Owner Andrew Feuerstein said the 968 Bridge Road dealership will otherwise maintain normal operations.
NORTHAMPTON - Volkswagen of Northampton has wound down its merchandizing of new models and will concentrate on the sale of previously owned, late-model cars, its owner said Monday.
Andrew Feuerstein said the 968 Bridge Road dealership will otherwise maintain normal operations, including its service department.
The dealership is not open on Sundays.
The bracelet was reported stolen from an East Longmeadow home on Dec. 5.
SPRINGFIELD – For the second time this month, police captured a suspected thief after the owner of a newly-stolen item spotted it for sale on craigslist.org.
This particular item, a pearl necklace inside a mahogany jewelry box, was stolen during a residential break-in to an East Longmeadow home on Dec. 5, Sgt. John M. Delaney said.
The homeowner, surfing the Internet, spotted the pearl necklace on the site, which offers classified ads. The victim then contacted East Longmeadow police and worked with East Longmeadow Police Sgt. Patrick Manley and detective Joseph Barone to set up a sting.
The thief, who wanted $500 for the necklace, was contacted and a meeting was arranged in front of Wheelers convenience store at Dickinson and Keith streets in Springfield.
Springfield Police Officer Daniel Brunton of the Springfield Police Department assisted in surveilling the corner. “The thief whipped out the necklace and the officer whipped out the cuffs,” Delaney said.
Additional charges may be pending, Delaney said.
Edwin Rodriguez, 17, of 143 Euclid Ave., was charged with receiving stolen property.
Springfield police arrested a 34-year-old city man on Dec. 3 after a vehicle break-in victim spotted his camera gear for sale on craigslist.
Legislators and Gov. Deval L. Patrick are already preparing the new state budget for fiscal year 2013, which starts July 1.
BOSTON -- The economic recovery in Massachusetts will provide state government with $160 million to $400 million more in revenues than projected for this fiscal year, two analysts told top state legislators and officials today.
During a hearing at the Statehouse, David G. Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute, said that tax collections this fiscal year will be $400 million more than a revised estimate of $21.010 billion provided in October by Jay Gonzalez, secretary of administration and finance for Gov. Deval L. Patrick.
Tuerck said tax revenues for this fiscal year will grow by 4.4 percent over the prior year, down from the 10.6 percent growth for the fiscal year that ended June 30 of this year.
"After a strong rebound from the recession, state revenue collections are returning to more normal trends," Tuerck said in his prepared testimony.
Gonzalez said the state's budget picture improved by people working together on Beacon Hill during a fiscal crisis that gripped state government over the past several years.
State legislators are considering ways to spend the extra money projected for this fiscal year. Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said a supplemental budget could be unveiled early next year.
The assessments by economic forecasters are closely watched on Beacon Hill, where legislators and Gov. Deval L. Patrick are already preparing the new state budget for fiscal year 2013, which starts July 1.
During the hearing, Tuerck, Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and Amy Pitter, commissioner of the state Department of Revenue, provided estimates for tax collections for this fiscal year and next. Legislators and Patrick use those estimates for setting the state's estimated $30 billion budget.
Tuerck predicted that tax collections for the fiscal year that starts next July 1 will grow by 4.1 percent over the current fiscal year.
Widmer said tax collections will grow to $21.2 billion for this fiscal year, or $160 million more than the administration projected. Tax collections this fiscal year will see 3.2 percent growth over the prior fiscal year, Widmer said.
For the fiscal year that starts next July 1, Widmer expects 3.9 percent growth in tax revenues over this year.
Pitter was more conservative than Widmer or Tuerck. She estimated tax collections for this fiscal year to be $36 million to $70 million more than projected in October. For the fiscal year that starts next July 1, she projected tax revenue growth of $560 million to $683 more than this fiscal year, or an increase of up to 3.2 percent.
Obituaries from The Republican today.
