New ramp seen easing downtown traffic

BOSTON

One of the Big Dig's last major tunnel sections, an onramp from Essex and South streets near South Station to Interstate 93 north, is scheduled to open today at 1 p.m. The half-mile onramp heads underground and will merge with traffic from the Atlantic Avenue-Congress Street onramp before joining the main tunnel. Big Dig officials said the change is expected to have a positive impact on downtown traffic, with an estimated 9,000 vehicles per day using the new ramp. With a future new offramp from I-93 south to Summer Street, the Essex Street onramp is one of the last major openings before the project winds down this fall.

Four more TB cases linked to physician
Tuberculosis infections in three more Boston Medical Center healthcare workers and one additional patient have been linked to a doctor-in-training who had a contagious form of the disease, public health authorities reported yesterday. So far, infections in 12 workers and two patients have been blamed on the physician, who stopped treating patients June 2. None of the workers or patients has developed symptoms of TB, and the disease can be spread only by someone with an infectious case, said Kristin Golden, spokeswoman for the Boston Public Health Commission. The doctor, a surgical resident, rotated through four other hospitals: Brockton Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, and VA medical centers in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury. Authorities have declined to identify the physician, citing federal patient privacy laws. More than 5,000 patients and healthcare workers have been tested for TB.

BERKLEY

Woman dies as truck rolls over on Rte. 24
Route 24 northbound was closed for about two hours yesterday as police investigated a one-car crash that killed a 20-year-old woman in Berkley. The accident happened at 2:40 p.m., when the woman lost control of her 1996 Ford Ranger pickup truck, which rolled over and crashed south of exit 11. The driver, Falon M. Brown, of Taunton, was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. She died at Morton Hospital. The State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Berkley fire and emergency medical services, and the Massachusetts Highway Department assisted in the crash, which is under investigation.

PORTLAND, Maine

Poll finds support for gay rights law
Three out of five Mainers would vote to uphold the state's new gay rights law in a November referendum that seeks to overturn it, according to a statewide survey released yesterday. The Strategic Marketing Services poll found that 61 percent of those surveyed would vote to uphold the law or are leaning toward keeping it. About 28 percent said they would vote to reject the law or are leaning that way, with 11 percent undecided. The poll touched on a broad range of issues, including the economy, technology, legislative term limits, Governor John Baldacci's performance, and other issues. The quarterly poll, which has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, was based on telephone interviews with 400 randomly selected adults from July 23 to July 30. (AP)

WALPOLE

Air conditioning cited in security problem
A breakdown in the air-conditioning system at MCI Cedar Junction was behind a July 25 incident in which cell doors spontaneously opened, Correction Department officials said yesterday. No prisoners escaped, but more than 100 prisoners had to be transferred as officials investigated. A Texas firm hired to conduct a review determined that an unexplained power fluctuation short-circuited the air conditioning, causing condensation to build up on prison equipment. The condensation affected the relays that control the prison's security doors, causing them to open on their own. Correction officials said yesterday that the doors' internal locking systems are being rebuilt to prevent the problem from recurring.

MANCHESTER, N.H.

16-year-old detained in beating of man
Police believe they have caught the person who critically injured a man by beating him with a baseball bat last week. Police say they detained a 16-year-old in the case of Steven Raymond, who was beaten Aug. 11 in Manchester. They say Raymond called police on the day of the beating to report that some teens were shooting vehicles in the neighborhood with BB guns. He said the teens had threatened to return with friends to get even with him. Late that afternoon, he was confronted by a group of young men and boys and beaten. Police say there may be other arrests. Raymond remained in critical condition yesterday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. (AP)