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NEW BEDFORD -- Judge and former Mayor John A. Markey faces a three-month suspension for persuading another judge to dismiss a restraining order against a former city councilor and court employee, sources close to the investigation said.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct found that the out-of-court conversation with probate court Judge Prudence E. McGregor led to the dismissal of a restraining order against Nelson Macedo. Judge McGregor faces a two-month suspension for using the "ex parte" or out-of-court discussion in her decision, sources said.
FALL RIVER -- The Wampanoag gambling casino proposal for the city will be very similar to the one proposed in New Bedford, Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. said yesterday after meeting with tribal leader Beverly Wright.
The mayor sees the proposed casino as a spark for igniting potential plans for a sports/entertainment complex financed through $4.5 million in open space funds awarded to the city.
Ms. Wright, chairwoman of the tribal council of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, came to Government Center yesterday to discuss plans with Mayor Lambert.
By William Corey, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- One year after opening its doors, the New Bedford Art Museum has an operating budget of about $85,000, only $3,600 in the bank, trouble on the board of trustees and an uncertain future.
The degree of the museum's difficulties is a matter of debate.
Fall River and New Bedford educators are sounding some warning bells about Gov. William F. Weld's latest call to revamp bilingual education.
While they say they are not surprised by the governor's proposal -- he has floated similar plans in the past -- some are worried about limiting students' time in bilingual classes to three years.
Between them, the two SouthCoast cities enroll more than 1,400 pupils in bilingual classes.
By William Corey, and Carol Lee Costa-Crowell
Standard-Times staff writers
New Bedford and Fall River are gearing up for Earth Day celebrations beginning this weekend.
In New Bedford, Earth Day 1997 kicks off Saturday with a cleanup of Buttonwood Park and continues through the weekend with neighborhood sweeps, a fair, flea market and even a parade.
ROCHESTER -- There are three seasons in Rochester -- fall, winter and baseball.
From April to August, six days a week, baseball and softball are so popular that the town's two ball fields could sustain double the amount of games already played there.
WAREHAM -- Just added to the Wareham Fire District this week, the Shangri-La neighborhood is already bringing a candidate to the district election and an issue to the table.
Theodore Hatch is running for a Water Commission seat as a write-in candidate, he said, because his Shangri-La neighbors want him to.
Renee Lipson, founder of Stress Management Systems, a company that custom-designs seminars and workshops for stress management in the workplace, believes in holistic healing with the help of angels.
By Carol Lee Costa-Crowell, Standard-Times staff writer
FALL RIVER -- Renee Lipson believes in holistic healing with the help of angels.
The city resident raised a family of four children and still managed to go back to school and pick up a few degrees. Today, at 66 years old, she's a holistic counselor with a private practice here since 1991.
More...
DARTMOUTH -- The state Senate yesterday approved $300,000 in highway funds designated to improve three Route 6 intersections, guaranteeing the money will be included in a transportation bond bill.
State Rep. John Quinn, D-Dartmouth, added the road funds after requests from town officials, who were told they could not use state Chapter 90 road money on the state highway.
Story and photo by Hank Seaman
JERUSALEM -- Defiant in the face of an influence-peddling scandal, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed yesterday to hang tough through calls for his resignation. "We're not going anywhere," he told supporters.
The government, and efforts to revive the peace process, have virtually stopped while Israelis wait to find out whether prosecutors will follow police advice and charge the prime minister with fraud and breach of trust.
The police recommendation that Mr. Netanyahu and three key allies be charged in the scandal has fueled speculation about -- and calls for -- an early end to his stormy 10-month reign. Prosecutors' decision was expected by Sunday.
NEW YORK -- Bob Dole may have been the easiest loan officer Newt Gingrich could find.
Lending officers at some of the largest banks in the country said yesterday they would never extend credit to Newt Gingrich on the terms that he got from Mr. Dole.
The average consumer would never get a bank to take such a loan seriously, they said. It's also unclear what kind of collateral Rep. Gingrich will pledge in case of default.
