The U.S.-led coalition intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State positions Thursday in the Syrian border town of Kobani as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press
DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press

MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State positions Thursday in the Syrian border town of Kobani as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

The battle for the town near the frontier with Turkey has emerged as a major early test for the air campaign aimed at rolling back and eventually destroying the extremist group.

It has also strained ties between Washington and Ankara over the long-term U.S. strategy in Syria. On Thursday, the U.S. special envoy for the coalition, retired Marine Gen. John Allen, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg were in Turkey to press the country to join military operations.

Turkish officials have said that while they do not want Kobani to fall, they will not take on a greater role until the coalition outlines a broader strategy that also includes attacking Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is best positioned to benefit from any rollback of the Islamic State group.

But attacking Assad's regime "is not the focus of our international coalition and not the focus of our efforts by the United States," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Psaki said Allen and Turkish officials discussed ways to advance the effort against the Islamic State group and said a joint military planning team will visit Ankara early next week.

"Both sides also agreed that we will continue a dynamic and deepening bilateral consultation process across the multiple lines of effort against ISIL, including military support, countering foreign fighters, counter-finance, humanitarian assistance, and de-legitimizing ISIL's messaging and rhetoric," she said using and acronym for the Islamic State group.

Turkey also has called for the creation of a buffer zone inside Syria to secure the border, but the White House and Pentagon said Wednesday the U.S. is not considering that option. Such a zone would be costly and complex to enforce.

U.S. officials said Thursday the U.S. is largely talking to Turkey about other things it could do besides inserting ground forces into the fight: allowing U.S. and coalition aircraft to fly over Turkish territory; allowing its air base in Incirlik, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Syrian border, to be used by U.S. or coalition planes or for logistics and training; and equipping moderate Syrian opposition forces fighting to topple Assad.

The officials were not authorized to discuss meetings underway between U.S. and Turkish officials in Ankara and requested anonymity.

The fight for Kobani has brought Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep, and for weeks the U.S. and its allies have pressed Ankara to take a more robust role in the coalition. In addition, Kurds have held massive demonstrations across Turkey in which they accuse the government, which has deployed its tanks just across the frontier, of doing nothing to save the town.

Ankara is suspicious of the Syrian Kurdish forces fighting in Kobani, seeing them as an extension of the Kurdish PKK, which waged a long and bloody insurgency against Turkey.

Responding to the criticism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was unrealistic to expect Turkey to launch a ground war against the Islamic State group on its own.

Cavusoglu spoke at a news conference in Ankara with NATO's Stoltenberg, who said there was no easy solution for Kobani.

"ISIL poses a grave threat to the Iraqi people, to the Syrian people, to the wider region, and to NATO nations," Stoltenberg said. "So it is important that the whole international community stays united in this long-term effort."

Cavusoglu said Turkey is prepared to play a bigger part once a deal is reached with the coalition. "Turkey will not hold back from carrying out its role," he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have spoken at least twice this week.

In Kobani, columns of smoke rose as warplanes buzzed overhead Thursday. Two strong explosions — apparently from an airstrike — echoed from the edge of the town, a cluster of low-slung concrete buildings nestled in rolling hills.

The crackle of gunfire and blasts could be heard on the Turkish side, where people watched the fighting unfold from a stretch of farmland.

The coalition airstrikes have forced some Islamic State militants out of Kobani.

The U.S. Central Command said five airstrikes south of Kobani since Wednesday had destroyed an Islamic State group support building and two vehicles, and damaged a training camp. The strikes also hit two groups of Islamic State fighters, it said in a statement.

"Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against ISIL," it said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

But the Pentagon has said the town may yet fall to the extremists because air power alone cannot prevent it.

Despite the airstrikes, the Islamic State fighters managed to capture a police station in the east of Kobani, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said 11 Islamic State fighters were killed, adding that Kurdish fighters captured four jihadis. The station was later struck by coalition jets.

The Observatory, which relies on activists across Syria, said Kurdish forces had surrounded the jihadists near the station and that heavy fighting was underway.

The Observatory said the militants had seized more than a third of Kobani, but Kurdish officials disputed that, saying their forces had recaptured several parts of the town.

"I can confirm that they don't control a third of the city. There is only a small part of Kobani under the control of Daesh," said local Kurdish official Idriss Nassan, using an Arabic acronym to refer to the Islamic State group.

Both Nassan and the Observatory said more than 20 airstrikes have been conducted in the area since Wednesday afternoon.

Islamic State militants launched their offensive on Kobani in mid-September, capturing several nearby Kurdish villages and steadily strengthening their control around the town. The fighting has forced at least 200,000 residents to flee over the frontier into Turkey.

The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said more than 500 people have been killed in and around Kobani since the fighting began. He said the Islamic State group was rushing in reinforcements, indicating the extremists also view Kobani as a test of will.

___

Butler reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Matthew Lee, Lara Jakes, Lolita Baldor and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Patrick T. Leahy, a Holyoke police officer, says finding a housing alternative for homeless currently living in several cities in Western Massachusetts will be one of his first goals, if elected to the Massachusetts Senate.

SPRINGFIELD -- Patrick T. Leahy, a Holyoke police officer, says finding a housing alternative for homeless currently living in several cities in Western Massachusetts will be one of his first goals, if elected to the Massachusetts Senate.

The candidate spoke on the issue during a meeting with the editorial board of The Republican/MassLive.com.

"I don't believe anyone is gonna say that's a good solution. It's a bad solution and we need to make sure that it gets fixed," Leahy said. He said it will be "one of my top priorities when I go down to Boston, we need to go down and get this dealt with."

In January, Leahy announced he would be a Democratic candidate for state Senate in November.

He is running for the 2nd Hampden-Hampshire state Senate seat against incumbent Sen. Don Humason, R-Westfield. Humason was elected to the seat in a special election last November to fill out the term of Michael R. Knapik, who had held the seat for 18 years.

"Enough is enough. Holyoke and Chicopee have done enough. But there doesn't seem to be a resolution" coming soon, Humason, R-Westfield, told Holyoke city councilors on the issue last month.

Humason and state Rep. Aaron M. Vega, D-Holyoke, told the councilors that they know of no plans on a state-level to change the housing arraignment.

