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Melissa Hathorne of Agawam victim of single-car fatal crash

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Police said Melissa Hathrone was killed in a single car crash in Agawam Sunday morning.

AGAWAM— A 38-year-old Agawam woman was killed Sunday morning when the car she was driving went out of control, left Garden Street, sheared a fire hydrant and slammed into a mound of earth.

Agawam Police Sgt. Michael Gruska said Melissa Hathrone, of Suffield Street in Agawam, was alone in the car at the time of the 1:10 a.m. crash. She died of her injuries at the scene.

Gruska said the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section responded to the scene to aid Agawam police in its inquiry, and details are scarce as the investigation progresses.

What police do know, Gruska said, is that Hathrone was traveling southbound on Garden Street, and had just crossed over the Route 57 overpass when she started to lose control of the 2007 Toyota Highlander SUV she was driving. The car jumped a curb, sheared the active fire hydrant and hit an earthen mound left from excavation at a nearby construction site.

The city DPW was called to close off the water flow to the hydrant as the volume of water released threatened to undercut the roadway.

The state Medical Examiner's Office took custody of the remains and will determine the exact cause of death.

The wreckage of the vehicle was taken from the scene to a secure lot where State Police investigators will continue their examination.


Worcester man accidentally shoots himself in leg at NYC bus terminal

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Charges are pending against the man, identified as 35-year-old Joseph Riddick, of Worcester. It wasn't clear if he had a lawyer.

NEW YORK — Massachusetts man carrying a shotgun inside a gym bag accidentally shot himself in the leg Saturday at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

portauthority.jpgThe Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan in seen in an undated file photo. 
Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo saids the man was waiting in line to board a bus at about 6 a.m. when his foot came into contact with the gym bag, triggering the weapon.

Pentangelo says the blast struck the man in the left calf. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was treated for a non-life threatening injury. A sawed off 12 gauge shotgun was recovered.

Pentangelo says charges are pending against the man, identified as 35-year-old Joseph Riddick, of Worcester. It wasn't clear if he had a lawyer.

Cute chick rover: A new way to spy on shy penguins

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The newest tool for biologists is the baby penguin robotic spy.

WASHINGTON -- The newest tool for biologists is the baby penguin robotic spy.

It's pretty darn cute, and so convincing that penguins essentially talk to it, as if it is a potential mate for their chicks.

Emperor penguins are notoriously shy. When researchers approach, these penguins normally back away and their heart rate goes up. That's not what the scientists need when they want to check heart rate, health and other penguin parameters.

So international scientists and even filmmakers, led by Yvon Le Maho of the University of Strasbourg in France, created a remote control rover disguised as a chick to snuggle up to shy penguins in Adelie Land, Antarctica -- the same place where the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins" was filmed.

Researchers watched from more than 650 feet away.

The first disguised version of the rover, made of fiberglass, didn't pass muster and scared the real birds, Le Maho said.

Researchers tried about five versions until they hit upon the right one. It's covered in gray fur, sports black arms, and has a black-and-white painted face and black beak.

The penguins didn't scamper away and even sang to it with "a very special song like a trumpet," Le Maho said.

Le Maho suggested that the adult penguins were trying to find a mate for their chicks and they were listening for a response, but researchers didn't program the rover to make a sound.

"They were very disappointed when there was no answer," Le Maho said. "Next time we will have a rover playing songs."

At other times, the rover crowded in with a group of chicks, acting as "a spy in the huddle," Le Maho said.

There's a reason scientists want to use rovers. Some, but not all, researchers worry that just by coming close to some shy animals they change their behavior and can taint the results of their studies, Le Maho said.

Le Maho also used a rover without any animal disguise to spy on king penguins and elephant seals because those animals don't flee strangers. The king penguins attacked the small rover with their beaks, unless it stayed still, but that still allowed the device to get close enough to get readings. The large lumbering elephant seals didn't budge when the rover zipped by and around them.

In the future, the researchers plan to use a more autonomous robot to spy on the emperor penguins. The idea is to use devices on the rover to read signals from radio tags on the birds.

The study is published Sunday by the journal Nature Methods.

Brockton man charged with trafficking in 196 grams of cocaine, had $11,000 believed to be used in drug sales

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The suspect was in possession of $11,00 in case believed to be used in drug sales.

BROCKTON - Massachusetts State Police arrested a 28-year-old man who was allegedly in possession of 196 grams of cocaine, 10 grams of heroin and $11,000 in cash, believed to be in connection with the sale of narcotics.

Robert P. Simeone Jr., 28, of Brockton, was charged with trafficking in cocaine, distributing heroin, resisting arrest and motor vehicle charges after a routine traffic stop at about 4:35 p.m., Saturday on Commerce Way in Plymouth, police officials said.

After being pulled over, Simone is being accused of attempting to run from a state police trooper. He was apprehended after a short foot chase by the trooper. Two Plymouth Police officers and a second state trooper also assisted in the arrest.

Simone is being held without bail at the Plymouth County House of Correction. He is to be arraigned Monday in Plymouth District Court.

Strong wind advisory ends, cold temperatures warned for overnight

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Power outages were reported throughout Western Massachusetts

Strong wind gusts plagued most of Western Massachusetts Sunday, causing scattered power outages mainly in Franklin and Berkshire Counties.

"The storm system we had on the coast earlier was exiting to the Canadian Maritimes and usually it wraps northerly winds behind it," said Mike Skurko, meteorologist with CBS3 Springfield.

Winds were at their worst though Sunday morning with gusts topping out at 40 to 45 miles an hour in the late morning in the Springfield area.

There were a number of reports of outages including larger ones in Hatfield, Amherst and Shelburne. As of 7:15 p.m., Northeast Utilities was reporting 79 outages scattered throughout a number of communities. Most towns had fewer than 25 customers without power.

It will remain breezy throughout the night but the National Weather Service wind advisory officially expired at 6 p.m. Sunday night is expected to be cold, dropping down into the 20s, Skurko said.

