told the Globe that one firefighter had a blood-alcohol level higher than .08, the level when someone is too drunk to drive legally in Massachusetts. The other firefighter had traces of cocaine in his system, according to the source.

A second source who was briefed on the findings of the state medical examiner's office said Cahill registered a blood-alcohol level of .27 in the autopsy, which would have placed him at more than three times the legal limit, while Payne had cocaine in his system.

Neither source was specific about the amount of cocaine found.

The two officials were briefed separately. They spoke separately to the Globe on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

The autopsy results marked a stunning development in the saga of the two veteran firefighters, the first members of the department to die in the line of duty since 1994.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino tonight declined to comment on the allegations through a spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, because the Suffolk district attorney's office is still investigating the firefighters' deaths.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families who continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones," Joyce said. "The mayor will not comment any further on the DA's investigation until it's complete."

Steve MacDonald, spokesman for the Boston Fire Department, said the department had gotten no reports on the district attorney's investigation.

"Right now, just because of the actions today, we just really want to really reach out to the two families of the two firefighters and let them know that we're still thinking of them and we're here for them," he said.

Cahill, 55, of Scituate and Payne, 53, of Newton were killed Aug. 29 in West Roxbury in what appeared at first to be a simple grease fire in the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant, about a half-mile from their Centre Street firehouse. Firefighters did not know that flames had been smoldering for an hour above a drop ceiling, which exploded in a ball of fire.

More than 10,000 firefighters came from across the country to mourn their deaths. Payne had been in the department for 19 years. Cahill had been a firefighter for 14 years.

The Globe reported after the fire that the restaurant had a history of code violations for greasy equipment and vents and was eight months overdue for a health inspection. The blaze prompted the city to consider legislation that would establish training and certification requirements for cleaning contractors hired by restaurants to remove excess grease from kitchen vents.

Posted by mfinucane at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)

City to echo tonight with simulated gunfire

By Globe Staff

Boston police are warning residents that they will be testing a new gunshot detection system tonight -- by simulating gunfire in some neighborhoods.

Police say they'll be firing blanks in a variety of locations at about 9:15 p.m. as they test the new "Shotspotter" system.

The acoustic sensor system is designed to detect the precise time and location of gunfire on the streets. The sensors feed the information back to police headquarters within seconds of the shots.

Police said they have already reached out to notify neighborhood residents that the test is taking place. The system has been installed and is just being calibrated, the department said in a statement.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:46 PM | Comments (0)

Breast-feeding student to reschedule exam, wait for court ruling

(Michele McDonald/Globe Staff)

Sophie Currier with her white coat and her baby.

By Globe Staff

Sophie Currier, the Harvard medical student who sued because she wanted time to pump breast milk during a licensing exam, will postpone taking the exam, her lawyer said today.

Currier had planned to take the exam this week after Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Gary Katzmann ordered that she should get the extra time. But a three-judge panel of the court on Tuesday stayed Katzmann's order, promising a ruling by next Wednesday.

Carol Thomson, a spokeswoman for the National Board of Medical Examiners, said, "The next step for us is to await their conclusion."

She noted that Currier could take the exam under normal conditions or reschedule.

Christine Collins, Currier's lawyer, said Currier planned to reschedule so she could see how the court ruled.

"We're fairly confident that the judges are going to affirm Judge Katzmann's decision and order," she said.

Posted by mfinucane at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

TV station, union battle over release of autopsy findings in firefighter deaths

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has barred WHDH-TV (Channel 7) from reporting on findings from the autopsies of the two firefighters who died in late August at a fire at a Chinese restaurant.

Judge Merita Hopkins granted a request by the Boston firefighters union, which said it learned this morning that the TV station intended to broadcast a report on the findings.

Paul J. Cahill, 55, of Scituate and Warren J. Payne, 53, of Newton were killed Aug. 29 in West Roxbury in what appeared at first to be a simple grease fire in the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant. Firefighters did not know that flames had been smoldering for an hour above a drop ceiling, which exploded in a ball of fire.

Paul Hynes, the lawyer for the union, said that state law prohibits anyone from reviewing the autopsy records except the next of kin.

"Clearly, that legal procedure has not been complied with in this case. There’s no way Channel 7 could have accessed these reports legally," he said.

Hynes said that if the autopsy results were made public, it would upset the families, who have not seen them.

Neither side said during the hearing what findings the station intended to highlight.

Jordana Glasgow, the lawyer for WHDH-TV, dismissed the union's argument that the dispute was a privacy matter.

She insisted that barring the station from reporting on the findings would be an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of the press.

She said the station did not have the actual reports but had learned some of their contents from confidential sources.

"It’s not a privacy case. It’s a prior restraint case," she said.

Hopkins said, "I reject the prior restraint argument. Even if it was judged a prior restraint on free speech, it's justified in this case."

WHDH-TV plans to appeal Hopkins's ruling tomorrow to a single justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court, according to a clerk to Hopkins.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:09 PM | Comments (0)

Man escapes -- briefly -- from Newton court

(Newton police photo)

Todd Corcoran allegedly staged an escape today in Newton.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

A 38-year-old Waltham man allegedly attacked two Newton District Court employees this afternoon and fled the courthouse.

