The freight cars contain plastic pellets, none of which spilled. There were no injuries in the incident.

PALMER — Two freight train cars jumped the tracks in Palmer on Wednesday evening, causing delays that could last for at least another day.

The minor derailment happened about 6 p.m. on railroad tracks near the intersection of Route 181 and Palmer Road, according to news reports.

Specialty cranes have been called in to help get the cars back on the tracks, but that process could take a couple of days, Palmer police told CBS 3 Springfield, media partner of MassLive / The Republican.

No injuries were reported.

The freight cars contain plastic pellets, none of which spilled.

The trial will be mostly appropriate for walkers and joggers.

LUDLOW - The Westmass Area Development Corporation will kick off Phase 1 of its Riverwalk project, part of the Ludlow Mills Preservation and Redevelopment comprehensive master plan, Thursday at 9 a.m. at the entrance of the clock tower at the Ludlow Mills.

Among those planning to attend the kick-off event are: Representative Thomas Petrolati; Carmina
Fernandes, chair of the Ludlow Board of Selectmen; Victoria Healy, CEO of HealthSouth; Kenn Delude, president and CEO of Westmass; and Eric Nelson, vice president of Westmass.

Phase I of the Riverwalk has a planned completion of July 2015. This initial phase of
construction will cost $600,000 and is being funded through a partnership between HealthSouth and
Westmass. The Riverwalk is one of the early commitments that Westmass made to the Town of Ludlow
and its residents and will promote public health and recreation along the river offering public space for
pedestrian use and passive recreation, opening up the area along the Chicopee River to the Ludlow Mills
businesses and to residents of the community. Gomes Construction Company, Inc., of Ludlow is the
contractor for this phase of the project.

Phase I will feature a loop design and will start near Center Street, just east of the Town
Common, run along the river toward the new HealthSouth Hospital and then return through the proposed
future park and reconnect with the recently installed municipal sidewalk system on State Street. The
length of this phase of the Riverwalk is 1.5 miles long and will be 10 feet wide. It will incorporate the use of recycled brick
materials, historic timeline markers and will provide observation areas along the riverbank.

The trail will be mostly appropriate for walkers and joggers, Delude said. Historic markers explaining the history of the Ludlow mills will be placed along the Riverwalk, he said.

Together, the Riverwalk and future public park will cover approximately 52 acres, or nearly
one-third of the Ludlow Mills site. Westmass seeks to convey that open space to the town in the future
so that it will remain in protected public use. The open space is intended to integrate the Ludlow Mills
project into the neighborhood and community as well as support the many existing and new businesses
that are attracted by the revived vibrancy of the Ludlow Mills.

Redevelopment of the Ludlow Mills complex over the next fifteen to
twenty years is aimed to create and retain over 2,000 jobs and stimulate up to $300 million in private investment. The
Ludlow Mills project is a "mixed use" project with primary focus on commercial and industrial development.

Westmass has successfully developed large-scale complex projects in the region for
over 50 years and is responsible for the redevelopment of the Ludlow Mills. Westmass is a founding affiliate of
the EDC of Western Massachusetts.

Those still interested in attending can still get themselves on a waiting list through the Public Forum's website.

This story follows and expands upon: Springfield Public Forum lands Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak for talk on innovation

SPRINGFIELD - All available tickets to see Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak May 1 at the MassMutual Center in an event organized by the Springfield Public Forum have been claimed.

The tickets were free, but limited to about 1,200 because Wozniak's appearance was organized quickly and Springfield Symphony hall was not available. Organizers decided to host the event in the ballroom at the MassMutual Center.

Those still interested in attending can still get themselves on a waiting list through the Public Forum's website here. If seats become available, they will be contacted , said Michelle Morash, executive director of the Springfield Public Forum.

Wozniak, recognized as an inventor of the personal computer from his work at Apple, speaks about innovation, technology and the future. He won't give a speech, but instead will be on stage being interviewed by a moderator.

MassMutual is the lead sponsor with other sponsors including The Markens Group, Wilbraham & Monson Academy and Paragus Strategic I.T. MassLive is the media sponsor for the event.

A van hit a toddler on Sunday, setting into motion a chain of events that included an uncle fatally shooting his own nephew and a stranger and then taking his own life.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Damani Terry just wanted to join a group of girls dancing in a park across the street. The 2-year-old dashed into the road -- right into the path of an oncoming van.

The van hit the toddler, and the driver jumped out to check on the badly injured boy, setting into motion a chain of events that included an uncle fatally shooting his own nephew and a stranger and then taking his own life. In the end, four people were dead.

It all started Sunday as Archie Brown Jr. drove his van through the northwest side of Milwaukee on an errand to Home Depot.

Brown hit Damani and leaped from the vehicle to attend to the toddler. Damani's 15-year-old brother, who had been celebrating a birthday in a nearby house, ran to the scene after witnessing the accident.

