The Lynnway Auto Auction employee who was driving a car that suddenly accelerated and drove into a crowd of people on Wednesday, killing three, had a suspended driver's license.

The Lynnway Auto Auction employee who was driving a car that suddenly accelerated and drove into a crowd of people on Wednesday, killing three, had a suspended driver's license.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan on Wednesday said the employee was a man in his 70s. His name has not been released and officials are investigating whether he had a medical episode.

"We were informed by the police on Wednesday that the driver of the Jeep had a suspended license," reads a statement from Lynnway Auto Auction President Jim Lamb. "We were unaware of the change in status of the driver's license until the police told us after the accident."

The crash in Billerica killed three people and injured nine others.

Statement from Lynnway Auto Auction president about employee involved in deadly crash having suspended license #WBZ pic.twitter.com/VVhA3Pga0c

-- Ryan Kath (@ryankath) May 5, 2017

When the employee was hired in 2010, he had a valid Massachusett's drivers license, according to the statement from Lamb, which was released to multiple news outlets.

"As he had no issues while driving for Lynnway for the past seven years, we were surprised and upset to learn of this development," Lamb said. "We hold our drivers to a high standard. If a driver loses the ability to drive in Massachusetts for any reason, we would expect them to inform us and we would not allow them to drive on our property unless they hold a valid driver's license."

Leezandra Aponte, a 36-year-old mother of three from Lowell, was working a temporary job at the Billerica business to pay for her daughter's quinceanera when a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee drove through the crowd and into the wall on Wednesday morning.

She was killed, along with Brenda Lopez, 48, of Rhode Island, and Pantaleon Santos, 49, of Rhode Island.

Eight people - ranging in age from 33 years old to 55 - were treated and released from nearby hospitals following the crash. One victim - a 55-year-old man - remains in the hospital with serious injuries, the district attorney's office said.

Investigators believe the crash was accidental. 

The Lynnway Auto Auction has been cited in the past for OSHA violations, including "serious" level violations three years ago.

Hope, of Enfield, Connecticut, is the first bus driver ever certified by the National Safety Council as having driven 4 million miles without an accident.

SPRINGFIELD -- Peter Pan Bus Lines driver Ed Hope has eyes in the back of his head.

He has eyes that searched, scanned and watched for danger all around the motorcoaches he drove accident-free for 48 years and an estimated 4 million miles.

That's 160 times around Earth, or eight round trips to the moon.

"You've got to always study the other guy and figure out what he is going to do," says Hope, 79. "You have to be on guard... always."

Hope, of Enfield, Connecticut, is the first bus driver ever certified by the National Safety Council as having driven 4 million miles without an accident. There are no other 4-million-mile safe drivers -- not only at Peter Pan, but throughout the industry as a whole.

The National Safety Council equates 12 consecutive accident free-years with a million miles.

In 2009, BusRide Magazine put Hope in its hall of Fame for hitting 3 million accident-free miles. At the time, he was the first Massachusetts-based bus driver to hit that mark.

Peter Pan marked Hope's achievement at its annual STAR Awards Banquet in March with a plaque, an inscribed globe and a proclamation from Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno naming March 22 Ed Hope Day.

To put Hope's driving in perspective, the average passenger car motorist drives about 13,500 miles a year and has an accident every 10 years, according to Federal Highway Administration and car insurance industry estimates. This means it would take an average driver 296 years to hit 4 million miles and in that time the typical American driver would have 30 accidents.

Hope retired at the end of 2016 and plans to spend time in Florida, with his wife Betsy, his daughter and grandchildren.

He started driving for bus line Trailways and spent 18 years with that company before switching to Springfield-based Peter Pan in 1986.

He remembers the late Peter Picknelly, father of the current chairman Peter Picknelly, recruiting him when he made Trailways stops in Springfield.

According to Hope's retelling, the elder Picknelly would say, "Ed, you'd look good in green," a reference to the color of the Peter Pan uniforms.  

The Springfield job training nonprofit Tech Foundry has received a workforce development award from Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

The Springfield job training nonprofit Tech Foundry has received a workforce development award from Associated Industries of Massachusetts, winning statewide recognition for its efforts to boost Western Massachusetts' IT workforce.

Tech Foundry was given the 2017 John Gould Education and Workforce Development Award in a ceremony Friday with a keynote address by Gov. Charlie Baker.

