A 16-year-old boy riding a moped crashed into a light pole on Monday evening and suffered serious injuries, according to police.

UPDATE: Police now say the vehicle was a moped, not a motorcycle. This story has been updated accordingly.

The boy was transported to Baystate Medical Center after the 7 p.m. crash on Marcelle Street. He is expected to survive.

The road was closed for more than two hours while an accident reconstruction team investigated.

The cause of the crash has not been determined yet.

At around 10 a.m. on Saturday, numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Holyoke Police Narcotics Unit and the FBI's Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force, executed search warrants at the convenience store and three other addresses.

HOLYOKE - Police say three people involved with operating and managing the Holyoke Mini Mart on High Street sold drugs in and around the store, and they face criminal charges following a weekend raid.

At around 10 a.m. on Saturday, numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Holyoke Police Narcotics Unit and the FBI's Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force, executed search warrants at the convenience store and three other addresses.

Authorities seized 5,600 bags of heroin, an unspecified amount of cocaine and $19,000 in cash. Raids were conducted at Holyoke Mini Mart, 663 High St., 116 Sergeant St., and 17 Beston St. in Chicopee.

Arrested were Emiliano Santiago, 30, of Springfield; Daniel Santiago, 29, of Holyoke; and Charles Pedrosa, 48, of Holyoke. They face numerous drug trafficking, possession and conspiracy charges.

The suspects were arraigned Monday in Holyoke District Court. Details of the arraignment were not immediately available.

The Springfield Carnival Association recently partnered with Springfield City Library's Mason Square Branch to present the 3rd Annual Community Festival.

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Carnival Association recently partnered with Springfield City Library's Mason Square Branch to present the 3rd Annual Community Festival.

The free yearly event honors the Mason Square Branch Library's benefactor, Annie G. Curran, and includes a wide variety of fun activities for children of all ages.

Attendees were treated to live music from The Expandable Brass Band, Upstream, and LaDawn and Friends. Children were able to enjoy facepainting and parrots, rabbits, and sheep from the Zoo in Forest Park.

The Festival was held at the Mason Square Branch Library on State Street this past Thursday.

Founded in 1857, the Springfield City Library provides nearly 4000 educational and recreational programs per year. To learn more, visit www.springfieldlibrary.org.

The Ward 3 office-hours meeting on Sept. 7, 2016 with Holyoke Councilor Dave Bartley and the School Committee's Dennis Birks will include a neighborhood crime watch discussion led by Glenn Sexton of the Hampden County Sheriff's Department at Metcalf School, 2019 Northampton St., Holyoke, Massachusetts.

HOLYOKE -- The Ward 3 representatives on the City Council and School Committee will hold office hours to hear residents' concerns Sept. 7 from 4 to 5:45 p.m. at Metcalf School, 2019 Northampton St.

David K. Bartley, Ward 3 councilor, and Dennis W. Birks Jr., Ward 3 representative on the School Committee, will be available to answer questions and discuss issues with the public, an email from Bartley said Tuesday.

The meeting will include a neighborhood crime watch discussion led by Glenn Sexton of the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, Bartley said.

Upcoming meetings with the Ward 3 representatives are scheduled for Oct. 5, which will include City Clerk Brenna Murphy McGee discussing early voting, Nov. 2 and Dec. 7, Bartley and Murphy McGee said.

For information call (413) 531-2213.

WikiLeaks' giant data dumps have rattled the National Security Agency, the U.S. Democratic Party, and the Saudi foreign ministry. But its spectacular mass-disclosures have also included the personal information of hundreds of people — including sick children, rape victims and mental health patients.

CAIRO (AP) -- WikiLeaks' giant data dumps have rattled the National Security Agency, the U.S. Democratic Party, and the Saudi foreign ministry. But its spectacular mass-disclosures have also included the personal information of hundreds of people -- including sick children, rape victims and mental health patients, The Associated Press has found.

In the past year alone, the radical transparency group has published medical files belonging to scores of ordinary citizens while many hundreds more have had sensitive family, financial or identity records posted to the web. In two particularly egregious cases, WikiLeaks named teenage rape victims. In a third case, the site published the name of a Saudi citizen arrested for being gay, an extraordinary move given that homosexuality can lead to social ostracism, a prison sentence or even death in the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom.

"They published everything: my phone, address, name, details," said a Saudi man who told AP he was bewildered that WikiLeaks had revealed the details of a paternity dispute with a former partner. "If the family of my wife saw this ... Publishing personal stuff like that could destroy people."

Attempts to reach WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for an interview over the past month have been unsuccessful and the ex-hacker did not reply to written questions. In a series of tweets following the publication of the AP's story, WikiLeaks dismissed the privacy concerns as "recycled news" and said they were "not even worth a headline."

Assange has been holed up for the past four years in Ecuador's embassy in London, where he sought refuge when Swedish prosecutors sought to question him over sexual assault allegations. He gave no indication Tuesday that the offending material would be taken down.

WikiLeaks' purported mission is to bring censored or restricted material "involving war, spying and corruption" into the public eye, describing the trove amassed thus far as a "giant library of the world's most persecuted documents."

The library is growing quickly, with half a million files from the U.S. Democratic National Committee, Turkey's governing party and the Saudi Foreign Ministry added in the last year or so. But the library is also filling with rogue data, including computer viruses, spam, and a compendium of personal records.

The Saudi diplomatic cables alone hold at least 124 medical files, according to a sample analyzed by AP. Some described patients with psychiatric conditions, seriously ill children or refugees.

In this Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016 photo, Dr. Nayef al Fayez speaks with the Associated Press in Amman, Jordan. A brain cancer patient of his was among those whose details were published to the web by the transparency group WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Laya Quran)

"This is illegal what has happened," he said in a telephone interview. "It is illegal!"

The AP, which is withholding identifying details of most of those affected, reached 23 people -- most in Saudi Arabia -- whose personal information was exposed. Some were unaware their data had been published; WikiLeaks is censored in the country. Others shrugged at the news. Several were horrified.

One, a partially disabled Saudi woman who'd secretly gone into debt to support a sick relative, said she was devastated. She'd kept her plight from members of her own family.

