Four men were charged Monday in last week's shooting of demonstrators protesting the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Four men were charged Monday in last week's shooting of demonstrators protesting the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police, while the city's mayor separately asked the protesters to end their weekslong encampment at a police precinct.

Protesters have been at the 4th Precinct since Jamar Clark, 24, was shot Nov. 15 during what authorities said was a struggle with police. Clark died the next day. Some who said they saw the shooting allege he was handcuffed, which police dispute. State and federal investigations are underway.

Protesters have erected about two dozen tents and canopy shelters at the police station, and they have barricaded the street with lumber and pallets. During a snowy Monday morning, about seven campfires were burning to warm those who were milling about.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said Monday the encampment has become unsafe. She said campfires are making the air harmful to neighboring children and older people with respiratory problems, and the barricades are blocking access for emergency vehicles and snowplows.

But protesters have vowed to stay at the precinct despite the cold weather and last week's shooting that left five black men with injuries that weren't life-threatening. One of the injured men, Wesley Martin, said protesters would stand their ground.

"They can have the street. We can take the sidewalk," Martin said. "To be honest, we're not going nowhere."

Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23, of Lakeville, was charged Monday with five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of riot in last week's shooting. Three other men -- Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown; Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, of Pine City; and Joseph Martin Backman, 27, of Eagan -- were also charged with riot.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he filed the toughest charges possible in what he called a racially motivated attack, saying the felonies carry tougher potential sentences than any kind of hate crime-related charge. Police have said Scarsella, Gustavsson and Backman are white, while Macey is Asian.

All four men are in custody and will make their first court appearances Tuesday. Authorities said the men had attorneys, but it wasn't immediately clear who those were.

According to the criminal complaints, the group went to the protest Nov. 23 with plans to stir things up. A group of protesters tried to escort them away before eight shots rang out.

A search warrant says that after the shooting, Scarsella called an old high school friend who is a Mankato police officer and confessed. That officer told investigators that Scarsella has negative opinions about blacks, the complaint said.

According to the criminal complaint, it wasn't Scarsella's first time at the protest. He and another friend, identified as J.S., went to the precinct Nov. 19 wearing camouflage clothing and face masks, and made a video en route that contained derogatory terms. In the video, J.S. displayed a handgun and ended the recording with the words "stay white," the complaint said.

The two officers involved in Clark's shooting are on paid leave. A lawsuit that was transferred to federal court last week shows that one of the officers, Dustin Schwarze, was sued just 10 days before Clark's shooting for allegedly using excessive force during an arrest four years ago.

The lawsuit alleges that when Schwarze worked for Richfield police he used a stun gun on a vehicle passenger during a December 2011 traffic stop. The lawsuit says Schwarze also threatened to beat that passenger and another if they left the vehicle.

The lawsuit also names the city of Richfield and two other officers. Daniel Kurtz, an attorney for Schwarze, said the plaintiff had kicked an officer in the face and the officers used reasonable force to arrest him.

On Dec. 3, Safe Passage, the nonprofit organization behind the annual event, will hold a 4 p.m. press conference outside the Northampton Running Company, where Mayor David Narkewicz and members of the City Council will show their support for the race/walk.

NORTHAMPTON — The city's 12th annual Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage, a fundraiser featuring a running race and walk to benefit domestic violence victims, is slated for Sunday, Dec. 6.

On Thursday, Dec. 3, Safe Passage, the nonprofit organization behind the annual event, will hold a 4 p.m. press conference outside the Northampton Running Company, where Mayor David Narkewicz and members of the City Council will gather to show their support for the race/walk.

On race day, participants can pick up their numbers and other race information at the Northampton Running Club, 90 King St.

The Hot Chocolate Run has gotten bigger each year since it debuted in 2004. This year, about 6,000 runners and walkers are expected to participate in the sold-out event, which features a 5K road race, a 5K fun run, and a 3K walk. Every runner and walker are invited to have a mug of homemade hot chocolate after crossing the finish line.

Organizers are billing the race as "a fun and festive start to the holiday season." The community event, which draws a big crowd to downtown Northampton, benefits Safe Passage, a nonprofit group dedicated to helping survivors of domestic violence.

Adults and kids come to Safe Passage for a variety of programs, including an emergency shelter, counseling and support groups, legal advocacy, and much more. Additional information about how to support Safe Passage is available at www.hotchocolaterun.com/give.

Preliminary data from ShopperTrak showed in-store sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday were $12.1 billion, down from $12.3 billion the year earlier.

By KEN SWEET

NEW YORK -- Stocks closed modestly lower on Monday, as traders returned from the Thanksgiving holiday to focus on the early signs of how the holiday shopping season may turn out and where interest rates may go in the U.S. and Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 78.57 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,719.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 9.70 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,080.41 and the Nasdaq composite lost 18.86 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,108.67.

Consumer discretionary stocks were among the biggest decliners, including the big department stores like Macy's, Kohl's, Walmart and Target. Initial data from the first holiday shopping weekend showed shoppers were not going to stores as much as last year.

Preliminary data from ShopperTrak showed in-store sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday were $12.1 billion, down from $12.3 billion the year earlier. This despite an economic climate that should be inherently good for Americans to shop in, including lower gas prices from a year ago and an improving job market.

"We believe Black Friday has gone from a period of management excitement to one of anguish," Nomura retail analysts Simeon Siegel, Gene Vladimirov and Julie Kim wrote in a note to investors.

Investment bank analysts observed the department stores having to do deep discounting to attract shoppers to their stores. But data from research firms like ChannelAdvisor showed strong growth in sales online, which could suggest consumers decided to spend online instead of in brick-and-mortar shops.

Consumer discretionary stocks fell 1 percent, compared to the 0.5 percent drop in the S&P 500. Some of the more notable decliners were Macy's, which fell 91 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $39.08, Walmart, which fell $1.05, or 1.8 percent, to $58.84 and Urban Outfitters, which fell $1.25, or 5.3 percent, to $22.40. Even online retail giant Amazon dropped $8.46, or 1.3 percent, to $664.80.

