By Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent

A Foxborough public school bus driver has resigned after a first-grade student was left on a bus for hours Friday.

The student was picked up by the bus Friday morning and was headed to Foxborough Regional Charter School but for some reason didn't get off the bus, school officials said.

Superintendent Chris Martes, who did not identify the driver, said the child remained on the bus for several hours.

Officials are investigating how the incident occurred, Martes said.

By Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent

FBI agents arrested a Foxborough High School teacher today on charges of possession of child pornography.

Gregg Woodward, 45, of Milford, allegedly purchased two 30-day subscriptions to child pornography sites, the FBI's Boston office said in a statement.

A probable cause and detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Woodward, a teacher at the school's English department, was suspended without pay, said Superintendent Chris Martes.

There is no indication at this time that any school computers were involved, said Martes. A telephone message left at Woodward's home this evening was not returned.

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

A construction crew excavating a Woburn lot today unearthed a buried headstone from the 1860s, said Thomas Quinn, the city's deputy superintendent of public works.

The stone was buried several feet below a private lot on Harrison Avenue, and the crew -- which discovered the marker while digging out an existing foundation -- immediately stopped work and contacted the DPW, said Quinn, who visited the scene with other officials.

They found no visible remains but sent samples of the earth, debris, and locomotive ash deposited by passing railroads alongside the property to the state medical examiner's office in Boston for analysis, Quinn said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A Salem man turned himself in to police Sunday morning after he vandalized the mayor's office at Salem City Hall, police said.

Douglas Roberts, 56, threw a rock and a piece of cement through windows at Mayor Kim Driscoll’s office, and then turned himself in at the police station around 10:15 a.m., according to Sergeant Jim Walker.

Roberts was charged with malicious and wanton destruction of property, Walker said.

By Matt Collette and Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondents

Four Boston high school students have won the high school division of the Massachusetts Chess Championship, taking the trophy from Newton South, which had won the past three years.

Seniors Max Ehrman and Gabe Frieden, junior Jake Garbarino, and sophomore Danny Moraff, all students at the Commonwealth School, an independent high school in the Back Bay, won the team tournament Sunday. The four students assembled their team themselves and competed without a coach.

"It's very competitive. A lot of these kids, especially at the high school level, they've been playing chess all their lives," said Maryanne Reilly, president of the Massachusetts Chess Association.

William Wharton, headmaster at the 150-student Commonwealth School, compared the team's win with David beating Goliath.

"Generally, in something like this, you have a much broader pool of talent at the bigger schools," he said, referring to Newton South. "So when something like this happens, we're delighted."

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts is poised to become the first foreign university to offer approved on-line courses and degrees in China after reaching a landmark agreement today with education officials in Beijing.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

The mother and half brother of 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and several other crimes in his shooting death last June.

Prosecutors and police said at a press conference this afternoon that indictments were returned this morning against both Lakeisha Gadson, 31, and Jayquan McConnico, 16, who knew a 9 mm gun was in their Seaver Street home but did nothing to protect the children who lived there.

Liquarry was shot and killed about 11:30 p.m. on June 24 when he and his 7-year-old cousin were playing with the loaded gun. Police have said the cousin accidentally shot Liquarry in the abdomen. Liquarry later died at the hospital.

Initially, the family lied to police, saying armed intruders had barged into the apartment. The family later apologized for lying.

By David Abel
GLOBE STAFF

A renowned pediatrician and best-selling author who served for 14 years as chief of ambulatory pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston allegedly sexually abused at least seven children in his care, according to a lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior court today.

The lawsuit, filed by one unnamed plaintiff, alleges Dr. Melvin D. Levine “sexually assaulted, battered, and abused” him between 1980 and 1985.

“Levine, during his treatment sessions, under the guise of performing repeated but unnecessary physical examinations, sexually assaulted John No. 5, including numerous acts of genital fondling, masturbation, and other attempted and threatened acts of assault,” the lawsuit alleges.

In a statement, Levine’s Boston lawyer Edward Mahoney said the doctor is innocent.

“Dr. Mel Levine has provided pediatric care to more than 15,000 children over 40 years and categorically denies that he has ever been abusive in any way toward any patient,” Mahoney said. “He adamantly denies these claims. Dr. Levine is distressed about the distorted or misinterpreted memories from decades past, and questions the motivations. He prefers not to participate further in counsel’s efforts to obtain free advertising for his legal practice.”

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe staff

The Massachusetts Lottery and the Boston Red Sox unveiled a new $20 Red Sox scratch ticket at Fenway Park today.

The ticket offers a $10 million grand prize, which is as large as any instant win ticket prize in the world, officials said. It also offers 20 $1 million prizes and 100 Red Sox road trips.

The new ticket, which will go on sale April 8 – Opening Day – is expected to generate $23 million in aid to Massachusetts cities and towns. Only 10 million of the tickets have been printed and officials said they expected it to sell out by the end of the baseball season.

The $20 ticket is the third and most expensive Red Sox ticket the Lottery has issued. The first was a $5 ticket that went on sale two years ago and which is expected to sell out within the next few months, at which point the lottery will announce the winners of that grand prize, which is a pair of Red Sox season tickets for life.

The Lottery also announced that it is sponsoring a tour of both the 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies, with stops in 30 cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth.

By Globe Staff

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that an Eastham man must stay in prison for the 1996 shooting death of Linda Silva, a Department of Social Services social worker who had played a role in the man's child custody case.

Writing for the unanimous court, Justice Roderick Ireland said Paul P. Dubois was properly convicted of first-degree murder by a Barnstable County jury in 2004. Dubois is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

"We have read the entire record ... and discern no reason to reduce the verdict or grant the defendant a new trial,'' Ireland wrote.

By Caitlin Castello, Globe Correspondent

Middleborough police are looking for two men who attempted to abduct two children Thursday evening.

Two elementary school girls were approached by two men in a black truck with tinted windows near Elm and Courtland Streets, police said in a statement.

When the men asked the girls to go with them, the children ran to a nearby house and the truck drove away, police said.

The children described the driver as having a long beard, gray hair, and a silver-capped tooth, with a ring on his right middle finger that looked like an eagle.

The truck was described as a black extended-cab truck, with key scratches on the driver’s side, tinted windows, and two white bumper stickers on the rear bumper.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff, and John Dyer, Globe Correspondent

CHICOPEE -- The truck driver whose vehicle rolled over on Interstate 91 and burst into a fireball 60 feet high has died.

Forty-three-year-old Aaron J. Staelens of Richmond, N.H., died Friday evening at Massachusetts General Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Gundersen said.

Staelens had swerved to avoid a car crash unfolding in front of him at about 9:30 a.m. Friday in the northbound lanes near Exit 13 A on the Chicopee Curve, a stretch of road that has been the site of frequent tractor-trailer rollovers, State Police and city officials said.

“It’s the most dangerous curve on the entire stretch of I-91, and it is a direct result of faulty design,” said Mayor Michael Bissonette of Chicopee.

Staelens was rushed to Baystate Medical Center, then flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital.

It took firefighters 90 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which emanated from the 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel in saddle tanks on the cab of the truck, said Captain Barry O’Brien of the State Police. The large tank on the trailer filled with 9,600 gallons of gasoline was on fire when firefighters arrived but did not explode, O’Brien said.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A $5,000 reward has been offered to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest of an alleged rapist who escaped Tuesday from a New Bedford hospital, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson said.

Anthony Flye, a 38-year-old Nantucket and Swansea man, escaped from St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was taken after injuring himself during an arraignment in New Bedford Superior Court Tuesday.

He faces charges that include child rape, rape, and indecent assault and battery on a disabled person.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Lowell Police searching a house for drugs at about 1 p.m. today made an unexpected find: a pipe bomb.

Police evacuated the School Street building and called the bomb squad, said Lt. Mark Buckley.

The experts extracted the device from the home of 40-year-old Ernesto Ortiz. Authorities determined it was, in fact, a live bomb and detonated it.

Ortiz was arrested on charges of possession with intent to distribute Class A, B, and C drugs; unlawful possession of firearms, ammunition, and stolen property; and possession of a bomb.

He is to be arraigned Monday in Lowell District Court.

An Abenaqui Carriers tanker carrying 9,500 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel was involved in an accident on Interstate 91 in Chicopee this morning. It appears the tanker driver was taking evasive action to avoid what may have been a disabled vehicle and that action caused the tanker to rollover. The tanker was in the right travel lane. It appears that speed was not a factor.

At this time, our immediate concern is for the condition of our driver and the well being of those involved. We are working directly with the authorities as they conduct their accident investigation and will provide you with further information as and when we receive it.

We are not releasing the driver’s name at this time.

(Dina Rudick/Globe Staff/file)

Harvard University, shown above, earned a top ranking for its business school.

By Globe Staff

Harvard’s medical school and MIT’s school of engineering retained their top spots in US News & World Report’s annual ranking of graduate schools released today.

Among business schools, Harvard and Stanford both received the top ranking. Yale again topped Harvard in the law school category, with Harvard tied for second with Stanford University for the second year.

(John Bohn/Globe Staff/file)

By Matt Viser and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick has signed a book deal with a division of Random House that will pay him a $1.35 million advance to write an autobiography that is scheduled to be published in 2010.

Todd Shuster, the governor’s literary agent, said nine publishers bid on the book in an auction, including four "to a very high level."

“They see him as visionary leader and somebody who inspires people, especially young people," Shuster said.

The book will draw upon Patrick's "extraordinary journey from Chicago’s Wabash Avenue to the Massachusetts State House' and offer "a series of lessons and insights on life and leadership," according to the release from the publisher issued today. "Among the subjects he will address are self-truth, grace, faith, courage, and compassion, as well as the importance of forgiveness, and embracing optimism and hope to make good outcomes possible."

Patrick traveled to New York last week to shop his proposal for an autobiography among New York publishing houses, departing the state to pursue the book contract just hours before the House voted down his high-profile casino legislation on Beacon Hill.

William Thomas, editor-in-chief of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group of Random House Inc., described the deal in today's release as a “major work of nonfiction.” An unspecified portion of Patrick’s royalties and speaking fees will go to "A Better Chance," the organization that helped the governor attend Milton Academy.

"We believe that Governor Patrick will give readers everywhere a whole new sense of what is possible in both their personal and civic lives, much the way that President Kennedy inspired the nation with his celebrated Profiles of Courage," Thomas said in the statement. "We are excited and honored to be working with the Governor on his first book project."

The name of the division of Random House is Broadway Books. Other authors who have written memoirs for the publisher include Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former Democratic presidential nominee; conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly; guitarist Eric Clapton; football player Jerome Bettis; and cyclist Lance Armstrong.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

It may not be much consolation a week into spring, but this morning’s gloomy, stubborn drizzle could have been much worse. An inch of snow had been predicted to fall in Boston during the morning rush.

Drivers weren’t so lucky in northern Worcester and Franklin counties, which has been covered by 2 to 3 inches of snow. It is worse in Southern New Hampshire, where dozens of schools have canceled classes because of the 7 inches of snow expected to accumulate by this afternoon.

“Down here it is mainly rain,” said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

Even without the snow, there were still problems on roads in Massachusetts, State Police said. On a stretch of wet roadway on southbound Interstate 495, a tractor-trailer carrying hardware supplies rolled over onto a sport utility vehicle near Exit 29 in Littleton. A woman driving the SUV had to be cut of her vehicle and was rushed to a hospital with what State Police described as serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Traffic will remain down to one to two lanes until at least noon while work crews remove the truck, State Police said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Staff

A 39-year-old Providence man was killed in a one-car crash on Interstate 95 in Attleboro Thursday, state police said.

Pasulayman Jeng lost control of the 1996 Ford Contour he was driving northbound, hitting a guardrail at around 2:45 p.m., police said in a statement.

Jeng, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene. A 5-year-old boy riding in the car, also from Providence, sustained minor injuries and was taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. Police did not release the boy's name.

Police are looking for a red Toyota that may have been involved in the crash and left the scene.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Commuters can expect a slushy ride into Boston this morning, as rain turns to wet snow before turning back to rain, the National Weather Service said.

The storm is expected to begin in the early morning hours and end by 3 p.m., said National Weather Service forecaster Rebecca Gould.

Though only an inch of accumulation is expected for the Boston area, snow is expected north of the Mass Pike and Interstate 95. The heaviest snow will fall in some areas north of Route 2, where three to six inches accumulation is expected. Southern New Hampshire may get as much as eight inches of snow.

A winter weather advisory has been issued for 2 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the storm is expected to diminish after 2 p.m., said Gould.

Tomorrow’s high temperature will be in the mid-30s, almost 20 degrees cooler than the average temperature for March 28, Gould said.

(John Bohn/Globe Staff)

Governor Deval Patrick spoke to reporters last week about his casino proposal.

By Frank Phillips and Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick traveled to New York City last week to shop a proposal for an autobiography among publishing houses, departing the state to pursue the book contract just hours before the House voted down his high-profile casino legislation on Beacon Hill.

Disclosure of the trip's purpose cleared up a mystery that has lingered since last Thursday, when Patrick aides said he had left Boston on unspecified "personal business" and repeatedly and firmly declined to discuss any details.

Patrick's proposed book would recount his dramatic rise from the streets of Chicago's South Side to the governor's office. Such a tale would draw comparisons to the immensely successful books written by his friend and political ally Barack Obama, whose "Dreams of My Father," and "The Audacity of Hope" have been long-time bestsellers.

Patrick's absence last Thursday raised eyebrows at the State House, where union members and a number of the governor's legislative allies on the casino issue remained throughout the day to follow through in their support of the bill.

Within hours after Patrick left Boston, the House, led by Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, crushed the casino proposal, by a 108-46 vote. In the heated run-up to the debate and final vote, a number of Democratic legislators sided with Patrick and defied DiMasi's strong lobbying.

Patrick's aides released a statement tonight, confirming the reasons behind the trip after it was reported by WBZ-TV and immediately pursued by other news outlets including the Globe. The Globe received independent confirmation of the trip by two people in the publishing industry.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Boston police are relieved -- and mystified -- after finding a missing mentally disabled man who went missing Wednesday.

Clinton Forbes, a 45-year-old who is mute and has limited mental capacity, disappeared during a group visit to the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, police said. He was reported missing at about 2:30 p.m. after wandering away from the group.

Forbes was picked up by State Police in Canton at about 11 p.m. and brought back to Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, where he lives, said Officer Eddy Chrispin, a police spokesman. He said police did not know how Forbes got to Canton.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A 14-year-old girl was hit by a motor vehicle in front of her home in Raynham this afternoon, police said in a statement.

Jillian Korotsky was crossing Britton Street when she was hit by a vehicle driven by Karin Daisy, 38, also of Raynham, police said.

Korotsky was taken by helicopter to Children’s Hospital Boston, police said. She was listed in serious condition this evening, a hospital spokeswoman said.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Former Boston Mayor Kevin White has been hospitalized in Florida after breaking ribs and injuring his back in a fall inside his Jupiter vacation home on Tuesday, said George Regan, a spokesman for the family.

A spokeswoman for St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach said White remains in fair condition.

White, 75, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is alert but in pain, Regan said. His family is trying to get him transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital for further treatment.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The tone of engineer Ronald Gomes’s voice took a frightening turn on dispatch tapes released today by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Concern became panic as a runway box car was barreling toward his train.

“There’s a box car coming right down on top of me,” Gomes said in a concerned voice. “Is it OK to back up?

Gomes had brought commuter rail train 917 to a stop near Canton Junction, hoping to spare his 300 passengers from the force of the 112-ton box car. As the runway car sped faster toward his locomotive, the tone of his voice changed.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

WAREHAM -- The woman whose 7-year-old son was allegedly burned with cigarettes by her boyfriend is no longer a danger to her child and can be freed from jail if she posts $5,000 cash bail, a district court judge ruled today.

Michelle Henry, 30, is charged with reckless endangerment of a child for allegedly allowing her boyfriend, David Privette, to slap her son with a belt and burn his penis, buttocks, and pelvic areas with cigarettes. The abuse allegedly occurred between Dec. 19, 2007 and March 17, the day the child told a Middleborough school nurse that he had been harmed.

During a dangerousness hearing today, Middleborough police Detective Timothy Needham testified that the boy told investigators that his mother saw him bleeding from his buttocks after Privette had beaten him with a belt. The boy also told investigators that his mother had warned him to keep silent about the attacks, according to Needham's testimony.

The Department of Social Services and the Middleborough school superintendent have both admitted they failed to properly protect the child. DSS now has custody of the boy and his 3-year-old half sister.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Senate President Therese Murray and other Legislative leaders vowed today to use political muscle to fight the powerful police union and limit details at some construction sites.

The proposal to use lower paid civilian flagmen in some work zones could, according to Murray’s office, help save $100 million over 20 years, which is $5 million annually. The police details have long been cash cows for officers. Lawmakers revealed few specifics, but said it would be studied over the next several weeks. They said the intent is not to eliminate all police details, but to spell out instances where they don't need to be used, such as dead ends or on less congested streets.

Murray outlined the plan and a number of other transportation reforms at a press conference today in the Senate Reading Room as she was flanked by dozens of lawmakers, including Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

(Bill Greene/Globe Staff/file)

Ralph C. Martin II, shown above when he left the Suffolk district attorney's office in 2001, said he would not run for mayor of Boston.

