Highway patrol said it is looking for 26-year-old Robert Corchado.

WINTER PARK, Fla. -- A car smashed into an Orlando-area day care Wednesday, injuring 15 people, at least 12 of them children, and officers have found the SUV that started the chain-reaction crash then left the scene, officials said.

Several of the injured at the KinderCare building in Winter Park were reported to be in "very, very serious condition," said highway patrol spokeswoman Wanda Diaz. The injured include 13 people taken to hospitals and two treated at the scene, according to Orange County Fire Rescue.

Diaz said the car had gone out of control after it was struck by a Dodge Durango, jumped a curb and smashed into the day care, breaking through the wall and into the building. That driver was not hurt.

Anyone with information is urged to call the patrol at 407-737-2300 or 911.

"Please keep a lookout and let us know if you see anything," said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said.

Jacobs called the crash an "absolute tragedy and disaster."

Local television footage showed small children and infants in cribs taken outside on the day care's playground and several of the injured were carried out on stretchers.

The highway patrol reported that the injured were taken to five different hospitals.

A woman who answered the phone at KinderCare said she didn't have time to talk.

Late Wednesday afternoon parents could be seen waiting to pick up their children, and then clutching them in their arms as they were escorted to their vehicles by authorities.

The day care's website says the center provides childcare and learning opportunities for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old and has been in the community for over 25 years.

At least five students were critically wounded, including a boy whose liver was pierced by a knife thrust that narrowly missed his heart and aorta, doctors said.

MURRYSVILLE, Pa. -- Flailing away with two kitchen knives, a 16-year-old boy with a "blank expression" stabbed and slashed 21 students and a security guard in the crowded halls of his suburban Pittsburgh high school Wednesday before an assistant principal tackled him.

At least five students were critically wounded, including a boy whose liver was pierced by a knife thrust that narrowly missed his heart and aorta, doctors said.

The rampage -- which came after decades in which U.S. schools geared much of their emergency planning toward mass shootings, not stabbings -- set off a screaming stampede, left blood on the floor and walls, and brought teachers rushing to help the victims.

Police shed little light on the motive.

The suspect, Alex Hribal, was taken into custody and treated for a minor hand wound, then was brought into court in shackles and a hospital gown and charged with four counts of attempted homicide and 21 counts of aggravated assault. Authorities said he would be prosecuted as an adult.

The attack unfolded in the morning just minutes before the start of classes at 1,200-student Franklin Regional High School, in an upper-middle-class area 15 miles east of Pittsburgh. It was over in about five minutes, during which the boy ran wildly down about 200 feet of hallway, slashing away with knives about 8 to 10 inches long, police said.

Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the boy tackle and stab a freshman. He said he going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face, opening a wound that required 11 stitches.

"It was really fast. It felt like he hit me with a wet rag because I felt the blood splash on my face. It spurted up on my forehead," he said.

The attacker "had the same expression on his face that he has every day, which was the freakiest part," Moore said. "He wasn't saying anything. He didn't have any anger on his face. It was just a blank expression."

Assistant Principal Sam King finally tackled the boy and disarmed him, and a Murrysville police officer who is regularly assigned to the school handcuffed him, police said.

Doctors said they expect all the victims to survive, despite deep abdominal puncture wounds in some cases.

King's son told The Associated Press that his father was treated at a hospital, though authorities have said he did not suffer any knife wounds.

"He says he's OK. He's a tough cookie and sometimes hides things, but I believe he's OK," Zack King said. He added: "I'm proud of him."

"There are a number of heroes in this day. Many of them are students," Gov. Tom Corbett said in a visit to the stricken town. "Students who stayed with their friends and didn't leave their friends."

He also commended cafeteria workers, teachers and teacher's aides who put themselves at risk to help during the attack.

The FBI joined the investigation and went to the boy's house, where authorities said they planned to confiscate and search his computer.

While several bloody stabbing rampages at schools in China have made headlines in the past few years, schools in the U.S. have concentrated their emergency preparations on shooting rampages.

Nevertheless, there have been at least two major stabbing attacks at U.S. schools over the past year, one at a community college in Texas last April that wounded at least 14 people, and another, also in Texas, that killed a 17-year-old student and injured three others at a high school in September.

On Wednesday, Mia Meixner, 16, said the rampage touched off a "stampede of kids" yelling, "Run! Get out of here! Someone has a knife!"

The boy had a "blank look," she said. "He was just kind of looking like he always does, not smiling, not scowling or frowning."

Meixner and Moore called the attacker a shy boy who largely kept to himself, but they said he was not an outcast and they had no reason to think he might be violent.

"He was never mean to anyone, and I never saw people be mean to him," Meixner said. "I never saw him with a particular group of friends."

Michael Float, 18, said he had just gotten to school when he saw "blood all over the floor" and smeared on the wall near the main entrance. Then he saw a wounded student.

"He had his shirt pulled up and he was screaming, 'Help! Help!'" Float said. "He had a stab wound right at the top right of his stomach, blood pouring down."

Float said he saw a teacher applying pressure to the wound of another student.

The security guard was wounded after intervening early in the melee, police said. He was treated and released.

About five minutes elapsed between the time the campus police officer summoned help over the radio at 7:13 a.m. and the boy was disarmed, the police chief said.

Someone, possibly a student, pulled a fire alarm during the attack, Seefeld said. Although that created chaos, the police chief said, it emptied out the school more quickly, and "that was a good thing that that was done."

