By Jeannie Nuss, Globe Correspondent

A soldier with Framingham roots died in Iraq from non-combat-related injuries, the Department of Defense announced today.

Sgt. Metcalf

He had been deployed to Iraq on at least three tours, Fort Campbell spokeswoman Kelly Tyler said. He also served in Korea. He joined the army in July 1990 and arrived at Fort Campbell in January 2001.

Metcalf leaves his wife, Betty, and 6-year-old daughter, Korrine, of Clarksville, Tenn.; and his mother, Paulette, of Northbridge.

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

The state has filed a lawsuit against the owner of two dams in Taunton that have been declared structurally unsound and pose a risk of massive floods when heavy rainfall occurs.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court requests the owner of the dams to make immediate repairs to the Morey’s Bridge Dam and a cofferdam, 25 feet away, that hold back the waters of the 250-acre Lake Sabbatia off Bay Street. A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

The dams are owned by the same company, Jefferson Development Partners, that owned the former Whittenton Pond Dam that threatened to collapse in 2005, forcing the evacuation of some 2,000 residents who were downstream from the deteriorating structure. The dam has since been replaced.

The Whittenton Pond dam has no direct ties to the two structures at Lake Sabbatia, but the concerns about a possible breach and flooding are the same, state and local officials said.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

A Charlestown man was arrested this afternoon for allegedly assaulting two Somerville police officers by hitting them with his car.

Calvin Jones, 22, has been charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, Somerville Police said.

Police responded to a report shortly before 7 a.m. today that several people had driven into a boat storage yard and were on foot in the area of the Winter Hill Yacht Club.

When officers arrived, they found four people in the area, one of whom was Jones. During a search of his car, Jones allegedly sped off, striking the two officers.

(Video by John Patrick)

By Erin Cahill, Globe Correspondent

A four-alarm fire broke out around 2:15 p.m. today on the roof of a condominium building near the center of Lexington.

Lexington Fire Chief William Middlemiss said workmen had been using a propane torch to repair the gutters on the the 3-story brick building at the corner of Forest and Clarke Streets when the roof caught fire.

Middlemiss said all of the residents inside the 18 units were safely evacuated. The fire chief said the alarms in the building did not go off because the fire had started outside.

At least 17 fire trucks were called to the scene, including units from departments in Cambridge, Woburn, and Waltham. Firefighters battled the rooftop blaze for about 2 hours.

Pat Perry, a Clarke Street resident, said the building was formerly the Hancock Elementary School and was converted to condos in the late 1970s.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Local election officials reported brisk business today at their counters -- and sometimes even lines snaking out the doors -- as people around the state applied for and cast absentee ballots.

“We have a record number of people applying, receiving and voting absentee,” said David J. Rushford, the Worcester city clerk. “I think it’s no secret that this election will make history. ... I don’t think many people want to miss being part of that historic activity.”

Rushford said the previous record for people applying for absentee ballots was about 3,200. “We’ve now exceeded 4,000, and we have a line of people in our hallway,” he said.

People can vote by absentee ballot if they can’t make it to the polls Tuesday because they will be out of town during the voting hours, because they are physically disabled, or because of religious beliefs. The ballots can be mailed in or they can be submitted right at the counter after an application has been filled out. Ballots can be submitted at the counter up to noon on Monday; ballots sent by mail from within the United States must be received by Tuesday.

“It’s as busy as I’ve ever seen it,” said Craig A.J. Manseau, election commissioner in Newton. He said he was sure the numbers were record-breaking but he couldn’t be more specific because his office was “just crazy” with work.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz this afternoon said she felt "a sense of relief" after Senator Dianne Wilkerson, the embattled Democratic incumbent, ended her bid for reelection.

“The events of the last few days have, I think, been both shocking and sad for all of us,” Chang-Diaz told reporters in a press conference outside the State House. “They’ve shaken our faith in the notion of public service and prompted many citizens to question whether they can trust elected leaders to act with the best interests of the community at heart.”

Chang-Diaz commended Wilkerson's decision to withdraw from the race and acting “with the best interests of our community at heart.”

“For that,” she said, “I thank her."

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick announced plans this afternoon to convene a task force to address the rash of ethics and legal issues unfolding around Beacon Hill.

Governor Deval Patrick

Specifically, Patrick plans to direct Clements to lead a review on what can be done to address the kinds of ethical and legal issues faced by state Senator Dianne Wilkerson and other prominent legislators.

“In a successful democracy, the currency of government is not money. It’s integrity,” Patrick said in a statement. "We in public office are not entitled to our positions. We are placed here by voters to do the best we can on their behalf. And we are expected to conduct their business honestly and openly.”

Patrick also outlined a need to change the system of home-rule petitions, which require legislative approval on an array of local issues that can range from liquor licenses to restrictions on farm odors. Home-rule petitions are often used by lawmakers as bargaining chips, Patrick said. In August, business at the State House was brought to a standstill for two weeks by two lawmakers locked in a hard-nosed debate over whether to grant a liquor license to a supermarket in the town of Westwood.

The exact make up and size of the panel has not yet been decided. But the governor is said to favor having the majority of its members from outside the state's political culture. His aides are expected to reach out to former attorney general Scott Harshbarger, Common Cause executive director Pamela Wilmot, and former prosecutors.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The suspect in a January shooting inside a Chelsea nightclub that killed one man and wounded two others was arrested Thursday in Mexico City, where he had been tracked by Chelsea, state, and federal investigators, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

Jesse Camacho

A 41-year-old Charlestown man who was working at the club and a 29-year-old friend of Santiago's was also wounded, authorities said.

In a statement released today following a news conference, Conley said that law enforcement traced Camacho first to Los Angeles, where he was born, and then to Mexico and Mexico City. On Thursday night, Camacho was taken into custody as he got off a bus, Conley said.

“For anyone who thinks they can take a life and simply run away, take note: Whoever you are, wherever you run, whatever you do to evade the law, we will find you,'' Conley said in the statement. "And when we do, we will hold you to account.”

Conley said he is working with the federal government and Mexican authorities to bring Camacho back to Suffolk County so he can be tried on first-degree murder and other charges.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Boston police today identified the two men who were murdered in Boston in separate shootings in Dorchester on Thursday.

Police said Komawalee Morris was shot inside his Greenbrier street apartment around 10:15 a.m. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Police said Morris' attackers stormed inside the building and attacked him.

Neighbors who refused to be identified by name said today that Morris was a tatoo artist who operated out of his second floor apartment in the ramshackle apartment building. Morris was 24 and was known as "Needle'' and "Dread,'' neighbors said.

Elaine Driscoll, spokesman for the police, said today that homicide detectives believe Morris was the intended target of the armed home invasion. She declined to say why detectives reached their conclusions.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

By Eric Moskowitz, Matt Viser, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson vowed this afternoon to terminate a write-in campaign for the seat she has held for 15 years, but she resisted calls to resign following her arrest in an FBI corruption probe on bribery charges.

Appearing at a Roxbury church with a half dozen of the city's leading black clergy, Wilkerson gave a brief statement and took no questions from reporters. She stood on the pulpit of the Charles Street AME Church at noon with the ministers, who delayed a 10 a.m. press conference in which they had planned to call for her resignation.

"As of this moment today though I am certainly announcing the suspension, the termination, cessation -- I want to make it clear that I am ending any further campaign," Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson added: "The discussion that has been swirling around resignation, I am making no decision or discussion about that today, but I will commit to you an announcement on November 5th."

Calls for Wilkerson's resignation have been mounting since she was arrested in an FBI corruption probe on Tuesday and accused of taking $23,500 in bribes. She was narrowly defeated in September's Democratic primary by Sonia Chang-Diaz, but had been running a sticker campaign in hopes of retaining her seat, which represents portions of Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Back Bay, and the South End. Wilkerson's term runs until January 4, which means she could remain in office for two more months even if she is defeated by Chang-Diaz on Tuesday.

Black leaders in Wilkerson's district have stood by her through past problems, although conflict has been brewing for some time. In an interview this morning with the Globe before Wilkerson's statement, Horace Small, executive director of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, described the relationship, "like a marriage that has been in turmoil.”

“You’ve been with her for a long time, and tried to work out your differences. But at some point you’ve got to say, ‘Baby I love you, but I got to let you go,’" said Small, whose group is based in Wilkerson's district. "Breaking up is hard to do.”

“We love Dianne, Dianne needs help,” Small added. “We’ll support her through the changes she has to go through. But right now, we got to move on.”

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Boston police said this afternoon they are still looking for two armed robbery suspects, having failed to capture them during a search of a Dorchester apartment building this morning.

Police deployed its SWAT team during the search of an apartment building in the 800 block of Blue Hill Avenue near the intersection with Vesta Road. They were pursuing two suspects who had robbed a victim nearby at gunpoint.

Earlier today, police said they were successful and had captured both suspects. But by this afternoon, police acknowledged they had not located the armed robbery suspects. Some possible suspects were taken into custody, but no one has been charged with the robbery, police said this afternoon.

A 48-year-old man was taken into custody on outstanding warrants unrelated to the robbery, police said.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The mouth of the northbound Tip O'Neill tunnel reopened at 11:10 this morning, after a 15-car pile-up closed it at 10:25 this morning, according to Massachusetts Turnpike officials.

The closure backed up traffic on Interstate 93 to Columbia Road. Turnpike spokesman Mac Daniel said initial reports indicate one injury believed to be minor.

The crash involved an empty school bus, two dump trucks, and a garbage truck, he said. None of the vehicles overturned.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Senate President Therese Murray told reporters after the vote that Democratic Senator Dianne Wilkerson should resign today if she "values the integrity of the Senate." Wilkerson said she would not step down.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

The usually collegial state Senate todday shunned one of its own, unanimously passing an extraordinary resolution asking Democratic Senator Dianne Wilkerson to resign immediately following the allegations that she accepted eight bribes worth $23,500 in an FBI undercover operation.

She promptly declined, with her campaign issuing a statement tonight indicating that she has no intention of resigning and will defiantly continue her write-in campaign to save a seat she has held for 15 years.

‘‘They made their requests,’’ Boyce Slayman, her campaign manager, said in an interview. ‘‘And she respectfully declined to do it today.’’

Wilkerson later released a statement calling requests for her to resign ‘‘unreasonable.’’

‘‘Surely the members of the state Senate could not have believed that such a monumental decision would be made within a few hours,’’ she said. ‘‘A decision to leave this district without representation, even for 60 days, is one that cannot and should not be made in a matter of hours. Rest assured I am committed to do what is in the best interest of the residents of this district.’’

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

Norfolk Police have charged an 18-year-old with bringing beer to the Oct. 17 outdoor party in that town that ended in tragedy when one of the participants apparently wandered off into a swamp and died.

Christopher Moran, 18, of Norfolk was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and misleading a police officer investigating the party that 17-year-old Taylor Meyer was attending before she died.

Moran told investigators he brought beer from his parents' refrigerator to the party, saying he had brought them for his own personal consumption, police said today in a statement.

Moran was arraigned in Wrentham District Court on Oct. 24. He pleaded not guilty and the case is continuing. Police only disclosed the charges against Moran today.

Police are conducting a criminal investigation to try to find out who brought the alcohol to the bonfire party at an abandoned airport.

Investigators have said Meyer had attended a homecoming football game and later went with about 20 other teens to the airport where the King Phillip High School students drank around a bonfire. It is not clear whether Meyer herself was drinking.

Meyer then apparently walked from the woods where the students were partying into a treacherous swamp area. Her body was found Oct. 20 after an intensive two-day search.

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

Law enforcement officials began a final assault today on Tuesday’s ballot question to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying a ‘‘yes’’ vote would empower drug dealers who resort to guns and violence in their trade.

‘‘Drug use, drug abuse, and drug sales are synonymous with other types of criminal activity,’’ Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said, pointing to a table of seized guns and bags of marijuana.

"Where you find drug dealers, you also find guns and violence. [The ballot question] gives those dealers a loophole to enterprise while punishing the neighborhoods where they’re going to do business.’’

Davis spoke at a news conference at police headquarters in Roxbury, joined by local drug detectives and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless, and Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.

(Evan Richman/Globe Staff)

The home at 111 Flaherty Way in South Boston where Barack Obama's aunt lives.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Barack Obama's presidential campaign confirmed today that a woman who has been living quietly in a South Boston public housing complex, far from the bustle of the presidential race, is the senator’s aunt.

Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman, declined to comment further on the Democratic presidential nominee’s relationship with Zeituni Onyango, who has been living for several years in city public housing.

Onyango, who is paid a small stipend for working as a health advocate in her public housing complex, has shunned attention. This morning, she said nothing and ignored a television camera and several reporters as she walked out of her first-floor apartment, handed a duffle bag to the driver of a taxicab, and was driven off.

Onyango is Obama's paternal aunt, one of several children of the senator's grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama. In his memoir, "Dreams From My Father," Obama refers to Onyango affectionately as “Aunt Zeituni” and recalls that she was the first person to greet him when he stepped off a plane and arrived for the first time in Kenya.

"'Welcome home,' Zeituni said, kissing me on both cheeks," Obama wrote.

By Brian Ballou, Globe Staff, and Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

Two major newspaper outlets in Boston received suspicious packages in the mail today that law enforcement officials said appeared to be part of a hoax carried out by a California man who is in federal custody.

Field tests for hazardous substances on the mailings received by the Boston Herald and the Christian Science Monitor came back negative, according to the FBI.

The local FBI office will forward the evidence to its Sacramento division to determine whether the two Boston incidents are part of that office’s case, Boston FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

Marc Keyser, 66, of Sacramento, Calif., allegedly sent packages to more than 100 major media outlets across the country. He was arrested Wednesday, but the FBI warned that more of the mailings could be received in the next few days.

Keyser was arrested after allegedly mailing packages containing a CD and a white sugar packet containing a powdery substance that was labeled, "Anthrax Sample," the FBI said today.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

As part of an emergency budget package, state lawmakers today approved a measure that would establish a two-month amnesty period for tax scofflaws to encourage them to pay up.

The state Department of Revenue estimated that amnesty would bring in $10 million to $20 million in new revenue. That's significantly less than the $174 million raised by a similar measure in 2002, which had been the first such break for late taxpayers since 1984.

The amnesty was one new wrinkle in a budget package that included much of what Governor Deval Patrick proposed earlier this month to stave off a financial crisis. The Legislature did not, however, include Patrick's controversial plan to have higher-paid state employees pay higher health insurance premiums.

First the House then the Senate approved the package and Patrick administration officials said the governor was reviewing it.

The bill calls for a transfer of $200 million from the state's rainy-day fund, slowed down payments to the state pensions fund for a savings of $100 million, and slashed more than $73.6 million in state spending.

The state has estimated revenue shortfalls created by the global economic crisis will leave a $1.4 billion budget gap, a dire economic forecast that prompted Patrick to announce earlier this month that he would slash as many as 1,000 state jobs and trim more than $1 billion in spending.

(Photo by Harry Keough)

The aftermath of this morning's crash.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

A three-vehicle crash involving a minivan on Cape Cod this morning left a woman seriously injured and five young children shaken up, police said.

Barnstable Police said a man driving a late-model Mercedes was heading south on Route 132 in Hyannis shortly before 10 a.m. when he broadsided a woman driving a Nissan pickup truck, who appeared to be making an illegal left to head north on Route 132. The impact sent the pickup truck hurtling backward, where it slammed into the northbound bus from the Crystal Garden Children’s Center in Hyannis.

Barnstable Police Sergeant Sean Sweeney said nine people, which included two adults on the bus, were taken to Cape Cod Hospital. He said the woman driving the pickup truck suffered serious injuries, but was likely to survive. He said none of the others suffered life-threatening injuries. He would not release any of their names.

(Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

A microphone stand stood outside the Tremont Street campaign office of state Senator Dianne Wilkerson on Tuesday afternoon. Wilkerson never came outside to address charges she accepted $23,500 in bribes. Instead, her campaign issued a 222-word written statement.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Senate may move to oust Wilkerson

Buzz:

Developer reportedly worried about demands made by senator

Obama aunt may live in Boston

Despite $2m raised, Kerry rival gets little

Newspapers, Radio, TV:

Budget cuts ax Cape rabies program

Stray bullet hits home near Scituate Rod and Gun Club

Worcester leaf collection aims to kill beetles in debris

Fire hits apartment in Methuen

Commuter boats suffer at Greenbush expense

By Globe Staff

The Wednesday night death of a 20-year-old Fall River man has been declared a homicide, and Fall River police and Bristol County prosecutors are now searching for his killer.

The man was identified today as Eric Sullivan and an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office concluded Sullivan had been shot to death, according to Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter's office.

According to prosecutors, Fall River police were called to the intersection of Morgan and Fifth streets around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday to investigate a report of an injured man. They searched a home on Morgan street, located Sullivan and rushed him to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

The Globe’s Essdras Suarez won the Editor & Publisher prize for feature photograph of the year with this shot of a young girl who relies on a ventilator showing off a ballet move, which accompanied a Megan Woolhouse story on the trend of more children living on ventilators at home.

Here’s how Suarez got the picture of 6-year-old Jessica Leahy:

We went to the school in Newton where the little girl was taking classes. I asked Jessica to come outside in the hallway where the light was better. She told her mom she wanted to show me how she could dance ballet. I’m, like, “OK, go ahead and show me.” For one frame she did that one beautiful pose and I happened to capture it. That one was just the perfect one. I just got lucky that I caught a glimpse of this little girl’s amazing life. I knew the shot transcended what I was doing. It took on a life of its own because of her and not because of the photographer.

By Globe Staff

The Bay State is leading the pack in the cost of attending a four-year private college, according to new figures out Wednesday.

The average published tuition and fees this year was $32,592 in Massachusetts, the College Board disclosed in its annual “Trends in College Pricing” report, which looked at the 2008-2009 school year. The Massachusetts figure, the highest in the nation, was up 5.3 percent from $30,941 the previous year, but less than the 5.9 percent increase seen nationwide.

Other states where the average published prices for such schools were above $30,000 included: California, Colorado, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.

By Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

Marie Conley, the popular, fun-loving crossing guard who was hit by a car earlier this month outside a Dorchester elementary school, died today at Boston Medical Center.

Marie Conley

“All of us in the Boston public schools are extremely saddeneed by the loss of Marie Conley,” Carol R. Johnson, superintendent of the Boston schools, said in a statement. “She gave her life in service to the school children of Boston. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, and to the many families and staff at the Mather Elementary who are grieving as well. We will always be grateful for Mrs. Conley’s years of service ensuring the safety of our children.”

For eight years, Conley had forged a friendship with the children she shepherded across the street, presenting gummy bears during holidays and, when needed, staying with them long after her shift ended to wait for their parents.

By Brian Ballou, Globe Staff

Norfolk police are conducting a criminal investigation to determine who may have supplied or bought alcohol this month for a group of King Philip High School students who partied around a bonfire at an abandoned airport, one of whom apparently drowned in a nearby marshy area that night.

"We're looking for information on who might have supplied alcohol, if it was supplied at all at that party,'' Norfolk Police Chief Charles Stone said this afternoon. He added that the investigation began last week, shortly after 17-year-old Taylor Meyer's body was found some 100 yards from the party.

Investigators said that Meyer had attended a Homecoming football game and later gone with friends to the abandoned airport, where some of the students drank around a bonfire. It was not clear whether Meyer had been drinking.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Officials placed Beverly High School on lockdown for several hours today after a student found bullets in one of the school’s bathrooms.

The bullets, which the student reported finding at about 11 a.m., were .22-caliber long rifle ammunition, said James Hayes, the Beverly school superintendent. Hayes said “less than a dozen” bullets were found, but wouldn't be more specific.

Hayes said Beverly Police, State Police, and school staff searched the building. The search included students’ lockers and backpacks. Nothing suspicious was found, he said.

Hayes said the search ended shortly before 3 p.m. The students were released at 3 p.m., rather than the usual 2:33 p.m.

By Matt Viser, John C. Drake, Michael Levenson, Jonathan Saltzman, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A defiant State Senator Dianne Wilkerson vowed this afternoon to continue her run for reelection in the face of bribery charges, and she lashed out at US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's "political calculus" for imperiling her campaign.

In a 222-word statement handed out at her Tremont Street campaign headquarters in Roxbury, Wilkerson urged voters to stick with her after 15 years in office.

"Not only does this represent the biggest challenge in my personal and political life, but it will test to the limit the notion of innocent until proven guilty," Wilkerson said in the statement. "While there is great curiosity about the particulars of my case I am not at liberty to discuss them for obvious reasons. For those of you who must be thinking 'there has to be more to this story,' of course there is. But it is not a story that I am able or willing to lay out in the press."

The Democrat then attacked Sullivan, whose office led an 18-month probe that culminated Tuesday morning in Wilkerson's arrest on charges that she accepted eight bribes worth a combined $23,500.

"From a purely political perspective, it seems a lot of people -- including myself -- have seriously underestimated US Attorney Sullivan's political calculus," she said. "In one fell swoop, and before an indictment had been returned, he sought to imperil my re-election campaign, and has set much of the state's Democratic leadership back on its heels. He brought this issue forward at this time knowing full well that I would never have an opportunity to have my day in court prior to November 4."

Sullivan is a former Republican state legislator and Plymouth County district attorney. At a press conference Tuesday morning, he was asked about the timing of Wilkerson's arrest.

"It's coincidental that this happened one week before the election," Sullivan said, adding that authorities needed to let the covert portion of the investigation run its course to make sure no other lawmakers were implicated.

Sullivan's spokeswoman, Christina DiIorio-Sterling, said this afternoon that he had nothing to say about Wilkerson's accusation.

"All I can tell you is that this remains an ongoing investigation, and we won't comment any further,'' DiIorio-Sterling said.

Wilkerson, 53, is accused of taking the bribes to secure a liquor license and pave the way for a towering Roxbury development. She was released Tuesday after a brief appearance in US District Court late in the afternoon, disappearing into a black sport utility vehicle without responding to questions.

Wilkerson has been hoping to save her Senate seat by winning a write-in campaign against Sonia Chang-Diaz, who defeated her in the Democratic primary in September.

I would like the voters of the 2nd Suffolk Senate District to know that I am staying the course of my campaign for re-election on November 4. Not only does this represent the biggest challenge in my personal and political life, but it will test to the limit the notion of innocent until proven guilty.

While there is great curiosity about the particulars of my case I am not at liberty to discuss them for obvious reasons. For those of you who must be thinking "there has to be more to this story," of course there is. But it is not a story that I am able or willing to lay out in the press.

From a purely political perspective, it seems a lot of people -- including myself -- have seriously underestimated US Atty. Sullivan's political calculus.

In one fell swoop, and before an indictment had been returned, he sought to imperil my re-election campaign, and has set much of the state's Democratic Leadership back on its heels. He brought this issue forward at this time knowing full well that I would never have an opportunity to have my day in court prior to November 4.

I am grateful for and humbled by the support I continue to receive, and ask that voters continue to stick by me on November 4.

By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff

REVERE -- Owners of Wonderland Greyhound Park wired a lump sum payment today of $752,301 to the city of Revere to cover two years worth of back taxes and utility bills, as well as the first two quarters of the current tax year, including interest, city officials said.

The payment makes the track current on its debts to the city through Dec. 30, takes it out of foreclosure, and comes just in time for an operating license reapplication hearing Thursday afternoon with the State Racing Commission.

"I would assume that that had something to do with it," Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino said of the timing of the payment. "I'm very happy that they made the payment. It allows them to continue operating."

Track owners, who have also been in the middle of revocation hearings on their liquor and parking licenses with the Revere License Commission, made the payment on the heels of a collections suit filed against them by the city last Friday at Suffolk Superior Court. But James J. Cipoletta, the track's attorney, said the payment wasn't made in response to the latest suit, but that it had been in the works prior to that.

"The track had expected to pay, from the proceeds of refinancing and restructuring debt, a sizeable amount of money to the city a couple of weeks ago," Cipoletta said. "But the closing on the refinancing agreement was delayed by the lenders until this week."

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

He'll miss his dad. During the ceremony, Morgan Riddick, 3, of Woonsocket, R.I., son of Thomas Riddick, 30, leaned his head onto his father's leg.

By Globe Staff

About 180 soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard gathered today on the Taunton Green to say a tearful farewell to friends and relatives before they headed off on a one-year deployment in which they will be posted to Iraq.

The 772nd Military Police Company left by bus after the ceremony for Fort Dix, N.J., where they will receive training for a month to three months before they are sent to Iraq, said Master Sergeant Pallas Wahl, a Massachusetts National Guard spokeswoman.

The soldiers, who include some who work as police officers in their civilian life, will be responsible for training, mentoring, and coaching Iraqi police, Wahl said.

To see a slideshow of photos from the event, click here.

