To attend, register with Gina Kahn.
WILBRAHAM – A workshop on teen decision-making is scheduled for Wednesday night at 7 at the Minnechaug Regional High School Media Center.
Dr. Chris Overtree, director of the Psychological Services Center at UMass Amherst will conduct a workshop called “What Do We Do Now? Setting Expectations for Safe and Smart Decision-Making in the Teen Years.
To attend, register with Gina Kahn by email at gkahn@hwrsd.org or call 566-5060, extension 12.
The three finalists for the position are Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, George R. Zimmerman, the treasurer of Northampton and Andrew Golas, executive assistant for Palmer.
DEERFIELD – The Board of Selectmen has decided to consider other candidates for the town administrator position because of concerns the three finalists they interviewed are not a good fit for the job.
The three-member board voted last week to suspend the process of appointing a new town administrator, notify the three finalists for the job and possibly consider and interview other candidates, said David Wolfram, one of the selectmen.
In December, Selectmen started a search for candidates to replace Bernie Kubiak, who retired in June 2013. A search committee selected former Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, George R. Zimmerman, the treasurer of Northampton and Andrew Golas, executive assistant for Palmer as finalists.
The Board of Selectmen interviewed them in May but has not been able to select one for the job, which pays between $60,000 and $75,000 a year.
“It’s as much having the right personality,” Wolfram said. “Deerfield is a small town with politics as diverse as any small town can be and we need the right person who can deal with the political scene.”
Bissonnette and Zimmerman each have an extensive amount of experience, but selectmen have aired concerns they may not fit well in a small town after working in much larger communities.
“They are coming from a large environment and they are used to delegating, but in the town of Deerfield there is no one to delegate to,” he said.
Golas, who has worked in Palmer for four years, may be a better fit but his experience level is about equal to that of Kaycee Warren, the assistant town assistant who has been working as interim town assistant for the past five months, Wolfram said.
One of the proposals is to interview Warren for the job. She had submitted a resume in the initial search, but was ranked fourth by the search committee. The selectmen decided to interview the three top finalists, Wolfram said.
One of the jobs the selectmen must do before continuing the search is to decide what the role of the town administrator should be, he said.
“There are levels of concern whether this person should be a weak administrator or a strong administrator and we are trying to resolve that within the board,” he said.
Golas said he has not been officially notified of the search suspension but learned about it through local media.
He said he appreciated the opportunity to interview for the position and is still interested in the job.
“I’m trying to further my career and I wanted to take a stab at it,” he said. “No hard feelings. If they want to continue the search I would still be there.”
Zimmerman and Bissonnette did not immediately return requests for comment.
Authorities said Kevin Roper apparently failed to slow for traffic ahead early Saturday in Cranbury Township and then swerved to avoid a crash.
By DAVID PORTER
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A truck driver accused of triggering a highway crash that injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian hadn't slept for more than 24 hours before the accident, authorities said Monday as Morgan recovered in a hospital.
Walnart trucker Kevin Roper is expected to make an initial appearance in state court Wednesday. It was unclear if Roper, of Jonesboro, Ga., had retained an attorney. He remained free after posting $50,000 bond.
Authorities said Roper apparently failed to slow for traffic ahead early Saturday in Cranbury Township and then swerved to avoid a crash. Instead, they said, his big rig smashed into the back of Morgan's chauffeured limo bus, killing comedian James "Jimmy Mack" McNair and injuring Morgan and three other people.
The accident occurred in a chronically congested area of the New Jersey Turnpike where a five-year widening project is expected to finish this year. A turnpike authority spokesman said two of three northbound lanes had been closed about a mile ahead of the accident for road work, which likely slowed traffic.
Spokesman Tom Feeney said turnpike officials haven't seen an increase in fatal accidents in the construction area, which stretches about 35 miles.
Morgan, a former "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" cast member, was in critical but stable condition Monday. His spokesman, Lewis Kay, said he faces an "arduous" recovery after surgery on his broken leg.
Morgan suffered a broken femur, a broken nose and several broken ribs and is expected to remain hospitalized for weeks, Kay said. Morgan's fiancee was with him at the hospital, he said.
Roper has been charged with death by auto and four counts of assault by auto. Under New Jersey law, a person can be charged with assault by auto if he or she causes injury after knowingly operating a vehicle after being awake for more than 24 hours.
According to the criminal complaint, Roper operated the truck "without having slept for a period in excess of 24 hours resulting in a motor vehicle accident." It doesn't specify the basis for that assertion.
The limo bus' driver, Tyrone Gale, told ABC News he was disoriented after it flipped over.
"I climbed around and heard Tracy screaming for help," Gale said. "I climbed up on the body of the limo bus ... but I couldn't reach them."
Walmart Stores Inc. President Bill Simon said the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company "will take full responsibility" if authorities determine its truck caused the accident.
Walmart trucks have been involved in 380 crashes in the past two years, federal data show. The crashes have caused nine deaths and 129 injuries. Wal-Mart has 6,200 trucks and 7,200 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and they drove 667 million miles last year.
Roper's truck was equipped with a system designed to slow its speed and notify him of stopped traffic ahead, a company spokeswoman said. It's unknown if the system was working.
The National Transportation Safety Board is working with state police to look at any issues in the crash related to commercial trucking and limousine safety.
Federal regulations permit truck drivers to work up to 14 hours a day, with a maximum of 11 hours behind the wheel. The other time is usually devoted to loading and unloading and paperwork.
Drivers must have at least 10 hours off between work shifts to sleep.
Walnart said it believed Roper was operating within federal regulations.
But safety advocates said they hope the accident will help their case.
"This is part of a systemic problem of having tired people driving at night and driving large trucks," said Henry Jasny, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
But Dave Osiecki, vice president of the American Trucking Association, said no regulations can prevent a driver from making "bad choices."
Morgan, a New York City native, was returning from a standup performance at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Delaware when the crash occurred. Six vehicles were involved in the pileup, but no one from the other cars was injured.
McNair, of Peekskill, New York, was a close friend and mentor to Morgan, Morgan's ex-wife told the New York Daily News.
Associated Press writers Joan Lowy in Washington, D.C., and Dee Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.
Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to announce his choice to replace Mastroianni as early as this afternoon.
SPRINGFIELD — Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni was sworn in Monday as a federal district judge during a brief ceremony in U.S. District Court on State Street.
The ceremony came five days after the U.S. Senate confirmed Mastroianni on a 92-2 vote to fill the vacancy created when Judge Michael A. Ponsor assumed semi-retired status in 2011.
Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to announce his choice to replace Mastroianni as early as Monday afternoon.
President Barack Obama selected Mastroianni for the federal judgeship in September, six months after Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder withdrew as a candidate after his nomination stalled in the Senate.
Morse is one of just three Massachusetts mayors who paricipated in a conference to end homelessness among veterans.
HOLYOKE — A spotlight will be installed at City Hall to illuminate the American flag when it flies at night, officials said Tuesday.
Title 4, Section 6, "Time and occasions for display," under the United States Code, which outlines the country's general and permanent laws, requires that if the flag is to be displayed round the clock, it must be lit at night.
