Aldermen vote $197.5m limit for school

April 24, 2008

The Board of Aldermen has approved spending an additional $56.3 million on the new Newton North High School, bringing the total authorization for the controversial project to $197.5 million. Mayor David B. Cohen said he would make changes to the building, if needed, to keep the cost of the state's most expensive school building project under that amount. Several aldermen said Tuesday night that they did not entirely trust Cohen's "line in the sand," but were satisfied they would retain some control of the project after the mayor agreed to a proposal that requires him to win approval from their board before shifting money from one line item to another. They also said they would not approve another appropriation.

A Boston College graduate teaching English in China was caught in the acrimony between China and France over the Olympic torch relay when he was confronted by angry protesters outside a French-owned store. Officials say James Galvin, 22, was coming out of a Carrefour store in Zhuzhou on Sunday when dozens of protesters confronted him, thinking he was French. Galvin, a 2007 BC graduate from Plymouth, Conn., is a volunteer with Cambridge-based WorldTeach. WorldTeach executive director Helen Claire Sievers said Galvin was whisked away by police unharmed. Galvin is on a yearlong assignment teaching English to seventh- through 12th-graders. He took Monday off, but was back teaching Tuesday. (AP)

The US Coast Guard says that boaters should not be fooled by summerlike spring temperatures in the Northeast, because the water is still dangerously cold. The Coast Guard issued a cold-water safety advisory yesterday for anyone boating on inland or coastal waters. Recreational boating specialist Al Johnson says that even if the ice is gone, temperatures in lakes and ponds remain close to freezing and are not tolerable. Johnson says anyone tossed overboard when a boat capsizes would have an extremely poor chance of survival unless wearing special cold water gear. (AP)

A publisher that distributes books on the legal rights of prisoners has sued the chief of the state's prison system, contending that he is banning its publications in Massachusetts prisons. Prison Legal News, a nonprofit publisher, asserts that Correction Commissioner Harold Clarke and other prison officials refuse to add it to a list of approved vendors who can send books to prisoners. The lawsuit filed in federal court yesterday argues that the policy banning the books is unconstitutional. A spokeswoman for Clarke did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Prison Legal News distributed books in Massachusetts prisons until a policy change in 2003 limited the approved vendors. (AP)

A bank robber has hit 13 banks in Greater Boston in the past four months, the FBI said yesterday. The robber has targeted banks in Boston, Watertown, Quincy, Belmont, Natick, and Arlington, in each case passing a teller a note demanding money. In at least one of the robberies, he threatened that he had a gun, said FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz. The first robbery in the series was Dec. 22. The most recent was Tuesday at Leader Bank on Pleasant Street in Belmont. The suspect is described as a white male, 30 to 40 years old, 5 foot 10 to 6 foot, with a medium to heavy build. In at least two of the robberies, he wore a Boston Water & Sewer work jacket. Anyone with information is urged to call the FBI at 617-742-5533.

A man who came from South Korea to run the Boston Marathon has been accused of trying to kill his wife hours after completing the race. Police said they arrested Kim Yong Sik, 41, late Monday night after being called to the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham. Hotel security told police that Sik tried to choke the woman by stepping on her throat, then later kicked the victim while she was on the ground. Lieutenant Paul Shastany said Sik told investigators through a translator that he had come to Boston with a tour group to run in the Boston Marathon. He finished the 26.2 mile course in just under 5 1/2 hours. Bail for Sik was set at $10,000 following his arraignment Tuesday on charges of attempted murder and domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. (AP)