Calver pleaded guilty to 11 of 15 charges stemming from the break-ins and a high-speed chase through Amherst and Hadley.

UMass Police Dept.John Calver

NORTHAMPTON – A former Chicopee man has been sentenced to five to six years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from car break-ins at a University of Massachusetts parking lot last August and a high-speed chase through Amherst and Hadley.

John J. Calver Jr., 36, pleaded guilty to 11 of 15 charges stemming from the Aug. 3, 2010, incidents.

Four charges won’t be processed as part of the guilty plea. Those charges involved two counts of assault and two counts of assault and battery after police said he tried to hit two UMass police officers with his van.

Calver pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony, two counts of larceny over $250, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, resisting arrest, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, possession of burglary tools, reckless driving, and vandalism.

Calver will receive credit for the 331 days he has served at the Hampshire County House of Correction.

He was sentenced with jail and prison time for other charges, but all sentences are concurrent with the maximum of five to six years to be served at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Cedar Junction. The sentence was agreed to by both the prosecution and the defense and was accepted by Judge Jeffrey Kinder.

At the time of his arrest, UMass police were investigating a series of car breaks in which laptops and dashboard navigation systems were stolen. Police parked a “bait car” with a laptop computer and other electronics plainly visible, in lot 32 near the campus visitors center.

They were watching as a blue van pulled into the parking lot and drove slowly around and then Calver was then seen approaching a vehicle wearing black socks on his hands. Police discovered a broken window and a missing GPS system.

Calver was also seen taking the items from the unlocked decoy car. When police tried to arrest him, he hit police vehicles then fled along Route 9, where Hadley police joined in the chase. Calver stopped at Competitive Edge on Route 9 and began fleeing on foot when police arrested him, according to Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Michael A. McHale.

The "Latinos in Massachusetts: Focus on Springfield" report was released by the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy.

View full sizeThe Republican | Lucila SantanaThe Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, based at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, released the report "Latinos in Massachusetts: Focus on Springfield" at the Springfield Sheraton Hotel. From left are speakers Sarah Rustan, research associate and data analyst, Phil Granberry, research associate, and María Idalí Torres, director of the Gastón Institute.

SPRINGFIELD – Better results are needed from those working on problems faced by the Hispanic community such as high HIV rates, said a speaker during a Thursday presentation of the report “Latinos in Massachusetts: Focus on Springfield.”

The report was released by the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, based at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

The information presented to the community at Springfield Sheraton Hotel included data on education, health disparities, and other conditions and challenges faced by the Latino community, which constitutes 38.8 percent of the Springfield population.

While most of the data presented is well-known in the city, the institute stated it is important to evaluate existing organizations that address main issues such as teen pregnancy rates and high school dropout rates and eliminate duplications.

“There is a need for local and state agencies to be held accountable,” said Dr. María Idalí Torres director, of the Gastón Institute.

The main speakers of the forum were Torres, Sarah Rustan, research associate and data analyst, and Phil Granberry, research associate.

“What we are saying is that we need to have better outcomes. We might have the money but where are the results?,” said Torres.

This forum was the first in a series of briefings that the institute will host throughout the state to raise awareness about the issues faced by the state’s Latino population.

Health wise, Torres addressed HIV as one of the main concerns. Statewide, Hispanics lead statistics for existing cases of HIV in children and young adults. Within the age range of HIV carriers less than 12 years old, Hispanics constitute 83 percent, according to data collected by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the year 2008. Of the HIV cases in people 20 to 24, Hispanics constitute 71 percent, and within the ages of 25 to 29, 68 percent.

Springfield City Councilor Zaida Luna was among the 160 people who attended the forum and said that some of the findings were surprising, while others are not new to her community. The question becomes what can be done to address these disparities.

“Some of the percentages were not a surprise but we have to refocus our strategies. I think the question now becomes how do we unite and collaborate to address the needs,” said Luna.

The anti-human trafficking bill passed increases the penalties for human trafficking and for soliciting a prostitute.

File photo

BOSTON — Pimps and others found guilty of trafficking children for sex or forced labor would face life in prison under a bill passed by the Massachusetts Senate.

The anti-human trafficking bill passed Thursday increases the penalties for human trafficking and for soliciting a prostitute. Under the proposed law, anyone convicted of trafficking would need to register as a sex offender.

The bill would also consider children and others forced into prostitution victims instead of offenders. It would establish a task force to investigate and study ways to prevent trafficking and treat victims.

Human rights advocates and law enforcement officials have pushed for such bill for years.

Massachusetts is one of only three states without anti-human trafficking laws.

The bill now moves to Gov. Deval Patrick's desk for his signature.

It was sponsored by New Bedford Democratic Sen. Mark Montigny.

"The threat is pretty limited," said Kevin Smith, site manager for Los Alamos for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Associated PressAlex Lopez, center, plays baseball with his sister Sugey while smoke generated by the Las Conchas fire covers the sky in Espanola, N.M., Wednesday, June 29, 2011. As crews fight to keep the wildfire from reaching the country's premier nuclear-weapons laboratory and the surrounding community, scientists are busy sampling the air for chemicals and radiological materials. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

By P. SOLOMON BANDA
and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Firefighters were confident Thursday they had stopped the advance of a wildfire that headed toward the Los Alamos nuclear lab and the nearby town that now sits empty for the second time in 11 years, even as they battled the blaze that crept into a canyon that descends into the town and parts of the lab.

