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State Auditor Suzanne Bump to speak at UMass Amherst Women's Leadership Breakfast

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AMHERST - State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump will deliver the keynote address at the UMass Women's Leadership Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. March 28 at the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts. Elected in 2010, Bump is the first female auditor in state history. A former state representative and former secretary of labor and workforce development, she will discuss...

bump2.JPGAuditor Suzanne Bump 

AMHERST - State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump will deliver the keynote address at the UMass Women's Leadership Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. March 28 at the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts.

Elected in 2010, Bump is the first female auditor in state history. A former state representative and former secretary of labor and workforce development, she will discuss the challenges facing women who run for elective office, and the need for more to do so, according to a press release from the university.

The program will include the presentation of student leadership awards in memory of two UMass leaders who passed away in 2013, women's softball coach Elaine Sortino and Commonwealth Honors College Dean Priscilla Clarkson.

The breakfast is sponsored by Lead UMass and the Student Government Association.
It will be held on the 11th floor Marriott Center.


Springfield builds confidence by presenting $2.48 billion in development to Chambers of Commerce, Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council

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The city has $2.48 billion in projects either recently completed or soon to begin.

This story continues live coverage of the City on the Rise presentation here.

SPRINGFIELD - The city answered back its critics Tuesday night with a detailed presentation outlining $2.48 billion in construction and economic development projects either recently completed or soon to start.

Kevin Kennedy, the city's chief development officer, presented the list entitled "On the Rise" in front of about 250 business leaders at City Stage downtown. It was a forum organized by the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield and the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council.

"We need to start telling people about these projects," said Springfield Chamber of Commerce board chairman Jeff Fialky who represented the Affiliated Chambers. "This isn't an uptick. If you look at this on a graph it is a hockey-stick trajectory. If we let people know there is good news, it will only lead to more people having confidence in Springfield."

The list of recent projects totals $612.57 million and includes the $110 million State Data Center on Elliot Street and Caring Health's $15 million center in the city's South End.

Planned or in progress projects total $1.684 billion.

"That is a phenomenal number for a medium-sized American city," Kennedy said." We think this portends very very well for Springfield. Notice the naysayers have been drowned out. Only good news here."

Kennedy said he only counted projects where the funding and planning is in place. He didn't count proposals further out in the future, like the Changchun Railway Vehicles proposal to spend $30 million on a passenger-car factory at the former Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard in East Springfield.


Changchun, a Chinese company, plans to use the East Springfield site to bid on an MBTA contract. The MBTA is stipulating that the cars be assembled in Massachusetts.

Changchun executives attended the presentation.

But Kennedy only spoke of projects with construction start dates.

"What we are putting in front of you is real," he said. "I'll leave it to your judgment what to make of them. But these are real projects."

The list includes the proposed MGM Springfield casino development in the South End for $800 million.

"I think along with Union Station that's the project that is putting Springfield on the map," Kennedy said.

Union Station is undergoing a $65 million renovation using state and federal money. Built in 1927, the station has been unused since the 1970s and is envisioned as an intermodal bus and train transportation hub.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, a longtime booster of the Union Station project, said it meshes well with $73 million in federally funded passenger-railroad improvements now under way up and down the Connecticut River Valley.

Not to mention Union Station's hold on the public's imagination. Neal said generations of Springfielders went to Union Station to see their sons off to war, either World War II, Korea or Vietnam.

"And they went to the station to welcome home those lucky enough to return," he said.


Kennedy, a former Neal aide, also spoke of smaller projects, like a long-awaited supermarket on State Street and Q Restaurant, a $500,000 barbecue restaurant in Mason Square set to open at the end of this month.

Below, a table showing projects listed in the "City Wide Projects" section of the presentation; a document including all of the presentation slides follows.


Report of 2 'suspicious' men carrying women's handbags leads Springfield police to discover East Forest Park house breaks

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Xavier E. Colon of Springfield was charged with two counts of breaking into a motor vehicle, breaking into a building, larceny from a building and breaking into a vehicle in order to commit a felony. Another suspect escaped.


SPRINGFIELD – An 18-year-old city man was charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering Monday after police found him carrying a bag of items including garage door openers and a GPS device that traced back to houses in the area of Roosevelt Avenue South Branch Parkway, police said.

xaviercolon18.jpgXavier Colon 

Arrested was Xavier E. Colon of 122 Lowell St., said Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commission William Fitchet. He was charged with two counts of breaking into a motor vehicle, breaking into a building, larceny from a building and breaking into a vehicle in order to commit a felony.

A second suspect fled and managed to elude police, Delaney said. Officers are working to determine his identity and Delaney said he is confident an arrest will be made.

Police were alerted just after 2 p.m. by a 911 caller reporting two suspicious men walking across the General Edwards Bridge at Roosevelt Avenue and Alden Street. The caller said what made them suspicious was they were each carrying a women’s handbag, Delaney said.

Detective William Kelly stopped Colon on Alden Street. Colon could not explain why he had a bag containing gold jewelry, a GPS device and two garage door openers, Delaney said.

The second suspect was spotted on Carlisle Street but he dropped his bag and ran. Delaney said this bag contained several stolen items as well.

Delaney said Detective Eugene Dean of the break-in squad and officers James Crogan and John Wadlegger were able to use the GPS device to find where the house it had been taken from on Roosevelt Avenue. They also used the garage door openers to local houses on South Branch Parkway that had been broken into.

All stolen items had been recovered, Delaney said.

“Outstanding police work by all officers involved,” Delaney said.

He also credited the person who called police initially.
“Without this call from the alert citizen, the arrest would not have been made,” he said. “Citizens are encouraged to call their local police if they see anything suspicious.”

Colon was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Springfield District Court, but information on the arraignment was not available.


View Roosevelt Ave & S Branch Pkwy in a larger map

Holyoke residents criticize City Council, Planning Board for denying zone change they wanted to reduce traffic

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Neighbors wanted an industrial park use for the site to prevent a retail project that would bring in heavy traffic.