At that point, police said, the boys' uncle, Ricky Chiles, took the law into his own hands, emerging from a home into the street with a gun. He fired at the 40-year-old Brown, striking him and accidentally hitting Chiles' teenage nephew.

Brown died at the scene, alongside Damani. The teenager, Rasheed Chiles, died at a hospital.

"This sad example is what we get when we have folks who decide it's their responsibility to use their guns to redress their grievances," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Thursday at a news conference.

Mayor Tom Barrett called Brown's shooting an "assassination."

"Someone got angry," Barrett said. "Someone took a gun and basically assassinated this gentleman."

On Thursday, Ricky Chiles III shot himself as police and federal marshals closed in on him at a motel in the Chicago suburb of Lyons, where he was staying with his girlfriend.

"I'm glad it's over, but I think he took a ... cheap way or a cowardly way out," Brown's father, Archie Brown Sr. of Milwaukee, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday.

"He was afraid of man's justice, but he decided to go and meet God's justice," Brown said.

Brown, a 68-year-old minister who goes by the name Prophet Brown, said he forgives Chiles for what he did, "but I'm not saying it's an easy process."

The shootings are part of spike in violence in Milwaukee in 2015. The city has counted 43 homicide victims so far this year, compared with 14 at the same point last year.

"There just seems to be a sensibility among a segment of the community that committing acts of violence in support of one's reputation, to get revenge for a perceived slight or for a perceived business dispute over illegal drugs or to exact revenge is somehow approved," Flynn said. "And in that set of circumstances there's going to be not only tragedies, there's going to be dreadful mistakes."

Barbara Sprewer, who lives next door, said she saw Damani looking around before crossing the street, apparently intending to join the girls in the park. She saw the van and estimated it was going 25 to 30 mph.

"Nobody was watching the baby," she said.

After the child was hit, she saw the driver get out. She said she heard shots, but did not see who fired.

"I feel helpless. I feel numb," she said. "I saw them alive, and I saw them deceased. I've been reliving this since I woke up."

Another neighbor, 68-year-old Bob May, said he heard five gunshots as he was washing dishes and thought at first it was firecrackers going off in the park. He said he looked out to see the van with its door open and people talking on phones.

Sherad Therrien, 24, took the stand in his own defense late Thursday and said he was in love with Jessica Athas at the time she asked him to sell drugs to Nevid Perez to help her own career.

Updates story published at 6:27 a.m. Thursday, April 16.

Therrien, 24, took the stand in his own defense late Thursday and said he was in love with Athas at the time he said she asked him to sell drugs to Nevid Perez to help her own career.

Athas, who resigned April 1, said on the stand during Therrien's trial she never violated the policy that a corrections officer cannot have a romantic relationship with an inmate or former inmate until that person is clear of the criminal justice system for a year.

She said she never asked Therrien to sell a gun or drugs to Perez.

Athas was called to testify by Therrien's defense lawyer Jeanne Liddy in the trial before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman. Closing arguments are slated for Friday morning.

Liddy has argued that Athas wooed Therrien into selling drugs to an informant to help her career.

When Liddy asked Athas about various allegations Therrien has made about her actions, she often answered, "Absolute lie." She answered that when asked if she promised Therrien if he sold drugs to the informant she would help him get his driver's license.

Therrien testified he spoke to Athas every day toward the end of his incarceration and then had frequent contact with her after he was out.

He said he told Athas not having a driver's license crippled him, and said she told him she could make it happen. He said the only reason he did the transaction with Perez was because "If I helped her she would help me." He said he was referring to getting a license and getting employment.

Therrien said he met Athas one night when she was at Sam's Sports Bar. Athas testified that never happened.

He also testified she drove him to Connecticut to get dinner one night and it ended in a sexual encounter.

Athas testified she never so much as hugged Therrien, let alone have any other contact.

Therrien, of Springfield, faces six criminal counts in connection with selling a loaded gun, powder cocaine and crack cocaine to an FBI informant on four occasions in 2013 and 2014.

Liddy has conceded in her opening statement Friday her client sold the weapon and drugs to government witness Perez, code-named "Marker," but said he did it after being misled by Athas.

Liddy contends that Athas plied Therrien with "her feminine wiles," held private meetings with Therrien and began to woo him sexually after he was released from jail in spring 2013.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd E. Newhouse asked Athas, "Did you use your feminine wiles to get Mr. Therrien to sell a firearm, cocaine and crack cocaine to Mr. Perez?"

She said she did not.

The prosecutor told jurors that Therrien first sold a loaded gun and more than an ounce of crack cocaine to Perez in September 2013.

Newhouse's cross-examination of Therrien stuck mostly to questions about whether or not Therrien sold the gun, cocaine and crack cocaine to Perez. Therrien acknowledged that he did.

