Startled riders aboard a Manhattan-bound train spotted an opossum curled up underneath a seat near the train's heating duct around 4:30 a.m. on Friday.
AP Photo/New York TimesIn this undated photo, an opossum hides under a seat on the subway in New York. Startled riders abroad a Manhattan-bound train spotted the opossum around 4:30 a.m. last Friday. The New York Times reports that finding the nocturnal creature on a subway train was rare in several ways. Opossum tend to like trees and they are not burrowers although they sometimes go below ground in search of food or warmth. After the animal bared its teeth at officers who tried to remove it with heavy gloves, animal control experts were called. NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said it was the first anybody could remember seeing a wild animal in the system. (AP Photo/New York Times)
NEW YORK — A suspicious passenger of the four-legged variety led to the evacuation of a New York City subway car.
Startled riders aboard a Manhattan-bound train spotted an opossum curled up underneath a seat near the train's heating duct around 4:30 a.m. on Friday.
The New York Times reports the animal apparently boarded the train at Coney Island in Brooklyn, where the platform is above ground. The subway car was evacuated several stops later in Manhattan as officers wearing heavy gloves tried to remove it. When the marsupial bared its teeth at them, animal control experts were called in.
Rats and pigeons are often seen in the city's subways, but NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton says it's the first time anybody could remember a wild animal in the system.
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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
A Planning Board hearing on the proposed project resumes Jan. 24.
HOLYOKE – Jobs and tax revenue are being weighed against increased traffic and a possible fast-food restaurant with a drive-up window in the consideration of a proposed $16 million supermarket project.
Big Y would be the anchor of the project set for Homestead Avenue and Lower Westfield Road.
The city Planning Board continued a public hearing on the project to Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at Lt. Elmer J. McMahon School on Kane Road.
The initial hearing lasted more than three hours Jan. 10. The hearing is part of the Planning Board consideration known as site plan review.
Public comments included concerns about traffic, noise and living across from a fast-food restaurant.
The project would have 110,000 square feet of retail on the 29.5-acre site.
Other tenants could include a bank with drive-up windows, a few other stores and a restaurant that possibly could be a fast-food place with drive-through, said Andrew J. Crystal, vice president of O’Connell Development Group, which owns the site.
The project would yield more than 250 jobs, in addition to 120 to 130 construction jobs, officials said.
The site is the former Atlas Copco compressor factory, which closed in 2005, and has some temporary tenants, officials said.
The project would generate 7,650 new vehicle trips a day, the engineer’s report said.
Improvements would be installed to help with an already busy intersection, which is down the road from the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside. That would include a new traffic signal on Homestead Avenue with exclusive turning lanes into the site, and a site-exclusive right-turn lane on Lower Westfield Road, the report said.
The report notes “land takings” will be needed to improve traffic flow at the intersection. O’Connell has said that entails the company donating a third of an acre at Homestead Avenue and Lower Westfield Road so the area can be widened, said Kathleen G. Anderson, director of the city Office of Planning and Development.
Also, Anderson confirmed an assertion in the report that said the area’s water and sewer lines would be able to handle the usage from the proposed project without detriment.
City Councilor at Large Aaron M. Vega, who attended the Jan. 10 hearing, said Monday he liked that the developer has shown an awareness of the need for traffic improvements, along with plans for pedestrian, bike and green areas on the site.
“I think the overall concern is still the traffic,” Vega said.
Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon, who also attended the hearing, said “People are not very warm” to the idea of the site having a drive-up-window-equipped, fast-food eatery.
Blanchard may be awarded a bonus of up to $5,000 if he completes the goals set by the Town Council to its satisfaction.
Charles T. Blanchard
PALMER – The Town Council has signed a 3½-year contract with new town manager Charles T. Blanchard that will pay him $117,500 per year in his first six months of employment, and promises a bonus of up to $5,000 if he meets goals set by the council.
Blanchard's annual salary will jump $2,500, to $120,000 on July 1. Starting July 1, 2013, he will be paid $123,000. In July 2014, he will be paid an annual salary of $126,075.
The contract will run until June 30, 2015. It may be extended for one additional year by a vote of the majority of council members after he completes his second year.
Blanchard, of Sturbridge, has been serving as acting town manager since July. He was the lone finalist to be presented last month by the Town Manager Search Committee to the Town Council; two other candidates under consideration withdrew their names before they could be announced at the meeting.
Town Council President Paul E. Burns said it has been a long search, but thinks the process worked well in the end. The search began when the council fired former town manager Matthew S. Streeter in June 2010. The search halted early last year when it opted to keep then-executive assistant Patricia A. Kennedy in the acting town manager role until July 1, the date when the new Town Council took office.