Of 1,000 firefighters on the scene, 200 were battling the blaze in Los Alamos Canyon, which runs past the old Manhattan Project site in town and a 1940s era dump site where workers are near the end of a clean-up project of low-level radioactive waste. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first atomic bomb, and workers from the era dumped hazardous and radioactive waste in trenches along six acres atop the mesa where the town sits.

"The threat is pretty limited," said Kevin Smith, site manager for Los Alamos for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the lab. "Most of the materials have been dug up."

Los Alamos Canyon runs through town and a portion of the northern end of the lab, where a weapons research nuclear reactor was located until it was demolished in 2003. The fire burned upslope at least three miles from the sites and didn't pose an immediate threat.

Los Alamos County Fire Chief Doug Tucker said the area in the canyon that was burning had been previously been thinned, providing a safe area for firefighters to attack it.

"Am I concerned? Yes. Do I feel threatened? No. But it's fire and it's dangerous," Tucker said.

In an evening briefing, Tucker said efforts that included burning out brush and other fuels and laying down a line of foam down a slope to keep the fire up the canyon appeared to be successful.

"I'll feel better about it in the morning," he said.

Tucker noted that conditions in the area are so dry that the fire, which had charred nearly 145 square miles, was burning downed trees that were scorched in the huge Cerro Grande fire in 2000. The fire also burned through moisture-rich aspen trees to push into the canyon.

Meanwhile, residents of Los Alamos, who fled the town earlier in the week under an evacuation order, wouldn't be allowed back home until Sunday at the earliest, Tucker said.

Despite the erratic nature of the blaze, fire officials remained confident that they could keep it from spreading onto the Los Alamos National Laboratory or into the town. They made progress on some fronts along its southern border Thursday even as the fire pushed northward toward land considered sacred by a Native American tribe.

"Today is a good day for parts of this fire. It's a bad day for other parts of this fire. Our hearts go out to the folks that are suffering the bad part," Tucker said.

The fire has chewed up tens of thousands of acres a day since it started Sunday, becoming among the largest forest fires in New Mexico history. Crews have contained only 3 percent of the fire. Fire officials believe the blaze will soon surpass the Dry Lakes fire, which burned more than 94,000 acres of the Gila National Forest in 2003.

Thunderstorms bringing erratic winds and some rain moved over the fire area Thursday afternoon, as crews braced for gusts of up to 40 mph that could spark spot fires ahead of the blaze.

Lab officials were trying to determine the extent to which experiments at the facility have been affected by a shutdown caused by the fast-moving fire. Lab Director Charles McMillan said teams will quickly figure out how things stand as soon as they're able to return.

Though the physical risk to the lab from the fire apparently had lessened Thursday, McMillan said "the laboratory is not just a bunch of buildings."

"It's not just a bunch of equipment. The laboratory is the people of the laboratory. That is the fundamental asset that this laboratory has and those people live all over northern New Mexico," he said.

The lab has been closed since Monday, when the city of Los Alamos and some of its surrounding areas — 12,000 people in all — were evacuated. There was no word on when it would reopen, but it was expected to remain idle at least through Friday.

Officials said the lab has some 10,000 experiments running at the same time that have been put on hold.

"We have a range of projects, some of them have shorter time deliverable, some of them are years to decades," said McMillan, who last month took over management of the lab that sits atop desert mesas.

The delayed projects include experiments run on two supercomputers, the Roadrunner and Cielo. The National Nuclear Security Administration's three national laboratories — Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore — all share computing time on Cielo, which is among the world's fastest computers.

The lab also works on such topics as renewable energy and particle physics, solar flares, forensics on terrorist attacks, and studying the AIDS virus at the molecular level to help scientists develop strategies for developing vaccines.

Recent discoveries at the lab include a cheaper method of producing the element thorium, which is viewed as a potential sustainable energy source; so-called NanoBeacons that are silver atoms that glow different colors when they attach to certain acids and can help in diagnosing disease; and a special drilling fluid to help prevent massive oil spills, such as the one that happened last year in The Gulf.

Work under way at the lab now on hold because of the fire include studies on materials needed to extend the life of 1960s-era B61 nuclear bombs, and better understanding of how the ocean currents affect phytoplankton in the ocean that produce large amounts of oxygen.

On Monday, about an acre of lab property burned, raising concerns about possible contamination from material stored or buried on lab grounds. As a precaution, the government sent a plane equipped with radiation monitors over the lab. Samples analyzed so far from some of the lab's monitors show nothing abnormal in the smoke.

Lab authorities described the monitoring from the air as a precaution, and they, along with outside experts on nuclear engineering, expressed confidence that the blaze would not scatter radioactive material, as some in surrounding communities feared.

Anti-nuclear groups have sounded the alarm about thousands of 55-gallon drums containing low-grade nuclear waste — gloves, tools, even paper notes and other contaminated items — about two miles from the fire.

Lab officials said it was highly unlikely the blaze would reach the drums, and that the steel containers can in any case withstand flames and will be sprayed with fire-resistant foam if necessary.

Meanwhile, the economic impact of shutting down the town was already weighing on the minds of Los Alamos officials and business owners. Tucker said that unlike last time a fire forced the town's evacuation, none of the utilities have been shut off and no structures have been lost.

The state is allowing businesses to delay their sales tax payments and the local chamber of commerce and a local economic development group is offer businesses help making interest payments on loans.

"I don't see us in any significant danger because of the fire," said Kent Peg, owner of Los Alamos Fitness Center. "We have been in business nine years. We have a very loyal clientele. The town will rally."

Bryan reported from Albuquerque; Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Strauss-Kahn, who faces a court hearing Friday, has been under armed guard in a Manhattan townhouse after posting a total of $6 million in cash bail and bond. He denies the allegations.

