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NEW BEDFORD -- The Gov. Weld-appointed education audit team will not review the New Bedford School Department's spending practices despite an earlier statement that this city would likely be one of its first targets.
"The logistics of the audit, given the size of New Bedford, would drain the committee's resources," said Michael Sentance, Gov. Weld's Education Advisor who sits on the Educational Management Accountability Board. "We would not be able to manage that and still go into other communities."
NEW BEDFORD -- Mayor Rosemary S. Tierney will announce today her selection of the city's new police chief, ending a nation-wide search to lead the embattled department.
Sources close to the selection process say the new chief is an out-of-town applicant who proved himself eminently qualified for the post. But they refused to identify the candidate by name.
Mayor Tierney has called an 11 a.m. press conference in her office to make the much-anticipated announcement, one which she described as among her "most important" decisions as mayor.
WAREHAM -- Four of five teen-agers who were given a chance to make restitution for a series of mailbox bombings in Onset were in court yesterday after failing to keep their end of the bargain.
"They were supposed to do community service and pay restitution, but they didn't follow through so we went to court," said Detective Gilbert Cabral, who headed up the investigation on the case.
BOSTON -- The teenage-birth rates in New Bedford and Fall River fell significantly over the past five years, but state officials are still concerned that they remain at about twice the state average.
According to state data released yesterday, the rate of births to teenage mothers in New Bedford fell by 22 percent from 1990 to 1995. Over the same time period, the rate dropped by 31 percent in Fall River. The state as a whole experienced 17 percent decline.
By Jack Stewardson, Standard-Times staff writer
DARTMOUTH -- Slowly, gingerly, the huge 35-ton hydraulic crane aboard a Linberg Marine Inc. barge lifted one of the weird-looking, sawed-off-whiffle ball-like contraptions off the deck and gently set it down in waters off Salters Point yesterday.
It was being lowered 30 feet to the sea bottom, where it will become part of an artificial reef designed to make fish feel right at home.
By John Estrella, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- Workers walked off their jobs at Brittany Dyeing & Printing Corp. after a union strike vote yesterday afternoon, leaving idle the huge spools wound with material that are screened inside the factory.
The three-shift operation on East Rodney French Boulevard, which employs 400 workers, was shut down by the vote, company spokesman John Moore said.
Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said yesterday he probably won't challenge Rhode Island motor vehicle charges stemming from his single-car crash outside T.F. Green Airport two months ago.
He said he's just thankful to be alive and has learned from the experience.
DARTMOUTH -- The state has set aside $500,000 for the Center of Portuguese Studies and Culture at UMass.
Rep. Robert Correia, D-Fall River, proposed the $500,000 grant that was approved by Gov. William F. Weld as part of the new state budget.
Rep. Correia, who was also successful last year in getting $200,000 in state funds, says the grant will benefit the region economically and intellectually. He said that while the center has raised more than $100,000 locally through the efforts of Chancellor Peter Cressy and others, it needed a little surge in funding to take it to the next level.
FAIRHAVEN -- Selectmen and other town officials grilled BioSafe Inc. officials last night about bringing the Bridge Street landfill into compliance.
"It's near the 21st or 22nd day since they signed the consent order. I don't see us any closer to implementing the consent order," Health Agent Pat Fowle said.
Ms. Fowle said she was concerned that BioSafe did not have a contractor, names of officials to do the site work or a start date.
By John Estrella, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- A single emergency response team in recent years has handled more crises in the area than any other.
Rick DeTucci and Wendy Rego aren't cops or firefighters; they are counselors, a kind of "mental health SWAT team."
They coordinate a group of about 40 mental health professionals who respond to tragedies: when a student was stabbed to death at Dartmouth High School, when a nurse was shot at Acushnet Middle School, when popular Wareham High School and Old Rochester Regional students suddenly died.
WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered an upbeat assessment of the economy yesterday in his mid-year report to Congress.
He said inflation has remained restrained even though unemployment this year has fallen near a 25-year low and the economic expansion is now the third longest in U.S. history.
MONROVIA, Liberia -- Seven years ago, fighters loyal to warlord Charles Taylor killed five of Samukah Corneh's brothers as they tried to flee Liberia at the start of its civil war.
Yet when he went to vote for a president Saturday, Corneh firmly pressed his inky thumb onto the ballot space next to Taylor's picture.
So did most Liberians, according to results that show Taylor headed for a landslide victory in this tortured land that his fighters helped destroy.
HONG KONG -- Barely three weeks after China resumed control of Hong Kong, a constitutional challenge to the very foundation of Chinese rule -- including the validity of its courts, legal system and appointed legislature -- landed in the laps of three senior appeals court judges yesterday.
The case, stemming from a criminal trial, is the first legal challenge to the new Hong Kong government and pits the territory's chief legal officer against some of the mightiest legal minds from the Bar Council, the professional association of barristers, the attorneys who argue most cases in court under the British system.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Northern Ireland's most hard-line Protestant leader, saying the Irish Republican Army's new cease-fire doesn't offer any real concessions, declared hope for peace talks "dead in the water" yesterday.
The Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said after meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair in London that his government was "a slave to the blackmail of IRA violence."
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton pledged yesterday to shield Republican lawmakers who support a politically explosive plan for raising Medicare costs for the most affluent elderly. GOP reaction ranged from optimism to suspicion, and the proposal's fate remained dim.
In remarks to reporters, Clinton said a new mechanism he designed for collecting the higher premiums would ease GOP worries that voters might interpret the boost as a tax increase.
BOSTON -- The number of people dying from the ravages of AIDS in Massachusetts dropped sharply in 1996, the first such decline since the epidemic hit the state, public health officials said yesterday.
The officials attributed the decline to the advent of new, more effective drugs and the state government's efforts to make them available to those who need them.
AIDS-related deaths dropped 35.2 percent, from 964 in 1995 to 625 in 1996, said John Auerbach, director of the AIDS Bureau at the Department of Public Health.
CAMBRIDGE -- A number of Massachusetts judges are scheduled to testify on behalf of a fellow judge today, the third day of the first-ever public hearing on judicial misconduct in the commonwealth's history.
The subject of the inquiry thinks the decision to air the complaint against him had more to do with retaliation and racism than with concerns about judicial misconduct.
BOSTON -- The state fire marshal said yesterday his office will not pursue criminal charges against U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II for a fireworks mishap that injured his 16-year-old son.
Matthew Kennedy, who has a twin brother, Joseph III, was burned on one of his forearms in an accident at the Kennedy family's Cape Cod compound Saturday. He was treated at Cape Cod Hospital and released.
A Kennedy spokesman said he was injured with "a spark emitting device."
BOSTON -- The cost of a shopping cart of groceries varied by nearly $50 in a survey of 18 supermarkets in the Boston area, but the method used was criticized for producing faulty and misleading results.
The Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group compared the prices of 111 items and concluded the average household spends $24.21 per person a week at a supermarket.
The survey was conducted June 9-13 at stores that are part of six chains. Items bought included poultry, produce, paper, canned goods and cleaners. Store-brand items were not included.
WALTHAM -- A husband and wife who want to educate their children without state oversight won one court battle yesterday, but next month will still have to fight criminal charges that they're guilty of neglect.
A Waltham District Court judge has ruled that Kim Engler and George Bryant of Waltham have already given enough information about their home-schooling plans to the local public schools.
The couple have always educated their 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter at home. The children are referred to only as Nikki and Nyssa in state records.
Unemployment in the SouthCoast inched up ever so slightly in June, for the first increase this year.
The increases, ranging from one to three tenths of a percentage point, are likely the product of seasonal trends, rather than a change in the area job market.
"It's really a seasonal hit, because kids are getting out of school for the summer and just entering the labor market," said Edward Kaznocha, a labor market analyst for the state Department of Employment and Training.
NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average roared back above 8000 yesterday as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered a mid-year report to Congress without firing any warning shots at the markets.
The Dow rose 154.93 to 8061.65, erasing the remainder of Friday's 130-point slide and beating last Wednesday's record close of 8038.88, which was the blue-chip barometer's first trip above 8000.
By Francine Parnes, For The Associated Press
Stack the bangles, pile on the pearls, hook the hoops.
It may not be your recipe for beating the heat this summer, but fashion jewelry folks say it's cool, nonetheless. And bigger and bolder is better.
Among the fashionable fakes, black pearls add oomph to summer whites. Ornaments in faux tortoise shell, mottled amber or rich brown are classic companions for safari suits and animal prints. Roughhewn wood-bead necklaces and faux ivory cuffs add spice to ready-to-wear with an ethnic flair. And for garden-party floral dresses, antiqued brass sets the stage for romance.
Jim O'Malley does the sit-ups. He endures the crunch machine. He jogs in the morning, lifts weights in the afternoon and even finds time to run his Salem law practice.
But he still can't get rid of his maddening middle, that creeping collection of unfortunate fat that gathers around the waistline of most middle-aged men and won't go away.
"I could do a thousand sit-ups a day and I don't think I would decrease my waist size," said the 50-year-old Boxford resident, who also admits he's "blessed with a great appetite."
Post 1 of New Bedford and Dartmouth Post 307 begin the American Legion playoffs on the road for the first game of the opening round best-of-three series.
Post 1 travels to Westwood for a 5 p.m. game against the fourth-place finisher in Zone 6, while Post 307 heads for Norwood and a 7:30 battle against the Zone 6 champions. New Bedford and Dartmouth finished first and third in Zone 9.
SMITHFIELD -- When he isn't catching passes or wiping out linebackers, Keith Byars of the England often can be found relaxing in a movie theater.
He likes the fruits of Hollywood, always has, and one of the reasons he chose to move his family to Providence after the Pats acquired him from Miami last fall was the proximity of the Avon, Cable Car and Jane Pickens cinemas.
"During the regular season, my wife ( Margaret) and I see four a week," said the 6-foot-1, 255-pound fullback/tight end. "She likes them almost as much as me, the difference being I'm more apt to watch off-the-wall things."
