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Jeffrey Epstein documents unsealed with names out of lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell

During questioning by Sigrid McCawley, the lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was asked of she knew if Clinton was a friend of Epstein. "I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton," she said. "I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together." "Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?" McCawley asked. "He said one time that Clinton like them young, referring to girls," Sjoberg said, citing conversations with Epstein. The former president has not been accused of anything improper related to Epstein.

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Man charged with child enticement after incident at Walgreens in Ludlow

Ludlow police have arrested a man on a felony charge after they say he tried to lure two young girls into his car near a Walgreens on East Street Saturday afternoon. When police arrived at Walgreens just after noon on Saturday, Jan. 6 they found a car facing the wrong direction and blocking cars coming at it on East Street and two moms confronting a man in the car, Police Chief Daniel Valadas said in a press release. Police believe the man, who they identified as Michael Wilson, 35, of Ludlow, was watching two young girls inside the Walgreens at 54 East St. as the girls were paying for something. Police said he approached the girls in the parking lot and “tried to lure them into his vehicle,” a gray Toyota Camry. The girls found their parents nearby. At some point, Wilson started to leave, but officers found him in his car parked in the eastbound lane in front of 65 East St. facing the wrong way while the girls’ mothers “were engaging” with him from the sidewalk. Valadas said Wilson was arrested without incident. He was charged with enticement of a child under 16 (felony) and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned Monday morning at Palmer District Court and held on $15,040 cash bail, the press release said. “I would like to commend the efforts and professionalism of the police officers, dispatchers and the shift sergeant for their quick response to a frantic 911 call,” Valadas said in the release. “Their response led to a detailed and thorough on-scene investigation that resulted in an arrest to a very serious crime.”

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Daughter of couple found dead in Dover mansion was brilliant student

Among the family members who were found dead at their Massachusetts home last week was a first-year college student who was actively involved on campus, according to school officials. Arianna Kamal, a member of the Class of 2027 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, was found dead along with her parents, Teena and Rakesh “Rick” Kamal, at their Dover home on Thursday, Dec. 28. Melissa Hammerle, visiting assistant professor of education studies, described Arianna Kamal as “a brilliant student and an amazing singer,” Middlebury College President Laurie Patton and Vice President for Student Affairs Smita Ruzicka said in a message sent to the Middlebury community on Friday, Dec. 29. “She was connected and engaged in class, and passionate about everything she did,” Hammerle added. “She was a beautiful writer and always did things 110 percent. She was a deeply spiritual person and dove into the material in the first-year seminar course.” Read More: DA identifies family members found dead in Dover mansion The 18-year-old was enrolled in a first-year seminar, taught by Hammerle, involved in MiddMyco, an organization for students with an interest in foraging, as well as the Women in Computer Science club. Arianna Kamal, who also recently read at Middlebury’s Lessons and Carols service and who sang in the College Choir, ”loved singing and was interested in going to Italy with the College opera group,” Hammerle added. “She loved singing together, and her choir community was deeply meaningful to her in her first semester,” said Jeffrey Buettner, director of choral activities and Christian A. Johnson professor of music. Patton and Ruzicka said they have not been in touch with Arianna’s family, but have been communicating and offering support to students who live at Stewart Hall — the same residence hall as Arianna. The school is looking plan a vigil for her once students return from the holiday break later this week. “We know that this news will be difficult for those who knew Aria, those with experiences of domestic violence, those grieving other losses, and for our whole community,” the statement concluded. “Take care of yourselves as you transition into a new year.” The Dover police department got a 911 call from a concerned relative shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, after they’d stoped by the Kamal’s home at 8 Wilson’s Way to check on them, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office said. According to property assessment records in Dover, the home at 8 Wilson’s Way is an 11-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion built in 2000. Characterized as a single-family home, the property’s total value is listed at nearly $7 million. Dover is one of the richest communities in the state. Inside the home, officers found a man, a woman and their teen daughter dead, the office said. Morrissey said that a gun was found by Rakesh Kamal’s body. The most recent homicide in Dover was in 2020, he added. Mark Cautela, head of communications for Harvard Business School, confirmed to MassLive Friday that Rakesh Kamal, 57, served as Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Harvard Business School Online from 2015 to 2019. Cautela said Rakesh Kamal had not worked at Harvard since 2019, and that they weren’t aware of him having any publications published by the university. Meanwhile a spokesperson with the American Red Cross also confirmed to MassLive Friday that Teena Kamal, 54, served on the regional Board of Directors and served as vice-chair of the Massachusetts Tiffany Circle. “The American Red Cross is deeply saddened by the tragedy in Dover,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to their loved ones during this devastating time.” Though the ongoing investigation is still in preliminary stages, detectives believe the family’s deaths were the result of domestic violence, the district attorney’s office said. Officials do not believe an outside party was involved and stated there is no danger to the public. The medical examiner’s office is still investigating the cause and manner of the deaths.

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Internal investigation cleared Springfield officers of wrongdoing in 2020 arrest; family alleges tasing linked to mans death

SPRINGFIELD — Keely Charles alleges that the police response to her brother’s mental health distress led to his death. After Sterling Lester Chest Jr. pushed an officer in March 2020, police tased him — and he died several days later. Civil claims of excessive force are pending in court. But a 2020 internal investigation into the incident, obtained by The Republican through a public records request, found officers acted properly.

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A Call for Change Helpline: Reaching domestic violence abusers who want to change

SPRINGFIELD — When the pandemic began, many people in abusive relationships were locked down at home with the person harming them. Asking survivors of domestic violence to get a restraining order or go to a shelter or hotel was not practical, said JAC Patrissi, a trauma clinician, author and founder of Growing a New Heart, a collective of professionals who work on issues including domestic violence and social justice. “People were looking for ways to address the spike in intimate partner violence under the conditions we were facing,” she said. “The only thing we can do right now is to ask people being abusive to stop being abusive,” said Monica Moran, manager of Domestic Violence Prevention Projects at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and a coordinator of the Southern Hilltown Domestic Violence Task Force. A solution: a helpline for people harming their partner who want to change. “Instead of harming your partner,” says the website for A Call for Change Helpline, “call us for help.” The line launched in spring 2021. Originally named for the hours it was open, “Ten to Ten,” the line changed its name after getting calls from other time zones. While there are programs like it abroad, like the Respect Phoneline in the United Kingdom, it is the first of its kind in the U.S. Working with about two dozen towns in Western Massachusetts, with Ware in the lead, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission secured federal CARES Act of 2020 funds to start the helpline. The project, led by an advisory board of professionals and activists, has also received funding from the state Department of Public Health and private donations, Patrissi said. It’s a helpline, not a hotline — a distinction the group makes because it is not an emergency response service or crisis line. The confidential and anonymous line is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST 365 days a year and can be reached at 877-898-3411. When it started, Patrissi was warned that no one would call. The team expected 50 calls in the first year, she said. It got 250. Now, the service receives about 350 calls annually and that figure is on the rise. In short order, the line got calls from across the state and country. Patrissi, a Ware resident, is proud of the project’s Western Massachusetts roots. “Most of these initiatives come out of Boston and the rest of Massachusetts goes along for the ride,” she said. “When we started, people in Boston were surprised ... It’s nice they are benefitting from an initiative that grew out here.” Though the line takes calls from anywhere, it is planning to officially expand to California next year and add operators there, Patrissi said. Though it’s growing, not everyone understands the point of the project right away. People see the need to help survivors of domestic violence, Patrissi said, but when some hear about the helpline, the reaction is: “You do what?” ‘I want to do this differently’ Tempestt Wilson, the lead responder on the helpline who lives in Springfield, talks to callers without judgment. “I do my best to look at them as people who could use some education,” she said. “This helpline really does believe that people who have caused harm can change with the appropriate tools and the willingness.” People of all ages call with varying types of situations, Patrissi said. The line hears from “young people in college who are getting a text saying, ‘I didn’t consent to that’ and young people saying, ‘What are you talking about?’ And people saying, ‘I’ve been mistreating my wife for 40 years and I’ve been in therapy and I’m not changing and I want to do this differently.’” One goal is to make an abusive caller safer to leave, Patrissi said. That’s because leaving is most often the most dangerous time for a survivor, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Operators are trained and use specific strategies to navigate conversations, like set of nine “interrupters” to use, depending on where the person is at, Patrissi said. If the person is in an early stage blaming their partner and going on about how bad the person is, she said, the operator might simply say, “We’d like to focus on you.” Wilson can connect callers to resources in their area, like education groups for those with a history of partner violence. Once, she answered a call from a man who wanted to violate a restraining order and see a former partner. Wilson went over the legal consequences of doing that. “The callers usually need to hear their logic repeated back to them so they can say, ‘That’s not a good idea,’” she said. Operators also talk about what abuse can look like. Many people picture abuse as yelling or hitting, and don’t understand other forms like intimidation, Wilson said, and “the ways you can scare a person without touching them.” One man reported his partner told him he was abusive, but he didn’t know what she was talking about, Patrissi said. They talked, and he described punching the wall next to his wife when they had differing political opinions. The operator asked: Do you punch the wall when someone else in your family has a different political opinion? No, he said. “Oh my god, it’s me. I’m the problem,” Patrissi said he told her. “We knew he was the problem,” she said, “But now he knows he is the problem.” He said he had been doing it for decades, he told the operator. “It’s not really about people’s feelings,” Patrissi said, “it’s about what you believe is OK to do with those feelings and to whom.” A Call for Change Helpline can be reached at 877-898-3411. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-7233. SafeLink, a statewide domestic violence hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020.

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31-year-old injured in early Christmas crash in Spencer

Authorities are investigating a car crash in Spencer, Massachusetts early Monday morning. Spencer Police say they responded to a report of a serious car accident at Paxton and Thompson Pond Roads at around 12:55 a.m. A 31-year-old was injured and was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center, according to police. Authorities say speed was an obvious factor in the crash. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. The incident is under investigation.

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Sunderland man dies after he was hit by car near UMass highway exit

A 33-year-old Sunderland man died after he was hit by a car on Route 116 in Hadley early Saturday morning, according to authorities. According to a press release from the office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, the unidentified man was walking along the edge of the southbound side of the divided highway when he was hit by a car driven by an unidentified 29-year-old Deerfield woman. The man was hit near the highway’s exit headed to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from the state’s Department of Transportation, which also warned people just after 6:30 a.m. that multiple highway lanes were closed and suggested drivers find another route. Pedestrian crash with serious injuries in #Hadley on RT-116-NB, SB near the Umass Exit on SB side of RT116. Multiple lanes closed. Seek alternate route. — Mass. Transportation (@MassDOT) January 6, 2024 The driver called police herself. The Hadley police officers, State Police attached to Sullivan’s office and other emergency personnel responded to the scene, according to the release. The man was unresponsive when help arrived so emergency responders immediately began medical care, the release said. The man was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, where he died, the DA’s office said. The press release did not indicate if any criminal charges may be filed but said the Hadley Police Department, State Police attached to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, state troopers assigned to the Crime Scene Services Collision Analysis and Collision Analysis and Reconstruction sections and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are investigating the circumstances of the crash, the DA’s office said.

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3 men of Palestinian descent shot near University of Vermont

INFORMATION THIS MORNING. BRIANNA DOUG ANTOINETTE THE SUSPECT HERE IS 48 YEAR OLD JASON EATON. BURLINGTON POLICE ARRESTED HIM NEAR THE SCENE OF THE SHOOTING AND NOW HE FACES THREE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT CHARGES. HE’LL BE ARRAIGNED IN COURT TODAY. AUTHORITIES SAY A SEARCH OF HIS APARTMENT GAVE THEM ENOUGH PROBABLE CAUSE TO ARREST HIM. POLICE SAY THE SHOOTER SAID NOTHING BEFORE FIRING AT THE THREE VICTIMS ON SATURDAY. THE MEN ARE ALL IN COLLEGE HERE IN THE US, INCLUDING ONE WHO ATTENDS BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE. INVESTIGATORS SAY THEY WERE VISITING VERMONT FOR THANKSGIVING AND ON A WALK WHEN THEY WERE SHOT. THEY SAY TWO VICTIMS WERE WEARING TRADITIONAL PALESTINIAN SCARVES KNOWN AS KEFFIYEHS. THE SUSPECT WALKED UP TO THEM AND SHOT THEM. THEY WEREN’T ROBBED. THEY WEREN’T MUGGED. IT WAS A TARGETED A TARGETED SHOOTING AND A TARGETED, TARGETED CRIME. SUPER CONCERNED. JUST EXTENDING OUR LOVE, EXTENDING OUR SUPPORT TO THOSE THREE YOUNG MEN AND TO OUR OUR NEIGHBORS. AS THE SHOOTING HAS RATTLED THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY THERE, PEOPLE CAME TOGETHER FOR A DEMONSTRATION LAST NIGHT IN DOWNTOWN BURLINGTON. THAT EVENT WAS ORGANIZED BY VERMONTERS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE, LYNN, AND THEY SAY THEY’RE ASKING POLICE TO INVESTIGATE THIS AS A HATE CRIME. LATE LAST NIGHT, THE FBI INDICATED IT IS INVESTIGATE DATING THE SHOOTING. POLICE SAID TWO OF THE THREE VICTIMS ARE US CITIZENS AND THE THIRD IS A LEGAL RESIDENT. Advertisement Police arrest suspect in the shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont Share Copy Link Copy Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting of three young men of Palestinian descent who were attending a Thanksgiving holiday gathering near the University of Vermont campus Saturday evening.Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Jason J. Eaton, 48, while conducting a search of the shooting area in Burlington at 3:38 p.m. Sunday, the Burlington Police Department said in a statement.Authorities collected evidence during a search of Eaton’s apartment in a building in front of the shooting location. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, police said.The attack that injured the three men around 6:25 p.m. Saturday may have been a hate crime, authorities previously said.Two of the men were in stable condition and the other suffered “much more serious injuries,” Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement Sunday. The three, all age 20, were walking during a visit to the home of one of the victim's relatives when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun, police said.“Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled,” Murad said. “All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities.”The victims are all of Palestinian descent. Two are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident. Two of the men were wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, Murad said.Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is expected to join Murad at a press conference Monday to discuss the investigation.Murad, who expressed sympathies for the victims and their families, said there is no additional information to suggest a motive.“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime. And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven,” he said.“The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now,” Murad added. "But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released a statement Sunday saying that the victims were Palestinian American college students and that there is “reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab.”A man shouted and harassed the victims, who were conversing in Arabic, then proceeded to shoot them, the committee's statement said.The FBI in Albany, New York, posted a statement late Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, saying the bureau is actively investigating the shooting with the Burlington Police Department, the ATF and other federal, state and local agencies.The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and would continue to receive law enforcement updates.The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction of the person or people responsible for the shootings.The Institute for Middle East Understanding posted a statement on X that the institute said was from the victims' families.“We are extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of our children,” the statement said. “We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice."Ramallah Friends School posted a statement on Facebook saying the three young men were graduates of the private school in the West Bank.“While we are relieved to know that they are alive, we remain uncertain about their condition and hold them in the light,” the school said. “We stand united in hope and support for their well-being during this challenging time.”In response to the shooting, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged people to “unequivocally denounce the startling rise of anti-Arab hate and Islamophobia in America.”“No one should ever be targeted for their ethnicity or religious affiliation in our country," the New York Democrat said in the statement posted on X. "We will not let hatred win.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent, also denounced the shooting.“It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT. Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation," Sanders said in a statement.Gov. Phil Scott called the shooting a tragedy, calling on the state's residents to unite and “not let this incident incite more hate or divisiveness.”The Vermont-New Hampshire chapter of Jewish Voice For Peace, which has urged an end to the Israel-Hamas war, released a statement saying it was “appalled by the shooting.”“We are in solidarity with the students, their families and all those affected by this clear act of hate,” the organization said Sunday. “We are in solidarity with all Palestinian people in occupied Palestine, around the world, and here in Vermont — and we are committed to creating a Vermont that is safe and welcoming for all.”The American Jewish Committee, an advocacy organization for Jewish people worldwide, also said via X it was “horrified” by the attack and urged “law enforcement to investigate this act as a possible hate crime.”Last month, an Illinois landlord was charged with a hate crime after being accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother in Chicago. Police and relatives said he singled out the victims because of their faith.Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions in the U.S. have escalated as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war. A fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was back on track Sunday as the militants freed more hostages and Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners. It was the third exchange under a four-day truce deal.Related stories:

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17-year-old female ejected from rollover crash in Hingham

A 17-year-old female was ejected from her car during a rollover crash Wednesday night, Hingham police said. Hingham police went to the crash on George Washington Boulevard in front of the Hingham District Courthouse just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a press release from the Hingham Police Department. Police said the driver of a 2010 Hyundai Sonata was lying on the road when they arrived and the car was overturned. An investigation found the driver was heading northbound when she swerved into southbound lanes, over the sidewalk, off the road and into a large rock and trees, police said. Read more: Seven people hospitalized in serious rollover crash in Berlin Wednesday night The car proceeded to roll over and land in the southbound lanes. There were no passengers and no other cars were involved, police said. The driver was sent to South Shore Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police said the unidentified teen wasn’t wearing a seat belt and it had been latched behind the driver’s seat to potentially avoid the seat belt warning system, police said. She was issued a citation for negligent operation, marked lanes violation, speeding and seat belt violation, according to police.

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Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, wants license back after deadly crash

A commercial truck driver from Ukraine who faces a deportation order is trying to get his driving privileges back now that he’s been acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire. “I would like to request a hearing to get my license back,” Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 28, of West Springfield, wrote to the New Hampshire Department of Safety in September, according to records obtained by The Associated Press under the state’s open records law.

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Justice Department Found Unimaginable Failure in Uvalde Response

A near-total breakdown in policing protocols hindered the response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 that left 21 people dead, the Justice Department concluded today after a nearly two-year investigation. “Lives would have been saved, and people could have survived” if officers had not refused to rapidly confront the killer, Attorney General Merrick Garland said. The department blamed “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training” for a passive law enforcement response that allowed an 18-year-old gunman to remain inside Robb Elementary School for more than an hour before he was confronted and killed. (Here’s a minute-by-minute timeline of the 78-minute ordeal.) The most significant failure, investigators concluded, was the decision by local police officials to classify the incident as a barricaded standoff rather than an “active-shooter” scenario, which would have demanded instant and aggressive action. Most of the officials in charge that day have been fired or have retired.

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Officials ID victim in fatal Cambridge fire

Local News Officials ID victim in fatal Cambridge fire Brian Brandt, 52, of Cambridge, was found deceased by firefighters in a second-floor apartment, according to a statement. Local officials have identified the victim of Tuesday’s fatal fire in Cambridge. Brian Brandt, 52, of Cambridge, was found deceased by firefighters, according to the statement from Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow, Cambridge Fire Chief Thomas F. Cahill, State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine, and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian T. Ryan on Friday. The Cambridge Fire Department responded to 15 Chester St. early Tuesday morning, finding heavy fire showing, according to officials. Firefighters used an aerial ladder to rescue an occupant from a third-floor window, according to the statement. Officials said other residents escaped safely after working smoke alarms alerted them to the danger. Advertisement: Pro EMS transported one firefighter to a local hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the statement. Officials said about 15 occupants of the Chester Street apartment building were displaced by the fire. The fire went to three alarms before it was brought under control at about 5:15 a.m., according to the statement. Officials said firefighters were able to contain the fire to a second-floor apartment at the front left of the building. Firefighters entered the apartment to “conduct an aggressive interior attack” and located Brandt, the sole occupant, deceased inside, according to the statement. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Cambridge Fire Department, Cambridge Police Department, and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the offices of the State Fire Marshal and Middlesex District Attorney.

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Police stopped extremely confused 76-year-old driving the wrong way on I-93

Local News Police stopped ‘extremely confused’ 76-year-old driving the wrong way on I-93 The man reportedly told police he did not know where he was. State police stopped an “extremely confused” 76-year-old Lynn man who was driving the wrong way on I-93 in Boston on Sunday night, The Boston Globe reports. According to the newspaper, police received about 10 calls around 9:15 p.m. reporting the driver traveling south on the northbound side of the highway, describing several close calls with oncoming traffic. The moment was captured on video and posted to Instagram. “Mass Highway positioned several plow trucks across the highway north of Exit 11 in Milton to block the wrong way vehicle from going any further,” State Police said in a statement obtained by the Globe. “The wrong way vehicle, a 2015 Toyota Corolla, rolled to a stop.” Advertisement: Police did not release the name of the 76-year-old. “The man was extremely confused and stated that he did not know where he was,” police said, according to the Globe. “Troopers determined that the man’s condition was the result of underlying health conditions and not impairment.” The man was cited for a wrong way violation and issued an immediate threat notice with the RMV to have his license suspended, according to the newspaper.

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He Went Out for Cigarettes. A Decade Later, His Car Was Found in a Pond.

