Workshops for first time home buyers are scheduled from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 at Springfield Partners for Community Action, 721 State St.
SPRINGFIELD - Workshops for first time home buyers are scheduled from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 at Springfield Partners for Community Action, 721 State St.
Classes are free, but participants must attend both to receive a certificate. Refreshments will be served.
Call (413) 263-6500, extension 6545 to make a reservation
Aside from "a little road rash" the horse was uninjured, troopers tweeted.
HARTFORD - Connecticut State Police lent an assist to a horse that fell out of its trailer on I-91 Saturday morning.
Police reported on Twitter that the horse tumbled out onto the highway around 10:30 a.m. near exit 34. The highway was closed briefly while an off-duty trooper and an auxiliary trooper helped the horse's owner get it back into the trailer.
Aside from "a little road rash" the horse was uninjured, troopers tweeted.
Police are canvassing Fountain Street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood trying to find the children's caretakers.
Update at 12:50 p.m.: Police report that the mother found the police officers and was "frantic" because someone left the door open and she discovered the children missing.
SPRINGFIELD - Police are searching for the parents of a 1-year-old and 3-year-old spotted wandering the streets alone early Saturday afternoon.
The children were found on Fountain Street around noontime and taken into police custody. Police are canvassing the street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood trying to find the children's caretakers. The genders of the children were not immediately available.
Anyone with information should call the Springfield Police Department at 787-6325.
The mother told police someone had accidentally left a door open and she discovered the toddlers were missing.
SPRINGFIELD - Police have found the mother of two toddlers discovered walking Fountain Street alone on Saturday afternoon.
A 1-year-old and a 3-year-old were found wandering the street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood around noon were taken into police custody. Investigators began immediately canvassing the neighborhood to find the children's caretakers.
About an hour later, police reported that they encountered the mother "frantic" on Draper Street searching for the children. She said someone had accidentally left a door open and she discovered the toddlers were missing.
The children were unharmed.
The 31-year-old victim required surgery but is expected to recover, according to a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department.
SPRINGFIELD - Police have identified the man who allegedly stabbed a fellow patron at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society early Saturday morning as 34-year-old Gilberto Cruz.
Springfield Police Department spokesman Sgt. John Delaney said officers were called to the club at 13 Winthrop Street around 1:20 a.m. for a report of a disturbance. They discovered a 31-year-old man with a stab wound to the chest. The victim required surgery but is expected to recover, Delaney said.
Witnesses identified Cruz, of Oakland Street, at the scene and also recovered the knife. Cruz also suffered minor injuries, according to police. The incident occurred during a private party, police said previously.
Cruz was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy traveling through a crowded neighborhood in Afghanistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 12 people, including three American civilian contractors for the international military force, authorities said.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy traveling through a crowded neighborhood in Afghanistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 12 people, including three American civilian contractors for the international military force, according to authorities.
The Taliban quickly denied it was behind in the attack in Kabul's Macrorayan neighborhood, though the militants have been increasingly targeting Kabul in recent weeks and often don't claim attacks that maim large numbers of civilians.
The attack struck near the private Shinozada hospital, the sound of the powerful blast roaring throughout the capital. Ambulances and Afghan security forces quickly surrounded the blast site, blocking access off from about 1 kilometer (half a mile) away.
The bombing killed at least 11 Afghan civilians and one foreigner and wounded 66, said Wahidullah Mayar, a Health Ministry spokesman. In a statement, NATO said one of the Americans was killed in the blast, while the two others later died of their wounds. The contractors were not named.
It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing casualty figures, though conflicting information is common after such attacks.
At least one armored vehicle in the convoy had been destroyed by the blast. It wasn't clear how many armored cars were in the convoy, though it is at least two, often three because of heightened security concerns in the capital.
The blast struck as schools were letting out for the day in Macrorayan, a Soviet-built housing estate lined with shops, hospitals and schools. Najib Danish, a deputy Interior Ministry spokesman, said the attack destroyed more than a dozen civilian vehicles parked in the street and passing by.
