CARVER (CBS) – Police in Carver are looking for the person who shot at an SUV and caused it to crash Tuesday night.

The driver told police he was driving along Wareham Street and David Road just before 8 p.m. when someone shot out his window.

The SUV went off the road and hit a tree.

The driver was not seriously hurt.

Two holes were also found in the driver’s side door.

Investigators have stopped short of calling them bullets, instead calling them projectiles.

They searched the area for suspects but found nothing.

Firefighters responded to the blaze in the third-floor apartment just after 3 a.m. on Sunday and discovered the victims inside.

Diane Bourglas

They were transported to the medical examiner’s office.

Authorities say they had been stabbed.

The police identified the victims as 70-year-old Richard Hallahan and 54-year-old Diane Bourglas.

They did not disclose a possible motive.

The police are seeking information from the public.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

“That’s the plan,” Pedroia said of avoiding the DL following the Red Sox 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night. “Hopefully I heal quick and I can get back out of there as soon as I can.”

The team and Pedroia are awaiting the results of an MRI he underwent Tuesday morning. They will take a day or two in hopes that the swelling goes down, and Pedroia can play as the injury heals. He may wear a brace at the plate to protect it from further damage, if he does not join the 12 other Red Sox on the disabled list.

Roche: The Dilemma With Dustin

The bright side is he will not require surgery on the thumb.

“All my ligaments and tendons are fine, it’s just the muscle. It’s the only muscle in your thumb,” Pedroia said of the injury. “I just need to see if it calms down a little bit and see if I can hit with a splint or a brace on; go from there.”

Pedroia On Thumb Injury: 

Pedroia injured the thumb roughly three weeks ago, but re-aggravated it in Monday’s 7-3 win over the Tigers.

If a brace does not work Pedroia knows he will hit the DL, and will likely be sidelined for up to a month.

“We’ve been talking about it, but I heal quick. I guess that’s a good thing. Hopefully I don’t have to go on the DL and I can help the team as fast as I can,” he said.

Stats: Red Sox Injuries

As for what he has to show the team in order to get back on the field, Pedroia said he’s played through plenty of injuries throughout his career.

“I don’t have to show them anything; I’ve played with injuries before. It’s a matter of me being able to swing with a brace on or something,” he said. “I’m going to get something made and see how it feels. If I can’t do it it’s three or four weeks. Hopefully it’s not that.”

Pedroia had started all 48 games for the Red Sox prior to Tuesday night, hitting .295 with five homers, 21 RBI.

BOSTON (CBS) – Home prices in Greater Boston increased slightly in March, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

In the Boston area, seasonally adjusted prices rose 0.7 percent in March from February. But compared to March of last year, home prices fell by one percent, the survey said.

“While there has been improvement in some regions, housing prices have not turned,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, in a statement.

“This month’s report saw all three composites and five cities hit new lows. However, with last month’s report nine cities hit new lows. Further, about half as many cities, seven, experienced falling prices this month compared to 16 last time. according to the S&P/Case-Shiller composite index.”

Only three cities — Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit – saw annual rates of change worsen in March.

Moreover, there are now seven cities – Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis and Phoenix – where the annual rates of change are positive.

This is what we need for a sustained recovery, Blitzer said, monthly increases coupled with improving annual rates of change.

“Once we see this on a broader level we will be able to say the market has turned around,” he added.

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal can be seen weekdays at 6 a.m. on WBZ-TV.

You can follow Lisa on Twitter at @lvanderpool.

Dustin Pedroia has a torn adductor muscle in his right thumb. The good news is that, unlike Kevin Youklis, it will not require surgery.

The dilemma is that Pedroia, the ultimate gamer, wants to play through the injury. The biggest problem is when he swings the bat. If he can have a brace made that will allow for no further damage to the thumb then he wants to go out and play.

The Red Sox are working with their doctors and outside specialists to see if he can indeed continue to play on.

Of course Pedroia wants to play. The Sox are 13-5 since May 10th and are finally a game aboove .500 following a huge win Tuesday night over Detroit and Justin Verlander at Fenway. They have seemingly righted their ship. Pedroia has been — and will always be — a big part of the Red Sox winning. We all know what he brings to the table on a daily basis.

Read: Dan Roche’s Sports Blog

So what do you do?

The answer is pretty simple.

Listen to the doctors. Bring in 50 of them and get their opinion on if the injury can 1) get any worse by playing, 2) stay the same by playing with a brace on while slowly healing, or 3) heal completely with 3-4 weeks of rest and rehab?

The answer, again, is pretty simple.

I want Dustin Pedroia when he’s able to play like Dustin Pedroia. I want a guy who has zero thoughts going through his head when he’s up at the plate. I want him to be able to swing that violent swing that squares up to the ball unlike any player his size I’ve ever seen. He needs to be able to go all out in the field and at the plate.

He hurt the thumb three weeks ago. He aggravated it Monday while swinging the bat. It sounds to me like he can aggravate it at any time, brace or no brace.

Let the tear in the adductor muscle heal. Take as much time as need be. He’s too valuable. Start with a two-week trip to the disabled list and go from there.

There is really only one goal this season for this Red Sox team: a trip to the postseason and a shot at another World Series title.

You need the best Dustin Pedroia you have to accomplish that goal.

Choose the short-term solution for the best chance of attaining the long-term goal.

Let Dustin rest…

Follow WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche on twitter @RochieWBZ

BOXFORD (AP) — State police say a man has died after leaving a moving vehicle on Interstate 95 in Boxford.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Karen Twomey reports

Police say the death at about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday remains under investigation and they were not immediately able to say whether the man fell, jumped or was pushed from the vehicle.

The vehicle he was in, however, left the scene and was later tracked to Somerville.

