Early Thursday, French police released images of the two other suspects, named as Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, saying they should be considered armed and dangerous.

By JAMEY KEATEN
and ELAINE GANLEY

PARIS - One man sought in the deadly shooting at a French satirical paper has turned himself in, and police hunted Thursday for two heavily armed men with possible links to al-Qaida in the military-style, methodical killing of 12 people at the office of a satirical newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.

President Francois Hollande, visiting the scene of France's deadliest such attack in more than half a century, called the assault on the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo "an act of exceptional barbarism."

France raised its terror alert system to the maximum -- Attack Alert -- and bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas. Fears had been running high in France and elsewhere in Europe that jihadis trained in warfare abroad would stage attacks at home.

Said Kouachi, left, 34, and his brother Cherif Kouachi, 32, are wanted in connection with Wednesday's at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris. 

French brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, in their early 30s, should be considered armed and dangerous, according to a police bulletin released early Thursday. Mourad Hamyd, 18, surrendered at a police station in Charleville-Mezieres, a small town in France's eastern Champagne region, said Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. She did not offer details on Hamyd's relationship with the men.

Heavily armed police moved into the nearby city of Reims, searching for the suspects without success, Thibault-Lecuivre said. Video from BFM-TV showed police dressed in white apparently taking samples inside an apartment. It was not immediately clear who lived there.

One of the police officials said they were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network, and Cedric Le Bechec, a witness who encountered the escaping gunmen, quoted the attackers as saying: "You can tell the media that it's al-Qaida in Yemen."

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive and ongoing investigation.

Cherif Kouachi was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for helping funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency. He said he was outraged at the torture of Iraqi inmates at the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib near Baghdad.

The masked, black-clad men with assault rifles stormed the offices near Paris' Bastille monument in the Wednesday noontime attack on the publication, which had long drawn condemnation and threats -- it was firebombed in 2011 -- for its depictions of Islam, although it also satirized other religions and political figures.

Shouting "Allahu akbar!" as they fired, the men used fluent, unaccented French as they called out the names of specific employees.

Artist Corinne Rey told the French newspaper L'Humanite that she punched in the security code to the Charlie Hebdo offices after she and her young daughter were "brutally threatened" by the gunmen.

Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed, said prosecutor Francois Molins. He said 11 people were wounded -- four of them seriously.

After fleeing, the attackers collided with another vehicle, then carjacked another car before disappearing in broad daylight, Molins said.

Among the dead: the paper's editor, Stephane Charbonnier.

The staff was in an editorial meeting and the gunmen headed straight for Charbonnier -- widely known by his pen name Charb -- killing him and his police bodyguard first, said Christophe Crepin, a police union spokesman.

Rey said the assault "lasted five minutes. I hid under a desk."

Two gunmen strolled out to a black car waiting below, one of them calmly shooting a wounded police officer in the head as he writhed on the ground, according to video and a man who watched in fear from his home across the street.

The witness, who refused to allow his name to be used because he feared for his safety, said the attackers were so methodical he first thought they were members of France's elite anti-terrorism forces. Then they fired on the officer.

"They knew exactly what they had to do and exactly where to shoot. While one kept watch and checked that the traffic was good for them, the other one delivered the final coup de grace," he said.

"Hey! We avenged the Prophet Muhammad! We killed Charlie Hebdo," one of the men shouted in French, according to video shot from a nearby building.

The other dead were identified as cartoonists Georges Wolinski and Berbard Verlhac, better known as Tignous, and Jean Cabut, known as "Cabu." Also killed was Bernard Maris, an economist who was a contributor to the newspaper and was heard regularly on French radio.

Le Bechec, the witness who encountered the gunmen in another part of Paris, described on his Facebook page seeing two men "get out of a bullet-ridden car with a rocket-launcher in hand, eject an old guy from his car and calmly say hi to the public, saying 'you can tell the media that it's al-Qaida in Yemen.'"

Charlie Hebdo has been repeatedly threatened for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and other sketches. One cartoon, released in this week's issue and titled "Still No Attacks in France," had a caricature of a jihadi fighter saying "Just wait -- we have until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes." Charb was the artist.

In a somber address to the nation Wednesday night, Hollande pledged to hunt down the killers, and pleaded with his compatriots to come together in a time of insecurity and suspicion.

"Let us unite, and we will win," he said. "Vive la France!"

France raised its security alert to the highest level and reinforced protective measures at houses of worship, stores, media offices and transportation. Schools closed across Paris, although thousands of people later jammed Republique Square near the site of the shooting to honor the victims, waving pens and papers reading "Je suis Charlie" -- "I am Charlie." Similar rallies were held in London's Trafalgar Square as well as Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and Brussels.

"This is the darkest day of the history of the French press," said Christophe DeLoire of Reporters Without Borders.

Both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have repeatedly threatened to attack France, which is conducting airstrikes against extremists in Iraq and fighting Islamic militants in Africa.

During Cherif Kouachi's 2008 trial, he told the court, "I really believed in the idea" of fighting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

In the winter 2014 edition of the al-Qaida magazine Inspire, a so-called chief describing where to use a new bomb said: "Of course the first priority and the main focus should be on America, then the United Kingdom, then France and so on."

In 2013, the magazine specifically threatened Charb and included an article titled "France the Imbecile Invader."

The attack was condemned by world leaders.

President Barack Obama offered U.S. help in pursuing the gunmen, saying they had attacked freedom of expression. He offered prayers and support for France, which he called "America's oldest ally."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country stood united with France,

"We stand squarely for free speech and democracy. These people will never be able to take us off those values," Cameron said in the House of Commons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also condemned the attack as a "cynical crime," and pledged cooperation in fighting terrorism.

"I think all of Europe is crying today," said Italian Premier Matteo Renzi. "All the free world is crying. All men and women who believe in freedom and reason are crying."

Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after his novel, "The Satanic Verses," drew a death edict from Iran's religious authorities, said all must stand with Charlie Hebdo "to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity."

Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the Union of French mosques, condemned the "hateful act," and urged Muslims and Christians "to intensify their actions to give more strength to this dialogue, to make a united front against extremism."