One morning in late December 2013, Donald L. Erwin, a 59-year-old disabled veteran, told his wife he was going to buy cigarettes. He often woke before dawn and was a heavy smoker. She went back to sleep. Sometime after 6 a.m., Mr. Erwin got into his silver Hyundai and left his mobile home in the central Ozarks. He never returned. For nearly a decade, Mr. Erwin’s family, together with some friends and locals, have scoured the hilly region near his home in Camdenton, Mo., for clues. “I did not stop for nine years,” Mr. Erwin’s sister, Yvonne Erwin-Bowen, said in an interview, noting that she would travel from her home in Kansas City at least twice a year to search. Mr. Erwin’s wife has since died. By last year, Ms. Erwin-Bowen, 62, had begun to lose steam. “I didn’t go look for my brother one time,” she said. “I literally put it in God’s hands.”

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Massachusetts police apologize after officer searched a middle school for LGBTQ book - Boston News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — Police in western Massachusetts apologized Thursday after an officer was sent to a middle school to search for a copy of “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, following a complaint. On December 8, a plainclothes officer was escorted into a classroom at W.E.B. Dubois Regional Middle School toward the end of the school day to search for the book, Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said in a statement sent to CNN. “After a brief conversation with the teacher, the officer was advised that the book in question was not there and could not be accounted for at that time,” the statement said. “As the Chief of Police for the Great Barrington Police Department, I apologize to anyone who was negatively effected by our involvement at the W.E.B. Dubois Middle School on December 8, 2023,” Storti said. Police said they had received a complaint that day from someone “who witnessed what they perceived to be concerning illustrations” in a book given to students by a teacher at the middle school. The person, who authorities did not identify, shared a photo of an illustration that depicted animated characters performing sexual acts on each other, police said. School officials and police later determined the illustration was part of Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” Storti told CNN. The graphic memoir examines the non-binary author’s journey with identity, and it has been one of the most banned or challenged books from school libraries in recent years. In a previous interview with CNN, Kobabe encouraged people who describe the memoir as inappropriate or pornography to read the whole book. “Read the whole thing and judge for yourself, don’t just go based on the one or two tiny clips you’ve seen on social media,” Kobabe told CNN. Storti told CNN his department had never responded to similar complaints before. In a press release, he said that “because this complaint was made directly to the police department, we are obligated and have a duty to examine the complaint further.” “Over the years, our relationship with our schools has been positive and collaborative, so together we worked with the school to try to navigate this sensitive situation. If our involvement caused distrust and alarm, that was not our intention. I promise you our actions were not meant to disenfranchise anyone or influence school curriculum,” Storti said. The police department and the Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy Shugrue determined the matter should be referred to the school district, Storti said. In a message sent to the school community Tuesday, Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon and Stephen Bannon, chair of the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee, apologized for how the incident was handled by school officials. “Faced with an unprecedented police investigation of what should be a purely educational issue, we tried our best to serve the interests of students, families, teachers, and staff. In hindsight, we would have approached that moment differently. We are sorry. We can do better to refine and support our existing policies. We are committed to supporting all our students, particularly vulnerable populations,” Dillon and Bannon wrote. The district plans to hold several meetings to discuss the incident, including at a previously scheduled school committee meeting in January, Dillon and Bannon said. Ruth Bourquin, senior managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, condemned the actions of police saying, “This incident is deeply concerning, and a serious escalation of attempts by a vocal minority to ban books that are by and about LGBTQ people, communities of color, and other marginalized groups.” (Copyright (c) 2023 CNN. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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crime

BPD report says officer driving Mayor Wu contributed to June crash

The captain’s report diverged from an earlier department finding that concluded Smith had nothing to do with causing the crash. However, Captain Leighton B. Facey recommended in his report that no disciplinary action be taken against the officer, Keyanna Smith, since she was operating “with due care,” following department protocols, and the fact that this was “the first Department of Motor Vehicle accident in which the officer’s actions resulted or contributed to” a crash. A Boston police captain determined that a police officer who crashed their car while driving Mayor Michelle Wu in Roslindale earlier this year “did contribute” to the crash by running a red light. Advertisement Boston25 first reported the news. The station obtained the report through a public records request. The Globe has since verified the report. The crash occurred in June near the intersection of Hyde Park Avenue and Blakemore Street. A video showed the unmarked Ford Mustang police car had flashing blue emergency lights when it was T-boned by an oncoming black Honda CR-V traveling in the opposite direction. Photos from the crash show a mangled front end of the Honda and damage to the Mustang’s front driver’s side wheel well. The police car was not heading to an emergency, and the crash prompted questions about why the car had activated its emergency lights and sirens. According to Wu’s office, the mayor was on her way to the Copley Library for a Cabinet meeting. At the time, a Wu spokesperson said the BPD’s dignitary protection unit exercises “discretion on when to use lights and sirens, and must follow protocols on how to do so safely.” On Thursday, Wu was asked whether the crash showed the need to change police procedures. The mayor said she deferred to BPD “on what their policy should be.” Advertisement “I’m just thankful that everyone is safe,” Wu told reporters. Police Sergeant Detective Cary Chin, who investigated the wreck, said in his report that Smith brought her car to a stop at the red light in the intersection before “proceeding to cross the outbound lanes of Hyde Park Avenue.” The crash was captured by multiple video surveillance systems, according to police reports. The police car had its lights and siren on, prompting at least two cars to stop. The Honda CR-V, however, did not, colliding with the Mustang in the intersection, according to Chin’s report. The driver of the Honda, Yosmery Peña, told the Globe earlier this year she didn’t see the police car because vehicles in the right lane were blocking her view, nor did she hear any sirens. Her 1-year-old baby was in the car at the time. “I thought, ‘[Good heavens!] That car shouldn’t have crossed,’” she told the Globe in June. “It was traumatizing for me; I was so scared and nervous for my baby, who started crying immediately.” Chin concluded that Smith’s actions did not cause the crash, saying the officer was acting “in a responsible manner while operating her assigned unit department motor vehicle and obeying the traffic laws.” His report said that Smith was driving the car in accordance with department rules and procedures. “I find that there is no need for counseling or further investigation regarding this motor vehicle crash,” wrote Chin. However, Facey, the police captain, stated in his report: “I respectfully report that after reviewing the attached reports, I do not fully agree with the finding of Sergeant Detective Cary Chin ... in this investigation.” Advertisement Wu, who told police she was reviewing documents on her phone at the time of the crash, rode in an ambulance with Peña and her child to Boston Children’s Hospital. Peña at first was reluctant to go to the hospital, according to police reports. In the summer, Peña said the police report “makes it look like I was at fault for the crash.” “The report is very convenient to their side,” she said. In the aftermath of the crash, Peña got a repair estimate for her CR-V of $8,800, which she was told her insurance company would cover after she paid a deductible of $1,000. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.

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crime

Highest court in Mass. nixes life without parole for adults under 21

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled Thursday that sentencing adults under 21 to life without the possibility of parole violates the state’s constitution. In addition to prohibiting judges from newly issuing such sentences, the 4-3 ruling in Commonwealth v. Sheldon Mattis makes it possible for people who were between the ages of 18 and 20 when they committed a crime that earned them a sentence of life without parole to litigate in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence. The legal logic behind the ruling A mandatory sentence of life without parole for minors was already prohibited as a result of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The following year, the Supreme Judicial Court took this a step further, ruling that sentencing a minor to life without parole in any circumstance violates Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights by inflicting a “cruel or unusual” punishment. In this new decision, the court considered whether the logic of its previous decision applies to “emerging adults,” or people aged 18, 19 or 20. Its conclusion was that it did, meaning that mandatory sentences of life without parole for people in this age range violate Article 26. Chief Justice Kimberly Budd wrote in the decision that the court looked to several Supreme Court decisions which indicated that “youth matters” when applying the U.S. Constitution’s 8th Amendment. The justices also considered the opinions of 23 retired Massachusetts judges, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and 17 neuroscientists, she wrote. “Advancements in scientific research have confirmed what many know well through experience: the brains of emerging adults are not fully mature,” Budd wrote. “Specifically, the scientific record strongly supports the contention that emerging adults have the same core neurological characteristics as juveniles have.” How the ruling will affect prisoners While Budd wrote that the judges considered how youth development plays into “diminished responsibility” for crimes, she also emphasized that the decision should not be construed to suggest that people who can now undergo resentencing under the decision should automatically be paroled. “By providing an opportunity for parole, we do not diminish the severity of the crime of murder in the first degree because it was committed by an emerging adult,” she wrote. According to WBUR, the decision makes Massachusetts the first state to eliminate mandatory life sentences without parole for people aged 18 to 20, and will affect an estimated 300 people. It is being touted as a major victory for criminal justice reform, The Boston Globe reported. “We know that a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old are simply not the same person by the time they’re 35. There’s an enormous amount of growth that happens and that you need to have another look,” Lael Chester, director of Columbia University’s Emerging Adult Justice Project, told the Globe. The case behind the ruling The case stems from Sheldon Mattis’ first-degree murder conviction in the death of 16-year-old Jaivon Blake, which resulted in a mandatory sentence of life without parole. According to the facts of the case laid out in the ruling, in 2011, when Mattis was 18, he handed a gun to his friend Nyasani Watt, who then shot Blake. Mattis was convicted under a legal theory known as “joint venture,” which holds that a person is guilty of a crime if they intentionally help someone commit that crime. According to The Boston Globe, Watt was also convicted of first-degree murder, but because Watt was days away from turning 18, he avoided a mandatory sentence of life without parole. The Supreme Judicial Court reviews all first-degree murder convictions in Massachusetts, and in 2020, it affirmed both convictions. But, the Globe reported, in that decision, the court questioned whether the discrepancy between Watt’s and Mattis’ sentences was constitutional. Mattis eventually appealed his sentence until his case was brought back up to the state’s highest court, the Globe reported. The court’s decision Thursday means that Mattis’ case will be sent back to a lower court for resentencing.

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crime

Crash sends 2 vehicles into vacant Boston Market on Route 1 in Saugus

OUT. MAYOR YEAH. ERIKA NED THE WHITE CAR. IT IS THE PARK CAR. A PRIUS HAS NOW BEEN TOWED FROM THE SCENE. BUT TAKE A LOOK BEHIND ME. YOU CAN SEE THEY’RE STILL TRYING TO EXTRICATE THAT SECOND VEHICLE, A DARK SUV. IT IS UPSIDE DOWN ON ITS ROOF. THIS HAPPENED AROUND 730 TONIGHT. REPORTS OF TWO CARS CRASHED DEEP INSIDE THIS FORMER BOSTON MARKET ALONG ROUTE ONE NORTH. YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE UNDERCARRIAGE OF ONE OF THE VEHICLES IN OUR VIDEO. BOTH CARS FLIPPED AFTER THE CRASH. AS YOU SAID, THE OWNER OF THE PARK CAR WAS JUST GETTING OFF WORK, WALKING TOWARD HIS PRIUS AND WATCH THIS CRASH UNFOLD. HE EXPLAINED WHAT HE SAW TO A COUPLE WHO STOPPED TO HELP FROM DANVERS. HE SAID THAT HE JUST SAW THE CAR COMING AROUND ON THE CORNER AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED THAT THERE WERE NO BRAKES THAT HAD JUST COME FLYING AROUND THE CORNER AND BAM, HIT HIS CAR AND SENT HIS CAR IN THE OTHER CAR INTO THE BUILDING. IT WAS ASSUMING IT WAS PROBABLY A MEDICAL CONDITION BY THE WAY THE CAR WAS GOING. NOW, POLICE BELIEVE THE DRIVER OF THE SUV, A 62 YEAR OLD MAN, LOST CONTROL, MAY HAVE HAD A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. HE WAS TAKEN TO MASS GENERAL IN BOSTON WITH NON-LIFE THREATENING INJURIES. THIS BOSTON MARKET CLOSED A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, ACCORDING TO THE OWNER, BUT WAS TO REOPEN AS A LOCALLY OWNED DIFFERENT CHICKEN RESTAURANT. THE FIRST OF THE YEAR. THAT, OF COURSE, HAS BEEN SET BACK BY AT LEAST SIX MONTHS. WE’RE BEING TOLD. BUT AGAIN, ONE PERSON INJURED, EXPECTED TO SURVIVE AFTER HE LOSES CONTROL, HITS A PARKED CAR AND SENDS BOTH VEHICLES INTO A BOSTON MARKET HERE ON ROUTE ONE. WE’RE LIV Advertisement Chain-reaction crash sends 2 vehicles into vacant Boston Market on Route 1 in Saugus Share Copy Link Copy Two vehicles rolled over into a vacant Boston Market following a crash along Route 1 in Saugus, according to authorities in the Massachusetts town.Saugus police said they received a 911 call shortly after 7:20 p.m. Monday about the collision on the northbound side of Route 1.First responders found a Volvo SUV and a sedan inside the front of the former Boston Market restaurant.Police said a 62-year-old man was inside the SUV while the sedan was unoccupied. The Saugus Firefighters Local 1003 union had reported that multiple occupants were trapped in the wreckage.The man in the SUV was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. A Danvers couple said that the owner of the Toyota told them he was walking back toward his car after getting out of work and saw the crash happen."He said that he just saw the car coming around the corner at a high rate of speed, that there were no brakes — that it just came flying around the corner and 'Bam!'" said Colleen Tucker."Hit his car and sent his car and the other car into the building," said Dave St. John. "He was assuming it was probably a medical condition by the way the car was going."Investigators believe the man may have lost control of the SUV and crashed the vehicle into an unoccupied car, a white Toyota Prius that was parked in front of the vacant Boston Market. Video and pictures from the scene show the Boston Market signage has been removed from the building. The web page for the Saugus location on the Boston Market website is no longer active.The owner of the building that once housed the Boston Market told NewsCenter 5 reporter Mary Saladna that the Boston Market closed a couple of months ago and was set to reopen as a different local chicken restaurant on Jan. 1, but the crash has set those plans back at least six months.

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crime

Chad Davidson, killed in Greenfield plane crash, remembered for heart of pure gold

A “vibrant leader,” a “compassionate friend,” someone with “a heart of pure gold”: This is how Chad Davidson, the flight school student killed in a plane crash in Greenfield earlier this month, is being remembered. The 29-year-old Woodstock, Conn. resident died on Jan. 14 as a result of the injuries he suffered after a small twin-engine plane that he was riding in crashed near the Massachusetts-Vermont border around 11:30 a.m., according to authorities. Described as an avid CrossFit enthusiast, a lover of dogs, and a devoted member of his church community, Davidson “had a heart of pure gold, constantly supporting those around him however possible, being their biggest cheerleader, encouraging those around him to be their best selves, and making every single person feel special knowing that they were loved,” his obituary read. Read more: Fly Lugu had thriving flight school at Westfield Barnes Airport before fatal crash “Chad was a vibrant leader, avid crossfitter, a lover of all dogs, and a welcoming and compassionate friend to all he came in contact with,” his obituary said. Born in Winfield, Ill., Davidson later graduated from Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Va. He worked as the senior director of charter sales for Solairus Aviation, a private aviation services company in White Plains, N.Y., according to his obituary. After joining Solairus as a teenager in 2014, Davidson become known to his colleagues as “Super Chad,” a Facebook post from the company read. He displayed “remarkable drive, talent and passion,” and he earned “several well-deserved promotions and the respect and admiration of his co-workers, Solairus’ clients and industry colleagues alike,” the post added. “Beyond his professional success, Chad was a vibrant and devoted member of his church community, a volunteer, a mentor at his gym and he was actively involved in charitable flights for PALS Airlift Services to help relieve the burden for families experiencing medical hardship,” the post reads. “He cherished his dogs and recently celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary with his husband, Eric, who mourns his loss.” Davidson was a supporter of several charities and non-profit organizations as well, including: Sunny Oak Equine-Assisted Activities, a non-profit in Rocheport, Mo., that allows people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities or disorders to interact with horses; Children’s Hope Chest, a Christian non-profit that seeks to help orphaned and impoverished children; WGTS-FM 91.9, a Christian radio station; the Everybody Church, a progressive, global, Christian community; and PALS Patient Airlift Services, which provides free flights for medical patients and veterans experiencing hardship, the obituary read. “Chad was a behind-the-scenes prayer warrior, always praying for his family, friends, and colleagues. He loved Jesus and he cared deeply for others,” his obituary read. The two other people killed in the Jan. 14 crash were identified as Fredrika A. Ballard, 53, of Southwick, who owned the Fly Lugu flight school, and William Hampton, 68, of Indian Orchard, who was a flight instructor for the company. The aircraft that crashed, a Beechcraft 55 owned by Fly Lugu, took off from Barnes Airport in Westfield shortly after 11 a.m. on Jan. 14, according to Massachusetts State Police. Authorities started searching for the crash site around 11:30 a.m. after 911 calls came in from dog walkers in Leyden and Greenfield reporting a plane looked like it was about to crash. Roughly an hour later, the plane was found in a small clearing in the woods of the Leyden Wildlife Management Area. All three people were declared dead at the scene. Federal authorities have not yet said publicly what caused the crash, as the investigation remains ongoing. According to the National Weather Service, snow squalls on Jan. 14 did not impact the Greenfield area until about 1 p.m. and wind speeds around the time of the collision were around 10 mph. Davidson was remembered by numerous family members and loved ones, including: his husband, Eric T. Davidson; his “kids,” Teddy Ruxpin, Leo and Alison Rose; his parents, Wayne and Beth Davidson; his brother, Joel Davidson; his sister, Heather Nemcic, and her husband, Matt Nemcic; his nephew, Carter Nemcic, and niece, Olivia Nemcic; his in-laws, Todd and Kathy Chalupka; Katelyn Chalupka, a close family friend and “sister”; Daniella Scarpelli; and his best friend, Juliana Velez, according to his obituary. A memorial service and calling hours will be held on Monday, Jan. 22 at the J. Henri Morin & Son Funeral Home in Spencer. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to PALS Patient Airlift Services.

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crime

5 Bodies Found After Days of Searching for U.S. Military Aircraft in Japan

The U.S. Air Force said on Monday that the bodies of five crew members had been found alongside the wreckage of a CV-22 Osprey that went down during a routine training exercise last week in southern Japan. Two crew members remain unaccounted for, and the remains of one had been discovered on Wednesday, the day of the crash. Over the weekend, the Air Force identified that airman as Staff Sgt. Jacob M. Galliher, 24. The body of Sergeant Galliher, a young father who went by the first name Jake, had been found by the Japan Coast Guard. Pieces of the fallen aircraft had been located on the ocean floor on Wednesday less than a mile from the Japanese island of Yakushima, according to the Japan Coast Guard. The U.S. Air Force said that a breakthrough in the five-day search came on Monday, when a combined Japanese and American team found the Osprey’s fuselage. On Friday, Japan’s defense minister, Minoru Kihara, said he had met with Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp, the commander of United States Forces Japan, and asked that all Osprey flights not related to search and rescue activities be suspended until the aircraft’s safety could be confirmed.

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crime

Third man convicted in 2021 fatal stabbing of Boston man protecting girlfriend

A third man has been charged with the fatal stabbing of a 34-year-old Boston man who died while protecting his girlfriend in 2021, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said Thursday, Jan. 18. Dravon Robison, 39, of Everett, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter under the theory of wanton and reckless conduct for his role in the death of Ricardo Garcia in August 2021, a release from Hayden’s office said. Robin’s cousin, Karonn Brown, 51, was convicted of first-degree murder in November 2023, the release stated. Meanwhile Brown’s son, Derrell Sanford, 29, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this month. On Aug. 8, 2021, the three men were driving in Roxbury and approaching women in the area, according to a previous news release from Hayden’s office. They went up to Garcia’s girlfriend, left their car, and confronted her. Read More: Norfolk DA denies being told he is target of federal investigation Garcia ran over to defend his girlfriend and the three men beat and stabbed Garcia to death, according to the district attorney’s office. Video surveillance captured a majority of the incident. Robinson was the driver of the car during the incident and participated in the attack, the office said. Sanford also participated in the beating and stabbing of Garcia. “There were three men involved here and not one of them chose to de-escalate the situation,” Hayden said. I’m grateful for all who worked to hold each of them accountable for this shocking attack. I can only hope these convictions will bring some sense of justice to Mr. Garcia’s family.” Sentencing for both Robinson and Sanford is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 5 at 9:30 a.m. in Suffolk Superior Court.