"A lot of dead bodies and wounded victims were there after the explosion happened in the area," said Mohammad Hussain, who was wounded in the attack. "There were a lot of casualties."
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. In an email to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied his group was responsible.
However, the Taliban has stepped up its assaults on Afghan security forces since U.S. and NATO troops ended their combat mission in the country last year. The militants also have launched a series of attacks in Kabul in recent weeks following Afghan authorities announcing the death of the Taliban's one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Their targets have included both foreign military and civilian convoys.
On Aug. 7, a Taliban attack on a NATO military base near Kabul's international airport killed an American soldier and eight Afghan contractors. A Taliban-claimed suicide car bombing targeting a NATO convoy on June 30 on the main highway to the Kabul airport wounded two U.S. soldiers and at least 24 others while killing two Afghan civilians.
On May 17, a British security contractor was killed when the armored car he was traveling in for Eupol was hit by a suicide car bomber. Two Afghan women nearby also were killed.
A portion of the entry fee for show cars will be donated to the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Watch video
The Porter and Chester Institute in Chicopee held their 4th Annual Honoring our Heroes Car Show on Saturday.
Cars of all makes and sizes were on display along with some motorcycles as well as some military vehicles which gave enthusiast plenty to look over under perfect weather conditions.
A portion of the entry fee for show cars will be donated to the Holyoke Soldiers Home.
In addition to the car show, there was face painting for the kids as well as a water slide and a bounce house.
Some students as well some staff members from the school located at 134 Dulong Circle in Chicopee, brought their own cars in to be part of the show.
Trophies were given out for cars in various classes as well as one best-of-show award.
A military jet taking part in a British airshow crashed into a busy main road, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen others, police said Saturday.
LONDON -- A military jet taking part in a British airshow crashed into a busy main road, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen others, police said Saturday.
The Hawker Hunter fighter jet, which was participating in the Shoreham Airshow near Brighton in southern England, hit several vehicles on a nearby road as it crashed Saturday afternoon. Witnesses told local TV that the jet appeared to have crashed when it failed to pull out of a loop maneuver.
West Sussex Police said seven died at the scene and one patient with life-threatening injuries was taken to the hospital. A further 14 people were treated for minor injuries.
News video and photographs showed a fireball erupting near trees and huge plumes of thick black smoke rising. A witness, Stephen Jones, told the BBC that the pilot had just begun his display.
"He'd gone up into a loop and as he was coming out of the loop I just thought, you're too low, you're too low, pull up. And he flew straight into the ground either on or very close to the A27, which runs past the airport," Jones said.
The force said all the casualties were believed to have occurred on the road, and no one on the airfield was believed injured. It was not known whether the pilot was able to eject.
The road was closed in both directions Saturday.
Crashes at British airshows are rare, but in 2007 the pilot of a World War II Hurricane died at the Shoreham Airshow after performing an unplanned barrel-roll.
A large crowd converged on downtown Holyoke, many of whom wore bathing suits in preparation to get wet.
HOLYOKE -- Over a thousand people converged on downtown Holyoke, many of whom wore bathing suits in preparation to get wet.
Utah-based company Slide the City brought their 1,000-foot slip and slide to Holyoke on Saturday, August 22. The slide was setup on Appleton Street early Saturday morning, between High and one of the city's canals.
Riders went down the slide in waves throughout the afternoon. Some purchased a single ride, others bought an unlimited ride pass for the day.
Holyoke is the only city in the Commonwealth to offer the oversized slip and slide.
The event occurred during Celebrate Holyoke, a three-day festival held downtown this weekend.
Earlier in the summer, local organizers expressed concern the event would be cancelled due to low ticket sales.
"After learning that Slide the City might cancel the date because of low preregistration, I made clear to Slide the City representatives that I would like to help them boost registration numbers, in part by by incorporating Slide the City materials and information into the Celebrate Holyoke marketing and social media campaign," Sigrid von Wendel, executive director of Celebrate Holyoke, said in July.
Mayor Alex B. Morse's office also offered reduced price single ride tickets for the event.
The fruits of their efforts were evident on Saturday. Ticket holders young and old waited in long lines to ride the long slip and slide on the sunny afternoon.