By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff

SPRINGFIELD -- Jury selection began today in the trial of the stepfather of 14-year-old Haleigh Poutre, the brain-damaged girl who nearly died from an alleged beating in her Westfield home. The case attracted nationwide publicity when the state came close to pulling Haleigh's life support.

Haleigh Poutre

By early this afternoon, the judge had already excused more than five dozen jurors who said they could not be impartial because, among other reasons, they had made up their mind against Strickland based on the intense media coverage. Other potential jurors were dismissed because they said they could be swayed against the defendant based on the graphic, violent nature of the injuries against a child. Numerous jurors were also excused when they said that the anticipated length of the trial -- between two to three weeks -- would cause them to miss too much work or interrupt existing important plans.

The judge said he expects opening statements in the case to begin Monday at the earliest, and evidence in the days ahead is expected to come from, among others, law enforcement officials, doctors, psychiatrists, relatives, social workers, teachers, and neighbors.

By Globe Staff

The Registry of Motor Vehicles said today that 553 repeat drunk drivers have completed the ignition interlock device program that is a key part of the three-year-old Melanie’s Law, and only two of those drivers have been arrested again and face prosecution.

“The interlock monitoring devices help ensure that repeat offenders who have been granted hardship licenses are not driving after drinking,” Registrar Rachel Kaprielian said in a statement. She said the law and the program help protect the public with an “effective preventative system against driving drunk.” Nearly 4,000 people remain in the program.

The law intended to crack down on repeat drunk driving was signed by Governor Mitt Romney on Oct. 28, 2005. It is named in honor of 13-year-old Melanie Powell, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2003.

Kaprielian said tougher penalties and administrative sanctions under the law were helping to take more drunk drivers off the roads. “These statistics give us good reason to celebrate the third anniversary of Melanie’s Law,” she said.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

An 85-year-old man was rescued from the roof of his burning home in Saugus early this morning when a neighbor grabbed a ladder for a police officer who had rushed to the scene.

Officer Paul Van Steensburg raced up the ladder and helped bring Salvatore Cagnina safely down from the roof, said Lieutenant Michael Annese, a spokesman for the Saugus Police Department. Cagnina had climbed out a window onto a porch roof at about 1 a.m. after flames engulfed his home.

“If he hadn’t gotten him down, it probably would have been a tragic ending,” Annese said.

(Suzanne Kreiter/ Globe Staff)

A pair of handcuffs dangled from the belt of a law enforcement official yesterday at the Tremont Street campaign headquarters of Democratic state Senator Dianne Wilkerson. When this photograph was taken, Wilkerson was in federal custody on charges she accepted eight bribes totaling $23,500.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Buzz:

Bribery defendant Wilkerson

Affidavit depicts pol manipulating levers of power

School revamp hits a snag

Vaccination available at hospital's drive-through

Lawyer who resigned from Woodward case settles her libel suit

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Kathy Gordon was one of those who took advantage of the drive-through flu shot offer.

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

NORWOOD -- First, Kathy Loughlin glided up to the drive-through window at her neighborhood Dunkin' Donuts, where she ordered a tumbler of iced coffee (cream, no sugar).

Then, she guided her white Ford Escape to the front of the queue at the drive-through flu-shot clinic at her neighborhood hospital, Caritas Norwood.

Yes, a drive-through flu-shot clinic.

"So why did I come here? It's easy," said Loughlin, who spent more than two decades teaching high school in Belmont. "It makes sense, and you don't tie up the general practitioners -- they're already so overwhelmed."

Forget Fast Food America. Try Drive-Through America. With a bumper crop of flu vaccine expected this year -- more than 140 million doses -- and the clock ticking to get it into people before influenza season descends, disease fighters are no longer content to rely on doctors to dispense shots in their offices.

So there's vaccine at schools and, come election day, vaccine at the polls and, at spots across the country, vaccine jabbed into the bare arms of drivers and passengers as they sit in their sedans, vans, and trucks.

"For some things, drive-ins are an absolute match made in heaven," said Robert J. Thompson, a pundit of pop culture at Syracuse University. "The drive-in fast-food operation was a perfect match. Drive-through surgery? No. Drive-through flu shots? Yes."

(Bill Brett for The Boston Globe)

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Route 16 was shut down for about four hours today after a tractor-trailer rollover at Sweetser Circle in Everett, State Police said.

Traffic was diverted around the scene onto Route 99 and motorists were advised to seek alternate routes.

The tractor-trailer, which was carrying produce, crashed just before 3 p.m. The driver was indentified as Charles Kabeya, 41, of Ipswich, said Trooper Eric Benson, a State Police spokesman. Kabeya was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Benson said.

The road was reopened at about 7 p.m., said Sergeant David Mahan, a State Police spokesman.

By Jeannie M. Nuss, Globe Correspondent

A Chelsea man was convicted of first-degree murder today in the beating death of his mother with a hammer in August 2006, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Norton Cartright, 21, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for beating his 46-year-old mother, Yolande Danestoir, with a hammer, stuffing her into a sleeping bag, and leaving her in a closet to die slowly in her Reynolds Street house in Chelsea on Aug. 25, 2006, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Cartright after a full day of deliberations. Judge Christine McEvoy ordered Cartright to serve a life sentence at the state prison in Walpole.

“This is a tragedy,” McEvoy said, “a family tragedy of epic proportions.”

(FBI surveillance photograph)

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson allegedly stuffed a $1,000 cash payoff into her bra during a meeting with an informant at No. 9 Park restaurant on June 18, 2007.

By John R. Ellement, Donovan Slack, Shelley Murphy, Maria Cramer, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a one-time rising star in state politics who has been plagued with legal troubles during her 15-year legislative career, appeared today in federal court to face charges that she allegedly accepted eight bribes worth $23,500.

Wilkerson allegedly tried to influence legislation in the state Senate as recently as last week to help the developer in the Crosstown section of Roxbury, near the intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue.

Wilkerson made an initial appearance this afternoon before US Magistrate Judge Timothy S. Hillman. Prosecutors did not ask for bail; she was released on $50,000 unsecured bond. But prosecutors did ask that Hillman order her not to destroy any documents that may relate to the case.

"There is substantial concern on the part of the government that records will be -- quote -- 'lost,'" said Assistant US Attorney John S. McNeil said, noting her past federal and state legal troubles. "She has a long history of acting as if she was above the law."

Max D. Stern, Wilkerson's defense attorney, pushed back, telling Hillman his client had never been convicted of destroying records. "It's an occasion to engage in character assassination," he said. "There is no evidence whatsoever that she ever destroyed documents."

Hillman ordered Wilkerson for now not to destroy personal, campaign, or professional records.

About a dozen of Wilkerson's supporters, including a local minister and Wilkerson's campaign manager, Boyce Slayman, attended the hearing. Wilkerson, who walked into the courtroom without handcuffs, wearing a maroon blouse and dark pants, said nothing but appeared calm and composed during the proceeding.

Hillman slated another hearing for Nov. 17 at the federal court in Worcester. "Good luck, Ms. Wilkerson," he said to her as the hearing concluded. Wilkerson, escorted by family members and supporters, later pushed through a small knot of reporters as she exited a side door of the courthouse and got into a black SUV with New York plates.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

It was not so much the allegations that a politician accepted $23,500 in payoffs that sent ripples through the lunch crowd today on Beacon Hill. The shock was that state Senator Dianne Wilkerson allegedly was brazen enough to accept the cash in bustling restaurants just steps from the State House.

The disparate settings for the alleged crimes varied from the Fill-A-Buster lunch counter on Bowdoin Street, where bureaucrats squeeze ketchup onto the meatloaf special, to Mooo, a modern restaurant with 25-foot ceilings where white gold chandeliers bathe the airy dining room in warm amber light and a 52-year-old single-malt Macallan scotch sells for $425 a glass.

One FBI surveillance photograph shows Wilkerson allegedly grabbing a handful of $100 bills over a starched white tablecloth at a lunch June 18, 2007, at the esteemed No. 9 Park, where a loin of Colorado lamb is served with fava beans, Greek yogurt, and pickled garlic scapes ($65 in a three-course prix-fixe). In the dining room set in an 1803 Bullfinch Mansion, Wilkerson then allegedly stuffed the $1,000 into her bra, according to a surveillance photograph and an affidavit filed in court.

"If I were going to make some illegal transaction, I would duck into a bathroom or somewhere a little more discrete," said a State House employee of 34 years enjoying that meatloaf today at the Fill-A-Buster. The man was afraid to give his name, like many frequenting the scenes of the alleged crimes for lunch. The same was true for his co-worker seated at his table, but that does not mean she did not have an opinion.

"We were city kids," the woman said with a chuckle. "We'd find an alley or something."

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Senate Republicans called for Senator Dianne Wilkerson's resignation today as the shocking word spread on Beacon Hill that she had been arrested on federal corruption charges.

"This has moved far beyond the sad transgressions of her past," Senate Minority Leader Richard R. Tisei said in a statement. "The latest charges brought against Senator Wilkerson rise to a whole new level, and significantly tarnish the reputation not only of the Massachusetts Senate, but government as a whole."

Saying the case showed "serious ethical and moral lapses" by Wilkerson, Tisei said she should "do the right thing -- for her constituents and for the Legislature -- and step down immediately."

The state Republican Party also issued a statement, lambasting the state Democratic Party as "a haven for criminals and corruption."

Senate President Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, said this morning that she would immediately remove Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a Roxbury Democrat, as chairwoman of the committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and ask the Senate Ethics Committee to look into the situation.

“We are just learning about this,” Murray told reporters as she went to a meeting. “I’m not going to say or do anything to interfere in this law enforcement investigation.”

“I am extremely disappointed,” she said.

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Aides to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who has been battling a severe form of brain cancer from his home in Massachusetts, said he plans to return to his second home in Washington this afternoon, a sign that his treatments have been progressing well.

His spokeswoman, Melissa Wagoner, said Kennedy was "looking for a change of scenery" from Cape Cod, where he has been convalescing since the tumor was discovered. The Massachusetts Democrat, who was diagnosed with a malignant tumor about six months ago, will continue his treatments in the nation's capital.

"His doctors are very pleased with his progress, and he will receive his treatments here," Wagoner said. The senator plans to remain in his northwest Washington home and return to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving, she added.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Law enforcement officials this morning at the campaign offices of Senator Dianne Wilkerson.

By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist

There didn't seem to be anything unusual about the call I got from Dianne Wilkerson last July complaining about City Hall.

After lengthy negotiations, the city had agreed to issue new liquor licenses. Wilkerson was outraged, she told me, because Roxbury had not gotten its fair share of the new licenses, stifling constituents of hers who wanted to open businesses. I eventually wrote a column arguing that the process of granting licenses was tilted toward the politically influential.

Now comes the US Attorney's Office with the rest of the story. Wilkerson was allegedly being paid off to secure a liquor license for a club called Dejavu, to be located in Roxbury. The feds allege that Wilkerson was getting paid to pressure City Hall to get her associate a license. Her call to me was a part of the campaign.

The government today released pictures, embarrassing ones, of Wilkerson taking money from an alleged informant and stuffing it down her bra. Pictures of her smiling and counting money.

There is said to be video as well. She is innocent until proven guilty, of course. But I defy anyone to look at her counting her earnings and say they believe in her innocence.

Robert Luff, 24, of Simsbury, Conn. caught the somber aftermath of the accident, recording a man shouting encouragement to the boy as he is loaded onto the ambulance.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said today he has found "no lawful authority'' that would allow an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun, two days after a boy that age was killed after he apparently lost control of an Uzi and shot himself during a gun exposition at the Westfield Sportsmen's Club.

In a statement released today, Bennett said a criminal investigation is under way into the incident that will focus on whether there were any violations of state laws that govern the use of firearms during the incident, and whether those who allowed the child to handle the fully-loaded automatic weapon were "reckless or wanton'' in doing so. The investigation is being conducted by local, state, and federal authorities.

The incident occurred during a "Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo'' at the club.

Christopher Bizilj, a third-grader from Ashford, Conn., was killed in the incident Sunday afternoon. His father, Dr. Charles Bizilj, said he stood 10 feet behind his son as a professional trained in using the 9mm Micro Uzi stood beside the boy.

“This accident was truly a mystery to me,” he told the Globe. “This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don’t know why it happened.” He said his son had fired handguns and rifles for three years. But he said this was the first time Christopher had fired an automatic weapon.

Robert Luff, 24, of Simsbury, Conn., caught the aftermath of the shooting on video, recording someone shouting words of encouragement to the boy as he is loaded onto the ambulance.

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

A 73-year-old Massachusetts is suffering from eastern equine encephalitis, the first time in two years that a Bay State resident has been diagnosed with the highly lethal mosquito-borne illness, state health authorities announced this afternoon.

The Essex County man, whose identity was not disclosed because of patient privacy laws, developed symptoms Sept. 21 while vacationing in Maine. During the two weeks before falling ill, the man had traveled extensively in Maine and New Hampshire, enjoying the outdoors.

While it is impossible to determine where the man was exposed to the viral disease, Massachusetts health authorities said, it appears likely he caught the illness in another state.

After being hospitalized for several weeks in Maine, the man was transferred to a Massachusetts hospital, where his prognosis remains guarded, state disease trackers said. Eastern equine is the deadliest of the diseases spread by mosquitoes, killing up to half of people who develop symptoms. From 2004 through 2006, 13 Massachusetts residents contracted the virus, resulting in six deaths.

By Globe Staff

Evidence suggests that drowning was the likely cause of death of a 21-month-old girl who was found unresponsive Friday in her Wellesley home, according to a statement released this afternoon by the Norfolk district attorney’s office.

However, an autopsy performed by the state medical examiner was inconclusive and more medical tests are necessary, according to the statement.

Prosecutors did not specify what evidence suggested drowning. The statement noted that the medical examiner found no evidence of trauma.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

US Senator John F. Kerry and his Republican challenger, Jeff Beatty, sparred today over gun control, immigration, and national security in an hourlong radio debate on WTKK.

Beatty accused Kerry of "coddling" illegal immigrants, who he said have cost American jobs.

"You can't as a senator tell people what laws are OK to follow and what laws aren't," Beatty said.

Kerry countered that enforcement of immigration laws should start at the border, adding that employers who hire illegal immigrants should be held accountable.

However, both candidates said a high-profile 2007 raid of a New Bedford plant, in which immigration officials were accused of separating young children from their parents, was conducted poorly.

Kerry, who frequently complained about interruptions from Beatty, went after his challenger over statements he made previously in support of allowing college students to carry concealed weapons.

"You support guns being carried by kids in Massachusetts," Kerry said. "I don't know any parent who thinks that's a good idea."

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Addendum: Five of the six charges in this case were dismissed in April 2009
for lack of prosecution, including the allegations of assault and battery, larceny, and
cruelty to animals. DelPozo did plead guilty to one charge, resisting
arrest, and received a suspended sentence.

A man pleaded not guilty today to charges that he attacked his girlfriend this weekend in a jealous rage and threw her palm-sized chihuahua against a wall, breaking one of its paws.

Miguel Roberto Delpozo Castillo, 26, shook his head in disagreement in Boston Municipal Court as a prosecutor alleged that he trashed the Joy Street apartment on Beacon Hill where the couple lived, then turned on her dog.

Castillo allegedly threw the chihuahua at the wall, leaving it bloody and covered in feces, because it was so scared it lost control of its bowels, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Vincent DeMore.

Castillo’s attorney, Anne Rousseve, said that her client categorically denies attacking his girlfriend or her dog.

“The allegations are extreme but they remain allegations only," Rousseve said. "We very much look forward to trial in this case.”

By David Abel and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Matthew P. Collette, Globe Correspondent

Dr. Charles Bizilj stood 10 feet behind his son this weekend at a "Machine Gun Shoot" in Westfield, where the third grader aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin in the distance.

Flier from Westfield Sportsman’s Club

“It was all a blur,” Dr. Charles Bizilj said this afternoon in a telephone interview. “I’m still in the grieving process.”

Christopher was accompanied by a trained professional as he held the 9-mm Micro Uzi machine gun at the Westfield Sportsman's Club Sunday afternoon, but Bizilj said he doesn’t think the shooting guide was holding the weapon as his son pressed the trigger.

“This accident was truly a mystery to me,” he said. “This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don’t know why it happened. I don’t think it’s relevant that he wasn’t holding the weapon.”

He said his son, a third grader who loved to hike and bike, had experience firing handguns and rifles. But he said this was the first time he had fired an automatic weapon.

"I gave permission for him to fire the Uzi,” Bizilj said. “I watched several other children and adults use it. It’s a small weapon, and Christopher was comfortable with guns. There were larger machine guns with much more recoil, and we avoided those.”

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Lily wore a happy face this weekend in a Halloween contest at Quincy Market. The English Bulldog dressed as a tiki lounge entertainer and absolutely bow-wowed the crowd.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Buzz:

Patrick pulling back on education

Errors test openness at Beth Israel Deaconess

Last-ditch try to keep historic Vt. barns alive

8 flights at Logan delayed as poodle toys with freedom

By Globe Staff

A Massachusetts congressman who has played a crucial role in the government’s response to the financial crisis is speaking today in Boston.

US Representative Barney Frank, the Newton Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and was thrust into the spotlight because of the crisis, will address the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

The US economy is likely to bottom out early next year and resume growing by the middle of the year if Congress passes a stimulus package soon and does more to help homeowners facing foreclosures, Frank said in the Globe’s Saturday editions.

Frank also emphasized the need for more government action to check a quickening economic slide.

“If we get aggressive about reducing foreclosures and we pass a good stimulus package of upwards of $150 billion, then I could see this starting to turn around by next summer,” Frank said.

By Matt Collette, GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

An event at a Westfield gun club turned tragic today when an 8-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head and later died at a Springfield hospital, Westfield Police said.

The child's death -- caused by a fully automatic Uzi machine gun -- appears to have been an accident; but it remains under investigation, police said.

The Westfield Police Department released a statement about what they described as a self-inflicted, accidental shooting, which occurred at 2 p.m. at the Westfield Sportsman's Club on Furrowtown Road.

In a telephone interview tonight, Westfield Police Officer Carl Girard confirmed the boy died of his injuries -- a wound to the right side of the head -- at Baystate Medical Center. Police did not release the child's name, nor did they say where he lived. The Springfield Republican reported that the child was not from Westfield.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A 25-year-old man was killed in a shooting this afternoon in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Boston Police said.

The shooting on Rossmore Road was reported at about 2:55 p.m. The victim, who was shot in the chest, was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, said Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman.

The victim's name was not released, pending notification of his relatives and an autopsy.

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Nader left his fourth stop in Central Square, Cambridge today and headed for his fifth, Tufts University in Medford.

By Meg Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who is making a marathon tour today of Massachusetts, says that Democrat Barack Obama will beat Republican John McCain.

"Obama is going to win, but we can start building a third party now," Nader told a crowd composed mostly of young people at an event this morning outside the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston.

The 74-year-old Nader planned to make appearances in 21 cities and towns across Massachusetts, ending with an event just before midnight in Sheffield. Along the way, he planned to set a Guinness record for most campaign speeches in a single day.

Nader's campaign has said he could be "the deciding factor" in key swing states, including Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado. Many Democrats still blame Nader for draining votes away from Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race.

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Taunton Police are looking for a Vietnamese immigrant who does not speak English after her daughter reported her missing earlier today.

Lai Thi

Thi does not speak English and is not carrying any identification, Warish said. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt over a pink long-sleeved shirt, blue pants, and black shoes. She is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 110 pounds, her daughter told police.

“Right now, the indication is that she is lost,” Warish said. “Her family said she does get confused.”

By Sarah Gantz, Globe Correspondent

Hold on to your hats! A storm is brewing that could lash Massachusetts tonight with potentially damaging winds of up to 45 mph.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook warning of the wind and heavy rain as a strong cold front moves through the area.

Up to half an inch of rainfall could accumulate in brief, isolated downpours, said Bill Simpson, a weather service forecaster.

He said the storm is expected to pass through the Boston area between sunset and midnight.

Road closures and other transportation advisories for the week of Oct. 26:

As part of a plan to reconfigure toll lanes and increase traffic flow throughout I-90 (MassPike), lanes will be closed so work can take place at the I-90 East toll plaza near Route 128. The closures will take place from Monday through Saturday after morning commuter hours, weather permitting.

Cooper Street in the North End will be closed to traffic Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for two weeks.

Two to three lanes of I-93 South will be closed approaching and through downtown Monday through Friday from 11:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff

Joseph Maglione, a Revere Department of Public Works supervisor accused by two former workers of taking bribes, has been cleared of the charges by the State Ethics Commission.

In a 24-page decision issued Thursday, the commission stated that the testimony of former DPW employees Anthony Giannino Jr. and Randy Adamson lacked credibility because it "was too lacking in detail and unspecific, and in some instances too confused and contradictory."

Seen one of these men? A file picture of Bulger along with law enforcement versions of what he may look like now.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A tip that South Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger was hiding out in Toronto led to the brief arrest Thursday of an elderly man who resembled the fugitive, but proved to be just another look-alike, according to Canadian authorities.

After receiving information from Interpol that the 79-year-old Bulger, who is one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted, might be staying at a Toronto home, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went to the address yesterday but nobody was there, said Sergeant Marc LaPorte, a spokesman for the RCMP.

However, police thought they got lucky when they spotted an elderly man resembling the fugitive at a nearby restaurant. The man got into a "small altercation'' with police as he was arrested, but later he was fingerprinted and ruled out as Bulger, LaPorte said.

"The person that they thought was him was not him,'' said LaPorte, adding that the look-alike was not wanted for any crimes and was later released.

However, LaPorte said the investigation is still ongoing in Toronto because police don't know whether the look-alike grabbed at the restaurant is the same person who was staying at the Toronto address that was given by the tipster.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Worried parents gathered outside the school this morning.

By Anne Baker and Jeannie Nuss, Globe Correspondents

Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica was put under a lockdown today as a precautionary measure because of concerns that a student or students might have firearms, Billerica police said.

No one was injured and no firearms were found. Police said they acted at about 11 a.m. not because of a specific threat but because of the "mere potential" of a problem.

"Law enforcement and school officials will continue throughout the day and over the weekend to investigate this case, and insure the safety of our students," police said in a statement.

Worried parents gathered outside the school. Students were released by about 4:30 p.m.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The family of a Middleton man who mysteriously disappeared almost three years ago has increased the reward for information leading to his whereabouts.

John Lima

Lima, who would now be 29 years old, was last seen at his family’s home in Middleton.

Liz White, Lima's sister, said the family was frustrated at the lack of answers as the third anniversary of his disappearance approached and hoped that the increased reward would yield some clues.

"We’ve gone in every single direction and it’s just led to a dead end," she said.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

BEVERLY – Deb Sacco never met Army Specialist Stephen R. Fortunato. But she knows what it is like to have a son serving in wartime. Her son, Robert, is a 19-year-old Army private currently in Iraq. So today she wore an Army sweatshirt, held a small American flag and stood, waiting with strangers on the sidewalk across from St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish.

All along Cabot Street, hundreds of townspeople -- parents, children, soldiers in green, police officers and firefighters in blue, veterans in navy caps – stood in rows, clutching American flags. When the beat of drums and the skirl of bagpipes filled the air, they watched as a white caisson, drawn by two chestnut horses, delivered Fortunato’s flag-draped coffin to his funeral. Some held their hands on their hearts; Sacco fought back tears.

“We’re all one family,” she said. “My son e-mailed me this morning and said they were all thinking of this family.”

Fortunato, 25, was the gunner in a Humvee on Oct. 14 in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb detonated, killing him; Specialist Cory J. Bertrand, 18, of Center, Texas; and Sargeant Preston R. Medley 23, of Baker, Fla, according to the Department of Defense. The three were 90 percent complete with their mission that day of providing security at polling stations, Brigadier General Todd T. Semonite told the funeral Mass. Fortunato was the first service member from Beverly to be killed in action since the Vietnam War.

The funeral procession today was a townwide tribute to Fortunato's service. Even those who never knew Fortunato and had no relatives in the military said they felt compelled to show their support. “I feel like any of the men and women that are over there, that we’re a part of them and they’re a part of us,” said Nancy Grimmer, holding an American flag.

Looking at the street filled with mourners, Sacco said, "We all have busy lives but when this happens, you realize what it's really all about."

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

It's better than a shot. Really! Katerina Mann, 5, of Milton got a nasal mist flu vaccination at today's event, while nurse Mary Conant gave Michael Corban, 7, of Sharon one in the background.

By Globe Staff

It's time to get your flu vaccination. That was the message from the state Department of Public Health today at a flu prevention campaign kickoff event at the state laboratory in Jamaica Plain.

Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said this year there will be plenty of vaccine to go around and the vaccine may provide better protection than in previous years.

