The incident occurred near where an early-morning parade was being held as part of the city's annual Caribbean Carnival, but it's not known if the shootings were connected to the event.

 

Police spokeswoman Rachel McGuire said officers responding to reports of gunfire shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds in the area of Charlotte and Blue Hill Avenues in the Dorchester neighborhood.

The unidentified victim was taken to a hospital where she later died.

McGuire said a second woman was found nearby with non-life threatening gunshot injuries.

Police recovered a firearm and three people were being questioned, but no arrests were immediately reported.

The incident occurred near where an early-morning parade was being held as part of the city's annual Caribbean Carnival, but it's not known if the shootings were connected to the event.

Fallout from the Market Basket supermarket stalemate has been a mixed bag for growers.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — From farmers markets teeming with new customers in New Hampshire to a Massachusetts flower grower desperately seeking new buyers for tens of thousands of mums, fallout from the Market Basket supermarket stalemate has been a mixed bag.

The 2-month-old employee revolt at the 71-store New England grocery chain coincides with what farmers say has been one of the best growing seasons in recent memory. But some growers who rely on big orders from Market Basket are not reaping the benefits as well as others.

While there are signals a breakthrough could come soon, Market Basket patrons have been boycotting stores. Most deliveries have stopped. Shelves are empty. Farmers who grew produce and flowers to fill Market Basket orders are scrambling to find other outlets. Those who saw the promise of profits in June are now counting their losses.

"There's just been so many ripple effects," said Lorraine Merrill, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food. "It's nothing like anything we've ever seen."

John Simone of Simone's Riverside Farm in Methuen, Massachusetts, said the first day he was to begin shipping produce to Market Basket was the day employees walked off the job to protest the June 23 ouster of CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and his allies.

"It's going to be hard to recover from," said Simone as he stared at 20,000 mums that were grown and bound for Market Basket stores. "It's completely stressing me out."

There have been weeks of talks, competing bids to buy out the chain and even the involvement of governors in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as the stalemate drags on.

The governors said in a joint statement late Friday that they were optimistic the feud would be resolved, perhaps in a matter of days, with an agreement to sell the chain to Arthur T. Demoulas.

Rich Bonanno of Pleasant Valley Gardens, also in Methuen, feels Simone's pain four-fold. He grew 80,000 mums destined for Market Basket. He's managed to offload 50,000 of those to another chain store, at 50 cents less per plant than Market Basket had agreed to pay.

"It's a $40,000 loss," Bonanno said. "But if I'm able to move them, I'll still be in business at the end of the year."

Bonanno is now wrestling with whether to invest $18,000 by ordering bulbs from Holland to fill Market Basket's Easter 2015 order — a decision that has to be made this week. "I honestly don't know what to do," he said.

Thirty miles north in Hollis, New Hampshire, Tyler Hardy of Brookdale Fruit Farm is working 95 hours a week to meet the demands of competing grocery chains that have seen a boom in business during the protracted protest.

He said he usually delivers to Shaw's and Hannaford's three to four times a week. He's now making deliveries seven days a week.

"It's tough to get enough picked during the day to keep up with the demand," Hardy said.

Farm stands and the nearly 70 farmers markets across the state also are booming this summer, a phenomenon Jane Lang attributes to the Market Basket standoff. She is president of the New Hampshire Farmer's Market Association.

"We have seen a tremendous growth," said Lang, who hopes people who come to the markets for the first time will be smitten and return.

Icelandic authorities declared a no-fly zone of 100 nautical miles by 140 nautical miles around the eruption as a precaution, but did not shut down air space over most of the island nation in the North Atlantic.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano began erupting Saturday under the ice of Europe's largest glacier, prompting the country to close the airspace over the volcano.

Thousands of small earthquakes have rattled the volcano, located deep beneath the Vatnajokull glacier, in the last week. Seismic data indicated that magma from the volcano was melting ice beneath the glacier's Dyngjujokull icecap, Icelandic Meteorological Office vulcanologist Melissa Anne Pfeffer said.

The remote area, 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of the capital of Reykjavik, is uninhabited.

The Civil Protection Department said scientists flew over the ice cap Saturday afternoon but saw no visible signs of the eruption on the surface.

Still, authorities raised the country's aviation alert to red -- the highest level on a five-point scale -- indicating the threat of "significant emission of ash into the atmosphere."

Icelandic authorities declared a no-fly zone of 100 nautical miles by 140 nautical miles around the eruption as a precaution, but did not shut down air space over most of the island nation in the North Atlantic.

"All airports are open and flights are on schedule," said spokeswoman Olof Baldursdottir.

A 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano produced an ash cloud that caused a week of international aviation chaos, with more than 100,000 flights cancelled.

Pfeffer said it was not clear when, or if, the eruption would melt through the ice -- which is between 100 to 400 meters (330 to 1,300 feet) thick -- and fling steam and ash into the air. She said it could take up to a day for the ice to melt -- or the eruption might remain contained beneath Europe's largest glacier.

