City warns of weekend traffic problems

City officials are encouraging Boston drivers to consider using public transportation this weekend because of heavy traffic expected during Gay Pride festivities today, tomorrow, and Sunday, and the Bunker Hill Day Parade and Road Race scheduled for Sunday. In a statement, Transportation Department Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin advised drivers that traffic delays and parking restrictions would be in place to accommodate festivities. Traffic will be delayed this evening for the Boston Dyke March starting at 7 p.m. An estimated 800 people will march near Boston Common. Midday Saturday, streets between the South End and City Hall Plaza will be closed for the Gay Pride Parade, where an estimated 35,000 will participate. In Charlestown Sunday, two morning road races and an afternoon parade commemorating Bunker Hill Day will cause road closures, city officials said. On Sunday, other events are scheduled, including block parties on Stuart Street downtown and in Jamaica Plain.

A mistrial was declared yesterday in the murder trial of two men charged with killing a woman in her Dorchester home, after the presiding judge underwent emergency surgery. Yesterday marked the second mistrial for Quincy Butler, 34, and William Wood, 33, who allegedly murdered 49-year-old Betsy Tripp in 2004. In April, after lengthy deliberations, the jury remained deadlocked and Judge Patrick Brady declared a mistrial. The retrial began Wednesday, when Brady heard opening statements. But Brady was forced to undergo abdominal surgery, putting the trial on hold for an undetermined amount of time, said Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

A former US Army sharpshooter was convicted of first-degree murder yesterday for a 2004 shooting outside a Fenway-area bar, the Suffolk district attorney's office said. Yat Fung Ng, 29, of Chelsea shot Karriem Brown, 33, of Roxbury after Ng got involved in a dispute outside An Tua Nua bar on Beacon Street. Ng, who was standing 15 to 20 feet away, shot Brown once in the head and fled the scene in a car, the district attorney's office said. Brown died about a month later at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Ng will be sentenced June 18.

A real estate developer seeking to buy 52 acres for housing in Holliston has settled a dispute with the state over hazardous waste cleanup costs at the site. The state Department of Environmental Protection has been involved in cleanup and enforcement at the property, a former illegal waste dump. Green View Realty sued last year to challenge liens the DEP placed on the property to secure payment of the state's outstanding costs. Under the settlement announced Wednesday, Green View and related trusts agreed to repay $1.25 million the state has spent on the cleanup and to finish the work. (AP)

Two fires yesterday left five people homeless and caused more than $1 million in damage. A three-alarm blaze broke out at 9:20 p.m. at a three-decker condominium unit on Tower Street in Jamaica Plain, displacing five residents and causing $750,000 in damage. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, said Steve MacDonald, Fire Department spokesman. Earlier, a three-alarm fire tore through a warehouse on Border Street in East Boston at 5 p.m., causing $500,000 in damage. The causes of both fires were unknown late last night.

Authorities say the body of a 44-year-old Chelsea man was found about 6 a.m. yesterday on the grounds of the Boston Sand & Gravel company. The man apparently abandoned his car on the ramp connecting the Tobin Bridge to the Zakim Bridge Wednesday night before disappearing over the ramp's edge, officials said. Authorities withheld the man's name pending notification of his next of kin. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office is investigating. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority spokesman Mac Daniel said the authority was notified about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday that a car had been left along the ramp. A review of surveillance tapes showed the man emerging from a red Honda and walking toward Jersey barriers along the ramp before he disappeared from view.