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation based in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, which represents 57 Muslim-majority nations, added its condemnation, saying that violence and radicalism were the biggest enemies of Islam and went against all its fundamental principles and values.

A tweet from an al-Qaida representative who communicated Wednesday with The Associated Press said the group was not claiming responsibility for the attack, but called it "inspiring."

Supporters of militant Islamic groups praised it. One self-described Tunisian loyalist of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group tweeted that the attack was well-deserved revenge against France.

The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie was trending as people expressed support for the weekly and for journalistic freedom. The weekly's website collapsed earlier Wednesday but was later restored.

It was the deadliest attack on journalists since 2009, when 32 journalists were killed in an ambush on a political convoy in the southern Philippines.

Philippe Val, one-time Charlie Hebdo chief, raised the possibility of publishing a special edition of the newspaper, saying "a way of speaking has been exterminated."

"We must respond, because we must testify for them," he told RTL radio.

AP writers Jamey Keaten, Philippe Sotto, Samuel Petrequin, Angela Charlton, Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester in Paris; Raphael Satter in London; Sarah el-Deeb in Cairo; Zeina Karam and Diaa Hadid in Beirut; and Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this story.

School officials in several Western Massachusetts communities have decided to close or delay openings in their districts for Thursday, January 8 in anticipation of dangerously cold temperatures.

School officials in several Western Massachusetts communities have decided to close or delay openings in their districts for Thursday, January 8 in anticipation of dangerously cold temperatures.

Below is a list of school cancellations and delays compiled from The Republican, MassLive and our media partner, CBS 3 Springfield (we'll continue to update the list as we learn of more closings and delays):

Closed:

Agawam Public Schools
Baystate Academy Charter Public School-Springfield
Cathedral High School
Chicopee Schools
Gateway Regional School District
Hampden Charter School of Science-Chicopee
Holyoke Schools
Martin Luther King Charter School-Springfield
South Hadley Public Schools
Springfield Public Schools

2-hour delay:

Amherst-Pelham School District
Belchertown Schools
Berkshire Hills School District
Easthampton Public Schools
East Longmeadow Public Schools
Frontier Regional School District
Gill-Montague School District
Greenfield Public Schools
Hadley Public Schools
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District
Hampshire Regional School District
Hatfield Public Schools
Lee Schools
Longmeadow Public Schools
Ludlow Public Schools
Mohawk Trail School District
Monson Public Schools
Northampton Public Schools
Orange Public Schools
Palmer Public Schools
Pioneer Valley School District
Quaboag Regional High School
Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District
Tantasqua/Union School District
Union 38 School District
Westfield Schools
West Springfield Schools
Willie Ross School-Longmeadow (open at 10:30 a.m.)

Related: Chicopee Superintendent explains reasoning for closing schools »

The workshop on Social Security is planned for Jan. 27.

WILBRAHAM - The Gardens of Wilbraham, an adult retirement community, will host a workshop on Social Security Jan. 27 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the community room at The Gardens at 2301 Boston Road.

The workshop, called 'Social Security: the Choice of a Lifetime,' is sponsored by Monson Savings Bank and will be presented by Kevin Flynn, regional vice president of Nationwide Financial.

The event is designed to give people a comprehensive understanding of the rules and details regarding when and how to file for Social Security.

Flynn is an expert on retirement planning and helping people to understand Social Security and how to optimize their benefits.

"We're very pleased to be offering this event," said Steven Lowell, president of Monson Savings Bank. He added, "Retirement planning is complicated and knowing when to file for Social Security can have a big impact on retirement income."

The program is free and open to the public. In the event of inclement weather, a snow date is planned for Feb. 4.

To RSVP, contact adriscoll@monsonsavings.com.

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said he "vehemently" disagrees with outgoing Gov. Deval Patrick's move yesterday to freeze legislators' pay for the next two years, chiding the soon-to-be-ex-CEO for ignoring the advice of a commission he helped construct.

A digest of news stories from around New England.

Call Barbara Harrington at the Senior Center to set up an appointment.

WILBRAHAM - New applications for fuel assistance from the state are now available at the Wilbraham Senior Center.

The new maximum gross income levels are: for one person, $32,618 and for two people, $42,654.

Applicants should bring with them proof of fixed income, including Social Security and pension. For those on unemployment, most recent 4-week period check stubs, also, 2014 heating, electric and telephone bills, 2014 sewer/water bills or tax bill or house insurance bill.

Renters should bring the landlord's name, address and telephone number, and if working, four consecutive pay stubs prior to the date of application.

The Senior Center also has received a grant which can help residents who do not qualify for state fuel assistance.

To complete an application for fuel assistance call Barbara Harrington at the Senior Center at 413-596-8379 to set up an appointment.

Two males, at least one of whom reportedly was armed with a gun, robbed the McKnight neighborhood market at 346 Bay St.

SPRINGFIELD — Police were investigating an armed robbery report at Nathaly's Market, 346 Bay St., late Thursday afternoon.

Multiple police cruisers and a detective unit responded to the McKnight neighborhood store between Brown and Princeton streets at about 3:15 p.m.

Initial incident reports indicated two males – one black, the other Hispanic – entered the market and apparently demanded cash from the register. Detectives were expected to review surveillance video from the shop to learn more about the suspects.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Springfield Police Detective Bureau at 413-787-6355.

MAP showing approximate location of armed robbery in Springfield's McKnight neighborhood:

The Fire Department has spent nearly all of the $405,000 it began the fiscal year with for overtime.

HOLYOKE -- Fire Chief John A. Pond is scheduled to give an update to the Fire Commission Tuesday (Jan. 13) about service reduction steps that began Dec. 5 to save money.

The commission also will discuss structures that are similar to the Essex House at 400 High St., a 135-year-old former hotel that partially collapsed Dec. 11 and which is being demolished.

The commission meeting is at 6 p.m. at Fire Department headquarters, 600 High St.

The Fire Commission is a volunteer board appointed by the mayor to establish goals and policy and hire and fire employees, including the fire chief. The commission consists of Chairman Christopher Hopewell and members Yasser Menwer and Patricia C. Devine.

