Committee members talked about stylistic issues with current Chancellor Robert Holub and past Chancellor John Lombardi, issues they want to avoid in a new leader.

The Republican file photo | John SuchockiThe University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.

AMHERST - After the committee charged with bringing a new chancellor to the University of Massachusetts talked about the characteristics of a new leader, Dean Priscilla Clarkson pointed out that traits were the same as in past searches.

“How do we translate this to getting what (the campus wants),” said the Commonwealth College dean.

During the discussion, members talked about stylistic issues with current Chancellor Robert C. Holub and past Chancellor John V. Lombardi, issues they want to avoid in a new leader.

While the issues were not discussed in detail, there were references to both leaders having less than productive relationships with the Board of Trustees and former UMass President Jack M. Wilson.

Lucy A. Leske, vice president of Witt/Kieffer, the executive search firm from Oak Brook, Ill., aiding in the search, said she will help the campus find the candidate people want.

“I would like to spend some time with each candidate (on campus) just talking.” She said perhaps one committee member could join her.

“I don’t think we spend enough time observing candidates to see what kind of person they are.”

Many members said they wanted a candidate with “emotional intelligence” who can “lead from within.”

The committee met Friday following sessions with various campus constituencies Thursday and Friday who were asked what they wanted to see in the new chancellor.

Leske said she has already contacted five potential candidates to talk further about the position.

“The early response has been good,” she said. But “we have some serious challenges.” Those challenges come more from Massachusetts than the campus itself.

Holub’s three-year contract was extended a year, but he was not reappointed to another three-year term. The committee evaluating him never issued a report.

Lombardi also left the campus in 2007 amid some controversy as well.

Leske said some candidates “wouldn’t come to Massachusetts if it was the last state” in the world. Some wouldn’t come because the campus is unionized.

A discussion ensued about the need for a candidate to be a strong advocate for the Amherst campus as well the need for him or her to be able to work well with the other campuses. The campus is considered the flagship.

UMass-Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack, who will also be leaving her position at the end of the year, said the campus needs someone “to lead the system and not fight the system.” And she pointed out, “no one person will have all the skills.”

Student representative Zachary J. Broughton, Student Government Association senator, said students want easier access to the chancellor. He said students “have to go through multiple channels to get to the chancellor.” They want a leader to think “how would this affect me if I were a student.”

An advertisement will be placed in the Nov. 18 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education and on various websites. She said they will not place the ad in The New York Times or Boston Globe because it would be too costly and the pool they are looking for would find the position online or through networking.

The goal is to have a solid pool of candidates for the search committee to interview in February.

Greig faces a charge of conspiracy to harbor a fugitive for helping Bulger escape capture for more than 16 years.

Catherine Greig

BOSTON — A federal magistrate judge has rejected a request for bail by the girlfriend of former Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, ruling she'd been on the run for years and would likely flee again.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal said Friday that Catherine Greig, had already shown a willingness to leave home and family when she fled with Bulger in 1995. She said no bail conditions would guarantee Greig wouldn't flee before trial.

Greig faces a charge of conspiracy to harbor a fugitive for helping Bulger escape capture for more than 16 years. Bulger is accused of participating in 19 murders. The pair was caught in California in June.

Friday's ruling came shortly after Greig's lawyer filed a motion urging Boal to rule, so he could appeal if bail was denied.

Close to 300,000 Connecticut customers were still in the dark, and the state's biggest utility was warning them not to threaten or harass repair crews.

Associated PressA snapped utility pole leans over the road as the result of a fallen tree on the power lines on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 in Enfield. Six days into an epic power outage that still has roughly 300,000 Connecticut residents in the dark, tempers are snapping as fast as the snow-laden branches that brought down wires across the region last weekend. (AP Photo/The Journal Inquirer, Leslloyd F. Alleyne)

By MICHAEL MELIA

HARTFORD, Conn. — Tempers are snapping as fast as the snow-laden branches that brought down power wires across the Northeast last weekend, with close to 300,000 Connecticut customers still in the dark and the state's biggest utility warning them not to threaten or harass repair crews.

Angry residents left without heat as temperatures drop to near freezing overnight have been lashing out at Connecticut Light & Power: accosting repair crews, making profane criticisms online and suing. In Simsbury, a hard-hit suburban town of about 25,000 residents, National Guard troops deployed to clear debris have been providing security outside a utility office building.

At a shelter at Simsbury High School, resident Stacy Niezabitowski, 53, said Friday she would love to yell at someone from Connecticut Light & Power but hadn't seen any of its workers.

"Everybody is looking for someplace to vent — not a scapegoat, just someplace to vent your anger so somebody will listen and do something," said Niezabitowski, who was having lunch at the shelter with her 21-year-old daughter. "Nobody is doing anything."

The October nor'easter knocked out power to more than 3 million homes and business across the Northeast, including 830,000 in Connecticut, where outages now exceed those of all other states combined. Connecticut Light & Power has blamed the extent of the devastation partly on overgrown trees in the state, where it says some homeowners and municipalities have resisted the pruning of limbs for reasons including aesthetics.

The company called the snowstorm and resulting power outages "an historic event" and said it was focused on getting almost all power back on by Sunday night.

For some residents still dealing with outages, no excuse is acceptable.

In Avon, a Farmington Valley town where 85 percent of customers were still without power on Friday, town manager Brandon Robertson said he faulted CL&P for an "absolutely unacceptable and completely avoidable" situation. He said the high school that is being used as an emergency shelter was still running on a generator. Although public works crews had cleared most of the town roads, he said, more than 25 still were blocked as they waited for CL&P crews to clear power lines.

"Our residents are angry. We're angry," he said. "It's just really shocking."

