The scenic destination's 2016 season opening was delayed due to needed repairs and upgrades to the structure's fire suppression system.

HADLEY -- The Mount Holyoke Summit House in J.A. Skinner State Park will reopen to the public Saturday.

The scenic destination's 2016 season opening was delayed due to needed repairs and upgrades to the structure's fire suppression system, according to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The system is now fully functional, the agency said this week.

Originally built in 1861, the historic hotel is known for providing sweeping views of the Pioneer Valley, as well as for being one of the last standing summit houses in New England.

But the antique status comes at a hefty price. The agency closed the popular spot off to the public in 2010, after the structure's wraparound porch was deemed unsafe. The Summit House reopened again for the first time in four years in 2014.

The attraction will be open for visitors on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tours are available on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

The 2016 Summit House Concert Series began on July 7 and will be held each Thursday through Aug. 4.

Antique automobiles ranging from Chevys, a Firebird, a Dodge, a Volkswagen camper and more, showed off their shiny exteriors at the season's second Cruise Night, sponsored by the Springfield Business Improvement District.

SPRINGFIELD – Some say "they don't make 'em like they used to," and the classic beauties parked around Stearns Square Park on Tuesday evening bore out that fact.

Antique automobiles ranging from Chevys, to Firebirds, Dodges, a Volkswagen camper and more, showed off their shiny exteriors at the season's second Cruise Night, sponsored by the Springfield Business Improvement District.

"We try to provide entertainment that speaks to the whole range of people living, working, and playing in Downtown Springfield, as well as those who may not typically come into the City," said BID Executive Director Chris Russell. "By adding music and food to Cruise Night, we really hope to make Tuesday nights accessible to both car enthusiasts and music fans."

Musical entertainment was provided by Jake Manzi, a folk-rock guitarist who grew up in Longmeadow.

Cruise Night will return on July 26, featuring music by Breifcase Full of Blues. More information can be found at SpringfieldDowntown.Com/Cruise-Night.

The Tuesday night events are presented by the 350 Grill and Steak House. Additional sponsors include the Gaudreau Group, Reminder Publications, Go Local and Fontaine
Brothers Inc.

The house at 21-23 Reed St., in Upper Hill, Springfield was being torn down after being declared as a structurally unsound building and a threat to public safety. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD - A vacant, blighted house at 21-23 Reed Street in Upper Hill was being torn down Wednesday morning, marking the latest in the city's efforts to crack down on neighborhood eyesores in the city.

"This is one more step in our efforts in neighborhood revitalization and a continuance of our fight against blight throughout the city of Springfield," Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said in advance of the demolition.

Reed Street is off State Street adjacent to American International College, and had been vacant, blighted and fire damaged for several years, officials said. The city foreclosed on the property in 2015 for nonpayment of taxes.

Code Enforcement Commissioner Steven Desilets ordered the demolition after deeming the property to be structurally unsound and a threat to public safety.

Prior to foreclosure, the property had been abandoned and the city had obtained multiple court orders to clean and secure the property, officials said.

Desilets and Deputy Director David Cotter joined Sarno in saying that neighbors should not have to tolerate such structures that create dangerous, blighted conditions, and also can attract crime and fire hazards.

Associated Building Wreckers of Springfield was hired for the demolition work and asbestos abatement at a total cost of $42,300, financed with city bond funds.

The city anticipates selling the property and returning it to the tax rolls, Sarno said.

City officials said the crackdown on blighted property is a team effort in which building and housing code officials are joined by police.

Westport police are investigating a tenant farm for the second time for animal cruelty.

Westport police will spend the next two days investigating claims of animal abuse at a Westport tenant farm.

A call to the Westport police department revealed that no more details will be released until after the investigation, but a report by WCVB said officers claim they witnessed "hundreds" of dead and injured animals, and that they described the farm as being in an "awful and deplorable condition."

Police say the animals abused include many dogs and sheep.

The tenant farm on 455 American Legion Highway is about 70-acres, and is shared by 16 people. In 2010, police brought charges to numerous tenant owners at the farm for animal cruelty.

The film begins at 8:30 p.m., but attendees are encouraged to arrive to watch League Legends' annual Midsummer Classic basketball tournament. The classic usually attracts around 16 teams and raises about $10,000 each year.

NORTHAMPTON -- A local volunteer organization trying to bring lighted community basketball courts to the city is hosting an outdoor screening of the 1996 movie "Space Jam" on Saturday.