"While it's too early to make the call about how 2015 holiday revenues (and margins) will unfold, our survey results for the Black Friday weekend don't add a lot of confidence for the broad retail landscape," Dave Weiner and Sindhu Chitturi, retail analysts for Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note to investors.

More broadly, investors are also focused on this week's European Central Bank meeting and the release of U.S. jobs data.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to give the region's economy another dose of stimulus as it tries to keep a recovery going and get inflation closer to 2 percent. The stimulus is likely to include increasing the amount banks have to pay to park money at the ECB, giving them an incentive to lend it out instead.

While the ECB moves toward increasing stimulus, the Federal Reserve is getting ready to start raising interest rates for the first time since June 2006. A series of U.S. economic reports this week, culminating with Friday's jobs survey for November, could cement investors' expectations for a rate hike at the Fed's next policy meeting in mid-December.

"Unless this report is a total disaster, I think it's very, very likely the Fed is going to raise in December," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

The policy divergence between the two central banks has weighed on the euro and sent the dollar higher. On Monday the euro fell to $1.0572, its lowest level since April. It traded at $1.0591 late Friday.

Major U.S. stock indexes ended November with slight gains. The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent and the Dow gained 0.3 percent.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 6 cents to $41.65 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, lost 25 cents to close at $44.61 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 3.2 cents to $1.359 a gallon, heating oil fell 1.6 cents to $1.337 a gallon and natural gas rose 2.3 cents to $2.235 per 1,000 cubic feet.

U.S. government bond prices didn't move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 2.21 percent. The dollar rose to 123.12 yen from 122.85 yen late Friday.

Gold rose $9.60 to $1,065.80 an ounce, silver edged up four cents to $14.05 an ounce and copper edged down half a penny to $2.04 a pound.

The program is scheduled to resume operations next spring.

WESTFIELD - The city's bulk trash pickup program will close down for the winter months effective Friday, the Department of Public Works has announced.

The program offers to pick up bulk trash items per reservation through spring, summer and winter months.

Residents wishing to utilize the service must call DPW at 413-572-6226 to schedule pickup.

EAST LONGMEADOW — A 13-6 victory for East Longmeadow High School's football team over rival Longmeadow High School on Thanksgiving was a welcome victory, East Longmeadow School Superintendent Gordon Smith said. But the Spartans' win over the Lancers paled in comparison to the way the annual event unifies the two towns, Smith added on Monday. "The most important thing, in...

EAST LONGMEADOW — A 13-6 victory for East Longmeadow High School's football team over rival Longmeadow High School on Thanksgiving was a welcome victory, East Longmeadow School Superintendent Gordon Smith said.

Gordon C. Smith 

"The most important thing, in my opinion, is getting both communities together," Smith said.

With temperatures in the high 50's on Thanksgiving this year, crowds of residents from both towns showed up in droves to Longmeadow High School, where the game was played.

Like every year, the game included a community food drive, for which attendees brought a wide variety of goods for food pantries that benefit those in need in each town, Smith said.

"Getting the two communities together and giving back is great," Smith said.

Jabari Dean, 21, of Chicago, threatened to kill 16 white male students or staff at the school on Chicago's South Side, according to the criminal complaint.

By MICHAEL TARM, DON BABWIN
and SOPHIA TAREEN

CHICAGO -- Federal authorities said an online threat that led the University of Chicago to cancel classes Monday targeted whites and was motivated by the police shooting of a black teenager, video of which was released last week and led to protests.

Jabari R. Dean, 21, of Chicago, threatened to kill 16 white male students or staff at the school on Chicago's South Side, according to the criminal complaint.

Dean, who is black, was arrested Monday morning. He did not enter a plea later in the day on a charge of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce in court.

The threat was posted Saturday, just days after the city released a video of Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was black, 16 times. Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder. His bond was set for $1.5 million earlier Monday, and hours later, he paid the $150,000 needed and was released.

Authorities in Illinois said Dean posted online from a phone that he would "execute approximately ... 16 white male students and or staff, which is the same number of time (sic) McDonald was killed" and "will die killing any number of white policemen that I can in the process."

The criminal complaint said someone tipped the FBI Sunday to a threat that was posted on a social media website. The FBI was unable to find the threat online, and was provided a screenshot by the person who reported the threat.

That led them to Dean, who admitted to FBI agents that he posted the threat and took it down shortly after posting it, the complaint said. Despite the threat mentioning three guns, a prosecutor told Monday's hearing that Dean did not appear to pose a threat. The complaint did not say whether Dean possessed any weapons.

Dean is a first-year undergraduate student in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, UIC spokeswoman Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez. He wore a red sweat shirt emblazoned with the name of that school in court.

Phillip Rutherford, who later identified himself as Jabari's uncle, said loudly in the courtroom as the hearing adjourned, "Hey Jabari. ... Just be cool, OK?" Rutherford later told reporters that Jabari was never serious about an attack and had done something "silly" and "stupid" because he'd had too much time on his hands.

"He's run out of things to do," Rutherford said.

Jabari's lawyer declined comment Monday. A judge ordered Dean be held until Tuesday's bond hearing, when prosecutors will likely agree to let him be released to his mother.

The University of Chicago, where President Barack Obama taught law, first alerted students and staff Sunday night about a threat that mentioned the quad, a popular gathering place, and 10 a.m. Monday. The school urged faculty, students and non-essential staff to stay away from the Hyde Park campus through midnight Monday and told students in college housing to stay indoors.

The cancellations of classes and activities affected more than 30,000 people, though the University of Chicago Medical Center was open to patients.

The normally bustling campus was almost desolate Monday morning as Chicago Police Department and campus security vehicles patrolled streets. Security staff guarded campus walkways, including the quad mentioned in the threat. The time mentioned in the threat came and went without incident.

