Quantcast
Channel: News
Viewing all 62489 articles
Browse latest View live

Deval Patrick administration announces energy incentives for Massachusetts tornado victims

0
0

ReBuild Western Massachusetts is designed to assist home and business owners who sustained documented structural damage as a result of the June 1 tornadoes.

Gallery preview

MONSON – The Patrick-Murray administration Thursday announced more than $8 million to help building owners affected by the June 1 tornadoes rebuild using energy efficiency practices and renewable technologies.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. made the announcement as part of the Patrick-Murray administration’s commitment to helping communities rebuild and recover from tornado damage.

“I’m proud of the work these communities have done to lift each other up after the devastating storms,” Sullivan said. He said the program will help residents and businesses rebuild, while supporting the state’s growing clean energy economy.

“This will help achieve energy cost savings for generations to come,” he said.

042011_richard_sullivan.JPGRichard Sullivan

Developed by the Department of Energy Resources and administered in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the program, known as ReBuild Western Massachusetts – is designed to assist home and business owners who sustained documented structural damage as a result of the June 1 storms.

For building owners, the incentives include energy efficiency financing, energy efficiency improvement grants and renewable energy grants.

Eligible participants include those who can document damage caused by the June 1 storms and who own buildings in communities in Hampden and Worcester Counties, including: Agawam, Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield, Southbridge and Sturbridge.

Incentives for homeowners include zero interest loans in collaboration with local banks and grants for building with energy efficient windows, doors, attic and wall insulation and heating equipment.

The program also will offer incentives for solar thermal systems, as well as for other renewable heating and hot water systems.

The programs are funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The new programs are in addition to the assistance offered to tornado-impacted residents via DOER’s Massachusetts Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, which launched on July 28. The program offers $150 for new Energy Star refrigerators and $50 for room air conditioners. For more information about the program, visit www.MassEnergyRebates.com or call toll-free (877) 574-1128.


Rest of 2011 hurricane season will be busy, U.S. forecasters say

0
0

Exceptionally high ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions that support hurricane development will keep the Atlantic and Caribbean on track for an above-average storm season.

090210 hurricane earl.JPGThis satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Earl taken Thursday Sept. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/NOAA)

By JENNIFER KAY

MIAMI — Exceptionally high ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions that support hurricane development will keep the Atlantic and Caribbean on track for an above-average storm season, U.S. forecasters said Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration slightly upgraded its May outlook, calling for 14 to 19 named tropical storms, up from a range of 14 to 18.

That includes the five tropical storms that have formed since the six-month hurricane season started June 1. It ends Nov. 30 and the peak period for hurricanes runs from August through October.

"We expect considerable activity," said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Washington.

"There is absolutely no reason that people should be complacent," Bell said. "Now is the time people really need to make sure they have their hurricane preparedness plans in place."

Tropical storms get named when their top winds reach 39 mph or higher. NOAA now expects seven to 10 named storms to strengthen into hurricanes with top winds of 74 mph or higher, and three to five of those hurricanes could become major storms with winds blowing 111 mph or more.

In May, forecasters called for six to 10 hurricanes this season. The seasonal average is 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

Key climate factors predicted in May continue to boost forecasters' expectations for an above-average season, Bell said.

"The atmosphere and Atlantic Ocean are primed for high hurricane activity during August through October," Bell said. "Storms through October will form more frequently and become more intense than we've seen so far this season."

Atmospheric and marine conditions indicate a high-activity era that began in 1995 continues, and ocean temperatures are the third warmest on record, he said.

The La Nina weather phenomenon also may redevelop this fall, Bell said.

La Nina is an unusual cooling of the Pacific waters near the equator. It cuts wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic, which gives tropical storms a chance to develop and strengthen before being ripped apart.

Forecasters say La Nina helped make the 2010 season one of the busiest on record with 19 named storms, including 12 hurricanes. The opposite El Nino phenomenon, which warms Pacific waters near the equator and increases wind shear over the Atlantic, helps suppress storm development.

"The numbers in May reflected the possibility that El Nino could develop. El Nino has not developed," Bell said.

Five tropical storms have developed so far this season.

The Mexican government reported 22 deaths after Tropical Storm Arlene came ashore June 30 with heavy rains that caused flooding and mudslides. Last week, Tropical Storm Don fizzled to a tropical depression just before crossing the Texas coastline.

On Thursday, officials urged Florida residents to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Emily, which brought drenching rain to parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic but weakened in the mountains dividing the two countries.

The storm was likely to cross eastern Cuba on Friday and might touch Florida on Saturday, though the projected track would keep its center offshore, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The last hurricane to make landfall in the United States was Ike in 2008. Though not considered a major hurricane, Ike caused $10 billion in damage in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, making it the third-costliest storm after Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Andrew in 1992, according to the hurricane center.

