Voters will have the final say at the annual Town Meeting in May regarding the cuts.

Gretchen E. Neggers

MONSON – Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers explained how “a perfect storm of bad budget news” translated into $124,000 in proposed cuts, including reducing hours for some staffers, at the selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday.

A 16.5 percent increase in health insurance costs, which amounts to $300,000, along with the rising cost of fuel and a costly winter, all contributed to the deficit for fiscal 2012, Neggers explained.

Neggers, who scoured the budget with Finance Director Deborah A. Mahar to look for places to save, said the town is facing serious challenges and has been in the cutting mode for far too long. They initially were looking at a deficit of $129,000, but changed the figure as they studied the budget.

Neggers said they also are assuming that $22,000 for Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School’s capital projects will not be funded. If it is, that would boost the deficit to $146,000.

Voters have the ultimate say on the proposed cuts at the annual Town Meeting on May 9.

Under the proposal, the cemetery director, cemetery laborer, parks and recreation director and parks and recreation laborer would see their hours cut from 40 a week to 35. That saves a combined $20,180.

The commissioners for each department could choose other areas to take the money from, however.

Parks and Recreation Director Timothy J. Pascale, who attended the meeting, said he is glad the commission will have a chance to weigh in, and added that he is not in favor of cutting the department’s only skilled labor. Pascale said there are seasonal employees whose hours could be reduced.

Other reductions include cutting $2,310 from the town clerk’s budget, which would change the assistant town clerk’s hours from 33 to 30 hours a week, and $2,720 from Board of Health, reducing that clerk’s hours from 34 to 31 hours a week.

In some cases, such as with police salaries ($5,000), collector’s office ($3,000), and animal control ($1,000), the budget requests were found to exceed the projected need, Neggers said.

Other cuts include: $5,000 from police expenses; $12,000 from emergency dispatch (an E911 grant is being used instead); $1,000 from assessors; $1,000 from the building department, where a budget line item for a part-time inspector is never used; $500 from emergency management, eliminating the expense account; $4,000 from school transportation; $25,000 from the highway department because Chapter 90 road repair funds are being used to offset salaries; $4,000 from the Council on Aging (the reduction is up to the department head); $7,000 from the library (reduction also up to the department head); and $28,000 in capital expenses.

Neggers reduced school transportation by only $4,000, instead of $80,000 as the Finance Committee had wanted, because she was concerned that if the School Department is unable to buy new buses again this year, it could prove to be a costly mistake if one or more buses broke down.

The $80,000 would fund three new buses. There are 16 in the fleet, and the newest date back to 2005, the oldest to 1999.

Authorities said Wayne Burston, 27, was tracked to a Pleasant Street apartment, where he surrendered without a fight on Tuesday.

WARE -- Police arrested an armed robbery suspect early Tuesday morning after tracking him to an apartment in Ware.

Police said Wayne Burston, 27, did not put up a fight when a team of law enforcement officers descended on 95B Pleasant St. shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Authorities declined to say what specifically led them to Burston, who was wanted in connection with an April 10 gunpoint robbery in Ware and was believed to be armed and dangerous.

Burston, whose last known address was on Canal Street in Ware, was charged with three counts of armed robbery and single counts of carrying a gun without a license and using a firearm during a felony. He was expected to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Eastern Hampshire District Court, but the outcome of that event was not immediately known.

Members of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and officers from the Ware and Worcester police departments took part in the operation, which went smoothly, according to a Ware police official.

The official said Burston was found in a rear bedroom inside the Pleasant Street apartment.

Police said Ware's alleged accomplice, Michael J. Estridge, 21, was previously charged in connection with the robbery, which occurred on Cherry Street. When Burston could not be located after the incident, authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.

Burston and Estridge are accused of robbing three individuals, one of whom claimed Burston stuck a gun in his face and told him to empty his wallet, according to police.

View Larger Map

Hastings allegedly stole thousands of dollars from more than a dozen people when he operated Good Deal auto sales at 180 Boston Road in Springfield.

The Republican / File photo

SPRINGFIELD – A prosecutor on Tuesday told Hampden Superior Court jurors the state will prove Jon Hastings stole thousands of dollars from more than a dozen people when he operated Good Deal auto sales at 180 Boston Road in 2008 and 2009.

Assistant District Attorney Richard B. Morse said Hastings, of 3 Mineral Springs Road in Ludlow, took money from customers and never delivered on the cars.

In other cases, Morse said, Hastings took money and delivered on the cars but not the title. The cars were towed away when reported stolen by an auto wholesaler, Morse said.

Defense lawyer Frank P. Buendo Jr. declined to make an opening statement at the start of the trial before Judge John A. Agostini.

Hastings, 51, faces two counts of larceny of a motor vehicle and 14 counts of larceny over $250.

Morse said jurors would hear from 11 people who gave money to Hastings for cars.

After they gave the money, Morse said some got “what is known as in the common parlance as the run around.”

“They all ultimately ended up with nothing,” he said.

He said Hastings is also accused of stealing from an auto wholesaler and a credit union.

Mueller apparently resigned over a video uploaded to YouTube showing a portion of a speech he gave at the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation gala fund-raiser.

File photo | The RepublicanPaul Mueller

SPRINGFIELD – Paul Mueller, morning anchor and news reporter at abc40 and FOX6 in Springfield, resigned abruptly Monday, apparently over a video uploaded to YouTube over the weekend.