The practice here has been, and the Code allows, for the city to display the American flag at City Hall between sunrise to sunset, with a janitor taking it down at the end of the work day and raising it again the next morning, officials said.
The code states: "It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness."
The display of the flag became a concern over the weekend. Veteran Harold Skelton, 31, noticed the American flag was absent from the tall silver pole it adorns on the High Street side of City Hall while the rainbow gay pride flag still flew from an adjacent pole. The gay pride flag was raised for the third straight year at City Hall on June 6 after the city's first gay pride parade.
Mayor Alex B. Morse, the city's first openly gay mayor, led a brief ceremony after the parade in front of City Hall. He holds veterans and military personnel in the highest regard, he said.
"I have nothing but admiration for the men and women who have fought and are currently fighting for our nation’s freedom," Morse said.
"Just last week I was in Washington, D.C., as one of only three Massachusetts mayors who have joined the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, pledging my commitment to end veteran homelessness in Holyoke by 2015," he said.
Skelton questioned why the gay pride flag remained displayed while the American flag was missing.
"I have nothing against homosexuals. I have two family members who are. Just speaking with other vets, I just personally think it's disrespectful to the vets. How hard is it to get a simple light on there to illuminate the flag?" said Skelton, who said he did tours in Iraq in the U.S. Air Force from 2006 to 2012.
Veterans and others who lost family members are sensitive to such matters now, Skelton said, because this is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, when 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944 to fight Nazi Germany.
"This is not a homosexual thing. This is about veterans rights," Skelton said.
Rory Casey, Morse's chief of staff, said nothing disrespectful was intended and the explanation was simple: "Because we are not open on the weekends, nor have janitors working then, we take the flag down on Friday and it goes back up on Monday. The pride flag, along with the other flags that fly on that pole during the year are not governed by the same rules, and are left up because its easier than taking a second flag down each day."
The American flag is supposed to be taken down at sunset, but it was observed flying on the pole in front of City Hall Monday night just before midnight. That was an oversight, said William D. Fuqua, general superintendent of the Department of Public Works. Getting a light placed to illuminate the American flag is in process, he said.
"We'll see what we can do to expedite the installation of the light," Fuqua said.
Morse said in a statement (the text of which is below) it was unfortunate concerns were raised only in relation to the gay pride flag. Similar concerns weren't mentioned when the American flag was removed over the weekend but flags remained celebrating Poland, Ireland or Puerto Rico, he said.
"The pride flag wasn't raised because I'm gay, it was raised because we are a community that values all of our residents," said Morse, who said assertions that he has a "gay agenda" are false.
"My agenda includes better schools, more jobs and safer streets. If that's what some consider a 'gay agenda' then so be it," Morse said.
City Councilor James M. Leahy said he has filed an order that will require that the American flag in front of City Hall either be removed every day at dusk or illuminated at night.
"City Hall has to set an example for everyone in regards to protocol for the flag. Many families have received folded flags because of the deaths of loved ones so we can raise our flags. Let's not show them any disrespect," Leahy said.
(Here is the text of Mayor Alex B. Morse's statement on the subject of the American and gay pride flags flying at City Hall):
"Since taking office, my office has organized numerous flag raisings for a wide array of causes, following the same protocol for each flag raising ceremony that’s been held outside of City Hall. We’ve held flag ceremonies that have included the Polish Flag, the Irish Flag, Donate Life Awareness Month, the Puerto Rican Flag, Foster Child Awareness Month, and Child Abuse Prevention Month. Not one of these ceremonies has prompted concern and criticism like the insults that have followed the Pride Flag raising ceremony held last Friday."Considering that not one person from the public contacted our office
following the other flag raising ceremonies we’ve held, I have to believe
that this is an unfortunate result of the homophobia and prejudice that
last Friday’s flag raising prompted."I have been accused of promoting a 'gay agenda' since I first announced my
candidacy for mayor, and I’m certain these accusations will continue long
after I’m gone. I make no apologies for raising a flag that celebrates
diversity and acceptance, just as I make no apologies for raising the flags
that celebrate the Irish, the Polish, our Puerto Rican population, and the
other important causes that we’ve helped to raise awareness about. I was
proud to join mayors from all across Massachusetts and all across the
United States in calling attention to pride month. The Pride flag wasn't
raised because I'm gay, it was raised because we are a community that
values all of our residents. I look forward to continuing to make Holyoke a
safe and accepting community for all people, and I urge those who feel so
passionately about this flag raising to attend the many others we hold
throughout the year. My agenda includes better schools, more jobs, and
safer streets. If that's what some consider a "gay agenda" then so be it."It’s unfortunate that this is now being used as an argument against the
respect I have for our nation’s Veterans. I have nothing but admiration for
the men and women who have fought and are currently fighting for our
nation’s freedom. Just last week I was in Washington DC as one of only
three Massachusetts Mayors who have joined the Mayor’s Challenge to End
Veteran Homelessness, pledging my commitment to end Veteran Homelessness in
Holyoke by 2015. Earlier in the winter, I was joined by the Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 801 to present a proclamation to the family of Private
George G. Clarke, a resident of Holyoke who is still considered “missing in
action” from WWI. I’m currently working with our director of Veterans’
Services, Jim Mahoney, to ensure that the HG&E and DPW can install the
street flags throughout our City in recognition of Flag Day on June 14. My
administration has also worked to support state initiatives such as the
Valor Act in 2012 and the Valor Act II this year. The policy in question,
to take down the American flag at night and over the weekend, pre-dates my
administration and is in accordance with Title 4 of the US code. It is in
no way meant to be a sign of disrespect."
Blogger Larry Kelley is reporting that Dylan Akalis' father Stephen Akalis has been fired from his electrician job at Amherst Regional High School.
AMHERST – Dylan Akalis' father, Stephen Akalis, has been fired from his job as an electrician at Amherst Regional High School, according to Amherst blogger Larry Kelley.
Dylan Akalis is the student who posted that he was bringing weapons to school because he was bullied back in January, which led to the closing of the school for one day.
He was later suspended for the posting and using the "N" word in another Facebook posting that his mother said was meant to be playful. School officials after an investigation found that there were incidents of racial harassment and bullying, but it is unclear if the other students were punished. Dylan Akalis was not allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.
According to Kelley's "Only in the Republic of Amherst" blog, Stephen Akalis was fired for using the term "slave unit" in the presence of a school employee who was black.
According to dictionaryofconstruction.com a slave unit is "a device or machine controlled or activated through another unit."
Akalis could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kelley had posted on his blog in February, without at that pointing naming Dylan Akalis or his father, that Stephen been suspended for three days following his attempts to meet with school officials about his son.
Dylan Akalis was identified later on a petition to keep him from participating in graduation.
The student's father allegedly had multiple conversations with Dean of Students Mary Custard and used the "N" word, which was described by human resources director Kathryn Mazur "as rude, offensive and reprehensible" in the letter addressed to the father. Custard is black, and Akalis is white. In the letter, the father also was charged with using his "access and privilege multiple times with school administration ... without prior notice either to them or to your supervisor."