HOLYOKE -- Emil R. Schlegel warned officials at City Hall Tuesday that some wouldn't like what he had to say.

"I've never met a more pompous group in my life," Schlegal, of Homestead Avenue, said of the Planning Board. "They're a bunch of nobodies, they want to be somebody."

Schlegel was among residents disappointed that the City Council voted to accept a Planning Board recommendation that denied a zone change the residents had sought for the former Atlas Copco compressor factory property at Lower Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue.

That means O'Connell Development Group of Holyoke, which owns the 29-acre site, can proceed with a plan to install a retail plaza.

But the plaza won't have a Big Y supermarket as O'Connell had hoped as the >local retailer back out from the project in September.

Schlegel and other residents wanted the property restored to its previous zoning designation, industrial park, believing that will provide less disruptive, non-retail uses than the current general industry zone.

Councilors and Planning Board members who live in the wealthier Ward 7 area show little care for residents in a neighborhood that could have properties facing cinder-block walls of a retail plaza, Schlegel said.

"No one seems to care about the life-long Holyoke residents, only the Ward 5 councilor and some other councilors," said Schlegal, referring to Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon.

Shelly Schlegel of Homestead Avenue told councilors and Planning Board members they should expect some sleepless nights.

"What I would like to do is get everybody's phone number and If I'm awakened in the middle of the night by a Dumpster, I want you to be awake, too, you and the Planning Board," Schlegel said.

Councilors said a factor influencing them to deny the zone change was a Law Department decision. The decision said that since the City Council had approved the site plan for the O'Connell project in 2011, the current zoning designation for the site was frozen through 2015.

Also, Councilor at Large Jennifer Chateauneuf, who owns Nick's Nest restaurant at 1597 Northampton St, said she was moved by the prospect of the property owner in this case opposing the zone change.

"I own commercial property in the city and it makes me very nervous to think someone can come in and say, 'We're going to come in and change the zone of your property,'" Chateauneuf said.

Officials have decided to study possible use for a property on Whiting Farms Road where neighbors also wanted a zone change.

Vacon asked why the same consideration wasn't being given to residents near the Lower Westfield Road-Homestead Avenue site.

"I do see the being responded to in quite a different manner," Vacon said.

Vacon and residents said O'Connell broke promises. O'Connell was less than forthcoming about whether an entrance to the plaza would be built on Homestead Avenue and about the property being divided over the years into two lots, they said.

O'Connell officials and Planning Board members said that was untrue and all issues had been considered fully in public meetings.

Because the property owner opposed the zone change, the threshold in the City Council to grant the zone change was steep -- three-quarters, or 12 members, of the 15-member council. Normally a zone change requires a two-thirds majority, or 10 votes.

The zone-change request failed because it received only eight votes.

O’Connell Vice President Andrew J. Crystal listened to the criticism of the company during the meeting but was glad the night wound up with denial of the zone change request.

"We appreciate the councilors' thoughtful consideration," Crystal said.

Technically, the vote was to accept the report of the City Council Ordinance Committee, which recommended that the council accept a Planning Board recommendation to deny the zone change.

Unusual noises heard from KOMO-TV helicopter before fatal crash in Seattle

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The chopper was taking off from a helipad on KOMO-TV's roof when it went down at a busy downtown intersection and hit three vehicles

SEATTLE -- A news helicopter crashed into a street and burst into flames Tuesday near Seattle's Space Needle, killing two people on board, badly injuring a man in a car and sending plumes of black smoke over the city during the morning commute.

The chopper was taking off from a helipad on KOMO-TV's roof when it went down at a busy downtown intersection and hit three vehicles, starting them on fire and spewing burning fuel down the street.

Kristopher Reynolds, a contractor working nearby, said he saw the helicopter lift about 5 feet off the low-rise building before it started to tilt. The chopper looked like it was trying to correct itself when it took a dive.

"Next thing I know, it went into a ball of flames," Reynolds said.



Witnesses reported hearing unusual noises coming from the helicopter as it took off after refueling, said Dennis Hogenson, deputy regional chief with the National Transportation Safety Board in Seattle. They also said the aircraft rotated before it crashed near the Seattle Center campus, which is home to the Space Needle, restaurants and performing arts centers.

Mayor Ed Murray noted the normally bustling Seattle Center was relatively quiet at the time. Had it been a busier day, "this would have been a much larger tragedy," he said.

Murray added the city will review its policies about permitting helicopter pads in response to the crash.

Investigators were working to document the scene and clear the wreckage, and will examine all possibilities as they determine what caused the crash, Hogenson said. A preliminary analysis is expected in five days, followed by a fuller report with a probable cause in up to a year.

KOMO identified the pilot as Gary Pfitzner, of Issaquah. The other man killed in the crash was Bill Strothman, a former longtime KOMO photographer. Both men were working for Cahokia, Ill.-based Helicopters Inc., the leasing company that operates the Eurocopter AS350 helicopter.

Firefighters who arrived at the scene before 8 a.m. found a "huge black cloud of smoke" and two cars and a pickup truck engulfed in flames, Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore said.

Fuel running down the street also was on fire, and crews worked to stop it before it entered the sewer, Moore said.

An injured man managed to free himself from a burning car and was taken to Harborview Medical Center, Moore said. The man was on fire, and a police officer helped him to the ground and put out the flames, police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.

Richard Newman, 38, suffered burns on his lower back and arm, covering up to 20 percent of his body, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. He was in serious condition in the intensive care unit and likely will require surgery, she said.

Two others who were in cars that were struck by the helicopter were uninjured. One of them, a woman, went to a police station and talked to officers, while a man from the pickup walked to a nearby McDonald's restaurant. Police later located him unhurt.

Only the helicopter's blue tail end could be identified among the wreckage strewn across the street.

Murray said the crash site could be closed for three to five days while officials with the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration probe what happened.

Lewis said it wasn't the regular KOMO helicopter but a temporary replacement for one that is in the shop for an upgrade.

KOMO is a block from the Space Needle and is surrounded by high-rise office and apartment buildings. Workers at the station rushed to the window when they heard the crash. KOMO reporters were then in the position of covering their colleagues' deaths.

