Former New England Patriots tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez will face trial on Feb. 13, 2017.

Former New England Patriots tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez will stand trial on Feb. 13, 2017 for the 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado -- four years to the day after he allegedly shot a witness to the killings in the face.

Hernandez is already facing life behind bars for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.

He is also accused of shooting de Abreu and Furtado outside a Boston nightclub in 2013. De Abreu and Furtado were killed in their BMW sedan on July 16, 2012, and Hernandez was indicted in the shootings in 2014.

Hernandez appeared in court Tuesday and a trail date was set.

A motion filed by prosecutors shows that Alexander Bradley -- a former friend of Hernandez who says he witnessed the shooting -- is expected to identify Hernandez as the killer in court.

The trial will begin exactly four years after Hernandez allegedly shot Bradley in the face following an argument outside a Miami club. Bradley sued Hernandez over the shooting, and the lawsuit was settled in February.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Hernandez and Bradley encountered de Abreu and Furtado at Boston's Cure Lounge and followed them out of the club, before Hernandez fired six shots while the victims were stopped at a traffic light.

The trial has been long-delayed, and was originally scheduled for December 2015.

Following a recent swath of flight cancelations due to technology issues, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., questioned more than a dozen airlines Tuesday about their efforts to ensure IT systems are reliable and resilient.

Following a recent swath of flight cancellations due to technology issues, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., questioned more than a dozen airlines Tuesday about their efforts to ensure systems are reliable and resilient.

Markey, in letters to 13 airlines, raised concerns that information technology systems "may be susceptible to faltering."

He further called on the companies to answer a series of 10 questions about their IT system issues and safeguards, as well as their cancellation policies.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who signed the letter with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., following technical issues that cancelled thousands of Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines flights across the country, stressed that it's the airlines' responsibility to ensure their IT systems are strong -- particularly due to recent mergers in the industry.

"Now that four air carriers control approximately 85 percent of domestic capacity, all it takes is one airline to experience an outage and thousands of passengers could be stranded, resulting in missed business meetings, graduations, weddings, funerals and other prepaid events," the senators wrote.

Markey, who has previously questioned airlines' cybersecurity defenses, urged companies to ensure their IT systems have appropriate safeguards and backups to withstands things like power outages, technological glitches and cyber attacks, among other things.

The senators further raised concerns about how airlines assist passengers in the event of flight cancellations and delays, saying while many used to rebook stranded passengers via their competitors without charge, new reports suggest some no longer have such cooperative agreements.

They called on airlines to rebook interested passengers at no charge on other airlines or on different modes of transportation in the event of flight delays or cancellations caused by airlines, as well as to offer full reimbursement and compensation for any needed meals and lodging.

According to Markey's office, the letters were sent to: American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Allegiant Air, Virgin America, Sun Country Airlines and Island Air Hawaii.

The building on Round Hill Road was being renovated when the fire started.

NORTHAMPTON - Fire investigators continue to search for a cause of the blaze that heavily damaged a historic building which was being renovated.

Investigators for the Northampton Fire Department and the state Fire Marshal's Office are working together to discover what started the fire on Aug. 5 in Rogers Hall, 49 Round Hill Road.

"They are still interviewing people who were working in the building. There were a lot of workers," said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the state fire marshal's office.

Investigators have already ruled out arson as a cause of the fire and have made great progress, she said.

Rogers Hall was previously owned by Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, which sold the former dormitory to Historic Round Hill Summit LLC in 2013 as part of a deal involving 11.2 acres and 11 buildings.

The school remains in other buildings on Round Hill Road, continuing to operate its programs teaching children who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen and talk.

Historic Round Hill Summit was in the process of creating 15 luxury apartments in Rogers Hall and was over 60 percent complete. The company is owned by Michael Siddall, James Hebert, the president of Checkwriters Inc., and Peter Picknelly of Peter Pan Bus Lines.

The fire also damaged the adjacent 47 Round Hill Road, displacing several families living there.
The fire, which started just before 11 p.m., was massive. It took About 45 firefighters from eight different departments about five hours to get it under control.

Ralph Santaniello, 49, of Longmeadow, has pleaded not guilty to gambling, loansharking and extortion-related charges.

SPRINGFIELD - One of the five reputed Springfield-area mobsters arrested Aug. 4 in a federal organized crime sweep has been ordered held without bail, while the others won release with certain conditions.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson ordered Ralph Santaniello, 49, of Longmeadow, detained without right to bail on Tuesday. He has pleaded not guilty to gambling, loansharking and extortion-related charges.

The four other defendants are Giovanni Calabrese, 53, and Gerald Daniele, 51, of Longmeadow; Francesco DePergola, 60, of Springfield; and Richard Valentini, 51, of East Longmeadow. They also have denied the charges in a six-count federal indictment.

They are among nearly 40 alleged members of the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, and Philadelphia Organized Crime Families of La Cosa Nostra who were arrested in a Massachusetts-to-Florida law enforcement operation.

Prosecutors allege that Santaniello and Calabrese extorted the owner of a local towing business, threatening to cut off his head and bury his body in his backyard, and say the incident was captured in audio and video recordings. In court documents, the unidentified owner is referred to as Victim 1.

In her order to detain Santaniello, Judge Roberston wrote that "the evidence shows that Santaniello displayed a casual brutality in his exchanges with Victim 1."

