The biggest increase last year came from visits by Massachusetts residents, which rose 32 percent.

STURBRIDGE — The Old Sturbridge Village living history museum says attendance was up 12 percent last year, its best numbers in seven years.

On Tuesday, the museum announced it had 273,752 visitors in the fiscal year ending Jan. 30, compared to 244,008 for the same time last year.

The museum said it was its third straight year of gains. The biggest increase last year came from visits by Massachusetts residents, which rose 32 percent. Foreign visits were up 18 percent and out-of-state visits rose 11 percent.

The increases follow recent tough times at the museum, which portrays life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The museum had as many as 600,000 annual visitors during the 1980s, but by 2006 had to sell 826 acres of land amid financial troubles caused by falling attendance.

Some residents lost all of their possessions when fire destroyed an apartment building at 50 Chestnut St.

WARE – Friends and relatives of those left homeless by a March 8 fire at 50 Chestnut St. are raising funds to help them and will have a benefit dinner at the Knights of Columbus Saturday, March 26.

The fire destroyed the three-story wooden apartment house which was home to 16 people, all adults.

“It was really heartbreaking,” said Tia Benoit, one of the residents.

“It was very eerie and overwhelming,” Benoit said.

Some of the residents lost all of their possessions in the fire.

“Some have nothing but their cell phones and the clothes they were wearing,” Benoit said.

Contents of three of the apartments were salvageable but most of what was in the other apartments was destroyed or ruined, Benoit said.

She was able to retrieve a few items from her apartment but most of the contents were destroyed when the roof collapsed, Benoit said.

The March 26 benefit at the Knights of Columbus hall will start at 2 p.m. and a spaghetti dinner will be served at 5 p.m.

Tickets cost $10 and may be purchased by calling Benoit’s mother, Tammy Sears, at (413) 233-6109, or Benoit at (413) 813-7637.

Benoit said there will be a bake sale in conjunction with the benefit event, and people who do not want to stay for the dinner may stop by any time after 2 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus, 126 West Main St.

Kane will leave July 1 to take a job in East Windsor, Conn.

Theresa Kane

LUDLOW-The School Committee voted 5 to 0 Tuesday night to request a list of candidates who could serve as interim superintendent from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

The School Committee has voted to hire an interim superintendent to replace Theresa M. Kane, who will leave July 1 to take a job as superintendent of the East Windsor, Conn., public schools. The School Committee is looking for an interim superintendent to take the job for six months, or longer if a permanent superintendent cannot be found in six months.

The School Committee will ask consultant Patricia Correira of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Search Services to provide a list of several interim superintendent candidates from a Massachusetts Association of School Committees list.

The School Committee will interview the candidates Correira brings forward and select an interim superintendent.

School Committee Chairman Michael J. Kelliher said the committee will interview to appoint an interim superintendent as soon as possible so Kane and the interim superintendent can work together to provide a transition before Kane leaves.

Kane said she will be available in the summer to help ease the transition.

Correira told the School Committee in an interview that there are retired superintendents who are willing to take the job of interim superintendent.

The School Committee also is considering hiring Correira to coordinate the search for a permanent superintendent for the school district, but is planning to interview another consultant before making a final decision. If a consultant coordinates the superintendent search, the School Committee will interview finalists, check references and make the final appointment.

School Committee member Jacob Oliveira said he wants the committee to take its time in hiring a permanent superintendent.

“I still have concerns that if we hire mid-year we could reduce our applicant pool,” he said.

A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murders of three Afghan civilians was sentenced to 24 years in prison after saying "the plan was to kill people" in a conspiracy with four fellow soldiers.

U.S. Army PhotoCpl. Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska

By ROBIN HINDERY, Associated Press

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murders of three Afghan civilians was sentenced to 24 years in prison after saying "the plan was to kill people" in a conspiracy with four fellow soldiers.

Military judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks said he initially intended to sentence Spc. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska, to life in prison with possibility of parole but was bound by the plea deal.

The 22-year-old Morlock is a key figure in a war crimes probe that has raised some of the most serious criminal allegations to come from the war in Afghanistan. Army investigators accused him of taking a lead role in the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in January, February and May 2010.

His sentencing Wednesday came hours after he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, and one count each of conspiracy, obstructing justice and illegal drug use at his court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle.

Morlock, the first of five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade to be court-martialed in the case, will receive 352 days off of his sentence for time served and could be eligible for parole in about seven years, said his lead attorney, Frank Spinner. He will be dishonorably discharged as part of his sentence.

Under his plea deal, he has agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

Asked by the judge whether the plan was to shoot at people to scare them, or to shoot to kill, Morlock replied, "The plan was to kill people."

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)Frank Spinner, left, and Cpt. Mark Opachan, right, defense attorneys for Spc. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska, talk to reporters, Wednesday, March 23, 2011, following the court martial for Morlock at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Morlock, a U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murders of three Afghan civilians, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after saying "the plan was to kill people" in a conspiracy with four fellow soldiers.

