View obituaries from The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Lee Rios, of Springfield, is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Kenneth Lopez in March 2015 in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD -- Pretrial motions are scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the murder trial of Lee Rios for the March 2015 shooting of 18-year-old Kenneth Lopez in Springfield.

Jury selection in the trial before Hampden Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason should begin Thursday.

Lopez's body was found around noon on March 25, 2015, in the yard of a house at Dwight and Calhoun streets in the city's North End. Police said he was shot sometime overnight.

Jonathan Guevera, 20, of Springfield, also is charged with murder in the case. Assistant District Attorney Max Bennett has said Rios was the shooter, but Guevera is a joint venture defendant.

Rios, 24, of Springfield, is being tried first.

Bennett has said the case is complicated -- there are other people charged with conspiring with Rios, or being accessories after the fact to the killing.

Some of the same people and others are charged with drug and firearm offenses stemming from a police raid on 196 Nursery St. on April 2, 2015, when police entered with a search warrant and a murder warrant for Rios.

Rios is represented by Mary Anne Stamm.

A 31-year-old Grafton man was killed late Monday night when his car crashed into a tree on Fisher Street in Westborough.

A 31-year-old Grafton man was killed Monday night after his car crashed into a large tree on Fisher Street in Westborough, the Metro West Daily News reported.

Westborough police said Christian Onorato, of 23 Fay Mountain Road, died at the scene of the 11:30 p.m. crash.

Officers told the newspaper that Onorato was speeding when he ran through a stop sign at the intersection of Fisher and Otis streets. The car continued onto the lawn of a Fisher Street home and crashed into a pine tree.

A federal judge accepted a 10-year prison sentence for child porn defendant Alex Germaine, two months before Germaine's younger brother, Justin Germaine, is set for sentencing in a separate child exploitation case.

This is an update to a story filed at 8:44 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD -- A federal judge on Tuesday accepted a 10-year prison sentence for a child porn defendant reached under a plea deal between prosecutors and the man's attorney.

Alex Germaine, 30, of West Springfield, is the first of two brothers to be sentenced in entirely separate child porn and exploitation cases after federal agents targeted their home in a 2016 raid.

The search of the brothers' South Boulevard home was initially targeted at Justin Germaine, 27. Authorities recovered troubling images from his phone and a computer disc. He has pleaded guilty to recording the extended abuse of a 5-year-old girl and trading with other internet pedophiles under the email handle "eviljustin."

Justin Germaine faces up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing in U.S. District Court on March 21.

Myles Jacobson, a lawyer for Alex Germaine, said his client was previously convicted of the statutory, not forcible, rape of a 15-year-old girl he was 20.

The images relative to the current case were close-up pictures Alex Germaine took on his phone of a young girl's "crotch" at an outing at Look Park in Northampton, according to court records. He initially tried to blame the pictures on his younger brother, investigators said, but his brother didn't go to the park on that day.

Jacobson told U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni that his client did not "do anything" with the images, including sharing them online.

"There's no information that he even showed them to anyone," Jacobson said.

This drew a somewhat testy response from Mastroianni.

"Possession of child pornography fuels the production of child pornography," the judge said, cutting the defense attorney off.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant told Mastroianni that Alex Germaine is eager to avail himself of the sex offender treatment program at the Fort Devens federal prison in Ayer.

The defendant affirmed his enthusiasm for sex offender treatment, also adding that he has a "tremendously excellent" relationship with his young son and would like to maintain that.

"It would help give me a better understanding of how to operate in society appropriately," Germaine said of the prospective treatment he would receive at Fort Devens.

Mastroianni agreed to make the recommendation to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Yarmouth police have again arrested a man they said made secret recordings of people without their knowledge. David Anthony Wong was arrested in August for upskirting, and again in November after police found numerous secret recordings on his computers.

YARMOUTH -- A man with access to hundreds of homes and businesses in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island has been arrested for making secret recordings and "upskirting" photos, Yarmouth Police said Tuesday on Facebook.

David Anthony Wong was arrested by the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section earlier this month and is being held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne in lieu of $10,000 cash bail. 

