Federal prosecutors say McGinn sent text messages and discussed with an undercover FBI agent the amounts he would smuggle into the prison and fees he would charge.

BOSTON — A Massachusetts corrections officer has pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle heroin to sell to inmates at a medium-security prison near Boston.

Ronald McGinn Jr. of Bridgewater pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to possession of heroin with intent to distribute at MCI-Norfolk.

Federal prosecutors say the 40-year-old sent text messages and discussed with an undercover FBI agent the amounts he would smuggle into the prison and fees he would charge to do so. He was arrested in April afternoon in possession of about 29 grams of heroin.

The investigation began after a Massachusetts Department of Corrections officer told the FBI that someone was smuggling contraband to the facility about 25 miles southwest of Boston.

McGinn faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing set for Sept. 27.

Teacher performance will be evaluated based on measurable student performance, such as their scores on the MCAS.

BOSTON — Public school teachers will soon be evaluated on student performance in the classroom and on Massachusetts standardized tests.

The state's Education Board on Tuesday voted 9-2 to approve a proposal to evaluate teacher performance based on measurable student performance, such as their scores on the MCAS.

Students would take new district-wide tests to help evaluate teachers who do not teach grades or subjects tested by the MCAS.

Evaluations would also be based on student performance in the classroom, and feedback from students and parents.

School administrators would perform the evaluations every 90 days to two years, depending on the teacher's past assessments.

Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended the initiative, which is the first update to state evaluation standards in 16 years.

The changes will be phased-in over three years.

Proposed Regulations on Evaluation of Educators

Mayor Edward Gibson said many of the city's affordable housing units were destroyed in the tornado, making it difficult to find housing for some families.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Edward J. Gibson said Tuesday the emergency shelter on the Eastern States Exposition grounds set up following the June 1 tornado will remain open until July 1. There are still 56 people living in the shelter.

“We actually have housing for almost everyone at the shelter, but landlords will not let them move in before the first of the month, so we are keeping the shelter open until then,” Gibson said.

He said many of the city’s affordable housing units were destroyed in the tornado, making it difficult to find housing for some families.

“So far we have relocated everyone within the city and we are hoping it will stay that way,” he said.

A woman was shot in the lower leg on Quincy Street in the Old Hill neighborhood, police said.

SPRINGFIELD - A woman was shot in the lower leg on Quincy Street in the Old Hill neighborhood at about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, and police are looking for suspects, said Capt. William Collins.

The injury was not considered life-threatening, he said. The woman, whose name was not released, was being treated at Baystate Medical Center Tuesday night.

Collins said police are trying to piece together what happened and look for suspects. He said he was waiting to receive field reports from officers on the scene and did not have much more information.

The initial report had witnesses telling police that a Jeep Cherokee fled the scene, Collins said. Police stopped a vehicle matching that description a short time later, and the occupants turned out to be relatives of the victim and were not involved in the shooting, he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $2 million in disaster funds so far.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $2 million in disaster funds so far. Several Disaster Recovery Centers operated by the agency will close at the end of the week.

The centers are open this week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday.

The centers in Sturbridge, Wilbraham and Westfield will permanently close at 4 p.m. on Friday. The remaining centers in Springfield, West Springfield, Brimfield, Monson and Southbridge will remain open.

Individuals can register with FEMA or ask questions about an existing application by calling FEMA’s toll-free help line at 1-800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The TTY number is 1-800-462-7585. People can also register online at www.disasterassitance.gov or www.fema.gov. Residents who have access to transportation are encouraged to stop by a disaster relief center in their area.

Town Clerk Thomas Florence said 749 residents, or 6.8 percent of the town's 11,000 registered voters, voted.

Gale AssociatesThis is an artist's rendering of track and field renovations at East Longmeadow High School. The $1.5 million project was approved in May, and construction will begin in the summer.

EAST LONGMEADOW – Additions proposed for the East Longmeadow High School athletic field were rejected Tuesday during the special Town Election.

Voters decided not to support an additional $335, 200 for new athletic field equipment.

If approved the money would have funded three water cannons to cool the field, track and field equipment, a fence, a mid-field logo, striping for soccer and field hockey, bleacher seats and additional lights.

Town Clerk Thomas P. Florence said 749 residents voted Tuesday, making up 6.8 percent of the town's 11,000 registered voters.

"I wasn't expecting much more than a 7 percent turnout," Florence said.

Voters did support the first ballot question, which will allow the town to purchase a $1.3 million public safety radio update.

Information Technology Director Ryan Quimby said the public safety radio system will include new handheld and mounted radios as well as a new computer for the fire department dispatch center.

The Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override will cost homeowners with a home valued at $250,000 about $50 in taxes each year for the life of the five-year bond.

The town originally approved $1.5 million for construction of the field during the annual Town Meeting in 2010. An article asking residents to approve the ballot question requesting money for the field went before the town during the May annual Town Meeting. The article passed by a majority vote.

The athletic field project is being overseen by Gale Associates, an engineering firm based in Weymouth, which has worked on several synthetic turf projects throughout the state, including Framingham State College's track and field and Holyoke High School's Roberts Field. Even without the additional funds, the project is expected to be completed this year.

The bill would require auto manufacturers to supply all diagnostic and repair information to repair shops.

File photoThe Massachusetts State House.

By MATT MURPHY

BOSTON – The feverish battle over auto repair legislation spilled back into the State House Tuesday as advocates and opponents brought their pitches from the airwaves straight to lawmakers, making cases for and against a bill that would require auto manufacturers to supply all diagnostic and repair information to repair shops.

The legislation, which has drawn an array of special interest groups and lobbyists to Beacon Hill, has been cast as a small business and consumer protection effort by proponents and as unnecessary and dangerous to the business climate by its opponents, confounding some lawmakers who said they have struggled to decide who to believe.

