Girl run over, injured by float in parade

A 6-year-old girl was accidentally run over by a float in the Orleans Fourth of July parade, police said. Police said the girl had stepped off the trailer about 10:46 a.m., and was in the process of getting back on when she lost her footing and went under the trailer's double axle. Authorities said the driver quickly stopped and backed up off her leg. The girl was transported to Cape Cod Hospital with contusions and a possible fracture, officials said. The accident is under investigation.

A Boston man was shot to death and another was wounded as they walked on a Fitchburg street, police said. Nelson Ortega, 32, and Ryan J. O'Neill, 19, both of Roslindale, were walking down Congress Street shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday when shots rang out, said Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. Ortega was shot in the head and O'Neill was wounded in the back, authorities said. Ortega was pronounced dead at Leominister Hospital, and O'Neill was flown to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where he was listed in critical condition. Early said it was too soon to speculate on a motive in the attack. No arrests have been made. "We have some leads. It's an active, ongoing investigation," said Early.

Former New Hampshire congressional candidate Gary Dodds has been arrested again, this time accused of assaulting someone at his home. Portsmouth police say Dodds was arrested Thursday night and charged with simple assault, false imprisonment, and breach of bail conditions. He is being held without bail and will be in Portsmouth District Court on Monday. Dodds was convicted in February of faking his disappearance after a car crash two years ago. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail and a year of home confinement. He has been free while appealing his conviction. He was also arrested in May after his wife reported that he had moved out of their Rye home, had been acting erratically, and had thrown her to the floor during an argument. (AP)

Two people were killed and one severely hurt after a single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Newport State Airport in Middletown. The plane went down about 700 feet from the runway at about 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. James Warcup, chief aeronautics inspector with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said the plane was an instructional flight. He said it had a power failure just after takeoff. A witness said the plane was flying abnormally low before a wing started to tilt. The plane then crashed and exploded. Another witness reported that two unidentified men pulled one of the victims from the fire, as he called for them to help his wife in the plane. Authorities have not identified the victims. (AP)

The Nova Scotia government confirmed Thursday it will invest $4.4 million to provide an economic lifeline to the struggling ferry service that links Yarmouth with two ports in Maine. The Economic Development Department will get the money from the province's Industrial Expansion Fund to help Bay Ferries Ltd. offset a sharp increase in the cost of fuel. "To be quite frank, if the money was not forthcoming, the service would stop," said Jamie Muir, acting minister of economic development. "Fuel costs have nearly tripled in . . . the last couple of years and ridership is down by almost 50,000. A cash infusion was necessary." Bay Ferries operates the Cat, a high-speed ferry that runs between Yarmouth in southwestern Nova Scotia and two communities in Maine - Bar Harbor and Portland. (AP)

A Northfield man is facing simple assault charges that he hit Governor Jim Douglas in the face with a cream pie while the Vermont governor was marching in the Montpelier Independence Day parade Thursday. Witnesses said Michael Manning, 22, was wearing a Santa Claus suit. Douglas's campaign coordinator, Denise Casey, said the governor was not injured, and he continued in the parade after cleaning his face. (AP)