The death of a Roxbury woman on Monday marked the 27th homicide in Boston this year, more than were recorded all of last year, which officials acknowledged was a historical outlier.

Only 24 homicides were recorded in the state’s largest city in 2024, the lowest figure in decades. This time last year, the city had seen 18, Sgt. Detective John Boyle, a spokesman for the police department, confirmed.

Boston is on pace for about 34 homicides this year, a figure more closely in line with the three years before 2024. The city saw 37 homicides in 2023 and 40 in 2022 and 2021.

Still, despite the rising number of homicides, the number of shootings recorded in the city has remained relatively stable compared to last year. As of Oct. 12, there had been 15 fatal shootings and 91 non-fatal shootings in Boston. By Oct. 12, 2024, there were 16 and 93, respectively, according to data provided by the police department.

Over the past decade, around 70% of homicides in Boston have occurred in either Roxbury, Dorchester, or Mattapan, according to a report from Northeastern University with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office told MassLive earlier this year that its focus was on working “ever closer and harder with our law enforcement and community partners, no matter if crime trends move up or down.

“We know there will be variances each year. Our overarching goal is to keep Boston’s homicide and overall crime rate low compared to the city’s historic past,” Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the office said.

A Pittsburgh man is accused of starving his dogs so badly that one of them died.

Investigators said they found four pitbulls inside Xavier Williams’ Marshall-Shadelane apartment. One of the dogs is dead, while the other three were too weak to stand. 

The criminal complaint details a level of neglect that police officers described as “extreme.” Officers found the dogs after they were called to the apartment on Sunday. The call came from Williams’ ex-wife, who found one of their dogs, “lying in a cage, barely breathing, surrounded by urine and feces,” according to police. 

The dog was taken to an emergency animal hospital. Investigators said the dog was too weak to move and too frail to hold up his head. The dog later died from starvation and neglect, officials said. 

According to the criminal complaint, the three other pitbulls in the apartment were so severely malnourished that their bones were visible, and they were unable to stand on their own.

Police noted that there was no water or food in the cages, and the deplorable conditions resulted in visible wounds. The three dogs were removed by animal control and taken to Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh.

“He mistreated them all the time. He’d walk by and hit them,” one neighbor said.

According to the criminal complaint, when Williams was questioned by police, he blamed his ex-wife for not taking care of them. But detectives say she had been sending him $135 a month for dog supplies and even offered receipts to prove it.

He was released on non-monetary bond. His preliminary hearing is set for next month. 

Connecticut plans to borrow $390 million to expand the footprint of its own struggling flagship medical institution, the University of Connecticut Health Center, while simultaneously ridding the state of hospitals under private equity ownership.

According to communications obtained this week by The Connecticut Mirror, the debt would be added to the “UConn 2000” bonding package, the state’s financing program for capital projects at its flagship university. 

The $390 million in borrowed funds would cover the $13 million acquisition of Waterbury Hospital from Prospect Medical Holdings, a now-bankrupt hospital operator that was formerly backed by private equity investment. The funding would also pay for “other future clinical partnerships,” according to the communication.

Last month, CT Mirror confirmed that UConn Health is also in talks to purchase Bristol Hospital and Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam. It is not clear from the communications whether any of the additional funding would be used to pay for the acquisition of those two hospitals.

A significant portion of the funding would go toward investments in “IT, equipment, deferred maintenance and working capital,” the communication said. Waterbury Hospital, in particular, would need a major influx of capital funding to upgrade its systems, which are still recovering from a crippling cyberattack in 2023.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s office did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Prospect Medical Holdings.

UConn Health spokesperson Jennifer Walker deferred comment to the governor’s office.

The nearly $400 million proposal does not address the hospital provider taxes Prospect owes the state, or its unpaid municipal taxes in Manchester and Waterbury.