Todd Corcoran was arrested later and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, attempted carjacking, and escape from a municipal lockup.

Police say Corcoran, who had just learned he was heading to jail, fled from the courthouse to River Street in Newton and confronted an elderly man on his porch, offering to pay the man to help him. The homeowner raised his cane and told the suspect to “back off.”

Police say Corcoran later jumped into a red pickup truck occupied by two men in their 60s. When a Newton police officer on a motorcycle saw the situation and pulled alongside the truck, Corcoran allegedly fled on foot.

Corcoran was later arrested lying under tomato plants at another home in Newton.

A 44-year-old female court officer was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. She was injured when her head hit the courtroom’s tile floor in a struggle as the suspect attempted to flee. Her condition wasn’t immediately available.

Corcoran allegedly also pushed a 58-year-old assistant court clerk into a door. He was not injured, Lt. Bruce Apotheker, a police spokesman said.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)

With playoffs about to begin, anticipation builds outside Fenway

(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

Bobby Vinson of Concord, N.H., Rob Camuso of Norwood, Juliet Wilson of Middletown, Conn., and Liz Daley of Mansfield, admire a sign made by a friend before the game. The Northeastern students arrived at Fenway a few hours early, hoping to get tickets.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The 80 people leaning against a brick wall outside the Green Monster at Fenway Park this afternoon looked like a ragtag lot down on their luck. Some had been on Lansdowne Street since last night, hoping to score a seat when the Red Sox released excess tickets two hours before the start of tonight's playoff game.

They needed shaves, showers, and a clean pair of clothes. But they were happy to be there.

Shawn Langlois, 28, of Revere, a bartender at Legal Seafoods, arrived Tuesday night with just a backpack filled with snacks and a bottle of vodka.

"I slept right there," Langlois said, pointing to a dirty patch of sidewalk next to a green light pole.

His friend and co-worker, Chad Farias, 21, of Allston, said their night on the sidewalk would be well worth it. They were fourth and fifth in line, which virtually assured them a ticket to tonight's game.

"I'm gonna pay face value for a ticket to a playoff game," Farias said, smiling. "On Stubhub or Craigslist or even from a scalper, we'd pay four times as much."

Farias said he had skipped his Western Civilization class today at UMass-Boston for the first game of the Red Sox playoff series against the Los Angeles Angels.

"Let's make some new history," he said.

The air near the park was filled with the smell of frying sausages and onions and the cries of hawkers. The lights were switched on. A big American League East Champions 2007 banner hung on the back of the scoreboard. A steady stream of people flowed on Brookline Avenue to the park.

Near the back of the ticket line, Alex Gold, 27, and Jake Hall, 27, both of Brookline, sat in metal folding chairs, sipping cans of beer.

They had only been in line for an hour but still felt good about their chances for a ticket.

"I do this a lot, and we should get in," Gold said. "This is pretty short for a playoff game."

Posted by mfinucane at 3:16 PM | Comments (0)

Life sentences for defendant in Allston murders

By Globe Staff

A Cambridge man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders last year of a 33-year-old Allston man and an 18-year-old woman.

Craig Smith, 38, was sentenced today to two life sentences, with no possibility of parole, for the Jan. 8, 2006, deaths of Julio Ceus and Natalie Sumner in Ceus's Kelton Street apartment, the Suffolk district attorney's office said.

Sumner had come to Boston from New Hampshire to visit Ceus's brother, who was her boyfriend.

Prosecutors said Smith and a still-unidentified second gunman entered Ceus's apartment and demanded cellphones and money from five people. Unsatisfied with what the victims gave him, Smith and the other gunman both opened fire, killing Ceus and Sumner and wounding a third person.

Posted by mfinucane at 2:48 PM | Comments (0)

Playground dedicated in memory of student who died in 2004 Red Sox celebration

(Robert E. Klein for The Boston Globe)

Students listen to speakers during the dedication.

By Christine Wallgren, Globe Correspondent

Victoria "Torie" Snelgrove will be remembered for years to come by those who visit Torie's Place Too, a playground built in her memory at the George Mitchell Middle School in East Bridgewater –- a school Torie herself once attended.

The college sophomore was mortally wounded outside Fenway Park in October 2004, when Boston police shot pepper pellets into a crowd of post-Red Sox game revelers, hitting Snelgrove in the eye.

Shortly after Torie's death, parents Richard and Dianne Snelgrove established a memorial fund in her name. Last year, the fund paid for Torie's Place, another playground built in West Bridgewater. Scholarships have also been awarded in Torie's name, and four glider rockers were purchased for an area hospital.

An army of 300 volunteers that included parents, children, school administrators, teachers, and area college students, spent four days late last week assembling the playground equipment at the Mitchell Middle School for Torie's Place Too.

