MBTA bus strikes, injures pedestrian

A 43-year-old pedestrian was struck by a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus yesterday afternoon in Lynn, MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said. The man, whose name has not yet been released, was hit at the intersection of Rand and Ford streets around 3 p.m., Rivera said. He was taken to Salem Hospital with head and leg injuries, she said. Authorities did not provide any details of his condition. The accident is under investigation by MBTA police, Rivera said.

Three Boston area men have been charged in connection with the stabbing death of 27-year-old Curtis Ashford in South Boston in May, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced yesterday. Edward Holloman, 19, of Lynn, and Edward Mendez, 34, of Jamaica Plain, were charged last week with stabbing Ashford at about 11 p.m. on May 31 during a fight on East Eighth Street, according to authorities. Darren Hemingway, 19, of Brighton was charged as an accessory after a murder, according to officials. Mendez instructed Holloman to stab Ashford during the fight, then Hemingway transported Holloman and Mendez from the scene and harbored them after the crime, officials said. Holloman and Mendez, who are both being held at the Suffolk County Jail, are expected to be arraigned this week on murder charges. Hemingway's arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

The body of a missing teenager was pulled from a pond yesterday morning in Beverly. The body has been tentatively identified as a 17-year-old Beverly resident who was reported missing Saturday night, according to Beverly police. The name of the victim was not released. A passerby spotted the teenager's body floating in Shoe Pond at 7 a.m., said Peter O'Connor, public information officer for the Beverly Fire Department. The teenager's death appears to be accidental, said a spokeswoman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett.

Campers who regularly use the waterfront recreational vehicle campsites at Horseneck Beach in Westport are upset that the state is moving them. Camper Betty Weeden of Portsmouth, R.I., said that she plans to send a petition she has circulated with more than 700 signatures to lawmakers and Governor Deval Patrick to get the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to reconsider the decision. The plan to move the 32 campsites with views of Buzzards Bay farther inland is part of a master plan for the park. The department said the campsites are being moved to protect dunes and that there have already been numerous public hearings about the plan. But state Representative Michael Rodrigues, Democrat of Westport, said he thinks the campsites should remain where they are. (AP)

Tribal police are investigating what caused several fights last weekend at the Narragansett Indian Tribe's annual powwow. Tribe Police Sergeant Edward McQuaide said that several fights flared Sunday night at the end of the two-day gathering on the tribe's land in Charlestown. The cause of the altercations was not clear, but at least one was a family dispute. Large groups of people were involved, but no arrests were made. Officers from the Narragansett tribal police department, the Charlestown Police Department, and State Police helped break up the disturbances. Authorities estimate that about 1,000 people attended each day of the weekend-long meeting, the 333d in recorded history. (AP)

Officials are trying to determine the cause of death of dozens of ducks in the Merrimack River in downtown Lowell. When several dead ducks were discovered along the Riverwalk earlier this summer, some people thought youths were killing the birds with rocks. But after about 25 dead ducks were pulled from the river over the weekend, David Redding, chief ranger at Lowell National Historical Park, said he thinks that avian botulism bacteria are to blame. Health Director Frank Singleton says hot weather and heavy rain flush nutrients into the river, robbing the water of oxygen and allowing the bacteria to flourish. The bacteria attack the birds' nervous system, causing the ducks to drown. There is no risk to humans. (AP)