Firefighter honored for rescue of children

BOSTON

Boston firefighter Andrew Lee stood at attention yesterday at City Hall as Mayor Thomas M. Menino proclaimed; "This young man is what America is all about. He answered the call." Lee, 33, a former Marine who has been a firefighter for three months, rescued three children from a fire in Roxbury on Saturday. Menino, joined by Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser, read a proclamation designating yesterday as Andrew Lee Day. Lee, who grew up and lives in South Boston, downplayed his role in the rescue. "I was one of many people there that night," he said. Lee was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Erin, and their 3-year-old daughter and 19-month-old son.

CAMBRIDGE

The executive director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government gave up her position yesterday to take over as the chief operating officer of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Betsy Myers , who was one of President Clinton's senior advisers on women's issues, had led the center since 2003. She previously served as the school's director of alumni programs and external relations. Myers's deputy, Donna Kalikow , will become the center's acting executive director.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will speak at the May 5 commencement at Regent University, the school founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. Robertson has not endorsed the former Massachusetts governor, and the university does not endorse political candidates, Regent spokeswoman Sherri Stocks said. Founded in 1978, Regent has some 5,000 students studying on campuses in Virginia Beach and Washington, D.C., and in online distance education. (AP)

FALL RIVER

An 18-year-old Boston man charged with shooting a 15-year-old to death in Fall River last month has been arrested in Syracuse, N.Y., authorities said yesterday. Prosecutors say that Kyron Gorham , 18, shot and killed Shakeem T. Davis inside the apartment of Davis's girlfriend. Gorham is the second person charged with the death of the popular sophomore at Fall River's Durfee High School. Jason S. Bates , 27, has pleaded not guilty to charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder and is being held on $200,000 cash bail.

GREAT BARRINGTON

An 18-year-old skier from Great Barrington was killed in an avalanche Tuesday in mountains near his high school in Switzerland, a family friend said yesterday. Spencer Akers , who would have graduated this year from the Leysin American School , became separated from two classmates after the group had been skiing off marked trails in the mountains above Leysin, said Steve Foose of Great Barrington. A search-and-rescue team found Akers's body beneath nearly 7 feet of snow. Akers had attended the Great Barrington Rudolph Steiner School and Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington before transferring to Leysin nearly two years ago, Foose said. He was an avid skier who ran his own website design company, Foose said. Akers leaves his parents, James W. Akers and Mary Pat Akers, of Great Barrington.

AMHERST

The University of Massachusetts arrested 12 more students who campus police say were involved in a Dec. 15 riot in which a mob hurled rocks, bottles, and bicycles at officers following UMass's loss to Appalachian State in the NCAA Division I-AA football championship. Campus police examined videos of the riot that students had captured on cellphones and uploaded to the Internet site YouTube.com, university spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said. Officers identified students on the videos and cross-checked with university IDs, and in some cases, driver's license photos. Police interviewed more than 100 students, verified witness statements with a log of residence hall swipe-card records, and watched footage from university security cameras. The students face charges of rioting, disorderly conduct, and failure to disperse, Blaguszewski said. UMass has brought criminal charges against 23 people, 22 of them students. The dean of students also has brought disciplinary charges against 55 students through the school's judicial system. (AP)