Valbona Yzeiraj, who said she trained as a dentist in her native Albania but isn't licensed or trained in New York, pleaded not guilty i

NEW YORK -- An office manager was arraigned Thursday on charges she posed as a dentist when the real dentist was away and seriously injured patients after pulling their teeth, performing root canals on them and injecting their mouths, prosecutors said.

Valbona Yzeiraj, who said she trained as a dentist in her native Albania but isn't licensed or trained in New York state, pleaded not guilty in Bronx Supreme Court to five counts of unauthorized practice of a profession, four counts of assault, three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of attempted grand larceny.

One of the patients Yzeiraj treated between late 2012 and the summer of 2013 got an infection after a root canal, and another still feels pain two years after being treated by Yzeiraj, prosecutors said.

Yzeiraj, of White Plains, performed on patients at Dr. Jeffrey Schoengold's Ultimate Dental Care of Riverdale in the Bronx while he was away, prosecutors charge. When Schoengold discovered Yzeiraj's unsanctioned side business, he fired her and she then tried to steal more than $20,000 from him, prosecutors said.

An attorney for Yzeiraj, 45, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment. A judge set her bail at $20,000, and she was barred from going near any dental practices during the duration of her case.

Schoengold also didn't return a message seeking comment.

If convicted, Yzeiraj faces up to seven years in prison.

An Agawam woman has been charged with vehicular homicide by negligent operation in the November crash that claimed the life of motorcyclist Jonathan Towle.

An Agawam woman has been charged with vehicular homicide by negligent operation in the November crash that claimed the life of motorcyclist Jonathan Towle.

Gloria Detura, 52, was arraigned in Westfield District Court Thursday, after an investigation into the accident found she had driven negligently by turning in front of Towle as he attempted to cross the intersection of Sheri Lane and Springfield Street in Agawam.

Towle, 45, was struck by a car the evening of Nov. 10 as a car allegedly driven by Detura made a left turn into his path. First responders provided medical care at the scene and transported him to Bay State Medical Center with life threatening injuries; he died a week later.

A man at Detura's home said the family would not comment. Towle's family could not be reached Thursday evening at their Agawam home.

The accident took place less than a quarter mile from Detura's condominium. According to a police report, Detura, operating a 2004 Hyundai Elantra, turned left and Towle, riding a motorcycle, crashed into the passenger rear side of her car.

Detura allegedly told police she had turned on her left blinker and did not see the approaching motorcycle before she turned. She was cited for failure to yield at the scene, according to the police report.

The medical examiner's office told Agawam police Towle had died on Nov. 18. On Jan. 15, the district attorney's office told police an investigation had shown Towle was not breaking any traffic laws and that Detura had allegedly driven negligently.

The charge carries a sentence of ranging from 30 days to two and a half years, a fine of between $300 and $3,000, or both.

Melcher and another man were both thrown from a van during a rollover crash on Route 25 in Wareham, according to State Police officials at Framingham headquarters.

WAREHAM — Authorities have identified a man who died in a South Coast rollover crash on Wednesday as 24-year-old Timothy S. Melcher II, a resident of Cape Cod.

Melcher, of the Cotuit section of Barnstable, and a 20-year-old man were eastbound on Route 25 in Wareham in a van that rolled over in the roadway, ejecting both men from the vehicle, according to Massachusetts State Police officials at Framingham headquarters.

Melcher was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The other man, whom police only identified as a Wareham resident, sustained serious injuries and was airlifted by helicopter to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he remained Thursday afternoon.

Investigators were still trying to determine what caused the crash and which man was driving the 2008 GMC van, police said.

Troopers from the Bourne barracks, the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, the Crime Scene Services Section, and a patrol supervisor from the State Police barracks in Middleboro assisted with the investigation.

Also assisting at the scene were Wareham firefighters and MassDOT officials.

Men and women were arrested for a total of 9,250 bags of heroin, more than 1,100 grams of cocaine and five illegal guns.

This elaborates on a story posted at 4:18 p.m. Thursday, April 16, 2015: Holyoke 'Operation Full Throttle' nets 211 arrests, 9,200 heroin bags, 5 guns

HOLYOKE — Conspiracy to commit murder. Illegal possession of a firearm. Distribution of heroin. Distribution of cocaine. Soliciting sex.

The charges speak of violence and neighborhood plagues related to the arrests (see below) of 211 men and women made by city, state and federal police in the 13-day "Operation Full Throttle" announced Thursday (April 16).

"People have to be held accountable for their actions," Police Chief James M. Neiswanger said.

Of the total, 24 people were arrested at a 40-unit apartment block at Appleton and Elm streets that has drawn police to deal with hundreds of crimes in the past few years, he said.

Police seized 9,250 plastic bags of heroin, more than 1,100 grams of cocaine, four handguns, an assault rifle and $60,000 cash, he said.

The sweep began April 3 with police investigating a shooting behind 200 Oak St. that Neiswanger said resulted in prevention of a murder, and continued to Thursday morning.

