WAREHAM
Woman and baby escape through window during fire
A woman and her baby escaped out of a first-floor window after a hoverboard that was being charged started a kitchen fire early Saturday morning, according to the Wareham Fire Department. Firefighters received a 911 call from a person who reported being trapped by a fire with an infant inside a house on Rose Point Avenue at 12:55 a.m., according to a department statement. An operator advised the caller to climb out of a window. The woman threw pillows on the ground outside of the first-floor window, fire officials said, and placed the infant on the pillows before climbing out. Police officers and firefighters determined the mother and child made it safely outside, and the two were taken to Tobey Hospital for evaluation. Crews entered the house and contained the fire, according to the fire department. The fire and smoke had cut off access to a door. The home had working smoke detectors, which had alerted the mother, the statement said. No estimate was given on the damage to the home.
CHARLTON
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Worcester woman identified as victim of fatal crash
A 34-year-old woman who died after being ejected from her car in a single-vehicle crash on the eastbound lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike on Friday evening has been identified as Danielle Wysote of Worcester, State Police said. Wysote was driving with a female juvenile passenger when her car rolled over in the area of the Charlton rest stop, around 4:13 p.m. Friday, State Police said. She was ejected from the vehicle and taken to UMass Lakeside Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Wysote’s passenger was also taken to UMass Lakeside for evaluation but was uninjured. Luz Sepulveda, who worked with Wysote at a call center, said she was “always smiling and giggly.” She was the “sweetest person you could know,” Sepulveda said. As a result of the crash, the rest stop was closed for two hours. Traffic on the highway was not disrupted, State Police said. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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CUMBERLAND, R.I.
Two arrested during vaccine protest outside governor’s home
Police say two people were arrested during a “disturbance” outside Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s home, where protesters were rallying against the state’s vaccine mandate for health care workers. The two people arrested Friday night were charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction, and resisting arrest, Rhode Island State Police said. Police did not provide further details about the disturbance or the reason for the arrests. McKee announced in August that all health care workers would be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. WJAR reported that protesters carrying signs and chanting “freedom, not force” marched for over a mile to McKee’s Cumberland home. (AP)
PORTLAND, Maine
Institute gets $750,000 to help state’s marine startups
A research institute in Maine has been awarded $750,000 from the federal government to help marine startups. US Representative Chellie Pingree said the Economic Development Administration awarded the money to Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland. She said the money will support the Gulf of Maine Blue Economy Initiative, which is designed to help commercialize startup businesses. The institute said the initiative’s goals include improving competitiveness of Maine seafood and creating jobs. Pingree said the program can help Maine maritime industries thrive during a difficult time. “Between changing ocean conditions due to climate change and supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic, Maine’s seafood and fishing industries need our support now more than ever,” she said. (AP)
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LITTLETON, N.H.
Man seeks to retract guilty pleas in police informant killing
A New Hampshire man sentenced to at least 36 years in prison for his role in the killing of a police informant has asked to withdraw his guilty pleas and go to trial. Damion Yeargle pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 2018 for the killing of 22-year-old Robert Pierog in May 2016 in Littleton. A new attorney appointed for Yeargle said in court papers filed this week that his client “suffered from mental illness his entire life” and was taking prescription medicines at the time of his plea and sentencing that caused him to lack “sufficient mental capacity to understand what was happening,” The Caledonian-Record reports. “Since Mr. Yeargle has been incarcerated … he has been able to stop taking the psychotropic medications that impacted his thought process at his plea and sentencing hearing. He has now become clear-headed. That has allowed him to realize that he was not competent at the time of his plea and sentencing due to the effects of those drugs,” his public defender, Don Topham, wrote. The motion said the man’s trial representation was “constitutionally deficient.” (AP)