The university had said the decision to close was taken following "recent tragic events" at other campuses nationwide. On Oct. 1 at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, a gunman opened fire and killed nine people. Other shootings have happened in Arizona and Tennessee.

Classes will resume Tuesday after what university President Robert Zimmer said was a "challenging day."

Students closed their books, shut down their laptops and hurried home Sunday when the school first alerted people to the threat, according to student body president Tyler Kissinger. "I work in the campus coffee shop and when people got the notice (announcements and online) they really cleared out of here immediately," the 21-year-old senior said.

Junchen Feng, who's pursuing a doctorate, said the threat raised his awareness about gun violence in Chicago and beyond.

"For the first time I was thinking about people who live in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan ... where they live under constant threats of death and violence," the student from China said. "It's a mindset that we just don't have."

Police have said that McDonald was carrying a knife and an autopsy revealed that he had PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, in his system. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said last week in announcing the first-degree murder charge against Van Dyke that the 3-inch blade recovered from the scene had been folded into the handle.

In the audio-free video, McDonald can be seen walking down the middle of a four-lane street. He appears to veer away from two officers as they emerge from a vehicle, drawing their guns. One of the officers, Van Dyke, opens fire from close range. McDonald spins around and crumples to the ground. The officer continues to fire.

Van Dyke's attorney, Dan Herbert, maintains that Van Dyke feared for his life, acted lawfully and that the video does not tell the whole story. He told reporters Monday that Van Dyke "absolutely" can defend his actions in court and that the officer is "very scared about the consequences he is facing."

AP writer Greg McCune contributed to this report.

The company reserves the right to refile its permit applications.

WESTFIELD - Pride Limited Partnership has withdrawn its request for various permits needed to develop property on Southampton Road, directly across from Exit 3 of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Earlier this month Pride owner Robert Bolduc withdrew his permit requests being considered by the Planning Board as well as the City Council. Bolduc reserves his right to refile the applications at a later date.

Bolduc told Planning Board members his request for various permits needed to develop fueling stations, a restaurant and convenience store was being withdrawn because scheduled state studies on traffic and envirnomental issues at the development site will not be completed before the end of 2015.

Also, Bolduc sent a letter to the City Council two weeks ago requesting to withdraw his request for a fuel storage permit at the site with intentions of refiling at a later date.

He has indicated he will resubmit permit applications to the city in 2016.

The property across from the Turnpike is owned by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority but under a 99-year least to Bolduc.

His multi-million development plans call for construction of a regular gasoline station, diesel truck refueling station, compressed natural gas and electric charging stations. A restaurant and convenience store operations.

The proposed development was first introduced to the City Council and Planning Board in 2008.

A Dorchester woman was arrested in possession of one of the assault rifles stolen from the U.S. Army Reserve armory in Worcester earlier this month.

WORCESTER - A Dorchester woman was arrested in possession of one of the assault rifles stolen from the U.S. Army Reserve armory in Worcester earlier this month.

Ashley Bigsbee, 26, was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and making false statements to federal agents regarding the theft of 16 weapons from the North Lake Avenue facility.

Bigsbee was arrested Friday on an outstanding warrant, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's office. Authorities searched her phone and found photos of her with what appears to be one of the stolen handguns and one of the M-4 assault rifles.

The weapons were stolen on Nov. 14 when former army reservist James Morales is accused of breaking into the armory where he'd previously worked.

Bigsbee had spoken to federal agents prior to her arrest on Friday and denied knowing about the robbery or the guns Morales was allegedly trying to sell, according to an arrest affidavit.

According to court records, Bigsbee and her roommate met with Morales on Nov. 15, the day after the robbery to arrange the sale of five of the guns.

Morales allegedly told police that Bigsbee introduced him to her roommate, described as a "black male with dreadlocks," who brokered the sale of the five of the guns to two "'clean cut' Hispanic" men.

For arranging the sale, Morales allegedly gave the man one M-4 rifle and one handgun.

Authorities searched 27 Page St., Dorchester, where Bigsbee allegedly took the photos were, but didn't find any weapons.

The U.S. Attorney's office noted that the final M-4 assault rifle was recovered in Dorchester on Nov. 27.

Bigsbee went before a judge in U.S. District Court in Worcester on Monday and will remain in custody until a detention hearing is held on Dec. 3.

So far, authorities have said 10 of the 16 stolen weapons have been recovered. The FBI announced a $15,000 reward Monday for anyone with information leading to the recovery of the six M-11 pistols still missing.

Morales, 34, was arrested four days after the theft in New York. He was brought before a federal judge there and ordered to return to Massachusetts to face charges.

Building community support for a new school will 'take a village,' said chairman Tom Brown.

EASTHAMPTON -- Thomas Brown, senior vice president at Easthampton Savings Bank, has been chosen to chair the city's school building committee, which met for the first time Monday night.

Brown was unanimously chosen by the board after his name was put forth by Mayor Karen Cadieux. Brown said he was honored to accept, while noting that shepherding any new school project from start to finish will be a "huge collaborative effort" which will "take a village."

City officials have been talking about building a new consolidated school since March, when the city was invited by the Massachusetts School Building Authority to enter a 270-day "eligibility module." During that time, the city was expected to take various steps to demonstrate its readiness to take on a large construction project. The state in September, satisfied with progress, invited Easthampton to conduct a feasibility study.

Superintendent Nancy Follansbee said state officials are open to three options: one which would renovate or replace the Maple Elementary School, another which would replace the city's three elementary schools with a new building, and a third option for a consolidated K-8 school.

Follansbee said the state officials are flexible, even though the document which initially caught their eye was an "expression of interest" that described conditions at the Maple Elementary School at 7 Chapel St., which opened in 1896. "We had to identify a priority project," she said.

Expressions of interest were also put forth for the 1903 Center Elementary School at 9 School St., the 1912 Pepin Elementary School at 4 Park St., and the White Brook Middle School, said Follansbee.

