Today's Top Headlines

Tuesday, August 11

Good morning Wypierdalaj,

We're following developing news this morning about a crash in Brockton that sent three people to the hospital, including a Massachusetts State Police trooper. We're also continuing to track the Lindsay Clancy trial. Plus, there's a new report from the Office of the Massachusetts Inspector General that is accusing the former town administrator in Norfolk of a leadership failure that wasted taxpayer resources in that community. I'm Kaitlin McKinley Becker, and these are your headlines.

Three people were injured when a Massachusetts State Police cruiser and another vehicle crashed Monday night in Brockton.

Police in Brockton said the crash happened on the 800 block of Belmont Street. Officers, state police detectives, and emergency medical crews responded around 10:50 p.m.

A trooper, as well as the driver and passenger of the other car, were taken to area hospitals with injuries, state police said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.

A new report from the Office of the Massachusetts Inspector General is accusing the former town administrator in Norfolk of a leadership failure that wasted taxpayer resources in that community.

Among the findings, the state watchdog also concluded that Justin Casanova-Davis abused vacation time so he could collect a larger payout at the end of his tenure.

Casanova-Davis is no longer in a leadership position in Norfolk, but the details of the report are raising plenty of questions in Bridgewater, where the public official currently works as the town manager.

We’re not shaking the smoke today. Hazy sun will be visible, but a brownish/yellow tint will also cover the sky. Tomorrow fares better as the winds turn more northwest in the middle and upper atmosphere. This will drive a wedge in the smoke plume and help clear the skies starting tomorrow.

Today’s highs still reach into the upper 80s, with a smidge more humidity early on. Dew points (and subsequently, the humidity) will slide back this afternoon and stay in the “comfy” range for the remainder of the week.

It’s not until late week that we see it fall into the much drier range, setting us up for a few cool mornings going into the weekend.

Two people died in a serious car crash that shut down Interstate 290 east in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on Monday afternoon, police said.

State police also said the crash involved multiple vehicles, but didn’t have more details. They referred further questions to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. NBC10 Boston has reached out for information.

The highway was closed at Exit 30, and impacts were expected to last for hours, Department of Transportation said. They urged drivers to find other routes.

After lawmakers fast-tracked the bill, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Monday signed legislation removing restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks of gestation, a change that supporters say will help more patients stay in-state to receive care.

The law (H 5595) eliminates the existing four-pronged framework enabling abortions for pregnancies at or beyond 24 weeks in life-threatening situations for the patient or fetus, instead writing a new law that states “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”

“We’ve heard so many stories — stories that are filled with a lot of pain and anguish and heartache and a lot of trauma. We heard stories about the worst moments of a person’s life, of a couple’s life,” Healey said, surrounded by lawmakers, advocates and physicians at a press conference she hosted in her ceremonial office. “We’re signing this law today so that new patients, people we won’t know or won’t meet, will be able to get the care that they need in Massachusetts.”

Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer probed her psychiatrist’s expertise, prescribing decisions and overall treatment as the defense sought Monday to suggest that the mental healthcare system mishandled the Massachusetts mother’s decline in the months before she killed her three young children.

In questioning Dr. Jennifer Tufts, defense lawyer Kevin Reddington spotlighted her use of 25-minute video appointments with limited time for talk therapy, the computerized forms that documented her observations, and the series of pharmaceuticals she recommended as Clancy reported various side effects, symptoms and concerns about taking medications.

Reddington portrayed Clancy’s care not as common practice in U.S. mental healthcare, but rather as inadequate and indifferent treatment of a deteriorating patient. At one point, Reddington implied that the doctor was a box-checking “robot.”