The law was implemented while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was governor of the Bay State.

File photo / Associated PressMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, shakes hands with Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Timothy Murphy in 2006 after signing into law a landmark bill designed to guarantee that virtually all Massachusetts residents have health insurance at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is center, and Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, is at right.

By KYLE CHENEY

BOSTON - A ballot campaign to gut a cornerstone of the 2006 health care law signed by Gov. W. Mitt Romney has generated little out-of-state interest despite the potential national implications of the effort, a top organizer said Thursday.

Bridget Fay, treasurer of the campaign to repeal the state’s requirement that residents obtain health insurance – a move that backers say would lead to the unraveling of the entire law – said supporters have collected about 10,000 signatures since early September. Ballot laws require the collection of 69,900 certified voter signatures by Nov. 23 in order to proceed, and successful organizers typically collect 100,000 signatures or more in order to guard against challenges.

Fay, who said that the signature drive has largely been run by about 100 volunteers, said she was surprised that supporters of Republican presidential candidates like Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain hadn’t taken the chance to “throw an egg on Mitt Romney’s face,” although she also maintained that critics of the health care law are not seeking to embarrass the former governor.

“It could be just that on a large scale, people might not know that this is going through,” she said, adding that she hopes momentum increases in the last few weeks of signature gathering.

The individual mandate – the requirement that all Massachusetts residents obtain health insurance or face tax penalties – is a centerpiece of the 2006 law. Supporters say it’s an essential ingredient of the law but the mandate has been a magnet of criticism, primarily from conservatives, who have ripped Romney for supporting it and providing the basis for the 2009 national health care law signed by President Obama.

An attempt to undermine the 2006 law, which Romney has defended on the campaign trail as a successful, collaborative experiment, could damage Romney’s candidacy, and he has has repeatedly fended off attacks from his primary rivals on the issue. The fact that it has become such a lightning rod may be the reason national forces have remained muted on the issue, Fay said.

“I think some people are against this because they think it will hurt Mitt Romney,” she said. “Some people are for it because they think RomneyCare paved the way for Obama Care.”

Although supporters of the repeal effort, spearheaded by the anti-abortion group Massachusetts Citizens for Life, say it is not an attempt to hurt Romney, they have made every effort to tie Romney to the proposal. The website of ballot questions supporters is repeal-romneycare.com, which uses the shorthand name for the 2006 law embraced by Romney’s political opponents. Officially called “Massachusetts Against the Individual Mandate,” the campaign’s stated goal is to not only undermine the Massachusetts health care law but to “make health care an issue in both state and federal 2012 elections, when the petition will be on the ballot.”

Attorney General Martha M. Coakley certified the ballot proposal to repeal the mandate in September, declaring that the initiative petition met the criteria for an allowable ballot question. If backers of the question gather enough signatures by the Nov. 23 deadline, lawmakers would have until May 2012 to act on the proposal, offer an alternative, or allow it to proceed to the ballot. If lawmakers opt against acting, supporters of the question would need an additional 11,500 signatures to place the question before voters.

The detectives allegedly spotted the suspect selling drugs in a Carew Street parking lot Thursday.

Rosemary Negron

SPRINGFIELD – Narcotics detectives arrested a 36-year-old city woman Thursday night after they allegedly spotted her selling drugs in a pharmacy parking lot on Carew Street.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said detectives, on an anti-drug patrol in the Hungry Hill area, paid special attention to the Walgreen’s parking lot at 625 Carew St. because it serves as a frequent rendezvous spot for drug dealers and their customers.

The detectives, led by Sgt. Steven Kent, observed a male, alone in a Nissan, appearing to wait for someone. After a short time, they saw an Infiniti, driven by the suspect, pull into the lot and sell drugs to the male, Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

Detectives then followed the suspect, Rosemary Negron, to her home at 34 Mayfair Ave. and arrested her as she entered her home.

Police, Delaney said, could detect the smell of marijuana in her car and coming from her home. They applied for a search warrant and then raided the home.

The officers found 1½ pounds of marijuana inside her apartment and home, Delaney said. Along with the marijuana, they found $2,080 in cash and packaging material and scales.

Negron was charged with posession of marijuana with intent to distribute and violation of a drug-free school zone. Negron is expected to be arraigned in District Court Friday. If convicted, she faces a two-year minimum mandatory sentence, Delaney said.

Patrick signed a bill that appropriated the aid, restoring a cut made earlier this year in the state budget on Beacon Hill.

The Republican | Joe DeburroThe Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.

BOSTON -- Gov. Deval L. Patrick's revenue department alerted cities and towns Friday that it will distribute $65 million in additional local aid on Monday including $2.3 million for Springfield, $269,000 for Northampton and $621,000 for Holyoke.

Patrick Thursday signed a bill that included final authorization to restore the $65 million cut in local aid made earlier this year. Today's notice includes the share each community will receive from the $65 million.

In a message to cities and towns, Gerard Perry, director of accounts for the state Department of Revenue, said the money can be applied as estimated receipts when setting tax rates this fiscal year or appropriated during the fiscal year.

Many towns have already had special town meetings this fall, so they might have to wait until next spring to appropriate the extra aid, said Aaron Saunders, a Ludlow selectman.

Agawam received $225,300; Belchertown, $104,000; Palmer, $122,000; West Springfield, $220,000 and Westfield, $385,000.

Boston received $11.6 million, the most in the state, followed by Worcester, $2.54 million.

More details coming in The Republican.

Additional UMass and Amherst police officers will patrol this weekend.

AMHERST - Police are hoping the cold and snowy forecast ices some of the Halloween festivities this weekend on and around the University of Massachusetts campus.

The forecast might be bad for people “but that’s good for cops,” said Police Chief Scott P. Livingstone. Forecasters are predicting snow Saturday afternoon and chilly temperatures.

Amherst will have most of the force of 47 working this weekend, he said – more than a typical weekend but fewer than the Hobart party weekend in May.

He’s hoping the additional officers will be able to curb any parties before they become too large.

UMass Deputy Police Chief Patrick Archbald said UMass will have additional police on duty as well. “We hope the vast majority enjoy themselves responsibly and legally,” he said.

Livingstone said that the state police community action team is available Saturday night as back-up.

He said police have been meeting with UMass officials in anticipation. “We’re planning for worst, hoping for the best.”

Livingstone said no matter when Halloween falls, the weekend leading up to it is always busy. And this year, the fall weekends have been particularly busy for police.
Police are seeing activity now they typically see in the spring.

Students, meanwhile, including those who live off-campus, “have been reminded through various methods, about responsible behavior, recent changes in the Code of Student Conduct governing student behavior on- and off-campus, community expectations and positive engagement with town residents,” UMass spokesman Daniel J. Fitzgibbons said in an email, adding, “Residential Life has also taken steps to increase staff presence, including RAs, over the weekend.”

He also said that there are a number of activities to keep students on campus including movies, a dance, an improv comedy show and a costume party at the Newman Center.

