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BOSTON -- A routine proposal designed to jump-start stalled plans to build an Indian gambling casino in New Bedford went awry almost immediately yesterday as lawmakers discovered the bill they were filing might be flawed.
The snafu appears to have resulted when city councilors signed the wrong home rule petition, causing a discrepancy over bidding procedure that set off alarms on Beacon Hill when the bill was filed yesterday.
As a result, the bill's filing is being withheld to allow state lawmakers to confer with city officials.
NEW BEDFORD -- From his office in the historic district, architect Max Ferro sees families walking by on weekends, desperate for something to do.
Mr. Ferro envisions the old garages on Water Street replaced with retail shops and push carts traveling up and down the alleyways all summer long. The area would be bustling with tourists and traffic, as it was during the city's heyday when the seaport and whaling industries made it one of the richest cities in the world.
Summerfest, with an expected turnout of 100,000 people, could be the catalyst for this comeback, Mr. Ferro said.
NEW BEDFORD -- Calling them the "biggest impediment to progress the city has," the city council last night slashed $95,000 from the city's fiscal 1997 budget in hopes of taking "meter maids" off the street.
Proposed by City Council President George Rogers, the move cuts $95,182 from the $12.5 million police budget -- money that was earmarked to pay the salaries of the city's four parking attendants. By a 6 to 4 vote, councilors supported the cut, despite the thousands of dollars the attendants generate each year in parking tickets.
Natalie White, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- The McGraw quadruplets graduated yesterday, from intensive care in Providence to special care in New Bedford.
Kate, Patrick, Andrew and Michael McGraw -- who will be 3 weeks old Thursday -- were released from Women and Infants Hospital's Level III nursery and checked into the Level II nursery at St. Luke's Hospital, which offers special care but does not have respirators and other high-tech equipment.
Identical white envelopes, with the Acushnet Rubber Co. Inc.'s orange-and-black logo embossed on the upper left hand corner, were distributed to more than 600 of the company's workers yesterday afternoon and this morning.
While employees at other local businesses have been handed memos about downsizing or a plant closing in recent weeks, the workers at the city-based rubber products company found a check for an extra week's pay inside their envelopes.
NEW BEDFORD -- One year after a 12-year-old girl and another woman were strip-searched in a police cruiser, the department banned those types of searches in the field.
After a federal jury found the city and police department liable in the cell block death of a 32-year-old man, police installed video cameras to monitor the area.
And as talk of forming a civilian board to review complaints against officers continues, the department is fine-tuning and expanding the way it investigates and follows up on complaints from the public.
WAREHAM -- It was fairly smooth sailing last night for a set of regulations designed to keep both swimmers and windsurfers happy at Little Harbor Beach.
Selectmen unanimously approved most of the regulations, first discussed last week after last month's town meeting vote to make the beach open only to residents and their guests.
The rules define residents, seasonal residents and guests, and set limits on the number of sailboards on the beach on weekends.
NEW BEDFORD -- In the wake of the stabbing death of a 19-year-old at Stargazers Lounge, the city has ordered the club to shut for 30 days in a ruling described as one of the harshest in recent years.
The city's Licensing Board -- which originally allowed Stargazers to host an under-21 night last month -- said the business refused to cooperate with police the night of the killing and misled officials about what type of entertainment was being provided.
LAKEVILLE -- A rash of illegal dumping is likely now that the town is charging residents for trash disposal, Board of Health members said last night.
With that in mind, residents should start policing areas themselves by reporting illegal dumping to police and recording the license plate numbers of suspected dumpers, members said.
ROCHESTER -- The SEMASS waste-to-energy plant changed hands last night, a move union officials claim put nearly 150 of the plant's 200 employees out of work.
But officials from American Ref-Fuel, the Houston-based company that now operates the 100-acre facility, said the firm actually hired two-thirds of its work force from the existing union and it is now ready to start contract talks.
By Rachel G. Thomas, Standard-Times staff writer
FAIRHAVEN -- Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy 3rd held the pair of shiny, black alligator golf shoes in one hand and flashed his famous grin. "How much did you say these were?" he asked Titleist-Footjoy officials as they stood nearby in the company's Bridge Street showroom.
By Natalie White, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- Mary Enos, 85, struggles to keep current on her Medex coverage so it will help her pay for the eight prescription drugs she must take daily.
Her sister Laura is 84 and suffering from kidney failure. She pays more than $300 a month for prescription drugs.
Many seniors, Mrs. Enos said, are "being forced into poverty" because of the rising cost of medication. A member of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Mrs. Enos was one of several speakers at a rally yesterday supporting the Health Care Access bill that the state Senate is expected to take up next week.
The bill would place a 25-cent levy on cigarettes and cigars to provide senior citizens with prescription drug coverage and pay for health insurance for many disabled people and 80 percent of the state's uninsured children.
WASHINGTON -- Ending a bitterly divisive 14-month investigation, Senate Democrats concluded yesterday that President and Hillary Rodham Clinton were blameless in Whitewater while Republicans suggested the first lady hid misdeeds and presidential aides lied.
The special Whitewater Committee issued two reports -- one from each party's senators -- that disagreed on nearly ever major issue in an event cast in the long shadow of the presidential election.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Federal prosecutors charged Theodore Kaczynski in four of the bloodiest Unabomber attacks yesterday in an indictment calculated to bring the death penalty for the math professor-turned-hermit.
A federal grand jury charged Mr. Kaczynski in two fatal bombings in Sacramento in 1985 and 1995 and two attacks that maimed scientists at Yale and the University of California in 1993.
Both Sacramento attacks are covered by the new federal death penalty, the Justice Department said.