"This is a disaster," she said in a phone call. "What if my brothers, neighbors, people I know or even don't know have seen it? What is the use of publishing my story?"

Medical records are widely counted among a person's most private information. But the AP found that WikiLeaks also routinely publishes identity records, phone numbers and other information easily exploited by criminals.

The DNC files published last month carried more than two dozen Social Security and credit card numbers, according to an AP analysis assisted by New Hampshire-based compliance firm DataGravity. Two of the people named in the files told AP they were targeted by identity thieves following the leak, including a retired U.S. diplomat who said he had to change his number after being bombarded by threatening messages.

The number of people affected easily reaches into the hundreds. Paul Dietrich, a transparency activist, said a partial scan of the Saudi cables alone turned up more than 500 passport, identity, academic or employment files.

The AP independently found three dozen records pertaining to family issues in the cables -- including messages about marriages, divorces, missing children, elopements and custody battles. Many are very personal, like the marital certificates that reveal whether the bride was a virgin. Others deal with Saudis who are deeply in debt, including one man who says his wife stole his money. One divorce document details a male partner's infertility. Others identify the partners of women suffering from sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C.

Lisa Lynch, who teaches media and communications at Drew University and has followed WikiLeaks for years, said Assange may not have had the staff or the resources to properly vet what he published. Or maybe he felt that the urgency of his mission trumped privacy concerns.

"For him the ends justify the means," she said.

___

In this Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 photo, a selection of private medical files published by transparency website WikiLeaks is shown in Paris. WikiLeaks' global crusade to expose government secrets is causing collateral damage to the privacy of hundreds of innocent people, including survivors of sexual abuse, sick children and the mentally ill, The Associated Press has found.(AP Photo/Raphael Satter)

"Publication of information is not always an act of freedom," Aftergood said in an email sent in late 2006. "It can also be an act of aggression or oppression."

Those concerns were heightened after WikiLeaks published a series of documents leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea, in 2010. The publication provided explosive evidence of human rights abuses in Iraq and Pakistani cooperation with the Taliban in Afghanistan -- among many other revelations -- but it also led to allegations that civilians in war zones had been endangered.

Assange insisted WikiLeaks had a system to keep ordinary people's information safe.

"We have a harm minimization policy," the Australian told an audience in Oxford, England in July of 2010. "There are legitimate secrets. Your records with your doctor, that's a legitimate secret."

Assange initially leaned on cooperating journalists, who flagged sensitive material to WikiLeaks which then held them back for closer scrutiny. But Assange was impatient with the process, describing it as time-consuming and expensive.

"We can't sit on material like this for three years with one person to go through the whole lot, line-by-line, to redact," he told London's Frontline Club the month after his talk in Oxford. "We have to take the best road that we can."

Assange's attitude has hardened since. A brief experiment with automatic redactions was aborted. The journalist-led redactions were abandoned too after Assange's relationship with the London press corps turned toxic. By 2013 WikiLeaks had written off the redaction efforts as a wrong move.

Withholding any data at all "legitimizes the false propaganda of 'information is dangerous,'" the group argued on Twitter.

But some private information genuinely is dangerous, courting serious consequences for the people involved.

Three Saudi cables published by WikiLeaks identified domestic workers who'd been tortured or sexually abused by their employers, giving the women's full names and passport numbers. One cable named a male teenager who was raped by a man while abroad; a second identified another male teenager who was so violently raped his legs were broken; a third outlined the details of a Saudi man detained for "sexual deviation" -- a derogatory term for homosexuality.

Scott Long, an LGBT rights activist who has worked in the Middle East, said the names of rape victims were off-limits. And he worried that releasing the names of people persecuted for their sexuality only risked magnifying the harm caused by oppressive officials.

"You're legitimizing their surveillance, not combating it," Long said.

___

WikiLeaks was criticized last month after it released what it described as "AKP emails," a reference to Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish acronym AKP. But dissidents' excitement turned to scorn when they realized the 300,000 documents were little more than a vast collection of junk mail and petitions.

Vural Eroz, 66, was one of many people who'd written to the AKP, complaining in 2013 that his car had been towed from his lawn by authorities in Istanbul. He was startled to find that WikiLeaks had published the message along with his personal number.

"I would like to know for what purpose they exposed me," he said in a phone interview.

Prominent anti-censorship campaigner Yaman Akdeniz, who reviewed hundreds of messages like Eroz's, said there was nothing newsworthy in any of them.

Eroz said he admired WikiLeaks for exposing wrongdoing but said, "they should try to protect innocent civilians. They should screen what they leak."

Experts say WikiLeaks' apparent refusal to do the most minimal screening is putting even its own readers at risk.

Vesselin Bontchev, a researcher at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' National Laboratory of Computer Virology, said he was startled to find hundreds of pieces of malicious software in WikiLeaks' dumps -- suggesting the site doesn't take basic steps to sanitize its publications.

"Their understanding of journalism is finding an interesting document in a trash can and then dumping the can on your front door," he said.

Even Assange's biggest backers are getting uncomfortable. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the site's leading allies in the media world, has distanced himself from WikiLeaks over its publication strategy. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, whose asylum in Russia WikiLeaks helped broker, recently suggested the site should take more care to curate its work.

Others are disillusioned.

Dietrich, the transparency activist, said he still supported WikiLeaks "in principle" but had been souring on Assange and his colleagues for a while.

"One of the labels that they really don't like is being called 'anti-privacy activists,'" Dietrich said in a phone interview. "But if you want to live down that label, don't do stuff like this!"

A South Carolina mother killed her 4-day-son by putting him in the refrigerator for three hours, authorities said.

CHESTER, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina mother killed her 4-day-old son by putting him in the refrigerator for three hours, authorities said.

Angela Blackwell is charged with homicide by child abuse.

During a brief court appearance on Tuesday, the judge explained that because of the severity of the charges no bond could be set at this initial hearing, in accordance to state law.

She only nodded and shook her head, leaving the small courtroom after a few minutes without a sound.

Blackwell, 27, was arrested Monday, nearly six months after her son died. Investigators said they have spent that time taking statements and getting forensic tests done on the baby.

