WOBURN, Mass.

Race spectator hit by police motorcyclist awarded $15,500

A Massachusetts woman has been awarded $15,500 by a jury that found a state police officer was negligent when his motorcycle struck her as she watched the 2007 Boston Marathon.

Sixty-five-year-old Norma Shulman of Framingham was knocked to the ground and bruised when she was hit on state Route 135 in West Natick by now-retired Sgt. Dennis Bertulli, who was following the women’s race leaders. Lawyers for police said Shulman was in the street. She says she was behind the white line at the side.

Shulman alleged police refused to accept responsibility and tried to cover up the incident. The MetroWest Daily News reports that a jury awarded her the damages on Friday but rejected her claims of civil rights violations against a police investigator and battery against Bertulli

ROCHESTER, N.H.

Mother tips police to son after seeing robbery photos

A Rochester man has been charged with armed robbery after his mother turned him in.

Fifty-two-year-old Timothy Smith was charged Friday with robbing the TD Bank in Dover on Wednesday.

His mother, Barbara Smith, says after seeing surveillance photos of the robbery on WMUR-TV she called police, who say they received a number of tips.

She says she was concerned about her son’s safety if he got into a confrontation with authorities.

Police believe Smith robbed the bank to buy drugs.

WMUR-TV says Smith also faces charges of failing to register as a sex offender and was being held on $50,000 bail.

EXETER, N.H.

Paintings on sale to benefit cancer patients purloined

Police in New Hampshire are investigating the theft of two paintings from Exeter Hospital that were part of a program designed to raise money for cancer patients.

The watercolor paintings belong to Exeter artist Sandy McDermott.

The hospital says they disappeared on Monday.

Hospital spokesman Ray Lawrence says officials aren’t sure how someone could leave the hospital with the paintings.

Lawrence tells the Portsmouth Herald that each month, a local artist displays paintings on the wall of the third floor of the hospital. Patients, visitors and staff have the opportunity to view and purchase the paintings, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to a program to help uninsured and under-insured cancer patients.

The paintings had an estimated value of $300.

BURLINGTON, Vt.

Group steamed over order to halt raw-milk workshops

The farm advocacy group Rural Vermont is complaining about a state order that it halt workshops to teach people how to turn raw milk into butter and other dairy products.

Rural Vermont Director Jared Carter says the agriculture agency is infringing on consumers’ rights to do what they want with milk in their own kitchens.

A Feb. 10 letter from Agency Dairy Section Chief Daniel Scruton says the Montpelier-based Rural Vermont is violating state law “by holding classes in which raw milk is processed and served.”

A 2009 law allows for the sale of up to 160 quarts of raw — or unpasteurized — liquid milk a day, directly to consumers.

Scruton’s letter says the Rural Vermont workshops show customers how to produce homemade cheese.

NEWPORT, Vt.

Trial warranted for contractor who kept hefty overpayment

A judge says a grand larceny charge filed against a Vermont contractor who kept a $462,000 overpayment will stand, despite a defense motion to dismiss it.

Orleans County Judge Robert Bent ruled Thursday that there’s enough evidence against 62-year-old Daniel Scott to let the case continue to trial. Scott’s lawyer argued that a police affidavit failed to establish probable cause to believe Scott intended to keep the money.

Scott is also faces false-claims charges over a 2004 incident in which the City of Montpelier mistakenly overpaid his company for its work on a water line project.