By Stephanie Ebbert and Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff

Former Suffolk District Attorney Ralph C. Martin II today ended his flirtation with a campaign for mayor, instead accepting a promotion to run the Boston office of his international law firm.

His ascension appears to make him the first black managing partner of a major Boston law firm, a historic milestone in the city's legal community, where minorities have historically struggled to rise in the ranks. The management committee of Bingham McCutchen voted Tuesday to name Martin managing partner and announced the decision internally this afternoon.

"I've been joking with Ralph that I see his new job as mayor of the firm's Boston office," said Bingham McCutchen's chairman, Jay S. Zimmerman. "What that means is he's charged with listening to people, understanding their needs and concerns, and making sure our Boston office remains a vibrant internal community."

(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick and his political nemesis, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, did their best today to put a good public face on their fractured and increasingly acrimonious relationship.

Patrick referred to the speaker as "my friend and partner" this morning at a press conference about a transportation reform that marked the first time the two men had appeared together publicly since DiMasi orchestrated a crushing defeat of the governor’s casino proposal. They stood together in the Senate Reading Room on a day that Patrick called the speaker undemocratic and blamed him for his political losses in a front page story in the New York Times.

Patrick deflected a question from a reporter about the Times story and listed a series of projects that he said he and DiMasi has accomplished together, which included a $1 billion life sciences initiative and tax credits for filmmakers. As Patrick spoke, DiMasi avoided eye contact with the governor, nodded, and licked his lips.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

High school students who land on the wait-list at one of their top-choice colleges are often unsure how to proceed, frozen somewhere between hope and despair.

While the limbo of the wait-list can be difficult, extending an already protracted and stressful admissions process, it also gives students the opportunity to change admissions officers' minds. At the same time, college counselors and admissions officers warn wait-listed students that the odds of acceptance are long, and that they should plan accordingly.

Here are a few pieces of advice for wait-listed students from college counselors, education consultants, and college admissions officers.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A massive search continued today in New Bedford for a prisoner -- accused of raping a teenager and a disabled elderly adult -- who escaped Tuesday from court officers in a hospital bathroom.

Anthony Flye, 38, was being treated Tuesday at St. Luke's Hospital after he jumped head first over a banister at New Bedford Superior Court and fell almost a full story in a failed escape attempt. A court officer guarding Flye at the hospital took off his handcuffs and allowed him to use a bathroom, where he slipped out a back door.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson criticized the state court system today because he said the officers allowed Flye to make a phone call from the hospital. Hodgson also said it took an hour before the sheriff’s office was notified that Flye had escaped and that court officials were not initially communicative about what happened.

“There are a lot of questions we need answered,” Hodgson said. “We are not interested in finger pointing. We are interested in what protocols broke down, if any, and what we can do to correct this in the future.”

This afternoon the director of court officers agreed to meet with the sheriff "to make sure we have systems in place to prevent this from happening again," Hodgson said.

The state courts released a statement Wednesday night that said it appeared that proper protocol was not followed. Only one court officer accompanied Flye to the hospital when there should have been two.

This incident is under investigation by the Trial Court Security Department.

Anthony Flye was in New Bedford Superior Court for his arraignment on
March 25, 2008. As two court officers were escorting him from the courtroom to the holding cell, he ran and fell over a railing and was injured. Court officers immediately called an ambulance, and Court Officer David Jackson and a New Bedford police officer escorted the ambulance to the hospital.

(Boston Police photo)

Clinton Forbes went missing Wednesday during an outing at the Boston Public Library.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 45-year-old mentally disabled man went missing Wednesday during a group visit to the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, Boston Police said.

Clinton Forbes, who is mute and has limited mental capacity, was reported missing at about 2:30 p.m. after wandering away from the group, said police, who described Forbes as a black man who is about 5'8" and weighs about 180 pounds.

Forbes wears a silver name bracelet from Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, where he is a resident. He was last seen wearing a blue zip-up jacket, a brown sweatsuit, and gray sneakers, police said.

Police asked anyone who sees Forbes to call 911 or the District D-4 detectives at 617-343-5619.

By Globe Staff

The Massachusetts Lottery has dug itself out of a sales rut and expects to break revenue records this year, despite the down economy.

Thanks largely to huge demand for the Lottery's new $20 instant ticket, which was introduced last fall, Lottery sales are up 6 percent so far for the 2008 fiscal year, which ends June 30, officials said Wednesday.

The increase has been driven largely by instant ticket sales, which are up 10 percent over last year. The $20 instant ticket has brought in more than $500 million so far this year.

Officials said overall sales should beat the total for 2006, the Lottery's best year ever, by about 3 percent.

In the 2007 fiscal year, sales dipped from $4.52 billion to $4.46 billion, triggering fears among state officials that the lottery might have maxed out.

(Boston Police photo)

A picture of the suspect captured by a bank surveillance camera.

By Daniel Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

Boston police are seeking the public's help in finding a man believed to have robbed at least four banks in the downtown and South End areas.

The robberies occurred between Feb. 25 and Tuesday -- all between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Witnesses told police the robber was a white male in his 30s, about 5'7" or 5'10" with a slim build, who fled two of the scenes in a blue sedan.

In two cases, the man had clear tape on his fingers. Surveillance photos released by police showed a man wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.

By Daniel Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

Somerville police are investigating a shooting outside a residence there this evening.

Captain Paul Upton, a police spokesman, said someone was shot outside 21 Sewell St. just before 6:15 p.m.

The victim was taken to an area hospital, but the victim's identity and condition were not released.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone was at the scene tonight as police searched for shell casings underneath cars on the residential street, which is lined with two- and three-family homes. Police officers could also be seen going in and out of 21 Sewell and neighboring residences.

By Globe Staff

Here is a transcript of the call someone made at about 5:11 p.m. Tuesday from Cohenno Inc. to Stoughton Police, warning that the freight car had gotten loose. The audio was provided by the MBTA.

Dispatcher: 911, this call is being recorded. State your emergency.

Dispatcher: OK, we’ll see what we can do. Call you right back.

By Noah Bierman and Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

CANTON -- Transit police, federal investigators, and others spent today trying to reconstruct a rush-hour commuter crash Tuesday that injured 150 people. Their goal: to determine how a runaway freight car rolled nearly three miles from a Stoughton lumberyard into the path of a commuter rail train in Canton.

Some investigators interviewed employees of Cohenno Inc., the lumber yard that had received the runaway car and five others as part of a Tuesday shipment from CSX Transportation.

"The primary focus of the investigation right now is on the actions of the [Cohenno lumberyard] employees, who are not supposed to be moving freight cars," said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The probe is also examining the handbrakes used to secure the freight cars and a device on the tracks called a "derail" that is supposed to push runaway trains off the tracks before they risk a collision. Investigators have not said whether the derail malfunctioned, had been improperly set, or whether the freight car was traveling too fast out of the yard and could not be stopped.

"They have a derail siding, which obviously didn't work as intended," said George Casey, chairman of the Untited Tranportation Union. Casey represents the CSX conductor who delivered the lumber car to Cohenno. He said the conductor did his part to properly secure the car.

Andrew Cohenno, whose father owns the lumber company, said his employees did not move the freight car while it was on their property, held on an auxiliary train track called a "siding." The wood on the car was left unwrapped, he said. When they saw the car roll away, they placed a call to Stoughton Police.

"We're trying to help as much as we can with the investigation," Cohenno said. It is unclear who from the company made a 911 call at 5:11 p.m. But on a tape released by the MBTA, a man identifiying himself as "Cohenno Incorporated" makes several pleas to a 911 dispatcher in an attempt to explain the problem.

The engineer driving Train 917 was aware of the runway freight car, had stopped his locomotive, and was in the process of putting it in reverse, Pesaturo said. The car struck the train, which was carrying 300 passengers

Engineer Ronald Gomes had just 20 seconds once he saw the runaway freight car barreling around the bend. Gerry DeModena, the foreman who supervised the train crew, said Gomes "very well could have opted to get out of that cab and run."

Instead the engineer stood by his post and radioed for permission to move the train into reverse, a futile attempt to avoid the fast-moving freight car. Before he could act, the car slammed the commuter train with force great enough to knock Gomes "all over the cab, off the walls, all over the deck," DeModena said this afternoon at a press conference.

(Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff)

Gerry DeModena, the foreman who supervised the train crew involved in Tuesday's collision in Canton, spoke to reporters today at South Station.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Engineer Ronald Gomes had just 20 seconds Tuesday evening once he saw the runaway freight car barreling around the bend. Gomes had, based on signals from the tracks, already stopped the train, knowing there was at least a signal problem. But then he was staring down a fast-moving freight car, heading for his locomotive.

“He had seconds to make some decisions,” said Gerry DeModena, the general road foreman who oversaw Gomes’ train. “He very well could have opted to get out of that cab and run.”

Instead, Gomes stood by his post and radioed for permission to move the train into reverse, a futile attempt to avoid the freight car. Before he could act, the car slammed the commuter train with force great enough to knock Gomes "all over the cab, off the walls, all over the deck," DeModena said this afternoon at a press conference.

(AP Photo/Josh Reynolds/file)

Shawn Drumgold earlier this month at his federal lawsuit accusing Boston police of violating his civil rights.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

One of two retired Boston police detectives accused of railroading Shawn Drumgold for the 1988 murder of 12-year Darlene Tiffany Moore today acknowledged he never wrote a report documenting that he put up a crucial prosecution witness at a city hotel free for several months before the trial.

Testifying at Drumgold's federal lawsuit accusing the Boston police of violating his civil rights, Timothy Callahan said he is certain he informed the prosecutor in the case that he had put up Ricky Evans, a purported eyewitness to the notorious slaying, at a Howard Johnson's hotel in Dorchester in 1989. But he said he cannot recall when he did so and conceded there were no reports documenting it.

"The policy was to investigate and report, and I'm sure I told the assistant district attorney that we placed him in a hotel,'' Callahan said in US District Court.

A state judge threw out Drumgold's conviction in 2003, after he had served 15 years in prison, because the defendant and his trial attorney never knew about evidence that could have cleared Drumgold. The evidence included that Evans had receiving free lodging at the hotel and spending money from Callahan before the trial. A Globe investigation had revealed the preferential treatment.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Averting imminent school closures and deep classroom cuts, Boston will bail out the cash-strapped school system with a one-time appropriation of $10 million, helping the city schools close a $30.7 million budget shortfall.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

BROCKTON -- A teenager showing off his new illegal handgun inadvertently shot his friend in the head Tuesday evening, prosecutors said, killing the 15-year-old an hour after Governor Deval Patrick met with officials here to discuss the response to a spike in violence.

Olivier Baptiste was described as a popular student at Brockton High School, where he was a sophomore. “He was just a sweetheart of a kid,” said his English teacher, Bob Yuto. “Bright. Great smile. Just the most helpful kid in the world.”

The alleged shooter, William R. Suarez, 18, was arraigned today in Brockton District Court on charges that include manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm and held on $1 million cash bail by Judge James Sullivan. The families of Baptiste and Suarez wept throughout the brief hearing.

Defense attorney Brian A. Kelley said in court that Suarez did not know the .32 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver was loaded. “This was an accident,” Kelley said.

Prosecutor Shelby Smith said that Baptiste had begged him not to pull the trigger because he could see a bullet in the cylinder. Suarez pulled the trigger once, Smith said, and nothing happened. Baptiste covered his head with his arms, Smith said, and Suarez pulled the trigger a second time, shooting him in the right temple.

School officials said Suarez was a persevering student who struggled academically but worked hard and earned his diploma from Brockton High School. “We are all just kind of walking around numb today,” said Sharon Wolder, an administrator who knew Suarez. “It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t make sense to anybody.”

Many classmates learned of Baptiste’s death when they arrived at school today to take their English MCAS or Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. Out of 1,000 sophomores taking the test, 15 to 20 asked to go home because they were devastated by the shooting, said Principal Susan Szachowicz.
The school also has counselors ready for others who want to talk.

“No 15-year-old should be facing the loss of a friend,” Szachowicz said.

Patrick had come to Brockton Tuesday to be briefed by Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz on a "surge" of State Police troopers working for the past several weeks to reduce violent crime. The governor's visit came as 17-year-old Adilson Neves appeared in court to face a murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting of a cab driver in February.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

The Boston City Council plans to hold a public hearing before passing a new law proposed by the mayor to regulate companies who clean grease from restaurant kitchens, the council said today.

The legislation, which would require formal certification of commercial grease cleaners, comes seven months after two Boston firefighters died in a grease fire at the Tai Ho restaurant in West Roxbury.

"I think this is a great piece of legislation coming out of the tragedy last August," said Councilor Stephen Murphy, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee.

But Murphy said it may need some tweaking before passage. For example, he said he wants to make sure that city inspectors have the resources they need to enforce the law.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

A three-alarm fire in Milford early this morning left three people homeless, a fire official said.

The blaze at a three-story building on Main Street started just after midnight and tore through the structure, which housed a hair studio, tax consultant, and two apartments, said Lieutenant Paul DiAntonio of the Milford Fire Department. One of the residents was taken to Milford Regional Medical Center and treated and released for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters responded to a call at 12:13 a.m. and found flames on a porch and outside stairwell in the rear of the building. The fire quickly spread inside.

"The building had been renovated many times, and there were multiple void spaces between floors and multiple layers of flooring," DiAntonio said. "That was definitely the reason why it spread as quickly as it did."

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Authorities are searching for a 38-year-old man who escaped the hospital he was taken to after injuring himself at the courthouse in New Bedford Tuesday.

Anthony Flye was at New Bedford Superior Court for arraignment on an indecent exposure charge, the Bristol County District Attorney's office said in a statement. He is considered "potentially dangerous."

Flye, a resident of Nantucket and Swansea, was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford after he was injured by jumping from the top of a stairwell at the court, the statement said.

By Jamie Vaznis and Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

CANTON -- A runaway freight car rammed into an MBTA train this evening, tossing rush-hour commuters from their seats and leaving 150 passengers and crew with injuries, most of them minor.

An alert engineer halted the train before impact, preventing what could have been far more serious injuries, officials said. The crash occurred about a half mile north of the Canton Junction station.

"We knew we were coming into Canton Junction and suddenly the train stopped," said Tony Phillips, a 42-year-old passenger who works for a Boston advertising firm and lives in Stoughton. "All the sudden, there was a bang, a huge explosion. People were screaming 'Oh my God, what happened?'"

Everyone on the train who was standing fell to the ground, Phillips said.

Dozens of emergency workers carried passengers and crewmembers away from the tracks on stretchers, rushing them to area hospitals. Nearby residents saw passengers walking through the adjacent woods with head injuries, some spouting blood, looking dazed. Although none of the injuries was life-threatening, the high volume of cuts, bruises, and neck and back injuries forced some of the hurt passengers to take a bus to the hospital when emergency workers from around the region ran out of ambulance space.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Suffolk County prosecutors will not press criminal charges against the owners of the West Roxbury restaurant where two Boston firefighters died in a blaze last August.

District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today that a criminal investigation of the deaths determined that conditions at the Tai Ho restaurant did not warrant charges of criminal negligence or manslaughter.

Firefighters Paul J. Cahill and Warren Payne died Aug. 29 in a massive fireball fueled by grease that had built up in the Centre Street restaurant's kitchen exhaust system.

"As in every death investigation, our legal obligation in this case was specifically to determine whether any crime was committed: that is, whether any action by any individual or individuals rose to the level of wanton and reckless conduct, causing the deaths of these two firefighters," Conley said in a statement

"After a complete and thorough review of all of the evidence, I have determined that there is no basis for criminal charges to issue," he said.

By Jillian Jergensen, Globe Correspondent

The chief operating officer for Boston schools, James P. McIntyre, has accepted a position as superintendent of Knox County Schools in Tennessee, the school systems said today.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe staff

Starbucks may say it is committed to ``putting people before products,'' but that hasn't stopped a former barista at a Chestnut Hill store from accusing the coffee giant of shortchanging him on tips for serving caffeine-craving customers.

In a class action suit filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, Hernan Matamoros says Starbucks routinely violated Massachusetts law by requiring baristas to share money left in tip jars with shift supervisors, who perform similar duties but have managerial responsibilities.

``Every customer who walks in the door isn't necessarily thinking about who's getting the tips, but one would assume it's going to the workers and not the managers,'' said Shannon Liss-Riordan, one of the Boston lawyers representing Matamoros.

Matamoros, an 18-year-old Somerville resident who worked briefly at a Starbucks on Boylston Street and is now employed by another coffee shop, declined to be interviewed, Liss-Riordan said.

The suit came five days after a California judge, ruling in a nearly identical class-action suit, ordered Starbucks to pay baristas in that state more than $100 million in back tips, plus interest, that the company handed over to shift supervisors.

Some of the more than 120,000 current and former baristas affected by the California suit could each receive more than $10,000, said Terry Chapko, a lawyer from suburban San Diego who represented the plaintiffs. Starbucks condemned the ruling as ``an extreme example of an abuse of the class-action procedures in California courts'' and vowed to appeal.

Faced with a second class-action suit boiling over on the other side of the country, a Starbucks spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Seattle said today they could not comment on the pending lawsuit because officials had not seen it.

(Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff /file)

Mandy the mandrill (right), shown above with her mate, Charley, in 2005, died on exhibit.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Mandy, the 19-year-old mandrill with the ruby-colored snout who has delighted visitors at the Franklin Park Zoo since 1989, died while on exhibit inside the Tropical Forest.

The primate with the olive fur was “acting normally” Sunday morning but was found dead that afternoon in the exhibit, according to a statement released today. The cause of Mandy’s death was not immediately known, but she had inoperable fibroid tumors and suffered from chronic endometriosis, said Dr. Hayley Weston Murphy, the zoo’s head veterinarian. Final necropsy results will not be available for several weeks.

A close cousin of the baboon, mandrills are native to tropical forests in Cameroon and Gabon in Western Africa. They are favorites of zoo visitors because the males have brilliant blue and red noses and hairless rumps, which can also be a vibrant crimson. While the hues on females are muted, the tip of Mandy’s nose was still bright.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Two fishermen made a narrow escape this morning when the Coast Guard rescued them from a boat minutes before it sank.

The two men were 3 miles south of Gloucester on a 42-foot trawler when they radioed at 7:30 a.m. because the boat was “taking water,” said Petty Officer Luke Pinneo. The Coast Guard plucked the two men off the boat at 7:50 a.m. One minute later, the trawler tipped on its side. By 8:15 a.m., the boat slipped beneath the 3- to 5-feet waves.

"They did the right thing," Pinneo said. "They found themselves in trouble, they had a radio on board that worked and they knew how to use it and they did."

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A 17-year-old charged with fatally shooting a Brockton cab driver was arrested after he told friends and acquaintances about shooting the man in the back of the head, a prosecutor said today in court.

Adilson Neves also left behind a distinct size 10 1/2 sneaker splattered with blood at the scene of the slaying on Galen Street in Brockton on Feb. 16, said Lewis Armistead Jr., an assistant district attorney.

Neves gave a taped confession after he was taken into custody, Armistead said, and he admitted that the 10 1/2 sneaker was his shoe. Armistead said in court that Neves also described for investigators how he lured Edward Conley onto the dead end street, jumped in his cab, put the gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger.

By State House News Service

Governor Deval Patrick today acknowledged the danger social workers face on the job, pointing to the fatal stabbing last month of a therapist in North Andover.

“I’ve been to the offices where some of you work,” Patrick told several hundred social workers in Great Hall at the State House. “I have talked to many of you. I see the clientele that you are dealing with. I see the conditions in which you work,”

“I know you need more money,” Patrick said to cheers. “I know it.”

The governor recently signed a proclamation declaring March Social Work Month, and he pledged that his administration would assist social workers in advancing their agenda. Social workers have long pushed for more funding to ease caseloads.

On Feb. 8, Diruhi Mattian, 53, was fatally stabbed in the back when she rushed to the North Andover apartment of a 19-year-old client who was arguing with his younger sister. Police have charged the client, Thomas Belanger, with murder.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Staff

A 13-year-old boy was charged with drunken driving in a stolen car early this morning in Dorchester after police said he led a state trooper on a short chase and crashed into a light pole.

The boy from Quincy ran from the car and tried to escape on foot after he hit the light pole on Neponset Avenue at about 1 a.m., said Sergeant Dave Mahan, a State Police spokesman.

The boy was caught, taken to Caritas Carney Hospital and treated for what police described as minor injuries. The name of the boy was not released because he is a juvenile, Mahan said.

(Erik Jacobs for The Boston Globe)

Gregory Mullen raised his arms in triumph this morning at the sports bar Game On! as Manny Ramirez drove in two runs in the top of the 10th inning to give the Red Sox a win in the season opener in Tokyo.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

It was well before dawn, but the lights at Fenway Park were on, and the bars were already abuzz with Red Sox fans. The day hadn't started yet, but baseball had.

Several hundred diehard, sleep-deprived fans gathered at Game On! and Cask 'n' Flagon on Lansdowne Street this morning to cheer their beloved Red Sox as they opened their world championship defense in Tokyo against the Oakland A's. Fans lined up outside Game On! before it opened at 5:30 a.m., and by the start of the game at 6:05 a.m., well over 200 had arrived.

Over coffee and breakfast, they roared at the national anthem and the first pitch in celebration of the time-honored, if somewhat ill-timed, tradition of baseball's Opening Day. While most fans across New England listened to the game in between hits of the snooze button or watched on television from the comfort of their couch, the hard core turned out to welcome the Red Sox back from their winter slumber with kindred spirits.

Giving up some REM sleep to listen to Rem-Dawg, the nickname of NESN announcer Jerry Remy, was an easy call.

"Taking Opening Day off for a 1 p.m. game, that's great," said James Garvey, a 27-year-old from Woburn. "Taking it off for a 6 a.m. game, that's just awesome."

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Traffic is moving again on Route 20 in Northborough this morning after the road was closed for four hours while firefighters battled a five-alarm blaze at a strip mall.

One person was hurt in the fire and taken to a local hospital with injuries that the Fire Department described as not life-threatening.

By Globe Staff

A veteran Boston firefighter pleaded not guilty today to assault and battery and other charges after allegedly resisting police officers who were trying to stop him from attacking his girlfriend.

Boston Police found Wayne Abron, 41, a 17-year veteran of the department, violently shaking a woman and screaming in her face at about 1:48 a.m. Sunday when they responded to a call on Howard Avenue in Dorchester.

When the officers attempted to separate him from the woman and restrain him, Abron resisted, swinging elbows at the officers, throwing punches, and trying to headlock one officer, a police report said.

The officers subdued him with pepper spray. The woman was uncooperative and declined police and medical services, the report said.

By Globe Staff

The state's highest court has ordered a new trial in a 1994 murder case in Milton, saying that the prosecutor in the case went overboard in his closing arguments at trial, essentially giving testimony himself and vouching for the credibility of one of the witnesses.

Jameel Williams was convicted of first-degree murder in the June 10, 1994, shooting death of Gregory Cormier.

The Supreme Judicial Court said in its ruling today that a Norfolk County prosecutor who tried the case had "effectively placed himself inside the jury box" and had "placed the full force of his office" behind a key witness's credibility.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Maybe it was time to do some spring cleaning. A Revere woman brought what looked like a live grenade into the city’s police department, saying that it had been in her home since the 1980s.

"You wouldn't think that it would normally be wise to transport it unless you knew specifically what it was," said Captain Michael Murphy of the Revere Police of the well-meant but potentially dangerous action.

Though the device had markings on it that suggested it could be a training device, Revere Police took a number of precautions, including moving it to an unoccupied part of the station's garage and calling the Boston Police bomb squad.

By Globe Staff

Talk about your diehard fans. Some Red Sox supporters, hoping for yet another championship season, will be getting up before sunrise tomorrow to trek to Fenway-area bars to watch the Sox open their season more than a dozen time zones away in Japan.

"I think we'll be pretty full, to be honest with you," said Lindsay Curtis, a spokeswoman for the Game On! bar.

Curtis said the bar, which has a capacity of 500 people, has been getting numerous calls and e-mails from fans hoping it will be open.

The bar normally opens at 7 a.m. Tomorrow it will open at 5:30 a.m., so people can settle in for the game, which starts at 6:05 a.m.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A 22-year-old Dorchester man who is accused of horrific abuse of his girlfriend's 7-year-old son was ordered held without bail today by a Wareham District Court judge.

Judge Brian Gilligan ruled that there were no conditions that would prevent David J. Privette from being a danger to the boy and witnesses in the case, if he were released.

Privette, a former convict who had served time for crack cocaine possession and assaulting a police officer, allegedly beat the boy with a belt, burned his genitals with lit cigarettes, and urinated on his head. He faces charges that include indecent assault and battery on a child, and mayhem.

By Globe Staff

Local antiwar activists are responding with outrage to the news today that the overall US death toll in Iraq has surpassed 4,000, saying it underlines the need for the United States to withdraw its troops.

"It’s long past time to bring them home now," said Joseph Gerson, director of New England programs at the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge.

"It was inevitable, but it doesn’t make it any easier to know that it’s happened," said Catherine Melina, 51, of Cambridge, an activist whose son is serving in the Army in Baghdad. "I think Americans need to speak up loud and clear to their elected officials and tell them this is not what we want."

The news of the 4,000th death came just a few days after the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

By Globe Staff

The Massachusetts State Lottery, which was worried last year about flagging sales, has hit the jackpot with a new scratch ticket game.

Lottery officials say they've sold $500 million worth of tickets for the Billion Dollar Blockbuster game in less than six months. That means that 25 million of the $20 tickets have been sold.

Not bad considering that only about 6 million people live in the state.

Lottery Executive Director Mark Cavanagh said in a statement that officials knew players would enjoy the game. and he pointed out that the money raised by the lottery is sent back to the state's cities and towns.

The game features 130 instant prizes of $1 million and 10 instant prizes of $10 million. The grand prize: $1 million a year for life.

By Alex Oster, Globe Correspondent

The Saugus Fire Department combed the Saugus River Friday night after receiving a report that a vehicle rolled down a boat ramp and into the water.

An eyewitness reported that the vehicle floated in the current before disappearing from sight, said Fire Chief Jim Blanchard. The chief speculated the vehicle could have drifted far downstream before coming to rest.

The David C. Penney Memorial Landing, a boat ramp on Harvard Avenue where the car was seen entering the water, is often used to dispose of stolen vehicles, the chief said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A father and son have been arrested for a break-in and are suspected of numerous other burglaries in southeastern Massachusetts, Rochester police said Friday in a statement.

William A. Luz III, 37, and William A. Luz Jr., 55, both of South Street in Plymouth, were arrested Thursday by Kingston police for breaking into a home there, Rochester police said.

The men were being monitored by a task force of officers from Rochester and several other towns when they tried to break into the home around 1:45 p.m. Thursday.

Officers found the younger Luz acting as look-out with a walkie-talkie while his father was inside the home. Both men fought with officers at first but were quickly subdued, police said.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Fierce winds brought down tree limbs and power lines across New England Friday, leaving thousands without power.

A fallen tree in the western Massachusetts town of Southwick blocked Route 202 for two hours in the morning, while half the town lost power. Electric companies tackled scattered outages throughout the day, mostly in the Worcester area, but by late in the evening most people had their power restored.

In Boston, the National Weather Service clocked the wind at 36 mph with gusts of 46 mph, while weather spotters called in wind gusts of 58 mph in Cambridge and more than 60 mph in Milton, Stow, and Worcester.

By Kate Augusto, Glob Correspondent

A Brockton woman was charged this afternoon with motor vehicle homicide after police said she was talking on a cell phone when she drove into a telephone pole Thursday in Kingston, killing her pregnant passenger and her unborn baby.

When police arrived at the crash at Main Street, Nusquine M. Cartus, 30, was walking around her 1996 Nissan Maxima with blood on her hand, said Sergeant Zachary Potrykus of the Kingston Police Department. The telephone pole had snapped in half and fallen on the passenger’s side of the car, trapping 29-year-old Nadine Solide inside. The women were returning from Logan International Airport when Cartus crashed at 5:30 a.m., police said.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

At least 25 people were displaced when a blaze tore through a West Roxbury apartment building at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, causing about $1 million in damage, fire officials said.

A 32-year-old woman living in a fourth-floor apartment where the fire started was taken to the hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

Fire officials believe that careless disposal of a cigarette on the balcony of the apartment caused the three-alarm fire at the building on VFW Parkway, MacDonald said.

(Globe file photo)

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Fourteen months after Manuel J. Rivera reneged on the offer to become Boston schools superintendent for a top education post in New York State, he could lose the job in a shake-up of former Governor Eliot Spitzer's administration.

Rivera is among the top Spitzer administration officials being asked to offer to resign by Monday as new Governor David A. Paterson reassesses Spitzer's year-old team to shape his own administration.

"Did I ever expect that I would be in this position a year later? Absolutely not," Rivera said in a phone interview. "Hindsight is 20-20."

While Paterson may end up keeping Rivera on staff, the shakeup of a sophomore administration has been jarring to the Spitzer believers who flocked to work for the ethics-reform governor, only to watch him fall from grace in a prostitution scandal a year later. Though Rivera said he made the right decision at the time by choosing Albany over Boston, he acknowledged he was personally stung by Spitzer's fall.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement, George Rizer, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

MALDEN -- A teenage girl and a young man were killed early this morning in Malden when their BMW crashed into a home and burst into flames, State Police said.

A second girl under 18 years old was wearing her seat belt and survived the fiery crash, State Police said. She was rushed with serious injuries to Massachusetts General Hospital, where her condition was not immediately available.

The girl spoke with firefighters at the scene and said that her brother was inside the car, which was engulfed in flames, Malden Deputy Fire Chief Philip Cargill said. Police and firefighters tried to rescue the two people trapped inside the BMW, but the flames were so intense "they couldn’t get within 10 feet of the car," Cargill said.

State Police identified the driver of the car as Jean M. Olivier, 22, of Malden.

The crash occurred at 4:30 a.m. when the 1996 BMW veered off northbound Route 28. The car, which was driven by the young man, flipped on its side, crashed through a wrought iron fence, and hit a two-story white house at the corner of the Fellsway and Charles Street. No one inside the house was injured, said Lieutenant Eric Anderson, a State Police spokesman.

The flames charred the outside of the house, but the structure did not catch fire, Cargill said.

(Globe file photo)

At a press conference in September, a State Police sergeant displayed the sweatshirt worn by Star Simpson to Logan International Airport.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

An East Boston judge has refused to dismiss a charge today against a 19-year-old MIT student who was arrested at gunpoint when she walked into Logan International Airport wearing a light-up sweatshirt that authorities believed was a bomb.

District Court Judge Paul Mahoney did not act on an argument by a lawyer for Star Simpson that the sweatshirt -- which included wiring and a computer circuit board -- was a legitimate form of free speech. Simpson was charged with possession of a hoax device. Her case has been continued until May 23.

"We are prepared to bring this matter to trial and have been for quite some time," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney's office.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Harvard College has a message for students who want to transfer to the institution: There's no room at the inn.

School officials said Thursday they will not accept transfer students for the next two academic years because of a shortage of student housing.

In a statement posted on its website, the college said Dean David Pilbeam based his decision on a recent study of the college's residential housing that was the most thorough examination of housing needs in the institution's history.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

A Suffolk Superior Court trial has begun in the slaying four years ago of a 49-year-old Dorchester woman whose throat was slashed in her apartment while she was hog-tied with a telephone cord.

William Wood, 33, of Roxbury and Quincy Butler, 34, of Dorchester are on trial for first-degree murder, armed assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, armed home invasion, armed robbery, and related offenses, the Suffolk district attorney's office said.

Betsy Tripp died during the robbery gone awry, and her boyfriend was shot in the face when he tried to help her, according to prosecutors.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Someone scrawled a swastika and a racist message in a corridor of a Northeastern University freshmen residence hall Wednesday, a university spokesman said.

Early Wednesday morning, residents of the Stetson West residence hall reported the incident to the building's staff. Residents attended a mandatory meeting today to discuss the incident with building staff and university police.

The Northeastern University Division of Public Safety is investigating the incident and believes it has identified a person of interest, someone who does not appear to be a Northeastern student, spokesman Fred McGrail said.

Officials said the message did not appear to be directed at any particular individual.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Boston police have identified the man who was killed on Upham Avenue in Dorchester early Wednesday morning.

David Tyrone Williams, 22, of Dorchester, was found shot multiple times outside Cataloni's Bar a few minutes after midnight, police said.

He was taken to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Police are asking anyone with information about the slaying to call the Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470; anonymously call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS; or text the word "TIP" to CRIME (27463).

By Matt Viser and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The House voted 108-46 this evening to defeat a proposal to license resort casinos in Massachusetts, rejecting one of Governor Deval Patrick’s cornerstone economic initiatives.

The vote came after nearly six hours of debate on House floor, where members sparred over the benefits and ills of expanded gambling. They argued over whether the bill received a fair committee hearing, and whether it was inevitable that Native Americans would eventually expand gaming in Massachusetts.

In the end, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi made good on his prediction that the governor's plan would fail.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Florida prosecutors dropped a case against a top official in the Patrick administration who had been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in a Gulf Coast resort.

Officials went months without filing formal charges against Charles Stanley McGee, the 38-year-old assistant secretary for policy and planning for Massachusetts. McGee was arrested Dec. 28 and held in jail overnight on a $300,000 bond.

Officials in the Office of the State Attorney for Lee County, Fla., released court documents today that stated no charges would be filed in the case. Florida officials refused to comment further.

(Robert E. Klein for the Boston Globe)

By John R. Ellement and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

MIDDLEBOROUGH -- Police this afternoon arrested the mother of a 7-year-old boy whose genitals were allegedly burned with cigarettes.

Michelle Henry, 30, was handcuffed as police searched her apartment on Archer Court. She has been charged with reckless endangerment and assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury.

Henry wept during her arraignment this afternoon in Wrentham District Court. “She knew what had been done to her son because he had reported it to her," said prosecutor Laura E. Weierman. "She was there when it occurred.”

Defense attorney Rachel Seeley-Ruel said in court that Henry also had been a victim of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, David J. Privette. Seeley-Ruel said that Henry had reported the abuse to authorities, but the lawyer did not elaborate. Henry was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for March 27.