The vaccine is recommended for anyone who wants to avoid the flu, health officials said. It is especially important for people in the following groups: children, people 50 or older, pregnant women, and people with a variety of chronic medical conditions.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for more children to receive flu shots. Previously, the CDC recommended the shots for children 6 months to 5 years old. Now, the agency recommends them for children from 6 months to 18 years old, state health officials said in a statement.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The state's highest court has ruled that property tax surcharges collected by some communities under the Community Preservation Act, a state law intended to preserve open space, cannot be used to improve existing parks.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court ruling in a lawsuit brought in 2006 by 10 taxpayers in Newton, who challenged the city's appropriation of $765,825 in CPA funds for projects at Stearns Park and Pellegrini Park.

Newton appealed the lower court ruling, arguing that the funds could be used because the law authorized spending the money, among other things, for the "creation and preservation of land for recreational use."

But the SJC, in a five-page ruling by Justice Francis X. Spina, said the law allowed spending the money "for the creation of land for recreational use, not the creation of new recreational uses on existing land already devoted to that purpose."

"Land for recreational use is not being created where a municipality chooses simply to enhance or redevelop that which already exists as such," the ruling said.

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)

Prosecutor Jane Johnedis-Woodbury described one of the attacks, while defense attorney Eduardo Masferrer looked on.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

A Brighton man who allegedly raped two women in his apartment in July was ordered held on $750,000 cash bail this morning, after prosecutors told a Suffolk Superior Court clerk magistrate that the man has had 32 previous entries on his criminal record, dating back to 1992.

Paul Carmichael has been charged in the July incidents with seven different offenses, including two counts of aggravated rape and two counts of kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment to all of the charges.

A prosecutor alleged during the hearing that Carmichael forced a 28-year-old Brighton woman to his apartment on July 5 and lured a 25-year-old Cambridge woman, an acquaintance for a year, to his apartment on July 22. Once at the apartment, he attacked both both women. He raped the first victim for most of an hour, while playing a Nirvana song titled “Rape Me,” the prosecutor said.

But Carmichael's defense attorney, Eduardo Masferrer, said both women went to the defendant's apartment willingly, engaged in consensual sex with the defendant, and left of their own accord.

George Barnes photo/ from the Telegram & Gazette
Chet Hall of Royalston displays what he believes is a wild Russian boar

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

Lancaster commuters got a startling sight on their trip to work: a view of what is believed to be a Russian wild boar.

A state trooper spotted the 200-pound animal lying alongside Route 2 in Lancaster around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the State Police. Procopio said the reddish-brown boar was so large that the trooper initially thought it was a baby moose.

The trooper discovered the animal was badly injured, likely because it had been hit by a car, Procopio said. The trooper called for back-up. Authorities then redirected traffic and put the animal down, largely out of concern that it could wander into traffic and cause an accident, but also because the animal appeared to be in pain.

Chet Hall, a farmer in Royalston, arrived to claim the animal to use to bait coyotes, which he aggressively hunts. He identified the animal as a Russian wild boar because of its cinnamon-colored collar and rodent-like snout.

“It looked like a combination of a wild pig and a grizzly bear,” he said.

(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

Even in the digital age, students continue to take essay tests in blue books, those old-fashioned college-ruled notebooks. Professor Audrey Kali handed out blue books for a midterm at Framingham State College, one of the first colleges to require students to have laptops.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

By Foon Rhee, Globe Staff

Former Governor William Weld of Massachusetts is the latest Republican to cross over and support Democrat Barack Obama for president.

Weld is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. today in Salem, N.H., the Obama campaign announced. While Massachusetts is a slam dunk for Obama, neighboring New Hampshire is a competitive state.

"Senator Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America's standing in the world," Weld said in a statement. "We need a president who will lead based on our common values and Senator Obama demonstrates an ability to unite and inspire. Throughout this campaign I've watched his steady leadership through trying times and I'm confident he is the best candidate to move our country forward."

Weld supported former Bay State Governor Mitt Romney during the Republican primaries.

He joins former Governor Arne Carlson of Minnesota, who announced his backing for Obama on Thursday.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Former Gov. William Weld to endorse Obama

Buzz:

Special laws skirt pension system

Kerry foe's dossier spans films, 9/11 hearing

In digital era, blue books still causing white knuckles

By Gabrielle T. Dunn, Globe Correspondent

A Brookline couple was indicted today on charges they swindled $53,000 in health insurance from MassHealth over six years, the attorney general's office said.

From 1999 through 2005, Joseph and Jila Youshaei allegedly applied for and received MassHealth benefits by reporting their income to be $475 a week as earned by Joseph, 46, at the Boston Discount Jewelry Exchange in Downtown Crossing, the office said.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said that, based on that claim, the Youshaeis, including their three children, qualified for and received the most comprehensive health coverage available at the time under the state’s public health assistance program, which is for low-income residents.

However, an investigation by State Auditor Joe DeNucci’s Bureau of Special Investigations and Coakley's office showed that during that time, the Youshaeis owned a residence assessed at about $650,000. The couple also owned various businesses and downtown commercial real estate assessed in the millions of dollars, including the building containing the Boston Discount Jewelry Exchange.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A proposal to decriminalize the possession of marijuana has the support of about half of Massachusetts voters as the election nears, according to a new poll.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters supported Question 2 on the ballot, while 32 percent opposed it, and 16 percent were undecided, in a Suffolk University/WHDH-TV (Channel 7) News poll taken earlier this week.

The poll also found strong opposition to Question 1, a proposal to repeal the state income tax, and a nearly equal split among voters on Question 3, a proposal to ban dog racing in the state.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

Robert Gamere, the sportscaster who hosted the local TV show "Candlepins for Cash'' through most of the 1970s, was arrested today on federal charges of transporting and possessing child pornography.

Bob Gamere in 2007

Federal agents who executed a search warrant last November at the apartment that Gamere shares with his wife also found child pornography pictures in his locked bedroom drawer, according to the office of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

Asked by US Magistrate Judge Leo T. Sorokin whether he understood his right to remain silent, Gamere said,``Yes, yes.''

Gamere, a wiry man with shaggy white hair who broadcast professional baseball, college football and hockey, and horse races in a career that spanned three decades, said little else during the 45-minute hearing. His wife, Dianne, sat in the spectators' gallery with a pained expression.

By Globe Staff

Just ask for "Joe the Fish."

State officials are alleging that if you used that password you could get a bogus emission test at a Dorchester service station.

The attorney general's office said today it had filed lawsuits against Dorchester Auto Service Inc. and another station in Somerville. It also said the state Department of Environmental Protection was seeking to fine and strip the inspection licenses from five other stations for conducting fraudulent car inspections. A total of 12 inspectors were allegedly involved.

"Emissions inspection stations and inspectors must recognize that they cannot circumvent or ignore the law without legal ramifications," said Attorney General Martha Coakley.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

A 19-year-old man was arrested early today in Orleans and charged with trafficking of heroin after police found about $15,000 dollars worth of the drug in his vehicle.

John K. Hurst of Brewster was pulled over about 12:25 a.m. for an expired inspection sticker, said Orleans Police Detective Kevin Higgins. After suspicions arose and a search was conducted, police found 426 individual bags of heroin, along with cash and hypodermic needles, Higgins said.

Hurst pleaded not guilty in Orleans District Court today. He was held on $2,000 cash bail and was sent to the Barnstable jail. This is the second motor vehicle stop in three weeks that has resulted in a seizure of a large amount of heroin and cash in Orleans, police said.

Hurst's lawyer, Jon Stetkis, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Denis Leary and his band The Crown Royals warmed up for their appearance last October as part of 30 Years of Comedy at Emerson College

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

The irascible comedian and actor Denis Leary is one of Emerson College’s most prominent fund-raisers. A 1979 graduate, he has signed fundraising letters, performed a benefit at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, and donated proceeds from musical performances to his alma mater.

But comments Leary made in a forthcoming book that appear to blame “inattentive mothers and competitive dads” for rising incidences of autism have outraged some alumni and put the college in the uncomfortable position of defending its relationship with the comedian while distancing itself from his remarks.

The Boston school says it has received e-mails from about 40 alumni incensed that it uses Leary to raise money.

Sheri Dyas Mellott, a 1995 graduate and mother of two children with autism, noted that the college boasts a successful Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, which trains undergraduate and graduate students to work with autistic children.

“I think it’s disgusting that a school that boasts that kind of program would be enlisting help from Mr. Leary,” said Mellott, adding that on Monday she had received an Emerson fund-raising letter signed by Leary and his wife, Ann Lembeck Leary, a 1985 graduate. “Whether in jest or not, it’s just in poor taste. And I think it’s offensive.”

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

MALDEN -- A former talk show host at WRKO-AM is being extradited to New York City to face charges that he raped a 12-year-old girl there four years ago.

Reese Hopkins, 39, was arrested Wednesday night at his Malden home before heading out to dinner with his longtime girlfriend, said his lawyer, Paul Mishkin.

Hopkins has cooperated with police and "hasn't made any efforts to avoid prosecution," Mishkin said.

Hopkins was arraigned today on a fugitive from justice charge at the Malden District Court. As he was taken in handcuffs to a Middlesex County Sheriff's van, Hopkins said that the allegations dated to October 2004, when he was living in Manchester, Conn.

"I couldn't have been there," said Hopkins, who looked tired and disheveled, wearing a white sweatshirt and blue jeans.

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Bob Pirrman showed off the ring for the cameras, while Mike Whyte looked on.

By Globe Staff

A Beverly man who lost his wedding ring in the giant fish tank at the New England Aquarium dived down today to the spot where the ring was found.

Bob Pirrman, 36, held the ring that he had lost in July up for the cameras, while Michael Whyte, 54, who had found the ring Sunday, looked on.

Pirrman, who works at an ad agency that works for the aquarium, was on a guest dive in the tank, petting a 560-pound sea turtle, when his ring fell off.

Whyte was vacuuming the four-story tank when he saw the glittering object, which was resting, ironically enough, on a piece of finger coral, the Globe reports today.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Eric Moskowitz and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Anne Baker and Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondents

A man was killed early this morning when a fire tore through a 36-foot wooden motorboat at the Dorchester Yacht Club.

The man has been identified as Melvin Conroy of Pembroke, said Steve MacDonald, a fire department spokesman. MacDonald said that members of the Yacht Club have told fire officials that Conroy was 64 years old and a retired Boston school teacher.

Firefighters rushed to the scene on Playstead Road at 12:42 a.m. after another boater called 911.

"When firefighters pulled up, they saw a large boat on fire with flames shooting in the air," said MacDonald. "The firefighters did a good job of confining the fire to just that boat."

A hitman. A gangster’s ex. A weeping disgraced FBI supervisor. The Miami trial of former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., who is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 1982 slaying of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan, has had its share of made-for-TV moments. Here is a synopsis of key testimony so far.

Flemmi has pleaded guilty to killing eight men and two women between 1974 and 1985 but admitted during Connolly's trial that during Boston's 1960s gang wars he shot Charlestown gang leader Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin. He also said he was involved in 10 other slayings - either participating or cleaning up afterward.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The state's highest court has taken the unusual step of reducing the murder conviction of a woman who suffocated and strangled her 2-year-old daughter in 2001 on Cape Cod.

Erin J. Colleran was convicted in 2003 of first-degree murder in the slaying of her daughter, Skyler Ann Morse, in Sandwich in the early morning hours of Dec. 18, 2001.

After reviewing the case, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that "the interests of justice require the degree of guilt be reduced to murder in the second degree."

By Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent

WALPOLE -- A Maryland-based company that hoped to locate a 580-megawatt power plant in Walpole said today that it will drop the plan after a year of public opposition and a Town Meeting vote Monday that approved a zoning change intended to block the plant.

Competitive Power Ventures had tried to win local support, said its vice president and public affairs counsel, Braith Kelley. The company had the option of taking its proposal directly to the state agency that approves sites for power plants, but after meeting with local and state officials today and considering Monday's 105-10 vote, Kelly said the writing is on the wall.

"Other communities, while skeptical at first, are supportive of our projects everywhere,'' Kelly said of five pending plants in the United States and Canada. "But that is not the case in Walpole. We are not going to the state because we are not going to shove this project down people's throats."

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

Al Watson checked the rigging on a larger-than-life eagle hanging from the ceiling of the Museum of Science. The big bird is part of the museum's new show, Mythic Creatures, which traces the origins of dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and other fantastic beasts.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Man killed in Dorchester boat fire

Buzz:

Medical costs still burden many despite insurance

3 boys shot because of where they live

Lenox spa reaches $14.75m settlement over tips

For Charles cleanup, 100,000 seed oysters to be placed in river

By Matt Negrin, Globe Correspondent

Caught in a statewide sweep by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, dozens of drivers were cited this morning for driving past stopped school buses when students were getting on and off.

Forty-nine drivers were given $250 fines in the Registry operation, which was in its fourth year.

In Weymouth alone, 10 motorists were cited for zipping around stopped buses with flashing red lights and their stop signs extended. And in Weston, six drivers violated the law, according to the Registry.

“When you have a stopped school bus, you have the potential of children to be in the road,” said Ann Dufresne, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Transportation. “The risk for injury and even death is greater.”

By Gabrielle T. Dunn, Globe Correspondent

A Lawrence man who had filed off his fingertips in an attempt to conceal his identity was arrested Tuesday in Fitchburg for allegedly trafficking over 450 grams of cocaine, police said.

The suspect, Jonathan G. Salgado-Alvarez, 36, was pulled over on Route 2 westbound by a state trooper at around 4:30 p.m.

Police said Salgado-Alvarez could not remember the name of the owner of the 2000 Buick Century he was driving nor the girlfriend he claimed he was going to see. Salgado-Alvarez produced a Puerto Rican driver's license that did not belong to him. Officers also noticed a loosened dashboard and glove box and the smell of a masking agent used to hide odors.

Salgado-Alvarez was arrested for unlicensed operation, marked lanes violation, refusing to identify himself and providing a false name to police. While attempting to fingerprint him at the state police barracks in Leominster, officers noticed he had filed off his fingertips.

Salgado-Alvarez was also charged with trafficking in cocaine after a search of the car by troopers and a Fitchburg detective uncovered 125 small baggies weighing 454 grams containing a substance believed to be cocaine.

(Globe File Photo)

By Globe Staff

Moving to ensure it collects enough donations at a time when requests for assistance are on the rise, the Salvation Army plans to put out its red kettles a week ahead of the usual schedule.

The kickoff for the kettle campaign will take place Nov. 12, more than two weeks before Thanksgiving, which falls late this year, on Nov. 27. Usually, the kettles are put out about a week before Thanksgiving.

"In these tough times we must be proactive, and The Salvation Army is implementing a comprehensive plan that provides us with the best opportunity to reach all those in need," Major William Bode, Divisional Commander of the Massachusetts Division of the Salvation Army, said in a statement.

By Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

Taylor Meyer, the 17-year-old Plainville girl who was found dead Monday in a swamp in Norfolk, appears to have drowned, according to preliminary autopsy results released today.

Taylor Meyer

The examination found no evidence of trauma or foul play.

Meyer was found in the swamp Monday near woods at a defunct airport where she and some two dozen friends had gathered for a bonfire and party Friday night. Police said they have been told teenagers were drinking alcohol at the party, but no official determination has been made that Meyer was drinking.

By Globe Staff

The state court system has taken strong steps to cut back on spending, but court officials will not skimp on one thing: the core mission of meting out justice, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall said today.

"Our courts have weathered economic distress before. We must, and we shall, manage our way through this current crisis," Marshall said in remarks prepared for her annual address to the Massachusetts Bar Association.

"The cruel irony is that in difficult economic times the demands on our courts intensify: More people file for divorce or to modify support obligations. The criminal docket swells; foreclosures, evictions, and debt collection matters escalate. We are committed to shouldering our fair share of budget cuts while safeguarding the essential functions necessary to maintain our mission and constitutional imperatives," she said.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Police locked down four Newburyport schools this afternoon following reports that a man carrying a handgun was seen near one of the schools.

Edward G. Molin Elementary School, Bresnahan Elementary School, and George W. Brown School were all put on lockdown around 2:30 p.m., said Cathy Manning, administrative assistant to the town's superintendent. Immaculate Conception School was also locked down.

As of 4:15 p.m., the schools were releasing the children to parents and buses were beginning their routes, Manning said. She said that parents in the Hale Street area bus stops were asked to pick their children up.

"We've gone into lockdown to keep students in the schools and not out on the street,” she said.

David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said authorities received reports of a gunman near the Bresnahan school and, along with Newburyport police, had launched a search for him. Some witnesses told police the man was wearing camouflage. No further descriptions were available.

The Daily News of Newburyport reported on its website that state and local police, canine units, and a helicopter were being used in the search for the man. Police have been pulling over and questioning motorists, the newspaper reported.

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A despondent 86-year-old man vowed today never to drive again after critically injuring a crossing guard Tuesday morning outside a Dorchester elementary school.

Marie Conley

Despite his sorrow, however, Cazeau maintained that the collision was not his fault, saying that he never saw 58-year-old Marie Conley step in the crosswalk in front of his car. Cazeau said that he was driving 7 to 10 miles an hour on Winter Street and that he believes Conley walked backwards into the side of his 1995 Nissan Maxima.

"Nothing was in front of me. Nothing was in front of me." Cazeau said in an accent that has lingered since emigrating from his native Haiti in 1962. "My car was so slow and I heard a bang on my right side … I see the lady on the floor and I call the police. I don't ever see her in the front. So that means I was past" Conley when the car hit her.

Conley remained in critical condition today at Boston Medical Center, where three of her grown children spoke to reporters this afternoon.

"We need everybody to say prayers for my mother," said Jim Conley, a firefighter and paramedic from Florida. "She's still in critical condition. It's day by day. And that's the way we are taking it."

After the family spoke, Boston Police Deputy Superintendent Thomas Lee said the driver will soon be facing criminal charges that include operating to endanger. Lee said that forensics and reports from witnesses contradict Cazeau's assertion that the crossing guard was not in front of his car.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Someone has been hanging wire and string across conservation trails in Lincoln, posing a danger to people riding horses there, Lincoln Police said today.

Since August, there have been 10 reports. In four incidents, a green wire was used; in six, a dark-colored string was used.

The trails run off Bedford and Sandy Pond Roads in Lincoln and include Black Gum Trail, Oxcart Trail, and Cedar Hill Loop.

The wire and string have been "strung in a manner that is at head and neck level of someone riding horseback,” said Lincoln Police Lieutenant Kevin Kennedy.

By Globe Staff

A 31-year-old New Bedford man who was arguing with his wife allegedly grabbed a cat she was holding and threw it down the stairs, killing it.

Luis M. Alvarez told police that his wife “was spending more time with the cat than she spent with him,” said Lieutenant Jeffrey Silva, a police spokesman.

Alvarez faces charges of animal cruelty and domestic assault and battery after he and his wife argued Tuesday morning at their home on Tallman Street. He faces the assault charge because he allegedly grabbed her wrists when she tried to leave, police said.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill announced today that the state is preparing for a 1.5 percent drop in lottery revenue this year, a blow from the faltering economy that will total $17 million.

Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill

"The impact on the economy has reached the state lottery," Cahill said.

It does not necessarily mean, however, that cities and towns will receive $14 million less in local aid. Cahill said it is up to the Legislature to decided whether to replace the revenue with money from the rainy day fund or some other source.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- Just a few days after FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. retired from the FBI in 1990, his longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi were dropped by the bureau -- in part because Connolly claimed the notorious Boston gangsters had also retired, according to testimony today in Connolly's murder trial.

Retired FBI supervisor Edward M. Quinn testified that Connolly told him Bulger and Flemmi were "in semiretirement mode'' by 1990 and "my impression was they were living on a reputation more than on current events.''

Quinn said the FBI, at his urging, decided not to use the notorious gangsters as informants anymore because their handler, Connolly, was retiring and they no longer were providing information about ongoing criminal activities.

By Globe Staff

An Ohio police officer visiting Boston with his wife and two daughters tried in vain to stop a thief who allegedly stole his car as the family was unloading luggage at a hotel near Andrew Square.

MAP Where it happened

The officer, whose name was not released, was treated at Boston Medical Center for scrapes on his right hand, shoulder, and knee, police said in the report. The suspect, identified as Ricardo Feliciano Jr., fled toward Andrew Station, and the van was later located.

By David Abel and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Seventeen-year-old Jermell Robinson hid behind a door and did not show his face in Roxbury District Court today when he pleaded not guilty to a weekend shooting that injured three children.

Defense attorney Richard Doyle described his client as a 17-year-old who had "no idea what's going on" or why he was charged with this crime. About a dozen friends and relatives appeared in court to support Robinson, including a woman who identified herself as his mother.

"I think he's innocent, but I don't want to talk," said the woman, who would not give her name.

Gunfire erupted at about 8 p.m. on Saturday outside the Academy Homes I apartment complex in Roxbury, a longtime hot spot for gang violence. The bullets struck two 11-year-old boys and a 12-year-old, who were taken to Boston Medical Center and Children's Hospital with what police described at the time as non-life-threatening injuries.

Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Emily Cummings said today in court that two witnesses identified Robinson as the shooter. Those identifications were buttressed by video that showed Robinson wearing the same kind of clothing described by the witnesses, Cummings said, without specifying the source of the video.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

There are 401 school-crossing guards in Boston. Juana Hidalgo is one of them.

Hidalgo, 42, knows well the dangers the young students face in the morning and afternoons as she helps them cross the street and watches over them as the make their way to Mission Hill K-8 School in Roxbury.

But after a crossing guard was struck and seriously injured by a motorist Tuesday in Dorchester, the dangers to the guards themselves hit home. Since the accident, other guards have told of close calls; a guard supervisor says one was dragged by a car several weeks ago in Dorchester.

Hidalgo, wearing a long, bright neon yellow jacket, said this morning that she is sometimes nervous about her profession. As she helps a little girl put on her pink backpack and scans the area for children near the corner of Parker and Alleghany streets, she says too many distracted drivers talk on cell phones and speed.

"When they [drivers] don't see me, they go very fast," she said, demonstrating how at times she can be hidden from the sight of motorists.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Recent college graduates are carrying an average of more than $20,000 in debt, a growing burden that is outpacing starting salaries, according to a national study released today.

(The Project on Student Debt)

“The class of 2007 graduated before the financial downturn, but today’s tough economic times make high student loan payments even harder to bear,” said Robert Shireman, the project’s executive director. “Student debt levels are rising year after year, and starting salaries have not kept up. Now more than ever, students need information and counseling about all their options when they’re deciding how to pay for college and how to repay their loans.”

Average debt for the class of 2007 was $18,482 at public colleges and $23,065 at private colleges, the survey found.

Students in Iowa and New Hampshire graduate with the highest debt levels: $26,208 and $25,211, respectively. Those in Utah have the lowest average debt at $13,266. South Dakota, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Iowa have the highest proportions of students graduating with student loans, at 81 percent, 75 percent, 74 percent, and 73 percent, respectively.

Massachusetts ranked 19th in average debt, with an average of $21,090, an 11 percent increase from 2006. More than 60 percent of graduates borrowed money to pay for college, which was about the national average.

Ron Dufour, 53, waited at a food pantry in Peace Dale, R.I., on Tuesday while his girlfriend gathered supplies. Globe staff photographer Bill Greene snapped this image of Dufour the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures showing that unemployment had ballooned in Rhode Island in September to 8.8 percent, the highest rate in the nation. The number of families enrolled in the emergency meals program at the Johnnycake Center food pantry has quadrupled from 261 a year ago to 905 now.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Teen charged in shooting of 3 children

Buzz:

Boston's retail vision requires changing a youth hangout

Speaker DiMasi cool to a crisis session

Marshmallow temptations, brain scans could yield vital lessons in self-control

Crossing guard hit by car near Dorchester school

(Grassette family photo)

Scot Grassette and his daughter, Kaitlyn, who is senior class president and captain of the majorettes, posed with the paper.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Of all the letters that Santa Claus gets in his mailbox, this one will likely stand out. In a big way.

A Rumford, Maine, man is hoping to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by sending the largest single-page letter ever written.

The letter, which will be a missive to Santa chock full of Christmas wishes, is expected to be 25 feet wide by 100 feet long. That’s bigger than a volleyball court and about half the area of a basketball court. When folded up, it's expected to weigh 51 pounds. And it will require an estimated 195 first-class stamps to put in the mail.

Scot Grassette, 42, an electrician at the NewPage Corp. paper plant in Rumford, said his company thought it was a “pretty crazy” idea but still donated the paper.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Two Canadian men are in custody in connection with an alleged murder-for-hire plot in which a key meeting took place in Boston.

Nicholas Djokich, 57, of Calgary, Alberta, and Eginardo Deangelis, 72, of La Salle, Quebec, were arrested by federal agents after they allegedly tried to hire an undercover agent to kidnap, extort and murder a man with whom Djokich and other investors had lost money in an investment deal gone sour.

