New England in brief
BOSTON
A key legislative committee has approved House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo’s bill to license two resort-style casinos in Massachusetts and 750 slot machines at the state’s four racetracks. Twelve members of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies voted for the bill yesterday. Two others — Representative Denis E. Guyer, a Dalton Democrat, and Senator Susan C. Tucker, Democrat of Andover and a longtime opponent of expanded gambling — voted against the measure. Five abstained, including Senators Karen E. Spilka, Democrat of Ashland and the committee’s cochairwoman, and Anthony W. Petruccelli, an East Boston Democrat whose district includes Wonderland Greyhound Park and Suffolk Downs. Spilka and Petruccelli said they had not yet read the bill. The House is expected to debate the measure next week.Man held without bail in fatal stabbing
A Brighton man was ordered held without bail yesterday after pleading not guilty to charges that he fatally stabbed another Brighton man during a fight Saturday night in Allston. Julio Mariscal, 40, is charged with killing Jose Mendoza Villalta during a fight that broke out near Mansfield and Lincoln streets in Allston just before midnight. No additional information about Mendoza Villalta, 40, was immediately available yesterday. Mendoza Villalta, who was found on the ground with stab wounds when officers arrived, was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.Chinatown fire leaves 14 people homeless
Fourteen people are homeless after a two-alarm fire damaged a building on Hudson Street in Chinatown housing a convenience store and four floors of apartments. Three firefighters were taken to hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation, cuts, and debris in the eyes as a result of the fire that caused an estimated $1 million in damage, said Steve MacDonald, a Boston Fire Department spokesman. The cause of the fire was identified as an electrical short circuit in the entryway ceiling of the residential portion of the building, MacDonald said. MacDonald said 11 adults and three children were forced to leave their homes.Federal charge added in Pembroke attack
A Connecticut man who prosecutors say was hired to shoot a Pembroke dance instructor now faces a federal charge. The US attorney’s office said yesterday that Dorian Membreno, 25, of Bridgeport, Conn., has been arrested on a charge of murder for hire. He is accused of shooting Marybeth Banks several times as she sat in her car outside her home March 23. She was hospitalized with critical injuries, but is recovering. State prosecutors have alleged that Membreno was hired by a former boyfriend of Banks to shoot her. (AP)NEW YORK
Mass. man gets life in prison for murder
Prosecutors say a Massachusetts man has been sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to murder in the slaying of his 18-year-old girlfriend in New York City. Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced yesterday that Carlos Cruz had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the April 13, 2008, slaying of Chelsea Frazier. Prosecutors say the 40-year-old Southbridge man paid his cousin $700 to kill Frazier, who had been dating Cruz. The couple were in their car in the Bronx when a man approached and fatally shot Frazier. Prosecutors say that the gunman shot Cruz in the leg to confuse investigators and that the shooter is awaiting trial. (AP)DEDHAM
Man charged with assault on elderly
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said yesterday that a Wellesley man has been indicted on charges of indecently assaulting two residents of a nursing home where he worked as an aide. Antonio Aburjaile, 41, is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on an elder and lewd and lascivious behavior. The attorney general’s office alleged that Aburjaile indecently assaulted a 71-year-old woman and a 70-year-old woman, both with multiple medical issues, when he worked at the Elizabeth Seton Residence in Wellesley last year. He was responsible for helping patients with exercises. Aburjaile was suspended and later fired. (AP)
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