The business began in as National Blank Book Co. in New York City in 1843. It moved to Holyoke in 1881 and grew to employ 2,000 workers on Water Street. In the 1980s it became Dennison National and later Avery Dennison.

The Republican / Don Treeger1-5-12 - Chicopee- Avery Dennison Corp. has sold its office products business, shown here in Chicopee, to 3M.

CHICOPEE – Avery Dennison Corp. announced plans last week to sell its office products division, including a plant and distribution center in Chicopee that employees 200 people, to industrial giant 3M.

But the deal is not expected to be completed for a few months and neither Avery Dennison nor 3M is discussing the future of the plant, according to spokespeople for both companies.

“We are in the process of figuring all of that out,” said Donna Fleming Runyon, a spokeswoman for Minnesota-based 3M, which is best known as the maker of Scotch Tape and Post-It notes. “The transaction won’t be completed for several months.”

Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said the city hasn’t gotten any layoff notices associated with the Avery Dennison plant. He hopes to meet with the new owners soon and discuss the future of the plant at 1 Better Way in the Westover Industrial Airpark.

“Any corporate restructuring is troubling, especially when it impacts the livelihoods of 200 families,” Bissonnette said. “My understanding is that this has little to do with this location and more to do with a restructuring by Avery and a desire on the part of 3M to expand its office products business.”

Chicopee works hard to attract new business, but Bissonnette said it is just as important to foster businesses that are already in the city.

The plant makes binders and folders.

The business began in as National Blank Book Co. in New York City in 1843. It moved to Holyoke in 1881 and grew to employ 2,000 workers on Water Street. In the 1980s it became Dennison National and later Avery Dennison.

In 1990 Avery Dennison built the Chicopee plant at a cost of $14 million. Avery Dennison had 350 workers at the new Chicopee plant when it opened.

Obituaries from The Republican.

John McNamara Jr.

John F. McNamara Jr., 79, of Westfield passed away on Wednesday. He was born in Boston, and was a graduate of Boston English High School. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and was an avid member of the TIN Can Sailors. McNamara retired in 1989 as a manager for New England Telephone Company, where he worked for 35 years. While living in Agawam, he was a member of American Legion Post 185, Knights of Columbus, Sacred Heart Parish Council, board of directors of Sacred Heart Athletic Association, was past president of the Agawam Hockey Association and served as a member of the town council.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Atwell, Michael L.
  



• 
  Baxter, Miriam
  




• 
  Bolger, Mary (Bowler)
  



• 
  Borrello, Genevieve A. (Bierowka)
  



• 
  Cangro, Louis A.




• 
  Casale, Anthony
  



• 
  Coughlin, Francis Joseph
  




• Cowles, Mattie J. "Judy" (Martin)
  




• 
  Deuso, Alice J. (Dupre)
  



• 
  DeVecchi, Valeda E. (Beaudreau)




• 
  Eddy, Maryanne (Beaulieu)
  



• 
  Frasco, John N.
  




• Gray, Jonathan E. "Jonno"
  




• 
  Haendiges, Lila Lee (Wyss)
  



• 
  Hall, Jean




• 
  Hooben, William M.
  



• 
  Johnson, Clara H.
  




• Kerr, Theresa M. (Nicewicz)
  




• 
  Knowles, Richard "Rick"
  



• 
  Koczur, Andrew A.




• 
  Lieber, Helen M.
  



• 
  Malis, Claudia Lorraine Pryor
  




• McNamara Jr., John F.
  




• 
  Mendes, Todd M.
  



• 
  Murray, Joan R. (Jubinville)




• 
  Placzek, Sheila A. (Zielenski)
  



• 
  Roberts, Selma "Sally"
  




• Vega, Luis Guillermo
  

Springfield public schools will ban caffeinated drinks and sugary and salty snacks from schools.

AP Photo

SPRINGFIELD – Sweet, salty, fried and high-fat food will be expelled from public schools this year under strict nutrition standards approved by the state Public Health Council.

How strict?

Even caffeinated beverages – yes, coffee and tea – will be banned from school cafeterias, vending machines and snack counters, along with artificial sweeteners, trans fats and fried food when the new regulations takes effect in August.

The rules – which also require schools to offer fruits and vegetables, whole-grain bread and 100 percent fruit juices – represent a major policy shift at a time when obesity has emerged as a mounting public-health threat.

“This has to be a priority for the commonwealth because one-third of Massachusetts children are obese or overweight,” said Lauren Smith, medical director for the state Department of Public Health.

Poor nutrition “puts them on a trajectory for numerous chronic conditions in adulthood, including diabetes and heart disease,” Smith added.

Statewide, more than 1 million students attending public schools, including 35,000 in Springfield, will be affected by new standards, which also set limits on the amount of sugar, sodium, refined starches and saturated fats served in school food.

Calories and serving sizes will be limited, too. Water must be available for free, juices must be 100 percent fruit juice and flavored milk cannot have more sugar than plain, low-fat milk. Not surprisingly, the regulations, approved in the public health council in mid-July, are being embraced by health advocates.

Jessica Collins, director of special initiatives for the Springfield-based Partners for a Healthier Community, says the new nutrition standards will lead to healthier students.

“In Springfield, over 40 percent of our children in (kindergarten through 12th-grade) are either overweight or obese, and these new standards will help to ensure all our children have access to nutritious foods during their school day,” Collins said.

“Our society doesn’t make it easy for kids to snack in a healthy way,” said Thomas Campagna, the athletic director at SABIS International Charter School in Springfield.

For Ralph G. Dorval, of Franklin County, the local franchisee for Fresh Healthy Vending, the new regulations represent a tremendous business opportunity.

Dorval, an ocean engineer by training, is a health-food enthusiast who read a news article on health-food vending about a year ago. He was looking for a business that could keep him closer to home, so he bought a Fresh Health Vending franchise.

Besides the Western Massachusetts territory, he owns 10 vending machines. Five of them are placed right now, three at SABIS, one at a health club in Holyoke and one at the Jewish Community Center in Springfield.

He’s talking with other schools, hoping to fill the void left when the cake-and-candy machines get the boot. Another franchiser already has machines in Boston.

“Boston’s standards are tougher than the state’s rules,” Dorval said.

Schools get a commission from Dorval in exchange for placing the machines.

Popular choices include 45-calorie bags of dried-strawberry-and-banana chips and pouches of applesauce. Kids squeeze and eat the applesauce through a big straw.

Most snacks sell for $1.50. Bottles of fruit juice sell for $1.

