WMECO officials say they too are monitoring the approaching system.

SPRINGFIELD - National Grid, responding to the volley of complaints and criticisms over its performance in wake of the freak October snowstorm and other severe weather, is gearing up for potential power outages later today and tomorrow.

Abc40 / Fox 6 meteorologist Rick Sluben said additional snow, a coating to several inches, accompanied by wind gusts of up to 50 mph, could bring scattered outages to Western Massachusetts.

According to a release put out by National Grid, the utility has additional crews ready to be deployed to key areas of the service territory and will communicate its plans to communities and municipal officials throughout the region.

The release states “As a direct result of feedback from customers, communities and many of the stakeholders impacted by the recent severe weather events across the Northeast,” National Grid has liaisons available to be deployed to affected communities.”

Both National Grid and Western Massachusetts Electric Co. drew fire during and after the outages, which lasted a week or more in some areas, for both their performance and not keeping communities abreast of their restoration efforts.

WMECO spokeswoman Sandra Ahearn said Friday the utility is monitoring the approaching system.

“We will make a decision this afternoon if we need to hold crews over to manage any system damage,” she said.

National Grid, according to its release, will also have GPS devices for vehicles driven by outside crews as well as those already installed on company vehicles.

“These devices will help to improve communication during the response; provide more precise crew location information and expedite outage restoration efforts,” the release states. “By continuously being prepared, the company hopes to dramatically improve performance and customer satisfaction, while minimizing disruptions in service.”

Marcy L. Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts, told Wilbraham officials in wake of the October nor’easter that the damage inflicted by it was unprecedented.

“This is the biggest storm we’ve ever had,” Reed said. “I know I said that after the tornado and I said it again after hurricane Irene. But this is the biggest.”

Of the 176 Massachusetts cities and towns served by National Grid, 172 of those communities suffered power loss. In 38 of those towns 90 percent of the people were without power.

National Grid, meanwhile, has launched the Hampden County Reliability Project which proposes to upgrade National Grid transmission lines and substations in the towns of Palmer, Monson and Hampden to improve the reliability of local and regional electric service.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Association report says that the average single-family home would need to pay nearly $13,700 to draw down the liability.

By KYLE CHENEY

BOSTON - Residents in 10 Massachusetts cities, including Springfield, Holyoke and Pittsfield, are on the hook for a combined $4.5 billion in unfunded health care benefits for public retirees, according to a new report, which concludes the average single-family home would need to pay nearly $13,700 to draw down the liability.

The report by the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation examined the unfunded health care liabilities in Brockton, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, Pittsfield, Springfield and Worcester. Brockton fared the worst, with single-family homes on the hook for an average $19,826, compared to $18,297 for Holyoke and $15,660 for Lawrence.

Michael J. Widmer

“Without reforms, over the next 30 years municipalities would be forced to siphon tens of millions from education, public safety and other critical services simply to fund the annual costs of retiree health care, leading to the layoffs of hundreds if not thousands of municipal employees,” according to the report.

The tax hikes required to address the liabilities without sacrificing local services often far exceed the limits under Proposition 2 1/2 but illustrate the “crushing burden” the liabilities – effectively IOU’s for benefits already earned – are playing on the fiscal ledgers of the state’s biggest municipalities.

Employers are also at risk, the report found, facing an additional $70 million in property taxes to help pay their portion of the retiree health care liability.

“Simply put, the tax increases needed to fund these massive liabilities would crush these cities and their local economies,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, in a statement accompanying the report.

The report comes as Beacon Hill has squeezed municipal budgets in recent years with cuts to local aid and other accounts that support cities and towns. Although a major pension system reform passed last year was aimed at relieving about $2 billion of municipal pension costs, in many cases unfunded health are liabilities dwarf pension obligations.

Widmer called on the Legislature to pass “serious reforms” to “rein in the costs of these exceedingly generous benefits.” The Taxpayers Foundation recommends the continued implementation of a plan signed into law last year that gives city and town managers greater control over health care costs.

It also recommends that employee health care benefits be tied to their length of employment, ending a practice of allowing retirees to obtain full health benefits after just 10 years of public employment. The report recommends raising the minimum length of service to 15 or 20 years.

The report also calls on the Legislature to raise the eligibility age for retiree health care to 60 from 55, to restrict health care eligibility to workers who work more than 27 hours per week, and to end coverage for retirees’ dependents.

More details coming in The Republican.

Fire officials want to determine whether the house had working smoke detectors.

File photo / Associated PressMadonna Badger, left, and Michael Borcina, are seen at the funeral of Badger's three children in New York last week. (Photo by Seth Wenig)

STAMFORD, Conn. – Investigators plan to re-interview the two survivors of a Christmas morning fire in which three young girls and their grandparents died.

Police and fire officials say they agreed to give Madonna Badger and Michael Borcina time to mourn the loss of Badger’s daughters and parents. Police Capt. Conklin says, “But now we’re moving ahead on that.”

Badger and Borcina, a friend and contractor who had been renovating the house, managed to escape the fire. Badger is a New York City advertising executive.

