Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Congressman Stephen Lynch skipped the parade after organizers declined to allow gays and lesbians to march openly in the parade.

BOSTON – Springfield-based anti-gay minister Scott Lively announced he proudly marched in Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day which many politicians skipped because parade organizers have banned gay, bisexual and lesbian groups.

Lively, a Shelburne Falls native who owns the Holy Grounds coffee shop in Springfield, is running as a independent candidate for governor. He said he marched with his new running mate Shelly Saunders, of Springfield, and a small contingent of supporters.

Many other politicians, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Congressman Stephen Lynch, skipped the parade after they could not come to an agreement with organizers to allow gays and lesbians to march in the parade. The maker of Sam Adams beer also withdrew his support.

“The LGBT bullies, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, are giving the St. Paddy’s Day Parade organizers a hard time for keeping the parade a family-friendly event, but they are standing strong for family values and not bowing to intimidation,” Lively said in a press release.

“The media is predictably crying ’discrimination,’ but thank God the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the parade organizers have the constitutional right to exclude anyone they please,” he said in writing.

Lively said he was marching to represent all the voters who believe in “authentic marriage and the Biblical model of family.”

Lively is no stranger to controversy. His crusade against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has taken him around the world and most recently to federal court. Based on his anti-gay talks in Uganda, where the anti-gay movement pushed a bill to passage that criminalizes homosexuality, Lively is accused of crimes against humanity in a lawsuit filed by human rights groups Sexual Minorities Uganda and New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

He also recently defended reality show “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson’s who compared homosexuality to bestiality.

He jumped into the 2014 Massachusetts governor’s race this fall as an independent candidate to “unapologetically articulate Biblical values without fear or compromise.“

A state prosecutor said police discovered hundreds of electronic images of girls from 7 to 16 years old while searching Whitney’s home.

SPRINGFIELD – Gardner A. Whitney Jr., 62, of Westfield, a former middle school worker and criminal investigator for the U.S. Air Force, is facing the possibility of 10 years in prison after agreeing to plead guilty in a child pornography case.

Whitney will plead guilty to one count of possession of child porn in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping seven related charges in a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court.

At a hearing earlier this month, Judge Patti B. Saris said she would accept Whitney’s guilty plea after the Probation Department completed a pre-sentencing report, according to court records. She set the sentencing date for June 16.

The U.S. Attorney’s office agreed to drop seven counts of sexual exploitation of a child in return for Whitney pleading guilty the charge of possession of child pornography.

In the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to recommend a 10-year sentence, followed by 10 years of probation and a fine of up to $250,000. Whitney also must register as a Level III sex offender; enroll in sex a offender treatment program; and avoid unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 years old as part of the agreement.

Gardner WhitneyThe Republican file photo 

Whitney was arrested at his Sunbriar Drive home on January, 23, 2013, following an investigation by Agawam and Westfield police working with state police assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s office.

He was initially charged in state court with assault and battery on a child under 14, lasciviously posing or exhibiting a child in the nude and photographing an unsuspecting nude person. A state prosecutor said police discovered hundreds of electronic images of girls from 7 to 16 years old while searching Whitney’s home.

While in custody on the state charges, Whitney was named in the eight-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury two months later.

Before his arrest, he worked as an academic tutor in Connecticut and also was an active member of the local chapter of the Melha Shriners, including serving as president in 2011.

He was suspended from the state chapter following his arrest and pending outcome of the charges.

Friends of the Senior Center pledged to raise $2 million toward the construction of the new senior center.

CHICOPEE – The Friends of the Senior Center has turned over the first quarter of the money it promised to help fund construction of the new senior center.

The group, which is designed to support the Council on Aging, pledged to raise $2 million toward the cost of constructing the about $10.2 million building. Recently, it turned over its first payment of $553,483 to the city.

The money is to be placed in the account used to make bond payments on short-term loans.

Before accepting the money in a 11-0 vote, the City Council asked why the payment wasn’t larger since the Friends of the Senior Center have collected an estimated $1.2 million in donations.

“It is not all collected. Some of it is in pledges,” City Treasurer Marie T. Laflamme said.

Laflamme said the organization has accepted larger donations that can be spread out over five years so not all the money will be collected immediately.

When the city first proposed building a new senior center to replace the one on Valley View Drive that is too small and inadequate for modern programs offered for the elderly, the Friends of the Senior Center promised to raise $2 million toward the construction.

The center is now under construction on the former Facemate factory site off West Main Street. It is expected to be completed in the spring.

Now-retired City Treasurer Ernest Laflamme and Mayor Richard J. Kos agreed to serve as chairmen of the fund-raising committee. Kos decided to run for mayor more than a year after leading the effort with Laflamme.

The organization has received several sizable contributions including a $250,000 donation from Chicopee Savings Bank and a $100,000 donation from PeoplesBank. At the same time, the Friends of the Senior Center have held multiple fund-raisers including bake sales and a fun run to raise smaller amounts of money.