The person who has taken the brunt of the public scorn is CL&P's president and chief operating officer, Jeffrey D. Butler. He has been appearing with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy at daily news briefings, but he was left to face a grilling by the media on his own Thursday night when the governor left the room after criticizing the slow pace of power restoration.

Butler said he was sorry so many residents have been left without power for so long during the chilly nights. He said Friday that his own house in the Farmington Valley has been without power since a generator failed, and he urged customers to remember the extent of the damage.

"People need to keep in perspective the magnitude of damage," he said.

The outages have driven thousands of people into shelters in New England and have led to several deaths, including eight in Connecticut.

In North Brookfield, Mass., an 86-year-old woman was found dead Thursday in her unheated home, and her 59-year-old son was taken to a hospital with symptoms of hypothermia, subnormal body temperature. The local fire chief said it was unfortunate they had not reached out to authorities or neighbors for help.

In New Jersey, authorities said fumes from a gasoline-powered generator are believed to have caused the deaths of an elderly couple discovered hours before electricity was restored to their home in rural Milford, near Pennsylvania, on Thursday evening.

For many without power, the past week has been a blur of moving between friends' homes or hotel rooms with occasional visits to their own houses to feed pets and check, in vain, for electricity.

Glastonbury resident Alison Takahashi, 17, said she has bunked with friends and, for a few nights, with her parents in a hotel 45 minutes away, the only opening they could find after the storm. She said her brother, a high school freshman, also has moved like a nomad between friends' homes all week, heading to the next when he worried he'd started wearing out his welcome.

"The cellphones are our life lines right now," said Takahashi, a Glastonbury High School senior. "It's the only way to know where everybody is, and if you forget your charger and your phone is dead, you can't reach anybody."

Some Connecticut residents have vented their frustration through dark humor on the Internet, turning to social media websites to ridicule the utility — often with profanity. One person tweeted: "Really (pound)CL&P? A hamster on a wheel would be a better power source."

A few particularly irate power customers have taken their anger out on utility crews.

CL&P spokeswoman Janine Saunders said some hostile customers have approached the crews, but she declined to provide details. A police officer posted outside the utility's office building in Simsbury along with a National Guard soldier said line crews had been threatened and they wanted to make sure people could complain without letting things get out of hand.

The utility urged the public via Twitter not to harass or threaten the line workers.

Saunders said the utility understands what people are going through and has stressed to customer service employees that they need to be empathetic.

"If people want to vent, call us, see us on Facebook," she said. "We're doing our best to try to respond to people and answer questions in those medium. But let the folks out in the field do their job."

In Massachusetts, where tens of thousands of customers were still without power, the National Grid said in a statement that there have been "only a couple isolated incidents" and that most customers have been thanking crews for their work: "They are demonstrating their appreciation by bringing crews coffee and food."

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick asked state utility regulators on Friday to conduct a formal investigation into how the state's major power companies prepared for and responded to the outages.

In Connecticut, CL&P has promised to restore power to 99 percent of its 1.2 million customers by Sunday night. Butler, the president, said more than 1,740 crews were working and the utility was prioritizing schools and polling sites for elections on Tuesday.

Simsbury resident Chris Gauthier, 47, said he was frustrated the power lines weren't maintained better before the storm, but he said he was too busy to worry about who to blame. Every day, he wakes up before the rest of his family to start a fire in his den's fireplace. He and neighbors were clearing a dozen fallen trees around his house with hand saws Friday as National Guard troops removed debris from the street.

"I have better things to do than dwelling on who's to blame and stuff like that," he said. "There are trees to clear and these guys (his three children) to feed and keep warm."

First Selectman Mary Glassman, of Simsbury, said many homes are still not reachable by car because of downed trees and power cables, and officials are concerned for the residents' safety as people in cold houses resort to driving across power lines to seek shelter elsewhere.

"We're concerned people are getting to their wits' end," she said.

Some business owners already were planning to pursue compensation from CL&P for their losses.

In Canton, Asylum Hair Salon owner Scott Simmons filed a negligence lawsuit against the utility to make up for $1,000 in lost business from Saturday to Wednesday. He said other businesses owners who still don't have power are taking a much bigger hit.

"I just think it was completely mishandled," Simmons said of CL&P's response to the outages.

A CL&P spokeswoman declined to comment on Simmons' claims.

Associated Press writers Pat Eaton-Robb in Simsbury and Dave Collins and Stephanie Reitz in Hartford contributed to this report.

The fire displaced a mother and her two-year-old son.

SPRINGFIELD - A mother and her two-year-old child were left homeless by a kitchen fire that caused $25,000 to $35,000 in damage to their Indian Orchard apartment, Springfield Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger said.

The fire department was called to 52 Healy St. Friday afternoon for a reported fire and found the kitchen in flames, he said.

No one was home at the time.

The Pioneer Valley chapter of the American Red Cross was called to help the woman and her child find temporary shelter.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Leger said.


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Despite the economy's dominance as a campaign priority, immigration remains a sticking point with GOP activists.

File photos | Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, bottom photo, paid for automated telephone messages in Iowa accusing rival Rick Perry, top photo, of contributing to illegal immigration.

By THOMAS BEAUMONT

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid for automated telephone messages in Iowa accusing rival Rick Perry of contributing to illegal immigration.

It is the former Massachusetts governor's first attack message against Perry. And it's the clearest sign yet of Romney's hope of winning Iowa's leadoff caucuses.

The messages, which began late Thursday, also show that Romney sees the Texas governor as the more significant threat to his self-portrayal as the leading candidate on the economy, despite Herman Cain's lead in recent Iowa and national polls.

Despite the economy's dominance as a campaign priority, immigration remains a sticking point with GOP activists.

"Rick Perry is part of the illegal immigration problem," Sheriff Paul Babeu, from southwestern Arizona, says on the message.

