By Khristopher Flack, Globe Correspondent

A veteran Taunton police offer was taken to the hospital this morning with a large gash in his head and broken ribs after being hit by a car while working a detail, police said.

David DeOliveira, 40, was on assignment with Taunton Municipal Light Plant workers while they trimmed tree branches from telephone wires. Police said one of the utility workers used the officer's radio to contact authorities.

Lieutenant Joe Coelho visited DeOliveira, a 10-year member of the force, in the hospital, where he was listed in good condition. Coelho said the injured officer was "a little groggy" but in good spirits considering the accident.

By Globe Staff

Boston police are stepping up patrols and warning women to be vigilant in the Faneuil Hall and Theater District areas after connecting two sexual assaults that began when women accepted rides in those areas, police said in a statement yesterday.

Both incidents occurred in the early morning hours. In both cases, the women were taken to Charlestown, where they were assaulted. Police will also be increasing patrols in that area. Police said DNA evidence appears to link the two cases.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Edmond J. Zabin has been named Suffolk County's new chief homicide prosecutor, responsible for reviewing every suspicious death in Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said this afternoon.

Zabin replaces David Meier, who held the job 12 years and is leaving the job to go into private practice.

Conley said Zabin, a career prosecutor who has worked at the Suffolk County District Attorney's office for 15 years, "has a tremendous work ethic."

"Eddie is somewhat of an understated guy," Conley said in a phone interview. "He's not a screamer or a yeller or theatrical, but he really pursues the truth with persistence."

By Globe Staff

Berklee College of Music is in discussions with the government of Valencia, Spain, to open a sister campus in the coastal city on the Mediterranean.

The school would focus on contemporary music and music technology and would build on the college's international scope and reputation, officials said. Discussions began last May and could wrap up by year's end, Larry Monroe, Berklee's vice president for international programs, said today.

By Russell Contreras, Globe Staff

LAWRENCE -- A fire in a five-unit building that is set to foreclose next week remains under investigation, Lawrence Fire Chief Peter Takvorian said today.

The three-alarm blaze, which started Wednesday night, temporarily displaced 14 people from the Union Street building. Takvorian said the families were scheduled to return today since firefighters were able to contain the fire to the unoccupied rear-end of the building.

The building has four apartments -- two of which are vacant -- and a church on the first floor, said Takvorian.

"Investigators are interviewing people right now," Takvorian said. "The fire seems to have started in a vacant bedroom." No one was hurt in the blaze, Takvorian said.

Kate Augusto and Matt Collette, Globe Correspondents

A 20-year-old student from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell was seriously injured when she was hit by a pickup truck this morning as she sat on a bench waiting for a university shuttle bus at the intersection of Riverside Street and University Avenue in Lowell, police said.

Rachel Carnes of Haverhill was hit at around 9:45 a.m. by a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Jeffery Hoban, 30, of Dracut.

Carnes suffered severe head injuries and was rushed to Lowell General Hospital, then flown to Boston Medical Center, where she is in serious condition, police said. As of late afternoon, she was still in surgery.

State police are assisting Lowell police in an investigation of the crash.

(Sex Offender Registry Board)

By Globe Staff

A New Bedford sex offender is in custody after he allegedly raped a 6-year-old boy while both were inside the city's public library Wednesday evening, police said.

The suspect was identified by police as Corey Saunders, 26, who is listed on the state's sex offender website as a Level 3 offender, or someone officials concluded was a high risk to reoffend.

The state Sex Offender Registry Board records show Saunders was convicted in 2001 of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old.

By Globe Staff

Boston Police discovered a small arsenal when they raided a Dorchester apartment and arrested a 36-year-old man on gun and drug possession charges.

Police searched the Adams Street home – located around the corner from Area C-11 on Gibson Street – with the help of a search warrant on Wednesday.

Police found three firearms: a Glock 9mm handgun, a Smith and Wesson .45-caliber handgun, and a Cobray 9mm firearm with an obliterated serial number. Police also recovered 161 rounds of various types of ammunition, a large capacity magazine loaded with 30 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and two bullet resistant vests.

By Globe Staff

An MBTA driver suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel in Revere this morning, lost control of his bus, and crashed, according to a transit spokesman.

Three people included the 43-year-old driver were rushed to the hospital. The Route 119 bus was on Malden Street at 8 a.m. when it veered onto Washington Avenue, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

The bus hit a parked car, three utility poles, a hydrant, a fire box, a tree, and a sign for St. Mary’s church. It skidded across a lawn before coming to a rest against a guard rail, Pesaturo said.

By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff

MARLBOROUGH -- City officials today identified the student who died after choking while riding a school bus home as 5-year-old Darnell Cobb.

"It's a parent's worst nightmare,'' said Fire Chief David Adams, whose paramedics responded to the bus and tried to save the child Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. The child was rushed to Marlborough Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His mother and a younger sibling had been rushed to the hospital in a police cruiser, officials said.

Mayor Nancy Stevens told reporters this morning she was confident that responding emergency officials did what they could for Cobb. "I have the utmost confidence that our paramedics did everything they could,'' she said while describing the child's death as a "horrible accident.''

City officials said the bus driver was alerted to the trouble by a child sitting next to Cobb. The driver immediately pulled over and radioed in that a medical emergency was underway, officials said. Paramedics from the central fire station on Maple Street responded to the bus, which had stopped a few hundred yards away, officials said.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Several construction workers were forced to jump to safety when high winds collapsed a portion of a scaffolding at a North Reading building site, fire officials said.

Firefighters responded shortly before 2 p.m. today to the Route 28 site of a future Walgreens, where scaffolding had fallen about 20 feet onto a construction trailer, said Fire Capt. Donald Cooke.

No injuries were reported. Vision Builders, the project's Framingham-based contractor, will have to completely remove and rebuild the scaffolding, which could cost thousands of dollars, Cooke said.

By Elizabeth Ratto, Globe Correspondent

An advertisement appearing in Boston magazine this month that depicts a group of nuns sketching a naked male model is spurring outrage among some area Catholics.

Terry Donilon, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, called the Equinox Fitness Club ad "disrespectful and degrading" to women who have committed themselves to serving the church and their communities.

"It's offensive," Donilon said. "I hope they make the decision not to run it again and perhaps offer an apology to the religious community."

A spokesperson for Boston magazine didn't return a message seeking comment tonight.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 42-year-old Arizona man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in New Hampshire to five years in prison and four years of supervised release for involvement in a marijuana distribution ring.

Jesus Arturo Castro, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to deliver marijuana from Arizona to New England between 2004 and 2007, the New Hampshire US Attorney's office said.

By Globe Staff

The suspect in a fatal shooting last week inside an infamous Chelsea strip club is a 19-year-old from East Boston who was convicted as a juvenile of shooting at three teenagers, the Suffolk district attorney announced today.

Investigators are seeking the assistance of the public in finding Jesse “Fat Jesse” Camacho, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.

Camacho is accused of opening fire during a fight inside King Arthur's Lounge early Friday morning. The shooting killed Jeff Santiago, 28, and sent 25 to 50 patrons and employees diving to the floor.

Conley said in a statement that he had authrorized a warrant for Camacho's arrest "based on significant and credible evidence gathered during an extremely active investigation into Mr. Santiago's death."

Camacho pleaded guilty in Boston Juvenile Court in January 2006 to three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. He admitted to pulling the trigger in a drive-by shooting on Everett Avenue in Chelsea on Jan. 6, 2005. Camacho used a handgun to shoot at three teenagers, none of whom was hit.

Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Daniel Snay, a truck driver from Uxbridge, won $10 million in a scratch-off game in the Massachusetts lottery, which means he will receive an annual check for $500,000 for the next 20 years. But the windfall is not going to stop the 57-year-old from doing what he loves: hauling boats up and down the East Coast.

“I'm going to keep driving," Shay said in a press release issued by the lottery.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

School children may have had to do some explaining today in Medford after 2,100 automated phone calls were mistakenly made to parents saying the students missed class.

The blast of automated phone calls was accidentally sent at about 11 a.m. to parents of students of all ages. The system, which the school district has used for two years, alerts parents of their children’s attendance, emergencies, and other situations.

"It's an excellent system, this was just a sequencing error," said Roy Belson, the superintendent of schools. "We're working on correcting any possibilities of that happening again."

The Blizzard of ’78 left millions of New Englanders trapped in their homes for up to five days. Widespread power outages led to candles, unavoidable romance, and -- nine months later -- a bevy of blizzard babies.

As the Globe prepares for its 30th anniversary coverage of the storm, we want to hear from people born in November 1978 who can thank the blizzard for their birthday.

Please e-mail howe@globe.com

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

A trial for Luiz Carlos Ribeiro is slated to start April 3.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- A judge rejected a guilty plea today by a Brazilian doctor accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 24-year-old woman after an illegal liposuction procedure in a Framingham basement.

After listening to the doctor describe the woman’s death, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Wendie Gershengorn said she did not believe that prosecutors had proved that he had been reckless enough to support the guilty plea. Instead, Gershengorn ordered a trial for Luiz Carlos Ribeiro, which is slated to start April 3.

When asked by the judge whether Ribeiro thought he was guilty of involuntary manslaughter, he said through a translator that he believed she would have died anywhere in the world the procedure had been performed. The operation only required local anesthetic, and the equipment that Ribeiro had on hand for the surgery included an autoclave to sterilize surgical tools, an oxygen meter, and adrenaline.

“I would never kill,” Ribeiro said. “Her death was so sudden. I had no chance to do anything.”

The judge said she understood why Ribeiro would want to plead guilty and put the case behind him. She said, however, that the story he told shows that he does not believe he committed involuntary manslaughter.

“I can’t accept this plea,” Gershengorn said.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone defended the case.

"We allege that Luiz Carlos Ribeiro recklessly put the life of Fabiola DePaula in great danger by performing this illegal procedure without the proper equipment, medications, or safeguards - ultimately resulting in her tragic death.,” Leone said in a statement. “The fact that this defendant could not accept the facts as alleged today means that we will now proceed to trial. We are confident that we have a strong case against the defendant and intend to prove that case in court."

By Globe Staff

A man suspected of robbing nine banks is expected to face charges in court today or Thursday after his arrest at his home in Jamaica Plain.

Angel Robles is scheduled to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court. The 33-year-old was arrested at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday at his Bournedale Road home after extensive surveillance by Boston police and the FBI.

Robles has only been charged with one robbery, which occurred on Jan. 4 at a Bank of America on Brookline Avenue in Roxbury.

Investigators suspect that he is responsible for at least eight other bank robberies from November to January. The robberies include banks in Watertown, Brighton, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Brookline.

By Globe Staff

Two people were killed this morning when a car veered out of control in Bourne and rolled over, State Police said.

"It appears that they were not wearing seat belts," said Trooper Thomas Murphy.

The 1997 Honda Civic was heading south on Route 28 when the driver lost control at 7:18 a.m. and went off the road into the median. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger was rushed to a Falmouth Hospital with serious injuries and later died, State Police said.

Police did not release the gender, names, or ages of the victims. The crash remains under investigation.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

United States officials tonight are attempting to transport the body of diplomat Keith Ryan from Islamabad to the U.S. for an autopsy, amid unconfirmed -- and contradictory -- news media reports in Pakistan that he died in a murder rather than a suicide.

"I'm a little bit confused and upset," said Bob Ryan, Keith's father, and a sports columnist for the Globe. "I want to make sure the plane takes off with the body."

At least one news organization has reported that doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences planned to perform their own autopsy. But Ryan has been assured by US officials, including Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts and a ranking official with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, that his son's body would be flown out of Pakistan before an autopsy was performed.

Keith Ryan, a Hingham native who was an attache for the US ICE based in Islamabad, had been living in Pakistan since December 2006. The US State Department has said previously that Ryan apparently took his own life and was found Monday in his Islamabad residence. The US Embassy in Pakistan said there was no appearance of "foul play."

State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said today that the death remained under investigation.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

James F. Stokes, who resigned recently from the Lawrence School Committee after authorities arrested him for allegedly forging a Marine Corps discharge document, plans to plead guilty on Feb. 12 to two misdemeanor charges, according to the US attorney's office in Boston.

Stokes, who for years told people in Lawrence that he had been a Marine who had served in Vietnam in the 1960s, will plead guilty to presenting a forged discharge document to the city’s office of veterans services in November 2006, according to prosecutors.

He will also plead guilty to falsely claiming verbally in October 2007 to have been awarded a Purple Heart, said Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

An elderly landlord today said he thought his life was going to end when an angry tenant smashed him in the head with a frying pan and then started to choke him with his bare hands.

"I’m going to die,’’ Arthur L. Wallace recalled saying to himself as the vicious attack unfolded in the kitchen of the Marlborough apartment building the 79-year-old Wallace owns on Broad street.

“He had the pan and he hit me on the head,'' he said as he recounted the Sunday night attack. "I went down to the floor and he jumped on me and he started to choke me to death.’’

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

An Agawam man who was being held on a federal firearms charge mailed letters to the prosecutor and a newspaper threatening to attack a federal building in Springfield with a weapon of mass destruction, according to a nine-count indictment unsealed this week.

Federal authorities investigated the threats that Michael A. Crooker made while in custody in July 2004 and found a quantity of the toxin ricin, which had been processed for use as a biological weapon, said the indictment. They also found he had the toxins ricin and abrin in their natural forms in castor beans and rosary peas, respectively.

The indictment unsealed in federal court in Springfield on Monday did not specify the amounts of the toxins, their location, or how dangerous they were, and a spokeswoman for US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan declined to elaborate.

By Globe Staff

The prospect of a Patriots Super Bowl victory parade through downtown Boston during next Tuesday’s presidential primaries has one Bay State politician cracking jokes.

Senator John F. Kerry, a supporter of Barack Obama, packed five one-liners into a six-sentence statement when asked what impact the parade could have on the primaries.

“The really good news is that New York voters don’t have this problem because there is no chance of a Giants victory parade,” Kerry said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a Hillary Clinton supporter, told the Globe yesterday that if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, there would be no choice but to hold a victory parade Tuesday. The players would not be able to get back from Phoenix early enough for a Monday parade. And a number of Patriots have to travel to Hawaii on Wednesday for the Feb. 10 Pro Bowl.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

State Auditor Joseph DeNucci today faulted the MBTA for a series of complex financial maneuvers designed to save the cash-strapped agency money – maneuvers that he said drove up borrowing costs by $55 million.