Police said a continuing investigation into Wong's activities turned up new allegations after police executed search warrants on Wong's computers and other electronic devices. Authorities are asking anyone who may be a victim to contact Yarmouth Police lead investigator Eric Nuss at enuss@yarmouth.ma.us.

Wong worked as a self-employed cleaner in homes and businesses. Investigators said they found numerous secret recordings tied to Wong's access to his clients.

Wong was arrested in August for allegedly making surreptitious photographs of women under their clothing. "Upskirting" generally means taking photos from a low angle under a woman's dress or skirt.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and more charges against Wong are expected.

Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse said in his veto letter to the City Council that use of the emergency notification system "is a function of the executive branch."

HOLYOKE -- As the sky spat snow, the City Council voted in City Hall Tuesday to remind the mayor about how notices like winter parking bans should be issued.

The order that the Council approved was for the city solicitor to send a memo to Mayor Alex B. Morse to comply with the new emergency notice ordinance.

The Council on Nov. 21 approved an ordinance that stated that the Everbridge notification system can be used only for emergencies and only by a a non-elected public safety official.

Morse vetoed the ordinance and the Council voted to override the veto on Dec. 19.

Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon said after the meeting that she filed the reminder-order because her understanding was Morse continued to be the one using the notification system.

Residents who have signed up to receive such notifications get automated phone calls from Morse with parking ban details such as in relation to the snow forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday.

"It's just a matter that if we're going to pass ordinances and laws, we need to enforce them," Vacon said.

In his veto letter, Morse said the Everbridge system adopted in 2012 is used primarily in emergencies but was always intended to provide other information. Those who sign up for the system expect to receive news about events such as Celebrate Holyoke and the summer concert series sponsored by the Holyoke Rotary Club, he said.

Also, he is open to a proposal from Councilor James M. Leahy to use the system to alert residents of a neighborhood about pending construction that could affect traffic, he said.

The system is used only a few times a year for notifications other than emergencies, and in any case, "is a function of the executive branch," he said.

A new school will educate generations of students, said project leaders.

EASTHAMPTON -- A new school will educate children for generations to come, so it's important to get it right, officials said at Tuesday night's public forum. 

"My first priority is to not put a burden on the community for a project that's not worth its weight over time," said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, who stated that a modern school will support the "intellectual, physical, and emotional health" of the city's youth and families.

LaChapelle promised to work with her financial team to get the best possible borrowing terms for the school, which could require local taxpayers financing around $60 million over 20-30 years.

A large crowd turned out to hear project updates on plans to build an educational facility to replace three 100-year-old elementary schools and the 1974 White Brook Middle School -- a building plagued with mechanical problems.

Heating systems in two of the schools went down during the recent cold snap, said Superintendent Nancy Follansbee. "These buildings are no longer suitable, and do not support 21st-century teaching and learning," she said.

She said a consolidated school at 200 Park St., the site of White Brook, would bring fifth grade students back into the elementary school. Currently, fifth-graders attend the middle school -- an arrangement that is not ideal. She said the site, surrounded by nature, would be a major improvement for elementary school students who currently rely upon asphalt playgrounds. And a new school would support science learning in new and exciting ways, she said.

Follansbee distributed a four-page information sheet with "commonly asked questions," and said the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade option would provide equity across grade levels and support modern educational goals.

The School Building Committee forum featured presentations by architect Bert Gardner of Caolo & Bieniek; project manager Mel Overmeyer of Colliers International; and Dayle Doiron, director of business services for the school district.

Gardner's plans have come into sharper focus following last month's decision to dismantle an existing football field -- one recently rebuilt with public money -- and build a new field on the project site. Keeping the field would have led to serious compromises in building and site design, he said.

"Ten, fifteen years from now, we don't want people scratching their heads, wondering why we built a school with dumpsters out front and a football field tucked into the shadows of the building," he said. 

New plans show separate wings for early childhood, elementary education, and the middle school. The building is anchored by a central "gymnatorium," music area, and kitchen with two cafeterias. Public spaces would be separated from the academic areas. Utilities and an access road would be around the back, allowing for an attractive front entranceway. A new football field would be built on the southern part of the site, surrounded by a track if finances allow.

Special engineering would be used to build the foundation because of the clay soils at the White Brook site. He said lessons have been learned and building technology has come a long way since the middle school -- with its sinking foundation -- opened in 1974.

