It turns out Thursday was 22-year-old Scott's Lowe lucky day in more ways than one. The officer who pulled him over issued a verbal warning and urged him to drive safely.

HINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — A Rockland man busted for speeding through Hingham had a pretty good excuse when he was pulled over — he'd just won a big prize playing the lottery and was on his way to collect his cash.

It turns out Thursday was 22-year-old Scott's Lowe lucky day in more ways than one. The officer who pulled him over issued a verbal warning and urged him to drive safely.

Lowe told the officer he was speeding because he had won $50,000 on a scratch-off ticket and was on his way to Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Braintree to collect his winnings.

WCVB-TV reports that police say Lowe was shaking, and showed the officer his winning ticket.

After the warning, he went on his way and claimed his prize.

___

Information from: WCVB-TV

A Winchester resident reported seeing a mountain lion in town earlier this week, an animal that's officially extinct in the area.

WINCHESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Winchester resident reported seeing a mountain lion in town earlier this week, an animal that's officially extinct in the area.

The resident told police the mysterious animal was spotted in the Dunster Lane, Pepper Hill Drive neighborhood on Tuesday. Massachusetts Environmental Police responded and saw paw prints that strongly resembled those of a mountain lion — also called a cougar, puma or catamount. The sighting remains under investigation.

The last confirmed mountain lion sighting in Massachusetts was in 1858, in the western part of the state. There have been numerous reported sightings since, but none have been confirmed.

Some residents are skeptical. One man says he has spotted a fisher cat in the neighborhood, and thinks that's probably what the person who reported the mountain lion saw.

A jury has ruled in favor of a former Shrewsbury police officer who sued after he was shot responding to a burglar alarm by a homeowner who thought he was an intruder.

The jury Thursday awarded Stephen Rice more than $1.2 million after finding that Mark Ragsdale was negligent when he shot Rice in the abdomen during the early morning hours of July 14, 2006, and that negligence was a contributing cause of the officer's injuries.

Rice was unable to work for 14 months, and although he eventually returned to the force, he resigned in 2011 because of mental trauma caused by the shooting.

The Telegram & Gazette (http://bit.ly/1jFiaAl ) reports that Ragsdale, an area car dealer who was licensed to carry a gun at the time, refused comment on the verdict.

___

Information from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), http://www.telegram.com

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission continues to evaluate applications for the slots parlor license and issues the single slots license award Friday.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission held a preliminary vote to issue the single slots parlor license to Penn National Gaming for its Plainville proposal on Thursday. On Friday, Penn National will return to confirm its acceptance of the license conditions.

For more information on the slots evaluation process, click here. For the full agenda, click here.

Tweets by @MassGamingComm

Some Massachusetts Republican State Committee members worry that the changes will hurt moderate Republican candidates, such as Charlie Baker in Richard Tisei.

An influx of conservative members onto the Massachusetts Republican State Committee led to a vote this week to include language in the party platform opposing abortion and gay marriage.

Conservative committee members say the vote is part of a revival of values that have traditionally been part of the Republican Party and that could excite the party base. But opponents counter that a focus on social conservatism is not representative of most Republican primary voters and could hurt the chances of socially moderate candidates.

“This is the Republican Party of Massachusetts; it’s not the Republican Party of Alabama,” said Matthew Sisk, a Republican State Committee member from Braintree who voted against the changes. “These kind of divisive social issues don’t do us any service, don’t do our candidates any service.”

The platform added portions to a section on values. On abortion, it reads, “We affirm the inherent dignity and sanctity of human life. We believe that every instance of abortion is tragic. We advocate policies that will assist a woman during a crisis pregnancy.”

The portion on gay marriage reads, “We believe the institution of traditional marriage strengthens our society. There should be no infringement on the rights of the people of Massachusetts to vote on ballot initiatives.” (This is an apparent reference to ballot initiative attempts to overturn gay marriage.)

The language passed by a 52-16 vote of the State Committee on Tuesday night.

Amy Carnevale, chairman of the platform committee, said the language was a compromise between members who wanted stronger language on social issues and those who wanted no language. “The language…represents our best efforts to try to find a middle ground that we felt could receive broad consensus,” Carnevale said.

But Kristen Hughes, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, who voted against the language, felt differently. “This party is a party of inclusion,” Hughes said. “I did not want to focus on things I felt were divisive, and that’s what I felt the language was.”

Opposing members of the platform committee wrote a minority report. Describing abortion as tragic, they wrote, “demonstrates a judgment we are not willing to pass with such a broad brush.” They wrote that the language could be read to indicate opposition to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case establishing abortion rights, which a large portion of Massachusetts Republicans support.

They wrote that the language excludes the societal contributions of gay and lesbian couples and their children and such language “serves to divide, not unite and falls outside the beliefs of many within our Party and our Commonwealth.”

Massachusetts, a generally liberal state, was the first state to implement gay marriage, in 2004. Historically, Massachusetts Republicans who have won elections have generally been social moderates. Former Republican governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci, for example, both supported abortion rights.

Currently, the party’s leading candidate for governor, Charlie Baker, and its best hope for winning a congressional seat, Richard Tisei, both support abortion and gay marriage. Tisei is married to a man.

Tisei said in a statement that he has a long record of supporting gay marriage and abortion rights. “The Republican Party should lead the way in getting government off our backs, out of our wallets, and away from our bedrooms, and the Party hierarchy would be wise to adopt platforms that promote these values, which are shared by an overwhelming number of citizens in Massachusetts,” Tisei said.

2010 file photo. Republican Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker, left, and state Sen. Richard Tisei, right, face reporters outside the civic center in Wakefield, after Baker announced Tisei as his running mate against incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick during an earlier news conference.File photo / Associated Press 

Baker spokesman Tim Buckley affirmed that Baker supports abortion rights and gay marriage. “Charlie's focus as a candidate for governor is on creating good jobs, improving our schools and strengthening our communities,” Buckley said.