In an audit released today, DeNucci’s office said that between 2000 and 2005, the T tapped into the capital markets to buy and sell some of its debt in 12 transactions worth $1.63 billion. But some of the deals failed to meet expectations and in one instance, the T had to pay $25 million to terminate the contract. He said the T had to borrow more money to pay off the new expense.

"It appears the MBTA was willing to accept short-term cash for long-term debt,” DeNucci said in a statement, “and then paid millions of dollars in termination fees when the interest rates changed and became unfavorable to the authority.”

By Globe Staff

An MBTA employee has been charged with larceny after police allege he falsified $465 worth of refunds in a scheme that took advantage of the transit system’s on-time guarantee.

Adam Lodge is accused of issuing bogus refunds to Tawanna Oliver, who allegedly redeemed the tickets for cash at the commuter rail sales windows. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s on-time guarantee offers riders a refund if service is delayed more than 30 minutes.

Lodge is a 23-year-old from Dorchester who had worked for the MBTA’s Revenue Audit Department for six months. He and Oliver, also 23 and from Dorchester, are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Boston Municipal Court.

"It is always disappointing when someone abuses the public trust, but we also want to assure the public that when that trust is abused, the violator will end up in court," acting Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick will testify before a legislative committee today to promote a plan to revive the position of education secretary as part of an effort to create a seamless system from pre-K through college.

The education secretary would oversee a new Executive Office of Education that would coordinate policies across early childhood education, elementary and secondary schools, and colleges. The position has been controversial in Massachusetts and has been twice abolished by the Legislature in recent decades because it created conflict and confusion over who oversaw education in the Commonwealth.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Staff

State police are investigating a three-car crash on Interstate 495 this morning in which a New Hampshire man was killed.

Lawrence Belodeau of Pelham, N.H. was a passenger in one of the cars when the accident happened at about 7:25 a.m. in the northbound lanes in Andover.

(AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

A satellite image taken today at 12:15 a.m. shows the offshore storm that dumped up to a foot of snow on Cape Cod.

By Beth Daley and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

HYANNIS -- Hundreds of Nantucket-bound travelers were stranded on Cape Cod for a second day Monday, after a northeaster that missed Greater Boston walloped parts of the region with an estimated foot of snow and gusty winds.

Ferries to the island remained at their dock Monday because of dangerous seas, though flights resumed after Barnstable Airport reopened around 4:30 p.m.

Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Crime on the T decreased in 2007 to a 10-year low, as violence dropped 18.5 percent from the year before, according to a report released today by transit police.

Serious crime fell 10 percent from 2006, with robbery dropping 20 percent, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The likelihood of a passenger being a victim of a crime while riding the transit system is now less than 1 in 400,000, said acting Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillian.

Authorities credit a number of initiatives for the decrease in crime, including visible uniformed patrols and the "See Something, Say Something" campaign that encourages riders to report suspicious behavior.

"No matter how insignificant they feel it is, they should let us know,” MacMillian said in a statement. “It's better to err on the side of caution."

The expansion of the closed circuit television system has also helped transit police investigate crimes and identify suspects.

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

Dorothy "Dottie" Beatrice died Friday after a fire ripped through her longtime family home on Ashmont Avenue.

By Globe Staff

The fire that killed the 85-year-old matriarch of a large Newton family was inadvertently caused by her son, who left a smoldering pipe in the pocket of a jacket hung in a living room closet, according to a release today from the State Fire Marshal.

The fire Friday on Ashmont Avenue was allowed to spread undetected by a lack of smoke detectors, according to investigators, who found only one battery-operated smoke alarm in the basement of the duplex.

“While working smoke alarms cannot guarantee escape, they can provide the one thing you don’t have in a fire -- time,” said Fire Chief Joseph LaCroix in a statement.

The blaze killed Dorothy “Dottie” Beatrice and seriously burned two firefighters, who ran up a burning stairway to try to save her. The family has been a fixture on Ashmont Avenue for decades, occupying two large buildings that allowed Dottie Beatrice to live next door to 15 grandchildren.

By Globe Staff

Slick winter weather has caused about a half-dozen spinouts and other minor accidents this morning on Interstate 495 near the Interstate 93, State Police said.

The crashes in the Andover area have slowed traffic in both directions. On northbound
I-495, the two right lanes are closed and traffic is back up to Exit 38 in Tewksbury.

For more information, check the Globe’s traffic page.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla -- Mitt Romney, who rarely talks on the campaign trail about his Mormon faith, said today that he plans to attend the funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley, the church president who died yesterday at age 97 in Salt Lake City.

At a press conference called in part to discuss Hinckley's death, Romney recalled that he met with Hinckley three or four times to discuss planning for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and once before Romney decided to run for president.

Making an opening statement, Romney recalled Hinckley as a leader who oversaw a remarkable period of church expansion.

"We will miss him as a family, respect him as a man of great character and courage, but particularly his humility and ability to touch the lives of each individual is something for which he will long be noted," Romney told reporters outside a Texaco station.

He added that Hinckley’s "effort to reach out across the world and to faraway lands and to build temples for our church is something which will also give him a legacy that will last many, many years, indeed. And we will miss his leadership."

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 55-year-old Wellesley woman who was legally blind and had limited mobility died in a two-alarm blaze last night at her home, fire officials said.

The fire started at about 7:42 p.m. in the family room at the back of the first floor of a house on Halsey Avenue, said Fire Chief Kevin Rooney. A space heater in that room caused the blaze, he said.

By Globe Staff

Scores of hotel guests were evacuated from their rooms after a fire at a Cambridge hotel tonight.

Lucy Slosser, a spokeswoman for the Boston Marriott Cambridge, says the fire on the third floor, which was reported at about 9:30 p.m., was quickly extinguished. The hotel was fully and safely evacuated and no injuries were reported.

She said about 150 guests waited outside but were later allowed by the fire department to wait in the lobby. After checking the hotel, firefighters gave an "all clear" allowing people back into their rooms by about midnight.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

St. Mary Elementary School in South Boston will close at the end of the academic year due to decreased enrollment and increased costs, the Archdiocese of Boston announced today.

The school has seen a 45 percent decline in enrollment since 2003. Enrollment dropped from 148 students a year ago to 105 this year, a statement released by the archdiocese said.

School personnel expected that no more than 85 students would have enrolled for the next academic year, making the school financially impossible to operate, the statement said.

Every student enrolled in the school is guaranteed a seat in one of the neighboring Catholic elementary schools, which include Gate of Heaven Elementary School, St. Brigid Elementary School and the new Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy.

An image captured by the surveillance camera moments before the accident.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

A 27-year-old former Winthrop woman is to be arraigned Monday in Suffolk Superior Court in the hit and run death of a man a little more than a year ago on Ocean Avenue in Revere.

Milena Henao faces charges in the death of 61-year-old George Azaria on Dec. 31, 2006.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley says Henao was arrested last week in New York City. The arrest was the product of dogged "shoe leather" detective work by State Trooper Joel Balducci, he said.

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

Layoffs at Salem's financially troubled public schools were postponed today hours before they were to go into effect as state and local officials put the final touches on emergency legislation to allow the city to borrow up to $1 million.

School officials announced the layoffs were delayed on loudspeakers at some schools. About 45 of the 60 or so layoffs were due to take effect today, and the rest next week.

"We don't know what the long-term solution will be. We're ready to authorize $500,000 to $1 million in borrowing as an immediate fix," said state Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos. a Lowell Democrat. The Legislature is expected to take up the bill next week.

(Handout photo/Bob Lessard)

By Globe Staff

A fishing boat with four crew members most likely sank in Nantucket Sound last year because excessive ice added so much weight it caused the ship to capsize, according to a report released today by the Coast Guard.

The Lady of Grace sank 12 miles south of Hyannis during a winter gale on Jan. 26, 2007, when 6- to 9-foot seas blanketed the ship with frozen spray. The demise of the 75-foot, New Bedford-based dragger is documented in a 46-page report that recommends five changes to Coast Guard regulations concerning ice and stability.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the fishermen who died," Captain Raymond Perry, commander of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, said in a statement. "While these experienced New Bedford fishermen lost their lives, we hope that their legacy and the lessons learned from the investigation will help keep similar tragedies from happening."

The ice that caked on the lines and superstructure of the Lady of Grace added so much weight it changed the ship’s center of gravity and left it susceptible to the rough seas.

In the last 15 years, 194 commercial fishing vessels have capsized or sank in the Northeast. The Lady of Grace was only the second that was lost because of ice, according to the Coast Guard.

(Globe file photo/2003)

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A Florida judge granted a request today by former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. to postpone his Miami murder trial, setting a new trial date of June 23.

Connolly, 67, sought a delay of his state murder trial, which had been slated to start in March, after the judge who had been presiding over his case since his 2005 indictment recused herself earlier this month.

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

Dorothy "Dottie" Beatrice died this morning after a fire ripped through her longtime family home on Ashmont Avenue.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

NEWTON -- Two firefighters suffered severe burns early this morning when they ran through flames and smoke to try to save an elderly woman who had collapsed on the second floor of a family duplex.

The firefighters were able to pull 85-year-old Dorothy "Dottie" Beatrice out of a rear window, but she went into cardiac arrest and died at a local hospital, said Chief Joseph LaCroix of the Newton Fire Department.

Lieutenant Doug Quinn and Firefighter Mark O’Hare lost their helmets as they ran up the flaming stairwell in an attempt to save Beatrice. Quinn suffered second- and third-degree burns on his arms, neck, and ears and was rushed to the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Firefighter Mark O’Hare sustained similar burns but was not as badly injured. He is expected to be released from the hospital today, LaCroix said.

The family has been a fixture on Ashmont Avenue for decades, occupying two large buildings that neighbors call the Beatrice compound. That allowed Dottie Beatrice to live with in an arm’s reach of 15 grandchildren.

Jeff Beatrice, who lived in the house next door with his 11 children, said this morning that some of the firefighters knew his mother from growing up in the neighborhood.

“Everybody felt like she was their mother when they were around her,” Jeff Beatrice said. He described Dottie Beatrice as a dynamic 85-year-old woman who drove her own car and was constantly on the go.

“She seemed to be young at heart,” said a neighbor, Melissa Angelucci.

By Khristopher Flack, Globe Correspondent

Dennis police are searching for two men who allegedly attempted to lure a seventh-grader into their car Tuesday afternoon near a bus stop in East Dennis, authorities said.

The student told police he was walking home from the bus stop after school when a dark four-door sedan pulled alongside him.

A man in the passenger seat asked the boy to come into the car to show him the cell phone the boy was carrying.

When the boy kept walking, police said, the car drove away toward Route 6A. Police have completed a composite sketch of the passenger and are urging anyone with information to contact them immediately.

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

Salem school officials announced today that they will be able to restore 15 classroom jobs slated to be cut in a round of mid-year layoffs resulting from a multimillion-dollar deficit.

A slew of recent donations from the community and other funds allowed officials to keep the positions, which include elementary school classroom positions, as well as several posts at Collins Middle School and Salem High. The number of jobs restored was up from a previous estimate of 10.

"We have a long way to go," Superintendent William J. Cameron Jr. said in a telephone interview. "There are still a lot of people whose jobs are not being restored at this time, but we are hopeful that we can realize more funds and restore more positions."

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Boston police are looking for witnesses to a Jan. 17 slaying in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester, officials said.

Daniel Yakovleff, 20, of Roxbury was found stabbed to death around 6:10 a.m at 56 Tuttle Street, police said. They are looking for anyone who saw Yakovleff in the area of Tuttle Street or in the South End during the late hours of Jan. 16 through the time of his death the next morning.

They are especially looking for anybody who may know who Yakovleff was with during those hours or what kind of transportation he used.

Anyone with information about the slaying can call the Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470, or call anonymously at 1-800-494-TIPS (8477), or text the word "tip" to CRIME (27463).

By Emily Sweeney, Globe Staff

A Plymouth Superior Court judge declared a mistrial today in the case of a Brockton woman accused of setting a fire that killed her parents in April 2003.

Frances Y. Choy, 22, has been in custody at MCI-Framingham since 2003, facing charges of arson and two counts of murder.

The jurors in Judge Charles M. Grabau's courtoom deliberated for three days and said they were deadlocked today.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A safe was stolen from an Italian restaurant in the South End early this morning after a burglar forced open a rear door, police said.

Officers responded at 5:12 a.m. to an alarm at Sage Restaurant on Washington Street. Police found an open gate leading to the alley behind the restaurant. The building's rear door had been forced open and the locks were damaged, police said.

(Globe file photo)

Five days after the Blizzard of '78, cars were still abandoned on Route 128 near the Dedham/Westwood town line. As we prepare our 30th anniversary coverage of the storm, we want to hear from you.

We want your stories of the kindness of strangers, friendships or romances that you struck up during the storm and its aftermath. How would Boston fare today if a Blizzard of '78 hit again?

Please e-mail your thoughts to howe@globe.com

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A man was shot to death and two other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire overnight in Chelsea at King Arthur's Lounge, the strip club that was the site of a fatal brawl in 1982 that involved several off-duty Everett police officers.

Chelsea Police Chief Brian A. Kyes said that the shooting occurred at 12:30 a.m. after a physical altercation inside the lounge on Beacham Street. As shots rang out, 25 to 50 patrons inside the club dove to the floor for cover.

"The gunman fled the scene,” Kyes said. “We are interviewing many witnesses."

The victim, who was shot in the torso, has been identified as 28-year-old Jeff Santiago, according to the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Police said that he lived in Everett. A 29-year-old Everett man was wounded in the upper thigh, and a 41-year-old Charlestown man was shot in the calf. Both men are expected to survive, Kyes said.

“Once again, I am extremely pleased and satisfied at the level or cooperation and coordination that continues to exist between the State Police assigned to District Attorney Daniel Conley’s Office and the Chelsea Police Department that is absolutely essential investigating serious crimes such as those that took place last night,” Kyes said in a statement. “I am confident through our collaborative investigative efforts we will be thorough in bringing this case to a successful resolution.”

The shooting comes as King Arthur’s was preparing to transfer its liquor license at what was supposed to be a routine hearing Tuesday. The lounge’s longtime owner, Arthur Guttadauro, died recently, and his estate is trying to transfer the license to his son.

Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash said today that he has urged the licensing board to push back the transfer hearing until police are able to give a detailed account of management’s role in the investigation. Ash said that employees have helped investigators and that their continued cooperation could be a factor in whether the license is transferred.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Planes in and out of Logan International Airport and others in the region were delayed by about an hour last night after air traffic control computer broke down.