"Tech Foundry has been flexible and practical and that's why it has posted a 65 percent placement rate for IT jobs," AIM President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Lord said in a statement. "The organization is a worthy recipient of the John Gould Award."

Tech Foundry, which partners with organizations and corporations including Baystate Health, Crocker Communications, the Davis Foundation and the Beveridge Family Foundation, offers job skills training for Western Mass. residents trying to enter the information technology or coding fields. The program graduated its first class in June of 2015, its second in October of last year and its third in December.

The Gould award was established by AIM in 1988 to recognize people, businesses and institutions for their contributions to public education and workforce development in Massachusetts. Previous winners include Northeastern University, EMC Corporation, IBM, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brockton High School.

"This is an incredible honor," Jonathan Edwards, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Tech Foundry, said in a statement. "Bridging the IT skills gap is incredibly important for companies in all industries in the Pioneer Valley and for the expansion of the broader economy." 

State Sen. Eric Lesser, whose district includes Springfield and who chairs the Senate's Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee, congratulated Tech Foundry on winning the award.

"Tech Foundry has established itself as a respected and trusted partner for local businesses who can rely on the training it provides," Lesser said in a statement. "I am proud that a Springfield business has received this much-deserved recognition, and that the city continues to attract this level of serious investment because of the talent and skills we have here."

Tech Foundry has refined its focus since its launch, targeting career-focused people and community college students rather than the high schoolers who made up its pilot class, Edwards said in a January interview.

The program has won praise from state officials including Sec. of Labor and Workforce Development Ron Walker and Housing and Economic Development Sec. Jay Ash.

Acknowledging that Senate Democrats may not have the votes to stop GOP-led efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Americans Friday to speak up and make their voices heard.

Acknowledging that Senate Democrats may not have the votes to stop GOP-led efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Americans Friday to speak up and make their voices heard.

With the Senate now poised to take on the issue of overhauling the health care system, the Massachusetts Democrat said she hopes Republican chamber leaders avoid advancing the House-passed American Health Care Act -- legislation which Warren called "dangerous."

That, however, doesn't mean Senate Republicans won't move forward with their own "terrible" plan to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's signature health care law, Warren contended.

"Senate Republicans could pass a less bad, but still terrible bill and claim that, after all, if they were doing a little better than the House, that everyone should celebrate -- even though it meant shrinking coverage and creating tax breaks for billionaires," she said in an interview. "That's one of the consequences that could come."

US House approves revised GOP plan to dismantle Affordable Care Act despite pushback from Massachusetts lawmakers

Another consequence of the House having passed the AHCA, the senator offered, is that it could keep Congress from making improvements to the current health care system, like bringing down premiums and increasing coverage.

Warren pointed to a bill she's working on to lower prescription drug costs as an example of one change that could lead to lowered health insurance premiums.

"That's a place where there's space to work to create a better health care system for all Americans, but the Republicans don't want to go there," she said.

The senator further said she rejects claims that the 2016 presidential election was a referendum on the health care system -- particularly the changes included in House Republicans' legislation.

President Donald Trump, Warren argued, did not campaign on taking coverage away from millions of Americans or discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions.

"I think Americans want to see lower cost health care and broader coverage," she said. "Donald Trump promised both of those things. He didn't promise to take coverage away from 24 million people. I think he would've lost (if he said that.)"

Those campaign trail promises are why Americans must speak out if Senate Republicans put forth legislation that does not improve health care costs or coverage, Warren contended, adding that Democrats are unlikely to stop such efforts alone.

"Depending on how the Republicans tee this up we may not have the votes on the Democratic side to stop it," she said. "That means, we're going to have to get people all across this country to speak out. We need people to make their voices heard in Washington so the Republicans in the Senate know that America does not want this dangerous bill."

The House narrowly passed a revised version of the GOP health care plan Thursday -- just over a month after Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, canceled the initial vote due to lagging support.

The legislation, which looks to undo much of the ACA through refundable tax credits, overhauls to Medicaid and an expansion of health savings accounts, was amended to allow states to apply for federal waivers to cancel some of the law's regulations -- a move which some critics argued could result in people with pre-existing conditions being charged more for insurance.

Lawmakers also added a provision to the bill that would allocate an additional $8 billion over five years for states seeking a waiver. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, praised the House's passage of the AHCA, but his office noted that the chamber will not begin work on the bill until reviewing a Congressional Budget Office score.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, meanwhile, told Politico that senators are "writing a Senate bill and not passing the House bill."