Police believe a woman and two children were in the vehicle at the time and those other occupants are being interviewed.

No names were released and police did not disclose any relationship between the dead man and the other occupants of the vehicle.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

The referendum Tuesday received 954 “no” votes and 308 “yes” votes according to the unofficial results.

About 22 percent of the town’s registered voters cast a ballot.

Selectmen Chairwoman Jean Fox said she was not surprised by the vote because there were too many unanswered questions about the proposal.

The Martha’s Vineyard-based tribe has proposed a $167 million casino, hotel and retail facility along Route 140 in Freetown and Lakeville on land the tribe has an option to buy.

Lakeville residents are scheduled to vote on the project on Saturday.

Tribal spokesman Jim McManus said the vote is nonbinding and does not kill the project.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

Remember just a couple of months ago when a number of pundits were in a lather over how badly Romney’s campaign was faltering, seriously discussed the prospect of a brokered GOP convention this summer, debated how badly Romney had been damaged by the primary fight, and predicted arch-conservatives would never rally behind him?

If you can, try to make a note of who said that, because they didn’t know what they were talking about.

And if you have somehow convinced yourself that Romney can’t go on to win the presidency this fall, better think again.

He prevailed in his 2002 run for governor in a much more hostile environment for wealthy conservative Republicans, for some of the same reasons why he is competitive in this race.

Massachusetts voters ten years ago were anxious about a faltering economy and suffering from a crisis of confidence in a political establishment that had bungled the budget and the Big Dig.

They were looking for someone from the outside with honesty and solid managerial skills to come in and restore confidence, and Romney fit the bill.

And for the first half of his term here, Romney delivered.

He worked well with the legislature to stabilize the budget mess, took steps to restore professionalism to parts of the government that had descended into chaos, and promoted creative policies like smart growth that continue to this day.

But after the 2004 midterm elections, Romney lost interest in the job.

He started running for president, and gave up on trying to deal with a Democratic majority increasingly uninterested in working with him.

Would he be a good president?

Better than the one we have now?

I don’t know.

But whatever you do, don’t think Romney can’t win this thing.

The man just proved he knows how to win, even when the pundits say he can’t.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

Ahead of a cold front yesterday, the atmosphere was ‘juicy’, the sun provided more ‘insolation/instability’, and the cold front provided the ‘lift’.

The severe storms continued to weaken as they approached the coast overnight.  You can find the storm reports by clicking on this link.

Check: Current Conditions | Weather Map Center | Interactive Radar

Today will be cloudy, muggy, and showery through midday.

The showers will be more persistent across southeastern Massachusetts. Skies will become partly sunny elsewhere.

Then, as a cold front slowly moves offshore, an upper level trough diving from the northwest will provide a slim chance of a spotty afternoon storm, mainly north and west.

Highs will reach the upper 70′s to lower 80′s today. The Cape/Islands will be in the upper 60s to lower 70s.

Thursday will be a beauty with sunshine and lower humidity. High temps will be near 80 with the Cape/Islands remaining near 70, plus or minus a few degrees.

June is going to arrive in a sunny fashion!

There will be increasing clouds during the afternoon and evening though.

It’s looking like a warm front never makes it north of the area.

The end result will be a north-northeast wind which will bring temps back to near-normal range, 70-to-75. The coastal communities will struggle to get out of the 60′s.  If the front pushes far enough north, it would be turn out to be a much warmer day.

The first weekend of June will start with scattered rain on Saturday with a cold front sweeping through New England.

Sunday will be a casserole mix of sunshine along with diurnal clouds and showers with an upper level low hovering across the region.

Highs on Saturday will be in the 60′s for most of the area with some inland locales reaching the lower 70′s.

The onshore wind will keep temperatures on the cool side. Sunday will be a little warmer due to a wind shift. Sunday’s highs will be in the the middle 70′s and cooler on the Cape/Islands.

~Melissa :)

1. Color
Choose a color to reflect light even if you simply paint one wall. Color will soften your room tone so you can feel more relaxed. The most serene and comfortable rooms are designed with analogous color schemes. These are the colors that match well and are found next to each other on a color wheel. You should have a dominant color, a supportive color and an accent color to make your living room harmonious.

2. Clay
Place a clay flower vase or any clay vessel in the room. Clay art can be purchased as one piece or produced by a manufacturer in more subtle pieces scattered throughout the room. Whatever you decide, when you use clay to decorate, a feeling of earth touches your decor. The tone of clay provides a connection with the ground which works to minimize stress from a computerized work world. Clay also serves as a sound absorber, so the addition of a piece could muffle any unwanted noise.

3. Ceramic
Various places in the living room use hardware. Lights, drawers and hinges on doors have hardware that can be changed to produce more soothing effects in your living-room environment. When using ceramic as your replacement element, choose an accent color conducive with your color scheme to maintain balance.

4. Photography
You probably have a sentimental selection of pictures to display, and the positioning of those will be inspired after you sit in the room a few times. Choose frames that add a bolder color in a subtle way. This will brighten up the room, allowing for a burst of color that doesn’t overwhelm.

5. Bamboo Carpet
Bamboo carpets have been a Chinese traditional carpet for ages, and select bamboo will continue to create tone in surroundings for generations to come. The colors of bamboo range from deep brown mahogany to more natural tones like tan. The more tranquil you would like your room to appear, the darker the color you will need. If your furniture is light or bright in color, then use a light-colored bamboo carpet.

Below are some local businesses that may be able to help you get started.

Chatham Pottery
2058 Main St
Chatham, MA 02633
(508) 430-2191
www.chathampottery.com

Margaret Wilson-Grey and Gil Wilson have been in the pottery-making business for twenty years. They have the perfect pieces for your living room upgrade.