Leahy said he'd like to use the money currently paid to the hotels to build more homeless shelters.

Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday that a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month may have compromised some customers' credit and debit cards.

NEW YORK -- Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday that a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month may have compromised some customers' credit and debit cards.

The data theft at Kmart is the latest in a string of hacks at big retailers including Target, Supervalu and Home Depot.

Sears Holdings, which also operates Sears stores, said that Kmart's information technology department on Thursday detected a breach of its payment data systems.

The company was unable to provide the number of affected cards. But it said that based on its investigation so far, it believes no personal information, debit card PIN numbers, email addresses or social security numbers were obtained by the hackers. And there's no evidence that Kmart.com shoppers were affected.

It said Kmart was able to remove the malicious software from its systems.

The news of the hack is a blow to Kmart's Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based parent company, which is struggling with losses and sales declines as it fights to stay relevant with shoppers.

Sears said Kmart is working with federal law enforcement authorities and banking partners as it investigates the breach. It is also deploying software to protect customers' information.

The company said that it will be providing free credit-monitoring protection for customers who shopped with a credit or debit card at Kmart stores during the month of September and through Thursday. It also emphasized that customers have no liability for unauthorized charges if they report them in a timely manner, according to the policies of most credit card companies. Sears said that the most up-to-date information will be available on its website, kmart.com and customers can contact its customer care center at 888-488-5978.

The announcement comes a few weeks after Home Depot, the nation's largest home improvement chain, said that a data breach that lasted for months at its stores in the U.S. and Canada affected 56 million debit and credit cards. A pre-Christmas 2013 attack at Target Corp. compromised 40 million credit and debit cards.

The size of the theft at Home Depot trails only that of TJX Companies' heist of 90 million records disclosed in 2007.

Target's high-profile breach pushed banks, retailers and credit card companies to increase security by speeding the adoption of microchips in U.S. credit and debit cards. Supporters say chip cards are safer, because unlike magnetic strip cards that transfer a credit card number when they are swiped at a point of sale terminal, chip cards use a one-time code that moves between the chip and the retailer's register.

An airline passenger who became upset after a woman reclined the seat in front of him, causing the pilot to divert the plane, has been indicted on a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew.

Edmond Alexandre began to argue with other passengers over the reclined seat on the Aug. 27 flight from Miami to Paris, the U.S. attorney's office said. When a crew member intervened, Alexandre followed him down the aisle and grabbed his arm, it said. Two undercover federal air marshals subdued him, and the American Airlines flight was diverted to Boston.

The outburst over the reclined seat was at least the second such incident in the U.S. that week, authorities said. Days earlier, a United Airlines flight diverted to Chicago after two passengers argued over reclining a seat.

Alexandre, a 60-year-old Haitian national who lives in Paris, was indicted Thursday. His lawyer, Josh Hanye, said Friday he has serious health conditions including diabetes, which wasn't being properly treated at the time.

"I think all that matters in what happened on the plane," Hanye said.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Steven Glovsky was able to show that he had a right to collect signatures outside a Roche Brothers supermarket under a section of the state constitution that guarantees equal access to the ballot.

BOSTON — Candidates for public office in Massachusetts have the right to collect nominating signatures outside supermarkets, the highest court ruled Friday in a decision that expands the rights of candidates on commercial private property.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Steven Glovsky was able to show that he had a right to collect signatures outside a Roche Brothers supermarket under a section of the state constitution that guarantees equal access to the ballot.

In 2012, Glovsky, then a candidate for a seat on the Governor's Council, sued after the manager of a Roche Bros. store in Westwood said he could not collect signatures.

A Superior Court judge dismissed Glovsky's lawsuit, and the high court heard his appeal.

In its ruling, the SJC expanded the reach of a 1983 decision, which found that a political candidate has the right to solicit nomination signatures in the common areas of the Northshore Mall. The court found then that large malls are public gathering places that have taken the place of traditional downtowns, so candidates have the right to collect signatures in common areas.

The SJC said in its ruling Friday that it disagrees with Roche Brothers' argument that privately owned land just outside the entrance to a supermarket should be considered differently than the common areas of a shopping mall.

"In many rural and suburban communities , the local supermarket may serve as one of the few places in which an individual soliciting signatures would be able to approach members of the public in large numbers," Justice Fernande "Nan" Duffly wrote for the majority.

Glovsky said he's thrilled with the decision.

"Now candidates will be able to stand in front of their local supermarket and gather nominating signatures freely and with peace of mind in doing so," Glovsky said. "That is a tremendous result and benefit for all future people interested in getting involved in state politics."

Roche Brothers declined to comment.

The 18-store supermarket chain, based in Wellesley, argued that state law does not grant a general right to collect signatures on private property and courts in other states have agreed.

"The overwhelming consensus among courts that have considered this issue is that though individuals may have a constitutional right to solicit or engage in political activity at a large mall, they do not have the same right at a private supermarket over the store owner's objections," attorneys for Roche Brothers argued in a legal brief.

Justice Robert Cordy crafted a strongly worded dissenting opinion.

"It is clear that there is a meaningful difference between large shopping malls, which consistently have been deemed places where a solicitation right may not be infringed, and free-standing supermarkets, which consistently have been deemed places where such rights are not protected," Cordy wrote.

Industry groups supported the position of Roche Brothers, arguing that the high court's 1983 ruling applied only to large shopping malls, where the public is encouraged to shop and gather in large numbers.

John Pagliaro, a staff attorney for the New England Legal Foundation, said the SJC "has isolated itself by sanctioning precisely the kind of invasion of private property rights rejected firmly by other state and federal courts."

"It is a very disappointing decision for Massachusetts store owners who, with this decision, may lose their right, otherwise guaranteed under the United States Constitution, to prevent political activity on their own property," Pagliaro said.

Aaron Huntsman was caught on his patrol car's camera stealing $3,700 in cash, and a gold necklace from a victim in a motorcycle crash.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A former Connecticut State Trooper was sentenced to up to a year in prison Friday after he admitted that he stole money and jewelry from a dying victim in a motorcycle crash two years ago.

WTIC-TV, Fox61 in Hartford reported Friday that Aaron Huntsman was caught on his patrol car's dash camera stealing $3,700 and a gold necklace from John Scalesse, 49, of Orange, in September 2012. Scalesse had crashed his motorcycle on the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield.

