Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn is willing to end its agreement with the city even sooner than the scheduled expiration date.

Updated at 10:08 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014 to note the City Council referred to committee an order to invite in Heather Egan to a council meeting to discuss issues related to her exit agreement.

HOLYOKE -- The City Council Tuesday (Aug. 5) treated as a procedural matter a notice that a Springfield law firm wants to cease representing the city when its current contract expires -- if not sooner -- in relation to the issue of the Heather Egan exit agreement.

The council later also voted to refer to its Finance Committee an order from Councilor Daniel B. Bresnahan inviting Egan, who was city solicitor until resigning April 29, to attend a City Council meeting to discuss the issues related to her exit agreement.

Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn said in the June 27 letter to Mayor Alex B. Morse the firm was taking the "extraordinary" step of exercising its right to give notice of intent not to renew its agreement with the city because of harsh treatment it has received by the city.

"We are constrained to avoid the risk of dispatching any of our colleagues to possibly endure the proclivity of similar abuse and unfounded, public defamatory professional attacks unleashed merely because of the exercise of the highest professional ethics and competence on behalf of the citizens of Holyoke," Frederick L. Sullivan said in the firm's letter.

That's apparently a reference to councilors having criticized how the firm handled the case of Egan, whom Morse has said resigned for personal reasons.

Most of the criticism of councilors and others has been aimed at Morse for approving a $45,000 exit agreement for Egan but refusing to say why. Morse and lawyers with Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn have said why Egan was paid must remain confidential in order to respect her privacy rights under the law.

Councilors argued that taxpayers have a right to know why $45,000 of their money was paid to Egan in such an exit agreement.

They also criticized the firm for not including the City Council as among officials who received access to the privileged details related to the Egan case.

In the law firm's letter, Sullivan said the firm will continue to work on the two current cases it is handling for the city, but the firm suggested the city consider other law firms if additional cases that require outside counsel arise.

The firm also would be agreeable to ending its agreement with the city before the scheduled July 31, 2016 termination, he said.

"Again, we will diligently and ethically meet our professional obligations under the agreement due to expire in 2016 if the same is requested of us," Sullivan said.

The council received the letter with little discussion.

"What exactly does that mean? So now are we going out for (a request for proposals) for a new company?" Councilor at James M. Leahy said.

That's correct, but that step is the responsibility of the mayor and not the council, President Kevin A. Jourdain said.

"At this point, it's really out of our hands," Jourdain said.

Bresnahan said he filed the order to invite in Egan to give her the chance to address the issues that have arisen, given that Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn and Morse have had their own similar opportunities.

"It really speaks for itself," Bresnahan said.

Sullivan

James Myers of West Chester faces charges, including animal cruelty and drug possession. He's in custody and can't be reached for comment.

EXTON, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania veterinarian has used an overdose reversal drug to save a kitten that had been given heroin.

James Myers.Chester County District Attorneyâs Office 

Police said Tuesday they arrested the suburban Philadelphia man who abused the cat.

James Myers, 24, of West Chester faces charges, including animal cruelty and drug possession. He's in custody and can't be reached for comment. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

Police in West Whiteland Township say an officer spotted Myers' car parked in the middle of a street Sunday with a door open.

The officer said under the door he saw an injured black kitten with a rope around its neck and several teeth knocked out. Police say they found bundles of heroin and dozens of needles in the car.

Authorities say the kitten was choked with a rope and given heroin.Chester County District Attorneyâs Office

Authorities say the veterinarian revived the cat with Narcan, an antidote for opium-based drug overdoses.

District Attorney Tom Hogan told the CBS station in Philadelphia: "The abuse of this kitten was a singularly depraved act. Heroin addicts abuse themselves, animals, and childrenwithout remorse or regret. What punishment is severe enough for this type of evil?"

Selectmen urged Comcast to keep a customer service office open in Ludlow.

LUDLOW – After asking many questions, selectmen Tuesday night gave their assent to a transfer of the town’s cable television license from Charter Communications to Comcast Corporation.

Selectman Carmina Fernandes said she hopes Comcast makes customer service a priority when it takes over the license.

Selectman Brian Mannix urged Comcast to keep the Ludlow office open when it takes over the cable television license.

“We want an office in Ludlow,” Mannix said. He said Ludlow customers to not want to go to a supercenter office in a shopping mall.

There are many Ludlow customers, and they deserve a Ludlow office, Mannix said.

Fernandes said that “Customer service is how you grow a business.” She said that if Comcast does not provide good customer service, customers will abandon cable. Some will rely on Netflix, she said.

In answer to a question, Comcast representative Gerry Buckley told the Board of Selectmen that the cable contract in Ludlow will continue to offer a Portuguese channel to its customers.

Buckley said that Comcast will honor all aspects of the Charter contract with the town when it takes over the cable television license.

Charter Communications customers in Massachusetts are among the 1.6 million cable customers Charter plans to swap with Comcast as part of Comcast’s $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable which was announced in February.
In Western Massachusetts, Charter provides cable and other communications services, phones and Internet in Belchertown, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Hadley, Hampden, Ludlow, Southampton, Wilbraham and a few other communities. All told, Charter represents 53 cities and towns in Massachusetts.
Buckley said the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice must give final approval to the license transfer.

“You’re just asking for our blessing because it helps you look better,” Fernandes said.

Thomas Cohan, representative for Charter Communications, said that currently 66 percent of the homes in Ludlow have cable through Charter.

None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, fire department officials said.

By VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK — A crash involving two double-decker tour buses injured 14 people and left Times Square blood-spattered on Tuesday afternoon.

Tourist Cara McCaskill, of Winnipeg, Canada, saw the scene of the accident moments after it happened as she walked out of her hotel.

"I saw fire trucks trying to get through all the crazy traffic," the 16-year-old said. "And I saw ambulances and blood on the ground."

None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, fire department officials said.

The accident happened at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, an area teeming with tourists near the TKTS discount Broadway ticket booth. A stretch of Seventh Avenue was shut down for hours.

Witnesses said a Gray Line tour bus rolled into the area at a high speed.