The Hartford Courant reported Thursday that officials want to determine whether the house had working smoke detectors.

Authorities say embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes started the blaze.

President Obama’s campaign, meanwhile, released a scathing memo noting that Bain closed companies and cut wages and benefits, while Romney and his partners became wealthy.

Photo by Alan Diaz / Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney reaches out to his supporters after a campaign stop at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday.

By THOMAS BEAUMONT

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Republican presidential front-runner W. Mitt Romney cast himself Friday as a job-creating conservative in a new TV commercial that defends his time at the helm of a venture capital firm, private business experience under attack by his GOP rivals and, now, also by President Barack H. Obama’s re-election campaign.

At the same time, Romney’s allies were assailing rival and former Sen. Rick Santorum in ads in South Carolina and Florida for pork-barrel spending as they worked to keep the challenger, who has avoided criticizing Romney’s business past, from catching fire while Romney pushes for a four-state win streak.

“Mitt Romney helped create and ran a company that invested in struggling businesses, grew new ones and rebuilt old ones, creating thousands of jobs,” says Romney’s new ad in South Carolina that lists Staples, The Sports Authority and Steel Dynamics as successes of the Bain Capital venture firm. “We expected the Obama administration to put free markets on trial ... Romney’s GOP opponents are embarrassing themselves by taking the Obama line.”

That line was a slap at Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, who have gone after Romney over his Bain tenure and drawn criticism from across the GOP for doing so.

As if on cue, Obama’s campaign released a scathing memo noting that Bain closed companies and cut wages and benefits, while Romney and his partners became wealthy. The memo amounts to a roadmap of the Obama campaign’s general election playbook should Romney win the GOP nomination.

“His overwrought response to questions about it has been to insist that any criticism of his business record is an assault on free enterprise itself,” top Obama aide Stephanie Cutter wrote. “But this is just an attempt to evade legitimate scrutiny of the record on which he says he’s running.”

Romney also rolled out a radio ad about values in South Carolina – likely to counter a TV ad by Gingrich that hits Romney on abortion – and one in Nevada promoting his jobs experience. Romney and his allies are the only presidential campaign entities on the air in Florida, running moderate to heavy levels of ads.

With the Bain issue now spreading across both the primary and general election campaigns, Romney was looking to blunt the force of attacks on the central rationale for his candidacy in hopes of preventing those criticisms from taking hold, if they haven’t already. It’s unclear whether attacks by Gingrich and his allies are having an impact on the race in South Carolina, where unemployment is high.

Gingrich and Perry, looking to right their struggling bids ahead of the state’s Jan. 21 presidential primary, have described Romney as a greedy corporate raider, not the business-savvy job creator he has tried to portray himself as.

They’ve been aided by an outside group that supports Gingrich and has pledged to run $3.4 million worth of ads attacking Romney on this issue in South Carolina. So far, less than $1.5 million in airtime has been bought for the ad, which features snippets of people talking about how they lost their jobs when Bain intervened at their companies.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, has steered clear of the Bain fight and is aggressively competing in South Carolina, where polls show Romney leading.

Some Republicans think Santorum is well positioned to rise in South Carolina, much like he did just before the Iowa caucuses, where he narrowly lost to Romney. Santorum fared more poorly in New Hampshire but South Carolina is more friendly terrain for the champion of culturally conservative issues.

The Romney-aligned super PAC called Restore Our Future, which is running $2.3 million in TV ads in South Carolina alone, is taking no chances of allowing a more conservative alternative to Romney to emerge and drag the race into a long slog through the spring nominating contests. The group, which spent nearly $3 million on advertising in Iowa attacking Gingrich, was seen as effectively ending Gingrich’s rise in Iowa before the caucuses.

In addition to ads critical of Gingrich in South Carolina, the group run by former Romney aides is also now targeting Santorum on fiscal issues with TV ads and direct mail here and Florida, which holds the next primary on Jan. 31 and where Romney is considered the one to beat.

The commercials assail Santorum’s support for pork-barrel – or earmark – spending while in Congress and votes to increase the federal debt limit. Both were common positions among Republicans, but have become flashpoints for conservatives angry about spending and the federal budget deficit.

“So how will Santorum beat Obama? Obama knows he can’t,” the ad says.

A flier filling mailboxes in South Carolina makes a similar pitch, stating: “America is in a financial mess because of politicians like Rick Santorum.”

Santorum has stepped up his own advertising and a super PAC supporting him also is airing ads in South Carolina, although so far they have been upbeat messages about the candidate. The group confirmed Friday it was adding an additional $600,000 in advertising time in the state.

The victim was knocked unconscious and suffered a large gash to his head.

From left, Edwin Sanchez, Raymond Carrasquillo, Matthew Kelleher, in photos provided by Springfield police.

SPRINGFIELD – A fight outside the Shadow Lounge on Worthington Street Friday morning sent a man to Baystate Medical Center and yielded the arrest of three others.

