Tax revenue drops $60m for November

Massachusetts collected roughly $1.3 billion in taxes during November, but that was nearly $60 million below collections during the same month a year ago. Revenue Commissioner Navjeet Bal said yesterday that a marginal increase in income tax withholding was offset by income tax refunds that were $39 million higher than a year ago. Governor Deval Patrick said in mid-October that the state faced a $1.4 billion budget deficit, prompting a string of cuts and layoffs. (AP)

The Cape Cod Canal has reopened after an Atlantic right whale forced the closing of the waterway to maritime traffic. Authorities said the 45-foot-long whale swam into the Sagamore end of the canal at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday. The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the canal, ordered it closed to avoid a collision between the animal and a ship. The waterway was reopened at about 3 p.m. after the whale swam into Buzzards Bay. Atlantic right whales are an endangered species, and scientists estimate there are about 300 left. (AP)

Dominion Energy, which owns Salem Harbor Power Station, has accepted a three-year, $14.25 million tax agreement with the City of Salem. Under the terms, Dominion - the city's largest taxpayer - agreed to pay $4.75 million in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Dominion paid the same amount last year. Dominion has owned the 58-year-old plant since 2005, when it purchased the facility, along with power plants in Somerset and Providence, for a total of $640 million. After a boiler rupture killed three workers at the Salem plant in 2007, the state ordered it shut for several months. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration later found 10 safety violations at the plant and fined Dominion $46,800. Dominion is appealing the fine.

A new report ranked Vermont as the healthiest state in the country for a second year in a row. The report - by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and the Partnership for Prevention - says Vermont has made progress in areas where the rest of the country needs improvement. According to the report released yesterday, smoking has dropped to 17.6 percent of the population, obesity is rising at a slower rate than in the rest of the country, and few Vermonters lack health insurance. After Vermont, Hawaii was the second healthiest state, followed by New Hampshire. Louisiana was at the bottom of the list as the least healthy state, with its high rate of obesity, children in poverty, and uninsured residents. (AP)

A lady lobster with four claws was pulled from the deep this week in the waters off Newport. With a large crusher claw and three pincher claws - instead of the usual one - the crustacean was unlike anything lobsterman Patrick Marks, 39, had ever seen in his 14 years catching the creatures. All of the lobster's excess appendages worked. Marks, of Portsmouth, trapped the mutated animal about 60 miles south of Newport and hauled her up Monday. Marks told the Newport Daily News he sometimes lets lobsters go out of guilt when they look at him funny. So after showing off the multiclawed lobster for most of the day, he let her go. She weighed 1.5 pounds and could have sold for $7.50 retail. (AP)

A New Hampshire state trooper and his police dog were hurt when his cruiser crashed on the way to an accident. Police say Trooper Gregg Deluca was headed to a rollover accident in Center Harbor on Tuesday evening when he lost control of his cruiser on a snow-covered dirt road in Meredith and hit a tree. Deluca was treated and released later than night. His police dog, Tyson, was released yesterday morning after being held for observation at a veterinary hospital. Meanwhile, the driver in the Center Harbor crash suffered minor injuries and was arrested on drunken driving charges. (AP)