Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stan Rosenberg have not come out for or against bringing the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston.

BOSTON - In a moment that illustrated the importance of gaining public support for a Boston 2024 Olympic bid, Steve Pagliuca, chairman of Boston 2024, missed his flight to San Francisco Monday afternoon because he was meeting with Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders.

Pagliuca and the other Boston 2024 organizers plan to present their revamped bid proposal to the U.S. Olympic Committee in San Francisco on Tuesday. But first, they provided details to the Massachusetts public and public officials. State voters are likely to vote on a ballot question related to the Olympics in November 2016.

The officials, for their part, have not come out for or against bringing the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston.

"They're a very thoughtful group. We spent lot of time going over details of the plan," Pagliuca said after his nearly two-hour meeting with Baker, a Republican, Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.

Baker and legislative leaders have all said they will not commit taxpayer funds to venue development or Olympic operating expenses. Baker said the major piece he wants to look at now is what state contributions to public infrastructure will be required for an Olympic bid.

"The big issue for us coming out of it today... is really all about this infrastructure piece," Baker said. "That's the part we're going to focus on."

The latest version of the Boston 2024 bid, released Monday, includes layers of protection to prevent taxpayers from being on the hook for operating or venue expenses. There will be multiple insurance policies as well as contingency money built into the budget, according to bid organizers.

But the plan requires public investments in roads and the MBTA. It counts on benefiting from $1.9 billion in projects that the state already planned and funded - such as purchasing new red and orange line MBTA cars. It counts on another $455 million in improvements to the MBTA red and green lines, which the state has not yet planned for. And organizers want the state to spend an additional $320 million in improvements to two MBTA stations and a traffic circle near key Boston locations.

Baker said he wants to see more details about, for example, what signal and track improvements are needed. After winter weather crippled the MBTA, the Baker administration has been open to spending money to upgrade the MBTA's infrastructure, though only after certain management and budgeting reforms are made.

Boston 2024 officials Erin Murphy, Rich Davey, Steve Pagliuca and David Manfredi speak to the press about the newest version of the Olympic bid on June 29, 2015.SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN 

"It makes sense for us to make investments that benefit all taxpayers who ride public transportation or use the transportation system at all," Baker said. "But we need to spend some time figuring out if that's really what is at stake here."

Baker said he would not be willing to guarantee a taxpayer subsidy, should Boston 2024 get into financial trouble. "There's agreement between us and 2024 that there won't be a taxpayer subsidy guarantee here. Period," Baker said.

Baker, DeLeo and Rosenberg all said they need more time to examine the proposal. They have also hired an outside consultant, The Brattle Group, to ensure that taxpayers are protected if the Olympic bid goes forward.

"For us to make an informed decision as to the facts and figures that were just given to us today, I think is much too premature," DeLeo said. "Quite frankly, that's why we hired the folks from The Brattle Group to review some of these figures to make sure they're real, and most important, to make sure they're in the best interests of the people of the commonwealth."

DeLeo said he is still "not comfortable with what exactly they're expecting of the Commonwealth."

Rosenberg, like DeLeo, said lawmakers "have to dig in deeply" to the data Boston 2024 provided.

But Baker, DeLeo and Rosenberg did sound satisfied with some elements of the proposal. DeLeo said he is glad to see events spread outside the Boston area.

Rosenberg also said he is happy venues were moved outside of Boston, including to the Deerfield River in Western Massachusetts, though he said, "I don't think that's going to be dispositive of the outcome."

Rosenberg said bid organizers "put a lot of meat on the bones today" in providing details. "There's going to be an awful lot of work and information to chew on here," Rosenberg said.

The court wrote that the EPA "refused to consider cost when making its decision."

By MICHAEL P. NORTON

BOSTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down Obama administration efforts to rein in air pollution from power plants, saying the Environmental Protection Agency had improperly failed to consider costs when assessing the appropriateness of its regulations.

The court wrote that the EPA "refused to consider cost when making its decision" after estimating the cost of regulations to power plants would be $9.6 billion a year, but quantifiable benefits from reducing air pollution would be $4 million to $6 million per year.

"EPA must consider cost - including cost of compliance - before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary," the court ruled in an opinion written by Judge Antonin Scalia and joined by four other justices. "It will be up to the agency to decide (as always, within the limits of reasonable interpretation) how to account for cost."

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan said the EPA had conducted a study that found benefits of its Clean Air Act rules would exceed costs by up to nine times, or by as much as $80 billion each year.

"Those benefits include as many as 11,000 fewer premature deaths annually, along with a far greater number of avoided illnesses," Kagan wrote.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said the decision remanded the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule to the EPA for additional proceedings pertaining to the rule's costs. All 50 states have fish consumption advisories in place related to mercury contamination, the attorney general's office pointed out.
Healey said the rule is already reducing toxic air emissions from power plants and offers benefits "which include preventing thousands of premature deaths annually and reducing exposure of pregnant women and developing fetuses to mercury" that outweigh the costs associated with controlling emissions.

"Given the decades-long delay in promulgating this rule, I urge the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the EPA to swiftly complete the necessary additional proceedings so that residents across Massachusetts and the nation will continue to be protected from these dangerous air pollutants," Healey said.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said in a prepared statement, "Today's ruling gives a long-sought victory to corporate polluters looking to protect their profits, not the public's health. Unfortunately the long road to regulating mercury will continue. It is dangerous toxic pollutant, and I urge the EPA to immediately reevaluate the rule to protect the health of Americans, especially our children."

The father and son had been playing the guitars at the Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival.

TUNBRIDGE, Vt. - Guitars owned by a Newtown, Connecticut 13-year-old and his father were stolen from a music festival over the weekend.