Hebert, of Agawam, retired in November after teaching in Chicopee for 26 years.

CHICOPEE – A retired science teacher known for her creative hands-on projects and outdoor activities has been tapped by the National Science Teachers Association to help create a go-to resource list for her fellow educators.

Judy Hebert, who retired as a science teacher at James C. Selser School in November, is working with about 50 other teachers across the country to search for and rate resources teachers easily find and use to teach science.

“I taught all this,” she said. “I need to make sure it fits a fourth-grade student but I may find a resource that is good for kids who speak English as a second language.”

Hebert is specifically assigned to study fourth-grade standards for Earth systems, which can include erosion, earthquakes, soils and many other topics.

When searching for resources and rating them, Hebert said she is thinking of the science standards but also putting herself in the place of the classroom teacher who has to teach a particular subject and is not sure how to sift through the volumes of information available.

Her top goal is to find the best resources that can cover a specific standard, but she also hopes to include those that can be used in different ways and those that can help children who have specific needs. She also wants to be able to include tools that can help teachers tie the subject into literacy, math or social studies.

“Most teachers know their kids and they know how the kids learn and they tailor their teaching to the kids,” she said.

Hebert, of Agawam, recently retired after spending 26 years teaching in Chicopee. She was an elementary school science teacher for 11 years and previously taught in a third-grade classroom at Gen. James Stefanik School. She received a number of awards and was a semi-finalists for the 2009 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

She was one of 55 teachers selected out of 650 to develop the resource guide that will support new standards the association has adopted.

Hebert called the project intense and said she has attended several trainings, including on-line ones, to prepare for it. The position is mostly a volunteer one although her expenses are paid.

“I wanted to do it because I really wanted to see what would happen the standards and how they would work for kids,” she said. “Only seven or eight states have adopted them and they are very specific.”

Hebert said she enjoys science and loved teaching it to children. She said one experiment could teach children dozens of concepts they can use in the future.

Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers on Wall Street, led by Yahoo, which rose 4 percent.

By KEN SWEET
AP Markets Writer

NEW YORK — Investors were able to put aside the ongoing political turmoil in Ukraine on Monday to focus on a bit of good news on the U.S. economy.

Stocks ended sharply higher, helped by a report that showed factory output rebounded last month.

On Monday:

• The Dow Jones industrial average rose 181.55 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,247.22.
• The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 17.70 points, or 1 percent, to 1,858.83.
• The Nasdaq composite was up 34.55 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,279.95.

For the year so far:

• The Dow is down 329.44 points, or 2 percent.
• The S&P 500 is up 10.47 points, or 0.6 percent.
• The Nasdaq is up 103.36 points, or 2.5 percent.

All 30 members of Dow go up

The market's gains were broad. All 30 members of the Dow and all 10 industry groups of the S&P 500 rose.

Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers, led by Yahoo, which rose 4 percent. Yahoo owns a quarter of the Chinese e-commerce website AliBaba, which announced plans to go public in the U.S. While relatively unknown in the U.S., AliBaba is one of the world's most-trafficked websites in the world's second-largest economy. Yahoo rose $1.51 to $39.11.

Other tech stocks also rose, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

Monday's advance comes after stocks spent much of last week in retreat. The major indexes fell roughly 2 percent, their worst week since January, on concerns that the tensions between Ukraine and Russia could boil over. Those tensions are no closer to being resolved, but so far armed conflict does not appear to be in the cards.

Crimeans overwhelmingly voted Sunday in favor of Crimea breaking away from Ukraine to return to Russia. While destabilizing to Ukraine, the results were what investors and international observers widely expected. More importantly, the controversial vote, while widely considered illegitimate by the international community, happened without any major violence.

"Russia got what it wanted without having to take Crimea by force," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist with S&P Capital IQ.

Both the White House and the European Union announced sanctions and visa restrictions against several Russian officials as a result of the referendum. The U.S. imposed sanctions on seven Russian government officials as well as four Ukrainians, including former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The EU slapped travel bans and asset freezes on 21 people from Russia and Crimea.

With the Crimean vote behind them, U.S. investors exited their traditional safe havens to return to riskier parts of the market. Bond prices fell, pushing the yield of 10-year Treasury note up to 2.70 percent from 2.66 percent Friday. The price of gold fell modestly.

Utilities, a popular industry sector in times of uncertainty, rose less than the rest of the market. The Dow Jones Utility Average, which tracks the performance of 15 utility companies, rose 0.7 percent on Monday versus the S&P 500's 1 percent gain.

Back in the U.S., investors got a dose of good news on economy.

The Federal Reserve said factory output rebounded in February after harsh winter storms caused a steep drop-off in January. Manufacturers produced more autos, home electronics and chemicals. The 0.6 percent rise was triple the increase that economists had expected.

"It's another small piece of evidence that the economy is beginning to thaw from the winter," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, which oversees $66 billion in assets.

