The event runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and includes a free family movie night "under the stars," featuring the hit Disney film "Big Hero 6," police said.

SOUTH HADLEY — The public is invited to attend a free public safety fair sponsored by the South Hadley Police Department, the South Hadley Drug and Alcohol Task Force, South Hadley Fire Districts #1 and #2, and the Hampshire County Sheriff's Department.

The Sept. 11 event runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Michael E. Smith Middle School, 100 Mosier St., and includes a family movie night "under the stars" featuring the hit Disney film "Big Hero 6." The rain date is Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.

"The movie will be shown outside, so feel free to bring blankets and lawn chairs," police said on the department's Facebook page.

The event includes tours of police cruisers, fire engines and ambulances, educational booths, child-identification iris scans, hot dogs, popcorn and more.

Concessions were donated by the South Hadley Drug and Alcohol Task Force, the South Hadley Police Association, and the Fire Associations of South Hadley Fire Districts 1 & 2.

There was a language barrier because the family spoke Mandarin Chinese, the Dennis fire chief said.

A 4-year-old boy, whose family speaks Mandarin Chinese, drowned at a beach fronting Cape Cod Bay late Friday afternoon.

The Cape Cod Times reported that a call came into the Dennis Fire Department at about 5:30 p.m.

Fire Chief Mark Dellner said a respiratory technician who was visiting the north facing beach was trying to revive the boy when emergency medical technicians arrived. What lead up to the drowning was not immediately clear, but EMTs who took the boy to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis continued performing CPR in the ambulance.

"We couldn't bring him back," Dellner told the Times. "The firefighters and police are devastated. Our prayers are with the family."

Dellner told The Register that the department was at the beach within three minutes of getting the call.

"The patient obviously had been in the water for awhile," Dellner told the weekly newspaper. "He was in serious condition when we took him."

According to WCVB-TV, the boy was pulled from unresponsive from the water.

Dennis police told the station that two calls came into the station simultaneously. One was a 911 call while the other came from an animal control officer who was patrolling the beach.

WHDH-TV reported that one of three people who performed CPR on the boy was the town's assistant animal control officer, Janet Radziewicz. The station also reported that it was a bystander who pulled the boy from the water.

Hyannis News reported that the boy was at the beach with his mother, her son and three young sisters.

The chief said that there was a language barrier because of the family's native tongue.

Dennis police Lt. Peter Benson said he did not know how many people were on the beach at the time of the incident.

"It is my understanding that the lifeguards were no longer on duty," Benson wrote in a follow-up email to the Times, adding that he believes they go off duty at 5 p.m.

Police said they will not be releasing any additional information until other members of the boy's family have been notified.

A former executive who was in charge of Subway's advertising says he wasn't aware of Jared Fogle's criminal sexual conduct with minors.

NEW YORK -- A former executive who was in charge of Subway's advertising says he wasn't aware of Jared Fogle's criminal sexual conduct with minors.  

Jeff Moody, who was CEO of the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, says in a statement Friday that he was "shocked" to learn of the "deplorable criminal sexual behavior with minors" to which the former Subway pitchman has agreed to plead guilty.

Moody's statement adds that "like any decent human being" he is "repulsed" by it.

Robert Beasley, a lawyer for former Subway franchisee Cindy Mills, has said Mills shared her concerns about Fogle with Moody in 2008. Beasley didn't respond to calls Friday. Earlier in the day, he said Mills didn't want to speak anymore.

Moody's statement says he learned this summer about the allegations against Fogle.

Authorities did not release the man's identity, but he was expected to be OK, Springfield Police Lt. Lawrence Akers said. Two people were charged in connection with the crime, police said.

SPRINGFIELD — A man was hospitalized Friday night after being stabbed at an apartment house in the northwest corner of Six Corners.

The victim was taken by stretcher from a 5-story brick building at 304 Union St. and loaded into an AMR ambulance, which rushed him to a local hospital for emergency treatment.

Authorities did not release the man's identity, but he was expected to be OK, Springfield Police Lt. Lawrence Akers said. "It wasn't all that serious," he said of the man's wounds.

Akers said two people were arrested in connection with the incident, but their names were not immediately available.

The victim was stabbed during a domestic dispute between two couples, according to police, who continue to investigate.

A white supremacist charged with killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City spent more than two hours Friday telling jurors how he planned the attacks and is sorry he didn't kill more people.

