Avellone says Massachusetts already has a system that works and does not need the new rules of the Affordable Care Act. The position puts him at odds with the other Democrats in the race and with Gov. Deval Patrick.

Joe Avellone, a Democratic candidate for Massachusetts governor, said this week that Massachusetts should petition the federal government for a permanent waiver from the Affordable Care Act, known informally as "Obamacare".

Avellone told The Republican / MassLive.com during an interview in Boston that Massachusetts already has a health insurance system that works, referring to the reforms put in place under Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006.

“It is similar to the Affordable Care Act, but it’s unique to Massachusetts, and we have everybody insured, which is the goal of the Affordable Care Act,” Avellone said. “So I would petition for a permanent exemption from the new rules and regulations from the Affordable Care Act. I don't think we gain anything in this state by imposing those.”

Avellone said the national regulations, many of which went into effect this year, “would just confuse things and reopen old issues that we’ve solved already here.” He said in Massachusetts, “We have the end result that everybody’s looking for, which is everybody insured.”

Avellone’s comments are similar to those made by Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker, who also believes the state should have sought a waiver from the national health care law.

But it puts Avellone at odds with all of the other Democratic candidates for governor — Treasurer Steve Grossman, Attorney General Martha Coakley, former Medicare and Medicaid administrator Don Berwick and former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem — who do not believe Massachusetts should have sought a full waiver. It also puts him at odds with Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. Although Patrick requested a waiver from the federal government from a specific provision of the Affordable Care Act relating to the way insurers calculate premiums for small businesses, Patrick has been a staunch defender of the president’s law, and officials in his administration have touted the law’s benefits for Massachusetts.

Before national health care reform went into effect, 97 percent of Massachusetts residents already had insurance coverage due to Romney’s reforms, which were the template for Democratic President Barack Obama’s reforms. Many of the main features of the national reform were already in place in Massachusetts — such as a mandate requiring that employers provide health care, a requirement that individuals buy health care, the creation of a state health insurance exchange and a requirement that insurers cover everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions.

However, there were also a number of changes that the Affordable Care Act imposed on Massachusetts. It expanded the state’s Medicaid program to everyone earning less than 133 percent of the poverty level, instead of only people in certain categories, such as those who are pregnant or disabled. It offered health insurance subsidies for the first time to people earning 300 to 400 percent of the poverty level. It required that insurers cover preventive care with no co-pays and allowed children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26.

The Affordable Care Act also required the state to revamp its health care exchange and required everyone on an existing state-subsidized plan to re-enroll in a new plan that conforms to the requirements of the new law.

That aspect has turned into a technological nightmare, after the state’s new Health Connector website was plagued by glitches and unable to enroll people in new plans. State officials are currently using a mix of temporary health insurance, an extension from the federal government to keep people on their old plans, and labor-intensive workarounds involving paper applications to get people enrolled.

Avellone argued that the state already has everyone insured, has the ability to fund its health care system and has provided subsidies for low-income individuals. He said the focus should now be on containing costs, which is something the state has been moving forward on in the last couple of years.

“The focus should be, rather than instituting new rules because of the Affordable Care Act, to push ahead with trying to keep the care affordable, which has to do with changing how we actually deliver the care, apart from how the insurance mechanism works,” Avellone said.

Avellone said he thinks the Affordable Care Act is a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and he predicted that as it is implemented, it will need to be modified to fit the conditions in different states. “We already now have the version of it that works here,” he said.

Asked how his stance differs from that of Baker’s, Avellone said he is advocating for stronger government intervention when it comes to controlling costs. Avellone wants to move the health care system away from a fee-for-service model of payment and toward a model in which doctors and hospitals are paid for providing coordinated care to a population of people.

Many state insurers are already moving in this direction. Avellone said the governor’s office could take the lead in advocating for this — for example, by not giving contracts to providers to care for certain populations paid for by the state unless they move toward a new payment model.

Avellone has spent his career in the health care industry. He was most recently a vice president of Parexel, a company that helps bring drugs to market, where he oversaw the company’s clinical trials. He is the former CEO of Veritas Medicine, a clinical trial services company. He started his career as a surgeon.

