REGIONAL BRIEFS
Bridge to close for 2 months for repair project
SCITUATE (AP) — A 54-year-old bridge in Rhode Island will close for more than two months as part of an approximately $515,000 repair project.
The Gleaner Chapel Bridge in Scituate will be closed for 75 days starting Monday, according to the Department of Transportation.
The agency will make concrete and steel repairs and install new bridge joints, guardrails and a new driving surface.
The bridge carries Gleaner Chapel Road over Route 6 and is about 20 minutes east of Providence.
Man agrees to plead guilty to child porn charge
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has agreed to plead guilty to a child pornography charge in exchange for a prison sentence of at least five years, according to federal court filings.
Louis Ackerman Jr., 45, of Duxbury, signed a plea agreement earlier this month in which he agreed to plead guilty to a possession charge, according to a report Tuesday in The Patriot Ledger. As a part of the deal, prosecutors dropped a charge of receipt of child pornography.
Ackerman was arrested in November after law enforcement found about 600 videos and images of child pornography on his laptop, and multiple printed computer pages depicting child pornography under his bed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.
US naval officer sues over transgender ban
BOSTON (AP) — A U.S. naval officer who is facing involuntary discharge because of a policy restricting transgender people from military service has filed a lawsuit that aims to force defense officials to allow her to continue serving.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is the first legal challenge to the policy since rules went into effect in April 2019 stripping transgender troops of rights they secured under the Obama administration to serve openly and to have their medical transitions covered in their health benefits, lawyers said.
The officer, a transgender woman stationed in Massachusetts, is seeking to transition and serve in the Navy as a woman, the lawsuit says.
“This is a moment when we need all hands on deck, and there is absolutely no justification for discharging somebody who is continuing to meet all standards and wants to continue to serve,” said Jennifer Levi, transgender rights director for GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.
A Department of Defense spokeswoman said it is aware of the lawsuit and is reviewing the filings.
EDDINGTON, Maine (AP) — A 12-year-old girl was severely burned when her clothes caught fire while brush was being burned in her yard, officials said.
The girl, who suffered burns to her face, neck and chest, was taken Monday to Eastern Maine Medical Center and then transported via LifeFlight to Shriner’s Hospital in Boston, the state fire marshal’s office said.
It’s believed that the victim poured a flammable liquid onto the fire as she and her older sister tended the blaze, officials said.
Investigators hadn’t had an opportunity to have an in-depth interview with the parents because they traveled to Boston to be with their daughter. The girl’s name was not released, and her condition wasn’t known.