Police are searching for a man who allegedly broke into a restaurant in Medford, Massachusetts, last week.
The incident happened at about 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 31at Sei Bar restaurant on Main Street, Medford police wrote on its Facebook page.
The ma…
Massachusetts
MBTA official says feds are happy with transit agency’s safety progress
The Federal Transit Administration believes “that the MBTA has started to turn the corner in terms of safety culture,” a top T official said Thursday.
Chief of Quality, Compliance and Oversight Meredith Sandberg said she met on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. with FTA officials who were happy with the T’s progress related to safety incidents. Greater Boston’s beleaguered transit system has faced a number of safety failures and subsequent attempts to address those issues over the past few years.
The FTA prescribed a 38-point corrective action plan to the T following a safety management inspection in 2022, which criticized staffing shortages, a backlog of maintenance and a lackluster commitment to safety culture.
“I’d never presume to speak for the FTA, but the high-level headline was that I think they believe that the MBTA has started to turn the corner in terms of safety culture and our approach to responding to both safety incidents in specific and also our longer-term planning capabilities, and seem very pleased with our progress to date and what we’re projected for the next calendar year,” Sandberg said Thursday during a MBTA Board of Directors Safety, Health and Environment Subcommittee meeting.
An MBTA spokesperson did not respond when asked Thursday for any documentation of the FTA’s appraisal of the T.
Sandberg said the FTA officials she met with did not express any specific concerns over the T’s performance addressing the safety issues, but said “it’s important that we then stay on track, literally and figuratively.”
The 2022 FTA investigation tied the safety risks to staffing shortages, as well as communication failures and a pattern of underinvestment in deferred maintenance.
Over the last year, the MBTA has been on a hiring spree, pushed by Gov. Maura Healey who has said it is among her priorities to get more workers at the T. The hiring blitz has been fueled in large part by labor agreements that boosted wages and rolled out retention bonuses, as well as sign-on bonuses for new hires.
As of Thursday, Chief Workforce Officer Ahmad Barnes reported the T has hired 1,493 new employees and internally promoted 543 people since Healey took office in January 2023. During that same time period, 598 employees have left the MBTA — leading to a total increased headcount of 895 employees.
Last April, T officials budgeted for an increase of 964 positions at the MBTA in fiscal year 2024, 14 percent above last year’s budget.
Seven months into the fiscal year, the agency has brought on an additional 640 people, Barnes said Thursday.
“Noting our overall goal, we’re still increasing our headcount despite these lean months in the winter time,” Barnes told the Planning, Workforce Development and Compensation subcommittee at its Thursday meeting.
Members of the T’s safety board also received an update Thursday on repairs made to the T during a multi-week shutdown of the Green Line.
Nearing a year into his job running the MBTA, General Manager Phil Eng has adopted an approach of implementing longer-term shutdowns of certain lines to expedite overdue repairs on tracks and in stations.
Green Line riders were left without T service for half of January. Shuttle buses took over routes through Boston’s downtown as the Green Line was shut down between North Station and Kenmore, and from Kenmore to Heath Street.
During that time, workers replaced 880 feet of track and repaired another 7,700 feet of track, according to Chief Safety Officer Tim Lesniak.
T employees also completed work at several stations including painting, repairing floors, stairs and benches, replacing tactics, making bathroom accessibility improvements, and conducted structural inspections across all stations and several tunnels. There were no safety incidents during the repair period, the safety chief said.
As the MBTA implements these full-service shutdowns for repairs more frequently, Lesniak said the T has “definitely been able to work better in planning ahead of time,” and is learning from each shutdown.
Hopkinton police sergeant accused of failing to report child rape allegations terminated
A Hopkinton, Massachusetts, police sergeant accused of failing to report child rape allegations has been fired.
The town’s select board voted Thursday to terminate Sgt. Timothy Brennan from the department after he allegedly didn’t report the allegations against John “Jay” Porter, a former deputy chief, despite having known about them for years.
After a Jan. 19 meeting, the town said it tried to “solve the matter mutually” but “discussions were unsuccessful,” which led to Thursday’s vote.
Brennan’s termination is effective Feb. 12, the town said.
Porter pleaded not guilty in May 2023 to three counts of child rape. He’s accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2004 and 2005 when he was a school resource officer.
The town hired an outside investigator after finding out Brennan may have had prior knowledge of the alleged assaults and not acted.
During the Jan. 19 meeting, multiple exhibits, including a transcript of an interview with an outside investigator, were presented. That transcript revealed that Brennan admitted that the alleged victim told him about what she described a consensual relationship with Porter as early as 2015.
Based on Brennan’s recollections, the woman — then in her 20s — originally described the relationship as having started when she was an adult but would eventually detail things that happened between the two of them when she was 14.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
Hopkinton police released documents related to the case on its website.
The sergeant had an opportunity to speak at the meeting and in prepared statement, he detailed his 36-year career and pointed out that he’s had no prior disciplinary issues.
He described his relationship with the survivor as one that was professional and supportive and that it started while he was working as her school resource officer.
Porter was indicted on the child rape charges May 1. Prosecutors said he assaulted the girl in his car on two different occasions in 2004 and 2005. He will go on trial for the charges against him.
Acclaimed Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Seiji Ozawa dies at age 88
Seiji Ozawa, the Japanese conductor who amazed audiences with the lithe physicality of his performances during three decades at the helm of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has died, his management office said Friday. He was 88.
The internationally a…
20 years after disappearing, Maura Murray’s family continues to push for answers
A young woman from Hanson, Massachusetts, went missing 20 years ago and was never to be seen again.
Maura Murray, 21, crashed her car in northern New Hampshire on Feb. 9, 2004, and hasn’t been seen since. Her sister, Julie, said her family co…
Ex-Olympian pleads guilty to molesting boys at sports camp in Mass.
A former Olympian and longtime track coach will spend as many as 11 years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexually molesting young boys at a sports camp in western Massachusetts in the 1970s, abuse that was laid bare by the emotion…