The boyfriend, Privette, has been accused of repeated abuse that allegedly continued despite several warnings to the Department of Social Services. Police also filed new charges today against Privette that allege that he permanently disfigured the child with burns. Privette, who has been held without bail since his arrest Monday, now faces two counts of indecent assault and battery and mayhem, which is a felony that can carry a lengthy prison term.

Privette, 22, is a former convict who had served time for crack cocaine possession and assaulting a police officer and has a history of violence and drugs dating at least to when he was 18 years old. He is accused of beating his girlfriend’s son with a belt, burning the boy's genitals with lit cigarettes, and urinating on his head.

DSS officials had known of neglect in the home as far back as 2002 and were informed of three reports of possible physical abuse since late last year, including reports of a beating with a belt in December and burns with a cigarette on March 4. But DSS did not notify law enforcement officials until Monday, when teachers discovered burn marks on his genitals, pelvis, and buttocks.

Privette’s great aunt, Carrie Boylorn, said the horrific charges against her nephew were hard to believe.

“I have been in such a shock because that doesn’t sound like David,” Boylorn, 67, said in an interview outside the house in Dorchester where she raised Privette. “I don’t know David to be sexual at all towards children.”

A webcast of the House session today where members are expected to discuss the governor’s proposal for resort casinos can be found here.

By Globe Staff

A Beverly police officer was convicted of motor vehicle homicide charges today in the death of a 61-year-old woman he hit in a collision last year near her home.

An Essex County jury deliberated for five hours after hearing testimony over three days before convicting Officer Stuart Merry, 51, of operating negligently when his cruiser slammed into a car occupied by Bonnie Burns on Jan. 20, 2007.

Officials said the force of the impact pushed her car up and onto the sidewalk on Cabot Street outside her home, killing her and knocking Merry unconscious.

Merry will be sentenced next month.

Representative Richard J. Ross

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

WRENTHAM -- A major defeat for the governor’s resort casino bill came when one lawmaker, Representative Richard J. Ross, changed his vote on a key committee and broke what had been a 9-9 tie after intense pressure from House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

After the vote, Ross told reporters he changed his mind about “sticking with the governor” after speaking by phone with Plainridge Racecourse president Gary Piontkowski. Ross also said he met with DiMasi twice in 16 hours and that the speaker indicated he would allow the House to consider a bill to install slot machines at the state's four racetracks, including Plainridge.

"It was down to the eleventh hour, the 59th minute," said Ross. "Ultimately I owe my vote to the people in the district, how they wish me to vote."

In his district in this suburb 30 miles southwest of Boston, his constituents were stunned that Ross flipped.

“I’m happy he swung his vote, but I’m surprised,” said longtime resident Wrentham resident Bob Leclair. “It’s politics at its best, or worst, depending on how you feel about it – it’s still politics.”

By Globe Staff

Union leaders continue to lobby lawmakers this morning to pass Governor Deval Patrick’s resort casino proposal despite mounting odds after the bill suffered a major defeat in a legislative committee.

Robert J. Haynes, the president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, sent an e-mail to all 160 members of the House of Representatives warning that a vote against the plan could jeopardize support from organized labor in future elections.

“The Massachusetts AFL-CIO, representing 400,000 working families from 750 local unions across Massachusetts, is giving the Legislature this fair notice that we may consider every vote on destination resort casinos a Labor Vote,” Haynes wrote in the e-mail, which was distributed to reporters.

RE: Destination Resort Casinos Labor Votes

Dear Representative,

I would like to begin with this most important point in order to advise your decision on destination resort casinos: All votes – whether they be procedural, on amendments, on substitutions, or other variations of votes on any bill relating to the future of destination resort casinos in this Commonwealth – may be considered Labor Votes. This could result in several votes impacting your record on the day you take up destination resort casinos, possibly having a drastic impact on your Labor Voting Record upon which endorsements for incumbents are based.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO has been communicating our unanimous, unwavering support for the advent of destination resort casinos in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since November 27, 2007. On that date we sent you a letter and a detailed policy paper explaining why we were certain that destination resort casinos would be high quality economic development for the working families and communities of Massachusetts. Since November the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and our affiliate local unions have worked tirelessly to prevail upon you the obvious, clear, convincing, and overwhelming merits of destination resort casinos. Only on March 18th were we given a legitimate public forum to make our case.

By Daniel Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

Someone hacked into the Lasell College computer network, accessing data that contains personal information, including the names and Social Security numbers of current and former students, faculty, staff, and alumni..

Although there has been no confirmed misuse of the data, Lasell officials said they had sent a cautionary e-mail to the 20,000 people whose names appeared in the databases that were accessed.

The hacker is suspected to be an employee in the school's Department of Information Technology.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Two corrections officers at the state's prison in Walpole were hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening injuries after being assaulted by about five inmates at about 2:30 p.m. today.

As a result, the maximum security prison in Walpole was locked down, meaning the inmates had to remain in their cells and could have no visitors other than attorneys and medical visits, said Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

The lockdown was expected to continue until at least Thursday morning while an investigation continued.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A boy believed to be about 16 years old was shot and wounded this afternoon in Dorchester, hours after a 22-year-old man was fatally shot in the same section of Boston, police said.

Superintendent Thomas Lee, who heads the department's Criminal Investigations Divisions, said it does not appear that the two shootings are connected.

The 16-year-old, who was shot in the neck area outside a red-brick building on Torrey Street, is expected to survive, Lee said.

No suspects had been arrested in connection with the afternoon shooting, which happened about 5:38 p.m., he said.

In this morning's shooting, the victim, whose name was not released, was found just after midnight outside Cataloni's Bar on Upham Avenue. Police said he was shot several times and later died at Boston Medical Center.

By Matthew Collette, Globe Correspondent

An unusually wet February brought groundwater levels back above normal levels across the state, causing the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to announce today that it had lifted a drought advisory issued in October.

The advisory issued Oct. 10 by MEMA cited the concern that unusually dry conditions might cause fallen leaves to fuel hard-to-fight fires. The drought advisory affected all parts of the state except Cape Cod and the Berkshires.

Above-normal precipitation levels in the first three months of the year -- notably February, when precipitation levels were 270 percent above normal -- brought groundwater levels back up.

By Matt Viser, Globe

After a four-hour delay with parliamentary wrangling, a legislative committee has recommended this afternoon that lawmakers reject Governor Deval Patrick’s casino proposal by a vote of 10-8, with one abstention, according to one committee member who was told of the results.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Representative Daniel Bosley, a committee co-chairman, have a press conference scheduled shortly to discuss the vote.

The action by the committee will allow the full House to take up the measure as early as Thursday. Traditionally, the recommendation of a committee vote carries great weight on the floor.

A vote from the committee had been expected at noon.

Bosley, an ardent gambling critic, refused to disclose the initial vote, but other committee members said the vote was tied – 9 votes in favor, 9 votes against, and one person abstaining. The additional four hours gave DiMasi, Patrick, and labor unions time to convince several fence-sitters.

Much of the focus had been on Representative Robert Rice, a Democrat from Gardner who abstained in the initial vote, according to Representative Brian Wallace, a South Boston Democrat who has been the House’s chief casino supporter. Rice did not immediately return calls for comment.

Supporters also felt they could sway Representative Thomas Conroy, a Wayland Democrat who voted no in the initial vote, but Conroy said in an interview that he was not changing his mind despite intense pleas today from union and administration officials.

Bosley and other casino critics did not expect they would have to be concerned with the parliamentary maneuverings, but the vote was extraordinarily close. Further complicating matters, Bosley erred by allowing the committee to attach six other casino-related bills to the governor’s legislation.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

A forlorn phone book recently sat neglected on a South Boston sidewalk.

By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff

Phone book companies may have a new advertising slogan if one city councilor gets his way: Banned in Boston.

In an effort to curtail city recycling expenses and reduce litter, Councilor Salvatore LaMattina has proposed a new ordinance that would ban the distribution of unsolicited commercial deliveries weighing more than a pound. His target: hundreds of thousands of phone books left on front stoops and sidewalks across the city.

"The taxpayers end up paying for this stuff to be carted off and recycled," LaMattina said, noting the piles he's seen on streets in East Boston and the North End.

"It's a waste of paper," he said. "It's a waste of money."

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Harvard University announced today that it will raise tuition 3.5 percent for the next academic year but increase its need-based financial aid budget to $125 million, a 21 percent jump.

The cost of tuition, room and board, and student fees at Harvard will now cost $47,215 a year.

(Middleborough Police Department)

David Privette, 22, has been charged with assault and battery on a child and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, which included cigarettes and a belt.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A man who had been reported twice to the Department of Social Services for allegedly abusing a 7-year-old in Middleborough has been arrested and charged with using a cigarette to repeatedly burn the boy's genitals.

A Middleborough school made a third report to DSS on Monday and David Privette was arrested, according to a police report. On Dec. 19, 2007, and on March 4, a school nurse filed reports to DSS that made similar allegations of abuse, which included striking the boy with a belt and urinating on his head while he was taking a bath, according to the report.

It was not immediately clear what DSS did in response to the earlier allegations of abuse. DSS spokesman Richard Nangle has failed to provide any information about the case today despite repeated phone messages and e-mails.

Privette, a 22-year-old from Dorchester, is described in the police report as the boyfriend of the child’s mother. He was arraigned Tuesday in Wareham District Court on charges that include assault and battery on a child and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, which included cigarettes and a belt. Privette is being held on $500 cash bail.

Megan Woolhouse wrote in today’s Globe that nearly 200 Boston street names are repeated elsewhere in the city. An address of 10 Cedar St. can bring you to locations in Charlestown, or several miles south in Mattapan and Roxbury. One Marion Ave.? Look for it in East Boston, Roslindale, and Hyde Park.

With a little detective work, you too can learn how to navigate Boston's streets. Bob Madden, a 63-year-old investigator at the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, trains new hires in more than just police techniques -- he teaches ways to cope with the city's often baffling roads.

Here are Madden's Top 5 Tips, not in order of importance, as told to Woolhouse:

1. Get a map, and not just any map. Get an Arrow map dedicated to the city, not the region. Most other maps sold downtown and to tourists are full of errors.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Staff

Tall and pale, Massachusetts Army National Guard Sergeant Scott Miller stood at attention today while a succession of officers bestowed him with his new rank, delivered solemn speeches, and congratulated him on his promotion from specialist. Then he sat down in a hospital chair, exhausted and dry-lipped, and prepared for his next round of chemotherapy.

Just over two months ago Miller, a 34-year-old military policeman from Newton, N.H., was manning an M240 Bravo machine gun in the turret of a Humvee that patrolled Baghdad’s treacherous streets.

But in February, he was diagnosed with a rare and terminal form of colon cancer and told that he had only months to live. His deployment to Iraq was nothing compared to what comes next, Miller said.

“This will be more challenging,” said Miller.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees today approved a 3.1 percent increase in student charges for the next academic year, raising the average cost at the system's four undergraduate universities for in-state students by $288, from $9,261 to $9,549.

The vote, taken at the board's meeting at UMass-Dartmouth, marks the fifth consecutive year the public system has held tuition-and-fee increases below the regional inflation rate. It affirms the action taken earlier this month by the board's administration and finance committee.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Some schools could close. Summer school may be eliminated. Academic coaches and preschool teachers' aides may be let go.

These are just some of the options Boston’s superintendent and school committee are expected to discuss tonight as they attempt to close a $33.2 million gap in next year’s budget.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was scheduled to give an address this morning to the League of Women Voters, a group that opposes casinos, but he backed out at the last minute to take care of several matters, including calling members to discourage them from voting for the governor's legislation.

DiMasi sent Representative Daniel Bosley, the House's chief casino critic, to give the speech in his place.

Bosley, a Democrat from North Adams who also co-chairs the committee that is voting today on the governor’s bill, would not make any predictions. Even if the casino plan survives the committee, Bosley said it would still die.

"We have the votes on the floor of the House," he said. "The governor was looking for a full and fair hearing, and he got his 13 hours yesterday. The burden of proof is kind of high, and I don't think the governor met it."

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

That white, icy dusting on cars this morning was not an omen of a looming snowstorm. At least not today.

“We’ll be luck if we even get an inch,” of snow, said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

The temperature is hovering at 34 degrees in Boston and expected to climb to the mid 40s this afternoon. While stubborn precipitation will persist for much of the day, “eventually it is all going to turn to just plain rain,” Foley said.

The mix of rain, sleet, snow, and freezing rain did not have much of an impact on the morning commute, with no reports of major accidents or traffic jams. The snow “doesn’t appear to be sticking to the roads -- I don’t think its cold enough for that -- so we aren’t seeing the usual spinouts,” said Trooper Eric Benson, a State Police spokesman.

High temperatures are expected to stay in the 40s for the rest of the week, and even flirt with 50 degrees. That does not necessarily mean, however, that spring is imminent.

“Winter is going to take another shot at us -- maybe Monday,” Foley said. “If everything comes together, it could be a big gorilla of snowstorm up and down the East Coast.”

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 22-year-old Waltham man was arrested Tuesday morning after stabbing a co-worker at a Concord home where they were working on a painting job, police said.

Julio Santos is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He is also charged with assault with intent to murder after stabbing the painter he was working with at about 8:40 a.m., Concord police said in a statement.

The victim, whose identity was withheld, was taken to Emerson Hospital and was transferred to Beth Israel Hospital, the statement said.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Boston University police are warning students returning from spring break about three robberies that have recently occurred in the university area, two of them at knife point.

The three robberies of young women were reported on March 8, the day that spring break began.

"We sometimes take for granted that Boston University is located in a relatively safe area in the city. Yet there still remains serious criminal activity consistent with our urban setting," Thomas G. Robbins, the university's police chief, said in a message to students.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A freight airplane carrying hazardous materials was diverted to Logan International Airport tonight after the crew detected a strange smell, airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said. The plane landed safely at 9:50 p.m.

No injuries were reported to the four people aboard, who had donned their oxygen masks during the flight. But they were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for evaluation, he said.

Alitalia Flight 9180, an MD11 plane bound from Milan to Miami, had reported possible damage to a cargo door.

Orlandella would not specify exactly what the plane was carrying. He said an inspection of the plane determined there was no damage and no hazardous materials had been spilled.

(Globe file photo)

By David Abel, Globe Staff

The collision of a commuter train and a maintenance truck that left two track workers dead in Woburn last year probably was a result of human error and a failure to follow safety procedures, officials at the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released today.

The report highlighted the failure of a train dispatcher to provide proper signaling and found that a work crew did not use a device that would have provided additional signal protection on the tracks where they were working. Investigators also noted that the track engineer who died tested positive for marijuana.

"This tragic accident occurred because several employees of the railroad failed to do a very important part of their job," said Mark V. Rosenker, chairman of the safety board, in a statement. "Simply stated, following required safety procedures would have saved lives in this accident."

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

By Matt Viser and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick acknowledged in testimony today that the prospects were bleak for his casino proposal, but he urged lawmakers to resist pressure from legislative leaders and continue to explore the economic advantages of expanded gambling.

“I have no illusions about the plans in the House for this legislation,” Patrick said during a standing-room-only hearing at the State House, according to prepared remarks distributed by his staff. “But I am here anyway, because what you do in this committee will determine whether that full and open debate is even possible. I am simply asking that an open debate begin -- rather than end -- today.”

The testimony before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies was part of a long-awaited hearing on Patrick’s plan to license three resort casinos. Union workers in hard hats, religious leaders, academics, environmentalists, and online poker players have converged on the State House to discuss the bill. The committee could issue a report on the bill today and send it to the full House for consideration as early as Thursday.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi set a dire tone this morning for what was expected to be a difficult day for proponents of expanding gambling as he blasted the governor’s plan.

“Casinos will absolutely cause human damage on a grand scale,” DiMasi said during a 30-minute address at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “After six months of debate on this bill, I believe this evidence is not there, the case has not been made, and time is running out.

“Right now, my answer is no.”

By Globe Staff

Cars are moving again on the Massachusetts Turnpike today after a tractor-trailer loaded with paint rolled over in Hopkinton and snarled traffic for some six hours.

The accident in the eastbound lanes of the Pike near Exit 11A was cleared at 1:10 p.m., State Police said. At one point, traffic was backed up for 15 miles.

The 6:30 a.m. crash, which also involved two cars, sent one person to the hospital. The driver of the truck had to be cut out of the cab by the Hopkinton Fire Department. The person who was hospitalized was taken to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, State Police said.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

WEYMOUTH -- When police raided Peter J. Cantelli’s apartment Monday evening and found a cache of guns and crude bombs, there was so much natural gas in the air there was fear it would ignite, a prosecutor said today in Quincy District Court. The discovery forced the evacuation of a portion of the 300-unit apartment complex on Avalon Drive.

Cantelli, 48, had a pistol strapped to his waist and another loaded handgun was in reach, according to prosecutor Jason Mohan. Bomb-making material was in plain view. In a nylon backpack, officers found 2 pounds of military-grade gunpowder connected to a fuse and surrounded with roofing nails designed to act as shrapnel, Mohan said. There was an M4 military-style machine gun, the prosecutor said at Cantelli’s arraignment, three inert grenades, several pieces of dynamite, and $23,000 in cash, and a suicide note. Police did not disclose the contents of the letter.

Cantelli was brought into court this afternoon in a wheelchair. He needs to be hooked up to an oxygen tank 24 hours a day and suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and acid reflux, said his defense lawyer, Robert Tutino.

