It takes 600 pounds of butter to create a butter sculpture at the Big E.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanJim Victor, a food sculptor from Conshohocken, Pa., creates a three person, one sheep butter tableau of Big E activity outside the Mallory building at the Eastern States Exposition Tuesday. He used about 600 pounds of butter on the work.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Working with butter was not what Jim Victor envisioned when he thought about being a sculptor, but more than 15 years of practice with the medium has made him an expert.

Victor has been creating butter sculptures for the Eastern States Exposition “Big E” fair since 1995.

“I come back every year and create a sculpture based on agricultural themes,” he said.

This year Victor will once again use about 600 pounds of butter to create an image of a sheep, a sheep sheerer, a woman on a loom and a boy holding wool.

“I always try to incorporate something related to the fair or the city. I’ve done things featuring Dr. Seuss and the Indian Motorcycle,” he said.

The sculpture begins on a steel armature, which he then covers with butter provided by West Springfield’s AgriMark/Cabot Creamery. The sculpture is sponsored by the Massachusetts Dairy Farmers.

Victor said the butter he uses is generally not fit to be sold.

“We use whatever the stores can’t sell or don’t want for some reason,” he said.

Victor spends several hours each day working inside a 55-60 degree glass structure which encases the sculpture. The glass walls allow people to view him while he works.

“I’ve become used to it over the years, having people stop and watch while I work,” he said. “Most people have a very positive reaction to it.”

The sculpture usually takes Victor about 10 days to complete. It will remain on display outside the Mallary Complex until the last day of the fair.

After the fair the butter melts away and Victor keeps the armatures to use as part of different exhibits around the country.

Victor, who has more than 30 years of experience as an artist and teacher, also travels the fair circuit creating sculptures out of butter and other food items.

Victor said in the future he would like to create other sculptures highlighting Western Massachusetts attractions including the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I’ve thought about maybe doing something related to basketball, maybe some portraits of hall of famers,” he said.

Victor can bee seen working on the sculpture most afternoons for the first ten days of the fair.

The needs assessment was based on whether there were existing disposal problems with existing systems

€“ Amherst Town Hall.

AMHERST – The Department of Public Works has just released an updated draft of the town’s sewer needs report and will present it to the Select Board Monday night.

About 93 percent of the town is connected to the sewer system, with the report examining the needs of the remaining seven percent.

Written by Cambridge-based engineering firm of Camp Dresser and McKee Inc., the report will serve as a guide to any future sewer expansion, said Superintendent of Public Works Guilford B. Mooring.

Engineers ranked the areas not connected to the system according to need. They also looked at what it would cost to expand into those areas.

The needs assessment was based on whether there were existing disposal problems, soil limitations, environmental concerns such as ground water contamination and cost analysis.

The Harkness Road and Wildflower Drive Area were seen to be in moderate need while the areas of Hulst Road, Southeast Street, Shays Street, High Point Drive Area, Montague Road and Northeast Street were seen to be in minor need.

“I feel it’s a good report. It lays out where we’re going next. There is no pressing need,” Mooring said. At this point, the department is not recommending that additional sewer lines be added, he said.

It will be up to town officials to determine what they want to do with report.

The estimated cost for a connection in the Harkness Road area is $597,600, according to the report. For the Wildflower neighborhood, the estimated cost would be $3.6 million. Both costs are based on today’s dollars. The report also looks at various ways to pay for the expansion.

The meeting with the Select Board is slated for 7:10 pm in Town Hall. The Select Board is also the water and sewer commission.

Residents meanwhile, can view the report on-line and offer comments as well.

A second hearing will be held Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. in Town Hall with the engineers who wrote the report.

Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley said the robber had two large Band-Aids on his face, a red goatee, and was wearing a light brown cowboy hat and a dark leather jacket.

This is an image captured by a security camera in Rite Aid of the man who robbed the pharmacy on Tuesday night.

PALMER – Police are investigating an unarmed robbery at Rite Aid on Thorndike Street on Tuesday night in which a white male demanded drugs from the pharmacist.

Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley said the man had two large Band-Aids on his face, a red goatee, and was wearing a light brown cowboy hat and a dark leather jacket. Haley said the man was described as heavy set, and in his late 30s or early 40s.

He said a small amount of drugs was given to the man, who then ran out of the store. Haley said a police dog from Monson tracked the suspect to Pleasant Street, but lost the trail. Haley said police believe he got into a car on that street and left the area. The robbery was reported at 7:51 p.m.

Haley described the drugs as “narcotics.” Anyone with information is asked to call Palmer police at (413) 283-8792.