FILE - In this Monday, June 6, 2011 file photo, former IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn, right, appears at his arraignment on charges of sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid, at State Supreme Court in New York. Attorney William Taylor is at left. A person familiar with the case says former International Monetary Fund Leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have his bail substantially reduced in his sexual assault case because of issues with his accuser's credibility, Thursday, June 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Allan Tannenbaum, Pool, File)

By JENNIFER PELTZ & TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of raping her, and they are taking the extraordinary step of seeking a substantial reduction in his pricey bail, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public in court, told The Associated Press that prosecutors have raised issues about the accuser's credibility in the case against Strauss-Kahn, but would not elaborate on what those issues were.

A separate law enforcement official who is familiar with the case, but not authorized to speak about it publicly, told the AP that the issue was not necessarily about the rape accusation itself, but about troubling questions surrounding the alleged victim's background that could damage her credibility on the witness stand. The official refused to elaborate.

The New York Police Department, which investigated the case, declined comment. The woman's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Strauss-Kahn, who faces a court hearing Friday, has been under armed guard in a Manhattan townhouse after posting a total of $6 million in cash bail and bond. He denies the allegations.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office had argued against his release in May, citing the violent nature of the alleged offenses and saying his wealth and international connections would make it easy for him to flee.

"The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues," Assistant District Attorney John "Artie" McConnell told the judge. "We have a man who, by his own conduct in this case, has shown a propensity for impulsive criminal conduct."

FILE - In this May 19, 2011 file photo, former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn listens to proceedings in his case in New York state Supreme Court. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is expected to be chosen as early as Tuesday, June 28, 2011, to be the new leader of the International Monetary Fund. She would replace Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month after being charged with sexually assaulting a New York City hotel housekeeper. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool, File)

The New York Times first reported that investigators uncovered major inconsistences in the woman's account of her background, citing two law enforcement officials. One of the officials told the Times that the woman has repeatedly lied since making the initial allegation May 14.

The discoveries include issues stemming from the asylum application of the 32-year-old woman, who is from Guinea, and possible links to criminal activities such as drug dealing and money laundering, one of the officials told the newspaper. The Times reported that senior prosecutors and Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are discussing whether to dismiss the felony charges against him.

Another person familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said earlier Thursday that Strauss-Kahn may get his pricey bail and house arrest arrangement eased in the case at Friday's court hearing. The person declined to detail what the new bail arrangements might be.

Strauss-Kahn lawyer William W. Taylor would say only that the hearing was to review the bail plan. The district attorney's office declined to comment.

If the case against Strauss-Kahn collapses, it could once again shake up the race for the French presidency. Strauss-Kahn, a prominent Socialist, had been seen as a leading potential contender and challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy for next year's elections — until the New York hotel incident embarrassed Strauss-Kahn's party and left him in the political wilderness.

Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry announced her own presidential bid this week, after having long been expected to throw her weight behind a Strauss-Kahn candidacy.

New doubts about Strauss-Kahn's accuser would also revive speculation of a conspiracy against Strauss-Kahn aimed at torpedoing his presidential chances. Within days of his arrest, a poll suggested that a majority of French think Strauss-Kahn — who long had a reputation as a womanizer and was nicknamed "the great seducer" — was the victim of a plot.

FILE In this May 19, 2011 file photo Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. addresses the media outside Manhattan Criminal Court after a judge granted bail to former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in New York. To Europeans, stunned by the treatment and jailing of a potential French candidate, Vance has been pegged as "a prosecutor sensitive to the cause of women" and "the executioner of DSK" as he presses a case that could become a signature of his first term. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

Strauss-Kahn was held without bail for nearly a week after his May arrest. His lawyers ultimately persuaded a judge to release him by agreeing to extensive — and expensive — conditions, including an ankle monitor, surveillance cameras and armed guards. He can leave for only for court, weekly religious services and visits to doctors and his lawyers, and prosecutors must be notified at least six hours before he goes anywhere.

The security measures were estimated to cost him about $200,000 a month, on top of the $50,000-a-month rent on a town house in trendy TriBeCa. He settled there after a hasty and fraught househunt: A plan to rent an apartment in a tony building on Manhattan's Upper East Side fell through after residents complained about the hubbub as reporters and police milled around the building.

Under New York law, judges base bail decisions on factors including defendants' characters, financial resources and criminal records, as well as the strength of the case against them — all intended to help gauge how likely they are to flee if released.

Defendants and prosecutors can raise the issue of bail at any point in a case. It's common, if asking a judge to revisit a bail decision, to argue that new information or new proposed conditions change how one or more of the factors should be viewed.

The maid told police that Strauss-Kahn chased her down a hallway in his $3,000-a-night suite in the Sofitel hotel, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex before she broke free.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have said the encounter wasn't forcible, and that they have unreleased information that could "gravely undermine the credibility" of the housekeeper. The defense was using private investigators to aggressively check out the victim's background and her story, but the Times reported that it was investigators for the prosecution who uncovered discrepancies.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the detectives investigating the case found the maid's story believable.

"Obviously, the credibility of the complainant is a factor in cases of this nature," Kelly said in May. "One of the things they're trained to look for, and what was reported to me early on, was that the complainant was credible."

The woman's lawyer has said she is prepared to testify despite a "smear campaign" against her.

The Associated Press generally does not identify accusers in sex crime cases unless they agree to it.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was in New York on a personal trip. He left the hotel shortly after the alleged assault — to have lunch with a relative, his attorneys have said.