Also, a girl with "an amazing amount of composure" applied pressure to a schoolmate's wounds and probably kept the victim from bleeding to death, said Dr. Mark Rubino at Forbes Regional Medical Center.

Public safety and school officials said an emergency plan worked as well as could be expected. The district conducted an emergency exercise three months ago and a full-scale drill about a year ago.

"We haven't lost a life, and I think that's what we have to keep in mind," said county public safety spokesman Dan Stevens.

Removal of three Diocese properties was seen as a compromise by some, but not enough by others.

HOLYOKE -- The board studying whether to establish a district to honor Polish heritage voted Wednesday to remove Mater Dolorosa School, a former convent and the Pope John Paul II Social Center from the proposal's list of properties.

Members of the Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District Commission said the removals made sense given that those properties lacked the historical significance of others in the proposed historic district.

Board member Olivia Mausel also said omitting three of the four properties that had been earmarked for the district and are owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield -- Mater Dolorosa Church is the fourth -- was a compromise. That was based on concerns raised at a crowded public hearing held March 20 on the proposal, she said.

"We heard what people were saying at the public hearing," Mausel said.

"Our decisions are based on cultural and historical significance," she said.

But opponents of especially the church being part of the proposed Polish Heritage Historic District said the board's removal of the three other properties fell short because it means the church would remain under historic-district restrictions.

"That is a good start, however the financial burden of the church would remain a burden on the whole parish. That is a fact," Diocese spokesman Mark E. Dupont said after the meeting.

The district would be on the southern part of Lyman Street encompassing 25 (28 before the commission's vote Wednesday) residential and commercial properties that supporters say comprise one of Holyoke's last remaining Polish neighborhoods.

Joining the Diocese in opposing inclusion of its property in a historic district have been some parishioners of the new parish formed in June 2011. That's when the Diocese closed Mater Dolorosa Church, merging that parish with the former Holy Cross Church to form a new parish, Our Lady of the Cross. That parish has Masses and other services at the former Holy Cross Church at 23 Sycamore St.

But many former parishioners of Mater Dolorosa want the protection that a historic district would give the 113-year-old church at Maple and Lyman streets. Some of them mounted a round-the-clock vigil in refusing to leave the church for a year after the Diocese closed it.

They feared then, and said they continue to fear, the Diocese's plan ultimately is to demolish the church or sell it to a developer who would be free to raze the structure built and paid for by Polish immigrants in 1901.

Diocese officials have said they have no plans to demolish the church.

The board voted 4-0 to exclude the three Diocese-owned properties from the proposed historic district. Voting were board Cochairman Matthew Chenier and members Beth Strycharz, Wendy Weiss and Mausel, who also is chairwoman of the city Historical Commission.

Mater Dolorosa School, built in 1959, and the former convent now used as offices, built in 1953, are on Maple Street. The social center on St. Kolbe Drive was built in 1982.

More than 30 people attended the meeting at City Hall Annex. It began late because a quorum -- the minimum number of members needed for an official meeting -- wasn't reached until 40 minutes after the scheduled 6:30 p.m. start time. A quorum for the seven-member board was four members.

Chenier noted the board consists of volunteers. It is studying the Polish historic district not on its own but based on an order given in 2011 by former Mayor Elaine A. Pluta, he said.

A "tremendous amount" of volunteer time has gone into studying the Polish historic district, Strycharz said.

"This wasn't 'fly by night,'" she said.

The Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District Commission is doing the study because that is the board Pluta requested for the project and because the board has experience in such matters, board members said. The street that bears the commission's name in the Highlands Neighborhood to the north was designated historic in 2010.

The board also voted 4-0 to have the proposed Polish historic district follow the same renovation guidellines as those established for the Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District.

Chenier said "misinformation" has some people believing that owners of properties designated as part of a historic district would face dictator-like restrictions on requests to do renovations and costly requirements to abide by historic-pertinent materials used.

That's untrue, he said.

"We're not going to tell people they can't paint their buildings," Chenier said.

In fact, Diocese officials and some Our Lady of the Cross parishioners have cited such concerns in opposing inclusion of the church in such a district.

Eventually, the board's final report will go to the City Council in the form of a proposed ordinance to establish the Polish Heritage Historic District. If the council approves, the measure would go to Mayor Alex B. Morse, whose signature is required to make an ordinance effective.

There will be races for selectman, Housing Authority and two library trustee seats in the May 17 town election.

 

WILBRAHAM – A selectman’s race will draw voters to the polls in the May 17 town election.

Four candidates will be on the ballot for selectman – independent candidate Susan Bunnell, chairman of the town’s Finance Committee, independent William Caruana, chairman of the town’s Broadband Committee, independent Stephen Bacon and Mary McCarthy, endorsed by the Republican Town Committee.

The Democratic Town Committee held its caucus Wednesday night, but endorsed no candidates for selectman.

The Democratic Town Committee Wednesday night endorsed Gloria Russell for library trustee. The Republican Town Committee endorsed two candidates for library trustee – Linda Moriarty and William Dane.

The top two votegetters will be elected to the library trustee positions in the town elections.

The Democratic Town Committee also endorsed Jason Burkins for Wilbraham Housing Authority. He will be running against Republican endorsed candidate Michael Dane in the town election.

For Cemetery Commission the Democratic Town Committee endorsed Wilfred Renaud. There will be no race for Cemetery Commissioner on the May 17 ballot. Republican Paul Zimakus will be running for a second seat on the Cemetery Commission.