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crime

Maine law enforcement knew shooter posed a threat but were concerned about confronting him, video shows

In one video, first obtained by the Portland Press Herald , a discussion between Sagahadoc County Sheriff’s Sergeant Aaron Skolfield and Army Reserve Captain Jeremy Reamer illustrates the fear law enforcement felt about confronting Card, as Skolfield suggested that attempting to seize Card’s guns under Maine’s “yellow flag” law could lead to an escalation. Law enforcement officers in Maine were aware that Robert Card had access to guns and posed a potential threat but were concerned that approaching him at home would trigger a violent reaction, according to newly released recordings taken just weeks before Card carried out a mass shooting in Lewiston. Advertisement “We don’t wanna throw a stick of dynamite into a pool of gas either and make things worse,” Skolfield said in the call. The law enforcement checks were initially set off by an incident in July at an Army Reserve training camp in New York, in which Card got into a fight with three other reservists and made veiled threats of violence to others. Card was sent to a psychiatric facility for two weeks, but in September the Army Reserve contacted the sheriff’s department in Maine when one of his fellow reservists worried he was “going to snap and commit a mass shooting.” The fellow reservist said Card had told him he had guns and was going to “shoot up the drill center in Saco and other places.” A little more than one month later, Card, 40, opened fire on the night of Oct. 25 at a Lewiston bar and a bowling alley, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others. Card was later found dead in nearby Lisbon of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Sept. 16 call happened shortly after Skolfield had attempted to speak with Card at his Bowdoin home, but Card did not answer the door. Advertisement Listen to audio from the videos below: A second video released to the Press Herald showed Skolfield visiting Card’s father’s home later that morning. The phone call between Skolfield and Reamer, Card’s Army Reserve supervisor, and the visit with Robert Card Sr. were previously documented in an outside report released last week that examined law enforcement’s response to concerns raised by Card’s family and others about his erratic behavior and cache of weapons. The 97-page report from Michael A. Cunniff, a Portland attorney chosen to conduct the review, found the deputies acted appropriately “under the totality of the circumstances.” According to the report, Skolfield suspected Card was inside his home even though no one answered. He said Card’s vehicle was parked in the driveway, he saw the curtains move in a window that faced the road, and he thought he heard someone moving around inside. Skolfield then spoke with Reamer to follow up on the wellbeing check. Reamer asked if the sheriff’s department could document the visit to confirm that Card was “alive and breathing.” Reamer also voiced concern about the safety of law enforcement officers if they made further attempts to ensure Card did not pose a threat. “I’m a cop myself. ... Obviously, I don’t want you guys to get hurt or do anything that would push you guys in a compromising position and have to make a decision,” Reamer said, according to the video and a transcript. Advertisement “That’s our goal,” Skolfield responded. “I was hoping he was gonna come out. ... I’m sure he saw the cruiser out in the yard.” Reamer said the Card family had taken responsibility for removing the guns, and Skolfield said he would confirm that with Card’s brother, Ryan. Skolfield referred to the Cards as a “big family in this area,” and said he didn’t want the police visits to their homes to be publicized and would keep information off the police radio. Skolfield then went to the home of Card’s father, Robert Card Sr., also in Bowdoin. Robert Card Sr. answered the door and their conversation was recorded on the cruiser’s dashcam. “I understand that Ryan has his weapons, and I just want to make sure that’s the case,” Skolfield says. “Are you familiar with that at all?” Skolfield told Robert Card Sr. that it was his understanding that Robert Card’s weapons were now in the possession of his brother, Ryan, but the father said he hadn’t spoken with Ryan in a few days. Skolfield said he’d try again later. “I just wanted to make sure Robert doesn’t do anything foolish at all,” Skolfield said in the video. Skolfield then went to Ryan Card’s home, but he wasn’t there, according to the outside report from last week. He spoke with Ryan Card on the phone the next day, according to the outside report, and Ryan Card told Skolfield he would “work with” his brother to ensure that he does not have any firearms except for those in the family gun safe at the Card farm. Advertisement The release of the videos comes as the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s department continues to face questions about whether it should have done more to remove Card’s weapons, given the concerns of his family and others who reported that his mental health was deteriorating. Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry did not immediately respond to a message from the Globe seeking comment Friday night. In November, Maine Governor Janet Mills convened a task force to conduct a separate independent review of the circumstances that led to the mass shooting and whether law enforcement responded properly to the warnings that Card posed a substantial threat of violence. That panel’s review is ongoing. Documents obtained by the Globe in late October showed that Card’s wife and teenage son reported to a sheriff’s deputy in May that he was paranoid and hearing voices and had recently picked up 10 to 15 guns that were stored at his brother’s home. The outside report released last week said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Deputy Chad Carleton spoke with Card’s relatives and the Army Reserve and was told they would seek professional mental health treatment for Card. The report said Cuniff found that “there were insufficient grounds to take Mr. Card into protective custody” and deferring to others to monitor his wellbeing “was objectively reasonable.” Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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crime

Paula Welden went missing in Vermont in 1946; Her case remains cold 77 years later

On Sunday, Dec. 1, 1946, Paul Welden left her college campus in Vermont, telling her roommate she was going for a hike. She never returned. Nearly 80 years later, the disappearance of the 18-year-old Bennington College student, which directly led to the formation of the Vermont State Police in 1947, remains unsolved. At the time of Welden’s disappearance, the struggle to find her showed a desperate need for a dedicated law enforcement agency to investigate missing people in Vermont. Investigators from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York were all called in due to the limited police services available in the Green Mountain State. A year later, the Vermont State Police was formed. Read more: Killing of Beverly Polchies in Maine remains unsolved nearly 40 years later “VSP was born out of tragedy, the still-unsolved disappearance of 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden in late 1946,” Vermont State Police wrote in a Facebook post on the 75th anniversary of the agency’s formation in 2022. “The case ultimately rallied Vermonters and their political leadership to launch the Vermont State Police after many years of hesitation and debate.” Today is a big day for all of us at the Vermont State Police: our 75th anniversary! On July 1, 1947, what was then the... Posted by Vermont State Police on Friday, July 1, 2022 In the decades since Welden went missing, the cold case has haunted the college and state authorities alike. The area where she went missing around Glastenbury Mountain has been called the Bennington Triangle in the wake of her and four others’ disappearances between 1945 and 1950, the Brattleboro Reformer reported. Friday marked the 77th anniversary of Welden’s disappearance. Information on the college student continues to be submitted to Vermont State Police. However, she is still listed as a missing person, and her case remains cold. Welden was last seen on the afternoon of Dec. 1, 1946. Several hikers reported seeing her on the Long Trail just off Route 9 near Glastenbury Mountain. She was reported missing by her roommate the following morning after she did not return to campus, according to Vermont State Police. An extensive search of the area did not show any signs of Welden. Investigators were called from out of state, and numerous theories were explored, but no conclusive outcome was ever determined, Vermont State Police noted. Anyone with any information about Welden’s disappearance is asked to call Vermont State Police’s Shaftsbury office at (802) 442-5421.

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crime

21 Injured in Explosion at Fort Worth Hotel

At least 21 people were injured in an explosion that was most likely caused by a gas leak and substantially damaged a hotel in downtown Fort Worth on Monday afternoon, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition and four were seriously injured, the police said in an evening update. Fourteen people were transported to a hospital, and one person went to a hospital on their own, the police said. Earlier, the authorities had said that one person was missing, but they noted later that the person had been found.

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crime

Record number of guns brought to New England airports in 2023 but fewer in Boston

Though people brought more firearms through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints throughout New England last year, fewer passengers at Boston Logan International Airport tried to bring guns through — a happy trend TSA officials hope will continue. TSA detected 52 firearms throughout the nine New England airports in 2023, five more than the previous record of 47 set in 2022. A grand total of 6,737 firearms were detected at airports across the country, and TSA’s data shows that number has steadily increased year after year. The only New England airport to see fewer firearms being brought in was Boston Logan, at 18 guns detected; in 2022, an all-time high of 31 firearms were intercepted at the Boston airport.

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crime

WPI video shows how fast a Christmas tree fire can destroy a home

Just how fast can an ignited tree cause a massive house fire? A less-than-two-minute video produced by Worcester Polytechnic Institute gives a pretty good idea. The video, produced in 2016 by the college’s Fire Protection Engineering Lab, opens with a mock living room setup, with an old chair, curtains, a rug, and — yes — an old, decorated Christmas tree. A person in a fire suit exposes the base of the tree to a flame, a clock at the bottom of the screen begins ticking, and the person gets out of there. Within a few seconds, the room is filled with smoke. Twenty seconds in, the tree is fully alight in flames. By the 40-second mark, the ceiling of the room is covered in flame, with heat visibly emanating throughout the room. Smoke is everywhere. At 50 seconds, the nearby chair bursts into flames. By the one-minute mark, flames are spilling out of the room setup and into the production area where the camera is filming. Seconds later, engineers douse the dangerously-encroaching flames. “Although Christmas tree fires are not common, when they do occur they are often serious,” the Worcester Polytechnic Institute page reads, adding that trees should be kept at least three feet away from any heat source and that lights should be turned off before going to bed or leaving the house. The National Fire Protection Association also has a one-sheet Christmas tree safety sheet that can be downloaded here.

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crime

Officials identify 21-year-old who fell from moving pickup truck in Mass. and died

Officials have identified Daniel Cleary as the 21-year-old Charlton man who died falling out of a Ford pickup truck over the weekend. Cleary was said to be riding as a passenger in the vehicle, according to a statement on Facebook by Charlton police. The driver of the vehicle, who was driving west on Stafford Street in Charlton, stopped, contacted police and remained with Cleary as police arrived, officials said. Read more: Deceased man in his 40s pulled from Ware River this morning Cleary fell out of the truck at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, officials said. He was taken to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center-University Campus, where he was pronounced dead. Police said the reason the man fell out of the truck remain under investigation. The Worcester County District Attorney’s office is continuing the investigation, assisted by Charlton police and Massachusetts State Police.

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crime

Man Cleared of Murder After More Than 48 Years in Prison

An Oklahoma man who in 1975 was convicted of murder in a liquor store robbery was exonerated in court on Tuesday after he had spent more than 48 years in prison, the authorities said. It was thought to be the longest time served by a wrongfully convicted inmate in the United States, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, which tracks the length of sentences for wrongful convictions. The man, Glynn Simmons, 70, was declared innocent in a ruling by Judge Amy Palumbo of Oklahoma County District Court. Mr. Simmons was released on bond in July after Judge Palumbo agreed during a status hearing to vacate the judgment and sentence at the request of Vicki Zemp Behenna, the Oklahoma County district attorney who had been reviewing his case. Ms. Behenna, whose office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, found that important evidence in Mr. Simmons’s case had not been turned over to his defense lawyers.

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crime

More needs to be done: Report shows more domestic violence in Massachusetts

Warning: This article mentions domestic violence. If you or a loved one need assistance, please contact Safe Link, a 24/7 domestic violence hotline at: 800-799-7233. Additional resources can be found here. Dover police found a mother, father and teenage daughter dead inside their home last month in what police believe was the result of domestic violence. The Kamal family killings are part of a “dramatic increase” in domestic violence incidents across Massachusetts, according to a recently released state report. The number of murders and “non-negligent manslaughters” in the Commonwealth increased from 21 in 2020 to 28 in 2022, according to federal data cited in the State Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team’s 2023 annual report. Except for kidnapping and intimidation, other crimes such as aggravated assault — which includes assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation and assault and battery on a pregnant person — have increased from 5,690 cases in 2020 to 6,102 in 2022. Read More: DA identifies family members found dead in Dover mansion In Dover, local police were called Dec. 28, 2023 to check on the people at 8 Wilson’s Way from a family member concerned about the Kamal family. Police said they not only found a gun in the house near the deceased body of Rakesh Kamal, 57, but they also found his wife, Teena Kamal, 54, and daughter, Arianna Kamal, 18, dead as well – evidence that points to an incident of domestic violence. A similar case played out in February 2023, when mother and son Linda and Sebastian Robinson were shot and killed by Andrew Robinson — Sebastian’s father and Linda’s husband — in their Andover home. What needs to be done? The report suggests Massachusetts bolster its efforts in educating the public on how to identify red flags in relationships, and provide more resources to support survivors of abuse as well as offenders seeking to change their behavior. Oftentimes when people think of domestic violence, they imagine physical violence in a home setting, Hema Sarang-Sieminski, the deputy director at Jane Doe Inc., a non-profit that supports survivors of domestic violence, told MassLive. But the reality is, although physical harm is one form of domestic violence, several other forms of abuse can take form in a relationship, she said. “The most important thing to understand is that at the core of domestic violence or intimate partner violence or partner abuse, as it can be referred to, in many ways is about power and control and the abuse of that power and control,” Sarang-Sieminski said. Behaviors such as isolating people from their family and friends, over-monitoring their social media or restricting what they can do in their free time can all be signs of intimate partner abuse, according to Sarang-Sieminski. “Those are the types of behaviors that we really feel that as community members, as coworkers, as colleagues, as folks who are in schools together – we can all play a part in spotting some of those kinds of dynamics and reaching out to our friends and family who might need some support,” she continued. In 2018, Massachusetts launched RESPECTfully, a statewide campaign aimed at educating teens on how to build healthy successful relationships, the report said. The campaign included a series of short, animated videos that taught audiences how to navigate issues such as jealousy, conflict and name-calling in relationships. Later in 2020, Massachusetts launched the Healthy Relationships Grant Program, an initiative that awarded money to five programs across the Commonwealth to work with young people and “youth-serving organizations” on how to build healthy relationships, according to the report. Despite having strong support from the governor’s office and legislature for these programs, the number of domestic violence cases shows, “that more needs to be done,” the report said. “It is our recommendation to explore whether these programs should be expanded, or new programs need to be created to reach more people across the Commonwealth,” the report said. The State Team also recommends lawmakers file legislation to expand state records regarding offenders. Current state law does not open up all records regarding offenders from certain state agencies, according to the report. “Members believe this oversight have left them at a disadvantage during reviews,” the report said. Medical records such as emergency rooms within hospital visits or mental health information are also sealed from view, the report said. “Looking ahead to 2024 will bring opportunity for fresh perspectives on the continued development of the fatality review team and process,” the report said. “As always, the State Team has identified and secured the partnering District Attorney Offices and will continue to review cases to assist in determining recommendations each year with the goal of ending the cycle of violence.” If you or a loved one need assistance, please contact Safe Link, a 24/7 domestic violence hotline at: 800-799-7233. Additional resources can be found here.

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crime

Mast snaps aboard historic Maine schooner, killing 1 and injuring 3

The top portion of a mast snapped toppled on a historic excursion vessel, killing one person and injuring others aboard the Grace Bailey schooner off the coast of Maine, officials said Monday. One person died from injuries and three people were transported to hospitals on Monday, the Rockland Fire Department said. A helicopter transported one of the three injured, while the other two were transported via ambulances, fire officials said. Images posted online showed the vessel with its main mast splintered. The Grace Bailey is part of the state's so-called windjammer fleet, a collection of historic sailing vessels that take people on excursions up and down the coast. According to the Portland Press Herald, the schooner is partly owned by actor Marc Evan Jackson, star of shows like "The Good Place" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters. The Grace Bailey is 118 feet long and can carry 29 passengers, according to an official website. It was built in Long Island, New York, in 1882.

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crime

Accused tire slasher who hobbled Springfield mayors car arrested by city police

SPRINGFIELD — A man caught on surveillance video outside City Hall slashing all four of Mayor Domenic Sarno’s tires on Wednesday afternoon has been arrested. Steven H. Kostorizos, 55, was identified by police as the man accused of slashing the mayor’s tires, about two weeks after he also smashed the glass in a door at City Hall.

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crime

Authorities investigating after several car windows smashed in Hyde Park - Boston News, Weather, Sports

Severe weather is possible Friday, especially over northern and western New England. As a frontal system approaches, a band of showers and thunderstorms will move east. The highest risk for severe weather today is over western New England, but some of these storms, in weekend fashion, could make it to the coastline. Clouds and humidity have returned to conclude the work week. A few showers crisscrossed northern Massachusetts earlier, but we are really waiting for the afternoon for the more significant precipitation Friday. Due to the higher amount of moisture in the air, there could be a few downpours. Street flooding will be possible in any of the heavier cells. With the limited sunshine, temperatures will hold mainly in the 70s. However, with the humidity, it still feels very summery. There will be a line of showers and storms moving east this afternoon and evening. There is the potential for some of these storms to “train” and create a lot of rain in a localized area. “Training” is when storms keep moving over the same general spot and leave a lot of rainfall. A general line of showers and storms is forecast to press east into the evening. Some could contain heavy rainfall. WeatherBELL The showers and storms will wind down this evening. As the line exits the coastline, I expect skies to become partly to mostly sunny on Saturday. If you’re a very early riser it still could look a little murky, but cloud cover is forecast to diminish. Advertisement The map below shows the percentage of clouds forecast at noon on Sunday. Notice there’s going to be more blue than gray. The percentage of clouds Sunday is forecast to be quite low. The higher numbers represent more clouds. WeatherBELL Temperatures will reach around 80 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday there should be a little more sunshine and somewhat lower humidity. If you’re headed to the beach and you get out of the water, the drier air will make it feel a little bit cooler as the water evaporates off your skin. Lower dew points Sunday bring a warm and dry feeling to the air. WeatherBELL A couple of notes about daylight this time of the year. This evening is our final sunset in the 8 p.m. hour. The next time will be later in May 2024. Advertisement We’re also losing just over 2 minutes of daylight each 24-hour rotation of the planet, and in the next few weeks it becomes even more noticeable. As the daylight continues to decrease, average temperatures are also following. Boston still has not had an official heat wave this summer. The last time there was a year without three consecutive days of temperatures 90 degrees or higher was 2014. There’s still the possibility for us to have an official heatwave, but we are slowly running out of time. There was not an official heat wave in Boston in 2014, which was the last time we didn’t experience three consecutive days of 90 degree weather. NOAA DATa

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crime

School bus that struck pedestrian, 5 cars in Boston recently passed inspection, officials say

BOSTON — A school bus that struck a pedestrian and crashed into five cars outside of a school in Boston on Thursday after the accelerator “broke” passed inspection just two weeks ago, officials said Friday. In addition to passing the recent inspection, Boston Public Schools said the bus has passed all four of its inspections this year, despite Thursday’s mess outside the Henry Grew School at 40 Gordon Avenue in Hyde Park. Officers responding to a report of a person struck outside the school just after 8:15 a.m. learned a school bus had struck several cars, as well as a pedestrian who was crossing the street, according to the Boston Police Department. ‘It was a mess’: School bus hits woman, 5 cars in Boston after dropping kids off for class A NEW VIDEO obtained by Boston 25 shows the moment a malfunctioning bus suddenly loses control causing a chain reaction crash in front of it outside of a Hyde Park school. Posted by Boston 25 News on Thursday, December 14, 2023 Michelle Legitte told reporters that it was her daughter-in-law who got hit by the bus after dropping her daughter off for school. “I found out that my daughter-in-law got hit by the bus. The bus slammed into other cars. It was a mess out here this morning,” Legitte explained. Legitte said that she was told the incident occurred after the “accelerator on the bus broke.” “The accelerator on the bus broke and the bus driver couldn’t stop the bus,” Legitte said. “He had no choice but to turn the bus off to stop the bus. By the time he did that we had a mess out here. The cars were all piled up and damaged.” Students who had been on the bus were just dropped off for class just before the crash occurred. Video from the scene shared with Boston 25 News showed one person on the ground in the street and a black SUV resting on top of two other vehicles not far from where the bus came to a rest. Naomi Ramirez’s surveillance camera caught the aftermath of the accident — including the injured woman lying in the street. SUV left resting on top of other cars after crash involving school bus in Boston Credit: Naomi R “I heard a big baboom, baboom,” she said. “Like it just happened all at once. It was such a loud noise that I thought a car hit the house.” Mayor Michelle Wu is promising a full investigation. “I’m very thankful that there were no children or students on the bus or involved here and everybody is safe and recovering,” Wu told Boston 25 News. Boston police, Boston Emergency Services, and the school’s transportation road safety supervisor assisted in the emergency response. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group

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crime

Waltham crash leaves officer and utility worker dead, sources say

Sources tell NBC10 Boston a police officer and a utility worker were killed in a crash Wednesday afternoon in Waltham, Massachusetts. Massachusetts State Police said an officer with the Waltham Police Department was injured in the incident on Totten Pond Road, as was a contractor. Multiple sources later said that officer had died. National Grid also said that three of its workers were also injured, with one seriously hurt. Multiple sources also later told NBC10 Boston that one of those workers had died. According to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, a male suspect allegedly stole a Waltham police cruiser and fled before crashing that vehicle. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. That suspect, whose name has not been released, was taken into custody after fleeing on foot, prosecutors said. "At National Grid, safety is our first priority. Earlier today, members of a National Grid crew working in Waltham were struck by a vehicle driven by a member of the public," the company said in a statement to NBC10 Boston. "Our thoughts are with the crew members, their families and loved ones." A woman who lives on the street and called 911 after the crash told NBC10 Boston what she saw. "All of a sudden, I hear someone, like, screams, and I came out and I saw people on the ground, and I called 911," said Johana Rodriguez. "I was traumatized just watching the scene. It was a horrifying scene." Rodriguez says the street is busy and drivers are known to speed in the area. "I've been telling … the city that they need to do something about that," she said. "Cars just go real, real fast." No further information was immediately available. NBC10 Boston will provide updates as they come into the newsroom.

