Frank's fund-raising tops peers'

Representative Barney Frank far outpaced his Massachusetts congressional colleagues by raising $440,351 during this year's second quarter. Representative Richard Neal ran a distant second, collecting $235,308 for the three-month period ending June 30, according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance reports. Frank and Neal say they've been raising money to help Democrats keep control of Congress. "It's important for me, for all the reasons I'm in politics, to have Democrats in the majority," Frank said in a telephone interview. "I don't think you should raise money just to have it." The state's nine sitting House members, all Democrats, face reelection in 2008. (AP)

QUINCY

The Coast Guard is investigating the sinking last night of a 180-foot barge named Sei 17 in Quincy Shipyard. No one was on board and the Coast Guard emphasized that it was a cleanup mission and not a search and rescue. The sinking occurred about 8 p.m., spilling an unknown amount of diesel fuel into the water. Petty Officer Lauren Downs of the Coast Guard said that "200 gallons is the maximum amount of fuel allowed for a vessel of this size." Witnesses said the oil slick spreading from the site was visible and that the upper arm of the crane on the barge was above the waterline. Shipyard personnel deployed a fuel containment boom and contacted Cyn Environmental, a private contracting company, to continue containment and cleanup efforts. Daylight will be needed to assess the size of the spill, officials said.

WINHALL, Vt.

The body of a Boston man was recovered yesterday after three weeks of searching, according to police in Winhall. The body of Edgar Gonzzales, 29, was found in Grout Pond in Arlington, Vt. A representative of the nonprofit search and rescue group New England K-9 said Gonzzales was reported missing on July 7 from a hiking trip with friends. Several state and local agencies were involved in the search. Until an autopsy is concluded, cause of death will not be confirmed.

WESTWOOD

The wife of a North Easton man in critical condition after his car was hit by a 250-pound steel grate thanked friends and strangers yesterday for their offers to help during a "sudden and tragic situation . . . My children miss their Daddy terribly and wonder, like I do, when our husband and father will be coming home," Beata Swierczynski wrote in a statement released by Brigham and Women's Hospital, where her husband is receiving care. Pawel Swierczynski was driving his 2003 Toyota Corolla early Friday when a grate, and possibly its frame, was kicked up by a tractor-trailer and flew through his windshield. Until a highway widening project is completed in the area on Route 128, state employees will test each of 24 grates for looseness every day, said a spokesman, John Lamontagne.

KITTERY, Maine

A one-car crash killed a Dover, N.H., man after he eluded a New Hampshire liquor enforcement officer who spotted him speeding through downtown Portsmouth, N.H., and tried to stop him, police said yesterday. Shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday a Mercedes-Benz driven by Justin Harding, 22, jumped the curb approaching the turn into Wallingford Square in Kittery, struck a light pole and a tree, and crashed into a real estate office. Investigators later learned Harding was employed by a Mercedes dealership in Greenland, N.H., but had a suspended license and was not authorized to be driving its vehicle. High speed and alcohol were blamed for the crash. Police said Harding died of head injuries. (AP)