City Councilor Matt O’Malley, who lives in and represents Jamaica Plain, filed an order to have a hearing on examining ways to improve traffic in the city, according to a press release. “Parking, traffic and pedestrian safety all play a role in how we travel through this city,” said O’Malley, according to the press...
Monthly Archives: October 2012
City: Stores raided for gambling, illegal items
EGLESTON SQ.—Three businesses in two Washington Street storefronts were shut down by police and City inspectors on Oct. 3 in raids that the local police commander says will help “clean up that area.” But the board of Egleston Square Main Streets (ESMS) blasted the City for seeking media coverage of the raids, saying the...
Faulkner Hospital changes name
JAMAICA HILLS—Faulkner Hospital has lengthened its name to Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, reflecting its affiliation with the famous teaching hospital. The name change for the 112-year-old hospital at 1153 Centre St. went into effect Oct. 1. “In the last few years, many of the same physicians that you can see at [Brigham and...
Hiring practices at 225 Centre St. discussed
JACKSON SQ.—The developer of the 225 Centre St. project has released strong local and minority construction hiring numbers, but a local community activist is questioning them as they differ from the City’s. The numbers in September for construction hours were 42 percent for city residents, 36 percent for minorities and 7 percent for women,...
JP resident teaches, learns in China
Sometimes being far, far away from home is a positive. Sue Shenkman, a Jamaica Plain resident, recently found that out, spending five weeks over the summer teaching and traveling in China. “I think I grew so much as a teacher and person being out of my comfort zone,” said Shenkman in a Gazette interview....
UMass: No investigation into former chemist
Several media outlets have reported that Annie Dookhan, the chemist at the heart of the state drug lab scandal, previously worked under another name at a University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School lab. But UMass Medical said it will not investigate. Dookhan mishandled thousands of drug samples at the state drug lab, potentially tainting...
Former lab chief had fake degree
Annie Dookhan, the former drug lab chemist at the heart of an evidence-tampering scandal at Jamaica Plain’s State Laboratory Institute, is facing 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 2003 for claiming...
Drug lab had chemist scandal in 1985
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 305...
Testing backlog may have set up scandal
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 to...
Court clerk: Drug cases will strain system
Special courts announced Oct. 2 to review cases affected by the State Laboratory Institute drug lab scandal will strain a court system that is already understaffed and underfunded, according to Maura Hennigan, the clerk of Suffolk County’s criminal courts. “Even before this occurred, we have struggled every day to cover our sessions, manage our...