Sunday's temperatures averaged about 45 degrees. In early November temperatures in the region typically hover in the lower 50s, Skurko said.

Monday is expected to continue to be a bit cooler than usual and it will be breezy with gusts no more than 10 to 20 miles and hour. Temperatures will again drop into the 20s overnight, he said.

The storm brought mostly rain, but there were reports of a few light flurries - the first reports of snow this year - mostly in the higher elevations. The coast of Maine saw heavier snows, Skurko said.

Western Mass.' Aaron Lewis of Staind botched the National Anthem: What people are Tweeting

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Aaron Lewis, a Longmeadow native, immediately apologized for botching the words to the National Anthem.

Western Massachusetts music fans were happy to see Staind singer Aaron Lewis selected to sing the National Anthem before the start of Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 26, then the worst happened when he botched the lyrics.

The 42-year-old Western Massachusetts rocker started with "O say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed." Lewis diverted from the lyrics; instead of singing "at the twilight's last gleaming" he sang " were so gallantly streaming," lyrics that appear later in "The Star-Spangled Banner."

He issued an apology on his Facebook page on Sunday night.

"All I can say is I'm sorry and ask for the Nation's forgiveness. My nerves got the best of me and I am completely torn up about what happened. America is the greatest country in the world. 'The Star-Spangled Banner' means so much to so many, including myself. I hope everyone can understand the intensity of the situation and my true intent of this performance. I hope that the Nation, Major League Baseball and the many fans of our national pastime can forgive me."

Some fans were willing to do so. Others noted that Lewis had rapped pop singer Christina Aguilera for mangling some words of the National Anthem at the opening of Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

Here are some of the Tweets about Aaron Lewis in the week following his performance.

Rehoboth man killed in accident on Interstate-95 in Walpole

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The cause of the accident is under investigation.

WALPOLE - A 55-year-old Rehoboth man was killed in a one-car rollover accident on Interstate 95 Saturday night.

Massachusetts State Police said the accident is under investigation by troopers from the Foxboro Barracks.

The victim, Martin Vaslet, died at the scene of the crash. He was the driver and sole occupant of the car, according to State Police officials.

The accident happened at about 10:40 p.m. in the southbound lanes near the 20.5 mile marker. Vaslet, who was driving a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta left the road and struck a tree in the median. He was ejected from the car, police said.

State Police from Troop H Headquarters, State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, State Medical Examiner's Office, Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, Sharon Fire Department and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation all assisted on scene, police said.

Thousands gather to say farewell to former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino

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A miserable combination of strong winds and cold sideways sleet could not deter the mourners that came to wish him goodbye one last time.

BOSTON -- A miserable combination of strong winds and cold sideways sleet could not deter the mourners who came to say goodbye.

People from every part of the city and all walks of life trekked to Boston's storied Faneuil Hall on Sunday to attend the wake of former Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the city's longest-serving mayor.

Menino died Thursday after a battle with cancer. He was 71.

Many arrived early in the morning to take shelter from the unpleasant weather in a recently vacated Faneuil Hall floral shop while those who did not formed a long line that snaked up Congress Street well before the wake opened to the public at 10 a.m.

Menino ButtonsButtons from former Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's political campaigns. 
They came wearing pins from Menino's campaigns for mayor and council, as well as from other causes dear to him, like the 1996 referendum that opposed changes to the city's school committee structure.

Nearly all of them seemed to have met Menino at some point in their lives.

James White, 65, of Hyde Park, knew Menino when he was just a district city councilor from the neighborhood.

"He was so compassionate for the people that needed help the most: the disabled, the elderly, the poor. He just had the pulse of what people needed and just automatically knew what to do and how to help," said White.

White, confined to a wheelchair, credited Menino with fixing a dangerous pedestrian crossing near the Blake Estates apartments in Hyde Park where he lives.

"He was so dedicated to helping those people in that building," said White.

Ed Holda of Boston, a resident of Boston, Springfield and New York City over the last 20 years, said he thought Menino was the best mayor he has lived under.

"No big controversies. He wasn't a rich cat or power-hungry. All he wanted to do was be mayor and enjoyed being mayor," said Holda.

Menino's open casket rested at the front of the Faneuil Hall stage surrounded by a massive display of white roses and other assorted flowers. An honor guard of Boston firefighters on the stage stood watch over him as mourners proceeded by in an orderly line.

Past and present commissioners of the Boston Police Department were seated to the right of Menino while his family, including his wife Angela, two children and six grandchildren were seated to the left.

A string quartet played funeral music throughout the proceedings.

The wake is expected to continue throughout the night.

Fanueil Hall held a special place in the Menino administration as it, was where he was first inaugurated as mayor in 1994, and where he announced he would not seek another term in 2013. When he left office, he had an unprecedented approval rating of 79 percent from city residents.

Monday's funeral procession will begin at Faneuil Hall and end at Most Precious Blood Parish in Hyde Park, where a private funeral Mass will be celebrated.

The procession will take Menino through nearly every neighborhood of the city.

More information on the procession and tomorrow's proceedings can be found here.


Deerfield accident kills moose, destroys car on I-91

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One lane of the highway was closed while the car and the moose were removed.

DEERFIELD - The driver of a Mini Cooper car crashed into a moose on Interstate 91 Sunday night, killing the moose and destroying the car.

The male driver, who was alone in the car, was not injured in the about 7:40 p.m. accident, Massachusetts State Police officials said.

The accident happened in the left lane of the highway. Part of the highway was closed for some time while the car and the body of the moose was removed. One lane remained open so traffic backups were minimal, police said.

State Environmental Police were called to assist in removing the moose. The weight of the animal was not known, he said.

Brittany Maynard dies 'peacefully' using lethal drugs under Oregon assisted-suicide law

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Britttany Maynard died Saturday "as she intended -- peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones."