"Santaniello slapped Victim 1 across the face during the first meeting at which he allegedly demanded money, and at a subsequent meeting, Santaniello ripped open Victim 1's shirt to see if Victim 1 was wearing a recording device," said Robertson. "The recordings appear to reflect Santaniello in a leadership role, and the government's case against him appears very strong."

Robertson said releasing Santaniello would endanger Victim 1 and the victim in a second incident, in which Daniele asked Santaniello and Calabrese to help him collect a debt.

Robertson set Calabrese's bail at $100,000. He has been ordered to stay away from both victims, refrain from drinking alcohol, surrender any guns and submit to GPS tracking.

Bail was set at $50,000 for DePergola, and $25,000 for both Daniele and Valentini. Conditions for the three defendants' release include GPS tracking, avoiding contact with the victims and witnesses, and surrendering any guns.

Lula Lagares chose a one-time lump sum of $650,000 before taxes.

SPRINGFIELD - A city woman has claimed a $1 million prize in the Massachusetts State Lottery's "Silver, Gold and Platinum 8s" instant game.

Lula Lagares chose a one-time lump sum of $650,000 before taxes.

The Lottery said she plans to use the money to buy a house.

The winning $5 scratch ticket was sold at the Pride store at 618 N. Main St. in East Longmeadow. The store will receive a $10,000 bonus.

The Lottery said Lagares' ticket was the fifth grand prize in the "Silver, Gold and Platinum 8s" game, and there is one million-dollar prize remaining.

The inaugural display of the modular "traveling" Wistariahurst Museum that will appear at the Celebrate Holyoke 2016 festival later this month will include a sampling of items that show the history of Holyoke, Massachusetts and reflect the collections in the museum archives.

HOLYOKE -- Wistariahurst Museum is coming to Celebrate Holyoke 2016 with the first display of its new modular "traveling museum," Director Kate Preissler said.

"The traveling museum will have interpretive panels, cases for objects from our collection, interactive activities and an audio recording station which we will use to collect memories, oral histories, or personal narratives depending on the exhibit and location," Preissler said last week.

Celebrate Holyoke is a festival set to run from Aug. 26 to 28 with live music, booths with food and drinks and works of art and crafts for sale held at and around Holyoke Heritage State Park between Dwight and Appleton streets.

The Slide the City 1,000-foot-long water slide also will be available at the festival on Aug. 27 on Appleton Street from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Wistariahurst at 238 Cabot St. is a 26-room mansion that the Skinner family donated to the city of Holyoke in 1959 for cultural and educational purposes. The name refers to the wistaria vines planted when the house was built. The William Skinner & Sons silk and satin mills were earning sales revenues in the millions of dollars and employing over 1,000 people at the time of William Skinner's death in 1902.

City archives are contained in the Carriage House on the grounds of Wistariahurst Museum, thousands of items dealing with City Hall records and paper-making devices to the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade, Latino history and ball gowns.

Preissler said Wistariahurst has worked on the traveling museum with local designers and fabricators at Brick Coworkshop and Cofab Design here.

"It's being built in modular components so that we can scale it to different spaces -- indoors and out. It is meant to take the full experience of being in a history museum to unexpected places and to people who might not ever make it up to Wistariahurst," Preissler said.

"When we launch it at Celebrate Holyoke we will be installing an exhibit that showcases a sampler of Holyoke's history and of the kinds of materials we have in our archive. It's meant to provide an introduction to Holyoke's history and get people excited to learn more," she said.

"For future exhibits in the traveling space we are looking forward to working with groups throughout the city to create exhibits and experiences that provide more in-depth looks at certain topics from the past. Our hope is that the traveling museum becomes a community platform for exploring and sharing our community's history," she said.

Former Congressman Barney Frank is helping the effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Massachusetts, known as Yes on 4, with plans to headline a fundraiser at the Harvard Club.

BOSTON - Former Congressman Barney Frank is helping the effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Massachusetts with plans to headline a fundraiser at the Harvard Club.

Frank, who served as a Massachusetts Democrat in the US House of Representatives for 32 years before retiring in 2013, will be at the tony Harvard Club on Aug. 28. The fundraiser is scheduled to take place between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The "Yes on 4" campaign, which previously went by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, is seeking to pass the marijuana legalization question on the November 2016 ballot.

"It is an activity that many people enjoy with no tangible effect on anyone else--with the possible exception of a friend who eats your entire bag of potato chips," Frank wrote in a piece for POLITICO magazine in August 2015.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is also slated to attend the fundraiser.

"Only 150 tickets are available for this special event," the Facebook page for the event said. "Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served. "

Tickets were priced at $250 per person, and the fundraising page said the campaign has "12 weeks left to raise $3 million."

Marijuana legalization is opposed by the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, a bipartisan coalition.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a popular Republican in the Bay State, and Democrats like Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and House Speaker Robert DeLeo oppose legalization, arguing it leads to people using harder substances.

The State House News Service, which first noted the Question 4 fundraiser, reported on Tuesday the Yes on 4 campaign has so far made plans to advertise on WHDH, WCVB and WBZ-TV for a total of $631,635.