Those arrested included a friend of the victim who rushed to defend him and was later found to be in possession of cocaine.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said the fight began as the 21-year-old victim was leaving the club. One of the suspects, 21-year-old Raymond Carrasquillo came up from behind and hit the man with an unknown object.

“The victim was knocked out cold and fell to the sidewalk,” Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet said.

Mathew Kelleher, 24, of 93 Pine St., came to the victim’s aid and began to fight Carrasquillo.

As officers moved in to arrest the fighting pair, they saw a third suspect, 20-year-old Edwin Sanchez, of 178 Belmont Ave., emerge from the Shadow and kick the unconscious victim in the head with his boot, “causing his forehead to smash against the pavement,” Delaney said.

Once at the station, officers found a bag of cocaine in Kelleher’s possession, Delaney said. He was charged with assault and battery, disorderly conduct and possession of cocaine.

Carrasquillo, also of 178 Belmont Ave., was charged with assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct.

Sanchez, who was underage, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a shod foot) and disorderly conduct.

Delaney said the victim, who suffered a large gash on his head, regained consciousness at the scene. He was treated at Baystate Medical Center and released.

Delaney said the officers wrote a report to the License Commission regarding the incident and the underage patron. Delaney the lounge has been a trouble spot for police.

Van der Sloot’s lawyer argued that his client killed the 21-year-old Stephany Flores in May 2010 during a fit of rage he blamed on psychological trauma from being hounded as the prime suspect in Holloway case.

Photo by Karel Navarro / Associated PressJoran van der Sloot, right, arrives to the courtroom for his sentence at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday.

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian court on Friday sentenced Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for murder of a young woman he met at a Lima casino.

The decision comes two days after the young Dutchman pleaded guilty to killing Stephany Flores. It is also a moment when the family of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway is renewing efforts to bring him to the United States to face charges related to her 2005 disappearance.

The court also ordered him to pay $75,000 in reparations to the family of the 21-year-old victim.

The prosecution had sought a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft.

Van der Sloot’s lawyer argued that his client killed the 21-year-old Flores in May 2010 during a fit of rage he blamed on psychological trauma from being hounded as the prime suspect in Holloway case.

Kathleen Edward, the sick Michigan girl who made national headlines after being taunted and harassed by a neighbor on Facebook, has died.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanA trucker cleans his windows while parked at the truck stop at the end of Interstate 291 on Burnett Road in Chicopee one day last year. Click on the link, below right, for a report from WWLP-TV, Channel 22 in Springfield about saftety groups' concerns about federal rules that allow truckers to spend more time on the road.

• Hunter's group calls for revocation of trooper's license following accidental shooting of neighbor [Brockton Enterprise]


• Parents in Middletown, Conn. concerned about use of 'scream rooms' at Farm Hill Elementary School [Hartford Courant]


• Dying Michigan girl taunted on Facebook loses battle with brain disease [WJBK-TV, Fox 2, Detroit]


• Safety group concerned about rules that allow truckers to stay on road for longer hours [WWLP-TV, 22 News, Chicopee]


• New England Conservatory conductor fired after allegedly hiring sex offender to videotape students [WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Needham]


• President Obama seeks to merge 6 trade, commerce agencies into 1 [Wall Street Journal]


• United States restores full diplomatic ties after Myanmar releases political prisoners [New York Times]


• 3 men charged in frightening road rage attack, assault in Milton [CBS Boston.com]


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


• Read more News Links »


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Obituaries from The Republican.

Gina M. Rossi

AGAWAM - Gina M. Rossi, 46, died Sunday at home. Born in Holyoke, she was a lifelong resident of Agawam's Feeding Hills section. She was a 1983 graduate of Agawam High School and graduated from Westfield State College with a degree in criminal justice. She was a parole officer at the the Hampden County House of Correction at Stony Brook in Ludlow.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Bliznak, Beverly Blake
  



• 
  Ciosek, Dorothy A. (Barre)
  




• 
  Cyr, Ralph R.
  



• 
  Giordano, Alfonsina (D'Ascoli)
  



• 
  Harris, Judith E. "Judy"




• 
  Hutcheson Jr., Bellenden Rand
  



• 
  Mallory, Hazel E. (Jordan)
  




• Morgan, Eva (Clark)
  




• 
  Nichols, Rebecca A.
  



• 
  Pennington, Dr. George J. W.




• 
  Philbin, Michael
  



• 
  Ratchford, Mary C. (Ring)
  




• Rossi, Gina M.
  




• 
  Salvas, Rudolph R. "Rudy"
  



• 
  Stein, Mickey




• 
  Thorndike, Carolyn Perry
  



• 
  Tirrell, Margaret E. "Peg" (Rooney)
  




• Zeiters, Stella M. (Kaplita)
  

The court upheld the suppression of statements made by a man who shook his head from side to side after police asked him if he wanted to speak to them about an indecent assault and battery at a subway station.