The last major hurricane to strike the U.S. was Category 3 Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall in Florida in 2005.

"We've been quite lucky in recent years, but that's no reason to be complacent," said Steve Woodward, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's deputy assistant administrator for response. "As spring and summer have taught us, with tornadoes and flooding and the heat wave, disasters can strike practically anytime and anywhere."

Sen. Scott Brown urges Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick not to hike gas tax

0
0

Brown wrote that an increase in the tax would cause further hardship for families, deter job creation and hurt the state's tourism industry.

111510 scott brownU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., made public a letter he sent to Gov. Deval Patrick, urging him to put off any consideration of a hike in the Massachusetts gasoline tax. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

BOSTON — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is urging Gov. Deval Patrick to put off any consideration of an increase in the state's gasoline tax.

In a letter sent to Patrick on Thursday and made public by Brown, the Republican senator said he had heard from constituents worried that the state's 21 cents per gallon gas tax might be hiked to provide more revenue for transportation projects.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray was recently quoted as saying the administration was leaving the door open to a possible gas tax increase, but Patrick insisted on Thursday there were no plans to do so.

Patrick did say he favored the gas tax because it creates a dependable revenue stream for transportation.

Brown wrote that an increase in the tax would cause further hardship for families, deter job creation and hurt the state's tourism industry.

8.4.11 Gas Tax Letter, Scott Brown to Deval Patrick

Asian stocks sink on U.S. recession fear, Europe debt crisis

0
0

Growing fear about the weakening U.S. economy was joined by concern in Europe that the troubled economies of Italy and Spain might need help from the European Union.

080511 japan stocks.jpgPedestrians are reflected on the glass of stock indicators in downtown Tokyo on Friday Aug. 5, 2011. Asian stock markets are tumbling amid fears the U.S. may be heading back into recession and Europe's debt crisis is worsening. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

BANGKOK — Asian stock markets tumbled Friday as investors dumped riskier assets amid fears the U.S. is heading back into recession and Europe's debt crisis is worsening.

The sell-off in Asia followed the biggest one-day points decline on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average slid 3.4 percent to 9,335.26 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 4.1 percent to 20,989.28.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 4 percent at 4,107.20, Taiwan's Taiex sank 4.2 percent to 7,967.38 and Seoul's Kospi dropped 2.8 percent to 1,961.79.

Growing fear about the weakening U.S. economy was joined by concern in Europe that the troubled economies of Italy and Spain might need help from the European Union.

But some analysts said the sell-off was not a repeat of 2008 when a banking and credit crisis sent markets into a prolonged tailspin.

Traders also unloaded stocks before Friday's release of the U.S. government's unemployment report for July, which is expected to show weak job growth and perhaps a rise in the unemployment rate, which is 9.2 percent.

For the day, the Dow closed down 512.76 points, at 11,383.68. It was the steepest point decline since Dec. 1, 2008.

Thursday's decline was the ninth-worst by points for the Dow. In percentage terms, the decline of 4.3 percent does not rank among the worst. On Black Monday in 1987, for example, the Dow fell 22 percent.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was down $1.16 at $85.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $5.30, or 5.8 percent, to settle at $86.63 on Thursday.

Springfield woman hospitalized following fire at Upper Hill home

0
0

The fire started in the kitchen on the first floor where it went into the walls and traveled upwards, eventually destroying the house's roof.

SPRINGFIELD - An elderly homeowner was hospitalized with heart complications Thursday night following a fire at her Norfolk Street home.

Around 11:30 p.m., firefighters were called to 124 Norfolk St. in the city's Upper Hill neighborhood for a reported structure fire. According to Dennis Leger, public information officer for the Springfield Fire Department, when crews arrived the woman's grandson was trying to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose.

Leger said the fire started in the kitchen on the first floor where it went into the walls. From there, it made its way to the second floor and the attic.

Firefighters efforts were hampered as they tried to gain access to the area where the fire had spread to due to the large number of items being stored there, Leger said. Because of this, firefighters had to attack the blaze defensively from outside.

"The fire caused upwards of $80,000 damage as it traveled through the house and destroyed the roof," Leger said. "The cause is under investigation at this time."

The house, which was built in 1901, is owned by 71-year-old Margaret Jones, who was taken to the hospital following the ordeal. According to the city assessor's online database, Jones has owned the home since 1979.

Following Jones' release from the hospital, she will be assisted by the Pioneer Valley chapter of the American Red Cross, who is currently caring for her grandson.

This map shows the location of the home that was seriously damaged by a fire on Thursday.