Here are your 2016 ballot questions in Massachusetts

Cambridge native Cpl. Ronald Sparks died in a prisoner of war camp in North Korea on May 26, 1951. On Tuesday, he came home. Watch video

CAMBRIDGE -- Bob Sparks woke up one night when he was a little boy and found a stranger in his living room, coming to say goodbye. The man, his uncle, looked just like his dad.

"I said 'Are you a soldier?' and he said, yes, he was going away," Bob Sparks recalled.

"I said 'Where are you going?'" Sparks said. "He said, 'There's a war on, and I'm a soldier."

That soldier, Cambridge native Cpl. Ronald Sparks, left for the Korean War. He went missing in February 1951, while clearing a road that was blocked by enemy forces. He died at age 20 in a prisoner of war camp in North Korea on May 26, 1951.

On Tuesday, Ronald Sparks came home.

There was joy and there were tears as Sparks' body returned to a hero's welcome in his hometown of Cambridge. Buglers played taps, and a police motorcade escorted the hearse as people lined the streets outside Cambridge City Hall waving American flags and saluting. Sparks was escorted past his childhood home in Cambridge to a ceremony at Cambridge City Hall, then through Arlington to a funeral home. He will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett on Friday.

"I wish he was walking here and standing right here beside me," said Sparks' older brother Larry Sparks. "But it wasn't meant to be."

Ronald Sparks grew up in Cambridge, attended Cambridge schools, worshipped at the Methodist church and hung out in Central Square and at Magazine Beach. His friends called him "Sparkie." His friend Moses Moore recalled a "quiet kid" who would play basketball with him in the school gym.

When the U.S. went into Korea, Sparks volunteered to fight. When President Dwight Eisenhower negotiated an armistice to end the war, Eisenhower insisted that North Korea return the bodies of all U.S. soldiers to South Korea.

"We prayed and hoped that the best we could ask was that the good Korean people gave him a proper burial," Bob Sparks said.

When Bob Sparks' father, William Sparks, who was Ronald's brother, died in 2005, he asked Bob Sparks from his deathbed to track down Ronald's remains and bring him home.

The U.S. Army had set up a lab in Hawaii to identify fallen soldiers through records and DNA testing. Bob Sparks worked with the Pentagon and the military, and members of the Sparks family submitted DNA.

Family members knew there was little chance they would find Sparks among the remains of 7,800 unidentified Americans killed in Korea.

"It's been a long 65-year journey," said William Sparks, who is Ronald Sparks' nephew. "My brother Bob worked tirelessly for 11 years with the Pentagon ... with the U.S. Army to find Ronnie."

Finally, a couple of months ago, Bob Sparks got the call that U.S. officials had identified Ronald Sparks' body through DNA. "My throat tightened. My eyes welled up, and I had to call back because I couldn't speak," said Bob Sparks. "It was such overwhelming joy. ... I knew that 65 years after falling in the service of his country, 11 years after my dad asked me to find him, we found him, and he was coming home, and today he's home."

Sparks was greeted in his hometown by the Cambridge mayor and vice mayor, the Korean consul general, veterans and strangers.

"When a person is killed in service, it's often referred to as the ultimate sacrifice, but I can't begin to imagine what it's like when that loved one is killed in service and can't return home," said Vice Mayor Marc McGovern. "To not have the opportunity to have that closure, to have that ceremony, it's truly the ultimate sacrifice."

Jack Welch, a Vietnam era Air Force veteran from Cambridge, knows what that is like. It took six years for the body of Welch's father to be returned from Italy, where he was killed during World War II. A welcome home ceremony for a fallen veteran, however many years later, is very important, Welch said moments before the ceremony for Sparks began.

Welch explained, "Your loved one's coming home."

Coaches in the Holyoke Youth Soccer League, which needs a coach for a boys team, are required to hold only a minimum of one practice a week leading to the weekend games.

HOLYOKE -- The Holyoke Youth Soccer League needs an adult to coach a team of 6- and 7-year-old boys this fall.

"All hands on deck," read the notice on the city's website and Facebook page about the coaching need.

Coaches are required to hold a minimum of only one practice a week and the one-hour games are held on Saturday and Sunday mornings, the notice said.

"These boys need a coach," the notice said.

For more information contact Ben Scott at scottben4one3@aol.com

The neighborhood rocked by violent protests after a black officer fatally shot a black man was calmer after police pledged to strictly enforce a curfew for teenagers in Milwaukee.

The neighborhood rocked by violent protests after a black officer fatally shot a black man was calmer after police pledged to strictly enforce a curfew for teenagers in Milwaukee, the latest place where authorities have invoked decades-old, often little-enforced laws to try to tamp down unrest.

But the measures are controversial, with some people saying curfews violate civil liberties. Researchers also argue there's little to no evidence that the laws work, particularly when it comes to curbing juvenile crime. And in some cases, they say, the laws only make problems worse in the long term.

"The most useful aspect of a curfew is it gives the public an impression that the police are doing something," said Kenneth Adams, a criminal justice professor at the University of Central Florida who has studied the laws. "It's sending the message that 'We the police are serious about restoring order, and we're going to take steps.'"

Authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, issued curfews for all residents in 2014 in response to violence that erupted after a white officer shot and killed a black 18-year-old, a move that angered many in the community who saw it as further mistreatment of blacks. After a man died in police custody in Baltimore in 2015, the city's mayor imposed a weeklong curfew, saying she did not want to see the city "destroyed by thugs."