The arrests were made as a result of raids, traffic stops and investigations in the Downtown, Churchill, South Holyoke and the Flats neighborhoods, he said.

Police provided names and charges of only about 111 of the 211 people arrested because no one was available to type in the rest of the information, Lt. James Albert said.

Full Throttle1

This group of bandits was captured on camera breaking into a jewelry and coin business operated from a home near the Canadian border. Anyone who recognizes the suspects is asked to call the St. Albans barracks at 802-524-5993.

HIGHGATE, Vt. — Vermont State Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a group of bandits who were caught on camera breaking into a business in the northern Franklin County town of Highgate.

Troopers from the St. Albans barracks responded to a report of a burglary in progress at 1:39 p.m. Thursday at 6635 Route 78 in Highgate, a town straddling the Quebec border. Troopers were assisted by U.S. Border Patrol officers.

Various jewelry items and coins were taken from the Vermont Gold and Silver Guy, a home business run by 46-year-old Aaron Roberts, according to police.

Anyone who recognizes the suspects is asked to call the St. Albans barracks at 802-524-5993.

The chief said the operation targeted the illegal drug trade that hurts the whole community, such as when burglaries increase homeowners' insurance rates. Watch video

This is a followup previous stories posted on Thursday, April 16, 2015 about "Operation Full Throttle":

Holyoke 'Operation Full Throttle' nets 211 arrests, 9,200 heroin bags, 5 guns

Holyoke 'Operation Full Throttle' includes murder, heroin, cocaine, gun charges

HOLYOKE -- Police Chief James M. Neiswanger, target of a no-confidence vote of the patrol union a week ago, Thursday (April 16) issued praise to the entire department and the numerous state and federal agencies that helped with "Operation Full Throttle."

The 13-day focus of raids, traffic stops and investigations involved help from 10 state and federal offices along with city police, Neiswanger said in a press conference at the Police Station, 138 Appleton ST.

"Together, all of us working together on these issues, we were able to bring pressure to bear on individuals who think they rule the streets, and that's not the case," Neiswanger said in a video (above).

"This type of behavior, we will not be tolerating," he said.

The operation included arrests of 211 men and women. Police seized 9,250 plastic bags of heroin, more than 1,100 grams of cocaine, four handguns, an assault rifle and $60,000 cash in the Downtown, Churchill, South Holyoke and the Flats neighborhoods, he said.

The sweep began April 3 with police investigating a shooting behind 200 Oak St. that Neiswanger said resulted in prevention of a murder, and continued to Thursday morning.

Neiswanger explained in the video why such an operation was important to all parts of Holyoke. Much of what the operation targeted involved the illegal drug trade, which involves everybody, such as when burglaries by drug users affect homeowners' insurance rates. Heroin abuse rips apart families of all incomes and backgrounds, he said.

"Quite frankly, we have to do something about it and this is one step in that direction," Neiswanger said.

Local 388, International Brotherhood of Police Officers voted 38 to 24 in favor of a motion of no confidence in Neiswanger April 1 in a vote union President Edward J. Moskal revealed April 9.

The vote was prompted by union objections to how Neiswanger has handled disciplinary, staffing and promotion decisions, Moskal said.

Neiswanger said that he has done his best to work within union-city contract rules and state laws and that he won't be bullied by the union into mismanagement.

On Thursday, Neiswanger did his best to list all of the agencies, inside the department and out, who worked on Operation Full Throttle.

The list, according to Lt. James Albert and Neiswanger:

--Holyoke Police Operations and Patrol units

--Holyoke detectives in the Criminal Investigations Unit

--Holyoke detectives in the Narcotics / Vice Unit

--Office of Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni

--Massachusetts State Police B Troop Patrol Units

--Massachusetts State Police Air Unit

--Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to Gulluni's office

--Massachusetts State Police Ballistics Unit

--Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab

--FBI Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force

--U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force

--U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force

--Office of U.S. Marshal John Gibbons

Mayor David J. Narkewicz had proposed increasing both to pay for improvements to the systems and for debt on past projects, but he backed away from that stance after hearing from citizens at a public forum last week.

NORTHAMPTON - Heeding the complaints of Northampton residents on fixed incomes, the City Council voted unanimously Thursday to keep water and sewer rates at their present levels.

Mayor David J. Narkewicz had proposed increasing both to pay for improvements to the systems and for debt on past projects, but he backed away from that stance after hearing from citizens at a public forum last week. Those property-owners, many of them seniors, said they have been worn down by tax increases and new bills such as the stormwater enterprise fund, which bills residents for run-off from their lots.

The cost of water will remain at $5.58 per hundred cubic feet and sewer services at $6.08 per hundred cubic feet.

"I do not recommend this freeze lightly," Narkewicz wrote in his recommendation to the council.

