Back-to-back house fires on Friday night – one in Indian Orchard at 8:20 p.m., the other near a former landmark restaurant downtown at 8:47 p.m. – kept city firefighters busy on one of the coldest nights of the year.

SPRINGFIELD — City firefighters responded to back-to-back fires in separate parts of the city Friday night, stretching resources and prompting a mutual aid request from area departments.

The first blaze was reported at 8:20 p.m. at 1355 Worcester St., a two-family home in the Indian Orchard section of the city, where firefighters used a ladder to rescue a resident trapped on the second floor.

Seven people were displaced by the fire, but there were no reported injuries, according to Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant.

Leger said an overloaded electrical circuit sparked a fire in the second-floor kitchen of the 2½-story home, causing about $50,000 damage.

The second fire was reported at 8:47 p.m. at 547 Worthington St., a three-story, mansard-roof home located between the former Lido Restaurant and a six-story brick building.

An 86-year-old man, the lone occupant of the home, managed to escape unharmed, but the structure sustained about $20,000 worth of damage, Leger said.

Smoke could be seen billowing from the second floor of the home, which is less than 30 yards from Springfield Fire Department headquarters at the corner of Worthington and Spring streets.

MAP showing approximate location of Worthington Street fire:

Here are the winning numbers in the Friday, January 16, 2015 Mega Millions drawing.

If you've been buying Mega Millions tickets since November 4, you haven't won the jackpot – but all that could change tonight!

The jackpot has climbed to an estimated $270 million since it was last hit 21 drawings ago – so hitting the numbers tonight might make the past 2½ months' futility worthwhile. Here are the winning numbers in the Friday, January 16, 2015 Mega Millions drawing:

The jackpot has been accumulating since it was last hit for $326 million when a winning ticket was purchased in New York on November 4. The winning ticket-holder, Harold Diamond, a retired elementary school principal from Wurstboro, New York, claimed the prize just this week. The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that he took the cash value of the prize for single lump sum payment totaling $197,456,087, which was whittled down to $130,676,438 in cash after tax and other withholdings.

The cash option for tonight's grand prize is $177 million. The cash option is a one-time, lump-sum payment equal to the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.

When winners take the full grand prize via an annuity, the prize is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is 5 percent bigger than the previous one.

For a jackpot of $250 million, for example, the initial payment would be more than $3.75 million and future annual payments would grow to about $18.75 million.

Diamond's $326 jackpot hit was the eighth largest Mega Millions jackpot in history and the most ever won on a single ticket, according to the Mega Millions website. All of the larger jackpots were shared among multiple winning tickets.

The jackpot rolled over to tonight when no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday, January 13: 12-20-25-50-51 plus the Mega Ball 7.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged concerns Friday that terrorists might use the visa waiver program to enter the United States, and said his department is taking steps to address weaknesses in the program.

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged concerns Friday that terrorists might use the visa waiver program to enter the United States, and said his department is taking steps to address weaknesses in the program.

Johnson told an aviation industry luncheon that he doesn't want to discard the program, which makes it easier for Americans to travel to friendly countries and for citizens of those countries to travel to the U.S. "It represents an important element of lawful commerce between and among our international partners," he said.

But he noted that some of those countries also have citizens or legal residents who have left to fight or train with terrorist groups in the Middle East, Asia or Africa, then returned home intent on violence. For example, some citizens or residents of France and Germany have traveled to the Middle East to fight or train with al-Qaida or Islamic State militants. The concern is that those fighters will return to their home countries and from there travel to the U.S.

In November, the department added new information fields to the electronic system for travel authorization, Johnson said. He said he has also asked his staff to tighten the security assurances the U.S. has with countries that participate in the waiver program.

"To deal with the foreign fighter potential, the foreign fighter threat presented now globally, we need to develop more robust information sharing with our key counterterrorism allies overseas to share information about individuals of suspicion," Johnson said. "There is much work to be done."

Foreign fighters already known to the U.S. are less likely to enter the U.S. without a visa than those unknown to intelligence agencies. For example, the two brothers French authorities said conducted the deadly attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris -- Said Kouachi, 34, and his brother Cherif, 32 -- were already on the U.S. no-fly list. Said Kouchaci had traveled to Yemen and Cherif Kouachi had served 18 months in prison for recruiting militants to fight the U.S. in Iraq.

Johnson also said the 15 Customs and Border Protection clearance centers established at overseas airports to screen airline passengers bound for the U.S. have been successful. The center the agency opened last year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, prevented 450 people from boarding planes to the U.S., including several who were on the terror watch list, he said.

Some U.S. airlines opposed the Abu Dhabi center, saying it benefited their Middle Eastern competitors.

resident Barack Obama came out swinging Friday against congressional attempts to slap fresh sanctions on Iran, warning such a move would likely destroy nuclear talks and increase prospects for a military showdown. Vowing to veto any sanctions that reach his desk, Obama pleaded, "Just hold your fire."

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama came out swinging Friday against congressional attempts to slap fresh sanctions on Iran, warning such a move would likely destroy nuclear talks and increase prospects for a military showdown. Vowing to veto any sanctions that reach his desk, Obama pleaded, "Just hold your fire."

In an unusual move by a foreign leader, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was personally calling U.S. senators to say that new sanctions would drive a wedge through international unity.

