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Holyoke police warn elderly about bogus phone calls aimed at stealing money

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Hang up the phone if you don't know who is calling and they mention money, police said.

holyoke police patch.jpg

HOLYOKE – Senior citizens should be on guard against scam phone callers seeking money, police said Friday.

Lt. Michael J. Higgins said elderly people have told police about getting calls from a Nigerian businessman and others who say a relative was in an accident overseas, and they need money.

“Unless they know who it is, hang up on them,” Higgins said.

Also, another fake call some people get has to do with promises of lottery winnings in return for certain information, he said.

“All it is, is a scam,” Higgins said.


Temporary Small Business Administration office in West Springfield closes

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Tornado survivors can still get help in Springfield and Monson. Watch video

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The federal Small Business Administration disaster loan outreach center in the J. Edward Christian Municipal Office Building helping victims of the June 1 tornado closed Friday.

However, the federal disaster centers in Monson and Springfield helping tornado victims will remain open indefinitely, according to Jay J. McKenna, a public affairs specialist with the SBA in Atlanta, Ga.

West Springfield area residents as well as other people affected by the tornado may continue to use the federal centers in Springfield and Monson.

The Springfield FEMA/SBA disaster recovery center is in Building 104 at the technology park at One Federal Street. It is now closed Saturdays and Sundays, but will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Springfield SBA Business Recovery Center is in Building 101 at the Scibelli Enterprise Center at One Federal Street. Its hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The SBA Disaster Loan Outreach Center in Monson is at Granite Valley Middle School at 21 Thompson St. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Information about SBA programs may be obtained by calling its customer service center at (800) 659-2955 or (800) 877-8339 for people with speech or hearing disabilities. Disaster loans may also be applied for by accessing the website https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.

The deadline for returning SBA applications for physical property damage is Aug. 15. The SBA deadline to return economic injury applications is March 15, 2012.

Tornado survivors can register with the FEMA and get information about its programs by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or 800- 462-7585 (TTY) for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Multilingual registration assistance is available at both numbers. For online registration, go to www.DisasterAssistance.gov.

Connecticut murder-suicide case remains under investigation

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A father shot his adult daughter in the head, torched their Waterbury home, then shot himself in the head, according to Connecticut authorities.

WATERBURY, Conn. -- A father shot his daughter in the head, set their Waterbury home on fire, then shot himself in the head on Thursday, according to Connecticut authorities who are investigating the murder-suicide case.

Autopsy results indicate that Audley Morgan, 59, and Suzette Morgan, 39, both died of gunshot wounds to the head, Waterbury Police Capt. Christopher Corbett said in a press release issued to CTnow.com.

Police said Suzette Morgan's death has been ruled a homicide, while Audley Morgan's death has been ruled a suicide.

"It appears that Audley shot Suzette in the head, started the fire by dousing the couch with accelerant and igniting it, and he then shot himself in the head," Corbett said in the release.

An explosion and fire were reported around 6:45 p.m. Thursday at the Morgans' bunker-style home on Clover Street, according to various published reports. City firefighters reported having difficulty gaining entry to the burning house, whose windows had metal bars or were covered with heavy plywood, police said.

Firefighters said the house had no electricity, leading some people in the neighborhood to believe that the home was vacant.

Neighbors described Audley Morgan, a native of Jamaica, as an eccentric recluse who was prone to unusual behavior when he did venture outside, the Republican American newspaper of Waterbury reported.

Morgan and his daughter would wear tin foil hats while cutting the grass, and they would ride bicycles equipped with sirens and flashing lights while carrying umbrellas in the rain or sun, the newspaper reported.

Family members said Morgan had become withdrawn in recent years, shunning cellphones, computers and television, according to published reports.

Rather than pay utility companies for electricity and water, Morgan instead powered his Clover Street home with a generator and collected rainwater.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

 

Senate rejects House-approved U.S. debt limit bill

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In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the House passed emergency legislation Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and the Senate scuttled it less than 2 hours later.

072911_house_debt-limit_vote.jpgThis video image provided by House Television shows the final House vote on the revamped debt-limit bill, Friday, July 29, 2011, on the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington. The GOP-controlled House passed the bill to avert default, ignoring veto threat and Senate opposition. (AP Photo/House Television)

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON — In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the House passed emergency legislation Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and the Senate scuttled it less than two hours later.

The final outcome — with the White House and Senate Democrats calling anew for compromise while criticizing Republicans as Tuesday's deadline drew near — was anything but certain.

"We are almost out of time" for a compromise, warned President Barack Obama as U.S. financial markets trembled at the prospect of economic chaos next week.

The House vote was 218-210, almost entirely along party lines, on a Republican-drafted bill to provide a quick $900 billion increase in U.S. borrowing authority — essential to allow the government to continue paying all its bills — along with $917 billion in cuts from federal spending.

It was rewritten hastily overnight to say that before any additional increase in the debt limit could take place, Congress must approve a balanced budget-amendment to the Constitution and send it to the states for ratification. That marked a concession to tea party-backed conservatives and others in the rank and file who had thwarted House Speaker John Boehner's attempt to pass the bill Thursday night.

"Today we have a chance to end this debt limit crisis," Boehner declared, his endgame strategy upended by rebels within his own party.

But the changes he made to the House GOP bill further alienated Democrats. And they complicated prospects of a compromise that could clear both houses and win Obama's signature by next Tuesday's deadline.

At the other end of the Capitol, Senate Democrats scuttled the measure without so much as a debate on its merits. The vote was 59-41, with all Democrats, two independents and six Republicans joining in opposition.