Most of them, along with the 1,000 middle school students, turned out for today's dedication of the playground. Torie's 4-year-old niece, Ariana, was the first to test out the swings, once the ribbon-cutting was over.

"Torie was taken from us much too soon," said her father, Richard. "In our hearts and in our minds, we see her face and hear her voice, and Torie is very pleased with what has been done in her name."

Dianne Snelgrove said she and her husband try to focus on doing positive things in memory of their daughter, rather than dwelling on their daughter's tragic death.

Ironically, the playground dedication comes as the Red Sox once again enter the playoffs with a game this evening.

Asked what’s next, Dianne said, "Now we start looking for a new project."

Posted by mfinucane at 2:01 PM | Comments (0)

Family demands justice after alleged racial attack against Medford teen

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Martin and Biram Seck and their attorney, Ozell Hudson Jr (right), spoke at a press conference today about an alleged attack against the Seck's teenage son during a sleepover in Medford.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The family of a black 13-year-old from Medford demanded justice today for their son, who they say was attacked during a birthday sleepover in August by three white classmates who shouted a racial epithet as they burned him with a makeshift flamethrower made with a lighter and an aerosol can.

Martin and Biram Seck are not satisfied with the assault and civil rights charges that prosecutors filed against their son's alleged attackers. The parents were critical today of the parents who hosted the Aug. 26 sleepover and Medford police, who they said omitted the use of a racial epithet from their original report.

Calling the attack a "lynching'' that deprived the teenager of his rights as a human being, the parents and their attorney called for the state attorney general’s office to file a civil rights injunction against the three alleged attackers, age 12 and 13.

"We want justice,'' Martin Seck said today, speaking to reporters as he was flanked by attorney Ozell Hudson Jr.

Added Biram Seck, "My son, he trusted them until he was being burned. They have evil minds. Evil minds. It's awful.''

Medford Police Chief Leo A. Sacco Jr. defended his department's investigation.

He said detectives had asked the boy and his mother if the racial epithet was used, and they were told that it was not.

"The young man -- and his mom was present at the time -- they were asked if in fact that the word had been used," Sacco said. "And he said, 'no.' The statements were written up based on what was said...The story has changed."

Sacco said his officers were moved by the victim's suffering and investigated aggressively.

"I think this is an unfair shot that's being taken right now for some ulterior motive," the chief said. "I'm not saying that it's the parents. The parents are nice people...The police department takes these matters very seriously."

A spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. declined to comment.

According to the Secks and their attorney, their son had been invited by a friend to the birthday sleepover. When the victim got up to use the bathroom about 4 a.m., the three suspects grabbed him, they said. While two of the juvenile held his arms, the third burned him by igniting the spray from an aerosol can of deodorant, they said. When that stopped working, they burned him with a lighter, they said.

Hudson said Medford police were told that the attackers used a racial epithet but did not include it in their report. He said the family told authorities learned about the racial element of attack when they met with prosecutors.

The attorney said that two of the alleged assailants were released on home confinement after being arraigned in juvenile court Sept. 18. The third suspect, whom Hudson said was the person who actually burned the victim, was held as a danger to society. He may have gotten released on appeal to the Superior Court this week, Hudson said.

The attack left their son emotionally and physically traumatized, the Secks said. Only recently was he able to return to his seventh grade classroom. They want the alleged attackers punished -- and educated -- so they do not become predators as adults.

"I think the boys need help,'' Hudson said. "I hope they get help.''

Posted by aryan at 1:20 PM | Comments (0)

Lawyer allegedly tried to smuggle drugs into Walpole prison

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A 46-year-old lawyer is facing several drug charges after he was allegedly found with packets of heroin as he was about to visit clients in the state prison in Walpole.

Kevin L. Barron was being searched by corrections officers at about 5 p.m. yesterday before entering MCI-Cedar Junction when the officers found "small packets of a powdery substance" that turned out to be heroin, said Norfolk district attorney's spokesman David Traub.

Barron pleaded not guilty today at his arraignment in Wrentham District Court to charges of delivering drugs to a prisoner, possession of a Class A substance, and possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance.

Barron's attorney, Elliot Weinstein, said, "Kevin is innocent. He's a good man. Someone took advantage of Kevin's standing as an attorney. Kevin did not knowingly commit any crime." But Weinstein wouldn't elaborate further on Barron's defense.

Barron was released on personal recognizance, but with a "bail warning" from the judge -- a warning that if he is arrested again he could be held without bail up to 60 days.

Judge Warren Powers also ordered Barron to stay away from the state prisons. But Weinstein said he would seek to have that order modified "because he's a good lawyer and how else can he effectively represent his clients if he can't meet with them?"

Barron's website describes him as a federal criminal defense lawyer who received his law degree in 1987 from Boston College Law School. His next court date is Nov. 20.

Posted by mfinucane at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

Green for Red Sox: bleacher tickets start at $125

(Handout photo from Ace Ticket)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

October baseball means playoff prices at Fenway Park, where seats for tonight's game sold by ticket brokers and scalpers start at $125 and top $2,000.

