Police in Peabody, Massachusetts, blocked off a section of an apartment complex late Tuesday night.
Officers were seen at a parking lot of the Shore Drive apartment complex collecting evidence.
NBC10 Boston reached out to police but have yet to …
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Boston City Council to consider congestion pricing
It’s no secret that parking in Boston is a struggle, especially with the constant traffic.
City councilors are considering an action Wednesday that could help alleviate some of those struggles through congestion pricing.
Massachusetts drivers spend roughly 40 peak hours in urban-area traffic congestion every year, according to a study in the Herald last year. The national average is 27.
This congestion pricing plan would try to tackle that by generating money to fix the state’s struggling transit system, but it would fall on drivers.
Boston City Councilor Fernandes Anderson — the person pushing this — has the attention of his colleagues with this proposal but for competing reasons. Some agree that the state desperately needs a fix for traffic, while others say drivers shouldn’t carry the burden until there’s an efficient transit system in all areas of the city.
Fernandes believes additional tolls for people driving into “congestion zones” would help bridge the $567 million budget gap the MBTA is facing this year.
The pricing of these congestion zones would be based on the location and time of day people are traveling, like the plan that New York City just approved.
However, it’s not just city council already speaking up about how tricky this plan could be. The president of the Retailers Association said shift workers who have no say over when they commute to Boston would be unfairly targeted.
He points out all of this is coming at a time when the t is considering lower fares for lower income residents.
Fernandes highlights though that the money generated from this plan would also be used toward other areas of community improvement including air quality.
The council will discuss congestion pricing at noon Wednesday.
Milton residents to vote on MBTA zoning law compliance
A controversial plan to build multi-family housing will go up for a vote in Milton, Massachusetts, Wednesday.
This plan has divided residents in town.
The choice on the ballot for Milton neighbors is, will the town join several municipalities in the state to put at least one multi-family housing zoning area near public transit?
If residents vote yes, it will bring Milton into compliance with what’s known as the MBTA Communities Act — legislation passed nearly three years ago that mandates cities and towns served by the T to create affordable housing without the need for a special permit.
This anticipated vote was supposed to be held Tuesday, but the storm system delayed it.
Nearly 2,500 units would be added under the plan. But thousands of residents are not on board with the idea. Some believe additional housing would put an unfair burden on the already dense population, while others believe it’ll lead to increased traffic.
However, about five months ago, the Healey administration announced municipalities that don’t comply may have some state grant programs taken away and Attorney General Andrea Campbell has already threatened legal action if the town votes against.
Polls open at 8 a.m. and will remain open until 7 p.m., after which votes will be tallied and results could be announced by Wednesday night.
Blustery, bright and cold Valentine’s Day, but is more snow on the way?
Cold, blustery day on tap. In the wake of the storm, a sharp cold front crossed overnight. This front will keep the winds going (via daytime heating) and keep the wind chills in the upper teens to low 20s throughout the day.
Sun is dominate, but you’ll be dressing for the wind chill, not the air temperature in the mid-30s.
Thursday fares better with the wind, and we’ll see a slight recovery into the upper 30s. Clouds will be on the increase, and a quick-moving weather system will zip through overnight.
We’re not expecting big things from this system, but there’s the possibility of an inch or two of snow in spots. The snow will be gone (and clearing will move in) by dawn on Friday.
There isn’t any bitter air in the days ahead, but “just cold enough” air will be present. That will keep us from shooting out of the 30s until next week, when the pattern shifts around and boost us back to the 40s.
Man charged in Mass. woman’s death rearrested in Kenya after escaping custody
A man wanted in Massachusetts to face murder charges was has been rearrested a week after he dramatically escaped from police custody, Kenyan police said Wednesday.
Kevin Adam Kinyanjui Kangethe escaped while awaiting extradition on a Massachusetts warrant alleging he killed his girlfriend and left her body in a car at a Boston airport. Last week he slipped out of a police station and jumped into a privately owned minivan.
Kangethe was arrested in Embulbul, Kajiado County on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital city on Tuesday evening as he sought refuge at one of his relatives’ homes, Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said.
“We have rearrested him and we thank all that helped in this,” he said.
In a country where corruption endemic and the police force has been ranked for decades the most corrupt institution in the country, Kangethe’s escape raised suspicion the police officers on duty that day may have been bribed to allow his escape.
The four officers who were on duty at the report office that day have been suspended awaiting disciplinary action and may face prosecution.
The officer’s report seen by the Associated Press said that on the day Kangethe escaped, a man named John Maina Ndegwa introduced himself to the officers as Kangethe’s lawyer and said he wanted to speak with his client.
“The officers agreed to his request and removed the prisoner from the cells and took him to (an) office … leaving them there. After a short while the prisoner escaped by running away and left the (lawyer) behind,” the report said.
Officers pursued Kangethe but did not catch him, the police report said, adding that Ndegwa was arrested.
Kangethe, 40, had been detained pending a ruling on whether he should be extradited to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Margaret Mbitu on Oct. 31, 2023.
Massachusetts State Police said in early November that Kangethe had left her body in a car at Logan International Airport and boarded a flight to Kenya. Massachusetts officials said they were working with Kenyan authorities to locate him, and he was arrested in a nightclub on Jan. 30 after being on the run for three months.
A police official told the AP that Kangethe said he had renounced his U.S. citizenship. The police official, who insisted on anonymity in order speak freely about an ongoing investigation, said if Kangethe were an American citizen he would have been repatriated without a court process.
The court approved a police application for him to be detained for 30 days while the extradition issue was heard.
Mbitu, a health care aide in Halifax, was last seen leaving work Oct. 30 and reported missing by her family. The preliminary investigation showed Mbitu had left her workplace and traveled with Kangethe to Lowell, where he lived, the prosecution said.
Everett shooting leaves male injured
Police say a person was injured after shots were fired Tuesday evening in Everett, Massachusetts.
The shooting occurred in the area of Courtland Street and Robin Street, Everett Police Chief Steven Mazzie wrote on social media.
Officers responde…