Last of Arizona immigration protesters, including Peter Morales, president of Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association, go on trial

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Also on trial in the same courtroom is Salvador Reza, the leader of an immigrant-rights group based in Phoenix and a longtime opponent of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his immigration crackdowns.

072911_salvador_reza_peter_morales.jpgSalvador Reza, left and Rev. Peter Morales walk into Maricopa County Justice Court Friday, July 29, 2011, in Phoenix, for their trail on civil disobedience charges. They and more than 80 others were arrested for blocking the entrance of the Maricopa County jail in downtown Phoenix as they protested Arizona's immigration law SB1070 last year. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

By AMANDA LEE MYERS

PHOENIX — The president of a national religious organization and five others went on trial Friday in Phoenix a year after they were arrested while protesting Arizona's tough immigration law and a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association, is charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to obey an order. Morales lives in Arvada, Colo. and Salem, Mass., and was elected as the first Latino president of the association in 2009.

Also on trial in the same courtroom is Salvador Reza, the leader of an immigrant-rights group based in Phoenix and a longtime opponent of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his immigration crackdowns.

Other defendants include a UCLA graduate student in art, a security guard at a local music venue and an official at the Arizona branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

The group is the last of the so-called human-chain trials.

On July 29, 2010, dozens of protesters took to Phoenix streets on the day SB1070 was set to take effect. A judge put the most contentious parts of the law on hold, and the fight likely is headed to the Supreme Court.

Arpaio organized an immigration sweep on the same day. He has conducted nearly 20 such sweeps, sending deputies and volunteer posse members to often heavily Latino areas of Phoenix to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say the deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin, so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship. Arpaio has denied allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause that a crime was committed, and only later do deputies find that many of the people arrested are illegal immigrants.

As the law took effect and Arpaio planned a sweep, people from across the country rallied in cities from Los Angeles to New York as hundreds of others swarmed downtown Phoenix.

The protesters in Phoenix massed outside one of Arpaio's jails, beating on a metal door and forcing sheriff's deputies to call for backup. Officers in riot gear opened the doors, waded out into the crowd and hauled off those who didn't move, including Morales.

"It was an act of religious witness against an outrageous violation of human and civil rights," Morales told The Associated Press before his trial began on Friday outside Maricopa County Justice Court. "It was a moral imperative to speak out."

He pointed out that the protest was "completely peaceful" and doesn't fear the consequences.

"I'm a very privileged person," Morales said. "I have a whole religious organization behind me. I'm not going to get deported or separated from my family. The worst I will face is some inconvenience."

Sean Larkin, a Phoenix attorney who has represented many of the protesters arrested for free because he is against SB1070, said that none of his clients has faced serious consequences because they were charged with misdemeanors. Many of them even had their cases thrown out entirely, he said.

Morales and the other defendants likely won't face more than a fine. The trial will last through Monday, when a judge is expected to issue a decision.

Whatever the legal result, Morales said he's glad he was able to speak out against Arpaio.

"The wrong person is on trial today," he said. "It's about time Joe Arpaio was arrested, indicted and prosecuted."

The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating Arpaio's office since March 2009 for allegations of discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and for having an English-only policy in his jails that discriminates against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio has said the investigation is focused on his immigration sweeps.

In a separate investigation, a grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio's office abused its powers, including trying to intimidate county workers by having deputies show up at their homes at nights and weekends.

Arpaio told The Associated Press on Friday that his deputies do their job in a professional manner and that he stands by them.

"And we're going to keep doing it," he said. "We have a lot of people living in this county and I don't see any uproar about me and my officers enforcing the illegal immigration law, except a small group of people.

"I'm not going to back down," he added.

Although last year's protest delayed one of Arpaio's immigration sweeps by only a day, protesters viewed it as a small victory, said Reza, the immigrant-rights leader also on trial Friday.

"We decided to lose our liberty temporarily because the human-rights abuses in Arizona are so outrageous, something had to be done to stop it for one day and send a message," he said.

Holyoke's 'The Bud' building inspires historians but deterioration and unpaid taxes might spell its doom

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Officials said the city has tried for years to save the building at 30 John St. without success.

olivia.JPGOlivia L. Mausel, chairwoman of the Holyoke Historical Commission, in front of The Bud building on John Street.

HOLYOKE – It was a stagecoach stop and a speakeasy, as well as home to legal taverns of various names and even the supposed sanctuary of a ghost.

But now, the red-brick structure known as The Bud is an old building facing a possible date with a wrecking ball.

Still, the three-story building at 30 John St. across from City Hall continues to inspire “treasure or trash?” debate.

Olivia L. Mausel, chairwoman of Holyoke Historical Commission, said July 22 that she and other preservationists know they face an uphill fight to save The Bud. (She believes the name – it’s also been known as Ye Olde Bud – springs from the building’s days as a Budweiser Beer distributorship.)

“We have some developers on the other end but they don’t want to deal with the back taxes. Therein lies the problem,” Mausel said.

She declined to identify the developers. But she said she hopes city officials bear in mind, amid the demolition talk, that a landmark’s historical value to a community cannot be replaced.

The Bud was a stagecoach stop between Boston and Albany. It was an illegal but favorite stop of those seeking a drink of liquor as a speakeasy during prohibition, she said. Prohibition was the period between 1920 and 1933 when alcohol was illegal in the United States.