One of them, Denise Whitaker, said on the street shortly after the crash: "It is definitely a tragic scene down here. It is a difficult time for all of us this morning."

News anchor Dan Lewis described Strothman as someone "who really knew how his pictures could tell a million words."

"He was just a true gentleman," Lewis said on the air. "We're going to miss you guys. And thanks so much for all that you gave to us."

The Strothman family said in a statement that the former KOMO photographer was a "great man, a kind soul, a devoted husband, a loving father and brother."

The Seattle Monorail, which runs about 50 yards away, was operating Tuesday morning and passed the scene about 15 seconds before the crash happened, said Thomas Ditty, the monorail's general manager.

Other cities have experienced helicopter crashes as TV stations rush to cover the news from above major cities.

Two news helicopters collided in midair in Phoenix in 2007 as the aircraft covered a police chase, sending fiery wreckage plummeting onto a park. Four people in the helicopters were killed.

The crash prompted changes at the stations in how they operated their helicopter crews.


Washington Navy Yard shooting reviews: Pentagon must increase security within such facilities

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By LOLITA C. BALDOR WASHINGTON – Threats to Defense Department personnel and facilities increasingly are coming from trusted insiders, and to defeat them the Pentagon must beef up security from within, according to several reviews triggered by last year’s Washington Navy Yard killings. The reviews say the shooting by a Navy contractor could have been prevented if the company...

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON – Threats to Defense Department personnel and facilities increasingly are coming from trusted insiders, and to defeat them the Pentagon must beef up security from within, according to several reviews triggered by last year’s Washington Navy Yard killings.

The reviews say the shooting by a Navy contractor could have been prevented if the company that employed Aaron Alexis told the Navy about problems it was having with him in the months before he gunned down 12 civilian workers.

An independent study and an internal review ordered after the September 2013 massacre and released Tuesday said the Pentagon must expand its focus beyond defending against external threats. More attention must be paid, they concluded, to defending against threats from inside the workforce.

“For decades, the department has approached security from a perimeter perspective,” said Paul Stockton, former Pentagon assistant secretary for homeland defense and one of the authors of the independent review. “That approach is outmoded, it’s broken, and the department needs to replace it.”

According to the Navy probe, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, The Experts, pulled Alexis’ access to classified material because of concerns he was having mental health problems. It then restored his access two days later and never told the Navy about it. The Associated Press reported those findings late last year.

Alexis, a former Navy reservist, was shot to death during the incident.

The broader department reviews reached similar conclusions. They said the department should cut the number of workers who hold security clearances, conduct better and routinely updated background checks, and establish a system to evaluate and handle employees who are potential threats.

Preventing violence in the workplace must start “long before someone enters an installation with a weapon,” the internal review said.

The Navy investigation’s most damning charges were against Alexis’ employers.

The report written by Navy Adm. John Richardson said Alexis’s behavior raised concerns among his supervisors and others and indicated he may harm others. Had such information been reported to the government and acted upon, it stated, Alexis’ authorization to secure facilities would have been revoked.

Alexis’ company temporarily withdrew his access to classified information after a series of bizarre complaints and police incidents last August during a business trip to Newport, R.I. Alexis complained that people were following him, making noise and using a microwave machine to “send vibrations through the ceiling” in his hotel room.

The report said The Experts’ human resources manager called Alexis’ mother, who said her son “has been paranoid and this was not the first episode he had experienced.”

Alexis was called back to Washington, and The Experts concluded the information on Alexis was based on rumor and innuendo and thus restored his access. His secret-level security clearance from the Navy carried over when he went to work as a computer contractor last summer.

The Experts declined to comment.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday the department will set up an automated program that will continuously pull information from law enforcement and other databases. It will send out alerts if damaging information about a security-cleared worker is discovered.

Hagel said an inside threat management center will analyze the automatic record checks and “help connect the dots.” He said he will consider cutting the number of workers with clearances – currently about 2.5 million – by at least 10 percent.

The Pentagon may also take over background checks for its workers, which are now done by the federal Office of Personnel Management. Hagel said the department will look at the costs. Currently the Pentagon pays OPM about $700 million a year for the investigations.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the reports underscore the need for their legislation, which calls for automated reviews of public databases for information about workers who have security clearances. The bill would require OPM to implement the automated reviews that would search the databases at random times at least twice every five years.

“There is a gaping hole in the current security clearance process that has enabled people who exhibit obvious signs of high-risk behavior to remain undetected,” said Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

While the reviews were ordered as a result of the Navy Yard shootings, they reflect the same worries that surfaced after the massive intelligence leaks by former National Security Agency contract systems analyst Edward Snowden and Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning.

Security clearances are currently reviewed every five or 10 years, depending on the clearance level.

That approach, said Marcel Lettre, principal defense undersecretary for intelligence, “limits our ability to understand the evolution that may occur in a person’s life that may have them evolve from a trusted insider to an ... insider threat.”

The department is looking to phase in a system for continuous evaluations of employees holding clearances, he said.

The benefit of more frequent reviews was proven in a recent pilot program that looked at nearly 3,400 Army service members, civilian workers and contractors. The checks identified 731 people – nearly 22 percent – with previously unreported “derogatory” information. Of those, 99 had what were considered serious problems, including financial issues, domestic abuse, drug abuse or prostitution. The Army revoked the clearances of 55 people and suspended the access of 44 others.

Ludlow selectmen appoint patrolman Fred Balbino as provisional sergeant

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Balbino will supervise the midnight to 8 a.m. shift.

LUDLOW - The Board of Selectmen Tuesday on the recommendation of Acting Police Chief Paul Madera appointed patrolman Fred Balbino to the position of provisional sergeant.

Balbino is an 18-year member of the Police Department. The appointment will take effect March 30.

He said he plans to take the Civil Service exam for sergeant when it becomes available and apply for permanent appointment to the sergeant position.

As a sergeant, Balbino will be transferred to the midnight to 8 a.m. shift where he will supervise some of the newer patrolmen.