On the other side is Mark Fisher, a business owner from Shrewsbury who is challenging Baker and supports the platform change. Fisher belongs to the tea party and the Massachusetts Republican Assembly and wants to give voice to more conservative Republicans. “We all know the Republican Party in Massachusetts is fractured,” Fisher said.

Fisher said pro-family and conservative groups feel distanced by the candidates endorsed by Republican leaders. “What you’re seeing happening at a State Committee level is more of the hoi polloi membership is getting a voice,” Fisher said.

Conservative activists see the language as part of a shift toward traditional values among State Committee members, which gained steam in 2012 when a number of new conservative members were elected. Massachusetts Republican Assembly President David Kopacz said 17 of its members won election to the committee that year, some replacing more moderate Republicans. Before, the group had just a handful of members on the committee.

“What’s happening over the last few years is that the Republican Assembly has been much more assertive in bringing back the core values of the party,” Kopacz said. “There’s a lot of compromise that has taken place over the years, which reduced (the Republican Party) to 11 percent enrollment. We’d like to reverse that by putting Republican values back in the Republican Party.”

“We’re growing the party because we’re giving the voters something to be excited about. It’s not more of the same,” Kopacz added.

One new member is Horace Mello, a 25-year-old from Norton who was involved in the Massachusetts Republican Assembly before he joined the State Committee. Mello said he ran to increase the participation of young people in the party by focusing on using free markets and limited government to create jobs for young adults. He is also a social conservative, who sits on the platform committee and voted for the platform.

“The Republican Party was formed because of social issues – slavery,” Mello said. “I don’t think we necessarily have to abandon certain issues. If anything, it makes us more different from Democrats.”

While Mello said the growth of conservative members has swayed the direction of the party, he sees the Republicans becoming a “big tent party” in which social conservatives and moderates can participate in discussions.

Mark Bergeron, of West Springfield, is another conservative elected to the State Committee in 2012, who supported the new platform. “I think if the party doesn’t stand for something, it doesn’t stand for anything,” Bergeron said. “We’re trying to bring it back to more of a Ronald Reagan conservatism that stands on principles that have traditionally been the positions of the party.”

But moderate party members say conservative social views are not representative of the public overall – including the Republicans and independents they need to vote for GOP candidates.

“I don’t think there’s real groundswell of support for those issues any more than there was five or six years ago,” Hughes said.

“I don’t think (the vote) is reflective…of much more than this is 52 folks which are only representative of a portion of the state committee,” Hughes said. “They’re not representative of anything but themselves.”

Mindy McKenzie-Hebert, of Shrewsbury, was one of the platform committee members to oppose the language. McKenzie-Hebert said she agrees with the positions voiced in the platform. But she believes young people in particular do not want to see social issues in the platform. She sees her job as a state committeewoman as helping to elect and represent Republicans in her district.

“One of the things that kept cropping up is that the divisiveness of social issues is not helpful to electing Republicans,” McKenzie-Hebert said. “That prohibits us from having a voice on Beacon Hill, and the result is the one-sided partisan politics there.”

Sisk pointed out that Republicans in 2013 chose pro-gay marriage Gabriel Gomez over the more socially conservative Michael Sullivan to be their nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat.

“What works in this state for the Republican Party is focusing on economic issues that are keeping government out of our bedrooms, out of our wallets, off our back,” Sisk said. “Good, old-fashioned Yankee conservatism.”

 

Police are continuing to investigate a bomb threat located Friday morning on the first floor of the Tantasqua Regional High School.

STURBRIDGE — Police are continuing to investigate a bomb threat Friday morning after a note was found on the first floor of the Tantasqua Regional High School.

At about 9:30 a.m., police responded to the school, located at 319 Brookfield Road, after receiving a call from the school administration for a reported bomb threat.

Police evacuated nearly 1,200 students and staff to the junior high school located across the street. No one was injured, according to police.

“This is an active and ongoing investigation. We would ask that parents take the time to talk to their children about decision making and positive choices," Sturbridge Police Sgt. Kevin R. Mercier said in a news release. "If anyone has information that may help resolve this case, we urge them to contact the Sturbridge Police Department or a trusted faculty or staff member at the school."

Tantasqua and Union 61 Superintendent of Schools Erin Nosek sent out a message using the district's automated messaging system to parents and guardians, telling them "at the high school this morning, a note was found indicating that there could be a bomb in the building." The superintendent also said that school officials have alerted the police. Tantasqua Regional High School serves the towns of Sturbridge, Brookfield, Brimfield, Holland and Wales.

Explosive detection K-9’s and bomb technicians from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Worcester Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police assisted the Sturbridge police with the initial investigation.

Students and staff returned within three hours after the building was determined to be safe and then were dismissed from school. All after-school activities have been canceled.

The Brookfield Police Department, West Brookfield Police Department, Brimfield Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Sturbridge barracks and the Sturbridge Fire Department also assisted in the initial response and subsequent investigation.

Statewide, the bureau's Community Insurance Fraud Initiative has helped reduce by the amount of fraudulent claims paid since 2003 by $1.1 billion.

NORTHAMPTON - The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts has awarded the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office a $15,000 grant to help it identify and prosecute car insurance fraud and other forms of insurance fraud in Hampshire and Franklin counties and the town of Athol.

Statewide, the bureau’s Community Insurance Fraud Initiative has helped reduce by the amount of fraudulent claims paid since 2003 by $1.1 billion.

Authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature, the Insurance Fraud Bureau conducts criminal investigations and refers appropriate cases for criminal prosecution. It is funded by automobile and workers compensation insurers in Massachusetts.

This is an update of a story published at 1:51 p.m. Friday SPRINGFIELD – A police spokesman found fault with a website ranking that lists Springfield as the 10th most dangerous mid-sized city nationwide. “Showing that Springfield is in the top ten for crime and violence is a slap in the face to Springfield,” said Sgt. John Delaney, aide...

This is an update of a story published at 1:51 p.m. Friday

SPRINGFIELD – A police spokesman found fault with a website ranking that lists Springfield as the 10th most dangerous mid-sized city nationwide.

“Showing that Springfield is in the top ten for crime and violence is a slap in the face to Springfield,” said Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet.

