The e-mail contains an attachment that may have a virus and opening it could harm the recipient's computer.

The New York State Police are warning the public across the country about an e-mail hoax claiming to be traffic ticket notification from the New York Department of Motor Vehicles that contains a computer virus.

The e-mail contains an attached zip file that is identified as a Uniform Traffic Ticket. The recipient is instructed to open the file for a copy of a traffic ticket and then fill it out and return it with a payment.
Opening the file launches a virus that can infect the recipient’s computer. The e-mail may have the phrase “Uniformed Traffic Ticket.”

The e-mail was not issued by either the New York State Police or the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

New York officials are warning people who receive the e-mail not to open the e-mail or the attachment. Those who do are requested to immediately launch their anti-virus software. People who receive it are asked not to forward it to the New York State Police or to their local police, officials said.

The New York State Police Computer Crime Unit and the Computer Forensic Lab are investigating the origin of the emails and the virus.

This appears to be the second wave of the hoax. It was first discovered in July and appeared to have been spread primarily through Yahoo email accounts. This time around, it is being spread through all types of e-mail accounts, officials said.

A copy of the bogus e-mail that N.Y. State Police describe as containing a harmful computer virus:

Green died Sunday in an accident at an air show at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base while attempting the same stunt he had successfully completed the day before.

View full sizeAP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Christine DoronWing walker Todd Green makes the second of three attempts to transfer to a helicopter during an air show at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011. Green later fell to his death after losing his grip.

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan wing walker who fell to his death as he tried to grab a helicopter's skid from his perch atop a small plane had successfully performed the same maneuver many times before, a former colleague said Monday.

Todd Green, the son of a prominent aerial stuntman and a skilled one himself, was one of only two people to ever do the stunt, said Kyle Franklin, a stunt pilot and former wing walker who once worked with him.

"He was very good at it. I've seen him do that many, many times," Franklin said. "He was always on spot and did a very good job with everything he did."

Green, who died Sunday after falling 200 feet from the plane during an annual air show at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, successfully completed the stunt the day before, said Technical Sgt. Dan Heaton, a base spokesman.

His death came a day after two pilots died in separate crashes at air shows in Missouri and England.

Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were at the base about 20 miles northeast of Detroit on Monday looking into Green's fall, Heaton said. The FAA said it could not release any details yet about Green's death.

The air show started Friday and drew about 75,000 spectators Sunday. Scores saw Green fall and land about 1,500 from the crowd, Heaton said.

Green, 48, of Ann Arbor, was the son of prominent aerial stuntman Eddie Green, who was inducted into the International Council of Air Shows Foundation Hall of Fame in 2006. Eddie Green was known for doing a car-to-plane transfer, according to the Hall of Fame's website.

Todd Green also was an experienced stuntman, said Franklin, who last performed with him in 2009.

"He was an excellent stuntman and had been around for years," Franklin said. "I grew up kind of watching him wing walk from time to time.

"He enjoyed it very much. He did get a thrill out of it. Most of us in this business aren't necessarily adrenaline junkies. We do it because we love performing, being in front of a crowd and entertaining them."

Silver Wings Wingwalking Team member Margaret Stivers called Green a friend and "professional colleague."

"His father is a legend and in the air show hall of fame, so Todd can be considered air show royalty," Stivers wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Yet, Todd was a humble person.

"I respected him and his difficult stunt work. The air show world is small and even closer is the stunt-wing walker family. For me, this is like a hit in the gut."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the projects would create 12,000 jobs over the span of construction.

File photo | Associated PressAn Amtrak Acela Express train arrives at the Route 128 Amtrak station in Westwood.

NEW YORK — The federal Department of Transportation announced Monday that $745 million would be going toward rail projects that will allow trains to travel up to 160 mph in some sections of the Northeast Corridor and to construction that will allow Amtrak trains to avoid a congested rail junction in part of New York City.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the projects would create 12,000 jobs over the span of construction.

"These grants are a win for our economy and a win for commuters all along the Northeast Corridor," LaHood said. "We are creating new construction jobs, ordering American-made supplies and improving transportation opportunities across a region where 50 million Americans live and work."

About $450 million will be used to upgrade electrical systems and tracks between Trenton, N.J., and New York. The upgrade means Acela Express trains will be able to achieve a top speed of 160 mph on 24 miles of track between Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J. The current top speed is 135 mph. When Amtrak puts the next generation of high-speed trains into service, top speed will reach 186 mph, the DOT said.

About $295 million will be used to construct an overpass at the Harold Interlocking rail junction in Queens, which the DOT said was the busiest passenger rail junction in the country. The overpass will separate Amtrak trains going between New York and Boston from Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter trains and from New Jersey Transit trains using the Sunnyside Maintenance Yard in Queens. The separation of trains should ease congestion.

The DOT said pre-construction on the track project between Trenton and New York would start in late 2011 and initial construction would start in 2012. Construction on the overpass project is scheduled to begin in September 2012.

The ordinances, called by an advocacy group the strongest anti-foreclosure legislation in Massachusetts, are intended to help prevent foreclosures and help care for foreclosed properties.