Vermont State Police are asking for assistance from the public in locating the guitars, which were found missing from a car early Sunday morning.

The father, Richard Brodsky, 50, and his 13-year-old son were playing music at the Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival in the Tunbridge Fairgrounds. When the amateur musicians were finished, the guitars were placed in a car.

The teenager can be seen playing one of the guitars in a video.

The instruments are a 2007 Santa Cruz, Tony Rea Model and a 2001 McKenna Do Bro style resonator guitar.

Anyone with information should contact the Royalton Vermont State Police Barracks at 802-234-9933.

Rick Sullivan and other Western Massachusetts economic development officials proposed building a velodrome near the Big E fairgrounds.

With venues for eight Olympic sports still up in the air in Boston 2024's latest bid proposal, some Western Massachusetts economic development officials are hoping for a bigger slice of the pie.

Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, noted that cycling and BMX biking are two of the eight sports that Boston 2024 has not yet announced a venue for.

Sullivan and other economic development officials are proposing building a velodrome near the Big E fairgrounds and having a BMX course that runs through all four Western Massachusetts counties.

"Those venues make a lot of sense," Sullivan said. Sullivan said those venues are ones athletes will want to compete in; are cost-effective; and will leave a legacy for the communities.

Sullivan said the velodrome would be new construction, likely just outside the Big E, so it does not interfere with current operations there.

So far, the only proposed Olympic venue in Western Massachusetts is the Deerfield River, which would host whitewater canoe and kayak slalom races. But Boston 2024 organizers have said preliminary events could be held at venues around the state. They have not released plans for eight sporting venues. Bid organizers said they are looking at potential alternatives, but they do not want to reveal locations until private discussions with operators of those venues and the host communities are completed.

Some in Western Massachusetts have been pushing for as large a role as possible for the western part of the state in any bid. They have also proposed building an aquatic center at UMass Amherst.

Sullivan said while most of the discussions so far have been about infrastructure improvements needed around Boston, "There also needs to be corresponding investment in public infrastructure in Western Massachusetts." For example, Sullivan pointed to the potential for the development of a Boston to Springfield high-speed rail line.

The city has paid $1,500 to New York City consultants to train Holyoke councilors for three and a half hours.

HOLYOKE -- The City Council at this hour on Monday (June 29) is undergoing "inclusive leadership," diversity and sensitivity training at City Hall in a session state law bans the public and press from attending.

The city has paid $1,500 for three and a half hours of training by Rani Varghese and Mike Funk, who are "social justice and diversity trainers" in New York City.

Funk provided a copy of the training program, which includes discussing definitions like ally, discrimination, ethnicity, prejudice, privilege and stereotypes.

The program also includes discussion about active listening, which the program said is "listening with a purpose," the differences between debate, discussion and dialogue and characteristics of an inclusive leader.

The state Open Meeting Law requires that most meetings of public bodies such as the City Council be held in open session, available for anyone to attend if they choose, to observe the city's elected, law-making board conduct business.

The Open Meeting Law includes 10 exceptions boards can cite to hold closed-door, or executive, sessions. These include to conduct collective bargaining, litigation or the purchase of real estate.

Holyoke city councilors Todd A. McGee, left, and Kevin A. Jourdain move a table in City Council Chambers at City Hall Monday (June 29) to accommodate a training session councilors received.(MIKE PLAISANCE / THE REPUBLICAN) 

The law under "Definitions" allows a public body to skirt the open-to-all spirit of the rule by noting that in certain cases the official term for a gathering known as a "meeting" won't be in effect such as in cases in which the board is attending a "training program ... so long as the members do not deliberate."

Council President Kevin A. Jourdain said no deliberations or votes would take place during the training.

As councilors filtered into the 6 p.m. meeting in City Council Chambers, Funk asked for a table to be moved and for councilors to move chairs from behind their desks to the vacant area in front of the president's podium, presumably related to the exercises he would be conducting.

In an unscientific poll last week on MassLive.com, in response to the question "Should the Holyoke City Council's upcoming training session be open or closed to the public?" 60 percent of readers said open and 40 percent said closed.

Readers' comments posted under the poll story included:

rachst

"A total waste of the taxpayers money, once again"

smitty42

"It's not a meeting; it's a training. Obviously Masslive or The Republican must not do them or you don't remember how personal of an experience it is. This is exactly the reason there is a carve out. No policy is being made or discussed. What is being discussed is how people feel about others.... Real deep personal feelings are challenged... None of that would happen in a open meeting to the public. The councilors are going to be guarded as is in front of their colleagues... This is nonsense... Why must the media and the public see what Councilor so and so's experience as a person in regards to people unlike them has been? And where they have learned that treating someone a certain way because of preconceived notions?"

inmycity10

"Everyone in city hall should have to attend one of these classes at some time."

voteonjudges

"Just say no."

FloDesign hopes to have its first commercialized products in 2016. Watch video

WILBRAHAM - U.S. Sen . Elizabeth Warren watched Monday as employees and student interns at FloDesign Sonics used inaudible sound waves to separate contaminates from water: a "filterless" filter that doesn't damage blood cells.

"The applications are going to be everywhere," Warren said, during a tour of FloDesign's headquarters in Wilbraham, lead by chairman Stanley Kowalski III and by founder and senior fellow of fluid dynamics Walter Presz.

"I am ready for this," Warren said.

Warren, D-Massachusetts, toured the labs with U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield. It was the second science-related tour of the day for Warren who had been to robotics technology incubator Technocopia and co-working space Running Start, earlier in the day, in Worcester.

At FloDesign, Neal said, the tour highlights the role of government-funded research.

Kowalski said FloDesign has just more than $1 million in federal funding from the National Science Foundation, and about $150,000 from the National Institutes of Health. The money, contained in multiple grants, is helping FloDesign and its local investors commercialize the technology.