Scientists were monitoring a hydrological station downstream from the volcano for flooding, a common result of volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

Pfeffer said the amount of ash produced by the new eruption would depend on the thickness of the ice.

"The thicker the ice, the more water there is, the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be," she said.

Iceland sits on a volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge and eruptions occur frequently, triggered when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.

Well-practiced emergency procedures mean eruptions in Iceland usually do not cause deaths. Authorities evacuated several hundred people, mostly hikers, earlier this week from the highlands north of the Vatnajokull glacier as a precaution.

But the impact of the tiny island's volcanoes has been felt around the world.

Millions of people were stranded in April 2010, when aviation officials closed Europe's air space for five days out of fear that ash from Eyjafjallajokul could harm jet engines.

European aviation authorities later changed their policy, giving airlines detailed information about the location and density of ash clouds but leaving decisions to airlines and national regulators.

A 2011 eruption of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano was far more powerful than Eyjafjallajokul but cause much less disruption to aviation.

The budget airline EasyJet, which flies between Britain and Iceland, said it was operating as usual. It said it would use ash-detection technology, satellite data and other information "to determine what, if any, changes it should make to its flying program" in the event of an ash cloud.

Ian Stimpson, a seismologist at Keele University, told the BBC that so far the eruption was a minor incident and did not threaten the type of chaos that Eyjafjallajokul created.

"We're nowhere near that point at the minute," he said.

A free Back to School Celebration complete with a barbecue was held Saturday in Blunt Park for Springfield school students, staff and their families.

SPRINGFIELD — A free Back to School Celebration complete with a barbecue was held Saturday in Blunt Park for Springfield school students, staff and their families.

The seventh annual fair, sponsored by the Parent & Community Engagement Division, is meant to help kick off the school year in a positive way, while giving the students the things the items they need.

More than 6,000 backpacks equipped with basic school supplies were distributed thanks to the generosity of local businesses.

Sodexo, the company that oversees the school lunch and breakfast programs, is the major sponsor. Other sponsors include Hampden Bank, TDBank, Pride, Baystate Health and the United Way of Pioneer Valley.

Various community and city agencies were also on hand to provide information to the parents and their children as part of the event. The food for the barbecue was prepared by Sodexo employees and was also free of charge to those in attendance.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno as well as School Superintendent Daniel Warwick stopped by to check on the event, which took place from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. School begins on Aug. 25 for Grades 1-12 and teacher work days are from Aug. 18-22.

Moss said 17 musical acts will be featured over the three-day festival.

SPRINGFIELD - The 5th annual Indie Soul Music, Books & Art Festival brought families and culture to the city's riverfront this weekend.

Organizer Darryl Moss said leaders perennially target the 35-and-older crowd and aim to draw parents and children together.

"We want parents and children's to sit together and spend time together like they did 100 years ago," Moss said.

Attendance was relatively light as clouds threatened early Saturday evening but plenty of families still came out for what amounted to 17 musical acts over the three-day festival, Moss said.

"I've come with my sons for the past two years," said Sherryl Derrick, of Springfield.

While her sons are both under 10 years old, generations of families were still pouring in to the parking area along the riverfront. People set up lawn chairs and blankets to take in the sights and sounds of the event.

Children 12 and under were admitted free.

Saturday's acts included Su Charles, Marques Qwes Johnson, Waterseed, Brand Nubian and Julie Dexter.

Moss, who is an aide to Mayor Domenic Sarno and a community activist, said he spends much of his time focusing on public safety and events such as the Indie Soul festival is a component of that.

"One part of that is dealing with the youth, but the other part is offering something for the adults that is vibrant and they can take home with them," he said.

The focus is also on indie - meaning organizers including Moss and Andrew Keaton seek to attract non-mainstream acts.

The festival will continue on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh has put together a grand prix committee to lure a high-speed open-wheel race to Boston in the near future.

BOSTON — Mayor Martin J. Walsh has put together a grand prix committee to lure a high-speed open-wheel race to Boston in the near future.

The Boston Herald reported Saturday that Walsh is in talks with Verizon Indy Car Series officials to bring a race to the city. The effort to bring an Indy Car race to the city is being led by Grand Prix Boston President Mark Perrone.

According to the report, approximately 250,000 people could attend the race if it is held in the the city's fast-growing Seaport District.

New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon hosted Indy Car races as recently as 2011.

Walsh has expressed a desire to bring other high-profile sports events to Boston like the NFL Draft.

On Friday, Aug. 22, the police greeted the protesters as they arrived with friendly smiles and the occasional "how ya'll doin'?" Two women had set up an impromptu food bank a few blocks away, giving away free hamburgers, hot dogs and water to everyone, police included.