File photo | The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Two city ordinance that were approved Monday night by the City Council are aimed at helping both the homeowner faced with foreclosure and the neighborhood faced with a potential blighted, vacant property, according to supporters.

Dozens of supporters, including community activists, labor representatives and homeowners who face foreclosure and eviction, rallied on the steps of City Hall both before the council votes and after, offering chants that included: “When we fight, we win.”

The council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that will establish a city-approved, mandatory mediation program intended to help homeowners who are threatened with foreclosures. The ordinance requires that the mortgagee and borrower engage in good-faith negotiations prior to a foreclosure, aided by a city-approved mediation program manager.

The specific program will have to be drafted. The ordinance was amended to include a fine of $300 per day for any bank that does not comply.

“I’m so excited,” said Candejah Pink, whose house was foreclosed but is fighting a no-fault eviction. “We worked so hard for this.”

She and members of Springfield No One Leaves, an advocacy group, said the Springfield ordinance is the strongest anti-foreclosure legislation in the state. It awaits a signature from the mayor.

The second ordinance, also approved unanimously, will require banks to place a $10,000 bond to secure and maintain any of their foreclosed, vacant properties in Springfield. The city could draw upon the bond when there are maintenance needs not handled by the bank.

The ordinance is intended to protect neighborhoods and public safety, officials said.

Amaad Rivera

Ward 6 City Councilor Amaad I. Rivera was the lead sponsor of both ordinances.

“When we fight, we do win,” Rivera said to rally participants immediately after the vote. “We did it together.”

Supporters of the ordinances said that foreclosures in Springfield create homelessness and destabilize neighborhoods.

Springfield No One Leaves, in a prepared release, said the city ordinances can be a model for other communities around the country.

Ana C. Miranda Mendez said that even though her home is foreclosed, she supports the mediation ordinance to help others, saying it will encourage banks to “think more before foreclosing.”

Grace Ross, coordinator for Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending, said there is a state law that does provide a person threatened with foreclosure to a “right to cure period,” but the law is not doing enough to help.

The ordinance states that there will be “a reasonable and appropriate mediation registration fee” charged to the parties involved, to cover the cost, with the borrower’s fee not to exceed 15 percent of the total cost.

Traffic problems continue despite a change in the spring that requires a complete stop at the light.

File photo | The Republican

HOLYOKE – The city will try increased police enforcement, differently timed signals and perhaps the legalization of red light cameras to deal with traffic problems at Hampden and Linden streets off the Mueller Bridge.

Mimi Wielgosz, of 605 Hampden St., was among 20 residents who left Monday’s meeting of the City Council Public Safety Committee hopeful something will help.

Problems include: speeding; car and truck drivers who ignore the red stop light at Hampden and Linden streets and zoom right onto Hampden Street to head to Stop and Shop or Interstate 91; and an unforgiving wall of vehicles that blocks residents from driving in and out of their driveways, residents and officials said.

“We don’t have – let’s face it – time to get out of our driveways,” Wielgosz said.

“Nobody – nobody – stops for that (red light) at all,” said Victoria A. Welch, of 509 Hampden St.

“I agree,” committee Chairwoman Patricia C. Devine said.

“Including, I’m sorry, the cop cars. They don’t stop at all,” Welch said.

Until the spring, police said drivers had gotten used to the nearly constant green arrow allowing for a right-hand turn from Hampden that leads up to Lincoln Street and Stop and Shop. A change was made to try to help residents blocked in their driveways by traffic to require a complete stop at the light, to allow for breaks in the traffic flow, but residents said drivers ignore it.

James Neiswanger

Police Chief James M. Neiswanger, who took over the department July 19, said it was unfair that traffic is so heavy residents feel like hostages in their own driveways.

He will do what he can to help, including increasing enforcement with a police presence at the intersection, but the nature of traffic is that a problem resolved in one place gets diverted elsewhere, he said.

Neiswanger said he was surprised to learn the Police Department lacks a full-time traffic unit, which he will restore.

“I hear your concerns. Sounds to me like you’re being held hostage in your homes by the traffic,” Neiswanger said.

Another step that might help with traffic flow is changing the timing of the lights at the traffic signal, including a ban on right turns when the light is red and then allowing turns with a green arrow, officials said.

Also, City Engineer Matthew J. Sokop said the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is scheduled to begin a traffic study in the fall of the area that includes Hampden, Pleasant, School, Beech and Dwight streets.

Red light cameras are illegal in Massachusetts. Rhode Island is among states that allow the devices at intersections that shoot images capturing a violation triggered by sensors in the pavement when a vehicle runs a red light, and the driver then gets a $75 ticket in the mail.

A proposal to legalize red light cameras has been stuck in a legislative committee on Beacon Hill, officials said.

Neiswanger urged residents to contact legislators about legalizing red light cameras.

“If you really want to change behavior, that will do it,” Neiswanger said.

Councilor at Large Brenna E. Murphy, who works as an aide to state Rep. Michael F. Kane, D-Holyoke, said she and Kane have discussed red light cameras and will continue to do so.