During his initial bail hearings, prosecutors noted that Strauss-Kahn was arrested on a Paris-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and that they could not compel his return from France if he fled. His lawyers have underscored that it was a long-planned flight, and they've said he wants to return to court to clear his name.

He resigned his IMF post after his arrest.

An updated, authorized biography of Strauss-Kahn was released in French bookstores this week with new material addressing the New York incident and claims of sexual assault against him by a French novelist. It includes interviews with his wife and sister and appears to be a vehicle for a vigorous defense of the former IMF chief.

Strauss-Kahn's wife, prominent television journalist Anne Sinclair, describes being "very worried" about the case. She calls him "a good, honest and reliable man" and says "I believe in him more than ever."

His sister Valerie is quoted in the book as saying she's "sure he's incapable of violence toward a woman."

The biography was initially published two weeks before the May incident.

The new material also includes comments from Strauss-Kahn in an interview with author Michel Taubmann earlier this year dismissing accusations of sexual assault against him by novelist Tristane Banon.

She did not make a criminal complaint at the time of the 2003 incident, and her lawyer says she was pressured to keep it quiet by her mother, a regional official in Strauss-Kahn's Socialist Party. The Associated Press is identifying Banon as an alleged victim of sexual assault because she has gone public with her account.
___

Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Colleen Long in New York City and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

A six-year, $336 million, multiphase transformation of one of America's best known sporting venues is nearly complete.

This June 24, 2011 photo shows a new expanded plaza level seating of the Louisiana Superdome, which is undergoing renovation, in New Orleans. The six-year, $336 million, multiphase transformation of one of America's best known sporting venues is nearly complete. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By BRETT MARTEL, AP Sports Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When the manager of the Louisiana Superdome surveys the stadium's latest and most extensive renovation project yet, he finds himself thinking more about his city's hopeful future than its troubled recent past.

A six-year, $336 million, multiphase transformation of one of America's best known sporting venues is nearly complete — enough so that spectators will get to see the latest changes in person when the dome reopens this weekend, for the first time since last football season, to host the Essence music festival.

"It doesn't look like the same building it did in 2005, that's for sure," said Doug Thornton, vice president of SMG, the company that manages the state-owned stadium.

During a recent stroll through a new, field-level bowl that now have most of its 24,500 seats in place, Thornton reflected on how much the Superdome had changed since Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.

The storm tore open the roof and flooded surrounding streets, allowing mold to fester while tens of thousands of evacuees who had taken shelter there stewed in summer heat without air conditioning or working bathrooms. Most evacuees milled around field-level stands, which have been deconstructed, removed and rebuilt atop a new steel support system as part of $50 million in work performed during the last five months.

The changes to the field-level stands represent the latest of numerous upgrades since the restoration of the stadium began in late 2005. The initial phases included gutting and refinishing suites, corridors, concession stands and bathrooms throughout the stadium. New electrical, video and audio systems were installed. All seats were either cleaned or replaced, and four large club lounges with new windows offering views of downtown where built on the second level.

"You walk around now and you don't see too many vestiges of the past," Thornton said. "Many of the bad memories of Katrina have been suppressed. ... It's like a brand new building inside the old shell."

Even the outer shell looks new. Last year, the original aluminum siding, faded a dull gray by three-plus decades of Louisiana sun and dented by flying storm debris, was replaced. The new siding restored the hulking, downtown stadium to the original champagne color it had when it hosted its first Super Bowl in 1978.

The Superdome is scheduled to host its seventh Super Bowl in February 2013, capping a 13-month span in which it will also host college football's BCS national championship next January and the NCAA men's basketball Final Four the following spring.

"We've been working nonstop for, really, six years to reinvent the dome, and when you look around now, it does make you think about what's going to happen," Thornton said.

Because the renovation is not entirely done, access to a few unfinished sections will be blocked for this weekend's music festival, but concert spectators will sit in many of the new seats.

The New Orleans Saints' home exhibition slate would begin Aug. 12 if it's not delayed by the NFL lockout. By then, all lower bowl seats will have been installed in a changed configuration that hugs the rectangular shape of the football field, bringing many sideline spectators closer to the field than they were in the old, semi-oval layout.

Under the sideline sections are new, 7,000-square-foot lounges. Ticket-holders in those areas will be able to use an exclusive entrance to the stadium, passing through a set of glass doors, above which wide strips of cherry wood paneling follow the contour of the ceiling to a bar across the lounge.

The floors are a combination of polished granite and carpet, and white leather furniture, completes a look similar to a contemporary boutique hotel lobby.

The altered configuration has increased capacity from a little less than 70,000 to nearly 73,000 for Saints games, and the main concourse has been completely rebuilt. Footbridges that linked the old concourse to the seats are gone. The concourse is now about three-times wider with new tile flooring and brighter cove lighting overhead. Larger concession stands finished with stainless steel can handle up to 20 percent more customers at a time.

Rest rooms are all new and their capacity doubled. About 100 large flat screen TVs hang from the underside of the second deck, aimed at those sitting in the top portions of the lower bowl or walking along the concourse.

The newest work also included the widening of a ramp to one of the main entrances and the installation of a permanent staircase to a public outdoor plaza called Champion's Square, which opened last year.

Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation director Jay Cicero said the winning bids he developed for the 2013 Super Bowl and 2012 Final Four would have gone nowhere if not for the transformation of the Superdome and the surrounding development it has spurred.

"It has been absolutely a key part of the whole process ... and will be a major feather for New Orleans' next bids," Cicero said.