Standing side by side with Cameron at the White House, Obama said world powers would be sympathetic to Iran and would blame the U.S. if Congress moved ahead with more sanctions while fragile negotiations are under way. At that point, Obama argued, the world would lose its best chance to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"Congress should be aware that if this diplomatic solution fails, then the risks and likelihood that this ends up being at some point a military confrontation is heightened -- and Congress will have to own that as well," Obama said in his most impassioned rebuke yet of the sanctions effort.

The U.S., the U.K. and other world powers are struggling to reach a framework accord with Iran by March, with hopes of finalizing a longer-term deal by July that would limit Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon. Secretary of State John Kerry has spent much of the week holed up in European hotels with his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, as both countries seek to infuse the talks with fresh urgency.

But in Washington, many lawmakers are so skeptical of the negotiations that they have insisted the U.S. move forward with additional sanctions to keep tightening the screws on Tehran.

A tense exchange between Obama and a top Democrat this week illustrated the degree to which Obama's diplomacy with Iran has rattled even members of his own party.

At a closed-door strategy meeting with Senate Democrats, Obama and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., traded arguments about whether fresh penalties would undermine or bolster the negotiations. It was then that Obama renewed his longstanding vow to veto sanctions legislation passed by Congress while talks are still ongoing.

"We just have a fundamental disagreement," Menendez told reporters Friday in New Jersey. "It is counterintuitive to understand that somehow Iran will walk away because of some sanctions that would never take place if they strike a deal."

Menendez, who until recently chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been working across partisan lines with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., on new sanctions on Iran's economy that would kick in only if Iran fails to sign or live up to a nuclear deal in time. Other senators are drafting bills that would require Congress to sign off on any deal before existing sanctions are lifted. It's unclear whether those senators could muster enough votes to override Obama's veto.

Yet Obama argued that Iran would rightfully interpret any new sanctions -- even ones that don't kick in right away -- as violating the terms of the interim deal reached in 2013 that made the current talks possible. He said the likelihood that Iran would pull out of the talks was "very high."

"They would be able to maintain that the reason that they ended negotiations was because the United States was operating in bad faith and blew up the deal," Obama said. "And there would be some sympathy to that view around the world."

Cameron, who was holding two days of meetings with Obama, took the rare step of calling another nation's lawmakers to lobby them against proceeding with more penalties. Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee received calls from Cameron, who said he had reached out not to tell them what to do, but to convey that sanctions have already had their desired effect.

"It's the opinion of the United Kingdom that further sanctions or further threat of sanctions at this point won't actually help to bring the talks to a successful conclusion, and they could fracture the international unity that there's been which has been so valuable in presenting a united front to Iran," Cameron said.

Clinching a nuclear deal would be a major foreign policy victory for Obama, who for years has fended off accusations of naiveté in engaging diplomatically with countries like Iran. Obama said prospects for a deal are still 50-50 at best, insisting he wouldn't agree to any deal that fails to ensure that world powers can verify Iran's actions or to protect Israel's security.

Iran maintains that its program is solely for energy production and medical research purposes. Under the interim deal, Tehran agreed to some restrictions to its program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from U.S. economic sanctions.

Mitt Romney told Republicans Friday he is weighing a third bid for president, one that would focus on national security, improving opportunities for the middle class and "breaking the scourge of poverty."

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Mitt Romney told Republicans Friday he is weighing a third bid for president, one in which he would show more compassion toward the nation's poor and middle class -- voters he alienated with some of his comments during his last campaign.

"I'm giving some serious considerations to the future," the 2012 GOP nominee said in a speech aboard a moored aircraft carrier at the end of the Republican National Committee's winter meeting.

Romney shocked the political world last week, telling former donors he was rethinking his previously stated opposition to running again.

With his wife, Ann, at his side, Romney said Friday: "The most frequently asked question I get is, 'What does Ann think of all this?' She believes that people get better with experience, and heaven knows I have experience running for president."

"She knows where my heart is," Romney said, referring to his wife's approval of his charity work.

Romney lost the 2012 campaign after making comments his opponents used to depict him as wealthy and out of touch.

But on Friday, before more than 200 GOP stalwarts, officials and former campaign aides, he said a third candidacy would focus on national security, improving opportunities for the middle class and "breaking the scourge of poverty."

"We can win in 2016 as a party, in the House, the Senate and the White House, if we communicate a clear vision of where we're taking this country and what we believe in," he said.

Romney's re-emergence comes as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is aggressively raising money in his own exploration of a GOP bid, and several others are taking steps to run.

It was a busy Friday night for Springfield police, who responded to multiple fires, an armed robbery and a stabbing, among numerous other incidents.

SPRINGFIELD — Police were busy Friday afternoon into the evening, responding to armed robbery, stabbing and fire reports, including back-to-back house fires that required officers to block off city streets.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m., police responded to an armed robbery report at the AZ Mart at 289 Carew St. in Liberty Heights. Multiple officers, including detectives, responded to the the convenience store / gas station near the entrance to Mercy Medical Center.

Police were seen interviewing people inside the business and detectives were expected to review surveillance video, but officials were unavailable to discuss details of the crime late Friday night. A call to the Springfield Police Department shift commander's line was unanswered.

Earlier in the evening, multiple police units responded to a residence near the corner of Bay and Dawes streets for a report of a woman who was "stabbed in the chest" by an acquaintance, according to initial reports.