On the website for StubHub, standing-room-only tickets are selling for $127.50 to $175. A single grandstand ticket on eBay this morning was $225. On Craigslist, a pair of tickets started at $300.

"People are very excited about this game," said Jim Holzman, president of Ace Ticket, where the least expensive ticket for tonight is a $125 bleacher seat. "The last time we were in the playoffs we started on the road and got swept."

For the opportunity to buy tickets from the team, fans had to be selected in a random drawing on RedSox.com. Major League Baseball set ticket prices, which were $25 for bleachers, $45 for grandstands, and went up to $350 for seats behind homeplate. All three home games for the divisional series sold out.

Ticket sellers expected that tonight's game against the Angels will be the least expensive of the playoffs -- a Wednesday game with an early start time of 6:30 p.m. As the postseason continues, prices are expected to increase exponentially. Tickets for game 5 of the divisional series, which will only be played if necessary, start at $200 apiece.

"You can truly get a good value at tonight's game," Holzman said. "You can buy a seat for $125, which isn’t bad for a playoff game."

Posted by aryan at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

October 2, 2007

Police search for 3 suspects in T stabbings

(MBTA)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Transit officials this afternoon released images taken from surveillance video of two men and a woman wanted in connection with stabbings inside the Park Street MBTA station.

Two young men were stabbed at 11:45 p.m. on the southbound platform of the Red Line, near the bottom of stairs that lead up to the Green Line, according to Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The victims were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with what were described as non-life-threatening injuries, Pesaturo said.

The first suspect is described as a white male who is 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall. He left a red and white hat at the scene that was recovered by transit police. He was wearing a red zippered sweatshirt over a red T-shirt with white lettering, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

The second suspect is a white male who is 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall. He was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and a white baseball cap.

The third suspect is a white female with dark hair. She was wearing a green T-shirt, blue jeans, and was carrying a blue purse.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Detective Brian Harer at 617-222-1069, or the Transit Police Criminal Investigations Unit at 617-222-1050.

The victims were described as a 19-year-old from Rockland, and a 20-year-old from Abington. Witnesses told transit police that before the stabbing there was a confrontation between the two victims and two men and a woman.

"Some words were exchanged," Pesaturo said.

One of the men received what Pesaturo described as a very minor stab wound. The second victim suffered a more serious injury, but it was not life-threatening, he said. Both men were in stable condition this afternoon.

Investigators found two knives at the scene -- one at the bottom of the stairs and one in the pit, near the subway tracks.

Posted by aryan at 5:49 PM | Comments (0)

High cost of textbooks in spotlight at Statehouse hearing

By April Simpson, Globe Staff

Lawmakers considered a bill today that would limit textbook companies from bundling their products, a practice that critics say results in higher prices and forces college students to purchase books they do not need.

Sandi Kirshner, chief marketing officer for Pearson Education, defended her company's offering of such bundles, which can include books, CDs, and workbooks.

She noted that there are occasions when materials are intended to be integrated and used together, or when third party agreements dictate how the product is to be sold. She also emphasized how important the books are to a good education.

"The price of textbooks and course materials is and will continue to be important, but not more important than the success of our students and the reputation of our state colleges and universities as they strive to give students both a degree and an education," Kirshner said.

Rep. Steven M. Walsh of Lynn questioned the high cost of textbooks.

"The date of the Civil War hasn't changed. Robert Frost, to my knowledge, has not written new poems," he said. "So why do we need new textbooks every year?"

The bill would also encourage increased communication between faculty and publishing companies. Critics say that faculty members don't always know how much a book is going to cost when they assign it.

Committee members heard testimony from students, a parent, and representatives from publishing companies this morning. Walsh filed the legislation, which is sponsored by at least 16 legislators.

Posted by mfinucane at 5:29 PM | Comments (0)

Kerry calls for investigation of Quincy soldier's death

(John Bohn / Globe Staff)

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

US Senator John F. Kerry today called on the Defense Department to thoroughly investigate the death of Ciara Durkin, a 30-year-old Quincy resident and member of the Massachusetts National Guard who died Friday in Afghanistan.

In a letter, Kerry urged Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates "to deploy your staff on this matter immediately so that the answers and circumstances around Specialist Durkin's death are uncovered, expeditiously and thoroughly."

The Defense Department has said Durkin died of a "non-combat related incident" and that it is investigating. Durkin's family has said Durkin was found with a single bullet in her head, lying near her church on the secure Bagram Airbase. The Massachusetts National Guard initially reported that Durkin was killed in action, though a Guard spokesman said later that the term was meant to imply only that she had been deployed in Afghanistan at the time.

"As you can imagine," Kerry wrote Gates, "the confusion and potential misreporting around Specialist Durkin's death have added to what is already an extraordinarily painful time for her mother, her siblings and her extended family, here in Massachusetts and in Ireland."

Durkin, who is one of nine children, was born in Ireland and moved to Massachusetts at age 9.