Dave Baer, the station’s news director, confirmed Mueller’s resignation. “Paul is a great guy. We do miss him here, we do wish him the best,” said Baer, who did not provide details about the resignation.

The video, no longer available on YouTube, showed a portion of a speech Mueller delivered as master of ceremonies of a fund-raiser gala Saturday night in Holyoke for the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation. Walker-Hoover is the 11-year-old Springfield student who hung himself two years ago after relentless bullying at school.

According to the website TVSpy, Mueller volunteered to emcee the event after organizers reached out to abc40/FOX6, which was honored last month by the Massachusetts & Rhode Island Associated Press awards in the Public Affairs category for its coverage of bullying prevention through its “Bully Busters” series.

TVSpy reported:

An attendee of the event captured part of a speech that Mueller gave to the packed house in which the anchor appeared to be intoxicated, drawing astonished looks from the crowd as well as a few laughs.

The Public Affairs award for bullying coverage was one of four 2011 AP awards abc40 and FOX6 won, including Best Newscast. "The station has been very much in the forefront of featuring stories that deal with bullying,” Baer said. “This is a very important topic for us.”

Paul Mueller

Ward received 481 votes and Wisnewski received 350 in an election that drew 10% of registered voters.

View full size

GREENFIELD – The results of the city’s preliminary election are in and two candidates have been chosen to run for an at-large seat on the Town Council in the general election.

The field has been narrowed to Cameron P. Ward, who received 481 votes, and Mark P. Wisnewski, who received 350 votes.

The third contender, Karen T. Renaud, received 307 votes, according to town clerk Maureen T. Winseck.

Wisnewski is the former councilor for Precinct 5, a position he held for five years.

At-large councilor Daniel Guin said earlier this year he would retire from his seat after almost a decade.

City officials had petitioned the state to allow them to cancel the preliminary election because of the high cost and historically low voter turnout in non-mayoral contests.

This year’s turnout was 10 percent, according to town clerk Maureen T. Winseck.

“I’m very, very pleased to have received the most votes,” said Ward. “The next thing we need to do is find out why 9,000 people didn’t vote.”

“It’s very important to me that everyone in Greenfield is heard,” he said. “I am anxious to find out what the other 9,000 voters want for their town."

Winseck brought the proposed election cancellation to the Town Council. After Tuesday’s ballots were tallied, she said, “I think democracy is always good. The democratic process survived.”

The general election will be held June 14. There are 11 seats available. The at-large councilor position is the only contested race.

Prosecutor Jeremy Bucci told Judge Bertha Josephson that the chemist's report is not yet ready because so many samples of different substances are being tested.

John SuchockiEdmund L. Bowen

NORTHAMPTON – The defendants in a case involving an alleged methamphetamine lab on Bridge Street appear headed for a July trial.

Prosecutor Jeremy Bucci told Judge Bertha D. Josephson Tuesday that his office intends to try Edmund L. Bowen, 27, Lauren A. Chunglo, 20, Ryan Chunglo, 18, and Alexander Viands, 20, together. The four were arrested after police uncovered what they say was a methamphetamine lab at 227 Bridge St. last October, where the Chunglo’s lived with their father.

Police say Bowen, a homeless man, also lived in the house for several months, during which he manufactured the drug, teaching the method to the Chunglos and Viands, Lauren Chunglo’s boyfriend. Bowen, Ryan Chunglo and Viands are each charged with distributing methamphetamines. All four are charged with conspiracy to violate a drug law.

Bucci told Josephson Tuesday that the chemist’s report is not yet ready because so many samples of different substances are being tested. Chamberland, who represents Bowen, maintains that any drug evidence seized at the house was destroyed and not sent to the police lab. The court has granted Chamberland’s request to hire his own investigator to identify chemicals found at the house.

Josephson scheduled a pretrial conference for May 28 and set a May 31 deadline for filing motions. The matter is tentatively scheduled for trial in July.

The wife of a prominent human rights lawyer who disappeared for two months amid a massive Chinese security crackdown says her husband has returned home and appears to be well.

(AP Photo/Greg Baker, File)In this Friday, July 17, 2009 file photo, Chinese lawyer Jiang Tianyong looks at the half empty office of the Gongmeng rights group's legal research center after it was closed down by Chinese authorities in Beijing, China. The last time the prominent Chinese lawyer Jiang was seen or heard from, he was visiting his brother in a Beijing suburb when police grabbed him and threw him into a waiting van, pushing aside his elderly mother who had clung on to the vehicle. Jiang is among dozens of well-known lawyers and activists across China who have vanished, been interrogated or criminally detained for subversion in recent weeks, in a crackdown that human rights groups say is on a scale and intensity not seen in many years. Activists say China's massive security apparatus is using the government's anxiety over possible Middle East-inspired protests as a pretext for the crackdown.

BEIJING (AP) — The wife of a prominent human rights lawyer who disappeared for two months amid a massive Chinese security crackdown says her husband has returned home and appears to be well.

The wife of Beijing attorney Jiang Tianyong says that he returned home Tuesday evening. Wife Jin Bianling said Wednesday Jiang just wanted to "rest for a while" and that it was not convenient to talk.

Jiang disappeared on Feb. 19 as he was visiting his brother in a Beijing suburb. Police grabbed him and threw him into a waiting van.

He is among dozens of well-known lawyers and activists across China who have vanished, been interrogated or criminally detained for subversion in recent weeks. Human rights groups say the crackdown is on a scale not seen in many years.