The search also was marked by numerous finalists, or semifinalists, dropping out.
"Working together the council took the time necessary to ensure that we have a qualified manager. Rather than settle on one candidate or another the council was committed to continuing the process and ensuring we hired a manager who not only had the right skills and experience but was also a good fit for the town," Burns said.
Burns said in an email that he believes Blanchard will "provide competent knowledgeable leadership for Palmer."
"He has demonstrated the ability to build consensus and develop a strong working relationship with the council, department heads, employees and citizens. I look forward to working with him as we work to resolve the many issues facing Palmer in the next few years," Burns wrote.
Blanchard said he is looking forward to working with the council and the community.
"I'm very pleased to be the town manager," Blanchard said.
As town manager, Blanchard will have the task of negotiating with Mohegan Sun, which is one of several casino operators competing for the sole Western Massachusetts casino license. Mohegan Sun wants to build a resort casino on Thorndike Street (Route 32) across from the Massachusetts Turnpike interchange.
"I just think it’s going to be a longer term process than a lot of people anticipate," said Blanchard, adding his next meeting with Mohegan is at the end of the month.
Before coming to Palmer, Blanchard was the town administrator in Paxton for 5½ years. He also was president of Montgomery Wholesale Florist in Hadley, and was a member of the Sturbridge Board of Selectmen for 18 years (1987 to 2005).
In an October letter to the council expressing his interest in the permanent town manager position, Blanchard wrote about his accomplishments over the three-month period – hiring a public works director, town accountant, town clerk and recreation director, and moving forward on a feasibility study and design for a potential new police station and public works garage, as well as improved communication within town departments.
The contract includes 20 paid vacation days per year, 15 sick days, and three personal days. Personal days will not accumulate from one year to another.
Blanchard also will receive a car allowance of $50 per month for local travel, with out of town travel subject to standard mileage reimbursement procedures. He also will be reimbursed $40 a month for business use of his personal cellular phone.
He will be subject to an annual review by the Town Council. In the first year of his contract, the review will happen sometime between June 1 and Dec. 1. Goals will be set, and the town manager may be awarded a bonus up to $5,000 if he completes them to the council's satisfaction.
If he is terminated by the council prior to the termination of the contract, he will be paid three months salary along with all vacation and personal time he is owed.
Blanchard is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he received a bachelor's of science degree in mechanical engineering.
Field said he will run for the position in the March 26 town election.
LUDLOW – The Board of Selectmen Tuesday night interviewed two applicants for a vacancy on the Board of Health and appointed Victor Field to the position.
Victor Field
Field will serve until the March 26 town election when a new member will be elected to the position.
Interviewed for the position were Field and Timothy Fontaine.
Field has served in town government positions for 15 years. He served on the Planning Board, the Personnel Board and the Board of Health for six years, until he was defeated three years ago by Neil Paquette.
Field also has had a career in health care management.
He served as administrator of the former Ludlow Hospital, was an administrator of nursing homes in Northampton and Great Barrington, was an administrator of a nursing home in Florida and in 1999 opened Keystone Commons in Ludlow, an assisted living center.
Fontaine has worked as a health inspector for the town for six years. He said he has worked in commercial kitchens and does inspections of commercial kitchens for the town.
Both Field and Fontaine said they plan to run for the position in the March 26 town election.
“We are forced to choose between two good candidates,” Selectman William Rooney said. “I favor Mr. Field.”
He said he is impressed that Field was defeated for the position three years ago, but is again seeking the position. “I think that says a lot about the character of Mr. Field,” Rooney said.
Other selectmen said Field has very diverse experience as a health care administrator and is a good candidate for the position.
Health board member Paquette also voted for Field for the position. He asked Field if he would be willing to help if an emergency shelter again had to be set up as it was during by the Oct. 29 snowstorm. Field said he would.
“Ultimately this will be up to the voters,” Selectman Antonio Dos Santos said. “Both applicants are qualified.”
An ad hoc committee of the Town Council has been proposed to investigate options around a $13.4 million proposed new library.
Republican file photoThese are artist's renderings of the $13.4 million new library proposed to be built on the site of Mittineague School.
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Town Council has postponed voting on a $7.1 million bond needed to build a new library until after an ad hoc committee reports back to it on the project by May 7.
The council voted 7-0 to do that during its meeting Monday.
The extra time is to allow the ad hoc committee enough time to investigate the situation. The committee is expected to look into such issues as to whether it is necessary to build a new library at the site of Mittineague School to keep a $6.3 million state grant needed to help fund the $13.4 million project.