Kerry said the Durkin family desperately needs answers to three questions:

1. Why has the Army not responded to the Durkin family's request for an independent autopsy?

2. Why, after not responding to the family's request for an independent autopsy, did the Army fail to contact the Durkin family with the Army's autopsy results? The family was told to be available to receive a phone call between 1 and 3 PM on October 1 and the Army never
called.

3. Why has the Army refused to make Specialist Durkin's will and paperwork available to her family so they can respect her wishes as they plan her funeral and burial?

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, a Defense Department spokesman, said today, "We have not received a letter yet, and when the secretary does receive a letter, he will respond to the senator."

Posted by aryan at 5:02 PM | Comments (0)

MBTA driver barely avoids getting shot

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

An MBTA bus driver narrowly missed getting shot this afternoon by an armed robber who climbed aboard her bus in Chelsea and opened fire when she refused to hand over her money, police said.

"She was lucky. She's OK,'" said Chelsea Police Captain Brian Kyes. "Shaken up, obviously, but she was not struck."

Kyes said the driver was alone on the 111 bus at about 4 p.m,. when she stopped on Garfield Avenue near the intersection with Exeter Street to pick up a man waiting at a bus stop. The man boarded and then pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at the driver, asking for her personal valuables, Kyes said.

"He demanded her money and she refused," Kyes said. "He became agitated because of that, raised the weapon ...and fired three rounds in her direction." Just before the man fired, the driver dropped to the floor, Kyes said.

One bullet struck the seat where the woman was sitting just seconds earlier, he said, and another slammed into the fare box on the bus. He was not sure where the third round went.

The suspect was described as a white male 20 to 30 years of age with "heavy acne" on his face. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt when he boarded the bus, Kyes said.

Transit and Chelsea police are investigating but have not located the suspect, Kyes said.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)

Kerry's letter to the Department of Defense

Secretary Robert Gates
United States Department of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310

Dear Secretary Gates:

I write to you on behalf of my constituent, Angela Durkin, who last week was notified that her daughter, Army Specialist Ciara Durkin, had been killed while serving our country in Afghanistan.

Since the terrible news of Ciara's death became public, I have spoken with her mother and brother and my staff has spoken with other family members. Initial reports indicated that Ms. Durkin, a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, was "killed in action" but since that time, other circumstances and rumors surrounding her death at Bagram Airfield have come to the attention of her family.

As you can imagine, the confusion and potential misreporting around Specialist Durkin's death have added to what is already an extraordinarily painful time for her mother, her siblings and her
extended family, here in Massachusetts and in Ireland. The Durkin family desperately needs answers to the following questions:

1. Why has the Army not responded to the Durkin family's request for an independent autopsy?

2. Why, after not responding to the family's request for an independent autopsy, did the Army fail to contact the Durkin family with the Army's autopsy results? The family was told to be available to receive a phone call between 1 and 3 PM on October 1 and the Army never called.

3. Why has the Army refused to make Specialist Durkin's will and paperwork available to her family so they can respect her wishes as they plan her funeral and burial?

While I understand that in accordance with the US Central Command policy, an investigation is taking place, I cannot overstate the urgency and importance of this matter to the Durkin family. I urge you to deploy your staff on this matter immediately so that the answers and
circumstances around Specialist Durkin's death are uncovered, expeditiously and thoroughly.

Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated. Please know that my staff in Washington and Massachusetts is prepared to assist you
and the Department of Defense with regard to this matter.

Sincerely,

John F. Kerry
United States Senator

cc: Joseph Carter, Massachusetts National Guard

Posted by aryan at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)

Man held in Revere police officer's death

By Maria Cramer and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

CHELSEA -- A blue sea of at least 100 police officers with black bands over their badges packed a silent courtroom this afternoon for the arraignment of a teenager accused of instigating a confrontation that led to the fatal shooting of Revere police Officer Dan Talbot.

Derek Lodie, 17, did not show his face during the brief proceeding in Chelsea District Court. He listened from a hallway as a prosecutor told the court that while Lodie did not pull the trigger, he was responsible for setting in motion the events that led to Talbot's death. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of being an accessory before the fact of murder.

Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin told the court that Lodie approached the off-duty officers Saturday morning as they were socializing near a baseball field behind Revere High School. Lodie started an argument with Talbot, 30, and the other officers, Zabin said. The teenager then used a cellphone to call three friends, who came armed to the high school, he said.

The argument between Lodie and his three friends and the off-duty officers intensified, Zabin said. Then, one of Lodie’s friends opened fire, shooting Talbot in the head, he said.

"He fell on the field, mortally wounded," Zabin said.

Police and prosecutors have not said which of Lodie's friends is suspected of firing the gun. It is not clear whether Lodie's three friends are in custody.

Two other teenagers and a 20-year-old, all from Revere, were arrested Monday on drug and weapons charges following searches at two Revere houses. A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley would not comment today on whether the charges stem from the investigation into Talbot's killing.

Revere Police Chief Terence K. Reardon said after the arraignment that investigators interviewed 'numerous people," but he declined to say whether additional suspects were in custody.

"There are a lot of loose ends to tie up," Reardon said. "I'd say we’re feeling very good about this investigation."

