Tuesday, March 27, 2007

High-speed chase ends with rollover in Lynn
By Chris Stevens and Robin Kaminski/The Daily Item

http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2007/03/27/news/news01.txt

(Free account required to read full text)


(ITEM PHOTO / OWEN O’ROURKE)

High speed chase that starts in Saugus ends up in a rollover at Goodwin Circle in Lynn. These fugitives know where to run... good thing Lynn has a bunch of tricky twists and turns that outsiders aren't used to handling.

“He almost ended up in a Dunkin’ Donuts,” he said. “I’m surprised no one was killed.” Annese said a few cars were sideswiped during the chase but there were no serious injuries. He said it was also a bit of luck that the incident occurred around 2 p.m.

You like the use of "Dunkin Donuts" as a landmark. I mean, while it was great no one was hurt, they almost ended up in a DD's. Tragedies 1 & 2 averted. Phew.


In other news, Fox 25 was reporting this morning (on the news reel at the bottom of the screen during the morning news) that an unidentified man had set himself on fire at a Hess in Lynn. I haven't found this story yet, but I will follow up with more details as they come in.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Two arrested at Swampscott High over the past couple of days. One 15 year old for a class D substance and another 18 year old arrested for disturbing the school and assault and battery. Sounds like a busy couple of days in Swamp town. Police and school officials are calling for parents to "step up" and do something about it, rather than dismissing this behavior. Ain't that the truth all over the place.

It's actually about time someone did something about these kids. It seems like everyone thinks their kid is perfect and can do no wrong. From MCAS' to drinking and smoking. I mean, I know kids will be kids, but come on now. Parents, let's step up!

http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2007/03/24/news/news07.txt
(Free account required)

Two arrests made at Swampscott High

By Debra Glidden/The Daily Item


Other fun Links I found today - http://hideawaypictures.blogspot.com/2007/03/lynn-ma.html
So it's been a few days, but it hasn't been dull. Yesterday (3.23.07) the Daily Item of Lynn (www.itemlive.com) reported that while the average lifespan for Americans is increasing, it isn't so for residents of Lynn and Revere.

As a friend and fellow Revere-ite said, "Its great that they grouped us together. It's like they know!" Its a beautiful thing. I love being from this place.

But, for the record, I want to note that Lynn tops the list of premature deaths. I love being #1!



State study: Life expectancy lower in both Lynn, Revere

By David Liscio/The Daily Item

People are living longer these days, typically beyond age 75, but not in Lynn and Revere, according to a new state study.

While life-expectancy has reached an all-time high, and the overall death rate fell to a record low, the number of deaths among those age 75 and under was more common in some communities per 100,000 residents.

The state Department of Public Health (DPH) this week released a report entitled Massachusetts Deaths 2005 that indicates a girl born in 2005 can expect to live to age 82, while a boy can expect to live to age 76.

Donna Rheaume, a DPH spokesman, said the overall death rate in 2005 fell to a record low of 721 deaths per 100,000 people, down three percent from 2004 and 17 percent from 1990.

However, disparities in gender, race, ethnicity, education and community persist, she said.

Lynn, Revere, Springfield, New Bedford, Fall River, Brockton Worcester had the highest premature mortality rates among the state’s 30 largest communities. Premature mortality rate is the number of deaths among people under age 75 per 100,000 residents.

In 2005, Lynn had 329 premature deaths per 100,000 people, while Revere had 204. By comparison, Peabody had 180, Saugus 106, Marblehead 44 and Swampscott 25.

On the bright side, the death rate in Massachusetts is 10 percent below the 2004 national death rate.

The DPH study for 2005 showed a total of 53,776 people died. This reflected a decrease among those in age group 1-14, which had 24 fewer deaths. Further, in the age group 65-74, there were 221 fewer deaths that year.

Of all deaths in 2005, 23,129 occurred in hospitals. Another 16,446 were in nursing homes, 12,004 were in private homes, and 871 were dead on arrival. The remainder were listed as other or unknown.

“Unfortunately, significant disparities by race, ethnicity, and other factors continue to exist,” said Rheaume, noting for example that black, non-Hispanic boys born in 2005 could expect to live to age 73, compared to 77 years for white, non-Hispanic boys.

The report also noted that the infant mortality rate (IMR) for black non-Hispanics is more than double the rate for white non-Hispanics, or 9.4 versus 4.3 deaths for 1,000 live births. In contrast, the Hispanic rate of 7.7 is nearly 80-percent higher than the white non-Hispanic rate.