The posting on Law Street, a web site for law students, young lawyers and those interested in the law and public policy, and later picked up by the Huffington Post, ranks Springfield in the top 10, along with other cities including New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport, Conn., for dangerous cities with populations under 200,000.

Number one is Flint, Mich.

Springfield makes the list, the web site notes, because based on it “experienced an increase in violent crime across all relevant categories except for aggravated assault, which decreased by seven percent. Most notably, murder in Springfield was more than 83 percent ahead of the same time period in 2012.”

It also cites a 42.8 percent increase in rapes, 32.3 percent increase in robbery, and a 7.18 reduction in aggravated assaults.

Those percentages are based on a comparison of data compiled by the FBI for its 2012 and 2013 Uniform Crime Report. The FBI recently released its preliminary 2013 report, which covers only the period from Jan. 1 to June 30. The final 2013 report will not be available until later this year.

Springfield police Sgt. John Delaney 

Of course, the ranking of cities by safest or most dangerous based on Uniform Crime Report data is exactly what the FBI recommends the press and public not do each year with the publication of the report.

Such rankings “provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, region, or other jurisdiction,” the FBI notes. “These rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents. “

That 83 percent jump in homicides cited by Law Street could be considered a simplistic or misleading perception when one takes into account it reflects a difference of five homicides from one year to the next. Through June 30, 2012, there were six homicides in Springfield; In the same period for 2013 there were 11.

For all of 2012, the city tallied 11 homicides, a 10-year low, while for 2013 there were a total of 19.

Over the last 10 years, Springfield has averaged 16.7 homicides per year.

The problem with using percentages without the actual number is it presents information in a limited context.

For example, that 42.8 percent increase in rape represents the difference of 12 cases, from 28 through the first half of 2012 to 40 through the first half of 2013. And it also does not take into account that the FBI expanded the definition of rape to include all types of non-consensual sex instead of just forcible rape.

“This report does in no way reflect the true status of Springfield as a truly safe environment. All major cities have crime. We deal with that fact professionally and attack the problem head on,” Delaney said.

“Our city is safe and the citizens have a great police department to answer to their needs.”

Delaney said crime is “a sociological phenomenon influenced by a variety of factors,” and the “most-dangerous” ranking does not measure the effectiveness of the police to prevent it.

“The statistics that we keep show that crime is down in Springfield,” Delaney said. “The men and women of the Springfield Police Department are dedicating their professional lives to make our city safe to live, work and conduct business.”

The city has refrained from issuing a request for proposals to seek buyers for the facility in light of talk about bankruptcy.

HOLYOKE -- The Holyoke Geriatric Authority board of directors has had talks with a bankruptcy lawyer but that doesn't necessarily mean the financially troubled nursing home will file for bankruptcy, an official said Friday.

In fact, said Fred Glidden, chairman of the authority board of directors, the board at its meeting Monday plans to continue with business such as possibly appointing a seventh board member.

But, he said, discussion of bankruptcy given the authority's plight is a natural step.

"There's a lawyer that's come in to explain the whole thing. I told you straight out, I'm not interested and I don't think the board is interested. Is it something that could be possible way down the road after we fire all the arrows in our quiver? I'm not ruling anything out. But bankruptcy isn't something I'm thinking about right now. It's one of the things that has to be on the table," Glidden said.

Officials said in January a request for proposals to seek buyers for the authority would be issued, but Mayor Alex B. Morse said Friday night the city has refrained from that in light of the possibility of bankruptcy.

"We are exploring the consequences, if any, on the city if they do declare bankruptcy. After some research, receivership may be an option as well, or the state can choose to take it over if necessary. We continue to see interest from private nursing home operators," Morse said.

The facility at 45 Lower Westfield Road has had years of financial problems. Employees recently received paychecks four days late because the facility had insufficient funds in its bank account, Glidden said. Employees were paid Feb. 24, after Glidden said a payment from the state to reimburse the facility for costs had arrived, but were supposed to have been paid on Feb. 20.

In June, the City Council voted 11-3 to pay $146,973 in health insurance costs for retired authority employees because the authority was unable to pay the bill. The city in December 2011 paid $465,000 in authority pension costs dating back to 2008.

A combination of lower-than-needed government reimbursements for costs incurred in providing care and mismanagement have led to the authority's financial problems, officials have said.

In September, the office of State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump released a 34-page report that faulted the authority for mismanagement and creating " an environment ripe for waste and abuse."

The authority has 80 nursing-home beds and 80 day-care slots for elderly people. It is overseen by a board consisting of three people appointed by the City Council and three appointed by the mayor, with those six choosing a seventh member.

Board members are eligible for yearly stipends of $4,000 each.

Patricia C. Devine was the seventh member, and board chairwoman, until resigning Feb. 21. Glidden said the board in the past week has tried to solicit applicants for the seat and might vote to fill the seat at the meeting Monday at 5:15 p.m. at the facility.

The notice for the board meeting posted on the city website states the board will go into closed-door session for an "Update on future status of the (facility)." That doesn't appear to be a permitted reason for holding an executive session under the state Open Meeting Law. The law states a board can meet behind closed doors to:

• "discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual, or to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.:"

• discuss contract negotiations.

• discuss litigation.

• discuss deployment of security personnel or devices.

• investigate charges of criminal misconduct.

• consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if the chairman states that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the board's negotiating position.

• comply with federal grant-in-aid requirements, that is, money transferred from the federal government to a state or local agency or individual for a specific project.

• consider or interview applicants for employment or appointment by a preliminary screening committee if the chairman states that an open meeting will have a detrimental effect in obtaining qualified applicants.

• talk with a mediator.

• discuss trade secrets.

Joseph Darco was arrested at his home on Walnut Street Friday morning.

SPRINGFIELD - Police on Friday arrested a 24-year-old city man and reputed gang member who was wanted on a warrant for armed burglary, police said.

Joseph DarcoSpringfield police photo 

Police surrounded the residence and while other officers gained entry through the front door, Delaney said.