Balbino said has had experience leading young men as the head coach of the men’s soccer team at American International College in Springfield.

He said some of the soccer players he has coached have gone on to become members of the Massachusetts state police.

Selectman Brian Mannix, a retired sergeant with the Ludlow Police Department, said he supports Balbino “wholeheartedly” for the position.

He said he was pleased to hear that Balbino plans to take the exam for permanent appointment to a sergeant position.

Madera said Balbino has been very active as a police officer, volunteering to mentor and teach other officers as a field training officer.

Balbino is “an experienced, well balanced police officer,” he said.

Balbino said one of his strengths is that he can act appropriately under pressure in a stressful situation such as an accident or a bank robbery.

“That may be why I’m calm on the soccer field,” he said.

Madera said he “strongly recommends” Balbino for appointment to the sergeant position.

Balbino said that as a sergeant, he hopes to be an advocate for his fellow officers.



6 West Springfield restaurants seek 1 all pouring alcohol license

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6 West Springfield businesses – PHO BQ Vietnamese Cuisine, Pintu's Indian Palace, Bella Napoli, Sorrento Pizza, Memo's Restaurant and Texas Roadhouse – are interested in obtaining 1 new all pouring alcohol license.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The License Commission held a public hearing Tuesday in which six city restaurant owners addressed and answered questions about their qualifications to be awarded a new all pouring alcohol license.

The new license was issued to the city by the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission due to a population increase.

The six businesses interested in obtaining the license are PHO BQ Vietnamese Cuisine, Pintu’s Indian Palace, Bella Napoli, Sorrento Pizza, Memo's Restaurant and Texas Roadhouse.

Dennis P. Powers, chairman of the License Commission, said the factors involved with the commission deciding which applicant is awarded the all pouring license include the number of existing alcohol establishments in the area, traffic considerations, additional noise and the size of the establishment.

Peter Jordan, an attorney representing John Huang of PHO BQ Vietnamese Cuisine, said his client doesn’t hold any type of alcohol license and that his client’s business is set to open May 1 at the former VFW at 764 Riverdale St.

“The area where this is located is right on Route 5, an established commercial area with numerous restaurants and retail establishments,” he said.

Deborah Roberge, attorney for Sarabjit Chawala, owner of Pintu’s Indian Palace, said her client has been operating his restaurant since 2001, first at an Elm Street location and now at 25 Park Ave., without any citations or incidents of any kind.

Additionally, she said Pintu’s has been involved with numerous charities and community investments in West Springfield including its involvement with the public school system, the Rotary Club and the Taste of West Springfield.

“If I am granted the full alcohol beverage license, I would happily surrender that license (a currently owned beer & wine license,) to the town of West Springfield,” said Chawala. “I’m not looking to make any money on that license.”

John F. Gallagher, attorney for Gennaro “Jerry” Moccia, owner of Bella Napoli, said his client is expanding the business from a delivery style pizzeria to a family oriented up-scale Italian restaurant.

He added that his client purchased Curry Printing’s former location on Elm Street and that the business will be consolidating an address at 185 Elm St.
With that purchase, also arose an issue with regards to maintenance of a storm drain and parking lot nearby during the hearing.

“We’re going to redo the whole thing,” said Moccia. “It needs regrading because of the pitch under the storm drain, so, we’re going to regrade and repave the whole thing.”

Statements were expected also from those representing Sorrento Pizza, Memo's Restaurant and the Texas Roadhouse.

Further hearings for the all pouring license are slated to continue Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Justin Morgan Auditorium at Town Hall, with a decision to follow after the commissioners finish their deliberations.



Chicopee City Council confirms appointments to ambulance, golf, license commissions, Council on Aging

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It is the Chicopee City Council's policy to interview new candidates for commissions in subcommittee.

CHICOPEE – The City Council confirmed three appointments to the Ambulance Commission, one to the License Commission, one to the Golf Commission and one to the Council on Aging Tuesday night.

It sent another proposal to appoint Jason Reed to the Ambulance Commission to subcommittee. The City Council's policy is to interview new candidates in subcommittee before making approvals.

At least two councilors said they know Reed, who works at the Chicopee Boys and Girls Club, and said they believe he will be a great addition to the commission.

Mayor Richard J. Kos told the councilors some of the members of the Ambulance Commission may have been appointed or reappointed earlier but City Council confirmation is needed under charter regulations for the different groups and that had not been received.

Councilors praised the candidates and said they appreciate them stepping forward to serve on the different groups without pay. Kos agreed, saying the residents help the city work well.

Domer Ringuette, Katherine Collins-Kalbaugh and Barbara Pininski were reappointed to the Ambulance Commission in 10-0 votes.

The council approved Joseph Martin to the License Commission, Gary Lonczak to the Golf Commission and Claire Gemme to the Council Aging in a 10-0 vote. All three terms end in February 2019.

West Springfield responds to hazardous chemical spill at Bliss Street company

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Officials are on the scene of a hazardous materials spill at Crystal Trucking on Bliss Street in West Springfield.

Update 2, 11:09 p.m. : HazMat personnel in protective chemical suits have walked around the corner to where the spill is. Still no word on what the chemical is.

Update, 10:15 p.m.: The Hazardous Materials Response Team has arrived and is setting up a command center on Bliss in front of the company.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Firefighters are on the scene of a hazardous materials spill inside a tractor trailer at the Crystal Companies warehouse facility at 241 A Bliss St., officials said.

Deputy fire chief Steven Manchino said two workers opened the door to the trailer and saw a spilled chemical and noticed a vapor cloud.

They then closed the door and called the fire department.

Manchino said it is not clear what the chemical is, but the trailer was carrying different potentially hazardous materials including ammonium and different kinds of acid.

The Western Massachusetts Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team has been called to the scene.

big hazmat suit.jpgHazMat worker dons a protective chemical suit in preparation of going to the scene of a chemical spill at a Bliss Street company in West Springfield 

Manchino said the section of the company closest to the trailer has been evacuated.

The company is on the end of Bliss Street that is heavily industrial. There appear to be few residential buildings in the immediate vicinity.