Johnson Paint Company
355 Newbury St
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 536-4244
www.johnsonpaint.com

Johnson Paint Company has every color you can choose from for the ideal transformation for your living room. Ask their advice on what would work best.

Wilmot’s Decorating Center
149 Everett St
Middleborough, MA 02346
(508) 947-3370
www.wilmotsdecorating.com

This independently-owned store selling Benjamin Moore Paint has experienced color experts who can help you choose harmonious paint to complement any room style. Your project is important to them.

Related: 5 Tips to a Successful Garage Sale in Boston
Related: Clean Up Your Spring Cleaning Plan in Boston

For more great tricks, tips and advice about your home, visit CBSBoston.com/YourHome.

Maryann Scheufele is a Childrens Book Author, Children’s Literature Examiner for Boston, Massachusetts licensed English Teacher grades 5-8 and 9-12, mother of five grown children, grandmother, Bathroom Designer by Trade, and resident of Plymouth in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

BOSTON (CBS) – No one questions the need for police on the street, but there is a debate over how much some are getting paid. As Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve reports, city leaders say the current overtime system could be breaking the bank.

Here is an interesting statistic, in 2011, 128 Boston Police officers made more than the Mayor and the Police Commissioner who are paid $175,000.

What is Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis’ reaction?

“They are large numbers.”

Yes they are. City documents also show 41 officers made more than $200,000 last year.

Davis says, “I think that when they (the public) see outrageous salaries, there are questions and I think it’s really important to answer those questions.”

Sam Tyler is a municipal watchdog. He pours over spreadsheets looking for answers too.

He says, “Basically the officers have figured out a way to manipulate the contract to generate substantial increased revenue for hours that aren’t worked.”

For example, an officer called in for a court case gets a four hour minimum, even if he is only needed for a fraction of that. Ditto when working a paid detail. It is all perfectly legal and spelled out in the union contract.

If they work four hours and one minute and then leave, they get paid for 8 hours,” says Tyler.

“When you see this type of practice and you have 2,100 police officers in Boston, that all adds up to a lot of extra dollars that the taxpayers are paying.”

And that’s what worries Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy. He tells WBZ the city spent $32 million in police overtime last year.

Shortsleeve: “So this is money that could be used other places in the budget?”

Murphy: “Yes, the budget is full of choices and when we don’t use it in one area we could use it in another area.”

Shortsleeve: “Is it sustainable?”

Murphy: “I don’t know, that’s a good question.”

The vast majority of officers play by the rules, but there have been questions about whether some officers violate the cap of 90 hours allowed in a week.

In fact, Commissioner Davis tried to fire an officer who was working paid details during his regular shift back in 2008. The officer ended up getting suspended, but last year he was the department’s top earner at $259,000.

Davis says, “My reaction is to look very closely at those numbers, he has been under very close scrutiny, and we continue to do that, but as long as he is playing within the parameters of the contract, there is not much I can do about it.”

Shortsleeve: “Have you been looking at it?”

Davis: “Absolutely.”

Another budget buster for the city is the policy of buying back unused vacation and sick time. City Council President Murphy wants to limit the length of time someone can carry that, so the city doesn’t get stuck with a large bill when the person leaves.

BOSTON (CBS) – Parts of New England were under a tornado watch or warning for most of the day.

The storm left roadways washed out and covered in water in New Hampshire. Power was knocked to a few thousand customers.

Sullivan and Keene were hit the hardest.

The National Weather Service reported golf ball-sized hail in several communities. There was a brief tornado watch just north of Keene, but that expired at 4:15 p.m.

Tuesday night’s rain was more than a hassle for some residents in Keene.

“It’s like trying to save a sinking ship,” said a homeowner pumping water out of his basement on Colonial Drive.

Cars were abandoned on flooded out streets, and basements were full of water.

Fire crews spent the evening cruising through neighborhoods, clearing drains and moving the water out.

WBZ-TV’s Christina Hager contributed to this report.

BOSTON (CBS) – Danielle and John Kasperzyk are ready to find their dream home. “We’re looking for some place to stay for the next 30-50 years and make it our own,” Danielle says.

Now finally the market may be granting their wish. With the uptick in home prices, they feel ready to put their two bedroom Waltham condo on the market. John says, “Before I was nervous about putting it on the market; now I am more confident.”

John bought it five years ago at the height of the market, and renovated the kitchen and bathroom. Finally he feels he can get his investment back. “It’s a huge relief because I was worried we’d be upside down, and so if we put it on the market and were upside down, we would have to owe money at the closing, so it’s a big relief.”

Realtors say after months of stabilization, they are starting to see home prices rise. Former President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors Gary Rogers says there is a lot of pent up demand, explaining, “There isn’t quite enough inventory yet. And because of it we’re seeing well priced homes and condos selling in a week to two weeks, which is a lot shorter than it has been.”

With prices up and interest rates still low, the Kasperzyk’s are hoping more families will feel the time is right to sell. John says, “We’re hoping inventory will catch up and we’ll have a lot to choose from and find the home we’ll both fall in love with.”

A spokesperson for the Mass Association of Realtors says while the indicators are promising, we are still on the road to recovery, and it will be several months before we know where we truly stand.

Tomorrow evening, the final coldfront will slide through and the air will be nearly perfect over the second half of the week…much drier.

Over the weekend another deep through tapping muggy air to our south will move in for Saturday along with it a soaking line of showers and thunderstorms.  The front will squeeze out the moisture and clear the coast by evening setting up a fine finish to the weekend.

CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – The peaceful beauty of Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge is something to savor, unless, of course, you’re being chased by a wild turkey.

Mary Russo of Watertown walks here several times a week. She says she has never been “pecked” by the birds, but she definitely describes them as “aggressive.”

“They are quite big, usually I see two or three at a time,” she says. “They come right up to you.”