Fire department spokesman Jim Long said the bus then crashed into the other bus. A yellow traffic light toppled, its metal pole lying on a pedestrian strip. Long declined to give other details pending an investigation.

An Irish tourist, Rose Cantillon, was nearby but wasn't injured.

"I was sitting on a bench, and I turned around and heard screaming, and I just ran," she said.

Telephone calls seeking comment from Gray Line and the other tour bus company, CitySights, weren't immediately returned Tuesday.

No medical marijuana proposal currently is being proposed in Holyoke, but councilors said it was important to establish rules in case one surfaces.

HOLYOKE -- The City Council voted 11-2 Tuesday (Aug. 5) to establish an ordinance to regulate a medical marijuana dispensary by requiring that such a facility get a special permit from the council.

No specific proposal to establish such a facility is being considered, but councilors said it was important to have a zoning rule in place with the likelihood such a proposal might surface.

A proposal had been in the works to put a medical marijuana facility at the former Cubit Wire & Cable Co. Inc. building at 181 Appleton St., but that fell through in June.

The ordinance adopted was a compromise. Some councilors and Planning Board members had favored requiring that approval of a medical marijuana facility be done by site plan review overseen by what they said were city planning specialists.

But other councilors argued an establishment that provides marijuana, medical or otherwise, amounted to a public safety matter that should be subject to City Council review.

A step removed from original versions of the measure was a requirement that a buffer zone be placed around such a facility, say, to ensure it would be 100 feet away from a school. Those who agreed to support the ordinance and who had preferred the Planning Board-site plan review version said no buffer was needed if such facilities can be only in industrial zones and are subject to City Council special permit scrutiny.

Massachusetts voters in 2012 permitted medical marijuana facilities by approving a statewide ballot question, 63 percent to 37 percent.

Marijuana is prescribed as pain relief for nausea, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other conditions.

"It is a medical use. It is a pharmaceutical use. The law says this shouldn't be any different than for a CVS," Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Rebecca Lisi said.

Councilor at Large James M. Leahy said it was proper that approval of such a facility be in the hands of the City Council, but he was concerned that buffers wouldn't be required.

"This is a very important vote tonight," Leahy said.

"I thought it was a good compromise," council President Kevin A. Jourdain said.

"We have a choice of creating some type of zoning or no zoning at all," Ward 7 Councilor Gordon P. Alexander said. "But let's get something on the books."

Voting to adopt the ordinance were councilors Gladys Lebron-Martinez, Anthony Soto, David K. Bartley, Jossie M. Valentin, Linda L. Vacon, Howard B. Greaney, Joseph M. McGiverin, Peter R. Tallman, Lisi, Jourdain and Alexander.

Voting against the ordinance were councilors Daniel B. Bresnahan and Leahy.

Councilors Todd A. McGee and Jennifer Chateauneuf were absent.

The state Executive Office of Health and Human Services June 27 denied a license to a group headed by Heriberto Flores, president of the New England Farm Workers Council, intended for 181 Appleton St. The state decision was in relation to the state auditor in May questioning Flores' $450,000 salary at the council, on top of the $450,000 salary he collects from an affiliated non-profit, plus questioning travel expenses and other administrative records the auditor believed was lacking.

William M. Bennett, Flores' lawyer, has said that the decision to deny the license was improper and unfair and a review is being sought of the auditor's report to vindicate Flores.

Several National Night Out Against Crime events were planned in Springfield and across Western Massachusetts.

SPRINGFIELD — The state's third-largest city has its share of crime, but on Tuesday night residents across Springfield rallied against the violence that plagues some city neighborhoods by taking part in America's Night Out Against Crime.

The annual initiative aims to combat crime and strengthen police-community partnerships, and locals typically embrace the effort by organizing gatherings that bring together citizens and police officers for cookouts and other activities.

Springfield's Old Hill Neighborhood Council sponsored a State Street event with free food and activities for children. "All Old Hill, Bay and McKnight residents are welcome," neighborhood council member Anita Yates said.

The East Forest Park Civic Association sponsored a gathering at Nathan Bill Park, where Anthony Gulluni, a local assistant prosecutor who's running for district attorney, joined the crowd.

"As a resident of Forest Park and candidate for district attorney here in Hampden County, I am proud to participate in this collective effort to ensure that our community is a safe place to live," he said in a news release.

Several other Night Out events took place in Springfield, including a large gathering with grilling and entertainment at Kenefick Park in the Brightwood section of the city's North End.

But the city wasn't the only Western Mass community to take part in the crime-fighting initiative, which was launched in 1984.

In Agawam, police and members of the public enjoyed some carnival-like fun at Agawam High School, including face-painting, hotdogs, popcorn and beverages.

In Chicopee, crowds gathered at Sarah Jane Park, where city officials, police and firefighters participated in a flashlight walk around the neighborhood. There was also music, free hotdogs, a bounce house for kids and a chicken wing-eating contest, among other things.

And up in Amherst, the UMass Police Department participated in National Night Out for the first time, organizing an event at the Robsham Memorial Center for Visitors at UMass.

Gov. Patrick had offered to place children at Westover or Camp Edwards and Otis Air Force base. Watch video

CHICOPEE — Westover Air Reserve Base will not become a temporary placement center for undocumented children who have entered the country illegally over the past few months.

Mayor Richard J. Kos said he received a communication from Gov. Deval L. Patrick Tuesday saying officials have decided not to use the base in Chicopee.

About two weeks ago Patrick announced that he answered President Obama's call asking states to help house the children, who are mainly from Central America. He said the children would be housed at either Westover or Camp Edwards on Cape Cod for no more than four months.

In a communication with Gov. Patrick’s Chief of Staff Rick Sullivan Chicopee officials were told neither base is being considered, Kos said.

State officials learned of the decision Tuesday. Emily Barson, principal deputy director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in an email to state officials that since early July the number of unaccompanied minors along the southwest border has dropped and the number of children in Customs and Border Protection custody has fallen. She said the Department of Health and Human Services is increasing the number of children released to sponsors and has expanded capacity to care for children in standard shelters, rather than temporary shelters, said Jesse Mermell, Patrick's spokesman.