Warren said federal money to NIH has declined steadily when inflation is taken into account.

"That is the money that keeps research discoveries like this flowing," she said. "If we keep going the way we are going, that flow is going to decline to a trickle."

Kowalski said applications for FloDesign Sonics include filtering lipids, bone and other debris from the blood of patients undergoing cardiac surgery so that the blood can be put back into that surgery patient. The sound waves can also be used to capture cancer cells or for the treatment of sickle cell anemia.

One other application FloDesign Sonics is working on would use sound waves to remove fracking chemicals from wastewater at hydraulic fractured oil and gas wells.

Presz, then a professor of engineering at what is now Western New England University, founded FloDesign 25 years ago as a way of giving his students real-world engineering experience. Kowalski was one of his students. 

"Yay professors," Warren said by way of congratulations having spent much of her career in academia.

Over the years, FloDesign has spun off technologies in aircraft and wind turbines. The wind Turbine business was spun off and is now known as Ogin.

Presz said he wants FloDesign to grew here in Western Massachusetts.

"Were going to bring Springfield back with jobs," Presz said, "because that's what it needs."

The wind turbine business moved east to Waltham because FoDesign's investors in the business wanted it located there. For the FloDesign Sonics filtration business, FloDesign got local investors, including the Davis Family of American Saw fame.

The first FloDesign Sonics products are expected to hit the market in March, said Chris Leidel, FloDesign vice president of operations. Hose products are part of a recently announced  partnership with the Pall Corporation.

Leidel said the decision on where to make these first units is not yet known. But the Pall Corporation's New England Life Sciences Center of Excellence is located in Westborough.

Kowalski said FloDesign Sonics has 25 employees and 25 interns, both high school and college students.

Warren said meeting the interns was her favorite part of the tour.

"You can just see how bright and excited they are," she said.

Nicole Kalister, of Knoxville, was scheduled to attend a new-student orientation at the Boston-based school this week.

PLAINVILLE -- The three people killed when their small plane crashed into a Massachusetts home over the weekend have been identified tentatively as a Tennessee doctor, his wife and college-age daughter, authorities said Monday.

Plainville police Chief Jim Alfred said the victims are believed to be Joseph Richard Kalister, an emergency room physician; his wife, Betty; and daughter, Nicole, who was 18 or 19. The family lived in Knoxville. Alfred said it may be several days before the state medical examiner can confirm the identities; further testing is necessary because of the extent of the injuries to the bodies.

Northeastern University in Boston confirmed Monday that Nicole Kalister was scheduled to attend a new-student orientation there this week.

Shortly before the Beechcraft BE36 crashed into the house crash on Sunday evening, the pilot calmly told an air traffic controller he had no engine power and was gliding in the minutes before impact.

"Yeah, we've got problems with the engine, where's the nearest airport?" the pilot says, according to audio of the exchange posted on the website liveatc.net.

The air traffic controller suggests returning to an airport seven miles behind the plane, but it becomes clear that the pilot is not going to make it.

"We have a real bad vibration, we're losing engines," the pilot says.

The air traffic controller tells the pilot to look for a highway to land on, suggesting nearby Interstate 495.

"We have no engines, I need help," the pilot says, adding later, "we're gliding."

After a period of silence, the air traffic controller says, "radar contact is lost."

The plane had taken off from Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania and was headed to Norwood Memorial Airport in Massachusetts when it struck the roof of the two-story colonial-style home in Plainville and burst into flames. Four people in the home, including two children, escaped unharmed with the family's pets as the top floor of their home was engulfed.

Homeowner Aaron Rice said his wife and two sons were upstairs when the plane hit, while he was on the ground floor.

"We heard a loud bang and saw a fireball come down the back of the house," he said.

The most heavily damaged part of the house was his sons' upstairs bedrooms, Rice said.

State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan called their escape "a miracle."

Rice said Monday the public attention should be on the victims killed in the plane.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration arrived on scene Monday.

NTSB investigator Doug Bazy said a team that also includes representatives of the plane's frame and engine manufacturers expect to be there for two or three days. He said at a brief news conference the investigation "is very young and it is also very broad at this time."

Fighting the blaze was difficult because there are no fire hydrants in the neighborhood, Fire Chief Jason Alexander said. Several other area departments helped.

Neighbors reported hearing something amiss as the plane flew over the neighborhood.

Mike Brown told The Sun Chronicle he was outside barbecuing when he heard the plane, looked up and saw it start to bank. He said the engine sounded like it was sputtering and then heard a crash and saw smoke.

State and federal law allows the use of deadly force to prevent an escape if the officer believes the escapee poses a significant threat.

By COLLEEN LONG

NEW YORK -- A state trooper had the law on his side when he shot unarmed prison escapee David Sweat, apparently in the back, as the convicted killer ran toward a forest near the Canadian border.

David Sweat  

"There cannot be any cleaner situation than this one," said Maria Haberfeld, head of the law and police science department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "You cannot shoot any fleeing felon, but certainly you can shoot the one who poses a real threat. There was no reason to believe this person who had killed a police officer before was not posing a real threat."

The same legal reasoning applied to the killing of his accomplice, Richard Matt, who was shot three times in the head on Friday. Unlike Sweat, he was found with a weapon, a 20-gauge shotgun.

Sweat eluded capture for two more days, until he ran across Sgt. Jay Cook, a 21-year veteran who was part of the huge manhunt for the two convicted murderers, who had used power tools to break out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora on June 6. Sweat had been serving life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy, and Matt had been serving 25 years to life for the killing of his former boss.