An autopsy showed that the boy, William David Blackwell, died from hypothermia with asphyxiation from being placed in the cold, according to Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker. First-responders tried to revive him on Feb. 27, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The baby's grandfather, Billy Lewis, told reporters gathered at his home before his bond hearing that Blackwell was sad around the time of her baby's birth, but appeared to be cheered up after her son was born.

"She didn't do it. We don't know who did it, but she didn't do it," said Lewis, who added there were other people in the home, but wouldn't speculate on how the baby might have ended up in the refrigerator.

Authorities also have not talked about why Blackwell may have placed her son in the refrigerator. Public defender William Frick represented her at Monday's hearing, but said he had just received the case and didn't know enough to talk about it. Blackwell's next court appearance is Nov. 10.

Neighbors said the Blackwells were nearly evicted from their home recently because the yard was a mess. Children's toys still are strewn in the backyard, and an old rusted car without an engine and a white hearse that has seen better days remain in the front yard. While everyone knew about their yard, no one seemed to really know them, neighbor Dot Corley said Tuesday.

"She didn't say anything to anybody that I know of," Corley said.

According to an online obituary for her infant son, Blackwell has another child. A Facebook profile that appears to belong to Blackwell shows her posing with a toddler and a newborn in photos posted the day after William's birth.

The boy's father, who is not charged in connection to his death, has a lengthy arrest record. Jeffery Paul Lewis, 35, has theft convictions in South Carolina dating back to 2005 and served more than two years in prison after a probation violation, Corrections Department spokeswoman Stephanie Givens said.

Dameian White faces charges of home invasion and three other crimes in a Chicopee incident from April 2015. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD -- Assistant District Attorney Mary A. Sandstrom on Tuesday told Hampden Superior Court jurors Dameian White held a gun to a Chicopee resident's head, pulled back the hammer and demanded money.

She said in that moment in April 2015, White, 22, of Springfield, was guilty of armed assault with intent to murder.

Sandstrom said White, aided by Dayquan Little, went into Michael Marsh's Grape Street home in the early morning hours armed with a gun and demanding $2,000.

The prosecutor made her comments during her opening statement to the jury in the trial of White. He faces charges of home invasion, armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and larceny of a motor vehicle.

The case is being heard by Judge Edward J. McDonough.

The jury is slated to hear from Marsh on Wednesday and Sandstrom told jurors to listen carefully to his testimony.

Prosecutor asks for 20 years in Chicopee home invasion, judge gives 21/2

Raymond Jacoub, White's lawyer, also told jurors to listen carefully to Marsh's testimony, and to listen for inconsistencies in what he says and what he first told police.

He said Marsh made inconsistent statements in different conversations with police.

"Mr. White maintains his innocence," Jacoub said. "People make accusations all the time. It doesn't mean they're true."

He said the case "comes down entirely" to whether jurors believe Marsh's testimony.

Dameian White and Dayquan Little 

Little pleaded guilty on Monday to his part in the home invasion.

Sandstrom asked McDonough to sentence Little, a 21-year-old Springfield man, to 20 years in state prison for home invasion. McDonough said he agreed with Sandstrom about the severity of the crime, but not about her sentence recommendation for Little, who had no criminal record. He sentenced the defendant to 21/2 years in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow followed by three years probation.

Although there is a 20-year minimum mandatory state prison sentence under state law for home invasion, the law also allows for judges to give probation rather than imprisonment for that crime.

Little pleaded guilty to home invasion, armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and larceny of a motor vehicle.

Eduardo Rodriguez, 31, of Boston, was supposed to be wearing a court-mandated GPS monitor when he allegedly raped a woman at knifepoint. The attack occurred in the area of the Carter Playground on Columbus Avenue at around 1 a.m. on Monday.

BOSTON - The man arrested in connection with a violent sexual assault in the South End spent several years in prison for a similar crime, and he was released less than a year ago, police said Tuesday.

Eduardo Rodriguez, 31, of Boston, was supposed to be wearing a court-mandated GPS monitor at the time he allegedly raped a woman at knifepoint, but he had cut it off. The attack occurred in the area of the Carter Playground on Columbus Avenue at around 1 a.m. on Monday.

Rodriguez is charged with aggravated rape, indecent assault and battery, armed robbery, witness intimidation and aggravated kidnapping. His arraignment in Boston District Court is scheduled for Wednesday.

Police said he was found Tuesday in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard "as a result of an intense and active investigation."

"I applaud the courage and strength of the survivor in this incident. She showed incredible bravery," said Police Commissioner William Evans. "I am also grateful to my detectives for their hard work and commitment in identifying and arresting this violent felon and removing him from the streets of this city."

In a press conference announcing the arrest of Rodriguez, Evans described the crime as "atrocious."

Rodriguez served time in prison for a rape he committed about eight years ago, and was apparently homeless, said Evans. He was released in December 2015.

Obama also met with Bruce Simmons, a wounded East Baton Rouge Sheriff's deputy, and the families of two other deputies killed in that July 17 gun battle with Gavin Lang of Kansas City, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.

Louisianians have been calling for President Barack Obama to show up for weeks. They did so after the shooting death of Alton Sterling and the unrest that followed in July. They did so after the slaying of three Baton Rouge law officers 12 days later. They did so after this month's unprecedented flood. 

On Tuesday, Obama responded.

He arrived in Baton Rouge to tour a flooded neighborhood in Zachary, one of the communities hit hard by the deluge that dropped 2 feet of rain in two days on central Louisiana. But Obama also met with Bruce Simmons, a wounded East Baton Rouge Sheriff's deputy, and the families of two other deputies killed in a July 17 gun battle with Gavin Long of Kansas City, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said. 

While the White House had earlier reported that Obama would meet with Sterling's family, they didn't attend the meeting with deputies' families at the Baton Rouge airport, Edwards said. Sterling, 37, was killed during a struggle with two Baton Rouge Police officers in a convenience store parking lot, setting off a cascade of civil unrest over police shootings of black men. Sterling was black; the two officers he struggled with are white. 

"I don't want to be in the business of speaking for the president," Edwards said, talking to reporters after Obama had climbed aboard Air Force One. "I think it was important that he was going to be here, and so much of the focus on the disaster and its response is on first responders, and these are families of first responders. And so I think it was appropriate."

