Animal remains reportedly found in food
Dorchester
A Dorchester restaurant was shut down yesterday after a woman reported that she had found animal remains in her food, said Lisa Timberlake, Inspectional Services Department spokeswoman. In a 6:30 p.m. inspection, Jade Chopsticks on Morton Street was found to have multiple health code violations, including unsanitary conditions and rodent droppings, Timberlake said. Timberlake could not identify the remains, but said ''it appears to be some sort of carcass." The food has been sent to a state lab for testing, Timberlake said. The restaurant's health permit was temporarily suspended, closing it until the owner reports to inspectional services for a hearing, Timberlake said.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mass. officials urge Westover be kept open
Political leaders from Massachusetts urged the US Air Force yesterday to give careful consideration to the merits of Westover Joint Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, as the Pentagon prepares its final recommendations for military base closings. ''Its value has been demonstrated time and again, from the quarter of a million flights launched in support of the Berlin airlift to its status as the busiest C-5 [transport] operating center in the world during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Desert Storm," Senator Edward M. Kennedy; Senator John F. Kerry; Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Springfield; and Governor Mitt Romney wrote in a letter to Acting Air Force Secretary Michael L. Dominguez and General John P. Jumper, Air Force chief of staff.
ARLINGTON
Attempted robbery leads to shoot-out
An attempted armed robbery of narcotics from a Massachusetts Avenue pharmacy turned into a shoot-out yesterday afternoon, but authorities were not sure whether anyone was struck by the four shots fired, Arlington police said. A masked gunman entered Maida's Pharmacy around 3 p.m. and demanded OxyContin from the pharmacist, according to police. The pharmacist pulled out a gun and began firing, police said. About four shots were fired from both parties, police said, before the gunman fled in a dark-colored Cadillac sedan. No injuries were reported at the scene. A stolen vehicle recovered at the scene appears to be connected to the attempted robbery, police said.
Ex-counselor indicted on sex charges
A 24-year-old Boston man has been indicted on charges he had sex with a teenager at a residential facility for troubled adolescent girls in Arlington, authorities and school officials said. Corey English, a former counselor at Germaine Lawrence Inc., was indicted April 28 by a Middlesex Superior Court grand jury on two counts of statutory rape of a child, according to the district attorney's office and the facility. The girl was 15 when the incidents occurred, in August and September, said Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney's office. It is illegal to have sex with someone under 16 years old. English had passed criminal and reference checks with the facility, a statement from Germaine Lawrence Inc. said. He was suspended after the charges arose, then fired in December, facility officials said. An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled, LaGrassa said. English could not be reached for comment.
PITTSBURGH
Wellesley hero given posthumous medal
A Wellesley man who died trying to rescue his two nieces caught in a rip current off Palm Beach, Fla., was posthumously awarded a Carnegie Medal for heroism yesterday, one of 18 people given the honor. Kenneth Slade, 48, drowned March 21, 2004, while with his family in Palm Beach to celebrate his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. The girls survived. (AP)
WINTHROP
Cause of fatal fire still under investigation
Winthrop fire officials said yesterday they are still investigating the cause of a blaze Wednesday that left one woman dead and her father in the hospital. Melanie Kellner, 27, was killed in a 5:30 p.m. fire that started in a first-floor bedroom of 25 Pearl Ave., despite the efforts of rescue workers and neighbors, who were unable to get to her in time. Her father, Thomas Kellner, who was also home at the time the fire broke out, escaped with minor injuries. He was released from the hospital early yesterday afternoon, said Fire Chief Larry Powers. ''He's doing as good as a father who just lost his daughter could be doing," Powers said. Officials said they plan to interview Kellner soon to determine how the fire started. Members of the Kellner family declined to comment last night.