Testimony offered before the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, co-chaired by Rep. Theodore Speliotis and Sen. Thomas Kennedy, did little to change that dynamic with opponents accusing each other of misrepresenting the situation facing independent auto repair shops.

If approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Deval Patrick, Massachusetts would become the first state to enact so-called right-to-repair legislation which has fallen short in states where it has emerged and in Congress.

Proponents of the bill say it would ensure that independent auto repair companies are able to access critical repair information, enabling them to better serve prospective customers and to compete with dealerships for repair business. Manufacturers counter that the bill deprives them of their intellectual property rights and that the independent manufacturers already have access to the necessary repair information.

Rep. Garrett Bradley, testifying behind six stacks of 28,000 letters of support piled high on the table before him, said supporters had no interest in accessing the intellectual property of vehicle manufacturers, one of the main arguments against the bill. Bradley said small garages and repair shops only want the same repair and diagnostic information available to dealerships, and are willing to pay for it to service their customers.

"It's about the consumer and making sure the consumer has a reasonable choice about where they want to get their car fixed," Bradley said, adding that, "If all the bill does is mandate that the information that is out there stay out there, then what's the harm?"

Glen Wilder, the owner of Wilder Bros. in North Scituate, said the diagnostic tools available to him provide about 90 percent of the information he needs to fix vehicles that come into his shop.

"The idea of all of the information being available is a fallacy," Wilder said. "We have good scan tools. It's about getting the rest of the information."

Opponents, however, said that independent mechanics have access to all the information they need to repair vehicles by purchasing generic and more specialized diagnostic tools from manufacturers or accessing diagnostic codes and repair information on websites maintained by auto manufacturers for a subscription fee.

Some public safety groups also voiced concerns that making manufacturer codes widely accessible would increase the risk of vehicle theft, and organizations such as the Massachusetts High Technology Council worried the bill would have unintended consequences for intellectual property rights in other industries.

"One side says the world is round, while the other side says it's flat. Well, it's round to me and I can fix your car," said Rusty Savignac, the owner of Paxton Garage in Paxton and a representative of the New England Service Station and Auto Repair Association.

Savignac said he has access to "exactly" the same information as dealerships, and suggested any gaps in information available through diagnostic tools can be accessed elsewhere.

"I characterize this legislation as an unnecessary solution to perceived problem,"
Savignac said, suggesting that "after-market parts manufacturers are using uninformed repairers to fuel their propaganda machine."

Asked by Rep. Geraldine Creedon what the harm was in passing the legislation if the information is already available, a spokesman for NESSARA said the group worried that the cost of diagnostic tools for auto repair shops would increase as a result of the litigation that would likely be brought by auto manufacturers.

Rep. Kevin Murphy, a Lowell Democrat, testified that he can't drive to work without being bombarded by radio ads on both sides of the debate.

"Last session there was one issue I could never get my arms around and that was the right to repair," Murphy said, noting that "both sides have spent an obscene amount of money advancing their interests."

Telling the committee that he has spoken to repair shop owners in his district that have come down on opposite sides of the issue, Murphy asked his colleagues to consider his bill (H 1016) that would establish a commission to study the issue and report back by Jan. 13, 2012.

Murphy said the commission should not be the type of "black hole" study committee often used by lawmakers to kill legislation, but one that actually works to find a solution.

"Shouldn't we have these people sit down and work out a solution that they can all live with that will benefit the consumer?" Murphy said.

Rep. Paul Brodeur complained of the "fundamental disconnect" between testimony being presented to lawmakers, while Kennedy credited Murphy with expressing the sentiment of many lawmakers, and called the idea of a commission a "wise approach."

With lobbyists and auto industry advocates teeming outside a State House hearing room early Tuesday afternoon, lawmakers decided to move the hearing on the repair bill to the State House's largest venue, Gardner Auditorium, to accommodate the crowd.

The bill cleared the Senate last session, but died without a vote in the House.

Supporters of the bill claimed Tuesday that opponents had listed without authorization the names of individuals in the repair industry in a Boston Globe ad opposing the bill. Bill opponents, however, provided mimeographed copies of release forms in which the individuals appear to have authorized their names to be used by bill opponents in ads and other materials advocating the legislation's defeat.

Also, the Right to Repair Coalition on Wednesday called for an IRS investigation into the New England Service Station & Auto Repair Association, citing a WCVB report regarding improperly reported lobbying expenditures.

The accusations flying back and forth contradict testimony from Paul Sullivan, the owner of Sullivan Tire, who told the committee that he did not perceive any "animosity" between the two sides.

"I'd like to congratulate both sides on running a good campaign," Sullivan said at the outset of his testimony.

Sullivan testified in favor the bill that he said would protect the ability of auto repair technicians and shop owners to earn a living.

"At stake are thousands and thousands of jobs of people repairing automobiles, people who have earned the trust of the consumer because at the end of the day, that's what you sell - trust," Sullivan said.

Speaker Pro Tem Patricia Haddad, one of House Speaker Robert DeLeo's top deputies, testified in favor of the legislation, relating a story about problems she had getting the gas cap on her Toyota fixed at the dealership.

Haddad said any bill that would improve competition for consumers should be taken seriously.

"I honestly think at the end of the day if everyone in this room is concerned about constituents and concerned about customers we will find a way to make it work," Haddad said.

Corey and Tina-Marie Partlow lost their home to the tornado, but now they are at risk of losing the temporary trailer they put up where Tina-Marie’s mother lives.

The Republican | Lori StabileCorey J. and Tina-Marie Partlow, whose Bethany Road home in Monson was destroyed by the June 1 tornado, want to keep their emergency housing trailer on Mill Street. Selectmen Tuesday night discussed efforts to change or override the bylaw restricting the placement of such trailers.

MONSON – Town officials are working with the state to try to change a bylaw that restricts the placement of emergency housing trailers to the site of a destroyed residence.

