At approximately 9:30 a.m. Sunday Troopers assigned to State Police-Norwell responded to reports of a four-vehicle crash on Route 3 northbound prior to Exit 12 in Pembroke.

Upon their arrival, they discovered the passenger of a 2017 Volkswagen SUV, an 87-year-old female from Quincy, suffering from serious injuries sustained in the crash. The operator sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Troopers performed life-saving efforts, including CPR, prior to her transport to an area hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

A total of four people were transported to area hospitals, none with life-threatening injuries. State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services, and Plymouth County State Police Detective Unit responded to the scene to investigate the cause of the crash. State Police were assisted on scene by Pembroke EMS and MassDOT. Route 3 northbound was completely closed at the scene of the crash for approximately two hours, causing heavy traffic delays.

Earlier Sunday and unrelated to this crash, MassDOT dispatched a work crew to repair a road defect north of the crash. This road defect, a pothole, was completely separate and unrelated to this crash.

The exact cause and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation, no other information is available at this time. Please do not contact the barracks directly.

The following statement was released by Billy Sylvia the President of the New Bedford Firefighters Unuin – Local 841:

“Brothers and Sisters,

Mayor Mitchell has presented his budget for fiscal year 2021 along with an address to the City Council. In his address, he has announced his decision to decommission Engine 8 and run Ladder 4 as a Quint because of fiscal constraints resulting from the Covid-19 crisis. This decision was made without our input or support. We currently have no timeline on his plan to close Engine 8 because we just learned about this decision at the beginning of his address and during our monthly Union meeting. We will be meeting with the Chief and the Deputy tomorrow morning for more information. As we understand, there currently are no plans for any layoffs to our Department or any others.

Predictably, the Mayor claims that this closure of the apparatus in the most congested section of the City will not affect the Fire Department’s effectiveness or public safety. You know from your work as a firefighter this is not true. Engine 8 is the first-due water Company to the most densely populated area in the whole City. Closing Engine 8 puts citizens as well as our own firefighters at a disadvantage and increases our safety risks. Having a single Apparatus cover the North End from Coggeshall Street to Freetown, and in between Fairhaven and Dartmouth, while also covering the immediate area around Station 8 is reckless and irresponsible.

Just as with the closure of Engine 11 earlier this year, the closure of Engine 8 puts holes in our coverage and our availability to respond to emergencies. Apparatus has been pulled to the South End of the City daily and consistently to cover holes in coverage created by the Mayor’s decommissioning of Engine 11. Closing Engine 8 will worsen the situation by leaving just one apparatus responsible for covering one of the busiest and most dangerous parts of the City. The closure unnecessarily increases the amount of time to get the proper number of firefighters to the scene of a fire. This compounds the problems created by the closure of Engine 11. This combined loss of coverage and the loss of precious seconds or minutes to respond to emergencies will make a difference only for the worse, whether concerning lives saved or property protected.

This action from the Mayor does not come as a surprise for any of us in our Department as we all know he has little respect, knowledge, or concern of how we operate or what we do. We are experiencing death by a thousand cuts. The Mayor, after all, continues to state there is no need for a Fire Department our size. He compares the professional and permanent Fire Department of one of Massachusetts’ oldest urban centers to surrounding rural areas such as Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and Acushnet. Anyone can see there is a huge difference in population, by tens of thousands, and in housing stock, which is much older and more densely populated housing in New Bedford. To compare our Department and operations to any town with less than a quarter of our population, with completely different geographical layout, and with smaller, disbursed housing is foolish and irresponsible.

Every single employee in our department from the top down, no matter who, is just a dollar sign in the Mayor’s eyes as he looks to where and how he can cut the Fire Department at the expense of fire safety. After two fatal fires at the end of last year, the Mayor refused to accept responsibility for the tragedies, for the reduced fire safety policies caused by prioritizing price tags. He spit in the face of everyone including our members by closing Engine 11 at the beginning of a global pandemic that was just starting to reach us. His cuts to apparatus and service put the public’s safety along with our own in danger. Our safety is further jeopardized by the announcement of Engine 8’s closure. Our Brothers and Sisters will continue to help and protect the public as best we can day in and day out, but if or when a tragedy occurs despite our collective best efforts, we will remind the public that the buck stops with Mayor Mitchell.