FERGUSON, Mo. – A former mayor started a campaign to change the reputation this normally quiet suburb has earned over the past 14 days and 13 nights, posting "I Love Ferguson" signs along the path that protesters have marched since Aug. 10.

The signs flank West Florissant Avenue, where many of the more shocking images from these protests were taken. But also along each side are boarded up shops, spray painted with words from the owners, thanking people for their support and expressing their own form of solidarity with the St. Louis suburb.

Then there's the more ominous implication on display at the Yolo! Boutique, now bearing a sign that reads: "Open! Black owned."

Surveying the scene on Friday evening, there was a strange and sometimes jarring juxtaposition of church groups singing gospel songs, men carrying American flags down the sidewalks and an absolute swarm of law enforcement and military personnel, all gathered on a street that bears the scars of looting and shows signs of slow rebirth.

Absent from all this on Day 13 were violence, chaos, madness, and disorder that defined previous protests. Photos from such demonstrations can be seen at the bottom of this story.

On Friday, Aug. 22, the police greeted the protesters as they arrived with friendly smiles and the occasional "How ya'll doin'?" Two women had set up an impromptu food bank a few blocks away, giving away free hamburgers, hot dogs and water to everyone, police included.

Because of the so-called "static assembly ban," the demonstrators had to keep marching, and the crowd thinned out quickly in the 90-degree heat and high humidity that seeped into the late-night hours, well past 10 p.m. central time. People who have been following this closely, including my partner, freelance journalist John S. Forrester, expect the same thing to happen tonight, but Forrester acknowledges that many observers have been habitually wrong about this rapidly changing social movement.

The movement began on Aug. 10, the night after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed during some sort of confrontation with Officer Darren Wilson. At a separate protest site outside the Ferguson police station, several people told MassLive.com it doesn't really matter that Brown was black and Wilson was white, although that is part of it. What matters most is that in their minds, this incident is one more in a long line of heavy-handed crackdowns on minor infractions, and no one has done anything to change the culture of alleged police violence and racism in greater St. Louis.

Jeff Hegedorn and his wife, Rosalind Hegedorn, are an interracial couple who say they are regularly pulled over and harassed by the police. Officers, they say, target them and pepper Jeff with questions about his relationship to the black woman and four biracial children in the car.

Rosalind and Jeff Hegedorn have protested police brutality and racial discrimination outside the police department in Ferguson, Mo., since a white officer shot and killed an unarmed black man on Aug. 9.Brian Steele | MassLive.com

They told MassLive.com that they gave up their plans to spend a week on vacation to, instead, spend a week essentially occupying a parking lot across from the police station (which is being renovated, an observation some felt was symbolic, and others found to be an outrageous waste of resources). When that vacation ended, they returned and kept up their peaceful demonstration.

The Hegedorns said no one from their group is allowed to cause any trouble, and they even check newcomers to make sure they aren't bringing molotov cocktails or any other weapons to use against police officers.

Rosalind said she and her husband are involved in civic activities around town, like the Fourth of July parade, but "now that the curtain's been lifted" on Ferguson, she's considering running for local office.

"Protesting is a very individual thing," Jeff said. "My reason for being here is bringing out the police brutality and ... the way individuals are being treated as if they just robbed a bank, and they're crossing the street or making a right-hand turn without a signal."

Rosalind said she's demonstrating because of "the fact I know the boy was shot too many times." That's a notion echoed by several people throughout Day 13.

Right now, a grand jury is trying to figure out if Wilson should be indicted for shooting Brown, as the police remain tight-lipped about what happened during the confrontation between the two. At this point, they say Brown attacked Wilson on Aug. 9 after he allegedly robbed a convenience store and, in the struggle for Wilson's gun, Wilson had no choice but to shoot Brown. Autopsies show the young man was shot six times.

Rosalind added that the death of Eric Garner also spurred her on, and so did the shooting of Oscar Grant. Garner was being arrested for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes earlier this summer, and he died after an NYPD officer put him in a chokehold.

Grant was shot in the back by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland in 2009. Both Garner and Grant, like Brown, were unarmed and black, and in all three cases, the officers were white.

But the Hegedorns said they would protest with just as much passion if Brown had been white, or if Wilson had been black.

"Tyranny never affects you, it seems like, until it reaches your front doorstep," said Rosalind Hegedorn. "The police are becoming more militarized and people want to brand anyone with the opposite opinion as either a racist or a terrorist."

The Hegedorns said they don't condone the looting that took place after Brown's death, but it helped gain the attention of the national media, who are known for approaching complex social issues and unrest from a single perspective: show photos and videos of chaos and then find out what started it.

"I wish there was other ways and means in which they could have got (the story) out," said Rosalind. "I think it's the only thing Americans understand."

"You watch NASCAR for the wrecks, not for the race," Jeff said.

So what's the endgame? At what point will the protesters stop?

