The beauty school, which was formerly the site of a Springfield Republican news bureau, will close its door on Dec. 31. Employees there declined to comment on the closing, referring questions to the corporate office.

NORTHAMPTON - The Marinello Schools of Beauty on Pleasant Street in downtown Northampton is scheduled to close at the end of the year.

The beauty school, which was formerly the site of a The Republican's Northampton news bureau, will close its door on Dec. 31. Employees there declined to comment on the closing, referring questions to the corporate office.

According to its website, the school is one of several spread across seven states. It is accredited by the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences, Inc. and approved to operate by the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure, Board of Registration of Cosmetologists. It was formerly called Brio Academy.

A notice of closure was posted Nov. 5. A company spokesperson did not respond to an email inquiring about the closure.

Police say James Derepentigny put the package next to the vehicle and hurried away.

BOSTON -- A Lawrence man has been arrested in connection with a hoax bomb that Boston police were forced to detonate after it was left next to a Department of Homeland Security vehicle.

James Derepentigny 

The package looked like a suitcase. It was destroyed just before noon in a controlled detonation that sent a boom echoing off nearby skyscrapers.

Police expected to charge Derepentigny with planting a hoax bomb. He's in police custody.

It's not clear if he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III said Friday he is undecided on the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline planned for the northeast U.S. Big projects require “careful scrutiny,” he said during a speech to the New England Council at the Seaport Hotel.

BOSTON - U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III said Friday he is undecided on the Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline planned for the northeast U.S.

Big projects require "careful scrutiny," he said during a speech to the New England Council at the Seaport Hotel. The breakfast was sponsored by Kinder Morgan, a member of the council, which aims to represent the region's business interests.

The region's future is in "clean, reliable and effective renewable energy," Kennedy, D-Mass., told reporters after his speech.

"The question is how do we get there from where we are today," he said.

Asked whether he is undecided on the Kinder Morgan pipeline, also known as Northeast Energy Direct, Kennedy said, "Yeah, I think that we have to get to that clean renewable energy future. The question is how do we get there at a price that ratepayers can afford."

Joe Kennedy IIIFile Photo 

Pressed on whether that means he's open to the project, Kennedy, who serves on the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said, "I think there has to be an analysis of all of those options on the table."

The Kinder Morgan project seeks to ferry fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to New England while winding its way through areas of Western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

The Kinder Morgan pipeline drew bipartisan opposition from two of Kennedy's Capitol Hill colleagues from New Hampshire earlier this week: U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, a Democrat.

Ayotte said she is awaiting answers from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The commission is weighing a number of natural gas proposals.

Overall support for the pipeline has declined, a poll from WBUR and the MassINC Polling Group shows. Support has declined to 43 percent from 50 percent in 2014, according to the new poll, while opposition has risen to 38 percent from 25 percent.

Support/oppose for Kinder Morgan pipeline has dropped from 2-1 in 2014 close to even now. https://t.co/htxtKruO9V pic.twitter.com/vfVFPMWmWm

-- Steve Koczela (@skoczela) December 4, 2015

A homemade weapon was found in the prison cell of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Friday, according to multiple reports.

A homemade weapon was found in the prison cell of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Friday.

FOX25 in Boston was first to report the news, which was later confirmed by 7News in Boston.

The weapon, which is described as a homemade knife or "shank" in the report was found in Hernandez's cell at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. Hernandez is currently serving a life sentence without parole after he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2013 death of Odin Lloyd.

This is not the first reported incident involving Hernandez since his arrest in 2013. Previous reports have indicated that Hernandez was involved in at least three physical confrontations with other inmates.

Hernandez was moved from general population to a "segregation unit," according to the same reports.

At the Discover the Dinosaurs show at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, they move and roar and breath and blink. The meat eaters look like meat eaters. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD — Kids love dinosaurs. Dinosaur picture books and dinosaur movies and TV shows are big hits starting with that giggling purple dinosaur that looks like he wouldn't eat melted butter.

In the early learning years, there is something about giant reptiles of all sizes that sparks the budding imagination. There is even a movie out now that speculates what would have happened if that asteroid had missed the Earth and dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time.

