Sharon optometrist admits false billing
A Sharon optometrist was sentenced yesterday to three years in jail after pleading guilty to falsely billing insurance companies for procedures he never conducted. Harvey G. Schneider, 60, who practiced out of Concord and Randolph offices, admitted he received about $373,000 from insurance companies fraudulently by billing them for medical tests and other services he did not provide from 1996 to 2002, according to Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly's office. In addition to serving three years in prison, Schneider must repay the insurance companies and serve three years of probation.
Emerson professors reject contract offer
Full-time professors at Emerson College voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reject the union contract offered by the school's administration after more than a year of labor tensions. Emerson has already imposed the contract on the faculty unilaterally because officials said that negotiations had reached an impasse. The contract includes small pay increases but declares that department chairmen are not allowed to be part of the union, a major point of contention. At a union meeting, faculty members also voted unanimously to stage a variety of ''job actions," starting with a protest at the trustees' meeting scheduled for Friday.
BROOKLINE
Police request aid in finding flasher
Brookline Police are asking for the public's assistance in finding a man they say exposed himself to women, once in August at a neighborhood coffee shop, and more recently, in the public library's romance section. The man was caught on videotape in both incidents. He is a white male between the ages of 45 and 50. He is about 6 feet tall, and was wearing tan shorts in both incidents. Anyone with information is asked to call Brookline Police at 617-730-2222.
PORTLAND, Maine
Whale shows no sign of heading home
Whale specialists are hoping that playful Poco, like most summer visitors to the Maine coast, will head for home. But after spending the summer swimming near boaters and divers, the young beluga whale shows no sign of exiting the region. It was seen near the South Portland waterfront Oct. 10, in the waters near Provincetown, Mass., four days later, and off the Gloucester coast on Monday. Specialists and federal and state officials who have been tracking Poco all summer want the whale to turn north toward its natural home in the Arctic waters off Canada. The small white whale's sojourn off New England, where it first appeared and attracted attention last spring, has left it with cuts and scars from boat propellers. But the mammal, which appears to be healthy, has not lost its dangerous attraction to boats and people, said Laura Ludwig of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Poco has captivated boaters and coastal residents, who say the whale acts like a mischievous circus performer. (AP)
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine
Divers find body of NU grad student
Divers yesterday recovered the body of a rock climber who was swept to his death by an ocean wave after he jumped into the surf Sunday to retrieve one of his climbing shoes. The body of Emil Lin, 21, of Hampden, a Northeastern University graduate student, was retrieved off Otter Cliffs about an hour after the search resumed. Lin and a companion were climbing Sunday when Lin's shoe apparently fell off and he swam out to recover it. When he returned to the base of the cliff, a large wave hit and swept him out to sea. Lin was described as an experienced climber. (AP)
HARTFORD
Jury to weigh rare Conn. execution
A jury will begin deciding today whether an underworld hit man should become the first person from Connecticut executed in 44 years. Fausto Gonzalez, who was convicted Friday of the 1996 slaying of the leader of the Savage Nomads street gang, would join 29 people across the nation awaiting lethal injection on federal death row. It is because Gonzalez was convicted of killing Theodore ''Teddy" Casiano in connection with a drug and racketeering enterprise that he could face a possible execution. For $6,000, Gonzalez rode up on a motorcycle and fired 13 times, killing Casiano, prosecutors said. During the punishment phase, jurors will hear evidence about the crime and Gonzalez himself that each side considers to support or undercut the case for giving him the ultimate penalty. (AP)
