Massachusetts
Massachusetts governor nominates former romantic partner to state's highest court
BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated an appeals court judge and former romantic partner with whom she shared a home for several years to an open seat on the state’s highest court.
Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Gabrielle R. Wolohojian would serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court if her nomination is approved. Wolohojian is the second nomination to the state’s highest court by Healey, the first woman and first open member of the LGBTQ community to be elected governor of Massachusetts.
“There is no one more qualified or more well prepared to join the SJC than Justice Wolohojian. I’m proud of that nomination and I’m proud of nominating someone who is so deserving and so qualified. It is what the commonwealth deserves,” Healey told reporters.
“Of course, I had a personal relationship with Judge Wolohojian for many years so I happen to also know something about her character and her integrity and the kind of person she is,” Healey, a Democrat, added.
Healey said Wolohojian received the unanimous recommendation of the state’s Judicial Nomination Commission — a 27-member board appointed by the governor.
Healey wouldn’t say if there were any other individuals recommended for the vacancy.
“There is no one more qualified. I am very comfortable in saying that,” Healey said. “I don’t want the fact that she had a personal relationship with me to deprive the commonwealth of a person who’s most qualified for the position.”
Healey said she didn’t think Wolohojian would have to recuse herself from cases involving the administration, saying she currently presides over matters involving state agencies and the executive office.
Amy Carnevale, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party called on Healey to withdraw Wolohojian’s name.
“It is highly inappropriate for the governor to nominate to Massachusetts’ highest court an individual with whom she had a long-term romantic relationship in the past. This nomination clearly demonstrates a lack of accountability inherent in one-party rule,” Carnevale said in a statement.
Wolohojian, 63, would fill the seat vacated by Justice David Lowy. Last year Healey nominated then-state solicitor Elizabeth Dewar to the high court.
Wolohojian was appointed to the Appeals Court in February 2008 and has authored more than 900 decisions, according to Healey’s office. She has also served as the chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Healey and Wolohojian, who met when they both worked at the Boston law firm of Hale & Dorr, had been together for eight years when Healey began her first term as attorney general in 2015, according to a Boston Magazine profile.
Wolohojian and Healey had lived together in a rowhouse in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston that also served as a campaign headquarters for Healey. Wolohojian did not play a public role in the campaign. The governor now lives with her current partner, Joanna Lydgate, in Arlington.
Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from the governor but said she would address reporters later Wednesday.
Wolohojian must go before the eight-member Governor’s Council charged with reviewing and approving judicial nominations.
The Supreme Judicial Court is Massachusetts’s highest appellate court. The seven justices hear appeals on a range of criminal and civil cases.
Born in New York, and the granddaughter of Armenian immigrants, Justice Wolohojian received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Rutgers University in 1982; a doctorate in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1987; and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1989, where she was editor of the Columbia Law Review.
Healey’s office also described Wolohojian as an accomplished violinist, who regularly performs with orchestras, including the Boston Civic Symphony orchestra.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
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Massachusetts
How will the Iran war impact gas prices in Massachusetts?
With a widening conflict in the Middle East after the American and Israeli attack on Iran Saturday, global markets are bracing for a shakeup in the energy supply chain.
So, here at home, what can consumers expect at the gas pump?
An increase in oil prices is almost always followed by an increase in gas prices. And the oil market has already reacted to the war. NBC News reported on Sunday that U.S. crude oil initially spiked more than 10%, while Brent, the international oil benchmark, rose as much as 13%.
Early Monday morning, reports were coming in of black smoke rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City.
While Iran’s oil reserves supply less than an estimated 5% of global production, the main concern is the Strait of Hormuz. This maritime passageway borders Iran at the bottleneck of the Persian Gulf, and more than 20% of the world’s oil passes through. If Iran closes or restricts Hormuz, the oil market could face severe disruptions.
Gas prices rise about 2.5 cents for every dollar increase in crude oil prices. As of Sunday, U.S. crude oil prices had already increased by nearly $5 a barrel.
“I fully expect that by Monday night, you could credibly say that gas prices are being impacted by oil prices having gone up,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan told NBC News.
GasBuddy characterizes their expectations for price increases as “incremental” rather than “explosive”. The group said to anticipate a potential 10-15 cent increase over the next couple of weeks.
Massachusetts
Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News
EASTON, Mass. (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts, officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.
A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.
The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.
Easton police officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.
“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby — he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.
They then carried the driver to safety.
Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
No one else was injured in the crash.
Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”
After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”
She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.
“I kept trying to call him and call him, and I finally got a hold of him at like 4:30 a.m., and he was at (Good Samaritan Hospital) and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.
She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.
“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man — and you know he’s 78, but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”
Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.
“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”
Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.
“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”
Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.
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