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By William Corey, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- It's with a mix of caution, hope and enthusiasm that local Puerto Ricans watch the fate of their homeland being debated on Capitol Hill.
As the move to turn the Caribbean island into America's 51st state gains steam, local residents still are not sure what to make of the bill that would allow Puerto Ricans living on the island to choose between remaining a U.S. commonwealth, becoming a full-fledged state or a completely independent nation.
The contributions of Azorean whalemen are bound to get some more attention thanks to the Portuguese government's decision to donate $500,000 to the New Bedford Whaling Musuem.
Jaime Gama, Portugal's Secretary of State for the Outside Communities, will present the gift, to go toward establishing an Azorean Whaling gallery, during a March 18 ceremony.
NEW BEDFORD -- Three weeks after Senate Majority Leader Thomas C. Norton endorsed someone else for lieutenant governor, New Bedford Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny said he will not run for that post.
After months of toying with the decision, Sen. Montigny, the former president of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce and a five-year legislator, said he consulted with dozens of constituents, friends and fellow politicians -- all of whom had differing opinions on whether he should jump into a statewide contest.
By Carol Lee Costa-Crowell, Standard-Times staff writer
WESTPORT -- Midnight dumpers struck again yesterday, tossing six rusted and leaking 55-gallon drums along a ¼-mile stretch of Narrow Avenue.
It's the third time in recent months that barrels which once held hazardous wastes have been found on town roads.
Officials said each of the barrels in yesterday's incident had several punctures in them, but that leaks into the soil were minimal.
Susan Pawlak-Seaman
Been doing a lot of thinking lately. About trust.
Matters of trust. In God we trust. Who do you trust? Who can you trust?
Breach of trust.
Not that we're talking about everyone. We're not talking about your husband or your wife or your significant other. Or your kids or your best friend or your parents. Or your dog or your cat.
More...
By Paul Recer, Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- Enough water is frozen in the loose soil of the moon to support a lunar base and perhaps one day build a human colony there, NASA scientists said yesterday.
"We are certain there is water there," said Alan Binder, a lead scientist for the Lunar Prospector spacecraft, which made the discovery. "We think we are seeing between 10 million and 100 million tons of water."
By John Affleck, Associated Press writer
CLEVELAND -- Prosecutors yesterday refused to reopen an investigation into the slaying of Dr. Sam Sheppard's wife despite new DNA tests his defenders say will finally clear him of the 1954 killing.
Though she had not seen the test results released at a news conference earlier in the day, county prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones said they would be inadmissible in court because they were run on contaminated, 44-year-old samples.
WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of thousands of Americans who had blood transfusions years ago will receive letters warning they may have been infected with hepatitis C, a serious liver infection that often shows no symptoms for years.
"We know that many Americans infected with hepatitis C are unaware they have the disease," newly installed Surgeon General David Satcher told a House subcommittee yesterday.
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton denounced the leak of his sworn testimony about Monica Lewinsky yesterday, while presidential friend Vernon Jordan denied his assistance to Clinton's former intern had any sinister motive.
Jordan, a prominent lawyer and Clinton confidant, said that while he kept the president apprised of his effort to find Ms. Lewinsky a lawyer and a job, he was not trying to influence a statement she filed in the Paula Jones case denying a sexual relationship with Clinton.
LOS ANGELES -- Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung was charged yesterday with funneling at least $20,000 in illegal contributions to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign in a plea bargain with the government.
Chung, 43, is the fourth person charged in the last five weeks in the Justice Department's probe into finance abuses during the 1996 campaign.
BOSTON -- Abandoned in a restaurant by the man who beat her, Anne paid the bill and walked out the door. But her abuser, who was waiting outside, tried to run her over with his car and then chased her down an alley.
"I remember running -- afraid, alone and powerless," said Anne, who didn't want her last name used, speaking at a Statehouse ceremony yesterday.
By Jean McMillan, Associated Press writer
BOSTON -- A Watertown widow who phoned in the winning combination to a $21 million lottery prize was declared the winner yesterday by the executive director of the state lottery.
Sam DePhillippo said he found 72-year-old Paraskeve Kantges (see photo) more credible than the convenience store owner who held the winning ticket.
Following the announcement of the decision, Treasurer Joe Malone called on Nick Havan, who runs Coolidge Provisions in Watertown, to back away from his claim.
BOSTON -- House Speaker Thomas Finneran yesterday unveiled a third, and probably final, major tax cut proposal for Massachusetts taxpayers.
His plan -- which joins ones already introduced by Senate President Thomas Birmingham and acting Gov. Paul Cellucci -- calls for a single income tax rate of 5.7 percent on the income tax, the unearned income tax and the capital gains tax.
Hank Seaman
Every town's got one.
A favorite watering hole where all the jocks -- young, old, and in-between -- can come to swap stories.