When is the Boston Saint Patrick's Day Parade? Who organizes it? We got you covered.

Confused about the controversy swirling around the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade? That's okay. We've put together a primer on the situation to bring you up to speed.

When is the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade?
A parade celebrating St. Patrick's Day and Evacuation Day is held on Sunday, March 16, 2014. The parade starts at 1 p.m. near the Broadway Red Line stop in South Boston's Lower End.

Wait, what is it Evacuation Day and what does it have to do with St. Patrick's Day?
March 17 is formally recognized as a holiday in Suffolk County celebrating Evacuation Day, not St. Patrick's Day. The law recognizing the holiday does not actually state the nature of the holiday, it simply recognizes March 17 as a legal holiday. Today the law is listed official as Evacuation Day by the state, but when Governor Leverett Saltonstall signed the bill into law, he did so with black and green ink in 1941.

Evacuation Day has nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day, as it celebrates the day the British forces fled Boston in 1776 after a 10-month siege during the early stages of the Revolutionary War. It marked the end of major military action in New England during the Revolutionary War as Boston, the effective capital of New England, was no longer a target by British forces.

So it's just a coincidence that Evacuation Day is the same day as St. Patrick's Day?
Yes, but there is no question that the large Irish population in Boston and Massachusetts as a whole played a role in making Evacuation Day an official holiday in Boston. It is believed that the first Irish parade celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Boston took place in 1737 (PDF). So celebrations of St. Patrick's Day in Boston most definitely happened before Evacuation Day in 1776.

Who organizes the Saint Patrick's Day Parade?
Up until 1947 the parade was organized by the city itself but that year then Mayor James Michael Curley turned over control of the parade to the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council as a joint celebration of both St. Patrick's Day and Evacuation Day. The council has organized the parade ever since.

The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, or SBAWVC, won't allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the parade, right?
Correct.

Why?
The group has said that allowing gays and lesbians to march in the parade would hurt the parade's image as a family friendly event.

Isn't that discrimination, though?
Since 1992, gay and lesbian groups have actively attempted to win entry into the parade. A Massachusetts court ruled that the Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, or GLIB, should be allowed to march in the parade. According to press reports at the time, the group marched in the 1992 and 1993 parades with the help of an injunction.

In 1994, the council canceled the parade due to the court-ordered inclusion of gay and lesbian groups. An alternative celebration was held on Boston City Hall plaza. Renegade parades did take place along the parade route anyway, including one that featured 200 cars.

The SBAWVC, then led by John "Wacko" Hurley, was furious over what happened and vowed it would not happen again. In 1995 they found a way around the order by calling the parade a protest and marched in black, albeit before a much smaller crowd in South Boston.

In June of 1995, the SBAWVC took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, where they won on a 9-0 decision. The court ruled in the case of Hurley v. Irish American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston that the SBAWVC had the right to exclude anyone on any grounds because the parade was privately organized.

Since 1995, no gay or lesbian groups have marched in the parade. Gay and lesbians have more than likely marched in the parade but they have not done so openly.

Veterans For Peace, an anti-war group made up of combat veterans has repeatedly been blocked from marching in the parade, too.

Why did Mayor Thomas M. Menino not march in the parade during the entire time he was mayor?
Menino boycotted the parade throughout his entire time as mayor because of the exclusion of gays and lesbians. Menino said he would only march in the parade if organizers included everyone.

What about the new Mayor Martin J. Walsh? Is he going to march?
No, though he did march in the parade as a state representative. Like Menino, Walsh has said he will only march in the parade if they include gay and lesbian groups.

So why is this in the news again? I've been hearing a lot about the parade lately
Walsh has been working feverishly, along with other politicians, to broker some kind of deal between the gay rights group Mass Equality and SBAWVC that would allow gays and lesbians to march in the parade. SBAWVC maintains that they've always allowed gays and lesbians to march in the parade just as long as they don't reference their sexual orientation.

What's the status right now? Is a gay and lesbian group going to march in the parade?
It does not seem likely.

There was a brief period where a breakthrough appeared, but the two groups disagreed on the issue of marching openly in the parade.

The Mass Equality-sponsored group LGBT Veterans for Equality wants to march in the parade openly, but SBAWVC said no. SBAWVC said they were misled by the group's claim to be a veterans group, too.

Their invitation from organizers to march in the parade has since been revoked.

What's the general opinion on this in Boston?
Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe and Margery Eagan of the Boston Herald have both been very critical of parade organizers. Eagan went as far as to suggest scrapping the parade entirely.

Joe Fitzgerald of the Herald cheered the decision of an orthodox Catholic school to not participate in the parade if gays and lesbians are allowed to march. Joan Vennochi of the Globe wondered whether the Church's values, particularly under Pope Francis, were actually being represented by the exclusion of gays and lesbians.

Former Mayor Ray Flynn said that news around the parade overshadowing the positive things in South Boston.

Peter Gelzinis thinks nothing will change until Hurley dies.

Gay marriage has been legal in Massachusetts since 2004.

The parade has sponsors, right?
Sponsors of the parade have been mum about their involvement.

Parents who do not want their children to be part of the field testing for the new PARCC standardized test now have the option to opt out of the process.

Thursday night, the Worcester School Committee decided to allow parents of Worcester Public Schools students selected to take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) pilot test to say that they want their children to participate in regular classroom instruction or other education-based activities during that time.

The decision came after two parents asked members to send a letter to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education similar to one sent by the Norfolk Public School system on Feb. 11, saying that parents should decide whether their children take part in a "test of a test."

"I didn’t sign her up to be a lab rat. I’m sending her to be the public schools to be taught, and testing is not teaching," parent Ed Moynihan said earlier Thursday. "I want the school committee to affirm my rights as a parent to opt out on testing."

Students from 29 Worcester schools in grades 3-10 are scheduled to take sections of the PARCC to help state education officials determine whether to use it to replace the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).

During the school committee meeting Thursday night, parent and former school committee member Donna Colorio said by having students take the PARCC the district is "subjecting our children to a research project."

"This is not a PARCC issue, it's an issue of parental rights," Colorio said.

After hearing from Colorio and Moynihan, and discussing the merits of a Feb. 20 opinion letter from the DESE's general counsel, shared with the school district, committee members, through a voice vote, agreed to send the letter. Members also asked that Superintendent of Schools Melinda Boone share with the committee on March 20 details of how students who opt out of the PARCC test will be spending their time while others are taking the assessment.

The Feb. 20 letter, written by DESE General Counsel Rhoda Schneider, says that "participation in the PARCC assessment field test is mandatory and not subject to opting out."

School committee member Tracy O'Connell Novick described the letter as, at best, a "weak legal opinion" and questioned its reference to certain Massachusetts law regarding standardized testing.

Committee members Brian O'Connell and Dianna Biancheria said that parents should have the ability to decide whether their children should participate in the test. O'Connell added that the administration of the test is taking "a block of time away from academics and putting it toward a for-profit company on a test that we may never see again."

Committee member Jack Foley said that he is in favor of the field test, but that the Feb. 20 letter from the state, which defines the PARCC as being part of a statewide testing program, is incorrect, as only a small percentage of students statewide will participate in the field testing.

"I have publicly supported field testing and think that it brings to Worcester some critical information... however when I read the department’s legal opinion I found it to be inconsistent. Because the state is not holding them accountable for results, it is not a statewide assessment program. This is not MCAS, this is not the required standardized testing," Foley said.

After the meeting, Moynihan said he was pleased with the committee's decision and considers it a good first step. Now he'll wait to see how the district communicates the decision to parents and guardians.

"I want them to send something home, tell parents directly that they can opt out. Ideally, I would have liked the choice to opt in, to be asked whether I wanted her to take the test, but this will work," he said.

Norfolk School Committee Letter Opt Out PARCC

Hampshire College is building a new center that will help teach students the importance of eating locally grown food.

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Hampshire College is building a new center that will help teach students the importance of eating locally grown food.

The western Massachusetts college serves food grown mostly at local farms or on its 15-acre campus farm that has cows, pigs and even hens.

The Center for New England Food and Agriculture will offer apprenticeships, internships and a collaborative research program that will focus on sustainability and exploring better ways to produce and consume locally grown food.

