A massive brawl at the Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York, was caught on video Friday night, with at least a dozen participants throwing chairs, punches and each other amid the melee.

A massive brawl at the Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York, was caught on video Friday night, with at least a dozen participants throwing chairs, punches and each other amid the melee.

The New York Post reported that the violence was sparked by a long line for daiquiris at the grand opening of a bar. Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident, the Post reported.

One police officer suffered a hand injury, according to NBC New York. ABC New York reported that several people were injured, but none seriously.

The New York Daily News reported that dozens, not hundreds, were involved in the brawl.

The casino features slot machines and electronic table games, according to Resorts World's website.

The casino said in a statement: "We are reviewing all aspects of this unfortunate event and are fully committed to taking steps to ensure similar acts do not take place ever again."

The brawl and its aftermath were captured on social media.

Caution: The videos contain profane language and violence.

Ain't no Fat Tuesday bihhhhh pic.twitter.com/ckTcvDTji2

-- Maserati Maine (@maserati_maine) April 4, 2015

This happened at the grand opening of FAT TUESDAYS in Queens....Not cool.

A video posted by HOT 97 (@hot97) on Apr 3, 2015 at 8:35pm PDT

This is why queens can have nice things #FatTuesday pic.twitter.com/tGKAN1VfSM

-- am.guida (@AnthonyGee94) April 4, 2015

Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44.

Mormon leaders once again used their biannual conference Saturday to outline the faith's commitment to the belief that marriage is an institution exclusive to a man and a woman.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Mormon leaders once again used their biannual conference Saturday to outline the faith's commitment to the belief that marriage is an institution exclusive to a man and a woman.

L. Tom Perry, a high-ranking church leader, cautioned Mormons not to be swayed by a world filled with media and entertainment that makes the minority seem like the majority and tries to make mainstream values seem obsolete.

Perry said strong, traditional families are the basic units of a stable society, a stable economy and a stable culture of values. He said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' would continue to be a leading voice on the issue.

"We want our voice to be heard against all of the counterfeit and alternative lifestyles that try to replace the family organization that God Himself established," said Perry, a member of the faith's Quorum of the Twelve.

The quorum is a governing body of the church that is modeled after Jesus Christ's apostles and serves under the church president and his two counselors

The conference kicked off Saturday without the usual welcoming address from church President Thomas S. Monson, 87, who officials said chose to reduce the number of speeches he's giving this time.

He was present at conference, walking in on his own power. He is scheduled to give speeches later Saturday and again on Sunday. He also missed a meeting this week with President Barack Obama, who was in Utah for a visit.

During his speech, Perry recalled participating in the Colloquium on Marriage and Family in November at the Vatican with other faith leaders. He noted that there exists a shared belief among many faiths about the importance of marriage being between a man and woman.

What sets Mormon belief apart, Perry said, is their belief that marriages and families are forever.

"Our marriage ceremonies eliminate the words 'till death do us part' and instead say, 'for time and for all eternity,'" Perry said.

As acceptance for gay marriage has swelled in recent years and same-sex unions have become legal in dozens of states including Utah, the church's stance on homosexuality has softened.

Church leaders helped push through a Utah law this year that bars housing and employment discrimination against gay and transgender individuals while also expanding protections for the rights of religious groups and individuals. LGBT activists have spent years pushing for a statewide non-discrimination law, but couldn't get traction until LDS leaders made a nationwide call for this type of legislation that combined protections for religious liberties.

But the religion has taken time during conferences to emphasize its insistence that marriage should be limited to unions between a man and a woman, as God created.

In April 2014, Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum said, "While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not."

In the October 2013, Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum said human laws cannot "make moral what God has declared immoral."

Perry wasn't the only leader who spoke about marriage Saturday morning.

Boyd Packer, president of the quorum, spoke about the joy of romance and love, preaching "a cookie and a kiss" as key ingredients to successful marriages. Linda Burton, general president of the church's Relief Society, the organization for women, urged spouses to be more caring and compassionate.

At the outset of the conference, the faith's third-highest ranking leader, Dieter F. Uchtdorf welcomed 20,000 in attendance and millions more watching broadcasts around the world instead of Monson.

Church spokesman Dale Jones said in a statement that Monson has chosen to reduce his number of talks this weekend. Officials said he skipped the meeting with Obama on Thursday night to preserve his strength for the conference.

Monson has missed only one other welcoming speech at a conference since he was named president in February 2008. That was at the fall conference in October 2011.

In the Mormon faith, which counts 15 million members worldwide, church presidents are considered living prophets. Monson is the 16th president of a faith founded in 1830.

Monson's wife, Frances Monson, died at the age of 85 in May 2013.

When Monson took office in 2008, he was a familiar face and personality. A church bishop at the age of 22, Monson became a church apostle in 1963 and served as a counselor for three church presidents.

Monson has kept a relatively low profile during his tenure, but he's given dozens of speeches during the conferences.

The biannual Mormon conference runs Saturday and Sunday in Salt Lake City. More than 100,000 people will file through the church's conference center over five sessions.

The church holds two conferences each year.

Athas denied any type of inappropriate relationship with Therrien, but a prosecutor wrote in a court filing that he found her to be untruthful during two interviews with investigators in January.

This is an update to a story filed on Friday at 2:02 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - A spokesman for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department confirmed that embattled corrections officer Jessica Athas resigned this week amid a controversy in federal court over whether she crossed the line with an alleged drug dealer she was cultivating as a street informant.

Richard McCarthy, spokesman for the jail, said Athas - a onetime sergeant who had been demoted to a corporal over the accusations - resigned this week but could provide no further details.