CHICOPEE Ronald G. "Ronnie" Ricard, 72, of Chicopee, died Saturday at Wingate nursing home in South Hadley. Born in the Chicopee Falls on October 23, 1939, he was a son of the late Hubert and Blanche (Brodeur) Ricard. He was raised in Chicopee Falls and graduated from the former Saint George Elementary School in Chicopee and Cathedral High School in Springfield. He served his country in the United States Navy following the Korean War and attained the rank of boatswain's mate seaman. Following his military service, he returned to the area and furthered his education at what is now Westfield State University. He lived in Holyoke for 20 years before moving back to Chicopee in 2003. He was employed as a teacher in the machine shop at Westover Job Corps in Chicopee. He later taught for 22 years in the machine shop at Putnam Vocational High School in Springfield. During his last few years, he taught auto detailing to special needs students at Putnam. He was an avid fan of of the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics. faRonnie was an avid sports fan who never missed the opportunity to watch the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics.
Obituaries from The Republican:
Conroy will run next year to keep his seat in the 160-member Massachusetts House.
This is an update of a story posted at 9 a.m. today.
Rep. Thomas Conroy (D-Wayland) narrowed his near-term political radar Monday morning, dropping out of the U.S. Senate Democratic primary and saying he'll run next year to keep his seat in the 160-member Massachusetts House.
Outside the State House, Conroy said he was unable to build his name recognition, didn't rule out another race for higher office and said he'd endorse the Democratic frontrunner, Elizabeth Warren, in the race for the seat currently held by Sen. Scott Brown.
Watch video of Conroy's announcement below.
Of the $107.1 million a new high school is expected to cost West Springfield, about $66.8 million will come from the state, leaving with the city with about $38.3 million as its share.
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Officials are poised to break ground Thursday on the $107.1 million new high school to be constructed next to the existing high school building on its campus off Piper Road.
“We’re on schedule and we are glad to get the project actually started, the construction phase of it,” acting Assistant School Superintendent Kevin A. McQuillan said Friday.
“It is a big, complex project. So far, everything has gone well. We are happy with the contractor we have,” McQuillan said of Fontaine Brothers of Springfield, which also built the city’s middle school in 1998.
McQuillan is the School Department’s point person on the project along with School Superintendent Russell D. Johnston.
The project, which is also on budget, is expected to be completed in the spring of 2014.
The ceremony will start at 10 a.m. at Clark Field with remarks by Johnston. That will be followed by a welcoming address by Mayor Edward J. Gibson. Gibson also serves as the chairman of the School Committee.
Among the dignitaries scheduled to speak at the event are Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque and Jack McCarthy, interim executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is providing $68.8 million for the project. That leaves the city’s share of the project at about $38.3 million.
State Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, and state Rep. Michael J. Flinn, D-West Springfield, also will offer remarks. Former state Sen. Stephen Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, will speak, as will David J. Partridge, chairman of the city’s Planning and Construction Committee, which has oversight of the project.
Music will be provided by members of the West Springfield High School Band and the West Springfield Middle School Band.
Representatives will be in attendance from Strategic Building Solutions of Madison, Conn., which is managing the project on behalf of the School Department, and from Symmes, Maini & McKee Associates of Cambridge, the architectural firm on the job.
The new school building has been designed to accommodate 1,200 students in grades 9 through 12. It will be the city’s first new school building since 1998. The original high school building was built in 1955.
Fusco is scheduled to be tried alone because he had traveled to his hometown of Sorrento, Italy, before he was formally charged and fought extradition while his co-defendants stood trial.
NEW YORK - A federal judge Monday denied a request by Longmeadow resident and convicted mobster Emilio Fusco to dismiss murder accusations against him during a scheduled April 16 trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Fusco, 43, is accused in the 2003 murders of Mafia boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and low-level criminal associate Gary D. Westerman, but the allegations are cloaked in allegations of racketeering conspiracy as opposed to direct murder charges. Fusco is the fourth defendant to be tried in connection with the murders.
A judge rejected a defense lawyer's argument that Fusco not be tried for the murders since a 2009 criminal indictment charges him only with racketeering conspiracy, with the murder allegations buried in the language within the charging document. Fusco, 43, is the fourth defendant to be tried for the contract hit on Bruno and the third to be tried for the grisly slaying of Westerman, whom a witness said was shot and bludgeoned to death before being buried in an eight-foot-deep grave on a residential property in Agawam.
Fusco's trial is scheduled to begin April 16, and the clock continues to run down on any opportunity to negotiate a plea deal. However, Fusco does not appear to be angling for a deal based on discussions in a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel set deadlines for lawyers to file motions and a final pretrial conference for April 13.
