Springfield College will be hosting its annual social sciences lecture event on March 30 and will feature former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court chief justice Roderick L. Ireland as the keynote speaker.

Springfield College will host its annual social sciences lecture on March 30, featuring former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland as the keynote speaker.

Ireland served as a judge for 37 years, and in 1997, was the first African American to be appointed to the state Supreme Judicial Court, eventually becoming the first African American Chief Justice before he retired in 2014.

The Springfield native's address will focus on his career and his experience working in various levels of the judicial system including his time working in Boston's Juvenile Court.

The lecture will be held in the Marsh Memorial Chapel at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Each year, Springfield College's Department of Social Science aims to bring in a guest speaker who can cover social issues that impact people across the nation with an interactive and informative event for students looking to join social science and criminal justice fields.

Hampden County Superior Courthouse renamed for Roderick Ireland

Following the event, there will be a meet-and-greet session with Ireland for audience members.

Members of the public with a disability who require a reasonable accommodation to fully participate in this event can contact Chris Caster at ccaster@springfieldcollege.edu or (413) 748-3646 to discuss accessibility needs.

The March 21 meeting at the municipal building, 110 Main St., begins at 7 p.m.

MONSON -- Selectmen at tonight's meeting will honor Connor Pennington, who won the state high school diving competition last month.

It was the third time the Monson High School senior won the event.

The meeting at the municipal building, 110 Main St., begins at 7 p.m.

In other business, selectmen are scheduled to convene a joint meeting with the Conservation Commission and the Board of Assessors.

The boards will discuss whether the town should purchase land that is slated to be used to build a 2 megawatt private solar farm off of Wilbraham Road.

Raymond Beaudoin, who owns the 53 Wilbraham Road land, gave selectmen a letter at the February meeting objecting to any potential purchase of his land by the town.

Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, wrote to Massachusetts' congressional delegation expressing concern about the proposed National Institutes of Health cuts.

The leaders of the Massachusetts Senate have written to the state's congressional delegation expressing concern about President Donald Trump's proposal to cut funding to the National Institutes of Health.

Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, wrote in a letter to Massachusetts' members of Congress on Tuesday that Massachusetts stands to lose nearly $500 million a year in NIH funding.

"This economic blow would be felt by every Congressional and Senate district in the commonwealth," Rosenberg and DiDomenico wrote.

Trump's budget proposal would increase spending on defense but cut spending drastically on most domestic programs. According to the Associated Press, the National Institutes of Heath would lose $5.8 billion from its $32 billion budget.

According to the senators, Massachusetts received around $2.5 billion in NIH grants last year, making the state the second largest recipient of NIH grants in the country.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has also expressed concern about the impact of cuts to NIH funding on Massachusetts.

In their letter, Rosenberg and DiDomenico wrote that NIH grants fund important medical research in areas ranging from treating breast cancer to developing non-addictive alternatives to opioids for people with severe pain. Each dollar of medical research, they wrote, generates $2.30 in economic development in areas such as developing pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Massachusetts has 2,200 bioscience businesses, employing more than 80,000 residents in generally high-paying jobs.

The senators estimated that Massachusetts could lose $488 million in NIH grants, should Trump's budget pass.

All the members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation are Democrats and are expected to vote against Trump's budget proposal. The proposal is also unlikely to reach the floor in its current form, since Congress will make its own budget proposal, and many Republicans have concerns with Trump's plan.

SP Letter to Delegation on NIH Funding by Shira Schoenberg on Scribd

Raymond Collazo, 29, of Springfield, is charged with murder in the death of his 5-month-old son in Springfield on Dec. 10, 2010.

SPRINGFIELD -- Raymond Collazo's defense lawyer on Tuesday argued to a judge there wasn't enough evidence presented at his client's murder trial to even send the case to the jury for deliberations.

Collazo, 29, is on trial for murder in the death of his son, 5-month-old Davian Collazo, in Springfield on Dec. 10, 2010.

Tuesday was the 12th day of testimony in the case, with closing arguments slated for Wednesday morning in the trial before Hampden Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup.

Jurors were sent home at 1 p.m. Tuesday after both sides rested their cases and Rup addressed several necessary issues with Assistant District Attorney Jane Mulqueen and defense lawyer Jeffrey S. Brown.

The prosecution's case is that Davian died because Collazo shook him, causing traumatic brain injury.

The defense has argued Davian died of undiagnosed medical conditions -- particularly pneumonia.

The baby's mother, Dayana Pagan, 31, is charged with murder but will be tried separately. She has testified for the prosecution in Collazo's case.

Brown's argument -- known as a motion for a required finding -- attempted to persuade the judge there is not enough evidence to send the murder case to the jury.

Rup denied his motion. The law under which decisions are made on motions for a required finding dictate the judge must view the evidence "in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth."

"It may not be the strongest case in the world," Rup said as she ruled the murder charge can go to the jury. She said the prosecution has every right to present a case based on circumstantial evidence.

Brown said there is no evidence by which a jury can conclude Collazo assaulted Davian. Collazo told police he was with Davian at 3:50 a.m., then fell asleep, waking several times and hearing Davian's breathing.

Collazo, who has not been held awaiting trial, told police when he woke up at about 7 a.m. he found Davian was not breathing.

Brown said asking a jury to conclude Collazo shook and killed Davian is asking the jury to speculate.

Mulqueen argued that medical experts called by the prosecution testified Davian's symptoms would have come on immediately. Collazo was the sole person to have contact with Davian at the time the experts say the injuries would have been inflicted, she said.