The three-story, red-brick building’s first floor was built around 1865 and the rest went up in the late 1800’s, Mausel said.

But the building’s problems are substantial. And if the city had $125,000 to spare, 30 John St. probably would get demolished, officials said.

Along with the building’s deterioration to the point of what one official said was “a hazard,” more than $285,000 in taxes and fees are owed going back to 1992, officials said.

City records list the owner of 30 John St. as James C. Hendricks, of Greentown, Pa. He couldn’t be reached for comment, but has told officials in the past he was unable to pay the back taxes.

In March, former building inspector Paul Healy nailed a sign to the structure that declares it “condemned as dangerous and unsafe.”

Part of the roof collapsed over the winter. The Fire Department is on record as having “serious concerns about the structural stability” of the building, according to a March 23 letter to the state Historical Commission from Deputy Administrator Alicia M. Zoeller of the city Office for Community Development.

In 2006, former Fire Chief David A. LaFond said the building was “a hazard for firefighters.”

Various city departments have pursued the back taxes and tried to get the building stabilized or to interest a developer in revitalizing 30 John St., without success, Zoeller’s letter states.

The building is on a demolition list. But the city doesn’t have enough federal Community Development Block grants to fund the $125,000 razing, City Treasurer Jon D. Lumbra said.

“The building’s not worth what it’s owed in taxes,” Lumbra said.

Mausel disputes that and hopes a developer surfaces.

The Bud has twisted a colorful strand into the fabric of city history. It would be a shame, Mausel said, to lose a building with a story that includes the Smokin’ Gun Lounge, the Carnival Night Club and the Caribbean Restaurant, not to mention the PJ Murray Distillery, whose namesake is talked of as being the The Bud’s resident ghost.

Easthampton needs 280 more units of affordable housing to satisfy state requirement

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Easthampton's Master Plan, written in 2008, says the city is "land poor."

EASTHAMPTON – The city needs to create 280 more units of affordable housing to become exempt from the state’s “anti-snob law.”

Chapter 40B states that if a city or town’s housing stock is not at least 10 percent affordable, developers of affordable housing can skirt local zoning codes and get projects approved more easily. Those developments have to be at least 20 percent affordable for renters or 25 percent for homeowners.

“Affordable” means anyone earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, or AMI, could shoulder the housing costs, according to state guidelines. The AMI for Hampshire County in 2010 was $67,400, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Easthampton has 7,567 units of housing, 476 of which are affordable, totaling 6.3 percent when rounded up, according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which relied on 2010 census data. That would mean 280 more units are needed.

The DHCD counts what it calls Subsidized Housing Inventory not by the actual number of affordable units, but by how many total units are in a development that is at least 25 percent affordable to people earning less than 80 percent of AMI or 20 percent affordable for those earning less than 50 percent of AMI.

A spokesperson for the DHCD said the Easthampton figures very closely reflect the real total.

Easthampton city planner Stuart Beckley said that if the 37-unit Parsons Village is approved and built in New City, along with a 50-unit project in the former Dye Works building on Cottage Street, it would boost the percentage to 7.44. Neither is a 40B.

Parsons Village Aerial View.jpgView full sizeAn aerial view of the lot at 69 Parsons St. taken from Valley CDC's special permit application.

In that case, the city would still need 194 more units. The homeownership portion of Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow is under construction and would drop that total by nine and bring the percentage to 7.56.

There are four 40B projects in Easthampton: Sullivan Housing, College Highway Apartments, Treehouse and Mountainview Condominiums.

“Based on the last two (developments, a 40B project is) viewed as an opportunity as long as it’s designed correctly,” said Beckley, referring to Treehouse and Mountainview. He said the designs of Sullivan and College Highway are not ideal, but “we don’t have a problem with them.”

Affordable housing units don’t have to be affordable forever unless a permanent restriction is in place. If not, when the restriction expires and they revert to market-rate prices, the total affordable percentage goes down and more is needed to stay above the threshold, potentially increasing density and decreasing the amount of available land.

Easthampton’s Master Plan, written in 2008, says the city is “land poor.”

“The affordability restriction expires on 9 units in 2011, on 22 units in 2012, on 12 units in 2014, on 40 units in 2029, on 23 units in 2030 and on 40 units in 2031,” it reads. “It will be important for Easthampton to work with the various property owners to ensure that these units remain affordable so the city is not continuously adding new units to simply replace existing affordable units for no net gain.”

The long-term plan, Beckley said, is to preserve and reuse past projects and use small parcels of land for future affordable housing. The City Council has shot down an inclusionary zoning bylaw, which would require subdivision developers to incorporate affordable units, but Beckley said it could be brought up again.

The Master Plan recommended the bylaw as a Level Two housing priority.

The Community Development Strategy shows housing production goals and says, “The City has begun to work with developers, under Chapter 40B and otherwise, to incorporate affordable units in all developments, while making sure housing projects match neighborhood character.”

Hadley swimmer injured in Connecticut River fall

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Hadley firefighters used a boat to reach the swimmer, who suffered a neck injury and was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for treatment.

030911 Hadley Fire Helmet03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen – A Hadley Fire Department helmet.

HADLEY – A male swimmer suffered a neck injury Saturday afternoon after falling from a rope swing on the Connecticut River near Honey Pot Road.

Hadley firefighters used a boat to reach the swimmer, who was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

The Hadley Fire Department did not release the swimmer's name. No further information was available.


Agreement between Republicans, White House on debt-limit legislation reportedly near

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One official said the two sides had settled on general concepts, but added there were numerous details to be worked out, and no assurance of a final agreement.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 5:29 this afternoon.