Voters established the commission in 2009 to study how to make government run more efficiently.

A copy of Holyoke's 1896 Charter.

HOLYOKE – Reducing the number of voting wards was a key part of the charter study commission’s recommended changes to modernize government, but that will have to wait.

Another 10 years.

The commission learned April 8 from state agencies that the deadline to redraw voting district, or ward, lines is June 15 – a deadline only weeks away – and not June 2012 as commission members had thought.

Cities and towns are redistricting based on population information from the federal 2010 Census.

But ward lines must be based on the existing charter, and that means the city’s seven ward system must remain.

Voters established the nine-member commission in 2009 to recommend ways to make government more efficient by changing the 115-year-old charter. The charter is a 20-page document that details the parts of government.

The commission is close to submitting its final report for recommended changes. But the charter couldn’t be changed until voters determine its fate on the Nov. 8 election ballot. That means redistricting probably must wait for the next census in 10 years.

And members at the commission’s meeting last week were not pleased, blaming what they said was an at-times impenetrably vague state bureaucracy.

Carl Eger Jr.

“This is hurting so badly, there aren’t enough negative adjectives,” Chairman Carl Eger Jr. said.

“What is being thrown in our face at the last minute is so terribly disheartening,” member Sheryl Y. Quinn said.

“We wasted our time,” member John G. Whelihan said.

The commission had proposed reducing the City Council from the current 15 members, consisting of eight elected at large and seven elected from the wards, to 11, consisting of six elected at large and five by ward.

Under the commission’s desired plan, the School Committee would shrink from the current nine members, with seven ward members and two at large, to a seven-member board, with five ward members and two at large.

But notifications from the office of Secretary of State William F. Galvin and the office of Attorney General Martha M. Coakley about the redistricting deadline forced the commission to revisit its work.

The commission voted 6-3 last week to reduce the City Council, but to an 11-member format, consisting of 7 ward councilors and four at large.

The commission voted 9-0 to keep the current School Committee format.

Some commission members welcomed the redistricting deadline because they had opposed changing the ward total from seven, believing voters want to avoid losing any representation.

“I believe this is a good thing,” commission member Andrew L. Melendez said.

Eger said commission consultant Stephen McGoldrick learned of the redistricting deadline from the secretary of state’s office on April 8 and commission members learned the details on April 11.

McGoldrick is deputy director of the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at the McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts, in Boston.

Also, the June 15 redistrict´ing deadline was mentioned in a recent letter to the commission from Assistant Attorney General Kelli E. Gunagan.

An option exists that commission members rejected as being the opposite of efficient, related to an issue the city of Lawrence deals with.

McGoldrick said Lawrence now has a set-up in which voting ward lines are determined one way for city elections, and another way for state and federal elections. That forces the city to mail notices informing voters about different voting places every time there’s an election, he said.

“It’s a nightmare,” McGoldrick said.

Eger was asked later about the likelihood that critics of the charter review process might question how the commission was unaware until only recently of such an important redistricting deadline.

“That’s why you have a consultant,” said Eger, praising McGoldrick for learning the deadline.

Still, as commission member Daniel B. Bresnahan said during the meeting, “I just can’t believe this late in the game, nobody knew this was going to happen?”

The ballot question is to fund the purchase of a new pumper truck.

Republican file photoHampden Selectmen Chairman John D. Flynn

HAMPDEN – A proposed $360,000 debt exclusion override question is on the May 1 town election ballot.

The question, which is being proposed by the Board of Selectmen, is for the purchase of a new Fire Department pumper truck.

Selectmen Chairman John D. Flynn said the proposed purchase of a new Fire Department pumper truck must first win the approval of voters at Monday’s annual town meeting.

The new pumper truck is needed to replace a 1975 Maxim and an old tanker.

Flynn said the Maxim carries a driver and passenger and has running boards on the back to carry the other firefighters. It is no longer permitted under today’s standards to carry firefighters who are not belted into a seat, Flynn said.

Voters will be asked to authorize borrowing of the full $360,000, but $150,000 to $200,000 may be taken from the town’s stabilization, or savings, account, with the remainder to be bonded, Flynn said.

The town has more than $1 million in the stabilization account, he said.

Another annual $36,000 bond for a Fire Department vehicle is about to be paid off, Flynn said.

“We are talking about replacing one payment with another,” he said.

The town has a habit of disapproving Proposition 2½ override questions to increase revenues to fund the town operating budget, but has approved debt exclusion override questions for equipment and new schools.

The difference between a Proposition 2½ override question and a debt exclusion override is that a debt exclusion override is approved only for the life of the bond, Flynn said.

The town’s Advisory Committee will meet Thursday night at 6 at the Hampden Town House to finalize its recommendations for Monday’s annual Town Meeting.

Besides the debt exclusion override question, the only other contest on the May 1 Hampden town election ballot is for Park Commission. Three candidates are running for two, three-year positions. They are incumbent Michael Cronin, the Democratic caucus nominee, Frederick P. Frangie, an unaffiliated candidate who is president of the Recreation Association of Hampden, and Timothy James Shannon, the Republican caucus nominee.

