Friday, June 23, 2017

Find A Penny.....

.... pick it up, and all day you'll have good luck (provided it is heads up):

"Man charged with killing Malden woman had been arrested for earlier attack" by Emily Sweeney and Jacob Geanous Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent  June 22, 2017

MALDEN — About a month ago, Malden police arrested Ryan S. Power on domestic violence charges after the mother of his two children told officers he pushed her to the ground in the Lebanon Street residence where they lived.

On Wednesday, shortly before 10 a.m., police responded once again to Lebanon Street, this time arriving to find Leah Penny, 31, lying on the floor “unresponsive” near the bottom of a staircase in the home. She had a dog leash wrapped around her neck and was lying face up, authorities said.

She was later pronounced dead.

According to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office, the couple’s two children were on the second floor, unharmed.

On Thursday, Power appeared in Malden District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed Penny; he was ordered held without bail. His head hung and his eyes were cast downward for most of the arraignment.

That's what they would have done to you long ago, and maybe they should.

After the May incident, Power, 32, was ordered to have no contact with Penny, records show. Penny did not obtain a restraining order, according to Ryan’s office.

After allegedly killing Penny, Power fled to Seabrook, N.H., where he was taken into custody by police in connection with her death.

On Lebanon Street, a small bouquet of pink roses was placed in front of the home where the couple lived. A card read “Rest in peace Lea (sic). May your children continue to feel your presence.” It was signed “Ann, Malden neighbor.”

As they sat in the yard next door, Julie and Maureen Simopoulos expressed shock at the alleged murder.

“It’s like it’s not real,” said Maureen. “You look at the house and think ‘Oh, my goodness. A couple of days ago, I just said ‘Hi’ to her.”

This report I believe. It's a real event. Really happened. Serves no real propaganda purpose.

“She was always very sweet,” Julie said of Penny. “I would see her with her kids and she would always say ‘Hi.’ ”

They saw less of Power, who always seemed to be working, they said.

When he was around, Power was “ . . . always very nice, very respectful and would help me shovel in the winter,” Maureen Simopoulos said. “What happened was so unexpected.”

Well, not really. You just didn't know what was going on.

According to court records, Power went to Probate and Family Court in 2015 on issues related to custody and visitation. The case was dismissed one month later, records show.

During the incident on May 30, Power allegedly grabbed the couple’s two children and rushed with them over to his mother’s house, also in Malden, police wrote. The children were reunited with their mother after police arrested Power.

Penny “stated that her boyfriend and father of her children, Ryan Power, was accusing her of cheating on him,’’ police wrote. “During the argument Power pushed Leah to the ground. She then got up and pushed him back.”

Malden police wrote that they alerted the Department of Children and Families about the incident after Power was charged with domestic violence.

DCF still not fixed, huh? And now budget cuts are coming.

According to a Malden police report, Power has three obvious tattoos: one on his left forearm with the phrase “Never Give Up,’’ a second on his right forearm that reads “Never Forget,” and a third on the left side of his chest — a tattoo of a “crazy dude.”

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Also seeNew look for old Salem cemetery

Where did the grant come from?

Related:

"Chelmsford police are searching for a loaded police-issue shotgun that was stolen from the back of an officer’s unmarked police vehicle either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, officials said. According to a release from the Chelmsford police department, “Thieves broke into the garage of a Chelmsford police detective and stole several sets of keys from inside. The thieves then stole a 2011 Ford Taurus and a Saturn wagon from the detective’s driveway.” “I don’t think he was targeted as an officer,” Chelmsford police Chief James Spinney said. “I don’t know how sophisticated they are; this could have just been a crime of opportunity,” Spinney said. Police later recovered the Saturn not far from the officer’s home, authorities said....."

Yeah, it's a real no-brainer.

"A 19-year-old Lawrence woman was found dead inside a Braintree hotel Thursday morning, and officials believe the case is suspicious, the Norfolk district attorney’s office said....."

They are sending a cop over now.

"A Dedham man was charged with assault after allegedly attacking a delivery driver in Roxbury, stealing his car, and crashing it into a MBTA bus Wednesday. Boston police were called to investigate a fight between two people on Edgerly Road about 5:30 p.m., officials said. Officers learned that Alejandro Trigo, 21, allegedly attacked a delivery driver with a baton as the man was waiting to pick up food, hitting him in the head and shoulder, police said. Trigo then stole the man’s keys and took off in the car, police said. He allegedly drove for about 10 minutes before crashing the vehicle into two empty cars and an MBTA bus on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. The bus driver was the only one inside and was not hurt in the crash, police said. Trigo was arrested at the scene, police said. He was arraigned Thursday in Roxbury Municipal Court on charges of carjacking, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, leaving the scene of a collision, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was held on $20,000 bail....."

Clear the way!

"Mayor Martin J. Walsh said that Ortiz was there for the city when it needed someone to lean on in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings....."

Didn't they make a movie about that?

Quick, call it in the air, heads or tails?

(It landed on its edge?)

For Big Papi, a lot of love amid a ration of razzing

It's okay when Big Dave uses a word I haven't typed on this blog in a long, long time.

"A woman was fatally injured Thursday when she was struck by an MBTA Orange Line train at Ruggles Station in Roxbury, Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan said. The incident is under investigation, and no further information is currently available, Sullivan said....." 