Three defendants were convicted for the Bruno killing at trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on April 1: onetime mob enforcers Fotios "Freddy" Geas and his younger brother Ty Geas, both formerly of West Springfield; and Arthur "Artie" Nigro, of Bronx, NY, once an underboss for the powerful Genovese crime family. The Geases also were convicted of murdering Westerman, a rival drug dealer who had angered Springfield capo Anthony J. Arillotta, who also was Westerman's brother-in-law.
Arillotta turned informant after his arrest last year.
Fusco was scheduled to be tried alone because he had traveled to his hometown of Sorrento, Italy, before he was formally charged and fought extradition.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel disagreed with defense lawyer Richard Lind's argument that the Italian government unwittingly extradited Fusco, even though he faced murder allegations.
"The Italian courts knew what they were doing," Castel said.
AAA found self-serve, regular selling for as low as $3.15 per gallon and as high as $3.49.
BOSTON – Massachusetts gas prices have dropped for the fourth consecutive week.
The American Automobile Association of Southern New England reported Monday that the average price for a gallon of self-serve, regular dropped a penny to $3.27, the same as the national average.
The current price is 12 cents lower than a month ago, but still 28 cents higher than at the same time last year.
AAA found self-serve, regular selling for as low as $3.15 per gallon and as high as $3.49.
LaTerz said she has put up flyers all through her neighborhood seeking Cassie's return.
EASTHAMPTON – On Veterans Day, Margo LaTerz was mopping the floors in her Easthampton home and had the windows open.
Cassie, her four-year-old Yorkshire terrier was sitting on the back of the couch looking out the window.
About an hour later, LaTerz noticed the dog was gone from her Exeter Street house. She has not been seen since that day.
Cassie is more than a petto LaTerz. LaTerz, 54, said she has been diagnosed with a mild case of Alzheimer’s, disease, a social anxiety disorder and dementia. The dog “actually helps her socialize with people, she said.
“She’s always so cute. She has such an angel face. People want to talk about her and it kind of helps me socialize with other people.”
LaTerz, a retired nurse said, “I’m just really lost, depressed without her.”
The dog stayed with her husband when he was dying of lung cancer, she said, and then helped her cope. “She is really, really a special animal.”
LaTerz is offering a $1,000 reward, a quarter of his savings for his return.
After LaTerz noticed Cassie was missing, she searched the neighborhood. She talked to some kids playing about a block and a half away and the father of one had taken her in, she said. But her dog was fighting with his two Chihuahuas. Before setting her out though, he put a green sweater with gray trim and a skull on her.
She was not wearing a collar, LaTerz, said because she had bathed the dog that morning, but does have a microchip.
LaTerz has called vets, groomers, the animal control officer and other animal rescue agencies looking for help.
She put up posters. “You can’t swing a bat in my neighborhood and not see a flyer.”
Yet, a month later, Cassie is still missing. ̶
"I’ll do anything to get her back," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call (413) 203-5505 or (413) 885-9243 or (530) 859-2490.
Two occupants and a dog safely escaped the blaze.
HOLYOKE - A toaster was the cause of a blaze that heavily damaged a Morgan Street home late Monday morning.
The fire at 112 Morgan St., was reported shortly after 11:30 a.m. and two occupants and a dog safely escaped.
Fire Lt. Thomas Paquin said the home incurred extensive smoke and fire damage and will remain uninhabitable until repairs are made.
The property is owned by Matthew Sikorski.
Minnesota State Representative Keith Ellison, who is Muslim, released a statement condemning Lowe's for choosing "to uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of The First Amendment."
NEW YORK (AP) — Lowe's is planning to stick by its decision to yank its ads from a reality TV show about American Muslims despite the growing opposition the home improvement chain is facing over the move.
California Sen. Ted Lieu put a statement out on Sunday that he is considering calling for a boycott of Lowe's Cos., sparking criticism of the chain from leaders in the Muslim community.
On social media web site Twitter, actor Kal Penn is began directing people to a petition on signon.org in support of the TLC cable network show, "All-American Muslim." By Monday afternoon, there were about 9,200 signatures.
On Monday, Minnesota State Representative Keith Ellison, who is Muslim, released a statement condemning Lowe's Cos. for choosing "to uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of The First Amendment."