With overtime funding being consumed fast, on shifts when firefighter staffing has been thin, Pond ordered steps known as brown outs. On such shifts, a fire truck and two tactical vehicles that function as ambulances will be shut down and the aide to the deputy chief who responds to fires will be reassigned.

The reductions have been occurring when there aren't enough firefighters to staff all units, which has been on most shifts, according to Pond and firefighter Christopher Butler, president of Holyoke Fire Fighters Association, Local 1693, International Association of Fire Fighters.

When firefighters are on vacation or otherwise unavailable, to ensure adequate staffing, off-duty firefighters are paid overtime to staff shifts.

The Fire Department began the fiscal year July 1 with $405,000 for overtime, and as of Wednesday, all but about $3,000 had been spent, Pond said.

The City Council Tuesday approved a transfer of $100,000 from the free cash account to the Fire Department for overtime by a vote of 14-0.

The additional overtime money alone will be unable to halt the brown out steps, Pond said.

The department's full complement of firefighters is 88. Three recruits are scheduled to join the force after graduating next month from the Massachusetts Fire Academy Recruit Training. On top of six firefighters that completed the academy and joined the ranks last month, that will bring the number to 78 firefighters, but it was unclear if that would provide enough staff to avoid the brown out steps.

Engine 2 out of Fire Department headquarters at 600 High St. is the truck that is shut down in a brown out. Engine 2 covers the Elmwood and South Holyoke neighborhoods.

The tactical units are small trucks that respond to emergencies and have life-saving supplies like like Narcan, which can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, and EpiPens, which provide a shot for emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reaction. Private ambulances also respond in emergencies and carry such supplies.

No one was injured when slabs of the exterior brick wall collapsed off of the Essex House just before noon Dec. 11. The second floor of an adjacent beauty salon was heavily damaged and the closing of part of High Street to most traffic for public safety has hurt businesses there financially.

The crashing down of the debris from the eight-story building caused a noise and rumbling that a resident who had to be evacuated from a nearby apartment said was like an "earthquake."

Pond warned city councilors at a Finance Committee meeting July 23 that the Essex House had deteriorated into a danger. It wasn't until Sept. 23 that the City Council approved borrowing $1.45 million to take down the building. The demolition process was hung up in talks with the state about asbestos removal when the partial collapse occurred, officials have said.

Bricks had been breaking off the structure for years, weakening the load-bearing stability, and a hole in the roof let in rain and wind that rotted the floors, officials said.

Signs with a white X on red had been posted on the building to alert firefighters that because of the uncertainty of the building interior's stability, fires must be fought externally unless someone was known to be inside.

The Valley Opportunity Council currently provides preschool for about 1,375 children.

CHICOPEE - The Valley Opportunity Council will be able to demolish an old dental office it has been using as a day care center and build a new, larger school thanks to a state grant.

The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care awarded the Valley Opportunity a $1 million grant that will allow the organization to tear down its center at 374 Montgomery St and construct a building better designed for a school.

"Without the state resources, the project was stalled for several years," said Stephen C. Huntley, executive director of the Valley Opportunity Council.

The Valley Opportunity Council purchased the building from the STEPS Development Day Care Center in 2006. Before that it was a dental office, Huntley said.

The building is too small for the number of children the organization would like to accept. Classrooms are also undersized for a preschool and they don't have bathrooms and other amenities ideal for an early childhood center, he said.

The parking lot is also badly designed for the center so that will also be improved, he said.

Currently there are 45 children who attend the about 3,000-square foot center. The new building is expected to measure about 5,200 square feet and there will be space to expand to about 80 children, he said.

There is a waiting list of parents who want to enroll their children in the Valley Opportunity Center. Huntley could not say exactly how long the list is.

The project is estimated to cost $1.8 million. The remaining money will come from a combination of a grant from the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, a Community Development Block Grant from the city and a bank loan through the Chicopee Savings Bank, which will paid back with tuition funds earned from the center, Huntley said.

In total the Valley Opportunity Council serves about 1,375 children in at least two centers run by the non-profit organization. It also contracts with a number of home-based day care operators who receive vouchers to teach the young children, Huntley said.

"All of our parents are working. The amount they pay depends on their income," he said.

In some cases parents pay full tuition to send their children to the center. The state subsidizes tuition for children of lower-wage employees based. The amount those employees pay in tuition is based on their salary, Huntley said.

Providing subsidized day care allows parents to work, even if it is at a low-paying job. The center also provides high-quality early education so young children are better prepared for kindergarten, Huntley said.

"We hope to start construction next fall," he said. "We will open in September 2016.

Huntley said the Valley Opportunity Council still has to complete designs and go out to bid before the project can start. It will also start seeking an alternative location for the staff and students during the one-year construction period, he said.

Not long after Gov. Charlie Baker said he'd inherited a mid-year state budget gap of more than $500 million, his top fiscal adviser said the state is "bleeding" money every day, creating a dire need for action.

By MICHAEL NORTON and ANDY METZGER

BOSTON — Not long after Gov. Charlie Baker said he'd inherited a mid-year state budget gap of more than $500 million, his top fiscal adviser said the state is "bleeding" money every day, creating a dire need for action.

"We have to address it immediately. Every day counts. Every single day that goes by we're just bleeding more money. We have to address it immediately," Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore said minutes after she was sworn in by Baker.

In his inaugural address, which was delivered to members of the Democrat-controlled Legislature in the House chamber, Baker said, "History will record that a budget deficit exceeding half a billion dollars is being transferred to my administration."

Patrick administration officials had claimed that $250 million in unilateral spending cuts they implemented had left only a $70 million to $80 million problem in the $36.5 billion budget. But while Beacon Hill Democrats have pointed to revenues as a source of the problems, Baker focused elsewhere.

"If we're honest with ourselves then we can't blame our deficit on a lack of revenue," he said. "We have to recognize that this is a spending problem. And that dealing with it now will make balancing next year's budget that much easier."

