A 23-year-old driver has been charged in a hit-and-run crash that seriously hurt two pedestrians Monday evening in Needham, Massachusetts.
The Boston man, who was not publicly identified, is being summonsed on charges of leaving the scene of a…
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Vanity Fair’s Karen Read profile just dropped: Here’s what we learned
The first installment in Vanity Fair’s long-awaited profile of Karen Read dropped on Tuesday morning. Part 2 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday.
Karen Read is ready to speak. This summer, after her first murder trial ended with a hung jury, Read spoke to VF about her late boyfriend John O’Keefe, and what she and her legal team allege is a cover-up.
Read part one:https://t.co/aJOzohlm42
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 29, 2024
Read, of course, is accused of ramming into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in January 2022. Her attorneys argue she is being framed and that other law enforcement officers are responsible for O’Keefe’s death. A judge declared a mistrial in June after finding that jurors couldn’t reach an agreement and her retrial on the same charges is set to begin in January.
Here are some initial takeaways from Part 1 of the Vanity Fair story:
- Read keeps a Ziploc go bag in her dining room “in case of sudden arrest.” Its contents: Advil, melatonin, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush, lipstick, a piece of paper with her lawyer’s phone number on it and a bottle of Laura Mercier foundation.
- The Vanity Fair interview was conducted at Read’s home in Mansfield, Massachusetts, even though Read hasn’t been staying there, and Julie Miller, the author, stayed overnight with Read at the house for three nights. “Strangest sleepover ever,” is how Read described it. Miller brought her own groceries.
- In the wake of her first trial, Read says she’s living off what remains of her 401(k), having sold her home to help subsidize her legal expenses. She told Vanity Fair she still owes her legal team over $5 million.
- Read says in the interview that she would rather go to jail than agree to a plea deal. “As scary as a potential conviction is, I will go to jail for something I didn’t do before I plea out. I will never give them that win.”
- Read says O’Keefe resented that she got to experience the fun parts of parenting his niece and nephew — including spoiling them with go-carts, fancy haircuts and shopping trips — while he had to serve as the disciplinarian. She said O’Keefe felt that the kids preferred her over him.
- Heavy drinking was a regular thing for Read and O’Keefe, especially on weekends. She said while on vacation in Aruba, O’Keefe and his friends started drinking beers at 10 a.m. and drank until “sundown or man down, whichever came first.”
- Read said after dropping O’Keefe off at the Albert home at 34 Fairview Road on the night of his death, she was “pissed” when he didn’t call or text her back because she knew that a woman O’Keefe “used to hook up with” lived a few houses down the street. “He’s got to be screwing around,” she said she thought, before driving back to his house.
- In the wake of O’Keefe’s death and her arrest, Read read “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas, about a man who is framed and arrested before eventually escaping and avenging himself. She told Miller the book had been an “inspiration” to her.
Read’s legal civil team was just in court Monday defending her against a wrongful death lawsuit filed by O’Keefe’s family. Her lawyers want the civil case put on hold until after her second criminal trial.
The case was also featured on a recent edition of the NBC’s “Dateline.”
Fire crews still working to contain dozens of brush fires across Mass.
Dozens of brush fires continue to born across the North Shore of Massachusetts and the rest of the state. Fire crews are returning to active areas Tuesday to try to put those flames out.
The fire chief said as of yesterday, more than 250 acres had burned here in Middleton in a wildfire that has spread to North Reading.
You could see the smoke over Middleton Pond on Tuesday morning, as multiple spots in the woods are still actively burning.
But right now, these flames are not endangering any homes in the area.
Hundreds of acres burning in Massachusetts
Firefighters were driving around monitoring the fires on Tuesday morning. They’ll be back out actively putting out hot spots once the sun comes up and visibility improves.
On Monday, helicopters were hovering over the pond and grabbing buckets of water to dump on the flames.
A similar operation will happen in Canton on Tuesday morning, where another brush fire burns.
And firefighters in Salem, Lynn and Peabody will continue to battle a more than 130-acre wildfire in that has spread across those communities.
Douglas LeColst, the fire chief in Middleton, said these fires are too big to extinguish at this point without some help from Mother Nature.
“We feel confident that the majority of it is contained, (but) it’s going to burn for days,” he said. “You know, we’re not going to extinguish the fire. Our goal is just to contain it, which we feel pretty confident we’re heading in that right direction. So there’s going to be smoke in the area for a considerable amount of time until we get some good rainfall. That’s what we need.”
Brush fires were also reported in other New England states in recent days. The dry conditions contributed to dozens of fires in Maine over the weekend, including one large one in Buckfield that spanned five acres. And in Rhode Island, firefighters responded to a brush and boat fire in Johnston on Monday morning.
Why do I smell smoke in Greater Boston?
Obviously the smoke from these fires is affecting a lot of us.
All over the Boston area, you really can smell the smoke from those fires due to a weather phenomenon called inversion. That’s when warm air traps cool air and smoke close to the ground, and that can be a concern for air quality because wildfire smoke has been shown to carry pollutants.
