BOSTON, May 17 (Reuters) – When U.S. rowing hopeful Genevra
“Gevvie” Stone dips her oars into the waters of Lucerne,
Switzerland, this weekend she will try to fulfill an Olympic
dream that was left in tatters four years ago as well as
continue a family tradition.

Stone, the top-ranked U.S. female single skuller, narrowly
missed a spot in the 2008 U.S. team for Beijing – the kind of
disappointment that can end a sporting career. At that point,
Stone was a recent graduate of Princeton University
concentrating almost entirely on making the team

BOSTON (Reuters) – Rhode Island’s governor signed an executive order on Monday declaring that the small New England state will recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, a move that will give gay and lesbian couples many of the same rights as heterosexuals.

The move by Governor Lincoln Chafee formalized a non-binding opinion from 2007 by Rhode Island’s attorney general in favor of recognizing out-of-state gay marriages.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Kenyan runners swept both Boston Marathon podiums on Monday as Wesley Korir won the men’s race and Sharon Cherup triumphed in the women’s edition in steamy temperatures that slowed the defending champions.

Korir, 29, a graduate of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, finished in two hours 12 minutes and 40 seconds, the slowest Boston winning time since 2007 and almost 10 minutes slower than the world’s fastest time set last year by countryman Geoffrey Mutai.

BOSTON (Reuters) – The 116th Boston Marathon kicks off on Monday with as much focus on the potentially dangerous heat facing thousands of citizen runners as on the elite athletes who will scorch the course in a little over two hours.

The temperature in Boston on Monday is forecast to hit 86 F (30.5 C) by early afternoon, a record for this date and about 30 F above normal, making conditions especially trying for slower runners among the 27,000 entrants, who will be out on the 26.2-mile (42-km) course for many hours.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Organizers of Monday’s Boston Marathon have put extra safety measures in place and are encouraging some runners to sit out the event entirely on what is projected to be one of the hottest days in the race’s 116-year history.

“If the temperatures reach certain levels, running will put even the most fit athletes at risk for heat injury,” the Boston Athletic Association said in an advisory on Saturday.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Organizers of Monday’s Boston Marathon have put extra safety measures in place and are encouraging some runners to sit out the event entirely on what is projected to be one of the hottest days in the race’s 116-year history.

“If the temperatures reach certain levels, running will put even the most fit athletes at risk for heat injury,” the Boston Athletic Association said in an advisory on Saturday.

/BEIJING/LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) – Bo
Guagua, a 24-year-old descendant of Chinese Communist royalty,
seemed destined to one day become a rich and powerful
businessman in an economy that in his lifetime would become the
world’s largest.

His pedigree, elite schooling, easy confidence and
connections left those who knew him in no doubt he would pursue
a business career and amass a fortune.

BOSTON, April 4 (Reuters) – Efforts to protect the North
Atlantic right whale have gone high-tech with the creation of an
iPad/iPhone application that can warn mariners when they
approach an area where the highly endangered mammals are
congregating.

The Whale Alert app, available for free download, uses
global positioning system and other technology to send the
latest data about right whale detections, overlaid on National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) digital charts, to
the user’s device.

BOSTON (Reuters) – A federal appeals court in Boston heard arguments on Wednesday about the constitutionality of a law that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples – a case with implications for gay marriage across the United States.

Lawyers for the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives (BLAG) sought to defend the 1996 law, which the Obama administration essentially abandoned in 2011.

BOSTON, April 2 (Reuters) – The price of an order of fish
and chips at your local pub could jump this year after U.S.
authorities slashed the amount of Gulf of Maine cod that New
England’s fishermen can haul in, as a way to protect the species
from overfishing.

Fishing agencies and conservation groups are grappling with
a recent assessment that 2010 cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine
had fallen sharply and unexpectedly – a trend that threatens the
long-term survival of the industry.