The National Zoo in Washington says there's one more panda in the world after its female giant panda gave birth to a cub on Saturday.
WASHINGTON -- For the first time, four giant pandas are living at the National Zoo in Washington after the zoo's adult female gave birth to a cub on Saturday.
Zoo director Dennis Kelly said at a news conference that he was "so happy, so pleased, so excited" to confirm that Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gave birth to the cub at 5:35 p.m. If the cub survives, it would be the 17-year-old panda's third surviving offspring.
Mei Xiang's first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010. Her second cub, Bao Bao, turns 2-years-old on Sunday and still lives at the zoo. In addition to Bao Bao, Mei Xiang and the new cub, the zoo is also home to an adult male panda named Tian Tian.
Keepers will be watching the newest cub closely. Pink, hairless and blind, newborn cubs weigh three to five ounces and are about the size of a stick of butter.
Kelly, the zoo director, said this is "still a very fragile time for the cub."
"We're very excited, but we're very cautious," he said, noting that in 2012, Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub that died after just six days. Its lungs hadn't fully developed.
Panda cub born at 5:34pm live on panda cam. Video and pix to come. #PandaStory #WeSaveSpecies
-- National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 22, 2015
Still, the zoo's chief veterinarian Don Neiffer says the newest cub has shown "all signs of being healthy and happy." Keepers have heard it squeal and grunt. Neiffer said he doesn't know when zoo staff will examine the cub and that at this point they won't interfere unless they get concerned, for example, if the cub looks weak or stops making noise.
Even if the new cub is healthy, panda fans shouldn't expect to see it in person for a while. After Bao Bao was born in 2013, it was about 5 months before she made her public debut. Fans who want to see the newest panda will have to try to catch a glimpse of it on the zoo's online panda cameras. Though the zoo's camera-viewing site can host about 850 viewers at a time, spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson says the site has been overloaded with people trying to watch. Fans can also download a zoo app to view the cameras.
The public also won't learn immediately whether the cub is male or female or whether the zoo's male panda, Tian Tian, is the cub's father. Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with sperm from Tian Tian and a panda named Hui Hui from Wolong, China, who was determined to be one of the best genetic matches.
Laurie Thompson, a giant panda biologist at the zoo, said once keepers do have a chance to examine the cub they will take a swab of saliva from its mouth which will be used to determine its gender and paternity.
VIDEO: Giant panda Mei Xiang gives birth to a cub at 5:35 p.m. Aug. 22, 2015 http://t.co/FQDg4GtidN #WeSaveSpecies #PandaStory
-- National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 22, 2015
For now, the zoo will be watching the cub round-the-clock. They'll also be on the lookout for a possible second cub. In 2013, when Mei Xiang gave birth to Bao Bao, she also gave birth to a stillborn cub. Neiffer, the zoo's chief veterinarian, said Saturday that during an ultrasound earlier this week he did see "two areas that made me excited." But he said "if there was something else it did not appear to be formed."
The National Zoo is one of only four zoos nationwide to have pandas, which are on loan from China. But the Washington pandas have a history that makes them closely watched.
The zoo's first pair of pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were a gift from China following President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit to the country. The pair had five cubs while living at the zoo but none survived.
The zoo's current pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the parents of both Bao Bao and Tai Shan, arrived in 2000. The pandas belong to China as do any cubs they have.
The cub's birth isn't the only event being celebrated at the zoo this weekend. For Bao Bao's second birthday Sunday she will get a cake made out of ice with the number "2'' on top. She will stay at the zoo until she is four years old when she will return to China.
High-level talks between South Korea and North Korea were adjourned after stretching into the early hours of Sunday, as the rivals looked to defuse mounting tensions.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- The first high-level talks in nearly a year between South Korea and North Korea were adjourned after stretching into the early hours of Sunday, as the rivals looked to defuse mounting tensions that have pushed them to the brink of a possible military confrontation.
The delegates agreed to resume the meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday South Korean time (0600 GMT, 2 a.m. EDT), said Seoul's presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook. Min did not disclose any other details about the talks which adjourned at 4:15 a.m. Sunday.