Judge Mark S. Coven ordered Cantelli to be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing, which is scheduled for Wednesday. The judge rejected Tutino’s argument that his client should be released due to medical reasons.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

The Chamber’s Government Affairs breakfasts are a meaningful way for leaders in government to get together with leaders in business to share ideas and work together to improve our great Commonwealth.

A strong economy fueled by good jobs allows the state to support the services that make Massachusetts a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

In turn, a strong business climate depends on government’s ability to give you the tools you need to grow your businesses and get out of your way when government threatens to slow you down.

As we gather here today, much is on our plate in state government.

We see clear signs of a worsening economic forecast, a significant state budget deficit, and many substantial issues to tackle – from energy reform that reduces our dependence on foreign oil to health reform that slows the annual double-digit premium increases that hurt businesses and individuals.

(Vincent DeWitt for the Boston Globe)

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Classes for all 4,000 students in Falmouth Public Schools were canceled today because vandals slashed tires on 40 of the district’s school buses, which put nearly the entire fleet out of service, according to police and school officials.

The damage was discovered early this morning by an employee from First Student, the company that operates buses for Falmouth.

The front tires of nearly all of the buses parked in a lot on Thomas B. Landers Road had been flattened, and the valve stems were cut off, police said.

“Initially we had hoped we would be able to have a two-hour delay, but as we started to find out more about the extent of the damage, we realized it was basically the entire fleet of buses,” Richards said, the schools superintendent.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley blessed and distributed shamrocks today at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

To mark St. Patrick's Day, Cardinal Sean O'Malley today blessed and distributed shamrocks to commemorate the patron saint of the archdiocese at a Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The noon Mass was celebrated as a part of Holy Week, which culminates with Easter Sunday.

According to the Vatican, St. Patrick was born in Great Britain about the year 385. He was taken captive and smuggled to Ireland as a slave to work as a herdsman. St. Patrick escaped form his captors, became a priest, and eventually ascended to bishop of Ireland, where he converted scores to Catholicism.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Federal education officials and college administrators reassured students and families today that the current turmoil in the financial markets will not threaten the availability of government student loans, but cautioned that increasingly popular private education loans could become scarcer and more expensive.

Speaking at a public hearing at Northeastern University this morning, US Undersecretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker said disruptions in the private lending market have not affected federal loan programs and that safeguards are in place to ensure that student loans remain available if economic conditions worsen.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

A 28-year-old Harvard student was killed today when a truck hit him while he was walking in a crosswalk in Cambridge, police said.

Police did not identify the victim, pending notification of his family. But Michael Simon, associate director of Harvard Hillel, wrote in an email to members of the campus Jewish organization that the victim was Isaac Meyers, a graduate student and cherished member of Harvard Hillel. Simon asked members to say a prayer.

“We feel immeasurable pain and sadness,” Simon wrote.

By Stephen Smith, Globe staff

A 12-year-old Worcester County girl died Sunday from influenza, the fourth Massachusetts child to succumb this year to the respiratory illness, state public health authorities announced this afternoon.

Officials also disclosed that a 15-year-old boy from Newton died Friday of pneumonia triggered by the flu. Neither of the children was identified because of patient confidentiality laws.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A former Charlestown man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison today for his role in an aborted daytime heist of an armored car carrying about $2 million in the North End.

Dennis Quirk, 39, was in a gang of robbers who toted loaded firearms, including an AK-47, and wore bulletproof vests during the aborted 2005 heist, authorities said.

US Chief District Judge Mark L. Wolf said Quirk's history of violence, including a manslaughter conviction for a slaying that occurred when Quirk was 17, necessitated imprisonment for a quarter-century, as recommended by federal prosecutors.

"You've demonstrated you're a dangerous person, and society needs to be protected from you,'' Wolf told Quirk, a burly man with a crew cut wearing a gray sweat shirt and green sweat pants. "Either you'll learn your lesson, or you won't.''

By Globe Staff

An elderly couple found dead in their Wellesley home today were the apparent victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Police received a call at 11:44 a.m. from a home on Maurice Road and found a 90-year-old woman and an 84-year-old man dead inside.

"We believe the car was left running in the garage" and fumes seeped into the house, said Deputy Chief Rick DeLorie of the Wellesley Fire Department. “It was out of gas by the time we got there."

There was no carbon monoxide or smoke detectors inside the home. "It's a sad situation,” DeLorie said “Those devices could have saved them.”

Police and fire officials are investigating. The names of the elderly couple have not been released.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

Twelve-year-old Kiara Gonzalez looked back this morning in Chelsea after taking a cellphone photograph of her home, which was heavily damaged by a stubborn two-alarm blaze that took firefighters four hours to extinguish.

The three-story apartment house on Willow Street erupted at about 8 a.m. At one point, firefighters had to be ordered out of the building because the fire was so intense. The flames were eventually doused by about noon.

No injuries have been reported. An initial damage estimate was not available.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

LYNN -- A 37-year-old man was killed early this morning after an eight-hour standoff with police ended in gunfire, but officials have not said how the man died.

The man, identified as Robert Mangiafico, was armed with a handgun, according to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, who did not answer any questions at a press briefing this morning. It was not clear, however, whether Mangiafico shot at police, shot himself, or was shot by police.

The standoff began as a domestic violence call on Woodman Street at 9 p.m. Sunday, Blodgett said. Mangiafico was spotted by Lynn police on Center Street and a footchase led to the intersection of Brookvale and Tacoma streets, where a standoff ensued in a driveway until 5:07 a.m.

By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is traveling to Albany today to attend the swearing-in of David A. Paterson as governor of New York.

When Paterson takes the oath of office this afternoon, he will join Patrick as the nation's other black governor. Paterson is lieutenant governor and a longtime state senator who represented Harlem for more than 20 years.

(From the collection of Charles Swift)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Long before green beer and fake Irish brogues, March 17 has meant something in South Boston. It was the day in 1776 when the Continental Army sneaked 50 cannons up Dorchester Heights and chased the Red Coats out of Boston without a fight.

That's technically why all city and state offices are closed today in Suffolk County, to remember the Revolution -- not to memorialize an Irish saint. Still some historians question why the city really takes a holiday on March 17.

“It was one of these wink, wink, nudge, nudge things in it was a way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in a cloak of historical significance,” said Charles Swift, a historian who is the executive director of the Gibson House Museum in Back Bay. “Also, for Irish politicians, Evacuation Day was a way to tweak the British.”

Swift runs a blog he calls the City Record and, Boston News-Letter, which took the name of a newspaper published in Boston in 1825. On the blog, Swift posted a copy of a Revolutionary era map of South Boston that looks quite different from the site of Sunday’s parade.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Staff

Police in Lawrence are looking for the person who ignited a crude firebomb inside a Lawrence nightclub early today.

Around 3:15 a.m., someone carried three of the devices to the Centro nightclub on Common Street and ignited one of them, Police Chief John J. Romero said tonight.

Surveillance cameras inside and outside the club captured much of the event on film, Romero said. The film shows a person parking about 75 feet away from the club, and then carrying three 5-gallon water cooler bottles from the car to the entrance of nightclub, making three trips.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Police in Wakefield are investigating a robbery at a home on Hickory Hill Road.

A man described by police as in his forties was treated on the scene for scratch wounds after the two robbers had fled the Hickory Hill residence in a gold Ford Explorer, said Wakefield Police Lieutenant Mark Pherson.

Four children were also at the home at the time of the robbery.

Police responded at 1:22 p.m. to a 911 call made from within the house. The robbers entered through the front door, said Pherson, who was not certain if they forced entry.

Authorities did not say what was stolen from the residence or provide a description of the robbers.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

An Amtrak train struck and killed a person in Claremont, N.H., this evening, the second fatality caused by an Amtrak train in New England in two days.

The accident occurred around 7:08 p.m. as Train 56 was approaching the station in Claremont near the Vermont border. The Claremont police have begun an investigation. No further information was available about the victim.

An Amtrak train struck three track workers yesterday in Providence, R.I., killing one of them. Karina Romero, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said the company is very concerned about the two fatalities coming right after each other.

"Safety is a priority for us and we will definitely look into this," she said.

The train -- which left Washington, D.C. this morning for St. Albans, Vt. -- was stopped on the tracks about a half mile from the Claremont station. Sixty-eight passengers were aboard. No one on the train was injured.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A Swanpscott police officer was arrested late last night for distributing Percocet pills. The officer routinely consumed Percocet and cocaine, sometimes while still wearing his uniform, and sold drugs to others, including a former police officer, according to an affadavit filed in federal court today.

Thomas C. Wrenn, a 37-year-old police officer who had served on the Swampscott force for a decade, was arrested in Swampscott by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police after he purchased Percocet pills from one of his regular suppliers. Agents knew about the exchange before it occurred and Wrenn was arrested after obtaining 50 pills, according to a statement from the US attorney's office in Boston.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The work crew hit by a high-speed Acela train in Providence had been on the tracks for several hours Thursday and were in contact with a railroad dispatcher in Boston, a federal investigator said at a press conference this afternoon.

The exact communication from the three men who were hit by the train has not yet been determined as investigators were in the process of transcribing dispatch records, said Ruben Payan, who is leading the probe for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Payan's three-member team arrived on the scene of the fatal accident today and has begun taking measurements, scheduling interviews, and analyzing the locomotive's event recorder, which is similar to a black box on an airplane. The event recorder will be shipped to Washington, D.C., where officials will determine the speed of the train, position of the throttle, and any use of the horn or brakes in the moments before the collision, he said.

Investigators will also try to determine if the location of the collision -- on a bend in the track just north of downtown Providence -- played a role in the crash.

"It's a sharp curve, that's all I can say," Payan said. "We’ll do our sight distance test to see how much that played into it."

By Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his police commissioner have a reminder for St. Patrick’s Day merrymakers: Public drinking will not be tolerated.

“We will not allow a few excessive revelers to ruin the festivities for those individuals celebrating responsibly,” according to a joint statement released today by Menino and Commissioner Edward F. Davis.

Police will in be out en mass to ensure that alcohol laws are strictly enforced, and detectives plan to walk through bars to make sure there is compliance, according to the statement. Officers will focus on both the parade route Sunday in South Boston and other drinking establishments throughout the city.

During the parade, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority will add extra Red Line trains to South Boston. Eight MBTA bus routes will be affected by the parade, including routes 9 and 11, which will be suspended until after the parade concludes at 4:30 p.m. To see other impacted routes, click here.

(Christine Hochkeppel for The Boston Globe)

On Thursday, the medical examiner responded to fatal train collision in Providence.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A dog walker was struck and seriously injured this morning by an Acela Express train in Stonington, Conn., marking the second time in less than 24 hours that one of the high-speed trains has hit a person, an Amtrak spokesperson said.

The 69-year-old woman was airlifted to a local hospital with what were described in a local paper as serious injuries to her right arm. Her dog -- a yellow Labrador -- was killed, according to The Day of New London, Conn.

Train number 2155 was heading south from Boston to Washington, D.C., at 8:27 a.m. when it struck the woman and her dog, said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero. The train was near Walker’s Dock Crossing traveling in an 80-mile-per-hour zone with 213 passengers on board, Romero said. She had not yet confirmed how fast the train was traveling at the time of the collision.

By Globe Staff

A substitute elementary school teacher will avoid prison time after he was sentenced today by a judge in Lawrence for assaulting a first grader who he grabbed by the collar and swung into a door.

Douglas Tracia, 49, received a 60-day suspended sentence from Judge Kevin J. Gaffney this morning in Lawrence Superior Court. The judge also ordered Tracia to enter and complete an anger management program and barred him from teaching in any elementary school in Massachusetts.

After a four-day trial, a jury deliberated five hours Thursday and found Tracia guilty of reckless assault and battery. He was found not guilty of intentional assault and battery and assault and attery with a dangerous weapon, which was the door.

By Globe Staff

A Boston man is "glad to be alive'' after surviving an Amtrak train accident that killed a co-worker in Providence on Thursday, a relative said today.

The relative of Julius M. Chisholm said today that Chisholm did not suffer any broken bones, but remains in a Rhode Island hospital for continued observation.

"I almost died,'' the relative quoted Chisholm as saying. "I don't know what happened. I just saw this train coming and just jumped out of the way.''

The relative quoted Chisholm as repeatedly saying, "I'm just glad to be alive.''

The Acela high-speed train had just left the Providence station with 162 passengers and six crew members when the accident took place. The train was traveling at about 55 miles an hour.

The man who was killed has been identified by a union official as contractor Gary Graves, who retired in June from the railroad's Philadelphia office after decades of service.

The crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees union.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said a southbound Acela train hit a woman walking her dog near the tracks in Mystic,Conn., this morning. The dog was killed and the woman injured, he said. Service is otherwise operating on a normal schedule, he said.

By Globe Staff

The Coast Guard this morning is towing to shore a 73-foot scallop boat that broke down some 70 miles east of Chatham.

There were five crew members on board the Voyager on Thursday when the boat’s propellers became tangled in a fishing net, according to a Coast Guard press release.

The Coast Guard sent the cutter Tybee and a Falcon jet to help the disabled scalloper, which was drifting in 2- to 3-foot seas. The cutter towed the boat overnight and is approaching Nantucket Sound, where a commercial tug boat will meet the vessel. Crew members were not injured, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.

By Khristopher Flack, Globe Correspondent

Five children under the age of 9 were taken to a local hospital for evaluation after they were found in a Hyde Park house where they were living in poor conditions, Boston police said.

Police initially received a call around 8:15 p.m. about gunshots heard on A Street. The shots ultimately turned out to be fireworks going off. It was during that investigation that police discovered the children in a light-blue house behind a tavern.

It was unclear last night if the children had any adult supervision when found. The Department of Social Services and the city's Inspectional Services Department are assisting in the investigation.

By Anna Fiorentino, Globe Correspondent

The Milford Zoning Board of Appeals tonight denied a controversial application for an exotic dance club on East Main Street.

The board said the request for a special permit to establish the club inside an existing sports bar violated the town's bylaws. The bylaws bar adult entertainment businesses from being on the same block or within 400 feet of a residential zone.

An attorney representing Kevin T. Coady Sr., the applicant, said during the hearing that he planned to appeal the decision, if the permit was denied.

In the days before the meeting, more than 1,300 residents signed a peitition and 1,000 appeared at a demonstration, opposing the proposal.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 27-year-old man was rushed to the hospital today after his car went off the road into Third Herring Brook, Hanover fire officials said.

The man, whose identity wasn't immediately released, was taken to South Shore Hospital with facial injuries after being extricated through the passenger-side window of his car, said Fire Captain Rob Kenney.

When Hanover firefighters and police arrived on scene at about 5:20 p.m., they found the man’s pickup truck partially submerged in two to three feet of water, Kenney said.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Four 14-year-old boys from Middleton are being hailed as heroes after rescuing two 9-year-olds who had lost their way last weekend in a state forest on the North Shore.

The teenagers, who were on a bike ride through the Boxford State Forest, found the younger boys cold and shoeless. The teenagers carried the younger boys on their backs nearly a mile to the nearest road.

“I thought it was dogs barking, but it was actually kids yelling for help,” said Travis Brown, a freshman at Masconomet High School.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Firing another salvo in its contentious contract battle with the city, the Boston firefighters union is mailing fliers to 15,000 residents living near Boston Harbor, saying their safety is at risk with Mayor Thomas M. Menino in charge.

The colorful, glossy mailer depicts a liquefied natural gas tanker sailing past the city skyline and claims the mayor has not planned properly for a potential tanker explosion.

The mailing is reminiscent of a failed scare tactic employed in the early 1990s by a Boston police union. The union distributed fliers showing a skull and crossbones and warning that residents' lives were in danger. The union suffered a harsh public backlash and has not used such tactics since.

City officials said tonight there is a detailed security and evacuation plan, and the mayor has long supported moving the LNG terminal offshore to decrease risk.

"This mass mailing is clearly an effort by the union to divert attention from the real issues of drug and alcohol testing and abuses within the department," Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A machete was recovered after a man was stabbed near the Government Center MBTA station this afternoon, Boston police said.

Around 4:20 p.m., police responded to the stabbing and found a man in his 20s with non-life-threatening injuries to his arm, according to police spokesman David Estrada. The victim was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.

The machete was recovered after the attack. Two suspects were arrested, Estrada said. No further details were immediately available.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

One person was killed and two others were injured in Providence this afternoon when a northbound Amtrak train hit workers who were inspecting tracks, according to an Amtrak spokesman.

The Boston-bound high-speed Acela train was just north of downtown Providence at 1:15 p.m. when it hit the workers, said spokesman Cliff Cole. Two of the workers were Amtrak employees, and the third was a contractor. The two workers who were injured were rushed to a local hospital. Their conditions were not immediately available.

Train number 2154 had begun its journey in Washington, D.C., and had 162 passengers and six employees on board, Cole said. The train was traveling below the 55 mph speed limit authorized for the area, he said.

Six inspectors from the Federal Railroad Administration were on scene investigating the crash, said spokesman Robert Kulat.

The three workers were working just beyond a stone overpass about a mile north of the Providence station, at a point just beyond where the train tracks bend.

"It's a blind spot," said Richard Bonafiglia, an employee of the Cadillac Lounge, which is located near the site of the accident.