Mulqueen said the prosecution is arguing Collazo should be found guilty of first degree murder under two of the three possible theories for that crime -- deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty.

Rup ruled there is not enough evidence to support the theory of premeditation. "I just don't see it here," she said.

The prosecution only needs to prove one of the theories.

In addition to considering first-degree murder, the jury will also be told it can consider a charge of involuntary manslaughter instead. The two theories applicable for the jury if it considers involuntary manslaughter are wanton and reckless conduct and unintentionally causing death by battery, Rup said.

Two of the four charges against Collazo were dropped Tuesday: assault and battery on a child with substantial injury and reckless endangerment of a child. The prosecution acknowledged those two charges were covered in the charges of murder and assault and battery on a child with injury.

Brown argued the charge of assault and battery on a child with injury should not go to the jury because there was no evidence presented to support it.

That charge is for older fractures to Davian's legs found after the baby's death. Defense witnesses have said Davian had rickets, which made his bones unstable.

Brown said that charge is asking the jury to make "an even bigger leap" in tying Collazo to those injuries. 

Brown said one doctor testified the fractures were at least 10 days old and Collazo was not living with Pagan and Davian at that time. Collazo had been staying with Pagan about a week before Davian's death because the baby was sick with a cold, Brown said.

Rup took that matter under advisement.

U.S. Army Cpl. Jules Hauterman Jr. grew up on Jerome Avenue in Holyoke, Massachusetts and his recently identified remains from the Korean War will be buried in the Paper City on March 31.

HOLYOKE -- For three days and four nights in late 1950, combat troops that included Army medic Cpl. Jules Hauterman Jr., who grew up here on Jerome Avenue, fought the Chinese Army at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea.

In a battle described as "nightmare" and "harrowing" hundreds of thousands of Communist Chinese troops surprised and killed American forces. Hauterman was reported missing in action as of Dec. 2, 1950.

Now the remains of the 19-year-old soldier are coming home for burial.

"It helps to bring closure to the family members and it honors those soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. It's a way of honoring them and their service," Jim Mahoney, director of the city Veterans Services Department, said today.

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said remains that turned out to be Hauterman's were re-examined in June 2016. Up to then, the remains were marked unidentifiable in 1955 and transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu listed as "X-15904."

"Laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains," said a statement from the federal agency.

Plans are underway for burial on March 31. The cemetery has yet to be determined, said Mahoney, who said Hauterman grew up on Jerome Avenue.

Hauterman was a medic with the Medical Platoon, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, when his unit was attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team as one of its infantry battalions for the mission.

"For three days and four nights, the unit battled the 80th Division of the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces," the federal press release said.

In "Nightmare at the Chosin Reservoir," Chief Historian Matthew J. Seelinger writes about the devastation suffered by American troops at the Chosin Reservoir in late November 1950, for the National Museum of the U.S. Army.

"The experiences of the American soldiers who fought and died in the frigid cold of the Chosin area proved to be some of the most harrowing and tragic in the history of the U.S. Army," Seelinger writes.

The federal press release states, "The convoy was eventually destroyed by the (Chinese Army), and while some escaped across the frozen reservoir, more than 1,300 were captured or killed. Following the battle, Hauterman could not be accounted for and he was reported missing in action as of Dec. 2, 1950."

Obituaries from The Republican.

MBTA officials on Tuesday offered members of the media and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker a closer look at the new MBTA Orange Line cars and their various improvements through a mock-up train shipped over from China.

Wider doors. Security cameras. Bright lights.

MBTA officials on Tuesday offered members of the media and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker a closer look at the new MBTA Orange Line cars and their various improvements through a mock-up train shipped over from China.

The frames of the cars are being built in China and then shipped to a Springfield factory for completion.  A Chinese-owned company, CRRC MA, is aiming to use the factory to lure in business from other US transit agencies as it works on the order of Red Line and Orange cars for Massachusetts.

Jeff Gonneville, the MBTA's chief operating officer, said the agency's vehicle engineering team gets to see in person the train they've looked at for years through drawings and computer screens.

"The vehicles have modern propulsion systems, modern braking systems, modern electronics," Gonneville said.

Old and new (mock-up version)#mbta pic.twitter.com/lXOcT4rRxN

-- Gintautas Dumcius (@gintautasd) March 21, 2017

Baker's transportation chief, Stephanie Pollack, told reporters the MBTA is looking to see if it's possible to put the mock up on display so the public can take a look and poke around.

The new trains should increase the capacity of the Orange and Red Lines during rush hour. Both lines are often packed with people in the mornings and evenings, leading to uncomfortable commutes for riders.

Many of the current trains on the Orange Line have been running since the 1980s.

Riders should see the new cars on the tracks sometime in 2018 or 2019.

The mock up, which is currently sitting in the MBTA's train yard in Medford, allows Orange Line motormen to sit in the driver's seat and relay what works and what doesn't, according to Pollack.

MBTA ordering up more Red Line cars from CRRC's Springfield plant

The 59-year-old man was reportedly working in a scissor lift when he contacted a National Grid line.

SALEM - A worker painting window sills outside the Loring Avenue fire station was killed Tuesday when he came into contact with a live power line.

WCVB reports the 59-year-old man was working in a scissor lift when he contacted a National Grid line. He was knocked unconscious and pronounced dead at Beverly Hospital.

Rescuers reportedly could not reach the injured man until National Grid cut the power.

Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.