As part of its 100% Local Food Challenge the school aims to get all its food from sources within a 150-mile radius, except for coffee and citrus that aren't grown nearby.

The new center was funded by a $240,000 grant from the Lydia B. Stokes Foundation.

A federal court has ordered a Peabody cleaning contractor to pay $1 million in back pay and damages to its workers for violating federal wage laws.

BOSTON (AP) --” A federal court has ordered a Peabody cleaning contractor to pay $1 million in back pay and damages to its workers for violating federal wage laws.

The U.S. Department of Labor says Ward's Cleaning Service Inc. went to great lengths to avoid paying its workers overtime, including directing employees to use multiple timecards with different names, altering timecards, paying employees with checks made out to false names, and paying employees in cash.

Ward's, which provides night cleaning crews, housekeepers and dishwashers to about 85 hotels and restaurants in the Boston area, was also ordered to pay a nearly $164,000 penalty.

The money will go to 149 employees, ranging from $40 to $43,000 apiece.

Ward's said it has since replaced scheduling staff and changed the way it pays workers.

The blaze was reported just before 7 a.m.

This story was updated at 8:35 a.m. to include details from fire officials.

SPRINGFIELD — Firefighters are at the scene of a house fire on Dunmoreland Street in the city's Upper Hill neighborhood.

The blaze, at 136-138 Dunmoreland St., was reported around 6:30 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Fire department spokesman Dennis Leger, aide to commissioner Joseph Conant, said a family of three who live on the second floor was displaced.

The fire appears to have started on the third floor, Leger said. The homes first and third floors are believed to be vacant.

Leger estimated damage to the home at $75,000.

City records list the home as a two-family dwelling, assessed at $93,200.

Investigators from the Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad have not yet determined the cause of the fire.

Kat Powers, communications director for the American Red Cross - Massachusetts, said local volunteers have been dispatched to assist the family.

This is a developing story. Updates will be posted as our reporting continues.

A reported multi-vehicle crash was tying up traffic on I-290 in Worcester on Friday morning

Two crashes are tying up traffic on I-290 in Worcester on Friday morning, Massachusetts State Police said.

The crashes, near the I-190 split, have backed up traffic heading into Worcester on I-290 West and I-190 south, according to traffic website Sigalert.com.

State police reported:

#MAtraffic Two crashes, I-290 EB at I-190. One in L lane, one in R lane. All lanes of traffic stopped. Expect delays.

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) March 7, 2014

Drivers, stuck with nothing to do, were tweeting their frustration:

Wtf happened on 290??? This traffic on 190 SB is RIDICULOUS

— Monica (@MrsSpikemouth) March 7, 2014

This traffic on 290 is a joke right?

— Alicia Ackerman (@alicia_renae91) March 7, 2014

The crash was backing up traffic on surface roads, too.

@BreakngNewsPhtg it's screwed up traffic on 190 S too. Gold star is gridlock on S side.

— Alex Belisle (@abelisle4) March 7, 2014

The extent of any injuries was unclear.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.

State police say a man walking along U.S. Route 1 in Saugus has been struck and killed by a vehicle.

SAUGUS, Mass. (AP) --€” State police say a man walking along U.S. Route 1 in Saugus has been struck and killed by a vehicle.

The victim was struck on the northbound side of the highway at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

He was taken to a Lynn hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The vehicle stopped at the scene.

No names were released and the death remains under investigation.

The blaze, which broke out on the third floor, was reported about 6:30 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Arson & Bomb Squad has determined that an electrical malfunction was the cause of a fire that displaced a family of three from a Dunmoreland Street home Friday morning.

The blaze, at 136-138 Dunmoreland St., was reported around 6:30 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger, aide to commissioner Joseph Conant, said the family lives on the second floor and the first and third floors are vacant. The blaze started on the third floor, he said.

Leger estimated damage to the home, which is in the Upper Hill neighborhood, at $75,000.

City records list the home as a two-family dwelling, assessed at $93,200.

