The rally on Wall Street contrasted with price declines in European and Asian stock markets.

By BERNARD CONDON
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A burst of buying Friday in U.S. stocks defied slumps in other markets and offered hope for investors shaken by geopolitical turmoil. Major U.S. stock indexes closed up around 1 percent, buoyed by signs that tensions in Ukraine might be easing.

The rally on Wall Street contrasted with price declines in European and Asian stock markets. Fear has been creeping into stock and bond markets around the world in recent weeks against a backdrop of escalating global conflicts.

News Friday of U.S. fighter jets dropping bombs in Iraq and the end of a three-day cease-fire in Gaza weighed further on European and Asian markets. The declines there capped broad losses for the week, including a 5 percent drop in Japan's major stock index.

As anxieties have risen in recent days, money has been flowing from around the world into U.S. Treasurys, the perennial safe haven for spooked investors.

U.S. stock markets bucked the trend Friday as investors snapped up shares that had been beaten down in recent days. The buying surged late in the day on reports that Russia had ended military exercises near Ukraine. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 1.1 percent, its biggest gain since March. The index remains 3.4 percent below its record high set July 16.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said he wasn't surprised by the Wall Street rally.

"The U.S. economy will grow at 3 percent or 4 percent for the rest of the year," Paulsen said. "Are geopolitical risks really going to have an economic impact?"

It's a question that's been unsettling investors.

In June and most of July, prices in major stock indexes in the United States rose even in the face of the widening conflicts around the world. Some experts warned that markets had grown dangerously complacent.

But then the West imposed increasingly crushing sanctions on Russia for supporting rebels in Ukraine. Israel's bloody war in Gaza dragged on. And Sunni extremists made advances in northern Iraq.

Prices then began a sustained decline, even in resilient U.S. markets. U.S. stocks in July posted their first monthly loss since January.

The fear has driven up various government bond prices, too, and sent yields down. The yield on German government notes maturing in 10 years, for instance, hit an all-time low Friday. The yield on U.S. notes of the same maturity has reached its lowest level in about a year.

Another sign of worry, the VIX, a gauge of expectation of future U.S. stock volatility, has climbed nearly 50 percent since early July.

One fear is that Europe could fall back into another recession after having emerged from one last year. The economies of the 18 countries that share the euro currency are barely growing, and many of them depend on Russia for natural gas imports. Germany imports nearly all its natural gas from Russia.

This week, the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, warned that the crisis in Ukraine could hurt the fragile recovery in the region.

The troubles in Iraq also threaten oil supplies. A report from Citigroup to clients early Friday noted that Iraq is the fastest-growing supplier among OPEC members.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 31 cents to close at $97.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 42 cents to close at $105.02 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

The Citi report also noted, though, that there was reason to keep buying stocks, not the least of which is strong corporate earnings.

An announcement from Gap on Friday underscored that trend. It reported that sales increased 3 percent in the second quarter as growth at Old Navy offset lower sales of the company's namesake brand. Its stock jumped $2.37, or 6 percent, to $42.57.

With nearly all second-quarter results for S&P 500 companies out, analysts are calling for earnings in that index to jump 10 percent from a year earlier. At the beginning of July, they expected a gain of less than 7 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ, a data provider.

On Friday, the Dow ended up 185.66 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,553.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 22.02 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,931.59. The Nasdaq composite rose 35.93 points, or 0.83 percent, to 4,370.90.

In economic news, the U.S. Labor Department reported that workers were more productive in the April-June quarter and that labor costs rose slightly, a sharp turnaround from grim first-quarter figures. Productivity increased 2.5 percent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, after plummeting 4.5 percent in the first quarter.

In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent while the FTSE 100 index of British shares dropped 0.5 percent. Both indexes are down about 2 percent for the week, capping three weeks of losses.

France's CAC-40 was flat, but ended the week down 1.3 percent. That was its third straight weekly loss.

In corporate news, shares of Lululemon Athletica rose $1.08, or 3 percent, to $40.11. The company's founder and former chairman, Dennis "Chip" Wilson, has agreed to sell half his stake as part of a truce to avert a potentially battle for control of the retailer of yoga apparel and other exercise gear.

In metals trading, gold fell $1.50 to $1,311 an ounce and silver fell five cents to $19.94 an ounce. Copper was flat at $3.17 a pound.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.42 percent from 2.41 percent late Thursday.

Pan Pylas contributed from London.

Easler served earlier as director of alumni affairs and the annual fund and dean of students and associate head of school at the Academy.

WILBRAHAM – The formal installation of Brian P. Easler as the new head of school at Wilbraham & Monson Academy will be Aug. 24 at 3 p.m. at the convocation ceremony at the Academy.

Easler transitioned from associate head of school and dean of students to head of school at the Academy on July 1. He has been a member of the Wilbraham & Monson Academy community since 1998, having served as director of alumni affairs and the annual fund and dean of students and associate head of school.

Under Easler’s tenure as dean of students, enrollment has stabilized, there has been decreasing annual disciplinary attrition, a comprehensive crisis management plan has been implemented and a school-wide drug prevention program has been implemented.

Easler also has been a valued faculty member, teaching English and ethics courses. He has traveled extensively around the globe. He also has lead popular ecological and cultural student trips to the Yingu River basin in the southern Amazon.

“The Board of Trustees is excited to have selected Brian to lead the next phase of the Academy’s transformation,” said Scott Jacobs, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Academy.

Jacobs added, “We could not be more pleased about the prospects for the Academy under a leader with his exceptional experience, character, talent and vision.”

LONDON &#8212 The World Health Organization urged nations worldwide to donate money and resources to stop the spread of Ebola as it declared the outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency.

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

LONDON — The World Health Organization urged nations worldwide to donate money and resources to stop the spread of Ebola as it declared the outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency.

The latest Ebola outbreak is the largest and longest ever recorded for the disease, which has a death rate of about 50 percent and has so far killed at least 961 people, according to the U.N. health agency. It emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

"Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own," WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan told a news conference Friday in Geneva. "I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible."

She added that the world's "collective health security" depends on curbing the spread of the killer virus in West Africa, even as she acknowledged that many countries would probably not have any Ebola cases.

The Nigerian government declared containing the Ebola virus in Africa's most populous country a national emergency Friday, after two Ebola patients died and the health ministry said seven other cases were confirmed. President Goodluck Jonathan approved spending $11.7 million to fight the disease and urged schools to extend a current holiday to give experts more time to assess the Ebola threat.

Since Ebola was first identified in 1976, there have been more than 20 outbreaks in central and eastern Africa; this is the first to affect West Africa. The virus causes symptoms including fever, vomiting, muscle pain and bleeding. It is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids like blood, sweat, urine, saliva and diarrhea.

The U.N. agency convened an expert committee this week to assess the severity of the Ebola epidemic. WHO declared similar emergencies for the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and for polio in May.

The impact of WHO's declaration Friday is unclear; its similar declaration about polio doesn't yet seem to have slowed the spread of the paralytic virus.