Several cruisers lined the block near 401 Bay St., and an AMR ambulance also responded to the scene, but additional details were unavailable.

The beating lasted about eight minutes and left the victim injured and bleeding, the witness said.

SPRINGFIELD - A mixed martial artist charged with strapping two men to a makeshift cross and beating them has an image of Christ tattooed on one shoulder and The Grim Reaper on the other, court records show.

Vito C. Resto 

Vito C. Resto, 36, of Springfield, is being held at the Hampden County House of Correction under a judge's ruling that he is too dangerous to be released on bail.

After hearing testimony from police and witnesses, Judge William Hadley wrote that Resto "hung individuals on a cross and beat them as punishment for misdeeds in drug trade."

During his arraignment, the defendant pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, assault and battery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

As bizarre as the new charges sound, this is not Resto's first high-profile case. In 2004, he was charged and later acquitted in a rush hour shoot out at an intersection just off Interstate 91.

Still, the alleged crucifixions have brought a different kind of attention to Resto, an accomplished mixed martial artist with an extensive criminal record.

At 6 feet, 2 inches and 250 pounds, Resto was ranked among New England's top fighters in the amateur heavyweight division in 2014. Fighting under the name Vito Corleone Resto, he won his only two fights last year, according to the Massachusetts Mixed Martial Arts website.

The Hartford native has a mixed record in the criminal justice system, picking up convictions on drug and firearms charges but avoiding long, minimum-mandatory prison sentences for repeat offenders.

In his most recent case, Resto was charged with assaulting a woman at a downtown club in 2013. But the case was dropped after the victim - an ex-girlfriend, mother of his two children and co-defendant in a 2009 drug case - decided not to testify against him.

In the arrest report, Resto was described as a salesman at Cabo's Fashion and Footwear on Liberty Street; among his five tattoos are images of Christ on his right shoulder and The Grim Reaper on his left, the report said.

Following his arrest, Resto was released on $500 bail. A trial was scheduled for Feb. 24, 2014, but cancelled after the alleged victim did not appear. His bail
was refunded the next day, records show.

The latest charges came after a witness called state police on Dec. 3 to report a man had been strapped to a wooden cross and was being beaten by several men behind 53 Orchard St. in the city's Riverview section, the records show.

The beating lasted about eight minutes and left the victim injured and bleeding, the witness said.

Springfield police recovered the cross, made with a 4 by 4 board crossed with 2 x 4, and state police located the alleged victim. The man, identified as Victim 1 in court documents, said Resto had strapped him to the cross.

Investigators identified a second victim several days later. No other suspects have been charged, but the investigation is continuing, police said.

Before the alleged crucifixions, Resto's most publicized arrest involved a rush hour shootout on East Columbus Avenue in 2004.

Witnesses identified Resto, then 26, as the driver of one of two vehicles involved in a gun battle at a busy intersection close to Interstate 91. At trial, the judge ruled the prosecution had not proven its case against Resto, and dismissed the charges before sending the case to the jury.

Two other defendants were convicted and given state prison sentences.

While awaiting trial for the shootout, Resto was charged in a federal firearms case that carried a potential 15-year mandatory sentence.

In April, 2005, he pleaded innocent to an eight-count indictment in U.S. District Court for being a felon in possession of a handgun while under indictment for other felony charges.

A year later, he pleaded guilty to three charges, but avoided the 15-year term given to career offenders. Instead, Judge Michael A. Ponsor ordered him to serve one year in prison and one year of home detention, followed by three years of supervised release.

From the start, the case was marked by wrangling over terms of Resto's bail and supervised release, which included travel restrictions, electronic monitoring and a curfew; the judge, for example, allowed Resto to attend his daughter's birthday party, but not to travel to Puerto Rico for his grandfather's funeral, or to play in a touch football league.

More than a dozen similar requests were submitted by his lawyer, Mark G. Mastroianni, now the presiding judge in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

After refusing to let Resto celebrate July 4 with his family, Ponsor said it would amount to "special treatment (that) would be unfair to other persons under supervision and would set an unmanageable precedent."

Responding to Mastroianni's contention that his client was being treated unfairly, a probation official wrote that Resto had received lenient treatment and yet continued to violate the terms of his release.

"Rehabilitation cannot be measured by non-compliance," he wrote.

The wrangling continued into 2012, nearly six years after Resto's guilty plea; by then, Ponsor had assumed semi-retired status and left the case; Mastroianni had been elected Hampden District Attorney, and Resto had been indicted and taken into state custody for participating in what state and federal officials described as a 100-kilo-per-year cocaine and marijuana ring.

The federal firearms case finally wrapped up in January, 2012 with Resto admitting to three probation violations.

For punishment, Judge Rya Zobel gave him a one-day sentence.

Employees at F&R Auto Sales uploaded a video to YouTube they called "irate pizza driver," that shows the delivery man returning $7.78 in cash that he thought was a tip to the works.

Workers at a Westport used car dealership found themselves on the wrong side of the Internet this week after they posted of a video of themselves giving a pizza delivery man a rough time for failing to give them $7 in change, which would have meant no tip.

Employees at F&R Auto Sales uploaded a video to YouTube they called "irate pizza driver," that shows the delivery man returning $7.78 in cash that he thought was his tip.