The machine has two climate zones, cold on the bottom for perishables like yogurt and dairy smoothies and slightly warmer on top for the fruit chips. Juice goes in the middle.

The machine has a cellular modem that alerts Dorval if the refrigerator fails and the temperature in the machine rises for too long a time. That same modem also tells him what’s being sold and when so he can adjust his inventory, Dorval said.

Right now it’s just him and his wife, Kathy Dorval, but he’s hired a part-time worker to help out.

The state guidelines do not apply to the standard hot-lunch meal offered in school cafeterias, which are subject to federal guidelines.

But, all other food and beverages made available to students – from alternate menu options at lunch to refreshments served at after-school events or fund-raisers – must comply with the new standards.

Staff reporter Jim Kinney contributed to this story.

Middle-class Americans bought nearly 3.3 million Dode Darts between 1960 and 1976.

AP Photo/Dodge Brand MediaThe 2013 Dodge Dart, which debuts at the Detroit auto show Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, is nothing like its predecessor from the 1960s and ‘70s. But Chrysler is counting on the Dart, and its zippy name, to help it sell more small cars and continue its recent revival.

DETROIT — If the new Dodge Dart sells anything like the original, Chrysler will have the small-car hit it needs.

The reinvented compact, which debuts at the Detroit auto show Monday, is nothing like its predecessor from the 1960s and '70s. But Chrysler is counting on the Dart, and its zippy name, to help it sell more small cars and continue its recent revival.

View photos: 2013 Dodge Dart »

Instead of the somewhat boxy lines of the original, the new Dart has the sleek stance of a modern muscle-car, with a short hood, long roof and slightly flared fenders. And it's based on the frame and suspension of a crisp-handling Alfa Romeo hatchback brought over by Chrysler's Italian owner, Fiat SpA.

The Dart also is a crucial test of the Chrysler-Fiat alliance, one aimed at saving millions of dollars by reusing Fiat frames, engines and technology, yet giving them an American style with more space for people and gear. The Dart is the first Chrysler designed jointly by the companies.

Chrysler, which ran out of cash and had to be bailed out by the government in 2009, saw sales jump 26 percent last year, and it's poised to turn its first annual profit since 1997.

Now the automaker needs a breakthrough in the growing small-car market, where it hasn't had success since the bug-eyed Dodge Neon in the mid-1990s. After nearly failing, Chrysler also realizes it must end its dependence on inefficient SUVs and pickups.

Since the Neon, few have considered Chrysler compacts, keeping the company out of a market that has grown to about 15 percent of U.S. auto sales.

Forty years ago, it was a different story. Back then, Dodge Darts were everywhere. Middle-class Americans bought nearly 3.3 million between 1960 and 1976, when Chrysler offered versions for every lifestyle: the stripped-down commuter car, convertibles, the family station wagon, and street racers like the Dart Swinger, which came with a racing stripe, hood scoops and a 340-cubic-inch V-8 engine. Sales peaked in 1974 at more than 340,000 when gasoline was a little over 50 cents per gallon and President Richard Nixon resigned during the Watergate scandal.

Chrysler would kill for those sales today. Its current small-car offering, the Caliber, sold only 35,000 last year, a fraction of the class-leading Toyota Corolla at 240,000. The Caliber is noisy, slow and its looks can't compete with rivals like the Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Chevrolet Cruze.

That's bad for long-term growth. Compacts are the cars that young, first-time buyers go for, and many stick with a brand as they age.

"Let's face it, the Caliber is not really able to go ... toe-to-toe with ... competitive compact cars," says Reid Bigland, CEO of the Dodge brand and Chrysler Group LLC's sales chief. "That's about to change."

In building the new Dart, Chrysler added room to the Giulietta, a sleek, five-door hatchback sold in Europe by Fiat-owned Alfa Romeo. Engineers widened it 3 inches and stretched the distance between the front and back wheels by 4 inches. Chrysler claims that the Dart has the most shoulder and hip room in its class, and that it has more rear-seat legroom than the midsize Hyundai Sonata.

The company knew it had to overcome an image of chintzy, hard plastic interiors from its leaner years. As a result, it paid close attention to the inside, says Bigland. Chrysler gave the Dart a soft-looking dashboard and doors, and developed switches that open and close vents like in a luxury car.

Dart buyers also can get touch-screen controls and can pick their own interior accent colors. There's a choice of three engines, including a Fiat-designed 1.4-liter turbo reserved for the muscle car edition.

Also setting the car apart is the tail lights. The Dart borrowed the trademark horizontal LED lighting from the tough-looking Dodge Charger.

Bigland says the Dart will match or beat the competition on gas mileage, ride and handling, and quality. The Dart is expected to get close to 40 miles per gallon. Bigland won't reveal the price, but says it would be competitive with rivals, most of which start around $17,000.

Chrysler may have to charge less for the Dart because it's a little smaller than the Focus or Cruze, says Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Automotive. But the Dart likely will take sales from its Detroit rivals, the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus. Those analysts who have seen the Dart say it will be a strong choice for buyers.

"In terms of style, in terms of amenities, in terms of design and quality, it looked to be really top-notch stuff, says Bragman.

Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit's three automakers, for years was a scrappy underdog known for smart designs, innovation and quick thinking. But in 1998 it was bought by Germany's Daimler-Benz, which neglected the company and eventually sold it to an investment firm that starved it of capital. When Fiat got control in 2009, Chrysler's cars and trucks needed redesign.

In 2010, Engineers spruced up the model lineup, rolling out 16 new or revamped cars and trucks. Last year, Chrysler ran a hit Super Bowl ad, used clever marketing and saw sales rise to 1.37 million vehicles, up almost 50 percent from 2009, the year it almost died. At the same time, it passed Honda to become the No. 4 U.S. automaker.

The company, whose brands include Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Dodge, is hoping the Dart continues that momentum. Chrysler won't give sales targets for the Dart. But any rise in its small-car sales could help it continue an improbable comeback.

Friendly's owes $297 million, according to court papers filed in Delaware.

WILBRAHAM – Friendly Ice Cream Corp. closed five local locations and cut 80 jobs over the weekend saying it failed to negotiate cheaper rents with its landlords.

Shuttered were the Page Boulevard and Cooley Street restaurants in Springfield; the Bliss Road restaurant in Longmeadow; and the Holyoke Mall food court location, said company spokeswoman Maura C. Tobias.

Each location has about 20 employees, Tobias said. The company is hoping to find as many of those workers other jobs in the company.

Friendly Ice Cream Crop. also closed locations in Albany, N.Y., and in suburban Latham, Glenville and Colonie, according to the Albany Times-Union.