"Statements won't save lives," said Dr. Bart Janssens, director of operations for the Doctors Without Borders charity group. "For weeks, (we) have been repeating that a massive medical, epidemiological and public health response is desperately needed. ... Lives are being lost because the response is too slow."

"I don't know what the advantage is of declaring an international emergency," added Dr. David Heymann, who directed WHO's response to the SARS outbreak and is now a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "This could bring in more foreign aid but we don't know that yet."

Earlier this week, the World Bank pledged up to $200 million in emergency funding to help the countries affected by Ebola and strengthen public health systems across West Africa.

On Friday, the European Union said it would chip in an additional 8 million euros ($10.7 million) to Ebola efforts and send a second mobile lab to help with diagnostics. USAID also announced it would invest an extra $12.45 million to support the fight against Ebola.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already warned Americans against traveling to West Africa due to the Ebola outbreak. The agency also put U.S. hospitals on alert for symptoms so they can spot potential cases.

Two Americans infected with Ebola recently received a drug never before tested in people.

The American doctor infected with Ebola, Dr. Kent Brantly, said in a statement Friday he's getting stronger every day.

"I held the hands of countless individuals as this terrible disease took their lives away from them. I witnessed the horror firsthand, and I can still remember every face and name." he added.

He and another aid worker, Nancy Writebol, are being treated in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Writebol's husband, David, who remains in Liberia, told reporters Friday that his wife also appears to be improving.

Next week, WHO will hold another meeting to discuss whether it's ethical to use experimental Ebola treatments in the current outbreak. There is no licensed drug or treatment for Ebola and no evidence in people that the experimental treatments work.

Other experts hoped the WHO declaration would mean that send more health workers are sent to West Africa.

"The situation is very critical and different from what we've seen before," said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. "There are so many locations with transmission popping up and we just need more people on the ground."

WHO did not recommend any travel or trade bans Friday but said people who had close contact with Ebola patients should not travel internationally. For countries with Ebola, WHO issued various recommendations, including exit screening at international airports and border crossings to spot potential cases. It also discouraged mass gatherings.

WHO said countries without Ebola should heighten their surveillance and treat any suspected cases as a health emergency.

This week, two of the worst-hit Ebola countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — brought in troops to enforce quarantines and stop people infected with the disease from traveling. Liberian authorities said no one with a fever would be allowed in or out of the country and warned some civil liberties could be suspended if needed to bring the killer virus under control.

The disease spread from Liberia to Nigeria when a man apparently sick with Ebola boarded a plane, according to the Nigerian government. Nigerian authorities say the man, who later died, was not placed into isolation for at least 24 hours after he was hospitalized. A nurse who treated him has since died from Ebola and authorities are monitoring seven other cases among people who had contact with him.

Chan said while extraordinary measures might be necessary to contain the Ebola outbreak, it was important to recognize civil rights.

"We need to respect the dignity of people and inform them why these measures are being taken," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

A spokeswoman says a Virginia medical examiner has notified police that this week's death of former White House press secretary James Brady has been ruled a homicide.

WASHINGTON — A spokeswoman says a Virginia medical examiner has notified police that this week's death of former White House press secretary James Brady has been ruled a homicide.

Brady was shot in the head during the 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. of President Ronald Reagan. Brady lived through hours of surgery and further operations over the years, but he never regained normal use of his limbs.

His family said he died Monday from a series of health issues.

District of Columbia police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump says the department was notified of the homicide ruling Friday. It was made by a medical examiner in northern Virginia, where Brady died.

Police said the medical examiner ruled his death was related to his injuries stemming from the shooting, according to The Washington Post.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity of all charges against him

Brady undertook a personal crusade for gun control after suffering the devastating bullet wound.

This story is updating.

A new system would connect the schools to the Police Department, officials said.

LUDLOW – The police chief, the fire chief and the superintendent of schools appeared before the Board of Selectmen to say that a new townwide emergency communications system is needed.

“We want to go forward with applying for a grant for a new emergency communications system for the town,” Police Chief Pablo Madera told selectmen.

School Superintendent Todd Gazda said the schools have a patchwork emergency communications system.

“We have some radios that can communicate with police and fire and some that do not,” Gazda said.

Gazda said there are handheld units available for every administrator in the school system, for physical education teachers and for those who work in behavioral programs.

“It would be good to be on the same system as police and fire,” Gazda said.

He said time could be lost while a teacher communicates with somebody who would then contact police dispatch.

Fire Chief Mark Babineau said there are a lot of areas in town which have radio coverage by portables, but are not on the shared communications system.

It could cost $1 million to $1.5 million to put in a new system for police, fire and the schools, police officials said.

Babineau and Madera said they plan to apply for a U.S. firefighting grant to partially fund a new townwide police communications system.

Such a system could also be accessible by the town Department of Public Works, Madera said.

Police said that in the October 2011 snowstorm in which residents lost power for many days the Department of Public Works had to borrow radios.

A new radio system which was analog and digital compatible would make the Police Department regionally accessible to other Police Departments, Madera said.

“Our goal is to put in a townwide system,” Madera said.

Babineau said his goal is to apply for a grant for an emergency system by next spring. Grant awards would be made in the fall of 2015, he said.

Madera said the Police Department has a communications system which is working.

“We are preparing for the future,” he said.

This week's death of former White House press secretary James Brady, who survived a gunshot wound to the head in a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, District of Columbia police said Friday.

By BRETT ZONGKER

WASHINGTON — This week's death of former White House press secretary James Brady, who survived a gunshot wound to the head in a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, District of Columbia police said Friday.

John Hinckley Jr. shot Brady, who lived through hours of delicate surgery and further operations over the past 33 years, but never regained normal use of his limbs and was often in a wheelchair.

Nancy Bull, district administrator for the Virginia medical examiner's office, which made the ruling, declined to disclose the results of the autopsy and referred inquiries to District police. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a gunshot wound and its health consequences, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to a news release from District police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump.

Besides partial paralysis from brain damage, Brady suffered short-term memory impairment, slurred speech and constant pain. His family said he died Monday at age 73 from a series of health issues. Crump said the department was notified of the homicide ruling Friday.

Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981, just two months into the new president's term. Reagan nearly died from a chest wound. Three others, including Brady, were struck by bullets from Hinckley's handgun.

Hinckley Jr., now 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity of all charges in a 13-count indictment, including federal counts of attempted assassination of the president of the United States, assault on a federal officer, and use of a firearm in the commission of a federal offense, as well as District of Columbia offenses of attempted murder, assault, and weapons charges. The District of Columbia offenses included charges related to the shooting of Brady.

William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, said the office "is reviewing the ruling on the death of Mr. Brady and has no further comment at this time."

Calls to Hinckley's attorneys were not immediately returned. Barry Levine, Hinckley's long-time attorney, has said in court hearings that Hinckley is not a danger.

Officials at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, where Hinckley is a patient, have said that the mental illness that led him to shoot Reagan in an effort to impress actress Jodie Foster has been in remission for decades. Hinckley has been allowed to leave the hospital to visit his mother's home in Williamsburg, Virginia, and can now spend more than half of his time outside the hospital on such visits.