"I have been deeply moved by the outpouring of support we have seen from across the Commonwealth, as over 1,600 of our neighbors reached out to express their support for children who are alone and thousands of miles from home," Patrick said in a written statement. "Once again the people of Massachusetts have displayed great generosity and compassion. It appears that there is not a need for Massachusetts to serve these children at this time, but I am proud of our willingness to do so."

But locally fewer were supportive of the plan. Two weeks about 100 people protesting the plan staged a rally outside Westover. The status of a second one planned for Aug. 10 was not immediately known.

“I appreciate getting this communication from the governor’s office and feel that it is the appropriate decision,” Kos said.

Kos opposed the idea since it was first announced. Last week he and Sen. Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee held a press conference asking Patrick to visit Westover to discuss the proposal more in depth. Patrick refused, but said he would send another representative.

"I said all along it did not make sense. Westover is an active air reserve base, the largest in the country, and they did not have the housing," Kos said.

In addition there were security issues about allowing children on the base, he said.

Wagner called for Patrick to work with local communities before making major decisions like using Westover for undocumented children.

"Perhaps the lesson for the governor, going forward, is to not put the cart before the horse and to instead have a thoughtful dialogue with potential regions or communities of impact before making major policy pronouncements," Wagner said.

Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield, said he had not received official notice but was equally pleased that the bases are no longer being considered. He said he felt neither had appropriate facilities for housing for children.

"I am pleased and relieved to hear the message. It was the right decision," he said.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said he approved of the change.

“I applaud the decision of the Obama administration not to send unaccompanied migrant youths to Massachusetts,” Neal said in a statement. “While there is a real humanitarian crisis on the border, housing children in military bases like Westover makes little or no sense. We should now take this opportunity to come together in a bi-partisan manner to fix our broken immigration system.”

RELATED:

Gov. Deval Patrick: "I am proud of our willingness" to serve immigrant children »

Federal government told Massachusetts officials in June immigrant children were overwhelming facilities »

Congressman Stephen Lynch is not thrilled with a proposed condominium development near his South Boston home.

BOSTON — U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch is not thrilled with a proposed condominium development near his South Boston home.

The 13 year congressman expressed frustration with the parking situation in South Boston during a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on a planned condominium project at 408 East 8th St. The proposed project would convert a single family home into eight separate condominium units with 14 parking spaces.

The Boston Herald reported that Lynch explained to the board that he uses a bike to get to and from his on-street parking spot in South Boston, often having to park several streets away from his home.

Lynch told the board that people are afraid to leave their homes not because of violence or crime but because they will lose their parking spot.

Parking in South Boston has always been an issue in the neighborhood, particularly during winter, but as the neighborhood has gentrified parking spaces have become an even more highly prized commodity.

The 408 East 8th Street property is currently a single family home on a 6,384 square foot lot with an assessed value of $523,300.

In order for the project to move forward it must receive approval from the ZBA, something it will grant or deny at a later date.

In 2012 the ZBA rejected the project because of community opposition but a Superior Court judge asked them to reconsider the project later that year.

The mayor can authorize a meeting of the City Council and School Committee to vote to fill a School Committee vacancy.

HOLYOKE -- Cesar A. Lopez, Ward 4 School Committee member, has bought a home in Chicopee and Erin Brunelle, Ward 7 School Committee member, is close to buying one in Ward 4, but what that means for those wards' representation is unclear.

Lopez, who lives at 189 Pine St., has bought 14 Baril Lane, in Chicopee, as of July 28, according to online records of the Hampden County Register of Deeds.

But Lopez at Monday's School Committee meeting refused to say if he will be moving out of Ward 4 and Holyoke all together, to live in Chicopee, or perhaps will rent out the Chicopee property.

"I don't have nothing to say to you. I will say it to the mayor and superintendent," Lopez said.

Mayor Alex B. Morse, chairman of the School Committee, and School Superintendent Sergio Paez said Lopez hasn't disclosed his plans.

The city charter states that an elected office is considered vacant if the person elected to that office ceases to be a city resident, according to an Aug. 1 opinion that city staff attorney Sara J. Carroll provided to Morse.

Meanwhile, Brunelle, of 611 Northampton St., said she is scheduled close late next month on the purchase of a house at 243 Oak St. in Ward 4. That's the current home of Timothy W. Purington, former Ward 4 city councilor.

Brunelle said Monday she expects that she will continue living in the Ward 7 house at least until Thanksgiving and then move into the house in Ward 4. At that point, she said, options include resigning as Ward 7 representative and possibly seeking the Ward 4 seat, if Lopez has vacated, in a special election.

"If I resign at all, I won't be resigning until Thanksgiving," Brunelle said. "As of right now, I don't intend to resign until we move into Oak Street."

The School Committee has 10 members: one from each of the seven wards, two at large and the mayor as chairman. Each School Committee member is paid $5,000 a year.

When a vacancy occurs on the School Committee, the city charter states that the mayor will call a meeting of the City Council and School Committee and the vacancy will be filled by majority vote of those two bodies.

That's how John G. Whelihan was elected to his current position of School Committee at large in February.

Proving or disproving residency can be difficult. Carroll notes in the legal opinion that an election conducted by councilors and school board members to fill a School Committee seat cannot take place until the seat is deemed vacant. She interprets the charter as giving the School Committee authority to determine whether a seat is vacant on the basis that the elected office holder "is no longer a resident of the city."

In that case, Carroll said, the School Committee can take a vote based on available evidence that a seat is vacant and then ask the mayor to convene a vote of the City Council and School Committee to fill the seat.

Questions about residency and representation on the School Committee aren't new. Joshua A. Garcia, formerly the Ward 1 member, moved to Ward 6 during his term and then ran for the Ward 6 seat in the November election, losing to long-time incumbent William R. Collamore.

Yvonne Garcia, former Ward 2 School Committee member, didn't run for reelection last year after missing numerous meetings because of illness.

