Officer

On a recent Friday morning, a classroom of teenagers at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School broke up into small groups and spent an hour not answering questions about Albert Camus's "The Plague. " It wasn't that the students were shy, or bored, or that they hadn't done the reading. They were following instructions: Ask as many questions as they could, and answer none of them. The kids wrote in rapid fire on sheets of butcher paper. "Why is everyone acting normal when people are dropping dead?"

Sony's debuting "Men in Black 3," starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, is expected to vaporize "The Avengers"' nearly month-long supremacy at the top of the domestic box office charts, grossing about $80 million across the long holiday weekend. It's been 10 years since the last installment of the "Men in Black" franchise hit theaters and both the original in 1997 and the second film in 2002 opened in first place and earned a combined global tally of just over $1 billion.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" on Saturday. Zuckerberg and 27-year-old Priscilla Chan tied the knot at a small ceremony at his Palo Alto, Calif., home, capping a busy week for the couple, according to a guest authorized to speak for the couple. The person spoke only on the condition of anonymity. Zuckerberg took his company public in one of the most anticipated stock offerings in Wall Street history Friday. And Chan graduated from medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, on Monday, the same day Zuckerberg turned 28,...

At the annual Drive for Life law enforcement recognition breakfast held in Devens on May 23, MADD Massachusetts honored four Hingham police officers and the Hingham Police Department for their commitment to enforcing drunk driving laws. Officer Joel Salituri received MADD's highest award, The Law Enforcement Drive for Life Award. Additionally, three officers, Daniel Leary, Justin Burns, and Ryan Ross were presented with MADD's Hero Awards. The officers were selected based on their enforcement efforts throughout 2011.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent The Cambridge Health Alliance announced today that it has selected a new chief executive officer to replace Dennis D. Keefe, who resigned in July. Patrick Wardell, president and chief executive officer at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich., will be the new CEO for the alliance contingent on contract negotiations, the Health Alliance said in a press release today. The Board of Trustees for the Cambridge Health Alliance unanimously selected Wardell after the board was impressed by his broad knowledge and understanding of safety...

I assumed I had seen it all with Liberty Mutual. Once you learn about the chief executive's $50 million-a-year compensation package, the fleet of corporate jets, the $90,000 flights to Hawaii, the tens of millions of dollars for senior managers, the board of directors that doesn't feel the need to utter one public word of explanation, what more can there be? But as we've seen, there's always more, a fact that was never more apparent than when I was flipping through a mound of permit applications, building records, and engineering drawings...

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent A final appeal from a citizens group objecting to the relocation of Quincy's Town Brook has been shot down again by an independent hearing officer, who said the city's plans would improve the condition of the downtown waterway. The city's plan to relocate and "daylight" the Town Brook to an area along the Walter J.Hannon Parkway is one of three major infrastructure improvements necessary for the revitalization of the downtown. Yet the topic has been a controversial once ever since it was proposed, as...

Fresh from Facebook Inc.'s record-setting initial public offering, the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is to speak at Harvard Business School Wednesday. Sandberg is expected to be in Cambridge to deliver the Class Day keynote speech for graduating students ahead of Harvard University's commencement exercises Thursday. She graduated from Harvard Business School in 1995 and earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard in 1991. A Harvard Business...

A former Newburyport police officer was indicted by an Essex County grand jury yesterday on perjury charges, according to the district attorney's office. Daniel McCarthy, 50, of Newburyport is expected to be arraigned in Salem Superior Court within a few weeks, according to prosecutors. McCarthy resigned from the police force Tuesday after being on paid administrative leave since May, the district attorney's office said.

A suspended Lynn police officer will spend 90 days in prison for witness intimidation, prosecutors said. Geovanni Ruano, 47, was sentenced yesterday in Salem Superior Court to two years in prison, with 90 days to serve and the balance suspended for two years, the Essex district attorney's office said. Ruano was convicted Sept. 27 following a nine-day trial, the statement said. Prosecutors said that after having an altercation with a man in Lynn on July 31, 2010, involving a motor vehicle and an alleged assault, Ruano went to the man's house the next day and tried to influence his statements to...