Brady undertook a personal crusade for gun control after suffering the devastating bullet wound. The Brady law, named after him, requires a five-day wait and background check before a handgun can be sold. President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993.

Narcan is now available as an over-the-counter drug at the Walgreens pharmacy at Valley Medical Group, 329 Conway St., according to Marisa Hebble, coordinator of the Opioid Education and Awareness Task Force.

GREENFIELD — Several months after Gov. Deval Patrick acknowledged that Massachusetts is grappling with an "epidemic of opiate abuse," a pharmacy at a Greenfield medical practice is the latest to begin carrying Narcan, the controversial heroin-overdose treatment drug.

Narcan is now available as an over-the-counter drug at the Walgreens pharmacy at Valley Medical Group, 329 Conway St., according to Marisa Hebble, coordinator of the Opioid Education and Awareness Task Force.

"This means it can be purchased without a prescription from your healthcare provider," said Hebble, who was tapped in April to head the ad hoc coalition of professionals and recovery advocates from Franklin and Hampshire counties and the North Quabbin region.

The out-of-pocket cost of Narcan is about $45, but most insurance plans, including MassHealth, will cover the cost, according to Hebble.

She praised Dr. Ruth Potee, a physician at Valley Medical Group, and Aaron Blanchette, the Walgreens pharmacist at Valley Medical, for their efforts to make the drug available.

Potee, who treats drug addicts, said nearly all of the people under age 30 whose names end up as obituaries in The Greenfield Recorder are likely to have died from an opioid overdose.

Patrick declared a public health emergency in March, ordering the state Department of Public Health to make Narcan immediately available to all first responders and accessible to drug addicts' families and friends. State officials also announced that Narcan would be made available through prescriptions in pharmacies.

"We have an epidemic of opiate abuse in Massachusetts, so we will treat it like the public health crisis it is," Patrick said.

Narcan, a so-called opioid antagonist, can potentially save thousands of lives that otherwise might end as fatal overdoses, according to advocates. But critics argue that the promise of a nearby antidote to counter the effects of an opioid overdose only encourages drug abuse.

Politicians and public health officials alike say the benefits of Narcan, such as the potential to save thousands of lives annually, far outweighs any fears that it may lead to even more overdoses. Narcan is typically administered through a nasal spray or needle, and it can quickly bring someone out of an overdose.

"It is our moral responsibility to respond immediately to the epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse," U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said of Narcan.

"We never go door to door asking for account information – we already have it and keep it secure," WMECo spokeswoman Priscilla Ress said.

 

"WMECo is alerting our customers – and their families – that we've recently
heard about scam artists going door to door, pretending to be company
representatives," said Priscilla Ress, a spokeswoman for the utility company.

Some scammers are even wearing makeshift WMECo identification tags when showing up at customers' doors and asking to see their utility bills for "verification" purposes, Ress said. Meanwhile, they're really trying to jot down confidential account information, she said.

"We never go door to door asking for account information – we already have it and keep it secure," Ress said in an email message Friday.

WMECo officials are advising customers to not provide any personal information, financial
or otherwise, to any unsolicited individual, whether customers are contacted in person, on the phone or online. Anyone with questions or concerns can reach WMECo at 877-OK-WMECo.

Richard Marowitz was just a day removed from witnessing the horrors of Dachau when he found a top hat on a shelf in a closet in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment.

By CHRIS CAROLA

ALBANY, N.Y. — Richard Marowitz was just a day removed from witnessing the horrors of Dachau when he found a top hat on a shelf in a closet in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment.

Still furious over the gruesome sights he had seen at the nearby Nazi concentration camp, the 19-year-old self-described "skinny Jewish kid" from New York threw the black silk hat on the floor, jumped off the chair he had used to reach it and stomped Hitler's formal headwear until it was flat.

"I swear to this day I could see his face in it," Marowitz told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview, recalling how he "smashed the hell out of it."

Marowitz, who brought the souvenir back to New York after World War II ended, died this week at age 88 at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Albany. His son, Larry Marowitz, said on Friday that he died Wednesday after battling cancer and dementia.

Marowitz, born in Middletown and raised in Brooklyn, was playing trumpet in a swing band when he was drafted into the Army. He served as a reconnaissance scout in the 42nd Infantry Division as it fought its way across Europe in 1945. On April 29, his unit was ordered to push ahead to a place called Dachau to beat other American divisions headed there.

In a 2003 interview he gave to an upstate New York high school's WWII oral history project, Marowitz told how he and his comrades sped their Jeeps through German convoys and enemy positions, firing their guns all the way.

"As we got closer to Dachau, we got this awful smell," Marowitz recalled.

They were among the first American soldiers to enter the concentration camp, where the GIs found bodies stacked inside rail cars and emaciated inmates who were barely alive.

"The prisoners were just walking skeletons, and they just dropped where they were and died," Marowitz said.

The next day, the 19-year-old scout was among a group sent to search Hitler's Munich apartment. While looking in a closet, Marowitz found a top hat with the initials "A.H." on the lining. He jumped up and down on the hat a few times in anger. It was April 30, the day Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin.

"When he heard some skinny Jewish kid stomped all over his favorite hat, he committed suicide," Marowitz joked to the AP in 2001.

Marowitz kept the hat and took it home. Decades later, he started taking it along when he gave talks about the war and the Holocaust at Albany-area schools. Despite the horrors of combat and genocide he witnessed, the showman-turned-clothing manufacturer always sprinkled some humor into his stories, his son said.

"He loved people, he loved to joke around," Larry Marowitz said.

Marowitz's story was told in a 2003 documentary film, "Hitler's Hat." At the veteran's request, the family will donate the hat to a museum, the son said.

A service was scheduled for Friday morning at an Albany synagogue. He was to be buried at the Gerald B. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery.

Marowitz also is survived by his wife of 65 years and their two daughters.

His death was first reported by The Times Union.

As the first tropical storm to hit Hawaii in 22 years passed by the islands, some coffee farmers on the Big Island navigated flooded roads to assess damage to their crops Friday while residents and tourists wandered the beaches of Oahu and surfers took to the waves as wind and rain let up.

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and AUDREY McAVOY

HONOLULU (AP) — As the first tropical storm to hit Hawaii in 22 years passed by the islands, some coffee farmers on the Big Island navigated flooded roads to assess damage to their crops Friday while residents and tourists wandered the beaches of Oahu and surfers took to the waves as wind and rain let up.

The first storm in a one-two punch heading for Hawaii clamored ashore overnight Friday as a weakened tropical storm. A second system behind it also weakened and was on track to pass well north of the islands early Sunday.

Tropical Storm Iselle knocked out power, caused flooding and downed trees when it crossed onto the Big Island in a rural and sparsely populated region. There have been no reports of major injuries, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Friday.

Those staying in shelters were told to return home, while crews and some residents used chainsaws to clear trees from roads.

Heavy rains and wind from the storm's outer bands also hit Maui and Oahu on Friday morning but eased later in the day as Iselle swirled further out to sea.