Debt Showdown_Desk-1.jpgHouse Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appear at a news conference as the debt crisis goes unresolved on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday.

WASHINGTON — In a last-minute stab at compromise, Republican congressional leaders and the White House made significant progress Saturday toward a deal to avert a government default threatened for early next week, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Under the plan, the nation's debt limit would rise in two steps by about $2.4 trillion and spending would be cut by a slightly larger amount, these officials said. The first stage — about $1 trillion — would take place immediately and the second later in the year.

Congress would be required to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, but none of the debt limit increase would be contingent on its approval.

One official said the two sides had settled on general concepts, but added there were numerous details to be worked out, and no assurance of a final agreement.

Still, word of significant progress after weeks of stalemate offered the strongest indication yet that an economy-crippling default might be averted.

The officials who described the talks did so on condition of anonymity, citing their sensitive nature.

Without legislation in place by next Tuesday, administration officials say the Treasury will run out of funds to pay all the nation's bills. They say a subsequent default could prove catastrophic for the U.S. economy and send shockwaves around the world.

The president is seeking legislation to raise the government's $14.3 trillion debt limit by about $2.4 trillion, enough to tide the Treasury over until after the 2012 elections. Over many weeks, he has agreed to Republican demands that deficits be cut — without a requirement for tax increases — in exchange for additional U.S. borrowing authority.

But Obama has threatened to veto any legislation that would require a second vote in Congress for any additional borrowing authority to take effect, saying that would invite a recurrence of the current crisis in the heat of next year's election campaigns.

First word of an effort to reach a compromise came at mid-afternoon froim Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner — Obama's principal Republican antagonist in a contentious new era of divided government.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid heatedly denied it on the Senate floor a short while later, but several hours later said events had changed.

"There are many elements to be finalized...there is still a distance to go," he said, adding that Majority Leader Harry Reid cautioned in dramatic late-night remarks on the Senate floor.

"I'm glad to see this move toward cooperation and compromise," he added.

He said he was optimistic any agreement would not include a short-term extension of the nation's debt limit — a point on which Obama has insisted.

Officials familiar with the discussions said that while the first-step increase in borrowing authority and cuts in spending would happen at once, the next step would be somewhat more complicated.

The additional increase in borrowing authority would depend on creation of a special committee of lawmakers charged with recommending spending cuts of a slightly larger size. If the panel failed to act, or its proposals were rejected in Congress, automatic spending cuts would take effect to slice spending by slightly more than the second installment additional borrowing authority.

But Obama has threatened to veto any legislation that would require a second vote in Congress for any additional borrowing authority to take effect, saying that would invite a recurrence of the current crisis in the heat of next year's election campaigns.

First word of an effort to reach a compromise came at mid-afternoon froim Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner — Obama's principal Republican antagonist in a contentious new era of divided government.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid heatedly denied it on the Senate floor a short while later, but several hours later said events had changed.

"There are many elements to be finalized...there is still a distance to go," he said, adding that Majority Leader Harry Reid cautioned in dramatic late-night remarks on the Senate floor.

"I'm glad to see this move toward cooperation and compromise," he added.

He said he was optimistic any agreement would not include a short-term extension of the nation's debt limit — a point on which Obama has insisted.

Officials familiar with the discussions said that while the first-step increase in borrowing authority and cuts in spending would happen at once, the next step would be somewhat more complicated.

The additional increase in borrowing authority would depend on creation of a special committee of lawmakers charged with recommending spending cuts of a slightly larger size. If the panel failed to act, or its proposals were rejected in Congress, automatic spending cuts would take effect to slice spending by slightly more than the second installment additional borrowing authority.

Amherst Select Board to vote on fuel efficency policy so town can apply for green status

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Green status would mean that Amherst would be eligible for state grants.

030911 Amherst Town Hall VerticalAmherst Town Hall

AMHERST – At the annual Town Meeting, voters unanimously agreed to adopt the Stretch Energy Code, and now the Select Board needs to adopt a fuel-efficient vehicle policy to enable the town to apply for green designation status in the fall.

The Select Board will formally vote on the policy at its next meeting Aug. 8. The policy calls for the town to buy only fuel-efficient vehicles for town use “whenever such vehicles are commercially available and practicable.” The policy goal is to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Emergency response vehicles, some department of public works vehicles would be exempt, according to the policy.

Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie J. O’Keeffe asked Town Manager John P. Musante at a recent board meeting whether adopting the policy is financially viable. “I do think it’s manageable,” he said. If the town qualifies as a green community, it could bring in between $125,000 to $200,000 a year in grants for energy-efficient projects.

Musante said the town used to “recycle old cruisers to administrative use, but we’re moving away from that.”

“The standards are not very onerous. It’s not hard to meet their standards,” Select Board member James J. Wald said.

The state adopted the Green Communities Act in 2008, and it went into effect last year. Communities must adopt the stretch code, the fuel efficiency policy and zoning ordinances that accommodate renewable energy businesses, streamline permitting for those businesses and show how they plan to cut municipal energy consumption by 20 percent in the next five years.

So far, 74 communities have received the green designation including Springfield, Easthampton, Greenfield, Holyoke and Northampton. It enables them to receive grants for energy efficiency projects. Granby, Monson and Deerfield received green status earlier this month.

Musante said the town is working on entering its energy consumption into the state data base and plans to apply for designation during the next round sometime this fall.