Friendly closed a total of 63 restaurants, including 5 in western Massachusetts, in the wake of an October 2011 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Friendly’s owes $297 million, according to court papers filed in Delaware, including approximately $36 million to Wells Fargo Capital Finance and approximately $267.7 million to an affiliate of Friendly’s owner, Sun Capital Partners Inc.

Outside of its individual restaurant locations, Friendly's has about 900 employees, including 300 at its Wilbraham headquarters.

The former House speaker left his "positive campaign" strategy behind in the cornfields of Iowa.

SALEM, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney is a timid Massachusetts moderate, a flip-flopper on abortion and gun rights. As governor, he raised taxes and even tried to hike fees on the blind. He's also a liar full of "pious baloney" — according to Newt Gingrich.

The former House speaker left his "positive campaign" strategy behind in the cornfields of Iowa, where Romney's allies smacked him with a series of negative ads that helped knock Gingrich out of contention in the state's leadoff caucuses. Now, his tone is growing sharper by the day as he assails Romney.

"He owes us a report on his stewardship" of Bain Capital, the Georgia Republican said Monday on NBC's "Today" show, demanding that chief rival Romney tell the public more about how he operated as a venture capitalist.

Plowing through New Hampshire before Tuesday's primary, Gingrich is indulging an innate sharp edge that has won him attention — and enemies — from his days as a back-bencher in the House in the 1980s. Now, as always, he risks nicking himself in the process.

"Gingrich is doing it the way you shouldn't, which is a mean, nasty, transparently negative attack on Mitt Romney," says Michael Dennehy, the political director for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign four years ago. "It comes across to everyone now. It helps Mitt Romney's opponents. It's not going to help him."

In Dover, N.H. on Monday, Gingrich acknowledged the strategy "is not my first preference for how to run the campaign."

"But I don't believe in unilateral disarmament. And I don't believe if the other person sets the standard of being very tough that you can back off or you look like you can't defend yourself."

Still, some New Hampshire voters are pushing back.

At a health care event in Lebanon, an attendee, Peter Miller, lectured Gingrich for "conducting politics as if you were a suicide bomber engaged in hostage negotiation."

Gingrich demurred.

"I think that's a mythology," he replied.

Gingrich knows firsthand that attacks can be effective and risky. He made a career of attacking opponents personally, from House Speaker Jim Wright on down. Gingrich's rhetorical aggression also helped him lead the Republicans to the House majority in 1994. But Gingrich's style left him little goodwill among his own lieutenants. He was forced to resign as speaker after the 1998 GOP election losses.

As a presidential candidate in the 2012 election, he was bloodied in Iowa by millions of dollars in brutal television ads, many funded by a super PAC backing Romney. Once a front-runner in Iowa polls, Gingrich tumbled to a distant fourth-place finish in the state.

Winning Our Future, a super PAC supporting Gingrich, has purchased $3.4 million in ad buys in South Carolina, according to Rick Tyler, a former Gingrich aide who is helping lead the effort. The spots, in what is considered a critical state for the former Georgia congressman, are expected to go after Romney.

Contrasting records is fair game, Gingrich says, issuing a new pledge against slinging mud.

"I don't have the money and I will not engage in the kind of vicious negativity that, frankly, drove me down in Iowa," he said Friday night to an overflow crowd packed into a high-school cafeteria in Salem. "I'm going to fight honestly on the facts and draw the contrasts."

But Gingrich is famous for hyperbole and a lightning-fast response reflex that, deployed effectively, can knock a candidate as robust as Romney.

"The only reason you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994," Gingrich shot across the debate stage last month, hitting a bull's-eye with his reference to Romney's unsuccessful Senate bid.

Other times, Gingrich's frankness can be harsh.

He has called Romney a "liar" and also said President Barack Obama would laugh at Romney if he were the nominee.

And during a pair of presidential debates over the weekend, Gingrich held little back.

He called Romney "a relatively timid Massachusetts moderate who even the Wall Street Journal said had an economic plan so timid it resembled Obama."

When Romney denied being a career politician, Gingrich chided him: "Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?"

It's all left some in New Hampshire — where Romney is close to a hometown boy — scratching their heads.

"Is the purpose to destroy Romney? Very often this becomes a double-sided sword," said Phyllis Woods, New Hampshire's Republican national committeewoman, who also worries that Gingrich could be unintentionally helping Democrats.

"I think there is a danger that the negativity expressed by Newt Gingrich could work against him," she said. "But it's certainly not good for the party as a whole. I would hope people would count to 10 and take a deep breath."

There's a long and storied history of candidates in both parties ripping into each other during primary campaigns only to make up afterward.

Hillary Rodham Clinton regularly attacked Obama four years ago, calling him "a hypocrite," among other insults. Clinton, of course, is now the secretary of state in the Obama administration. Sen. John McCain assailed Romney in the hard-fought 2008 campaign but endorsed him this go-round.

And Sam Pimm, Gingrich's New Hampshire field operations director, said he's heard no complaints from residents.

"I think it's about time people heard the truth about Gov. Romney's record," he said.

But Gingrich's problem, other New Hampshire Republicans say, stems from his recent promise not to go negative.

"He was supposed to be the nice positive guy and framed himself that way," said Kevin Smith, a GOP candidate for New Hampshire governor. "It's only an issue because he seems to be going back on his word of running a positive campaign."

State police said Murray wasn’t wearing a seat belt and likely dozed off.

File photo / Associated PressLt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray discusses his November car crash during a news conference at the statehouse in Boston Jan. 3. (Photo by Ted Fitzgerald / Boston Herald)

BOSTON – Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray asked political supporters Monday not to believe “false rumors and wild speculation” about an early-morning highway crash in which he totaled his state-issued vehicle two months ago.

In a “Dear Friends” letter, Murray explains in detail his version of the Nov. 2 accident on Interstate 190 in Sterling, about 50 miles west of Boston, and declares that he never asked for any special treatment from state police.

Data released last week from the vehicle’s “black box” show the car was traveling more than 100 miles per hour in the moments before it left the highway, hit a rock ledge and rolled over. State police said Murray, who was uninjured, was not wearing a seat belt and likely dozed off at the wheel.

The lieutenant governor was issued a $555 ticket and has promised to reimburse the state for the full cost of the vehicle, a 2007 Ford Crown Victoria sedan.

“I understand that when a public figure is in any kind of accident people want to know how it happened,” Murray wrote in the letter, which was posted on his political committee’s website. “Unfortunately, false rumors and wild speculation can result even when the details of the matter have been released to the public.”