Marathon talks are not unusual for the Koreas, who have had long negotiating sessions in recent years over much less momentous issues.
The closed-door meeting in the border village of Panmunjom, where the armistice ending fighting in the Korean War was agreed to in 1953, began at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, shortly after a deadline set by North Korea for the South to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda at their border. North Korea had declared that its front-line troops were in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul did not back down.
At the meeting, South Korea's presidential national security director, Kim Kwan-jin, and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo sat down with Hwang Pyong So, the top political officer for the Korean People's Army, and Kim Yang Gon, a senior North Korean official responsible for South Korean affairs.
Hwang is considered by outside analysts to be North Korea's second most important official after supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
The meeting came as a series of incidents raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control, starting with a land mine attack, allegedly by the North, that maimed two South Korean soldiers and the South's resumption of anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts.
On Thursday, South Korea's military fired dozens of artillery rounds across the border in response to what Seoul said were North Korean artillery strikes meant to back up a threat to attack the loudspeakers.
An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry, who didn't want to be named because of office rules, said on Saturday that the South continued with the anti-Pyongyang broadcasts after the start of the meeting and planned to make a decision on whether to halt them depending on the result of the talks.
While the meeting offered a way for the rivals to avoid an immediate collision, analysts in Seoul wondered whether the countries were standing too far apart to expect a quick agreement.
South Korea probably couldn't afford to walk away with a weak agreement after it had openly vowed to stem a "vicious cycle" of North Korean provocations amid public anger over the alleged land mine attack, Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said ahead of the meeting. It was highly unlikely that the North would accept the South's expected demand for Pyongyang to take responsibility for the land mine explosions and apologize, he added. However, Koh said the meeting might open the door to more talks between the rivals to discuss a variety of issues.
South Korea had been using 11 loudspeaker systems along the border for the broadcasts, which included the latest news around the Korean Peninsula and the world, South Korean popular music and programs praising the South's democracy and economic affluence over the North's oppressive government, a senior military official said at a news conference on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Each loudspeaker system has broadcast for more than 10 hours a day in three or four different time slots that were frequently changed for unpredictability, the official said. If North Korea attacks the loudspeakers, the South is ready to strike back at the North Korean units responsible for such attacks, he said.
Authoritarian North Korea, which has also restarted its own propaganda broadcasts, is extremely sensitive to any criticism of its government. Analysts in Seoul also believe the North fears that the South's broadcasts could demoralize its front-line troops and inspire them to defect.
The high-level meeting was first proposed by Pyongyang on Friday afternoon. The rival countries reached an agreement for the meeting Saturday morning after the North accepted the South's demand that Hwang be present at the meeting, South Korea's presidential office said.
Hwang and Kim Yang Gon visited South Korea in October last year during the Asian Games in Incheon, but their meeting with Kim, the South's national security director, and then-Unification Ministry Ryoo Kihl-jae failed to improve ties between the countries.
In Pyongyang, businesses were open as usual Saturday and street stalls selling ice cream were crowded as residents took breaks from the summer sun under parasols. There were no visible signs of increased security measures, though even under normal situations the city is heavily secured and fortified. More than 240 South Koreans entered a jointly run industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
The North's state-run media has strongly ratcheted up its rhetoric, saying the whole nation is bracing for the possibility of an all-out war. Leader Kim Jong Un has been shown repeatedly on TV news broadcasts leading a strategy meeting with the top military brass to review the North's attack plan, and young people are reportedly swarming to recruitment centers to sign up to join the fight.
"We have exercised our self-restraint for decades," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. "Now, no one's talk about self-restraint is helpful to putting the situation under control. The army and people of the DPRK are poised not just to counteract or make any retaliation, but not to rule out all-out war to protect the social system, their own choice, at the risk of their lives."
People were willing to talk about the tension and, as is common in public in North Korea -- officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- they voiced support for their government's policies and their leader. They also used phrases like "puppet gangsters" to refer to South Korean authorities -- everyday terms in the North, in both state media and conversation.