Darco was in a front room and officers chased him into a rear bedroom and subdued him as he was reaching under the bed. A loaded .38-caliber handgun was found under the bed, Delaney said.

In addition to the warrant charge, Delaney said Darco was also charged with possession of a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm while subject of an active warrant, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court. The police are seeking to have him held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail.

Severe winter weather is probably slowing growth again this quarter. But as the chill and snow fade into memory, long-delayed spending by consumers and businesses could invigorate the economy starting in spring.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the weather warms up, so, too, will the U.S. economy.

That, at least, is the prevailing view of economists, who shrugged off a government report Friday that the economy was weaker last quarter than first thought.

Severe winter weather is probably slowing growth again this quarter. But as the chill and snow fade into memory, long-delayed spending by consumers and businesses could invigorate the economy starting in spring.

"Weather is having an impact on a lot of the data," said Doug Handler, chief economist at IHS Global Insight. "We will likely see a boost from pent-up demand in coming weeks."

In the view of most analysts, the snowstorms and extreme cold have exerted a harmful but only temporary effect on the economy. That belief helps explain why Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled this week that the Fed will likely continue reducing its stimulus for the economy throughout 2014.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate last quarter, in part because consumers didn't spend as much as initially estimated. Initially, Commerce had estimated that the economy expanded at a 3.2 percent rate in the October- December quarter.

One reason the government initially overestimated growth for last quarter was that it didn't fully take account of how much bad weather would dampen spending on long-lasting goods such as autos.

Last quarter's increase in the gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services — was the weakest showing since the first quarter of last year. And it was down sharply from a 4.1 percent growth rate in the third quarter.

Economists had long expected growth to slow in the final quarter of 2013 and the first quarter this year compared with the third quarter of last year. In part, that's because GDP growth during last year's third quarter was fueled by an unsustainable buildup in company stockpiles that would need to be worked down.

But analysts said the slowdown has been magnified by a succession of winter storms that have disrupted economic activity — from forcing temporary closings of Macy's and other department stores to depressing sales at McDonald's restaurants. Home Depot Inc. said it lost $100 million from bad weather in January.

The damage from consumer spending has been especially acute because it accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. Economists foresee further spending weakness in the first three months of this year largely because of the weather.

"Due to Mother Nature, quarter one is not going to be anything worth writing home about," Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. "The rebound ... and all of that pent-up demand won't show up until the second quarter."

Lee predicted a tepid economic growth rate of around 1.7 percent this quarter.

A separate report Friday also provided hope for a stronger economy in coming months. The University of Michigan's monthly index of consumer sentiment showed that while bad weather kept consumers away from retail outlets, it hasn't shaken their confidence.

The index posted a reading of 81.6 in February, up slightly from January's 81.2. The survey found that the cold weather had the biggest effect among consumers over age 65, who tended to worry about higher utility bills. By contrast, consumers under age 35 felt better able to offset higher utility payments with income gains.

The Michigan survey found that while the weather had made trips to the store more difficult, many purchases had been postponed rather than canceled.

"Consumers have displayed remarkable resilience in the face of the polar vortex as well as higher utility bills," said University of Michigan director of surveys Richard Curtin.

In particular, analysts think auto purchases that were put off last year will recover as warmer weather draw buyers back to showrooms.

One area of encouragement in Friday's report was the government's estimate of business investment. It was revised up to an annual rate of 7.3 percent — the best quarterly showing in a year and sharply higher than the initial 3.8 percent estimated rate.

For all of 2013, the economy grew at a lackluster 1.9 percent. Analysts think growth will rebound in 2014 to as high as 3 percent.

Growth was held back last year by higher federal taxes and government spending cuts enacted to combat budget deficits. Economists estimate that the squeeze from the government subtracted about 1.5 percentage points from growth last year. If growth does reach 3 percent this year, it would be the strongest performance since the recession ended almost five years ago.

Handler said he looked for growth to improve to an annual rate above 3 percent in the second half of this year as the economy gains traction.

After enduring the deepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the economy has struggled to accelerate. The weak growth has made it difficult for people who lost jobs during the downturn to find work. Over the past four years, economic growth has averaged an anemic 2.2 percent.

The revisions in fourth-quarter growth resulted from updated data that the Commerce Department didn't have when it made its first estimate a month ago. Commerce will make one final estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth next month.

Though the biggest factor in the downgraded estimate of fourth-quarter growth was consumer spending, the number was also depressed by reductions in estimated growth in exports, business stockpiles and government spending.

Government activity was a big drag in the fourth quarter, subtracting 1.1 percentage points from growth. The federal government accounted for 1 percentage point of that reduction, reflecting lower defense spending.

Yellen said Thursday that the Fed still expects the economy to strengthen this year. But she told the Senate Banking Committee that the Fed will be studying the data to make sure the slowdown is just a temporary weather phenomenon.

The Fed is gradually reducing its monthly bond purchases, which have been intended to keep long-term loan rates low to encourage spending and growth. Many economists think that as long as the economy keeps improving, the Fed will keep cutting its bond purchases this year before ending them in December.

An FBI agent overheard Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev make a "statement to his detriment" when his sister visited him in prison, federal prosecutors said.

BOSTON (AP) — An FBI agent overheard Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev make a "statement to his detriment" when his sister visited him in prison, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Prosecutors did not reveal what Tsarnaev said, but they objected to what they called an attempt by Tsarnaev's lawyers to suppress the statement.

Tsarnaev made the remark when an investigator working for his lawyers accompanied Tsarnaev's sister to a prison visit, a meeting that was monitored by an FBI agent, prosecutors said. The defense investigator started to explain to Tsarnaev's sister the rationale behind special restrictions placed on Tsarnaev in prison, prosecutors said.

They say Tsarnaev, "despite the presence of an FBI agent and an employee of the federal public defender, was unable to temper his remarks and made a statement to his detriment which was overheard by the agent."

The government described the conversation in a memo outlining their opposition to a request from Tsarnaev's lawyers to lift the prison restrictions, known as special administrative measures.

Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty in the terrorist attack at last year's marathon. Two pressure cooker bombs were placed near the marathon finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 260.

Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev for crimes that include using a weapon of mass destruction.

In a separate filing late Friday, lawyers for Tsarnaev sought to have multiple charges against him dismissed, saying they are repetitive and that the total number of charges could sway jurors weighing whether to find him guilty and, if they do, whether to sentence him to death.

Noting that more than half of the 30 federal charges carry a possible death sentence, his lawyers wrote that the number of capital charges "appears designed to put a thumb on the scales of justice in favor of the death penalty."

Experts have said earlier filings suggest the defense may try to save Tsarnaev's life by arguing he fell under the influence of his brother. Friday's motion was submitted by his lawyer Judy Clarke, one of the nation's foremost death penalty specialists.

Tsarnaev's lawyers have also argued that the prohibitive prison measures limit Tsarnaev's interactions with people helping his defense team.

Prosecutors argued that the FBI agent's presence was permitted by the special administrative measures, which prohibit providing information to people outside the prison.

Judge George O'Toole Jr. agreed to ease some of the restrictions earlier, but Tsarnaev's lawyers filed a new request last week to lift them.

Miriam Conrad, one of Tsarnaev's lawyers, said their renewed request "was not prompted by any comment that Mr. Tsarnaev made during a family visit."

"We have continuously opposed the SAMs (special administrative measures) as unwarranted, and we believe they unduly interfere with our representation of our client."

Tsarnaev's lawyers had complained that the restrictions "continue to interfere with preparation of the defense in important ways," including "obstacles related to FBI monitoring of family visits."

Tsarnaev's lawyers say the presence of the FBI agent during prison visits by Tsarnaev's two sisters "has thwarted the defense ability to develop important mitigation information."

They argue that courts have recognized the kind of information the defense wants to develop as admissible mitigation evidence, including evidence on "family dysfunction, mental illness and the impact of family chaos on the defendant as he grew up."

Prosecutors have argued that the restrictions are necessary in Tsarnaev's case because of his "commitment to jihad" and his "widespread notoriety."

"There was no expectation of privacy on the part of Tsarnaev, his visitors or the investigator," they argue.

Prosecutors have alleged that Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, built the bombs and placed them near the finish line of the April 15 marathon. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police several days after the bombing.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz declined to comment.

After being treated for Lupus, Escobar emerged from a coma earlier this week. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD — Joshua Garcia, of Holyoke, married Stefany Escobar Friday in the chapel at Baystate Medical Center days after the bride-to-be emerged from intensive care.

Escobar, 31, a teacher at Donahue Elementary School in Holyoke, learned she had lupus at the beginning of February. When it attacked her kidneys and lungs, she ended up in intensive care for nine days.

On Tuesday she started showing amazing progress in making a recovery, Garcia said.

He had obtained a marriage certificate from the Holyoke city clerk earlier in the month and the two decided they would marry Friday in the hospital chapel.

“Today is my 28th birthday,” said Garcia, who is the municipal services coordinator for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and a former member of the Holyoke School Committee.

“Stefany’s recovery and her hand in marriage is the best gift I could have,” he said.

The couple’s 22-month-old twins, Allison and Ethan, were present at the wedding. Ethan sat with his mother who was able to sit up in her hospital bed.

Their friend, Daniel Patrick Morrissey, of Springfield, served as justice of the peace.

About 40 friends and family and the nurses who cared for Escobar attended the wedding.

Morrissey said the couple started off their life together with an obstacle, and they became “an incredible definition of love.”

“When you are at the love of your life’s bedside, that is love,” Morrissey said. “This couple is love in action."

After the couple exchanged wedding vows, the bride said to her son, “Daddy says I do.”

“We are lucky we found each other,” she said. “Together, we will have great things.”

“We thought we were having one baby, but we had two,” she said.

Laura Douglass, a nurse manager at Baystate Medical Center, loaned Stefany her wedding gown. Douglass’s friends provided a wedding cake, and Douglass ordered platters of food from her family’s restaurant.

“Her recovery is miraculous,” Garcia said. “A lot of people were praying for her.”

In a hastily arranged statement delivered from the White House, Obama called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor, which is undergoing political upheaval.

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports in Crimea on Friday and Russian transport planes flew into the strategic region, Ukrainian officials said, an ominous sign of the Kremlin's iron hand in Ukraine. President Barack Obama bluntly warned Moscow "there will be costs" if it intervenes militarily.

The sudden arrival of men in military uniforms patrolling key strategic facilities prompted Ukraine to accuse Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" — a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis.

In a hastily arranged statement delivered from the White House, Obama called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor, which is undergoing political upheaval.

"Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing," Obama said.

Such action by Russia would not serve the interests of the Ukrainian people, Russia or Europe, Obama said, and would represent a "profound interference" in matters he said must be decided by the Ukrainian people.

"Just days after the world came to Russia for the Olympic Games, that would invite the condemnation of nations around the world," Obama said. "The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine."

He did not say what those costs might be.

Earlier Friday, Ukraine's fugitive president resurfaced in Russia to deliver a defiant condemnation of what he called a "bandit coup."

Appearing for the first time since fleeing Ukraine last week, Viktor Yanukovych struck a tone both of bluster and caution — vowing to "keep fighting for the future of Ukraine," while ruling out seeking Russian military help.

"Any military action in this situation is unacceptable," Yanukovych told reporters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine. Then, seeking to make a firm point, he tried — and failed — to break a pen.

At the United Nations, the Ukrainian ambassador, Yuriy Sergeyev, said that 10 Russian transport aircraft and 11 attack helicopters had arrived in Crimea illegally, and that Russian troops had taken control of two airports in Crimea.

He described the gunmen posted outside the two airports as Russian armed forces as well as "unspecified" units.

"Some of them identified themselves as Russians. We know specifically some of the units," Sergeyev said. He also said the Russians had captured the main air traffic control center on Crimea.

Serhiy Astakhov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service, said eight Russian transport planes landed in the Crimea Peninsula with unknown cargo.