The Federal Reserve will hold a two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday. Investors expect the central bank to pull back further on its bond-buying economic stimulus program, as it has done for the last two meetings. The Fed will announce its decision Wednesday.

In corporate news:

— Sears Holdings rose 83 cents, or 2 percent, to $44.84 after announcing that it planned to split off its Lands' End business.

— Rental car company Hertz Global rose $1.24, or 5 percent, to $27.22 on reports that the company was looking to sell its construction equipment rental business.

In currency trading, the dollar rose to 6.177 Chinese yuan, up 0.4 percent from late Friday — a sharp move for one currency on a single day. The yuan has reversed course recently after strengthening steadily for years. Analysts believe China's central bank is guiding the exchange rate lower against the dollar in an effort to discourage speculators from moving money into the country to profit from the yuan's rise.

Brown, 24, was arrested on Friday after he was dismissed from a Malibu facility where he was receiving treatment for anger management, substance abuse and issues related to bipolar disorder.

LOS ANGELES -- Chris Brown will spend another month in jail after a judge said Monday he was told the singer made troubling comments in rehab about being good at using guns and knives.

Brown, 24, was arrested on Friday after he was dismissed from a Malibu facility where he was receiving treatment for anger management, substance abuse and issues related to bipolar disorder.

Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin said rehab officials reported to him that Brown said during a group session: "'I am good at using guns and knives.'" His comment was in response to an exercise in which Brown was asked to reflect on things he was good or excelled at.

The facility cited three other violations of its rules, claiming Brown refused to take a drug test, made a statement that alarmed rehab officials, and was seen touching the elbow of a female client.

His attorney Mark Geragos said the comment Brown made that prompted concern was, "'I'm going to ask my higher power to take away my troubles.'" An incident report by the facility states Brown laughed and rolled his eyes when he made the comment.

Geragos said that despite initially resisting the drug test, his client eventually took it and passed.

Brandlin rejected a request by Geragos that the Grammy-winning Brown be released into a different rehab program. He ordered Brown to remain in jail until a probation violation hearing scheduled for April 23.

The singer has been under court supervision since pleading guilty to the felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna in an attack hours before the 2009 Grammy Awards.

Brown appeared in court wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, a sharp contrast from the suits and designer jeans he has worn for other court hearings.

Geragos had requested that Brown be allowed to change into a suit, but Brandlin refused. The singer's mother was crying as she left the courtroom.

The defense attorney argued unsuccessfully that keeping Brown in custody would be a waste of law enforcement and court resources and could create problems for the singer's upcoming trial in Washington, D.C., on a misdemeanor assault charge.

Geragos said that trial is scheduled for April 17 but there was no way the singer could attend it if he was sitting in a Los Angeles jail.

Brandlin ordered Geragos and a prosecutor to look into options that would allow Brown to attend the trial before the probation violation hearing was held in Los Angeles.

The judge did not indicate any potential penalties he was considering if Brown is found to have violated his probation.

Geragos said the ruling to keep Brown in jail would likely force him to file an appellate court motion for the release of the singer.

After the hearing, he described Brown as having a bad day at the treatment facility.

"You know -- do you have a bad day? I have bad days sometimes," Geragos said outside the courthouse. "Do you say things you'd like to take back? I certainly do. So I don't know that being in a therapeutic session and you're talking about your reflections and you say one sentence means you go to jail? Seems to me to be counterproductive to therapy."

WESTFIELD - Traffic on the southbound span of the Great River Bridge was being detoured Monday night as crews responded to reports of a possible gas leak. Police officials said the Fire Department and Westfield Gas & Electric were on the scene and were venting some buildings across the bridge. Reports of the smell of gas came in about 7:30...

WESTFIELD - Traffic on the southbound span of the Great River Bridge was being detoured Monday night as crews responded to reports of a possible gas leak.

Police officials said the Fire Department and Westfield Gas & Electric were on the scene and were venting some buildings across the bridge.

Reports of the smell of gas came in about 7:30 p.m., police said.

The Great River Bridge carries traffic over the Westfield River on Routes 202/10.

U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern visited Ernest Hemingway's former home outside the Cuban capital on Monday to celebrate a joint U.S.-Cuban effort to preserve and digitize the Nobel Prize-winning author's personal effects and writings.

By PETER ORSI

SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, Cuba — U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern visited Ernest Hemingway's former home outside the Cuban capital on Monday to celebrate a joint U.S.-Cuban effort to preserve and digitize the Nobel Prize-winning author's personal effects and writings.

Island curators gave the Massachusetts Democrat and a visiting U.S. delegation a rare guided tour inside the modest but graceful Finca Vigia, a hilltop estate that is surrounded by lush tropical fruit trees and boasts panoramic views of the Havana skyline.

Both the United States and Cuba, where Hemingway lived from 1939 to 1960 and wrote much of "The Old Man and the Sea" and other works, claim the man known affectionately as "Papa" as a favorite son. McGovern said that kind of common ground can help bridge the often-bitter divide between Cold War foes Havana and Washington.