"A lot of the candidates agree we need a border fence. And almost all of them agree in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is wrong," adds Babeu, a prominent national spokesman against illegal immigration who is weighing a campaign for Congress. "However, Rick Perry disagrees. Rick Perry not only opposes a border fence. But he signed the bill to make Texas the first state in the nation to grant in-state tuition discounts to illegal immigrants."

Romney has criticized Perry publicly for weeks on his immigration positions, especially his signing of the bill allowing in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants who came into the country as children and lived in Texas at least three years.

Perry's campaign said Friday the attacks raise questions about whether a bill Romney signed in Massachusetts allowed illegal immigrants access to health care benefits.

"The magnetic pull of his free health care for illegal immigrants made Massachusetts an attractive destination," Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said.

Romney aides have said regulations put into effect after Romney left office in 2007 made it easier for illegal immigrants to receive care under a 2006 change.

The Romney calls in Iowa were aimed at assembling an audience for an evening telephone campaign event featuring Babeu and came as Perry was campaigning in the Des Moines area. Phone numbers where no one picked up the call received the minute-long message from Babeu.

The call also comes as Romney, who has kept a low profile in Iowa since his disappointing 2008 second-place finish in the state, is pivoting to focus more on the caucuses, now less than two months away.

Although Romney has only visited Iowa three times this year, he has added staff to his small core of paid advisers and is planning to add more.

And he plans to campaign Monday in eastern Iowa counties he carried four years ago, just 18 days after visiting western Iowa and declaring: "I will be here again and again. I'd love to win Iowa. Any of us would."

Romney has been the most durable Republican prospect in Iowa this year, at or near the top of polls of likely caucusgoers since entering the race in June, while other more conservative rivals have risen, including Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Cain, a businessman who narrowly tied Romney in a new national poll and led narrowly in a Des Moines Register poll published Sunday.

But Perry has begun advertising aggressively about Texas' robust job growth with two Iowa ads in the past 10 days, and had $15 million banked in October to keep up the pace.

Romney, emphasizing his decades in business more than he did four years ago, has not sought out evangelical conservatives in Iowa, many of whom are leery of his changed position on abortion rights and his Mormon faith. Romney has chosen instead to approach Iowa by reaching out to former supporters and pro-business conservatives and has rebuilt a good portion of his 2008 network.

Parishioner Jackie Lemmerhirt, who said the locks at St. Jeremiah in Framingham were changed, said the vigil was now in limbo.

Associated Press

FRAMINGHAM — Parishioners at a Roman Catholic church in Massachusetts that's been in vigil since 2005 to protest its closure have been locked out of the church building.

Parishioner Jackie Lemmerhirt said the locks at St. Jeremiah in Framingham were changed Friday.

Last month, the Boston Archdiocese announced the sale of St. Jeremiah properties to the Syro-Malabar diocese, a part of the Eastern Catholic Church.

Parishioners are trying to block the sale. Meanwhile, they've been sharing the building with the Syro-Malabar church, continuing services and sometimes occupying the building in vigil.

A spokesman for the Syro-Malabar said they had to control access to the building for liability reasons. He said St. Jeremiah parishioners can still use the building for worship.

Lemmerhirt said the vigil was in limbo, and St. Jeremiah parishioners would meet to discuss what's next.

Tensions were high as 40 Belchertown residents – most of whom have been surviving without electricity since the Oct. 29 snowstorm – packed into the selectmen's meeting room for a visit from Gov. Deval Patrick.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is investigating the response by utilities to Saturday’s snowstorm, which has left tens of thousands of customers still without power.

Earlier Friday, Richard K. Sullivan Jr. of Westfield, who is Gov. Deval Patrick’s energy and environmental secretary, asked the utilities department to start the investigation of the storm, which pounded Western Massachusetts with wind and snow.

“We encourage the public to share their feedback with us,” Ann Berwick, chair of the Department of Public Utilities, said.

The review will include public hearings in communities in Western Massachusetts, a department spokesman said.

Tens of thousands remain without power and heat nearly a week after a nor’easter slammed Massachusetts with wind, rain and snow. State officials reported Friday that 42,641 Western Massachusetts Electric Co. customers were without power and 42,489 more customers of National Grid were still in the dark.

Patrick visited Belchertown Friday afternoon and saw a woman dissolve into tears over the lack of electricity a week after the paralyzing nor’easter. He heard others who were angry and frustrated with National Grid’s inability to restore power to their homes. He saw a neighborhood where electrical wires and branches still hang precipitously in the street.

Tensions were high as 40 residents - most of whom have been surviving without electricity since the Oct. 29 snowstorm - packed into the selectmen’s meeting room. The media initially was kept out, to the chagrin of residents like Luke Lamoureux of South Liberty Street, who said the media should be allowed inside.

Lamoureux, who has two children ages 8 and 2, said he’s been calling the governor’s office because he’s had “no water, no power, no heat” and wants answers. He said his family has been keeping warm by using blankets. “We’ve gone six days without power here. The power company lied to our community about where the power’s been restored,” Lamoureux said. “I’ve had more than enough . . . This is an outrage.”

Patrick said he planned to get in touch with National Grid immediately, and told the residents he shares their frustration.

“We are as frustrated as you,” said Patrick, who said his office is given the same estimates as to when power will be restored as everyone else. The latest estimate was for Friday night at 11:45 p.m. for Belchertown.

At the hearing inside Town Hall, Stebbins Street resident Carl Dunne blasted officials for closing the emergency shelter at the high school that morning and for making the decision to have schools reopen Monday. He said he is worried about the power lines still down throughout town.

“You’re putting education first over the safety of the kids,” Dunne said.

The president of National Grid in Massachusetts met with Wilbraham officials Friday morning, part of a series of meetings in town halls around the region.