The Hegedorns want officer Wilson to be thrown in prison, but Jeff said, "That could be 16 to 18 months" from now.

"I don't think it'll go away," said Rosalind. "I think it'll move itself into other rooms," like City Council chambers, where the protests will be quieter, but just as fervent, and take the shape of voter engagement rather than curbside chanting.

A motorcyclist remains in serious condition after a Montague crash Saturday afternoon.

 

Montague Police Sgt. Christopher Bonnett said the cause of the crash that injured the rider, who hasn't been publicly identified, remains under investigation.

Police said the incident happened just before 4:30 p.m. as a group of motorcyclists approached a stop sign at the intersection of Lake Pleasant Road and Federal Street (Route 63) in Montague. The injured man was riding at the back of the pack, and no one saw what caused him to lose control and dump his bike, Bonnett said.

"It happened for no apparent reason. There were no eyewitnesses because he was behind all the others," Bonnett said. "He was wearing a helmet and there was no sign that speed or alcohol were involved."

The injured man was taken by ambulance to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, then later airlifted by helicopter to Baystate in Springfield.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck California's northern San Francisco Bay area early Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

NAPA, Calif. (AP) -- A large earthquake rolled through California's northern Bay Area early Sunday, damaging some buildings, knocking out power to thousands and sending residents running out of their homes in the darkness.

The extent of the damage wasn't immediately clear. Two major injuries have been reported, and hospitals have been very busy with moderate injuries, Napa Division Fire Chief John Callanan said.

The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck just before 3:30 a.m. about 10 miles northwest of American Canyon, which is about 6 miles southwest of Napa, in California wine country, Leslie Gordon of the U.S. Geological Survey said. It's the largest earthquake to shake the Bay Area since the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta quake in 1989, the USGS said.

"There's collapses, fires," said Napa Fire Capt. Doug Bridewell, standing in front of large pieces of masonry that broke loose from a turn of the century office building where a fire had just been extinguished. "That's the worst shaking I've ever been in."

Bridewell, who said he had to climb over fallen furniture in his own home to check on his family before reporting to duty, said he was starting to see more reports of injuries.

The shaking emptied cabinets in homes and store shelves, set off car alarms and had residents of neighboring Sonoma County running out of their houses. Officials say widespread power outages have been reported in the area.

"It was a rolling quake, said Oakland resident Rich Lieberman. "It started very much like a rolling sensation and just got progressively worse in terms of length. Not so much in terms of shaking, but it did shake. It felt like a side-to-side kind of rolling sensation. Nothing violent but extremely lengthy and extremely active."

The USGS says the depth of the earthquake was just less than seven miles, and numerous small aftershocks have occurred in the Napa wine country.

"A quake of that size in a populated area is of course widely felt throughout that region," said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. "The 6.0 is a sizeable quake for this area. It's a shallow quake. It's about 6 miles deep. We received hundreds of reports on our website from people that felt it in the surrounding area."

A member of Napa County dispatch tells the AP that there has been one report of structural damage, but additional details weren't immediately available.

Numerous emergency vehicles were on the roads in Napa and Sonoma counties.

California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Hill told KTVU-TV that road damage appears confined to the Napa and Sonoma areas. He said there appears to be no damage to major bridges in the Bay Area.

"They are in pretty good shape," he said, noting that a couple of the roadways in the Napa-Sonoma area have some bumps and cracks.

In Napa, a water main break left at least one street flooded, and power outages left streetlights dark.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Josephine Melcher 

Josephine M. "Jo Jo" (D'Amario) Melcher, 100, of Hampden, and formerly of Springfield, passed away recently. She was born in Springfield. She worked at the former Zayre's department store until her retirement. She was a member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Chicopee VFW, and was also a member of the Springfield Golden Age Club, where she danced in many of their variety shows. She loved playing bingo and trips to the casino.

Officials at Charter Communications Inc. say they're investigating the cause of Internet service interruptions in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

STAMFORD, Conn. — Sporadic Charter Internet outages throughout this region and elsewhere prompted some irate customers to seek answers from the nation's fourth-largest cable operator this weekend. But officials at the Connecticut-based cable TV, telephone and Internet company say they're still investigating what caused the service interruptions.

In parts of Western Massachusetts, including Springfield's suburbs, many people couldn't use their Twitter or Facebook accounts for several hours on Saturday afternoon. The outage didn't exactly cause panic in the streets, but it did force some families to actually put down their handheld gadgets for a spell and consider other low-tech activities.

Kim Haas, a spokeswoman for Stamford-based Charter Communications Inc., said the company was working to restore service, adding that the issues were "intermittent across parts of our footprint."

It was unclear how widespread the problem was, but Charter customers from as far away as Montana and Minnesota complained about slow or defective Internet service on Saturday.