It was not clear whether North Korea meant to attack immediately, if at all, but South Korea has vowed to continue the propaganda broadcasts, which it recently restarted following an 11-year stoppage after accusing Pyongyang of planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.
Four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four F-15k South Korean fighter jets simulated bombings on Saturday, starting on South Korea's eastern coast and moving toward the U.S. base at Osan, near Seoul, officials said.
Thousands of residents in border towns were told to move to shelters ahead of the Saturday afternoon deadline, while fishermen were banned for the second straight day on Saturday from entering waters near South Korean islands close to the disputed western sea border with North Korea, officials said.
The North denies responsibility for the land mine attack and says it didn't fire across the border, a claim Seoul says is nonsense.
The standoff comes during annual military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea calls the drills a preparation for invasion, although the U.S. and South Korea insist they are defensive in nature.
WESTFIELD - Skyfire Productions brought their demolition derby to the 88th annual Wesfield Fair on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015. Thirty vehicles smashed and crashed until only one car remained operational. The event also featured a Best Appearance competition and the best rollover competition. Jason Chretien of Westfield won the Best Appearance prize with his car decked out with Confederate flags...
WESTFIELD - Skyfire Productions brought their demolition derby to the 88th annual Wesfield Fair on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015. Thirty vehicles smashed and crashed until only one car remained operational.
The event also featured a Best Appearance competition and the best rollover competition. Jason Chretien of Westfield won the Best Appearance prize with his car decked out with Confederate flags and Roger Piekarski took the rollover prize by rolling over his vehicle 1 and 3/4 times, thrilling the crowd.
The fair continues on Sunday with mud bog races.
The seven-piece rock group put on an energetic performance, opening the show with fan favorites "Sullivan Street" and "Mr. Jones," along with the 2014 single "Scarecrow."
Counting Crows brought the house down at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night.
The seven-piece rock group put on an energetic performance, opening the show with fan favorites "Sullivan Street" and "Mr. Jones," along with the 2014 single "Scarecrow."
The band is touring the country in support of their latest studio album, "Somewhere Under Wonderland," released last September. It reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart.
If you missed the show, you can catch Counting Crows at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston on Sunday night with supporting acts Citizen Cope and Hollis Brown. Citizen Cope opened Saturday's show, as well.
Click through the gallery above to see photos from the concert.
Police have not released the name or gender of the victim until family members can be notified.
LANDGROVE, VT. - A driver was killed after the person's car struck a tree and caught fire early Sunday morning.
Vermont State Police have not released the name or gender of the victim of the accident until family members can be notified. The victim was alone in the car and no other vehicles were involved in the crash.
The operator was driving a 2006 Subaru Legacy and went off the pavement on Ridge Road, striking a tree at about 2:47 a.m., Police said.
"The crash caused significant damage and caused the vehicle to catch on fire," police said.
The driver died at the scene, police said.
Masslive will update this story when the victim's name is released.
The arrest came after a week-long investigation into the alleged crime.
CHICOPEE - A Holyoke man accused of sexually assaulting a victim at the Pines Motel is being held in jail on $200,000 bail.
Christian Cabrera, 24, of 68 Cabot St., Holyoke, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with aggravated rape and assault to rape. He was arraigned later on the charges in district court, said Michael Wilk, public information officer for the Chicopee Police Department.
The arrest came after a week-long investigation into the alleged crime, he said.
The investigation began after officers responded to an initial call for a reported fight at the motel, at 1508 Memorial Drive, at about 1:35 a.m., on Aug. 14.
After interviewing the victim in the hospital and conducting an investigation, detectives determined there had been a sexual assault at the location, Wilk said.
Police Det. Doug Lambert then sought a warrant for Cabrera. Chicopee Police assisted by the Massachusetts State Police Fugitive Task Force and Holyoke Police arrested him at his home, Wilk said.
Obituaries from The Republican.
