Connecticut

83 arrested at Yale on third day of strike

Striking Yale University workers forced arriving freshmen and their parents to cross noisy picket lines Friday and blocked major intersections near the school, prompting police to arrest 83 people.

The demonstration came on the third day of a strike seeking better pay and pensions. Those picked up for blocking the streets were charged with disorderly conduct.

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. is hoping to resume talks with Yale officials and union leaders, but when that might happen is unclear. The union workers have been on the job without a contract since January 2002.

Yale officials say their latest six-year contract offer to the workers is generous, with pay raises of 3 percent to 5 percent, pension benefit increases and signing bonuses of $500 to $1,500 for employees.

Tennessee

Gunman kills employee, self at video store

A man facing charges of raping and kidnapping his former girlfriend opened fire at the woman’s workplace, leaving one employee dead before killing himself.

The gunman, 43-year-old Thomas Edgar Harrison, had stayed inside the Electric Picture Co. after the shooting and held off a SWAT team for more than an hour, Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said.

When police entered the video production rental store, they found Harrison dead inside a locked bathroom.

Gregory N. Griffith, 39, of Mount Juliet, was killed after he apparently confronted Harrison, police said.

The other 18 people inside the building — two visitors and 16 employees, including Harrison’s ex-girlfriend — escaped without injury, Aaron said.

Harrison had been charged with kidnapping and raping his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend June 3. He was out of jail on $90,000 bond, and the woman had a protection order against him.

Iowa

Explosion injures eight at soybean plant

A gas explosion rocked a soybean processing plant Friday in western Iowa, injuring eight people — three critically — and sparking a fire, authorities said.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze after four hours at the Ag Processing Inc. plant in Sergeant Bluff, about 20 miles south of Sioux City, said Woodbury County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Brown.

The plant, which employs 50 people and makes soybean oil and soybean meal, was shut down for routine cleaning and maintenance when the explosion occurred just before 9 a.m.

Massachusetts

UMass president leaves academic post

University of Massachusetts President William Bulger said his goodbyes to academic life at the school’s Amherst campus Friday, less than a month after he was pressured to resign.

Bulger, 69, has said his Aug. 6 resignation was the result of a “calculated political assault” by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. Bulger officially steps down Monday.

The governor, along with Democratic Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly, said Bulger was unfit to lead the university because he failed to cooperate fully with a congressional investigation of his brother, fugitive mobster James J. “Whitey” Bulger.

Whitey Bulger has been on the run since 1995 and is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for his alleged role in racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking and 21 murders.

Los Angeles

Authorities arrest 14 in world opium ring

Federal agents arrested 14 men and seized 88 pounds of raw opium smuggled from Afghanistan and Iran as part of a suspected international drug ring.

The men were indicted Thursday on felony charges of money laundering and conspiracy. They face 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

The drugs, valued at $1.2 million, were seized during an investigation that stretched from California to Colorado.