"Hemingway has always brought people together," McGovern said. "He transcends politics, and one of the points that I want to make today is that if Cubans and Americans can come together in a constructive way and do this, to help preserve a house and all its contents, then there's no limit to what we can do if we work together."

Scholars from both countries have been working together for more than a decade to preserve the home and its trove of documents, everything from bar bills and bullfighting tickets to personal notes and recipes.

Last month, thousands of digital scans of Hemingway's Cuba papers were made available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. The library is home to the world's biggest Hemingway collection, including 90 percent of his manuscript material.

The collection in Cuba includes items such as the insurance for Hemingway's 1941 Plymouth station wagon, his local firearms license and the telegram notifying him that he had won the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

"We are working to preserve the Hemingway collection for our children's children, and for our grandchildren's grandchildren," said Ada Rosa Alfonso, director of Finca Vigia.

The writer's fourth and last wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway, donated the estate in San Francisco de Paula, about a half-hour drive outside of Havana, to the Cuban government in 1961 shortly after he committed suicide in Idaho.

In recent years the house was in danger of collapse, prompting U.S. and Cuban scholars to launch a restoration project. Today, historians say they have preserved Finca Vigia more or less just as "Papa" left it.

At least a dozen animal heads are mounted on the walls, a tribute to his enthusiasm for trophy hunting. On a living room table sit the same half-full liquor bottles that were there more than five decades ago. Still legible in the bathroom are scribbled notes on a wall where Hemingway kept track of his weight, blood pressure and pulse every day.

"Everyone talks about the documents," said Gladys Rodriguez, former director of Finca Vigia and a leading Cuban expert on Hemingway. "But if we keep in mind that Hemingway wrote on the very walls, the home itself becomes a tremendous document. ... It is the testimony of everything Hemingway did."

The newspaper said a police report said Ariene DeBarros left notes about her intention.

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH - Police say a Rhode Island woman intentionally shot herself to death at a Massachusetts gun range over the weekend.

The Sun Chronicle reports Monday that police said 22-year-old Ariene DeBarros of Providence shot herself at about 2 p.m. Saturday at the American Firearms School in North Attleborough, where she had gone target shooting with her brother and his girlfriend. She was pronounced dead at Sturdy Memorial Hospital.

The newspaper said a police report said DeBarros left notes about her intention and also posted a comment to her Facebook page. Someone who saw the posting called police, but they were too late. Police said they were told the woman’s boyfriend recently died, but her Facebook posting said that wasn’t her motivation.

Police said the school is licensed by local police and complies with town regulations.

WESTFIELD - Traffic on the southbound span of the Great River Bridge was reopened about 9:30 p.m. Monday after crews responded to reports of a possible gas leak. Officials said the Fire Department and Westfield Gas & Electric were on the scene and were investigating a closed antiques building on Elm Street. Reports of the smell of gas came in...

WESTFIELD - Traffic on the southbound span of the Great River Bridge was reopened about 9:30 p.m. Monday after crews responded to reports of a possible gas leak.

Officials said the Fire Department and Westfield Gas & Electric were on the scene and were investigating a closed antiques building on Elm Street.

Reports of the smell of gas came in about 7:30 p.m., police said.

There were no injuries reported.

The Great River Bridge carries traffic over the Westfield River on Routes 202/10.

With the dozens of police officers lining the room, Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone told members of the town Select Board he stood by the actions of his officers in their response to the enormous and disorderly crowd during the recent Blarney Blowout riot at and around UMass. Watch video

Read live coverage from Monday night's Amherst Select Board meeting in the comments section of "Amherst Select Board to discuss Blarney Blowout and next steps tonight" »

AMHERST — With the dozens of police officers lining the room, Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone told members of the town Select Board he stood by the actions of his officers in their response to the enormous and disorderly crowd during the recent “Blarney Blowout” riot at and around the University of Massachusetts.

Livingstone said that in response to a crowd that had swelled to as many as 4,000 people, most of whom were drinking, “the actions by officers were professional and courageous.”

Livingstone made his comments at the first Select Board meeting following the “Blarney Blowout” riot on March 8.

The riot attracted crowds of more than 4,000 people, many of whom turned unruly.
Every available police officer in town was needed for crowd control, leaving the rest of Amherst without protection.

In all more than 70 people were either arrested or summonsed to appear in court, a number of police officers suffered injuries, and UMass received a solid week of negative publicity by way of world-wide news coverage.

UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy on Thursday announced he has hired former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis to head a review of how UMass and the town conduct crowd-control at large events. The Blarney fallout was the most recent example, but not the only example for large crowds getting out of hand.

Livingstone said he has spoken with Davis recently and welcomes the opportunity to work with him about new tactics for crowd control going forward.

He said he and the officers have appreciated the support they have received so far from town officials and members of the public.

“The support from the public has been nothing short of amazing.”

Police were criticized in some quarters, primarily among some students at the University of Massachusetts, who called police actions heavy handed. Officers were criticized for donning riot gear and taking an aggressive stance toward the crowd.