The bylaw change is important at this time because there are people living in trailers on property other than their own while they try to rebuild following the June 1 tornado.

Corey J. and Tina-Marie Partlow lost their home on Bethany Road to the tornado, and now they are at risk of losing the temporary trailer they put up at 18 Mill St., where Tina-Marie’s mother lives.

Initially, the Partlows were told that it was OK to place the trailer there, but then they were told Friday morning that the trailer has to go.

The town’s local zoning bylaw states that temporary housing must be placed on the same site as that of the destroyed residential dwelling unit.

“It would be a lot cheaper and easier to leave it here,” Corey Partlow said.

The Partlows have not been able to get electricity at the trailer as a result of the confusion and were told they have two weeks to remove the 60-foot trailer from Mill Street.

During a board meeting Tuesday, embers of the Board of Selectmen said neither they nor other town officials have the authority to ignore the bylaws because of an emergency and the governor does not have the authority to override town bylaws because of emergency.

However, Selectman Edward Maia said that with help from state Sen. Stephen Brewer and his staff there are ways to speed up the process of changing the town bylaw. One thing that could speed up the process would be to have the attorney general expedite the normal review process, something that can ordinarily take months.

Maia said Tuesday that Brewer and his staff coordinating efforts between Monson officials and representatives of Gov. Deval L. Patrick and Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Maia said the Planning Board has started working on language for such a bylaw change and has scheduled a meeting to discuss the language tonight at 7:30 p.m. and a public hearing for a full discussion July 19.

One aspect that Brewer and his staff are working on is special legislation that would allow a special Town Meeting, and hearings related to it, to be called with less than the full 14 days normally required by town bylaws.

Maia said that with Brewer’s help, the town would also be looking to Patrick to file an executive order asking the town not to enforce the current bylaw.

In its proposed amendment to the bylaw governing the location of trailers during rebuilding, the Planning Board is considering such circumstances as when a property owner does not have enough land for a trailer on the existing lot and whether a special permit could be issued so the trailer cold be located elsewhere in town with the permission of a different land owner.

A wildfire burning near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste Tuesday as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.

By P. SOLOMON BANDA & SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writers

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A wildfire burning near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste Tuesday as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.

Officials at the nation's premier nuclear weapons lab gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the 93-square-mile fire, which as of midday was as close as 50 feet from the grounds.

A small patch of land at the laboratory caught fire Monday before firefighters quickly put it out. Teams were on high alert to pounce on any new blazes and spent the day removing brush and low-hanging tree limbs from the lab's perimeter.

"We are throwing absolutely everything at this that we got," Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico said in Los Alamos.

The fire has forced the evacuation of the entire city of Los Alamos, population 11,000, cast giant plumes of smoke over the region and raised fears among nuclear watchdogs that it will reach as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste.

"The concern is that these drums will get so hot that they'll burst. That would put this toxic material into the plume. It's a concern for everybody," said Joni Arends, executive director of the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, an anti-nuclear group.

Arends' organization also worried that the fire could stir up nuclear-contaminated soil on lab property where experiments were conducted years ago. Burrowing animals have brought that contamination to the surface, she said.

Lab officials said there was very little risk of the fire reaching the drums of low-level nuclear waste, since the flames would have to jump through canyons first. Officials also stood ready to coat the drums with fire-resistant foam if the blaze got too close.

Lab spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf said the drums contain Cold War-era waste that the lab sends away in weekly shipments for storage. She said the drums were on a paved area with few trees nearby. As of midday Tuesday, the flames were about two miles from the material.

"These drums are designed to a safety standard that would withstand a wildland fire worse than this one," Rosendorf said.

Los Alamos employs about 15,000 people, covers more than 36 square miles, includes about 2,000 buildings at nearly four dozen sites and plays a vital role in the nation's nuclear program.

The lab was created during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. It produced the weapons that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the decades since, the lab has evolved into a major scientific and nuclear research facility. It works on extending the life of aging nuclear bombs, tests warheads, produces triggers for nuclear weapons and operates supercomputers and particle accelerators.

The lab also conducts research on such things as climate change and the development of a scanner for airports to detect explosive liquids. The lab's supercomputer was used in designing an HIV vaccine.

Lab officials gave assurances that buildings housing key research and scientific facilities were safe because they have been fireproofed over the years, especially since a 2000 blaze that raged through the area but caused no damage to the lab. Trees and brush were thinned over the past several years, and key buildings were surrounded with gravel to keep flames at bay.

Many of the buildings were also constructed to meet strict standards for nuclear safety, and aggressive wildfires were taken into account, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said.

"We'll pre-treat with foam if necessary, but we really want the buildings to stand on their own for the most part. That is exactly how they've been designed. Especially the ones holding anything that is of high value or high risk," said Deputy Los Alamos County Fire Chief Mike Thompson.

Teams from the National Nuclear Security Administration's Radiological Assistance Program were headed to the scene to help assess any hazards.

Lab officials said they were closely watching at least 60 air monitors for radiation and other hazards. The New Mexico Environment Department was also monitoring the air, and Udall said he asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do the same.

The lab has been shut down all week because of the fire, but authorities said the disruption is unlikely to affect any key experiments. The lab will be closed at least through Wednesday.

The wildfire has destroyed 30 structures near Los Alamos, stirring memories of a devastating blaze in May 2000 that wrecked hundreds of homes and other buildings. About 12,500 residents in and around Los Alamos have been evacuated, an orderly exit that didn't even cause a traffic accident.

Investigators do not know what sparked the fire, although suspicion has fallen on downed power lines.

The streets of Los Alamos were empty Tuesday with the exception of emergency vehicles and National Guard Humvees. There were signs that homeowners had left prepared: Propane bottles were placed at the front of driveways and cars were left in the middle of parking lots, away from anything flammable.