Obama's visit marks Louisiana's pivot from responding to the cries for help sparked by the flood toward recovering from it. It also brought with it a spotlight that officials and residents across the region said had been sorely lacking from the national media. 

More than 60,000 homes have been damaged by the days-long flood. Obama said more than 100,000 people had applied for disaster aid and that FEMA had already spent $127 million responding to the crisis. 

The president's motorcade pulled up on Judith Drive in Zachary's Castle Place neighborhood, comprised of modest brick homes and navel-high piles of debris lining the curbs.

As she watched Obama greet her neighbors, resident Chrisena Brown, an administrator at Southern University, said her home got 3 feet of water. Her family emptied the house over the weekend and her husband planned to start gutting it Tuesday afternoon. 

Brown said she had flood insurance, a rarity among those living in the 20 parishes stricken by the disaster. She also praised the work FEMA has done.

"The response has been quick for me, and I'm very grateful for that," she said.

She said also was happy that the president had decided to come. 

"That means a lot to know that you have that support from the highest level," she said. 

As the president went door to door, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., handed out his cards to residents. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden stopped to chat with those waiting in their driveways. Edwards, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, also made the rounds in the blazing sun.

"I wish I was coming at a better time, but it's good to see everybody's safe at least," Obama said as he crossed Judith Drive at one point to approach another group of residents.

As he later addressed the media, Obama said Louisiana's plight would not be forgotten as he deflected criticism that his visit could be seen as political in nature. He promised a swift and thorough response from the federal government. But he did say that there wasn't enough money to address long-term repairs and to reduce the chances of future disasters.

That would have to come from Congress, he said. 

"This is not a one-off," Obama said. "This is not a photo-op issue. I need all Americans to stay focused on this."

Edwards said afterward that he talked to Obama about future funding for flood diversion projects, as opposed to programs aimed at elevating homes.

When Obama declared 20 parishes to be disaster areas last week, he triggered the availability of financial help under the Stafford Act. Individuals can apply for assistance that could be fully covered by the federal government, up to $33,000 per person -- although the eventual payout is almost always a fraction of that.

Governments and certain nonprofit groups can apply for "public assistance," which comes with a 25 percent cost share that must be covered by the state or local governments under the law.

Public assistance funds can be used for most expenses a government incurs to recover from a disaster, from debris removal to rebuilding government buildings, roads, bridges, highways, even water and electrical systems. 

Discussions are already underway within the Louisiana delegation to push to reduce that 25 percent match to 10 percent. The president can order that to happen once FEMA hits a certain threshold of money spent on the public assistance portion of the recovery. But that could take months, even years, to reach. 

A reduction any earlier than that would require an act of Congress. And it may not be something that colleagues of Louisiana's elected officials readily agree to. After all, three members of the delegation -- Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, when he was still in the House -- voted in 2013 against the ultimate $51 billion aid package to northeastern states for Superstorm Sandy's destruction. Conservative lawmakers at the time had argued to offset the costs elsewhere in the federal budget, but the bill's supporters countered that that would have killed the package altogether. 

Cassidy, Fleming and Scalise had voted for such an offset to the first $17 million in aid for Sandy, but that amendment was roundly defeated. 

More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money -- either personally or through companies or groups -- to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.

At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million.

The meetings between the Democratic presidential nominee and foundation donors do not appear to violate legal agreements Clinton and former president Bill Clinton signed before she joined the State Department in 2009. But the frequency of the overlaps shows the intermingling of access and donations, and fuels perceptions that giving the foundation money was a price of admission for face time with Clinton. Her calendars and emails released as recently as this week describe scores of contacts she and her top aides had with foundation donors.

The AP's findings represent the first systematic effort to calculate the scope of the intersecting interests of Clinton foundation donors and people who met personally with Clinton or spoke to her by phone about their needs.

The 154 did not include U.S. federal employees or foreign government representatives. Clinton met with representatives of at least 16 foreign governments that donated as much as $170 million to the Clinton charity, but they were not included in AP's calculations because such meetings would presumably have been part of her diplomatic duties.

Clinton's campaign said the AP analysis was flawed because it did not include in its calculations meetings with foreign diplomats or U.S. government officials, and the meetings AP examined covered only the first half of Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.

"It is outrageous to misrepresent Secretary Clinton's basis for meeting with these individuals," spokesman Brian Fallon said. He called it "a distorted portrayal of how often she crossed paths with individuals connected to charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation."

Last week, the Clinton Foundation moved to head off ethics concerns about future donations by announcing changes planned if Clinton is elected.

In this June 10, 2015 file photo, former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks at annual gathering of the Clinton Global Initiative America, which is a part of The Clinton Foundation, in Denver. More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money, either personally or through companies or groups, to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

Those planned changes would not affect more than 6,000 donors who have already provided the Clinton charity with more than $2 billion in funding since its creation in 2000.

"There's a lot of potential conflicts and a lot of potential problems," said Douglas White, an expert on nonprofits who previously directed Columbia University's graduate fundraising management program. "The point is, she can't just walk away from these 6,000 donors."

Former senior White House ethics officials said a Clinton administration would have to take careful steps to ensure that past foundation donors would not have the same access as she allowed at the State Department.

"If Secretary Clinton puts the right people in and she's tough about it and has the right procedures in place and sends a message consistent with a strong commitment to ethics, it can be done," said Norman L. Eisen, who was President Barack Obama's top ethics counsel and later worked for Clinton as ambassador to the Czech Republic.

Eisen, now a governance studies fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that at a minimum, Clinton should retain the Obama administration's current ethics commitments and oversight, which include lobbying restrictions and other rules. Richard Painter, a former ethics adviser to President George W. Bush and currently a University of Minnesota law school professor, said Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton should remove themselves completely from foundation leadership roles, but he added that potential conflicts would shadow any policy decision affecting past donors.

Fallon did not respond to the AP's questions about Clinton transition plans regarding ethics, but said in a statement the standard set by the Clinton Foundation's ethics restrictions was "unprecedented, even if it may never satisfy some critics."

