Afternoon Report: Friday, May 16, 2025

This is WBZ Boston's news radio, redefining local news.

Seventy five degrees in Boston. We've got some beautiful puffy clouds out there. We'll get a look at the weekend forecast coming up. I'm Nicole Davis. It's four o'clock and here's what's happening. Testimony done for the day in the Karen Reid murder re trial. As WBZ Suzanne Sausville reports, forensic scientists from the State Police crime laber on the stand and the judge ruled against the defense on new evidence the state wants to introduce.

Ashph Leer testified that pieces of plastic found at the scene where John O'Keefe's body was found fit together to form the tailite from Reid's suv However, she also told defense attorney David Gannetti that she could not speak to the chain of custody of evidence from January twenty ninth to March fourteenth, when the lab got the evidence.

Do you know where Michael Practice stored this clothing during that six week period?

Now? Do you know how often he was alone with access to the clothing during that six week period?

Off?

Michael Proctor is the mass State Police trooper who led the investigation who was fired for inappropriate behavior. Defense attorney Robert Alessi argued the trial would need to be delayed four days if the prosecution were allowed to introduce a new crash report that he said changes the timeline. Prosecutor Hank Brennan's is nothing.

In the reports that changes his heart as a timeline.

That's just an attempt to cause fair. The judge ruled the new crash report can come in Suzanne so Osville WBZ, Boston's news radio.

State labor officials say the Massachusetts unemployment rate rose last month for the fourth straight month. The state's unemployment rate was over four percent in April, which is slightly higher than the national rate. Official say employees added about seventy seven hundred jobs in April, saying the job market remained stable quote despite economic headwinds. They say the uptick is due to more people entering the workforce and not more layoffs.

Fewer than two hours after Turkey's foreign minister opened the meeting. Of officials say the talks ended the Ukrainian officials as a low level Russian team made new unacceptable demands for Kiev's forces to leave huge swaths of land earlier.

Real chance to take important steps toward ending this war if only Putin had not been afraid to come to Turkya.

Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky ripped of Vladimir Putin for nixing an offer to meet face to face. As Putin was chairing a national security meeting, President Trump was saying, they will meet as soon as possible.

I think it's time for us to just do it.

The Kremlin suggests. Momentum for such a summit is growing. Saga Magani Washington.

And in New York. Singer Cassie Ventura has been finished testifying in the sex trafficking trial of her ex boyfriend Sean Diddy Combs. She was being crossed examined today about being attacked and beaten by Combs in a hotel back in twenty sixteen, after which she texted him quote, I'm not a rag doll. Combs is accused of drugging and beating Ventura and others and forcing them to participate in

Keep doing your thing.

Let's go Celtics.

I think we clothed it out on Monday.

You can't slow down the confidence of Celtics fans outside the garden. You just heard John from Medford who's commuting to work and he's already looking forward to Game seven on Monday night. Hold your horse's pal, We've still got to get through Game six tonight.

They come to play.

In Game seven, they take care of it.

Everywhere I turn, fans are keeping the faith. Remember there's no Jason Tatum. But in Game five the Celtics were able to spread the scoring around with an impressive showing, and they're hoping it can happen once again tonight at Madison Square Garden.

We're taking this Tonight.

Tip off is at eight o'clock. If the Celtics are able to get that win, it would be Game seven on Monday night. Here at the garden and then anything can happen. Reporting from Cosway Street Jim McKay WBZ, Boston's News Radio.

Republicans cannot seem to agree on the President's tax bill.

Several Republicans say the big Beautiful bill still needs work. Five of them voted against advancing the measure in the House Budget Committee. South Carolina's Ralph Norman says it doesn't cut enough.

Kyle smoking mares.

Further complicating matters for House Speaker Mike Johnson. GOP moderates opposed the bill, saying it doesn't do enough to restore the state and local tax deduction. Facing a self imposed Memorial Day deadline for passage in the House, Johnson will need to achieve near unanimity in his conference to get the measure into the Senate. Stephen Portnoy, ABC News Washington and at four.

Seven, this just into the WBZ Newsroom. The Supreme Court has now rejected a move by President Trump to quickly resume deportations of Venezuelans under a wartime law. In the seven to two ruling, the justices said the government did not give enough notice, and also that there were issues with a lower court ruling. Now the administration has leaned on the Alien Enemies Act to carry out its immigration immigration crackdown, claiming the US has been invaded by undocumented immigrants.