Manchino said there have been no injuries. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene to stand by as a precaution.

Chicopee City Council to consider creating a code of conduct

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The proposal came after two business owners wrote to complain about councilor Adam D. Lamontagne overstepping his authority.

CHICOPEE – The City Council will consider creating a code of conduct for its members after receiving two complaints from business owners who said one councilor has overstepped his authority.

The proposal, brought forward by Councilor Shane D. Brooks, would create a separate set of rules of conduct and ethics that members would be required to follow or face sanctions by the rest of the board. The City Council voted 9-1 to develop the code in its rules subcommittee.

“I hope this concept will enhance the expectation of behavior of all council members,” Brooks said.

He said he knows the Council already adheres to regulations set by the long-accepted Roberts Rules of Order handbook as well as guidelines set by the state ethics commission but believes it would help to have a general code of conduct.

The proposal came after owners of Planet Fitness and Interstate Towing aired complaints about new Councilor Adam D. Lamontagne.

“I write this letter utterly confused as to why we have become the object of someone's derogative attention,” said Jeremy Procon, owner of Interstate Towing, in a letter to Council President George Moreau.

Procon, who explained he has continually supported city causes and is always careful to address concerns of neighbors, said Lamontagne complained about one of his company trucks that was legally parked in front of his business and on another occasion said his sidewalks were not clear enough even though they were shoveled.

Lamontagne agreed he did call Procon twice about minor issues neighbors brought up and said they were quickly addressed by the business. He said he is confused at the tone of the letter.

“He is right. He is not a good neighbor, he is a great neighbor,” Lamontagne said.

He was the sole vote against the proposal to try to create a code of conduct for the City Council, saying the members already follow state ethics regulations.

If the council considers a code of conduct, Lamontagne said he believes it should be followed by all elected and appointed officials in the city.

“I'm concerned about councilors before anyone else,” Brooks responded.

He added several other City Councils including those in Holyoke and Springfield have codes of conduct and they should be reviewed as a guide to creating one in Chicopee.

City Councilor James K. Tillotson said he felt the idea was worth exploring.

“We have our own rules already so I don't see any conflicts with this,” he said.

Search for Malaysia Flight 370 hindered by Thailand withholding radar data

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Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said the Thai military doesn't know whether the plane it detected was Flight 370.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand's military said Tuesday it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but didn't report it "because we did not pay attention to it."

Search crews from 26 countries, including Thailand, are looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished early March 8 with 239 people aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Frustration is growing among relatives of those on the plane at the lack of progress in the search.

Aircraft and ships are scouring two giant arcs of territory amounting to the size of Australia -- half of it in the remote waters of the southern Indian Ocean.

Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, said finding the plane was like trying to locate a few people somewhere between New York and California.

Early in the search, Malaysian officials said they suspected the plane backtracked toward the Strait of Malacca, just west of Malaysia. But it took a week for them to confirm Malaysian military radar data suggesting that route.

Military officials in neighboring Thailand said Tuesday their own radar showed an unidentified plane, possibly Flight 370, flying toward the strait beginning minutes after the Malaysian jet's transponder signal was lost.

Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said the Thai military doesn't know whether the plane it detected was Flight 370.

Thailand's failure to quickly share possible information about the plane may not substantially change what Malaysian officials now know, but it raises questions about the degree to which some countries are sharing their defense data. At a minimum, safety experts said, the radar data could have saved time and effort that was initially spent searching the South China Sea, many miles from the Indian Ocean.

"It's tough to tell, but that is a material fact that I think would have mattered," said John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

"It's just bizarre they didn't come forward before," Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy Leeham Co., said of Thai authorities. "It may be too late to help the search ... but maybe them and the Malaysian military should do joint military exercises in incompetence."

Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:40 a.m. March 8 and its transponder, which allows air traffic controllers to identify and track it, ceased communicating at 1:20 a.m.

Montol said that at 1:28 a.m., Thai military radar "was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane," back toward Kuala Lumpur. The plane later turned right, toward Butterworth, a Malaysian city along the Strait of Malacca. The radar signal was infrequent and did not include data such as the flight number.

When asked why it took so long to release the information, Montol said, "Because we did not pay any attention to it. The Royal Thai Air Force only looks after any threats against our country." He said the plane never entered Thai airspace and that Malaysia's initial request for information in the early days of the search was not specific.

"When they asked again and there was new information and assumptions from (Malaysian) Prime Minister Najib Razak, we took a look at our information again," Montol said. "It didn't take long for us to figure out, although it did take some experts to find out about it."

The search area for the plane initially focused on the South China Sea. Pings that a satellite detected from the plane hours after its communications went down eventually led authorities to concentrate instead on two vast arcs -- one into Central Asia and the other into the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia said over the weekend the loss of communications and change in the aircraft's course were deliberate, whether it was the pilots or others aboard who were responsible.

Malaysian police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, but have yet to say what they have uncovered.

Investigators had pointed to a sequence of events in which two communications systems were disabled in succession -- one of them before a voice from the cockpit gave an all-clear message to ground controllers -- as evidence of a deliberate attempt to fly the plane off-course in a hard-to-detect way. On Monday, they backtracked on the timing of the first switch-off, saying it was possible that both were cut around the same time, leading to new speculation that some kind of sudden mechanical or electrical failure might explain the flight going off-course.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said some sort of problem aboard the plane was not out of the question, although he noted it still was intact enough to send a signal to a satellite several hours later.

As further confirmation that someone was still guiding the plane after it disappeared from civilian radar, airline pilots and aviation safety experts said an onboard computer called the flight management system would have to be deliberately programmed in order to follow the route taken by the plane as described by Malaysian authorities.

"If you are going to fly the airplane to a waypoint that is not a straight ... route to Beijing, and you were going to command the flight management computer and the autopilot system, you really have to know how to fly the airplane," said John Gadzinski, a U.S. Boeing 737 captain.