OLATHE, Kan. -- A white supremacist charged with killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City spent more than two hours Friday telling jurors how he planned the attacks and is sorry he didn't kill more people.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., who is acting as his own attorney, called himself to the witness stand and spoke of his military history and of how he started a group in North Carolina called the White Patriot Party. Miller also told jurors the prosecutor had a "slam dunk" and he knew they would put him on death row.  

If convicted, Miller could be sentenced to death.

All the three exhibits Miller tried to introduce -- a video of him in military uniform leading the White Patriot Party and two news articles -- Friday morning were disallowed. Ryan told him any similar materials likely would be as well.

After a nearly three-hour lunch break, Miller returned to the stand and told jurors he wanted to tell them more about why he wanted to kill Jews, but the court wouldn't let him.

Instead, he talked about an emphysema attack he had 10 days before the April 13, 2014, killings and his desire to "take out" Jewish people before he died.

He said he didn't initially know if he would have the courage to carry out the attacks, but afterward felt an exhilaration that dwarfed even the feeling of jumping out of airplanes when he was in the Army.

"I've been proud of myself for 15 months," he said.

The 74-year-old Aurora, Missouri, man is charged with killing William Corporon, 69, and Corporon's 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, and Terri LaManno, 53, at the nearby Village Shalom retirement center.

He said his only regret was that he killed the teenager, who he thought was older. But under cross-examination, Miller admitted that he would have been fine with killing Reat if he had been Jewish.

He said he was justified killing the other two because they were Jewish sympathizers, adding that he thought the prosecutor and judge also associated with Jews.

"If I had known you and you were there, I would have probably shot you, too," he told District Attorney Steve Howe moments before finishing his time on the witness stand.

During Miller's testimony, Howe objected frequently and said Miller's comments were not relevant to the capital murder trial. As Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan sustained each objection, Miller appeared to grow more frustrated.

"I promised this court that I would not lose my temper," he said. "I'm doing the best I can."

Miller said that while he was carrying out the attacks he knew he might end up getting the death penalty.

"You guys are going to put me on death row. We all know that," he told jurors.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. addresses the jury from the witness stand during his capital murder trial in the Johnson County Courthouse on Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, in Olathe, Kansas. (Shane Keyser /The Kansas City Star via AP, Pool)
 

Miller, who insisted on a speedy trial even after his stand-by attorneys said that didn't give them enough time to prepare a legitimate defense, has at times seemed overwhelmed by legal proceedings he called "mumbo jumbo."

Capital murder trials in Kansas have a guilt phase focusing on evidence about the crime and a sentencing phase when defendants are allowed to present mitigating evidence -- including what was on their mind at the time -- intended to spare them from a death sentence.

After Miller finished speaking, testimony was concluded on Friday. Closing arguments will begin on Monday.

Firefighters responded to 546 Canon Circle, a housing complex located off Cooley Street near the East Longmeadow line, shortly after 9:30 p.m. Five people and one dog were in the apartment at the time of the blaze, Leger said.

SPRINGFIELD — A dog died and three people were injured, one critically, in a fire that broke out at an apartment on Canon Circle around 9:30 p.m. Friday.

"The family dog has perished," said Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant.

Firefighters responded to 546 Canon Circle, a housing complex located off Cooley Street in the Outer Belt section of Sixteen Acres. Five people and one dog were in the apartment at the time of the blaze.

A middle-age woman was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, Leger said. A 13-year-old boy and a woman in her 30s were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns, respectively, he added.

Local and state fire investigators were probing the cause of the fire, which damaged the 3-story, townhouse-style unit. Damage estimates were not immediately available.

MAP showing approximate location of Canon Circle fire:

A Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman says the deputy was pumping gas into his vehicle on Friday night when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots. Once the deputy fell to the ground, the suspect fired more shots.

HOUSTON (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy in uniform has died after he was fatally shot while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station.

Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan says the deputy was pumping gas into his vehicle on Friday night when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots. Once the deputy fell to the ground, the suspect fired more shots.

Police said they have a description of the male suspect, who was driving a red or maroon Ford Ranger truck, and have begun an intensive search.

The identity of the sheriff's deputy was not immediately released, but he was a 10-year veteran of the force. 

A sledgehammer was used to smash the front door and bottles of Patron Silver Tequila, Hennessy, Jack Daniels and Absolute vodka were taken, along with packs of Newport cigarettes, police said.

These were the most read stories out of Springfield District Court this week. If you missed any, click on the links below to read them now.

