Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced in a press conference this Monday afternoon that all MBTA trolleys subway and commuter rail train service will shut down after 7 p.m. for snow removal.
A digest of news stories from around New England.
A Boston Olympics might hurt The economy in Greater Springfield, the economists said.
SPRINGFIELD - A British study completed in the run up to the 2012 London Summer Olympics estimated the boost the games would provide the whole of the United Kingdom economy at 1 billion pounds.
That same study estimated the economic boost to London alone at 4 billion pounds.
"With the clear implication that the impact on the rest of the UK economy was minus 3 billion pounds," said Prof. Stefan Szymanski, the Stephen J. Galetti collegiate professor of sports management and co-director at the Michigan Center for Sport Management at the University of Michigan. "The government promptly tried to forget about the report and never talk about it again."
Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College in Northampton and an expert on the economic impacts of stadiums and sports, hosted a conference call with reporters Monday detailing the economic failings of mega-events like the Olympics and World Cup soccer tournaments. They specifically honed in on the 2012 London games as London Mayor Boris Johnson visited Boston Monday touting Boston's bid to host the 2024 games.
The conference call with Zimbalist and Szymansi was organized by No Boston Olympics, the main opposition voice to the games.
The promise of Olympic job gains is especially dicey for an outlying city like Springfield. Zimbalist said some state tax money will be needed either for facilities, transportation infrastructure or to run the games themselves. That money will, or at least some of it, come from Western Massachusetts. It would all be spent in the Boston area
"I think it is very likely that the Springfield area will be negatively impacted by the hosting experience," Zimbalist said.
Szymanski said any employment gains, especially those in the run-up to the Games, would be negligible. All the jobs would be in very specialized construction fields. And the money to funding for those would mean less money for construction projects elsewhere in the state.
"You would suck jobs out of Springfield and into the Greater Boston area," he said. "People may well go to Boston to work. But unless people are commuting and taking the money back to Springfield it wouldn't help. More realistically, people would move at least temporarily to Boston."
The London Games didn't boost employment in the impoverished areas of east London. The construction crews came from elsewhere in Britain. Job gains in the neighborhood came because it was gentrifying anyway as the old docklands got redeveloped to luxury apartments for those working in London's financial district nearby.
Zimbalist cautioned against drawing too many parallels before detailed plans for a proposed Boston Olympics are made public. Will it be a compact Olympics? Or will events be hosted, and money spent, in other cities? Will Springfield or elsewhere in Western Massachusetts, host some of those events?
"I think there is a tremendous amount of variability form one Olympics to another," he said. "Sometimes the impact is over a few states."
In Boston meetings, Johnson predicted that opposition to the Boston Olympics would fade and that residents would come together and welcome the world.
Szymanski, a British citizen who has studied the London Games, and Zimbalist said the opposition to the games is well founded. Cost tend to balloon. The average cost overrun for the last few Olympic games is is 252 percent. And the expected job gains sometimes never materialize.
"Every prospective host claims it will be different than previous ones," Zimbalist said.
Zimbalist is author of the the new book "Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup."
Interestingly, Szymqanski said hosting the World Cup, another really expensive mega-event, might do a better job of bringing in overseas tourists. Soccer supporters routinely fly around the world.
"You might go to watch the French basketball team, or your country's track and field," he said. "But soccer has this worldwide passionate following."
The number of visitors to the United Kingdom during the London Games in August 2012 was 5 percent lower than in the same time period of 2011. And after the Games, the UK's tourist activity grew more slowly than other European destinations, such as Ireland that did not host the Games.
"That tends to be the pattern," he said. "People want to avoid the crowds. And part of hosting the Olympics is that you want your own people to be able to see it. You want to have plenty of tickets for your own citizens."
He said some facilities used by the London Olympics have been constructively reused, including Google setting up in the former press center. But Goggle could have been brought to that part of London much cheaper.
"I don't think we should go crazy and say this has no effect," he said. "It's not like these facility are completely laid to waste. The problem is it is small, compared to the investment."