Kat Powers, communications director for the American Red Cross - Massachusetts, said local volunteers have been dispatched to assist the family.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh will unveil his plans for improving Boston night-life during a speech before the Boston Municipal Research Bureau today.

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh will unveil his plans for improving Boston night-life during a speech before the Boston Municipal Research Bureau today.

Walsh officials told the Boston Herald that the mayor is forming a task force to look at possibly keeping bars open until 3:30 a.m in an effort to shed the city's Puritan reputation.

Most Boston bars currently close at 1 a.m. while some are allowed to serve until 2 a.m. on certain days.

Walsh Chief of Staff Daniel Arrigg Koh told the Herald that the city needs to make itself appear more attractive to globe-trotting travelers and to retain talented bio and hi-tech workers.

The MBTA is set to start running late night service citywide later this year, keeping the T running until 3 a.m. rather than stopping service at 1 a.m. as it currently does.

The only known local potential buyers for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette have pulled out of the bidding, the newspaper reported

The only known local bidders for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette have pulled out of the bidding, the newspaper reported.

Former Telegram editor Harry Whitin and CEO of Polar Beverages Ralph D. Crowley Jr. were qualified bidders, but have taken themselves out of the running.

"For all intents and purposes, we have withdrawn from the process," Whitin told a Telegram reporter.

The Telegram, Worcester's sole daily newspaper, has been put up for sale by its owner, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry. Henry acquired the business from the New York TImes Co. in October when he paid $70 million for it and the Boston Globe.

According to a court filing by the Times, the Telegram was valued at about $7 million.

The Telegram & Gazette and its website, telegram.com, are for sale. Henry said he is not selling the paper's printing plant in Millbury.

In November, Henry visited the Telegram's offices in downtown Worcester to tell staffers he planned to sell the paper. He said his preference was to find a local buyer, and that it was possible he would hold on to the newspaper if the right buyer didn't emerge.

Gatehouse Media -- a nationwide media corporation which owns several newspapers in Massachusetts, including the Metro West Daily News in Framingham and the Milford Daily News -- has also been mentioned as a potential buyer.

In January, Henry appointed James Hopson, a longtime newspaper executive with a track record of leading publications on the brink of being sold, as the Telegram's interim publisher.

Detectives raided the home at 115 Governor St. at about noon Thursday.

Anabel Vazquez

SPRINGFIELD — Narcotics detectives seized 158 bags of heroin and three firearms during a raid on a Liberty Heights neighborhood home Thursday.

Police received a search warrant for the home at 115 Governor St. after obtaining evidence that the suspect, 26-year-old Anabal Vazquez, was dealing large quantities of heroin out of his home and delivering bundles of it throughout the area in his car, Sgt. John M. Delaney said.

Police raided the home about noon. Along with the heroin, they seized a semiautomatic pistol, a Remington 552 rifle, a Hi-Point rifle, 33 rounds of ammunition, $3,050 in cash, scales and other drug paraphernalia.

Vazquez, known as “Ant,” was charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, three counts of possession of a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of double-edged knives.

“The Springfield Police Department will continue to make life difficult for heroin dealers in our city,” said Delaney, aide to Commissioner William Fitchet.

Patrick signed the bill just two days after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the practice was not prohibited by current law.

Women, wear your skirts and ride the T.

“Upskirting,” the practice of taking pictures under a person’s skirt, is now illegal.

Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, signed a bill banning “upskirting” at 10:40 Friday morning, just two days after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the practice was not prohibited by current law.

The law goes into effect immediately.

Patrick’s signature was the final step in a lightning-fast process, which saw the House and Senate both write and pass the bill on Thursday.

The law makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by 2 ½ years in the House of Corrections and a fine of up to $5,000, to secretly photograph a person’s “sexual or other intimate parts” under or around their clothing under circumstances when “a reasonable person would believe” those parts would not be visible to the public. It makes it a felony to disseminate such pictures. The penalties are increased when the victim is a child under age 18.

The bill got unanimous support in the state Senate. The state House passed it during an informal session with no objections.