He noted that the Department of Public Works will have to put off certain projects for lack of revenues. Meanwhile, he said, the city will explore the possibility of giving discounts to seniors and low-income families.

"The missing juvenile ... has returned home and is no longer missing," said Sgt. Joseph A. Paquette, patrol commander of the Vermont State Police barracks in St. Albans.

FAIRFIELD, Vt. — Christopher Caswell, the 16-year-old Vermont boy reported missing last week, has been located, according to Vermont State Police officials.

"The missing juvenile ... has returned home and is no longer missing," said Sgt. Joseph A. Paquette, patrol commander of the St. Albans barracks.

On April 10, authorities issued a plea for information on the whereabouts of the teen, who has ties to the northern Vermont communities of Fairfield and Alburg. The boy had been skipping school and appointments, raising the concerns of local authorities.

A new poll from WBUR shows the collapse in support for bringing the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston has leveled off even though a majority of residents still oppose the games.

BOSTON -- A new poll from WBUR shows the collapse in support for bringing the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston has leveled off even though a majority of residents still oppose the games.

The poll conducted by Mass INC. Polling for WBUR showed support within the Greater Boston area for the games ticking up slightly to 36 percent in March to 40 percent while opposition remained relatively the same dropping from 52 percent to 50 percent. The slight shifts were both within the poll's 4.9 +/- margin of error.

Things within Boston are slightly better for Boston 2024 boosters where 47 percent of Boston proper residents support the games while 41 percent oppose bring them to the city, a reverse from polling numbers during the winter that showed a plurality of residents against the games. The margin of error for the Boston sample was 6.5 percent.

Overall support for hosting the Olympics in Boston collapsed shortly after the city was selected by the United States Olympic Committee to host the games in January.

Additionally polling info showed that residents not only do not want the games in Boston but that they are skeptical of the alleged benefits the games will bring to Boston.

When asked if they thought the games will bring more affordable housing to the area 72 percent said they thought it was "not too likely" or "not likely at all" while 68 percent said 90 percent said that it was "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that a Boston Olympics will go over budget.

The ordinance sponsored by councilors Paul Spector and Jesse Adams takes aim at plastic bags such as those used in supermarkets and chain stores that are not compostable, recyclable or biodegradable.

NORTHAMPTON - In an effort to stay ahead of the environmental curve, the City Council passed an ordinance Thursday banning single-use plastic bags from stores.

The ordinance sponsored by councilors Paul Spector and Jesse Adams takes aim at plastic bags such as those used in supermarkets and chain stores that are not compostable, recyclable or biodegradable. In the future, such bags must be one of the three.

Spector, who spoke in support of the ordinance, said that bans on single-use bags have already been enacted in China, Mexico and across Europe.

In five to ten years, the whole country will have this ban," he said.

Plastic bags that are only used once and thrown away go into the waste stream, Spector said, where they are costly to truck to landfills and, in some cases, end up in the environment. Spector said studies show that Northampton uses 12-15 million single-use plastic bags a year. Now the the Glendale Road landfill has closed, they become part of the trash that is trucked 300 miles to a landfill in upstate New York, he said.

The manufacture of plastic bags, according to Spector, accounts for ten percent of the world's oil supply. Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein, who also spoke in support of the ordinance, said plastic bags kill sea turtles.

Council Prdesident William Dwight read a letter of support for the ban from the Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club and one in opposition by the management of Stop & Shop.

The ordinance, sponsored by councilors Ryan O'Donnell, William Dwight and Gina-Louise Sciarra, would make the maximum donation $500, half the $1,000 limit set by state law last year.

NORTHAMPTON - After a long debate about its legality, the City Council gave preliminary approval Thursday to an ordinance limiting campaign donation to $500 for local election.

The ordinance, sponsored by councilors Ryan O'Donnell, William Dwight and Gina-Louise Sciarra, would make the maximum donation $500, half the $1,000 limit set by state law last year. In reviewing the matter, City Solicitor Alan Seewald said that Margaret Hurley of the Attorney General's Municipal Law Unit believes the passing ordinance is not within the council's authority but that he does not agree with her opinion. Several councilors balked because of that, but a move to table the vote until the next meeting was defeated 5-3.

Council Vice President Jesse Adams noted that campaigns are more expensive to run than they were 20 years ago, when the city last set a campaign donation limit. Adams also said the ordinance can be challenged, resulting in a costly legal battle for the city. He asked for a written memorandum from Seewald before the council takes a second and final vote on the matter.

Superintendent Thomas Charko attempted to explain what had happened, but members of the board, parents, school faculty and staff, and the police chief gave statements at variance with Charko's version of events.

PALMER — Public outrage over a bomb threat at Converse Middle School – an incident the administration chose not to tell police about – was fanned by an inaccurate electronic message apparently sent by the principle that told parents "there was a bomb in the gym," according to accounts provided at Thursday's Palmer School Committee meeting.