Firefighters from surrounding towns, as well as Palmer, responded to the blaze Monday afternoon.
An updated version of this story is now available at MassLive.
Update: CBS 3 Springfield is now reporting that one person was killed. WGGB-TV, abc40/Fox in Springfield says three others were taken to the hospital.
Residents of home in Palmer were forced to jump out of a third story window as fire engulfed a house Monday afternoon.
MassLive's media partner, CBS 3 Springfield reported that firefighters were responding to a home on Pleasant Street where residents were trapped inside. A Fire Department spokesperson said that the people who jumped needed medical assistance.
Fire crews were keeping displaced residents warm inside a bus before taking them to a shelter, the station reported.
According to WWLP-TV, 22News in Chicopee, the house is located at 1047 Pleasant St. Public safety officials had blocked off Pleasant Street near Central Street.
As of about 7 :15 p.m., a WWLP photographer said the fire appeared to be under control, but that firefighters were still spraying water on the structure.
Firefighters from surrounding towns, including Ware, responded with mutual aid.
More details will be coming on MassLive as they become available.
Some 46 carriers at the Holyoke Post Office deliver 48,000 pieces of mail and 5,000 packages on a typical day, according to postal officials.
Zuri Whitehead was flown to a children's trauma center in Cleveland, where she died.
CLEVELAND -- An 11-year-old girl from a Cleveland suburb has been charged with murder in the beating of a 2-month-old who was staying overnight with the girl and her mother to give the baby's mom a break.
The 11-year-old, her mother and the baby girl, Zuri Whitehead of Cleveland, were on a couch downstairs when the mother fell asleep at about 3 a.m. Friday, Wickliffe police Chief Randy Ice said at a news conference Monday. The mother was awakened less than an hour later by her daughter, who was holding the badly injured infant. Ice said the 11-year-old took the infant upstairs. When she returned downstairs, the infant was bleeding and her head was badly swollen, he said.
The 11-year-old's mother immediately called 911, Ice said. Zuri was flown to a children's trauma center in Cleveland, where she died.
The mother of the 11-year-old and Zuri's mother, Trina Whitehead, had known each other for five or six years but weren't related, Ice said. Trina Whitehead has three other children and had the girl's mother keep Zuri overnight to give her a break.
The Associated Press is not naming the 11-tear-old or her mother because of the girl's age.
Neither Ice nor a Lake County juvenile court official could recall a murder suspect being that young. Court administrator Chris Simon said 13 is the youngest age that children are typically detained at the county's juvenile detention center, where the girl is being held. Juvenile Judge Karen Lawson entered a not guilty plea for the girl at a detention hearing Monday and ordered that she undergo a competency hearing.
FBI crime statistics show there were 20 children age 12 and under in the U.S. who were accused of murder during 2012, the most recent year for which statistics were available.
The girl cannot be tried as an adult. A child must be at least 14 years old in Ohio to be turned over to adult court. An 11-year-old can, however, be sentenced to a state Department of Youth Services facility until age 21.
The middle school the girl attends had called police about the girl on one occasion for a non-violent incident, Ice said. The girl and her mother have been questioned.
The girl did not show any remorse, Ice said. "I'm not sure she appreciated the gravity of what she did," he said.
The girl's public defender declined to comment on Monday.
Ice is considering counseling for the officers who responded to the scene.
"We're having a hard time getting (our) heads around this," he said. "You don't see stuff like this."
Obituaries from The Republican.
CHICOPEE - Lisa Louise Choiniere, 53, passed away on Friday. She was the daughter of the late Louis A. Jr., and Yvette (Cote) Choiniere. Born in Holyoke on Aug 31, 1961, she was a graduate of Chicopee Comprehensive High School. She was an avid bingo player at the Castle of the Knights in Chicopee. She was a member of the human rights commission at Multicultural Community Services of the Pioneer Valley. She worked as a file clerk for a few years before she had to go on disability. She became a volunteer at the Dakin Humane Society in Springfield because of her love of animals.
