Articles by Mark Pratt and Patrick Whittle

Rare New England Tornado Damages Homes, Floods Roads, Topples Trees

A rare Rhode Island tornado lifted a car off an interstate highway Friday as severe weather swept already storm-weary New England, damaging homes, flooding roads and toppling trees. Tornadoes were reported in several spots in the same general area of …

Boston Man Hopes His Civil Rights Suit Bankrupts White Supremacist Group

A Black teacher and musician who says members of a white nationalist hate group punched, kicked and beat him with metal shields during a march through Boston last year has sued the organization. Charles Murrell III, of Boston, was in …

Massachusetts City Faces Lawsuit Alleging Police Misconduct at George Floyd Protest

Eleven people have filed a federal lawsuit saying they were assaulted by police or wrongfully arrested while peacefully observing a June 2020 protest in Massachusetts’ second-largest city over the killing of George Floyd. The lawsuit filed last Thursday names as …

Catholic Church Settles Suit by Man Who Alleged Bishop Raped Him

A lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who said he was raped as a child in the 1960s by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop in Massachusetts has been settled, the sides announced Friday. The plaintiff identified in court papers …

Wrongfully Convicted Massachusetts Man Gets $13M Settlement

A Massachusetts man who spent 32 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed eight people will receive $13 million from the city where he was arrested. “One of the things for me to …

Driver Charged in Fatal Apple Store Crash Pleads Not Guilty

The driver of an SUV that crashed into a Massachusetts Apple store, killing one man and injuring nearly two dozen other people, was traveling as fast as 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in the seconds before the …

Police Say No Known Threats to Boston Marathon on 10th Anniversary of Bombing

There are no known threats to this year’s Boston Marathon, but on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attack that killed three spectators, federal, state and city law enforcement leaders said Thursday that they are prepared for anything. “At this …

Lead Paint Testing Firm Executives Accused of Marketing Faulty Devices

Three former executives of a company that makes machines that test lead levels in humans deliberately concealed a problem with the devices that produced falsely low results for tens of thousands of children, federal prosecutors in Boston said last week. …

U.S. Opens Civil Probe of Worcester Police Over Excess Force, Racial and Gender Bias

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced an investigation into whether the police department in Massachusetts’ second-largest city routinely uses excessive force or discriminates against residents based on race or gender. The civil investigation into the Worcester Police Department will review how …

Fan Sues Patriots Over Alleged Damage to Brady-Autographed Flag

The New England Patriots caused irreparable damage to a U.S. flag signed by Tom Brady by improperly displaying it in the team’s hall of fame at Gillette Stadium, the flag’s owner contends in a federal lawsuit. After it had been …