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BOURNE -- A proposed marine life center, which officials hope will nurse back to health both stranded marine life and Buzzards Bay's Main Street, has taken a major step forward.
Selectmen have signed an agreement with Dr. Joseph R. Geraci, the president of the Center for Marine Life, calling for the center to lease town-owned land for $1 a year for the next 50 years.
The Agriculture Department's Cranberry Marketing Committee last night predicted a near-record crop for Massachusetts farmers this fall. It calls for a huge jump in production following a drought-hampered season last year.
In a meeting in Banden, Ore., the committee predicted Massachusetts growers will harvest 1.95 million barrels of cranberries, pushing the reap from the state's largest cash crop near new territory. The prediction is just 3,000 barrels shy of the state's record harvest, set in 1991.
NEW BEDFORD -- Authorities yesterday were trying to learn who broke into a Presidential Heights apartment, stabbed two kittens to death, then left an ominous warning scrawled on the wall for the tenant.
WAREHAM -- A young boy who fell ill while attending an Onset summer camp with about 50 other children last week may have viral meningitis.
Doctors have not yet reached a conclusive diagnosis, something that state health officials said could take several more days of testing.
The boy, whose name was being withheld, was in good condition at Children's Hospital in Boston yesterday, where he had been taken after doctors at the Tobey Hospital emergency room examined him Saturday night.
Although the child has yet to be diagnosed with meningitis, directors of the youth camp informed parents of the children who attended the five-day session with a letter prepared by Tobey Hospital emergency room doctors that there as a chance the boy has the contagious disease.
LAKEVILLE -- With unpacked boxes still at their feet, selectmen picked up more volunteer help to complete an addition to Town Hall, where the board met for the first time last night.
County inmates in about a month will be in town to paint the outside trim and put a coat on an inside hallway.
WAREHAM -- An Oakdale house was struck by lightning as a fierce thunderstorm blasted through parts of town on Sunday afternoon.
"It was wild," said Wareham Deputy Fire Chief Robert McDuffy Jr. "The skies really opened up. You couldn't even call it rain, it was torrential."
The storm -- which missed some areas completely but hit others with heavy downpours and lightning -- had the Fire Department answering dozens of calls from 3 to 4 p.m.
ACUSHNET -- Short-handed Treasurer Lillian Garbaciak hasn't been able to balance the books for fiscal '96, Selectmen said last night.
Therefore. it's unlikely a Sept. 11 town meeting will be held to reconcile spending for the fiscal year just ended or approve a budget for 1997.
And so, a tax rate can't be set. With no tax money coming in, the town might have to borrow to stay afloat.
NEW BEDFORD -- Fifty letters to the neighbors of 45 vacant city-owned lots were mailed yesterday as the city's new Abutters Lot Program gets under way.
Aimed at turning neighborhood eyesores into valuable pieces of property and catalysts for neighborhood pride, the program affords qualified applicants the chance to purchase vacant lots at a fraction of the market cost.
"The idea is to reclaim these litter-strewn, overgrown lots to be reclaimed by the neighborhood," said the city's tax title attorney, Matthew Thomas.
DARTMOUTH -- The oft-repeated radio expression "seek alternate routes" will be the mantra of the day as two homes today start a sluggish journey down Route 6 to Westport.
Flashing signs have been placed throughout the area and police and utility crews are gearing up for the three-day ordeal.
Peter Dimond, spokesman for Commonweath Electric, said residents living on or around Route 6 should expect outages. He said more than a 1,000 homes could be affected.
NEW BEDFORD -- It's a sure sign that the fall elections are fast approaching when U.S. Senate candidates Gov. William F. Weld and Sen. John F. Kerry will both be in town this week, each visiting locations that promise to play a pivotal role in the city's economic development.
By Barry Renfrew, Associated Press writer
GROZNY, Russia -- Chechen rebels said Russian forces launched an armored assault on the breakaway region's capital last night after five days of an off-and-on informal truce.
Top Russian officials denied an offensive was under way but said one was planned within 48 hours, according to the Interfax news agency.
A separatist official accused the Russians of "grossly violating" the cease-fire, according to the Interfax news agency.
WASHINGTON -- A self-made billionaire with a home-grown political party, Ross Perot plans to do what he's never done before: rely on "good, decent, hard-working" Americans to finance his White House bid. That could mean he'll have less cash to run with than four years ago.
By Robert W. Trott, Associated Press writer
NEEDHAM -- Sen. John F. Kerry and Gov. William F. Weld tried to steer away from queries about their aloof personalities yesterday, instead launching into familiar themes in the fourth of seven debates in their campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Gov. Weld again tried to cast Sen. Kerry as a foe of welfare reform and tax breaks. He insisted those were the issues, "not which one of us is every Betty co-ed's idea of a date."
A fifth nuclear power plant in New England has been taken off-line, but power officials say residents should not be affected because the weather remains cool and summer's end is near.
"This summer would have been a challenge if we experienced hot weather," said William Sheperdson, spokesman for the New England Power Pool, which monitors energy supply and demand in the region.
But the region has not suffered through the extended periods of high heat and humidity that officials had feared would deplete power supplies.
BELLINGHAM -- Sometimes the mother of the bride gets a little flustered. Sometimes she cries.
And then every once in a while, right before the ceremony is set to begin, the mother of the blushing bride-to-be is busted on kidnapping charges.
The wedding of Kimberly Scanlon and David Parente began to veer off course at 11 a.m. Sunday when the groom informed Justice of the Peace Cathleen Fraher that the couple did not have a marriage license, The Call of Woonsocket, R.I., reported.