Virginia Tech lockdown brings back memories of 2007 shooting spree that left 33 dead

0
0

Memories of the worst mass school shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech came flooding back when the campus locked down after reports of a man with a gun, although some who were told to stay indoors treated the warnings with a shrug.

Gallery preview

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON, Associated Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Memories of the worst mass school shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech came flooding back when the campus locked down after reports of a man with a gun, although some who were told to stay indoors treated the warnings with a shrug.

The university on Thursday issued the longest, most extensive lockdown and search on campus since the 2007 massacre. It came after three teenage girls attending a summer camp on campus reported to university police that they saw a man with a possible gun as they walked to the dining hall.

The school lifted the lockdown more than five hours later after a search for such a man was unsuccessful and police had no real leads.

Mohammed Al-Halali, a sophomore taking a summer architecture design lab, said the shootings that killed 33 people were "the first thing that came to mind" when he got the emergency alert and he received many texts from friends to make sure he was all right.

Still, he said he never felt unsafe and he thought the police would have things under control. He said the news media was hyping it.

University spokesman Larry Hincker said all voicemail, text-messaging, email and social-media alerting systems worked without a hitch, and that issuing such a warning was necessary. Still, some continued to stroll about the 2,600-acre campus, despite requests to stay indoors. Several thousand students and the school's 6,500 employees were on campus for summer classes.

"People have the right to do what they want to do," Hincker said. "People have their own free will."

Police searched some 150 buildings on the square-mile campus and issued a composite sketch of a baby-faced man who was said to be wearing shorts and sandals, but they found no sign of him. They continued to patrol the grounds as a precaution even after the lockdown was lifted.

"We're in a new era. Obviously this campus experienced something pretty terrible four years ago," Hincker said. He added: "Regardless of what your intuition and your experience as a public safety officer tells you, you are really forced to issue an alert."

It was the first time the entire campus was locked down since the shooting rampage by student Seung-Hui Cho, and the second major test of Virginia Tech's improved emergency-alert system, which was revamped to add the use of text messages and other means besides email of warning students.

The system was also used in 2008, when an exploding nail-gun cartridge was mistaken for gunfire. But only one dormitory was locked down then and it reopened two hours later.

Peggy Newsome was driving her 17-year-old daughter, Paige, and two of Paige's friends, Emily Oliver and Lauren Mackey, to Blacksburg for an afternoon admissions tour when the group started getting text messages from friends about the lockdown.

"We were just talking about (the massacre) on the way here, and I swear to you it wasn't five minutes and we heard about what was going on," said Newsome, of Hanover County in suburban Richmond.

When they reached the undergraduate visitors center they saw a sign on the door reading: "Please vacate immediately."

Because all tours Thursday were canceled, they drove around campus and got out to see the memorial to the 2007 victims in front of Burruss Hall. They felt safer after seeing police cars stationed at several spots. After the lockdown was lifted, they took their own walking tour and visited a dining hall and several other buildings.

"In all the classrooms they had emergency-information posters and some electronic tickers," Newsome noted.

The girls took the day's events in stride, and said it'd make a good story to tell their friends.

But in many minds, Virginia Tech and the 2007 mass slayings always will be linked, and criticism of the university's response to that event led to an overhaul of emergency-notification procedures. Authorities said they took abundant caution and opted to issue the lockdown because they had what they regarded as credible evidence of a threat.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said police from several law-enforcement agencies would continue to patrol the grounds in marked and unmarked cars and search buildings.

Earlier this year, federal authorities fined Virginia Tech $55,000 for waiting too long to notify the campus after a gunman killed two students at a dorm during the 2007 rampage. An email alert went out more than two hours later, about the time student Cho was chaining the doors to a building where he killed 30 more people and himself.

Developing: Springfield police investigating reported armed robbery of Shell gas station near East Longmeadow line

0
0

Springfield police are looking for a woman who allegedly displayed a handgun and robbed the Shell gas station at 960 Belmont Ave. Friday morning.

SPRINGFIELD - Police are looking for a woman wanted in connection with an armed robbery at the Shell gas station near the corner of Belmont Avenue and White Street Friday morning.

At 4:49 a.m., the hold-up alarm went off at the gas station located at 960 Belmont Ave. When police arrived at the scene they were told by a clerk that a woman had just shown a handgun and robbed the store.

The suspect is described as a black woman who was wearing a white shirt and possibly a white tank top on her head, as a doo-rag, according to preliminary reports. It wasn't immediately clear what, if anything, the woman took from the store.

East Longmeadow police were notified of the incident and are also on the lookout for the woman.

Police have not publicly identified a person of interest in the case, but they are seeking a specific woman with known ties to the Forest Park neighborhood for questioning.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Springfield police Detective Bureau at (413) 787-6355.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may text a tip via a cell phone by addressing a text message to “CRIMES,” or “274637,” and then beginning the body of the message with the word “SOLVE.”