Honolulu's lifeguard division said about a dozen surfers were riding waves Friday at a spot nicknamed "Suicides," near the popular Diamond Head crater. Lifeguards on Oahu planned only to respond to emergency calls, avoiding regular patrols.

On Oahu's south shore, near Honolulu, the cloudy skies started to give way to patches of blue as tourists and residents ventured out to see the surf.

"We've never seen the water crash into the rocks the way they are. It's just beautiful," said Army Sgt. Steven Reyes, who drove to the coast after his home on a central Oahu Army base lost power.

Abercrombie stressed that even though the brunt of storm hit the Big Island and Maui, Kauai and Oahu need to remain vigilant.

"We won't be able to give all-clear until late this afternoon or early evening," Abercrombie said Friday.

Even then, the National Park Service said it would keep its popular memorial sites at Pearl Harbor closed through Saturday as staff keeps an eye on Hurricane Julio.

The state Department of Health warned the public to stay out of floodwaters and storm water runoff across Hawaii because they are known to attract sharks as they wash possible dead animals into the ocean.

Back on the Big Island, coffee farmers on the southeastern side tried to get around fallen trees on flooded roads to determine any crop damage, said Randy Stevens, general manager of Kau Coffee Mill.

The heavy rain and flooding seen in the southeastern Kau district was vastly different from the relatively drier Kona region on the Big Island's western side, where much more coffee is grown, and the storm had little impact.

"We're all buttoned up, but nothing happened," said Bruce Corker, a Kona coffee farmer.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Julio, about 750 miles east of the Big Island, was a Category 2 storm and packed maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph. National Weather Service officials predict it will continue to weaken on a path that should take it about 200 miles north of the island chain starting sometime Sunday morning.

If Julio stays on track, "the impacts to the islands would be minimal," Weather Service meteorologist Derek Wroe said. "We would see some large surf. ... We could see some heavy showers. That's all assuming this track holds. Otherwise, we could still see some tropical storm conditions."

Iselle also weakened Friday after being downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm about 50 miles from shore late Thursday as wind shear and the Big Island's mountainous terrain chipped away at its strength, experts said.

Hawaii has been directly hit by hurricanes or tropical storms only three times since 1950. The last time was in 1992, when Hurricane Iniki killed six people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes in Kauai.

The state prepared for the back-to-back storms by closing government offices, schools and transit services across Hawaii. But Saturday's primary elections, including congressional and gubernatorial races, will go forward.

Travelers faced disrupted plans as several airlines canceled dozens of flights Thursday, but most flights weren't interrupted Friday. Some airlines waived reservation change fees and fare differences for passengers who needed to alter their plans.

The storms are rare in Hawaii but not unexpected in El Nino years, a change in ocean temperature that affects weather around the world.

Ahead of this year's hurricane season, weather officials warned the wide swath of the Pacific Ocean that includes Hawaii could see four to seven tropical storms this year.

Nolan Richardson gave a memorable acceptance speech at the 2014 Basketball Hall of Fame induction.

SPRINGFIELD — Nolan Richardson couldn’t stand still.

Pacing with the passion of a preacher and repeatedly shaking his presenter Tiny Archibald’s hand whenever he made a comment that brought the house down, which was a frequent occurrence, Richardson — a Class of 2014 inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame — told story after story on Friday to enthusiastic laughter and applause.

“Where are you preaching next Sunday?” Bob Leonard, the Class of 2014 inductee who followed Richardson in the speech order asked him. “We’re going to fly down there.”

Broadcaster Ahmad Rashad, who introduced the inductees, told the crowd early on stories would be told. Nobody obliged better than Richardson. Early in his speech, he described hearing a college game between New Mexico State and Indiana State on the radio as he was driving.

“I had no idea of any of the people playing,” Richardson said. “All I was hearing was ‘Bird this, Bird that, did you see that pass Bird made?’ By the time I got to the end of the game I said ‘Damn, that brother can play.’”

The Symphony Hall auditorium, Larry Bird included, erupted.

“When I got the newspaper the next day and saw Larry’s picture, I said ‘Damn,’” Richardson said to continued laughter and applause. “Larry, to be honest, the young lady who said you were her favorite player, me too. I love you too, Magic, but not as much as I love Bird.”

Not all of Richardson’s stories were as light-hearted, although they were all equally well told. He described the challenges he faced as an African-American coach trying to coach in high school. His athletic director asked what he wanted to coach, and Richardson — a three-sport athlete — told him he wanted to be a football coach. The athletic director told him that would never happen.

“He straight up says ‘There are no black coaches in football ever,’” Richardson said. “’There are none in basketball. In baseball, I just might be able to push you through without a whole lot of fanfare.’”

Richardson worked his way through the ranks before getting an opportunity as a basketball coach, which led to a junior college coaching opportunity in Texas. There were 50 junior colleges in the state. Before Richardson, none had an African-American coach.

“The athletic director, he told me 'You’re going to do well,'” Richardson said. “If you don’t, you, me and the president are going to have to buy a ticket and get out of this damn place.”

By the time Richardson wrapped up his speech, he had the audience wrapped around every word like a yo-yo string — in part because his enthusiasm occasionally resulted in language the FCC might fail to appreciate on NBA TV.

“I get a kick out of these parents these days who say ‘We need role models.’ Bulls---,” Richardson said. “We need parents our kids can look up to.”

But he ended the speech, appropriately, with a story directed at Hall of Fame official Bob Delaney, who was in the crowd. According to Richardson’s story, God and the Devil were going to field basketball teams for a pick-up game. The Devil called and began talking about how he was going to win. God, according to Richardson, asked the Devil if he knew who would be on Heaven’s team.

“’Besides Wilt Chamberlain, you know who I can call up at any time? What makes you so strong?’” Richardson said. “’The devil said ‘All the officials are down here.’”

Delaney and the rest of the crowd broke up laughing, and with that — appropriately — Nolan Richardson was enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Two residents and city firefighter were injured in the blaze, according to Springfield Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger.

SPRINGFIELD — The blaze that injured three people and destroyed a Massachusetts Avenue home in Upper Hill on Tuesday was caused by "careless disposal of smoking materials," said Dennis Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant.

Fire Department officials initially said the fire at 31-33 Massachusetts Ave. appeared to be suspicious.

However, the Springfield Arson & Bomb Squad has since determined that it started after someone at the multi-tenant home improperly disposed of a cigarette or other smoking materials, Leger said.

The fire left about 10 people homeless, two of whom were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene. The American Red Cross was helping the displaced tenants.

A firefighter also was injured in the incident. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center to be treated for heat exhaustion, officials said.

The fire destroyed the three-story home, built in 1932, and also caused about $5,000-$10,000 in damage to a neighboring property, Leger said.

The U.S. unleashed its first airstrikes in northern Iraq against militants of the Islamic State group Friday amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. The extremists took captive hundreds of women from a religious minority, according to an Iraqi official, while thousands of other civilians fled in fear.

By DIAA HADID and BRAM JANSSEN

IRBIL, Iraq — The U.S. unleashed its first airstrikes in northern Iraq against militants of the Islamic State group Friday amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. The extremists took captive hundreds of women from a religious minority, according to an Iraqi official, while thousands of other civilians fled in fear.

