WEST DENNIS — The New England Aquarium has released five sea turtles equipped with satellite tags to study their migration patterns.
The rescued loggerhead turtles were released back into the ocean Monday morning at West Dennis Beach. Each turtle will travel with a satellite tag glued to their shell for six to nine months. The tags transmit location and diving data.
Marine biologists want to determine how long the turtles feed around Cape Cod during the summer. Data will also help scientists evaluate movement around Florida and the Gulf Stream during the winter.
The turtles were rescued last year following bouts with life-threatening illnesses. Scientists nursed the animals back to health at the aquarium’s turtle hospital in Quincy.
BOSTON — Nearly 1,700 Puerto Rican hurricane evacuees living in hotels across the U.S. are awaiting a federal judge’s decision on their next home.
A hearing has taken place on another federal judge’s restraining order temporarily blocking their evictions.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Hillman in Massachusetts heard plaintiff representatives and government attorneys Monday at a phone hearing. He could announce his decision as late as Wednesday morning.
Judge Leo Sorokin of U.S. District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, granted the temporary restraining order on Saturday. It extends the evacuees’ time in hotels through Thursday.
Sorokin says ending federal housing assistance vouchers could irreparably harm desperate hurricane survivors with nowhere else to go.
The plaintiffs’ motion is to continue and extend the restraining order for at least 30 days pending a formal hearing for the court to consider testimony and other evidence.
Puerto Ricans began arriving after Hurricane Maria last September. Their Federal Emergency Management Agency housing vouchers originally were set to expire at midnight June 30.
EAST BROOKFIELD — A man whose wife and three children were found dead in the family home earlier this year has been arrested for allegedly causing a disturbance at a local pizza shop.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that according to court documents, Moses Bermudez shouted at staff at the shop near his West Brookfield home Sunday and made sexually suggestive comments to a female employee.
He was released on personal recognizance Monday after not guilty pleas to charges including disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct were entered on his behalf.
He couldn’t be reached for comment.
Bermudez’s wife and children ages 8, 6, and 2, were found slain March 1 while Bermudez was out of state.
No one has been charged with the slayings. A relative has been charged with lying to investigators.
BOSTON — An elderly woman has been flown by medical helicopter from a cruise ship off the coast.
The Coast Guard says its Air Station Cape Cod crew members took the 84-year-old woman Monday off of cruise ship Queen Mary by medevac about 70 miles southeast of Nantucket.
The woman had fallen and sustained a fractured ankle and head injury. She has been transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is in stable condition.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — A Massachusetts great-grandmother dives right into her 90th birthday in death-defying fashion.
The Newport Daily News reports that Yvonne Mair has completed her third skydiving trip Saturday with Skydive Newport in Middletown. Mair’s family set up a picnic while they waited for their matriarch to take the plunge.
The North Attleborough resident jumped from about 10,000 feet. She landed without a hitch and was greeted with champagne.
Skydive Newport owner Marc Tripari says Mair did an “excellent job” despite the risks associated with her age. Tripari says he was happy he could give the nonagenarian an exciting birthday gift.
Many of Mair’s family members also share her love of skydiving. The great-grandmother enjoys gardening and volunteering at a nursing facility when she’s not jumping out of planes.
HAVERHILL — Authorities say an accountant for a doughnut shop embezzled more than $180,000 from the business to fuel his drug addiction.
Haverhill police say 39-year-old Nicholas Sidie had been taking money from daily cash receipts at Heav’nly Donuts since January of last year. The Eagle-Tribune reports that the Methuen man agreed to be held without bail and to be sent to a monthlong detox program at his arraignment Friday.
The owner of the business says Sidie told him he is addicted to prescription painkillers and spent all the money. The owner said he knew something was wrong when paychecks started to bounce.
Sidie’s lawyer says his client’s parents have been attempting unsuccessfully to get him into a rehabilitation program.