"You can't hear those trains, they're electric. It takes only a second … it's a freak accident," he said.

After the train arrived at South Station, Brian O’Leary, an account executive for Dell who was traveling to Boston from New York City, said he rides the train often and knew from the way it had stopped something unusual had happened.

"We were just leaving Providence and I felt this jolt. They hit their brakes pretty hard so you knew something was wrong," he said.

"It was very surreal to think that life is so short," he said.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

Sean Garballey (right) got a few pointers today from Governor Deval Patrick (center) and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi

By Globe Staff

A baby-faced 23-year-old became the state’s youngest legislator today when he was one of four new state representatives sworn in by Governor Deval Patrick.

Sean Garballey, an Arlington Democrat, defeated two opponents in a special election earlier this month to fill the 23d Middlesex House seat. The office was vacated when James Marzilli Jr. won a special election for the state Senate in December.

(Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

Boston health regulators today unanimously approved a ban on artery-clogging trans fat in restaurants and grocery stores.

Boston joins a growing number of cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Brookline, in banning the food ingredient, commonly found in french fries, donuts and other fried foods. Trans fat have been linked to heart disease in humans and diabetes in experimental animals.

The first phase of the ban goes into effect in September and will apply to the use of cooking oils, shortening and margarine that contains artificial trans fat. The makers of baked goods will have a year to eliminate trans fat from their products.

Packaged goods clearly labeled as containing trans fat can still be sold. Most major manufacturers have already removed trans fat from their products.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said today the city will offer free legal help to homeowners facing foreclosure.

The city's Department of Neighborhood Development will refer homeowners threatened with foreclosure and tenants facing eviction to attorneys with the Boston Real Estate Bar Association. The attorneys, who have agreed to work pro bono to help city residents whose incomes are 80 percent of the median income or lower, will help them sue lenders, refinance their loans, file bankruptcy, or take other legal action.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A serial rapist will be at least 118 years old before he becomes eligible for parole after a Suffolk Superior Court judge today sentenced him to 35 years behind bars -- on top of a 55-year sentence he is already serving in the Department of Correction.

"It's karma, baby,'' Che Sosa said as he was led out of Judge Christine McEvoy's courtroom in downtown Boston surrounded by a small army of court and correction officers. "It's karma.''

Sosa, 38, was convicted by a jury earlier this week of two counts of aggravated rape for a 1995 break-in in a Jamaica Plain apartment where a 50-year-old woman was attacked. The case was unsolved until 2003 when DNA testing matched Sosa to forensic evidence recovered from the scene.

(Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies: Taken under NOAA permit 932-1489, with the authority of the US MMPA)

By Globe Staff

Scientists today are continuing to monitor two female right whales off Cape Cod that were spotted earlier this week with rope tangled in their mouths.

The entanglement is “relatively mild” and because the rope is not wrapped around other body parts, “no immediate threat exists,” according to a press release from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

Both of the whales are breeding females, which are particularly valuable because there are less than 400 still alive. “They help this critically endangered species recover by reproducing and thus adding to the population,” said Tanya Gabettie, a spokesperson for the Center for Coastal Studies, in an e-mail.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

A pipe bomb was found today on the side of Althea Avenue in Tyngsborough, police said.

The highway department put the device in a vehicle and took it to the police department, according to Deputy Chief Richard Burrows. Police cordoned off the area, and State Police disarmed the bomb. No one was injured.

“It was a real pipe bomb” said Jennifer Mieth, spokesperson for the state fire marshal.

State Police took pieces of the device back to a lab for analysis. A press release will be released later today, Burrows said.

By Stephen Smith, Globe staff

A blue ribbon panel of scientific heavyweights is meeting this morning in Washington to discuss the controversial high-security research laboratory being built by Boston University.

The hearing is being streamed live on the Internet by the National Institutes of Health, which convened the panel after an independent group sharply criticized the agency's environmental review of the South End project.

The hearing, which was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., can be found here.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A Roxbury teenager was ordered held on $25,000 bail after being arraigned Wednesday for the stabbing of two other teenagers last week, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Rene A. Torres, 18, was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for attacking a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old at an Orange Line MBTA station last Thursday, prosecutors said in a statement.

The defendant allegedly followed the victims, whose names were not disclosed, onto a train at the Massachusetts Avenue stop and followed them when they left the train at Roxbury Crossing, then attacked them.

By Daniel Peleschuk, Globe Correspondent

The state police bomb squad today exploded three phosphorus-filled canisters that had washed up on a Falmouth beach after being dropped by the U.S. Coast Guard during an offshore training exercise, Falmouth fire officials said.

The canisters, which the Coast Guard ignites and drops into the water as markers, were found washed up on Surf Drive Beach at about 2:30 p.m.and were reported to authorities by a passerby.

The bomb squad used four pounds of C4 explosives to destroy the potentially dangerous chemicals inside a sand pit, Fire Captain James Marshall said.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Ammonia gas was released into the air this morning at a New Bedford recycling center, sickening several people, but none seriously, police said.

A 30-pound tank partially filled with ammonia was punctured when a crane operator at A.W. Martin Inc. on Shawmut Avenue moved it just before 11 a.m. The crane was working in an area of scrap propane tanks, all which were assumed to be empty, police said in a statement.

Two or three people in the immediate area reported feeling nauseated or light-headed and were taken to the city’s St. Luke’s Hospital to be examined, but their injuries weren't serious. One or two others were examined by rescue workers at the scene and determined to be okay, police said.

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts House of Representatives today approved raises for three leaders of the Joint Committee on Revenue.

Republicans opposed the measure, which will double to $15,000 the $7,500 stipend that co-chairs Rep. John Binienda of Worcester and Sen. Cynthia Creem of Newton currently receive. The measure will also give an extra $7,500 to the House vice chair, William Straus of Mattapoisett, who now gets no additional pay for his committee duties.

Robert Willington, the executive director of the Massachusetts GOP, called the 121-20 vote to boost the pay of the Democratic legislative leaders "business as usual up on Beacon Hill"

"The arrogance of the Democrats on Beacon Hill is astounding. This is the same party that's forcing cities and towns to raise property taxes because they aren't giving them more local aid. Now they say the reason they can't provide more local aid is because they need to give themselves gluttonous pay raises," he said.

The Senate will take up the measure today.

By Globe Staff

A Suffolk Superior Court jury found serial rapist Che Sosa guilty this afternoon of attacking another woman, convicting him of a 1995 assault in a home in Jamaica Plain.

The jury deliberated three days before finding Sosa guilty of two counts of aggravated rape. The burly 38-year-old was identified as a suspect in the crime in 2003 when his DNA was entered into a national database in connection with another case. The victim was described as a woman in her 50s.

Sosa is already serving up to 55 years in prison for a conviction in Norfolk Superior Court that included nine counts of aggravated rape and stabbing his lawyer with a makeshift plexiglass knife during his trial.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The Parker Street overpass in Newton was reviewed a second time by inspectors today and deemed safe after a heavy chunk of concrete fell onto Route 9.

“The piece of concrete that fell did not fall from any part of the bridge that’s going to compromise the structural integrity of the bridge,” said Adam Hurtubise, spokesman for MassHighway.

The chunk that fell was estimated to weigh 500 pounds. It dropped to the road at about 6:50 p.m. Tuesday night. Crews removed it with a backhoe, forcing closure of the right lane of Route 9 for more than an hour.

Lanes were not closed today, Hurtubise said.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved a controversial measure this afternoon that limits the number of undergraduate college students who can share an apartment to a maximum of four.

The 9-0 vote by the commission came after an overflow crowd packed a tense and often testy meeting at City Hall that featured impassioned speeches and sharp debate on both sides of the issue. An unusual coalition of neighborhood groups, colleges, and city leaders squared off against realtors to debate the measure, which will have broad ramifications on the estimated 13,000 college students who live off-campus in Boston neighborhoods, the overall rental housing market, and the citywide friction between colleges and their neighbors.

The proposal was unanimously passed by the City Council in December and had the strong support of Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The commission was the last hurdle for the measure, and it will now become a city regulation.

By Andrew Ryan and Matt Viser, Globe Staff

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi lobbed another grenade in the battle over a proposal to license three casinos, circulating an analysis that calls the governor’s projected gambling revenues “significantly exaggerated.”

The analysis comes from Representative Daniel E. Bosley, a Democrat from North Adams and ardent gambling opponent who chairs a legislative committee that will hold a public hearing next week on the governor’s casino bill. Bosley disputes the estimate that the casinos would produce $400 million to $450 million in new state revenue.

“In reviewing the governor’s casino proposal, I believe he overstates the benefits and downplays the costs of bringing casino gambling to the Commonwealth,” Bosley said in the analysis. “His figures are high and the projected revenue can not be counted on.”

It is the third of Bosley’s “issue papers” that have been distributed by DiMasi’s office in recent weeks. Several more are expected in advance of the hearing March 18 before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.

By Steven Rosenberg and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

GLOUCESTER -- One man suffered serious burns today in an explosion inside a car parked in a beach parking lot in Gloucester, according to a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.

While authorizes did not say what caused the explosion is still under investigation, foul play is not suspected, said Steve O'Connell, a Blodgett spokesman.

“It’s an active investigation,” O'Connell said.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

By Globe Staff

A state lawmaker wants to impose a 2 cent tax on disposable plastic grocery bags as a way to raise money for recycling and pressure consumers into choosing paper at the checkout.

The proposal, which is the subject of a hearing today before the Committee on Revenue, would increase the tax 2 cents a year, topping out at 15 cents per bag. The money would be split between the store and the state and used to improve recycling.

The bill is the brainchild of state Senator Brian A. Joyce, a Democrat from Milton. Joyce described the ills of plastic bags in an op-ed article he wrote for the Globe in November 2007.

Of the bags 380 billion disposable plastic bags used each year in the United States, only 1 percent are recycled, Joyce wrote. The rest of the bags go to landfills, where they take thousands of years to decompose.

(REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, shown above in January, is marking the rounds today on Beacon Hill.

By Globe Staff

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will meet today with Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi before giving an address at the State House.

The meeting with the governor will be brief, and the two leaders may discuss international trade opportunities, according to Patrick’s staff.

After her conversation with Patrick, Livni will address the House chamber and then plans to join other state officials at a reception in the Senate reading room.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A Holliston man was arrested today for allegedly threatening to blow up a Los Angeles airport in a handwritten letter that mentioned the actress Jodie Foster, and federal prosecutors said it was nearly identical to about 100 other letters mailed to people in the Los Angeles area since September.

Michael Smegal, 42, was arrested at an undisclosed location in Massachusetts and charged with mailing a bomb threat, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, said Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

The case immediately evoked memories of the notorious episode more than two decades ago when Foster was stalked by John Hinckley Jr. The deranged fan attempted to assassinate President Reagan in 1981 and claimed his motive was to impress Foster.

Smegal's lawyer from the federal public defender's office, Oscar Cruz Jr., could not be reached for comment. No one returned a phone message left on an answering machine at Smegal's home yesterday.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A search for a man who police say was driving a stolen van led officials to lock nearby schools and delay dismissals, the Hopkinton police and school departments said this afternoon.

Around 11 a.m. today, Hopkinton police tried to pull over the van for speeding. The driver did not stop and fled on foot into the woods around Westfield Road.

At 4:50 p.m., two state troopers and a police dog found Joseph Patrick Gately, 40, of Mississippi, hiding in a residential garage. The van he had been driving was stolen from Connecticut and was connected to break-ins at a house there and in Holliston, police said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Andover police are searching for a man who tried to rob a hotel early Sunday morning by brandishing a syringe filled with what he said was the AIDS virus.

The man came into the foyer of the Courtyard Marriott on Campanelli Drive at around 1 a.m. Sunday, talking on his cellphone. He then went outside for about 10 to 15 minutes before coming back inside to ask about room rates, Andover Police Lieutenant Arthur Ricci said.

After the night manager told the man the rates, he took out a hypodermic syringe filled with a red liquid. He told the manager it was full of AIDS and said he was desperate and needed money, Ricci said.

Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Police didn’t have to go far last night to arrest a man on drunken driving charges for the fourth time. Angel Hernandez crashed his Ford Ranger into the Waltham Police Department during roll call.

Just before midnight the truck smashed through the rear door of the station and scattered glass and debris throughout a hallway that was adjacent to the room where police had gathered at the start of their shift. None of the officers was injured.

“If someone had been walking through there, if it (roll call) had ended a few minutes earlier, it could have ended tragically,” said Detective Sergeant Tim King.

By Globe Staff

A live shotgun shell was found today in a men’s bathroom inside Boston Latin Academy, prompting officials to lock students in classrooms for almost two hours while police searched the school.

Students had to leave their backpacks in the hallway so the bags could be searched by the dozen Boston police and school resource officers who came to the school. The search included two ballistic sniffing dogs, police said.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The Danvers factory that exploded in November 2006 had been storing at least twice the amount of flammable chemicals than had been authorized by the town, according to a report released today by the state fire marshal.

The 19-page report said the two companies jointly operating in the facility, CAI INC./Arnel Co. Inc., were approved by the town to store a total of 12,000 gallons of flammables on the Danversport property. However, the companies had a total of 24,000 gallons in underground tanks, mixing vats, and 55-gallon drums inside the factory and on its grounds.

“This capacity was at least twice the maximum licensed capacity,’’ State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said in the report.

The report also said that the companies were storing nitrocellulose, a flammable solid that requires a special license when more than 100 pounds are kept on site. “The existing license contained no provision for the storage of flammable solids,’’ Coan’s office said.

At the request of the Danvers Fire Department, Coan’s office has issued four civil violations against the two companies, according to the report. The violations include a total of $400 in fines.

(Boston Police Department)

By Globe Staff

Two men are facing drug trafficking charges after police said they seized more than $30,000 worth of cocaine and other drugs from an apartment near the City Point section of South Boston.

Detectives from the Area C neighborhood drug unit searched the N Street apartment at 7 p.m. Monday. In addition to 400 grams of cocaine, the officers found three firearms including an AK-47 machine gun, ammunition, 150 pills, crack cocaine, and marijuana, police said.

(AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

Diane Patrick spoke today at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's Women's Network Breakfast about how her husband's gubernatorial campaign left her exhausted, demoralized, and diminished.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Diane Patrick said this morning that she feels "so incredibly strong" after a tumultuous year in the public eye during which she was treated for depression.

"I was demoralized, I was diminished, I was exhausted," Patrick, the wife of Governor Deval Patrick, told about 300 women gathered in a hotel ballroom for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's Women's Network. "It just all came crashing down."

Patrick, who has called herself "a deeply private person," quietly captivated a room full of the most powerful women in Boston in her most extensive remarks since last March, when the governor’s office announced she was being treated for depression and exhaustion.

By Globe Staff

Authorities today identified a 39-year-old man who was found shot to death Sunday night in Haverhill as Ciprian Justo.

Justo was found shot to death at his home on Ashland Street at 9:29 p.m. Sunday after police received a 911 call, according to a press release from the Essex district attorney's office.

Police are following leads in the case, but no arrests have been made, the district attorney’s office said. No other information was released.

(Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Divers searching the river earlier today.

By Globe Staff

Divers searching the Sudbury River in Framingham have found the body of a man who is believed to have fallen off a highway bridge last night.

The body of Samuel Githiabii, 30, of Lawrence was found this afternoon behind 399 Central St., about a quarter mile from where officials believe he fell into the river, said Middlesex district attorney's spokesman Corey Welford.

Welford said officials believe Githiabii pulled over on a Massachusetts Turnpike bridge over the river due to a medical problem and his car made contact with the guardrail. Githiabii got out of the car and fell into the river, he said. Welford wouldn't say what Githiabii's medical problem was.

"We do not believe foul play to have been involved," said Welford. He said authorities were waiting for results from an autopsy.

The body was found by the combined efforts of dive teams from the state police and the Framingham fire and police departments, said Framingham Fire Department Assistant Chief John Magri.

(Robert Shure/Skylight Studios)

A rendering of the monument.

By Globe Staff

A memorial to the 13 firefighters who lost their lives in a 1941 fire in Brockton will be unveiled May 10, the memorial committee announced today, on the 67th anniversary of the fire.

The Strand Theatre fire is still one of the largest losses of life by firefighters from a burning building collapse, organizers said.

"This Memorial will be a fitting tribute to our fallen brothers," Fire Chief Kenneth Galligan said in a statement. "It will honor the lives but also be a daily reminder to the citizens and visitors of Brockton of the role firefighters play in our community."

By Jamie Vaznis, Globe Staff

A former Boston police officer was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking scheme.

Nelson Carrasquillo was sentenced in US District Court by Judge William G. Young. Young also sentenced him to five years of probation after his prison term.

Carrasquillo's attorney argued that his client should only serve about eight years, saying he was only a minor player in the scheme. But prosecutors and the judge said the evidence showed otherwise.

As Carrasquillo was led away by a US marshal to begin serving his sentence, several people in the audience said, "We love you."

In November, Carrasquillo, of Dorchester pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin and two counts of attempted aiding and abetting the scheme.

(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

Speaker Pelosi gave a big smile to a girl at the Waltham school.

By Globe Staff

It was an unusual group to be visiting the local elementary school.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Massachusetts Representatives Edward Markey and other elected officials today at Waltham's William Stanley School, which is equipped with solar panels and has other energy-saving and environmentally-friendly features, to underscore the need to make buildings "greener."

