"It is important for the Town Council to realize there will be an observer there from the League of Women Voters," league member Phyllis Lehrer said in an interview.

AMHERST -- The Amherst League of Women Voters recently decided that resurrecting its Observer Corps is a good idea and that now is the time to do it with the new Town Council in place.

The decision was made by the league at a steering committee meeting last week attended by a dozen members at Jones Library.

The Observer Corps last operated in 2001.

"It is important for the Town Council to realize there will be an observer there from the League of Women Voters," league member Phyllis Lehrer, who coordinated the meeting, said in an interview. "It is important for our members to know what is going on."

The League's Facebook page described the concept as follows:

"The use of an Observer Corps is a tool not infrequently used by Leagues of Women Voters. In Amherst previously, the OC was a committee that observed the major town committees - one person would observe the Select Board, another the School Committee, a third the Planning Board, and a fourth the Zoning Board. The emphasis was -- as it still is -- on silent observation.

"In the previous Corps, each observer filled out a form for her committee's meeting, indicating what members were present, when and where they met, what votes were taken and issues discussed. Those matters on which the League had positions were of particular interest. The observers met together once a month, shared their findings, and produced a report which was published in the League bulletin."

The Amherst Town Council convened its first meeting on Monday.

The national League of Women Voters was founded in 1920. The Amherst chapter was organized in 1939.

This year, no survivor from the USS Arizona will be attending the ceremony as none of the men were able to make the trip to Hawaii.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) -- About 20 survivors are expected to gather at Pearl Harbor on Friday to pay tribute to the thousands of men lost in the Japanese attack 77 years ago.

The youngest of the veterans are in their mid-90s. The Navy and National Park Service will jointly host the remembrance ceremony at a grassy site overlooking the water and the USS Arizona Memorial.

Attendees are expected to observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the time the attack began on Dec. 7, 1941. Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 jets are scheduled to fly overhead in "missing man formation" to break the silence.

This year, no survivor from the USS Arizona will be attending the ceremony as none of the men were able to make the trip to Hawaii.

The Arizona sank after two bombs hit the ship, triggering tremendous explosions. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, the greatest number of casualties from any ship. Most remain entombed in the sunken hull of the battleship at the bottom of the harbor.

Altogether, the Pearl Harbor attack killed nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemen.

Dozens of those killed have been recently identified and reburied in cemeteries across the country after the military launched a new effort to analyze bones and DNA of hundreds long classified as "unknowns."

This led to the 2015 exhumation of 388 sets of remains from the USS Oklahoma buried in a national cemetery in Honolulu. The Oklahoma had the second highest number of dead after the Arizona at 429, though only 35 were identified in the immediate years after the attack.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has identified 168 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma since the exhumations three years ago. It has said it expects to identify about 80 percent of the 388 by 2020.

Several families were scheduled to rebury their newly identified loved ones on Friday, including Navy Seaman 1st Class William Bruesewitz of Appleton, Wisconsin.

He's expected to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

The cold made it hard for the attendees at Friday's annual Pearl Harbor observance, but the weather didn't seem to stop anyone. "You know we are going to be here," Mayor Brian Sullivan said. Watch video

WESTFIELD -- In Friday's blustery cold it, was hard to imagine that beautiful Hawaiian Sunday 77 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941.

The cold made it hard for the 40 or so attendees at Friday's annual Pearl Harbor observance. But the weather didn't seem to stop anyone, as Mayor Brian Sullivan noted.

"You know we are going to be here," Sullivan said.

It's going to fall to the rest of the community to keep the memory of Pearl Harbor alive in the future, he said.

On Dec. 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy," as President Franklin Roosevelt said in a speech to Congress the following day, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than 2,400 Americans were killed and 21 ships sunk or damaged.

Westfield has carried on its tradition of marking the Pearl Harbor anniversary event despite the passage of time and the passing of most World War II veterans. Westfield resident and Pearl Harbor survivor Robert Greenleaf died in July 2017 at age 94.

The spot veterans groups gather every year for Pearl Harbor is Kane & Wojtkiewicz Park, named after city residents Lt. William H. Kane, who died in World War I, and Navy Chief Machinist's Mate Frank P. Wojtkiewicz, who died at Pearl Harbor while serving on the USS Arizona.

Wojtkiewicz was a cousin of Steve Wichrowski Jr., of Longmeadow. Born in 1943, Wichrowski has no memory of Wojtkiewicz, but he attends Westfield's Pearl Harbor observance every year.

"I remember at Christmas Eve we would go over for a big family gathering," Wichrowski said. "All the family would be there for a big meal. And the scrapbooks would come out. That's when they would talk about him."

Col. Peter T. Green III, commander of the Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing based at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport, said he's had the solemn experience of visiting the USS Arizona Memorial. But the real lesson, he said, is what happened after the attack.