League Legends, founded by Northampton High School alumni, is asking for a $10 parking fee for the event at Robert K. Finn Ryan Road Elementary School. All proceeds will help fund memorial scholarships, as well as a campaign to build two adjacent and basketball courts at an undetermined location in Northampton, according to organizers.

The film begins at 8:30 p.m., but attendees are encouraged to arrive to watch League Legends' annual Midsummer Classic basketball tournament. The classic usually attracts around 16 teams and raises about $10,000 each year. 

League Legends was founded in 2008 by Northampton High School graduates Sam Caruso, Michael O'Brien and Tim Kane in honor of their late classmates, Miles Adams and David Holman, who died after high school graduation in unrelated accidents.

The nonprofit aims to raise $100,000 over the next several years for court construction, O'Brien said. The group has come up with about $8,000 so far.

Sam Caruso, a 2007 NHS graduate and a member of the League Legends board of directors, said building the courts would give those who loved Holman and Adams "something physical to memorialize them."

"The courts would also be a source of enjoyment for hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who love basketball as much as David and Miles once did," he said.

Cornell Robbins was sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading guilty to cocaine distribution in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD -- A 40-year-old city man on Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court admitted selling crack cocaine from his home at 292 Page Blvd. on April Fool's Day 2015.

Judge Mary Lou Rup said she would sentence Cornell Robbins, 40, to three years in state prison. Robbins pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

The prosecution dropped the portion of the charge saying Robbins was a subsequent offender.

Assistant District Attorney Ingrid E. Frau had asked for two years of probation in addition to the state prison time, but Rup said she didn't see the use of probation in Robbins' case. She told Robbins his future was in his own hands.

Although Robbins decided to plead guilty, he opposed the prosecution's motion for forfeiture of the $7,100 seized in the case. Joe A. Smith III, his lawyer, said the money was from a transaction involving a car.

Rup will set a date for a hearing on the motion for forfeiture.

Robbins has 475 days credit on his sentence for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

Frau said city police had received information from an informant that a man was selling crack from the Page Boulevard home. After having that informant make a drug buy, Frau said, police set up surveillance on the house.

Springfield man arrested, charged with operating a crack 'drive-through window' in front of East Springfield home

A car parked at the house, and the driver got into a different car with Robbins, Frau said. The driver got back into his car and drove off, but was stopped by police who found he had crack cocaine in the car, she said.

Robbins had driven away in his car, and police stopped him. He had a large rock of cocaine and $4,750 with him.

Frau said police then got a search warrant for the home and found more cocaine, packaging materials and $2,405 in the home.

Smith, commenting on Robbins' criminal record, said his client had "wasted the first 20 years of his adult life" because of mistakes he made.

The Chicopee City Council still needs to approve the zone change so Mass Alternative Care Inc. can locate a dispensary and grow facility on East Main Street.

CHICOPEE -- The Planning Board has approved a plan to change the zoning of a plot of land near the Springfield border, in part to allow a medical marijuana clinic to be located in the city.

The Planning Board voted 4-0 last week to change the zoning of a 3,270-square-foot parcel of land off East Main Street from residential to industrial. The property is owned by Eversource, but Thomas Murphy, lawyer for Mass Alternative Care Inc., which wants to locate a marijuana clinic and growing area there, applied for the zone change.

"This is one of the first spot zones we have had an opportunity to address," City Planner Lee Pouliot told the Planning Board.

The city recently created a GIS map of the city's zoning and discovered a number of so-called spot zones, or parcels of property that were zoned differently than most of the land surrounding them. In this case the residential land is surrounded by industrial property, he said.

The property has no buildings on it and is located under high-tension power lines, Pouliot said.

"There is no reasonable expectation that anyone would ever develop this for residential," he said. Eversource did not object to the zone change.

The zoning came to the forefront when Mass Alternative Care, of Springfield, submitted plans to build a medical marijuana in the former Chicopee Engineering Associates building at 1247 East Main St.

The city's medical marijuana ordinances require marijuana clinics to be located on commercial or industrial land and at least 300 feet from a residential zone. The building is located on industrial property but the Eversource parcel was too close to it to meet the ordinance requirements.

The zone change must still be approved by the City Council before Mass Alternative Care is allowed to locate on the property.

The City Council already voted in April to grant a special permit to allow Mass Alternative Care Inc. to open a dispensary and cultivation facility on East Main Street.