GOP Vice Presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said the AP analysis was evidence of "pay-to-play" politics at Clinton's State Department. He called for the foundation to be shut down and for an independent prosecutor to be appointed to investigate.

Some of Clinton's most influential visitors donated millions to the Clinton Foundation and to her and her husband's political coffers. They are among scores of Clinton visitors and phone contacts in her official calendar turned over by the State Department to AP last year and in more-detailed planning schedules that so far have covered about half her four-year tenure. The AP sought Clinton's calendar and schedules three years ago, but delays led the AP to sue the State Department last year in federal court for those materials and other records.

S. Daniel Abraham, whose name also was included in emails released by the State Department as part of another lawsuit, is a Clinton fundraising bundler who was listed in Clinton's planners for eight meetings with her at various times. A billionaire behind the Slim-Fast diet and founder of the Center for Middle East Peace, Abraham told the AP last year his talks with Clinton concerned Mideast issues.

Big Clinton Foundation donors with no history of political giving to the Clintons also met or talked by phone with Hillary Clinton and top aides, AP's review showed.

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering low-interest "microcredit" for poor business owners, met with Clinton three times and talked with her by phone during a period when Bangladeshi government authorities investigated his oversight of a nonprofit bank and ultimately pressured him to resign from the bank's board. Throughout the process, he pleaded for help in messages routed to Clinton, and she ordered aides to find ways to assist him.

In this Sept. 26, 2008 file photo, Muhammad Yunus speaks during a panel discussion on rural development at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York. More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money, either personally or through companies or groups, to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

As a U.S. senator from New York, Clinton, as well as then-Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and two other senators in 2007 sponsored a bill to award a congressional gold medal to Yunus. He got one but not until 2010, a year after Obama awarded him a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Yunus first met with Clinton in Washington in April 2009. That was followed six months later by an announcement by USAID, the State Department's foreign aid arm, that it was partnering with the Grameen Foundation, a nonprofit charity run by Yunus, in a $162 million commitment to extend its microfinance concept abroad. USAID also began providing loans and grants to the Grameen Foundation, totaling $2.2 million over Clinton's tenure.

By September 2009, Yunus began complaining to Clinton's top aides about what he perceived as poor treatment by Bangladesh's government. His bank was accused of financial mismanagement of Norwegian government aid money -- a charge that Norway later dismissed as baseless. But Yunus told Melanne Verveer, a long-time Clinton aide who was an ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, that Bangladesh officials refused to meet with him and asked the State Department for help in pressing his case.

"Please see if the issues of Grameen Bank can be raised in a friendly way," he asked Verveer. Yunus sent "regards to H" and cited an upcoming Clinton Global Initiative event he planned to attend.

Clinton ordered an aide: "Give to EAP rep," referring the problem to the agency's top east Asia expert.

Yunus continued writing to Verveer as pressure mounted on his bank. In December 2010, responding to a news report that Bangladesh's prime minister was urging an investigation of Grameen Bank, Clinton told Verveer that she wanted to discuss the matter with her East Asia expert "ASAP."

Clinton called Yunus in March 2011 after the Bangladesh government opened an inquiry into his oversight of Grameen Bank. Yunus had told Verveer by email that "the situation does not allow me to leave the country." By mid-May, the Bangladesh government had forced Yunus to step down from the bank's board. Yunus sent Clinton a copy of his resignation letter. In a separate note to Verveer, Clinton wrote: "Sad indeed."

Clinton met with Yunus a second time in Washington in August 2011 and again in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka in May 2012. Clinton's arrival in Bangladesh came after Bangladesh authorities moved to seize control of Grameen Bank's effort to find new leaders. Speaking to a town hall audience, Clinton warned the Bangladesh government that "we do not want to see any action taken that would in any way undermine or interfere in the operations of the Grameen Bank."

Grameen America's Asch referred other questions about Yunus to his office, but he had not responded by Tuesday.

Earlier this month, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau acknowledged that agency officials are "regularly in touch with a range of outside individuals and organizations, including nonprofits, NGOs, think tanks and others." But Trudeau said the State Department was not aware of any actions that were influenced by the Clinton Foundation.

In another case, Clinton was host at a September 2009 breakfast meeting at the New York Stock Exchange that listed Blackstone Group chairman Stephen Schwarzman as one of the attendees. Schwarzman's firm is a major Clinton Foundation donor, but he personally donates heavily to GOP candidates and causes. One day after the breakfast, according to Clinton emails, the State Department was working on a visa issue at Schwarzman's request. In December that same year, Schwarzman's wife, Christine, sat at Clinton's table during the Kennedy Center Honors. Clinton also introduced Schwarzman, then chairman of the Kennedy Center, before he spoke.

Blackstone donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Eight Blackstone executives also gave between $375,000 and $800,000 to the foundation. And Blackstone's charitable arm has pledged millions of dollars in commitments to three Clinton Global aid projects ranging from the U.S. to the Mideast. Blackstone officials did not make Schwarzman available for comment.

Clinton also met in June 2011 with Nancy Mahon of the MAC AIDS, the charitable arm of MAC Cosmetics, which is owned by Estee Lauder. The meeting occurred before an announcement about a State Department partnership to raise money to finance AIDS education and prevention. The public-private partnership was formed to fight gender-based violence in South Africa, the State Department said at the time.

The MAC AIDS fund donated between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. In 2008, Mahon and the MAC AIDS fund made a three-year unspecified commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative. That same year, the fund partnered with two other organizations to beef up a USAID program in Malawi and Ghana. And in 2011, the fund was one of eight organizations to pledge a total of $2 million over a three-year period to help girls in southern Africa. The fund has not made a commitment to CGI since 2011.

Estee Lauder executive Fabrizio Freda also met with Clinton at the same Wall Street event attended by Schwarzman. Later that month, Freda was on a list of attendees for a meeting between Clinton and a U.S.-China trade group. Estee Lauder has given between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The company made a commitment to CGI in 2013 with four other organizations to help survivors of sexual slavery in Cambodia.

MAC AIDs officials did not make Mahon available to AP for comment.