And Democratic state Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, the first Muslim elected to the Michigan Legislature, voiced her concerns directly to the company: She wrote a letter to Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock.
"I told them I was extremely disappointed that you give credibility to these hate groups," Tlaib said. "People of Muslim faith are being attacked. It's disappointing, disheartening."
Meanwhile, Lowe's, based in Mooresville, N.C., stood by its Sunday statement that it pulled the advertising after the show became a "lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives - political, social and otherwise" and says "dozens" of other advertisers also pulled their advertising from the show.
"All-American Muslim" premiered last month and chronicles the lives of five families who live in and near Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population. Proponents of the show, which airs on Monday on TLC, say it portrays regular Muslim families living in the U.S.
TLC spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said "All-American Muslim," which ends its first season on Jan. 8, has garnered a little over a million viewers per week. "We stand behind the show All American Muslim and we're happy the show has strong advertising support," she said.
Lowe's stopped running commercials during "All-American Muslim" after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association e-mailed advertisers to ask them to stop advertising on the show.
The group said the program, which follows the lives of Muslim families living in the Metro Detroit area, was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."
Florida Family Association, based in Tampa, Fla., claims that more than 60 advertisers that it e-mailed, from Amazon to McDonalds, have also stopped advertising on the show. But so far Lowe's is the only major company to confirm they pulled their ads from the show.
Amazon and McDonald's and other advertisers did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Home Depot, which was cited by Florida Family Association as an advertiser who stopped advertising, said Monday they never intended to run any ads during the show, but one commercial ran "inadvertently and without our knowledge," according to spokesman Stephen Holmes.
The controversy highlights the fine line companies must walk when they select shows to advertise on.
Branding expert Laura Ries said Lowe's made two mistakes. The first was advertising during a show that could be construed as controversial. The second was pulling advertising too quickly.
"For a big national brand like Lowe's, they've always got to be incredibly careful when advertising during any show that could be deemed controversial," she said. "Will it seriously damage the brand in the long term? Probably not. But it is a serious punch in the stomach."
Overall, analysts said the furor is unlikely to damage Lowe's brand in the long term.
"For a company that generates $50 billion in annual revenue, I don't view this as something that will have a meaningful impact," said Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom. "I'm hopeful this blows over and I'm certain management is as well."
Still, Lowe's ad flap comes at a particularly difficult time for Muslims in in the Metro Detroit area.
Florida pastor Terry Jones held an anti-Islam rally earlier this year outside Dearborn City Hall after being barred from protesting outside a Muslim mosque in the city. A burning of the Quran in March at Jones' church in Florida led to a series of violent protests in Afghanistan that killed more than a dozen people.
"Metro Detroit and Dearborn have been the focal point of a number of anti-Muslim movements," said Dawud Walid, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter. "There are organized forces in our society that want to marginalize American Muslims to the point where they don't want to see any portrayals of Muslims that regular Americans can connect to."
Fire officials expect as many as 12,000 firefighters from across the country for the funeral of firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr., the Worcester firefighter who died in an Arlington Street blaze last week.
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Emilio Fusco's trial promises to essentially follow the blueprint of the Geas-Nigro trial over fewer than two weeks, with a third of the defendants and less than a third of the defense lawyers.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 2:01 this afternoon.
NEW YORK - Longmeadow resident and Italian native Emilio Fusco is charging toward trial in connection with the 2003 murders of Genovese crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and underling Gary D. Westerman.
A judge rejected a defense lawyer's argument that Fusco not be tried for the murders since a 2009 criminal indictment charges him only with racketeering conspiracy, with the murder allegations buried in the language within the charging document. Fusco, 43, is the fourth defendant to be tried for the contract hit on Bruno and the third to be tried for the grisly slaying of Westerman, whom a witness said was shot and bludgeoned to death before being buried in an eight-foot-deep grave on a residential property in Agawam.
Fusco's trial is scheduled to begin April 16, and the clock continues to run down on any opportunity to negotiate a plea deal. However, Fusco does not appear to be angling for a deal based on discussions in a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel set deadlines for lawyers to file motions and a final pretrial conference for April 13.