“The large difference in life expectancy between blacks and whites is a reminder that we need to develop focused efforts to eliminate disparities in health,” said Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby. “These data show that disparities also exist between groups according to educational attainment, gender and Hispanic ethnicity, suggesting that we need a multi-prong approach that addresses environmental, socioeconomic and public health issues.”

Heart disease and cancer remained the two most prevalent causes of death, accounting for almost half of all deaths. In 2005, heart disease and stroke death rates declined significantly from 2004. Heart disease declined six percent from 2004 and 21 percent since 2000. Stroke decreased by 10 percent from 2004 and by 25 percent since 2000.

Report highlights included findings that about one out of three deaths is to a person ages 85 or older in Massachusetts; that in 2005, 180 Massachusetts residents died from HIV/AIDS, the lowest number in Massachusetts since 1987.

The proportion of HIV/AIDS deaths for persons ages 45 and older remained stable from 2004, but has tripled since 1994, to 61 percent versus 20 percent, according to Rheaume.

The proportion of HIV/AIDS deaths among women has almost doubled since 1994, from 19 to 32 percent in that time span, she said.

Injuries were the leading cause of death for residents between the ages of 1 and 44, while cancer was the leading cause of death for people ages 45-84. Heart disease was the leading cause of death for people ages 85 and older.

The overall leading cause of cancer death was lung cancer, accounting for 28 percent of cancer deaths, followed by colorectal cancer at 10 percent. Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women. Breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer death for women, while prostate cancer was the second leading cause for men.

Death rates due to chronic lower respiratory disease, influenza and pneumonia and diabetes have remained stable since 2004, but have declined significantly since 2000, the study indicated.

In 2005, about five percent of all deaths were the result of injuries. Poisonings, which include drug overdoses, were the leading cause of injury death, followed by motor vehicle-related deaths. Homicides were to blame for 177 deaths. The state homicide rate in 2005 remained the same as in 2004, but the rate has increased 40 percent since 2000.

Diabetes was the ninth leading underlying cause of death in 2005, accounting for two percent of all deaths. The disease ranked as the third cause of death in 2005 and accounted for seven percent of all deaths.

The report found that the overall death rate for males was almost 20 percent higher than for females, and that the death rate for those with a high school education or less was three times higher than the rate for those with 13 years of education or more.

The entire report can be viewed at www.mass.gov/dph with a link to What’s New.

Premature Deaths (under age 75) per 100,000 people in 2005:

Lynn 329

Revere 204

Peabody 180

Saugus 106

Marblehead 44

Swampscott 25



Tuesday, March 20, 2007

And, without skipping a beat, my fine city is back in the news!



http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2007/03/20/news/news05.txt (free account required)

Lynn man shot in chest
By Jill Casey / The Daily ItemLYNN

A 21-year-old Lynn man was in stable condition after he was shot in the chest early Monday morning on Nahant Place, according to police.Police responded to a report of gunshots around 2:30 a.m. at 33 Nahant Place and found a man lying between two parked cars in the driveway.

The victim had suffered from a single gunshot wound in his chest and was not conscious.Police Sgt. Stephen Habereck administered CPR on the man until further medical units arrived. The victim was then taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital.Police Lt. Dave Brown identified the gunshot victim as Yeison Guerrero."As of (Monday) morning, he was in stable condition," Brown said.Police had not made any arrests into the shooting Monday.

"The matter is under investigation," Brown said. "It does not appear gang related."Several shell casings were recovered from the scene, but no weapon was found. Brown declined to discuss a motive.Police Sgt. Thomas Mulvey and State Police detectives are investigating the circumstances of the shooting.A woman who answered the door at Guerrero's Nahant Place apartment Monday identified herself as his girlfriend, but declined to give her name. She said Guerrero was returning home from D'Cache, a Blossom Street nightclub, when he was shot in their driveway. She was upstairs in their apartment and heard the gunshots.
"I have no idea why it happened," she said.Guerrero was still hospitalized Monday afternoon. His girlfriend did not know when he would be released.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

From the Salem News ... Peabody parents and students are mad about parking fees.

Clearly there are others that think $75 for parking at the high school is excessive, but my question is... is there a bus fee in the city yet? Could it be the same thing? Parents pay for their students to ride the bus in some communities, so this could be considered the same thing. Ultimately it's paying for convenience... but if a student doesn't pay and the city has no monitor, who is going to enforce it? What happens if you don't have a permit? Is the cost of enforcing this going to be greater, especially with no lot monitor job.