In some cases this winter and spring, at least one of the male turkeys who has taken up residence there has done more than just approach humans. There have been dozens of complaints about turkeys chasing and harassing cemetery visitors since February.

George McLean is a cemetery volunteer and a Medford-based photographer who visits the site almost every day. He photographs the birds so often, he says he can tell them apart.

McLean says a pair of turkeys arrived at Mt. Auburn last year, and decided to call it home.

“They stayed together and they didn’t bother anyone until this year and the mating surge came on, their raging hormones we’ll call them,” explains McLean. He says the birds are docile for him, but admits that, “somebody that’s not used to a turkey, it’d scare the hell out of them.”

It wasn’t just mating season that caused the problem, though. It turns out that patrons who were feeding the turkeys were making the situation much worse. They turkeys turned more aggressive the more they were fed, according to state officials who were called in to help with the situation.

“The turkeys started off as being a novelty in the cemetery,” according to Bree Harvey, the cemetery’s Vice President of External Affairs. “We have since learned that feeding certainly does make the turkeys more aggressive.”

Harvey said the staff soon started to fear for the safety of patrons, including elderly visitors who are coming to spend time at the graves of their loved ones. The last thing Harvey wanted those people to deal with, she says, is a hungry turkey charging at them.

“We learned early on that the only option in the case of an overly aggressive turkey was to euthanize it,” Harvey explains. “Trapping the turkey and moving it elsewhere, it’s just moving the problem from one location to another.”

The cemetery called in state environmental experts who visited several times before ultimately shooting the most aggressive Tom. It was on the same day it attacked an employee and sent him to the hospital. It wasn’t the solution anyone favored, Harvey says, but in the end it was their best choice.

Still, George McLean isn’t convinced.

“It’s just too bad this had to happen,” he says. “I think there was some bad advice given, maybe, somewhere along the line you know?”

According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 88 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

“I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee,” Romney said in a statement.

“Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us,” Romney said. “I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity.”

Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation’s struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy.

“It’s these economic indicators that will more or less trump any good or bad that Romney potentially got out of primary season,” said Josh Putnam, an assistant political science professor at Davidson College who writes the political blog Frontloading HQ.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Donald Trump, who has been renewing discredited suggestions that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump’s repeated insinuations to the contrary.

“If Mitt Romney lacks the backbone to stand up to a charlatan like Donald Trump because he’s so concerned about lining his campaign’s pockets, what does that say about the kind of president he would be?” Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, said in a statement.

Asked Monday about Trump’s contentions, Romney said: “I don’t agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in.” He added: “But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

Trump told CNN in an interview Tuesday that he and Romney talk about other issues — jobs, China, oil and more — and not about the place of Obama’s birth or the validity of his birth certificate. Asked how he viewed Romney’s position that the president was indeed born in the U.S., Trump said: “He’s entitled to his opinion, and I think that’s wonderful. I don’t happen to share that opinion and that’s wonderful also.”

Republicans won’t officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Fla. Romney has 1,174 convention delegates.

He won at least 88 delegates in Texas with 64 left to be decided, according to early returns. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst led state Solicitor General Ted Cruz and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert in early returns.

If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will go to a runoff in July. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate — but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the threshold on March 4, after Romney had dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year’s primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar, new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state and a Republican electorate that built up several other candidates before settling on Romney.

Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Trump — all of them sat atop the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann peaked for a short time, too. But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney’s opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was “the worst Republican in the country” to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney’s work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney’s status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year’s version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.

Both initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney, but on Sunday Gingrich gave a full-throated defense of Romney’s campaign, saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “totally committed to Romney’s election.”

Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should help Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn’t, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.

“Romney’s been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he’s ever going to be,” Galen said. “Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race.”

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report from Colorado.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (CBS) – In the Massachusetts Senate race, incumbent Scott Brown launched a new ad that plays up his image as a man of the people.

Brown’s latest ad is shot in a diner, one of his preferred settings. “It’s a local spot in Wrentham, right down the street from my house,” says Senator Brown. And the image of Brown as a familiar townie, morning coffee in hand, is in calculated contrast with his likely opponent, Elizabeth Warren.

“You know, my favorite breakfast place is at home, I eat at home,” Warren told Jon Keller.

“I’m not really focusing on what she isn’t,” says Brown. “I’m focusing on who I am and what I’ve done.”

“I’m from here, my kids were born here, I was married here, I’ll probably die here, not too soon I hope,” says Brown. “I think it matters because I lived and breathed Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and I care very deeply about where our state’s going.”

But while Brown may trump her 20 years of local residency, Warren says the issue isn’t who’s a bigger townie, but who’ll do more to stick up for local interests.

“It’s been about Wall Street and helping Wall Street out,” says Warren. “That’s the part of America that Scott Brown has really been taking money from, developing a close personal relationship with.”

In her current TV ad, Warren fights back with a diner stop of her own and testimonials from regular folks with Boston accents, a sign of concern over Brown’s effort to define this self-styled outsider as the wrong kind of outsider.

Visit her website at: http://marisadefranco.com

Cory Hopkins at the Warren Group says the backlog of foreclosure activity needs to work itself through the system in order to return to a healthier market. He says last year represented an artificial low, that a number of factors at the beginning of last year kept the numbers down.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Anthony Silva reports

Hopkins says lenders are starting to find a better balance between foreclosures that have to happen, versus not doing so many at once that they’re overwhelming the market. He expects elevated foreclosure activity relative to last year for the next few months.

But Hopkins sees a silver lining. He says as more of these properties come on the market in good locations with a good real estate agent to help price them, there will be a lot of interest in them. Hopkins says that interest will likely spill over to other properties.

