Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week: Agawam Mon.- Agawam Housing Authority, 4:30 p.m., 66 Meadowbrook Manor. School Committee with PTO, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Junior High School at 1305 Springfield St. City Council, 7 p.m., Robert G. Doering School. Tues.- Council on Aging, 3 p.m., Senior Center. Thu.- Conservation Commission, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library....

Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week:

Agawam

Mon.- Agawam Housing Authority, 4:30 p.m., 66 Meadowbrook Manor.

School Committee with PTO, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Junior High School at 1305 Springfield St.

City Council, 7 p.m., Robert G. Doering School.

Tues.- Council on Aging, 3 p.m., Senior Center.

Thu.- Conservation Commission, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

Amherst

Mon.- Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, 2 p.m., Bangs Community Center.

Select Board, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall.

Tues.- Amherst School Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Wed.- Amherst Leisure Services and Supplemental Education and Housing Partnership/Fair Housing 7 p.m., Bangs Community Center.

Thu.- Town Commercial Relations Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Kendrick Park Design Advisory Committee, 7 p.m., Bangs Community Center.

Zoning Board of Appeals, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall.

Chicopee

Mon.- School Committee, 7 p.m., 180 Broadway.

Tues.- Streiber School Council, 5:30 p.m., 40 Streiber Drive.

Wed.- PVTA Advisory Board Finance Committee, 11 a.m., 2808 Main St., Springfield.

PVTA Advisory Board, noon, 2808 Main St., Springfield.

East Longmeadow

Tues.- Board of Assessors, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall.

Green Committee, 5 p.m., Town Hall.

Mountain View School Council, 3 p.m. at Mountain View.

Wed.- Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Granby

Mon.- Board of Assessors, 7 p.m., Town Hall Annex.

Tues.- Board of Health, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall Annex.

Wed.- Personnel Board, 6 p.m., Aldrich Hall.

Greenfield

Tues.- Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., Police Station.

Thu.- Council on Aging, 2 p.m., Senior Center.

Hadley

Tues.- Hadley Historical Commission, 7 p.m., Senior Center.

Board of Health, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Hatfield

Mon.- Planning Board, 7:30 p.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Tues.- Board of Health, 9:30 a.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Wed.- Zoning Board of Appeals, 9 a.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Holyoke

Mon.- Holyoke Public Library Renovation Committee, 1 p.m., Holyoke Public Library, 335 Maple St., community room.

Board of Public Works, Sewer Commission, Stormwater Authority, 5:30 p.m., Department of Public Works, 63 Canal St.

Tues.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., City Hall Annex, fourth-floor conference room.

City Council Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Wed.- Parks and Recreation Commission, noon, City Hall.

Office for Community Development, public hearing, 5 p.m., City Hall Annex, fourth-floor conference room.

Public meeting on renovations planned for Veterans Park, 6:30 p.m., Holyoke Heritage State Park, Visitors Center, Appleton Street.

Charter study commission, 6:45 p.m., Geriatric Authority of Holyoke, 45 Lower Westfield Road.



Huntington

Wed.- Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m. Town Hall.

Gateway Regional School Committee, 7:30 p.m., Gateway Regional High School .



Longmeadow

Mon.- Select Board, 6 p.m., Police Department.

Tues.- Board of Assessors, 8:30 a.m., Police Department.

Wed.- Finance Committee, 7 p.m., Adult Center.

Thu.- Select Board Finance Subcommittee, 9 a.m., Town Hall.

Monson

Mon.- Finance Committee, 6:45 p.m., Town Office Building.

Assessors, 4:15 p.m., Town Office Building.

Tues.- Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m., Town Office Building.

Housing Authority, 3 p.m., 31 State St. Colonial Village, Suite 50.

Wed.- Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., Town Office Building.

Tourism Committee, 7 p.m., Town Office Building.

Thu.- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7:30 p.m., Town Office Building.

Northampton

Mon.- Committee on Social Services and Veterans Affairs, 5 p.m., Council Chambers.

Solid Waste Task Force, 6:30 p.m., John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Special School Committee Meeting, 6:30 p.m., John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Tues.- Finance Committee, 5 p.m., Council Chambers.

Wed.- Board of Public Works, 5:30 p.m., 125 Locust St.

Capital Improvements Committee, 5 p.m., City Hall.

State Hospital Committee, 5 p.m., John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Palmer

Mon.- Town Council, 7 p.m., Town Building.

South Hadley

Mon.- Planning Board Special Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall 204.

Tues.- Community and Economic Development Commission, 3:00 p.m., Town Hall.

School Building Committee, 6:30 p.m., School Department Conference Room.

Appropriations Committee, 7 p.m., Police Station Conference Room.

Wed.- School Committee, 6:30 p.m., High School Library.

Conservation Commission, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall.

Thu.- Community and Economic Development Commission, 4 p.m., Town Hall 109.

Southwick

Mon.- Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Board of Assessors, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Tues.- Planning Board, 7 p.m., Town Hall.

Springfield

Mon.- City Council Human Services Committee, 2 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

City Council Finance Committee, 6:15 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

City Council, 7 p.m., council chambers, City Hall.

Tues.- City Council Public Health and Safety and Civil Rights Committee, 4:30 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

Springfield Housing Authority, 4:30 p.m., conference room, 18 Saab Court.

Conservation Commission, 5 p.m., Public Works building, 70 Tapley St.

City Council Public Health and Safety and Maintenance and Development Committee, 5:30 p.m., Room 200, City Hall.

Wed.- Springfield Food Policy Council, 2:30 p.m., Springfield Partners for Community Action, 619 State St.

Thu.- City Council Planning and Economic Development Committee, 3:30 p.m., Good Life Center, first floor conference room, 1600 East Columbus Ave.

License Commission, 5:30 p.m., Room 220, City Hall.

Fri.- City Council Special Committee on Elderly, 2 p.m., Greenleaf Community Center, 1188 Parker St.

Warren

Wed.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

Sewer Commissioners, 8 a.m., Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Thu.- Finance Committee, 7 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.

Board of Health, 7 p.m., Shepard Municipal Building.



West Springfield

Mon.- Planning and Construction Committee, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Town Council, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Tues.- Trustees of the West Springfield Public Library, 7-9 p.m., West Springfield Public Library.

Westfield

Mon.- Historical Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall.

School Committee, 7 p.m., 22 Ashley St.

Tues.- Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall.

Wed.- Commission for Citizens with Disabilities, 7 p.m., City Hall.

Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., City Hall.

The mid-morning scene at the K-Mart plaza on Route 5, used as the staging area for the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade that this year attracted 400,000 spectators along its 2.6-mile route, was one of controlled chaos and high energy.