Hmm... the plot thickens. Stay tuned!


http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_074094023?page=0

Hundreds of petitioners say high school parking fee is unfairBy Stacie N. Galang , Staff writerSalem News

PEABODY - Students and parents have collected hundreds of signatures in the hopes of kicking the $75 high school parking fee to the curb.Parent Sue Rankin presented a petition with 657 signatures to the School Committee Tuesday night as part of the effort by Peabody High's Parent-Teacher-Student Organization to convince elected officials to nix parking fees.The fees were originally instituted at $50 to help offset the cost of paying for a security monitor whose main duty was to watch over the parking area. That job that no longer exists, and now, parents and students are asking why they should continue paying the fee, especially as the cost continues to rise."This parking fee is actually penalizing the students if they drive to school," said Rankin, co-president of the PTSO. "Their parents have already paid taxes to the city of Peabody to maintain our municipal buildings and grounds they sit on."Peabody isn't the only district that charges for student parking. Danvers High students pay $5 to park, and Beverly asks for $175. Ipswich and Salem high schools do not charge. Donna Craven of Peabody said parents are unhappy about most fees, but at least the fees for athletics go back to sports. Not so with the parking fee. With the loss of the security monitor's job, parents are wondering why they should pay at all."Kids are paying for something that they're not getting a service for," she said. "That's not fair."Decision makers have little hope the added charges passed along to parents and students will be lifted anytime soon.Committee member Mark Bartkiewicz said no one wants fees, but the School Department couldn't function without them. "We have a fixed amount of money to work with, and we have to provide education first and foremost," he said. He said the only alternative is to charge all taxpayers, but he doubted it would be a popular alternative."Is it an unfair tax? Absolutely," he said. "It's a surcharge for people using it."Committee member Michael Moutsoulas said he didn't like fees, either."It's just tough fiscal times," he said. "I'd be the first to vote down fees if we can find an alternative funding method." The fees bring in about $18,000 a year.
Committee members Anne Manning and David McGeney withheld judgment until they had more budget information. Manning said she wanted to see Superintendent C. Milton Burnett's priorities before she could commit to any reductions.But she was pessimistic. After the School Department's major costs, like health care and salaries, are met, she didn't think much money would be left over.Committee member Edward Nizwantowski said he would vote against all fees for students. Parents already pay taxes to cover these costs, he said."This is public education," he said.Instead, Nizwantowski said, the School Department should be more frugal with administrators' salaries. "I think our kids are paying for the former superintendent's raises before she left," he said.
So, as I was watching Fox News last night at 10, I was not surprised that Lynn had the leading story for the second day in a row, being that it was such a terrible thing that happened yesterday afternoon. However, what was surprising is the hat trick that Lynn got on Fox 25 news… now the 3rd story isn’t even featured on the website, but since it was mentioned and put Lynn over the top yesterday, it’s worth noting …


So first we had the awful explosion murder / suicide which seems to be the top story everywhere you look:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/15/man_sets_off_fatal_blast_in_elevator/
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2671150&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

And then we had the happy ending to the two children who were allegedly kidnapped on Tuesday were found with their mother in Boston:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2671150&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
And finally … we have the icing on the cake (but cannot be found anywhere) … “Car drives into Foodmaster on Boston Street in Lynn”.

UPDATE - Lynn has made MSNBC ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17626550/

Now that is REALLY quite the news day for one north shore city.

Have no fear though, Revere managed to stay in the news too … (can’t forget our friendly neighbors to the south) …
http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/news05.txt (Free account required)

Revere man nabbed after highway chase
By Jill Casey / The Daily Item
A brief highway pursuit of a speeding car on Route 1 Tuesday night ended in Chelsea with the driver jumping out of the car and fleeing on foot.Derek Cummings, 18, of Revere, was quickly nabbed by Chelsea Police officers and handed over to State Police who originally spotted the car he was in allegedly going 90 mph in the southbound lane of Route 1 in Peabody around 10:30 p.m."The trooper lost sight of him in four minutes," said State Police Sgt. Carol MacDonald about Trooper Peter Sherber of the Danvers Police Barracks.After losing the car, Sherber put out a call on his radio to other departments for a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix.Chelsea Police located the car and eventually the driver, Cummings, on Carter Street in their city. MacDonald said it appears the car was registered to Cummings' mother.Cummings was charged with driving unlicensed, speeding, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving in the breakdown lane, failing to stop for police, willfully obstructing emergency vehicles, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.There may have been another person in the car, but he or she was not located by police Tuesday night.The entire pursuit from spotting the car in Peabody to locating the driver in Chelsea lasted for about 20 minutes, MacDonald said.