Some residents decided to wait out the fire, including Mark Smith, a chemical engineer at Los Alamos. He said he was not worried about flames reaching the lab's sensitive materials.

"The risk of exposure is so small," he said. "I wouldn't sit here and inhale plutonium. I may be crazy, but I'm not dumb."

___

Associated Press writer Barry Massey contributed to this report from Santa Fe, N.M.

President Barack Obama is asking supporters to use Facebook to declare "I'm In!" for his re-election campaign and is using Twitter to personally blast out messages to his nearly 9 million followers.

FILE - In this June 3, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama uses his BlackBerry e-mail device as he walks at Sidwell Friends school in Bethesda, Md. Call him the Digital Candidate: President Barack Obama has asked supporters to use Facebook to declare "I'm in" for his re-election campaign and has begun using Twitter to communicate with his nearly 9 million followers. If Obama broke new ground using email, text messages and the Web to reach voters in 2008, Obama version 2.0 aims to harness the expansive roles that the Internet and social media are playing now in voters' lives. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Call him the Digital Candidate: President Barack Obama is asking supporters to use Facebook to declare "I'm In!" for his re-election campaign and is using Twitter to personally blast out messages to his nearly 9 million followers.

Emails to supporters seek small-dollar donations in exchange for campaign coffee mugs or a chance to win dinner with the president. The campaign's website helps supporters find local events, plan meetings and raise money while its digital team develops the next big thing.

If Obama broke new ground in 2008 using email, text messages and the Web to reach voters, Obama version 2.0 aims to take the Web campaign to the next level — harnessing the expansive roles that the Internet and social media are playing in voters' lives.

The Republican presidential field has also embraced the Web and social media, turning to Facebook and Twitter to launch their campaigns and directing supporters to Facebook sites for videos, messages and online discussions.

"The successful campaign is going to be one that integrates all the various elements of the digital channel — email, text, website, mobile apps, and social networks — together as one digital program and also mixing the digital program together with the offline reality of field organizations," said Joe Rospars, the Obama campaign's chief digital strategist.

"In the end," Rospars said, "all the digital stuff is in service of the offline reality of knocking on doors, making phone calls and ultimately persuading voters and turning them out."

Obama took advantage of a strong Internet campaign in 2008 to raise an estimated $500 million online while regularly communicating with supporters through text messages, an email list estimated at more than 13 million and content on his www.BarackObama.com website.

When Obama was close to announcing his vice presidential selection of Joe Biden, the campaign encouraged supporters to find out by text message, a move that prompted more than 2 million people to sign up.

Three years later, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have exploded, smart phones and apps are more prevalent, tablet computers are on the rise, and most Americans are online. When Obama announced his presidential campaign in 2007, Facebook had fewer than 20 million users worldwide. That number has now surpassed 500 million.

"There's no online and offline organizing. There's organizing," said Jeremy Bird, Obama's national field director, during a session at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis.

Digital strategists say Obama's campaign has an advantage over the Republican field because of the work his camp conducted in 2008 and the months it will have before Republicans coalesce around a challenger.

The Obama campaign declines to say how many of its supporters have clicked the "I'm In!" button, but Facebook brings Obama's campaign to millions of news feeds, allowing supporters to share content, plan events and recruit friends in ways that email couldn't in 2008.

"If you're my friend and I see that you're going out to canvass this weekend for Barack Obama, I'm much more likely to participate because I know my friends are doing it," said Stephen Geer, a former director of email and online fundraising for Obama for America. He's now vice president of new media at OMP, a Washington fundraising and communications firm.

Facebook has grown in prominence in political campaigns since 2008 — for example, more than 12 million people clicked the "I Voted" button in 2010, signifying that they had cast ballots, compared with about 5.4 million in 2008. A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that Facebook users are more likely to engage in political activity than someone who browses the Internet or uses other social media services.

Twitter, meanwhile, was still in its infancy when Obama first ran for president and played little role in that campaign. This time, Obama has signaled the value of his (at)barackobama handle, telling supporters he'll regularly send personal tweets signed "-BO."

His campaign has set up separate Twitter accounts for all 50 states to communicate with supporters. By its nature, Twitter allows the campaign to monitor public opinion on a minute-by-minute basis, respond to critics and shape the news.

While social media may generate new interest in 2012, technology could play an important role in the more mundane, shoe-leather work of registering new voters and turning them out.

In 2008, campaign supporters who knocked on doors of potential voters largely used paper "walk sheets" that were printed out at local headquarters. The results of the door-to-door meetings were keyed into databases to guide the campaign's work to persuade voters on Obama's behalf.

This time, the campaign is exploring ways of streamlining the process, from bringing more uniformity to how the information is taken down and entered into a database to using mobile devices, tablet computers or improvements to the website to help volunteers find key households or input data gathered at doorsteps. The approach could save time and help the campaign be more strategic about the households it targets.

The Democratic National Committee, for example, experimented with an app in 2010 that used global positioning systems to help canvassers find targeted households in certain neighborhoods, something that could be used more broadly in the presidential campaign.

Email is still king when it comes to fundraising, and online strategists consider the Obama campaign's massive email list a gold mine. The campaign has replayed some of its greatest hits in fundraising pitches — offering small donors a chance to win dinner with Obama and Biden and matching the contributions of $5 or more from first-time donors.

Pivoting off the "birther" controversy, the campaign created a "Made in the USA" mug, with a picture of Obama's long-form birth certificate on the back, for supporters who gave $15 or more.

Online advertising, meanwhile, is also expected to grow in sophistication. Political campaigns have been ramping up their use of online ads, turning to ads of 15 to 30 seconds that appear before video clips running on websites like Youtube and Hulu.

"We're getting a lot of questions now from people thinking strategically on how to drive their message next year online," said Andrew Roos, a political ads executive with Google.