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Spinner read a statement prepared by Morlock in which the soldier apologized for the pain he had caused his victims' families and the people of Afghanistan and asked for forgiveness from his fellow soldiers.

Spinner speculated that "morale problems and discipline problems" in Morlock's brigade created an environment that contributed to the killings — an argument the defense presented in court through the testimony of sociologist and war crimes expert Stjepan Mestrovic.

Morlock had told investigators the murder plot was led by Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs of Billings, Mont., who is also charged in the case; Gibbs maintains the killings were legitimate.

Other witnesses, including Morlock's mother and his former hockey coach, talked about the devastating effect of his father's death in a boating accident in 2007. Morlock said he joined the Army hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, a retired paratrooper.

But, ultimately, Morlock accepted that his actions were his and his alone, Spinner said.

Responding to criticism that 24 years was too light for three murders, Spinner pointed to Morlock's willingness to take responsibility for his actions and testify against his co-defendants.

"He realized coming into court today the 'why's' were not that important. He's taking responsibility," Spinner said.

The plea deal had been in place for nearly two months, so the sentence "wasn't really a surprise" to Morlock, Spinner told reporters.

Morlock told the judge that he and the other soldiers first began plotting to murder unarmed Afghans in late 2009, several weeks before the first killing took place. To make the killings appear justified, the soldiers planned to plant weapons near the bodies of the victims, he said.

Army prosecutor Capt. Andre Leblanc characterized the crimes as acts of "unspeakable cruelty" by "a few extraordinarily misguided men."

"We don't do this. This is not how we're trained. This is not the Army," Leblanc said during his closing statement Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Lois Silver)In this courtroom sketch made Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Spc. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska, is shown standing at left-center as he faces Military Judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks, upper right, during a court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Morlock pleaded guilty to three counts of murder Wednesday in connection with the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in 2010.

During questioning by the judge Wednesday, Morlock said he had second thoughts about the murder plot while home on leave in March 2010, after the first two killings took place.

"It was really hard to come back," he told Hawks, adding that he no longer wanted to "engage or be part of anything" like the killings that already had occurred.

Morlock said he didn't voice his doubts to his fellow soldiers, however, and he went on to participate in the third killing in May.

Morlock also admitted to smoking hashish while stationed in Afghanistan, though he said he was not under the influence of the drug at the time of the killings. In addition, he admitted to being one of six soldiers who assaulted a fellow platoon member after that man reported the drug use going on in the platoon.

Morlock, his voice shaking at times, told the judge has had a lot of time to reflect on his actions in Afghanistan and ask himself "how I could become so insensitive and how I lost my moral compass."

"I don't know if I will ever be able to answer those questions," he said, adding that he believes he "wasn't fully prepared for the reality of war as it was being fought in Afghanistan."

(AP Photo/Lois Silver)In this courtroom sketch made Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Spc. Jeremy Morlock, second left, of Wasilla, Alaska, is shown as his mother, Audrey Morlock, right, testifies in front of Military Judge Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks, center, and Jeremy Morlock's defense attorney, Frank Spinner, left, during a court martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Morlock pleaded guilty to three counts of murder Wednesday in connection with the killings of three unarmed Afghan men in Kandahar province in 2010.

Earlier this week, the German news magazine Der Spiegel published three graphic photos showing Morlock and other soldiers posing with dead Afghans. One image features Morlock grinning as he lifts the head of a corpse by its hair.

After the January killing, platoon member Spc. Adam Winfield sent Facebook messages to his parents saying that his fellow soldiers had murdered a civilian and were planning to kill more. Winfield said his colleagues warned him not to tell anyone.

Winfield's father alerted a staff sergeant at Lewis-McChord but no action was taken until May, when a witness in a drug investigation in the unit reported the deaths.

Winfield is accused of participating in the final murder. He admitted in a videotaped interview that he took part and said he feared the others might kill him if he didn't.

Also charged in the murders are Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Holmes and Spc. Michael Wagnon II.

Seven other soldiers in the platoon were charged with lesser crimes, including assaulting the witness in the drug investigation, drug use, firing on unarmed farmers and stabbing a corpse.

Workers doled out bottled water to Tokyo families Thursday after residents cleared store shelves because of warnings that radiation from Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant had seeped into the city's water supply.

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)A mother feeds her baby at an evacuation center in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without heat, warm food or medicine and no idea what to call home after the March 11 tsunami swallowed up communities along the coast and dozens of strong aftershocks continued to shake the nation.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI & SHINO YUASA, Associated Press Writers

TOKYO (AP) — Workers doled out bottled water to Tokyo families Thursday after residents cleared store shelves because of warnings that radiation from Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant had seeped into the city's water supply.

Anxiety over food and water supplies surged when Tokyo officials reported Wednesday that radioactive iodine in the city's tap water was above levels considered dangerous for babies. New readings showed the levels had returned to safe levels in Tokyo, but were high in two neighboring prefectures — Chiba and Saitama.

"The first thought was that I need to buy bottles of water," said Tokyo real estate agent Reiko Matsumoto, mother of 5-year-old Reina. "I also don't know whether I can let her take a bath."