Spotify music sharing comes to Facebook, Whale skull removed from Brewster beach, Obama calls U.S. commitment to Israel's security 'unshakable', and more.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is introduced for a town hall meeting, with President Barack Obama, to discuss reducing the national debt, Wednesday, April 20, 2011, at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

• Milford Water ex-manager accused of trying to hide contamination [Telegram.com]


• Ronald Dworkin: Heartless Libertarian? [JulianSanchez.com]


• Video: Whale skull removed from Brewster beach [CapeCodOnline.com]


• Young Adults Make Gains in Health Insurance Coverage [NYTimes.com]


• Tumbling satellite expected to miss North America [Reuters.com]


• Spotify music sharing comes to Facebook [Msnbc.msn.com]


• Obama calls U.S. commitment to Israel's security 'unshakable' [LATimes.com]


• From the man who discovered Stuxnet, dire warnings one year later [CSMonitor.com]


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


• Read more News Links »


• Do you have News Links? Send them our way or tweet them to @masslivenews

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

The Ware Town Manager Search Committee has established a deadline for candidates to apply for the job.

WARE – The Town Manager Search Committee has set an Oct. 28 deadline for candidates to apply for the job and the Board of Selectmen has plans to screen candidates interested in filling in the gap as acting town manager.

Both town boards are taking steps to replace Town Manager Mary T. Tzambazakis, who gave notice in August that she will be resigning Sept. 30.

Selectmen William R. Braman told fellow members of the board Tuesday that there have been 12 applications for the acting town manager job.

The board will start discussing the candidates for the acting job Sept. 27.

The search committee met for the first time Tuesday, elected Town Moderator Kathleen Coulombe as its chairperson and set some general guidelines for its process.

The committee plans to place an advertisement in the next few days on the town website to get the process for finding a permanent replacement for Tzambazakis.

The search committee is instructing applicants that the preferred way of applying is by email to searchcommittee@townofware.com with a cover letter, resume and a filled out town employment application as attachments.

Coulombe said the town employment application may be found at the town website.

Applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. on Oct. 28.

Over the next few weeks the search committee plans to establish its own rules for the candidate screening process and meet with the selectmen and town department heads to discuss what qualities would be sought in a new town manager.

The committee will next meet on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m.

Coulombe said the salary for the position will be competitive and there will be a generous benefits package for the job.

The Board of Selectmen met briefly Tuesday with the search committee.

Selectman Richard Norton said during the meeting that he would advise the committee to look for people with experience as a town manager, something he said he considers more important than advanced college degrees.

“It is important to have someone to hit the ground running,’’ Norton said. “We will be working on the budget in December.

Voters will cast ballots at all regular polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

WESTFIELD - Building a new elementary school, School Department finances, classroom technology and student achievement are goals common among four candidates vying for a chance in Tuesday's (9/27) preliminary election to seek a two-year School Committee seat in the Nov. 8 general election.

Voters will cast ballots at all regular polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Two of the four candidates receiving the most votes in the preliminary election will go on to compete Nov. 8. The School Committee seat is the only contest appearing on the preliminary ballot.

Candidates are former City Council and School Committee member James 'Jack' Leary Jr., Michael D. Tirrell, Samuel N. Sam and William K. Tatro. Tirrell, a technology manager; Sam, retired teacher and veteran and Tatro who retired last year as head custodian at North Middle School are seeking their first elected office.

Leary, 74, served as a City Councilor in 1974 and 1975 and four years in the 1980s on the School Committee. He has also served on the Municipal Light Board, Council on Aging, Conservation Commission and Police Commission.

The four candidates also support consideration for consolidation of duplicate offices in the School Department and City Hall involving personnel, finances and purchasing.

"This is a continuation of public service that I have enjoyed doing most of my life," Leary,a retired teacher, said of his candidacy.

Tatro,61, said he wants to "try and make a difference" and will use his 35 years as a school custodian to address issues of "deferred maintenance in school buildings and consolidation of school and city offices. I can bring issues, such as maintenance priorities, to the table."

Tirrell,34, said he is eager to address the issue of redistricting on the elementary school level because of pending construction of a new elementary school and the closing of Abner Gibbs and possibly Franklin Avenue School. "Redistricting must address class sizes, now between 27 and 30 students. Class size should be around 20 students," he said.

"School officials must also address the need for improved technology in the classroom to coincide with new curriculum standards and needs," said Tirrell, adding he will work to "protect" technology funding for schools.

Sam,67, a retired Charter school teacher and Westfield substitute teacher, said "in the immediate future the School Committee must try to midigate neighborhood concerns" involving placement of a new school placing a new school in the Ashley Street neighborhood. He said he also favors "alternatives" to mandatory student assessments such as MCAS, efforts to increase graduation rates and more parent involvement in local education.