There will be no race for Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee on the May 17 ballot. There are two candidates running for two seats, Republican endorsed incumbents Peter Salerno and D. John McCarthy.

HOLYOKE &#8212 Registration is now open for the fourth annual HCC Cougar Crawl 5K Run/Walk Challenge on May 4. The race begins at 10 a.m. with registration from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Bartley Athletic and Recreation Center at Holyoke Community College, 303 Homestead Ave., according to a release from the college. The 5K run/walk is for all...

HOLYOKE — Registration is now open for the fourth annual HCC Cougar Crawl 5K Run/Walk Challenge on May 4.

The race begins at 10 a.m. with registration from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Bartley Athletic and Recreation Center at Holyoke Community College, 303 Homestead Ave., according to a release from the college.

The 5K run/walk is for all levels of runners. The 3.1-mile course is run completely on the tree-lined campus. Families, individuals, teams and school groups are encouraged to participate.

Registration is $25 until May 2, and $30 on race day. There is no fee for children 11 years old and younger.

Registrations are being taken online at www.hcc.edu/crawl. Free T-shirts will be given to everyone who registers by April 30. Prizes will be awarded. A post-race barbecue is included in the registration fee.

Proceeds from this year’s race will benefit the HCC Building Healthy Communities fund. The campaign aims to raise money to support two building projects: The renovation of the former Grynn & Barrett photography studio on Jarvis Avenue in Holyoke for the school’s new Center for Health Education and the renovation and upgrade of the first floor of the school’s Marieb Building for the Center for Life Sciences.

For more information about the race, contact Kim Gifford at (413) 552-2308 or send an email to cougarcrawl@hcc.edu

The shot man was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

HOLYOKE – A man was shot at Chestnut and Appleton streets near the McDonald's restaurant at about 9 p.m. Wednesday and police said they are investigating.

"It doesn't look life-threatening," Sgt. Philip J. McKay Jr. said.

The man was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, he said.

Police had no other details such as the man's name and age and what prompted the shooting, to release, he said.

This is a developing story and details will be added as reporting continues.

A videotape of the fight will be a crucial piece of evidence in the case, according to Ali and Springfield lawyer Mickey Harris, who also spoke to the class.

WESTFIELD - Students at Westfield State University are planning to picket West Springfield High School to protest what three sisters called a pattern of anti-Islamic bullying by students and inaction by school officials.

The sisters - Najma, Hibo and Filsan Hussein, all of West Springfield - gave their account of verbal and physical abuse to a class at Westfield State taught by associate professor Kamal Ali, who is also vice president of the Islamic Society of Western Mass.

Following the session, more than 30 students signed up to stage a protest at the high school in the next few weeks, Ali said. “It’s a question of the day and time; we know the place,” the professor said.

West Springfield Superintendent of Schools Russell Johnston said in an interview earlier he could not comment on specific cases, but said the school system has strict anti-bullying policies and multiple programs designed to prevent, investigate and resolve bullying complaints.

“We take every allegation of bullying very seriously and we absolutely investigate and take appropriate action,” he said.

Two of the Hussein sisters are seniors at West Springfield High School and a third, Filsan, transferred to a private school last year following a fight in school cafeteria.

Born in Kenya to a family of Somalia immigrants, the sisters arrived in Baltimore in 2000 before moving to Holyoke and finally West Springfield in 2004.

As young children, they knew nothing about the 9/11 attacks by Islamic terrorists, the United States war in Iraq and Afghanistan or Islam’s broader global struggles, they said.

“We are not related to Saddam Hussein,” Filsan Hussein told the class.

“We didn’t even know what one (a Saddam Hussein) was,” she added.

Still, by choosing to wear traditional Muslim headscarves to school, the girls might as well have been radical Muslims in the eyes of many students, they said.

“We were called terrorists, suicide bombers, towel-heads” and other insults, said Najma Hussein, adding the sisters also suffered routine physical abuse, from being pushed, tripped and punched to having their headscarves pulled off.

School officials were aware of the bullying, and made periodic, if ineffectual, attempts to end it, the girls said.

“Their attitude was if the (headscarves) are the problem, then don’t wear them,” Najma Hussein said.

The hostility culminated in a fight in the school cafeteria between Filsan Hussein and another girl in March 2012 that led to assault charges being filed against Hussein in Springfield District Court.

The assault charge was eventually dropped, but related public disruption charges against the other two sisters are still pending, Ali said.

A videotape of the fight will be a crucial piece of evidence in the case, according to Ali and Springfield lawyer Mickey Harris, who also spoke to the class.

Harris said the girls treatment at West Springfield High School raises larger legal issues.

West Springfield High School Principal Michael J. Richard also attended the class. When several students questioned his presence, he said he wanted to hear the girls' stories as well as suggestions on how their problems could be resolved.

Dobelle, once a celebrated scholastic ambassador who lifted the school from a college to a university, resigned in November after a public firestorm over questionable travel and use of university credit cards

SPRINGFIELD — A federal magistrate judge is allowing a lawsuit filed by embattled former Westfield State University president Evan Dobelle, who accused several parties of contract interference and defamation, to continue against a state official and three school trustees.

In a decision filed in U.S. District Court, the judge released a Boston law firm and a group of auditors from the lawsuit.

Dobelle, once a celebrated scholastic ambassador who lifted the school from a college to a university, resigned in November after a public firestorm over questionable travel and use of university credit cards. Dobelle argued trips to Thailand, China and domestically and stays at expensive hotels were for the school's greater good, but his arguments ultimately soured with university and state officials.