At a public meeting in the Longmeadow High School auditorium, WMECO President Peter J. Clarke told about 200 residents the town should have 95 percent of its power back by late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

Clarke joined representatives from Verizon and Comcast, town public safety officials and elected officials at the 90-plus minute forum that dealt with power outages from the weekend storm and longer-range concerns about future weather disruptions.

Clarke thanked town residents for their patience, and expressed regret that restoring power has taken so long. But the size and intensity of the storm created problems that no advanced planning could have avoided, Clarke added.

“It created some very unique damage,” he said, adding that the town’s transfer station was essentially “flattened” by falling trees.

By hiring private contractors and bringing in crews from power companies in the south and midwest, WMECO has expanded its workforce to eight times its size in five days, Clarke said.

“No company can expand to eight times its size in two days,” Clarke said. “It takes time.”

The president of National Grid in Massachusetts met with Wilbraham officials Friday morning, part of a series of meetings in town halls around the region.

Marcy L. Reed told Wilbraham officials National Grid hoped to have power substantially restored by the end of Friday, but isolated pockets of outages in some neighborhoods will persist through the weekend.

Many in Wilbraham were still without power Friday.

Reed said National Grid has 3,300 workers on the ground and as they restore more power in lighter-hit eastern Massachusetts more of those workers are coming to the Pioneer Valley.

More workers would be available, but they are tied up with outages in Connecticut, she said.

With an influx of work crews, virtually all electric customers in Springfield should have power restored by mid-day Saturday in the aftermath of last weekend’s major snowstorm, according to a Western Massachusetts Electric Co. official.

During a press conference Friday, H. Edgar Alejandro of WMECO reported that approximately 23,000 customers in Springfield, 36 percent, still had no power Friday. That compared to 49 percent one day earlier, and 51 percent on Wednesday morning.

However, the number of WMECO crews within the city of Springfield increased from 12 truck crews on Tuesday to 94 crews by Friday, Alejandro said. The crews on Friday consisted of 50 line crews and 40 tree crews with a total of 256 workers.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the city has done its best in the removal of trees and tree debris from roadways, often hampered by live wires. Sarno had the power at his home restored Friday.

Springfield Health and Human Services Director Helen R. Caulton-Harris said the city shelter at Central High School will continue to provide lodging and meals three times a day for Springfield residents without power on Friday night and continuing through Saturday.

There were 246 people staying at the shelter on Thursday night.

The American Red Cross announced that it has provided 10,002 meals, 13,538 snacks and 1,093 overnight stays to victims of the storm and resulting power outages.

Deadly carbon monoxide fumes emanating form two gasoline-powered generators inside a North End home in Springfield sent two men to Baystate Medical Center Friday morning.

Fire Department spokesman Capt. Michael R. Richard said the two men, once removed from the house, were conscious but suffering altered mental status as a result of the carbon monoxide.

Richard said carbon monoxide levels within the home were 220 parts-per-million. Anything above 9 parts-per-million is considered extremely dangerous, he said

“These two are extremely lucky,” said Richard. He said the home did not have any working smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.

Richard said generators should not be brought indoors and should be kept at least 10 or 20 feet away from all structures.

In Southampton frustrations with Western Massachusetts Electric Co.’s response here were growing as residents and town officials alike pondered the possibility of spending a seventh night without power.

Police were called to Strong Street Tuesday after an elderly man began yelling and screaming at Western Massachusetts Electric Co. personnel and a tree-cutting crew that had been temporarily blocking the road.

“It was a pretty tense moment,” said Police Chief David Silvernail. “Tempers are flaring.”

Police opted not to arrest the man and sent him on his way, Silvernail said.

Fire Dept. Lt. Thomas Paquin said the fire was confined to Unit 6 of the Budget Inn.

Republican file photo

HOLYOKE – Firefighters are on the scene at a blaze in at the Budget Inn on 579 Northampton St. approaching the Easthampton line.

Authorities at the scene said no injuries had been reported. Firefighters are inspecting the buildings.

The flames have been extinguished, and there is nothing visible from the parking lot of the hotel.

Fire Dept. Lt. Thomas G. Paquin said the fire was confined to Unit 6 of the Budget Inn. A woman believed to be staying in that unit reported the fire, but officials are unable to locate her.

It's believed no one was injured by the fire, Paquin said. State police are on the scene to help with the investigation, he said.

The call came in at 10:18 p.m. Paquin said the firefighters experienced a problem when they arrived at the scene because the closest fire hydrant didn't produce any water upon being opened.

A fire department pumper truck is stuck in the mud on the motel property. A second pumper had to be brought in because of the dry hydrant.

Fire officials are wondering if the fire was related to electricity having been turned on for the street less an an hour earlier.

The Republican | Mark M. Murray

SPRINGFIELD – A kitchen fire at 55 Alvin St. Friday night caused an estimated $40,000 damage to an apartment, and fire officials are wondering if the fire was related to electricity having been turned on for the street less an an hour earlier, said Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger.

Leger said firefighters were called to 55 Alvin at about 8:45 p.m.

The call came in about 30 minutes after power was restored on the street.

Leger said fire investigators traced the fire to a deep fryer in the kitchen that was plugged in.

It is unclear if the fryer was left turned on when the power went out in the storm-related outage last week, or if there was a power surge when electricity was restored Friday night, he said.

No one was injured. A woman and her family who were in the process of moving into the apartment last weekend had already been displaced by the storm. After the fire, they indicated they would continue staying with friends who have put them up since the start of the outage.

The state of New Hampshire will replace food stamp benefits to clients who lost food during the power outages in the past week.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The state of New Hampshire will replace food stamp benefits to clients who lost food during the power outages in the past week.