Several parents at the meeting said the message, sent on April 7, the day of the bomb threat, terrorized them.

Dawn Zoto, who has a child attending Converse, read the message on her cellphone to the School Committee and the fifty in attendance.

"A written threat discovered that there was a bomb in the gym. The areas were searched. Students were dismissed at 1:33. Student/staff safety is our priority."

School Committee Chairman Gary A. Blanchette then said, "After seeing this, I can't tell you how upset I was."

L-R, School board chairman Gary Blanchette, legal counsel Russell Dupere, and Supt. Thomas CharkoJim Russell photo 

"I agree, it was horribly written," he said, adding, "I feel for all those young kids who were petrified and went home crying."

Converse Principal David Stetkiewicz did not attend the meeting.

Superintendent Thomas Charko, who did not dispute that Stetkiewicz sent the message, attempted to explain what happened. However, members of the board, parents, school faculty and staff, and the police chief gave statements at variance with his, although a member of the lunch staff defended Charko, saying she hoped the matter did not become "a witch hunt."

Charko acknowledged that he was unsure when the bomb threats were actually discovered last Tuesday.

Both threats were written inside a men's bathroom, with the words "bomb" and "gym," Charko said.

He said a male student later confessed to pulling the prank to get out of class.

Charko said that although the administration violated Palmer school policy, which requires immediate notification of police, they were operating according to new Massachusetts State Police guidelines that delineate threat levels – but which have not been adopted by the School Committee.

The superintendent said the newer guidelines give him discretion over whether to evacuate a building and if a call to police is needed.

The "principal and I decided it was not an actual threat," Charko said, adding that he provided a statement to police the next day.

According to Charko, police officers usually don't examine the building as a result of a bomb threat.

Palmer Police Chief John Janulewicz Jim Russell photo 

Palmer Police Chief John Janulewicz addressed the School Committee, saying the guidelines the superintendent referred to, if followed, envision coordination with the police department, rather than school officials deciding things on their own.

"The police department has always participated in searches," Janulewicz said.

"I had no idea what was going on; we were not notified until after the fact," Converse guidance counselor Donna Graveline told the committee. She said the school has a crisis team that practices for emergencies.

Converse Middle School Guidance Counselor Donna Graveline told the committee that faculty were kept in the dark about the bomb threat. "We were not informed until after the fact," she said. Jim Russell photo 

Another parent said she went to police headquarters after school was dismissed to inquire about what had happened. She said police told her they had no knowledge of any bomb threats, and that an officer had contacted the school, but did not get a callback.

In an interview, the police chief said they received no official notification from the administration on April 7 related to a bomb threat.

Janulewicz also said the department became aware of the matter only when an officer, who has a child at Converse, received a "connect-ed" notification about 3:30 p.m. that day.

Although the school board did not discuss whether they would be meeting with Charko behind closed doors to discuss potential disciplinary action, Blanchette invited parents to submit complaints. "Any formal complaint can be addressed to me," he said.

When the meeting began, the chairman chastised Charko for apparently warning the board to be careful about what can and cannot be said in an open session.

"I thought that caution was out of line," Blanchette said. "Until June 30, you work for us; you do not work for you." Charko has announced he will retire on that date.

"Certainly, in hindsight, we should have evacuated," Charko said. "We should have notified police right away."

Parent Nicole Montyka was asked what she thought of the issue. "For me, I was upset, disgusted, appalled, stunned," she said.

Civil disobedience, when done responsibly, has proven an effective vehicle for reform, and risking arrest is commendable, he said. "Inciting" law enforcement officers by calling them names, though, taints the message. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD — In response to Tuesday's Black Lives Matter protest, which shut down the city's busiest intersection as schools were letting out and resulted in 15 arrests, the leader of the local NAACP chapter said the demonstrators were right and wrong.

"Any time people engage in civil protest to voice their concerns about injustice, it's a good thing," said Bishop Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Greater Springfield NAACP and pastor of the Spring of Hope Church of God In Christ. "I completely disagree with the name-calling ... I condemn that action."

Dozens of protesters blocked off The X in Forest Park, chanted slogans including "F--- the police" and called responding officers "pigs." They were ordered to disperse; those who didn't were arrested while everyone else was led away from the area by a large cadre of state and local police.

"When we do raise our voices, we have to do it in a responsible way in which we not only bring integrity to our cause, but also demonstrate a level of respect for those in law enforcement who are attempting to conduct their business," said Swan.

In a news release announcing the arrests, the Springfield Police Department said the protest was disruptive to drivers and school buses, and it could have forced the diversion of emergency vehicles. When Black Lives Matter activists blocked I-93 in January, an ambulance carrying a seriously injured, elderly car accident victim was diverted to a hospital with a lower quality of care than its original destination.

Swan said that is a legitimate concern, but it's also assuming too much.

