Shoplifting suspect hit by van

One of two suspected shoplifters was struck by a van yesterday when the duo darted into traffic on busy Route 16 near the Meadow Glen Mall, police said. After allegedly stealing from Kohl's, Marshall's, and Tello's, one of the women was struck by a 2000 Honda Odyssey driven by a 31-year-old Chelsea man, police said. After the van hit the juvenile woman, it was rear-ended by a 2002 Jeep Liberty. The injured woman was taken in serious condition to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. A passenger in the van also was transported to Mass. General with minor injuries. The other alleged shoplifter, Jennica Cesar, 20, of Marlborough, was arrested and arraigned on charges of larceny over $250, shoplifting, and disorderly conduct, police said. She was freed on bail.

HOLLISTON

The town's Board of Health closed Lake Winthrop as a precaution Friday night after a local man who swam there contracted a bacterial infection. Anita Ballesteros, chairwoman of the Board of Health, said the man contracted septicemia, which could be caused by almost any bacteria. The lake's bacterial levels are tested weekly, and the results had been low all summer, she said. Ballesteros asserted that the low levels indicate that the infection was not caused by the lake, but swimming there will be prohibited until further notice.

UXBRIDGE

A 19-year-old local woman was pinned under a tractor after it malfunctioned Saturday morning on a farm on West Street, police said. Jacqueline Anderson, a farm employee, had been operating the tractor before it turned over about 8:52 a.m. She was flown to a hospital with possible internal injuries, police said. A second female on the tractor did not suffer major injuries. Officials are calling the event an accident.

PROVIDENCE

State engineers this week will review records of 53 bridges that lack systems that keep the bridges standing if one part fails, and will decide whether any of the bridges should be inspected. Most state bridges have such systems, called redundancies. The review will begin today, The Providence Journal reported. (AP)

PORTLAND, Maine

Maine's economic growth ranked among the nation's slowest from 2005 to 2006 according to federal figures, and a state economist predicts continued weakness this year. Maine's gross domestic product increased by an inflation-adjusted 1.9 percent last year, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. That compares with 3.4 percent growth nationally. "The New England economy is doing relatively well, but Maine is not one of the states that's gaining momentum," said Yolanda Kodrzycki, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In New England, Massachusetts led with a growth rate of 2.9 percent. (AP)

NEW HAVEN

A group of American and British college students are learning the wonders of the sea and the horrors of slavery. Seven students are aboard the Freedom Schooner Amistad, a near-replica of the famous ship that sparked a slave revolt. The vessel is crossing the Atlantic for the first time after leaving in June for a 16-month, 14,000-mile voyage to Nova Scotia, Britain, and Africa that traces a 19th century route of the slave trade. Fifty students will board the ship for portions of the journey and share their experiences through live Webcasts. (AP)