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that air traffic controllers were able to use a backup system without comprising safety. The malfunction delayed 265 flights between 6 p.m. and 6:45 p.m., he said.

Peters could not immediately identify the specific cause of the breakdown, but he said it appeared to be related to computer software. The malfunction happened at a regional air traffic control center in Nashua, N.H.

(Evan Richman/Globe Staff/file photo)

Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial Street was burglarized early this morning for the second time since September.

By Andrew Ryan and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The burglary and two arrests at Mitt Romney's North End campaign headquarters this morning do not appear to be the work of covert political operatives trying to thwart Romney’s presidential bid.

Police arrived at the building on Commercial Street at 1 a.m. and stopped a blue Toyota Camry leaving a parking lot. When the suspects opened the car doors, two open bottles of Budweiser tumbled to the ground, according a police report. Inside the car, officers found two crowbars and a single Macintosh laptop commuter that had allegedly been stolen from an office at the campaign headquarters.

“We have no evidence to suggest that this was politically motivated,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. “It has all the earmarks of a third rate burglary attempt. The suspects never even made it out of the parking lot.”

One of the men who was arrested -- Michael J. Sauer, 30 -- identified himself as a political independent on his voter registration, public records show. The second suspect, Daniel J. Bradley, 28, is not registered to vote in Massachusetts, records show. Bradley has six outstanding warrants for crimes that include possession of narcotics and breaking and entering, police said.

The men, who both live in Cambridge, were arraigned this morning in Boston Municipal Court. Wearing hooded sweatshirts, both men tried to shield their faces from the crush of reporters that covered the hearing. They were charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony and possession of burglar tools.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff, and Elizabeth Ratto, Globe Correspondent

A 42-year-old woman died after smoke and fire ravaged her Rockland home shortly before 4:30 p.m. today.

Firefighters found Kerrin M. Kelly-Nelson on the second floor of her single-family home at 248 Centre Avenue.

She was transported in "very serious" condition to Brockton Hospital where she later died. A Plymouth County district attorney's spokeswoman said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death; an investigation is also ongoing to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

By Elizabeth Ratto, Globe Correspondent

An 18-year-old man was indicted today on four charges, including first-degree murder, in the killing of a shopowner in Dorchester late last year, the Suffolk district attorney's office said.

Gary Johnson of Dorchester also faces an armed robbery charge and gun charges in the shooting death of Mumin Manavoglu, 45, of Brockton on Nov. 1, 2007.

Johnson allegedly walked in the victim's Norfolk Street restaurant, Stalex Pizza, at about 9:30 a.m. and robbed Manavoglu of $60 at gunpoint.

By Elizabeth Ratto, Globe Correspondent

A lone gunman succeeded in overpowering four employees at the East Cambridge Savings Bank on Highland Avenue this evening, tying them up and getting away with an undetermined amount of money, Somerville police said.

Police responded at about 5:50 p.m. to a robbery report at the bank and learned that a masked gunman had entered at closing time and ordered the employees in the bank into the basement, where they were tied up.

No one was injured but the suspect escaped with the money and one of the employee's cars, a gray, 2007 Infiniti G35 coupe, with the license plate number 21MC99.

By Shelley Murphy and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

You've seen his picture many times. The man in the sunglasses wearing the baseball cap. Conferring with his "associates." Glaring from mug shots. But you've never heard the voice.

Now you can. The FBI has released audio recordings of fugitive South Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, hoping that someone somewhere will recognize his voice -- and provide the clue that finally results in his capture.

The recordings were taken before Bulger fled 13 years ago, but the task force that's looking for him said in a statement that it believes the recordings "depict the unique sound of Bulger's voice, and may be recognizable by anyone who may have come in contact with him."

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The state House of Representatives passed a bill today that would ban drivers from text messaging and using hand-held phones by a vote of 107 to 47.

The measure, which still faces a vote in the Senate, would fine violators $100 to $500. The use of hands-free technology would be allowed, so drivers could still talk on cellphones as long as they had earpieces. About a dozen bills were filed on the issue last year, but they failed to gain traction on Beacon Hill.

Melissa Martin of Southbridge watched today's vote and began to cry when her lawmakers discussed her 17-year-old daughter, Amanda, who was killed in October in Charlton when her car went off the road and hit a tree as she drove to school. Police believe text messaging may have been to blame for the accident because she received a message at 7:22 a.m., three minutes before the crash.

“I’m happy it is going to the next level,” Melissa Martin said.

By Globe Staff

State and federal authorities announced a settlement of $458.2 million with the firms that designed and managed the Big Dig to avoid criminal charges and civil liability stemming from leaks, the fatal ceiling collapse, and other flaws that have plagued the project.

Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the consortium that oversaw the Big Dig design and construction, will pay $407 million, and 24 other companies will pay about $51 million, US Attorney Michael Sullivan said this afternoon at a press conference.

"Massachusetts Highway and the citizens of Massachusetts entrusted Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to act as their eyes and ears on the Central Artery Project," Sullivan said. "They grossly failed to meet their obligations and responsibilities to the citizens of Massachusetts and the United States."

Approximately $415 million of the settlement money will be placed in a special trust fund and used to pay for future Big Dig costs and repairs. The settlement allows authorities to seek additional damages from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff in the event of a major failure in the project in the future causes more than $50 million in damage.

The agreement, which the Globe first reported in today’s paper, will allow Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to avoid state criminal charges in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel collapse that killed Milena Del Valle. She died on July 10, 2006, after concrete panels weighing 26 tons fell and partially crushed the car she and her husband were riding to Logan Airport.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A two-alarm fire tore through a Chelsea apartment house this morning and displaced six people.

No one was seriously injured in the blaze, which broke out at about 5 a.m. Fire crews from Chelsea, Everett, Boston, and Winthrop arrived at the two-family home on Lambert Avenue after a resident called 911.

The fire is believed to have started in the basement, authorities said, and heavily damaged the first floor apartment. The second floor apartment sustained smoke and water damage.

Crews stayed on the scene until about 8:30 a.m. One firefighter was injured after slipping on ice, but stayed on the scene until the fire was extinguished. He was taken to the hospital for x-rays but is "doing fine," said Acting Deputy Chief Edward Doherty of the Chelsea Fire Department.

"With these weather conditions, the streets just automatically turned to ice," Doherty said, noting that all the water the firefighters used to extinguish the flames quickly froze in the frigid temperatures.

It was the second fire in Chelsea this past week. The cause remains under investigation.

By Matt Viser and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick today unveiled a $28.2 billion budget that boosts spending on education, parks, and public safety but has come under fire because it relies in part on proposals that have not been approved by the Legislature.

"We can afford to do what we are proposing," Patrick said today in a statement. "We can't afford not to. We have seen what the cost of inaction looks like -- failing schools, broken roads, violence on streets corners -- and we must not settle for it any longer."

The spending proposal includes $124 million that administration says could be generated from the sale of casino licenses and $297 million from the closing of so-called corporate tax loopholes. The administration says it plans to close a projected $1.3 billion deficit through an emphasis on greater efficiency and "careful approaches to generating additional revenues."

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A 21-year-old man has been charged with aggravated rape after prosecutors allege he raped an unconscious woman in a bathroom at the popular nightclub FELT Boston.

Nicholas Chiaraluce denied the allegation after his arraignment this morning in Boston Municipal Court, telling reporters that he tried to help the 21-year-old woman.

“I did everything I could to make sure she was OK,” Chiaraluce said. “I was trying to do the right thing, and I ended up getting charged.”

The Woburn resident was arrested by Boston police early Saturday morning at FELT, which is near Downtown Crossing.

According to the Suffolk district attorney’s office, at least one witness saw Chiaraluce rape the woman in the second floor men’s bathroom. Police spoke with a friend of Chiaraluce, who told investigators that he saw the victim with her pants around her knees in the second-floor men’s room, prosecutors said. Chiaraluce asked his friend to help dress the woman, but he refused, prosecutors said.

By Andrea Estes and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff

The attorney general's office is set to announce a settlement over Big Dig defects that would garner the state more than $400 million, most of it from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the consortium that oversaw the design and construction of the massive public works project, according to two sources who have been briefed on the negotiations.

Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff will pay nearly $400 million and several other companies that designed various pieces of the Big Dig, will be responsible for about $50 million, the sources said. The announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.

The payments will generally release the companies from any further liability and will free Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff from any potential criminal charges in the July 2006 Interstate 90 tunnel ceiling collapse that killed a Jamaica Plain woman.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

A Lowell judge denied bail today for a 28-year-old man charged with killing his live-in girlfriend and dumping her body in a Dracut dumpster.

Salinda Sun is accused of shooting Shannon Meara, 24, in the head and disposing of her body with the help of Eric Anderson, a 28-year-old who shared an apartment with the couple on Westford Street in Lowell. Anderson was charged as an accessory after the fact and was held on $100,000 cash bail.

"We allege that this is another unfortunate example of domestic violence, this time between a boyfriend and his girlfriend," Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a written statement.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The former Lawrence nightclub where an inferno started Monday was described in a 2007 letter from the city’s fire prevention officer as an "extreme hazard to public safety" that was "a three-story bonfire just waiting for an ignition source."

The letter, written by Fire Captain William Lannon, described a structurally unsound building littered with propane tanks and kerosene cans from heaters that were not supposed to be used at the construction site. Firefighter responded to a report of smoke in the building on Jan. 25, 2007, and found workers burning scrap wood in a 55-gallon drum to keep warm.

"There are numerous life safety hazards throughout this building, and any fire in this building would literally race throughout this structure because of the lack of any type of walls, floor, and ceiling coverings," Lannon wrote in the letter to the Lawrence Inspectional Services Department. "This building is essentially a three-story bonfire just waiting for an ignition source."

Despite warnings of inspectors, a worker at the site was using a propane-fueled heater as recently as Friday, said Peter Blanchette, a city inspector who visited the Market Street building. The worker was using the heater on scaffolding outside the building and was told to turn it off, Blanchette said.

The owner of the building, Geraldo Torres, said in an interview today that he had complied with all orders by the city and repeatedly went to the Fire Department to ask how to make the building fire-safe. Torres said that he had been installing a sprinkler system. The work was nearly complete, but the system had not yet been connected to the city’s water supply, he said. When asked about the use of heaters, Torres said he was at the site Saturday and saw a single heater being used to dry stucco on the exterior of the building.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

LAWRENCE -- Fire investigators chipped through thick layers of ice today as they combed charred debris searching for the cause of a wind-driven inferno Monday that destroyed most of a city block.

A melted steel scaffolding stood over a gaping hole in the ground, marking the spot of the Millenium nightclub, where the fire started at 2:30 a.m. The club was under renovation and was empty, leading investigators to suspect arson.

On Friday a city building inspector visited the club to check some support beams that had been added during the construction. The building had been gutted to the studs, according the building inspector, Greg Arvanitis.

"Everything passed inspection," Arvanitis said today in an interview. Arvanitis did not perform a full inspection or check the wiring, he said.

By Globe Staff

The body of an apparent drowning victim was pulled this morning from New Bedford Harbor and divers are searching the chilly water for a second man who has been missing for eight hours, according to police and the Coast Guard.

Police responded at 3:40 a.m. to a pier near Eastern Fisheries for a report of a man in the water, according to Captain Joseph Cordeiro of the New Bedford Police Department. Police recovered one body and continue to search for the man who is missing.

By Russell Contreras, Globe Staff

LAWRENCE -- In the South Lawrence neighborhood, it's not unusual for Luis Taveras to be awakened at night by booming reggaeton from passing cars or from police sirens racing to a scene or, on some occasions, an orphan gunshot.

But early Monday morning, it was Taveras' landlord screaming to get his girlfriend and two children and run.

It was a fire this time.

The local chapter of the Red Cross says it has seeking donations for scores of people left homeless in a blaze this morning in Lawrence.

Jamie Devlin of the Red Cross Merrimack Valley chapter asked people interested in donating to call the chapter at 978-372-6871. Online donations can be made through redcross.org.

By Scott Allen and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

LAWRENCE – A fire in an abandoned nightclub early this morning erupted into an inferno that spread to at least 15 buildings in a dense neighborhood of homes and businesses.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, but the blaze tore through part of a city block and burned with such ferocity that the flames could literally be heard roaring. White smoke could be seen rising for at least 10 miles.

As many as 380 people were evacuated, said Lawrence Mayor Michael J. Sullivan. He said the included both those left homeless and people from neighboring homes whose power had been cut as a precaution. Twenty-six apartments were destroyed or damaged by the blaze, authorities said.

The fire near the corner of Market and Parker streets was first reported at 2:30 a.m., not far from the Lawrence commuter rail station. It appears to have begun in the Millennium nightclub, which was under renovation.

"The fact that the fire began in a vacant building does raise red flags for us," said State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan. "We are treating this as a suspicious fire."

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

A massive sweep across Boston by multiple law enforcement agencies netted at least 67 arrests on gang and drug related charges in a 24-hour period starting late Friday night, police said.

The sweep followed a week of deadly violence in Boston, during which four people were shot to death, bringing the homicide total to eight this year, quadruple the amount last year at this time, police said.

"The goal of the operation is to send a clear message to criminals that gun violence will not be tolerated in our community," said Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, reading from a statement during a late afternoon press conference at Boston Police headquarters today. "The round-up is focused on known gang members, many of whom are active gang members."

The sweep, conducted with the state police, FBI and US Marshals, also netted four firearms, including a shot gun, and various illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heroine, police said. The individuals were arrested on outstanding warrants and ranged in age from 17 to 54.
They were charged with a range of crimes, including smoking in public, failure to attend jury duty, armed robbery, and illegal firearm possession, police said.

Kyle Linatopi, 11, of Lynn, tries out goggles and
a helmet, gear his dad, David, might be wearing in Iraq.
(John Tlumacki)

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Staff

READING -- Sporting a Kevlar helmet, gray military fatigues, and some camouflage face paint, Kyle Linatopi, 11, slumped in a plastic chair under a batch of red, white, and blue balloons, swallowed the last piece of pepperoni pizza, and announced, to no one in particular:

"My back hurts."

No surprise there. It's not every Saturday that Linatopi, of Lynn, spends the morning doing push-ups, sit-ups, and lifting a 40-pound backpack, replicating the load that his stepfather, Massachusetts National Guard Staff Sergeant David Hrubes, had to carry when he deployed to Iraq last summer.

But today, Linatopi and about 30 other children whose relatives are serving in Iraq with the 972d Military Police Company gathered in a large gym at the company's base at Camp Curtis Guild to see what their loved ones go through when they enlist in the National Guard.