Bishop Talbert W. Swan II.Dave Roback/The Republican file

"On the face of it, that sounds like a reasonable response in opposition to what the protesters did. However, we don't know if they would have continued to block the intersection if there was an emergency," he said. "I think that's being somewhat presumptuous."

Further, the real disruption is the one that people of color face in their own lives as the result of systemic racism, he said, recounting several instances in which he was racially profiled by police.

Black men are "losing their lives under very curious circumstances. What's disruptive is the fact that the criminal justice system seemingly refuses to enact justice on the perpetrators of these crimes because they happen to be wearing a uniform," said Swan. "Our community is being disrupted every day. ... An action to bring attention to that has to be disruptive."

Civil disobedience, when done responsibly, has proven an effective vehicle for reform, and risking arrest is commendable, he said. "Inciting" law enforcement officers by calling them names, though, taints the message.

The Black Lives Matter movement is far different from civil rights battles of the past.

Initiatives led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X incorporated faith and business leaders. Swan said it's important to use strategic planning, like in the case of the 1963 March on Washington. Even as 200,000 people descended on the capitol to demand better access to jobs (among other concerns), groups were meeting with powerful political figures to discuss how to make that happen.

Despite the evidence that the system favors police over people of color, those who bring it up are accused of race-baiting, Swan said. White people sometimes are offended by being associated with racism; many black people are tired of having these conversations because seemingly no one understands.

"We stand at a perpetual impasse," said Swan. "White privilege is the fact that you and I can walk into the corner store, and because of the color of your skin, no one is going to suspect that you're going to steal anything. ... You can buy a Band-Aid and it's the color of your skin, but it's not the color of mine."

In white families, it's not common for the parents to sit down with the children and explain the best way to stay alive during an encounter with police, whereas those kinds of discussions are prevalent in communities of color, he said. Swan added that the race of a police officer doesn't matter: The system he or she works for is tilted against black people.

"Those who don't experience what we experience are quick to dismiss it," he said. "It doesn't matter how much I assimilate or how much I act like you; I'm still a black man."

The fact that the vast majority of police officers who kill black people are never criminally charged, let alone convicted and punished, can create a sense that it's easy to get away with it, said Swan. He pointed to the case of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man in South Carolina who was shot in the back as he was running away from Officer Michael Slager, who does face a murder charge.   "He thought this was just another day at the office. 'I kill a black man and I get away with it,'" said Swan. "White police officers have very little concern about, 'What's going to happen to me?'"

When Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown last year, protests turned to riots and looting. Swan compared it to a child throwing a temper tantrum: The child's voice is not being heard, needs are not being addressed, and something has to be done.

"The riot is the voice of the unheard," said Swan, quoting Martin Luther King, Jr.

Progress toward equal treatment is possible, but slow, he said, and electing more people of color to public office will raise awareness of issues unique to those communities. At the same time, those officials would be working in institutions that place less value on the lives and struggles of black people than white people.

Swan offered this advice to activists like the Black Lives Matter protesters: Take a multi-tiered approach. Keep up the civil disobedience. Reach out to faith and business leaders for support. Set goals and establish who is working toward reaching them.

Is it possible to end institutionalized racism, even with all these actions and supporters?

"I doubt we're going to get there in our lifetimes. I'm hopeful my grandchildren will live in such a world," said Swan.

Individuals under 21 years of age would be prevented from possessing, purchasing or selling recreational marijuana under a draft initiative petition released Friday by the group behind a 2016 ballot effort.

By MICHAEL NORTON
and GINTAUTAS DUMCIUS

BOSTON — Individuals under 21 years of age would be prevented from possessing, purchasing or selling recreational marijuana under a draft initiative petition released Friday by the group behind a 2016 Massachusetts ballot effort.

The backers, under the banner of Bay State Repeal, said they hoped for an informal review of the draft by Attorney General Maura Healey's office that might detect any "legal problems" that might keep the question off the ballot next year.

The first deadline in the 2016 ballot process is Aug. 5, 2015. Ten voters must provide to the attorney general's office a petition with their signatures by that date, along with the law they're proposing.

Healey, who has expressed her opposition to marijuana legalization, is charged with reviewing proposed initiative petitions to ensure they meet constitutional requirements.

"Over the course of weeks and months, we'll be receiving these proposed initiative petitions and we'll engage in review and dialogue with proponents of petitions, to work with them so that the language not only passes constitutional muster, but also so that it's clear to the voters," Healey told reporters on Friday.

Bay State Repeal touted the lengthy, 28-section petition's focus on preventing minors from obtaining marijuana as a "central feature" of the effort. Providing marijuana to minors would lead to fines and potential time in prison.

Steve Epstein, an attorney with Bay State Repeal, told the News Service that the draft proposal does not require licensing of marijuana sellers. The draft calls for a fine of up to $3,000 and/or up to two years in jail for providing marijuana to minors and, for a second offense, up to a $5,000 fine and/or up to five years in prison.