Leary said he also wants to improve technology "to enhance student learing" and the School Department must "be more proactive and less reactive to maintenance of our buildings."

The two-year opening on the School Committee is the result of Laura Maloney's resignation July 29 when she moved from Westfield to join husband Barry in Worcester. Barry Maloney is president of Worcester State University.

A joint meeting of the School Committee and City Council in August led to the appointment of former School Committee member Timothy O'Connor to serve until Dec. 31.

In March, opponents of the landfill expansion were incensed that they were given only three days to respond – and those three days included a Sunday.

SOUTH HADLEY – A new report on the environmental impact of plans to expand South Hadley’s landfill was recently issued, and residents are invited to respond to it.

The Supplemental Environmental Impact Report, identified by the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as number 10620, was ordered by Environmental Secretary Richard K. Sullivan and prepared by Epsilon Associates.

A copy of the document is available at the reference desk of the South Hadley Public Library for reading on site. People who want their own copy can contact Corinne Snowdon at Epsilon Associates at (978) 897-7100 and ask for a CD.

The deadline for responses from the public is October 7. Responses should be in writing, and can be sent by mail, email or fax to Richard K. Sullivan, Secretary of the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, in Boston.

When a state agency invited residents to comment on a landfill report in March, opponents of the expansion were incensed that they were given only three days to respond – and those three days included a Sunday, as resident Miles Liu pointed out in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Neighbors of the landfill have been active in their opposition to expansion, with presentations to the South Hadley Selectboard and letters to Sullivan.

They have reported on early-morning noise from dump trucks, silt covering their property, and bad smells that emanate from the landfill.

They were unsuccessful in their opposition to two state-of-the-art “berms,” or vertical towers of trash, and now worry about lateral expansion, which is being proposed to the north and east of the existing landfill.

The Epsilon report said more permits and approvals may be required to ensure that the landfill does not illegally encroach on wetlands and wildlife. The state and federal goverments have enviromental and safety standards that have resulted in numerous corrections as the project has evolved.

The report also acknowledges that increasing the size of the landfill would have several benefits. It would increase “host fees” to the town from about $288,000 to about $370,000 and it would extend the life of the landfill by about six years, which is no small achievement for a landfill that was expected to close in 2010.

Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley said the police department started receiving calls just after 2:30 p.m. about a man with a gun in the park.

File photo

PALMER – Two 18-year-old Springfield men were arrested Wednesday afternoon after one of them allegedly used an air gun to rob three men of their money and marijuana in Hryniewicz Park in the Three Rivers section.

Cousins Kyle K. Wright and Malachi L. Wilson, both of 113 Cambridge St., Springfield, were arrested after being stopped by Officer Rudolph Wilk near City Tire on Route 20 in Wilbraham with assistance from Palmer and Wilbraham police.

Both were charged with three counts of armed robbery, and Wright faces additional charges of assault and battery, larceny from a person, conspiracy to violate the drug law, and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.

They were to be arraigned in Palmer District Court on Thursday; arraignment information was not immediately available.

Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley said the police department started receiving calls just after 2:30 p.m. about a man with a gun in the park. All available police units went to the park, and Wilk followed a red Altima that was leaving the scene, stopping it in Wilbraham.

Haley said the men came to the park specifically to rob an individual involved in a marijuana deal. Haley said Wright threatened the men with the air gun, which he described as a pellet gun, and also took a cell phone.

During the incident, one of the victims got out of his car, and began chasing Wright with a baseball bat; Wright punched him, Haley said.

Police found the air gun, cash, marijuana and cell phone in the Altima, Haley said.

Stratton has been a member of the Wilbraham Police Department for 31 years and served the town as chief for 18 years.

Allen M. Stratton

WILBRAHAM – Longtime Police Chief Allen M. Stratton told town officials last week that he plans to retire by Dec. 31.

Stratton has been a member of the Wilbraham Police Department for 31 years and served the town as chief for 18 years.

“I want to thank you for your service,” Selectman James E. Thompson said.

Stratton told the board that both the Police Department and the town have a strong reputation.

“I would like to see that continue,” he said. He said he will help the town in any way he can in searching for a new police chief.

The Board of Selectmen agreed to contract Barry Del Castilho of the Collins Center for Public Management to assist the board in its search for a new police chief.

Castilho, who served the board as an interim town administrator four years ago, will serve as a consultant in the police chief search for a fee of $12,500.

The choice of a new police chief is a big decision for the town to make, Castilho told the board.

He said the town’s police chief gets tenure after three years and could end up serving the town for many years.