According to Mazur's letter, Akalis did not request personal time for the meeting with Custard. Also, he did not try to stop his son's outburst as he was yelling the "N" word in the hallway of the school. He had been seeking remedy with school officials for his son, who he has said had been bullied the week prior to the Facebook posting that led to the school closing.
The father responded, refuting a number of the charges and explaining his side of his attempted meetings.
He said that he was never told he needed an appointment, and had asked permission to use the "N" work with Custard. He explained what had happened with his son who had used the "N" word on a friend's Facebook page, saying his son meant it as friend.
He also told school officials that his son did not feel safe in the school. There was supposed to have been a meeting Jan. 27 with this student and the others who he felt threatened by, but that was the day school was closed.
The father wrote: "... if Ms. Custard had quelled this problem when first brought to her attention perhaps it would never have reached this point. We feel that a whole week went by during which my son was bullied and nothing had been done."
A judge ruled in favor of Malcom Getz, a longtime business associate and accountant for Picknelly, chairman and CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines, who abandoned the Palmer initiative in favor of another unsuccessful bid for a casino in this city's South End.
SPRINGFIELD — An accountant for Peter Picknelly has won a $500,000 judgment in connection with an investment in the ill-fated Mohegan Sun project in Palmer.
A Hampden Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Malcom Getz, a longtime business associate and accountant for Picknelly, chairman and CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines, who abandoned the Palmer initiative in favor of another unsuccessful bid for a casino in this city's North End.
MGM Resorts International won Mayor Domenic J. Sarno's nod for a project in the city's South End, which was approved through a referendum last year. That is in the final vetting phase with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission this week, with public presentations by commission members here.
MGM potentially would have been in competition with Mohegan Sun's Palmer proposal, but that fell in unexpected defeat after a ballot initiative in November. Leon Dragone, of Longmeadow, is the property owner of the Palmer tract as Northeast Realty and has been embroiled in litigation over the failed project.
A related corporation, Northeast Gaming Group, aimed to build a casino there, and filed suit against Picknelly, arguing his 2008 investment of $500,000 and signature on a profit sharing agreement means he wasn't legally allowed to jump ship and partner up for the former Hollywood Casino project in Springfield.
Mark Draper, an attorney for Getz, said the original lawsuit Dragone filed against Picknelly was dismissed in Hampden Superior Court. Picknelly then handed over his interest in the Palmer project to Getz as an assignee.
"An assignee is a person who is given either for free or for money, someone else’s rights to a certain thing, whether it be a house, or a car or an investment," Draper said, adding that he does not know whether Getz paid to take over the interest.
Draper said the gaming commission prohibits investors from holding interests in multiple gaming projects, and Picknelly had to make a choice – gambling on Penn National.
Picknelly's brother, Paul Picknelly, has an interest in the South End project, however. Peter Picknelly also shares an interest in that by virtue of the family's corporate structure.
Getz counter sued Dragone for the return of the $500,000 in 2013.
Draper said the Hampden Superior Court clerk still must sign off on the judgment and it is subject to appeal.
A lawyer for Dragone, Frank P. Fitzgerald, of East Longmeadow, did not return a call for comment.
The revenue sharing agreement required Picknelly to make four $125,000 payments between January and May 2008, according to court records. In exchange, Picknelly was to receive 15 percent of net revenues of a proposal in New Bedford and 3 percent of net revenues from the Palmer proposal, if successful.
If a gaming license was secured only at Palmer but not in New Bedford, Picknelly was to receive a success fee of $1 million and the return of his initial $500,000 investment, plus 3 percent in revenues. If the New Bedford, but not the Palmer, initiative came to fruition, Picknelly was to be paid $1 million, 15 percent of net revenues but not the return of his initial $500,000. If both succeeded, Picknelly was to receive a success fee of $2 million, the return of his investment; and 3 and 15 percent of net revenues at the Palmer and New Bedford sites, respectively.
Information on the New Bedford proposal was unclear, but according to a suit filed by Mohegan Sun against Dragone, Northeast Realty had property in New Bedford that it was using to court other casino companies.
If the Palmer and New Bedford projects failed, Picknelly had the right to seek his investment back after two years, the agreement states. The contract also states that Picknelly was free from liability.
"He was simply a lender, just like borrowing money from a bank," Draper said.
It is unclear whether Getz will be able to recoup the investment, Draper added, as the Palmer property is heavily mortgaged. Dragone has since sued Mohegan Sun. The casino company made it claims about the New Bedford property in a counter suit.
Conroy's opponent Deborah Goldberg was endorsed by several mayors, while Barry Finegold has been leading the candidates in fundraising.
Holyoke State Rep. Aaron Vega endorsed State Rep. Tom Conroy on Tuesday in the race for Massachusetts treasurer.
Vega, a Democrat, said in a statement that Conroy "understands the issues and struggles of working families in the Commonwealth and will be a leader in working to continue good fiscal policies that help every city and town, including protecting local aid and utilizing the Massachusetts School Building Authority to help every public school district."
Conroy is facing former Brookline selectwoman Deborah Goldberg and State Sen. Barry Finegold in the Democratic primary for state treasurer. All three will have to get support from 15 percent of delegates at this Saturday's Democratic convention in Worcester in order to appear on the ballot.
As he heads into the convention, Conroy, a four-term representative who heads the legislature's Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, said he has received endorsements from more than 40 legislators. State legislators are given automatic voting rights as convention delegates.
Meanwhile, Goldberg recently announced endorsements from mayors William Flanagan of Fall River, Lisa Wong of Fitchburg, Tom Hoye of Taunton, Sue Kay of Weymouth and Joseph Petty of Worcester.
Finegold has recently been touting his fundraising. He has raised far more money than either of his opponents and has $938,000 in the bank, compared to $122,000 for Goldberg and $70,000 for Conroy, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Finegold also has gotten support from number of prominent politicians including House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey, House Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, and the mayors of Agawam, Greenfield and West Springfield.
United in response to a national uproar, Congress is suddenly moving quickly to address military veterans' long waits for care at VA hospitals.
By MATTHEW DALY & ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — United in response to a national uproar, Congress is suddenly moving quickly to address military veterans' long waits for care at VA hospitals.
The House unanimously approved legislation Tuesday to make it easier for patients enduring lengthy delays for initial visits to get VA-paid treatment from local doctors instead. The Senate was poised to vote on a similar bill within 48 hours, said Democratic leader Harry Reid.
The legislation comes close on the heels of a Veterans Affairs Department audit showing that more than 57,000 new applicants for care have had to wait at least three months for initial appointments and an additional 64,000 newly enrolled vets who requested appointments never got them.
"I cannot state it strongly enough — this is a national disgrace," said Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chief author of the House legislation.
Miller made his comments minutes before the House completed the first of two votes on its measure. Lawmakers approved the bill 421-0, then re-voted a little over an hour later, making sure no one was left out on the politically important vote, with five more in favor and no one against. Miller sheepishly admitted the reason for the second vote: He was in his office and missed the first tally.
Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine, top Democrat on the Veteran Affairs Committee, said the care that veterans receive at VA facilities is "second to none — that is, if you can get in. As we have recently learned, tens of thousands of veterans are not getting in."
The House bill and a similar version in the Senate would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to hire more doctors and nurses, but that may be easier said than done given a nationwide shortage of primary care physicians.
"This is not a problem that is just isolated to the VA," said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. "It's out there in the community."
Primary care physicians are expected to become increasingly in demand as millions of people newly insured under the federal health care law start looking for regular doctors. The Association of American Medical Colleges has projected that by 2020, there will be 45,000 too few primary care physicians, as well as a shortage of 46,000 surgeons and specialists.
Shortages tend to be worse in both rural and inner-city areas.
Nevada already has a chronic shortage of doctors, both in primary care and among specialists, Titus said. The state ranks 46th among states and the District of Columbia for availability of general and family practitioners, she said, and 51st for surgeons.
While she voted for the bill, Titus said Congress and the Obama administration need to do more to ensure that veterans receive care in the private sector.
The American Medical Association added its voice, in Chicago, as the House was voting. At its annual policy meeting, the AMA approved a resolution urging President Barack Obama to take immediate action to enable veterans to get timely access to care from outside the VA system. The nation's largest doctors group also recommended that state medical societies create and make available registries of outside physicians willing to treat vets.
"Clearly there is a problem," said Dr. Robert Wah, the AMA's incoming president. He didn't say how Obama should ensure vets get access to non-VA doctors but said the president needed to address the issue immediately.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a chief author of the Senate measure, said he believed the Senate would approve the bill in the next day or two, adding that it shouldn't be hard for the two chambers to craft a compromise version.
"I don't think there's a lot of major differences," McCain said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of that chamber's Veterans Affairs Committee, said that by Senate standards, lawmakers are moving at "lightning speed."
The Senate bill would authorize the VA to lease 26 new health facilities in 17 states and Puerto Rico and spend $500 million to hire more doctors and nurses. The House bill does not include a specific dollar amount, but Miller said the VA would save $400 million annually by eliminating bonuses, money the agency could use for expanded care.
The House and Senate bills would let veterans facing long delays for appointments or living more than 40 miles from a VA facility choose to get care from non-agency providers for the next two years. Some veterans already get outside care, but the process is cumbersome and riddled with delays, veterans and their advocates say.
Both bills target controversial bonuses awarded to VA employees who meet certain performance goals. The House version would ban bonuses outright through 2016, while the Senate would block bonuses based on prompt scheduling of patients' appointments — a practice investigators say led some officials to create phony wait lists.
The Senate bill would make it easier to fire top VA officials, although with more employee safeguards than in an earlier, House-passed bill.
The VA, which serves almost 9 million veterans, has been reeling from mounting evidence that workers fabricated statistics on patients' waits for medical appointments in an effort to mask frequent, long delays.
The controversy led Eric Shinseki to resign as head of the VA on May 30, but the situation remains a continuing embarrassment for Obama and a potential political liability for congressional Democrats seeking re-election in November.
The agency has started removing top officials at its medical facility in Phoenix, a focal point of the department's problems, and investigators have found indications of long waits and falsified records of patients' appointments at many other facilities.
Richard Griffin, acting VA inspector general, told lawmakers his investigators were probing for wrongdoing at 69 agency medical facilities, up from 42 two weeks ago. He said he has discussed evidence of manipulated data with the Justice Department, which he said was still considering whether crimes occurred.
___
AP Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed.
Jurors also heard a recorded jailhouse conversation between Mazzaglia and McDonough less than two weeks after his arrest, in which they discussed plans to marry despite his incarceration.
By LYNNE TUOHY
DOVER, N.H. — The star witness against a man charged with raping and strangling a University of New Hampshire college student from Westborough, Mass., broke down on the stand Tuesday, saying she can't get the image of the victim's death out of her mind.
Kathryn McDonough is a former girlfriend of defendant Seth Mazzaglia, who's charged with first-degree murder in the death of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott on Oct. 9, 2012.
During her fourth day of cross-examination, McDonough began sobbing as she blurted out that she couldn't remember minor details from that night because the image of Mazzaglia strangling Marriott, who was 19, takes over her mind.
Defense attorney Joachim Barth immediately challenged the authenticity of her outburst.
"You cry without tears, Ms. McDonough?" he said.
No tears were visible in her eyes, and she did not reply.
McDonough originally told defense investigators that she and Marriott were engaged in rough sex involving restraints when Marriott died. She said she lied to protect Mazzaglia but changed her story after being given immunity from prosecution. She is serving a 1 1/2-to-3-year sentence after pleading guilty last July to conspiracy, hindering the prosecution and witness tampering. Her plea deal hinges on her testimony against Mazzaglia.
Barth has peppered McDonough with questions in a bid to undermine her credibility. He questioned her about details she omitted from her grand jury testimony last year, including a text message she received from Mazzaglia that she has testified was a coded reference to an imminent sexual advance on Marriott in the Dover apartment the couple shared. She testified she lured Marriott, her friend and co-worker, to the apartment because Mazzaglia wanted women to join their sexual relationship.
Prosecutors say Mazzaglia and McDonough dumped Marriott's body in a river. Marriot would have turned 21 on Tuesday. Her body hasn't been found.
McDonough talked with investigators from Barth's office two days after Mazzaglia's arrest on Oct. 13, 2012. She had testified she told them one of the stories she had Mazzaglia had concocted to cover the killing, saying Marriott had a seizure and died during rough sex.
"In our office you didn't cry, you didn't flinch," Barth pointed out to her Tuesday.
She answered that it was because she was telling them a lie.
"It wasn't real," she said. "I was able to push the images aside and keep up with the fake story I was telling you."
Barth pointed out that, when asked during grand jury testimony last year whether she had anything she wanted to tell Marriott's family, her response had been, "She got into a bad situation."
He contrasted that with her sobbing statement of remorse last week, when she said, "Because of us she never got to live her life."
McDonough testified Tuesday that she has been "at a loss for words" to describe her emotions since Marriott died.
Jurors on Tuesday also heard a recorded jailhouse conversation between Mazzaglia and McDonough less than two weeks after his arrest, in which they discussed plans to marry despite his incarceration.
"I'm sorry it couldn't have a little more pomp and circumstance to it," says Mazzaglia, who is not expected to testify.
McDonough returns Wednesday for a seventh day of testimony.
Barbara Madeloni, 57, noted for her confrontational style, scored a narrow upset victory over the union's vice president Tim Sullivan at last month's annual convention of the 110,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association in Boston.
SPRINGFIELD — The recent election of standardized-testing opponent Barbara Madeloni, of Northampton, as president of the state teachers union taps into the anger and frustration of teachers who feel overburdened in their efforts to carry out mandated, unfunded school programs, Springfield Education Association President Timothy Collins said Tuesday.