A police officer responding to the scene saw several suspects fleeing. Witnesses told police the victim was jumped by 5-6 people.

SPRINGFIELD - An adult man and a juvenile were in custody Monday night in connection with an armed assault at White and Orange streets in the city's Forest Park neighborhood that left an unidentified man with a stab wound to the back, police said.

The arrests were made moments after the 8:30 p.m. incident as officers responding to the scene saw several suspects running away, said Lt. John Bobianski. Witnesses said the victim was jumped by five or six people.

The victim was in stable condition at Baystate Medical Center, he said. His name was not released. Bobianski said the victim is a man in his early 20s.

The names of the two suspects who were arrested were not available, Bobianski said.
One of the suspects is under age 17 and his name cannot be released to the press. The adult suspect's name cannot be released because he has not yet been processed through booking, he said.

Each will be charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault and attempted murder, he said.

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Statewide, cyber cafes have sparked a legal battle over whether they are essentially slot parlors or offer a service to people who lack Internet access.

SPRINGFIELD – After two months of squabbling over one cyber cafe proposal, the City Council took 15 minutes to slam the door shut on a second one Monday night, voting 13-0 to reject a special permit for a site on Boston Road.

The council’s action came after testimony from police and planning officials that the Boston Road Cyber Center had been operating in violation of its existing permit since April.

Jose Tosado

“This wasn’t a vote on the issue of cyber cafes; it’s what happens when you don’t play by the rules,” said Council President Jose F. Tosado.

The applicant, Beverly Baker, of Springfield, said she would appeal the council’s decision in Superior Court. She denied that her business had deliberately violated city rules limiting it to five computer terminals – a condition imposed on all city cyber cafes since April.

“Cyber cafes aren’t illegal, and they (the councilors) know it,” Baker said, adding that city rules governing the cafes were confusing and subject to misinterpretation.

By selling Internet time or phone cards that customers can use to play online slots or other games, cyber cafes have attracted customers – and legal challenges – since they began appearing in Massachusetts.

The Boston Road cafe was seeking to expand the number of terminals to 30, the number it had before the city imposed the five-terminal limit.

But city planning officials found the cafe was operating with more than five computers between April and early August, according to a report prepared by the Planning and Economic Development Department, which recommended against approving the special permit.

Councilor James J. Ferrera III said the rejection was based on the track record for the past 4½ months. “They’ve been out of compliance, and they don’t show much enthusiasm for getting into compliance,” Ferrera said.

“This was not a hard decision,” Ferrera added.

Statewide, cyber cafes have sparked a legal battle over whether they are essentially slot parlors or offer a service to people who lack Internet access.

Following allegations that cyber cafes are de facto gambling operations that target elderly and low income residents, state Attorney General Martha M. Coakley issued regulations to rein in cyber cafes, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo last month filed legislation to ban the cafes.

The cafes also provoked debate in Springfield when the council rejected, then approved, a permit allowing expanded operation of the Triple Sevens Cyber Center at the Five Town Plaza on Cooley Street.

In March, the attorney general’s office closed Cafeno’s Cyber Cafe in Chicopee and two others in eastern Massachusetts.

The decision comes only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating.

Deven Sharma

NEW YORK — The president of Standard & Poor's is stepping down, a decision coming only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating, according to reports published Monday.

The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Deven Sharma will stay on as an adviser to S&P's parent company, McGraw-Hill Cos., until the end of the year. They said S&P plans to make an official announcement Tuesday before the U.S. financial markets open.

The newspapers cite people familiar with the matter who say Sharma's move was in the works well before S&P downgraded its rating on the U.S. to AA-plus on Aug. 5.

The Financial Times also said Sharma's decision to leave S&P was not due to recent reports that the Justice Department was investigating whether the agency improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. It said the move is the result of S&P splitting its data, pricing and analytics business from its ratings business.

Messages were left with S&P spokesmen seeking comment.

S&P's downgrade sent shock waves through global financial markets and was sharply criticized by the Obama administration, which said the agency's analysis was fundamentally flawed. Other major rating agencies have not followed S&P's lead.

Sharma joined S&P in 2006 and was named president the following year. Before that, he was executive vice president, Global Strategy, at McGraw-Hill for five years.

The former Massachusetts governor has filed an application to demolish his roughly 3,000-square-foot, single-story house and replace it with a 2-story, 11,000-square-foot residence.

File photo | Associated PressMitt Romney speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

SAN DIEGO — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to nearly quadruple the size of his $12 million oceanfront mansion in La Jolla.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the former Massachusetts governor has filed an application to demolish his roughly 3,000-square-foot, single-story house and replace it with a two-story, 11,000-square-foot residence.

The existing, Spanish-style house was built in 1936, has three bedrooms, 4½ bathrooms, a lap pool and spa.

Romney's proposal, along with the necessary site development permits, must be approved by the city.

The newspaper reports that Romney is scheduled to attend a series of fundraisers in San Diego this weekend.

Romney's spokesman Ryan Williams declined to comment on the renovation plan. He also wouldn't confirm the candidate's schedule.

Town Council President Paul Burns said he believes there are several strong candidates for the position.

