Police said Garcia was heard speaking Spanish to the 2 alleged buyers who were also arrested, asking them "What do you think my bail is for selling you heroin?"

Miguel Garcia, 26 of 367 Oakland St., Springfield, was charged with distribution of heroin and violation of a drug-free school zone.

SPRINGFIELD - Three city residents were arrested on Thursday after officers allegedly watched a drug deal take place a busy intersection in the Forest Park neighborhood.

According to Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Commissioner William Fitchet, detectives with the Narcotics Division under the direction of Sgt. Martin Ambrose were conducting surveillance at the corner of Oakland and Orange streets around noon Thursday after receiving information that people were dealing drugs out in the open in the area.

Then around 12:15 p.m., officers allegedly saw Garcia standing near the Sav More gas station parking lot.

Delaney said a mini van with a man and woman inside pulled into the parking lot and the officers saw Garcia make a Heroin sale to the couple. After the van left the parking lot, police pulled it over at the intersection of Walnut and Pine streets, where a search allegedly yielded three bags of heroin.

Delaney said the officers then went back to the intersection or Orange and Oakland streets where they arrested Garcia. He was charged with distribution of heroin and violation of a drug-free school zone.

The alleged buyers, 35-year-old Oscar Vargas and 29-year-old Luisa Alvarez were both charged with possession of heroin.

Delaney said that as the three were being booked at police headquarters, Garcia was heard speaking Spanish to Vargas and Alvarez, asking them "What do you think my bail is for selling you heroin?"

They were held awaiting arraignment in Springfield District Court.

The market had been up for much of the day after an unexpected decrease in new applications for unemployment benefits.

Associated PressSpecialist Michael Gagliano, right, directs trades at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, July 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

By CHIP CUTTER
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — A late sell-off wiped out the stock market's gains Thursday as the stalemate over raising the country's debt limit continued.

The market had been up for much of the day after an unexpected decrease in new applications for unemployment benefits. Stocks sank in the last half-hour of trading after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that a bill to end the stalemate, proposed in the House of Representatives, would fail if it reached the Senate.

"That gave a catalyst for selling," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.

The Dow has fallen five straight days because of worries that the U.S. might default on its debt if Congress doesn't raise the country's borrowing limit. It's down more than 484 points, or 3.8 percent. Just five days remain until the Treasury Department says the government won't have enough money to cover all of its bills.

Even if the U.S. doesn't default, investors worry that the country might lose its triple-A credit rating. That could raise interest rates and possibly slow the U.S. economy, which is still recovering from the worst recession in decades.

"We're running out of time," said Phil Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis. "It's getting scary."

The chief executives of several of the country's largest banks sent a letter to The White House and to Congress urging a quick resolution to the debt limit debate. Bank of America Corp.'s Brian Moynihan, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Lloyd Blankfein and others warned on Thursday that the consequences on not acting would be grave for the economy, the job market, and for America's global economic leadership.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 62.44 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 12,240.11. The index had been up as many as 82 points earlier in the day.

The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 4.22, or 0.3 percent, to close at 1,300.67. The S&P 500 has four straight days. The Nasdaq composite index was up 1.46, or 0.1 percent, to 2,766.25.

The price of gold, which tends to rise when investors are fearful of economic disruptions, fell $1.70 to $1,613.40 an ounce. Gold is up $100 an ounce in the last two weeks and nearly $200 an ounce since the beginning of the year, when it traded at $1,422 an ounce. When gold prices are high, experts say it's a good indicator that people are reluctant to invest in other markets.

The dollar rose against other currencies. Treasury prices were also up slightly.

Markets declined less on Thursday than they did earlier in the week. That's partly because the government reported that first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to 398,000 last week, the fewest in four months. Economists had expected 415,000 first-time applications for unemployment benefits. And any figure below 400,000 is typically associated with job growth.

Technology stocks rose after LSI Corp., which makes storage and networking chips, forecast revenues that were higher than investors were expecting. Its stock gained 14.1 percent, the most in the S&P 500.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. rose 1.5 percent after the drugmaker reported earnings that were better than analysts anticipated. The company also raised its earnings forecast for 2011.

Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 2.2 percent after its earnings came in below analysts' estimates.

Akamai Technologies Inc. fell 19.1 percent, the most in the S&P 500 index, after the online streaming company's earnings were lower than analysts had expected. Sprint Nextel Corp. fell 15.9 percent. The nation's No. 3 wireless carrier said its loss widened in the second quarter, partly because of a tax expense and investment losses.

The Dow is down 3.5 percent for the week and is headed for its worst week since last July. The S&P 500 is down 3.3 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq is down 3.2 percent. Still, the Dow is up 5.7 percent for the year, the S&P is up 3.4 percent for the year and the Nasdaq is up 4.3 percent for the year.

Nearly two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was relatively heavy at 4.4 billion shares.

As the evening slipped by, the White House poked fun at Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner, who has become President Barack Obama's principal antagonist in a contentious era of divided government.

Associated PressRep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., passes Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., as he walks to the podium as on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2011, as freshmen Republican House members announced they'll vote yes later Thursday on the GOP plan to raise the debt limit. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON — An intense endgame at hand, House Republican leaders put off a vote Thursday night on legislation to avert a threatened government default and slice federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.

GOP leaders announced their decision after abruptly halting debate on the legislation and plunging into an intensive round of meetings with rebellious conservatives.

The decision created fresh turmoil as a divided government struggled to head off a default threatened after next Tuesday that would leave the Treasury without the funds needed to pay all its bills.

As the evening slipped by, the White House poked fun at Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner, who has become President Barack Obama's principal antagonist in a contentious era of divided government. And Senate Democrats pledged to scuttle the measure — if it ever got to them — to force a final compromise.

Boehner summoned a string of Republican critics of the bill to his office.

Asked what he and the speaker had talked about, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said, "I think that's rather obvious. ... There's negotiations going on."

Based on public statements by lawmakers themselves, it appeared that five of some two dozen holdouts were from South Carolina. The state is also represented by Sen. Jim DeMint, who has solid ties to tea party groups and is a strong critic of compromising on the debt issue.

A few first-term conservatives slipped into a small chapel a few paces down the hall from the Capitol Rotunda as they contemplated one of the most consequential votes of their careers.

Asked if he was seeking divine inspiration, Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said that had already happened. "I was leaning no and now I am a no."

Many more congregated in the office of the chief GOP vote counter, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, perhaps drawn to the 19 boxes of pizza that were rolled in. Boehner joined them but did not speak to reporters.

"Clock ticks towards August 2, House is naming post offices, while leaders twist arms for a pointless vote. No wonder people hate Washington," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer tweeted.

Earlier, Boehner had exuded optimism.

Associated PressHouse Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, pauses as he and other Republican leaders talk to reporters about the debt crisis showdown during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"Let's pass this bill and end the crisis," said the president's principal Republican antagonist in a new and contentious era of divided government. "It raises the debt limit and cuts government spending by a larger amount."

President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the measure, and in debate on the House floor, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida savaged it as a "Republican plan for default." She said the GOP hoped to "hold our economy hostage while forcing an ideological agenda" on the country.

Despite the sharp rhetoric, there were signs that gridlock might be giving way.

"Around here you've got to have deadlock before you have breakthrough," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. "We're at that stage now."

Wall Street suffered fresh losses as Congress struggled to break its long gridlock. The Dow Jones industrial average was down for a fifth straight session.

The Treasury Department moved ahead with plans to hold its regular weekly auction of three-month and six-month securities on Monday. Yet officials offered no information on what steps would be taken if Congress failed to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit by the following day.

Without signed legislation by Aug. 2, the Treasury will not have enough funds to pay all the nation's bills. Administration officials have warned of potentially calamitous effects on the economy if that happens — a spike in interest rates, a plunge in stock markets and a tightening in the job market in a nation already struggling with unemployment over 9 percent.

White House press secretary Jay Carney outlined White House compromise terms: "significant deficit reduction, a mechanism by which Congress would take on the tough issues of tax reform and entitlement reform and a lifting of the debt ceiling beyond ... into 2013."

The last point loomed as the biggest obstacle.

The House bill cuts spending by $917 billion over a decade, principally by holding down costs for hundreds of government programs ranging from the Park Service to the Agriculture Department and foreign aid.

It also provides an immediate debt limit increase of $900 billion, which is less than half of the total needed to meet Obama's insistence that there be no replay of the current crisis in the heat of the 2012 election campaigns.

An additional $1.6 trillion in borrowing authority would be conditioned on passage of The endgame at hand, House Republicans struggled Thursday to pass legislation to prevent a looming government default while slicing nearly $1 trillion from federal spending. Senate Democrats pledged to scuttle the bill — if it got to them — in hopes of forcing a final compromise.

Associated PressCivic and religious leaders pray inside the Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2011. The group, who were protesting proposed budget cuts with debt ceiling negotiations, were arrested by Capitol Hill Police. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The GOP bill's $917 billion in upfront spending cuts was trillions less than many tea party-backed rank-and-file Republican lawmakers wanted, but a total that seemed nearly unimaginable when they took power in the House last winter with an agenda of reining in government. Numerous Republicans grumbled that the legislation didn't cut more deeply, and Boehner and the rest of the GOP leadership have spent their week cajoling reluctant conservatives to provide the votes needed to pass it.

By most accounts, they were succeeding.

"It gives us a little bit of heartburn because it doesn't go big enough," said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., a first-term lawmaker who said he would vote for the bill as the best one available.

Another first-term Republican, Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama, said the bill was "far from perfect. But I don't have the luxury of writing the plan by myself, and neither does Speaker Boehner."

While the White House and Democrats objected to the House bill, they readied an alternative that contained similarities.

Drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it provides for $2.7 trillion in additional borrowing authority for the Treasury. It also calls for cuts of $2.2 trillion, including about $1 trillion in Pentagon savings that assume the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even before the House voted, Reid served notice he would stage a vote to kill the legislation almost instantly.

"No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now," he said.

With the House and Senate focused on debt-limit legislation at opposite ends of the Capitol, 11 religious leaders protesting budget cuts were arrested in the Rotunda midway between the two chambers.

Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said on the House floor that they were praying for those who will be "hurt the hardest" by the bill being considered.

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., countered that he, too was praying — to avoid a default.

The day's events marked the climax of a struggle that began last winter, when the Treasury Department notified Congress it would need additional borrowing authority, and Boehner said any increase would have to include steps to reduce future spending.

At first the White House balked at the terms, then relented. That gradually morphed into a series of bipartisan negotiations, one led by Vice President Joe Biden, then another by Obama, and finally, a round of golf that led to stab at a "grand bargain" between the president and Boehner.

Boehner announced last Friday he was calling off the talks, setting in motion a frantic week of maneuvering as the default deadline grew near.

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Donna Cassata, Stephen Ohlemacher, Larry Margasak, Martin Crutsinger, Charles Babington, Darlene Superville and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

Brown: "I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to rise above partisanship."

Associated PressU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., after Republican leaders in the House of Representatives delayed a vote on raising the U.S. debt limit, called on "colleagues on both sides of the aisle to rise above partisanship." (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., on Thursday night labeled a delay on a vote in the House of Representatives on raising the U.S. debt limit as "pathetic."

Following the decision by Republican House leaders to delay the vote, Brown issued this statement:

"It’s extremely disappointing that the House of Representatives was unable to work together in a bi-partisan way to avoid default. Frankly, this is pathetic. The American people deserve better. I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to rise above partisanship. The time to act is now.”

Late Thursday night, GOP leaders announced their decision to put off a vote on legislation to avert a threatened government default and slice federal spending by nearly $1 trillion after abruptly halting debate on the legislation and plunging into an intensive round of meetings with rebellious conservatives.

The decision created fresh turmoil as a divided government struggled to head off a default threatened after next Tuesday that would leave the Treasury without the funds needed to pay all its bills.

Last Friday, Brown joined the rest of his party in supporting a House GOP debt limit proposal that ultimately failed in the Senate.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report

Population growth in Western Massachusetts has lagged behind the rest of the state.

File photo | The RepublicanState Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, co-chair of the Legislature’s 28-member Joint Committee on Redistricting, spoke in South Hadley on Thursday night on the redistricting process.

SOUTH HADLEY – As a result of the 2010 census, Massachusetts will have nine congressional districts instead of 10 next year, and that means the state will lose a seat in the U.S. Congress.

People are not happy about it, state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, told a Thursday night crowd at Town Hall.

Rosenberg is co-chair of the Legislature’s 28-member Joint Committee on Redistricting.

His appearance was sponsored by the South Hadley Democratic Town Committee.

Rosenberg said his committee held 13 hearings on redistriciting across the state, and everyone seems to be worried about two things: “Are we going to lose our seat?” and “Will our district change so much than we won’t recognize it?”

Everyone made compelling arguments for why their district shouldn’t change, said Rosenberg. “But in reality,” he said, “every district must change.”

People who spoke at the hearings were pretty polite, said Rosenberg. “But when they get pushed – they always pointed west.”

Just as the population in Massachusetts has not grown as much as the population in the rest of the country – 3 percent compared to 9 percent – population growth in Western Massachusetts has lagged behind the rest of the state.

“You see the world from where you sit – and that’s the problem,” said Rosenberg.

People in Western Massachusetts are especially worried that they will lose one of their two U.S. congressmen, John W. Olver, of Amherst, or Richard E. Neal, of Springfield.

Now the hearings have closed. Rosenberg’s committee must get to work analyzing and sifting through the comments residents of Massachusetts have made and maps they have submitted. Usually the latter come from special interest groups.

From this mountain of testimony, the committee will try to redraw the maps of Massachusetts to reflect the interests of its residents.

Although the loss of a seat in Congress has been drawing the most attention, maps will also be re-drawn for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts Governor’s Council.

A map is like a bill that has to go through the state’s House and Senate. “These maps are amendable,” said Rosenberg. “They will be debated. Once the governor signs them, that is the law.”

In Western Massachusetts, hearings were held Springfield in March, Greenfield in May and Pittsfield in June.

Delaney also will visit with the parents of Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey of Belchertown, who took his life in 2004 after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Courtesy Bob Delaney Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinee Michael Jordan shares some thought with former NBA referee Bob Delaney during a game.

Seconds left. Game on the line. Lebron James drives the lane, making plenty of contact, and lays it in. Bodies fly. The whistle blows as 30,000 people stand and scream. Three-point play or offensive foul?

Think the life of an NBA referee is stressful? For Bob Delaney, it was therapy.

Delaney, 59, retired last year after a 25-year career that included playoffs, an All-Star game and more regular season games than he can count in gyms across the country.

Now Delaney is making a circuit that takes him to places like Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas, and Walter Reed Medical Center to blow the whistle on post-traumatic stress disorder. He will be in the Springfield area the weekend of Aug. 6-7 to talk about the malady at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and to visit with the parents of Marine Cpl. Jeffrey M. Lucey of Belchertown, who took his life in 2004 after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Although he’s had everyone from Michael Jordan to the guys in the nose-bleed seats woofing at him, the NBA was a cake-walk compared to Delaney’s first career as a New Jersey state trooper. Like his father before him, Delaney wore the badge of an organization he describes as being “steeped in military tradition,” joining in 1973 at the tender age of 22. After a little more than a year on road duty, Delaney was surprised and a bit nervous to receive a message that the lieutenant in charge of the organized crime bureau wanted to see him.

“I grew up Irish Catholic, which means I wake up feeling guilty in the morning,” he said in a phone interview.

The lieutenant asked Delaney if he wanted to work undercover on a crime task force with the FBI, an offer he readily accepted. He and the other task force members started their own trucking company on the New Jersey waterfront and soon gained entry into the underworld. For three years, in his undercover identity as “Bobby Covert,” Delaney rubbed elbows with the mafia and went to mob meetings, sometimes wearing a wire and often stopping on the way to throw up from anxiety.

On his last day undercover, Delaney recalled, he stood in the West Orange, N.J., armory watching a hood named Ronnie Sardella get fingerprinted. Still thinking Delaney was one of them, Sardella asked what he got pinched for. Another officer revealed that Delaney was a state trooper. Sardella’s response haunted Delaney.

“He said, ‘How could you do it to me?’” Delaney recalled. “You don’t tell on your friends.”

View full sizePhoto courtesy of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of FameBob Delaney walks with Maj. Gen. Sherko-Zervani of the Kurdish forces during his first trip to Iraq in 2009.

The threats on his life only added to the emotional turmoil. Although it would be several years before it became a medical diagnosis, Delaney was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. His anger drove him to punch holes in walls. He shrank from company. The only comfort he found was from talking to fellow law enforcement officers who knew what he was feeling. One of them was Joe Pistone, an FBI agent who went undercover to infiltrate two New York mafia families under the name Donnie Brasco.

“They helped me tremendously,” Delaney said.

Those peer-to-peer sessions led to therapy, and therapy to health.

“In therapy, you feel this release and say, ‘Man I’m not crazy,’” he said.

Delaney found a new calling. He began talking about post-traumatic stress disorder with police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and soldiers. Often, he would use a balloon as an illustration.

“I’d say, ‘How do I let the air out?’” Delaney explained. “You could pop it, but then there’d be no balloon. Or you could pinch the end and there’d be this screeching noise. Maybe you’d hear things you didn’t want to hear, but maybe you’d have a balloon you could use the next day.”

Delaney’s work took him to military hospitals, where he would talk to wounded soldiers, as well as to Iraq, where he’d speak to troops on the front lines. He traveled to Fort Hood, Texas, shortly after a gunman went on a shooting rampage there, killing 13 people and wounding 29 others. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is awaiting trial on multiple charges of murder and attempted murder.

View full sizePhoto courtesy of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of FameBob Delaney, front and center, appears in a photograph with members of an Abrams tank unit in Mosul, Iraq, holding up a copy of Delaney's book on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recently, Delaney put in a call to Kevin and Joyce Lucey, whose son Jeffrey hanged himself in their Belchertown home eight years ago. Jeffrey Lucey turned to alcohol to keep away the demons that haunted him after the horrors he saw in Iraq. In the end, he was unable to escape them. Since his suicide, the Luceys have helped lead the campaign to address post-traumatic stress disorder in the military.

“We look forward to working together,” Delaney said. “Their willingness to share what they’ve learned on their journey with other parents will be absolutely powerful. It may prevent another soldier from going down the same path.”

Delaney was fortunate to find a special form of therapy as he tried to decompress from his undercover work. A former high school player himself, he began refereeing basketball games in the early 1980s. The late Darell Garretson, then the NBA’s chief of officiating, saw Delaney refereeing a Jersey Shore League game and took him under his wing.

“One thing led to another,” Delaney said. “I never even thought of the NBA as a goal.”

Delaney, who has worked many high-stakes games, including the NBA Finals, said the job actually helped him cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

“For me it was absolutely peaceful,” he said of his time on the floor. “Basketball had rules and regulation.”

He retired at the end of last season and has spent much of his time since then promoting his books, “Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob,” and “Surviving the Shadows: A Journey of Hope into Post-Traumatic Stress,” and talking about post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I think we’ve waited too long to talk about it,” he said.

On Aug. 6, Delaney will be at the Basketball Hall of Fame for a question-and-answer session on “Surviving the Shadows” to give copies of the book to teams of law enforcement officers playing in a tournament to benefit the Special Olympics.

On Aug. 7 he will talk about post-traumatic stress disorder at Westover Air Reserve Base.

Later that day, Delaney will return to the Basketball Hall of Fame to be ceremonially deputized by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department. He also plans to meet with the Luceys sometime over the weekend.

25 homes in Springfield will be repaired and restored through the agency’s "Funnel Your Energy for Rebuilding Together" initiative.

SPRINGFIELD – Dolores Culp got a brand-new roof from Rebuilding Together, a local charitable agency focused on helping low-income homeowners rehabilitate their homes, just last year.

It was promptly reclaimed by Mother Nature in June.

The 59-year-old retired U.S. Army veteran arrived at her home at 30 Amanda St. after the June 1 tornado to find her new roof in pieces, her chimney gone, her garage damaged and every tree on her property toppled over – primarily onto her house.

But, she was grateful to be alive, and was subsequently grateful for what she deems extraordinary help from neighbors, strangers, the city, and charitable agencies, including the local Red Cross and Salvation Army.

“I go to church and believe in God. And I know He’ll only put so much on your shoulders, and I can’t thank all the people who helped me enough,” said Culp, whose house sits in one of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods in East Forest Park.

She is poised to get yet another helping hand from Rebuilding Together Springfield in October. Culp’s will be among 25 homes in the city to get repaired and restored through the agency’s “Funnel Your Energy for Rebuilding Together” initiative Oct. 1 through Oct. 5.

Twenty-five homes in five days is one of the nonprofit’s most ambitious plans and will be targeted specifically toward tornado victims who also are low-income homeowners. Typically its only criteria are that applicants are low-income homeowners. They also have initiatives that target veterans, which is among the reasons Culp benefited previously.

Colleen Loveless

Colleen S. Loveless, executive director of Rebuilding Together in Springfield, said they hope to pick up where insurance companies and FEMA leave off. “If something falls outside insurance or involves high deductibles – that’s where we come in,” Loveless said, adding that the agency wants to help with long-term rebuilding efforts. The government has estimated recovery may take up to 18 months.

The Springfield branch recently came off a $3,000 fund-raiser that took place Tuesday – in the midst of the latest weather debacle for the region – and the money will be used toward the October campaign for tornado victims.

The Rebuilding Together campaigns are bolstered by volunteers. TD Bank is providing hundreds of employees from Florida to Maine to volunteer in October, Loveless said. More than 20 Rebuilding Together affiliates also will assist. Potential applicants can call the Springfield office at (413) 788-0014 to receive an application in the mail or download an application from www.rebuildingtogetherspringfield.org.

Eastbound traffic is being routed onto the breakdown lane.

Photo submitted by Jeff Elander

WEST SPRINGFIELD – A pickup truck rollover on the Massachusetts Turnpike has prompted state police to close two eastbound lanes.

State police attached to the Westfield barracks said eastbound traffic has been routed onto the breakdown lane. The accident was reportedly shortly after 7:30 a.m.

Additional information was not immediately available.

Rep. Richard Neal said "the bill has come due" and Congress must honor the nation's debt.

During a contentious debate that lead Republican House leaders to postpone a vote on a GOP-sponsored measure to raise the nation's debt ceiling, members of the Massachusetts delegation, all of them Democrats, sought to pin blame for the nation's debt on their Republican colleagues.

Prepared remarks released by Rep. John Olver's office said that President Obama "cannot be blamed" for spikes in the national debt, and included a chart blaming recent Republican administrations for large deficits.

"They would default on our debt -- causing a global financial crisis – rather than see hedge fund managers, corporate jet owners or phenomenally profitable oil companies pay higher taxes," Olver said. "Their call for fiscal responsibility rings hollow, and the fiscal history of the last three decades clearly shows that."

Olver's colleague, Richard Neal, D-Springfield, said on the House floor Thursday that the debate over the debt ceiling "is not about new spending."

"This is the credit card that has come due for the irresponsibility that we witnessed in this chamber and across this Congress for eight years of the Bush administration," Neal said.

Senator Scott Brown, a Republican who supported a previous House GOP measure that failed in the Senate, released a statement last night calling the failure to reach bipartisan consensus in the House "pathetic."

Victims of the tornadoes must register with the SBA and FEMA by August 15.

Sen. Scott Brown released a video message to the victims of the June 1 tornadoes that ravaged Western Mass., urging them to take advantage of federal assistance programs ahead of the August 15 deadline.

"I hope more people will take advantage of these emergency aid programs and speed the process of rebuilding their lives and the businesses that are essential to the local economy," Brown said in the video, recommending victims register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration, the two agencies tasked with distributing aid.

The Republican reports that FEMA has allocated $98,330 for a crisis outreach program for tornado victims in Hampden and Worcester counties.

FEMA Disaster recovery centers in Monson and West Springfield were recently converted into SBA disaster loan outreach centers earlier this month.

Brown's office released a document outlining the procedures victims looking to register should follow, embedded below. For more information follow our Tornado Recovery page.

Scott Brown FEMA SBA Release

View full sizeThe Republican | Mark M. MurrayU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left, and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, went on walking tours on Friday of some of the areas in the Old Hill section of Springfield that were hit by the June 1 tornado. Here they make their way down Beech Street.

From the start of the recession at the end of 2007 to the end in June of 2009, the U.S. economy shrank 5.1 percent.

Associated PressIn this June 9, 2011 photo, a "bank-owned view price reduced," lot is chained and locked but advertised for sale, in Seattle. Two years after economists say the Great Recession ended, the recovery has been the weakest and most lopsided of any since the 1930s.

WASHINGTON — The 2007-2009 recession, already in the record books as the worst in the 66 years since the end of World War II, was even worse than previously thought.

From the start of the recession at the end of 2007 to the end in June of 2009, the U.S. economy shrank 5.1 percent. That is 1 percentage point worse than the previous estimate that the recession reduced total output during that period by 4.1 percent.

The new estimates emerged from the annual revision of economic data prepared by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis and released Friday.

Among the previous 10 postwar recessions, output in only two dropped by more 3 percent. In the 1957-58 recession, the economy contracted 3.7 percent. And during the 1973-1975 downturn, the economy fell 3.2 percent from the start of the recession to the end.

The government attributed the bigger declines in output in part to weaker consumer spending and business investment than previously estimated.

By year, the government's new figures show that the economy took a much bigger hit in 2009, when output shrank 3.5 percent. The previous estimate had shown a decline of 2.5 percent that year.

In 2008, the new estimate shows the economy contracted by 0.3 percent. The previous estimate had indicated that output was unchanged for that year compared with 2007.

The last recession began in December 2007 and lasted until June 2009. Though the economy has been growing since then, growth has been subpar. And the unemployment rate has remained elevated; it's now 9.2 percent.

The revisions showed that growth in 2010 was a bit stronger than previously estimated. They put growth for all of 2010 at 3 percent, up from a previous estimate that the economy grew 2.9 percent last year.

The revisions to the country's gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, used more complete data for such items as consumer and business spending.

The government's annual revisions are released each July, along with its first estimate of growth for the April-June quarter of the current year.

In May, police said Nathaniel Grant, a 20-year-old UMass student from Richmond, was drinking on the roof of the Delta Upsilon fraternity when he slipped and fell.

The Republican file photo | John SuchockiThe University of Massachusetts Amherst campus faces a cut of $18 million in its fiscal year 2012 budget, chancellor Robert Holub has warned.

AMHERST — A University of Massachusetts fraternity where a student was injured in a fall has been placed on emergency suspension.

UMass spokesman Daniel Fitzgibbons said Thursday that the university received a letter from the national office of the Delta Upsilon fraternity saying it took that action against the school's chapter.

According to the letter, the school's chapter may not function as a Delta Upsilon fraternity chapter, may not represent themselves as a chapter and must cease all activities.

In May, police said Nathaniel Grant, a 20-year-old UMass student from Richmond, was drinking on the roof of the Delta Upsilon fraternity when he slipped and fell.

Grant was left in critical condition and the case prompted Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan to launch an investigation into whether drinking laws had been violated.

Summer Igoe, of Grafton, and Jenna Dasaro, Westboro, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Worcester Superior Court to larceny and conspiracy charges.

WORCESTER — Two Massachusetts women are accused of crashing two wedding receptions and stealing gifts and money intended for the newlyweds.

Summer Igoe, of Grafton, and Jenna Dasaro, Westboro, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Worcester Superior Court to larceny and conspiracy charges.

Authorities said the 32-year-old Igoe and the 31-year-old Dasaro stole gifts and money from a May 21 wedding reception at Wachusett County Club in West Boylston and from a May 31 reception at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester.

Police said the pair attended receptions uninvited and were captured on surveillance videotape on both occasions.

Igoe was out on $2,500 cash bail. Dasaro was released on personal recognizance.

Attorneys for both women did not immediately return phone calls.

The region, however, is in for "beautiful weekend," abc40 meteorologist Dan Brown said.

SPRINGFIELD – Western Massachusetts will see a low probability of isolated severe storms with strong winds Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy rain will also pose a threat across southern New England late Friday.

Abc40 / Fox 6 meteorologist Dan Brown said the threat for severe weather will be “highly dependent on the amount of sunshine that could pop through the clouds and how fast the front moves through during the peak heating of the day.”

The region, however, is on tap for a “beautiful weekend” with highs in the middle and upper 80s.

There will be a chance for showers and storms Monday afternoon, Brown said.

Judges selected the Agawam brick oven pizzeria from a field of eight reader-selected candidates. Watch video

The Republican/ Greg SaulmonThe champions - Bobby and Karen Aversa, owners of The Pizza Guy at 65 Maple St. in Agawam.

All hail The Pizza Guy, winner of the 2011 Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs!

The Agawam brick oven pizzeria, owned by Bobby and Karen Aversa, was the unanimous choice of our panel of three judges - arts & entertainment editor Ray Kelly, sports writer Pam McCray and photographer Don Treeger. The Pizza Guy bested Milano’s Pizzaria and Restaurant of Chicopee for the title.

"It would have been cowardice to claim a tie, but the word was uttered at one point in our initial deliberations," Kelly said. "I suggested extending the competition another week and trying even more pizza, but Don and Pam were more sane and more concerned about their gastric health."

"Seriously, this has been a great competition and we enjoyed our visits to the 'Elite Eight' selected by online readers of The Republican, MassLive.com, and El Pueblo Latino," Kelly said. "In the end, there could only be one winner and the winner was The Pizza Guy."

The judges sampled pepperoni pizzas on Wednesday and Thursday at The Pizza Guy and Milano's. The two pizzerias were among the 117 nominees suggested by online readers on May 9. Readers reduced the field to an "Elite Eight" for judges to visit.

