Absentee ballots arriving for Mass. Senate poll

Absentee ballots arriving for Mass. Senate poll

Absentee ballots for the special U.S. Senate election to succeed the late Edward Kennedy will be available at city and town halls before Christmas.

Secretary of State William Galvin says the ballots will be available before Wednesday for the Jan. 19 election.

Galvin says voters who leave Mas-sachusetts in the winter for warmer cli-mates can either apply to have the ballot mailed to them or vote at their local elec-tion office before they leave.

The deadline for applying for an ab-sentee ballot is Jan. 15. 

Democrat Martha Coakley, Re-publican Scott Brown and Libertar-ian Joseph L. Kennedy, no relation to Edward Kennedy, are seeking to suc-ceed the late senator.

Worcester takes 241 guns off the streets

Worcester officials have collected 241 guns in the last two weekends, get-ting firearms off the streets in exchange for retail gift cards.

The eighth annual Goods For Guns Program, which was done in coopera-tion with city police and the Worcester District Attorney’s office, collected 169 guns, including 76 semiautomatic pis-tols.

Those who dropped off firearms were given gift cards to Wal-Mart. Rifles were redeemed for $25, revolvers for $50 and semiautomatic pistols for $75.

The number of guns collected was up from the 127 firearms last year.