Milwaukee's enforcement was aimed at teens and followed riots that started after the Saturday shooting of Sylville Smith. Police say the 23-year-old was fleeing a traffic stop and had a gun in his hand when he turned toward the officer, who opened fire. The state is investigating.

Peaceful protests turned violent that night and continued on Sunday evening. Some businesses were set on fire, one person was shot and multiple officers were injured.

Milwaukee has had a curfew law on its books since 1943. It prohibits people under age 17 from loitering in public places between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. during the summer months, and from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday during the school year.

The proclamation Mayor Tom Barrett issued Monday expanded the curfew to apply to anyone under 18. It also took effect an hour earlier, at 10 p.m.

Authorities respond near a burning gas station as dozens of people protest following the fatal shooting of a man in Milwaukee. A crowd of protesters skirmished with police Saturday night in the Milwaukee neighborhood where an officer shot and killed a man after a traffic stop and foot chase earlier in the day, setting fire to a police car and torching a gas station. Gretchen Ehlke / AP 

"Your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets," he said at a news conference Monday. "This is not the place where you go to gawk. This is not the place where you go to take pictures. This is not the place where you go to drive your car around."

Police said Monday night was markedly more peaceful, with what the police chief called some "heated confrontations" and six arrests but no destruction of property.

"Last night was a much better night," said Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton. "I'm hoping we continue down that path."

Between Saturday night and Monday morning, police reported 31 people were arrested, including three juveniles. After Barrett announced the curfew Monday, 10 people were arrested. One was a juvenile.

Experts caution that while the youth curfew may have had an impact temporarily, they are not generally an effective crime-fighting tool.

Little juvenile crime occurs overnight, said Adams, adding that "you'd get a better bang for your buck" in most communities if a curfew were imposed from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. -- when kids are out of school, parents are less likely to be around and young people are more likely to cause trouble.

Enforcing curfews also requires significant resources that could be better put toward other efforts, researchers have found. There are concerns that they are not uniformly or fairly enforced, with minorities and people in low-income neighborhoods tending to be disproportionately targeted.

Enforcement also tends to ebb and flow. After a notable crime or a spike in criminal activity, authorities or elected officials will make the often politically popular step of beefing up enforcement. But officers quickly grow tired of it, or priorities shift.

In Milwaukee, for example, the number of charges filed against minors and their parents has dropped significantly in the past few years. In 2011, 539 minors and 23 parents were charged with violating the curfew law. Last year, charges were filed against 148 minors and eight parents. The numbers are on pace to be even lower this year.

Mike Males, senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, said there's another problem: Curfews don't target the people who are committing crimes.

In Ferguson and Baltimore, he said, authorities blamed teenagers for much of the unrest. But arrest logs showed few people taken into custody were teens. Most were considerably older.

Targeting that younger population, he added, serves only to antagonize them. It also allows public officials to avoid addressing larger problems such as longstanding racial disparities and poverty.

"It's an easy population to blame," Males said.

Sharlen Moore, a mother of three who lives in the Milwaukee neighborhood where the shooting and subsequent unrest happened, said imposing a youth curfew was "just putting a Band-Aid over a gushing wound. It's a temporary solution to a bigger problem."

Moore said her children are younger and she personally transports them, so the curfew has not directly affected her family.

Because of that, she said, her children "are not put in unnecessary harm's way with police or other people. There are people in our community who don't have that privilege."

The lawmakers hope to participate in DPU talks regarding Berkshire's service moratorium.

BOSTON -- State Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) and Western Massachusetts representatives led by Rep. Steve Kulik (D-Worthington) said Tuesday they will apply for full status to evaluate a Forecast and Supply Plan filed with state regulators by The Berkshire Gas Company.

If the Department of Public Utilities grants the petition to intervene, the group would have access to detailed docket information that is shielded from the general public. The information pertains to Berkshire's moratorium on new service in the upper Pioneer Valley, lawmakers in Hampshire and Franklin counties said.

Berkshire has not lifted its moratorium in its Eastern Division months after Kinder Morgan announced it would drop plans to build Northeast Energy Direct, a major pipeline that would have crossed the region. In its previous plan, Berkshire stated it would buy capacity on that line to allay its supply problem.

Kinder Morgan announced its decision to abandon the 420-mile pipeline project in May. Rosenberg then publicly pressured Berkshire to devise a "Plan B" to expand its customer service without the pipeline.

Rosenberg said Tuesday that in a string of biweekly meetings, he and other lawmakers pushed Berkshire to expedite the preparation of its biennial five-year forecast. In Massachusetts, gas utilities every two years must file a long-range supply and demand forecast with state utility regulators. The plan requires a public hearing and a sign-off by the DPU.

The 2016 draft plan describes a range of possible options for lifting the moratorium, including increasing storage capacity at a facility in Whately.

A public hearing on Berkshire's five-year plan is set for Aug. 30 at Greenfield Middle School, following a Boston hearing. Rosenberg and others had asked the DPU to schedule the Western Mass. hearing, saying the supply problem is a matter of interest in the region.

"We need to work with Berkshire Gas and the Department of Public Utilities to find a solution to the moratorium as quickly as possible," said Rosenberg. "By participating in the Berkshire Gas Forecast and Supply plan case, we will be able to better represent the needs of the district in the ongoing effort to find the right solution for lifting the moratorium on new gas customers."