When Clinton appeared before the U.S. Senate in early 2009 for her confirmation hearing as secretary of state, then- Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, questioned her at length about the foundation and potential conflicts of interest. His concerns were focused on foreign government donations, mostly to CGI. Lugar wanted more transparency than was ultimately agreed upon between the foundation and Obama's transition team.

Now, Lugar hopes Hillary and Bill Clinton make a clean break from the foundation.

"The Clintons, as they approach the presidency, if they are successful, will have to work with their attorneys to make certain that rules of the road are drawn up to give confidence to them and the American public that there will not be favoritism," Lugar said.

The Sisters of Saint Joseph held a memorial ceremony on the 89th anniversary of the executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti at the Sinai Temple on Tuesday evening.

SPRINGFIELD — The Sisters of Saint Joseph held a memorial ceremony on the 89th anniversary of the executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti at the Sinai Temple on Tuesday evening.

Lloyd Fillion, co-author of "Life Without Parole: A Reconsideration," was the primary speaker, and opened the floor for questions.

Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian immigrants who were convicted of murdering a guard and a paymaster during the armed robbery of a South Braintree business in 1920, were executed by electric chair on Aug. 23, 1927 at Charlestown State Prison. In 1977, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating the pair had been unfairly tried and convicted and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names."

To commemorate the date and to build opposition to the restoration of the death penalty in Massachusetts, the Hampden County Chapter of the Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, in association with The Sisters of Saint Joseph, sponsored Tuesday's memorial service.

For more information on the Sisters of St Joseph visit http://www.csjboston.org. For more information on Massachusetts Citizens against the Death Penalty, visit http://www.mcadp.org/chapters.html.

The pilot told state police he landed the plane because of mechanical problems. He was the only person on-board and was not hurt.

State police and the FAA are trying to come up with a plan to remove a small plane that landed on a sandbar in the Quabbin Reservoir on Tuesday afternoon.

The pilot of the 2015 Seawind, a single-engine fixed-wing aircraft, made an emergency landing in the area on Mount L in New Salem just before 3 p.m.

Investigators did not release the name of the pilot, identifying him only as a 42-year-old man from Newport, Rhode Island.

He told state police he landed the plane because of mechanical problems. He was the only person on-board and was not hurt. The plane did not sustain any damage.

It's not clear where he departed from or where he was going.

The landing did not create any environmental hazards, police said.

A new chapter in Catholic education in Western Massachusetts will be set in concrete beginning next month as construction of the new Pope Francis High School gets underway in East Forest Park.

SPRINGFIELD — A new chapter in Catholic education in Western Massachusetts will be set in concrete beginning next month as construction of the new Pope Francis High School gets underway in East Forest Park.

Nearly 40 neighbors of the tornado-ravaged neighborhood broke into applause Tuesday night following a meeting at St. Michael's Academy where officials shared the details about the timeline for construction of the school that will rise on the site of the former Cathedral High School.

The long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony has been set for Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m., and the whole neighborhood is invited, said Paul Gagliarducci, project manager for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

"Many thought this day might never happen, but it's happening," Gagliarducci said.

Five years after a tornado tore a 39-mile path of destruction through the region that severely damaged Cathedral, officials from Fontaine Brothers said construction trailers are headed to the site at Surrey and Wendover roads.

The new school is a result of a merger of Cathedral with Holyoke Catholic High School, which moved from downtown Holyoke to Granby and then Chicopee, where it operated until June. Until the new building opens in the fall of 2018, Pope Francis students will be located at the former Holyoke Catholic location in Chicopee.

Neighbors expressed concerns about the dust from a mound of silicon dust on the site, the environmental health of an adjacent pond, construction traffic and noise.

They were told that all issues would be addressed.

"If you see a problem, contact us," Fontaine's Richard Raimondi said. "We don't want to read about it on Facebook."

Raimondi said an onsite team will work to forge a good relationship with the neighborhood, "but there's an old saying that you have to break a few eggs to build an omelet."

The final creation, Gagliarducci said, will be a school like no other in Western Massachusetts, featuring a cluster design that eschews the long hallways typical in most high schools.

The two floors of the building will have a "community feel," he said. "Rather than students exiting classrooms into a long hallway, they will walk into a big open common," he said.

The timeline:

• September 2016: Construction trailers and porta-potties arrive followed by the installation of a concrete foundation.
• December 2016 to March 2017: Structural steel will be in place along with concrete decks.
• March 2017 to April 2017: Enclosure of the school building prior to interior work.
• Fall 2017: Ball fields will be put in place.
• Fall 2018: School opens.

Other details:

• Transportation: About 10 buses will be required to transport students. Some will be owned by the diocese and some by the City of Springfield.
• Lighting will be soft and subtle.
• Solar panels will cover 80 percent of the roof.
• A new 500-seat auditorium will be state-of-the art, featuring murals depicting the rich history of both Cathedral and Holyoke Catholic high schools.

A man shouting "Allahu akbar" repeatedly stabbed and seriously injured a man and woman in Virginia after hearing voices telling him to attack someone, authorities said.

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) -- A man shouting "Allahu akbar" repeatedly stabbed and seriously injured a man and woman in Virginia after hearing voices telling him to attack someone, authorities said.

Wasil Farooqui attacked the pair with a knife as they entered an apartment building Saturday evening in Roanoke County, county police said in a statement. According to witnesses, police said, Farooqui was yelling "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great."

Farooqui, 20, of Roanoke County, is charged with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and was being held without bond at the Western Virginia Regional Jail. Online court records did not list an attorney.

Farooqui told a detective that he had left his house to clear his head and brought with him a butcher knife from the kitchen, according to a search warrant obtained by WSET-TV. Farooqui said he was hearing voices "telling him that he was stupid" and to attack someone, the detective said. Farooqui said he then saw the man and woman leaving a pool at the building and stabbed them many times, according to the document.

Farooqui said he doesn't know the people he attacked or why he attacked them, the search warrant said.

Federal officials are investigating alongside police.

"While I cannot discuss the details of the investigation at this time, I do want to reassure the community that we are working to determine the nature of the incident," Adam Lee, special agent in charge of the FBI's Richmond Division, said in a statement.

Police say they believe the attack was random and that Farooqui had no connection to the victims. They have not released the victims' names.