The video shows the employees getting into a heated argument with the delivery man last Saturday over failing to return change after they gave him two $20 bills and two $5 bills. As you can see in the video, they spared no words in telling the driver how they felt. (If you have not seen the video, above, be prepared for bad language.)

According to Boston.com, the workers ordered pizza and drinks totaling just over $42, and gave delivery man Jarrid Tansey $50. He left with the money, thinking he was being tipped the $7.78 -- a little over 15 percent of the bill.

"I initially ... walked out of there with a smile thinking I got a good tip," Tansey told ABC-TV on "Good Morning America."

But that smile quickly vanished when he got a call from the dealership telling him to return with the change.

"It just doesn't make sense why you'd hand me a bill that you were just gonna have me drive back here to give you back anyway," Tansey, who works for Pizza Palace, is heard saying in the video. "I'm not mad, I just had to waste my resources coming back here."

In response, the workers berated Tansey.

"So listen: The manager apologized once for you. Do you want him to apologize again for you?" the worker in blue says.

"Out the door before I put my foot in your ass," a female office-worker in green says.

"Get the f---ing owner and the manager on the phone, I want that mother-f---er done," another man in the office says after Tansey leaves. "I want him fired."

According to the New Bedford Standard Times, Tansey's story began to resonate with people from across the country after seeing the video online.

A woman identifying herself as Amanda Marie Rogers started a GoFundMe.com campaign to "Get Jarrid his tip money" and set a goal of $3,000.

Rogers, a former waitress, told CNN she was so moved after seeing Tansey's video online, she called the pizza shop to find out the driver's name so she could send him a check.

"For them to call him back over money he should've received anyway," Rogers told CNN, "I decided to take it one step further."

Rogers set up the fundraising page for Tansey entitled "Get Jarrid his tip money!"

Many people left donations in $7 increments.

By early evening the day the page was launched, more than twice that had been raised so the goal was upped to $10,000. By last night, the fund had raised more than $25,000, and as of mid day Saturday, it had exceeded $28,000 and was still climbing.

Tansey, who earns the minimum wage delivering pizzas and works a second job, told the Standard Times that the money will go into a college fund for his 1-year-old son.

The dealership, meanwhile, felt the full fury of the Internet's wrath.

By Wednesday the video had gone viral, and Tansey said the owner of F&R came pleading for it to stop. By the time the original YouTube video was taken down it had been downloaded and posted to LiveLeak.com, where it has since been shared more than 18,000 times, according to the Standard Times.

F&R's website was down Thursday and Friday, and the phone line was constantly busy when a Standard Times reporter tried to call. When a connection was finally made, the person who answered the phone had no comment.

In a statement given to local radio station, WFHN-FM, Fun107 in Fairhaven, however, a sales manager at F&R apologized for the actions, saying the female employee was fired and another man who "was belittling the man in the video" was not an employee.

"We (would) like to apologize for the actions that led to this situation, this embarrassing video gone viral on the Internet, was not released by any employee of F&R Auto Sales," Gary Batista, sales manager for the business, said in a statement provided to CNN.

But just in case you think this is the end of the story, dear reader, hold onto your hats.

Boston.com published a followup story yesterday explaining the current and former employees took to WFHN Friday to point fingers and to apologize for the video.

Michael Ramos, the man wearing a plaid blue shirt in the right-hand corner of the video, took fold Fun 107 that Tansey did not confirm that the extra cash was for a tip, and Ramos said the busy employees weren't sure how much money they had given him.

"When we were trying to discuss who was gonna pay what, by the time we looked up to see what the driver had in his hand, he was gone," Ramos said.

"He didn't ask us 'Are we all set?' He didn't ask us 'Is this my tip?' He just disappeared."

This is why Ramos said they called Tansey back.

He insisted to Boston.com that the video of what happened in their first interaction would vindicate him. However, he admitted to the radio hosts that nobody remaining at F&R Auto Sales knows how to access the security tape and upload the video.

"If we knew it was just $7 -- he probably would have gotten $7 anyways -- it was just the way he took off, and we didn't know how much he took off with," Ramos told Boston.com.

Batista told the station that Lucy, the woman in the green hat who threatened to "put my foot in your ass," had been fired. Ramos said he had been suspended for his actions as well.

Both Batista and Ramos said that the video was put online by the man wearing the blue shirt in the bottom-left corner of the video. He is described as a contractor who handled the dealership's computer services. Batista said he would not be working at the company anymore, according to Boston.com.

"Hopefully this will die down, because it was a stupid, stupid mistake made by an outside contractor," Batista said.

Later in the show, Lucy called in and said she had been told by her bosses that she was being placed on temporary leave for a week until the controversy ended. But she said she was warned if she spoke publicly, she wouldn't be invited back.

The company is "out of control," Lucy, who did not provide her last name, said, adding that she did not want to return to work there. "The place is trash. It's scummy."

One responsibility of the new position is to create a capital plan for regular maintenance of city buildings and equipment.

WESTFIELD - The City Council, on an 8-5 vote last November, created a new Facilities Management Department but when it came to funding the department manager position this week the council unanimously rejected the $40,000 appropriation.

