SPRINGFIELD — The Democratic mayor of Springfield is criticizing a city church providing sanctuary to a Peruvian woman facing deportation.
Mayor Domenic Sarno on Tuesday ordered an inspection of the South Congregational Church for possible housing code violations and is seeking to have the church’s tax-exempt status stripped. He previously said he was disappointed the church would “exploit this family for their own causes.”
City Councilor Adam Gomez, referring to Sarno as “Mayor Trump,” called his comments “callous.”
Collazo is married to an American and has been in the U.S. for 17 years. She was told by immigration officials to return to Peru by Tuesday. ICE says she entered the U.S. illegally using a fraudulent passport.
BARNSTABLE — A man serving a lengthy prison sentence for killing a former schoolmate in a dispute over a woman says he wants early release because he has a terminal illness.
Alexander Phillips of Barnstable pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2008 in connection with the stabbing death of 19-year-old Anthony Rano, of Yarmouth. The Cape Cod Times reports that the 31-year-old Phillips’ lawyer says he became ill with cancer in February — more than 10 years into his nearly 20-year sentence.
Phillips’ lawyer said Tuesday in Barnstable Superior Court that the cancer has metastasized throughout his body and his client has 18 months to live at most.
Rano’s family argued in court that it would not be fair for Phillips to be released early.
RUSSELL — A man charged in connection with threatening to blow up multiple places with pipe bombs has been found dead days before he was scheduled to plead guilty.
Robert Decoteau III, 31, was found dead in his home Tuesday. An investigation into his death is ongoing.
Authorities say Decoteau threatened to blow up his wife’s car, the couple’s home in Springfield and waved pipe bombs from the window from his car during a police chase. He was arrested last year and was charged with possessing explosives and making bomb threats.
NEWPORT, Vt. — Police in Vermont say they found 400 bags of heroin and fentanyl marked “poison” during a car search and arrested two men.
An officer in Newport pulled a car over on Saturday on Interstate 91 after it entered a gas station the wrong way and drove erratically.
Police said the driver gave them permission to search the car, where they found a hidden compartment glued shut. They also smelled marijuana.
Detectives seized the car and obtained a search warrant. They found 40 bundles containing the bags of heroin and fentanyl.
Police arrested 24-year-old Michael Sinquell-Gainey, and 28-year-old David Vaz, both of Springfield, Mass., on charges of possessing and trafficking drugs. They were arraigned Monday. It wasn’t immediately known if they had lawyers.
CAMBRIDGE — A diversity task force at Harvard University is booting a reference to “Puritans” from the school’s official song.
The song known as “Fair Harvard” previously ended with the lines “Be the herald of light, and the bearer of love, till the stock of the Puritans die.”
But on Tuesday the school’s Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging said it will now end, “Till the stars in the firmament die.”
The Ivy League school chose the new line after seeking suggestions from students, staff and alumni. The final pick came from a 1984 graduate.
Officials said the old line wrongly tied the school to “ethnic lineage and to the rise and fall of racial groupings.”
The task force received 168 suggested replacements. A panel of professors and alumni chose the winner.
From Associated Press