The state Fire Marshal's office and the Holyoke Fire Department are investigating the fire in the yard of 1512 Dwight St.

HOLYOKE -- No one was injured in a fire that damaged a building outside a multi-family home on Dwight Street Tuesday night.

The state Fire Marshal's office and the Holyoke Fire Department are investigating the fire in the yard of 1512 Dwight St.

The blaze was reported at 10:30 p.m.

Deputy Chief Thomas Shea said the fire ignited a propane tank, but it did not explode. A vehicle in the driveway was damaged, as was a building at the rear of the property that neighbors said was being used as an apartment.

A number of residents from a three-family home on the property, which was not damaged, evacuated their units but returned a short time later.

American Medical Response EMT James McMillian of Springfield checks on a woman named Linda -- holding her dog, Daisy -- after a fire damaged a building outside her apartment on Dwight Street Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016. Greg Saulmon / The Republican 

A firefighter retrieved a dog and brought it to a woman who was being checked out by EMTs at a nearby pizza shop.

Firefighters were seen checking a building at the neighboring Action Marine boat dealership to make sure the flames had not spread there. That building was not damaged, Shea said.

The property is owned by Juan and Sharon Torres of Saint Albans, New York, according to city records.

This is a developing story. Stay with The Republican / MassLive for more information as it becomes available.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the operation began at 4 a.m. with Turkish artillery launching intense fire on Jarablus followed by Turkish warplanes bombing IS targets in the town.

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's prime minister's office said the Turkish military and the U.S.-backed coalition forces on Wednesday launched an operation to clear a Syrian border town from Islamic State militants.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the operation began at 4 a.m. with Turkish artillery launching intense fire on Jarablus followed by Turkish warplanes bombing IS targets in the town.

It's not clear if any Turkish or Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces have crossed the border.

The agency said the operation aims to clear Turkey's border of "terror organizations" and increase border security. It said the aim also is to "prioritize and support" Syria's territorial integrity.

A Special Security force member on guard at the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk as Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, military commanders and ministers visit the mausoleum to pay respects, in Ankara, Turkey. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)Burhan Ozbilici / AP 

The assault follows Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlet Cavusolgu pledge on Tuesday of "every kind" of support for operations against IS along a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of Syrian frontier, putting the NATO member on track for a confrontation with U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, who have been the most effective force against IS and who are eyeing the same territory.

Cavusolgu said Turkey would support twin operations stretching from the Syrian town of Afrin in the northwest, which is already controlled by Kurdish forces, to Jarablus, in the central north, which is held by the Islamic State group.

"It is important that the terror organizations are cleansed from the region," Cavusolgu said in a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said some 500 Syrian rebels were massed on the Turkish side of the border in preparation for an assault, including local fighters from Jarablus. One rebel at the border told the BBC the number was as high as 1,500 fighters.

The latest developments have thrust the town into the spotlight of the ongoing Syrian civil war. Jarablus, which lies on the western bank of the Euphrates River where it crosses from Turkey into Syria, is one of the last important IS-held towns standing between Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.

Located 20 miles (33 kilometers) from the town of Manbij, which was liberated from IS by Kurdish-led forces earlier this month, taking control of Jarablus and the IS-held town of al-Bab to the south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.

Turkey has increased security measures on its border with Syria, deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers in recent days. On Tuesday, residents of the Turkish town of Karkamis, across the border from Jarablus, were told to evacuate after three mortars believed to be fired by IS militants landed there, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.

Turkey has vowed to fight IS militants at home and to "cleanse" the group from its borders after a weekend suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southern Turkey killed at least 54 people, many of them children. Turkish officials have blamed IS for the attack.

Ankara is also concerned about the growing power of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, front-centre, military commanders and ministers walk to the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk to pay respects, in Ankara, Turkey.Burhan Ozbilici / AP 

The Kurdish-led group known as the Syria Democratic Forces, or SDF, recaptured Manbij from IS earlier this month, triggering concerns in Ankara that Kurdish forces would seize the entire border strip with Turkey. The U.S. says it has embedded some 300 special forces with the SDF, and British special forces have also been spotted advising the group.

Syrian activists, meanwhile, said that hundreds of Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters were gathered in the Turkish border area near Karkamis in preparation for an attack on Jarablus.

Nasser Haj Mansour, an SDF official on the Syrian side of the border, said the fighters gathering in Turkey include "terrorists" as well as Turkish special forces. He declined to comment on whether the SDF would send fighters to the town, but an SDF statement said the Syrian Kurdish force was "prepared to defend the country against any plans for a direct or indirect occupation."

The reports and rhetoric appeared to set up a confrontation between the SDF, the most effective U.S. proxy in Syria, and NATO ally Turkey.

A rebel commander affiliated with the SDF was killed shortly after broadcasting a statement announcing the formation of the so-called Jarablus Military Council and vowing to protect civilians in Jarablus from Turkish "aggression."

Abdel-Sattar al-Jader was shot by unknown gunmen late Monday, an hour after he accused Turkey of mobilizing fighters and "terrorists" for an assault on Jarablus. Al-Jader had pledged to resist Turkish efforts to take control of the city and warned Ankara against further aggression.

The Jarablus Military Council blamed the killing on Turkish security agents. There was no immediate comment from Turkey. Haj Mansour said two suspects were in custody but declined to comment on their identities.

The Kurds' outsized role in the Syrian civil war is a source of concern for the Syrian government as well. Fierce clashes erupted between the two sides over control of the northeastern province of Hasakeh last week, and Syrian warplanes bombed Kurdish positions for the first time, prompting the U.S. to scramble its jets to protect American troops in the area.

The Syrian government and the Kurds agreed on a cease-fire Tuesday, six days after the clashes erupted. The Kurdish Hawar News Agency said government forces agreed to withdraw from Hasakeh as part of the truce.

Syrian state media did not mention any withdrawal, saying only that the two sides had agreed to evacuate the wounded and exchange detainees. Government and Kurdish forces have shared control of Hasakeh since the early years of the Syrian war.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army and its allies intensified their attacks on militant positions around the so-called military college in the northern city of Aleppo.