Follansbee said that when members of the building authority visited the Maple School earlier this year, they also took a quick look at White Brook, and "saw the site, with lots of acreage." The White Brook Middle School, built in the 1970s, has been plagued with mechanical problems.

Brown said that he would favor a consolidated K-8 school, and hopes the state is "wise enough to see" that the option, which would initially cost more than simply replacing the Maple School, would make the most sense in the long run.

"A consolidated K-through-eight school would be the best for them, and the best for us," said Brown. Cadieux assured Brown that the Massachusetts School Building Authority, chaired by state treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, is "very wise."

Follansbee said the building authority had offered to put her in touch with other communities that had built K-8 schools, and that she hoped to hold public forums on the topic.

"The charter school in our community is K-through-eight," she said. Brown added that his children attended a K-8 parochial school, and that in his view, the arrangement was a good one.

Also on Monday night, the board approved a request for services (RFS) to seek a project manager for the feasibility and schematic design phases of the project. The project manager may optionally stay on through any construction phase. The entire cost of project management is estimated to cost anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million. A bond authorization in the amount of $1 million to conduct a feasibility study was approved by the City Council in June.

A subcommittee to choose a project manager will include Cadieux, Follansbe, city finance director Melissa Zawadzki, and interim school business services director Dayle Doiron, said Cadieux. Businessman David Boyle was also named to that subcommittee Monday night.

No school will be built without an authorization from voters to at least temporarily raise taxes for a capital project. Officials have put forth no cost estimates at this point. "We're still in the very early stages," said Cadieux.

The building committee includes Brown, Cadieux, Follansbee, Zawadzki, Doiron, Boyle, School Committee chair Deborah Lusnia, Maple School acting principal Judith Averill, school maintenance director Peter Roy, City Council Finance Committee chair Daniel Hagan, Fire Chief David Mottor, businessman Patrick Brough, Center for EcoTechnology staffer Marin Goldstein, Zoning Board of Appeals chair John Atwater.

The quasi-public Massachusetts School Building Authority was established in 2004. It has a dedicated revenue stream of one penny of the state's 6.25-percent sales tax, and provides partial reimbursement for school construction projects.

Easthampton's $39.2 million high school opened in 2013 and was reimbursed at the rate of 63 percent.  The school building committee for that project first met in 2001.

Brown said a major role of the new school building committee will be to "make the case to the community" for the project, an endeavor "which will truly take a village." He  promised to run meetings efficiently, and to hold them only as needed.

Mary Serreze can be reached at mserreze@gmail.com

While some left the gathering at Trump's skyscraper in midtown Manhattan with hopes their message had resonated, Trump said afterward he had no plans to change his approach, which he said had taken him to "first position in every single poll."

By JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK -- Dozens of black pastors pressed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday to address what some called his use of racially charged rhetoric, with several describing a meeting that became tense at times as attendees raised concerns about his blunt language.

While some left the gathering at Trump's skyscraper in midtown Manhattan with hopes their message had resonated, Trump said afterward he had no plans to change his approach, which he said had taken him to "first position in every single poll."

"The beautiful thing about the meeting is that they didn't really ask me to change the tone," Trump said. "I think they really want to see victory, because ultimately it is about, we want to win and we want to win together."

But several pastors who met with the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star, who has held a consistent lead in preference polls of GOP voters for several months due in large part to his aggressive style of campaigning, told a different story.

Bishop George Bloomer, who traveled to the gathering from North Carolina, said he arrived in New York with concerns about "the racial comments that have been made and the insensitive comments that have been made," including an incident earlier this month in which a black protester was roughed up by Trump supporters at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama.

Trump said after the incident, "Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing."

"I asked him: 'Are you a racist? People are saying that about you,'" Bloomer said. "If you are seeking the African-American community to support you, at the least, you're not helping with these kind of things that are going on."

Bloomer said that he told Trump that "if he wants to have our ear as a community, to at least tone down the rhetoric some kind of way, tone it down. And he said that he would."

Pastor Al Morgan of Launch Ministries in Raleigh, North Carolina, said part of the group's discussion focused on whether Trump should maybe lighten up a bit.

"What he said was that he would take that into consideration," Morgan said. "So the thing was trying to be who he is, so you have to remain true to yourself. And, in his defense, that's gotten him where he is. So the thing is, how do you convey a person's heart with their personality? That's the dilemma."

Trump is seeking to replace President Barack Obama, who won two terms in the White House by bringing together a coalition of young people, single women and black and Hispanic voters.

Democrats typically have an enormous edge with African-American voters, with Republican presidential candidates faring poorly among minorities in the past two elections. In 2012, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks, 93 percent of blacks voted to re-elect Obama. In 2008, he won the vote of 95 percent of blacks.

But Trump has been courting the support of evangelical black clergy members as he works to broaden his appeal in a crowded Republican field. Monday's meeting was originally promoted by his campaign as an endorsement event, in which he would receive the backing of 100 black evangelical and religious leaders.

But many of those invited to the meet-and-greet objected over the weekend to that description, saying they had instead accepted the invitation because they wanted to meet with Trump to challenge him about what he's said as a candidate.

Trump kicked off his campaign with a speech in which he said some Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, and recently drew criticism for retweeting an image of inaccurate statistics that vastly overrepresented the number of whites killed by blacks, among other errors.

In a letter published by Ebony magazine, more than 100 black religious leaders wrote that "Trump's racially inaccurate, insensitive and incendiary rhetoric should give those charged with the care of the spirits and souls of black people great pause."

They also expressed concern that the meeting Monday would "give Trump the appearance of legitimacy among those who follow your leadership and respect your position as clergy."

But Pastor Victor Couzens, from Cincinnati, Ohio, said that as a leader in his community, he felt an obligation to attend the meeting to hear what Trump had to say.