Djokich believed he had been defrauded of his money and sought revenge, prosecutors said. The prospective victim, another Canadian national living in the Bahamas, would have been kidnapped in Florida and murdered after being forced to wire millions of dollars to Djokich.

But when the two went looking for someone to carry out their plans, they found a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement informant who introduced them to a federal agent posing as a hit man, the US Attorney's office said in a statement.

By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff

For the first time in more than 10 years, a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center patient has died while undergoing a Cesarean section, the hospital reported today.

The mother died on Friday, and the baby experienced complications but appears to be improving, Dr. Kenneth Sands, the hospital's senior vice president of health care quality, said in a brief statement.

"This sad and very rare event appears to relate to an unanticipated complication at the time the baby was delivered by Caesarian section," it read.

"We immediately launched an internal review and have reported to the Department of Public Health. This is obviously a very sad and distressing event for our staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who have not experienced a loss like this for over 10 years. We continue to extend our deepest sympathy to the family."

The risk of death from a Cesarean section is estimated at less than 1 in 2,500, according to information on the Beth Israel Deaconess website. That is significantly more than the roughly 1-in-10,000 risk of a vaginal birth, but still low enough that the operations are performed more and more often in the United States, now comprising nearly one-third of births.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Editor’s Update: The case against Sarah Stevenson was continued without a finding for one year, according to district court records. After Ms. Stevenson met the requirements of the court, a judge dismissed the case on Dec. 17, 2010 following a recommendation by the Probation Department.

A 20-year-old Sudbury mother has been charged with reckless endangerment after police said she left her 2-year-old son home alone Saturday evening.

Sarah Stevenson will be summonsed to Framingham District Court, police said.

Neighbors in the Longfellow Glen apartment complex called 911 shortly after 8:30 p.m. after hearing a child crying nonstop for over 45 minutes, police said. Firefighters rushed to the apartment, but no one answered. They forced open the door and found a 2 1/2-year-old boy sitting on a couch with the television on.

The boy was wearing nothing but a T-shirt, having pried off his diaper.

Police removed the child from the apartment, and the state Department of Children and Families took custody of him. Spokeswoman Alison Goodwin confirmed that DCF still had custody of the child tonight. She would not comment on the boy's future.

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Ban Ki-moon said the world cannot afford to delay taking action on climate change.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- Calling global warming "the defining issue of our time," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged immediate international action to counteract the "imminent threat" of climate change.

In a wide-ranging speech this afternoon at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Ban said it was crucial to ratify an international treaty on greenhouse-gas emissions before the Kyoto Accord expires in 2012.

Climate change "is no longer theory, it has become a fact," he told an audience of several hundred. "We cannot afford to delay any action."

He later called upon the United States to take a leadership role in reducing carbon emissions, and said industrial nations have the potential to sharply reduce energy consumption.

"They have the capacity and technology and financial resources," he said. "What they lack is political will."

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff, and Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

A crossing guard was seriously injured today when she was struck outside a Dorchester elementary school by an 86-year-old driver, according to police.

Marie Conley, 59, of Dorchester was hit at about 8:48 a.m. outside Mather Elementary School, at the intersection of Parish and Winter Streets. She was taken to Boston Medical Center where she was in critical condition this afternoon, police said in a statement.

Witnesses told police that the victim, in full uniform with reflective vest, had signaled for traffic to stop while she was about to cross a student. She was struck as she stood in the middle of the intersection.

(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

Former Treasurer Robert Crane with the plaque dedicating a park in his honor at Boston College.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

A who's who of local and state politics gathered at Boston College this morning to dedicate a small campus park to Robert Crane, who served as state treasurer for 27 years and is credited with bringing the lottery to the commonwealth.

Laughter abounded inside the white tent erected on a parking lot behind St. Ignatius Church on Commonwealth Avenue, as approximately 300 of Crane's friends and political allies listened to a dozen or so speakers deliver one-liners or humorous stories about his career.

"There is no way you can prepare yourself for these, I'm at a loss for words,'' Crane told the audience.

The event lasted for about two hours. Later, the attendees walked a short distance to the park that now bears Crane's name, off Commonwealth Avenue and between Lower Campus Road and St. Thomas Road. A bronze plaque, bearing Crane's image, was set in a wall in the middle of the park.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/2005)

Three white arrows added to this 2005 photograph point to the stolen trim, which was two-feet wide.

By Globe Staff

The two state employees accused of stealing 2,000 feet of decorative ironwork from the Longfellow Bridge were indicted today by a Middlesex Superior Court grand jury.

The employees from the Department of Conservation and Recreation allegedly sold the metal to a scrap yard for roughly $12,000. The state estimates the ironwork will cost $500,000 to replace. It had been removed from the deteriorating bridge while crews repaired the 100-year-old span over the Charles River.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- A retired FBI agent testified today that he never took payoffs or gifts from longtime FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger or Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi, but that one time he did accept a Christmas gift from an informant who was a member of the Mafia.

John J. Connolly

But Buckley said he was meeting with a Mafia informant in the 1990s when the man's stepdaughter, who was about 5 years old, unexpectedly "handed me this gift box and said, 'This is from me and my Daddy,' "

"I didn't have the heart not to take it from her because the little girl handed it to me and I was showing a sign of trust with the informant,'' said Buckley, adding that a sweater that cost about $30 was tucked inside the box. "I accepted it because she handed it to me and it was a gesture of kindness. I didn't see any other reason behind it. There was no favor. There was no quid pro quo."

Buckley said agents aren't supposed to accept gifts so he later reported it to his superiors.

The defense called Buckley to the stand in an effort to challenge the credibility of Flemmi, one of the prosecution's key witnesses against Connolly, who is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 1982 slaying of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Framingham State College officials have apologized to alumni for a fund-raising letter to recent graduates that, in an apparent attempt to strike an irreverent tone, mixed the usual, earnest pitch for donations with long sections of “blah, blah, blah.”

“Today, the fact of the matter is that deserving students need help to finance their education. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” one section of the Sept. 5 letter said. The letter also included three other long "blah, blah" passages.

“Our decision to send you a letter containing the words “blah blah” was a misguided and embarrassing attempt to connect with alumni in a different way,” Christopher P. Hendry, vice president of college advancement, said in an Oct. 3 apology letter. “A few of you thought the letter amusing; others were offended, and for that I sincerely apologize. The last thing we want to be is disrespectful to you as a valued member of the Framingham State College alumni community.”

“I hope you will forgive our error and continue to be proud of Framingham State College,” the letter said.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

An off-duty Boston firefighter was one of two men killed in a crash early this morning when their car swerved off Route 28 in Quincy and rolled into a tree, police said.

Firefighter Paul Loring

Loring had joined the department in August 2006 and was most recently assigned to Tower Ladder 17 in downtown Boston, the department said today. He was engaged to be married and was shopping for a house, according to Commissioner Roderick Fraser, who spoke today with his parents.

"He was looking to kind of move ahead in his life," Fraser said. "It's very, very tragic. His parents, as you can imagine, are just destroyed over this."

Loring was an Iraqi War veteran, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts Army National Guard. He enlisted in 1999 and was honorably discharged in 2005. He served in Iraq with the 1058 Transportation Company, which is based in Hingham, from February 2003 to June 2004, said Army Major John McKenna.

“He was honorably discharged,’’ said McKenna.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Four high school students in Fitchburg were taken to a hospital as a precaution today after a classmate shared his prescription medication with friends.

The students at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School did not exhibit any symptoms from the drug, said Superintendent James Culkeen. The school nurse was notified that the teen was sharing his medication.

The students were conscious and alert but were taken to Leominster Hospital as a precaution, said Deputy Chief John Curran of the Fitchburg Fire Department.

Authorities did not specify what type of medication the students took.

(Globe file photo/1998)

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

The embattled former head of the Boston Public Library has been hired as the New York state librarian and assistant commissioner of education in Albany.

The New York state Board of Regents confirmed the appointment of Bernard A. Margolis at a meeting today.

"Just as the Yankees took Babe Ruth, Boston's loss is our gain," said Tom Dunn, New York education department spokesman. "We are thrilled."

Margolis spent 11 years as president of the Boston library system before he was ousted last year by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who complained that Margolis paid too much attention to the main Copley Square branch at the expense of the 27 neighborhood branches. Margolis denied the charge, compared the Menino administration to an authoritarian regime and said Menino's "anti-intellectual bent" threatened the integrity of the renowned library, one of the oldest in the nation.

Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and his ubiquitous entourage of Japanese sports writers crowded the Red Sox clubhouse on Monday, a day after Boston lost the American League pennant to the Tampa Bay Rays. Globe staff photographer Suzanne Kreiter captured this image as Matsuzaka cleaned out his locker after a season that stretched 173 games. It began on March 25 in Matsuzaka's hometown of Tokyo and ended just before midnight on Monday in Tampa Bay.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at the Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Off-duty Boston firefighter one of two men killed in Quincy crash

Buzz:

AG investigates DiMasi ally

Video spurs inquiry into Salem officer

... Watch the YouTube video (Warning: Explicit language)

News of popular teen's death rips apart three towns

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

As State Trooper Dana Cresta lay bleeding from the head on the Mass Turnpike in Newton on Saturday, the alleged drunken driver who had just struck him sat in his car for about 15 minutes and fretted about the situation, according to court records.

"I asked him if he got out of his car at all,'' Trooper Mark Augusta wrote in his arrest report. "Sullivan stated, 'No, why do that?' I asked him if he could see the trooper bleeding out in front of him, and he said yes.''

Patrick Sullivan, 23, was arraigned yesterday morning in Newton District Court on charges of operating under the influence, speeding to endanger, and driving in a breakdown lane. His lawyer, Daniel F. Campion, entered a plea of not guilty on Sullivan's behalf. Both men declined to comment outside the courthouse yesterday.

Cresta, 49, was airlifted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and listed in serious condition with facial injuries. According to authorities, Cresta was standing in the westbound breakdown lane about 2:51 a.m., responding to a traffic accident, when he was hit by Sullivan's Nissan Maxima sedan. Cresta struck the windshield and was thrown several feet.

Court records obtained after the arraignment detail a fun-filled evening for Sullivan, a shipper and laborer with Telecom Wireless, and a long-time friend that ended in a haze of drunkenness. His blood-alcohol lever was .155, nearly double the legal limit.

By Globe Staff

Two young women were stabbed on a Route 23 bus this afternoon in Dorchester, according to an MBTA spokesman.

The two women were taken to Boston Medical Center with what transit police described as non-life-threatening injuries, said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Transit police have taken a male suspect into custody in connection with the stabbing, which occurred on Washington Street just before 2 p.m.

The man allegedly exposed himself to the two young woman before all three individuals boarded the bus in the Codman Square area, Pesaturo said in an e-mail. A verbal altercation followed on board the bus, and the man allegedly pulled a knife. The man was brought to the transit police headquarters for booking, Pesaturo said.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

Bay Staters have a tough call to make tonight.

Watch the New England Patriots clash with the Denver Broncos, or watch US Senator John F. Kerry take on GOP challenger Jeff Beatty in the candidates' only televised debate.

The hour-long exchange between the candidates begins at 8 p.m. on New England Cable News. Kickoff of the Patriots-Broncos game is at 8:30 p.m. on WCVB-Channel 5 locally and ESPN nationally. The campaigns had agreed on the date, and the 8 p.m. slot was what NECN was offering.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

For many, the Boston skyline is a thing of beauty. But for those seeking a natural lightshow, the next few mornings could provide some fleeting drama.

The Orionid meteor shower will light up the skies over the next three mornings. The shower occurs every year during the third week of October and is best seen between midnight until dawn, away from the glare of the city.

Meteors are “tiny little particles that burn up in the atmosphere,” said Michael Person, a research scientist at MIT's Institute of Technology’s department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

As the meteoroids burn up, they form a streak in the sky. The Orionids earned their name because the streaks look they appear from the constellation Orion, he said.

“[It’s] not one of the bigger ones during the year,'' Person said of the shower. "But if you go out in the dark somewhere you can see things.”

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

The body of a 17-year-old was today discovered in a swampy forest in Norfolk, not far from the spot where she was last seen Friday night at a party in the woods after a homecoming football game.

Taylor Meyer

Meyer's body was discovered this morning in a muddy area near a creek after an aggressive three-day search that included helicopters and dogs, said Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating.

"There were no obvious signs of trauma," Keating said at a noon press conference. "That doesn't mean we know what the cause of death was. That is something that only the medical examiner's office after their investigation can speak to with any authority."

As is routine, the State Police crime scene investigation unit has also responded to the scene. Asked whether foul play was suspected, Keating said investigators "don't presume anything one way or another."

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- A judge gave jurors the day off today in the murder trial of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. so one of the jurors could attend the funeral of a relative.

John J. Connolly

Connolly, 68, who retired from the FBI in 1990, is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 1982 slaying in Florida of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan. Connolly is accused of warning longtime FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi that the FBI was seeking Callahan for questioning. It was likely that Callahan would implicate the gangsters in the 1981 slaying of a Tulsa businessman.

Hitman John Martorano testified that at the request of Bulger and Flemmi he lured Callahan to Florida and killed him. Callahan's bullet-riddled body was found Aug. 2, 1982 in the trunk of his Cadillac at Miami International Airport.

This image and the story it tells caught the attention of Globe photo editor Ted Garland:

Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie hit a walkoff single to defeat the Los Angeles Angels in the divisional series. Last night, Lowrie couldn't conjure the same magic. Globe Staff photographer Barry Chin captured this moment as Lowrie walked past the Tampa Bay Rays' victory pile after making the final out of the Red Sox season.

The Rays head to their first World Series, which begins at the Trop on Wednesday night. The Red Sox head home. The next game: April 6, 2009, at Fenway Park against the same Tampa Bay Rays.

Ted Gartland, a dayside photo editor at Globe, has been taking pictures in metropolitan Boston since 1971. To view the work of more Globe photographers, click here.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Police use choppers, dogs in search for missing teen in Norfolk

Buzz:

DAs fight bid to ease penalty for marijuana

Permit for moose is the first long shot

Downtrodden fans quiet after loss

Shays fights to keep 'endangered' GOP New England base

Newspapers, Radio, TV:

Trial begins of former Dorchester man accused of killing N.H. police officer

6 arrested at the UMass Amherst after Boston Red Sox loss

Heating oil prices drop in Maine

... And in Connecticut

200 trees may be cut at Emily Dickinson home to make way for 'historically accurate hedge'

Music, light display to provide Halloween's grand finale in Salem

Boys & Girls Club squeezed by success on Cape Cod

Two to three lanes of I-93 south between South Bay and Exit 18 Mass Ave. will be closed Monday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Two to three lanes of I-93 south will be closed approaching and through Downtown today through Friday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The Storrow Drive onramp to I-93 south will be closed Monday and Thursday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

POOL PHOTO/KATE GLASS
Gail and William Johnson (far left and rear right) stand behind their lawyers, Susan McNeil
and Ron Ranta during their arraignment at Lawrence District Court.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

An Andover couple was arrested this morning and charged with criminally harassing their neighbors over the Internet because of a property dispute.

The harassment allegedly started with a fake advertisement on Craig's List for used golf carts and other annoyances, like an unwanted memberships to a national nudist association. It then escalated to fake reports of child abuse to state social workers, mysteriously opened bank accounts, and threatening emails and letters, prosecutors said.

Bill and Gail Johnson, both 51, of High Vale Lane, pleaded not guilty to counts of criminal harassment, identity fraud and conspiracy at their arraignment in Essex District Court. The Johnsons, parents of three teenage daughters, stood silently in the courtroom. Each had hired their own attorney.

Both lawyers said the couple are Tewksbury High School graduates who own a realty company and have lived in Andover for nine years.

By Brian Ballou, Globe Staff

Jeremias Bins' longstanding jealousy of his wife's devotion to her Mormon faith boiled over two years ago in their Framingham bedroom when he grabbed a hammer out of his toolbox and struck her in the head at least six times. And when his 11-year-old stepson rushed in, Bins turned on him, a prosecutor alleged today.

"He did it with such atrocity and cruelty,'' Lee Hettinger, Middlesex County assistant district attorney, said in his opening statement in Bins' double murder trial. Carla Souza called 911 in the moments before the attack, and was likely on the phone with a dispatcher when the alleged assault occurred, Hettinger said.

In graphic detail that caused tears and gasps from people in the courtroom, the prosecutor described the crime scene. Carla Souza was lying on the floor with a pool of blood around her head, and her son Caique was nearby, also lying on the floor. Blood poured from his head onto the floor.

Both victims, their skulls crushed and brains lacerated, were still alive, Hettinger told the jury. Caique would die almost an hour later at Metrowest Medical Center. Carla would cling to life for almost three hours before she was declared dead at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

By Anne Baker, Globe correspondent

A Weymouth man pleaded not guilty this morning to charges that he wounded his neighbor while target shooting in his backyard, a spokesman for the Norfolk District Attorney’s office said.

John C. Murphy III, 19, pleaded not guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, said David Traub.

Murphy’s cash bail was set at $10,000. As of midday, Traub said he did not yet know whether Murphy had posted bail.

Murphy was arrested Thursday night after he struck his neighbor, who was walking her dog, in the arm with a .22-caliber rifle, said Weymouth Police Lieutenant Robert Johnson.

Deborah O’Neill, 50, was taken to the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and had surgery last night to repair her shattered elbow, Johnson said. She is still listed as a patient there.

Murphy, who serves in the Coast Guard, told police he was shooting at a wood pile when a stray bullet hit O’Neill.

Traub said Murphy could face 10 years in prison if found guilty. Two additional firearms, two BB guns and a pellet gun have also been confiscated from his home on Gilbert Road, Traub said. Murphy has also been ordered not to contact O’Neill or her husband.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are criticizing Chancellor Robert C. Holub's decision to freeze hiring and cut spending by $12 million in response to reduced state subsidies, contending he should instead tap reserves to offset the lost revenue.

"This proposal cuts into the heart of the academic mission of the campus, and students will be the ones who suffer as their education is undermined," said Dan Clawson, a sociology professor.

The university's main faculty union, The Massachusetts Society of Professors, said the university should use money set aside for future building projects to avoid cuts to academic departments.

"The fact that the chancellor is choosing to cut academic departments and stop hiring faculty, rather than taking money from existing reserves, shows that he is using this 'budget crisis' to implement his own agenda without consulting campus constituencies," said Max Page, union president.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- A parade of current and former police officers have been called to the stand today in the state murder trial of former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. in an apparent effort by the defense to cast doubt on claims that he leaked information to longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi that prompted them to kill several people.

Two officers testified about encounters with Bulger associate Edward "Brian" Halloran, indicating that he was being targeted long before he was gunned down by Bulger in a drive-by shooting on Boston's waterfront in May 1982.

Boston Police Detective Timothy Lynch told the Florida jury that he responded to a call of shots fired near a union hall on Freeport Street in Dorchester on June 6, 1981, and found Halloran sitting in a parking lot uninjured in his Cadillac -- its rear window shattered by bullets.

Lynch said he didn't know who Halloran was at the time, but later discovered he was a known criminal, with a history of loansharking and extortion.

"It's not unusual for someone who commits those violent crimes to have someone try to shoot at them, right?" asked Miami-Dade assistant state attorney Michael Von Zamft during cross-examination. "No sir,'' said Lynch.

Retired Quincy Police Detective David Schofield testified that he investigated a report that a gun was fired at Halloran's condo on Willard Street in Quincy in April 1981. He said he found a bullet mark on the building.

Schofield testified that Halloran told him he suspected that a loanshark victim, whose leg he had broken, may have fired the shot at his apartment.

Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, testified earlier that Bulger killed Halloran after Connolly warned him and Bulger that Halloran had become an FBI informant and was cooperating against them. Halloran started cooperating with the FBI in January 1982 and told investigators that Bulger, Flemmi, and Boston business consultant John B. Callahan had orchestrated the 1981 slaying of a legitimate Tulsa businessman who suspected them of skimming from his company.

The following is a blog entry written on Aug. 30, 2008, by Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato, who was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was blown up by an improvised explosive device. This entry was forwarded to the Globe by his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Crawford.

If I may …

I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

"That was pretty magical."

Buzz:

State fiscal problems may worsen

Where the cutbacks might hurt the most

Interest in Blue Jeans the dog doesn't fade

3 Hub college students arrested at debate site

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Meghan McCain greeted volunteers at the campaign headquarters on Tremont Street.

By Sol Israel, Globe Correspondent

Meghan McCain visited her father's campaign headquarters on Tremont Street in downtown Boston today, taking time off from the road to meet the volunteers.

The visit by the 23-year-old pop-culture aficionado and campaign trail blogger was a source of noticeable excitement for the diverse crowd. Even though most acknowledged US Senator John McCain's poor chances of victory in their traditionally liberal home state, they expressed optimism about their work.

Meghan McCain did not seem fazed by the prospect of visiting a strongly Democratic area like Boston.

"I've been to a lot of quote-unquote Democratic areas," McCain said from a plush leather chair in the Straight Talk Express bus. "I do think there's an interesting idea of headquarters in the middle of very Democratic areas. And that's true for the Obama campaign, their headquarters in very red areas – you still have to have it."

By Globe Staff

Democratic leaders held caucuses today in the House and Senate to wrestle with Governor Deval Patrick's plan to slash more than $1 billion from the state budget.

Roughly $341 million of the cuts, new revenues, and use of reserves require legislative approval, including several initiatives that have already been killed once by lawmakers. Those failed proposals that Patrick has revived include adding tiers to healthcare plans for state employees and taxing telecommunications companies for telephone poles.

Top lawmakers are weighing whether to return for a special session or wait until their next formal session, in January. Patrick indicated he wanted legislative approvals "as soon as possible," but did not call lawmakers back to Beacon Hill.

House lawmakers were “talking about what the governor proposed last night and starting to look at what the options are for the Legislature going forward,” said David Guarino, a spokesman for House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

No decisions were made. “We haven’t seen the details of what the governor is proposing. We’d have to take a good hard look at that first,” Guarino said.

By Globe Staff

Two men who allegedly overbilled the state by more than $300,000 for work on the Big Dig construction project were sentenced today in federal court.

Ryan McCourt of Quincy, Mass., was sentenced to two years of probation, a $1,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. Kenneth Hartley of California was sentenced to six months in the custody of the US Bureau of Prisons, two years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

The two men had pleaded guilty in July to one count each of conspiracy to make false statements regarding a federal highway project, the US attorney's office said.

Prosecutors said that McCourt and Hartley, along with Big Dig contractor McCourt Construction, schemed to overbill the multi-billion-dollar project by falsely categorizing apprentice ironworkers, among other workers, as higher-paid journeymen.

Prosecutors have said the workers were paid as apprentices and the company pocketed the difference. The overpayments allegedly totaled $314,494.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

The Middlesex district attorney’s office has decided not to prosecute three police officers for their actions during a protest in Woburn last week of the state’s new civilian flagger rules.

"Based on the evidence that we were presented with by the Woburn Police Department, there is insufficient evidence to prove that criminal conduct occurred,” the district attorney's spokesman, Corey Welford, said in a statement. “While we must respect the First Amendment rights of all citizens, we also will continue to look at any other incidents like this and are certainly willing to move forward with criminal charges if supported by the evidence."

Woburn officials had asked prosecutors to investigate the conduct of the three out-of-town officers. Woburn police Chief Philip L. Mahoney said today that he had called the chiefs of the two departments where the officers serve and requested that they be disciplined for actions unbecoming of police officers.

“My concern is that these officers be held accountable,” Mahoney said in a phone interview. “Their conduct was inappropriate – absolutely inappropriate.”

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Police are trying to determine who assembled two homemade explosive devices that were found this week by a woman walking on Fisherman's Beach in Swampscott.

The devices were tennis balls filled with black powder and wrapped in duct tape. Each had a wick, which would have been used to light them, said Robert Faulkner, a Swampscott Fire Department investigator.

The devices were found Monday by a resident of Puritan Road, which runs along the beach. The woman brought the devices to her home and put them on her front porch. She later put them in a plastic bag and placed them at the front of her property, said Faulkner.

The woman called police Wednesday evening to report the devices after a friend urged her to do so. Police called the Fire Department, which dispatched investigators. After realizing the situation, the department called the State Police bomb squad, Faulkner said.

Why does Boston University cost $50,000 a year, and what is BU doing to weather the economic downturn? The school's president, Robert A. Brown, addressed these and other questions today during an online chat on Boston.com. View the complete transcript. Here are some highlights:

The economic crisis

A. I worry a lot about access to Boston University of qualified students, especially in the present economic environment. The major reason behind our hiring freeze was to anticipate the demand for more financial aid under our current need-based financial aid policies from both our existing students and new students next fall.

Q. Do you also anticipate a drop in applications, or as is the case with tough economic times, an increase in applications?

A. We don't anticipate a decrease in undergraduate applications; students only graduate from high school once. Typically applications to graduate programs actually go up in a recession. I do worry about the financial need of the applying students.

