The Latest
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Maine woman who victims say claimed to be a psychic, Irish heiress faces extradition to UK
A woman accused by scam victims of criscrossing the U.S. claiming to be an Irish heiress is expected to learn next month whether she will be extradited to the United Kingdom. Marianne Smyth, a 54-year-old American, appeared Wednesday in federal court in Maine for a hearing related to allegations that she stole more than $170,000 from at least five victims…
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Last coal-burning power plant in New England set to close in a win for environmentalists
The last coal-fired power plant in New England, which had been the focus of a lawsuit and protests, is set to close in a victory for environmentalists. Granite Shore Power said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to close the Merrimack Station in New Hampshire by June 2028. As part of the deal, the company said…
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Scammer being held in Maine jail claimed to be psychic, witch, Irish heiress, victims say
She has crisscrossed the country saying she’s an Irish heiress, a psychic and good friends with a movie star in order to run scores of scams, her victims say. But now Marianne Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing next month that will decide whether she can be extradited to the United Kingdom over a scam dating...
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Maine mass shooter had a brain injury, but experts say that doesn't explain his violence
Brain injury experts are cautioning against drawing conclusions from newly released and limited information about evidence of a brain injury in an Army reservist who killed 18 people last year in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting. Boston University researchers who analyzed a sample of Robert Card’s brain tissue said Wednesday they found evidence of traumatic brain injury. The analysis, requested...
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Ex-college track coach sentenced for tricking women into sending nude photos
A former college track and field coach was sentenced Wednesday to five years behind bars for setting up sham social media and email accounts in an attempt to trick women, including some he coached, into sending him nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Steve Waithe, who coached at Northeastern University in Boston, Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, the…
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Ex-Olympian pleads guilty to molesting boys at sports camp in Mass.
A former Olympian and longtime track coach will spend as many as 11 years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexually molesting young boys at a sports camp in western Massachusetts in the 1970s, abuse that was laid bare by the emotional testimony of several victims. Conrad Mainwaring, who was a hurdler for Antigua and Barbuda in…
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Mass. attorney general files civil rights lawsuit against white nationalist group
Massachusetts’ attorney general has filed a lawsuit accusing a white nationalist group of civil rights violations, saying it repeatedly subjected LGBTQ+ events and facilities sheltering migrant families to intimidation and harassment. The complaint filed Thursday against NSC-131 and two of its leaders, Christopher Hood of Newburyport and Liam McNeil of Waltham, accuses the group of engaging “in violent, threatening, and…
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Teen girl files suit over alleged hidden camera in bathroom on flight to Boston
The family of a North Carolina teenager is suing American Airlines, saying that a flight attendant taped an iPhone to an airplane toilet to record her using the restroom during a September flight to Boston.
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Was the Vermont shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent a hate crime? Under state law it might be
As authorities in Vermont push forward with their investigation of the weekend shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent, they are weighing whether to treat the violence as a hate crime. The three young men were shot and seriously injured Saturday while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington. The victims were speaking in a mix of English...
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OSHA finds plant explosion that killed 1 person could have been prevented
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found an explosion that killed one worker at a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Massachusetts could have been prevented, and proposed nearly $300,000 in penalties. The May explosion at the Seqens plant in Newburyport, Massachusetts, killed Jack O’Keefe, 62, of Methuen. Video showed most of the roof torn off a building. Results of the…