The White House drug czar wants doctors, states and law enforcement working harder to stop America's deadliest drug-abuse problem: highly addictive prescription painkillers. They are killing more people than heroin and cocaine combined as they foster a slew of illegal "pill mill" clinics centered in Florida.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, center, accompanied by Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske, left, and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Howard Koh, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 19, 2011, to announce new prescription drug safety measures and a plan to fight prescription drug abuse. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer

MIAMI (AP) — The White House drug czar wants doctors, states and law enforcement working harder to stop America's deadliest drug-abuse problem: highly addictive prescription painkillers. They are killing more people than heroin and cocaine combined as they foster a slew of illegal "pill mill" clinics centered in Florida.

The federal government on Tuesday announced its first-ever comprehensive strategy to combat the abuse of oxycodone and other opioids, aiming to cut misuse by 15 percent in five years. That goal may sound modest, but it would represent a dramatic turnaround: Emergency room visits from prescription drug overdoses doubled from 2004 to 2009, when they topped 1.2 million, according to federal health officials.

"To say we are going to do away with the problem in five years, we cannot do that," said Dr. Roland Gray, medical director of the Nashville-based Tennessee Medical Foundation and a Food and Drug Administration adviser on addiction issues. "I think they are headed in the right direction."

The new approach will depend on education, stepped-up law enforcement and pill-tracking databases, with particular emphasis on Florida, where 85 percent of all oxycodone pills in the nation are prescribed. Many of those end up along the East Coast and in Appalachia, where people take buses to Florida just to get pills in phenomenon dubbed the "OxyContin Express."

"The key is that everyone realizes there is no magic answer to this," Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama's national drug policy director, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's a really complex problem."

Danny Webb, the sheriff of Kentucky's rural Letcher County, said he would welcome a 15 percent drop in misuse of prescription drugs.

"Anything would help, because we're drowning in it up here in eastern Kentucky," Webb said, adding that he is skeptical any government plan will ultimately work. "I don't know if there's ever going to be a winning to this war on drugs."

In this April 15, 2011 photo, a protester carries a sign protesting against a pain clinic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Florida is the epicenter of the deadly rise in abuse of oxycodone and similar addictive painkillers, with doctors in the Sunshine State prescribing far more of the drugs than all other states combined, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And Florida's pill mills are the supplier of choice for much of the eastern U.S., causing a ripple effect of drug overdoses and addiction to the north _ a phenomenon dubbed the "OxyContin Express." (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

When used properly, oxycodone and similar medications help people deal with chronic pain by slowly releasing key ingredients over many hours. Abusers crush the pills and sniff or inject them, resulting in a euphoric heroin-like high.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths from painkillers have risen from less than 4,000 in 2000 to more than 11,000 in 2007, the most recent statistics available. Cocaine deaths went from about 3,000 in 2000 to more than 5,000 in 2007; for heroin, the numbers have remained steady at around 2,000 each year.

The agency also reported last year that drug-induced deaths, led by these painkiller drugs, are now second only to car crashes in accidental fatalities nationwide.

Renee Doyle, a Fort Lauderdale mother whose son Blayne was in an oxycodone haze when he was struck and killed by a car in 2009, said he was able to get 240 pills on each monthly visit to a local pain clinic by doing little more than asking for them.

"I think people were just not paying attention and then greed took over," she said. "They are legal drug dealers and they should be outlawed."

There are plenty of legitimate pain clinics. Those that cross the line dispense hundreds of pills per patient based on questionable diagnoses — or none at all. They often accept only cash and direct people to get prescriptions filled at specific pharmacies sometimes owned by the same operators.

Although the DEA and local police recently arrested more than 20 people, including five doctors, in a crackdown on South Florida pill mills, Kerlikowske said it's not strictly a law enforcement issue.

"It's a real collaboration. It's not just a prosecutor and DEA. It isn't just the medical profession. It's everybody," he said.

FILE - In this March 28, 2011 file photo, Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks at a news conference in Tallahassee, Fla. concerning the pill mill problem in the state. Scott and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear on Thursday, April 14, 2011 urged Congress to help states fight the rise of so-called "pill mills" and the abuse of prescription painkillers hurting their states' communities. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon, File)

The strategy announced by Kerlikowske's office calls for additional training on responsible prescription practices for the more than 1 million doctors authorized to prescribe certain controlled substances. Such a change would require congressional approval.

"There has been a flood of new medicines and many of the physicians out there weren't trained in using them, so there's a big gap in understanding how to manage these drugs," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, who directs the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Another element of the strategy is a national education campaign featuring ads like the famous frying-egg "this is your brain on drugs" ad used in past anti-drug efforts. Key to that is making sure parents keep prescription drugs out of the hands of their children, who are now abusing them more than any illegal drug except marijuana. Drug companies will be asked to contribute money to the effort.

The plan also calls for continued aggressive law enforcement efforts and better training, as well as modest increases of $123 million for drug prevention and $99 million more for treatment programs.

In Florida, Miami DEA chief Mark R. Trouville said he expects some physicians to be indicted based on a recent undercover probe involving 340 pill purchases.

"We're trying to make a statement that if you think you're sliding by in a gray area, you're not, and we're coming," Trouville said.

The plan also calls for all 50 states to adopt prescription drug monitoring programs to track what physicians are prescribing and what pharmacies are dispensing. Currently, 35 states have such programs up and running. They are authorized but not yet operational in eight more states, including Florida.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said every state needs to track drug purchases, adding that Florida accounts for 60 percent of the black-market painkillers in his state.

"When one state doesn't have it, it can have terrible ramifications for other states," Conway said.