“Why you might want to be even more cautious on days where there’s smoke present is because of that additional toxicity,” said Jennifer Stowell, from the Boston University School of Public Health. “The biggest concern is for people who already have underlying conditions.”
She said that may mean limiting outdoor activities if you have a respiratory condition like asthma, and at the very least staying tuned in to air quality conditions.
Because of the wind direction in Middleton and North Reading, the air quality index in the area is between 52 and 56, according to the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map, putting it as moderate, meaning people who are sensitive to smoke should limit exposure.
But the fire burning in Salem, Lynn and Peabody is a different story. There, the air quality is considered unhealthy, ranging between 130 and 189. That means everyone should take precautions by reducing outdoor activity.
And in Saugus, which is downwind from both fires, the air quality is considered very unhealthy, at 220, where it’s recommended everyone should limit or avoid outdoor physical activity.
“Air pollution in general can have both immediate and long-term effects, depends on the quantity of exposure and intensity,” said Dr. Wynne Armand, as Mass General Brigham internist. “Also, some of the immediate effects on the milder side could be irritation of the throat or eyes, or even exacerbation of skin conditions like eczema, more of the serious symptoms can be difficulty breathing, coughing, chest pain, palpitations.”
Health experts say those with underlying health conditions, the very young and the very old should take extra precautions.
Push to end Revere’s ban on recreational pot shops hits dead end
A proposal to end the ban on recreational marijuana shops in Revere has been a hot topic in the Massachusetts city.
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition to keep the ban in place.
They’re afraid dispensaries will add to addiction issues, and they want more information on long-term effects of recreational marijuana.
“While we know many people who can use marijuana without any harm,” said resident Viviana Catano, “we are concerned that we are going to be seeing, in the future, the adverse health outcomes.”
But supporters of dispensaries, like City Councilor Marc Silvestri, say the financial impact of pot shops would be a steady source of income.
City leaders estimate the tax revenue could be at least $200,000 a year.
“We must resist the temptation to allow the loud minority to dictate our actions or shape our decisions based on misperceptions,” said Silvestri.
In a vote Monday night, the Revere City Council decided to place the issue on file, meaning it’s not going anywhere, which is considered a win for opponents of marijuana dispensaries.
“The fight continues,” said resident Angel Gonzalez. “We cannot stop making our voice heard and fight for our community. I think that it is our responsibility as residents to speak up.”
City Council President Anthony Cogliandro says he sees both sides of the issue and thinks putting it on the back burner is the right thing to do.
“We could find other ways to generate revenue, but in the same breath, this would be a good generation of revenue,” said Cogliandro. “But I do understand the downsides, I do understand that people are afraid of drug use and gateway drugs.”
Driver sought after hitting 2 pedestrians in Needham, leaving both seriously hurt
Police said Monday they were searching for a driver who fled after hitting and seriously injuring two pedestrians in Needham, Massachusetts.
The hit-and-run crash happened around 7:12 p.m. at the intersection of Hunnewell Street and West Stree…
Report card: Afternoon school bus drop-off performance in Boston has not improved
It’s now been nearly two months since Boston Public Schools unveiled new technology intended to improve the reliability and on-time performance of the buses that transport thousands of students.
As NBC10 Boston reported in September, the bus-tracking mobile app, Zum, had a rocky rollout when the school year began. On the first day of class, two-thirds of the buses were late.
So are parents seeing any improvement of when buses are picking up or dropping off their children?
NBC10 Boston requested the bus report card from BPS and found out so far this year, on-time performance is still not making the grade.
Zum allows parents to track their kids’ rides in real time and allows bus drivers to use GPS on tablets to follow their routes.
The three-year agreement comes with a hefty price tag for taxpayers, according to figures BPS provided. The district will pay $1.3 million in the first year, followed by a quarter-million dollars in subsequent years.
Despite that investment, the majority of days during the current school year scored worse in on-time performance compared to last year.
That includes each of the 35 days measured during afternoon drop-off.
“When they get to school late, that’s class time they’re missing,” said Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia. “When they get home later, that’s homework they’re missing. And when families have to wait for the bus to pick up their child or drop them off, that is also time and energy we’re stealing from parents.”
BPS acknowledged there is plenty of room for improvement in the afternoon, but told NBC10 Boston the numbers are trending in the right direction, especially with morning pickup. For instance, district figures show nine of the past 10 days had scored equal to or better equivalent days last year.
“We are committed to continuously improving our on-time performance, and since the start of school have made weekly route adjustments with the help of the new Zum app to update route timings based on real-world traffic conditions, update bus assignments for any students with changes, and improve overall route efficiency,” a BPS spokesperson wrote in a statement.
As part of a state-imposed improvement plan, BPS is required to hit an on-time performance rate of 95%.
So far, no days have met that benchmark, although the most recent morning transportation came close at 94%. The district did not see a percentage that high until Thanksgiving week last year.
“We can’t spend more money and do worse,” Mejia said. “I just think something has to give and we have to do better for our families.”
More on Boston Public Schools
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