“Because you have been a friend, I want to give you the background on the accident, so you get the full picture directly from me.”

Murray’s explanation mirrored the one he offered to reporters last week following release of the report, and he attached a transcript of the Jan. 3 news conference to the letter.

He said he went to sleep at about 11 p.m. on the night before the crash, but was awakened early in the morning when his 5-year-old daughter crawled into bed with him and his wife. Unable to get back to sleep, Murray said he got up at about 4:45 a.m. and decided to take a drive to pick up coffee and a newspaper and get ready for the day.

He chose to get on I-190 so he could “get a sense of the storm and power damage in the aftermath of the surprise snow storm that had just hit much of the state.”

Murray said he recalled turning around to head back to his Worcester home, but the next thing he remembered was the car going off the road, the impact of the collision and the car turning over several times.

The explanation differed in several aspects from the one he gave in the hours immediately after the crash, when he told reporters that he was driving around the speed limit, was wearing his seat belt and believed the cause of the accident was black ice.

In the letter and at last week’s news conference, he said he now believed that he did nod off at the wheel, but in the confusion immediately after the crash had assumed he skidded on black ice because he had heard first responders talking about it.

He also said in the letter that he did not meet anyone, make any calls or send any texts or emails during the entire 42.5 minute ride. In response to media requests for release of Murray’s cellphone records, state officials said last week that the governor’s office does not receive itemized bills from its phone company for calls and text services.

The head of the state’s Republican Party has called the accident “mysterious” and suggested that Murray, who has been widely mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for governor in 2014, is hiding information.

A copy of Murray's letter was posted on the website of the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester.

Here is the text of Murray's letter:

Dear Friends,

I want to thank all of you who have expressed your concern and support for me, my wife Tammy and our family, since my serious car accident in November. I am forever grateful that I was uninjured and that no one else was involved or hurt. I have accepted responsibility for the accident and I will pay the fines and reimburse the Commonwealth for the value of the car.

Throughout this matter, I have asked for no special treatment. I wanted the Massachusetts State Police to do their job, as they would in any similar case, and they have. At my request they went beyond normal procedure and released the so-called black box data, which is not ordinarily retrieved in accidents like mine.

I understand that when a public figure is in any kind of accident people want to know how it happened. Unfortunately, false rumors and wild speculation can result even when the details of the matter have been released to the public. Because you have been a friend, I want to give you the background on the accident, so you get the full picture directly from me.

On the night before the accident, I came home from Boston around 8:30 pm., dropped off by my State Police detail. I helped Tammy put our daughters to bed, and I turned in around 11p.m. that night. Around two or three in the morning, I awoke when our five-year-old daughter crawled into bed with us. From that point on, I was unable to get back to sleep. Around quarter of five I gave up trying to sleep and decided to take a drive, get a coffee and a paper and prepare for the day.

This was not my first early morning drive. I’ve done it often ever since I was Mayor in Worcester. That morning I decided to get on Route 190, which is a few miles from my house. I did so to get a sense of the storm and power damage in the aftermath of the surprise snow storm that had just hit much of the state.

I drove up as far as Route 2, turned around to head back to Worcester, and what I remember next was the vehicle being off the road, the impact of the collision, and the car turning over several times. During this ride I did not meet anyone, or make any phone calls, texts or emails. Also, the black box data showed that the car had been running for 42.5 minutes before the accident, which is consistent with the route I had traveled.

When I got out of the car, there was snow on the ground and ice along the road. I heard the first responders talking about the black ice on the road. The accident happened in a
matter of seconds. I was shaken-up, and not really knowing how it occurred, I assumed the ice must have caused the accident. In light of the black box data and police report, my assumption was incorrect. I believe I nodded off while driving and the car ran off the road.

Last Tuesday, after the State Police released the black box data, I called a press conference at the State House. All the major media outlets were there, and I answered their questions. At the end of this letter I have included the full transcript from that press conference, so you can read it for yourself.

This traumatic accident has been a difficult chapter, but I am thankful for the support I’ve received from so many. Looking ahead, there is a lot of important work still to be done to keep our Commonwealth moving forward during these challenging times, and I will continue to work hard in that regard.

Sincerely,
Tim Murray

The price has soared 16 cents in three weeks.

BOSTON – The cost of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts jumped another eight cents in the past week, and has now soared 16 cents in three weeks.

The American Automobile Association of Southern New England reports Monday that a gallon of self-serve, regular is now selling for an average of $3.37.

That’s the same as the national average but still 29 cents more than at the same time last year.

AAA found self-serve regular as low as $3.27 per gallon and as high as $3.59.

Brown's cash-on-hand total is expected to be close to $13 million.

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown expects to report a year-end cash-on-hand total of $12.8 million after posting a fourth-quarter total of $3.2 million in new contributions, according to his campaign's finance director.

In an email to campaign workers Monday, John P. Cook said that Brown's campaign committee received just under $8.5 million in contributions in 2011, with well over a third coming in the fourth quarter alone.

"We are confident this will be one of the strongest fundraising quarters of any Senate candidate," Cook wrote.

Brown had amassed a cash-on-hand total of $10.5 million by Sept. 30, 2011, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Books for the final quarter of 2011 closed on Dec. 31 and the filing deadline for candidates is Jan. 31.

Elizabeth Warren, the current frontrunner among Brown's Democratic challengers, has not yet released her final campaign finance data for 2011.

The Somers (Conn.) Congregational Church held its first service at Town Hall following a devastating fire.

File photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanRemains of the Somers Congregational Church are seen Jan. 2 after a devastating fire destroyed much of the church. Click on the link, above right, to see video from the first church service held after the blaze.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comment about firing people who work for him sparks furor [Boston Herald]


• Iran sentences American to death after charging him with spying [Christian Science Monitor]


• Somers, Conn. Congregational Church holds first service after devastating fire (video) [WGGB-TV, abc40/Fox6, Springfield]


• Robert Donovan, from Orange, to be arraigned in shooting [WWLP-TV, 22 News, Springfield]


• Norton woman shot by off-duty trooper in hunting accident faces more surgery [Boston.com]


• Police identify New Hampshire couple fatally shot in Arizona [New England Cable News]


• Blinded seal wows crowds at Cape Cod aquarium [Cape Cod Times]


• Commentary: It's time for Massachusetts to ban cell phones while driving [CBS Boston.com]


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


• Read more News Links »


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Obituaries from The Republican