Saying he would "hold the line on taxes," Baker adeed, "We're already demanding enough from hard working people. And we will protect cities and towns and fulfill our promise to end the cuts to local aid. Otherwise, every line item will be looked at."

While Baker highlighted the need to balance the budget, his first official action was to release $100 million in local road and bridge funds authorized by the Legislature, but held back by former Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick had signed off on a $200 million Chapter 90 program, noting it was the highest level of funding for that program, and argued limited transportation funds needed to be spent judiciously.

Baker's team said releasing the funds was important to job creation, public safety and economic growth.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Rosenberg on Thursday morning declined to rule out higher taxes as an option to address budget woes.

Baker said there were "efficiencies to be gained and structural changes to be made," but predicted "there's no doubt that we have to make difficult decisions. We will do so with great sensitivity and careful judgment."

Asked about Baker's assessment of the reason for the budget imbalances, Rosenberg said after Baker's speech, "Some of the parts of this problem go back to tax cuts in the early 2000s and some of it is unanticipated increase in expenses that are tied principally with the transition we're going through in our health care system as a result of the federal government's passing the ACA, which basically comes into some conflict with our successful state health reform. So it's on both sides of the ledger. The important thing is we have the ability to get the budget in balance and that's our job one."

Asked if spending was the problem in the budget, DeLeo said, "Right now I mean in terms of what we do in terms of preparing our budgets, all of our estimates are based upon the estimates that we have before us at the time that we have our revenue hearings so that is based upon what we do relative to the money that we appropriate in our budgets. During that period of time certain things can change in terms of the economic conditions that neither we nor some of the economic experts were aware of. So that's the reality of the problem. But what's good to know about Massachusetts unlike many other states when we have issues such as that we address them as opposed to waiting and waiting and waiting and quite frankly that's why you saw here in Massachusetts the fact that we saw our bond rating increase because when we had those economic issues that we had to address we addressed them immediately and we moved forward as a Commonwealth."

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation last year estimated the deficit at about $750 million after accounting for Patrick's spending cuts, an estimate that Patrick budget chief Glen Shor disputed.

"I think that the estimate that the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation issued is a credible number. They're a very credible organization," Lepore told reporters in the State Library where the swearing-in was held. "We're going to be working through the weekend to try to verify and develop our own number, so we should know hopefully within the next three days."

Lepore said all manner of spending cuts could be up for consideration.

"It definitely is a spending problem. Revenues have been coming in on benchmark. And as he said today, everything is on the table except for local aid to cities and towns," Lepore said.

Sen. Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth) said he is concerned about the fiscal impact associated with thousands of people placed on MassHealth coverage when they were unable to access coverage through the Connector Authority due to technological problems. "There are a lot of unknowns," said deMacedo, who was the ranking Republican member of the House Ways and Means Committee when he served in the House.

The longer Beacon Hill officials wait to deal with the budget dilemma, the more the spending cuts will be amplified, deMacedo said.

"It's something that we are all going to have to deal with, whether we like it or not. That is a reality. The challenge is we have to deal with it sooner rather than later."

Fall River Mayor Sam Sutter said he liked Baker's bipartisan tone and interest in stemming the opiate addiction crises, and that Baker's reference to a "spending" problem was not a surprise. "He does come from the party that thinks that is a problem," said Sutter, a district attorney who won the office after a special election in December.

Sen. Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) said Baker's charter school promises in the speech will also need revenue. "It was a beautiful speech, but delivering on that under the financial pressure, I think that's going to be a challenge," Wolf said.

The Senate last year rejected a charter school expansion effort after the House agreed to the measure. "I'm expecting there will be a very robust discussion on that issue yet again," Rosenberg said. "The Senate spoke last year. We have new members. We'll revisit the subject in the months ahead."

[Matt Murphy and Gintautas Dumcius contributed reporting]

The United States Olympic Committee selected Boston as the country's official entrant in the high-powered sweepstakes that is the bidding process to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The United States Olympic Committee selected Boston as the country's official entrant in the high-powered sweepstakes that is the bidding process to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The USOC made the decision while deliberating behind closed doors at the Denver International Airport on Thursday. Press were not allowed to attend the proceedings and USOC members were not available to the press immediately after the announcement.

Boston's bid won the unanimous endorsement of the USOC's board of directors.

Boston will face off against the likes of Rome, Paris, Istanbul, Budapest, Melbourne, Dubai, Doha, Johannesburg, Durban, Hamburg, and Berlin when the International Olympic Committee chooses a host for the games in September 2017.

The head of the IOC has said that he hopes the 2024 Summer Olympics mark a much needed shift away from the municipal budget busting ways of the past that previous games have been.

"We're excited about our plans to submit a bid for the 2024 Games and feel we have an incredibly strong partner in Boston that will work with us to present a compelling bid," USOC Chairman Larry Probst said. "We're grateful to the leaders in each of the four cities for their partnership and interest in hosting the most exciting sports competition on earth. The deliberative and collaborative process that we put in place for selecting a city has resulted in a strong U.S. bid that can truly serve the athletes and the Olympic and Paralympic movements."

"It is an exceptional honor for Boston to be chosen as the U.S. representative in the running for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

"Boston hopes to welcome the world's greatest athletes to one of the world's great cities," said Walsh.

Boston 2024 Chairman John Fish said the selection by the USOC is "the beginning of an incredible opportunity for Boston." The bid effort provides a "unique opportunity to collaborate like never before to promote our city to the world," he said.

Opponents of the games, No Boston Olympics, said in an email that the Olympics would be a fiscal calamity and "divert resources and attention away from" more important issues facing the state.

"The boosters behind Boston2024 won today -- but our Commonwealth is poorer for it," said an email from No Boston Olympics, a group co-chaired by Liam Kerr and Chris Dempsey.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said he would reserve comment on the proposed casino ethics law until the City Council acts on the matter.

SPRINGFIELD - A proposed city law that would prevent elected officials from taking casino jobs at MGM Springfield until five years after they leave office drew no immediate reaction Thursday from Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

Council President Michael A. Fenton is a proposing a "casino ethics law," that would prevent any Springfield mayor or city councilor from accepting employment at the Springfield casino or its affiliates for the proposed five-year period.