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crime

Harmony Montgomerys dad wants police footage barred from murder trial

A New Hampshire father charged in the killing of his missing 5-year-old daughter wants key pieces of evidence barred from his upcoming trial, including body camera footage from an encounter with police. In the footage, father Adam Montgomery explains to police how he had not seen his daughter Harmony Montgomery for nearly two years after evading questions about her whereabouts for nearly half an hour. He had sole custody of his daughter at the time. Harmony disappeared in late 2019 but authorities were not aware she was missing until 2021. Last year, police announced they believed she was killed in Manchester, New Hampshire in early December 2019. Her remains have not been found. Montgomery, 33, pleaded not guilty in October 2022 to charges of second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in connection with Harmony’s disappearance. In August, Montgomery was sentenced to 15-30 years in prison on two counts of armed career criminal charges in an unrelated case. Montgomery received an additional sentence of 7.5-15 years for two theft charges. Unsealed court documents last summer gave new insights based on testimony from Harmony’s stepmother, Kayla, who told investigators that Montgomery struck his daughter in the face and head on three separate occasions because she had a bathroom accident. A trial against Montgomery is scheduled to start in February 2024 and his defense attorneys want a New Hampshire judge to block a recording of a police encounter early in the search for Harmony. The encounter happened on Dec. 31, 2021, after police found Montgomery sleeping in a car in a parking lot on Harvill Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. A judge previously ruled in September that statements made to law enforcement that morning by Montgomery would not be allowed during a trial. No rulings have been made on whether the footage will be allowed in court yet. “We just need to find out where she is to make sure she’s OK,” an officer tells Montgomery in the video. “Right now, I have nothing to say to you guys,” Montgomery responds. Montgomery, dressed in a black hoodie and smoking a cigarette, avoids answering most of the questions by police detectives throughout a 53-minute video. “Why are you so concerned that I want to check on your daughter?” asks Detective Jack Dunleavy. “I have nothing else to say,” Montgomery said, which he repeated throughout the interview. Police assured Montgomery they did not have a warrant for his arrest but were concerned for Harmony’s whereabouts and that her biological mother said she hadn’t seen her for two years. After avoiding answering questions for nearly half an hour, Montgomery tells the detective that Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, had picked up Harmony nearly two years earlier and he hadn’t seen her since. The detective told Montgomery that Crystal also hadn’t seen her daughter in two years. “I didn’t know where she was staying but somewhere in Mass.,” Montgomery said. “You haven’t seen your daughter in two years?” the detective asks. “No,” Montgomery responded. “That’s not concerning to you?” asked the detective. “It is but at the time I had no way of getting a hold of Crystal,” Montgomery said. At one point, detective Dunleavy said, “I just want to know she’s OK. I didn’t sleep at all last night knowing I could have a kid that’s dead.” Why defense wants footage barred from trial Defense attorneys for Montgomery, Caroline Smith and James Brooks, wrote in a motion that he used his “right to silence” when law enforcement found him that morning. The attorneys argue that the entire encounter should not be admissible because it would make jurors speculate about what happened and make them prejudicial against Montgomery. In their own motion, officials from the New Hampshire Department of Justice argued that, at the time of the encounter, Harmony had not been seen for about two years, and that the purpose of the encounter was for police to figure out her whereabouts. It was not until much later that police came to suspect that Montgomery had killed his daughter and disposed of her corpse in an unknown location. Prosecutors argue that the video footage would be a small piece of a larger investigation into the disappearance of Harmony. During Montgomery’s sentencing in August on armed career criminal charges, he publicly denied that he killed his daughter and asked the judge to only consider the facts in this case when determining his sentence. “I loved my daughter unconditionally and I did not kill her,” he said. “I understand that I was found guilty by a jury and I’m not here to dispute that at all. The only consideration that I ask of you this morning is for you not to consider anything as it relates to the case regarding my daughter, Harmony.”

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crime

Flight Attendant Charged With Secretly Recording Teen On Boston Flight

Crime & Safety Flight Attendant Charged With Secretly Recording Teen On Boston Flight Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina has been charged in connection with the Sept. 2 incident. Thompson is also accused of possessing recordings of four additional minor female passengers using the restroom aboard the plane he had previously worked on, officials said. (Lynchburg Adult Detention Center) BOSTON, MA — The American Airlines flight attendant who was accused in September of secretly recording a 14-year-old girl while she was using the plane's restroom on a flight to Boston has been identified and charged, officials announced Thursday. Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is also accused of possessing recordings of four additional minor female passengers using the restroom aboard the plane he had previously worked on, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts. Thompson was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia Thursday and charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, officials said. He will remain in custody pending his initial appearance in the Western District of Virginia and appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, according to officials. According to charging documents, during the Sept. 2 flight, the girl was waiting to use the bathroom in the economy section — where she was sitting with her family — when Thompson encouraged her to use the first-class bathroom instead. Before the girl entered the bathroom, Thompson went in himself and said he needed to wash his hands, officials said. About a minute later, the girl said she was in the bathroom when she noticed an iPhone taped to the toilet with its camera flash on, according to officials. When the girl returned to her seat, she informed her parents of what she saw and showed them a photo she had taken of the iPhone taped to the toilet, officials said. "The victim’s parents reported the matter to other flight attendants onboard, who notified the Captain, who in turn notified law enforcement on the ground," officials wrote in Thursday's news release. "It is alleged that the victim’s father confronted Thompson who, shortly thereafter, locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes prior to the flight’s descent," according to officials. During that time, Thompson appears to have wiped his phone clean, officials said. According to a Dec. 1 report in The Associated Press, the girl's family sued American Airlines and said that they had been told that Thompson, who hadn't been publicly named at the time, couldn't be arrested because authorities did not find any incriminating photos or videos when they checked his phone. Meanwhile, officials said Thursday that a search of Thompson’s iCloud account revealed four additional instances between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the restroom on a plane, officials said. It is unclear at what point this evidence was discovered. "The minor victims allegedly depicted in the surreptitious recordings were seven, nine, 11, and 14 years old at the time," officials wrote in Thursday's news release. "Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly found in Thompson’s iCloud. The images included photos taken while the minor victim was seated in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face while sleeping." All of the children depicted in these images have been identified and their families have been contacted by law enforcement, officials said. Thompson is also accused of storing hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography on his iCloud account, according to officials. The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children provides for a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, while the charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, officials said. Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution.

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crime

Missing Boston man was last seen before Thanksgiving

Boston police are asking the public for help locating a missing Boston man whose family last spoke to him the day before Thanksgiving. John Wesley, 57, spoke to his family on Nov. 22, 2023, around 7 p.m. and told them he was going to Braintree to visit a friend for Thanksgiving the next day, Boston police said. He did not appear at the gathering and has not been heard from since. Wesley was reported missing on Dec. 4, 2023, and an alert immediately went out to authorities, police said. On Tuesday, Boston police alerted the public of Wesley’s disappearance. Police described Wesley as a Black man about 6-foot-3 in height and weighing about 300 pounds. He is bald, wears a mustache and has green eyes. He typically wears jeans and a sweatshirt and sometimes frequents Broadway Street in Malden. Anyone with information about Wesley’s whereabouts or disappearance is asked to call police at 617-343-5619 or submit a tip anonymously by calling 1-800-494-TIPS.

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crime

Bomb threat targets Marshalls store on Christmas Eve

A bomb threat called into a Marshalls location in Hingham on Christmas Eve forced the evacuation of multiple stores, authorities said. Police found no explosives during a search of the Marshalls. Officials asked anyone with information on the bomb threat to contact the Hingham Police Department. According to the department, a phone call to the Marshalls around 3 p.m. Sunday threatened that there was a bomb inside the store at 400 Lincoln St. Marshalls and four other adjoining businesses at the Lincoln Plaza shopping area were evacuated. The area was searched by local police and fire officials as well as a K-9 from a Massachusetts State Police bomb squad. Finding no threat, the stores reopened just after 4 p.m., Hingham police said. The incident is under investigation. Anyone with information on the threat was asked to contact Hingham Police Detective Scott Tracey at 781-741-1443 or to leave an anonymous tip on the department’s website.

ac11cd63cab4f9a67765841f30fe570b

crime

1-year-old girl dies after single-car crash in Andover

A 1-year-old girl has died after a single-car crash on I-495 in Andover on Friday. The girl had been flown to a Boston hospital with life-threatening injuries but she died, the Essex County District Attorney’s office confirmed to MassLive. The driver, a 33-year-old woman, was taken to Lawrence General Hospital with minor injuries, police previously said. Both are from Nashua, New Hampshire. A 2017 Toyota Camry was traveling north on I-495 in Andover when the driver lost control of the car, police said. The Camry went into the grass median, then into an embankment where it hit a tree. First-responders initially took the infant to Lawrence General Hospital, police said. From there, she was flown by medical helicopter to a Boston hospital. Read more: Bristol County DA identifies homicide victim found in Fairhaven after almost 40 years Police said they were investigating distracted driving as a potential cause of the crash. Although it is still under investigation.

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crime

Uncle IDs bicyclist killed in crash involving garbage truck

A bicyclist who was struck by a garbage truck Tuesday in the Allston neighborhood of Boston has died, police said.The incident happened at 10 a.m. on Cambridge Street near Union Square. Police said the victim was riding an electric bicycle when he was hit by a Mack garbage truck operated by Republic Services. Samuel Albarado, 21, was killed, according to his uncle. Melecio Albarado said his nephew came to the area from Honduras and has been working as a restaurant cook downtown for about two years. He said that he and his nephew routinely met for breakfast."Every morning we stop by Dunkin' Donuts and drink coffee and eat donuts. Always together. Today I came, to Dunkin' Donuts I came, but he never came and a few minutes later I got the call," Melecio Albarado said. Samuel Albarado loved singing and playing guitar, his uncle said.Republic Services said they are fully cooperating with the investigation. The driver of the garbage truck remained on the scene and is also cooperating. A bicyclist who was struck by a garbage truck Tuesday in the Allston neighborhood of Boston has died, police said. The incident happened at 10 a.m. on Cambridge Street near Union Square. Police said the victim was riding an electric bicycle when he was hit by a Mack garbage truck operated by Republic Services. Advertisement Samuel Albarado, 21, was killed, according to his uncle. Family photo Melecio Albarado said his nephew came to the area from Honduras and has been working as a restaurant cook downtown for about two years. He said that he and his nephew routinely met for breakfast. "Every morning we stop by Dunkin' Donuts and drink coffee and eat donuts. Always together. Today I came, to Dunkin' Donuts I came, but he never came and a few minutes later I got the call," Melecio Albarado said. Samuel Albarado loved singing and playing guitar, his uncle said. Republic Services said they are fully cooperating with the investigation. The driver of the garbage truck remained on the scene and is also cooperating.

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crime

Couple charged after stealing cart full of tools from Reading Home Depot

A couple is facing charges after it “stole a cart full of tools” from a Home Depot in Reading earlier this month, according to the Reading Police Department. Police Chief David Clark said the 31-year-old man and the 34-year-old woman, both with no known addresses, are being charged with larceny under $1,200. In addition, the man is being charged with receiving stolen property and possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute. The couple walked out of the Home Depot at 60 Walkers Brook Drive with the cart of tools on Tuesday, Dec. 12, Clark said in a statement Friday. Employees described the vehicle the duo left in, and police found the vehicle abandoned close by. The stolen tools, some of which were in plain sight, were found inside the vehicle as well, according to Clark. The couple was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 14. During their arrest, officers found more merchandise and numerous baggies of marijuana packaged for resale. Authorities are still trying to determine if this merchandise, most of which had tags and security devices on it, was stolen as well. The man and woman will be arraigned in Woburn District Court at a later date, Clark said. The investigation is ongoing.

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crime

Live updates: Prague university shooting

From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova in Prague and Xiaofei Xu in Paris Students are seen hiding on a ledge at Charles University. From @elirozic/X Students at Charles University climbed out of classroom windows and hid on the ledge of the Faculty of Arts building during a deadly shooting at the university in central Prague on Thursday. A photo on social media shows the students on the ledge of the building.

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crime

Police investigate death early on New Year's Day

Police investigate death in neighborhood near Boston elementary school early on New Year's Day Boston police used vehicles and yellow crime scene tape to block part of a Dorchester street early on Monday morning as a death investigation unfolded. The crime scene was located along High Street, a short street in a neighborhood near Mather Elementary School.According to a police spokesperson, officers responded to the area at approximately 5:28 a.m. and found an adult male with an apparent gunshot wound outside. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also responded to the scene.The cause and manner of death will be determined by an autopsy. Boston police used vehicles and yellow crime scene tape to block part of a Dorchester street early on Monday morning as a death investigation unfolded. The crime scene was located along High Street, a short street in a neighborhood near Mather Elementary School. Advertisement According to a police spokesperson, officers responded to the area at approximately 5:28 a.m. and found an adult male with an apparent gunshot wound outside. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also responded to the scene. The cause and manner of death will be determined by an autopsy.

f67dbc8cb49389229b32fc614e44e4f6

crime

Bolton tractor-trailer crash shuts down I-495 in both directions

Local News 3 takeaways from the Globe’s investigation into the Kamal family of Dover Authorities say Rakesh Kamal killed his wife and daughter before turning a gun on himself. A new investigation by The Boston Globe uncovered details about the family before the murder-suicide. The entrance to the house on Wilson’s Way where Teena Kamal, her daughter Arianna Kamal, and husband Rakesh were found dead. Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe On Dec. 28, Arianna Kamal, Teena Kamal, and Rakesh “Rick” Kamal were found dead in their sprawling Dover estate. Authorities have called the incident a murder-suicide and said initial autopsy results point to Rick murdering his wife and daughter before taking his own life. When asked about the family in the immediate aftermath of the killings, Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said police had received no warnings to presage the tragedy. “There’s been no police reports, there’s been no problems, no domestic issues, no nothing at that house or in the entire neighborhood that I’m aware of,” Morrissey said. Advertisement: Now, through investigative reporting by The Boston Globe, some light is being shed on the Kamal family and the circumstances that led to their deaths. Here are three takeaways from the Globe’s latest report. The full story can be found here. From left to right: Arianna Kamal, Teena Kamal, and Rakesh “Rick” Kamal. – Paula Swift Photography The family’s finances The Kamals lived in a massive house that included 21 rooms, a spa, a movie theater, and a pool. On Dec. 11, the company that developed the property and loaned the family the money to buy it received a court approval for their eviction. It was the culmination, according to the Globe’s reporting, of years of financial troubles that were carefully hidden by Rick from his family. The Kamals purchased the home in Feb. 2019 for $4 million, most of it borrowed. A $3.8 million mortgage taken from its builder was due in full in two years. By Feb. 2021, the Kamals were looking to restructure their mortgage. Their mortgage modification agreement with Wilsondale Associates indicated that they still owed $3.61 million plus more than $300,000 in unpaid interest and fines. In Sept. 2022, a petition for Chapter 13 bankruptcy was filed in Teena Kamal’s name. The case was closed in Dec. 2022 after she failed to file the necessary documents. That month, Wilsondale filed a foreclosure deed on the Kamals home. Advertisement: The Kamals were served an order telling them to vacate the house in late Dec. 2022, and were served with eviction proceedings in May 2023. By Dec. 2023, Metro South Housing Court had issued an “execution” to Wilsondale, allowing the company to enforce the Kamals’ eviction, according to a timeline established by the Globe. It is not clear if Wilsondale acted on the ruling. While all of this happened, Teena and 18-year-old Arianna were reportedly kept in the dark. “Teena had no clue that there were financial problems,” her brother, Sandeep Bedi, told the Globe. “She thought that they were rolling in money.” Teena had even begun buying furniture for a lavish second house that she believed the family was on the verge of buying. Rick had been in talks with a listing agent about buying a $16.5 million estate on Chickamauga Lake in Tennessee since Oct. 2022, according to the Globe. He had apparently provided bank statements proving his “ability to purchase” the waterfront property, and the family had toured the house last August. Then, according to the Globe, Rick told the listing agent that he was going on a business trip to China and would not be able to communicate via emails or text. They had come to a verbal agreement, but the contract the agent sent to Rick was never signed. Rick Kamal’s professional life Rick Kamal worked as a software developer and entrepreneur. He graduated from Boston College in 1987 and worked for Fidelity Investments in Boston alongside Teena, whom he wed by arranged marriage, according to the Globe. Advertisement: A former colleague at Fidelity, Jim Sholler, told the Globe that Rick was “one of the most intelligent developers” that he had ever worked with. In 2015, Rick moved to Harvard Business School Online, where he worked as chief technology officer. There, he mostly kept to himself but was known for showing off expensive taste. “We were all kind of just normal folks, and Rick would show up in his brand new Mercedes and had his name embroidered on his shirts,” John Furr, a former colleague, told the Globe. Furr and two other coworkers told the paper that it was understood in the office that Rick was “pushed out of his position for a transgression related to a competing business,” the Globe reported. Harvard declined to comment on why he left. Rick reportedly left Harvard in 2019, but Teena was still under the impression that he worked there as of last year, Bedi told the paper. Rick and Teena founded the start-up EduNova about ten years ago. The company was known for its “student success system” that apparently improved the grades of secondary school and college students. The Globe investigation found a number of discrepancies related to EduNova. Rick’s company biography described him as a graduated of MIT Sloan School of Management, but a spokesperson told the paper that Rick had only participated in some executive courses and received a certificate. Teena’s EduNova biography reportedly referred to her as a Harvard graduate, but the university said they had no record of her attendance. Bedi and his wife were listed on the staff page, but both said they were uninvolved. Advertisement: EduNova was officially dissolved by the state in 2021 for apparently failing to file annual reports. Its website was still active as of Aug. 2023, according to the Globe. Scarce clues about family life The Kamals were known as relatively private people. Before moving to Dover, the family lived in a five-bedroom in Marlborough. Neighbors there said the Kamals were polite but did not meaningfully engage with them. A woman who lived next to them for about 20 years told the Globe that she didn’t know the family had a daughter. Teena was a well-liked, incredibly active volunteer for the Red Cross. She was named to the the board of directors of its Massachusetts region in 2022, and was part of a group recognized for donating $10,000 or more annually, according to the Globe. Teena also was active at Milton Academy, where Arianna went to school. She was president of the Upper School Parents’ Association for two years. “Teena did it all,” Sarnia Etienne-Dupie, Teena’s vice president, told the Globe. “You name it, she was involved.” Arianna, meanwhile, was a young woman with a passion for music who began attending Middlebury College after Milton Academy. She performed in a choir at Middlebury, where she met her boyfriend. They read poetry together and shared song recommendations. A close friend of Arianna’s at Milton Academy recently told the Globe that “there was no indication from her recently that anything was wrong with her home life.” Advertisement: That friend added that Arianna was “finally finding her people” at Middlebury. “I think the last few months of her life were the happiest she had been since I knew her,” she told the paper.

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crime

He was the best: Young man killed by trash truck in Boston was on way to meet his uncle for coffee

BOSTON — A young man who was fatally struck by a trash truck in Boston on Tuesday was on his way to meet his uncle for coffee at a neighborhood Dunkin’ when he lost his life. Officers responding to a report of a crash involving a pedestrian in the area of Cambridge and Hano streets in the city’s Allston section just after 10 a.m. found a man suffering from life-threatening injuries, according to the Boston Police Department. The victim was rushed to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Video from the scene showed the Republic Services trash truck and an e-bike roped off with yellow police tape as detectives and a crash reconstruction team gathered evidence. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 17 Allston It appears the victim, who his uncle identified as 21-year-old Samuel Alvarado, was riding the e-bike when he was struck by the truck. “Every morning, we stop by Dunkin’ Donuts and drink coffee and eat donuts,” Alvarado’s uncle, Melecio, explained. “I was waiting for him. He never came. A couple of minutes later, I got the call.” Melecio described Samuel as a “very sweet boy” who loved to play ranchero music on his guitar. He said they also lived together on Hanover Street. “He was the best. Good person. He was always together with me,” Melecio Alvarado said of his nephew. “He liked to play guitar and sing.” Samuel Alvarado Handout photo Alvarado, a native of Honduras, had moved to America and was working at a restaurant as a chef, according to his uncle. No charges have been filed and the incident remains under investigation, police say. The trash company tells Boston 25 News they are cooperating with the investigation. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group

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Car crashes into Starbucks in Wellesley, police say

WELLESLEY, Mass. — A car crashed into a Starbucks in Wellesley on Saturday afternoon, police said. Emergency responders responded to a motor vehicle crash into a Starbucks on Linden Street. No patrons or employees were struck by the vehicle, police said. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 3 Wellesley car into Starbucks (Martin, Timothy (CMG-Boston)/Wellesley Police) The occupants of the vehicle were taken by ambulance to a local hospital as a precaution, police said. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group

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crime

Former Springfield golf pro Kevin Kennedy acquitted of majority of criminal counts by federal jury

SPRINGFIELD — After a weeklong trial and nearly two days of deliberations, a federal jury found former city golf pro Kevin M. Kennedy not guilty of more than a dozen counts of fraud and money laundering. The panel convicted Kennedy of a single count of tax conspiracy and making a false statement to a bank. Those charges were linked to the construction of two homes Kennedy built in East Longmeadow and on Cape Cod using luxury builders Kent and Jason Pecoy. The father and son are set to go to trial separately at a later date. Their trial has yet to be scheduled. This story will be updated.

