Boston News

Bridget Murphy, an award-winning journalist who covered crime in Florida and Atlantic City, N.J., has been named a reporter for The Associated Press in Boston. The appointment was announced Wednesday by Karen Testa, the cooperative’s East region editor.

Murphy will begin in January and join the cooperative’s mission to deliver robust breaking news and enterprise-oriented reporting in Massachusetts.

Corey Trivino, a Boston University center and the leading goal scorer in the Hockey East conference, was thrown off the team by Coach Jack Parker after being arrested Sunday on charges of indecent assault and battery. More >

Governor Deval Patrick today praised Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s dismantling of the Occupy Boston protest, saying the mayor had shown “balance” in his approach. He also acknowledged that the movement reflected widespread frustration, saying he had heard it even from business groups.

Patrick, who returned from a trade mission to Chile and Brazil Sunday, had not addressed Menino’s handling of the tent city since it was broken up over the weekend, following a legal victory the city won over the protesters.

A diminished Occupy Boston encampment held its ground early Friday after police decided not to immediately enforce a midnight deadline that the mayor had set for them to leave a city square.

Two protesters were arrested after police said they moved a tent into a street and refused to move, blocking traffic. But there were no other serious confrontations between the demonstrators and supporters who gathered at the site as the deadline loomed.

Protesters at Occupy Boston began preparing for the possibility of a police raid on Thursday, after Mayor Thomas M. Menino issued his first ultimatum for them to decamp. More >

Occupy Boston suffered a serious setback today in their Dewey Square showdown with the city after a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled the tent-dwelling protesters no longer have protection from the court.

The ruling gives the mayor the authority to remove the occupiers from their downtown tent city, but Menino spokeswoman Dot Joyce said there are no immediate plans to do so.

There is a strong police presence at the Occupy encampment with 15 uniformed police on the outskirts of the tent city and five Transit Police SUVs parked nearby outside South Station.

Mayor Thomas Menino sees the potential of East Boston. That was a big part of his speech before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce this morning.

The problem is many developers who also see the potential of East Boston have failed to realize it. More >

A professor who has taught mathematics at Boston colleges for two decades has been charged with running a methamphetamine lab out of her suburban home, CBS Boston reports.

Irina Kristy, 74, teaches math at Boston University and Suffolk University, but was recently placed on administrative leave at Suffolk. BU officials say they know about the charges against her.

The Boston Globe reports that according to the District Attorney’s office, Grigory Genkin, her 29-year-old son, pleaded not guilty to the same charges last month. He was arrested last month after turning himself into authorities, police said.

A 7-year-old Boston boy is under investigation for sexual harassment after punching a fellow student in the groin. The extreme measure against the first-grader, Mark Curran, has his mother outraged. More >

A hearing in Boston on Thursday will decide if Occupy Boston protesters will have to move their camp out of Dewey Square. More >