Dirty clothes have a Pittsburgh-area police officer in hot water. Rankin police Officer Jason Rocco is charged with trespassing and criminal mischief for allegedly breaking into a neighbor's home to wash his clothes. Rocco was arraigned Saturday and released on his own recognizance. WPXI-TV ( http://bit.ly/L6xvKc) reports the home's owner noticed his electric bill was unusually high, given that he hadn't lived in the house for months. When the owner visited, investigators say he found the dryer running with Rocco's clothes inside.

A Boston real estate investor is buying a large office park in West Cambridge, adding to a flurry of activity in an area that's emerging as a lower priced alternative to Kendall and Central squares. The Davis Cos. said Tuesday that it will buy the Fresh Pond Technology Park, a 10-acre swath near the Alewife MBTA Station. The company hopes to eventually redevelop part of the park to attract additional science and technology firms. Under new zoning rules, the property can host more than 1 million square feet of residential and commercial development.

DUBLIN - The widow of a Northern Ireland police officer killed by Irish Republican Army die-hards condemned the length of prison sentences imposed Monday on his murderers, saying they were too short to deter more attacks. Kate Carroll spoke out after a Belfast judge imposed minimum prison terms on two men from the Continuity IRA splinter group who were convicted of murdering her husband, Stephen, in 2009. He was the first officer to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1998, the year of the US-brokered Good Friday peace accord for the British territory.

At least one suspect was at large late Monday night after shots were reportedly fired at Duxbury police officers responding to a call for an armed home invasion in the town, State Police said. David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said officers responded to the call on Temple Street at about 11:20 p.m. He said at least one suspect was at large and troopers were assisting local police in the search. It was not immediately clear if anyone had been hit with gunfire during the incident.

At least one suspect was at large late Monday night after shots were reportedly fired at Duxbury police officers responding to a call for an armed home invasion, State Police said. David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said officers responded to the call on Temple Street about 11:20 p.m. He said at least one suspect was at large and troopers were assisting local police in the search. It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been hit with gunfire during the incident.

The Pakistani Navy has court-martialed three officers for "negligence" in connection with a dramatic Taliban attack on a naval base in the southern port city of Karachi last year, a spokesman said Tuesday. The brazen, 18-hour assault on Naval Station Mehran last May destroyed two U.S.-supplied surveillance aircraft and killed 10 people on the base. The ability of the militants to penetrate the high-security base led to speculation they may have had inside information or assistance.

The post office on Washington Street in Woburn has been named after Woburn Police Officer John "Jack" Maguire, who was killed in 2010 while responding to a robbery. "It's another step in the healing process," Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin said. "The community is obviously very supportive and happy about it. I think it's a great tribute to Jack Maguire and all the members of the Police Department for all they do. " Senator John F. Kerry, who cosponsored federal legislation to rename the building, was on hand Friday at a ceremony.

VIENNA — A judge convicted an undercover Austrian police officer yesterday of attacking an American teacher after mistaking him for an African drug dealer, and ordered him to pay a $3,620 fine. Mike Brennan, a 36-year-old former football player from Jacksonville, Fla., suffered injuries to his back, head, neck, hand, and wrist during the Feb. 11, 2009, incident in a subway station in Vienna, the Austrian capital. The officer, who pleaded not guilty, had faced up to three years in prison.

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent A final appeal from a citizens group objecting to the relocation of Quincy's Town Brook has been shot down again by an independent hearing officer, who said the city's plans would improve the condition of the downtown waterway. The city's plan to relocate and "daylight" the Town Brook to an area along the Walter J.Hannon Parkway is one of three major infrastructure improvements necessary for the revitalization of the downtown. Yet the topic has been a controversial once ever since it was proposed, as opponents would...

LOS ANGELES - "The Avengers" continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking "Battleship" and other new releases. With $55.1 million domestically, Disney's superhero sensation remained No. 1 for a third-straight weekend and took in more than the three big newcomers combined. Overseas, "The Avengers" added an additional $56 million. The film is approaching the $1.2 billion mark worldwide, totaling $457.1 million domestically and $723.3 million internationally.