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He Killed His Molester as a Teenager. Should He Be Spared Deportation?

Immigration courts routinely deport people who have worked in the United States for years and have committed no offense worse than a traffic infraction. Among them are parents forced to leave their families behind and beloved community members with successful businesses. Even the several million young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as small children and often have stellar records of achievement, still have no certain path to permanent residency. And as record numbers of migrants cross the Southern border, a major political vulnerability for President Biden going into next year’s election, lawmakers in Washington are discussing proposals to increase deportations and make it harder to win asylum. “There are millions of people around the world who desperately want to come here legally to contribute something of great value, people with extraordinary abilities, and they can’t do it because they’re waiting in a yearslong backlog,” said David J. Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. Mr. Flores “forfeited his right to decide where he wants to live for the rest of his life,” added Mr. Bier, “when he took matters into his own hands.” The people with the best chance of avoiding deportation typically have no criminal record, a history of contributing to the community and a strong case that their deportation would cause an exceptionally high level of hardship for their American relatives, said Eliza Klein, who recently retired as an immigration judge in Chicago.

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Robert Giardino, 18, of Malden IDd as Northeast Metro Tech senior killed

The 18-year-old high school senior killed in a rollover crash in Middleton on Wednesday was identified by Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Robert Giardino, of Malden, was killed when the pickup truck he was riding in with three other teenagers crashed and overturned, the office said. Northeast Metro Tech, a vocational high school in Wakefield, had announced Giardino’s death to its community on Thursday. It was around 10 p.m. on Dec. 6, when the Middleton Police and Fire Departments were called by an automatic cellphone ping to the fatal scene on the unpaved section of North Liberty road in the town, the police department said. The pickup truck with Giardino, an 18-year-old woman and two 17-year-olds, a boy and a girl, had rolled over into the woods, police said. Both Giardino and the boy were still inside the truck, the department said. Firefighters extricated Giardino and the boy from the truck, and brought all four passengers to the hospital, the department said. Two had critical injuries, including Giardino, who later died at the hospital, the department said. Northeast Metro Tech Superintendent David DiBarri announced his student’s death on Thursday, Dec. 7, and stated the school district had been made aware of the fatal crash earlier that morning. “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of our students. We will have the necessary resources available for our community as they navigate this difficult time,” DiBarri said in a release, calling Giardino’s death a “tragic loss.” “Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the student. I encourage students and our own faculty and staff to use the resources available during this difficult time as emotions and grief come in all forms,” DiBarri said.

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New Bedford teen killed in Dartmouth car crash attended technical high school

Jacob Pothier, the 18-year-old New Bedford resident who was killed in a car crash in Dartmouth on Friday, was a student at Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School (GNBVT), according to the school’s superintendent. “The death of a person so young, no matter the circumstances, is a tragedy. It is the stark reminder of a life not realized,” GNBVT Superintendent said in a statement on Saturday. The school cancelled its varsity non-league hockey game against East Boston High School Saturday evening out of respect of Pothier’s family, according to the statement. Additionally, the school will have crisis councilors available this week, and those in need of support can call 508-998-4698. Read more: New Bedford teen dies after thrown from car in Dartmouth Friday On Jan. 5, the car Pothier was in crashed near the intersection of Gulf and Smith Neck Road in Dartmouth around 10:30 p.m., Dartmouth police said previously. Pothier and 44-year-old Dartmouth resident Kathleen Martins were thrown from the car. Both were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, and Pothier was soon declared dead, police said previously. Martins suffered life-threatening injuries, and was still in critical condition on Sunday, Dartmouth police said. Dartmouth police are still investigating the crash, and put out a call for information on Facebook Sunday afternoon. They are looking for people who may have seen the car that crashed — a white 2022 Honda Accord — traveling in or near the town landing on the west side of the Padanaram Bridge before 10:30 p.m. Friday. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call police at 508-910-1790.

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crime

We Cant Stop Writing Paper Checks. Thieves Love That.

What was once a routine way to pay your bills — handwriting paper checks at the kitchen table, dropping envelopes into a blue metal box on the street — has become a high-risk endeavor: It provides the raw materials for low-level fraud artists and sophisticated crime rings, costing financial institutions billions. It has put banks on high alert, though their efforts to catch the fraud also routinely entangle innocent customers, causing institutions to suddenly freeze or shut down customer accounts in the process. Many of the bad guys manage to disappear without any consequences. “Fraudsters go where the money is easiest,” said Chad Hetherington, a vice president at NICE Actimize, a financial crimes company specializing in fraud prevention. Even as check use has rapidly declined over the past couple of decades, check fraud has risen sharply, particularly since the pandemic. The cons may start with stealing pieces of paper, but they leverage technology and social media to commit fraud on a grander scale, banking insiders and fraud experts said. In the past, criminals needed a special internet browser that would grant entry into the dark web marketplace of stolen checks, maybe even someone to vouch for them. Now all they need is an account from Telegram, a messaging app. “You can buy checks on the internet for $45, with a perfectly good signature,” said John Ravita, director of business development at SQN Banking Systems, which provides check fraud detection software. “There is one website that offers a money-back guarantee. It’s like Nordstrom.” A recent surge in mail theft caused the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — an arm of the Treasury Department known as FinCEN that is charged with safeguarding the financial system — to sound alarm bells this year. Thieves have attacked mail carriers, or stolen and sold carriers’ arrow keys, which unlock mailboxes within a certain area. The checks are stolen from the mail, and then criminals carry out a classic fraud: “washing” the checks using something as basic as nail polish remover, leaving the signature untouched. Others “cook” new checks by scanning and altering the old ones.

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crime

FAA to investigate green laser that illuminated Jetblue flight in Boston

Authorities are investigating an incident where two Jetblue flights were illuminated by a laser around on Thursday morning. The FAA says Jetblue flights 494 and 972 were illuminated by a a green laser at around 5:40 a.m. near Boston. No injuries were reported after the incidents. Pilots reported 9,500 laser strikes to the FAA in 2022. 278 pilots have reported injuries from lasers to the FAA since 2010. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. People who use those lasers face fines up to $11,000 per violation and $30,800 for multiple incidents.

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crime

Mass. synagogues among those targeted in similar bomb threats nationwide

Multiple bomb threats were made to Jewish synagogues and affiliated facilities over the weekend, according to state police spokesperson David Procopio. No explosives or hazards were located at any site on Sunday, Procopio said.

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crime

25 Investigates: BOLO issued for Turtleboy blogger, sources say

A tractor-trailer crash in Bolton shut down I-495 in both directions Tuesday morning, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The department tweeted around 9:15 a.m. that a tractor-trailer had crashed in the median of the highway near exit 70. Within a few minutes, the department tweeted again to say that the roadway was closed in both directions to allow for a medical helicopter to come pick someone up. Drivers on I-495 should expect delays and seek a different route, the transportation department said. Massachusetts State Police did not respond immediately to a request for information about the crash. The scene was cleared by 11:15 a.m., according to the transportation department.

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crime

Police: Shoplifting suspect nearly ran over Kingston officer, sideswiped vehicle before fleeing scene - Boston News, Weather, Sports

KINGSTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A shoplifting suspect nearly ran over a Kingston plainclothes officer while fleeing the scene of a Lowe’s home improvement store on Friday, according to Kingston police. The plainclothes officer was at the Lowe’s home improvement store on William Gould Way when he allegedly spotted a robbery in progress. The officer drew his gun and attempted to apprehend the suspect, who allegedly resisted arrest and fled the scene in a white SUV. A Kingston police spokesperson told 7NEWs the officer drew his gun because the suspect allegedly threatened him with a weapon. While fleeing the scene, the suspect allegedly crashed into an uninvolved vehicle before nearly running over the officer. The officer was not injured during the incident. Kingston police say they believe they have identified the suspect and they have probable cause to charge them with felony charges of larceny and assault in connection with the incident. No arrests have been made at this time and the incident remains under investigation. No additional information was immediately available. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates. (Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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crime

What Springfield can learn from Bostons 1990s success in curbing violence

Boston in the late 1980s and early ‘90s faced a similar problem to what Springfield is seeing this year: a surge in homicide rates and young people involved in gun violence. Springfield is seeing its deadliest year on record with 26 homicides to date. From 1987 to 1990, Boston experienced a doubling of its homicide rate and reached its highest level ever.

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crime

21 Injured in Explosion at Fort Worth Hotel

At least 21 people were injured in an explosion that was most likely caused by a gas leak and substantially damaged a hotel in downtown Fort Worth on Monday afternoon, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition and four were seriously injured, the police said in an evening update. Fourteen people were transported to a hospital, and one person went to a hospital on their own, the police said. Earlier, the authorities had said that one person was missing, but they noted later that the person had been found.

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crime

Authorities identify Boston woman killed by shark in Bahamas

BOSTON (WWLP) – The woman from Boston who was killed by a shark while paddle boarding in the Bahamas has been identified. Lauren Erickson Van Wart, 44, of Boston, was a Sandals Royal Bahamian resort guest. Police say the attack happened around 11:15 a.m. She was less than a mile off New Providence Island on Monday morning when it happened. A lifeguard went out on a rescue boat to try to save her but was unsuccessful.

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3 Nahant residents found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning

Local News 3 Nahant residents found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning Authorities found the victims in a home on Cottage Street. Foul play is not suspected. Three family members, all adults, were found dead in Nahant in an apparent case of carbon monoxide poisoning. Nahant police and fire officials said that the bodies of the family members were found Monday evening in a home on Cottage Street. Police officers and firefighters were dispatched to the residence to conduct a wellbeing check, officials said. The scene was described as being “very active” Monday evening in a statement. Firefighters found elevated levels of carbon monoxide inside the home, officials said. Foul play is not suspected, and there is no danger to the community. The victims’ identities were not released as of Tuesday morning. Advertisement: “Great people. The grandmother that lived there was our French teacher. That’s how long we have known those people,” John Moleti, a neighbor, told NBC10 Boston.

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Judge dismisses lawsuit over Holdens noncompliance with housing supply law

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the town of Holden over its decision not to comply with a state law meant to increase the housing supply in communities served by the MBTA. The lawsuit, filed in August by the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance and two local residents, claimed that by not following the 2021 MBTA Communities Act, Holden was exacerbating the regional housing shortage. However, last week, Judge Daniel Wrenn wrote in a decision that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate the harm Holden’s noncompliance had caused. “The complaint makes clear that CMHA and (Westborough resident Lydiana) Morales are overburdened by a lack of affordable housing in Massachusetts,” Wrenn wrote in his decision. “But the complaint contains no allegations connecting the town’s failure to comply with (the law) to any harm or injury specific to CMHA and Morales. Rather, CMHA and Morales allege a general, indirect harm that they, like many other individuals and organizations across Massachusetts, suffer from the lack of affordable housing in the state.” The MBTA Communities Act requires cities and towns served by the transit agency have at least one zoning district “of reasonable size” where multi-family housing is allowed within a half-mile of a commuter rail, subway or bus station or ferry terminal. While Holden does not contain any transit stations, it borders Worcester, which does, so it is still subject to the law. The 177 municipalities affected by the law were required to submit an action plan to the state in January. Holden failed to do so. Town officials have since said they will not follow the law, leaving them ineligible for certain state funding opportunities. Town Manager Peter Lukes said in a statement Monday that the town has not yet decided whether it will follow the law. “We have received dozens of calls from municipal leaders and concerned residents from across the state regarding participation in the MBTA Communities program,” he said. “We have not been able to respond due to the pending litigation, but now that it is resolved at this stage, Holden is prepared to advise other municipalities of our stand and share our legal rationale behind these decisions. In the lawsuit, which named the town, its Board of Selectmen, and Lukes as defendants, CMHA alleged that Holden’s noncompliance led to strained resources at the organization, impairing its ability to follow its mission. Morales said in the lawsuit that she and her child left their Worcester apartment in October 2022 because she could not afford the rent, and moved into a shelter in Westborough. She had been unable to find affordable housing since then, and said Holden’s decision not to allow more housing to be built made her search harder. Holden homeowner Jennifer Lish, the other plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that the town’s decision not to comply hurt her and other residents because they would lose out on the benefits of programs which the town would no longer be able to access. Read more: Opposing groups with same name cause confusion in Newton housing debate Since the filing of the lawsuit, the state has increased the penalties for communities which do not follow the law, adding a variety of new grant programs to the list which those communities will be ineligible for. Wrenn wrote in his decision that Morales had experienced only a general harm, and that Holden was only one of many towns where she would consider living. While Lish is a Holden resident, Wrenn wrote that her concerns that residents of the town would miss out on “grant eligibility, increased housing infrastructure, a larger and more diverse population and a greater tax base” were similarly a general harm, not a specific injury to Lish. Lukes called the dismissal “a huge win” for Holden. “The CMHA sent out press releases to every media outlet in the state over a week prior to the town receiving notice that the action was even filed in the court. It appeared that the entire purpose of this frivolous lawsuit was to intimidate and embarrass Holden through the CMHA’s false narrative,” he said. “We were clearly not intimidated and frankly the only people who should be embarrassed are the ones who brought this inappropriate legal action and wasted everyone’s time.” Lawyers for Civil Rights, which was representing CMHA in the lawsuit, said in a statement that they expect to appeal Wrenn’s decision. “We are disappointed with the judge’s decision to dismiss the case on purely procedural grounds,” they said. “In the meantime, as the case proceeds, Holden is still required to comply with the law.”

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crime

Attaching EV chargers to utility poles is cheap, easy and illegal in Massachusetts

The law required that EV charging equipment and many other kinds of appliances and gear meet efficiency standards cataloged by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership, a nonprofit that works across 12 states and the District of Columbia on sustainability programs. While 172 different pieces of equipment related to EV charging meet the energy efficiency standards, the pole-mounted EV chargers do not. But now that more cities and towns want to sign up, they’re hitting a huge roadblock: It’s no longer legal to purchase or install the chargers in Massachusetts because of an unintended consequence of the state’s 2022 climate law. (Previously installed chargers are not affected.) They’ve been a game-changer for city-dwellers who want to buy electric vehicles: curbside chargers attached to utility poles. In Melrose and Wilmington, where the first were installed, they provide the driveway-less with a way to fuel up without the cost and inconvenience of digging up sidewalks. Get Innovation Beat Boston Globe tech reporters tell the story of the region's technology and innovation industry, highlighting key players, trends, and why they matter. Enter Email Sign Up As of Jan. 1, 2023, products in categories mentioned in the climate law, including electric vehicle supply equipment, “may only be sold or installed in Massachusetts if they are certified by their manufacturer as compliant,” the state’s Department of Energy Resource said in an email. “DOER is aware that there are currently no pole-mounted electric vehicle chargers certified with the [appliance standards database].” Advertisement The cheaper EV charger option. Source: National Grid; Pole photo provided by National Grid; Ground charger provided by Kelsey McClellan/The New York Times That wasn’t the intention of the climate bill’s authors, Senator Mike Barrett, one of those authors, said in an interview. Although the pole-mounted chargers are less energy efficient than other kinds of chargers, greenhouse gas emissions can still be reduced if they encourage people to switch to EVs, Barrett noted. “There’s a lesson here,” Barrett said. “Technology is moving very quickly. There’s a golden balance to be struck between writing a law that is precise and writing one that still has enough play in the joints to accommodate tomorrow’s change.” Advertisement A correction is in the works, he said. “Let’s hope we get the right legislative fix. I think we will.” The fix, which would entail allowing the pole-mounted chargers despite their energy efficiency ratings, could be included in a new climate and energy bill. Barrett said he is working on passing a bill by the end of the legislative session in July. That would please many communities around the state, including Boston and Cambridge, that have made adding chargers a priority to encourage EV adoption and reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector accounts for 39 percent of the state’s emissions, and convincing almost 1 million drivers to go electric by 2030 is a key part of the plan to slow climate change. But drivers thinking of switching cite a lack of charging as one of their major concerns, along with the relatively high price of EVs. The pole-mounted chargers “are well-used in Melrose and people like them,” said Eric Bourassa, transportation director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which represents 101 cities and towns in the area. “More would like to do this, lots more.” Cambridge, for example, is installing 100 EV charging ports around the city and wanted some on poles for cost savings and convenience. The chargers are attached to poles in a metal box about the size of a microwave oven. Drivers use an app on their phone to activate the charger, which rolls down a retractable cable. Typically, pole-mounted chargers are on 240-volt circuits, known as Level 2 charging, and add about 15 to 30 miles of range to an EV’s battery per hour. Advertisement But Eversource, the city’s electric utility, said it could not install pole-mounted chargers because of the climate law ban — an explanation the company repeated when asked by the Globe about the situation. “We have tried to get Eversource to give us pole-mounted chargers like Melrose has, so far without success,” Cambridge City Councilor Patty Nolan said. Cambridge’s alternate program to allow residents who live more than one-eighth of a mile away from a city-owned charger to drape electrical cords over the sidewalk hasn’t caught on much. Only five residents have obtained permits for over-the-sidewalk charging, Kristen Kelleher, community relations manager for the city’s Department of Public Works, said. Russell Keziere was the first person in Cambridge to be granted a permit to allow him to charge his EV by stringing a cord across the sidewalk, as long as he covers it with a ramp or strings it at least 9 feet overhead. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff The pole-mounted chargers have additional benefits beyond the lower installation cost, according to Bill Bullock, director of integrated resources at the Reading Municipal Light Department. The municipal utility installed two pole-mounted chargers in Wilmington in 2022. “They stay up out of the way, which is handy when they’re out of the snow and above the snow banks,” he said. “We want to put in more.” An additional complication is a ruling by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in December 2022, under the administration of Governor Charlie Baker. With the success of its Melrose pilot program, National Grid asked to be able to install, own, and operate 200 more pole-mounted chargers across 10 communities using funds collected from its customers (part of a statewide $400 million utility program to improve charging). Advertisement But the DPU decided not to allow the expanded program, citing concerns about competition, as National Grid proposed owning the chargers and setting prices for EV drivers. “The company has failed to demonstrate that its proposal ... would not hinder the development of the competitive EV charging market,” the ruling stated. Absent the climate law ban, the order still allowed utilities to install pole-mounted chargers owned by others and paid for with other funding sources, a National Grid spokesperson noted. “We’re happy to work with customers who are interested, as long as they’re up for owning and operating the chargers themselves,” he said. DPU, now overseen by the Healey administration, said the 2022 decision shouldn’t be seen as opposing pole-mounted charger programs. The order “is not reflective of its position on pole mounted charging infrastructure, but rather rooted in its longstanding precedent that utilities should not own infrastructure that the private market can deploy on its own,” the department said in an email. With various charger-related grant programs, communities will be able to find ways to pay for pole-mounted chargers despite the DPU not approving commercial utilities to own the chargers, according to Matt Bloom, director of partnerships at EV charging software company AmpUp, which worked with Melrose and Wilmington. They just need the climate law to be fixed, he said. “In our more population-dense cities and towns, utility pole charging is a pretty good solution to fill in gaps,” Bloom said. Advertisement Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.

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crime

Hoax shooting reported near Boston Mayor Wus home

BOSTON (WWLP ) – Boston Police say they received a hoax call on Christmas Day reporting a shooting in Roslindale. According to the Boston Police Department, they got a tip at around 5:30 Monday evening for a shooting on Augustus Ave. The call was quickly determined to be a hoax. The address that was given to the police happens to be near the home of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. Police said the incident is still under investigation.

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crime

Man Killed Son in 1989, Then Staged Tearful TV Discovery, Officials Say

News footage shot by WCBD-TV of Charleston, S.C., on March 5, 1989, shows Mr. Turner joining a group of police officers and volunteers who were searching on the family’s property for his missing son. At one point, Mr. Turner, wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, emerges from a white-and-light-blue trailer. “My son’s in there,” he says quietly. He is later shown sitting on a porch near some firewood, burying his face in his hands in apparent grief. But Sheriff S. Duane Lewis of Berkeley County said that fresh analysis of the cold case told a different story about what happened to Justin. “He never got on the bus, he never arrived at school,” Sheriff Lewis told reporters at an emotional news conference on Wednesday. “That’s because he had been murdered. And he’d been murdered by his stepmother and his father, and left in a camper behind their house." “I can’t think of a more tragic, horrendous murder,” he added. He said Justin had ligature marks on his neck, indicating that the boy had been choked to death. At one point, Ms. Turner had been arrested and charged in the case, but those charges were dismissed, Sheriff Lewis said at the news conference. The couple moved away, and Ms. Turner changed her given name from Pamela, according to an affidavit. They never asked the authorities about the investigation or their son again, Sheriff Lewis said.