MANCHESTER, NH (CBS) – A New Hampshire couple says a man pulled a gun on them when they tried to park in front of his house. It all happened on a public road in Manchester.

Janessa Flood was simply trying to park her truck when she found herself at the wrong end of a gun.

“I’ve never seen a gun before,” she says. “It was scary. I was just in shock. I was like that’s a real gun.”

Flood and her boyfriend were attending a barbecue at a friend’s Manchester home. Parking was tight, so they pulled up in front of Reginald Reed’s house.

Flood says, “My boyfriend rolled down the window and said ‘hey is it OK if we park here?’”

Instead of a yes or no, Reed allegedly responded with his gun.

“The guy pulled it out, he pointed it at us and then he pointed it up the street and said no,” says Flood.

They drove away and called police. When the cops came they arrested Reed for a felony and took his weapon.

Manchester Police Lt. Maureen Tessier says, “Whatever the dispute is over it doesn’t rise to the level that would necessitate him displaying a firearm and pointing it at the individual which is obviously a concern that if it was loaded and accidentally discharged it could cause some danger.”

Flood is still shaken up. She says she’s never met Reed and doesn’t know what made him so angry. She says she’s not in a hurry to run into him again.

“I would be nervous to go back over there though, to go back to my friend’s house,” says Flood.

Reed was arrested on felony threatening charges and was released on bail. He wouldn’t speak to WBZ about what happened.

The Mattapan CDC operates 24 units of affordable housing.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Anthony Silva reports

Board member Bill Owens says the CDC is underwater with all its properties. He says they’re hoping to restructure, and pay off all their creditors.

Owens says the Mattapan CDC asked OneUnited on several occasions to help them, and they refused. He says the group is hopeful of saving its properties through the filing.

Owens says the Mattapan CDC has dramatically cut its staff, and laid off Interim Executive Director Michelle Ward.

MIDDLEBORO (CBS) – A statue that has stood in the same spot for 53 years is now at the center of a Constitutional debate.

In 1959, Middleboro Kiwanis Club erected a 12-foot brick cross bearing the word “worship” on a traffic island on Route 28.

Recently, the statue caught the eye of a Boston attorney who has since filed multiple complaints with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The state declined to release the name of that attorney.

The cross sits mostly on town land. The state owns a small fraction of the traffic island where it is located, and thus, the ACLU says, the cross violates church and state separation laws.

A number of locals who spoke to WBZ-TV defended the statue, including Bob Kinney of the Middleboro Kiwanis Club. They argue that the statue is a local landmark.

“For someone to go by it one time and complain, I think that’s sad,” he said.

But the state and the ACLU want to see the structure come down.

Middleboro resident Jeff Stevens agrees, noting times have changed since 1959.

“In the 1950s, this was a community that was pretty consistently a Christian community,” he told WBZ-TV’s Bill Shields. “But this community, like all is far more diversity than it used to be.”

Two legal options, according to the ACLU, would be to display the cross on private property or have town officials open the traffic island to all forms of expression, a move that could not be regulated.

Town selectmen say moving the statue is not a real option because they feel the statue is fragile and could fall apart.

Al Rullo, Chairman of the Board of Selectman says the town would consider fighting any legal action in court.

“It’s not giving preference to one religion or another. And I believe personally that’s what separation of state is all about,” he said.

Kiwanis Club does not have any affiliation with any religious organization.

The cross though, was dedicated to a local minister who was the club chaplain at the time.

BOSTON (CBS) – A brave young woman diagnosed with Graves’ Disease wanted to raise awareness about the incurable illness that affects millions of people in the U.S. alone.

So last year, Michaela Cui started a bike ride. She rode from Alaska to San Francisco to raise awareness.

Cui called the ride The Greater Than Graves’ Campaign.

This year, Bryant University students Elias McQuade and David Britton, along with UNH student Keating Tufts all stepped in.

The three young men are traveling 4,080 miles on a 59 day bicycle trip from Boston to San Francisco, California.

On Saturday, they left Boston and are headed cross-country.

They started by dipping their bike tires in the Atlantic Ocean, and in two months they’ll end their trek by doing the same thing in the Pacific Ocean.

It’s all in an effort to let people know about Graves’ Disease.

To find out more about their ride and how to donate, click here.

Is Doc as angry about last night’s officiating as everyone else is? What did Doc do to get that technical last night? What led up to the technical call on Doc?

“Listen, the officiating’s not why we lost the game. Obviously I had my issue and I can only say so much, but we have to play better as a team,” Rivers said. “That’s one of the things [officiating] we can’t focus on.”

Rivers did say that there was nothing else that precipitated his technical foul other than his saying, “Come on, Eddie” to referee Ed Malloy.

“I was surprised by it,” Rivers said. “Let me just put it that way.”

Rivers, though, doesn’t see Monday night’s officiating as a sign that there’s any type of conspiracy at play.

“I did TV years ago and it’s funny, every city I went into, those fans thought that there was a conspiracy,” Rivers said. “Obviously, it’s tough, it just is, so I try to stay away from the subject. But I don’t think there is.”

Regarding Ray Allen, is there more than just the ankle that is giving him problems? How tough is it for Doc to control Ray Allen’s minutes?

“He just has to try to figure it out,” Rivers said. “It’s a tough one. It’s as tough a decision you have because you’re still waiting for one [shot] to go in. But if it doesn’t go in, you have to make the choice, is he doing anything else? His spacing on the floor is terrific, he gives you that. But defensively he’s struggling as well, so every game we have to make a choice right now with Ray. … I will say this — I think 38 minutes is too much for Ray right now. We have to do a better job of managing his minutes and his minutes in a row.”

Rivers said he and the team haven’t made any decision about possibly resting Allen for a game, adding that the trainers aren’t even positive that a potential four-day rest would even help Allen heal.