By DENISE LAVOIE

BOSTON – A head shake is just as good as words when it comes to suspects telling police they want to invoke their right to remain silent, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled Friday.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the suppression of statements made by a man who shook his head from side to side after police asked him if he wanted to speak to them about an indecent assault and battery at a subway station. Later in the interrogation, the man signed a form waiving his right to remain silent and then made incriminating statements.

The court found that the questioning should have stopped after the man shook his head.

The court said that although federal law requires a suspect to invoke his right to remain silent “with the utmost clarity,” such precision is not required under the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.

“When law enforcement officials reasonably do not know whether or not a suspect wants to invoke the right to remain silent, there can be no dispute that it is a ‘good police practice’ for them to stop questioning on any other subject and ask the suspect to make his choice clear,” Justice Barbara Lenk wrote for the court in a unanimous opinion.

A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said the ruling may confuse police.

“The high court now is rejecting the clear federal standard for a less clear standard,” Wark said. “It widens the gray areas in police interviews rather than creating a clear line for police officers to follow.”

Brandon Clarke was questioned by police for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in October 2008 after he was arrested for an indecent assault and battery that had occurred a few weeks earlier.

At the beginning of the interrogation, police gave Clarke a waiver form describing his Miranda rights to remain silent and have a lawyer present for questioning. Clarke immediately began to sign the form, but one of the officers told him he wanted to review with him the rights described in the form. The officer then asked Clarke if he wanted to discuss the charges.

At that point, Clarke asked what would happen if he didn’t speak to police. When the officer told him “nothing,” Clarke said he wanted to go home.

The officer then said, “So you don’t want to speak?” Clarke then shook his head back and forth.

After more discussion, Clarke said he wanted to talk, then signed the Miranda waiver form.

Wark said the police officers who questioned Clarke believed his head shake was “an ambiguous response to multiple questions” and a misunderstanding of the next step in the arrest process.

The state cabinet meeting was conducted at Mary A. Dryden Veterans Memorial School that was among buildings damaged in the June 1 tornado.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanMassachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick, left, looks on as Lt Gov. Timothy P. Murray asks a question during a cabinet meeting held Friday in the science lab at the Mary A. Dryden Veterans Memorial School in Springfield .

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Deval L. Patrick and his cabinet secretaries met in Springfield on Friday, pledging to continue aiding the city in its economic and post-tornado recovery.

The cabinet meeting took place at the Mary A. Dryden Veterans Memorial School, which was among hundreds of buildings and structures that were seriously damaged in the June 1 tornado.

Patrick, following the closed-door meeting, did not announce any new grants, but promised a continued strong partnership with Springfield. The plan is not only to help rebuild Springfield but to make it “ better and bigger than ever,” Patrick said.

The initiatives will include: rebuilding tornado-damaged areas; revitalizing the South End; and redevelopment of Court Square in downtown Springfield, the Union Station Regional Intermodal Transportation Center, and the Civic Center Parking Garage, city and state officials said.

The meeting occurs just two weeks before the city releases a “Rebuild Springfield” master plan. Patrick said the state looks forward to assisting the city in the plan in any way possible. Patrick added, however, that Massachusetts faces “a challenging budget year” and is “still digging out of a deep, deep hole.”

Other state officials participating in the cabinet meeting included; Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray; Greg Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development; Richard A. Davey, secretary of transportation; Jay Gonzalez, secretary of administration and finance; former Westfield mayor Richard Sullivan, secretary of energy and environmental affairs; and S. Paul Reville, secretary of education.

“Our administration has been a committed partner to Springfield, working to grow the local economy and create opportunities for residents,” Patrick said in a prepared advance statement. “Focusing on these priorities will help attract businesses to Springfield, drive the local economy and make much needed repairs to infrastructure to help revitalize the city.”

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno thanked the state officials for their attention to Springfield, and said Patrick and Murray have been “great partners” of the city.

During the meeting, city officials and Rebuild Springfield officials provided a summary of economic development and post-tornado efforts.

A cardiologist for the 58-year-old ex-North Carolina Senator wrote two letters about his condition to Judge Catherine Eagles who talked about them Friday during a hearing to consider whether his campaign violations trial would go on later this month.

File photo by Chuck Burton / Associated PressFormer Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, left, leaves a federal courthouse with attorney Abbe Lowell after a hearing in Greensboro, N.C., Dec. 16. Edwards is accused of using about $1 million in undisclosed payments from campaign donors to cover up an affair during his 2008 White House bid. He has pleaded not guilty.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ex-presidential candidate John Edwards has a life-threatening heart condition that will require surgery next month, his doctor told a judge presiding over Edwards’ upcoming court case over possible campaign violations.

A cardiologist for the 58-year-old ex-North Carolina Senator wrote two letters about his condition to Judge Catherine Eagles who talked about them Friday during a hearing to consider whether the trial would go on later this month. She delayed it until at least March 26.

Edwards walked into the courtroom in Greensboro without assistance and appeared healthy. The judge requested that he be there.

The judge did not give any more details about what sort of surgery or what illness Edwards may have. The doctor also wrote that Edwards should avoid driving and travel, including to the court proceedings.

