Lawmakers OK $80m in new spending

Three more adults, who all had serious underlying health problems, have died of swine flu, state public health authorities said last night. Since the virus was first detected in the state in April, 10 people have contracted fatal infections. The latest victims include a 53-year-old Essex County resident who died Saturday; a 20-year-old Norfolk County resident who died Friday; and a 21-year-old Hampden County resident whose date of death was not immediately available. The virus has proven especially dangerous to people already coping with respiratory ailments such as asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and conditions that impair the body’s ability to fight invading germs.

A former state trooper who made cocaine deliveries from his cruiser while in uniform and on duty in 2006 was sentenced Wednesday to three years and a month in federal prison. US District Judge Richard G. Stearns also recommended that John T. Foley, 64, of Saugus spend 500 hours in a residential drug abuse program when released from prison. Foley had been on the job since 1971 and was assigned to the Revere barracks when he was arrested in November 2007 following an investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and Lynn and State Police. He pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Foley will get credit for the nearly 16 months he has spent jailed without bail since his arrest.

The body of a missing canoeist was found yesterday in the Concord River, Lowell police said. The body of James Rivera, 31, of Chelmsford was found 300 yards down river from where his canoe capsized Tuesday evening. Rivera’s two companions - Luis Rivera, 27, and Jamie Garcia, 29, both of Lowell - were both able to swim to shore and flag down a motorist on Interstate 495 for help. Police did not know if James and Luis Rivera were related. On Wednesday, the canoe was found at the bottom of the river in the area where it capsized.

A Massachusetts woman has been charged with locking a 5-year-old boy with special needs in an attic, where police say temperatures reached 120 degrees. The woman, Kristin Paquette, 27, was charged with reckless endangerment of a child under 18 and assault and battery on a child. The Middlesex district attorney’s office said she is due in Lowell District Court for arraignment this morning. Police told The Sun of Lowell that the child was naked and covered with vomit and feces when they arrived yesterday. The boy was being treated at an undisclosed hospital. His condition was not immediately known. (AP)

A New York man has been indicted in the May shooting death of a 21-year-old Massachusetts man in a Harvard University dormitory, moving his case to a Massachusetts superior court. The charges handed up yesterday by a Middlesex grand jury accuse Blayn Jiggetts, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., of first-degree murder, of being an accessory after the fact of murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm. He was arrested in New York last month on a Massachusetts warrant listing those charges and is being held without bail as he fights extradition. Prosecutors say Jiggetts and two other men arranged to meet Justin Cosby to get marijuana and rob him. Cosby was shot during a confrontation in a common area of Kirkland House and died the next day. (AP)