A video obtained by The Associated Press showed air raids, shelling and firing on the complex, which was taken over by al-Qaida-affiliated fighters earlier this month. Plumes of smoke were seen billowing overhead.

Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in emailed comments on Tuesday that Russia and the Syrian government will announce "the first 48-hour humanitarian break in hostilities" in Aleppo as soon as they receive an official request from the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.

A Russian cat has adopted a baby squirrel monkey after he was abandoned by his mother at a zoo, comforting the little primate by letting him cling to her back for warmth.

MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian cat has adopted a baby squirrel monkey after he was abandoned by his mother at a zoo, comforting the little primate by letting him cling to her back for warmth.

Tatyana Antropova, the director of the zoo in the Siberian city of Tyumen, says she took the newborn monkey home three weeks ago after his mother refused to carry him on her back.

The cat just has to hold out for another month, when Fyodor will go back to the zoo to live with other squirrel monkeys.

A strong earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, levelling buildings in several towns as residents slept.

ROME (AP) -- A strong earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, levelling buildings in several towns as residents slept. One mayor reported a family of four trapped under the debris without signs of life and another said simply: "The town isn't here anymore."

The magnitude 6.1 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including the capital Rome where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. First images of damage showed debris in the street and some collapsed buildings in towns and villages that dot much of the Umbrian countryside.

The hardest-hit towns were reported as Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, with residents running into the streets as aftershocks continued into the early morning hours. As daylight dawned, residents and civil protection workers began digging out with shovels and bulldozers as dazed residents huddled in the open streets.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center put the magnitude at 6.1. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.2 with the epicenter at Norcia, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The mayor of the quake-hit town of Accumoli, Stefano Petrucci, said a family of four had been located under the debris of a collapsed building but there were no signs of life.

"There are deaths,"he told state-run RaiNews24.

The mayor of Amatrice near Rieti, Sergio Pirozzi, told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.

"The town isn't here anymore," he said.

The office of Premier Matteo Renzi tweeted that heavy equipment was on its way.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the latest quake.

A 1997 quake killed a dozen people in the area and severely damaged one of the jewels of Umbria, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, filled with Giotto frescoes. The Franciscan friars who are the custodians of the basilica reported no immediate damage from Wednesday's temblor.

Michael Albano, a member of the Governor's Council, which reviews judicial nominations in Massachusetts, said he has strong concerns about the ruling that allows 18-year-old David Becker, of East Longmeadow, to stay out of jail.

SPRINGFIELD -- Governor's Councilor Michael Albano announced Wednesday that he is asking the chief justice of the Massachusetts Trial Courts to conduct an administrative review in the case of David Becker, the East Longmeadow student-athlete who admitted to indecent assault against two women who were passed out at a house party.

Michael Albano

In a controversial ruling by Judge Thomas Estes, Becker was sentenced on Aug. 15 to two years probation after admitting to two counts of indecent assault against someone older than age 14. If he abides by the condition of his probation, Becker will have the conviction removed from his record and will not have to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors wanted him to serve two years in jail.

The judge's decision has been met with criticism from around the world by those calling it excessively lenient and an example of privilege for white male athletes.

Albano, a candidate for Hampden County sheriff, said in his letter to Paul Dawley, chief justice of the Massachusetts Trial Courts, that he has strong concerns about the ruling in the Becker case.

Who is Thomas Estes? Judge in David Becker sexual assault case under glare of spotlight

"The purpose of this inquiry is to insure all standards of judicial protocol were adhered to; the testimony of the victims was duly considered in the disposition of the case; and, that the sentence reflects the serious nature of the charges," he wrote.

Albano said he is also looking for answers why the Hampden District Attorney's Office agreed to prosecute Becker for indecent sexual assault instead of two counts of rape, which he was originally charged with.

"Given the original charges, the dismissal of said charges; the notoriety of the case; the final disposition; and, the demand of the public for an explanation, I believe an independent review is necessary and required at this time," he wrote.

Albano voted in favor of Estes' nomination for a district court judgeship in 2014.

Why wasn't David Becker prosecuted for rape?

Despite ending his Democratic White House run, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will continue to move ahead in his efforts to overhaul the country's political system Wednesday, as he officially launches "Our Revolution."

Despite ending his Democratic White House run, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will continue to move ahead in his efforts to overhaul the country's political system Wednesday, as he officially launches "Our Revolution."

Sanders, who exited the 2016 presidential race at the Democratic National Convention last month, will lay out his campaign's path forward during an evening live stream with supporters who gather at organizing events across the country.

The discussion is expected to highlight how voters can get involved to help promote Sanders' goals and policies both ahead of the November general election and beyond the 2016 cycle.

In Western Massachusetts, supporters of the Vermont senator will help kick off the "Our Revolution" effort at organizing events in Holyoke, Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Easthampton and Northampton, among others.

Jossie Valentin, a Holyoke City Councilor who is hosting an "Our Revolution" event at The Bungalow in Holyoke, said the organizing kickoff aims to underscore Sanders' efforts to increase community involvement in elections.

Valentin, who traveled to Philadelphia to represent the senator at the national convention, said the Sanders campaign reached out to delegates about joining the "Our Revolution" effort while they were gathered at the DNC.

Since then, she said, the campaign has helped coordinate the kickoff events, which will feature 9 p.m. live streamed remarks by Sanders.

Valentin said anyone is welcome to attend the event, which begins at 8 p.m. and will focus on getting local people involved in campaigns up and down the ballot.

Attendees, she said, will include those campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, those leaning toward supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein and those who have never campaigned for Sanders in the past.

"We're trying to remind people that this is way bigger than the presidential race and everyone can contribute in one way or another to transform politics in America," she said in an interview.

Fellow Western Massachusetts Sanders delegates Karen Hansmann and Dorothy Albrecht are joining Valentin in hosting the event.

Although supporters of the Vermont senator have awaited the establishment of "Our Revolution," the effort has faced internal struggles, as the majority of its staff members stepped down following the appointment of Sanders' former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, to lead to group, the New York Times reported this week.

The resignations, according to the newspaper, were attributed, in part, to a distrust of and frustration with Weaver based on his handling of Sanders' presidential campaign.