Man with 2 swords, 4 knives and pepper spray arrested outside ex-girlfriend's house in Springfield

Springfield woman gets probation for stealing cash, credit cards, diamond rings from elderly Ruth's House residents

Suspect in sledgehammer burglary at Springfield liquor store due back in court

Springfield woman charged with stabbing boyfriend in buttocks held on $10,000 bail

Springfield man's criminal 'resume' working against him, judge says

Ludlow man charged with kidnapping 2-year-old girl held on $75,000 bail

Springfield man charged in TD Bank robbery held on $100,000 bailtarget="_blank"

Dennis Leger, spokesman for Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said the woman's son fled the blaze and thought his mother was right behind him.

SPRINGFIELD - A woman died in a fire at her Canon Circle townhouse that broke out Friday night, a Fire Department official confirmed.

Dennis Leger, spokesman for Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said the woman's son fled the blaze and thought his mother was right behind him. Leger would not yet release the victim's name.

"She never made it out," Leger said.

The fire at 546 Canon Circle erupted around 9:30 p.m. and also claimed the life of the family's dog, officials reported previously. The cause of the fire is still under investigation but it was likely caused by a candle, according to earlier reports.

Five people and one dog were in the apartment at the time of the blaze, Leger said. A 13-year-old boy and a woman in her 30s were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns, respectively, he added. Leger said they are expected to survive.

Churches along coastal Mississippi tolled their bells in unison Saturday morning to mark the 10th anniversary of the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Watch video

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Churches along coastal Mississippi tolled their bells in unison Saturday morning to mark the 10th anniversary of the day that Hurricane Katrina -- one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history -- made landfall. 

Residents in Mississippi and Louisiana were marking the somber anniversary by paying homage to those who died in Katrina, to thank those who came to rebuild and celebrate how far the region has come since the hurricane struck.

In Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the ringing of church bells provoked sadness and tears.

Eloise Allen, 80, wept softly into a tissue and leaned against her rusting Oldsmobile as bells chimed at Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church just across a two-lane street from a sun-drenched beach at Bay St. Louis.

She said her home, farther inland, was damaged but livable. Her daughter lost her home in nearby Waveland. Many of her friends and neighbors suffered similarly.

"I feel guilty," she said. I didn't go through what all the other people did."

In Biloxi, clergy and community leaders were to gather at MGM Park for a memorial to Katrina's victims and later that evening the park will host a concert celebrating the recovery.

The hurricane's force and flooding ultimately caused more than 1,800 deaths and roughly $151 billion in damage across the region. In New Orleans, wide scale failures of the levee system protecting the city left 80 percent of New Orleans under water.

Katrina's force caused a massive storm surge that scoured the Mississippi coast, pushed boats far inland and wiped houses off the map, leaving only concrete front steps to nowhere.

Glitzy casinos and condominium towers have been rebuilt. But overgrown lots and empty slabs speak to the slow recovery in some communities.

In New Orleans officials will lay wreaths at the hurricane memorial and at the levee that ruptured in the Lower 9th Ward.

The neighborhood was one of the bastions of black homeownership in America when water burst through floodwalls on one side, pushing houses passed down through generations off foundations and trapped residents on rooftops pleading for help from passing helicopters.

The neighborhood still has some of the lowest rates of people who've returned after the storm, but they will be having a daylong celebration to mark the progress they have made.

Across the city volunteers will also spread out in a day of service working on various projects.

Other neighborhoods such as Broadmoor and Lakeview -- both recognized as post-Katrina comeback stories -- will also be holding events Saturday.

In the evening, former President Bill Clinton will headline a free concert-prayer service-celebration at the city's Smoothie King Center. In addition to the former president the event will feature performances by the city's "Rebirth Brass Band," award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien and Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Wild Magnolias.

The city has framed the 10th anniversary as a showcase designed to demonstrate to the world how far the city has come. In a series of events in the week leading up to the actual anniversary, the city has held lectures, given tours of the levee improvements and released a resiliency plan.

Many parts of this iconic city have rebounded phenomenally while many residents -- particularly in the city's black community -- still struggle.

• Katrina then and now: Disaster photos dissolve into recovery
• Anatomy of a flood: How New Orleans flooded during Katrina (graphic)
• Obama: Honor Katrina's victims by continuing to rebuild a stronger community
• Jarvis DeBerry: Ten years after Katrina, my old neighborhood is new
• Gov. Bobby Jindal: Thank you, America, for coming to our aid

The national award is granted to Eagle Scouts who continue to distinguish themselves by "living and practicing the Scout Oath and Law through philanthropy and volunteerism in their adult lives," according to a statement released by the organization.