Amid the panic in the Tokyo region, nuclear workers were still struggling to regain control of the hobbled and overheated Fukushima Dai-ichi plant 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of the capital.

The plant has been leaking radiation since a March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out its crucial cooling systems, leading to explosions and fires in four of its six reactors. After setbacks and worrying black smoke forced an evacuation, workers were back inside Thursday, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

(AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Ichiro Ohara)Vehicles line up for refuel as a gas station resumed the business in Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

Government spokesman Yukio Edano sought to allay fears over the tap water readings.

"We ask people to respond calmly," he said at a briefing Thursday. "The Tokyo metropolitan government is doing its best."

Households with infants will get three, half-liter bottles of water for each baby — a total of 240,000 bottles — city officials said, begging Tokyo residents to buy only what they need for fear that hoarding could hurt the thousands of people without any water in areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.

Nearly two weeks after the magnitude-9 quake, some 660,000 household still do not have water in Japan's northeast, the government said. Electricity has not been restored to some 209,000 homes, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said.

The figures were a reminder of the grim humanitarian situation that hundreds of thousands continue to face in the wake of twin disasters that are proving to be the most costly natural disaster on record. Damages are estimated at up to $309 billion, the government said.

The number of dead and missing continued to rise: 9,700 dead, with another 16,500 missing, Japan's police agency said Thursday. The figures that may include some overlap.

Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without heat, warm food or medicine and no idea what to call home after the colossal wave swallowed up communities along the coast and dozens of strong aftershocks continued to shake the nation.

(AP Photo/Kyodo News)A woman washes clothes at a river in a devastated area in Miyako, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 24, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent crisis at the Fukushima nuclear complex.

Fears about food safety began to spread overseas as radiation seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant.

About In 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of the Fukushima nuclear plant, levels for one locally grown leafy green measured 82 times the government limit for radioactive cesium and 11 times the limit for iodine.

The U.S. and Australia said they were halting imports of Japanese dairy and produce from the region; Hong Kong said it would require that Japan perform safety checks on meat, eggs and seafood, and Canada said it would upgrade controls on imports of Japanese food products by requiring documents verifying their safety.

Concerns also spread to Europe. In Iceland, officials said they measured trace amounts of radioactive iodine in the air but assured residents it was "less than a millionth" of levels found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The overall situation at the Fukushima plant remains of serious concern, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Levels of radioactive iodine and cesium across 10 prefectures was generally on an upward trend, said Graham Andrew, senior adviser to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.

In Fukushima, nuclear workers have struggled for days to stabilize and cool down the overheated plant. Edano said workers were laboring steadily and the situation was "not urgent."

"As of now, the important thing we have been working on is to prevent deterioration. We should not be too optimistic," he said. "We are moving cautiously."

Worrisome Unit 3 has finally stopped belching black smoke, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman said Thursday, a day after a plume forced an evacuation of nuclear workers. However, white smoke was rising intermittently from two other units, spokesman Masateru Araki said.

(AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)A man takes a picture of the aftermath of a tsunami following Friday's massive earthquake in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011.

Officials have evacuated residents within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant and advised those up to 19 miles (30 kilometers) away to stay indoors to minimize exposure.

Radioactive iodine is short-lived, with a half-life of eight days — the length of time it takes for half of it to break down harmlessly. However, experts say infants are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer.

Tokyo tap water tested earlier in the week with 210 becquerels of iodine-131 per liter of water — more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per liter for infants. Another measurement taken later at a different site showed the level was 190 becquerels per liter, and was down to normal levels on Thursday. The recommended limit for adults is 300 becquerels.

But tap water in Kawaguchi City in Saitama just north of Tokyo showed 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine, Shogo Misawa, a Health Ministry official, said Thursday. Tap water in another area next to Tokyo, Chiba prefecture, also showed high levels of radiation in two separate areas, said water safety official Kyoji Narita.

The Chiba government warned families in 11 cities in Chiba not to feed infants tap water.

"The high level of iodine was due to the nuclear disaster," Narita said. "There is no question about it."

The limits refer to sustained consumption rates, and officials said parents should stop using tap water for baby formula but that it was no problem for infants to consume small amounts.

The amounts are too low to pose any real risk, even to infants who are being fed water-based formula or to breast-fed infants whose mothers drink tap water, said Dr. Harold Swartz, a professor of radiology and medicine at Dartmouth Medical School in the U.S.

That was small consolation for Reina's mother.

"I had had this premonition that such things could happen when this nuclear power plant accident broke out," she said. "And, I really don't know what I can do now. They had been saying we would be OK. But, now this is happening and I really don't know what we can do."

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Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama, Tomoko A. Hosaka, Jeff Donn, Kaori Hitomi and Jean H. Lee in Tokyo, Lindsey Tanner in Chicago and Veronika Oleksyn in Vienna contributed to this report.