“The public has an interest in a speedy trial, and this case has already been continued twice,” Eagles said. “Ordinarily, I would try to manage something like this. But clearly there are some limitations on Mr. Edwards due to real and serious health issues.”

Prosecutors had said they were ready to try Edwards on six felony and misdemeanor counts related to nearly $1 million from wealthy donors used to help hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 White House run.

Anne O’Brien and Jeremy Prince, Phoebe’s parents, collected $225,000 on the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination complaint they filed against the town of South Hadley and certain town officials after the parties agreed to settle the matter out of court.

SOUTH HADLEY - While it remains difficult to draw any conclusions from the settlement in the Phoebe Prince case, lawyers who have analyzed it say the family did as well as it could have, financially, under the circumstances.

Anne O’Brien and Jeremy Prince, Phoebe’s parents, collected $225,000 on the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination complaint they filed against the town of South Hadley and certain town officials after the parties agreed to settle the matter out of court. As part of the agreement, the defendants, School Superintendent Gus A. Sayer, South Hadley High School Principal Dan Smith, Vice Principal William Evans and the school system itself, were indemnified from any future legal action in the matter.

Although the parties were ordered to keep the terms of the settlement confidential, a judge ordered the town to disclose the dollar amount, ruling in favor of Slate.com reporter Emily Bazelon, who had contended in court that the figure should be public information. While no amount of money can compensate the Prince family for the loss of their daughter, opinions differ as to whether or not the payout by Argonaut Insurance Company indicates that the Prince family had a solid case.

Prince, 15, a freshman at South Hadley High School, had recently immigrated from Ireland. She hanged herself with a scarf at home in January of 2010. Investigators say her suicide followed a period of intense bullying at school. Six of her former classmates were charged in connection with her treatment, but nearly all those charges were dropped.

In the complaint, which the parents filed six months after Prince’s death, they maintain that the defendants failed to prevent Phoebe from being intimidated and humiliated at school and that this hostile environment interfered with her right to a safe education. The two sides settled out of court in November of 2010.

Paul S. Weinberg, a Northampton lawyer who has handled many civil cases, said there are several avenues available to someone suing in such a situation. A common one is a wrongful death suit under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act alleging negligence. However, this law grants immunity to municipalities and other governmental bodies from liability resulting from the action of a third party, such as a student.

“You can’t be sued for the actions of a third person,” Weinberg said.

The exception is if the municipality created the situation that resulted in harm, but this is difficult standard to meet. It would not have been enough, Weinberg said, to show that the school officials knew or should have known about the bullying and failed to stop it.

If the family had brought a civil rights complaint under either state of federal law, the standards would have been similarly tough.

“It could have been dismissed if it had gone further,” Weinberg said.

Under the Tort Claims Act, the maximum penalty that each individual plaintiff can collect in a successful suit is $100,000. Noting that the Princes got $225,000, Weinberg said, “I think they were well advised to settle. As far as I know, they did better than they could have under the law.”

Leonard Kesten, a Boston lawyer who has been involved in numerous bullying suits, had a similar take on the Prince settlement. In 2010, a Middlesex Superior Court judge threw out a bullying case Kesten handled involving a middle school student in Tewskbury. In that case, the son of Kesten’s clients was derided as a “dunce” in school and had his leg broken in a bathroom fight. The suit alleged that school officials were aware of the situation but failed to defuse it.

In dismissing the suit, the judge cited the “sovereign immunity” waiver that immunizes town officials against negligence. Although the judge noted that the officials appeared to have mishandled the situation, he also ruled that their conduct did not rise to the level required to find that they intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

Kesten had not read the Prince complaint, but noted that the law tends to protect school officials from liability in such cases.

“The courts recognize how difficult it is for school officials to monitor everything that happens,” he said. “That they ‘should have known’ is not good enough.”

That said, it is still hard to guess what goes through people’s minds when they settle out of court. Given the high profile of the Prince story and the public emotions it aroused, the town and the insurance company might have simply wanted to put the matter behind them. For the Prince family, the thought of going through what could have been a very public three-year trial process might have been intolerable.

“They might not have wanted to go through the pain from the innuendos and rumors if it came out publicly,” Weinberg said.

Kersten agrees. Although Prince’s parents might ultimately have received a bigger award from a jury, they might not have considered it worth the pain.

“Everyone has to weigh the risks and the emotional toll,” he said.

Federal campaign law bars candidates from coordinating with outside groups on advertising.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 3:39 this afternoon.

U. S. Senator Scott P. Brown is seen with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

By STEVE LeBLANC

BOSTON – Democrat Elizabeth Warren says she’s ready to forge an “enforceable agreement” with Republican U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown to block political attack ads by independent groups.

Warren was responding to a letter Brown sent her earlier Friday urging her to join with him in calling on outside groups to stop political attack ads.

Warren said the campaigns should go a step further and come up with an agreement that would cover television, radio and online advertisements from outside groups and third parties.