Friendly's Founder S. Prestley Blake has been awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award after being nominated by the Western Massachusetts Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The national award is granted to Eagle Scouts who continue to distinguish themselves by "living and practicing the Scout Oath and Law through philanthropy and volunteerism in their adult lives," according to a statement released by the organization.

"Since the Great Depression, Prestley Blake has distinguished himself in many ways, as an entrepreneur, business leader, philanthropist and citizen committed to the prosperity of Western Massachusetts," the statement read, continuing: "In a letter to the Sunday Republican in 2004 he wrote 'I believe that corporations and businessmen must act with high principles of respect, fairness, and honesty - not greed,' underscoring the very core principles instilled in American youth by the Boy Scouts of America."

Blake founded the Friendly's Ice Cream Corporation along with his brother Curtis with a small ice cream shop in Springfield in 1935. That business eventually grew to one of the largest family restaurant chains in the United States.

Scouting officials also noted Prestley's contributions to The New England Ice Cream Restaurant Association, and his philanthropic projects including building a replica of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello on the Massachusetts and Connecticut border in Somers, Conn., which he has lent for charitable events.

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award recipients are selected by a committee of past recipients under guidance from the National Eagle Scout Association and the Boy Scouts of America. Approximately 2,100 Eagle Scouts have received the award since 1969.

Fire officials said a candle set two couches in the living room of fire and quickly filled the townhouse with smoke.

The resident was on the second floor when the fire broke out on the first floor around 9:30 p.m., according to Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

A relatively small blaze incinerated two couches in the living room, which filled the entire townhouse at 546 Canon Circle with smoke.

"Two modern couches made of inexpensive synthetic material catch fire and create an unbelievable amount of smoke," Leger said. "It quickly filled the whole house."

The woman's dog also died in the fire, which Leger said was caused by a candle. He said there were working smoke detectors in the house that alerted five people inside to the blaze.

The fire was primarily contained to the living room, with smoke damage upstairs.

A 13-year-old boy and a woman in her 30s were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns, respectively, Leger added; they are expected to survive.

The woman's son told Leger he ran out of the house and believed his mother, Cardona, was right behind him.

A 23-year-old motorcyclist crashed into a concrete barrier in the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and died.

BOSTON - A 23-year-old believed to be speeding on a motorcycle crashed into a concrete barrier just after midnight Friday and died, according to Massachusetts State Police.

State police from the Tunnels barracks responded to a report of a crash involving a motorcycle on Route 93 North in the Thomas P. O'Neil, Jr. Tunnel near exit 23 in Boston.

Initial details provided by the police indicate Kieran Boyle, 23, of Norwood, was traveling northbound in the tunnel on a 2013 Yamaha R6 when he lost control of the motorcycle. He crashed into an adjacent concrete barrier.

"Boyle sustained fatal injuries as a result of that impact, and was pronounced dead at the scene," a statement reads.

Immigrants from China and India, many with student or work visas, have overtaken Mexicans as the largest groups coming into the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau research.

Siddharth Jaganath, right, poses for a photo with his children Sita, 7, center and Neel, 4, at their home in Plano, Texas. Jaganath came to the U.S. to earn his master's degree at Southern Methodist University. Instead of returning to India, he built a new life in the U.S. and is a manager at a communications technology company. (AP Photo/LM Otero) 

DALLAS (AP) -- Siddharth Jaganath wanted to return to India after earning his master's degree at Texas' Southern Methodist University. Instead, he built a new life in the U.S. over a decade, becoming a manager at a communications technology company and starting a family in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

"You start growing your roots and eventually end up staying here," the 37-year-old said.

His path is an increasingly common one: Immigrants from China and India, many with student or work visas, have overtaken Mexicans as the largest groups coming into the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau research released in May. The shift has been building for more than a decade and experts say it's bringing more highly skilled immigrants here. And some Republican presidential candidates have proposed a heavier focus on employment-based migration, which could accelerate traditionally slow changes to the country's ever-evolving face of immigration.