The issue will be brought before the full council at its meeting Monday night. The council meets at 7 p.m., at City Hall.

"I'll reserve comment until the City Council acts on this matter," Sarno said Thursday.

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the state's Gaming Commission, said the local proposal does not appear to conflict with the state gaming law. Under the gaming law, the post-employment restrictions just apply to the state gaming commission members and commission employees.

"As this is a local matter, we respectfully decline further comment," Driscoll said, regarding Fenton's proposal.

Fenton's proposal would also prevent a city employee who is in a "major policymaking position," from taking a casino job until two years after they leave the city job. The ordinance defines that employee as "the executive or administrative head of any city departments" and any city employee with a salary of $60,000 or greater that reports directly to that executive, the proposal states.

"I want to take any appearance of unfair play off the table by codifying stringent rules," Fenton said Wednesday. "Some may find the time length extraordinary, but I believe that building and regulating a casino in Springfield is an extraordinary development that calls for extraordinary measures."

Hot Table in Springfield's Tower Square invited hardy customers to eat their lunches outside in the cold today during the second annual Polar Vortex Challenge. Watch video

Hot Table in Springfield's Tower Square invited hardy customers to eat their lunches outside in the cold today during the second annual Polar Vortex Challenge. 

Those who could do it would get a free lunch and a little fun in their workday.  Television news crews were there to capture the hubbub and many returning challenge hopefuls remarked on the increase in attendance from last year.  Included in the mix was MassLive's very own Nick O'Malley, who ate outside in the cold so his readers wouldn't have to.

Marion Bright-Scott of Springfield enjoys some hot soup.Don Treeger / The Republican 

Marion Bright-Scott, a staff member in the Document Operations Center IT at Health New England, heard about the event through co-workers. 

"I have lunch and breakfast here four to five times a week.  I didn't know about it last year.  I would do this every year.  I'm an outdoors kind of person anyway," said Bright-Scott, who brought a blanket to sit on and dressed for the weather with layers and thermals under tights. 

Meghan Derby, an executive administrator at Pascoe Workforce Solutions in Tower Square, brought a -10 degree weather sleeping bag to keep warm while she ate. 

"It's a mummy sleeping bag so it'll go up over my head like a hood and I can still put my arms up through the hole and eat while I'm covered," said Derby.

Matt Griffin, a West Springfield resident and the health club manager at the Sheraton Springfield, kidded how he could go back to work and warm up on a treadmill if it became too cold. 

"It's the perfect day out here.  The sun is shining.  It's a blue sky and the birds are chirping out here.  There's a plastic palm tree behind me.  Everybody is out here enjoying themselves, why not!" said Griffin. 

While bundled up customers with trays filed outside to find a seat on the freezing patio, many people stayed inside. 

"I don't have guts like they do," said Taylor Villeneuve, manager at the Hot Table in Hadley, who stopped in for a visit.  "I prefer to be warm inside so I'll stay here."

Sitting with Villenueve was her friend Cara Martin, a former Hot Table employee who is currently the admission director at Cathedral High School. 

"I prefer to feel my extremities, personally," joked Martin.  "I'm honestly still debating doing it, depending on how hungry I get while I sit here and watch all these crazies."

Dennis Dowling, a retired Spanish teacher from East Longmeadow High School, came back to participate in the challenge again. 

"It was excellent.  I had a nice chicken panini and enjoyed it very much.  It was a little bit cold out there and my fingers started suffering but otherwise it wasn't bad at all," said Dowling.  "I did this last year and I think the big difference for this year was wearing a pair of thinner gloves so it was easier to eat."

Dennis Dowling enjoying his free lunch.Don Treeger / The Republican 

Jon Roy, on the team at Wolf & Company in Tower Square, tried to get his co-workers to join him.  They passed but they all came down to encourage him from the toasty interior of the restaurant.

"I'm going to tell that that it wasn't that bad out.  I thought it was going to be a lot colder than this," said Roy, who ordered a plain steak and cheese panini.

Matthew Burt, pastor at Wellspring Church in Springfield missed last year's event because of a work trip to Minnesota.  He channeled the energy of the robust people he met there to sit in the winter wind today.

"I was in Minneapolis last year when this happened and it was minus 20 there.  I figured if they can do it, I can do it," said Burt, who pick a horseradish steak Panini and a latte to keep warm.

For more information, visit Hot Table Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hottable.

Business confidence has not been as high since before the Great Recession.

SPRINGFIELD — Business confidence in the Massachusetts economy is at its highest level since July 2007, before the Great Recession, according to figures released Tuesday by Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts Business Confidence Index ended 2014 at 57.3 points, up from 56.8 points in November and up from 50.2 points a year ago in December 2013.

Associated Industries, a statewide business group, figures its business confidence index using a survey of its members. The index is on a 100-point scale with 50 being neutral.

Raymond G. Torto, chairman of AIM's Board of Economic Advisors and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, said in a news release:

"Fundamentals are looking much better: unemployment is down and job creation is running strong nationally and in Massachusetts, which shows up in rising consumer confidence; the federal deficit and the trade deficit are shrinking; and of course the stock market has done well. Despite significant areas of weakness in the global economy, Massachusetts employers have ample cause to be optimistic."

In other findings from the survey:

• For the second half of 2014, twice as many employers report increasing their staff – 34 percent – as cutting jobs – 17 percent.
• For the first half of 2015, 33 percent of respondents expect to increase staff and 11.9 percent predicted layoffs.
• Confidence levels were similar within Greater Boston at 57.4 points, down 0.6 points and in the rest of the state, which was at 57.2 points, up 1.3 points for the month.
• Employers in the manufacturing sector were somewhat less positive at 55.5 points, up 0.2 points for the month, than other employers who had a confidence of 59.4 points, down 0.1 points.
• The Current Index, which assesses overall business conditions at the time of the survey, was up 1.2 points to 56.2 in December.
• The Future Index, measuring expectations for six months out,  was 58.4 points, down a tenth of a point.

