Today's Top Headlines

Saturday, September 6

Good morning Wypierdalaj,

It's a First Alert Saturday as we track severe weather in the region today. Our weather team has what you need to know. We're also following other top headlines including new West Nile cases in the state, and prison time for former Boston city councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson. I'm Kaitlin McKinley Becker, and these are our headlines.

Severe weather is front and center for today.

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A sharp cold front will dive into our warm, humid airmass and set off a line of storms in western New England by early afternoon.

The manner of death of a man who’d been restrained by police officers outside a Haverhill, Massachusetts, restaurant this July was ruled a homicide, prosecutors announced Friday.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled 43-year-old Francis Gigliotti’s death a homicide caused by, “Cardiac dysrhythmia in a person with acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine and ethanol while being restrained prone by police,” the Essex District Attorney’s Office said in a statement, noting that they’ve contacted Gigliotti’s family about the findings.

Prosecutors received the full autopsy report on Friday, and the findings in it will be part of the ongoing investigation, the office said. Still to be determined is whether the actions of the officers were reasonable and justified.

Former Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced Friday for wire fraud and theft involving federal funds, several months after she pleaded guilty in the federal corruption probe.

Federal Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Fernandes Anderson to a month of incarceration with three years of supervised release. The former councilor was ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.

Fernandes Anderson spoke in court before the sentence was announced, telling the judge, “I can’t forgive myself,” “I’m sorry for everything” and “There is no excuse.”

A Massachusetts man who spent the summer in federal immigration detention across the country has been reunited with his family after a judge ruled in his favor.

Wagner Gomes do Nascimento, 30, was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in May and taken into custody in Clinton, where he and his family live. He was quickly transferred more than 2,000 miles away to a detention facility in Brownsville, Texas, where he remained for nearly four months.

“I was hoping for this day for a long time, to wake up and be outside,” Nascimento said after his release.

The number of West Nile virus cases in Massachusetts this year doubled on Friday as public health officials announced two more.

Risk levels for the mosquito-borne virus are high in 28 communities in the state, including Boston, Newton, Framingham and Lowell, according to the Department of Public Health. Scores more are at moderate risk for the virus, which can in serious cases cause swelling in the brain or around the spinal cord.

The state’s first human West Nile case of the year was reported on Tuesday.

What if we told you there’s actually something to celebrate on the T? That’s right – according to a new study, the MBTA ranked higher than New York and D.C. in terms of the number of stations across the system, marking a big win for accessibility.

It’s pretty rare to hear the words “best” and “MBTA” used in the same sentence… until now, thanks to a new study giving Boston’s public transit system high marks.

You don’t have to spend much time on the T for the complaints to start rolling in.