By David Espo, Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- In a startling bid to close the books on his ethics case, Speaker Newt Gingrich announced yesterday he would borrow $300,000 from retired Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to pay a sanction imposed for violation of House rules.
Rep. Gingrich told a rapt audience in the House chamber he had a "moral obligation" to make the payment himself. Anything else, including establishment of a legal defense fund, he said, "would simply be seen as one more politician shirking his duty and one more example of failing to do the right thing."
By Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- Criminal defense lawyers demanded a congressional investigation of misconduct in the FBI crime lab as President Clinton moved yesterday to protect Frederic Whitehurst and other bureau whistle-blowers.
"We've had judges fooled, juries fooled and may have citizens in jail who shouldn't be in jail," said William Moffitt, vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "That is the people's business and Congress should look into it."
WASHINGTON -- Americans are deeply involved in their communities despite being wary of each other and distrustful of government, says a study released yesterday that challenges the idea that civic life is in decline.
A national poll by the Pew Research Center, combined with a case study of the Philadelphia area, found high rates of socializing and community interest along with significant levels of volunteering.
By Lisa Hoffman, Scripps Howard News service
WASHINGTON -- Top Pentagon officials yesterday slapped down speculation that the disappearance of an Air Force warplane is connected with either the upcoming anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing or the trial of two suspects now under way.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili, said a possible security threat at the command center for U.S. air defenses has come and apparently gone, and he dismissed similar speculation that there was any connection with the missing plane or bombing anniversary.
Security had been increased this week at the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, in Colorado Springs, Colo., after officials learned of a security threat, which they would not describe.
By The Associated Press
DEDHAM -- A 69-year-old man was ordered held on $500,000 bail yesterday on charges he drugged at least four women and raped them while they were unconscious, killing one in the process.
BOSTON -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts said yesterday it was splitting into three companies under plans to restructure and become more competitive.
But the changes would not affect members' health care coverage or benefits and employees' jobs would be "virtually unaffected," the company said.
NEW YORK -- Technology stocks struggled higher yesterday, but blue-chip shares faltered, halting a three-day rally that had nearly halved a month-long slide by the Dow Jones industrial average.
The Dow fell 21.27 to 6658.60 after giving back a 33-point gain that put the barometer of 30 big companies above 6700 for the first time in three weeks.
Hank Seaman
So, just because Mr. Big-Shot Photographer takes pictures for a living you think he knows everything there is to know about cameras, right?
Wrong!
Oh sure, every camera is designed with the same object in mind. You aim Camera A at Subject B and push Button C.
That's how you get D picture.
But believe me, locating Button C, especially in some of the more inexpensive models, can be a real challenge. Indeed, one of my more humiliating photographic moments -- and aren't I a big person to share it with you? -- took place when I couldn't instantly figure out the bells and whistles on one particular "idiot-proof" camera.
More...
HOME ALONE With another school vacation fast upon us, working parents may confront that tricky question of whether to leave their adolescent to his own devices. Here's some guidance from the experts in the field
Next week is school vacation, and therein lies a dilemma for many parents who double as bread-winners: keeping tabs on children too old, really, to be content in structured day programs, and yet, too young to be left to their own resources.
How do you maintain reasonable control when your child is in that tricky age group, anywhere from, say, 12 to 15 years old?
By Karyn Hunt, Associated Press writer
Like ghosts from another time, the revelers arrive in San Francisco's warm night air.
Willowy men in top hats and tails disembark from Model A Fords, their pencil-thin mustaches twitching with every step. An evening breeze catches the fringe of one flapper's dress, while snippets of conversation ride the notes of a swing band out to the street.
"You're looking swell, darling."
It would seem these are hard times for the glamour boys of boxing.
Consider: the invincible Mike Tyson gets kayoed by a "washed up" Evander Holyfield; Sugar Ray Leonard is embarrassed by Hector Camacho, and the unbeatable Roy Jones Jr. beats himself with a disqualification loss.