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crime

Man stabbed in Worcester, suffers serious wounds; 2nd man arrested

A man is accused of stabbing another man in Worcester late Friday, leaving him with serious wounds, according to authorities. The 43-year-old man who was stabbed Friday night on Main Street is being treated at the hospital for his serious wounds, according to a statement from the Worcester Police Department. Thirty-five-year-old Jose Rivera, who lives on Main Street, was arrested on a charge of armed assault with intent to murder in connection with the stabbing. He was allegedly found with a knife with dried blood on it, the department’s statement said. Police were dispatched to the area of 765 Main St. shortly before 9:50 p.m. Friday in response to a report about the stabbing. When officers arrived, they found the wounded man and gave him medical aid until an ambulance took him to the hospital, according to the statement. Detectives soon arrived at scene of the stabbing and began a follow-up investigation. After speaking with witnesses and viewing surveillance footage, police sent out a department email with a picture of a man, later identified as Rivera, and a woman who might have been involved in the assault, the statement said. An officer was working a police detail in the area of Austin Street and Irving Street when he saw Rivera and the woman from the picture. The man is accused of refusing to show his hands or follow the officer’s commands, according to the department. Read more: Man shot and killed in Boston The officer waited for backup and then took Rivera into custody. A pat frisk allegedly revealed a knife with dried blood on it. The department alleges other evidence linking the man to the stabbing was found as well.

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crime

With fewer officers available, civilians could soon be working details in Boston

MEDFIELD, Mass. — A law enforcement BOLO (be on the lookout) has been issued for Aidan Kearney, the Holden blogger who calls himself “Turtleboy.” Two sources, including a member of law enforcement, told 25 Investigates that police are seeking to immediately be on the lookout for Kearney on probable cause for felony charges of domestic assault and battery and witness intimidation. This new development stems from an incident Kearney was allegedly involved in Friday evening at the Medfield home of a woman he’s been in a relationship with, according to sources. 25 Investigates is still working to determine what the woman alleges Kearney did to her. The sources said the woman had previously shared information about Kearney with State Police investigators and is considered a witness in his ongoing prosecution that began with his arrest and district court appearance in October. The case was elevated to Norfolk Superior court where Kearney was arraigned Friday on eight charges of intimidation of a witness, three counts of conspiracy to intimidate a witness, and five counts of picketing a witness for his controversial activism in the “Free Karen Read” movement. Kearney has aggressively accused members of law enforcement and prosecution witnesses of framing Read for the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe. She’s charged with 2nd-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty. A judge removed numerous restrictions that prevented Kearney from contacting people he’s charged with intimidating and harassing. However, Ken Mello, a special prosecutor hired by the Norfolk District Attorney warned, “We will be back before the court seeking a bail revocation as well as a dangerousness hearing” should Kearney be accused of any new crimes. A dangerousness hearing is when the prosecution requests a defendant be held up for 120 days in jail. Read More

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crime

FBI team who found Boston Bombing suspects aid in search for Maine shooting suspect, Pingree says

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Rochester fatal car explosion investigated as possible terror attack

At least two people were killed and five others were injured in a possible terror attack less than an hour into 2024. A Ford Explorer filled with at least a dozen gas canisters smashed into a Mitsubishi Outlander around 12:50 a.m. on Jan. 1, as concert attendees left the Kodak Center in Rochester, New York. The fiery crash created an inferno in a parking lot a few blocks from the concert venue, as firefighters wrestled with the blaze for about an hour, according to Rochester Police Chief David Smith. The incident is being investigated as a possible terror attack, sources told Fox News. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation. AL-QAEDA THREATENS WESTERN AND JEWISH TARGETS The two occupants of the Explorer were killed at the scene, but the driver of the Outlander survived, according to Chief Smith. One of the five surviving victims suffered life-threatening injuries, the chief said. More details are expected to be released during a Tuesday morning press conference. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The blast occurred as attendees were leaving a concert by the group moe. "Last night's events outside the Kodak Center have left us all in profound shock and sadness," the group said in a statement afterward. "On a night that was meant for celebration and togetherness, we are faced instead with a tragedy that defies understanding. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those who lost their lives, and our thoughts are with those who were injured."

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crime

Fiery crash shut down part of I-93 as several hundred rounds of ammunition in car started exploding

As anyone who drives around Boston knows, there always seems to be a lot of traffic and a lot of construction. Increasingly, these sites don't have a police detail, even though it is required by city law. "From a safety perspective, you want someone at the site directing traffic, right? It is purely a safety issue," said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LiveableStreets Alliance. City officials say there are simply not enough Boston police officers available for the overtime work. They estimate just 40% of detail requests are filled across the city. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters. "Simply did not have the staffing available when it was just Boston police officers to man major construction sites, or, when there needs to be a roadway detour, emergency water main break, these are really important safety sites, these are also really important," said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. The Boston City Council voted this week to approve a new police contract. Included in the new contract are major changes to the Boston Police Department's detail program. Soon, retired Boston police officers, police from other towns and cities, university and college police, and civilians will be eligible for these detail shifts. "Open up this opportunity to a much wider workforce, including civilians, and so this is a massive change that will take some time to operationalize, and get the technology platforms but it will be transformational in how we will keep people safe but also keep traffic moving," Wu said. According to city officials, the program will also create a new tier system for detail work. Boston police officers will continue to work details at events over 5,000 people and major intersections. They'll be paid $68 an hour for this work. The new tier, which will encompass all other detail work, will be open to everyone else and pay $60 an hour. "We are happy to open up those jobs to other law enforcement groups, and if there are jobs that are still available, then a professional trained organization that can get out there and provide public safety," said Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. "It only makes Boston a safer place to live and to visit." Boston's current detail system is done on paper, and city officials say they plan to modernize it, creating a web- or app-based system that should be up and running in the coming months. Civilians will also be trained before being sent out on details — a training that city officials say will include basic first aid. "It is a good job, it does not require police training to do it well, and people do get hurt at these sites," said Thompson. "I think this is a win-win. We are not trying to force police officers into details we don't want, and we are creating job opportunities for civilians and making the public safer."

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crime

Oregon Newspaper Stops Printing After Embezzlement Leaves It in Shambles

A weekly newspaper in Oregon abruptly stopped publishing and laid off all of its workers after an employee embezzled tens of thousands of dollars and left months of bills unpaid, its editor said. The newspaper, The Eugene Weekly, announced on Thursday that it would stop printing after it discovered financial problems, including money not being paid into employee retirement accounts and $70,000 of unpaid bills to the newspaper’s printer, Camilla Mortensen, the newspaper’s editor, said on Sunday. The entire 10-person newspaper staff was laid off three days before Christmas, though some workers, including Ms. Mortensen, were still volunteering to publish articles online. The Eugene Weekly, a free newspaper, was founded in 1982 and each week prints 30,000 copies, which can be found in bright red boxes in and around Eugene, one of the most populous cities in Oregon.

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crime

Two Men Hunted Bald Eagles in Illegal Killing Spree, U.S. Says

Federal prosecutors in Montana have charged two men with illegally shooting about 3,600 birds, including bald and golden eagles, in a “killing spree” that fueled a black market for tail feathers and preyed on a symbol of the nation. The men, Simon Paul, 42, of St. Ignatius, Mont., and Travis John Branson, 48, of Cusick, Wash., were each indicted Thursday on one count of conspiracy, 13 counts of unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles and one count of violating the Lacey Act, a federal law that prohibits the trafficking of illegally taken wildlife. From January 2015 to March 2021, prosecutors said, the two men would venture out to the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana, where mountains reflect off the streams and lake that cover the land, and fire their weapons at the eagles soaring above the prairies. “The defendants then illegally sold the eagles on the black market for significant sums of cash across the United States and elsewhere,” prosecutors said in court records.

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crime

Boston launches coordinated plan to curb gun violence

ISAAC YABLO, Mayor Michelle Wu’s senior advisor for community safety, says a shortcoming of efforts to rein in those responsible for gun violence in Boston has been that “we gave them the wrong diagnosis and therefore [applied] the wrong solution.” He says the nature of gun violence in the city has changed significantly since the bloody days of the 1980s and early 1990s, when city streets were wracked by gang violence that sent Boston’s homicide count soaring. Homicide numbers are down dramatically since that time – the city recorded 40 homicides in both 2022 and 2021 compared with 152 in 1990. But that’s not the only change. Unlike the era of gang-driven violence when lots of perpetrators and victims were in their late teens and early 20s, Yablo said perpetrators and victims of gun violence today are older – and harder to reach through traditional services like job training or connecting them with programs to complete high school. The average age of those shot in Boston so far this year has been 29, said Yablo, and it has averaged at least 25 for nearly a decade. Although there are troubling trends of young people carrying guns, Yablo said they largely are not the ones responsible for actually using them. “The gun violence problem in Boston is not a youth issue,” he said. “It’s older people who have been disconnected from prosocial programming for a while.” He said a lot of them are suffering from mental health issues that they won’t simply “grow out of” without appropriate treatment. Yablo is the point-person for a new city initiative that aims to reduce gun violence through a coordinated effort of police, health workers, and a reconstituted street outreach worker program. The Gun Violence Reduction Management Team plans to hold weekly meetings where its members can share information on trouble that has recently occurred – or that may be brewing, based on what those with their ears to the ground are hearing. At the heart of the effort is a recognition that a tiny number of people are responsible for most of the gun violence in the city, and that it generally occurs in very specific “hot spot” locations. Yablo, with his focus on getting people to turn away from gun violence, prefers to refer to those areas as “opportunity zones.” Zeroing in on gun violence hot spots is not new. But Yablo said a strong bent toward services is something different. “I would say this is the first time in the city’s history where we have had a focus not on locking them up but connecting them with high-quality services so they can desist from gun violence,” he said. The city gained national notoriety for its success in driving down gun violence in the mid-1990s, a carrot-and-stick strategy that combined offering services with the full weight of law enforcement coming down on those persisting with gun activity. But Yablo said the strategy led to many of those involved in violence getting locked up for petty crimes, the effects of which are still being felt today by their children and others who are impacted by incarceration of a family member. Meet the Author Michael Jonas Executive Editor , CommonWealth About Michael Jonas Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section. Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston. Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters. About Michael Jonas Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section. Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston. Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters. The new gun violence reduction initiative was hatched following a several-day workshop in Boston this spring led by the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland. The center works with cities across the country to deploy evidence-based approaches to gun violence tailored to their unique set of circumstances. Thomas Abt, the center’s director and one of the country’s leading experts on crime and violence prevention, said what’s notable is that Boston is working to develop new approaches to gun violence even as it remains one of the safer big cities in the country. Baltimore, with a population only slightly smaller than Boston, saw 333 homicides last year, nearly 10 times the Boston toll. “One of the things I admire about Boston is that folks are impatient, they’re not resting on their laurels,” said Abt. He said the hard work of the new initiative now lies ahead. “But I think the plan is on track,” Abt said of Boston’s blueprint.

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crime

Woman, 2 others injured when school bus barrels into cars in Boston

A fiery crash led to both sides of Interstate 93 being temporarily shut down in Bow, New Hampshire, on Saturday afternoon, as the fire increased in size and hundreds of rounds of ammunition inside the vehicle started exploding. New Hampshire State Police said they received a report just before 3 p.m. that a vehicle had been operating erratically right before crashing on I-93 northbound in the area of mile marker 32.2. According to police, the vehicle hit the center median jersey barrier before ricocheting back across all lanes of traffic and striking another vehicle. It then continued into the woods where it struck several trees and caught on fire. Three people were able to escape from the car, and one was taken to a local hospital with significant injuries. They are expected to survive, police said. Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters. No injuries were reported in the car that was hit. All northbound lanes of I-93 were shut down as the fire grew, and then the southbound lanes were also shut down as several hundred rounds of ammunition in the vehicle started exploding. Fire crews arrived on scene shortly after and were able to contain the fire, allowing the southbound lanes to reopen, police said. The high-speed lane on the northbound side was reopened, as well, but the other two lanes remained shut down for a significant period of time. Photos from the scene showed one vehicle fully engulfed in flames in the woods alongside the road, and major traffic delays were reported. Update: One lane has reopened on I-93 Northbound in Bow. pic.twitter.com/Ps2o6CqaXq — New Hampshire State Police (@NH_StatePolice) December 2, 2023 Police are withholding the names of those involved pending further investigation. According to police, one person was arrested on several warrants and additional charges may be forthcoming pending the outcome of their investigation. Police said multiple witnesses and Good Samaritans stopped to assist, and anyone who witnessed the crash or has dash cam footage of it is asked to call Trooper Josh Farmer at Joshua.A.Farmer@dos.nh.gov, or at 603-227-0038.

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crime

Firefighters battle fire at home in Chelsea - Boston News, Weather, Sports

CHELSEA, MASS. (WHDH) - Emergency crews were on scene in Chelsea Wednesday evening battling a fire in a home. The fire was burning in the Blossom Street area. SKY7-HD flying over the scene around 6 p.m. captured part of the emergency response, with flames seen burning through the building’s roof. Crews were spotted on the roof, pouring water on flames while they contended with windy conditions in the area. Part of the building appeared to have been boarded up before this fire. Chelsea police in a post on X shortly before 6 p.m. asked community members to avoid the area of Blossom Street and surrounding streets. “Heavy presence of first responders on scene due to fire,” police said. No further information was immediately available. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates. (Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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crime

Gas-Station Heroin Sold as Dietary Supplement Alarms Health Officials

The young father headed across the parking lot to join the other parents meeting their children’s new preschool teachers. After a few steps, he began sweating and twitching. As the sky reeled, he staggered back to the car, desperate to lie down in the back seat and breathe, hidden by tinted windows. “Did you take something?” his wife, Anne, shouted at him while dialing 911. Eric, 26, had completed rehab earlier in the summer. “The shot! The shot!” he groaned, just before he hit the ground and blacked out.

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crime

Crews respond to fire in Boston high-rise - Boston News, Weather, Sports

BOSTON (WHDH) - Emergency crews responded to Congress Street in Boston Thursday after a fire broke out in a high-rise building in the area, the Boston Fire Department said. The fire department, in a post on X, said companies were on scene at 280 Congress Street as of around 8 p.m. battling flames on the building’s 30th floor. Companies were later clearing out of the building as of around 8:35 p.m., according to a later post. While some elevators remained shut down due to flooded elevator shafts, officials said elevators between the first and 15th floors were operating. The fire department said the building was “all commercial” and unoccupied. Boston fire officials shared photos from the response Thursday night, showing multiple ladders in use. No further information was immediately available. (Copyright (c) 2023 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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crime

Mass. State Police Sgt. Gregory Furtado dies suddenly

He was a member of the 79th Recruit Training Troop and a 2006 graduate of the Massachusetts State Police Academy, the agency said. Sergeant Gregory Furtado, 41, “spent his career in service to and in protection of, the citizens of our Commonwealth,” State Police said on X , the platform formerly known as Twitter. The Massachusetts State Police on Saturday announced the sudden death of a Trooper assigned to the Cape & Islands detective unit, according to a social media post. “We are heartbroken for Sergeant Furtado’s wife and children; they are in our prayers,” State Police said. “Our thoughts, also, are with Sergeant Furtado’s brother and sister Troopers. May the memories to him, and of his life of service, sustain all who loved and knew him in the difficult days and weeks to come.” Advertisement David Procopio, a spokesman for the State Police, declined comment further in an email Saturday night. “Out of respect for his family’s privacy, I’d rather not answer until we know how much they would like to release,” Procopio said. The State Police Association of Massachusetts, the union representing rank and file troopers, said funeral arrangements were not yet complete. “For now, our thoughts are with Sergeant Furtado’s wife, children, and coworkers as well as their family and friends as they process this tragic loss,” the union said in a Friday statement posted to X. “Troopers from our Employee Assistance Unit are available and we encourage any members struggling with his loss to reach out.” Some police organizations posted messages of condolences on social media. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and coworkers at this difficult time,” the Boston Police Detectives Union wrote on Facebook. “Rest easy, Sarge. We have the watch.” “We are saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Gregory Furtado,” Dennis police wrote on Facebook. “Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and coworkers. A number of Dennis officers attended the police academy, and worked with Sgt. Furtado.” Advertisement “The men and women of the Orleans Police Department extend our deepest condolences to the family of Sergeant Gregory Furtado of the Massachusetts State Police,” Orleans police wrote on Facebook. " Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his brother and sister troopers. Rest in Peace Sergeant Furtado, we have the watch.” Adam Sennott can be reached at adam.sennott@globe.com.

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crime

Vermont shootings: Jason Eaton fired recently, was Boy Scout leader

“We are horrified by the shooting and are cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate,” she said in a statement, which declined further comment. Jason J. Eaton , 48, was a full-time sales assistant for CUSO Financial Services in Williston, Vt., according to his LinkedIn account. He was terminated on Nov. 8 after working there for less than a year, said Elisabeth Rutledge, a company spokeswoman. A Vermont man accused of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent on Saturday was terminated from his job with a financial services firm earlier this month, a company spokesperson said Monday. Eaton allegedly shot the students outside his apartment on Saturday around 6:30 p.m., authorities said. He was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder. Advertisement Relatives have identified the students, all of whom are 20 years old, as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad. Eaton’s LinkedIn page and personal website provide details of his professional and educational history going back nearly three decades. Much of his work history was in New York state. On Monday. Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said investigators believe Eaton moved to Burlington over the summer and had previously lived in the Syracuse area. From 2017 to 2022, he worked as a leader for a Cub Scout troop, according to his LinkedIn page. The Boy Scouts of America said Monday that Eaton had been an assistant scoutmaster in upstate New York and was last registered with the organization in 2021. Eaton is not currently a member of the organization and has not been registered in scouting in Vermont, the Boy Scouts said. Jason J. Eaton, who is accused of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, was arraigned via video call at Chittenden Superior Court. Chittenden Superior Court “Mr. Eaton’s alleged actions do not reflect the values of Scouting. Upon learning of his arrest he was been banned from registering in Scouting any capacity and will be proactively placed in the Volunteer Screening Database, permanently preventing his registration or participation in the future,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. Advertisement Scott Armstrong, a spokesperson for the Boy Scouts, said Eaton left the scouts of his own accord and his membership “voluntarily” expired in 2021. “He was not dismissed and there were no complaints. He was an Assistant Scoutmaster to a Troop (now inactive) in Syracuse, N.Y., at the time he left Scouting in 2021. He did not receive any honors or awards during his tenure,” Armstrong said. Travis Andersen of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.

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crime

Three Killed After Landslide Strikes Alaska Town

Three people, including a girl, were killed and three others were missing after a landslide struck homes in southeast Alaska this week, the authorities said. The landslide took place at about 9 p.m. Monday local time in Wrangell, Alaska, where “the slide covered and effectively closed Zimovia Highway” at its 11th milepost, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said on Tuesday. The slide was estimated to be 450 feet wide when it crossed the roadway and smashed into three single-family homes. It remained active through Monday evening and caused road closures, the authorities said. Wrangell is a coastal community of 2,000 residents in southeast Alaska. Rescue crews found the body of a girl in the initial search and a drone operator found the bodies of two adults on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

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crime

11-year-old struck by police cruiser in Manchester, NH

An investigation is underway after an 11-year-old was struck by a police cruiser in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday. The crash occurred on Maple Street, according to Manchester police, and involved one of their department's cruisers. The child was taken to an area hospital and is being evaluated. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, according to police. "Our thoughts & prayers are w/the child & their family," the department said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters. *Accident on Maple St involving MPD cruiser & 11 yr old* The juvenile was taken to the hospital & is being evaluated w/non-life threatening injuries. Our thoughts & prayers are w/the child & their family. To avoid conflicts of interest we requested NHSP handle the investigation pic.twitter.com/9VZ4dM7iaK — Manchester NH Police (@mht_nh_police) September 9, 2023 To avoid conflicts of interest, Manchester police said they have asked New Hampshire State Police to handle the investigation. No further details were released.