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A young woman who moved to Oregon to take advantage of the state's assisted-suicide law took lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor and has died, a spokesman said Sunday.

Brittany Maynard, 29, was diagnosed with brain cancer on New Year's Day and was later given six months to live. She and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved from California because that state does not allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor.

Maynard became a nationally recognized advocate for the group Compassion & Choices, which seeks to expand aid-in-dying laws beyond a handful of states.

Sean Crowley, a spokesman for Compassion & Choices, said in a statement late Sunday that Maynard died Saturday "as she intended -- peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones."

Maynard's story, accompanied by photos from her pre-illness wedding day, got attention across the globe while igniting a debate about doctor-assisted suicide.

She told reporters she planned to take her life Saturday, less than three weeks before her 30th birthday, but later said she was feeling well enough to possibly postpone. She said she wasn't suicidal but wanted to die on her own terms, and she reserved the right to move the death date forward or push it back.

She said her husband and other relatives accepted her choice.

"I think in the beginning my family members wanted a miracle; they wanted a cure for my cancer." she told The Associated Press in early October. "I wanted a cure for my cancer. I still want a cure for my cancer. One does not exist, at least that I'm aware of.

"When we all sat down and looked at the facts, there isn't a single person that loves me that wishes me more pain and more suffering."

Oregon was the first U.S. state to make it legal for a doctor to prescribe a life-ending drug to a terminally ill patient of sound mind who makes the request. The patient must swallow the drug without help; it is illegal for a doctor to administer it.

More than 750 people in Oregon used the law to die as of Dec. 31, 2013. The median age of the deceased is 71. Only six were younger than 35, like Maynard.

The state does not track how many terminally ill people move to Oregon to die. A patient must prove to a doctor that they are living in Oregon. Some examples of documentation include a rental agreement, a voter registration card or a driver's license.

Oregon voters approved the Death with Dignity Act in 1994, then reaffirmed it -- 60 percent to 40 percent -- in 1997.

Senate candidate Debra Boronski braves cold and wind on final weekend before election

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Debra Boronski is a candidate for the 1st Hampden-Hampshire Senate seat.

EAST LONGMEADOW — With the heavy winds blowing her hair and her signs back Debra Boronski stood on the corner of Harkness Avenue and North Main Street for several hours Sunday waving at motorists.

It's the final weekend before the Tuesday election where Boronski will face-off against Democratic candidate Eric Lesser and Independent Mike Franco for the 1st Hampden-Hampshire district senate seat.

"I'm excited," said Boronski. "We have put in so much hard work and I am proud to say I have run a clean and positive campaign."

Boronski held various standouts throughout the weekend, had volunteers at her campaign offices making calls to voters and also did some door-to-door campaigning.

"During this race I have focused on the issues and my biggest issues throughout the campaign have been high paying jobs, lower taxes and responsible and accountable spending," she said.

On Saturday, Boronski appeared alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker as GOP candidates for statewide office held a rally in Springfield.

On Sunday, Lesser rallied with supporters as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren came to boost his candidacy.

Elections will be held Nov. 4.

Virgin Galactic spaceship was ripped apart after slowing device deployed too early, NTSB says

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The co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39, was killed. Peter Siebold, 43, who piloted the mission, parachuted to the ground and is receiving treatments at a hospital for serious injuries.

MOJAVE, Calif. -- Virgin Galactic's experimental spaceship broke apart in flight over California's Mojave Desert after a device to slow the craft's descent prematurely deployed, federal investigators said Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Christopher Hart said that while no cause for Friday's crash of SpaceShipTwo has been determined, investigators found the "feathering" system -- which lifts and rotates the tail to create drag -- was activated before the craft reached the appropriate speed.

The system requires a two-step process to deploy. The co-pilot unlocked the system but Hart said the second step occurred "without being commanded."

Hart said the investigation is months from being completed and pilot error and mechanical failure are among many things being looked at.

The co-pilot Michael Alsbury, 39, was killed. Peter Siebold, 43, who piloted the mission, parachuted to the ground and is receiving treatments at a hospital for serious injuries.

Virgin Galactic -- owned by billion Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi -- plans to fly passengers to altitudes more than 62 miles above Earth. The company sells seats on each prospective journey for $250,000.

Branson had hoped to begin flights next year but said Saturday that the project won't resume until the cause of the accident is determined and the problems fixed.

The feathering is a feature unique to SpaceShipTwo to help it slow as it re-enters the atmosphere. After being unlocked, a lever rotates booms at the rear of the plane up to 90 degrees so they act as a rudder. After decelerating, the booms return to their normal position and the craft glides to Earth.

Hart said the feathers activated at Mach 1.0, the speed of sound, but shouldn't have deployed until it had at least reached a speed of Mach 1.4, or more than 1,000 mph.

SpaceShipTwo tore apart Friday after the craft detached from the underside of its jet-powered mother ship and fired its rocket engine for a test flight. Initial speculation was that an explosion occurred but Hart said the fuel and oxidizer tanks and rocket engine were found and showed no sign of being burned through or breached.

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides issued a statement Sunday to tamp down conjecture about the cause of the crash.

"Now is not the time for speculation," he said. "Now is the time to focus on all those affected by this tragic accident and to work with the experts at the NTSB, to get to the bottom of what happened on that tragic day, and to learn from it so that we can move forward safely with this important mission."

SpaceShipTwo has been under development for years and, like all space projects, has suffered setbacks. In 2007, an explosion killed three people on the ground and critically injured three others during a ground test in the development of a rocket engine.

Prior to Hart's announcement, Geoff Daly, an engineer who worked on the space shuttle, renewed criticism of Virgin Galactic's use of nitrous oxide to power the ship's engine.

Daly was co-author of a critical report on the 2007 incident at Scaled Composites, the Northrop Grumman-owned designer of SpaceShipTwo. The report was critical of Virgin's claims that nitrous oxide was safe to use in engines for passenger flight, and it complained that the public was never given a full accounting of what happened.