"It's a hard time for [the children], so anything to keep their minds off of it -- but at the same time on it in a good way -- is great," said Gina Ventullo of Salem, N.H., who helped organize the event.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

PROVIDENCE -- A Cranston, R.I. man was convicted Friday of first-degree murder in a 2005 killing in Providence.

After a two week trial, Tracey Barros, 28, also was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, carrying a pistol without a license, and discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence.

Barros shot Deivy Felipe five times on Althea Street over an unpaid debt, authorities said.
Prosecutors hailed the conviction of who they called "a dangerous career criminal."

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

MARLBOROUGH -- Authorities in Marlborough spent Friday dealing with an apparent bomb scare at a home on Hemenway Street Extension.

A homeowner doing work on his home found what appeared to be a pipe bomb and called police, who then found additional smaller devices resembling pipe bombs near the first item.

Marlborough police, the state police bomb squad, and a federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent are investigating the items and trying to determine how they got there. There was no word today on whether the items were actual bombs.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

GARDNER -- Police have arrested two men in a triple stabbing late Friday night.

Police received a call about 11:30 p.m. about a large fight on Oriole Street. They found three men stabbed and another injured.

The victims were rushed to area hospitals, police said, but the seriousness of their injuries was unknown today. One of the victims was arrested along with another man and charged in the fight.

They are being held at Gardner Police Station. The incident remains under investigation.

(Courtesy photo)

Kaleigh and Shane Lambert were killed when their aunt took them into traffic.

By Globe Staff

In an unusual twist to a heartbreaking case, the Middlesex district attorney's office announced today that a woman and two children who were struck by cars on Interstate 495 in Lowell a week ago were not killed by accident. It was a case of murder and suicide instead.

The woman killed the two children -- her niece and nephew -- and herself by walking into the highway traffic with them. Mental illness was to blame, prosecutors said.

Marcelle Thibault, 39, picked up Kaleigh Lambert, 5, and Shane Lambert, 4, the children of her twin sister, last Friday. She was taking them from their home in Brentwood, N.H. to a "pirate and princess" weekend at her house in Bellingham.

By Globe Staff

Antiabortion activists have filed a federal court challenge to a new state law that expanded the buffer zone surrounding abortion clinics, saying that the 35-foot zone violates their free speech and other rights.

The law is "an unconstitutional regulation designed and intended to ban virtually all citizens from engaging in fundamental rights and liberties on significant portions of public sidewalks, and streets" adjacent to abortion clinics, the lawsuit filed Wednesday said.

Antiabortion activists station themselves outside abortion clinics. They say their goal is to offer advice to women considering abortions. Abortion-rights proponents say they go too far, harassing people.

"Our perspective is: we're talking about lives at stake," said Bill Cotter, president of Operation Rescue: Boston. Several people active in the group are among the plaintiffs in the case.

A spokesman for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts defended the new law.

"This law strikes the appropriate balance between free speech and the right to access health services free from violence, harassment, and intimidation," said Angus McQuilken, vice president of public affairs for the group.

By Globe Staff

A convicted bank robber who won a $1 million lottery prize violated his probation when he bought his winning scratch ticket, but that won't keep him from collecting the money, his attorney said today.

A Barnstable Superior Court judge found Timothy Elliott, 55, of Bourne had violated terms of his probation that barred him from gambling. He was ordered to retroactively pay monthly probation supervision fees of $65, said his attorney, J. Drew Segadelli.

Coria Holland, a spokeswoman for the state probation commissioner, said the judge also ordered Elliott to comply with treatment ordered by the state Department of Mental Health. She said the issue of Elliott's winnings wasn't discussed at the hearing today before Judge Richard Connon.

Segadelli said there had never been any official effort by anyone to strip Elliott of his winnings. He said there were no grounds for such an action.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A former state prosecutor was acquitted of attempted rape and other charges today after a trial that featured graphic testimony from the victim -- and a defense that sought to raise questions about her credibility.

Gary Zerola, 36, who was once picked by People magazine as one of the nation's most eligible bachelors, faced a variety of charges for allegedly attacking the woman, who was 19 at the time, at his apartment in the early morning hours of Aug. 18, 2006.

The woman, now 20, testified in graphic detail about her struggle with Zerola in the apartment, saying that, at one point, Zerola forced her into his bedroom, slamming her head into a door frame.

Zerola testified in his own defense and adamantly insisted he did not assault the woman as she had claimed, said Paul Zerola, his brother and an attorney.

"Gary was honest, sincere,'' Paul Zerola said of the testimony and the acquittal."He's elated....He's excited to go on with his life.''

(United Press International file photo)

Marciano celebrates a victory.

By Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

A renowned sculptor based in Mexico City has been chosen to create the statue of legendary boxer Rocky Marciano that will be erected in Brockton, Marciano's hometown.

Mario Rendon, head of the Instituto Universitario de Bellas Artes, the art institute at the University of Colima, Mexico, has already begun drafting a sketch of the statue, and is expected to begin designing it in the next few months, said Tito Gonzalez, a spokesman for the World Boxing Council. He said it will take a year to complete the statue, and he hopes it will be in Brockton by early 2009.

Mendon has sculpted the statue of former world middleweight champion Carlos Monzon in Argentina. He has also sculpted a statue of a boxer in Mexico City similar to the statues of unknown soldiers in the United States, Gonzalez said.

"He has a lot of experience," he said.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Firefighters backed down the aerial ladder after ventilating the roof.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A 45-year-old man who was stopping this morning in Chelsea to get some good Latin food is being credited with rushing into a burning building to warn the residents.

Shawn Kraft, a retired call firefighter from Groton, was driving through the area at about 10 a.m. looking for a bite to eat when he smelled smoke from two attached triple-deckers at the corner of Chestnut and Williams streets.

He was able to warn five people in the two buildings. After that, he warned people in a building next door. Several firefighters received minor injuries but no residents were seriously injured.

By Globe Staff

Police and sheriff's deputies staged a predawn drug sweep today on Cape Cod, arresting 21 people in Falmouth, Mashpee, Barnstable, and other communities.

Substantial amounts of money and illegal drugs were discovered during the raids, which happened at 6 a.m., Falmouth police said in a statement.

Police said those arrested faced a variety of charges, including possession and distribution of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana.

By Peter Howe, Globe Staff

Amtrak and the passenger railroad's union have reached a contract settlement, averting a strike that could have crippled rail transportation in Boston, Senator Edward M. Kennedy said this morning.

Details weren't immediately available. Amtrak employees have been working without a contract for eight years.

"The settlement that's been achieved is an extraordinary achievement that will benefit all the members of the Amtrak community -- the employees, the company, the passengers, and the entire country," Kennedy said in a prepared statement.

By Globe Staff

A Brookline teacher is no longer on the job after he allegedly duct-taped a student's mouth shut early this month.

Christopher Huggins, who taught seventh- and eighth-grade science, allegedly taped the seventh-grade student's mouth shut on Jan. 2.

School Superintendent Bill Lupini declined to say whether Huggins had been fired. But he said the school had placed him on administrative leave after hearing of the alleged incident, had conducted an investigation, and had held an administrative hearing on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, he said, "Mr. Huggins is no longer an employee of the Brookline schools."

(AP Photo)

Crews working on the bridge after it was struck by the barge in late December.

By Globe Staff

A commuter rail bridge connecting Beverly and Salem may have been knocked out of alignment when it was hit by a barge last month, and that may have caused two subsequent failures in the bridge's gearbox, a spokesman for the commuter railroad said this morning.

Scott Farmelant, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, said that assessment came from an engineering expert and the makers of the gearbox who examined the bridge yesterday.

The swing-type drawbridge, which carries commuters on the Newburyport-Rockport line over the Danvers River, was out of commission yesterday for about seven hours after it opened and could not be locked back in place. It was the third time in recent weeks that the bridge had experienced problems. The bridge had gearbox problems on Jan. 2; it was hit by the barge on Dec. 21.

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad runs the commuter trains for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Officials have said the bridge will not be opened for boats -- allowing uninterrupted train service -- until permanent repairs have been made.

"Everyone involved is equally as frustrated as the customers that these problems continue to persist," said Farmelant.

By Globe Staff

Acton police have identified the two young men who died in a car crash yesterday in that town.

Efren Najera, 18, of Acton was the driver, while Juan Casimiro, 23, of Maynard was the passenger in the car, said Lieutenant Thomas Rogers.

The two men were killed when their car slammed into a stone wall, flew into the air, and hit a utility pole that snapped in half and fell on them, police said.

By Globe Staff

A North Shore commuter rail bridge reopened to trains this afternoon after a malfunction that disrupted service for more than seven hours.

At about 7:15 a.m., after the bridge had been opened to allow a tug and lobster boat to pass through the channel, the operator was unable to get it back into the closed position, said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It was the third time the bridge between Beverly and Salem has had problems in recent weeks.

Pesaturo said the bridge's gearbox failed. The gearbox manufacturer was summoned and identified the problem and repair work is expected to begin tomorrow, he said.

Officials were able to make a temporary fix and lock the bridge back into place at 2:30 p.m. The bridge will remain locked in place to allow for uninterrupted train service until permanent repairs are finished. Pesaturo had no estimate on when that would be.

(AP Photo)

Mitchell Dan Chester at his recent interview.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

The state Board of Education has picked Mitchell Dan Chester, a top school official in the state of Ohio, as the new state education commissioner.

Chester, 55, who holds the post of senior associate state superintendent in Ohio, beat out two other finalists: Karla Brooks Baehr, 59, superintendent of Lowell public schools, and Richard Laine, 43, education director of the Wallace Foundation in New York.

Chester's "national presence was a strong factor, but at the same time, he had the local experience that's very important to people in the field," said Paul Reville, chairman of the board. The nine members of the board voted unanimously for Chester at a special meeting convened today to discuss the appointment.

State officials have said the appointment is critical as the board grapples with how to overhaul failing schools, increase graduation rates, and prepare students for college.

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

At least 10 Salem public school teaching jobs "definitely" will be saved, following a flood of donations totaling more than $180,000, Mayor Kim Driscoll announced today.

In recent days, the district has laid off more than two dozen teachers as well as a larger number of paraprofessionals, clerks, librarians, and other staff, in an effort to close a $4.7 million midyear budget deficit.

The donations came from a variety of sources, including individuals, businesses and community groups.

"We are not stopping there," Driscoll said during a news conference at a local bank. She said city workers also would be asked to take a one- to two-day furlough, in an effort to help the city save an additional $200,000. That would save approximately 10 more teaching positions.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

US Senator Edward M. Kennedy talks about home heating costs at the hearing.

By John Drake, Globe Staff

Residents struggling to pay home heating bills told their stories today to a field hearing of a US Senate committee presided over by Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Margaret Gilliam, 70, of Dorchester, said at the hearing of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that she has been keeping the thermostat in her home at 62 degrees to stretch her heating oil supply.

Her last shipment of heating oil was paid for by Action for Boston Community Development Inc., the antipoverty agency at whose offices Kennedy held the hearing.

Gilliam said she is expecting to run out of oil within a week. "Where do I go after next week?" she asked.

Kennedy said a spike in oil prices, which are up 47 percent since last year, has arrived as many families also are dealing with increased mortgage payments. He called the financial pressures a "perfect storm of adversity" for families. "People are hurting who are playing by the rules every day," he said.

(AP Photo)

The creator of Harry signed a book in New Orleans in October.

By Linda K. Wertheimer, Globe Staff

Harvard University loves to brag that its freshman dining hall is the spitting image of the gothic-style Great Hall in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Today, the school is boasting about another Harry Potter-related coup: J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling novels, will be the main speaker at this June's commencement.

Rowling stands out as one of the few popular culture stars that Harvard has invited to speak at its commencement during the last 50 years. Politicians, business leaders, and foreign dignitaries are the usual invitees. John Lithgow, an actor and author who is a Harvard alum, was an exception when he gave the graduation speech in 2005.

"Harvard isn't exactly Hogwarts, but I'm sure that her visit with us next June will be a moment of magic for J.K. Rowling's many admirers across the University," Harvard President Drew Faust said in a statement today.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A Rockland man faces federal charges for allegedly e-mailing child pornography five times in 2006, according to US authorities and Foxborough police.

Douglas S. Carruthers, 43, was arrested Friday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and local police at the Gaard Motel in Foxborough. He had been indicted Jan. 9 by a federal grand jury.

He had been staying at the motel for an unspecified amount of time, said Foxborough Police Chief Edward O'Leary.

By Globe Staff

In what one lawyer described as a victory for battered women, the state's highest court has ruled that a Massachusetts court can issue a domestic abuse prevention order against someone who lives outside of the state.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the case of a woman who returned to Massachusetts and sought an order protecting her from her domestic partner, a man who was living in Florida.

The court, in the case Caplan v. Donovan, said that allowing the court to issue such an order furthers the Commonwealth's "important public policy goal" of protecting people from devastating family violence.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

The scene on Tuttle Street this morning.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Boston police are investigating the death of a man this morning in the city's Dorchester section.

A man in his 30s was found dead with a single stab wound in the third-floor apartment of a triple-decker on Tuttle Street in the Savin Hill neighborhood, police said.

Homicide detectives are looking into the incident, which was reported at about 6 a.m.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Police survey the scene of the 4 a.m. crash on Route 24.

By Globe Staff

A woman with a baby in a car seat fled after a state trooper stopped her car early this morning in Brockton. The woman's car and the trooper's cruiser crashed on the highway, but nobody was seriously injured.

Lisa M. Allsopp, 31, of Plymouth, who was not injured, faces a number of charges, including operating to endanger and child endangerment, after the crash on Route 24 near the Brockton-Avon line, police said.

The baby did not appear to have been injured but was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton for observation. Trooper Brian Galvin was taken to the same hospital for treatment of minor injuries, police said.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Police Commissioner Ed Davis conferred with other officials at the scene of the shooting in Roslindale.

By Maria Cramer and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

At least one man was killed and three were wounded in two separate shootings in Boston this afternoon.

Three men were shot, one fatally, about 1:30 p.m. in the city's Roslindale section. Minutes earlier, another man had been shot in the city's Dorchester section.

Police said they didn't know yet whether there was any connection between the shootings.

By Linda K. Wertheimer, Globe Staff


In their first year without early admissions programs, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia received a record number of applications, a sign that their push to open up the competition for spots to more students may be working, admissions officials said.

