Nation in Brief : MASSACHUSETTS : Plymouth to Keep Its Town Meetings

Voters in Plymouth, Mass., have defeated a proposal to install a 13-member council and full-time city manager to replace government by town meeting, keeping in place a tradition begun here by the Pilgrims 350 years ago. Residents of the city, which calls itself America’s Hometown, voted, 4,019 to 3,354, to keep the current form of government, in which more than 100 town meeting representatives govern a board of five selectmen. But backers and opponents of the measure agree some changes to town government might be inevitable in the next few years.