Q. What is BU doing to prepare its graduates for the unstable economy? In particular, what, if anything, is the School of Management doing to create business people who will fix this mess.

A. Any first-rate business school is focused on preparing its graduates for an ever-changing world and for the continuing education and personal growth they will need to deal with change throughout their careers. Wow, are we seeing the need for this kind of education now. Our graduates also need to understand the complexity of the world today and how difficult it is to assess risk in a host of ways.

Cost of college

Q. Why does it cost nealy $50,000 a year to attend BU? Where, roughly, does all of that money go?

A. The operation of BU is driven by tuition and fees with over 65% of the budget coming from these revenues. Because our endowment is small relative to the scale of the university, we cannot rely on income from the endowment to play a significant role. The majority of our expenses is for salaries and benefits of our faculty and staff, as well as financial aid for our students.

Q. One might argue that someone would be better off investing $200k+ elsewhere rather than attending a middle-of-the-pack ranked university. One's credentials certainly would presumably benefit from a top 20, but is the price of education at $50k vastly different and better than a state school or other schools that cost considerably less?

A. You can take that position, but be sure you define the middle of the pack correctly. There are thousands of universities and colleges in the United States and even more worldwide. Anybody in the top 100 is VERY good.

By Globe Staff

Twenty braille typewriters and a 72-volume braille dictionary, gifts from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, have made it across the world to a school for the blind in Baghdad.

Twenty Perkins Braillers have arrived in Baghdad.

The items were loaded onto a truck on Sept. 25 at the school, along with 75 new pairs of sunglasses donated by American Harley-Davidson of Leominster. They arrived at 1 p.m. Sunday Baghdad time, the school announced on its website.

“To me, it was thrilling that we could play any role at all to help them get much needed resources,” said Morgan. “I thought it was terrific”

Perkins International partnered with International Relief and Development to arrange shipping. Dr. David Elkins, an IRD official, delivered the supplies to the school. “I had a great time and feel fortunate to play a small role in getting these materials to the school... I think I put sunglasses on 40 kids or so," he wrote in an e-mail Sunday evening to the school.

CNN, in a report broadcast today, showed the staff unwrapping a Brailler and young students trying on the sunglasses.

“I thank everyone for this symbolic gift,” said one boy. “Things will be better now.”

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

BEVERLY -- A 25-year-old soldier with Massachusetts roots died after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb this week in Afghanistan, his mother said.

Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato, who was trained as a Humvee gunner, had been home on leave for three weeks in September, said his mother, Elizabeth Crawford. He was killed after volunteering to go out on a patrol Monday while serving with the First Infantry Division.

By Globe Staff

A 44-year-old Dorchester woman pleaded guilty today to stabbing her brother to death during an argument in 2006 in their mother's home, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Kathy Booth was convicted of second-degree murder in the June 1, 2006, death of 44-year-old Keith Payne. Judge Elizabeth Donovan handed down the mandatory sentence of life in prison, with parole eligibility after 15 years.

Prosecutors said that if the case had gone to trial, they would have shown that Booth was angry at Payne because he lived with their mother and, because of him, she could not live there.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino ordered his top finance officials today to begin a detailed review of city spending, particularly capital improvement projects in the pipeline. The move comes a day after Governor Deval Patrick announced the worst single round of midyear budget rollbacks in state history.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino

"These are difficult times," the mayor's spokeswoman, Dorothy Joyce, said today. "The city has been through them before. We'll get through them again. It is true, it will be difficult, but we will adjust."

City officials said they are still combing through the more than $1 billion of state budget cuts announced by Patrick last night to determine how Boston will be affected.

(Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff/file 2007)

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- The world knows him as James "Whitey" Bulger, featured on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list alongside Osama bin Laden. But today Bulger's longtime girlfriend, 67-year-old Teresa Stanley told a Florida jury that during her 30 years of living with the South Boston gangster she called him by another name: Charlie.

Family photograph shows Teresa Stanley with James "Whitey" Bulger.

Stanley, who was subpoenaed to testify by the defense, recounted leaving Boston abruptly just before Christmas 1994 on a whirlwind cross-country trek that marked the beginning of Bulger's life on the run.

She recounted that she was Christmas shopping at Neiman Marcus in Boston's Copley Square when Bulger told her it was time to go. "He just said we were going to go away on a little trip,'' Stanley said.

By Globe Staff

A Haverhill man was killed Wednesday night after he crashed an allegedly stolen car on an Interstate 93 offramp in Woburn, police said. A passenger in the car survived the wreck and was arrested at the scene.

A state trooper had attempted to stop the Subaru Baja before it crashed on the Commerce Way offramp, said David Procopio, a State Police spokesman. Officials are in the process of reviewing the response to determine whether there was a pursuit by police, Procopio said.

State Police received a call from a motorist who reported that the Baja was being driven erratically. A state trooper ran the vehicle's license plate and determined that it had been reported stolen in Haverhill, Procopio said.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Beverly soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan

Gas leak prompts evacuations in Charlestown

Buzz:

Patrick to cut 1,000 jobs from state payroll

Suddenly, Sox no longer the hot ticket

Down, but state GOP says it's far from out

Emotions high over school closings

By Globe Staff

A construction crew struck a major gas main this morning in Charlestown, prompting the evacuation of at least one building near the Bunker Hill Mall, police said.

The gas main was struck near the corner of Rutherford Avenue and Austin Street at 8:23 a.m. No injuries have been reported.

The Boston Fire Department is evacuating the area while officials stop the leak. A hazmat technician responded to the scene.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick said today that he will eliminate 1,000 jobs from state government and slash the budget by more than $1 billion, reacting to the national economic crisis with sweeping cuts that his administration called the worst single round of midyear budget rollbacks in state history.

The reductions will be spread across almost all sectors of state government, biting deeply into state university campuses and community colleges, the state’s health insurance programs, and dozens of social service programs from assistance for at-risk teenagers to services for the mentally ill and the elderly.

The cuts range from a hit of nearly $300 million on healthcare spending to the elimination of simple reminder letters to residents to get their driver’s licenses renewed.

Thus far, the governor is sparing local aid to cities and towns and urgently-needed bridge repairs. The list of cuts is notable, even targeting populations like disabled adults and the blind, because they come from a Democratic governor who has made protecting disadvantaged populations a core theme of his administration.

‘‘I know you are anxious. There is real cause for concern. But not for panic,’’ Patrick told state residents during a State House briefing that was televised live late this afternoon. ‘‘Just like families all across the Commonwealth, the state government is feeling the pinch.’’

The governor struck a tone of sympathy for the pain his constituents will feel from the budget cuts, but he also sought to portray the crisis as manageable and under control.

‘‘People will feel these cuts in certain services,’’ Patrick added. ‘‘Expect longer waits at the Registry of Motor Vehicles; expect less community policing patrols; expect slower permitting approvals; expect less frequent maintenance of our parks and open spaces.’’

Massachusetts and states from New York to California have been forced to revise budgets approved just months earlier in response to the national meltdown in credit markets, plummeting stock and real estate values, and an economy that appears to be tumbling toward a recession. Patrick said the state’s job reductions will come through a combination of layoffs, not filling open positions, and encouraging current employees to retire.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

TAUNTON – A 17-year-old high school junior today pleaded not guilty to charges she joined with two other girls and attacked a 63- year-old disabled man after he had angrily ordered them to stop their horseplay in a busy city street.

Angelina Berwick was arrested by Taunton Police Tuesday night shortly after 6 p.m. when she and the two girls allegedly attacked Paul Pawlowski, who became upset after his grandson was forced to abruptly drive around them to avoid hitting at least one of the girls.

In an interview Wednesday night outside his High steet home, Pawlowski acknowledged that he used a racial slur during the incident and said he "kept getting in'' the face of one of the teen girls involved.

Here's how Governor Deval Patrick plans to close the $1.4 billion budget gap:

SPENDING CUTS

$755 million – hundreds of immediate cuts using budget-cutting authority the governor has under Section 9C
$146 million – expected costs, such as overtime requests, that were not budgeted and will now not be approved
$52 million – voluntary cuts from areas beyond the governor’s budget-cutting control, including the state Legislature, attorney general’s office, and judicial branch
$100 million* – extending by two years the amount of time the state will take to pay off its pension account. Instead of paying it off by 2023, the schedule would be extended to 2025.

NEW REVENUES

$100 million – one-time tax and legal settlements through the Department of Revenue
$55 million – new federal money that was unanticipated
$13 million* – tightening the tax code for telecommunications companies, requiring them to pay taxes on their telephone poles
$40 million – quasi-independent agencies, such as Mass Housing and Mass Development, will pick up the tab for costs currently funded by state tax dollars
$28 million* -- tiering state health care plans to income levels, which will raise the premiums for the highest-earning state employees

USE OF RESERVES

$200 million* – the state will spend $600 million total from reserves this year instead of the original $400 million. It will leave $1.6 billion in the fund.

_____

* These items will require approval from the state Legislature, and these figures assume they would act by early January.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Boston's Landmarks Commission has approved the demolition of the former Massachusetts District Commission headquarters on Beacon Hill, a key advance for Suffolk University's plans to build a $68 million academic building and art school at the Somerset Street property.

The commission last night unanimously gave Suffolk the go-ahead to knock down the 76-year-old brick building, which has fallen into disrepair and has been unoccupied for several years. Suffolk agreed to commemorate the commission's history and achievements at the new building and an adjacent plaza.

"This is an extremely important step for this project," said John Nucci, Suffolk's vice president for external affairs.

Suffolk still needs permission from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to demolish the MDC building, and needs the city's approval to build the new 10-story facility, which neighbors and city officials are now reviewing.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- He infiltrated the Mafia for six years as an undercover FBI agent. He wrote a book about it that was turned into a 1997 movie, "Donnie Brasco," starring Johnny Depp. His photo is all over the Internet, most recently on a blog promoting his alleged efforts to solve the 1990 theft of $300 million worth of artwork from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

But today, Joseph D. Pistone, refused to take the witness stand at the state murder trial of his longtime friend, former FBI Agent John J. Connolly Jr., because the judge rejected his request for an order prohibiting the media from filming or photographing him as he testified.

Pistone, who was slated to testify for the defense, made it as far as the Miami-Dade county courthouse. He wore large brown-tinted sunglasses as he ate lunch with Connolly's lawyers in a busy cafeteria on the first floor.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

With America embroiled in two overseas conflicts and its economy faltering, people are rushing today to meet an 8 p.m. deadline to register to vote in the presidential election, several election officials said.

“All I can tell you is, it’s constant, nonstop, counter full of people waiting in back of people, phones ringing off the hook,” said Kathy Hoar Fleury, election commissioner in Springfield. “I have never seen anything like this.”

“The race, the presidential race, that’s all they talk about,” she said. “I think it’s great. I hope that all these people that are registering go out to vote. But they certainly seem excited.”

By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent

MARSHFIELD -- Selectmen have unanimously voted to order a male pit bull terrier put down because of his vicious behavior, but first they must find him.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the dog's owner Louis Carpenito was given 11 days to provide selectmen with proof he had complied with their order and euthanize Rocky. Rocky has bitten four people and one dog over the past five years.

Among Rocky's victims was a municipal employee, who was bitten on the hand in the Marshfield Town Hall parking lot. The employee, Diane D’Allessandro, said function in that hand is currently a 2 on a 10 scale, according to Town Manager Rocco Longo.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

The State Racing Commission voted this morning to ban all performance-enhancing drugs for racehorses, following a model national policy that has been adopted by 15 other states.

"This is something aimed at protecting racehorses,'' said Alexandra Lightbown, the commission's chief veterinarian, moments after the body unanimously passed the ban. The meeting, held at the commission's headquarters, was open to the public, but there was no opposition to the measure.

Lightbown said steroid use is not widespread in horse racing in Massachusetts. She also said there is no definitive or conclusive evidence that steroids translate into better racing times on the track for horses.

"It's a perception issue that follows what has happened on the human side, and dealing with steroids in baseball and other sports,'' she said.

The ban goes into effect on Jan. 1. The penalties for violating the ban have not been finalized.

(Jodi Hilton/Tufts University)

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Correspondent

Scientific sleuthing by a Tufts University geology team in a rock formation behind a strip mall in North Attleborough has yielded the world's oldest whole-body impression of a winged insect, according to Tufts. The discovery was announced today.

The exquisitely-detailed fossil has been identified as the imprint left 310 million years ago by a primitive mayfly that lighted briefly on a muddy outcropping in what was then a steamy Carboniferous Period flood plain.

That fleeting moment in the life of a creature that probably lived no longer than 24 hours was captured for eternity by mud that hardened into rock, until it was discovered last year by Tufts geology student Richard J. Knecht working with Jacob Benner, a paleontologist who specializes in ichnology, the study of prehistoric animal behavior as told by fossilized tracks and other evidence.

"This is an extremely rare fossil record of insect behavior, not just the fossilized body of an insect," Benner said in an interview.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

The flames from the Red Sox' skidding season seem to be spreading. The Citgo sign that looms over Fenway Park caught fire this morning, the plastic partially melting in a small electrical blaze inside the storied sign.

Flames were actually visible from Storrow Drive during the fire, which caused $5,000 in damage, said Steve MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Boston Fire Department.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, which ignited just before noon. No one was injured. It was not immediately clear how long it would take to fix the sign.

By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff

Fourteen-year-old Haleigh Poutre may still be called as a witness in the trial of her stepfather, who is accused of participating in her near-fatal beating three years ago.

Haleigh Poutre

Haleigh, a Westfield girl who was once at the center of a national end-of-life controversy, remains at a pediatric rehabilitation facility in Brighton. Though she lapsed into a coma in the fall of 2005 and nearly had her life support removed, she has recovered to the point that she can speak some simple words and attend a day school.

Hampden Superior Court Judge Judd Carhart has said he will hold a competency hearing if Haleigh is called to the stand. Such a hearing was initially scheduled for Oct. 1, when prosecutors insisted they planned to call the girl as one of their primary witnesses. But the day before the hearing, prosecutors abruptly announced they had changed their minds and declined to say why.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

WOBURN -- An internal investigation by city officials has found that three out-of-town police officers potentially committed crimes and acted in ways unbecoming of a police officer when they participated last week in a protest of new civilian flagger rules.

After reviewing videotapes of the Oct. 7 protest on Lexington Street, Mayor Tom McLaughlin said today that he has turned over evidence to the Middlesex district attorney’s office for review of possible charges.

McLaughlin declined to release the names of the officers or the communities where they serve.

He said the potential charges stemmed from one officer driving recklessly in the wrong lane of traffic, as well as the other two screaming at one of the flaggers in an effort to distract him from his work.

“The law has been changed in the Commonwealth and we have to respect the law, whether someone agrees with it or not,” Police Chief Philip L. Mahoney said at news conference this morning at City Hall. “I’m not going to stand for this ever again.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today that the Attorney General’s Office is committed to making $500,000 to $1,000,000 in budget cuts for the remainder of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget.

Governor Deval Patrick is expected to announce this week proposed reductions to the current state budget in light of the fiscal crisis confronting the Commonwealth. We are committed to working with the Governor and Legislature to address the fiscal challenges and recognize that all three branches must work collaboratively.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick’s $3 billion bridge rebuilding program will not be affected by today's budget cuts, a state transportation official said today.

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen

Cohen said the eight-year program, expected to fix up to 300 dilapidated bridges, will be paid for through the capital budget. The Patrick administration plans to target the operating budget when it announces cuts this afternoon.

The state will issue bonds to pay for the repairs. Cohen said Patrick has urged him to move forward as quickly as possible on the repairs, hoping the spending will boost the economy.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

A Lawrence man who fled the state before being tried on charges he helped stage a car crash that resulted in a woman’s death and sparked a statewide crackdown on car insurance fraud was arrested last week in New Jersey, authorities said today.

Hairo Gomez was arrested under an alias on charges of selling cocaine in a school zone in Perth Amboy, N.J., Lawrence Police Chief John Romero said in a telephone interview.

Gomez, who was arrested on Oct. 10, had been sought since February 2007, when he was to face manslaughter charges for allegedly staging a two-car crash in 2003. Romero said Gomez was driving the car that hit Altagracia Arias, 65, who was in the back seat of the other vehicle.

“This case was the catalyst that started the crackdown on insurance fraud in the state,” Romero said.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:
Police arrest 'catalyst' in car insurance fraud crackdown

Buzz:
Governor Deval Patrick is expected to announce budget cuts and layoffs this afternoon as the state faces a $1.5 billion decline in revenue

South Station clock takes a timeout

Rare lion is zoo's pride and joy

At MIT, chic nudges geek

By Gabrielle Dunn, Globe Correspondent

Police today identified the victim of a fatal stabbing Saturday in East Boston as 19-year-old Rafael Sandoval.

The Chelsea resident was stabbed at about 11:50 p.m. in a shopping plaza, in front of a Shaw’s Supermarket, at 220 Border Street in East Boston.

On arrival, officers located the Hispanic teen suffering from an apparent stab wound, police said.

Sandoval was immediately transported to the Massachusetts General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The incident remains under investigation and police are looking for a suspect.

They are especially interested in information about a dark four-door Honda or Toyota that was seen leaving the scene. The homicide was the 48th of the year in Boston, compared to 54 at that same time last year, said police spokesman James Kenneally.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is expected to announce Wednesday that state revenues will decline this year by as much as $1.5 billion, giving greater urgency to the sweeping budget cuts and layoffs he is planning.

The state disclosed the revenue shortfall -- which it said could range from $800 million to $1.5 billion -- in a disclosure document filed jointly for bond investors by State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and Secretary of Administration and Finance Leslie A. Kirwan. The document was filed Friday but not previously released.

Patrick this morning painted a dire picture of the budget cuts he plans to announce Wednesday, saying average residents will be affected and state workers will be laid off.

“People will feel this in their services,” Patrick said at a brief news conference. “This is not about cutting so-called fat. This is going to cut muscle, because the scale of the issue requires that.”

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Staff

A regional high school in Lakeville was locked down today after bullets were found in a hallway by a custodian.

Apponequet Regional, which serves the towns of Lakeville and Freetown, was placed on lockdown at about 9 a.m. The head school custodian found six .22-caliber bullets in a back corridor of the school, according to Superintendent Stephen J. Furtado of the Freetown & Lakeville School District. The custodian notified the principal who then called police.

Students and faculty were placed on lockdown, which involves locking all doors and having all people in the building inside classrooms. The building was locked down for two hours and 40 minutes, said Furtado.

“Staff and the students reacted marvelously. They did everything they were supposed to do,” he said.

(Globe file photos)

Jayquan McConnico (left) pleaded guilty today as a youthful offender to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson.

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A teenager pleaded guilty today in juvenile court to involuntary manslaughter, admitting that he brought an illegal handgun into the Dorchester apartment where his 8-year-old half-brother, Liquarry Jefferson, was accidentally shot and killed in June 2007.

The guilty plea as a youth offender from Jayquan McConnico came as part of a deal that will spare the 16-year-old from serving time in an adult prison. Instead, McConnico will be placed in a detention center in the custody of the Department of Youth Services until he is 21 years old.

The plea deal, which was approved by the judge and prosecutors, will place McConnico on probation for nine years, carrying a suspended sentence of four to six years in state prison. McConnico agreed to the terms this afternoon after conferring with his attorney, Steven J. Sack.

McConnico stood before the judge in a button-down shirt with his hands and ankles chained. Expressionless, he answered with one-word responses of yes and no. McConnico admitted leaving the gun in an unlocked dresser drawer where Liquarry and his 7-year-old cousin found the weapon in June 2007. Authorities said the cousin accidentally pulled the trigger, fatally shooting Liquarry in the abdomen.

(AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

Federal Judge Edward Harrington testified today in Miami.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- A federal judge from Boston told a jury today that retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr.'s crime fighting efforts against organized crime in the 1980s helped decimate the New England Mafia.

John J. Connolly

"Well, John Connolly had great ability and he had a certain flair that attracted a confidence and trust with underworld figures,'' said Harrington, who served as US Attorney in Massachusetts from 1977 to 1981. "And he had several top-echelon underworld figures that he handled who provided the federal government with enormous and critical intelligence which was the basis for successful prosecutions."

Connolly's relationship with two of those informants, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, is at the heart of his murder trial in Florida.

The 68-year-old Connolly, who retired from the FBI in 1990 after 22 years, is accused of murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 1982 slaying of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan. Connolly is accused of warning Bulger and Flemmi that Callahan was being sought for questioning by the FBI and would likely implicate the gangsters in the 1981 slaying of a Tulsa businessman.

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A middle school student made a disturbing discovery this morning en route to school – a woman who had been beaten bloody lying on the lawn at a home where he routinely drops off his bike before school, according to neighbors and Boston police.

The boy found the woman in a yard on Winthrop Street around 7:35 a.m. as he was heading to the Dearborn Middle School, which is located across the street from where the woman was attacked, according to neighbors and police.

Police said the woman was so severely injured that they first believed she had been shot in the head, but once the 38-year-old woman was taken to Boston Medical Center, doctors discovered she was the victim of a beating.

She was in critical condition and expected to survive the assault. Police said no arrests have been made.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Undergraduate enrollment at the state's public universities and colleges climbed more than 4 percent this fall as a slumping economy sent thousands of students searching for lower tuition costs.

The number of students attending the public system's 28 undergraduate institutions rose by about 7,000 from last fall to an all-time high of 176,314, according to estimates released today by the state Department of Higher Education. The enrollment increase was the highest in at least a decade, education officials said.

Community colleges saw the greatest surge, with enrollment at the 15 two-year schools rising more than 5 percent. The increase continues a decade-long climb, with overall enrollment rising 30 percent over that time.

Bristol Community College's enrollment rose almost 10 percent this fall, while Mount Wachusett Community College's surged nearly 11 percent.

"Eleven percent is pretty startling," said Daniel M. Asquino, the Wachusett college president. "I think a lot of it is due to the economy. People asked themselves 'Can I really afford to take out a loan or extend my home equity.' "

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Dozens of people called to offer donations or simply dropped off bags of food this morning at the Twelfth Baptist Church after hearing that someone had stolen a van full of food destined for the church food pantry. Then came more good news: the van had been found.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Clara Bell, assistant to the minister at the Roxbury church. “It’s going to require some repair work, but we’re very happy that it’s been returned.” She said a "substantial amount" of the food was still in the 2007 Ford van.

The vehicle, which contained about 1,100 pounds of food, was left in the church parking lot at about 10 p.m. Friday. Church officials discovered at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday that it was gone, police said.

By Globe Staff

The state appeals court has upheld the convictions of two men who attacked Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce eight years ago in an after-hours party at a Boston nightclub.

William Ragland was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the attack, while Trevor Watson was convicted of assault and battery. The attack occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 2000 at the Buzz Club.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court rejected various challenges by Ragland and Watson, including their arguments that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient because highly incriminatory grand jury testimony from a witness, which was introduced at the trial, was recanted by the witness when she testified.

The court said that the grand jury testimony was admissible as evidence, even though the witness told a different story on the witness stand, and that the sum of the evidence was sufficient to convict both men.

By Globe Staff

A one-punch, cut-lip fight broke out between two passengers on a plane that landed this morning at Logan International Airport.

The argument erupted on board American Airlines flight 452 shortly after landing at 11:03 a.m. The 757 was at a gate in Terminal B when an argument escalated between two male passengers on the flight from Miami, said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan.

One of the passengers threw a punch and cut the other man's lip, Orlendella said. Neither passenger was arrested or charged with a crime.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

A cook was burned this morning in Norwood when a gas oven exploded in a blast that blew out the windows of Brother’s Bakery, police said.

The explosion on Washington Street occurred just after 11 a.m. as the woman was lighting the stove, said spokesman Paul Bishop for the Norwood Police Department. The woman fled the flaming building after suffering burns to her head, hands, neck, and back.

She was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Her condition was not available, Bishop said.

The flames in the bakery were quickly extinguished. The woman was the only employee at the time inside Brother’s Bakery, which makes rolls and bread. It occupies the bottom floor of a three-story building. Apartments on the top two floors were not affected.

By Globe Staff

Tried of T riders yakking incessantly on cell phones? Ashamed when no one gives up a seat for the pregnant, elderly, or infirm? Annoyed by overeager commuters who force their way onto a bus, train, or trolley without allowing others to get off first?

So is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which launched a courtesy campaign today to remind riders how to behave. T officials hope the green, purple, pink, orange, and blue billboards will be hard to miss.

The messages are catchy: "Don't be a drone on the phone." Light-hearted: "Be sweet. Offer your seat." Direct: "Don't be a lout. Let them out." And whimsical: "Don’t dash without your trash."