Councilors indicated Thursday night they want an approved job description in place before providing the necessary funding for the person who will be tasked with overseeing all maintenance and repairs at municipal buildings. That person will also be responsible for maintenance and upkeep of energy conservation equipment installed at the city's 23 buildings during the past three years. The city spent more than $41 million in renovation and energy conservation and is currently paying Seimen's Corp. $326,000 annually to service the equipment.

Councilors also indicated they want to see how the new department might fit in with a new request from Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to consolidate some departments like the Department of Public Works, Wastewater Treatment and Water Department.

The job description for the facilities manager has been in the council's Personnel Action Committee since last fall.

Councilor Cindy C. Harris, the new chairman of Personnel Action, said the council is waiting for the Human Resource Department to submit a revised description for council review and approval. Harris also said the facilities departrment "may fit" into the revamped Public Works Department.

Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul Sr., as a member of the council's Finance Committee initiated the block for funding the position. He said he is opposed to the new department and position and suggested the mayor develop a "better plan" to address the maintenance issue.

The $40,000 would have created a base for salary requirements necessary before the city can advertise the position for applicants. City officials had hoped to have the facilities manager on board by early February to assist in creation of the municipal fiscal 2016 operating budget.

One duty of the new post is to create a capital plan for maintenance needs.

For the first time in his presidency, Barack Obama will stand before a Republican-led Congress to deliver his State of the Union address.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in his presidency, Barack Obama will stand before a Republican-led Congress to deliver his State of the Union address and try to convince lawmakers newly empowered to block his agenda that they should instead join with him on education, cyberprotection and national security proposals.

With Obama firmly in the legacy-building phase, his address is expected to be as much about selling a story of U.S. economic revival as it is about outlining initiatives. The approach reflects the White House's belief that it has been too cautious in promoting economic gains out of fear of looking tone deaf to the continued struggles of many Americans.

White House advisers have suggested that their restraint hindered Democrats in the November elections and helped Republicans take full control of Congress for the first time in eight years. But with hiring up and unemployment down, the president has been more assertive about the improving state of the economy in the new year and his prime-time address Tuesday will be his most high-profile platform for making that case.

"America's resurgence is real, and we're better positioned than any country on Earth to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said Wednesday in Iowa, one of several trips he has made this month to preview the speech.

Tuesday is the second-to-last time Obama will take part in the pageantry of the annual presidential address to Congress and a televised audience of millions. By the time he stands before lawmakers next year, Americans will have begun voting in the primary campaigns that will determine his successor.

Mindful of Obama's fading share of the spotlight, the White House has tried to build momentum for his address by rolling out, in advance, many of the proposals he will outline. Among them: making community college free for many students; ensuring paid sick leave for many workers; cutting the cost of mortgage insurance premiums for some home buyers; pressing for cybersecurity legislation in the wake of the hacking on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the U.S. has blamed on North Korea.

Some proposals are retreads. Most stand a slim chance of getting congressional approval.

The real battle lines between Obama and the Republican-led Congress will be on matters long fought over.

Buoyed by their new majority, Republicans are moving forward on bills to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, change Obama's health care law and dismantle his executive orders on immigration. The White House has threatened vetoes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, right, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, talks with reporters in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, FILE 

Republicans say that's a sign of a president who didn't get the message from voters trying to relegate his party to minority status in the November election. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the president still has a chance to change his tone.

"Tuesday can be a new day," McConnell said. "This can be the moment the president pivots to a positive posture, this can be a day when he promotes serious realistic reforms that focus on economic growth and don't just spend more money we don't have. We're eager for him to do so."

Obama isn't expected to make any major foreign policy announcements. He is likely to urge lawmakers to stop the pursuit of new penalties against Iran while the U.S. and others are in the midst of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. In a news conference Friday, Obama said legislation threatening additional penalties could upend the delicate diplomacy.

"Congress should be aware that if this diplomatic solution fails, then the risks and likelihood that this ends up being at some point a military confrontation is heightened -- and Congress will have to own that as well," he said.

The president also is expected to cite his recent decision to normalize relations with Cuba, as well as defend the effectiveness of U.S. efforts to stop Russia's provocations in Ukraine and conduct air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Democracy for America and MoveOn.org have joined up to create "Run Warren Run," hoping the first-term senator will enter the 2016 nominating contest.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A group hoping to get Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the Democrat mix for president is launching its New Hampshire effort.

Democracy for America and MoveOn.org have joined up to create "Run Warren Run," hoping the first-term senator will enter the 2016 nominating contest.

The movement will meet at noon Saturday in Manchester to officially begin the effort.

Warren, who is popular with the progressive wing of the party, has repeatedly said she is not running for president. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is the biggest potential name in the party and most other Democrats seem to be waiting to see if she'll run again before entering the race.

MoveOn plans to spend $1 million on its Warren effort, and Democracy for America has pledged $250,000.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Coakley said her efforts at elected office are done and she's looking forward to her upcoming stint at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

BOSTON (AP) — When Attorney General Martha Coakley leaves office Tuesday, she'll be ending a public career that's spanned nearly two decades and propelled her into the top law enforcement job in Massachusetts.

Coakley also will be leaving behind a mixed political record that includes two high-profile losses.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Coakley said she has no regrets about her eight years as attorney general and is looking forward to her stint as a resident fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

"I think it's fair to say that my efforts at elected office are done," Coakley said with a laugh.

Beyond that, Coakley is keeping her options open.