"It's very unfortunate the way he has talked to not just the African-American community, but things he's said about women and Mexicans and Muslims. It's very discouraging," Couzens said. "But what's more discouraging than the things that he has said is the fact that in the face of him saying all of these things, he continues to surge in the polls."

Plans for a post-meeting news conference were initially canceled, but then unexpectedly revived by a few participants. They met with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower, with the building's namesake uncharacteristically waiting patiently for his turn to speak.

While there was no wide-ranging endorsement from the group as a whole, some of those who attended expressed their full-throated support for Trump.

"What we were able to do today was allow people to see his heart for themselves and to make up their own minds about him," said Darrell Scott, the senior pastor of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, who helped to organize the meeting. "They find out that he's not the person that the media has depicted him to be."

Ian Ricci said he was driving home early Friday morning after celebrating Thanksgiving when someone fired seven shots at his car, striking the bumper.

SPRINGFIELD -- Ian Ricci, a 35-year-old software engineer, was driving downtown early Friday morning after celebrating Thanksgiving with his parents. But his good mood was shattered, he said, when a car zoomed up behind him and someone from the passenger side fired seven shots at his car.

"I heard, 'bang! bang!' and then it kicked in that it was gunshots," Ricci said in a phone interview Monday. "I floored it."

He drove across the river to West Springfield before stopping to call police.

Ricci said he loves Springfield, where he has lived almost his whole life. But after the terrifying experience so near his apartment at Stockbridge Court, he fled the city. He said he stayed with friends in Northampton and didn't return to his apartment until Monday morning.

"I'm always defending the city," he said, including from friends who tell him he should move because Springfield is too dangerous.

"It's hard to defend it after what happened," he said. "I have bullet holes in my car."

But Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney said Ricci's story is suspect. He said Ricci could not describe the vehicle at all and police never found any shell casings at the scene.

Plus, Ricci delayed in reporting the incident to Springfield police while driving to West Springfield and then to his parents in Sixteen Acres. Ricci told MassLive that he was so frightened by the incident that he did not want to be in downtown Springfield.

"We can't verify that it happened," Delaney said. Unprovoked shootings involving strangers are "extremely rare" in the city, he said. More often, they know each other, he said.

Ricci said he showed police a bullet hole in his bumper and wheel well, and officers played him a recording of what sounded like gunshots, picked up by the city's Shotspotter technology.

Delaney said he read the police report and did not recall seeing anything about bullet holes or Shotspotter recordings. He said he could not contact any of the detectives on the case or provide a copy of the police report until Tuesday.

A reported bullet hole in the car.Ian Ricci 

Ricci said the incident occurred around 3 a.m. right after he turned from Maple Street onto Union Street.

"That's when I noticed this guy riding my tail. I couldn't even see his headlights, he was so close," Ricci said. He also couldn't see a license plate number or the make of the vehicle.

The car started swerving right behind him and then the shots came in quick succession. Ricci said he immediately swerved and put his foot down on the accelerator, and it appears the shooter missed the car with all but one shot.

There is a hole in the passenger side bumper and in the wheel well under the car, Ricci said, which seems to be where a bullet went in and exited.

As he accelerated away, he said the car appeared to turn onto East Park Street. He was so "freaked out," he said, that he drove across the bridge to West Springfield, and collected himself in a parking lot before calling police.

His 911 call went to West Springfield police, who took a report from him but told him Springfield police would conduct the investigation. He went back to his parents house and phoned Springfield police from there, he said.

Officers responded, inspected his car and informed him that the department's ShotSpotter technology had registered seven gunshots at the same time and place that Ricci was reporting.

They even played the recording for him, he said.

One officer told him police were unable to find shell casings from the reported shooting, Ricci said. 

Ian RicciSubmitted photo 

He has a few theories, like that the shooter was trying to blow out his tire. He and his friends have discussed many possible scenarios, including that the shooting was just a random crime, a case of mistaken identity, or -- although he admits it's a common urban legend -- some sort of gang initiation activity.

Ricci didn't imagine he'd be starting his workweek filing an insurance claim for a bullet hole in his car, but that's what he was doing Monday. He was also wondering if he would be able to stay in Springfield after the trauma of his experience.

"I never expected anything like it. I'm always defending Springfield, saying this stuff doesn't happen," he said.

Ricci was born in Springfield and graduated from Cathedral High School and Springfield Technical Community College before attending UMass Amherst.

Then he co-founded SolBid, a Springfield company that helps businesses get started with solar energy.

"There are a lot of good things happening in the city," he said. "And it's really sad to see something like this happen."

"I like this city. I don't want to move," he said. But, he added, "I feel uncomfortable where I am. I don't want to drive in at night in the downtown."

He said that while police took him seriously when he reported what happened, he got the impression that they were not optimistic about locating the car or the shooter. An officer told him that while there are security cameras downtown, the quality of the video is usually too poor to make out a license plate or any details.

Delaney confirmed that, and said that while the case was still under investigation, it wasn't likely to take much longer since there was so little to go on. "I think it will die a natural death," he said.

Ricci said he hasn't heard from police since Friday. He was shocked Monday to hear that Delaney doubted his account of events. "What do I have to gain from this?" he said.

"Something needs to be done about it," Ricci said.

"It shouldn't be this bad," he said of Springfield. "I'm not willing to accept that."

Plus: Find out how an Oregon doctor might be on track to cure the disease. Watch video

Each year on Dec. 1, people around the planet gather to commemorate World AIDS Day, remembering those killed or otherwise affected by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and hoping for a cure.

One Oregon doctor, Louis Picker, has lost friends, a relative and patients to AIDS, and is working to beat the disease. Find out how the cure he is working on works:

The U.S. military will deploy a new special operations force to Iraq to step up the fight against Islamic State militants unleashing violence in Iraq and Syria and determined to hold territory they have seized across the Middle East, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. military will deploy a new special operations force to Iraq to step up the fight against Islamic State militants unleashing violence in Iraq and Syria and determined to hold territory they have seized across the Middle East, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress on Tuesday.