Her resignation came within days of a federal judge announcing that he intends to bring Athas into court to find out whether she plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-discrimination if she is called as a defense witness in the trial of Sherad Therrien.

Therrien, 24, of Springfield, is charged with multiple counts of selling cocaine and a loaded gun to an undercover FBI informant in 2013 and 2014. Therrien's lawyer, Springfield attorney Jeanne Liddy, has waged an entrapment defense. She argued Athas wooed Therrien into becoming an informant to help her career. Athas was once a member of a Drug Enforcement Administration task force assembled to combat drug and gang activity locally.

Athas and Therrien met while he was incarcerated at the Ludlow jail and Athas was in charge of identifying inmates with gang affiliations and managing their movements there. Liddy has stated in court records that Athas and Therrien exchanged text messages and gifts, plus met privately after Therrien was released. She said their relationship blossomed into a sexual one.

A U.S. prosecutor wrote in a court filing that he found Athas to be untruthful during two interviews with investigators in January.

Kevin Coyle, a lawyer for Athas, has declined comment and last week refused to say whether Athas plans to plead the fifth if called to the witness stand.

Therrien, whom the government says was caught on videotape selling the drugs and guns, is slated for trial in U.S. District Court starting April 13 before Judge Timothy Hill.

Two women accused in New York City's latest homegrown terrorism case may be part of a greater willingness by women to shed blood in the name of militant Islamic jihad.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two women accused in New York City's latest homegrown terrorism case may be part of what some experts say is an evolving threat -- a greater willingness by women to shed blood in the name of militant Islamic jihad.

The pair allegedly wanted to "make history" on their own by building a bomb and attacking a domestic target. Just a day after the New York pair was arrested, a Philadelphia woman was accused of expressing her willingness to die as a martyr for the Islamic State group.

While past cases often involved women answering the call by the Islamic State group on social media to join the cause as nurses or wives, "the idea that they want to fight is more a noticeable new trend," said Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham Law School's Center on National Security.

The sometimes boastful and profane language one of the New York women was quoted as using in the criminal complaint -- "Why can't we be some real bad b-----s?" -- bolstered the idea that the defendants weren't candidates for nonmilitary roles in a caliphate.

The two U.S. citizens "were determined to play an essentially military role, so that's different," said Jessica Stern, who was on the National Security Council staff during the Clinton administration and lectures on terrorism at Harvard University. "In that way, they were typical Americans. They're sort of between these two cultures with a kind of amorphous identity."

Another expert, Mia Bloom, professor at University of Massachusetts and the author of "Bombshell: Women and Terrorism," disagreed with the conclusion that more women are now participating in global terrorism, citing large percentages of women among insurgents in Chechnya and Turkey. In Nigeria, the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has begun using teenage girls and young women for suicide bombings in marketplaces, bus stations and other busy areas.

Bloom also said the evidence shows the American women charged this week were probably aligned more with al-Qaida than with the Islamic State group, and that the threat was overblown.

"These are wannabe jihads that sort of have this, at least in their head, projection of importance of significance," she said. "They want to build a bomb but they don't know how to do it."

Noelle Velentzas and Asia Siddiqui were arrested at their Queens homes early Thursday following a sting operation using an undercover officer. Officers searching the homes recovered items including three gas tanks, a pressure cooker, handwritten notes on the recipes for bomb making and jihadist literature, court papers say.

Velentzas had been "obsessed with pressure cookers since the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013," and was caught on recordings saying she and Siddiqui were "citizens of the Islamic State," also known as ISIS, the papers say.

The complaint suggests the women were initially radicalized by al-Qaida literature. But it also refers to them watching a video of "in which pro-ISIS French foreign fighters urged others to leave their countries to try to fight with ISIS," and looked at a photo of "ISIS blowing up a gas pipe between Egypt and Israel."

Authorities said Friday that Valentzas, 27, was believed to have been born in Florida of Greek ethnicity and claimed to have worked as a home health aide. Siddiqui, 31, was born in Saudi Arabia and was unemployed.

Siddiqui's lawyer, Thomas F.X. Dunn, declined to talk about the allegations on Friday, saying only that he plans to "mount a vigorous defense." In a statement, Velentzas' lawyer called his client "a loving mother and wife who is innocent of the sensationalistic charges manufactured by the U.S. government."

The complaint does not identify the undercover officer or say how the officer managed to befriend the pair. But one passage gives clues about the officer's assumed role by quoting Velentzas as referring to the officer as a Muslim who, if caught, would be labeled as "an inconspicuous student studying about detonators" and "a Muslim with two terroristic friends."

Authorities declined to confirm whether the undercover officer was a woman. Past cases have relied on male New York Police Department recruits -- typically with Muslim or Arab backgrounds -- who agreed to skip the police academy and enter a NYPD counterterrorism program that grooms and deploys young undercover officers to expose potential plots.

In the Philadelphia case, Keonna Thomas was arrested Friday and held without bail on charges she attempted to travel overseas to join the Islamic State group before she could use an airline ticket she bought Tuesday to fly overseas. Her lawyer declined to comment.

Thomas, 30, was accused of corresponding with an Islamic State fighter who asked if she would join a martyrdom operation. She responded by writing, "that would be amazing," court papers said.

"A girl can only wish."

Eli is 100 percent healthy -- he just doesn't have a nose. Watch video

Shortly before their baby, Eli, was born, Brandi McGlathery and Troy Thompson talked about the physical qualities they hoped he would possess.

"I said I wanted him to have blond hair," Brandi said. "And Troy said, 'I hope he doesn't get my nose.'"

At the time, it was just a joke between two parents anxiously awaiting their baby's arrival. After Eli was born, though, it became the kind of memory that now makes them wince at its irony.

