By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent

Haverhill police are continuing to investigate who cut into a live 23,000-volt cable Wednesday afternoon, in an apparent attempt to steal copper. Deputy Chief Donald Thompson said that a hacksaw was found melted near the high-voltage cable, and police believe the would-be thief received an electric shock. “We were expecting to find someone either very injured or worse,” he said. But the culprit remains on the loose.

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

Cape Cod’s highest-profile vacationer seems to be on the move once again. The transient black bear that has been spotted in numerous Cape towns since Sunday evening has popped up again, this time in Brewster, police said. “We have had several credible reports this morning of a sighting of a black bear,” said Brewster police Lieutenant Heath Eldredge.

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

Nearly 53,000 retired teachers did not receive their monthly benefit payments this week because of a human error in the state treasurer’s office, officials said Thursday. The problem, which affected retired teachers whose benefits are electronically deposited into their bank accounts, has been rectified, but the deposits may not go through until Friday, according to the office of State Treasurer Steven Grossman.

By John R. Ellement, Martin Finucane and Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

A federal appeals court in Boston today declared unconstitutional the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union of only a man and a woman. “That’s the promise of America. We won,” said Mary Bonauto, attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based advocacy group that had challenged the 1996 law.

By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent

A young girl and her father are recovering today after two MBTA Transit Police officers rescued them from their car, which flipped over in the Thomas P. O’Neill tunnel Wednesday afternoon, police said. At about 2 p.m., the officers were driving on Interstate 93 North before the Tobin Bridge exit, heading to Woburn to serve warrants.

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is asking for the public’s help in solving the suspicious death of a 45-year-old homeless man in a Charlestown park. Normand Varieur sustained a serious head injury. He was found unconscious on May 20 on a fishing pier at Paul Revere Park. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died four days later.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A 69-year-old Somerville man who was a member of the Mafia has agreed to plead to charges of racketeering conspiracy and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, federal prosecutors said Ralph F. DeLeo, 69, was a member of the New York-based Colombo crime family of La Cosa Nostra and headed the DeLeo Crew of Somerville, US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office said in a statement.

By Globe Staff

Elected officials and activists from around Massachusetts and around the country are reacting to the First US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Boston that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

A Shirley man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2010 torture and murder of his estranged girlfriend, who was killed in the basement of his mother’s home, Middlesex prosecutors said. Robert Gulla, 21, was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder for the Jan. 23, 2010, stabbing death of 19-year-old Allison Myrick, District Attorney Gerry Leone’s office said.

By Globe Staff

Here is a key passage from the ruling today by a three-judge panel of the First US Circuit Court of Appeals striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The 43-page decision was written by Judge Michael Boudin.

By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent

Today and Friday are expected to be beautiful. The weekend? Not so much. This is going to be the first weekend where we’re gonna have a pretty rainy Saturday,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Foley. “Today and tomorrow are very pleasent but Saturday is going to be an end to that.” Today will be sunny, with high temperatures in the low 80s.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick spent Thursday morning in full politicking mode, attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure as Massachusetts governor and defending Senate Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren from critics who say she misrepresented herself as a minority to advance her academic career. On his monthly radio show on WTKK-FM, Patrick, who endorsed Warren on Wednesday, called the controversy over Warren’s professed Native American heritage a distraction from what should be a more substantive debate between Warren and her Republican opponent, Senator Scott Brown.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A man involved with the Norfolk Community Television station is now facing multiple counts of possession of child pornography, and investigators are trying to determine where he obtained the images, according to police and the Norfolk County district attorney’s office. The community cable channel has two studios — one of which is inside the Freeman-Centennial Elementary School on Boardman Street, according to the group’s website. Andrew Eckard is scheduled for arraignment this afternoon in Wrentham District Court after a fast-moving investigation by police in Millis and Norfolk led to his arrest Tuesday night.

By Globe Staff

A Shirley man was convicted today of first-degree murder and of violating a restraining order in the 2010 torture murder of his estranged girlfriend, who was killed in the basement of his mother’s home. Robert Gulla, 21, faces mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced in the Woburn courthouse on Thursday for the murder of Allison Myrick, a Fitchburg State College freshman who had dated Gulla but had broken off the relationship.

By Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Boston police have formally identified the man and woman who were found murdered Sunday inside a burning apartment in a South Boston housing development and have classified the deaths as a double homicide in a statement released late Tuesday night. The bodies of Richard Hallahan, 70, and Diane Bourglas, 54, were discovered by Boston firefighters when they responded to a fire inside a unit in at 4 Linskey-Barry Courtin the West Broadway development. Boston police reported today that Hallahan was stabbed to death and Bourglas died as the result of blunt force trauma.

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

Two separate issues snarled the Tuesday evening commute aboard the MBTA’s Blue Line, but maintenance workers were able to make repairs and restore the line in time for this morning’s commute, a spokesman said. Around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, a downed messenger wire at Airport station caused delays of at least 45 minutes and required more than 50 buses be brought in for shuttle service, T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

By Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

When he graduated from penny ante crime to the big leagues of bank robbery, James “Whitey” Bulger learned a hard lesson early on: everybody talks. And so he decided to play the game, too. Not to save himself, as he did in his later notorious role as an informant for the FBI. But to save his girlfriend, Jacqueline “Jacqui” McAuliffe. “Bulger orally admitted who his accomplices were in these bank robberies,” FBI Agent Herbert Briick wrote on July 5, 1956.

By Brian R. Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Aaron Deveau told Haverhill police he was trying to avoid rear-ending the car in front of him — not texting — when his car swerved across the center line and collided head-on with a car traveling in the opposite direction, fatally injuring the driver of the other car. Deveau, 18, is on trial in Haverhill District Court on charges that include negligent motor vehicle homicide and causing injury in a crash while texting and driving. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the Feb. 20, 2011 crash that killed Donald Bowley, 55, of Danville, N.H. Bowley died of severe brain injuries 18 days after the crash.

By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent

The thunderstorms have rumbled past, but scattered showers may still pop up today, as temperatures rise to the upper 70s or low 80s. The outlook for Thursday and Friday is mostly sunny, but the weekend may bring some clouds and rain, the National Weather Service says. The storms Tuesday dumped heavy rain and hail on parts of Western Massachusetts. Thousands lost power when trees and limbs brought down power lines. A tornado watch was issued in Berkshire County, but none were sighted.

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

He’s definitely not your average bear. The itinerant black bear that has been lumbering through backyards and cranberry bogs on Cape Cod has been spotted again, this time in Yarmouth, police said. Several residents reported seeing the bear in the area of Center Street this morning, said Deputy Police Chief Steven G. Xiarhos. Police then responded to a string of sightings along Route 6A East toward the Bass River Rod and Gun Club, he said. The bear was not located; police said it appeared to be heading into the town of Dennis.