"We'll take whatever good ideas we find there that meet our goals," he reportedly said.

A Department of Correction spokesman confirmed that Hernandez was listed as a "validated" member of the Bloods.

Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, who was found hanging in his Souza-Baranowski Correctional Facility prison cell last month while serving time for the killing of Odin Lloyd, was a member of the Bloods gang, authorities say.

On Thursday and Friday, several law enforcement agencies released a trove of records relating to Hernandez' apparent prison suicide. Among those records was a list of Hernandez' "active enemies" in the prison system and the "security threat groups" -- or prison gangs -- to which he allegedly belonged.

One version of the document, obtained from the state Department of Correction by MassLive, redacted Hernandez' alleged gang affiliations. But another obtained by other media sources showed that Hernandez was a validated member of the Bloods.

Prison document: Aaron Hernandez was a validated member of the 'Bloods' gang #WBZ pic.twitter.com/8Yr8EOqVDv

— Brad Tatum (@BradTatum) May 5, 2017

In an interview, Department of Correction spokesman Christopher Fallon confirmed Hernandez' gang affiliation, and said the Worcester District Attorney's Office had released the unredacted version of the document.

"It's the Bloods, that's his gang affiliation," Fallon said.

In a separate disciplinary record released Friday, prison authorities wrote that Hernandez was disciplined for receiving a neck tattoo while in custody in May 2015. That tattoo, of the words "LIFETIME LOYALTY," included a five pointed star -- a common Bloods symbol.

The Bristol County District Attorney's Office also released an image of a handwritten note Hernandez wrote to his fiancee before his death.

Hernandez was found hanging in his cell in Shirley's Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on April 19, authorities said. His reported suicide came four days after he was acquitted of a 2012 double murder, though he was still facing a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.

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View obituaries from The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Suzanne Hardy is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Dylan Riel, 4, and Jayce Garcia, 1.

SPRINGFIELD -- A prosecutor told jurors Friday Suzanne Hardy's reckless behavior behind the wheel caused the death of brothers Dylan Riel, 4, and Jayce Garcia, 1.

Hardy, 24, of Holland, is on trial for two counts of involuntary manslaughter for a Brimfield crash on June 20, 2014. The two Southbridge brothers were passengers in her car.

Hardy was Dylan's aunt; her brother was Dylan's father.

She is also charged with reckless endangerment of a child for allegedly failing to properly restrain the little boys in the vehicle. She is also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon -- her car -- for injuries to a driver of another car.

Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth said the crash happened as Hardy was driving east on Route 20 at about 4:30 p.m.

A landscaping truck was in the left lane eastbound waiting to turn into the company headquarters at 345 Sturbridge Road, also known as Route 20, Forsyth said. Hardy went to the right, clipped the guardrail, spun out of control into the westbound lane and crashed into an SUV. Her car and another car collided head on in the westbound lane.

Forsyth told jurors they will hear about distracted driving. He said there will be evidence about Hardy's reaction, or lack thereof, to the truck ahead of her waiting in the left hand lane to turn.

Hardy's own 4-year-old son was in a booster seat in the back seat of the car with Dylan and Jayce.

Forsyth said Dylan was in the center of the back seat, restrained only by a seat belt. He said Jayce was in a car seat that was strapped incorrectly, improperly installed and facing the wrong way.

Defense lawyer Joan M. Williams said it was a tragic accident, with families and friendships torn apart that day.

She said Hardy loved Dylan and Jayce and cared for them when the boys' mother, Nicole Riel, was at work.

Hardy, who is free awaiting trial, was indicted by a Hampden County grand jury in June 2015.

Hardy has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her, including two counts of manslaughter and two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation for the deaths of the boys -- meaning she could be founded guilty of either manslaughter or motor vehicle homicide.

A manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years, while a motor vehicle homicide conviction carries a sentence of up to 15 years.

The crash closed Route 20 from the junction of Holland and East Brimfield roads to Route 148 in Sturbridge for more than three hours, and the emergency response included two medical helicopters and multiple ambulances.

Nicole Riel took the stand, testifying in tears about learning first one, then the second, of her boys did not survive the crash.

About a dozen family members of the two boys were in the courtroom, many in tears throughout testimony.

Several supporters of Hardy were on the other side of the courtroom, some of them in tears at times.

The trial continues Monday before Judge Richard J. Carey.

Jonathan Manor and Bryan MacDonald, two former Springfield College football players, are on trial in Hampden Superior Court for rape.