Many experts and law enforcement officials say the lack of a Florida database is a key reason so many painkillers are prescribed in the state, which is home to more than 850 registered pain clinics.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a conservative Republican elected last year on a pro-business platform, initially objected to the database as an invasion of privacy and vowed to kill it. But an increasing number of lawmakers, along with Republican state Attorney General Pam Bondi and governors from other states, have lined up to support the tracking system and it now appears safe.

The medical director of Covidien, which makes some of the drugs the federal effort targets, expressed support for the government's strategy. Dr. Herb Neuman said an alliance of medical and patient safety groups has been working to educate patients and help physicians with responsible prescription methods.

"Access to these medications must be limited to patients suffering from chronic pain and possessing a valid prescription," Neuman said.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone in Washington and Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., contributed to this story.

Higgins governed through periods of personal crisis, losing her mother and two brothers over the past several years while barely skipping a council meeting.

Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins

NORTHAMPTON – It’s still too early for retrospectives, but as Mary Clare Higgins prepares to step down as mayor after more than a decade, both her admirers and critics agree she has left her stamp on Northampton.

Higgins announced last week that she will leave City Hall in September to take over the reins of CommunityAction!, a human services agency with a $26 million budget and a range of programs throughout Franklin and Hampshire counties. Although she is leaving a few weeks short of completing her sixth term, no one has been elected mayor of Northampton more times than Higgins. David B. Musante, Jr. also served six terms, from 1980 to 1992. His successor, Mary L. Ford, ran City Hall from 1992 until 2000, when Higgins was first elected. They are the only three mayors Northampton has had in the last 31 years.

Higgins, who served as a city councilor prior to her stint as mayor, had a grace period of a couple of years before a dramatic decline in state revenues put her budgeting skills to the test. She successfully lobbied for two Proposition 2½ overrides during her tenure, lost another by eight votes and saw voters approve the Community Preservation Act, which has helped fund numerous projects since it was adopted in 2005. Throughout this period of fiscal austerity, Higgins managed to craft a dozen budgets that kept the city operating at a high level of service with a minimum of blood-letting.

Higgins also governed through periods of personal crisis, losing her mother and two brothers over the past several years while barely skipping a council meeting. In 2007, doctors sawed her skull open to remove a mass on her optic nerve near her brain. Again, she was back in action promptly, watching the City Council on television only days after her surgery.

During her time in office, Higgins has taken heat on a number of issues. Critics questioned the openness of her administration after she crafted a deal in private with Smith College concerning the construction of a science center on Green Street. They also took her to task for choosing a hotel project near Pulaski Park over a commercial project that outbid it $750,000 to $1. The hotel plan ultimately fell through for lack of funding.

Ward 5 Councilor David A. Murphy was skeptical of Higgins’ skills when she first took office, worrying that she was letting economic development slide. Higgins listened to Murphy’s concerns, however, and he soon came around, supporting her for her second run at office. Murphy said he has grown to appreciate Higgins’ budgeting prowess.

“Since she’s been mayor, the state has done nothing but reduce support for cities and towns,” he said. “She’s operated with one hand tied behind her back and done pretty well.”

Eugene A. Tacy, the councilor for Ward 7, has not been as easy to convince. Tacy has consistently questioned Higgins’ spending decisions and still believes the city can trim a lot of costs. Nonetheless, he gives her high grades overall.

“There area lot of things we don’t agree on, but I think she’s been a good mayor,” he said. “You can’t discount the fact that she’s been elected six times.”

State Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton, not only represents Northampton in the Legislature but lives in the city. Speaking in both capacities, Kocot has nothing but praise for Higgins.

“The quality of life here is outstanding, and I think it’s a testament to her skills,” he said.

Although CommunityAction! wanted her to start sooner, Higgins will remain in office to put together her final budget, which she expects to present to the City Council by the end of June. When she does depart, Council President David J. Narkewicz will take over as acting mayor for the remainder of the term.

File photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanMary Clare Higgins, seen here last month announcing that she would not seek reelection as mayor of Northampton, announced Wednesday that she will step down in September, paving the way for City Council President David Narkewicz, who is also a candidate for mayor, to take over temporarily as acting mayor.

Pintu Chawla said he will keep all the pool tables and add some new television sets.

The Republican / Mark M. MurrayPintu Chawla, shown in his Pintu's Indian Palace on Elm Street in West Springfield, plans to open a new restaurant, Q Pint2's, at the former Boston Billiards on Riverdale Street in May.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Pintu Chawla, the owner of Pintu’s Indian Palace, recently completed the purchase of the old Boston Billiards building on Riverdale Street through his Veeji LLC for $1.4 million.

That means he is on track to open a new, late-night food restaurant at 885 Riverdale St. sometime in May, Chawla said last week.

Chawla had originally planned to open the new business last October, but clearing various hurdles took longer than anticipated, he said. At this point, Chawla said he is looking at opening the venture in mid- to late-May.

“I’m looking forward to it. It will be a dream come true,” Chawla said. “It will be one of the biggest pool houses in the area.”

The restaurateur said he will keep all the pool tables in the building and add some new television sets. Chawla has estimated the project will cost him about $2 million and create 45 to 50 jobs.

The new restaurant will not close until 2 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and until 1 a.m. the rest of the week. The kitchen will serve food until 1 a.m. The menu will focus on fusion, featuring pasta, pub food, wraps and buffalo wings.