The police officers who packed the courtroom kept completely silent during the proceeding and remained standing until being ordered to sit by the judge. They came from Revere, Chelsea, Boston, and the transit police force to show solidarity for their fallen colleague.

Posted by aryan at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)

EMT helps catch would-be carjacker

By Globe Staff

A Boston EMT helped to catch a man who was trying to hijack a car on Commonwealth Avenue near Boston University, police said today.

A man told police that he had gone inside a store at about 12:35 a.m. Monday to buy a soda, leaving his mother in the car. He heard screaming outside and went out to found his mother lying on the ground and a stranger in the driver's seat.

The man grabbed the suspect and pulled him out of the car. An EMT who had witnessed the incident turned on his lights and told the suspect to sit on the curb, police said. The suspect sat there for a short time and then got up and fled. He was arrested a short distance away.

Daniel Murphy, 30, of Paxton is facing charges of carjacking, assault and battery, and operating under the influence.

"Anytime you have someone step in in an emergency situation like that, it's very helpful," said Officer Eddy Chrispin, a police spokesman.

Posted by mfinucane at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)

With playoffs at hand, Menino asks bar owners to be careful about who they serve

(Patricia McDonnell/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

With the Red Sox heading into the playoffs tomorrow and bars and restaurants expecting an influx of sports fans, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is asking the establishments in the Fenway Park area not to serve minors and not to serve anyone who is already drunk.

In a letter sent to liquor and entertainment license holders in the area yesterday, Menino said he was "depending on your responsible actions to help stem instances of underaged drinking, and overservice of alcohol."

Menino said he was particularly concerned about underage drinkers. "Exposure of underaged persons to alcohol at such events creates countless public health, safety, and order issues for the city, and will not be tolerated," he said.

Menino warned the license holders that police would be keeping an eye on them. He also reminded them that media outlets are not allowed to broadcast from their establishments, unless they have permission from the city. (Such broadcasts in the past have seemed to fuel fan frenzy.)

"It is vital that you continue to act responsibly and adhere to your obligations and duties as a license holder," Menino wrote.

In recent years, city officials have issued warnings to the area bars and restaurants, stepped up police presence on the streets, and taken other precautions before major Red Sox and Patriots games, hoping to prevent rowdy celebrations that have resulted in vandalism and arrests.

The disorder peaked in Red Sox and Patriots victory celebrations in 2004 in which two people were killed.

Posted by mfinucane at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)

Police: 123 parking meters found in Cambridge apartment

By Brian R. Ballou and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- Police allege that the stolen parking meters had almost overtaken Thomas Gannon's Plymouth Street apartment: stuffed into a closet, hidden under a blanket, and sitting in plain view in the living room.

Officers said that when they knocked on Gannon's door Monday night to serve an unrelated arrest warrant, they couldn't help but see parking meters piled in his second-floor apartment. In all, police said they carried out 123 meters that had been cut off poles in Cambridge and Somerville over the last year. The find left police shaking their heads.

"This does seem to be odd," Officer Frank Pasquarello, a spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department, said at a press conference this morning.

Gannon, 38, was arraigned today in Cambridge District Court on charges that included receiving stolen property and breaking into a depository. He was held on $5,000 cash bail.

Investigators said that the meters had been emptied of coins. Most of the meters came from Cambridge, but six were from Somerville.

Police had originally gone to Gannon's apartment Monday night to serve an arrest warrant for larceny and trespassing that originated with Everett police.

Posted by aryan at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 1, 2007

Red Sox Nation assembles for rally on City Hall Plaza

(Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff)

Red Sox manager Terry Francona told fans gathered at a rally today on City Hall Plaza that Boston was "the best baseball city in the world."

By John C. Drake and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Red Sox Nation descended on City Hall Plaza for a pep rally this afternoon, its citizens clad in team jerseys and caps and business suits and ties. Holding off the late-season surge by the Yankees seemed to sweeten the moment for fans, who shouted derogatory chants about the rivals from New York before Boston players walked onto a temporary stage.

The Red Sox were celebrating their first American League East division title in 12 years and are hoping to keep the surge alive in the playoffs, which will start in Boston Wednesday night at 6:30 against the Angels.

"I came to support the team, the ownership, everybody," said Bobby Nelson, 43, of Quincy, who attended the rally with his daughter and girlfriend. "I like it that it came down to the wire like that."

City Hall Plaza was crowded, but not packed. Police and city officials declined to estimate the size of the crowd. There was a loud roar when Red Sox manager Terry Francona took the stage and talked about the team clinching Friday night when the Yankees lost in Baltimore in 10 innings. Hundreds of fans stayed in Fenway Park after the Red Sox win to watch the Orioles score the winning run on the giant television screen in centerfield.

"The most special thing for me was the other night sitting back in the clubhouse with a cigar and a bottle of champagne," Francona said, pausing to let the crowd cheer. "And then watching it spill out onto the field where you loyal fans remained. Jonathan Papelbon dancing across the infield. Things like that make this city the best baseball city in the world."