"It's raining in Bozemon so Charter High-Speed Cable Internet is intermittent and S L O W," one Montanan commented on the Charter Internet - Stop ripping us off! Facebook page.

Minnesotan Jeremy Jerm Roehner claimed the service interruptions were a regular affair. "Same time every month, too. Weird," he posted on Facebook.

Heidi Vandenbrouck, a Charter company spokeswoman for this region, told 22News the company was aware of problems in Massachusetts and "working as quickly as possible to restore service." The cause was still under investigation, she said.

In Western Massachusetts, anyone who attempted to view comments, photos or videos on various social media sites yesterday afternoon probably noticed that they either wouldn't load or were significantly delayed. There was no immediate word on whether Charter intends to credit customers for the lost service.

Last month, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that 95,000 cable subscribers affected by the historic October 2011 snowstorm could pursue $7.1 million in damages against Charter for services lost during the storm, which knocked out power for weeks in some parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The appellate court ruling was the result of a lawsuit brought by a handful of plaintiffs, who originally argued that Charter had failed to credit them for lost cable, Internet and phone service until after they sued in federal court. Charter contended that its government contract only required repayment to customers requesting reimbursement, but the court rejected that argument.

WESTFIELD - The City Council has authorized Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to negotiate a multi-year lease for office space that will bring the School Department closer to the city's downtown. The council, on the recommendation of its Legislative and Ordinance Committee, Thursday approved efforts to secure a five year lease, with two optional two-year extensions, at about $74,000 annually at...

WESTFIELD - The City Council has authorized Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to negotiate a multi-year lease for office space that will bring the School Department closer to the city's downtown.

The council, on the recommendation of its Legislative and Ordinance Committee, Thursday approved efforts to secure a five year lease, with two optional two-year extensions, at about $74,000 annually at the Westwood office complex on North Elm Street.

But, on an amendment by Councilor David A. Flaherty, the council set a $14 per-square foot maximum on the lease agreement.

The Legislative and Ordinance Committee learned last week that the lease for 6,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the Westwood building was for $14 per square foot and included costs for utilities, snow plowing and custodial services. The total amount is about $3,500 more than the current School Department lease at Hampton Ponds Plaza. But the plaza costs do not include utilities, snow plowing and custodial services.

The School Department plans to relocate to the Elm Street site in October when its current lease with Hampton Ponds Plaza expires.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" became the summer's top-grossing movie at the North American box office with a $17.6 million weekend that narrowly bested the young adult melodrama "If I Stay," while the long-delayed "Sin City" sequel, "A Dame to Kill For" flopped.

NEW YORK -- "Guardians of the Galaxy" became the summer's top-grossing movie at the North American box office with a $17.6 million weekend that narrowly bested the young adult melodrama "If I Stay," while the long-delayed "Sin City" sequel, "A Dame to Kill For" flopped.

With an estimated $17.6 million in its fourth weekend of release, the Marvel space adventure passed "Transformers: Age of Extinction" to become the summer's biggest domestic hit with a cumulative total of $252 million. The film, released by Disney, was an unlikely August sensation (late summer is usually an afterthought in Hollywood's lucrative summer season) that helped the box office rebound somewhat after big-budget sequels like "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and "How To Train Your Dragon 2" failed to ignite the multiplexes.

"This movie just couldn't have come at a better time," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "When we were really down and out in the summer box office -- at one point down 20 percent from last year -- 'Guardians' came along and injected life. What is surprising is that it was a film launched in August."

The Warner Bros. tearjerker "If I Stay" failed to top the box office with a weekend haul of $16.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. In the film, a co-production between MGM and New Line Cinema, Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a teen in a coma after a car accident. It came in third place behind the reptile reboot "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," which made $16.8 million in its third weekend.

Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. said the studio was pleased with the performance of "If I Stay" considering its $11 million production budget. Advance tracking on the film had forecast a box office-topping result, but tracking had also expected "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" to open in the mid-teens. It made just $6.5 million.

"This is a complete miss," said Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Co.'s distribution chief. "Obviously, we're very, very disappointed in the numbers. We definitely did not see it coming in like this."

The hurt was particularly acute, Lomis said, because it happened with a longtime Weinstein Co. collaborator, director Robert Rodriguez. He helmed the first "Sin City" film, which opened with $29.1 million in 2005 and made $159 million globally. But nine years is a long time to wait for a sequel, and clearly the novelty of the film's digital adaptation of Frank Miller's black-and-white graphic novel wore off with both moviegoers and critics.

The faith-based high school football film "When the Game Stands Tall" opened with $9.1 million for Sony.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1. "Guardians of the Galaxy," $17.6 million.

2. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," $16.8 million.

3. "If I Stay," $16.4 million.

4. "Let's Be Cops," $11 million.

5. "When the Game Stands Tall," $9.1 million.

6. "The Giver," $6.7 million.

7. "The Expendables 3," $6.6 million.

8. "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," $6.5 million.