Claudia L. P. Malis

STAMFORD, Conn. - Claudia Lorraine Pryor Malis, formerly of Springfield, Mass., a Peabody Award winning television producer and independent filmmaker, who worked with the late television anchorman Peter Jennings at ABC News and former television reporter Maria Shriver at NBC News, died Wednesday in Stamford. She was 58, and died from complications suffered during the course of treatment for cancer. She began her career as a news writer at KGO Television in San Francisco, after earning a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University. As an African American female producer in TV newsrooms in the mid-1970s, she was a pioneer in an industry that struggled to incorporate diverse voices behind the camera. Her work for ABC News, NBC News and PBS during a 30-year career was recognized with the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. DuPont Gold Baton and 11 Emmy nominations. In mid-career, she also returned to academia to study history, earning a master of arts degree from New York University. When television journalism turned its lens to celebrity news and so-called "infotainment," she chose to walk away from a high-powered network career to follow her passion for reporting stories about people of color for her own company, Diversity Films. She was particularly known within the industry for her ability to identify and portray the lives of Americans often overlooked or ignored by commercial television. Her last film, "Why Us? Left Behind and Dying", was a research project funded with a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The research and film focused on a group of African American high school students in Pittsburgh who served as investigators seeking the sources of HIV/AIDS in their urban neighborhood. That research project is now being screened by high school students across the country and serves as the basis for an HIV/AIDS education curriculum benefttting thousands of young Americans at risk.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Baxter, Miriam
  



• 
  Bolger, Mary (Bowler)
  




• 
  Borrello, Genevieve A. (Bierowka)
  



• 
  Cangro, Louis A.
  



• 
  Casale, Anthony




• 
  Coughlin, Francis Joseph
  



• 
  Cowles, Mattie J. "Judy" (Martin)
  




• Cromack, Scott Leslie
  




• 
  Deuso, Alice J. (Dupre)
  



• 
  DeVecchi, Valeda E. (Beaudreau)




• 
  Eddy, Maryanne (Beaulieu)
  



• 
  Frasco, John N.
  




• Gray, Jonathan E. "Jonno"
  




• 
  Hooben, William M.
  



• 
  Johnson, Clara H.




• 
  Kerr, Theresa M. (Nicewicz)
  



• 
  Koczur, Andrew A.
  




• Malis, Claudia Lorraine Pryor
  




• 
  Murray, Joan R. (Jubinville)
  



• 
  Placzek, Sheila A. (Zielenski)




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  Vega, Luis Guillermo
  

The front-runner stirred up a tempest that was already brewing over his private-sector record when he declared “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

Associated Press photoRichard Freedman waits for Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to arrive at the Nashua Country Club Monday in Nashua, N.H. (Photo by Charles Krupa)

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Knowing W. Mitt Romney is probably unstoppable in New Hampshire, his Republican presidential rivals took their best shots at roughing him up for the contests ahead in Monday’s fast-paced finale of the campaign for the nation’s first primary. He may have inadvertently helped them in that effort.

Romney tried to float above the fray, as if already picked to take on President Barack H. Obama. But the front-runner stirred up a tempest that was already brewing over his private-sector record when he declared “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

Obviously weary, he was talking off the cuff about Americans being able to “fire” their health insurers, but rival Jon Huntsman seized on the opening and Democrats quickly circulated the video clip.

“Gov. Romney enjoys firing people, I enjoy creating jobs,” Huntsman told reporters at a Concord, N.H., rally. “It may be that he’s slightly out of touch with the economic reality playing out in America, and that’s a dangerous place for someone to be.”

The former Massachusetts governor, who had practically adopted New Hampshire as his home, preached a free-enterprise ethic and against an interfering government in the final hours before Tuesday’s voting.

He’s held a comfortable lead in pre-primary polls, leaving his opponents essentially vying for second place while hoping New Hampshire’s capacity to spring a surprise might yet break their way.

Rivals quickened their drumbeat of criticism against him. Much of it is centered on his tenure at the Bain Capital private equity firm when it was taking over a host of companies, growing some of them, closing others.

Romney has never substantiated his claim that he helped create more than 100,000 jobs at Bain, an assertion key to his economically centered candidacy. That has left him vulnerable to charges by Democrats, and increasingly his GOP opponents, that he was merely a corporate takeover artist who put profits ahead of workers.

Declaring “I don’t believe in unilateral disarmament,” Newt Gingrich promised a tougher tone in the race, which he had previewed in weekend debates. “Mitt Romney cannot campaign with a straight face as a conservative,” said the former House speaker, soon to be aided by an ad campaign in South Carolina assailing Romney and his Bain record.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, rocked on his heels by a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, echoed Gingrich’s line of attack from South Carolina, having passed up the New Hampshire race.

“I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips – whether he’d have enough of them to hand out,” Perry told several dozen breakfast patrons in Anderson, S.C. That was a slap at Romney’s recent comment that he worried about getting a pink slip during his executive career.

Perry cited South Carolina companies that downsized under Bain’s control, and said it would be an “insult” for Romney to come to the state and ask for voters’ support in easing economic pain.

“He caused it,” Perry said, describing himself as best positioned to untangle the “unholy alliance between Washington and Wall Street.”

Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a prominent Romney supporter, shot back that Gingrich and Perry are talking not just like Democrats, but socialists.

“Sometimes the socialists are Republicans,” Sununu said at Romney’s Manchester, N.H., headquarters, where the candidate stopped to make a few calls to voters. “I would not be using comments that sound like they could have been written in the White House.”

Despite the swirling questions about workers who lost their jobs at Bain-owned companies, Romney chose to liken consumers in the health care market to employers who get to lay people off. “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,” he said at a Nashua Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

“If someone doesn’t give me the good service I need, I want to say, you know, ‘I’m going to get somebody else to provide that service to me.’”

Alone among the half dozen contenders, Perry skipped New Hampshire. But several others are looking to South Carolina, too, to help level the playing field, conceding Romney’s advantage in his neighborhood.

One of them was Rick Santorum, who came within eight votes of upsetting Romney in Iowa only to find New Hampshire a tough sell.

“Second place would be a dream come true,” Santorum told reporters, who outnumbered supporters on a chilly soccer field in Nashua. He is hoping his social conservative credentials will serve him better in South Carolina, which votes Jan. 21.

The candidates were all but tripping over each other Monday, concentrating their day in the southern half of New Hampshire, known for holding town-hall meetings in actual town halls.

Ron Paul visited a Manchester diner in the morning, planning to shake hands with patrons, but swiftly departed because of a crush of news camera crews.