Chawla has purchased the liquor license held by the former Rein’s New York Style Deli. The new restaurant will be called Q Pint2’s, a play on the words Pintu and cue. Chawla plans to continue operating his Pintu’s restaurant on Elm Street, which he reopened last fall after it had closed because of damage caused by a fire in the kitchen.

Records on file the Assessor’s Office show that Veerji LLC bought the bowling alley March 31 from 885 Riverdale LLC for $1,433,565. The land and building at the site are assessed at $1,398,700. The land alone at the property is assessed at $768,400.

Oil prices rose above $109 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. gasoline supplies fell for a second week, suggesting higher fuel costs haven't yet curbed demand.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)James Moody fills up his car's tank with gasoline Tuesday, March 22, 2011, in St. Louis. Oil prices rose above $104 per barrel Tuesday as traders continued to focus on a series of international crises that will drive world supply and demand this year.

By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices rose above $109 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. gasoline supplies fell for a second week, suggesting higher fuel costs haven't yet curbed demand.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was up 86 cents at $109.14 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 59 cents to settle at $108.28 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude for June delivery was up 60 cents to $121.93 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that gasoline inventories fell 1.8 million barrels last week, following a plunge of 7 million barrels the previous week. The API also said crude supplies rose 667,000 barrels while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had forecast an increase of 1.6 million barrels.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports its weekly supply data later Wednesday.

Traders have been watching closely for signs that the 29 percent jump in oil prices since mid-February will undermine demand, but strong consumption numbers from the U.S. and China suggest that it hasn't yet.

"There is little in the way of solid evidence that oil demand growth has slowed down from the unsustainably high pace of growth seen in 2010," Barclays Capital said in a report.

Some Asian analysts expect higher fuel costs to quicken inflation and lead central bankers in the region to boost lending rates. China, South Korea and Thailand are likely to raise rates the most while oil price subsidies should lessen the impact of higher global energy costs in Indonesia, Malaysia and India, Credit Suisse said in a report.

"The oil price shock will encourage a more hawkish monetary policy stance in the short term than would otherwise have been the case," Credit Suisse said. "Fiscal policy on the other hand will probably be somewhat more stimulative as governments attempt to shield the lowest paid from the harshest effects of the commodity price surge."

In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil rose 1.5 cents to $3.17 a gallon and gasoline gained 1.6 cents at $3.25 a gallon. Natural gas futures were up 3.5 cents at $4.30 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Crews will work between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.; if inclement weather prevents construction, the schedule will move to the next day.

AMHERST – With bonding secured and a contractor in place, the town has begun repaving more than 10 miles of town roads.

Warner Brothers Inc. of Sunderland, which was hired to do the work, has begun with Bay, Shutesbury and Rolling Ridge roads, State and Mill streets and Campbell Court. Crews will work between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. If inclement weather prevents construction, the schedule will move to the next day.

Town Meeting last November approve a $4.5 million bond bill to begin attacking the $19 million backlog in road repair projects.

Public Works officials are advising that people check the department's website and look for DPW Projects and then Townwide Resurfacing Project.

This site will provide the most recent updates of where crews will be working.

The town also has posted a tentative list of streets that will be repaved during this calendar year. Roads will be repaired over the next two years.

The town will be trying to close roads to through traffic whenever possible to reduce the number of police officer details required, according to a press release. Residents will have access to their driveways, but there may be short delays to allow construction vehicles or workers to pass, according to the release. No parking will be allowed on either side of the street during construction. Detours may be in place and motorists should expect delays.

A 2-story, 4,080-square-foot building has been proposed for land on the south side of Garden Street to the east of the Garden Street exit off Route 57.

The Republican file photo

AGAWAM – Local contractor Thomas Russo Jr. hopes to build an office building on 2.2 acres he owns on Garden Street.

Russo said last week constructing the office building should cost about $500,000. He said he does not have any tenants lined up yet.

Russo is also in the process of building homes in his 17-lot Zack’s Estates project off School Street. The Planning Board will take up site plans for the proposed office building when it meets Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Agawam Public Library.

A two-story, 4,080-square-foot building has been proposed for land on the south side of Garden Street to the east of the Garden Street exit off Route 57, according to material on file in the Planning Department Office. The land is zoned Business B, which allows for general business uses.

The southern portion of the site, which is raw land, consists of woods with a large wetland. Because the land has a wetland, Russo will have to get authorization from the Conservation Commission to develop the site in addition to getting the Planning Department to approve his site plans.

The northern portion of the lot, which will be the site of the proposed building, consists of upland meadows. Land abutting the property is being used by Vermette Auto Body, O’Connell Construction and South Kittredge Equipment Co. Russo hopes some day to develop the six acres he owns to the east of the proposed office building as condominiums.

Plans call for 19 parking spaces, including two spaces accessible to vans for the handicapped.

When President Barack Obama arrives at Facebook headquarters Wednesday, he will be the first sitting head of state to visit the brick-and-mortar home of the social media powerhouse.

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When President Barack Obama arrives at Facebook headquarters Wednesday, he will be the first sitting head of state to visit the brick-and-mortar home of the social media powerhouse.

He will also be partaking in a unique pilgrimage to this area in Northern California that has become a cradle for social media, a trip that is all but obligatory for politicians like presidential hopefuls, celebrities like Lady Gaga and dignitaries from around the world like Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

Such visits to the hottest tech companies in Northern California's Silicon Valley offer a traditional chance to connect face-to-face with new-media users, voters, fans and potential donors. But the A-listers of entertainment and government also gain important cachet that comes from fusing their personal images with the technology brands the world sees as the future.

