Week in Review: Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested, Medford to Minuteman Bus Controversy

The suspect in a Medford bank robbery was arrested Friday after bank employees chased her to a Cummings Street home, according to a police report. Gina Muccini, 35, of 48 Cummings St. was arrested about 12 p.m. Friday and charged with armed robbery. Shawn Fitzgibbon, also of 48 Cummings St., is charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly attempting to help Muccini by barricading their home after she fled to it, according to one police report. Police recovered $1,900 in cash inside the Cummings Street home.

By offering their kids only MBTA passes to get to school, parents of students at Minuteman Regional High School believe Medford Public Schools are using their children as bargaining chips. Medford Superintendent Roy Belson sees it differently. "The Medford Public Schools are no longer going to be a doormat for Minuteman Vocational," Belson said Tuesday. "We're going to stand up." The proposed Medford school budget includes cutting $50,000 in funding for a school bus to transport Medford students to the school, located in Lexington, and replacing the bus service with MBTA passes for students.

A total of ten Medford school teachers and administrators make up the smallest class of retirees in over a decade, according to superintendent Roy Belson. The class includes five teachers with 30 years or more in Medford Public Schools. McGlynn Middle School Science teacher David Brooks is retiring after 39 years in the Medford school system. He was hired in September 1973.

For six new recruits to the Medford Police force, Tuesday's swearing in was a long time coming. The recruits, Frank Cugliata, Mark Cardarelli, David Ottaviano, Brandon M. Mean, Christopher Coughlin and Kevin Conway, were selected in November, but the state's police academies have all been booked up for months. They are all finally slated to attend the MBTA's police academy June 25. "I think every one of these young men wondered if this day would happen," Police chief Leo Sacco said at the ceremony.

State Senators: Put MBTA Control in Hands of Outsiders: Three state senators want the authority of the MBTA to rest in a control board made up mostly of individuals who do not live within the transit system's reach. State Senators Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham and James Welch, D-West Springfield, want to amend legislation aimed at resolving the T's financing woes to include a control board, according to a joint press release. The board would consist of the Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of the MBTA's Board, and three individuals who do not reside within the MBTA service area appointed by the state's finance secretary, the release said. The board would have all the authority of the MBTA's board and advisory board, and would have the ability to amend budgets, revise policy, create or eliminate positions, adjust fees, services, and rates, the press release said.