Iran divestment to affect public pensions

BOSTON
Massachusetts will be required to divest public pension money from companies doing business with Iran under a bill Governor Deval Patrick is set to sign. The bill would require the state to divest its pensions from foreign oil and gas firms with active investments of more than $20 million in Iran. Supporters argue that the investments indirectly help foster terrorist activity and that the state’s public pensions should not be going to help bolster Iran’s economy. (AP)

Stein says she’ll be on gubernatorial ballot
Green-Rainbow gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein said yesterday that she had filed enough nomination signatures to land on the November ballot by a “comfortable margin.’’ Standing outside the State House with supporters, Stein said, “It is now officially a four-way race, and it’s no longer just among the members of the Beacon Hill boys’ club.’’ Stein positioned herself as the anticasino candidate, pointing out that Governor Deval Patrick, Republican Charles D. Baker, and state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, running as an independent, all support casinos. (State House News Service)

$2m to help cut pollution by diesel trains
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and a contractor will spend more than $2 million to reduce diesel emissions on commuter trains, according to an agreement with US enforcement agencies that was filed in federal court yesterday. The steps include more than $1 million that the MBTA and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. will spend on anti-idling equipment at all end-of-line stations and maintenance facilities, and another $1 million on ultraclean diesel fuel for two years.

Patrick signs Electoral College change
Governor Deval Patrick signed a law yesterday that is designed to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote. “I am proud to join other states in this effort to bring more voters and more states into the presidential campaign process,’’ the Democratic governor said in a statement. Under the National Popular Vote bill, all 12 of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally, no matter what the results of the election are in the state.

BOURNE
Rollover crash leaves 1 dead, 2 injured
One man died and two others were seriously injured when the van they were riding in went out of control and overturned on Route 25 yesterday afternoon near the Bourne-Plymouth line, State Police said. Bryan Brown, 22, of Columbia, S.C., who was a passenger in the 1995 Ford Ecoline van, was pronounced dead at Tobey Hospital in Wareham. The driver of the van, whom police did not identify, was also taken to Tobey, while the third man, Juan Bonilla-Rios, 30, of Jamaica Plain, was taken to Falmouth Hospital, police said.

LOWELL
Baby burned over 60 percent of his body
An 11-month-old baby suffered second-degree burns over 60 percent of his body yesterday and was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Lowell police said. Police said officers responded to a call about an infant scalded in his home on Lyons Street at about 9:05 a.m. and found the baby, Ivan Yonn, in obvious distress and displaying scalding injuries. Police said they do not believe them to be life-threatening, according to a department release.

NORFOLK
Leaking propane blamed for house blast
A propane leak in a heating unit caused the house explosion Friday that killed one man and injured seven other people, investigators have determined. The leak in the basement where contractors were working on a heating system set off the blast in an unfinished duplex in an adult community, according to the state fire marshal’s office. The explosion sent eight people to the hospital, including two firefighters, and destroyed the duplex. An electrician from Blackstone, trapped under debris for more than an hour, later died.