The worker's name has not been released.

The owner of the 53 Wilbraham Road property, Ray Beaudoin, objects to a municipal purchase.

MONSON -- The Board of Assessors is recommending that the town purchase a 22-acre parcel slated for a controversial 2-megawatt solar farm, selectmen said at Tuesday's meeting.

The owner of the 53 Wilbraham Road property, Ray Beaudoin, objects to a municipal purchase. He attended the Board of Selectmen's meeting with his lawyer, who also voiced opposition to the idea.

At issue is whether the town should exercise its right of first refusal to purchase the property.

Beaudoin has already secured needed permits from the Planning Board to build the solar farm. However, because Beaudoin has been getting a tax break in accordance with the state's agricultural land conversation program, known as Chapter 61A, he must obtain town approval to change its status to a commercial use.

The Chapter 61A law says that when a property owner wishes to change the tax classification and exit the conservation program, the municipality may purchase it first. If a town does not exercise its right of first refusal, the owner is then free to develop the land outside the confines of the 61A program -- along with paying more in property taxes.

At last month's selectmen's meeting, the board was given a petition signed by 140 residents urging the panel to exercise its option to purchase the 22 acres. Selectmen said they would review the matter and have the Beaudoin land appraised.

Although selectmen said Tuesday the Board of Assessors recommended the town purchase the land, Conservation Commission members who were present said they were opposed to the purchase -- not because it is a bad idea, but because the town could not afford to buy the land.

Selectmen also asked the Planning Board for a recommendation, but that board said it would defer to the selectmen.

Members of the Board of Assessors did not attend Tuesday's meeting, but selectmen said they would be present at the next one to explain why the town should purchase the property.

Selectmen did not say when they would make a decision on the matter.

The academic team placed second in New England, and will compete in Atlanta if they can raise money for airfare and entry fees.

NORTHAMPTON -- Napoleonic battles, mathematical functions, Supreme Court cases and NASA missions -- a group of students have been studying these topics and more to prepare for a big upcoming competition in Atlanta.

The Northampton High School Academic Team recently qualified for the National Academic Quiz Tournament after a stellar performance in Burlington, Vermont, where the young scholars placed second out of 42 teams from across New England.

"In Burlington, the last question was 'name the port city on the Trans-Siberian railroad where the Russian navy is docked,' said team member Henry Reade. "The answer was Novosibirsk."

The national quiz competition will be held over Memorial Day weekend. Around 228 academic teams from across the country will compete.

Reade said he and his friends were excited about the national event until they saw the cost of attending. The base registration fee is $675, to say nothing of air fare.

Now they are cracking open their piggy banks, selling raffle tickets, and more. They have started a GoFundMe site and are asking people to help out, "even with a dollar." The boys hope to raise $3,000.

"We want the opportunity to represent our school at the national level, and we believe we can be extremely competitive if we're able to attend," said Grimaldi.

Northampton is currently in first place on As Schools Match Wits, the WGBY quiz show, said Reade. Those playoffs will continue this spring.

The crackerjack NHS team is comprised of seniors Josh Dobrow and Matt Grimaldi and juniors Joe Bosco, Henry Reade, and Jesse Zeldes. Their coach is math teacher Mark Hanson.

NHS Academic Team GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/send-nhs-academic-team-to-nationals

Perry, the Worcester restaurateur and former Ecstasy dealer indicted last week on charges that he laundered drug money to pay for real estate investments, was an federal informant.

In 2005, federal authorities hatched a daring sting to catch Guillermo Vasco, a prisoner in the Essex County Correctional Facility who was trying to hire a hitman to kill his wife and child.

To get their man, they needed help from a jailhouse informant -- Kevin A. Perry Jr., the Worcester restaurateur and former Ecstasy dealer indicted last week on charges that he laundered drug money to pay for real estate investments.

In October 2005, Perry, whose restaurants The Blackstone Tap and The Usual were heralded as up-and-coming innovators of Worcester's rejuvenated dining scene, was sentenced to 94 months in federal prison on a charge of conspiracy to manufacture, possess and distribute MDMA.

He met Vasco while an inmate in the Essex County Correctional Facility while in pre-sentencing detention -- and became a key informant in a plot that saw a federal agent impersonate a hitman and led to a 20-year sentence for Vasco on murder-for-hire charges.

Court documents from Perry's 2005 conviction and Vasco's appeal confirm Perry's role in the federal investigation.

"This case involves a kidnap and murder plot hatched by Guillermo Vasco in late 2004 or early 2005, while he was incarcerated at the Essex County, Massachusetts Correctional Facility," First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey R. Howard wrote in his denial of Vasco's 2009 appeal. "Vasco devised the plan with the assistance of fellow inmate Kevin Perry, who unbeknownst to Vasco was a government informant."

Vasco was arrested in 2004 on charges of allegedly assaulting and raping his wife in the presence of his daughter. While in lockup, he became friends with Perry, who was in custody awaiting the conclusion of his drug case, Howard wrote.

Several months into their friendship, Vasco approached Perry with a proposal -- to help him kill his wife, who was scheduled to testify against him, and kidnap or kill his daughter.

"Vasco also told Perry that he wanted his daughter kidnaped and taken to a different country, but if that was impossible, he wanted her killed as well," the Appeals Court decision said.

Perry was facing a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence, and had been cooperating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives in an effort to reduce his term, the decision said.

He ended up getting less than eight years and was released in 2008. MassLive could not confirm whether that cooperation led to the lighter sentence, and the U.S. Attorney's Office and the ATF did not return requests for comment prior to publication.