After Dobelle resigned, he sued trustees John "Jack" Flynn III; Kevin R. Queenin; Elizabeth Scheibel; Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland; Boston lawyers Rubin & Rudman and James Cox, who worked for the university; and Braintree-based auditing firm O'Connor & Drew.

Dobelle accused them of conspiring to insure his ouster in various ways including holding secret meetings; conducting unnecessary investigations and railroading Dobelle in the press through "leaks."

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Neiman released the lawyers and auditors from the federal case, while the "State Defefendants," Flynn, Queenin, Scheibel and Freeland, will remain to answer three counts: tortious interference of contract; violation of free speech; and civil conspiracy.

This is a developing story; more information will be made available.

Dobelle v. Flynn et al Memorandum and Order Regarding Defendants' Motions to Dismiss

The group of clergy, organized by Massachusetts Faith Voices, are also asking lawmakers to increase the wages of tipped workers to at least 50 percent of the hourly minimum wage.

By Mike Deehan, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON — Massachusetts faith leaders are urging legislative negotiators to raise the $8 an hour minimum wage and index it to inflation.

Clergy members visited the State House Thursday to meet with legislative staff, carrying a message to Senate President Therese Murray to remain firm in support of indexing the wage and telling House Speaker Robert DeLeo to adopt the measure that would enable the wage floor to rise with inflation.

“It’s a moral issue for us. We believe it’s a right of dignity for all workers and we believe there are members of our congregations who are behind this bill - and a complete bill and a just bill that includes indexing as well as justice for workers who are on tipped wages,” Rev. Ian Holland of the First Church of Swampscott, Congregational told the News Service.

Rev. Jane Soyster Gould, the pastor at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Lynn, said $11 an hour wouldn’t be a living wage, but would make a significant difference to around 500,000 of the state’s lowest-earning workers.

“Poor people, when they get paid more, they spend it. They don’t save it, they don’t have that luxury. I serve a poor and immigrant congregation on the Lynn Common. Folks in my community aren’t making it,” Gould said.

The group of clergy, organized by Massachusetts Faith Voices, are also asking lawmakers to increase the wages of tipped workers to at least 50 percent of the hourly minimum wage.

The House passed a bill last week raising the minimum hourly wage from $8 to $10.50 by July 1, 2016. The Senate passed its wage hike bill in November, setting an $11 wage floor, indexing it to inflation and raising the tipped employees minimum wage to $5.50. The House bill call for a tipped wage of $3.75.

A letter signed by 344 members of the group, all clergy, was delivered to DeLeo on Thursday. In the letter, the clergy told DeLeo that no one who works should be poor.

“Each week, we witness how poverty cripples the lives of our community members,” the letter reads.

The advocates had a meeting scheduled with Murray’s chief of staff Jerome Smith, but were having trouble finding time with DeLeo’s aides, they said. They met with House chief of staff James Eisenberg in January, but a followup meeting didn’t came to pass until the group of priests, rabbis and ministers of several faiths came into the Speaker’s office Thursday afternoon. A meeting was granted soon after which clergy members described as gracious and hospitable.

“We just walked in with a bunch of clergy and that was power. And when we did that, now we have a meeting in a half an hour and that's just the beginning of the power we can have when we come together,” Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin told supporters after DeLeo’s office said Eisenberg would meet with them.

Massachusetts Attorney General candidates Maura Healey and Warren Tolman, both Democrats, touted their leadership capabilities—in the Attorney General’s office and on Beacon Hill, respectively—during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School.

Massachusetts Attorney General candidates Maura Healey and Warren Tolman, both Democrats, touted their leadership capabilities—in the Attorney General’s office and on Beacon Hill, respectively—during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School.

Candidates for Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey and Warren Tolman.THE REPUBLICAN FILE 

Healey said she would fight for reproductive health care for women, continue combating predatory lending practices and for-profit schools, provide greater mental health and substance abuse services in the state, and work on reforming gun sale laws.

Tolman said that as Attorney General he would implement smart gun-fingerprint technology to cut down on unnecessary firearms violence, despite the National Rifle Association’s giving him an “F-rating.

“I wasn’t afraid of big tobacco. I’m not afraid of the NRA,” said Tolman, a former state senator and state representative who was an attorney at the law firm of Holland and Knight. He said that, if elected, he would call a collegiate summit to address on-campus sexual assaults and work to take down an “opiate scourge” in the Commonwealth. Tolman said that standing up for what he believes in and working hard solidified his reputation in the public and private sectors, especially with taking on the tobacco industry, domestic violence initiatives and campaign finance reform.

Said Healey, who served in the Attorney General’s office for seven years, ultimately heading its Civil Rights division and Public Protection & Advocacy and Business & Labor bureaus: “I understand the important core issues that the attorney general wrestles with day in and day out, and I understand the important exercise of those responsibilities.”

The two are vying for the Democratic nomination in the race for attorney general. Winchester resident John Miller, a lawyer, is running for attorney general as a Republican but did not attend the forum. The office is now held by Martha Coakley, who is running for governor and will not seek re-election.

The discussion featured questions from a panel that included three former assistant Attorneys General—Alice Moore, counsel to the Massachusetts State Senate, and Suffolk Law Professors Dwight Golann and Rosanna Cavallaro.

The candidates were asked how they would handle the Attorney General’s dual role as chief litigator for the commonwealth and policy-influencer.