NECN reported that detectives began investigating after Scaleese's family began looking for a gold chain valued at more than $5,000, $3,700 in cash and missing clothing.

"According to court documents, Huntsman was first at the scene and snatched the broken chain from a pool of blood around Scalesse," according to the cable news station. "Huntsman repeatedly told the victim’s father he never saw the missing items. But the affidavit says another emergency responder handed Scalesse's cash to Huntsman, who claimed to be taking it in as evidence."

The Hartford Courant reported that Huntsman pleaded guilty in July to third-degree larceny and tampering with evidence under what it called, the Alford doctrine.

"Under the doctrine, Huntsman didn't admit guilt but he acknowledged that that the state had enough evidence for a conviction against him," the newspaper report reads.

Huntsman was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended after one year, plus three years probation, the Courant story says. The year of the incident, Huntsman reportedly rejected a plea deal that would have put him in jail for one year.

"I'm truly sorry for everything, I never realized a simple gold crucifix could cause so much hurt," Huntsman told Judge Robert Devlin during his sentencing hearing," according to the Connecticut Post.

During the hearing, Huntsman's lawyer, Ryan McGuigan argued that alcoholism was to blame for Huntsman's lack of judgment.

"Every state trooper knows there is a dash camera in their car, so who in their right mind would steal property knowing it would be recorded," he asked. "My answer is that he is not in his right mind."

Huntsman had been with the department for about 19 years until he resigned last year.

The ruling follows Monday's announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it would not hear any appeal of a July ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, which has jurisdiction over North Carolina.

By MICHAEL BIESECKER
MITCH WEISS

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina struck down the state's gay marriage ban Friday, opening the way for the first same-sex weddings in the state to begin immediately.

U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., in Asheville issued a ruling shortly after 5 p.m. declaring the ban approved by state voters in 2012 unconstitutional.

Cogburn's ruling follows Monday's announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it would not hear any appeal of a July ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond striking down Virginia's ban. That court has jurisdiction over North Carolina.

"North Carolina's laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional as a matter of law," wrote Cogburn, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. "The issue before this court is neither a political issue nor a moral issue. It is a legal issue."

Though Cogburn's federal judicial district only covers the western third of the state, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said through a spokeswoman that the federal ruling applies statewide. Cooper, a Democrat, had previously decided not to continue defending the ban after concluding that all possible legal defenses had been exhausted. He declined to be interviewed.

Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger kept his Asheville office open late to begin issuing marriage licenses to the dozens of waiting couples the moment the ban was struck down. When the crowd gathered in the lobby heard the news, they erupted in cheers.

"It's a historical day for the state of North Carolina," Reisinger said. "It's autumn in Asheville and it's a beautiful time to get married."

Asheville is a progressive bastion nestled in the North Carolina mountains known for its vibrant downtown nightlife, art galleries and microbreweries. In anticipation of the ruling earlier this week, an enormous rainbow flag was draped across the front of Asheville's landmark art-deco city hall to signal support for gay rights.

Amy Cantrell and Lauren White, with their two children in tow, walked outside Reisinger's office with their license and were greeted by family and friends. The couple of six years exchanged vows before their minister, standing on the front steps.

"We've been waiting for this day for years," said an exuberant Cantrell, 42.

"I thought I might pass out at one point," added White, 29. "Pretty typical bride stuff."

In the state capital of Raleigh, Wake County Register of Deeds Laura M. Riddick reopened her office Friday evening and began issuing licenses to waiting couples.

Sheriff's deputies Chad Biggs, 35, and Chris Creech, 46, were among the first to wed. They have been together for eight years.

"Even before this I was happy, but I think now that it's on paper and it's legal — it's a commitment between two people," Biggs said.

Cogburn ruled moments after a different federal judge in Greensboro, Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen Jr., put off a decision in two cases he oversees until at least Monday. The delay followed a last-ditch effort by Republican leaders at the state legislature to intervene in the cases.

House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate Leader Phil Berger said they were disappointed. Tillis is currently campaigning for U.S. Senate.

"While we recognize the tremendous passion on all sides of this issue, we promised to defend the will of North Carolina voters because they - not judges and not politicians - define marriage as between one man and one woman and placed that in our state constitution," the Republican legislators said in a joint statement.

The case in which Cogburn ruled was filed by a group of clergy members seeking to marry same-sex couples, making the argument that their inability to do so under state law was an unconstitutional abridgment of their religious freedom.

"We celebrate knowing that this shameful chapter in North Carolina's history has passed," said the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. "At the same time we know that you can still be fired simply for being gay in North Carolina. Protection from discrimination in the workplace is the next step in our push for full equality."

AP writer Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this report.

Staffan de Mistura raised the specter of some of the worst genocides of the 20th century during a news conference in Geneva to underscore concerns as the Islamic State group pushed into Kobani from the south and east.

By LEFTERIS PITARAKIS
and JOHN HEILPRIN

MURSITPINAR, Turkey — In a dramatic appeal, a U.N. official warned that hundreds of civilians who remain trapped in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani near the border with Turkey were likely to be "massacred" by advancing extremists and called on Ankara to help prevent a catastrophe.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Syria envoy, raised the specter of some of the worst genocides of the 20th century during a news conference in Geneva to underscore concerns as the Islamic State group pushed into Kobani from the south and east.

"You remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot. And probably we never forgave ourselves for that," he said, referring to the 1995 slaughter of thousands of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces.

He spoke to reporters at a press conference in Geneva where he held up a map of Kobani and said a U.N. analysis shows only a small corridor remains open for people to enter or flee the town.

His warning came as the Islamic State group seized the so-called "Kurdish security quarter" — an area where Kurdish militiamen who are struggling to defend the town maintain security buildings and where the police station, the municipality and other local government offices are located.

The onslaught by the Islamic State group on Kobani, which began in mid-September, has forced more than 200,000 to flee across the border into Turkey. Activists say the fighting has already killed more than 500 people.

De Mistura said there were 500 to 700 elderly people and other civilians still trapped there while 10,000 to 13,000 remain stuck in an area nearby, close to the border.