Perry's attorney James H. Budreau did not return a request for comment prior to publication.

Perry contacted the ATF in March 2005 to inform on Vasco's murder plot and became a key part of the ATF's plan to catch Vasco in the act.

Perry claimed to know a hitman named "Mike," who in actuality was undercover ATF Special Agent Kenneth Croke. He became intimately involved in the plot, discussing where Vasco's wife lived and talking about the murder in code. 

"[Vasco's wife] would be referred to as a dog named 'Nickie,' [his daughter] as Nickie's puppy 'Candy,' and the method of disappearance as 'bring[ing] to vet,' " the decision said.

Perry took notes on his conversations with Vasco and mailed them to the ATF. He also convinced Vasco to send a letter detailing his plans to the 'hitman's' post office box in Portland, Maine, which actually belonged to ATF agents.

"I've heard that our friends and their doggy Nickie will take a trip down there, Ah?  That would be great if you could help them," Vasco wrote, according to a transcript of the letter in the appeals court decision. "But Nickie is very old and sick. She won't survive such trip ... the only thing would be to put Nickie to sleep."

Agent Croke, still undercover as the hitman, met with Vasco in the jail by posing as his attorney -- a double bluff designed to keep even the prison guards in the dark about the sting and avoid raising Vasco's suspicions, NBC News reported.

Vasco agreed to pay Croke between $5,000 and $10,000 to kill his wife and dispose of her body in the ocean, sealed inside a cement-filled oil drum, the decision said.

Agents went as far as contacting Vasco's wife and taking photographs to stage her death. Croke showed those images to Vasco during a May 17, 2005 meeting; he smiled, the decision said.

Vasco was charged with five counts of using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire two weeks later. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Perry was summoned from federal prison in South Carolina to testify at Vasco's trial, according to a writ of habeas corpus in Vasco's case file. He was concerned for his safety in Massachusetts prisons and asked not to be held in a facility where his cooperation with authorities could endanger him.

He had cooperated with investigations in Essex and the Donald D. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, and had encountered hostility from inmates in MCI-Cedar Junction and state prison in Bridgewater when they found out he was an informant, he wrote in an October 2006 letter to Judge Nathaniel Gorton.

"I am humbly and respectfully requesting that you or someone in your office ensure that I am placed in an appropriate facility where my safety cannot be compromised, as it has in prior placements," Perry wrote.

He was released from prison in September 2008 and reported $4,800 per month in earnings as a fitness trainer as his sole income, according to last week's indictment.

But federal authorities allege that he began making or distributing anabolic steroids, cocaine and fentanyl, and used those funds to help purchase properties and renovate the site of his sandwich shop The Usual, in Worcester.

"Impressions of Home," an exhibition of artwork by residents of Friends of the Homeless in Springfield, is now on display at the Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College. Watch video

HOLYOKE -- Alicia Shibley has a home. Her students don't.

Shibley graduated from Holyoke Community College in 2013, went on to Springfield College and is now an intern and arts program facilitator at Friends of the Homeless in Springfield. Her work there brings her in contact with homeless clients who have taken to painting, poetry and other art forms as a way of expressing themselves.

The result of her labors of love with the homeless are now hanging in the Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College. "Impressions of Home," an exhibition of artwork by residents of Friends of the Homeless, is now on display at the gallery, a sample of a larger collection that will be up for auction at the Friends of the Homeless' second annual fundraiser June 5 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.

"I hope everyone can take a minute and feel what it feels like to step into these paintings and maybe experience what the artists are experiencing," Shibley said during a talk at the gallery. "It's a privilege that I have to spend time with them day in and day out and work right next to them and see what they are seeing and experience what they are experiencing."

The Taber Art Gallery at HCC is open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during regular school sessions. It is free and open to the public and located through the HCC Campus Library lobby on the second floor of the HCC Donahue Building, 303 Homestead Ave.

For more information, contact Amy Johnquest, director of Taber Art Gallery, at 413-552-2614.

Despite rumors that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, may pursue a White House bid in 2020, a new poll has found that she is not voters' first or second choice to serve as the next Democratic presidential nominee.

Despite rumors that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, may pursue a White House bid in 2020, a new poll has found that she is not voters' first or second choice to serve as the next Democratic presidential nominee.

According to a Harvard-Harris poll released this week, just 9 percent of respondents said they think the Massachusetts senator should be the 2020 Democratic candidate for president -- placing her behind 2016 Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama, who received a respective 14 and 11 percent of the vote.

An overwhelming majority of voters surveyed -- 45 percent -- however, said they'd like to see "someone new" make a Democratic run for the Oval Office in the next presidential cycle

Although a relatively small percent of respondents stood behind a potential Warren 2020 bid, support for the senator slightly exceeded that of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, whom just 8 percent of voters said they'd like to see run again.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban trailed with just 4 percent of respondents saying they'd support him as the 2020 Democratic nominee, followed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, television host Oprah Winfrey and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who each received 3 percent of the vote, according to results.

In addition to finding broad support for promoting newer faces in the 2020 election, the poll found a perceived lack of leadership in the Democratic Party.

Four in 10 respondents said they believe "no one" is the current leader in the party, while 15 percent attributed the role to former President Barack Obama and 12 percent named Sanders, a politically independent senator, as its head.

Eleven percent said they see Warren as the Democratic Party's leader.

The poll surveyed nearly 3,000 registered voters online from March 14 to 16.