The state Division of Family Assistance says many homes lost food during the outages from the October snow storm creating a critical need for food assistance.

Director Terry Smith said Friday that the state has already received hundreds of requests for Food Stamp replacement.

The office says it will need a signed affidavit and some proof that the client lives in an area that lost power to restore the benefits.

Julianne McCrery, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her son, Camden Hughes.

Associated Press photoThis undated handout photo provided by Shirley Miller shows Camden Hughes, left and his mother, Julianne McCrery McCrery pleaded guilty to killing the 6-year-old and leaving his body on a dirt road in Maine.

LYNNE TUOHY, Associated Press

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A Texas mother pleaded guilty Friday to killing her 6-year-old son in New Hampshire and disposing of his body in rural Maine, and a prosecutor said the woman smothered her son with motel room pillows and the child struggled against her for "about three minutes" before he died.

In a deal with prosecutors, Julianne McCrery, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her son, Camden Hughes.

She is expected to be to be sentenced to 45 years to life in prison on Jan. 13, 2012.

After her arrest, McCrery told police she drove cross-country from Irving, Texas to Maine to buy castor beans to use in committing suicide, and spent the drive thinking of ways to kill her young son, Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said in court.

"There was no one else in her family she believed was fit to raise him if she were dead and she did not think he should be raised by social services," Morrell said.

But Morrell also told Rockingham Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau that investigators believe, after speaking with acquaintances of McCrery in Texas, that she felt "inconvenienced" by having Camden in her life and that she intended to return to Texas without the boy.

Morrell declined to elaborate on that theory after court.

Morrell said McCrery obtained the potentially lethal castor beans at a Maine emporium on May 12, and spent May 13 at Hampton Beach with Camden, checking into the Stone Gable Motel in Hampton that night. Early the next morning she ingested some of the castor beans and gave Camden some cold medication, Morrell said.

"An hour after feeding him the Nyquil, she took all the pillows off the bed and put them on the floor," Morrell said. "She lifted her son and placed him face down on the pillows. She lay on top of him, applying pressure to his body, with one hand over his mouth and smothered him. She said her son struggled, flailing his legs and arms for about three minutes."

McCrery told police it was daybreak when she put her son's body in the back seat of her Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck and covered it with a green blanket.

"She drove for some time," Morrell said, at one point turning onto a dirt road that led to another road in South Berwick, Maine, where she left her son's body in a wooded area not far from the road.

The discovery of Camden's body under a blanket on May 14 launched a nationwide effort to identify him. Even as that effort was under way, McCrery called his Texas elementary school daily to report him absent, saying he had appendicitis.

Morrell said the mystery of Camden's identity and the conviction of his mother might not have occurred but for a coincidence.

Linda Gove was driving to visit her in-laws in South Berwick when she noticed a blue truck, doors open and vacant, on the typically deserted road. She noticed U.S. Navy insignia on the truck. Glancing in her rear-view mirror, Gove noticed a woman, dark hair pulled into a ponytail, emerging from the woods. With her relatives, she went back and made the grim discovery.

Camden died of asphyxiation, according to a medical examiner, who also noted red blotches around his eyes and a bruise on one cheek.

Based on Gove's descriptions, McCrery and her truck were spotted at a Massachusetts truck stop. Morrell said when she was told about the effort to identify the little boy found dead in Maine, McCrery told a police officer, "Yes, that's my boy."

When Judge Nadeau asked McCrery if she was pleading guilty because she is guilty, McCrery answered softly, "Yes I am."

McCrery appeared calm throughout the hearing as she answered the judge's questions, wearing handcuffs shackled to a waist belt. Her father, Claude Hughes and brother, Christopher Hughes, attended the plea hearing but refused to comment, leaving the courthouse stoically.

"Today is really a difficult day for the McCrery and Hughes families," Morrell said outside court. "They are mourning the loss of Camden and struggling with how he died, at the hands of his mother."

"Today, we have justice for Camden," Morrell said.

Texas public records show that McCrery was arrested at least twice on prostitution charges and once for possession with intent to distribute drugs. In 2009, she was sentenced to one year in prison for a misdemeanor conviction of prostitution. In 2004, she was sentenced to three years of probation for a felony conviction of possession of a controlled substance.

Law enforcement authorities and friends have portrayed McCrery as a loving but troubled mother whose mood swings often prompted her to take lengthy road trips.

A lawyer who represented her at a brief court appearance in Massachusetts has said he got the impression from McCrery that her intent was to take her son's life and then kill herself. But Morrell said text messages to a new boyfriend in Texas that McCrery sent from the Chelmsford rest area implied she thought otherwise.

"That she maintained contact with the school and offered an excuse for Camden's absence suggests she intended to return to Texas," Morrell said.

Gov. Pete Shumlin introduced a new bias-free policing policy Friday in which Vermont state police will not ask an individual about immigration status when investigating a violation

In this frame grab from dashboard video provided by the Vermont State Police, troopers stop a vehicle with migrant workers on Interstate 89 in Middlesex, Vt. An advisory group has found that a Vermont state trooper acted properly and without bias when he made a traffic stop and questioned and detained two farm workers as suspected illegal immigrants. The Sept. 13 stop in Middlesex and a subsequent protest prompted Gov. Peter Shumlin to ask whether Vermont State Police followed "bias-free" policing policies in the stop. (AP Photo/ Vermont State Police)

By LISA RATHKE, Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Gov. Pete Shumlin introduced a new bias-free policing policy Friday in which Vermont state police will not ask an individual about immigration status when investigating a violation. The new policy was prompted by the detention of two Mexican farm workers who were passengers in a vehicle stopped for speeding.

Some Vermont police agencies have already taken a hands-off approach, focusing on criminal activity and not immigration status.

Now, the state police are making that part of their bias-free policing policy, Shumlin and the state's public safety commissioner said.