"The city is in danger," said Farhad Shami, a Kurdish activist in Kobani reached by phone from Beirut. He reported heavy fighting on the town's southern and eastern sides and said the Islamic State group was bringing in more reinforcements.

U.S.-led airstrikes against the extremists appear to have failed to blunt the militants' push on Kobani. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that with the new advances, the Islamic State group was now in control of 40 percent of the town.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the U.S.-led coalition conducted nine airstrikes in Syria on Thursday and Friday. It said strikes near Kobani destroyed two Islamic State training facilities, as well as vehicles and tanks.

On Friday, the militants shelled Kobani's single border crossing with Turkey in an effort to capture it and seal off the town, a local Kurdish official and Syrian activists said.

The official, Idriss Nassan, said Islamic State fighters aim to seize the crossing in order to close the noose around the town's Kurdish defenders and prevent anyone from entering or leaving Kobani.

Occasional gunfire and explosions that appeared to be rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells could be heard from across the border in Turkey, and plumes of smoke were seen rising in the distance. The Observatory said the militants shelled several areas in Kobani, including the border crossing.

In Geneva, de Mistura invoked the genocides in Srebrenica and Rwanda in 1994 as he appealed to the world to prevent another catastrophe.

The civilians of Kobani "will be most likely massacred," said the Italian-Swedish diplomat, who was appointed to the U.N. post in July. "When there is an imminent threat to civilians, we cannot, we should not be silent."

De Mistura appealed to Turkish authorities to allow volunteers and equipment to flow into Kobani and help its Syrian Kurdish defenders to stop the advance of the militants.

"We need that because otherwise all of us, including Turkey, will be regretting deeply that we have missed an opportunity," he said.

Turkey has deployed troops and tanks across the border, but despite U.S. pressure, Ankara has said it will not join the fight unless its doing so is part of a broader strategic shift by the coalition toward helping Syrian rebels overthrow President Bashar Assad.

Ankara is pushing for a buffer zone and a no-fly zone, and was supported on Friday by France's foreign minister, who called for the creation of a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey to protect refugees and civilians.

Laurent Fabius, who met with his Turkish counterpart Friday, stressed however that such a thing would require "extremely close international coordination." The U.S. has said it is not considering that option.

The U.S. wants access to the Turkish air base at Incirlik and an agreement to help train and equip moderate Syrian forces fighting Assad's government.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, speaking to reporters in Washington, said Turkey "has agreed to support train and equip efforts for the moderate Syrian opposition." She did not mention progress on Kobani.

The fight over Kobani has eclipsed the larger Syrian civil war, where Assad's forces continue to fight rebels seeking to topple him in many parts of the country.

On Friday, activists said at least nine civilians were killed in a government airstrike that targeted the village of Harra in the southern province of Daraa. More than 20 people were also killed a day earlier in government airstrikes in Damascus suburbs, they said.

The Syrian National Coalition, Syria's Western-backed main opposition group, accused Assad of "openly exploiting" the coalition's war against the Islamic State group to continue killing Syrians.

AP writers Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam in Beirut and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Federal prosecutors have agreed not to proceed with a criminal case against Eldo Kim 21-year-old Harvard student who made bomb threats at the Cambridge campus if he successfully completes a pretrial diversion program.

BOSTON — Government attorneys have agreed to not prosecute a 21-year-old Harvard student who made bomb threats to the Cambridge campus if he successfully completes a pretrial diversion program.

On the morning of Dec. 16, 2013, Eldo Kim sent email messages with a subject line "bombs placed around campus" to Harvard police, two university officials and The Harvard Crimson newspaper. Authorities searched four campus buildings for several hours, and some final exams had to be canceled, but officials ultimately determined that the incident was a hoax.

On Friday, lawyers from the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz requested to defer prosecution of Kim for 18 months while he completes a diversion program administered by the U.S. Probation Department and Pretrial Services Office, which would enforce various pretrial conditions.

They include:

• Making a public apology.


• Home confinement for four months.


• Payment of restitution to various local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that responded to the hoax.


• And performing 750 hours of community service.

If Kim successfully follows the terms of his pretrial diversion program, the government will dismiss the case after the 18-month period. But if he fails to complete the program, the case will proceed in federal court, Ortiz said.

Allison D. Burroughs, Kim's lawyer, told The Harvard Crimson that Kim was "fully prepared" to meet the requirements of the agreement.

Kim is "deeply remorseful" and grateful that prosecutors are "willing to distinguish between a terrorist and a bright, sleep-deprived kid under difficult personal circumstances who made a very poor decision," Burroughs said in an email to the student newspaper on Friday.

Kim allegedly made the threats to avoid taking a final exam.

Hundreds of demonstrators stood inches from officers in riot gear late Friday at the start of what was expected to be a weekend of protests over the 2-month-old death of Michael Brown and other fatal police shootings that activists say are racially motivated.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- Hundreds of demonstrators stood inches from officers in riot gear late Friday at the start of what was expected to be a weekend of protests over the 2-month-old death of Michael Brown and other fatal police shootings in Missouri and elsewhere that activists say are racially motivated.

Organizers of the four-day Ferguson October events expected 6,000 participants, but the initial protest Friday outside the St. Louis County prosecutor's office in Clayton didn't draw nearly that amount. Later Friday, tensions increased, with protesters outside the Ferguson Police Department chanting anti-police remarks such as, "Killer cops, KKK, how many kids did you kill today?" as a wall of 50 officers in riot gear stood near them. The St. Louis County Police Department announced that it would arrest anyone who touched an officer.

Protesters renewed their call for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed. A grand jury is reviewing the case, and the U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Brown's death and a broader inquiry into the Ferguson police force.

"We are here to demand the justice that our people have died for," chanted protest organizer Montague Simmons of the local group Organization for Black Struggle. "We are here to bring peace, to bring restoration, to lift our banners in the name of those who've been sacrificed."

Police in Clayton reported no arrests, and officers escorted the several hundred demonstrators through the suburb's downtown as they marched past high-end restaurants, jewelry stores, banks and law offices. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Police Department said it had encrypted its radio communications system because tactical information relayed to officers had been compromised during recent situations, putting officer and the public at risk.

