Northeast
Who was Nuno Loureiro? MIT professor gunned down in apartment near university
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BROOKLINE, Mass. — A world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor and fusion-energy physicist was shot and killed inside his home earlier this week, an attack that has rattled one of the country’s most elite scientific communities.
Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, was a professor of nuclear science and engineering and the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Loureiro was a renowned figure in fusion-energy research, a field that seeks to recreate the power of the sun inside fusion reactors on Earth. His theories and models helped guide major fusion experiments in the United States and Europe.
Loureiro was rushed to a hospital with “apparent gunshot wounds” Monday evening and pronounced dead Tuesday morning, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. A homicide investigation is underway.
NEIGHBORS OF SLAIN MIT PROFESSOR STUNNED BY KILLING
Undated file photo of Nuno Loureiro, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and of physics at MIT. (Jake Belcher for MIT)
No suspect has been identified and the motive for the killing is still unknown.
The shooting in Brookline occurred two days after an attack at Brown University left two dead and nine injured on Saturday.
While investigators in both cases, at prestigious universities less than 50 miles apart, are sharing intelligence, the special agent in charge of Boston’s FBI office, Ted Docks, said at a news briefing Tuesday that authorities don’t think they’re connected.
Originally from Portugal, Loureiro studied in his home country, in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where he researched topics including the phenomenon behind solar flares. He also focused on plasma — a super-hot form of matter found in stars and in experimental fusion reactors.
Fusion is the process that makes the sun burn and Loureiro’s work explored how that power could be bottled on Earth and controlled inside those reactors. If fusion ever becomes a real source of cheap, clean electricity, it will rely on the kind of physics he helped explain.
MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro speaks in an undated photo. (rafaelmgrossi via X)
“Nuno was not only a brilliant scientist, he was a brilliant person,” Dennis Whyte, a fellow MIT professor, said in an obituary posted by the university. “He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner. His loss is immeasurable to our community at the PSFC, NSE and MIT, and around the entire fusion and plasma research world.”
Allen Taylor, a Tufts University professor of biomechanical and molecular nutrition who lives in the area, told Fox News Digital outside Loureiro’s home on Wednesday that the shooting rocked the tight-knit community, which is also home to several Brown University students, where another shooting claimed two lives over the weekend.
“I’m concerned because he was a human being, first, and secondly, because he’s a scientist, and I know how much we invest in training people so they can make major contributions to our society, and then when they’re murdered, it’s a tremendous compromise to our community and to the world at large,” Taylor said.
MIT PROFESSOR SHOT, KILLED IN BROOKLINE HOME: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT BOSTON-AREA ATTACK
The Brookline apartment building where MIT professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro was shot earlier this week is seen Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, as investigators continue to search for leads in the homicide case. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Loureiro obtained an undergraduate degree from the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon before getting a Ph.D. in physics at Imperial College London.
He went on to do post-doctoral work at Princeton University in New Jersey and UKAEA Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in the U.K. and returned to research in Lisbon before joining MIT’s faculty in 2016. He became a full professor in 2021 and was later named the director of the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
His research has earned him a half-dozen awards since 2015, most recently honored with the U.S. government’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which he received earlier this year.
MIT PROFESSOR SHOT DEAD IN BROOKLINE HOME, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE LAUNCH HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION
A crowd of people holding candles gather outside the home of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)
In a 2019 interview, Loureiro likened complicated science to an art form.
“When we stimulate theoretically inclined minds by framing plasma physics and fusion challenges as beautiful theoretical physics problems, we bring into the game incredibly brilliant students — people who we want to attract to fusion development,” he said.
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In an earlier lecture on accepting and overcoming failure, he urged students to set their goals high and not be afraid of falling short.
“If you’re not failing all the time, you’re aiming too low,” he said.
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Vermont
Vt. communities work to clean up after EF-1 tornadoes strike
QUECHEE, Vt. (WCAX) – Crews worked across the White River Valley on Friday to restore power and clean up debris after two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Vermont, including one that swept through Quechee.
Joe Haynes stared over his yard in Woodstock, with chunks of his roof scattered across it, wondering about the next steps.
Reporter Connor Ullathorne: How long will this all take to clean up?
Joe Haynes: Oh, I have no idea.
He said he’s lucky he and his nearby neighbors are safe and are not blocked in.
“Some of the trees were down. They’ll be down for awhile but they can make their way out,” Haynes said.
Crews in Woodstock continued clearing trees and downed power lines along Route 4. That’s where Tiffany Miller was working inside the Mountain Creamery when the tornado passed right over the store. Nobody was injured, but their new walk-in storage ended up in the trees.
“It’s definitely a big setback for us. We were getting ready to have it wired up tomorrow. So I mean we definitely have a lot of elbow grease and hours to put in to get back up to where we were,” Miller said.
She said she was happy to see how many customers have checked in on them.
“It’s nice to see that no matter what, in some bad case– storms or indifferent– that we can still come together and be there for each other,” Miller said.
Farther east in Quechee, workers hacked away at trees and swept away debris along the golf course and roads.
“It’s crazy they want to see. Everybody cares about their community and all their assets and amenities, so it’s nice to see everybody come together,” Quechee Club General Manager Brian Kelley said.
