Suffolk County, Boston | featured news

Federal workplace safety regulators say an auto auction where five people died when a vehicle careened into a crowd last May has agreed to pay $200,000 in penalties.The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced yesterday that Billerica-based LynnWay Auto Auction Inc. has also agreed to add several safety measures, including the installation of barriers in the auto auction area.In addition, an agency that supplied temporary employees to LynnWay has agreed to nearly $13,000 in penalties.

An alleged 22-year-old rape victim urged a judge yesterday to accept her surprising plea agreement that would allow a former MIT student and basketball star to admit to a lesser charge.

A Lynn man accused of pretending to be a cop during a string of crimes last weekend was ordered held at Bridgewater State Hospital while doctors determine if he is competent to stand trial.Christian Alvarez, 33, pleaded not guilty to charges of impersonating a police officer, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery and several motor vehicle crimes after fleeing from cops. He is due back in court for a dangerousness hearing April 27.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Over a dozen people in Springfield are without homes after a fire burned through an apartment building Monday morning.MassLive.com reports a fire in a 3-story apartment building has left 18 people homeless.Firefighters responded to the scene shortly after 9:45 a.m. to find the fire had already spread through the second and third floors. Soon after, firefighters were ordered out of the building. There were no reported injuries.

BOSTON — Twin brothers from Hyannis have charged in a Boston federal court for allegedly being felons in possession of firearms and ammunition.U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling says Di'lon Smith and Denzel Smith, both 25, have been charged with one count each of possession.The indictment alleges that in Nov. 2017, the brothers possessed a Smith & Wesson .22 caliber revolver, a second pistol and 24 rounds of ammunition.They face a maximum of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

The state’s leading gun rights group plans to decide “pretty shortly” if it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling upholding the state’s 1998 assault weapon ban.Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners Action League said his group and other­ plaintiffs in the suit against Attorney General Maura Healey have 30 days after the Thursday ruling to decide whether to appeal.“I think people who may be celebrating this decision need to take a closer look at that language,” Wallace said, “separate from the gun issue.

As the state police attempt to address the rash of controversy that has embroiled the department, the state’s highest court is preparing to hear a case that will outline when disgraced law enforcement personnel should lose their pensions.

Mount Ida College faculty members said they were “shocked” when the administration sent them emails Friday notifying them the school would close at the end of the spring term because it was tens of millions of dollars in debt.“The faculty had no idea. We should, as a faculty, have been informed of the dire financial situation the college was in,” said a full-time professor, one of several who spoke on the condition that their names be withheld because they fear losing the three months of severance promised, regardless of tenure.

Kathrine Switzer endured more than snow squalls and low temps during the 1967 Boston Marathon. Steely No. 261 fought to stay on track while fellow runners pushed her, angry that a woman dared to join the male-dominated race.Five decades later, the first female Boston marathoner celebrates Sunday’s breakthrough decision to accept openly transgender women.

LAS VEGAS — A group of runners from Las Vegas will travel across the country to race in the Boston Marathon in honor of the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.KVVU-TV reports the oldest of the competitors is 79-year-old Bob Ashby, a two-time cancer survivor.Ashby, who doesn't have a direct link to the shooting, says the night of the Oct. 1 shooting changed everyone's life.Ashby, or "Irish Bob," began running at age 71, after his first round of chemotherapy.This will be Ashby's first time running in the Boston Marathon.