Harvard offers early retirement packages

Harvard University is offering voluntary early retirement to staff members as its latest move to cut costs, according to a university announcement yesterday. The program, available to staff over 55 years old who have worked at Harvard for 10 or more years, follows salary freezes and closer scrutiny over hiring. "We have taken a variety of steps to respond to the current financial situation," said Kevin Galvin, Harvard spokesman. "The early retirement program is another step in that process."

A federal judge has refused to reconsider his order suspending key New England fishing rules, leaving fishermen wondering which regulations are in place. Last month, US District Judge Edward Harrington suspended the rules, known as Framework 42, saying a key portion hadn't been adequately analyzed. Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service asked Harrington to reconsider his order. NOAA argued that the decision had caused widespread confusion, lifted protections on vulnerable stocks, and suspended a program that helped fishermen by allowing them to lease unused days from one another. The Gloucester Times said Harrington denied the motion without comment Monday. Regulators said they were trying to sort out which rules now apply. (AP)

The state's highest court has upheld a prosecutor's decision not to charge former state senator J. James Marzilli Jr. for the alleged assault of an Arlington woman in April. The Supreme Judicial Court said yesterday that Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone had the right to decide against prosecuting Marzilli in the case of a woman who said he assaulted her after giving her a ride home from a party. Leone said he found there was not enough evidence to bring indecent assault and battery charges against Marzilli. The woman then filed a private criminal complaint, but Leone decided not to prosecute. Marzilli resigned in November after he was charged with sexually harassing four women in one day in Lowell in June. He has pleaded not guilty. (AP)

A new study says nearly three out of every four men in New Hampshire have been physically or sexually assaulted, most before turning 18. Researchers say the violence rate is higher than the national average and shows the need for violence prevention programs, victim services, and cultural attitudes that support nonviolent conflict resolution. The report, "Violence Against Men in New Hampshire," says one in 20 New Hampshire men reported being sexually assaulted, with more than two-thirds of the assaults happening before the victim's 18th birthday. Nearly three-quarters of men reported being physically assaulted, half before they were 18. The University of New Hampshire, the state Health and Human Services Department, and the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence collaborated on the study. (AP)

Plymouth State University says getting rid of dining trays a year ago in its main dining hall has saved food, energy, and water. Plymouth State says it has saved nearly $160,000, in large part by cutting about 35 tons of food in the past year. Going trayless means students carry food on plates only. (AP)

A quick-thinking customer saved the life of a 19-year-old carwash worker who lost consciousness when her scarf got caught on a spinning scrubber brush and began strangling her. The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported that John O'Leary jumped out of a vehicle moving on carwash rails Sunday and used his pocketknife to cut Stephanie Carpluk of Chicopee from the spinner. O'Leary, a state wildlife biologist from Southampton, used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation skills he learned in the 1970s to revive her. Carpluk who had two black eyes and deep red welts on her neck, was released from a Springfield hospital yesterday. (AP)