The two Super PACs that supported Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh in the closing days of the 2013 election are settling claims that they violated Massachusetts campaign finance laws with a state watchdog agency

BOSTON — The two Super PACs that supported Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh in the closing days of the 2013 election are settling claims that they violated Massachusetts campaign finance laws with a state watchdog agency.

The two groups behind $500,000 in pro-Walsh TV ads, One New Jersey and One Boston, have agreed to pay $30,000 into the Commonwealth's general fund for campaign finance law violations that occurred during the 2013 Boston mayoral race. The $500,000 powering the two groups originated with the American Federation of Teachers, a national organization for teacher unions, something that did not become known until after the 2013 election.

The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance found, mainly, that One New Jersey failed to identify itself as a political committee in Massachusetts and that One Boston failed to disclose the true origins of its donations. OCPF found in total that the two groups committed five violations of state campaign finance law.

Both organizations deny they violated state campaign finance laws but agreed to settle with OCPF by paying the $30,000.

Multiple attempts to reach One New Jersey and One Boston, including Jocelyn Hutt of One Boston, for comment were unsuccessful.

The American Federation of Teachers did issue a statement to MassLive that said they complied with the law. "When AFT was asked for and made its contribution to fund a positive TV ad in connection with last year's mayoral election, we
disclosed the contribution on our public reports of political activity as
is required by law." said Michael Powell, a special assistant to the AFT president.

Powell insisted in his statement they support full disclosure when it comes to campaign finance laws.

The Walsh campaign issued the following statement to MassLive:

"Mayor Walsh and his campaign staff take seriously compliance with campaign finance laws. Mayor Walsh and the campaign were unaware of the past activities of the PAC and the non-profit. Mayor Walsh was not aware of these alleged activities until today."

A copy of the settlement is below.

One Boston One New Jersey Violations

The graduates are 13 from Holyoke High and six from Dean Tech.

Updated at 10:31 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 to include Superintendent Sergio Paez praising the graduates and the staff who worked with them.

HOLYOKE -- Nineteen students have completed summer school and will receive high school diplomas in a ceremony Thursday (Aug. 7).

"I'm proud of all their work and dedication, and in particular, of their families to continue the support at home and to take advantage of the opportunity to finish high school," Superintendent Sergio Paez said.

The ceremony will be at 9 a.m. at Holyoke High School, 500 Beech St., a press release from the School Department said.

The event consists of 13 students from Holyoke High School and six from Dean Technical High School, the press release said.

Summer classes to help students get the credits needed to graduate from high school are among numerous programs the public schools offer during the break. They include additional instruction for students in grades kindergarten to two and programs in reading, music, theater and other areas.

"It is very exciting for me to see this group of students graduating during the summer," Paez said. "It really shows how we offered opportunities for students to complete their academic requirements.

"Students for different reasons are not able to complete all course required during the year but having multiple opportunities to earn their credits is what a good distinct needs to do to support all students. Once they graduate they can continue pursuing their academic goals in college."

Paez also praised the teachers and staff who worked with such students during the summer.

"I'm sure it is very rewarding for them as well as it is for me to see our students crossing the finish line," Paez said.

Russia already is showing signs of economic dismay from sanctions imposed earlier this year.

By YURAS KARMANAU

DONETSK, Ukraine — The steadily advancing Ukrainian army is setting its sights on the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, while Western officials on Wednesday warned that a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border could herald a major incursion to protect the separatists.

President Vladimir Putin has resisted mounting pressure from Russian nationalists to send the army in to back the mutiny in eastern Ukraine. Even though the U.S. and NATO would be unlikely to respond militarily, the West would be certain to impose major sanctions that would put the shaky Russian economy on its knees — and could quickly erode Putin's power.

Russia already is showing signs of economic dismay from sanctions imposed earlier this year, and U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said U.S. sanctions against Russia are straining the country's economy.

But Putin on Wednesday showed Moscow aims to fight back, calling on government agencies to develop a list of agricultural imports from sanctions-imposing countries that could be banned for up to a year.

The state news agency RIA Novosti later quoted an official from Russia's plant and veterinary oversight service as saying all U.S. agricultural products would fall under the ban.

"When you see the buildup of Russian troops and the sophistication of those troops, the training of those troops, the heavy military equipment that's being put along that border, of course it's a reality. It's a threat, it's a possibility — absolutely," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday. U.S. and NATO officials say there are now about 20,000 Russian troops massed just east of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Kiev government since April. Ukraine and Western countries have accused Moscow of backing the mutiny with weapons and soldiers, a claim the Russian government has repeatedly denied.

The West has also accused Russia of most likely providing the insurgents with surface-to-air missiles that may have been used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. The prime minister of The Netherlands, whose nationals made up more than half of the victims, said Wednesday that the search for victims' remains is being halted because fighting in the area of the crash site makes it too dangerous to continue.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he believed "the threat of a direct intervention (by Russia) is definitely greater than it was a few days ago, or two weeks ago."

A U.S. official said that U.S. intelligence shows Russian forces continue to shell Ukrainian positions from inside Russian territory and send heavy weaponry - including artillery, armored vehicles and air defense equipment - from a separatist training facility in southwest Russia. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.

Adding to the concern is Russia's proposal in recent days for a humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine.

"We share the concern that Russia could use the pretext of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission to send troops into eastern Ukraine," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in an e-mailed statement.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Kiev on Thursday to meet President Petro Poroshenko and other officials.

Humanitarian concerns are rising as Ukrainian forces come closer to encircling the city of Donetsk and continue their fight against the pro-Russia rebels in the large city of Luhansk.

Moscow has pushed for a cease-fire in the east, but the Ukrainian government has appeared bent on riding the momentum of a series of recent military advances to crush the rebels.

On Wednesday, Putin ordered government agencies to draw up a list of food and agricultural products to be banned. The order indicated that Russia has no inclination to back down over Ukraine, but could show it is trying to force a resolution to the conflict by non-military means.

While an overt military move into Ukraine would be deeply risky for Russia, Putin also faces agitation from nationalists who want Russia to take more assertive action.