In a June 2013 letter, Daly asked the FAA to put a hold on an experimental flight permit for SpaceShipTwo to ensure the safety of personnel on the ground and in the spacecraft.

The FAA said it would look into his complaint, according to memos posted online, but Daly said no flights of SpaceShipTwo were halted.

A report by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health said the 2007 blast occurred three seconds after the start of a cold-flow test of nitrous oxide. The engine was not firing during the test at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

The nitrous oxide is used with fuel to provide propulsion. Engineers had recently changed the fuel system, switching from a rubber-based fuel to one that used plastics. The new fuel had been tested on the ground but not in flight until Friday.

The loss of SpaceShipTwo was the second fiery setback for commercial space travel in less than a week. On Tuesday, an unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff in Virginia.

Maine officials continue to investigate off-campus fire that killed 5

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A fire, near the campus of the University of Southern Maine, that killed five college-aged people remains under investigation, authorities said.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- It could take fire investigators days to determine what caused an intense fire that ripped through a two-apartment house near the University of Southern Maine, as officials worked to identify the five people who were killed.

Portland Fire Chief Jerry LaMoria said the investigation was in a preliminary stage and it could take several days before officials know how the state's deadliest fire in three decades started. Investigators will be looking to see if there were any code violations at the 94-year-old house.

State fire marshal's spokesman Steve McCausland said Sunday most, if not all, the residents were USM students, but he said there was no indication that students were killed in the fire.

Two bodies were found on the second floor and three on the third floor. Everyone who had been in the house was accounted for, officials said.

The one person critically injured in the fire was identified as 29-year-old Steven Summers of Rockland. McCausland said Summers was visiting friends at the house when the fire broke out Saturday morning following a Halloween party the night before. Summers was in Massachusetts General Hospital on Sunday, where he was being treated for severe burns. There were reports that he jumped out of a second-story window to escape the flames.

Fire investigators went through what remained of the three-story building, searching for clues to the cause of the fire. Outside, the road was still blocked off Sunday and a memorial had sprung up that included flowers and a pumpkin.

David Bragdon Sr. of Rockland feared his son, 27-year-old David Bragdon Jr., was among the victims. The younger Bragdon lived in the home, worked at the nearby Great Lost Bear restaurant and hasn't been heard from since the fire.

Bragdon, his eyes filling with tears, talked to reporters outside the house, saying: "Is it true? Is it real? It's hard not knowing 100 percent."

He said he has questions about the condition of the house, including whether smoke alarms were working.

Carol Schiller, who lives near the home and is president of the University Neighborhood Organization, said she woke up Saturday morning to loud popping sounds and looked outside her window to see a man engulfed in flames.

"He was making some sounds, probably screaming," Schiller said. "I saw him rolling on the ground and then it clicked, 'Oh my god, he's on fire.'"

Schiller said she wrote a letter to the city in May expressing concern about the condition of the house. She said there were often many garbage bags left on the porch and she feared there were too many people living in the building.

The mood in the neighborhood was solemn Sunday as friends, family members and strangers stopped by to see the destroyed home and leave flowers.

"It's feels like you're walking around a grave site," said Jackie Reis, a 27-year-old USM graduate who lives down the street.

Reis said she didn't know the people who lived there personally but saw them frequently and they were always friendly.

The old house looked messy and needed repairs, but "it didn't seem like anyone was being reckless," she said.

Another person who was injured was treated at a hospital and released; seven people escaped from the burning building. University President David Flanagan said at least one of the people who escaped was a student.

The fire, Maine's deadliest since a 1984 blaze killed five in Hartland, ripped a hole through the roof of the house and both apartment units were badly burned. The neighborhood is a dense, residential area of single and multi-family homes where full-time residents and students live.

The Portland Press Herald reported the house is owned by Gregory Nisbet. A phone number listed in his name was out of service and nobody answered the door at his home on Sunday.

Springfield police investigate Dunkin Donuts armed robbery

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Police are searching for two men they say held up the South End Dunkin Donuts.

SPRINGFIELD— Police are searching for two men they believe held up the Dunkin Donuts on Main Street in Springfield's South End at approximately 5:45 Monday morning.

An employee told police that one man remained outside the coffee and donut shop while the second entered and demanded cash from the cashier. Police did not say what type of weapon was shown. The two met up outside afterward, and customers told police they left the area walking north on Main Street

Witnesses described the alleged robbers as Hispanic males, one wearing a white shirt, and the one who remained outside was described as wearing all black clothing with the exception of a grey shirt.

Nutrition author Gary Taubes to speak on 'Why We Get Fat and What to do About It'

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The Nov. 12 presentation is free to the public.

SPRINGFIELD - Award winning journalist and nutrition author Gary Taubes will speak on “Why We Get Fat and What to do About It,” on Nov. 12, at 7 p.m., in Judd Gymnasia, Union West, on the Springfield College campus. Taubes' presentation is free to the public, and is sponsored by the college's Center for Wellness Education and Research, and the class of 2016.

The focus of Taubes' writing is how food, particularly carbohydrates, affect the cells of the body, its production of insulin and how fat is then stored. The approach differs from much research where the focus is on the amount of calories consumed in contrast to exercise to reduce the storage of bodily fat. His focus is on how the processing of food can make someone fat, rather than on behavioral aspects, and on a different approach to research.

"The conventional thinking is we get fat, because we eat too much and exercise too little," Taubes. "The idea based on the laws of physics, and the argument that I have been making in my books, based on copious research, is that the laws of physics have nothing to do with it."

Rather, Taubes called obesity a biological problem, most likely linked to the hormone insulin.

"All of this is based on science, from the 1960s, that has been sort of swiped under the rug, as obesity has tend to be seen as the result of gluttony and sloth. But, if you take the biological perspective, insulin is implicated because it regulates fat accumulations in fat cells, and we secret insulin, primarily in response to carbohydrates that we consume."