That imagery gets a boost now with large animatronic dinosaurs like the ones at the MassMutual Center in Springfield this weekend for the Discover the Dinosaurs interactive experience. They move and roar and breath and blink. The meat eaters look like meat eaters.

This exhibit, by V-Star Entertainment is a traveling show and features, in addition to raptors and long neck vegetarians, fun suited for younger children, including dinosaur "rides," bounce houses, panning and digging and face painting.

For information about the event, go to this link on the MassMutual website: http://www.massmutualcenter.com/events/detail/discover-the-dinosaur-show

Energy stocks and the price of crude oil fell after OPEC said it won't cut production.

By MARLEY JAY

NEW YORK -- The stock market surged to its biggest gain since early September Friday after another strong month of hiring by U.S. employers.

The solid news on the economy opened the way for the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates back toward normal levels later this month. Energy stocks and the price of crude oil fell after OPEC said it won't cut production.

Stocks started the day higher after the Labor Department said employers added 211,000 jobs in November. That was more than investors expected, and a sign that consumers are still spending and keeping the economy afloat even as manufacturing and energy companies are struggling.

The rally gained more power after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the ECB is ready to expand its stimulus program if necessary. That was a relief: stocks and bonds tumbled Thursday after the ECB announced some new stimulus measures, but didn't do as much as investors expected.

"His clarification of comments he made earlier in the week gives investors confidence that ECB will continue its 'whatever is necessary' course," said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 369.96 points, or 2.1 percent, to 17,847.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 index had its best day since Sept. 8, rising 42.07 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,091.69. The Nasdaq composite increased 104.74 points, or 2.1 percent, to 5,142.27 points.

When the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates in September, investors gradually concluded that the Fed would act in December unless it received some big warning signs about the health of the economy.

Those signs never came. The September jobs report was disappointing, but hiring climbed in October, and November hiring was solid. The government also said the economy gained more jobs in September and October than it initially reported.

The Fed slashed its key short-term interest rate to near zero during the financial crisis and it kept it low throughout the Great Recession to encourage lending and hiring. It hasn't raised interest rates in nine years.

Davidson said the jobs data was as good as investors expected, which gives them more confidence in the state of the economy and the Fed's plans.

"The markets love predictability and this is about as predictable as you can get," he said. In addition to the jobs growth, Davidson said more people are looking for work and wages are improving.

Luke Bartholomew, investment manager Aberdeen Capital Management, said it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Fed will raise interest rates, but what isn't clear is what will happen after that.

"It would have taken a really catastrophically bad number to put the Fed off today," he said. "It's a question of what the path looks like next year."

Consumer discretionary stocks were the best performers in the S&P 500. Discount retailer Dollar Tree, toy maker Mattel and homebuilder D.R. Horton climbed, and Apple rose $3.83, or 3.3 percent, to $119.03, a large move for the world's most valuable company.

Energy stocks, however, took a beating, and almost all of the largest losses in the S&P 500 went to energy companies. Oil cartel OPEC said it won't cut oil production even though global stockpiles keep growing. The price of oil is trading near six-year lows.

The price of U.S. crude fell $1.11, or 2.7 percent, to $39.97 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, slid 84 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $43.

Meanwhile warm weather in the U.S. is hurting demand for heating fuels like natural gas and heating oil. Natural gas drillers, pipeline companies and oil and gas service companies were all pummeled.

Stephen Schork, an independent analyst and trader, said that's because weather throughout much of the U.S. remains warm, meaning Americans aren't using as much energy to heat their homes.

"The market is giving up on winter," he said. "Here in the East... there's just no demand."

Murphy Oil lost 85 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $25.46. Helmerich & Payne fell 2.23, or 4 percent, to $53.38. Southwestern Energy shed 45 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $7.74. Chesapeake Energy declined 32 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $4.55.

In other trading of energy futures, wholesale gasoline fell 2.6 cents, or 2 percent, to $1.27 a gallon. Heating oil declined 1.6 cents to $1.342 a gallon. Natural gas inched up 0.5 cents to $2.816 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The dollar regained some strength against the euro. The euro slipped to $1.0871 from $1.0975, and the dollar rose to 123.22 yen from 122.31 yen Thursday. Bond prices also bounced back, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.27 percent from 2.32 percent.