This map shows the approximate location of the Shell gas station which was robbed on Friday morning.




Rebuild Springfield Advisory Committee schedules 2nd of 4 'listening tours' for tornado rebuilding ideas

0
0

The meeting is scheduled at the J.C. Williams Community Center, 116 Florence St.

Gallery preview

SPRINGFIELD – The Rebuild Springfield Advisory Committee has three more “listening tours” in August to hear from homeowners, residents and business owners about how they envision their neighborhoods to be rebuilt in the aftermath of the June 1 tornado.

The second of four community meetings is scheduled Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., at the J.C. Williams Community Center, 116 Florence St.

Additional tours are scheduled Aug. 11 at the Greenleaf Community Center, 1188½ Parker St., and Aug. 16 at Holy Cross Church, 221 Plumtree Road, both from 6 to 8 p.m.


AM News Links: $1 million donation to Mitt Romney from mystery group draws scrutiny; Hartford man admits putting hidden cameras in several public bathrooms; and more

0
0

A large donation to Mitt Romney from a mystery PAC draws serious scrutiny; a Hartford man admits putting hidden cameras in four public bathrooms while others are found in the area; and more of the morning's headlines.

APTOPIX Tainted Ground TurkeyA truckload of live turkeys arrives at the Cargill turkey processing plant in Springdale, Ark., Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011. The Agriculture Department and the Minnesota-based company announced Wednesday evening that Cargill is recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2 due to possible contamination from the strain of salmonella linked to 76 illnesses and the one death. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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

Springfield police arrest 17-year-old Kyle Holmes on crack cocaine charges

0
0

Police said they approached the suspect after they spotted him rolling what's known as blunt.

kyleiloveweedholmes17crop.jpgKyle Holmes

SPRINGFIELD – A 17-year-old city man, arrested on crack charges Wednesday night, first caught the eye of police when they spotted him rolling what’s known as a blunt as he sat the steps of a Federal Street apartment building.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said when the suspect saw Officers Hector Morales and Luke Cournoyer as he sat on the steps of 90 Federal St. he kept on rolling the blunt - which is marijuana inside a cigar wrapper.

When the officers got out of their cruiser to give the suspect a citation for the marijuana, he fled, telling police “All I have got is a little weed,” Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

Police arrested the suspect, Kyle Holmes, of 91 Federal St., after a brief foot chase and found him to be in possession of three grams of crack cocaine packaged for sale, Delaney said.

Holmes was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, assault and battery on a police officer and violation of a drug-free school zone.

18-year-old East Longmeadow resident Samantha Larose, seriously injured in car crash 10 days ago, remains in critical condition

0
0

The single car crash occurred on Benton Drive.

2004 east longmeadow police car

EAST LONGMEADOW - An 18-year-old woman, seriously injured in a single-car crash on Benton Drive ten days ago, remains in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, a spokesman said.

Samantha Larose, of 35 Hazelhurst Ave., was thrown from the car during the crash, which occurred about 10:45 a.m. in the area of 265-270 Benton Drive, police said. The driver, Miguel Torres, of the same address, was treated at Baystate and released.

Police said speed appears to be a factor in the crash. The 1997 Toyota left the roadway and traveled a considerable distance, rolling several times. It’s not known if Larose or Torres were wearing seat belts.

East Longmeadow police, aided by the State Police Accident Reconstruction Team and the Hampden district attorney’s office, are investigating.

Jimmy McMillan, New York's 'Rent Too Damn High' candidate, faces eviction

0
0

McMillan said he's being evicted from his rent-controlled Manhattan apartment because his landlord wants to charge a new tenant more.

Jimmy McMillanFILE - In this Oct. 28, 2010 file photo, New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, of the Rent is Too Damn High Party, appears on the "Imus in the Morning" program on the Fox Business Network in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A candidate who ran for New York governor because "the rent is too damn high" says he's being evicted from his rent-controlled Manhattan apartment because his landlord wants to charge a new tenant more.

Jimmy McMillan tells the New York Post he pays $872 for the rent-controlled East Village apartment.

He says the landlord wants him out because "my rent is too damn low."

McMillan, now planning a run for president, says he's told his lawyer to file a counter claim for $70,000. The case is pending in Housing Court.

Building owner Lisco Holdings said in court papers that McMillan violated his lease because the apartment is not his primary residence as required by rent-controlled rules. It says he lives in Brooklyn.

McMillan says that address is his office.

U.S. stock futures bounce on hopeful jobs report finds 117,000 new jobs in July

0
0

Still, employers must add twice as many net jobs per month to rapidly reduce unemployment.