Springfield police nab Stearns Square stab suspect

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Jayson A. Moriarty, 33, of Indian Orchard, was charged with attempted murder and other offenses after stabbing a man in the face in the city's Entertainment District early Sunday morning, according to Springfield police.

Update at 5:30 a.m. Sunday: Police have identified the stabbing suspect as Jayson A. Moriarty, 33, of Indian Orchard, who will be arraigned Monday in Springfield on attempted murder and other charges.


SPRINGFIELD -- Officers monitoring the typical Saturday night crowds that pack the city's Entertainment District quickly apprehended a stabbing suspect after a violent incident in Stearns Square early Sunday.

A stabbing report at 2:05 a.m. Sunday triggered a large response from police officers, who quickly captured an Indian Orchard man suspected of stabbing a man on Dwight Street.

Jayson A. Moriarty, 33, will be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court on charges of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and other offenses, according to Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood.

Moriarty approached a man who was seated in a car on Dwight Street outside the Alumni Club, smashed one of the car's windows, then slashed the man across the face with a knife, Clapprood said.

Police did not indicate what prompted the stabbing, which remains under investigation.

The incident occurred amidst a fairly chaotic night, just as many downtown bars and clubs were letting out for the night. Making matters worse, some rowdy revelers began hurling beer bottles at police officers who were clearing the Entertainment District, Clapprood said.

The initial stabbing report spread quickly over police radios, prompting one ranking officer to bark an order to "move everybody out of the square, even the hot dog cart."

The status of the slashing victim, who not identified by police, was not immediately known. The man was taken to a city hospital for treatment.

"He's going to maybe have a scar on his face for the rest of his life," Clapprood said of the victim.


Developing: Springfield police officers struck by car fleeing Entertainment District

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'Several' officers were reportedly hit by a silver Toyota Camry near the intersection of Dwight and Worthington streets shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

Update at 6 a.m. Sunday: City police have charged Leonard C. Wheatley, 34, of Colchester St., Springfield, with OUI and several counts of assault with a dangerous weapon (a car) for allegedly trying to run down officers in Springfield's Entertainment District early Sunday morning.


SPRINGFIELD -- The police officer's voice sounded panicked as he issued an SOS to fellow officers: "Guy's running over cops -- several!"

That was the message relayed by a Springfield police officer to his colleagues around 2:24 a.m. Sunday, when the driver of a silver Toyota Camry allegedly attempted to run down multiple police officers near the intersection of Dwight and Worthington streets in the city's Entertainment District.

The officers were on foot at the time of the incident, according to reports.

After a brief chase, the driver -- later identified as 34-year-old Leonard C. Wheatley of Springfield -- was pulled over at Hillman Street, about two blocks south of where the hit-and-run incident took place, police said.

Preliminary reports indicated that some of the officers received abrasions and other injuries after being struck by the car. But Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood, reached by The Republican a couple of hours after the incident, said she had yet to receive any injury reports from the officers.

Clapprood said the officers were nearly run over by Wheatley, who was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and several counts of assault with a dangerous weapon (a car).

Wheatley, who lives on Colchester Street in the city's Old Hill neighborhood, is expected to be arraigned on the charges on Monday in Springfield District Court.


THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of where a motorist is accused of trying to run down police officers on foot patrol in the city's Entertainment District early Sunday:


View Larger Map

Springfield police: gunfire aimed at car driving on State Street

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A car's windshield was shattered by gunfire as the vehicle drove on State Street shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, according to authorities.

SPRINGFIELD -- City police are investigating an incident in which the window of a car driving on State Street was shattered by gunfire early Sunday.

Springfield police said the gunshots reportedly came from a green Kia Soul, according to the 3:09 a.m. report they received.

Additional information was not immediately available. Check MassLive.com for more details as they become available.

Police: 4 shot after George Clinton concert in Cleveland

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Police said four people were shot after a concert in a Cleveland park that was headlined by funk music legend George Clinton.

funky george.jpgFour people were shot Saturday after a Cleveland concert headlined by funk music legend George Clinton.

CLEVELAND — Police said four people were shot after a concert in a Cleveland park that was headlined by funk music legend George Clinton.

Cleveland Police Sgt. Sammy Morris said three males and one female were injured in the shooting, which occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday in the area of Luke Easter Park.

A report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper indicated two of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition and the other two were stable.

Additional information about the victims was unavailable and police didn't immediately return calls by The Associated Press for details.

The report said thousands of people had gathered earlier for the eighth annual Unity in the Park festival featuring George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic.

Police said they had no description of the suspect and reported no one in custody.

___

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Census numbers show increase in vacant housing units in Western Massachusetts; Springfield sees uptick in wake of tornado

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The state attorney general this week urged the creation of a state registry to track abandoned buildings.

07.26.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - State Rep. Sean Curran (D-Springfield) stands in front of a vacant home at 31 Tracy Street.

SPRINGFIELD - Well ahead of the June 1 tornadoes, Springfield and other communities across Massachusetts were hampered by an increased numbers of vacant and abandoned homes, reflecting the effects of a foreclosure crisis and the recession, according to new data from the U.S. Census this spring.

The destruction caused by the storms is now intensifying the problem with vacant housing in Springfield, at least in the short term.

Before the tornadoes struck, the number of Springfield’s vacant residential units, including apartments, condos and single family homes, rose to 4,954 in 2010, up 22 percent from 2000, the census said.