Avon Products rose as multiple media reports said the beauty products company is considering selling its North American business to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Avon jumped 23 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $4.22.

Gold gained $22.90, or 2.2 percent, to $1,084.10. Silver added 45 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $14.53 an ounce. Copper inched up 1.8 cents to $2.079 a pound.

"This is a problem which can and must be addressed," said Christopher Murphy, president of the National Correctional Employees Union. "We call upon Sheriff Ashe to make corrections to these shortcomings an immediate priority, and to work with correctional officers to ensure that their critical public safety function can be properly performed."

SPRINGFIELD — A union representing correctional officers at the Hampden County Correctional Center cited this week's jailbreak as an example of inadequate staffing and other issues at the Ludlow facility.

The escape of 23-year-old Ackeem Graham, who walked out of the jail as he was being admitted to the facility Wednesday afternoon, illuminates security and other deficiencies at the correctional center, according to Christopher Murphy, president of the National Correctional Employees Union.

Murphy cited the facility's "broken and inadequate staffing and resource deployment system" as the main reason for the escape.

"When you have a situation where there are too few officers staffing the jail and non-front line corrections staff being asked to perform duties with which they are unfamiliar, the jail is not going to be as secure as it should be," he said Friday

Sheriff Mike Ashe said Wednesday's incident marked the first time an inmate has escaped from the Ludlow jail, which opened in 1992.

Graham was due to begin a one-year stint for a firearms conviction when he walked out of the facility during the intake process. That happened at about 3:19 p.m., said jail spokesman Richard McCarthy. A BOLO alert (be on the lookout) was issued to area police departments at about 4:45 p.m.

The Sheriff's Department has a notification process that alerts numerous law enforcement agencies, according to Ashe. "Eighty-five people are part of that notification," he said.

Graham was brought back to the correctional center after surrendering to authorities in Springfield late Wednesday night.

Murphy said rank-and-file correctional officers are not responsible for any security lapses at the jail. "This is absolutely not the fault of correctional officers, but rather the result of insufficient staffing and poor resource deployment," said Murphy, a former employee of the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.

"This is a problem which can and must be addressed," he said. "We call upon Sheriff Ashe to make corrections to these shortcomings an immediate priority, and to work with correctional officers to ensure that their critical public safety function can be properly performed."

Since 2008, Murphy said, the number of correctional officers at the Sheriff's Department has declined from about 460 officers to roughly 394 officers – a drop of more than 14 percent. "The current staffing levels at the Hampden County Sheriff's Department are inadequate," he said.

Ashe opened the women's jail in Chicopee as the number of correctional officers continued to decline at the Ludlow facility, according to Murphy. That created "significant new security responsibilities" for officers, stretching the department's resources "far too thin," he said.

"In an attempt to maintain facility security with insufficient correctional officer staffing levels, the Sheriff's Department has routinely used non-front line corrections staff to supervise inmates and perform security roles," Murphy said. This creates security issues not only at the jail itself, but compromises the "safety and the security of the general public," he said.

The jury found Fernando and Sophia Richter guilty on three counts each of kidnapping and child abuse.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A jury convicted an Arizona couple Friday of kidnapping and child abuse charges for imprisoning their three daughters, monitoring them through video feeds and forcing them to urinate and defecate in their closets.

The jury found Fernando and Sophia Richter guilty on three counts each of kidnapping and child abuse. Fernando Richter was also convicted of two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The jury is now deliberating the addition of aggravating circumstances to all of the charges, which could increase the length of sentences.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Paul Tang has not yet set a sentencing date.

The girls testified to having been physically abused, taken out of school and held captive for several months before the two younger girls escaped through a window in November 2013. Police rescued the oldest girl, who was held in a different room.

They were 12, 13 and 17 at the time. The Associated Press does not generally name minors who authorities say are victims of crimes.

All three testified in the trial that began over two weeks ago. They described months of abuse and bizarre rules imposed by their parents. The girls were forced to wake up at 2 a.m. every day to march in place, sometimes for so long that their legs ached, they said. They said they were fed rancid food and forced to overeat or face punishment.