Aleksandr Dugin, a prominent nationalist ideologue, wrote on his Facebook page this week that Luhansk faces a siege like that of Leningrad in WWII -- an analogy resonating in the heart of patriotic fervor. The nearly 900-day siege by the Nazis is one of Russia's major touchstones of suffering and valor.

"Luhansk has to be saved urgently, otherwise it will be the same baseness as the military aid that wasn't shown" earlier when nationalists were calling for Russia to intervene, he wrote.

In the Kalininsky neighborhood only 5 kilometers (3 miles) east of Donetsk's central square, rebels and civilians were milling around outside after a night of what many said they believed were Ukrainian air strikes. There were eight craters at the scene that appeared to be the result of aerial bombing.

In another rebel stronghold, the city of Horlivka about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Donetsk, the city council said in Wednesday's statement that 33 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded by shelling over the past few days. The claim couldn't be independently verified.

As the Ukrainian military intensified its campaign against the rebels, heavily populated areas have increasingly come under attack. Kiev adamantly denies launching artillery barrage and air raids against residential neighborhoods and accuses the rebels of firing at civilian areas. The government has offered little evidence to prove its claims, which Human Rights Watch and others have questioned.

Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko categorically denied Wednesday that Ukrainian airplanes have carried out airstrikes on Donetsk, Luhansk or other cities and residential areas.

Alexander Pivko, an emergency worker at the scene, didn't believe it.

"It was an aerial attack, and two warehouse workers were injured," he said, adding that no one in the neighborhood had been killed.

The only buildings damaged in this industrial neighborhood were a warehouse, a boiler room and an auto repair shop. But one crater from an explosion was only 10 meters (30 feet) away from a nearby residential building.

"I ran with my two children to hide in the basement after the first strike," said Marina Sibekina, a 30-year-old teacher. "A plane was in the air and in about five minutes a second explosion rang out."

"The rebels built a base here, but we're the ones who suffer," she said.

Soviet-era weapons in the Ukrainian military arsenals lack precision, making collateral damage in urban warfare inevitable.

The Ukrainian government has moved in swiftly on the rebel forces, ousting them from smaller towns in the region and tightening their grip on the regional capital cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Until recently, Donetsk saw little fighting other than a rebel attempt in May to seize the airport. But the city has come under more shelling in recent weeks, and local authorities estimate that around 200,000 people in the city of 1 million have left.

The U.N. has estimated that more than 1,100 civilians have died in the conflict since April.

As the rebels struggle to push back Kiev's forces, fears of Russian intervention have grown.

Russia has denied any buildup on the border.

Peter Leonard in Kiev, Ukraine, Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Raf Casert in Brussels, Lolita C. Baldor in Stuttgart, Germany, and Ken Dilanian in Washington contributed to this report.

At least 932 deaths in four countries have been blamed on the illness, with 1,711 reported cases.

By MARAM MAZAN
and KRISTA LARSON

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigerian authorities rushed to obtain isolation tents Wednesday in anticipation of more Ebola infections as they disclosed five more cases of the virus and a death in Africa's most populous nation, where officials were racing to keep the gruesome disease confined to a small group of patients.

The five new Nigerian cases were all in Lagos, a megacity of 21 million people in a country already beset with poor health care infrastructure and widespread corruption, and all five were reported to have had direct contact with one infected man.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization began a meeting to decide whether the crisis, the worst recorded outbreak of its kind, amounts to an international public health emergency. At least 932 deaths in four countries have been blamed on the illness, with 1,711 reported cases.

In recent years, the WHO has declared an emergency only twice, for swine flu in 2009 and polio in May. The declaration would probably come with recommendations on travel and trade restrictions and wider Ebola screening. It also would be an acknowledgment that the situation is critical and could worsen without a fast global response.

The group did not immediately confirm the new cases reported in Nigeria. And Nigerian authorities did not release any details on the latest infections, except to say they all had come into direct contact with the sick man who arrived by plane in Lagos late last month.

With the death toll mounting in the region, Liberia's president announced a state of emergency late Wednesday and said it may result in the suspension of some citizens' rights. She lamented that fear and panic had kept many family members from sending sick relatives to isolation centers.

"Ignorance and poverty, as well as entrenched religious and cultural practices, continue to exacerbate the spread of the disease," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said.

And in Sierra Leone, where enforcing quarantines of sick patients also has been met with resistance, some 750 soldiers deployed to the Ebola-ravaged east as part of "Operation Octopus."

Ebola, which causes some victims to bleed from the eyes, mouth and ears, can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick — blood, semen, saliva, urine, feces or sweat.

Millions in Lagos live in cramped conditions without access to flushable toilets. Signs posted across the city warn people not to urinate in public.

Kenneth Akihomi, a 47-year-old worker installing fiber-optic cable, said he was carefully washing his hands to avoid infection. But he said most people were relying on faith to stay healthy.

"They're not panicking. They are godly people," he said. "They believe they can pray, and maybe very soon there will be cure."

The revelation of more infections also came amid a public-sector doctors' strike in Nigeria that began in early July. So far, health workers monitoring the latest Ebola patients are still on the job.

Nigeria is the fourth West African country to be hit by the Ebola outbreak since it first emerged in March in the remote tropical forests of Guinea. The disease then spread to neighboring Sierra Leona and Liberia before reaching Nigeria, where it surfaced shortly before the government drew criticism for its response to the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by Islamic militants back in April. The girls are still missing.

Nigerian authorities said Tuesday that doctors did not suspect Patrick Sawyer was suffering from Ebola when the 40-year-old Liberian-American arrived by plane late last month in Lagos, where the streets are a bewildering mix of wealth and abject poverty, awash in luxury SUVs and decrepit buses.

Sawyer, who worked for the Liberian government in Monrovia and had a wife and three young daughters in Minnesota, was on a business flight to Nigeria when he fell ill. Officials say a nurse who treated him has died and five others are sick with Ebola, including a doctor involved in his care.

West African countries pledged at a meeting in July to step up their surveillance at airports and borders following the start of the outbreak. But the early symptoms of Ebola — fever, muscle aches and vomiting — are similar to much more common tropical diseases such as malaria.