Livingstone said the police did the best they could to control the crowd, entire segments of which turned violent and destructive.

“The individuals who were arrested are worst of the worst,” he said.
The last thing police in a scene like that want to do is arrest anyone because it ties up officers who could be assisting in crowd control, he said.

“We had 55 arrests. We could have had 555 arrests.”

Livingstone said the Amherst and UMass police departments had anticipated trouble for the event because past experience had shown the event “had the potential for unruly and violent behavior.”

Town manager John Musante said that like many in town he shared “frustration, embarrassment and anger” over the Blarney Blowout fallout.

“This was a social media and alcohol-fueled disturbance,” he said.
The police acted appropriately multiple times to disperse the crowd.

The weekend cost the town roughly $16,000, primarily in police and fire department overtime costs.

Musante said rather than focusing just on what happened, the town and the university need to figure out how to stop the next Blarney Blowout before it happens.

“It is clear we need to redouble our efforts. The problems go way beyond the town and UMass,” he said.

He said he supported Subbaswamy’s decision to hire Davis to conduct a review of how the university and town police handle large crowd disturbances.

“I think it’s fair to say the university, town and the students, most if not all of them, are looking for better outcomes going forward.”

At the start of the meeting, Terry Coles, a lawyer representing Mass COP, local 431, the Amherst police patrol officers union, said the town needs to restore the number of officers from 43 to 51 to effectively respond to large disturbances. The department has lost eight positions during the last eight years.

“The Barney Blowout was the most egregious type of event, the Amherst police is faced with these types of events-slash-riots every weekend of the year,” he said. “The town and the university need to figure out why these students are behaving this way. It’ll be a shame if the only solution looked to is the Police Department.”

Amherst lawyer Peter Vickery, during the public comment portion of the meeting, proposed that next year Amherst ban the sale of alcohol anywhere in town 48 hours prior to the next “Blarney Blowout” weekend.

“We have allowed to happen a hazardous condition. The people who pay the price are those who are exposed to the violence, including the police,” he said. “We must make sure this tradition stops.”

Select Board member James Wald questioned whether a 48-hour alcohol sales ban in Amherst would do much because people would just buy booze in Hadley.

One resident, Helen Berg, who is also a candidate for the Select Board, said she faulted the police for what happened, not the crowd.

“I live in North Amherst. There was no riot there,” she said.

“If you send out a riot squad, guess what? You get a riot.”

Three people are accused of lying to police investigating the disappearance of Jeremiah Oliver, a 5-year-old Fitchburg boy reported missing last fall and feared dead.

View full size 

Jeremiah's mother, Elsa Oliver, and her boyfriend, Alberto Sierra Jr., are in custody after pleading not guilty last year to child endangerment and abuse of Jeremiah's siblings. They haven't said where Jeremiah is. He was last seen by other relatives in September.

Sierra's 21-year-old brother Christian Sierra, and two friends of Oliver, 24-year-old Ashley Cormier and 23-year-old Cailey Thibault, pleaded not guilty Monday in Fitchburg District Court.

The Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise reports Christian Sierra posted $2,000 cash bail. Bail for Cormier and Thibault was set at $2,500.

Cormier's father told WFXT-TV his daughter doesn't know anything about Jeremiah's disappearance.

The state's child welfare agency has been criticized for losing track of Jeremiah.

The Republican makeover is easier to read and provides our editors with the latest digital reporting and photography tools to craft a paper that includes a mix of traditional and cutting edge content. We will be reaching out to our readers and the online community to become better represented in our efforts.

SPRINGFIELD — The new redesign of The Republican debuts Tuesday to offer a new look and a more engaging newspaper for its readers.

The Republican makeover is easier to read and provides our editors with the latest digital reporting and photography tools to craft a paper that includes a mix of traditional and cutting edge content. We will be reaching out to our readers and the online community to become better represented in our efforts.

The new editorial and opinion pages will combine hard-hitting editorials, letters to the editor and opinion columns with comments and social media content from the digital world. It is a lively daily effort that straddles the traditional and new media.

Check out The Republican's new look and either comment below, send an email to news@repub.com or write a letter to Letters to The Editor, The Republican, PO Box 1329, Springfield MA (letters can be emailed to letters@repub.com) or call 413-788-1200.

If you don't want to wait for the paper we are embeddingn a PDF of Tuesday's front page at the end of this post.

March 18, 2014 The Republican Page A1 by masslive

The article goes before the special town meeting on Wednesday but the Selectboard said they cannot support it.

AMHERST – The Amherst Selectboard voted Monday night not to recommend a town meeting article that seeks to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

The matter will go before voters at a special town meeting on Wednesday night, but the selectboard voted unanimously to announce at the meeting that they cannot support the measure, in part because they feel it would harm town businesses.

“My heart is in favor of it but I feel we can’t afford it,” said Selectboard member Diane Stein. “We have to be realistic. It would put Amherst at a disadvantage and we would suffer.”