Manon L. Mirabelli / The Republican3.20.11 Holyoke - Sarah G. Pease, 2, of Southwick, in the staging area for the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade prior to stepping off to march in Sunday's parade.

HOLYOKE – A colorful sea of 22,000 marchers, 40 floats, 35 marching bands and table upon table of grilling burgers and snacks combined to create a pre-parade cacophony of sights, sounds and aromas that somehow transformed itself into an organized parade.

The mid-morning scene at the K-Mart plaza on Route 5, used as the staging area for the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade that this year attracted 400,000 spectators along its 2.6-mile route, was one of controlled chaos and high energy.

“Every year, it’s a cluster,” said Westfield Sons of Erin member Jayne Mulligan.

Among Sunday morning’s hectic activities were vans and buses being unloaded, marchers arranging their dress, bands and fife and drum corps practicing different pieces of music, food cooking on grills and plenty of beer changing hands.

In addition to the entertainment, also milling about were the politicians and dignitaries and parade marshals and award winners representing Western Massachusetts communities, among them retiring Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott.

“I’m glad to be here,” he said. “The sun is out and there’s a record crowd. I just love all the festivities.”

As the morning progressed and the time grew shorter toward the noon step-off time, the chaotic scene miraculously gave way to the vision of a cohesive unit composed of multiple divisions.

“It all comes together because of a lot of dedicated volunteers,” said Roger J. Reidy, parade coordinator.

Those volunteers, known affectionately among perennial marchers as “The Yellow Jackets,” so-called because of the brightly colored jackets they wear, help keep each parade division where it belongs and make sure everyone is in the proper place, Reidy said.

So, how many yellow jackets does it take to organize a parade?

“We have 80 volunteers here today,” Reidy said.

When asked what the trick is to organizing thousands of people, multiple floats and marching bands, Reidy quipped, “If you find one, let me know.”

The trick, if there is one, lies in keeping order among each division.

“It comes down to each division,” Reidy explained. “The divisions break down the parade into smaller units so that when we’re ready to go, we can put it all together.”

While marching groups were stationed in the plaza, floats and large vehicles – as well as horses – were lined up on Route 5 awaiting parade time, and stationed at the helm was James M. Reed, a “Yellow Jacket” charged with keeping the parade’s pace.

“My job is to keep the cadence so that everyone moves slowly, and the parade moves consistently,” he said.

For one of those marchers, 15-year-old Nicholas J. Twohig, an Agawam High School freshman in the band, marching with the Mohawks was a lifelong aspiration come true.

“I used to come to the parade and watch this band when I was a kid, and to be part of it now is great. It’s really exciting.”

Syracuse, N.Y.; Albany, N.Y., and Worcester shared the middle-20 ranking, with Springfield ranking somewhere from 41 to 60 on the 100-city list.

SPRINGFIELD – The Pioneer Valley wasn’t hit hardest by the recession, but it is recovering more slowly, according to a study released Monday by the Brookings Institution.

“That means people are less likely to have lost jobs in the downturn,” said Howard J. Wial, a fellow at Brookings,who prepares quarterly reports on the economic performance of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. “But for those who did lose jobs, the lack of a big bounce back is going to mean it will be harder for them to get new jobs than it would be in some other areas.”

In Wial’s study, the Springfield metropolitan area includes all of Hampden and Hampshire counties and portions of Franklin County. He doesn’t rank the cities 1 through 100, but instead places them in five groups of 20.

Looking during the recession in 2008 and 2009, Springfield ranked in the highest fifth, or among the top-20 performing metropolitan areas of the country, Wial said. But since the recession officially ended in the third quarter of 2009, Springfield has ranked in the bottom 20.

Springfield is not alone. Allentown, Pa.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Philadelphia all suffered the least during the recession and have sluggish recoveries now, Wial said.

Karl J. Petrick, assistant professor of economics at Western New England College, said in real terms Springfield isn’t doing badly.

“The average for a metro region is barely an uptick,” Petrick said. “It’s not like everyone else is growing, and we are not. But it does tell you how hard it is to get anything going in Western Massachusetts.”

What they share is a stable housing market without the booms and busts endemic to the Sun Belt.

“I think that it also has to do with the dominance of high education which is centered in Hampshire County,” Wial said.

Universities provide steady, good-paying jobs.

“They also don’t expand rapidly during the recovery,” he said. “The public sector has lagged the rest of the economy. So you get the good and the bad.”

He said oil wealth is driving growth in some parts of the country such as Dallas and Austin, Texas.

In Greater Springfield, employment has fallen 5.4 percent since the first quarter of 2008, very near the national average and good for a rank of 37 out of 100, with 1 being the best. But in the last quarter, this region saw employment shrink by 0.3 percent, good for 80th out of 100 when 1 is good and 100 is bad.

“Most metro areas held steady,” Wial said.

Hartford ranked as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country in the last quarter of 2011, Wial said.

He said strong, for now, employment in state government and the aerospace industry helped make that ranking happen.

Boston was in the next-highest group of 20, ranked somewhere from 21 to 40.

Syracuse, N.Y.; Albany, N.Y., and Worcester shared the middle-20 ranking, with Springfield ranking somewhere from 41 to 60 on the 100-city list.

Hundreds of people rallied Sunday outside the base where Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is being detained on charges of providing classified data to Wikileaks.

(AP Photo/The Free Lance-Star, Robert A. Martin)Tighe Barry, center, wearing pink, confronts a group of Virginia State Police officers approaching protesters who rallied outside the main gate of Marine Corps Base Quantico , Va., on Sunday afternoon, March 20, 2011. Hundreds protested the treatment of an imprisoned Army private Bradley Manning, who is suspected of providing classified data to WikiLeaks.

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press

TRIANGLE, Va. (AP) — Wearing T-shirts and carrying signs bearing the smiling image of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, hundreds of people rallied Sunday outside the base where he's being detained on charges of providing classified data to Wikileaks.

About 35 people were arrested by police in riot gear after they refused to vacate an intersection in front of the entrance to Marine Corps Base Quantico. The rally was held along with more than two dozen others around the world to protest Manning's detention in Quantico's brig.

Manning is held alone in his cell for all but an hour a day. At night, his clothes are taken and he is given a suicide-proof smock to wear to bed. Manning's lawyer has repeatedly complained that Manning's strict confinement conditions are punitive, a charge the military has denied.

The military maintains that Manning's treatment complies with U.S. law and military regulations, and it has said that some of the conditions are needed to prevent him from harming himself. He faces nearly two dozen charges, including aiding the enemy, a crime that can bring the death penalty or life in prison. Army prosecutors, however, have told Manning's lawyers that they will not recommend the death penalty.