Three defendants were convicted for the Bruno killing at trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on April 1: onetime mob enforcers Fotios "Freddy" Geas and his younger brother Ty Geas, both formerly of West Springfield; and Arthur "Artie" Nigro, of Bronx, NY, once an underboss for the powerful Genovese family. The Geases also were convicted of murdering Westerman, a rival drug dealer who had angered Springfield capo Anthony J. Arillotta, who also was Westerman's brother-in-law.
The Geas brothers and Nigro are serving life sentences; Arillotta was once charged along with them but turned government informant and offered jurors the most damning testimony against the trio during their three-week trial. He is awaiting sentencing, which likely will be scheduled after the resolution of Fusco's case.
Arillotta told jurors that Nigro annointed him a "made member" of the Genovese family during a secret ceremony in 2003. Then, he and the Geases led a coup against Bruno with Fusco supporting the initiative and winning Nigro's blessing by erroneously convincing New York underbosses that Bruno was an FBI informant. Arillotta also testified that Fusco joined him in smashing Westerman in the head with shovels after the Geases shot him in early November of 2003.
Westerman, of Springfield, a career criminal, had been led to a property off Springfield Street under the guise of committing a home invasion there. Investigators who unearthed his remains seven years laser found a ski mask and taser buried along with his bones and clothes. They also found a cigarette pack in the same hole, which Arillotta testified was Fusco's brand of choice.
Fusco will be tried separately because he fled to Italy before he could be charged, according to prosecutors. He was apprehended by Italian authorities in the summer of 2010 in Sorrento, a small village in southern Italy, and fought extradition to the United States.
His co-defendants briefly faced the federal death penalty although the government ultimately rejected that as a potential sentence; Italy and many other European countries will not extradite their citizens while facing capital punishment. Defense lawyer Richard Lind attempted to argue that the details of his client's extradition were literally lost in the translation and the Italian government shipped him back unaware of the full implications.
"We're seeking to preclude trial on these charges," Lind told Castel.
Castel disagreed.
"The Italian courts knew what they were doing," Castel said.
That nuance in international law no doubt influenced prosecutors in New York from charging Fusco specifically with murder, as his co-defendants had been. Consequently, Fusco does not face a mandatory life sentence as his co-defendants had. The maximum sentence for racketeering conspiracy is 20 years, and Fusco could face up to life in prison if jurors find him culpable of at least one of the jurors on their verdict forms, according to lawyers in the case.
But the distinctions in the charges gives Fusco considerably more wiggle room than his predecessors. Investigators in the case have privately groused that Fusco is in essence being rewarded for fleeing the country before the indictment against him was unsealed.
Arillotta testified that Fusco also was a made member of the Genovese family; Fusco was previously convicted of loan-sharking and racketeering in 2003 and was out on bail when he allegedly joined in the Bruno and Westerman murder plots. His prior conviction stemmed from an illegal gambling and loan-sharking ring in Greater Springfield.
In that case, Fusco was picked up on Massachusetts State Police wiretaps wondering aloud whether one debtor would prefer "cement shoes" to paying up. In a recorded jailhouse conversation seven years later, the Geases refer to "the broken English guy" while worrying over a dig for Westerman's body at the site they buried the man. The FBI and state police swarmed the plot of land days after Arillotta began cooperating with the government. Arillotta told jurors he led officials to the burial site shortly after he became a witness.
Fusco has appeared in court with an Italian interpreter on several occasions. He is being held without bail at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, which has a reputation of being a cramped, trying environment even by prison standards.
Fusco's trial promises to essentially follow the blueprint of the Geas-Nigro trial over fewer than two weeks, with a third of the defendants and less than a third of the defense lawyers.
Calo was arrested in the vicinity of Main and Central Streets.
SPRINGFIELD – Police Sunday charged Victor Calo, 25, of 23 Avon Place with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, possession of crack cocaine, carrying a firearm, possession of ammunition and carying a firearm with three prior violent/drug offenses.
Police Sgt. John Delaney said police officers recovered some crack cocaine on Calo when they made the arrest.
He was arrested in the vicinity of Main and Central Streets after he took off running and threw a handgun to the ground, police said.
Police said Calo was arrested on Dec. 6 for carrying a dangerous weapon.
The Open Education Initiative project provided 10, $1,000 grants and will offer 20 for next fall and spring.