Harvard, which said today that it has received 27,278 applications, reported the most dramatic jump -- a 19 percent increase, or 4,323 more applicants, compared with last year. Princeton, with 20,118 applicants, had a 6.2 percent increase, and the University of Virginia, with 18,900 applicants, had a 4.5 percent increase.

By Globe Staff

A ban on driving while talking on the cellphone or texting made it to the floor of the Massachusetts House today, but not to a final vote.

With 16 amendments proposed, lawmakers gave the bill preliminary approval, but postponed further action, saying they wanted to take a closer look at the bill.

The bill, which was approved yesterday by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation, would fine drivers who use the devices $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second, and $500 for subsequent offenses. Drivers under 18 also could face license suspension.

(Family photo)

Carlos Sierra was gunned down on a Dorchester street last night.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A 16-year-old boy shot to death in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood last night was identified by his family today as Carlos Sierra.

In an interview in their apartment, Sierra's relatives said the teen was an eighth-grader at the James M. Curley Elementary School in Jamaica Plain. They said doctors had told them that the teenager was shot 13 times.

Sierra was shot on Strathcona Road shortly after 10:30 p.m. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Sierra's older sister, Jacqueline Gonzalez, said the teenager had no enemies that she knew of. "He never had any problems with anybody,'' said the 19-year-old as her mother, Marisol Rodriguez, wept nearby. "He would only go to school and come home -- and go to school.''

By Globe Staff

The state attorney general's office announced today that it has issued citations for holiday season child labor violations to stores at malls throughout the state.

The office said it found a total of 177 violations at 31 stores, including stores employing minors without work permits and past the latest permissible hour of work.

By Globe Staff

With interest in the presidential campaign running high, people have been flocking to city and town halls to register to vote in the Feb. 5 primary.

"There's excitement. At this stage, it's a competitive contest on both sides," said secretary of state's spokesman Brian McNiff.

But if you haven't registered yet, you'd better move fast. Today is the last day to register. You have until 8 tonight to sign up.

(AP Photo/Jason Hunt, Coeur d'Alene Press)

A bald eagle was captured in full flight earlier this month in Idaho.

By Globe Staff

Dozens of people are fanning out today across the Bay State looking for bald eagles as part of a national midwinter survey.

A total of about 60 people, including state and federal workers and volunteers, will be looking for the national bird, which has made a comeback after being nearly wiped out by environmental contamination, said Tom French, assistant director of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

French said the search for the bald eagles will include a helicopter survey of the Quabbin Reservoir and Connecticut River. Ground teams will also look for the birds on the Merrimack River and the Assawompset Pond Complex in the Lakeville area.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

The Boston firefighters union backed off a threat to picket Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s State of the City speech Tuesday night, but the political feud between the union and the mayor continued to escalate.

The mayor used his annual address to say he was astounded by the union’s aggressive negotiating positions on key contract issues.

He cited the union’s unwillingness to accept random drug and alcohol testing, as well as its opposition to eliminating what he called “unethical personnel practices,” without winning a pay raise in return.

“These union leaders do not seem to realize what everyone in this city knows, that it is not right to ask for pay raises as a reward for putting a stop to these abuses of the public trust,” Menino said.

The mayor’s remarks drew applause, but some public officials in the audience refrained from responding.

The union, while canceling plans to picket the mayor’s speech at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, held a press conference at which its leaders leveled charges at Menino’s administration.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

Boston police said today that a man who sexually assaulted a woman on Monday in the North End probably attacked another woman last summer.

Police initially said today they thought Monday's attack was an isolated event. But further investigation led them to link Monday's incident to one that took place on July 13, 2007, in roughly the same part of the North End.

"We want people to take this seriously," said Officer James Kenneally, a department spokesman. Investigators "feel there is a connection" between the two attacks.

(Andrew Cunningham/Tufts University)

Tufts veterinarian Flo Tseng was assisted by students in examining the coyote at the university's Grafton facility. He was in good condition.

By Globe Staff

Boston's North End had an unusual visitor in a fur coat yesterday: a coyote.

The wild animal, which may have wandered into the city after being disoriented by the snowstorm, was captured at about 6 p.m. by city animal control officers on North Washington Street near the bridge that leads into Charlestown, said Alan Borgal, director of law enforcement for the Animal Rescue League.

Borgal said the animal also appeared to have been injured, perhaps hit by a car, on its foray into the city. The animal was taken by the league to the wildlife clinic at the Tufts veterinary school in Grafton for treatment.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A three-year-old girl is in serious condition at Massachusetts General Hospital after a television fell on her at her home in Lynn, police said.

Rescuers raced to the child's home on Lincoln Street at about 9:30 a.m. after receiving a call from the child's mother. They found the child unconscious, having difficulty breathing.

The incident is being investigated by local and state police detectives. Lynn Police Lieutenant Dave Brown said it appeared to be an accident.

By Globe Staff

The head of the Boston firefighters' union charged today that the city administration is trying to alter an independent report on the deaths of two firefighters in late August.

"The City is trying to manipulate the independent report, thus re-victimizing the families who have had to endure a horribly tragic event," Edward Kelly, president of Boston Firefighters Local 718, said in a statement.

Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said the city legal department had simply reviewed the report to make sure it was "a sound legal document."

"That's standard procedure for any report coming through the city," she said, denying that any significant changes had been suggested.

(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

Martin Luther King III spoke today at a church while Mayor Thomas M. Menino looked on.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, with Martin Luther King III at his side, announced this morning that the city will build a statue commemorating King's parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

"This is a tremendously special honor to have this statue in a city where my father was educated and met my mother, and where the romance began," King said before addressing a packed Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, where his father once preached.

Menino said a committee will choose an artist and explore potential locations for the statue. He said the city plans to raise money from private donors. He did not say when it would be unveiled.

By Globe Staff

Three New England companies will pay penalties to resolve allegations that they violated federal regulations on the storage of oil, the US Environmental Protection Agency said today.

Mantrose-Haueser Co. Inc., of Attleborough, will pay $34,000. Rice Oil Co., of Greenfield, will pay $157,500. And Irving Oil Co., with US operations based in Portsmouth, N.H., will pay $55,000.

The agency said the settlements were part of an ongoing EPA effort to prevent oil spills.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Firefighters used a ladder truck to attack the blaze.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A three-alarm fire in Milton today damaged a house on the Milton Academy campus, but fire department officials said there were no injuries.

The blaze broke out at about 8:30 a.m. Fire Chief Malcolm Larson said heavy smoke was showing from the second and third floors when firefighters arrived. His department received help from Boston and Canton in fighting the fire.

The cause of the fire on Voses Lane is under investigation. It may have started in the second-floor chimney, Larson said.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Snow didn't deter this hardy person from walking a dog during the predawn hours on Boston Common.

By Globe Staff

For those who braved the snow today to go to work, the reward was a smooth commute home.

The traffic monitors at SmartRoute Systems Inc. in Cambridge said it was the easiest Monday-night commute they had seen in months. Aside from an exit ramp on Route 2 in Arlington closed for repair work and a slow patch on Interstate 95 in Wellesley, SmartRoute said there were virtually no problems on the homebound commute.

"When no one goes to work, no one has to go home," joked Jeff Larson, general manager of the company. "The conditions are good, traffic volume is extremely light, and that translates to very little traffic."

Residents began to dig out this afternoon after a brief but powerful coastal storm that had covered the Bay State this morning with a blanket of wet, heavy snow. The northeaster, which was the first snowstorm of the new year, caused numerous spinouts on the roads, delayed flights at Logan International Airport, and disrupted MBTA service.

Officials asked people to stay home, if they could. And many apparently were happy to extend their weekend. Traffic during the morning rush hour was reported to be light.

Lieutenant Eric Anderson, a State Police spokesman, said that while a number of spinouts had been reported, there were no serious injuries.

Charlie Foley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the storm had dumped 6.8 inches on Boston and 6.2 inches on Worcester. The western part of the state saw higher totals, with the town of Leverett, for example, tallying 12 inches.

More wintry weather may be on the way. The weather service has predicted that another storm could bring snow or rain to the state Thursday night or Friday.

About 28,000 people were without power this afternoon, down from 45,000 at the height of the storm, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said service was returning to normal after numerous disruptions this morning to trolley, bus, and commuter rail lines. The Mattapan high-speed trolley line was shut down after a tree fell on overhead power wires. It reopened but then closed again when another tree fell on the tracks shortly before 5 p.m., the MBTA said.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley today hailed an agreement between 49 US state attorneys general and the popular social networking site MySpace as a "huge step" toward protecting children who venture onto the Internet.

Under an agreement signed by the attorneys general and the company, MySpace has approved a broad set of guidelines aimed at shielding children from sexual predators who use the site as well as from inappropriate material.

"This is an additional tool to keep kids safe online," she said.

(David Kamerman / Globe Staff)

L.Z. Nunn was one of those people who actually enjoyed this morning's snow. She went out for a morning ski in Lowell's Francis Gate Park.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

They seem like free spirits usually. Whizzing around the downtown area on their bikes. But bicycle messenger Jennifer Dunn, 26, of Boston said today was a day she wished she had a regular desk job where she could stay inside and keep warm.

She couldn't get traction in the wet snow. "I’ve been doing a lot of walking today, actually," she said, standing next to her battered bicycle in Post Office Square in Boston's quieter-than-usual financial district.

Dunn was one of the people who didn't stay hunkered down at home during the storm that dumped wet, heavy snow on the Bay State this morning.

Nathan Silva, 38, of Boston was another. He was one of the army of maintenance people shoveling and squeegeeing sidewalks for downtown office buildings.

He shrugged his shoulders when asked about the storm. He's been on the job for four years and it's nothing new.

"When you've got just snow it's easy, but when it's rain and snow it's more work," he said of the wet stuff he was shoveling.

(Pool photo)

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A 44-year-old Boston police veteran pleaded not guilty today at his arraignment on robbery and assault charges.

Michael T. Jones allegedly used his service weapon to rob a Roslindale gas station on Friday and attempted to rob another man after leaving the store.

He faces charges of armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Jones was arraigned today in his hospital room at Faulkner Hospital by West Roxbury District Judge Kathleen Coffey, who ordered him held on $50,000 cash bail. Jones was being treated for heart palpitations, his attorney, Ken Anderson, said.

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

A proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound would have little lasting impact on wildlife, navigation and tourism, a long-awaited review by the federal government concludes.

The draft environmental review by the Minerals Management Service, the lead federal permitting agency for the project, is the main remaining hurdle the wind farm developer has to overcome to build the nation’s first offshore wind park.

"Most of the impacts are minor or negligible," Rodney Cluck, the project manager of the wind farm for the Minerals Management Service, said in a telephone interview this morning. While some effects, such as those upon sea ducks that could be displaced, were declared "moderate" in the nearly 2,000 page draft environmental impact statement, Cluck said "we feel we can mitigate most of those."

By Globe Staff

State Police have identified the man who was killed on Route 128 near Route 20 yesterday as 44-year-old Robert Turcotte of Holliston.

Police say Turcotte was heading south at about 5:50 p.m. when he stopped his sport utility vehicle in the breakdown lane.

While standing near the white fog line separating the breakdown lane and the right travel lane, he was struck by a tractor-trailer driven by James Glovacki, 55, of Greenfield, State Police said.

Most colleges and universities in Greater Boston have canceled or delayed classes today, including Northeastern, Tufts, Bridgewater State, Framingham State, and Brandeis.
Here's a partial list::

Babson
Bentley
Berklee College of Music
Boston College (opening three hours late)
Brandeis
Bridgewater State
Bryant
Bunker Hill Community
Cambridge
Curry
Dean
Emmanuel
Endicott
Emerson
Fitchburg State
Framingham State
Franklin Pierce
Gordon
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
Hebrew
Hellenic
Lesley
Mass. Bay Community
Mass. School of Law
Mass. College of Art
Massasoit Community
Merrimack
Middlesex Community
Monserrat College of Art
New England Convservatory
New England School of Law (no day classes)
North Shore Community
Northeastern
Northern Essex Community
Olin
Pine Manor
Quincy
Regis
Roxbury Community
Salem State (day classes)
Simmons
Stonehill
Suffolk
Tufts
UMass-Lowell
University of New Hampshire
Wentworth Institute of Technology (no day classes)
Wheelock
Worcester State

For more closings, go to http://wbztv.com/schoolclosings or http://www.thebostonchannel.com/closings/index.html

By Globe.com Staff

Most large public school districts in eastern Massachusetts followed Boston's lead and announced school closings for Monday.

In addition, the state's Department of Conservation and Recretation closed its ice rinks and announced emergency parking rules after midnight on roadways it maintains. And the U.S. District Court in Boston canceled jury duty on Monday.

By 10:30 p.m., more than 230 school and college closings had been reported. They included these public school districts:

Abington
Amesbury
Andover
Ashland
Athol-Royalston Regional
Auburn
Blackstone-Millville
Boston
Boxford
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional
Brookline
Cambridge
Chelsea
Dedham
Douglas
Dover
Dover-Sherborn Regional
East Bridgewater
Everett
Framingham
Groton-Dunstable
Halifax
Hanover
Haverhill
Holbrook
Kingston
Lawrence
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional
Lincoln
Lowell
Lynn
Malden
Marlborough
Marshfield
Maynard
Medfield
Medford
Medway
Melrose
Methuen
Middleton
Millis
Natick
Needham
Newburyport
Newton
North Andover
Plympton
Reading
Revere
Rockland
Sherborn
Silver Lake Regional
Somerville
Sudbury
Taunton
Topsfield
Tyngsborough
Uxbridge
Walpole
Wayland
Wellesley
West Bridgewater
Weston
Westwood
Whitman-Hanson Regional
Wilmington
Winthrop

For more closings, go to http://wbztv.com/schoolclosings or http://www.thebostonchannel.com/closings/index.html#L

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

Twenty-nine teachers were laid off and five had their hours reduced today as the Salem schools tried to address a $4.7 million budget deficit. And more cuts are expected Monday.

School officials have been struggling to close the budget gap since it was first discovered late last year. Officials say it was caused, at least in part, by questionable bookkeeping by the district's former business manager.

Much of the gap already has been covered by the City Council, by renegotiation of contracts and other cost-saving measures, but a shortfall of about $1.2 million remains and is expected to be covered by cutting jobs.

The cuts are also expected to affect paraprofessionals, custodians, administrators, clerical staff and others. In all, more than 100 of the district's 750 jobs are to be affected.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A federal jury today convicted three former leaders of a defunct Boston-based charity of lying to win tax-exempt status for the charity and then using the nonprofit to promote jihad and support Muslim militants overseas.