Cook was alone in his car when he spotted someone walking along the side of a road less than 2 miles from the Canadian border. He got out of his car, approached the man and said, "Hey, come over here," New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said.

Sweat fled, and Cook chased him, firing twice, fearing he would lose the fugitive in the trees, officials said. Photos appeared to show emergency crews tending to Sweat's back as he sat bloodied in a field. He was listed in serious condition Monday.

A 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case known as Tennessee v. Garner laid out how force can be used to capture a fleeing suspect: Deadly force can't be used to prevent escape unless "the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."

New York state law also allows for deadly force if a dangerous convict is escaping from a detention facility, which is why armed guards may be stationed in towers at prisons.

Sweat's shooting differs from the recent killing of Walter Scott in South Carolina because Scott was stopped for a minor traffic infraction, was unarmed and was not considered a dangerous criminal, experts said. The white officer who shot the black man five times in the back has been charged with murder.

"But these prisoners, they've gone through the justice system," said Bill Johnson, head of the National Association of Police Organizations. Because they were convicted, "they're not presumed to be an innocent citizen walking down the street."

Some people online questioned the decision to fire, but many lauded the trooper. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called Cook a hero and congratulated him on his "great police work." Onlookers erupted in cheers when the ambulance carrying Sweat passed by.

Carl Thomas lives about a half-mile from where Sweat was captured and said troopers made the right decision by killing Matt and shooting Sweat.

"If he would've got in the woods right there, there would be no chance" to catch him, Thomas said of Sweat.

AP writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.

Kasper has worked for the Northampton Police Department for her 19-year-career.

NORTHAMPTON - The City Council unanimously confirmed the appointment of Jody Kasper at the city's new police chief Monday night.

Mayor David J. Narkewicz announced the Council vote on Twitter. Kasper, 40, will succeed Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz who stepped down after 30 years on the department at the end of June.

The mayor announced on June 16 he had selected Kasper after a search and interviewing three finalists for the job. But the City Council still had to confirm the appointment.

The appointment came before the City Council earlier this month, but the council referred the matter to the Committee on Rules, Orders, Appointments and Ordinances, which met on Monday. The full council scheduled a special meeting after that meeting to expedite Kasper's appointment.

Kasper has worked for the Northampton Police Department for her entire 19-year career and was Captain of Operations until being appointed chief. She holds master's degrees in public administration and criminal justice and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and psychology from Westfield State University.

Sienkiewicz had planned to leave at the end of June, but did agree to stay on later if a replacement could not be named by then.

James Ainsworth has been held on $100,000 bail since his arraignment in August in the deaths of Edward McGrath and Brittany McGrath.

NORTHAMPTON — A Springfield man charged with killing a father and his daughter while allegedly driving under the influence of heroin is expected to plead guilty in court Tuesday.

The Northwest District Attorney's Office announced on Monday that James W. Ainsworth, 45, of Springfield, is expected to change his plea of not guilty. He is charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of motor vehicle homicide.

Police say Ainsworth was high on heroin and nodding off when he drove his SUV into oncoming traffic on Aug. 28 on Route 5 in Easthampton and struck the motorcycle driven by Edward McGrath, 62, of Holyoke. McGrath's passenger and daughter, Brittany McGrath, 29, of Brooklyn, New York, was also killed in the crash.

Ainsworth and his passenger, Christina Dunlap, 27, of Greenfield, were administered Narcan at Baystate Medical Center following the accident. Narcan is used to counter the effects of a heroin overdose, police said.

Ainsworth was charged the next day with manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide. He has been held on $100,000 bail since his Aug. 29 arraignment, said Mary Carey, district attorney spokeswoman.

Dunlap pleaded not guilty to possession of heroin in Northampton District Court. Her case has been continued without a finding until next year.

All concerts are free and open to the public.

CHICOPEE - The Chicopee Parks and Recreation Department is announcing the outdoor concert schedule for the summer. All concerts are free and open to the public.

The concerts are sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department, the Chicopee Cultural Council and the Viola Klaus concert fund.

The following concerts will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the Aldenville Commons on Grattan Street. Dan Daniels band, June 30; Pioneer Valley Chordsmen, July 7; Freeway, July 14; Lynn Barsalou Project, July 21; Peter Annone / Richie Mitnick, July 28; Dave Tisdell & the Cardell Brothers, Aug. 4; Union Jack British Invasion Band, Aug. 11.

The Pioneer Valley Concert Band will perform at 6:30 p.m., July 12, July 19 and July 26 at the Szot Park tennis courts parking lot.

In the event of rain, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 594-3481 extension 2 to find out if the concerts are canceled.

Three Waltham juveniles were indicted Tuesday for their alleged involvement in robbing a man after hitting, kicking and beating a man later found dead last year.

A digest of news stories from around New England.

WHDH-TV, 7News, Boston

Hartford police respond to video showing officer striking suspect repeatedly in attempt to subdue him [Hartford Courant] Video below (contains profanity)

David Sweat, top, and Richard Matt 

Soldier from Afghanistan who fled Cape Cod base during training exercises granted asylum in US [Boston Globe]

Elizabeth Warren, top, and Bernie Sanders 

A South Hadley man is facing multiple counts of assault and battery after allegedly seeking to collect a debt by means of swinging a baseball bat.

HOLYOKE -- A South Hadley man is facing multiple counts of assault and battery after allegedly seeking to collect a debt by means of swinging a baseball bat.

Holyoke police were called to Springdale neighborhood home for a report of a physical altercation just before 11 p.m. on Monday. 

A resident of the home told police that Michael S. Ryder had shown up at his home to collect $40 he had lent the man. When the Holyoke man told Ryder he did not have the money, he alleges Ryder went to his car and returned with a baseball bat. After the discussion became heated, the resident alleges Ryder swung the bat at him, narrowly missing his head. When two family members sought to quell the situation, one was hit in the mouth with the bat, according to a police report. She declined medical treatment. 