9. "The Hundred-Foot Journey," $5.6 million.

10. "Into the Storm," $3.8 million.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBCUniversal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Defense attorneys are pushing the court to adopt stronger instructions to advise jurors that eyewitness identifications are not always reliable.

Republican file photo

Neither Sevigny nor his friend identified Jeremy Gomes as the attacker when shown his picture in a police photo array. But a week later, they saw Gomes inside a Pittsfield gas station and told police he was the culprit.

Gomes was found guilty of the attack, but his lawyer is challenging his conviction based on what he says were unreliable eyewitness identifications.

The case is one of four cases seeking changes in the way eyewitness identification testimony is presented to juries and set to be heard by the highest court in Massachusetts next month. Defense attorneys are pushing the court to adopt stronger instructions to advise jurors that eyewitness identifications are not always reliable.

Specifically, they want judges to tell juries that human memory is easily influenced and not like a video recording. They also want juries to be warned that witnesses who appear highly confident about their identification are not therefore necessarily reliable. And they want juries told that the failure to identify a suspect in an identification procedure — such as a police lineup or photo array — may reduce the reliability of that witness' later identification of the same suspect.

Gomes' attorney, John Fennel, said jurors need to hear from judges about the fallibility of eyewitness identification, even by crime victims who strongly believe they are identifying the right person.

"These are people who had something terrible happen to them. They are people of goodwill trying to do the best they can, but what the science tells us is that people of goodwill are just wrong about this a lot," Fennel said.

The Massachusetts cases have drawn the attention of groups that have long questioned the reliability of eyewitness testimony, including The Innocence Network, the American Psychological Association and The Center for Law, Brain and Behavior. Each group has filed a legal brief supporting more cautionary instructions from judges on eyewitness identification.

The Innocence Network argues that judges too often admit and juries too often accept unreliable eyewitness identifications, which are the leading cause of wrongful convictions. The American Psychological Association cites a study showing as many as 40 percent of witnesses who made positive identifications were mistaken despite describing themselves as 90 percent to 100 percent confident in their identifications.

But prosecutors say defense attorneys are given ample opportunity to challenge witness identifications. In the Gomes case, his attorney received permission from the judge to call an expert witness to testify about eyewitness identification, but did not. Gomes' attorney pointed out during cross-examination that only one witness — the store clerk — identified Gomes in a photo lineup and that several descriptions given by witnesses did not match Gomes.

The standard Massachusetts jury instructions used by the judge include a warning that witnesses can be "honest but mistaken."

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless said challenges to eyewitness identification should be presented to the jury through expert witnesses, not instructions from the judge.

Suffolk University Law professor Rosanna Cavallaro said the push for changes in jury instructions has gained support in recent years because of generally accepted scientific studies about the malleability of memory and the number of wrongful convictions blamed on mistaken witness identifications.

"For many years, it was considered the gold standard of a trial — the best thing you could have was a witness on the stand who said, 'I'm sure that's the guy,'" said Cavallaro, a member of a study group appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that concluded that the state's current jury instructions on eyewitness identification are inadequate.

"Recently, we've become very skeptical of that," she said. "We know that memory is much more complex than we actually thought it was."

The court is scheduled to hear the cases Sept. 8.

Police and spy agencies are close to identifying the English-accented militant depicted on video showing the killing of U.S. journalist James Foley, Britain's ambassador to the United States said Sunday.

LONDON -- Police and spy agencies are close to identifying the English-accented militant depicted on video showing the killing of U.S. journalist James Foley, Britain's ambassador to the United States said Sunday.

Peter Westmacott told CNN's "State of the Union" program that "we're not far away" from naming the man in the Islamic State group video.

"I do know from my colleagues at home that we are close," Westmacott said.

He said investigators were using techniques including sophisticated voice-recognition software to identify the masked, knife-wielding figure.

British newspapers reported Sunday that investigators were looking at several British jihadi thought to be in the Raqqa area of Syria.

One is Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a former rapper from London, who reportedly has joined militants in Syria. He is the son of Abdel Abdul Bary, an Egyptian alleged al-Qaida operative who was extradited from Britain to the U.S. in 2012 to face terrorism charges in connection with the twin 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

British officials estimate that between 400 and 500 Britons have traveled to join jihadi militants in Syria, scores of whom have already returned home.

Writing in the Sunday Times, British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said the threat from militants in Syria and Iraq could last a generation. He said Britain was devoting "significant resources to tackle this problem for the long term."

Kelsey James, 22, of 38 Skyview Terrace, Bristol, was charged with endangering the welfare of her 22-month-old daughter after allegedly leaving the child in a car while the mother drank at a Bristol sports bar.

 

Kelsey James was charged with endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly leaving her toddler alone in a car while she drank at a Bristol bar. James was arrested Saturday after authorities discovered her 2-year-old daughter asleep in the backseat of a car while the mother was at City Sports Grille on Farmington Avenue.

