I'm Joe Catalano with an AM quiny news update for
Thursday March 21st a man is dead after a house fire late last night in Carver fire officials
say they got a call on reports of a fire with a person trapped inside a home at about 11:00
last night the department said they were there within 3 minutes of that call and upon entering
the house said they quickly found a man on the first floor firefighters located the deceased
victim about 20 ft inside the building a second person was able to esca
pe the flames and was taken
to a hospital but his condition is unknown Chief Craig Weston described the home as a total loss
no firefighters were injured the cause of the fire is under investigation the Carver fire
department has not yet identified the victim an $8 million school budget deficit in brain tree
with cuts likely as residents upset but the brain tree school superintendent James Lee says a $755
million budget has now ballooned to 83.5 million to close that $8 million gap he says
some tough
decisions will have to be made may be including teachers being laid off one or two elementary
schools closing course offerings and extra curricular activities cut fees for school buses
and school sports could go up at last May brain tree teachers did win a new three-year contract
increasing salaries by 9% at this week's brainer school committee meeting the superintendent
explained that it's a $5.2 million increase over last year a proposal for a new condo complex near
the histor
ic Adams birthplaces in South quinsey has been continued at a public hearing before
the quinsey planning board yesterday an attorney for the applicant requested the continuation as
they revised their original plans proposal calls for a four story 9unit condo with ground floor
commercial space and 23 parking spaces at the site of the Auto Tech Repair Shop on Independence
Avenue the Adams National Historical Park worries that the development would impede visitors to
their site the planning bo
ard agreed to continue the hearing until April 17th the representing the
man caught in the door of an MBTA redline train and then dragged to his death in Boston last year
has released surveillance video of the horrific accident 39-year-old Robinson Leen of Boston died
April 10th 2022 when he was pinched in the doorway of an inbound Red Line train at the Broadway
Station at about 12:30 a.m. and was dragged to his death leeland's family has filed a wrongful
death death suit against the tea a
report released last June from the national Transportation
safety board suggested an electrical short circuit a camera blind spot and a driver's failure
to follow departure procedures all contributed to the incident that led to leen's death Leen
whose name was not used in the NTSB report became caught in the door when he attempted
to exit as the train was departing the video shared by the family's attorney Michael Mahone
shows leand running along the platform of the Broadway Station with hi
s arm stuck in the door
of the train Lin's death was one of the incidents that led to the Federal Transit Administration
increasing safety oversight and ordering numerous changes at the tea Leen left behind two children
after the incident testing of the door uncovered a short circuit in the system that should have
prevented the train from moving if a door was obstructed or open because of the electrical
problem however the train was able to accelerate and the doors were locked into that pos
ition by
pneumatic cylinders once it reached 3 mph two windows high on the South Station Tower which is
still under construction were smashed yesterday afternoon by a beam that fell from high above the
streets of Boston the general contractor working on South Station Tower suff con construction said
in a statement that a piece of form work fell from an upper level of the structure and landed in a
Zone on the ninth floor that was cordoned off and not accessible to workers a piece of form wor
k
as part of the surface of the form and framing used to contain and shape wet concrete until it
can support itself form work includes the forms on or within which the concrete is poured as well
as frames and bracing that provide stability suffk construction said no one was injured authorities
blocked off that South Station entrance at La Atlantic Avenue while construction Crews worked
to cut and remove the beam that was dangling above the entrance Crews were able to remove the beam
and re
move it after about a couple of hours of work Boston inspectional services and OSHA will be
investigating when completed South Station Tower will be 51 stories tall and provide 700,000
Square ft of office space and 166 residential condos Department of Public Health is warning the
public not to drink bottled water from a company due to pfas contamination in a public health
advisory yesterday officials advised consumers not to purchase or consume bottled water or fill
containers from self-ser
ved water vending machines operated or distributed by Simpson Spring Company
in Easton testing revealed that pfas and the company's water exceeded drinking water standards
anyone who has Simpson spring water in their home or establishment is asked not to consume it to
pour the water down the drain and recycle any plastic bottles and don't buy or consume any new
products from Simpson spring until further notice pfas are a group of manufactured chemicals used
in industry and consumer products
since the 1940s current scientific research suggest exposure to
certain pfas may lead to adverse Health outcomes 18 Massachusetts Charities and organizations
including one in quinsey are receiving grants of at least a million dollars from billionaire
philanthropist McKenzie Scott she announced this week plans to donate $640 million to $361
small nonprofits Nationwide through her yield giving organization each recipient is receiving
grants of or $2 million yield givings first round of donat
ions is more than double what Scott
had initially pledged to give away through the application process since she began giving
away billions in 2019 Scott and her team have researched and selected organizations without an
application process and provided them with large unrestricted gifts according to yield giving