The exterior of the Hampden County Hall of Justice is seen Saturday evening, April 25. (Dwight B. Shepard / The Republican)Dwight B. Shepard / The Republican 

SPRINGFIELD -- Lawyers for two men on trial for rape questioned their accuser Friday as to what she thought would happen when she went to their hotel room one night in June 2014.

The woman testified she expected to talk, hang out, have a drink and then go home.

On trial are Bryan MacDonald, 24, and Jonathan Manor, 25, two former Springfield College football players, each of whom has denied two counts of rape. Manor also faces a count of indecent assault and battery.

Each of the defendants is slated to testify Monday at the trial in front of Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara.

The 27-year-old woman testified she was raped by the two men when she went to their room at the Sheraton hotel in June 2014. Lawyers for the two defendants said what happened between their clients and the woman was consensual.

MacDonald and Manor were staying at the Sheraton in one room, with Manor's father staying in another room, because the three men were going to golf together in the Springfield College football program golf tournament, according to the defendants' lawyers. The woman was a waitress at a downtown Springfield restaurant and sports bar the three men visited June 13.

David P. Hoose, lawyer for Manor, asked the woman why she thought MacDonald was asking her repeatedly to come to the room he and Manor were sharing.

"You understood he was thinking about sex?" Hoose asked. He went over text messages exchanged by the woman and MacDonald while she was waiting on their table.

In one, after MacDonald texted her the room number, the woman texted back, "I'm not a prostitute." She testified she thought she was being witty.

The woman testified she was not intoxicated but the two men were.

Both Hoose and Michael O. Jennings, lawyer for MacDonald, questioned the woman about something she told a police officer who interviewed her on video the day after the incident. The woman acknowledged she told the officer when MacDonald started kissing her in the room she just let the kissing happen.

The woman said MacDonald threw her on a bed and forced her to have sex. She said she tried to get up and yelled a number of times, "Get the f--- off me." She testified Manor also forced her to have sex against her will.

Both defense lawyers questioned the woman about her testimony that she went to the room to stop MacDonald from pestering her to go to the room. Jennings asked if that was her way of stopping MacDonald as opposed to telling him, "I'm not going, I'm going home."

Under questioning from Jennings the woman said she did tell the police officer she thought about putting up a fight, but didn't want it to get violent.

She agreed with Jennings that no one had verbalized anything about violence or threats. She said, however, she was not able to get MacDonald off of her and free herself from Manor.

The defense lawyers, through their cross-examination, pointed out some differences between the woman's statement to the police officer and her direct testimony on the stand Thursday.

Also a point of cross-examination of the woman was the fact that she went to run in a 5-kilometer race in Hartford in the early morning after she said the rape occurred, and then went to a hospital about the rape after the race.

When Assistant District Attorney Eileen Sears took over questioning again, the woman said the race meant a lot to her and she didn't want to allow what happened to derail her life.

The woman said she was embarrassed about what happened because she thought she was stronger.

"I thought I could defend myself," she said.

Court records give a Rocky Hill, Connecticut, address for MacDonald and a Plattsburgh, New York, address for Manor. The men have been free on $10,000 bail while awaiting trial.

Sears told jurors in her opening statement Thursday that the issue in dispute is "the issue and concept of consent."

Marco Santiago, who said he has been a good friend of the woman since high school, testified Friday that she called him after midnight on June 14 and told him she had been raped by two men.

He said he volunteered to come see her and told her to go to police. The woman told Santiago she was just going to go home and think about what to do.

An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Roy Oliver, who has been fired from the Balch Springs Police Department in suburban Dallas since the shooting last weekend.

DALLAS (AP) -- A white Texas police officer has been charged with murder in the shooting of a black teenager for which the officer was fired, according to an arrest warrant issued Friday.

The warrant for Roy Oliver, a former officer in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs, was issued by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office for the April 29 shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. He turned himself in Friday night at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford, Texas, about 95 miles west of Dallas, and his bond was set at $300,000.

In a statement it released Friday evening announcing the warrant, the sheriff's office cited evidence that suggested Oliver "intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death."

Oliver fired a rifle at a car full of teenagers leaving a party, fatally shooting Edwards. The teen's death led to protests calling for Oliver to be fired and charged. On Tuesday, the same day that the officer was fired, news broke of the Justice Department's decision not to charge two white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the shooting death of a black man in 2016. And a white officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, pleaded guilty that day to federal civil rights charges in the fatal shooting of a black man in 2015.

