Second suspect in killing nabbed in N.J.

State health officials said a sample of mosquitoes taken in Southeastern Massachusetts is the first in the state this year to test positive for West Nile Virus. The Department of Public Health said the sample was collected in Walpole Tuesday. The state had previously announced that a sample taken in Freetown last week had tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis. There have been no human cases of West Nile Virus or Eastern equine encephalitis. Massachusetts has recorded 16 cases of West Nile Virus in humans in the last five years. About 1 in 5 infected people get sick, and about 1 in 150 develop severe symptoms, including neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, and paralysis. (AP)

State regulators adopted permanent rules yesterday that prohibit the use of cellphones or other personal electronic devices by MBTA operators. The Department of Public Utilities said the order gives teeth to the zero tolerance policy adopted by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The rules were adopted on a emergency basis in May, at Governor Deval Patrick’s request, after a Green Line crash in which the operator was sending a text message. The MBTA is charged with enforcing the order. (State House News Service)

A Superior Court judge has upheld a $4 million ruling against the developers of River’s Edge, a 200-acre, mixed-use development along the Malden River, according to a statement from lawyers for the plaintiffs. The Walk family of Medford won a suit against the Mystic Valley Development Commission in March. This week, Judge Bonnie MacLeod-Mancuso of Middlesex Superior Court upheld the ruling. The family asserted that the Mystic Valley Development Commission had underpaid them when it offered $280,000 for the land in 2004 under eminent domain.

The Vermont attorney general’s office said a Shelburne police officer was justified when he shot and wounded a suspect in a convenience store parking lot Feb. 13. A report said Officer Robert Barrows had reason to believe he was in danger of death or bodily injury when he fired at a vehicle that was being driven toward him by suspect Kelley O’Brien of Burlington. Barrows fired several shots, and O’Brien was hit once in the torso. O’Brien was later arraigned on a variety of motor vehicle and criminal charges. Barrows suffered minor injuries when he was hit by O’Brien’s car. (AP)

A lobster fishing ban around a remote island was shortened from two weeks to four days yesterday after a turf war shooting that wounded a lobsterman. State officials and lawyers representing two Matinicus Island lobstermen reached an agreement that allows fishermen to resume pulling traps Monday, said George Lapointe, commissioner of marine resources. Lapointe imposed a two-week shutdown after Vance Bunker, 68, was charged with shooting Chris Young. Two other lobstermen contended that the closing punished lobstermen not involved in the shooting and that the state exceeded its authority. Lapointe and Marine Patrol Colonel Joe Fessenden plan to visit Matinicus tomorrow to try to calm tensions on the island, which is 20 miles offshore. (AP)