Castilho said he will help selectmen and the town administrator develop a list of specific requirements for the position which will serve as a marketing tool in attracting police chief applicants.

Candidates from within the Police Department are eligible to apply for the position, he said.

Del Castilho said he and Town Administrator Robert A. Weitz will screen the initial applicants for the position and a selection committee will interview 10 candidates and bring a list of finalists to the Board of Selectmen to interview.

Del Castilho said he believes the search and hiring can be completed within three months so that a new chief can be brought on board when Stratton retires.

Del Castilho said he expects the board to receive applicants from throughout the state and from northern Connecticut.

Selectmen Chairman Patrick J. Brady said the Police Department has some terrific people in it. He told Stratton that he will be missed.

Stratton said he also will miss working with police officers and townspeople.

“I want to see the work we have done continue,” he said.

Obituaries from The Republican today.

Nathan W. Foley

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Nathan William Foley, 20, passed away Tuesday. He was born in Springfield on January 26, 1991. He lived all of his life in West Springfield and was a 2009 graduate of West Springfield High School. He was attending Springfield Technical Community College majoring in fire science. He was employed in the dairy department of the Stop & Shop supermarket in West Springfield. He was a communicant of St. Thomas Church. Like his father, he loved to skate and was a talented member of the West Side Varsity Hockey team. He planned to pursue a career on following in his father's footsteps by joining the Fire Department.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Barden, Howard A.
  




• 
  Blake, Katherine
  



• 
  Bressette, George H.




• 
  Chambers, Warren W.
  



• 
  Congdon, Phyllis
  




• Dudley, Janet Echols
  




• 
  Foley, Nathan William "Nate"
  



• 
  Gustafson, Carl E.




• 
  Hubbard, Dwayne E.
  



• 
  Kelly, Helen C.
  




• Kennedy, Jeffrey J.
  




• 
  Kotarski, Helen T. (Gryszkiewicz)
  



• 
  Kwiatkowski, Irene A.




• 
  Longley, Graydon
  



• 
  Mills Jr., Charles L.
  




• Moultrie, Mary A.
  




• 
  MSOLA, Sr. Dolores Fortier
  



• 
  Raymond, Rosemary Murphy




• 
  Schab, Irene (Stomski)
  



• 
  Smalley-Lehmann, Elsie Evalyn
  




• Welch, Edward Arthur
  




• 
  Zanetti, Mary M.
  

Joey Kareta, 22, of Westfield, was getting the mail for his aunt on her South Hadley lawn when Barton's speeding Lexus left the road on Brainard Street and struck him.

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanCraig A. Barton, of Springfield, listens to proceedings in Hampshire Superior Court Thursday during his sentencing in the motor vehicle death of Frederick S. Kareta III, of Westfield, in South Hadley. At left is defense attorney George M. Nassar.

NORTHAMPTON - In heartbreaking detail, the family of Frederick S. Kareta III told a judge yesterday how a "2,000 pound bullet" driven by Craig A. Barton killed the young man they called Joey and shattered their lives.

The victim impact statements were delivered in Hampshire Superior Court, where Barton, 44, a juvenile court lawyer from Springfield, pleaded guilty to motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of alcohol, a charge that earned him a 5-7 year state prison sentence. It wasn't enough to staunch the grief of the Kareta family, however.

Joey Kareta, 22, a Westfield resident, was getting the mail for his aunt on her South Hadley lawn on Aug. 28 of 2010 when Barton's Lexus, traveling at nearly twice the 35-mile-an-hour speed limit, left the road on Brainard Street and struck Kareta, knocking him out of his shoes and hurtling him 80 feet through the air. He died of massive injuries.

Barton's car continued back onto the street, knocking down a street sign and hitting another car head on. He refused to take a breath test at the scene and again at the South Hadley police station, where he was brought.

Investigators subsequently learned that he had consumed at least six drinks at the Orchards Golf Course in South Hadley. He was on his way from that club to a bar in Holyoke when he lost control of his car and killed Kareta, according to Northwestern Assistant Distrrict Attorney Matthew D. Thomas.

View full sizeFrederick S. Kareta

Thomas' recitation of the evidence to Judge Daniel Ford was the prelude to a series of gut-wrenching victim's statements by Kareta's family, some 20 of whom packed the courtroom for the proceeding.

Marilyn Sicotte, Kareta's aunt and boss at the service station and convenience store where he worked, was just driving up the street that Saturday afternoon when she saw Barton's car speed past her. Before she could telephone police on her cell phone, she heard the crash.

"Someone said it's my cousin Joey," Sicotte told Ford. "I found his body lying in the road. I said, 'That's my Joey.'"

