3 kids found home alone during fire

A Webster mother was arrested last night after her home on Myrtle Avenue caught fire while her three young children were home alone. Christina Page, 28, was charged with three counts of permitting substantial bodily injury to a child and reckless behavior causing risk to a child. Firefighters rescued her 3-year-old son, 2-month-old twins, and dog who had been left alone for at least an hour when food cooking on the stove caught fire, police said. The children were treated for smoke inhalation at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and taken into custody by the state Department of Social Services. The building owner reported the fire to authorities after smelling smoke in the apartment building, police said.

Fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger is worth an estimated $30 million to $50 million, according to Forbes.com, which has listed the financial situations of the world's 10 most wanted fugitives. "The 78-year-old is using the wealth and contacts he developed through his criminal operations to stay out of the reach of law enforcement," Forbes reported. The financial media outlet cited the FBI's $1 million bounty on Bulger but singled him out as a model of how to elude the police, who have been hunting him for more than a decade.

A 17-year-old East Boston male was shot in the hip Saturday night while walking home from his job at a Burger King, police said. He was in stable condition yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said. Police said the victim left work at 10 p.m. and walked down Bennington Street while wearing a set of headphones. As he was crossing Wordsworth Street, he told police he heard a loud bang and felt a sharp pain in his hip. Then he heard a car peel out as it sped toward downtown Boston. The victim ran into a nearby convenience store, where he called his brother, who picked him up and took him home. They then called 911, police said. Detectives are trying to determine whether the shooter used a pellet gun or a firearm, a police spokeswoman said. Police said they have no suspects.

Scientists are warning that there could be an unusually intense outbreak of red tide this spring. A wet winter and high numbers of "seeds" of the toxic red tide algae off the coast of Maine are setting the stage for a large outbreak. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution biologists say the field of these algae seeds is 30 percent larger than normal. But biologist Don Anderson said that even with the abundance of seeds, the severity of the tide still depends on the weather. He said the wet winter has meant more fresh water runoff, which creates a lighter layer of water for the algae to float on. A northeast storm could broadly disperse that algae and cause problems. The red tide algae is absorbed by shellfish, which, if eaten, can cause sickness or death. (AP)

Authorities say a 15-year-old boy has died after accidentally hanging himself with a rope near a reservoir at Naugatuck State Forest. The director of Oxford Ambulance says the unidentified teenager was swimming with friends Saturday when he become entangled in a rope near the lake's shore. Swimming is not allowed in the state-owned lake. A State Police spokesman says the incident was an accident. (AP)

A Bangor man has been charged with assault in the stabbing of his 22-year-old girlfriend. Police arrested David Archer, 33, after the Saturday night incident at a home on Hudson Street in Bangor. The woman suffered stab wounds to her stomach and underwent surgery at Eastern Maine Medical Center. Her name was not released. Archer is scheduled to appear in court today. (AP)

Worcester is in the race to become the new home of the US Bicycling Hall of Fame. The New Jersey-based group, incorporated in 1986 by a group of bicycling enthusiasts, say they're ready to expand and are looking for a new home. Worcester is among five top contenders. (AP)

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