Its results came shortly after President Donald Trump said a 2020 challenge from Warren would be "a dream come true."

US Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she's 'focused on what Donald Trump is doing to this country today'

Warren, in response to the Republicans' remarks, stressed that she is focused on 2017 and policies being pushed by the Trump administration.

The Democrat largely dismissed the prospect of a White House run during a Monday morning appearance in Springfield where she playfully hushed a group of supporters urging her to challenge Trump and asked them to "sit down."

Colin Reed, executive director of Republican communications Super PAC America Rising, however, questioned Warren's commitment to Massachusetts voters in a Boston Herald Op-Ed piece published Wednesday.

"Politicians' actions always speak louder than their words, and Warren's activities reveal her true motive: running for higher office," he wrote, contending that failure to focus on constituents could dash any White House dreams.

The mood was tense at a March 16 public hearing on a controversial plan to build a 43-unit rental project at 188 Fuller St.

LUDLOW -- The gloves came off at a recent public hearing on a low-income housing proposal for Ludlow, where local leaders have voiced support for more affordable housing in town -- but just not at the busy intersection where a nonprofit developer hopes to build this project.

The mood was tense at the March 16 meeting, the first of two Zoning Board of Appeals hearings on a controversial plan to build 43 low-income rental units at 188 Fuller St. The next hearing is scheduled for April 3.

The 5-acre parcel's proximity to an elementary school and wetlands area and the project's impact on traffic and public safety are among the reasons HAPHousing should find another location, according to the Ludlow Board of Selectmen, which opposes the plan.

All five selectmen have cited support for inexpensive housing in Ludlow, where only 2.2 percent of dwellings are considered affordable by the state, which has set a 10 percent affordable housing goal for all commonwealth cities and towns. But each board member has raised concerns about the Fuller Street site, arguing that it's simply not the right place for a project of this magnitude.

Town officials have consistently expressed their willingness to work with HAP to identify an alternative location for the project, but HAP has not publicly expressed any interest in finding a new site. The Springfield nonprofit, which owns the property near the corner of Fuller and Chapin Streets, has applied for a Chapter 40B comprehensive permit to create the development.

Chapter 40B, the state's affordable housing law, allows developers to override certain aspects of local zoning bylaws to help communities reach the 10 percent affordable housing goal.

"The Board of Selectmen has voted unanimously to oppose this project," William E. Rooney, the board's vice chairman, told HAP officials at last week's ZBA hearing at Ludlow High School.

Rooney said Ludlow has enjoyed a good working relationship with HAP, the region's largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing. He cited a successful collaborative effort to convert the former Ludlow Boys & Girls Club on Chestnut Street into affordable rental units for senior citizens.

Now, however, the town's relationship with HAP has deteriorated to the point where Ludlow officials claim the housing organization is disregarding local concerns about the project.

HAP's website talks about working with "community-based organizations" to build affordable housing in communities that haven't reached the 10 percent goal, according to Rooney. "We are the community-based organization in the Town of Ludlow that you should be collaborating with. You didn't," he said, drawing sustained applause from the audience.

Rooney said HAP never reached out to selectmen for input on the project. "We had to ask you to come to us," he said. "You never came to us to say, 'This is what we're thinking of doing, this is where we're thinking of putting it. What do you have to say? What are your thoughts?'"

Rooney, a former county prosecutor and a partner at Chartier, Ogan and Brady, a law firm with offices in Ludlow and Holyoke, said he is regularly approached by Ludlow residents who are against building a housing complex near the corner of Fuller and Chapin streets. The intersection is already congested, town officials have testified, especially when Chapin Elementary School is in session.

Ludlow police, fire, and conservation officials have expressed concerns about the project's impact on traffic, emergency services, and a swampy area abutting the Fuller Street parcel.

"We're the ones that these folks out here elect to represent their interests," Rooney said, gesturing to the audience for the ZBA hearing. "It's not the right location. We knew this two or three years ago, but you never asked. You went forward with your project."

HAPHousing had originally planned to file its application for a comprehensive permit with the Ludlow ZBA in January, but ended up hand-delivering the paperwork to the Ludlow Town Clerk's office on Feb. 16.

The project would never be approved under the town's regular zoning and planning standards, according to Selectwoman Carmina D. Fernandes, who is also an attorney. However, Chapter 40B allows developers to override local zoning bylaws to increase the amount of affordable housing in cities and towns where less than 10 percent of housing is defined as affordable.

"This is not integration. You're clumping people of lower (financial) means in one area," she said, adding that a better way of integrating low-income renters is to build smaller homes at multiple locations in town.

"We, in our long-term planning, talked about doing townhouses throughout Ludlow. That makes more sense to me than one big project in one area that's right next to a school that already has a traffic problem," Fernandes said. "You just really need to reconsider this and use common sense. Ask all the residents who travel these roads and know this town better than anyone."

Rudy Perkins, a project manager and staff attorney at HAPHousing, pointed out that some of Ludlow's low-salaried town employees might be eligible to live at the housing complex.

"It's conceivable that one of your less senior firefighters, if they were the sole breadwinner for their family of four, might qualify to live at 188 Fuller," Perkins said. "So, your neighbors at 188 Fuller could be your child's schoolteacher, your town library staffer, the person behind the desk at the Council on Aging, maybe even one of your firefighters."