Connie Barre, an aunt, said Kareta was fetching the mail for her sister, Karen Kareta, one of the many chores his did for her. After the accident, Karen Kareta stopped eating. She died seven weeks later at the age of 58.

"I lost my sister and my best friend," Barre sobbed. "Joe was the light of her life."

By all accounts, Kareta was a compassionate, helpful and generous young man with a promising life ahead of him. The family had planned to go to a restaurant that night to celebrate his graduation from Westfield State College (now University), where he earned a degree in criminal justice. Kareta had also just passed the state police exam. On the day of his funeral, his parents received a postcard from a police department inviting Kareta to interview for a job. His mother, Katherine Kareta, held the card as she read her statement to Ford.

"I wake up in a panic each night of Joey being run down by a 2,000 pound bullet," she said. "Our lives have been ripped apart, forever changed."

Frederick S. Kareta, Jr., a disabled Vietnam era veteran, told Ford he had come to rely more and more on his son in recent years.

"My life is empty without him," Kareta said. "You can't put yourself in my shoes. Your mind wouldn't allow it."

Although the family asked for a more severe sentence, Ford explained that he could not exceed the agreement without allowing the case to go to trial, a situation he said that would "plunge a dagger into the heart of your family." However, Ford rejected a request by defense lawyer George M. Nassar to recommend that Barton be allowed to serve the time in a county jail instead of state prison.

As Nassar described it, Barton was a "social drinker" whose life was also ruined that day.

"Like millions of Americans, he got up that morning to play golf and do some drinking," Nassar said.

Although Barton did not address the family, Nassar read a statement he wrote in which Barton said he is "despondent on a daily basis."

According to the family, more than 500 people turned out for Kareta's funeral and memorial service.

The sell-off began in Asia, intensified in Europe and rattled markets in the United States all day.

Associated Press photoSpecialist Jason Harper works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday.

NEW YORK – Investors on Wall Street and around the world sold stocks with abandon Thursday, more convinced than ever that a global recession is under way. The Dow Jones industrial average lost almost 400 points.

The sell-off began in Asia, intensified in Europe and rattled markets in the United States all day. Stocks in New York staged a small rally before the end of trading but still finished near their lows for the year.

One financial indicator after another showed that investors are quickly losing hope that the economy can keep growing. The price of oil and metals, both of which depend on economic demand, fell sharply. Traders bought bonds for safety.

FedEx, a company that ships so many goods it is considered a barometer of the U.S. economy, had to lower its earnings forecast for the year because its customers are putting off purchases of electronics and other gadgets from China.

The Dow fell 391.01 points, or 3.5 percent, and closed at 10,733.83. The selling was not just steep but broad: Nineteen stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell for every one that rose. At one point, the Dow was down more than 500 points.

“Markets rely on confidence and certainty. Right now there is neither,” said John Canally, an economic strategist at LPL Financial, an investment firm in Boston.

It was the second consecutive rout in the stock market since the Federal Reserve announced a change in strategy for fighting the economic slowdown – a bid to lower long-term interest rates and get people and companies to spend more money.

Economic news was bad around the world. A closely watched survey in Europe indicated a recession could be on the way there, and a manufacturing survey suggested a slowdown in China, which has been one of the hottest economies.

“The probability of going back into recession is higher now than at any point in the recovery,” said Tim Quinlan, an economist at Wells Fargo. He put his odds of a recession at 35 percent, the highest yet.

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, said the world economy was “entering a dangerous phase.” She told an annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank that nations need credible plans to get their debt under control.

In the United States, investors poured money into American government debt, which they see as less risky than stocks even as the nation wrestles with how to tame its long-term budget problems.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit 1.71 percent – the lowest since the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis started keeping daily records half a century ago. It was 3.66 percent as recently as February, when the economic forecast was brighter.

Yields fall as investors buy bonds and send their prices higher. Small yields are a sign that investors are just looking for a safe place to park their cash.

“They want to get their money back,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Capital Markets. “How much they earn is secondary.”

The Dow almost matched its lowest close of the year, 10,719 on Aug. 10. The stock market was seized by volatility last month, and at one point strung together four consecutive days of 400-point moves up or down.

In a sign of what a rocky year it has been for the stock market, Thursday’s decline isn’t even close to the biggest in 2011. The Dow fell 634 points on Aug. 8, 519 points on Aug. 10 and 512 points on Aug. 4.

It would have to fall 485 more points to reach the traditional definition of a bear market – a 20 percent decline from the market’s peak since the financial meltdown in 2008. That peak was in April.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a broader measure of the stock market, and the Nasdaq composite, which is more heavily weighted with technology stocks, both fell more than 3 percent for the day.