Sen. Gale Candaras, a Wilbraham Democrat, pointed out during discussion on the Senate floor on Thursday that First Amendment privacy law was written before cell phones were contemplated, and said the bill is necessary to update the statute. “These are individuals who are intentionally trying to disturb the peace and good order on that train and to harass and intimidate an individual who does have a reasonable expectation of privacy and who did dress appropriately,” Candaras said.

Convicted Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger has been given the green light by a federal judge for a second attorney to assist him with his appeal of multiple racketeering convictions. The attorney will be paid for using taxpayer funds.

BOSTON — A federal judge has given the green light for a second attorney to represent convicted Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger in his appeal of multiple racketeering convictions. The attorney will be paid for using taxpayer funds.

Appeals Court Judge Juan Torruella ruled that it is acceptable for Bulger to receive assistance from a second public defender due to the severity and complexity of the appeal.

The Boston Globe reported that one of the two attorneys representing Bulger during the appeals process is Hank Brennan. Brennan, along with J.W. Carney, represented Bulger during his racketeering trial. Carney is not representing Bulger during the appeal process.

James Budreau of the law firm Bassil, Klovee and Budreau will team up with Brennan during the appeals process. Budreau is loosely connected to Carney through attorney Janice Bassil.

Some of Bulger's victims are not happy with this development.

“Why should taxpayers have to pay for that?” Patricia Donahue, husband of Bulger victim Michael Donahue, reportedly asked.

Three accidents involving nine vehicles closed all three lanes of 290 eastbound early Friday morning while sending three people to the hospital.

WORCESTER — Three accidents involving nine vehicles closed all three lanes of I-290 eastbound early Friday morning, sending three people to the hospital.

Traffic was snarled on busy 290, I-190 and many nearby surface streets for much of the morning.

"All lanes were closed initially," Massachusetts State Police said in a release. "The right lanes were reopened at approximately 8:15 a.m. The left lane then remained closed until the scene cleared at 8:45 a.m."

The series of accidents began shortly before 8 a.m. on 290 just prior to the I-190 split in Worcester. The first three-vehicle crash involved a Honda CRV, driven by a 59-year-old Worcester woman, which was struck by a Ford Focus being driven by a 55-year-old woman from Worcester. The Ford was then hit by a Honda Civic being driven by a 29-year-old Leicester woman, police said.

A crash on Route 290 early Friday morning shut down all three lanes of traffic around 8 a.m.Photo Courtesy Massachusetts State Police 

No one was injured in either of these crashes, according to state police.

The third crash took place in the left lane at the same location as the other two accidents. The four-car accident began when a Toyota Highlander, driven by a 31-year-old Worcester woman, was hit by a 2010 Subaru Impreza being driven by a 16-year-old Dudley man. The Impreza was then hit by an Infiniti G37 being driven by an 18-year-old Dudley man, which was subsequently hit by a Toyota Corolla driven by a 33-year-old Oxford man.

The Corolla came to a rest on the center median barrier, according to police.

In the third accident, the driver and passenger of the Toyota Highlander were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the Corolla was transported to UMass Lakeside with minor injuries.

The circumstances of the crashes are under investigation by troopers from the State Police Holden Barracks. The State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section and the Worcester Fire & EMS Department assisted at the scene.

EASTHAMPTON — A 53-year-old Easthampton man injured in Feb. 24 crash on East Street is in a coma, his wife said Friday. She said he has had three surgeries and is not well. She did not provide her name. Chang Joon Hwang, who owns Peter Rapid Cleaners, was trapped inside his van and had to be freed by Easthampton firefighters....

EASTHAMPTON — A 53-year-old Easthampton man injured in Feb. 24 crash on East Street is in a coma, his wife said Friday.

She said he has had three surgeries and is not well. She did not provide her name.

Chang Joon Hwang, who owns Peter Rapid Cleaners, was trapped inside his van and had to be freed by Easthampton firefighters. He was taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, and was transferred by helicopter to Hartford Hospital, police said.

A hospital spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. Easthampton Police Chief Bruce W. McMahon said his department has been unable to obtain an update on Hwang's condition.

The cause of the accident reported at about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 24 remains under investigation. Police said Hwang drove his van off the road and into a utility pole.