Next to the dome is an office high-rise that Saints owner Tom Benson bought as part of an agreement locking the Saints into the dome through 2025. The state will consolidate scattered New Orleans offices in the Benson Tower, leasing space at what critics say is higher than market rates. State officials have justified the deal as a way to reward Benson for keeping his NFL club in Louisiana long-term and putting a heavily damaged and long dormant downtown high-rise back into commerce.

Also nearby is a Hyatt hotel, which became a symbol of Katrina's devastation when dozens of its floor-to-ceiling windows were blown out, leaving exposed curtains flapping in the wind. In October, it is finally expected to reopen after a $275 million renovation of 1,200 rooms and 200,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space.

Hyatt general manager Michael Smith said the Superdome's restoration was a main reason — particularly during a national recession — that financing went through for the hotel.

For several years, Thornton has referred to the Superdome as a symbol of the city's recovery. His own home in a neighborhood near Lake Pontchartrain was flooded during Katrina. He hopes the pride he's taken in the renovation of his home is similar to the feeling Louisiana residents will share in seeing the changes in the dome.

"People in this area kind of think of the Superdome as an extension of their home because they've spent a lot of their weekends here," Thornton said. "So I hope they're proud of it when they come in."

The decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission applies to approximately 1 in 17 inmates in the federal system.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2006 file photo, a Los Angeles police officer counts the number of doses of crack cocaine, as he files an evidence police report after a drug related arrest in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. One in every 20 federal prisoners could be eligible for early release under a potential sentencing change for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses that will be voted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As many as 12,000 people in federal prison for crack-related crimes can get their sentences reduced as a result of a new law that brought the penalties for the drug more closely in line with those for powdered cocaine, a government commission decided Thursday.

The decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission applies to approximately 1 in 17 inmates in the federal system.

Congress last year substantially lowered the sentences for crack-related crimes such as possession and trafficking, changing a 1980s law that was criticized as racially discriminatory because it came down extra hard on a drug common in poor, black neighborhoods.

The question before the commission Thursday was whether people already locked up under the old law should benefit retroactively from the changes. The six-member commission unanimously decided in their favor.

"I believe that the commission has no choice but to make this right," said Ketanji Brown Jackson, a vice chairwoman of the commission. "I say justice demands this result."

The NAACP was among the groups praising the commission's action. About 85 percent of the inmates expected to benefit from the decision are black.

"This is just another step in us righting a wrong, fixing failed criminal justice policy," said Robert Rooks, national criminal justice director for the NAACP.

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washington, Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Federal law has already been changed to affect new sentences, eliminating a disparity that existed between those caught with crack and those with powder cocaine. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The commission's action is final unless Congress decides by the end of October to intervene, and that is considered unlikely.

Prisoners will have to petition a judge for a sentence reduction, and requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis, with the court taking into consideration the defendant's behavior in prison and danger to society. Prosecutors will be allowed to weigh in. The earliest anyone could get out is November.

According to the commission, approximately 12,000 of the roughly 200,000 people in federal prisons will be eligible to have their sentences cut. The average reduction is expected to be about three years. Inmates convicted under state law will not be affected.

The federal Bureau of Prisons estimates that over the first five years the change will save $200 million.

In its ruling Thursday the commission took a broad view of who should benefit from the lower sentences, though various groups had urged the panel to act more narrowly.

Attorney General Eric Holder, for example, argued that prisoners who used weapons during their crimes or who have extensive criminal records should not be entitled to a break. That would have cut the number of eligible prisoners in half, to approximately 6,000.

Sandra Warren of Walnut Cove, N.C., said she hopes Thursday's decision will benefit her daughter Calandra Calloway, who was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for selling a large amount of crack. Right now, her projected release date is 2016, but the commission's ruling could mean she serves less than 10 years.

Judge Patti B. Saris, district judge for the District of Massachusetts, serves as chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission as it convenes at hearing in Washington, Wednesday, June 1, 2011, to determine whether to reduce penalties for crack cocaine offenders already in prison. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"I hope that she get to come home soon," Warren said. "She wants to get back connected with her kids."

The old law was enacted in 1986, when crack was a new and terrifying phenomenon blamed for a wave of inner-city violence.

Under that law, a person convicted of crack possession got the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the amount of powdered cocaine. Five grams of crack, about the weight of five packets of Sweet N'Low, brought a mandatory five years behind bars; it took 500 grams of powdered cocaine to get the same sentence.

The law was seen as racially unfair since blacks made up the majority of people convicted of crack crimes, while whites were more likely to be found guilty of offenses involving powdered cocaine.

The revised drug law passed by Congress last year reduced the disparity in sentencing from 100-to-1 to about 18-to-1. Now, 28 grams, or an ounce, of crack is punishable by five years.

Today's Poll: should Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell meet with the parishioners of Mater Dolorosa before issuing a trespass order against them?

View full sizePeople have fun at "Playa Azul" or "Blue beach," after the passage of the Tropical Storm Arlene in Tuxpan, Mexico, Thursday, June 30, 2011. The Atlantic season's first tropical storm hit Mexico's central Gulf coast Thursday, hurling heavy rains over a wide swath of the country but causing little damage. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

The Forecast

According to the National Weather Service, today will be partly-sunny with a high near 80 degrees, although there is a chance of showers after 1 p.m. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Friday night: Patchy fog after 5 a.m. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 58.

Saturday: Patchy fog before 8 a.m. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming southwest between 5 and 8 mph.

Saturday Night: A slight chance of showers after 11 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. South wind between 7 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Find the full forecast here.