Representatives to the Amherst area Chamber of Commerce also spoke against it.

The biggest sticking point with the article was that it would force Amherst merchants to raise their prices to cover the higher salaries, and this would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Competing merchants in Hadley, Northampton and Belchertown would still be paying $8 an hour, the state minimum wage.

Board member Aaron Hayden said raising the minimum wage is an issue that should be addressed statewide or even nationally, but not at a municipal level.

“This particular attempt to deal with it would backfire in interesting ways,” he said. “It would put Amherst at disadvantage in many way to other towns. I don’t know know if you've ever noticed driving down Rt. 9 and seeing the number of businesses that could be doing business in Amherst but don't.”

Board member James Wald said the article in its present form is “a feel-good measure that makes people feel morally righteous but does more harm than good.”

Like Hayden, Wald also said the issue should be addressed at the state and federal level.

The special town meeting was called after more than 200 people signed a petition in support of placing the article before voters.

If supported by town meeting the request would go to the state Legislature for a special act.

The state current minimum wage is $8 an hour but there is legislation to raise it to $11 an hour over three years.

Selectboard members seemed irked that the people behind the petition did not appear at the meeting to discuss the article or to explain it further.

Board member Alisa Brewer said supporters of the article have not provided any information prior to the Selectboard meeting, other than an e-mail sent just prior to the meeting that no one had a chance to read.

Wald called the failure to communicate “amateurish.”

Town manager John Musante said if approved, it would immediately cost the town more than $400,000.

Town departments employ 200 people, many of them seasonal employees, who earn less than $15 per hour.

The total cost would be more than $200,000 to town departments, another $163,000 for the school department and $45,000 for the Jones Library.

“It would be a very significant impact all at once,” he said.

Seafood is the focus of this week's trade event in Boston that the organizers say draws more than 19,000 people annually.

BOSTON — Seafood is the focus of this week's trade event in Boston that the organizers say draws more than 19,000 people annually.

The 33rd Seafood Expo North America and Seafood Processing North America, which began Sunday, offers sampling, cooking classes from expert chefs and an oyster shucking competition.

The three-day event connects various buyers and suppliers from more than 100 countries who sell fresh, frozen and packaged seafood products.

Attendees can learn how to select and prepare certain products such as lobster, salmon and oyster.

This year's Seafood Excellence Awards winners were announced Sunday. King & Prince Seafood of Brunswick, Ga., won "Best New Retail" for its Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp and High Liner Foods of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, won "Best New Foodservice" for its Flame-Seared Guinness Barbecue Glazed Atlantic Salmon.

The 3 finalists for Northampton schools superintendent are Laurie A. Casna, Jordana B. Harper-Ewert and John A. Provost, all of whom hold positions in Massachusetts.

Updates a story posted Monday at 11:27 a.m.

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton School Committee announced the names of the three remaining candidates for superintendent and hammered out details surrounding the search’s final stretch at a special meeting Monday night.

The three finalists are Laurie A. Casna, Jordana B. Harper-Ewert and John A. Provost. All three currently hold in-state positions. Casna is the director of Personnel and Student Services at Pembroke Public Schools, Harper-Ewert is the chief schools officer for Springfield Public Schools, and Provost is the superintendent of North Brookfield Public Schools.

Following the last search, which concluded in October without a superintendent being chosen, committee members said publicly they would continue the search for more experienced candidates.

During the meeting, committee members worked with Arthur Bettencourt, a representative from the New England School Development Council (NESDEC), to plan the remaining weeks of the search. The committee set April 1 as the tentative decision date.

NESDEC was consulted during the previous two searches, including the search that yielded Brian Salzer. Because Salzer spent less than two years on the job, the city has retained NESCEC at no additional cost.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said finding the plane was still the main focus, and he did not rule out that it might be discovered intact.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Officials revealed a new timeline Monday suggesting the final voice transmission from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian plane may have occurred before any of its communications systems were disabled, adding more uncertainty about who aboard might have been to blame.

One official wouldn't rule out that the plane safely landed at an unknown location.

The search for Flight 370, which vanished early March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, has now been expanded deep into the northern and southern hemispheres. Australian vessels scoured the southern Indian Ocean and China offered 21 of its satellites to help Malaysia in the unprecedented hunt.

With no wreckage found in one of the most puzzling aviation mysteries of all time, passengers' relatives have been left in an agonizing limbo.

Investigators say the Boeing 777 was deliberately diverted during its overnight flight and flew off-course for hours. They haven't ruled out hijacking, sabotage, or pilot suicide, and are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members -- as well as the ground crew -- for personal problems, psychological issues or links to terrorists.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said finding the plane was still the main focus, and he did not rule out that it might be discovered intact.

"The fact that there was no distress signal, no ransom notes, no parties claiming responsibility, there is always hope," Hishammuddin said at a news conference.

Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said an initial investigation indicated that the last words ground controllers heard from the plane -- "All right, good night" -- were spoken by the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid. A voice other than that of Fariq or the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, it would have been clearest indication yet of something amiss in the cockpit before the flight went off-course.