The specter of the virus spreading through Nigeria is particularly alarming, said Stephen Morse, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

"It makes you nervous when so many people are potentially at risk," he said.

Authorities in Liberia said Sawyer's sister had recently died of Ebola, though Sawyer said he had not had close contact with her while she was ill.

In announcing Sawyer's death, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu maintained late last month that Nigerian officials had been vigilant in isolating him.

"It was right there (at the airport) that the problem was noticed because we have maintained our surveillance," he told reporters. "And immediately, he went into the custody of the port health services of the federal ministry of health so there was no time for him to mingle in Lagos. He has not been in touch with any other person again since we took him from the airport."

Chukwu's comments were at odds with remarks made Tuesday by the Lagos state health commissioner, who said doctors did not suspect Ebola immediately and identified Sawyer as a possible case only after he had been hospitalized for about a day.

Sawyer, who had a fever and was vomiting on the plane, was coming from the infected country of Liberia but had a layover in Togo. As a result, officials may not have initially known his original point of departure, and it was unclear whether he was traveling on a Liberian or American passport.

Experts say people infected with Ebola can spread the disease only after they show symptoms. Since the incubation period can last up to three weeks, some of the Nigerians who treated Sawyer are only now showing signs of illness.

The national health minister on Wednesday said special tents would be used to establish isolation wards in all of Nigeria's states. Authorities were setting up an emergency center in Lagos to deal with Ebola and expected the facility to be "fully functional" by Thursday, he said.

Also Wednesday, the Spanish Defense Ministry said a medically equipped plane was ready to fly to Liberia to bring back a Spanish missionary priest who has Ebola. At the same time, Saudi officials reported a suspected Ebola death, underscoring the risk of the disease spreading by air travel even as many airlines curtail their flights to the most infected cities.

AP writers Maria Cheng in London, Mike Stobbe in New York, Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria, also contributed to this report.

The kits include a child's bio, digital photographs and fingerprints, which makes it easy for law enforcement officials to immediately issue an AMBER Alert when a child is missing or has been abducted.

UXBRIDGE — Troopers from the Massachusetts State Police Office of Media Relations participated in Tuesday evening's National Night Out Against Crime event at the Uxbridge Police Department, where they processed more than 180 kids for AMBER Alert Child ID Kits.

The free kits include a child's bio, fingerprints and digital photographs, making it easier for law enforcement officials to quickly release accurate descriptive information about missing or abducted children when an AMBER Alert is issued.

The kits, for children ages 17 or younger, include a child's name, age, height and weight, and digitally scanned fingerprints and photographs. This information is then uploaded onto AMBER Alert Software and saved onto a flash drive, the sole copy of which is given to a child's parents or legal guardians. State and local police do not store the information on any data base.

Time is of the essence in missing child and abduction cases.

"Law enforcement officials need photos and identifying information on the child as soon as possible in order to activate an AMBER Alert and to aid in the investigation," State Police say.

The digital child ID kits can be turned over instantly to the first responding law enforcement officer, who's then armed with all of the necessary descriptive information to immediately activate an AMBER Alert.

The Mass Child AMBER Alert Program is coordinated by Trooper Nicole Morrell.

More information on the program is available on the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's website, or by calling State Police headquarters at (508) 820-2300 or (508) 820-2121.

Hold Security plans to open a website in the coming days where people can search to see if their passwords and user names have been breached.

By MARTHA MENDOZA

LAS VEGAS — The hackers are a tight knit group, 10 or 11. They live in a Russian town, and have real jobs. But in their down time, the cybercriminals have spent the past seven months gathering a hoard of personal data, stealing 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites, according to Alex Holden, Chief Information Security Officer for Hold Security, whose firm uncovered the breach.

The Russian hackers had been collecting databases of personal information for years, but Holden said Wednesday that in April the group began deploying a new online attack technique that quickly shot from computer system to computer system as unwitting infected users visited random websites.

"Their cache of stolen goods grew quite quickly," said Holden, who has not revealed details about the websites that were breached or the names of other victims.

A native of Kiev who now lives in Milwaukee, Holden has conducted research that contributed to other exposures of major hacks, including a breach at Adobe that exposed tens of millions of customer records. He said he had been tracking the Russian criminals for seven months, but only was able to begin reviewing their massive cache of databases during the past few weeks. He timed his announcement to coincide with the annual Black Hat USA cybersecurity conference this week in Las Vegas, where it created quite a buzz.

Brian Krebs, who investigates online cybercrime and blogs about it, said his phone and email were inundated while he was at the conference Wednesday with people asking about Holden's announcement.

"Alex isn't keen on disclosing his methods, but I have seen his research and data firsthand and can say it's definitely for real," said Krebs. "Without spilling his secrets or methods, it is clear that he has a first-hand view on the day-to-day activities of some very active organized cybercrime networks and actors."

More than a day after his discovery was revealed in a New York Times report, Holden said he had not heard from any law enforcement agencies. He said he hopes investigators do contact him and added that his firm would be happy to cooperate.

To aid consumers, Hold Security plans to open a website in the coming days where people can search —free of charge— to see if their passwords and user names have been breached. The company is also offering a $10-a-month plan for businesses that want to be notified when a breach occurs.

Chase Cunningham, lead threat intelligence agent for cloud security company Firehost, spent years tracking Russian crime syndicates with the FBI and the NSA. At Black Hat on Wednesday, he said Hold Security has "uncovered one of the largest caches of data ever seen."

To date, Hold Security says it has only seen the Russian hackers use the personal data to spam social media, for example, hijacking a Twitter account and posting a weight loss ad. And Holden said he's only seen payments ranging from $200 to $1500 —although he's unsure if that's per person or for the entire group— for creating that spam.

Cunningham said he expects the Russian criminals will do much more with their illicit collection, which could prove lucrative.

"They can make money hand over fist with this," he said.

Fernando Jesurum, 27, was in possession of about 42 grams of cocaine and a large amount of cash that's "believed to be from sales of narcotics," police said.

TAUNTON — A State Police traffic stop in a highway work zone ended with cocaine trafficking charges for a Boston man Tuesday night.