“We have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the country. Let’s do it,” Warren wrote in her letter to Brown. “If you are serious about stopping the political games and getting to the hard work of keeping out third party ads and independent groups, I’m ready.”

Warren’s letter didn’t say how the campaigns could block ads by independent groups. Federal campaign law bars candidates from coordinating with outside groups on advertising.

The proposal is an about-face for Warren, who had previously defended the rights of some political action committees and other independent groups to run ads.

The League of Conservation Voters and the League of Women Voters have already spent nearly $3 million on separate ad campaigns targeting Brown in support of Warren.

Warren proposed that the agreement “include television, radio and online advertisements from outside groups and third parties and further, that this agreement include consequences for the campaign that fails to honor this agreement.”

“My campaign manager is prepared to meet with your representative to begin immediately to craft an enforceable agreement,” Warren wrote to Brown.

In his letter to Warren earlier Friday, Brown said both candidates have a responsibility to speak against the ads regardless of whether they may help or harm their campaigns.

Brown had already publicly called on all third party groups to pull their ads, including ads funded by Crossroads GPS, an affiliate of American Crossroads, a group with ties to GOP political operative Karl Rove.

Those ads attacked Warren in support of Brown.

“The voters of Massachusetts deserve an honest campaign where candidates themselves are allowed to contest their ideas and are held accountable for the conduct of their campaign,” Brown said.

“Rather than adopt an elitist attitude with one set of rules for yourself and another for everyone else, I urge you once again to join me in calling for an end to all spending by third party groups,” he added.

Brown campaign manager Jim Barnett said he welcomed Warren’s decision to join with Brown in denouncing the outside ads.

“We’re pleased that Professor Warren appears to have finally had a change of heart about the negative influence of outside special interests, and will be further encouraged when and if she actually joins Senator Brown’s call for outside groups on both sides to cease their interference in Massachusetts,” he said.

Warren is a consumer advocate and Harvard law professor.

Brown is officially launching his re-election campaign next week in Worcester.

This week, Warren reported raising $5.7 million during the final three months of 2011, eclipsing Brown’s $3.2 million for the same period.

Brown still enjoys an overall money advantage with $12.8 million in cash on hand, compared to the more than $6 million Warren has in her account.

Deals on campaign ads are not unprecedented in Massachusetts political history.

In 1996, former Gov. William F. Weld and Sen. John F. Kerry negotiated an unprecedented spending cap for their race. At the time, Weld, a Republican, was trying to unseat the Democrat Kerry.

The deal included a $6.95 million cap on overall expenditures and a $5 million cap on advertising.

Ultimately the deal collapsed.

A police report showed the student was shouting and threw and shattered a cell phone.

The Republican / John SuchockiThe William J. Dean Technical High School in Holyoke.

HOLYOKE – A 17-year-old student from Dean Technical High School who arrested for causing a disturbance at the school was released on her personal recognizance and is due back in Holyoke District Court Jan. 27.

Marisol I. Cruz, of 7 Worcester Place, was arrested Thursday. According to police and court documents, she refused orders of school staff to stop talking on her cell phone, was shouting profanities, threw the phone and shattered it and hurled herself onto and began punching the floor in the principal’s office.

Cruz was charged with disturbing or attempting to disturb a school assembly. She was arraigned in court Friday, the documents showed.

A report by police officer Melvis Romero said a school staffer saw Cruz talking on a cell phone at the counter in the culinary area. The staffer told her to put it away because students are prohibited from using cell phones in school, Romero’s report said.

Cruz refused to stop using the cell phone and a vice principal was called. The incident moved to the principal’s office, with Cruz shouting that she didn’t want to be in school. Romero said in the report he put cuffs on and arrested Cruz because “I feared for her safety and the staff safety.”

Increased co-pays are projected to result in a savings on premiums for health insurance plans.

WILBRAHAM - Members of the Scantic Valley Health Trust which includes the town of Wilbraham and the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional Schools have voted to inform employees in collective bargaining units that the trust which purchases the employees’ health insurance plans to increase co-pays beginning July 1.

The increased co-pays will be the subject of expedited collective bargaining.

Savings which are anticipated from the increased co-pays will be shared between the employer and the employees, Assistant Town Administrator Thomas Sullivan said.

At a selectmen's meeting earlier this week, the board was were told if it approved the expedited collective bargaining, health insurance co-pays would be increased from $50 to $100 for emergency room visits, $10 to $20 for doctor’s visits, to $35 for visits to specialists, $100 for use of an MRI machine and $500 for admission to a hospital, subject to the expedited collective bargaining.

The increased co-pays must be approved for the town and the regional school district to continue to purchase employee health insurance through the Scantic Valley Regional Health Trust, Sullivan said.

The intent of the expedited collective bargaining is to help the municipalities balance their budgets and to slow the rise in health insurance premiums. A new state law says municipalities must offer care at at least the same level as state health insurance. It also says that changes in health care plan design no longer are subject to traditional collective bargaining. The expedited collective bargaining has a time limit and a committee which makes a final ruling on the changes.

