Published November 24, 2010

Good morning! Today, on this busiest travel day of the year, we’re following conditions at Logan and on roadways. Thus far, Logan officials are reporting no delays as lines move through security.

Here’s what’s news on this blustery Wednesday:

After the Probation report, Rep. Thomas Petrolati is leaving his House leadership position. “… the Spotlight Team documented his role as the preeminent political figure in the department’s patronage machine, with more than 100 of his financial backers holding jobs.” (Globe)

Some advocates say probationers were hurt by the department’s patronage. “They were not given effective service and the result is that some of them then got pushed into the deeper end of the system,” said Lael Chester, of Citizens for Juvenile Justice. (WBUR)

Some people will bypass full-body scans at Logan today. “Logan is girding for a pat-down slowdown amid signs that Hub passengers … might clog lines.” (Herald)

The state is readying a $75 million economic development program. It’s “designed to invest in small start-up businesses, build a new high-tech computer center, and spur economic growth in struggling regions.” (State House News)

Sources say V-Mart is heading to Detroit. Catcher Victor Martinez is leaving the Sox to sign with the Tigers in what’s reported to be a four-year, $50 million deal. (ESPNBoston.com)

Published November 23, 2010

Perhaps you tuned in to WBUR’s newscasts during Morning Edition. It was not uplifting radio.

Across the hours, 11 bodies:

• Boston Police are increasing patrols in Jamaica Plain after a gang-related fight in a popular pizza parlor Sunday evening left three young men dead.
• The arraignment comes today for a man charged with four counts of murder and one count of assault with intent to murder in connection with the September quadruple homicide in Mattapan.
• In Lynnfield, three people were found shot to death last night in an apparent murder-suicide.

Here’s the Boston Globe in its story on the JP killings (emphasis added):

… the latest multiple killing in a year that has seen an overall increase in bloodshed, with shootings in parks, playgrounds, homes, and now a restaurant. Boston has had 70 homicides this year, compared to 45 at this time last year.

What’s going on?

Published November 23, 2010

Good Tuesday morning. Today, we’re following Dwayne Moore’s arraignment in Dorchester District Court in connection with the late September quadruple homicide in Mattapan. We’re also making calls on what police believe is a murder-suicide in Lynnfield.

Here’s what’s news on a no-jacket-needed fall morning:

A 33-year-old Mattapan man will be arraigned in Dorchester today. Dwayne Moore has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of assault with intent to murder. In 1996, Moore, then 19, was convicted of manslaughter in the 1995 stabbing death of a Milton teen. (Herald)

The last big hurdle was passed for Cape Wind. “(T)he Patrick-appointed three-member DPU commission said the increase in ‘electricity bills is acceptable, given the significant and unique benefits of the project.’ ” (Globe)

Boston’s Loch Capital Management was one of three hedge funds raided yesterday. The raids, also conducted in Connecticut and New York City, were part of a three-year insider trading investigation. (Wall Street Journal)

A gang connection is cited in Sunday evening’s slayings in a popular JP pizzeria. Despite the neighborhood, it’s not the first such incident: “… a year ago, a convenience store clerk was shot to death … just down the road, and shootings have occurred in nearby Hyde Square.” (Globe)

The Cambridge man who invented the X-ray technology in full-body airport scanners says they’re the better choice. “The pat-down is unbelievably more obnoxious than the technology in these machines,” said 88-year-old Martin Annis. (WBUR)

Published November 21, 2010

Sometimes WBUR reporters don’t just report the news. Hubbub’s Andrew Phelps experienced a news story on Sunday. Still in transit, Phelps isn’t able to blog about it, so I’m relaying his story.

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The cracked windshield in the cockpit of United Flight 881 (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

Traveling home for Thanksgiving is always a hassle, but it’s exponentially more difficult when your plane’s windshield shatters mid-flight.

WBUR’s Andrew Phelps found that out first-hand Sunday.

While en route from Boston to Chicago, United Airlines flight 881 was forced to make an emergency landing in Buffalo due to what the pilot described as a crack in the windshield of the Boeing 757.

I’m sure the many of you who follow Phelps (@andrewphelps ) on twitter were as shocked as I was to see this tweet, sent after 10 a.m.:

We just made an emergency landing in Buffalo, United flight 881 to ORD. Crack in the windshield.

An emergency landing? Surely even Phelps, an intrepid reporter who often uses Twitter to report the news, wouldn’t tweet from a plane in peril, I thought. He must, at least, be alright.

Minutes later, Phelps explained what happened in this tweet:

Pilot says a heating element in between panes of glass failed, so they disabled it. Five minutes later, a crack formed. Fire crew on board.

The plane landed safely in Buffalo, where Phelps and the other passengers disembarked the plane. Phelps was able to investigate the situation in the cockpit and snap the picture you see above.

Though the pilot described the problem as a “crack,” the plane’s windshield seemed in much more serious condition, Phelps said.

“One third of the windshield shattered,” Phelps said, reporting from Buffalo’s airport.

None of the passengers was hurt.

After posting these and other updates on Twitter, Phelps received a information from people following the story across the country.

Just after 3 p.m., still stuck in the Buffalo airport because of weather issues and overtaxed gate agents, Phelps summarized his findings in this tweet:

So a window heater caused a fire in a Boeing 757 in May and grounded 2 others in the past 3 days, one being mine.

On Friday, a Delta flight from Atlanta to Santa Ana California was forced to land in Dallas.

Finally, just after 4 p.m. — seven hours after he arrived at Boston’s Logan airport — Phelps and the other passengers got back on another 757 to Chicago. The almost 200 passengers on Phelps’ flight aren’t the only ones still searching for answers to this bizarre travel saga.

As Phelps tweeted just before (re-)take off:

Glad to be alive, safe, and on my way again. When I get back, I’ll be asking Boeing and UAL for answers.

Published November 19, 2010

An unidentified body found in Milton this week could be that of a 16-year-old boy who went missing in North Carolina.

Police had asked the public’s help identifying the body, which was described as that of a black male in his mid-teens. The body was mutilated, and police said one clue was a note found on the body that looks like a hall pass.

The name that appears on that hall pass matches the name of the missing North Carolina boy: Delvonte Tisdale.

The boy’s father told WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., that his son was dead.

WBUR’s Rachel Rohr found the Facebook page of Erica Holloway, who appears to be Tisdale’s older sister. On her page, Holloway writes that Tisdale “ran away from his fathers in North Carolina house Sunday& his body was found”.

In a phone conversation with Rachel, Milton Deputy Police Chief Charles Paris said detectives are en route to North Carolina. Paris was adamant that there is no confirmation of the Milton victim’s identity. For example, someone else could have had Tisdale’s note in his pocket.