Madeloni, 57, noted for her confrontational style, scored a narrow upset victory over the union's vice president Tim Sullivan at last month's annual convention of the 110,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association in Boston.
"It's been a very tough year - with the U.S. Department of Education and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education piling on mandated programs without providing funding," Collins said. "Teachers are frustrated and angry and Madeloni tapped into that emotion," he said.
The Springfield Education Association is affiliated with the state union.
Madeloni, who begins her two-year term on July 15, will succeed outgoing president Paul Toner whose tenure had expired. Toner received widespread praise from state education leaders for his collaborative style, according to a May 22 article in Commonwealth Magazine.
However, the magazine went on to say that Madeloni's election seems to signal a fight against high-stakes testing and recent educational reforms.
During her campaign,Madeloni openly criticized the state teachers union for not fighting teacher assessments and the Common Core, a set of standards adopted by Massachusetts and 43 other states, according to an article in The Boston Globe.
Collins said Madeloni's criticisms are valid. "I've been working on some of these issues for years," he said.
In 2004, Madeloni, a former high school English teacher in South Deerfield and Northampton, she was hired to educate teachers at the University of Massachusetts.
Two years ago, she organized a protest of a new teacher licensing system UMass was piloting. UMass did not renew here contract when it came up.
While the campaign will mark his first run for elected office, Cocchi said he had a wealth of experience in the correctional field.
SPRINGFIELD – Nick Cocchi, deputy chief of security for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, has become the first candidate in the race to replace departing Sheriff Michael J. Ashe.
Cocchi, a 21-year veteran at the department, will announce his candidacy Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
In January, Ashe announced he would not seek reelection in 2016, clearing the way for candidates to seek the post he had held since 1974.
In an interview Tuesday, the 41-year-old Ludlow resident said he wants to continue the mission and programs developed during Ashe’s four-decade tenure.
“Continuity is important,” said Cocchi, who worked summers at Hampden County Correctional Center during college and became a full-time correctional officer after graduating.
While the campaign will mark his first run for elected office, Cocchi said he had a wealth of experience in the correctional field.
“Experience is important. To do this job, you have to know it,” he said.
Before becoming deputy chief of security in 2011, Cocchi worked as assistant superintendent, assistant deputy superintendent for training, and sergeant of the special operations unit, among other positions.
He also serves as commander of the tactical response unit, a position he has held since 2001.
A Ludlow native, Cocchi has three sons, aged 10 to 15, with his wife, Wendi. A former hockey and soccer star for Ludlow High School, Cocchi has coached hockey at the junior level and at Minnechaug High School.
Ashe said he announced his intention to step down two years before the election to give candidates not only a chance to mount a campaign, but also learn the fundamentals of running a correctional department.
Cocchi said the department plays a crucial role in every community in Hampden County, and the public deserves enough time to evaluate candidates and issues.
“The campaign will give the public a chance to know me – who I am and what experience I have,” he said.
Running a correctional department, Cocchi added, “is about service, not about politics.”
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This is the seventh year the contest has been sponsored by Chicopee Electric Light.
CHICOPEE – Katie Boutin admitted she was rooting for the “little guy” and at first it looked like the homeopathic remedy was going to kill the bacteria better than the antibiotic. Then it stopped working.
Boutin, a seventh-grader at St. Stanislaus School, decided to experiment on the best ways to kill bacteria for her seventh-grade science fair. It turned out the Bactrum antibiotic won in the end.
She did as well. Not only did she learn plenty about medicine and antibiotics, Boutin also received first place in the citywide science fair sponsored by Chicopee Electric Light Tuesday.
“I didn’t know much about it and I thought it was interesting,” she said, about her science project.
With her mother’s help, Boutin ordered agar and petri dishes so she could grow her own bacteria samples. After the samples grew, she kept at least one as a control and treated others with garlic and Bactrum.
“The natural remedy worked really well for a while and then it stopped,” she said. “I was hoping it would work because it is natural.”
In the end Boutin said she would have changed a few ways she conducted her experiment, but was happy with the result.
“I think it all depends on personal preference and how your body works,” she said about using homeopathic remedies instead of antibiotics.
Each of the four middle schools in the city, Fairview Veterans, Edward Bellamy, St. Stanislaus and St. Joan, started with school-wide science fairs among all the seventh-graders. The 33 winners of those fairs then went to compete in the city.
A team of a dozen science teachers from the different high schools and several retired teachers volunteered to judge the final contest. The quality was so high, they had to review projects three times before deciding on the winners, said Jill Chapdeline, assistant for curriculum and instructional support who helped organize the fair.
“We are all so proud of you and you are already winners in our eyes because you are all here,” Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. told the students before the winners were announced.
Several students who competed in their schools have also been selected to go on to a regional science fair.
The fair was started when employees for Chicopee Electric Light decided they wanted to get more involved in the schools. A science competition fit well since the company relies on students studying science, math and technology for their future employees, said Jeffrey R. Cady, general manager.
One of the best parts of the competition is students could chose their own subject matter. Projects varied from the elasticity of rubber bands and seeing color to an experiment with a solar oven and testing blood pressure of parents watching children play sports.
The fair began as a competition among fifth graders, but was moved to the seventh-grade because it better fit with the curriculum and all students at that age have a dedicated science teacher and take the subject every day, Chapdeline said.
Along with Boutin, the winners were: Kathryn Elder, second place; Matt Terkelsen, third place and Ben Allard and Brandon Ricardo, honorable mentions. All the students attend Fairview Middle School.
All five students received a certificate and the first three winners also were given a $100 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobel.
Elder’s project was to see if grass would grow in different liquids. She tried water, salt water, Red Bull, Gatorade and vinegar.
“I thought the grass would grow best in Gatorade. I thought the sugars would help in the photosynthesis process,” she said.
Elder said her hypothesis was wrong. The grass thrived in plain water where it grew half as high in Red Bull and less in Gatorade. It did not grow at all in vinegar or salt water.
The 36-member task force also recommended a meeting of New England governors to develop a regional response to the epidemic, and one has been scheduled for June 17 at Brandeis University.
BOSTON - A task force on the opioid addiction epidemic in Massachusetts on Tuesday released a report laying out $20 million in initiatives aimed at tackling substance abuse, including calling for additional treatment beds, a centralized system for patients and families to find treatment services, and a public awareness campaign.
The 36-member task force also recommended a meeting of New England governors to develop a regional response to the epidemic, and one has been scheduled for June 17 at Brandeis University.
According to the task force report, 668 Bay State residents died from unintentional opioid overdoses, an increase of 10 percent over 2011. The number of overdoses increased 90 percent from 2000 to 2012.
Gov. Deval Patrick declared a public health emergency in March. Separately, the Senate passed a bill aimed at providing recovering drug addicts with better access to treatment.
The task force primarily focused on four areas: prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
“There’s more than [$20 million] that you could spend, but I think the task force did a really nice job prioritizing the support that’s needed across those four areas,” said Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz, who joined Patrick at a press conference announcing the task force’s recommendations. The state doesn’t have enough transitional beds for patients in areas that are “high need,” such has Franklin County, Polanowicz added.