In the first criminal trial in US District Court in Boston that explored a US charity's ties to terrorist groups, Emadeddin Muntasser, 43, of Braintree, who owns Logan Furniture Company; Muhamed Mubayyid, 42, of Shrewsbury; and Samir Al-Monla, 50, of Brookline were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States and of a scheme to conceal the true origins of the charity, Massachusetts Care International Inc., which operated from 1993 to 2003 and collected $1.7 million in donations.

(AP Pool Photo)

Pring-Wilson testifying in November at his second trial.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Former Harvard University graduate student Alexander Pring-Wilson pleaded guilty today to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years and one day in prison for stabbing to death a young man on a Cambridge street in 2003.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse called Pring-Wilson's crime "stupid and avoidable," but he said, "The time has come to let go. The resolution ... is fair and just."

Pring-Wilson admitted to stabbing Michael Colono, 18, in a fight on a dark street during the early morning hours of April 12, 2003, but he contended he acted in self-defense after being attacked by Colono and Colono's cousin, Samuel Rodriguez.

In sentencing Pring-Wilson, Muse gave him credit for 290 days he has already served in jail. Pring-Wilson, who arrived in the courtroom with his girlfriend, mother, and stepfather, was led away by court officers at the end of the hearing to begin completing his sentence.

Colono's older sister, Desmarias, said during a victim impact statement that she wasn't satisfied with the sentence.

"It's not fair, and it's all Alexander Pring-Wilson's fault, the man who thinks he's God," she said.

The case attracted widespread attention because it involved two men from different worlds in a deadly chance encounter. Colono was a hotel cook and a young father who lived in the area, while Pring-Wilson, who is from Colorado Springs, Colo., was studying for a master's degree in Russian and Eurasian studies.

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

WAREHAM -- A 15-year-old Wareham girl was killed early today when the car she was driving at a high rate of speed failed to make a turn, went airborne, and crashed into a parked car, police said.

The girl, Samantha Callow, a sophomore at Wareham High School, was ejected from the car. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Callow was driving without her headlights on. A police officer put on his lights and attempted to stop her car at about 3:10 a.m. on High Street. He began to follow her and then came upon the wreckage.

Police said the officer wasn't chasing the car when the crash happened.

The car came to rest at 16 Cedar St., police said in a statement.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A judge who is probing whether racism played a role in a Cape Cod jury's murder verdict finished questioning the 12 jurors today about their deliberations.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson is holding an extraordinary hearing to determine if something was amiss when jurors convicted Christopher McCowen, a black trash collector, of the 2002 rape and murder of Christa Worthington, a white fashion writer who lived on his route in Truro.

On the first day of the hearing yesterday, jurors hurled allegations of racism and inappropriate behavior. A picture emerged of a jury riven by racially tainted strife.

Nickerson finished questioning the five remaining jurors today. A week from today, the hearing will resume when two expert witnesses will testify on the role race can play in jury deliberations.

By Globe Staff

A Dorchester man was convicted today of first-degree murder for stabbing his wife to death inside their apartment.

Nile J. Reavis, 42, attacked his wife, Sandra, in the bedroom of their Armandine Street home early in the morning of Nov. 2, 2006. Sandra Reavis, 39, had gone into the bedroom to avoid arguing with her husband, Suffolk County prosecutors said in a statement.

Reavis is to be sentenced Monday in Suffolk Superior Court. He faces a mandatory term of life in prison without parole.

By Matthew Collette, Globe Correspondent

A robber had an unpleasant surprise after robbing a South Boston bank this morning when a dye pack in the stolen money exploded, leaving his loot floating in the rain-soaked streets.

The man entered the Sovereign Bank at 474 West Broadway at about 9 a.m. and passed a note to the teller, police said. The teller handed over the money with the dye pack attached.

After the explosion, the suspect fled the scene in a silver Toyota Camry. Police said they are searching for the suspect.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

He feels their pain. Governor Deval Patrick told city and town officials today that he understands that they are experiencing tight fiscal times. And he offered a solution: his municipal relief legislation.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents the state's 351 cities and towns, he offered some of his harshest criticism yet of the Legislature as he urged local officials to lobby their state representatives to act on his bill.

"So far not one of the revenue options has been heard for a vote in the Legislature. Not one!" he said, shouting into the microphone. "That is not acceptable. It ought not be acceptable to you, and you have to show up and make that point!"

Patrick's Municipal Partnership Act includes proposals that would allow communities to raise more revenues through, among other things, meals taxes and telecommunications taxes.

Patrick also took a swipe at the administration of former governor Mitt Romney, who trimmed state aid to cities and towns in order to close a state budget gap.

"Our budget will not be balanced on your backs," he told the crowd gathered at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. "The strategy of the previous administration of shifting state fiscal hardships to cities and towns is no solution. That time is over, it's over. And it's not coming back."

(George Rizer/Globe Staff0

The puddle was gigantic this morning on Talbot Avenue in Dorchester as Kerry Deal and her children, Simon and Helena Strauss, waded their way to the Lee School.

By Globe Staff

State Police are cautioning people to drive carefully today as the rain comes pelting down, obscuring windshields and collecting in large puddles on some roads.

"Certainly, everyone should take their time and leave a little early so they're not in a rush so they can drive a little more cautiously," said Lieutenant Eric Anderson, a State Police spokesman.

Hitting a big puddle can lead to a car hydroplaning and make it difficult to maneuver, he said.

The National Weather Service warned this morning of isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds and that road flooding may be caused today by poor drainage, snowmelt, and rainfall.

(Somerset Police photo)

After sighing and seeming impatient while waiting in line, the robber stepped to the teller window to demand money.

By Globe Staff

He looked like a younger version of Mrs. Doubtfire. That's how Somerset Police Chief Joseph Ferreira describes the man who earlier this week tried the unusual tactic of dressing up as a woman to rob a bank.

The robber walked into the Citizens Union Bank located on a plaza on Route 6 in Somerset at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. He was wearing a long, tan trenchcoat with a belt, a skullcap with a multi-colored kerchief, and a large amount of facial makeup, Ferreira said.

The over-the-top disguise reminded him of the 1993 movie "Mrs. Doubtfire" in which Robin Williams played a divorced dad who disguised himself as a housekeeper so he could get closer to his kid.

The robber told a teller he had a gun and would use it unless the teller gave him some money. The teller gave him a small amount, and the robber ran to the getaway car, a dark-colored convertible driven by a young woman wearing sunglasses with a brown pony tail.

By Globe Staff

A 23-year-old Dorchester man is in custody, charged with committing the first murder in Boston this year, the Jan. 6 shooting of Joseph N. Clarke in Dorchester.

Clarke was shot nine days before his 24th birthday. His body was found near the intersection of Norton and Bowdoin streets shortly before 2 a.m. He had been shot in the head, police said. About an hour before he was murdered, Clarke had telephoned his mother and wished her a happy birthday, relatives told the Globe.

Police and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office identified the suspect as Rayon Gillespie and said he surrendered last night after learning police had obtained an arrest warrant for him.

By Globe Staff

Holden police are warning people to be careful with pellet guns after an incident in their town last night in which a young man was wounded in the head with one.

Police say they were called to a home in the Jefferson neighborhood and found a 23-year-old man with a serious head wound. He was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center.

An initial investigation found that a friend of the victim, a 21-year-old, was holding a .177-caliber air rifle when it discharged striking the victim in the back of the head.

The shooting appeared to be accidental, but it is still under investigation, police said.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

The Boston Firefighters Union has applied for a permit to picket Mayor Thomas M. Menino's state of the city address on Tuesday.

Local 718 has been working without a contract since July 2006. Negotiations broke down last year after the city refused to give firefighters a 21 percent raise over four years in exchange for allowing random drug and alcohol testing and other concessions.

The firefighters union has been under intense scrutiny since two firefighters died in a West Roxbury restaurant fire last August. Autopsy reports indicated one had a blood alcohol content of .27, and the other had traces of cocaine in his system.

Union officials said they had not decided whether to stage a picket on Tuesday, but they were "looking very closely" at the idea.

"There’s a strong probability that there will be a firefighter presence at the state of the city," said Edward Kelly, local 718 president.

By Globe Staff

City and town governments, who have found themselves slashing programs and services or raising taxes in recent years because of tight finances, are likely to face even greater challenges over the next several years, a report by a government watchdog group said today.

"The finances are being relentlessly squeezed year by year," said Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The foundation's 37th annual analysis of local revenues and spending found that fiscal 2007 saw a brief reprieve for municipalities with state aid to them growing by 8.1 percent. But the report saw storm clouds ahead.

(Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff)

An LNG tanker heads under the Tobin Bridge on its way to the Everett facility.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

The Coast Guard captain in charge of the port of Boston said federal authorities are well-equipped to secure liquefied natural gas shipments into the region and respond in case of a terrorist attack.

"Here in the port of Boston, we have safe and secure transits," said Captain Gail Kulisch. "We can do that because we have a very robust safety and security plan with many partners contributing to that for each and every transit."

Kulisch commented a day after the Government Accountability Office questioned the Coast Guard’s readiness to protect some ports.

By Globe Staff

The state agency that investigates allegations that disabled people are being abused doesn’t have enough staff, the state auditor said today.

State Auditor Joe DeNucci said that the understaffing at the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, along with the commission’s increasing caseload, has hampered its ability to investigate cases.

Investigations are not being completed in a timely manner, putting disabled people “at risk of further abuse,” DeNucci warned.

(Courtesy improveverywhere.com)

Participants in a previous prank.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Knobby knees. Hairy legs. You can see plenty on the beach. You may also see them Saturday on the subway in Boston.

Some riders may be participating that afternoon in "No Pants 2K8," an event in which people will ride the trains in their underwear.

Organizer Adam Sablich said it's a "large-scale improv event," and that 400 to 500 people have expressed interest in participating through Internet social networking sights.

He said it's a spinoff of an event that's been happening in New York City for a half-dozen years.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

The young woman who has accused former prosecutor Gary Zerola of attempted rape could be heard screaming on a 911 tape played today during Zerola’s trial in Suffolk Superior Court.

The woman's words were not distinguishable on the tape, which lasted for only a few seconds. The cellphone call came from Zerola's apartment, where the assault allegedly took place in 2006.

The 20-year-old woman testified that she had rejected Zerola's advances, struggling with him and trying unsuccessfully to escape his apartment. She said she told him, "I will not have sex with you. I will not have sex with you. I will not hook up with you."

She also testified that, at one point, Zerola forced her into his bedroom, slamming her head into a door frame.

"He put his hand on my head and pushed it into the door frame. It hurt," she said.

(Jennifer Longley for The Boston Globe)

Christopher McCowen arriving at the courthouse this morning.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A member of a Cape Cod jury that convicted a black trash collector of murder in 2006 testified today in an unusual court hearing that her fellow jurors had made racially insensitive remarks during the trial.

Roshena Bohanna, who is black, said she had heard the remarks, both directly and indirectly, before jury deliberations, during deliberations, and even when the jury was sequestered at a hotel.

She said that she had gotten into such a heated confrontation with a white juror over one remark that the jury foreman had to call for a break in the deliberations.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson has called jurors back into court to probe whether the remarks allegedly made during more than a week of deliberations tainted the verdict against Christopher M. McCowen, who was convicted of murdering fashion writer Christa Worthington at her Truro home.

"This is an extraordinarily unusual situation, when a court makes inquiry of jurors after the delivery of a verdict," the judge told the jurors at the outset of the hearing this morning. But he said the need for the hearing had become apparent after Bohanna and two other jurors signed affidavits alleging that the remarks were made.

McCowen was convicted in November 2006 of raping and killing Worthington, who was white. Her secluded Truro house was located on his trash-hauling route.

Worthington, who had lived in Paris and New York before moving to the beach town, was found stabbed to death in January 2002, with her 2-year-old daughter, Ava, clutching her body, smeared in blood but unhurt.

By Globe Staff

The systems that pipe fresh drinking water into people's homes across the state are aging and in need of major upgrades in coming years, activists say.

Clean Water Action says that by 2022 the state should invest $8 billion into its drinking water infrastructure as the "dawn of the replacement era" hits the state.

"Our water systems and the components that they're made of are, in fact, wearing out," said Becky Smith, a spokesman for the group.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A federal appeals court today ruled in favor of an anesthesiologist who sought a discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector two years ago, after the Army paid $184,000 for her to attend Tufts University School of Medicine.

In a 2-1 vote, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld a judge who halted the Army's effort to force Dr. Mary Hanna, 31, of Somerville, to report for active duty in October 2006, ruling that an Army review board's decision to deny her request for conscientious objector status "was without a basis in fact."

The court's majority opinion cited testimony from priests, superior officers and an Army investigator assigned to the case, who each concluded that Hanna, a devout Coptic Orthodox Christian, "sincerely opposed participation in war because of her religious beliefs."

By Globe Staff

The revitalization of Boston’s Downtown Crossing area today passed another milestone as Suffolk University opened a residence hall on West Street.

"Suffolk is going to be a great asset," said Mary Ann Ponti, a board member on the Downtown Crossing Association.

The building will house 274 undergraduate students in apartments and suites, and will feature a coffee shop and restaurant on the street level, the university said in a statement.

(Photo courtesy of "Jeopardy!" Productions)

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Don't call Dan Pawson a loser.

He lost on "Jeopardy" tonight, but he's walking away with $170,902 and a spot in the show's Hall of Fame.

He was on his game tonight, ahead of the pack until the very last minute.

Then came the "Final Jeopardy" clue: "First mentioned in a letter by Clement IV in 1265, this item worn by the pope features an image of St. Peter in a boat." Pawson answered his miter. The correct answer, provided by Kristen Welsh, who was then in second place, was the pope's ring.

Welsh, from Geneva, N.Y., doubled her score, while Pawson plummeted from from first to third place.

Thus ended the Allston legislative aide's "Jeopardy!" winning streak last night in his 10th appearance on the show (on WSBK-TV).

(AP pool photo)

Gary Zerola at the trial Tuesday.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Boston man once picked by People magazine as one of the city's most eligible bachelors was described today by a prosecutor as a relentless predator who would stop at nothing to get a 19-year-old woman to have sex with him.

But the attorney for Gary Zerola said that the alleged victim was a liar and that Zerola, 36, was a “sap’’ whom she had manipulated.

“She couldn’t tell the truth if her life depended on it, much less Gary Zerola’s life. … She lies when she needs to," Janice Bassil said in her opening statement in Zerola's Suffolk Superior Court trial.

