Whether they stand to the right or left of Pope Francis on issues, members of Congress should not expect the pontiff to hand out clear answers.

Speculation abounds as to the topics Pope Francis will broach on Thursday when he becomes the first pontiff to address Congress.

Francis, who will address a joint session, has been expected to talk on topics dearest to his heart and among the thorniest in Washington: immigration, abortion, and economic inequality.

But even as the pope finishes out his stop in Cuba, pundits increasingly say Francis may frame his address mainly around climate change.

The progressive-thinking pontiff this summer issued an encyclical - or official papal document - on humanity's responsibility to care for the environment and the millions whose lives are directly impacted by climate change.

Arizona Republican, Rep. Paul Gosar has come under attack for announcing he will boycott the pope's address to Congress because he feels the pope will likely refrain from using his moral and religious authority to address U.S. lawmakers about the persecution of Christians and abortion.

In an op-ed piece for Time magazine, Gosar writes that the pope is poised to squander an "opportunity to address the enslavement, belittlement, rape and desecration of Christian women and children; to address the condoned, subsidized, intentionally planned genocide of unborn children by Planned Parenthood and society; and finally, an opportunity for His Holiness to refocus our priorities on right from wrong."

It's not the first time Francis and lawmakers have stood in seemingly opposing corners.

Over the last few months, Catholic lawmakers - in particular among the GOP presidential hopefuls - have chided the pontiff for wading into debates seemingly ill-suited for a religious leader, including the Iran nuclear deal, which Francis endorsed. The pope also raised the ire of conservatives when he helped broker the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Indeed, Francis has directly and indirectly chided lawmakers - here in the U.S. and abroad - for placing politics, policy and career agenda ahead of a humanitarian stance on such issues as immigration, poverty and economic inequality.

Some say the gulf between conservative Washington and the pope may not be as wide as it appears.

Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican and Catholic from Pennsylvania, says pundits and the media often highlight the issues that seem to put the GOP at odds with the pope's teachings and not common ground.

Barletta cites the debate around abortion as an example where his party largely stands with the pope's call to protect the sanctity of life.

"Sometimes these issues were we differ are selectively highlighted versus many issues we agree on," said Barletta, who like the majority of his party members in the House on Friday voted to defund Planned Parenthood, amid illegal handling of aborted fetal tissue. 

Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican from Pennsylvania, says he hopes members of Congress will leave politics at the door on Thursday when Pope Francis makes an historic address to a joint session of Congress.PennLive File Photo 

Barletta said it's important that the pope is willing to address Congress and have a conversation with lawmakers.

"Obviously they are difficult issues," Barletta said. "That's why many haven't been resolved. I'm not sure what (Francis) will talk about, but I'm sure people of faith and people of no faith will benefit but that doesn't mean we should be afraid to listen to his views."

Barletta, who has been an outspoken advocate of hard-line immigration reform, said he does not consider his views to be in conflict with that of the pope's teachings.

Francis has excoriated lawmakers for focusing on policy and the legal and social issues of immigration not the humanitarian urgency of the tide of immigrants fleeing danger in their countries - including the thousands of unaccompanied minors that earlier this year flooded across the U.S. southern border from Central America.

"I believe there is much where we agree," Barletta said. "I agree that immigrants are seeking an opportunity for a better life and that's what America offers. There's no country on earth that has a better safety net for its citizens than the U.S. but I believe that we need to follow the law. And the church and its teachings and the pope in his teachings believe that as well."

Rick Garnett, a professor of law and political science at the University of Notre Dame, said the pope is not likely to hand out report cards. Any American politician, regardless of party, who feels affirmed by Francis is not paying attention, he said.

"He is not interested in making politicians -- whether 'liberal' or 'conservative' -- feel comfortable or smug," Garnett said. "Pope Francis's message -- like Catholic social teaching generally -- is not captured by any American political party or platform, and this should not be surprising, because the church's social teachings are grounded in claims about who we are, what we are for, and why we -- all of us -- matter that are very different from typical American views."

Indeed, Democrats such as Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., also a Catholic, has been aligned his policy views on climate change with that of the popes. But the liberal Pennsylvanian, who describes himself as a "pro-life" lawmaker, has incurred criticism from anti-abortion groups for opposing the move to defund Planned Parenthood. The National Right to Life group says Casey has only a 20 percent  "pro-life' voting record.

"Clearly, a politician who supports abortion rights is not hearing Pope Francis's call to "go to the margins" and care for the vulnerable," Garnett said. "Clearly, a politician who engages in anti-immigrant demagoguery is not hearing Pope Francis's challenge to be welcoming and merciful to those who are suffering."

Garnett warned any politician or candidate from using the pope's visit as a photo-op to exploit at election-time or solicit a pat on the back.  

"A Catholic politician -- like all Catholic citizens -- should be willing to be confronted and challenged," he said. "Pope Francis does not have, and does not claim to have, clear answers to all American policy questions.  What he is urging us all to do, though, is to think through these questions in a spirit that is always mindful of the vulnerable and thankful for our many gifts."

Barletta said he hopes that on Thursday the members of Congress will leave politics at the door as they enter the chamber to hear Francis speak.

A City Council vote on the proposed tax break for CRRC USA Rail was grounded by an occasionally used council rule a week ago, but will resurface on Sept. 29.