CBS3 meteorologist Mike Skurko said the snow that has been falling since Saturday will wind down Monday evening, leaving 8-12 inches for much of the Greater Springfield area and a little more than that for points north and west. The following are snowfall amounts reported by spotters to the National Weather Service and the time the report was made...
CBS3 meteorologist Mike Skurko said the snow that has been falling since Saturday will wind down Monday evening, leaving 8-12 inches for much of the Greater Springfield area and a little more than that for points north and west.
The following are snowfall amounts reported by spotters to the National Weather Service and the time the report was made Monday. The figures below are not snowfall totals for Winter Storm Marcus:
GREENFIELD - 16 inches, 2:51 p.m.
ASHFIELD - 13 inches, 5:36 p.m.
LULDOW - 12.1 inches, 12:36 p.m.
PLAINFIELD - 12 inches, 5:06 p.m.
CUMMINGTON - 12 inches, 5:05 p.m.
WARE - 9.5 inches, 12:20 p.m.
WALES - 9 inches, 2:56 p.m.
CHESTERFIELD - 9 inches, 12:20 p.m.
CHICOPEE - 8.5 inches, 12:52 p.m.
AGAWAM - 8.3 inches, 1:18 inches
GRANBY - 8.3 inches, noon
SOUTHWICK - 8 inches, 5:12 p.m.
PELHAM - 7.7 inches, 1:05 p.m.
NORTHAMPTON - 7.4 inches, 11 a.m.
SPRINGFIELD - 7.2 inches, 2:17 p.m.
HAMPDEN - 6.8 inches, 1:25 p.m.
Winter Storm Marcus
Palmer Fire Chief Alan Roy said some residents jumped from third-floor windows of the apartment building at 1047 Pleasant St. to escape the blaze.
Updates story posted at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9.
PALMER — One person was killed and three others were hospitalized after a fire broke out late Monday afternoon at a three-story apartment building on Pleasant Street.
Palmer Fire Chief Alan J. Roy said he was unsure of the victim's gender, but Jennifer Mieth, spokesman for state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan, confirmed that an adult woman died in the 5:38 p.m. fire.
The blaze is under investigation by Palmer fire and police officials, Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to Coan's office, and troopers assigned to the office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.
"It was just a heck of a scene," Roy said of the fire at 1047 Pleasant St.
The building is diagonally across from Palmer Fire Headquarters on Walnut Street, so firefighters' response time was particularly fast.
"We had (tenants) jumping out of windows," Roy said. "It was just a chaotic scene at first."
It wasn't immediately known how many people live at the Pleasant Street building, but multiple tenants were forced out into the cold. Several residents huddled at the corner of Pleasant and Walnut streets, while others stayed warm inside their cars. American Red Cross officials arrived on scene to help the displaced residents.
The rear portion of the building sustained heavy fire damage, although much of the rest of the wood-frame structure remained intact. Even so, "there's heavy smoke damage throughout," Roy said.
The third major snowstorm in the past two weeks dumped more than two feet of new powder in parts of Eastern Massachusetts.
By MATT MUPRHY
BOSTON - Gov. Charlie Baker, visibly frustrated by the continuous onslaught of severe winter weather, declared a state of emergency Monday evening and a "partial snow day" on Tuesday as the MBTA announced that it would shut down all of its rail and trolley service until Wednesday at the earliest.
"If I've learned one thing over the course of the past two weeks it's that Mother Nature makes the rules," Baker said, speaking at the Statehouse joined by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.
Baker said he had declared a state of emergency to allow the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to begin coordinating with surrounding states to bring in additional front-end loaders, dump trucks, backhoes, Bobcats, snow melters and other equipment to assist with clean up.
The governor, partially in response to the MBTA's decision to close on Tuesday, also said he was also ordering non-emergency state government personnel in four eastern Massachusetts counties to not report to work on Tuesday.