“We have other supports in that county but no detox.” Dr. Paul Jeffrey, director of pharmacy for MassHealth and a member of the task force, said the Department of Public Health will develop regulations aimed at encouraging pharmacists to become more proactive about using the state’s prescription drug monitoring database as a tool to find problems and patterns of abuse.
Health officials want doctors and pharmacists to use the prescription monitoring database in a more routine way when they are prescribing or filling opiate prescriptions for someone.
The task force’s 33-page report was rolled out at Ostiguy Recovery High School in downtown Boston. The school is one of four recovery high schools in Massachusetts – located in Springfield, Beverly, Boston, and Brockton – with education officials hoping to eventually open a fifth one in Worcester.
Although the exact cost of the additional services required for President Barack Obama's visit to Worcester Wednesday is not known, it could be in the $200,000 to $225,000 range, Augustus said.
A high profile visitor to Worcester requires additional security, strategic planning and the city's ability to maintain some semblance of normalcy expected by its residents.
When it comes to a high profile visitor at the level of the President of the United States, it requires the city to dip into its coffers to "support" the additional security and ancillary services required to manage his visit.
Tuesday afternoon, City Manager Edward Augustus said that Worcester departments are doing what is necessary to "support the president's visit to the city." Although the exact cost of the additional services required for President Barack Obama's visit to Worcester Wednesday is not known, it could be in the $200,000 to $225,000 range, Augustus said.
Of that amount, roughly $100,000 is expected to be spent on increased city police details, according to Worcester Police Department Spokesperson Sgt. Kelly Hazelhurst.
Obama will be in town for a few hours Wednesday afternoon - the time it takes AirForce One to land at the Worcester Regional Airport, for the president's motorcade to make the nearly 6-mile trek to the DCU Center to deliver the commencement address at the Worcester Technical High School graduation ceremony and for him to then return to the airport to depart for his next Massachusetts-based event of the day, a political fundraiser in Weston.
How will the city cover the associated costs? Augustus said that the city has some money in contingency for unforeseen circumstances and as the fiscal year draws to a close (it ends June 30) not every department will have spent down to the last penny so adjustments can be made.
Although the price tag might seem steep, it's not much compared to what it could cost to market the city through traditional advertising means and is necessary for the city to maintain its level of security coverage throughout the city, including police and fire.
"We are aggressively marketing Worcester as a location for conventions, conferences and the kinds of events that will put people in our hotels and restaurants and create activities in our city because there is a residual benefit not only to our businesses, but to our taxes," Augustus said, adding that the city contributes $500,000 to the Destination Worcester organization.
With a large convention having already taken place at the DCU Center earlier this week, the president's visit on Wednesday and the state Democratic Party's convention, which begins on Thursday and is expected to last throughout the weekend, the economic impact on the city could be in the millions of dollars, according to chamber officials.
"It's a virtuous cycle. If we get more here, we all benefit &emdash; the businesses, the taxpayers, the community," Augustus said.
Overall, the investment is just part of showing Worcester's pride in having the president visit the city and speak to one of its high schools' graduates.
"This is a day to be proud of our city, proud that we have the president paying attention of what we've accomplished with our technical high school, proud that he can land at a vibrant airport that's actually functioning and working. It's a city that is going to show its enthusiasm, regardless of politics. He's the President of the United States," he said.
The report found that 91 municipalities used a newly established expedited process to make changes that saved $95 million in premium costs.
BOSTON - Massachusetts municipalities, including Westfield and Longmeadow, have saved nearly $250 million in health insurance costs in the three years since the state passed municipal health care reform, according to a report released Tuesday by Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor.
Westfield saved more than $1 million and Longmeadow nearly $500,000.
The municipal health care reform allowed cities and towns to conduct an expedited bargaining process with their unions in order to make changes to their health insurance plans. In exchange for committing to a 30-day negotiation period, employees were guaranteed to get a 25 percent share of any health insurance savings to the city, town or school district. Municipalities were allowed to negotiate co-pays and deductibles that were no higher than those in the state's health insurance pool, which is administered by the Group Insurance Commission.
According to the report, 91 municipalities used the expedited process to make changes that saved $95 million in premium costs. Another 166 municipalities saved $152 million through traditional bargaining in ways the report says were "inspired by" the reform.
The law also gave municipalities an option to join the state's health insurance pool, and 22 municipalities have done so.
Pam Kocher, director of local policy for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, said the reform has allowed communities and unions to come to agreements on health costs more quickly, ensuring that municipalities save money while employees are provided with "adequate, accessible health care."
Most of the savings came in 2012, the first year the reforms were implemented.
Several communities in Western Massachusetts were listed in the report.
Westfield saw a particularly high level of savings - $1.2 million in fiscal year 2012. Westfield's treasurer was not available for comment Tuesday.
Longmeadow saved $490,000 using the reform process, and East Longmeadow saved $430,000.
Wakefield and Northampton joined the Group Insurance Commission.
Kocher said the reform came at a time when many municipalities were struggling financially. "They needed a way to help manage their costs to keep those dollars in police officers on the street and in the classroom," she said.
The full report can be found under "Publications and Reports" on the Administration and Finance website.
A boost in the 2015 Springfield budget will help ease the fire department’s staffing woes, but one city councilor is concerned with the department’s allocation of resources.
SPRINGFIELD – A boost in the 2015 Springfield budget will help ease the fire department’s staffing woes, but one city councilor is concerned with the department’s allocation of resources.
An additional 20 personnel in the next year will help bring staffing closer to standard levels, Commissioner Joseph Conant said at Tuesday evening’s budget hearing in the City Council chambers.
Councilor Orlando Ramos raised concerns at the hearing that resources were being cut at a station in his ward.
“At this point I’m considering my options, which include the possibility of proposing cuts to the Fire Department’s budget,” Ramos said in an email.
Ramos said he was frustrated because the cuts to the fire station were made prior to his taking office.
Conant said the department is shifting resources efficiently, including assigning a ladder truck to an area with more multi-story buildings.
“I’ve done my research, and operationally I feel that this is the best…for the department and for the city,” Conant said.
Conant said the proposed budget increase will help with some staffing issues in the department. During the past couple of years, staffing went from more than 290 employees to 240, he said.
Only three firefighters are available for each firefighting apparatus when the standard is four. he said lowering that ratio of firefighters per apparatus damaged efficiency by more than 30 percent.
“With the (new employees), we’ll be up to four — not 100 percent of the time, but closer to it,” Conant said.
The additional members will also make the department more efficient overall because it will no longer pay the overtime hours it has to pay now, he said.
Overall, fire funding will increase by about 4 percent over fiscal year 2014, from just under $19.5 million to about $20.3 million in the proposed 2015 budget.
Seven of the 13 councilors appeared at Tuesday's hearings and also listened to budget presentations from the police, public works, the parking authority, health and human resources, central dispatch, insurance, payroll and capital assets departments.