(AP Photo/The Free Lance-Star, Robert A. Martin)Daniel Ellsberg, left, the former military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, is processed for arrest by a Virginia State troopers following his arrest after a Sunday afternoon, March 20, 2011, rally near the main gate of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Hundreds attended to protest the treatment of an imprisoned Army private Bradley Manning, suspected of providing classified data to WikiLeaks. About 30 people were arrested Sunday.

David House, a friend who has visited Manning about 15 times since September, told the protesters that Manning appreciated their support.

"It's stuff like this that gives Bradley hope," House said. "When I go in there, look him in the eyes and say, 'Bradley, there are people on the outside that support you,' his eyes light up."

Daniel Ellsberg, a Manning supporter who leaked the so-called Pentagon Papers in 1971, was one of the protesters arrested Sunday. Officers handcuffed some protesters and led them away after they refused to leave U.S. Route 1 in front of the base.

Short scuffles ensued as dozens of officers attempted to push the protesters, some of whom were seated on the pavement, away from the intersection. Many sat beneath a yellow banner that read, "Caution: Whistleblower Torture Zone."

Prince William County police said in a statement late Sunday that about 35 people were taken into custody and charged with unlawful assembly and careless interference with traffic. One protester was also charged with assault and battery of an officer.

The heavy police presence at the rally included officers from six agencies, mounted officers and tactical vehicles.

(AP Photo/The Free Lance-Star, Robert A. Martin)Virginia State Troopers arrest a protester following Sunday afternoon's, March 20, 2011, rally near Quantico, Va., where hundreds attended to protest the treatment of an imprisoned Army private Bradley Manning, suspected of providing classified data to WikiLeaks.

Several leaders of the rally wanted to lay flowers at an Iwo Jima memorial at the base's entrance but were kept about 40 feet away by police who had set up barriers. Col. Thomas V. Johnson, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico, said access to the memorial was denied because protest activity is not permitted on base grounds.

"We're pleased that people were able to express their First Amendment rights in a manner that did not infringe upon base property," Johnson said.

Manning, a former intelligence analyst and self-styled "hactivist," is accused of leaking a raft of Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, more than 250,000 confidential State Department cables and a military video of an attack on unarmed men in Iraq.

Earlier this month, Manning's confinement was the topic of widespread media coverage when chief State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley resigned after criticizing the handling of Manning's detention. Crowley's resignation prompted reporters to ask President Barack Obama about Manning's confinement, and he said he had been assured the conditions were appropriate.

Preliminary results in Haiti's first post-earthquake election are not expected until March 31.

(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)Electoral workers count ballots by candlelight at a polling station at the end of a presidential runoff in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday March 20, 2011. Haiti's voters will choose between candidates Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian music to lead the country.

By BEN FOX & TRENTON DANIEL, Associated Press Writers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians wearied by long years of poverty, corruption and natural disasters are settling in for a wait to find out who they have elected to lead efforts to rebuild the earthquake-devastated capital, improve education and create some optimism for the future.

The choice faced by voters in the presidential election Sunday was between Mirlande Manigat, a longtime political fixture as a former first lady and senator, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a popular singer who has never held public office.

Preliminary results are not expected until March 31.

Across Haiti, people stood in long, but mostly orderly lines at polling stations, some shrugging off delays of three hours.

"A lot of governments come through to make change for themselves and their families," Jean-Claude Henry, a 43-year-old economist, said after voting at a school in the Delmas section of Port-au-Prince, the capital. "We want radical change for the population."

Voting was much calmer than the election's first round in November, which was marred by disorganization, voter intimidation and allegations of widespread fraud. Disputed preliminary results had government-backed candidate Jude Celestin edging out Martelly for a spot in the runoff, but Haiti's electoral council reviewed the count under international pressure and eliminated Celestin from the race.

(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)Presidential candidate Michel Martelly, center, casts his ballot at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 20, 2011. Haiti's voters will choose between candidates Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian music to lead a country where anger with the government runs deep and nearly a million people are living on the streets.

Whoever wins will face enormous challenges in a country emerging from last year's earthquake, which the government estimates killed more than 300,000 people. A multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort has stalled, and some 800,000 people still live in the camps that sprang up around Port-au-Prince after the quake.

Compounding the misery is a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 4,700 people and is expected to surge again with the rainy season.

"There is a lot of frustration," said 28-year-old Jazon Didier, a computer scientist and Manigat supporter. "People want a change and a better life."

Martelly seemed to have captured the ardor of young jobless voters. Hundreds cheered him wildly like the pop star he is as he danced on the roof of an SUV after casting his ballot across the street from a tent camp for people who lost homes in the earthquake.

Manigat, who touted her academic credentials and told voters to call her mother, appealed to the country's educated middle class, a sliver of the population in a largely poor nation of 10 million people.

Two recently returned ghosts from Haiti's past — former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier — formed part of the backdrop to the election, but there was no evidence that either had any effect on it.

Aristide returned to Haiti on Friday after seven years of exile in South Africa. The U.S. and others in the international community worried the popular but divisive figure could destabilize the election, but although he complained upon his arrival that his party had been excluded, he stayed out of sight Sunday.

(AP Photo/Jean Jacques Augustin)Presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat, center, casts her ballot during a presidential runoff at a polling station in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 20, 2011. Haiti's voters will choose between candidates Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady, and Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a star of Haitian music to lead the country.

Duvalier, the infamous dictator known as "Baby Doc" who was forced from the country in 1986, made a surprise return in January. He remains in Haiti but has laid low as a judge investigates whether criminal charges should be filed against him.

Sunday's voting was mostly quiet, but two clashes between rival political factions in rural areas left two people dead from gunshot wounds, Haitian police chief Mario Andresol said. Haiti's electoral council, which kept polling stations open an extra hour because of delays opening some of them, reported only scattered problems.

Martelly and Manigat offered similar agendas. They promised to build homes, foster economic growth and make education universal in a country where only half the children attend school. And both want to restore the military, which was dissolved by Aristide in 1995 after a long history of abuses.

But the candidates' backgrounds could not have been more distinct: Manigat is a 70-year-old university administrator and former senator; Martelly is a 50-year-old master of Haitian compas music who has no college degree and a history of crude onstage antics.

"In the past, he wasn't a politician; he was an artist," said Beatrice Antonio, a 20-year-old Martelly supporter, eager to shrug off the past. "He's young and maybe he has different ideas."

It was precisely Martelly's lack of political background that appealed to 40-year-old truck driver Jean Robert Pierre.

"We don't need experience," said Pierre, who said in the past he was a supporter of Aristide, long a champion of the poor. "We need someone who can work."

Marlene Telusena, a 38-year-old nurse, wouldn't say who got her vote, but made it clear her priorities were in line with those of Manigat. Telusena said she wanted to see a change in the education system so more kids could attend school in Haiti and overseas.