Rospars, the mastermind behind Obama's digital success in 2008, cautions against looking at 2012 as the Facebook or Twitter campaign. Instead, it's about making all things digital work in harmony to pay off in November 2012.

"It's tempting to sort of pile onto the one new thing and sort of put all your eggs in one basket," Rospars said. "But I think in the history of campaigns, big bets like that don't tend to pay off. It's actually about integrating everything."

___

Ken Thomas can be reached at http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Around 1:30 a.m., several storms ranging from South Carolina to Canada moved into the East Coast, although most weren't as large or violent as the one experienced briefly throughout Massachusetts.

This NOAA satellite image taken Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows a low pressure system over eastern Canada, with its cold front extending southwestward across the Mid-Atlantic, Tennessee Valley then into the Southern Plains. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are firing up ahead of the cold front across much of the Eastern Seaboard. An area of moderate to strong thunderstorms is developing over the Oklahoma Panhandle. In the Gulf of Campeche, Tropical Storm Arlene is located about 215 miles east of Tampico Mexico. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

UPDATE: Two of the three utility companies in the region reported an increase in active outages from the overnight storm. As of 6:30 a.m., the number of affected customers included:

WMECO: 158 customers without power, down from 483 at 2:30 a.m.

National Grid: 196 customers without power, up from 126 at 2:30 a.m.

Connecticut Light and Power: 473 customers without power, up from 24 at 2:30 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD - A quick-moving thunderstorm that hit the region early Wednesday morning left nearly 500 people without power and caused several false fire and burglary alarms.

Around 1:30 a.m., several storms ranging from South Carolina to Canada moved into the East Coast, although most weren't as large or violent as the one experienced briefly in Western Massachusetts.

According to Western Massachusetts Electric Company, there were a total of 486 reported outages as of 2:30 a.m. Agawam took the most serious hit with 483 customers reporting an electrical outage. Springfield, Amherst and the Berkshire County town of Peru reported one outage each.

National Grid reported a total of 126 affected customers around 2:30 a.m., with only five residing in Western Massachusetts. The bulk of the National Grid customers affected were in the coastal town of Weymouth, just East of Quincy and Braintree.

Connecticut Light and Power reported a total of 24 affected customers throughout Suffield, Stafford, Ellington, Windsor Locks, Salisbury and Danbury.

All aforementioned utilities reported on their respective websites that power was expected to be restored within a couple hours but as additional reports flooded in early Wednesday, it looked like crews would be at work for much of the day repairing the infrastructure.

The families say in their legal complaint that the state's civil union law designed to give gay couples the same legal protections as married couples has not fulfilled that promise.

(AP Photo)The legal filing tells the stories of seven couples, two of whom previously sued for the right to marry, and the problems they say they've faced since the state began offering civil unions in 2007.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Seven gay and lesbian New Jersey couples, along with many of their children, are going to court to try to get the state to recognize gay marriage.

The families say in their legal complaint that the state's civil union law designed to give gay couples the same legal protections as married couples has not fulfilled that promise.

One man says he was denied being able to make urgent medical decisions for his partner. Another saw his partner and children's health insurance canceled by a skeptical auditor. One woman had to jump through legal hoops to adopt the baby of her civil union.

Along with the gay advocacy groups Garden State Equality and Lambda Legal, the couples planned to announce details of the lawsuit on Wednesday. The advocacy groups provided a copy to The Associated Press on the condition that no details be published before Wednesday morning.

The lawsuit, to be filed in state court, comes less than a week after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law allowing gay marriage in that neighboring state. But it's the latest step in a nine-year legal battle in New Jersey.

States afford gay couples a hodgepodge of rights. New Jersey is one of seven states that offer the same legal protections of marriage, but call it either civil unions or domestic partnerships. Once New York's new law takes effect next month, six states and Washington D.C. will make full marriage available to gays. Another state recognizes gay marriages entered into elsewhere and three offer some legal protections for gay couples. But 41 have laws or constitutional amendments barring gay marriage.

New Jersey's civil union law is cast as the villain in the suit.

"The separate and inherently unequal statutory scheme singles out lesbians and gay men for inferior treatment on the basis of their sexual orientation and sex and also has a profoundly stigmatizing effect on them, their children and other lesbian and gay New Jerseyans," the claim says.

The legal filing tells the stories of seven couples — two of whom previously sued for the right to marry — and the problems they say they've faced since the state began offering civil unions in 2007.

Their lawyer, Lambda Legal's Hayley Gorenberg, said most people in places like medical offices don't want to discriminate against them, but don't understand the rights conferred through civil unions.

"People are not badly inclined toward them," she said in an interview Tuesday. "They are just flummoxed" by the civil union requirements.

Tom Davidson and Keith Heimann, of Shrewsbury, have been a couple for 24 years and have two adopted daughters. Heimann has health insurance for the family through his teaching job at Brookdale Communuity College, but says it was canceled for Davidson and the girls for months when a state-hired auditor questioned whether their civil union was legal.

Elena Quinones says she and her partner, Liz, spent about $10,000 for Liz to adopt their son Ian when Elena gave birth to him two years ago. And the Phillipsburg couple always travels with a binder that includes his birth certificate, their civil union certificate and other documents so that they can prove their relationship in places like doctors' offices. "We're still forced to justify ourselves," she said in an interview.

If they were married, she said, those problems would be gone. "When you say you're married, it's universal," she said. "You say 'civil union,' it's like you're speaking another language."

Last year, John Grant of Asbury Park was nearly killed when he was hit by a car. His partner, Danny Weiss, said hospital staff did not understand what a civil union meant and summoned Grant's sister from Delaware to make care decisions that Weiss should have been able to make.

Speaking on the radio station New Jersey 101.5 Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie said the state would defend the civil union law. He also said he is willing to improve it if it needs more protections.