The Police Department budget increases by about $1.6 million to $40.4 million under the proposed budget. Commissioner John Barbieri said his budget should cover the department for the year.
“My goal is not to ask you for more at any point (this year),” he said. “My goal is to be efficient with what we have.”
Barbieri said the department will now have 529 full-time employees. He hopes to have three or four cadets ready to step in and fill vacancies at all times, which would eliminate salary and performance gaps, he said.
Newly appointed Department of Public Works director Chris Cignoli said the DPW was under budget by about $300,000 in fiscal year 2014 — excluding the snow and ice budget.
That account was up to about $2.1 million in spending, which was about $500,000 more than was budgeted.
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Cignoli said, requires that snow and ice spending levels remain consistent year-over-year. Because it’s not an area in which a budget can be predicted, the city finds ways to shift funding every year to account for it, said T.J. Plante, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer.
The Tuesday night hearing was the last of three budget hearings in recent weeks, and the budget will now go to the City Council as a whole for a vote.
Once, he threatened to "start shooting people" while on the phone with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
and KEN RITTER
LAS VEGAS — Jerad Miller was ready to share his anti-government views with just about anyone who would listen, views that telegraphed his desire to kill police officers and his willingness to die for what he hoped would be a revolution against the government.
He told neighbors, television reporters and the Internet. Once, he threatened to "start shooting people" while on the phone with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
If local or federal authorities were monitoring his online rants and increasingly sharp threats, they aren't saying — not with police still investigating what triggered Miller and his wife to gun down two officers and a third man Sunday before taking their own lives.
Even if Miller had attracted the attention of law enforcement, authorities would have initially been confined to knocking on his door and starting a conversation to try to gauge whether he was a true threat. His opinions were free speech, protected by the First Amendment. And given limited resources and rules against creating government watch lists, it would be impossible to keep tabs on everyone who actively promotes beliefs that may — or may not — turn to violence.
"We can't go around watch-listing folks because they voice anti-government opinions, because they say law enforcement should be killed," said detective Rob Finch, who advocates using social media to monitor extremists in his work with the Greensboro, North Carolina, police department. "There are thousands of people out there that voice these things on the Internet every day. YouTube is filled with them."
Indeed, Miller took to Youtube and Facebook to broadcast his rhetoric.
"In this particular situation, I think we would all be kidding ourselves if we said the signs weren't there," Finch said.
Miller and his wife, Amanda, shot and killed two officers who were on their Sunday lunch break at a pizza parlor, then told patrons that they were starting a revolution, according to police. They went next to a nearby Wal-Mart, where Amanda Miller killed a shopper who confronted her husband before police arrived.
After a gun battle inside the store, Amanda Miller fatally shot her husband and then herself, police said.
Neither the FBI nor Las Vegas police would comment on whether they were aware of Jerad Miller's threats, and if so whether they took any action.
In January, Miller called a recorded help line of the Indiana BMV after he was pulled over in Nevada and found to have a suspended license from the state he had recently left. At the end of the call, Miller said, "If they come to arrest me for noncompliance or whatever, I'm just going to start shooting people," according to agency spokeswoman Danielle Dean.
The agency contacted Nevada's Department of Public Safety and provided a copy of the recording, which the department's investigation division forwarded to a state-run threat analysis center on Jan. 22, spokeswoman Gail Powell said. Upon learning that Miller lived in Las Vegas, the threat center forwarded the information to the Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Center, a combined project of federal, state and local authorities. What happened next is unclear; the counterterrorism center did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
While it would have been hard to pick Miller out of the sea of other extremists, he did make efforts to identify himself publicly during a spring standoff between supporters of southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and federal agents who wanted to round up Bundy's cattle.
In an interview with a television reporter that aired in April, Miller said that he didn't want an armed confrontation, but "if they are going to come bring violence to us, well, if that's the language they want to speak, we'll learn it."
Bundy's family said in a statement Tuesday that the Millers were at their ranch for a few days before other protesters began to express concern about Jerad's "aggressive nature and volatility." Leaders of militias that had also come to the ranch asked the Millers to leave and one gave them "a few hundred dollars ... because the Millers said they had sold everything and had nothing to live on."
Jerad Miller's television exposure could have caught the attention of authorities, said Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist groups.
"It is good practice for authorities to learn who these people are because these are people seemingly willing to get involved in an armed standoff," he said.
Even then, absent an overt criminal act, authorities would have been limited to a "knock and talk" — a conversation with Miller to see what threat he might pose. Federal guidelines restrict what kind of intelligence law enforcement can gather, and keep, on suspected extremists, Pitcavage noted.
What's more, the U.S. government had until last week suspended a group dedicated to studying and preventing acts of domestic terrorism. Attorney General Eric Holder said the group, to include the FBI and Justice Department lawyers, would be reconstituted. It disbanded following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when the government's attention shifted to foreign militants.
Authorities would also have been limited in their response if the Millers' neighbors had called police, though apparently none was moved to do so.
At their apartment complex in a hardscrabble area of Las Vegas — where Miller would walk around in camouflage with a handgun visible on his hip — neighbors said Miller openly shared his hatred of police. But it wasn't clear that he intended to act.
"Jerad never directly told me he was going to go off and pop cops," said Drew Flory, who lived next door to the couple for about a month.
Meanwhile, at the Indiana home of Jerad Miller's mother, a sign on the door read: "We are profoundly saddened, confused and in shock over the senseless actions of our son and his wife."
Law enforcement personnel managed to quickly repulse the attack by as many as three gunmen, an assault claimed by a resurgent Taliban who warned its violence "wasn't over yet."
By ADIL JAWAD
and REBECCA SANTANA
KARACHI, Pakistan — Gunmen in Pakistan attacked a training facility for airport police near the Karachi airport Tuesday, forcing a temporary suspension of flights and triggering a brief shootout with security forces just days after a Taliban assault on the country's busiest airfield.
Law enforcement personnel managed to quickly repulse the attack by as many as three gunmen, an assault claimed by a resurgent Taliban who warned its violence "wasn't over yet."
And as Pakistan launched new airstrikes on militants in its northwestern tribal region, questions arose whether Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would abandon government-sponsored peace talks with them for an aggressive military offensive.
Television stations aired footage of security guards frantically taking up positions behind buildings or earthen berms at the training facility, roughly 1 kilometer (a half mile) from Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, where the Taliban attacked Sunday night. The Pakistani military also sent soldiers to assist.
Airport Security Force spokesman Ghulam Abbas Memon said two to three gunmen tried to enter the training academy from two different entrances.
"Our men retaliated and repulsed" the gunmen, Memon said.
Col. Tahir Ali, a senior official with the Airport Security Force, said two militants fired toward a hostel for female employees on the academy grounds. He said no one was hurt.
The Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for running the country's airports, initially said on Twitter that all flights at the airport were suspended but later reported that operations had resumed.
"The aim of the attackers was to create a panic, and we shouldn't be playing into their hands," the head of the airport security force, Azam Khan, told Pakistani television.