PALMER – Town Council President Paul E. Burns said the Town Council will meet on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Town Building to discuss the next steps in the town manager search now that the five interviews are over.

Burns said the council will review the results of the interviews, and said he believes there are several strong candidates for the position.

He said it’s possible that another round of interviews will be held, and visits may be scheduled to the communities where the candidates work or have worked.

The town manager finalists are Joseph R. Becker, of Rutland, a section manager at Verizon Communications; Richard D. Giroux, of Cambridge, Ohio, former city manager of Wauchula, Fla.; Donald I. Jacobs, of Holden, a consultant and former town manager in Plymouth; O. Paul Shew, of Franklin, a consultant, and former city manager in Rye, N.Y.; and Timothy Cummings, of Burlington, in charge of special projects in the town manager’s office in Foxborough.

The interviews ended Saturday. Burns said the meeting was scheduled for the 29th to give councilors who missed the interviews time to watch them. The interviews will be made available on the website for M-Pact, the public access channel, www.m-pact.tv.

Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory P. Bialecki, pictured at left, will be in Monson on Tuesday morning to celebrate the reopening of three businesses closed by the June 1 tornado.

The RepublicanMassachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory P. Bialecki will be in Monson on Tuesday to celebrate the reopening of three businesses that were closed by the June 1 tornado.

MONSON -- Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory P. Bialecki is scheduled to be in Monson at 10 a.m. Tuesday to celebrate the reopening of three businesses closed by the June 1 tornadoes, which caused widespread destruction in the heart of this eastern Hampden County town.

Monson was among the local municipalities hit hardest by a series of tornadoes that tore through sections of Springfield and surrounding municipalities. A tornado carved a path of destruction through Monson, causing substantial infrastructure and cosmetic damage to numerous residential, commercial and historic properties including the nearly 130-year-old Memorial Hall, which has racked up a repair bill of around $350,000.

The RepublicanAn aerial view of a swath of downtown Monson devastated by the June 1 tornado.

Bialecki this morning will join local and state officials and small business owners at Tibbets Optical to celebrate the reopening of the Main Street store and two other nearby businesses.

Tibbetts Optical, 170 Main St., was among the downtown establishments affected by the tornado, which damaged the store's roof. Brenda Tibbetts, an optician and owner of the business, could not immediately be reached for comment, but her Facebook page includes images of the damage.

Bialecki, in a June 15 visit to Hampden County, said the region must look at post-storm cleanup and rebuilding efforts as an opportunity to improve communities.

The RepublicanThe view along Upper Hampden Road in Monson one day after a June 1 tornado ravaged sections of forestland in the Hampden County town.

"I think the first impulse is to rebuild exactly what was there," the secretary told dozens of business and civic leaders in Springfield during his visit. "But we really should be looking at ways to make things better."

Bialecki said the damage wrought by the tornadoes provides an opportunity to expedite economic recovery plans that already were afoot prior to the devastating storms.

"Now isn't the time to put all our plans on a shelf. It's the time to put them on the center of the table," Bialecki said.

Shifting people to different wards was prompted by the federal census that showed population changes.

The Republican file photo | John SuchockiHolyoke voters casting ballots at the Ward 5A voting place, McMahon School, Kane Road, in 2008.

HOLYOKE – The state has approved a redistricting plan that will shift more than 1,200 people to different voting wards, but not until next year, officials said.

“That’s really good news. We put a lot of work into it and we had to do a lot of work quickly” to meet the state deadline of June 15, City Councilor Kevin A. Jourdain said.

Voters participating in the preliminary election Sept. 20 and on Election Day Nov. 8 will vote at their same polling places, City Clerk Susan M. Egan said.

Those who have been affected by the redistricting will receive a mailing in December or January about the ward they have been shifted to and their new voting place, she said.

Jeffrey F. Burkott, principal planner with the city Office of Planning and Development, received word Aug. 4 that the city’s redistricting plan had been approved by the office of Secretary of State William F. Galvin.

Redistricting was needed to ensure voting wards have about the same number of residents to account for population shifts after the federal 2010 Census.

The census showed the city’s population to be 39,880. That means each of the seven wards must have between 5,412 and 5,981 people, Burkott said.

Residents of the part of Walnut Street between Hampshire and Cabot streets succeeded in persuading city councilors to change a plan that would have split their street down the middle and moved some from Ward 4 to Ward 1.

They argued at a hearing with councilors May 31 that their neighborhood is cohesive, they attend neighborhood crime watch meetings together and it was important to them that the city avoid splitting the street.

Ward 4 Councilor Timothy W. Purington devised a compromise that the City Council incorporated into the redistricting plan that was finally approved.

Purington’s plan kept the Hampshire and Cabot streets part of Walnut Street in Ward 4 and moved four blocks of Ward 4 around Appleton and Beech streets to Ward 1.

Also, six blocks would be moved from Ward 6 to Ward 7, from Beacon to Hampden streets, and from Thorpe Avenue to Northampton Street.

The mayor has scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to discuss ongoing efforts to combat violence in Springfield, which, so far this year, has experienced 13 homicides and numerous shootings and stabbings.