Before police arrived on the scene, the family said he left. A vehicle matching their description was seen in the Flats. When stopped by police, Officer Joseph Zurheide said he saw a baseball bat resting near the center console of the vehicle.

Ryder was arrested on three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery to collect a loan. He was arraigned Tuesday in Holyoke District Court and released on personal recognizance. He is due back in court on August 27 and ordered to stay away from the three family members. 

Mayor Domenic Sarno said he was responding to the Hampden County Bar Association's "protection of low bail judges."

This is an updated version of an earlier story about the Hampden County Bar Association's criticism of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.

SPRINGFIELD - Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who has been taking aim at judges lately, had harsh words for the Hampden County Bar Association Tuesday after the association released a statement critical of him.

Sarno said his response was to the association's "protection of low bail judges."

"I am fighting for the protection of the citizens of Springfield. ... They are fighting for the protection of violent repeat hard-core gun-toting drug dealers and gang-banging offenders," he said.

The bar association statement said, "Mayor Domenic Sarno is misguided in placing the onus of Springfield's violent crime problem on trial judges and the perception of low bail."

The statement from Christina M. Turgeon, president, and Jeffrey S. Morneau, president-elect, said the bar association requested a meeting with Sarno immediately following his June 16 public comments directed at local trial judges.

The association's statement says Sarno is, in effect, demanding judges violate the Fifth Amendment and state Trial Court rules in their bail decisions. Setting higher bails discriminates against people who cannot pay the amount and helps people who have the money to post bail, it said.

And keeping people in jail for long periods of time may cause innocent people to plead guilty, it said.

Police "Commissioner Barbieri and our brave and dedicated public safety officials and I have been targeting and arresting the hard core repeat violent offenders," Sarno said Tuesday. "Commissioner Barbieri and I have a litany of cases in which these individuals have been released back on our streets of Springfield to wreak havoc in hot spot areas."

"I ask these court officials, if they would welcome and/or tolerate these negative individuals on their streets and in their neighborhoods," he said.

Sarno said he has proposed bail legislation "to give an equal playing field to the commonwealth so that we can, as defendants can, appeal to Superior Court and/or a single justice of the state Supreme Court, again defendants can, we the people can't."

"Commissioner Barbieri, public safety officials and I are not looking to point fingers on this devastating urban American crisis, but we are looking for the spirit of understanding, cooperation and respect about the devastating effects these repeat violent offenders' negative actions have on our residents," he said.

In a press conference in his office June 16 Sarno said, "It becomes very, very aggravating when the Springfield police are taking these negative individuals off the street, but they are allowed right back on the street. It becomes very demoralizing."

The press conference, featuring Sarno, Police Commissioner John Barbieri and City Councilor Thomas Ashe, was arranged just hours after police arrested two men for firing multiple rounds into a parked car on Cambridge Street.

The two men, Louis Pittman, 19, of South Hadley and Daevon Ramsey, 19 of Springfield, were what Sarno called "frequent flyers," or people who have had repeated run-ins with the law.

"When people break the law in my city, we work damn hard to get them off the street," Sarno said. "And when we do, we want the courts to hold onto them."

A man is dead following a shooting on Allendale Street late Tuesday afternoon in the city's North End, police said.

An updated version of this story is now available on MassLive.

The homicide victim collapsed on a lawn outside an Allendale Street home near the corner of Chestnut Street shortly after 4:30 p.m. The victim apparently drove to that location, or was driven there by someone else, after being shot on nearby Prospect Street.

Another man also was hospitalized in connection with the shooting. He was shot in the back and hand, but an update on his condition was not immediately available.

Officers responded to a 4:30 p.m. ShotSpotter activation indicating multiple rounds of gunfire on Prospect Street between Massassoit and Chestnut streets.

Multiple police units swarmed the neighborhood in a matter of seconds, blocking off a section of sidewalk on Prospect Street where they recovered an "item" – possibly a gun – and located a victim on Allendale Street, just down the hill and across Chestnut Street from the shooting site.

Police reportedly had at least one person in custody in connection with the shooting, but it was unclear if that individual had been charged.

The homicide victim, a young man believed to be 19 to 20 years old, died from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest. It was not immediately clear where the second victim was found.

A woman wearing medical scrubs and carrying her 1-year-old daughter was driving down Allendale Street when she suddenly realized she was in the middle of a crime scene. She stopped her car and got out, she said.

"I thought somebody was hit by a car," she said, unaware the man lying on the grass outside a red Honda Civic hatchback was a gunshot victim.

The victim apparently had been in that car, which had visible signs of gunfire damage. A plainclothes investigator with a clipboard was seen recording observations and data about the vehicle.

The woman in medical scrubs lives on nearby Hebron Street, but she's moving to West Springfield very soon. "I'm so glad I'm leaving," she said.

She asked two uniformed officers if she could leave in her car, but the vehicle was parked just within the area police had roped off with yellow crime-scene tape, so she was ordered to remain until photographs were taken. Minutes later, Detective James Kelly surveyed the woman's car and gave her the go-ahead to leave since there was no damage to her sedan. Kelly mugged with the woman's toddler as he lifted up the police tape so the mother could drive away from the murder scene.

At about 6 p.m., the Springfield Police Forensic Investigations van – aka the "homicide van" – rolled up to the Allendale Street location, as crime-scene investigators launched an official homicide probe. Police vehicles blocked off Allendale between Chestnut and Dwight streets.

The killing marks the city's 13th homicide of the year and the first since 25-year-old Anthony Serrano was shot to death June 7 at the corner of Allen and Malden streets in the lower Forest Park neighborhood.