As America's NATO allies shoulder a greater share of the air war in Libya, the Arab countries that urged the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone are missing from the action.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)A pool of water rests on an idle hotel construction site downtown Tripoli, Libya, where a passerby said construction stopped as the foreign owners of the project left. The Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the rebels, increasing pressure on the U.S. and other Western powers to take action that most have expressed deep reservations about. Despite action from the U.N., there has been none from the Arab League, minus the small nation of Qatar.

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As America's NATO allies shoulder a greater share of the air war in Libya, the Arab countries that urged the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone are missing from the action.

Except for the small Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, which is expected to start flying air patrols over Libya by this weekend, no other members of the 22-member Arab League have so far publicly committed to taking an active role. The U.S. has sold many of these countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, billions of dollars in sophisticated military gear over the past decade to help counter Iran's power in the region.

Nearly a week into the campaign to prevent Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces from attacking civilians, the United States increased the pressure on its NATO allies to take command of the campaign, suggesting the U.S. might even step away from its leadership role in a few days, even with the conflict's outcome in doubt.

Despite the threat, officials said there was no absolute deadline to hand over front-line control to other countries, or for an end to all U.S. participation. Still, with the costs of the campaign growing by the day and members of Congress raising complaints over the goals in Libya, the Obama administration wants its allies to take the lead role soon.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, an early skeptic of American military intervention in Libya, said President Barack Obama made clear from the start of the campaign last Saturday that the U.S. would run it for only about a week. In an exchange with reporters traveling with him in Cairo on Wednesday, Gates was asked if his comments meant the U.S. had set a firm deadline of this Saturday for turning over command.

"I don't want to be pinned down that closely," Gates replied. "But what we've been saying is that we would expect this transition to the coalition, to a different command and control arrangement, to take place within a few days and I would still stand by that."

An American Army general now oversees the campaign from Europe, and an American Navy admiral is the day-to-day commander from a floating command post off the Libyan coast.

While the question of overall command remains unsettled, the Defense Department on Wednesday released statistics showing U.S. aircraft are flying fewer missions than at the beginning of the week.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, there were 175 air missions — including non-combat flights — in the Libya operation, according to the department's figures. Of that total, 65 percent were flown by U.S. planes and 35 percent were flown by allied aircraft. Three days earlier, the U.S. made 87 percent of the flights compared with 13 percent by allied aircraft.

But when, or if, any Arab League members besides Qatar will participate is unclear.

On March 12, the Arab League called for the no-fly zone over Libya, saying Gadhafi's government had "lost its sovereignty. Yet since then, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has said the air war has caused civilian deaths and gone beyond what the league had backed.

On Tuesday, two Qatar Air Force fighter jets and a cargo jet flew to a Greek air base on the island of Crete, en route to helping enforce the no-fly zone. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, the day-to-day commander, said he expected Qatar's aircraft to "be up and flying in the coalition by the weekend."

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One that the U.S. is continuing to talk to Arab states like Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. "Different countries are going to have different contributions to make here," he said.

In Congress, meanwhile, the Republican speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, said Obama must quickly spell out the nation's precise goals in Libya. Congressional liberals and conservatives have criticized the president — some accusing him of acting too slowly, others saying he moved too quickly. Some have said he should have asked for Congress' approval before committing U.S. troops to combat.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said order could be resolved quickly — if Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi would just quit.

Obama returned Wednesday to Washington after a three-nation tour of Latin America, and several key Democrats lined up in support of his approach in Libya.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said that when Gadhafi started a violent crackdown on his people, Obama moved with "unprecedented speed," and when Gadhafi remained defiant, Obama worked with allies and the Arab nations. He called it a "prudent course of action for the president and for our nation."

But, Boehner, in a letter to the White House, said Obama still must provide a clear and robust assessment of the mission and how it will be achieved. Boehner did not call for a vote in the House on the commitment of U.S. military resources, as some lawmakers have demanded.

Administration officials conceded there is no clear end to the fighting, although the Pentagon contended that Gadhafi's air force is essentially defeated and coalition planes are targeting more of his ground forces.

In a telephone interview with reporters at the Pentagon from aboard his command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, in the Mediterranean, Navy Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber said no Libyan aircraft had attempted to fly during the previous 24 hours.

"Those aircraft have either been destroyed or rendered inoperable," Hueber said.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Robert Burns, Donna Cassata, Anne Gearan, Pauline Jelinek and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Fotios and Ty Geas, accused of killing Westerman, began exchanging nervous phone calls as investigators used a backhoe to unearth Westerman's bones.

File photo | The RepublicanState police investigators work at the scene in Agawam where the remains of Gary D. Westerman were found.

NEW YORK - Chronic convict Gary D. Westerman showed up to a tiny house in Agawam, Mass., in the dark on Nov. 4, 2003, with a stun gun and a ski mask, expecting to rob the homeowners of marijuana and cash with frequent partners in crime.

Instead, Westerman's remains, along with his nonlethal weapon and the mask, were discovered nearly seven years later on the grounds of that house by a team of FBI agents and state police, according to testimony in an ongoing mob murder trial in a federal court in New York. A medical examiner on Wednesday testified Westerman had a bullet hole in the center of his skull, a bullet lodged in his jaw and a gunshot wound to his upper right arm, in addition to blunt trauma to his cheekbones, nose and eyes.