Edwards and his two brothers and two other teenagers were driving away from an unruly house party in Balch Springs late Saturday night when Oliver opened fire on their vehicle with a rifle. The bullets shattered the front passenger-side window and struck Edwards. Oliver's firing Tuesday was for violating department policies in the shooting.

It took a few moments for Edwards' 16-year-old brother, who was driving, and other passengers to notice that he was slumped over in his seat.

The investigation into the shooting "will continue and does not conclude with the arrest," sheriff's spokeswoman Melinda Urbina said.

Oliver's attorney, Cindy Stormer, didn't immediately return messages seeking comment. The attorney for the teen's family, Lee Merritt, said he would issue a statement later Friday.

Records show that Oliver was briefly suspended in 2013 following a complaint about his conduct while serving as a witness in a drunken-driving case.

Personnel records from the Balch Springs Police Department obtained by The Associated Press show Oliver was suspended for 16 hours in December 2013 after the Dallas County District Attorney's Office filed the complaint. Oliver also was ordered to take training courses in anger management and courtroom demeanor and testimony.

The personnel records also included periodic evaluations that noted at least one instance when Oliver was reprimanded for being "disrespectful to a civilian on a call." That evaluation, dated Jan. 27, 2017, called the reprimand an isolated incident and urged Oliver to be mindful of his leadership role in the department.

The complaint from the prosecutor's office said the office had a hard time getting Oliver to attend the trial, he was angry he had to be there, he used vulgar language that caused an assistant district attorney to send a female intern out of the room, and he used profanity during his testimony.

"In an email from one of the prosecutors he states you were a 'scary person to have in our workroom,'" then-Balch Springs Police Chief Ed Morris wrote in the suspension findings.

Oliver joined the Balch Springs department in 2011 after being an officer with the Dalworthington Gardens Police Department for almost a year. A statement from Dalworthington Gardens officials on Wednesday included details of that and previous intermittent employment as a dispatcher and public works employee between 1999 and 2004.

He received an award for "meritorious conduct" as a dispatcher and there were no documented complaints or disciplinary action in either his work as a public safety officer or dispatcher, according to the statement. Between his employment as a dispatcher and officer in the Dallas suburb, Oliver was in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of sergeant while serving two tours in Iraq and earning various commendations. He served for two years in the Texas National Guard reserves through 2012.

After the Dallas County Attorney's Office complained about Oliver's behavior, Morris suspended the officer for 16 hours, which Oliver completed by forfeiting two sick days.

Gregory Lepsky pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned to make and set off a pressure-cooker bomb in New York City, authorities said.

NEWARK, N.J. -- A Point Pleasant Borough man has been charged with planning to build a bomb in support of ISIS and detonate it at a busy spot in New York City, authorities said Friday.

Gregory Lepsky, 20, is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick and acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana Boente announced.

The complaint, released on Friday, accuses Lepsky of pledging support to ISIS and plotting to construct a pressure-cooker bomb that he planned to detonate in New York City.

The alleged plan came to light on Feb. 21 after one of Lepsky's relatives called police to report that he had a weapon and threatened to kill the family dog, according to the complaint.

Responding police officers eventually convinced Lepsky to leave the house. When he did, he came emerged with a bloody arm, the complaint said.

While Lepsky was being treated for that wound, he told officials at the scene that he planned to kill his mother and that he had pledged allegiance to Allah, the complaint said.

Lepsky, a natural born citizen of the United States, also said he stabbed the family dog because the animal was "dirty," the complaint said.

In a search of his home, authorities found an empty stainless steel pressure cooker behind a roll of bubble wrap in his bedroom closet, the complaint said. They also found in his bedroom a book titled 'Martyrdom in Jihad Versus Suicide Bombing,' the complaint said.

Investigators also found a series of instructions that had been published online by another terrorist group that gave specific, step-by-step instructions on how to build a pressure cooker bomb, which coincided with the delivery of the pressure cooker to Lepsky shortly before his arrest, authorities said.

A message forwarded by Lepsky from another ISIS supporter said that if a westerner could not travel to Syria to fight for ISIS, he could conduct a terrorist attack in his home country using improvised explosive devices, authorities said.

Lepsky is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark on Friday afternoon.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto.

Lynn has been advised by doctors to stay off the road while she recuperates, and upcoming scheduled shows will be postponed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Country music legend Loretta Lynn has been hospitalized after having a stroke, her publicist said Friday.