"If you were a basic flight student and I put you in an airborne 777 and gave you 20 minutes of coaching, I could have you turn the airplane left and right and the auto throttle and the autopilot would make the airplane do what you want," he said. "But to program a waypoint into the flight management computer, if that is what they flew over, is a little bit harder."

Investigators have asked security agencies in countries with passengers on board to carry out background checks.

China said background checks of the 154 Chinese citizens on board turned up no links to terrorism, apparently ruling out the possibility that Uighur Muslim militants who have been blamed for terror attacks within China might have been involved.

"So far there is nothing, no evidence to suggest that they intended to do harm to the plane," said Huang Huikang, China's ambassador to Malaysia.

A Chinese civilian aviation official has said there was no sign of the plane entering the country's airspace on commercial radar.

A group of relatives of Chinese passengers in Beijing said they decided to begin a hunger strike to express their anger over the handling of the investigation.

One relative displayed a sign reading, "Hunger strike protest. Respect life. Return my relative. Don't want become victim of politics, Tell the truth."

The search for the aircraft is among the largest in aviation history.

The U.S. Navy said P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft were methodically sweeping over swaths of ocean, known as "mowing the grass," while using radar to detect any debris in the water and high-resolution cameras to snap images.

Australian and Indonesian planes and ships are searching waters to the south of Indonesia's Sumatra Island all the way down to the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean.

Huang said China had begun searching for the plane in its territory, but gave no details. When asked at a Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing what this search involved, ministry spokesman Hong Lei said only that satellites and radar were being used.

China also was sending ships to the Indian Ocean, where they will search 300,000 square kilometers (186,000 square miles) of sea.

The area being covered by the Australians is even bigger -- 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) -- and will take weeks, said John Young, manager of Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.

"This search will be difficult. The sheer size of the search area poses a huge challenge," Young said. "A needle in a haystack remains a good analogy."

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned his Malaysian counterpart to offer the U.K.'s help in the first direct contact between the two since the flight disappeared, according to Downing Street.

Cameron did not offer specifics on what particular military or civilian assistance could be provided, the prime minister's spokesman, Jean-Christophe Gray, said Tuesday.

"It was very much inviting any specific requests from the Malaysians," Gray said. "Prime Minister Najib said he would think about that and let us know if they have any specific requests."


Jumper rescued from water underneath Springfield's Memorial Bridge

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A man who jumped off the Memorial Bridge and into the Connecticut River Tuesday afternoon was pulled from the water by a Springfield Fire Department rescue boat.


SPRINGFIELD - A man who jumped off the Memorial Bridge and into the Connecticut River Tuesday afternoon was pulled from the water by a Springfield Fire Department rescue boat.

The man, his name was not being released, appeared conscious when he was brought by boat to an AMR ambulance at Springfield's Riverfront Park.

Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said witnesses told officials they watched the man jump from the bridge.

It was reported just after 4:30 p.m.

Two fire department rescue boats were deployed. Leger said the boat from the North Main Street station reached him first and pulled him out of the water. When they reached him, he was clinging to one the stone abutments under the bridge in about three feet of water, Leger said.

It is not clear if he suffered any injuries in the jump. The fall was between 70 and 80 feet, Leger said.

He was being brought to Baystate Medical Center for treatment, Leger said.

Massachusetts catholic bishops call for minimum wage hike; 'an important step toward fairness and justice'

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SPRINGFIELD - The Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts have issued a letter that calls upon the state Legislature to increase the minimum wage in Massachusetts. “It is the belief of the Catholic Bishops that a raise in the minimum wage is an important step toward fairness and justice, and we urge the legislature to address this growing concern this session,”...

SPRINGFIELD - The Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts have issued a letter that calls upon the state Legislature to increase the minimum wage in Massachusetts.

“It is the belief of the Catholic Bishops that a raise in the minimum wage is an important step toward fairness and justice, and we urge the legislature to address this growing concern this session,” the statement reads.

The letter, made available to the press Wednesday afternoon, is authored by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, and bishops Timothy A. McDonnell of the Diocese of Springfield, George W. Coleman of the Fall River diocese, and Robert J. McManus of the Worcester diocese.

The state's bishops are making their position known at a time when the state Legislature is considering raising the state’s minimum wage from the current $8.

The state Senate last fall approved a bill to raise the minimum in stages to $11 per hour by 2016, which would make it the highest in the country. Increases after that would be tied to increases to the consumer price index for the Northeast.

In the last week, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said he supports a House measure that would raise the minimum wage in stages to where it would be at $10.50 per hour by 2016.

Gov. Deval Patrick has also called for increasing the minimum wage as well. At his State of the Commonwealth address in January, the Governor said “To those who are reluctant to raise the minimum wage, I ask only that, before you resolve to oppose it, consider whether you can live on it.”

Voters in Amherst on Wednesday night are scheduled to vote on a special town meeting article that seeks to raise the minimum wage for Amherst to $15 per hour.

The bishops does not express support either the House or Senate plan or even give a number figure for what they feel the new minimum should be. Their letter notes that the bishops do not claim to be economists, and it will be up to others to determine how to raise the wage in a way that does not harm small business-owners.

The letter does, however, link the matter of minimum wage laws with the larger question of social justice and the dignity of the workforce.

“Insufficient compensation for labor violates the dignity of the worker and that worker’s family,” the letter states. “A just wage supports the individual, families, and society as a whole.”

The letter notes the state’s unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, which is higher than the national average, and that the minimum wage has not risen since 2008. It also notes that a full-time employee making $8 an hour will have a gross income of $16,640.

“This is hardly enough to pay for basic necessities such as food and rent, let alone support a family,” the letter reads.

It notes that the catholic church is one of the state’s largest social service providers, and its ministries witness daily the struggles of the working poor who need assistance to pay their for their rent, utilities, food and transportation.

“Low-wage workers are often trapped in the desperate cycle of poverty,” the statement reads. “Any economic policy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be informed by the inherent dignity of every capable man and woman working for the betterment of their own livelihood and that of their family and society.”

Roman Catholic Bishops Statement on Minimum Wage uploaded by Patrick Johnson

Voters in Ludlow go to the polls on Monday

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Rooney has been a selectman for six years.