"This is essentially a situation where the Vermont state police, as have already Burlington police and Middlebury and a number of sheriffs departments ... have adopted a policy that says: 'Our main focus is going to be Vermont criminal statute violations and we're not going to go out of our way to one: investigate just simple immigration law violations, and two: we're not going to feel compelled in every instance that doesn't fit federal enforcement priorities to turn those individuals over to federal authorities,'" said Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell.

The policy — with a new section on immigration and citizenship status — says state police will not ask an individual about his or her immigration status when investigating a civil violation, but can ask about it in investigations of criminal offenses or suspicious activity in certain cases. The investigation must be based on reasonable suspicion and the immigration status of the suspect must be relevant to the investigation and not the reason for it.

The Vermont policy also makes clear that troopers should continue to investigate suspected criminal activity. It has special provisions for police near the Canadian border, allowing troopers to take action in unlawful border crossings in progress and to call for support from federal authorities to protect an officer or public safety.

The two farmworkers detained in September were processed by the U.S. Border Patrol, which troopers had contacted, and cited for being in the country illegally.

Leaders of the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project called the change "a big step forward," but expressed concern about when police can ask about immigration status. The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also was pleased that governor and the state police had made clear that enforcing immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government and not Vermont, said executive director Allen Gilbert.

Sorrell said the policy is consistent with Massachusetts' and inconsistent with tough immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, called Vermont's policy one of the most restrictive on police in the country. "I think it's irresponsible," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the group, which advocates for tougher immigration laws.

He said Vermont was tying the hands of police by not letting them enforce immigration law.

Most of the remaining communities should have power by late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, according to the latest estimates from the utility company.

With most of Western Massachusetts getting back to normal after a devastating Halloween weekend storm, parts of some Hampden County municipalities still remained in the dark early Saturday morning.

According to National Grid -- the utility company that initially reported earlier power restoration times only to repeatedly extend those estimates for several days -- the new predicted restoration time for communities still without power one week after the the Oct. 29 storm is just before midnight today, Saturday, Nov. 5.

While some storm-weary utility customers remained skeptical about these latest predictions, the latest word from the utility company is that power would return by 11:59 p.m. Saturday to several hard-hit Hampden County communities east of Springfield.

These municipalities include Brimfield, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Holland, Monson, Palmer and Wilbraham. The little town of Wales, which was pummeled by the powerful nor'easter that killed electricity to around 3 million people nationwide, is expected to regain power a few minutes earlier than the other communities, or at around 11:45 p.m. Saturday.

In the semi-rural town of Hampden, located just a few miles southeast of Springfield, more than half of the community -- or 1,133 of the town's 2,124 National Grid customer's -- were still without power Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, power had been returned to only around 274 of Wales' 996 customers, while 814 of Brimfield's 1,736 customers still had no electricity.

In Wilbraham, 2,691 of the town's 5,970 National Grid customers were without power, while 1,942 of East Longmeadow's 6,571customers will once again have to light candles or throw another log in the fireplace if they desire light or heat this morning.

Also without power were 450 of Holland's 1,482 customers; 1,237 of Monson's 3,743 customers; and 2,388 of Palmer's 6,333 customers.

Keith Rattell denied Erin Biela's claims that he does not work a full week.

File photo / The RepublicanCity Clerk Keith W. Rattell is seen in his office

CHICOPEE – For the first time in at least 20 years, voters will have a choice for city clerk.

Keith W. Rattell, 40, who has held the position for four years, is being challenged by newcomer Erin J. Biela, 40.

Biela, a dispatcher at Charter Communications, who has worked in customer service for national and local businesses for 23 years, said she believes her experience will make her a better clerk. She has also served as the president of the citywide Parent Teacher Organization.

Rattell, who served as city councilor for eight years, was a project manager for the governor’s Office of Business Development and previously worked as an aide under former mayors Joseph J. Chessey Jr. and Richard J. Kos.

“There is a desperate need in City Hall and in that office for better care of the citizens of our city. The city clerk’s office should be a place where people feel welcome and are helped as quickly, efficiently and professionally and politely as possible and that is not happening,” Biela said.

Erin J. Biela

She pledged to improve customer service by opening one night a week and one Saturday a month.

Remembering how her father, an optician, used to make house calls to nursing homes, Biela promised to do the same thing as city clerk.

“That is my plan. If someone needs something and they cannot get to us, I will go to them,” she said. “I think it is important for a civil servant to give back to the community.”

In his first term on the job, Rattell said he tried some of Biela’s ideas.

Several times, he advertised and held Saturday hours during the office’s busiest season but few people came.

In the past four years, the office has been computerizing all records and has gotten as far back as 1925. The effort has allowed employees to find records quickly, Rattell said.

Rattell said he has also modernized the system so people can order records online and have them mailed. Because records must have a city seal on them, they cannot be e-mailed. The only flaw is people must mail payments to the clerk’s office, he said.

“I will continue to improve the services offered by the city clerk’s office and to continue to ensure honest elections,” he said.

If re-elected, Rattell said he will continue to computerize the older records and look into new ways to make records available more efficiently.

Biela said she too would continue the efforts to computerize older documents. She worked as a historian for an insurance company in the past so she has the experience.

Biela said one reason she is running is because of questions raised about the hours Rattell works. The issue was aired recently by Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, who publicly chastised Rattell for working short hours and called for an investigation.

Rattell said the allegations are untrue.

“All department heads are paid for 35 hours a week. I put in that and more,” he said.

During his tenure he increased revenues in the office by 28 percent and increased the number of dog licensees from 1,758 to nearly 4,500. Since fees were not raised, that can only be done with dedication and follow-through, Rattell said.