Gary Westerman

The testimony shed new light on the grisly final moments for Westerman, a drug-dealer, tractor-trailer truck thief and low-level organized crime associate who previously had seemed to disappear without a trace. Law enforcement officials only began digging for his remains in a wooded area at 160 Springfield St. in Agawam after Mafia turncoat Anthony J. Arillotta led them there in 2010, according to an FBI agent, with a covert entourage of investigators - many of whom had wondered for years what had happened to Westerman.

Standing trial are two of Westerman's accused killers - his onetime friends Fotios "Freddy" Geas, of West Springfield, Mass., and younger brother Ty Geas, of Westfield, Mass. The brothers allegedly shot Westerman several times and dumped him in a makeshift grave on the property after luring him to the home under the guise of a potential "score." They, along with reputed New York mob captain Arthur "Artie" Nigro, also are charged with the 2003 murder of crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and a string of other offenses. Nigro is not accused in connection with Westerman's slaying.

The Geas brothers have denied involvement in the Westerman murder and any of the crimes charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment. Their denials come despite direct testimony from Arillotta, who told jurors he and fellow gangster Emilio Fusco, an Italian-born Genovese crime family associate from Longmeadow, Mass., aided in Westerman’s slaughter by bludgeoning him with shovels after the Geases shot him several times.

Fusco is charged in the case but fled to Italy before his arrest. He is awaiting extradition.

Arillotta told jurors that the Geases wanted to kill Westerman because they believed – correctly – he was a police informant. Westerman also became Arillotta’s brother-in-law when he married his sister, 30 years his junior, enraging her family. Massachusetts State Police Capt. Peter Higgins on Wednesday testified that Westerman first approached him on the investigator's regular jogging route in 1996, while Westerman had a pending case with Freddy Geas, hoping to trade information for a shorter sentence.

Westerman violated his cooperation agreement with the state police by getting caught passing bad checks the following year; he went back to prison for half a decade, Higgins testified. When he was released in 2003, he approached Higgins again and began informing on the Geases and other organized crime figures in Greater Springfield.

Then, he disappeared.

Boston FBI agent April Haddock told jurors on Wednesday that Arillotta led them to the Agawam property last April after he decided to turn informant. He pointed out where Westerman had collapsed, and the general area at the mouth of the woods where they dragged him to an eight-foot deep hole Arillotta said he and the Geases had carved out months before for another intended victim.

"Agents escorted him to the location. He explained what took place and walked us around the location and explained to us where the probable burial site was," Haddock testified, adding that a team of 32 evidence recovery experts from the FBI probed a slightly depressed area of the ground about 150 feet away from the house, uncovering an empty cigarette pack, shell casings and Westerman's remains, including his sneakers and the mask and stun gun.

Photos in evidence from the dig showed Westerman's skeleton was curled up in a sort of fetal position when they unearthed his bones.

Meanwhile, the dig at the Agawam property was prompting a flurry of nervous calls between Ty Geas, who had not yet been arrested in the case, and Freddy Geas, who was charged with the Bruno murder but not in connection with the Westerman matter, and was behind bars without bail pending trial.

The two incredulously and cryptically wondered if Arillotta had indeed flipped, according to the recorded calls in early April. And, the dialogue became more pointed when the two discussed media reports that investigators were digging in Agawam.

“As it looks now, my days are short here,” Ty Geas is heard telling his brother on April 10, 2010, with Freddy Geas later asking: “You see that broken English guy again?” apparently referring to Fusco, who speaks English with a heavy Italian accent.

Freddy Geas added little more to the conversation, other than “Awwww, [expletive].”

Golba was promoted from deputy superintendent of water and sewer services.

File photo | The RepublicanChristopher Golba has been named superintendent of the Agawam Department of Public Works.

AGAWAM – Christopher J. Golba has been hired as the city’s new Department of Public Works superintendent, according to Mayor Richard A. Cohen.

Golba has replaced Anthony Sylvia, who took a position with the Tighe and Bond consulting engineering group so he can be closer to his children and family in Rhode Island.

“He has a wealth of knowledge and supervisory skills that he brings to the department,” Cohen said of Golba, who has started his new job.

The new superintendent, who has been promoted from deputy superintendent of water and sewer services, joined the department five and a half years ago. Prior to that, he had worked in the Chicopee Water Department for 31 years, 14 of them as superintendent.

Golba, 58, will be paid $96,301 annually.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Golba said of his appointment.

He will oversee a number of water and waste water projects now in the design phase, the Feeding Hills sewer project and the upcoming repaving of part of Springfield Street.

Golba, who grew up in Chicopee, lives on Roberta Circle. Sylvia, who has been paid $103,928 a year here, was the city’s Department of Public Works chief for about a year and a half.

Carla Racine, of Northampton, said the market will be open to the public between Memorial Day and the end of October on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Patrick Brough

EASTHAMPTON – A Northampton woman plans to open a seasonal outdoor market at Lyman and Northampton streets in May.