Carter, who testified alongside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced skeptical lawmakers who argued that the U.S. needs to be more forceful in countering the threat from IS, credited with attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner.

Carter told the House Armed Services Committee that over time, the special operations force will be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture IS leaders. Carter said that will improve intelligence and generate more targets for attacks.

There currently are about 3,300 U.S. troops in Iraq, and President Barack Obama had previously announced he was sending fewer than 50 special operations forces to Syria. There has been a growing call from some Republicans for more U.S. boots on the ground and a divide among war-weary Americans about the prospect of greater military involvement.

Carter said the number in the new expeditionary force will be "larger" than 50. He said it will be a "standing" force, meaning it will be stationed in Iraq. He said it would focus on helping Iraq defend its borders and build the Iraqi security forces, but also would be in position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria.

"This is an important capability because it takes advantage of what we're good at," Carter said. "We're good at intelligence, we're good at mobility, we're good at surprise. We have the long reach that no one else has. And it puts everybody on notice in Syria. You don't know at night who's going to be coming in the window. And that's the sensation that we want all of ISIL's leadership and followers to have."

According to a U.S. official, the force could total up to a couple hundred troops, including the assault teams, aviation units and other support units. It would likely be based in Irbil.

Obama has set the maximum number of troops at 3,550, but it was not clear whether the president will increase that number to accommodate the force, or whether the teams would have to be built within the current limit.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to publicly discuss military planning.

Carter said the force might be American-only, but more likely would be a mixed force with perhaps Kurdish troops or others who are fighting the militants. He said the new force would conduct operations similar to two conducted earlier this year.

In October, U.S. special operations troops and Iraqi forces raided a compound in northern Iraq freeing about 70 Iraqi prisoners who were facing execution. One U.S. service member was killed in the raid, the first American combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began its campaign against IS in August 2014. In May, a Delta Force raid in Syria killed IS financier Abu Sayyaf, yielded intelligence about the group's structure and finances, and his wife, held in Iraq, has been cooperating with interrogators.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the committee, said the U.S. military effort must be bolstered and directed by the military and not "White House aides micromanaging" military operations.

"If we're going to be serious about ISIS, the president needs to assign the military a clear mission and then allow the military to carry it out," Thornberry said, using an acronym for the militant network.

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee, said the group needs to be defeated, not just contained. He said IS gains strength by claiming to be fighting against Western aggression.

"If all we have is Western aggression, we will never win," he said.

Polling after the attacks in Paris and Beirut found Americans divided over sending U.S. ground troops to fight IS. A Gallup survey said that 47 percent of Americans favored sending more ground troops to Iraq and Syria and 46 percent were opposed.

Carter said in recent weeks, air strikes have destroyed IS oil wells, processing facilities and nearly 400 oil tanker-trucks. Dunford said that about 43 percent of the revenue that IS derives from oil has been affected by the recent strikes and that the U.S. also is targeting cement and other industries from which IS draws funds.

In Syria, Carter said that U.S-backed local forces are engaging IS fighters in the last remaining pocket of access between Syria and Turkey to the north. The U.S. also is helping a coalition of Syrian Arabs in northeastern Syria, fighting alongside Kurdish forces, that has pushed IS out of the town of al-Hawl and at least 347 square miles of surrounding territory. They now are trying to move south to isolate and hopefully retake the IS stronghold of Raqqa, he said. In southern Syria, the U.S. is enabling fighters to conduct strikes and is enhancing the border control and defenses of Jordan, a key ally.

In Iraq, Kurdish units, with help from the U.S., have retaken the northern town of Sinjar and cut off communication between Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, the two largest cities under IS control

Holyoke Council President Kevin Jourdain said he has commitments from councilors for another term as president.

HOLYOKE -- The "Draft Tallman for Holyoke Council President" effort might have a key supporter -- Councilor Peter R. Tallman himself.

"I wasn't aware of it. I didn't ask for it....I'm flattered that they would consider 'drafting' me," Tallman said Tuesday in a phone interview. "I'm going to see how this plays out in the next week or so....It's unlikely that I would run for council president, but I'm going to consult with my family and my supporters. I'm not ruling it out."

Tallman, 58, a 17-year councilor at large, attracted the most votes of any candidate on the city election ballot on Nov. 3, with 5,476 votes, in winning reelection to another two-year term.

The "draft" arose in the form of a Facebook page that began to appear recently. The person or persons who established the page couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The effort to install Tallman as president of the 15-member council comes with a few forces at work. Councilor at Large Kevin A. Jourdain, the current president, said Nov. 12 he has more than the enough votes from among the 13 returning councilors and the two new ones to secure a third term as president when the council holds its leadership vote next month.

Winning the presidency requires votes from a majority of the 15 councilors.

But it is not unusual for a councilor to change his or her vote on an issue, especially if they have clashed with a president in the past or, in the case of presidency balloting, are promised a committee chairmanship.

Also, Tallman's even-keel personality is highlighted on the Facebook page without any mention of Jourdain. Juan C. Anderson-Burgos, who lost to Jourdain in the Nov. 3 election for the Ward 6 council seat, said he ran because Jourdain in his 22 years on the council had excluded some voices. Jourdain has said the criticism was untrue and obviously unfounded since voters have returned him to office for more than two decades.

The draft Tallman Facebook page states:

"Councilor Tallman is a calm, effective, and dedicated leader with 17 years of City Council experience. He is a US Army veteran and a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. Serving his city and his country is what Councilor Tallman does best."

The Facebook page includes Tallman's email address and asks people to urge him to seek the council presidency.

Tallman, who said he has not committed his vote to Jourdain for council president, said he has received five or six such emails.

Jourdain said of the "draft" Tallman effort:

"Pete Tallman is a good friend of mine and we have served together for many years. He is a wonderful person. He has always been a strong supporter of my work as council president and he knows how hard I work. I would love to have his support again. I respect whatever decision he makes but Peter I am sure already knows I have the committed votes for re-election to my last term as president."