AMHERST - In the spring semester of 2011, two University of Massachusetts offices launched a program to help professors help students save money in textbook costs. Now the university is hoping to increase the savings by offering 20 more grants to faculty members to look at those alternatives.
The Open Education Initiative launched by the provost’s office and the libraries this past spring, provided 10, $1,000 grants to faculty to help them find ways to bring course material to class using any Open Educational Resources and proprietary library resources.
Now, 20 grants will be awarded with four groups involved to continue the project for the fall of 2012 or spring of 2013.
While many professors here and at colleges and universities search on their own this grant program offered formal assistance as well money to compensate faculty for time.
The idea for the program came during a conference call with representatives of a group called the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.
A Temple University library mentioned this grant program launched there, said Barbara Billings, scholarly communication and special initiatives librarian at UMass.
Reducing textbook costs had been a big topic at UMass, so they decided to launch it here, she said.
“We had a very successful first round pilot program,” she said.
For example, Charles Schweik, professor of environmental conservation received two grants. For one course, the professor took his own work and published it in an open access format. Students can now view the course pack free online or get a printed copy for $13. The university has an institutional digital repository so the material will always be available, Billings said.
“These savings are recurring for each time the courses are offered, and directly benefit the very real and very tight budgets of our undergraduate and graduate students,” Provost James V. Staros said in a statement.
Leda M. Cooks, a communication’s professor, received two grants one for a class last semester and one for the upcoming semester. She has been looking at ways to help students save money for several years, she said, but the grant helped her take the time to look at new platforms for those materials with library staff.
“I never would have done that before,” she said.
This semester, students in her Qualitative Methodologies class had no costs at all. She said a dividend of the work exploring new platforms led to graduate students getting involved in improving definitions on Wikipedia.
Helping students save money fits in with her approach to teaching. “I have a background in radical teaching,” Cooks said. “To make academic research accessible.”
Librarians developed a subject guide for available resources to help.
College officials expect that the initial $10,000 investment will save 700 students more than $72,000. Those numbers were based on the prior cost of books and expected student enrollment, Billings said.
That will grow over time, Billings said. Grants are awarded based on review from faculty, Billings said. They will reassess the program again after more participate.
Thomas Raffensperger, library director at Westfield State University, said in an e-mail that he knows of no formal program like at the university but did say that many members of the faculty on their own search for open source material to help reduce textbook costs.
The Dow closed down 163 points, although it had been down 243 points earlier in the day.
NEW YORK – Stocks closed sharply lower Monday after two big rating agencies criticized a fiscal pact between European leaders last week that is aimed at easing the region’s debt crisis.
Fitch Ratings said the deal to bind Europe’s budgets more closely will make little difference. The region will face “a significant economic downturn” as it wrestles with its sovereign debt crisis for another year or more, Fitch predicted. Moody’s said the summit produced “few new measures.”
Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, said the agreement “kicks off a process that has a chance of solving the next crisis, not this one... The problem is the changes they’ve agreed to go toward solving the root of current problems 12 months from now.”
The euro hit a 10-week low against the dollar, plunging nearly 2 cents. Yields on Italian bonds rose as investors fretted about that nation’s debt burden. European stocks fell. Treasury yields fell as investors shifted money into U.S. government debt.
Stocks fell broadly, with declines across all 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Falling stocks outnumbered rising ones four-to-one on the New York Stock Exchange.
Intel Corp. dragged the Dow Jones industrial average lower, falling 4 percent after the chipmaker said its fourth-quarter revenue will be lower than expected because of supply chain problems. Intel is considered a bellwether for the computer industry because its chips are used in a wide range of products.
The Dow closed down 162.87 points, or 1.3 percent, at 12,021.39. It was down as much as 243 points before rising in the final hour of trading. Monday’s loss erased nearly all of the Dow’s gains from last week.
The S&P 500 lost 18.72 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 1,236.47. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 34.59, or 1.3 percent, to close at 2,612.26.
Moody’s Investors Service said earlier in the day that it will review the credit ratings of all European Union nations in the first quarter of next year. The statement doused optimism among investors that had lifted stocks and other risky investments late last week.