While Gov. Charlie Baker may have been the main attraction, some special guests to Baker's inauguration on Thursday brought a touch of star power to the festivities.

By MATT MURPHY

BOSTON — While Gov. Charlie Baker may have been the main attraction, some special guests to Baker's inauguration on Thursday brought a touch of star power to the festivities.

Dotting the front rows in the House chamber for Baker's big moment was a sort of Republican royalty in Massachusetts. Former Gov. William Weld took an aisle seat next to former state and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and former Gov. Mitt Romney.

An arms-length from Romney, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was seated next to new Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who took her oath Wednesday with Baker in the audience.

Before Baker took center-stage, the main attraction for the morning, however, seemed to be Christie. Mingling on the House floor, Republican and Democratic legislators alike clamored to shake hands and take a selfie with the possible White House contender.

Upon leaving the chamber, Christie was immediately asked, "How 'about those Cowboys?" "Hope for a big win on Sunday," said the governor, who has received much attention for his recent celebrations in the owner's box with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

"It was very good. It was very Charlie," Christie told reporters, assessing Baker's speech while surrounded by an entourage of staff and security who fought to clear a path for the governor to walk through the halls. "He was himself, natural, laying out the priorities that he laid out during the campaign he's now looking to achieve so I'm now looking forward to seeing what happens."

Christie, a potential 2016 Republican presidential contender, helped fundraise for Baker during the campaign as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and has made appearances at other inaugurations around the country for Republican governors.

He was also a source of headaches for Baker on the campaign trail after a $10,000 donation Baker made to the New Jersey Republican Party became the subject of a pay-to-play investigation when the New Jersey pension fund invested with a company - General Catalyst - where Baker was an executive in residence.

Asked when his Department of Treasury would publicly release its report into the pension fund investment, Christie said Thursday, "I have no idea. It's not my responsibility to review it," adding, "That's why I have a treasurer, everybody. They do that."

Christie also demurred after being asked when he might dip his toes again into the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. "First I'd have to decide to run for president before I start to campaign for it. I haven't made that decision yet. When I do I'm sure I'll campaign all over the country."

Someone who knows a thing or two about campaigning in New Hampshire is Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran twice for president after leaving Beacon Hill.

"It was really just a monumental beginning for a terrific administration," Romney said after Baker's inaugural speech. "He rekindles hope for people across the Commonwealth. I think he's going to be a great governor. Can't wait to watch all that happens."

Romney's visits to the State House have been few and far between since he took his own "Lone Walk" from the building eight years ago, the same day. His last visit came for the wake of the late Gov. Paul Cellucci in June 2013. He also returned for the unveiling of his official portrait in 2009.

After exiting the House chamber, Romney made his way to the governor's suite, which has undergone an $11 million renovation since he last set foot across that threshold.

Romney and his former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey paused to look at former Gov. Deval Patrick's portrait, which now hangs next to Romney's, before entering the governor's office.

Noting Baker's emphasis on combating drug addiction and extending educational opportunities to all, Romney said he appreciated Baker's effort to "extend hope" to people across Massachusetts.

"He addressed the kinds of tragedies you're seeing in places like Ferguson and New York and said this happens in part because people don't feel that there's hope or a brighter tomorrow and he wants to change that and that's the kind of ambition and vision that you want to see in a governor. It was a marvelous beginning," he said.

Romney did not comment on a Washington Post report that he had huddled with several of his senior political advisors in Northern California for dinner on Wednesday night, fueling speculation that he may not have completely ruled out a third run at the White House.

One person who was not in the State House for Baker's inauguration? Attorney General Martha Coakley, who lost the election for governor to Baker.

"The Attorney General was in the office working and wishes Governor Baker the very best," Coakley spokesman ChristopherLoh said.

The Menz family of Michigan was returning home from a vacation in Florida when they took an unintended ride with a truck.

A minivan from Michigan was dragged for 16 miles by a truck in a snowstorm early Wednesday after the driver rear-ended the rig and got stuck to it.

MassLive's sister news organization, MLive.com, reported that the van became lodged under the semi trailer and was dragged along Interstate 75, according to officials from the Roscommon County Sherrif's office.

Mlive.com reported that the occupants of the van called 911 after the van and truck got hitched, but were unable to tell authorities where they were because of poor visibility caused by the snowstorm.

The van contained four members of Menz family of Roscommon: 46-year old Matthew, 47-year-old Pamela, 26-year-old Justin, and 22-year-old Jennifer.

According to UpNorthLive.com, the Menz family left Flint airport sometime before 2 a.m. and were almost at Roscommon.

"He apparently didn't know that we were there and before we knew it, he ended up dragging us 16 miles," Matthew Menz said. "I was on the phone with 9-1-1 for the whole time. It's a hopeless feeling, helpless feeling. Out of control, you're just along for the ride. "

Menz said his son, Justin, has pervasive development disorder, and that he became upset during the incident, adding more stress to the situation.

"Started to console him, take care of him, and tell him it was OK," Jennifer Menz told UpNorthLive. "I just started to call him down. When the airbags went off, just that smell like we were going to catch on fire and I thought we were."

Deputies from two counties sheriff's offices began a search for the two vehicles when they spotted them heading northbound on I-75 south of the community of Grayling. They were able to pull the vehicles over without incident.

The family was then taken to a local hospital for evaluation, but they did not appear to have any serious injuries, police said.

Hours later, Matthew Menz could hardly believe that his van had been dragged for 16 miles.

"I didn't allow my brain to go down that pathway where I would panic," he told a reporter for MLive, explaining how he focused only on the task at hand early Wednesday. "It felt like an eternity."

The family had spent several weeks visiting family in Florida during the Christmas holiday, and had just returned to Michigan early that morning.

Metz said that the family was only about 10 minutes from their house when they encountered a snow squall and a truck, barely moving, was just ahead ahead. He braked, but could not avoid rear-ending the trailer.

He swerved right at the last minute, but the left side of his Toyota Sienna's front hood lodged under the semi trailer, he told MLive. And the truck was still moving, pulling the mini-van along.