He told The Associated Press that the Il-76 planes arrived unexpectedly and were given permission to land, one after the other, at Gvardeiskoye air base, north of the regional capital, Simferopol. Astakhov said the people in the planes refused to identify themselves and waved off customs officials, saying they didn't require their services.

Russia kept silent on claims of military intervention, even as it maintained its hard-line stance on protecting ethnic Russians in Crimea, a territory that was once the crown jewel in Russian and then Soviet empires and has played a symbolic role in Russia's national identity.

Earlier Friday, AP journalists in Crimea spotted a convoy of nine Russian armored personnel carriers on a road between the port city of Sevastopol, where Russia has a naval base, and the regional capital, Simferopol. Later in the day, the airspace was closed over the peninsula, apparently due to tensions at the two airports.

Russian armored vehicles bearing the nation's tricolor rumbled across Crimea and men described as Russian troops took position at airports and a coast guard base.

Oleksandr Turchynov, who stepped in as president after Yanukovych fled Kiev last weekend, urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop "provocations" in Crimea and pull back military forces from the peninsula. Turchynov said the Ukrainian military would fulfill its duty but would not be drawn into provocations.

In Kiev, Ukraine's newly named interior minister accused Russia of military aggression.

"I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation," Arsen Avakov wrote in a Facebook post.

In recent conversations between U.S. and Russian officials, including a lengthy telephone conversation between Obama and Putin just last week, Obama said the U.S. has made clear that Russia can be part of an international community's effort to support the stability and success of Ukraine.

But, he said Friday, "we are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine."

Earlier Friday, as pro-Russia gunmen patrolled Crimean streets in armored vehicles and took over airports there, Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow against military moves in Crimea that could further inflame tensions.

Kerry and White House spokesman Jay Carney both said any Russian military intervention would be a grave mistake and that the United States was watching closely. They did not spell out any consequences for an intervention.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told reporters that the United States was proposing an urgent mediation mission to help resolve Ukraine's crisis.

The Russian armored personnel vehicles seen by AP reporters were parked on the side of the road near the town of Bakhchisarai, apparently because one of them had mechanical problems.

Russia is supposed to notify Ukraine of any troop movements outside the Black Sea Fleet naval base it maintains in Sevastopol under a lease agreement with Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the military vehicles were deployed to ensure the security of its base and didn't contradict the lease terms.

A duty officer at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had no information about the vehicles' movements.

AP journalists approaching the Sevastopol airport found the road leading to it blocked by two military trucks and a handful of gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles.

A car with Russian military plates was stopped at the roadblock. A man wearing a military uniform with a Russian flag on his sleeve got out of the car and was allowed to enter on foot after a brief discussion with the gunmen.

Meanwhile, Ukraine International Airlines said it had canceled flights to and from the Simferopol airport on Friday evening and Saturday because of the closure of the airspace over Crimea. The announcement did not say who had ordered the closure.

At the airport, dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings patrolled the area. They didn't stop or search people leaving or entering the airport, and refused to talk to journalists.

One man who identified himself only as Vladimir said the men were part of the Crimean People's Brigade, which he described as a self-defense unit ensuring that no "radicals and fascists" arrive from other parts of Ukraine. There was no way to verify his account.

The airport deployments came a day after masked gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles seized the parliament and government offices in Simferopol and raised the Russian flag. Ukrainian police cordoned off the area but didn't confront the gunmen. They remained in control of the buildings Friday.

In Kiev, the prosecutor-general's office said it would seek Yanukovych's extradition to Ukraine, where he is wanted on suspicion of mass murder in violent clashes last week between protesters and police that left more than 80 people dead.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's telecom provider, Ukrtelecom JSC, said unknown people seized several communications centers in the Crimea late Friday, knocking out the company's ability to connect the peninsula with the rest of the country. The statement on the company's website said there were almost no landline, Internet or mobile services operating in the Crimea.

Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and the West, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support.

Crimea, a southeastern peninsula of Ukraine that has semi-autonomous status, was seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great. It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 Soviet collapse meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.

That complicated history hangs over Ukraine's crisis.

"Crimea in the flashpoint everybody needs to be watching," said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now an analyst at the Brookings Institution.

A Friday evening fire heavily damaged an Amherst home.

 

The fire at 25 Merrick Circle in South Amherst was first reported shortly after 8 p.m., according to posts on Twitter. No one was in the house at the time.

NBC affiliate WWLP reported the house sustained heavy fire damage to parts of the first floor and water and smoke damage to the rest of the home.

No one was injured in the blaze but a cat was lost.

The Amherst Fire Department is expected to issue its official statement later today.

Additional information will be published as it becomes available.

Jean Paul Turayishimye survived the genocide of Rwanda while serving in the opposition forces and escaped, ultimately to the United States. But as a member of the Rwanda National Congress, he is still a marked man facing trial for terrorism in his homeland.

JACK MINCH
Sentinel & Enterprise

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Jean Paul Turayishimye survived the genocide of Rwanda while serving in the opposition forces and escaped, ultimately to the United States.

But as a member of the Rwanda National Congress, he is still a marked man facing trial for terrorism in his homeland.

Turayishimye has found a bit of the American dream in North Central Massachusetts and is studying to be a lawyer 20 years after the genocide.

In February, for the first time, he was able to hug his 8-year-old twin sons when they joined him in Leominster, where he now lives.

"I had never seen them (in person); it was the first time," Turayishimye said.

Turayishimye is a member of Rwanda's Tutsi community but was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after his family fled its homeland in the face of persecution following the 1959 Hutu revolution.

They farmed and led quiet lives, but opposition to immigrants grew in the Congo, so Turayishimye had to move around. He didn't finish high school until he was about 20 years old.

That was about the time the Rwanda Patriotic Front was recruiting soldiers, and he enlisted to fight the government.

"They said we could fight for our rights," Turayishimye said.

He joined out of a sense of patriotism and fear that the Congo would soon evict Rwandan natives.

He left home with about a dozen friends, but it was a hard life and only a couple survived the fighting.