Would now be appropriate to use it (as blog editor frowns)? I don't know who she was, but another precious soul lost.

Olynyk stands tall at Scholar Athletes gala

Girl’s intense medical journey intersected with Mayor Walsh’s

Cost more than a penny:

"Cancer researcher awarded $22m in suit against Steward Health Care" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff  June 23, 2017

A Suffolk Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded more than $22 million to a cancer scientist who sued Steward Health Care System for breaching her contract and causing an unusual series of events that led to the destruction of her laboratory.

The jury sided with the scientist, Lynn Hlatky, who argued that Steward broke its agreement when it spun off her research lab at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in 2013 and stopped supporting her work. Hlatky’s lawyers estimated that with interest, she will win $34 million in payments from Steward.

Hlatky, a longtime cancer researcher, called the verdict a huge victory. “We feel vindicated,” she said, vowing to use the money to restart her cancer lab.

But Steward, the state’s largest for-profit hospital company, said the verdict was “outrageous and unwarranted.” Steward called into question Hlatky’s work — calling it a “speculative research project that failed to produce any usable treatments for cancer patients” — and vowed to appeal.

Steward operates nine Massachusetts hospitals and has been moving aggressively to grow nationwide.

The company and the scientists already have spent three years battling in court. If Steward appeals, the case could drag on for months or years more.

The dispute stems from a lab that Hlatky ran on the campus of St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton, where she conducted experiments with cancer cells. After Steward acquired the hospital in 2010, the company decided to stop conducting basic research and transferred the operations of Hlatky’s lab to a nonprofit called Genesys Research Institute.

But Genesys encountered severe financial problems. It closed Hlatky’s lab in September 2014 and ultimately filed for bankruptcy. At one time, the lab had about 30 employees.

In the bankruptcy process, Hlatky’s lab was liquidated. The equipment was sold at auction, while thousands of little containers filled with cells and other biological research materials were incinerated.

Hlatky blamed Steward for causing that unfortunate chain of events. She sued the company, fighting in court for millions of dollars in damages. She said she needed the money in order to hire former colleagues and re-open her lab, known as the Center of Cancer Systems Biology.

Hlatky’s case against Steward was based on a 2012 employment contract in which the company promised to pay about half of her base salary of $425,000 a year. The other half was to come from research grants.

Steward also promised $323,000 a year for three years for Hlatky to recruit staff and make research-related expenses.

Lot of money in cancer. Why would you ever want to cure it? More customers. You offer the cure to the elite, that's all. Not enough to go around, and would cost way too much.

Last week, a jury ruled that Steward breached that contract. On Thursday, jurors decided that the company also owed Hlatky damages.

Hlatky, who said she received her PhD in biophysics from the University of California Berkeley in 1985, has spent her career in cancer research. Since her lab at St. Elizabeth’s was shuttered, she has been filling her time by editing and reviewing scientific papers and grants.

“We feel fabulous, and we’re anxious to get back to work,” Hlatky said in an interview after the verdict was announced. “This is not just me. This is a team, a big team that worked very, very hard on that science.”

Cool your jets, it could take years. In the meantime, maybe you should look for work. 

Jeffrey N. Catalano, a trial lawyer who serves as president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, said juries tend to hold employment contracts sacred.

“If they feel an employee has been unfairly treated in an employment context, we’ve seen they can render substantial verdicts,” said Catalano, who was not involved in the case.

“You’re talking about a medical researcher and a brilliant scientist,” he added. “People in Massachusetts have deep respect for people who are committing themselves to scientific research, bettering humanity in a way. I think that was probably a compelling force in the jury’s decision to render such a substantial reward.”

Hlatky’s lab, which won millions in federal research grants, had been studying the process by which normal cells become cancer cells.

Steward took aim Thursday at Hlatky and the “runaway” jury that sided with her. The company cast Hlatky’s work as inconsequential and said the money spent on her research could have been put to better use.

“As a physician, I feel the funds in question would be much better spent providing treatment to low-income cancer patients and other patients with chronic diseases in underserved communities – rather than enriching one disgruntled litigant,” Dr. Michael Callum, Steward’s executive vice president, said in a statement.

He said Steward spent millions to support Hlatky’s lab and tried to help move the lab to a new setting, but he said that no other institution in town was interested.

Hlakty said that was Steward’s fault: “The reason we couldn’t move is because Steward was holding our equipment, it was holding our samples, and our grants were tied up.”

The scientist, who has spent much of the past several years in courtrooms, promised to continue fighting in court as long as necessary.

Steward, backed by the New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, entered Massachusetts about seven years ago when it acquired the struggling Caritas Christi hospitals. The company has grown, but it also shuttered the troubled Quincy Medical Center in 2014.

Given the pedophilia scandal within the Church, it comes as no surprise that they would literally sleep with devil.

After selling some ofits hospital properties for an infusion of funding, Steward has been expanding nationally — something its chief executive, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, has long wanted to do.

Last month, Steward announced a nearly $2 billion deal with IASIS Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn., which would make it the largest private for-profit hospital operator in the country. That followed the company’s acquisition of eight hospitals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida for $304 million.

Starting to roar, can you here them?

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You know, now that I think of it..... pick 'em all up.