When Eli was born at South Baldwin Hospital on March 4, weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces, Dr. Craig Brown immediately placed him on Brandi's chest. As the doctor helped Troy cut the cord, Brandi looked at Eli for the first time.

"I pulled back and said, 'Something's wrong!' And the doctor said, 'No, he's perfectly fine.' Then I shouted, 'He doesn't have a nose!'"

The doctor whisked Eli away, and for about 10 minutes Brandi was left alone in the delivery room thinking surely she hadn't seen what she thought she saw - or didn't see.

When Dr. Brown returned, he put his arm on her bed and took a deep breath. "He had the most apologetic look," she said. She knew something was wrong with her baby. She started to cry before he said a word.

She looked to Troy, who, she said, never cries. He had tears in his eyes.

She'd been right. Eli didn't have a nose.

Meanwhile, he had started breathing through his mouth right away. She remembers that he was wearing a tiny oxygen mask. Not having a nose "didn't faze him at all," she said.

"I was the first person to see it," she said. "Even when they took him away, my family still didn't know something was wrong, due to being caught up in the excitement of his arrival. It wasn't until they opened the blinds of the nursery that everyone else saw."

Before she knew it, Eli was taken to USA Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile. Throughout the night, Brandi called the number they'd given her every 45 minutes or so to check on her baby. She wasn't sure he would make it through the night -- but he did.

And her "sweet pea," her "miracle baby," has been surprising his parents and others who love him, as well as the medical staff who have cared for him, ever since.

Nothing unusual

The next day, her doctor checked her out of the hospital in Foley so she could be with her baby in Mobile. The doctor had also had a sleepless night, she said. "He said he'd gone back over every test and every ultrasound," but he couldn't find anything unusual in her records.

There were a few aspects of her pregnancy that were different from her first pregnancy with her 4-year-old son, Brysen.

Right after she found out he was a boy, at around 17 weeks, she said, she lost 10 pounds in eight days because she was so severely nauseated. Her doctor prescribed a medication that helped her gain the weight back and keep her food down. She continued to take the medication throughout her pregnancy, she said.

On a 3D ultrasound, she and Troy even commented on Eli's cute nose. The imaging shows bone, not tissue, she said - and he has a raised bit of bone beneath the skin where his nose should be.

After going into early labor three times, Brandi delivered Eli at 37 weeks. At 35 weeks, her doctor told her that the next two weeks would be critical to the development of the baby's lungs and respiratory system. "He said, 'Let's try to keep him in as long as we can,'" she remembered.

Happy, healthy baby

For the first few days of his life, Eli was in one of the "pods" in USA Children's and Women's Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. At five days old, he had a tracheotomy. "He has done wonderfully since then," Brandi said. "He's been a much happier baby."

Because of the trach, he doesn't make noise when he cries anymore, so Brandi has to watch him all the time. She has been going back and forth between the Ronald McDonald House and Eli's room during his stay.

"Between the nurses here and Ronald McDonald House, everyone has gone above and beyond," she said. "The nurse from the pod comes to check on her 'boyfriend.' She got attached to him."

Besides not having an external nose, he doesn't have a nasal cavity or olfactory system. (Despite that fact, she said, he sneezes. "The first time he did it, we looked at each other and said, 'You heard that, right?'")

Eli Thompson has an extremely rare condition known as complete congenital arhinia, said Brandi, adding that there are only about 37 cases worldwide like his. The chance of being born with congenital arhinia is one in 197 million, she said.

Even at USA Children's and Women's Hospital, Eli's case has baffled the NICU. "Everyone has used the same words," Brandi said. As soon as they found out he was on his way, she said, the staff started doing research. They only found three very brief articles on the condition. Now, his doctors are writing a case study on him in case they ever encounter another baby like Eli.

After he got the trach, Brandi wanted to start breastfeeding. The lactation consultant encouraged her, and together they searched the Internet for more information. Brandi became the first mother ever to breastfeed a baby with a trach at the hospital, she said - and now the lactation consultant "is actually using him to put an article together about breastfeeding with a trach to encourage mothers of other trach babies to attempt it."

Thanks to her Internet research, Brandi found a mother in Ireland, Grainne Evans, who writes a blog about her daughter, Tessa, who has the same condition as Eli. She also found a 23-year-old Louisiana native who lives in Auburn, Ala., and a 16-year-old in North Carolina, she said. With every case she found, Brandi started to feel better and more convinced that Eli could not only survive his babyhood, but that he'll grow to adulthood.

Communicating with Tessa's mother in Ireland has been especially gratifying for Brandi. She knows she and Eli are not in this alone.

'He's perfect'

While it would seem easy enough for a plastic surgeon to build a nose for Eli, it's not that simple, Brandi said. "His palate didn't form all the way, so his brain is lower," she said. "It's a wait-and-see game."

His condition affects his pituitary gland, she said. He'll have to be past puberty before his nasal passageways can be built. Until then, she'd like to spare him any unnecessary facial surgeries.

"We think he's perfect the way he is," she says, nodding toward the sweet, sleeping baby in his crib. "Until the day he wants to have a nose, we don't want to touch him. We have to take it day by day."

Within a month after Eli goes back home to Summerdale, he will have to travel to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston and Galveston, Texas, to meet with craniofacial specialists. "They will work with him for the rest of his life," she said. "Every three to six months, we'll be going back for scans and checkups for at least the next ten years."

Brandi said that, of the people she's found online, some are opting to have noses and nasal passageways built (including Tessa), while others haven't.

"We're going to do our best to make sure he's happy," she said. "The rest of him is so cute, sometimes you don't realize he doesn't have a nose."