Mexicans still dominate the overall composition of immigrants in the U.S., accounting for more than a quarter of the foreign-born people. But of the 1.2 million newly arrived immigrants here legally and illegally counted in 2013 numbers, China led with 147,000, followed by India with 129,000 and Mexico with 125,000. It's a sharp contrast to the 2000, when there were 402,000 from Mexico and no more than 84,000 each from India and China. Experts say part of the reason for the decrease in Mexican immigrants is a dramatic plunge in illegal immigration.

"We're not likely to see Asians overtake Latin Americans anytime soon (in overall immigration population). But we are sort of at the leading edge of this transition where Asians will represent a larger and larger share of the U.S. foreign-born population," said Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program for the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute.

The national trend is evident even in Texas, where the number of Mexican immigrants coming to the border state each year has dropped by more than half since 2005, according to the Office of the State Demographer. In that time, the number of people from India coming to Texas has more than doubled and the number from China has increased more than fivefold, though both still comfortably trail Mexican immigrants.

Asian immigrants have flocked to Texas' large urban and suburban areas, including the Dallas suburb of Collin County, the home to many major businesses. Laxmi Tummala, a real estate agent in the area and a U.S.-born child of Indian immigrants, has witnessed a buildup in Indian restaurants, grocery stores, clothing outlets and worship centers.

"All of that is extremely accessible now," Tummala said.

While much of the discussion among GOP candidates this summer has centered on illegal immigration, they have also touched on immigrant skill levels. Donald Trump has proposed kicking out the estimated 11 million people who are in the U.S. illegally before allowing the "good ones" and "talented" ones back in. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio both have said that the legal immigration process should focus more on letting in workers the country needs rather than reuniting families.

Increasing the flow of highly skilled immigrants would likely have a big impact on those coming from India and China. The majority of them who are 25 and older who arrived within three years of the 2013 numbers had a bachelor's degree or higher, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Mexican immigrants only had 15 percent, up from 6 percent in 2000.

Weikang Nie, a finance graduate student from China, sits with fellow Chinese students during a new student orientation at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, Texas. The U.S. Census Bureau research shows immigrants from China and India, many with student or work visas, have overtaken Mexicans as the largest groups coming into the U.S.AP Photo/LM Otero 

China and India's growing economies have given immigrants access to travel and the ability to pay for an education abroad. Hua Bai came to University of Texas at Dallas from China last year to work on a master's degree in marketing and information technology management. The 25-year-old said that given the right opportunity, she'd like to stay in the U.S.

"If I get sponsorship I'd consider living here and working here," she said. "It all depends on the job opportunities."

Without revisions in immigration policy, experts say the change to the overall immigrant population will be slow. One reason is that the number of Mexicans who become legal permanent residents is about twice the number of Indian and Chinese people who do, according to Michael Fix, president of the Migration Policy Institute.

But a rising number of Chinese and Indians will become permanent residents, given the current rate of about half of people here on temporary work visas obtaining that status, Fix said.

Jaganath was among that group, inspired to come to the U.S. because the country is a leader in his career field.

"That was a following-the-dream type of thing for me," he said.

According to several news outlets, Finch, who has been a gushing fan of the president, suggested the name change during a ceremony on Friday.

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. - Mayor Bill Finch announced during a groundbreaking for a $106 million new high school this week that he believes city officials should ditch its current namesake, Warren Harding, in favor of President Barack Obama.

According to several news outlets, Finch, who has been a gushing fan of the president, suggested the name change during a ceremony on Friday.

"President Obama has done so much for our city," said Finch. "He's helped us create jobs on the waterfront, produce clean energy so our kids can breathe easier, and rebuild parts of our city that were neglected for too long. This new high school is another sign that cities are getting better during his presidency, and I suggest we honor him by naming this new school 'Barack Obama High School," the Connecticut Post reported.

There as at least one other public high school named after the 44th president in Pittsburgh, Penn., the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies, although known as "Pittsburgh Obama." It was formed when the city merged a middle school and a high school.

Harding was the 29th president of the United States, and was ranked among the nation's most popular until a series of scandals broke after his death in 1923.

The new Bridgeport high school will be 210,000-square-foot, and will be home to 1,150 students. It will include a football field, baseball field, and eight-lane running track, reports state.

HOUSTON — Texas prosecutors on Saturday charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of a uniformed sheriff's deputy who was gunned down from behind while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act." The arrest of Shannon J. Miles — who has a criminal history that includes convictions...

HOUSTON -- Texas prosecutors on Saturday charged a 30-year-old man with capital murder in the killing of a uniformed sheriff's deputy who was gunned down from behind while filling his patrol car with gas in what officials described as a "senseless and cowardly act."