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crime

They Ran for a Better Life, Straight Into a Wildfire

Greek authorities assumed the victims were migrants because no one was looking for missing people locally. And for more than a month, their identities, and the circumstances of their deaths, remained a mystery. But over weeks of reporting, The New York Times was able to piece together previously unknown details about the group’s journey in its desperate final hours. The reporting shows that at least 12 had already been captured once before by Greek border guards and turned back to Turkey. Their decision to risk the wildfire was meant to avoid recapture at any cost. They were fleeing war-ravaged Syria, seeking what they hoped would be a better life in Europe. Instead, they died on a rocky hillside, their ashes now mixed with the gray-scale landscape of Evros, where the climate crisis fueling ferocious wildfires collided with the migrant crisis that has long brought tragedy to this region. Only one body has been identified conclusively through DNA testing, because most of the close relatives of the rest live in Syria and cannot travel to provide similar tests. But interviews with Greek officials, aid workers, more than 20 relatives of the victims, and the smuggler who put them on the route, provided extensive evidence about the identities of the others.

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crime

Jeffrey Epstein court documents released with names unsealed

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Nate Landrebe IDd as man shot, killed by police during New Hampshire standoff

A man who was shot and killed by police during a standoff in New Hampshire Monday has been identified as 42-year-old Nate Landrebe, and his death has been ruled a homicide, Attorney General John M. Formella said Tuesday. An autopsy on Landrebe’s body determined that the 42-year-old’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of his death was homicide, Formella said on Nov. 21. Landrebe was engaged in an armed standoff with officers at his home at 32 West Bow St. in Franklin, New Hampshire beginning the evening of Nov. 19-20. A woman living across the hall from Landrebe called police saying that he tried to break through her front door just before 10 p.m. on Nov. 20. The woman said she was unharmed. When they arrived, officers saw that the door had been shot at with a gun, according to the attorney general. Officers also heard gunshots coming from inside Landrebe’s apartment. An armed standoff occurred and the New Hampshire State Police SWAT Unit were called to the scene, Formella said. Residents in area of Central and West Bow Streets were forced to shelter in place at around 2:45 a.m. as a result. That order has since been lifted. Smoke was also seen coming from the apartment building around 2:35 a.m. Then, just after 3 a.m., police saw fire from inside the building where Landrebe had exchanged multiple gunshots with state troopers. Landrebe was found with gunshot wounds behind the building near a first-floor window, Formella said. Two SWAT members were said to have fired their weapons during the incident. Their names have yet to be released. First responders tried to perform CPR on Landrebe, but the fire was too strong for them to get close enough to him. He was pronounced dead onsite, Formella said. No one in law enforcement was physically harmed during the standoff, and officials said there is not threat to the public. The building was severely damaged from the fire, which is under investigation by the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office. Officials do not believe the fire was caused by law enforcement action. The exact circumstances surrounding this incident remain under active investigation. More information will be released as it becomes available, Formella concluded.

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crime

2 pedestrians hit in New Years Day collision in Pittsfield, 1 critically injured

CRASH. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT ERICA. LUCKILY, THAT CHILD SUFFERED MINOR INJURIES ONLY AND WASN’T A STUDENT AT THIS PARTICULAR SCHOOL, BUT STILL VERY FRIGHTENING FOR THOSE INVOLVED HERE. I HEARD A BIG BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. THE IMPACT OF THIS CHAIN REACTION CRASH STARTLING NEIGHBORS, A SCHOOL BUS UNABLE TO STOP CRASHING INTO A LINE OF PARKED CARS AS PARENTS DROPPED OFF THEIR CHILDREN AT HENRY GREWE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN HYDE PARK THIS MORNING, THE FRONT SUV GOING AIRBORNE AND INTO SOMEONE’S FRONT PORCH. THE BUS DRIVER SAID. THE ACCELERATOR JUST BROKE. MICHELLE LEGGETT’S DAUGHTER IN LAW WAS WALKING BACK TO HER FORD FLEX WHEN THE BUS CAME BARRELING TOWARD HER. SHE WOUND UP ON THE GROUND AS BYSTANDERS RAN TO HELP. SHE SAYS SHE ENDED UP UNDER THE BUS. SHE GOT HIT AND THE BUS WENT OVER HER. THE VICTIM’S SISTER IN LAW SAYS SHE HAD JUST DROPPED. OFF HER DAUGHTER AT SCHOOL WHEN THIS HAPPENED. AROUND EIGHT IN THE MORNING. SHE IS ALERT AND ORIENTED RIGHT NOW. SHE DOES SUSTAINED INJURIES TO THE FRONT OF HER FACE AND THE BACK OF HER HEAD. THEY’RE STILL WAITING ON IMAGING. I THINK THEY’RE GOING TO GET LIKE AN MRI TO MAKE SURE HER SPINE AND EVERYTHING IS OKAY. THE YOUNG GIRL WAS BLEEDING ON HER HEAD AND SHE WAS IN PAIN. NAOMI RAMIREZ HEARD THE CRASH AND SAW THE AFTERMATH. SHE SAYS A CHILD AND ADULT WERE IN A CAR IN THE FRONT OF THIS LINE, AND RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. IT’S VERY OVERWHELMING KNOWING I WOULD NEVER WISH THIS TO HAPPEN TO ANYONE. IT COULD HAVE BEEN MY CHILD. IT COULD HAVE BEEN ANYONE’S CHILD. IT’S JUST SO SCARY AND BACK HERE LIVE, YOU CAN SEE THE MINOR DAMAGE TO THE BANISTER HERE ON THIS FRONT PORCH. WHERE THAT TRUCK ENDED UP. NEIGHBORS ARE ALSO COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS INTERSECTION HERE, WORRYING ABOUT STUDENTS WHO ARE CROSSING THE STREET HERE, WORRYING ABOUT THEM GETTING HIT. NOW, BOSTON POLICE ARE CONTINUING TO INVESTIGATE THIS CRASH. AND JUST WHY THAT ACCELERATOR APPARENTLY JUST DIDN’T WORK EARLIER THIS MORNING. Advertisement Pedestrian, 2 others injured in crash involving school bus, 5 other vehicles in Boston Share Copy Link Copy A pedestrian and two other people were injured early Thursday in a crash in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood that involved a school bus and five other vehicles.The crash happened at 8:15 a.m. on Gordon Avenue in front of the Henry Grew Elementary School. Police said the pedestrian is a parent or guardian of a student who attends the school.Surveillance video from the scene shows a chain-reaction crash that ended with a sport utility vehicle on top of a Mercedes and a Toyota sedan.“I spoke to the bus driver, and the bus driver said the accelerator just broke,” said Michelle Legette.Legette's daughter-in-law was walking back to her Ford Flex when the bus came barreling toward her. She wound up on the ground as bystanders ran to help. “She said she ended up under the bus. She got hit, and the bus went over her,” said sister-in-law Shanell Saunders. Saunders said her sister-in-law had just dropped off her daughter at school when it happened around 8 a.m. “She is alert and oriented right now. She did sustain injuries to the front of her face and the back of her head. They're still waiting on imaging … they're getting an MRI to make sure her spine is OK,” Saunders said. Naomi Ramirez heard the crash and saw the aftermath. She said a child and adult were in a car at the front of this line, and received minor injuries. “The girl was bleeding on her head, and she was in pain,” she said. Video Below: Surveillance video of crash outside schoolOfficials said that no students were on the bus at the time of the crash."A Boston Public Schools crisis team is on-site to support students and staff who might have witnessed the accident. We encourage anyone who might need support to speak with our school social workers or the BPS crisis team," Henry Grew Elementary School principal Christina Michel wrote in a notice to the school community.The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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crime

Crime on the Decline

In the chaotic early months of the Covid pandemic, when the U.S. was also going through the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, violent crime rose across the country. Murders in 2020 increased at the fastest rate since national statistics began in 1960. Other crimes, like shootings and car thefts, also increased. The surge in violence left some experts worried that the U.S. might be entering another era of high crime, similar to that of the 1960s through the ’90s. But the data over the past year has offered a much more optimistic picture. The number of murders in U.S. cities fell by more than 12 percent — which would be the biggest national decline on record. The spike that started in 2020 now looks more like a blip, and the murder rate is lower than it was during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. The recent data also suggests that the violent-crime rate in 2023 was near its lowest level in more than 50 years, as Jeff Asher, a crime analyst, wrote for his newsletter.

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crime

New Bedford teen dies after thrown from car in Dartmouth Friday

Two people were hospitalized after they were hit by a car in Pittsfield on New Year’s Day, according to the Pittsfield Police Department. Both pedestrians were hit by a 2014 Toyota Corolla, being driven by a 23-year-old Pittsfield man, near 55 West Housatonic St. around 2:47 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 1, Pittsfield police said on Facebook. Read More: Winchendon firefighter and divemaster Jim Bevilacqua unexpectedly dies The pedestrians, a 34-year-old man and woman, were brought to Berkshire Medical Center with serious injuries. The woman was later brought to Bay State Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition, according to police. So far no charges have been announced. The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Anthony Dayton of the Pittsfield Police Deptartment at 413-448-9700 ext 543.

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2 Dead, 1 Seriously Injured In Dorchester Rollover Crash: State Police

BOSTON, MA — Two people are dead and one more is seriously injured in a rollover crash in Dorchester overnight Thursday, Massachusetts State Police said in a statement shared on social media. The crash occurred on Morrissey Boulevard shortly after 3 a.m., according to police. The two dead and one injured were all occupants of the car, as was a fourth person who sustained only minor injuries. Morrissey Boulevard was shut down for several hours but has since reopened.

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crime

Suspect in fatal Boston shooting appears in court wearing GPS from previous case

A Dorchester man facing a murder charge appeared in court Tuesday in connection with a fatal shooting that happened in Boston during Labor Day weekend wearing a GPS monitoring device from a previous case.Xavier Rivas, 22, of Boston, was shot Saturday shortly after 11:40 p.m. near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Old Road in Dorchester. He was transported by Boston Emergency Medical Services to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Police arrested Mikai Thomson, 21, Sunday afternoon in the city's Roxbury neighborhood. Police said Thomson had a warrant for his arrest dating back to Aug. 21 for various firearms charges and the assault and battery of a police officer.Thomson was charged with murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and other charges in connection with the homicide of Rivas. He was held without bail.Boston residents who find themselves in need of emotional support are encouraged to call the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team, which provides free and private support 24/7 at 617-431-0125. A Dorchester man facing a murder charge appeared in court Tuesday in connection with a fatal shooting that happened in Boston during Labor Day weekend wearing a GPS monitoring device from a previous case. Xavier Rivas, 22, of Boston, was shot Saturday shortly after 11:40 p.m. near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Old Road in Dorchester. He was transported by Boston Emergency Medical Services to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Advertisement Police arrested Mikai Thomson, 21, Sunday afternoon in the city's Roxbury neighborhood. Police said Thomson had a warrant for his arrest dating back to Aug. 21 for various firearms charges and the assault and battery of a police officer. Thomson was charged with murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and other charges in connection with the homicide of Rivas. He was held without bail. Boston residents who find themselves in need of emotional support are encouraged to call the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team, which provides free and private support 24/7 at 617-431-0125.

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Will a new day dawn for adult victims of clergy abuse?

Early this year, a retired phys ed teacher left her ranch house in Easthampton and drove down the interstate to tell her story of clergy abuse. It wasn’t Nancy A. Dunn’s first time before the Springfield Diocese’s review board, which meets in the red-brick Maguire Pastoral Center to hear allegations of clergy misconduct. But it was her last. The board later informed Dunn she needn’t have come back. Why? The diocese had already written her a six-figure check, she says she was told, to compensate her for a priest’s misconduct in the 1990s. Dunn still had questions. She wanted to know whether the Rev. Warren Savage had been held accountable, as the diocese had said he would, for engaging in a year-long sexual relationship with her nearly three decades ago. Savage remains in active ministry at Westfield State University. “My intention was never to destroy this man, it was to hold them accountable,” Dunn said of Savage and the diocese. “I wanted accountability and transparency from the church.” Today, Catholics worldwide continue to debate the circumstances under which sexual contact between priests and adults constitutes an abuse of power, even when it does not involve coercion. One new term is “vulnerable adult,” distinguishing that from decades of revelations of clergy abuse of children. Bishops in dioceses like Springfield’s face a call to reexamine how they can better protect vulnerable people, following this year’s apostolic letter, “Vos Estis Lux Mundi (You are the Light of the World).” The message from Pope Francis took effect April 30 and expanded the definition of who should be seen as vulnerable, after revelations of abuse of adults. That step has been hailed as a breakthrough for adult survivors of misconduct, though some observers caution conflicts in its wording could blunt reform. The case of Nancy Dunn presents local Catholic leaders with an opportunity to show how their thinking is evolving about a duty of protection. Statements by the diocese, however, seem to show no eagerness to adopt a more expansive view of adults who deserve to be treated as survivors of clergy misconduct. ‘Struggling with my sexuality’ Dunn believes that when Savage began a sexual relationship with her, she was “vulnerable” – and used that word in her first written statement to the diocesan review board. The board upheld her claim in 1997 and recommended Savage “be removed from his priestly duties and parish work immediately.” Evidence of her vulnerability lies in plain sight. Before entering into a sexual relationship with Savage, Dunn had been hospitalized for two weeks at the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric facility in Vermont. “I was struggling with my sexuality,” she said. Dunn had thoughts of suicide. Nancy Dunn stands in front of the former Notre Dame Church and rectory on East Main Street in North Adams. (Gillian Jones / The Berkshire Eagle)Gillian Jones As a high school student, she had told her parish priest, the Rev. Homer Gosselin, she felt attracted to women. She recalls the priest telling her it was OK to have such feelings, but never to act on them. In her early 30s, Dunn met Savage, newly assigned by the Most Rev. Thomas Dupre, the Springfield bishop at the time, to oversee a consolidation of parishes in the northern Berkshires. Dunn’s psychotherapist, who she saw twice a week, had recently died. She said she asked Savage for a counseling referral, wanting to reconcile her sexual orientation with her deep faith and ongoing service to Notre Dame du Sacre-Coeur, her childhood parish in North Adams. “It troubled me, as a Catholic,” she said of her feelings for women. She said Savage volunteered his counsel. “He said, ‘You don’t need a therapist, you have me.’” In November 1995, Dunn says Savage initiated a sexual relationship with her during what she viewed as a pastoral counseling session. Savage disputes that he was counseling her. It was Dunn’s first sexual relationship with a man. Dunn believed at the time Savage brought a divine message about her sexuality. “I thought Warren was God,” she said. “He said my sexuality needed to be integrated. I took it to mean I needed to have sexual experiences with him.” Later, Dunn saw what she experienced as “spiritual rape.” “Once, when I questioned him about why this happened, he goes, ‘I chose you.’ He made me feel like the chosen one. I know some people are going to be like, ‘How dumb are you?’ But I was vulnerable. I had just lost a therapist. I take responsibility for my role in this, but I was a vulnerable adult. I struggled with being lesbian. He made me feel special. And then I thought, ‘Maybe I’m not gay.’” ‘Major setback’ Nancy Knudsen, a Northampton psychotherapist who directs the Couple and Family Institute of New England, has been counseling Dunn for 14 years. Knudsen said her client has spoken clearly about having been in a counseling relationship with Savage. “This has flavored Nancy’s entire life,” Knudsen said in an interview. “It was a major setback and left a very, very deep scar, because she thought she was loved and that this love was a message from God. The sense of betrayal was enormous.” Patricia P. Martin, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist based in Longmeadow, was a member of the diocesan review board that first heard Dunn’s account. Martin said ethics rules prevent her from speaking about how the committee handled Dunn’s case, but offered a professional opinion on the dynamics of cases involving clergy. “In cases of sexual abuse by priests with parishioners, there is an imbalance of power,” she said. “This disparity of power and spiritual authority can be used as a means of coercing sexual activity.” “This abuse is exacerbated if the person is a ‘vulnerable person,’ such as someone with a past or present mental health condition, who puts trust in the person of authority,” Martin said. Looking back, Martin feels this would have been true for Dunn. “The sexual abuse of power and control is especially egregious if the survivor has been in any type of spiritual counseling relationship with the perpetrator. This poor woman, she was so naive about any of this.” Given the passage of years, Dunn’s mental state at the time was perhaps best recorded in notes taken by a therapist she saw just weeks after halting contact with Savage. The Rev. Warren Savage outside the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center at Westfield State University in 2020. “To my great regret, I entered into an inappropriate consensual relationship with a 35-year-old woman ... almost three decades ago," he said in a written statement. (Don Treeger / The Republican) In a July 1997 report to the diocesean review board, Carla Brennan, M.Ed., said Dunn had come to her in early October 1996 “extremely agitated, confused and distraught [with] major symptoms of anxiety and depression. She was disillusioned, feeling hopelessness and despair and had lost her spiritual faith.” Brennan’s memo, a copy of which Dunn provided to The Republican, includes Dunn’s statement that her sexual contact with Savage arose from a counseling relationship. “She revealed to him, within the assumed safety of the spiritual counseling session, her deepest insecurities, her wounds, her most private desires and needs and he used that knowledge to take advantage of her vulnerability and initiate inappropriate contact to satisfy his emotional and sexual needs,” Brennan wrote. Diocese: Case doesn’t qualify Though its review board concluded in 1997 that Dunn had been the target of “sexual exploitation,” the diocese maintains she does not qualify as a “vulnerable adult.” “At no point, neither when the complaint was first received nor during subsequent reviews, was the individual deemed a vulnerable adult based on civil or canon law,” said Carolee McGrath, the diocese’s media relations manager. When asked by The Republican how that could be, given the review board’s finding of sexual exploitation, a spokeswoman cited Catholic “moral teaching” that uses a narrow definition. “Sexual exploitation covers any sexual conduct outside of marriage, which is a sacrament,” McGrath said in a follow-up statement. This year, Pope Francis approved church law that has led to competing definitions of “vulnerable adult.” Here in Massachusetts, Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston has long advocated for an expansion of the definition of vulnerability. In November 2018, he told a conference of U.S. bishops that “we need to extend [the definition] to adults who can be the victims of abuse of power.” This year’s “Vos estis” letter from the pope defines a vulnerable adult as “any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist the offense.” It falls to bishops to interpret and apply that definition. The Springfield diocese says a committee is reviewing policies related to adult survivors of abuse. “When they complete their work, updates with any new information or policies will be made to the website,” McGrath said. Knudsen, Dunn’s Northampton therapist, notes that her client had been hospitalized before meeting Savage and was not in a healthy state of mind. “She was highly distraught about her sexuality and went to the priest with that in mind, looking for a counseling referral,” Knudsen said, and was in a state that left her unlikely to “resist the offense.” “There is a power dynamic between a client and therapist which makes the client particularly vulnerable,” she said, speaking in general of the counseling field. “This was a powerful adult and a representative of the church. She was a lesbian woman in great conflict about her sexuality. This made her vulnerable.” Like the diocese, Savage dismisses the idea that Dunn was a “vulnerable adult.” While Savage declined to be interviewed on the record about his relationship with Dunn, he met for two hours with a reporter for The Republican at a Starbucks in Westfield and spoke with pride of his years of work on behalf of Catholics in Western Massachusetts. In response to written questions, Savage provided a short statement: “To my great regret, I entered into an inappropriate consensual relationship with a 35-year-old woman – who was never in pastoral counseling with me – almost three decades ago.” “Since that time, I have been held appropriately accountable, always maintained proper boundaries, and note that the new ‘vulnerable person’ standard is not retroactive,” he wrote. “Even if it was, this situation would not meet that standard.” ‘Expressed remorse’ A year ago this week, Savage met with Dunn at her therapist’s Northampton office and expressed remorse over his behavior in the 1990s. It wasn’t his first apology. In a letter to Dunn on Oct. 16, 1996, he had taken responsibility; she kept that letter and shared it while recounting her story. In a small, cursive hand, Savage wrote that he had become “more aware of the irreparable damage that I have done to you since November ‘95. … I am sorry and ashamed of the way I have treated you. … The bottom line is that I have messed up your life, which means I must pay a heavy price for this indignation.” The Rev. Warren Savage, of Holy Family Church in Springfield, speaks in 2000 about AIDS at a breakfast event at the Springfield's Boys' Club.The Republican The Republican spoke with three people familiar with Savage’s ministry today. All said that regardless of what happened in the 1990s, Savage is an exemplary priest worthy of public trust. “He made a mistake and took the consequences,” said Sister Mary McGeer, who has known Savage for more than 40 years. “No one’s perfect. This man has spent his whole life doing good for everyone. He’s always come through.” A Westfield parishioner wrote the Most Rev. William D. Byrne in 2021 to praise Savage’s current work at Westfield State University’s interfaith center, where he hears confessions and presides over a Sunday Mass. “He is on the front line, an army of one, who is doing God’s work,” wrote Jack Kurty. “One conversation, one phone call, one smile at a time. … I have never seen a better example of the advice that we should ‘practice what we preach.’” Nancy Sterling, a spokeswoman for the Westfield State University Foundation, said officials learned of Savage’s history in 2021, after he’d been on the campus for seven years. The foundation provides a stipend to Savage for his work at the interfaith center. “A detailed review of the matter was conducted,” Sterling said. It found Savage had complied with steps for his return to ministry, including required counseling. “Father Savage poses no threat whatsoever and is an asset to our campus ministry.” The diocese notes that Savage admitted his wrongdoing “and followed all the steps required by the Misconduct Commission’s report.” That has included ongoing therapy and counseling. “Since then, no other complaints were brought forward. This was also verified by the Diocesan Review Board when they were presented [with] the case in 2022,” McGrath said, in response to questions. “It was determined that he had fully complied with everything requested of him and that over the years he has provided valuable priestly ministry with no additional complaints of inappropriate behavior,” McGrath said. “Clearly, there is deep hurt that remains.” The diocese reached a financial settlement with Dunn on May 31, 2022. Of the total sum, the settlement specifies that a portion was allocated “as compensation to Ms. Dunn for personal physical injuries, and emotional distress and anguish resulting from such physical injuries that Ms. Dunn alleges she suffered on account of Fr. Savage’s sexually assaultive acts ….” ‘Important step’ Advocates for victims of clergy misconduct, even within the Catholic church, are pressing nationally for a wider understanding of harm, arguing that the needs of adults who endured inappropriate sexual conduct with clergy deserve to be addressed. “This is a very important step in the right direction,” said the Rev. Thomas V. Berg, a Catholic moral theologian at Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, New York, who has written extensively on the issue. Berg believes decades of revelations about the clergy abuse of children has created a sense of fatigue – and the perception that priestly misconduct with adults is a lesser offense. Beyond that, he and others say the high moral regard accorded to priests overrides any sense of equality between a priest and a parishioner who have sexual contact. “It’s much more manipulative and it has much more of the nature of an abuse of power,” Berg said. “The difficult position is that priests who are sexually active normally will be exceedingly good at covering their steps and keeping this secret and probably manipulating their adult victims into keeping this quiet.” In a recent article co-authored with Timothy G. Lock and Justin M. Anderson, Berg explored internal church debate in recent years over the meaning of “vulnerable adult” and who it covers, noting the pull, for some, of a narrow definition of mentally disabled people. That persists even with this year’s “Vos estis” letter, Berg and his co-authors wrote in the essay, “Fully Equipped for Every Good Work,” published by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame University. “Most advocates for adult victims of abuse have urged Church authorities to adopt a broader definition of vulnerable adult that reflects the dynamic by which predator priests gain leverage from the power differential existing between themselves and their adult victims to groom and manipulate them,” the essay says. “A new paragraph now added to canon 1395 recognizes this dynamic, referring to it as an abuse of authority and identifying it as a canonical crime in the context of sexual abuse.” Stephen E. de Weger, a scholar at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, who studies clergy abuse, believes this year’s revision to what constitutes a vulnerable adult falls short, leaving Catholic leaders discretion not to act. His dissertation research found that people in power in the Catholic church tend not to believe accounts by adult survivors. “Unless they came under the very narrow strictures of the Vatican’s definition of vulnerable adult,” he told The Republican, “the go-to choice of response is dismissal of the complaint.” In a presentation last year at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, de Weger said the new definitions have some value, but are strangely vague. “I am left wondering, why do such vagaries for such important documents, and for such a serious issue, still exist?” he asked his audience. “Is the church actually trying to avoid clarity, and if so, why?” Catholics seek change Catholics across the country are pushing for change. Since 2019, members of AwakeMilwaukee have been meeting to raise awareness about sexual abuse in the church and to find solutions and bring about healing. Sara Larson, the nonprofit’s executive director, says the Catholic church in the U.S. must make a stronger commitment to protecting adults from clergy misconduct, guided by the Vatican’s action. “Individual dioceses have been slow to embrace this understanding and implement the necessary changes,” she said. Part of the problem, Larson said, is public ignorance about the risks that adults who are active in their faith can face, including “grooming” and what she termed “the power differentials [that] can make true consent impossible.” Often, adults who speak up are blamed and their abusers never face consequences. “I speak every day to survivors who are deeply traumatized by not only their abuse, but also the callous response they have received from church leaders in the aftermath of that abuse,” Larson said. Berg said the public is often not receptive to accounts of misconduct that targeted adults. “Fatigue is absolutely real. People don’t want to hear this news. There is a default in the minds of people – that you knew what you were doing and could have kept your clothes on.” Question of consent The diocese says today the sexual relationship between Savage and Dunn – while “inappropriate” and “a violation of the vows he took as a priest” – was consensual. That is the same position that a former bishop, the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, took in a 2005 letter to Dunn, after she asked that year about consequences Savage faced. McDonnell told Dunn he reviewed her statements to the Misconduct Commission. “There was a follow-up that was appropriate for a situation involving two consenting adults, as was the case here. It was very much different from a situation with an adult and a child, as I know you understand.” Berg, the priest at Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College, rejects the idea that a parishioner brought into a sexual relationship with a cleric can be said to have freely offered consent. “That’s preposterous,” he said. “That’s brain dead.” Berg grants that there can be consensual sex between a priest and an individual who is not a parishioner, depending on the circumstances, even though that violates the vow of celibacy. “In reality, far too many of these relationships are manipulative and the perpetrator uses the power differential in that relationship to gain sexual access,” he said. Berg questions the Springfield diocese’s decision to pay a settlement to Dunn, given its stance. “You don’t ‘settle’ in the case of a consensual relationship,” he said. “This is what I find problematic.” He also disputes the diocese’s definition of sexual exploitation as any contact outside marriage. “If [the review board] deemed the relationship exploitative, that means a power differential was in play. That lies at the heart of sexual abuse of any kind, which in the opinion of many of us renders a woman vulnerable,” Berg said. “So the conjunction of ‘consensual’ but ‘exploitative’ is highly questionable.” Today, the diocese continues to describe the relationship as consensual. It says Savage admitted to behaving inappropriately and that the priest’s behavior, and fitness for the ministry, has been monitored through decades of outpatient counseling. “The more they told me I was a consenting adult, the more pissed I got,” Dunn said. de Weger, the scholar in Brisbane, Australia, calls the issue of consent a moot point. “Priests are religious professionals, having the double whammy of power, religious and professional, two spiritually and socially pedestaled elements of such men,” he said after being briefed on Dunn’s case. “It is very easy for such powerful men to groom, bamboozle, seduce the other person into what they then think might be ‘consent.’” “Mature consent is not just giving in to such pressure, it is consciously saying yes with an equal person under no pressure or confusion,” de Weger said. “Anyway, it doesn’t really matter in the end. The priest should not be having sex with his ‘children,’ his parishioners, his ‘clients,’ full stop. Most people don’t get this and for some reason some even seem happy enough to let the priest off the hook because they’re ‘lonely’ or something.” But if they were doctors or lawyers, he notes, they’d be fired. ‘Church everything to me’ Dorothy Small, a lifelong Catholic who lives in Woodland, California, sued a Sacramento County diocese in 2017 after having twice reported that a priest groomed her for sex. Small received a $200,000 settlement in 2019. Now in her late 60s, she has left the church, she said in a phone interview. “The Catholic Church was everything to me.” “They teach you that the priest is the mediator between man and God. They are seen as Christ personified,” she said. “He represents Jesus Christ. There is no higher power. You’re actually more vulnerable to a priest than you would be to an actual therapist. You hold nothing back.” Dorothy Small, poses for a portrait in her hot tub in the backyard of her home in Woodland, Calif., in 2019. (AP Photo / Wong Maye-E)AP Small was 60 when she says a priest visiting her home engaged her in sex. “Consent can only be had between two people of equal power,” she said. “Submission is not consent. They’re in your head. They’ve got you. You’re not in your rational mind.” “What was most important was that I retain my voice,” Small said. “You learn to walk to your own truth. It’s worth making a stink out of it – that’s what it takes. If we don’t say anything, we’re complicit to evil that continues to be perpetrated. " Dunn says she’s learned that lesson. “It has not been easy to speak up or tell my truth,” she said. “I was very alone in this process for years, with the exception of my therapist.” This fall, Dunn joined a program for adult survivors run by the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. After receiving training, she plans to create a new support group in western Massachusetts. “Ever since I got involved in this, I became aware of how other victims have been treated. I’m appalled,” she said. “This will be my new life mission.”