"I don't want same-sex couples to be deprived of legal rights," he said, adding, "Marriage is an institution that has centuries-old implications in both religious and cultural institutions. I believe it should remain between one man and one woman."

Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, said he does not believe that judges will agree that gay couples face discrimination. He says only 12 of formal civil rights complaints have been filed by the more than 5,400 couples who have been joined in civil unions.

"Every person in the state of New Jersey has a right to marry a person of the opposite sex," he said. "The Legislature has decided that if you reject that and want to have a relationship with a person of the same sex — we are going to call two men or two women civil unions."

The civil unions law was enacted a few months after New Jersey's top court in late 2006 ordered the state to extend to gay couples the legal rights and protections that married couples receive. Lawmakers stopped short of recognizing same-sex marriages, which at that point were legal only in Massachusetts.

Gay rights groups pledged to push for full marriage rights and constantly pointed out the shortcomings of the law and the way it was carried out.

They mounted a major push to get a same-sex marriage law passed by the beginning of 2010, before Christie, a Republican who opposes gay marriage, replaced Democrat Jon Corzine as governor. But the advocates, opposed by social conservative groups and the state's Roman Catholic bishops, could not quite muster the votes to pass it.

Gay rights groups tried to get the state Supreme Court to take up the original case again last year, but the court said no, setting up the latest new lawsuit.

This month, Democratic state Senate President Stephen Sweeney apologized for abstaining on the gay-marriage vote. He said he was doing what was politically expedient rather than what was right.

A bill pending in the state legislature could make Massachusetts the 17th state in the country to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

View full sizeThis map highlights the varied stances each of the 50 states have taken on the issue of marijuana. (Map courtesy of NORML)

BOSTON - A bill pending in the state legislature could make Massachusetts the 17th state in the country to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

If the legislation is passed, patients suffering from a range of illnesses such as HIV, AIDS, cancer, glaucoma or other degenerative diseases could, with their doctor's prescription, purchase marijuana to ease symptoms caused by the disease or its treatment.

Advocated have long argued that using marijuana, which doesn't have to be smoked for its effects to be felt, can help with nausea, seizures, muscle spasms, wasting syndrome, and severe pain without impairing the patient’s mental capacity the way prescription pain medication can.

To recommend marijuana to patients, doctors are encouraged to be registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency under the U.S. Department of Justice as doctors who prescribe controlled substances such as oxycodone must be, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

At a public hearing the bill in Boston, supporters and opponents of the bill voiced their opinions as legislators on both sides of the issue listened.

Marcy Duda, a Ware resident, told WWLP's statehouse reporter that the professionals at the Yale University School of Medicine and Pathology believed that her marijuana use is what prevented her issue with brain aneurysms from becoming fatal.

People suffering from various levels of paralysis also spoke of their experiences with marijuana, citing its ability to relieve pain and spasms that other drugs couldn't touch.

Medical Marijuana Bill S01161

Not everyone was in support of the legislation. Dr. Leonard Morse, the former public health commissioner of Worcester said he believed the legislation would send the wrong message to children.

“I think the liberalization of the use of marijuana may send a strong message especially to young people who experiment with it, and It is a gateway drug and it is addictive," Morse testified as the public hearing.

The bill is co-sponsored by sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who has explained that the Massachusetts medical marijuana bill isn't set up to be like the one in California, and will include a tightly-controlled system.

Among the 16 states that allow marijuana for medicinal use of approved patients are Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island.

Eric Wunderlich, a board member of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, previously told MassLive.com that his group specifically supports legalizing marijuana for medical use because of the relief it can provide patients.

“At the heart of the issue is the fundamental belief that patients should have access to this option through their doctor and they shouldn’t have to live in fear of the authorities kicking in their door and arresting them,” Wunderlich said. “There are different beliefs between legalizing it medically and completely, but it is all about not living in fear.”

The bill, which reportedly has a better chance than ever of passing, has been referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health.

Should Massachusetts pass the legislation and become the 17th state to allow patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes?

Click here to vote in our daily Sunrise Report Poll.

A look at which reforms in Mass. are working and which are not; Connecticut proposes major layoffs and job cuts; and more of the morning's headlines.

Shiite pilgrims gather at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine for the annual commemoration of the Saint's death, in the Shiite district of Kazimiyah, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

• Boston police crackdown in parks after boy’s shooting [Boston.com]


• Chicopee man gets five to seven years in jail for selling cocaine [GazetteNet.com]


• Mitt Romney relying on Massachusetts fundraisers to pay the bills [Boston.com]


• Health economist Jon Gruber, architect of Massachusetts health care law, speaks on what is and isn't working in state [WashingtonPost.com]


• Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy proposes nearly 5,500 layoffs and the elimination of another 1,000 unfilled positions [Courant.com]


Egyptian security forces firing tear gas clashed with more than 5000 rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo late Tuesday, leaving dozens injured in the latest unrest to rattle the country.


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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Today's Poll: Should Massachusetts pass the legislation and become the 17th state to allow patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes?

(Submitted photo by Bob Chunyk)A hummingbird stops for a snack at Bob Chunyk's home in Somers, Connecticut. Do you have interesting photos you'd like to see featured on MassLive.com? Send them to online@repub.com for consideration.

The Forecast

According to the National Weather Service, today is looking like a partly-sunny one with a high around 79 degrees. Areas of fog may be present before 8 a.m.

Tonight, mostly clear skies will allow for a view of the stars in areas not polluted by unnatural light while the air will have a slight chill to it with a low of 55 degrees.

Find the full forecast here.

Today's Poll

On Tuesday, a public hearing was held in Boston to allow residents to voice their opinion on the pending medical marijuana legislation.

The bill, which has a better chance of passing than previous incarnations, will create a strict system of state regulation and allow for the creation of up to 19 medical marijuana dispensaries across the state.

It would also allow patients to grow up to 24 plants in a secure and private area.