Many of America's allies backed the U.S. intervention, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of refugees and displaced people. Those in jeopardy included thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority whose plight — trapped on a mountaintop by the militants — prompted the U.S. to airdrop crates of food and water to them.

The extremists' "campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "For anyone who needed a wake-up call, this is it."

Underscoring the sense of alarm, a spokesman for Iraq's human rights ministry said hundreds of Yazidi women had been seized by the militants. Kamil Amin, citing reports from the victims' families, said some of the women were being held in schools in Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul.

"We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them," Amin told The Associated Press. "We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values."

For the U.S. military, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in late 2011 after more than eight years of war, the re-engagement began when two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it. The Pentagon said the militants were using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, and home to a U.S. consulate and about three dozen U.S. military trainers.

Later Friday, the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes near Irbil, U.S. officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the strikes publicly, said unmanned aircraft hit a mortar and four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets destroyed a seven-vehicle convoy.

The U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq and said those in the country were at high risk for kidnapping and terrorist violence.

Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, the militants have captured a string of towns and Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks. Ethnic and religious minorities, fearing persecution and slaughter, have fled as their towns fell.

Many had taken refuge in the Khazer Camp, set up near Irbil, but it was empty Friday as nearby fighting prompted families to flee once again.

Some made their way by car or on foot to Irbil; others were unaccounted for amid the sea of fleeing people. According to the U.N., more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Iraq since June, bringing the total this year to well over 1 million.

In Irbil, hundreds of uprooted men crowded the streets of a Christian-dominated neighborhood, expressing relief at the news of U.S. airstrikes.

Nazar, one man lingering outside a bare-bones building-turned-shelter, fled his mainly Christian town of Hamdaniya on Wednesday, when their home began to shudder from the blast of nearby mortar fire.

"We want a solution," said Nazar, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, fearing his family's safety. "We don't to flee our homes and jobs like this. What is our future?"

In contrast to Washington's decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorization of military action against the Islamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants' advance.

"We thank Barack Obama," said Khalid Jamal Alber, from the Religious Affairs Ministry in the Kurdish government.

In his announcement Thursday night, Obama had identified protecting the Yazidis and defending Americans as the two objectives for the airstrikes.

But on Friday, his spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the U.S. was also prepared to use military force to assist Iraqi forces and the Kurds' peshmerga militia.

While Iraq's military has proven unable in many cases to thwart the Islamic State force's capture of key cities, Earnest called the peshmerga a "capable fighting force" that had shown an ability to regroup effectively.

At a checkpoint about 23 miles (38 kilometers) from Irbil, Kurdish militiamen vowed fierce resistance to any further Islamic State advances, but they also remarked on the ferocity of their foe.

Capt. Ziyran Mahmoud, 28, said Islamic State fighters wore suicide belts as they advanced in armored vehicles and would detonate them — killing soldiers from both sides — if Kurdish fighters came too close.

"They are ready to blow themselves up and die," Mahmoud said. "But the peshmerga aren't afraid. We are also ready to die for our homeland."

The Islamic State group captured Mosul in June, and then launched a blitz toward the south, sweeping over Sunni-majority towns almost to the capital, Baghdad. It already holds large parts of western Iraq, as well as swaths of neighboring Syria.

Iraqi government forces crumbled in the face of the assault but have since been able to prevent the militants from advancing into Shiite-majority areas. In the north, the Kurds have been the main line of defense against the radicals, but their fighters are stretched over a long front trying to fend them off.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in India, said if Islamic militants threaten U.S. interests in Iraq or the thousands of refugees in the mountains, the U.S. military has enough intelligence to clearly single out the attackers and launch effective airstrikes.

He also said more than 60 of the 72 bundles of food and water airdropped onto the mountain reached the people stranded there.

At the White House, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes met with members of the Iraqi Yazidi community and "noted that the United States will act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide," said Deputy NSC spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. Rhodes "emphasized that the United States will continue to pursue a strategy that empowers Iraqis to confront this crisis, including by providing urgent assistance to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces," Meehan said.

The International Rescue Committee said it was providing emergency medical care for up to 4,000 dehydrated Yazidis, mostly women and children, who survived without food or water for up to six days hiding in the Sinjar mountains before fleeing to a refugee camp in Syria, where a civil war is raging.

Officials in Britain, Germany and elsewhere pledged financial aid to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, and several top European officials supported Obama's decision to intervene with airstrikes.

British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed special concern for the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar.

"They fear slaughter if they descend back down the slopes but face starvation and dehydration if they remain on the mountain," Cameron said. The world must help them in their hour of desperate need."

One Yazidi man, who identified himself as Mikey Hassan, said he, his two brothers and their families fled into the Sinjar mountains and then escaped to the Kurdish city of Dohuk after two days by shooting their way past the militants. Hassan, in a telephone interview with the AP, said he and his family went about 17 hours with no food before getting some bread. Details of his account could not be independently corroborated.

Yazidis belong to ancient religion seen by the Islamic State group as heretical. The group also sees Shiite Muslims as apostates, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax.

Pope Francis also was engaged, sending an envoy to Iraq to show solidarity with Christians who have been forced from their homes. There also was a papal plea on Twitter: "Please take a moment to pray for all those who have been forced from their homes in Iraq."

In response to the fighting, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and other carriers canceled flights to and from Irbil.

In the U.S., the FAA banned American carriers from flying over Iraq, saying hostilities there could threaten safety. British Airways also said it was temporarily suspending flights over Iraq

A three-day truce collapsed Friday in a new round of violence after Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel, drawing a wave of retaliatory airstrikes that killed at least five Palestinians, including three children.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH

JERUSALEM — A three-day truce collapsed Friday in a new round of violence after Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel, drawing a wave of retaliatory airstrikes that killed at least five Palestinians, including three children.

The eruption of fighting shattered a brief calm in the monthlong war and dealt a blow to Egyptian-led efforts to secure a long-term cease-fire between the bitter enemies.

A delegation of Palestinian negotiators remained in Cairo in hopes of salvaging the talks. But participants said the negotiations were not going well, and Israel said it would not negotiate under fire. The Palestinian delegation met again late Friday with Egyptian mediators.

Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Palestinian delegation, said the delegation would stay in Egypt until it reaches an agreement that "ensures" the rights of the Palestinian people. "We told Egyptians we are staying," he told reporters.

The indirect talks are meant to bring an end to the deadliest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. In four weeks of violence, more than 1,900 Gazans have been killed, roughly three-quarters of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. Sixty-seven people were killed on the Israeli side, including three civilians.

The Palestinians are seeking an end to an Israel-Egyptian blockade imposed on Gaza after the Hamas takeover. Militants had warned they would resume fighting after the cease-fire expired unless there was a deal to ease the restrictions.

The blockade, which Israel says is needed to prevent arms smuggling, has constrained movement in and out of the territory of 1.8 million people and brought Gaza's economy to a standstill. Israel says any long-term agreement must include guarantees that Hamas, an armed group sworn to Israel's destruction, will give up its weapons.