SPRINGFIELD - The City Council Monday night scheduled a special meeting next Tuesday, Sept. 29, to consider approving a 10-year, $10 million tax incentive for a planned subway car factory on Page Boulevard that was held up a week ago after some councilors raised concerns and questions.

Council President Michael Fenton said he scheduled the meeting at the request of the majority of councilors on Monday prior to its hearings on zone changes and special permits. Councilors said they wanted the meeting held next Tuesday rather than wait until a subsequent regular meeting, due to importance of the tax agreement.

The tax increment financing tax break is proposed by Mayor Domenic Sarno, for CRRC USA Rail Corp., building a $95 million plant at the former Westinghouse property on Page Boulevard. Under the agreement, CRRC will pay the city an estimated $27.4 million in tax revenue over the 10-year period and hire 150 full-time employees.

Debate was halted a week ago when Councilor Orlando Ramos invoked council Rule 20, a procedural rule that immediately halts debate pending a financial analysis by the city comptroller. Comptroller Patrick Burns provided the report Monday night.

Next Tuesday's meeting is set for 5 p.m., at the council chambers at City Hal.

Fenton said the meeting was requested by Councilor Kenneth Shea and supported by Ramos and other councilors and he agreed to it. Shea was initially circulating a petition for the meeting.

Both Ramos and Fenton said that the council will be able to do its "due diligence" by next Tuesday on evaluating the proposed tax increment financing agreement by next Tuesday's meeting. That includes a subcommittee meeting planned this Thursday to discuss the proposed agreement.

Sarno, Shea, and some other councilors were critical of the delay a week ago, saying it sent a negative message to the Chinese based CRRC, in contrast to a great project that will provide millions of dollars in new tax revenue and 150 good paying jobs.

"I thought we needed to get moving on this fairly quickly and not let it hang," Shea said.

Something this critical needed to be acted on without additional delay, Shea said. The next regular meeting was not until Oct. 5.

Fenton said all members of the council support the CRRC project, but are doing their due diligence. The date next Tuesday allows that, he and Ramos said.

In unrelated news, the council has scheduled a special meeting this Friday at 10:15 a.m., at City Hall, to consider filing an appeal with the state Supreme Judicial Court against a biomass plant proposed at Page Boulevard and Cadwell Drive.

Palmer Renewable Energy is proposing the biomass wood-to-energy plant and has won court rulings in favor of its building permits from the Massachusetts Land Court, upheld recently by the Massachusetts Court of Appeals.

At the special meeting, the council will consider filing an appeal of Court of Appeals ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court. The council has represented by a pro bono lawyer, Patrick Markey, and consulted with him on Monday in executive session, closed to the public, before its decision to schedule a vote on the proposed appeal.

Opponents of the plant have stated that it will worsen pollution and harm public health. Proponents argue that it will not harm health, and would be built with state-of-the-art technology to comply with state air quality regulations.

In other action, the council voted unanimously to approve a zone change from Business A and B to Business C for the Red Rose property at 1070 Main St., and the Berkshire Bank/Colvest property at 1259 East Columbus Ave.

The Business C zone change is compatible with zoning in the central business district, and allows greater flexibility for any future development of those sites, including allowing greater heights to those buildings, according to the Planning Department staff analysis. The properties are adjacent to the proposed MGM Springfield casino site.

Frank Colaccino, president of Colvest, said there are no specific plans for development, but the zone change is "just in case" some development effort occurs.

The suspect fled south on I-91 into Connecticut, according to Springfield police, who ended their chase but alerted Connecticut authorities that the suspect was armed.

SPRINGFIELD — A weekend police pursuit of an alleged drug suspect on I-91 ended shortly after it began, with the man fleeing south at a high rate of speed into Connecticut.

Connecticut authorities were alerted about the car – a gray, 1999 Acura with a Connecticut tag of 8AVLN4 – after it fled from members of the Springfield Police Department's Street Crimes Unit just after 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The suspect, who was allegedly in violation of Massachusetts' Controlled Substances Act, "made a grab for his waste" and took off in the car when officers attempted to stop him.

The Acura headed south on I-91 into Connecticut at a high rate of speed, according to police reports. Just minutes into the chase, however, a ranking Springfield officer ordered units to abort the pursuit.

The Acura was registered to a Jose Davila, 40 Elliot St., 3rd floor, Meriden, Connecticut, according to Springfield police, who alerted Connecticut State Police and authorities in Meriden and Enfield. A man with the same name and street address is also listed as a convicted sex offender, according to Connecticut's Sex Offender Registry, although that individual is listed as a 45-year-old Hispanic man who's about 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds.

The suspect who fled from Springfield police was described as a young Hispanic man, possibly 20 to 24 years old, with a beard and slim build. A Springfield street crimes officer requested dispatch personnel to tell Connecticut authorities that the fleeing suspect was "definitely armed."

It wasn't immediately known if Massachusetts or Connecticut law enforcement officials located the Acura. Detective Sgt. Robert Nesci, supervisor of the Meriden Police Department's Special Crimes Unit, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dinny McGuire, the new celebrated Ringmaster ran the show under the big top.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Grandma the Clown, Rony Gomez an international juggler, high wire acts and the Shenyang Imperial Cyclists were all featured acts in the 2015 Big E, Circus Spectacular in West Springfield on Monday.

Dinny McGuire, the new celebrated Ringmaster ran the show under the big top. The Neecha Braun trained dog delighted the crowd with their jumping abilities with the Espana Space-Star Rocket flying high above the center ring.

