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Man struck by lightning in Leominster, Tewksbury home in flames as storms roll through the area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

Lightning wrecked havoc in Leominster and Tewksbury Friday, with one man struck by lightning and a home ablaze.Mary Gallagher was in her Leominster home while an electrician worked on the spotlight above her townhouse. People who live on Berrington Road said one man was up on a lift as storms rolled through the town. An employee at Di-Rock Electric confirmed to 7NEWS that one of their workers was struck by lightning on the job.“It sounded like it was going to come through the house,” she said. “They are wanting to put up new lights. They want to put up a solar light. That’s what he was working on but it came down hard, and the lightning was unbelievable.”The Leominster Fire Department said the worker was awake and alert when they transported him to the hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.“I said he’s crazy,” Gallagher said. “He shouldn’t be up there on that thing with the weather the way that it is.” Just a few towns over in Tewksbury, firefighters worked to put ou...

Norwood man accused in death of infant daughter appears in court after indictment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

A Norwood man charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of his daughter in 2021 will remain in custody following a court appearance on Friday. Anthony Decosta, 36, was recently indicted in the case related to the death of his five-month-old daughter. In addition to manslaughter, Decosta has also been charged with reckless endangerment of a child and witness intimidation, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office. The DA’s office said Decosta was arrested following the grand jury indictment on Tuesday. He was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. A judge has now called for a second evaluation based on the results of the first evaluation.Decosta is due back in court for a bail hearing on Aug. 3.  

Massachusetts man dies after motorcycle collision, other motorcyclist charged with OUI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

A Danvers man died after a motorcycle collision on Route 1 in Newbury Thursday night, while the surviving motorcyclist riding next to him was arrested and charged with operating under the influence.James Turcotte, 63, was pronounced dead at Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport following the crash.Scott Dambrosio, 55, of Boxford, has been charged with OUI, negligent operation and leaving the scene of a personal injury collision resulting in death.On Thursday at about 7:45 p.m., police received a report that two motorcycles riding together on Route 1 South collided just south of 96 Newburyport Turnpike.Turcotte was seriously injured and taken to the hospital, where he later died. Dambrosio was arrested by Boxford Police and charged with operating under the influence.Dambrosio was arraigned on Friday in Haverhill District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to operating under the influence of liquor.He was held on $5,000 bail, as well as an outstanding warrant from the Newbury Police De...

ICE seeks to detain Lawrence man who allegedly assaulted a Massachusetts State Police trooper

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

The Lawrence man accused of assaulting a Massachusetts State Police trooper, sending the statie to the hospital last week, is now expected to face ICE removal proceedings.Hernan Aybar-Romero, 25, was arrested on Tuesday after he was wanted for a “brazen” assault on a trooper on Interstate 495 in Tewksbury last week, State Police reported.Months ago in February, U.S. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston had filed an immigration detainer request with the Lawrence Police Department following Aybar-Romero’s arrest on local charges. ICE was seeking custody of the illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic.Lawrence District Court ended up releasing Aybar-Romero on bail on April 3, without notifying ICE.Then last Friday, Aybar-Romero allegedly assaulted a statie before getting arrested on Tuesday.“On July 12 (Wednesday), ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer with the Lawrence District Court and Essex County House of Corrections on Aybar-Romero afte...

Long Island architect charged in 3 of the Gilgo Beach serial killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island architect was charged Friday with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders after detectives pursuing a new lead say they matched DNA from a pizza he ate to genetic material found on the women’s remains.Rex Heuermann, who has lived for decades across a bay from where the remains were found, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman whose body was bound and hidden in thick underbrush along a remote beach highway, authorities said.Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday amid a renewed investigation that tied him to a pickup truck a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010. In March, detectives tailing Heuermann recovered his DNA from pizza crust in a bo...