Just as the Mayor has done in the past, we can assume that he will try to mislead the people of our City on how cuts to fire safety coverage benefits them or suggest that the Department will maintain operational readiness despite losing another Engine and one of our busiest apparatus. All of you know first hand on what and who it takes to perform our jobs safely and efficiently and how these cuts directly affect our operations every day. This is why we will need every single one of you when called upon to let your voices be heard and fight back to protect our department and our safety. You can be sure that this second apparatus closure in six months is not the end with his attack against us and every other public employee. We will stand tall and strong together, to show the Mayor we will not sit quietly while he puts the lives of the public and our own at risk through his irresponsible leadership of the Fire Department.

In Solidarity,
Local 841 Leadership”

Tonight (07/18) and tomorrow night will be your last chances to see the brightest comet to appear since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 23 years ago. Only just recently discovered this March, the massive 3-mile wise comet Neowise will not make another appearance for 6,800 years.

Dubbed “Great Comet of 2020,” it will be easiest to spot in the northwestern part of the sky, just below the “bowl” of the Big Dipper about an hour after sunset. Yes, you will be able to see it with the naked eye, but if you have binoculars or a telescope you will have even better views of the once in a lifetime comet.

You will see the tail first and then the very bright coma (head) of the comet, almost as bright as a star. If you are a stargazer you and familiar with Polaris, the North Star, comet Neowise will be even brighter.

As the comet gets closer to earth it will become harder to see and after July 22nd it will slowly begin to fade and disappear from the solar system.

Last night at about 8:30 p.m., Trooper Adam Couture, a recent graduate of the 85th Recruit Training Troop and his Field Training Officer Trooper Michael Leslie assigned to the State Police Shelburne Falls were on patrol on Interstate 91 North when they observed a Nissan Maxima traveling at speed greater than the posted speed limit and without lights on. Troopers activated the cruiser emergency lights and stopped the Nissan with four occupants.

As a result of an investigation and search of the passengers and vehicle troopers located approximately 130 grams of Cocaine and 6 grams of Heroin. The passengers, all residents of Brooklyn, NY, were identified as FAITH TORRES, 23; ANGELIQUE WOODSON, 33 and ANIAYA ELLIS, 22 and charged with the following offenses:

1. Trafficking Cocaine;
2. Possession to Distribute Class A Drug;
3. Conspiracy to Violate the Drug Law; and
4. Possession of an Open Container/Alcohol in Motor Vehicle.

All three subjects were transported to the Shelburne Falls Barracks where they were booked. A bail commissioner was contacted and set bail for TORRES at $35,000.00. Bail for WOODSON and ELLIS was set at $5,000.00. They were transferred to the Franklin House of Correction pending their arraignment in Greenfield District Court Monday.

The operator was issued a criminal summons and released from the scene.

After further investigation by Dartmouth Police, New Bedford Police, Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office and Homicide Unit prosecutors, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Jose Cortez Cornejo was arrested on a murder warrant last night in the City of New Bedford.

The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Franklin Antonio Amaya Paredes of New Bedford. The victim, Cortez Cornejo was located in the area of 180 Horseneck Road, Dartmouth, MA in the early morning hours of July 14th suffering from fatal gunshot wounds. Suspect Amaya Paredes will be arraigned on Monday in the New Bedford District Court.

After further investigation by Dartmouth Police, New Bedford Police, Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office and Homicide Unit prosecutors, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Jose Cortez Cornejo was arrested on a murder warrant last night in the City of New Bedford.

The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Franklin Antonio Amaya Paredes of New Bedford. The victim, Cortez Cornejo was located in the area of 180 Horseneck Road, Dartmouth, MA in the early morning hours of July 14th suffering from fatal gunshot wounds.

Suspect Amaya Paredes will be arraigned on Monday in the New Bedford District Court.

New Bedford Police Department narcotics detectives located three handguns, numerous bullets, fentanyl, and cocaine packaged for sales and $437 at the Capri Motel room 171 in Dartmouth on July 15.

As a result, Jose Montanez, 23, 598 Cottage St. Apt. #3, was charged with multiple offenses, including committing a felony while armed and career criminal act. This was a subsequent offense for drugs and firearms.

Detective Steven Gwozdz investigated the case. 

If you have any information on criminal activity in your community, the New Bedford Police Dept. wants to hear from you. You can leave an anonymous tip on our voicemail at (508) 991-6300 Ext. 1.

Matt Murphy
State House News Service

The pressure from Democrats on Gov. Charlie Baker to extend a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures into November intensified on Friday, with Attorney General Maura Healey calling such a step “critical,” and a majority of the Committee on Housing urging the governor to keep the protections in place.

The protections under a law signed by Baker in April to prevent landlords from evicting tenants or banks foreclosing on homeowners during the pandemic are set to expire on Aug. 18, but Baker has the authority to extend those measures in 90-day increments.