So far, Romney's foot-in-mouth remarks haven't seemed to affect his standing in the nomination race.

Associated PressIn this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in Redmond, Wash.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney may need a censor. For himself.

In the last few weeks in Nevada, the man who owns several homes told the state hit tough by the housing crisis: "Don't try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom."

At one point in Iowa, earlier this year, the former venture capitalist uttered, "Corporations are people," with the country in the midst of a debate over Wall Street vs. Main Street. At an event in economically suffering Florida, the retiree — who is a multimillionaire many times over — said, "I'm also unemployed."

Over the past year, the Republican presidential candidate has amassed a collection of off-the-cuff comments that expose his vulnerabilities and, taken together, could reinforce a perception that he's an out-of-touch elitist who lacks a core set of beliefs.

So far, the foot-in-mouth remarks haven't seemed to affect his standing in the nomination race.

Romney has run a far more cautious and disciplined campaign than his losing bid of four years ago. He's kept the focus on his core message: He's the strongest candidate able to beat President Barack Obama on the biggest issue of the campaign, the economy. He still enjoys leading positions in public opinion polls in early primary states and across the nation. Few, if any, of the other Republicans in the race have turned his remarks against him.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Romney's chief rival with the money to prove it, is all but certain to try. Perry has already started suggesting that Romney lives a life of privilege while he comes from humble roots. And Romney's eyebrow-raising comments are tailor-made for critical TV ads.

Look no further than the Democratic Party and Obama's advisers for proof of that.

Each time Romney says something that makes even his closest aides grimace, Democrats quickly put together a Web video highlighting the remark — a preview of certain lines of attack come the general election should the former Massachusetts governor win the nomination.

"Mitt Romney's message to Arizona? You're on your own," says a new ad by the Democratic National Committee that jumps on Romney's foreclosure remarks.

Romney's team publicly dismisses their boss's occasional loose lips, dismissing them as inconsequential to voters focused on an unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent.

"It's a long campaign and at the end of the day people are going to judge Gov. Romney and his ability to take on President Obama over jobs and the economy. And certainly there will be a lot of back and forth as the campaign progresses," said Russ Schriefer, a Romney strategist.

"This election will be decided on big issues because the issues are so big and so important," Schriefer said. "And not on a gaffe or a mistake or a moment, any particularly moment. It's more about the big moments and who voters see and being able to turn the economy around."

It usually takes more than one gaffe or one mistake to undo a campaign. And other candidates have made their own potentially problematic comments.

Take, for instance, Herman Cain's assertion that the Wall Street protesters are in the streets to distract from Obama's record: "If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself." Or Perry's suggestion that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is "almost treasonous": "If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don't what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas." Or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich explaining his infidelity: "There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate."

But a string of unforced errors, when combined, can reinforce unfavorable perceptions of the candidate, as Romney aides privately acknowledge. And that's the trouble Romney faces — just as John Kerry damaged himself when he racked up a series of equivocating comments on a series of issues while the Democratic nominee in 2004.

President George W. Bush's re-election campaign used Kerry's waffling — conflicts between his votes and his quotes — to cast him as an opportunist who would shift his positions to win votes.

Romney gave his critics a similar opening over the past few days. In Ohio, he refused to say whether he would support a local ballot initiative even as he visited a site where volunteers were making hundreds of phone calls to help Republicans defeat it. Issue Two would repeal Ohio Gov. John Kasich's restrictions on public sector employee bargaining.

It turned out that Romney had already weighed in, supporting Kasich's efforts in a June Facebook post. And, a day after the Ohio visit, Romney made clear where he stood, saying he was "110 percent" behind the anti-union effort.

There have been other instances of comments that could come back to haunt him. In Arizona at one point, he tried to highlight his father's role running an auto company but inadvertently painted himself as a have, rather than a have not.

"See, I'm a Detroit guy, so, you know, I only have domestics," he said, then added: "I have a couple of Cadillacs, at two different houses. You know, small crossovers."

During a recent debate, Romney suggested that the discovery of illegal immigrants working on his yard during his first presidential campaign was a problem — not because it was illegal, but because "I'm running for office, for Pete's sake."

Comments like those could partly explain why Romney has kept a limited public schedule and favors closed events and appearances that play down spontaneous interaction with reporters.

Still, in some ways, the damage may already have been done. Expect to hear Romney's impolitic comments frequently as Republicans and Democrats alike try to derail Romney.

The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the last three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl up in comparison, according to a new government study.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the last three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl up in comparison, according to a new government study.

Average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost quadrupled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the economic scale, after-tax income grew by just 40 percent. Those at the bottom experienced an 18 percent increase.

The report, based on IRS and Census Bureau data, comes as the Occupy Wall Street movement protests corporate bailouts and the gap between the haves and have-nots. Demonstrators call themselves "the 99 percent."

"The distribution of after-tax income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said in a blog post. "The share of income accruing to higher-income households increased, whereas the share accruing to other households declined."
The top 1 percent made $165,000 or more in 1979; that jumped to $347,000 or more in 2007, the study said. The income for the top fifth started at $51,289 in 1979 and rose to $70,578 in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, those in the 20th percentile went from $12,823 in 1979 to $14,851 in 2007.

Read full story by AP reporter Andrew Taylor here.

Here's what some of our readers had to say about income inequality and a 275 percent increase in income for the top one percent of Americans over the past 30 years

abrain4u writes:

I disagree that higher income earners (what is referred to as the 1%) put others in a bind by earning money in all, or even most cases. I have a friend from college who earned tens of millions in investment banking and retired young. He made a ton of money, helped companies raise money and hedge risk and no one got blown up. I would also add that he has a miserable life half way around the world now; so money, as we learned as kids, certainly doesn't guarantee happiness.

I would agree, however, that the extremely wealthy can corrupt government officials -- look at Chris Dodd and Countrywide (I'm not picking on Dems). The easy solution to that is term limits. And, the problem runs both ways in corrupt policy making to favor corporations or the welfare state.

We must remember that laws and spending are written by people in Congress, some of whom have been in office for decades. If term limits are good enough for the presidency, there can be no argument made as to why it doesn't apply to every elected official. Before we speak of scrapping the system because, ahem, we truly want a more fair system, why not change the parts of the system which are so obvioulsy flawed which are a basis of complaints by all people?

Rather than a Congressional seat being the throne of a king, it should simply be the chair of a servant.

NoPol writes:

Ask your kids -- would they rather participate in an economy which requires them to go to school for 6 years (a Master's is the new Bachelor's) and then have a pretty good chance of being unemployed or underemployed for minimum wage? Would they like to participate in an economy where 50% of the income goes to 20% of the people? Would they like to participate in an economy where 300,000 people take half, leaving the other half for 150 million others to fight over?

Would they like to work in an economy where putting in a fair day's work is not enough - where more and more people have to work 60+ hours per week, more and more families have to work 100+ hours per week, to have no retirement, no vacation, no health care, no sick time, with public services like schools, fire, and police being cut in the name of "no new taxes for the rich"?