The arrest of Shannon J. Miles -- who has a criminal history that includes convictions for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm -- came less than 24 hours after authorities said he ambushed Darren Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff's Office, at a suburban Houston Chevron station.

"I am proud of the men and women that have worked swiftly to apprehend the responsible person who posed a significant threat to both law enforcement and the community at large," Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said at a news conference. "Our deputies return to the streets tonight to hold a delicate peace that was shattered last evening."

Court and jail records did not list an attorney for Miles.

Hickman said the motive for the killing had not been determined but investigators would look at whether Miles, who is black, was motivated by anger over recent killings elsewhere of black men by police that have spawned the "Black Lives Matter" protest movement. Goforth was white.

"I think that's something that we have to keep an eye on," Hickman said. "The general climate of that kind of rhetoric can be influential on people to do things like this. We're still searching to find out if that's actually a motive."

Hickman said investigators are working on the assumption "that he was a target because he wore a uniform."

Goforth, 47, was pumping gas Friday night when the gunman approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, continuing to fire after the deputy had fallen to the ground.

The deputy had gone to the Chevron gas station in Cypress, a middle-class to upper middle-class suburban area of Harris County that is unincorporated and located northwest of Houston, after responding to a routine car accident earlier Friday.

Earlier on Saturday, Hickman had called the killing a "cold-blooded assassination."

"Cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said then. "So why don't we drop the qualifier and say lives matter."

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson echoed Hickman's sentiments.

"There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement," she said.

In a statement Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott said "heinous and deliberate crimes against law enforcement will not be tolerated" and that the state "reveres the men and women in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day to protect and serve their communities."

Hickman said Miles had been in the custody of authorities "all night." Authorities earlier Saturday said they had been speaking with a person of interest but had not identified that individual.

Court records of Miles' previous arrests show he lived at a home that deputies searched earlier Saturday and where a red truck, similar to one that authorities said left the scene of the shooting, was found. Hickman credited the work of investigators and "routine research" that found the truck that led to "the suspect responsible for this senseless and cowardly act."

An impromptu memorial sprouted at the pump Goforth had used Friday night, with a pile of balloons, flowers, candles and notes, including one that said, "Gone but never forgotten R.I.P. Deputy Goforth." The gas station was open Saturday, but that pump was closed.

Brian McCullar knew Goforth because the deputy had patrolled his neighborhood, which is about two miles from the gas station, and the two spoke often.

"He was passionate about what he did," the 49-year-old said, adding, "We're still in shock. ... It's a huge loss for his family. It's a huge loss for this area." Goforth had a wife and two children.

"You're talking about a guy that made a difference," McCullar said.

Kids and parents lined up to receive 6,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies and to enjoy games, food and music. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD — You can't beat free school supplies and a barbecue to cure any of those back-to-school butterflies.

That was evident Saturday as thousands of free backpacks and school supplies – and books – were distributed to children at the annual Back-to-School Barbecue at Blunt Park.

Kids and parents lined up to receive 6,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies and to enjoy games, food and music.

The popular event is aimed at celebrating the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

This year, the event coincided with the give-away of 40,000 books that will were available at Central High School next door to Blunt Park.

The book-giveaway program was sponsored by local school paraprofessionals.

This is the first time Springfield has participated in the national First Book program, aimed at putting books in the hands of children – many of whom don't have books at home.

According to Catherine Mastronardi, president of the 700-member local paraprofessionals federation, estimates show that about 22,000 children in the city do not own a book.

The books, which arrived in Springfield via tractor-trailer last week, are finally in the hands of children as they prepare for the start of a new school year.

The city's second beer festival of the summer kicked off under a warm sun on Saturday, as locals and tourists alike flocked to the Valley Brew Fest at Court Square.

SPRINGFIELD — The city's second beer festival of the summer kicked off under a warm sun on Saturday, as locals and tourists alike flocked to the Valley Brew Fest at Court Square.

Thrown by the city's newest and only beer company, the White Lion Brewing Company, the festival featured more than 100 beers from 51 breweries across the country.

Some of the bigger names included Stone, Brooklyn, Ommegang and Ballast Point.

Local and regional brands featured included Brewmaster Jack, People's Pint, Abandoned Building, Smuttynose, Berkshire Brewing, and Two Roads.

The second session of the festival kicked off at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $50 and are available at the gate.