In Cairo, Palestinian participants in the talks were pessimistic about the chances of a deal. They said Israel was opposing every Palestinian proposal for lifting the blockade.

For instance, the Palestinians are seeking greater movement of goods through Israeli-controlled cargo crossings, while Israel wants restrictions on "dual-use" items that could potentially be used for military purposes, they said.

Israel also was resisting demands to allow movement between Gaza and the West Bank — Palestinian territories that are located on opposite sides of Israel, they said.

"Israel in these talks wants to repackage the same old blockade. Our demands are ending the blockade and having free access for people and goods. This is what ending the blockade means. But Israel is not accepting that," said Bassam Salhi, a Palestinian negotiator.

Negotiators said they expected to remain in Cairo for several days. But with violence resuming, it was unclear how much progress could be made.

The Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks left Egypt on Friday morning, and it was not clear if it would return. "There will not be negotiations under fire," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.

In Cairo, Khaled al-Batch, a leader of Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, said that without a deal on easing the blockade, an informal truce might be the best that could be achieved.

"When there is no cease-fire, that does not mean there is escalation," he said. "Our priority now is to focus on stopping the Israeli aggression against our people and achieving our demands."

Egypt's Foreign Ministry urged restraint by both sides and called for a new cease-fire to resume negotiations. The ministry said progress had been made in the talks but did not explain.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep disappointment" at the failure to extend the cease-fire and urged the parties to swiftly find a way back to the negotiating table, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The original, three-day truce expired at 8 a.m. Friday. But Gaza militants began firing rockets even before then. By late Friday, nearly 60 rockets had been fired. Two Israelis were hurt, and one of the rockets damaged a home.

Israel responded with a series of airstrikes. Palestinian officials said at least five people were killed in three separate strikes, two of them near mosques. Among the dead were three boys, a 10-year-old and two cousins, aged 12. At least five boys were wounded.

The deaths brought the overall Palestinian toll since July 8 to 1,902, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.

Hamas entered the Cairo talks from a position of military weakness, following a month of fighting in which Israel pounded Gaza with close to 5,000 strikes. Israel has said Hamas lost hundreds of fighters, two-thirds of its rocket arsenal and all of its tunnels under the border with Israel. Egypt has destroyed a network of smuggling tunnels that was once Hamas' economic and military lifeline.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said if Hamas wanted to end the blockade, it could have halted its attacks on Israel.

"Hamas doesn't really want the blockade on Gaza lifted," she told Channel 2 TV. "What Hamas wants is to gain legitimacy as a terror group that governs territory, and Israel will not accept that."

The war grew out of the killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June. Israel blamed the killings on Hamas and launched a massive arrest campaign in the West Bank, as Hamas and other militants unleashed rocket fire from Gaza.

Israel launched an air campaign on the coastal territory on July 8 and sent in ground troops nine days later to target rocket launchers and cross-border tunnels built by Hamas for attacks inside Israel.

The NAACP said someone who makes slurs doesn't deserve a promotion to supervisor of men and women.

HOLYOKE — Timothy Leary said Friday (Aug. 8) he has agreed to meet with the NAACP and Mayor Alex B. Morse regarding a racial slur the provisional Fire Department lieutenant was heard making in a 2012 video while off duty.

"Absolutely, I'm looking forward to it," said Leary, a 15-year veteran and former president of the firefighters' union.

That came after the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Greater Springfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urged Morse in an email (full text below) to state his position on a firefighter having made such "reprehensible remarks."

Morse said he contacted Leary and a meeting is being scheduled to discuss the remarks that the mayor said he has condemned and that fail to represent Holyoke. (Full text of Morse's statement is below).

Leary said he was available to meet Monday but is on vacation as of Tuesday and would be willing to meet with the NAACP and Morse when he returns. He declined to comment on Swan's email to Morse.

The slur allegedly was made about Ward 2 City Councilor Anthony Soto, who has clashed with Leary over the years. Leary at the time was president of Holyoke Fire Fighters Association, Local 1693, International Association of Fire Fighters.

The video was made in August 2012 when Leary was off duty and went to Hampshire Towing, of South Hadley, to meet with that company's owner, William Johnson. Johnson said in a February 2013 phone interview signs were visible on the company property stating that audio- and video-taping take place.

"While we are aware that Mr. Leary's reprehensible remarks were made in private and not while he was on duty, his actions violated public trust, which is essential for those who serve the public," Swan said.

Talbert Swan 

"His blatant disrespect for Councilor Soto, the significant Latino population of Holyoke and residents of Holyoke in general is only surpassed by his arrogance in refusing to apologize for his imprudent behavior," he said.

With about half of Holyoke's population of 40,000 Hispanic, Swan questioned the effectiveness of a public servant who made remarks that "so abrasively disrespected" half the city.

Residents have petitioned the Fire Commission to rescind the provisional appointment of Leary to lieutenant, but without success. The commission is a three-member board of volunteers appointed by the mayor. The commission is responsible for the hiring, promotion and discipline of all Fire Department employees, including the chief.

Chairman Christopher Hopewell and member Yasser Menwer were involved in the promotion of Leary. The promotion was made before Morse appointed Patricia C. Devine, a former city councilor, to the Fire Commission.

Hopewell and Menwer criticized the use of the slur Leary made in the video, but said Leary was promoted to lieutenant provisionally on March 27 because he was the most qualified of the 14 candidates considered.

As the official who appoints the Fire Commission, Swan said, "I urge you to weigh in on the matter and not sit on the sideline enjoying the safety of obscurity.

"Holyoke residents deserve to know, in no uncertain terms, that their chief executive along with other elected officials will speak clearly and concisely regarding matters of racial bias and will take strong action in order to send a clear message that the city of Holyoke does not condone racial stereotyping."

Morse said Latinos deserve the same fairness and respect owed to everyone in a community.

"When the video in question surfaced two years ago, I condemned Mr. Leary's remarks in no uncertain terms, and made very clear that such language has no place in the city of Holyoke. That remains so today," Morse said.

Alex Morse 

"Such comments erode the very foundation of our shared community: fairness, equality, and a respect for the dignity of all persons. Surely people in positions of power, such as Mr. Leary, should be held to this standard, and our leaders should always strive to reflect what is best about our city," he said.

The city has moved to help Latinos from feeling excluded, he said, but obviously more work is needed.

"To Holyoke's Latino community, I want to affirm that I hear your voices. I understand your frustration. And I will do everything in my power to continue making Holyoke a safe, inclusive place for everyone," Morse said.

In December 2012, Fire Chief John A. Pond disciplined Leary for the slur in the video, by placing a letter of reprimand in his personnel file and ordering that he get sensitivity training. Leary filed a grievance over Pond's discipline. The Fire Commission voted 2-1 on Feb. 13, 2013 to deny the grievance and Leary took the matter to the American Arbitration Association, which vacated the discipline.

In a Sept. 22 ruling in Scituate, Arbitrator Bruce Fraser said, "I take it as a fact that Leary made a racial slur about Soto at the meeting in August (2012)."