In addition to receiving real estate taxes on the property, Chicopee will also receive a host agreement payment that will be a minimum of $50,000 a year and will increase depending on the earnings of the company.

City councilors said the extensive security plan the company submitted helped convince them to approve the special permit.

Mass Alternative Care Inc., which changed its name from Baystate Compassion Center Inc., is headquartered at 1 Monarch Place, Suite 1900, Springfield. Its officers are President Kevin Collins of Springfield, Treasurer David Spannaus of Brookfield, Connecticut, Clerk Heather Andresen of Longmeadow, Director Ronald Paasch of Northampton, and Director Nicholas Tamborring of Fairfield, Connecticut, according to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin's office.

The shredding program runs from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 30, at the Gardens of Wilbraham, a retirement condo complex at 2301 Boston Road, Wilbraham.

WILBRAHAM — The Gardens of Wilbraham, a retirement condominium community at 2301 Boston Road, is once again hosting a free document shredding program on Saturday, July 30, from 10 a.m. to noon.

"This is an annual shredding event, free and open to the public, that the Gardens of Wilbraham will be sponsoring," Michelle Chisholm, community coordinator for The Gardens of Wilbraham, said in an email to The Republican.

The service is provided by Proshred Security, she said.

All paper documents — mail, bills, tax returns, bank statements, old checkbooks, hanging file folders, even spiral-bound notebooks — can be shredded, Chisholm said.

And there's no need to remove any staples, paper clips or binder clips from the documents, she said.

Chisholm has more information at available at 413.596.5322.

Officers on patrol spotted the suspect put on a mask and pair of fluorescent yellow gloves as he stood outside the store at 910 State St. shortly before 9:30 p.m., Capt. Brian Keenan said.

George Graham | ggraham@repub.com 

SPRINGFIELD -- Police say they caught a suspect "yellow-handed" as he prepared to rob the State Street Food Mart Wednesday night.

Officers on patrol spotted the suspect put on a mask and pair of fluorescent yellow gloves as he stood outside the store at 910 State St. shortly before 9:30 p.m., Capt. Brian Keenan said.

The suspect, who was dressed in black, including a black hoodie, was found to be in possession of a BB gun. He matches the description of a male suspected robbing the store several times, Keenan said.

The suspect was charged with attempted armed robbery and possession of a deceptive device during a violent crime. His name was not immediately available.

This is a developing story. Additional information will be added as soon as it is available.

In one final delay, a court officer had to remove one of Santana's handcuffs before he could sign the plea agreement.

SPRINGFIELD -- Jorge Santana wasn't in the mood for legal niceties.

"I did it," Santana, 54, of Springfield, announced before his arraignment Monday in Springfield District Court

Jorge Santana, 54, of SpringfieldWest Springfield Police Department 

He was facing just one charge -- shoplifting $85 in Nike sandals from Kohl's department store in West Springfield. But with 13 shoplifting convictions already on his record, Santana showed no enthusiasm for fighting the latest charge.

"I want to get this over with," he said.

But Judge Charles W. Groce III refused to consider a guilty plea until Santana had discussed the case with his lawyer - a mandatory step that added another 25 minutes to the Santana's time in court.

When the hearing resumed, Assistant District Attorney Tyson Fung summarized the case for the judge: Santana was arrested Sunday afternoon after walking out of Kohl's with two boxes of Nike sandals hidden in a gift bag; store employees recognized him from two previous shoplifting cases; the charge - shoplifting, third or subsequent offense - was based on his past convictions, the prosecutor said.

"You are being kind to the defendant," Groce said, referring to the charge.

"He has 13 (convictions)," the judge said.

Santana, wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, stood in the defendant's dock, nodding and scowling. It had been 45 minutes since he proclaimed his guilt, and the court still considered him an innocent man.

He scowled again as the judge launched into the so-called plea colloquy - a series of questions to determine whether a defendant is mentally competent and understands his legal rights and charges against him.

"How old are you," the judge began.

A few minutes later, though, Santana got what he wanted: On the recommendation of Fung and defense lawyer Jon Helpa, the judge sentenced him to 90 days at the Hampden County Correctional Center.

In one final delay, a court officer had to remove one of Santana's handcuffs before he could sign the plea agreement.

Charles Kinsey's patient had wandered from a mental health center and out into the road, clutching a toy truck. Kinsey went to retrieve him.