For preventative care such as yearly physicals there will be no co-pays, Sullivan said.

He said the intent of the increased co-pays is to discourage emergency room visits, except for true emergencies, and thus bring down the cost of health insurance premiums.

Selectman Robert Boilard said that while employees will have increased co-pays, the intent is to bring down the cost of premiums for both the municipality and the employee.

Selectman James Thompson said, “It is a fact of life that health insurance is a costly benefit.”

He added that the increased co-pays will discourage emergency room visits, except for emergencies.

“Preventative care will continue to have no co-pays,” he said.

Police are looking at whether the driver of the car that struck the other vehicle in the breakdown lane lost control due to a medical condition.

Republican file photo

HOLDEN - State police report a 32-year-old Leominster man was killed on Interstate 190 Friday afternoon when he was struck by another car as he changed a tire in the highway's breakdown lane.

Police report the driver of the other car was a 42-year-old man from the town of Athol. Police were not yet releasing his name.

The deceased was identified as Chad Lebouf. He was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial Hospital, according to police. The Athol motorist was also taken to UMass Memorial. His condition was not known Friday night.

The crash happened just before 3:30 p.m.

The preliminary investigation shows Lebouf was in the breakdown lane, changing the left rear tire on his Toyota Tundra when the vehicle was struck by a Ford Crown Victoria.

Investigators are looking into whether the Athol man was overcome by a medical condition just before the crash.

The crash remains under investigation by Troop C of the Massachusetts State Police with the assistance of the State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section and the State Police Crime Scene Services Section. Troopers were assisted at the scene by the West Boylston Fire Department and the Department of Transportation Highway Division.

The breakdown lane and one lane of the highway were closed for approximately 2 1/2 hours while the crash was being investigated.

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Tax increases, partisan politics and political theater were among the things Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown condemned during a speech at the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting on Friday.

01.13.2012.KINGSTON- Republican U.S. Sen Scott Brown talked about partisanship, corporate taxes and job creation during a speech at the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting on Friday at the Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston. (Staff Photo by Robert Rizzuto)

KINGSTON -- Tax increases, partisan politics and political theater were among the things Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown condemned during a speech at the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting on Friday.

Brown, while addressing the group of more than 300 business people, said that the legislative gridlock in the nation's capitol is unacceptable and both political parties hold some blame.

"The hyper-partisanship in Washington is disgusting," Brown told the group at the Indian Pond Country Club. "I'm the most bipartisan in the entire delegation by far. It's great to be a Republican or a Democrat but I've always believed we are Americans first. When we need to get out there and solve problems, we have to work together. There are people of good will on both sides."

Brown made waves in the political world just before Christmas when he publicly chastised members of his own party who blocked a vote on a two-month extension of unemployment benefits. Republican House members eventually caved to public pressure, but during the turmoil that followed the standoff, Brown was one of the few Republicans to speak out against the tactic crafted by GOP leaders.

Brown, who is embroiled in a heated campaign for his U.S. Senate seat against three Democratic challengers including consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, didn't directly address the race during the speech. Instead, he focused on issues of issues of interest to the business community, including a question about government's role in regulating businesses.

"There is a role for government. But sometimes government needs to know when to get out of the way and let you all as job-creators get out and do your jobs and create economic activity. Raising taxes in the middle of a three-year recession is not the answer," Brown said. "We have the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world. It's you with a local one or two-man operation trying to compete on a global basis and trying to do it with the high corporate tax rates and the over-regulation is problematic."

On the topic of job creation, Brown said that he voted down President Obama's job bill because it was paid for with "credit," rather than cash. He also cited similar bills he's authored and touted the "success" of two recent job fairs held in Worcester and Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, which had attendance rates topping 3,000 and 2,000 respectively, according to Brown.

"We're in the middle of the third year of a recession and a lot of businesses are still hurting," Brown said. "People are still fearful about what's next. People who have had full-time work can't find them and they are working two or three part-time jobs."

Brown also said that he spoke with business owners that told him they have positions available but no one applying for them.

He said one business owner told him that he had jobs available but "people don't want to work for $35,000, $40,000 when they're getting benefits from the federal and state government to offset that. They'd rather stay home."

Brown's appearance in Kingston was followed by a letter sent by his campaign to his Democratic rival calling on the Harvard Law School professor to join him in calling on political action committees to end their advertising campaigns in the Bay State.

Warren, who previously spoke against negative ads but said the outside groups should be able to advocate their positions, sent Brown back a letter agreeing to call on the PACs to cease advertising in Massachusetts.

To date, PACs attacking Brown or Warren have spent nearly $5 million combined trying to sway voters ahead of November's election.

It is unknown how the two will move forward to stop the ads, which are permitted by election law, since the same laws make it illegal for a candidate to coordinate with outside groups or PACs about advertising.

Brown will officially kick-off his reelection campaign on Jan. 19 in Worcester.