Healey said that she always would be “guided by the fact that that office, at the end of the day, is there to make sure the most vulnerable among us have protections, that they have someone who is going to be their advocate.”

Tolman said he would be held accountable for any decisions but would not defend a state agency if the situation in question were “morally repugnant.”

Given the scenario of a 15-percent budget increase, Tolman said he would work to enhance the consumer protection component of the Public Protection Bureau and “better advertise” that the service is available to state residents. He would hire recent college graduates to work as “complaint mediators” to address any resulting increase in workloads.

Tolman said he also would establish a disability division, separate from the Civil Rights Division.

Healey said that, as head of the Civil Rights division, she made it the responsibility of every lawyer and staff member in the division to understand, handle and prosecute disability rights cases. Under her leadership, there were a record number of fair-housing cases on behalf of people with disabilities and accomplishments in terms of better technology for the disabled, she said.

Healey would use increased budgetary resources to provide the best technology possible for the Attorney General’s office, “amplify” work related to human trafficking and increase language capabilities within the office to better assist the public.

Healey said an important prerogative as attorney general would be to maintain regular communication with district attorneys, especially if crime takes place across county lines.

Tolman said he supports working with and collaborating with the district attorneys, but that the state also must focus on criminal justice reform, particularly as it pertains to mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent and drug offenses.

“I know how to get things done on Beacon Hill. I know how to be a leader,” he said. “A lot of these DA’s are looking for a leader to lead them.”

Tolman said private entities must do a better job safeguarding online financial and medical records to cut down on rampant data breaches. He said he would hold corporate entities responsible for data breaches.

Healey would ensure people’s privacy rights by bringing legal action against companies that overlook the importance of protecting personal data.

“Where companies fail to have those [privacy] measures in place, when they don’t take it seriously enough, we will bring action, and I will bring action as attorney general, because increasingly our lives are lived online,” she said. “Our medical information is there; our financial information is there; all of our personal information is there; and we need to make sure that information is protected.”

Asked how they would deal with requests from legislators for jobs or interview opportunities for constituents, both candidates stressed there were would be no patronage in their administrations. Healey said she would continue to be a resource to those in government who want to work with the AG’s office. Tolman added he would adhere to the highest standard of ethics when working with members of the Legislature.

“You’re the people’s advocate; you’re the people’s attorney; you’re the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Tolman. “You have to adhere to the highest standards. That’s what my life’s been about.”

Tolman said that he would try to maintain an “open-door policy” when working with members of the private sector or business community by following the principles of “listen, learn, advocate.”

Healey said she is a big believer in closing income inequality gaps and closing economic gaps by ensuring that businesses are promoting a growing and healthy economy and following rules outlined by the attorney general’s office.

“I am the person who has the experience and the resolve, the independence and the vision to be able to build on some of our past successes and move this office forward,” Healey said.

The attorneys for the State Street nightclub needed more time to prepare their defense.

SPRINGFIELD – The city License Commission on Thursday voted to table a hearing on Aquarius Nightclub for two weeks.

The commission was scheduled to meet with management of the State Street club to discuss allegations of improper security arrangements prior to a March fight that resulted in a bouncer being stabbed.

Attorney Stephen Riley, representing the commission, notified members the attorney representing Aquarius requested additional time to prepare its defense.

Riley said the Aquarius attorney needs more time to review recordings of telephone calls from the club at around the time of the 2 a.m. disturbance on March 23.

The commission voted 5-0 to reschedule the hearing until April 24.

Aquarius is under scrutiny from the board for violation of a number of procedures leading up to and during the May 23 disturbance. Among them are failure to comply with its security plan, insufficient number of security personnel on duty, and failure to call police to report the disturbance.

The club management is also being called before the commission for another incident on March 9 where it is also charged the club management failed to comply with its security plan and to notify police.

In other business, Paul Ramish, the owner of LUX, a club at 82 Worthington St., also voluntarily suspended his license to operate pending approval by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Commission of his sale of his business to Sherwood Jarrett.

The commission voted 5-0 to agree to the conditional surrender.

Lux was the scene of a shootout early Sunday where four people were injured.

HOLYOKE &#8212 River Valley Counseling Center, Inc. will be hosting its third Annual Run for River Valley-5K/1 Mile Walk on June 7 at the Ashley Reservoir. Proceeds will support the programs provided to individuals and families in surrounding communities facing crisis and life challenges, according to a press release from the center. River Valley Counseling Center, Inc. was established in...

HOLYOKE — River Valley Counseling Center, Inc. will be hosting its third Annual Run for River Valley-5K/1 Mile Walk on June 7 at the Ashley Reservoir.

Proceeds will support the programs provided to individuals and families in surrounding communities facing crisis and life challenges, according to a press release from the center.

River Valley Counseling Center, Inc. was established in 1953, became affiliated with Holyoke Medical Center in 1986 and is a member of Valley Health Systems, Inc. It is a multifaceted human service agency dedicated to the needs of people living in the Holyoke, Chicopee and Greater Springfield communities.

The agency incorporates licensed health and mental health clinics, an extensive array of social services, and employee assistance programs.

Deadline for on-line registration is midnight June 4. Deadline for mail-in registration is 11 p.m. May 30. Print the entry form or register online at www.rvcc-inc.org or www.accu-specracing.com

For more information, call (413) 540.1254.

The bill['s middle-skills funding would go to IT and advanced manufacturing programs including training in Western Massachusetts.

This story updates an Associated Press dispatch Governor Deval Patrick to unveil $100 million economic development plan here.

