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A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to fraudulently obtain more than $450,000 in federal disaster relief loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal prosecutors say 26-year-old Darwyn Joseph, of Lawrence, admitted to wire fraud-related charges Wednesday. He's scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 19. Prosecutors say Joseph and an accomplice used stolen identities to obtain Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Prosecutors say they also used the stolen identities to open bank accounts to receive the funds and laundered the fraudulently obtained money by buying about $250,000 worth of iPhones.
Service on one of Boston’s subway lines was interrupted when what firefighters described as a small fire was reported underneath a train car and they had to manually carry water up to an elevated platform to fight it. A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority says the operator of a Red Line train saw smoke coming from the undercarriage just before 6 a.m. on Thursday. Passengers got off and there were no injuries. He said there were no confirmed reports of flames, and the smoke came from an air compressor control box on the train. However, Fire Deputy Chief James Greene said that firefighters found a small fire.
Crowds are packing the Colosseum, the Louvre, the Acropolis and other major attractions as tourism exceeds 2019 records in some of Europe’s most popular destinations. While European tourists helped the industry on the road to recovery last year, the upswing this summer is led largely by Americans, who are lifted by a strong dollar and in some cases pandemic savings. The return of mass tourism is a boon to hotels and restaurants, which suffered under the pandemic restrictions. But there is a downside, too, as pledges to rethink tourism to make it more sustainable have largely gone unheeded in the most popular destinations.
Volunteers have showed up with snow shovels across Vermont to help communities clear the mud from epic floods. And now new flash flood warnings are in effect for much of the state as thunderstorms are on the way, promising hail and more misery in the disaster area. Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison is telling people to keep their guard up and not take any chances. Gov. Phil Scott toured the area with FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. The total cost of the damage could be substantial. Even before these floods, a dozen other disasters this year have each caused more than $1 billion in damage across the United States.
Federal prosecutors say they will not pursue the death penalty against two men charged with the prison killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger. Prosecutors said in a court filing on Wednesday that in the event Fotios “Freddy” Geas, a former Mafia hitman, and Paul J. DeCologero, a Massachusetts gangster, are convicted of first-degree murder in Bulger’s beating, they will not seek a death sentence. Geas and DeCologero are accused of striking Bulger in the head multiple times while a third man, Sean McKinnon, acted as a lookout. The men are scheduled to go on trial in December 2024.
A report released Wednesday by Massachusetts health officials found rates of severe maternal health complications nearly doubled in the state from 2011 to 2020, with Black women experiencing the highest rates of labor and delivery problems. Severe maternal morbidity refers to unexpected complications during labor and delivery that result in significant health problems. The report looked back at 678,382 deliveries, including live births and fetal deaths, among 483,699 Massachusetts residents from 2011 to 2020. The report found that overall rates of severe maternal morbidity nearly doubled from 52.3 per 10,000 deliveries in 2011 to 100.4 per 10,000 deliveries in 2020,
A U.S. Army soldier from Massachusetts reported missing in action while his unit was involved in fighting against German forces in Italy during World War II has been accounted for. Military officials said Tuesday that the remains of Pvt. Wing O. Hom were identified in April using both anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis. The 20-year-old Boston resident went missing in February 1944 during fighting near the town of Cisterna di Latina, south of Rome. Unidentified remains recovered from the battlefield were disinterred in 2021 and determined to belong to Hom.
This image made from drone footage provided by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets shows flooding in Montpelier, Vt., Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets via AP)
Larry Nassar was stabbed in his cell at a federal penitentiary in Florida, out of view of surveillance cameras pointed at common areas and corridors. That's according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn't authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It’s the second time Nassar, the ex-U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor, has been assaulted in federal custody while serving decades in prison for sexually abusing athletes. The attack, which left Nassar with a collapsed lung, underscored persistent problems at the federal Bureau of Prisons. Nassar was stabbed in the neck, chest and back by a prisoner with a makeshift weapon Sunday at U.S. Penitentiary Coleman. He's hospitalized in stable condition.
A storm that dumped two months of rain in two days is bringing more flooding across Vermont. Many communities had been marooned by high water, though officials say a dam just upstream from the state capital of Montpelier appears to be holding. The slow-moving storm unleashed rivers from their banks and caused flash flooding in parts of Vermont and New York, and rivers are threatening to overflow in Connecticut. One person in New York’s Hudson Valley died as she was trying to leave her home during flash flooding. Officials say the storm has already wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage.