Baystate Health broke ground Tuesday on a $17.2 million reinvestment in Baystate Wing Hospital, which aims to expand the Emergency Department to better accommodate the needs of the approximately 24,000 people who pass through its doors each year. Watch video

PALMER- Baystate Health broke ground Tuesday on a $17.2 million reinvestment in Baystate Wing Hospital, which aims to expand the Emergency Department to better accommodate the needs of the approximately 24,000 people who pass through its doors each year. 

The new space will include separate ambulance and public entryways and will feature 20 patient rooms, including trauma, behavioral health, and other dedicated specialty care areas.

In the new Emergency Department, private rooms will replace the curtained bays to enhance patient privacy and a dedicated space will be created for behavioral health patients. According to hospital officials, input on design concepts were gathered from staff, emergency medical service providers, infection control experts, and patients.

Additionally, Baystate officials say patients will have access to the most sophisticated medical technology, including CT scan and Radiology services, all located within the new 17,800 square foot space.

During the early phase of the project, Country Bank pledged $1 million to the new Emergency Department.

"Country Bank's pledge to the new Emergency Department at Baystate Wing Hospital supports the Bank's longstanding financial commitment to its community hospitals," said Paul Scully, president and CEO of Country Bank. "Over the years, the bank has never wavered on its support of both Baystate Wing Hospital and Baystate Mary Lane, as it believes that communities with local access to quality healthcare thrive."

The 74-bed hospital was part of UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester for about 15 years prior to the 2014 takeover by Baystate Health. 

A Hampden Superior Court jury found Jonathan Manor and Bryan MacDonald not guilty of rape in a case dating from an incident in Springfield in 2014.

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 -- A Hampden Superior Court jury on Tuesday acquitted two former Springfield College football players of rape.

The jury took about three hours to reach a verdict, acquitting Jonathan Manor and Bryan MacDonald, both of Connecticut, of two counts of rape each.

MacDonald, 24, and Manor, 25, testified at trial that in June 2014 a waitress they met at a downtown Springfield bar had consensual sex with them in their hotel room.

The woman, now 27, testified she was raped by MacDonald and Manor.

MacDonald and Manor on June 13, 2014, were staying at the Sheraton hotel 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 testimony.

MacDonald said he is from Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and works in the town of Berlin. Manor said he works in West Hartford, Connecticut. They were free on bail awaiting trial. Both testified they are best friends.

Both David P. Hoose, Manor's lawyer, and Michael Jennings, MacDonald's lawyer, told jurors in their closing arguments the woman had sex with the two men willingly but then worried about what they would say to a mutual friend from the football team and to others who might eventually come into the bar in which she worked.

Assistant District Attorney Eileen Sears said the woman testified she did yell for the men to stop. The woman said she thought about fighting back but didn't want things to get violent, Sears said. Sears said there is no requirement that a rape victim fight back. The woman was afraid, she said.

The trial was held before Judge John S. Ferrara.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno presented a $628.8 million city budget proposal that avoids layoffs, maintains core services and provides funds for additional police and firefighters.

SPRINGFIELD - Mayor Domenic J. Sarno presented a $628.8 million city budget proposal for fiscal 2018, saying it was balanced without layoffs, without cuts in core city services and without dipping into the city's "rainy day" reserve fund.

"The city was able to hold the line on spending and allow a less than 2 percent increase over the FY17 adopted budget," Sarno said in a prepared budget message. "We continue to make progress, both as a community and as a government, toward a future that focuses on fiscal sustainability."

The budget recommendation, which includes approximately $223 million for city departments and services, and $405 million for the school system, is now forwarded to the City Council for passage or cuts. The council will schedule hearings with city department heads and has the powers to make reductions in specific areas but it cannot add funds.

School department funding cannot be cut by the council, with the exception of the school transportation budget.

The budget includes funding for 50 new police recruits anticipated to graduate from an academy in the fall of 2017, officials said. The new hires could bring the department to its goal of 504 sworn officers and police supervisors.

The budget also includes funds for 17 new firefighters intended to fill vacancies and add five new firefighter positions.

The city will also add six personnel for the Dispatch Department over the course of the new fiscal year, as shift supervisors overseeing police and fire dispatches.

"This budget targets our core mission with a continued focus on public education, and providing funding for improved economic development, public safety, and community services for the residents of Springfield," Sarno said.

The budget is for the year beginning July 1, 2017. Councilor Thomas Ashe, attending the presentation at City Hall, said he appreciates the early submission for council consideration. 

Sarno and Timothy J. Plante, the city's chief administrative and financial officer, said the proposed budget is balanced for the third consecutive year without seeking use of some funds from the city's $42.2 million stabilization "rainy day" reserve fund.

"We have been very deliberate and strategic in how we manage our finances," Plante said. "This budget represents that fact because expenditures have grown less than 2 percent. It's sound and holds the line on spending, and still invests in the city's core services."

Regarding community services, the new budget continues free-of-charge single-stream recycling and yard waste pickup, bulk pick-up for a fee, and free hazardous waste drop-off dates, city officials said. The city will also purchase new solid waste vehicles to replace aging vehicles, officials said.

The Parks and Recreation department will continue after-school and evening gym programs, along with Camp STAR Angelina and the therapeutic recreation program and terrace maintenance program, officials said.

Sarno, within his prepared budget message to the city and City Council, praised the city's economic development accomplishments including the rehabilitated Union Station set to reopen in late June, and the ongoing construction of the MGM Springfield casino project, schedule to open in the fall of 2018.

The proposed budget includes $8 million in revenues from the MGM project.

In addition, he said the city's current strong bond ratings from Standard & Poor's (AA-) and from Moody's (A2) reflect the city's strong financial position "are a testament to ho well the city has made it through the economic downturn and made appropriate decisions to keep the budget balanced."

Sarno praised the city finance team led by Plante and Budget Director Lindsay Hackett.

The city relies of state funding for approximately 60 percent of its budget.

Before switching to teaching science at North Quincy High School, Cara Pekarcik worked at the Whale Center of New England in Gloucester. On Tuesday Mass. education officials announced she won the 2018 Teacher of the Year award.

Before switching to teaching science at North Quincy High School, Cara Pekarcik worked at the Whale Center of New England in Gloucester.

"Working on whale watches, I spent a lot of my time as a researcher also doing public education and I just really enjoyed that aspect," she said Tuesday.

"And I had so much encouragement towards becoming a teacher, from fellow teacher friends that I had or also from individuals I met doing my work, and I thought you know, this could actually be a great idea, and it could be a great way for me to be able to use what I know about science to pass along to students," she added.

Massachusetts education officials on Tuesday recognized Pekarcik, a Weymouth resident, for her work, picking her out of thousands of teachers in the state as the 2018 Teacher of the Year. She has worked at North Quincy High School since 2006.

"She doesn't see science as something that only happens in a laboratory, it's everywhere in the world around us," said Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester.

Pekarcik, who grew up outside Pittsburgh, was part of a group of teachers who in September 2015 lived and worked on an icebreaker in the Antarctic Peninsula. She is a graduate of Southampton College of Long Island University and UMass Boston.

Tuesday is National Teacher Day.

The finalists for the honor, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, included:

• Kathy Boisvert, a prekindergarten teacher at Millville Elementary School in the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District;
• Martha Boisselle, an English-as-a-second-language teacher at Brighton High School in Boston;
• Sarah Foster, a special education teacher at the Laura Lee Therapeutic Day School, which is part of the Lowell Public Schools;
• Todd Kefor, an English teacher at Norton High School in Norton; and
• Brian Sheehan, a music teacher at Salemwood School in Malden.

"This is amazing," Pekarcik said, speaking to reporters after the announcement.

Asked about what makes a good teacher, she said, "I think a good teacher is someone who cares about her students, not just that they meet standards or that they take certain tests. Those are important. But also that they are good people and that they learn how to be a successful citizen in the world."

With the honor, Pekarcik becomes the Massachusetts candidate for the National Teacher of the Year program.

"Miss P. obviously has transformed and changed and improved the lives of the students here at North Quincy High," said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who attended Tuesday's ceremony.

The 2017 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, Sydney Chaffee, recently won the national competition.

Massachusetts educator named national teacher of the year for first time in 65 years

Workers at a major nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have been ordered to shelter in place following the partial collapse of a tunnel used to store contaminated materials.

Workers at a major nuclear cleanup site in Washington state have been ordered to shelter in place following the partial collapse of a tunnel used to store contaminated materials.

About a 20 foot-by-20 foot section of the tunnel at the Hanford Site, a former nuclear facility on the Columbia River, was reported collapsed this morning, according to a statement on Hanford's website.

Residents of nearby counties are not required to take any action, according to the statement.

"There is no indication of a release of contamination at this point," the statement said.

No injuries have been reported. Workers were told to shelter in place as a precautionary measure and crews are continuing to check for contamination, according to the statement.

The collapse took place at the intersection of two tunnels used to store contaminated equipment since the 1950s, the statement said.

Hanford produced plutonium fuel for the U.S. military for four decades, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The waste produced at the site has been the subject of a major cleanup project since 1989, and currently 11,000 employees are involved in the operation.

The Department of Energy describes Hanford as its most challenging nuclear cleanup site. The site handled huge quantities of radioactive material, including the creation of more than 20 million pieces of uranium metal fuel, the processing of more than 110,000 tons of fuel and the discharge of 53 million gallons of radioactive waste to underground tanks, according to the DOE's website.

The Narragansett tribe seeks to stop tree-cutting for a line through the Otis State Forest.

A Rhode Island Indian tribe opposing a Massachusetts pipeline claims the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission violated federal law last month when it allowed tree-cutting in the Otis State Forest for Kinder Morgan's Connecticut Expansion project.

FERC violated the Historic Preservation Act by failing to meaningfully consult with the Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office around ceremonial stone landscapes, according to Anne Marie Garti, a lawyer for the tribe.

"This is a breach of FERC's fiduciary duty to the Indian tribe," wrote Garti.

FERC delayed study of stone structures within the state forest in Berkshire County until it was too late to pick an alternative route for the pipeline, the tribe claims.

Kinder Morgan subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. began cutting a four-mile swath through the forest soon after receiving an April 12 "notice to proceed" from FERC.

The company rejects any accusation that it failed to consult with the tribe, and maintains that the federal commission properly completed the tribal consultation process under Section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act.

The tribe on Tuesday petitioned FERC for a rehearing of the April 12 notice, saying it was issued in error.

Ceremonial Stone Landscapes at issue

Tennessee plans to deconstruct and rebuild around 20 meaningful stone structures in the pipeline's path, according to Doug Harris, the tribe's deputy historic preservation officer. Harris called the plan "an act of desecration."

Harris says he and representatives from other tribes conducted a survey of the state forest area and identified dozens of ceremonial stone structures, and only learned in December that some of them were in the pipeline path.

Kinder Morgan asserts that Tennessee "spent months working with the participating tribes, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Commission developing a plan to avoid, protect, minimize, and mitigate impacts to the features identified by tribes as ceremonial stone landscapes."

The large majority of the features will be protected in place and avoided, Kinder Morgan states in a federal filing. 

"For the features that Tennessee is unable to avoid for safety or other concerns, Tennessee will photo document and record the location and alignment of the features, remove the stones to a safe location during construction, and then return the stones to their original location. This process will preserve the stones for replacement and restoration into the same alignment post-construction," the document states. 

According to Harris, that's not adequate.

"These are 'prayers in stone,'" Harris said in a statement. "If you take them apart and reconfigure them, then what you have is an artistic replica of something that was spiritual. Once you remove the stones, the spiritual content is broken."

Although the Narragansett Tribe is in Rhode Island, it has "extraterritorial authority" over the land in the Berkshires because of "deep ties" to ceremonial stone landscapes there, the tribe's petition states.

"Narragansett Indian refugees and defenders relocated during the last quarter of the seventeenth century to the region where the Massachusetts loop of the project would be located," according to the tribe.

In recent days, 18 protesters affiliated with the Sugar Shack Alliance were arrested for trying to block tree-cutting within the pipeline's right-of-way.

Harris was among a group who in 2016 opposed a solar farm in the Franklin County town of Shutesbury. Harris and others asserted that the land, owned by W. D. Cowls, contains Indian burial mounds. A group that does not include Harris has sued the town in federal court over the solar proposal.

Among the business program highlights will be an address by John Murray, vice president of audience development at News Media Alliance, on "New Media 2017: Building the Sustainable Business Model," and a presentation by Steve and Christie Learn, owners of the well-known circulation publication, "Learning More Circulation Idea Service," who will discuss circulation growth and new revenue venues.

MEREDITH, New Hampshire -- Established in 1917, the New England Association of Circulation Executives will celebrate ts 100th anniversary at its annual spring conference at Mill Falls Resort in Meredith, New Hampshire, beginning Sunday and running through May 23.

The organization provides professional development of newspaper circulation executives through training workshops and twice annual conferences.

Over 35 past presidents of the association were invited to this conference at which Norm Bossio, a leading management consultant and speaker, will present a motivational speech.

Among the business program highlights will be an address by John Murray, vice president of audience development at News Media Alliance, on "New Media 2017: Building the Sustainable Business Model," and a presentation by Steve and Christie Learn, owners of the well-known circulation publication, "Learning More Circulation Idea Service," who will discuss circulation growth and new revenue venues.

The annual banquet dinner with scholarship and promotional award presentations. There will be a program by Gary Lavelle, of the Great Barrington Historical Society, about the history and recent renovation of the iconic newsboy statue located in the Berkshire County community.

To learn more about the conference, including how to register, visit the association's website, neace.com.

While Town Meeting overwhelmingly supported creating Amherst as a sanctuary community, the work is not done.

AMHERST -- Town Meeting has overwhelmingly supported establishing Amherst as a sanctuary community, but the work is not done.

Now, following Monday night's 165 to 4 vote, the Amherst Sanctuary Committee will create committees to devise written policies and procedures to establish how the bylaw will be implemented, said resident Caroline Murray, who brought the petition to the town.

That will involve meetings with town officials including the Police Chief Scott P. Livingstone, she said.

She was pleased with the overwhelmingly favorable vote and what it represented.

"There are two important things," she said. "The Amherst Sanctuary Committee is comprised of hundreds of people, and now 165 (more have joined on.)" She said the vote shows "the strength of the community has when it comes together."   

The committee also "will come together to create safe spaces beyond the policy," she said.

The town manager, though, said he anticipates no procedural changes for town officials.

"(The vote) will not change any of our practices," Town Manager Paul Bockelman said. "It aligns with our current practices, it provides a statement now. We are a sanctuary community, there's a value in that."

Following President Donald Trump's first travel ban executive order on Jan. 27, Livingstone, Bockelman and acting Superintendent of Schools Michael Morris issued a joint statement saying the police department will "continue its policy of not asking about the immigration status of any crime victim, witness or suspect unless the information is directly relevant."

The Select Board had supported the sanctuary bylaw approved by Town Meeting. The Finance Committee did not make a recommendation, concluding that the article would "pose significant financial implications for the town," according to its report.

Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding for communities that become sanctuary communities.

The city Arson and Bomb Squad in on the scene of a reported suspicious package at Bay and Edgewood streets in the city's Bay neighborhood.

Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com 

SPRINGFIELD - The city Arson and Bomb Squad in on the scene of a reported suspicious package at Bay and Edgewood streets in the city's Bay neighborhood.

Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said Edgewood Street is blocked off to traffic, and a bomb disposal technician in a protective suit is preparing to investigate the package.

This is a developing story and more information will be added as it is known.

Springfield Business Improvement District is bringing back Cruising in the Downtown to Court Square 5 p.m. to dusk Monday nights May 15 through Aug. 28.

SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield Business Improvement District is bringing back for a third year its Cruising in the Downtown classic car show starting Monday night.

The show runs from 5 p.m. to dusk on Monday nights from May 15 though Aug. 28 at Court Square downtown.

The show features cars 20 years old or older, live music, raffles and giveaways. Visitors are invited to grab a bite to eat from the nearby Palazzo Cafe or visit one of the surrounding restaurants in the downtown area.

The Springfield BID previously canceled the Cityblock Concert Series which took place at Stearns Square, as the park is scheduled to undergo a renovation beginning in August. 

Some of the BID's Cruise nights also took place at Stearns Square last year, but all of this year's dates have been moved to Court Square. There will also be theme nights with the first theme night on June 5 featuring tow trucks, courtesy of CJ's Towing.

"It was a natural fit for me to support the Downtown Cruise Night, I have been a car enthusiast as well as a Springfield Business owner for over 30 years and look forward to being a part of this great event," said Glen LaMontagne, owner of The Body Shop.

There is no registration fee, but car enthusiasts do raise money and awareness for Shriner's Children's Hospital and Square One. Trophies are awarded at the end of each night.

Cruise Night at Court Square is presented by The Body Shop, located on Stafford Street. Additional sponsors include the Bud Light, Harpoon, Farmington Savings Bank, Good Diggin Landscaping and Garvey Communications.

More information can be found at SpringfieldDowntown.com/Cruise-Night.

Traffic on Bay Street was blocked off near the Oak Grove Cemetery while the city Arson and Bomb Squad responded to the scene

Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com 

This is an update of a story posted at 4:05 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - A 'suspicious package' that triggered a shutdown of a section of Bay Street Tuesday afternoon grew less and less suspicious once the city Arson and Bomb Squad determined it was an empty box, a fire official said.

The package, found just after 3 p.m. at 527 Bay St., triggered an emergency response by Springfield Fire Department and Springfield police, said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

Traffic on Bay Street was blocked off near the Oak Grove Cemetery while the city Arson and Bomb Squad responded to the scene.