Wall StreetFILE - In this June 27, 2011 file photo, traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. A rally spurred by expectations that the U.S. economy added significantly more jobs than initially forecast in June petered out on Friday as investors prepared for the official employment report. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)

U.S. stock futures rose strongly Friday after a surprisingly strong report on hiring in July. The report comes a day after the market's worst single-day drop since 2008.

The economy added 117,000 new jobs in July, and hiring in May and June were not as bad as reported previously, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate inched down to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent, partly because some unemployed workers stopped looking for work. Health care providers and manufacturers added jobs.

Still, employers must add twice as many net jobs per month to rapidly reduce unemployment. The rate has topped 9 percent in every month except two since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

The mixed economic picture failed to dampen the spirits of traders who were shaking off a day in which the Dow Jones industrial average fell 513 points.

Before the market opened, Dow futures rose 72 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,443. Standard & Poor's 500 futures gained 9, or 0.8 percent, to 1,207. Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 12, or 0.5 percent, to 2,221.

Futures had been down before the jobs report as investors eyed selling overseas. Tokyo, Hong Kong and China all closed down 4 percent. Taiwan lost 6 percent. Investors are fearful that the weak U.S. economy might lead a global slowdown in demand.

In Europe, shares recovered some of their losses after plunging to their lowest levels in more than a year. Italy and Spain were the only countries whose main indexes rose, despite data showing both economies barely grew in the second quarter.

Thursday's sell-off was the Dow's ninth-worst day on record in terms of points lost. It wiped out the Dow's remaining gains for 2011. U.S. markets officially have experienced a correction, falling 10 percentage points from their highs this spring.

The harrowing day followed two weeks of almost uninterrupted selling on Wall Street. By one broad measure kept by Dow Jones Indexes, part of CME Group Inc., almost $1.9 trillion in market value has disappeared.

Friday's jobs report offered one of the strongest jolts of good economic news since stocks hit their recent highs on April 29.

Traders have focused on a torrent of bad economic news since the U.S. government struck a deal last weekend to raise the nation's borrowing limit, averting a threatened default. Manufacturing and the service sector are barely growing. The economy expanded in the first half of the year at its slowest pace since the recession ended in June 2009.

Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimate there is a 35 percent chance of another recession within the next year. Only three of the three S&P 500's ten industry groups are up for the year: Health care, utilities and consumer staples. Traders consider those companies to be relatively recession-proof.

Fears that about the debts of big eurozone countries like Italy and Spain continued to spread as European leaders called emergency meetings and sought to contain the crisis.

Fears of a slowing global economy pushed benchmark oil for September delivery was down 28 cents to $86.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it fell as low as $82.87. On Thursday, crude tumbled $5.30 to settle at $86.63.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell to 0.29 percent, after brushing a record low of 0.26 percent earlier Friday. Frightened investors are buying bonds, sending their prices higher and their yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.46 percent after hitting a low since last year of 2.34 percent.

Shares of consumer product maker Procter & Gamble rose after the company said that its fourth-quarter revenue and net income jumped by double digits because of strong sales in emerging markets. The company said it expects a slowdown in the current quarter as developed economies struggle.

Media company Viacom Inc. said its net income and revenue increased more than analysts expected in the second quarter because of strong advertising sales and fees from cable companies.

Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. lost 11 percent in premarket trading, the most in the S&P 500, amid fears that a flight by investors might hurt the financial advisor's revenue.

Shares of Priceline.com Inc. surged 12 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P, after the company reported that it earned far more than expected in the second quarter as travel bookings on the website increased.

East Longmeadow police probe robbery outside T.D. Bank on North Main Street

0
0

The victim had just cashed a check at the bank and was getting into his car, police said.

2004 east longmeadow police car

EAST LONGMEADOW – A suspect, who implied that he had a gun, robbed a man of cash early last night outside the T.D. Bank on North Main Street.

Police continue to probe the robbery which occurred about 5:30 p.m. in the Big Y parking lot adjacent to the bank at 465 North Main St.

Sgt. Robert Driscoll said the suspect had just cashed a check at the bank and was getting into his car when he was approached by a suspect who prevented him from sitting down and indicated that he had a gun tucked into his waistband, under his shirt.

The suspect asked for the man’s wallet, and upon receiving it, fled on foot towards Harkness Avenue. No weapon was ever shown.

The suspect is described as Hispanic, clean-cut, age 20 to 30, about 6 feet tall, wearing jeans and a black shirt.

That description does not match that of a suspect, still at large, who is believed to have assaulted a pregnant woman with a box cutter during a robbery late April in the parking lot of the Heritage Shops Plaza.

