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‘Some crimes defy understanding’: Former Harvard Medical School morgue employee, others charged for selling stolen body parts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

Several people, including the former morgue employee at Harvard Medical School, are facing federal charges for allegedly taking part in the sale and transportation of stolen body parts, according to officials.An indictment filed in the United States District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania described how at least four individuals were charged with trafficking body parts stolen from cadavers donated to HMS. The court paperwork identified Cedric Lodge, 55, as the manager of the medical school’s morgue and detailed how, between 2018 and 2022, he and three other defendants, including his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, worked to move, sell or purchase organs, skin and other parts from bodies that were donated for educational purposes. The other two defendants named were Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass., and Joshua Taylor, 46, a resident of West Lawn, Penn.“CEDRIC LODGE was employed as Morgue Manager at Harvard Medical School and, as such, had access to the morgue and the do...

Mets Notebook: Daniel Vogelbach remains out of lineup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

The Mets have backed themselves into a corner with Daniel Vogelbach. The team hasn’t used Vogelbach for the last week, having benched the designated hitter for the last five games.The situation with Vogelbach is particularly strange. The Mets are choosing to play a man down each night without their left-handed hitting designated hitter despite opportunities to use him, especially in late-game situations.It’s strange to carry a player without using him at all, but Vogelbach isn’t injured and the team didn’t want to find an injury for him, so he continues to work on finding his stride again with the team.“I’ve been working on stuff that can hopefully lead to me getting the ball in the air like I like to get the ball in the air,” Vogelbach said Wednesday before the Mets hosted the Yankees in the second Subway Series game of the year. “Just being able to get in the cage and really dial into stuff that I can really go after and not have to ...

Div. 3 girls lacrosse: Norwell edges Medfield in 10-9 classic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

QUINCY — As Maddie McDonald strolled out of the hallowed hallways of Veterans Stadium on Wednesday, she knew she and her teammates were going to have to play one of their best games of the season. The Clippers had no shortage of motivation, standing across the field was the team that knocked them out of the postseason in 2022.Despite all the surrounding narratives, they were able to send a statement to the Commonwealth. McDonald finished with a hat trick, including the game-clinching goal late in regulation, as No. 6 Norwell kept its miraculous run going by knocking off reigning Div. 3 girls lacrosse champion Medfield with a thrilling 10-9 victory over the second seed.“From the beginning of the season, this is what we’ve been working for,” said McDonald. “To see it actually come true and happen, we put so much work into it, it just feels amazing. Everyone is so happy, and I just love this team. It means the world.”This will mark the first trip to a state championship for Norwell (19...

Division 3 softball: Sixth-inning uprising propels Norton into state final

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

DARTMOUTH — With her team trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Division 3 softball semifinals, Norton senior Sandy Fairbairn knew she needed to set the tone.The Lancers’ leadoff hitter laced a single into left field and sparked a rally that saw No. 4 Norton put eight runs on the board and defeat No. 9 Bishop Fenwick 8-1 to advance to the state championship.“That’s what we needed in that moment and that’s what I’m going for,” Fairbairn said. “I knew my teammates were behind me and ready to bring me home any way they can.”The win sets up a date in the Division 3 final against No. 6 Middleboro, and Lancers’ coach Wade Lizotte said town pride and team chemistry helped them reach the milestone.“It’s fantastic for the program,” Lizotte said. “This tightness and how we pick each other up, that’s small-town Norton and they do it really well.”While it took the Lancers six innings to score a run, they almost did it in the first. Fairbairn led off the bottom of the first...

Juneteenth celebrations open with concert at Embrace monument

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

Boston Juneteenth celebrations kicked off joyfully with music reverberating through the Common Wednesday morning.“It’s incredibly powerful to be in community at many of these events,” said Mayor Michelle Wu, speaking about the Juneteenth celebrations. “These are wonderfully welcoming and happy events, and it’s also a moment of reflection where we come together and strengthen community to keep going.”The concert, which began Wednesday morning near the Embrace statue, was the first of a series of events organized by Embrace Boston leading up to the holiday on June 19.The event featured speakers including Gov. Maura Healey and Embrace Executive Director Imari Paris Jeffries and musical performances by local artists including Amandi Music, Boston Arts Academy Spirituals Ensemble and the Voices of Embrace Choir, accompanied on piano by Mayor Michelle Wu.This will be the third Juneteenth — a holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 the news of em...