Maria Malta, a publicist for Sony Music, confirmed that the 85-year-old singer and songwriter was admitted into a Nashville hospital Thursday night after suffering the stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

Lynn's website says she is responsive and expected to make a full recovery.

It says Lynn has been advised by doctors to stay off the road while she recuperates, and upcoming scheduled shows will be postponed.

Born a Kentucky coal miner's daughter, Lynn had a string of hits starting in the 1960s with the biographical "Coal Miner's Daughter," ''You Ain't Woman Enough," ''The Pill," and "One's on the Way." Her songs reflect pride in her humble background and speak frankly of her experiences as a young wife and mother from poor Appalachia.

In this Aug. 28, 2016 file photo, Loretta Lynn performs in concert at the American Music Theater in Lancaster, Pa. (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, File)

She continues to tour and record regularly, but had to postpone shows last year after suffering injuries in a fall that required surgery. She is set to release a new album this August, called "Wouldn't It Be Great," and she will be the subject of a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum also in August.

One of the icons of country music, Lynn blazed a trail as a strong-willed singer and songwriter who wrote honest, and at times frank, songs about sex, divorce, cheating and even birth control.

She had six children with her husband of 48 years, O.V. "Moonie" Lynn, who died in 1996

A list of pre-existing conditions that may not be covered or may face exponentially higher premiums under the new GOP healthcare bill.

Visitors crowded into the show, despite a steady rain outside

SPRINGFIELD - At the tender age of 6, many children can be found playing with Legos. Jerry Wilson often had a sharp knife in his hand.

He got it from his grandfather, who liked to whittle and carve wood. It was a skill that Jerry quickly picked up.

Nowadays, he uses that skill to carve stone, a material he finds easier to work with than wood.

Wilson was among the artists exhibiting their work at the Indian Orchard Mills annual spring Open Studios, Art Show & Sale on Friday night. The mills are a great place to have a studio, he said.

"For one thing, you have these openings so you can show your work off, and hopefully sell some," he said. "Also, when you've got people with artistic bents, you always seem to have a lot in common, so you feed off other peoples' ideas and energies."

"It keeps you going," he added.

Guests toured the several buildings at the mills, where they met more than 50 artists in their private work environment.

In the Dane Gallery, guests were offered light refreshments as they viewed a curated show of resident artists' work.

Among the works on display were oil, watercolor and acrylic painting; photography; printmaking; wood work; stone; sculpture, textiles and multi-media.

The evening featured a festival atmosphere, with roaming musicians from the Springfield Conservatory of the Arts and a performance by Lisa Carter as "Cher," accompanied by pianist Matt Foster.

On Saturday, a group of musicians from Longmeadow High School will entertain visitors.

The artists' colony recently added five artists: Photographer David Manch, Kelly Mount, a writer and sketch artist; Phyllis Ollari, who strives to incorporate the landscape and nature into her work, sometimes collaging physical components of nature within her pieces; Bonnie Roy, whose work includes mosaic designs in glass and tile, wind chimes and glass marble creations; and Barbara Stroup, who makes quilts, wall-hanging and small art pieces that combine fabrics and occasionally paper, ribbon, stenciling and collage.  

There are more than 130 tenants at Indian Orchard Mills, a 300,000-square-foot arts and industrial complex at 34-40 Front St. in Springfield's Indian Orchard section dedicated to the growth of arts and industry.

The offices and machine shops at the mills are home to furniture builders, cabinet makers, die cutters, web designers, countertop manufacturers, screen printers, advertising agencies, fulfillment operations, sign makers, contractors, distributors, warehousing, visual arts studios, a winery and a distillery.

The Dane Gallery is open every Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. or by appointment.

The art show and sale continues on Saturday, from 12 to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.indianorchardmills.com/

Two people were killed and one critically injured in a one-car crash on Kick Hil Road in Lebanon, Connecticut.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

The Connecticut State Police said all three were transported to hospitals, and two were pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The crash occurred on Kick Hill Road near its intersection with Chappell Road. Authorities were forced to close the roadway from Chappell to Machine Shop Hill Road at its intersection with Sanitarium Road.

The investigation into the crash continues. Police are not releasing any of the identifies of those involved in the accident.