The Texas congressman told Fox News his campaign did not plan to contest Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31, largely for financial reasons. But he said the plan could change if he did well in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“We’re still taking one week at a time, one primary at a time.”

Huntsman, who needs a strong New Hampshire performance to stay viable in the race, had perhaps the most frantic pace Monday, with seven stops on his itinerary from Lebanon near the Vermont line to the seacoast.

The former Utah governor visited a Lebanon truck stop and took the phone from an employee behind the counter who was speaking with a milk delivery driver. He said he’s looking for votes wherever he can find them. “I’m the underdog,” he said, a label that applies – at least in New Hampshire – to anyone but Romney.

Gingrich, still smarting from a damaging barrage of negative ads in Iowa by Romney allies, vowed to draw a “very sharp contrast” with Romney, political shorthand for counterattacking. That effort was evident in weekend debates, when the former House speaker upbraided Romney for “pious baloney,” and it will become more so thanks to a new film, sponsored by a political committee supportive of Gingrich, that accuses Romney of “reaping massive awards” at Bain Capital at the expense of companies taken over by the firm.

Gingrich hastened to say he hadn’t seen the film, just as Romney tried to maintain an arm’s length from the anti-Gingrich political committee ads in Iowa. But Gingrich said pointedly that he understands the film looks at “where they apparently looted the companies.”

“He owes us a report on his stewardship” in the private sector, Gingrich said.

A pro-Gingrich political action committee, Winning Our Future, will purchase $3.4 million in air time in South Carolina to run ads, said Rick Tyler, a former Gingrich aide who is helping lead the effort.

Gingrich acknowledged he was stepping away from his pledge to run a positive campaign.

“This is not my first preference for how to run the campaign,” he said. “But I don’t believe in unilateral disarmament. And I don’t believe if the other person sets the standard of being very tough that you can back off or you look like you can’t defend yourself.

“And whoever is going to end up competing against Barack Obama is going to have to be very tough.”

He has not been heard from since 2 a.m. Sunday.

Associated Press file photoMichael T. Philbin

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's son is missing.

Police in Oshkosh say 21-year-old Michael T. Philbin of Ripon was last heard from around 2 a.m. Sunday. He had been visiting friends in Oshkosh that evening. He was reported missing on Sunday evening.

Joe Philbin is a native of Longmeadow, Mass.

A police spokesman did not immediately return a message left Monday seeking additional comment.

A Brown County judge sentenced Michael Philbin to six months in jail in 2009 after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls and two counts of battery.

His disappearance comes as the Packers prepare to face the New York Giants in an NFC playoff game Sunday in Green Bay.

The agreement includes moving the public access television studio downtown.

File Photo

SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno recently awarded a new, 10-year cable television contract to Comcast, and has settled a prolonged legal dispute with the company in U.S. District Court.

The negotiated agreements, announced by Sarno and City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula, require that Comcast make payments of more than $1.4 million to the city over the course of the contract for future cable-related activities, Pikula said.

In addition, customers who have been receiving a 10 percent senior discount will be “grandfathered,” continuing to receive that discount, officials said. New subscribers who are heads of household and ages 62 and older, or current subscribers who are heads of household who turn 62, will be eligible for a $2 discount off the Digital Starter price.

Furthermore, there is an agreement that Comcast will move its Public, Educational, and Governmental Access studio from the Van Sickle school to a new, improved downtown location, Pikula said.

“The Comcast funding will allow for continued broadcasting of public meetings from City Hall and Symphony Hall as well as adding the ability for broadcasting from the new School Department offices as well as a new PEG Access Studio,” Pikula said.

A Comcast spokeswoman also praised the outcome of the negotiated, non-exclusive contract.

“We are delighted to have a renewal agreement in place with the City of Springfield and to have resolution on this matter,” Comcast spokeswoman Laura Brubaker said in a prepared release. “Comcast values its relationship with the City of Springfield and its citizens, and looks forward to continuing to offer innovative and reliable video, high-speed Internet and voice services to local residents and businesses.”

The company provides cable services in 35 communities in Western Massachusetts.

The city’s federal lawsuit questioned if Comcast was properly funding the Van Sickle studio among other issues. In addition, the state Supreme Judicial Court rejected the city’s claim that Comcast billed illegal pass-through costs to subscribers.

Under the new contract, Comcast has agreed to pay $80,000 a year for cable related services and a one-time payment of $60,000 without a pass through of such costs to subscribers, Pikula said.

Comcast will also provide Springfield Media and Telecommunications Group Inc., its PEG Access corporation, with an estimated $600,000 annually from its gross annual revenues for PEG Access expenses, Pikula said. It will also pay $536,437 collected revenues dating back one year when the last contract expired in January 2010.

It will also transfer all of its studio equipment to the PEG Access corporation.

The Springfield is planning a new state-of-the-art studio downtown that will “benefit residents and cable subscribers through stimulating economic development, as well as artistic and cultural programming that showcases the city’s attributes,” Pikula said.

Funding from Comcast will also be used to provide grant funds for local groups interested in producing content for the special programming, he said.

PACE closed more than a year ago and has not reopened.

File photo / The RepublicanKim M. DeShields is seen in 2007 t prior to performing her stand-up comedy at the Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton.

EASTHAMPTON – Over the years, Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton has staged hundred of muscial performances, musicals, plays, art exhibits, dancing lessons and more.

But it moved more than a year ago and has yet to reopen. And as its founder’s case is slated to go to trial next month, those involved with the center hope to figure out its future. They believe the center is still very much part of the city’s arts scene.

David F. Oppenheim, who co-founded the center with his wife Sonia Fried Oppenheim in 2002, is charged with five counts of child rape for allegedly having sex on multiple occasions with a girl under the age of 15 who had performed in a musical at the center.

He is no longer affiliated with the center, said board president Marcia H. Hendrick.

The center, which had been at 41 Union St., moved to a new home at 142 Pleasant St. at the former Easthampton Dye Works more than a year ago. The plan was to shut down for a few months, raise money, renovate and reopen. But that hasn’t happened.

While things are in storage there, they’re not sure the space is right, said board president Marcia H. Hendrick. The board wants to look at it and figure out if it still meets its needs.

They hope to have a meeting soon to discuss what the organization will do. They gave up its beer and wine license this fall.

But in the meantime, the center is using space for its weekly open mike’s at Luthier’s Coop.

Those who play and who have been involved with the center are grateful for the space and the chance to play but would like to see the center reestablished. They said there is a need for such a space.