By Globe Staff

The Archdiocese of Boston raised $14.5 million in its 2007 Catholic Appeal fund drive, surpassing its $14 million goal and bringing it closer to levels it achieved before the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

In 2000, the fund drive raised $17.2 million, but the intake plunged to $8.8 million in 2002, at the height of the abuse crisis.

In an effort to rebuild the archdiocese, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has been increasing the goal by $1 million each year since his arrival in Boston in 2003.

Last year, the drive raised $13.8 million.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Stokes talks to reporters after the hearing this morning.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A Lawrence school committee member who is facing a charge that he faked his military record said today after an appearance in federal court that he plans to continue serving on the board.

"My thought is, I want to get back to Lawrence and I want to get back on the School Committee tomorrow night," Jim Stokes told reporters outside the courthouse.

Stokes, who was elected to the board this fall and sworn in Monday, was arrested this morning by FBI agents at a doughnut shop in Lawrence.

The charge of forging military discharge papers carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. US Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander released him on $10,000 unsecured bond.

Stokes had touted his 20 years of service in the Marine Corps as he ran for office this fall. But the military had no record of his service, city officials have said.

By Globe Staff

A Chelsea man was shot in the stomach during a parking dispute early today on Exeter Street, police said.

The dispute broke out about 3:45 a.m. when one driver parked his car too close to another car.

"One car was touching another car," said Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes. "A man started screaming and yelling about it. Anther person came out of a nearby home. An argument broke out; there was a physical altercation. Then, at some point, shots were fired."

(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)

Dwayne Scruton, 21, of Westford; Matt Mireault, 19, of Lowell; and Ben Sandessa, 20, of Westford, felt the warmth today on the bike ramp at Hadley Park in Lowell.

By Emma Stickgold and Matthew Collette, Globe Correspondents

Bay State residents headed outside today to bask in the record-high temperatures, a welcome relief from last week's bitter cold.

The temperature crested at 67 degrees in Boston at 2:15 p.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson. That's 3 degrees higher than the old record for the day of 64, set in 1930.

It's also 50 degrees higher than the high temperatures a week ago.

Worcester also set a record, edging up to 61 degrees at 12:20 p.m., breaking the old record of 58 set back in 1930.

Soaking in the warmth, hikers are taking to the trails, and surfers are out in droves today along the Cape Cod National Seashore.

"We have more hikers than usual yesterday and today -- people are coming out and maybe doing a morning hike before work, or taking time in the afternoon to take a hike. It's not very windy either, which is nice," said chief ranger Steve Prokop.

The warmth has also brought people out on Revere Beach. "We are getting slammed," said Kelly's Roast Beef shift supervisor Tammy Fogerty. "I heard it was quiet yesterday, but we've been busy today since 10:30 this morning. We have a bunch of people surrounding us."

(Phil Brown photo)

A slaty-backed gull at Niles Pond in Gloucester in late December. The last sighting was about five days ago.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts birdwatching community is all atwitter after the recent sighting of several slaty-backed gulls in the state, birds that normally make their homes thousands of miles away in Siberia and Japan.

"It's always a thrill to find a bird that rare," said David Sibley, a Concord bird expert who spotted the bird at Jodrey Fish Pier in Gloucester on Dec. 23. "There’s something really special about that feeling of discovery."

Sibley saw the bird at about noon that day, narrowly beating out another bird expert, Wayne Petersen, who sighted one on Coast Guard Beach in Eastham an hour later. Later, others sighted another slaty-backed gull in Gloucester, bringing the grand total to three.

Sibley said the slaty-backed gull can be distinguished from the gulls normally seen around Massachusetts by its dark gray back, the brown streaking on its head, an extra splash of white on its wingtips, its pink legs, and its slightly different head and wing shape.

The bird normally makes its home in northeastern Asia and it can also be found in western Alaska. But it started to pop up in the lower 48 states about 20 years ago, Petersen said. It has now been sighted as far south and east as Florida.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

The mother of a 17-year-old honor student who was mistakenly murdered in a 1995 drug-related shooting thanked the man who killed her son for admitting his guilt.

But Anna Worrell, speaking in Suffolk Superior Court today, said she could not find it in her heart to forgive John Tibbs of Roxbury for murdering her only son, Tennyson Drakes.

"I am glad that you admitted you were the one. I thank you for that,'' said Worrell, who flew up from Barbados to see her son's killer sent to prison. "But I can't tell you, I can't sit here, and tell you that I forgive you. God hasn't brought me that far.''

Worrell's sister, Boston public school teacher Maureen Worrell, with whom Drakes was then living, told Tibbs she will pray for him and that God has instructed her to forgive him.

Drakes, an honor student at Dorchester High School who had been admitted to Wentworth Institute of Technology, was with friends on Nelson Street on Aug. 11, 1995 when a motorcycle drove up with two men on board. The passenger started shooting, killing Drakes and wounding three others.

The survivors identified Marlon Passley, with whom they had been feuding, as the shooter. Passley was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and faced life imprisonment without parole.

But in 1999, state and federal investigators convinced a drug dealer, Eddie Mills, to testify against his friends and Tibbs was charged in 2001. Passley’s conviction has since been erased.

By Globe Staff

An 18-year-old man was shot to death in the lobby of a Chinese restaurant in Dorchester late last night.

Shots rang out in the lobby of the Canton House about 11.40 p.m. last night. The man was hit multiple times. Police said he was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Police are investigating. No arrests have been made in the case.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

"Is there no stopping Dan Pawson?" Alex Trebek, host of "Jeopardy!" asked in the middle of tonight's episode.

No one could stop the Allston resident, and he won his eighth game, adding $25,000 to his winnings and bringing his total cash prize to $151,301.

The big win followed a small one: on Friday, Pawson won just $200.

"That felt pretty good," Pawson said about tonight's win. "It felt like, ah, there we go."

Pawson, a 26-year-old legislative director for Republican state Senator Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, boosted his score significantly by winning two Daily Double questions in categories he had studied: Shakespeare and world capitals.

By Globe Staff

The state attorney general's office recovered $26.7 million in settlements and judgments in Medicaid fraud cases last year, the highest amount in three decades.

"Our office has been very successful in its aggressive pursuit of those who steal from the taxpayers of Massachusetts by defrauding the state's Medicaid program," Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a statement.

The previous high was $19.4 million in 2005, said attorney general's spokesman Harry Pierre.

(Adam Hunger for The Boston Globe)

Tsongas during the first debate in late September.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

US Representative Niki Tsongas, who pledged during her special election campaign this fall to try to get American troops out of Iraq, will get a firsthand look at the conditions in that strife-torn country this week.

Tsongas, who won a special election in October for the Fifth Congressional District seat, will travel to Iraq and to Afghanistan. She will leave Tuesday and return Jan. 16 from her trip, which will also include stops in Greece and Turkey.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Tsongas will meet with troops as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation. She also will meet with military commanders and national leaders.

"No matter how many stories we read in the paper ... there's nothing like seeing those places firsthand and hearing firsthand from those who are experiencing this very grave situation," she said in a conference call with reporters today.

She acknowledged that President Bush's troop surge has improved security in the country, but said the Iraqi government had failed to craft a political solution.

She said she was hoping her trip would give her "a better understanding of why that hasn't taken place."

Tsongas is a member of the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

By Globe Staff

A 47-year-old man was shot to death this morning in front of his home on Union Street in North Andover.

Alfredo Torres was shot at about 7 a.m., the Essex County district attorney's office said in a statement.

Torres was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, then transferred by helicopter to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 9:18 a.m., prosecutors said.

The shooting was not considered a random act, prosecutors said. But no further details were immediately available.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A miscarriage of justice was corrected in a Boston courtroom today when John Tibbs admitted he shot and killed Tennyson Drakes and wounded three others, a 1995 shooting that sent another man to state prison.

Marlon Passley was identified by survivors as the triggerman, was convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996. His family insisted he was in Wellesley watching a relative graduate.

Four years later, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's chief homicide prosecutor, David Meier, learned from a drug dealer that Tibbs was the actual shooter, and had Passley's conviction erased.

In Suffolk Superior Court today, Tibbs was about to go on trial for the second time -- a Suffolk Superior Court jury deadlocked in the first-degree murder case last year -- when he agreed to plead to the lesser charge of manslaughter, said John H. Cunha, his attorney.

Cunha said that under the plea agreement, Tibbs will be sentenced to nine to 10 years in state prison, dating back to 2001 when he was first charged with shooting Drakes. The manslaughter sentence will be served concurrently with a 27-year federal sentence Tibbs is already serving, he said.

Cunha also said prosecutors have agreed to drop drug possession charges filed against Tibbs.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Norwell man heading to Florida was arrested by State Police at Logan International Airport Sunday evening carrying a loaded 9mm Glock pistol, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The weapon was discovered by TSA workers as the man tried to make his way to the JetBlue gates for a flight to Fort Lauderdale around 5 p.m., said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. She said the weapon was found in the man's carry-on luggage by TSA screeners. He was traveling alone.

"In today's security environment, it is beyond stupid to think that you can pass through a security checkpoint with a loaded gun,'' she said.

(Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Lowell's Baehr, one of the three finalists, answered questions at a news conference last year.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Looking for a leader who will improve Massachusetts schools, the state Board of Education and two advisory committees are interviewing candidates today for the job of education commissioner.

The interviews, which are being held in public, will stretch into the afternoon today at the Omni Parker House hotel in downtown Boston.

The state Board of Education late last month named a Massachusetts superintendent, an Ohio education department official, and the education director of a national foundation as finalists.

Paul Reville, chairman of the board, noted that it had been receiving letters and phone calls about candidates, some in support and some in opposition.

"We won't respond to organized campaigns for or against any particular candidate. Our job is to find the person that fits the needs of this board," he said.

The board will publicly discuss which candidate to choose at a Jan. 17 meeting.

By Danielle Capalbo, Globe Correspondent

The pilot of an airplane carrying passengers to Logan Airport reported today that a model rocket appeared to have been fired toward his craft, a Federal Aviation Administration official said.

The pilot of AirWisconsin flight 180A saw what appeared to be a spark or firework in front of the plane around 12:26 p.m., after the jet had descended to 500 feet and was preparing to land, said FAA spokeswoman Holly Baker.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Bluesman James Montgomery told a story about Willie Robinson at the funeral.

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Staff

Weepin' Willie Robinson, known as the elder statesman of the blues in Boston, was celebrated today in a funeral attended by more than 250 family members, friends, and fans.

Jazz piano arpeggios spilled from the fingertips of onetime Robinson band member David Maxwell and streamed through the packed pews of the Central Congregation Church in Jamaica Plain.

Willie L. Robinson, 81, died in a fire sparked by a cigarette last Sunday, when he lit up in his bed at the Mount Pleasant rest home in Jamaica Plain.

His funeral was a tribute to the bluesman’s life – first as a sharecropper in Georgia, then as an Army veteran, emcee and doorman in the blues clubs of Trenton, N.J., and, finally, as a legendary blues singer in Boston.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Cambridge police are investigating the shooting early today of a 20-year-old man in his Cherry Street home.

The victim, who was not identified by police, was at a party at his house. An unknown assailant entered the party sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. A fight broke out and the victim was shot in the back, said Frank Pasquarello, the Cambridge police spokesman.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Corrrespondent

One firefighter was injured, and dozens of Hillary Clinton volunteers were forced to relocate, after a three-alarm fire at a hotel and restaurant in Nashua, N.H. this morning.

The blaze broke out around 10 a.m. at the 99 Restaurant and the adjacent Best Western Granite Inn on Saint Laurent Street, said Police Sergeant Brooke Lemoine.

Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Cronin told The Associated Press that firefighters contained the fire to three rooms on the first and second floors of the hotel but there was extensive smoke and water damage to nearly three dozen other rooms.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Workers cleaned up debris after the fire today.

By Michael Naughton, Globe Staff

Eight businesses were destroyed or severely damaged and about 20 people were displaced when a four-alarm fire ripped through a Hyde Park building early this morning.

The fire, which broke out at about 3:40 a.m. in a three-story building at River Street and Fairmount Avenue, destroyed a hair salon and damaged other businesses that lined the building's first floor.

The only person injured was a firefighter who was treated and released for cuts, fire officials said.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A sweeping, 14-month investigation into evidence tampering at the Boston Police Department central drug depository has revealed that someone either improperly removed or tampered with drugs confiscated in nearly 1,000 cases, Commissioner Edward F. Davis said today.

The drugs taken included cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and OxyContin, said Davis, who said that most likely the culprit was an officer because only police are allowed into the depository.

The FBI, prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office, and Boston police have launched a criminal investigation to determine who stole the drugs. And the revelation that at least one officer may have stolen drugs has sparked Davis to launch audits of all department units.

"We're really going to shake the place out and make sure that every department is up to national standards," Davis said.

By Globe Staff

It didn't take long for 2008 to be marred by a homicide. In Brockton, a teenager allegedly stabbed a man less than an hour after midnight on New Year's Day.

Emmanuel Okoro, 15, of Brockton surrendered today at Brockton police headquarters. He's facing a murder charge in the stabbing death of 19-year-old Markeen Starks, also of Brockton.

By David Abel

The number of homeless families in Boston has increased for the third straight year, the mayor's office said today in a statement.

In last month’s annual census of the city’s homeless population, city officials counted 3,084 people in homeless families, a 17 percent rise over 2006.

While the number of homeless individuals -- those without families in tow -- declined by nearly 5 percent, the city’s overall homeless population rose to 6,091 people, or 4 percent more than in 2006.

In the last 15 years, the city's homeless population has increased by nearly 57 percent.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said more state and federal funding is needed to help homeless families.

The federal government should "recognize the growing crisis in family homelessness" and provide more funding, Menino said in a statement.

Jim Greene, director of the city's Emergency Shelter Commission, said the "housing picture for low-income families continues to be bleak without greater federal and state aid."

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

As South Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger marks his 13th anniversary on the run, investigators suspect he could be hiding in Europe because of a possible sighting in Italy last year, a key FBI official said.

"We're going to continue our focus on Europe," said Special Agent Richard Teahan, supervisor of the multi-agency Bulger Fugitive Task Force, which is conducting the international manhunt for the 78-year-old Bulger.

Teahan said the task force has chased hundreds of leads since September when the FBI posted a video clip on its website of a couple resembling Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, and sought the public's help in identifying and locating them.

The video, shot by a vacationing federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent, shows the couple strolling through the Sicilian resort of Taormina in April.

