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By Joe Beaird, Standard-Times staff writer
FREETOWN -- Workers scoured Assonet Bay yesterday, blotting motor oil from the surface of the brackish water in the second day of cleanup after a truck spilled 4,500 gallons of oil Sunday morning.
Cleanup workers said yesterday that less than 200 gallons spilled in the truck crash actually reached the water, but area residents still worried about damage to water and wildlife yesterday.
"I think what hit the river is between 100 and 200 gallons," estimated Richard F. Packard, head of the cleanup crew for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
A state biologist estimated that as many as 25 geese might have been contaminated, but none were in serious danger.
By Jack Stewardson, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- William D. Whipple helped pioneer the offshore lobster trap fishery in the 1960s by taking traps offshore in a 45-foot fishing boat.
In the 1980s the Westport man was tapping a largely virgin population of red crabs found along the edge of the continental shelf.
Now he has his sights set on a different crab -- a golden crab -- in a different location: off the Florida Keys.
And it will be a family affair.
Mr. Whipple and his two sons, Eric and Brad, are currently converting and rigging the former eastern rigged dragger Falcon into a pot fishing boat.
HAVANA -- The faithful sang and prayed yesterday in the streets of Havana, and Cubans of every persuasion -- Catholic, communist and curious -- awaited a papal visit that many said could be a turning point for their nation.
On the eve of John Paul II's first visit ever to Cuba, the communist government was still laboring to patch and pretty up sections of the crumbling capital, which has been ravaged by a collapsed national economy.
Crews poured and steamrolled fresh asphalt over the cracked and potholed roads, traveled by rusted and creaking old cars and trucks. Workers sprayed yellow paint on one school's faded facade.
While most Cubans agree the pope's five-day visit will leave their country changed, expectations on what the change will be depends on their political and religious perspective.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Both sides in the Unabomber trial agreed that Theodore Kaczynski is competent to stand trial -- the basic requirement for acting as his own lawyer -- but the judge suggested that his request to represent himself came too late.
U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. said Kaczynski had clearly agreed to proceed with his lawyers after a series of meetings with the judge in December. Later, Kaczynski changed his mind.
Burrell suggested that if Kaczynski wanted to be his own lawyer, he should have made the motion when the trial began.
By John Diamond, Associated Press writer
ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns may be known after all.
Evidence that the Pentagon says it is carefully examining suggests the scant remains buried beneath a marble slab at Arlington National Cemetery may belong to Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie of St. Louis, whose A-37 attack plane was shot down over South Vietnam in May 1972.
The military is faced with the unpleasant prospect of digging up the remains to conduct DNA testing -- and explaining why officials discarded records that may have linked the remains to the downed pilot.
"The gravesite would have to be disrupted if there were any action taken regarding this set of remains," Navy Capt. Michael Doubleday, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday. "We certainly have an obligation to family members of those individuals who are still missing. ... We also have an obligation to all of those who have served in wars in the past and who view this site as very hallowed ground."
By Patrick Collins, Ottaway News service
BOSTON -- Battling the Legislature's attempt to overhaul special education for disabled students, several hundred parents and children rallied on Beacon Hill yesterday to keep the current law intact.
Special education advocates warned lawmakers at a hearing on a controversial bill that the proposed changes will gut the state's toughest-in-the-nation special education law and deprive special needs students of services they deserve.
And they cautioned that the law could hurt working class parents by forcing them to shoulder the high cost of evaluating their children's special needs.
"We have a lot of families in the New Bedford area that wouldn't be able to afford the independent evaluations" to challenge school systems that determine a student doesn't need special services, said Sandra Kinney of Marion, who is an advocate for the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) of Greater New Bedford.
BOSTON -- There are more than 110,000 elders over the age of 85 in Massachusetts, the majority of whom live on their own. And contrary to the stereotypes, many of them are happy, healthy and satisfied with their lives, according to a recent study by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts.
Mae Ginsburg is 88 and, she says, "raring to go." The Sharon wife, mother and grandmother serves on the boards of her temple and the local Council on Aging. She crochets afghans for charity fund-raising events. And she drops in on elderly friends who are living alone to make sure they are OK.
