Police investigate hacking of online blog

BOSTON

Boston police are investigating the invasion of the department's online news blog last evening. Someone hacked into BPDNews.com and left a line that read, ``hacked by metlak / Ownz here / . . ." along with some profane language. The department took down the site about 9:30 p.m., soon after it was contacted by the media. Elaine Driscoll, the Police Department spokeswoman , said she did not know when the hacking occurred. ``This is an unfortunate incident," she said. ``We're going to investigate this matter immediately. It is a very important tool that we use to disseminate timely information."

Almost half of the decorative cows that grazed throughout Boston this summer were auctioned off last night to help benefit the Jimmy Fund. Fifty-five of the cows raised nearly $400,000 at the first part of the auction held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel, said spokeswoman Lisa McEvoy. The remaining 62 cows will be auctioned off through the organization's website, www.jimmyfund.org/cowparade. The bidding started at midnight and lasts two weeks. The prize cow, ``Make Way for Calflings," based on the popular Robert McCloskey children's book ``Make Way for Ducklings," milked $50,000 from a bidder at last night's auction, McEvoy said.

A 34-year-old man from the Dominican Republic was found guilty yesterday of murdering his girlfriend in her Mattapan home two years ago, prosecutors said. Yoderny Pena was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing to death Celines Caraballo, a 34-year-old mother of three. Prosecutors said they showed evidence Pena used a kitchen knife to inflict 51 cuts on Caraballo's body, including a massive laceration to her throat and eight wounds to her chest.

CORNWALL, Vt.

Two men were killed Wednesday when the ultralight aircraft they were flying crashed in a wooded area. The victims were identified as Calvin Minor, 63, of New Haven and Mark Reese, 51, of Lincoln. Minor owned the aircraft and Reese, who had hundreds of hours of experience flying that type of aircraft, was helping him learn how to operate it, police said. The crash was reported about 7 p.m. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the crash is being investigated by Vermont Agency of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. (AP)

BEDFORD, N.H.

A four-alarm fire at a commercial building slowed traffic on nearby Interstate 293 during rush hour yesterday. Workers at the businesses inside said the building was evacuated when the fire alarms sounded; no injuries were reported. The fire burned inside a building on South River Road. It houses a number of businesses, including Prudential Realty and Phoenix Title. A worker at Prudential said she believed the fire started in the attic. (AP)

PORTLAND, Maine

A third person in Maine has been sickened from the same strain of E. coli bacteria that was linked to a national outbreak arising from tainted spinach, state health officials said yesterday. The latest confirmed case involved a young woman from Kennebec County who was treated in late August and was reported to be doing fine. It was not clear whether she had eaten spinach, said Dora Ann Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The two previous cases involved a resident of Kennebec County and one from Aroostook County, both of whom have recovered. (AP)

FALMOUTH

Colonies of sea squirts living on an 88-square-mile section of ocean floor in Georges Bank grew denser during the last year, but the species hasn't spread eastward into Canadian waters, according to new research. The annual survey of the sea squirts was conducted in August and September by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Delaware II. Sea squirts are tunicates, a filter-feeding creature named for its flexible outer covering called a tunic. Scientists say the creatures could threaten the fishing industry in the region, because their colonies could prevent fish from feeding on worms and crustaceans that live in and on the gravel floor, reduce shelter for animals, and crowd out the larvae of sea scallops and other species. (AP)