"It was then that American fighting spirit and grit emerged," he said. And the United States and its Allies went on to defeat the Axis powers less than four years later.

Participating Friday were Legion posts 124 and 454, the Marine Corps League, Vietnam Veterans of America and ROTC students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

A $2.5 million renovation project at Riverfront Park in Springfield is taking longer than expected, blamed on an extremely rainy fall, city officials said. The park project is now slated to be completed by June 15. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD -- A $2.5 million renovation project at Riverfront Park is taking longer than expected, with Mother Nature getting the blame.

Officials are blaming the extremely rainy weather this fall for the delay, with the project now expected to be done by June 15, 2019, said Peter Garvey, the city's director of Capital Asset Construction.

In addition to the near record rainfall this fall, there was a snowstorm in November.

When the City Council approved a $1.6 million bond for the project in November 2017, officials said they hoped to have the park ready to coincide with the opening of the MGM Springfield casino.

When work began in April, it was scheduled to be done by Oct. 1, 2018. That estimate was later adjusted to November, before being extended again.

The park has been closed to the public since the spring due to the extensive renovations.

"It looks great, it's coming along," Garvey said. "It's a great park."

The conditions, however, have been very muddy due to the extreme amount of rain, he said.

The University of Massachusetts in Amherst reported that rain totals for the year, from January through November, were the second highest recorded in that town since observations began in 1836. During the year's first 11 months, there was 59.02 inches of precipitation, 1.1 inches shy of the record set in 1888, said an official with the Climate System Research Center at UMass.

Patrick Sullivan, the city's director of parks, buildings and recreation management agreed that heavy rain was the key factor in the riverfront project delay.

Improvements at the park have included demolition and earthwork to regrade the park, new electrical service for pedestrian and event lighting systems, a natural grass lawn for events, a new playground with a resilient rubber surface, a new splash pad fountain, specialized pavers for plazas, extensive concrete walkways for pedestrians, significant tree plantings and irrigation, the specifications said.

There is also a foundation and other work begun for a new Sept. 11 memorial at the park. The memorial will feature a beam from the World Trade Center in New York City, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Riverfront Park is a four-acre park along West Columbus Avenue located on the bank of the Connecticut River.

JL Construction Corp. of West Springfield is the contractor for the park renovations. There has been no cost increase for the project, Garvey said.

After the winter shutdown, the work in the spring will include planting sod and finish work, Garvey said.

The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission, meanwhile, is planning a $100 million Connecticut River Crossing and York Street Pump Station project in Springfield. The project may impact the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway along the riverfront, but not the park, a commission spokeswoman said.

"The Commission is working with the design team to minimize any impacts to the River Walk, though it may need to be closed in the vicinity of West York Street for a short period of time in the fall of 2019 to protect public safety and to accommodate the tunneling operation," said Jaimye Bartak, commission spokeswoman.  

The Westfield City Council Xoning, Planning and Development subcommittee will discuss the special permit process

WESTFIELD - No decision was made by Westfield City Council Thursday on a proposal to transfer some authority for special permits in business zones to the Planning Board.

The public hearing was closed after nearly three hours and the measure was sent to the Zoning, Planning and Development Subcommittee for further vetting.

This was the second public hearing on the topic this week. A Planning Board hearing Tuesday also included more than two hours of discussion.

City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell offered the same overview to the Council that he gave to the Planning Board. He said the proposal was the result of a study conducted by the Economic Development Self-Assessment Tool out of the Dukakis Center at Northeastern University. The city's strengths and weaknesses were outlined and the idea for streamlining the special permit process came from a debriefing of the report and follow-up discussions, he said.

"In every zone there are a number of uses allowed by right and a number that are prohibited and in the middle are those that can be done by special permit," Mitchell said, noting that the council only votes on a few special permits a year while the Planning Board votes on several at each meeting.

On Tuesday, Planning Board member Cheryl Crowe asked why, in 1988, the process changed and some special permits related to business zones were removed from the Planning Board and placed in the City Council. On Thursday, former longtime Councilor William Chiba shed some light on the history of special permits in Westfield.

"Years back the state started giving different interpretations of zoning," Chiba said. "So, Jim Boardman, the development director, said we've got to review the whole thing."

A committee was formed to revamp zoning and special permits across the city. At that time, Chiba said, there were real estate agents making decisions about what type of business should be located in which communities, and Westfield became a "big box" city.

The City Council wanted to take control of the business special permit process, Chiba said, "because the neighbors were getting inundated with truck terminals. The City Council took the responsibility for special permits for these business items."

Chiba implored the Council not to transfer authority to the Planning Board.