Tensions remain high in the wake of another black 18-year-old's shooting death by a white police officer Wednesday night in St. Louis. Police say Vonderrit D. Myers shot at the St. Louis officer, who was in uniform but working off-duty for a private neighborhood security patrol. Myers' parents say he was unarmed.

The officer's name hasn't been released.

"It's important for this country to stand with this community," said protester Ellen Davidson of New York City, who was making her second trip to the St. Louis area since Brown's death. "This community is under siege. ... The eyes of the world are watching."

On Saturday, the protests shift to downtown St. Louis, hours before the Cardinals host the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series. And on Monday, a series of planned -- but unannounced -- acts of civil disobedience are to take place throughout the St. Louis region.

"I'm not planning to get arrested," said Davidson, who was meeting up with other protesters from Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee. "But I do plan to do what I believe are in my rights as a protester. If I get arrested, that's on the people who arrest me."

Brown's parents, the local chapter of the NAACP and other organizations called for peaceful protests ahead of the demonstrations.

St. Louis police arrested eight people Thursday as hundreds gathered to protest Myers' death. At one point officers used pepper spray to force protesters back. A police spokeswoman said one officer was struck in the arm after someone threw a brick, and several cars were damaged.

Black leaders in St. Louis want the Justice Department to investigate Myers' shooting as well. Police said the officer fired 17 rounds after Myers shot at him. Preliminary autopsy results show a shot to the head killed Myers. The officer wasn't injured.

Online court documents show Myers was free on bond when he was killed. He had been charged with the unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest in June.

Airline passengers arriving in the U.S. from three West African countries will face temperature checks using no-touch thermometers and other screening measures at five American airports, starting with New York's Kennedy today.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A stepped-up screening program that checks the temperature of travelers arriving from West Africa is starting at New York's Kennedy International Airport, part of an ongoing effort to stop the spread of Ebola, which has so far killed more than 4,000 people.

The effort to screen travelers from the three West African countries most affected by Ebola starts Saturday at Kennedy and will be expanded over the next week to Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.

Customs officials say about 150 people travel daily from or through Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to the United States, and nearly 95 percent of them land first at one of the five airports.

There are no direct flights to the U.S. from the three countries, but Homeland Security officials said last week they can track passengers back to where their trips began, even if they make several stops. Airlines from Morocco, France and Belgium are still flying in and out of West Africa.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the new screening measures are "really just belt and suspenders" to support protections already in place. Border Patrol agents already look for people who are obviously ill, as do flight crews, and passengers departing from West Africa are being screened.

Public health workers at Kennedy Airport will use no-touch thermometers to take the temperatures of the travelers from the three Ebola-ravaged countries; those who have a fever will be interviewed to determine whether they may have had contact with someone infected with Ebola. There are quarantine areas at each of the five airports that can be used if necessary.

Health officials expect false alarms from travelers who have fever from other illnesses. Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms begin, and it spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of patients.

The extra screening at U.S. airports probably wouldn't have identified Thomas Eric Duncan when he arrived from Liberia last month because he had no symptoms while traveling. Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., died Wednesday in Dallas.

Experts say the federal government has broad authority to screen passengers and quarantine them if necessary.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited as legal authority the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, under which the government regulates trade with foreign countries. The 1944 Public Health Service Act also allows the federal government to take action to prevent communicable diseases, which include viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, from spreading into the country.

Police Chief David LaBrie confirmed one of his officers has been spoken to about posting a comment on Facebook calling heroin users “disgusting” and expressing a wish that users die from overdoses.

These were the most read stories on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now. One of the most viewed items overall, was the photo gallery, above, of pets available at local shelters.

1) Ludlow boys soccer forfeits: Athletic director Tim Brillo says 'the process we had in place didn't work' [Kevin Dillon]

2) Former UMass basketball star Lari Ketner passes away from cancer [Ron Chimelis]

3) South Hadley police officer's Facebook comments trigger anonymous complaint to chief [Patrick Johnson]

4) Teen shoots Wyoming man in head as victim begs for life, witness says [Associated Press]

5) Holyoke businessmen plan to build gas station-convenience store at Hampden-Pleasant streets formerly owned by Eric Suher [Mike Plaisance]

A City Hall meeting set for Tuesday with the closed church as a focus is unrelated to the Saturday gathering outside the church, an organizer said.

HOLYOKE — The Friends of Mater Dolorosa Church will hold a world peace prayer and rosary meeting Saturday (Oct. 11) at noon outside the closed church at Lyman and Maple streets.

“The rallies are occurring because of the continuing need for faith spurred on by domestic and foreign violence, terrorism, war, abortion on demand, life-threatening diseases, and divisions as well as other moral and institutional decay which government, by itself, can not seem to handle,” organizer Victor M Anop said Friday.

People will meet outside the church for prayers and songs, said Anop, of Chicopee.

Anop said the gathering is unrelated to a City Council Ordinance Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday (Oct. 14) at City Hall on the ongoing controversy about whether the 113-year-old church should be included in a proposal to establish a Polish Heritage Historic District.

Anop, a lawyer, has been one of the most vocal supporters of including the church in the proposed district. They said the protection of a historic designation is needed to stop the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which owns the church, from demolishing it. The diocese has denied it has plans to demolish Mater Dolorosa Church.

Anop and supporters of the Polish Heritage Historic District will attend the 6:30 p.m. Ordinance Committee meeting Tuesday, he said, but the world peace prayer event isn't an effort to highlight the goal of the Friends of Mater Dolorosa Church to save the church.

"This is something we've done for the past three years, so it just happens to fall that way. What it is for is really for world peace and reclamation from the bad values that we have been seeing," Anop said.

Friends of Mater Dolorosa has an appeal pending with the Vatican in Rome on the diocese's 2011 decision to close the church. It was merged with the former Holy Cross Church to form a new parish, Our Lady of the Cross. That parish has Masses and other services at the former Holy Cross Church at 23 Sycamore St.

After the Diocese closed Mater Dolorosa Church, former Mayor Elaine A. Pluta assigned the Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District Commission to explore establishment of the Polish historic district.

The commission's report is what is now before the City Council Ordinance Committee.

The proposal lists 21 residential and commercial properties on the southern part of Lyman Street that supporters said mark an area of Polish heritage, with the focus being Mater Dolorosa Church.

