CBRE Group Inc.’s investment arm has sold a shopping plaza in Cambridge’s Porter Square to two local firms for $20.1 million.
Crosspoint Associates and Long Wharf Capital now own Porter Square Galleria, a 55,610-square-foot property anchored …
Massachusetts
‘Her family deserves answers and she deserves justice’: Gov. Healey weighs in on Sandra Birchmore case
Twice this week, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey was asked about the Sandra Birchmore case, and both times she spoke forcefuly, saying Birchmore’s family deserves answers and she deserves justice.
Former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell pleaded not guilty last week after he was indicted on charges he strangled Birchmore in early 2021 and tried to stage her death as a suicide after she told him she was pregnant and he was the father. Birchmore was 23 years old.
Farwell, 38, worked as an officer for the police department in Stoughton from 2012 until 2022. Birchmore began participating in the department’s police explorers program when she was 12 years old. Farwell, who was a police explorers volunteer, used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit and then sexually abuse Birchmore when she was 15 and that he continued to have sex with her when she became an adult, according to the indictment.
Speaking following an event focused on reduced MBTA fares Tuesday, Healey called the case “horrifying,” especially as a former prosecutor and attorney general who worked with many victims.
“My heart goes out to Sandra Birchmore — may she rest in peace — and her family,” Healey said. “The idea that somebody in a position of power preyed on her, it disgusts me, and the people and person who did this need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and the Birchmore family deserves justice. We can’t bring Sandra back, but it’s very important that there be accountability and that justice be done.”
A day earlier, Healey was asked a similar question during a media scrum and said she remembered reading about the case and the allegations against Farwell when it first surfaced.
“I was sickened,” she said. “Not just as an AG and a prosecutor, but just as a person it’s horrifying to know what this young woman went through. I’m glad the U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating and state police and the medical examiner’s office will continue to work with them to get to the bottom of what happened. I will say anything and everything should be done to make sure that Sandra Birchmore and her family have the justice they need.”
Healey was also asked if the case erodes her confidence in investigators with the state police and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office. Especially seeing that Birchmore’s death was initially ruled a suicide.
“Look, I have every confidence in the policing of this state and the good work of the men and women in law enforcement across our 351 cities and towns and the state,” the governor replied. “Something happened here. We need to get to the bottom of that and understand that, and I fully support what the U.S. Attorney’s Office is doing in pursuing this.”
“It just breaks my heart to know that this woman was taken advantage of by someone in a position of power, and maybe others were involved,” Healey added. “It’s horrible, it’s sickening, and yeah, they should be held accountable to the fullest extent under the law. While you can’t bring poor Sandra and her baby back, her family deserves answers and she deserves justice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Steward hospitals sale objectors include IRS, Archdiocese of Boston
As Steward Health Care prepares to make the case in federal court Wednesday that the deals it reached to sell four Massachusetts hospital facilities should be quickly approved, a number of others would like to have a word — including key lenders for the bankrupt company, the Archdiocese of Boston and the Internal Revenue Service.
The blur of activity includes ongoing negotiations between Steward and Massachusetts state government over a second, and larger, infusion of public funding that the company says is required to keep its hospitals here open until the sales close, possibly on Sept. 30. Massachusetts aided Steward with $30 million to stay afloat in August and now is poised to provide the company another $42 million in payments and advances by the end of this week, according to a court filing late Monday.
An array of objections have been lodged in U.S. Bankruptcy Court since Steward announced the hospital sales. A sale hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, when Judge Christopher Lopez will weigh whether the deals are the best possible way for the company to wind down operations and maximize the value the assets return for its lenders and creditors. Steward says they are and should be approved.
The court is likely to consider an objection filed by the “first in, last out” or FILO lenders that have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Steward as the company headed for bankruptcy. Those lenders said they “cannot possibly consent to the proposed sales of the Massachusetts Hospitals in their current form, and they do not.”
“The Debtors’ sale process has resulted in bids for the Massachusetts Hospitals for an aggregate purchase price of $343 million, subject to certain adjustments … However, this figure is misleading as the entirety of the Purchase Price will be allocated towards the real property and therefore flow to benefit the purported landlord (MPT and Macquarie) and more specifically will flow to the purported landlord’s secured lender,” the FILO lenders wrote in the objection.
The objection from the IRS relates to a section of each asset purchase agreement that says Steward has filed all of its tax returns. The federal government says that isn’t actually the case, echoing the way state government was repeatedly frustrated by Steward’s failure to file financial disclosures.
More on Steward Health Care
“The United States states that either the terms of the respective Asset Purchase Agreements should be revised to correctly reflect that certain required federal tax returns for certain of the Seller Debtors have not been filed with the IRS and that the applicable Seller Debtor has a legal obligation to file such tax return,” or the court should require Steward to file the returns in question before the transactions close, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote on behalf of the IRS.
The limited objection from the Archdiocese of Boston stems back to the history of many Steward hospitals as part of the Caritas Christi network. The church said its sale of the hospitals to Steward in 2010 was the best option “that would allow the Hospitals to continue to operate as Catholic health care facilities.”
An agreement between the archdiocese and Steward requires the company to return any and all religious items and remove “all symbols of Catholic identity (e.g. interior signage, trade and service marks associated with Catholic identity in both paper and electronic form) and cease using a list of Catholic-related names.
The church said it would object to the hospital sales “to the extent that the Debtors seek to transfer the Restricted Names or the Religious Items or authorize the buyers to continue to use symbols of Catholic identity,” but added that it appears no such transfer is contemplated. That suggests that there will be new names for St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, the Holy Family hospitals, St. Anne’s Hospital and Good Samaritan Medical Center, since the church says Steward “acknowledged and agreed that the … names were ‘integrally related’ to the Hospitals’ Catholic identity.”
Barnstable man has been missing for over a year, police say
Police in Massachusetts are searching for a man they say has been missing for over a year.
Barnstable resident Stephen Boudreau, 34, has been missing since April 23, 2023. He was last seen in downtown Hyannis. Investigators are hoping the publ…
Dry and sunny all week in New England: Here’s when rain returns
This week is shaping up to be beautiful, with dry and sunny conditions expected through Friday. Highs will be seasonably warm from Wednesday to Friday, while Tuesday will be a bit cooler, with temperatures in the low 70s — slightly below the aver…
NH police seek missing woman last seen at Portsmouth Hospital
Police in New Hampshire are searching for a missing 72-year-old who is considered vulnerable, according to New Hampshire State Police.
Carolyn Grabowski was last seen after she was taken by ambulance to Portsmouth Regional Hospital from Hampto…