Pamela Menz called 911 and told a dispatcher what was happening. She said her husband turned the wheel left and right, trying to dislodge the van from the trailer, but that it was to no avail.

After a 23-minute call to 911, police located the truck.

Police did not allow family members to speak with the driver, so they do not know what the driver was thinking.

Matthew later noticed that his tires were worn down, and that his van was covered in about three our four inches of snow.

"It just looked like a great big snowball from all the blowoff," Menz told Heidi Fenton of MLive. "It could have been dramatically worse ... somebody was watching out for us."

An audio recording obtained by MLive captures Pamela Menz' voice in her call to 911.

"Our windshield is completely shattered. I can't see nothing," she is heard telling a Roscommon County dispatcher. "We ran into the back of a semi truck and he's not stopping and we're embedded underneath of it."

Police SWAT teams backed by helicopters tracked two heavily armed brothers with al-Qaida sympathies suspected in the newsroom massacre of a satirical French weekly that spoofed Islam, honing in Thursday on a region north of Paris as the nation mourned the dozen slain.

PARIS - Police SWAT teams backed by helicopters tracked two heavily armed brothers with al-Qaida sympathies suspected in the newsroom massacre of a satirical French weekly that spoofed Islam, honing in Thursday on a region north of Paris as the nation mourned the dozen slain.

Authorities fear a second strike by the suspects, who U.S. counterterrorism officials said were both on the U.S. no-fly list, and distributed their portraits with the notice "armed and dangerous." More than 88,000 security forces were deployed on the streets of France.

They also extended France's maximum terror alert from Paris to the northern Picardie region, focusing on several towns that might be possible safe havens for the two -- Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34.

A senior U.S. official said Thursday the elder Kouachi had traveled to Yemen, although it was unclear whether he was there to join up with extremist groups like al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based there. Witnesses said the attackers claimed allegiance to al-Qaida in Yemen during the bloody attack Wednesday.

Both were also on the U.S. no fly list, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss foreign intelligence publicly.

A French security official said American authorities had shared intelligence indicating that Said Kouachi had traveled to Yemen several years ago for training and French authorities were seeking to verify the accuracy of the intelligence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The worst spasm of terror violence in more than a half-century stunned France. The lights of the Eiffel Tower went out Thursday night in a tribute to the dead from the elegant iron lady that symbolizes France to the world. At noon, the Paris Metro came to a standstill and a crowd fell silent near the Notre Dame Cathedral.

French President Francois Hollande -- joined by residents, tourists and Muslim leaders -- called for tolerance after the country's worst terrorist attack in decades.

"France has been struck directly in the heart of its capital, in a place where the spirit of liberty -- and thus of resistance -- breathed freely," Hollande said.

Nine people, members of the brothers' entourage, have been detained for questioning in several regions. In all, 90 people, many of them witnesses to the grisly assault on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, were questioned for information on the attackers, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.

The minister confirmed reports the men were identified by the elder brother's ID card, left in an abandoned getaway car, a slip that contrasted with the seeming professionalism of the attack.

A third suspect, 18-year-old Mourad Hamyd, surrendered at a police station Wednesday evening after hearing his name linked to the attacks. His relationship to the Kouachi brothers was unclear.

The Kouachi brothers -- the Paris-born offspring of Algerian parents -- were well known to French counterterrorism authorities. Cherif Kouachi, a former pizza deliveryman, had appeared in a 2005 French TV documentary on Islamic extremism and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for trying to join up with fighters battling in Iraq.

Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the attack and 11 people were wounded, four of them critically. The publication had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also satirized other religions and political figures.

Charlie Hebdo had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, and a caricature of Islamic State's leader was the last tweet sent out by the irreverent newspaper, minutes before the attack. Its feed has since gone silent.

Charlie Hebdo planned a special edition next week, housed in the offices of another paper.

"The paper will continue because they haven't won," Patrick Pelloux, a Charlie Hebdo columnist said tearfully to iTele TV.

Editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, who was among those slain, "symbolized secularism ... the combat against fundamentalism," his companion, Jeannette Bougrab, said on BFM-TV.

"He was ready to die for his ideas," she said.

Witnesses to the massacre have said the attackers claimed allegiance to al-Qaida in Yemen, and on videos they were heard saying they were avenging the prophet. "Tell the media that it's al-Qaida in Yemen," the two shouted as they were fleeing, one witness, Cedric Le Bechec, wrote on Facebook.

The governor of a southern province in Yemen told The Associated Press on Thursday that four French citizens had been deported from Yemen in the last four months. Gov. Ahmed Abdullah al-Majidi said he didn't have their names and there was no confirmed link between those deportations and the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Jarring France further, two mosques in France were firebombed Thursday and a police officer was killed in Montrouge, on the southern edge of Paris. However, Cazeneuve told reporters there was no known link between that killing and the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

Police searched apartment in Reims, in the Champagne region, where the interior minister said Said Kouachi lived, with technicians gathering samples.

The hunt moved further north after a report that two men resembling the suspects robbed a gas station in Villers-Cotterets early Thursday. The focus then enlarged to Crepy-en-Valois, where heavily armed security forces with air cover and a giant black rapid intervention truck moved through rural streets and among old stone buildings.

Authorities around Europe have warned of the threat posed by the return of Western jihadis trained in warfare. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone, headed there, returned or dead, and officials have said France is a preferred target. Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have issued threats to France -- home to Western Europe's largest Muslim population.

France is taking part in airstrikes in Iraq in a bid to defeat the Islamic State group, and intervened to rout out al-Qaida extremists from northern Mali, a former French colony.

The French suspect in a deadly 2014 attack on a Jewish museum in Belgium had returned from fighting with extremists in Syria; and the man who rampaged in southern France in 2012, killing three soldiers and four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse, received paramilitary training in Pakistan.

A journalist who took refuge on the building roof during the attack said that when he went into Charlie Hebdo's offices he was confronted with life and death.

"On the one side the living and the other the dead," Edouard Periin told iTele.

"We are very concerned. This entire process has been conducted behind closed doors," said Chris Dempsey, co-chair of No Boston Olympics, a group opposed to bringing the Olympic Games to the Hub.

