Week in Review: Wrong Way Crash on 16; Kidnapping/Robbery Conspiracy; Levar Burton

Here are some of the top stories from around Medford this week:

Tessie, a six-year-old Boston Terrier, proved that cats aren’t the only animals with nine lives after surviving being hit by a car and a shivering night in a cemetery.  Tessie was with her dog walker on a hike through Middlesex Fells in Medford on Jan. 6 when she got separated and ended up lost, wandering through the streets of Medford. Scared by the traffic and the unfamiliar sights and sounds, she panicked and began to run. Passersby tried to get hold of her but to no avail; she ultimately was struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident and scampered away. Her owner and others looked for her, but she didn't turn up until the next day, when a postal worker found her shivering in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Arlington. She was taken to Angell Animal Hospital where they performed surgery on her pelvis, which was shattered. She's now recovering.

LeVar Burton will receive Tufts University's Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children's Media, the university announced Thursday. The awards ceremony, which is free and open to the public, will take place on February 3 at 10 a.m. in the Distler Performance Hall at the Granoff Music Center on Tufts University's Medford/Somerville campus. Burton, an actor and entertainer, is being recognized for his work as the host and executive producer of the highly acclaimed PBS children's television series "Reading Rainbow," according to a Tufts press release.

Shortly after midnight Wednesday, a 2004 Honda Accord driven by an unidentified 30-year-old Somerville man was travelling west in the eastbound lane near Wellington Station when it collided head-on with a Honda Civic driven by a 23-year-old Cambridge man with a 25-year-old passenger, police said in a press release. After speaking with witnesses, State Police are investigating whether the Civic was involved in a race and the second vehicle in the race fled after the accident, and why the Accord was in the wrong lane, the release said. All three were transported to Massachusetts General Hospital where they remained with serious injuries later Wednesday morning, police said.

A Medford man allegedly planned with two others to kidnap a Norwood store owner and rob his check-cashing business, but the plot was thwarted after the FBI was tipped off, prosecutors said. John Salvucci, 65, of Medford, James Chambers, 53, of Stoneham and George Whalen, 55, of Winthrop, were arrested early Wednesday morning on federal arrest warrants charging conspiracy to commit robbery, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz. The three defendants allegedly allegedly planned to kidnap the owner of Norwood-based Forest Hills Check Cashing then make him help them rob the store, which the suspects believed had a large amount of cash, prosecutors said.

The State House News Service reported that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has closed the investigation into the Middlesex Sheriff's Office under the late James DiPaola without any criminal charges, despite evidence of a "pay-to-play culture." After a series of conflict of interest fines levied against Middle Sheriff's Office employees over the past year (see previous articles below), one last fine has been levied: a $4,000 fine against DiPaola's sister and campaign treasurer, Patricia Covelle, according to the State House News Service.