Markey, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said the building, which saves $30,000 a year on its energy bills because of its energy efficiency features, is "not just saving taxpayers money, it is helping to save the planet."

The Malden Democrat also said in his prepared remarks that "greening" schools, homes, and the entire economy would "create jobs everywhere from the hearts of our cities to the heartland of our country ... This school building is a shining example of how greening our buildings can generate jobs and reduce carbon emissions."

By John Ellement, Globe Staff

A four-alarm fire this morning on Boylston Street at the construction site for the posh Mandarin Oriental Hotel caused an estimated $2 million in damage, the Boston Fire Department said.

Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the blaze, which broke out at about 7:40 a.m. at the 14-story structure at 776 Boylston, damaged portions of both the ceiling and the floor on the fourth floor. He said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it is not considered suspicious.

Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated and released, he said.

Firefighters arriving at the site found heavy smoke and fire in three rooms containing construction materials, said Deputy Fire Chief Richard DiBenedetto.

He said the fact that the building was not yet open helped bring the incident to to a quick end.

"It's fortunate it wasn't completed," he said. "That would have been a whole different scenario."

The Mandarin complex is nearing completion. In addition to a hotel, the building will include condo units. About 50, priced between $2 million and $12 million, have been sold. The luxury project also includes expensive rental units.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

Anthony Gaston, the veteran firefighter who was allegedly caught smoking marijuana Friday afternoon in a car in Dorchester, pleaded not guilty today to drug possession charges.

Gaston, a fire inspector assigned to the department's Fire Protection Division, was arraigned before Judge Sydney Hanlon in Dorchester District Court. He faces two counts of marijuana possession and one count of illegal possesion of prescription drugs.

Hanlon ordered him held after revoking his bail on a previous assault and battery charge. Two other men who were arrested with Gaston were released on personal recognizance.

Attorneys for all three men said that only a small amount of marijuana was found on them.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A 26-year-old man has been sent to the state hospital in Bridgewater for a psychiatric evaluation after pleading not guilty today to a charge that he stabbed his girlfriend to death in the kitchen of her Dorchester apartment.

Jose Torres was arraigned in Dorchester District Court on a murder charge in the death Sunday morning of 29-year-old Melissa Santiago.

A court-appointed doctor told Judge Sydney Hanlon that Torres was depressed and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"He's obviously distraught, but he's also very confused about why he's been arrested,” said Torres's attorney, Jeffrey Karp.

By Globe Staff

Some say it will reap clean energy from the wind. Others say it will be an eyesore. The two sides will likely clash tonight in a hearing on a proposal for a wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

The federal Minerals Management Service is seeking comments on its draft environmental impact report for the Cape Wind proposal to build 130 turbines in the sound.

The hearing begins tonight at 6 at the Mattacheese Middle School in West Yarmouth. It's the first in a series this week; other hearings are scheduled later on Nantucket, on Martha's Vineyard, and in Boston.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

The Haverhill Public Library is full of books and those books are full of pages. But one page at the library stands out from all the rest -- it is a page from a rare Gutenberg Bible, printed in the mid-1400s.

World-wide, there are only 47 intact copies of the book, which was printed by Johann Gutenberg, the German inventor of movable type.

Of the 47 remaining copies, 13 are in the United States, at institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Huntington Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the New York Public Library. Harvard and Yale also have copies.

Haverhill’s piece of history was purchased in 1923 from a well-known New York bookseller, said Mary Johnson-Lally, the interim library director.

Gabriel Wells sold the pages of his Bible, which was incomplete, for $150 each, said Johnson-Lally, who is unsure of the page’s current value.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Police are looking for a man who attempted to abduct a child in Reading Friday afternoon.

The attempted abduction happened at about 4 p.m. in the Walnut Street area, a police dispatcher said. The suspect was driving a dark red Jeep Cherokee with baseball-sized dents and rust spots in the back corners and rear wheel wells.

Police are looking for the driver. They described him as a white male, aged 60 to 70, with a thin build, who was wearing a black T-shirt and had a raspy voice.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Lesley University has reached a $33.5 million deal to purchase buildings on the Cambridge campus of the Episcopal Divinity School, officials from the schools announced today.

Lesley will own seven buildings on the divinity school's 8-acre campus near Harvard Square, and the divinity school will own 13. The two schools will share ownership of a library and collaborate on services there.

The two schools will enter into a condominium association to govern much of the campus, but each school will maintain its institutional autonomy.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Nearly 30 percent of undergraduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will not pay tuition next academic year under a far-reaching financial aid initiative announced today, the latest in a host of expanded need-based programs at elite colleges and universities.

The new policy, approved today by MIT's Board of Trustees, waives tuition and replaces loans with grants for students whose families earn less than $75,000 a year to cover expenses outside tuition.

By Donovan Slack and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A Boston firefighter was arrested and charged with drug possession today after police said they found him smoking marijuana in his Boston Fire Department vehicle in Dorchester, according to Boston Police.

Anthony Gaston, who was in uniform, was parked in front of a fire hydrant near the corner of Dunlap and Washington streets at about 3 p.m. when passing police officers saw him smoking what they believed to be marijuana, according to three government officials briefed on the arrest.

The officers saw Gaston suspiciously throw away whatever he was smoking, and when they approached the car, they detected a strong smell of marijuana and initiated a search of the car, the officials said. They found two bags of marijuana on the front passenger seat and another on the back seat, they said.

Two other men in the car were also arrested. Their names were not immediately available.

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today called for expanding public green space between the Public Garden and the Esplanade by covering over a section of Storrow Drive in need of rebuilding.

"I'm calling on everyone to take a Big Picture view," Menino said in a speech to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau at the Seaport Hotel in South Boston.

"Think about this for a moment," Menino said. "We can reopen the river front to residents, connect the Charles River and the Public Garden, and create more green space in the heart of our downtown neighborhoods."

In challenging the state and others to extend public space along the Charles River, Menino cited the example of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Fears of flooding are rippling across New England today as the region braces for a weekend storm that may dump up to 2 to 4 inches of rain on ground already saturated by an extraordinarily wet winter.

Flood watches and warnings have been issued from Washington, D.C., to Maine, with every county in Massachusetts under the threat of rising streams and rivers with the exception of Cape Cod.

“Given this saturated ground, we anticipate fairly widespread minor to moderate flooding,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

Forecasters say that the rain will come in two waves. The first 1 to 2 inches is expected to begin hitting Boston today by 8 p.m., with heavy rain continuing until 2 a.m., Dunham said. The downpour should taper off to a drizzle before it picks up again midmorning and continues well into Saturday afternoon.

(Globe file photo)

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The shackles restraining Che Sosa today in Suffolk Superior Court anchored the serial rapist to a blue chair that weighs 250 pounds. The chains make it impossible for the man who once stabbed his own lawyer to lift his arms. When the burly man is thirsty, one of the 11 court and corrections officers guarding him have to lift a glass of water to his lips.

Before the jury arrived into the courtroom Sosa belted out the hymn “Amazing Grace.” When he started testifying in his own defense, he often meandered and was almost nonsensical, which prompted Superior Court Judge Christine McEvoy to gently urge him to focus on his trial.

With the jury out of the courtroom, Sosa told the judge he expected to be convicted. When the jury was present, he emphatically denied the charges he faces: the 1995 rape of a woman in Jamaica Plain.

“I love all women, all types of women,” Sosa said. “I like big sisters too. I don’t like 75-year-olds, and I certainly don’t rape them.”

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

A man was fatally stabbed at a bus stop Friday afternoon, and police later arrested two suspects who allegedly fled by taking a city bus from the stop.

The stabbing victim was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to Boston police spokesman David Estrada.

The rush-hour incident drew a crowd of bystanders and caused traffic to back up for blocks at the intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Washington Street.

By Khristopher Flack, Globe Correspondent

A Marshfield man is facing child rape and other charges after befriending two girls, ages 12 and 13, and allegedly offering them money, alcohol, and cigarettes in exchange for sex, police said.

Geraldo Miranda, 22, was arrested in his apartment at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday after Marshfield detectives concluded a two-week investigation of a tip police had received from a concerned parent.

Police said Miranda began approaching the two girls sometime in late August or early September last year.

Miranda had sexual relations with one of the victims on at least two occasions, police said Thursday in a statement.

By Khristopher Flack and Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondents

Two teenagers were stabbed at the Roxbury Crossing MBTA station this afternoon, authorities said.

The victims were stabbed on the outbound train platform at about 5:30, said Suffolk County district attorney's spokesman, Jake Wark.

Officials did not identify the victims by name, but said one was 16 and one was 18 years old.

One victim was transported by ambulance to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The other was taken by his parents to Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said.

Wark said both victims are expected to survive.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

A father and son were hospitalized last night after a fight involving a knife at a Natick housing complex for seniors, Natick police said.

Lieutenant Steven J. Pagliarulo said he did not know what charges would be filed. He said neither man appeared to have sustained life-threatening injuries.

Shirley Price, a resident of the Cedar Avenue complex, said she and Dan McElhinney, 65, had returned after an evening at the American Legion club bar and found McElhinney's son, 39-year-old Dennis McElhinney, inside his father's apartment.

She said Dennis McElhinney was angry, armed with a knife, and tried to stab his father in the eye and heart.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The MBTA board approved a spending plan today that will depend heavily on money from its rainy day fund and on refinancing its current debts to cover a $75 million gap. There will be no fare increase in 2009, but the head of the T has refused to rule out a 2010 hike.

The proposed budget, which would take effect July 1, takes $20 million from the T's $55 million rainy day fund. In addition, the T would restructure $50 million in debt under the plan, adding to the cost of future payments, and find $5 million in savings in the coming budget year, partly by hiring fewer administrators.

"I feel as if I'm on the Titanic," said Grace Shepard, the newest member of the board. "You just have destroyed several of the life rafts."

The Riders Union and other consumer groups have been lobbying state legislators to bail out the T, arguing that riders cannot afford more hikes. So far, Governor Deval Patrick's administration has talked about restructuring the state's transportation agencies and raising money from proposed casinos, but he has not laid out a specific plan to plug all the financial gaps.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Firefighters union representatives stormed out of a state labor panel meeting today after the board refused to delay mediation of the Boston firefighters’ contract.

The contentious contract dispute, raging for well over a year, was taken up by the state Joint Labor-Management Committee last month and ordered to mediation. But today, after only one mediation session, the committee member representing firefighter unions asked the panel to put the mediation on hold until another state agency resolves a complaint about the negotiations, something that could take months.

When his request did not pass, Robert McCarthy, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, and several other labor representatives walked out the door of the committee's Beacon Hill office.

Without them, the committee lacked a quorum and could not continue the meeting.

By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff

NEWBURYPORT -- A Salem driving instructor who police say had a blood alcohol level of nearly three times the legal alcohol limit pleaded not guilty today in Ipswich District Court to operation of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Ipswich police said Daniel Winsky, 52, whose driving instructor’s certificate was revoked by the state in January, works for a private driving school in Ipswich. According to police, Winsky was in the passenger seat instructing two student drivers when he was stopped the day after Christmas. According to the police report, police were notified by an Ipswich woman, Jane Schaller, who spotted Winsky exiting his driving instructor’s car and entering the Cumberland Farms in downtown Ipswich.

Schaller told police “she could smell an odor of alcohol” coming from the instructor while standing in the checkout line with him, according to the report. Minutes later, police stopped the driving instructor’s vehicle, which belongs to Anthony’s Auto School of Ipswich.

By Globe Staff

A storm barreling toward Massachusetts this weekend is expected to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain that could cause small rivers and streams to spill over banks.

"There is the potential for flooding through most of Massachusetts," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. "There is a fairly decent snow pack in southeast New Hampshire, around the Worcester Hills, and the Berkshires. There is a lot of water sitting there already."

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- John Odgren once brought a toy plastic gun and a pen knife to school and claimed in a forensics class that he could “commit the perfect murder,” according to school records discussed today during a hearing in Middlesex Superior Court.

Odgren’s mother talked about her son’s violent thoughts with school officials, and she said he tried to put her at ease. “I’m not going to kill anybody,” Odgren told his mother, according to a lawyer quoting from the school records.

Prosecutors said that his fascination with weapons and the idle threat to kill came before the teenager used a 14-inch kitchen knife to fatally stab another student through the heart in a fury in a Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School bathroom. The new details emerged today during a hearing in which Odgren’s attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, asked a judge to throw out the first-degree murder indictment for the slaying of James Alenson on Jan. 19, 2007. Judge Isaac Borenstein took the motion under advisement and did not indicate when he would issue a ruling.

By Globe Staff

Police are warning South Boston residents to lock their doors and windows after burglaries in the neighborhood almost doubled over the last six months.

There have been 120 burglaries reported from Sept. 1, 2007, to Feb. 29, 2008, compared to 71 during the same six months the year before. Thieves have stolen jewelry, flat screen televisions, and other electronic devices, police said.

In nearly half the break-ins, there was no sign of forced entry. Doors were not locked or the locks were inadequate and did not stop the burglars, police said.

• Keep your doors locked at all times, especially when you are alone, sleeping, or the residence is unoccupied (even if only for a few moments).
• If you return home and something looks questionable (e.g. a slit screen, broken window, or open door) do not go inside. Call 911 from a safe location.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce today weighed in on the casino debate, releasing its own report on the economic impacts of Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to license three casinos in Massachusetts.

The chamber study, "Casino Gaming in Massachusetts: An Economic, Fiscal, & Social Analysis," found that three casinos would produce $2 billion to $2.3 billion in annual gross gaming revenues, netting $376 million to $429 million in state revenues. It also found that 17,000 to 21,000 permanent jobs would be created. Those estimates are largely consistent, though slightly lower, than those that the Patrick administration has been using.

The study also found that 10,000 to 11,500 one-time construction jobs would be created – much lower than the 30,000 jobs that the governor has been touting.

The independent study, which was conducted by UHY Advisors, does not take a position or make any recommendations.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

With no protective gear or air tanks, police officers rushed into a burning New Bedford building early yesterday morning to evacuate its occupants, police said.

The fire, which broke out at about 1:30 a.m., destroyed a six-family residence on Cleveland Street, New Bedford Police Lieutenant Jeffrey Silva said last night. The cause was an electric blanket that was being used by one second-floor resident to keep her cats warm, he said.

Firefighters rescued a resident trapped on the third floor, police said in a statement.

A photo of the missing girl.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

Police in Lynn are looking for a 13-year-old girl who was reported missing by her family today.

Mitshella Labaty of Lynn left her Empire Street home around 7 a.m. to be driven by the parent of another student to the St. Joseph’s School in Salem, where Labaty is in the eighth grade, according to a police statement.

The parent who was to pick Labaty up said Labaty was not outside her address as usual. The parent presumed she wasn't going to school today.

Police described Labaty as 5 feet 4 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information about the case should contact Lynn police at 781-595-2000.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Authorities in Fall River announced today that they have made an arrest in the city’s only slaying this year.

Rene Gosselin, 26, of Fall River, was arrested this afternoon and charged with murdering 47-year-old Frederick Thompkins, whose body was found in his apartment on Feb. 15.

Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter praised the work of the Fall River Police in apprehending Gosselin.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A 34-year-old man was shot by Worcester police this afternoon after he fired a weapon at several officers. Police said a pellet gun that was a replica of a .45-caliber pistol was recovered at the shooting scene.

Sean Driscoll of Worcester was taken to a local hospital for surgery and was in stable condition, police said in a statement. He is facing charges of armed assault with intent to murder for firing at the officers on Thorne Street.

Several officers were also taken to the hospital for evaluation and have been released, the statement said.

(Lisa Poole for The Boston Globe)

People splashed and enjoyed at the park in June.

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

CoCo Key Water Resort, a popular indoor water park at the Sheraton Ferncroft Hotel, was shut down today by state public health officials, after high levels of chlorine were found in the facility's three pools and hot tub.

State inspectors found levels of residual chlorine were 1.4, 1.8, and 3 parts per million, which far exceeded the state standard of 0.2 parts per million, a state health official said.

The facility also did not have the proper chlorine testing equipment, or a thermometer to measure the temperature of the hot tub, the official said.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Heavy snow on the roof caused the collapse this morning of a former woodworking factory in Laconia, N.H., that once made wooden eggs for the presidential Easter egg hunt.

No one was inside the 100-by-60-foot brick factory on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee when the building gave way, said Chief Kenneth Erickson of the Laconia Fire Department.

Some 20 buildings -- including three in Laconia -- have collapsed in the Lakes Region in the past two weeks because more than 12 feet of snow have fallen this year. In Rochester today at 10:30 a.m., the roof of a former dance studio caved under the weight of the snow. Early Monday morning, the roof of an industrial building also collapsed.

The Laconia factory that collapsed this morning was originally called the Allen Rogers building and had been closed for at least 10 years, Erickson said. The factory used to make toothpicks and bowling pins, in addition to the eggs for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House.

By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff

A year after federal agents arrested 361 illegal workers at a New Bedford leather-goods factory, more than half of the workers are still believed to be in the United States, an outcome that is raising concerns on both sides of the heated immigration debate about the effectiveness of the operation.