BOSTON — Not everyone is pumped about the United States Olympic Committee picking Boston as the nation's bid city to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

No Boston Olympics, a group opposed to the Olympic Games coming to Massachusetts, bemoaned Thursday's news that the Hub beat out three other U.S. cities for a shot at the 2024 Summer Games.

"We are very concerned. This entire process has been conducted behind closed doors," said Chris Dempsey, co-chair of the organization, whose website, nobostonolympics.org, enumerates why bringing the games to Boston would ultimately be bad for business – and not just for the commonwealth's capital city.

"In the Pioneer Valley, you're going to be paying for this. It's not going to have a significant impact on the regional economy," Dempsey said, adding that the games won't have any lasting economic benefits.

Rather, he said, a Boston Olympics would divert resources from education, healthcare, transportation, infrastructure and other more pressing needs in Boston and beyond, ultimately sticking taxpayers with the bill for hefty overruns and ongoing maintenance costs for unwanted venues.

Every dollar spent on a velodrome – an arena for track cycling events – is a dollar not spent on patching potholes, paying police officers, or purposeful projects that benefit everyday citizens, according to Dempsey.

He says public officials and Olympics backers like to talk up using existing facilities as venues for the games, but invariably end up supporting construction of an Olympic Village and other single-use facilities at the expense of citizens' real-world needs.

No Boston Olympics describes itself as follows:

... a group of volunteer Bostonians who think there are better ways to invest public resources than throwing a three-week party for the global elite, while hard-working citizens foot the bill.

And the group sums up its opposition as follows:

Boston's Olympics boosters tell us that the Games will be an economic boon, and that costs will be borne by the private sector. This is the exact same rhetoric that was pitched in Athens, Vancouver, and London.

Economists have found that none of these host cities enjoyed lasting economic benefits. And in each, the public was left on the hook for billions of dollars in overruns (the London Olympics were 3x over budget), one-time security costs, and ongoing maintenance of unwanted venues.

A Boston Olympics would divert resources from education, healthcare, transportation, and open space – all to throw an extravagant party for the unelected, unaccountable members of the International Olympic Committee.

Whatever our priorities as a Commonwealth, it is clear that $19 billion, the average cost of a summer games (and more than the cost of the Big Dig), could be better spent on other things.

Meanwhile, the bid by Boston to become the U.S. host city for the 2024 Summer Games received unanimous support from the USOC's board of directors. The International Olympic Committee will choose the host of the 2024 Games in September 2017.

The U.S. has not hosted the Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Robert Anthony Martinez, 36, of 129 Pleasant St., Northampton, has multiple convictions for sex crimes, including rape and abuse of a child.

NORTHAMPTON — Two new Level 3 sex offenders, the category deemed most likely to commit similar crimes again, are living in the city of Northampton, according to authorities, who are legally required to alert the public.

"The classification level of the offender pertains to the potential risk to the community that the individual will reoffend," Northampton Police Detective Michael Briggs said.

The Level 3 offenders are Robert Anthony Martinez, 36, and Guy Roy Flathers, 63, according to police.

Martinez, a 5-foot-3 Hispanic man who's described as "obese" on his offender notification sheet, has been convicted of child rape, aggravated rape and multiple other sex offenses.

Martinez lives at 129 Pleasant St.

Flathers, a 5-foot-7 white man who weighs about 230 pounds, has convictions for rape and aggravated rape, according to the state Sex Offender Registry Board, or SORB.

Flathers lives at 35 Fruit St.

SORB officials have determined that these individuals have a high risk of reoffending and pose a degree of dangerousness to warrant public notification.

Guy R. Flathers, 63, of 35 Fruit St., Northampton, has convictions for rape and aggravated rape, according to the state Sex Offender Registry Board. (NORTHAMPTON POLICE DEPARTMENT) 

Local police are required by law to develop and implement a Level 3 Community Notification Plan that's "intended to advise the public of certain personal identification information of the offender in question," Briggs said.

Northampton has a total of 16 Level 3 sex offenders and 51 Level 2 offenders living or working in the city, according to SORB records.

Anyone found guilty of using public sex-offender information to commit a crime or to engage in illegal discrimination or harassment of an offender faces possible fines and up to 2½ years in jail.

Tim Daggett says he can envision Boston doing an "unbelievable " job hosting the Olympic games. Watch video

AGAWAM — Olympian Tim Daggett knows that the very idea of their home city hosting the Olympics is enough to strike anxiety into the heart of the most grizzled urban denizens.

The traffic! The crowds! The bother!

But Daggett, who won two gold medals in gymnastics in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and has attended Olympic games since as a broadcaster, counters that narrative with the story of his driver for the 2012 London Olympics.

He describes the driver as a rough-and-tumble Brit, obviously a local asked to endure some disruption during the Olympics. But by the end of the two weeks, this driver told Daggett that he planned to keep his security badge credential as long ans he lived and pass it down to his family.

"He called it his most prized possession," said Daggett, owner of Daggett Gymnastics in Agawam.

Arriving in an Olympic city in advance of the games is a special experience, he said.

In a blow to those who hope Olympic events could take place here in Western Massachusetts, Daggett said the best Olympic cities are ones where the venues are close together. That critical mass is certainly one reason compact Boston was chosen.

"I can envision Boston doing an unbelievable job with it," he said. "The whole world revolves around the Olympic games, and when it is in your backyard you get glimpses that very few people get."

Mitt Romney has told a small group of Republican donors that he's eyeing a third run at the White House.

By STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney has told a small group of Republican donors that he's eyeing a third run at the White House.

The GOP's last presidential nominee held a private meeting with prominent donors in New York on Friday. He told the group he's seriously considering launching another presidential campaign.

That's according to a person who has direct knowledge of the meeting but was not authorized to speak publicly about the private discussions.

The gathering was held in the offices of Woody Johnson, a leading Romney donor in 2012 and owner of the New York Jets.

Romney, the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, has spent much of the last two years aggressively insisting he would not pursue a third White House bid. The meeting comes shortly after Jeb Bush began actively exploring a 2016 run.