"Don't change things just to change them," he said. "Sit down, study it, understand it and have respect for the people who came before you and did the work. It's not your job to see how fast you permit something, it's your job to see the community is protected. I would hope you would not transfer these things to the Planning Board."

Several councilors thanked Chiba for the background information. Councilor Brent B. Bean II, who presented the proposal, said that there were other reasons for the switch in the late 1980s.

"I can appreciate the work," said Bean, "but politics, even back then, played into the decision of where it went."

Bean asked Chiba if the aquifer was taken into consideration on special permits for businesses on the north side of the city near the water supply.

"The aquifer was very important and that's another reason this happened, and it played into what was put there," Chiba said. "Back then it was kinda understood that the north side was going to be the business zone."

Bean said the proposal to send business special permits back to the Planning Board should pass.

"For us to vote this down is shirking our responsibility," he said. "There are clear redundancies here. One of the ways we can market the city is to clear up these redundancies. It doesn't mean we're going to circumvent protocols."

Councilors Andrew K. Surprise and Matt Emmershy said they were happy there would be a review, but wanted to take it a step further.

"I think we need to take a wholesale review of our zoning," Emmershy said. "So is this trying to put a Band-Aid on a trauma wound? Would a larger review of this help move the city forward?"

"That's a fair question," said Mitchell. "After conversations I've had with Planning Board and the Legal Department, I decided we should walk before we run. I'm taking 13 or 14 land uses and trying to put them into Planning Board. I'd love to give a comprehensive review. With the amount of resistance I'm seeing on this kind of small task, I'd need a larger staff."

Mitchell said he would move forward with "the ones I think I can attack with the resources and manpower I have."

Emmershy said he would file a motion for the next meeting to "take a wholesale look" at the city's zoning.

Councilor Dave Flaherty made a motion to close the hearing and send the proposal to zoning subcommittee. He said it would be on the Dec. 19 agenda.

About 25 percent of University of Massachusetts students skip a meal every day so students want to help.

AMHERST -- About 25 percent of University of Massachusetts students skip a meal every day, said Anna Drexler, a sophomore who helped create a food pantry on campus last semester.

The Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Senate are also involved in the student-run initiative. 

Last semester it was run out of a the Alpha Phi Omega office, said Drexler, who has a double major in public health and women, gender and sexuality studies. Now in Bartlett Hall, the pantry has become more established, she said. 

She said graduate students are particularly in need. "We've seen how widespread (the need is)." Grad students "are looking to cut costs." So they skip meals.

Things are starting slow as word gets out, she said. About 15 people have stopped in and organizers are trying to collect more food. A campuswide food drive wraps up Friday, with donations accepted at the Whitmore Administration Building second-floor lobby until 3 p.m. and in Bartlett Hall room 317C from 4-7 p.m.

Students all over the state are reporting they don't have enough to eat. 

Researchers from Temple University and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison surveyed 15 community colleges and eight state universities in 2017 to learn about a range of needs.

UMass campuses in Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell participated. UMass Amherst did not. 

The survey found that 34 percent of students in four-year programs experienced some kind of food insecurity, while 44 percent of students in two-year schools reported it.

Drexler said organizers are collecting signatures to petition the administration to make the UMass Amherst pantry an institutional program not simply run by students.

The administration provides a range of support for the pantry, said spokeswoman Mary Dettloff. That includes advertising, assistance with food drives, and logistical and safety support, she wrote in an email.

"Currently, our food assistance strategy focuses on both short- and long-term student needs," she said. Students who are out of meal swipes or without a meal plan can get a free meal.

"Dining staff connects those students to the meal plan coordinator, who in turn works in partnership with the Dean of Students Office to reach out to the student to come in and discuss the specifics of their circumstances," Detloff said. "UMass sees food insecurity as often a sign of a larger personal economic problem, and this partnership, while it immediately provides students a meal, also goes beyond that to connect students to a Dean of Students caseworker."

UMass provides a webpage with resources including a food bank guide and help enrolling in the food stamp program.

UMass Lowell also has a student-run pantry. UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth have pantries run by the university.

Other campuses also provide food. For example, Westfield State University created Common Goods, "where students, faculty and staff have access to food and other basic necessities in a caring and welcoming environment," according to its website. 

The Franklin County Meals Program provides a pantry at Greenfield Community College. Holyoke Community College also provides a pantry, but students need a referral form.

UMass Amherst students do not need to provide documentation. Documentation is required at the UMass Boston pantry.

Whatever hesitation larger corporations in the U.S. had about entering the cannabis market appears to be fading if there is a financial justification.

NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the world's biggest tobacco companies is diving into the cannabis market with a $1.8 billion buy-in.

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. is taking a 45 percent stake in Cronos Group, the Canadian medical and recreational marijuana provider said Friday.