BOSTON -- Oft-injured Red Sox third baseman Tim Naehring will have surgery on his right elbow and miss the rest of the season.
Team doctor Arthur Pappas said Naehring's joint capsule has a hole in it. But he will not know until after surgery is completed later this week if Naehring also has damaged his muscle, nerve, or ligament, Pappas said before yesterday's game against Oakland.
WAREHAM -- The Wareham Gatemen continued to flaunt their strong mix of solid pitching and tremendous defense last night in a 2-0 Cape Cod League victory over the visiting Cotuit Kettleers.
Barry Zito supplied the heroics on the mound, scattering four hits and striking out six, and the southpaw from Cal-Santa Barbara had the support of two late defensive gems made by first baseman Carlos Pena and center fielder Jon Topolski.
The victory gave Wareham sole possession of first place in the West Division -- two points ahead of Bourne, 2-1 losers to Harwich last night.
Bob Stern
You are 9 years old and you have a dream.
Hit a home run to win the World Series. Score the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. Take Magic Johnson to the basket in the NBA Finals.
Mitty Arnold dreamed of Wimbledon.
More...
By Steven Krasner, New England Sports Service
BOSTON -- When he went to spring training, Jeff Frye was hoping to be the Red Sox' starting second baseman.
He thought he had earned the job after signing with the Sox midway through last season and playing well throughout.
But in a series of domino moves that pushed John Valentin to second base, Frye was the odd man out.
Circumstances in the last month, however, have thrust him back into the starting lineup at second base.
By Michael Astor, Associated Press writer
Casting Italian porn star Cicciolina as an 18th-century prostitute -- complete with nude scenes -- might seem a tad spicy for prime-time family television.
But on the Brazilian soap opera "Xica da Silva," topless is downright tame.
After all, the show already featured an interracial love affair between master and slave, sadism, rape, cannibalism, devil-worshipping nuns and a gay man whose sexuality changes after a black magic "snake bath." Real animals were tortured and killed on-screen.
Where does "Xica" (pronounced SHEE-kah) draw the line?
Joining the flight from entertainment to reality, CBS returns with "Coast to Coast" (9 p.m., Eastern). this newsmagazine features four "uplifting and unconventional" stories: a fertility doctor who has helped more than 1,000 couples become parents; prison inmates in Ohio who train guide dogs for the blind; 26-year-old female prizefighter Kathy Collins; and country singer Kevin Sharp, who overcame cancer.
Everyone raves about the minestrone soup at the Venus de Milo Restaurant, but few realize the chowder is award-winning.
And both may soon be coming to a market near you.
Owner Monte Ferris is proud to have walked away the winner of Boston Chowderfest on July 6.
It was only the second time the restaurant's chowder was submitted to the contest.
Joanna McQuillan Weeks
It's always a pleasure to relate the successes of local people, whether they still live in the SouthCoast or have moved further afield.
I recently received word that the 1997 Benjamin Franklin Book of the Year Award for Excellence and Innovation in Book Marketing was presented to Brenda J. Ponichtera, R.D., author and publisher of "Quick & Healthy, Volume II." The award was given by the Publishers Marketing Association.
More...
By Gretchen Fehrenbacher, Standard-Times staff writer
Supporters of New Bedford's proposed aquarium plan to make a Big Splash, without getting guests wet, when a gala harborside benefit is held Friday night.
Some 25 caterers and restaurants from Providence to Wareham will serve hors d'oeuvres, desserts and specialty fare under a giant tent, as the four-time Boston Music Award-winning Boogaloo Swamis band sizzles up New Orleans-style R&B.
By The Associated Press
For easy summer dining, serve Grilled Beef Caesar Salad, made with grilled flank steak and served on a bed of romaine lettuce and chopped tomatoes.
There are white-meat people and there are brown-meat people. For every one person who understands the pleasures of the brown meat on a turkey or a chicken, there are hundreds for whom only a neat white slice of breast will do.
I once worked in a buffet-style restaurant where my job was to carve turkey. Few customers ever allowed me to put anything but pure, sterile white breast on their plates. To many, particularly Americans, brown meat was not just considered second-rate, it was thought to be practically poisonous.
By Sandy Hu, For The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's not just chow mein and egg rolls any more.
Asian food in the United States used to mean Cantonese cuisine served at mom-and-pop restaurants and taken home in little white cartons. However, in recent years, diners have begun to expand their culinary horizons, first sampling the cuisines from the other provinces of China, then moving on to the farther reaches of Asia.
So what's the next big Asian food trend? These folks are the right ones to ask. They're some of the hottest chefs cooking Asian food today:
Everyone has a favorite potato salad, whether it's Mom's recipe or the one bought at your favorite deli. As good and wholesome as they may be, there are alternatives that are just as good and are easy to prepare.
Mayonnaise is usually the basis of classic potato salad dressings. For those looking for something low in fat, there are two ways to go. Either you skip the dairy-based dressing altogether or create something close to the original. The following recipes provide an example of each approach.
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