"Think long-term," said Gardner. "Think about families 25 years from now. We should give students the best school facility; the best site organization we can. Because it will be serving the community a long time."

Current rough estimates show the school costing around $109 million. Around 60 percent of the project cost would be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The numbers will be sharpened in coming months.

Using high-end assumptions -- $61 million in bonding at 4 percent interest over 20 to 30 years -- the tax impact would range from $2.98 to $3.83 per $1,000 of assessed value, said Overmoyer. The owner of an average Easthampton home at $228,400 would see a tax hike of $680 to $874.

However, simply bringing all four school buildings up to code would cost around $115 million, with no help from the state, and the result would still be substandard, he said.

Doiron talked about the operational efficiencies that could be achieved with a new consolidated school, with savings ranging from food service to snow removal to maintenance. Energy costs alone would drop by around $134,000, she said.

She said a new school is expected to reverse losses due to students choosing to attend school in other districts, or attend charter schools. Last year, charter and choice cost the city nearly $2 million in sending fees. However, students from other communities are now attending the new Easthampton High School, which opened in 2014. Those students last year brought $650,000 in revenues.

Residents lined up to ask questions and make observations. Traffic could be a problem, said Bob Parent, who owns nearby property on Park Street and South Street.

A special election will be held May 22 when voters will be asked to approve borrowing for the new school. The Massachusetts School Building Authority would then vote on a funding agreement in August.

If plans go through, the three downtown elementary schools -- Maple, Center, and Pepin -- would be surplussed by the School Committee. LaChapelle said she would convene a process for the best disposition of the buildings. 

The sale and redevelopment of the 19th-century school buildings could be a major driver for the city's economic development, said Thomas Brown, chairman of the School Building Committee and vice president at Easthampton Savings Bank.

Easthampton Public Forum 1-16-18 FINAL v3_1

View obituaries from The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts.

If their parents say yes, 17-year-olds are considered old enough to join the U.S. Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Watch video

HOLYOKE -- Seventeen-year-olds can serve in the military and drive a car, so a councilor wants to explore whether they also should be allowed to vote in city elections.

"I believe that if you're  old enough to get a license, you should be old enough to vote in the local elections, so that's why I filed the order, to see if the voters of the city of Holyoke agree with me," Ward 2 Councilor Nelson R. Roman said Tuesday at City Hall. (see video above)

The Council referred to its Charter and Rules Committee an order filed by Roman to place a nonbinding question on the Nov. 6 election ballot. The question would be to gauge voters' views on whether to grant the right to vote in municipal elections to 16- and 17-year-old residents.

Roman said he was prompted to file the order after his own involvement in city politics over the past five years and after seeing how members of the Holyoke Youth Commission participated in campaign season leading up to the Nov. 7 city election.

He is chairman of the Charter and Rules Committee, which he said will hold a public hearing on his proposal for the nonbinding ballot question. 

The City Council referred Roman's order to committee by voice vote without discussion. Roman was asked to comment after the meeting.

Seventeen is the youngest age at which people can join the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard, though 17-year-olds must have parental consent, according to military.com, online military and veteran membership organization.

In Massachusetts, people can pre-register to vote at age 16. That means completing the registration form ahead of time so that they are able to cast ballots upon turning 18.

To be eligible to vote in Massachusetts, people must be 18 on or before Election Day; be a United States citizen; be a Massachusetts resident; and not be incarcerated due to a felony conviction. Voting rights are restored upon release from prison.

The Town of Hampden has authorized its attorneys to seek an injunction to prevent the shutdown of TWB and the transfer of its students to Green Meadows Elementary School.

HAMPDEN -- If school district officials are unwilling to negotiate terms of a reorganization plan that includes closing Thornton W. Burgess Middle School, the Town of Hampden has authorized attorneys to seek an injunction to prevent the shutdown of TWB and the transfer of its students to Green Meadows Elementary School.

That was the legal message attorneys Edward M. Pikula and Christine M. Pikula -- the legal team representing Hampden in its fight to maintain "educational equity" for the town's students -- relayed to attorney Sean P. Sweeney, who is representing the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District in a bitter dispute over the fate of TWB.