Brandi's older son, Brysen, and Troy's four-year-old daughter, Ava, are too young to interact with Eli in the hospital. Brandi was grateful to one of the nurses who unhooked him and let the kids see him. "Ava asked me, 'When you were little, did you have a nose?'" Brandi said. "She said, 'I think he's cute.'"

Brysen pressed his hands against the window separating him from his baby half-brother and said, "He's perfect!"

'Facebook famous'

Brandi, who got pregnant with Brysen when she was a senior in high school, had planned to start going to school to become an LPN like Troy's sister and his mother. "That's all on the back burner now," she said. Because of her experience at USA Children's and Women's, she said she now wants to be a NICU nurse.

Her best friend, Crystal Weaver, logged onto Brandi's Facebook account and created the Eli's Story page to let friends and family members know what was going on. "It's easier that way to update everyone at once rather than to call everyone individually," Brandi said. "It's overwhelming. It's all on my shoulders." Within a day, she said, Eli's Story had 2,000 likes (it now has around 4,500). "People I didn't know were sending messages," she said.

Crystal also started a Go Fund Me account, which has raised about $4,300. "We've got years and years of surgeries and doctor's appointments nowhere close to us," said Brandi, who returned to her job as a bartender this past weekend. She plans to keep working two nights a week for a while. Being around her work family, she said, helps her maintain a sense of normalcy.

A fish fry is planned as a fundraiser for Eli's medical fund on April 11 at Elberta Park in Elberta, with raffles for prizes including a weekend stay at a condo in Gulf Shores and a charter fishing trip.

"It makes me feel really good that I have a support system," Brandi said. "Everybody's been awesome."

Updating Eli's page, adding photos and reading the positive, encouraging comments from hundreds of people, as well as reaching out to others who have been through what she's going through "keeps me sane," Brandi said.

Recently, Brandi posted a video of Eli waking up from a nap. From Ireland, Grainne Evans commented: "I've actually watched this more times than I could admit!"

Eli is "100 percent healthy," she said. "He just doesn't have a nose. He has a few hormone deficiencies, but other than that he's healthy."

Brandi seems wise beyond her years. She is already worried about "the day he comes home and someone has made fun of his nose," she said. "We don't want anyone to pity him. We never want anyone to say they feel sorry for him. If other people express that, he'll feel that way about himself."

She jokes that Eli is "Facebook famous" now. "I can't hide him," said Brandi, who is a singer. "Eli's gotten more publicity in the past two weeks than I have in my whole life!"

She's been putting together a "journey book" full of medical records and mementoes to give Eil one day. "I'm excited to show him one day, 'Look, from the moment you were born people were infatuated with you.'"

'I'm doing something right'

In his short time on earth so far, Eli has brought his family together, Brandi said. She and Troy had been engaged, then called off the wedding and were "iffy," and then they broke up. A week later, she found out she was pregnant.

"Eli has made Troy my best friend," she said. "He has brought us closer than when we were engaged. To see Troy with him is really awesome."

Troy has been her rock, reassuring her since Eli was born, she said. "He tells me, 'Brandi, it's OK. It will end up happening the way it's supposed to be."

Last Thursday, Brandi posted on the Eli's Story page that Eli had passed his car seat trial and newborn hearing screening. "He now weighs 7 pounds, and we'll be meeting with home health to learn how to use all of his equipment so we can go home Monday."

Everyone in their family has taken CPR classes, and Brandi and Troy have learned how to care for Eli's trach. The couple has extended family nearby, and Troy's father and stepmother plan to move to Baldwin County from Mobile to be closer to Eli.

As she prepared to take her baby home from the hospital on Monday morning, almost four weeks since he came into the world, Brandi was excited to take care of him for the first time in the comfort of her own home, and to finally introduce him to his big brother and sister.

Though Brandi said her heart melts when Eli's little hand wraps around her finger, he's the one who already has her wrapped completely around his. He recognizes his parents' voices, and seems comforted by them. "As soon as he hears us, he looks around for us, finds us, then stares at us smiling," she said. "It makes me feel like I'm doing something right, that through the ten to twelve other women, the nurses who have been caring for him for the past month, he still knows who Mommy is!"

A Tennessee laboratory has come up with a solution to dog owners refusing to clean up after their pooches -- CSI-style DNA testing of doggie poop.

Hate it when dog owners fail to take responsibility for cleaning up after their pooches?

BioPet Vet Lab from Knoxville, Tennessee, is providing its PooPrints testing kits to apartment building owners, condo developments and housing associations. BioPet Vet Lab

A Tennessee laboratory has come up with a solution -- CSI-style DNA testing of dog poop to identify at least some the culprits, which it calls "poopetrators."

BioPet Vet Lab of Knoxville is providing its PooPrints testing kits to thousands of apartment buildings, condos and housing associations around the country. It says these kits are particularly popular in Los Angeles, Dallas and other large cities.

Basically, dog owners living in one of these places agree to let their dogs' DNA be collected, presumably as a requirement for having a pet live there. They swab the dog's inner cheek to get a DNA sample, put the swab in a special plastic bag and then mail it plus $29.95 to the lab for testing.

Erin Atkinson, property manager at Potala Village Apartments in Everett, Washington, said residents at the complex are "mostly on board" for having their dogs' DNA tested, he told The Seattle Times.

"One of them didn't like the idea of having the DNA on file, thinking someone could clone their dog," she said.

When dog poop is found on the premises -- Atkinson said she's even found it in an elevator and on the roof -- a sample is sent to the lab to match with dog DNA on record. The culprits face fines of over $100 for each violation.

"One person was fined five times in one week," she said. "That's over $500. Now people clean up after their dogs."

At Vantage Lofts, an apartment complex in Henderson, Nevada, first-time offenders get a warning. After that, it's a $150 fine for each violation.