"We need diligence and morality to return to Haiti, because the youth must be able to take this country seriously," Telusena said. "We need competent leadership to achieve real change. I don't want to reveal my vote, but it's going to someone who is moral, experienced, and who the international community would consider serious."

___

Associated Press writer Jacob Kushner contributed to this report.

Police and several local fire departments are still looking for a 12-year-old girl who seemingly disappeared from her Orange, Ct. home Sunday.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Isabella Oleschuck is asked to contact the Orange Police Department at 203-891-2130 or call the State Police Missing Person Clearinghouse at 860-685-8190.

ORANGE, CT - According to several Connecticut news outlets, the State Police along with the FBI and local police and fire departments are still looking for a 12-year-old girl who seemingly disappeared from her home Sunday.

Isabella Oleschuk was reported missing by her parents at about 8:18 a.m. Sunday and the search has been on ever since.

She is described as a white girl with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes. Oleschuk is 5-feet, 4-inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She may be wearing a light blue jacket, a brown felt hooded cape and black rain boots.

Police have said that she is deaf in one ear and does not have her hearing aid.

"Her parents discovered her missing from her room and there are no indications at this time of foul play," Assistant Orange Police Chief Ed Koether told a Fox Connecticut reporter on Sunday. "We're covering all angles and pursuing every possible angle."

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Isabella Oleschuck is asked to contact the Orange Police Department at 203-891-2130 or call the State Police Missing Person Clearinghouse at 860-685-8190.

A U.S.-led coalition has succeeded in scattering and isolating Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces after a weekend of punishing air attacks, Pentagon officials said Monday.

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)Libyan men celebrates on a destroyed tank belonging to the forces of Moammar Gadhafi in the outskirts of Benghazi, eastern Libya, Sunday, March 20, 2011. The tanks were destroyed earlier by U.S. and allied airstrikes.

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-led coalition has succeeded in scattering and isolating Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces after a weekend of punishing air attacks, Pentagon officials say, and American military authorities are moving to hand control of the operation to other countries.

Gadhafi is not a target of the campaign, a senior military official said Sunday, but he could not guarantee the Libyan leader's safety.

Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon news conference there is no evidence civilians in Libya have been harmed in the air assault, code named Odyssey Dawn. Gortney also said no allied planes have been lost and all pilots have returned safely from missions that used stealth B-2 bombers, jet fighters, more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles and other high-tech weapons.

"We judge these strikes to have been very effective in significantly degrading the regime's air defense capability," Gortney said. "We believe his forces are under significant stress and suffering from both isolation and a good deal of confusion."

But Gortney did not rule out the possibility of further attacks aimed at preventing Gadhafi from attacking civilians in Libya and enforcing a no-fly zone.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. expects to turn control of the mission over to a coalition — probably headed either by the French and British or by NATO — "in a matter of days."

Late Sunday, however, NATO's top decision-making body failed to agree on a plan to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, although it did approve a military plan to implement a U.N. arms embargo.

On Saturday night, three Air Force B-2s, launched from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, dropped precision munitions on an airfield near the city of Misurata, destroying hardened military aircraft shelters while avoiding commercial structures nearby. A military official said the B-2s flew 25 hours in a round trip from Whiteman and dropped 45 2,000-pound bombs.

And fifteen Air Force and Marine Corps aircraft, along with jets from France and Great Britain, hit a heavy infantry unit advancing on the rebel capital Benghazi. "To protect the Libyan people, we took them under attack," Gortney said.

Gortney said the coalition had control of the air space between Benghazi and Tripoli, Libya's capital. "The no-fly zone is effectively in place," he said. "Anything that does fly that we detect, we will engage."

Inside Gadhafi's huge Tripoli compound, an administration building was hit and badly damaged late Sunday. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said half of the round, three-story building was knocked down, smoke was rising from it, and pieces of a cruise missile were scattered around the scene.

Gadhafi and his residence are not on a list of targets to be hit by coalition aircraft, Gortney said. But Gadhafi won't be safe "if he happens to be at a place, if he is inspecting a surface-to-air missile site and we don't have any idea that he's there or not," Gortney said.

Earlier Sunday, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the goals of the operation are to protect civilians from further violence by pro-Gadhafi forces, while enabling the flow of humanitarian relief supplies. But it was unclear how long the military effort would continue or on what scale.

That uncertainty led to criticism from senior Republicans in Congress.

House Speaker John Boehner said that the Obama administration "has a responsibility to define for the American people, the Congress and our troops what the mission in Libya is" and how it will be accomplished.

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama needs to tell the American public "to what extent military force will be used and for how long."

Army Gen. Carter Ham, the top officer at U.S. Africa Command, is in control of the operation. But the U.S., which is heavily engaged in Afghanistan and still has troops in Iraq, is working to transfer command to another member of the coalition. Gortney did not provide details on when that would happen or which country would take the lead.

The U.S. role would shift to mostly providing support with aerial refueling tankers and electronic warfare aircraft that can jam or monitor enemy communications — assets that other countries don't have in their inventories.

Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, told lawmakers last week that intelligence-gathering and surveillance aircraft being used in Iraq and Afghanistan may be shifted to Libya. These aircraft are limited in number, Schwartz said, and "trade-offs" may have to be made.

Schwartz said he expected the supersonic F-22 Raptor — a jet fighter yet to be used in combat — to play a prominent role in the initial attacks on Gadhafi's forces. With its stealth design, the F-22 can evade radar and has advanced engines that allow it to fly at faster-than-sound speeds without using gas-guzzling afterburners.

But Gortney would not say whether the F-22 had been or will be used. The Air Force has said only that the B-2 and F-15 and F-16 fighters participated in the operation.

As of Sunday, Gortney said members of the coalition included the U.S., Great Britain, France, Canada, Italy, Belgium and Qatar. More are expected to join, but Gortney said those countries, and not the U.S., would make that announcement.

Springfield, Belchertown, Hampden, Wilbraham, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and Palmer are all part of the pilot program.

An infrared image of a commercial building provided by Sagewell Inc. Thermal imaging technology will be used to evaluate the energy efficiency of 45,000 homes in the greater Springfield area through a pilot program launched by the state Department of Energy Resources.

PALMER – A federally-funded pilot program that will use thermal imaging to analyze the energy efficiency of 45,000 homes in the greater Springfield area sparked debate at the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, as some councilors had concerns about privacy being invaded.

Seven communities are included in the state Department of Energy Resources initiative – Palmer, Springfield, Belchertown, Hampden, Wilbraham, Longmeadow and East Longmeadow.

The state agency is using $325,000 out of a three-year, $2.6 million federal grant for the program, which includes taking thermal images of homes between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., when temperature differences are the greatest.