As standard procedure, police have asked the Northwestern District Attorney’s office for a subpoena for a toxicology report from the hospital, and the vehicle has been impounded to check for mechanical failure, McMahon said.

The authority board chairman declined to comment on the lawyer for the fired former executive director saying he'd been harassed.

HOLYOKE -- Donald E. Wilcox was unjustly fired as executive director of the Holyoke Geriatric Authority because he filed reports about problems at the nursing home, his lawyer said Thursday.

Also, said lawyer Tara M. Swartz of Boston, Wilcox had been out on medical leave since Oct. 3 because of job-related stress and learned of his Feb. 21 firing by reading MassLive.com.

"He had a really rough time at the authority. Like I said, he maintains that the harassment and bullying he was subjected to caused him to be out on medical leave," Swartz said.

Swartz wouldn't provide specifics about cases of harassment and bullying or about the nature of the reports she said Wilcox filed about the nursing home.

Board Chairman Fred Glidden Thursday declined to comment on Swartz' remarks about Wilcox or on her saying that a wrongful termination lawsuit is likely to be filed on his behalf against the authority in Superior Court in Springfield.

Swartz' comments on behalf of Wilcox were his first public reactions since the board of directors of the authority voted unanimously to fire him.

The authority's years of financial problems led the board Monday to vote to contact the state Department of Public Health about closing the facility.

Donald E. WilcoxDon Treeger, Republican staff 

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.

As of Tuesday, the authority had 71 residents and 120 employees, Administrator Michael Stroetzel said.

Wilcox, who began working at the 45 Lower Westfield Road facility in 2009, filed reports presumably with state agencies about a "myriad" of "potentially unlawful and-or unethical activity," said Swartz, who nonetheless declined to provide examples.

The board voted in open session at a meeting at the facility to fire Wilcox "for cause" after a nearly three-hour executive session. Board members declined to explain what was meant by "for cause."

The board at the Feb. 21 meeting also voted to seek the return from Wilcox of an authority computer and cell phone. Swartz said she believed those items were put in the mail Thursday for return to the authority.

A state audit released in September detailed how mismanagement at the authority led to a $2.2 million debt to city agencies. The audit covers the period of Jan. 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012, and though Wilcox' title before executive director was chief operating officer, Swartz said, "All such allegations predate Mr. Wilcox' employment."

Underlying the talk about taking harsh punitive measures against Russia for its military incursion into Ukraine are economic complications and worries that sanctions levied against Moscow could, in the words of the Kremlin, "boomerang" back on the U.S. and Europe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Underlying the talk about taking harsh punitive measures against Russia for its military incursion into Ukraine are economic complications and worries that sanctions levied against Moscow could, in the words of the Kremlin, "boomerang" back on the U.S. and Europe.

Heavier U.S. and European Union sanctions could sting Russia's already slow-growing economy and hurt its financial sector. But Moscow could retaliate and seize American and other foreign assets or cut exports of natural gas to Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russia for energy.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday warned Secretary of State John Kerry that U.S. sanctions could "backfire," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. During a telephone call, Lavrov urged the U.S. not to take "hasty, poorly thought-out steps that could harm Russian-U.S. relations, especially concerning sanctions, which would unavoidably boomerang on the U.S. itself," the statement said.

In a separate statement on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry also warned the European Union that any sanctions it imposed would not go unanswered and would harm "the interests of the EU itself and its member nations."

Kerry underscored to Lavrov the importance of finding a constructive way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which would address the interests of the people of Ukraine, Russia, and the international community. Kerry and Lavrov agreed to continue to consult in the days ahead, according to the State Department.

Declaring his determination not to let the Kremlin carve up Ukraine, President Barack Obama on Thursday slapped new visa restrictions on Russian and other opponents of Ukraine's government in Kiev and authorized wider financial penalties against those involved in the military intervention or in stealing state assets. Obama emphasized his resolve in an hourlong telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, affirming his contention that Russia's actions violate Ukraine's sovereignty.

On Capitol Hill, both chambers of Congress looked to advance legislation imposing hard-hitting sanctions on Russia.