If the owner still doesn't pick up after a dog, then the animal can be evicted, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

"If you talk to any community manager, the top two problems they have are parking and dog poop," Mike Stone, PooPrints' Las Vegas sales manager, told the newspaper. "That's No. 1 and 2 all the time."

The School Committee will consider adoption of the new name at its meeting at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

WESTFIELD - A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall on a request for a name change to Westfield Vocational-Technical High School.

The School Committee's Human Resources and Policy Subcommittee will accept public comment on the name change to Westfield Technical Academy during its 6 p.m. session in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

The results of that hearing will then be presented to the full School Committee during a 7 p.m. regular session for action, School Committee member Diane M. Mayhew said Saturday.

The formal name change was presented to the School Committee March 9 by the school's General Advisory Board chairman Edward Watson.

"We want to serve the people of Westfield but we must also realize we are a magnet that attracts out of district students to our school," Watson said at the time. Currently out-of-district enrollments at the high school is 80. Total enrollment there is 501 students.

Westfield Vocational-Technical High School will launch a new program of study in aviation maintenance and technology in September and officials believe the name Westfield Technical Academy better reflects the curriculum and goals of the school.

Louis Jordan says he was able to survive more than two months at sea, in part, by fervently praying to God for help.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. -- Adrift on the ocean, the mast of his 35-foot sailboat torn away, Louis Jordan says he was able to survive more than two months at sea by catching rainwater in a bucket, scooping up fish that were attracted to the laundry he hung over the side, and fervently praying to God for help.

Early Friday, just hours after he was found by a passing German freighter after 66 days at sea, the bearded 37-year-old man walked out of a Norfolk hospital showing no obvious ill effects.

"We were expecting worse, with blisters and severe sunburn and dehydration," said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle McCollum, a member of the helicopter crew who brought Jordan to shore.

Jordan hadn't been heard from since Jan. 23, when he set out on a fishing expedition aboard the single-masted 1950s-era sailboat that had been his home for months at a marina in South Carolina.

It was unclear how long after leaving port that the boat was damaged, the Coast Guard said.

Jordan was plucked from the Atlantic about 200 miles off the North Carolina coast on Thursday afternoon after furiously waving down the container ship.

His boat was upright, but the mast had broken off in heavy weather, and the vessel appeared to have flipped over repeatedly, said Thomas Grenz, captain of the German container ship.

Jordan asked his Coast Guard rescuers to drop him off without seeking medical care, but he was taken to a hospital anyway as a precaution.

He demonstrated a firm handshake and weary-looking blue eyes before declining an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

In interviews with other news organizations, he described making pancakes out of flour fried in oil, collecting rainwater with a bucket, and using a net to catch fish that would swim in and out of his clothes when he put them over the side to rinse them.

He told WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia, that he rationed his water to about a pint a day.

"Every day I was like, 'Please God, send me some rain, send me some water,'" he said.

Jordan had been living on his boat in Conway, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach. He told his family he was going into open water to sail and fish, said his mother, Norma Davis.

Grenz, the German captain, said Jordan told him he had set out with about a month's worth of provisions.

On Jan. 29, the Coast Guard in Miami was notified by the sailor's father that he hadn't seen or heard from his son in a week.

Alerts were issued from New Jersey to Miami, and the Coast Guard began a search Feb. 8 but abandoned it 10 days later after failing to confirm any sightings, officials said.

Jeff Weeks, who manages the marina where Jordan docked his boat, said he is highly capable of fending for himself.

"He is somewhat of a person who stays to himself," Weeks said. "I consider him a gentle giant with a good personality. But he likes to be self-sufficient. Here at the marina, he liked to catch most all of the food that he'd eat. He would eat a lot of rice and fish. And he would know what berries and what mushrooms to pick. He was really knowledgeable on some survival skills."

Grenz said he made a copy of Jordan's U.S. passport describing the American as weighing 290 pounds. Jordan is now probably only about 200 pounds, and he looked little like the man in the passport photo, Grenz said.

"It was a bit like the movie of Tom Hanks on that movie, you know, 'Cast Away,'" Grenz said.

Bishop Rozanski celebrated the Great Easter Vigil on Saturday night at St. Michael's Cathedral on State Street and Easter morning Mass at the Hampden County House of Correction in Ludlow.

SPRINGFIELD — The following is the text of the homily of the Most Rev. Mitchell Thomas Rozanski, given by him during the 2015 Easter Mass. Bishop Rozanski celebrated the Great Easter Vigil at 8 p.m. Saturday at St. Michael's Cathedral on State Street and Easter morning Mass at the Hampden County House of Correction in Ludlow.

The following is his entire homily, unedited as provided by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield's spokesman Mark Dupont.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Of any liturgy of the Church year, the Easter Vigil is celebrated in a manner most closely to that of the early Christians. We have gathered in darkness representing the women and disciples of Jesus who came to the tomb, expecting to anoint his body. The early Christians, many of them who had Jewish roots, would gather for the liturgy of the Word, meditating on Sacred Scripture and recalling all the wonders that God had done for them. Tonight, we hear of the history of salvation, from God's creative moment of
reaching out to bring life into the world to the prophets who called God's people back to faithfully living the Covenant God had made with them. After hearing the Scripture readings, the early Christians would break the bread and consume the Body of Christ
just as the sun rose, symbolizing that they were truly followers of the Risen Christ. We term this Easter Celebration, the mother of all Vigils.

Tonight, we recall the wonders of salvation history and God's definitive "yes" to sealing His covenant with us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus and through the Blessed Resurrection Event. For in this way, God not only gave His Son for our sakes in death, but
has shown us that in Jesus' resurrection we will follow Him to the brightness of life eternal. What a marvelous covenant God gives to us! What greater hope can be given to our frail mortality than the realization that the darkness of our tombs will be dispelled by the Light of the Risen Christ!

