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By Joe Beaird and Rachel Thomas,
DARTMOUTH -- Most incumbents fared well in town elections yesterday, as selectmen Robert D. Miller and Enid M. Silva and School Committee member Gale M. Schultz won re-election by comfortable margins.
Raymond Souza and John Cabral, who challenged the incumbents for a slot on the board of selectmen, finished third and fourth respectively.
FAIRHAVEN -- Attorney Winfred Eckenreiter cruised to victory to become the town's newest selectmen last night while former student school representative Mark D. Sylvia led the School Committee field which also saw incumbent Natalie S. Hemingway re-elected.
The town's Board of Health race was in a virtual dead heat between incumbent Raymond L. Richard and challenger Barbara A. Acksen until absentee ballots decided it in the incumbent's favor by 17 votes.
By Paul Gately, Standard-Times correspondent
ACUSHNET -- The bells of St. Francis struck six last night as voting in the town election pushed into its final two hours, but the tolling seemed symbolically to signal the political change well under way.
David E. Wojnar swept all three precincts to be elected a selectman in a four-way race, while all three challengers bested incumbents on the Board of Public Works by a 2-to-1 margin.
DARTMOUTH -- In a referendum that went to the wire, voters narrowly approved -- by 37 votes -- a plan to fund a new high school on Bakerville Road.
The tally was 2,643 votes for the school, 2606 against.
FALL RIVER -- The Wampanoag bingo hall proposal is just about dead after a city council vote failed to tally the needed two-thirds majority last night.
The final vote was 5-4 but a two- thirds majority was needed for the Redevelopment Authority's Urban Renewal Plan to pass.
Dick White
Everett O'Brien shifts on the stool inside the one-man shack, frosty white hair peaking out beneath his baseball cap, and says goodnight to a pretty customer as she drives out of the Kerwin Memorial Parking Garage.
"I know all the girls by name," he says. "They all know me. Some of them give me little gifts at Christmas time."
More...
UNITED NATIONS -- Britain and France today became the first nuclear powers to ratify a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests and called on others to join them.
Representatives from the two countries turned over documents to the United Nations stating their government's acceptance of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
By Terence Hunt, Associated Press correspondent
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton blocked the import of 1.6 million military-style rifles yesterday, saying Americans do not need an Uzi or AK-47 for hunting deer or skeet shooting. "These are military weapons, weapons of war," Clinton said.
The order bars 58 high-powered, foreign-made guns with large-capacity magazines after a finding that they failed to meet an exemption to U.S. gun laws as a sporting rifle. Most of the affected guns were variations of the AK-47 and Uzi semiautomatic weapons.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The American chairman of Northern Ireland's peace talks presented a draft accord yesterday spelling out how the province should be governed, a document that one negotiator called "the most pivotal point" in the turbulent region's history.
Capping a 22-month effort to broker a compromise, former Sen. George Mitchell delivered his 30-page document shortly before midnight to the eight parties involved in Irish peace talks.
WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Federico Pena, the only Hispanic in the Cabinet, announced his resignation yesterday, saying he will leave the administration at the end of June to be closer to his family.
Pena's departure had been expected sometime this year. After four years as transportation secretary, Pena took the energy post reluctantly as President Clinton's second term began.
By Robert Jablon, Associated Press writer
PASADENA, Calif. -- The "Mars Face" got its picture snapped for the first time in two decades and guess what? It's a face-off.
The formation in the image beamed back to Earth from the Mars Global Surveyor and released yesterday looks like everything from a sandal print to a stuffed chili pepper -- everything, that is, but a face.
"It's a butte, a mesa, a knob," said Michael Ravine, advanced projects manager at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which operates Surveyor's camera.
BOSTON -- House Speaker Thomas Finneran yesterday put the Cape Cod land bank bill back on the fast track, unveiling a proposal that would raise money for open space preservation by raising local real estate taxes and Cape Cod's hotel/motel tax.
The plan includes a provision for state matching funds, but the tax increases that are its two other elements will require approval by Cape voters.
BOSTON -- Community banks have lined up against big banks in a war of words over a possible ban on ATM surcharges.
The weapon of choice: studies.
On Monday, the Community Bank League of New England released the third study in a week showing the impact of extra ATM fees. The study showed extra fees could cost the commonwealth's community banks more than 500,000 customers.
PITTSFIELD -- Federal officials said yesterday they would move ahead with plans to clean up pollution around the city and in the Housatonic River under the federal Superfund.
Cleaning up the contaminants from a former General Electric Co. transformer plant could take several years and cost up to $500 million, according to Bryan Olson of the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency said it would sue GE for triple the cost of the cleanup and order fines of up to $27,500 per day.
NEW YORK -- Stocks closed above 9000 for the first time, vaulting into record territory today on news of a mammoth financial services merger.
At the close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.82 at 9033.23. The barometer of blue-chip stocks hit 9000 for the first time early Friday, only to close nearly 17 points short.
National Semiconductor plans to combine most of the devices used in personal computers in a single silicon chip, which could bring PC prices down to less than $500.
The "PC on a chip" would replace a dozen or more components typically found in a PC today, National said. The company plans to have the device in high volume production by mid-1999.