MAP showing approximate location where homicide victim was found:

The superintendent at the prison where two killers broke out has been placed on leave along with his security chief and 10 other staff members amid an internal investigation into how the inmates pulled it off, a state official said Tuesday.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The superintendent at the prison where two killers broke out has been placed on leave along with his security chief and 10 other staff members amid an internal investigation into how the inmates pulled it off, a state official said Tuesday.

The 12-member group is in addition to the guard and the prison tailor shop instructor who have been arrested on charges they helped the escapees.

Officials would not say what connection, if any, the 12 had to the June 6 escape from the maximum-security prison or the failure to prevent it.

Meanwhile, the surviving convict, David Sweat, claimed from his hospital bed that he used no power tools to cut his way out, contrary to what authorities have said.

Sweat was wounded and captured Sunday near the Canadian border after three weeks on the run. His accomplice, Richard Matt, was shot to death last week.

Steven Racette, the $132,000-a-year superintendent of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, was removed along with Stephen Brown, deputy superintendent in charge of security, according to a state official who was briefed on the matter but wasn't authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The 12 also include guards.

The Corrections Department said only that three executives and nine other staff members were placed on paid leave as part of a departmental review of the escape. It did not identify them. The department said it is bringing in new leadership.

Cherie Racette, the superintendent's wife, told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise he was given the option of taking a demotion or retiring and chose retirement. She said he and two deputies are being made scapegoats by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Brown did not immediately return a call for comment.

Sweat's condition was upgraded from serious to fair at the Albany hospital where he was taken after being shot twice by a state trooper.

Matt and Sweat cut holes in their cells and a steam pipe and made their way to a manhole outside in a breakout that embarrassed the Corrections Department, exposed a host of possible security lapses and set off a manhunt involving more than 1,000 law enforcement officers.

District Attorney Andrew Wylie said Sweat told investigators that he started cutting through steel cellblock walls in January with only a hacksaw blade and used no power tools. Authorities had previously said the two men used power tools borrowed from contractors' toolboxes at night.

Prosecutors have said tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell got close to the men, supplied them with hacksaw blades and other tools, and agreed to be their getaway driver but backed out at the last moment. She has pleaded not guilty.

Guard Gene Palmer was also arrested, telling investigators he gave the convicts such things as tools, art supplies and access to a catwalk electrical box in exchange for paintings by Matt. But he said he never knew of their escape plans.

Sweat, 35, had been serving life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy. Matt, 49, was doing 25 years to life for the kidnapping and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.

Representatives from manufacturing companies met with four members of Gov. Charlie Baker's administration as part of the Advanced Manufacturing in Western Mass. roundtable at Springfield Technical Community Colleges. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD - Hampden County is home to 608 manufacturing facilities employing a total of 20,243 workers with a total payroll of more than $1 billion.

Many of those employers -- small precision machine shops working in the aerospace and medical device industries -- would like to hire even more people and increase that payroll, according to Springfield Technical Community College. But they cannot do so because there is a lack of prospective workers with the right training for a high-tech manufacturing environment where computers control the machines and tolerances are measured tighter than the naked eye can see.

"When you are growing, you really can't do that much training ," said Steve Grande, president of Meridian Manufacturing Group in Holyoke. "So where do you get the employees you need? You get them from other shops. That doesn't grow the pool."

Grande is looking to hire about six more employees to his staff of 30. He's owned the company for six years having modernized its equipment to meet modern precision standards. Meridian specializes in large parts, up to 30,000 pounds, but also works in the aerospace industry on much smaller components.

Grande said he's making parts on behalf of NASA and SpaceX and a project to create a new manned spacecraft designed to bring crew to the International Space Station.

Grande and executives from other manufacturers  - the largest being Smith & Wesson with 2,000 employees - met Tuesday with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and three members of Gov. Charlie Baker's cabinet: Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ronald L. Walker II; Secretary of Education Jim Peyser and Secretary of Housing & Economic Development Jay Ash.

The meeting, called the Advanced Manufacturing in Western Mass. roundtable  was at STCC and and its Smith & Wesson Technology Applications Center, a suite of laboratories, classrooms and machine shop space in the Springfield Technology Park adjacent to campus.

The meeting followed a similar manufacturing roundtable Polito attended with manufacturers and mayors from cities in the Pioneer Valley.

David M. Cruise, REB President & CEO of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, said its important that top-level state officials know what industries needs are also know what training programs are in place.

"The need to see our partnership with the all these educational institutions, with industry and with government," he said.

Polito praised that partnership Tuesday.

"One of the things Gov. Baker always tells us if something is working we should do a lot more of it," Polito said.

Cruise said the Regional Employment Board received $329,000 to train machinists, both unemployed or underemployed people looking to break into the trade and current machinists looking to get trained on the newest technology.

The REB makes use of STCC and three other are trade schools at night when regular classes are not operating.

But the funding expires at midnight Tuesday with the end of the state fiscal year, and the Legislature is still haggling over the budget for the fiscal year that starts Wednesday. Cruise is still working to get more money for next year's programs.

In addition to the REB's programs, Gary F. Masciadrelli, professor at and chairman of STCC's department of mechanical engineering technology, said there are more than 100 students in the machine technology program at STCC.

A two-year associates degree at STCC prepares a student for a career earning more than $45,000. That degree costs $10,000 to earn, $5,000 a semester.

"We have students interning right now at Pratt & Whitney," he said.

College President Ira H. Rubenzahl said 100 or more students is good, but too few given the need for skilled workers.

"We should have this place much busier, but we need the money," he said.

Holyoke fire officials, councilors and business owners juggle safety and expenses.