An injunction would freeze implementation of the district's five-year reorganization plan that was approved by the School Committee in October. The plan calls for closing TWB and combining its students with students from Green Meadows Elementary, which would become a K-8 school. The 50-year-old TWB building would then be returned to Hampden, which owns the building.

Hampden has been at loggerheads with the School Committee and district administrators ever since they backed a plan to temporarily consolidate HWRSD's two middle schools on one campus in Wilbraham. Many Hampden residents believed that even an interim merger would be the death knell for TWB -- named for Thornton W. Burgess, the late children's book author who lived in Hampden -- and their fears were not unfounded.

In October 2016, Hampden and Wilbraham voters split over the proposed merger plan, with Hampden voters rejecting the plan and Wilbraham voters supporting the idea of amending the regional agreement to let TWB students cross town lines to attend Wilbraham Middle School. 

The current regional agreement, ratified by Hampden and Wilbraham about 25 years ago, requires students to be educated in their hometowns until high school, when all district students attend Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham. Inter-town school transfers may be approved on a case-by-case basis, but otherwise Hampden students are educated in Hampden and Wilbraham students are educated in Wilbraham.

The Pikulas, in a letter to Sweeney last week, argue that threatening to send all Hampden students to one school, Green Meadows, is a "breach of contract" and intended to "coerce Hampden residents to vote to give up rights protected under the regional school agreement."

Due to ongoing declining enrollment in HWRSD, it is no longer feasible to maintain two district middle schools, according to the administration, citing economic and educational reasons. HWRSD officials have pointed out that the phased reorganization plan includes school reconfigurations across the district, including the closure of at least one Wilbraham school by 2022-23.

But according to Hampden's attorneys, the School Committee has adopted a reorganization plan that strips Hampden of its contractual right to have students in grades K-8 attend schools in their hometown. That same hometown educational guarantee applies to Wilbraham students, too. 

The five-year plan's goal of combining Hampden's elementary and middle school students under one roof at Green Meadows is contrary to the model under the existing regional agreement, which provides for separate elementary and middle schools, the attorneys for the town argue.

Last year's School Committee decision to move fifth-graders from TWB -- up until then, a 5-8 school -- to Green Meadows was a first step to "stack the deck" to convince Hampden voters to give up their rights under the regional agreement, according to the Pickulas. 

The School Committee encouraged a "mass exodus" of Hampden students to Wilbraham through the use of robocalls, the attorneys allege in their letter to Sweeney, soliciting Hamden students to apply for transfers from TWB to Wilbraham Middle School. And the transfers were encouraged despite past assertions by the School Committee that the Wilbraham school suffers from overcrowding, the lawyers claim.

"Such actions are intended to assure that TWB will be emptied in an effort to force residents to give up the right to attend school within their town," the letter states.

The letter includes numerous other allegations -- from cutting teachers and paraprofessionals to making educators teach outside their certification areas and reducing elective programming -- that have all worked "to the detriment of Hampden students," the attorneys claim.

In some cases, Hampden educators have been appointed as administrators, thus draining the town's facilities of top educators, the letter states. "Such efforts would appear to be intended to assure the closing of TWB is a foregone conclusion by further reducing its enrollment and detract from a mission of excellence," the attorneys claim. 

The education clause of the Massachusetts Constitution "imposes an enforceable duty to provide education for children without regard to the fiscal capacity of the community or district in which such children live," the Pikulas note.

Superintendent Albert G. Ganem Jr. has stated that the combined K-8 model at Green Meadows is required to "work around" the regional school agreement and would stay in place if the agreement "is not changed." That, the attorneys allege, is further evidence of the district's intent to persuade Hampden voters to "give up their rights under the agreement to be educated at a facility within their own town."

By attempting to coerce Hampden voters into giving up their rights, the School Committee is "retaliating against Hampden residents" who voted against the School Committee's original proposal to send students from TWB to Wilbraham Middle School -- a matter that was decisively rejected by Hampden voters in a townwide vote in October 2016. 

Sweeney, who picked apart an earlier letter from the Pikulas expressing Hampden's preference to mediate rather than litigate the dispute, is expected to file a response this week to their latest letter.

The meteor caused a magnitude 2.0 earthquake. Watch video

Michigan's night sky briefly lit up on Tuesday with a bright flash of light and a loud noise that startled residents.