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Woman suffers severe head trauma in Roxbury

Buzz:

BU outlines biolab safety steps

Seeking a home away from homophobia

Amherst College sophomore dies in crash; 3 others injured

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

The administration at a prestigious Cambridge private school has apologized to alumni and the school community for mishandling reports of sexual abuse of students by a middle school teacher more than 20 years ago.

Writing on behalf of the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and its board of trustees, the school’s leader apologized to the victims and the entire BB&N community and encouraged any victims of former teacher Edward ‘‘Ted’’ Washburn who have not come forward to do so, offering anonymous, school-funded counseling for all abuse victims.

In a letter mailed Thursday, head of school Rebecca T. Upham said she hoped to ‘‘begin a long-delayed process of healing.’’ She pledged BB&N’s commitment to student safety and swift, open action in responding to any future allegations of abuse.

‘‘Today we must confront and acknowledge that the school failed to respond to those awful events in an appropriate way, as they unfolded and in the intervening decades,’’ Upham wrote in a four-page letter sent to 5,600 alumni as well as the 800 families of the school’s current K-12 student body. She acknowledged that ‘‘BB&N did not undertake timely or effective efforts to determine whether Washburn victimized others. Consequently, we could not offer to those students the services essential to begin a healing process.’’

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Fire officials are investigating the cause of a four-alarm fire that badly damaged a large Dorchester home early this morning.

Authorities said they believe the predawn fire started on the front porch of the three-story home, but said the cause remains undetermined.

"Nothing has been ruled in or out," said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

Nine people, including six children, escaped unharmed from the second and third floors of the house at 24 Powellton Road, MacDonald said. Neighbors said the residents moved in less than two weeks ago, after the house had undergone months of renovations. The first-floor unit was unoccupied.

The large fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m., awakening many residents in the thickly settled neighborhood, just off Columbia Road.

"We heard all the crackling and the burning, and we called 911 right away," said Jose Morales, a 37-year-old who lives just down the street. "The house just burst into flames."

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

An Amherst College student died and three other students were injured in a rollover crash on I-91 northbound in Holyoke Sunday night, state police said.

Shortly before 10:30 p.m., a 1996 Honda Accord driven by Edward G. Prevatt, 21, of Trinidad, crashed into the median and rolled completely over, landing upright, police said.

A rear-seat passenger, Jordan A. Moore-Fields, of Oak Park, Ill., was critically injured. He was rushed to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he was pronounced dead.

Prevatt and two other passengers, Matthew C. Ghiden, 21, of Concord, N.H., and Christian J. Garris, 21, of New Bedford, were also taken to Baystate with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Peter J. Rooney, Amherst College’s director of public affairs, said all four men were Amherst students.

The crash is under investigation by the State Police. I-91 northbound was closed between exits 15 and 16 for about three hours into Monday morning.

This was the second accident resulting in a death on Sunday in Holyoke. The I-91 crash occurred just hours after a 67-year-old limousine driver died of a heart attack after hitting a bicyclist on Rt. 5 in Holyoke around 2 p.m.. The cyclist is expected to be okay, Holyoke police said Sunday night.

John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.

By John Forrester, Globe Correspondent

HOLYOKE -- A limousine driver died on Route 5 today from an apparent heart attack after striking a bicyclist, police said.

The driver was taking six passengers to a wedding in Westfield -- including the bride, her grandmother and father, as well as several ushers -- when he struck a man on a bicycle, said Sergeant Isaiah Cruz of the Holyoke Police Department.

After the accident, the driver stopped and exited the vehicle, stepped backwards while holding onto his chest and collapsed. Police, who responded to the scene after being called by residents near the crash site at 1:50 p.m., tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the 67-year-old driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, he said. The biker was transported to Holyoke Medical Center and is listed in stable condition, Cruz said.

By Emily Canal, Globe Correspondent

Dennis the manatee, rescued yesterday from the frigid waters of Cape Cod, died in Florida today as SeaWorld employees carted the hobbled mammal to a rehabilitation center.

Officials from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), based in Yarmouthport, confirmed the animal died about 3 p.m., after having endured a 27-hour trip to Orlando.

“We heard the animal had done well during transport and quietly stopped breathing this afternoon,” said Katie Touhey, the emergency release manager for marine mammals, strandings and entanglements at the IFAW. “We thought the animal was going to make it, and when we heard it didn’t, it was tough.”

Touhey said a necropsy, an autopsy for an animal, will be preformed soon to determine the cause of death.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

DENNIS -- The large, blubbery mammal was crafty. Every time his rescue party approached, he slipped away, beneath the docks, under boats, and nearly out of the marina.

Rescuers, including federal, state, local and nonprofit officials, finally cornered him, spread a net around him and pulled in the 800-pound manatee they dubbed "Dennis."

Within an hour, using a mooring barge and a forklift, they hauled the torpid animal -- whose temperature had fallen 20 degrees below normal -- into a waiting Penske moving truck, where they readied him for a long drive to Sea World in Orlando, Fla. where he was to be rehabilitated.

Road closures and other transportation advisories for the week of Oct. 12:

Various streets will be closed and parking restrictions will be imposed due to the Columbus Day Parade Sunday afternoon in East Boston.

Traffic will be detained and parking restrictions will be imposed due to the BAA Half Marathon, which begins Sunday morning on the Jamaicaway.

Various streets will be closed and parking restrictions will be imposed due to the Columbus Day Race for Women, which begins at noon Monday at Beacon and Charles Streets downtown.

Two to three lanes of I-93 South will be closed Wednesday from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Friday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for paving work between South Bay and Exit 18, Mass. Ave.

The Essex St. ramp to I-93 South will be closed Wednesday night from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. The Congress St. on-ramp to I-93 South and I-90 West will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friday. The Albany/Herald St. on-ramp will also be closed Friday from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

By Globe Staff

A fugitive sex offender who was on the Massachusetts State Police "Top Ten Most Wanted" list was arrested today in Texas, police announced. A second man on the list turned himself in at a courthouse in central Massachusetts.

Eric Conalty, 38, was arrested today by Lake Jackson, Texas police, who had been alerted to his whereabouts by Massachusetts authorities and the US Marshals Service. Conalty was wanted on warrants out of Essex County charging him with committing unnatural acts with a child under 16 and failure to register as a sex offender, State Police said. He was being held in a Texas jail pending rendition.

Shayne Sampson, 48, turned himself in at Clinton District Court. He was wanted for charges that included violating his probation and failing to register as a sex offender, State Police said in a statement.

The new "Top Ten Most Wanted" list was released earlier this week. A third fugitive was caught as the list was being prepared; police are still searching for the remaining seven.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

The Patrick administration this afternoon sought to reassure the state’s mayors that there were no current plans to cut their state aid, but at the same time issued dire warnings about the state’s financial future.

Twenty-seven mayors from throughout the state streamed into the State House, and 10 more were on a conference call.

“We all know we’re facing a crisis,” Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said after the meeting. “We know there will be pain.”

"The only good news we're expecting today," Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan said before the meeting, "is a Red Sox victory."

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

Manatee watchers big and small lined up to try to get a glimpse of the unusual visitor.

Bina Venkataraman, Globe Correspondent

DENNIS -- The docks sagged at Sesuit Harbor this morning as crowds scrambled to catch what might be their final glimpse of an intrepid ocean explorer visiting the shores of Cape Cod. Wildlife groups are orchestrating a rescue this weekend for the Florida manatee, affectionately known as "Dennis," that has strayed hundreds of miles from its native habitat.

About 600 people came to gawk and snap photos of the lumbering sea cow Thursday. By 10 a.m. today, nearly 150 eager onlookers had gathered, sporting baseball caps and bermuda shorts, toting cameras and fanny packs. One woman pushed a stroller with a toddler in it out onto a wobbly finger dock and peered into the water. At cafes and marine supply stores, it's the manatee, more than the stock market, that dominates the chitchat.

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

By David Abel, Globe Staff

WALTHAM -- A 40-year-old worker died this morning when a lift fell at a construction site on the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company campus. Another man, a 30-year-old construction worker, was also injured and taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Police would not provide the names of either construction worker, but they said the younger man suffered life-threatening injuries. Detective Lieutenant Brian Navin of the Waltham Police Department said the incident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. when a lift carrying the men began to tip. The men, who were in a basket in the lift, plunged about 30 feet as the lift collapsed.

Navin said he was unsure what caused the lift to topple. He said the names of the men would not be released until all relatives have been notified.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

The MBTA board approved a $1.4 million plan to install wireless Internet access in 258 coaches traveling on all of its commuter rail lines.

The program officially begins Wednesday, but many riders have noticed they already have Internet access in some train cars.

The installation of the wireless equipment will begin in December and should be complete by late spring. After the initial $1.4 million cost, the system will cost $300,000 annually to maintain, officials said.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is resting comfortably at home after surgeons successfully removed two pieces of torn cartilage from his right knee this morning.

Menino, who suffered the injury at a Red Sox rally last year, will begin physical therapy next week.

"His spirits are high and he is appreciative of all of the many well-wishes he's received," said the mayor's spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, who spoke with him by phone after the surgery at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. "He sounds great."

The procedure, performed by Drs. Thomas Thornhill and Scott Martin of Brigham and Womens Hospital, took less than an hour and required only local anesthesia, she said.

Menino lost his footing and wrenched his knee while on a stairway at Fenway Park during a Red Sox World Series victory rally on Oct. 30, 2007. The knee continued to bother him even after months of physical therapy, so doctors announced earlier this week that they would have to operate.

(Fred Beckham/AP)

Joanne Mock, left, and Beth Kerrigan, two of the plaintiffs in the case, spoke to the media in front of the Connecticut State Supreme Court in Hartford in May 2007.

By Michael Levenson and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Connecticut became the third state to legalize same-sex marriage today in a 4-3 decision by the state Supreme Court.

In an 85-page decision issued at 11:30 a.m., the court struck down a law barring same-sex marriage, ruling that the state had "failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban."

The justices noted in the majority opinion that they recognized "as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health … that 'our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law.' "

The case, Kerrigan v. the state Commissioner of Public Health, was brought by eight same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by the Madison town clerk. They argued that the state's civil union law was discriminatory and unconstitutional because it established a separate and therefore inherently unequal institution for a minority group. Citing equal protection under the law, the state Supreme Court agreed.

"In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry," said the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Richard N. Palmer.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

A Westfield man survived a car accident with a moose on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Brimfield early this morning, State Police said.

Alan Cook was driving a Ford pickup truck at around 4 a.m. when a moose walked into the highway, said Lieutenant David Wilson, a State Police spokesman. Cook hit the animal and killed it.

Cook's truck was damaged, but he was not hurt in the accident, Wilson said.

By Roy Greene, Globe Staff

The state House of Representatives has approved a bill that would make "Moby-Dick" the official novel of Massachusetts. Boston.com asked Boston University's Maurice S. Lee, an assistant professor of English and an expert on 19th-century American literature, about the historical significance of Herman Melville's epic work.
Q. What makes "Moby-Dick" a great and enduring novel, even though it can be daunting to some readers?

Melville

It also is a weirdly prophetic text: The passages about bloody wars in Afghanistan and tyrants taking oil-seeking ships to their doom are obvious and painful examples for today.

Q. How does it stack up historically against other notable books based in Massachusetts, such as works by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott, for example, that have their vocal proponents?

By Globe Staff

The Red Sox will win the 2008 World Series, cementing Boston's legacy as a dynasty as the team captures its third Major League Baseball championship in five seasons.

Or at least that's what 36 percent of fans predicted in a poll released this morning by Rasmussen Reports. The national telephone survey of 266 baseball fans on Oct. 8 found that more than a third are convinced that the Red Sox will prevail this October.

The upstart Tampa Bay Rays took second place in the poll, with 24 percent of fans saying that the team would capture its first championship this fall. At 17 percent, the Los Angeles Dodgers took third place. The Philadelphia Phillies came in last with only 12 percent of fans surveyed certain that they would go all the way.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Babson College has received a $10.8 million donation to establish an institute for social entrepreneurship.

The donation, the second largest from an individual in the history of the Wellesley business school, will seek to develop business leaders and create new commercial enterprises to tackle societal problems. The institute will be named for the donor, Alan E. Lewis, chairman of Grand Circle Corporation, a travel company. The Lewis Institute For Social Entrepreneurship will support teaching, research, and outreach in the field, college officials said.

It will provide venture capital for social enterprises in education, healthcare, energy, and the environment, and create a research consortium that will examine social entrepreneurship around the world.

Here is the news Globe Deputy City Editor Mike Bello is following this morning:

Breaking Now:

Connecticut Supreme Court To Rule On Gay Marriage Case

Buzz:

DiMasi's friends got $1.8m more than reported

Lobstermen trapped by faltering economy

Thar she goes: Bill honoring 'Moby-Dick' advances

By Jeannie M. Nuss, Globe Correspondent

A former state representative agreed today to pay nearly $500,000 in restitution for misleading customers of his wind turbine business, according to a statement released by Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Former Democratic Representative Mark Howland of East Freetown will have one year to pay $488,000 in restitution for violating the Massachusetts Consumer Protection act by deceiving customers – mainly in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth, according to the agreement filed in Fall River Superior Court.

Howland and his company, WindTech-Co, made false representations promoting the sale of wind turbines and failed to properly install them, Coakley said.

If Howland does not pay the restitution within a year, he will have to pay $638,000, the attorney general said. He is permanently prohibited from operating a business that sells alternative energy systems.

Howland could not be reached for comment today.

“Now more than ever, it is crucial that consumers seek out clean and sustainable alternative energy sources,” Coakley said. “This settlement will help ensure that consumers need not fear for their safety or that they are being taken advantage of as a result of contributing to environmentally-sound solutions.”

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Leaders of the state court system announced today that they were canceling a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new courthouse on Friday in Salem because of state and local budget challenges looming during the current economic crisis.

“Today we determined that a celebratory event to mark the groundbreaking of the J. Michael Ruane Justice Center would not be warranted, given the serious fiscal challenges facing our state and local government,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall and Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan said in a statement.

The groundbreaking had been scheduled for tomorrow and Governor Deval Patrick, Marshall, other court officials, and other state and local officials had been slated to attend.

The new building will house the Essex Superior Court, the Essex Juvenile Court, the Salem District Court, the Northeast Division of the Housing Court, and a law library, said court system spokeswoman Joan Kenney.

By Globe Staff

Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray has invited the state’s mayors to Beacon Hill Friday afternoon to discuss the budget shortfall the state is facing.

“They’ve been invited. It’s an informational meeting about the state’s fiscal situation, and the lieutenant governor will listen to the mayors to get input and concerns about the budget,” said governor’s spokeswoman Becky Deusser.

Governor Deval Patrick, who is planning to announce budget cuts next week, has been seeking expanded powers from the Legislature that would allow him to trim local aid, a lifeblood for mayors and other municipal officials.

Patrick has not ruled out making such cuts, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said this week that while reducing local aid is a “last resort,” cities and towns should prepare to cut their budgets.

A group of economists and public policy specialists warned lawmakers and Patrick earlier this week that they should brace themselves for an extended period of declining or tepid tax revenues and smaller state budgets that will define the State House agenda for up to three years, the Globe reported Wednesday.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

With proud friends and family looking on, 46 new firefighters received their silver badges today at a ceremony at Florian Hall in Dorchester.

Boston Firefighter Michael P. Tuohy, 31, of Dorchester said the day was an "absolute dream come true. ... My father's been on the job for over 36 [years] and I'm just proud to carry on his legacy."

The vast majority of the fire academy graduating class will work in the Boston Fire Department. Several are headed for jobs in the Chelsea, Malden, and Dedham departments.

(International Fund for Animal Welfare)

Far from his Florida home, the manatee loitered along the shore in Dennis on Wednesday afternoon.

By Bina Venkataraman, Globe Correspondent

Wildlife groups made tentative plans today to rescue an injured Florida manatee this weekend that has been lingering near the shore off Cape Cod.

Representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Cape Cod Stranding Network said that they hope to "attempt to rescue" the manatee by capturing it with a net this weekend. They are looking for a plane to transport the sea cow back to Florida, where veterinarians would rehabilitate it and release it back into the wild.

This is the farthest north that a wayward manatee has ever been reported, said Charles Underwood of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s manatee rescue and rehabilitation program. As water temperatures drop, the manatee is unlikely to survive in Cape Cod.

"It's an adult, so it can handle some stress," Underwood said. "But the concern now is that the weather is going to get worse."

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Since World War II, if not before, it has been assumed that children were more likely to graduate from college than their parents. Now, those generational gains appear to have stalled.

About 35 percent of adults age 25 to 29 in 2006 had earned a college degree -- essentially the same number of adults 30 and older, the American Council on Education has found in a new report. Among Hispanics and American Indians, younger adults are less likely to have a two- or four-year college degree than previous generations.

The percentage of younger adults with a bachelor's degree was 26.9 percent in 2006, sharply lower than 29.3 percent in 2003. Forty percent of 18-24-year-olds were enrolled in college.

"It appears we are at a tipping point in our nation’s history," said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. "One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who’ve had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them, yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk."

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Pastors and other leaders of Boston's black churches plan to use their sermons this Sunday to urge congregations to register to vote before the deadline for the general election on Wednesday.

Clergy members in the Boston Ten-Point Coalition discussed the voter registration drive today at their monthly meeting at the Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury. The effort, which will include the Black Ministerial Alliance, will cover approximately 140 churches primarily in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan.

"This election is important because it's history making," said Reverend Jeffrey Brown, executive director of the Ten-Point Coalition. "If the Republicans win, it would mark the first woman elected vice president, and if the Democrats win, the country would have its first African-American president."

During Sunday sermons, reverends, ministers, and other clergy will instruct congregations to sign up to vote after the service. A designated member of the church will have voter registration forms on hand and will help congregants fill out the forms, which will be hand delivered to City Hall.

Brown said the aim of the drive is to get more people involved in the democratic process. Churches with nonprofit status are prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

Attleboro police are investigating a report from a 13-year-old boy that a man tried to kidnap him this morning from his yard. A man has been taken into custody who matched a description provided by the teenager.

Investigators have not confirmed that an attempted abduction occurred, and the man in custody has not been charged, said Lieutenant Scott Killough of the Attleboro Police Department.

The teen told police he was in his yard on Holden Street at 10:40 a.m. when a man grabbed him and pulled him into a wooded area. He told police that he was able to break free from the man and escape. The boy told his parents, who called police.

The suspect was described by the teen as a 6-foot-tall white male with shoulder-length brown curly hair. He was wearing black baggy pants and a white T-shirt with red lettering that may have been written in a flame-type style. A man who matched that description was taken into custody on Park Street.

By Globe Staff

The number of people riding the MBTA rose again in August, but not as much as in the three previous months, the MBTA has said.

Average weekday ridership increased 2.3 percent, compared with increases of 6.9 percent in July, 6 percent in June, and 4.6 percent in May.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in a statement that the MBTA was "very pleased" with the increase, noting that ridership in the typically slow month had increased for four years in a row.

Observers have said the skyrocketing price of gas this year, which went over $4 a gallon in early July, was a spur to more people to take public transportation. But the price has been drifting downward since then, which could mean people are being tempted to return to their old habits, said Art Kinsman, director of government affairs for AAA Southern New England.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

In a courtroom lined with police, a 19-year-old pleaded not guilty today in the brazen afternoon slaying of a teenager who was shot through the window of an MBTA bus in spring 2007.

Jonathan Sanders entered Dorchester Municipal Court with a blue sweater draped over his face while standing in the prisoner's dock just a few feet away from Boston police officers, some of whom were wearing T-shirts that read "Boston Police Gang Unit" and "Youth Violence Strike Force."

The victim, 18-year-old Dwayne Graham, had been trapped on a Route 23 bus on Washington Street in Dorchester at 3:30 p.m. when traffic slowed to a stop. Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Mark Hallal described in court how a mob of five to 20 teenagers had been following the bus, banging on the windows, and shouting for Graham to come outside and fight.

Sanders is accused of first-degree murder for allegedly firing a bullet through the bus window that struck Graham in the head. The teenager fell to floor of the bus, and a state trooper working a detail nearby rushed to the scene and tried in vain to give him first aid. Graham was pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

Five middle school students suffered minor injuries this morning when a car rear-ended a school bus in North Attleboro, a fire official said.

The bus driver and the children, who ranged in age from about 11 to 14, were taken to hospital for treatment, said Chief Peter Lamb of North Attleboro Fire Department.

The crash occurred at 7:15 a.m. on South Washington Street as the children were en route to the North Attleboro Middle School. The car hit the bus as it was stopped at a light, Lamb said. The driver of the car declined medical treatment.

By Globe Staff

A 29-year-old woman was killed overnight on Interstate 93 in Canton when she lost control of her sport utility vehicle and rolled over, State Police said.

Elizabeth A. Saba was driving a 2007 Ford Escape north near Exit 2B at 11:30 p.m. when she lost control while changing lanes. The Brockton resident was alone in the SUV and was wearing her seatbelt, police said. She died at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation by the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and others. Northbound I-93 was closed for two and one half hours while crews cleaned up the wreck.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The manatee who has been visiting Cape Cod for an off-season vacation has been sighted again. Since Sunday, he’s been visiting the waters off of Dennis, said Chris Cutter, a spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Cutter said he went out in a boat this afternoon with the Dennis harbormaster, who has been keeping an eye on the animal, to look at the unusual tourist.

He said the manatee appears to have a problem with one of his eyes and there’s a chunk missing from one of his flippers “so he’s been beat up a little bit. ... Other than that, he looks healthy.”

The organization will continue to keep an eye on the animal, he said, hoping that it decides to head for warmer waters on its own.

“If he continues to hang around, we’ll mobilize some kind of rescue plan and get him down to Florida,” he said.

By Globe Staff

The Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston is hoping to raise money by auctioning off a custom-built 1967 Lincoln Continental once owned by Manny Ramirez, the former Red Sox star who is now bashing balls for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramirez donated the car to the hospital before he was traded this season.

"Manny Ramirez was always a great friend to the hospital during his time in Boston," Steven Snyder, the hospital's chief development officer, said in a statement. "This car was a generous gift to the hospital and we're hoping to raise a lot of funds to enhance our programs."

By David Abel, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- She has a smaller brain than the average student on campus, but like many of the would-be MBAs at Harvard Business School, she's driven -- and refuses to let anyone dissuade her from what she wants.

For example, if she cares to roam about the flower beds, no groundskeeper will stand in her way. When she's sleepy, she has taken a fondness to napping in the dean's garden.

Sometimes, she'll spend hours staring at herself in the windows of the many surrounding buildings, no matter how many students tread past.

(David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Raymond Mansolillo puffed on a stogie at Churchill's Lounge in Boston Tuesday night, as Joe Murphy tended the bar. Public health officials want to close down cigar bars.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Public health advocates seeking to eliminate smoking in Boston faced off against cigar bar owners and smokers' advocates in the first of two public comment sessions today about new tobacco restrictions proposed by the city's Public Health Commission.

The commission wants to ban smoking on outdoor patios of restaurants and other businesses, close down cigar bars, and prohibit the sale of tobacco products on college campuses and by all drug stores in the city.

Medical researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health said today that allowing smoking anywhere in Boston sends the wrong message -- especially to younger people who might take up the deadly habit -- that smoking is OK. Professor Greg Connolly said smoking cigars and cigarettes or a hookah -- a Middle Eastern water pipe with flavored tobacco -- are all health risks and should be banned.

But owners of Cigar Masters, one of four cigar bars in the city, pleaded with the commission to allow it to stay open.

"We're just a mom-and-pop business," co-owner Brett Greenfield said. "“There aren’t people who are in there who are expecting to not be around second-hand smoke.”

City Councilor Michael Ross, who also testified, agreed with Greenfield, saying the bars are thriving neighborhood businesses and asking the commission to reconsider the proposed closure. Ross said he supports the other restrictions and commended the commission for its overall effort to protect public health.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill reported today that the state pension fund has lost nearly $8 billion this year, mostly because of the collapsing financial markets.

The fund has fallen since January from $53.7 billion to $45.7 billion, or 14.9 percent, and could take years to recover. The fund has seen similar declines during past financial downturns.

Cahill announced the losses during a pension board meeting this morning and urged board members not to panic, saying the markets will bounce back over the long term. The pension fund pays retirement benefits to state employees and retirees.

Bresnahan's shackles could be heard jingling as he was escorted by officers through the airport.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The man who allegedly sexually assaulted a 61-year-old Winchendon woman in her home last year was escorted through Boston's Logan Airport today by Massachusetts State police investigators who spent months tracking him down.

Michael Bresnahan was arrested at gunpoint in Cottage Grove, Ore. Aug. 18 after a year long search led by State police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section steered the US Marshalls and local police to the 36-year-old suspect.

Bresnahan has been in custody in Oregon while the courts in both states cleared the way for his return.

The son of the woman, a retired school teacher, said in a telephone interview that the family welcomed his return to Massachusetts and his impending prosecution.