Carlos Tejada, 27 of Earle Street in Springfield was arrested shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday after a ShotSpotter activation indicated gunfire on Morris Place.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

Springfield Police Lt. Richard LaBelle said Carlos Tejada , 27, of Earle Street, was one of four people in a car that fled the area just after a ShotSpotter activation at 4:10 a.m.

Officers arrived at the Morris Place scene in time to see a man bolt from a group of people in the parking lot and attempt to escape by running through backyards. A second police followed the suspect as he crossed Maple Street to Avon Place.There he apparently got into a car with three others. That car was stopped near the intersection of Maple and State Street moments later.

LaBelle said police recovered a handgun from Tejada and he was arrested on illegal firearms possession and discharge charges. He will be arraigned in Springfield District Court Monday.

A single spent shell casing was found at the Morris Place scene.

No apparent gunshot victims were found.

The death of 52-year-old Sherri Ann Ruffin is now being called a homicide after her body was found in her Jennings Way apartment Thursday afternoon. Police would not say how she died.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiners conducted the autopsy and determined Ruffin died from compression to the neck or strangulation,

New Haven Major Crime Division and Bureau of Identification working with the state's attorney's office is handling the investigation.

Ware's annual Town Meeting begins at 7 p.m. Monday at the high school. A special Town Meeting precedes it at 6:30 p.m.

WARE -- Town Manager Stuart Beckley is poised to warn residents about a "permanent deficit" affecting municipal finances at Monday's annual Town Meeting.

In a memorandum accompanying the warrant provided by the town manager that has been posted on Ware's website, Beckley said the state Department of Revenue, in a report issued to the town in August, agrees with the assessment.

"There is a permanent deficit between the revenues available and the expenditures required to meet the service requirements of citizens," Beckley wrote on May 1.

The DOR report refers to a proposed tax increase, in the form of a proposition 2½ override, that was defeated two years ago.

"The town ran into some difficulty in June 2015 when residents soundly defeated a $582,000 operational override," the report says.

"Low public appetite for overrides means that without significant revenue growth, Ware will encounter difficulty in maintaining level services as costs increase," the report says. "This reality underscores the necessity of careful budget planning informed by practical analysis."

The state report, which sought to project finances for the next five years, forecast a 4 percent hike in health insurance costs. Beckley said the cost this year has increased more than twice that rate, at nearly 15 percent.

"The health insurance costs for the town's insurance program have increased 14.7 percent," the manager wrote in the memorandum.

The DOR projected a 7 percent hike to fund pension liability, while Beckley wrote that "retirement costs grew 9 percent."

Despite Ware's acknowledged "permanent deficit," the DOR recommended that the town "prohibit or limit the use of free cash for ... supporting the annual operating budget." Free cash is a town reserve fund that accrues from money that went unspent in the previous year's municipal budget.

The DOR report shows Ware's free cash appropriated to the budget has averaged nearly $900,000 for the previous three fiscal years. The DOR projects that the municipality would appropriate no free cash for operating expenses in fiscal 2018.

Ware's annual Town Meeting begins at 7 p.m. Monday at the high school. A quorum of 100 is required to conduct business.

A special Town Meeting to consider various other matters begins at 6:30 p.m.

Four residents including the incumbent have obtained nomination papers to run for Ward 3 City Council in Holyoke, Massachusetts in the Nov. 7, 2017 election as of Friday, May 5.

HOLYOKE -- Two more residents have obtained nomination papers for possible candidacies to unseat the incumbent Ward 3 city councilor after his arrest on a drunken driving charge.

Ward 3 Councilor David K. Bartley was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Springfield on April 29 after the car he was driving rear-ended two other vehicles stopped at a traffic light at East Columbus Avenue and Liberty Street, according to police.

Bartley, 51, of 25 Hillcrest Ave., was arraigned in Springfield District Court on May 1 and pleaded not guilty to one count of driving under the influence of liquor. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court for a pretrial hearing June 5.

Holyoke City Councilor David Bartley charged with drunken driving after crash in Springfield, police say

Bartley is running for his third, two-year term as the Ward 3 councilor in the Nov. 7 election, and his could be the most crowded single-seat race.

Bruce F. Mitchell already had pulled papers for a possible Ward 3 council run. On Thursday, after The Republican and MassLive.com had reported about Bartley, Darlene Elias and Anne N. Thalheimer also obtained Ward 3 Council nomination papers, according to the city clerk's web page.

Mitchell, Elias and Thalheimer all have run for Council seats in previous elections. Thalheimer also has taken out papers to run for City Council at large.

