DNA clues hunted in ’90 art theft – FBI hopes technology can yield lead in Gardner Museum case
By Stephen Kurkjian – Globe Correspondent / March 4, 2010

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the theft of masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the FBI is resubmitting evidence taken from the crime scene for DNA analysis in hope of gaining a long-sought break in the case.

Because of advances in DNA analysis since the 1990 robbery, the lead agent in the case, Geoffrey Kelly, decided to send evidence to the FBI’s scientific laboratory in Quantico, Va., a spokeswoman in the FBI’s Boston office said.

The heist, which included three Rembrandts and a Vermeer, remains the world’s largest art theft in dollar value.

Kelly said he could not disclose the type of evidence to be reviewed, but others familiar with the case said it would probably include long strips of duct tape used to tie up the museum’s two night watchmen, whom the thieves overpowered to get access to the artwork.

“If they left any sweat on that duct tape, a sample could be drawn, and with that sample there’s the possibility of a result,’’ said Dr. Bruce Budowle, former senior scientist of the FBI’s Quantico lab.

Former Beth Israel employee convicted of embezzling more than $1m
By Globe Staff – March 3, 2010

A 42-year-old Boston man was convicted today of embezzling more than $1 million from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, federal prosecutors said.

Richard P. Webb pleaded guilty before US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro to one count of health care theft and embezzlement, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Webb worked as a practice assistant in the ear, nose and throat department. From January 2006 through April 2009, he embezzled more than $1 million by stealing checks written to the department and by seeking fraudulent refunds for hearing aids and other items.

Webb and the government have agreed to recommend a 42-month sentence, restitution and forfeiture of more than $1 million, the statement said. A sentencing hearing has been set for June 9.

MIT graduate student wins prize for work in genomics, linguistics
Carolyn Y. Johnson/, Globe Staff -  March 3, 2010

A graduate student who developed a method for sequencing the genome in 3-D, invented a shoe insole to help detect balance problems in the elderly, and studied the evolution of language was awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT student prize today.

Erez Lieberman-Aiden, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, is one of four winners of the prize, for a body of work that includes math, linguistics, and polymer physics.

As an intern at NASA, Lieberman-Aiden invented the iShoe — an insole with sensors that could be used to diagnose balance problems and reduce the risk of injury due to falling among senior citizens. He and his collaborators are currently testing the technology in clinical trials.

More recently, he and collaborators developed a method for 3-D genome sequencing, a technique that helps to explain how the genome folds up to fit into the nucleus of a cell.

He has also studied the evolution of language, finding that irregular verbs are disappearing from English in a predictable way.

Merman’s star power lifts ‘Phantom’
By Sandy MacDonald – Globe Correspondent / March 1, 2010

Ryan Landry and his Gold Dust Orphans are experts when it comes to sending up the grand old theatrical tradition of backstage backstabbing (consider their recent “All About Christmas Eve’’). Funny thing is, the company itself seems to operate without ego. When a drag star of international renown such as Varla Jean Merman happens to make herself available for a monthlong run, everyone graciously takes a step back, the better to showcase the visiting luminary.

In “Phantom of the Oprah’’ (yet another inspired pop-culture mash-up penned by Landry), Merman is very much front and center – and brilliant – as ingenue soprano Christine Daaé: amid bouts of brayed coloratura, she nails a few high notes that could strike fear in Sarah Brightman. From the moment Merman appears (in a pleated plaid parochial-school skirt, besequined and scandalously short – kudos as always to costume designer Scott Martino), she makes an ideal ingenue-in-distress, primping and pouting when not engaging in crude come-ons or suddenly zombified by some unseen force.

That would be Oprah (company regular Andre “Afrodite’’ Shoals), who during her final show – seen in flashback – announces her candidacy for the 2012 presidential race, only to have a mysterious veiled woman hurl acid in her face. Oprah takes refuge in the depths of a moldering historic theatre that she’d intended to turn into the Oprah School of Broadcasting, and the rest of the story you probably know – though not with these hilarious twists.