Dead Beatles, Fake Drake and robot songwriters: Inside the panic over AI music

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

August Brown | (TNS) Los Angeles TimesLOS ANGELES — Inside the Mayk.It app, I don’t have to work hard to sound nearly perfect.Mayk.It is an AI-powered music startup, funded with an initial $4 million investment from major venture capital firms like Greycroft, former Spotify executive Sophia Bendz and celebrities like YouTuber MrBeast and voice-tweaking enthusiast T-Pain. The Santa Monica-based company hopes to do for singing and production what Instagram did for photography and TikTok for video editing — make it uncannily easy to express yourself at a semiprofessional level on social media.Artificial intelligence is the talk of governments and industry today. In the arts, screenwriters, illustrators and musicians are nervously eyeing the tech’s potential and the possibility of being outmatched (and laid off) in favor of such software.On the roof deck of Mayk.It’s office, co-founder Stefán Heinrich Henriquez played a video from a forthcoming version of its app, Covers.ai. The clip sh...

Man killed in La Mesa trolley station stabbing; police searching for suspect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

LA MESA, Calif. — A man was killed Thursday after a stabbing at a trolley station, La Mesa police said.According to LMPD, police received a 911 call around 8:40 p.m. reporting a man down at the 70th Street Trolley station at 7255 Alvarado Road.A Metropolitan Transit System employee began CPR on the suspect until police officers and medical personnel arrived on scene, LMPD Public Information Officer Katherine Lynch said in a news release. Juvenile stabbed in North County; suspect at large The victim, a 47-year-old man, had suffered an apparent stab wound to his chest and was transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.During their initial investigation, investigators learned that the victim and another man got into an altercation at the trolley station that led to the stabbing, Lynch said.Police released the following picture of the suspect, who is believed to be a man in his late 20s to early 30s.Suspect in a deadly stabbing at a La Mesa trolley stat...

More are participating in the lottery as the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots soar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

AMBLER, Pa. (AP) — Brenda Sepulveda stopped Friday at a suburban Philadelphia convenience store to buy lottery tickets as the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots soared to some of their heftiest in the history of the games.“I think that people are drawn to this kind of lottery because we all hope and pray that we might be the lucky one, that maybe we weren’t born into wealth, but you never know,” she said, as she dreamed of paying off student loans, and her and her mother’s cars.The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday night’s drawing has grown to $560 million, with a cash option of $281.1 million. That’s the seventh-highest it has ever been. Meanwhile, the Powerball jackpot for Saturday’s drawing has grown to an estimated $875 million — the third-highest. Ticket buyers have a chance at either $875 million paid out in yearly increments or a $441.9 million one-time lump sum before taxes.Yet the games have raised concerns among some experts. Their abysmal odds — 1 in 29...

Six months. 28 mass killings in the US. That’s the worst yet, and all but one case involved guns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Slain at the hands of strangers or gunned down by loved ones. Massacred in small towns, in big cities, inside their own homes or outside in broad daylight. This year’s unrelenting bloodshed across the U.S. has led to the grimmest of milestones: The deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006.From Jan. 1 to June 30, the nation endured 28 mass killings, all but one of which involved guns. The death toll rose just about every week, a constant cycle of violence and grief.Six months. 181 days. 28 mass killings. 140 victims. One country. “What a ghastly milestone,” said Brent Leatherwood, whose three children were in class at a private Christian school in Nashville on March 27 when a former student killed three children and three adults. “You never think your family would be a part of a statistic like that.”Leatherwood, a prominent Republican in a state that hasn’t strengthened gun laws, believes something must be done to get guns o...

5 leaving cemetery after funeral wounded by gunfire from another vehicle, Maryland police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:08 GMT

BLADENSBURG, Md. (AP) — Five people leaving a cemetery after a funeral were shot and wounded Friday by someone firing into their car from a second vehicle in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital, police said.No arrests were immediately made, and the five victims were all taken to area hospitals as authorities pleaded for the help of passing motorists in identifying suspects from the brazen daylight attack in busy traffic.The shooting site is near a bridge that crosses the Anacostia River in Bladensburg, about a mile (.6 kilometer) east of the Maryland border with Washington, D.C.Bladensburg Police Chief Tyrone Collington Sr. said at an afternoon news conference that he did not know the conditions of the wounded. He said none of those in the targeted car had fired any shots.“There was not an exchange (of gunfire) between the two vehicles. It was one vehicle that was shot at and struck multiple victims within that vehicle,” Collington said.“At this time, I can’t...