How would they then like to see their job moved to China because that will add a few million dollars to the already profitable company? An economy where the top people scream "you need to give us even more, because if you don't, that means you're penalizing success". An economy where those same 300,000 people consider you to be a "taker" and think you're overpaid, no matter how much you earn, because you're not one of them.

Or would they like to participate in an economy where people actually make things here? Where you can retire with a pension to supplement your Social Security and Medicare? Where you work a fair amount per week so that you have time to spend with your family? Where you can earn a decent pay without mortgaging yourself to go to college, but if you do go to college you earn more? Where if you happen to get sick, you don't go into bankruptcy to get lousy medical care before dying young?

Your kids would be stupid to choose our current casino economy. Odds are very strong that they will not be one of the 300,000 people who earn half the country's income. Odds are they will not be one of the top 20% who controls 85% of the wealth in this country.

Are people really so blind that they can't see a class war being waged against them? Do people really see this income and wealth trend as a good thing? Is it good that most of the income goes to the top? If you think it is, then you must think that it would be even better if even more of the income and wealth goes to the top, right? That we should accelerate this trend even more? If you're not one of the 300,000 and you believe that, then "stupid" is the only word to describe you. Sorry, truth hurts sometimes.

bruin25 writes:

"Nobody works 275 times harder than the next guy", lol. I think some really do.
Some get up at 4:30am to make a 5:30am conference call for 2 hours, then put in a 12 hour stressful day, go home still doing work, and get up and do it all over again, 6-7 days out of the week.

Others cannot make it to a job on time, moan and groan how bad they have it, do the minimum required to get a paycheck, then go home and complain some more how the system is unfair.

There is a reason that not everyone owns a business or can be rich, it takes honest to goodness hard work. That word, "Hard Work" will scare half the people away immediately. The majority of the others wouldn't be able to handle the stress.
people made their own choices on the path of life. some go to school and do ok, and some do not. Thats just the way it is. It doesn't entitle you to any handouts

mike writes:

Capitalism in the context of this discussion, is just another word for theft. Most people at the top would sell their mother, if they thought they could make a buck. The word to replace this with is greed. The capitalists will always use the same argument, whats wrong with free enterprise? Nothing is wrong with it, if its practiced amongst honest people. The example most money grubbers use to illustrate their cause, is the great Ronald Raygun. The most corrupt administration to date. Over 240 people in his great faux legacy were either arrested, prosicuted, or forced from office. And the man who was supposidly in charge of policing, Ed Meese, was investigated by three diffrent departments for corruption. And old Ronnie gave us our next most corrupt leader in Bush sr..Greed is a sickness, it is a pathology. Money corrupts, and power corrupts absolutely. Moderation is the key to survival. Only those who have been able to figure this out, wealthy or not, will be able to be productive in the betterment of all mankind.

What do you think? Join the conversation below.

The ruling said the FAA didn’t adequately determine whether the planned 130 turbines, each 440 feet tall, would pose a danger to pilots flying by visual flight rules.

File photo / Associated PressSecretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, left, and Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes stand on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender Ida Lewis while on an information gathering tour of Nantucket Sound in February 2010 regarding the viability of the Cape Wind proposed wind farm. Behind them is a 190 ft meteorological tower, part of the potential Cape Wind site.

BOSTON – A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Aviation Administration’s ruling that the Cape Wind project’s turbines present “no hazard” to aviation, overturning a vital clearance for the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

A decision Friday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the FAA didn’t adequately determine whether the planned 130 turbines, each 440 feet tall, would pose a danger to pilots flying by visual flight rules.

The court ordered the “no hazard” determinations vacated and remanded back to the FAA.

“The FAA did misread its regulations, leaving the challenged determinations inadequately justified,” the ruling read.

The court also found that an FAA determination that the project posed aviation risks would likely lead the U.S. Interior Department to revoke or modify the lease granted Cape Wind – the first granted to a U.S. offshore wind project off the coast of Cape Cod.

The decision signals further delays for the $2.6 billion project, which was under review for about a decade and which has struggled to find financing.

Project opponent Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said the decision is a major step toward killing the project, since any further delay would make finding the needed financing difficult to impossible.

“It’s a key step toward Cape Wind’s ultimate failure,” she said.

But Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said he didn’t think the ruling would affect the project’s schedule.

“The FAA has reviewed Cape Wind for eight years and repeatedly determined that Cape Wind did not pose a hazard to air navigation,” he said. “The essence of today’s court ruling is that the FAA needs to better explain its Determination of No Hazard ruling.”

The appeal was brought by the town of Barnstable and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound,

The court found that due to a misreading of its rulebook, the FAA failed to analyze Cape Wind’s effect on planes flying by visual flight rules, even though the project could clearly affect them. The court said that during a 90 day period, 425 such flights flew at 1,000 feet or less in the vicinity of the planned project site in Nantucket Sound.

“The FAA may ultimately find the risk of these dangers to be modest,” the court wrote, “but we cannot meaningfully review any such prediction because the FAA cut the process short in reliance on a misreading of its handbook and thus, as far as we can tell, never calculated the risks in the first place.”

Woman charged with prostituting teenage girl, R.I. Rep. John Carnevale indicted on sexual-assault charges, and more

AP Photo/Dave MartinBrent Martin prepares tomato fields to be plowed under in Steele, Ala., Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. Martin lost his own farm and took on the job of field hand after migrant workers fled the area because of the stiff new Alabama immigration law, leaving many farmers without enough help to harvest their crops.

Occupy Oakland Marine Scott Olsen critically injured during protest. Non-lethal smoke grenade hits face, group of people helping him shot again

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

Here are links to websites of some of the mayoral candidates in Western Massachusetts.

Click on the links below to check out some of the websites of mayoral candidates in Western Massachusetts:

• Norhampton mayoral candidate Michael Bardley invites supporters to Halloween party


• Springfield mayoral challenger Jose Tosado says the time has come for change


• Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette talks about issues important to residents


• Holyoke mayoral candidate Alex Morse talks about education


• West Springfield mayoral candidate Gregory Neffinger talks about six-point economic plan


• Gary LeFebvre talks about why he wants to be mayor of Chicopee


• Holyoke Mayor Elaine Pluta boasts leadership


• Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno pledges to improve quality of life


• Northampton mayoral hopeful David Narkewicz boasts experience, ideas, and energy

Abc40/Fox 6 meteorologist Mike Masco said some areas of Western Massachusetts could see more than six inches of snow.

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanSnow falls as the leaves on the trees are still in color Thursday evening in Chicopee. More now is forecast for the weekend.

HEBRON, Conn. – Steve Hoffman had expected to sell a lot of fall fertilizer this weekend at his hardware store in Connecticut but instead spent Friday moving bags of ice melting pellets.

A storm moving up the East Coast was expected to combine with a cold air mass and dump anywhere from a dusting of snow to about 10 inches Saturday in parts of the Northeast.

