Six juveniles arrested in stabbings

Boston police officers arrested six juveniles Friday night in connection with the stabbing of two teenagers at Calumet Street in Roxbury. According to police, two males, age 17 and 18, were walking toward Parker Hill Street when a group of boys assaulted and stabbed them. The police arrested six individuals, ranging in age from 10 to 14, who matched the description of the assailants. All six were charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The victims were taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening.

A 22-year-old man was shot and killed early yesterday, Boston's 53d homicide of the year, police said. The city had recorded 47 homicides as of this date last year, police said. The slaying occurred just after midnight, when police heard shots fired from the area of Regent and Akron streets in Roxbury. As the officers neared the area, they spotted an automobile that had crashed into a parked car on Warren and Moreland streets. Inside the vehicle, they found the victim, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A Harvard scientist is among this year's winners of the Lasker Awards for medical research. Jack Szostak, 53, professor of genetics at the Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and at Massachusetts General Hospital, is one of three researchers who discovered telomerase, an enzyme that is key to aging and cancer. He shared the 2006 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, 57, of the University of California, San Francisco and Carol Greider, 45, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research went to Aaron Beck, 85, professor emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, for developing cognitive therapy. The Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science went to Joseph Gall, 78, of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Embryology at Baltimore, for his work in modern cell biology and as an early champion of women in science.

METHUEN

Police said speed was probably a factor when three people were killed yesterday morning after the car they were in went off the road and hit a tree. The victims, Franchesco Vasquez, 19, Jochy Pena, 20, and Melvin Bernard, 22, were all from Lawrence, Methuen police said. The crash occurred about 8 a.m. near Berkeley and Arlington streets, police said. One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two were pronounced dead a short time later at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen. Police said the vehicle they were traveling in, a black Chevy Trailblazer, had been reported stolen from Haverhill on Sept. 7.

HOPKINTON

A 25-year-old Newton man was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Interstate 495 early yesterday. Michael B. MacDonald was a passenger in a southbound car that pulled over into the breakdown lane. He exited the car and was struck at 4:35 a.m. as he tried to cross the highway, State Police said. MacDonald was transported to Milford Regional Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, State Police said. The driver of the vehicle that struck him did not stop, State Police said.

SALEM, N.H.

A husband and wife from Maine will be arraigned tomorrow in Salem District Court on kidnapping charges after they allegedly tied up their 19-year-old pregnant daughter with duct tape and rope, before forcing her into their car, to drive to an abortion clinic in either Massachusetts or New York, Salem police said. Nicolas Kampf , 54, and Lola Kampf, 53, of North Yarmouth, Maine, were arrested about 3:17 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of a Staples store, after their daughter made a 911 call during a bathroom break.

LOWELL

Firefighters investigating a burning odor inside Lucky Laundry on Lawrence Street found a severely burned body blocking an exhaust vent late Friday night, police said yesterday. The body was found just after 10:45 p.m. and it was unclear how it had gotten lodged in the dryers' duct system. The body was burned so badly, police could not identify it. Police said they are waiting for an autopsy report from the medical examiner's office before deciding whether to investigate the case as a homicide.