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An Uber driver accused of raping a passenger admitted to police who found the “semi-conscious” and partially nude woman in his car early Sunday morning to having sex with the inebriated woman, but claimed she initiated it, investigators said.“I know I’m in trouble. I had sex with her,” Ranjan Thapa, 26, told officers, according to a police report.

Sticker shock has forced politicians from towns along the Merrimack River to shut down a plan with a $370,000-plus price tag to clear the water and riverbanks of discarded hypodermic needles, infuriating local environmentalists.“They walked away from the table and didn’t want to do anything,” said Rocky Morrison of Methuen-based environmental nonprofit Clean River Project. “They didn’t want to put one dollar into this river. It’s awful. It’s sickening.”

The feds were dealt a blow in their case against City Hall yesterday when the judge refused to alter jury instructions which prosecutors claim “will preclude the government from proving its case.”Kenneth Brissette and Timothy Sullivan, two top aides to Mayor Martin J. Walsh, face extortion charges for allegedly forcing concert organizers to hire union labor at the Boston Calling music festival on City Hall Plaza.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni has identified the three family members who perished Sunday morning in a two-alarm apartment building fire in Springfield.The bodies of Aden Abdakadr — whose age Gulluni said has not been determined — and his children, Ahmed Ahmed, 2, and Fatumo Ahmed, 1, were located in a second-floor apartment at 49 Belmont Ave.Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and officials from the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts said Sunday the family were members of the city’s Somali community.

Renewing a Massachusetts driver’s license will become a more paper-intensive process starting next week for anyone who wants to use the ID for domestic air travel years into the future.Starting Oct. 1, 2020, regular Massachusetts driver’s licenses will no longer suffice for people trying to fly domestically, enter federal buildings or access nuclear facilities. Only licenses compliant with REAL ID will grant people access to those flights and facilities.

BOSTON — A judge on Massachusetts' highest court is stepping into a fight over the proposed sale of works of art by a cash-strapped museum.A hearing before a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court is set for Tuesday in Boston.The Berkshire Museum and Attorney General Maura Healey last month asked the judge to sign off on an agreement that would allow the Pittsfield museum to sell up to 40 pieces of art, including works by Norman Rockwell.The museum says it needs to sell the art to keep its doors open.

AUSTIN, Texas — The hunt for the serial bomber who has been leaving deadly explosives in packages on Austin doorsteps took an even more sinister turn yesterday when investigators said the fourth and latest blast was triggered along a street by a nearly invisible tripwire.Police and federal agents said that suggests a “higher level of sophistication” than they have seen before, and means the carnage is now random, rather than targeted at someone in particular.

GRAFTON, Mass. — A high school student has been found dead on the side of the Massachusetts Turnpike.Police say the woman was found Monday morning before 7 a.m. on the westbound side of the road under an overpass.The Worcester County District Attorney's office says the body was near a road marker.No identifying information is being released by officials, but the Blackstone Valley Vocation Regional School District in Upton confirms the young woman is high school student Alexandra Valoras. The Grafton News first reported her identification.

The body of a high school student was discovered this morning on the Mass Pike in Grafton, according to the Worcester District Attorney's Office.The teen girl was identified as Alexandra Valoras, a junior at the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton, a school official said in a statement.

PHILADELPHIA — A pair of back-to-back nor'easters is revving up to hit the East Coast on the official start of spring, when they'll merge into the fourth storm to slam the region in a month.The National Weather Service says the bulk of the dangerous, wind-driven snow and sleet is expected to wallop New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania before heading off to Nantucket Island early Thursday.