The creation of the committee comes on the heels of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners extending the deadline for getting local funding in place for the project or lose the grant from Jan. 30 to June 30.
“I’m excited,” Sharon E. Scott, chair of the local Library Board of Trustees, said following the vote. “It gives us some opportunities to do some investigating that the taxpayers and councilors want.”
The creation of the committee was proposed by Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin with Town Councilor Lida M. Powell seconding his motion.
“This is the best way for the Town Council to move forward with this,” Griffin said. “We really want to reach a consensus with all parties concerned.”
Griffin worded his motion so that Powell, whose District 2 includes Mittineague School, will be one of the four voting members of the committee. The other members appointed by Town Council Vice Chair John R. Sweeney were Griffin and the council’s two new members, George D. Condon III and Bruce L. Gendron. Sweeney will serve as an ex-officio member.
Sweeney chaired the session of the meeting about the library because Council President Kathleen A. Bourque has recused herself from taking part in the issue.
Among the objections that have been made to building a new library is that it is too ambitious of a project to pursue while also building a new high school. In addition, Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger, who just took office Jan. 3, has expressed reservations about the project.
Scott acknowledged that the project is stymied by the fact that Mittineague School, chosen as the site because it was slated for decommissioning by the School Department, is still standing. Moreover, the School Department has not gotten funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to construct an addition to Tatham School that would provide space for students who would otherwise be enrolled at Mittineague.
State Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, who made the case for an extension before the state library board along with local library officials, said, “Six months is hopefully enough time for us to come up the answers. At least, we’ll know we took everything under consideration.”
The senator said the local officials were “very forthright” with the state library board about the situation in West Springfield.
According to the report, the average premium from the end of 2007 was $1,056.91. Buy the end of 2009, it was $923.11. That works out to a 12.7 percent decrease.
Matthew C. Marchesi, of Southampton, figures the switch has saved him $600 a year on his two cars.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners only looked at insurance for private passenger cars, according to the release.
Before April 2008, the state set auto insurance rates each year, a system that lead to Massachusetts having the most expensive auto insurance rates in the nation. Today, insurance carriers set their own rates with some regulation by the state.
The change has helped attract 13 insurance companies to the state since 2008, according to Murphy’s office. They are: Allstate, American International Group, IDS/Ameriprise, Bankers Standard, GEICO, Green Mountain, Harleysville, Occidental, Peerless, Praetorian, Preferred Mutual, Progressive, Vermont Mutual. That makes a total of 32 companies, up from 19 insurers before 2008.
“The competition is now more intense,” said William O. Trudeau, chief operating officer of Insurance Center of New England agency in Agawam.
Competition means that companies offer more features to their polices, like accident forgiveness and disappearing deductibles for safe drivers, Trudeau said. No one offered those features in Massachusetts before because there was no reason to bother.
Competition also means that agencies like Insurance Center of New England has to fight insurers like GEICO, which sells policies online and advertises heavily.
“It makes us work harder to provide better service,” Trudeau said. “We have to help our customers save money and smooth things out for them if there is a claim or if they buy a new car or they have to go to the registry.”
Bad drivers are less likely to make out under deregulation, though.
“It used to be almost a ‘take all comers’ policy,” Trudeau said.
Now, drivers with 10 points – a drunken driving conviction can mean five points for example – get put in a high-risk pool with higher rates.
Springfield Treasurer-Collector Stephen Lonergan said he anticipates the pace in tax collections will quicken as a Jan. 31 deadline nears.
File photo | The Republican
SPRINGFIELD – After advertising a list of delinquent taxpayers for fiscal year 2011 on Tuesday owing nearly $1.2 million in taxes, the city has started to see payments trickle in.
Eight delinquent tax bills totaling $9,881 were paid by late Wednesday afternoon, Treasurer-Collector Stephen J. Lonergan said. The initial amount received is less than he expected, but the pace should pick up, he said.
As advertised in The Republican, the city has set a deadline of Jan. 31 for payments before it will place liens.
“I believe as we get closer to Jan. 31, the amount of people coming in to pay is going to increase,” Lonergan said.
The city advertises tax delinquents annually. The newest list includes $30,224 owed by the owners of the closed Skyplex nightclub building at 8-12 Stearns Square, and $26,624 owed by the owner of the former KFC restaurant building at 632 State St., also vacant, according to city records.
The amounts received on Tuesday and Wednesday ranged from about $170 to about $3,000, Lonergan said. Some of the lower amounts might be oversights, but the city sends out quarterly bills and multiple notices before placing a lien, he said.