HOLYOKE -- City councilors support a Fire Department plan to track whether restaurant kitchen exhaust systems are being cleaned properly to reduce chances of grease fire.

But they dislike the part of the proposal that includes a fee that could cost business owners hundreds of dollars a year.

Still, fire officials in a meeting with the City Council Ordinance Committee June 23 questioned whether it would be fair to skip a fee in this enforcement while still charging for items like inspections of sprinkler systems and smoke alarms.

The committee tabled the proposal without a set date for it next to be considered.

The proposal -- the Commercial Hood and Exhaust Cleaning Fire Prevention and Protection Program -- would require that companies that are licensed to clean the so-called hood and exhaust areas in restaurants and other commercial kitchens first get a permit from the Fire Department. The permit would cost $25.

The permits would help the department monitor where and when such systems around the city are scheduled for cleanings. The permit would require that cleaning companies submit photos of the hood and exhaust systems before and after the cleanings. The Fire Department would use the list of permits to inspect and ensure the cleaning was thorough, Michael Boucher, Holyoke Fire Department fire inspector, told councilors.

Capt. Anthony Cerruti and Boucher represented the Fire Department at the meeting.

Currently, with 236 establishments with commercial kitchens here, no organized schedule exists to make sure kitchens' hoods, ducts, filters and fans are free of grease and combustible contaminants, Bocher said.

The proposed program would help in cracking down on companies that charge restaurants for cleanings but do only visible areas and leave build-ups of fire-causing grease and other contaminants in harder-to-reach duct areas, he said.

"We do inspections. It's not up to code. They just had it cleaned," Boucher said.

In such cases, he must call the cleaning company to do the job again. If the hood area is dirty enough, the Fire Department can order a restaurant closed until an inspection shows a thorough cleaning has been done, he said.

The problem is the cost to businesses would be more than just $25. The most frequent cleaning schedule is every 90 days so that's $100 a year for a restaurant, on top of the $300 to $400 for each cleaning, according to information at the meeting.

That's hardly all, said Ed Przystas of Hood Pros Inc. here, which does commercial grease hood inspections and cleaning.

The program would apply not only to restaurants but to other places that have what the state categorizes as a commercial kitchen such as schools, nursing homes, bars, churches, social clubs and hospitals, he said.

Requiring that multiple photos be taken of the hooded kitchen area will force the kitchen staff to stop working for at least an hour, he said.

"I'm going to charge them. I'm not going to do this for free," Przystas said. "I want to do it right, but I don't want the restaurant to be charged for it. It matters to me if the codes change because I need to adapt my business."

Gurninder Dhaliwa, owner of Dino's Pizza Restaurant at 615 Homestead Ave., said business owners already struggle with the city's high commercial tax rate.

"That hurts us," Dhaliwa said. "My concern is just the extra cost for us."

Safety remains the priority but officials must realize the hardships businesses face, he said.

"Do you want us in your city or not? If you don't want us, we'll go somewhere else," Dhaliwa said.

Ordinance Committee member Jennifer E. Chateauneuf said that as the owner of a restaurant here, Nick's Nest at 1597 Northampton St., she understands that safety is first but that new city fees add to the small-business owner's burden.

"Where does that $25 come from?" Chateauneuf asked Boucher, who said the state fire code.

Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Rebecca Lisi asked whether a program with a permit but without a fee could be established.

Boucher said the city not charging a fee in this case could prompt businesses that have installed sprinklers and smoke alarms to demand the city avoid charging them for those inspections.

"I guess I have to say that I'm seeing the perspective of the restaurant people," committee member Linda L. Vacon said.

"I don't think I've heard a convincing argument as to why there has to be a fee," Lisi said.

"Again, I like the idea, guys, I just don't like the fee," committee member David K. Bartley said.

Bartley mentioned the prospect of the fee for the permit in such a program costing businesses more than $25.

Boucher said, "I guess it comes down to, what is someone's life worth?"

Lisi also questioned whether requiring photos is a sound idea since technology allows for alterations of photos. Boucher said software exists to determine whether a photo has been altered.

Three fires have occurred here in restaurants since 2006 because of improper inspections and cleaning of hood and exhaust systems since 2006, Boucher said:

On June 2, 2006, fire destroyed a building on Dwight Street across from City Hall that housed the Pizza Palace and First Wok restaurants.

On Jan. 12, 2013, a fire in the kitchen exhaust duct at the McDonald's at 285 Maple St. forced the restaurant to close. A new McDonald's has been built on the site.

On Sept. 1, 2014, a fire in the kitchen exhaust duct closed the Burger King on Northampton Street at the Kmart plaza for about a week.

The first same-sex divorce in Louisiana was granted about two hours before the first legally sanctioned same-sex wedding took place. Two New Orleans women, Anna Wellman and Stephanie Baus, who married in Massachusetts in 2009, made bittersweet history by filing for divorce in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Friday (June 26) -- something they couldn't have done before the...

The first same-sex divorce in Louisiana was granted about two hours before the first legally sanctioned same-sex wedding took place.

Two New Orleans women, Anna Wellman and Stephanie Baus, who married in Massachusetts in 2009, made bittersweet history by filing for divorce in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Friday (June 26) -- something they couldn't have done before the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last week because Louisiana law did not recognize same-sex weddings performed out of state.

The divorce was made official Monday in a proceeding that lasted just minutes and concluded before 11 a.m., without the fanfare and media attention of the wedding ceremony that would take place shortly before 1 p.m. in another courtroom, Judge Paulette Irons said Tuesday.

"I treated them just like I would a man and a woman," Irons said. "My responsibility is to uphold not just the laws of the state of Louisiana, but the laws of the United States and the Constitution. After the Supreme Court ruled, that's the end of the road for me."