“The Easthampton Outdoor Market will feature a full farmers market, a food concession tent, and up to 50 ... artists, crafters, flea marketers, tag-salers, antiquers, collectors, and professionals networking their services,” said Carla Racine, of Northampton, in documents presented to the Planning Board Tuesday, which approved a special permit for the market.

The board approved the permit under the condition that all structures will be temporary. Racine said the market will be open to the public between Memorial Day and the end of October on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. By 5 p.m. the structures will be taken down, she said.

“It allows for people that have a business that don’t have the overhead quite yet to have their own place and be able to go sell their wares, their goods,” Racine said of the market. “I think this can be a great hit.”

Currently, the former Fedor Pontiac is on the property. Edward Fedor, the land owner, said he was extremely impressed with Racine’s work and looked forward to seeing the market open.

Across the street from the lot is the potential future home of Easthampton Savings Bank’s new loan center, which architect Mark Sternik said will be highly energy efficient and have a look consistent with the city’s history. A permit request for the bank project is pending.

“The design intent was that this building would respect its ties to the historic nature of the city of Easthampton while presenting a timeless, forward-looking vision to the future,” Sternik said. “We think we’ve come a long way in accomplishing that.”

The building uses mostly brick and features a tower 45 feet high, the highest allowed by zoning regulations, making it look like the old mills in the city, Sternik said. It also has tall windows and will use footlights on the sidewalks.

City planner Stuart Beckley said the lights in the parking lot were too tall at 20 feet and that zoning requires they be brought down to 15 feet. The board said they would determine if that requirement can be waived.

A site visit is planned for Monday at noon. The next hearing for the special permit will be held April 12 at 6:45 p.m. at the Municipal Building at 50 Payson Ave.

The Planning Board also granted a special permit to David McCutcheon, of Northampton, to open a retail carpet business in the back of Aubuchon Hardware, also on Northampton Street.

The board approved the permit unanimously on the condition that the parking lot will be paved by Sept. 1 to accommodate more spaces.

Because the projects are in the highway business zoning district, they required special permits, which Beckley said is a normal procedure. Northampton Street is part of Route 10, a state highway.

The next meeting of the Planning Board will take place Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building.

The state fire marshal's office is looking into what sparked a blaze that destroyed a Shelburne Falls home Wednesday, displacing two families.

SHELBURNE FALLS - The state fire marshal's office is looking into what sparked a blaze that destroyed a Shelburne Falls home Wednesday, displacing two families.

The Recorder in Franklin County reported that around 5 p.m., firefighters were called to 48 Mechanic St., finding the home engulfed in flames upon arrival.

Mutual aid was received from several fire departments in the region and the battle to get the fire under control lasted more than two hours.

The two families living at the house made it out safely and there were no injuries reported during the incident.

The Red Cross was called in to provide immediate care to the displaced families.

Several Western states have detected radiation drifting from Japan, Westboro Baptist group vows via Twitter to protest Liz Taylor's funeral, Medical marijuana forecast to be 1.7 billion industry in 2011 and more of the morning's headlines.

(AP/Yomiuri Shimbun)Defense workers carry a resident in Fukushima believed to have been exposed to radiation by the cripples nuclear power plant. Several US. states in the west have detected trace amount of radiation drifting from Japan.

• Western US states detect radiation drifting from Japan [CNNInternational.com]


• 10 dead in rare Syrian protest [AustralianBroadcasting.net]


• N.Korea Kim Jong-il sends $500,000 to quake-hit Japan [Reuters.com]


• Obama admin. working to make unauthorized Internet streaming a felony [WashingtonPost.com]


• Westboro Baptist Church threatens to picket Liz Taylor's funeral [E!Online.com]


• US Medical Marijuana Sales Seen At $1.7B [WallStreetJournal.com]


(AP Photo)Medical marijuana is now a $1.7 billion industry, comparable to the Viagra market, according to a report released by See Change Strategy LLC, which describes itself as an independent financial analysis firm that specializes in new and unique markets.
• Sarah Palin: Moammar Gadhafi 'Is Going to End Up Dead' [ABCNews.com]


• Review:Nintendo 3DS is fun, addictive and pricey [USAToday.com]
• Sony still suing American boy who hacked the PS3 [BBC.com]


• Obese and overweight women and children may underestimate how heavy they are [LATimes.com]


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


• Read more News Links »


• Do you have News Links? Send them our way or tweet them to @masslivenews

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

Today's poll: Should community college students earning a 3.0 grade point average be eligible for free in-state tuition when they transfer to UMass Amherst?

View full sizeGreg Saulmon / The Republican03.23.2011 | CHICOPEE - An American robin sits on a porch railing at Cabotville Industrial Park during Wednesday's snow.

Greg Saulmon / The Republican03.24.2011 | HOLYOKE - The moon makes a cameo appearance early Thursday morning.

The Forecast

When hard, chunky snowflakes began falling yesterday afternoon it seemed like the forecast for 2-4 inches falling between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. might be a conservative estimate.

