
Massachusetts DA seeks to vacate thousands of drug convictions connected to botched evidence certification at state lab
CNN
Thousands of people who had drug convictions in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, may soon see them vacated due to a "catastrophic failure of management," the county's district attorney Rachael Rollins said Monday.
The district attorney unveiled a plan in a court filing called the "Hinton Lab Initiative," aimed at vacating the drug convictions for all whose evidence certifications were done by the William A. Hinton State Lab between May 2003 and August 2012. The Initiative potentially impacts "tens of thousands of defendants," the DA said in a press release. Rollins said it covers "a period of time in which either now disgraced chemist Annie Dookhan, or another convicted chemist Sonja Farak," worked there.
Janet Mills and her allies are counting on a gender gap to narrow Platner’s wide lead ahead of the June 9 primary to decide who will face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. They are betting that the unfiltered style that has brought Platner widespread attention as someone who could help Democrats reach young men will backfire with women.

As a shrinking number of Transportation Security Administration agents work to keep hourslong security lines moving despite not being paid, President Donald Trump stepped into the fray Saturday, announcing he will send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to airports by Monday if Congress doesn’t agree to a plan to end the partial government shutdown.