The woman described the suspect as being approximately 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a slim build, wearing a green sweatshirt and soiled jeans. He had neck-length and oily salt-and-pepper colored hair and appeared to be in his mid-40s.

Judge delays Casey Anthony probation status decision

0
0

"The best I can say is this is a legal maze," Judge Belvin Perry said. "This is a legal morass."

Gallery preview

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A judge deciding whether Casey Anthony has to return to Florida to serve probation for check fraud ended a hearing Friday without a ruling, calling the case "a mess."

"The best I can say is this is a legal maze," Judge Belvin Perry said. "This is a legal morass."

The judge didn't indicate when he would issue a ruling. Anthony didn't attend the hearing, which involves a case separate from her high-profile murder trial that ended with her acquittal last month.

Anthony has disappeared from the public eye since a jury found her not guilty in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, and she was released from the Orange County Jail. Her lawyers have not disclosed her location expect to say she was out of state earlier this week.

Another judge sentenced her in January 2010 to probation after she pleaded guilty to using checks stolen from a friend. Judge Stan Strickland said during the sentencing hearing that Anthony should serve the probation upon her release from prison or jail. But those instructions never made it into a written order and corrections officials interpreted the sentence to mean Anthony could serve the probation while she was in jail awaiting trial. Strickland issued an amended order earlier this week, clarifying that Anthony needs to start serving probation now that she is out of jail.

Her attorneys argued at the hearing that Anthony already has served the probation and to do so again would be double jeopardy. They also argued that Strickland didn't have jurisdiction over the case anymore and that his original sentencing order could not be corrected more than 60 days after it was issued.


$4,000 wedding band lost on Cape Cod beach found

0
0

Retired Wellfleet Fire Chief Alan Hight found the ring for Gary Cedarquist four days after it was lost.

WELLFLEET – Gary Cedarquist said he was “absolutely devastated” when he lost his $4,000 wedding band during a family outing to a Wellfleet beach last weekend.

Frantic searches Saturday were fruitless.

Out of other options and fearing the white gold, diamond-studded band was gone forever, Cedarquist told the Cape Cod Times he called Wellfleet Beach Administrator Suzanne Grout Thomas.

She called the “king of metal detectors,” retired Wellfleet Fire Chief Alan Hight.

Hight swept his top-of-the line metal detector over the sands of White Crest Beach for an hour before he heard a telltale beep and found the ring buried six inches deep.

Cedarquist, who got his ring back Wednesday, says the return of the band is proof that he and his wife are destined to be together.

Stocks turn lower as optimism about jobs fades

0
0

Shares rose early Friday after the government said hiring picked up slightly in July. The rally lasted less than half an hour.

Wall StreetPedestrians walk past a Wall Street sign near the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 in New York. Fears that the economy might dip back into recession helped send the Dow Jones industrial average down 513 points on Thursday. European leaders are struggling to contain that region's debt problems, prompting comparisons to the 2008 financial crisis. Markets tumbled from Tokyo to London Friday as overseas traders reacted to the selloff. (AP Photo/Jin Lee)

U.S. stocks are slumping after a morning of up-and-down trading.

Major market indexes are falling as traders focus on fears that European leaders will be unable to contain a spreading financial crisis. Many fear that officials lack the tools to rescue Italy or Spain if one of those countries defaults before a larger bailout fund is in place.

Shares rose early Friday
after the government said hiring picked up slightly in July. The rally lasted less than half an hour.

Just before noon, the Dow is down 141, or 1.2 percent, at 11,230. The S&P 500 is down 18, or 1.5 percent, at 1,181. The Nasdaq composite is down 37, or 1.7 percent, at 2,173.

The Dow fell 512 points Thursday, its worst day since 2008.

Gang-related brawl at Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow sends inmate to hospital

0
0

The brawl pitted 9 inmates against 4.

countyjail.JPGExterior of Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow.

LUDLOW - A gang-related brawl amongst inmates at the Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow on Sunday night sent an inmate to the hospital for treatment and resulted in the lockdown of the pod in which it occurred.

Richard J. McCarthy, public affairs officer for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, said the brawl pitted nine against four. He credited Correctional Officer Daniel Daoust with striving to quell the fight until special operations personnel arrived less than a minute later.

“He interceded to try to quell it to the extent that more injury didn’t come to those who were outnumbered,” McCarthy said, adding that Daoust, who is “a fairly new officer” and other responding correctional officers were not injured.

The pod was locked down “for a day or two” and the injured inmate has since returned to the facility, McCarthy said.

Investigators have determined that the brawl was gang-related and the facility has taken measures to counter the problem. The 13 inmates involved are now in segregation, McCarthy said.

A smaller gang-related fight, involving seven inmates, occurred at the facility early yesterday afternoon. No injuries were reported and the pod did not go into lockdown, McCarthy said.

