Floor collapse leaves firefighter injured

A firefighter suffered minor burns and injured his shoulder late Tuesday after he fell through the floor of a million-dollar home engulfed in a two-alarm blaze, a fire official said yesterday. The firefighter, who also had elevated carbon monoxide levels, was kept overnight at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is expected to recover, said Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Proia. A second firefighter twisted his ankle and was treated at the scene. Proia would not name either firefighter. Firefighters responded to the blaze at the five-bedroom house on Nobscot Road at 11:08 p.m. The house had just been renovated and was unoccupied. The fire appears to have begun in an electric meter and is not considered suspicious. The house is listed for sale for $1.35 million. It has been on the market since May 28 and was last assessed for $872,000.

One of the nation's biggest healthcare foundations announced yesterday that it is committing $1 million to curb teen violence in Boston by teaching adolescents to forge healthier relationships. The grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was awarded to the Boston Public Health Commission for a four-year campaign focusing on violence in Dorchester and Roxbury. As part of the initiative, known as "Building Healthy Teen Relationships: Boston," up to 1,500 middle school students will be taught lessons in the classroom about safer behaviors. At Roxbury Multi-Service Center, peer mentors will craft a marketing campaign to address dating abuse.

Families short on money in tough economic times might be tempted to skimp on healthy eating, but they don't have to, according to a blog unveiled yesterday by the Boston Public Health Commission at http://healthyfoodonabudget.wordpress.com. Registered dietitian Kathy Cunningham is providing advice that will trim food costs without sacrificing nutritional value. The blog will be updated each week, and consumers can submit questions and post recipes and tips.

A painting forcibly auctioned by Germany's Nazi government should remain with the estate of the late Jewish art dealer who lost it when his gallery was liquidated, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The ruling blocks an attempt by German Baroness Maria-Luise Bissonnette to recoup the painting, "Girl from the Sabine Mountains," which has been valued by appraisers at between $67,000 and $94,000. In yesterday's ruling, Judge Bruce Selya said the court was righting a wrong committed during one of history's bleakest periods, the Holocaust. (AP)

A state Department of Correction worker has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the agency, the attorney general's office said. Lieutenant Gary Mendes, 48, of Berkley was arraigned yesterday in Greenfield District Court on charges of larceny over $250 and procurement fraud, the attorney general's office said. Attorney General Martha Coakley said that between 2004 and 2008 Mendes overordered equipment for the department's special operations unit, including guns and ammunition. He used the credit or the cash refund for his own purposes, she said. Mendes pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance on the condition that he stay away from the law enforcement supplies distributor where he bought the merchandise.

Rhode Island police have unearthed what are apparently human remains in their search for the body of a man killed in a 1970s mob hit. Yesterday, police dogs sniffed out what appeared to be human bones, a boot, and a jacket in a dirt lot behind an East Providence apartment complex. The search began Monday when police charged nearly two dozen people allegedly connected to Mafia crime rings. The remains will be studied by the medical examiner. (AP)