Residents, businesses and the region's economic vitality are at stake, said Kulik, adding that the delegation is "committed to working closely with all interested parties to resolve this situation as quickly as possible."

"I am pleased that the entire legislative delegation for the eight towns negatively affected by the Berkshire Gas moratorium is working together to give our constituents a stronger voice in DPU's review," said Kulik.

Others in the delegation include Reps. Peter Kocot (D-Northampton), Paul Mark (D-Peru), John Scibak (D-South Hadley) and Ellen Story (D-Amherst). Each represents one or more affected communities.

Berkshire in 2015 placed a moratorium on new service in Amherst, Hadley, Hatfield and Sunderland, following a 2014 moratorium in Deerfield, Greenfield, Montague and Whately.

Mary Serreze can be reached at mserreze@gmail.com

Officials painted a stark picture of the crisis so far: at least 40,000 homes damaged and 11 people killed in some of the worst flooding in Louisiana history.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Authorities went door to door and car to car to check for bodies Tuesday, and homeowners began the heartbreaking task of gathering up soaked family photos and mucking out houses dank with bayou mud, as the floodwaters started to recede across parts of southern Louisiana.

Even as the water fell in some areas, it was rising in other places downstream, where people furiously filled sandbags and fled to shelters.

Officials painted a stark picture of the crisis so far: at least 40,000 homes damaged and 11 people killed in some of the worst flooding in Louisiana history, touched off by as much as 2 feet of rain in 48 hours. Over 30,000 people have been rescued since Friday, with more being brought to safety by the hour.

There were scattered reports of looting, and Gov. John Bel Edwards said parishes with widespread damage would be placed under curfew beginning Tuesday night.

The smell of muddy water hung heavy in the air as people donned surgical masks and began the back-breaking job of ripping out soggy carpet, drywall and insulation. They cleaned out spiders and cockroaches that had bubbled up through the sewer grates.

Raymond Lieteau, 48, returned to his home in the Woodlands neighborhood of Baton Rouge to survey the damage Tuesday and begin cleaning up. The water line on a mirror showed that he had more than 5 feet of water inside his home.

"My furniture is all over the place," he said. "It's just amazing."

The bedroom floors were buckled and the walls bowed, and the swimming pool, once a crystal-clear blue, was filled with brown water.

His wife, Daniella Letelier, put on rubber gloves and began sorting through stacks of family photos, removing them from their sleeves and placing them on a table to dry out. Many of the photos were of her 15-year-old daughter, Olivia.

"I can't live without her pictures. It breaks my heart," she said.

Officials started going house to house to make sure everyone was accounted for and searched the countless cars that had been caught in the flooding.

"I don't know we have a good handle on the number of people who are missing," the governor said.

More than 60,000 people had signed up for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and 16 parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total to 20.

And help was coming from quarters beyond the federal government.

Performer Taylor Swift told The Associated Press that she is donating $1 million to flood relief. She said the state's residents graciously welcomed her when she kicked off the U.S. dates of her "1989 World Tour" in Louisiana last year.

"The fact that so many people in Louisiana have been forced out of their own homes this week is heartbreaking," the 26-year-old said in a statement. "I encourage those who can to help out and send your love and prayers their way during this devastating time."

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a total loss.

In Tangipahoa Parish, Parish President Robby Miller said at least 7,500 homes had flood damage, meaning they took on anywhere from an inch of water to water up to the roof. That number could go as high as 10,000, he said, which would be about a quarter of the homes in the parish.

Officials from Livingston Parish were in Baton Rouge on Tuesday to talk to federal officials about getting some sort of temporary housing for their first responders -- a sign of the housing crunch that's likely soon too come with so many people out of their homes for weeks and perhaps months.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as the water made its way toward the Gulf of Mexico. In Ascension Parish, some small towns were already inundated. In St. James Parish, authorities called for volunteers to help fill sandbags.

Nearly 800 evacuees were gathered in a makeshift Red Cross shelter established in Gonzales at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, a multipurpose facility that has hosted rodeos, car and truck shows and concerts. Even more people escaping the flood were at an RV park on the site.

Tables were stacked with supplies, and a short line of people waited for medical assistance at the nursing station. Music played outside, while children with hula hoops and other games appeared oblivious to the nearby flooding that threatened their homes.

Evacuated cows and horses were housed on the property, along with pets rescued.

Jared Henry, 39, a chemical plant worker who raises rodeo bulls at his 35-acre home in Gonzales, had moved his 50 bulls to Lamar Dixon as his property flooded, swimming some of the bulls to safety. Henry said his trailer home was raised off the ground and not damaged, but he wasn't sure if it would remain that way. He lost everything before when a fire destroyed his home.

"So when I saw this coming, I took the few things of sentimental value, got all the cows, the puppy dogs," Henry said after feeding the bulls a batch of hay. "Anything else can be replaced. I care about my animals more than anything in this world."

The governor said he is worried about "battle fatigue" setting in as rescuers and residents deal with day upon day of stress.

The trauma was evident among people who went back Tuesday.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of "muddy, nasty bayou water." There were fish and thousands of spiders, and mold had started to grow. The backyard was still under water, with only the safety net surrounding his children's trampoline visible.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably," he said. "But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family."

