Patrick says he will sign tax holiday bill

BOSTON. Gov. Deval Patrick says that if the Legislature passes a bill this week to suspend the state sales tax for two days next month, he will sign the legislation.

The governor also says he and legislative leaders are working on compromise language so the state can guarantee some debt held by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

The final language could end up attached to a bridge-repair bill that may be voted upon as early as Tuesday.
Patrick spoke with reporters as he emerged Monday from his weekly meeting with the House speaker and Senate president.    AP

 Patrick not considering highest court

BOSTON. Gov. Deval Patrick is chuckling at reports he could be a Supreme Court justice in a Barack Obama administration.

The state’s first black governor yesterday said he loves his current job and “intends” to run for re-election in 2010. Patrick told reporters yesterday talk about him becoming a Supreme Court justice is “speculation turning into a news story.”    AP

Man charged with raping child

HOLLISTON. A Holliston man is facing charges that he assaulted and raped an 11-year-old child. Police say 46-year-old Michael Finos posted $10,000 bail after being arrested Saturday morning. He is charged with statutory child rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14 and two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor.    AP

Woman doesn’t have human form of mad cow

BOSTON. An elderly Cape Cod woman has tested positive for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare degenerative brain disease, Massachusetts public health officials announced yesterday.

While previous media reports stated the patient would be tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow” disease, humans are not tested for BSE, but rather for a specific form of CJD that can be caused by consumption of of infected meat products.

On average, there are approximately 6 to 7 cases of CJD in Massachusetts every year, but none have been caused by BSE.

Marisa Calleja/Metro

Ventilator in boy’s death tested

BOSTON. A ventilator that shut off during a power outage in Boston, causing the death of a teenage boy, will be returned to the manufacturer for testing.

A spokeswoman for New England Home Therapies, the contractor that supplied the device to the state’s low-income health insurance program, says the company has retrieved the ventilator from police for delivery to Pulmonetic Systems.

Police say 15-year-old Fernando Vargas died Friday after his ventilator apparently failed during a power outage. A preliminary investigation indicated the backup battery also failed.    AP

Animal control laws pass Senate

BOSTON. Cities and towns would face standardized animal control laws and updated dangerous dog laws but be banned from banning specific breeds of dogs, such as pit bulls, and dog owners would pay a new surcharge to pay for spaying and neutering of cats and dogs, under legislation that won initial Senate approval yesterday. SHNS

Manager charged with unlawful asbestos removal

BOSTON. A Pittsfield man was arraigned yesterday on charges he oversaw the illegal removal of asbestos from an apartment building, leaving behind chunks of the carcinogenic material in pipes and a basement. Gerald Ely, 68, pleaded not guilty to various violations connected to a series of acts last year. According to authorities, Pittsfield officials slapped a cease and desist order on a property Ely manages and maintains when they found asbestos had been improperly removed without state approval. In December of last year, officials were anonymously tipped that work was being conducted on the property in violation of the order. Ely is due back in court Aug. 22.    METRO/TL

Mattapan murder victim identified
BOSTON. A man murdered inside a car in Mattapan early Saturday morning was identified yesterday by Boston Police as 32-year-old Reginald Edge, of Dorchester.
Edge was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds by officials responding to a call for shots fired on Greenfield Street.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, becoming the city's 36th homicide this year and seventh in July.
    METRO/TL