"It all came down to their pepperoni pizza and the edge went to The Pizza Guy," Treeger said. " A little less grease and the combination of good pepperoni and a lighter crust was the deciding factor. For me, pepperoni adds a greasy factor to any pizza and the lighter, brick oven crust at The Pizza Guy offset what is normally a 'heavier' pie when loaded with pepperoni."

McCray said that the pepperoni pizza at The Pizza Guy was typical of the quality pizzas produced there. "Throughout the entire competition they consistently served us great pizza. I think the deciding factor for me was that Milano's pepperoni pizza was greasier. The tough thing about this match up is that The Pizza Guy and Milano's make completely different types of pizza. The Pizza Guy makes a brick oven pizza, while Milano's makes a more traditional pizza."

"Maybe it was the extreme heat of the brick oven at The Pizza Guy or the decision to put cheese on top of the pepperoni, but their pizza had less grease," Kelly said. "Throughout the competition I have been impressed with The Pizza Guy. I have not had a pizza there that did not blow me away."

McCray and her fellow judges recommended readers visit both pizzerias.

"Depending on which one you're in the mood for, these are two of the best places to get a pizza in the area," she said. "You really can't go wrong at either one."

Kelly said he expected to visit both pizzerias with his family. "I want them to see how good the pizzas that the Berardis and the Aversas make. They are all champions."

"I will be going back to both places to eat pizza for what I hope is a long time to come," Treeger said. "Thanks to all our readers for following along with what we hope was a fun few weeks of..... Pizza!"

Elite 8 Bracket:

"This is likely our last chance to save this nation from default," Sen. Harry Reid declared.

Associated PressSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., left, talks with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., as they walk to a Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, July 29, 2011.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid served notice Friday that he's pushing ahead with his debt-limit bill as House Speaker John Boehner's rival measure languished in limbo, further escalating a wrenching political standoff that has heightened fears of a market-rattling government default.

"This is likely our last chance to save this nation from default," Reid declared glumly on the Senate floor, as a Tuesday's deadline drew closer.

Reid's move came with Boehner's bill still in wait of a vote and a bitter standoff between GOP leaders and their conservative rank and file. Demoralized House Republicans were striving for a third straight day to pass the Boehner bill, even though it had virtually no chance of surviving the Senate.

Reid, D-Nev., said he had invited Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to join him in negotiations.

"I know the Senate compromise bill Democrats have offered is not perfect in Republican' eyes. Nor is it perfect for Democrats," Reid said. "But together, we must make it work for all of us. It is the only option."

Reid's move sets up a showdown vote on Sunday.

McConnell dismissed the Democratic effort, arguing that it stands no chance in the GOP-controlled House and blamed Obama for pushing the nation to the brink of an economic abyss.

"If the president hadn't decided to blow up the bipartisan solution that members of Congress worked so hard to produce last weekend, we'd be voting to end this crisis today," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Underscoring the mad scramble in Congress for an elusive solution, both chambers recessed moments after opening speeches.

Boehner, R-Ohio, suffered a stinging setback Thursday when, for a second consecutive day, he had to postpone a vote on his proposal to extend the nation's borrowing authority while cutting federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.

"Obviously, we didn't have the votes," Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., said after Boehner and the GOP leadership had spent hours trying to corral the support of rebellious conservatives.

Republicans were trying again Friday. If they continued to fail, then President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats would have extensive leverage to shape a bill to their liking and practically dare the House to reject it and send the nation into default.

If, however, Republicans can get Boehner's version through the House, a rapid and complex set of choices will determine whether and how a debt crisis can be averted. House Republicans will be under tremendous pressure to pass something, even if they have to make it so appealing to their right wing that the nation's independents and centrists will laugh it off. As Thursday's events proved, nothing is guaranteed.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Friday morning he believed Boehner was "very close" to having the necessary votes for passage the second time around.

"I'm confident the speaker will get there today," he said in an interview on MSNBC. Buchanan said conservatives have been wary of the various rival debt-limit bills because "people don't trust the process."

Nevertheless, Buchanan said "there's been some momentum" in Boehner's direction since late Thursday and into the day. He said he'll vote for the bill, but warned, "The bottom line is, we're willing to raise the debt ceiling, but at the same time we want to make sure the cuts are delivered."

The main area of dispute between the two parties is how to encourage or guarantee big spending cuts in the future without rekindling a fiercely divisive debt-ceiling debate such as the one now raging.

Interviews with well-placed insiders suggest the following road map, assuming Boehner can get his bill out of the House:

The Democratic-controlled Senate would kill it quickly. The focus then would fall on the Senate's two leaders, Reid and McConnell. They must decide whether they can reach a compromise that can pass the Senate — where a united GOP can kill bills with filibusters — and then pass the House and be signed by Obama. The White House would be integral to such talks.

Republican officials say McConnell could hold a strong hand, despite the House's shaky performance. He could argue that the House finally passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling, while the Senate has done nothing but kill that bill. If Tuesday's deadline passes with no resolution, Republicans say, voters will blame Democrats.

Under this thinking, the Senate would pass a measure similar to the House bill, perhaps with minor changes to save face and give political cover to Democrats who vote for it. The House would quickly concur, with numerous Democrats and all but the most conservative Republicans voting aye. Obama would have no choice but to sign it.

Democrats say the opposite is true. Obama has persuasively argued in recent weeks that Republicans are unreasonably demanding, they say.

Democrats control the Senate and White House. If Republicans insist that a partisan, House-passed bill is the only vehicle, then public anger will fall on them, this thinking goes.

The biggest sticking point is the House bill's call for congressional votes to raise the debt ceiling, in two stages, before the 2012 elections.

A $900 billion debt-limit hike would come first, coupled with $917 billion in spending cuts over 10 years. A second vote, late this year or sometime next year, would allow another $1.6 trillion in borrowing power, provided that Congress and the president have agreed to another round of spending cuts of that amount or more.

Obama has consistently rejected this condition. He says it would hurt the economy and touch off another ferocious political fight over the debt ceiling, which Congress previously raised with little fuss year after year. Global markets and investors would not be reassured by such a drawn-out, uncertain scenario, he says.

The White House says the prospect of an economically devastating default must not be used as the "trigger" to force Congress to cut the deficit. Such triggers would take effect automatically if Congress did not act on a prescribed deficit-reduction package.

Those could include deep cuts in programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which would be painful to Democrats, and tax increases that Republicans would be loath to accept. But Republicans believe the threat of default is a much stronger incentive to shrink the deficit.

Presidential adviser David Plouffe told MSNBC on Thursday that the Republican House bill would "have this whole debt ceiling spectacle, three-ring circus ... repeated again a few months from now, over the holidays. You know, the debt ceiling debate would ruin Christmas."

If the House sends Boehner's bill to the Senate, a crucial point in the end-game scenario will come when McConnell decides whether to insist on the House proposal to raise the debt ceiling in two steps, both tied to large mandatory spending cuts. If he does, then Reid and Obama will have to decide whether to swallow the demand or let the impasse last beyond Tuesday, and blame McConnell.

Or, McConnell could yield. He could help pass a Senate bill that lets the second debt-ceiling hike take place more easily, with an incentive mechanism for spending cuts that stops short of a mandate.

That would hand a tough choice to Boehner. His tea party conservatives would howl in protest. It's possible that 100 or more of his 240 House Republicans would vote against such a Senate-passed bill.

The measure presumably would pass anyway, with ample Democratic votes. But Boehner's hold on the speakership could be weakened.

Of course, little or none of this might transpire if the House can't figure out how to pass a bill. In that case, Obama would seem to hold almost all the cards.

He spoke at the White House as a bill by Republican House Speaker John Boehner to lift the debt ceiling and slash spending remained unexpectedly stalled.

Associated Press photoPresident Barack Obama talks about the ongoing budget ceiling negotiations, Friday, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Friday that there are multiple ways to resolve the debt ceiling mess, but it has to be bipartisan and it has to happen fast.

The president urged Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to come together on a plan that can pass the House and that he can sign.

He spoke at the White House as a bill by Republican House Speaker John Boehner to lift the debt ceiling and slash spending remained unexpectedly stalled after Boehner failed to muster the necessary votes. Obama said, "We're almost out of time."

Republicans were set to try again Friday and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced plans to move forward on a rival measure ahead of the Tuesday deadline to act or face unprecedented default.

Elsewhere in Washington, Boehner hastily rewrote his stalled emergency debt-limit bill yet again Friday as Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled he's ready to push ahead with his own version.

"The power to solve this is in our hands on a day when we've been reminded how fragile the economy already is," the president said from the White House as many U.S. stocks fell in response to a sour report on economic growth and widespread uncertainty over the Washington debt stalemate. "This is one burden we can lift ourselves. We can end it with a simple vote."

A simple vote was hard to come by, just a few days before Tuesday's debt-limit deadline.

On Capitol Hill, Reid pressed forward with his legislation, setting up a showdown vote for Sunday. And Boehner moved to revise his measure in hopes of winning over reluctant rank-and-file conservatives who argue that the deficit cuts it contains are insufficient. The GOP leader pushed toward vote late Friday.

House Republican leaders met behind closed doors with their members in a last-ditch appeal after abruptly postponing a vote that had been expected on Thursday.

Rep. David Dreier of California said the revised measure would still raise the nation's debt limit by $900 billion — essential to allow the government to keep paying its bills — and cut spending by $917 billion. But a later increase in borrowing authority wouldn't take effect unless Congress sent a constitutional balanced budget amendment to the states for ratification.

That was a key demand of rebellious conservatives who withheld their votes from the legislation on Thursday night.

Freshman Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said the change on the balanced-budget amendment "got a lot of additional Republican votes." At least one switcher was Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who said he would now back the bill.

A divided government is struggling to break the extreme Washington gridlock and head off a first-ever default that would leave the Treasury without the money necessary to pay all its bills. Administration officials say Tuesday is the deadline.

"There are plenty of ways out of this mess. But we are almost out of time," Obama said.

On the Senate floor, Reid said glumly, "This is likely our last chance to save this nation from default."

Reid, D-Nev., said he had invited Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to join him in negotiations.

"I know the Senate compromise bill Democrats have offered is not perfect in Republicans' eyes. Nor is it perfect for Democrats," Reid said. "But together, we must make it work for all of us. It is the only option."

McConnell dismissed the Democratic effort, arguing that it stands no chance in the GOP-controlled House, and he accused Obama of pushing the nation to the brink of an economic abyss.

"If the president hadn't decided to blow up the bipartisan solution that members of Congress worked so hard to produce last weekend, we'd be voting to end this crisis today," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Boehner, R-Ohio, suffered a stinging setback Thursday when, for a second day, he had to postpone a vote on his proposal to extend the nation's borrowing authority while cutting federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.

"Obviously, we didn't have the votes," Dreier said after Boehner and the GOP leadership had spent hours trying to corral the support of rebellious conservatives.

If Republicans now can get Boehner's version through the House, a rapid and complex set of choices will determine whether and how a debt crisis can be averted. House Republicans will be under tremendous pressure to pass something, even if they have to make it so appealing to their right wing that the nation's independents and centrists will scorn it. As Thursday's events proved, nothing is guaranteed.

The main area of dispute between the two parties is how to encourage or guarantee big spending cuts in the future without rekindling a fiercely divisive debt-ceiling debate such as the one now raging.

Interviews with well-placed insiders suggest the following road map, assuming Boehner can get his bill out of the House:

The Democratic-controlled Senate would kill it quickly. The focus then would fall on the Senate's two leaders, Reid and McConnell. They must decide whether they can reach a compromise that can pass the Senate — where a united GOP can kill bills with filibusters — and then pass the House and be signed by Obama. The White House would be integral to such talks.

Republican officials say McConnell could hold a strong hand, despite the House's shaky performance. He could argue that the House finally passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling, while the Senate has done nothing but kill that bill. If Tuesday's deadline passes with no resolution, Republicans say, voters will blame Democrats.