To get the economy going, President Barack Obama has proposed a $447 billion package of tax cuts, public works projects and benefits for the unemployed, but it is far from clear that it can pass the Republican-controlled House.

While the market was falling Thursday, the president stood in front of an aging bridge that connects Ohio and Kentucky. He exhorted Republicans: “Help us put this country back to work. Pass this jobs bill right away.”

Top Republicans in Congress accused Obama of trying to score political points. If Congress fails to pass the jobs bill, it would leave the Fed action this week as the only major new initiative to jolt the economy back to life.

The Fed announced Wednesday that it would shuffle $400 billion of its own holdings in hopes of reducing interest rates on long-term loans. The plan is known as Operation Twist, a nod to a similar approach taken by the Fed during the time of Chubby Checker.

The central bank hopes that allowing people and businesses to borrow money more cheaply will encourage them to spend it throughout the economy, providing a lift that could turn it around.

Still, the Fed announcement troubled investors because it came with a bleak assessment of the future of the U.S. economy. The Fed said it sees “significant downside risks to the economic outlook,” including volatility in overseas markets.

“In financial markets, the thinking seems to be: If the Fed is worried, the rest of us ought to be really worried,” said Brian Gendreau, senior investment strategist at Cetera Financial Group.

Economists say the Fed action may help, but probably not much. The only thing that will help is for people and businesses to start spending more money, said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners, a hedge fund.

“Counting on the Fed to get us out of this is a mistake,” he said.

The price of commodities like oil and metals dropped steeply because investors worried that demand for them would fall if the world economy keeps slowing or falls into recession again.

Oil dropped more than $5 a barrel to $80.51, its lowest settling price since Aug. 9. The selling reflected concerns that world demand for oil would fall if the economy slows.

“This is just sudden and strong confirmation that the economy is not improving,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “Energy demand is going to be very poor.”

The price of silver fell 9.6 percent. And gold fell 3.7 percent. Earlier this summer, gold set one record high after another. Investors wanted it both as a safe place for their money and to cash in on what seemed an unstoppable run.

Stocks fell sharply even though the New York Stock Exchange executed a rule designed to smooth trading. The exchange invoked Rule 48, which limits how much information is released about stock trades.

Stock volatility rose anyway. The VIX, an index that measures investor fear, rose 17 percent to 43.7, well above average.

It’s common for stocks to move dramatically after the Fed makes a big announcement. But the number of trades that can be made instantly has also gone up in recent years, causing big swings to happen more quickly.

“These major moves are much more compressed, time-wise, than in the past,” Landesman said. “A 5 percent move can now happen in a couple of minutes as opposed to a week or two.”

Some analysts thought the heavy selling was an overreaction.

“The facts show we are not in a recession, and we are not borderline recession,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, wrote in a report Thursday.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first half of this year, the slowest growth since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. It would take much healthier growth, 4 or 5 percent, to bring unemployment down significantly.

The government reported Thursday that fewer Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week. But the decline wasn’t nearly enough to raise any real hope that the job market is getting better.

Asian stocks were hammered to start the world’s trading. The Nikkei index in Japan fell 2.1 percent. The main stock averages fell 2.8 percent in China, 2.9 percent in South Korea, 2.6 percent in Australia and almost 5 percent in Hong Kong.

Europe fared even worse. The stock market fell 5.3 percent in France, 5 percent in Germany and 4.7 percent in Britain.

Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said he is pleased the council unanimously voted to fund the study. He has long advocated for a new facility for his department, which currently shares space at the Town Building with municipal offices.

The Republican/Michael Gordon

PALMER – The Town Council recently approved spending $70,000 from the so-called "free cash" account to pay for a feasibility study that would examine whether to renovate or build new facilities for the Police Department on Main Street and Public Works Department on Bridge Street.

"If we're going to do this, now is the time to move it forward. The buildings are deteriorating every day that goes by. At some point and time, they could become unsafe," Town Council President Paul E. Burns said.

Interim Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard, who was asked by the council to research the issue with the buildings, said he is in the process of developing a "request for qualifications" for architectural services; he hopes that the study of the buildings would be complete by early next year. Then, he said, the council and manager would work to explain the need, cost and benefits of the project to the community in time for a debt exclusion vote in June.

Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said he is pleased the council unanimously voted to fund the study. He has long advocated for a new facility for his department, which currently shares space at the Town Building with municipal offices.

"Clearly there is a need for a new facility over here and I’m very grateful that they appropriated the money . . . Much of the credit goes to our acting town manager Charlie Blanchard who recognized that there was a fairly urgent need to address the situation," Frydryk said.