As offensive as the remark was, Fraser said, the fact it was made did not bring discredit on the Fire Department.

"The public was not present and there was no expectation on Leary's part that his remark would ever leave the room," Fraser said.

That the video was distributed and made public was not due to Leary's actions, Fraser said.

Lawyer Terence E. Coles, representing Leary, argued that the discipline was unjustified for two reasons. First, whatever transpired was a private conversation Leary had while off duty, he said.

Also, Coles said, Leary didn't give his consent to be taped and under state law that means the video cannot be used in a legal way against him.

Following is the Aug. 7 letter from the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Greater Springfield NAACP, to Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse about provisional Fire Department Lt. Timothy Leary:

Dear Mayor Morse,

The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The vision of the NAACP is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race. The Greater Springfield Branch was chartered in 1918 and has worked toward this mission for over ninety years.

Currently, in the absence of an active branch, the Greater Springfield Branch handles concerns from our constituents in Holyoke and other communities throughout the Pioneer Valley.

It has come to our attention that firefighter Timothy Leary made racist remarks about City Councilor Anthony Soto, which were recorded on video. While we are aware that Mr. Leary's reprehensible remarks were made in private and not while he was on duty, his actions violated public trust, which is essential for those who serve the public. His blatant disrespect for Councilor Soto, the significant Latino population of Holyoke and residents of Holyoke in general is only surpassed by his arrogance in refusing to apologize for his imprudent behavior.

The Holyoke Fire Commission recently informed residents that submitted a petition requesting that Leary's provisional appointment to lieutenant be rescinded on the basis of his ill-advised commentary, that despite his doltish behavior, Mr. Leary was the most qualified applicant for the position. We question the wisdom of considering qualifications to a supervisory position in a department that serves the public without considering whether the candidate has the public trust. How effective is a public servant who does not command the respect of a considerable portion of the public he serves or the men and women he supervises? Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the country and nearly half of Holyoke's residents are Latino.

Elected officials and those who work in the public sector should take pride in the fact that Puerto Ricans have contributed to the development, defense and prosperity of the United States since 1898 when the Island was ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War. Mr. Leary’s racist remarks were not only offensive to Councilor Soto and residents of Holyoke, but to citizens throughout the Commonwealth and the nation.

Mr. Leary's actions, which breached the public trust, disqualify him from supervising the men and women he has so abrasively disrespected and from being a ranking member of a department that serves the very residents he has shown such little regard for.

As the mayor of the city and the person who appoints the Fire Commission, I urge you to weigh in on the matter and not sit on the sideline enjoying the safety of obscurity. Holyoke residents deserve to know, in no uncertain terms, that their chief executive along with other elected officials will speak clearly and concisely regarding matters of racial bias and will take strong action in order to send a clear message that the City of Holyoke does not condone racial stereotyping.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely

GREATER SPRINGFIELD NAACP

Rev. Talbert W. Swan, II

President

The following is Morse's response:

Since receiving correspondence from Reverend Swan, I have reached out to Mr. Leary, who has agreed to meet the reverend and me next week.

When the video in question surfaced two years ago, I condemned Mr. Leary's remarks in no uncertain terms, and made very clear that such language has no place in the City of Holyoke. That remains so today. Councilor Soto deserved better, and so did every Latino member of our community.

Such comments erode the very foundation of our shared community: fairness, equality, and a respect for the dignity of all persons. Surely people in positions of power, such as Mr. Leary, should be held to this standard, and our leaders should always strive to reflect what is best about our city.

As mayor, I make my best effort to represent the values and interests of our whole community. In a city as diverse as Holyoke, that's not always easy. But it is important, especially at times like these, to understand that the issues we face today have a context. The outrage over Mr. Leary's promotion is not merely about Mr. Leary; it is about a whole segment of our population's having felt, for some time now, disenfranchised from Holyoke's civic life. And while we have made strides in recent years to bridge our community's divides, and to make Holyoke a fairer, more equal, and more just community, there remains much work to do. The feeling of being excluded that so many Holyokers share doesn't disappear overnight, and neither do the systemic inequalities that produce that feeling. To Holyoke's Latino community, I want to affirm that I hear your voices. I understand your frustration. And I will do everything in my power to continue making Holyoke a safe, inclusive place for everyone.

Now, it is also important for me to affirm that our fire and police departments are working for all Holyokers. The men and women in these departments do their jobs with the best interests of all Holyokers in mind -- regardless of what you look like, what language you speak, or what neighborhood you're from. As any firefighter will tell you: when they run into a burning building, the last thing they're thinking about is the race of the people they're trying to rescue. I can promise you that. And I regret that Mr. Leary's remarks could ever cast suspicion on that basic truth.

Moving forward, I hope we can all use this unfortunate situation as the catalyst for real growth and reflection – as an opportunity to be more conscious about how we think and speak about the people with whom share a community. My mission remains the same: to make Holyoke a place we all are proud to call home.

Christopher and Lambros document the beauty of American ruins.

HOLYOKE — Two renowned photographers will visit Holyoke on Sept. 28 to conduct a photography workshop at the mothballed Victory Theater.

Matthew Christopher is founder of Abandoned America, a photography project doumenting the lost history of derelict buildings. The photographer has had gallery shows across the country, been featured on NBC Nightly News, and delivered lectures on abandoned spaces and mental health history.

"There is an undeniably artistic element to decayed sites, and an immense number of social, theological, and philosophical questions they pose," writes Christopher.

Matt Lambros is creator of After the Final Curtain, a project which captures the beauty of shuttered grand theaters across America. Lambros is a photographer based in New York City.

"My hope for my work is that it will shine light on beautiful, dated architecture and on the equal yet sinister beauty in decay," writes Lambros.

Photographers of all levels are encouraged to participate.

"Learning to use a tripod, what file format to shoot in, how to compose shots better, what ISO, F-Stop, and shutter speed affect, and how to do things like exposure bracketing are very important to your results," writes Christopher.

The Victory Theater opened in 1919 and closed down in 1979. The boarded-up building was purchased from the city in 2009 by the non-profit Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, which has been trying to raise $28 million for its restoration.

Christopher and Lambros are conducting a similar workshop at the Everett Square Theater in Boston.

What: Abandoned America Photography Workshop
Where: The Victory Theater, 81-89 Suffolk St., Holyoke
When: Sept. 28, 9-1 a.m.
Cost: $130, registration through Abandoned America.

There is one constant across Americans' opinions: Nobody can envision a concrete solution to Iraq's problems.

It was supposed to be over, America's war in Iraq. So all the old emotions boiled up anew as Americans absorbed the news that U.S. bombs were again striking targets in the nation where the United States led an invasion in 2003, lost almost 4,500 troops in the fight to stabilize and liberate it and then left nearly three years ago.

In interviews across the country, from the 9/11 memorial in New York to a Midwest state fair and an Arizona war monument, Americans voiced conflicted feelings as airstrikes began Friday, ordered by President Barack Obama who had fulfilled a campaign promise when he withdrew the last U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011.