Malaysian officials said earlier that those words came after one of the jetliner's data communications systems -- the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System -- had been switched off, suggesting the voice from the cockpit may have been trying to deceive ground controllers.

However, Ahmad said that while the last data transmission from ACARS -- which gives plane performance and maintenance information -- came before that, it was still unclear at what point the system was switched off, making any implications of the timing murkier.

The new information opened the possibility that both ACARS and the plane's transponders, which make the plane visible to civilian air traffic controllers, were turned off at about the same time. It also suggests that the message delivered from the cockpit could have preceded any of the severed communications.

Turning off a transponder is easy and, in rare instances, there may be good reason to do so in flight -- for example, if it were reporting incorrect data.

The Malaysian plane does not appear to fit that scenario, said John Gadzinski, a 737 captain.

"There is a raised eyebrow, like Spock on Star Trek -- you just sit there and go, 'Why would anybody do that?'" Gadzinski said of what he is hearing among pilots.

Other pilots in the United States cautioned against reading too much into what little is known so far about the actions of the Malaysia Airlines crew.

"You can't take anything off the table until everything is on the table, and we don't even have an aircraft," said Boeing 737 pilot Mike Karn, president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations.

Authorities have pointed to the shutdown of the transponders and the ACARS as evidence that someone with a detailed knowledge of the plane was involved. But Bob Coffman, an airline captain and former 777 pilot, said that kind of information is not hard to find in the digital age.

Authorities confiscated a flight simulator from the pilot's home Saturday and also visited the home of the co-pilot in what Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar initially said were the first police visits to those homes.

But the government, which has come under criticism abroad for missteps and foot-dragging in releasing information, issued a statement Monday contradicting that account, saying police first visited the pilots' homes as early as March 9, the day after the flight disappeared.

Coffman said the flight simulator could signify nothing more than the pilot's zeal for his job.

"There are people for whom flying is all consuming," he said, noting some pilots like to spend their off-duty hours on simulators at home, commenting on pilot blogs or playing fighter-pilot video games.

Although Malaysian authorities requested that all nations with citizens aboard the flight conduct background checks on them, it wasn't clear how thoroughly the checks were done in Malaysia. The father of a Malaysian aviation engineer aboard the plane said police had not approached anyone in the family about his 29-year-old son, Mohamad Khairul Amri Selamat, though he added that there was no reason to suspect him.

"It is impossible for him to be involved in something like this," said Selamat Omar, 60. "We are keeping our hopes high. I am praying hard that the plane didn't crash and that he will be back soon."

French investigators arriving in Kuala Lumpur to lend expertise from the two-year search for an Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 said they were able to rely on distress signals. But that vital tool is missing in the Malaysia Airlines mystery because the flight's communications were deliberately silenced ahead of its disappearance, investigators say.

"It's very different from the Air France case. The Malaysian situation is much more difficult," said Jean Paul Troadec, a special adviser to France's aviation accident investigation bureau.

Malaysia's government sent diplomatic cables to all countries in the search area, seeking more planes and ships and asking for any radar data that might help.

The search involves 26 countries and initially focused on seas on either side of Peninsular Malaysia, in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

The vast scope of the search was underlined when a U.S. destroyer that already has helped cover 15,000 square miles (38,850 square kilometers) of water dropped out.

The Navy concluded that long-range aircraft were more efficient in looking for the plane or its debris than the USS Kidd and its helicopters, so effective Tuesday the ship was leaving the Indian Ocean search area, said Navy Cmdr. William Marks, spokesman for the 7th Fleet. Navy P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft remain available, and can cover 15,000 square miles (38,850 square kilometers) in a nine-hour flight.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Najib Razak said investigators determined that a satellite picked up a faint signal from the aircraft about 7½ hours after takeoff. The signal indicated the plane would have been somewhere on a vast arc stretching from Kazakhstan in Central Asia to the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean.

The southern Indian Ocean is the world's third-deepest and one of the most remote stretches of water, with little radar coverage.

Hishammuddin said Monday that searches in both the northern and southern stretches of the arc had begun, and that countries from Australia in the south, China in the north and Kazakhstan in the west had joined the hunt.

Had the plane gone northwest to Central Asia, it would have crossed over countries with busy airspace. Some experts believe it more likely would have gone south, although Malaysian authorities are not ruling out the northern corridor and are eager for radar data that might confirm or rule out that route.

The northern corridor crosses through countries including China, India and Pakistan -- all of which have said they have no sign of the plane. China, where two-thirds of the passengers were from, is providing several planes and 21 satellites for the search, Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement.

"Factors involved in the incident continue to multiply, the area of search-and-rescue continues to broaden, and the level of difficulty increases, but as long as there is one thread of hope, we will continue an all-out effort," Li said.

Indonesia focused on Indian Ocean waters west of Sumatra, air force spokesman Rear Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto said.