Thermal imaging will be conducted by Sagewell Inc. of Woburn, and temperature differences between the inside and outside of buildings will be measured. Areas where additional insulation and air sealing could prevent heat loss will be identified. A hybrid sport utility vehicle outfitted with thermal imaging equipment inside it will patrol neighborhoods.

Thermal imaging is expected to begin next week in Springfield; the schedule for the rest of the communities has not been released. The council voted to delay the process in Palmer for three weeks until information about how residents could opt out could be obtained.

Thermal imaging results will be shared with homeowners who request free energy assessments through the Mass Save program. The information will not be made public, and only will be available to the homeowner.

Not all councilors were on board with the pilot program; At-large Councilor Michael R. Magiera and Council President Eric A. Duda voted against it.

“I don’t want to be involved with another database that could possibly be used against you . . . I’m just trying to protect everybody’s privacy,” Magiera said.

“I felt we were making a decision with very little information,” Magiera added.

Duda said he is hoping that the “opt-out” provision will be easy for people to do, as he also has concerns about privacy because the thermal images can see beyond the exterior of the home. People and belongings cannot be seen, but the rafters and insulation can.

Updates about the pilot program will be posted on www.mass.gov/doer, as well as information on how to opt out. An e-mail address for Sagewell will be provided, as well as an 800 number. Those contacts are expected to be made available next week, a state spokeswoman said.

According to information from the state, Mass Save customers in the target municipalities, starting in early summer, will receive a home energy rating, similar to MPG ratings for vehicles, which can be featured in real estate listings to add value to upgraded homes. Customers will also have access to an online system that provides “one-stop shopping” for efficiency upgrades, including recommended upgrades, information about contractors who can perform upgrade work, and incentive and financing information.

Mass Save energy assessments (energy audits) are free to customers of the state’s four investor-owned utilities: NSTAR, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., National Grid, and Unitil.

“Through this pilot project and the additional efforts it will inspire, we’ll go a step further, helping to create a national model for rating home energy use and creating jobs for local contractors,” Richard K. Sullivan Jr., the state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in a statement.

Plant operators evacuated workers from Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear complex Monday after gray smoke rose from one of its reactor units.

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)Rescue workers sift through debris during a search in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, Monday, March 21, 2011 following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan.

By ERIC TALMADGE & MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writers

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Plant operators evacuated workers from Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear complex Monday after gray smoke rose from one of its reactor units, the latest of persistent troubles in stabilizing the complex after it was damaged in a quake and tsunami.

Smoke rising from the spent fuel storage pool of the plant's Unit 3 prompted the evacuation, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Hiroshi Aizawa said. The problem-plagued Unit 3 also alarmed plant officials over the weekend with a sudden surge of pressure in its reactor core.

Japanese officials had reported some progress over the weekend in their battle to bring the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi plant under control after it was damaged during the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan. But the crisis was far from over, with the discovery of more radiation-tainted vegetables and tap water adding to public fears about contaminated food and drink.

The toll of Japan's triple disaster came into clearer focus Monday after police estimates showed more than 18,000 people died in the quake and tsunami, and the World Bank said rebuilding may cost $235 billion.

Associated PressThis image made available from Tokyo Electric Power Co. via Kyodo News, shows the damaged No. 4 unit of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, northeastern Japan, on Tuesday March 15, 2011. White smoke billows from the No. 3 unit.

The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits. But the contamination spread to spinach in three other prefectures and to more vegetables — canola and chrysanthemum greens. Tokyo's tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are also tainted.

Early Monday, the Health Ministry advised Iitate, a village of 6,000 people about 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the Fukushima plant, not to drink tap water due to elevated levels of iodine. Ministry spokesman Takayuki Matsuda said iodine three times the normal level was detected there — about one twenty-sixth of the level of a chest X-ray in one liter of water.

In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate health risk.

But Tsugumi Hasegawa was skeptical as she cared for her 4-year-old daughter at a shelter in a gymnasium crammed with 1,400 people about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the plant.

"I still have no idea what the numbers they are giving about radiation levels mean. It's all so confusing," said Hasegawa, 29, from the small town of Futuba in the shadow of the nuclear complex. "And I wonder if they aren't playing down the dangers to keep us from panicking. I don't know who to trust."

The World Bank said in report Monday that Japan may need five years to rebuild from the catastrophic disasters, which caused up to $235 billion in damage, saying the cost to private insurers will be up to $33 billion and that the government will spend $12 billion on reconstruction in the current national budget and much more later.

All six of the nuclear complex's reactor units saw trouble after the disasters knocked out cooling systems. In a small advance, the plant's operator declared Units 5 and 6 — the least troublesome — under control after their nuclear fuel storage pools cooled to safe levels. Progress was made to reconnect two other units to the electric grid and in pumping seawater to cool another reactor and replenish it and a sixth reactor's storage pools.

But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3's reactor presented some danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The tactic produced explosions of radioactive gas during the early days of the crisis.

"Even if certain things go smoothly, there would be twists and turns," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. "At the moment, we are not so optimistic that there will be a breakthrough."

Growing concerns about radiation add to the overwhelming chain of disasters Japan has struggled with since the 9.0-magnitude quake. The resulting tsunami ravaged the northeastern coast. All told, police estimates show more than about 18,400 died. More than 15,000 deaths are likely in Miyagi, the prefecture that took the full impact of the wave, said a police spokesman.

"It is very distressing as we recover more bodies day by days," said Hitoshi Sugawara, the spokesman.

Police in other parts of the disaster area declined to provide estimates, but confirmed about 3,400 deaths. Nationwide, official figures show the disasters killing more than 8,600 people, and leaving more than 13,200 people missing, but those two lists may have some overlap.

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)Residents pay their last respects to a victim as a van carrying the coffin leaves a temporary morgue at a bowling alley in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture Monday, March 21, 2011 as the death toll continues to rise following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan.

The disasters have displaced another 452,000, who are living in shelters.

Egyptian citizens vote for a speedy election, Coalition attacks on Gadaffi compounds continue and the HBO series Big Love ends after 5 seasons.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)Libyan soldiers survey the damage to an administrative building hit by a missile late Sunday in the heart of Moammar Gadhafi's Bab Al Azizia compound in Tripoli, Libya, early Monday, March 21, 2011 as they are pictured during an organized trip by the Libyan authorities. No casualties were reported.

• Egyptians say "yes" in constitution vote [Reuters.com]


• Gaddafi compound hit by coalition air strikes on Tripoli [UKGuardian.com]


• FDA Panel mulls menthol cigarette ban [ChicagoTribune.com]


• Google blames chinese Govt. for attacks on GMail [CNet.com]


• Yemen army division backs protesters [AlJazeera.com]


• SPOLIER ALERT: As Big Love ends, fans & critics analyze the show's final episode [ChicagoTribune.com]


Big Love concluded its fifth and final season Sunday.
• Younghusband confident of Azkals win vs Myanmar in AFC Challenge cup soccer tournament [ABS-CBN.com]


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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The Amherst Police Department has issued a new, short and concise mission statement.