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crime

Names released for pedestrian, motorcyclist killed in Saturday crash in Boston

The two people who were killed in a late-night motorcycle crash in Boston on Saturday have been identified as Angel Maestre, 62, and Yordani Rodriguez, 27, Boston police and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office told MassLive Tuesday. The crash involving a motorcycle and a pedestrian was reported in the area of Blue Hill Avenue and American Legion Highway in Dorchester around 10:44 p.m. on Nov. 25, Officer Michael Torigian told MassLive Sunday. Maestre was the pedestrian and Rodriguez was the motorcyclist, according to authorities. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other person, who was brought to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, was pronounced dead at the hospital, Torigian said. “Homicide Detectives and the Fatal Collision Team were notified and responded,” Torigian added. “It is an ongoing investigation.”

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crime

Reports: Bradley Rein, driver in Hingham Apple Store crash, in custody for GPS issue

The Hingham man accused of crashing a car through an Apple Store last November and killing a person in the crowd he ran over is being held pending a mental health evaluation after officials said he again did not charge his court-ordered GPS monitor, according to reports from multiple outlets. Bradley Rein, 53, was called to Plymouth District Court on Dec. 27, where prosecutors said the GPS device he’s required to wear died on Dec. 22, CBS Boston reported.

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crime

News helicopter from northeast ABC affiliate crashes, killing pilot and photographer

A news helicopter from Philadelphia crashed Tuesday night in a heavily wooded area of Burlington County, New Jersey, killing the pilot and a photographer, WPVI’s news station, 6ABC, said on its website early Wednesday. “We know that a pilot and a photographer from our news team went down with Chopper 6 while returning from an assignment at the Jersey Shore,” the news station said. The crash occurred shortly after 8 p.m. near Quaker Bridge Atsion Road and Mullica Hill Road, a section of Wharton State Forest in Washington Township. The helicopter was a 2013 American Eurocopter AS-350A-STAR, which 6abc leases from U.S. Helicopters Inc. based in North Carolina, the news station said. The names or the conditions of the victims were not released. “They have a long history with our station. They’ve been working as part of the Action News team for years,” Katherine Scott, general assignment reporter for 6ABC, said in a report from Washington Township. New Jersey State Police located the wreckage deep in a wooded area and the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, according to the station.

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crime

Wisconsin Judge Dismisses Felony Charge in Ballot Selfie Case

A New Bedford teen was killed after being thrown from a car in Dartmouth Friday night, according to police. Jacob Pothier, 18, of New Bedford, was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, according to a post on the Dartmouth Police Department’s Facebook page. It appears Pothier and another person in the car, Kathleen Martins, 44, of Dartmouth, were thrown from a 2022 Honda Accord in the area of Gulf Road at Smith Neck Road in Dartmouth some time before police arrived at 10:35 p.m. Jan. 5, police said. That stretch of two-lane roads is a T-intersection surrounded by Apponagansett Bay near a causeway leading to the village of Padanaram, according to Google Maps. Emergency responders found Pothier and Martins unresponsive in the roadway near the heavily damaged Honda, police said. They treated them at the one-car crash scene and brought them to St. Luke’s, where Pothier was pronounced dead, police said. Martins was seriously hurt, with life-threatening injuries, police said, and her condition is “guarded.” The Dartmouth Police Department Crash Reconstruction Unit, Massachusetts State Police and Dartmouth Police Department detectives are investigating the crash.

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crime

Adult woman who allegedly posed as Boston student pleads not guilty

A Wisconsin judge on Monday dismissed a felony charge against a school board candidate who had posted a photograph on Facebook of a ballot with his name filled in. In his ruling, the judge, Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County, threw out the count of voter fraud against the man, Paul H. Buzzell, 52, a former school board member in Mequon, a suburb of Milwaukee, who was voted back onto the board during an election in April, online court records show. Judge Malloy ruled on a motion to dismiss by Mr. Buzzell’s lawyers, who argued that the state law prohibiting so-called ballot selfies was overly broad and violated the constitutional guarantee of free expression. “What is at stake is branding a politician a felon for declaring to the world that the politician displayed” a marked ballot “showing a vote for himself in an election,” the motion said. Mr. Burrell would have faced a maximum possible sentence of three and a half years in prison and a $10,000 fine had he been convicted. He would also have been barred from running for elected office.

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crime

Opinion | Silence Is Violence but Not When It Comes to Israeli Rape Victims

On Sunday, CNN’s Dana Bash asked Representative Pramila Jayapal why so many progressive women have been silent about the extensive reports of widespread rape and sexual assault carried out by Hamas against Israeli women during the massacres of Oct. 7. What followed was a master class in evasion, both-sidesism and changing the subject from the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “I’ve condemned what Hamas has done,” Jayapal allowed, briefly, before moving immediately to condemn Israel. Bash persisted: “I was just asking about the women, and you turned it back to Israel. I’m asking about Hamas.” “I’ve already answered your question, Dana,” Jayapal replied, adding that while rape was “horrific,” it “happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools. However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians.”

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crime

Apology, Tears and Terror: A Former Hostage Recounts a 7-Week Ordeal

She and the surviving children — another daughter, Agam, 17, and two sons, Gal, 11, and Tal, 9 — were released in late November as part of the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas that has since ceased. In an interview this week, she shared details about her ordeal. She said she and the children were held together, treated “respectfully” and not physically harmed. But she said that over the course of various moves during their captivity, she had met other hostages who were badly treated, including two women who said they were sexually abused. Mostly, they were held in a room in an apartment in Gaza, she said, with the windows closed except for a bit of fresh air in the early mornings. But the heavily armed captors also moved Ms. Goldstein-Almog and her children to different apartments, tunnels, a mosque, even a destroyed supermarket, she said. With the Israeli military pounding Gaza, each transfer was terrifying, and the men holding them, she said, didn’t always seem to know what to do. Describing one move, she said: “It was the middle of the night. Everything was dark. They started deliberating among themselves. I could see the helplessness on their faces.” “When we were out into the street, in total darkness, there was a shot above us,” she continued. “We were pressed against the wall, and I could see a laser pointer, as if we were being targeted from above.” And she was thinking: That’s our air force up there. “It was crazy,” she said, “this absurdity.”

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crime

Bags of fake Adderall, Xanax pills laced with fentanyl and meth seized in bust

A total of 35 pounds of pills disguised as Adderall and Xanax tablets that actually contained fentanyl and methamphetamine were seized from a makeshift Whitman drug laboratory during a state police bust in late December, according to state police. Andrew Billings, 39, of Plymouth, was arrested during the bust on Dec. 21, 2023. He was arraigned at Plymouth District Court on charges of trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl, along with the unlawful manufacture of a Class B drug. After months of investigating, the department said officers were able to link Billings to a property on Essex Street and executed a search warrant on that late December Thursday. Troopers found thousands of counterfeit prescription pills, large amounts of white powder, a pharmaceutical grade pill press and other drug paraphernalia at the property, state police said. There were six pounds of fake Adderall tablets that tested to be fentanyl taken from the scene, and 27 pounds of fake Xanax pills and loose powder that was tested to be methamphetamine, police said. A search warrant was also executed on Billings’ SUV, which found 145 grams of blue oxycodone pills, the department said. The Essex Street building had to be condemned after investigators secured the scene and evidence — during the bust, the property was “so badly contaminated with strewn drug material that troopers evacuated the address,” state police said. Inspectors from the United States Postal Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the five agencies within the W.E.B. Major Crimes and Drug Task Force, detectives from Plymouth, Whitman and State Police and other organizations assisted the Norfolk SPDU in the investigation.

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crime

Fire in Somers, Conn., kills 4 young children inside home, reports say

A fire that broke out at a home in Somers, just over the Connecticut border, late Tuesday night killed four children all under the age of 13, according to reports from multiple outlets. Connecticut State Police confirmed the fatal fire began before 10:24 p.m., when troopers were called to Quality Avenue in the town for a house fire. The Somers Fire Department did not immediately respond for comment.

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crime

Air Force: 15 members of accused Mass. Airman Jack Teixeiras unit found at fault for leaks

The Air Force Inspector General said on Monday that members of Jack Teixeira’s unit didn’t take proper action after finding out about the Massachusetts airman’s alleged leak of classified government information and has disciplined 15 people as a result. In an announcement on Dec. 11, the Inspector General said that while its investigation found Teixeira to be solely responsible for the social media leak of information on Russia’s war in Ukraine, leadership members in the 102nd Intelligence Wing also were indirectly at fault for his actions. Read more: Jack Teixeira pleads not guilty to sharing classified documents Teixeira, 23, is accused of leaking top-secret military documents regarding the war in Ukraine to his internet friends over Discord, a communication platform popular amongst video gamers. Officials said he accessed Discord while employed at the Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. He was arrested and charged with six counts willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to the national defense in April under the Espionage Act. Each count carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The Massachusetts man pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Worcester in June, and was denied release in September as he waits in jail for his next trial date. Because of these indirect factors, many people were removed from their positions, and other administrative actions were brought against unit members, the Air Force said. Some of these factors included Texeira’s commanders’ failure to review their areas of command, inconsistent guidance on reporting security incidents and a misunderstanding of the government’s “Need to Know” classified info concept, the investigation revealed. Additionally, a lack of supervision of night shift operations, poor administration of disciplinary actions, and not providing security clearance field investigation results all factored into Teixeira’s suspected crimes, the Air Force said. Leadership also did not properly inspect the conduct of the people they were in charge of — specifically, security was not prioritized because those in charge did not take “the required actions to accomplish security program responsibilities fully and effectively,” investigators found. Two of the 15 people who received disciplined by the Air National Guard, which began Sept. 7, were identified as Col. Sean Riley, a 102d commander, and Enrique Dovalo, a Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group commander for the 102d. Riley was relieved of his position, the Air Force said. Dovalo received administrative action for its concerns with the commander’s unit culture and compliance with policies and standards. Also permanently removed were commanders who were previously suspended from the 102d Intelligence Support Squadron, and the detachment overseeing administrative support for Airmen at the unit mobilized for duty under Title 10 of the U.S. criminal code, the Air Force said. The 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group had been taken off mission when allegations against Teixeira surfaced, and the group’s mission remains reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force. In addition to the disciplinary and administrative actions, the Air Force implemented department-wide security improvements, such as the members’ review of security procedure compliance, their attendance of security training, and a survey of security practices across the Air Force. The Air Force also implemented several reforms, including but not limited to, increased emphasis on cyber-hygiene, improving its procedures on “Need to Know” and classified access, improving security training content, and delivery and improving security training content and delivery. “Every Airman and Guardian is entrusted with the solemn duty to safeguard our nation’s classified defense information,” U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in the statement. “When there is a breach of that sacred trust, for any reason, we will act in accordance with our laws and policies to hold responsible individuals accountable. Our national security demands leaders at every level protect critical assets, ensuring they do not fall into the hands of those who would do the United States or our allies and partners harm,” Kendall said.

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crime

Mother of autistic boy allegedly beaten by bus monitor files $1 million lawsuit

SPRINGFIELD — Months after two employees of a local van company were charged criminally with an alleged assault on a nonverbal autistic boy, the child’s mother has filed a $1 million civil lawsuit. It names the criminal defendants and the van company.

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crime

DA: Man robbed at knifepoint after being lured to downtown Boston hotel for sexual encounter

BOSTON — Two people are facing criminal charges after a man was lured to a hotel in downtown Boston for a sexual encounter and then robbed at knifepoint, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Danine Sampson, 27, of the Bronx, New York, and Robert Santana, 28, of Lawrence, were arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Dec. 22 on charges in connection with an incident at the Hilton Boston Back Bay 40 Dalton Street, according to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden. Simpson, who was ordered held on $1,500 bail, is charged with armed robbery. Santana was ordered held without bail on charges of illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, illegal possession of a loaded firearm, and illegal possession of a high-capacity magazine. Officers responding to the Hilton on Dec. 21 met with a man who stated he had been informed about a sex-for-fee service, contacted a female on a website, and arranged a meeting on the 23rd floor of the hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, the man was allegedly robbed by Simpson. “The man said Simpson called him into her room when he arrived, brandished a knife, and ordered him to hand over $200,” prosecutors said in a news release. “The man handed the money over and then reported the incident to the hotel lobby. Officers arrived on the scene and the man identified Simpson as the person who robbed him.” When officers later confronted Santana, prosecutors say “he tried to back away and started to profusely sweat.” They then reportedly found a Glock 9mm handgun loaded with eight rounds in his fanny pack. In a statement, Haden said, “This was a dangerous incident all around, both for the man who placed himself in an unknown situation with unknown people and for the police officers who responded to an armed robbery call and ended up dealing with an individual with a loaded gun.” The man who went to the hotel seeking sex will be charged at a later date with engaging in sexual conduct for a fee, according to prosecutors. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ©2023 Cox Media Group