The president runs meetings in City Council Chambers at City Hall standing at an elevated podium that faces the 14 other councilors seated in a circle. The president reads orders on meeting agendas for actions by the council, whose role is to approve or reject spending requests, decide whether to grant special permits and zone changes and establish ordinances and parking and traffic rules.

Councilors must wait to speak on an issue until acknowledged by the president in the order in which councilors raised hands.

The president also is the council's media spokesman and representative in meetings with the mayor and other officials.

Councilors are paid $10,000 a year each and the president receives an additional $1,000.

Massachusetts state government is on track to pay $190 million less in state salaries this fiscal year as a result of an early retirement incentive program for state employees, according to a report from Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore.

BOSTON -- Massachusetts state government is on track to pay $190 million less in state salaries this fiscal year as a result of an early retirement incentive program for state employees, according to a report from Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore.

That figure is not a full accounting of the savings to the state, since it does not take into account the money that the state had to pay employees to retire early.

Gov. Charlie Baker proposed the retirement incentive program as a way to cut the size of state government while saving money. He had hoped to save $170 million annually if 4,500 people took the incentive.

Ultimately, only 2,497 people took the incentive, according to Lepore's report, which was given to lawmakers on Tuesday. But state officials had said they could save additional money by filling fewer of the vacant positions.

So far, the administration has filled 138 of the vacated positions through either new hires or promotions of existing employees, spending $3.6 million on those salaries.

Lepore estimated that the gross salary savings will be $189.6 in fiscal year 2016, which ends in June, and another $195.3 million in fiscal year 2017.

Lepore wrote in her letter to Ways and Means Committee chairmen State Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, and State Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, that she could not determine yet how many of the vacant positions would ultimately be filled, since agencies were still refining their requests for hiring and promotions.

"My office will continue to work with all executive department offices affected by early retirement to ensure the delivery of critical state services as we have done since proposing this multi-year budget saving initiative last March," Lepore wrote.

In announcing the birth of their first child, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan also announced plans to donate most of their wealth to improve the world.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in a lengthy letter addressed ostensibly to his newborn daughter but in reality directed to the millions of people who use the social media platform, announced he intends to donate nearly all of his wealth to making the world a better place.

The letter, posted on Zuckerberg's own Facebook page, is titled "A Letter to Our Daughter."

In it, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, outline their plans to sell 99 percent of his shares in Facebook - valued at roughly $45 billion - to a foundation called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

"For your generation to live in a better world, there is so much more our generation can do," the letter reads.

Zuckerberg and Chan's first child, a daughter named Max, was born last week, but the news was not announced until Tuesday afternoon.

"Today your mother and I are committing to spend our lives doing our small part to solve these challenges. I will continue to served as Facebook's CEO for years to come, but these issues are too important to wait until you or we are older to begin this work."

"By starting at a young age, we hope to see compounding benefits throughout our lives," the letter reads.

The specific goals of the foundation are not outlined, but its broad focus includes "personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities."

It pledges to share more details in the coming months.

The Facebook co-founder and chief executive is one of the world's wealthiest men. He and Chan, a pediatrician, have previously donated large sums to public schools in Newark, New Jersey, and the San Francisco Bay Area, along with the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where Chan did her medical training.

Zuckerberg, 31, launched Facebook while a student at Harvard. He was a billionaire by age 23. 

Greene also will bring a similar presentation to the library in Ware on Dec. 9

PALMER - J.R. Greene, has released his annual tribute to the lost Quabbin towns, the 2016 Quabbin History Calendar.

The region's Quabbin Reservoir expert said three of the photographs feature the town of Enfield, which would have celebrated its bicentennial in 2016 had it not been flooded in the 1930s to make room for the massive reservoir that holds 412 billion gallons of water and supplies much of the water to Boston and surrounding communities, as well as Chicopee, Wilbraham and part of South Hadley.

Greene has made it his life mission to collect Quabbin memorabilia in an effort to show people what life was like in the towns of Enfield, Dana, Prescott and Greenwich before they were flooded so that the reservoir could be constructed. The entire population of the four towns had to be moved - hundreds of homes, businesses, a state highway, railroad line, and 34 cemeteries were relocated or dismantled. In addition, more than 6,000 graves were moved from the valley to Quabbin Park Cemetery.

Below the water, cellar holes and sidewalks remain, he said.

"There's no Atlantis down there," Greene said.

His collection of photographs shows slices of town life - people at their workaday lives, factories in operation, farms, homes, hotels.

January's photograph shows a man with a saw cutting ice on Greenwich Lake - it was taken in the late 1920s.

April's picture shows the Swift River Box Factory in North Dana - it was moved in 1935 to Athol.

February's photograph shows a crowd at the Enfield railroad station in 1916, during its three-day centennial celebration. July's featured photo shows the Swift River Hotel in Enfield in 1916, decked out with bunting for the centennial.

Greene even reproduced a sticker that was handed out at the celebration. It reads, "All roads lead to Enfield, Mass., 1816, 1916, July 2,3,4, 100th anniversary."

Greene said the Friends of the Quabbin group, of which he is the chairman, want to plan an event in 2016 to commemorate what would have been Enfield's bicentennial. He said the group plans to invite former Enfield residents.

"Anybody who's really old enough to remember anything from the valley has got to be well into their 80s now," Greene said.

Greene said he embarks on the annual project in an effort to honor the former towns.

"You can't go home again as Tom Wolfe said," Greene said. "I'm always showing different scenes of the places that are gone. You can't bring back the former towns."
"People say, 'What was it like?' It definitely has a romantic allure for people," Greene said.

People from all over the country order the calendar each year, many of them descendants of residents of the former towns, Greene said.

On Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m., Greene will be at the Palmer Public Library to discuss the calendar and the lost towns of the Quabbin. Greene, who will present a slide show, also is a prolific author about the Quabbin, having written 16 books and two atlases. His work also will be for sale; a portion of the proceeds will benefit the library.