Under this thinking, the Senate would pass a measure similar to the House bill, perhaps with minor changes to save face and give political cover to Democrats who vote for it. The House would quickly concur, with numerous Democrats and all but the most conservative Republicans voting aye. Obama would have no choice but to sign it.

Democrats say the opposite is true. Obama has persuasively argued in recent weeks that Republicans are unreasonably demanding, they say.

Democrats control the Senate and White House. If Republicans insist that a partisan, House-passed bill is the only vehicle, then public anger will fall on them, this thinking goes.

The biggest sticking point is the House bill's call for congressional votes to raise the debt ceiling, in two stages, before the 2012 elections.

A $900 billion debt-limit hike would come first, coupled with $917 billion in spending cuts over 10 years. Under the Boehner revision, approval of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment would open a path to another $1.6 trillion in borrowing power, provided that Congress and the president have agreed to another round of spending cuts of that amount or more.

Obama has consistently rejected this condition. He says it would hurt the economy and touch off another ferocious political fight over the debt ceiling, which Congress previously raised with little fuss year after year. Global markets and investors would not be reassured by such a drawn-out, uncertain scenario, he says.

The White House says the prospect of an economically devastating default must not be used as the "trigger" to force Congress to cut the deficit. Such triggers would take effect automatically if Congress did not act on a prescribed deficit-reduction package.

Those could include deep cuts in programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which would be painful to Democrats, and tax increases that Republicans would be loath to accept. But Republicans believe the threat of default is a much stronger incentive to shrink the deficit.

Presidential adviser David Plouffe told MSNBC on Thursday that the Republican House bill would "have this whole debt ceiling spectacle, three-ring circus ... repeated again a few months from now, over the holidays. You know, the debt ceiling debate would ruin Christmas."

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

The suspects were charged with larceny over $250 and trespassing

Luis Colombo, Luis Perez, German Romero, from left, are seen in Springfield Department booking photos

SPRINGFIELD – Three men, allegedly caught by police stripping aluminum siding off a tornado-damaged home in the North End Thursday night, were arrested on larceny charges.

Officer Mel Kwatowski was on patrol in the tornado-devastated area about 5:30 p.m. when he saw the three suspects pull the siding off the home at 190 Williams St., Sgt. John M. Delaney said.

As police handcuffed the three suspects inside the an orange construction fence that surround the property, one of the suspects stated “I just thought the house was abandoned and we could just take what we want,” Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

Arrested were: Luis Colombo, 18, of 190 Chestnut St.; Luis Perez, 17, of 35 Allendale St.; and German Canales Romero, 23, of 217 Buckingham St., Hartford. They were charge with larceny over $250 and trespassing.

Downtown road reconstruction blamed for cancellation of event last year.

File photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanVolunteer April Grant of Northampton, plays the fiddle as she strolls the grounds of the Westfield Colonial Harvest Day on the town's common in 2007.

WESTFIELD - With the on-going $14 million downtown road reconstruction nearing an end, Westfield on Weekends and the Business Improvement District are planning a full variety of fall and holiday activities, including the return of Colonial Harvest Days.

"Confusion, because of the construction, during the past 16 months have made it difficult to schedule events," said Lisa G. McMahon, BID director.

"We have been transition but now the Green is starting to take shape and things are a little easier to plan," add Robert A. Plasse, president of WOW.

Officially, the construction project is not scheduled for full completion until next March but all major work is expected to end before winter, officials have said.

"Everything has been difficult to plan and schedule because of construction but now everything is starting to take shape and you can actually see what is hapening," said Plasse.

Because of that, Plasse said WOW, along with BID and supporters of both agencies, are planning their fall and holiday season projects.

Colonial Harvest Day, which was canceled last year because of road reconstruction, will return Sept. 24 with a Haunted Harvest Pub & Restaurant Tour again scheduled for Oct. 22.

Colonial Harvest Day is a focus on Westfield's colonial era including Town Criers, Revolutionary War reenactors, horse-drawn hay wagon rides, games and crafts of that era. This year the day will also feature a Harvest Day Beer Garden with its own Harvest Day Ale brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co. "That will complement a planned colonial luncheon, a variety of food booths and the sale of locally harvested produce," said Plasse.

The BID will host a free outdoor concert Aug. 18 in the Church Street Commons featuring Changes in Latitudes and is continuing with its Thursday Farmers Market on Franklin Street through September.

Activities by both agencies are funded through grants, private and public donations, vendor fees and sponsors and all is a result of a collaboration that includes the Chamber of Commerce, Westfield State University, municipal government, local charity groups and numerous local businesses, McMahon and Plasse said.

"Everyone is working together to bring people to Westfield's downtown, focus on what it will look like when reconstruction is complete and to support downtown businesses," said McMahon.

The annual holiday tree lighting and olantern light Parade will be held Nov. 28.
Like last year, Westfield's holiday tree may not be located on Park Square Green because of on-going work.

"We may not be on the Green for the tree lighting but it will again be held nearby on Court Street if necessary," said McMahon.

Plasse said the holiday season will again feature a Dickens' Dinner and the annual Dickens' Days Village Stroll in early December. Members of WOW will also perform again at Springfield's Bright Nights.

Westfield Woman's Club community theater group will perform 'It's a Wonderful Life on Dec. 2 and 3.

"Many fall and holiday events are returning but there will also be new ones," said Plasse.

The beating appears to have started over a girl and was exacerbated by alcohol consumption.

MANSFIELD — Four Massachusetts men are scheduled to be arraigned in connection with a brutal beating at a Tim McGraw concert in Mansfield.

The four are slated to be arraigned in in Attleboro District Court on Friday. Police say 19-year-old Michael Skehill of Westwood was nearly killed Sunday in the middle of the Comcast Center concert. Police say he's in serious condition but is expected to recover.

The beating appears to have started over a girl and was exacerbated by alcohol consumption.

The four men arrested were 20-year-old Perry DiMascio; 22-year-old Brenden McCulloch; 21-year-old Michael Adams and 21-year-old Kevin Anderson.

DiMascio is being held without bail due to other cases. The other suspects were being held on $5,000 bail.

It was unclear if any of the men had attorneys.