A portion of the proceeds from the festival will go to the American Cancer Society and Dakin Humane Society.

A notable Gaelic Irish speaker and a resident of East Longmeadow, Michael Carney, has died at the age of 94.

A notable Gaelic Irish speaker and a resident of East Longmeadow, Michael Carney, has died at the age of 94.

Carney was the embodiment of Irish wit and wisdom for many admirers of the culture, he was beloved on both sides of the Atlantic for his efforts to preserve it.

The oldest living native of the Great Blasket Island off Ireland's West Coast, Carney was born on the Great Blasket, known, as Carney liked to say, for its "pure form of Irish," on Sept. 22, 1920. He was instrumental in the establishment of The Blasket Centre there, a museum that now attracts 50,000 visitors a year.

East Longmeadow resident and noted Gaelic speaker Michael Carney has died at the age of 94.Republican file 

"I am a native-born Irish speaker and I love the Irish language. Everybody on the island grew up speaking a pure form of Irish. We also learned a little bit of English in school and even more from the visitors that came to the island," Carney wrote in his memoir.

"Storytelling was very important on the island. It built a very close-knit community. It was the basis for all the fine literature that came from the island. All my life I have told stories about the island. It is my own way of spreading the word, perpetuating the memory of my beloved island. The island was a place that got into your soul."

The no-longer inhabited island is famous among scholars for how its residents, many of them famous storytellers, preserved the Irish language and culture.

Carney was honored for such preservation when, in 2010, he received an honorary doctoral degree in Celtic literature from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

In 2013, he, along with son-in-law Gerald W. Hayes, authored "From the Great Blasket To America: The Last Memoir by an Islander."

A release party was held that year for it on June 16, Bloom's Day, at Elms College in Chicopee.

Carney, the third in a family of 10 children, departed the Great Blasket in 1937, at the age of 17, and emigrated from Ireland to the United States on the Queen Mary in 1948. Many Irish immigrants in the Greater Springfield area came from the West of Ireland, and many of them, like Carney, held the culture close as they raised their families in Springfield's Hungry Hill neighborhood.

As Carney, who returned to the Great Blasket on an annual basis noted in his book, "Some people cannot get the island out of their system. I am one of those people. . . I think about it every day and still dream about it at night."

A video interview with Carney, done by area professor and Irish Cultural Center of Western New England member Mary Ellen Lowney, was featured in the 2014 exhibit, at the Wood Museum of Springfield History, that was based on The Republican's Heritage series book, "The Irish Legacy: A History of the Irish in Western Massachusetts."

Carney's remembrances of the Great Blasket in the video are shared in his book that includes pictures of the harsh life on the island where his brother Sean died in 1947 at the age of 24.

"The practice on the island was for babies to be born at home with the help of a midwife. There was not doctor on the island unless there was a serious problem of some nature, and even then only if the weather was such that the doctor could get over to the island."

"I think that living on the island built strong character. The islanders valued their family and their friends. They relied on themselves and their neighbours. They had tremendous courage and they preserved in the face of great adversity. They used their imagination and made the most out of what they had. They took advantage of opportunities that came up. And they celebrated their language and culture. In my opinion, they were a unique breed of people."

"I have a love for the island that will never go away. I am an islandman at heart and will be until the day I die."

Carney retired as a court officer from the Hampden County Hall of Justice in 1993.

His wife of 63 years, Maureen Ward, died in July 2010. The couple was married in Springfield, and raised four children: Kathleen Bowers, Maureen C. Hayes, Noreen McNamara and Michael P. Carney, a detective with the Springfield Police Department.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

A male stabbing victim died of his injuries at the Baystate Medical Center earlier Saturday evening, making him the city's 14th homicide so far in 2015.

SPRINGFIELD— Springfield detectives were at the scene of Springfield's 14th homicide of 2015 late Saturday evening.

 

Springfield police have confirmed that a male stabbing victim has died from his injuries at the Baystate Medical Center. The name of the victim has not been released.

WWLP 22 News is reporting that the stabbing took place behind an apartment building at 92 High St. just after 7 p.m.

The victim was rushed to the hospital, but later died of his injuries.

Police say they have no suspects at this time and the incident remains under investigation.

Anyone with information about the homicide is asked to call the Springfield police Detective Bureau at (413) 787-6355.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may text a tip via a cell phone by addressing a text message to "CRIMES," or "274637," and then beginning the body of the message with the word "SOLVE."