Ralph W. Naylor, 92, of Springfield died Monday. He was born in North Grafton. He was a graduate of West Springfield High School, Class of 1940. Retired for many years, he was employed as supervisor in several area manufacturing companies including F.W. Sickles in Chicopee and Synthetic Fabrics in Springfield. He was a combat veteran of World War II, U.S. Army Infantry / 182nd Field Artillery. He was active for more than 40 years in recreational activities including baseball, softball and table tennis, as well as in NEYSA baseball and softball as a coach, recreation leader, sponsor, club president and volunteer.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid says he's throwing his full support behind President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran.
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Sunday threw his full support behind President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran, saying "it is the best path to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
"I strongly support the historic agreement and will do everything in my power to ensure that it stands," said Reid, D-Nev., in a news release.
Reid is the 27th Senate Democrat to back the deal and the highest ranking in the Senate. His support will make it difficult for opponents to muster the veto-proof numbers needed in the Senate, and therefore, in Congress to scuttle the agreement.
I will vote no on the resolution of disapproval and urge my colleagues to do the same. http://t.co/OUjAh85Mu6
-- Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) August 23, 2015
This Iran agreement is not based on trust - it's based on strict enforcement and rigorous monitoring and inspections. http://t.co/OUjAh85Mu6
-- Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) August 23, 2015
Republicans and the Israeli government furiously oppose the deal signed by the U.S., Iran and five world powers, which seeks to keep Iran from building a nuclear bomb in exchange for billions in international sanctions relief. They say Obama's agreement makes too many concessions to Iran and could actually enable that country to become a nuclear-armed state.
But it is looking less and less likely that opponents can garner sufficient support. Congress plans a vote next month on a resolution disapproving of the deal, which Obama has threatened to veto. Opponents would then need two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate to override.
In the Senate, only two Democrats -- Schumer and Robert Menendez of New Jersey -- have announced opposition to the deal. Reid is the 27th senator, all Democrats, to publicly announce his support. It will take 34 votes in the Senate to sustain the veto.
A steady stream of Democrats have backed the deal, and Reid's support will provide an opportunity for others to jump on board. The announcement also comes before Obama heads to Nevada.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi already has said House Democratic supporters have the votes necessary to sustain Obama's veto despite unanimous GOP opposition.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Reid said he believes that the deal was the best that could be achieved.
"First, this is a good agreement on the merits, imposing the toughest inspections and verification regime in history, and a diplomatic solution is certainly less costly in American blood and treasure than any possible military option," Reid said. "Second, if the Senate rejects this agreement, the international community will not support an attempt to secure another and they will not support the sanctions regime. Those are hard facts."
Iran has threatened to destroy Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to the deal.
Reid said Israel's security is "of utmost importance." ''I support this deal because I believe it is the best option to halt any Iranian nuclear weapons program and therefore to protect the State of Israel," he said.
I strongly support the historic agreement with Iran and will do everything in my power to ensure that it stands. http://t.co/o79wQeYTof
-- Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) August 23, 2015
SPRINGFIELD - The 3rd Annual Melha New England Clambake was held Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at the Melha Shriner's building on Longhill St. All the proceeds will benefit the Melha Shriners and all the work the Shriners do for the people of Western Massachusetts and their Shriner Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston.
SPRINGFIELD - The 3rd Annual Melha New England Clambake was held Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at the Melha Shriner's building on Longhill St.
All the proceeds will benefit the Melha Shriners and all the work the Shriners do for the people of Western Massachusetts and their Shriner Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston.
SPRINGFIELD - The 3rd Annual Melha New England Clambake was held Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at the Melha Shriner's building on Longhill St. All the proceeds will benefit the Melha Shriners and all the work the Shriners do for the people of Western Massachusetts and their Shriner Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston.
SPRINGFIELD - The 3rd Annual Melha New England Clambake was held Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at the Melha Shriner's building on Longhill St.
All the proceeds will benefit the Melha Shriners and all the work the Shriners do for the people of Western Massachusetts and their Shriner Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston.
In more than three decades of trying to breed pandas at the National Zoo, there's been plenty of heartbreak. More cubs born in Washington have died than survived, and news of a birth has often been greeted warily.