On his way to join the RPF, Turayishimye traveled through Uganda, where he spent nearly a year recovering from malaria before making it to Rwanda for a boot camp run by fellow Tutsis.

"They were rebels so it wasn't like government training," Turayishimye said. "It's cruel and something we never expected."

Recruits lived in huts they made in a day. There weren't uniforms, and even his shoes were stolen by senior soldiers.

They covered typical military skills including field tactics, parades and leadership training.

Recruits were as young as 15 years old and not well educated, so after boot camp Turayishimye was assigned to a headquarters unit because of his penmanship.

"I think that's what saved my life in the jungle," he said.

He spent his days penning training manuals and log books, except when the RPF relocated and Turayishimye was enlisted to carry crates of ammunition.

When a plane carrying Rwanda President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi's President Cyprian Ntayamira crashed, possibly by rocket fire, on April 6, 1994, the genocide began. As many as 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by government forces.

Two of Turayishimye's brothers were killed. His brother Jean Karane was a civilian but killed by a machete because he was a Tutsi.

Turayishimye's family sent his 15-year-old brother, Ndayambaje, to get food or water, but he was caught in the crossfire between Tutsis and Hutus and shot in the thigh before bleeding to death.

Fighting ended with a Tutsi victory July 4 of that year, Turayishimye said.

In 1998, after six years in the RPF, Turayishimye requested his discharge and went to work as a secretary for the country's defense department in the Army archives. In 2003, Turayishimye transferred to the office of national security services as a personal assistant to Lt. Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.

His troubles continued when Nyamwasa was suspected of plotting to overthrow the president. Government officials began interrogating Nyamwasa's associates.

Turayishimye feared guilt by association.

"It was one of the reasons I fled the country," Turayishimye said.

Turayishimye snuck out of the country and applied for a Burundi passport that he used to request a visa to the United States in 2005.

He told embassy officials he planned to attend his aunt's wedding and tour the country for business opportunities to take back to Burundi even though he didn't plan to go back.

The embassy granted the visa but Turayishimye still carries some guilt.

"I feel so bad for those people in line," he said. "There were about 70 in line and only nine got visas."

Turayishimye went to an immigration lawyer as soon as he arrived in Massachusetts.

He was granted asylum in 2011 and got married. The couple have a 5-month-old son as well as Turayishimye's newly arrived twins.

His girlfriend in Rwanda was pregnant when he had to choose between fleeing or staying to face possible execution.

She gave birth to twins but in 2007 agreed to surrender the boys to Turayishimye's family so he could support them and eventually bring them to the United States.

After he arrived in Massachusetts, Turayishimye moved to Gardner and started learning English using DVDs from the Levi Heywood Memorial Library before taking an online course at Mount Wachusett Community College.

Once Turayishimye was proficient in English, he enrolled at Mount Wachusett to study criminal justice.

Then he was recruited to serve as an interpreter at the arraignment of a Burundi national facing criminal charges in Worcester District Court in 2009.

He was enamored of the legal system and switched his major to paralegal studies before graduating in 2011.

The American College of History and Legal Studies offered Turayishimye a one-year scholarship.

Students who meet academic standards after a year are automatically admitted to the second year of studies at Massachusetts School of Law in Boston, said spokesman Art Sesnovich.

Turayishimye graduated from the American College of History and Legal Studies last fall and started classes at Mass. School of Law.

"I said I wanted to be able to at least advocate for and talk about my issues with Rwanda," Turayishimye said.

Turayishimye won't turn his back on his homeland.

The multiethnic government run by Tutsis and Hutus remains as fragile as it has ever been, he said.

"Twenty years have gone by, but we still have this ethnic divide," Turayishimye said.

Turayishimye helped found the Rwanda National Congress in the United States to discuss the issues facing the country including human-rights violations the economic struggles of countrymen even as the country improves.

"Being in the United States they still think we are trying to overthrow the government," Turayishimye said. "In Rwanda they might convict me of terrorism."

He faces trial in his homeland for the allegations.

"Let's hope things will change," Turayishimye said.

State data shows that in the past four years combined, Ware fell $2.6 million behind the requirement. Minimum school spending became state law with passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act.

State Education Secretary Matthew Malone visiting a Ware public school classroom on Jan. 29 2014Jim Russell 

WARE -- There is no solution in sight to fix the persistent under-funding of Ware public schools that has exceeded $2 million in recent years, say local officials.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education annually determines the minimum amount that must be spent. For years the town’s financial condition has made that impossible to accomplish, the officials say.

Other than issue warning letters asking the town’s compliance, there is little the state can or will do to force compliance, Ware Superintendent Mary-Elizabeth Beach said following Wednesday’s School Committee meeting. “There is no such thing as a penalty,” she said.

According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, " Failure to comply with this requirement may result in non-approval of a municipality's tax rate, enforcement action by the Attorney General, or loss of state aid."

And if the town’s appropriation is more than five percent less than the education department-mandated amount, the difference is deducted from the town’s local aid – “but that does not help the schools,” Beach added.

State data show that in the past four years combined, Ware fell $2.6 million behind the requirement. Minimum school spending became state law with passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act. The idea was that setting minimum spending requirements would improve education quality across the state. Chapter 70 school aid is disbursed based on a community’s relative wealth, meaning poorer districts receive more Chapter 70 money.

The amount less than the state requirement this year in Ware is nearly $400,000, a recent letter from Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester shows. He wrote that last year’s was more than $650,000. The deficit was $955,000 less than the state requirement the year before and $593,000 below the year previous.

The education commissioner told the town that unless it pays the minimum requirement – referred to as “net school spending" -- then it must carry the difference over to the next fiscal year – a process that is now a habit in Ware.

“We have been minimally funded for quite some time,” School Committee Chairman Aaron Sawahi said at the Feb. 26 meeting.

“I don’t think we are on their (the town’s) agenda.” Beach responded saying: “I am a little not happy with the town.”

The Jan. 31 Chester letter to Beach and the selectmen chairman states: “Ware’s end-of-year financial report shows the district did not meet its spending requirements in FY13. Its required net school spending was $14,575,850. Reported net school spending was $13,836,587, which was $653,619 below the required amount. This shortfall falls within the five percent range allowed by law, and will be added to the district’s FY spending requirement.”