Said Blanchard, "Hopefully we'll develop the best solution for the town . . . and it will be a project that will move forward."

Blanchard said when the firm Siemens did an energy audit of municipal buildings, it skipped the Public Works Department garage on Bridge Street because it sits in a flood plain. The garage, which houses the highway division, was under water during the October 2005 flood.

Preliminary numbers indicate that it would cost from $6 million to $8 million for a new, 14,000-square-foot or 19,000-square-foot police station, and $4.8 million to $6 million for a new 20,000-square- foot or 25,000-square-foot Public Works Department.

A $10.8 million project would be built for the next 20 years, whereas a $14 million project would be built for the next 30 years.

If a 20-year debt exclusion passed, the tax impact on the average home valued at $184,500 would be an extra $234 annually, according to preliminary estimates. Blanchard said that amount would decrease each year.

If the study finds that the buildings cannot be renovated, the town has identified sites for new structures.

Land behind the police station was purchased years ago with the intent that the police would expand, but voters defeated debt exclusion proposals that would have funded a new police station in 2001 and 2002. Town-owned land at Burleigh Park off Old Warren Road has been eyed for a new Public Works Department.

the teen told the resident in Dedham whose door her appeared at that he had been abducted by three men after offering them help with their car in a Boston alley.

Matthew Glass, 17, of Wrentham, was found Thursday night after showing up at a Dedham home, claiming he was abducted in Boston on Tuesday.

DEDHAM, Mass. - A Wrentham teen who has been missing since Tuesday mysteriously showed up at the door of a home in Dedham Thursday night, visibly roughed up, but alright, according to police.

The teen, 17-year-old Matthew Glass, had not been seen since Tuesday around 3 p.m. when he told his parents he was traveling to Boston to seek computer repairs from an Apple Store there.

According to published reports, the teen told the resident in Dedham whose door her appeared at that he had been abducted by three men after offering them help with their car in a Boston alley.

Dedham is about 15 miles southwest of Boston while Glass' hometown of Wrentham is about 30 miles southwest of the city.

His truck was found Thursday morning on Huntington Avenue near Northeastern University in Boston.

As police investigated Glass' disappearance, they tracked his cell phone to the area of 409 Huntington Ave. in Boston. Police said the teen may have gone to a Red Sox game, as the address in question is about a ten minute walk to Fenway Park.

No further details have been released about the incident but Glass was taken to a nearby hospital to get checked out and reunited with his worried family.

Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is hoping a federal judge will allow him to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction on corruption charges.

Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, center, flanked by unidentified family members, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston, Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. DiMasi has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for using his clout to steer two state contracts to a software firm in exchange for kickbacks. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

BOSTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is hoping a federal judge will allow him to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction on corruption charges.

DiMasi is scheduled to begin his eight-year sentence on Nov. 16. Co-defendant Richard McDonough is also set to report for his seven-year sentence on that day.

The two men will ask U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf at a Friday hearing to grant bail so they can remain free while their lawyers pursue appeals which can take years to complete. Federal prosecutors are opposing the motion.

To win bail, defense attorneys must show that appeals have a good chance of success.

DiMasi was found guilty in June of charges he steered two state contracts to a software firm in exchange for kickbacks.

Federal relief could soon be heading to farmers across Massachusetts.

BOSTON (AP) — Federal relief could soon be heading to farmers across Massachusetts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted the state's request for federal disaster relief in 11 Massachusetts counties that suffered agricultural production losses due to heavy rain and strong winds from unleashed by the remnants of Hurricane Irene last month.

Gov. Deval Patrick had requested the relief announced Thursday.

Farms in Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester counties, which were declared primary natural disaster areas, are now eligible for loans and other assistance from the U.S. Farm Services Agency.

Farms in Plymouth and Suffolk Counties, which were near the disaster areas, are eligible for loan assistance.

Here are the average energy prices in the Pioneer Valley for the week ending today.

View full size

About 750,000 Massachusetts residents lived in households that fell below the federal poverty threshold last year, according to the budget and policy center.

A cart belongs to a homeless person sits next to a poster with an images depicting House Speaker John Boehner in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

BOSTON (AP) — The poverty rate in Massachusetts inched upward last year as the state struggled to emerge from the recent recession.

New data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the overall poverty rate in Massachusetts rose from 10.3 percent in 2009 to 11.4 percent in 2010. It had remained relatively stable for the prior three years.

In 2007, the year the Great Recession began, the state's poverty level stood at 9.9 percent.

Nationwide, the poverty rate rose from 14.3 percent in 2009 to 15.3 percent in 2010.