Photo by Julian Feller-CohenPhoto by Julian Feller-Cohen – The Amherst Police Department headquarters.

AMHERST - The last time the Police Department issued a mission statement, the first George Bush was president, Donald N. Maia was chief and gasoline at the pump cost about $1 and a few pennies a gallon.

But now, the Police Department has issued a new, short and concise mission statement that Chief Scott P. Livingstone has been long in coming.

“It was kind of on my to do list,” he said. He became chief in September of 2009.

The last statement, written in the late 1980s or early 1900s “was very long, convoluted.”

The new statement “is concise, to the point.” He said “it reflects the pride we have in our department...and the commitment we have working in partnership” with the town.

He said they put out a call for volunteers in the department to take the mission on. Sgt. Jesus Arocho and officer Yvonne Molin responded. They came up with “three really good drafts” and the department accepted voted on the mission. “It really spells out what we feel is important and the culture of this department.””

According to the statement, the “department values the dedication and integrity” of every officer. It also values “the diversity of our community and are grateful for the confidence they have in us.” The department aims “to protect the safety, rights and property of every person” in town. At the same time the department is “committed to the enforcement of laws, preservation of order and improving the quality of life.”

Livingstone said he thinks the collaboration with the community has grown. “We’re seeing that more and more....It shouldn’t have taken budget cuts,” for that to happen. But he said as budgets get tighter “we’re going to need more help from the community.”

Looking back over the years, he has been with the department for nearly 34 years - the force has always had “great support from the community,” he said. They’re hoping to continue trying to build that support with students.

The department has been trying more ways of reaching out and will continue working with the university. On the first full weekend of school this fall, police, residents, members of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and others gathered for pizza and then walked through the neighborhoods with residents and police. The hope was to have students understand the consequences of unruly behavior by meeting those effected. “I think we found some pockets (of success),” he said. “We need to continue.”

Police will be meeting with UMass and state police over the next few weeks to plan coverage for the last weekends of the school year.

Last year, police answered more than 200 disturbance calls over the first weekend in May netting 101 arrests or court summonses for charges that included disorderly conduct, alcohol and narcotics violations, vandalism and inciting a riot.

To read the complete statement, visit: http://www.amherstpd.blogspot.com/

Obituaries from The Republican.

Conrad N. Forget

Conrad N. "Connie" Forget, 78, of the Aldenville section of Chicopee, passed away on Friday. He was born in Holyoke, and lived in Chiopee since 1939. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and attained the rank of corporal. He was employed for 27 years at the Jahn Foundry in Springfield, retiring in 1983 as foreman of maintenance and new construction. He was a communicant of Sainte Rose de Lima Church in Aldenville, a member of the Aldenville American Legion Post 337, the Chicopee Historical Society, the Chicopee Cultural Council and a longtime member of the Chicopee Comprehensive High School Band Parents Association. Forget had a true love of the ocean and was a well-known Master Builder of ships in bottles. He was a member of the Ships in Bottles Association of America and the Nautical Research Guild.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Austin, Jeffrey Lynn
  




• 
  Backus, Mary A.
  



• 
  Cullen, Carol Borgatti
  



• 
  Forget, Conrad N. "Connie"




• 
  Gushue Sr., Harold A.
  



• 
  Leopold, Walter Daniel
  




• Lombardo, Tony J.
  




• 
  Marek, Yolanda Mafalda (Petri)
  



• 
  Mazzaferro, Vincent T.




• 
  Ott, Virginia Raymond
  



• 
  Paulson, Mildred B. (Holden)
  




• Quagliaroli, Jean M.
  




• 
  Reardon, Eleanor D.
  



• 
  Sippin, Molly E.




• 
  Spear, Katherine F. (Doyle)
  



• 
  Stevens, James C.
  




• Supanich, Gail Marie
  

A contractor performing unknown work on private property off Meadow Street nicked the 10-inch and 20-inch pipes Friday, said Christopher Golba, superintendent of the Agawam Department of Public Works.

Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen – Agawam Town Hall.

AGAWAM – Repair work has begun on two sewer pipes that were broken over the weekend, spewing raw sewage into the wetlands near the Westfield River.

A still-unknown contractor performing work with a backhoe on private property off Meadow Street nicked the 10-inch and 20-inch pipes Friday, said Christopher Golba, superintendent of the Agawam Department of Public Works.

The DPW was called in when the backhoe, which was unattended and submerged in the wetlands, was reported to them.

The site is on protected wetlands with “No Trespassing” signage. Golba said no digging should have taken place there.

The force pipes, which are sewer lines under pressure, run from the pump station on Main Street and cross the river to the Springfield Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, or “Bondi’s Island.”

“When staff were out there (Monday) morning, the discharge was retained to the uplands and the wetlands area,” said Catherine Skiba, regional spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which is working closely with the DPW on the repairs.

She said workers “did not observe a significant discharge” into the river.

Golba said workers at Bondi’s Island have not seen a substantial drop in pressure from the operational pipe, so the leak is likely not severe.

The smaller pipe was shut off Friday, but the larger one had to be left on until Monday afternoon, when repairs began, so sewage wouldn't back up. Workers set up a vacuum truck to transfer sewage from the pipe to the treatment plant so there would be no interruption in service while the pipes were shut off, Skiba said.

The city will pay for the repairs and then seek reimbursement from the contractor once they have identified it, said Golba. Mayor Richard A. Cohen said he was not happy about that, but the city has no choice.

“We have a responsibility to correct it because it’s an environmental issue,” said Cohen. “We are investigating this thoroughly and will take appropriate action.”

Western Massachusetts Electric Company is performing work in the same area, Cohen said, “but that’s all legitimate. ... They have all the proper permits and procedures and dig safe.”

Skiba said there is no information yet available about danger to wildlife due to the contamination.

“We’re going to be evaluating this for some time to come,” said Skiba.

Springfield police officer Ryan Carter was treated at the hospital for a broken jaw, police said.

Springfield Police Dept.Miguel Sosa

SPRINGFIELD – Miguel Sosa, of Springfield, was charged with assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest after he punched a police officer in the head, breaking his cheekbone, police said.

Police charged Sosa, 20, of 769 Union Street, Springfield, with assault and battery of a police officer, resisting arrest, threatening to commit a crime and giving a false name to a police officer just after midnight Sunday after he refused to leave Center Stage at 265 Dwight Street.