Eversource Energy submitted a gas supply rate that's 31 percent lower than last year.

BOSTON - Massachusetts residents who heat their homes with natural gas are expected to see lower bills this winter after two of the state's major utilities filed for lower winter rates on Monday.

Eversource Energy submitted a gas supply rate that's 31 percent lower than last year. That could save a typical customer who uses natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water about $30 per month to an average of about $140, the company said.

Bill Akley, president of Gas Operations for Eversource, said customers will be paying less for natural gas this year thanks to a drop in regional supply prices.

National Grid, meanwhile, has proposed rates that would save the typical residential natural gas customer up to $7 per month.

The utility said an anticipated drop in the cost of natural gas along with a credit that reconciles the cost difference between gas purchased last year and what customers were billed are both contributing to the lower price proposal.

The National Grid proposals are offset by an increase in the cost of some services, including energy efficiency programs and gas system enhancements.

If approved by the state Department of Public Utilities, the new rates would take effect on Nov. 1.

National Grid has about 900,000 natural gas customers in Massachusetts, while Eversource has about 300,000.

No Information about gas rates for Columbia Gas, which has many customers in Western Massachusetts, was immediately available.

Emily Maysonet-Mateo, 38, of 177 Elm St., Apt. #3R, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – her teeth – and shoplifting by asportation, according to online arrest records.

HOLYOKE — The J.C. Penney Co. has taken a licking in recent years, with layoffs, store closures and a balance sheet loaded with billions in debt.

Now, the department store chain can add biting to its list of lickings – compliments of a shoplifting suspect at the J.C. Penney store at the Holyoke Mall.

Emily Maysonet-Mateo was arrested by Holyoke police after allegedly biting a Penney's employee on Sunday afternoon. Officers were dispatched to the store around 4:15 p.m. to assist employees who struggled with the 38-year-old city woman after they caught her stealing two bottles of cologne, Holyoke Police Lt. Jim Albert said Monday night.

She allegedly left two bite marks on one store employee, Albert said. As a result, Maysonet-Mateo, of 177 Elm St., Apt. #3R, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – her teeth – and shoplifting by asportation, according to online arrest records.

She was arraigned Monday morning in Holyoke District Court on assault and shoplifting charges – police said it was her third shoplifting offense – but details of that hearing weren't immediately known.

Detectives from the Holyoke Police Narcotics and Vice Unit and detectives from the West Springfield Police Department arrested 35-year-old Tara Lee Lehenry and her 19-year-old daughter, Brianna Lam, at the Springfield Inn in West Springfield, according to Holyoke Police Lt. Jim Albert.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — A mother and daughter were arrested at a West Springfield hotel last week in connection with a prostitution probe involving the online site Backpage.com, according to Holyoke Police Lt. Jim Albert.

On Sept. 17, detectives from the Holyoke Police Narcotics and Vice Unit and detectives from the West Springfield Police Department apprehended 35-year-old Tara Lee Lehenry and her 19-year-old daughter, Brianna Lam, at the hotel. An investigation by Holyoke Police Detective Brendan Boyle led to the arrest of both women, who claimed they were homeless, according to Albert.

"Detective Boyle was aware that both suspects had numerous outstanding warrants for their arrest and was familiar with both through their ongoing narcotics and prostitution arrests in Holyoke," Albert said in a statement issued Monday night.

Investigators set up a meeting with Lehenry and Lam at the hotel after contacting them through Backpage.com. "They negotiated a financial arrangement which included both suspects during the scheduled time," Albert said. Detectives took both women into custody at the hotel without incident, he said.

Lehenry was charged on six outstanding warrants and with heroin possession after officers found several bags of the drug, Albert said. Lam was charged on five outstanding arrest warrants, he added.

Arraignment information wasn't immediately available.

The murder cases against Luis Prosper and Miguel Fonseca-Colon were in court in Springfield Monday, with new dates set for their cases charging each in the death of a young child.

The exterior of the Hampden County Hall of Justice is seen Saturday night.Dwight B. Shepard / The Republican 

SPRINGFIELD - Two men charged with murder in separate cases relating to the deaths of children were in Hampden Superior Court Monday for discussions of the status of their cases.

Coincidentally the deaths of both the children were included in a report by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting from its investigation into child fatalities as a result of abuse or neglect in Massachusetts.

Luis Prosper, 27, of Holyoke, faces a murder charge in the death of 19-month-old Jaliyah Silva in 2011.

Prosper, Silva's mother's boyfriend, was accused of shaking Silva to death while her mother was in the shower.

The NECIR reported the state's Department of Children and Families had investigated an allegation of neglect involving Silva in August 2010. The department was providing support services to the family, and the case was open at the time Silva died.

A trial had for Prosper had been set for Oct. 9 but in court Monday the trial date was changed to Feb. 22.

Defense lawyer Alan Black said it is "a fairly complicated murder case that involves a lot of experts." He said he just got the last items of discovery, including medical records, Monday morning.

Black said those records will have to be shipped to his expert in Virginia.

According to NECIR, Black has requested the Department of Children and Families records. Black wrote in a court motion that Silva had been under other people's care and he will argue at trial that someone other than Prosper was responsible for her injuries.

DCF has come under increased scrutiny recently after the death or injury of multiple children who were under DCF supervision. Most recently, state officials revealed that Bella Bond, the 2-year-old girl whose body was found on Deer Island and whose identity was unknown for months, had previously been under the supervision of state social workers.

The investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, which was also published in The Boston Globe, found that at least one-third of the 110 children whose deaths were linked to abuse or neglect between 2009 and 2013 had at some point been under DCF supervision. The investigation found systemic problems with the agency that prevents it from learning from child deaths. For example, teams that are supposed to review fatalities do not meet regularly. The state has a system that classifies children as high or low risk, yet some of the fatalities were of children classified as low risk.

The DECIR report also mentioned the case of Miguel Fonseca-Colon of Springfield, who is charged with murder in the death of 5-month-old Jadamier Cintron in 2013.

The NECIR investigation said that the Department of Children and Families had investigated a report of neglect at the time Cintron was born, and early intervention services were being provided to the family.

David P. Hoose, lawyer for Forseca-Colon, told Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page Monday the cause and time of death are "very much in dispute."

He said he needs to see if he has received all discovery, or material owed the defense, in the case.

"I'm conscious of the fact this case is getting old," Hoose told Page. He said he has over 450 pages of documents from DCF and he needs to see if he should file additional motions in the case.

A status conference will be held on the case in court Oct. 22.

The Republican reporter Shira Schoenberg contributed to this story.

Lawmakers offered support during a Wednesday news conference for legislation that they said would help crack down on violent crime by "leveling the playing field" when it comes to the state's ability to appeal bail amounts.

SPRINGFIELD ‒ State and city lawmakers offered support Wednesday for legislation that they said would help crack down on violent crime by allowing the commonwealth to appeal bail amounts it believes are too low.

Sponsors state Reps. Angelo Puppolo Jr., D-Springfield, and Michael Finn, D-West Springfield, said the newly introduced bill would allow the state to appeal bail amounts to superior courts. The process, they said, would mirror the one that currently exists for individuals after bail is levied in district court.

Supporters, including Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, said that allowing the state to challenge low bail amounts would help keep violent repeat offenders off the streets. Others, however, raised concerns that such legislation would presume a person's guilt rather than innocence.

Puppolo, who joined supporters at a Springfield City Hall news conference, called the proposal "another tool...that the district attorney, that the police commissioner can use to make sure that defendants and criminals stay behind bars."

Currently, he said, defendants have the right to appeal bail amounts that they believe are set too high - something the district attorney is unable to do if they believe bail is set too low.

"Right now, let's face it, if a defendant gets set bail, he or she can appeal any amount - say it's too high, whether it's $500, $1,500 or $10,000 or $500,000 - they can appeal that amount to superior court," Puppolos aid. "The district attorney's office has no say and there's no check on what the defendant does."

As the bill moves through the legislative process, criteria will be set regarding the formal appeal process, Puppolo said, adding that the measure "very simply, levels the playing field."

Sarno, who publicly criticized judges in June over allegedly low bail and lenient sentences, said it comes in response to violent repeat offenders who have returned to city streets due to low bail amounts. The mayor said although he understands bail is set to ensure accused individuals show up in court, several have been doing so due to subsequent arrests.

The legislation, he said, would address this issue without taking away a defendant's rights.

"We just want to make sure if there's extenuating circumstances where a violent, repeat offender somehow finds his or her way back on the street, they need to be incarcerated and kept off the streets and not terrorizing our residents," the mayor said.

Holly Richardson, of Out Now and Arise for Social Justice, argued that such legislation isn't needed to address such a small population of alleged offenders.

"If a judge has already set the bail, the judge has set the bail," she said in an interview. "We are innocent until proven guilty in this country, so folks ought to be able to then go from there."

Richardson, who also attended the event, took aim at the suggestions that individuals should be incarcerated before being proven guilty, saying "they're still innocent, whether they're in there or out, at that point in the system."

She further challenged Puppolo's claim that the proposal would "level the playing field" for the state.

"They're already ahead on the playing field - the prosecutor's office is the one that decides what charges to put forth," Richardson said. "They're already ahead of the game so, no, there's no 'leveling' there."

Puppolo contended that the legislation, doesn't take aim at the work judges have been doing in the state, saying it "is in no way an effect to any adverse sort of opinion of them."

He added that he believes the bill, which is picking up additional cosponsors, is well-written and will withstand any potential Constitutional challenges raised against it.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni , Springfield Councilor Thomas Ashe and Police Commissioner John Barbieri also spoke in favor of the legislation.

The trial of Luis Rosa, charged with murdering his mother Norma Perez, in Springfield in January 2013 starts Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD - A prosecutor on Tuesday told Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey that Luis Rosa, shortly after he was arrested, admitted killing his mother in January 2013.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Fitzgerald said Rosa told police he came up behind his mother - 57-year-old Norma Perez - with a pillow, and pressed it over her face. Rosa said Perez fell to the floor and he put the pillow on her face, pressing it until she was still.

Fitzgerald said Rosa told police he lay next to his mother after she was dead for a period of time, then flipped her over because he couldn't stand to look at her face anymore.

Rosa, 43, then stayed in his mother's apartment for hours doing drugs with friends he invited over and arranging to sell his mother's televisions before he carjacked a taxi, Fitzgerald said. She said the murder occurred in the very early morning of Jan. 6, 2013.

Fitzgerald said the motive for the murder was money, with Rosa wanting money for drugs from his mother.

Carey heard pretrial motions Tuesday in the case against Rosa, which is scheduled to start with jury selection Sept. 29.

