Former Boston city councilor to begin prison term

Former Boston city councilor to begin prison term

A former Boston city councilor convicted of taking a $1,000 bribe will begin serving his three year sentence in the coming week.

Chuck Turner was convicted in October of taking the bribe from a businessman who was cooperating with the FBI. He was also convicted of lying to the FBI.

Turner is scheduled to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Friday to begin serving his sentence in West Virginia.

Prosecutors said Turner accepted a wad of cash in 2007 during a handshake with a businessman seeking help getting a liquor license. Turner testified he didn’t remember his meeting with the businessman, which was secretly captured on FBI video.

The 70-year-old Turner, a longtime community activist, was expelled from the City Council after his conviction. 

Another Mass. health insurer suspends board pay

Massachusetts’ fourth-largest health insurer has joined the state’s largest nonprofit service provider in suspending pay for its board of directors.

Fallon Community Health Plan announced on Friday that its directors have voluntarily suspended their compensation effectively immediately.

Spokeswoman Christine Cassidy says Fallon’s directors compensation is the “most modest among Massachusetts-based insurance carriers,” averaging between $13,900 and $23,425 annually in 2010.

The boards for Tufts Health Care Plan and Harvard Pilgrim will meet later this month to discuss whether to follow the advice of Attorney General Martha Coakley and stop taking five-figure annual payments.

That announcement came after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said it will suspend payments to its directors at least through this year, and consider changing its legal structure.

Coakley called Fallon’s decision “a positive first step” and urged Tufts and Harvard Pilgrim to follow suit.

Associated Press