Trooper Robert Plante, of the Middleboro barracks, pulled over a 2014 Nissan Altima for an alleged violation on Route 24 north in Taunton about 9:15 p.m. The motorist, 24-year-old Christina Bennett of Fall River, was unlicensed to drive, so Plante charged her accordingly, State Police said.

Further investigation revealed Bennett's passenger, 27-year-old Fernando A. Jesurum, had about 42 grams of cocaine and a large sum of cash that's "believed to be from sales of narcotics," police said.

Bennett and Jesurum were arrested and taken to the Middleboro barracks for booking.

Bennett, who had an outstanding warrant from Fall River District Court, was charged with unlicensed operation, using a car without authority and refusing to identify herself to a police officer.

Jesurum was charged with cocaine trafficking, cocaine possession and cocaine possession with intent to distribute, subsequent offense, police said.

Both were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Taunton District Court. The outcome of that hearing wasn't immediately known.

Bank of America is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a person directly familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

By ERIC TUCKER and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON — Bank of America is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a person directly familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The deal with the bank, which must still be finalized, would be the largest Justice Department settlement by far arising from the economic meltdown in which millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. It would follow earlier multibillion-dollar agreements reached in the last year with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced, cautioned that some details still needed to be worked out and that it was possible the agreement could fall apart.

But the person said the two sides reached an agreement in principle following a conversation last week between Attorney General Eric Holder and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

The person said the tentative deal calls for the bank to pay roughly $9 billion in cash and for the remaining sum to go toward consumer relief.

A bank spokesman declined to comment.

The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the settlement on Wednesday.

The deal would be the latest arising from the sale of toxic mortgage securities leading up to the recession. The Justice Department last year reached a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan, and in July announced a $7 billion settlement with Citigroup.

Each of these deals is designed to offer some relief to homeowners, whose mortgages were bundled into securities by the banks in question and then sold to investors. When the housing market collapsed, the poor quality of the loans led to huge losses for investors and a slew of foreclosures, kicking off the recession that began in late 2007.

Yet the cash totals from some of America's largest banks are not nearly enough to reverse the damages caused by the bursting of the housing bubble and the ensuing recession.

Millions of Americans lost their homes in foreclosures and found themselves jobless in the worst downturn since the 1930s. Even as the unemployment rate has clawed back to 6.2 percent from a peak of 10 percent, many people are no better off, as average household incomes after inflation are still lower than what they were seven years ago.

Consumer groups have criticized past settlements for being soft on the banks, noting that top executives at these firms have yet to face criminal charges for the actions of their companies, and for an apparent lack of transparency.

The previous settlements have been of a sweeping nature, releasing the banks from numerous claims by state and federal agencies in exchange for multibillion-dollar cash payments and promises of homeowner aid. "Statements of facts" accompanying the deals refrained from identifying executives involved in the alleged wrongdoing.

Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of the advocacy group Better Markets, urged the Justice Department on Wednesday to reveal information on investor losses, the names of any bank executives involved and details on bank profit.

The settlements stem from the sale of toxic securities made up of subprime mortgages. Banks played down the risks of subprime mortgages when packaging and selling the securities to mutual funds, investment trusts and pensions, as well as other banks and investors.

The securities contained residential mortgages from borrowers who were unlikely to be able to repay their loans, yet were publicly promoted as relatively safe investments until the housing market collapsed and investors suffered billions of dollars in losses. Those losses triggered a financial crisis that pushed the economy into the worst recession since the 1930s.

Bank of America had previously argued that it shouldn't be held liable for the subprime mortgages issued by Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, two troubled firms the bank acquired in 2008 as the meltdown took hold. Combined, those three firms issued $965 billion in mortgage-backed securities from 2004 to 2008, according to public records. Almost 75 percent of that total came from Countrywide.

Last week, in a separate case, a federal judge in Manhattan rejected the claim that Bank of America should avoid penalties for pre-merger actions taken by Countrywide and issued nearly $1.3 billion in fines. The decision said that Bank of America had assumed the legal liabilities of Countrywide after the merger.

A federal jury in New York earlier found the company and former Countrywide executive, Rebecca Mairone, liable for fraudulently selling troubled mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mairone was ordered to pay a $1 million fine.

Marilyn Jean Hartman bypassed an agent who was screening boarding passes Monday at Mineta San Jose International Airport.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A woman who took a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose to Los Angeles without a ticket tried at least three times that day to breach airport security before she managed to board the plane, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

It was the San Jose airport's second security breach in recent months, after a teenage Somali immigrant stowed away in the wheel well of an April flight from there to Hawaii.

Marilyn Jean Hartman bypassed an agent who was screening boarding passes Monday at Mineta San Jose International Airport by sneaking through with a family, said the law enforcement officials, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because the security breach is being investigated.

Hartman then went through the electronic screening process before entering an airport terminal. Authorities say she made it through screening because she had no prohibited items on her or in her purse.

Hartman, 62, then managed to board Southwest Airlines Flight 3785 to Los Angeles International Airport and was discovered once the plane landed, the officials said.

The San Francisco woman was ordered to 24 months' probation after she pleaded no contest Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom to willfully and unlawfully entering the city as a stowaway on an aircraft, a misdemeanor. Hartman also was ordered to stay away from the LA airport unless she has a ticket to board a flight.

Her attorney, Elsie Wanton of San Francisco, could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

California Congressman Eric Swalwell, who raised security concerns after April's breach, said Tuesday the latest incident was an "apparent failure by both airport security and the airline of protecting passengers from a potential threat to their safety."

In the previous incident, 15-year-old Yahya Abdi hopped a fence at San Jose's airport and hid in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight. He survived the arduous journey and dropped to the tarmac at a Maui airport about an hour after the plane landed. Abdi said he was trying to see his mother, a refugee in Ethiopia. He has not been charged.

San Jose airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said Wednesday the two incidents were completely unrelated. She said the airport is assisting separate investigations conducted by the Transportation Security Administration and Southwest on how Hartman was able to board the flight.

Barnes said no security breach was committed since Hartman made it through the electronic screening process.