Defense lawyer Jared Olanoff said, "The facts in this case really aren't much in dispute."

He said the jury will be asked to determine Rosa's intent and whether it is first degree or second degree murder or if it is voluntary manslaughter.

Olanoff said he will argue "voluntarily intoxication by drugs" on the part of Rosa. Because of that, he said, Rosa would not have had the capacity to form the intent to kill his mother.

Olanoff called the case a "so-called battle of the experts." He said he will present an expert who will say Rosa could not form intent and the prosecution will call an expert to dispute that.

Fitzgerald said the jury will hear Rosa's videotaped interview with police which is about five hours long.

Carey took under advisement a request by Fitzgerald to try the murder and the two charges related to the carjacking of the cab at the same trial. Olanoff wants the murder tried separately from the carjacking.

Fitzgerald said the crimes arise out of the same course of conduct and are a series of episodes close in time.

She said Rosa took a knife from his mother's 17 Saab Court apartment and got a ride with an acquaintance. Rosa said he was seeking to kill himself because of what he did to his mother when he carjacked the cab, Fitzgerald said.

The carjacking was about 24 hours after he killed his mother, Fitzgerald said.

She said the prosecution wants to use Rosa's actions in taking the knife, getting a ride to take a cab and carjacking the cab - as well as what he told police - to show he was not too impaired to form intent and understand the consequences of his actions.

Olanoff said it would be difficult enough to get an impartial jury because of the nature of the crime and to add the carjacking case to the murder case would unfairly harm Rosa.

Police initially arrested Rosa early Jan. 7, 2013, after he allegedly stabbed the Yellow Cab driver in the shoulder with large butcher knife, stole the vehicle and crashed it on State Street while attempting to elude police.

The 25-year-old taxi driver, who received a small laceration on his shoulder, was treated at a hospital and released, police said at the time. Rosa was charged with the murder of Perez later in the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 180 points and closed at 16,330.

By MATTHEW CRAFT

NEW YORK -- Another bout of turbulence swung the U.S. stock market to a loss Tuesday as raw-material producers sank along with prices for oil and copper. The selling swept across every industry, with all 10 sectors of the S&P 500 taking a fall.

JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade's chief strategist, said lingering uncertainty over China's slowdown and the timing of the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade has made investors skittish.

"I think it's really just the fact that nobody knows what to do," Kinahan said. "When things are this uncertain, the reaction is sell first and see what happens later."

Without any big news to drive trading, the indexes slumped throughout the morning, bottomed out in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day recovering their losses.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 24.23 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,942.74.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 179.72 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,330.47, and the Nasdaq composite declined 72.73 points, or 1.5 percent, to 4,756.72.

Mounting concerns about slowing growth in China and around the world have battered financial markets throughout the summer. The S&P 500, the most widely used measure of U.S. investments, has lost more than 8 percent in three months.

Investors will get another look at China's economy on Wednesday when Caixin's manufacturing index comes out. Last month, it hit a six-year low. Federal Reserve officials cited China's slowdown as one reason it decided to delay raising interest rates last week.

The scandal at Volkswagen AG, the world's top-selling carmaker, deepened after it said some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide were fitted with software to cheat U.S. emissions test. The company said it was setting aside around $7.3 billion to cover the fallout. Its U.S.-listed shares plunged $4.66, or 15 percent, to $25.44, extending Volkswagen's losses to 30 percent over two days.

In Europe, markets across the continent closed with big losses. Germany's DAX dropped 3.8 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 3.4 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 index closed with a loss of 2.8 percent.

Major indexes in Asia ended higher, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.2 percent and mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index up 0.9 percent. Markets in Japan remain closed for a three-day holiday.

Back in the U.S., ConAgra Foods tumbled 7 percent after posting a $1.2 billion quarterly loss. Sales for the maker of Chef Boyardee, Hebrew National hot dogs and other packaged food also fell short of analysts' forecasts. ConAgra's stock sank $3 to $39.40.

After the market closed on Monday, Mosaic said it would cut production of its fertilizers as falling prices for crops have hurt the company's sales. Mosaic pointed to swings in currencies and financial markets as other culprits. Its stock lost $2.56, or 7 percent, to $33.88.

U.S. government bond prices jumped, knocking the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 2.13 percent, from 2.20 percent late Monday.

In commodity trading, most industrial and precious metals settled with steep losses. Copper lost 9 cents, or 4 percent, to finish at $2.30 a pound. Gold dropped an even $8 to $1,124.80 an ounce, and silver sank 47 cents to $14.76 an ounce.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 85 cents to close at $45.83 a barrel in New York. Brent Crude, an international benchmark, rose 16 cents to close at $49.08 a barrel in London.

In other trading:

1. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 cents to close at $1.416 a gallon.
2. Heating oil rose 1.8 cents to close at $1.532 a gallon.
3. Natural gas rose 0.4 cents to close at $2.577 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The death of Bella Bond is the latest black eye for the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families, which twice before investigated neglect allegations involving Bond's mother, who lost custody of two other children because of her criminal history.

By CONOR BERRY and SHIRA SCHOENBERG
The Republican

BOSTON — Following the alleged murder of 2-year-old Bella Bond, the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families is squarely in the crosshairs of Gov. Charlie Baker's administration, which has vowed to press the state agency until protocol changes are implemented.