Snowfall is expected taper off through daybreak on Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
"We are going to ask non-emergency state employees who live or work in Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex or Norfolk counties to stay home tomorrow so that we can continue to work with local officials and others to do the cleanup that's required to prepare those streets in those communities to possibly be open on a more broad basis on Wednesday," Baker said.
Earlier in the day as the third major snowstorm in the past two weeks dumped more than two feet of new powder in parts in the state, Baker expressed his frustration with the MBTA's performance.
After running a reduced schedule plagued by delays for much of the day Monday, the MBTA announced that it would shut down all rail lines starting at 7 p.m. Monday night through the business-day on Tuesday. The decision could prompt more people to drive on the same streets that crews will be spending Tuesday trying to clear.
Bus service will be available Tuesday on an "extremely limited basis," according to the MBTA, as crews work to clear snow and ice from tracks, the third rail and switch and assess damage to subway cars and trains.
"On some level, I think if they don't believe they can run a service after 7 o'clock tonight and don't believe they can run a rail service tomorrow I would rather have them say that because at least people can plan accordingly and plan around that," Baker said.
Baker, who indicated that he learned of the T's decision to close on Tuesday around the "same time as everyone else" said he spoke briefly with Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack about the decision, but not T officials.
"Obviously there's some work to be done here and I'm anxious to have that conversation with the board and the folk at the T once the snow stops," Baker said.
Pressed on his assessment of the MBTA's storm performance, Baker said, "I'm not going to get into sort of blame on this . . . We also have had six or seven feet of snow in Greater Boston, which should not be forgotten in all this."
Earlier in the afternoon, when asked if he had confidence in the MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh deferred to the governor. "It's not a question I have to answer," he said.
Baker said he expects parking bans in the Greater Boston area to remain in effect for much of the rest of the week, noting that another snowstorm of uncertain accumulation looms on Thursday as the potential "fourth act of this play."
"Travel in and around Greater Boston is going to remain difficult and complicated," Baker said.
Baker said one power outage earlier Monday impacting 3,700 houses in Randolph had been "dealt with," and as of early Monday evening there were fewer than 200 customers without electricity.
"The one piece of good news throughout all these 14 days worth of storms is we just haven't had very many power outages," Baker said.
Asked about the winter weather's impact on productivity, Baker noted the harm being done to schools beyond the basic difficulty in figuring out how to squeeze in 180 school days without extending the school year into July.
"Can you imagine being a teacher who's trying to create some momentum with your kids in the classroom everyday when you're in for two and out for one and back for one and out for two?" Baker said.
After an earlier briefing in the afternoon, Baker said he and Polito took members of the media to visit Greenhills Bakery in Dorchester to highlight the impact snow is having not just on government productivity and expenses but also small businesses.
"This is an incredibly tough time for retail businesses and Main Street business that depend on the activities of daily life to pay their rent and pay their bills and pay their help," Baker said.
The governor said he expects snow removal equipment to begin arriving in Massachusetts from surrounding states on Tuesday, but said he would have more details to offer at a later time.
The fire at 24 Dorne St. caused about $20,000-$25,000 in smoke damage and isn't considered suspicious, according to Dennis Leger, spokesman for the Springfield Fire Department.
SPRINGFIELD — A man and two women were hospitalized after a fire broke out Monday evening at a Dorne Street residence in the city's Six Corners neighborhood.
"They had elevated levels of carbon monoxide poisoning in their bloodstream," Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant, said of the victims, all of whom were brought to Baystate Medical Center for treatment.
Leger said the blaze at 24 Dorne St. broke out around 7:55 p.m. in the cellar of the two-story, brick house, which sustained about $20,000-$25,000 in damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, thought it's not considered suspicious, Leger said.
The16 mm movie camera came from inside the lunar module and filmed its descent to the moon and Armstrong's first steps on the lunar surface in 1969.
NEW YORK -- More than four decades after the Apollo 11 moon landing, a cloth bag full of souvenirs brought back by astronaut Neil Armstrong has come to light.
Among the trove: a 16 mm movie camera from inside the lunar module that filmed its descent to the moon and Armstrong's first steps on the lunar surface in 1969.