Today's Poll

On Thursday, a group of parishioners from Mater Dolorosa Church were still taking part in a continuous vigil inside the church as they demanded a sit down with Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell.

The church was to close after the 8 a.m. mass on Sunday, but a group of 120 parishioners have pledged to stay in the church in shifts, not allowing the Catholic Diocese to officially shut down the historic Holyoke church.

Diocese spokesman Mark Dupont said that the building was being closed for structural concerns following a decision to close several churches in the region due to declining attendance.

The group of parishioners said they will not leave until a meeting with McDonnell is granted, which Dupont said is not going to happen.

“We are not negotiating with them. Their behavior was beyond the scope of acceptable,” Dupont said, referring to the last Sunday Mass held at the church June 26.

A group of angry protesters tried to block McDonnell from entering the church and several interrupted his service, one yelling “Liar.”

“Before they place any demands, they need to be accountable for their actions,” he said. “They owe the community an apology and they owe the bishop an apology.”

Dupont sent out an additional email to the media on Thursday where he said the following: "church officials may also try to end the vigil by issuing a trespass order against the group."

Read the full report by clicking here.

The question today is should Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell meet with the parishioners before issuing a trespass order against them?

Yesterday's Poll Results: On Thursday, we asked "Do you believe the criminal charges Jones is facing will have an impact on his civil rights complaint against the Springfield Police Department?"

15 people voted in the poll with 8 people saying "yes" and 7 saying "no."

Monday's Top 5:

The top 5 headlines on MassLive.com on June 29 were:

1) Western Mass Homes for sale: Waterfront homes in Western Massachusetts (Photo Gallery)

2) Best of Stearns Square 2010 (Photo Gallery)

3) As Palmer tries to evict him for non-payment of taxes, Jay Noone calls property taxes 'extortion'

4) Massachusetts closes deep-water swimming pools after Fall River workers fail to notice drowned woman for 2 days

5) 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs: Judges visit Red Rose in Springfield

Quote of the Day

(Video) Mark Halperin suspended from MSNBC for Obama comment, Justice Dept. to investigate death of two terror suspects in custody, and more of the morning's headlines.

A protester is held down by a British police officer as thousands of public sector workers and teachers protest in central London in a one day strike over pension and government cuts, Thursday, June 30, 2011. British teachers and public service workers swapped classrooms and offices for picket lines as hundreds of thousands walked off the job to protest pension cuts. (AP Photo/Sang Tan) To see a photo gallery of the London strikes, click here.

• Permit for state-run swimming pool in Fall River where a woman’s body went unnoticed for more than two days had expired six months ago [Boston.com]


• Justice Department To Investigate Deaths Of 2 Terror Suspects In U.S. Custody [Courant.com]


• "As Schools Match Wits" host Phil Shepardson dies [WWLP.com]


• Minnesota government begins historic shutdown [StarTribune.com]


• Hugo Chavez confirms cancer treatment [Telegraph.UK]


MSNBC indefinitely suspended senior political analyst Mark Halperin after he made a disparaging remark about President Obama on the network's “Morning Joe” show. This is the video that got Halperin fired from his cable TV gig.


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


• Read more News Links »


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The annual concert and fireworks show usually draws about half a million people to the Esplanade.

File photo by David Molnar / The Republican Country singer Martina McBride performs at the MassMutual Center in Springfield in 2006. She will be replacing Lionel Ritchie as a featured performer at the Boston Pops Fourth of July concert on the Esplanade Monday.

BOSTON – A change in the musical lineup for the July 4 festivities on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston.

Singer Lionel Richie has canceled his appearance with the Boston Pops and will be replaced by country music star Martina McBride.

Boston radio station WBZ-AM reported that Richie released a statement on Friday saying he has strained vocal chords and has been told by his doctors not to perform.

The annual July 4 Pops concert and fireworks spectacular usually draws about half a million people to the Esplanade.

The suspect allegedly stole a box of tools from the facility's scale house

GRANBY – Surveillance video taken from the scale house at the landfill here led to the arrest of a 41-year-old Chicopee man on breaking and entering and larceny charges Tuesday, police said.

Tools were taken from the scale house on Monday and police, viewing the video, saw a man enter the scale house and repeatedly look out the window as he searched the facility. Eventually he was seen taking a box out of the scale house, police said.

Police from Granby and South Hadley detective Mark Domenick, who was shown a copy of the video, positively identified the suspect from previous encounters.

On Tuesday, Granby police executed a search warrant for Stephen Charpentier, of 12 Crosby St., Chicopee. Charpentier attempted to hide from the officers but Ralph, the department’s police dog, was able to locate him.

Charpentier was charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony and larceny over $250.

For it to be approved, the budget must be voted up or down by lawmakers, with no further amendments allowed.

File photo / The Republican

BOSTON – The state’s new fiscal year has begun without a permanent budget in place, but that could soon change.

The Legislature is expected to vote on Friday on a compromise spending plan filed agreed to on Thursday after lengthy talks by House and Senate negotiators.

The budget must be voted up or down by lawmakers, with no further amendments allowed. If approved it would be sent to Gov. Deval L. Patrick, who would then have 10 days to sign it and make any line-item vetoes.

The Legislature previously approved a 10-day stopgap budget that will fund critical state services until a permanent spending plan is in place.

The $30.6 budget for the fiscal year that begins on Friday includes no new taxes and effectively does not cut state aid to cities and towns. But it does cut funding to many state agencies and tries to help cities and towns reduce escalating health care costs by limiting municipal workers’ ability to bargain over their health insurance.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

Fall River Mayor William Flanagan says the pool's permit had expired on Dec. 31.