NEW YORK -- If Travelers Group pulls off its proposed merger with Citicorp, families will be able to take care of all their financial needs -- from checking accounts to life insurance -- under the same red umbrella.
Yesterday's announcement that the insurance and brokerage giant and the nation's second-largest bank planned to merge in the biggest corporate deal ever stunned and thrilled Wall Street.
Baby boomers who once were "Feelin' Groovy" and who now are delighted to be "Feelin' Anything," take heart. Your multimedia PC can provide a psychedelic trip that grooves with the music and doesn't conflict with either your blood pressure medication or the law.
Provided, that is, you have a copy of ScreenDance 98 from Madeira Software of Beverly, Mass.
It was the German religious reformer Martin Luther who said, "If you're not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there."
The Rev. Lowell D. Streiker, a Christian comedian, agrees. He is continuing a tradition dating back to Jesus of allowing humor to be part of the religious lives of individuals.
Buddy Thomas
A simple invitation that quickly developed into a full-blown rumor has led to a one-game suspension for Bishop Stang boys' basketball coach Joe Balestracci.
The suspension was handed down last Friday, when the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's rule committee decided to punish Balestracci for violating the rule regarding illegal recruiting.
More...
BOSTON -- The Carolina Hurricanes blew into town last night and played with a purpose. The Bruins seemed content just to make up the numbers.
Carolina goalie Trevor Kidd stopped 27 shots and earned his third consecutive shutout in the 3-0 victory.
Kidd and the Hurricanes trail the Ottawa Senators by two points for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot.
Compiled from staff reports
The third time was the charm for the Fairhaven girls tennis team, as it won its first match on its third try yesterday afternoon, squeezing out a victory over SCC rival Case, 3-2.
Alison Carey was the lone singles winner, pulling out her three-set match with Kacie Jordan, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, at third singles.
WASHINGTON Successful revolutions often end not by losing power but by losing their way. So it has been for the House Republican revolution that followed the election of 1994.
Before quitting town for an extended spring break, the House GOP's leadership provided a spectacle of disarray and clumsy self-interest worthy of the old Democratic House at its worst.
Just on the odds, it is beginning to look approximately 99.87 percent certain that Bill Clinton has done bad things. He bonked Gennifer Flowers, which isn't so bad. But he also probably pawed and very crudely propositioned Paula Jones. He may also have pawed and very crudely propositioned Kathleen Willey. He or his staff also may (or may not) have misused FBI files, abused former employees of the White House travel office, benefited from the doings of financial shysters, paid hush money to a crony, raised campaign funds in highly creative ways, and variously played fast and loose with this rule and that one.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tammy Wynette, who rose from beautician to "the first lady of country music" with hits including "Stand by Your Man," died yesterday. She was 55.
Wynette, who had a history of health problems, died last evening at her home, said spokesman Wes Vause. The cause of her death was not immediately disclosed.
Renee Zellweger sits on the very edge of an overstuffed chair in a posh hotel room, seemingly eager to talk. She has the nervous energy of a hummingbird, clasping and unclasping her long fingers and fiddling with her pencil straight black linen skirt -- a tomboy sportswoman trying to adapt to the uncomfortable trappings of glamour.
She's wearing nothing on her luminous face but the sweetly goofy grin that melted hearts and vaulted her to stardom following her role opposite Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire."
Tonight marks a TV first. The premiere of "The Oak Ridge Boys Live From Las Vegas" (8 p.m., TNN, TV-G) is the first variety show to originate from America's gaming capital. That's incredible. From its earliest years, even before Las Vegas changed its image from a high-stakes rat-pack hangout to a family-friendly theme park, it was a center of singing, dancing and live entertainment. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, heck, even Ronald Reagan, did Vegas shows in the 1950s. The desert gambling mecca is way overdue for a TV showcase.
While you're assembling the treats you'll be putting in your child's Easter basket, don't forget to include a book. Two tiny board books for little children that have a nice story line and are magical to look at are "Squirrel's Friends" by Gaby Goldsack and "The Rainbow" by Kate Davies, both a Reader's Digest Young Families Book, published by Joshua Morris Publishing. Another classic is "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams.
FALL RIVER -- Yvette Tardif doesn't know if she took tamoxifen or a placebo during a recent, groundbreaking medical study that suggests the drug may cut breast cancer rates by half, but the Fall River grandmother said the treatment made her feel better either way.
"It may not help me, but it could help someone in the future. It could help the little girls growing up now," said Mrs. Tardif, one of five local women to participate in the study through the Hudner Oncology Center at St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River.
By Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press writer
Here's a real jolt for coffee drinkers: Researchers say there's a good chance that mugs kept at the office are crawling with countless critters, some harmless and some not.
Tiny troublemakers -- including scary stuff like E. coli -- are having population booms because people don't carefully wash out their cups or disinfect sinks and preparation areas in most offices.
It's hard to react to that often-heard child's complaint of a stomachache.
Maybe your child just ate too many potato chips or maybe she is trying to get out of taking that history test she didn't study enough for. Or maybe this is a sign that something's really wrong. If you're usually stymied by this situation (and get even more confused when other symptoms like fever and vomiting are added to the mix), you're not alone.
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