Marijuana sellers would have to demand proof of age when a person enters the "sales room," and minors would be banned from marijuana cultivation sites, according to Bay State Repeal. Marijuana sellers with more than five employees would have to create a "secret shopper" program to ensure minors aren't obtaining the substance.

"We want marijuana to be sold in storefront establishments where minors aren't allowed," Epstein said in a statement.

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, who this session charged Sen. Jason Lewis with researching marijuana legalization, last week declined to state his own position on the idea, but said he senses "no appetite" among state lawmakers to address the issue.

"There's been conversations and there seems to be no appetite in the Legislature to take up ... recreational marijuana, so you should expect to see it on the ballot in 2016," Rosenberg (D-Amherst) said.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Monday predicted a potential victory for legalization proponents, citing the "overwhelming vote with medical marijuana."

"Probably at the end of the day I'm going to guess that there right now are probably more supporters of this than not-supporters," DeLeo said.

The speaker, along with Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, has expressed opposition to full marijuana legalization.

DeLeo also expressed doubt about whether the House would support a Boston City Council proposal to fund substance abuse treatment through a new tax on alcoholic beverages sold in the city.

Voters in 2008 passed a ballot law decriminalizing possession of up-to-an-ounce of marijuana and then in 2012 passed a ballot law authorizing a medical marijuana industry in Massachusetts that's still getting off the ground in the wake of numerous regulatory stumbles.

Epstein said former Attorney General Martha Coakley opposed the 2008 decriminalization law but certified it as ballot eligible.

He said he did not have any concerns about getting a fair review of his group's proposal from Healey. "They're professionals," he said, referring to Coakley and Healey, who worked under Coakley prior to her election.

The draft petition was sent to Healey's office Friday morning.

"We're going to wait to hear back from her," said Epstein.

Healey said Friday she has supported decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana and medical marijuana, but she reiterated that she does not support full legalization of recreational marijuana.

"I have concerns about its impact, particularly on young people, the health and well-being of young people," she said.

Healey said in March part of her opposition is also based on her conversations with attorneys general from Washington and Colorado, where voters passed marijuana legalization referendums in 2012.

Law enforcement officials in those states, Healey said, have not seen a drop in drug trafficking and saw people from out of state purchase "vast amounts" of the drug to traffic it.

Her opposition to full legalization will not affect how her office reviews the petition, Healey said on Friday.

"We have an important responsibility as set out in the constitution, actually, to engage in that kind of review process," she said. "We do it in the normal course and we continue to do that for this petition...or any other petitions that come before my office."

Bay State Repeal's first draft of their initiative petition is available here »

The rate increase would be effective more than 10 months from now on March 1, 2016, if the increase is approved, according to a news release.

SPRINGFIELD - Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the former Baystate Gas which serves 16 cities and towns in Western Massachusetts including Springfield, has asked state regulators for an increase in its rate  to deal with the challenges of its aging network of underground pipes and related facilities.

The rate increase could be effective more than 10 months from now on March 1, 2016, if the increase is approved, according to a news release.

Other Western Massachusetts cities served by Columbia Gas include Northampton and Easthampton.

The proposal, submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities Friday, kicks off a 10-month judicatory process including public hearings. If successful Columbia Gas plans to  increase an average gas customer's bill by  $8.50, said Sheila A. Doiron,  director of communications and community relations for Columbia Gas.

The 12-month-average bill - accounting for winter expense and less gas used in summer - for a heating customer  would increase from $113.72 before the increase to $122.22  if the proposed rate increase goes into force, Doiron said.

This rate increase doesn't involve the commodity rate paid for the gas, only distribution costs, she said.

"It really is to account for the additional operations and maintenance costs that we are engaged in as we improve our standards and practices to continue to provide national gas service to customers," she said.

Columbia Gas is in the first year of a 20-year-plan to replace 900 miles of underground gas lines and related facilities across Massachusetts. Besides Greater Springfield, Columbia Gas also serves four  cities and towns in and around Lawrence and 40 cities and towns in the southeastern portion of the commonwealth.

Columbia Gas has a total of 306,000 customers in Massachusetts.

Columbia Gas has already replaced 450 miles of gas lines in the past few years.

The decaying gas lines date from the years just after World War II, Diorion said.

"We already have a mechanism to recover costs for the construction itself," she said. "What this rate case reflects is our need to ramp up with employees and training and additional operations and maintenance to conduct business while this aging infrastructure is still in the ground."

She said the state and federal governments have increased oversight following high-profile gas explosions, like the one in San Bernadino, California, in 2010 or in 2014 in East Harlem, New York.

The Springfield gas explosion of November 2012 happened after a gas company employee accidentally poked a hole in an underground gas line with a probe tool.

This rate case also has nothing to do with pipeline projects like the Tennessee Gas Pipeline  proposed to go through Franklin County.