James was charged with risk of injury and leaving a child unattended after officers found the toddler in a car in the parking lot of City Sports, the Bristol Press reports.

James was hospitalized after passing out at the bar, according to authorities, who only learned about the sleeping child when James came to several hours later and inquired about her baby. That's when police say they located the child in James' car outside the bar.

The toddler was taken to a local hospital for evaluation while the Connecticut Department of Children and Families launched an investigation.

James, who posted $50,000 bail for her release, is expected to appear in court on the charges on Sept. 2, the Hartford Courant reports.

The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers over its nuclear program and hard-liners press moderate President Hassan Rouhani to demand more concessions before limiting its atomic capabilities.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said Sunday its forces shot down an Israeli drone as it approached an Iranian nuclear site, recovering major parts of what it described as an advanced aircraft. Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers over its nuclear program and hard-liners press moderate President Hassan Rouhani to demand more concessions before limiting its atomic capabilities. Israel has not ruled out taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if its capability to build an atomic weapon progresses.

The Guards issued a statement Sunday on its website saying its forces fired a missile at the drone as it neared its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tehran. The statement did not say when it shot down the drone.

Guards spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif later told Iranian state television that officials believed it to be a "new generation" drone used by Israel.

"Major parts of the devices of the drone are intact and have been received by our friends that can be used for further information," Sharif said.

Sharif did not say when the aircraft was shot down, but said it was "identified upon arrival in Iranian airspace." He said authorities allowed it to fly for a short time to determine its destination.

Lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of an influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, also told a news website associated with Iran's armed forces that the "point of departure" for the drone should be determined, suggesting it likely flew in from one of Iran's neighbors.

Iran's nuclear program has been the target of espionage and sabotage efforts in the past. In 2010, the so-called Stuxnet virus temporarily disrupted operation of thousands of centrifuges, key components in nuclear fuel production, at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Iran says it and other computer virus attacks are part of a concerted effort by Israel, the U.S. and their allies to undermine its nuclear program through covert operations. Israel has never commented on the allegations but is widely believed to have been involved in the Stuxnet attack.

Since then, Iran has also said that it discovered tiny timed explosives planted on centrifuges but disabled them before they could go off. Authorities now claim the Islamic Republic is immune to cyberattacks.

Meanwhile, world powers and Iran continue to negotiate on a final deal regarding Iran's nuclear program. A deal struck last November saw some sanctions eased in exchange for Iran limiting its uranium enrichment.

The West fears Iran may be able to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charges, saying its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity and medical research.

Iran has said it captured several American drones that violated the country's airspace in the past. In 2011, Iran said it captured an advanced CIA spy RQ-170 Sentinel drone and later reverse-engineered it.

What a break it turned out to be. His attempt at rest and relaxation was largely overtaken by events involving Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including the videotaped execution of an American journalist they had been holding hostage, and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

EDGARTOWN, Mass. -- President Barack Obama's summer vacation off the Massachusetts coast is nearing an end.

The president was due back at the White House late Sunday after spending two weeks with his family on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

What a break it turned out to be. His attempt at rest and relaxation was largely overtaken by events involving Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including the videotaped execution of an American journalist they had been holding hostage, and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

Obama broke from his vacation to deliver statements on Iraq, Missouri and journalist James Foley on four separate occasions, including one delivered during two days he spent back at the White House in the middle of the getaway. The unusual midvacation return to Washington had been scheduled before those issues came to dominate the news.

Still, in the midst of daily briefings on these and other matters, telephone consultations with world leaders and other responsibilities, Obama squeezed in nine rounds of golf on the island he has made his summer presidential retreat while shrugging off criticism about how he was spending the time away from Washington.

"Just because the president is in a different location doesn't mean he's not doing his job," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Obama also ate dinner out a few times, danced at a birthday party for the wife of Washington powerbroker Vernon Jordan, treated first lady Michelle Obama to a jazz performance and took the family to a fireworks show near the home of senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who also was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard. Before leaving on Sunday, Obama and his wife went hiking with friends near the Obamas' rental home in Chilmark, on the western part of the island. The White House did not identify the friends.

Back at the White House, Obama will have to decide whether Foley's killing and the broader threat the Islamist State extremist group poses to U.S. interests in the region and elsewhere is reason enough to now seek to intervene militarily in Syria. He has resisted going that route for three years, even as the death toll in Syria's civil war approached 200,000, the government used chemical weapons against its people and the Islamic State group grew more powerful amid the chaos.

Pressure to go after the Islamic State inside Syria is coming from Obama's own military leaders, as well as some of his critics in Congress. Obama also must weigh that thirst for forceful action against his aversion to the risks that could come with plunging the United States into a country that has been torn apart by an intractable internal conflict.

White House officials have suggested that airstrikes in Syria are an option, though the officials say specific military proposals have yet to be presented to the president.