The rally on City Hall Plaza included music by bands that have become part of the Red Sox soundtrack. The Dropkick Murphys played songs from their new album, "The Meanest of Times," and the Standells sang "Dirty Water," which is played over the public address system after every Red Sox victory at Fenway Park.

Players who appeared with Francona included Clay Buchholz, Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, Mike Timlin, and Jacoby Ellsbury.

The rally also included a tribute to the 1967 Red Sox on the 40th anniversary of their win over Minnesota to capture the American League pennant.

It was one of eight rallies across the country today sponsored by Major League Baseball to mark the start of the playoffs. With the exception of New York City, where no rally is scheduled for the Yankees and the team's wildcard berth, the home city of each playoff team hosted a festival-like baseball celebration. That included San Diego and Denver, home to the Padres and Colorado Rockies, who faced off in a single-game tiebreaker tonight for the final wildcard playoff spot.

Posted by aryan at 7:29 PM | Comments (0)

DA: Revere officer not killed by police bullet

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

Revere police Officer Daniel Talbot was killed early Saturday during a shoot-out with a group of men in their late teens or early 20s and was not shot by a fellow officer.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said today an autopsy revealed that the fatal bullet did not come from an officer's gun. Talbot and other off-duty officers were socializing outside Revere High School when there was a confrontation with the group of young men, he said.

"We are actively looking for them, that's why we are appealing to the public,'' said Conley, urging anyone with information about the unidentified shooter, who opened fire on the police officers shortly after 1:30 a.m., to contact State Police assigned to his office at 617-727-8817.

Talbot and his fellow officers were each carrying a department-issued .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun, said Conley, adding that ballistics tests showed that the fatal bullet came from a different type of weapon.

Conley said State Police and Revere police are conducting interviews and examining evidence to try to determine what provoked the confrontation. He said police officers also fired their weapons during the encounter.

Talbot was a member of the antigang unit. Conley said it was unclear whether the men involved in the shoot-out were part of a gang.

"It was some sort of an encounter that I can't characterize,'' Conley said. "We're still trying to get the full details.''

He said investigators were reviewing footage from a surveillance camera that was mounted on Revere High School in an effort to identify the group involved in the confrontation with the officers.

Posted by aryan at 7:20 PM | Comments (0)

Police: Man arrested at Logan after claiming to be in Al Qaeda

By David Abel, Globe Staff

A 27-year-old man from Ethiopia was arraigned today at East Boston District Court on a charge that he made a false threat to "blow things up" at Logan International Airport.

Ermiyas A. Asfaw, a taxi driver who lives in Washington, D.C., walked up to an AirTran check-in counter Saturday night and was asked by an agent why he had stickers on his luggage from Dubai. Asfaw responded that he had been there.

The agent asked, "Were you there on business or pleasure?"

According to prosecutors, Asfaw responded: "No. I'm Al Qaeda. I'm with them, and I'm here to blow things up."

The agent responded that his statement was not funny and was against the law. Asfaw laughed, prosecutors said, and walked away from the counter. The ticket agent alerted a supervisor, who notified State Police.

Troopers sent a K-9 unit to check the bags but found no explosives. Police searched Terminal C but could not find Asfaw.

About 30 minutes later, a trooper called the cellphone listed on Asfaw's airline reservation. He was flying back to Washington, D.C. The trooper arranged to meet Asfaw and arrested him on charges of making a bomb threat.

In court this morning, Asfaw pleaded not guilty and shook his head as the prosecutor read the charges against him.

A public defender said he was in Boston to see his girlfriend. Judge Paul Mahoney ordered him held on $1,500 bail. Asfaw is scheduled to return to court Oct. 19.

Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport, chided Asfaw for his comments.

"This airport is not going to tolerate this type of behavior," Orlandella said. "This type of action is completely dumb."

Posted by aryan at 7:19 PM | Comments (0)

Slain Quincy soldier was not killed in combat, military says

(John Bohn / Globe Staff)

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The Department of Defense confirmed this afternoon that Specialist Ciara Durkin, the 30-year-old Quincy soldier who died last week in Afghanistan, was not killed in combat.

A statement from the Pentagon said that the circumstances surrounding Durkin's death were under investigation. The statement did not offer any specifics about how she died. Durkin was in a finance unit of the Massachusetts Army National Guard that had been deployed to Afghanistan in February for a year-long tour.

Earlier today, Durkin's relatives told the Globe that they were notified by the military that she was found dead inside a secure US air base. "The family has been informed that she was in the compound, and she was shot in the head," said Fiona Canavan, the sister of the slain soldier.

Durkin was near a church at about 6:30 p.m. and it was dark. She went there every day she could, Canavan said.

"She was in a secure area of the compound, which, even though the investigation is not complete, leads the family to believe it was what is called friendly fire," Canavan said.

The National Guard said Sunday in a statement that the incident at Bagram Air Base is under investigation by the US Central Command. Durkin was in an accounting unit, helping soldiers get money they needed on base, and would not have been involved in combat, her family said. The name of her finance unit was Task Force Diamond.