The youngest said Fernando Richter made her recite the dictionary at all hours and beat her if she mispronounced words. She described being moved around from bedroom to hallway to closet before her parents let her live in a room with her older sister. The oldest said she was not allowed to leave her bed, had to listen to a loud radio at all hours and hadn't seen her sisters in months when she was rescued.

Authorities say the abuse began in a house in Catalina in nearby Pinal County, where the Richters face separate criminal charges. They pleaded not guilty in both cases. The defense said prosecutors didn't have enough evidence and that the girls were free to roam about the house.

Sophia Richter testified in court on Tuesday that the girls were free to leave their rooms and were fed properly. She denied all of the accusations against her, including that she force fed the girls a rancid pasta-type meal. She wept in court after the verdicts were read. Her husband did not show emotion.

"They had fruit daily, they had snacks daily. They were never without. I always had fruit for them," she said.

Attorneys for the Richters were under an order to not speak about the case.

The Richters moved to a Tucson house about four months before the girls escaped.

Police officers who testified described a house that smelled so bad of urine and feces they had to open all the windows to conduct their investigation.

The girls said they were rarely allowed bathroom breaks, forcing them to urinate and defecate in their bedroom closets.

The oldest sister described the plastic water jugs they were given as moldy and the meals they were fed twice a day as rancid.

"It was nasty. Gagging nasty," she testified. "We would have to lick our plates if we wanted them clean and if not my mom would just throw more food on it if I didn't lick it."

Amherst is celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Merry Maple Festival Friday evening with the lighting of the larger maple, the first time in at least a decade.

AMHERST - Amherst celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Merry Maple Festival Friday evening with the lighting of the larger maple tree, the first time in at least a decade.

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce led celebration began at the Central Fire station with face painting and children also able to see the fire and police equipment.

Barry Roberts, board president of the Amherst Businesses Improvement District which is sponsoring the lighting, and owner of Muddy Brook Farm, had four teams of horses for wagon rides at the event.

The Amherst Regional Middle School chorus, directed by David Ranen, performed on the steps of Town Hall before the tree lighting.

The Power and Class of New England, the Minuteman Marching Band gathered to perform various holiday classics ushering in Santa on an Amherst Fire Department ladder truck.

Twenty-four-year-old Jacquelyn Mahoney, originally from the Plymouth County town of Hanover, is wanted by Pelham police on drug-trafficking charges after she allegedly fled the scene of a rollover crash last month.

PELHAM — Twenty-four-year-old Jacquelyn Mahoney, originally from the Plymouth County town of Hanover, is wanted by Pelham police on drug-trafficking charges after she allegedly fled the scene of a rollover crash last month.

Police said they found drugs inside the vehicle and have since filed methamphetamine trafficking charges against the Boston-area woman, who was last seen fleeing with an unidentified man into woods off Route 202 in the Hampshire County town.

Police said Mahoney may be traveling with Patrick Gleason, a 32-year-old New Hampshire man. It's unknown if he was the man who fled the crash scene with Mahoney, but both are wanted on multiple warrants, according to authorities.

On the afternoon of Nov. 20, officers were dispatched to Route 202 near the Shutesbury line for a report of rollover crash involving a U-Haul pickup truck.

The vehicle's occupants, a woman and man, fled into the woods on foot, police said. Pelham police conducted an extensive search of the area, with assistance from K-9 units, Shutesbury police and a Massachusetts State Police helicopter, but they were unable to find the suspects.

Investigators searched the pickup truck and found methamphetamine, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia, police said. As a result, an arrest warrant was issued for Mahoney for the following charges:

• leaving the scene of property damage accident;


• methamphetamine trafficking;


• possession of a class B substance;


• receiving stolen property over $250;


• receiving stolen property under $250;


• and receiving stolen credit cards.

Mahoney has eight other warrants out for her arrest. She is known to use stolen ID cards to rent vehicles and hotel rooms and to falsely identify herself to authorities, police said.

Mahoney may still be in Western Massachusetts, according to Pelham police, who are asking anyone with information to call 413-253-0484.

Gleason, of Derry, New Hampshire, has two active warrants out for his arrest, police said.