Abc40/Fox 6 meteorologist Mike Masco reported Friday that the storm will continue to intensify 200 miles to the south of Springfield by Saturday morning and will begin to move north.

"As precipitation from this system interacts with cold air over southern New England we will begin to see snow mixing with rain first; with a changeover to all snow by Saturday evening," he said. "Snowfall is expected to accumulate first over the hilltowns with accumulating snows beginning overnight for the valley.

"Total snowfall by Sunday morning will range from two to four inches over the Interstate 91 corridor to four to six inches over the hilltowns. It is possible we exceed six Inches in elevations above 1000 feet along the eastern slopes of the Berkshires," he said.

“We’re stocked up and we’ve already sold a few shovels,” Hoffman said. “We actually had one guy come in and buy a roof rake.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said the rake probably won’t be needed, but October snowfall records could be broken in parts of southern New England, especially at higher elevations. The October record for southern New England is 7.5 inches in Worcester in 1979.

The most snow will likely hit the Massachusetts Berkshires, the Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut, and southwestern New Hampshire, Simpson said. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned residents that they could lose power.

The storm could bring more than six inches of snow to parts of Maine beginning Saturday night. In Pennsylvania, six to 10 inches could fall at higher elevations, including the Laurel Highlands in the southwestern part of the state and the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could see a coating.

“This is very, very unusual,” said John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College, Pa. “It has all the look and feel of a classic midwinter nor’easter. It’s going to be very dangerous.”

The last major widespread snowstorm in Pennsylvania this early was in 1972, LaCorte said.

In New England, the first measurable snow usually falls in early December, and normal highs for late October are in the mid-50s.

“This is just wrong,” said Dee Lund of East Hampton, who was at a Glastonbury garage getting four new tires put on her car before a weekend road trip to New Hampshire.

Lund said that after last winter’s record snowfall, which left a 12-foot snow bank outside her house, she’d been hoping for a reprieve.

The good news, Simpson said, is that relatively warm water temperatures along the Atlantic seaboard would keep the snowfall totals much lower along the coast and in cities such as Boston. Temperatures should return to the mid-50s by midweek.

“This doesn’t mean our winter is going to be terrible,” he said. “You can’t get any correlation from a two-day event.”

Not everyone was lamenting the arrival of winter. Dan Patrylak, 79 of Glastonbury had just moved back to New England from Arizona and was picking up two new ice scrapers for his car. He said he was kind of looking forward to seeing snow on the ground again.

“In Phoenix, it’s 113 all summer long,” he said. “So, it just depends on where you are and what the weather is and you learn to accept that. Whatever it is, I’m going to be ready for it.”

More details coming in The Republican.

The campaign committee is reimbursing the $200 to a Chicopee woman and making a donation to the tornado relief fund in her name.

Domenic J. Sarno

SPRINGFIELD – A $200 donation to the city’s tornado relief fund was accidentally deposited in the campaign chest of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno earlier this month, which was discovered and is being corrected, campaign Treasurer Maurice Granfield said Friday.

The donation from Mary Graham of Chicopee, was addressed to the “City of Springfield Tornado Relief Fund,” but was mixed in with campaign contribution checks and deposited Oct. 3, Granfield said.

The committee discovered the error, and will return the $200 to Graham with an apology from the mayor, Granfield said. In addition, the committee will donate $200 from Sarno’s campaign to the tornado relief fund in Graham’s name, Granfield said.

“It was just an error,” Granfield said. “It is being remedied. It was deposited inadvertently. We discovered it.”

Granfield said he is not sure of the details as to how the donation became mixed in with campaign checks, except that the campaign committee’s address is the mayor’s home address.

Sarno is seeking re-election Nov. 8, with opposition from City Council President Jose F. Tosado.

Tosado said Friday the deposit raises questions about who was responsible and how it occurred.

“I would like to believe it was a mistake but I wonder how it is possible that campaign checks can be mixed in with a check made out to the city of Springfield tornado relief fund.”

“It has become a routine occurrence with mistakes happening,” Tosado said. “At what point do you say there is a real basic problem here?”

Lawyers presented closing arguments in the case involving the murder of Cathedral High School senior Conor Reynolds.

Eric Denson, left, of Springfield, is accused of stabbing Cathedral High School student Conor Reynolds to death last year.

SPRINGFIELD – Defense lawyers in Eric Denson’s murder trial dismissed the case against their client as sloppy and circumstantial in closing arugements Friday while prosecutors assured jurors they had more than enough evidence to convict on a first-degree murder.

Citing DNA evidence, surveillance video and eyewitness testimony presented during the three-week trial, Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said there was overwhelming evidence that Denson had stabbed Cathedral High School senior Conor W. Reynolds during a birthday party at the Blue Fusion Bar & Grill last year.

“You now have a better picture than people who were standing next to Conor when he was stabbed,” Mastroianni said.

But defense lawyer Harry L. Miles said the case relied on false assumptions, confused or unreliable testimony, weak physical evidence and a rush to judgement investigators who failed to consider other suspects.

Nearly all the witnesses identified Denson by his clothing, not his face, and even the clothing identifications were contradictory, Miles said.

“Eric Denson was in the wrong place, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, wearing the wrong clothes,” Miles said.

Jurors began deliberating after the closing arguments and being briefed by the Judge Peter A. Velis.

Denson, 22, of Springfield, is facing a first-degree murder charge after being accused of stabbing Reynolds on March 13, 2010 after a fight erupted during a private party at the St. James Avenue club.

If convicted on the first degree murder charge, Denson faces life in prison without parole.

More details coming in The Republican.

Charla Nash says in an interview that for the first time people tell her she looks beautiful.

AP Photo/Brigham and Women's HospitalIn this undated photo provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital, Charla Nash is seen after her May, 2011, face transplant at the hospital. The Connecticut woman was mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009.

GREENWICH, Conn. — A Connecticut woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee says she's pleased with her new transplanted face.

Charla Nash says in an interview with Sky News of London that for the first time people tell her she looks beautiful. She says she looks OK and doesn't worry about scaring anyone. The interview aired Thursday night.

The 58-year-old Nash says she's disappointed a hand transplant was unsuccessful, according to excerpts on Sky News' website. She says she hopes it will succeed someday.

Nash was attacked in 2009 by a neighbor's 200-pound pet chimpanzee that went berserk after his owner asked Nash to help lure him back into her Stamford house. The animal, named Travis, ripped off Nash's nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being fatally shot by police.

Northwestern First Assistant DA Steven Gagne gave a nearly minute-by-minute account of Rintala's whereabouts and activities on the day of the murder, citing her cell phone records and surveillance videos.

NORTHAMPTON – The prosecution presented a summary of its evidence against Cara L. Rintala, including a history of domestic violence regarding her wife, Annemarie Cochrane Rintala, during a bail hearing Friday in Rintala's murder case.