Polish immigrants came here in heavy numbers between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to work in the paper and other mills.

But the diocese and others, including parishioners of Our Lady of the Cross, have said that imposing the designation of "historic" on a property handcuffs such owners and can be costly. Renovations to exterior features of a building like a roof or windows must be approved by the Historical Commission to ensure the changes maintain the property's historic nature.

Getting certain materials to ensure the building's historical legacy is honored can be expensive, critics have said, but others have said the renovation is hardly so onerous.

Also, critics of the historic district plan have said, if the Vatican decides the diocese was correct in closing the church, any effort to sell the church for reuse would be thwarted by the historic designation constraints.

Supporters have said that the benefits of the proposed Polish Heritage Historic District are that it will:

--Aid in the preservation and protection of the distinctive characteristics and architecture of buildings and places significant to the history of the city of Holyoke.

--Maintain and improve their settings.

--Encourage new building designs compatible with the existing architectures.

--Open the way for historic-upkeep grants.

The City Council Ordinance Committee will begin debating the proposed Polish historic district Tuesday at City Hall.

HOLYOKE -- To Our Lady of the Cross parishioners, "historic" has come to mean burden.

They see the inclusion of the closed Mater Dolorosa Church in a proposal to establish a Polish Heritage Historic District as a dead end, Jean Dietrich, chairwoman of the Finance Committee for Our Lady of the Cross, said Friday (Oct. 10).

That's because with the designation of historic comes requirements that the local Historical Commission give its approval before any building alterations can be done. And since no one will want to buy a 113-year-old, former church bearing such restrictions, responsibility will fall to the 3.5-year-old Our Lady of the Cross parish to maintain the structure. The parish can't afford such costs, she said.

"It would become unsellable if it becomes 'historic.' It seems like the people in Holyoke who belong to Our Lady of the Cross don't count," Dietrich said.

The City Council Ordinance Committee Tuesday (Oct. 14) will begin debating a proposal to establish an ordinance that would create a Polish Heritage Historic District on Lyman Street.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

The proposal lists 21 residential and commercial properties on the southern part of Lyman Street that supporters said mark an area of Polish heritage, with the focus being Mater Dolorosa Church.

Polish immigrants came here in heavy numbers between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to work in the paper and other mills. They built and paid for Mater Dolorosa Church.

Dietrich said parishioners who don't want Mater Dolorosa Church in the historic district will attend what is expected to be a packed meeting Tuesday.

The meeting also will include many people who not only want the church preserved with a historic designation, but hold out hope it could reopen and be a parish again.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield closed Mater Dolorosa Church in June 2011, merging that parish with the former Holy Cross Church to form Our Lady of the Cross. That parish has Masses and other services at the former Holy Cross Church at 23 Sycamore St.

After the diocese closed Mater Dolorosa Church, former Mayor Elaine A. Pluta assigned the Fairfield Avenue Local Historic District Commission to study the possibility of forming a Polish historic district.

The commission studied the matter, considered numerous properties for inclusion in such a historic district and held a crowded public hearing March 20 where nearly 40 people spoke for and against the proposal.

The commission voted 4-0 on May 14 to approve the proposal and submit it to the City Council.

The Ordinance Committee of the council will debate the proposal. Eventually, the proposal will come to a vote before the full City Council. If the council approves the historic district, that measure would go to Mayor Alex B. Morse, who supports the plan and has said he will sign it to establish an ordinance designating the area as historic.

Residents who want the church reopened kept a round-the-clock presence in the church for a year to prevent the diocese from trying to tear it down. Their vigil and push for a decision about the church's future led to the matter going to the Vatican. The Vatican's highest court in Rome is considering the fate of Mater Dolorosa Church.

Such residents and others who support the historic district plan have said the designation is necessary to block the diocese from demolishing Mater Dolorosa Church.
The diocese has denied there are plans to raze the building.

Dietrich said that if the Vatican agrees with the diocese's decision and the final ruling is that Mater Dolorosa stay closed, Our Lady of the Cross parish -- the new entity based on the former Mater Dolorosa and Holy Cross parishes -- gets the burden to deal with the closed church.

Echoing statements by the diocese, and countering the declarations of historic district supporters, Dietrich said, "We definitely don't have demolition in mind, no matter what happens."

The preference would be to sell Mater Dolorosa Church so it could be reused somehow, though it would be hard to imagine such a sale with a "historic" designation included, she said.

Supporters have said that the benefits of the proposed historic district are that it will preserve distinctive characteristics significant to the city's history, encourage new building designs compatible with the existing architectures and make make grants available.

Dietrich questioned how the city would gain by establishing such a district other than posting a sign identifying the area as historic.

"Big deal," she said.

Two New Jersey men are to face serious charges in Vermont and New Hampshire after allegedly leading police on a multi-state chase on Friday afternoon.

A New Jersey man with a history of fleeing from the police allegedly reprised that role on Friday after a car he was in was pulled over by Vermont State Police in Brattleboro.

 

According to a press release from troopers, officers on patrol around 1:10 p.m. Friday spotted a vehicle that was wanted in relation to an ongoing investigation near the Super 8 Motel on Putney Road in Brattleboro. As troopers called for backup, considering the unspecified felonies at least one of the occupants was facing in the Garden State, the gold 2004 Pontiac Grand Am allegedly fled.

The car, which police say was occupied by 22-year-olds Christian and Christopher Torruellas, both of Jersey City, N.J., then stuck a state police cruiser before taking off and crossing into New Hampshire. Although Vermont State Police declined to follow the duo into the Granite State on Route 9, they did radio their counterparts and a myriad of police agencies from the area began pursuing the Pontiac.

The car was found cruising along on Route 63 and after authorities in New Hampshire used traffic spikes which shredded three of the car's tires, the car finally came to a stop. But one of the men reportedly fled on foot at that point, although by 3 p.m., both were in custody.

Vermont State Police didn't specify what charges the men were wanted on in New Jersey, but noted that serious charges will be leveled in the coming days in both Vermont and New Hampshire.

NJ.com, the sister website of MassLive.com, reported in May that Christian Torruellas was arrested after he allegedly fled from police following two car crashes. In that case, his mother filed a complaint with police alleging that officers used unnecessary force.