The Holiday Stroll at the South Hadley, Massachusetts town green was held Friday, Dec. 4, 2015.

SOUTH HADLEY - The annual South Hadley Holiday Stroll was held Friday evening on the town green.

The event featured holiday music, a visit with Santa Claus and a Christmas tree lighting.

The festivities began with the South Hadley Children's Choir singing. Music continued with the Micheal E. Smith Middle School Choir, followed by the tree lighting.

Santa and his elves arrived escorted by the high school band.

The Mount Holyoke College V8s then performed, followed by a performance by Berkshire Hills Music Academy.

Sponsors for the event include: PeoplesBank, Easthampton Savings Bank, Chicopee Savings Bank, Florence Savings Bank, Edward Jones, Jubinville Insurance Group, Tower Theaters, and Dr. R. Scott Smith, DMD Orthodontic.

New this year, Sarah the Fiddler entertained on the Chicopee Savings Stage.

CHICOPEE - About 1,000 people gathered in front of City Hall to watch Santa Claus arrive on a fire truck and light the city's Christmas tree and other decorations on Friday.

As is tradition, Mayor Richard J. Kos rode with Santa on the fire truck and Boy and Girl Scouts escorted the jolly old elf and helped him turn on the lights.

The event, which has a long history in the city, included a holiday craft table where children could make "reindeer food," cookie decorating with Comprehensive High School culinary students. Free hot chocolate, eggnog and turkey soup were served.

It is also designed to bring people downtown so they can see different stores and amenities Chicopee Center has to offer.

New this year, Sarah the Fiddler performed on the Chicopee Savings Stage to set a festive mood for the season.

Children also received gift bags from Santa during the event.

A sobriety checkpoint will be held at an undisclosed Norfolk County location on the evening of Friday, Dec. 11, into the morning of Saturday, Dec. 12, Col. Richard D. McKeon, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced Friday, Dec. 4.

A sobriety checkpoint will be held at an undisclosed Norfolk County location on the evening of Friday, Dec. 11, into the morning of Saturday, Dec. 12, Col. Richard D. McKeon, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced Friday.

The purpose of the grant-funded checkpoint is to increase public safety by removing intoxicated motorists from state roadways, police said.

The checkpoint will operate during varied hours and the selection of vehicles will not be arbitrary, police said.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data were available, there were 118 alcohol-related fatal crashes in Massachusetts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The video and photos are the clearest images taken of the Catalina PBY-5 wreckage to date.

HONOLULU -- New images of a large U.S. Navy seaplane that sank in Hawaii waters during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor show a coral-encrusted engine and reef fish swimming in and out of a hull.

The video and photos are the clearest images taken of the Catalina PBY-5 wreckage to date, said Hans Van Tilburg, a maritime archaeologist with the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. These offer evidence the crew was trying to take off when it was sunk.

The seaplane had a wing span of 100 feet, about comparable to a modern-era Boeing 727 commercial jet. It now sits in pieces 30 feet below the surface in Kaneohe Bay next to a Marine Corps base, about 20 miles east of Pearl Harbor on the other side of Oahu.

There were an estimated six of these planes -- also called "flying boats" -- in the bay at the time of the attack, but Van Tilburg said nobody is sure what happened to the others.

Van Tilburg said a mooring cable is still attached to the plane, but there are signs someone started the port engine before the plane sank. This indicates a crew may have died while attempting to take off as the aerial assault began.

The Catalina PBY-5 could hold an eight-man crew, and four 500-pound bombs.

Standard practice was to keep someone on the seaplanes at night to make sure the aircraft didn't drift off. There were aviator casualties in the water, but it's not known which planes they were on or when they got off, Van Tilburg said.

"That's one of the mysteries of the story," he said.

The seaplanes would have been priority targets because they could fly as far as 2,000 miles and would have been able to follow Japanese planes back to their aircraft carriers, Van Tilburg said.

Van Tilburg said the plane is a battlefield casualty, just like better-known counterparts like the USS Arizona and other vessels bombed in Pearl Harbor. Van Tilburg said Friday he imagines commanders rightfully assumed the plane was a total loss and not worth salvaging.