Many supporting the decision to bomb now did so for contrasting reasons. Those opposed said the U.S. never should have invaded Iraq in the first place, but they also struggled with America's obligation to the ravaged, upended nation, which has endured violence between rival Islamic sects and, recently, the ruthless onslaught of the militant group calling itself the Islamic State.

There was one constant across Americans' opinions: Nobody could envision a concrete solution to Iraq's problems.

Neil McCanon, who was deployed to Iraq for four months as an armored crewman in the Army, said the U.S. should not have gone into Iraq in 2003. "I felt like it was not really justified, and it was proven to be unjustified after we got there," he said, referring to the never-found Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the alleged threat cited to justify the war.

But he thought Friday's airstrikes, which targeted Islamic State militants who have conquered swaths of Iraq and Syria, were the right thing to do.

"These are bad guys, there's no question about that. The only question is where do we use force and how much, I guess," said McCanon, who now is co-owner of the Virginia Beach-based Young Veterans Brewing Company.

One of the main reasons McCanon voted for Obama was because he promised to end the war. He trusts Obama's pledge not to send ground troops, but where exactly to draw the line about the use of force remains an open question for him.

"That's something I'm just conflicted on as a soldier and someone who spent time there. I don't want the place to fall into chaos," McCanon said.

Tom Lord, a 60-year-old retired firefighter from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was visiting Manhattan's 9/11 memorial Friday, said he supports the new bombing, even though he disagrees with most of Obama's other decisions.

"I would hope they send troops, but I don't believe Obama will. We need to go over there and establish peace again, or at least try to," he said.

Lord supported the original 2003 invasion. He thought the latest problems were a result of Obama pulling troops out too soon: "They needed to train up the Iraqis more than they did. They pulled out way too soon and now look what happened."

"There's a direct connection to that and what is happening now," Lord said, speaking near the South Tower reflecting pool, with the sound of rushing waterfalls in the background. "When you have a void, terrorists are going to fill it in."

"The U.S. needs to play mother over everybody else to lead them and guide them and take care of them," he added.

Does that mean America is still responsible for protecting Iraq, years after handing the country control of its own future?

Timothy Broxson in downtown Pensacola, Florida, answered this way: "I don't know if it is our responsibility, but I believe it is the right thing to do."

Broxson, 57, whose father and brother are military veterans, said, "I believe we should help."

"It is a slaughter," he said of the militants' advance, "and we need to do something about it."

Doyle Ellis, of New Virginia, Iowa, attends the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines yesterday. The post office worker thinks going into Iraq is the right thing to do, but the United States should be there as peacekeepers. (AP Photo/Catherine Lucey) 

Pausing at the Iowa State Fair, Doyle Ellis of New Virginia, Iowa, said he thinks the airstrikes are the right move but will draw America back into Iraq for several more years. Yet the 61-year-old post office employee is conflicted: "Sometimes I feel like we shouldn't be over there."

"I don't think that we should be running their country," echoed Kevin Meyers, 42, an unemployed roofer who was pausing near the World War II memorial in Phoenix.

However, he added, "Being the United States of America, we've always stepped in when people are not being treated fairly. I think we do have a responsibility, especially since the Christian minority is being target by the extremists."

Chris Turpen of Chandler, Arizona, a 45-year-old architectural project manager, also sees a U.S. responsibility to Iraq. That troubles him.

"Once you break it, you own it. But it's a war that will never be won," Turpen said.

The Islamic State fighters are fanatics who "will never go away," he said. "Don't get me wrong, we should kill every one of them, but we'll never get there. These are people that just hate America."

He thinks that Obama "had to go back in." The president has promised not to send ground troops, but Turpen would not mind if that happened.

"It's a classic example of choosing the wrong that's more right," he said.

For Hashim Al-Tawil, an artist, professor and chairman of the art history department at Henry Ford College in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, it's difficult to see anything being done right in his homeland of Iraq.

He would like to see "an end to this group" of invading militants because they don't represent Islam, Iraqis or a good, modern form of government. But he's not sure the airstrikes will be effective.

"Chaos is all over Iraq -- south, north and the center," Al-Tawil said. "What's happening today is just a small, additional sequence of that whole chaos."

He said the larger solution is for the U.S. and European nations to change their entire approach to supporting or destroying Arab regimes.

"In Iraq, there was a solid state. It was a dictatorship, that's for sure, but so is every country in that region," he said. "At least there was a country."

"Now there is no country," Al-Tawil said.

Springfield native and musician Phil Woods will receive a key to the city from Mayor Domenic Sarno and event ambassador Evan Plotkin at 2 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - Sunshine and live jazz music created serendipity for downtown Springfield on Saturday.

The Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival drew hundreds to Court Square to watch a line-up of jazz icons and phenoms for free. Mikata, with a full band of horns, drums, vocalists and other instruments, brought Salsa, Merengue, Cha-Cha and Latin Jazz to the green.

Nearby at the Community Music School, 22-yearold saxophonist Grace Kelly and Charmaine Neville offered workshops. Local food vendors dotted the perimeter of the the festival including Adolfo's, Q Restaurant and others.

"This makes me proud to be from Springfield, said Mindy Garcia, a city resident who came with her husband, Edward Garcia, to sample the music and food.

Springfield native and musician Phil Woods will receive a key to the city from Mayor Domenic Sarno and event ambassador Evan Plotkin at 2 p.m.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Charlotte Tenczar 

Charlotte M. (Amlaw) Tenczar, 90, a longtime resident of Belchertown and Holyoke, passed away on Tuesday. She was born in Adams, lived on Northampton Street in Holyoke for many years, and then moved to Belchertown. She was the store manager for many years at the former Dorothy Dodd Clothing Store in Holyoke. She was an original member of the Twenty-Fivers Boat Club in South Hadley, and while living in Belchertown, she was an active member of many committees at Pine Valley Plantation.

HealthMap uses algorithms to scour tens of thousands of social media sites, local news, government websites, infectious-disease physicians' social networks and other sources to detect and track disease outbreaks.

BOSTON (AP) -- The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is focusing a spotlight on an online tool run by experts in Boston that flagged a "mystery hemorrhagic fever" in forested areas of southeastern Guinea nine days before the World Health Organization formally announced the epidemic.

HealthMap uses algorithms to scour tens of thousands of social media sites, local news, government websites, infectious-disease physicians' social networks and other sources to detect and track disease outbreaks. Sophisticated software filters irrelevant data, classifies the relevant information, identifies diseases and maps their locations with the help of experts.

"It shows some of these informal sources are helping paint a picture of what's happening that's useful to these public health agencies," HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein said

HealthMap is operated by a group of 45 researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at Boston Children's Hospital.

The tool was introduced in 2006 with a core audience of public health specialists, but that changed as the system evolved and the public became increasingly hungry for information during the swine flu pandemic.

HealthMap generates information that includes locations of specific outbreaks and tracks new cases and deaths. The system is also capable of logging public sentiment.

The Ebola outbreak, the largest and longest ever recorded for the disease, has so far killed more than 950 people. It emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.