She said she wants to continue her role as an advocate — particularly on human trafficking issues and mental health — and hasn't decided if she will return to a legal practice, teach or become active in the nonprofit world.

One job Coakley said she's not interested in is becoming a judge, even on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

"That's not something that particularly draws me," she said.

Coakley, 61, has been a trailblazer, becoming the first woman elected district attorney in Massachusetts and the first to serve as attorney general.

Her attempt to continue that streak faltered, first when she lost a special election to Republican Scott Brown to fill the late Edward Kennedy's Senate seat in 2010 and again last year when she narrowly lost a race for governor to Republican Charlie Baker.

Some have blamed the loss on the office, noting past attorneys general have also lost gubernatorial contests.

Coakley agrees that being attorney general is a tough job.

"Attorneys general are not traditionally popular politicians," she said. "If you're doing your job right, probably there are going to be people who don't like the decisions you make."

But she doesn't blame her loss on Massachusetts' "curse of the attorney general."

"It was such a close race I think it's hard to say there was one thing that might have made a difference one way or the other," she said.

Coakley said she hopes her decision to run for re-election just months after the 2010 loss — and her decision to run for governor — inspires others to persevere.

"I hope that women will continue to seek out those challenges and understand that win or lose your voice is important and you have to kind of stay at it," she said. "Having women at the table in positions where they add to the debate and make decisions is extremely important."

Coakley said her most challenging job was as head of the child abuse unit under former Middlesex District Attorney Tom Reilly. She said the job taught her the complexity of problems that cut across society and require a multi-pronged response.

As attorney general, Coakley has grappled with many tough challenges.

She said she was able to anticipate some, pointing to her decision to file a first-in-the-nation lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act

Others she couldn't anticipate, she said, like the national foreclosure crisis. She considers her response to that a signature part of her legacy.

Coakley has her critics, including some who faulted her for not being aggressive enough tackling public corruption or for ruling that an anti-casino question shouldn't have appeared on last year's ballot. (The state's highest court overturned her decision.)

Coakley said she's proud of her public service and its responsiveness, both as district attorney and attorney general.

"There have been and will always be critics. I still would challenge those people: 'You be DA for the day. Take on this challenge,'" she said. "I think we've been very transparent about what we've done and why."

Coakley said she's confident her successor, Attorney General-elect Maura Healey, is up for the job.

Asked if she considers herself a role model, Coakley said that while some younger people, not just women, have told her they see her in that way, her motivation has been more immediate.

"I do it because I love the work," she said. "I have really enjoyed every minute of it."

Melbourne police tweeted again that the "shooter is contained" and that officers were clearing the mall store by store.

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Police say a Florida man wounded his wife in a shooting at a mall food court that left two dead.

Melbourne Police Cmdr. Vince Pryce says 57-year-old Jose Garcia Rodriguez of Palm Bay died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Saturday at the Melbourne Square Mall.

Pryce says Garcia's 33-year-old wife Ida was hospitalized in good condition.

Another man also died in the shooting. His name wasn't released, and Pryce said his relationship to the Garcias remained under investigation.

Pryce says three guns were recovered and Garcia had "several pockets full of ammunition."

Police say about 100 people were in the mall preparing to open stores when officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots around 9:30 a.m.

Shooter is contained; Ofcs are clearing the mall store by store

— Melbourne Police (@MelbournePolice) January 17, 2015

The mall was evacuated and remained closed Saturday.

A late-19th-century academic neighborhood makes way for a modernist student housing complex.

NORTHAMPTON -- Three historical buildings have been torn down and another awaits demolition as Smith College begins construction of a new student apartment complex on Paradise Road.

The 1917 Mason Infirmary, the late-19th-century F. Dwight Drury House, and an 1866 home which formerly housed the Sunnyside Childcare Center no longer exist. An 1887 shingle-style home at 65 Paradise Road still stands, but is slated to come down in February, said Smith College spokeswoman Stacey Schmeidel on Friday.

The three buildings were taken down starting in the late summer of 2014, said Schmeidel. Center for Eco-Technology Salvage of Springfield harvested architectural elements from the buildings before they were demolished; the college held a public tag sale and auction to dispose of furniture and other items, she said.

The city's Historical Commission in 2013 granted Smith permission to demolish the Mason Infirmary, the Sunnyside building and the Drury House, but last May imposed a one-year demolition delay on 65 Paradise Road, hoping that a buyer would step forward to move the building to a new location.

The Historical Commission rescinded the demolition delay in December after college officials said no buyer had materialized. The building had been offered at the price of one dollar, with the caveat that it must be moved.

Several specimen trees, including a Dawn Redwood in front of the infirmary and a massive beech at the Drury House, were cut down to make way for the project. The Smith College Botanic Garden approved the removal of the trees, said Schmeidel.

Smith won Planning Board approval for the student housing project, designed by Olin-Kundig Architects of Seattle, in May. Paradise Road Apartments, which would house 80 students in five detached two-story buildings, is expected to be complete in January 2016.

Smith will retire the 56-student Friedman Hall dorm on the east side of Elm Street when Paradise Road Housing opens its doors.

The Schact Center for Health and Wellness on Belmont Avenue, which replaces the former Mason Infirmary, will be dedicated in a January 29 ceremony, said Schmeidel.