Michael Robinson and Earl Benjamin, likely the first same-sex couple to marry in Louisiana, signed their marriage certificate in front of Judge Paula Brown at 12:50 p.m.

Wellman and Baus had been living separately for five years, had divided their assets and never encountered difficulty dealing with custody of their now college-aged child, attorney Mitch Hoffman said. Married in 2008, the couple had been together more than a decade prior, he said.

While the couple was able to get a Massachusetts marriage license after spending just a few days in the state, they would have had to establish residency in Massachusetts in order to legally divorce, a process that can take up to a year, Hoffman said.

"They are both professionals, and they obviously weren't able to do that, so they had to wait," Hoffman said.

Wellman and Baus weren't aware of Robinson and Benjamin's ceremony was going to take place Monday, Hoffman said, and they never discussed whether to hold off on filing the divorce petition until after the state's first wedding.

"We were there earlier than the people who got married, I guess. It wasn't a race," he said. "They want to move forward and move on. That's all."

Hoffman said the the couple's parting had been amicable, but Friday's Supreme Court decision could lead to a flurry of litigation, as same-sex couples who have been married in other states seek divorces in Louisiana.

Like heterosexual couples, same-sex spouses can have complex and contentious partings, but those splits have been managed without state laws that prescribe how marital property and child custody is to be handled, Hoffman said.

"This Supreme Court decision is going to open up a lot of potential litigation," Hoffman said. "We don't even know what is going to happen. When does their community property regime begin? Does it begin on Friday? Does it begin when they got married? We've got a lot of legal issues that have to be settled."

Candidates for city offices in Holyoke have less than a month to file nomination papers to qualify for the election ballot.

HOLYOKE -- Voters could be asked to decide preliminary elections for mayor, City Council at large and City Council Ward 7 on Sept. 22 , heading to Election Day Nov. 3.

Preliminary elections would be needed to narrow the fields in those races if all of the incumbents and challengers who have taken out nomination papers for those seats return the papers and the papers are certified, placing their names on the ballot.

Candidates have less than a month to determine whether they will run: The deadline to submit nomination papers to the registrar of voters is July 28. Papers became available in early January.

Candidates for mayor must gather at least 250 signatures of registered voters while those for City Council and School Committee must file papers with signatures of at least 50 voters to place their names on the election ballot.

In the single-seat races, the preliminary election would filter the candidates to the top two vote-getters.

The City Council has 15 seats, with eight at large and seven ward representatives, and all are up for election.

A preliminary election would be held to narrow the field in the race for City Council at large if the candidate field totals at least one more than twice the number of seats, or 17 candidates.

As of close of business at City Hall Tuesday, 18 incumbents and challengers had taken out nomination papers for City Council at large.

Five candidates have taken out nomination papers to run for mayor: Mayor Alex B. Morse; Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto; business owner Fran O'Connell; Mildred Lefebvre, Ward 1 School Committee member, though she said she has since decided she will run for School Committee again and not mayor; and Paul Bowes, of 1244 Northampton St.

Ward 7 Councilor Gordon P. Alexander, who is in his second term, isn't running for reelection.

According to the city clerk's page on the city website, five candidates have taken out papers to run for the Ward 7 council seat: Jon D. Lumbra, former city treasurer; Todd A. McGee, who currently is the Ward 6 councilor but has moved to George Street in Ward 7; Planning Board Chairwoman Mimi Panitch; Frank S. Forbes III; and Bowes.

City Council President Kevin A. Jourdain, one of the eight at large councilors, is running this time for the Ward 6 seat.

The other seven at large incumbents have taken out papers for reelection bids but not all as of Tuesday had returned the papers to put their names on the ballot.

Incumbent at large councilors running for reelection are Peter R. Tallman, Jennifer E. Chateauneuf, Daniel B. Bresnahan, James M. Leahy, Howard B. Greaney Jr., Joseph M. McGiverin and Rebecca Lisi.

Challengers for the at large seats are Mike Franco, Jordan M. Lemieux, James Brunault, Darlene Elias, Michael J. Sullivan, Anne N. Thalheimer, Mimi Panitch, Jemma B. Penberthy, Adrian K. Dahlin, Juan G. Sanchez Jr. and Bowes.

Preliminary election winners and candidates for other races will compete Nov. 3.

Here are incumbents and challengers who have taken out nomination papers, and in some cases have had the papers certified, for other races, according to the city clerk's office:

--Ward 1 City Council, incumbent Gladys Lebron-Martinez, challenger Dr. Juan Cruz.

--Ward 2 council, challengers Nelson Roman and Jonathan Moquin. Incumbent Soto is running for mayor.

--Ward 3 council, incumbent David K. Bartley, challenger Bruce Mithcell.

--Ward 4 council, incumbent Jossie M. Valentin. Kurt M. Bordas of 262 Walnut St. was a candidate for the seat but has withdrawn.

--Ward 5 council, incumbent Linda L. Vacon, challenger Christine Burns.

--Ward 6 council, challenger Mark Riffenburg, though he has said he has withdrawn his candidacy, and Jourdain.

--School Committee at large, incumbent John G. Whelihan.

--Ward 1 School Committee, incumbent Lefebvre, challenger John C. Pietrzykowski.

--Ward 2 School Committee, incumbent Rosalee Tensley Williams.

--Ward 3 School Committee, incumbent Dennis W. Birks Jr.

--Ward 4 School Committee, incumbent Irene Feliciano-Sims, challenger Scott Burns.

--Ward 5 School Committee, incumbent John P. Brunelle.

--Ward 6 School Committee, incumbent William R. Collamore, challenger Sadie Cora.

--Ward 7 School Committee: Erin Brunelle is the incumbent, but no one has taken out nomination papers for the seat, according to the city clerk's office.