The U.S. Attorney's office and Hampden District Attorney's office are investigating allegations of civil rights violations and police brutality against veteran Capt. Daniel O'Brien.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Hampden District Attorney’s Office are investigating allegations of civil rights violations and police brutality made against veteran police Capt. Daniel O’Brien.

Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger Friday said that someone wrote a letter alleging an incident involving a woman in police custody in the fall. The letter was sent to either the U.S. Attorney’s Office or the Hampden District Attorney’s Office.

As a result, O’Brien was placed on administrative leave, that is leave with pay, three to four weeks ago under the administration of former Mayor Edward J. Gibson, according to Neffinger.

Neffinger said he does not have any information about what is alleged to have occurred.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni confirmed that his office is doing a probe that he hopes to wrap up in several weeks. He would not confirm the name of the police officer involved, but would say it involves an allegation of misconduct that raises the issues of civil rights violations and police brutality.

Mastroianni declined to comment further on the matter.

Meanwhile, no one was available for comment Friday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition, Police Chief Thomas Burke could not be reached.

O’Brien is on leave pending completion of the probes. One of five police captains, he has a salary of approximately $91,000. He has been on the force since 1988.

“I don’t have a lot of information,” Neffinger said. “When I took the oath of office everything was in process.”

The Police Department has been asked to not do its own internal investigation because that could have an effect on the two other probes, which are independent of each other, according to the mayor.

“I’m hoping in about a week we will be able to do our own investigation,” the mayor said.

Poet Maya Angelou said the original abbreviated passage on the memorial, taken out of context, made King sound "like an arrogant twit."

View full sizeAP file photoChristopher Ogden, of Charlotte, right, takes a photograph of his children, Courtney Ogden, 6, center, and Conrad Ogden, 2, with a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington on Aug. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). An inscription on the memorial is being revised after receiving cricitism

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A quote carved in stone on the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington will be changed after the inscription was criticized for not accurately reflecting the civil rights leader's words.

The Washington Post first reported on Friday the decision to change the inscription, which currently reads: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." The phrase is chiseled into one side of a massive block of granite that includes King's likeness emerging from the stone. It became a point of controversy after the memorial opened in August.

The phrase is modified from a sermon known as the "Drum Major Instinct," in which the 39-year-old King explained to his Atlanta congregation how he would like to be remembered at his funeral. He made the February 1968 speech just two months before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

In the speech, King's words seem more modest than the paraphrased inscription: "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

Maya Angelou

Poet Maya Angelou previously said the truncated version made King sound like "an arrogant twit" because it was out of context.

A spokesman for the U.S Department of the Interior confirmed on Friday that Secretary Ken Salazar decided to have the quote changed. It's not clear how much any change might cost or how it would be paid for.

Salazar gave the National Park Service, which the U.S Department of the Interior oversees, a month to consult with the King Memorial Foundation, which led the effort to build the memorial, as well as family members and other interested parties. The committee is supposed to come up with a more accurate alternative to the quote.

Harry Johnson, president of the King Memorial Foundation, said it wasn't yet clear what the alternatives might be. The group would look at all the ways a change could be made, he said.

The executive architect of the $120 million project, Ed Jackson Jr., had previously said he stood by the paraphrased line and that there was no way it could be altered. King's words were shortened for space reasons, Jackson said. He did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment Friday evening.

Angelou was named among the memorial's Council of Historians tasked with selecting the inscriptions for the memorial. But she did not attend meetings about the inscriptions, Jackson said. Project planners also explained the shortened quote to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which ultimately approved the memorial's design.

At least one other recent memorial has undergone changes after being opened to the public. After the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial opened in 1997, advocates for the disabled campaigned to have a statue added portraying Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Originally, only one statue in the memorial alluded to the fact Roosevelt lost the use of his legs after contracting polio as an adult. That statue portrayed him seated with small wheels on the back of his chair.

In 2001, a bronze sculpture depicting Roosevelt in his self-designed wheelchair was added to the entrance of the memorial. Disability groups raised $1.65 million for the addition.

Mayor Alex Morse said City Hall being fully wireless was a key modernization step.

File photo | The RepublicanHolyoke City Hall.

HOLYOKE – City Hall is now fully wireless for Internet access.

“We need to modernize City Hall and city government,” Mayor Alex B. Morse said.

Morse announced the wireless configuration Jan. 4, the day after he was sworn into office.

Going fully wireless for Internet access entailed installing additional access points around City Hall to amplify signals. That cost about $5,000, said James M. Lavelle, manager of the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department.

Wireless means signals can be transmitted over invisible radio waves instead of wires, according to CIO.com, which provides analysis on information technology trends.

“Garage door openers and television remote controls were the first wireless devices to become a part of everyday life. Now the cordless keyboard and mouse ... and digital and cellular phones are commonplace,” CIO.com said.

“For businesses, wireless technology means new ways to stay in touch with customers, suppliers and employees,” CIO.com said.

As for the difference between mobile and wireless, CIO.com said, mobile means portable. A laptop computer and a cell phone are mobile devices because people can carry them around. Devices are wireless when they connect and exhange information with a network, CIO.com said.