Perkins noted that only three Western Massachusetts communities -- Springfield, Holyoke and Chicopee -- have met the state's 10 percent affordable housing goal. With only 2.2 percent of Ludlow's housing stock deemed affordable, the town would have to add 647 affordable units to reach the goal, according to Perkins, who was joined at the hearing by a team of HAP engineers, architects and attorneys.

The plan calls for constructing a small community building and seven larger buildings containing a total of 43 rental units, said Marc Sternick, vice president and senior architect with Dietz & Company Architects Inc. in Springfield, the firm that is handling design plans for the project.

The housing complex will have one entrance on Fuller Street and a loop road leading to the units, Sternick said. Public safety officials have expressed concern about the lack of a second entrance at the complex.

At one point during last week's hearing, which lasted over three hours, Perkins commented about how the town has apparently changed its "posture" on the project. Ludlow officials interpreted the remark as an oblique reference to the town's decision to seek outside legal counsel. Both Rooney and Brian M. Mannix, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, took issue with the comment, which Perkins did not explain further.

"To listen to your quote, that 'the town is taking a different posture,' is an insult, Mr. Perkins. It's an insult," Rooney said, reminding him that HAP had previously said it would consider "local preference" for siting the project.

"Now, I guess you're saying that because the town is taking a different posture, we're on our own," Rooney said. "I'm insulted by that. And as far as I'm concerned, we have a job to look at this project and not simply roll over and do exactly what you want to do."

Advocating for citizens and scrutinizing projects that are harmful to the town's overall health and economic viability are among the many duties of the Board of Selectmen, according to Rooney.

"That's our job, that's why people elected us, and that's why people are here tonight ... to look out for the best interests of the town," he said. "And if that means somehow we lose the relationship with HAPHousing to do local preference, then I would say shame on HAPHousing."

Mannix, a retired Ludlow police officer, said he was also "highly insulted" by Perkins' remark. "When push comes to shove, do you know what they (HAP) are telling Ludlow?" Mannix asked rhetorically. "Stick it!"

The selectmen chairman continued: "Well, I'm sorry, but you've done nothing from Day One till today to change anything about your working relationship with the Town of Ludlow. You've shown us nothing, and I think it's shameful that you people are here talking like you are tonight."

Mannix urged the ZBA, which has authority to approve or deny the 40B comprehensive permit, to "take all of this into consideration when it comes time to make a decision on how much you trust them (HAP) and how much you believe in them."

The ZBA can circumvent stricter local zoning rules to approve a 40B permit if at least 20-25 percent of proposed housing units include long-term affordability restrictions. If the ZBA rejects a 40B project or imposes costly conditions, the developer can petition the State Housing Appeals Committee to intervene. The committee, which has authority to overrule local zoning board decisions, generally greenlights 40B projects that it deems reasonable.

According to a 2007 state study, around 80 percent of the comprehensive permit applications filed in Massachusetts between 1999 and 2005 were approved at the local level. An earlier study determined that roughly 69 percent of cases sent to the Housing Appeals Committee on appeal were either withdrawn, dismissed, or resolved through negotiation -- a trend that continues to this day.

Perhaps the biggest applause at the March 16 hearing came when Jason Martowski, chairman of the Ludlow Conservation Commission, renewed his call for HAP to sell the Fuller Street parcel to the town. He first suggested the idea at a project meeting in December at Ludlow High School.

"When we gathered here last time, I kind of gave a general proposal to HAPHousing, and I would like to reiterate that one more time: I would like to see HAPHousing ... sit down at a round table with attorneys and come up with a solution," Martowski said. "Maybe there's a way we can repurchase this property from you, incur some of the fees, broker a deal, and get together to find a better location."

Now is the time for HAP to negotiate with Ludlow if, indeed, the housing group is serious about working with the community, Martowski said.

"I think you've heard our voice," he said. "Prove it to us and sit down with us at the round table."

A cousin recalled on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 that U.S. Army Cpl. Jules Hauterman Jr. of Holyoke, Massachusetts liked baseball and ice skating and was eager to join the army, as preparations are made for a funeral with the remains of Hauterman recently identified decades after the 19-year-old's death in North Korea.

Updated at 5:16 p.m. on Wednesday,March 22, 2017 to include a photo of Jules Hauterman.

HOLYOKE -- Robert Whelihan was 9 when he walked across the hall to say goodbye to Jules Hauterman Jr., as U.S. Army Cpl. Hauterman completed what would be his last leave in Holyoke. It was 1950.

"I remember the last time I saw him like it was yesterday. He said he was going back and we gave each other hugs and kisses and I told him to get back safely. It was in his kitchen. We lived across the hall," said Whelihan, 76, of South Hadley.

The cousins lived in opposite apartments on the third floor of a building at St. Jerome Avenue and Monroe Street. Whelihan recalled Hauterman in a phone interview, as he prepared to attend a funeral for the relative and friend who died a world away at 19.

The U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said that testing had identified remains as those of Hauterman, a medic. He was reported missing in action as of Dec. 2, 1950 after participating in the infamous Army battle against the Communist Chinese Army at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. More than 1,300 U.S. soldiers were captured or killed.

Calling hours for Hauterman will be at the Barry J. Farrell Funeral Home, 2049 Northampton St., from 4 to 6 p.m. on March 30, said Jim Mahoney, director of the Holyoke Veterans Services Department.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on March 31 at Blessed Sacrament Church, 1945 Northampton St. followed by burial in St. Jerome's Cemetery, he said.

Hauterman liked to play baseball and soccer and go ice skating. He was easy going and light spoken, not a loudmouth, "a tall, lanky kid," Whelihan said. He had a few girlfriends.