SPRINGFIELD - A $100-million four-year economic development program unveiled Thursday by Gov. Deval Patrick could have a profound impact on Western Massachusetts, Patrick's secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki.

"Certainly one of the the themes of the bill is extending economic opportunity to every resident of the state," Bialecki said in an interview Thursday afternoon, after the news conference but a few hours before the bill was filed.

The money will come from a mixture of state capital funding and from the state general fund.

Bialecki pointed too the bill's promise to spend $20 million on "middle skills" worker training over . The phrase "middle skills" refers to vocational training beyond a high school diploma but not a four-year college degree. in Western Massachusetts, that type of training means precision manufacturing and computer-controlled machining. The state will also look at information technology, commonly called IT.

The state is focusing on those program for several reasons, Bialecki said. For one, there are several successful programs up and running now, including a few in Western Massachusetts.

The other reason is demand by employers.

"We know there are employers who tell us they are in constant need of more talent in those two areas, advanced manufacturing and IT," he said. "At this point most of our Massachusetts manufacturers are what we call advance manufacturers. There are no more places where the entry-level job is pushing a broom around the shop. You have to be good with computers. you have to know a lot of math and science to be productive."

When asked about the proposal by CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles to build a rail car manufacturing facility in Springfield, Bialecki referenced the need for worker training.

Changchun is bidding to supply cars to teh MBTA Red and Orange lines, a job that could result in 300 jobs over 10 target=_blankrs, then use the MBTA work as a springboard into the US market. The company, one of several competitors for the MBTA job, has an option to buy the former Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard in East Springfield.

Bialecki said he's positive on the project, but wishes to respect the MBTA bidding process.

"People are getting very serious and very practical and looking at specific sites. A lot of sites are in Western Massachusetts and that is great," he said. "It is a great opportunity for us to highlight why we are spending the time and energy we are on workforce training and manufacturing. It is not an industry that is going out of fashion. We need to have a pipeline of young people to go into manufacturing and this is the reason. For a lot of these manufacturers, their first question is going to be 'Say I did open a plant that is going to need 300 or 400 workers. Convince me that you are going to be able to supply those folks fast'."

Bialecki said the other provisions of the bill target development in the state's Gateway Cities, older industrial centers like Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield and Pittsfield.

Programs would include increased funding for Brownfield projects, or the conversion of unused industrial sites to new uses. Also, there would be increased incentives to create market-rate hosing in city centers.

Patrick also announced the creation of a Global Entrepreneur in Residence Program, according to a news release.

The program will allow qualified, highly skilled, international students currently in Massachusetts to stay here after graduation with an H1-B Visa if they are starting or growing a business.

On Friday, Baker will present his plan to Framingham Police Chief Ken Ferguson and Mary Gianakis, program director of Voices Against Violence.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker is taking his plan to increase penalties for domestic violence convictions while providing more services to victims to the people who deal directly with the issue.

On Friday, Baker will present his plan to Framingham Police Chief Ken Ferguson and Mary Gianakis, program director of Voices Against Violence.

“I care deeply about the families torn apart by violence and believe our plan will put abusers behind bars and families in healthier situations,” Baker said in March as he released his plan to tackle domestic violence in Massachusetts. “The current resources available and laws on the books are clearly not doing enough to address the complicated problem of domestic violence.

"As Governor, I will work day and night to implement these proposals to deliver the support victims need and stiffen penalties to make sure abusers don’t get the chance to hurt anyone a second time.”

Baker is the Republican Party's candidate for governor along with lieutenant governor hopeful Karyn Polito, a former state representative.

"I am proud of my work as a state representative, passing Jessica’s Law to increase penalties for those who hurt children, but the work of protecting families is never done," Polito said in March. "This comprehensive plan to stop domestic violence and protect victims is desperately needed now."

For more on Baker's plan, read this report by Garrett Quinn of MassLive.com.

MassDOT has announced a pothole and winter recovery program.

East Longmeadow - Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - A crew from the East Longmeadow Department of Public Works fills pot holes on Elm St. Monday morning. From left: Darrell Keane, Brett Hawley and Luke Coulis. Michael S. Gordon/ The Republican File 

EAST LONGMEADOW — After a harsh winter cities and towns are now looking to repair roads that have been destroyed due to snow and ice.

In East Longmeadow the Department of Public Works is waiting to hear from the state about the application process for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's pothole and winter repair funds.

"We should be eligible for about $87,273. This is configured utilizing last year's Chapter 90 formula," said Sean Kelley, Senior Project Manager for the East Longmeadow Department of Public Works.

Michael Wrabel, the director of Public Works in Longmeadow, said the town should see about $70,000 in funds, also based on last year's Chapter 90 formula.

MassDOT Secretary Richard A. Davey has said that the program will provide cities and towns with $30 million in funding this spring to repair potholes and other damage to roads, sign, facilities and equipment caused by the harsh winter weather. The remaining $10 million will be used by the state Highway Division for similar repairs to state roads.

According to MassDOT, the one-time program is funded through anticipated surpluses in the state's fiscal 2014 capital spending plan, caused by "the delay in the passage of the transportation bond bill."

Many of the helpful features envisioned when the state set out to build the Rolls-Royce of health insurance exchanges may have to be set aside for now, according to the Patrick administration

By MATT MURPHY

BOSTON — Many of the helpful features envisioned when the state set out to build the Rolls-Royce of health insurance exchanges may have to be set aside for now, according to the Patrick administration, which is tempering expectations in advance of the scheduled relaunch of its exchange site this fall.

Sarah Iselin, the special adviser Gov. Deval Patrick put in charge of fixing the exchange website, told the Health Connector Board on Thursday that she and her team would be ready in early May to present their plan to develop a fully functioning enrollment site before the start of the next open enrollment period in November.

The options include rebuilding the existing site, which continues to be bogged down by technical problems, or trying to leverage pieces of technology deployed in other states that have worked well.

“It has become abundantly clear that we are not going to have everything we want for the fall,” said Iselin, describing a future plan that will focus on minimizing the risk of failure a second time by developing a site that can efficiently accomplish the main objectives of allowing people to apply and shop for health insurance online.

Some of the consumer-friendly functions that may have to be put on hold until 2015 include the ability to pay premiums through the website after a plan has been selected, or the option of updating one’s policy to reflect life changes such as marriage or a birth.

Connector officials also offered enrollment updates to the board following the end of the open enrollment period for plans under the Affordable Care Act on March 31.

Iselin said she will present the plan to the board at a May 8 meeting, along with contingencies that under a worst case scenario would require the Connector to make actual public policy changes to accommodate the capacity of the website to process consumers.

Once the plan is fully developed, Iselin said she would go back to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to request a second three-month extension until Sept. 30 that would allow current subsidized health coverage subscribers in Commonwealth Care to keep their plans until they can be transitioned to ACA-compliant plans.

“We need to convince them that we are on a no-risk path for the next open enrollment period,” Iselin said.

Iselin, hired by Patrick to spearhead the turnaround effort on the Connector’s website, also touched briefly on the fact that she likely won’t be around to see all of her plans come to fruition. Iselin, who took an unpaid leave of absence from Blue Cross Blue Shield to take on this project for the governor, said she anticipates returning to her job in late May or early June.

“I’m working very closely with the governor’s office around really mapping out a transition plan that includes not only replacing me but having a single point of accountability for this project,” Iselin said. The state’s Chief Information Officer Bill Oates is expected to take on an expanded role, and Iselin said she hopes there will be a period of overlap between her and her successor.

Key to any long-term plan for developing a fully-functional website will be having a system in place that can automatically process applications and make eligibility determinations that assign applicants to correct coverage areas, including MassHealth, subsidized options or unsubsidized insurance. The failure of that component in the website built by the state’s former IT vendor CGI required Connector officials to develop manual ways of processing applications that is time-consuming and labor intensive.

Optum, the technology consultant brought on board to help with the fix, has begun testing the work they’ve completed to revamp the eligibility determination system and will continue the testing phase through late June when officials hope to begin transitioning people to their final health plans.

Though some applicants for health insurance through the Connector will be given until April 15 to complete the process if they encountered web trouble, the open enrollment period for most residents ended on March 31.

Connector officials reported that through April 8 the number of people enrolled in MassHealth, or Medicaid, had grown by 192,432 members to 1.6 million statewide under the expanded eligibility rules of the ACA. Conversely, enrollment in Commonwealth Care fell by 115,099 to 101,766. Another 159,111 individuals have been placed into temporary MassHealth coverage while they await determinations and placements in ACA-compliant health plans.

“The goal of all of us is to try to find every person in the Commonwealth and find them coverage and these numbers continue, notwithstanding the problems we’ve had, to show it’s very likely the numbers of insured have gone up,” board member Nancy Turnbull said.

While those enrolled in MassHealth are there to stay, there have been only another 769 individuals who have been able to successfully enroll in subsidized ACA plans, and another 34,040 people have subscribed through the Connector for unsubsidized individual or small group business plans compliant with ACA standards.

Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor, who chairs the Connector board, said it was worth noting that about 20,000 subscribers for unsubsidized coverage were able to successfully navigate the website to find coverage.

Josh Archambault, director of health care policy at the Pioneer Institute, said the administration “appears to be suffering from delusions of success.”

“It is like celebrating the patching of most of the leaks on your boat, but still not having a working motor, any gas, or a functional steering wheel. No matter how you look at it, you still will not even think about leaving the dock,” Archambault said.

All 260,877 people in Commonwealth Care and transitional coverage will have to be transitioned before the end of September, assuming the state gets another extension.

Scott Brown formally announced his U.S. Senate campaign Thursday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he lived as a baby before moving to Massachusetts.

By HOLLY RAMER

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Announcing his campaign to return to Washington by way of New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown tweaked the state's "Live Free or Die" motto Thursday to bash both President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen's support for it.

"It forces us to make a choice: Live free or log on," Brown told supporters gathered in a hotel ballroom. "Guess what? In New Hampshire, we choose freedom."

Brown, whose formal campaign announcement comes four months after he moved to New Hampshire, faces several other Republican primary opponents hoping to defeat Shaheen in November. And while recent polls give Shaheen the lead, Brown's strong name recognition and national fundraising network makes him a serious contender, and his candidacy helps the GOP's push to claim the Senate majority.

"As bad as Jeanne Shaheen's record is, we're actually here for an even more important reason," former Gov. John H. Sununu said in introducing Brown. "We're here because we can count to 51. ... Fifty-one Republican senators, that's what it's all about in 2014."

Both Sununu and Brown cast Shaheen as a rubber stamp for the president's agenda, and Brown promised he would be an independent voice who would "get America off the road of big government."