Cara Rintala, 45, is charged with killing her wife, who was found dead in the couple's Granby home on March 29, 2010. Rintala was arrested in Rhode Island on Oct. 19 after a 19-month investigation. Prosecutors say Cochrane Rintala was beaten and strangled to death.

In front of a courtroom packed with relatives of the victim and supporters of the defendant, Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne told Hampshire Superior Court Judge Bertha D. Josephson that the couple had a turbulent relationship that resulted in two restraining orders taken out against the defendant by the victim. Both women were also deeply in debt, causing financial strain in the marriage.

Gagne gave a nearly minute-by-minute account of Rintala's whereabouts and activities on the day of the murder, citing her cell phone records and surveillance videos. According to the prosecution, Rintala killed Cochrane Rintala between noon and 2 p.m., then left the house for several hours with the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Brianna. Surveillance video at a McDonald's restaurant shows Rintala disposing a rag in a trash can. Police later recovered the rag, which tested positive for the victim's blood, Gagne said.

Defense lawyer David P. Hoose told Josephson that much of Gagne's evidence could be rebutted but said he did not intend to try the case during a bail hearing. Hoose asked Josephson to release his client into the custody of her aunt on $100,000 cash bail. Josephson ordered Rintala held without right to bail but said she would give Hoose a chance to make another argument for bail.

In a press conference following Rintala's arraignment last week, Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan said his office proceeded carefully before seeking an indictment.

"We wanted to make sure we pursued every possibility in the matter," he said.

Rintala and Cochrane Rintala had some difficulties in their marriage, filing for divorce in 2009. The divorce papers were ultimately withdrawn, however. Cochrane Rintala's family has said she wanted to remain in the marriage for the sake of their adopted daughter, who is now 4.

Both women worked in public safety, Cochrane Rintala as a paramedic for American Medical Response in Springfield, Rintala for the Ludlow Fire Department. Cochrane Rintala came from an Irish-Italian family and grew up in the South End of Springfield. Many of her relatives and friends were present at the court proceeding. They have described her as a vivacious, outgoing and empathetic person who would be the first to grab a microphone at a party.

In March, Rintala's friends and relatives ran in the Holoyoke St. Patrick's Road Race in her memory, wearing bands with the inscription "Live, Laugh, Love," a saying Rintala often used.

Meet Mark Block, Cain's unorthodox campaign manager.

AP Photo/Herman Cain 2012This frame grab from a Herman Cain campaign advertisement shows campaign manager Mark Block smoking a cigarette in an ad.

ATLANTA (AP) -- He is the man with the mustache who takes a rebellious drag on a cigarette in the Herman Cain Internet ad gone viral.

"We've run a campaign like nobody's ever seen," he says before taking a puff. "But then America's never seen a candidate like Herman Cain."

Meet Mark Block, Cain's unorthodox campaign manager. Perhaps no one is more responsible for the Georgia businessman's meteoric rise in the presidential polls than Block, a Republican strategist and tea party leader who's left a trail of questionable campaign work behind him.

Block has been accused of voter suppression and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle accusations he coordinated a judge's re-election campaign with a special interest group.

Records show Block has faced foreclosure on his home, a tax warrant by the Internal Revenue Service and a lawsuit for an unpaid bill. He also acknowledges he was arrested twice for drunken driving.

On the presidential trail, some former Cain staffers say Block broke promises. Traditional GOP strategists have been scratching their heads at his renegade tactics to win the White House, all but ignoring some early states in favor of a book tour and swings through states without early primaries.

Those who know Block say he's long been a maverick who isn't afraid to reset boundaries.

"Mark doesn't go to the how-to-run a campaign guidebook when deciding how to do things," said Jared Thomas, who was a state director for the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity Georgia when Block led the Wisconsin chapter. "He's all about advancing conservative ideals and conservative goals, and he really doesn't mind stepping on toes in the process."

In an interview with The Associated Press at Cain's campaign headquarters south of Atlanta, Block acknowledged ruffling some feathers because he - and the Cain campaign - don't "fit the mold."

"Can you imagine Karl Rove doing what I did with that cigarette?" he said with a laugh, referring to George W. Bush's straight-laced political guru.

"It's a joke around here, `Let Block be Block," he says. He had been doing just that moments earlier, smoking his now signature cigarette on an office balcony overlooking a golf course.

The Web video has now been spoofed on just about every comedy show imaginable. And he seems both pleased and appalled at the attention it's received.

"This country is going to hell in a handbasket and that is what we're talking about?" he says.

Block's entry into politics came early. In 1974, he became the first 18-year-old elected to office in Wisconsin, capturing a seat on the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors.

But Block's reputation was marred when he was accused of illegally coordinating state Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox's 1997 re-election campaign with a special interest group that favored school vouchers. In 2001, he agreed to pay $15,000 and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle the case. Block made no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement. Block told the AP that he had not coordinated with the group and called the charges "ridiculous."

Unable to make a living in politics, Block paid the bills stocking shelves at a Target. He has the "Mark" nametag mounted on his desk at Cain headquarters.

Block said it was during those tough times that his home went into foreclosure and his personal life unraveled, resulting in two arrests for drinking and driving.

"That's why I don't drink anymore," he said.

But Block engineered a comeback when he was hired in 2005 as the Wisconsin director of Americans for Prosperity, the group founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. He also helped organize the tea party in Wisconsin and in that role met Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza chief executive who'd come aboard as a speaker after a failed U.S. Senate campaign in Georgia.

In Cain's new memoir, he writes that he and Block bonded when they were paired in a car for a whirlwind eight-stop, day-and-a half tour to launch new Americans for Prosperity chapters.

Still, it wasn't long before Block's campaign work again was being questioned.

In 2007, a local prosecutor investigated the group's robo-calls against a proposed $119 million school building referendum that would have raised property taxes. The prosecutor concluded that although the calls were misleading and distorted the impact of the referendum on taxpayers, the case was not strong enough to bring charges.

In 2010, a liberal group, One Wisconsin Now, said it had obtained an audio recording of a tea party meeting that indicated Block was involved in an effort to try to prevent legal voters from casting ballots in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods. A tea party organizer says on the audio that Americans for Prosperity had agreed to pay for sending a mailer to mostly Democratic-leaning minority and student voters and then use any of them returned as undeliverable to support their challenges at the polls on Election Day. One Wisconsin Now called it a notorious voter suppression scheme known as "caging," but law enforcement officials did not investigate.

Block also denied any wrongdoing in those instances, calling them baseless claims made by liberals who disagreed with his political views.

Working for Cain, Block has been accused by former Iowa staffer Kevin Hall of trying to cover up Cain's employment of Scott D. Toomey. Toomey was at the center of a financial scandal when he was part of a gay pride group in Madison, Wis., but later became a top adviser to Cain. Hall said Block told him to tell supporters that Toomey was not involved in the campaign and that they simply had Toomey continue working as an outside consultant, not a paid staffer.

Hall also complained that Block told him Cain would not spend as much time and money competing in the Iowa straw poll in August as Hall was promised when he was hired.