Kelley said they were out early Friday, and many residents were shocked at the damage. He’s still hopeful the area can come together and support each other.
“We normally do about 200 rounds a day going into one of our peak weekends. We’ve got the balloon festival this weekend, so we have that population in town, so a little bit of disappointment but people have been great and supportive, and we’ll be back at it tomorrow,” Kelley said.
Kelley said it should be a few days until they are back to full force in Quechee.
Many others across the region told us they’re now focused on getting back to normal.
Click here for the latest forecast from the WCAX First Alert Weather Team.
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.
New York
Video: Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire
new video loaded: Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire
transcript
transcript
Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire
New York Knicks fans showed up in droves to a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan in their best orange and blue outfits to honor the N.B.A champions.
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“Patrick Ewing. He didn’t get a ring. But I wear your sneakers, bro. When I was in high school, back in the ’90s, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, they were the team that I rooted for in the ’90s. They didn’t make it. So as a tribute to him because this is where I started at being a fan, Patrick Ewing. Knicks hat in denim — I’m a denim fanatic. So I love denim — Knicks hat. And yeah, that’s it.” “This is my style. I usually dress like this every day. But I did a special Knicks edition. It’s all really fun. I start with my makeup. I did really cute flames on my eyes because the Knicks are fire. I don’t really know what I’m going to do before I put it on. I just figure it out along the way. Like, this is a piece of fabric and I just layer in stuff.” “This is from my online boutique and the hat I just bought on the way to the parade because I wanted to match the jumpsuit, and that’s how I came up with the outfit.” “She was ready to go, man.” “Can you show your fingernail?” “She’s been sleeping in her Jalen Brunson jersey for the last 10 weeks. We’ve been watching all the games. You want to tell them who’s your favorite player?” “Jalen Brunson.” “I’m pretty sure this jersey was actually made for a human baby. But they’re selling them around the block. And we threw it on Chester and everyone started clapping. So — he wears it well.” “Blue and orange.” “So I did blue and orange.” “It had to be orange and blue. “Orange and blue. Orange and blue.”
By Meg Felling, Jeremy Raff, Ang Li and David Cheung
June 18, 2026
Boston, MA
MBTA, state transportation chief apologizes for ‘insensitive’ employee hair-pulling incident
Gov. Maura Healey’s Transportation Secretary and MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said he has apologized “fully” to the subordinate T employee he’s been accused of pulling the hair of at a work dinner two years ago.
Eng has come under fire for the late 2024 incident this week and admits that it was a “mistake” that has forced him to reflect upon his actions.
“My goal is always to lead with respect and inclusivity,” Eng said in a statement. “I know that this was a mistake, and I own that. I have apologized to this employee fully and have reflected on my actions.
“I am committed to learning from this experience and upholding the highest standards of professionalism in all my interactions as secretary and general manager,” Eng added.
The MBTA said the incident, first reported by Contrarian Boston, occurred in November 2024 at a restaurant where T employees and their spouses were having a team dinner.
WCVB-TV reported that the MBTA employee has told people the interaction with Eng was not welcome and highly inappropriate.
The station described Eng as being accused of committing the hair-pulling faux pas while saying good-bye to the T employee after a work function at a brewery.
The MBTA confirmed that an “insensitive” interaction occurred between Eng and an employee, but downplayed the incident as occurring in the context of a larger conversation about hair from earlier in the evening that included multiple people.
Eng was poking fun at his own baldness when the alleged interaction occurred, according to the MBTA.
“The MBTA is committed to fostering a respectful, inclusive workplace environment,” MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said in a statement. “Leadership plays a critical role in that. Two years ago, General Manager Eng had an insensitive interaction with one of his direct reports. He subsequently apologized directly to this employee.
“Any claims of harassment, discrimination or retaliatory behavior are completely without merit,” Pesaturo added.
Sources have told WCVB-TV that the T employee is involved in negotiations to leave their job with the agency.
Eng is the state’s top transportation official. Healey appointed him as general manager of the MBTA in 2023, and interim transportation secretary in late 2025.
He was paid $509,114 last year, which includes a $30,000 retention payment he is eligible for each year he remains with the T, per his contract and state payroll records. He does not get additional pay for working dual roles in Massachusetts, but continues to take in a roughly $185,000 pension from New York.
Eng, former president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road, came out of retirement to work for the MBTA, but remains retired with the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System, which is paying him a gross monthly pension of $15,357.39, according to the New York State Comptroller’s office.
Eng, who stepped down from his MTA post in February 2022, retired from New York’s ERS the following month, March 31, 2022, the comptroller’s office said. His monthly pension equates to $184,288 in annual compensation, which he can continue to collect while working at the MBTA, where he is one of the highest-paid transit leaders in the country.
Eng has been credited by state officials for helping to get the MBTA back on track following a federal probe for a number of safety lapses that culminated with a fatality, when a 39-year-old man was dragged to death by a Red Line train in April 2022.
He is under contract with the T through April 10, 2028, with an option for a one-year extension. His base pay for 2026 is $484,206, per state payroll records.
By comparison, Eng was paid $285,254 in his final year leading the Long Island Rail Road, per the New York State Comptroller’s office.
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