Republican file photoSpringfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to discuss ongoing collaborative efforts to thwart gang and youth violence in the City of Homes.

SPRINGFIELD -- After holding a closed-door summit last month to discuss ways to combat gang and youth violence in Springfield, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to announce some of the initiatives that have been taking place to address the issues, according to Thomas T. Walsh, the mayor's communications director.

Walsh said the session will take place inside City Council Chambers and is expected to include an update on "ongoing collaborations to combat youth and gang violence in Springfield."

Sarno will be joined by officials from the Springfield Police Department; the office of Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni; the Hampden County Sheriff's Office; the Massachusetts Trial Court Probation Service, and the Springfield Violence Prevention Task Force, among others.

Sarno, who is seeking another term as mayor, told The Republican last week that tackling crime and rebuilding Springfield in the wake of the June 1 tornado are dominating his duties as mayor.

The RepublicanHampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni

"The last thing on my mind has been the campaign," he said. "I have been strictly focused on rebuilding the city after the tornado and cracking down on youth violence."

Springfield has had 13 homicides so far this year, including five within a 10-day period last month. There also have been numerous shooting and stabbing incidents, most of which have involved teenagers and young men affiliated with gangs and the illicit drug trade, according to law enforcement officials.

Since Sarno's July "gang summit," Walsh said, the mayor has met regularly with representatives from various local, state and federal agencies, including the Springfield School Department, the Massachusetts State Police, the FBI, the U.S. Marshall's Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, among others.

The meetings involved discussions about "strategies for combating youth and gang violence," Walsh said in a release.

On July 21, Sarno was joined by local, state and federal law enforcement officials as he announced a "zero tolerance" crackdown on violent crime in the City of Homes, which has been plagued with shootings and stabbings since roughly April -- a particularly violent month that featured a shooting spree by a prison escapee that killed one person and wounded three others, including two police officers.

Republican file photoMassachusetts State Police and Springfield police detectives investigate a July killing in the Forest Park neighborhood that marked the city's tenth homicide of the year. An 18-year -old was shot dead outside the Edgeland Street address after a house party turned violent.

Although the fruits of the crackdown, which has included increased traffic stops, targeted warrant sweeps and disruption of gang activity, remain to be seen, the month of August so far has passed without a single homicide -- a point Sarno may try to exploit at today's press conference.

Sarno said last month's summit was held behind closed doors because it was a working session. After emerging from the meeting, the mayor said, "Right now, we have to bring relief to the good people (of Springfield). Right now, it is essential we hit back, and we hit back hard."

The crackdown specifically targeted some of the most troublesome areas of the city, including sections of the Mason Square and Forest Park neighborhoods.

Mastroianni last month said Springfield had reached the point of "crisis mode," and the district attorney said he was authorizing and encouraging law enforcement officials to beef up efforts to thwart gang activity. Part of the push, he said, would include efforts to prevent city house parties from getting out of hand.

One of July's homicides involved a Forest Park house party that ended in tragedy after a teenager was shot to death outside an Edgeland Street home.

Large-scale crackdowns on gangs and violence have been implemented in the past in Springfield. But the lingering issues -- drugs, gangs, gun violence and high poverty rates -- have proven to be too entrenched for any single city political administration to uproot.

In 1995, for instance, city and state officials announced they would dedicate nearly $400,000 to pay for police overtime and other expenses related to a major crackdown in crime-riddled sections of the city. A series of sweeps in June 2005 in Springfield and Holyoke involving a veritable army of 200-plus law enforcement officers resulted in dozens of arrests of reputed gang members and their associates.

The Stop Access Springfield Coalition, dedicated to curbing underage drinking, works closely with package store owners and the Springfield Police Department to prevent alcohol sales to minors.

SPRINGFIELD -- A concerted effort to prevent alcohol sales to minors in Springfield is working, according to the Stop Access Springfield Coalition, a community-based program funded by a grant administered through the West Springfield-based Gandara Center.

"In Springfield, anything that can give kids a leg up is a good thing," said Peggy Vezina, coordinator of Stop Access and a Gandara Center employee.

Vezina said the collaborative effort involves officers from the Springfield Police Department working with local package stores to thwart sales to minors. Around 18 city package stores so far have participated in the program, she said.

"Speaking to the collaborative effort, I think it just makes a lot of sense to work together," Vezina said.

Here's how a typical operation works: On a recent Friday night, city police officers working under cover at Liberty Package Store on Carew Street reported that the store's staff properly turned away several potential customers who didn't have identification cards or presented clerks with out-of-state or questionable Massachusetts ID cards. Other customers were denied access to alcohol because they were deemed to be intoxicated, according to police.

Vezina said that scenario is typical for stores participating in the coalition's campaign to curb underage drinking. The owners of Liberty Package -- Gus and Zac Mouneimneh -- are members of the Stop Access Coalition Retailers Group and have been working with the coalition since it began meeting with local alcohol retailers in January 2010.

Stores belonging to the retailers group meet on a voluntary basis about every six weeks to "discuss best practices to improve compliance rates at their stores," Vezina said, crediting the Mouneimnehs for their vigilance.