How worried is Doc about the matchups against the Miami Heat? How healthy is Paul Pierce?

How comfortable are the Heat playing against the C’s? How has LeBron James changed since last season?

BOSTON (CBS) – We breathe about 20,000 times a day.  Despite all that practice, most of us still manage to get it wrong.

Doctor Roberta Lee said “because we are so chronically rushed, it’s a big problem.”  Doctors say learning to breathe in a more relaxed way allows us to take in more oxygen.  This can help our bodies fight off a number of serious medical conditions.

For example, relaxed breathing can lower stress levels and blood pressure.  It can also be beneficial in less obvious ways, such as reducing inflammation and improving asthma.

A recent study found asthma patients who practiced a relaxed breathing technique known as “Alternate Nostril Breathing” reduced their need for an inhaler by 86% when suffering from an attack.

Doctor Lee says we typically take about 15-20 breaths a minute.  Rapid, shallow breathing can throw the body into a “fight or flight” mode.

Taking a few minutes a day to slow your breathing down to a rate of 6-10 breaths a minutes can have a positive impact.  Lee added, “It slows down the heart rate.  It stimulates the relaxation response in the automatic nervous system, and restoration begins.”

Some hospitals are instructing patients with diabetes, cancer, and chronic pain on the benefits of better breathing.

Yoga instructor Jillian Friedman works with some of these patients.  “When we are tense, when we are in pain, when there is some sort of disease going on in the body, even in the mind, we tend to clench up on and hold onto it, and hang onto it.”

TEWKSBURY (CBS) – A woman taking money out of an ATM in Tewksbury on Monday was robbed at gunpoint.

The drive-up ATM at the Stoneham Savings Bank on Main Street is a popular spot on the side of the bank itself.

The robbery happened on the Memorial Day holiday at around 5 o’clock.

“He basically demanded her money,” says Deputy Police Chief John Voto. “After a few minutes of going through her pocket book, he realized she didn’t have anymore and then let her leave the situation.”

Voto says the suspect took the woman’s keys while he went through her purse. He ended up getting away with $30.

Police are reviewing surveillance video of the suspect, who is described as six feet tall, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a blue bandanna over his face and blue latex gloves. Police sent out a reverse 911 call to warn the community.

Police say they have some good leads.

LAWRENCE (CBS) – A man accused of trying to burglarize a Lawrence market wound up in intensive care after the owner attacked him with a baseball bat.

Police say 38-year-old Douglas Ragonese of Methuen smashed out the glass front door Monday morning around 5 a.m. and broke into Fernandez Market on Essex Street.

Owner Avelino Fernandez was sleeping in the back room with his two teenage sons. He says he has only had his market for six months and he’s been robbed twice already, which is one of the reasons he sleeps there.

Monday morning, Fernandez woke up to the sounds of broken glass. He grabbed a baseball bat that he was keeping for protection and stepped out the back room to find Ragonese behind the counter.

“I said ‘don’t move, don’t move,’” Fernandez explained.

Fernandez said Ragonese came at him with a broom, so he fought back with the bat. Fernandez knocked the broom out of Ragonese’s hand, whacked him between two and five times with the bat, and held down Ragonese while his sons called police.

“Somebody got into the store. They were robbing the store,” his son told police on the 911 call.

Ragonese suffered a possible skull fracture and a broken ankle. He was taken to Lawrence General Hospital. As of Tuesday afternoon, his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious.

Lawrence Police Chief John Romero says Ragonese will be charged with breaking and entering, malicious damage and assault with a dangerous weapon.

“Given (Fernandez’s) account, he says he was attacked by this individual and he used force, so it’s still an active investigation,” he said.

Fernandez, who says his intention was simply to defend his livelihood and not to hurt Ragonese, says he hopes the alleged intruder recovers.

A rare Siberian Crane chick hatched there about two weeks ago.

The chick is still too young to be on public display.

It’s being hand-raised by Zoo staff. The chick’s parents, a breeding pair, have resided at Franklin Park Zoo since 1993. They’re two of just 19 in captivity in North America.

The zoo says it expects to introduce the chick with its parents later this summer.

Experts say there are only about 3,000 Siberian Cranes left in the wild.

HAVERHILL (CBS/AP) — A first-of-its-kind trial began in Haverhill on Tuesday.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens reports.

Prosecutors say 18-year-old Aaron Deveau is be the first person to be tried on a charge of motor vehicle homicide while texting.

In opening statements, prosecutor Ashlee Logan told jurors that Deveau, then 17, was texting when his car smashed into one driven by Donald Bowley, killing the New Hampshire father of three and seriously injuring Bowley’s girlfriend.

“You will have an opportunity to review the defendant’s cell phone records. And in his cell phone records, you will see the defendant sent and received 193 texts on February 20th of 2011,” said Logan.

Bowley died 18 days later in the hospital. Prosecutors said he died from injuries suffered in the crash.

Logan said Deveau didn’t mean to cause the accident, but his “intent is irrelevant.”

“What is relevant is what did the defendant specifically (did) while he drove his car,” said Logan.

Meanwhile, Deveau’s defense attorney admitted that his client, a teenager, texted a lot, but said there’s no evidence that the teen was texting at the time of the crash.

Deveau’s lawyer has said there is no evidence the crash caused Bowley’s death. Deveau told police he swerved to avoid a vehicle in front of him that slowed down. He has pleaded not guilty.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Biologists released the Northern Red-bellied Cooter Turtles at Burrage Pond in Hanson.

They were taken in by aquariums, zoos, museums, and local schools about a year ago and raised in captivity as part of a program called “Headstarting.”

The extra care apparently helps the turtles grow faster and makes them less vulnerable to predators when they’re released into the wild.

