Suffolk County, Boston | featured news

Digital First Media, one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States, completed the acquisition of the Boston Herald today.  The Boston Herald’s roots date back to 1846 when it was a single two-sided sheet of news published by a group of Boston printers. In more recent times, the media company has been anchored by the 64,500-circulation Herald, known for its eye-catching Page 1 photos and headlines, with a loyal online following at BostonHerald.com.  

NEWBURYPORT — Police in Massachusetts say they found more than four pounds of marijuana, as well as heroin, two guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition when they arrested two Colorado men sleeping in their car.Newburyport police arrested Traevon McGairty and Kahiland Phillips just before 5 a.m. Saturday while performing a welfare check. The Newburyport Daily News reports police were called to the scene by a concerned store clerk who thought the men had passed out.

A ride-share driver is due in Roxbury District Court today, where he faces a charge he raped a passenger.Ranjan Thapa, 26, of Everett, was arrested in the South End shortly after 1 a.m. yesterday. Boston police were met by Northeastern University police officers, who had stopped Thapa after noting that a female passenger who'd hired him to drive her home appeared to be distress and possibly the victim of a sexual assault, officials say.Officers later charged Thapa with rape after the accuser was taken to an area hospital to be evaluated.

BOSTON — A man who told police he drives for a ride-hailing company has been charged with raping a female passenger.Boston police say 26-year-old Ranjan Thapa, of Everett, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Roxbury District Court.Police say Thapa was pulled over by Northeastern University police at about 1 a.m. Sunday. He said he worked for a ride-hailing company and was taking a woman to her home.University police noticed that the woman appeared to be in distress and may have been a victim of sexual assault so summoned city police.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities say a man led police on a chase from Massachusetts to Rhode Island, striking two police cruisers in the process.Police say the chase began near Fall River, Massachusetts Saturday as officers were searching for a suspect in connection with the vandalism of the city's police station.Authorities say the 20-year-old suspect struck a police cruiser in Seekonk and continued to flee before crashing into another Seekonk cruiser in East Providence. The police officers involved in the crash were not injured.

LOWELL — Police in Massachusetts have arrested a New Hampshire man they say was drunk when he drove the wrong way on a Lowell street and caused a crash that left two people seriously injured.Police say 34-year-old Brad Paquin, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was driving the wrong way on VFW Highway at about 3 a.m. Sunday when he struck another vehicle.Both occupants of the other vehicle were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Their names were not immediately made public.Police tell The Sun of Lowell that Paquin failed a field sobriety test.

A state police trooper is on paid leave because of questions about his “fitness for duty” during a late-night shift this weekend, a department spokesman said last night.Trooper Jonathan Brown was “relieved of duty” following a shift at the Devens Barracks, said department spokesman David Procopio.Brown was slated to work the midnight shift beginning late Saturday night and ending 7 a.m. yesterday. However, he was unable to complete the shift, authorities said.

Tim Cahill knows first-hand donating a kidney is a life-changing experience — for the better.The former state treasurer has sent that message in a heartfelt letter to former City Councilor John Nucci, 65, who has turned his own battle with a life-threatening kidney disease into a public effort to boost organ donation.Read the letter: ‘One Kidney – Two Lives’

Audrey M. (Snyder) Hayward of Medford died Thursday. She was 88.She was born in Medford.She was employed as a secretary at Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company for many years.She enjoyed camping, knitting, going to her home at Great East Lake in Wakefield, N.H., with her husband in her spare time, and loved to travel, especially to Canada, and garden both vegetables and flowers.Wife of the late George E., Mrs. Hayward is survived by a son, Douglas E. of Medford; and two grandsons, Ryan and Nathan.