"There's a reason some people are former staffers," Block observes dryly.

In "This is Herman Cain!" the GOP presidential candidate writes that Block thinks outside the box.

"In my case, thinking way out of the box. And that's one of the reasons we have a great relationship," Cain wrote.

Obituaries from The Republican today.

Mary F. Dillon

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Brewer III, Edward J. "Ed"
  




• 
  Brown, Helen (Greenough)
  



• 
  Capen, James




• 
  Corridan, William G. "Bill"
  



• 
  Corrigan, Thomas P.
  




• Crane, Robert J.
  




• 
  Dillon, Mary F. (McCarthy)
  



• 
  Dunlap, Frances J.




• 
  Edwards, Karen (Wigham)
  



• 
  Gibbs, Paul
  




• Hickson, Kathleen M. "Kathy"
  




• 
  Kelly, Lorraine L. (Broadus)
  



• 
  Lowe, Lena




• 
  Mallette, Pasqualine V. "Lena" (Greco)
  



• 
  Murphy, James M.
  




• Padilla, David
  




• 
  Plotkin, Rosalyn (Bean)
  



• 
  Russell, Richard F. "Rich"




• 
  Seward, Ralph S.
  



• 
  Shattuck-Dressler, Anne (Boddie)
  




• Such, Edward Joseph
  




• 
  VanWart, Elda V. (Volpe)
  

Gwen Pearsall, 49, of Deering, N.H., and Arlene Krilovich, 66, of Hillsboro, N.H., were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Republican file photo

This is an update of a story that was first posted at 8:25 a.m. Friday

NORTHAMPTON - A witness to the single-vehicle accident that took the life of two women from New Hampshire early Friday told state police that the roadway was icy at the time of the crash.

The driver and passenger were pronounced dead at the scene, spokesman David Procopio said.

They were identified as Gwen Pearsall, 49, of Deering, N.H., and Arlene Krilovich, 66, of Hillsboro, N.H., police said.

The crash occurred about 2:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes just north of Exit 19, which serves the Calvin Coolidge Bridge area.

A truck driver who witnessed the accident told police he saw the pickup truck pass his rig and then go out of control. It hit the left guardrail and went airborne, flipping end over end before landing on its roof in the middle of the road, Procopio said.

The double-fatal crash prompted state police to close that section of the interstate for
over four hours while they investigated and cleared the scene. The roadway was reopened at about 7:10 a.m., Sgt. Michael Imelio said.

The accident remains under investigation by the state police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction section and the Crime Scene Services Section.

The preliminary investigation shows that a combination of speed and icy conditions may have contributing factors.

Weather was a factor in a number of crashes and spinouts around the region Friday morning as slushy snow which fell Thursday froze into black ice on the pavement.

Imelio said troopers from the Northampton barracks responded to about dozen other accidents after midnight.

FEMA officials are starting a nationwide publicity campaign to let people know in advance that it is only a test.

By Eckhard EtzoldYagosaga/ Wikimedia CommonsRemember: This is a test. This is only a test.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced this week that it will conduct the first-ever national test of the Emergency Alert System, simultaneously interrupting the signal of every television program on every channel and every radio broadcast in the United States on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

The test is being done in conjunction with the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The system was created in 1997, and replaces the former Emergency Broadcast System. The EAS was designed to allow the president to speak directly to the entire country in the event of a significant national emergency. It also allows individual states and even local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information targeted to specific areas.

On a national level, the system has never been tested before.

FEMA officials are starting a nationwide publicity campaign to let people know in advance that it is only a test.

According to FEMA's EAS webpage:

• It will be transmitted via television and radio stations within the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.


• Similar to local emergency alert system tests, an audio message will interrupt television and radio programming indicating: “This is a test.”


• When the test is over, regular programming will resume.

Craig Fugate, Administrator for FEMA, concedes in a video posted by FEMA on Youtube that there are still some bugs in the system, largely due to some stations having relatively antiquated systems.

While the test is going on, there should be a crawl at the bottom of the screen saying "This is only a test." But on older systems, the crawl may read "This is an emergency alert."

Some stations will be able to work around that by inserting an audio message saying "This is only a test."

There is concern that viewers who are hearing impaired or who, for whatever reason, have the sound turned down, will not hear the audio message and believe it is a real emergency.

To avoid a full-fledged media-driven panic, a la Orson Welles, FEMA this week has been launching a promotional campaign to alert as many people as possible that it is a test.

It is only a test.

Western Massachusetts Electric Company announced Thursday it had restored service to 100,000 customers in Western Massachusetts and was confident it would have the remaining 63,000 on line before Saturday.

View full size Longmeadow - Republican staff photo by Don Treeger- Utility crews work on a pole on Williams st. in Longmeadow.

SPRINGFIELD – Electric company officials said Thursday that nearly all of the remaining 126,000 customers across Massachusetts who have been without electricity for six days should have service restored some time today.

Officials with Western Massachusetts Electric Co. and the National Grid each said crews are making strides to restore service and many communities may be back online by midnight Thursday.

The outage, the result of a freak October snowstorm that began Saturday, knocked out power to as many as 700,000 customers across the state.

Thousands of trees and limbs were brought down onto electrical wires, causing widespread outages and bringing entire communities into total darkness in some cases.

National Grid was reporting that as of 7 p.m. Thursday, it had just over 66,000 customers in the dark, including 27,000 in the Pioneer Valley. By county, that works out to 18,100 in Hampden, 8,200 in Hampshire, and 540 in Franklin. The community with the largest concentration of outages was in Belchertown, where close to 5,200 customers, or close to 80 percent of the town, were still without power

Western Massachusetts Electric Company announced Thursday it had restored service to 100,000 customers in Western Massachusetts and was confident it would have the remaining 63,000 on line before Saturday.

Most customers in Greenfield, Hadley and the Springfield area are expected to have restored service overnight Thursday.

There are some sections in each community that were hardest hit which may take a little longer, possibly during the day Friday or sometime Saturday.

WMECO has 400 total crews out continually making repairs.

“Our first task was to rebuild parts of our system that suffered significant damage,” said Peter J. Clarke, WMECO president and chief operating officer. “We’ve completed restoration to the majority of our main lines, and continue to deploy to the neighborhoods to restore service to our customers, street by street.”

WMECO spokeswoman Sandra Ahearn said the company anticipates main lines in the
Springfield area would be able to be energized sometime Thursday, which would clear the way to address secondary lines leading to various neighborhoods.

“We continue to make steady progress,” Ahearn said. “Crews are working the side streets and in the neighborhoods.”

Longmeadow- Republican staff photo by Don Treeger- A utility crew from Indiana arrives on Emerson road in Longmeadow to begin repairs of a broken pole.

Connecticut Light & Power is reporting 378,000 customers are still without power across the state but is projecting most will be restored by Sunday night.