WASHINGTON -- In more than three decades of trying to breed pandas at the National Zoo, there's been plenty of heartbreak. More cubs born in Washington have died than survived, and news of a birth has often been greeted warily.
But on Sunday, zoo officials were nearly giddy. They don't just have an apparently healthy pair of twins, born Saturday night to panda mom Mei Xiang. They have a template to follow that gives the cubs a strong chance of survival.
Pandas won't usually nurse twins if left to their own devices. They'll care for one and allow the other to die. But in the past decade, Chinese breeders have come up with a system: Every several hours, they swap out the cubs, giving each one the critical time it needs to nurse and bond with its mother. Meanwhile, the other one is kept in an incubator.
Panda keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo will continue performing these delicate swaps as long as it's needed and as long as Mei Xiang lets them. By late Sunday afternoon, the twins had traded places three times without incident, with Mei Xiang cradling them in turn.
"If she gets aggressive toward us, we're not going to get that close," giant panda biologist Laurie Thompson said Sunday.
The swapping technique helped twin pandas born two years ago at Zoo Atlanta to survive. That was the second set of panda twins born in the United States. The first, born at the National Zoo in 1987, both died within days.
Scientists in China have learned much more about panda breeding since then. Two decades ago, the survival rate for panda cubs was under 20 percent. Now, it's more than 80 percent, zoo director Dennis Kelly said.
"We've all been involved in events that don't go so well, so we are ecstatic that things are going great," said Don Neiffer, the zoo's chief veterinarian.
Kelly doesn't expect interest in the slow-moving, cuddly looking bears to subside even if successful breeding becomes routine.
"The birth of an animal like a giant panda or a critically endangered Sumatran tiger is always special," Kelly said.
Nursing twins doesn't appear to come naturally to pandas, which are endangered, with roughly 1,800 living in the wild and 350 in captivity.
"It's very rare, obviously, for them to manage two cubs. If she were able to do it, we would certainly let her," Thompson said. "She couldn't figure out how to hold both of them. She couldn't get ahold of one and have the other one under her arm and pick it up at the same time. She just kept fumbling with them."
The cubs have squealed loudly when taken away from Mei Xiang -- one of several signs that they are strong and healthy. Although one weighed in at roughly 4 ounces and the other was just 3 ounces at birth, both are considered within the healthy weight range. They are blind, and pink in color, with wispy white fur.
The second cub was given a serum drawn previously from Mei Xiang's blood because it hadn't gotten a chance to nurse. Keepers are prepared to bottle-feed the cubs if necessary, but they won't do it unless one of the pandas is underweight or has other health problems.
Mei Xiang has given birth to two surviving cubs: Tai Shan, a male born in 2005, and Bao Bao, who turned 2 on Sunday and put on a show for hundreds of delirious panda watchers as she devoured her "birthday cake": a frozen concoction made with honey, apples, carrots and bamboo.
Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the pandas pair lent to the United States by China after Richard Nixon's historic visit in 1972, successfully mated five times, but none of the cubs lived longer than a few days.
Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub in 2012 that died after six days.
The new additions mean that for the first time the zoo has five pandas in residence. In addition to Bao Bao, Mei Xiang and the new cubs, the zoo is also home to an adult male panda named Tian Tian. In the past, the zoo has never had more than three pandas at one time.
Tian Tian is the father of Mei Xiang's previous cubs. This time, she was artificially inseminated with semen from Tian Tian and another panda in China that was determined to be a good genetic match. If that panda turns out to be the father of one or both cubs, it would benefit the species' genetic diversity, zoo officials said.
There's no timetable for performing genetic testing, and zoo officials said it will be three to four weeks before their genders are known. The cubs won't be named until they are 100 days old, per Chinese tradition.
Bao Bao didn't make her public debut until she was 5 months old, but the cubs and Mei Xiang will be visible on the zoo's popular "Panda Cam" livestream.
Over the next few weeks, zoo staffers hope to develop a routine for swapping the cubs and monitoring their growth.
"A lot of things have to happen. This is a very critical period," Neiffer said. "Until the cubs are both out walking around, acting normal, being a panda, that's probably when we'll exhale."
