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HAVERHILL — The former head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority admitted Tuesday that he was driving drunk when he crashed his SUV into two parked cars in August. Matthew Amorello was ordered to give up his driver's license for 45 days and to pay more than $500 in fines. Under his admission to "sufficient facts" to charges of operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident, Amorello did not plead guilty, but acknowledged that if the case went to trial, there would be sufficient evidence for a jury to convict. Judge Stephen Abany continued his case without...

When Haverhill police found the state’s former Big Dig boss Matthew J. Amorello early Saturday morning, he was alone and allegedly disoriented, seated in his smashed up 1999 Ford Explorer in a Mercedes dealership parking lot, police said. Only three wheels remained on his SUV. There, in the mostly vacant industrial side of town, the man who oversaw the massive $14.6 billion public works project was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of property damage. Police said he had hit a 1999 Saab and a 2005 Dodge Magnum as he made his...

Matthew Amorello, the disgraced former “Big Dig” honcho who resigned after a fatal tunnel collapse, was arrested for drunken driving early yesterday morning in Haverhill, police said. Amorello, 52, of Wenham was arrested about 2 a.m. on River Street near a tire shop. He was taken to the Bailey Boulevard police station and booked for operating under the influence as well as two counts of leaving the scene of property damage, police said. Police would not say whether Amorello submitted to a breathalyzer nor would they discuss details of the police report. He was held in the lockup until about...

CBS4) BOSTON: Turnpike Chairman Matt Amorello has agreed to resign, effective August 15th. CBS4's Jon Keller has also learned Amorello will also relinquish his spot on the turnpike board. Amorello announced his decision around 8 a.m. Thursday, an hour before a scheduled hearing in the governor's office during which Gov. Mitt Romney planned to seek his removal. He lost a bid in the state's highest court Wednesday to postpone the hearing and his ultimate dismissal. "I think this is good news for the commonwealth, the right step for Matt Amorello to have taken," Romney said. "Clearly it will save the...

Exclusive An ambulance racing to get a heart attack victim to the hospital was snagged in Big Dig tunnel gridlock, turning what should have been a four-minute trip into a desperate 24-minute ordeal that ended with the man’s death, public safety and transportation sources said. (snip) A police escort led the ambulance through the westbound Ted Williams Tunnel and onto surface streets through South Boston, a transportation source said. A public safety source said, however, that due to gridlock in the westbound side, the ambulance was led through the eastbound side of the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel, which was closed...

BOSTON (AP) - Gov. Mitt Romney ordered an immediate shutdown of the Ted Williams Tunnel's eastbound lanes Thursday as the investigation continued into a deadly collapse of ceiling panels in a connecting tunnel. No reasons for the closure were immediately released. The governor has been overseeing the inspections of the Big Dig tunnels since shortly after the fatal accident July 10 that killed Milena Del Valle, 38, as she and her husband drove to the airport. The Ted Williams Tunnel was a key part of the city's massive Big Dig project and leads from Boston to Logan International Airport. The...

WRKO suspended talk-show host John DePetro yesterday for using a slur for "homosexual" in reference to Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello. The morning host, who calls himself "The Independent Man," was suspended for two days after using the epithet on the air during a discussion of Amorello's conduct following the ceiling collapse of the I-90 connector. DePetro called Amorello "[expletive] Matt," adding, "I don't mean gay [expletive]. I mean like he's a sissy boy. He's a little sissy boy." Neither DePetro nor Amorello returned calls late yesterday, but WRKO program director Jason Wolfe said the station has "zero tolerance...

BOSTON It will be at least "a couple of months" before problems in the entire Big Dig highway system are repaired and the roads reopened, Gov. Mitt Romney said on Sunday, the same day another ramp was closed to traffic because of what he called a "systemic failure." The work in the tunnel closed Sunday, a quarter-mile-long ramp, is expected to last at least several days and comes nearly a week after the collapse that crushed a car carrying Milena Del Valle, 38. The closure was ordered because of potential problems with 40 of the bolts that hold up the...

BOSTON -- A Boston law firm has agreed to represent the state for free as Gov. Mitt Romney seeks to remove Matthew Amorello as chairman and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority following the death this week of a turnpike motorist. WilmerHale -- the entity resulting from the merger of Hale & Dorr of Boston and Wilmer Cutler & Pickering of Washington -- has agreed to represent the state on a pro bono basis, according to Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's communications director. Amorello is expected to be represented by the Turnpike Authority. A WilmerHale spokeswoman was researching the...

Some say chief of turnpike will pay political price By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | July 12, 2006 The Legislature has frequently rallied behind Matthew J. Amorello during his stormy tenure as chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, but yesterday he had few defenders on Beacon Hill. Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, who has been an Amorello ally, refused repeated requests to comment about Amorello, a former Republican senator known for his ties to his former colleagues in the State House. Six lawmakers and legislative staff members who were interviewed said privately that Amorello will pay a political price in...

BOSTON Gov. Mitt Romney said he's taking legal action to remove Matt Amorello as head of the Big Dig after a woman was crushed to death by falling cement in one of its tunnels. Romney said nobody can feel comfortable driving through the tunnels. Romney told reporters Tuesday afternoon that Amorello has "undermined public safety" through what he calls "leadership failures." He also said Amorello is “over his head” in the job and Romney wants to start a nationwide search for a replacement. CBS4 has learned the attorney general has now launched a criminal probe into Monday night’s collapse in...

The Romney administration laid out its argument Tuesday for why Matthew Amorello should be fired as chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, saying his poor job performance is "ongoing, worsening, and in certain respects irreversible." Gov. Mitt Romney is seeking an advisory opinion from the state's highest court on whether he has the authority to demote Amorello, who has long feuded with the governor over the Big Dig. In a legal brief filed in support of that request, Mark D. Nielsen, Romney's chief legal counsel said "the Gov. believes that the chairman's performance failures as MTA CEO have caused serious...

BOSTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney called on Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello to resign on Friday, citing ongoing management troubles at the Big Dig, including recent revelations about hundreds of leaks in the $14.6 billion project's main tunnel. Romney has long sought to bring the independent authority under the control of the state transportation department, saying the move would bring make the Turnpike Authority, which oversees the massive highway project, more accountable to voters.