Obama will be a rather scarce commodity at the White House in the coming weeks.

He plans to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday to address the 96th national convention of the American Legion, before stops in New York and Rhode Island on Friday to raise money for Democratic candidates ahead of the November midterm elections.

Travel to Estonia followed by attendance at a NATO summit in Wales begins immediately after Labor Day. The trip is expected to focus on U.S. and European concerns over tensions between Russia and eastern Ukraine.

What a break it turned out to be. His attempt at rest and relaxation was largely overtaken by events involving Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including the videotaped execution of an American journalist they had been holding hostage, and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

EDGARTOWN, Mass. -- President Barack Obama's summer vacation off the Massachusetts coast is nearing an end.

The president was due back at the White House late Sunday after spending two weeks with his family on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

What a break it turned out to be. His attempt at rest and relaxation was largely overtaken by events involving Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including the videotaped execution of an American journalist they had been holding hostage, and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

Obama broke from his vacation to deliver statements on Iraq, Missouri and journalist James Foley on four separate occasions, including one delivered during two days he spent back at the White House in the middle of the getaway. The unusual midvacation return to Washington had been scheduled before those issues came to dominate the news.

Still, in the midst of daily briefings on these and other matters, telephone consultations with world leaders and other responsibilities, Obama squeezed in nine rounds of golf on the island he has made his summer presidential retreat while shrugging off criticism about how he was spending the time away from Washington.

"Just because the president is in a different location doesn't mean he's not doing his job," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Obama also ate dinner out a few times, danced at a birthday party for the wife of Washington powerbroker Vernon Jordan, treated first lady Michelle Obama to a jazz performance and took the family to a fireworks show near the home of senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who also was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard. Before leaving on Sunday, Obama and his wife went hiking with friends near the Obamas' rental home in Chilmark, on the western part of the island. The White House did not identify the friends.

Back at the White House, Obama will have to decide whether Foley's killing and the broader threat the Islamist State extremist group poses to U.S. interests in the region and elsewhere is reason enough to now seek to intervene militarily in Syria. He has resisted going that route for three years, even as the death toll in Syria's civil war approached 200,000, the government used chemical weapons against its people and the Islamic State group grew more powerful amid the chaos.

Pressure to go after the Islamic State inside Syria is coming from Obama's own military leaders, as well as some of his critics in Congress. Obama also must weigh that thirst for forceful action against his aversion to the risks that could come with plunging the United States into a country that has been torn apart by an intractable internal conflict.

White House officials have suggested that airstrikes in Syria are an option, though the officials say specific military proposals have yet to be presented to the president.

Obama will be a rather scarce commodity at the White House in the coming weeks.

He plans to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday to address the 96th national convention of the American Legion, before stops in New York and Rhode Island on Friday to raise money for Democratic candidates ahead of the November midterm elections.

Travel to Estonia followed by attendance at a NATO summit in Wales begins immediately after Labor Day. The trip is expected to focus on U.S. and European concerns over tensions between Russia and eastern Ukraine.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Curtis is now safe outside of Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry said Curtis was held by an al-Qaida-linked militant group fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

WASHINGTON -- An American journalist kidnapped and held hostage for about two years by an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria was released Sunday less than a week after the horrific execution of American journalist James Foley by Islamic militants.

The freed American is Peter Theo Curtis of Massachusetts. He wrote under the byline Theo Padnos, officials and family members said.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Curtis is now safe outside of Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry said Curtis was held by an al-Qaida-linked militant group fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A senior administration official said Curtis was released in the Golan Heights, where he was met by U.S. government personnel who were transporting him to Tel Aviv. The official was not authorized to speak by name and discussed the release on the condition of anonymity.

"My heart is full at the extraordinary, dedicated, incredible people, too many to name individually, who have become my friends and have tirelessly helped us over these many months," Curtis' mother, Nancy Curtis, said in a statement from the family. "Please know that we will be eternally grateful."

"He seems to be in good health," Curtis' cousin Viva Hardigg said in an interview. "We are deeply relieved and grateful for his return and the many people who have helped up secure his freedom. At the same time, we are thinking constantly of the other hostages who are still held and those working to help them be freed. We want to do everything we can to support their efforts."

Kerry, a former senator from Massachusetts, voiced relief and gratitude for Curtis' release, "particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy."

"Theo's mother, whom we've known from Massachusetts and with whom we've worked during this horrific period, simply refused to give up and has worked indefatigably to keep hope alive that this day could be a reality," Kerry said.

The news comes days after the Islamic State group posted a web video showing the murder of James Foley, an American journalist who was kidnapped in 2012 while covering the Syrian uprising. The group said the killing was in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq.

The Islamic State and the al-Qaida linked group that had held Curtis have split and parted ways. U.S. officials say the Islamic State is the far more ruthless organization.