A robin flitted around Chicopee's Cabotville Industrial Park, and the scene looked more like the season's first snow than what could be its last.

By Thursday morning Dwight Street in Holyoke was covered in a film of salt and road treatment, all dressed up with no snow to show. Last weekend's "super moon," now in its waning gibbous phase, ducked behind fast-moving clouds. Crossing into Springfield, the ground in the median and in the woods off the highway was mottled with the lightest dusting of white.

It's gray outside now, with a high of only 42 forecast today. No snow, though, they say.

But it looks like we're in a holding pattern -- the full-spring temperatures we enjoyed at the end of last week aren't due back any time soon. The National Weather Service's 7-Day forecast doesn't show a high above 45 degrees through next Wednesday.

Find the full forecast here.

Today's Poll

University of Massachusetts at Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub on Wednesday announced the creation of the "UMass Amherst Community College Connection," a program intended to make the university more accessible to community college students.

Under the program, community college students completing an associate's degree with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher will be guaranteed admission through the Joint Admissions or MassTransfer programs. Students earning a grade point average of 3.0 or higher will be eligible for free in-state tuition, currently $1,714.

The first students eligible for the program will be those enrolling in the fall 2011 semester.

What do you think -- should community college students earning a 3.0 grade point average be eligible for free in-state tuition when they transfer to UMass Amherst? Vote in our poll.

Wednesday's results: Yesterday, we asked, "Should funding for Planned Parenthood be cut from the federal budget?"

• 52.17% said Yes.
• 47.83% said No.

Wednesday's Top 5

The top 5 headlines on MassLive.com on March 23 were:

1. Developing: One killed in explosion at Balise Honda in West Springfield


2. 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 12 Highlights from Week 1 [photo gallery]


3. Missing Connecticut girl's parents to speak Wednesday as search continues


4. Missing teen Kaitlyn Maslanka found unharmed in Chicopee


5. Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade 2011 [photo gallery]

Quote of the Day

“That is kind of funny.”

- Dawn Leaks, upon learning she is owed at least $100, according to the state treasurer’s Abandoned Properties list. Read Patrick Johnson's article here.

Police said somebody in a white or gray pickup truck was seen stealing the manhole covers.

Greg Saulmon / The Republican03.07.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - A manhole cover on Taylor St.

SPRINGFIELD – Police are probing the theft of as many as ten manhole covers overnight from streets in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood.

Capt. Cheryl C. Clapprood said a witness called police about 12:30 a.m. to report that somebody in a white or gray pickup truck was stealing the heavy covers.

Some 8 to 10 manhole covers were stolen from Talmadge Drive and Allen Park, Feltham and Pine Tree roads. Clapprood said police worked quickly to note the locations of the missing manhole covers so the Department of Public Works can correct the potentially dangerous situation.

Police have been checking with area salvage yards and detectives will pick up the investigation today, Clapprood said.

Mark Hambley, former US ambassador to the Middle East, talks about the current unrest in the region.

Unrest in the Middle East from WGBY on Vimeo.

Retired US ambassador Mark Hambley served in the US diplomatic service stationed in Northern Africa and the Middle East for 30 years. He sat down with Connecting Point's Jim Madigan to discuss the current unrest in the Middle East and the future of US involvement in the region.

When asked if the change sweeping the Middle East will reach Saudi Arabia, Hambley said, "I must say I think one is very reluctant to use a crystal ball when talking about the Arab world. I think on January 13 if I was asked if Ben Ali was going to be out of Tunisia I would have said 'well not this week' and of course the next day he went."

The former ambassador went on to discuss the varying local cultures in Saudi Arabia which many citizens identify themselves with, instead of seeing themselves as part of the national identity of the country.

"In Saudi Arabia you don't really have protests in the sense that you have people go out in the street, that's not done normally." Hambley said. "Prince Nayef decreed that there will be no public demonstrations in the kingdom."

Connecting Point airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on WGBY.

Officials have yet to release the name of the worker who was killed in the explosion and fire. Watch video

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Investigators will return to Balise Honda on Riverdale Street today to continue their investigation into the cause of the explosion and fire that claimed a worker’s life Wednesday morning.

“They haven’t come up with any cause yet,” Fire Chief William Flaherty said Thursday morning of the explosion which occurred inside the rear of the facility at about 9:40 a.m.

Officials have yet to release the name of the male victim who worked for Real Clean Automotive Detailing, a subcontractor that performs reconditioning work at the dealership.

Flaherty said investigators are reviewing surveillance video from a camera inside the building that captured what Mike Balise, vice president and owner of Balise Motor Sales, described as a “fairly substantial explosion.”

Another man, a Balise employee, was taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, Balise said.

Investigating are West Springfield fire and police departments and state police assigned to Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan’s office and to the Hampden district attorney’s office, said Jennifer Mieth, Coan’s spokeswoman. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting a separate investigation.

The presence of solvents in the building hampered firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the blaze. Flaherty said it took firefighters about an hour to put out the flames.