For politicians especially, this moment in the history of technology must feel like it did for their counterparts a half-century ago, when leaders knew they had to get wise to this new thing called television.

And as the 1960 televised presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy showed, some politicians turn out to be better than others at commanding a new mass medium.

Obama was the first president to take office after social media became commonplace. His campaign earned praise for its skill at using the Web to organize grass-roots fundraising and voting efforts.

Today, the president's official Facebook page has more than 19 million fans and his Twitter account nearly 7.5 million followers (still fewer than Lady Gaga, who has nearly 9.5 million followers). During his visit to Facebook, Obama's appearance will be broadcast live online as he takes questions from among the site's 500 million users worldwide.

Andrew Noyes, a public policy communications manager for Facebook, confirmed Tuesday that Obama's stop there would be the first time a sitting head of state takes questions at its headquarters.

These new versions of the traditional town hall give politicians the opportunity to appear as if they are interacting with the public in a more unfiltered way. But staffers are often behind the online profiles, composing Twitter and Facebook posts for their busy bosses.

As a result, the value of genuine face time still holds sway.

Obama's embrace of technology has coincided with his embrace of the tech industry, which in the liberal San Francisco Bay area tends to lean Democratic.

In February, the president came to Silicon Valley for dinner with the tech industry's biggest stars, raising a glass at venture capitalist John Doerr's Woodside home with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Steve Jobs, Google's then-chief executive Eric Schmidt and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

The event was closed to the press, but publicity photos handed out afterward showed the president mingling with the industry leaders whose faces have become nearly as famous as those of the celebrities whose attention they command.

Obama praised the tech industry at the time as an economic bright spot and a jobs engine for the country. Employment will also be the topic of the Facebook town hall, even as the president's own job and those of his Democratic colleagues will be on his mind when he lands in San Francisco.

Obama will host four fundraising events while in the Bay Area, including a private dinner for 60 at the home of Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The event has sold out at $35,800 a seat, the newspaper reported.

Springfield police are asking for the public's help in finding the gunman who shot two city teenagers on Tuesday.

Staff Photo by DON TREEGERSpringfield Police Detective James McCoy photographs blood stains and evidence recovered in the parking lot of Express Gas & Food Mart at 1107 State Street. The store was the site of a double shooting late Tuesday afternoon.

SPRINGFIELD -- Police are asking the public to help them find the gunman who shot two teenagers outside a State Street convenience store shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The victims, both 19, were each shot once by the same-caliber weapon, Springfield Police Detective Lt. Trent Duda said Wednesday.

Two shell casings, both of the same caliber, were recovered in the parking lot of Express Gas & Food Mart at 1107 State St.

That would seem to suggest one shooter, although police have not ruled out the possibility of another assailant.

"At this point we're not sure," Duda said.

The daylight shooting was reported at 4:55 p.m., just as the afternoon rush hour was getting underway. The State Street convenience store is located between Dresden and Cortland streets.

Police declined to identify the injured teenagers, both of whom live in Springfield and were treated at Baystate Medical Center. One was shot in the abdomen, the other in the leg.

Police on Tuesday said the victim with the abdominal injury, who underwent emergency surgery at the Springfield hospital, was in serious but stable condition. However, the victims' conditions were not immediately known on Wednesday.

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Springfield Detective bureau at (413) 787-6355. The Text-a-Tip option allows people to send anonymous police tips over any cell phone with text-messaging capabilities. Such messages should be addressed to “Crimes” (or 274637) and should begin with the word “Solve.”

View Larger Map

The aerospace giant will eliminate 300 union machinist jobs at its Windsor Locks plant.

NASA photoAstronaut Harrison H. Schmitt collects samples during Apollo 17 mission in 1972 wearing a suit designed by Hamilton-Standard, now Hamilton-Sundstrand, of Windosr Locks, Conn. (Photo coutesy of NASA)

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. – Aerospace giant Hamilton Sundstrand will eliminate 300 union machinist jobs at its Windsor Locks plant.

The work will shift to lower-cost production plants in Poland, Singapore and Arizona, said Daniel P. Coulom, a spokesman for Hamilton Sundstrand. The job losses will take place over the next few months and any forced layoffs won’t happen until late this year, Coulom said.

Everett C. Corey, directing business representative for the International Association of Machinists, said the initial cuts will total 214. A second wave should bring the total cuts up to 300.

Neither the company nor the union knows how many of the workers live in Massachusetts. But Corey said he would assume it is a significant number.

“The net effect of losing 300 highly paid machinist jobs in the region will be significant,” said Allan W. Blair, president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. “These are jobs that allow people to raise a family.”

Blair said a significant number of Western Massachusetts companies do work for Hamilton Sundstrand as subcontractors. He fears the ripple effect of this week’s announcement on those companies.

But they might benefit, he said, by hiring a highly skilled former Hamilton Sundstrand employee. There is a shortage of trained workers for precision manufacturers. Hamilton Sundstrand is a unit of Hartford-based United Technologies, best known for making spacesuits and other gear for NASA. It also makes aircraft parts.

Courtesy NASAA test version of a Mars spacesuit, designed by Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn., undergoes testing in the rocky frigid landscape of Devon Island in the Canadian arctic.