Among other key cities, Worcester’s vacant units jumped to 6,032, up 63 percent, Boston’s rose to 19,782, up 59 percent; Providence’s to 8,812, up 59 percent, and Hartford’s to 6,698, up 18 percent, according to census statistics.

For the state as a whole, the number of vacancies increased by 46 percent since 2000 to 261,179, the census said.

The tornadoes added to the problem.

Some 220 tornado-damaged structures, including 179 single-family homes, have been condemned, meaning they are unsafe for living, according to Geraldine McCafferty, director of housing for the city of Springfield. In all, 500 units were condemned, including 347 rentals, she said. Some will be repaired, but others will need to be demolished, she added.

The tornadoes increased vacant housing in Springfield for now, but they might have the opposite effect in the long run, McCafferty said.

If units are demolished because of the tornadoes, the end result would be fewer units in the city, she said.

“If we lose units but do not lose population, it creates increased demand for units,” she said. “The increased demand could cause owners of currently vacant housing to repair units and put them back into use.”



Reacting to the census numbers, Tina Brooks, undersecretary for the state Department of Housing and Economic Development, said some of the vacant housing is abandoned and undermining neighborhoods. Foreclosures are a significant cause for vacancies, according to Brooks.

“We have been very, very concerned about vacancies for a long time,” she said.

Holyoke is among some Northeast cities, including Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N. Y., that broke the trend and reduced its number of vacant homes, according to the census.

Holyoke used state grants to demolish hundreds of unsafe and abandoned housing units. In the process, the city lowered its number of vacant units from 1,243 in 2000 to 1,023 in 2010, a drop of about 18 percent, the census said.

One member of the Springfield state legislative delegation, Sean F. Curran, D-Springfield, is calling for more demolition of abandoned units in the city. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has said he agrees but adds that state and federal funding is drying up.

Elsewhere in Western Massachusetts, Chicopee’s vacant residential units increased to 1,401, up 7 percent; Greenfield, 525, up 45 percent; Northampton, 728, up 38 percent; Palmer, 435, up 34 percent; and Westfield, 740, up 15 percent.

Vacant units are not all abandoned; they include some for rent or sale, seasonal units, housing for migrant workers, abandoned units and ones maintained by a caretaker or janitor.

Abandoned, or long term empty, units are included in a category called “all other vacants,” which total 1,626 in Springfield, or 2.6 percent of all residential units, the census said.

The percent of total residential units that are vacant in Springfield was 8 percent in the 2010 census data, up 22 percent from 6.6 percent in 2000.

In a positive sign, Springfield’s home ownership rate, or percent of units that are occupied by owners, is still around 50 percent, the same as in 2000.

Prior to the tornadoes, state leaders and municipal officials were working on several fronts to reduce the problem of abandoned homes and vacant units.

These included: funding to prevent foreclosures and homelessness; code enforcement and legal action to pressure owners to maintain properties and keep them occupied; demolition of blighted properties; receivership; programs to encourage home ownership; and purchases and efforts to secure and clean abandoned properties and upgrade properties with federal money

Curran, a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing, believes Springfield should be demolishing more abandoned housing instead of upgrading properties for poor people.

“The foreclosures decimated a lot of neighborhoods in Springfield,” Curran said in May. “There is a lot of vacant housing.”

Sarno has said he is pursuing every dime he can to improve the city’s housing and neighborhoods, but is learning that funds may not be so easy to secure. The mayor was recently advised that Springfield’s current $4.4 million community development block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be cut by 16 percent for the next fiscal year and another $1.6 million federal grant will be cut by nearly 12 percent.

“We’re being asked to do more with less,” the mayor said.

Statewide, federal funds from a special 2008 federal law are being used to demolish 120 vacant buildings, with 86 completed so far, a spokeswoman for Brooks said.
06.30.2010 | HOLYOKE - The long-vacant building at 516 High Street was demolished in the summer of 2010.


In Holyoke, officials say they reduced vacant residential units with the help of a demolition program financed by state grants. Other units, including a 16-unit tenement on Lyman Street, were destroyed by fire.

Holyoke no longer has a demolition program, but since 1999, the city had razed 65 buildings with 587 residential units, according to Karen Mendrala, senior planner for Holyoke’s office of planning and development. Today, there are more than 75 abandoned buildings still standing in Holyoke containing about 400 units, she said.

Of the 65 buildings demolished in the Paper City since 1999, 27 have been redeveloped, or in the process of being redeveloped, according to Mendrala. Future plans for redevelopment are in the works for an additional 29 of the demolished buildings, she added.

New uses range from commercial to residential. Some publicly-subsidized housing has been developed on these lots, she said. But, the majority were developed by the city’s Housing Authority and private, nonprofit groups into affordable home ownership for Holyoke residents, not subsidized apartment buildings, she said.

Attorney General Martha M. Coakley is also focusing on renovating abandoned housing. Vacant homes can become a serious public safety issue and drive down property values, according to Coakley.

“It is a huge problem, not just in urban areas but throughout the commonwealth,” Coakley said.

In her “abandoned housing initiative,” the attorney general seeks court approval to bring a vacant property under control of a receiver, maybe a bank or a nonprofit organization. The receiver can use bank loans or grants to repair the properties.

Coakley was using the program most recently on five properties in Holyoke including units on Sargeant and Dwight streets, a spokesman said.

Just this week, the attorney general made note of the abundance of foreclosed or abandoned properties that have accumulated over the past four years and urged the creation of new registries to track abandoned housing and secondary metals to discourage metal stripping and make it easy for law enforcement to track stolen property.