He zeroed in on Shaheen's support for the health care overhaul law, though he did not repeat a claim he made earlier this week about a survey showing "insurance premiums are going up 90 percent in New Hampshire because of Obamacare." Similar language was included in an earlier draft of his speech, as well, but Brown didn't mention it Thursday, after news reports pointed out only a single New Hampshire broker was surveyed.

Brown instead argued that Shaheen was the "deciding vote" to pass the health overhaul law — a label Republicans can apply to any Democrat because the bill passed with the exact number of votes necessary to avoid a GOP filibuster. And he warned that the worst is yet to come, particularly for business owners.

"There's another wave coming, and it's going to be a big wave folks," he said. "Let me be the one to stop it for you."

Brown, who won a special election in Massachusetts in 2010 before losing his seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren two years later, made his New Hampshire announcement in Portsmouth, where he lived as a baby and where he frequently visited his grandparents while growing up.

"Our campaign for the U.S. Senate begins not far from where my life began," he said.

In response to Democrats who have called him a carpetbagger, Brown has pointed out that Shaheen was born in Missouri. But Shaheen has lived in New Hampshire for more than 40 years, and served in the state Senate and three terms as governor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008.

A WMUR Granite State Poll released Thursday showed Shaheen slightly ahead of Brown among all likely voters. Brown led among residents who have moved from Massachusetts, Shaheen led among those who moved from other states, and they were about even among lifelong New Hampshire residents.

Brown faces three GOP primary challengers: former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, former state Sen. Jim Rubens and conservative activist Karen Testerman.

"If Scott Brown gets through the Republican primary, this election will be a choice between someone who cares only about himself and the big corporate interests that fund his campaign and someone who works every day to make a difference for New Hampshire families. New Hampshire voters know Jeanne Shaheen shares their values," Shaheen campaign manager Mike Vlacich said.

Police seized cocaine, marijuana $3,790 in cash and a 2004 Cadillac that was used to transport drugs around town, police said.

SPRINGFIELD - A North End woman and her two sons were arrested Wednesday and charged with drug trafficking after a police raid on their home yielded cocaine and marijuana, police said.

Arrested were Sonia Escalera, 43, and her two sons, Jose Rivera, 26, and Luis Rivera, 24.

All three were arrested at their apartment at 14 Brightwood St., 1st floor, which is located in the city’s Brightwood neighborhood, said Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet.

Each was charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card.

The raid by detectives with the Springfield Police Narcotics Bureau, led by Sgt. Philip Tarpey, was the conclusion to a month-long investigation by Detective Richard Soto, Delaney said.

Detectives determined the trio was distributing drugs around the city from their apartment, he said.

The raid was executed after police obtained a search warrant from Springfield District Court.

Delaney said police found a large amount of cocaine and marijuana packaged for sale, some drug paraphernalia and ammunition, but no gun.

Police also seized $3,790 in cash as well as the 2004 Cadillac that was used to deliver drugs, Delaney said.

They were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Springfield District Court, but information on their arraignment was not available.

The Route 5 / Interstate 91 north on-ramp from Longhill Street will be closed beginning Friday evening while the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission repairs a leaking valve on a water main located under the ramp.

SPRINGFIELD — The Route 5 / Interstate 91 north on-ramp from Longhill Street will be closed beginning Friday evening while the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission repairs a leaking valve on a water main located under the ramp.

The work will begin at approximately 7 p.m. on Friday and is expected to be complete by noon on Saturday, according to a news release from the Water and Sewer Commission.

I-91 south will still be accessible from Longhill Street, and traffic exiting off of I-91 onto Longhill will not be affected. Drivers seeking I-91 north access will be detoured to the I-91 access ramp on East Columbus Avenue.

Message boards will be placed on Sumner Avenue and Longhill Street notifying drivers of the upcoming work and detour. Traffic will be managed with posted detour signs and police details.

Call the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission at 413-787-6206 with questions about the closure.

The candidates were asked what was the most difficult thing they had to go through to get to where they are.

HOLYOKE — The four candidates for Hampden District Attorney covered just about every issue the audience expected – crime, addiction, guns, gangs, working with the community – in their first forum Thursday at Morgan School.

The debate was sponsored by the Latino Democratic Caucus, along with the Chicopee Democratic Committee, and attended by more than 100 people.

The candidates were asked what was the most difficult thing they had to go through to get to where they are.

When it got to candidate Shawn Allyn, he said the most difficult thing "was recognizing I am a gay man." He said he has had a lot of support, including from his ex-wife.

"I know what it's like to be different," he said. Allyn, asked after the forum if this was the first public statement he has made about being gay, said it was.

He said voters deserve to know who the candidates really are.

Candidate Hal Etkin said what was most difficult for him was losing his parents when he was 14 years old.

"I grew up in the North End (of Springfield), which was a poor neighborhood. I saw a lot of my friends make bad choices," Etkin said. He said he owed it to his parents "to work hard, keep out of trouble and make something out of my life."

Candidate Brett Vottero said, "I've lived a fortunate life, I don't have a personal tragedy or difficulty."

He said he has experienced tragedy, and it feels personal, through the cases he has prosecuted.

"They leave an impact. There's nowhere I can drive in this county without seeing scenes I remember," he said.

Candidate Anthony Gulluni what influenced him most was the tragedy of 9/11. He said it was then he knew he wanted to dedicate his life to public service.

The first question of the forum was one each candidate answered in the same way.

They were asked who they believed their strongest opponent was in the race. Each answered they didn't feel they had a strong opponent, and went on to say why they would make the best district attorney.