"He had a couple different ones. He had one steady one when he went into the service," Whelihan said.

Hauterman was a medic with the Medical Platoon, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, when his unit was attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team as one of its infantry battalions for the mission at Chosin Reservior.

"For three days and four nights, the unit battled the 80th Division of the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces," a federal press release said.

Whelihan, who is retired from Avery Dennison Corp., said learning that the government had identified the remains of Hauterman and that a funeral can take place will bring the welcome closing of a door. He had been in touch with representatives of the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for a few years providing details about Hauterman as they pieced together a case to determine that the remains listed as X-15904 were those of Hauterman.

"I was elated," Whelihan said.

The 4D coaster will be the first of its kind in New England. With 4D, the coaster can flip riders forward and backward, regardless of which way the coaster is heading. Watch video

AGAWAM -- There is a Joker in Agawam standing 12 stories high and traveling at a quick 38 mph. He is also Batman's next door neighbor.

On Wednesday, the staff at Six Flags New England rolled out the welcome wagon to their newest resident, The Joker: 4D Free Fly Coaster. It is the 13th coaster in the Agawam theme park.

Still under construction, the ride is located next to the The Tea Cups. It features five 4D wing vehicles, seating eight per vehicle. "Wing" means riders sit with nothing above or below them to the side of the track. Face-off seats allow riders to face each other as they tumble head over heels.

The 4D coaster will be the first of its kind in New England. With 4D, the coaster can flip riders forward and backward, regardless of which way the coaster is heading. Riders can flip up four to eight times along a weightless, tumbling journey with each ride being different.

"We are thrilled to launch our 13th coaster here at the Coaster Capital of New England. Not only does The Joker: 4D Free Fly Coaster utilize the latest innovative technology, it is highly interactive and will deliver something new for every rider," Six Flags New England President John Winkler said in a press release. "This is a great compliment to our existing ride offerings and should be quite a hit with thrill-seekers. The unpredictable tumbling will add a new element as riders travel along the plunging and swirling track."

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is the world's largest regional theme park with $1.3 billion in revenue and 18 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Meeting with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno answered questions about marijuana -- legal, medicinal and otherwise. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD -- Saying he has no problem with medicinal marijuana, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said Wednesday that the city is "monitoring" businesses and other entities that might be trying to skirt the state's evolving laws regulating the drug.

Sarno made the statement  Wednesday after being asked by reporters about fallout from the city's shutdown March 1 of Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing. The business, which was located in a strip mall on Page Boulevard, provided "free" samples of marijuana to people who paid an admission fee. It was an attempt to sidestep marijuana laws, city officials said, and police shut it down with a cease-and-desist order. 

Sarno didn't say who or where the city was monitoring, but he did mention having seen "Potsquatch", the ghillie-suited mascot for Springfield's Potco store, at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Holyoke.

David Mech, owner of Potco at 522 Sumner Ave. and the man in the Potsquatch suit, said city officials came to him at about the same time the Mary Jane controversy was hitting the papers. The officials were concerned about a cannabis cooking program Potco has that involves the use of cannabidiol, or CBD, an extract of hemp that lacks marijuana's psychoactive properties. CBD is used to treat pain, inflammation and other ailments. It is unregulated under state law.

Mech, who is also an lawyer, said city officials had no problem with the program once he explained what CBD is. "They were really good about it," Mech said.

Potco also sells fertilizers, grow lamps, indoor growing tents and hydroponic and aquaponic setups that can be used to grow marijuana. Aquaponics is a system like hydroponics, where plants are grown in water, with the addition of fish or other marine life to provide nutrients.

A medical marijuana dispensary is planning to open in East Springfield following approval in November by the City Council.

Recreational marijuana in Massachusetts is a bit of a legal twilight zone. Voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in November. But mechanisms for licensing and taxing retailers selling marijuana without the approval of a physician -- that is for recreational, not medical use -- won't be in place until 2018.

As a response, entities like Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing try to get away with "giving" it away with a purchase of other goods or services.

Mech put it succinctly: It is not legal now to transfer marijuana in a commercial setting.

He also added that he's probably not the only entity to which Sarno refers.

Similar situations have cropped up in other states where marijuana was legalized, such as Washington and Colorado, where regulations had to catch up with what entrepreneurs were doing.

"This is a hard situation for the city," Mech said. "All sorts of business crop up. The good ones are doing it for the right reasons. There are always those grey areas."

Sarno said he worries about public safety, traffic, access children might have to marijuana and the fact that taxes are not being collected at unregulated marijuana shops.

"The federal banking system doesn't recognize this business," he said. "This is all cash. Some operators may be unscrupulous."

Westfield State University and the department of social work at Baystate Medical Center hosted an event to discuss updates on the opioid epidemic and different methods of recovery.

WESTFIELD -- While the number of opioid-related deaths last year was nearly double that of 2013, encouraging signs include the decrease in the amount of prescription opioids in circulation in the area and an increase in addiction treatment options.

Dr. Robert Roose, vice president of Mercy Behavioral Health Care, credited increased support from state and federal government officials to address the crisis. Within 15 months between 2015 and 2016, he said, the total number of administered opiate prescriptions decreased by about 32 percent, reducing the total number of units of the drugs in local communities by 31 percent.

"Our work is far from done, but the work is ongoing," said Roose. "We are very much still amidst an addiction crisis."

Roose was the keynote speaker Wednesday at a forum on the opioid epidemic at Westfield State University.