The attackers escaped into the vast slum that borders the airport. Karachi is a sprawling city of at least 18 million people, and members of the Pakistani Taliban in recent years have migrated to the city from the northwest to escape military operations and drone strikes there. The result has been a steep deterioration in Karachi's security.
Tuesday's firefight came on the heels of a ferocious siege Sunday night by 10 Taliban fighters who stormed a VIP and cargo terminal at the Karachi airport in an attack that killed 26 people and the Taliban gunmen. At least 11 members of the Airport Security Force were killed during that attack.
Pakistani authorities discovered more bodies from that siege Tuesday morning. Airport authorities found seven bodies in a burned building at the airport, charred beyond recognition, said the head of the Karachi Municipal Corporation, Rauf Akhtar Farooqi.
The discovery of the bodies, roughly a day after Pakistani officials said the airport had been secured, will raise more questions about security at the country's busiest airport.
Relatives of the dead reported receiving telephone calls from their loved ones trapped inside the burning building.
"The last I spoke to him, he said there was intense firing going on and that a building was also on fire," said Junaidul Haq, whose brother died. Pakistani media reported that the seven were airport workers who hid from the fighting but got trapped and burned to death.
The head of the Civil Aviation Authority, Mohammad Yusuf, said authorities tried twice to reach the burning building during the siege but came under fire. After security officials cleared the airport, they went back to search the building because there were reports of people trapped inside.
The Pakistani Taliban has been trying to overthrow the government and establish its hard-line rule across the country. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government repeatedly has tried to negotiate with the militants to end the fighting but those efforts have collapsed.
The airport attack has raised questions about whether Sharif, who campaigned on peace talks with the Taliban, will continue to pursue the negotiations policy or choose a more aggressive, military response. Supporters of peace talks argue that negotiations are the only way to end the cycle of violence, while critics say a deal will allow militants to regroup and strike back with more force.
Early Tuesday, Pakistani military airstrikes targeted the Tirah Valley in the country's northwest. The military said it killed 25 suspected militants in strikes on nine hideouts, but the information could not be independently verified. The area is part of a lawless terrain along the Afghan border that is home to a mix of local militants and al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters.
Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Move will free main building for development, possibly as senior housing, to help congregation meet expenses.
HOLYOKE – The decision to move 30 retired Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield from the Mont Marie Motherhouse, to other locations is to being done to free the main building for revenue-generating development, possibly as additional housing for seniors, according to the order.
The announcement comes in the midst of planning a major fund-raising campaign to address the order's dire financial condition, bringing both pain and affirmation to the congregation of women religious, who have ministered for more than a century here. The move still means more than half of the congregation will continue to live within a 15-mile radius of the property.
"There is great sadness for everyone. For everyone among them, who is moving a greater distance away, and for rest of us. Many of them are frail elders, for whom change is a difficult. But, we had unanimous vote to do this, and everyone of them voted to do it," said Sister Maxyne D. Schneider, president of the congregation that was invited, more than 130 years ago, by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, to staff its schools and parishes.
"Just a year ago, we made public the state of our finances, and that if we continued operations as usual, we would be without cash assets by 2017, or 2018. We couldn't allow that to happen. We resolved to do what we needed to do, and to make choices that would allow us to care for every one of our Sisters through out her lifetime. That is the easy part – not letting this dire circumstances happen. The not-so-easy part comes down to implementation. Sharing retirement facilities with two other communities involves change, and leaving family but, the Sisters will be in a religious environment, with others who share a life commitment and they will be cared for."
The congregation is also relocating its administrative offices to the former rectory at Mary, Mother of Hope Parish in East Springfield. This move, Schneider said, means the most expensive portion of Mount Marie, the first and second floors of the main building, now used as office space, and as living space by the vacating retired Sisters, will be completely free. There are also two other vacant buildings on the property that the congregation, which is in talks with developers, hopes to turn into a source of revenue, possibly as additional affordable housing for seniors.
The Mont Marie Health Care Center and the two existing HUD-supported senior housing facilities, the St. Joseph Residence at Mont Marie and the Mont Marie Senior Residence, will not be affected by the move.
The congregation's motherhouse, built to serve the large numbers of women who entered during the 1960s, has become a financial burden for the order, whose members now number 238, about two-and-a-half times the size of the average congregation of women religious, with a median age of 76. Many of the members continue to work, or volunteer, but few earn full-time salaries outside the community.
A total of 22 Sisters are moving out of the diocese, to the Fontbonne Convent, in Milton, or to the Bethany Health Care Center, or the St. Joseph Sisters' Residence, which are connected facilities in Framingham. All three properties are owned by the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. In addition, a few Sisters will move into an apartment in Brighton, also owned by the CSJ's, to help with the move. Another group will move into the infirmary or housing of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, in Holyoke.
"Even with the retired Sisters moving from the building, we will have 70 Sisters living on the property, either in the health care center, or in the HUD-supported housing," Schneider said.
A former chemistry teacher at Cathedral High School, in Springfield, and the Elms College, in Chicopee, Schneider, 71, lives in HUD-supported housing at Mont Marie,
Schneider said the Sisters being relocated have visited their new quarters. She said the congregation also held a "day of reflection and prayer" on June 9, led by Sister of Assumption Nancy Sheridan, whose congregation went through a similar transition.
Many congregations of religious women in the United States are facing severe financial problems, with a national average median age of members in the 70s. This means more retired Sisters, than those working to support an order, and this, along with other long-term contributing factors, have caused a number, like the SSJs, to enact cost-saving measures.
In her viewpoint article, published last spring in The Republican and on Masslive.com, in conjunction with a series on the economic plight of the SSJs. Schneider outlined a number of causal factors for this situation faced by diocesan Sisters, like the SSJs, who worked for decades in parish schools. Their only payment came in the form of a stipend, between $20 to $50 a month, and included no medical, or other benefits.
Of her congregation, Schneider stated, in the article, that members "learned during the past year this stark truth: We will be without any remaining cash assets before the end of this decade, unless we make very significant changes. We cannot allow this to happen, since we will still have 200 sisters with a median age of nearly 80 who will require food, housing and medical care."
It was only in the 1980s that Sisters, working in schools and parishes, began to receive base salaries, generally without benefits, and were allowed by the IRS to start buying into Social Security. Schneider noted, in her article, that her community transformed its "own infirmary to a licensed, skilled-nursing facility," accessed MassHealth services for the retired sisters and established a retirement account that, to date, has only about one-quarter in funds in terms of the meeting the congregation's needs.
Response to The Republican series, brought $250,000 in unsolicited funds to the congregation. In November of 2013, parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which includes Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties, took up a one-time designated special collection for the sisters, garnering more than $625,000. The outpouring helped, but did no solve order's problem. "The need is simply considerably greater," Schneider said at the time.
Sister Annmarie Sanders, of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and a Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said congregations pooling retirement resources is a "trend throughout the whole country."
"It is big help when a large congregation, which has provided a retirement facility for members, now finds itself with a lot of empty space. This is a very serious situation, as there is a large number of such congregations, with elderly religious. It is a hugh concern in the Church right now. It helps when congregations can come together.