There's been no "dedicated discussion" to retrieving the plane, which is currently in three large pieces, he said. It would cost a great deal to stabilize it and bring it ashore.

The aluminum and other metals may leech over time, but that fact must be balanced with habitat the plane provides for fish and other marine life, Van Tilburg said. The site has become a living reef, he said.

The wreck helps tell the story of what happened at Kaneohe Bay, where 18 sailors and two civilians were killed. Sixty-nine others at the base were injured.

More than 2,400 sailors, Marines, soldiers and civilians were killed across Oahu in the Japanese attack.

MGM Springfield has released new information on project cost increases. But Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner members have more questions. Watch video

Two and a half months after announcing a cost-cutting redesign of its planned casino complex, MGM Springfield has detailed the cost hikes it says led to that decision - numbers that MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis says should put to rest questions of whether the company will meet its legal spending commitments.

But though the figures are the most precise yet released by MGM, members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission are still not satisfied. At Thursday's hearing, commissioners raised questions about the scale of the cost increases and told the company they wanted more details on how MGM's project budget has ballooned from $800 million to $950 million.

As part of Wednesday's presentation to the commission, MGM broke down its project costs, with some elements showing major changes. Construction costs have jumped from $397.3 to $495.4 million, according to the presentation. Pre-opening expenses and host community costs have increased by about $ 75 million. And fixtures and furnishings costs have dropped from $107.5 million to $74.9 million, due to MGM realizing it could re-use gaming equipment from other properties instead of purchasing it new.

All told, the redesign - which has attracted controversy for its proposed elimination of a 25-story hotel tower and for its reduction in overall floor space - saved the company up to $75 million, Mathis told the commission. The original plan would have cost MGM Springfield between $1 billion and $1.05 billion, he said.

MGM Springfield cost breakdown presented to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Dec. 3, 2015.MGM Springfield 

"What we did with these efficiencies is we translated a $150 to $175 million overrun to a $100 million overrun," MGM Springfield General Counsel Seth Stratton said.

The new figures also address questions raised by the Boston Globe about whether MGM would meet its legal mandate to spend at least $500 million on capital costs, according to Stratton. In the previous design, those costs were projected to be $536 million - including $31.5 million in operating costs that MGM recategorized as eligible, after initially not counting them in their tally of capital costs.

The new design will include $614 million in capital costs, according to the presentation, including $495 million in building and design costs and $74.9 million in furnishings, fixtures and equipment - both categories which clearly meet the state's benchmarks for capital spending.

"As we've always said the minimum hard cost threshold has never been a concern for us. With these increased construction costs, it's even less of an issue," Mathis said in a Friday interview. "I'd like to push that issue behind us."

But despite that confidence, questions persisted among members of the commission. Commissioner Enrique Zuniga, whose aggressive questioning of why MGM lacked cost details at the commission's September meeting prompted the company to prepare the newly-released figures,  said he wanted more specifics about how construction costs spiked.

"I was expecting a little bit more detail to come from you on the area of cost," Zuniga said. "I for one would like to understand those details, especially as we prepare with our consultants and some of the questions they've had."

And Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby - who noted that he largely found the presentation convincing - expressed bemusement about the size of the cost increases, noting that construction spending was projected to increase by 25 percent even as the footprint of the project is reduced by 10 percent.

"The numbers are so big they just don't quite make sense to me," Crosby said.

Crosby also asked MGM to provide more details on the figures. Mathis indicated that the  company could provide that information, but may be reluctant to release all of it publicly, saying some of that analysis could be "proprietary."

"You know -- somebody knows -- what changed here," Crosby said. "This is not a huge, massive research project."

In an interview Friday morning, Mathis attributed the spike in construction spending to materials cost inflation and a labor market that has tightened as the project has been delayed by 18 months. A second statewide referendum and the ongoing I-91 viaduct project have caused costs to balloon even given the reductions in the new design, he said.

But while MGM will provide more details on those increases to the commission, they will not be released publicly, Mathis said. Any specific information, based on a detailed market analysis the company conducted in recent months, is propriety - releasing it while bidding for ongoing construction would put the company at a competitive disadvantage, according to Mathis.

"Any more details on that we can't really share, because we're out in the market bidding on things," Mathis said.

