GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA--National News

Mass. News in Brief

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:13:00 EDT

Boston man questioned in 1985 Calif. mystery
SAN MARINO, Calif. (AP) — When Clark Rockefeller was arrested on the East Coast on charges of kidnapping his daughter, he told police he didn't remember anything about his past.

Patrick: Changes to Mass. police details nearly done

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:12:00 EDT

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick said he's forging ahead with plans to chip away at one of the most closely defended police perks in Massachusetts — paid details at roadside construction sites.

Record number of US voters may cast paper ballots

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:12:00 EDT

SAN DIEGO — Come November, more Americans might cast their ballots on paper than in any other election in U.S. history.
That wasn't supposed to happen. If everything had gone according to the government's $3 billion plan to upgrade voting technology after the hanging-chad fiasco in Florida in 2000, that sentence would read "electronic machines" instead of paper.

Freddie Mac swings to second-quarter loss

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:11:00 EDT

NEW YORK — Freddie Mac posted a second-quarter loss that was more than three-times larger than Wall Street expected as a huge number of borrowers with good credit fell behind on their exotic and risky mortgages.

Mass. News in Brief

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:30:00 EDT

LA cops to talk to Rockefeller in homicide case
BOSTON (AP) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed yesterday it was sending two homicide detectives to Boston to interview a mysterious father accused of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter during a visit in Boston.

Massachusetts News in Brief

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:04:00 EDT

Dad charged in girl abduction going back to Mass.
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Massachusetts man accused of abducting his 7-year-old daughter planned to start a new life in Baltimore, where his recent purchase of a nearly half-million-dollar home helped lead to his arrest, authorities said yesterday.

People in the News

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:03:00 EDT

People publishes first photos of Brangelina twins
NEW YORK (AP) — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt say their four previous children are adjusting just fine to the arrival of a twin brother and sister last month, with cupcakes and "Dora the Explorer" to help ease the transition.

Mass. governor signs $3B bridge repair bill

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:03:00 EDT

BOSTON (AP) — Up to 300 of the state's most neglected bridges will get needed repairs under a bill signed by Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday.
The bill authorizes the state to borrow nearly $3 billion for the fixes. The eight-year plan focuses on bridges in most urgent need of repair. Patrick said the work will also create thousands of engineering and construction jobs.

Dinosaurs interact with humans on 'Primeval'

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:02:00 EDT

CHERTSEY, England — Dinosaurs can be challenging co-stars. Especially when you can't see them.
"Basically it's a man in a very colorful jumpsuit with something attached to a long pole going, 'It's swooping, it's swooping, it's coming around, it's coming down. Araaagh!" says Ben Miller, mimicking an on-set stand-in for the beasts, later to be fully realized by computer-generated special effects.

Former Enterasys head lashes out at Benson

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:23:00 EDT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The former chief financial officer of Enterasys has asked a federal court to overturn his fraud conviction — and has accused former New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson and U.S. Attorney Tom Colantuono of wrongdoing in the process.

Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, chronicler of Soviet gulag, dies at 89

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:32:00 EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning Russian author whose books chronicled the horrors of dictator Josef Stalin's slave labor camps, has died of heart failure, his son said Monday. He was 89.

School bully problem? Send in the clown

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:32:00 EDT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Marvin Nash — a.k.a. Starvin' Marvin — has been a professional rodeo clown for some 30 years, entertaining fans and protecting bull riders at great risk to himself. He routinely taunts bulls that outweigh him by more than 1,000 pounds.

Some see red over proposed 'green' resort in Maine

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:31:00 EDT

WINTER HARBOR, Maine (AP) — On paper, the development here in eastern Maine sounds like a dream for people looking to get away from it all.
Located on 3,300 acres of remote wildlands on pristine Schoodic Peninsula, the proposed project is described as a green community where homeowners and visitors would enjoy views of the ocean and of mountains rising up from the sea five miles away on Mount Desert Island.

Kerry, others come up big in cancer fundraiser

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:31:00 EDT

BOSTON (AP) — John Kerry has raised more than $120,000 so far and could gather additional funds for cancer research after biking 100 miles in honor of fellow Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May.

Region news in brief

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:30:00 EDT

Coast Guard: Missing sailboat, crew found safe
BOSTON (AP) — A sailboat and its two-person crew last heard from near Plum Island in Newbury on Friday have been found safe and sound.
The Coast Guard had received a call on Saturday from the wife of John Holton, the owner of the sailboat Elan saying she'd lost cell phone contact with her husband around noon on Friday after he and his crew member began experiencing engine troubles.

In Brief

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:07:00 EDT

Salman Rushdie threatens lawsuit over book
LONDON — Author Salman Rushdie has threatened to sue a publisher over a book by a former bodyguard that he said portrays him as cheap, nasty and arrogant and depicts his police guards as "losers" who drank on duty.

Palestinian infighting in Gaza escalates, 4 killed

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:06:00 EDT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas forces battled Fatah-linked fighters with mortars and machine guns in a crowded Gaza neighborhood yesterday, leaving at least four dead in the worst Palestinian infighting in nine months.

Hawaii man accused of helping China design missile

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:05:00 EDT

HAIKU, Hawaii — Cheryl Gowadia couldn't figure out why FBI agents in riot gear, guns drawn, were storming her home on Maui's tranquil North Shore.
At first, she thought they might be after the man building a pond in her backyard. Instead, she was stunned to learn they wanted to question her husband, a former B-2 stealth bomber engineer.

In Zimbabwe, $1 now equals $10 billion

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:04:00 EDT

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabweans dug out coins squirreled away years ago in jars and cupboards and headed for the shops, where lines built up as overburdened tellers more accustomed to counting mounds of hyper-inflated dollar notes instead were juggling silver.

More cities move aggressively to stop heat deaths

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:52:00 EDT

PHOENIX (AP) — The homeless woman was nauseated, dizzy, drenched with sweat, dehydrated and sobbing with fear. She had heat exhaustion and was on the verge of heat stroke.
But she had come to the right place, a church turned into a refuge from the overpowering heat.