First, the guys got into the postgame comments from Jim Leyland following the Tigers’ 7-4 loss to the Sox yesterday. Leyland wasn’t pleased with a call by the umpire on a missed third strike call to Mike Aviles. Aviles struck out on a foul tip, and the catcher caught it, but the first base umpire ruled that it hit the ground. Does Leyland have a case?

Also on Friday, the Sox got into it with the Tampa Bay Rays. With first base open, Pedroia was hit by a pitch. Then in the ninth, Franklin Morales needed five pitches to hit Rays designated hitter Luke Scott. Felger and Mazz broke down comments made by Sox manager Bobby Valentine and Rays manager Joe Maddon, in regards to Pedroia and Scott getting hit by pitches. Was Luke Scott hit because he bad-mouthed Fenway Park and the fans?

Finally, the guys digest some breaking news about Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia possibly missing up to a month with a thumb injury.

Mayor Thomas Menino, Boston School Committee Chair Rev. Dr. Gregory G. Groover, Sr., Superintendent Carol Johnson, as well as many of the students’ family members and teachers were at the event.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Lana Jones reports

“These students serve as an inspiration to us all,” said Rev. Groover. “We are proud of their achievements and salute the adults that supported them to make it a reality.”

The high school seniors hailed from different neighborhoods across the city of Boston. Many of them have conquered poverty hardships and language barriers throughout their grade school years in order to finish high school at the head of their class.

The diversity of this group of valedictorians makes them unique. Fifteen of the students were born outside of the United States, hailing from countries as diverse as Albania, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Morocco, Nigeria, and Malaysia.

Student speaker, Kisaira Cabrera, who is also the valedictorian of Boston International High School, shared her inspirational journey from the Dominican Republic to Boston. Three short years ago she arrived in Boston and did not speak any English. Now she is planning to attend Regis College in the fall.

“There are great things happening in the Boston Public Schools and these students are fine examples of that,” said Mayor Menino. “Each year I grow even more impressed by this elite group of students. These students have great potential and are proud examples of the best Boston has to offer.”

Not only have these students finished at the top of their class, but they are also moving on to some of the nation’s top colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Holy Cross, Smith College and Boston University.

“These students are helping to set the record straight,” said Dr. Johnson. “There are those that will say urban public education doesn’t, and can’t, work. These students shatter that perception and will proudly demonstrate that to the world with every step they take from this day forward.”

Reebok International and Simmons College were the two main sponsors for this event, and each valedictorian received a Reebok backpack, a leather portfolio and a $50 Reebok gift card.

The Education Department has approved waivers for Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. Eighteen other states and Washington, D.C., also applied for a waiver and could receive approval in coming weeks.

President Barack Obama’s administration is granting waivers in exchange for promises from states to improve how they prepare and evaluate students. In all, 19 states have been given waivers so far.

“These states are getting more flexibility with federal funds and relief from NCLB’s one-size-fits-all mandate in order to develop and implement locally tailored solutions to meet their unique educational challenges,” Duncan said in a call with reporters.

He was in Connecticut to make the announcement.

The waivers are a stopgap measure until Congress rewrites the decade-old law, which has been up for renewal since 2007. Federal lawmakers agree the law needs to be changed, but they’ve bickered over how to do that.

The states that won waivers earlier this year are: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. The waivers throw out that fundamental requirement, provided they offer a viable alternative plan.

Under the deal, the states must show they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.

Obama has called former President George W. Bush’s most hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them. Republicans have charged Obama is overreaching his authority by granting waivers and is imposing his vision for education on states.

States have been asking for relief from the law as the 2014 deadline neared.

“The waiver lets New York move away from NCLB requirements that were unproductive or unrealistic,” state Education Commissioner John B. King said in a prepared statement. “We’re making a new set of promises to our students. Now we have to live up to those promises.”

Duncan said the Obama administration prefers that Congress fix the law but insisted students can’t wait for that. In an election year in a divided Congress, that appears unlikely to happen.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

J.W. Carney Jr. told U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler that it will be “impossible” for him to read hundreds of thousands of documents turned over by prosecutors by Nov. 5, the scheduled trial date.

Carney said he has been working six or seven days a week trying to get ready for trial and his doctor recently noticed the effects of the stress on him.

“The stress on me personally has been enormous,” Carney said.

Bulger, the former leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, is accused of participating in 19 murders.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly said many of the documents Carney is referring to have only marginal importance to the case and suggested the complaints are a delay tactic.

“The defendant, Mr. Bulger, is of course trying to avoid trial,” Kelly said, adding that Bulger, now 82, fled Boston in 1995 and was apprehended last year, after 16 years on the run.

Bowler told Carney he should notify the court immediately if he is considering withdrawing from the case.

“I’m not considering withdrawing at this point,” Carney said.

Carney said he plans to submit a formal motion within the next two weeks “that will contain all the reasons why the Nov. 5 trial date is so unrealistic.”

He told reporters after the hearing that Bulger is not trying to avoid trial.

“I meet with Jim regularly, and he is very intelligent, very well-read, has an excellent memory and is looking forward to the trial,” Carney said.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns will decide whether the trial will be postponed.

Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, were captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in June.

Carney is also asking the court to lift a protective order on discovery material turned over to the defense by prosecutors. He said in a motion filed in court that the order limits him to talking about the material only to other lawyers on the defense team and to potential witnesses. He argued that all of the material has been in the public eye already because of several high-profile trials of Bulger’s former cohorts.

A hearing on that motion was scheduled for June 19.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

ESPN host Karl Ravech tweeted on Monday that there’s “nothing official yet but hearing Pedroia likely to miss a month.”

Manager Bobby Valentine addressed the media shortly after the report surfaced, but he said he did not yet have an update.