On this joyful night, we also praise God for our brothers and sisters who will receive the sacraments of initiation to be brought into the fullness of the Church's life. Over these past months, they have been preparing through study, reflection and prayer for the reception of the sacraments of baptism, eucharist and confirmation. The new life we celebrate in Christ will be their new life in the Church and will add to the vibrancy and life of our local Church.
As they receive God's grace through these life-giving sacraments, so too, do we ask God to continue to nurture their faith as they journey through life. We all rejoice that, carrying on the great commission of Jesus, the Church continues to add members to the living Body of
Christ in our world.

Tonight we visibly witness the power of the Risen Christ at work as the Church is enriched by their "yes" to God's invitation to the newness of life found in these sacraments. My dear friends, it would be difficult for any of us to imagine what the women and the disciples felt when they approached that empty tomb. Fear, confusion, dismay, upset may have converged as one emotion. And yet, all of these fears were calmed when each one encountered the Risen Christ. For each one of us, we experience approaching the empty tomb many times in our lives. Illness, disappointments, rejection, despair may make us feel that we stand alone at the entrance of a tomb that is empty and dark. Even at those moments, we know in faith that the power of the Risen Christ is there, giving us hope just as He gave hope to the women and disciples who were privileged to see Him in His Resurrected Body.

We are here in this Church tonight to affirm that because of Jesus, there is life after the darkness of the tomb and He has sealed God's Covenant with His people in a new and marvelous way. For from that empty tomb, we are given a renewed hope and joy in a Savior
who experienced the worst that humanity could have ever done to Him and still brought light and life to death itself.

Amen.

In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

Cautious hope ran through Francis' "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message, a kind of papal commentary on the state of the world's affairs, which he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square.

He had just celebrated Mass in rain-whipped St. Peter's Square for tens of thousands of people, who huddled under umbrellas or braved the downpour in thin, plastic rain-slickers.

Easter day is "so beautiful, and so ugly because of the rain," Francis said after Mass about Christianity's most important feast day. He expressed thanks for the flowers which bedecked the square and which were donated by the Netherlands, but the bright hues of the azaleas and other blossoms seemed muted by the gray skies.

Francis made his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord, reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, and aimed at ensuring Iran doesn't develop a nuclear weapon.

"In hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world."

Decrying the plentitude of weapons in the world in general, Francis said: "And we ask for peace for this world subjected to arms dealers, who earn their living with the blood of men and women."

He denounced "absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence" in Libya, convulsed by fighting fueled by tribal and militia rivalries. He hoped "a common desire for peace" would prevail in Yemen, wracked by civil warfare.

Francis prayed that the "roar of arms may cease" in Syria and Iraq, and that peace would come in Africa for Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Congo.

He recalled the young people, many of them targeted because they were Christians, killed last week in a Kenyan university, and lamented kidnappings, by Islamic extremists, that have plagued parts of Africa, including Nigeria.

He also cited bloodshed closer to home, in Ukraine, praying that the Eastern European nation would "rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties." Government forces have been battling Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, months after a cease-fire was proclaimed following international diplomatic efforts.

On Good Friday, Francis chastised the international community for what he called the complicit silence about the killing of Christians. On Easter he prayed that God would alleviate "the suffering of so many of our brothers persecuted because of his name."

During Mass, Francis was shielded from pelting rain by a canopy erected outside St. Peter's Basilica, while prelates carried umbrellas in the yellow and white colors of the Vatican.

The downpour petered out to a drizzle, and by the end of the ceremony, the rain had stopped. Francis, wearing a white overcoat, was driven through the square in the open-sided popemobile so he could wave to the faithful.

Police said both vehicles were driven by teenagers.

SOUTH HADLEY — Police are investigating two accidents caused by teen drivers that sent all occupants of the vehicles to the hospital.

Police responded to the first accident on River Road at 11:47 p.m. Saturday night. The accident occurred near the South Hadley Sporting Club at 135 River Road.

Officials said the preliminary investigation indicates a teen-aged operator lost control of the vehicle which then crossed travel lanes and struck a tree. All three occupants were taken to the hospital for treatment, police said.

At 2:29 a.m. on Sunday morning, police responded to another serious car accident- this time in front of a home at 435 Granby Road.

A preliminary investigation indicates another teen-aged driver lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree. Both occupants were transported to the hospital, police said. The accident destroyed a small fence in front of the home.

A portion of Rt. 202 was closed until 5:30 a.m. Sunday due to the crash.

The Massachusetts State Police accident reconstruction team was called to assist with both crashes.

No further information is currently available on the victims of the crashes.

Nomination papers must be returned to the city clerk by Aug. 11 for certification.

WESTFIELD - The city's 2015 election season will officially get underway Monday when City Clerk Karen Fanion begins issuing nomination papers.

City Council President Brian P. Sullivan and Michael L. Roeder, who lost to Mayor Daniel M. Knapik in the city's 2013 election, have both announced plans to run for mayor in the Nov. 3 election.

Also, retired firefighter and Planning Board member Carl Vincent and Westfield State University senior and flight instructor Mumeeb 'Moon' Mahmood are already announced candidates for at-large seats on the City Council in the fall election.

Knapik announced Jan. 1 he is not a candidate for a fourth two-year term as mayor.

Nomination papers for mayor; 13 seats on the City Council; three seats on the School Committee; six seats on the city's Municipal Light Board and one Westfield Athenaeum trustee seat are available at the City Clerk's office at City Hall. All positions, except for the School Committee seats, are for two-year terms. The election for School Committee seats are for four-year terms.

