BRAINTREE, Mass.

Wrong ticket turns out right for $1 million lottery winner

When a store clerk gave a Massachusetts man a different kind of scratch-off lottery ticket than he asked for, he didn’t make a big deal about the mistake; he said he just “rolled with it.”

It was a good decision: He won $1 million.

Richard Brown of Taunton said he went into Gulf Taunton recently and asked for a $5 “Blue Ice 7s” ticket, but the clerk was distracted and instead gave him a “Sizzlin 7s” ticket.

Brown selected the cash option on the prize and received a one-time lump sum payment of about $430,000 after taxes. He plans to use the money for a new roof on his home and a trip to San Francisco.

The store gets a $10,000 commission.

WOBURN, Mass.

Search resumes for remains of teen missing two decades

A new search has been launched for the remains of a teenage girl missing for more than 20 years.

Private searchers looked at a small patch of woods in Woburn on Friday for clues to the disappearance of Melanie Melanson, who was 14 when she vanished in 1989 after attending a party in the woods. They plan to resume on Saturday.

Mike Garrigan, a private investigator, said evidence over the past year has led them to believe Melanie’s remains are in the area.

The evidence includes tips, soil tests that came back positive for human decomposition, and positive responses from cadaver sniffing dogs.

No one has ever been charged in the case.

Although police have been on hand to observe, no law enforcement agency is involved.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Governor’s son charged in underage drinking party

The 18-year-old son of Gov. Lincoln Chafee has been charged with violating the state’s “social host” law in connection with an alleged underage drinking party at the family’s horse farm, authorities said Friday.

A summons was issued for Caleb Chafee to appear Wednesday in Washington County District Court on one count of violating the law that prohibits people from allowing consumption of alcohol on their property by those under age 21.

The governor said in a statement that said he and his wife take the matter seriously and have been “concerned and disappointed by the details of the event in question.”

A state police report leaked to WPRO-AM said Caleb Chafee asked an 18-year-old woman to leave the Memorial Day party on the family’s Exeter horse farm after she started vomiting; it said the governor’s son “told us to call 911 only after we were off his property.”

A classmate who attended the party told police she drank Bud Light and raspberry-flavored vodka but said she didn’t know who provided it, according to the report. The classmate told police that the woman who became ill was throwing up into buckets and trash cans. She was later treated for alcohol poisoning.

A conviction for violating the social host law would carry a penalty of up to $500. It could also mandate an educational program on the dangers of underage drinking and 30 hours of community service.

Caleb Chafee pleaded no contest in May to allegations that he tried to buy beer at a Jamestown liquor store a month earlier. A judge fined him $100, which he paid. His lawyer, Peter DiBiase, has said a judge expunged the case from his record.

Chafee graduated this year from Portsmouth Abbey School.

BARNSTABLE, Mass.

Officer charged with twice driving drunk in Vermont

A Barnstable police officer is under investigation by his own department after he was charged twice in Vermont with drunken driving.

Chief Paul MacDonald says Officer Scott Kynoch was arrested on May 26 in South Burlington, Vt., and charged with operating under the influence. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at his arraignment.

MacDonald told the Cape Cod Times that Kynoch was arrested by Vermont State Police in Williston, Vt., on July 13 on a driving under the influence charge. He has not yet been arraigned in that case.

The 48-year-old Kynoch is a 23-year veteran.

He’s been assigned to desk duty pending the results of the department’s internal affairs investigation for allegedly violating ethics and conduct standards.

Kynoch could not be reached for comment.

HAMDEN, Conn.

Bedbug infestation forces library to close for weekend

The Hamden library is closing for the weekend to get rid of bedbugs.

Nancy McNicholl, interim director of the Miller Memorial Library, told the New Haven Register a specially trained dog began checking the library this week after a woman found bugs in a book.

McNicholl said a few infested books were found in the lower level stacks and removed for heat treatment. Then the dog found a few more isolated bedbugs Friday morning. The library’s other branches will be checked Saturday.

Mayoral aide Curt Leng said the town is also checking the nearby senior center and hall. He said people who want to return library materials are asked to put them in zip-closing plastic bags.

The Middletown Library had a similar problem last month but officials doubt it’s related.