Among affected communities are Enfield with 12,600 customers, or 66 percent, still effected, 3,400 or 69 percent of Granby, 2,700 or 70 percent in Somers, and 5,100 or 85 percent in Suffield.

As the restoration in Western Massachusetts continued throughout the week, more complaints were lodged Thursday against the utility companies preparations for the storm and for their progress in making repairs.

Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday said he planned to speak with the heads of WMECO and National Grid in a conference call that afternoon.

Prior to the call, he told reporters the two utilities did not appear to be keeping up with the needs of the several thousands of people still affected by the outage.

“(National) Grid and Western Massachusetts Electric are not keeping the pace they were in the first 48 hours,” he said. “People are getting frustrated and losing their patience and so am I.”
Also on Thursday, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno followed up on his promise to ask Attorney General Martha Coakley for an investigation of WMECO’s handling of the restoration in the city of Springfield.

Sarno as early as Wednesday publicly faulted the utility for not devoting enough resources to Springfield, the region’s largest city and home to the single largest concentration of affected customers.

In his letter to Coakley, Sarno writes, “I am requesting that the Office of the Attorney General utilize its oversight authority relative to electric utilities to assure that WMECO deploys sufficient resources for the restoration of power the residents of Springfield, whose residents are in dire straits with prolonged outage.”

In addition to the investigation, Sarno asked Coakley to use her office to assure the city would see expedited resources from WMECO for any “future events this winter.”

As of Thursday evening, some 28,000 customers remained without power, roughly 44 percent of the total customers.

In Longmeadow, Western Massachusetts Electric Co. representatives will meet with residents at 2 p.m. today at Longmeadow High School to discuss the power outage situation, said Select Board Chairman Mark P. Gold.

Agawam Mayor Richard A. Cohen on Thursday sent a letter to WMECO president Peter Clarke, expressing his frustration with the pace of restoration so far.

Agawam as of 7 p.m. Thursday still had 12,800 customers out, roughly 32 percent.

Cohen said he also asked that the company do more to improve lines of communication with the town before there is another prolonged outage.

“It makes me angry the residents of Agawam had had to suffer because of their poor planning,” he said.

Clarke said he could understand the frustration of elected officials, but the company is doing all it can.

“I understand the worst thing that can happen to a politician is to have an event like this a week before an election,” he said.

Crews are focusing on West Springfield and Agawam and working there continually. The two communities were among the hardest hit, he said. “We are in every town trying to meet the needs of all our customers,” Clarke said.

Damage from the storm was extensive across a wide-spread area.

View full size11-3-11 - Agawam - Republican staff photo by Don Treeger- Anthony Hall of Agawam moves wood from a pile at a friend's house on Poinsettia Dr. as he tries to find his cellphone that he lost in the pile last night while helping his friend with storm clean-up.

Even so, in the first two days, WMECO crews restored power to 60,000 customers, a record amount. The previous mark was 52,000 restorations in the two days following a major wind storm in May 2010.

“We really do understand how difficult this has been for our customers and we appreciate their continued patience,” Ahearn said.

Ahearn described the storm as an “act of nature,” and said there will be no reimbursement for spoiled food.

National Grid spokesman Stephen Brady said the company also does not reimburse for spoiled food in such cases. “That’s a fairly standard industry practice,” Brady said, adding that people should check with their homeowners insurance providers to see if they are eligible for reimbursement.

The following are community updates.

Agawam

In Agawam, about 50 people spent Wednesday night sleeping on cots at the Senior Center, which has been open round the clock as a warming shelter because it has a generator. Public school are scheduled to reopen Monday.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen said the city continues to collect tree limbs and other debris from the storm if the waste is placed along the tree belt.

Amherst

Amherst Town Manager John P. Musante reported Thursday afternoon that about 20 percent of the town was still without power but he expected it to be restored to most by evening. Schools will remain closed on Friday.

People without power are asked to call (413) 259-3051 or email outage@amherstma.gov to be placed on the list the town will forward to WMECO.

Belchertown

Belchertown Town Administrator Gary L. Brougham said 98 percent of the town was without electricity immediately following the storm. He hopes there at least 5,000 customers back on by the end of Thursday, which would leave 2,000 customers without power.

Brougham said school will resume on Monday and officials need to get the school ready for the students. Updates are being provided on the town’s website, www.belchertown.org.

Chicopee

All but about 500 homes have power restored, and Chicopee Electric Light and Power is now repairing problems at individual homes, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.

The city plans a massive cleanup effort starting Friday. A private contractor has been hired to remove brush left on the curb and residents will be allowed to bring an unlimited amount of brush to the landfill, he said. Schools are scheduled to re-open Monday.

East Longmeadow

Power is expected to be restored to most homes in East Longmeadow by midnight Friday, said Board of Selectmen member Enrico J. Villamaino. He said the shelter established Sunday at Birchland Park Middle School will close Friday after breakfast.

The Department of Public Works is asking residents with transfer station stickers to bring the debris from their homes to the transfer station on Somers Road. The station will be open Wednesdays and Friday through Saturday starting today, officials said.

The town will also be picking up debris from the tree belt.

Easthampton

Nearly a quarter of the homes in Easthampton were still without power by mid-afternoon on Thursday, but Mayor Michael Tautznik was hopeful that work crews would reduce that number by the end of the day. Tautznik said schools would be in session Friday.

Tautznik said the Public Safety Complex would remain available to the public as a warming center and place to charge cell phones.

Hampden

National Grid spokesman Stephen Brady said the “vast majority” of the customers here should have their power restored by Thursday night. Brady said customers with damage to their home service, not the service line but the parts that are attached to the house, may take longer to get power restored. That’s because an electrician is required to do that work.

Holyoke

Fewer than 50 homes scattered around Holyoke remained without electricity as of Thursday afternoon. Those residents will need to work with the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department or find an electrician to repair damage to their homes, such as if downed wires ripped off part of their houses, Holyoke Mayor Elaine A. Pluta said.
The city will begin curbside collection of fallen trees and branches next week, she said.

Longmeadow

In Longmeadow more than 50 percent of residents were still without power Thursday. The town will host a public meeting with Western Massachusetts Electric Co. Friday at 2 p.m. at Longmeadow High School to discuss the delay.

Ludlow

WMECO was reporting Thursday that 50 percent of Ludlow residents were without power. Selectmen Chairman Aaron Saunders said police have been doing hundreds of wellness checks on elderly residents in town.

Monson

In Monson, 56 percent of the town is without power, according to Selectman Edward A. Maia, who said he was told that all the main lines should be back by Thursday night.

School Superintendent Patrice L. Dardenne said he will know on Friday afternoon about the status of school for Monday. Granite Valley Middle School was still without electricity Thursday, and Quarry Hill Community School on Margaret Street is being used as an emergency shelter.

Liz Manley, who is running the shelter for Monson, said they plan to offer supper Friday night, and will remain open at least until 8 p.m. She said they have had people from other towns, such as Wales and Wilbraham, stay at the shelter as well.