A correspondent for Science magazine, Taubes is a graduate of Harvard and Stanford universities, as well as the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2012, he co-founded the Nutrition Science Initiative with the aim of "reducing the individual, social, and economic toll of obesity and its related diseases by improving the quality of science in nutrition and obesity research."

"Gary's incredible work has provided the nutrition field with convincing evidence that we need to bring widely-held nutritional guidelines completely into question,” said Richard J. Wood, who holds a doctorate in nutritional science, and heads the college's wellness center. “Gary has not been afraid to question prior research. We are honored that he will take the time to speak to members of the Springfield community and offer new ways to think about health.”

Following his presentation, Taubes will sign copies of his books. With a background in physics and engineering, he was asked, in this edited interview, what led him into nutrition, and some of his controversial findings.

What sparked your own interest in this field?

I spent much of my youth in the 1980s writing about controversial research in hard sciences -- researchers in physics, biology, even mathematics -- who got the wrong answers. In the process, I became obsessed with the issue of how hard it is to do science right, and how easy to screw up. In the early 1990s, some of my friends in the physics community suggested I look at public health research, because they thought it was so poorly done. I did and they were right. I continued investigating controversial science into the late 1990s when, just by chance, my editor at Science asked me to write an article on a new study on diet and hypertension. I thought it would be an easy story, but realized in just a few interviews, that there was an enormous controversy over whether or not salt raised high blood pressure, and what constitutes a healthy diet. Since I love reporting on controversies, I dived in, and the end result was several almost year-long investigations for Science and virtually all my work ever since.

You have been critical of research into what foods are good or bad for the body. What has been wrong about this research?

As I noted in a New York Times editorial last February, human nutrition research is so difficult to do -- in particular, working with human subjects to establish the causes of diseases that have taken years or decades to develop -- that nutritionists and epidemiologists have lowered their standards, as to what they'll accept as compelling evidence. This is a classic symptom in any bad science, but it's rife in nutrition. So they make observations -- nutritional epidemiology -- and assume the associations represent cause and effect, because it's too difficult to actually test them. They do studies on lab rodents and assume they apply to humans, which may be true, but has to be tested; they do human studies of a few weeks to a few months and assume that the results apply to what happens over years to decades. Again, it may be true, but there's no way to tell without testing.

How do you see the research being done through the Nutrition Science Initiative different from other research in the field.

One of the problems I didn't mention is that much of the research done by nutritionists on obesity and related chronic diseases -- diabetes, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cancer, to name a few -- is based on a series of assumptions that may or may not be true. The primary one is that obesity itself is caused by taking in more calories than we expend -- by eating too much and sedentary behavior. This is an idea that dates back to the early years of the 20th century when nutritionists were enamored with the new science of calorimetry -- measuring energy expenditure -- and it's oddly naive. It's descriptive but not explanatory. It's like saying that if someone gets richer, they did so because they made more money than they spent. Well, of course they did, but it doesn't tell us anything about why they got rich.

When someone gets fatter, they have to take in more calories than they expend, but we don't know why. Is there something wrong with the system that regulates intake and expenditure, or is there something wrong with the system that regulates the amount of fat they store in their fat tissue? Either one could result in the observation of someone getting fatter, and simultaneously being hungrier and relatively sedentary.

So two of our ongoing studies -- one led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, and one by researchers at Columbia University, NIH, the Pennington Biomedical Research Institute (Baton Rouge, LA) and the Translational Research Institute (Orlando Fla.) -- are designed to directly test those two competing hypotheses, and determine which of the two are more likely to be correct. This would then speak directly to the cause of obesity, and give us vital information on what is actually necessary to prevent and reverse it.

So, to further the point, how does fat become stored in the body to make someone obese, over time?

One point that's often ignored in discussions of obesity is that fat accumulation, in the human body, is very well regulated by a system of hormones and enzymes that work to store fat while were eating, and immediately after, as we're absorbing the nutrients into our blood stream, and then release it later to be used for fuel. This system is dominated by the hormone insulin, so that when insulin levels are elevated, we store fat and when they drop, we release it from the fat tissue and burn it for fuel. This is all conventional wisdom and can be found in obesity and endocrinology (the study of hormones) text books.

What I've argued in my books, and others certainly have before me, is that obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, so the obvious place to look for the cause is in this system that is supposed to regulate our storage of fat and our use of fat for fuel. It's a pretty simple idea, but because researchers, in the decades following World War II, convinced themselves that obesity was a character disorder (gluttony and sloth), they paid precious little attention to this simple idea. In fact, by the 1960s, most clinicians trying to treat obesity, or come up with treatments, were psychologists and knew little about human biology, endocrinology, metabolism, physiology.

They were trained in the ways of the brain and behavior and that's what they looked to manipulate -- how to get us to eat less and exercise more. What they should have been doing, arguably, is asking the question what dysregulates a person's storage of fat and how can that be reversed.

Can you give an example of some carbohydrates a person would consume, and how their reception by the body leads to fat storage?

As I said above, insulin is the hormone that dominates the regulation of fat storage and metabolism. The amount of insulin circulating in our blood stream is determined in large part by the carbohydrates we consume, or the carbohydrates and fat. The more carbs, the less fat, the higher our insulin levels and, counter-intuitive as it may seem, the more fat we should store. On top of this, sugars (sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) may be particularly problematic, because there's significant evidence that they cause a disorder called insulin resistance, which is the fundamental defect in type 2 diabetes and maybe obesity as well. When you're insulin resistant, you have to secrete more insulin to respond to the carbohydrates you're eating, which means higher levels of insulin during the day and more fat storage. Or at least so this hypothesis goes and it has to be rigorously tested.