In news announced Wednesday, United Technologies said its net income rose to $1.01 billion, or $1.11 per share, for the three months that ended March 31. That’s up from $866 million, or 93 cents per share, a year earlier. Hamilton Sundstrand’s operating profit rose from $221 million in the first quarter of 2010 to $244 million in the first quarter of this year.

Corey said his task now is minimizing the number of union members who are involuntarily laid off. The company is offering severance payments based on years of experience, a one-time payment of $7,000 and a year of medical insurance.

“If our members are close to 65, we hope the incentives make it an easier decision for them,” Corey said. “Other than that, we will depend on normal attrition to open up other positions within the company.”

The average wage of a union machinist at Hamilton Sundstrand is about $30 an hour, he said. Many of the workers have been with the company for decades

Before these cuts, the machinists union represented about 1,100 workers at Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks and about 4,000 workers total at United Technologies plants around the state.

“The goal is, slide as many workers as we can into positions elsewhere in the company, or in union machinist jobs at other companies,” Corey said. “But these jobs are gone.”

Last year, United Technologies announced the closure of two Connecticut factories run by its Pratt & Whitney aerospace division, the Cheshire engine repair plant and the airfoil design plant in East Hartford, costing 500 jobs.

Hamilton Sundstrand itself cut about 140 jobs in 2010.

In January, David P Hess, president of Pratt & Whitney, said UTC is moving as much work as it can to low-cost areas. It’s also looking to move work to Asia because that’s where the market for aircraft is growing.

Coulom said Hamilton Sundstrand is investing money in the Windsor Locks plant, but he was unable to give a dollar amount. Additions include a laboratories and a customer call center providing technical assistance. New jobs at the plant, which has a total of 4,000 workers, are in engineering and technical fields.

“We are committed to Windsor Locks,” Coulom said. “It’s just a matter of finding a balance of what work it makes sense to do here.”

The new site offers more seating, free parking and space for a larger brewery.

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanJohn Korpita, principal owner of the Amherst Brewing Company, stands in front of plans for the brewery's new home on University Drive in Amherst. The brewery is expected to open here in August.

AMHERST – Since opening in 1997, the Amherst Brewing Company has undergone three expansions and renovations at its downtown location but had virtually run out of options to do anything more.

Although they weren’t thinking of moving from the former First National Bank on North Pleasant, they heard about a space available on University Drive – where the Leading Edge, a fitness facility, was located. That facility had opened as a Gold’s Gym in the site of the former Victory supermarket at Newmarket Center, but closed last October.

“We were looking to grow the business,” said Amherst Brewing Company principal owner John Korpita. “We decided we liked the place.”

Now that the Zoning Board of Appeals has approved the move, workers are in the midst of renovating the more than 20,000 square-foot site, and Korpita is hoping for an August opening.

Korpita said the new site has much appeal.

“It gives us the opportunity to take it to the next level,” he said of the brewery. The new location is about 30 percent larger than Amherst Brewing's current site. It allows the restaurant to be on one floor – it’s currently on two – and provides seating for an additional 100 people and free and abundant parking.

Korpita said customers would complain how hard it was sometimes, particularly on a Friday night, to find a parking space. He said there are more than 200 spaces at the center. And while there are other businesses in the center, the spaces will be available when the restaurant is the busiest.

“We just figured it was a convenient location,” he said. He likes that the restaurant will be on the main boulevard to the University of Massachusetts. He also hopes to increase the lunch business with the nearby offices.

Korpita said he can expand the brewery “and sell more beer” – something the business could not do at the current site. He said Amherst Brewing will brew more varieties and be able to sell in a few area liquor stores as a form of advertising. Currently he said, the business can sell growlers to go, but not bottles. He said he has no plans, however, to pursue major distribution.

The new space allows Amherst Brewing Company to have function rooms and better space for live music.

"Expanding now in this economy, while it is improving, is still risky. We are taking a chance,” Korpita said. But he said he feels like the business is preparing for the future.

The restaurant and brewery will be open until July 29 at its current downtown site.

Jessica Kelly told police she wanted to take a picture of the man's skinny legs.

File photo | The RepublicanWing Memorial Hospital in Palmer.

PALMER – A 21-year-old Chicopee woman denied charges Wednesday in Palmer District Court that she took a photograph of a partially nude elderly man whom she was caring for and then sent it to nine people.

Jessica Kelly, of 263 Grove St., was charged by Palmer police with taking a photograph of an unsuspecting nude person and disseminating it after the incident at her former employer, Wing Memorial Hospital. She has since been terminated from her per-diem position as a patient safety companion there.

According to a narrative submitted by Palmer Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley included in the court file, the picture was taken of an elderly man in the hospital’s dementia unit and showed his legs and part of his genitals. Haley’s narrative stated that Kelly intended to take a picture of the man’s “skinny legs” and send it to her mother’s cell phone, but she mistakenly sent it to nine people. It also stated that she didn’t think the man knew that she had taken the picture.

Kelly told police that she had no intention to spread the picture or demean the man, as she cared about her job and patients. She told police she wanted to take a picture of his skinny legs, the narrative stated.

Kelly started working for Wing in January; the incident was in February.

She will return to court on May 25 for a pretrial conference. The disseminating charge is a felony and carries a maximum penalty of five years in state prison, or 3 ½ years in the House of Correction, and/or a fine up to $10,000.