That camera "took one of the most significant sets of images in the 20th century," said Allan Needell, a curator in space history at the National Air and Space Museum.
The long process of documenting the find concluded only recently, and that's when the museum decided to go public, he said.
The discovery was revealed Friday by the museum, which is already displaying the camera in a temporary exhibit.
Needell noted that the images taken by the camera are far more detailed and clear than the grainy ones shown on TV at the time of the landing. The film cartridges had been removed during the mission and so the device itself was no longer needed.
The camera would have stayed on the lunar module, which crashed on the lunar surface after delivering the astronauts back to the orbiter, Needell said, but Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins "decided to take some souvenirs home with them."
It had long been common knowledge that astronauts sometimes took pieces of unneeded equipment as souvenirs, Needell said. Congress recently passed a law approving the practice.
The cloth bag also included other small pieces of equipment, including a waist tether that Armstrong had used to suspend his feet during a rest period while the module was on the moon.
Needell called the bag's discovery "extraordinarily exciting."
The Armstrong family has loaned the material to the museum and pledged to donate it, he said.
Troopers from the Williston barracks responded to about 15 weather-related crashes and incidents within only a 6-hour period on Monday.
WILLISTON, Vt. — For the second time in less than a week, a Vermont State Police cruiser was struck by a motorist who was traveling too fast during winter driving conditions, according to authorities, who on Monday issued a simple plea to drivers: slow down!
This winter's been rough all across New England, including in the Green Mountain State, which has experienced its fair share of trouble on the roadways. And Monday, Feb. 9, proved to be one of the busiest days in recent memory.
From about 6 a.m. to noon, troopers from the Williston barracks, just one of a dozen barracks statewide, responded to at least 15 accidents or vehicle "slide-offs" on Interstate 89 and Route 189.
All of the accidents were due to operators driving too fast for the existing road conditions, Sgt. Todd Ambroz said. Many motorists simply aren't slowing down, despite icy road conditions and digital warning signs advising drivers to reduce their speeds, he said.
On Monday, for the second time since Feb. 3, a State Police cruiser was struck by a driver who lost control of his vehicle on I-89. Last week's crash involved a tractor-trailer driven by a man from Springfield, Massachusetts, in the northbound lane of I-89, while this week's incident involved a crash in the southbound lane in South Burlington, police said.
There were no reported injuries in either crash, but both incidents could have been avoided if drivers had simply slowed down, according to Ambroz. "Please slow down and allow yourself extra time to get where you need to go during your commute," he said.
Meanwhile, State Police are asking all drivers to:
The snowfall has proved to be a headache for many.
The lingering effects of Winter Storm Marcus have forced some communities to close schools or delay the start of classes on Tuesday. The list will be updated as needed.
Closings
Quaboag Regional High School
Delays - 2-hour unless noted
Amherst Public Schools
Athol-Royalston Regional School District
Belchertown Public Schools
Enfield, Conn. Public Schools (90-minute delay)
Erving School District Union 28 School District
Frontier Regional School District
Franklin County Technical School:
Gateway Regional School District
Granby Public Schools
Hadley Public Schools
Hampshire Regional School District
Mahar Regional High School
Mohawk Trail School District Monson Public Schools
North Brookfield Schools
Orange Elementary Schools Palmer Public Schools
Pathfinder Vocational Technical High School
Pioneer Valley School District
Quabbin Regional School District
Suffield, Conn., Public Schools (90-minute delay)
Somers, Conn., Public Schools
South Hadley Public Schools
St. Mary's School, Ware
Tantasqua/Union School District
Union 38 School District
Ware Public Schools
Westfield Public Schools
White Oak School
***
For up-to-the-minute additions, visit our media partners, CBS 3 Springfield
Find the latest forecasts at MassLive.com/weather
The new stained glass pieces were designed by Edel Byrne of Edel Byrne Glass Art of Putney, Vermont. The original stained glass on the main stair was recently removed and restored.