“It’s a fluid situation,” McCarthy said of the department’s attempt to keep abreast of gang ties and affiliations within the jail.

The facility currently contains some 1,062 inmates who live in 18 different pods or housing units, McCarthy said.

Springfield mayoral candidate Antonette Pepe criticizes city attorney's ruling on Superintendent of Schools Alan Ingram's contract

0
0

She said Ingram should return $30,000 he was advanced to buy a house in Springfield.

Antonette Pepe mug 42611.jpgAntonette Pepe

SPRINGFIELD – Mayoral candidate Antonette Pepe criticized Thursday the opinion issued by City Attorney Edward M. Pikula Wednesday that said Superintendent of Schools Alan J. Ingram does not have to repay the city $30,000 in moving expenses.

“Attorney Pikula works for the mayor, not the taxpayers, and this opinion was issued at the request of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno,” Pepe said in a prepared statement.

The Springfield Law Department issued its opinion despite a call from School Committee members that Ingram give back the money because he did not use it to purchase a home in the city.

Pikula said that after reviewing Ingram’s contract he found no grounds for the city to demand repayment.

“It is the opinion of the Law Department that the superintendent is under no legal obligation to repay the funds to the city,” Pikula wrote.

The opinion was issued at the request of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, after the controversy over the $30,000 payment to Ingram arose recently when School Committee member and Pepe began publicly questioning portions of Ingram’s contract.

Once Ingram buys a house in the city, and relocates his family here, the city would then give him the $30,000 back, she said.

“It is a shame that the intent of this contract and side letter are being manipulated by legal jargon and that Attorney Pilkula is playing legal games with the contract’s wording,“ Pepe stated.

In addition to Sarno and Pepe, City Council president Jose Tosado is also running for mayor.

Springfield in the Civil War August 1861: John Brown's spirit marches with Union soldiers

0
0

With the country torn apart, the pro Union papers of the north, of which The Republican was one, had little taste for dissent, compromise or freedom of the press.

ep osv 1.jpgCivil War re-enactors on the march at Old Sturbidge Village.

Dissecting the debacle at Bull Run was still very much in the news as a hot July gave way to a sweltering August in 1861.

Enlistments were up for troops from throughout New England who signed on in April, and many passed through Springfield on their way home while recruiters were trying to fill new regiments with three-year commitments.

The Republican contained almost daily news of the local boys of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment that had been formed in Springfield at Hampden Park and was now encamped outside of Washington.

Dressed in new uniforms supplied by Springfield merchants, the Western Massachusetts soldiers had headed for the seat of war soon after the first Battle of Bull Run and arrived the last week in July on steamers from Boston. After the Union defeat in the first big battle of the war, more thought was given to how soldiers dressed.

Capt. Joseph K. Newel wrote on Aug. 4:

Springfield & The Civil War

We at The Republican are launching a four-year project to tell the story of how our community coped with 48 months of war, from April of 1861 to April of 1865.

On the first Sunday of each month we will run a report of what was happening here 150 years ago during that month.

by Wayne Phaneuf, Executive Editor

Part 1 -- The Civil War is upon us: The events of April 1861 changed Springfield and the nation forever

Part 2 -- A call to arms: President Lincoln upgraded call for troops in second month of Civil War

Part 3 -- Boom Town: Springfield becomes vital to the Civil War effort

Part 4 -- The Springfield Republican recounts 'Saddest day this country ever saw'

Introducing the project


“New uniforms, gray pants and blue blouses were issued to the men, and they appeared in them at dress parade. The old gray uniforms made them look so much like the rebels that it was not thought advisable to wear them into service.”

There’s no record of whether the 10th Regiment troops were singing as they marched in dress parade with their new uniforms, but The Republican that week pointed out that the favorite song of the new volunteers “is a Negro doggrel in which John Brown is glorified as living in spirit in this campaign.”

It was while living in Springfield that the famous abolitionist formed many of his more radical views on how to end slavery. When he was hanged in 1859 after his failed attack on Harper’s Ferry Arsenal, the church bells of Springfield pealed in his honor. Most of the men serving from Western Massachusetts knew of, or had even met, Brown.

The newspaper printed the words to “John Brown’s Body” and added:

“It is a queer medley, but the soldiers like it and sing it with great energy. .. The Virginians will think John Brown is worshiped as the northern hero, in spite of all denials. ... So on all hands, Providence seems to be involving slavery with the war, not withstanding the most sincere efforts of patriotism and statesmanship to keep the constitutional lines distinct.”

On August 6, The Republican ran a small item that Mr. Thomas Thomas had been granted a license to open a restaurant and saloon on Main Street in Springfield. Thomas was a close friend of John Brown’s and was mentioned in his will.