“The foreclosure crisis that gripped our country four years ago has yet to slow down. As a result, many properties throughout Massachusetts continue to be abandoned and left vacant,” Coakley said. “These abandoned properties are susceptible to building-code violations, bring down property values for homeowners in the neighborhood and often are havens for criminal activity such as copper stripping, drug dealing and arson.”

The June 1 tornadoes could exacerbate the foreclosure crisis in Springfield, says Mary-Elizabeth Bewsee, an organizer with Arise for Social Justice in Springfield. The storms left some people unemployed, endangering their ability to pay a mortgage or rent, she said.

“The tornadoes are going to push people into foreclosure,” she said.

The federal government declared Hampden County a disaster area and is making aid available to Springfield and other communities.

Last year alone, there were 595 foreclosure deeds filed in Springfield, up 18 percent from 2009, according to the Warren Group of Boston, which provides data on real estate. There were 1,047 foreclosures in Hampden County last year, up about 31 percent from 2009, the Warren Group said.

Statewide, foreclosures rose to 12,233 in 2010, up 32 percent.


The census shows that the number of vacant units rose over the past decade in many communities, but that doesn’t always indicate a problem with abandoned homes. Homes or apartments could be vacant and awaiting sale or rental.

“You just don’t see deteriorating vacant homes here,” said Teri A. Anderson, community and economic development director for Northampton. In her city, the rate of vacant residential units did rise 36 percent from 4.2 percent of all residential units in 2000 to 5.7 percent in 2010.

“I don’t see a huge vacancy rate when compared to the total number of units,” Anderson added.

In Palmer, Paul E. Burns, a member of the Town Council, said he also doesn’t believe his community is having a significant problem with long-term vacant housing. Palmer’s rate of vacant residential units increased 32 percent from 5.9 percent of all residential units in 2000 to 7.8 percent in 2000.

“My gut feeling is that most eventually turns over,” Burns said.





Staff writers Fred Contrada and Mike Plaisance contributed to this story.


Springfield police probe Hungry Hill shooting

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Five shell casings were recovered from a shooting incident at 638 Carew St. around 3:30 a.m. Sunday., according to Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood. There were no immediate reports of any arrests or injuries.

SPRINGFIELD -- City police recovered multiple shell casings from a Hungry Hill shooting scene after someone opened fire outside 638 Carew St. around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

"They shot through the front door," Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood said, adding that five shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Initial police reports indicated that at least one projectile was recovered inside the Carew Street home, which is located near the corner of Raymond Place.

There were no reported injuries and no arrests had been made as of 5 a.m. Sunday, though authorities were questioning a possible suspect who was stopped near the intersection of Carew and Liberty streets.

Clapprood said whoever is responsible for the shooting faces charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, firearms violations and other offenses.

Anyone with information may Text-A-Tip anonymously by texting "Solve" followed by the message to 274637, or by calling the Springfield Police Department Detective Bureau directly at (413) 787-6355.


THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of a Carew Street home that was struck by gunfire early Sunday morning:


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Syria: 30 reported dead after attacks

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The Syrian army raided cities across the country before dawn Sunday, killing at least 30 people — most of them in the flashpoint city of Hama where a barrage of shelling and gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets, activists and residents said.

syria flag.jpgIn this photo from the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian pro-government supporters carry a giant national flag during a rally in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Thursday. A global campaigning organization said Thursday that one person disappears in Syria every hour, and that almost 3,000 people have gone missing since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad more than four months ago. The online activist group Avaaz.org said its investigation has identified 2,918 Syrians who were arrested or abducted by force by security troops and whose whereabouts are now unknown.

ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

BEIRUT — The Syrian army raided cities across the country before dawn Sunday, killing at least 30 people — most of them in the flashpoint city of Hama where a barrage of shelling and gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets, activists and residents said.

The government is escalating its crackdown on protests calling for President Bashar Assad's ouster ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts Monday in Syria. Demonstrations are expected to swell during Ramadan as the protesters and government forces try to tip the balance in a remarkably resilient uprising that began in mid-March.

Having sealed off the main roads into Hama almost a month ago, army troops in tanks pushed into the city before daybreak Sunday in a coordinated assault. Residents shouted "God is great!" and threw firebombs, stones and sticks at the tanks. Clouds of black smoke covered parts of the city.

"It's a massacre, they want to break Hama before the month of Ramadan," an eyewitness who identified himself by his first name, Ahmed, told The Associated Press by telephone from Hama, where at least 23 people were killed Sunday.

Hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties and were seeking blood donations, he said.

During Ramadan, Muslims throng mosques for special night prayers after breaking their daily dawn-to-dusk fast. The gatherings could trigger intense protests throughout the predominantly Sunni country and activists say authorities are moving to ensure that does not happen.

Other raids were reported in southern Syria and in the suburbs of the capital Damascus. In the neighborhood of al-Joura in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, soldiers in tanks fired machine guns, killing at least seven people, activists said. The reports could not be independently verified because Syria has banned most foreign media and restricted coverage.

A spokesman for The Local Coordination Committees, which organizes and monitors anti-government protests in Syria, said the group has the names of 23 civilians who died in Sunday's onslaught on Hama.

Omar Idilbi says the number is likely to be much higher as many of the dead have yet to be identified.

The London-based Observatory for Human Rights, quoting hospital officials in Hama, says the number of deaths could be as high as 45. A resident in Hama gave the same number, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.

A Hama resident said the city had been expecting an assault after security troops and pro-government thugs started streaming into the city overnight.