Contrary to popular belief, marijuana does not have to be smoked to feel the effects. It can be ingested or vaporized, eliminating the negative byproducts associated with smoking anything.

This bill, if approved, would model the state's system after some of the neighboring New England states rather than California, a state that pioneered such legislation but has received criticism for too loose of a system.

Patients and advocates in the Bay State are enthusiastic and showing support for the legislation, but not everyone is in favor of such a proposal.

Some attendees at the hearing, such as a former public health commissioner of Worcester, called marijuana a gateway drug and said it was addictive. This doctor also said he was concerned about the message it might send to children experimenting with marijuana.

With 16 states in the nation already allowing patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, it is looking like Massachusetts may be the 17th state.

To read the full story and see the bill in its entirety, click here.

Monday's Top 5:

The top 5 headlines on MassLive.com on June 28 were:

1) Springfield police arrest 9 suspects, ranging in age from 12 to 19, following beating of openly gay man on Walnut Street

2) Holyoke Fire Chief William Moran accused of making false call to his own department

3) Shooting in Springfield's North End sends 3 men to Baystate Medical Center, leaves 18 shell casings on the ground

4) Best of 2011 Prom: Best of the Best (Photo Gallery)

5) Police chase, which starts in Holyoke and swings through Easthampton, ends in Northampton when driver jumps out of moving pickup

Quote of the Day

"Am I to understand that the state has the right to do things that the individual may not, such as steal property? If you have to pay a tax on property, you don't own it." ~ Joseph F. "Jay" Noone of Bondsville protesting his eviction by the town over non-payment of $23,000 in taxes. To read the full story of Noone's battle against the town, click here.

Thomas Welch will be principal of East Street Elementary School and Melissa Knowles will be principal of Veterans Park Elementary School.

LUDLOW – Interim School Superintendent Kenneth J. Grew Tuesday announced the appointment of four new school administrators.

The new administrators are Thomas Welch, the new principal of East Street Elementary School; Melissa Knowles, who will replace Susan Dukeshire as principal of Veterans Park Elementary School; Eva Tillotson, in charge of student support services, which oversees special education programs in the school district; and Diana Roy, the new curriculum director for the school district.

All four appointments are one-year appointments, but Grew said he is prepared to make them three-year appointments prior to the end of his one-year term as interim superintendent.

Grew, a retired school superintendent, was hired as one-year interim superintendent while the School Committee advertises for a permanent superintendent.

Three of the four appointments were made from within the school district. The fourth, Welch, has been an assistant principal for an elementary school in Belchertown.

Grew replaced Theresa M. Kane, who left to take a job as school superintendent in East Windsor, Conn.

When Kane left, some school administrators left with her, some listing “philosophical differences” with the School Committee.

While Kane had supported hiring academic coaches to assist teachers in bringing up student test scores, the School Committee said they favored putting the coaches in the classroom as teachers to bring down class size.

Also on Tuesday, the School Committee voted to advertise for a new principal of Ludlow High School to replace Gina Flanagan and a new principal of Chapin Street Elementary School to replace Lisa Dakin. Both are leaving to take positions in other school districts.

School Committee Chairman Michael J. Kelliher said he favors making the additional principal appointments three-year appointments to give the school system stability.

Kelliher said he believes the school system is moving forward in a positive direction.

At Grew’s suggestion, School Committee members recently had a meeting with school administrators and teachers, he said.

“I feel we have a good relationship and are breaking down a lot of barriers,” Kelliher said.

Acting Public Works Department Superintendent Richard P. Kaczmarczyk has helped build parks, dealt with the aftermath of the October 2005 flood that put the highway department underwater, and recently assisted his longtime friend, Monson Highway Surveyor John R. Morrell, after the tornado hit that town on June 1, causing rampant destruction.

Photo by Lori Stabile. Palmer's acting public works department superintendent, Richard P. Kaczmarczyk, is retiring on June 30 after 37 years working for the town.

PALMER - Acting Public Works Department Superintendent Richard P. Kaczmarczyk is retiring June 30 after 37 years with the town.

“It’s time to move on and let someone else take a crack at it. You get to a point in these jobs and you just know, it’s time,“ Kaczmarczyk, 59, said recently.

The brutal winter helped convince him to retire. The region was hammered with back-to-back snowstorms, and Kaczmarczyk was there with his crews, plowing all night.

When they weren’t plowing, they were moving the snow.

“There were long, long hours,“ he said.

Since 2004, Kaczmarczyk has been the acting director, overseeing the cemetery, parks, highway, tree warden and wastewater treatment departments. His promotion was not without controversy, and some residents and councilors have questioned having someone serve for years in an “acting“ role.

The public works department superintendent was a new position in the charter that went into effect in 2005, and the person holding it is supposed to have an engineering degree, something Kaczmarczyk lacks. The post was modified in a charter change, which put a two-year time limit on how long someone could serve without the degree.

Kaczmarczyk said the ongoing budget problems have been hard to deal with, noting that the department has lost 15 positions since 1991.

“This is a big town. It requires a lot of upkeep,“ Kaczmarczyk said. “I see stuff that I know has to be done and we just do not have enough money to do it.“

He is proud of initiating a road repair program in 2004; Palmer has 220 miles of roads. He has helped build parks, dealt with the aftermath of the October 2005 flood that put the highway department underwater, and recently assisted his longtime friend, Monson Highway Surveyor John R. Morrell, after the tornado hit that town on June 1, causing rampant destruction.

Kaczmarczyk loaned him an electronic sign, and helped direct out-of-town crews to problem areas. He went to Monson at 6 p.m. that night to help Morrell.

“In all my years on the Fire Department, all the storms that I’ve been through, you name it, never in my life have I seen something like that and I never want to see it again. I was sick,“ Kaczmarczyk said.