Only a smattering of communities in Franklin and Hampshire counties are still without power, according to the latest National Grid and WMECo estimates.

Both Franklin and Hampshire counties seem to have fared a bit better than Hampden County, their southern neighbor, in the electricity restoration process following the Oct. 29 snowstorm that knocked out power to more than 3 million people, including around 700,000 Bay State residents -- a little less than one-third from Western Massachusetts.

National Grid's most recent predictions for complete power restoration to parts of Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties is late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Although power has returned to many sections of Hampden County, some of the county's bigger population centers, including about one-quarter of West Springfield and eastern portions of Springfield, remained without power Saturday morning, as did several towns to the east of Springfield.

But in Hampshire and Franklin counties, only a handful of communities were still reporting outages by early Saturday morning, including 2,890 of Belchertown's 6,490 National Grid customers and 2,039 of Ware's 4,991 customers. On Saturday, power is expected to be restored in Ware by 11:45 p.m. and in Belchertown by 11:59 p.m.

As of 6 a.m. Saturday, only around a half-dozen of Northampton's 14,481 National Grid customers were without electricity, while around 105 of Granby's 2,595 customers remained in the dark. Electricity is expected to return to the few remaining Northampton customers by 11:45 p.m. and to Granby customers by 11:59 p.m.

Far fewer communities in Franklin County were still reporting outages this morning, including around 70 of National Grid's 505 customers in New Salem and around 30 of the 3,988 customers in Orange. Both towns are expected to have all power restored by 11:45 p.m. Saturday.

However, Western Massachusetts Electric Co. (WMECo) is reporting larger outages for some of its Hampshire County customers who are still without power. Those customers total around 13 percent in Southampton, or 322 of the utility's 2,463 customers, and 2 percent in Amherst, or around 269 of the town's 10,300 customers.

Other communities with 2-percent-outage rates include Easthampton (227 of 8,125 WMECo customers), Hadley (66 of 2,899 customers) and Hatfield (45 of 1,816 customers).

Outage updates from National Grid are available by clicking here, and updates from WMECo are available clicking here.

BOSTON (AP) — Federal officials are stepping up an investigation into the deaths of 146 harbor seals along the New England coast since September after samples of five of them tested positive for the Influenza A virus.

In this Sept. 29, 2011 file photo, Kathy Elliot walks her dog Callie along Jenness State Beach in Rye, N.H., where several dead seals had washed ashore. Federal officials say the deaths of 146 harbor seals along the New England coast since September has now been declared an "unusual mortality event," a move that enables officials to pour more resources to further investigate what is killing them. (AP Photo/Portsmouth Herald, Rich Beauchesne, File)

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Federal officials are stepping up an investigation into the deaths of 146 harbor seals along the New England coast since September after samples of five of them tested positive for the Influenza A virus, authorities announced Friday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the deaths have been declared an unusual event, enabling the agency to pour more resources into the probe. The declaration came after consultations with a panel of international experts established under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to monitor and investigate sea animal health concerns.

The 146 seals generally were less than a year old and had healthy appearances. They were found in Maine, New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

The NOAA said in a statement the deaths were more than three times the average number of strandings that typically occur this time of year.

Although tissues from five seals examined by a New England aquarium tested positive for the Influenza A virus, test results for six other viral pathogens and biotoxings were negative, the agency said.

"Even though preliminary results have been received, they are only indicative of those five cases, and additional evaluations are under way to determine whether the influenza virus has played a role in the overall mortalities," the statement said.

The unexplained deaths triggered a response from NOAA's national Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the New England Aquarium's Marine Mammal Rescue Program and the University of New England's Marine Animal Rescue Center.

Authorities warned the public that the seals could pose a human health risk.

"We want to remind people to not get close to seals encountered along the shore, to keep their pets away and to report any sightings to us through our stranding hot line while we continue to assess whether there is any potential human health risk," said Teri Rowles, who coordinated the National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.

The harbor seal population in the Northeast is considered healthy, so the spate of deaths doesn't signal broad trouble. The last census, in 2001, showed 99,000 harbor seals, and a survey this year is expected to show the population has grown, said Mendy Garron, regional marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The past few decades have seen some notable seal die-offs in the Northeast, including in a rash of influenza deaths around 1979 and 1980 that New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse previously said were linked to bird flu. Scientists theorized that the seals were exposed when they sunned themselves on rocks dotted with bird droppings, he said.

In 2006, a morbillivirus killed hundreds of local harbor and gray seals, Garron said. The virus killed 20,000 seals in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s, with harbor seals accounting for 44 percent of the deaths, she said.

The first major reports of seal carcasses came on Sept. 28 and 29, when 11 were found on the Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire coasts. Some were spotted by New Hampshire surfers.

___

Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/ngowi

Two men were reportedly assaulted by a suspect wielding a baseball bat as they exited Carregan's Restaurant & Lounge on Maple Street in the city's Six Corners neighborhood.

SPRINGFIELD -- City police are investigating a baseball bat assault on a pair of men as they exited Carregan's Restaurant & Lounge at 155 Maple St. early Saturday morning.

The incident occurred some time between 2 and 2:30 a.m., according to police reports, and at least one of the men sustained an injury to the head.

"It happened right outside the bar as they were exiting," a Springfield police officer said around 2:30 a.m.

Police said they would check video cameras at the bar to see if they could learn more about the assault, which sent one of the victims to the hospital for treatment of a cut to the head.

An officer at the scene said he was unsure if the bar's surveillance cameras were functioning properly.

Carregan's was the scene of a September incident involving shots that were fired toward the bar's parking lot. It was unclear if that shooting was related to an incident at the bar, but police recovered multiple shell casings from a lot abutting the bar's parking lot.

The bar is located just east of Maple Street in the northwestern corner of the Six Corners neighborhood.