The death of Bond, referred to as "Baby Doe" until the toddler's mother and her boyfriend were arrested last week, and DCF's awareness of 7-year-old Jack Loiselle, an abused child who wound up in a coma, are the latest high-profile cases to cast a negative light on the agency, whose mission is to "protect children from abuse and neglect."

On Tuesday, Baker acknowledged the agency's shortcomings during a Statehouse session with reporters.

"I certainly share all the concerns (and) the sense of urgency that people have with respect to DCF," Baker said, taking aim at the organization's intake policy, which hasn't been revised for a decade. "The intake policy hasn't been updated for 10 years, and the intake policy is at the root of a whole series of cases that have recently come to light," he said.

The decision to establish a protocol and case-management plan for in-home services, which represent 35,000 of the 47,000 kids who are involved with DCF, remains a priority of his administration, he said. The fact that no plan was in place was evidence of systemic DCF issues "that needed to be fixed," Baker said.

"We're going to move very aggressively on this," he said. "We consider this a full-court press."

One problem has been the lack of follow-through at DCF, according to the governor. "People say, 'Yeah, we're going to do this,' they snap their fingers, they put out a bulletin, and then it disappears into the ether of 29 area offices and inconsistent and misunderstood follow-through," he said. "I want DCF to understand all the way to the ground ... what it is we're trying to accomplish, how it is we're trying to accomplish it, how we, as an administration, plan to support that, and how we measure what we're doing and following through on it."

The single biggest issue, according to Baker, is DCF's inconsistency. "You have nowhere near as much consistency with respect to what I would describe as the playbook that people should be relying on and working with," he said. "The fact that we don't have ... standing case practice for in-home services (that) child welfare workers and social workers can rely on as they do their work, that isn't constantly being updated – like, literally every year – as we collaboratively learn about what works and what doesn't, is a huge issue and a huge problem."

Baker got emotional as he discussed the case of Bella Bond, who was the subject of two prior DCF investigations after officials received neglect reports concerning 40-year-old Rachelle Bond, the toddler's mother. Rachelle Bond, who has a long criminal history and lost custody of two older children, is charged with being an accessory to Bella's death after the fact. Bond's boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael McCarthy, is charged with killing Bella.

The toddler's body was placed in a trash bag with weights and dropped into Boston Harbor, washing ashore on Deer Island in Winthrop in June. Authorities last week identified the decomposed body as Bella Bond, who is believed to have been killed some time in May.

As a parent, Baker said, "these cases, these kids ... break my heart." The governor said he doesn't want reforming DCF to become an endless list of proposals and recommendations "that get lost in the operation of an agency that has thousands of employees and tens of thousands of people that it's supposed to be working with and supporting." Rather, he said, "This needs to be on the ground and followed through and delivered all the way through. We've had report after report after report, but here we sit having not updated our intake policy for more than 10 years."

Baker said DCF's "fundamental purpose" is to protect kids. "That should be, and will be in this administration, their primary objective."

With respect to Bella Bond's case, Baker said: "I was saddened when we looked through the file to discover that there was literally no outreach to DCF between 2013 and the present, despite all these people who have now come forward and said they had issue A or issue B or issue C. I really wish somebody had picked up the phone and called DCF and reported some of their concerns."

In regard to DCF decisions that were made in 2012 or 2013 – the two occasions in which agency officials had dealings with Bella and Rachelle Bond – Baker was clear about his disappointment. "I'm going to come back to this like a drum," he said. "There was no updated intake protocol in place for 10 years." That means "management wasn't doing the work management should have been doing for that period of time to support social workers in the field," Baker said.

One important aspect of an updated protocol is the need to recognize the context of a case, according to Baker. "In the absence of an updated protocol, DCF treats all of these incidents as a standalone," he said. In the Bella Bond case, Baker said, "all the information associated with what happened before should have been part of the conversation, and it's not clear to me that it was. They may have had access to the previous information, but there wasn't a protocol to say you should review the case history."

Asked whether DCF closed Bella's file too soon, Baker said, "I don't know. I think everybody wishes that the friends and the family who had concerns about what was going on in this household said something about it."

One thing Baker is sure of, however, is that DCF is an organization "that needs to have much greater and more modern protocols," he said. "We're going to put them in place, and I believe it will help dramatically," Baker said.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, whose district includes the Deer Island beach where Bella's body washed ashore, said he's considering a proposal that would elevate DCF's commissioner to a cabinet-level position, meaning that person would report directly to Baker.

The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays.

WESTFIELD - Westfield State University's Arno Maris Gallery will host an artist reception for its latest exhibitor Thursday.

The artwork of the late John Colt, 'Nature up Close: the Work of John Colt' is on exhibit at the Arno Maris Gallery, located inside the Ely Campus Center, through Oct. 17.

The reception, which will feature his wife Ruth Kjaer, is scheduled Thursday from 5:30 TO 7 p.m. at the gallery. Kjaer will answer questions about Colt's artwork, inspirations and lifetime achievements.

Colt's artwork hangs at a number of institutions including the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Wright Art Museum as well as others. A native of Wisconsin, Colt moved to Amherst after retiring from teaching and remained there until his death in 1999.

Colt was largely inspired by nature and his artwork often portrays elements of the natural world with abstract qualities that include luminosity.