Luthier’s, a business that fixes and repairs string instruments, welcomed the open mike night and put in a stage. But the space can accommodate just 38. The space that PACE once had was much bigger.

“To have a bigger space, more people would do it (play.) Maybe more people would go out,” said Kim Dion who was at a recent open mike night to play harmonica and penny whistle.

Jay Thompson of Belchertown has been involved with PACE for about five years. “This has been a great substitute,” he said. He was co-host for the night and playing guitar. Still the space that PACE once had was much bigger and afforded cabaret-style seating. Here people sit in folding chairs in a row.

“I think PACE established itself as a pretty big presence,” said Michael Orlen of Amherst. “When it closed, it was a big loss.”

He like others would love to see the center back.

“There’s something with the stage and the lights. It has its own experience,” said Dan Russell, who lives in town. Still he said, having the opportunity to play at Luthier’s, “I don’t feel like I’m suffering.”

A day before New Hampshire voters will head to the polls in the nation's first Primary Election, former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney is drawing fire for saying he likes “being able to fire people.”

Julie Kushner of the United Auto Workers union, foreground left, stands up and asks Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a question as he campaigns at the Nashua Chamber of Commerce Breakfast in Nashua, N.H., Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

NASHUA, N.H. -- A day before New Hampshire voters will head to the polls in the nation's first Primary Election, former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney is drawing fire for saying he likes “being able to fire people.”

At a Nashua Chamber Of Commerce breakfast Monday morning, Romney was talking about health insurance when he said that people should have individual plans not tied to employers, so they can choose a company that best fits their need.

And if a company doesn't fit your needs, you should "fire it," Romney said.

"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me," Romney said in Nashua. "If someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I want to be able to go get someone else to provide that service."

Despite Romney saying so in the context of health insurance companies, the statement comes at a time when his rivals in both major political parties are working to paint him as a corporate suit-and-tie man whose wealth and business experience puts him out of touch with the working class which constitutes a majority of the county.

Jon Huntsman, former Utah Governor and ambassador to China, told reporters in Concord, N.H. that when Romney speaks, he learns more about what makes them different.

"I will always put my country first. It seems that Governor Romney believes in putting politics first," Huntsman is quoted as saying in the Concord Monitor. "Governor Romney enjoys firing people. I enjoy creating jobs."

The comment couldn't come at a more troubling time with less than 24 hours until New Hampshire voters decide which of the six Republican candidates will be victorious in the Granite State.

The statement also comes on the heels of an announcement that the Super PAC Winning Our Future, which is backing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, would soon release a movie "documenting Romney's activities as CEO of Bain Capital."

The film, called "When Mitt Romney Came To Town," assails Romney for "reaping massive awards" for himself and his investors, the Associated Press reported. Bain has been credited with turning around dozens of companies, including well-known brands like Domino's Pizza, but its record has been criticized — notably by the Democratic National Committee — for slashing jobs in the process."

Democrats also took their swing at Romney on Monday, releasing a video targeting his claim that he has, over his career, created 100,000 jobs. The video pieces together clips of interviews and appearances by Romney and discusses the jobs reportedly outsourced after Bain Capital was tasked with turning them around.

It is a reinforcement of the statements made by Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a last-minute news conference hours before Saturday's Republican debate in Manchester, N.H.

That video can be seen below.

The time it takes to make hires was discussed at a Palmer Town Council meeting in the fall, where councilors agreed the civil service process should be reviewed.

PALMER - Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk has three vacancies in his department, but it doesn't mean he can replace the officers anytime soon.

That's one of the issues with being a civil service department, which requires departments in the system to use a state-generated list to choose new hires.

Frydryk said he and Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard soon will talk with chiefs from other departments, such as Northampton and Easthampton, who have left the system to see if they are happy with the decision.

"We're investigating, getting information," Frydryk said recently.

While Frydryk said he has not made up his mind whether or not the department should leave the system, he said it could probably benefit from withdrawing.

Frydryk said he could set his own qualifications for applicants. Under civil service, he said the requirements to be a police officer are a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma.

"Departments that don't have civil service can require a college degree," Frydryk said.

He also would have a greater pool of candidates from which to choose. The Palmer Police Department has had civil service since the 1940s, he said.

Northampton Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz said removing the department from civil service was one of his priorities when he became chief in 1994. It took more than a decade to finally achieve that goal, but Sienkiewicz said it was the right move to make.

Sienkiewicz said abandoning the system was a way to have "the best and the brightest" officers and hire them in a timely fashion with no delays. To become a Northampton police officer, applicants must have an associate's degree.

Civil service automatically puts someone with a military background to the top of the list, Sienkiewicz said.

"No disrespect to the military, but if they are in the military, they get absolute preference," Sienkiewicz said.

He said "everyone has the same complaint" when it comes to civil service, and that's the time it takes to hire officers.

"In civil service, it was painful," Sienkiewicz said.

And, he said, it hurt the community, because as the department waited to make hires, it had to pay officers overtime to make up for staff shortages.

Sienkiewicz said he had the support of the City Council and police union to abolish civil service, and also needed the approval of the state Legislature.

If someone wants to become a Palmer police officer, they first must take the state civil service exam. Frydryk said filling the vacancies depends on when the next police academy is held. One is scheduled for next month in Springfield, but because he did not get the list of qualified candidates until late, he could not start the pre-employment screening process in time for potential hires to attend it.

Frydryk said he asked for the list in September or October, and was told it would be provided by Nov. 1. He didn't get it until Nov. 16, and then it did not have enough names on it. So he had to ask for another list.

"So there was no way we could get applications in for the academy," Frydryk said, adding the pre-employment screening includes psychological and physical tests.

Since Springfield only has one police academy, Frydryk said he is waiting to hear when the police academy in Boylston will be held.

The time it takes to make hires was discussed at a Town Council meeting in the fall, where councilors agreed the civil service process should be reviewed.

Daley will be replaced by Budget Director Jack Lew, whom Obama called the "clear choice" for one of the toughest jobs in Washington.

Associated PressPresident Barack Obama finishes speaking about the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, right, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. Obama announced Jack Lew, left, the administration's current budget director, will replace Daley.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an abrupt jolt to the White House, President Barack Obama announced Monday that chief of staff William Daley was quitting and heading home to Chicago, capping a short and rocky tenure that had been expected to last until Election Day in November. Obama budget chief Jack Lew will take over the job.

Daley's run as Obama's chief manager and gatekeeper lasted for all of one consequential year — filled with notable moments like the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, but also internal grumbles that the top aide had not turned out to be the right fit to coordinate an intense operation of ideas, offices and egos.

