There’s been no update in the search for 12-year-old twin boys who’ve been missing for two weeks, Boston police said Tuesday.
NBC10 Boston reached out to police for any developments in the case of Jakiel and Jaliel Shakur, who were las…
Massachusetts
Karen Read supporters file motion to fight proposed restrictions at trial
An attorney for supporters of Karen Read, a woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in 2022, have filed a motion to fight proposed restrictions on demonstrations during the trial.
We’re just two weeks away from the high-profile murder trial against Read, who is accused of hitting Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe with her car in Canton, Massachusetts in 2022, killing him. Her lawyers have alleged that she is being framed amid a massive coverup, which the prosecution has denied.
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 16.
State prosecutors have filed a motion requesting special restrictions at the trial, ones that would keep demonstrations back at least 500 feet from the courthouse in Dedham. The restrictions would also ban people – and animals – from wearing any attire that suggests a “favorable or unfavorable opinion of either party.”
Though the motion has not yet been approved, supporters of Read have balked at the proposal, calling it a violation of First Amendment rights.
Attorney Marc Randazza filed a motion to intervene on their behalf on Tuesday.
“The Commonwealth seeks to unconstitutionally infringe upon the right of the people to enjoy their full and robust rights under the First Amendment and Art. 16 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, as amended by art. 77 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution,” the motion reads.
A Norfolk District Attorney’s Office spokesman noted on Monday, in response to a protest surrounding the motion, that the decision to take measures to prevent juror interference lies with judges, and while it’s uncommon, it has been used before, including in the “Puppy Doe” animal cruelty case of 2018. Asked about the new motion filed Tuesday, a spokesperson made the same point.
“The Court regularly exercises its authority to provide for the fair administration of justice, including defending the juries from undue influence in a variety of ways. It is at the discretion of the Court,” the spokesperson told NBC10 Boston.
There is a special hearing scheduled for April 4 where a judge is set to consider the courthouse restrictions.
Developers go back to original plan for historic Alexandria Hotel site: building a new hotel
Developers won city approval in 2019 to open a new hotel at the site of the historic Alexandria Hotel on the edge of Roxbury and the South End. Then two years later, as Boston’s hotel sector cratered because of COVID-19, they pivoted to a residential …
New restaurant offering elevated comfort-food classics to open in Boston’s western suburbs
[This story first appeared on Boston Restaurant Talk.]
The team behind a specialty food shop in the western suburbs of Boston will be opening their very own restaurant.
According to a Facebook post from Eve & Murray’s Farm to Home in W…
Hearing reopens debate on pro soccer stadium in Everett
A revived effort to develop a pro soccer stadium in Everett, Massachusetts, was scheduled to be discussed at a public hearing Tuesday, and both legislative branches have previously endorsed language to spur a key zoning change.
The latest attempt to spark construction of a future home for Robert Kraft’s New England Revolution in Greater Boston was filed by Sen. Sal DiDomenico in December.
His bill would remove a 43-acre parcel of land situated partly in Boston and Everett from its “designated port area” status “for the purpose of converting the parcel into a professional soccer stadium and a waterfront park.” The designation is meant to “promote and protect water-dependent industrial uses,” according to the Office of Coastal Zone Management.
The parcel on the Mystic River, eyed by Everett officials and The Kraft Group as a potential new home for the Revolution, who play at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, is currently occupied by a defunct power plant. It’s situated across from Encore Boston Harbor.
DiDomenico’s bill, should it advance and be signed into law, would mark one victory in a multi-year permitting effort, as the project would also require environmental and transportation reviews from the state, plus local zoning approval.
In written testimony shared ahead of the hearing, the Conservation Law Foundation said it opposes DiDomenico’s bill and called “spot zoning” — or carveouts for zoning rules for one specific land parcel or developer –“bad planning.”
Senior attorney Maggie Sullivan said CLF does not oppose Everett’s hopes for a soccer stadium, but she warned that removing one of the state’s 10 working ports with deep-water access could harm the state’s clean energy goals. Traffic congestion on game days could also increase air pollution in Somerville, Everett and Boston, she said.
The Legislature should be cautious about “shrinking our port footprint and undermining our clean energy goals, and make sure any stadium is one that fans can actually get to and that neighboring communities embrace without regret,” Sullivan said.
Language facilitating construction of an Everett stadium won House approval in an economic development in mid-July 2022, but Senate negotiators did not agree to it as part of a compromise bill.
Then in 2023, the Senate incorporated similar language into a supplemental spending bill to pave the way for a stadium. But that provision didn’t make it into the conference committee report following closed-door House-Senate negotiations, and revelations over a separate agreement may have scrambled a possible deal.
DiDomenico is listed as a “third-party overseer” in a November memorandum of agreement between Everett and NRS, LLC, a Delaware company with its “principal place of business at One Patriot Place, Foxborough, Massachusetts.”
The signed document calls for a “world-class stadium” with about 25,000 seats at 173 Alford Street, plus an “enticing public park” on the waterfront. There would only be 75 on-site parking spots, and NRS would study improving pedestrian infrastructure to encourage public transportation use.
The bill was the only item on the agenda for the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies hearing scheduled for 2 p.m.
Worcester sandwich shop Ziggy Bombs opening in Brookline
[This story first appeared on Boston Restaurant Talk.]
Last spring, it was reported that a Worcester dining spot known for its steak and cheese subs was expanding to the local area, and now we have learned that its new location is up and running.
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