NORTHAMPTON - Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton has installed new stained glass windows in its main stair area.
The windows are meant to go with and enhance the antique stained glass and other architectural elements including original stained glass windows, tin ceilings, and hand-turned oak stairs, the retail space said Tuesday in a news release.
The new stained glass pieces were designed by Edel Byrne of Edel Byrne Glass Art of Putney, Vermont. The original stained glass on the main stairway was recently removed and restored.
Thornes management replaced and updated the building's facade in 2014.
Jon McGee, Thornes facility manager, said: "We take great pride in this building and its history, and take even more pleasure in being its guardian."
The building was McCallum's Department store for 100 years before that store shut down in the early 1970s. McCallum's originated as a company store for McCallum Hosiery Company, which had a factory in Northampton.
Gov. Charlie Baker warned that the morning commute could be slow.
BOSTON - Massachusetts state government will reopen for business as usual on Wednesday.
Gov. Charlie Baker closed state government on Monday due to Winter Storm Marcus. With cleanup continuing into Tuesday, Baker announced that non-emergency personnel who live or work in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk or Suffolk counties did not have to report to work.
The MBTA shut down Monday evening and remained closed Tuesday. It plans to reopen with a limited subway schedule Wednesday.
Baker warned Tuesday afternoon that although the MBTA and state government are reopening on Wednesday, commuting could be difficult. "Lt. Governor (Karyn) Polito and I encourage everyone to remain patient and be careful during the morning commute, and to check the MBTA schedule for commuter updates," Baker said in a statement.
Baker asked for the public's help in clearing sidewalks, driveways, fire hydrants and home heating vents and assisting the elderly or others who need help.
Baker announced earlier in the day that he was calling up 500 Massachusetts National Guard troops and requesting aid from other New England states to help clear snow. Over the last 17 days, more than 70 inches of snow have fallen in Boston.
The lowest rates are typically from car manufacturers, according to the study.
With interest rates at record lows, depressed oil prices producing a consumer windfall and the average vehicle being more than 11 years old, consumers are no doubt contemplating buying a new set of wheels.
The personal finance social network WalletHub announced its 2015 Auto Financing Report which analyses auto loan and lease offers from more than 150 providers.
WallHub offered the following tips.
1. Interest rates for both new and used cars are at their lowest point in the past five years.
2. People in the market for a new car should start their search for financing with car manufacturers, whose rates are 35 percent below average and credit unions, whose rates are 25 percent below average. The rates of national banks are roughly average and regional banks, 40 percent above average. These should be secondary options.
3. The average new car loan now charges 17 percent less interest than the average used car loan.
4. It will cost you roughly 4 1/2 times more to finance a car if you have fair credit versus excellent credit. This would amount to roughly $5,500 in extra interest paid over the life of a $20,000 5-year loan.
5. The largest interest rate decrease since the beginning of 2014 was observed for people with excellent credit buying used cars. The average rate for this segment declined nearly 18 percent.
For the full report visit http://wallethub.com/edu2015-auto-financing-report/10131/.
Nomination papers were due in Amherst at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
AMHERST - Amherst voters will settle two town-wide races but only Doug Slaughter filed papers by Tuesday's deadline to run for the lone Select Board seat.
Incumbent Aaron Hayden is not seeking reelection in the March 31 election.
Richard Maximus Strahan took out papers but did not file them with the Town Clerk.
Voters will have to decide races for School Committee and Amherst Housing Authority pending certification of signatures on nomination papers.
For School Committee, incumbent Lawrence O'Brien, Vira Douangmany, who ran unsuccessfully for School Committee last year filed papers. Incumbent Amilcar Shabazz did not seek reelection.
And with 90 minutes to spare before the 5 p.m. deadline, Phoebe F. Hazzard took out papers for the School Committee and returned them in time though the names have not yet been certified.
Jennifer Mendelsohn took out papers for a School Committee seat but did not file them.