Obama hailed U.S. cooperation with the European Union, which on Thursday suspended talks with Putin's government on a wide-ranging economic agreement and on granting Russian citizens visa-free travel within the 28-nation bloc. But Europe's presidents and prime ministers remain divided on taking more drastic steps such as freezing assets and issuing travel bans on Russian officials.

European hesitancy reflected the reality that targeting influential Russian businessmen or major Russian companies would also harm Europe's economic interests. U.S. trade with Russia is less than one-tenth of Europe's.

Russian investors hold assets worth billions in European banks, particularly in Britain, which is highly protective of its financial sector, and major exporters such as Germany and the Netherlands have far more at stake than the United States in Russia's consumer economy.

Showing greater caution than Obama on sanctions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European penalties against Russia depend "on how the diplomatic process progresses." EU President Herman Van Rompuy said travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of an EU-Russia summit could still come. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk acknowledged "no enthusiasm" in Europe for economic sanctions.

In some ways, the debate over sanctions echoes the Cold War doctrine of military strategy in which if two opponents fired off nuclear weapons, both sides would be annihilated.

"There is a kind of mutually assured destruction relationship here," said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. "Russia could say, 'Well, we're going to cut off your gas, and you guys can now scramble and buy extra gas and pay big prices.'

"It would hurt the Europeans, but it also would cut off the biggest source of cash that flows into Russia today," he said referring to oil and gas sales that account for about 60 percent of Russia's exports and half of its government revenue. "So the Russians may threaten some things, but they also have to consider that if they do that what it would do to the Russian economy."

The State Department sought to allay fears that Europe might find itself short on Russian gas.

"We understand that European gas inventories are well-above normal levels, due to a milder than usual winter, and could replace a loss of Russian exports for several months, if necessary," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "Naturally, we take the energy security of our friends very seriously."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, saw an opening for U.S. gas producers. He called on Obama to fast-track approval of U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, claiming the Energy Department has a slow approval process that amounts to a de facto ban on American natural gas exports.

The Energy Department has given final approval to one of about two dozen proposed liquefied natural gas export terminals in the past two years. Five other projects have received conditional backing.

However, even if the Energy Department approved all the pending permits from companies seeking to export natural gas, fuel could not begin flowing overseas for several years. A project in Sabine Pass, La., is tentatively scheduled to open in late 2015, but most others are not expected to begin operations until 2017 or later.

Ariel Cohen, an expert on Russian and Eurasian affairs at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said he doesn't know whether the Europeans would be willing to impose tough sanctions, particularly against Russia's banking and financial systems. Even if the Europeans don't, the U.S. needs to take the lead or risk allowing Russia to alter current world order, he said.

"Either we take a lead or the international system goes back to the chaos and high-risk levels that existed before World War I and between World War I and World War II," he said. "This is very serious. I cannot emphasize that enough. People who talk about 'Oh, we won't get cheap gas from Russia' or 'The Russians will get angry' — they do not look at it beyond the current geopolitical and international order."

If Russia grabs Crimea, Iran would be less willing to give up an ability to develop nuclear arms. "The message to Iran would be: If you have nuclear weapons you will not be attacked, your regime will be intact. If you don't have nuclear weapons, your regime can be toppled and pieces of your territory can be taken away."

Prosecutors allege that between August 2010 and August 2012, John Burbine molested children ranging from 8 days to 3½ years old at his wife's unlicensed day care.

By SYLVIA LEE WINGFIELD

BOSTON — A suburban Boston man charged with sexually abusing 13 children through his wife's unlicensed child care business has died after an apparent suicide attempt in jail.

Defense attorney William Barabino says John Burbine apparently tried to hang himself in his cell during a 20-minute period between his guards' regular checks Friday morning.

He says a guard found Burbine with no pulse but he was revived by emergency medical workers. He says efforts to stabilize Burbine continued for hours at a hospital. He says Burbine died Friday night without regaining consciousness.

Prosecutors allege between August 2010 and August 2012 Burbine molested children ranging from 8 days to 3½ years old. He had pleaded not guilty and was being held on $1 million bail.

Prosecutors don't believe his wife knew about the assaults.

The state Department of Public Health said Friday it had approved a plan to close the Holyoke Geriatric Authority.