Police said Sosa and two others were asked to leave the establishment because they were acting unruly.

Police said Sosa punched Officer Ryan Carter, who was working security at the club, in the head. Police said Carter was taken to the hospital and treated for a broken jaw.

View full sizeSpringfield Police Dept.Peter Prado, left, and Jose Sanchez, right

Also charged in the incident was Jose Sanchez, 30, of Marion Street, Springfield, and Peter Prado, 19, of Girard Avenue, Springfield, who were both charged with being a disorderly person and possession of a class C substance.

All three were arraigned in Springfield District Court on Monday. The cases were continued to April 19.

Police said Sosa and Prado are under age 21 and were drinking at Center Stage. The case will be turned over to the city’s License Commission for investigation, police said.

Rosario is charged with armed assault with intent to murder stemming from an Allen Park Road apartments incident.

The Republican file photo | Mark MurrayFormer Springfield firefighter Angel M. Rosario is standing trial in Hampden Superior Court on multiple charges, including armed assault with intent to murder.

SPRINGFIELD – The trial of former city firefighter Angel M. Rosario on a charge of armed assault with intent to murder will continue Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court.

Rosario, 46, of Springfield, is accused of that charge as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, intimidating a witness and threat to commit a crime in the trial before Judge Daniel A. Ford.

The charges against Rosario stem from an incident July 11, 2008, at about 7 a.m. in Allen Park Road apartments in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood.

Joseph Alvarado, 48, was on the stand Friday and Monday and testified Nathan Boucher, Rosario’s co-defendant, began assaulting him with his fists and booted feet outside Angela Perez’ apartment. Alvarado testified that Rosario joined Boucher and cut him (Alvarado) a number of times with a box cutter.

He said he was hospitalized for two and a half days for injuries, including a wound to the neck.

Alvarado said he was living with Perez, mother of two of his children, from May to July 2008. He acknowledged, under questioning from defense lawyer Vincent A. Bongiorni, Perez had a restraining order against him for part of June during that period.

Alvarado said he was kept out of the apartment by Perez the night before and was going to get his clothing from Perez’ home the morning he was assaulted. He said Boucher stopped him outside the unit.

Through questioning, assistant District Attorney Matthew J. Shea brought Alvarado through the events leading up to the incident and the fight itself.

Shea also questioned Alvarado on his past criminal record, and Bongiorni, during cross-examination, got more details of Alvarado’s convictions admitted as evidence in the case.

Bongiorni has contended Alvarado, whose credibility he sought to weaken during cross-examination, was the aggressor in any events the morning of July 11, 2008.

Rosario began seeing Perez when Alvarado was in prison, Alvarado said.

Bongiorni introduced letters from Alvarado to Perez in which Alvarado wrote what harm he intended to do to Rosario when he got out of prison.

Alvarado had gotten out of prison in April 2008 after serving three years for cocaine distribution. Although he pleaded guilty to that charge, he said on the stand Monday he lied under oath at his guilty plea on that case. He said Monday he never dealt drugs but just pleaded guilty to get out of prison sooner.

Alvarado has past convictions for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon and several convictions for assault and battery. He has a May 2009 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (brass knuckles), assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest.

Alvarado said he had punched a hole in the wall in Perez’ apartment the night before the assault out of anger, and had left for a walk after she called police.

Police came to the apartment but could not find Alvarado at that time, testimony showed. When Alvarado came back to try to get in later the evening Perez and Boucher had secured the sliding door so he couldn’t get in, Alvarado said.

Boucher has entered into a cooperation agreement with the prosecution and testified against Rosario under questioning from Shea late Monday.

Bongiorni’s cross-examination of Boucher will begin Tuesday. Boucher, 28, of Springfield is charged with armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the case.

Boucher said he had difficulty answering some of Shea’s questions saying “my thoughts are running like a train.” A short recess was taken.

Boucher said his memory is fuzzy about some of what happened that morning, but testified he saw Rosario take out a box cutter and saw Rosario cutting Alvarado. He said Rosario handed him the box cutter, which he took home and washed and then walked to a pond and threw it in the water.

Boucher, who said he did not remember Rosario saying anything to him when he handed him the box cutter, said he did not know why he threw the box cutter in the water.

Rosario, a 12-year member of the Fire Department, lost his job in 2008 because he could not work when he was held without right to bail for a period after the July incident. He has been free on bail awaiting trial for several years.

File photo | The RepublicanAngel M. Rosario

Five candidates, including two incumbents, have indicated their interest in running for three positions on the School Committee.

Marie Angelides

LONGMEADOW - Former candidate for state representative Marie Angelides is the only candidate who has signaled her intent to run for the seat of current Select Board member Robert Barkett.

Angelides is one of nine residents who have filed nomination papers for the election to be held June 7.

John J. Fitzgerald

School Committee incumbents John J. Fitzgerald and Gwen M. Bruns have also filed papers.

Former School Committee member Mary Vogel is running for a one-year seat on the School Committee along with Michael Clark, who ran for Select Board in 2010 and newcomer Laurie Flynn.

Gwen M. Bruns

Walter Gunn is running for reelection for a five-year seat on the Planning Board. Incumbent Roy Johansen will run for a three-year seat on the Planning Board and Stephen Metz, a member of the Capital Planning Committee, will run for a five- year seat on the Housing Authority.

Angelides ran successfully in the primary against Enrico J. Villamaino, a Republican and Selectmen in East Longmeadow, but lost to Rep. Brian M. Ashe, D-Longmeadow, in the general election last year.

Mary Vogel

Clark, who currently holds a seat on the Finance Committee and ran for a seat on the Select Board in 2010, said he is looking forward to working with the committee if elected. At 21 he would be the youngest member on the board.

Michael Clark

“I am running for School Committee because I think we have a real opportunity to establish priorities for the committee over the next three years. I also see this as a great chance for us to hold our superintendent, her administrative team and the School Committee to a higher level of accountability,” he said.

Laurie Flynn

Flynn, a public relations and communications consultant and mother of two children said she is excited to work with the committee. Clark and Flynn are also members of the Longmeadow Educational Excellence Foundation’s (LEEF) Grant Review Committee.

“As the mother of two young boys, I feel so fortunate to live in a town where parents are actively involved in their children’s education,” Flynn said in a prepared statement. “ I intend to do my part by bringing the same energy and dedication I bring to the Blueberry Hill Parent Teacher Organization and to LEEF to the School Committee.”

The deadline for withdrawing nomination papers is March 30.

Police said 1 of the arrested men sought a refund from the postal carrier because the package - which police said contained cocaine - was late.

Holyoke Police Dept.Ignacio Diaz, left, and Jean Carlo Hornedo, right

HOLYOKE – Ignacio Diaz demanded a refund because his package was late, but since the package contained two pounds of cocaine, he got handcuffs instead, police say.