If it's right, the problematic carbohydrates are not just sugars, but what are known as high glycemic carbohydrates or highly processed carbs. These are the ones we digest very easily and they hit our blood stream fast; they raise blood sugar fast and prompt a greater insulin response. These are also the carbohydrates -- bread, pasta, potatoes, rice (plus sweets, of course) -- that we're considered uniquely fattening until the 1960s, when nutrition researchers came along and argued that fat was fattening, and these carbs became the base of the food guide pyramid. That this coincided with the latest obesity epidemic is one of the observations that got me started in this research. There's nothing new about any of it, and its been said by diet book doctors back to the 1820s, at least, but that's as much an argument that it should be taken seriously, as that it shouldn't.

Why, in your opinion, at this point in time are so many Americans overweight?

The question is what is it about processed foods that cause obesity. As I point out in my books, obesity and diabetes epidemics have happened world-wide and can be traced back to the 19th century. It's a very common observation: populations start eating western processed foods, they get obese, diabetic and they get heart disease, cancer, and a host of others that are now often known as western diseases, because of this link with western diets and lifestyles. I've been arguing that it's the sugars (again sucrose and high fructose corn syrup), and the highly refined grains in these western processed foods that cause these diseases, and the sugars are the primary culprit. So why are so many Americans overweight? Because of the quality and the quantity of the carbohydrates we consume.

Carbohydrates are essential features in many global cuisines. Are there good/bad carbs in their effect on insulin?

Yes, as discussed in the previous two answers. But one key observation is that populations that eat high carb diets and are relatively absent diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even cancer, are populations that have historically very little sugar -- hence my point that sugar is probably the key in all this.

The Southeast Asians, for instance, eat carb-rich diets and even a significant amount of white rice, but historically they've had exceedingly little sugar. In the 1960s, for instance, the Japanese ate as much sugar as we did in the 1860s, and diabetes in Japan was an exceedingly rare disease. But, diabetes in the U.S. was an exceedingly rare disease in the 1860s. Add sugar to the diet, any diet (whether omnivore, carnivore, or plant-based) historically, and you see the development of all these western diseases.

What is your view on the "China Study," which linked chronic disease to animal protein, and health to plant based foods?

I obviously think Colin Campbell missed the boat on this one (as he thinks I did). Even if you think about cancer, as I point out in my book "Good Calories, Bad Calories," at length, from the 1870s or so through the 1930s, colonial and missionary physicians published their observations in the best medical journals of the day that the isolated populations to which they were administering had a relative absence of cancer. This is the idea that cancer -- like obesity, diabetes, heart disease -- is a disease of western lifestyles and diets. The catch is that some of these populations were almost exclusively carnivores -- the Inuit (in which freakishly low cancer rates were observed through the 1970s), the pastoralists like the Masai in Africa, the native Americans of the Great Plains. So even back in the 1910s and 1920s when physicians discussed this observation that suggested maybe it was red meat that caused cancer, but then others would say, hey, here are all these carnivorous populations that also don't have cancer. So meat can't be the key factor. By focusing only on China, Campbell says, hey maybe it's meat. But he could have chosen another population that ate a lot of meat, and also had low cancer rates, and he'd have come up with a different hypothesis. What I argue is that if you look at all these populations together, the picture implicates sugars and refined grains.

To what extent does it matter whether it is calories or carbs? And is it individual diets that need to change or what is made available to people to buy?

The first thing you have to do to treat any disease successfully is establish the cause of it. If the cause of obesity is the carbohydrates we consume, then just eating less or exercising more doesn't solve the problem and it can arguably make things worse. Every time I see obese children being made to run around a track at a gym recess, I think these poor kids have to deal with their obesity and now their well-meaning teachers (and societies) are torturing them more by forcing them to run around the track, something that happens to come easy to their thin, greyhound-like friends who are not only born to be slender, but born to run as well. If it's calories, then the running and the semi-starvation are required and it's sad, but that's the case. If it's the carbohydrates, but they can eat fat and protein to their hearts desire -- burgers, no bun, in effect -- then we at least know what we have to do help these people and we can argue, or at least I do, that given time they'll lose their cravings for the bun and the fries and be happy eating the foods -- the fats , proteins, green vegetables -- on which they can be slim and healthy and still eat until they're satiated.

What do you hope to stress to students in your talk, particularly those going on in health careers?

On the one hand, i want them to rethink their ideas about obesity, assuming they're still holding the conventional ideas. As for any health careers, I'll get Susan Sontag speak for me. This is how I phrased it in my book "Why We Get Fat":

In 1978, Susan Sontag published an essay called "Illness and Metaphor," in which she discussed cancer and tuberculosis and the "blame the victim" mentality that often accompanied these diseases in different eras. "Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power," Sontag wrote, "are always an index of how much is not understood about the physical terrain of a disease."

As long as we believe that people get fat because they overeat, because they take in more calories then they expend, we're putting the ultimate blame on a mental state, a weakness of character, and we're leaving human biology out of the equation entirely. Sontag had it right, It's a mistake to think this way about any disease. And it's been disastrous when it comes to the question of why we get fat.





State Rep. Ellen Story facing Libertarian Ken Roberts in Third Hampshire District race

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The Third Hampshire District race between Ellen Story and Ken Roberts is low key with little if any campaigning.

AMHERST – State Rep. Ellen Story, an Amherst Democrat, has an opponent on the Nov. 4 ballot, but there has been little evidence of a challenge from Libertarian candidate Ken Roberts of Granby.

Story said there was one scheduled debate at Channel 40 in Springfield, but Roberts had to pull out because he couldn't get the time off from work.

There are no campaign signs in Amherst for either candidate, and, Story said, she was told there were four Roberts signs in Granby.

According to his campaign website, Roberts, who had been a Republican, "began to realize that the Republicans were just as guilty as the Democrats with regards to the size and reach of government.