Kaczmarczyk also was an assistant chief with the Palmer Fire Department before he retired in 1999; he served there for 30 years.

Kaczmarczyk said the public works director job can’t be done from behind a desk. It’s a hands-on position. He praised the employees under him, saying they did unbelievable work this winter, along with the plowing contractors he hired. He also said the town should have one public works building, instead of four buildings like it has now.

"They don’t teach you public works in schools . . . This is a nuts and bolts job in a small town,“ Kaczmarczyk, a Palmer native, said.

“I’ve always done things that are good for the majority, not the minority,“ Kaczmarczyk said.

He plans to take the summer off, then look for a new job in the private sector. He said he can’t sit at home for too long.

“It’s been a good ride,“ Kaczmarczyk said.

Acting Town Manager Patricia A. Kennedy, also retiring at the end of June, said she has worked with Kaczmarczyk for many years, and that he has always been a “gentleman and a professional.“

“He knows every rock and nook and cranny in the town, and that’s something you only get by serving a long time. You can’t replace that,“ Kennedy said.

At an informal 'meet and greet,' more than 100 school employees met the new superintendent.

File photo | The RepublicanNew Westfield school superintendent Suzanne Scallion plans to tour the district's 13 schools over the next two weeks.

WESTFIELD – Newly appointed Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion is scheduling tours of each of the city’s 13 public schools within the next two weeks.

She has already toured the tornado-damaged Munger Hill Elementary School and was off Tuesday to visit Southampton Elementary and Westfield High School.

An informal meet and greet, hosted by the School Committee and Volunteers in Public Schools, drew more than 100 school staff members from all schools and all departments on Tuesday.

“I can feel the really great energy being generated by everyone,” Scallion said during the coffee-hour session held at School Department offices on Ashley Street.

“I will be out to each school within the next two weeks for more formal introduction, especially our schools that have projects underway this summer,” she said. “Then there will be more visits, to each school, when the kids return,” she added.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to pull this entire team together,” Scallion said, explaining that will occur in August during a traditional School Department convocation.

Ward 4 City Council member Mary L. O’Connell, who took time Tuesday to introduce herself to the new superintendent, said “I am impressed with her attitude. She understands the challenges here.”

VIPS coordinator Barbara G. Trant said the event was scheduled “as an opportunity for staff to meet our new superintendent at an informal setting. Attendance was great with representation from all schools and all departments.”

Scallion will succeed the retiring Shirley Alvira, who has served as superintendent for the past four years.

Scallion’s official start date is Friday.

A city man with active warrants who was allegedly in possession of several bags of marijuana was arrested late Tuesday after he almost drove into a fire truck, according to Springfield Police.

SPRINGFIELD - A city man with active warrants who was allegedly in possession of several bags of marijuana was arrested late Tuesday after he almost drove into a fire truck, according to Springfield Police.

Around 10:30 p.m., officers on patrol allegedly say Roberto Caraballo, 24, of 27 Phoenix St., Springfield, driving in a gray Acura on Carew Street.

According to Lt. John K. Slepchuk, officers saw the Acura illegally pass another car on the right, almost striking a fire truck which was responding to an emergency call with its lights and sirens activated.

After the close call, officers pulled the Acura over and inside allegedly found Caraballo in possession of cash and 13 bags of marijuana. A warrant search revealed he was also wanted on two prior issues.

He was charged with possession of a class-d substance with the intent to distribute, driving with a suspended license, willfully obstructing an emergency vehicle, failure to signal and a passing violation.

He was taken into custody and held awaiting arraignment in Springfield District Court.

Eliminating waste is more than individuals recycling or composting, it’s about policy change as well.

NORTHAMPTON - More than a dozen environmental groups and municipalities are coming together Thursday night to talk trash - and how to reduce and eventually eliminate it.

Groups such as the Amherst Energy Task Force, the Northampton health department, Greening Greenfield Energy Committee and the Hampshire Council of Governments are just a handful sponsoring a forum called “Aiming at Zero: Planning for Zero Waste in the Pioneer Valley” at 7 at the John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Lynne Pledger, of Hardwick, a coordinator with Clean Water Action, will be speaking. She said the idea for the joint gathering came from the Amherst Refuse Management and Solid Waste Committee. “They were thinking about the whole Pioneer Valley (to address the issue).The region has a lot of potential about doing innovative things.”

Communities “are paying a lot for waste management,” and that can be addressed by creating what’s called the zero waste plan.

“Zero waste is an effort, a systematic plan for reducing waste year by year,” she said. For example, San Francisco created a 30-year plan to zero waste and is two-third’s toward meeting it.

And while communities are reducing waste by composting and recycling, they actually have to devise such a year-by-year strategy, otherwise, getting to zero won’t happen. Pledger said she will be providing strategies for creating such a plan.

Eliminating waste is more than individuals recycling or composting, it’s about policy change such as the passing of the Extended Producer Responsibility, also known as product stewardship, she said. That law that requires the companies that design and market products to bear the cost of disposal not the municipalities.

Twenty four states have such laws, she said. Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the only two Northeast states without those laws. “If the brand owners have to pay, they will redesign their products so they can be readily repaired,” she said.

She also sees the Thursday forum as “a way of gathering people together for building grass roots support. It’s not just about the decision makers (who have to make the changes.) People have to support those programs (created by the government) and comply. A community has to move forward on this together. It’s not just about litter. It’s about preserving our natural systems we all depend on for life.”

She said there are ways that regions can come together as well. “Becoming a zero waste community is a cultural shift. It can be transformative in a lot of ways. It makes sense for a region to work together.”

The list of sponsors of the gathering also include the Amherst and Northampton league of women voters, the Northampton and Amherst public works departments, Clean Water Action, Coop Power, GREEN Northampton, Pedal People, Pioneer Valley Sustainability Network, Sierra Club of Massachusetts, Toxics Action Network and Transition Northampton.