A bomb disposal technician in a protective suit inspected the box and found that it was empty.

The scene has cleared and traffic is back to normal.

One issue that remains in flux is whether the budget the committee eventually submits would include reductions in the number of teachers.

BELCHERTOWN -- A 10-minute recess allowed by the moderator was not enough to salvage the possibility of voting on the school budget at Monday's annual Town Meeting as district officials were accused by some voters of being unprepared.

School officials met off to the side during the recess and could be seen talking, but when the meeting re-convened, the school committee said they would support postponing a decision on the estimated $28 million fiscal 2018 district budget until June 19.

The district is grappling with potential teacher reductions.

School district officials "didn't do their job," resident Sharon Barnett, who previously served on the school board, said prior to the meeting. She agreed to the delay.

"We had a great school committee. We never, ever, came to Town Meeting without a budget, a detailed budget. We always came prepared," she said. "It wasn't taken seriously. They didn't do their job."

School committee member Jeff Charron said the board did not "have an approved budget here tonight. ... That is not that uncommon."

Resident Brian Gibbons said the "34-page budget (failed to) meet the standard of reasonableness. ... I am very uncomfortable (with the district proposal)."

Former school committee member Eric Weiss said it was a good idea to delay action, as many issues are under consideration.

"We've got a new contract for the superintendent," he said. "The school committee can go back and do their work" to prepare for June 19.

One issue that remains in flux is whether the budget the committee eventually submits will include reductions in the number of teachers. The school board's draft budget currently shows staffing reductions as follows:

• One high school social studies teacher will be laid off.
• Two full-time teachers will become part time.
• Three positions will not be filled when the current occupants leave the district in June. Two are at Chestnut Hill Community School, one is at Cold Spring School.
• Three paraprofessional positions will be eliminated.
• One custodian position will be eliminated.

Town Meeting also agreed to delay until next month a decision on whether the municipality should withdraw from Hampshire Council of Governments.

Elmo, Grover, Abby Cadabby and friends welcomed Chamki, Grover's friend from India, to Sesame Street via the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield on Tuesday. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD- Elmo, Grover, Abby Cadabby and friends welcomed Chamki, Grover's friend from India, to Sesame Street via the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield on Tuesday.

Together, they explored the universal fun of friendship and celebrated cultural similarities, from singing and dancing, to sharing cookies in front of a crowd at the 3 p.m. show. 

According to organizers, Chamki is from far away and she's visiting Sesame Street for just one day. Grover has a long to-do list for his friend, from kayaking to hot yoga, but Chamki is busy enjoying cookies with Cookie Monster, singing with Abby Cadabby, and doing "The Elmo Slide." 

Sesame Street Live's "Make a New Friend" production aims to offer a fun-filled, interactive learning experience, including up-close and furry interactions on the audience floor. Like television's Sesame Street, each Sesame Street Live production features songs and lessons for all ages.

Organizers say adults appreciate the high-tech stagecraft, cleverly written script, and music they'll recognize and enjoy sharing with children, such as "Count Me In" and fun new parodies of "Hot and Cold," and "Moves Like Jagger."

The fun continues at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening and tickets are still available at the door, via phone at 855-278-4667 or online here. 

Springfield police are still seeking suspects in Ragland's slaying.

SPRINGFIELD -- De'Asia Nicole always looked forward to hanging out with Shawn Ragland -- and regrets now that she will never again have the opportunity to hear him laugh or just go on and on about any topic that caught his fancy.

"He was a goofy, goofy, goofy guy. He was a really good time," said Nicole, of Springfield. "He was always laughing, always having things to say. He was very passionate about things."

Two days after his death, Nicole said she is still in shock that he is gone.

"He was a great person and a great friend," she said.

Ragland, 26, died after he was shot multiple times Sunday night while at a house party on Carver Street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood. Ragland was apparently gunned down when he stepped outside the house for a few moments.

The shooting remains under investigation and police have not yet made any arrests. No information about possible motives or possible suspects has been disclosed. It is not all together clear if Ragland was the intended target.

Nicole, who said she met Ragland in middle school and remained friends with him through high school and beyond, described him as both artistic and musical. He loved "weird paintings" and playing his guitar.

"He didn't call himself a musician, but it was something he liked to do in his spare time," she said.

She remember him in middle school, always tapping on desks: "He was really good at making beats."

She last saw him Sunday afternoon. They didn't talk about any plans for the Carver Street party, but they were supposed to meet up later that night. He said he would swing by her place.