Motorcycle enthusiasts did not let the cold weather bother them as they looked over the selection of shiny new motorcycles on display at the 2015 Springfield Motorcycle Show being held this weekend in the Young Building at the Eastern State Exposition.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Motorcycle enthusiasts did not let the cold weather bother them as they looked over the selection of shiny new motorcycles on display at the 2015 Springfield Motorcycle Show being held this weekend in the Young Building at the Eastern State Exposition.

A variety of bikes were on display including some three wheeled models sometimes referred to as trikes.

Motorcycle accessories along with riding gear and apparel was also available as fans could only hope for a quick end to winter and an early start of spring so they can get back on the road again.

Even a couple of vintage motorcycles from the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History were on display, as well as some brand new Indian models.

The show continues on Sunday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and admission is $15 for adults; $5 for children ages 6-12, and free for children 5 years old or younger. For more information, visit the show's official website here.

A New Jersey woman who authorities say put her newborn baby in the middle of a road and set the child on fire was charged Saturday with murder.

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A New Jersey woman who authorities say put her newborn baby in the middle of a road and set the child on fire was charged Saturday with murder.

Burlington County prosecutors said Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, 22, of Pemberton Township was jailed on $500,000 bail. It wasn't known if she has retained a lawyer.

Police responded to a Friday night call about a fire in the middle of a residential road in the township, about 30 miles east of Philadelphia. Officers found the baby in flames and put out the fire.

The child reportedly was alive and breathing at the time she was flown to a hospital in Philadelphia, said Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. She died about two hours later, he said in a news release. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Authorities believe the mother doused her baby with an accelerant then set her on fire, Bewley said. They do not have a motive. The woman was taken into custody Friday night.

Prosecutor Robert Bernardi said details of the baby's birth were still being investigated. The baby's age has not been disclosed. Bernardi would not comment on whether the mother has a criminal record or if she has been involved with child welfare officials.

Dave Joseph, 45, of Pemberton Township told The Burlington County Times that he saw a young woman get out of her car and light something on fire in the middle of Simontown Road. He said the woman told him she was burning dog waste.

Joseph said the woman appeared calm and soon tried to flee the scene, but residents stopped her.

"It was just mind-boggling," Joseph said. "It was a nightmare even if you have a strong heart."

Obituaries from The Republican.

James Connor 

James P. Connor, 82, passed away on Thursday. He was born in Pittsfield, and was a graduate of Pittsfield High School and the University of Massachusetts. He served two years in the U.S. Army as a Morse code operator in Germany. By 1961, he settled in East Longmeadow. He worked for 30 years at the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation in Wilbraham, where he retired as manager of Administrative Services. He was a leader in East Longmeadow politics, having served two terms on the Board of Selectman, eight years as the town clerk, as treasurer of the Democratic Town Committee and as chair of the Charter Commission.

The president's proposals are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party's liberal base, but the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will call for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans by raising the capital gains rate and eliminating a tax break on inheritances, then using the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class.

The president's proposals are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party's liberal base, but the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill.

Obama will announce the tax proposals Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. Senior administration officials disclosed details Saturday on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the proposals by name ahead of the president.

The president's address -- his first to a Republican-led Congress -- will also include calls for lawmakers to make community college free for many students, increase paid leave for workers and enact broad cybersecurity rules.

The centerpiece of the president's tax proposal is an increase in the capital gains rate on couples making more than $500,000 per year to 28 percent, the same level as under President Ronald Reagan. The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama's presidency.

Obama also wants to close what the administration is calling the "Trust Fund Loophole," a change that would require estates to pay capital gains taxes on securities at the time they're inherited. Officials said the overwhelming impact of the change would be on the top 1 percent of income earners.

While GOP leaders have said they share Obama's desire to reform the nation's complicated tax code, the party has long been opposed to many of the proposals the president will outline Tuesday. For example, most Republicans want to lower or eliminate the capital gains tax and similarly want to end taxes on estates, not expand them.

Administration officials pointed to a third proposal from the president as one they hope Republicans would support: a fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion. Officials said the fee is similar to a proposal from former Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, who led the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Camp's plan, however, was part of a larger proposal to lower the overall corporate income tax rate.

Raising the capital gains rate, ending the inheritance loophole and tacking a fee on financial firms would generate $320 billion in revenue over a decade, according to administration estimates. Obama wants to put the bulk of that money into a series of measures aimed at helping middle-class Americans. Among them:

• A credit of up to $500 for families in which both spouses work. The administration says 24 million couples would benefit from the proposal, which would apply to families with annual income up to $210,000.
• Expanding the child care tax credit to up to $3,000 per child under age 5. The administration says the proposal would help more than 5 million families with the cost of child care.
• Overhauling the education tax system by consolidating six provisions into two, a move that could cut taxes for 8.5 million families. Republicans have been open to the idea of consolidating education tax breaks.

Republicans say Obama's veto threats are a sign of a president who didn't get the message from voters who relegated his party to minority status in the November election. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the president still has a chance to change his tone.

"Tuesday can be a new day," McConnell said. "This can be the moment the president pivots to a positive posture. This can be a day when he promotes serious realistic reforms that focus on economic growth and don't just spend more money we don't have. We're eager for him to do so."