Baker has said he is talking with local officials and people in the housing industry as he weighs a decision, but acknowledged this week that he must make one “soon.”

Healey on Friday said that allowing the eviction and foreclosure moratorium to expire would risk more people becoming homeless at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause economic hardships for families.

Since the law went into effect, Healey said her office had received more than 130 complaints of violations, including illegal evictions and cases of landlords threatening to change locks on units, sending notices to vacate that are not labeled as such and using minor lease violations to claim a health and safety risk to remove tenants.

“It’s critical that Governor Baker extend this moratorium to ensure our residents have the resources and assistance they need to stay safe. My office has already stopped more than 70 illegal evictions and will continue to monitor this issue,” Healey said in a statement.

Housing Committee Co-chairs Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Brendan Crighton also urged Baker on Friday extend the moratorium while the Legislature explores “further funding mechanisms and legislation to extend protections.”

Honan, Crighton, and eight other Housing Committee members wrote a letter to Baker describing the 90-day extension as an “urgent need,” warning that if it lapsed up to 20,000 evictions notices could be filed in August.

“In order to prevent an unprecedented number of evictions, we must keep these safeguards in place while the Commonwealth continues to safely reopen and businesses and individuals alike begin to financially recover from the impacts of COVID-19,” the legislators wrote.

The letter was signed by the two vice-chairs Rep. Joseph McGonagle of Everett and Sen. Su Moran of Falmouth. Senate President Emerita Hariette Chandler and Reps. Christine Barber, Peter Capano, Tram Nguyen, Patrick Kearney and Christopher Hendricks also signed the letter.

Honan, the longtime House chair of the Housing Committee, has also filed legislation with Rep. Mike Connolly and Sen. Patricia Jehlen that would extend the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until one year after the governor lifts the current state of emergency.

The bills would also freeze rents over the same time period and allow small landlords owning up to 15 units to defer mortgage payments until the end of the mortgage if they lose income due to COVID-19.

The bills were sent to the Housing Committee this week, but with just two weeks until the end of formal sessions their passage could represent a heavy lift for proponents given the known opposition to such measures of some lawmakers and the strong criticism from realtors.

The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, NAIOP Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the Home Builders and Remodelers Association are all united in their opposition to the Honan-Connolly-Jehlen bill.

“This bill would paralyze the real estate industry, a vital part of the Massachusetts economy, and further exacerbate the state’s longstanding housing crisis. It will have a lasting negative impact that will extend far beyond the timeline outlined in the legislation,” the coalition wrote in a new letter outlining their opposition.

The realtors association reported this week that single-family home sales had started to pick up in June, but were down 22 percent from the prior year.

The groups said that the April law was passed after nearly a month of discussions, and they believe that if the governor and Legislature believe an extension is necessary it can be best managed through continued dialogue among Beacon Hill’s leadership.

“We do not believe that additional legislative action is required to address housing concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. If it is necessary to extend the protections of the emergency housing law, Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2020 already contains a mechanism to do so, rendering HD.5166 and SD.2992 unnecessary,” the groups said.

Over 400 lbs. of fireworks were confiscated over the past few weeks during fireworks enforcement led by Massachusetts State Police in the Fire & Explosion Investigation Section.

Many Massachusetts drivers illegally bringing fireworks over the border have lost their fireworks and received court summonses. Lawrence Police Department assisted.

Earlier this morning Trooper John Jakobowski, a recent graduate of the 85th Recruit Training Troop and the son and namesake of retired Trooper John Jakobowski, and his Field Training Officer, Trooper Matt Clark, stopped a vehicle for speeding on Melnea Cass Boulevard in Boston. They discovered the operator, identified as CHARLES JORDAN, 53, of Lynn, had an active warrant for his arrest and a suspended driver’s license in Massachusetts. They arrested the man on the warrant and operating after suspension.

During the inventory of the motor vehicle’s contents, prior to it being towed, the two Troopers discovered a satchel containing approximately 39 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, 11 grams of fentanyl, a large assortment of prescription pills, a digital scale, and over $11,000 in cash.

JORDAN was transported to State Police-Boston where he was booked and a bail commissioner ordered him to be held pending his arraignment at Roxbury District Court on the following charges:

Operating a Motor Vehicle with a Suspended License;

1. Trafficking in Fentanyl;
2. Trafficking in Cocaine;
3. Distribution of a Class E Substance, Subsequent Offense;
4. Distribution of a Class D Substance, Subsequent Offense;
5. Unlawful Possession of Fireworks;
6. Larceny Under $1200; and
7. Speeding.