The City Council races include six Ward positions and seven at-large posts.

All candidates are required to collect at least 50 valid signatures of eligible voters to qualify for positions on the election ballot.

"Fifty signatures are required but we advise candidates to collect at least 60 signatures before the certification process begins," Fanion said.

All nomination papers must be returned to Fanion's office by Aug. 11.

A preliminary election will be scheduled for Sept. 22 if necessary.

Police say the man is not dangerous, but the condition of the building is.

02.27.2013 | Staff photo by Greg Saulmon | HOLYOKE -- A police cruiser sits outside of 128 Cabot St. while a detective enters the unit where a 69-year-old woman was beaten in an apparent robbery. The incident was reported just after 5 a.m. Wednesday. No arrests have been made. The victim was taken to Baystate Medical Center.Greg Saulmon 

An update to this story was published at 5:28 p.m. Sunday.

HOLYOKE -- Police are hoping a man threatening to hang himself will exit a condemned building since it is unsafe for emergency personal to go in, police said.

Holyoke Police Lt. Isiah Cruz told media partner CBS 3 Springfield that family members called the department earlier today to report a man who is known to authorities.

The man is said to be in his late 30s to early 40s and is suicidal, Cruz said.

He entered the former Parson Paper Company on Sargeant Street this afternoon and is refusing to come out, he said.

Holyoke firefighters and police officers are reluctant to enter the building as it has been deemed unsafe. The building has been ravaged by fire previously and is considered in danger of collapse.

Police and fire officials are monitoring the situation from outside the building and have tried to contact the man on a cell phone which family members believe he is carrying with him, Cruz said.

Police do not believe the man is carrying any weapons and they are hoping he will leave the building voluntarily, Cruz said.

No further information is available at this time.

The stuffed-animal bunny was indeed stuffed, but instead of foam padding, it had a pound of crystal meth, police said.

A stuffed animal bunny that was found by Oklahoma police to have $30,000 in illegal meth stuffed inside.Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com 

Reports out of Oklahoma are that police in the community of Tahlequah City on Friday stopped the illegal delivery of up to $30,000 in methamphetamine that was being shipped in the most unusual container: an Easter bunny.

The innocent looking stuffed animal was indeed stuffed, only instead of foam padding, it had two plastic bags containing roughly a pound of the illegal drug, police told FOX 23 in Tulsa.

The innocent-looking face of the bunny notwithstanding, the department's drug-sniffing dogs were apparently not fooled for a second.

"We've intercepted narcotics in the mail before," said Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King told Fox 23. "The Easter Bunny I thought was a strange touch."

Police arranged for an officer disguised as a delivery man to deliver the bunny to its intended destination. There they arrested a woman named Carolyn Ross on drug charges. She was being held on $75,000 bail.

Tahlequah City is roughly an hour east of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Illegal crystal meth is a rarity in the Northeast states, which have their own problems with the flood of cheap heroin.

But in the southwest and midwest states, illegal production and distribution of methamphetamine, also known as meth, is running rampant.

Tulsa Oklahoma in recent years has been called "the meth capital of the U.S."

The use of novelty packaging to fool drug-sniffing dogs is not unique to Oklahoma. In recent years, police in Western Massachusetts have intercepted cocaine deliveries that were hidden in containers of peanut butter and even a hallowed-out tube of bologna.

The duffel bag was found shortly before 8 a.m. near a building used by biotechnology company Biogen Inc. and a block from a police station,

Cambridge detectives carry evidence out of a crime scene where human remains were found on Saturday. Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- A duffel bag containing human remains was found outside a biotechnology building in Cambridge on Saturday morning, and one person was later arrested in connection with the grisly discovery, authorities said.

The duffel bag was found shortly before 8 a.m. near a building used by biotechnology company Biogen Inc. and a block from a police station, Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said. Video surveillance of the area led police to an apartment building across the street where additional human remains were found in a common area, authorities said.

All of the remains are believed to belong to one person, whose death is being treated as a homicide, Ryan said. She announced at an evening news conference that a suspect had been arrested in the case but provided no details. The name of the victim also was not released pending notification of next of kin.

Ryan said the suspect would be arraigned Monday in Cambridge District Court on charges of being an accessory after the fact to assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and improper disposal of human remains. The defendant's name was not being released ahead of the arraignment.

"We're confident that this was not a random act and there is no threat to the public's safety as a suspect has been taken into custody," Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said in a statement.

The neighborhood where the duffel bag was found includes Kendall Square near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Square.

The Biogen building was cordoned off with caution tape Saturday morning as investigators examined the bag. A spokesman for Biogen referred all inquiries to police.

The chief assured residents of the apartment building that they were safe and said officers would remain there for the rest of the evening. Residents who left the building were allowed to re-enter only after showing proof they lived there; officers would then escort them to their apartments.

If approved Mater Dolorsa would become part of the Polish Historic District.

HOLYOKE -- About 40 people gathered outside the now-closed Mater Dolorosa Church to celebrate Easter Sunday and reiterate their hope of seeing the church reopened

This is the fourth year parishioners have hosted the Easter service since the church closed in 2011.The parish was merged with Holy Cross to form the new Our Lady of the Cross.

Victor Anup, a spokesman for the Friends of Mater Dolorosa, said there are still about 125 active members who would like to see the church being used.

"We are here to celebrate Easter, but we are also hoping between the city of Holyoke and Rome this church will remain open," he said. "These historic buildings have to be renovated, they need money and they need help."

Anop is referring to a proposal by the City Council Ordinance Committee to designate 21 residential and commercial properties on the southern side of Lyman Street, with the key being the inclusion of the closed Mater Dolorosa Church at Lyman and Maple streets, as a new Polish Historic District.