LUDLOW - Voters go to the polls on Monday to elect a selectman and decide whether they favor adoption of a 1 percent Community Preservation Act tax on residents’ annual tax bills.

In the selectman’s race, incumbent Selectman William Rooney is being challenged by Mark Imbody, a political newcomer.

Rooney, 57, who has held office for six years, said he has taken the job very seriously. “Of 150 selectmen meetings, I have missed just five,” he said.

williamrooney.JPGWilliam Rooney 
Rooney has served on the School Committee, the Finance Committee, the Celebrate Ludlow Committee and has been a director of the Ludlow CARES Coalition.

Imbody, 41, a supervisor at the Chicopee warehouse of Plastipak Packaging of East Longmeadow, said he was a business owner for more than 10 years and wants to be a champion for small business in Ludlow.

“I moved here in 2007, and I’m running for selectman,” Imbody, who is seeking elective office for the first time, said. “I hope to make a positive impact on the community.”

Imbody said some of the business locations on East Street are empty. If he is elected, he would be a champion for bringing small business back to Ludlow, Imbody said.

markimbody.JPGMark Imbody 
Rooney, a lawyer, said his legal background helps in serving on the board.

Rooney said the town has kept a competitive tax rate, compared to neighboring communities, while providing many services including public safety, education, trash removal and snow plowing as well as senior services.

Voting on Monday is from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the town’s five precinct polling places.

Also in Monday’s election, voters will be asked whether they favor adoption of a 1 percent Community Preservation Act tax on residents’ annual tax bills.

In 2001 voters in town voted down implementing a Community Preservation Act tax.

The tax would allow the creation of a pool of funds which could be used for open space preservation, rehabilitation of athletic fields and playgrounds and renovation of community housing and historical preservation.

Rooney said he opposed implementing the tax in 2001, and he believes he made a mistake.

“Our youth soccer fields are shameful,” Rooney said, “because the town budget has been tight.”

He said adoption of the tax would allow the town to take care of its athletic fields which it has not been able to do.

According to the proposed legislation, seniors who qualify as low or moderate income would be exempted from the tax as would low income residents and the first $100,000 of everyone’s property value.

Raymond Phoenix, chairman of the Community Preservation Act Committee and of the town Planning Board, said the average homeowner would pay $19 more per year if the Community Preservation Act tax is passed.

If the tax is passed, the town would collect approximately $170,000 per year in Community Preservation Act taxes.

The state provides a 40 percent match for the funds collected.

“We have lost millions of dollars in state funds which have gone to other communities,” Phoenix said.

Voters in Precinct 1 vote at Chapin Street Elementary School; voters in Precinct 2 vote at Christ the King Social Center on Warsaw Avenue; voters in Precinct 3 vote at Ludlow High School on Chapin Street; voters in Precinct 4 vote at East Street School; voters in Precinct 5 vote at First Church on Center Street and voters in Precinct 6 vote at Veterans’ Park Elementary School on Chapin Street.




Gov. Patrick adopts bond bill to improve Westover, Barnes, other military bases

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This is the first bond bill in the state's history that will allow money to be spent to enhance federal military bases.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick has signed a first-ever bond bill that will allow the commonwealth to borrow up to $177 million to make improvements to six military installations in the state, including Barnes Air Reserve Base in Westfield and Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.

The bill comes from the recommendations of the Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force which was formed through the governor’s office to fight proposals for widespread budget cuts that includes cutting the number of jets at Westover Air Reserve base from the existing 16 to eight by 2016.

It is the first time in history where the state, and possibly any state, has passed a bond bill that will specifically enhance federally-owned military property, said State Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee.

“The issue of BRAC comes up regularly and we are hopeful with strategic investments the commonwealth may benefit in future considerations,” he said.

There is already a proposal to spend about $12 million of the funds, with $9 million going to continue a multi-phase project to improve the runway infrastructure at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, $2.9 million to upgrade energy and communications at Hanscom Air Force Base and $100,000 to relocate the National Guard’s Military Museum to Concord, according to a written statement from Patrick.

Most of the money in the bill has not been reserved for any purpose and can be used for upgrades at any of the six bases. At least initially the focus will be on supporting energy-efficiency improvements and identifying new missions that the bases can adopt, Wagner said.

The bond bill was a proposal of former Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and the task force, which visited and studied issues at each base and developed strategies to protect them after the Department of Defense announced widespread budget cuts at bases across the country last year, Wagner said.

“The idea is we might consider funding to demonstrate our commitment to our facilities,” he said. “We realize the economic impact military installations have across the state.”

Or as State Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield put it: “We are trying to make our military installations as BRAC-proof as possible.”

Humason, whose district includes Barnes and Westover, said the bill passed the House and Senate with overwhelming support.

“We want to show we are already cost-effective, energy-efficient, easily maintained and they do their missions really well so why mess with that,” Humason said. “We wanted to send a strong signal that we care about the men and women who work there and we want the bases to be the best they be.”

About 46,500 people work at the bases or in jobs related directly to the military and the six have an estimated $14.2 billion economic impact on the state.

An amendment added to the bill by Wagner will also allow money to be spend for civilian purposes in a case where bases are shared by the military and civilian entities. The idea is to promote the partnership especially when improving the civilian part can enhance the military.

The proposal came up specifically because Westover Metropolitan Airport shares the runway and air traffic control services with Westover Air Reserve Base and there are some ideas that may help make the civilian airport more viable and therefore pay more fees to the military, said Allan W. Blair, president of the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation which owns the airport.

The bill leaves spending proposals flexible. While there are some things that have been discussed there are no firm proposals yet, Blair said.

Ideas include so-called soft spending on market studies to determine how to expand the civilian airport. It could also recondition some buildings on the civilian airport to make it more attractive for companies who want to come in to do aircraft maintenance, he said.

“If we could increase civilian activity we could relieve some cost of runway maintenance for the military,” he said.

Mayor Richard J. Kos, who has joined in the effort to try to prevent the proposed cuts at Westover commended the local legislators with creating and adopting the bill.