The flash and boom was "NOT thunder or lightning, but instead a likely meteor," tweeted the National Weather Service.

The fireball was captured by a motorist's dashcam. Mike Austin, who posted the nine-second video on YouTube, noted its timestamp was incorrect and the event happened at 8:08 p.m.

The American Meteor Society's reported that the meteor was visible in six states and in Canada.

 The US Geological Survey confirmed the meteor had entered the atmosphere about 36 miles north of Detroit and registered a force equivalent to a magnitude 2.0 earthquake.

NASA officials told The Detroit News that its meteor camera caught the event at 8:08 p.m. at Oberlin College in Ohio  

NASA officials estimated the meteor was about one or two yards across, weighed more than one metric ton and traveled between 40,000 to 50,000 miles to get to Earth.

After reviewing several observational datasets, the NWS can confirm the flash and boom was NOT thunder or lightning, but instead a likely meteor. We continue to monitor feeds from astronomical agencies for official confirmation of a meteor. #miwx

-- NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) January 17, 2018

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has joined a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia suing to block the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net-neutrality rules.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has joined a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia suing to block the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net-neutrality rules.

These rules barred companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from interfering with internet traffic and favoring their own sites and apps. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's push to undo them inspired both street and online protests in defense of the Obama-era rules.

FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules for internet providers

Healey said Tuesday "the last thing we need is slower, more expensive, and more restricted internet." She says Massachusetts is challenging the FCC's order because it's "bad" for the state's consumers, students and small businesses and "because it's illegal"

Tech companies and public-interest groups are also expected to file suit or help with litigation against the repeal.

Healey and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced plans for the lawsuit in December. 

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 3 p.m. in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties. In northern Worcester County, Middlesex County and Western Essex County, the warning will expire at 6 p.m.

EASTHAMPTON -- Police have closed Mountain Road until further notice due to the ongoing winter storm.

Police posted a notice about the closing of that particular stretch of Route 141, a common practice during wintry weather, on their Facebook page.

Winter storm warnings, issued by the National Weather Service, remain in effect for much of the state, stretching from Western and Central Massachusetts into parts of the northeast. These areas will see 6-8 inches of snow and "difficult travel conditions" throughout the morning.

The warning will remain in effect until 3 p.m. in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties. In northern Worcester County, Middlesex County and Western Essex County, the warning will expire at 6 p.m.

A couple in Nahant pretended to be unrelated while committing a series of financial crimes.

Nahant couple Gary P. DeCicco and Pamela M. Avedisian faced federal charges on Tuesday in connection to a series of serious financial fraud schemes.

A tangled web of lies and false paperwork led to an indictment on a slew of fraud charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Schemes in Nahant and Peabody led authorities to DeCicco, and his partner Avedisian, with whom he reportedly has a child.

The two pleaded not guilty to the numerous charges in the case at an arraignment in Boston federal court on Tuesday.

The indictment accuses Avedisian, 54, of conspiring to defraud the mortgage on her Nahant home of years, which was worth more than $1 million. In 2015, she tried selling the home to DeCicco, 59, for much less than the property's worth in an attempt to squash mortgage debt, a transaction nicknamed a "short sale."

The pair "concealed their long-term romantic and business relationships from the loan servicing company," according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Avedisian also allegedly lied to lenders by she was unable to make payments on the mortgage.

A month later, in November 2015, DiCicco also allegedly falsified leases and rent paperwork as part of an application toward a commercial building in Peabody and $5.5. million loan.

The following year, officials accuse DeCicco of participating in other financial schemes, including insurance fraud by using "fake invoices and other documents to support his claims."

The growing and gifting of marijuana became legal under Massachusetts law in December 2016, but Gov. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers tinkered with the timeline for retail pot shops.

Census forms were recently mailed to each residential address in Wilbraham, according to Town Clerk Beverly J. Litchfield, who is asking residents to return them to her office as soon as possible.

WILBRAHAM -- Census forms were recently mailed to each residential address in Wilbraham, according to Town Clerk Beverly J. Litchfield, who is asking residents to return them to her office as soon as possible. 

There will be a drop box on the counter of the Town Clerk's Office for those who choose not to mail them.