Despite the increase, Massachusetts continued to rank among the 10 states with the lowest poverty levels, according to an analysis of the census data by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a Boston-based research group.

The rate of poverty among children under age 18 also rose in Massachusetts in 2010, from 13.1 percent in 2009 to 14.3 percent in 2010.

Nationwide, the childhood poverty rate rose from 20 percent to 21.6 percent.

About 750,000 Massachusetts residents lived in households that fell below the federal poverty threshold last year, according to the budget and policy center.

The census also included sobering news about how much Massachusetts families were earning last year.

The median household income in Massachusetts fell by nearly $3,200, or 4.9 percent, according to census data, from $65,254 in 2009 to $62,072 in 2010.

On Sept. 9, he posted an image of a swinging noose and wrote: "I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens, what do I have to do so people will listen to me?"

On Sept. 9, Jamey Rodemeyer posted an image of a swinging noose on his blog and wrote: "I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens, what do I have to do so people will listen to me?"

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press

AMHERST, N.Y. (AP) — Police are investigating whether criminal charges should be filed after the suicide of a 14-year-old New York boy who had complained in an online video about being bullied over his sexuality and who often alluded on his blog to killing himself.

Officials in the Williamsville school district near Buffalo said they are cooperating with the investigation into the death of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, who had started his freshman year of high school less than two weeks before he died.

"We're going to have to look at the stuff that's out there and determine if any of the things out there are a violation of the law," Amherst Police Capt. Michael Camilleri said Thursday. The use of a telephone or computer would escalate the charge.

The boy had frequent meetings with school officials in the previous two years, when he was in middle school, and the school's social worker said he was always available, his mother said. School officials spoke with the bullies, but the taunts continued, she said.

Students in the district are encouraged to report bullying, and every report is investigated, Superintendent Scott Martzloff said.

In 2010, Gov. David Paterson signed the Dignity for All Students Act, which requires New York school districts to protect children against bullying because of their sexual orientation or weight. It also says schools should guard against those and other forms of discrimination and harassment, including ethnicity and disability.

In his video posted four months ago, Jamey Rodemeyer described being taunted in hallways and receiving hateful messages online, "telling me that gay people go to hell." The video, in which he said he was bisexual, was part of the "It Gets Better Project," meant to give hope to gay teens.

After he hanged himself Sunday outside his home in the Amherst town village of Williamsville, Jamey's parents said that their son had been bullied for years, even pushed to the brink of suicide, but that he seemed to be doing better since starting at his new school.

"We outright asked him, 'Is anybody bullying you this year?'" Jamey's mother, Tracy Rodemeyer said, "and it was, 'No, no, no.'"

The boy kept a blog on which he referred to himself as gay and made frequent references to suicide and to his idol, pop singer Lady Gaga, who often sings about acceptance of gays and lesbians.

On Sept. 9, he posted an image of a swinging noose and wrote: "I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens, what do I have to do so people will listen to me?" The same day, he wrote: "Stop bullying people. Maybe they won't commit suicide" and "Ugh today makes me wanna kill myself."

On Sept. 12, he wrote: "I don't want to meet Gaga, I NEED to meet her."

His final blog and Twitter posts the day he died thanked Gaga. He also wrote: "I pray the fame won't take my life," possibly a reference to her song and album "The Fame."

On Wednesday, the performer posted three related messages on Twitter.

"The past days I've spent reflecting, crying and yelling," read one of her tweets. "I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone's life."

Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after his roommate at Rutgers University allegedly used a webcam to spy on his same-sex liaison.

The suicide comes a year after 18-year-old Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after his roommate at Rutgers University allegedly used a webcam to spy on his same-sex liaison.

Clementi's death followed a string of suicides by teens nationwide believed to have been bullied for their perceived sexual orientation and quickly became a cause celebre. Among those speaking out were talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and President Barack Obama. Sex columnist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" movement gained traction.

Criminal charges against Clementi's roommate are pending. In another high-profile case, five classmates this year accepted plea deals after being charged following the suicide of bullied Massachusetts teen Phoebe Prince.

Experts have noted that some suicides can inspire others to follow in an attempt at martyrdom or solidarity, a phenomenon known as contagion. Police in Jamey's hometown said it's too early in their investigation to characterize his death as a possible example.

Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday.

The accident, which backed up traffic, was reported about 7:30 a.m.

Republican file photo

WESTFIELD - A single-vehicle rollover in the westbound lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike sent a person to Noble Hospital for treatment.

The accident, which caused traffic to back up, occurred about 7:30 a.m. and the scene was cleared shortly after 8 a.m., state police said. It occurred near the West Springfield line

Additional information on the accident was not immediately available.