Share a laugh. Have a cup of cheer.
So it is with my home town. There's a wonderful place that I remember fondly. When I was a kid coming of age it was the in place to be for anybody who had played sports in our tiny burg. Everybody in my crowd -- both the athletes and wannabes -- couldn't wait to turn 21. We burned to take our place alongside the sports heroes of our youth.
More...
By Rachel G. Thomas, Standard-Times staff writer
There she is, Miss New Bedford.
No, there she is. Wait a minute, she's over there. And isn't that ...
Pageant partisans should have no trouble picking out their favorite contestants during the big show Sunday afternoon at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School. But members of the audience might be forgiven some delighted bewilderment during a couple of production numbers.
SALEM -- They've been the comeback kids all season, but the magic ran out for UMass Dartmouth last night in a hard-fought 86-78 overtime loss to Plymouth State in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Jason Antonio, Tony Moreira and John Madden all fouled out for UMD, but the sixth-seeded Corsairs were still in the game down the stretch and didn't see the game slip away until Edwidge Bourgogne scored on an offensive rebound to make it 82-78 with 1:03 left in the overtime.
On FridayBob Hanna
Isn't it comforting that we have sportswriters dictating the moral standards by which we should measure professional athletes?
Sportswriters. Those paragons of virtue, those pillars of prudence, those temples of temperance, those guardians of goodness.
God, mother, apple pie and the crusading sportswriter. God bless America.
More...
By Alec Sylvia, Standard-Times correspondent
SANDWICH -- After clinching the SCC Championship with a 14-6 record and winning their first two tournament games, the Lakers learned a hard lesson in last night's Division 3 South Sectional semifinal against Carver.
"I told my kids that all good things come to an end," said Laker coach Mitch Kuliga after last night's 65-58 loss to the Crusaders. "That's what life is about. We had been on a roller-coaster ride for a long time."
In the Nov. 30, 1997 issue of the New York Times Magazine, I was surprised to read an article called "Getting Credit for Being White." The article, written by Margaret Talbot, focuses on studies devoted to the exploration of white culture and white privilege.The bibliography led me to two books on the subject, one "White By Law," by Ian F. H. Lopez, and the other entitled "White Trash," by Matt Wray and Annalee Newitz; more about those later.
SHOW LOW, ARIZONA Even from a distance, it is easy to see that trouble is brewing in Fall River concerning the high stakes bingo/casino development plans of the Wampanoag Tribe and the city. This trouble is, actually, no surprise.
To begin with, the Massachusetts Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1987, approved by Congress and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, expressly provides that the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, expressly laws regulating or prohibiting bingo and games of chance, apply to all the land of the Wampanoag Tribe, including land that might be taken into trust by the federal government for the Tribe after 1987. Nothing in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act changed this or could change this, because IGRA expressly assimilates state law.
Any defendant in a criminal case would have jumped at the chance for this treatment. Charged with a crime, and expecting an arraignment before a judge, you instead are brought before a clerk magistrate for a show cause hearing -- but nobody tells the police who made the arrest, so the police in turn can't notify the complainants, who because of that won't be there at the hearing to testify. And because they don't show up, the charges are dropped.
Wendi Wasserstein's "The Heidi Chronicles" is a much-acclaimed play, a work of wit and warmth. It's edgy and intelligent, packed with emotional power and sheer fun.
The current production at the Black and White Theatre in Middleboro, directed by Peter Carey, shows finesse and flair. It's a vivid and engaging production that taunts and teases its way into your mind and heart.
By Rosanne Pagano, Associated Press writer
Mary Hood knows the Greek classics and she knows the Iditarod.
In her mind, they're pretty interchangeable.
"It's people challenging themselves to see what they can really do," said Hood, whose 409-page hardback "A Fan's Guide to the Iditarod" is a one-stop source on Alaska's 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Friday nights have proven to be a graveyard of sorts for some of this season's weakest comedies. Who can forget "Meego"? Remember "You Wish"? Now ABC has moved its feeble laugh-fest "Hiller and Diller" (9:30 p.m., TV-G) to a new night and time. Kevin Nealon and Richard Lewis are Ted and Neil, two comedy writers who toil for the sad sack producer Gordon (Eugene Levy). Whatever comic sparks ensue from this showbiz subplot are extinguished by the contrived collision of their family values. Ted raises his brood like a Tim Allen wannabe while Neil seems to take parenting tips from Andrew Dice Clay. Sparks fly tonight when Neil's son Zane shows romantic interest in Ted's daughter Lizzie. If watching a brash, leather-clad 13-year-old renting a stretch limousine for a first date is your idea of family fun, go ahead, tune in. Lewis, who has been sporadically amusing in his career as a watered-down Woody Allen style neurotic seems completely lost in this vanilla sitcom.
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