Moody’s said Europe remains in a “critical and volatile stage.” The pact, Moody’s noted, does not address Europe’s immediate problem: the crushing debt loads of some nations and their rising borrowing costs. Last week’s agreement calls for tougher fiscal discipline among European countries and a central authority with the ability to punish those that spend too much.
Financial stocks declined steeply. Investors fear that big banks might be damaged by the turmoil in Europe. Morgan Stanley fell 6.1 percent, Citigroup Inc. 5.4 percent. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted the biggest and third-biggest losses in the Dow 30, falling 4.7 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.02 percent from 2.07 percent late Friday, indicating stronger demand for low-risk investments. Bond yields fall as demand for them increases.
Fears that Italy or Spain will default reduced demand for their government bonds, driving their yields higher and pushing their borrowing costs near the dangerous levels that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to take bailouts. The yield on the 10-year Italian bond rose to 6.53 percent. Greece and Portugal were forced to seek bailouts from their creditors when their bond yields approached 7 percent.
Stocks in Italy led European markets to a much lower close. Italy’s main index closed down 3.8 percent. Spain’s fell 3.1 percent, while Germany’s DAX lost 3.4 percent.
Among the top corporate movers:
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. jumped 6 percent after federal regulators approved a new form of one of its pain medications, extending its patent rights over the drug.
Diamond Foods Inc. plunged 22.8 percent after reports of an investigation of its payments to walnut farmers. Lawsuits already have been filed, and more are expected.
Vulcan Materials Co. shot up 15.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after Martin Marietta Materials Inc. made an unsolicited bid to buy the company for $4.74 billion in stock. Martin Marietta rose 1.2 percent.
Up to 25 percent of the vendors at a market may sell non-agricultural goods such as soaps, bread, oils and crafts.
NORTHAMPTON – The Board of Public Works is expected to vote on a newly developed policy for the city’s farmers markets when it meets on Wednesday.
The policy is the work of the Farmers Market Subcommittee, which formed in 2009 and disbanded this month after drafting the document. The final report sets guidelines for the farmers markets in Northampton and makes a number of recommendations for strengthening and improving them.
Currently, there is a Saturday market on Gothic Street and a Tuesday market outside the E. John Gare Municipal Parking Garage on Tuesdays. Both are seasonal. Thornes Marketplace hosts a winter farmers market on Saturdays. Florence also hosts a seasonal farmers market, but it is not affected by the policy because it is on private land.
According to Teri A. Anderson, the city’s Community and Economic Development Coordinator, the farmers markets in Northampton have been thriving.
“The markets are doing well,” Anderson said, “although there is some concern about having too many.”
Among the regulations suggested in the report is that the city not allow two or more farmers markets to operate on the same day on public property. The policy also stipulates that agricultural products sold at the markets must be grown within 75 miles of the site. Up to 25 percent of the vendors at a market may sell non-agricultural goods such as soaps, bread, oils and crafts.
The Parking Department, which manages the parking garage, has already signed off on the policy, Anderson said. The Board of Public Works and the City Property Committee have yet to look at it. All necessary permits are included in the packet, which would be made available to groups interested in operating a farmers market.
“We’re trying to be supportive and streamline the process,” Anderson said.
The town office building has been closed since it took a direct hit from a tornado six months ago.
MONSON – The Board of Selectmen will discuss the status of the tornado-damaged town office building at its meeting on Tuesday night, now that it has received two estimates for repairs that are vastly different from one another.
Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers said that the town’s insurance agency, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, provided an estimate for repairs at $5.3 million, while Fontaine Brothers of Springfield toured the building and said it would cost more than $9 million to repair.
The 1925-building on Main Street, once the town’s high school, has been closed since it took a direct hit from the June 1 tornado.
Selectmen Chairman Richard Smith said the estimate from the insurance company was a preliminary number, and they are waiting for another figure. He also said they are waiting to hear how much demolition would cost.
The cost of building a new structure is still uncertain, and will depend the size, Smith said.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the new location of town offices - Hillside School on Thompson Street.
Historical Commission Chairman Dennis S. Swierad said it is still the opinion of the Historical Commission that the building be preserved.
“We are primarily concerned with the historic preservation. We have concerns about one of the first handicapped ramp drawings. We suspect there are other ways of doing it that are much more historically sympathetic,” Swierad said.