On Sunday evening, she put her son to bed and waited for Ragland to arrive -- but he never did, she said. After a while, she went to bed.

"I was woken up by all these alerts and friends texting me and sharing what happened," she said. "I'm in absolute shock."

Nicole said Ragland was from Springfield but most of his family moved to Texas a few years ago. He often spoke of the next time he would be able to go visit, she said.

Several family members have returned to the city for his services.

Among them is his brother Joe Ragland, who plays professional basketball in Italy. He is a star player with the team SS Felice Scandone Avellino in the Irpinia region of the country, roughly 25 miles from Naples.

The team on Monday issued a statement expressing sympathy to Joe Ragland and his family.

"The CEO, members of the Board of Directors, together with technical and managerial staff and athletes of all SS Felice Scandone Avellino, are there for Joe Ragland and his family, for the sudden loss of the beloved brother," the statement read.

Funeral services for Ragland have not yet been announced, but one vigil is planned for Tuesday from 6-9 p.m. at the Abundant Live Worship and Praise Tabernacle on Arvilla Street in Springfield.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Springfield Police Detective Bureau at (413) 787-6355. Those who wish to remain anonymous may text a tip via a cell phone by addressing a text message to "CRIMES," or "274637," and then beginning the body of the message with the word "SOLVE."

Ragland is the city's third homicide victim of the year. There were a total of 13 homicides in Springfield in all of 2016.

Olenrewaju Esaojo, 23, lost control of his car when driving at about 5:15 a.m. Saturday.

FRANKLIN - A Rhode Island man who died in a single-car crash early Saturday morning on Interstate-495 has been identified as a 23-year-old Providence resident.

Massachusetts State Police said the victim was Olenrewaju Esaojo. He was alone in the car when it crashed.

Troopers continue to investigate the cause and facts of the accident that happened at about 5:15 a.m. on the northbound side of the highway.

Esaojo lost control of the 2011 Toyota he was driving and struck an arrow board. The car then rolled over into the median. He died at the scene of the accident, police said.

This crash remains under investigation by the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services Section and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. State Police were assisted on scene by Franklin Fire and EMS, and Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Ashfield, Leyden, Shutesbury, Plainfield, Windsor, and Mount Washington are ready to build town-owned fiber optic networks.

Six Western Massachusetts towns have received state grants to design and build their own municipal broadband networks.

Gov. Charlie Baker's administration last week released $4.6 million to Ashfield, Leyden, Shutesbury, Plainfield, Windsor, and Mount Washington. The grants will cover about a third of the cost, with towns borrowing the rest to build fiber optic networks to serve homes and businesses.

"We were very excited to get the news," said David Kulp, chairman of the Municipal Light Plant Advisory Board in Ashfield. "When I made the announcement at Town Meeting on Saturday, the room broke out into cheers."

The money came from a $20 million pool now managed by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development instead of the quasi-public Massachusetts Broadband Institute.

In March, the money was reclaimed by the Baker administration with approval by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, MBI's parent agency. It was part of $50 million originally entrusted to MassBroadband to bridge the digital divide in the 45 rural hilltowns.

For months, town leaders had complained of delays and shifting parameters, and at a Feb. 16 forum in Worthington directed sharp words at the institute, formed in 2008 by then-Gov. Deval Patrick and the state Legislature.

"After nine years, it's time that MBI acknowledge its failure, drops its paternalistic approach and simply grant money to the towns to get the job done," said Kulp at that forum.

Baker restructured the state's rural broadband program about a year ago to allow more flexible options for towns without high-speed internet, and those with inadequate service.

Part of the solution involved giving grant money to Comcast and Charter to expand their existing cable networks. But some towns that didn't qualify for cable extensions -- or rejected turnkey offers from the companies -- chose to go it alone.

Now towns that are financially and technically prepared to build their own networks may move ahead by combining state and local funds and hiring their own contractors.

Baker admin takes charge of $20 million in broadband grants

The new grant program, modeled after the popular MassWorks infrastructure grants, was designed "as a direct response to the urgent requests we heard to move this important project forward," said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

Five of the six towns have chosen to work with Whip City Fiber, a division of Weestfield Gas & Electric, to engineer and design their networks, and perhaps to oversee construction. 

Kulp said Ashfield is on the verge of signing a contract with the Westfield-based utility, and that their design and engineering work will yield a more concrete cost estimate.