His revelation prompted Ms. Fraher to announce she could not perform the ceremony, and she began to leave, according to police reports.
Ms. Fraher said that's when Ms. Scanlon, who was getting dressed elsewhere, called the house and pleaded with her to go ahead with the service for the expected 200 guests.
By Patricia O'Connor, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- The new owners of Howland Place want to change the mall's image as a place where wealthy out-of-towners shop by transforming the mall into a hub for shopping and services.
Representatives from The Boyle Group -- a Pennsylvania-based leasing and development company -- say while they plan on bringing more retailers to the Orchard Street facility, they're also hoping to attract different types of tenants.
WASHINGTON -- The corporate downsizing phenomenon may be on the decline, according to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management. The industry group surveyed 2,000 personnel departments nationwide to learn about their employment plans for the next two years.
The survey found that only about a quarter of the respondents said they expected jobs to be cut at their companies, down sharply from previous years. Since 1994 about 53 percent of firms cut jobs, the survey found.
"A lot of companies are saying there weren't profitability gains from downsizing," said Barry Lawrence, a spokesman. "They're saying, 'We cut jobs and looked at it one year later and the revenue gains weren't there.'"
WASHINGTON -- Their 1-year-old granddaughter was still in diapers and babbling when Marilyn McKinney and her husband bought a $7,000 contract under Michigan's prepaid college tuition program.
The state-run program let them pay tuition and fees for the girl's college education at 1980s prices. It's their hedge against inflation and the rising cost of tuition.
CHICAGO -- Black buying power increased sharply last year, helping black households outpace white households on spending for cars, children's clothing and perishable foods, a new study reports.
The shift highlights black consumers' increasing importance to the U.S. economy, said Ken Smikle, editor of the study made by the research firm Target Market News Inc., which specializes in analyzing the black consumer market.
Question: What is the difference between urge incontinence and stress incontinence?
By Natalie White, Standard-Times staff writer
Summertime is obviously the busiest season for ice cream stands, beaches and outdoor bands. But it's also the peak period for emergency rooms. w W"Our busiest months are July and August. February is the slowest month," said Dr. Daniel J. Shea, associate director of the emergency department at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford.
By Ted Anthony, Associated Press writer
People are looking at me, and it's not necessarily a good look. They've seen my head, and they're casing the joint. Not a good place to have a bad hair day.
On this August weekend, more than 50,000 stylists are milling through the Washington Convention Center sampling the odd matinee that is HairWorld '96, where the professionals come to learn about the styles that will define fashion for the next two years.
The standard is high, and my $13 'do doesn't do.
CONCORD, N.H. -- Mark L. Wefers was a scrawny political science major at the University of New Hampshire when he battled the "establishment" to allow three famous radicals speak on campus in 1970.
Wearing the symbol of the times -- a ring emblazoned with the peace sign -- Mr. Wefers helped lead the UNH strike that year. He was cited for criminal contempt when the radical trio spoke at night in violation of a court order. It was later overturned.
Someone recently joked on the Internet that "beta" is the Greek word for "free software."
Unfortunately, it also can mean "bug-ridden," "corrupted files" and "intense pain."
In other words, when considering snagging free beta software off the Internet, beware of software companies bearing gifts.
There is no getting out now. There seems to be no exit from this baseball pennant race.
You think you're out, and then, like Michael Corleone of "The Godfather," they drag you back in. This pennant race is harder to escape than Leavenworth.
Will Kerri Strug be the next Mary Lou Retton or the next Julianne McNamara?
Will she be a magnet for adulation or an all-but-forgotten line of type in sports encyclopedias?
Either way, the gymnast who electrified the Atlanta Olympics should brace herself for the next few years of her life, whether her fame remains or vanishes.
By Eric Gongola, Standard-Times staff writer
Some newcomers to the Patriots' locker room slept better than others last night.
It's cut-down day in the NFL, and that means a shake of the hand and walking papers for eight of the players who were a part of this team just two days ago, when New England hosted and toasted Philadelphia in the first of two preseason games at Foxboro.
Guys like third-round draft pick Tedy Bruschi have it easy. Or at least easier than most.
BOSTON -- Your totals from Fenway Park: 19 runs, 31 hits, 11 pitchers, 11 walks, 24 baserunners stranded, two errors, three lead changes, two hit batsman, all taking two minutes shy of four hours to complete.
Oh, and one truly tedious, patience-sapping, mind-numbing, glacier-paced, comeback-filled win for the Red Sox, 10-9, over the pesky California Angels.
Not until the top of the eighth did the game feature a 1-2-3 inning. Not until Heathcliff Slocumb, the seventh Red Sox pitcher of the night, nailed down the final out in the ninth, was this one secure.
The win salvaged a split of the four-game series for the Red Sox, who won for the 14th time in the last 19 games.
WILSON, N.C. -- Freshman Donnell Finnaman loves the look on a quarterback's face when she plants him back-first into the ground.
Yes, she.
By Sean McAdam, New England Sports Service
BOSTON -- The great Greg Pirkl Experiment is over even before it began.
The Red Sox had developed a great interest in converting Pirkl into a pitcher. He had impressed pitching coach Sammy Ellis by throwing on the side over the weekend, and was to have another session in the bullpen today in front of Kennedy.
But after conferring with his family and agent, Jim Turner, Pirkl declined to throw.
How far is too far? Now the federal government is telling us not to stuff the turkey this Thanksgiving because mishandling and undercooking pose risks of bacterial contamination.
"VH3 Presents the 70's" continues (8 p.m. Eastern) with a look at how the flowering of feminism and changing gender roles affected the decade's music.
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