The Guard statement also said she was killed "in action." A Guard spokesman, Major Jack McKenna, said today that the term means "that she was killed in Afghanistan and she wasn’t killed at home."

Canavan said her family is meeting with US officials today and also speaking with Irish officials. Durkin was born in Ireland and moved to Massachusetts when she was 9.

Canavan said the family's Army liaison told family members it could take up to eight weeks for the investigation to be completed.

Posted by aryan at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

$5 million in funding announced to combat domestic violence

By Globe Staff

More than $5 million in state and federal money will be used to fund domestic violence prevention programs, Governor Deval Patrick announced today to mark the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Patrick also ordered the state's Sexual and Domestic Violence Council to explore successful domestic violence prevention programs and create a set of best practice recommendations that can be implemented across the Commonwealth.

"By all accounts, domestic violence is on the rise in Massachusetts. We are feeling the impact on families and in social services everywhere," Patrick in a statement. "We need to step up, working together in state government and with family members, friends and neighbors, to put an end to this tragedy."

The governor made the announcement this afternoon at the State House as he was joined by his wife, Diane.

"It is important for us to take note of and honor those who care and advocate for victims and survivors of domestic violence -- and not just in October, but every day throughout the year, because they work tirelessly, every day and every night, throughout the year," Diane Patrick said in a statement. "We must celebrate their accomplishments and do all we can to support their ongoing work."

The $5 million for domestic violence prevention includes:

• $1.3 million in federal funds to improve the response of police departments to domestic violence and sexual abuse incidents through new veteran and recruit training programs.
• $900,000 in federal funds for the Massachusetts Rural Domestic and Sexual Violence Project to provide services to rural children and families affected by domestic and dating violence, and to organize and implement sexual and domestic violence prevention initiatives in five counties in rural Massachusetts over the next two years.
• $500,000 in state money to support strategies that most effectively reach women at imminent risk of serious harm, including homicide.
• $500,000 in state money for emergency housing stabilization funding for quick, flexible cash assistance to prevent families from becoming homeless due to domestic violence.

Posted by aryan at 3:06 PM | Comments (0)

An emotional reunion after a year in Iraq

(Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff)

Tricia Clinton (left) cheered the arrival of her younger brother John Clinton and more than 200 other soldiers who returned home this morning after a year in Iraq.

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent

BEDFORD -- Family members holding balloons, yellow roses, American flags, and homemade signs erupted in applause when the 209 soldiers from the 399th Combat Hospital marched into a massive hangar this morning at Hanscom Field after a year in Iraq.

First Sergeant Shirley Martino, a grandmother of five from Haverhill, fought back tears while walking. From North Scituate, R.I., Colonel Susan Luz marched with a radiant smile.

The family of Captain Rebecca Scheible -- her parents, five children, and husband -- all wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Welcome Home." When Scheible marched past, the captain couldn't resist and broke formation, picking up her daughter, Emma, and burying her face in the girl's long blond hair.

But most of the 399th had to wait one more painful hour before they could hug their families. They had spent 16 months away from home, which included 12 months in Iraq and four months in training at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. Now they had to sit through a welcome-home ceremony and listen to speeches from commanders and politicians.

"Profoundly thank you from a very proud nation and a very grateful nation," Senator John F. Kerry said in a speech while families fidgeted in rows of chairs set up behind the soldiers. In his speech, Governor Deval Patrick said: "Welcome home and thank you for a job exceptionally well done."

After about 15 minutes, while the Waltham High School band and chorus played, Martino, the first sergeant and grandmother of five from Haverhill, could wait no longer. She stood up from her seat in the front row and rushed toward her family.

"Come here," Martino said. "I'll hug you. Sixteen months. Come on."

She embraced her daughters, grabbed her grandson Travis and ran back to her seat.

Finally, Colonel Bryan R. Kelly, the 399th's commander, came up to the microphone and said the words all the soldiers had been waiting to hear: "Task force dismissed."

A roar filled the hangar as soldiers and families rushed toward each other to embrace.

Luz, the colonel from North Scituate, hugged her husband, George, with her eyes closed and her hands under his wool sport coat. Luz opened her eyes and looked up at her husband.

"I'm going home," she said.

Posted by aryan at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

Red Sox rally road closures, parking restrictions

 Click to enlarge

By Globe Staff

A rally celebrating the Red Sox' first American League East title in 12 years will begin today at 4 p.m. at City Hall Plaza, closing a major road downtown and putting in place parking restrictions.

From noon today until the rally ends sometime after 7 p.m., southbound Congress Street will be closed from New Chardon to North Street. The MBTA has increased service. The public is encouraged to take public transportation.

No parking will be allowed on either side of Cambridge Street, a ban that the city says will be strictly enforced.

City Hall will close at 4 p.m. for the rally.

The Red Sox and city officials also want to remind the public that the rally is a family-friendly event and public drinking laws will be strictly enforced. Boston Police will be conducting random bag searches of people coming onto City Hall Plaza.

Posted by aryan at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)