— Mayor James Fiorentini in Haverhill, Mass., hears all the time that city departments are understaffed and overworked.

So he decided to get a firsthand look.

Fiorentini will spend time over the next few weeks working at various city agencies, including the police, fire and public works departments, to gauge their workload.

He started his citywide tour this week working an hour at the circulation desk at the library, concluding that library staff are “not kidding” when they talk about their heavy workload.

Assistant Director Susan Katzenstein says the library has endured staff and hour cutbacks in recent years.

Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson says he’s looking forward to taking the mayor on patrol so he can see just how busy the understaffed department is.

— And finally, two thieves must have pushed the “going down” button because they were captured when they got stuck in an elevator after a robbery in Belgrade, Serbia.

A local newspaper reported the pair burglarized an apartment in a residential part of Belgrade. The apartment’s owner called police when he realized the two were stuck, and the thieves were arrested after authorities freed them from the elevator.