The agreement includes a warrant to acquire additional shares over the next four years that could give the Altria, which is based in Richmond, Virginia, a 55 percent ownership stake in the Toronto company.

That would mean Altria's investment would be in the same league as the $4 billion spent earlier this year by Constellation Brands to acquire shares of Canopy Growth Corp., another Canadian pot producer.

The August investment by Constellation, which makes Corona and other beverages, was the largest to date by a major U.S. corporation in the cannabis market.

Whatever hesitation larger corporations in the U.S. had about entering the cannabis market appears to be fading if there is a financial justification.

Altria's huge investment lit up shares of cannabis companies that have begun to set up shop in Canada, where recreational use was legalized this year.

U.S. traded shares of of Cronos Group Inc. jumped 22 percent Friday.

Rapid growth in the cannabis market is expected to continue as legalization expands in the U.S. and social norms change. On Tuesday, ultra-conservative Utah became the latest state to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes.

Consumers are expected to spend $57 billion per year worldwide on legal cannabis by 2027, according to Arcview Market Research, a cannabis-focused investment firm. In North America, that spending is expected to grow from $9.2 billion in 2017 to $47.3 billion in 2027.

South Hadley residential and commercial property owners can expect a tax bill in the coming weeks. The South Hadley Select Board set the tax rate for fiscal 2019 at $17.75 per $1,000 in valuation.

SOUTH HADLEY -- The South Hadley Select Board on Tuesday set the residential and commercial tax rates for fiscal 2019. The board approved a flat rate for both tax classes at $17.75 per $1,000 in valuation.

The fiscal 2018 tax rate was $17.64 per $1,000 in valuation.

The board set the new rate during the annual Tax Classification Hearing led by Associate Assessor Melissa Couture Rimbold. Ratepayers can expect a property tax bill before the first of the year.

The state Department of Revenue must approve property tax rates for all municipalities.

Property values increased by 3 percent based on assessments conducted in 2017. The average residential value is $256,000 for a single-family home and $338,300 is the average for commercial properties.

"Based on what we see currently on the sales, it's amazing," Rimbold said. "People are paying to come to this town. There's no doubt about it."

The Fire District 1 tax rate went from $2.29 to $2.40, while Fire District 2 went from $2.78 to $2.80.

While the Select Board maintained a single property tax rate, it holds the right to shift a percentage of the tax burden from residential to commercial. For example, a 50 percent shift would result in an $88 decrease for residential property valued at $100,000. However, the rate for a commercial property valued at $100,000 would increase by $888.

The city of Holyoke favors a split tax rate, which shifts a large portion of the residential burden onto commercial payers, nearly $40 per $1,000 in valuation.

South Hadley experienced $235,218 in new growth in fiscal 2018.

The tax levy, or the amount the town can collect in taxes and fees, is $28,290,1000.07. The town can exclude over $1.2 million in debt, which allows a maximum tax levy of $28,304,539 under Proposition 2-1/2.

Madeline Kroll has not been seen since Nov. 23.

SPRINGFIELD -- Police are seeking the public's help in locating a teen girl who has been missing for two weeks and is believed to be a runaway.

The girl, Madeline Kroll, is 16 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs around 130 pounds. She has dyed black hair that is naturally red.

She was last seen on Nov. 23.

She is known to have been in the areas of Bay Street, St. James Avenue and Dartmouth Street, as well as along Carew Street, in Pine Point, or in West Springfield.

Anyone with information on where she can be found is asked to call Detective Lopez 413-750-2379 or the police emergency number at 413-787-6302.

Massachusetts environmental officials plan to funnel settlement money from the Volkswagen emissions scandal towards efforts to electrify the transportation sector and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Massachusetts environmental officials plan to funnel settlement money from the Volkswagen emissions scandal towards efforts to electrify the transportation sector and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The state is making available up to $23.5 million in one-year spending, part of 15-year timeline for the $75 million total set aside by state prosecutors and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as part of the national Volkswagen (VW) settlement.

In a statement, Gov. Charlie Baker said battling climate change is a "priority" for his administration, which is entering its second term in 2019. A draft spending settlement plan was announced earlier this year.

"We held Volkswagen accountable for duping Massachusetts residents into driving dirty cars that illegally polluted our air, and then lying to regulators about its deceit," Attorney General Maura Healey said in her own statement. "This plan will help us invest in future generations by putting clean zero-emission buses on our roads and making electric vehicles more accessible to our residents."

Volkswagen settlement cash to buy electric buses for transit authorities in Pioneer Valley, Martha's Vineyard

The state is spending $11 million on electric transit buses for transit authorities in the Pioneer Valley and Martha's Vineyard and $5 million on purchase and installation electrical vehicle supply equipment.