After the raid on March 6, 2007, immigration officials vowed to sweep the detainees out of the country. But as of this week, only 165 -- or about 46 percent -- had been deported. The rest are fighting for asylum or visas in immigration court, and one man is still in jail in Texas.

The immigration agency cannot account for the whereabouts of 35 people who were processed and released at the scene the day of the raid, but lawyers believe nearly all of those former workers are also still in the country.

(AP photo/Josh Reynolds)

Shawn Drumgold (right) waited today with his brother, Stephen Shanks, and his mother, Juanda Drumgold, outside federal court, where his trial began.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A key witness who helped convict Shawn Drumgold of murdering 12-year-old Darlene Tiffany Moore in a notorious 1988 Boston slaying testified today that he made up testimony after two detectives fed him information and food, put him up at a hotel free for eight months, and cleared up a handful of outstanding arrest warrants.

Ricky Evans, a 38-year-old former nursing home cook, told a federal jury today that in 2003 he recanted the testimony he gave at Drumgold's murder trial in state court -- helping to free him after 15 years in prison -- out of an excruciating sense of guilt.

''It was constantly on my mind,'' Evans, of Cambridge, said in US District Court in Boston. "I lied....I had something to do with a man being in prison for something he didn't do.''

Evans was the first witness called by Drumgold's lawyer after she and two attorneys defending two retired Boston detectives delivered opening statements in Drumgold's civil rights trial.

Drumgold contends that the two retired detectives, Timothy Callahan and Richard Walsh, withheld evidence that could have cleared him and manipulated witnesses, leading to his wrongful conviction.

(Globe file photo)

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Suffolk prosecutors have dropped aggravated rape charges against a 21-year-old Woburn man, who was arrested by Boston police in January after allegations that he had sex with an unconscious woman in the bathroom of a Boston nightclub.

In papers filed in Boston Municipal Court today, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office formally withdrew the prosecution of Nicholas Chiaraluce for the Jan. 19 incident inside the Felt nightclub.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Fay Vincent Jr., the former commissioner of Major League Baseball, has donated $7 million for undergraduate scholarships to Williams College, where he was a scholarship student in the late 1950s.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The cost of attending the University of Massachusetts is expected to climb just over 3 percent for the next academic year, a modest increase that is well below typical tuition hikes at public colleges.

The UMass Board of Trustees' finance panel today approved a 3.1 percent increase in tuition and fees, lifting the average cost for students at the system's four undergraduate universities by $288.

Under the plan, which must be voted on by the full board of trustees March 19, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates would rise from $9,261 to $9,549. If approved, the increase would trail the regional inflation rate for the fifth consecutive year.

"Our top priority is to keep academic excellence affordable for UMass students by containing costs," UMass President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement. "We are committed to making sure that UMass students continue to have access to world-class education."

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A bomb threat at Georgetown Middle/High School caused a short disruption in the school day as student, faculty, and staff were forced to spend part of the morning at a nearby elementary school, a school official said.

At 7:15 a.m., a threatening note was found and the almost 800 students at the school were safely evacuated to the nearby Perley Elementary School.

Authorities did not find a bomb. “The school was checked by local and state police for safety, and obviously you take those things seriously,” said Superintendent Carol Jacobs.

(National Weather Service)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The raucous thunderstorms that rumbled across New England this morning have swept out to sea, leaving lingering rain and winds that are whipping up to 40 miles per hour on the South Shore.

The rain will peter out, but winds are expected to pick up in Boston and may reach up 30 to 40 miles per hour, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. A wind advisory remains in effect across much of Massachusetts until 2 p.m.

Another band of rain may fall later this afternoon before a clear evening with temperatures in the 30s, Dunham said. The weather should improve Thursday, with ample sunshine and temperatures near 50 degrees.

“Thursday’s is going to be great,” Dunham said. “If you can make that your weekend, I would.”

(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)

Garballey got a little star power from Governor Deval Patrick when he campaigned in mid-February.

By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent

It's not a bad gig for a 23-year-old. Sean Garballey will be joining the Great and General Court of Massachusetts -- the state Legislature -- after winning a special election today for a vacant House seat.

The Arlington Democrat, a School Committee member, defeated Republican John L. Worden III and Independent Robert V. Valeri, both of Arlington, to earn the 23d Middlesex House seat vacated when James Marzilli won a special election for state Senate last December.

Garballey had 3,591 votes to 1,727 for Worden, a former town moderator, and 222 for Valeri, a former town meeting member, in the district that includes parts of Arlington and Medford.

Interviewed by phone from his victory celebration at the American Legion Hall in Arlington, Garballey said he was thrilled.

"It's not every day a young person gets elected to the state Legislature," said Garballey, who was elected to town meeting at age 18 and to the School Committee at age 20.

By Globe Staff

Police who wanted to arrest a man on warrants for rape, kidnapping, and assault and battery found him dead in a bathtub tonight, authorities said.

A team of Dedham and Boston police were trying to serve warrants on Carlos Hernandez, 25. They secured the area outside an apartment on President's Way in Dedham and attempted to get him to surrender peacefully, the Norfolk County district attorney's office said in a statement.

While police were still outside the apartment, water was observed running out of it. A camera inserted into the apartment revealed that Hernandez appeared dead in the bathtub.

The cause and manner of death will be established by the state medical examiner in the coming days, prosecutors said.

It was that kind of afternoon. Globe photographer David Kamerman captured an image of a pedestrian hurrying under a bright umbrella on City Hall Plaza this afternoon. Rain is expected to drench the state tonight. Wind-driven rain is expected tomorrow morning.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick fired back at House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi today over his criticism of Patrick's casino construction job estimates with a simple message: Put up or shut up.

Patrick, seeking to shift the focus from a dispute over specific jobs numbers, sent a letter to each of the 155 members of the House chiding DiMasi for not coming up with a revenue-generating plan of his own.

"Attacking ideas without proposing sound alternatives is not good economic policy, nor what the public expects or deserves," Patrick wrote. "If the Speaker has other proposals that will generate the benefits of our legislation, including direct property tax relief for over one million households, I look forward to hearing them."

By Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent

The state will receive more than $16,000 in a settlement with an online "yellow page" listings service that scammed customers in 25 states, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office has announced.

Directory Billing LLC, which operated under USDirectory.com, "engaged in deceptive business practices" when it mailed checks to businesses that would automatically enroll and bill them for advertising plans, the attorney general's office said yesterday in a statement.

The checks were made payable to the businesses, usually in amounts of about $3, and fine print on the back of the check stated that by depositing it, the business agreed to buy advertising.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Boston College Law School will not award its highest honor to US Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at its May commencement amid sharp criticism from some students, faculty, and alumni over his invitation as graduation speaker.

Mukasey is still scheduled to speak at the graduation, however.

Law School Dean John Garvey announced the decision today at a forum with graduating students to discuss Mukasey's selection after weeks of intense debate on campus over Mukasey's invitation. The move, which some alumni and students saw as a compromise to appease critics of his selection as speaker, reflects broad discontent with Mukasey's controversial refusal to declare that a prison-interrogation technique known as waterboarding constitutes torture.

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

More than 160 years since hunters drove wolves out of Massachusetts, federal officials have confirmed finding a wild gray wolf in the state.

US Fish and Wildlife Service officials said today that genetic tests performed on an animal killed on a Shelburne farm in October, after it mauled more than a dozen sheep, showed that it was an eastern gray wolf.

"We have no indication that this wolf was ever held in captivity," said Thomas J. Healy, special agent in charge of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region. "But what we don't know about this wolf's origins far outweighs what we do know."

Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

An NSTAR employee was injured today at a Natick construction site when power lines flashed, burning the left side of his face and shoulder, a fire official said.

The 41-year-old employee was working at about 11 a.m. in a bucket truck connecting power lines to the Cloverleaf Apartments, which are still under construction. A surge of electricity burned his face, ears, and shoulder, said Deputy Chief Paul Tota of the Natick Fire Department.

Other workers on the scene used a burn kit to treat the victim, who never lost consciousness, Tota said.

(David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Therese Bellissimo Benedict and Robert Benedict held hands after the verdict today in Suffolk Superior Court.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A couple was awarded $325,000 today by a jury that ruled that they suffered emotional distress when the remains of their stillborn son were lost and possibly cremated by a Boston funeral home.

The civil verdict in Suffolk Superior Court came after 1 1/2 days of deliberation and made the couple very happy. Robert and Therese Bellissimo Benedict said they suffered needlessly because of a mistake made by a local funeral home that lost the personal touch when it was absorbed by a national chain.

The jury found that the funeral home was negligent and caused Robert emotional distress and awarded him $75,000. The jury awarded Therese $250,000 after concluding she was subjected to both negligent actions and intentional infliction of emotional harm.

(Tom Herde for The Boston Globe)

Len Anderson and Ed Beaulieu spent the night searching for ghosts in Middleborough Town Hall with a hand-held laser that monitors sudden drops in temperature.

By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent

MIDDLEBOROUGH -- The ghost trackers who spent the night at Town Hall investigating eerie footsteps that echo upstairs said they found something that may indicate a paranormal presence.

The two-member team from Paranormal Institute of New England said their laser thermal detector -- which measures dramatic drops in temperature that some say indicate the presence of spirits -- went temporarily haywire, soaring up, not down. A digital camera Len Anderson was using also went on the fritz.

“That’s usually an indication of a presence,” he said.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Staff

A 16-year-old student at North Andover High School is facing criminal charges after a bomb threat was found scrawled on a stall in the girls' bathroom.

“We boming (sic) North Andover High!” said the note, which was discovered at 2 p.m. Friday by another student. “We’re killing everyone 3/20/08 be ready.”

Police sent several officers to the school and searched the building with a dog trained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, said Lieutenant Paul Gallagher of the North Andover Police Department. Principal Carla Scuzzarella sent out a voicemail alert to parents to warn them about the threat.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

A tantalizing taste of spring pushed temperatures this morning up near 60 degrees as Boston was blessed by sunny skies and a warm breeze. Dog walkers took to beaches. Joggers left treadmills and ventured outside. And golfers crossed their fingers and dialed country clubs, hoping to squeeze in a tee time.

“I’ve gotten probably a half dozen calls since I got here a half hour ago,” said Brian Bian, head golf professional at Putterham Meadows Golf Course in Chestnut Hill. “That is a lot this time of year.”

It is only March 4, and many local courses are still closed and covered with clumps of melting snow. Most golf course managers know the truth -- this weather is a cruel tease that won’t last until even this afternoon.

“Enjoy it while you can,” said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. “It’s raining in northwestern Massachusetts right now and slowly sliding east.”

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

A man who defrauded his clients at a Needham modeling agency was sentenced yesterday to 2 1/2 years in jail after his conviction on larceny and fraud charges.

Edriss Farazi of Framingham, the 29-year-old former owner of Marvel Models, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of larceny over $250 and several other charges, including unemployment fraud and workers’ compensation fraud.

A Norfolk County judge ordered him to serve six months, while suspending the remainder of his sentence.

(Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

Officers Francis and Rodriguez visited with the new mom today.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

It was 11:50 Sunday night when Flor Ayes told her husband, Christian Santamaria, that her water had broken. The couple and their 11 year-old-daughter piled into the family's silver Honda Accord and started driving from their Lynn home to Massachusetts General Hospital.

"We were like halfway and she was like, 'I can't hold it,'" Santamaria said.

He pulled over his car in East Boston and ran into a convenience store to call for help.

Officer Joel Rodriguez and his partner, Officer Anthony Francis, got to the scene at Neptune Road and Bennington Street at 12:45 a.m.

Rodriguez quickly donned his gloves and climbed into the front seat of the car to deliver the baby. In only a minute or two, Rodriguez said, the baby was out.

"She did great, she was a trouper," Francis said of the new mother.

(Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

Student Sara Stoll waited with a dog as the buildings were evacuated.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A fire at the MSPCA-Angell Medical Center in Jamaica Plain this evening destroyed about half of the hospital’s archives, but no animals or people were injured, officials said.

The fire on the fifth floor, which caused about $25,000 in damages, was caused by an electrical short circuit, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.

One dog, who was in the middle of an MRI procedure and under anesthesia, had to be evacuated because he could not be left in the machine unmonitored, according to MSPCA spokesman Brian Adams.

"The doctors thought fast, basically rigged up an oxygen tank, made it mobile, brought it out and kept the dog safe," Adams said.

Staff members who had brought their pets to work also took them outside during the evacuation.

The other animals in the hospital wards and adoption center, located on the first floor, were deemed far enough from the fire to be safe inside, Adams said.

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A man on a bike tried to rob a woman at gunpoint outside a Hyannis mall this morning, police said.

The woman was in her car outside the Cape Cod Mall, parked near the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant, when the man banged a silver handgun on the window and yelled at the woman to give him all her money, according to Barnstable Sergeant Ben Baxter.

The woman fled her car and ran inside the mall uninjured, Baxter said. The suspect smashed her car window, but did not get away with any of her money or belongings.

By Globe Staff

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi said today that Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to license three resort casinos in Massachusetts is "clearly losing credibility" after a Globe analysis found that the administration was "excessively optimistic" in its estimate that the proposal would create 30,000 construction jobs.

“When the Governor embraced casino gambling in September, I raised a number of critical questions I felt needed to be answered before we allowed a casino culture into our Commonwealth,” DiMasi, a longtime critic of casino gambling, said in a press release issued by his office. “To date, most of those questions remain unanswered and, as evidenced by a Boston Globe analysis published on Sunday, new questions are coming to light.”

"When the Governor embraced casino gambling in September, I raised a number of critical questions I felt needed to be answered before we allowed a casino culture into our Commonwealth. To date, most of those questions remain unanswered and, as evidenced by a Boston Globe analysis published on Sunday, new questions are coming to light.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Up to 700 people were evacuated from a building at the University of Rhode Island after a report of a bomb threat, a school spokeswoman said.

The state’s fire marshal and a bomb squad rushed to the Kingston campus, where students, faculty, and staff were warned to stay away from Independence Hall. Several university streets were also closed.

Authorities began searching the building at 12:50 p.m. There have not been any reports of an actual bomb being found.

(Chelsea Police Department)

Investigators are searching for these two men in connection with 11 robberies in the past six months in which thieves have targeted immigrants.

By Kate Augusto, Globe Correspondent

Police are looking for two men who have been flashing fake badges and impersonating police officers to rob illegal immigrants.

The most recent robbery was reported Sunday night in Chelsea, when two men dressed like plainclothes detectives knocked on the door of a second-floor apartment on Broadway at 8:30 p.m. With badges hanging around their necks and speaking into what looked like a police radio, the men forced all the residents into a room and stole cash and jewelry.

Over the last six months, there have been a total of 11 such robberies in Chelsea, East Boston, and Everett.

“They’re targeting illegal residents who are scared to communicate with police in the first place,” said Captain Keith Houghton of the Chelsea Police Department.

(AP photo/Josh London, Pool)

Lesly Cheremond pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge today in Malden District Court.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A Malden hairdresser who was found smothered to death in the trunk of a car had been threatened by her estranged boyfriend a week before she disappeared, a prosecutor said today in court.

The estranged boyfriend, Lesly Cheremond, confronted Norma Dorce Gilles on Feb. 8 when she was with her new boyfriend, said Elizabeth Keeley, an assistant Middlesex district attorney.

“You know what happens to people who mess with families,” Cheremond said, according to Keeley. “They get killed.”

Cheremond pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge today in Malden District Court and was held without bail. Gilles went missing Feb. 14, and police found her body Wednesday in her car, which was parked a few blocks from her salon.

“She was smothered,” Keeley said today in court. “There was pressure placed over her nose and her mouth.”

Defense attorney James Budreau argued that the prosecution’s case was circumstantial and lack hard forensic evidence. Budreau said that his client moved seven years ago to the United States from Haiti and has been gainfully employed.

By Kytja Weir, Globe Correspondent

Starting today, all parents of newborns at Winchester Hospital will receive training on how to quiet their crying babies -- and how to keep themselves from lashing out in ways that could damage babies' brains or even kill them.

The hospital is the first in Middlesex County to adopt the shaken baby syndrome training program, which will be outlined today at a press conference. Melrose-Wakefield, Cambridge, and Newton-Wellesley hospitals plan to launch similar programs this spring.

Medical personnel, child advocates, and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. hope to eventually bring the program to all the county's birthing hospitals as part of a countywide initiative. By intervening when children are born, they hope to give parents the tools to calm the cries that sometimes drive a parent desperate and can result in the injuries. In the process, they hope they can also teach parents coping methods to stop other forms of child abuse that affect older children when their caregivers can't cope.

"Nobody plans to shake their baby," said Dr. Karen McAlmon, a neonatologist and the medical director of Winchester Hospital's special care nursery. "It happens in a moment of frustration."

In an unusual turn, Leone, the Middlesex district attorney, helped bring together the hospitals last fall, in the hope that he will not need to prosecute more parents and caregivers who kill infants.

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Two people were killed in a murder-suicide yesterday afternoon in New Bedford. Two others were injured in the attack, which was witnessed by a 4-year-old boy, police said.

A 43-year-old man attacked his estranged companion with a steak knife before stabbing himself to death in her Tinkham Street residence, New Bedford police said in a statement issued early this morning.

The 36-year-old woman was taken to the city's St. Luke’s Hospital, where she died of stab wounds to the chest. Her attacker, who stabbed himself multiple times in the chest, was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Luke’s.