Beyond rolling out new proposals, Obama's address is also expected to focus on making the case to the public that recent economic gains represent a real and lasting recovery. The approach reflects the White House's belief that it has been too cautious in promoting economic gains out of fear of looking tone deaf to the continued struggles of many Americans.

White House advisers have suggested that their restraint hindered Democrats in the November elections and helped Republicans take full control of Congress for the first time in eight years. But with hiring up and unemployment down, the president has been more assertive about the improving state of the economy in the new year. Tuesday's prime-time address will be his most high-profile platform for making that case.

"America's resurgence is real, and we're better positioned than any country on Earth to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said Wednesday in Iowa, one of several trips he has made this month to preview the speech.

Obama isn't expected to make any major foreign policy announcements. He is likely to urge lawmakers to stop the pursuit of new penalties against Iran while the U.S. and others are in the midst of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. In a news conference Friday, Obama said legislation threatening additional penalties could upend the delicate diplomacy.

"Congress should be aware that if this diplomatic solution fails, then the risks and likelihood that this ends up being at some point a military confrontation is heightened -- and Congress will have to own that as well," he said.

The president also is expected to cite his recent decision to normalize relations with Cuba, as well as defend the effectiveness of U.S. efforts to stop Russia's provocations in Ukraine and conduct air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

____

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace wrote this report. Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Erica Morales was about seven months into her pregnancy when she delivered three girls and one boy Thursday

PHOENIX -- A woman died hours after giving birth to quadruplets at a Phoenix hospital, a close friend of the family said Saturday.

Erica Morales, 36, never got to hold her newborns before she passed away early Friday morning after a C-section surgery at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Nicole Todman said.

"They were transporting her from the surgery to whatever room, and she was still unconscious at that point. So, no, she never got to see them," Todman said.

Morales, who previously lived in Memphis, Tenn., was about seven months into her pregnancy when she delivered three girls and one boy Thursday, according to Todman. She has been one of the few able to visit the premature newborns and said they are doing well.

"They're beautiful," Todman said. "They have tubes in their mouths and their noses. They've got little monitors and wires all over their body."

The infants will likely remain hospitalized for the next two months while doctors help them to get stronger and each reach a goal weight of 5 pounds, Todman said. Currently, they all weigh between just above 2 pounds to just above 3 pounds, she said.

Morales was initially hospitalized for high blood pressure. Complications ensued before Morales was taken into surgery, Todman said. She does not know what led to her passing.

"I don't even care to know," Todman said. "It doesn't matter why. She's still gone."

Hospital spokeswoman Toni Eberhardt declined comment Saturday, but she released a statement from the hospital: "Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences are with the family during this very difficult time."

Morales, a former real estate agent who more recently worked for the University of Phoenix, and her husband, Carlos, who works in manufacturing, had been trying to conceive a baby for two years, Todman said. She said Morales tried everything from acupuncture to fertility treatments. Morales suffered a miscarriage before becoming pregnant last June.

Todman, who has been best friends with Morales since childhood, said Morales was more nervous about being a new mother than raising four children at once. Because of her previous miscarriage, Morales was apprehensive about getting too excited about the babies' arrival. She mainly focused on doing things correctly throughout her pregnancy such as eating enough, Todman said.

"Her focus of her pregnancy was to make sure she did everything to make sure they were healthy so she was able to bring them into this world -- and she did," Todman said.

On Friday, Todman started a GoFundMe fundraising website for Carlos Morales and the infants on Friday. The site had received more than $29,000 in donations as of Saturday afternoon.

"I'm so grateful for the overwhelming support and the wonderful comments, and so are Carlos and Sandra, Erica's mother. They are so entirely grateful," Todman said.

The 43-year-old Allenby said he might have been drugged in the Amuse Wine Bar in Waikiki Beach.

HONOLULU -- Australian golfer Robert Allenby says he was robbed, beaten and dumped in a park after missing the cut in the Sony Open, leaving him with cuts and a deep scrape on his forehead.

"I should be OK, just in a lot of pain," Allenby said in a text message to The Associated Press.

He said he was still meeting with the FBI on Saturday evening.

Golf Channel reported during the Sony Open telecast that Allenby was in a wine bar Friday night when he became separated from his caddie and a friend from Australia. The caddie told the network that Allenby was beaten, robbed of his cellphone, cash and credit cards and driven some six miles away and dumped in a park.

He was found by a retired military man, who helped him back to his hotel at Waialae Country Club.

Contacted by Australian Associated Press, the 43-year-old Allenby said he might have been drugged in the Amuse Wine Bar in Waikiki Beach and taken to an underground garage where he was robbed and thrown into the trunk of a car.

"I didn't think I was going to survive this one," Allenby told AAP.

He said a homeless woman in the park told him she saw him thrown out of the car, which led to the scrapes on his forehead. He said the retired military man paid for a taxi to get him back to his hotel.

A Honolulu police spokesman did not immediately return for comment.

Honolulu television station KHON2 said police were investigating it as second-degree robbery.

Stuart Appleby, a fellow Australian player, said he called Allenby's hotel room Saturday morning and that Allenby was trying to reconstruct what happened. Appleby did not want to disclose what he said because "I don't know how straight his brain is."

Allenby has four PGA Tour victories, the last one in 2001. He has won 22 times worldwide, played in the Presidents Cup six times. His career was slowed in 1996 when he was seriously injured in a car accident in Spain.