"Public safety was not compromised in any way," Barnes said. "We're looking into how this person got past the document checker and the airline gate agent without a ticket."

TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein said the agency already has made some changes to the document-checking process at the San Jose airport.

"The agency has initiated minor modifications to the layout of the document-checking area to prevent another incident like this one," said Feinstein, who declined to go into specifics.

Southwest said in a statement Tuesday it is "actively investigating" the incident.

Hartman has a known history of trying to sneak onto flights without a ticket and could be in violation of her court-ordered probation, authorities said.

In February, Hartman was sentenced to 18 months' probation in San Mateo County after being arrested for attempting to board three Hawaii-bound flights at the San Francisco International Airport on three separate days.

On her first arrest, she made it through security and onto a plane only to be caught when the actual ticket holder showed up, officials said. On her second and third attempts, she was caught trying to get through the security line.

Hartman was arrested three more times over the next two months at the San Francisco airport, San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputy Rebecca Rosenblatt said Wednesday.

Each time, Hartman indicated she wanted to go to Hawaii, but she never had a ticket.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Wednesday that Hartman is a loner who has no family or kids and was never married. Her parents are also deceased, he said.

Hartman previously said she wanted to fly somewhere warm because she had cancer, but her claims about having the disease were unsubstantiated, Wagstaffe said. In May, Hartman was placed in a mental treatment program, but she stopped attending last month.

"She declined all of our efforts to offer her assistance," Wagstaffe said. "And we tried all of the alternatives we had because we weren't interested in locking her up on our end."

Wagstaffe said he has no interest in expanding Hartman's probation order to include other neighboring counties.

"We've gone above and beyond to help her," he said. "We hope that she doesn't come back here."

Authorities have said they believe Stephen Silva provided Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, with the gun used to kill Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier.

By PHILIP MARCELO

BOSTON — A friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of trafficking heroin and possessing an illegal handgun connected to the April 2013 bombings.

Stephen Sergio Silva 

Stephen Silva, 21, of Cambridge, appeared in federal court in Boston to waive his right to a detention hearing.

He has been in custody since his July arrest.

His next court date is Oct. 8.

Authorities have said they believe Silva provided Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, with the gun used to kill Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier during the dramatic manhunt following the April 2013 bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Silva's grand jury indictment from July does not mention the police officer's slaying or Tsarnaev. Instead, it focuses mostly on allegations that Silva was dealing heroin in the Boston area this summer. It also states Silva received a Ruger pistol with the serial number removed in February 2013.

That gun was used to kill Collier on April 18, 2013, as the Tsarnaevs were being sought, according to two people with knowledge of the case who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.

Police have said they recovered the Ruger after a shootout in which Tamerlan was killed. Dzhokhar was found later hiding in a boat in suburban backyard. He faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted in the bombings. He has pleaded not guilty.

Silva, who attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School with Dzhokhar, is one of five men connected to the Tsarnaevs who have faced charges in the aftermath of the bombings.

If convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin, Silva faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 40 years, according to prosecutors. If convicted of a possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, he faces a maximum sentence of 5 years. Silva also faces a maximum of 20 years for six other drug-related charges.

Silva's family and friends, including his twin brother, Steven, were in court Wednesday but declined to comment.

AP writer Denise Lavoie contributed to this report.

Any developer must preserve the building's historic character.

EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton City Council has authorized Mayor Karen Cadieux to dispose of the Parsons Street School property, capping more than a year of discussion on the future of the 112-year-old former elementary school in the New City neighborhood.

Wednesday night's vote, which followed a public hearing, allows Cadieux to develop a request for proposals and put the property out to bid. The mayor said she would work with finance director Melissa Zawadzki and city planner Jessica Allan to craft the document, which lays out a set of recommendations for the redevelopment of the property.

The council also rezoned a portion of the property — the acre or so on which the building sits — to neighborhood business to allow greater flexibility in its redevelopment. Most of the property had previously been zoned residential, except for a strip in front of the school already zoned for business, said Property Committee chairman Nathaniel Ziegler.

The business rezoning will extend 330 feet back from Parsons Street, to the location of a former schoolyard fence. An acre of land beyond the fence will be broken off into a new parcel, remain in city hands, and be set aside for open, public green space, said Ziegler.

The exact use of the open space has yet to be determined.

A set of recommendations approved by the Property Committee will be incorporated into the request, said city planner Allan.

Proposals which provide barrier-free housing, one or two units of affordable housing, public community space, mixed use and neighborhood business opportunity, fewer than 12 housing units, and market-based housing and home ownership opportunities will be given preference, Allan said.

Any developer will be required to preserve the historic character of the building.  A minimum bid equal to the appraised value of the school building has also been recommended.

Allan said the request for proposals will be crafted with recommendations instead of set-in-stone requirements so as to allow maximum flexibility for development proposals and a high degree of discretion in evaluating them.

"One developer might offer us, say, one-point-five million dollars, but not meet any of our recommendations. Another might offer us a lowball price, but give us everything we're looking for," said Allan, who added that the mayor has final authority over which proposal is chosen.

The property won't go out to bid right away, said finance director Zawadzki, because at least one housekeeping task must be completed first.

The property has to be divided into two lots before the bid documents are prepared, she said, so that the property description given to developers is accurate and up-to-date. Separating off the acre lot destined for open space will require surveying services, she said, and an appraisal must be done.

A $6,000 appropriation to survey and appraise the property was referred to Finance Committee. Finance will consider the matter August 13, and likely report the matter back to Council on Sept. 3. An appraisal will take three-to-four weeks, said Zawadzki.

The building was last used as a school in 2003. Officials have said the city pays around $30,000 a year to maintain the property. The current total assessed value of the property is $1,000,000.

Speaking after the meeting, councilor J.P. Kwiezinski said he's hopeful redevelopment of the former school will lead to positive change for the dense neighborhood that once served as housing for mill workers.

"I hope it will be an opportunity for someone to do something creative; something that brings some economic development and jobs," he said. "Plus, preserving that acre for open space will be a breath of fresh air for the neighborhood."