Chester wrote that the $396,330 fiscal 2014 shortfall “would be added to the FY15 requirement. Nevertheless if there is a way for you to supplement your current year’s school budget, I urge you and other local officials to work toward doing so.”

In an interview Beach said “the town manager and the superintendent are looking for solutions” to address the year-to-year catch-up occurring to pay for school operations. She acknowledged that to date no solutions have been identified.

At Monday’s selectmen's meeting, Town Manager Stuart Beckley said adequately funding the fiscal 2015 budget poses a great challenge. The town manager has said fixing the school funding problem is a priority, and the town has taken steps to reduce the yearly shortfall.

“Why are their huge racial disparities” in the U.S. prison population? “Who benefits? Who loses? Is the system aligned with our societal and personal values?” Craig Cullinane asked.

Craig Cullinane at Western New England University lecture on Feb. 27 2014Jim Russell 

SPRINGFIELD – Extreme racial disparity in the U.S. prison population – with the bulk of inmates black and Hispanic -- the country’s high incarceration rate, and ethical problems using for-profit companies to run the nation’s jails dominated a teach-in at Western New England University on Thursday.

Craig Cullinane’s talk was titled “Examining the Prison-Industrial Complex Through a Social Justice Lens.” He is program manager at Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a New York City based organization found at Sing Sing prison in 1996.

“RTA believes in the profoundly rehabilitative effect that engaging in the arts has on men and women behind bars. Through creative expression in theater, dance, voice, writing and visual art, prisoners learn social and cognitive skills that act as a springboard to education, family reconciliation and ultimately, successful re-integration into community life,” the organization’s website states.

Cullinane, a diversity educator, previously was director of residence life at Amherst College and has been associate director of diversity services at Suffolk University in Boston.

“No country in the world incarcerates more people,” Cullinane told about 30 students at the D’Amour Library. “What I found out is the laws in our country are not applied equally.”

He said African-Americans are 12 percent of the U.S. population and represent 60 percent of the country’s jail population. But data shows “there are no discernible differences between levels of drug use” measured by race and ethnicity, Cullinane said. “If fairness is important, how do we engage with this, and is it OK?”

The educator explained that the purpose of his talk was to reflect on the meaning of concepts such as social justice – “full and equal participation by all groups . . . mutually shaped” to meet their collective needs. And how that vision may not square with the criminal justice system in America.

“Why are their huge racial disparities” in the U.S. prison population? “Who benefits? Who loses? Is the system aligned with our societal and personal values?” Cullinane asked.

Using research compiled by “The New Jim Crow” author Michelle Alexander, Cullinane discussed the nearly 10-fold increase in the U.S. incarceration rate since President Nixon.

Cullinane said the steep hike in the number jailed is directly related to the President Reagan and Clinton's “war on drugs.”

“It is why so many people are incarcerated,” Cullinane said. There are now more than 2.3 million in state, federal and local prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

He said prison numbers spiked especially when the 1984 Federal Crime Bill provided authorities bonuses based on the number of arrests made. Cullinane called that “incentivizing arrests.” He said the “three strikes and you're out” laws place people in prison for the rest of their lives after a third conviction, irrespective of whether the perpetrators were found guilty of violent crimes.

“This is why there are so many people in the system.”

Cullinane said the use of for-profit prison companies is of “dubious” morality -- because profits depend on keeping people in jail as long as possible.

He also said the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons must be reviewed and changed.

L-R Professor William Force, Mabeline Velez, and Craig CullinaneJim Russell 

“It opened my eyes completely,” said 22-year-old International Studies major Mabeline Velez of Springfield following the discussion. “I didn’t know how the war on drugs targeted certain communities. I want to dig more and try to make a difference.”

Western New England Assistant Professor of Sociology William Force organized the event.

Two Worcester residents were arrested this week after police say they preyed upon a disabled woman who was cashing in a winning scratch-off lottery ticket.

WORCESTER — Two Worcester residents were arrested this week after police say they preyed upon a disabled woman who won a small jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

MassLive.com photo [file] 

According to Worcester police, officers were called to investigate an armed robbery in the vicinity of Goldthwaite Road at an unspecified time on Wednesday. An investigation revealed the victim, a 48-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, was attacked after collecting $400 from a scratch-off lottery ticket.

Police say the victim cashed the ticket in at a Shell gas station on Lincoln Street as 38-year-old Wendy Laporte was watching so closely it caused the store clerk to be concerned and walk the eventual victim to her mother's vehicle in the parking lot. Laporte got into a car with 26-year-old Dawud McKenzie, and the duo allegedly followed the victim and her mother.

When the victim was dropped off at her apartment, Laporte and McKenzie allegedly approached her with masks on, pushing the woman into a pile of snow while demanding the money she won on her lottery ticket. The victim gave them the cash, police said, and was later taken to the hospital for treatment of an injury to her arm.

Police say an investigation led them to arrest Laporte and McKenzie, both of 118 Country Club Blvd., Apt. 177, who were charged with armed robbery while masked and assault and battery on a disabled person.

The Worcester Telegram and Gazette reported that both suspects have either a criminal record or pending violent charges in other cases. Both Laporte and McKenzie were held awaiting court proceedings.

"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Putin said the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea.

"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

He sent the request to the Russian legislature's upper house, which has to approve the motion, according to the constitution.

In Crimea, the pro-Russian regional prime minister had earlier claimed control of the military and police there and asked Putin for help in keeping peace, sharpening the discord between the two Slavic neighbor countries.

It was the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia.

Armed men described as Russian troops took control of key airports and a communications center in Crimea on Friday. Ukraine has accused Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" -- a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis, and raised fears that Moscow is moving to intervene on the strategic peninsula where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea is mainly Russian-speaking.

Crimean's prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, declared that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards in the region will answer only to his orders.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk opened a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, by calling on Russia not to provoke discord in Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea.

"We call on the government and authorities of Russia to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine."