The school “appeared to be prostituting its principals,” said Walsh, adding he regained confidence in Westfield State’s leadership following Dobelle’s resignation in November.

WESTFIELD – In a challenge to ex-Westfield State University President Evan S. Dobelle, the CEO of a Medford-based skin care company has pledged $100,000 in scholarships if Dobelle drops his two lawsuits against the school.

“If he has the best interests of the students at heart, he’ll take me up on this,” said John Walsh, a Westfield State graduate and owner of Elizabeth Grady Company.

Speaking at a board of trustees meeting Thursday night, Walsh said he wanted to start a scholarship fund last year, but lost confidence in Dobelle's leadership amid two state investigations into his spending on trips, hotels, restaurants, limousines and other items.

Equally disturbing, Walsh said, was the reluctance by the majority of board members to rein in Dobelle’s spending, or even publicly question it.

The school “appeared to be prostituting its principals,” said Walsh, adding he regained confidence in Westfield State’s leadership following Dobelle’s resignation in November.

Walsh promised to establish a $100,000 scholarship for needy students if Dobelle drops the two lawsuits he filed against the school since October, when the trustees placed him on paid leave and hired a law firm to investigate his spending. Dobelle in his suit said actions of some of the trustees forced him to resign.

The legal fees alone “are bleeding the school,” Walsh said.

"I hope to hear from him soon," Walsh said.

Dobelle’s lawyer, Ross H. Garber of Hartford, dismissed Walsh’s offer.

“This matter will be resolved through our legal system, not by silly PR stunts,” Garber said in an telephone interview after the meeting.

Citing a federal judge’s ruling Wednesday denying defense motions to dismiss one of the lawsuits filed by his client, Garber added, “We look forward to an impartial evaluation of the facts.”

At Thursday's meeting, board president John F. Flynn thanked Walsh for the offer, and said the board appreciated his vote of confidence.

School spokesperson Molly Watson also welcomed the $100,000 offer.

“Mr. Walsh made it clear tonight he is “100% confident” in the new administration and the direction in which the university is now proceeding,” she said.

In October, Dobelle filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming state Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland and three school trustees were conspiring to force him from his $240,000-a-year post.

After resigning in November, the ex-president sued the university in state court, claiming school officials violated his contract and were responsible for his legal costs.

Not counting the two lawsuits, Westfield State has spent $1.2 million since September for legal representation in two state investigations into Dobelle’s spending.

No charges have been filed against Dobelle, who said his domestic and international trips were designed to promote the university and attract students from other countries and cultures.

He acknowledged improperly billing personal expenses to university credit cards, but said the school was always reimbursed.

Elizabeth Preston, the school’s dean of academic affairs, is serving as interim president until a permanent replacement is found.

The search for a new president is expected to begin in the next few months.

Clinton ducked, and she did not appear to be hit by the object. She then joked about it. "Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did."

LAS VEGAS — A woman was taken into federal custody Thursday after throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton as the former Secretary of State began a Las Vegas convention keynote speech.

The incident happened moments after Clinton took the stage before an Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting at the Mandalay Bay resort.

Clinton ducked, and she did not appear to be hit by the object. She then joked about it.

"Is that somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?" Clinton quipped.

Many in the audience of more than 1,000 people in a large ballroom laughed and applauded as Clinton resumed her speech.

"My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial," Clinton said. "Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did."

Brian Spellacy, U.S. Secret Service supervisory special agent in Las Vegas, said the woman was being questioned and would face criminal charges. Spellacy declined to identify the woman, and he said it wasn't immediately clear what the charges would be.

A black and orange shoe was recovered from the stage, Spellacy said.

View full sizeAP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, David Becker 

Rosen said the woman had walked down the aisle to within six rows of the front of the seating area, threw the items, turned around, put her hands in the air and walked toward the back of the room. Security officers quickly caught up with her.

In the hotel hallway, the middle-aged blonde woman sat calmly on a sofa, wearing a blue dress and thong sandals. She said she threw a shoe and dropped some papers, but didn't identify herself to reporters or explain the action. Security officials then ushered reporters and photographers away.

Spellacy and Mark Carpenter, spokesman for the recycling institute, said the woman wasn't a credentialed convention member and wasn't supposed to have been in the ballroom.

After her speech, Clinton answered questions posed by Jerry Simms, the outgoing chairman of the organization. Simms first offered what he called a "deepest apology for that crude interruption."

Clinton answered questions broadly, saying she felt politics today leads people to "do what they think will be rewarded."

An attendee later handed a reporter a piece of paper that was apparently thrown by the woman. It appeared to be a copy of a Department of Defense document labeled confidential and dated August 1967; it referred to an operation "Cynthia" in Bolivia.

The incident reminded some of former President George W. Bush dodging two shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist during a news conference in Baghdad in December 2008. Shoe-throwing is considered an insult in Arab cultures.

Clinton, the former first lady and Democratic senator from New York, has been traveling the country giving paid speeches to industry organizations and appearing before key Democratic Party constituents.

During a speech in San Francisco on Tuesday, Clinton said she was seriously considering a presidential bid and all it would entail.

A facility would be allowed in an industrial district.

LUDLOW – Following a public hearing, the Planning Board Thursday night approved a proposed amendment to the zoning bylaws permitting a medical marijuana treatment center/dispensary in the town.

The Planning Board voted 5 to 0 to recommend the bylaw amendment for approval by voters at the May 12 annual town meeting.

The town had approved a moratorium on medical marijuana facilities which will expire on May 14. Town Planner Douglas Stefancik said the purpose of the moratorium was to give the community time to develop a regulation permitting the facilities.

According to the proposed amendment to the zoning bylaws, a medical marijuana treatment center/dispensary would be allowed in Ludlow following site plan approval and a special permit from the Planning Board. A facility would be allowed in Industrial A and Industrial C districts.

Police Chief Paul Madera, who helped design Ludlow’s proposed bylaw, said at the hearing that marijuana remains a federally regulated narcotic.

The dispensary would be for patients with a doctor’s prescription and would not need to be located in a commercial area on a main street in town, Madera said.

He said a high level of security would be required at the facility.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has awarded 20 licenses to medical marijuana dispensaries, including two in Western Massachusetts – in Holyoke and Northampton. The state was allowed to issue up to 35 medical marijuana licenses across the state in the first year. Each county must have at least one dispensary, but not more than five.

Planning Board member Raymond Phoenix said, “Ludlow has nice industrial areas.” He said a medical marijuana dispensary “does not need to be on Main Street.”

Madera said hours of operation for such a facility could be determined when a special permit is issued by the Planning Board.

The security codes and fire safety for such a facility also would be determined when a special permit is approved, Madera said.

Hood said the passion of the 1960s has faded from the days when protesters and activists marched on Washington to call attention to the injustice of racial segregation in the South. "Institutions could not ignore the power of that number," he said.

This updates a story published earlier Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD — The scourge of complacency is the greatest threat to American civil rights in the 21st century, according to a panel of civil rights leaders who spoke Thursday afternoon at the 8th annual Fair Housing and Civil Rights Conference held at the Springfield Marriott

During a two-hour discussion members of a panel including comedian Dick Gregory, Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, Dr. Rodney Hood, a member the “Medicare Health Disparities Study Panel and University of Massachusetts," and Amicar Shabazz, an Afro-American studies professor at the university, urged the 500-plus in attendance to shake off that complacency and make their voices heard in the continuing fight against discrimination.

As a reminder that racism and prejudice persists, Shabazz cited the racist graffiti recently aimed at Carolyn Gardner, a black math teacher at Amherst High School. Supporters rallied on the Amherst Town Council on Tuesday in support of Gardner, who took a two week-absence following four separate incidents of racist graffiti found inside the school.

Hood said the passion of the 1960s has faded from the days when protesters and activists marched on Washington to call attention to the injustice of racial segregation in the South. "Institutions could not ignore the power of that number," he said.

"If you can get a third of the population of America engaged in a cause, then you've got something, you've got a movement," Hood said.

That energy was evident with the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president. But Ogletree and Shabazz, said that the momentum leading up to the the 2008 election has faded and that a new sense of purpose is needed to realize the changes Obama promised.

While Obama received 98 percent of the African-American vote in 2008, Ogletree said support for the president's agenda was missing in the mid-term elections in 2012 and the result has emboldened the tea party. He urged conference attendees get out and vote in the 2014 mid-term election.

Ending housing discrimination is the next battlefield, Ogletree said. Until that happens, urban schools will remain segregated and other inequities will continue. The professor and author also directed some of his comments to a group of Forest Park Middle School students urging them to stay in school and to fix what this generation has yet to accomplish in the civil rights movement.

The conference, sponsored by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and HAP Housing concludes Friday morning and features U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz as the featured speaker.

Schneider is unopposed for the seat.

Philip Schneider 

HAMPDEN – Philip Schneider of 143 Raymond Drive has announced that he is running as the Republican candidate for a five-year seat on the Planning Board in the May 5 town election.

Schneider is unopposed for the seat.

In a statement, Schneider said he intends to bring a new and strong voice to the Planning Board.

He said he intends to insure that all laws and bylaws that he is elected to uphold will be followed to the letter of their intent and that any variance to those laws and bylaws that he is elected to uphold is requested through the process, as the law requires.

Schneider was recently the spokesman for a group of residents called the Hampden Country Club Buffer Committee which complained that the Hampden Country Club which is renovating the golf course ignored a 1973 bylaw which requires a 100-foot landscaped buffer between the golf course and abutters’ homes.

The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals subsequently overturned a decision by the Planning Board which had approved a site plan for the redesigned Hampden Country Club.

Schneider said that as a result of the ruling by the ZBA, the residents “regained faith in the process.”

The ZBA said the Hampden Country Club has to abide by a 1973 town bylaw requiring a 100-foot buffer between residential homes and the golf course.

“The process worked,” Schneider said.

Schneider grew up in Hampden, attending schools in Hampden and Minnechaug Regional High School. He graduated from Cathedral High School in 1965.

He served for six years in the Marine Corps. He recently retired after nearly 50 years in the supermarket industry, most recently as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Big Y Foods.

In the past he served as an appointed member of the Hampden School Committee and has been involved with Cub Scouts, softball coaching and Little League.

Schneider is currently a member of the Hampden Police Department Headquarters Replacement Planning Committee.

He and his wife, Carole, have lived in Hampden for 40 years. They have two children who graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School and five grandchildren.

In 1990 Avery Dennison built the Chicopee plant at a cost of $14 million. Avery Dennison had 350 workers at the new Chicopee plant when it opened.

CHICOPEE - The new owners of Avery Dennison's label business are proceeding with plans to close the plant in Westover Airpark North as economic developers plan to begin marketing the space to a new occupant.

In a letter to employes, Avery Dennison said it laid off 124 union and nonunion workers Jan. 31
and that the remaining employees will be out of work by June 27. the plant makes binders and labels.

The plant had a total employment of about 200 in 2012 when Avery Dennison Corp.planned to sell its office products division to industrial giant 3M. That deal was abandoned after the U.S. Justice department threatened to sue over concerns about competitiveness.

Instead , Avery Dennison sold the business to CCL Industries Inc. , a Canadian company in the specialty label and packaging business in Jan. 2013 for $500 million.

CCL has said it plans to move production form Chicopee to Meridian, Mississippi and Tijuana, Mexico.

The business began in as National Blank Book Co., Blank Book being a reference to business ledgers, in New York City in 1843. It moved to Holyoke in 1881 and grew to employ 2,000 workers on Water Street. In the 1980s it became Dennison National and later Avery Dennison.

In 1990 Avery Dennison built the Chicopee plant at a cost of $14 million. Avery Dennison had 350 workers at the new Chicopee plant when it opened.

It's been a tough period for remnants of the region's once-prominent paper industry. Cenveo announced it was closing the former National Envelope/ old Colony Envelope in Westfield at the cost of 200 jobs. The Former Texon mill in Russell will be auctioned April 17.

Hazen Paper in Holyoke, Southworth Paper in Turners Falls, Onyx Speciality Paper in Lee and Dalton's Crane & Co. are still in the industry.

Allan W. Blair is retiring as president and CEO of the Western Mass Economic Development Council said the Avery Dennison building is marketable. There are few 300,000-square-foot industrial buildings.

"It represents an opportunity for the region tho attract a an employer who needs a structure of that size," he said. "You never want to see jobs and business leave. That is for sure. Hopefully, as the economy recovers, these employees will be able to find other opportunities. But it will be a net loss for the region."

Youth applications will soon be available at the Northampton Career Center and Community Action Youth Programs, as well as Northampton HS and Smith Vocational. Interested parties may also call Community Action Youth Programs at (413)774-7028 Ext. 218.

NORTHAMPTON - With the help of the Franklin Hampshire Regional Employment Board and Career Centers, and Community Action Youth Programs, the Mayor of Northampton will once again host Northampton YouthWorks, a summer jobs program for eligible Northampton young people, ages 14 to 21.

Governor Deval Patrick dedicated $9 million in this year’s budget to support such city-sponsored programs across the Commonwealth, which must be matched 20 percent by contributions from the private sector to support youth employment.

The Northampton YouthWorks Program will put 29 Northampton youth age 14-21 to work in private or public sector employment during the summer months, in jobs six to eight weeks in length. The program will pay for youth wages and for staff time to develop placements and counsel youth, including provision of 15 hours of workshops on Employment Readiness, Safety, and Career Exploration.

Eligible youth must be Northampton residents and low-income. They will earn $8 an hour.

Youth applications will soon be available at the Northampton Career Center and Community Action Youth Programs, as well as Northampton HS and Smith Vocational. Interested parties may also call Community Action Youth Programs at (413)774-7028 Ext. 218.

City workers and private contractors are busy prepping Boylston Street for the 2014 Boston Marathon.

BOSTON — City workers and private contractors are busy prepping Boylston Street for the 2014 Boston Marathon.

Scaffolding supporting the temporary bleachers and walkway across the finish line are already up.

Fire hydrants are receiving a new coat of paint before the April 21 race.

City and race officials will announce a series of new rules for marathon spectators this weekend.

Defense lawyer Donald Frank is seeking to have statement by several jailhouse informants - who say David Chalue admitted his guilt to them - tossed out.

SPRINGFIELD - Berkshire triple murder defendant David Chalue testified at a hearing Friday he never made arrangements to have fellow inmate Jeffrey Cashman look at legal and other documents - with handwritten notations by Chalue - about the murder case.

Chalue was called to the stand briefly Friday by Donald Frank, his lawyer, who was arguing large amounts of evidence the prosecution wants to present at the April 22 trial should be excluded.

Frank is seeking to have statement by Cashman and several other "jailhouse informants" - who say Chalue admitted his guilt to them - tossed out.

Frank has filed multiple pretrial motions. Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder heard a day's worth of testimony and arguments Friday and will continue hearing more Monday at 9 a.m.

In August 2011, weeks before he was to testify against Adam Lee Hall, Robert Glasser and his roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell, all of Pittsfield, disappeared. Their dismembered bodies were found in Becket nearly two weeks later.

Hall, of Peru; Chalue, 46, of North Adams, and Caius Veiovis, 32, of Pittsfield, kidnapped the three victims from Frampton's Pittsfield home sometime in the early hours of Aug. 28, 2011, and fatally shot them, according to prosecutors.

A Hampden Superior Court jury in February found Hall guilty of multiple charges, including the first-degree murders of the three victims. He is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The cases, which are being heard separately, were moved to Hampden Superior Court by Kinder after defense lawyers said extensive publicity in Berkshire County would prevent a fair jury from being selected.

Chalue, in the hearing Friday, testified he never told Cashman any details about the case against him.

Cashman, now serving a 15 year state prison sentence for armed robbery, was called to the stand Friday by Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless.

He said he was in the segregation unit at Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley from April to August of 2013 because of disciplinary issues.

For about 10 days, he said, Chalue was in the same unit, but not for disciplinary reasons.

Cashman said he first talked to Chalue about having Chalue get him into the Aryan Brotherhood, but then Chalue asked him to read a "novel."

He said Chalue gave the so-called novel, which was actually pages of legal matters relating to his case, to a corrections officer and the corrections officer - against policy - gave it to him (Cashman).

Cashman said he read the material and then gave it to a corrections officer - who may or may not have been the same as the one who gave the material to him - and he saw the corrections officer give it to Chalue in his cell.

Cashman said he doesn't know what officer or officers, and Frank has been trying to get the identities of those on duty during the times Cashman and Chalue were in segregation. Kinder has ordered the state Department of Corrections to get that information to Frank.

Frank, on behalf of Chalue, contends law enforcement personnel took the documents from Chalue's cell and gave them to Cashman, so Cashman could then inform law enforcement what they contained.

Frank is also arguing Cashman is lying about Chalue so he can assist the prosecution in hopes of getting into a witness protection program. Frank said Cashman had a history as an informant while incarcerated so was in fact acting as an agent of law enforcement in his communications with Chalue.

Cashman said Friday Chalue admitted his role in the three murders and gave him details.

Frank also has motions to exclude any evidence taken in three different searches of Chalue's various cells, one each in 2012, 2013 and 2014. He is arguing law enforcement officials went through, and in some cases seized, material protected by lawyer-client privilege.

The search warrant for the 2013 was applied for based on Cashman's information about what was in the material about Chalue's case.

Chalue said he never had any of the documents in his possession while he was in segregation for the 10 days during which Cashman said Chalue gave them to him.

When Capeless cross-examined Chalue, he asked if he was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.

"I will not answer that question," Chalue said.

"I'm ordering you to answer it," Kinder said, and Chalue said, "Yes, I am."

Frank has filed a motion - which has not been argued yet - to have Kinder keep out of the trial any evidence of Chalue's affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood or the Hells Angels.

Capeless asked Cashman about a number of things seized from Chalue's cell after Cashman told authorities Chalue had showed him the legal documents and other material.

Capeless showed Cashman a copy of a note (referred to by prisoners as a kite.)

Chalue, when cross-examined by Capeless, said he did write it to Cashman.

The note said in part, "Jeff (followed by two lightning bolt symbols) Yeah (check) out this novel on a bro's case. A quick read but an enjoyable read. Keep in mind the names of all the rats in this case, I'm sure they will all be making their way up this way, and yes the are all in the hat."

It went on to say, "Listen I am willing to reinstate you but I first have to know without a doubt, one hundred percent, are you willing to give your life for this thing because once you are in there is no way out. That means making your bones when the time comes."

Cashman said he understood "making your bones" referred to "doing a hit on someone who was in the hat" and said "in the hat" meant targetted for death or serious assault."

The material also had references to co-defendant Hall and prosecution witness David Casey on which Chalue wrote "no good rat."

.

In a rare diplomatic rebuke, the United States has blocked Iran's controversial pick for envoy to the United Nations, a move that could stir fresh animosity at a time when Washington and Tehran have been seeking a thaw in relations.

WASHINGTON -- In a rare diplomatic rebuke, the United States has blocked Iran's controversial pick for envoy to the United Nations, a move that could stir fresh animosity at a time when Washington and Tehran have been seeking a thaw in relations.

The Obama administration said Friday that the U.S. had informed Iran it would not grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. While U.S. officials had been trying to persuade Iran to simply withdraw Aboutalebi's name, the announcement amounted to an acknowledgement that those efforts had not been successful.

"We've communicated with the Iranians at a number of levels and made clear our position on this -- and that includes our position that the selection was not viable," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Our position is that we will not be issuing him a visa."

Aboutalebi is alleged to have participated in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the embassy takeover. He has insisted his involvement in the group Muslim Students Following the Imam's Line was limited to translation and negotiation.

Hamid Babaei, a spokesman for the Iranian U.N. Mission, said the decision was not only regrettable but "in contravention of international law, the obligation of the host country and the inherent right of sovereign member-states to designate their representatives to the United Nations."

As host country for the United Nations, the U.S. must provide rights to persons invited to the New York headquarters. However, exceptions can be made when a visa applicant is found to have engaged in spying against the U.S. or poses a threat to American national security.

Denying visas to U.N. ambassadorial nominees or to foreign heads of state who want to attend United Nations events in the U.S. is extremely rare, though there appears to be precedent. According to a paper published by the Yale Law School, the United States rejected several Iranians appointed to the U.N. in the 1980s who had played roles in the embassy hostage crisis or other acts against American citizens.

Iran's choice of Aboutalebi had pinned President Barack Obama between congressional pressure to deny the envoy entry into the U.S. and the White House's delicate diplomatic dealings with Tehran. After more than three decades of discord, U.S. and Iranian officials have started having occasional direct contact, including a phone call last fall between Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The U.S. and its international partners also have reached an interim agreement with Iran to halt progress on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Officials are in the midst of negotiating a long-term agreement to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

Officials said Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, the chief U.S. negotiator in the nuclear talks, informed Iranian officials involved in discussions in Vienna this week about the visa decision. The White House said it did not expect the negotiations, which are due to resume next month, to be affected by the matter.

Despite some signs of progress in relations, many U.S. lawmakers continue to eye Iran skeptically, and Tehran's choice of Aboutalebi sparked outrage from both Democrats and Republicans. The House and Senate unanimously passed legislation expanding the grounds for barring entry into the U.S. to include individuals engaged in terrorism.

Carney would not say Friday whether Obama would sign that bill, but he said the president did share its sentiments.

The administration's decision to block Aboutalebi's nomination drew praise from both parties, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the chief sponsor of the congressional legislation. In an interview with Fox News, Cruz said he appreciated the president "doing the right thing and barring this acknowledged terrorist from coming into the country."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said allowing Aboutalebi into the U.S. "would have been a slap at all American victims of terrorism, not just those taken hostage in 1979. We're glad the Obama Administration made this choice, and Iran should stop playing these games. "

U.N. officials had no immediate comment on the U.S. decision.

Iran had previously called U.S. rejection of Aboutalebi "not acceptable," with Iranian state television quoting Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying he is one of the country's best diplomats and arguing that he previously received a U.S. visa.

American officials said Iran still has time to withdraw the nomination and application, suggesting the U.S. has simply chosen to not act on the visa instead of outright rejecting it.

Without a U.S. visa, Aboutalebi would not be allowed to enter the United States. Iran could nominate a different ambassador or have Aboutalebi occupy the post from overseas.

Despite the decades-long tensions between the U.S. and Iran, the Islamic republic maintains a robust diplomatic mission at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.S. frequently allows visas for representatives from countries it disfavors, including Syria and North Korea, but restricts their diplomats' movements and activities to a 25-mile radius of New York City.

There have been previous instances where officials accused of terrorism or deemed to pose a threat to the U.S. have sought visas to appear at the U.N., including with a previous Iranian nominee in the early 1990s and more recently with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir. In most cases, the U.S. has either signaled opposition to the applicant and the request has been withdrawn, or the State Department has simply declined to process the application.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Flannery told jurors in Springfield that Ayyub Abdul-Alim's wife, Siham Nafi Stewart, not only called police after her husband left home with a loaded gun, but told them it was hidden in his underwear.

SPRINGFIELD — Taking the witness stand in his own defense on Friday, Ayyub Abdul-Alim recalled the first thing a Springfield police officer said after claiming to find a loaded gun in his underwear.

“He said, ‘Are you ready to make the deal of a lifetime?’ ” Abdul-Alim testified during his trial on three firearms-related charges in Hampden Superior Court.

“I told him I wasn’t, and he told me to think about it when I went to the police station,” he said.

Under questioning from defense lawyer Thomas E. Robinson, Abdul-Alim said city police and the FBI had been trying to recruit him as an informant for months before his arrest at a Getty gas station on State Street on Dec. 9, 2011.

Abdul-Alim has pleaded not guilty to one count each of carrying a firearm without a license; possessing a firearm without a firearm identification card; and carrying a firearm with ammunition without a license.

In opening arguments Thursday, Robinson told the jury his client had a prior conviction that made him particularly vulnerable to new firearms charge. Robinson said police planted the gun to force Abdul-Alim to cooperate and inform on the Muslim community.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Flannery told the same jurors that Abdul-Alim’s wife, Siham Nafi Stewart, not only called police after her husband left home with a loaded gun, but told them it was hidden in his underwear.

Under questioning from Robinson, Abdul-Alim said police twice failed to find a weapon while searching him at the gas station. On the third attempt, officer Ronald Sheehan took him behind his car, pulled up the trunk “and told me to pull down my pants,” the defendant said.

The officer then called out “gun” and planted the weapon on him, Abdul-Alim testified. “I said that ... gun isn’t mine; you just searched me two times,” he added.

Testimony will resume Monday, with jury deliberations expected to start by the afternoon, said Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney, who is presiding over the trial.

One of the more well-known Boston Marathon bombing survivors was on "Meet the Press" today for an interview that, according to her Twitter account, went badly.

One of the more well-known Boston Marathon bombing survivors was on "Meet the Press" today for an interview that, according to her Twitter account, went badly.

Dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis ripped NBC and "Meet the Press" in a series of tweets saying that they made her feel uncomfortable. Haslet-Davis said she left the set in tears when they mentioned the name of the bombers.

In her tweets, Haslet-Davis said she was told by NBC officials that they would not mention the names of the bomber during her interview.

Cannot believe @meetthepress chose to use the bombers name instead of respect their guest. Had to walk off set crying.

— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014

I feel so disrespected @meetthepress I asked politely yesterday and you said yes. Now you choose to use the name instead

— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014

Let's change the dialect to honor the survivors and not focus on the criminals. Shame on you @meetthepress

— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014

"Meet the Press" host David Gregory responded to her tweets with the following:

I'm so sorry @AdrianneHaslet was upset tdy + had a bad experience w MTP. As I told her, her comfort level is far more imp than any show

— David Gregory (@davidgregory) April 11, 2014

Haslet-Davis lost part of her left leg in the bombing and has gone through intense physical therapy to learn to walk and dance with a prosthetic.

CNN recently profiled her return to dancing.

Efforts to reach Haslet-Davis were unsuccessful at press time.

NBC sent MassLive the following statement.

"Adrianne Haslet-Davis is an inspiring survivor with an important story to share. She was due to take part in a roundtable discussion for 'Meet the Press' with three other participants. She requested that the alleged bombers'€™ names not be used in the entire program, but given the nature of the discussion we couldn'€™t make that guarantee. We regret any distress caused by this miscommunication."

An NBC official late Friday night said Haslet-Davis left the site of the roundtable discussion before taping of the segment began.

Haslet-Davis proceeded to retweet the outpouring of support that she received from her Twitter followers.

In an unsparing critique of Republicans, President Barack Obama on Friday accused the GOP of using voting restrictions to keep voters from the polls and of jeopardizing 50 years of expanded ballot box access for millions of black Americans and other minorities.

By JIM KUHNHENN

NEW YORK — In an unsparing critique of Republicans, President Barack Obama on Friday accused the GOP of using voting restrictions to keep voters from the polls and of jeopardizing 50 years of expanded ballot box access for millions of black Americans and other minorities.

"The stark, simple truth is this: The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago," Obama said in a fiery speech at civil rights activist and television talk host Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference.

Obama waded into the acrid debate over voting access in an election year where control of the Senate, now in the hands of Democrats, is at stake, as is Obama's already limited ability to push his agenda through Congress.

Republicans say the voting measures guard against voter fraud, but Democrats say they erode the landmark 1965 law that helped pave Obama's path in politics.

"Across the country, Republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, for people to vote," he said, relating anecdotes of voters turned away because they didn't have the right identification or because they needed a passport or birth certificate to register.

"About 60 percent of Americans don't have a passport," he said. "Just because you can't have the money to travel abroad doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to vote here at home."

Obama's speech to a crowd of about 1,600 in a New York hotel ballroom came a day after he marked the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, where he praised President Lyndon Johnson's understanding of presidential power and its use to create new opportunities for millions of Americans.

The president pinned efforts to curb access to the ballot box directly on the GOP, declaring that the effort "has not been led by both parties. It's been led by the Republican Party." Mocking the Republicans, he said, "What kind of political platform is that? Why would you make that a part of your agenda, preventing people from voting?"

Republicans have argued that they voter laws seek to safeguard the voting process and are not an attempt to limit Democratic turnout.

A spokeswoman for Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a state whose voting laws are being challenged by the Obama administration, said the Supreme Court has ruled that voter identification laws are constitutional.

"Protecting the integrity of the voting process is something that benefits everyone, partisan politics do not," the spokeswoman, Megan Mitchell, said.

For Democrats this year, no political issue stands out more prominently than their ability to motivate voters to turn out at the polls in November. But traditionally weak midterm turnout by Democrats coupled with efforts in some states to limit early voting and to enact voter identification requirements have prompted the president and his party to raise alarms and step up their get-out-the-vote efforts.

"I want to be clear: I am not against reasonable attempts to secure the ballot. We understand that. There has to be rules in place," Obama said. "But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don't have."

Just last year, seven states passed voter restrictions, ranging from reductions in early voting periods to identification requirements, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. North Carolina alone adopted a photo ID requirement, eliminated registrations on Election Day and reduced the number of early voting days.

The North Carolina steps, which take effect in the 2016 election, came after the Supreme Court last June threw out the crucial section of the Voting Rights Act that required that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting, mainly in the South, get federal approval before changing their election laws.

Bipartisan legislation proposed in the House and Senate would attempt to address the constitutional concerns raised by the Supreme Court. But sponsors such as Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., are still trying to line up enough support for the proposals.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act has brought renewed attention to issues of race and the accomplishments of the civil rights movement. A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that more than 3 in 4 Americans say there has been progress in getting rid of racial discrimination. But those views split racially, with whites much more likely than African-Americans to think real progress has been achieved.

Subway says an ingredient dubbed the "yoga mat chemical" will be entirely phased out of its bread by next week.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Subway says an ingredient dubbed the "yoga mat chemical" will be entirely phased out of its bread by next week.

The disclosure comes as Subway has suffered from an onslaught of bad publicity since a food blogger petitioned the chain to remove the ingredient.

The ingredient, azodicarbonamide, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in food as a bleaching agent and dough conditioner. It can be found in a wide variety of products, including those served at McDonald's, Burger King and Starbucks and breads sold in supermarkets. But its unfamiliar name has an unappetizing ring, and the petition became a flashpoint by noting that the chemical is also used to make yoga mats and isn't approved for use in some other parts of the world.

Tony Pace, Subway's chief marketing officer, told the AP in a phone interview that the chain started phasing out the ingredient late last year and that the process should be complete within a week. Subway is privately held and doesn't disclose its sales figures. But it is apparently feeling pressure from the uproar.

"You see the social media traffic, and people are happy that we're taking it out, but they want to know when we're taking it out," Pace said. "If there are people who have that hesitation, that hesitation is going to be removed."

The issue illustrates a split in thought about what should go into our food. One side says such additives are used in hundreds of food products and are safe to eat in the quantities approved by the FDA. The other side asks why such ingredients need to be used at all.

John Coupland, a professor of food science at Penn State University, noted that people concerned about azodicarbonamide focus in part on a carcinogen called urethane it creates in the baking process. But he said some level of urethane is already present in bread and that even toasting can increase its levels.

"Nobody worries about making toast," Coupland said, adding that one could argue there's some type of risk associated with any number of chemicals.

Coupland also questioned whether Subway's removal of the ingredient would make people think the food is healthier.

Subway, which has about 26,600 U.S. locations, had said after the petition surfaced in February that it was in the process of removing the ingredient. But the company wouldn't provide details on a timeline, prompting some to say that the chain didn't really have a plan to remove the ingredient.

Pace stressed the removal wasn't a reaction to the petition. The company also provided a statement saying it tested the "Azo-free bread" in four markets this past fall.

It did not provide details on what changes it made to its bread to remove the ingredient.

"We're always trying to improve stuff," Pace said. For instance, he noted that the chain also reduced sodium levels over the years and removed of high-fructose corn syrup from its bread.

The blogger who created the Subway petition, Vani Hari of FoodBabe.com, said she targeted Subway because of its healthy food image. Hari said she was happy to hear about Subway's move but that the chain still had other questionable ingredients, such as caramel coloring and yeast extract.

"The entire point of the petition was that I wanted people to know that eating fresh is not really eating fresh," she said.

Regardless of the safety of various ingredients, more people are looking to stick to diets they feel are natural. The trend has prompted numerous food makers to adjust their recipes, even as they stand by the safety of their products. Among the companies that have made changes are PepsiCo Inc., which removed a chemical from Gatorade, and ConAgra, which simplified the ingredients in its Healthy Choice frozen meals.

It was a busload of opportunity: young, low-income, motivated students, destined to become the first in their families to go to college, journeying from the concrete sprawl of Los Angeles to a remote redwood campus 650 miles north.

ORLAND, Calif. -- It was a busload of opportunity: young, low-income, motivated students, destined to become the first in their families to go to college, journeying from the concrete sprawl of Los Angeles to a remote redwood campus 650 miles north.