Officials are also making available $7.5 million for eligible proposals that would "reduce emissions from certain types of diesel vehicles, non-road equipment, and marine vessels," according to the Department of Environmental Protection, the lead agency behind the spending.

The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority serves 24 communities, including Springfield, West Springfield, Amherst, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Northampton, Palmer, Westfield and Wilbraham, among others.

The VW settlement came after the US Department of Justice and a group of states, including Massachusetts, sued the company in 2016 for installing ways for more than 500,000 various models of their VWs, Audis and Porsches to cheat emission tests.

Under the settlement, every state is receiving part of a $2.92 billion mitigation trust. The number each state receives is based on how many vehicles are in the state and equipped with the cheating software.

Own a VW vehicle? You could get up to a possible maximum of $10,000

Massachusetts has 14,00 vehicles that meet that criteria.

The state also reached a separate settlement with VW that included a $20 million-plus environmental penalty for the company.

The golf industry has been in decline for years with Dunroamin Country Club in Hardwick closing this fall and construction underway for houses where Southwick Country Club once stood.

AMHERST -- The owners of Hickory Ridge Golf Club want to build a solar farm on the golf course property.

This is according to the agenda for an Amherst Conservation Commission meeting  set for 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Town Hall.

Course owner Dave Wasenda of Appliedgolf in Millstone, New Jersey, he plans to build a 5.2-megawatt solar array at the 150-acre property sometime next year.

"It's no secret that the golf industry has been contracting, he said. "You used to have a steady flow, the working population golfed a little, then when they retired the kept golfing and young people started golfing. Now, it feels like it skipped a generation."

The course is not renewing members, and if it opens for golf in the spring it will be without members and with golfers simply paying by the round.

The restaurant will close.

The new solar field would include 15,000 solar panels, according to an application on file with the town of Amherst. The entire project would cover about 23 acres on the highest, and driest, portion of the property to the rear of the current course. It's be accessed by an 1,100-foot gravel driveway.

David Ziomek, director of conservation and development for the town of Amherst said Friday that Amherst officials are talking with the owners about the fate of the rest of the 150-acre property.

Wasenda said Appliedgolf wants to be good neighbors to the Amherst community and will fine an appropriate community use for the land. Wetlands restrictions mean the land can't be built upon.

"There is no commercial or residential use," he said. "We don't want it to grow in and become unattractive."

Ziomek said he doesn't expect a vote on Wednesday.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 5.24 megawatts of solar power is enough to power more then 850 average suburban homes.

Appliedgolf bought the course at a foreclosure auction in 2012 for $1 million and said at the time it planned to run the property as a golf course. Appliedgolf owns or manages 15 golf courses from Massachusetts to Florida and as far west as Indiana, as well as a bowling center adjacent to a golf course in Kentucky.

The $1 million bank foreclosure sale showed that even in 2012 the value of the course had dropped. Former owner Douglas Harper bought the course in 2003 for about $3.5 million.

Wasenda told the Gazette he was converting the course into a solar farm because of financial pressures. Wetlands restrictions make it impossible to build much anything else on the land.

The golf industry has been in decline for years, with Dunroamin Country Club in Hardwick closing this fall and construction underway for houses where Southwick Country Club once stood.

In October, CRD Metalworks owner Christopher M. Duval and his wife, Roseana, became the owners of Beaver Brook Golf Club in the Haydenville section of Williamsburg. Duval said he plans to run Beaver Brook as a golf course and restaurant and that he bought the property in part to save it from development.

President Donald Trump slammed former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Friday, calling him "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell."

President Donald Trump slammed former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Friday, calling him "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell."

Trump, who ousted Tillerson in March, offered that he "couldn't get rid of" the former ExxonMobil CEO "fast enough."

The president further stressed that he's "very proud" of Tillerson's successor, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and believes he's doing a "great job" at the State Department.

"Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn't have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," he tweeted. "Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!"

Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn't have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!

-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018

Trump's tweet came just one day after Tillerson spoke about his time working for the administration during a Thursday evening fundraiser in Houston.

Tillerson told CBS' Bob Schieffer that he and the president had a "starkly different" style and did not share a "common value system."

The former secretary of state suggested that it was challenging for him to go from "the disciplined, highly process-oriented ExxonMobil Corporation to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined."

He reportedly argued that Trump "doesn't like to read, doesn't read briefing reports, doesn't like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, 'Look, this is what I believe and you can try to convince me otherwise.'"

Trump announced Tillerson's departure on Twitter in March. 

Report: Rex Tillerson did not speak to President Donald Trump before firing

A senior White House official said the timing of Tillerson's firing was tied to upcoming talks with North Korea and on trade. 

Trump, meanwhile, said he and Tillerson had been talking about the secretary leaving his cabinet post "for a long time." 

Terry S. Lockett is charged with murder for the stabbing death of his wife Kimberly Lockett in Springfield in February 2018.