BEIJING -- China said yesterday it was advancing its own interests -- not giving in to American demands -- by launching a crackdown on illicit copying of American movies, music and computer programs.
A day after his country averted a trade war with the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang played down the U.S. role in getting China to move against copyright pirates.
"This by no means indicates that the Chinese side has made a major concession," he said at the ministry's weekly news briefing.
By Frazier Moore, Associated Press writer
If you were an alien creature who came to Earth to investigate its beings, and if, to blend in better, you assumed human form, then you could do a lot worse than Kristen Johnston's.
Not that Ms. Johnston herself blends in so great among the earthling population, come to think of it. She's 6 feet tall with legs that stretch for days, feline eyes and a laugh that sets you free. Sorry, she's quite the standout.
But more important for "3rd Rock from the Sun," the out-of-this-world-silly NBC sitcom that airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Ms. Johnston also is stand-out funny.
By Virginia Adams, Ottaway News service
E. Barrie Kavasch leans forward, accenting her words with a gentle wave of her hand. Although passionate about her subject -- Native American food -- her voice is soft and melodious.
Elizabeth Barrie Kavasch -- she's never used the Elizabeth -- was lunching in an Ecuadorean restaurant in Danbury, Conn., to talk about her new book.
Two books, actually: "Enduring Harvests: Native American Foods and Festivals for Every Season" and "EarthMaker's Lodge," a book she edited for children ages 8 to 14, which won the 1995 BookBuilders of Boston Award for Excellence in Graphic Arts.
Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery is celebrating its 10th birthday with the third annual Sparkling Wine Independence Day Gala on June 29.
By Sean McAdam, New England Sports Service
CLEVELAND -- Albert Belle was back in the Cleveland Indians lineup last night. The man who edged him out for the American League MVP award last year wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"I'm happy he's going to be playing," said Mo Vaughn. "He might as well play. If we beat them without him (in the lineup), people would say, 'Albert didn't play.' And if he beats us, he beats us."
Belle received word yesterday that his five-game suspension for an altercation with Fernando Vina in Milwaukee on May 31 had been reduced to three games.
WAREHAM -- Don Reed knows that fortunes can change quickly in summer league baseball.
"It usually takes a little while to find out exactly what you've got, but this team has already shown me a lot," said the manager of the Wareham Gatemen, who ran their record to 5-0 last night with a 3-1 victory over Falmouth under the lights at Spillane Field.
Wareham starter Pat Daneker kept the visitors guessing for 72/3 innings before Reed summoned reliever Clint Chrysler to nail down the victory.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
-- In a letter from Voltaire
I am a first amendment guy in a first amendment profession. Expressions --written or spoken -- are dear to me. They provoke thought; they provoke emotion. Sometimes, sadly, they also provoke retribution.
We've been without Marge Schott for a week now, and baseball is better for it. The Reds seem happier. Fans in Cincinnati seem happier. Certainly those in power in baseball are happier.
By Jim Stern, Standard-Times correspondent
You slowly build up courage to hop onto what appears to be a small instrument of death. You clench your teeth and pray to return to land alive. Your body is ripped back as you speed off at a speeds up to 60 miles per hour. Your ears turn beet red as the brutal wind tries to take them with you.
By Sean McAdam, New England Sports Service
CLEVELAND -- For the first inning and a half last night, the Red Sox looked poised to snap their 10-game losing streak against the Cleveland Indians.
But the Indians overtook them, as did the weather. The Indians pulled ahead in the fourth inning, rebounding against starter Aaron Sele. Following a rain delay of nearly two hours, the two teams resumed play and the Indians held an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
By Terri Likens, Associated Press writer
CHICAGO -- The rainbow-haired Dancing Rodmans were just a colorful sideshow in a celebration that brought thousands of fans to Grant Park yesterday to cheer for the NBA champion Chicago Bulls.
Fans applauded as each player was introduced, but did not wait to hear the name of Michael Jordan before breaking into a roar for the city's most beloved sports hero.
Jordan graciously acknowledged the adulation from a crowd in which barefoot people in T-shirts mingled with businessmen in buttoned-down shirts and suits.
By Rob Gloster, Associated Press writer
ATLANTA -- On the day after resurrecting her quixotic quest for Olympic glory, Mary Slaney finally rested her scarred 37-year-old legs.
That was almost as remarkable as the feat she pulled off in the 5,000 meters Monday at the U.S. track and field trials, where she capped an improbable comeback by finishing second to become an Olympian again.
It shouldn't take lawsuits to reform police policy in New Bedford, but it apparently does. In fact, it takes more than one big loss in civil court to even generate much discussion. Even now, after the Morris Pina death case and this week's $200,000 award by a jury in a strip search case, there is still an atmosphere of "never apologize, never explain."
By Lynn Elber, Associated Press television writer
Disability is a fact of life for 49 million Americans. For television, apparently, it was just another trend.
A decade ago, TV series welcomed actors with handicaps in roles that sometimes highlighted their condition or, better yet, presented them as simply part of the gang.
Now, say disabled performers and observers, television's portrait of American life is strangely devoid of those with physical difficulties -- and the industry has become less willing to hire the handicapped.
Mother finds escape with heroin
Basically, "Chasing the Dragon" (9 p.m., Lifetime) is a two-hour warning to middle-class women that using heroin is not a good idea. Is this really needed? Yes, Lifetime ominously insists: "(Heroin) has become the silent drug of the middle class." Maybe, but it's hard to imagine battalions of the bourgeoisie sighing after a long day, "Glass of Chablis or a snort of horse? I just can't decide!"
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