Anyone who did not receive a form or misplaced it may call Litchfield's office at 413-596-2800, ext. 200, and a new one will be mailed out to you.  

The clerk's office is at Wilbraham Town Hall, 240 Springfield St.

The financial cost of being a smoker in Massachusetts can add up to $43,319 per year, according to an analysis from WalletHub, a social networking site with a financial focus.

The financial cost of being a smoker in Massachusetts can add up to $43,319 per year, according to an analysis from WalletHub, a social networking site with a financial focus.

Over a lifetime, smoking costs the average Massachusetts smoker $2.2 million. That's less than New York ($2.3 million) but more than Connecticut and Rhode Island (around $2.1 million).

The states with little costs for smokers are Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina, which all have costs coming in at under $23,000 per year.

Massachusetts has one of the highest cigarette taxes in the country. The tax per pack went up to $3.51 from $2.51 in 2013.

WalletHub says its methodology for coming up with the cost included the cost of a cigarette pack per day and health care spending, among other items.

"For our calculations, we assumed an adult who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day beginning at age 18, when a person can legally purchase tobacco products in the U.S.," the site said in its analysis. "We also assumed a lifespan of 51 more years, taking into account that 69 is the average age at which a smoker dies."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking costs the country billions of dollars each year. There are 36.5 million adults who smoke.

The "total economic cost" is over $300 billion, including $170 billion in direct medical care for adults and more than $156 billion in lost productivity "due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke," the CDC said.

The CDC noted that in the 2017 fiscal year, states took in $26.6 billion from tobacco taxes and legal settlements. But the states were expected to spend just $491.6 million on prevention and smoking cessation programs.

Anti-smoking ads -- paid for by tobacco companies -- are coming to Massachusetts

The Town of Agawam is re-establishing its Energy Commission and looking to appoint residents to fill vacancies on the panel.

AGAWAM -- The Town of Agawam is re-establishing its Energy Commission and looking for residents to join the panel.

The Energy Commission is tasked with identifying, developing, implementing and managing programs and policies to achieve "high levels" of energy efficiency and resource sustainability, according to the town's website.

Anyone who is interested in serving on this committee is asked to call Mayor Bill Sapelli's office at 413-786-0400, ext. 8200, for more details.

People may also send a letter of interest and a copy of their resume to the Mayor's Office, Town of Agawam, 36 Main St., Agawam, MA, 01001.

Neither the driver or passenger in the car were injured in the crash on Grattan Street.

CHICOPEE - A man who crashed his car in front of a police officer was arrested for drunken driving early Wednesday morning.

Michael Bryant, 42, of 735 Memorial Drive, was charged with drunken driving, second offense, possession of an open container of alcohol and marked lanes violation, said Michael Wilk, police public information officer.

Officer Erik Sunny was on routine patrol and parked at the intersection of Meadow and Grattan streets at about 3:15 a.m. when he saw a driver on Grattan Street veer left, cross into the other lane, jump the curb and hit a light pole. At the time the roads were snow-covered because of the storm, Wilk said.

Sunny put on his lights and the driver, who backed away from the accident, pulled into the TD Bank parking lot. Sunny talked to the driver and his passenger and learned they were not hurt, Wilk said.

When talking to Bryant, Sunny and Officer Brett Salamon said they felt he was unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol and showed other signs of being drunk. The officers also allegedly saw an open can of beer in the car, he said.

Bryant was arrested and held on $290 bail. He is expected to be arraigned in Chicopee District Court Wednesday.

The woman was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Her injuries did not appear to be life threatening.

HADLEY -- First responders used hydraulic tools to free the driver of an SUV after she lost control on Hockanum Road Tuesday night and struck a tree.

According to a Hadley police Facebook post, the car went sideways into the tree.

The South Hadley woman, who was not identified in the post, was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Her injuries did not appear to be life threatening, police said. 

In an email, Sgt. Douglas Costa said the cause seems to be "a combination of the speed she was going and the slippery road conditions." 

Costa said the driver didn't seem to be "actually exceeding the posted speed limit," but was travelling faster than the conditions allowed.

"The area was very slick as we responded to the accident," he said.

In a photo police posted, there is light snow is falling, with a thin covering on the road.