In January, NJ.com also reported that Christian Torreullas was arrested on gun and drug charges following a traffic stop in North Arlington, N.J. A look at the police blotter regarding the arrest revealed Christian Torreullas was the driver and that the pistol was found under the front passenger seat and the marijuana was found in the door panel near that seat, in plain view, according to the report.

In that incident, police say Christian said his name was Christopher allegedly in an attempt to hide the fact that his license was suspended and that he had active warrants out of Jersey City.

Both Christian and Christopher Torreullas were arrested on warrants out of New Jersey, Vermont State Police said, while authorities there and in New Hampshire determine the new charges they will face.

Protests over the shooting of Michael Brown continue in Ferguson, MO.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Tense but peaceful protests over Michael Brown's death and other fatal police shootings in Missouri and elsewhere stretched across the St. Louis region Friday as organizers urged hundreds of participants to avoid arrest so that they could return for a weekend of demonstrations.

The four-day event called Ferguson October began Friday afternoon with a march outside the St. Louis County prosecutor's office in Clayton and renewed calls for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed. A grand jury is reviewing the case.

The demonstrations moved to Ferguson Friday night as protesters stood inches from officers in riot gear before demonstrators disbursed. Many then went to the site of a police shooting in St. Louis, where another demonstration is planned Saturday. By 2 a.m. Saturday, St. Louis police had blocked a main road that crosses an interstate highway near Saint Louis University's medical complex, but the heavy police restrictions didn't keep hundreds more — including many newcomers from across the country who joined local residents — from marching in the streets.

"It's important for this country to stand with this community," said protester Ellen Davidson of New York City, a community college administrator who was making her second trip to the St. Louis area since Brown's death. "This community is under siege. ... The eyes of the world are watching."

The planned Saturday morning protest in downtown St. Louis will take place hours before the Cardinals host the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series. And on Monday, a series of planned — but unannounced — acts of civil disobedience are to take place throughout the St. Louis region.

"I'm not planning to get arrested," said Davidson, who accompanied about 15 other members of Veterans for Peace from Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee. "But I do plan to do what I believe are in my rights as a protester. If I get arrested, that's on the people who arrest me."

Organizers said before the weekend that they expected 6,000 to 10,000 participants, but the initial protest outside the county courthouse, which took place amid a cold and steady rain, didn't draw nearly that amount. Tensions increased in Ferguson, with hundreds of protesters gathering outside the Ferguson Police Department and chanting anti-police remarks such as, "Killer cops, KKK, how many kids did you kill today?" as a wall of about 100 officers in riot gear stood impassively.

In Clayton, officers escorted the several hundred demonstrators through the suburb's downtown as they marched past high-end restaurants, jewelry stores, banks and law offices.

"We are here to demand the justice that our people have died for," chanted protest organizer Montague Simmons of the local group Organization for Black Struggle. "We are here to bring peace, to bring restoration, to lift our banners in the name of those who've been sacrificed."

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Police Department announced it had encrypted its radio communications system, saying tactical information relayed to officers had been compromised during recent events, putting officers and the public at risk.

The early Saturday morning protests took place on St. Louis' south side, where on Wednesday night a white police officer shot and killed another black 18-year-old. Police say Vonderrit D. Myers shot at the St. Louis officer, who was in uniform but working off-duty for a private neighborhood security patrol. Myers' parents say he was unarmed.

The officer's name hasn't been released. St. Louis police arrested eight people Thursday as hundreds gathered to protest Myers' death. At one point officers used pepper spray to force protesters back. A police spokeswoman said one officer was struck in the arm after someone threw a brick, and several cars were damaged.

Black leaders in St. Louis want the Justice Department to investigate Myers' shooting as well. Police said the officer fired 17 rounds after Myers shot at him. Preliminary autopsy results show a shot to the head killed Myers. The officer wasn't injured.

___

Kailash Satyarthi has spent half his life advocating for children.

PATNA, India (AP) — When the Nobel Committee announced that Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi had won the Peace Prize, a skinny 13-year-old boy was running around serving cups of milky tea to customers at a tiny tea stall in eastern India.

By law, Raja Manjhi should not be working at all. But, like millions of other children across India, he has been forced out of school and into a job to help his impoverished family.

Despite the country's rapid economic growth, child labor remains widespread in India, where an estimated 13 million children work, with laws meant to keep kids in school and out of the workplace routinely flouted.

Satyarthi, 60, who won the Peace Prize on Friday along with 17-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, accepts that "a lot of work still remains" before children like Raja no longer have to work.

Raja dropped out of school in second grade, when he was handed over to the owner of a tea stall in the eastern city of Patna to pay off his father's 5,000 rupee ($80) debt. The money was needed because Raja's mother was sick.

He has no idea what a Nobel Prize means. And he has no idea when his father's debt will be repaid so he can go back to his village.

Across India, children — some as young as 5 or 6 — end up working in all sorts of jobs. Many, like Raja, are in bonded labor, bound to their employers in exchange for a loan and unable to leave while in debt, which can last forever.

Others, like 13-year-old Srabani Das, need money so their impoverished families can eat.

Srabani, still a child herself, is a baby sitter for a middle-class family's 1-year-old girl in the eastern city of Kolkata.

It's a job she has had for a year and which pays only about 800 rupees ($13) a month, which she sends home to her family of poor farm laborers. Srabani lives with her employers, and has no fixed work days or time off.

Srabani has heard of the Nobel Prize, thanks to receiving a bit more of an education than Raja after studying up to the sixth grade.

She was happy that an Indian had won the award, but added, "It won't change my life."

For more than three decades, Satyarthi and the organization that he founded, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Children Movement, has worked to rescue children like Raja and create awareness to keep others like Srabani in school.

In 2006, India banned the hiring of children under 14 as servants in homes or as full-time workers in restaurants, tea shops, hotels or spas, mandating that they must remain in school. But such laws can be nearly impossible to enforce.

It's not unusual to find girls as young as Srabani, and sometimes even younger, taking care of an infant for a middle-class family. Across the country, they are found in upscale shopping malls and fancy restaurants, entertaining children while the parents shop or dine.

In return, they earn a pittance, as well as food and a place to sleep, which is usually in the family's living room or on the kitchen floor.