File photo / Associated PressChildren rinse off at one of the new shower stanchions alongside the public swimming pool at Lafayette Park in Fall River, Monday. The body of Marie Joseph, 36, was found floating in the pool late Tuesday. She was seen swimming at the pool Sunday and had not been seen since. Officials are investigating whether her body was in the pool for more than two days while other people continued to swim.

FALL RIVER — The public swimming pool in Fall River where a woman's body may have gone unnoticed for more than two days had an expired permit.

Investigators are studying surveillance video and conducting interviews as they tried to determine what happened to 36-year-old Marie Joseph.

Friends said Joseph went swimming at the pool on Sunday. Her body was found Tuesday night.

Fall River Mayor William Flanagan says the pool's permit had expired on Dec. 31. City health inspectors went to the pool on Monday and again on Tuesday, and reported only that the water seemed cloudy. The inspectors have been placed on paid leave.

The head of the state agency that oversees state-run pools says Joseph's body apparently went unnoticed in the pool by other swimmers, lifeguards and inspectors. He called that possibility "a breakdown systematically somewhere."

On two previous occasions, Bulger was driven to Boston from the jail where he's being held in Plymouth.

BOSTON — It was an expensive ride to court for James "Whitey" Bulger.

The former reputed mob boss was flown to Boston aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter on Thursday for a pair of hearings in U.S. District Court, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $14,000.

On two previous occasions since his arrest in California last week, Bulger was driven the approximately 40 miles to Boston from the jail where he's being held in Plymouth.

Federal authorities would not say what prompted the change in transport on Thursday.

The Coast Guard says the cost of the helicopter is $13,800 an hour and funds used to support federal missions paid for the flight.

Tom Donahue, the son of a man allegedly killed by Bulger, said he could not understand why Bulger was brought by helicopter and found it "disgusting."

Associated PressUnited States Marshal vehicles, center and center left, along with a Massachusetts State Police cruiser, far left, transport James "Whitey" Bulger to the federal courthouse, behind, in Boston, Thursday, June 30, 2011. Bulger was arrested a week ago in Santa Monica, Calif., after 16 years as a fugitive.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Richard O. Jordan

HUNTINGTON - Richard Owen Jordan, of Huntington, an educational audiologist who worked with deaf children, died Wednesday following a year-long battle with cancer. He was 62. Born in Boston, he was raised in Wellesley, settling in Huntington 24 years ago. He was an 18-year employee at the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow. He was a communicant of the former Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Northampton.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Arel, George A.
  




• 
  Bauch, Charles W.
  



• 
  Dupell, Nellie C. (Ramaska)




• 
  Jordan, Richard Owen
  



• 
  McPherson, Catherine M. (Stewart)
  




• Sheehan, Doris M. (Geissler)
  




• 
  Sonoda Sr., Allan B.
  

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the scorpion probably crawled on board the plane during a stop in Austin, Texas.

Associated PressJeff Ellis of West Linn, holds a photograph of the scorpion which stung him while he was trying to sleep on a red-eye Alaska Airlines flight on June 17 during a interview Thursday, June 30, 2011, in Portland, Ore. The Oregon man got a big surprise on a commercial flight from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska, when he was stung by a scorpion while sitting in his plane seat. When he felt something in his sleeve and tried to brush it away. He said he felt the crawling again, looked down and saw the culprit.

PORTLAND, Ore. — All Jeff Ellis could do was wait as he sat terrified 30,000 feet in the air staring at the wriggling scorpion that stung him on a flight to Alaska.

He repeated to himself that a doctor said he'd be fine — probably.

Ellis, of Portland, Ore., first had to wait 30 minutes to see whether he succumbed to anaphylactic shock.

"In the movies, scorpions kill people," Ellis, 55, said Thursday. "I was just nervous, on edge, making sure that my heart was beating normal, that I wasn't sweating."

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the scorpion probably crawled on board the plane during a stop in Austin, Texas. The plane then landed in Seattle, where Ellis boarded for a flight to Anchorage.

About three hours into the flight, Ellis dozed off. Then, he felt something tickling his arm.
"I felt it on my shirt-sleeve and brushed it off, I thought it was a little spider or something," Ellis said. "Then I felt it back on my elbow."

Just after that, Eliis felt a sting. He grabbed it with his napkin and his girlfriend, Suzanne Foster, called a flight attendant, who tossed the scorpion into a clear plastic bag.

The writhing arachnid terrified children seated nearby.

"Their mother told the flight attendant, 'Get that thing out of my face,' " Ellis said.

As Ellis monitored himself for signs of a fatal allergic reaction, emergency responders in Anchorage were told to get ready; the flight would be landing soon.

But they had a problem, Ellis said: Scorpions aren't common in Alaska, and the EMTs didn't know what to do.

"They had to Google it," he said.

News traveled quickly through the cabin, but Ellis said no one panicked. He was the first to get off the plane, he said, where he was met by a police officer.

In the end, it turned out that the doctor on the flight was right. Ellis was OK, and all that's left of the incident is a mark on his arm.

Egan said the airline has never had a poisonous creature on one of its flights before, but it wasn't the first time someone found a scorpion on a plane.

During a Southwest Airlines flight in 2009, an Arizona man was stung while traveling from Phoenix to Indianapolis. His 10-year-old son found the rest of the family of scorpions in the luggage compartment over their seats.

Ellis thinks — based on photos he took of the eight-legged pest — that he was stung by a striped bark scorpion, which is common in Texas.