Australia agreed to Malaysia's request to take the lead in searching the southern Indian Ocean with four Orion maritime planes that would be joined by New Zealand and U.S. aircraft, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

Residents of the nursing home are being transferred to other facilities.

Updated at 8:04 p.m. Tuesday, March 18 to include comments from authority board Chairman Fred Glidden responding to councilors' criticisms; a note that the city has filed to foreclose on authority property; and additional comments from councilors.

HOLYOKE -- The state Department of Public Health told the city it would provide temporary help to ensure the Holyoke Geriatric Authority has food and can meet payroll, Mayor Alex B. Morse told the City Council in a special meeting Tuesday.

Also, the city Tuesday filed a complaint to foreclose on a lien the city placed on authority property two years ago in state Land Court because of money owed to the city, according to a document provided by City Treasurer Jon D. Lumbra.

Morse also said plans are proceeding to find a new home for the adult daycare facility operated at the authority.

And, the goal of the city remains to find a buyer for the 45 Lower Westfield Road property, he said.

The meeting played out in City Council Chambers at City Hall with audience seating filled with authority board of directors members and other officials, with whom Morse has exchanged verbal shots on authority issues.

The authority had lost its food vendor and now has a temporary vendor that will provide supplies on a cash-on-dellivery basis, Morse said.

At the moment, the authority has money to meet payroll for only one more week for its 120 employees, he said.

"This mismanagement is almost as if it's malpractice and that's why we need to move aggressively and that's what we're doing," Morse said.

Councilor at Large James M. Leahy, who requested the special meeting (only the mayor can call a special meeting of the council), said authority officials have failed to communicate during the problems.

"Communication has been awful. I can't tell you how shamed I am by this," Leahy said.

The plan is for the authority to close May 13 capping years of financial struggles that have included inability to pay bills and accruing more than $2 million in debt to city agencies.

Under state order, residents of the authority are being relocated to other nursing homes in a 25-mile radius. Last week, the resident total was 71. The total at the facility is expected to be down to 41 by the end of this week, Morse said.

"These are the most frail people that we have in the city....We need to be the advocates for them," Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto said.

Board Chairman Fred Glidden, who attended the meeting but wasn't asked to speak during it, said later he has tried to be responsive to councilors. He has spoken regularly with councilors David K. Bartley, Joseph M. McGiverin and Kevin A.. Jourdain, he said.

"We did the best we possibly could under the circumstances," Glidden said.

Glidden added, "The board will continue to work and make sure we have an orderly transition and the residents have the best possible care."

What killed the authority was when government reimbursements in the early 1990's were reduced for health costs, leaving the authority to cover the rest after only 70 percent to 75 percent of costs were covered, he said.

Still, Morse and other officials over the years, including a state audit in September, have cited mismanagement as helping torpedo the facility.

Another matter to be resolved with the closing of the authority will be the future of Gandara Center, of West Springfield, which is leasing space on the authority campus for a detention center for low-risk males awaiting court dates. Morse said it was possible Gandara would seek to relocate if the city finds a buyer for the authority property.

Morse reiterated he has asked the office of state Attorney General Martha Coakley to appoint a receiver to manage the authority given the precarious nature of the food vendor and lack of money for payroll.

Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan said it was unfortunate the city was unable to save the authority.

"It just really breaks my heart for us to lose the Geriatric. We're losing a piece of history and we're never going to see it again," Bresnahan said.

The City Council will discuss creating a code of conduct or ethics for councilors.

CHICOPEE - The City Council is holding its regular meeting at 7:15 p.m. tonight and it will be preceded by a briefing from Mayor Richard J. Kos who will talk about proposals for financial transfers and appointments to committees.

One of the issues on the agenda is a complaint filed by a local businessman who is accusing Councilor Adam D. Lamontagne of harassment.

Later during the meeting the City Council is expected to take up a proposal to discuss creating a code of conduct or code of ethics for individual councilors. The proposal will likely be sent to subcommittee for more discussion.

The meeting is on the fourth floor of the City Hall Annex.

Chicopee City Council Agenda for March 18, 2014

The suspect is described as a 5-foot, 10-inch man, white and with a thin build, light facial hair and a pock-marked face.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 2:35 p.m. Tuesday. It has been updated to include a photo of the suspect.

SPRINGFIELD - Police on Tuesday issued surveillance photos of a suspect who robbed the United Bank branch, 459 Main St., in the Indian Orchard section of the city.

The robbery was reported just after 11 a.m.

The suspect is described as a 5-foot, 10-inch man, white and with a thin build, light facial hair and a pock-marked face, according to Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet. He appeared to be about 20 years old.

In the photos, he is wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt with bright orange trim, and mirrored sun glasses with red frames. 

Delaney said the man entered the bank, approached a teller and demanded cash. He indicated that he had a gun but no weapon was shown.

View full sizeSurveillance footage of a suspect in Tuesday's robbery of United Bank in Indian Orchard. Anyone who knows his identity is asked to call Springfield police at (413) 787-6355Springfield police photo