Man tries to rob dry cleaners with sword

Michael O'Keefe, Cape and Islands district attorney, said yesterday that a 24-year-old man found unconscious in a South Yarmouth beach parking lot died from a single gunshot wound to the head. O'Keefe described the death as an apparent homicide and said that the state medical examiner's office has taken the body for an autopsy. He said police want to talk with a man who was observed walking his dog in the area where the body was found. South Yarmouth resident Joseph Tomaselli Jr. was pronounced dead Sunday after his body was found near South Middle Beach. Tomaselli's family members told the Cape Cod Times they do not know why anyone would have wanted to harm him. (AP)

A 26-year-old Lawrence man accused of running over his girlfriend's 16-year-old daughter has pleaded not guilty. Gilberto Vega was arraigned in Lawrence District Court yesterday and was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled today. Police said Vega struck Edilize Cruet, a Lawrence High School student, with his vehicle after he and his girlfriend, Betsaida Lorriano, had an argument. Vega is charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide by motor vehicle, drunken driving, and leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death. (AP)

A Catholic school in Webster has received a $1 million gift. The gift to St. Joseph School will be used to for a building project that will include a new gymnasium and a parish center for education, cultural functions, and conferences. The headmaster, Monsignor Anthony Czarnecki, told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester that the donor is a graduate who now lives in the Midwest, but wishes to remain anonymous. The school, which serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade, was founded more than a century ago. (AP)

The Bristol County Sheriff's Department has stopped paying its medical and utility bills because it is running out of money. Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told the Standard Times of New Bedford that if the department paid its bills, it would not have enough money to pay salaries. Hodgson estimated that his $41.34 million budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30 will be depleted by May 21. He blamed the state for underfunding the department. Kevin Finnerty, Bristol County treasurer, had an even bleaker prediction. He thinks the money will be gone by May 14, perhaps earlier. Hodgson said the department has just more than $2 million in outstanding bills, including $1.4 million owed to Correctional Medical Care, which provides medical services to inmates. (AP)

A humpback whale has been freed from a life-threatening entanglement off the coast of Cape Cod. The Marine Animal Entanglement Response team from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies freed the whale Monday after a watch boat spotted the animal, entangled with line and a buoy. A team attached a series of buoys to the entanglement, which pulled all of the gear free. (AP)