If the building were renovated, the handicapped entrance would be moved to the front of the building. It is on the side of the building now.
Even if the town decides it wants a new town office building in five or 10 years, Swierad said the building could be used as housing for the elderly, or apartments.
“We just think it would be in the best interest of the town to keep the building because once it’s gone, like any other historic structure, it’s gone forever. We have a certain responsibility to the historic nature,” Swierad said.
The commission also is watching what happens to other historically significant structures damaged by the twister - the First Congregational Church’s parsonage, which is for sale, and “Holmbrook,” the green home on Main Street that resembles a haunted house. Swierad said the parsonage dates back to 1915-1920 and he said it’s important because it represents the last of the “big money in town.” By that time, the mills and hat shops that defined Monson were dwindling. Ornate homes were not being constructed anymore.
Holmbrook, which is privately owned, sustained roof damage from the tornado. Swierad said it was built in the 1870s in the 2nd Empire Italianate style. What makes that home special is that its style only was built during a 20-year period, he said. The home also was used as a cafeteria at one time for the old Monson Academy.
The group has assumed responsibility of funding furnishings of a new Senior Center.
WESTFIELD – They are starting out small, $1 at a time, but the ultimate goal of the Friends of the Westfield Senior Center is to raise $500,000 toward furnishing of a new facility.
The group, about 100 strong, will launch what will become a series of fundraising events next week, members William K. Tatro and Susan M. Szenda said this week.
The group has accepted responsibility of raising funding needed to outfit a new Senior Center the city plans to build within the next two years. Construction of a new center is estimated at $6 million. Property on Noble Street, owned by the Westfield Housing Authority, has been selected as the site for the new center.
The first event is “Dining To Donate” to be held Wednesday at the Applebee’s Restaurant at the Westfield Shops on East Main Street. It is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. and patrons who present a special event flyer will see 15-percent of their bill donated to the friends group.
The flyer is available at the Council on Aging office at City Hall, St. John’s Senior Center Relocation Site and on the city’s website www.cityofwestfield.org.
“The flyer must be obtained first and presented to the server at Applebee’s,” said Tatro, vice president of the group.
“We are starting our financial campaign small but we intend to also apply for any available grants to help reach our goal,” he said.
Szenda added “the beginning may appear to be small but our support is growing. Yes, it is $1 at a time but every dollar adds to the goal.”
Tatro and Szenda said many events will be scheduled throughout the year and next. Currently, plans are being finalized for a social gathering and dancing at Shaker Farms Country Club in March.
The Senior Center Building Committee has secured the services of Diversified Project Management Inc. of Newton to assist in creation of the new center. The new facility will replace the current center, located at 40 Main St., that opened in 1983.
Morse, at 22 the city's youngest mayor, will be sworn into office Jan. 3.
HOLYOKE – Mayor-elect Alex B. Morse is scheduled to attend a holiday party with President Obama at the White House Tuesday in a recognition of the 22-year-old’s election as one of the state’s youngest mayors.
Morse also said transition events he held Saturday drew hundreds of residents and officials.
Day-long conferences were held about education, green economy, economic development, public safety, youth engagement, art and creative economy, civic pride and marketing Holyoke.
“That was very helpful. The energy there was just great,” Morse said.
Morse will be sworn into office Jan. 3.
Morse received an invitation to the White House Nov. 28 after having defeated Mayor Elaine A. Pluta on Election Day Nov. 8 to become the youngest mayor elected here. The Worcester County city of Gardner elected a 21-year-old mayor in 1973.
Morse is scheduled to be at the White House party at 6:30 p.m. He is paying with his own money for round-trip flights to Washington, D.C. for himself and Dori Dean, his chief of staff, he said.
He has meetings scheduled Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, a representative of U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and David P. Agnew, deputy director of the White House intergovernmental affairs office, he said.
Morse will try to use whatever chat time he has with Obama and other officials to familiarize them with Holyoke and plant seeds to get help for the Paper City, he said.
On Saturday, a breakfast followed by the daylong conferences were aimed at generating ideas about the specific topics such as public safety and education, he said.
Individuals who participated in discussions about particular topics were asked to leave phone numbers and other contact information to which Morse can refer when he takes office, he said.
“The purpose was for me to have a Rolodex with contact information,” Morse said.