"Disillusioned with the GOP, Ken began his search for a new political home and found the Libertarian party where the goal was to restore and maintain real freedom, both personal and economic," the website states.

ken-roberts.jpgKen Roberts 

"Today, Ken wants to serve as the voice of freedom for the Third Hampshire District," his website states. He could not be reached for comment. Story said she has not yet met him.

Story, who was first elected in a special election in 1992, said she is running again because "there's a lot of unfinished business."

In 2010, she beat two political newcomers – lawyer Daniel M. Sandell, a Republican, and Daniel E. Melick, an independent. That was was her first challenge since 2004, when Republican Jeanne Traester sought the position.

Story said this election she has not been campaigning for herself but for Martha Coakley, the Democrat running for governor against Republican Charlie Baker and independents Evan Falchuk, Scott Lively and Jeff McCormick.

 The Third Hampshire District represents Amherst, Pelham and Granby.


Holyoke Water Works to begin building $3.2 million disinfection plant in spring

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Construction is scheduled to begin in March or April on a $3.2 million drinking water disinfection facility at 600 Westfield Road in Holyoke, an official said.

HOLYOKE — Construction is scheduled to begin in March or April on a $3.2 million drinking water disinfection facility at 600 Westfield Road, an official said.

The Holyoke City Council voted 14-0 Oct. 21 to approve borrowing to fund the project.

The city must build the facility -- which uses ultraviolet light to disinfect water -- to comply with rules of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said David M. Conti, Holyoke Water Works manager.

The use of ultraviolet light, a form of radiation not visible to the human eye, as a disinfectant leaves the water's taste and odor unaffected, he said.

Calgon Carbon Corp., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia will make the ultraviolet disinfection devices, he said Monday (Oct. 27).

The city must install the additional treatment plant to comply with the EPA's Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule. The rule was established in 2006 to reduce illness in people from contaminants in drinking water, according to the EPA website.

Despite the need for the additional treatment step, Water Works officials have said the city's water supply is naturally pure, drawn from its Tighe-Carmody Reservoir in Southampton and McLean Reservoir here.

The quality of water and the chlorine process that Holyoke Water Works treats it with has secured waivers from the DEP and EPA to avoid the $20 million to $30 million cost of building a more complex water filtration facility, officials have said.

Conti said the DEP is reviewing construction plans. Approval of the plans is expected in a few weeks, then construction companies' bids will be solicited, bids will be opened in late December and the Water Commission will choose a bidder in January, he said Monday.

The plan must be operating by Oct. 1 to comply with state and federal rules, he said.

Conti told the City Council Finance Committee Oct. 15 that the borrowing for the new plant won't increase customers' rates because other debt soon will be paid off. A $19 million bond for water improvements will be paid off by 2016, he said.

The borrowing will be for 20 years and will require annual payments with principal and interest of $250,000 to $300,000. It will cost $17,000 to $37,000 to operate the water disinfectant plant a year, he said.

The debt that would be taken on with the borrowing would be the responsibility of Holyoke Water Works. Water Works is a municipal entity, but not a city department. It is sustained through fees paid by customers and overseen by the three-member Water Commission, which is appointed by the City Council.

Under the state legislative act that established Holyoke Water Works, it has the right to acquire debt through the city, taking advantage of the strong credit rating and lower interest costs the city has established, City Treasurer Jon D. Lumbra has said.

In other Water Works business, Conti in August presented the Water Commission with a 2013 Water Fluoridation Quality Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The award was for "consistent and professional operation on the addition of fluoride into the drinking water supply," according to meeting minutes.

Massachusetts Senate candidates Debra Boronski, Mike Franco, Eric Lesser ready for Election Day 2014 following lively, sometimes contentious race

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The Senate race in Massachusetts' 1st Hampden and Hampshire District has featured forum, debates, rallies and some controversy.

State Senate candidates Eric Lesser, Debra Boronski and Mike Franco are nearing the finish line after a lively, often contentious race, and now hope their campaign messages and views on the issues resonate with the voters on Tuesday.

It was a campaign battle filled with forums, debates and rallies, but also featured some accusations and barbs hurled from the different camps.

“I am feeling very positive – getting great feedback from the people,” said Boronski, an East Longmeadow Republican running for the seat. “I’m knocking on doors, making phone calls, and making sure I’m reaching the voters one last time before Election Day.”

Lesser, of Longmeadow, the Democrat nominee for the seat, said he and his team are “working hard for every vote.”

“We are certainly not taking anything for granted, and working very hard,” Lesser said. “I feel like our team is good, our message is resonating, and voters are ready for some new ideas.”

Franco, of Holyoke, running as an independent under the America First designation, has stated that he is the “people’s candidate.”

“I feel very positive about Tuesday,” Franco said. “I think we will do very well. I think we have been consistent on the issues, and it has been an issues related campaign.”

The candidates are running for the Senate seat in the 1st Hampden and Hampshire District, now held by Sen. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham, who did not seek re-election.

The 1st district consists of Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Granby, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Wilbraham, and parts of Springfield and Chicopee.

Among contentious issues, Boronski has been critical of Lesser for raising nearly $400,000 in campaign contributions, saying the majority of funds was raised outside the district, and including what she described as “special interest money from Washington insiders.”

Lesser responded that he is proud of the funds raised both inside and outside the district, and said much of the outside support related to contacts made working as a White House aide and as a student at Harvard.

Lesser was critical of Boronski for what he described as inaccurate information on her lobbyist disclosure forms, and alleged violations of the lobbyist disclosure law for contributions.

Boronski, a lobbyist as president of the Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, said she has amended her disclosure forms, and that no intentional mistakes were made. Secretary of State William Galvin’s lobbying division has opened a “preliminary review” of Boronski's filings.

Franco was included in some debates and not others, objecting when he was not invited to participate. He said that although he lives outside the district, he qualified for the ballot and should have been invited to all debates. Under law, a candidate, if elected, would have to then live in the district.

