Discovery of body in culvert probed
Authorities were investigating the discovery yesterday of what appeared to be a severely decomposed adult body in a drainage culvert running under Bennington Street on the East Boston line, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office. Police had not identified the body and could not tell its gender due to its condition, Procopio said. A passerby noticed the body behind a metal grate covering the culvert, and called police about 6 p.m. The State Police dive team and Revere fire department helped recover the apparent remains.
QUINCY
Mayor fires officer who was arrested
A Quincy police officer arrested on drunk driving charges after allegedly driving 100 miles per hour on the Southeast Expressway has been fired by the mayor, the Patriot Ledger newspaper reported. Mayor William Phelan fired Siobhan O'Connor, 25, who was in her rookie probationary period on the force, on Friday, the newspaper reported.
LOWELL
Minor earthquake felt by some residents
Some Lowell-area residents felt a minor earthquake Monday night. It was only 1.5 in magnitude, but officials say it was strong enough to shake a few homes and trip a breaker at a
BOSTON
T's operating officer fired in shakeup
In a shakeup of leadership at the MBTA, the authority's chief operating officer has been fired by General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas, according to a press release issued yesterday. Anne Herzenberg, who had also served as director of Red Line operations, will be replaced ''in order to move the organization in a new direction," according to the statement. The move was part of an effort by Grabauskas, who took charge of the authority five months ago, to ''form a management team that shares his vision and goals for the MBTA," the statement said.
Councilor offers police overtime plan
Councilor at Large Stephen J. Murphy proposed yesterday that the city's colleges and universities foot the bill for police officers' overtime and other municipal services during the recent three-game series between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Murphy, calling the city's payments-in-lieu-of-taxes program outdated, suggested that each of the 80,000 students in Boston be charged a $100 fee for city services to relieve the burden on local taxpayers. He called the amount currently given by colleges ''woefully inadequate" and said he will call for a public hearing on the matter. During the Red Sox-Yankees series from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 558 Boston police officers and another 318 from other police departments patrolled the city at a cost Murphy estimated at about $600,000.
Death of woman, 38, being investigated
Police and the Suffolk district attorney's office are investigating the death of a 38-year-old woman, who was found unresponsive at about 1:15 a.m. yesterday in a holding cell in the Boston Police Department's District 4 station in the South End. The women, whose identity was not released last night, was arrested about 3 p.m. Sunday, but details of her incarceration were not available last night, police said. The chief medical examiner took custody of the body and is to perform an autopsy, police said.
PROVIDENCE
High court declines to hear Cianci case
The US Supreme Court yesterday rejected a request by former mayor Vincent A. ''Buddy" Cianci Jr. to review his corruption conviction, probably exhausting his appeals process. Cianci, 64, is serving a five-year, four-month sentence in federal prison after his 2002 racketeering conspiracy conviction. His appeal was rejected by the First US Circuit Court of Appeals last October. He began his prison term in December 2002, and with good behavior he is scheduled for release in July 2007. The former mayor's hopes centered around a lower court judge's decision to exclude a tape recording from being used as evidence during his trial. According to his lawyers, Cianci is heard on the tape telling an undercover federal agent that if anyone asked him for a bribe, Cianci would see to it that the person was arrested. (AP) 