Police arrested two city men Friday after they accepted a package from San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 26 Hadley Mills Road that contained more than two pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $75,000, Police Chief Anthony R. Scott said Monday.

Diaz, 38, of 266 Essex St., and Jean Carlos Hornedo 26, of 527 Bridge St., each was charged with trafficking cocaine over 200 grams and conspiracy to violate drug laws, he said.

At their arraignment Monday, they pleaded innocent. Diaz was held on $7,500 bail, and Hornedo was held on $25,000 bail, Scott said.

Diaz complained to the carrier who made the Express Mail delivery in the Flats Neighborhood that he had been waiting for the package all day the day before, Scott said.

“Diaz signed for the package and inquired about a refund for having to wait all day the day before,” Scott said. Diaz took the package inside the building and along with Hornedo was arrested, he said.

Holyoke Police Lt. David R. Pratt, commander of the Narcotics-Vice Division, received a call Wednesday about the package from U.S. Postal Service inspectors. The return address on the package was an invalid address in San Juan. Holyoke Detective Anthony M. Brach began working with postal inspectors, he said.

Authorities received a federal search warrant, opened the package and found cocaine. The package was resealed and delivered, he said.

Police worked the case with state police, the Hampden County Drug Task Force, the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshall Service, along with postal inspectors, he said.

The Select Board Monday night voted to increase metered parking rates by ten cents an hour and to buy new parking machines that will allow visitors to pay by credit card.


AMHERST - The Select Board Monday night voted to increase metered parking rates by 10 cents an hour and to buy new parking machines that will allow visitors to pay by credit card.


To make downtown more shopper friendly, the town proposed the parking improvement plan that will include the new parking machines.

Rates are scheduled to increase June 1.

Town Manager John P. Musante presented the town parking system improvement plan to the Select Board earlier this month. The two-week delay in voting allowed the board to review the proposal and the chance for people to come to the meeting if they had concerns. No one came to the meeting.

“We’re excited to be poised to implement more customer friendly parking machines,” Musante said Monday night.

The machines allow motorists to pay by space and not have to return to their vehicle to display a receipt. The University of Massachusetts has such a system near its visitor center.


The machines will also allow payment by credit or debit card and by cell phone as well as change.


The system will allow the town to change the rates, time limits and parking hours for special events.

The plan is to install new machines at the Boltwood Walk Parking Garage, the town portion of the CVS lot, Amity Street and Town Hall lots this spring and the Main and Spring Street lots next year.


The third phase would add the machines to the Pray Street lot and possibly street meters.


The initial phase will cost $94,000, which would include the machines and poles with space markers, among other costs. The expense is included in a capital budget funded by the transportation fund, Musante said. The cost of the new systems is about $37,000 annually because of credit card transaction fees, plus secure network fees.


Some of these costs would be offset with the increase in metered parking rates and is expected to bring in an additional $60,000. Parking rates at all lots will remain the same - 50 cents per hour.

Also, the proposal increases the reserved space lease rate at the parking garage from $650 to $750 per year. Musante sees the proposals “making downtown more attractive, easier to park in.” Also, he said, the new system reduces maintenance costs. The system “is more customer friendly.” Paying by credit card, he said, “is more convenient.”


Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tony A. Maroulis said earlier this month that the plan “is going a long way to get parking right in town.” He said the new system “improves the visitor experience” and “makes sense of parking, which has long perplexed” shopkeepers. 


Broadband work will mean 400 construction jobs between now and 2013, and as many as 2,900 jobs from economic development.

The Republican | Dave RobackCongressman Richard E. Neal speaks at Monday's announcement of the boadband expansion of the Massbroadband 123 Newtwork. At left is Judith A. Dumont, Director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at the Enterprise Center.

SPRINGFIELD – The city of Springfield will allow the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to thread a 21st century communications network through a network of underground conduits dating back to the days of trolley tracks on Main Street.

It’s all part of MassBroadband 123, a $71.6 million-project aimed at bringing high-speed Internet to 120 communities in western and north central Massachusetts, said Judith A. Dumont, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute.

The project is being funded with $45.4 million in federal stimulus funds received in July 2010 and $26.2 million in state funding.

Dumont said high-speed Internet is not a luxury in today’s business environment.

“Try applying for a job without the Internet,” she said. “Try running a small business with a slow connection.”

She expects the project, which will be completed by 2013, to create 400 construction jobs.

Once in place, the high-speed Internet will provide service up to 1,000 times faster than what might be available in some towns now. Dumont expects that high-speed service to create as many as 2,900 jobs through economic development around the state.

She spoke Monday afternoon at a news conference with U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno held at the Scibelli Enterprise Center at Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park.

The facility at One Federal Street is important because it is at the junction of two major telecommunications lines, she said. The Broadband Institute is using the city’s “Nothing happens without One Federal Street,” Dumont said.

Neal, D-Springfield, worked with U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst , to secure the federal funding. Neal said it's right for the government to step in and create facilities that the market itself will not generate.

“Think of education. Why should a child in the Boston suburbs have access to more electronic data than a child in the hilltowns of Hampshire and Franklin counties?” Neal said.

Dumont said a major goal of MassBroadband 123 is to bring Internet services to rural communities where only outdated dial-up service exists today. But the federal money is also designed to bring more service into underserved urban neighborhoods in cities like Springfield and Holyoke.

Through MassBroadband 123, the Broadband Institute is completing the “middle mile” connection between major trunk lines and “retail” Internet providers that bring service into homes and businesses, be they in Springfield or western Franklin County.

“It’s the most difficult and expensive part of the system to build,” she said.

But once built, the Institute can sell access to that “middle mile” to any number of retail providers.

“This is designed to bring more competition into the market,” she said. “We all know what happens with more competition. Services expand and prices go down.”

Work in Springfield will be completed this summer, she said. Major work includes stringing 1,300 miles of line over 30,000 existing utility polls and will not be completed until 2013.

Andrew J. Doty, the city’s chief information officer, said the city now uses the conduit to run traffic signals.

The Broadband Institute is part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a public economic development agency focusing on technology-related enterprises in Massachusetts. The Collaborative also includes the John Adams Innovation Institute and the Massachusetts e-Health Institute.

Streets affected by the outage include Flynt, Carter, Christine, Davis, Thompson and Wayland, as well as Old Farm Road.

PALMER - Police said 143 National Grid customers are without power because the utility is changing a transformer.

Police said power is expected to be restored to the affected customers by 10:30 p.m. Monday. Streets affected include Flynt, Carter, Christine, Davis, Thompson and Wayland, as well as Old Farm Road.

The power went out at approximately 8:15 p.m.