Approximately 250 feet in length and laid out in a chevron shape like the original, The Wall That Heals contains the names of all the American soldiers killed or missing in the Vietnam war. Watch video

Twenty-four panels. Over 58,000 names. The Wall That Heals, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., has arrived in West Springfield and will be on display 24 hours a day through Aug. 21 on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition.

Approximately 250 feet in length and laid out in a chevron shape like the original, The Wall That Heals contains the names of all the American soldiers killed or missing in the Vietnam war.

Staging in West Springfield in the parking lot of Home Depot, the truck carrying the wall made its way to the Big E escorted by hundreds of motorcycle riders and a caravan of veterans groups.

"This will be an enormous opportunity for Western Massachusetts residents to experience the impact of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, and we are bringing together many members of the community to help with ceremonies and other events that bring awareness and recognition to our Vietnam veterans," said Chris Lizotte, director of the West Springfield Department of Veterans Services.

There is no charge for admission or parking. Visitors should enter through gate 9 off Memorial Avenue.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey praised Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr.'s more than four decades of work in Hampden County Wednesday, contending that his legacy can be felt across the state.

SPRINGFIELD ‒ Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey praised Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr.'s more than four decades of work in Hampden County Wednesday, contending that his legacy can be felt across the state.

Healey, who stopped by Ashe's 39th and final annual clambake fundraiser at the Springfield Elks Lodge, said it's hard to even begin to describe the impact the outgoing sheriff has had on her and Massachusetts as a whole.

"He is, for me, a mentor, a guidance. He has done so much for so many throughout Massachusetts -- not just here in Springfield and Hampden County or Western Mass., but across the state," she said during an interview. "He has been such a trailblazer, a pioneer when it comes to issues of criminal justice, when it comes to promoting and caring for the health and well-being in communities."

The AG called the sheriff's final clambake "really significant," adding that although she's sad to see him leave his post, he will continue to shape corrections in the state.

"The good news, I think for all of us, is as sad as we are to see him leave, he's left such an indelible and lasting mark on the community and really in the conscience and the approach to so many issues," she said. "I'm grateful that he's still going to be a mentor to me and somebody I'm grateful that I can turn to him and ask him for advice."

Healey said she looks forward to continuing her relationship with Ashe into the future.

She noted that her office has worked with the sheriff on an array of issues, including combating opioid abuse and overhauling criminal justice.

The AG, who said she has come to the clambake for a few years, attributed the event's popularity with constituents and politicians alike to the Ashe's ability to attract people.

"He's a leader and as a leader he's got a lot of followers and people who look to him," she said. "It's not surprising that so many people show up at his events and want to be around him and want to celebrate him...He has been and will continue to be such an incredible presence here."

During a roundtable discussion, state Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and Senator Eric Lesser listened to concerns from municipal administrators and elected officials.

LONGMEADOW — Unfunded mandates and infrastructure projects emerged as issues concerning Town Hall officials from several Western Massachusetts communities who sat down with state senators for a roundtable discussion Wednesday.

Hosted by state Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and Sen. Eric Lesser, the wide-ranging discussion in Longmeadow drew administrators and elected officials from Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Granby, Longmeadow and Ludlow.

The discussion came just over a week after Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law the Municipal Modernization Act, which supporters have billed as a piece of legislation that grants more independence to local government and streamlines state oversight.

Select Board members from Longmeadow raised the issue of their town's obligation to the mandated "other post-employment benefits" (OPEB) program, which requires towns to pay at least half of retired town employees' municipal health insurance premiums.

Selectman Richard Foster also pointed out that Longmeadow is responsible for maintaining a stretch of Route 5, which is often driven on by trucks when sections of Interstate 91 is shut down.

"(State) funding right now doesn't even meet the reoccurring needs of our road system," Foster said.

Responding to the Longmeadow delegation, Rosenberg noted that the formation of a senatorial OPEB working group is in the planning stages.

The Senate president also pondered whether the state could fund construction on town roads adjacent to highways to handle added traffic the state roadways bring.

"I'm really concerned about that specific problem. ... If we could help you reconstruct those roads to meet that kind of traffic, that would be a big help," Rosenberg said. "That's a problem that's created by the state traffic system."

In addition to mandates like OPEB, state legislators have passed a total of 92 provisions requiring cities and towns to fund different programs over the past five years, said Belchertown Town Administrator Gary Brougham.

Federal programs too, like a new permitting process passed by the Environmental Protection Agency that requires updating of small stormwater systems, take a heavy financial toll on small communities.

"That (EPA requirement) is going to break every community in Western Mass.," Brougham said.

After the hour-long sit-down, Rosenberg said local officials should contact state legislators if the Municipal Modernization Act imposes any additional mandates for cities and towns, since the bill was designed to avoid placing additional strain on municipalities.

"It was not our intention to put more burden on communities," Rosenberg said.

While state legislators have limited control over federal mandates, Lesser said, they can limit the amount of unfunded requirements they place on communities across the commonwealth.

Roundtables like Wednesday's are important to maintain communication between state and local officials, especially to bring to light specific regional issues, he said.

"We've got a lot of unique needs in Western Mass.," Lesser said.

The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee on Tuesday passed a resolution opposing a ballot question that would expand access to charter schools.

The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee on Tuesday passed a resolution opposing a ballot question that would expand access to charter schools.

"Charter schools are actually interfering with the public school system in many ways," said Steven Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, who introduced the resolution.

The resolution passed on a voice vote, with only a handful of Democrats dissenting, according to several people who attended the meeting in Lawrence. Around 270 of approximately 400 state committee members were present.

"It was deafening support for the resolution, with a smattering of voices not in favor of the resolution," said Democratic State Committee Vice Chairwoman Debra Kozikowski of Chicopee.

But opponents of charter school expansion say the vote was not reflective of the level of support for charter schools in the Democratic Party. They said the resolution was not on the agenda in advance, and while there was some discussion of procedure, there was no substantive debate on the policy.

"The (U.S.) president, the (Massachusetts) House, the voters, the data are all on the side of charters," said Liam Kerr, Massachusetts state director of Democrats for Education Reform, a pro-charter school group. "But when it comes to things like a sleepy August meeting of the Democratic State Committee ... sure, the (Massachusetts Teachers Association) can win there."

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who supports charter school expansion, said he supports the ballot question as a way to give all parents, including those in communities of color and underperforming school districts, the same choices he had, to send their children to the school of their choice.

"I find it disappointing that the Democratic Party, which I feel is full of a lot of people who believe in equal opportunity and giving everybody a chance, would choose to be against something that is so important -- especially to working-class families in underperforming schools districts," Baker said. "They deserve better and they deserve a 'yes' vote."

The question on the November ballot will ask voters to decide whether to allow the state Board of Education to approve up to 12 charter schools a year outside of an existing cap, with priority given to the lowest-performing school districts.

The resolution that passed the Democratic State Committee lays out many of the arguments against charter school expansion. It argues that charter schools divert money from traditional public schools, typically serve fewer students who have special needs or are learning English, and are not accountable to local school committees. The resolution says the ballot initiative could nearly triple the number of charter schools in 10 years, would drain more money from public schools and is contrary to the national Democratic platform.

The resolution says the charter school campaign "is funded and governed by hidden money provided by Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers." The ballot initiative, it says, "would lead Massachusetts in the wrong direction."

Proponents of charter schools argue that charter schools are public schools, are accountable to the state, and have been educating hard-to-serve children. They say expanding access to charter schools gives students more choices, particularly in failing school districts. The pro-charter ballot campaign is funded heavily by the financial industry, just as the anti-charter ballot campaign is funded primarily by unions.

Tolman said he introduced the resolution because it is an important issue. "It was passed almost unanimously in a very democratic process," Tolman said.

He argued that charter schools are draining money from public schools, they weed out troubled students and they failed in their original purpose of developing new strategies that can be replicated in public schools. "They're almost like a runaway train. That great idea of bringing innovation back to public schools never happened," Tolman said.

Committee Chairman Thomas McGee, a state senator from Lynn, called it "an issue that's been on people's minds for a long time."

"Raising the cap clearly was something that concerned an overwhelming majority of the party," McGee said.

McGee said anyone is allowed to bring up an item in a section of the meeting reserved for new business, even if it was not on the agenda, and Democratic activists were familiar with the issue because of the ongoing debate. He said committee members decided to suspend their rules and vote on the resolution, after some discussion.

"It's an ongoing issue people are very familiar with, and they felt it was important to take a stand on it," McGee said.

Kozikowski said areas like Springfield have struggled to improve their public schools. "Privately run schools where you cherry pick the best and the brightest of those individuals and leave others behind isn't the way to improve public schools," Kozikowski said.

"We didn't say we're against all charter schools," Kozikowski added. "What we said is we're not supporting lifting the cap at this time."

The Democratic State Committee is not committing to spending money or working on behalf of the ballot campaign, although individual members may do so.

Opponents of charter school expansion say they believe Democrats are more divided on the issue than the vote indicates.

The meeting, Kerr said, "did have the feeling of a smoke-filled room but without the smoke." He said union members were pushing the issue, without putting it on the agenda in advance and without having significant debate.

"We had people coming up to us quietly, saying we're with you, but there's no point. It's a symbolic vote," Kerr said.

Eileen O'Connor, a spokesman for the pro-charter school ballot committee, Great Schools Massachusetts, said, "We're thrilled that public charter schools have such strong bipartisan support from elected leaders on both sides of the aisle, and are part of the recently ratified national platform of the Democratic Party. Providing great public education options for the kids and parents that need them most is a goal shared by leaders of both parties."

She pointed to state Sen. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport, and state Rep. Frank Moran, D-Lawrence, as examples of Massachusetts Democrats who support the ballot question.

The national Democratic Party platform says Democrats support "high-quality public charter schools," as long as the charter schools are not for profit, reflect the demographics of their communities and do not destabilize public schools.

The Republican reporter Shannon Young contributed to this story.

An East Longmeadow Town Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. has been cancelled.

EAST LONGMEADOW — An East Longmeadow Town Council meeting scheduled to take place Wednesday evening has been canceled.

An agenda for the meeting, which was scheduled to take place at the Council on Aging at 6 p.m., listed "New Acting Town Manager Employment Agreement" as its only item. A notice posted on the town's website Wednesday notified the public that the meeting is canceled.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday if and when the meeting will be rescheduled.

Three of the five identified streets are targeted for completion before winter arrives.