Dale MacDonald, a spokesperson for Balise, said in an e-mail to The Republican that the explosion happened in the wash bay.

Investigators could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

Plamondon was a native of Westminster, Mass., and a semi-pro baseball player.

STORRS – Friends of a University of Connecticut student killed by a campus shuttle bus are planning a vigil near the spot where he died.

The investigation continued Thursday into this week’s death of 20-year-old David Plamondon, an aspiring doctor who was active in a campus singing group and community service programs.

Plamondon was a native of Westminster, Mass., and a semi-pro baseball player. He died Tuesday night when the shuttle bus struck him in a campus intersection.

UConn police say the investigation remains open and that no charges have been filed against the bus driver, described as a male student authorized to operate the vehicle.

A vigil in Plamondon’s memory is planned Thursday night near the intersection, and a memorial concert has been scheduled Friday night in the Student Union.

The 13-year-old was playing catch with a soft-style baseball during practice inside the Northfield school.

NORTHFIELD - A Pioneer Valley Regional High School seventh-grader, hit in the head with soft-style baseball while playing catch during baseball practice Wednesday afternoon, remains in critical but stable condition at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Superintendent Dayle Doiron said the 13-year-old boy’s parents were summoned to the school after the accident, which occurred about 2:30 p.m., and took him home with an ice pack. Once there, however, his condition deteriorated and he was taken by Life Flight to the Worcester hospital.

“Of course our thoughts and concerns are with him and his family,” Doiron said.

This marks the first week of practice for the middle school team. The practice are being held inside, where the soft-style balls are typically used, because the playing fields are still covered with snow, Doiron said,

Principal Bill Wehrli has asked teachers to be aware of fellow students who may be in need of counseling following the accident, Doiron said.

The school serves towns of Northfield, Bernardston, Leyden and Warwick.

The Guard unit says residents should not be alarmed by the training which will include between six and 10 explosions over the course of the day.

The RepublicanThe Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing, based at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, flies F-15 Eagle fighter jets; some of the unit's jets are shown here in a file photo from 2010.

Area residents should be advised of the training as they may hear between six and 10 explosions throughout the day and not be alarmed, said Maj. Matthew Mutti, wing executive staff officer.

All of the training will take place on base property at Barnes Municipal Airport, and some will involve the detonation of up to a pound of C-4 explosive.

The training will be conducted by members of the unit’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The mission of the ordnance disposal team is to conduct protection operations for military and civilian authorities to defeat or mitigate conventional and unconventional (nuclear, biological, chemical, and improvised) explosive devices, Mutti said.

Public Works Director Thomas Martens expects re-routing Doane Road would be less expensive than replacing the bridge where the road intersects with Route 9.

View full size

WARE – With support from the selectmen, Public Works Director Thomas J. Martens is proceeding with plans to reroute a small section of Doane Road so it may intersect with Route 9 without need of the Doane Road Bridge.

“I am nearly certain it would be much cheaper than the bridge,” Martens told the selectmen during a discussion of this issue Tuesday.

The bridge was closed in July 2009 after engineers working for the state found structural deficiencies in its supporting beams.

The bridge connected Doane Road with Route 9, and, since it has been out of use, people living on Doane Road have had to travel well out of their way.

Initial estimates for rebuilding a bridge at this location came in at about $154,000 but town officials have said that those figures have gone up and they would only provide for a temporary bridge.

Martens told the selectmen Tuesday that the replacement bridge being considered would be considered a temporary bridge and it would be very complicated to deal with the state officials who would have a say in such a project.

“It is tied up in a lot of bureaucracy,” Martens said.

While not abandoning the process of replacing the Doane Road Bridge, Martens said he is working on preliminary planning for re-routing Doane Road so that it could intersect with Route 9 slightly closer to the center of Ware without the need for a bridge.

Martens said this could be looked at as a permanent solution.

Acquiring small portions of land for the re-routing would have to be dealt with to proceed with that alternative.

Martens does not have a cost estimate at this point but said he would continue investigating the details.

The Board of Selectmen encouraged Martens to proceed with preparing cost estimates for the re-routing plan.

“There is still a lot of research that needs to be done before we can know if this is the best way to go,” Selectmen Chairman William R. Braman said.

Martens and Braman said that the potential costs of acquiring land for a new road bed are likely to be important factors in whether this alternative is less expensive than replacing the bridge.

Campaign launched March 10 with goal of $3 million.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD – In the first report since the 2011 Annual Catholic Appeal began two weeks ago, officials announced March 26 that the Springfield diocesan-wide campaign has raised $1,217,261 in pledges and one-time gifts.

As of March 23, according to a release, more than 10,400 gifts had been received for an average gift of $116.83.

When the appeal launched on March 10, Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell stated that the goal would remain at $3 million.

In 2010 the the diocese said the appeal collected $2,686,880 which was allocated to more than 40 area ministries, services and agencies.

Since its inception, the appeal is said to have raised more than $100 million, with all donations staying in the four western counties of Massachusetts.

This year marks the 52nd year the local Catholic fund drive has been conducted.