FOREST HILLS—Scores of convicts may go free due to former drug-testing chemist Annie Dookhan’s alleged evidence-tampering at the State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain. But a decade ago, there was controversy over many criminal defendants going free because of an opposite problem at the State Lab: drug evidence not being processed at all due...
Monthly Archives: September 2012
State Lab had previous fake degree problem
FOREST HILLS—Annie Dookhan, the former drug lab chemist at the heart of an evidence-tampering scandal at Jamaica Plain’s State Laboratory Institute, was arrested today on charges that include lying about holding a master’s degree. While state officials are portraying the scandal as an isolated incident, a former State Lab chief got in trouble in...
Drug lab had chemist scandal in 1985
FOREST HILLS—The tainted-evidence scandal that recently shuttered the Jamaica Plain-based state drug lab is not the first time that a chemist there has been accused of wrongdoing. In 1985, a similar scandal erupted when a chemist was charged with stealing cocaine in 11 criminal cases after testing it at the State Laboratory Institute at...
State not investigating 17 other JP labs
The state investigation that shut down the drug testing lab at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain is not looking into the 17 other labs in the building, which include disease control and racehorse drug testing labs. In recent weeks, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) commissioner and the...
JP reading event focuses on ‘Night Circus’ novel
A new group called JP Reads is encouraging all Jamaica Plain residents to read the bestselling novel “The Night Circus” and join in a month-long series of local events to celebrate it. The book’s author, Boston resident Erin Morgenstern, will appear at the Footlight Club on Fri., Oct. 5 for a discussion and book-signing....
MassDOT: Casey doesn’t need safety upgrades
FOREST HILLS—The state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has no plans to alter the Casey Overpass’s maintenance schedule or safety devices following emergency repairs late last month. MassDOT continues to monitor the condition of the aging Casey on the same maintenance schedule as before Aug. 31, when debris fell from a section of the overpass...
Nuevo pastor católico de JP nombrado
Por Patrick E. O’Connor, Especial para el Gazette Una multitud llenó Our Lady of Lourdes Church el 22 de septiembre para la misa de investidura del reverendo Carlos Flor. Flor fue instalada formalmente como pastor de las tres parroquias católicas de Jamaica Plain en una misa con el cardenal Sean O’Malley. Una multitud llenó...
Street art bashes Obama, Romney
A campaign of high-end graffiti art bashing presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney has come to at least two Jamaica Plain locations thanks to a secretive group called TheBlankAdministration. The art showed up without permission last week on a wall at 405 Centre St. in Hyde Square, and also on a fence over...
Rt. 39 bus improvements delayed
The Route 39 bus improvement project has been delayed once again. The project was supposed to start this fall, but according to MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo in an email to the Gazette, it has been delayed until winter, weather permitting. Completion is expected in summer 2013. The planning began in 2008 and has been...