He said the original $3.7 million estimate prepared by MBI may be too low. The institute hired a contractor to do "desktop modeling" of town-based networks, and the flawed model failed to account for about 300 utility poles, said Kulp.

Kulp said he is happy about the state grant, but that he hopes it's enough.

Ashfield Town Meeting members in 2015 overwhelmingly approved borrowing $2.3 million for their portion of the cost.

"Soon we'll have a better sense of whether the project is still affordable," he said, noting that some small towns in the region don't have the capacity to
borrow at all.

Kulp said it all goes well, Ashfield's municipal fiber network could be up and running in two years.

Ashfield: $1,410,000 for an estimated $3.7 million network
Leyden: $680,000 for an estimated $1.75 million network
Mount Washington: $222,000 for an estimated $1.25 million network
Plainfield: $650,000 for an estimated $1.78 million network
Shutesbury: $870,000 for an estimated $2.58 million network
Windsor - $830,000 for an estimated $2.19 million network

Anthony Trikas Jr., an 18-year-old senior poised to graduate this spring, and a 17-year-old female classmate are facing felony animal cruelty charges in connection with a mouse-killing incident. Images of the creature were shared on social media, sparking a criminal investigation and disciplinary action by school officials.

LUDLOW -- A judge says Ludlow school officials could have better handled an alleged animal cruelty case involving two local students.

Anthony Trikas Jr., an 18-year-old senior who is poised to graduate from Ludlow High School this spring, and a 17-year-old female classmate are facing felony animal cruelty charges in connection with a mouse-killing incident. Images of the creature were shared on social media, sparking a criminal investigation and apparent disciplinary action by school officials.

Attorney Roy Anderson, who is representing Trikas, filed a preliminary injunction in Hampden Superior Court to prohibit the defendants -- the superintendent of Ludlow Public Schools and any "agents, servants and employees" of the school district -- from "preventing or otherwise impeding" Trikas, the plaintiff, from attending Ludlow High School and all events and activities associated with his "status as a graduating senior."

The injunction also asked the court to bar the defendants from "communicating with the media and any undergraduate institutions regarding the plaintiff's "suspension, proposed suspension, or underlying charges and allegations that may exist."

In a hearing last week, Hampden Superior Court Judge Michael K. Callan said Trikas should be allowed to attend graduation, but otherwise denied the motion -- but not before scolding school officials for mishandling the matter, which gained attention from the media and an international animal rights organization. 

"The actions of the defendants in this matter appear to be a vast overreaction," Callan said in his ruling.

"It presented a teaching opportunity, and rather than purse that opportunity, the defendants elected to suspend this plaintiff," he said. "The offered reason was that too many students were upset and were disrupted by the plaintiff's presence, which is circular logic."

The affected students will likely face "many difficulties in their lives" that are far more difficult than Trikas attending graduation, Callan said. School officials should have confronted and discussed the incident, the judge said, rather then attempt to shield students by "suspending this plaintiff."

Anderson said the next criminal hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16, in Palmer District Court. The attorney has asked a judge to dismiss the charges. "I'm hoping we can resolve this on the 16th," Anderson said.

The good news for Trikas and his family is that the teen will be able to graduate, according to the lawyer.

Trikas and the 17-year-old girl, who has not been publicly identified because she is a minor, bought the mouse at a local pet shop to scare the girl's mother, Anderson said. The mouse was the type sold in pet stores as pet food to feed snakes, he said.

After the mouse was killed, Trikas and the girl decided to dissect it, "like in AP biology," Anderson said. Trikas shared a photo with a buddy on Snapchat, a mobile messaging app that allows users to capture photos or brief video clips and share them with friends, and the buddy reportedly circulated the photo.

Ludlow School Superintendent Todd H. Gazda has declined to comment on "any consequences that may or may not have been handed out with respect to this incident." 

Comey's firing comes days after he testified on Capitol Hill about the FBI's investigation into Russia's election meddling and possible connections between Russia and Trump's campaign.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, saying it was necessary to restore "public trust and confidence" in the nation's top law enforcement agency following several tumultuous months.

"The FBI is one of our nation's most cherished and respected institutions, and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement," Trump said in a statement.

The White House said the search for a new FBI director was beginning immediately.

The White House made the stunning announcement shortly after the FBI corrected a sentence in Comey's sworn testimony on Capitol Hill last week. Comey told lawmakers that Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, had sent "hundreds and thousands" of emails to her husband's laptop, including some with classified information.

On Tuesday, the FBI said in a two-page letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that only "a small number" of the thousands of emails found on the laptop had been forwarded there while most had simply been backed up from electronic devices. Most of the email chains on the laptop containing classified information were not the result of forwarding, the FBI said.