Residents set up sand and stone barricades to try and keep troops out, and set fire to tires.

An estimated 1,600 civilians have died in the crackdown on the largely peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad's regime since the uprising began. Most were killed in shootings by security forces on anti-government rallies.

Hama, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of the capital Damascus, has become one of the hottest centers of the demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands demonstrating every week in its central Assi Square.

In early June, security forces shot dead 65 people there, and since then it has fallen out of government control, with protesters holding the streets and government forces ringing the city and conducting overnight raids.

The city has a history of dissent against the Assad dynasty. In 1982, Assad's late father, Hafez Assad, ordered his brother to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.

The real number may never be known. Then, as now, reporters were not allowed to reach the area.

Ahmed, the Hama resident, said he saw up to 12 people shot dead in the streets in a district known as the Baath neighborhood. Most had been shot in the chest and head, he said.

"Troops entered Hama at dawn today," another resident told The Associated Press by telephone. "We woke up to this news, they are firing from their machine guns randomly and there are many casualties."

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Zeina Karam can be reached on http://twitter.com/zkaram

White House, GOP discuss potential debt limit pact

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White House officials and congressional Republicans are reaching toward a potential end to their bitter debt limit showdown, raising hopes that a deal could be in place by Tuesday to avert a possible federal default.

capitol building.jpgDebt-limit talks forced congressional leaders to burn the midnight oil at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Saturday. A compromise plan could be reached by Tuesday, according to the latest information to arise from the stalemate. If the federal government is allowed to default, it could lead to further national and international fiscal woes.

This updates a story published at 11:57 p.m. Saturday, July 30.


WASHINGTON — White House officials and congressional Republicans are reaching toward a potential end to their bitter debt limit showdown, raising hopes that a deal could be in place by Tuesday to avert a possible federal default.

After weeks of strident partisan conflict, the two sides were discussing an accord that would raise the government's borrowing authority in two steps by about $2.4 trillion and cut federal spending by slightly more, according to knowledgeable officials.

Congress would also have to vote on a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget, a top-flight GOP goal. Unlike a bill approved Friday by the Republican-run House, none of the debt limit increase would be tied to congressional approval of that amendment.

Details of a possible accord began emerging Saturday night after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., said on the Senate floor that the two sides were trying to nail down loose ends and complete an agreement.

"I'm glad to see this move toward cooperation and compromise, and hope it bears fruit," he said.

A Democratic official said that while bargainers were not on the cusp of a deal, one could gel quickly. A Republican said there was consensus on general concepts but cautioned there were no guarantees of a final handshake. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of confidential talks.

Any pact would have to quickly pass both chambers of Congress after a rancorous period that has seen the two parties repeatedly belittle each other's efforts to end the standoff.

Even so, the deal under discussion offers wins for both sides. Republicans and their tea party supporters would get spending cuts at least as large as the amount the debt ceiling would grow and avoid any tax increases. For President Barack Obama and Democrats, there would be no renewed battle over extending the borrowing limit until after next year's elections.

Under the possible compromise, the debt limit would rise by an initial $1 trillion.

A second, $1.4 trillion increase would be tied to a specially created congressional committee that would have to suggest deficit cuts of a slightly larger amount. If that panel did not act — or if Congress rejected their recommendations — automatic spending cuts would be triggered that could affect Medicare and defense spending, two of the most politically sacrosanct programs.

Obama and Democrats have been insisting on a one-shot debt ceiling increase of around $2.4 trillion, enough to last until 2013. Bowing to GOP pressure, they eventually agreed to include an equal amount of spending cuts and dropped their earlier bid for tax increases.

In a bill the House approved Friday — and the Senate rejected — Republicans would initially extend federal borrowing authority by $900 billion, accompanied by $917 billion in spending cuts. They would tie a second $1.6 trillion debt limit boost to spending cuts of up to $1.8 trillion and approval of the balanced budget amendment.

The government has exhausted its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit and has paid its bills since May with money freed up by accounting maneuvers.

The Treasury Department has said it will run out of available cash on Tuesday. The administration has warned that an economy-shaking default would follow that could balloon interest rates and wound the world economy.

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Associated Press writer David Espo contributed to this report.

AM News Links: Massachusetts police cutbacks = less speeding tickets; world population approaching 7 billion, and more

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Hartford's mayor calls for an investigation into the discovery of a decomposed body inside a city home, a toddler is recovering after being bitten in Hampshire County, and more of this morning's news headlines.

tropical.jpgManuel Cruz, left, 9, and his sister Lindsay, 6, run along the beach as the sun rises Saturday over South Padre Island, Texas.

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

California TV reporter shot by BB gun

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California authorities said a Los Angeles-area TV news reporter was shot in the hand with a BB gun pellet as she delivered a live weather report around 6 p.m. Saturday.

FONTANA, Calif. — Authorities said a Los Angeles-area TV news reporter was shot in the hand with a BB gun pellet as she delivered a live weather report around 6 p.m. Saturday.

Fontana Police Lt. Mark Weissman said KABC-TV news reporter Leann Suter was hit as she gave the live report near Interstate 15. She was taken to a hospital, but was not seriously injured.

Weismann said two boys,ages 16 and 17, were arrested in connection with the incident.

KABC President and General Manager Arnold J. Kleiner said in a statement that station officials are grateful Suter wasn't seriously hurt.

Click here to watch a report about a California TV journalist who was shot by a BB gun while delivering a live weather report on Saturday:

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