“The demonstrated commitment to strengthen Westover and other bases will serve us well as we continue to work to keep Westover open and withstand the base closure reviews,” he said.

Is Holyoke placing surveillance cameras along St. Patrick's Parade route?

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Camera footage helped police find the 2 men who planted bombs at last year's Boston Marathon finish line.

HOLYOKE — Installations that appear to be surveillance cameras took place Wednesday on utility poles along the route that the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade will march Sunday.

Police Chief James M. Neiswanger declined to confirm whether the installations were surveillance cameras intended to maintain security or whether they were temporary or their cost.

"We want everyone to have a good time this weekend and enjoy the road race (on Saturday) and parade with their families and friends. HPD is doing more than we have ever done as far as security. I hope you can appreciate that I cannot discuss our security protocols," Neiswanger said in an email.

A photographer for The Republican and MassLive.com saw work crews and what looked like multiple cameras on poles on Northampton and Beech streets, Resnic Boulevard and downtown streets.

The parade draws hundreds of thousands of onlookers in addition to thousands of marchers. Organizers say it is the nation's second-largest after the one in New York City.

The parade will begin Sunday morning at the Kmart plaza at Whiting Farms Road and Northampton Street and proceed down Northampton Street, turn right onto Beech Street, turn right onto Appleton Street and left on High Street.

Footage from cameras was instrumental in identifying the two men responsible for last year's bombing at the Boston Marathon. Two pressure cooker bombs were placed near the marathon finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 260.


Wilbraham Town Clerk Beverly Litchfield reminds residents to license their dogs

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Dog licenses will be available during the April 5 rabies clinic.

beverlylitchfield.JPGWilbraham Town Clerk Beverly Litchfield 

WILBRAHAM - Town Clerk Beverly J. Litchfield reminds residents who have not licensed their dogs for the current year that the previous year’s license expired on Dec. 31.

Dog licenses for 2014 will be available during the Rabies Clinic to be held April 5 at the Department of Public Works building on Boston Road. Clinic hours are from 11 a.m. to noon. For more information call 596-2800, extension 200.

Man who admited murdering woman, raping her daughter, sentenced to 30 years for child pornography

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SYRACUSE - A New York man who cut off his ankle monitor before killing a woman and raping her 10-year-old daughter was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for possessing more than 11,000 images and 1,100 videos of child pornography. U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said 30-year-old David Renz will begin the 30-year sentence after completion of whatever sentence...

SYRACUSE - A New York man who cut off his ankle monitor before killing a woman and raping her 10-year-old daughter was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for possessing more than 11,000 images and 1,100 videos of child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said 30-year-old David Renz will begin the 30-year sentence after completion of whatever sentence he receives for his guilty plea in state court for the murder and rape. U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue went beyond the 19 to 24 years recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.

Sentencing on the state charges is scheduled for May, but it has been postponed several times while the U.S. Department of Justice decides whether to charge Renz on a federal carjacking statute that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.

Renz, of the Syracuse suburb of Cicero, had been fitted with an ankle monitor while awaiting trial on the child pornography charges but cut it off before abducting the mother and daughter at gunpoint from a mall parking lot last March. He has pleaded guilty to those charges but has the option of withdrawing the pleas if a federal death penalty charge is added. The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sex crimes and has not identified the woman to protect the identity of girl.

Renz didn’t speak when given the chance before sentencing on Wednesday.

Assistant Public Defender Randi Bianco asked Mordue to stay within the federal sentencing guidelines, saying Renz has endured a lifetime of pain, bullying and isolation because of a severe facial deformity.

Renz was born with a congenital condition that reduced the size of his jawbone and lower face, and underwent numerous surgical procedures from birth to age 25. One side of his face is partially paralyzed, pulling his mouth to one side.

Hazardous materials spill in West Springfield turns out to be leaking container of pool chemicals

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A 5-gallon container of Super Shock Pool Clearer spilled and the contents formed a vapor cloud in the trailer.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 9:54 p.m. Tuesday.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - The spilled chemical discovered Tuesday night in a trailer on Bliss Street, leading to a hazardous materials emergency that lasted into Wednesday morning, has been found to be a solution of 12.5 percent sodium hypochlorite, a shock treatment chemical used in backyard swimming pools, a fire official said.

Deputy Chief Steven Manchino said firefighters and members of the Western Massachusetts regional hazardous materials team were at the scene at Chrystal Companies warehouse facility at 241 Bliss St. for more than 5 ½ hours until the scene was considered safe.

West Springfield firefighters were called to the scene just before 9 p.m. The regional hazmat team was called in a short time later, and the scene was not cleared until 2:30 a.m., he said.

The chemical, packaged in five-gallon jugs of Super Shock Pool Cleaner, was stacked in pallets inside the truck. It is a fast-acting chemical used to clear the water and kill algae. One of the bottles had apparently had a loose cap which the chemical was allowed to spill during transport, he said.

The trailer was also carrying amounts of ammonium hydroxide, sulfuric acid and other chemicals that did not spill, he said.

Sodium hypochlorite can be a volatile chemical, and when it mixed with humidity inside the truck, it created a vapor cloud inside the trailer, Manchino said.

Two workers who opened the rear door on the trailer noticed the cloud immediately closed the doors and alerted authorities, Manchino said.

This turned out to be a good move because it prevented the vapor from being released into the company. It also prevented the two workers from being exposed and possibly being overcome, he said.

There were no injuries.

Manchino said the chemical in a vapor form can affect the eyes and throat. The standard turnout gear worn by West Springfield firefighters was not enough to prevent exposure, he said.

The HazMat team was called in as a precaution because firefighters were not certain what the spilled chemical was initially.

The HazMat team set up a command post and decontamination station in the parking area on Bliss Street. Portions of the street were blocked off.

It took members of the HazMat team wearing protective chemical response suits six trips inside the trailer before the spill was contained

The section of the warehouse where the spill was located was evacuated but other parts of the facility remained open.

The state Department of Environmental Protection was called in afterward to investigate, he said.


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