The former Massachusetts lawyer convicted of trying to bribe a Medford’s chief of police to get a company’s marijuana business license approved has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Sean O’Donovan was arrested in June 2022 ov…
Massachusetts
New migrant shelter in Roxbury already near capacity
A newly opened migrant overflow shelter at a Roxbury community center is nearing its capacity of 400 individuals, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday.
Wu, who said she visited the state-owned Melnea Cass Recreation Center Tuesday night around dinner time, stressed the safety-net shelter is a temporary operation as neighborhood residents grapple with their community programs being displaced.
“I think the state heard loud and clear that the pool is necessary for community, for all the multi-generational activity that happens in the neighborhood,” Wu said on Java with Jimmy Wednesday morning.
With the state’s emergency shelter system at capacity due to a crush of new arrivals and families experiencing homelessness, the Healey administration selected the controversial Roxbury site to relocate migrants who had been sleeping at Logan Airport. When Gov. Maura Healey and Wu toured the facility last week, they were met by protestors questioning why the state decided to open a shelter in a historically marginalized neighborhood and not a wealthier community like Wellesley.
Over their first weekend at the Cass, roughly 75 young people were enrolled in Boston Public Schools, and Wednesday marks their first day in the classroom at nearby schools, the mayor said.
A different community center has taken on some of the Cass’s programming, Wu said. Some tennis programs were relocated to spots in Jamaica Plain, she said.
A youth track club at the Cass now has a schedule to meet in various locations, an arrangement that Wu described as “really not ideal.”
“We’re still trying to find more, even for the next couple of months, a more permanent and stable situation for them, so we’re working really closely,” Wu said. “In addition to the dedicated programs, it was always open for anyone who wanted to come walk around and use that, so that’s a little bit of what I really worry about, as well, just this had been a space where you knew was always there.”
City officials worked with the state to identify other shelter options beyond the Cass, Wu said. More than 15 locations were under discussion, including city-owned buildings and schools.
“The state was really looking for somewhere that was ready to go with enough bathrooms, with enough showers, immediately for the families who had been at the airport,” Wu said.
The Cass will stop functioning as a shelter by May 31 and reopen as a recreation center and public pool, administration officials have said.
During her walkthrough of the Cass on Tuesday, Wu said she met some families who were previously staying at a hotel shelter in Revere. Most migrant families speak Spanish or Haitian Creole, she said.
“There’s a little bit of shuffling around — I’m not sure how everything is fitting together. But the kind of track area that had a floor put down and lots of cots in there with kind of blankets and bedding, and most of the families push their cots together to make a little family unit,” Wu said.
Wu reflected on another family she met, who came to Boston three months ago and have bounced around different locations in their quest to find a stable living situation.
“I keep saying this is not a problem about migrant families. This is a problem about housing that we had before anyone came, that we have across every community,” the mayor said.
She added, “We are a place where that housing barrier for our own residents is tens of thousands of people on the waitlist for BHA,” referring to the Boston Housing Authority.
Car crashes into the ocean in Lynn
A car has crashed into the ocean in Lynn, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.
According to an NBC10 Boston crew on scene, the car went into the water off the Blossom Street extension. Aerial footage from the scene shows the car partially submerged near a boat launch.
No serious injuries have been reported and everyone has made it out of the car.
More details were not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Man accused of hitting Yarmouth officer with vehicle will be charged
A driver who hit a police officer with a vehicle in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, this week is being charged, according to authorities.
The incident happened Tuesday morning on Route 28 near Rosemary Lane, Yarmouth police said.
The man, 76, was charged with failure to stay in marked lanes and negligent operation. His name wasn’t released.
The man’s license was suspended for immediate threat, police said.
The officer was alert when he was taken to a hospital in the Boston area, according to police. The driver stayed at the scene.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the crash, but police said the officer was working on a traffic detail and wearing high-visibility clothing.
The officer suffered multiple fractures in one of his ribs and a hip, according to police.
Yarmouth police were investigating what happened with the help of regional investigators.
Person believed dead after rescue attempt at Hanson construction site
A person is believed to have died at a construction site in Hanson, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Fire officials had previously said they were working to rescue a person at the site on Dwight Street, but they didn’t immediat…
2nd Mass. trooper dishonorably discharged in license bribery scandal
A second Massachusetts State Police trooper, who was among six people accused of taking bribes in exchange for giving passing scores on commercial driving tests, has been dishonorably discharged, a department representative said Tuesday.
Trooper Jo…