18 Massachusetts organizations are receiving grants including quiny Asian resources which
is receiving $1 million Scott has given away 16.5 billion dollars from the fortune she cam
e
into after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos initially she publicized the gifts in online
posts sometimes naming the organizations and sometimes not she launched a database of her
giving in December of 2022 Karen Reed returned to court yesterday for a hearing centered around
phone records as the date of her murder trial rapidly approaches Reed accused of killing Jon
O'Keefe her Boston police officer boyfriend in Canton in 2022 had last appeared in court on March
12th where her attorney
s argued the case should be dismissed and noer County DA Mike morresy
disqualified from the case the judge has yet to rule on those motions and as of now the trial
remains set to start on April 16th attorneys for both sides presented arguments yesterday on
three motions filed by the defense seeking records pertaining to various Witnesses in the
case the first seeks records from the state police Internal Affairs division pertaining to
Trooper Michael Proctor lead investigator in the Reed cas
e who's under internal investigation for
an undisclosed potential violation of Department policy the second motion seeks phone records from
Brian Alberts Brian Higgins and Kevin Albert from April 1st 2023 to the Pres Brian Albert and Brian
Higgins were reportedly inside Albert's house on the night of O'Keefe's death and Kevin Albert
is Brian's brother and a Canton police officer defense attorney Dave Yanti said the records
would help to establish the defense's argument that someone other th
an Reed was responsible for
O'Keefe's death and that there is a conspiracy to frame her for the murder but assistant DA Adam
la argued that the defenses statements were largely inaccurate and injected with Hyperbole
and that the motion should be denied the state senate teeing up their own proposal to cap how
long people can stay in the strained emergency family shelter system while enabling more than
$800 million in State Savings to flow toward the crisis response the Senate will vote today
on a redrafted bill imposing new limitations on family shelters a potential cost controlling
measure after months of record demand inflicted massive pressure on the state's balance sheet and
Shelter Systems like the bill that cleared the house the Senate bill could push some people out
of the system after 9 months which would Mark a shift in a state that by law guarantees access to
shelter for eligible families and pregnant women some noteworthy differences between the House
and Senate th
ough include the bottom line and whether bars and restaurant should remain able
to sell drinks to go Port 10 tricky negotiations ahead for Democrats who have often struggled
to move timely compromises to Governor Healey's desk the bill Senate Democrats rolled out would
require the state to create a rehousing plan for every family and pregnant woman enrolled in the
emergency shelter system shelter residents would remain eligible for 9 months after which
the administration would need to revie
w their eligibility at that point officials could
award one or more 90-day extensions to shelter residents who meet certain criteria such as
single parents of children with disabilities or those who need an extension to avoid losing a
job families and individuals could only receive a single three-month extension under the house
bill rather than multiple extensions under the Senate Bill Governor Healey's team looking into
what more the state can do to help high school students who don't pass
the mcast but she gave
Voice this week to her opposition to a potential ballot question that would force the state to
stop using the annual exam as a high school graduation requirement education secretary Patrick
tatweer previously said that he and Healey did not agree with the ballot push which is being led
by the Massachusetts Teachers Association the question that could go before voters in November
would not get rid of the mcast but would decouple the standardized test results from grad
uation
requirements instead instead each district could set graduation requirements based on completion
of coursework that is certified as demonstrating Master of the competencies contained in the state
academics standards Healey appeared to be drawing on data compiled in the fall by the Board of
Education who found that about 700 students per year or 1% of each class met local standards
for graduation but left high school without a diploma because they didn't get sufficient mcast
scores t
he mcast was created as part of the 1993 education reform law and passage became a high
school graduation requirement in 2003 a special legislative committee heard testimony from both
sides on the mcast in early March the legislature can either approve the ballot question pass an
alternative bill or let the question go to the ballot if the House and Senate take no action
by May 1st sponsors must collect more voter signatures to secure spot on the November ballot
last month the Senate chair
of the education committee presented an order giving the committee
until the end of June to keep working on 10 bills related to assessments like mcass Jack of business
news this morning stocks bounced back the Dow shot up 401 points the NASDAQ Rose 202 and the S&P
is up 46 Asian stocks mostly higher after the US rally following following the fed's indication
that it expects to deliver interest rate Cuts later this year the Dollar's down the euro is up
oil at $81 a barrel Sports Celtics beep
Milwaukee 122 to 119 they'll be in Detroit tomorrow night
at 7:00 tonight the Bruins host the Rangers at 7 the National Weather Service forecast for
today mostly sunny windy and cold the high barely 40 for tonight clear and cold a low of 25
tomorrow mostly sunny still chilly high of 42 rain Saturday could be Heavy at times the high of 48°
Sunday cloudy and Breezy High 44 for the boater waves about 2 feet a West Wind 20 to 25 gusting
to 40 knots high tide right before 10:00 a.m. Sunrise 6:4
4 set at 6:57 I'm Joe Catalano with
an AM quiny news update for Thursday March 21st
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