Those dreams shattered for some Thursday in an explosive freeway collision that left 10 dead -- students, chaperones and both drivers -- and dozens hospitalized.

Desperate families awaited word about loved ones Friday, while investigators tried to figure out why a southbound FedEx big rig swerved across the grassy divide of California's key artery before sideswiping a car and slamming into the tour bus, which burst into a furious blaze.

The Serrato family, whose identical twin 17-year-old daughters set off on the adventure on separate buses Thursday, had a panicked, sleepless night. Marisol made it to their destination, Humboldt State University, but there was no word from Marisa, who had been aboard the now-gutted bus.

Friday morning when a sheriff's deputy asked for Marisa's dental records, a grim request made to several families, 23-year-old brother Miguel Serrato said his family was "getting a little bit scared." His mother booked a flight north.

Humboldt alumni Michael Myvett, 29, and his fiancee, Mathison Haywood, who were chaperoning, also were killed. Myvett was a therapist at an autism treatment center.

"He just died," his grandmother Debra Loyd said, her voice breaking with emotion in the early afternoon Friday. "They have already confirmed it."

Myvett's manager Kyle Farris said he was "extraordinary," and that he connected with their children "on a level few others could, and he contributed to their wellbeing in such a positive and profound way."

"He will be greatly missed," Farris said.

A Facebook photo shows Haywood flashing a shining diamond engagement ring on her finger and kissing Myvett in December near the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The bus was among three Humboldt had chartered as part of its two-day Preview Plus program to bring prospective students to tour the Arcata campus, according to university officials. Before launching the event Friday, university Vice President Peg Blake's voice broke as she asked a crowded theater for a moment of silence in honor of everyone affected by the accident.

Most survivors were injured, some with critical burns or broken limbs. Those who made it out said they scrambled through a kicked-out window. One man, apparently an admissions counselor, was in flames and later died. Those who could sprinted, others staggered, in a desperate dash to the opposite side of Interstate 5 before the vehicle exploded.

"We knew we were in major trouble," said Steven Clavijo, a high school senior from Santa Clarita, who was trying to nap when he felt the bus shake before a loud boom.

After he escaped, two more explosions followed. Clavijo and other survivors watched helplessly, knowing their peers were trapped in the inferno.

Explosions of orange flames engulfed both vehicles, and clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky until firefighters doused the fire, leaving behind scorched black hulks of metal. Bodies were draped in blankets inside the burned-out bus.

"I can only imagine the excitement of these high school students as they were on their way to visit a college campus, and the pride of the adults who were accompanying them," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a statement. "Our young people are our greatest treasure, and this loss is heartbreaking."

Both drivers were killed, along with three adult chaperones and five teenage students, according to the California Highway Patrol, which reached the scene shortly after the 5:30 p.m. accident about 100 miles north of Sacramento. Rescuers said the bodies were mostly at the front of the bus, or outside on the ground in front of it.

Humboldt admissions counselor Arthur Arzola, 26, who recruited in the Los Angeles area, was among the dead. His passion for bringing kids to the university was evident on his "Meet the Counselors" webpage: Humboldt "provides all students on campus with incredible opportunities that change the world for the better."

The 44 teenagers aboard, from dozens of different Southern California high schools, were participating in a program that invites prospective low-income or first-generation college students to visit Humboldt. They were supposed to join hundreds more potential students from across California and the West for a long weekend, paired up with existing students and staying in the dorms.

University president Rollin Richmond says they will welcome back the accident survivors at a time of their choice, "hopefully not on a bus."

A first bus rolled up to the rural campus, lush with redwoods and springtime wildflowers, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, and a second arrived after 9 p.m.

Word began trickling in to the high schoolers, so far from home, when their panicked parents called them. The remote forest brought spotty telephone reception and lots of confusion.

"It's pretty surreal. We got the information in pieces," Eagle Rock High School student Matt Velasco told the university's Lumberjack Newspaper. "It's still sinking in."

The fact that the students were at a pivotal moment of their young lives exacerbated the tragedy for school officials.

"These injuries and loss of life are made all the more poignant by the fact that these students were preparing for college, poised on the edge of an exciting time full of possibility," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said.

Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasy said the students were "about to visit a place that was obviously going to be a part of their dreams."

Timothy White, chancellor of the 23-campus California State University system, said "these are the very students that California needs to be successful going forward."

"And so we are doubly saddened by the fact that many of them are first generation and students from low income, who have done all the right academic things and had their dream of going to Humboldt State taken away by this tragic accident," he said.

The bus was operated by Silverado Stages Inc., which is based in the central coast city of San Luis Obispo but operates buses throughout the West.

CEO Michael Vodarsik said only that the company was "working closely with authorities" and trying to support passengers and families of the dead.

FedEx Chairman Frederick Smith, in a statement, expressed his "deepest personal sympathies and the condolences of over 300,000 other FedEx team members to everyone involved in this accident."

The CHP and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, but warned it could take months for them to conclude what happened.

The academy training, sponsored tuition free by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, prepares newly hired firefighters with the basic skills needed to perform their jobs.

STOW - Eight area residents were among 23 people to graduate from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy on Friday at the completion of the academy’s 45-day recruit firefighting training program.

The program, sponsored tuition free by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, prepares newly hired firefighters with the basic skills needed to perform their jobs.

Local graduates were Patrick K. Bagley-Bacigalupo, Brooks L. Francis, Cesar A. Gomez, James Lapointe and Ruben Santana Jr. of Holyoke, Brendon B. Welz of Longmeadow, and Ian Bidga and Timothy R. Putnam of Northampton.

They are graduates of the 210th class to complete the academy, which is located in Stow.