Australia seeking to stop Russia from building new embassy near Parliament for security reasons

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday to prevent Russia from building a new embassy near Parliament House on security grounds.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the legislation would extinguish Russia’s lease on the site based on the advice of security agencies.“The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House,” Albanese told reporters. “We are acting quickly to ensure the lease site does not become a formal diplomatic presence.” Albanese said Australia’s government condemns Russia’s “illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.” Albanese said opposition and other lawmakers that are not aligned with the government were briefed on the legislation on Wednesday night and had agreed to pass it through both chambers Thursday. The government holds a majority in the House but not the Senate.“To be clear, today’s decision is one ta...

Los Angeles City Hall rocked by another corruption scandal, rattles trust in government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — These are dark days in Los Angeles, but perhaps nowhere is that more true than at scandal-ridden City Hall.The weather phenomenon known as June Gloom has for weeks sealed the city known for crystalline sunshine under a murky blanket of clouds. That could be an apt metaphor for a metropolis struggling with a panoply of crises, most recently a shocking string of corruption cases in city government.On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Councilmember Curren Price Jr., who has served on the 15-member council for a decade, with embezzlement and perjury. He’s the third city council member to be charged with a felony in recent years. Two former members — Jose Huizar and Mark Ridley Thomas — pleaded guilty to felonies this year.It follows a racism scandal last year that led to the resignation of then-council president Nury Martinez after a leaked tape exposed three Latino councilmembers plotting to expand their power at the expense of Black voters, revelations that shook the pub...

Nevada Legislature on brink of final approval of public money for A’s MLB stadium in Las Vegas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A public financing package to help build a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas has taken what’s expected to be the last step toward final approval in the Democrat-controlled Nevada Legislature.The Nevada Assembly made minor changes Wednesday to the measure the Senate approved Tuesday on a 13-8 vote and sent it back to the senators on a 25-15 vote.The Senate was expected to approve the final version late Wednesday or Thursday before sending it to the desk of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.It still needs his signature, and MLB still must approve the A’s move to Las Vegas, but both are anticipated.The $380 million in public funding for the A’s stadium would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Changes included in a single amendment in the Assembly on Wednesday included a shift in some money for homeless programs to more general spending for low-income housing.The Sen...

Ex-US congressman seeks no prison time at July sentencing for insider trading conviction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Indiana congressman should spend no time in prison after his insider trading conviction, his lawyers told a judge Wednesday.Steve Buyer, 64, of Noblesville, Indiana, was convicted by a jury in Manhattan federal court in March of four securities fraud charges after a two-week trial for stock trades he made while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he finished serving in Congress from 1993 to 2011.He was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and stock purchases he made at a later time in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.Federal sentencing guidelines call for him to serve a prison sentence of about three years, though judges frequently depart downward from the recommendations.His lawyers wrote in a submission ahead of a July 11 sentencing that the Republican should f...

2 Americans found dead at hotel in Mexico’s Baja California Sur

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Police in a seaside community on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula said Wednesday that two Americans have been found dead in their hotel room. Police said the deaths occurred in the community of El Pescadero on Tuesday. The town is located between Todos Santos and the resort of Los Cabos, in Baja California Sur state.U.S. officials said they were aware of the case but could not comment on it because of privacy concerns. There was no immediate information on the names or hometowns of the victims.According to a police, paramedics received a report Tuesday that the Americans were unconscious in their room. They were dead by the time paramedics arrived. The suspected cause of death was inhalation of gas. There have been several cases of such deaths in Mexico due to poisoning by carbon monoxide or other gases. Such gases are often produced by improperly vented or leaky water heaters and stoves.In October, three U.S. citizens found dead at a rented apartment...