"Retail owners like Gus and Zac are an example of businesses being good neighbors," she said."They have volunteered to remove (alcoholic) beverages that pose a particular danger to youth from their shelves, and have done things like take the car keys from an intoxicated customer and then drive him home."

Participating package stores agree to card anyone who appears to be under 35, is part of a group, or who's observed exchanging money prior to a purchase, among other factors.

Vezina said Jim Garvey, proprietor of Eddie's Liquors, 896 Allen St., also has been a strong supporter of the program.

"He was the first contact I had," Vezina said of Garvey.

Springfield police also routinely conduct undercover "shoulder tap" details, in which teenagers trained by Stop Access approach adults outside liquor stores and ask them to purchase alcohol from them.

Stop Access also performs so-called alcohol purchase surveys, which are non-punitive checks conducted by legal-age people, usually ranging in age from 21 to 23, who work in teams to ensure city bars, stores and restaurants are checking ID cards.

During a series of Thursday-evening checks throughout the month of August, the team found that around half of the businesses surveyed failed to check ID's, according to Stop Access officials.

Springfield data collected over the past decades indicates alcohol use outranks drug use among the city's school-age children.

The grant enabling Stop Access to operate its youth-alcohol-prevention program comes from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. Springfield's Department of Health and Human Services acts as the fiscal agent.

The Gandara Center, 147 Norman St., West Springfield, focuses on providing services to the area's large Hispanic community, but its services are available to "people from all walks of life," according to the organization's website.

In addition to drunken-driving charges and other vehicle-related offenses, 48-year-old Daniel Liquori of Somers was arrested Monday by East Longmeadow police on a fugitive-from-justice warrant.

EAST LONGMEADOW -- Police took a 48-year-old fugitive from Somers, Conn., into custody after he allegedly fled the scene of an alcohol-related crash on Somers Road in East Longmeadow late Monday morning.

Daniel Liquori was arrested around 11:30 a.m. and charged with drunken driving, reckless operation and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, East Longmeadow police said.

Authorities said Liquori also was wanted an outstanding fugitive-from-justice warrant, although they didn't specify the nature or origin of the underlying charges.

Police responded to an 11:25 a.m. report of a driver who hit a street sign on Somers Road, not too far from the Connecticut border, then fled the scene. The operator -- later identified as Liquori -- was located and taken into custody, police said.

Arraignment and bail information for Liquori wasn't immediately available.

In a previous case, Charpentier was sentenced to a year in jail for a 1997 break-in at a South Hadley pizza shop.

NORTHAMPTON - The 41-year-old Chicopee man arrested in June for allegedly stealing tools from the Granby Landfill's scale house denied charges in Hampshire Superior Court Monday.

Steven R. Charpentier was charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with felony intent and larceny over $250 in connection with the June 21 theft. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports today that Judge Cornelius Moriarty II ordered Charpentier held on $2,500 bail. The case was continued to Nov. 15.

Police identified Charpentier as a suspect after reviewing the landfill's surveillance video. "Officers from this department and South Hadley Police Detective Mark Domenick were shown copies of the video and Det. Dominick and Officer Ian Howard positively identified the perpetrator, from previous encounters," reads an account of the arrest available on the Granby Police Department's website.

Granby police officers, executing a warrant, arrested Charpentier at a residence on Crosby Street in Chicopee on June 28. He was arraigned at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown the following day, when his bail was set at $2,500.

According to reports in the archives of The Republican, in 1998 Charpentier was sentenced to a year at the Hampshire County House of Correction and 3 years' probation for a July 1997 break-in to the Pizza N' More restaurant in South Hadley. At Charpentier's trial for that break-in, Assistant District Attorney Renee Steese detailed the proceeds from the theft: $400 from two cash drawers, three gum ball machines, 50 containers of soda and a stereo worth about $100.

Steese recommended to Judge Barbara Rouse a two-year jail term followed by three years of probation, to allow the defendant to seek substance abuse treatment.

"The Commonwealth believes it's worth taking one last chance before sending him into the state prison system," Steese said at the time.

Staff photo by JOHN SUCHOCKIIn this 2004 Republican file photo, a truck weighs in at the Granby Landfill, the day before Waste Management closed the landfill to out-of-town waste.

The last hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. was Ike, which pounded Texas in 2008.

Associated Press/NOAAAn image released by the NOAA made from the GEOS East satellite shows Hurricane Irene on Aug. 23, 2011 as it passes over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The storm is on a track that could see it reach the U.S. Southeast as a major storm by the end of the week.

MIAMI — Emergency officials from Florida to the Carolinas were closely watching Irene Tuesday as the first hurricane to seriously threaten the U.S. in three years churned over energizing tropical waters. The storm has already cut a destructive path through the Caribbean.

Forecasters say the hurricane could grow to a monstrous Category 4 storm with winds of more than 131 mph before it's predicted to come ashore this weekend on the U.S. mainland. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami expected Irene to reach Category 3 strength on Tuesday, said spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

Officials could begin issuing watches for parts of the U.S. mainland later in the day. Because the storm is so large, Florida could begin feeling some effects from the storm late Wednesday.

