New England Sun-Times

Martin J. Walsh, a state representative who has been a champion of labor, will face off with John R. Connolly, a city councilor who promised bold leadership to transform Boston’s public schools, in the November final election for mayor of Boston. The two men emerged as the two top vote-getters in tonight’s preliminary election. The Associated Press called the election as Walsh garnered 19,808 votes, or 18.4 percent, while Connolly received 18,809, or 17.5 percent, with 96.5 percent of precincts reporting. The men bested 10 other candidates in the non-partisan election. The top two vote-getters now will vie in the Nov. 5 final election for the chance to guide the city into the future, succeeding long-time Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who, after being beset with a series of ailments, decided not to seek a sixth term. Former city housing chief Charlotte Golar Richie came in third, followed by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. The 12 candida...

As a matrimonial law attorney who regularly represents mothers and fathers in contested divorce trials, I have very some straight forward advice for parents going through divorce, and who are contemplating a custody action. More than ever, I am counseling mothers on how to not lose custody of their children. From the outset, it is important for mothers and fathers to recognize that married parents of minor children start out with joint custody rights. This means that both parents have equal rights to their children, and the same right to pursue custody of their children in their divorce case. In a world where many households contain two working parents, and many fathers have an active role in raising their children, the presumption that mothers will automatically get custody no longer exists . In fact, statistics show that fathers who seek primary custody of their children are awarded custody 50% of the time . Custody laws are gender neutral, and this means that ...

By Paul M. J. Suchecki     Bar codes are the black on white images that translate to numbers read by laser scanners for inventory control, from medication to retail food. Since the program was implemented in the U.S. in 1973 and spread worldwide, it has produced major cost savings through increased efficiency throughout the supply chain. You cannot hope to sell one of your products through a major retailer without a bar code. Here's how to get one. Instructions 1. Decide if you need a bar code. Let's say that you run a small restaurant and patrons rave about your homemade salad dressing. They say that they'd readily buy it if you'd make it available, so you decide to start manufacturing and bottling it. Before any markets stock it, you'd need a bar code. 2. Join GS1 US. GS1, formerly the Uniform Code Council, guarantees that with its bar code system, products can be uniquely identified virtually world wide in 145 countries. After joining GS...

The website for the building at 650 Fifth Avenue advertises for prospective tenants. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The U.S. government is set to seize a Manhattan skyscraper that prosecutors say is secretly owned and controlled by the Iranian government. The 36-story tower is located on Fifth Avenue in the heart of New York City, adjacent to Rockefeller Center, and is home to a number of corporate tenants. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said Tuesday that the seizure and sale of the property would be the government's largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture. A federal judge authorized the seizure in a ruling this week, finding that the building's owners had violated federal money laundering laws and sanctions against Iran . The building was constructed in the 1970's by a non-profit organization operated by the Shah of Iran, who was overthrown at the end of that decade. Today, the property is 60% owned by that organization, now called the Al...

The 42-year-old dropped out of school in the ninth grade, but finally got his degree this year, he says, in order to set an example for his kids Getty Images Actor and producer Mark Wahlberg may boast an impressive list of career accomplishments , but until now, he lacked a high school diploma. In a column he penned for the Huffington Post , the 42-year-old announced that he’s now a high school graduate. “I never made it past the ninth grade,” Walhberg wrote. “My circumstances were not unlike millions of other teens today, who live in tough working class neighborhoods surrounded by drugs, violence and crime, and who struggle to stay on the right path without positive influences.” The  Ted star explains that for the past year, he’s been completing online courses, fitting in time to study while traveling and even while on set. He officially received his diploma in June, and said that his four kids were his greatest motivation. ...

The BabyCenter Editorial Team If you take a home pregnancy test very soon after you think you may have conceived, a negative result doesn't mean much. When an egg is fertilized after you ovulate, it takes about a week to travel through the fallopian tube to the uterus. And it's only after a fertilized egg implants in the uterus that your body starts producing the pregnancy hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), which is what a home pregnancy test is looking for. A home pregnancy test can only give you a positive result if it detects hCG, says Hope Ricciotti, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and a community editor at BeWell.com. So even if you did conceive, if you test too soon, you'll receive a negative result because the fertilized egg wouldn't have had time to become implanted. If you think you know exactly when conception might have occurred and wait until a week after th...

The Huffington Post  |  By Christopher Rosen Feel the vibrations. With a special personalized announcement from Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself, "Don Jon" has its first trailer . The film -- previously titled "Don Jon's Addiction" after it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January -- is Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut. (He also wrote the script). "There's only a few things I really care about in life," says Don Jon (Gordon-Levitt) in the trailer for "Don Jon," before rattling off a checklist of what he holds nearest and dearest to his heart. "My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, my porn." That's right: Don Jon is addicted to pornography, a crutch Gordon-Levitt uses to explore male and female relationships and the pressure of media-enhanced expectations. ...