Carpenter's Local 108 Business Manager Jason Garand, whose union has negotiated a construction labor contract with MGM Springfield, said that while he had heard of large swings in material prices, he did not anticipate a major jump in labor costs. The union has a contract with MGM through 2016, including 3 percent annual raises, Garand said.

While Garand noted that the construction labor market has heated up in Boston and the Hartford area, he said that Western Massachusetts builders are available and waiting for work.

"Western Mass. is still kind of waiting for these things to happen," Garand said. "If there are price increases that are coming that are going to dramatically change this project, it's not going to come from the labor side,"

The nearly $75 million jump in pre-opening and host-community costs was driven both by delays and an initial miscalculation by the company, Mathis said. The 18-month delay has left the company paying additional debt service and interest on debt it took out to pay up-front project costs, Mathis said.

And MGM Springfield's first estimate did not take into account that the company, along with the state's other operators, is responsible for covering the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's $20 million to $25 million annual operating costs, according to Mathis.

"That's unique to this market. In the other markets that we operate, that's covered by our tax rate," Mathis said. "That was just a miss by us."

The new figures also reflect a more accurate sense of the project's cost, based on a deeper understanding of the Massachusetts construction market than the company had at the beginning of the project, according to Mathis. 

"I don't want to suggest that there isn't a little bit of trial and error," he said. "The more people you speak to, the more information and more expertise you are able to get."

A recap of the most-read police and fire news for the week of Nov. 30 - Dec. 4 from The Republican and Masslive.

Police obtained a search warrant and recovered the remains of five bodies. Their investigation indicated five graves had been robbed from a cemetery in Worcester.

HARTFORD - Police arrested a Massachusetts fugitive after recovering stolen skeletal remains from an apartment in Hartford.

On Friday, police were called to 245 Preston St. for a report of stored human skeletal remains, according to a Hartford police official's Twitter account. Officers found the resident, Amador Medina, 32, and entered the apartment.

Medina was cooperative with police and showed them where the skeletal remains were located. Police obtained a search warrant and recovered the remains of five bodies. Their investigation indicated five graves had been robbed from a cemetery in Worcester.

Investigators in Worcester were not immediately available for comment on Saturday. A spokesman for the Hartford Police Department also was not immediately available for questions.

Police will continue to investigate.

Medina was taken into custody and charged as a fugitive from justice from Massachusetts.

The government's ability to review and analyze five years' worth of telephone records for the married couple blamed in the deadly shootings in California lapsed just four days earlier when the NSA's controversial mass surveillance program was formally shut down.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government's ability to review and analyze five years' worth of telephone records for the married couple blamed in the deadly shootings in California lapsed just four days earlier when the National Security Agency's controversial mass surveillance program was formally shut down.

Under a court order, those historical calling records at the NSA are now off-limits to agents running the FBI terrorism investigation even with a warrant.

Instead, under the new USA Freedom Act, authorities were able to obtain roughly two years' worth of calling records directly from the phone companies of the married couple blamed in the attack. The period covered the entire time that the wife, Tashfeen Malik, lived in the United States, although her husband, Syed Farook, had been here much longer. She moved from Pakistan to the U.S. in July 2014 and married Farook the following month. He was born in Chicago in 1987 and raised in southern California.

Who are Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik?

FBI Director James Comey declined to say Friday whether the NSA program's shutdown affected the government's terrorism investigation in California.

"I won't answer, because we don't talk about the investigative techniques we use," Comey said. "I'm not going to characterize it."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the FBI was poring through records for the married couple: "This includes things like their foreign travel, their contacts with other individuals, their use of social media," he said. "There are some details of that investigation starting to dribble out, sometimes in garbled form."

Amid questions about whether it was constitutional and under pressure from lawsuits and recommendations by two federal panels, the Obama administration agreed to end the NSA phone program. It had secretly collected the daily calling records -- but not contents of conversations -- for most Americans, including those never suspected of any crime, since at least 2006. Investigators could see who suspected terrorists might be dialing, who else those people might be calling and so on. The government kept five years' worth of each person's phone records, deleting older ones on a rolling basis. NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the program's existence in summer 2013.