WESTFIELD - The city is preparing to launch its in-house five-year road repair project shortly with three of five streets scheduled for completion before winter arrives.

City Council president Brent B. Bean II and City Engineer Mark Cressotti this week identified Franklin Street from Summer Street to Allen Street, the northernmost portions of Montgomery road and Southwick Road from Mill Street to the Southwick town line. Also the city will complement the $6 million upgrade at North Elm and Notre Dame streets by improving the road surface from Notre Dame towards the Massachusetts Turnpike Exit 3 and the upper portion of Notre Dame Street.

Cressotti said the Franklin Street project will include new sidewalks on the south side of the road.

The engineer said Montgomery Road, Notre Dame Street and North Elm Street projects are scheduled to be completed before winter arrives while Franklin and Southwick Road will be completed before the end of the Fiscal 2017.

Funding for the project will come for the city's current $1.2 million state Chapter 90 allocation, road repair funds provided by the state.

Mayor Brian P. Sullivan announced in June that he intends to use Chapter 90 during the next five years specifically for local road improvements.

Bean said this week "the mayor and City Council are trying to address our road needs and we are working together, with the city engineer and Department of Public Works, to use Chapter 90 funding for its intended purpose.

"We cannot solve all Westfield road problems with just Chapter 90 monies and the state should reconsider how it allocates these funds especially for communities like Westfield that has hundreds of miles of roads," Bean said.

The council president said the mayor and council are also looking to allocate additional funds, if available, for the road project.

Projects include the milling of road surfaces by two-inches and paving overlay of the same thickness which saves on the cost of raising structures and minimizes conflicts with driveways and other intersections, officials have said.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative will spend $5 million on state-of-the-art computer equipment to support the UMass and MassMutual partnership on cybersecurity and big-data analytics.

This story follows and expands upon: UMass gets $5M from state for cybersecurity

SPRINGFIELD -- The more science, industry and society at large make use of humanity's rapidly expanding access to data concerning nearly every field of human endeavor, the more that data will be at risk from people who might use it for ill.

For that reason, and for the business opportunities Big Data will create, the state of Massachusetts has granted $5 million to buy the latest in computer equipment to power both the data analytics and the cybersecurity programs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the UMass satellite in Springfield.

"Cybersecurity is a growing necessity," Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday. "It's a global issue and in some ways a global fight." 

Baker and MassMutual Financial Group CEO Roger Crandall sounded similar themes Wednesday when announcing the funding. They spoke along with state Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, state Sen. James Welch, D-West Springfield, state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy and UMass President Marty Meehan.

Crandall said potential cyber criminals try and breach the computer networks at the Springfield-based insurance giant virtually millions of times a day. The company has security teams working around the clock seven days a week.

"Because once you lose that network, things can go badly very quickly," Crandall said.

And the threats will become more stark in the future as the "internet of things" takes hold. The internet of things is the notion that in the near future nearly every object will be connected to the web and monitored by software.

"So the hack might come in through your car. It might come in through your watch or your pacemaker," Crandall said. "Soon we will have computers in our clothes."

In June, MassMutual announced that it will donate $15 million to UMass computer science programs over the next 10 years. This is the largest grant MassMutual has ever made in support of an initiative in the region.

Of the $15 million, $12 million will support the UMass Amherst Center for Data Science with additional faculty, double of the number of available courses and an expanded master's degree program.

In Springfield, the company will donate $3 million over 10 years to expand a cybersecurity certificate program taught at the university's center in MassMutual-owned Tower Square. The cybersecurity certificate program is an eight-week, 15-credit-hour program preparing cybersecurity professionals for the workplace.

"We need them," Crandall said.

He added that he appreciates the support of the Baker administration.

"The reality is, companies have a choice as to where they can go," Crandall said.

Baker said one thing he has learned since taking office in January 2015 is that colleges and universities play a larger-than-ever roll developing local economies and generating jobs.

The $5 million comes from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative capital investment fund, said Pat Larkin, the agency's interim executive director. It will pay for a team of computers called graphic processing units used to handle large amounts of data.

Michael F. Malone, the university's vice chancellor for research and engagement, said the equipment itself will be located at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) in Holyoke where there is special infrastructure, staff and security to support it. But the $5 million worth of computer equipment will have remote-access terminals in Amherst, Springfield and Boston.

Andrew Kachites McCallum, UMass professor and director of the of the Center for Data Science and of the Information Extraction and Synthesis Laboratory in Amherst, said these computers do things in days that it took the last generation of computers months to accomplish.

A fire in Springfield's Liberty Heights neighborhood may end up displacing four people, according to a spokesman for the Springfield Fire Department.

SPRINGFIELD — A porch fire that occurred in Springfield's Liberty Heights neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon may displace 4 people, according to Dennis Leger, spokesman for the Springfield Fire Department.

Firefighters responded to reports of a fire at 52 Jefferson Ave at approximately 4:02 p.m., according to Leger.

The fire occurred on the second floor, on the rear porch, and caused somewhere between $5000-$8,000 in damage, according to Leger. Additionally, the apartment suffered some interior water damage.

Leger said that the four people inside the structure – a mother and her two children, and the owner of the building – may be temporarily displaced as a result of the building's electricity being affected by the fire.

Red Cross is currently headed to the site of the incident to assist with possible relocation, according to Leger.

Leger also added that the cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad.

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.