He was the receipient of the top award at the Walker Biennial at the Walker Art Center in 1966 and was honored with the top award from Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors in 1973. Paintings by Colt has also been published in The New Yorker, Artforum and Art in America.

the Arno Maris Art Gallery is open Tuesdays - Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays- Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 2 - 5 p.m..

A 24-year-old man has been charged with elder abuse after authorities say he punched a 78-year-old man over free Nutella waffle samples at a Los Angeles-area Costco store.

BURBANK, Calif. -- A 24-year-old man has been charged with elder abuse after authorities say he punched a 78-year-old man over free Nutella waffle samples at a Los Angeles-area Costco store.

Prosecutors say Derrick Gharabighi, of Burbank, was charged Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty in an afternoon court appearance.

He is being held on $50,000 bail, and he faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison if convicted.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says he was hoarding samples of the waffles at the Burbank Costco on Sunday morning when the 78-year-old told him to take just one.

Prosecutors say Gharabighi then punched the older man in the face.

Police say the senior citizen was hospitalized with a 1-inch cut and swelling above his eye.

Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse took office in January 2012 while Fran O'Connell founded his business in 1987.

HOLYOKE -- Mayor Alex B. Morse scored a first-place finish in Tuesday's (Sept. 22) preliminary election for mayor and heads to an Election Day showdown Nov. 3 against second-place finisher Fran O'Connell, according to unofficial results from the Morse campaign.

Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto came in third in the preliminary election and is eliminated from the race.

Morse received 43 percent of the vote to 39 percent for O'Connell and 18 percent for Soto, according to the Morse campaign.

The race has featured Morse touting accomplishments of the past four years like the opening of a passenger train platform at Main and Dwight streets, the renovation into apartments of the former Holyoke Catholic High School and the growing arts scene downtown. Such projects and more, he said, show Holyoke is making economic development and civic-spirit progress.

Meanwhile, O'Connell inspired long-time acquaintances and anti-Morse voters with his theme of a new direction for the city buttressed by his record as a successful business owner, having founded O'Connell Care at Home here in 1987, and a pledge to provide leadership and skill at management at City Hall he said Morse lacks. O'Connell is 56.

Morse, 26, who took office in January 2012, is seeking a third term as city chief executive.

Soto, 41, is in his second term as the Ward 2 councilor. He will be off the City Council as of January as he surrendered the seat to run for mayor.

Police say 22-year-old Kristofer Pregent stole a co-worker's cellphone and made the false threat under a different worker's name.

ST. ALBANS, Vt. -- Police say a Vermont chocolate factory worker hated his job and wanted to get fired, so he did the first thing that came to mind: He called in a bomb threat.

Police say 22-year-old Kristofer Pregent stole a co-worker's cellphone and made the false threat under a different worker's name Monday night at the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory in St. Albans.

Police say Pregent then threw the cellphone in a toilet.

He first told police he received a bomb threat, then later said that didn't happen. He told officers he was unhappy with his job and wanted out.

Pregent was charged with false public alarm, larceny and unlawful mischief.

A phone number for him couldn't be found Tuesday.

The shooting happened Sept. 6 and seriously injured a 42-year-old city man.

CHICOPEE - A second suspect in the downtown shooting of a city man turned himself into police Tuesday, after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Norman Pagan, 19, of 462 Liberty St., Springfield, is being held at the Hampden County House of Corrections. He was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to maim and accessory after the fact, said Michael Wilk, public information officer for the Chicopee Police Department.

Pagan is the second man to be arrested in the Sept. 6 shooting that seriously injured a 42-year-old city man. Police are still trying to identify two other suspects caught on a video camera that was near the crime scene on Cabot Street.

The other suspect, Joseph Andres Rios, 19, of 192 Phoenix Terrace, Springfield, was initially arrested by Springfield Police on Sept. 15 on a number of unrelated charges including possession of narcotics with intent to distribute, carrying a firearm and ammunition without a license, assault and battery on a police officer, receiving stolen property and malicious damage to a motor vehicle.

Norman PaganSubmitted Photo/Chicopee Police 

At the same time, Chicopee police were also searching for Rios as a suspect in the shooting. Officers in the two departments swapped information and Rios was then charged in the Chicopee shooting, Wilk said.

Chicopee police have charged Rios with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to maim, possession of a firearm in a felony and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, Wilk said.

After Rios' arrest, police released a photo of Pagan, asking people to continue passing on tips if they had any information about his location.

"Based on your sharing of our posts and your tips, numerous law enforcement officers were close to locating Norman (Pagan). He realized he could not hide any longer and turned himself in," Wilk said, thanking people for passing on information.

People with information about the other two people involved in the shooting are asked to contact the Chicopee Police Detective bureau at 594-1730. People can also message the Department's Facebook page.

Barrett came out ahead of Alcombright by a vote to 1,240 to 974.

Former North Adams Mayor John Barrett III topped incumbent Mayor Richard Alcombright in the city's preliminary election Tuesday.

John Barrett III 

According to WWLP-TV, Barrett came out ahead of Alcombright by a vote to 1,240 to 974. Eric Rudd, who was eliminated, received 204 votes.

The Berkshire Eagle reported that 2,432 of the city's registered voters cast ballots in the election, for a total turnout of 28.4 percent.

Barrett will face Alcombright in the city's Nov. 3 election.

"I plan to make North Adams strong again," the Eagle quoted Barrett as telling supporters on Tuesday.