SPRINGFIELD -- A pretrial hearing is slated for Monday in the murder case against Terry S. Lockett, accused of his wife's murder.

Kimberly Lockett suffered 19 "sharp force injuries," including some in her heart and lungs, according to the prosecutor in the case.

Terry Lockett is held without right to bail.

A schedule for upcoming dates in the case should be set at Monday's pretrial hearing before Hampden Superior Court Judge Daniel Wrenn.

According to Assistant District Attorney Melissa Doran, Kimberly Lockett's daughter said her mother and Terry Lockett had split up. Kimberly Lockett had been letting Terry Lockett stay with her at her Indian Orchard home because he had no place else to go, the daughter said.

A knife and boxcutter were found in Kimberly Lockett's home where her body was found by her daughter on Feb. 23, Doran said.

Terry Lockett confessed to family members he had killed Kimberly Lockett, the prosecutor said.

He had multiple restraining orders taken out against him by different women, including Kimberly Lockett, Doran said.

Lockett, with the help of family members, turned himself in to police shortly after Kimberly Lockett was found dead.

Michael Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced next Wednesday in New York federal court. He pleaded guilty to federal charges and cooperated in multiple state and federal probes over several months, including having seven meetings with special counsel Robert Mueller's team.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, deserves a substantial prison sentence despite his cooperation in a hush money payment case that implicated the president, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Court filings by prosecutors from both New York and the Trump-Russia special counsel's office laid out for the first time details of the cooperation of a vital witness who once said he'd "take a bullet" for the president but who in recent months has become a prime antagonist. He is to be sentenced next week.

They filings reveal that Cohen told prosecutors he and Trump discussed a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in 2015, shortly after Trump announced his candidacy for president.

In a footnote, special counsel Robert Mueller's team writes that Cohen conferred with Trump "about contacting the Russia government before reaching out to gauge Russia's interest in such a meeting," though it never took place.

An additional filing was expected later Friday in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who prosecutors say lied to them even after agreeing to cooperate.

Read: Michael Cohen's plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller

Prosecutors in Cohen's case said that even though he cooperated in their investigation into hush money payments made to two women who said they had sex with Trump, he nonetheless deserves to spend time in prison.

"Cohen did provide information to law enforcement, including information that assisted the Special Counsel's Office," they said. "But Cohen's description of those efforts is overstated in some respects and incomplete in others."

In meetings with Mueller's team, Cohen "provided information about his own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign and discussions with others in the course of making those contacts," the court documents said.

Cohen provided prosecutors with a "detailed account" of his involvement, along with the involvement of others, in efforts during the 2016 presidential campaign to complete a deal to build a Trump Tower Moscow, the documents said. He also provided information about attempts by Russian nationals to reach Trump's campaign, they said.

However, in the crimes to which he pleaded guilty in August, he was motivated "by personal greed and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends."

Prosecutors said the court's Probation Department estimated that federal sentencing guidelines call for Cohen to serve at least four years in prison. They said that "reflects Cohen's extensive, deliberate and serious criminal conduct."

Prosecutors say Cohen "already enjoyed a privileged life," and that "his desire for even greater wealth and influence precipitated an extensive course of criminal conduct."

Read obituaries from The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Here are the obituaries published Friday in The Republican:

Obituaries from The Republican, Dec. 7, 2018

A Cape Cod man pleaded not guilty this week to charges related to a theft that allegedly happened 27 years ago.

ORLEANS - A Cape Cod man is facing larceny charges for an alleged theft made 27 years ago, according to the Cape Cod Times.   

Lawrence Harrigan, now 57, would have been 30-years-old when he is alleged to have used a woman's credit card without her knowledge, purchasing a Sony video camera and case worth $1,490 from a Dennis camera store.

It is unclear if or how Harrigan knew the woman.  

Police brought charges against Harrigan in 1992 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. However, Harrigan had no known address at the time and it appears he was never brought into custody. 

Thursday, almost three decades after the incident took place, Harrigan appeared in Orleans District Court to plead not guilty to charges for larceny of property worth more than $250 and unauthorized use of a credit card. It is unclear what prompted the resurrection of the case. 

His bail was set at $300. 

Greenfield saw people give generously to Toy for Joy this year, said local Salvation Army officials.

GREENFIELD - Friday was the last day for families in Greenfield to register for Toy for Joy, the annual campaign that raises money to purchase Christmas gifts for families throughout Western Massachusetts. 

Now in its 96th year, the campaign has been an important charity that continues to pay off for Greenfield, said Captain Scott Peabody, commanding officer with the city's Salvation Army.

"The service we provide allows children to have toys for Christmas," Peabody said. "It helps sustain families and brings some sustainability," he said.