Comey, 56, was nominated by President Barack Obama for the FBI post in 2013 to a 10-year term. Praised for his independence and integrity, Comey has spent three decades in law enforcement and has been no stranger to controversy.

View obituaries from The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Dylan Riel, 4, and Jayce Garcia, 1, both of Southbridge, were killed in a car crash June 20, 2104, in Brimfield in which Suzanne Hardy is charged with manslaughter.

SPRINGFIELD -- The prosecution rested late Tuesday afternoon in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Suzanne Hardy, who is charged in connection with a 2014 Brimfield car crash that killed two brothers.

Two of Hardy's passengers, Dylan Riel, 4, and Jayce Garcia, 1, both of Southbridge, were killed.

Hardy, 24, of Holland, is on trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation for the crash on Route 20 on June 20, 2014, at about 4:45 p.m. She can be found guilty of either manslaughter or motor vehicle homicide, but not both.

She is also charged with two counts of reckless endangerment of a child for not properly securing Jayce and Dylan in the back seat.

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

Dr. Mindy Hull, a state medical examiner who performed the autopsies, testified Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court that both little boys died from similar injuries -- blunt force trauma to the head and neck with differing degrees of separation of the spinal column from the skull base. The injury is most typically caused by the body stopping but the head continuing to move forward, she said.

Dr. Andrew Marino, an emergency room physician at Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, where the boys were first brought, described efforts first to get Jayce's heart going again.

When it became clear that would be unsuccessful, he left staff with Jayce and turned his efforts to Dylan, because Dylan had been brought out of cardiac arrest.

At the time a helicopter took Dylan to UMass Memorial Medical Center, he had a heartbeat and blood pressure, Marino said. Dylan was pronounced dead there.

The rest of the day Tuesday consisted of testimony by Sgt. Christopher Sanchez of the Massachusetts State Police collision analysis and reconstruction section.

Defense lawyer Joan Williams is expected to call her expert witness when testimony resumes at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Judge Richard J. Carey told jurors that, after the defense expert's testimony, closing arguments and his instructions on the law, he expects they will get the case for deliberations Wednesday.

Hardy until late Tuesday had faced a third count of reckless endangerment of a child, with the allegation being that she did not secure her own 4-year-old child properly in the car. Carey dropped that charge after Williams argued there was testimony Hardy's son was in a booster seat. All three children were in the back seat.

The prosecution contends the involuntary manslaughter charge is based on Hardy's reckless driving and her failure to secure Dylan and Jayce.

Testimony was that the crash happened as Hardy was driving east on Route 20. A Babe's Lawn Care truck was in the left lane eastbound waiting to turn into the company headquarters at 345 Sturbridge Road (Route 20). 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.

Hardy suffered a fractured hip and a fractured foot and had her spleen removed, Williams said.

Hardy also faces a count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (her car) for injuries to the driver of the other car.

Sanchez did not testify about the speed Hardy was driving. He said he has an opinion about the speed but could not produce scientific proof.

Sanchez said he ruled out environmental or mechanical reasons for the crash, leaving only the human factor. He said the landscaping truck and trailer stopped in the left eastbound lane ahead were visible to a driver going eastbound.

His opinion as to the cause of the crash is that Hardy didn't perceive that the truck and trailer was stopped in sufficient time to take action to avoid losing control.

The driver and the passengers in the landscaping truck testified they were stopped either 30 seconds or a minute waiting to turn before Hardy hit the guard rail.

Sanchez testified Dylan was on the regular seat with a seat belt only, no child seat. He said the car seat in which Jayce was placed was facing forward when it should have been facing backwards and was strapped in too loosely.

Williams, through cross-examination, challenged many points in Sanchez's written report on the crash, as well as his opinions and his testimony that three car or booster seats could have fit in the back seat.

She asked Sanchez if he had ever investigated a crash where sun from behind reflecting on objects was a factor. Sanchez said the sun would have been in back of Hardy, and he has never investigated a serious crash where sun from behind was a contributing factor.

The trial is being held in a small courtroom so the 15 or more family of the two boys are crowded into the two rows on one side of the courtroom and one row of the other side. When court breaks they go upstairs to the district attorney's office with prosecutor James Forsyth and victim witness advocate Margaret Piela.

People who are there with Suzanne Hardy are seated in the remaining row of the other side.

As was the case on other trial days, tears flowed from many people, especially with testimony from the medical examiner and emergency room doctor.