A man in North Miami says he was shot in the leg by police while he was trying to calm his autistic patient on Monday.

Charles Kinsey, 47, said he complied with officers' orders to put his hands up, according to the Miami Herald. Police told reporters they were responding to a 911 call about a man in the street with a gun, threatening to kill himself.

Kinsey's patient had wandered from a mental health center and out into the road, clutching a toy truck. Kinsey went to retrieve him.

A cellphone video first released by WSVN 7 News clearly shows the autistic man sitting and playing with his toy while Kinsey lies down on his back, obeying police orders. In the video, Kinsey's hands are up the entire time.

"And I'm telling him again, 'Sir, there's no need for firearms. I'm unarmed, this is an autistic guy. He has a toy truck in his hand,'" Kinsey told WSVN. Shortly after, an officer allegedly shot Kinsey in his leg.

When Kinsey asked the officer why he fired his weapon, the cop responded, "I don't know," according to the Miami Herald.

Another short video shows officers -- carrying rifles -- patting down Kinsey and the autistic man while they are lying on the ground.

The officer who fired the gun has been placed on administrative leave.

Kinsey wasn't badly injured and is expected to return home this week, the Herald said.

Bruce Hatt, 46, was arrested Wednesday at the Wells Street homeless shelter

GREENFIELD -- A 46-year-old man, wanted on multiple charges related to the aggravated sexual assaults of a minor child or children in Texas, was arrested Wednesday at the Wells Street homeless shelter, police said.

Bruce Hatt was charged with being a fugitive from justice, according to a post on the department's Facebook page.

Hatt was ordered held in lieu of $20,000 cash bail and is slated to be arraigned in District Court Thursday morning.

Police went to the 60 Wells St. facilty after Officer Michael McDowell received information that Hatt was there.

The sexual assault charges were issued by by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office in Texas, according to the post.

A hazardous materials team and bomb squad responded to the Amherst complex Wendesday night.

AMHERST -- Urine, not chemicals, forced the evacuation of a dozen units at the Brandywine apartment complex Wednesday night.

Apartment officials called police about an odor coming from one of the 12 units Wednesday afternoon, Assistant Fire Chief Lindsey Stromgren said in an email.

When firefighters entered the apartment, they saw what appeared to be chemicals being mixed or cooked on the stove. The state Hazardous Materials Response team and bomb squad investigated after clearing the building.

But police said Thursday morning the "chemical" was actually distilled urine the tenant was using for medical reasons.

No charges are being brought, police said.

The apartment complex is located in North Amherst off Meadow Street.

All of the tenants from other apartments were allowed back in around 9:30 p.m.

The apartment where the incident was reported has been secured and no one will be allowed in until the town's health inspector approves it, Stromgren wrote.

A crash has left a vehicle on its side along Interstate 91 Thursday morning.

Update: Massachusetts State Police said shortly before 11 a.m. that all lanes have been reopened. 

SPRINGFIELD -- A crash has left a vehicle on its side along Interstate 91 Thursday morning and closed two lanes.

Massachusetts State Police responded at 10:18 a.m. to a report of a single-car crash along I-91 South. The reported rollover occurred between exits 14 in Springfield and 15 in Holyoke.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said at 10:44 a.m. that the left and center lanes are closed as emergency responders work to clear the interstate.

State police say the crash has resulted in injuries.

In "After the Pain," Thom Fox and four other panelists will discuss their personal traumas and how they recovered from them.

Thom Fox knows what it is like to struggle.

Before the business consulting jobs, the TEDx speeches and the WHYN radio show, Fox was addicted to drugs including PCP. He was stabbed and shot at; he ate food out of dumpsters, he told MassLive.

Thom FoxJanice Beetle | Special to The Republican 

He survived, and is now a fixture in the Pioneer Valley's business community and a nonprofit board member. It is those experiences that led him to organize "After the Pain," an upcoming panel discussion at the UMass Center in Springfield in which Fox and four other panelists will discuss their personal traumas and how they recovered from them.

We're all doing things now because people helped us out and gave us an opportunity," Fox said. "Letting people know that they're not alone is probably the most important thing."

The discussion, which will feature a Q and A session, will take place July 26 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. It is free to the public, and attendees are asked to register online in advance.

The idea for the panel arose after Fox shared the story of his addiction recovery in a talk at a high school, he said.

"A 14-year-old girl comes out of the audience and she said hey listen, thank you for sharing your story, I've been smoking angel dust for six months and I think I need help," Fox said.