Obama said he took the news reluctantly, initially refusing to accept Daley's resignation letter last week and ordering him to think it over. Daley stood by the decision, expressing a desire to be with his family and return to Chicago.

Yet he offered no explanation on Monday about what accelerated his decision; Daley had committed to Obama that he would stay on through the election. Obama senior adviser Pete Rouse had already taken on more of the day-to-day management of the White House, trimming Daley's portfolio amid West Wing struggles over coordination and communication.

"No one in my administration has had to make more important decisions more quickly than Bill, and that's why I think this decision is difficult for me," Obama said to a nearly empty State Dining Room, other than mainly the assembled media.

Lew and Daley stood by the president but did not speak. The White House said neither man was giving interviews.

Obama now plows ahead into an election year with his third chief of staff — one of the most influential and demanding jobs in government and politics.

Daley had come aboard last January to replace the colorful and involved-in-everything Rahm Emanuel, who left the job to run for Chicago mayor, a position he now holds.

The transition from Daley to Lew is expected to take place at the end of the month. Just ahead for Obama are two crucial, tone-setting events: his State of the Union speech on Jan. 24 and the release of his budget proposal in early February.

An Obama campaign official said Daley will serve as one of the co-chairs of Obama's Chicago-based re-election efforts. Other co-chairs will be announced in the coming weeks, said the official, who requested anonymity to speak ahead of the official announcement.

Court records show that Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop's name used to be Jeffrey Drew Wilschke. He legally changed it in October.

AP Photo/Dane County Sheriff)Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, who is tentatively charged with carrying a concealed knife, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and a probation violation is seen Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, by the Dane County, Wis., Sheriff's Office after his arrest Thursday.

MADISON, Wis. — Authorities in southern Wisconsin are facing a tongue twister thanks to the arrest of Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop.

The unusually named 30-year-old man was in jail Sunday in Madison. Police say he violated his bail conditions from a previous run-in with the law.

Court records show that his name used to be Jeffrey Drew Wilschke. He legally changed it in October.

The Capital Times reports that Zopittybop-Bop-Bop was arrested last week after residents complained of excessive drinking and drug use near Reynolds Park in Madison. Authorities say he was arrested in another local park last April after police found a loaded handgun in his backpack.

He's tentatively charged with carrying a concealed knife, and possession of drug paraphernalia and marijuana.

Jail records don't list his bail amount or an attorney.

As New Hampshire voters prepare to hit the polls across the Granite State, they reflect on the appearances, statements and political missteps of the past few weeks.

View full sizeFormer Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas,, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (L-R) listen to a question from NBC Meet the Press moderator David Gregory during a Republican presidential candidate debate at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Although the Republican presidential candidates seemed tense and on the defense at times over the past few days, the overall mood in New Hampshire has been one of excitement ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary.

On highway overpasses and at busy intersections, signs supporting each of the candidates are waving in the wind. The candidates are rushing back-and-forth across the Granite State in an effort to convince a few more voters that they are the right person to choose when they vote on Tuesday.

As voters prepare to hit the polls on Tuesday, they have much to consider. Following two debates only 12 hours apart this past weekend and dozens of appearances in towns and cities of all sizes, each candidate's camp is hoping for the best.

While former Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney is still leading in the polls, his opponents have chipped away at his overall lead.

Less than a week ago, a Suffolk University/News 7 poll showed Romney leading over his rivals with 41 percent of those surveyed pledging to vote for him. The Suffolk poll conducted over the weekend showed that number dropped to 33 percent, but Romney still maintained a sizable lead over Texas Rep. Ron Paul's 20 percent.

Romney's losses in the poll numbers can't be easily quantified, but political attacks from the other candidates and his performance in the weekend debates may have been contributing factors.

At Saturday's ABC/Yahoo News debate, the tone was much more civil than at Sunday's debate, with only a few standout attacks on Romney.

Minutes after the debate in Manchester began, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took a shot at Romney's time in the private sector.

"Being a president is not a CEO," Santorum said. "You've got to lead and inspire."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, seemingly foreshadowing a move by a Super PAC attacking Romney on Monday, mentioned published reports that state people lost their jobs after Bain Capital, which Romney once headed, worked to turn the companies around.

On Monday, the Super PAC "Winning Our Future," which has been supportive of Gingrich, released a trailer previewing a film called "King of Bain: The Day Mitt Romney Came to Town," which it says details how Romney's actions led to the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign countries.

Also on Monday, Romney drew criticism for a sound bite which will no doubt be used in future attacks on him. At a Nashua Chamber Of Commerce breakfast, Romney was talking about health insurance when he said that people should have individual plans not tied to employers, so they can choose a company that best fits their need.

And if a company doesn't fit your needs, you should "fire it," Romney said.

"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me," Romney said in Nashua.

That specific quote, taken out of context, was the subject of several statements from rival candidates on the political trail and Democratic Party representatives hours after Romney spoke in Nashua.

Former Utah Gov. and ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, in third in the Suffolk University poll at 13 percent, jumped on early.

Huntsman, who has remained in New Hampshire after abandoning hope of a win in the Iowa caucuses, which Romney won by eight votes over Santorum, told reporters at an appearance in Concord that "Gov. Romney enjoys firing people," but that he enjoys "creating jobs."

Gingrich and Santorum are nearly neck-and-neck according to the poll, which shows the candidates holding 11 and 10 percent respectively.

Gingrich and Santorum both received negative press over the past week with comments which were perceived by some as racist. Both candidates made statements linking black people to public assistance.

But in New Hampshire, both candidates were, for the most part, focusing their energy on taking down Romney.

At the NBC News/Facebook debate in Concord on Sunday, Gingrich told Romney to "level with the American people" about his record, calling Romney's claim that he is "not a career politician" a bunch of "pious baloney."

Santorum questioned Romney as to why he didn't run for re-election in the Bay State, to which Romney replied with a statement about the money Santorum made as a lobbyist since losing a re-election bid in 2006.

After New Hampshire, the nation will refocus on South Carolina, which holds the country's second presidential primary on Jan. 21.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who opted not to campaign in the Granite State due to dismal poll numbers, has already began assaulting Romney in the South. At a diner in Anderson, S.C., Perry took a jab at Romney's recent statement in which he said there were times he was worried about getting a pink slip during his time in the private sector.

"I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips – whether he'd have enough of them to hand out," Perry told the crowd, according to an Associated Press report.

As voters cast their ballots across New Hampshire on Tuesday, MassLive.com will be there reporting on the latest developments and final results.