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This Hour: Latest Massachusetts news, sports, business and entertainment

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WHITEY BULGER

Ex-hitman: I was heartbroken Bulger was informant

BOSTON (AP) - A former hitman who admitted killing 20 people says he decided to testify against James "Whitey" Bulger after learning Bulger and his partner were FBI informants.

John Martorano served 12 years in prison after striking a cooperation deal with prosecutors.

Martorano took the witness stand Tuesday against Bulger. He described Bulger and his partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, as his "partners in crime," his best friends and the godfathers of his children.

Martorano says he decided to become a government witness against them because they violated his trust by becoming informants, something he said "sort of broke my heart."

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is charged in a 32-count indictment that accuses him of participating in 19 murders in the 1970s and '80s. He is also charged with extorting bookmakers, drug dealers and others running illegal businesses.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE-FUNDRAISING

Markey raising more than Gomez in US Senate race

BOSTON (AP) - Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Edward Markey is heading into the final campaign stretch with more than a 2 to 1 fundraising advantage over Republican Gabriel Gomez.

Markey's latest campaign finance report shows as of June 5 he had nearly $2.3 million to spend compared to just under $1 million for Gomez.

The Federal Election Commission report also shows Markey has raised more than $7.8 million for the election, including more than $800,000 from political action committees.

Gomez has raised $3.3 million, including $170,000 from PACs. Gomez's total includes a $900,000 loan he made to his campaign.

Markey, who had several million in his congressional campaign account before the election, has reported spending more than $8.6 million, far more than the $2.3 million spent by Gomez.

The election is June 25.

STREET SLAYING

Man shot on Springfield street

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Springfield police say what started as a street fight involving as many as 20 people turned deadly when someone pulled a gun and opened fire.

Officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired in the city's Indian Orchard neighborhood just after 5 p.m. Sunday.

When they arrived they found a man down in the street with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The victim, identified as 38-year-old John White, who lived in the neighborhood, was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Police say White left his home to see what was going on and it wasn't immediately clear if he was involved in the disturbance.

There have been no arrests.

White's shooting was the city's 10th homicide of the year.

WELFARE OVERHAUL

Mass. Senate leaders unveil welfare reform plan

BOSTON (AP) - Senate leaders are proposing a sweeping overhaul of the state's welfare system that seeks to put more welfare recipients back in the workforce while reducing fraud and waste.

The plan outlined Monday and scheduled for debate by the full Senate on Thursday would require people seeking benefits to first seek work, first on their own, and then with state assistance.

Democratic Senate President Therese Murray said the bill would remove incentives for people to stay on welfare rather than return to work, or to abuse the system.

The bill would require photo identification on electronic benefit transfer cards used by welfare recipients, and would increase the number of state welfare fraud investigators.

Senators expect the costs of implementing the reforms to be offset by a reduction in people receiving benefits.

FATAL STANDOFF

2 dead after shooting, standoff in Swansea

SWANSEA, Mass. (AP) - Authorities say two people are dead in Swansea in an apparent murder-suicide sparked by a dispute over money.

Swansea police responded to reports of shots fired outside a home on Stephen French Road at about 6 p.m. on Sunday.

They found 37-year-old Mitchell Stevenson of Tiverton, R.I. dead inside a car.

Witnesses said just seconds after the person who shot Stevenson went inside his home, a single gunshot was heard.

Police later found 43-year-old Christian Wilson dead in the house of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Bristol district attorney's office says an argument ensued when Stevenson went to Wilson's home to collect a debt.

GAS PRICES-MASS

Mass. gas prices up a penny

BOSTON (AP) - The price of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts has crept up by a penny in the past week yet remains well below the national average.

AAA Southern New England reports Monday that self-serve, regular climbed in the past week to an average of $3.50 per gallon, 11 cents lower than the national average.

The price in Massachusetts is 7 cents higher than at the same time a year ago and a penny higher than a month ago.

AAA found self-serve, regular selling for as low as $3.37 per gallon and as high as $3.69.

BOSTON MARATHON-PEDICAB DRIVER

Boston pedicab driver aids doctor after bombings

BOSTON (AP) - Dr. Jeffrey Kalish was watching his wife run the Boston Marathon when the bombs went off April 15.

Boston Medical Center called. The vascular surgeon was needed immediately.

He got in a friend's car, but in the chaos, the streets were impassable. He was walking when saw a pedicab.

He explained to driver Nicholas Viau (VEE'-oh) who he was and what he needed, so Viau told the doctor to hop in.

Roaring the wrong way down one-way streets, barreling through red lights, Viau got Kalish to the hospital about two miles away.

Viau tells the Boston Herald the streets were empty, and given "the extenuating circumstances, you do what you have to do."

Kalish, thanks in part to the few extra minutes Viau gave him, saved both his patient's severely injured legs.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE-SYRIA

US Sen. hopefuls Markey, Gomez: OK to arm rebels

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Edward Markey is offering cautious support for President Barack Obama's decision to begin arming rebels in Syria.

Markey, who opposes committing U.S. troops to the conflict, said Monday that he supports aiding rebels as long as the CIA can guarantee the arms are going to "pro-democracy insurgent groups."

Republican rival Gabriel Gomez said he's glad Obama has decided to take the step of arming rebels, but said the U.S. should be doing more, including establishing a no-fly zone to protect insurgents fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Markey said he's hesitant about enforcing a no-fly zone.

Obama authorized lethal aid to the rebels for the first time on Friday, after Washington said it had conclusive evidence that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons.

Syria accused Obama of lying about the evidence.

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