For Amherst Housing Authority, Tracylee Saraia Grace Boutilier and Emilie Gail Hamilton filed papers, but Hamilton's have not yet been certified. Incumbent Paul Bobrowski did not run for reelection. Boutilier ran for a seat last year against incumbent Peter Jessup who won reelection.
Jones Library Board of Trustee incumbents Austin Sarat and Tamson Ely were the only two to file papers.
James Pistrang is the lone candidate for Town Moderator.
Voters in each of the town's 10 precincts will need to elect eight town meeting members for three years, and elect other members as necessary to fill existing vacancies for two or one year terms.
Amherst residents must register to vote by March 11 to be eligible to vote in the March 31 election.
The Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade has been held since 1952.
HOLYOKE -- Residents and visitors in the Massachusetts area around St. Patrick's weekend should give Holyoke a try, Mayor Alex B. Morse said Tuesday (Feb. 10).
"Anyone who has ever visited Holyoke on parade weekend knows what a special event it truly is," Morse said.
Morse was asked to comment after the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau touted Holyoke and Western Massachusetts as having a lot to offer on this side of Boston when it comes to St. Patrick's-related events.
The bureau's press release discussed the city's huge annual St. Patrick's Parade this year on March 22, the St. Patrick's Road Race the day before and other events.
"There's no place I'd rather celebrate St. Patrick's Day than right here in Holyoke," Morse said. "I'm honored that so many folks feel the same way, and I can't wait to welcome them to town next month."
The parade has been held since 1952 and is ingrained as a tradition in many families with house parties along the parade route and numerous other gatherings.
The Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade Committee uses an estimate of 400,000 based on Holyoke police calculations to note the size of the crowd of spectators attending the parade here each year, Parade Committee spokesman Raymond H. Feyre said.
A Maine man accused of killing his mother by running her over with his pickup truck last year has been indicted on three felony charges, including manslaughter.
A digest of news stories from around New England.
"This is as bizarre a set of facts I've seen," said Nikolas Andreopoulos, representing Jordan Eady, adding that police found no weapon on his client.
This story follows one published 2:05 p.m. today.
SPRINGFIELD — A judge has set bail at $10,000 for two brothers who allegedly broke into a Forest Park home early Saturday, terrorizing a man and his 3-year-old daughter before one of the intruders was shot.
The ruling by Judge William Boyle came after Jordan Eady, 24, and Jovan Eady, 22, both of East Longmeadow, pleaded innocent
to armed burglary, malicious damage over $250 and threatening to commit a crime during their arraignment Tuesday in Springfield District Court.
The pair began kicking and pounding on the door of a Webber Street home just after midnight, waking up the homeowner and his daughter, according to Assistant District Attorney Jill O'Connor, who offered new details of the incident.
The brothers left after demanding to speak to someone named Giovanni, but returned minutes later, causing the owner hide his daughter under a bed and retrieve a registered .38-caliber pistol from a locked safe; after Jordan Eady broke down the front door and made a motion toward his waistband, the owner shot him in the arm and torso, the prosecutor said.
Police arrested the brothers outside the home, and Jordan Eady was treated at Baystate Medical Center and released later on Saturday. They had been drinking before arriving at the house, and apparently had the wrong address, police said.
Lawyers for the brothers questioned the sequence of events described by the prosecutors and suggested that the homeowner shot Jordan Eady through the door, not in the living room. The prosecutor said a drop of blood was found inside the house.
The lawyers also said the brothers had minimal criminal records, strong family ties and were drunk and perhaps confused at the time.
"This is as bizarre a set of facts I've seen," said Nikolas Andreopoulos, representing Jordan Eady, adding that police found no weapon on his client.
He asked the judge to release Jordan Eady on $5,000 cash bail, on the condition he wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Defense lawyer A.J. O'Donald said his client remained in the car after Jordan Eady returned to the house. Jovan Eady also holds down three jobs, including two with area human service agencies, and hopes to continue working, O'Donald said.
"This is someone who is busy and keeps himself employed," O'Donald said.
Boyle set bail at $10,000 cash, and scheduled a pretrial hearing for Feb. 17.