Fox began thinking about how he could reach out to a larger audience, and brought in panelists from the community who could also share stories of coping with pain and adversity.

Crystal Vazquez, a makeup artist and business owner, will speak about the sexual assault she experienced as a teenager and how she moved on from it. Jeremy Casey, founder of the technology startup Name Net Worth, will discuss his history of depression and suicide attempts.

They will be joined by Stefan Davis, the host of Focus Springfield Community TV's "Against All Odds," who counsels at-risk youth using his personal history of abuse, gang affiliation and suicidal ideation. Roger Sessom, who was incarcerated for nearly 20 years before becoming an educator for at-risk young men and a board member of Keep Springfield Beautiful, will also speak.

Eighty of the 150 available seats are already reserved, and the program will be live-streamed by Focus Springfield Community TV.

Provincetown. Well fleet, Chatham. Orleans. The Cape is a big place, and that means plenty of places to grab a drink, with either friends or with an eye on taking in the atmosphere as locals chatter behind you. Here are places on the Mid and Lower Cape where you can do that.

Creed is the first woman to head the Springfield Chamber in its 125-year-history.

SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce President Jeffrey S. Ciuffreda will retire Aug. 5 and chamber Vice President of Marketing and Communications Nancy F. Creed will succeed him.

Creed will be the first woman to head the Springfield Chamber in its more than 125-year history.

Ciuffreda joined the Chamber in 1987 as its vice president of legislative affairs and became president in 2011.

In 2015, Ciuffreda and Creed shepherded the chamber through a total reorganization and name change from the unwieldy Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield. 

Prior to joining the Chamber, Ciuffreda served as a legislative aide and district director to the late U.S. Rep.  Silvio Conte, R-Pittsfield, for eight years. Prior to that, he served as a deputy director of the United States Peace Corps program in the country of Lesotho where he oversaw the administration of the program and was responsible for the programming and training of volunteers. From 1972 to 1975, Ciuffreda served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in the country of Liberia.

Creed has more than 20 years of leadership experience and, for the past four years, has served as the Chamber's vice president of marketing and communications. She had previously served in a similar role with the Chamber from 1992 through 2001. 

Prior to re-joining the Chamber in 2012, Creed owned N.F. Creed Communications, a strategic communications consulting firm

She has been named to the Top Ten Women in Business in the Pioneer Valley by the Women's Business Owner's Alliance and was named a Woman to Watch in Advertising by the Western Mass. Women's Magazine.

She is currently the president of the board of directors for Dakin Humane Society, a member of the board of directors for the Valley Press Club and a former board member of the Ad Club of Western Massachusetts.

Chamber Board Chair Daniel Keenan, senior vice president of government and community relations with Sisters of Providence Health System said:

"Jeff has been an invaluable asset to the Chamber throughout these many years, providing steady leadership over the years, including steering the organization through its most recent restructuring, positioning the Chamber as the 'go to' organization for legislative advocacy, and working hard on behalf of our more than 700 members AND for the region at large. I know I speak for the entire board in expressing my thanks for Jeff's leadership, his commitment and dedication to the organization, and his distinguished career with the Chamber."

On Creeds appointment, Keenan said:

"Nancy has been an unsung hero in our daily operations for the past four years. She has the talent, energy, commitment to the Chamber and its members and the expertise to not only build-on Jeff's accomplishments but to lead the Chamber to the next level."

Longmeadow police arrested Tyrone Sanders, 57, of Springfield on three arrest warrants, including one for assault and battery on a police officer.

LONGMEADOW — A Springfield man was taken to Springfield District Court Thursday morning after Longmeadow police arrested him the previous night for three active arrest warrants.

Longmeadow police officers arrested Tyrone Sanders, 57, at JGS Lifecare -an elder care service and nursing home- on Converse Street around 7 p.m. Wednesday, Longmeadow Police Lieutenant Robert Stocks said.

Officers went to the Converse Street facility after a family member of Sanders' called the Longmeadow Police Department, informing police of Sanders' warrants and whereabouts, Stocks said. After confirming his identity and the active warrants against him, police arrested Sanders.

"Mr. Sanders was cooperative," Stocks said. "The three arrest warrants were all default warrants out of Springfield (District Court)."