“There has been an MRI taken, and we need time to get those results,” Valentine said, adding that Pedroia has dealt with some sort of issue for three weeks. “He got jammed about three weeks ago, so he started wearing some protection. … I think the situation, it’s weak enough or bruised enough that if something re-occurs then maybe it could get really serious.

“I dont know how to classify it,” Valentine added. “We don’t have a diagnosis.”

Initial reports on Pedroia said that he jammed his thumb while making a diving play in the fifth inning of Monday’s win over the Tigers, but Valentine said he believes the problem arose earlier in the game when Pedroia hit an inside fastball. Valentine said after that game that it was a sprain and that Pedroia would undergo further testing. Meanwhile, Pedroia’s teammates downplayed the injury and said they didn’t expect Pedroia to even miss a day.

Pedroia, 28, has played in all 48 Red Sox games this year. He’s hitting .295 with five homers, 21 RBIs and an .800 OPS. Defensively, he’s made just one error on 231 total chances for a .996 fielding percentage, which is second-best in the majors behind Mark Ellis’ 1.000 fielding percentage.

After being limited to just 75 games in 2010 due to a broken foot, he played in 159 games for the Red Sox last season.

Nick Punto, who’s batting just .128 this season, is in the Red Sox’ lineup in place of Pedroia on Tuesday.

Ravech formerly worked alongside Valentine at ESPN for Baseball Tonight.

Punto in lineup for red sox, nothing official yet but hearing Pedroia likely to miss a month—
karl ravech (@karlravechespn) May 29, 2012

“It’s a tough call with him,” Rivers told ESPNBoston’s Jackie MacMullan Tuesday afternoon. “We’re trying to figure out a different minute rotation for him, maybe that will help him. We’re even considering sitting him for a game, getting him a longer rest and then playing him, and then sitting him for a game. We don’t know what the right thing is.”

In Boston’s Game 1 loss Monday night, Allen scored just six points on 1-for-7 shooting over 39 minutes. Allen was 1-for-4 from three-point range, and just 3-for-7 from the free throw line on Monday night.

Allen missed the final nine games of the regular season and first two of the playoffs with bone spurs in his ankle. Since his return, Allen is averaging just 9.6 points, while shooting an uncharacteristic 39-percent from the field, 27-percent from beyond the arc, and just 60-percent from the free throw line.

The 36-year-old Allen is a career 89-percent free throw shooter. The 60-percent from the line is the lowest of his playoff career since his first year in the postseason, when he shot 8-for-13 (62-percent) over three games in 1998-98 with the Milwaukee Bucks.

In addition to his offensive struggles, Allen had difficulty on the defensive end guarding Miami’s Dwayne Wade in Game 1, who finished with 22 points.

However, Rivers admits that one of the reasons he has not sat the ailing Allen already is a lack of options. With Avery Bradley out for the rest of the postseason after undergoing shoulder surgery, Rivers only has Mickael Pietrus or Keyon Dooling to take Ray’s spot.

Read: Celtics Need A Lot More From Paul Pierce

“MP (Pietrus) is going to have to be important,” Rivers told MacMullan. “Whether Ray plays or not in games, I think MP is going to be big for us, he has to be.”

Pietrus scored just one point in Game 1 in 17 minutes on the floor. Dooling played 12 minutes, knocking down one of the three three-pointers he attempted.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals is Wednesday night in Miami.

Check: Current Conditions | Weather Map Center | Interactive Radar

A watch indicates that conditions are favorable for tornado development. A warning, which has not been issued, indicates a tornado has been spotted.

A tornado warning was issued for Northern Cheshire County in New Hampshire. That warning expired at 4:15 p.m. Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were also in effect for several New Hampshire counties around that same time.

WBZ-TV Executive Weather Producer Terry Eliasen wrote that severe weather is possible throughout the afternoon and evening on Tuesday.

It has been nearly a year since an F3 tornado touched down in Massachusetts. Last June 1, the tornado tore across several towns in Western and Central Massachusetts.

Three people were killed during last year’s outbreak.

The Supreme Judicial Court threw out evidence against Carlos Morales, finding that the bag of tan powder was seized illegally.

The court said Lowell police should have taken Morales to the police station or another private location to conduct the search rather than to expose him publicly. Morales was handcuffed and face down on a sidewalk when a detective lifted his waistband and removed the bag from between his buttocks.

The court called it “an embarrassing and humiliating intrusion of the defendant’s privacy,” and upheld a lower court judge’s order suppressing the evidence.

The search took place in November 2009 after a confidential informant told police that Morales was selling heroin out of an SUV. After his vehicle was stopped by police, an officer said he observed Morales trying to conceal something behind the right side of his torso.

A detective walked Morales to a more secluded area by a house, pulled back the waistband of his shorts and saw a clear plastic bag between his buttocks. Police said Morales then tried to run away and struck the detective with his elbow as he did. Both men fell to the ground, and police handcuffed Morales.

Police said that after Morales tried to reach down into his shorts, the detective pulled back the waistband and retrieved the plastic bags. After the drugs were seized, Morales’ father approached the scene and saw him lying face down on the sidewalk with his buttocks exposed.

Morales was indicted on charges of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, being a habitual offender, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. He asked a judge to suppress the drugs, claiming that they were obtained as a result of an unlawful search. A judge found that the detective’s actions of lifting back his waistband to retrieve the drugs amounted to an unreasonable strip search.

The high court agreed.

“The action involved unconsented-to police observation of the defendant’s intimate, private area and also involved the public exposure of the defendant’s intimate, private area, all of which amounted to a significant intrusion of the defendant’s privacy,” Justice Roderick Ireland wrote for the court in the unanimous opinion.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, whose office appealed the lower court judge’s ruling, didn’t immediately comment on the high court’s ruling.

Morales’ lawyer, Peter Onek, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.