By Globe Staff

The state's highest court has ruled that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority discriminated against a man who wanted to work as a part-time bus driver but said his religious beliefs prohibited him from working on his Sabbath.

The Supreme Judicial Court, upholding a judgment of the Superior Court, said the MBTA failed to prove that it would be an "undue hardship" to get other drivers to swap shifts with David Marquez, a Seventh-Day Adventist who couldn't work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

State antidiscrimination law "clearly contemplates that employers will help employees shuffle shifts to allow observance of their Sabbath," the court observed in an opinion written by Justice Robert Cordy.

(MSPCA photo)

Pictured are some of the ducks in need of a new home.

By Globe Staff

New homes are being sought for more than 600 chickens and ducks after they were rescued from a Mendon farm where they were kept in unhealthy conditions, an animal welfare agency said.

The owner voluntarily surrendered the animals to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in November. He is to be arraigned next week in Milford District Court on 10 counts of animal cruelty, the MSPCA said.

By Globe Staff

Sick and tired of the bitter cold? Warmth is on the way. The National Weather Service predicts that temperatures will rise steadily through next Tuesday, when it will reach the 50s.

The cold will linger this morning, with temperatures of minus 5 in the interior of the state to 15 degrees. But the temperatures will then move upward, beginning with a high of about 33 today, the weather service predicts.

"Everyone's thinking this winter's so bad. By next Tuesday they're going to forget all about the past two days," said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist at the weather service's Taunton office.

Simpson said Tuesday looks like it will be the warmest day, but the temperature will likely continue in the 40s -- five to 10 degrees above normal -- at least until next Friday.

Forecasters at AccuWeather.com say the East is heading for a "spring-like thaw" next week.

Jeopardy host Alex Trebek and contestant Dan Pawson

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Dan Pawson took a chance.

He counted on his opponent being unable to answer the final question last night on his sixth televised game of “Jeopardy.”

Ahead by $800 as he entered the round, Pawson bet $799. Had his closest opponent answered correctly, Pawson would have lost. If neither of them knew the answer, Pawson would have won.

Sure enough, none of the three contestants could pose the question for the final clue: "He was the 118th man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean." (The answer: Charles Lindbergh.)

Pawson won the game, took his cash prize total to $126,101 and ensured a spot on tomorrow night's episode.

"The advantage of being in first going into Final Jeopardy is that you control your fate, and I gave that up," Pawson said. "It worked out, so I guess it was a good risk."

By Globe Staff

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts is urging people to vote in next month’s primary elections, saying that they could play a role in determining who gets nominated for president.

Diane Jeffery, president of the group, noted that it’s the first time since 1928 that there is neither an incumbent president nor vice president seeking the nomination.

“Massachusetts voters will make a difference” on Feb. 5, when they cast ballots, along with voters in 21 other states, she said in a statement.

The league announced today it is launching a campaign to increase voter participation, awareness, and education by providing comprehensive, nonpartisan information to voters.

(Still from the FBI video)

The man who the FBI believes may be Bulger gave the camera a hard stare this spring in Sicily.

By Globe Staff

Thirteen years ago Friday, a federal warrant was secretly issued for the arrest of alleged South Boston crime boss James J. "Whitey" Bulger. The next day, State Police and federal agents tried to grab him -- but he was gone. And he has never been caught since.

"Although we are disappointed at the end of each day that he has not been apprehended, we are confident that Mr. Bulger will one day be captured," state and federal law enforcement officials who continue to search for Bulger said in a statement today. "Let's hope that the 13th anniversary of his disappearance will indeed prove to be an unlucky number for Mr. Bulger."

The multi-agency Bulger Fugitive Task Force exhausted every lead and lookalike sighting across the world in 2007, seeking both Bulger and his companion, Catherine Greig, the officials said.

A possible sighting in April in Sicily has not been confirmed, but "it has instilled renewed optimism that Mr. Bulger and Ms. Greig will be apprehended," said the officials, who included US Attorney Michael Sullivan and the heads of the State Police and local FBI office.

(Pool photo)

Moses during opening statements in mid-December.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Dorchester man will spend at least 30 years in prison for raping two teenagers and a woman in Dorchester between July and September 2002.

Moonie Moses, 35, was convicted of a number of charges, including rape of a child with force, aggravated rape, and kidnapping.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle today sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences and other terms to be served concurrently. The sentence means that Moses won't be eligible for parole for at least 30 years, she said.

Moses, who represented himself in the trial, sobbed in a five-minute speech to the court, insisting on his innocence and predicting he would not live long if sentenced to prison.

"On my way to heaven, I will tell everybody I know that I did not commit these crimes," he said.

But as she sentenced Moses, Hinkle said, "This is not a case where there is a significant question in my mind whether the defendant committed the crimes for which he stands convicted."

By Globe Staff

You can find a million things on video on the Internet. But one thing that hasn't been available is live video of the Massachusetts Senate.

That all changed yesterday, when Senate President Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, announced that formal Senate sessions will be broadcast live on the Web.

"We are elected to represent the people of the Commonwealth and they should be able to have greater access to the legislative process," Murray said yesterday in a statement. "Webcasting our sessions will give them that access."

By Globe Staff

A New Bedford teenager stayed up late to celebrate the beginning of the new year. Then the party turned deadly: Edwin Medina, 15, was shot in the stomach and later died of his wounds.

The shooting happened at a party on County Street in New Bedford at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday, New Year's Day, prosecutors said.

Medina was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, then transported to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, where he died late Wednesday, the Bristol County district attorney's office said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

Better bundle up. The arctic chill has come to Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service is warning of hazardous weather, saying that bitterly cold wind chills of zero through minus 10 will persist through the early morning.

Temperatures like that can cause frostbite if skin is exposed too long.

The coldest town in the state last night may have been the western Massachusetts town of Worthington, where it was minus 8. In Springfield, it was one below. And in Worcester, it was zero, says National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson.

In Boston, the temperature dropped to 7. Other low temperatures around the area included 4 in Bedford, 6 in Taunton, and 4 in Beverly.

Today in Boston, the temperature is expected to rise to about 14 this afternoon, but the wind chill will make it feel like it’s zero, Simpson said.

By Globe Staff

An 18-year-old man arrested in connection with an explosion Tuesday in a Shaw’s supermarket parking lot in Barnstable was released on $2,500 bail after being arraigned today in district court.

Andrew J. Spalt of Barnstable pleaded not guilty to possessing an explosive device during his arraignment before Barnstable District Judge Joan Lynch. A pretrial hearing was set for Feb. 11.

Spalt’s attorney, Edward Lynch of Barnstable, said, “This is an 18-year-old kid who made some foolish choices. ... There wasn’t any intent to destroy anything or hurt someone.”

He said he believed the charges should ultimately be reduced to either disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct.

(Zizi family photos)

Rebecca Zizi, 9, and Rooben Zizi, 11, the two children who died in the Dorchester fire last weekend.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Investigators have determined that a space heater was the cause of the fire in Boston's Dorchester section last weekend that killed two children, Boston fire officials said today.

Fire investigators traced the origin of the fire to a bedroom where the children were sleeping. They examined the burn pattern and eliminated all other sources of ignition, settling on the space heater as the cause, Fire Chief Kevin McCurtain said.

Rebecca Zizi, 9, and her brother, Rooben, 11, died in the blaze at 44 Bellevue St., which broke out at around midnight Friday.

By Globe Staff

A 23-year-old Marshfield man failed to appear in court today to face charges that he dragged an MBTA Transit Police officer 30 feet with his car earlier this week.

Pat Tauro, 23, is facing charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and operating under the influence after the incident Monday. He failed to appear in Boston Municipal Court, said Transit Police Lieutenant Sal Venturelli.

By Globe Staff

MBTA officials say that service on the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, which was disrupted this morning by a mechanical failure in a bridge, has been restored.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the problem was reported at about 5 a.m. today at the bridge connecting Beverly and Salem. He said the bridge was unable to lock into the closed position, so trains couldn't travel over it.

Pesaturo said shortly before noon that the problem had been fixed and the bridge had been reopened to train service.

(Photo courtesy Jeopardy! Productions Inc.)

Dan Pawson says he developed a knack for hitting the buzzer right after "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek (left) finished reading the question.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Which legislative aide at the State House has racked up $109,100 in a winning streak on the "Jeopardy!" TV game show?

Dan Pawson. (Or, as they would say on "Jeopardy!," "Who is Dan Pawson?")

Pawson, a 2006 University of Chicago Law School graduate, works as legislative director for Senator Bruce Tarr, Republican of Gloucester.

A resident of Boston's Allston section, he is married, and he and his wife are expecting in a few days.

He filmed the show in September and October. It's just airing now. He’s not allowed to talk about whether his winning ways continue in tomorrow night's show, which airs at 7:30 p.m. on WSBK-TV (Channel 38).

What's his secret?

He said he developed a knack for swiftly hitting the buzzer just after host Alex Trebek finished his questions, a talent Trebek commented on at the beginning of tonight’s show, when Pawson faced former Bay State resident Katy Halpern, now a stay-at-home mom of two in Dublin, CA.

By Globe Staff

Human remains have been found after a painstaking search in the rubble left by a mid-December fire in Gloucester. But Fire Chief Barry McKay says it's too early to say officially whether the remains belong to Robert Taylor, the 70-year-old handyman who is believed to have died in the fire.

McKay says the medical examiner's office is still trying to identify the remains.

"Obviously, he has to be extremely careful. He wants to make sure that the identification is 100 percent," the chief said.

The search for remains in what was left of the Lorraine Apartments had to be postponed several times due to bad weather and the holidays. Search dogs at one point found remains but they turned out to be animal remains.

The apartments and a synagogue were reduced by the Dec. 14 fire to 20-foot-tall mounds of wood, pipe, metal, and other charred debris.

By Globe Staff

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials are warning people not to try to cheat the Fast Lane toll collection system, in the wake of a complaint filed against a limousine company that allegedly used personal, rather than commercial, transponders so it could save money on tolls.

The case "should be viewed as a warning to all Fast Lane patrons that abuse of the system will not be tolerated," Alan LeBovidge, the Turnpike Authority executive director, said in a statement.

Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced this morning that it had reached a $65,000 settlement with A&M Limousine Service Co. Inc. of East Boston of allegations that the company used personal Fast Lane transponders in the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels to avoid paying commercial tolls.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

A 27-year-old pregnant Billerica woman was injured when she was struck by a snowplow last night on Nashua Road in Billerica. The driver of the snowplow has been cited for operating with a suspended license.

Tauryn Morris was walking north on the side of the road with an acquaintance at about 10 p.m. when she was hit by the plow blade, Billerica police said.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

Bruce Clark, Jr. last spoke to his mother on Christmas Day, when she called him while visiting her oldest son and his wife in Dickson County, Tennessee.

The conversation was brief. They wished each other a Merry Christmas, and Clark promised to visit her when she returned home to Orange, Mass. next week.

Yesterday, Dickson County police said Gail Clark, 66, and her 38-year-old daughter-in-law, Mary Clark, were found shot to death in Mary Clark's modular home just outside of White Bluff, a town of 2,900.

"This is definitely a tragic thing to happen," said Bruce Clark in a telephone interview Tuesday from his home in Salem, N.H. “I’m taking it pretty strong. Everyone else is weakened by it. Maybe I’ll just break down later. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Police have charged Mary Clark’s 15 and 16-year-old foster children with the slayings, according to WSMV-TV, a Nashville station. The suspects were not named in the news report.

By Scott Allen, Globe staff

Boston fire officials confirmed the death of a second person in the seven-alarm blaze that tore through a historic condominium building on New Year's Eve, leaving 18 families homeless.

Fire chief Kevin MacCurtain did not identify the second victim, a woman who lived on the first floor of the former Eaton Hotel where the fire began. But neighbors in the tightknit community said the woman is Arvette Clancy,46, wife of Peter Clancy, the 47-year-old man who died of cardiac arrest last night as emergency crews attempted to rescue him.

"This is a tragic incident. We've lost two people," said MacCurtain in a press briefing outside the badly damaged former hotel where homerun king Babe Ruth lived for a time when he played for the Boston Red Sox. MacCurtain estimated damage to the five-story brick building at $5 million.

MacCurtain said that fire personnel have found no other victims in the building, but the top floor of the building remains too unstable to search thoroughly. Two residents of the floor are not yet accounted for, but fire officials said they apparently went away for the holiday.

Residents of the building, located at 309 Emerson Street, described a scene of chaos on New Year's Eve as what first seemed like a false alarm quickly turned into a massive fire reaching the top floor, forcing everyone to flee. Third floor resident Susan Skahan said smoke was billowing from the first floor condominium unit where the Clancys lived, and another neighbor pounded on the door to get the family's attention without success.

A 15-year-old daughter who lived with the Clancys was out for New Year's Eve festivities and, by mid-day, friends had located the girl, confirming that she is safe.

MacCurtain said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

By Peter Schworm, Globe staff

A horn blared, and a half-naked horde of all shapes and sizes sprinted through the brisk morning air. With a collective whoop, they dove across their watery finish line - a bone-chilling Boston Harbor.

It was a mad dash into 39 degree waters that those who watched safely from the shore called half-mad, but which devoted polar-bear plungers insisted was the perfect way to ring in the New Year.

About 500 hardy souls shook off the champagne cobwebs yesterday morning for the L Street Brownies traditional New Year's Day swim, and twice that many cheered them on. The oldest polar bear groups in the country, the South Boston stalwarts have braved the wintry waters each year since 1904, and the popular spectacle has inspired countless others to do the same.

"The Brownies are synonymous with Boston, and on New Year's, everyone's a Brownie," said Jack Dever, Brownies president. A quick dip in the ice-cold drink was refreshing, he said, good for body and mind.

"It strengthens the immune system, lowers the blood pressure," he said. "It releases your endorphins. It's a feel-good thing."

It was the debut Brownies plunge for Shoshanna Ehrlich, a 51-year-old from Brookline. Her first go-round, she ran into the Atlantic, then ran out just as quick. But she regrouped, summoned her nerve, then dove in head first.

"It's really, really, really cold," she said back on shore, sipping coffee from a mug in a bathrobe as though she were sitting at her kitchen table. "But it was worth it. I really wanted to actually swim. I think I took about three strokes."

Her friend, Sarah Leinbach, 70, who watched the proceedings bundled in a winter coat, hat, gloves and scarf, made a New Year's resolution to give it a go next year.

"OK, I'll do it," she said, a bit halfheartedly.