Default warrants for Sanders' arrest include a 2013 warrant for assault and battery on a police officer and threat to commit a crime; a 2008 warrant for operating an unregistered vehicle and driving without a license; and a 2005 warrant for operating a vehicle without an inspection sticker and driving without a license, Stocks said.

Sanders was held in Longmeadow overnight, and police took him to Springfield District Court Thursday morning, Stocks said.

The crash occurred Wednesday afternoon in a field off Creamery Avenue.

George Graham | ggraham@repub.com 

BUCKLAND -- A 13-year-old boy was fatally injured Wednesday afternoon after he crashed an off-road utility vehicle in a field off Creamery Avenue.

The boy, who was the operator and lone rider, was taken by ambulance to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield with significant head trauma, Mary Carey, a spokeswoman with the Northwestern District Attorney's office.

He was pronounced dead at approximately 5:30 p.m.

The incident remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office, Massachusetts Environmental Police and Buckland Police.

The boy's identity will be released pending notification of family. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine cause of death.

The bill would give workers up to 16 weeks of paid family care leave and 26 weeks of temporary disability leave a year.

The Massachusetts Senate is prepared to take up a bill that would give every Massachusetts worker paid family and medical leave.

"We are hearing that businesses need some policies that will really help attract and retain the most talented workers to Massachusetts and reduce employee turnover, and we all know that our people are our greatest natural resource in Massachusetts," said State Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the bill's sponsor. "Paid family leave will help us remain competitive and ensure that our workers want to stay here."

The Senate is scheduled to take up H.4351 this Saturday. The bill, a major policy change that has strong opposition from the business community, is unlikely to make it past the House in the final week of the legislative session. But it will give senators a chance to show their support for paid family leave as they head back to their districts to face reelection campaigns.

"It's important to all of the woman across the commonwealth and all the families, including the men," Spilka said.

The bill would grant a maximum of 16 weeks of family care leave, which can be used for an illness or to care for a family member, and 26 weeks of temporary disability leave in a year to any employee who has worked the equivalent of at least 31 40-hour weeks.

An employee who takes leave would be allowed to return to the same or a substantially similar job. The leave would not affect an employee's right to accrued vacation or sick time, seniority, bonuses or other benefits. An employer would not be allowed to require an employee to use up paid vacation or sick time before taking leave.

The first week would be unpaid, and after that the worker would be paid part of their regular salary. The amount would be set at 50 percent in 2018 and would increase up to 90 percent in 2020, with a maximum benefit of $1,000 a week.

The benefits would be paid for by a fund that employers will have to pay into, although companies can require employees to pay up to half their portion of the contribution.

The bill would establish an office in state government to oversee the administration of the benefits. The start-up operating costs and information technology are expected to cost $12 million, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. That does not account for the cost of paying benefits for public employees.

Business groups strongly oppose the legislation. "It's one of the most frightening things businesses have looked at this entire session," said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. "This would be a first in the nation proposal that no one has figured out what the cost would be either to small businesses or to taxpayers."

Paid family leave has become a major issue nationally, with President Barack Obama, a Democrat, pushing for an expansion of paid leave. In Massachusetts, more public employees have been getting paid family leave.

The United States is one of only a handful of industrialized countries not to provide paid maternity leave. Federal law grants workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave, with their job protected, due to the birth or adoption of a child or for an illness, and 26 weeks of unpaid temporary disability leave. Massachusetts law grants eight weeks of unpaid leave for employers not covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Currently, only New York, California, New Jersey and Rhode Island require businesses to offer paid family leave, which is paid for by an employee payroll tax. The paid leave ranges from four weeks to 12 weeks, depending on the state. The Massachusetts proposal would be the most generous in the country.

Spilka argued that the policy would make employees more productive and help companies retain talented workers - while helping employees at all income levels. She pointed to companies like the Cambridge-based software start-up Tamr, which gives employees 18 weeks of paid family leave and has advocated for the expansion of paid family leave policies.

But businesses say the proposal would make them less competitive and raise their costs. "It would drive small businesses out of business," Hurst said. "They can't afford it."

Chris Geehern, a spokesman for Associated Industries of Massachusetts, said Massachusetts businesses are still adjusting to a new law requiring them to offer paid sick leave.

"We fail to see why we measure social progress by paying people not to work," Geehern said. "This constant drumbeat of legislation where employers are paying people to stay home for whatever reason, even though the reason may have some merit, just can't continue. You're going to hinder the efficiency of the entire economic system to the point that it's going to cost jobs."