Greene will bring a similar presentation to the Young Men's Library Association, Ware Library, on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.

Calendars can be purchased for $14.95 at the following locations: Quabbin Visitor Center in Belchertown, Whistle Stop restaurant in the Gilbertville section of Hardwick, Junction Variety in the Thorndike section of Palmer, Palmer Hobbies in Palmer, Swift River Candle in Pelham, the Odyssey book shop in South Hadley and Hollister Jewelry & Coins in Chicopee.

Greene also can be contacted at jrg01331@webtv.net, or at (978) 249-0156. He will send copies by mail (add $3 for shipping and handling and 94 cents for sales tax); he can be reached at 26 Bearsden Rd., Athol, MA, 01331.

Holyoke's free cash of $2.2 million and $11.8 million rainy-day fund are eyed to plug a budget deficit.

HOLYOKE -- The City Council and Mayor Alex B. Morse Tuesday will begin trying to reach agreement on how to address a $2.9 million budget deficit in a step necessary in order for them to set the tax rate by Dec. 31.

Follow along as live coverage of the 7 p.m. meeting is posted in the comments section under this story.

Among questions that dealing with the deficit are expected to raise are:

• Should officials use some or all of the lower-than-expected available free cash of $2.2 million to plug the hole, knowing mid-fiscal year transfers almost always are needed for costs like snow removal and public safety overtime?
• Should transfers from the $11.8 million stabilization, or rainy day, fund be made? Or is that account off limits to address what some officials say is the non-emergency nature of a budget deficit?
• Instead of using up the free-cash cushion or raiding the rainy day fund, should officials reopen the $125.5 million budget with which the city began the fiscal year July 1 and eliminate the shortfall by making cuts?
• Is it time for a hiring freeze to avoid that kind of spending?

The council in the Tuesday meeting will be considering late-filed orders submitted on behalf of Morse regarding the deficit.

One step Morse is recommending the City Council take is to cut the budgeted amount for employee health care costs by $500,000, from the current $8.3 million to $7.8 million, based on what the city spent last year in that account. That would drop the deficit to $2.4 million.

Council President Kevin A. Jourdain questioned how such a substantial amount can be cuttable from the health insurance fund since Morse told councilors upon filing his proposed city budget for the current fiscal year in the spring that the spending plan contained no fat.

Morse said fewer employees than expected signed up during open enrollment for health benefits and such final costs aren't always known when the City Council votes on the budget in June.

The mayor recommends covering the rest of the deficit by transferring $1.7 million of the free cash, which would leave $500,000 in that account for mid-fiscal year expenses, and $700,000 from the stabilization account, or roughly the amount of interest that that $11.8 million fund earns annually.

In response to questions from Jourdain, Morse said the city is not in a position to provide additional funding to the School Department and any shortfall must be addressed within the School Department budget.

An additional $400,000 will be needed to cover the police and fire overtime accounts for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, Morse told Jourdain.

As for whether more money will be needed to be pay for snow removal, Morse told Jourdain the weather is difficult to predict. But he has told William D. Fuqua, general superintendent of the Department of Public Works, to "constantly monitor these accounts."

If necessary, Morse said, the city is permitted under state law to deficit-spend regarding snow-removal costs.

Jourdain also asked about whether capital expenses will be needed. Morse said that though he filed a capital-expense plan in the spring, it looks unlikely the city will have the money for such spending in the current fiscal year.

The tax rate cannot be set until the budget is balanced. Once the budget is balanced, the Board of Assessors will hold its annual public hearing on tax classification.

Assessors at the hearing discuss whether property values have risen or fallen compared to a year ago, the average values of different varieties of property such as single-family homes, duplexes and industry and the amount of new growth officials expect the city to receive. New growth is revenue from properties on which construction was completed and added to the tax rolls in the past year.

The City Council votes a new tax rate after the assessors' tax classification hearing.

The current tax rate is $19.04 per $1,000 valuation for residential property and $39.93 per $1,000 valuation for commercial property.

The city has 10,046 taxable parcels of property, Chief Assessor Anthony Dulude said.

There are a total of 50 items on this week's agenda.

CHICOPEE - The City Council will be asked to reconsider a plan to help a non-profit development corporation create a new business park near the Massachusetts Turnpike in its regular meeting Tuesday night.

Mayor Richard J. Kos will ask the 13-member board to appropriate $425,000 to fund environmental permitting for Westover Airpark South, which is owned by Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation.

In September, the City Council voted 8-5 to approve the funding, which members believed had passed. However later city lawyers said a two-thirds majority of the council, or nine votes, would be needed to pass the financial order.

During the meeting, Kos said the 104-acre park is one of the few industrial properties of that size and it would be easier to market the property if the development corporation had already gone through the state permitting process, which can take as long as two years.

He said the money would be treated as a loan and the development corporation would pay the city back upon the sale of the property.

The Republican and Masslive will report on the meeting live in the comments section below.

The meeting begins at 7:15 p.m. There are a total of 50 items on the agenda.

The annual State House Christmas tree lighting ceremony and Holiday Open House showcased Massachusetts farmers, food producers and tourism.

With Christmas carols, apple cider and even some Cape Cod alpacas, the Statehouse rang in the holiday season on Tuesday.

The annual State House Christmas tree lighting ceremony and Holiday Open House showcased Massachusetts farmers, food producers and tourism under the theme "Make it a Massachusetts Holiday!"

"Make it a Massachusetts Holiday gives people a chance to look around their community and really think about what's made here in Massachusetts and how to celebrate," said Karyn Polito, speaking next to a table featuring Boston Cream Pie cupcakes from the Koffee Kup Bakery in Springfield. "For all the small business owners and retailers, it's a time to shine and really showcase the things that they have here that make (not only) a business special, but a commonwealth special, because they make it here."