"It really isn't too bad being in these years," she said yesterday. "I don't say I like to be old because I'm not old."
By Alison Fitzgerald, Associated Press writer
BOSTON -- On a ranch somewhere in Texas, a herd of cows is about to give birth to the future of the pharmaceutical industry.
Scientists said yesterday that they have developed a technique for cloning genetically customized cows that will be able to produce medicines for humans in their milk. The cows could become living pharmaceutical factories.
The first genetically altered cloned calves, George and Charlie, were born last week. Another calf, which hasn't yet been named, was born this week. They were created through a combination of cloning and genetic engineering.
Researchers said the calves mark the most viable step so far toward "pharming" -- developing pharmaceuticals using farm animals. Pharmaceutical products may someday be able to be taken simply by drinking enhanced milk.
NEW YORK -- Stocks rallied yesterday, pushing most indexes into positive territory for 1998, as another strong day on foreign markets enabled investors to focus on a potential megamerger and some solid profit reports by major companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 119.57 to 7873.12, the first 100-point gain of the new year for the struggling blue-chip barometer.
Broader measures also posted big gains, with most wiping out the remainder of their early 1998 losses, and some moving within reach of new highs.
By Patricia O'connor, Standard-Times staff writer
WESTPORT -- LaFrance Hospitality Corp., owner of White's of Westport, has purchased Kate Cory's Restaurant at Bittersweet Farm and the new owners hope to reopen on Easter Sunday.
"We're looking for a unique, authentic, SouthCoast dining experience," said Richard LaFrance, president of LaFrance Hospitality. "The other exciting part of this is we're a business that takes pride in the fact that we employ a couple of hundred people in the area, and now we'll employ 35 or 40 more."
In 1996, Fleet Bank foreclosed on the property, which includes 30 acres, the restaurant and a farmhouse.
Mr. LaFrance said his company was able to obtain the property at what he considers a "fair price" -- he did not want to disclose the terms. The sale was completed Dec. 29.
When a child is sent home by the school nurse for having head lice, parents are likely to react with horror and embarrassment.
Yet despite parental fears that having a child with head lice reflects badly on the family, the problem isn't caused by an unclean house or infrequent bathing. Children get this troublesome but benign condition, simply by being together in close contact. Sharing combs, hair ornaments, hats or scarves increases the risk of transmission.
Head lice may appear in epidemics at schools or camps. In some cases, these tiny pests have even caused closures for several days so that children may be separated from each other and treated. Although anyone can get head lice, including adults, younger school-age children are most often afflicted due to their social closeness and habits, such as sharing hairbrushes.
We've all heard athletes admonish us to eat our Wheaties. But many of us who've resolved to lose weight in the new year may be tempted to skip breakfast in an effort to cut calories and save time.
That's a mistake, nutritionists say.
"Most overweight people skip breakfast," said Marietta, Ga., nutritionist Kathleen Zelman. "That's wrong. Breakfast kick-starts the metabolism and gets your body revving."
Waking up your metabolism is important because the quicker it kicks in, the more calories you will burn throughout the day. Nutritionist Page Love Johnson with the Atlanta-based Nutrition Solutions says eating breakfast also can help keep blood-sugar levels even and prevent overeating later in the day.
By Katrina Veeder, Standard-Times correspondent
FAIRHAVEN -- Climbing out of a first-half 13-2 deficit, Fairhaven was within inches of a lead.
Thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Alison Carey and a quick layup by Katie McAfee, the Blue Devils were tied at 35-all with 6:28 left against South Coast Conference foe Old Rochester.
But as long and hard as that tie was in the making, it disappeared quickly as the Lady Bulldogs tore away on an 8-2 run for a 44-38 win at Hastings Middle School last night.
And for all the coaching cliches about "good team wins," Old Rochester proved it to be true as six players racked up stats in the run for the 43-37 edge with 3:13 remaining.