Voters will consider zoning and spending articles at the meeting at Amherst Regional Middle School.

Amherst Town Seal

AMHERST – The weather might have wreaked havoc with Town Meeting preparation, but the meeting will begin Monday night at 7:30 p.m. as planned.

The surprise pre-Halloween snowstorm forced the postponement of a bus tour to areas under consideration for zoning changes, as well as some precinct meetings, in which residents learn more about the articles coming up at the meeting.

The 18-article warrant includes adopting zoning changes for the North and South Amherst village centers, part of which involves what is called form-based zoning. That zoning would regulate the overall design of new development in relation to how it fits with the environment.

The Select Board supports the change by a vote of 4 to 1 and the Finance Committee voted to support it 4 to 3.

According to the committee report to Town Meeting, those voting against it did not oppose the intention of the changes. But according to the report “did not see a clear financial impact” on finances.

Voters are also being asked to support funding for repairs of the War Memorial Pool in the amount of $297,600. The town is hoping to receive a grant to help with the project cost, but both the Finance Committee and Select Board support the work regardless of the town’s success with the grant.

Officials had been hoping to learn about the grant before the start of Town Meeting.

Town Meeting is being asked to approve spending $4.2 million to extend the town sewer to two neighborhoods. The Select Board is supporting the measure and recommending that the project be paid for by all sewer users rather than with betterment fees. The Finance Committee is deferring its recommendation until Town Meeting.

About 93 percent of the town already has sewer service.

In a resolution initiated by residents, voters are also being asked to re-establish a Committee on Homelessness. The Select Board recently dissolved that committee as well as the Housing Partnership/Fair Housing Committee.

The Finance Committee is not taking a position on the article.

According to the resolution, the new committee’s mission would be to participate in regional and local discussions to prevent and end homelessness, provide recommendations to the Select Board and town manager on the best ways to end homelessness and help the town secure a permanent site for a homeless shelter among other stipulations.

With the cost of home heating oil averaging $3.75 a gallon in Massachusetts, compared to $2.97 a year ago, for the poor there is significantly less help in paying their fuel bills than in years past.

File photo | Associated PressHome heating oil costs are up, and for the poor there is significantly less help in paying their fuel bills than in years past.

Despite last weekend’s historic snow, October went into the record books as tied for the third warmest of the last two decades locally, which is good news for anyone who pays a heating bill.

Unfortunately, home heating oil now costs more, and for the poor there is significantly less help in paying their fuel bills than in years past.

Temperatures for the month ran about 1.9 degrees above normal, on average, at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. Only October of 1995 and 2007 were warmer there. Average temperatures in 2001 and 2005 were about as warm as this October.

Temperatures in Westfield ran about 1.1 degrees above normal, although historic data for the location are not available before 2005.

However, the past is not a predictor of the future when it comes to the weather.

“When you get into September and October, you can have these flip flops in temperature. From one day to the next, it can change dramatically,” said Ed Carroll, meteorologist at abc40.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting slightly milder temperatures this winter than last, but the agency also predicts record-high heating oil prices, 10 percent above those of last heating season.

According to the state Division of Energy Resources, the cost of home heating oil is averaging $3.75 a gallon statewide, compared to $2.97 a year ago. (However, the current cash price in the Pioneer Valley is an average of 25 cents lower than the state average.)

The record high average fuel oil price in the state was recorded in April, when it reached $4.02 a gallon.

While the warmer weather has helped those who rely on federal fuel assistance, the higher price of oil and the cutbacks in federal fuel aid have hurt.

“Things are pretty bad right now. We’re looking at maximum benefits this season of $675 and a minimum of 100 gallons” regardless of the price, said Mary Ann Kobylanski, director of the Low Income Home Energy Assistant Program (LIHEAP) for the New England Farm Workers’ Council that serves Springfield residents.

That compares to a maximum benefit of $1,495 in the winter of 2008-2009, $1,240 in 2009-2010 and $1,090 in 2010-2011. And, because oil prices are not far from their record high, the benefits buy much less oil than the same amount would have in past years, she said.

Deliveries for the season under LIHEAP have not yet begun as the local fuel aid agencies in the region are awaiting the go-ahead from the state.

In Washington, D.C., last week, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry was among the legislators who asked for increased federal aid to help families heat their homes this winter.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released $77,630,807 to Massachusetts in LIHEAP funding during the week of Oct. 24. That funding level was based on a $2 billion annual allocation as part of the current fiscal 2012 continuing resolution that’s set to expire on Nov. 18.

Kerry’s letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the funding level for any upcoming continuing resolution to be based on the full $5.1 billion provided in 2011, or at the very least, at the $3.5 billion level based off the average of the $3.6 billion and $3.4 billion the Senate and House budgeted for fiscal 2012, respectively.

“By distributing the money to the states in dribs and drabs, it puts oil deliveries at risk because companies don’t know if they will get paid,” Kerry wrote. “Families won’t know if they can depend on this assistance, and benefit levels cannot be established. We must provide some stability and assurance to needy families as well as LIEAHP providers.”

Typically, a household in the Northeast uses about 650 gallons of heating oil through the season. Even the maximum LIHEAP benefit, $675, would barely buy 180 to 200 gallons at current prices.

Natural gas continues to be the cheapest of the major heating fuels locally. To produce the same amount of heat, for every $1 spent on utility gas, it would cost $2.30 to $2.50 for oil and more than $3 for propane.

Follow live updates from the newsroom of The Republican as storm recovery continues.

It's a full week since the surprise October snowstorm savaged the region, leaving most of Western Massachusetts without power.

As of Saturday morning, tens of thousands or residents in our region had yet to see their service restored.

Our live blog continues today, with readers sharing observations about where they've seen power restored and where they see crews working.

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