Candidates for City Council must file nomination papers with signatures of at least 50 registered voters to place their name on the election ballot. The deadline to file papers is Aug. 8.

Neither Bartley nor Mitchell, Elias or Thalheimer has returned papers to the registrar of voters and had them certified to put their names on the ballot.

If a single-seat race has more than two candidates as of Aug. 8, a preliminary election will be held on Sept. 26 to narrow the field to the top two vote-getters. They would compete on Election Day Nov. 7.

A preliminary election also might be necessary to filter the group of incumbents and challengers running for City Council at large.

Votes approved a change in the 2015 election that will take affect with the 2017 races to reduce the City Council to 13 members from the current 15, eliminating two of the eight at large seats. The council also has seven ward seats.

So a preliminary election would be needed for City Council at large if at least 13 candidates, or one more than twice the number of seats available, qualify for the ballot. As of Friday, 10 candidates had obtained papers for City Council at large.

Using the victim's T-shirt, Officer Nicole Hebert applied pressure to the largest wound until paramedics arrived and took over, the report said.

WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Garja M. Rai was standing at the kitchen sink, chopping vegetables with a meat cleaver, when the trouble started.

Around 9:15 p.m. on April 26, Rai and his nephew began arguing over a child care matter, and the nephew came running into the kitchen, according to the police report.

Moments later, he stumbled out of the kitchen and collapsed, bleeding from stab wounds to his neck, the report said.

When West Springfield police arrived, the nephew was unconscious and Rai was cleaning up his blood. Using the victim's T-shirt, Officer Nicole Hebert applied pressure to the largest wound until paramedics arrived and took over, the report said.

Rai, meanwhile, "appeared calm" while speaking to police in the kitchen, where a meat cleaver was found under the sink. He was eventually arrested and charged with attacking his nephew with the meat cleaver, leaving three gashes on the side of his neck and head.

Rai, 32, pleaded not guilty the next day in Springfield District Court to one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Defense lawyer Mark Esposito said his client is a native of Nepal and requested $1,500 to hire an interpreter for the case. Judge Charles W. Groce III approved the request and set bail at $2,000.

Rai is due back in court on May 26.

The developer will be required to create a homeowners association to provide for plowing and road maintenance until the street is accepted by the city.

CHICOPEE -- A long-disputed six-home subdivision in Chicopee that can be reached only by Springfield roads will go forward after the Planning Board reached an agreement with the developer.

Under the agreement, the Planning Board approved the subdivision and waived a requirement that sidewalks are built on the street. In return, the developer must form a homeowners association, which will be responsible for plowing and maintaining the road until it is approved as a public way. The developer also must deposit $3,717, which is the estimated cost of the sidewalks, into a city fund used for sidewalk maintenance.

Other agreement requirements, such as providing water and electrical services, have already been covered by developer Ralph Capua, owner of Sodi Inc. of East Longmeadow. The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission will provide the water and Eversource will provide electrical services, according to the settlement agreement.

Sodi Inc. has already built a nine-home subdivision on what is now Russell Street in Springfield, but has spent at least two years trying to extend that road into property in Chicopee. The new portion of the street will be called Ralph Circle because there is already a Russell Terrace in the city and officials believed it was too confusing to also have a Russell Street.

Permitting for the Chicopee portion of the subdivision stalled after officials aired concerns about how everything from trash collection and school busing to providing water and electrical services would be handled since the only access to Ralph Circle would be from Springfield streets.

A number of neighbors also opposed the proposal.

Officials for Sodi Inc. first offered to create an inter-municipal agreement to be signed by the city councils in Chicopee and Springfield. When the effort stalled, the Planning Board tabled the request for approval for the definitive site plan several times. In December it decided against continuing the proposal again and denied the application for a definitive site plan.

Sodi Inc. filed a lawsuit in Hampden County Superior Court in January, asking a judge to annul the decision of the Planning Board and direct the board to endorse the site plan as initially approved.

"The application conformed in all aspects to the Regulations for the Subdivision of Land in Chicopee," the lawsuit said. "The Board of Health had no objections to the proposed subdivision and all lots within the subdivision comply with the city of Chicopee zoning bylaws and ordinances."

On April 6 the Planning Board voted 4-0 to enter into the new agreement with the understanding that Sodi Inc. would withdraw its lawsuit.

Along with creating the homeowners association, the company also must follow a variety of requirements including planting a specific number of trees and following grading and roadway regulations.