Signs of distress

EASTHAMPTON

DA defends inquiry into court office break-in

EDITOR'S NOTE: Elizabeth D. Scheibel, the Northwestern District Attorney, issued the following statement Monday in response to news stories about a dispute between her office and court officials.

Scheibel defends her office's conduct and says "individuals have mischaracterized, if not fabricated, the scope and nature of my ongoing investigation."

Massachusetts lawmakers hear concerns about pharmaceuticals in water

BOSTON (AP) - Beacon Hill lawmakers are hearing testimony on steps the state is taking to protect its drinking water supply from pharmaceuticals.

Francona to miss two Red Sox games after mother-in-law's death

BALTIMORE (AP) - Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona will miss two games starting Tuesday night following the death of his mother-in-law.

Bench coach Brad Mills will run the Red Sox during their series at Baltimore.

Mary Ann Lang, mother of Francona's wife, Jacque, died Monday night in Tucson, Arizona. Francona and his family traveled to Tucson on Tuesday.

Hewlett-Packard to buy EDS for about $12.6 billion in cash

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $12.6 billion in cash to build a technology-services company that could challenge IBM.

Briefs

Region

A Look Back

50 YEARS AGO

James E. Faulkner of Bay State, chairman of the Board of Registrars of Voters, has solved the downtown parking problem for himself. The city official has taken to a bicycle. He says he does not have to look for a parking space, can keep the bike in his store, and that all this riding to and from Bay State helps to keep him in good shape.

Influential pop artist Robert Rauschenberg dies at 82

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Robert Rauschenberg, whose use of odd and everyday articles earned him a reputation as a pioneer in pop art but whose talents spanned the worlds of painting, sculpture and dance, has died, his gallery representative said Tuesday. He was 82.

Rauschenberg died Monday, said Jennifer Joy, his representative at Pace Wildensteins.

China quake toll at 10,000

CHENGDU, China - A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing about 10,000 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades.

U.S. begins aid flights to Myanmar cyclone victims

YANGON, Myanmar - A U.S. plane ferried relief to Myanmar for the first time Monday to help nearly 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation, but the U.N. chief criticized the military junta for its "unacceptably slow response."