Council offers 10 ideas to cut violence

The governor's Anti-Crime Council issued 10 recommendations yesterday to reduce urban violence. The council's urban violence subcommittee called for requiring programs in prevention of violence and bullying to be offered at all public schools; reducing access to guns; expanding law enforcement initiatives that have reduced violence; offering support for violent offenders released from prison; increasing public access to substance-abuse treatment; developing programs to prevent truancy and reduce the drop-out rate; providing job training, mentoring, and support for children; ensuring treatment for children who witness violence; and establishing violence prevention councils in every community.

Police arrested a 17-year-old yesterday on weapons charges after he allegedly brought a loaded handgun to English High School. Walter West was one several teens - none of them students at the school - accused of causing a disturbance about 9 a.m. at the Jamaica Plain high school, police said in a press release. Officers responded to the school on McBride Street to disperse the teens. One officer said he saw West reaching for a book bag, in which officers found a loaded handgun. An antiviolence assembly was being held in the school about the same time. West, of Dorchester, has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, unlawful possession of a firearm on school property, resisting arrest, and trespassing. Also charged with trespassing and disturbing a public assembly were Damien Oliver and Tyrone Rutledge, both 17 and of Dorchester, police said. The suspects are expected to be arraigned today.

A Revere bookmaker pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges of racketeering, loansharking, and illegal gambling. Philip Puopolo, 52, admitted in federal court in Boston that he collected loanshark debts and operated illegal video poker machines at the Revere Businessmen's Association, a private social club. He was charged more than two years ago in a federal racketeering indictment with 16 codefendants, including Arthur and Mary Ann Gianelli - the sister-in-law of disgraced former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. Puopolo is to be sentenced Feb. 18. Under a plea agreement, the court will be urged to sentence Puopolo to serve 46 months in prison, pay $4,000 to one of his loanshark victims, and forfeit $9,713 to the government.

The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld disability benefits for a prison guard who said he was traumatized after being falsely accused of harassing pedophile priest John Geoghan. Cosmo Bisazza said he suffered posttraumatic stress disorder after Geoghan was murdered by another inmate. He said inmates threatened him and told reporters he had harassed and beaten Geoghan, including by placing feces in his cell. Geoghan was in prison for groping a 10-year-old boy. He was accused of molesting as many as 150 boys and was a central figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal. Bisazza was awarded partial workers' compensation benefits. (AP)

Connecticut hospitals are kicking off a two-year campaign to become totally smoke-free. The Connecticut Hospital Association says its 29 members have adopted a goal of eliminating smoking from all hospital properties. The statewide launch yesterday featured Attorney General Richard Blumenthal as well as the American Cancer Society. Six hospitals in Connecticut are currently smoke-free. (AP)

Opponents of greyhound racing in New Hampshire plan to try again next year to get lawmakers to end the practice. They hope to win more support for a bill to end live racing at Hinsdale, Seabrook, and Belmont dog tracks by letting them continue to simulcast greyhound and horse races from other parts of the country. Joseph Sullivan, president of Hinsdale Greyhound Park, said he supports the idea - not because greyhound racing is inhumane, but because it is too costly. (AP)