More than 30 social services providers like Addiction Campus, The Salvation Army, and the American Addiction Treatment Center were featured in a meet-and-greet fair where attendees could receive information on different recovery pathways.

The event also featured a Narcan demonstration, which discussed how the substance is used to prevent overdose-related deaths.

As a member of Gov. Charlie Baker's Opioid Addiction Working Group, Roose and others held listening sessions and gathered thousands of testimonials to come up with 65 recommendations to bolster prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery methods and results across multiple sectors.

Gov. Charlie Baker signs landmark opioid bill into law

In the last two years, 90 percent of the 65 recommendations were implemented thanks in large part to the contributions of elected officials, schools, treatment providers and hospitals, he said.

As a result, Roose reported that 500 new inpatient treatment beds were added in the region, three public awareness campaigns were established, and efficient data collection and prescription tracking systems have come to fruition, among other successes.

A panel discussion on recovering from addiction followed Roose's keynote address. Panelists included West Springfield Police Detective Alissa Burke; Stephen Lee of the physician assistant program at Westfield State; social worker Judith MacMunn of the state Department of Children and Families; social worker Susan Molano of the VA Central Western MA Healthcare System's substance use disorder program; and Dr. Stephen Ryzewicz, a hospitalist at Baystate Medical Center.

Each speaker spoke on the various obstacles faced by individuals seeking treatment. The most common barrier that each panelist cited was a lack of immediate access to treatment centers.

According to Burke, who works on human trafficking and child exploitation cases, one of her biggest stumbling blocks when she tries to assist people suffering from addiction is finding immediate treatment for them.

"I've tried everything I could possibly do," she said. "I can't get them into treatment if there are no beds, and I have a very small window to assist these ladies."

Burke added that if she is unable to get the victims the help they need in time, many will simply go back to drugs.

According to Roose, while there has been progress in adding more treatment beds, the demand still vastly outstrips the supply.

Many of the concerns of the audience also revolved around post-therapy support to aid in sobriety and how emotional health issues also play a role in substance abuse issues in the region.

Each panelist acknowledged that there was still plenty of work to be done and that they were hopeful that through a collective effort more can be accomplished in the future.

Opiate-Related Overdose Deaths in Mass. by Jordan Grice on Scribd

Barry Cadden was convicted of racketeering, mail fraud and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead. He was acquitted on charges of murder.

BOSTON -- Barry Cadden, the owner and head pharmacist of New England Compounding Center, was convicted Wednesday in federal court for his role in causing a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak due to unsafe conditions at the pharmacy.

Cadden was convicted of racketeering, mail fraud and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead. He was acquitted on charges of murder.

As a result of the 2012 outbreak, 64 patients who were injected with contaminated drugs died, and 750 people across the U.S. became sick.

Cadden, 50, of Wrentham, will be sentenced on June 21. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the charges of mail fraud and racketeering.

According to prosecutors, Cadden allowed contaminated drugs to be shipped nationwide. The Framingham pharmacy, under Cadden, authorized the shipping of drugs before test results confirming their sterility were returned, never notified customers of nonsterile results, and compounded drugs with expired ingredients. Some drugs were made by an unlicensed pharmacy technician. The pharmacy dispensed drugs in bulk without valid prescriptions, sometimes using fake prescriptions with celebrity or fictional names. 

Prosecutors in 2014 charged 13 pharmacy officials in connection with the outbreak. Cadden was the first to stand trial, although three officials have pleaded guilty.

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno expects to participate in a follow-up call next week focusing on public works projects like water sewer, bridges, roads and rail.

SPRINGFIELD -- Mayors like Domenic J. Sarno wanted to talk about Community Development Block Grant money imperiled by President Donald Trump's first proposed budget.

The White House wanted to talk jobs and asked cities if their water systems are over-regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Overall, Sarno had positive things to say following a conference call he and officials from Springfield and other cities around the U.S. participated in Wednesday. On the other end was Trump's deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, William Kirkland.

Sarno met with reporters in his City Hall office following the call.

It went so well, Sarno said, that he, Chief Development Officer Kevin Kennedy and others will participate in a second call next week focusing on infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, water, sewer and railways. He's been told about 50 other mayors will be on next week's call. He doesn't know how many cities participated Wednesday.

"The reach-out has occurred," Sarno said. "We may not agree on everything, but Donald Trump is the president. He calls himself a deal-maker. I think he really wants to succeed."

Springfield's relationship with the federal government is a high-stakes game. The city's budget, including the school department, is $600 million. Of that, $60 million or about 10 percent is federal money, like the $27 million a year in Title I school funding.

Another $4 million in Community Development Block Grant money is used for everything from housing and neighborhood stabilization to youth development.

With those numbers Sarno paints a picture of how the city could be hurt by federal budget cuts. Trump's proposed budget does away with the CDBG program entirely.

The White House side of the call focused on jobs and on regulation. Sarno said the city has a good relationship with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. But the city has had to pay to make improvements to its water and sewer systems to keep up with federal rules, work that was not paid for by the feds.

In education, Sarno said the Trump administration was interested in Springfield's Empowerment Zone program for helping troubled schools, which Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has said could be a model for other school districts.

In public safety, Sarno repeated that Springfield is not a sanctuary city and that it will cooperate with federal law enforcement agents whenever they, in Sarno's words, "reach down" to get an undocumented alien who is already in police custody. But Sarno was short on details on how such cooperation might work.