"It's not going to cost them any money, and as soon as they do that federal and state grants, not from tax dollars but oil monies, will come into the city," he said.

Anop said at its height the church had 3,000 members.

"Now about 40 percent don't go to church anymore from what the statistics show," he said.

Members held a 24-hour vigil for a year in protest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield decision to close the church. It ended when the Vatican's highest court agreed to hear the appeal but at the same time asked members to end the vigil.

"It's important that we get people back to faith because with faith comes better morality, less crime and also a sense of community that we really need here," he said.

Joel Norman, 24, of Webster is being held on $100,000 bail on charges of drunken driving resulting in death, police said.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Rhode Island state police say a Massachusetts man has been charged with drunken driving after two people were killed in a car he hit while going the wrong way on a highway.

State police said 24-year-old Joel Norman of Webster is being held on $100,000 bail after he was arraigned Sunday on charges of drunken driving resulting in death, and driving to endanger resulting in death. It isn't known if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Tiffany Sical of Providence, the driver of the car struck by Norman's vehicle, and her passenger, 23-year-old Bryan Rodriguez-Solis of Central Falls.

Police say the crash occurred in on Route 6 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday near Toby Street in Providence.

David Wihby, 62, was arrested at a hotel Friday after he responded to a woman's ad on the Internet, police said.

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) -- The state director for New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte has resigned after he was one of 10 men arrested last week in a prostitution sting in Nashua, officials said.

David WihbyNashua, N.H., police photo 

Nashua police said Sunday that David Wihby, 62, was arrested at a hotel Friday after he responded to a woman's ad on the Internet.

Ayotte released a statement late Saturday saying she was shocked at the arrest of a man she described as "a friend for many years."

"David obviously cannot continue his duties, and I have accepted his resignation," Ayotte said. "This is a very difficult time, and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved."

Wihby also serves as vice chairman of the Manchester School Committee.

Police said the 10 men were picked up in a sting operation at two city hotels and charged with prostitution and related offenses. The men range in age from 28 to 64.

Wihby posted a $2,000 personal recognizance bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in Nashua District Court May 11, police said.

Wihby did not immediately return calls to his Manchester home requesting comment.

SPRINGFIELD — As they lined up in the parking lot by age groups children in Springfield's North End neighborhood got ready to grab candy filled eggs. Some held baskets, others plastic or paper bags, but all of them smiled as they ran for the brightly colored Easter eggs lined along the parking lot of Blessed Sacrament Church on Waverly Street....

SPRINGFIELD — As they lined up in the parking lot by age groups children in Springfield's North End neighborhood got ready to grab candy filled eggs.

Some held baskets, others plastic or paper bags, but all of them smiled as they ran for the brightly colored Easter eggs lined along the parking lot of Blessed Sacrament Church on Waverly Street.

Grisel Delgado, owner of Grisel's Private Dancers School of the Arts, has been organizing this event with her family for more than a decade.

"I think this is our 15th year," she said as she rounded up more plastic bags for children who did not bring their own basket.

During the event nearly 5,000 plastic eggs are handed out as well as 300 Easter baskets filled with trinkets and candy donated by community residents including Delgado's mother Carmen Rosado and the teens who participate in Miss Carnaval, a local beauty pageant.

Delgado also gets some help from her daughter Zulmalee Rivera who serves as the emcee for the event directing parents and children to the right spot for the hunt.

"I have been doing it as long as I can remember. It's all for the kids to have fun," she said.

In Holyoke the annual Easter Drag organized by Nick's Nest owners Jennifer and Kevin Chateauneuf had a good crown even though the threat of rain kept many of the classic hot rods away from the event.

The event features Melha Shriners cars and clowns, pictures with the Easter Bunny and Nick's Nest hot dog mascot as well as a tour inside one of the Holyoke Fire Department's trucks.

The event goes back to the 1920s when families would parade down Northampton Street showing off their Sunday best on Easter. Many years ago the event was discontinued until the Chateauneufs brought it back with the help of former Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan and other city leaders.

"We have owned Nick's Nest for ten years now and we have done the drag every year," Jennifer Chateauneuf said.

"It's just our way of supporting business and showing pride in the city where we live and work," Kevin Chateauneuf said.

Without evidence the man was inside, it was simply too dangerous to go in looking for him, police said.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 1:44 p.m.

HOLYOKE - Police no longer believe a man at risk of killing himself has gone inside the former Parsons Paper Co. building off Sargeant Street and have discontinued a perimeter search of the property, police said.

The man, who police did not identify, had reportedly gone into the dilapidated structure to kill himself. Police were reluctant to go inside because the building is extremely unstable and in danger of collapse.

Police Lt. Michael McCoy said police and firefighters searched around the perimeter of the building and peered through windows but found no evidence that he was inside. There were no footprints on the ground at any place where he could have entered, he said.

Some officers opened a locked door to the structure and went inside, but they ventured in only as far as they felt was safe, he said.

Police have since called off operations at the site and are now looking for the man elsewhere, McCoy said.

He said the only indication that the man was even on the property was a statement from his girlfriend who said she saw him climb the fence surrounding the property.

Fire tears through the former Parsons Paper mill on Sargeant Street in Holyoke on Monday, June 9, 2008. Republican file photo 

McCoy said if there were hard evidence that the man was inside the property, officers would have gone inside to look for him. Without that evidence, it was not worth the risk, he said.

"The building is a shell," he said.

The Parsons Paper Co. building was heavily damaged by a massive fire in 2008.

The remains of the building are considered very unstable, and the property has been surrounded by a fence since the fire to keep people out.