"It was frustrating for him to be on the run,'' he said. "We are absolutely thrilled he is behind bars.''

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

After calling 19 witnesses -- including a trio of killers and a disgraced FBI supervisor -- over the past month, the prosecution rested its case today in the Miami murder trial of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., who is accused of plotting with longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi to kill a Boston business consultant in 1982.

The defense will start calling witnesses Tuesday, when jurors return to the Miami-Dade courthouse after a five-day break. The defense has about 30 witnesses on its list, but it's unclear whether all of them will be called. Those scheduled to take the stand next week include US District Court Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington, a former federal prosecutor who worked with Connolly on organized crime cases; former US Attorney Donald K. Stern, who prosecuted Bulger and Flemmi; and a number of retired FBI agents.

By John Drake, Globe Staff

Boston City Councilor Michael Ross, a Mission Hill resident and district councilor since 1999, will become the next council president in January under a political deal brokered behind the scenes by council members.

The current council president, Maureen Feeney, and Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Murphy, threw their support to Ross, heading off what could have been a pitched battle between Ross and Murphy for the leadership job.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Perhaps the most memorable question came at the end of Tuesday night's presidential debate, when Tom Brokaw asked what he described as a "Zen-like" query submitted online by Peggy in Amherst, N.H.

The question -- "What don't you know and how will you learn it?" -- did not, however, come from a Zen master, a Buddhist monk, or a student of Confucius. It was the brainchild of Peggy Silva, a 60-year-old high school teacher who has been lobbing the question at presidential candidates for the last 18 years.

"I'm the least Zen-like person on the planet," Silva said with a laugh in a telephone interview this afternoon. "I'm chaotic, I'm disorganized, and I giggle."

(Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff/file/2007)

Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) tripped and injured his knee as he was walking off a stage at Fenway Park on Oct. 30, 2007, moments after this photograph was taken.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Talk about taking one for the team.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery Friday to
repair torn cartilage he suffered during a Red Sox championship rally last year. Months of physical therapy failed to heal Menino's synovial joint, so he's going under the knife.

The chief of orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital will perform the procedure. Dr. Thomas Thornhill said today that the mayor could be up and around in a few days or it could be a few weeks.

"It depends on what we find," Thornhill said.

(David Molnar/The Republican/AP)

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A Springfield hospital plans to remove the office building window where some people thought they saw the image of the Virgin Mary. But hospital officials said they would continue to study the window over the next several months and would consider the possibility of putting it on display.

After the image was first spotted on Sept. 30, crowds flocked to Mercy Medical Center, with 200 to 300 people sometimes standing outside the doctor’s office window on Stafford Street. The crowds have dwindled in recent days, said a hospital spokeswoman, Mary Orr.

Hospital officials said the institution needed to get back to its job of caring for patients.

“Mercy Medical Center is a busy hospital and medical center. While Mercy respects the cultural and religious beliefs of the community, our primary focus is on caring for patients and maintaining a safe and appropriate healing environment. Removal of the window is not only a prudent decision at this point but is necessary for returning to normal operations,” a hospital spokesman, Mark Fulco, said in a statement.

By David Beard, Globe Staff

States like Massachusetts are having trouble raising credit to maintain their cash flow in times of declining revenues. We're facing the greatest economic crisis since The Great Depression. Here are five questions for Jack Donahue, a former US assistant secretary of labor, current professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and author of the just-published "The Warping of Government Work'' (Harvard University Press).

Q. Things seem to be so bad for Massachusetts that officials on Tuesday warned that the state's aid to its communities may be at stake. What impact would a significant cut in that aid have on our towns and cities?

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

A teenager who crashed a motorcycle this morning in Salem was rushed to a hospital in a helicopter, police said.

The teen crashed at about 11 a.m. on Bridge Street, said Sergeant Mark Berube of the Salem Police Department. The teen's name and condition were not released.

Although the crash is still under investigation, speed appears to have been a factor, Berube said. No other vehicles were involved.

By Globe Staff

A 43-year-old Taunton man is being charged with setting an August fire that burned down a bakery on Washington Street in Taunton, throwing more than a dozen people out of work.

Manuel M. Arruda is to be arraigned today in Taunton District Court on charges of burning of a building, breaking and entering in the nighttime, and larceny over $250, the state fire marshal and the city police and fire chiefs said in a joint statement.

Investigators believe that Arruda broke into Art's International Bakery, stole money, and then started the fire to cover the crime.

"Arson is not a victimless crime. In this case it affected the owners of the business and building, employees, the bakery's customers, and everyone who lives in the neighborhood," State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said in the statement.

By Globe Staff

The School Committee in Gloucester, where a report of a high school pregnancy pact made headlines worldwide earlier this year, is planning to vote tonight on whether to allow contraceptives to be distributed at the high school.

The three proposals expected to be discussed when the board meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall include providing contraceptives to students, providing contraceptives to students only with parental consent, or continuing the current policy under which no contraceptives are provided.

Gloucester was thrust into the spotlight in June after Time magazine reported that several teenage girls had entered into a pact to have babies and raise them together.

Aequorea, the fluorescent jellyfish Osamu Shimonura studied. (Osamu Shimomura, Woods Hole website)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A cell biologist from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole won the Nobel Prize in chemistry today for the discovery of a green glowing protein in jellyfish that has helped scientists illuminate growing cancer tumors and track the development of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.

REUTERS/Adam Hunger

In the 1960s, Shimomura began studying bioluminescent jellyfish and discovered that a florescent green protein glowed blue under ultraviolet light. The breakthrough has helped researchers follow the processes inside individual cells, allowing scientist to understand how cancer and other diseases spread.

"This morning I got the call at 5 a.m.," said Shimomura, who lives in Falmouth, at a press conference in Woods Hole. "I was in very deep sleep. My wife answered and told me it was from Stockholm. She knew already."

Shimomura urged young people to chase their interests, even if they face a difficult path. In particular, he told new scientists not to shy away from challenging subjects.

"Don't stop. Don't give up," Shimomura said. "If you encounter difficulty, overcome that until you finish the project."

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick and the Legislature should brace themselves for an extended period of declining or tepid tax revenues and smaller state budgets that will define the State House agenda for up to three years, a group of economists and public policy specialists warned lawmakers today.

Lawmakers emerging from an hourlong meeting highlighted by the gloomy prognosis immediately promised serious belt-tightening.

"We heard some very difficult news," said Representative Robert DeLeo, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, who summoned eight economists to his office for the forecasting session.

Beyond the immediate impact on state residents, the rapid-fire economic developments spell difficult choices for Patrick as he gets ready to begin the second half of his four-year term. Patrick won election in 2006 on promises to lower property taxes, hire new police officers, and restructure the education system. Now those goals seem increasingly elusive.

“The economy is going to get worse, not better. ... We don't know how bad it is going to get. ” said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

(Courtesy Photo)

A shot of the prototype of the statue that WBC officials brought to Brockton yesterday.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A statue of Rocky Marciano that will stand over 30 feet tall will be erected near City Hall in his hometown of Brockton sometime in the first half of next year, an official of the World Boxing Council said today.

“There’s not a single boxer with the record that Rocky Marciano has,” said Gabriel Penagaricano, estimating the height of the proposed statue at 10 meters, or about 33 feet. “I think it’s long, long overdue.”

Penagaricano, who is co-chairman of the WBC committee that is overseeing the development of the statue, said he and other WBC officials visited Brockton Monday to talk with local officials.

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

A Medford man was sentenced today to life in prison plus 10 to 12 years for raping two deaf children, a sentence prosecutors said fit the horrendous nature of his crimes.

Philip Duffy, 48, was found guilty in Middlesex Superior Court in August after a 10-day trial of eight counts of rape of a child, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, and posing a child in a state of nudity.

Duffy will be eligible for parole on his life sentence after 15 years, but even if he were granted parole, he would still face the additional 10- to 12-year sentence, prosecutors said.

“Philip Duffy preyed on two young, vulnerable children, and horribly changed their lives forever. There are no more disturbing crimes than the abuse of our children, and this life sentence is reflective of the devastation that this defendant inflicted on these children and their families,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

A Boston man who once faced the federal death penalty for his alleged role in a 2001 Boston slaying was acquitted today in Suffolk Superior Court of first-degree murder.

Darryl Green was originally indicted along with others in federal court for racketeering in connection with the Aug. 25, 2001 shooting of Terrell Gethers, 23, during Boston’s annual Caribbean Festival.

Federal prosecutors eventually dropped their death penalty case against Green, sending it back to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. Conley opposed the use of the death penalty by federal prosecutors.

Late this afternoon, the jury acquitted Green of first-degree murder, which carries life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

He was, however, convicted of unlawful possession of a handgun and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat to three years and one day in state prison. He has another case pending in Dedham District Court.

Rob Borowiec and Anna Cosgrove are two sleep-deprived members of Red Sox Nation.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A weary Anna Cosgrove dragged her baseball hangover out of her East Cambridge home at 8:20 this morning, climbed onto the 69 bus, leaned against a window, and promptly fell asleep on the way to work at the public library.

"I don't think I was out that long," Cosgrove said this afternoon, her eyes still slivers. "Maybe 10 minutes?"

It has been a groggy stretch here in New England, where a West Coast playoff series and political debates have kept many glued to their televisions since last Wednesday. Add the latest Tina Fey parody of Governor Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" and there hasn't been a single night away from those well-worn couch cushions.

Here's a tally: Wednesday's baseball game in Anaheim ground on until 1:21 a.m; the vice presidential debate on Thursday lasted until just 10:30 p.m., but pundits pontificated about winners and losers well into the morning; baseball again on Friday, 1:28 a.m.

Then on Sunday night, it was a 5-hour and 19-minute, 12-inning marathon that ended around 1 a.m. The Red Sox clinched the series Monday night in 2 hours and 50 minutes, but reveling in the post-game coverage of the celebration kept many up well past midnight.

And then there's the presidential debate tonight that doesn't start until 9.

"Probably not tonight," said Cosgove, 23. "I think I’m going to catch up on my sleep."

Others, such as Jesse Angeley, need politics almost as much as baseball. That may be why Angeley's caffeine habit is up to three large cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee a day.

Until the baseball and presidential playoffs, "I hadn't really watched TV in the last month and a half," said Angeley, 28, a first year law student from Brookline wrestling with civil procedure and other courses.

The Lamson House is located in the northwest corner of the park.

By Globe Staff

Imagine living rent-free in a million-dollar home on a 721-acre property on the North Shore. The only catch? You'll have to pour your own money and sweat into the property to rehabilitate it, and you'll only be able to live there 25 years.

That's the offer the state Department of Conservation and Recreation is extending in the town of Topsfield on Boston's North Shore.

As part of its Historic Curatorship program, the agency is seeking proposals for the Lamson House, located in the Bradley Palmer State Park, once the estate of noted attorney Bradley Palmer.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

A 19-year-old Dorchester man is being charged with a March 2007 shooting on board the MBTA's Route 23 bus, an act of violence that ended the life of an 18-year-old Dorchester man.

A Suffolk County grand jury returned a first-degree murder indictment against Jonathan Sanders, who is being held at the Nashua Street Jail on unrelated matters and the charges were lodged against him Monday, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.

Sanders is accused of shooting Dwayne Graham in the head on March 30, 2007. Graham was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he died of his injuries one day later.

The late afternoon shooting stunned the city and led the MBTA to accelerate the installation of security cameras on hundreds of buses, including those used for the Route 23 line.

By Globe Staff

A 60-year-old Arlington man was killed this morning in a two-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 95 in Lexington that tied up traffic for miles, State Police said.

Benjamin Nahabedian was driving a BMW sport utility vehicle near Exit 30 at about 6:15 a.m. when he apparently lost control. His vehicle, which was traveling in the left lane, veered to the right and struck another car, then rolled over several times before coming to rest upside-down off the right side of the road, police said.

Nahabedian was ejected from the car as it rolled. He was rushed to Lahey Clinic in Burlington, where he was pronounced dead. The driver of the second vehicle, Joseph Grace, 57, of Framingham, was not injured.

The crash, which remains under investigation, closed the two right lanes of the highway for about 2 1/2 hours.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

A cat injured in the fire had soot and ash washed from his face and mouth before he was given oxygen.

By Globe Staff

One person was taken to the hospital after a fire this morning on Mercer Street in South Boston.

Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for Boston Emergency Medical Services, said the victim was transported to Boston Medical Center. She didn't know the person's condition. A Boston Fire Department spokesman didn't immediately return messages seeking comment.

After helping out the human fire victims, firefighters turned their attention to the pets, rescuing a dog and two cats. One cat was brought back from the brink by firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

A flagger directed traffic as a police officer watched and protesters picketed.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

WOBURN -- About 50 off-duty police officers surrounded civilian flaggers directing traffic around a road project, heckling the workers as part of continued protests of the governor's new rules curbing paid police details at road projects.

"I hope you sleep at night," shouted Stoneham Patrolman Joe Ponzo at the workers in neon vests and hardhats. "You should be ashamed of yourself -- you're union. This is a travesty."

Off-duty officers from Arlington, Medford, Everett, and Woburn lined Lexington Street, a two-lane road where traffic backed up in both directions because of the protest. At one point, the workers for Mass. Highway had to stop cleaning catch basins because of the demonstration.

Several uniformed Woburn officers responded to the scene after one of the off-duty officers drove the wrong way between traffic cones, saying the civilian flagger sent him in the wrong direction.

Woburn Police Chief Phillip Mahoney came to Lexington Street and warned the off-duty officers to stay behind the white line at the edge of the road.

By Globe Staff

A man whose original flight was delayed seven hours is facing disorderly conduct charges today because he allegedly sprayed fellow passengers with foot powder after landing in Boston.

"This is what your airline gets for treating me bad," Arthur Nicolson allegedly yelled, according to a State Police report, as he shook a 7-ounce bottle of Dr. Scholl's Foot Powder on other travelers as he ran off the plane.

The 42-year-old Framingham resident was arrested in Terminal A at Logan International Airport shortly after US Airways Flight 67 landed at 3:30 p.m. Nicolson had originally been booked the day before on a flight, which was delayed seven hours because of mechanical problems.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill announced today that he would again delay floating a $750 million revenue bond because of the continued uncertainty of credit markets despite the federal government's $700 billion economic bailout.

The state had planned to seek the bond to cover day-to-day operating expenses. The state treasury has been stretched thin after making $1.3 billion in local aid payments last week. Cahill had initially delayed seeking the bond last week in hope that the federal bailout would unfreeze credit markets.

"We're not going to sell into a bad market when we don't have to," Cahill said today in a statement. "The state's cash position is solid. We will be patient and seek this additional liquidity when we have more confidence that we will get the best price for taxpayers."

The Department of Revenue reported last week that revenue for the first quarter had come in $223 million below expectations without counting nonrecurring payments. Counting those one-time payments, revenues were lagging $143 million behind what was expected. September was the worst of the three months, with revenues dropping $188 million. Nearly every type of state tax collection is down - including corporate, sales, and excise.

By Brian Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe staff

One man was killed and a second man is in a Boston hospital with life threatening injuries following a shooting late Monday night on a Dorchester street, Boston police said today.

Residents on Callender Street said today they saw a white SUV parked on Irma Street near the intersection with Callender around 11:40 p.m. Suddenly, the witnesses said, they heard at least five gunshots coming from the direction of the SUV.

One eyewitness said he looked out his window, drawn by the sound of gunfire.

“I was watching TV and I heard really loud shots, at least five or six,’’ said the man, who would not provide his name because he feared for his own safety. “You could tell that the man in the passenger seat was dead. He wasn’t moving at all.’’

By David Abel, Globe Staff

A patient at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain has been indicted on charges he raped a 14-year-old hospital volunteer, prosecutors said today.

Vernon Lee Thompson, 38, is scheduled to be arraigned this week in Suffolk Superior Court. Prosecutors said Thompson, a psychiatric patient at the hospital, twice raped the girl in a hospital stairwell on the afternoon of July 10. The girl was serving in the hospital’s Junior Volunteers Program.

(Whale Center of New England)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Researchers spotted a rare adult blue whale this weekend that appeared to be feeding 15 miles off the coast of Gloucester.

(Whale Center of New England)

"I've been working on the water here 30 years and I've only seen blue whales 10 times," said Mason Weinrich, executive director and chief scientist at The Whale Center of New England. "When we realized it was a blue whale, it was quite exciting."

Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit trade e-mails about their respective regions. In opening salvos, they contrasted Boston (at least it's not Baltimore) with Anaheim (has a hockey team named after ducks).

Cullen

People in Boston actually stay up and watch these games, even when, as with Game 3, they last approximately as long as cricket matches.

I'm under the impression that by the time the wonderfully spelled Chone Figgins made a sparkling backhand stab of Alex Cora's smash down the third-base line, ending last night's game this morning, the vast majority of the good residents of Orange County were midway through "Desperate Housewives" or "Cold Case."

In Boston, there were many Red Sox fans late for their jobs or their arraignments this morning.

Am I wrong, or are people here a lot more into this than people there?

By Globe Staff

Massachusetts slid four places but remained in the top tier in an energy efficiency ranking of all 50 states released today by an advocacy group.

The Bay State tied with Minnesota for seventh place, down from the fourth spot it occupied in the 2007 rankings by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. This year New York, Vermont, and Washington leapfrogged Massachusetts in the survey, which examines transportation, land-use policies, utilities' efficiency programs, financial incentives, and support for research.

(David L. Ryan /Globe Staff)

By David Filipov, Globe Staff

Turns out lots of readers have unyielding stories of their own. Sunday's article about difficulties Massachusetts drivers have merging onto highways prompted readers to share their nightmares involving that red-and-white upside-down pyramid. The top five are below. Have your own unyielding nightmare? Share it here.

1) "The driver was my brother-in-law … "

I am a long distance trucker that grew up here in Boston. One day in 1986 I was on Interstate 93 headed north when a Volvo station wagon loaded with children pulled in front of me and my 40-ton 18 wheeler, without looking. Over 80-feet long is pretty hard to miss. Fortunately because of my experience I anticipated this type of driver. The irony is that the driver was my brother-in-law, a graduate of M.I.T. A math genius. He told me later that it never occurred to him to look, that he assumed that the traffic in the right lane would adjust. I pointed out to him the fact that yielding was not a suggestion but the law. He had a hard time with that until I suggested he do the math.

By Globe Staff

Top energy advisers from the McCain and Obama campaigns will face off tonight at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a policy debate.

The forum at Kresge Auditorium will include James Woosley, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, speaking on behalf of Republican John McCain. The views of Democrat Barack Obama will be represented by Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy.

The 7:30 p.m. debate will be moderated by Tom Ashbrook of National Public Radio.

Sprawl, Disneyland, picture-postcard weather. Crowded streets, Revere Beach, molar-jarring cold.

As the Angels-Red Sox battle continues, Boston.com asked Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit to trade impressions about the pros and cons of the two regions. See a more wide-ranging e-mail exchange here.

Here are their opening salvos; stay tuned for Round 2 this afternoon.

By Globe Staff

A Danvers middle school student was struck by a car while in a crosswalk this morning as she was heading to her bus stop, police said.

The student suffered leg injuries and head abrasions. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital with what police described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The Holten Richmond Middle School student was in a crosswalk at Centre and Prince streets at 7:10 a.m. Police said the driver will likely be cited. The name of the student and the driver were not released.

By Padraig Shea, Globe Correspondent

Nantucket Police say they seized 35 grams of cocaine from a man they believe was delivering the drug to a house on Somerset Road.

Officers were tipped off to the delivery and arrested Stefon Mitchell, 35, of Nantucket as he drove toward the drop-off house in a black sport utility vehicle Friday night, police said in a statement.

Mitchell faces one charge of drug trafficking for which he could face up to 20 years in prison. He will be arraigned Monday in Nantucket District Court, and is being held until then on $25,000 cash bail, police said.

By Terri Schwartz, Globe Correspondent

For five decades, people crossing the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge have noticed markings that indicated its length in "Smoots." Some may have assumed that the engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which sits on the Cambridge side of the span, had invented a sophisticated new unit of measurement.

Those who inquired further learned a quirky story that has become part of Boston lore. The Smoot was invented at MIT, yes, but not in any lab. It was the brainchild of a group of fraternity brothers on a cold night in 1958 who, in a fit of whimsy, used Oliver "Ollie" Smoot Jr. as their unit of measurement when they marked the bridge.

"It was 10 at night, and the wind was blowing, and so it was cold," said Smoot, who appeared at a ceremony at MIT today in his honor.

The event honoring the man who became a measurement was attended by about 100 people, including Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, State Representative Marty Walz, and MIT President Susan Hockfield.

"This has become a delightful chapter in the history of MIT, the history of Cambridge, the history of the nation, and, I would like to assert, the history of the world,” said Hockfield.

(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg spoke at the Mother's Walk event.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Crowds of people are taking advantage of a bright and beautiful fall day today to enjoy the inaugural celebration of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the series of Boston parks that stretches from the North End to Chinatown.

The daylong festivities include a Ferris wheel, Duck Boat rides, a carousel, and a farmer’s market, as well as everything from tai chi to free temporary tattoos to public art pieces. Tens of thousands of people are expected.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of Rose Kennedy’s daughters, along with her niece Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg attended a ceremony at the Mother’s Walk, which is made of bricks that honor anybody who’s been a caretaker. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose mother lives in nearby Medford, also attended.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

About 200 activists rallied at Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston today, urging voters to abolish the state income tax at the ballot box in November.

Supporters of Question 1, a measure that would eliminate the state's 5.3 percent income tax, denounced government spending as wasteful and excessive and said workers deserve to keep more of their wages in hard economic times.

"I'd rather see the people keep their money than sending it Beacon Hill," said Gerry Cardillo, 62, from Easton, who was stapling a placard to a post. "State spending is out of control."

If approved, the ballot measure would reduce tax collections by an estimated $12 billion, saving the average taxpayer about $3,700 a year.

Proponents say eliminating the tax would jumpstart the economy and make the state more attractive to families and businesses.

But critics say eliminating the tax, the source of about 40 percent of state revenues, would cause a fiscal disaster, drastically curtailing state services.

Road closures and other transportation advisories for the week of Oct. 5:

Two to three lanes of I-93 South will be closed between South Bay and Exit 18 Mass. Ave. Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Two to three lanes of I-93 south will be closed approaching and through downtown Monday through Friday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The ramps from Rutherford Avenue/Charlestown City Square to I-93 South and Storrow Drive will be closed Thursday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

By Globe Staff

The body of a 70-year-old Eastham man who went missing while he was rowing was found Friday night in the water off Asa's Landing in Orleans, police said.

The body of John Bete was found at about 9:40 p.m. by a Coast Guard helicopter that was assisting in the search. The search of the Orleans Town Cove began at about 7 p.m. after reports that Bete was overdue and his rowboat was found overturned, police said in a statement.

The Orleans Police, State Police, and medical examiner's office are investigating.

By Kasey Wickman, Globe Correspondent

Six adults and three children are homeless and one Boston firefighter is injured after a three-alarm fire early this morning in Dorchester.

An electrical short circuit started a fire in the basement of the 2 1/2-story multiple-family home on Capen Street shortly after 5 a.m., Boston Fire Department officials said.

Firefighters were on the scene for about two hours, and fully extinguished the blaze. Damage is estimated at $400,000. The Red Cross was called to assist the displaced residents in finding a place to stay.

No surrounding buildings were damaged in the fire. A firefighter was treated for an arm injury and released.

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

The picketers held signs on Tremont Street in Everett.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

State water workers vacated two work sites today after crowds of police union members showed up to protest Governor Deval Patrick's new rules allowing some roadway projects to proceed without police details.

A Massachusetts Water Resources Authority crew planning to do routine sewage work in a manhole in an Everett roadway decided to leave after some 30 police union protesters appeared with signs and said they would prefer the crew not go ahead without a paid police detail. The crew then went to another roadway work site in Revere, where protesters also appeared. One of the protesters, Revere Police Captain James Guido, told MWRA Chief Operating Officer Mike Hornbrook that the work site was a traffic hazard and that it was unsafe.

"I can't allow you to work here,'' Guido said. The four-man crew eventually departed.

The confrontations were the latest twist in a highly charged debate over police details that has raged for years and recently escalated when Patrick ruled the state would save millions by cutting back on the number of construction sites requiring police supervision. The rule changes have been bitterly opposed by police, many of whom supplement their incomes with tens of thousands of dollars annually by keeping watch over and directing traffic at construction sites.

(Essdras M. Suarez/Globe Staff)

Investigators scrutinized the shooting scene.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Two people were stabbed this afternoon and someone opened fire during an altercation in Dowtown Crossing that created chaos in the teeming district of narrow streets packed with shoppers, pushcart vendors, and tourists.