If there is one thing bound to be unpopular with state and local governments everywhere, it is the prospect of a federal agency moving in and making their decisions for them. Yet that is exactly what might be in store for Massachusetts and other states that are dragging their feet on the matter of tribal gambling establishments. Frustrated by a pattern in which states refuse to budge when tribes try to move their casino plans along, the Interior Department is planning to intervene whenever things come to a complete standstill. For a place such as Fall River, where the Wampanoag tribe and the city are pushing for a Class 2 high-stakes bingo hall, federal intervention could be a long way off. The Interior Department doesn't plan to act until a Class 3 facility -- full-blown casino gambling -- on tribal land gets bogged down in a court action. If a tribe sues a recalcitrant state and gets thrown out of court, then the federal government would intervene with a ruling of its own -- presumably favoring the tribe, since by any other interpretation the policy would be meaningless.
What is happening in Cuba this week is a news story that the thousands of journalists who flocked to Havana will find impossible to cover fully for its significance and impact. For the biggest news this week cannot be captured by camera snapshots or snippets of videotape. The visit of Pope John Paul II to Fidel Castro's Cuba is far more than just made-for-TV ceremonies featuring two famous septuagenarians -- one the leader of the world's Catholics, the other the leader of one of the world's few surviving, officially atheistic communist states. (Also, paradoxically: one, a leader who matured to middle age under communism; the other, a leader who grew to adulthood in a Catholic, anti-communist state).
What is happening is the beginning of the building of a new, strong infrastructure for the fraying, failing island republic of Cuba. It is an infrastructure of the spirit -- invisible to the eye, impervious to film, yet strong enough to support new beginnings. Indeed, what is happening this week may eventually be marked by historians as the beginning of the end of communism in Cuba.
By Jim Patterson, Associated Press writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ever since The Judds called it a day in 1991, there's been a void in country music: no top-selling female duo.
The Kinleys aim to change that.
The twins from Philadelphia have a single, "Just Between You and Me," bolting up the charts. Their first effort, "Please," made it to No. 7 and earned them a Grammy nomination.
That gives The Kinleys a head start on The Lynns, twin daughters of country legend Loretta Lynn. Their highly anticipated record is due out in February.
The Little Theatre of Fall River's engaging production of "The Sunshine Boys," by Neil Simon, is perfect Firebarn fare.
The Firebarn's intimate 88-seat theater allows comedies like this one to literally invite us into the action of the play.
The set is a "suite" in what was once one of Manhattan's elite tenant hotels. It is here that Willie Clark, an aging vaudeville performer, rants, rages and laments the passing of his glory days on stage.
For 43 years, Willie was one-half of the tremendously successful comedy team, "Lewis and Clark." Since A1 Lewis retired from the act 11 years ago, Willie has been in a steady state of anger over what he considers to be a premature retirement. Willie's lonely life is, of course, Al's fault.
Joanna McQuillan Weeks
It's time to empty out the mailbag and serve up a potpourri of news about upcoming theme dinners, cooking classes, culinary shows and other items of interest to foodies.
A Winter Game Dinner is planned Jan. 26 at LePage's Seafood and Grille in Fall River. Chef Michael Frady, formerly of The Barn in Adamsville, R.I., has created an exotic menu that begins with Down Under Kangaroo Chili. Next, guests will partake of Ionian Grilled Marinated Octopus Salad, followed by a Smoked Wild Game Sausage Mixed Grille. French Quarter Rabbit Etouffe will precede Roast Venison Roulades, served with port wine demi-glace and roasted garlic potatoes. Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding will conclude the feast.
The charge is $35, and paid reservations are required. The evening begins with cocktails at 6.
The restaurant is at 439 Martine St. Call (508) 677-2180.
More...
Sideline the same old pot of chili at this year's Super Bowl party.
Instead, celebrate San Diego-style with a Southwestern snack buffet.
"Buffet-style dining is the best plan for any Super Bowl party because it lets the host enjoy the game," says Robin Kline, registered dietitian and director of the Pork Information Bureau for the National Pork Producers Council.
"Guests will cheer spicy Southwestern additions to the casual buffet line at breaks in the game, and they'll nosh around the tube with chips and dip during the action."
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