Suffolk County observes Evacuation Day

BOSTON

Evacuation Day will be observed in Suffolk County today. Municipal government offices and buildings will be closed, as will Boston public schools and libraries. Retail stores, supermarkets, liquor stores, and bars will be open. Subways and buses will operate on a normal weekday schedule. Evacuation Day, which marks the day that British forces evacuated the city in 1776 during the American Revolution, has been a legal holiday in Suffolk County since 1941.

A federal judge ruled yesterday that a pathologist failed to prove he was fired from the state Medical Examiner's office because he was a whistleblower who had complained about mismanagement. US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro found that after four days of trial, lawyers for Dr. Abraham Philip had failed to present sufficient evidence to support the whistle-blower claim, making it unnecessary for a jury to deliberate. The judge entered a verdict in favor of John Cronin, the chief administrative officer for the medical examiner's office, who fired Philip two years ago.

The state's largest firefighters' union has decided to endorse Democrat Thomas F. Reilly as its choice for governor in this fall's election. Robert McCarthy, president of the 12,000-member Professional Fire Fighters Association of Massachusetts, said yesterday that Reilly had the blend of experience and commitment to firefighters the rank and file was seeking. The union has previously endorsed Republicans, including Paul Cellucci during his 1998 campaign, but it did not even interview Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who is seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination, because of a lawsuit between the parties over firefighter jurisdictional issues. Reilly, who is scheduled to meet with the union for an endorsement rally Friday at Lombardo's in Randolph, said he was gratified. ''We count on firefighters to be there when we need them, and the people of Massachusetts will be able to count on me to get the state moving again," he said.

Fewer than 1 in 3 Massachusetts communities post all their key public records online, including budget information, community bylaws, and town minutes, a survey released yesterday shows. The Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government, a project of the state chapter of Common Cause, reviewed records for all 351 cities and towns to determine Internet access to public documents. The group found that 110 communities, or 36 percent, do not post any of their key public records online. The figure includes 43 communities that do not have an official website. There is no law requiring towns to put information online, but Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said the Internet is an inexpensive way for municipalities to give people access to government documents. She described key records as agendas, minutes, budgets, bylaws, and codes or ordinances. (AP)

QUINCY

An autopsy performed yesterday did not immediately indicate a cause of death for a man found in the parking lot of a Quincy apartment building Wednesday morning. A tenant found John Harding, 43, behind the building on Field Street shortly before 8 a.m. Police said it appeared Harding had been dragged to the parking lot, but a preliminary view of the body did not show any signs of foul play, said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating. ''The cause and manner of death remain listed as undetermined pending toxicological and other tests," Traub said in a written statement.

CAMBRIDGE

A former Maynard High School teacher who pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused a 17-year-old student was released on house arrest Wednesday after he posted $20,000 cash bail and was fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. Joseph Magno, 65, was driven by a friend from the Middlesex County jail in Cambridge to his home in Hudson. The student has alleged that Magno sexually assaulted him in the school's radio station studio and in his car. Prosecutors say the abuse began in 2001 when the student was in eighth grade and continued until the 2003-2004 school year. Since the initial allegations, a dozen more men have contended that they were abused by Magno, prosecutor Michael Chinman told Middlesex Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriate at a recent hearing. No additional charges have been filed. (AP)