By Jimmy Golen, Associated Press writer
BOSTON -- Jose Mesa gave them an opening, but Reggie Jefferson closed it.
Mesa earned his first save since being acquitted on a rape last week, as the Indians played through the rain to end the Red Sox's four-game winning streak, 4-3.
Mesa pitched a scoreless ninth inning, getting pinch-hitter Jefferson to swing at a bad 3-and-2 offeing with runners on second and third to finish it.
By Dave Goldberg, Associated Press writer
NEW YORK -- For the last three months, Bill Parcells has been the NFL's central figure -- at the Super Bowl, in his fight to escape from New England, and, with the Jets, holding the first pick in the draft.
Parcells has finally stepped out of the spotlight.
When the NFL draft begins at noon on Saturday, the focus will shift to Orlando Pace, the 340-pound tackle from Ohio State who is easily the best player available. The Jets yesterday traded the No. 1 pick to the St. Louis Rams, who almost surely will take Pace.
By Buddy Thomas, Standard-Times Senior Sports Editor
Late in the afternoon of March 8, 1994, Kim Davis was exactly where she wanted to be.
For much of her freshman year at Fairhaven High School, the Round Gymnasium and Larch Avenue Auditorium were sanctuaries for the 14-year-old.
By Ed Duckworth, New England Sports Service
FOXBORO -- In an attempt to avoid being held hostage by the television in his living room, Ted Johnson volunteered to do odd jobs around his father's barbecue restaurant on Draft Day '95.
Trouble was, as soon as he reported for duty, Johnson discovered that somebody had tuned the TV set atop the bar to ESPN, which was providing round-the-clock coverage of football's college auction.
"So I got trapped into watching and suffering anyway," recalled the All-America linebacker. "After a while, it was kind of discouraging. I mean, I began to wonder whether anybody knew I was available."
For sale: Top five selection in the National Football League draft. Owner wants to sell quickly. Negotiable.
It's a buyer's market for top choices in this weekend's NFL draft in New York.
Although the draft's first five selections usually are coveted because they allow franchises to add a potential superstar, money concerns, free agency, and lack of impact players this year has teams looking to unload top picks. That has cheapened premium choices.
You won't find many feasibility studies like this one. An infectious enthusiasm runs through the preliminary descriptions of the proposed New Bedford Aquarium just released by Cambridge 7 Associates. And while the financial picture isn't yet in full focus, the conceptual picture is. The designers describe a place that is unlike all the aquariums and science museums that came before it, a new conceptual level in which people are drawn back to experience the sights, sounds and sensations time and again.
What is truly eye-opening, aside from the fact that this aquarium and the marine science "Explorium" adjacent to it will be larger than any in America, is that it could easily draw two million visitors a year to New Bedford. Two million people to a former power station on the New Bedford waterfront.
Sen. Hatch infuriates movement conservatives who really believe that he is a pitiful puppet of Ted Kennedy's manipulations; it doesn't make sense to them that a straight-laced Mormon supports raising sin taxes to help kids.
Exactly a year ago, Sen. Ted Kennedy was devastating Sen. Bob Dole as the Senate GOP leader rigidly resisted an increase in the minimum wage and a health-care initiative.
A few weeks later the frustrated Kansan quit to pursue his presidential quest full time. His replacement, Sen. Trent Lott, a shrewd Mississippi conservative, saw the futility of tilting at Sen. Kennedy's windmills. Shortly he cut a deal on both measures.
More...
By Lynn Elber, Asssociated Press entertainment writer
If "Selena" isn't the box-office breakthrough that proves a new era for Hispanic movie-making has begun, it seems to be close enough.
Close enough for young filmmaker Miguel Arteta, awaiting the release of his first movie in July. Mr. Arteta was thrilled when the trailer for his "Star Maps" preceded the debut of "Selena" at a Los Angeles theater.
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