Police said the two men who were stabbed were in their 20s and were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Both were refusing to cooperate with detectives, said Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman. Officers recovered ballistics evidence from the shooting scene, near Bromfield Street, and were searching for the others involved.

Driscoll said investigators are trying to pinpoint where and when the stabbings occurred; a vendor and several passersby said it happened outside the State Street MBTA Station a few blocks from Bromfield Street. The T stopped service at the State Street and Downtown Crossing stations for 12 minutes while officers investigated.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

The body of a man who fell from his canoe into a Wareham pond Thursday night has been recovered, police said.

Police said Daniel Kelley, 33, had fallen into Agawam Mill Pond while fishing. Emergency personnel were summoned to the pond at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Joined by a number of other departments, police searched the pond until about 11 p.m.

The search resumed this morning and Kelley's body was found just before 10 a.m., police said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

The search continued today for a retired Massachusetts State Police captain who disappeared while on a hunting trip in Idaho last month.

Four sheriff’s posse members and a helicopter searched areas in the Nez Perce National Forest where it’s believed Ronald S. Gray might be, Chief Deputy John J. Nida of the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office, said in a telephone interview.

“There’s an active search going on,” he said. Noting the difficulties searchers faced looking recently for millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, whose airplane crashed in California, he said, “This area is 10 times more remote than that area.”

“This is not an airplane we’re looking for,” he added. “We’re looking for one individual wearing camouflage.”

Two weeks ago, despite a bruised knee, Gray said goodbye to two hunting buddies, shouldered his backpack, and disappeared into the woods. He was supposed to return to camp by Sept. 23. He never showed up, the Globe reports today.

By Globe Staff

An unusual tourist -- one who may be eight feet long and weigh 1,000 pounds -- has been visiting Cape Cod recently. A manatee, normally a denizen of waters much farther south, has been sighted in Harwich, Dennis, and Yarmouth, an official at the Cape Cod Stranding Network said.

Activists are hoping to monitor the animal and, if the water gets cooler and the animal seems in danger, will consider rescuing it, said C.T. Harry, assistant stranding coordinator for the non-profit group that responds when marine mammals are beached. He said sightings so far have been reported by citizens, and activists haven't confirmed them yet.

The animal was initially seen in Rhode Island about a month ago. After that, it was seen in Fall River and Taunton. And more recently, it has been sighted off Harwich and Dennis. It was spotted today at Gray’s Beach in Yarmouthport, said Harry, who had just returned from unsuccessfully looking for the animal.

Witnesses have given various estimates of the size of the animal -- from five feet long and 700 pounds to eight feet long and 1,000 pounds, Harry said.

“The ideal thing is for us to do nothing and let the animal go back down south on its own power,” said Harry. But he said that if the animal continues to be sighted in the next week or two, as the water temperatures drop, his organization would work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on a rescue plan.

By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who has been dogged by legal troubles for years, now faces the possibility of disbarment.

Wilkerson gave ``intentionally false, misleading, and deceptive testimony'' at the Superior Court hearing seeking a new trial for her nephew, Jermaine Berry, and in a sworn affidavit, according to the eight-page petition for discipline.

In both the court appearance and in the affidavit, Wilkerson falsely claimed that she was present at a Boston police station when two homicide detectives interviewed another relative, Isaac Wilkerson, about the 1994 stabbing death of Hazel Mack, the petition said. Berry was convicted of voluntary manslaughter a year later in Mack's death.

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

A 62-year-old man died at the Pacella Quarry in Westford this morning after a large metal plate fell on him, police said.

Police received a call about the accident around 7:30, said Captain Victor Neal. The large plate, similar to those used to cover holes in the road, was used to keep rocks from getting under the quarry's rock-crushing machine.

Neal said that when police arrived the man was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man’s death appeared to be an accident, Neal said, but police are still investigating.

By Globe Staff

A longshoreman was convicted Thursday of falsifying 116 hours on his timesheet in an attorney general's probe that has netted 19 guilty verdicts and more than $311,000 in fines and restitution.

Robert Miller, 49, was convicted by a Suffolk Superior Court jury of fraud in the procurement of government services and conspiracy to commit larceny over $250. The South Boston resident is scheduled to be sentenced next Friday.

By Globe Staff

A 21-year-old alleged drunken driver is accused of leading State Police on a 17-mile chase early this morning, speeding the wrong way on Route 3 while being pursued by at least a half dozen cruisers.

The chase began at 3:05 a.m. in Norwell as a purple 1998 Chevy Malibu raced north at high speed on southbound Route 3, according to Trooper Thomas Murphy, a State Police spokesman. Police pursued the car on the other side of the road, heading north in the northbound lanes as the driver merged onto Interstate 93.

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE --The winners are in: The chemistry prize goes to scientists who researched Coca Cola's ability to kill sperm. The biology award is for research proving that fleas on dogs jump higher than fleas on cats; and the prize for medicine goes to the enterprising economist who found that expensive fake pills work better than cheap ones.

Those awards and seven others were handed out tonight by Nobel laureates at the 18th annual Ig Nobel prizes, an irreverent event that showcases the humorous side of science.

The event, which comes just a few days before the real Nobel Prize announcements start, was also a reminder that science, often seen as important but impenetrable to people without a Ph.D., is, fundamentally, about understanding the world. There is room in the discipline for probing cellular mechanisms and building an obstacle course for fleas, to better understand and control them.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Another day brought another piece of dismal financial news for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. One of the authority's two rating agencies downgraded its credit rating Thursday, putting its bonds just a notch above junk status and increasing the likelihood that a significant toll increase is coming very soon.

“I think we all recognize that we need to do that promptly," said Michael Angelini, part of a majority of board members who say a toll increase is needed. "We're going to be meeting again in October and I’m sure that’s the first item on the agenda.”

The news that Moody's Investor Service downgraded the authority came on the same day that Governor Deval Patrick announced a still-undefined plan to abolish the turnpike authority and assign its responsibilities and debt to other state agencies. But regardless of who controls the turnpike, the debt will remain on the books.

Moody's decision increases the threat that the agency will be forced to pay Lehman Brothers $37 million as part of a complex financial deal entered into earlier this decade. Lehman, or whoever assumes the assets of the bankrupt company, can demand the money if the authority's other rating agency, Fitch's, follows Moody's with its own downgrade, something it has threatened to do.

Turnpike officials said the authority may also have to set aside another $9.5 million from its reserve account as collateral on another investment as a result of the downgrade, though that issue is still being researched.

"This was not unexpected, and while disappointing, it’s further evidence of our serious fiscal situation at the turnpike," Alan LeBovidge, the authority's executive director, said in a written statement. "This downgrade supports the governor’s recognition that real reform is needed at the turnpike authority."

(David Molnar/The Republican/AP)

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Two experts will examine a Springfield hospital building window that some people say contains an image of the Virgin Mary, hospital officials said today.

One will be an engineer who is an expert on the structure and properties of glass and the other will be a restoration professional with expertise working with churches, Mercy Medical Center officials said.

“Following this examination, we hope to receive a professional assessment regarding the physical status of the glass, any recommendations for further analysis of the window, and advice regarding proper preservation of this window,” Mark Fulco, senior vice president for strategy and marketing, said in a statement.

Crowds continued to flock to the hospital, with about 200 people outside the doctor’s office window at midday, said Mary Orr, a hospital spokeswoman.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

Thirteen days ago, despite nursing a bruised knee, retired State Police Captain Ronald S. Gray said goodbye to two hunting buddies, shouldered a 100-pound backpack, and disappeared into the Idaho woods.

Ronald S. Gray/family photo

A day later, the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho Army National Guard sent teams on horseback and helicopter to search the Nez Perce National Forest, a rugged mountain area spanning about 8,500 square miles. They have yet to find a trace of Gray.

“If he can survive the jungles of Vietnam, he can survive this,” his wife, Nancy Gray, said in a telephone interview today. “This was his third trip to Idaho. He knew the area as best as anyone can. I know he can find food. He’s eaten bugs and snakes before, so that’s not an issue. He knows what to do about water and shelter. We’re confident we’ll see him again.”

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

As the spiritual leader of a mosque in Sharon, Muhammad Masood drew praise as a peace-loving imam who participated in interfaith services and even broke the Muslim fast of Ramadan at a local synagogue.

But today, under an agreement with federal immigration authorities, the 50-year-old former imam of the 1,500-member Islamic Center of New England promised to leave the country Friday night and return to his native Pakistan to avoid being arrested and held in jail for months until he is deported.

Masood was sentenced in US District Court in Boston to three years of probation for repeatedly lying to immigration authorities from 2002 to 2006 in a bid to obtain a green card. He pleaded guilty in February to five federal crimes stemming from his actions, which led to a recent deportation order.

Although Masood was relieved to avoid being arrested, he was heartbroken about leaving his wife and eight children and returning to a country where he could be in danger because he preached peace in the United States, said his lawyer, Norman S. Zalkind of Boston.

"This is a very disturbing case to our office,'' he told Judge Douglas P. Woodlock as Masood sat silently next to Zalkind during a brief sentencing hearing. "His family has been living in the country for 20 years. He is totally petrified of going back to Pakistan.''

By Globe Staff

Bentley College is no more. Bentley University, on the other hand, says it's making great strides.

Gloria Cordes Larson, the university president, called it a "landmark event," saying that "Bentley has become the model of a 21st-century business university."

"Bentley has been operating at the level expected of a university and we are extremely pleased that the [higher education board] has recognized that," she said in a statement.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts Amherst provost, Charlena Seymour, will resign from the position at the end of the academic year.

The university plans to conduct a national search for her replacement. Seymour, who had served as provost since 2004, and interim provost for the three years prior, will consider options to continue at UMass, according to a university statement.

Seymour, a graduate of Howard University and Ohio State University, was dean of the graduate school from 1994-2001 and chairwoman of the department of communication disorders from 1984-1992. She joined the university as an assistant professor in 1971.

"Charlena's years of dedicated service to this institution are not only laudable, but they've come at a time when the university required the thoughtful leadership that has been the hallmark of her tenure as provost," Chancellor Robert C. Holub said in a statement.

(Pool Photo)

Clark Rockefeller attended the hearing via videoconferencing. His attorney, Stephen B. Hrones, argued unsuccessfully for lower bail.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today ordered the man known as Clark Rockefeller held without bail, saying that Rockefeller's life of deceit makes him a flight risk.

Judge D. Lloyd MacDonald ruled this afternoon in the case of the accused kidnapper, a German native whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter.

Gerhartsreiter had asked for a reduction of his bail, which had been set Tuesday at $500 million surety, or $50 million cash, by Trial Magistrate Gary D. Wilson.

MacDonald, who noted Gerhartsreiter's intelligence, said he thought home confinement with an electronic bracelet was not an option, because Gerhartsreiter could defeat the technology.

By Globe Staff

Double rainbows over a church in Avon caught the eye of Globe photographer John Tlumacki yesterday. Turns out he wasn't the only one who captured the elusive phenomenon. Ken Jenkins of Wakefield caught this double rainbow over South Boston.

Melinda Swenson of Cambridge said she was walking along Memorial Drive when a rainbow came out over Boston and she took a shot. She noted that if you look at the picture closely, it appears one end of the rainbow comes down near the Federal Reserve Building.

"Perhaps a sign that this economic crisis is turning around?" she mused in an email.

Send your pictures to pix@boston.com.

By Matt Viser and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Citing lagging revenues and warning that the “road ahead will be rough,” Governor Deval Patrick this morning outlined a slate of spending cuts and long-term reforms, including dismantling the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

With state revenues falling $188 million behind expectations in September, Patrick said his administration would identify "hundreds of millions of dollars" in cuts before Oct. 15. He said the cuts would have an impact on both state services and the state workforce.

“I know that what I have outlined will not be easy,” he told reporters and television cameras in a room next to his corner office. “Behind every one of the cuts we make or reforms we propose is a family, a small business, a nonprofit, or a worthy idea. However, as disruptive as these cuts may be, the circumstances demand action.”

Patrick acknowledged that some of his other long-term initiatives may have to be curtailed, but he also did not rule out reviving his casino gambling legislation as a new source of revenue.

“We’ll have to see,” Patrick said, when asked whether he’ll refile the proposal to license three resort casinos. “It’s a new legislative session coming up in January, and we’re developing that agenda now.”

(Jim Davis/Globe Staff/file 2007)

Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling campaigned with Senator John McCain last November in New Hampshire.

By Globe Staff

Senator John McCain described the Red Sox as his "sentimental favorite" to win the World Series, shunning playoff teams in the crucial swing states of Wisconsin, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

"I still kinda like the Red Sox," McCain said in an interview this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" when asked about the Major League Baseball playoffs. "I have a sentimental favorite, look, I think they're going to do well now that my Diamondbacks have blown it."

McCain added that the Los Angeles Dodgers should also go deep into October because they "have some pretty strong pitching."

"I think it's very possible that both of those teams, both the Dodgers and the Red Sox could surprise everybody," McCain said.

The Arizona Republican made no mention of the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, or Philadelphia Phillies. McCain has long been supported by injured Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

A Northborough elementary school was evacuated for two hours this morning after high levels of carbon monoxide were detected.

The cause of the gas leak at the Marion E. Zeh Elementary School was a faulty boiler. The leak was noticed when the school's carbon monoxide detector went off, said Fire Captain Robert P. Theve.

Theve said a school official called the department at about 9:30 after the alarm went off and firefighters advised them to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the building as a precaution.

A high concentration of the potentially deadly gas was found in the cafeteria and the boiler room, said Theve. He said lower levels were also found throughout the school.

The school was ventilated and the students were allowed back in the school by about 11:30.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Hailing expanded rail service as an investment that will improves people's lives, Massachusetts political leaders announced a $100 million deal today to buy train tracks from a private company. The goal is to improve commuter service between Boston and Central Massachusetts and obtain a key link for a new commuter line to Fall River and New Bedford.

"This is the future," said US Senator John F. Kerry, a Democrat running for reelection, who spoke with other officials at a press conference at South Station. "This is an investment in jobs. This is improvement in the quality of life."

Within a few years, the agreement could also speed travel and reduce delays between Boston and its western suburbs. It's a need that officials saw first hand this morning as they traveled by train from Worcester as part of the announcement.

“As we were coming out here at 9:30 … you could see the Mass Pike clog,” said Kerry, who mentioned a school teacher from Worcester he met on the train who lauded the effort to expand service. “This is life for her and many other people.”

Dozens of commuters gathered around the politicians at South Station as they gave speeches that were frequently interrupted by train announcements. The long-awaited and wide-ranging deal between the state and CSX Transportation could take four years to complete and still faces some hurdles. But state officials are already promising short-term improvements in service and a long-term potential to boost the statewide economy.

By Globe Staff

The longtime president of the Boston Children's Museum is stepping down from his post next June after 15 years, according to a statement issued today.

Louis B. Casagrande has informed the museum's board that he will leave his position as president and CEO on June 30, 2009. He became the museum's president in 1994 after a 20-year stint at The Science Museum of Minnesota.

“As of June 2009, Lou will have led Boston Children’s Museum through 15 years of unprecedented growth and accomplishment," said Jon Rounds, chairman of the museum's board, in a statement. "The Museum has never been stronger, and with Lou continuing in his current role over the next nine months, we foresee a smooth and healthy transition."

According to the release, Casagrande's accomplishments include building the museum a new home on the Fort Point Channel and creating the basis for long-term financial stability.

After heavy rain and hail from a late afternoon thunderstorm today, the sky lightened, and a double rainbow appeared over the Avon Baptist Church. Globe photographer John Tlumacki caught the rare sight.

(Globe File Photo)

Marciano and his wife, Barbara, were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd at a playground in Brockton in 1951. He had beaten Joe Louis two weeks earlier.

By Milton Valencia, Globe Staff

World Boxing Council officials will arrive in Brockton next week to discuss plans for a bronze statue to be erected in honor of famed heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, who is a hometown hero in the city.

The WBC will send representatives Michael George, Gabriel Peñagaricano, and Dick Flaherty to meet with Mayor James Harrington Oct. 6 to update him on the crafting of the bronze statute of Marciano. They expect to have the statue completed by the end of the year.

The officials will view the site near City Hall that Harrington has designated for the statue.

Marciano, known as the "Brockton Blockbuster," was raised in a working-class family in the city. He was undefeated in 49 professional fights, with 43 knockouts. He reigned as world champ from when he knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia in September 1952 to April 1956, when he retired. He died Aug. 31, 1969.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

With the state expected to announce Thursday that tax collections for September were about $200 million less than originally forecast, Governor Deval Patrick is confronting difficult decisions about which priorities he can pursue and which he may have to abandon due to the effects of the national financial crisis on Massachusetts.

While seeking publicly to steady a volatile financial situation, Patrick and his team have been scrambling behind the scenes to assess the damage to state tax revenues and credit availability and preparing various cutback scenarios in case the meltdown gets worse.

Other state officials, meanwhile, are hunkering down for major work at a time normally set aside for re-election campaigns. Travel plans among top leaders are being canceled, one notable casualty being a trade mission to Ireland that was to include Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray.

Among the items up for discussion are whether to draw from the $1.8 billion remaining in the state's reserve account, and, if so, when to do it and how much. Emergency powers for the governor to cut further into the budget also are on the table, but so far the Legislature has balked, the Globe reports today.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Boston School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson's much-awaited school reorganization plan would leave five elementary buildings empty -- Hamilton, Stone, E. Greenwood, P.A. Shaw, and Higginson -- and lead to the reshuffling of many other school locations and programs.

Several other elementary schools would lose their names in consolidations as the district seeks to expand popular schools and create new options. For instance, the Garfield Elementary School in Brighton would be taken over by the nearby Mary K. Lyons K-8 School so it could add a high school program. Garfield students would then attend the new Edison K-8 School, which would be housed in the Edison Middle School Building.

The district's movement toward smaller high schools, which began five years ago, would also take a hit. The Dorchester Educational Complex, which technically houses three autonomous high schools, would shut down the Noonan Business Academy and the Public Service Academy so the popular Tech Boston Academy can add a middle school program.

By Globe Staff

A Chelsea police sergeant who once was head coach of the Chelsea High football team has been indicted on charges that he misappropriated funds from the team’s booster club, Suffolk County prosecutors said today.

James Atkins, 43, of Revere is facing three counts of larceny by scheme, one count of larceny over $250, and one count of larceny by check for allegedly withdrawing about $10,000 from the Chelsea Football Boosters Club to use for expenses unrelated to team activities from 2004 to 2007, prosecutors said.

“The charges against James Atkins are serious and troubling,” District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. “Atkins abused the public trust in his role as a police officer, he violated the trust of the kids who looked up to him as a mentor and a coach, and the parents who put their faith in him.”

Atkins’s attorney, Douglas Louison, said, “Jim Atkins is almost relieved this is finally coming to a head and he can come out swinging and defend himself, which he intends to do.”

(David Molnar/The Republican/AP)

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Officials at a Springfield hospital say that they have no immediate plans for replacing a window at a doctors’ office building where some people say they have seen the image of the Virgin Mary.

Thousands of people have flocked to Mercy Medical Center to see the image since a patient first reported seeing it at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, said Mark Fulco, senior vice president for strategy and marketing at the hospital.

Fulco said that the hospital was planning to replace the window, which was originally put in place in the 1970s when the building was built.

“Obviously, we didn’t change the window out when we heard. ... We figure the best thing to do right now is just leave it in place, until it can be fully evaluated and we can get advice” from the diocese of Springfield, he said.

By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff

SPRINGFIELD -- A Hampden County Superior Court judge this morning suspended a competency hearing for Haleigh Poutre until defense attorneys decide whether they will call her as a witness in the case against her stepfather.

Haleigh Poutre

Black requested an opportunity to interview Haleigh, as state prosecutors have already done several times, to determine her competency and what she might say if she does testify. Superior Court Judge Judd Carhart had previously denied that request, and this afternoon he did so again, saying witnesses have a right to refuse interviews with defense counsels.

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

A federal appeals court today said the Patrick Administration can restart its shutdown of the Fernald Development Center in Waltham, a process that was put on hold last year by a federal judge who has overseen the once notorious state facility for the mentally retarded for decades.

In a unanimous ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals said US District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro was well-intentioned, but wrong as a matter of law when he reopened a 1993 consent decree.

“We do not decide the issue of what path best serves the interests of the residents of Fernald and the other parties who have a stake in this matter,’’ Chief Judge Sandra Lynch wrote for the court.

“People of good faith can and do passionately differ about the Commonwealth's intention to close the Fernald Center. We hold only that the district court lacked authority to reopen the consent decree in this case...’’

By Anne Baker, Globe Correspondent

A man was treated and released from a hospital today after he was doused in sulfuric acid when a pipe broke during a routine cleaning of a water filtration facility at Decas Cranberry Products in Carver, the company president said.

The accident occurred around 8 this morning at the facility adjacent to the company's processing plant on Old Forge Drive, said Jeff Carlson, president and chief executive of the company.

The facility does not have a permanent staff, and production at the main plant was not interrupted. There does not appear to be any permanent damage to the facility, he said.

Police, firefighters, and emergency medical workers were dispatched to the facility, Carver police said in a statement. No further information was immediately available.

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

The Boston School Department today announced a series of community forums on Superintendent Carol R. Johnson's sweeping plan to expand, consolidate, and close schools, which will be unveiled tonight.

A forum will be held in each of the district's three elementary/middle school zones.

The North Zone meeting will take place next Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Orchard Gardens K-8 School at 906 Albany St. in Roxbury. The East Zone meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Mildred Avenue Middle School in Mattapan. The West Zone meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 16, at English High School, 144 McBride St., Jamaica Plain. All meetings start at 6 p.m.

Additional meetings will take place at schools slated for expansion, consolidation, or closure.

Is your school closing? If so, share your thoughts with reporter James Vaznis, who can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com

By Globe Staff

The MBTA says it has fired the operator of a Green Line trolley who brought his son and his nephew to work with him on Labor Day.

The 45-year-old operator, a seven-year veteran of the authority, had broken a number of rules relating to passenger safety, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

“Primarily, there’s a rule called ‘attention to duty.’ If you’re being distracted, then you’re not giving the operation of the trolley your full attention,” said Pesaturo.

Photos taken by a T rider that were publicized by local media showed the boys at the front of the train near the sunglasses-wearing operator between the St. Mary’s and Coolidge Corner stops at about 6:30 p.m. that day.

Pesaturo noted that the operator had been disciplined before. The operator, whose name wasn’t released, was given a three-day suspension last year for using his cellphone while operating his trolley.

By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff

Federal agents arrested 114 immigrants in Massachusetts -- most of them here legally -- in the past four months as part of a nationwide crackdown on violent street gangs.

Nationwide 1,759 people were arrested in 28 states. Nearly 1,500 of those arrested were gang members or associates; the rest were detained for immigration violations. All are subject to deportation.

Federal officials today called on police and other authorities to cooperate with their efforts to curb gang activity.

“I strongly urge local law enforcement to come to ICE with information and intelligence about gang members and criminal aliens in their communities and we will help to make their streets safer by removing dangerous criminals,” Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's office of investigations in Boston, said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

Boston drivers waste hundreds of thousands of hours stuck at traffic lights -- and hundreds of thousands of gallons of precious gasoline as their cars idle. Now the city says it's moving to adjust the lights -- saving people's time and the planet at the same time.

The city says it's now expanding the fine-tuning of lights citywide. A second phase of the project is nearly complete, with 29 more signals in six neighborhoods adjusted. After that, another 91 signals will be adjusted.

"To cut fuel consumption and reduce emissions is a great accomplishment, and easing traffic congestion in the process is icing on the cake," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement.

By David Abel, Globe Staff

The mother of two girls who died in a South Boston fire last spring pleaded not guilty today to charges that she forged a $1,000 check from her neighbor.

Anna Reisopoulos/Globe file photo

“The victim stated she was trying to help [Reisopoulos] after the incident with her family,” according to a police report.

The incident occurred Aug. 29. The police report identifies the victim as Johnna Quish, who lives in the same apartment building as Reisopoulos.

Reisopoulos stood before a judge this morning in South Boston District Court wearing jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt, and white Nike sneakers. She declined to comment.

By Globe Staff

Three men accused of having no-show jobs at the MBTA are scheduled to be arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of allegedly filling out time sheets to get paid for work they did not perform, according to the attorney general's office.

Michael O'Toole, 49, of Milton; Francis Flaherty, 52, of South Boston; and Christopher Peatridge, 64, of Saugus face two counts of larceny over $250 and two counts of presentation of false claims.

Flaherty and Peatridge worked at MBTA job sites as construction inspectors, while O'Toole was a resident engineer. All were required to be on-site daily to oversee work by general contractors, the attorney general's office said.

A joint investigation by the attorney general and inspector general found that Peatridge and O'Toole allegedly cheated on their time sheets on various days in 2004 and 2005, while Flaherty cheated on his in 2006.