For the children themselves, the issue is not as clear-cut as many outside India would think. They come from bitterly poor families, and in many cases are their families' sole breadwinners.

Rohit Kumar came to the northern Indian city of Lucknow two years ago, when he was only 11. His father worked at a construction site, while he worked at roadside food stalls.

His father went back to their village last year, but Rohit stayed behind to work at a tea stall, where he works up to 15 hours a day washing utensils and serving customers.

"I like this job," he says, adding that it fetches him two meals a day and about 800 rupees ($13) a month, more money than he has ever had in his life.

But Rohit does not go to school and gets sad when he watches other children play cricket on the streets or in playgrounds.

"I want to play cricket," Rohit says. "I have seen how children play this game, but I do not have enough time."

And what of the law that makes his job illegal?

"I serve tea at the local police station. All the cops know me," he says. "So who will enforce the law?"

___

State and local police rescued a female hiker lost in the October Mountain State forest Friday evening.

WASHINGTON— A search team from the Berkshire County town of Washington police and fire personnel, as well as State Police troopers and the State Police Air wing, located a lost hiker in the October Mountain State Forest Friday evening after she called authorities saying she was lost and could no find her way out.

The lone female hiker called authorities shortly before 8 p.m.according to media reports, and said she was unable to find her way out of the woods. The State Police helicopter was able to sight the woman and direct searchers to her. Rescuers used All Terrain Vehicles, and infra red technology to help locate the woman and remove her from the forested area.

The woman was examined by emergency medical personnel and appears to be in good shape.

The hiker was not identified by police.

Owners of Bashista Orchards, Outlook Farm, and Clarkdale weigh in on the season's harvest.

PIONEER VALLEY — The region's apple crop is relatively light this year, according to three local orchardists, largely because the crop was so abundant last year.

Owners of Bashista Orchards in Southampton, Outlook Farm in Westhampton, and Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Deerfield all said last year's bumper crop meant trees didn't bud as much as they normally would this year, leading to a sparser harvest.

"The apples are delicious; there just aren't as many of them," said Tom W. Bashista, patriarch of the Bashista Orchard family. Bashista noted that his son Tom, the manager of the orchard, was "busy working in the cider house."

"We have about a quarter of our crop from what we had last year," said Bashista. "Last year was extremely good, but this year when the trees were in bloom, there was cold and rain, and the bees didn't pollinate. Then we got hit with hail, afterward, too. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that, to mess things up."

Bashista said his grandfather bought the farm in 1926. The family has about 25 acres devoted to orchard production. "We do some haying. And we rent out a couple pieces of land to a couple of the farmers. Pretty much we've got a hundred acres all intact. And it's going to stay that way, we hope."

Trees include Baldwins, Winesap, Lodi, MacIntosh, Braeburn, Macouns, Jonagolds, and other varieties. Bashista is also experimenting with growing cherry trees and vegetables in a large, protected hoop house.

Brad Morse, owner of Outlook Farm, said he didn't suffer any weather calamities at the hilltop orchard on Route 66.

"No late frosts; no hailstorms," said Morse. "It's on the lighter side, but we're making it through the season; we're still picking our own."

Morse attributed the light crop to too much production last year. "There was a wicked heavy crop throughout New England last year, which means lighter production this year. That's just mother nature."

He said it's rare to get through a year without some sort of weather-related issue. "Whether you get a big crop or a small crop, you can still get bad bloom time, bad bee time, you get hit with hailstorms, you get windstorms, you get all the usual."

He said next year he'll hopefully be back to an average year. "This year, with the lighter crop load, the trees will make plenty of buds."

Morse said Outlook has been in the family for a little over 50 years now, between his parents, himself, and his wife. They have 30 acres of orchard, and 30 acres rented out for vegetable production. "Plus we do hayrides, pick-your-own, all the fall festivities."

Tom Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield reported a medium-sized crop.

"Last year we had the biggest crop we ever had; the year before was the smallest crop we ever had; and luckily we're somewhere in the middle."

The summer's cool wet weather helped the trees stay healthy, said Clark. "The green leaves are still there; and the apples stayed on the tree and they didn't fall off. We're still picking."

Clark also remarked on the effect of last year's huge crop.

"If you have too many one year, and you don't thin them off enough, they won't set enough buds for the next year. That happened in a lot of places."

He said in orchards up north, there was enough cold weather after the April bloom to cause damage. "So certain locations in New England, and New Hampshire is one of those places, got hit with that."

Clark said he toured a New Hampshire orchard in May which had "full-sized fruit trees with only six blossoms on them."

Clarkdale consists of "three hundred acres of woods and rocks," said Clark, with apples on 25 of those acres, peaches on 10, and pears on four or five. He said he has "thousands" of trees and 40 or 50 varieties. The orchard will be 100 years old next year.

"We still have some of my grandfather's original trees," said Clark.

New Jersey officials have issued a mandatory quarantine order for members of an NBC crew that was exposed to a cameraman with Ebola.

New Jersey officials have issued a mandatory quarantine order for members of an NBC crew that was exposed to a cameraman with Ebola.

The order went into effect Friday night after state health officials said a voluntary 21-day isolation agreement was violated.

Officials with the state Health Department told The Associated Press that the crew remains symptom-free and there is no reason for concern of exposure to the deadly virus to the community.

Citing privacy concerns, department officials wouldn't give further details, including who violated the voluntary agreement and how the state learned of the violation.

The NBC crew included medical correspondent Nancy Snyderman, who lives in New Jersey. She was working with Ashoka Mukpo, a cameraman who was infected in West Africa. He is being treated in Nebraska.

An NBC representative told The AP on Saturday that the network could not comment on any individual case, but noted that the team was deemed to be low-risk upon its return from Liberia and its members agreed to follow guidelines set by local health authorities.

"We fully support those guidelines and continue to expect that they be followed," the representative said. "Our team are all well with normal temperatures, which they check multiple times a day, and they are also in daily contact with local health officials."

In a phone interview with "Today" last week, Snyderman said all the gear she and her crew used was being disinfected because they all shared work space and vehicles. She said she believed she and her team were at a low risk because they have been "hyper-vigilant."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that people exposed to the virus develop symptoms two to 21 days after their exposure.