Northampton

All but about 6,000 National Grid customers in Northampton had power by mid-afternoon on Thursday and acting Mayor David J. Narkewicz was hopeful that the rest of the city would be on line by the end of the night. Narkewicz said 35 crews were working on the problem. All schools, including Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, are scheduled to open on Friday.

Palmer

About 40 percent of Palmer is still without electricity, according to officials. Administrative Assistant Andrew Golas said he was told by National Grid that 99 percent of the power should be restored by the end of the weekend.

Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said people should place vegetative debris on the tree belt for pickup, not on the sidewalk or roadway. The town is contracting with a vendor for debris pickup. The leaf pit on Old Warren Road will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday if people want to drop off the debris themselves, he said.

The shelter at Converse Middle School will remain open for as long as there is a need, Frydryk said.

South Hadley

Power has been restored to over 90 percent of the town, South Hadley Electric Light Manager Wayne Doerpholz said Thursday morning.

Southwick

Schools in the Southwick-Tolland Regional School District, including Granville Village School, are expected to reopen Monday.

Estimates on power restoration in Southwick was 60 to 70 percent complete late Thursday.

Springfield

Springfield was continuing to operate its shelter at Central High School on Thursday. Hundreds were taking shelter there and receiving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Helen R. Caulton-Harris, the city’s director of health and human service, said she anticipates that the shelter will close on Saturday.

On Thursday morning, 41 percent of the city, about 23,000 customers, continued to be without power in Springfield. Power line crews and tree crews were expanding, according to city officials and Western Massachusetts Electric Co.

The Salvation Army is providing services including mobile feeding vans at: the Van Sickle Middle School parking lot, 1170 Carew St.; the Kiley Middle School parking lot, 180 Cooley Street; and the John F. Kennedy Middle School parking lot, 1385 Berkshire Ave., with lunches from noon to 1:30 p.m., and dinners from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The Springfield Housing Authority has been operating warming centers and providing meals, particularly to its residents in elderly housing. The authority has been assisted by the American Red Cross of Springfield, Greater Springfield Senior Services and the city’s Department of Elder Affairs.

The warming centers have been provided at the John L. Sullivan Apartments, the Jennie Lane Apartments, the Forest Park Manor and Morris School II Apartments, with generators providing heat. They have also provided emergency meals at the warming centers.

Ware

Schools are closed through Friday, as 50 percent of Ware is still without electricity. Karen M. Cullen, the town’s public information officer, said the shelter at the high school will remain open until 8 a.m. Friday. It is not yet known if school will be open on Monday.

She said the town is focusing on power restoration, and will have information about a debris collection site at a later date. Ware also is posting storm-related information on its website at www.townofware.com.

West Springfield

West Springfield Mayor Edward J. Gibson reported late Thursday afternoon about 48 percent of the city was still without electricity. “The phones are ringing off the hook. People are getting frustrated and ticked off,” Gibson said. Classes in West Springfield public will return Monday. The mayor said he has been told by the utility that power should be restored to 99 percent of the city by noon Saturday.

Thirty-four people spent Wednesday night at the West Springfield Senior. The center has been acting as a warming center and shelter during the crisis.

Westfield

Westfield’s Gas and Electric Department was nearing 100 percent completion in efforts to restore electricity to its 19,000 customers late Thursday, spokesman Sean P. Fitzgerald said. “We expect to have electrical power on every city street by Friday afternoon,” he said. Some homes, an estimated 600, where service lines from the street were downed by limbs and trees, still may not see power restored until Saturday, officials said. Homeowners are responsible for home damage and/or damage to electrical service beyond the meter.

Residents were urged Thursday to deposit downed limbs and brush on tree belts. The Department of Public Works will collect the brush and limbs, Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said. Also, the city’s transfer station on Twiss Street will open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday for residents to bring brush for disposal. Identification will be required.

Wilbraham

Wilbraham Selectmen Chairman Patrick J. Brady said that as of Thursday only 42
percent of residents had power. “Our projections are that we won’t be at 90 percent until sometime Saturday,” Brady said. Those who need a place to stay are invited to go to the Hampden Senior Center which has cots and has been serving meals. The Scantic Valley YMCA also is making showers available for Wilbraham residents.

School is canceled through this week and Saturday SATs are canceled, Brady said.

The Disposal and Recycling Center on Boston Road will be open to residents (no DRC sticker is required) for brush disposal Thursday, Friday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Only vegetative debris from the town’s right of way will be removed. Debris from private property will not be picked up in the tree belt. The town hopes to start picking up vegetative debris on the town’s right of way from public streets beginning next week. There will be only one pass per street for pickup

The tactic exploited a system in which law enforcement officials sometimes prefer deporting illegal immigrant offenders instead of adding to an already overloaded prison system.

Associated PressThe tactic exploited a system in which law enforcement officials sometimes prefer deporting illegal immigrant offenders instead of adding to an already overloaded prison system.

By JOSH LOFTIN

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man hatched a creative scheme to avoid going to prison on a drug charge: He lied to authorities and said he was an illegal immigrant so he could get deported to Mexico and evade time behind bars.

The jig was up, however, when 27-year-old Jaime Alvarado returned to the U.S. using his passport and was arrested again by Salt Lake City police.

The tactic exploited a system in which law enforcement officials sometimes prefer deporting illegal immigrant offenders instead of adding to an already overloaded prison system.

At the time of his initial arrest, Alvarado claimed he was Saul Quiroz and had emigrated from Mexico illegally. He is actually an American citizen.

On Feb. 3, he admitted to a state judge that he had lied about his identity because he was afraid of leaving his daughters with an imprisoned father. He requested leniency for the crime he had pleaded guilty to prior to his deportation — a second-degree felony for possession of cocaine and heroin with the intent to distribute — that carried a prison term of up to 15 years.

"I have a good job right now, a lot of little girls waiting for me and a family that will support me," Alvarado said in a letter to the judge. "It's my first offense and my last. I want to spend the rest of my life with my kids!"

But Wednesday, Salt Lake County prosecutors charged Alvarado with an additional felony and a misdemeanor for lying about his identity in 2010 to the judge, police officers and federal immigration officers. A $50,000 warrant has been issued for his arrest, since Alvarado failed to report to state authorities in June after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers determined he was legally present in the country.

An attorney has not been appointed for Alvarado, and a current phone number cannot be located for him.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said the agency is aware of the case, which is still under investigation. Agency officials also said it's not infrequent for people to lie about their nationality or claim to be illegal immigrants, either to evade prosecution or avoid incarceration or conditions of probation.

Rishi Oza, an immigration attorney with the Cleveland-based firm of Robert Brown LLC, said Alvarado's plan is "not a risk I'd ever want to take because you're creating a bigger hole for yourself." Along with the additional charges leveled against Alvarado, there is also the chance that a person could be forced to serve their prison sentence and then get deported.

"I have never seen something like this happen. More often than not, the situation works the other way — a person claims to be legal to avoid detection," Oza said. "I have never seen an American citizen try to get deported."