In terms of donations, local enthusiasm has been high, he went on. "Especially communities in Franklin County, people want to provide for their neighbors in need. We feel that [the county] has been very supportive."   

The Toy for Joy campaign, which is a collaborative effort between the Salvation Army, The Republican and MassLive, each year brings toys to thousands of families. Last year the campaign served 2,700 families in Springfield, around 800 families in Holyoke, and some 200 families in Greenfield.

This year around 200 families registered with the program, said Brenda Arroyo, the Salvation Army's social services case worker for Greenfield.  

"It was pretty much the same [as last year]," Arroyo said, in regards to the number of families who registered. 

The toys will be given out on Tuesday, December 18, at Greenfield's Salvation Army headquarters at 72 Chapman Street. It will last from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. 

"We like to think of it as a toy workshop," said Arroyo, referencing the distribution process. "Families are pretty much picking out things that they think their children would like." 

While Greenfield only gives out toys to children 12 and younger, registered families with older children will be given Christmas dinner food baskets. These will be handed out on December 17, said Arroyo.  

If you're interested in donating to Toy for Joy fund, you can still make a contribution by writing: Toy for Joy, 1860 Main St., Springfield, MA 01101. Contributions may also be dropped off with the coupon which accompanies this story to The Republican, 1860 Main St., Springfield, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through noon on Dec. 21. There is also an online donation page. 

The Toy for Joy campaign each year brings toys to thousands of families. Last year the campaign served 2,700 families in Springfield, around 800 families in Holyoke, and some 200 families in Greenfield.

For the third year in a row, Pride Stores is partnering with Toy for Joy. Pride locations in Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut will rally its customers in November and December to help contribute to Toy for Joy. Customers can go into any Pride in the area and purchase a $1, $5 or $10 donation card for Toy for Joy.

Toy for Joy is also partnering this year with the Reading Success by 4th Grade initiative of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation for a second year to help ensure each child receives a new book.

Defense lawyer Peter Slepchuk challenged the police search of Rivera's vehicle, and argued that statements his client made to police should not be allowed at trial.

CHICOPEE - A West Springfield man avoided a jail term after pleading guilty to drunken driving in connection with a multivehicle crash last year.

Victor Rivera Jr., 49, was sentenced Thursday in Chicopee District Court to 24 months of probation. 

Rivera also must complete at least two weeks of inpatient alcohol treatment,  submit to random alcohol testing and use a Sobrietor, a portable device that tests for alcohol consumption.

The sentence, imposed by Judge Bethzaida Sanabria-Vega, comes 12 months after Rivera was charged with operating under the influence of liquor (third offense), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended license, making a prohibited U-turn and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

The charges were filed on Nov. 22, 2017, after Rivera allegedly made a U-turn at the Granby Road and Memorial Drive rotary, causing a crash that damaged two vehicles.

Rivera drove off, but was stopped minutes later by a Chicopee police officer. The suspect was arrested after police detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and found an empty container of alcohol under the passenger seat and a half-full alcohol bottle in the trunk, according to court records.

Rivera denied the charges and was released on $2,500 bail, with orders remain alcohol-free and use a Sobrietor.

In a motion filed in August, defense lawyer Peter Slepchuk challenged the police search of Rivera's vehicle, and argued that statements his client made to police were inadmissible. Neither the two bottles found in the vehicle nor the statements made by Rivera should be allowed as evidence at trial, Slepchuk contended.

Arguments on the motion were scheduled for Thursday. Instead, Rivera pleaded guilty to four of the five charges after the prosecution agreed to reduce the drunken driving charge from a third offense to a second offense. The fifth charge, possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, was dismissed.

In explaining her sentence, Sanabria-Vega noted that the defendant had complied with all terms of his pretrial release, including using the Sobrietor, and said inpatient alcohol treatment will "enhance public safety by lessening the risk of re-offense in the future." 

"Other alternatives would not include comparable levels of intensive treatment, rehabilitation or aftercare," she added.

Inpatient treatment was also recommended by the prosecution and defense.

The man who drove a car into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was convicted of first-degree murder.

A man who drove his car into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, a verdict that local civil rights activists hope will help heal a community still scarred by the violence and the racial tensions it inflamed nationwide.

A state jury rejected defense arguments that James Alex Fields Jr. acted in self-defense during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017. Jurors also convicted Fields of eight other charges, including aggravated malicious wounding and hit and run.

Fields, 21, drove to Virginia from his home in Maumee, Ohio, to support the white nationalists. As a large group of counterprotesters marched through Charlottesville singing and laughing, he stopped his car, backed up, then sped into the crowd, according to testimony from witnesses and video surveillance shown to jurors.