The class stresses tactics for fighting fires, but also how to respond to chemical and environmental emergencies, freeing accident victims who are trapped in motor vehicles, and working with ropes, ladders and hydraulic equipment.

“This rigorous professional training provides our newest firefighters with the basic skills to perform their jobs effectively and safely,” state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said.

No one was injured in the explosion, but it was loud enough to rattle neighbors and produce a visible fireball, an official said.

CHICOPEE – A large explosion that produced a visible fireball and shook neighboring homes on Blanchwood Avenue Friday evening was apparently the result of someone tossing some type of metal container into a backyard fire pit, a fire official said.

Deputy Chief Joseph Crevier said fire investigators are not sure what type of container it was or what its contents were, but the resulting explosion was powerful enough to blow out the fire and damage the fire pit.

“There were bricks scattered all over the yard,” he said.

No injuries were reported.

The fire department was called to 80 Blanchwood Ave. at around 7:15 p.m. for a report of an explosion. Several neighbors told firefighters they heard and explosion and saw a fireball rising from the backyard.

Firefighters found evidence of an explosion, but no fire. There was also no one standing out in the backyard, he said.

The resident, who is renting out the home, eventually told firefighters that a group of friends were standing around the fire pit and one of them tossed something into the fire and it exploded. Once it did, the people around the fire pit all scattered, he said.

They were described as teens or in their early 20s.

The resident told firefighters that it was some type of firework, but Crevier said given the witness accounts, that story is considered unlikely.

More likely it was some sort of sealed metal container of unknown size, and once it heated, it exploded, he said.

An investigator with the state Fire Marshal’s office and a state police k-9 unit were dispatched to the scene. The dog, trained to detect accelerants, could not find trace of anything flammable in the fire pit, he said.

The incident remains under investigation. It will be up to the fire marshal’s office to determine if there will be charges filed.

Crevier said the situation was extremely dangerous and any of the people standing around the fire could have been hit with shrapnel when the container exploded.

A Houston woman was sentenced to life in prison Friday for fatally stabbing her boyfriend with the 5½-inch stiletto heel of her shoe, striking him at least 25 times in the face and head.

The Center for Coastal Studies reports that a large cluster of endangered right whales is feeding in the Cape Cod Bay.

PROVINCETOWN — The Center for Coastal Studies reports that a large cluster of endangered right whales is feeding in Cape Cod Bay.

The Provincetown-based nonprofit group reported Friday that about 100 whales are concentrated near the western shore of Cape Cod Bay and near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. The animals are feeding below the surface of the water and aren't easily visible to boaters. The center advises that the animals are vulnerable to collisions with ships and asks that boaters take precautions.

Charles "Stormy" Mayo, senior scientist with the center, called the whale cluster "an exceptional concentration of an extremely rare animal."

The North Atlantic right whale population is about 500.

The federal government is charged with ensuring that a student's civil rights are not violated in the course of disciplinary action or that the action does not come as a result of discrimination.

SPRINGFIELD — Western Massachusetts educators joined in a discussion Friday about the federal government’s Supportive School Discipline Initiative as well as its policy on harassment in schools during the second day of the Northeast Regional Fair Housing and Civil Rights Conference.

In its oversight of public school districts, the U.S. Department of Justice Educational Opportunities Section deals mainly with the major issues of school discipline and harassment in schools, said workshop facilitator Torey B. Cummings, a trial attorney with that section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“We enforce federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in schools and ensure that all students have equal educational opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion or disability,” she said at the start of the session.

The division, Cummings said, enforces existing court orders, responds to complaints, investigates allegations of discrimination and files complaints in federal court and negotiates new consent decrees and settlement agreements.

“The goal is to ensure that educational institutions meet their obligations to prevent and redress harassment and other forms of discrimination in school in accordance with federal civil rights laws,” she said.

Specifically, the federal government is charged with ensuring that a student’s civil rights are not violated in the course of disciplinary action or that the action does not come as a result of discrimination.

For example, Cummings related her own experience of how she was treated as a white, gifted girl whose mother knew the principal of her school as opposed to being a student of color.

“If I acted up in class the teacher told me to be quiet,” she said. “When the little black boy who sat next to me did the same thing he was sent to the principal.”

That action, Cummings said, leads to a cycle of limiting a minority child’s access to education by removing them from the classroom and excluding them from the learning process.

Whether intentional or not, “It starts at the teacher classroom level,” she said. “The immediate reaction should be to treat everyone the same through the adoption of a neutral policy.”

In January, the federal government issued to all public school district superintendents a “Dear Colleague Letter,” a document that outlines how school officials should deal with civil rights obligations in disciplining students [see document at end of this story].

Possible remedies for violating a minority student’s rights include modifying the student record and providing compensatory and comparable academic instruction.

“We will also monitor the district to make sure it is implementing policies and procedures,” Cummings said.

Discrimination against students who are harassed on school grounds or while attending school functions is also a violation of civil rights, she said.

“When an investigation reveals that harassment has occurred, a school should take steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment, eliminate any hostile environment, prevent harassment fro recurring and prevent retaliation against the targeted student,” Cummings said.

Unfortunately, most school officials deal with harassment by inadvertently punishing the student being harassed as a solution to the problem, she said, and cited an example of harassment being reported in a particular school building hallway.

“Most often, the solution is to allow the student being harassed to leave class five minutes early,” she said. “So the victim is being singled out and punished and losing academic time instead of properly disciplining the harasser.”

Possible solutions that do not adversely impact the harassed student include implementing training for staff and administrators on identifying and addressing harassment and providing monitors or additional adult supervision in areas where harassment occurs.

Dear Colleague Letter 201401 Title Vi