Ironically, Alcombright entered the month of September with a much bigger financial warchest than Barrett. The Eagle reported that Alcombright's campaign had a balance of $9,328 which was more than eight times that of both of his opponents, neither of whom were actively fundraising.

Barrett, who will be running for the 15th time, has said he is running for mayor because he is opposed to the Alcombright administration's policies.

"You think this was a battle? You ain't seen nothing yet," he told supporters Tuesday night. "They're going to start coming after me personally, but we're not going to go there."

For his part, Alcombright was disappointed with the results.

"I am concerned about that, but I truly think this is a defining moment for our campaign and for this city," Alcombright told supporters Tuesday night. "We're going to have work even harder to get the votes out that didn't come this time around."

A federal judge has ruled that the music publishing company that has been collecting royalties for the song "Happy Birthday To You" does not hold a valid copyright to the popular tune that is sung worldwide.

LOS ANGELES -- The music publishing company that has been collecting royalties on the song "Happy Birthday To You" for years does not hold a valid copyright on the lyrics to the tune that is one of the mostly widely sung in the world, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge George H. King determined the song's original copyright, obtained by the Clayton F. Summy Co. from the song's writers, only covered specific piano arrangements of the song and not its lyrics. The basic tune of the song, derived from another popular children's song, "Good Morning to All," has long been in the public domain.

King's decision comes in a lawsuit filed two years ago by Good Morning To You Productions Corp., which is working on a documentary film tentatively titled "Happy Birthday." The company challenged the copyright now held by Warner/Chappell Music Inc., arguing that the song should be "dedicated to public use and in the public domain."

"Because Summy Co. never acquired the rights to the 'Happy Birthday' lyrics, defendants, as Summy Co.'s purported successors-in-interest, do not own a valid copyright in the Happy Birthday lyrics," King concluded in his 43-page ruling.

The lawsuit also asked for monetary damages and restitution of more than $5 million in licensing fees it said in 2013 that Warner/Chappell had collected from thousands of people and groups who've paid to use the song over the years.

Marshall Lamm, a spokesman for one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said that issue would be determined later.

In the meantime, one of the suit's co-plaintiffs, Ruypa Marya of the music group Ruypa & The April Fishes, praised Tuesday's decision.

"I hope we can start reimagining copyright law to do what it's supposed to do -- protect the creations of people who make stuff so that we can continue to make more stuff," said Marya, who added she paid Warner/Chappell $455 to include "Happy Birthday To You" on a live album during which members of her band and audience sang the song to her the night before her birthday.

Warner/Chappell has said it doesn't try to collect royalties from just anyone singing the song but those who use it in a commercial enterprise.

"We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options," Warner/Chappell said in a statement following Tuesday's ruling.

In his ruling King went into great detail about the history of "Happy Birthday To You" and its derivation from "Good Morning to All."

That song was written by sisters Mildred Hill and Patty Hill sometime before 1893, the judge said, adding that the sisters assigned the rights to it and other songs to Clayton F. Summy, who copyrighted and published them in a book titled "Song Stories for the Kindergarten."

"The origins of the lyrics to Happy Birthday (the 'Happy Birthday lyrics') are less clear," the judge continued, adding the first known reference to them appeared in a 1901 article in the Inland Educator and Indiana School Journal.

The full lyrics themselves, King said, didn't appear in print until 1911.

Since then, they have become the most famous lyrics in the English language, according to Guinness World Records. The song is also sung in countless other languages around the world.

Warner/Chappell, which eventually acquired the song's copyright from Summy, argued that its predecessor had registered a copyright to "Happy Birthday To You" in 1935 that gave it the rights to all of the song.

"Our record does not contain any contractual agreement from 1935 or before between the Hill sisters and Summy Co. concerning the publication and registration of these works," the judge said.

___

Associated Press writer John Rogers wrote this report.

Following a months long campaign, Anthony Soto conceded on Tuesday in the race to be the next mayor of Holyoke.

HOLYOKE -- Following a months long campaign, Anthony Soto conceded on Tuesday in the race to be the next mayor of Holyoke. 

Mayor Alex B. Morse finished on top in the preliminary mayoral election on Tuesday, Sept. 22 and will face off against Fran O'Connell, who received the second most votes. 

Soto said he was "really proud" of his campaign. "This here was a grassroots campaign," Soto said outside of his South Street headquarters on Tuesday evening. "We got the message out there." 

He began his run for mayor in May, announcing he would not run for re-election as Ward 2 city councilor. Soto said he was inspired to run after hearing from neighbors that they wanted to live on safer streets and "honest, plain government." 

He said, "They want a government that's really transparent and Holyoke deserves that." 

Morse received 42.8 percent (2,694) of the vote, 38.9 percent of Holyokers (2,450) voted for Fran O'Connell and 1,145 voters cast ballots for Soto, giving him 18.2 percent of the vote. The third-place finish eliminated Soto from the race. 

Voters chose 10 write-in candidates as well. 

The Holyoke City Clerk's office said 25.9 percent of registered Holyoke voters showed up to the polls on Tuesday. 

Soto declined to endorse either remaining mayoral candidate on Tuesday saying it was too soon to do so. 

While he will not be returning to Holyoke City Council chambers following the end of his term, the candidate said he looks forward to other opportunities. 

He said, "It won't be the last of Anthony Soto, I'll tell you that." 

Anthony Soto posed for a photo Tuesday evening outside of his campaign headquarters with campaign staff. Michelle Williams / MassLive.com