Lesser said his message to voters throughout the campaign has included his support for high-speed rail connecting Springfield and Boston; working to bring high technology and manufacturing jobs; and “shaking up Beacon Hill to get more for Western Mass.”

Boronski said her message to voters throughout the campaign has been that there must be responsible and accountable spending by the state and that she would bring a business-minded, commonsense approach to lowering taxes and creating quality, high paying jobs.

Both Lesser and Boronski attended rallies over the weekend. Boronski on Saturday spoke at a bipartisan rally in Springfield featuring Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker. Lesser on Sunday was bolstered by a visit from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to his East Longmeadow campaign headquarters.

Lesser said in the final days, “all you can do is what we have done all the time, which is work hard for every vote, and keep moving.”

Boronski said “I am proud of the fact that I have run a very clean and positive race and all my messages have been about what I hope to accomplish as the next senator.”


3 trick-or-treaters killed: California man arrested in Halloween hit-and-run deaths

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Suspect Jaquinn Bell had recently pleaded guilty to a separate hit-and-run, police said.

By AMY TAXIN and
GILLIAN FLACCUS

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A California driver who police say struck and killed three teenage trick-or-treaters on Halloween before fleeing with his own children had recently pleaded guilty to a separate hit-and run, authorities said Monday.

Jaquinn Bell, 31, of Orange, drove a black Honda SUV through a marked crosswalk Friday near an elementary school in Santa Ana, hitting 13-year-old twin sisters Lexi and Lexandra Perez and their friend Andrea Gonzalez, police said.

The victims, wearing costumes, were found lying in the street.

Authorities believe Bell fled with his two teenage children after ditching the damaged car in a nearby parking lot. He was arrested Sunday at a motel in Stanton, Santa Ana police Chief Carlos Rojas said.

"He left. He did not try to render aid, and thank God for other witnesses there who contacted the police department and allowed us to respond rather quickly," Rojas said. "Unfortunately it was a tragic end."

It was unclear why the driver fled the scene.

Brenda Gonzalez, Andrea's 24-year-old sister, said she went looking for the girls after her mother heard a loud car crash and wanted to warn them to be safe. As Gonzalez neared the scene, she saw the pillowcases the girls had been carrying to collect candy and the tutu her sister wore.

"The first thing that came through my mind was, why isn't anybody helping them," she said. "A few seconds later I realized, you know, there's a reason they're not helping them. They're gone."

Trick-or-treaters were also injured and killed in collisions in New York, Florida, Washington state and the nearby Orange County, California, city of Irvine, where a 65-year-old man died after he was struck by a car. His 4-year-old son was in critical but stable condition.

In Santa Ana, Bell was arrested for investigation of felony hit-and-run causing death and was being held on $500,000 bail. The case has been referred to the district attorney for possible charges. It was unclear if Bell has an attorney.

Online court records show Bell pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor counts of child abuse, driving under the influence and hit-and-run with property damage. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, three years' probation, and alcohol and child abuse treatment programs, according to a court spokeswoman.

He has prior convictions for reckless driving, spousal injury and violation of a protective order, the records show.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said Bell also had two outstanding bench warrants for $30,000 as of Monday. Further details on the warrants were not immediately available.

Police said they initially also detained Bell's 17-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter, mother and half-sister at the motel with Bell but later released them.

At the scene of the crash, residents have set up a makeshift memorial with photos, dozens of balloons, flowers and candles. People gripped by the tragedy continued to stop to pay their respects.

Gonzalez said her younger sister, who loved music and baking, decided not to go to a Halloween party this year so she could trick-or-treat with her family. She tried to choose the least expensive costume.

"She was so selfless. She never asked for anything," Gonzalez said, wiping away tears. "She didn't even want to ask my mom for a costume for Halloween."

Thomas Menino's funeral: Mourners pack Hyde Park parish to remember former Boston mayor

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Cardinal Sean O'Malley presided over the hours-long celebration of Menino's life, which featured eulogies from Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Martin J. Walsh, as well as a homily from Boston Police chaplain Rev. John J. Connolly, Jr.

HYDE PARK -- Over 1,000 people packed into the upper and lower levels of Most Precious Blood Parish for the funeral Mass of Boston's longest-serving mayor, Thomas M. Menino.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley presided over the hours-long celebration of Menino's life, which featured eulogies from Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Martin J. Walsh, as well as a homily from Boston Police Chaplain Rev. John J. Connolly, Jr.

Menino died on Thursday after a brief battle with cancer. He was 71.

The church was packed with a cross-section of boldfaced names, from Vice President Joe Biden and retired Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez to former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn.

During his remarks, Walsh mentioned Menino's deep attention to detail as one of the hallmarks of his administration.

"Today, we come together to celebrate a great man -- a history-making man -- and a life of accomplishment. Thomas Michael Menino: the relentless, big-hearted, people-loving 'Urban Mechanic' has gone to fix potholes in heaven," said Walsh.

Walsh said Menino stood tallest when the city needed him in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

"When the bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Mayor Menino was hobbled by surgery, but he stood up," said Walsh. "He stood up in his hospital room to go to the suffering."

Walsh noted that a physically hobbled Menino stood up at a memorial service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross to deliver the most profound speech of political career.

"He stood up for Boston, the city he loved, and he stood up for us, the people he served," said Walsh.

Patrick recalled how Menino declined to back him when he was a lowly candidate with just three staffers in 2006. In the end, though, they grew to be close friends.

"Tom Menino, thank you for being my friend, for making time for the meek, as well as the mighty, for coaching this newcomer as you have so many others, and for the exceptional example of honest public service -- not just as the job you did, but the man you were," said Patrick.

Connolly, Menino's home pastor at St. John Chrysostom in West Roxbury, brought up a story about how Menino once told a teacher that he would build bridges as an adult.

"The bridges he built between and among the neighbors and neighborhoods of this city and peoples near and far are perhaps his most worthy monument," said Connolly.

At the conclusion of the service, Menino was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park.

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