Public transportation is on the verge of an “existential crisis,” cities and towns that help fund the MBTA warned, as the system moves ahead with a budget plan that drains its reserves in the face of a looming deficit.
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Repeat offender arrested in bloody machete attack on Storrow Drive, DA says
A convicted rapist attacked a man under Boston’s Longfellow Bridge with a machete last month and was arrested days later, prosecutors said Thursday.
The man who’d been attacked was found covered in blood, from several cuts atop his head, on Storrow Drive the night of Thursday, May 23, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. Investigators identified the attacker as Charles Selph, whom prosecutors characterized as a repeat violent offender, and Selph was arrested in Boston four days later.
Drivers stopped to help the blood-covered man, and one person provided cellphone video that helped track Selph down, according to officials. The wounded man shared a description of the person who’d woken him up in the attack.
“This assistance, along with surveillance video and excellent investigative work, led to a quick arrest in this brutal attack,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.
The attack was reported about 10:15 p.m. State police previously confirmed to NBC10 Boston that they were at Storrow Drive near Teddy Ebersol’s Red Sox Fields responding to an assault, but didn’t have more details.
The wounded man, 54, told investigators he’d been sleeping under the bridge and, after the attack began, ran onto Storrow Drive, where he got help from drivers. He described his assailant and was rushed to nearby Massachusetts General Hospital.
In the driver’s cellphone video, the apparent attacker was holding a long object in his hand, which they also saw in MBTA surveillance footage from just before the attack, prosecutors said.
One trooper recognized Selph from the footage, and in a backpack found at the scene was a medical bracelet and a pill bottle, both of which had his name, according to prosecutors. Nearby was a machete that matched what was seen in the footage.
Prosecutors didn’t say why they believed Selph attacked the man.
Selph, who was previously convicted of rape, sexual assault, assault and battery on a police officer, failing to register as a sex offender and more, according to prosecutors, was most recently sentenced to nine months in prison last May for an assault and battery.
He was arraigned for his alleged machete attack a day after his arrest, May 28, and was ordered held on $1,000 bail. The judge also ordered him to keep away from alleged victim and the area of the attack, prosecutors said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Selph posted bail or if he had an attorney who could speak to the charges. He’s due back in court June 21.
Two shot, suspected gunman in custody in Bedford, DA says
Two people were shot and another person is in custody in Bedford, Massachusetts, investigators said Thursday.
The shooting took place on Washington Street, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said, but didn’t provide any further d…
Officer seriously hurt, 7 arrested in Springfield shootings, police say: Live update
A police officer was seriously wounded in one of at least two shootings Wednesday night in Springfield, Massachusetts, police said. Seven people were arrested.
An 18-year-old, Isak Font, is suspected of shooting the officer, who was driving to work…
Maura Healey, America’s first lesbian governor, oversees raising of Pride flag at Statehouse
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey joined lawmakers and members of the LGBTQ community Wednesday to mark Pride Month.
Healey, America’s first lesbian governor, oversaw the raising of the Pride flag on the Statehouse lawn. The ceremony also marked the 20th anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the first state to allow the unions.
“No matter your age, your identity, your gender expression, here in Massachusetts you are welcome,” Healey said as she raised the flag. “We see you, we hear you, we love you, we stand with you, we will always fight for you.”
The ceremony comes ahead of the Boston Pride Parade on Saturday, the largest in New England.
Standing on the Statehouse steps, Healey said she was reminded of all who paved the way for the court decision in Massachusetts that legalized same-sex marriage. She also said that the right to marry and other victories for the LGBTQ community must be defended against ongoing threats.
“We are facing a situation where too many are looking to take away important, hard-won rights and freedoms,” said Healey, the state’s former attorney general. “These are freedoms. Equal treatment under the law is something that is in our United States Constitution.”
Wednesday’s flag raising and Saturday’s parade comes amid growing hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community elsewhere in the country. Some states have sought to limit drag shows, restricted gender-affirming medical care and banned school library books for their LGBTQ+ content.
Saturday’s parade will be Boston’s second Pride parade since 2019. A hiatus began with COVID-19 but extended through 2022 because the organization that used to run the event, Boston Pride, dissolved in 2021 under criticism that it excluded racial minorities and transgender people.
Boston Pride for the People, the new group formed to plan Boston’s parade, came together in 2022 to create a more inclusive, less corporate festival, according to planners.
The parade is one of the oldest Pride events in the country. A second event for the over-21 crowd is planned at City Hall Plaza on Saturday with beer, wine, DJs, drag queens, drag kings, other royalty, pole dancers and more, organizers said.
Starbucks on Route 1 in Walpole remains closed after car slams into coffee shop
Investigators say speed was a factor in a crash where a car slammed into a Starbucks in Walpole, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night.
The coffee shop on Route 1 remains closed – it’s boarded up Thursday morning where the car crashed into it overnight…
