Accused coach gets bail cut to $7,500

A judge has reduced bail to $7,500 for the Walpole High School football coach who is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara set the new bail for Daniel Villa at a hearing yesterday, said Kevin Bowe, spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney. Bowe had no comment on the judge's decision, which was a sharp reduction from the bail of $100,000 set by a district court judge Tuesday. Villa's lawyer, Heather V. Baer, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. She had argued in district court that bail should be set at $15,000. Villa, a 44-year-old married father of four from Walpole, is a former Patriots lineman who led the Walpole team earlier last month to a victory in the Division II Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. Bowe said Villa would not be released immediately because his bail conditions call for him to wear a monitoring device, which takes a minimum of five days to set up. Villa was also ordered to have no contact with the victim or her family and no contact with any children under 16 except his own.

Mothers who want to breastfeed their children in public would get legal protection under a bill that received final approval from the Legislature yesterday. The bill, "An Act to Promote Breastfeeding," is headed to the governor's desk after being enacted by the Senate, said Senator Susan Fargo, the Lincoln Democrat who sponsored the bill. Currently, women who breastfeed their children in public could be prosecuted for indecent exposure or lewd conduct. If convicted, they could even be forced to register as sex offenders, Fargo said. The legislation authorizes breastfeeding in public places and makes it clear it is not illegal. Massachusetts has been one of three states in the nation without such a law on the books. The bill now goes to Governor Deval Patrick's desk. Fargo said she was confident he would sign it.

A member of the Northampton Police Department sought medical attention after being struck with a hammer yesterday evening at the scene of an attempted robbery. Northampton police officers went to Yes Computers on Pleasant Street around 9:30 p.m. after receiving a call that someone was trying to break in. One officer went to the rear of the building to confront the suspect and was hit in the head and chest with a hammer. He was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

Two young men unprepared for the cold were rescued from a Black Mountain cabin in Jackson. Pasquale Digiovangiacomo and Dean Cooper, both 18 and from Cranston, R.I., hiked to a cabin they had reserved for the weekend on Tuesday afternoon, but they quickly ran into trouble. About 200 yards up the trail, the men realized they had brought too much gear to carry up the steep mountain, so they abandoned their sleeping bags, a bundle of kindling, and a pillow by the side of the trail. At the cabin, the men tried to warm up by starting a fire in a small wood stove, but they struggled to get it lit. Once it got started, the stove gave off little heat. "The shelter offers protection from the elements, but it doesn't heat up very well," said Brian Abrams, a conservation officer for the New Hampshire Fish and Game, adding that the men did not wear the proper gear. He said the men used a cellphone to call for help Tuesday evening. (AP)

Hundreds of dead and dying white rats were left in containers by the side of a road in Foster. Dr. E.J. Finocchio, president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he wasn't sure who left the rats there on Tuesday, but that doing so was deplorable. About 208 of the 280 rats were still alive. They were found in eight containers - including glass aquariums, bird cages, and cat carriers - at a Providence Water Authority office in Foster. People who drove by saw the rats and alerted police. SPCA workers had to euthanize each living rat individually. Foster police are investigating. (AP)