Current government models have the storm's outer bands sweeping Florida late this week before it takes aim at the Carolinas this weekend, though forecasters caution that predictions made days in advance can be off by hundreds of miles. Georgia is also likely to be affected.

The last hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. was Ike, which pounded Texas in 2008.

For now, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season had maximum sustained winds early Tuesday around 100 mph (160 kph) and was centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The hurricane was moving west-northwest near 10 mph (17 kph).

"For residents in states that may be affected later this week, it's critical that you take this storm seriously," said Craig Fugate, administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency officials in North Carolina were checking "pre-landfall operations" to make sure equipment such as trucks, forklifts, generators and computers were working, said Ernie Seneca, spokesman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. Also, they were taking inventory of food and water supplies.

To the south in Miami, Julio Gonzalez was heeding the warnings and headed to a hardware store to pick up what he needed to protect his home.

"I'm gonna board up," he said Monday. "It's best to play it safe."

Others were stocking up on bottled water and plywood. And Hurricane Irene was trending on Twitter, with many users sharing updates on the storm's progress while others hoped it wouldn't come their way.

"We want to make sure Floridians are paying attention," said Bryan Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, who met Monday with the governor. "We are at the height of the hurricane season right now. If it's not Hurricane Irene, it could be the follow-up storm that impacts us."

After several extremely active years, Florida has not been struck by a hurricane since Wilma raked across the state's south in October 2005. That storm was responsible for at least five deaths in the state and came two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Irene slashed directly across Puerto Rico, tearing up trees and knocking out power to more than a million people. It then headed out to sea, north of the Dominican Republic, where the powerful storm's outer bands were buffeting the north coast with dangerous sea surge and downpours. President Barack Obama declared an emergency for Puerto Rico, making it eligible for federal help.

Irene was forecast to pass over or near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by Tuesday night and be near the central Bahamas early Wednesday.

In the U.K. territory of the Turks and Caicos, a steady stream of customers bought plywood and nails at hardware stores, while others readied storm shutters and emergency kits at home.

"I can tell you I don't want this storm to come. It looks like it could get bad, so I've definitely got to get my boats out of the water," said Dedrick Handfield at the North Caicos hardware store where he works.

Many of the center's computer models had the storm veering northward away from Florida's east coast toward Georgia and the Carolinas. A hurricane center forecast map said the storm's center could come ashore in one of the states on Saturday or Sunday, but forecasters said much was still unclear.

"In terms of where it's going to go, there is still a pretty high level of uncertainty," said Wallace Hogsett, a National Hurricane Center meteorologist. "It's a very difficult forecast in terms of when it's going to turn northward."

In South Carolina, emergency agencies went on alert for what could be the first hurricane to hit there in seven years.

"This is potentially a very serious hurricane," longtime Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said. He led Charleston's recovery from the massive destruction of Hurricane Hugo's 135 mph winds and waves back in 1989.

It's been more than a century since Georgia has taken a direct hit from a Category 3 storm or greater. That was in 1893 and the last hurricane to make landfall along the state's 100-mile coast was David, which caused only minor damage when it struck in 1979.

Across Florida, emergency management agencies were closely monitoring Irene's movements and track. They urged residents to make sure they have batteries, drinking water, food and other supplies available in case Irene takes aim at the state.

"We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said Joe Martinez, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Gov. Scott met with state emergency management officials and the state meteorologist, poring over detailed charts involving windspeed and steering currents. Scott, a first-term Republican who has not experienced a hurricane as governor, asked questions such as how much advanced notice would be needed for evacuations of low-lying areas.

"Irene's going to be close," Amy Godsey, the state meteorologist, told Scott. "We're not out of the woods yet."

Scott replied, "I'm an optimist."

Leading economists say high unemployment and weak consumer spending will hold back the U.S. economy into 2012.

Associated Press In this Aug. 18, 2011 file photo, people wait in line during a job fair, sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, on the campus of Atlanta Technical College in Atlanta. Economists no longer think the economy's troubles are fleeting. Their gloominess reflects expectations that slow growth, high unemployment and weak consumer spending will persist into next year.

WASHINGTON — Another recession isn't likely over the next 12 months. Neither is any meaningful improvement in the economy.

That's the picture that emerges from an Associated Press survey of leading economists who have grown more pessimistic in recent weeks. They say high unemployment and weak consumer spending will hold back the U.S. economy into 2012.

Their gloominess comes at a time when Europe's debt crisis threatens to infect the global financial system. It also coincides with an annual economic conference late this week in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and speculation about whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will unveil any new steps there to help the economy.

Worries that another recession is nearing and that the European crisis will spread have led to a roughly 15 percent drop in stock prices in the past month. Economists say the Great Recession ended in June 2009.

What makes a solution so difficult is that the fear gripping investors isn't just a symptom of economic distress; it's also a cause of it. Sinking stock prices frighten consumers and businesses. They then spend and invest less. Investors respond to lower corporate sales by selling stocks, worsening the market declines.