He said he is happy with the flight crew's response, and said the airline has offered him 4,000 frequent-flier miles and two round-trip tickets.

His return flight to Seattle, he said, was uneventful.

The Dow is on pace for its best week of gains since July of last year.

File photo / Associated PressA Wall Street sign is shown in New York.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

Patrick called anti-tax pledge signed by Congressional Republicans a "gimmick," urging Congress to consider tax revenues in spending negotiations.

AP file photos.Left, Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform and Gov. Deval Patrick, right.

Gov. Deval Patrick penned an op-ed in The Washington Post Thursday, criticizing Congressional Republicans for their refusal to put taxes on the table in spending negotiations and taking on Washington's biggest anti-tax advocate, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.

Calling Norquist the "brain and able spokesman for the radical right" but dismissed Norquist's anti-tax pledge, which was signed by a majority of Congressional Republicans, as a "gimmick."

Patrick has spent a fair amount of time in Washington, D.C. recently, first at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on health care reform last week and then at a conference on biotechnology — one of Massachusetts' growth industries — earlier this week.

In his remarks at the Senate hearing, which focused on the cost of health care entitlements, Patrick previewed what he'd urge in Thursday's op-ed.

"Put revenues on the table," he said. "I know this is the point where most politicians run for cover, but it's time we faced up to this."

In his Washington Post op-ed, Patrick said that a spending agreement must be a combination of spending reductions and tax increases. He wrote:

If the deficit is reduced by spending cuts alone and there is no deal to raise the debt ceiling, here's a sampling of what happens: We stop paying our soldiers or supporting our veterans. We stop feeding the neediest children and families. We stop providing nursing-home care to seniors. We stop inoculating schoolchildren. We stop helping young people go to college. The unemployed are on their own. Roads and bridges continue to crumble. And we jeopardize the creditworthiness of our economy at one of the most fragile moments in history. All to protect the marginal benefits of the most fortunate and the political purity of the radical right. Read the entire column »

This isn't the first time Patrick has criticized Norquist, his former Harvard classmate. In 2006, then-candidate Deval Patrick wrote in The Providence Journal that Norquist was using his conservative clout to influence Gov. Mitt Romney's role in state health-care reform. Norquist is a Massachusetts native who founded Americans for Tax Reform at the request of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, according to the organizations website.

In a Q&A on The Washington Post's website in April, Norquist described himself as "an advocate of limiting spending."

"Democrats focus on the deficit rather than total spending so that tax hikes can be seen as part of the solution rather than enabling the problem," Norquist said. "The problem is not the deficit, but total government spending. That is the metric to watch."

Patrick's criticism of Norquist's stance lends support to those made by President Barack Obama, the Governor's friend and political ally. Obama has insisted that the nation's deficit reduction plan must include eliminating some tax breaks for oil companies and the wealthiest Americans. The Associated Press reported that Republican leaders have resisted any effort to raise taxes during deficit reduction talks, and were not receptive to his remarks Wednesday. The AP reports:

Republicans in Congress have been insistent in recent days that any deficit reduction be limited to spending cuts, including reductions in benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and exclude additional revenues.

In remarks made during the day, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama "said as recently as six months ago that keeping taxes where they are enables businesses to hire more workers. In other words, that raising taxes leads to fewer jobs. So he can call for tax hikes. But he can't call for tax hikes and job creation. It's one or the other. "

The Senate has cut short its week-long recess next week in order to continue spending negotiations. The Obama administration rejected an invitation from Sen. McConnell to meet with Congressional Republicans Thursday, saying through spokesman Jay Carney that the GOP intended only to “restate their maximalist position.”

According to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Congress must pass a measure raising the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, before the U.S. can no longer meet its financial obligations.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this post. Hat tip to the Massterlist for Gov. Patrick's column.

State police terminated the chase after the suspect's speed reached 90 mph.

The Republican file photo

WHATELY – A 24-year-old Pembroke man, who allegedly led a state trooper on a vehicle chase with speeds hitting 90 mph late Thursday night, was arrested about 65 minutes later in Deerfield - well after the chase had been terminated - when his pickup truck hit a tree.

The suspect, Derin M. Johnson, was not injured in the crash.

State police spokesman David Procopio said the chase began shortly before 11:40 p.m. when Trooper Steven Larocco saw a dark-colored pickup truck swerving erratically as it drove north on Route 5.

When the trooper attempted to stop the pickup, the driver refused to stop and increased his speed. Larocco, who received permission to initiate a pursuit from his commanding officer in Northampton, gave chase, Procopio said.

Larocco was ordered to break off the pursuit, however, when the pickup’s speed hit 90 mph. The trooper was able to get a plate number, however, and area law enforcement agencies were told to be on the lookout for a dark-colored 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, Procopio said.

Larocco spotted the suspect’s vehicle in the area of 36 Elm St., at about 12:45 a.m. The trooper, who did not give chase, saw the suspect then crash the Silverado into a tree.

Larocco took Johnson into custody after a struggle. He was charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for a police officer, failure to stop or yield, failure to signal, speeding, operating with a revoked license as a habitual offender and marked lanes violation, Procopio said.

Johnson denied the charged in Greenfield District Court on Friday. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return on Aug. 2 for a pre-trial hearing.

The checkpoint will be held July 7 and 8.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD – State police plan to hold a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in Hampden County late next week.

The checkpoint will start sometime on the night of July 7 and extend into the morning of July 8. State police stress the selection of vehicles will not be arbitrary, safety will be assured and any inconvenience to motorist will be minimized with advanced notice.

The checkpoint will be funded through a grant from the Highway Safety Division of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.