After backlash of being seen carrying torch at Charlottesville rally, Massachusetts native Matt Colligan claims he has left the United States

Prosecutors told the jury that Fields was angry after witnessing violent clashes between the two sides earlier in the day. The violence prompted police to shut down the rally before it even officially began.

Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and civil rights activist, was killed, and nearly three dozen others were injured. The trial featured emotional testimony from survivors who described devastating injuries and long, complicated recoveries.

After the verdict was read in court, some of those who were injured embraced Heyer's mother, Susan Bro. She left the courthouse without commenting. Fields' mother, Samantha Bloom, who is disabled, left the courthouse in a wheelchair without commenting.

A group of about a dozen local civil rights activists stood in front of the courthouse after the verdict with their right arms raised in the air.

"They will not replace us! They will not replace us!" they yelled, in a response to the chants heard during the 2017 rally, when some white nationalists shouted: "You will not replace us! and "Jews will not replace us."

Charlottesville City Councilor Wes Bellamy said he hopes the verdict "allows our community to take another step toward healing and moving forward."

Charlottesville civil rights activist Tanesha Hudson said she sees the guilty verdict as the city's way of saying, "We will not tolerate this in our city."

"We don't stand for this type of hate. We just don't," she said.

White nationalist Richard Spencer, who had been scheduled to speak at the Unite the Right rally, described the verdict as a "miscarriage of justice."

"I am sadly not shocked, but I am appalled by this," he told The Associated Press. "He was treated as a terrorist from the get-go."

Spencer had questioned whether Fields could get a fair trial since the case was "so emotional."

"There does not seem to be any reasonable evidence put forward that he engaged in murderous intent," Spencer said.

Spencer popularized the term "alt-right" to describe a fringe movement loosely mixing white nationalism, anti-Semitism and other far-right extremist views. He said he doesn't feel any personal responsibility for the violence that erupted in Charlottesville.

"Absolutely not," he said. "As a citizen, I have a right to protest. I have a right to speak. That is what I came to Charlottesville to do."

Behind the torch: Massachusetts resident identified in viral photo taken at white nationalist rally in Charlottesville

The far-right rally in August 2017 had been organized in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis and other white nationalists -- emboldened by the election of

President Donald Trump -- streamed into the college town for one of the largest gatherings of white supremacists in a decade. Some dressed in battle gear.

Afterward, Trump inflamed tensions even further when he said "both sides" were to blame, a comment some saw as a refusal to condemn racism.

According to one of his former teachers, Fields was known in high school for being fascinated with Nazism and idolizing Adolf Hitler.

Jurors were shown a text message he sent to his mother days before the rally that included an image of the notorious German dictator. When his mother pleaded with him to be careful, he replied: "we're not the one (sic) who need to be careful."

During one of two recorded phone calls Fields made to his mother from jail in the months after he was arrested, he told her he had been mobbed "by a violent group of terrorists" at the rally. In another, Fields referred to the mother of the woman who was killed as a "communist" and "one of those anti-white supremacists."

Prosecutors also showed jurors a meme Fields posted on Instagram three months before the rally in which bodies are shown being thrown into the air after a car hits a crowd of people identified as protesters. He posted the meme publicly to his Instagram page and sent a similar image as a private message to a friend in May 2017.

But Fields' lawyers told the jury that he drove into the crowd on the day of the rally because he feared for his life and was "scared to death" by earlier violence he had witnessed. A video of Fields being interrogated after the crash showed him sobbing and hyperventilating after he was told a woman had died and others were seriously injured.

Wednesday Bowie, who was struck by Fields' car and suffered a broken pelvis and other injuries, said she felt gratified by the guilty verdict.

"This is the best I've been in a year and a half," Bowie said.

The jury will reconvene Monday to recommend a sentence. Under Virginia law, jurors can recommend from 20 years to life in prison on the first-degree murder charge.
Fields is eligible for the death penalty if convicted of separate federal hate crime charges. No trial has been scheduled yet.

The Hadley hometown store in Hadley will close early next year.

HADLEY - The Sears Hometown store on Route 9 in Hadley, one of the last in Western Massachusetts, will close early next year.

The store, which is independently owned, had previously said it was unaffected by the national franchise's financial troubles and wasn't "going anywhere." 

However, the store will shut its doors sometime in the second week of January 2019, said Cody Hanlon, an associate with the store, by phone Saturday.  

Hanlon said the store owners plan to reopen at a more centralized, "accessible" location at some point in the future, but could not give a specific timeline for when that would occur.

Hanlon further stressed that the store's services would be available online until the business found its new location. 

It's been a fairly dire year for Sears. Stores across Massachusetts have closed throughout the last twelve months. Units closed in Springfield and Peabody in May, while stores in Holyoke and Taunton followed in August. 

 In October, the company filed for bankruptcy and announced that it would be closing an additional 142 stores nationwide.