Each day that the stock market sinks "puts another nail in the coffin of the recovery," says Beth Ann Bovino, senior economist at Standard & Poor's.

"I had been saying it was a half-speed recovery; now, it's a quarter-speed recovery," Bovino says.

She is among 43 private, corporate and academic economists surveyed this month by the AP. As a group, they are more downbeat than when surveyed eight weeks ago. Among their conclusions:

— The likelihood of a recession within the next 12 months is 26 percent. In June, the economists had put the likelihood at 15 percent.

— The economy will inch ahead at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter and 2.2 percent from October through December. Though stronger than the growth for the first half of 2011, that isn't enough to lower the unemployment rate much, if at all. And next year will barely be stronger.

— Weak consumer spending poses a "major" risk to the economy. In June, Americans cut their spending for the first time in nearly two years. And consumer spending fuels about 70 percent of the economy.

— The unemployment rate will end this year at 9 percent and 2012 at 8.5 percent. Those rates are slightly less than July's 9.1 percent. But they're more consistent with a recession than a recovery.

— The Fed's efforts to keep interest rates at record lows may not succeed in promoting growth or easing unemployment. But its low-rate policies will likely boost stock prices.

The economists do foresee economic growth, job creation, consumer spending and home prices all rising over the next year. But the gains they expect are so slight that many Americans won't notice.

For months, the Fed and private economists had clung to hopes that a slowdown in spring and early summer would prove temporary. They initially blamed temporary factors — especially higher oil prices and an earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan that disrupted factory production.

But the economy has kept worsening. U.S. home prices remain depressed. Job growth is weak. Workers' pay is barely rising. The economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.8 percent in the first half of 2011 — much less than expected.

The benefits of the government's $862 billion stimulus are fading. No more stimulus is likely. And in June, the Fed ended a $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program that was designed to help keep rates low to spur spending and increase stock prices.

Then Europe's intensifying debt crisis and Congress' standoff over raising the debt ceiling undermined consumer confidence and spooked the markets. Consumers and investors foresee more gridlock ahead as a congressional committee seeks ways to cut at least $1.2 trillion in debt.

That means government spending, which normally helps economies climb back from recessions, will likely instead restrain growth.

Earlier this month, the Fed pledged to keep short-term rates near zero until mid-2013 if necessary to combat economic weakness. The Fed also seemed to suggest it might be open to another round of bond purchases.

Many are waiting with anticipation for Bernanke's speech Friday in Jackson Hole at a conference held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. At last year's conference, Bernanke set the stage for the Fed's $600 billion Treasury-buying program.

But the economists in the AP survey are skeptical of the Fed's ability to improve economic conditions substantially.

"The Fed can't do anything at this stage that's going to be meaningful," says Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

The Fed can influence interest rates, Shapiro noted, but "the level of interest rates is not the impediment to growth."

A bigger obstacle is tepid demand across the economy. And even with rates at record lows, many companies and consumers can't or won't borrow. Consumers don't want to take on more debt while the economic outlook remains so dim and their job security uncertain.

The collapse in home prices means households have lost $7 trillion in equity since 2005. They're saving, not spending, to try to rebuild their lost wealth, says Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness.

Consumers have shed about $240 billion in debt, excluding real estate loans, since the end of 2008, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"We need to see the housing market stabilize," Snaith says. "We need to see some job creation. Until then, consumers are trying to put nest eggs that turned into Humpty Dumpty back together again ... It's just going to take time."

A small alligator is retrieved from a Rhode Island river, liberal commentator Rachel Maddow comes home to Cummington, and more of this morning's headlines.

AP PhotoA worker installs solar panels Monday at a solar farm in Hami, located in northwest China's Xinjiang region. A report by the U.N. Environment Program shows that solar, wind, biomass and other forms of green energy are gaining momentum, despite the lack of progress in international climate talks aimed at slowing emissions of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels.

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• More fighting erupts in Libya [WSJ.com]


• Connecticut transit buses poised for fare increases, service cuts [Courant.com]


• Man shot dead on South Boston dock [Boston.com]


• Small 'gator scooped from Rhode Island river [Boston.com]


• 7-year-old boy drowns at Nantucket beach [CapeCodonline.com]


• Lawrence police: 'complete chaos' during incident that left 3 stabbed, 1 slashed [Boston.com]




Raw AP video showing a California police officer shot in the line of duty:

• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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The plan intend to save businesses $10 billion by scrapping hundreds of government regulations found to be outdated, unfair or unnecessary.

VINEYARD HAVEN — The White House is revealing plans to save businesses $10 billion by scrapping hundreds of government regulations found to be outdated, unfair or unnecessary.

Administration officials say the savings will be realized over a five-year period. The plan was described Tuesday by Cass Sunstein, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, in a column in the Wall Street Journal in advance of a formal announcement as President Barack Obama vacations at Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

After last year's election setback, Obama launched a concerted outreach to the business community, vowing to scrutinize federal regulations that companies consider to be an excessive burden. He at the time his goal was to scrap "dumb" rules without weakening ones that are needed to protect consumers and the environment.