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BOSTON - The Massachusetts economy grew at a slower clip than that of the U.S. during the final three months of last year, marking the first time in six quarters that the state’s growth failed to outpace the nation’s, according to a new report.

NEW YORK - The hands came out of the pockets. The gaze was intense. Mitt Romney leaned confidently into the lectern.
MORE VEHICLES HAVE OVER 200,000 MILES
When Gerry LaBrie comes out of the mall and sees a piece of paper plastered to the windshield of his little red 1991 Honda CRX, he doesn't panic anymore.
Casino foes popping up
Updated 5:22 A.M.

BRIMFIELD - Two weeks after absorbing the news that an international gambling corporation based in Las Vegas is eyeing a rural part of town for a $600 million casino development, some townspeople are beginning to publicly speak out against the idea.

Douglas prostitution sting leads to arrest of 63-year-old woman
Updated 5:27 A.M.

DOUGLAS - A Douglas woman was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual conduct for a fee, after a prostitution sting conducted by police from Douglas and Sutton and the Blackstone Valley Drug Task Force.

GPS led police to serial bank robber
Updated 10:23 A.M.

BOSTON - A Fitchburg man was sentenced to prison Friday for his role in five bank robberies across Central Massachusetts.

SUV lifted off woman after crash
Updated 12:00 A.M.

SPENCER - Even though he drives the same stretch of road every morning on his way to work, Steven Turner feels that yesterday morning he was on Route 31 for a reason — to help rescue a woman he never met before.

N Brookfield theft cited in VT officer's firing
Updated 10:09 A.M.

A former North Brookfield, Mass., part-time police officer was fired Friday from his job as a Waterbury, Vt., police officer after the Washington County state's attorney said he would no longer prosecute his cases.

LOCAL NEWS

Ice-out contests put on hold

Pouring rain ended only 40 minutes before, but Robert Bray and Ralph Sacramone were confident the ice on Rockwell Pond was solid enough to carry Rocky and his lifeguard chair to his post to wait for spring.
SPORTS
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Ron Brace has title shot with new Patriots

FOXBORO - Ron Brace was a senior at Burncoat High when the Patriots — the New England Patriots, that is — beat Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII. This week, he remembered having friends over to his house that day to watch the game and eat chicken wings.
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MONEY

Twitter’s censorship plan stirs outrage

NEW YORK - Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.
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Nothing fossilized about ‘Rock of Ages'

WORCESTER - The musical “Rock of Ages'' had a landslide victory as it opened a five-performance run Friday night at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.
OPINION
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Their pace is off. Their eye contact is off. People with autism are there, alongside the action if not completely in it — they listen, and often can talk fairly well if not quite converse — but there’s a strange one-sidedness, like extreme shyness perhaps, only that’s not it.

COLUMNISTS

GOP leads the way in apoplexy

A funny thing happened on the way to the 2012 election.
WORLD/REGIONAL

Auschwitz survivor, 91, dies on anniversary of liberation

WARSAW, Poland - Kazimierz Smolen, a 91-year-old Auschwitz survivor who after World War II became director of the memorial site, died Friday on the 67th anniversary of its liberation.
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