Under a shutdown order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the government was prohibited from collecting phone records in wholesale ways starting Nov. 29.

"After November 28, 2015, no access to the BR (business record) metadata (phone records) will be permitted for intelligence analysis purposes," U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman of Portland ruled. "Hence, queries of the BR metadata for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence information will no longer be permitted. "

The California shootings happened four days later. The court revealed the order publicly just hours before the shootings.

Under the new law, passed in June, investigators still can look for links in phone records but they must obtain a targeted warrant to get them directly from phone companies, which generally keep customer records for 18 months to two years, although some keep them longer. The U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which studied the program at Obama's direction, had recommended that the White House reduce the NSA-held phone records from five years to three years even before the program could be shut down.

The FBI was investigating whether the couple in California plotted the attacks with anyone -- or each other -- in ways that U.S. or allied intelligence surveillance programs might have detected. The FBI director cited "indications of radicalization by the killers, and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations," but he said there was no evidence the killers were part of a larger group or terrorist cell. The FBI said it found discarded, crushed cellphones that belonged to the couple near the site of the shootings, and agents were examining the phones' contents.

An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, Alex Abdo, noted the California shootings were another case where the NSA's inspection of Americans' phone records failed to stop the plot before it happened.

"This could only be an example of the failure of that program," Abdo said. "If this were a planned attack and the program did what they claimed it did at the time, they would have detected this attack. It's not surprising the bulk-collection program didn't detect it."

San Bernardino shooting: Stories of those who died

Executive Director for University Relations, Mike Knapik was beaming as he talked about the 32 year history of the event. "We bring together a great group of people to support charities", he said. Watch video

They came by the hundreds to Scanlon Hall at Westfield State University to break bread with the man of the season.

The 32nd annual Breakfast with Santa drew 500 people in two seatings to an event filled with food, clowns, games and more.

There was Elsa the Snow Queen from the Disney feature "Frozen" circulating around the room. Santa himself held court and welcomed hundreds to his lap and Melha Shriner Clowns churned out scores of balloon sculptures.

But there was more than just a good time involved. There was a cause.

Money raised by Breakfast with Santa benefits Circle K charities including local senior citizen home visits, the New England Pediatric Trauma Institute and the Paul Newman "Hole in the Wall Gang" organization. Circle K is a campus service organization sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Westfield and the Student Government Association of Westfield State University.
 
For 1-year-old Walker MacAdam of Westfield, time spent on Santa's lap certainly wasn't the highlight of the day. With a face one might make eating a sour lemon, Walker started to cry and his time with Santa was short. The family will have a keepsake photo of the moment forever.

Executive Director for University Relations, Mike Knapik was beaming as he talked about the 32-year history of the event. "We bring together a great group of people to support charities," he said.

Carly Fiorina's 2016 Republican presidential campaign rolled out a new advertising effort Saturday in hopes of increasing the businesswoman's recognition among voters in New Hampshire and Boston.

SPRINGFIELD ‒ Carly Fiorina's 2016 Republican presidential campaign rolled out a new advertising effort Saturday in hopes of increasing the businesswoman's recognition among New England voters.

The campaign launched new television and radio ads in New Hampshire and Boston as part of a new phase in its sustained efforts to introduce Fiorina to voters, said Carly for America Executive Director Steve DeMaura in an email to supporters.

Among the ads included in the effort is a 30-second TV spot entitled "Take our Country Back," which takes aim at other 2016 GOP presidential contenders' years in politics and paints Fiorina as a "conservative outsider who has a bold new blueprint to take our country back."

After giving career politicians a chance, DeMaura said, it's time for citizens to take back their government - something which Fiorina would do.

"Washington is broken and it won't be fixed by candidates that have spent most of their adult lives in government," he said in the email. "Carly will challenge the entrenched interests and break the status quo of Washington."

In addition to launching the advertising blitz, Fiorina's campaign has encouraged supporters to tell other voters about the businesswoman as part of its "Calls for Carly" effort taking place from Dec. 5 to 12.

The campaign's efforts to promote Fiorina in New Hampshire come after a Public Policy Polling survey released this week found that just 6 percent of voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state support the businesswoman's White House bid.