It was also reported that the temperature broke the 100 degree mark and the water level in the Connecticut River was so low that passenger steamboats and freight barges were having a hard time getting up or downstream.

A portrait of John BrownA portrait of John Brown


With the country torn apart, the pro Union papers of the north, of which The Republican was one, had little taste for dissent, compromise or freedom of the press. This observation is backed by a series of items that appeared in the paper’s pages in August of 1861. The first one appeared on the ninth under the headlines.

Mob Law and Bloodshed in New Hampshire. A SECESSION NEWSPAPER OFFICE GUTTED.

“The office of the Democratic Standard of Concord, N.H., was destroyed on Thursday afternoon by a mob composed of soldiers of the 1st and 4th New Hampshire Regiments. The Standard, which has been for a long time ‘secesh,’ had published an article reflecting severely on the soldiers. A crowd gathered around the office. The editors and the proprietors shook their pistols and dared the men. While the city authorities endeavored to quell the disturbance, the traitorous publishers fired, wounding two soldiers. The office was immediately gutted and the printing materials burnt. The publishers took refuge in the attic, where they were found and carried to the police station with great difficulty, so eager was the combativeness of the soldiers.”

A week later there was another report of a mob burning the Sentinel newspaper in Easton, Pa., for advocating “peace and compromise.”

On August 23rd, The Republican ran an article entitled “No Lynching at the North,” which quoted The Providence Journal as saying, in regard to the recent forcible suppression of treasonable newspapers:

Civil John Brown song.jpgJohn Brown's Song


“We abhor the sentiments of these secessionist editors as profoundly as anybody, but we also grieve to see them the victims of lawlessness.”

The Rhode Island paper suggested the withdrawal of advertising and boycott of subscriptions.

“We do not know one of these pestilent sheets that would not be speedily killed by the withdrawal of the patronage of all loyal citizens.”

Only three days later The Republican reported the federal government was cracking down on “certain disloyal New York newspapers” by suppressing their circulation through the mail of the United States.

In another measure to tighten security, on August 19th, the newspaper reported for the first time in its history that the United States would require passports from all people coming into and leaving the country. “This is to prevent the easy egress and ingress of rebel emissaries sent on traitorous missions.”

On the military front, readers of The Republican were surprised to see the announcement that Giuseppe Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy, had volunteered his services to fight for the Union and would be offered a major general’s commission.

“Did we need another proof that our cause is a just one, it is that Garibaldi is with us,” the story read.

The Garibaldi story was a bit premature, but it was true. Abraham Lincoln had instructed Secretary of State William H. Seward to begin direct communications with Garibaldi. With the war only a few months old, the president hoped to convince the most famous general in the world to fight for the United States and he actually wanted to do so, but he drove too hard a bargain.

Ae garibaldi.jpgLincoln sought out Garibaldi in Italy


The official report back to Lincoln stated, “Garibaldi said that the only way in which he could render real service, as he ardently desired to do, to the cause of the United States, was as Commander in Chief of its forces; that he would only go as such and with the additional contingent power – to be governed by events – of declaring the abolition of slavery.”

Once again, the slavery question was in the forefront and was the deal breaker. Lincoln was not ready to make that commitment.

Recruiters were hard at work during the month in Springfield trying to fill new quotas that called for thousands of soldiers from Massachusetts. From Springfield, Col. James Barnes, an 1829 West Point grad who was in the same class as Confederate President Jefferson Davis, was putting together the 18th Massachusetts Regiment. Fellow Springfield resident, Col. Horace C. Lee, city clerk and treasurer, had been asked by the governor to recruit another regiment from Western Mass. that would become the 27th Massachusetts.

Museum IV 83-1.JPGCol. James Barnes


The Republican ran an amusing tidbit on the recruitment effort that read:

“A numerous crowd, comprised mostly of Irish women, was assembled in front of the recruitment headquarters of the 18th regiment yesterday morning in search of their truant husbands, who had enlisted without their consent.”

In one week Dr. David Smith of Springfield, surgeon of the 18th Massachusetts, and Lt. James Orne enlisted 40 volunteers from the city. Among the recruits were eight men out of the house of correction where they had been confined for petty offenses such as drunkenness or fast driving.

“The appearance among the convicts of their first comrade recruit in his military uniform excited a lively degree of patriotic emotion, and the whole institution was eager to enlist,” the newspaper reported. “Only the choice ones, and those arrested for small offenses were permitted to do so, however.”

The regiment had taken out an advertisement in The Republican to fill the last 100 volunteers. Among other advertisements sharing the pages were four different notices for coffins, one of which promised to furnish caskets, coffins and burial clothing of all kinds on short notice.


Viewing all 62489 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images