“I hope people will continue to come in and come in before the deadline of Jan. 31,” Lonergan said.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the city needs to be aggressive in pursuing taxes because the revenue is needed to support city services.
The city knows that people are going through tough times, and can work out payment plans under specific guidelines and conditions, Sarno said.
For many years, there were “lax efforts” in pursuing delinquent taxes and the arrears mounted, Sarno said. The former Finance Control Board pushed for more aggressive collections.
Going after the taxes is also a matter of fairness to those residents and businesses who pay their taxes on time, Sarno said.
The delinquent taxes, interest and fees owed for fiscal 2011 totaled approximately $1.4 million.
A year ago, the city advertised 741 properties that were tax-delinquent for fiscal 2010, totaling more than $1.8 million in taxes, interest and fees.
Some dog walkers were stunned Tuesday when one of their dogs emerged from some bushes carrying a bag with a human head in it.
View full sizeAP Photo/Jason RedmondTwo women hike in Griffith Park near the Hollywood sign, near where a human head was found found Tuesday by people walking their dogs. Two severed hands were found Wednesday and police are now combing the area for more body parts. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles investigators found a two human hands Wednesday in the Hollywood wilderness park where a severed head in a plastic bag was discovered by dog walkers, and the search continued for other body parts.
The hand was discovered in Bronson Canyon as dozens of police officers, including homicide investigators, combed the brush along a winding trail a few miles below the Hollywood sign.
A coroner’s cadaver dog found the first hand about 50 yards from where the head was discovered on Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/xWFSjT) reported.
Details weren’t immediately available on where the second hand was found later Tuesday afternoon, or what condition it was in.
The remains are believed to come from the same man, but police are still working to confirm that through testing. Wild animals in the park may have some other body parts, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.
The head of a man in his 40s, 50s or 60s was found about a half-mile inside the gated canyon road, which is part of the vast Griffith Park.
AP Photo/Jason RedmondLos Angeles Police detectives investigate the neighborhood below the Hollywood Sign after a plastic bag containing a human head was discovered Tuesday on a nearby trail. Two hands have since been found in the same area.
“One of the dogs ran into the brush and came out carrying a plastic grocery bag. As the dogs shook the plastic grocery bag the severed human head fell out of the bag and onto the ground.” Smith told KCBS-TV.
The man may have been killed elsewhere in recent days and his body dumped in the park, Smith said.
The man wasn’t immediately identified. Police were checking reports of missing persons and coroner’s investigators will check dental records.
Smith noted that the canyon is well-traveled by both cars and hikers. A paved road winds around picnic areas and a children’s playground before connecting with a trail that eventually winds up near the Hollywood sign.
A second trail leads to a short tunnel known locally as the Batcave because it was used for a scene in the 1960s “Batman” series. It also is frequently used for filming TV and movie productions.
BOSTON - The House of Representatives voted 154-1 Wednesday afternoon to approve a budget bill with $35 million in funds for adult day health programs and appropriations for county sheriffs and jails and low-income heating assistance.
The Senate plans to consider the bill Thursday afternoon.
During debate on the bill, House budget chief Rep. Brian Dempsey said funding strategies for the state's sheriffs, who oversee county jails and houses of correction, need to be developed.
Endorsing a $27 million midyear allocation for the sheriffs, Dempsey said, "It's going to be an ongoing issue.” He said state officials should develop a strategy for adequate funding based on several metrics.
The House Ways and Means chairman also sanctioned a $21 million state appropriation for low-income heating assistance, noting a $50 million reduction in federal funding for that program. But with federal aid levels uncertain, Dempsey cautioned that the state won’t be able to offset all cuts.
“We don’t want to get in the habit of that with a lot of federal cuts,” he said.
Assistant Minority Leader Rep. George Peterson, R-Grafton, supported the bill, saying it featured appropriations sought by many members.
Roughly $8 million is available under the Rebuild Western Massachusetts program, targeting homes and commercial buildings damaged by the tornadoes.
View full sizeThe Republican | Mark M. MurrayGalen Nelson from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, left, talks with home owner Ronald Alpine in front of his 34 Kipling St. home, which he is repairing following extensive damage from the June 1 tornado.
SPRINGFIELD – Nearly eight months after tornadoes swept through the region, there are millions of dollars in grants and zero-interest loans available to victims who invest in energy-efficient repairs and renovations to damaged buildings, officials said this week.
Galen Nelson, a representative of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, said that roughly $8 million is available under the Rebuild Western Massachusetts program, targeting homes and commercial buildings damaged in the June 1 tornadoes. Nelson met with officials and residents this week to help promote the program and increase participation.
Approximately $100,000 in grants and $150,000 in loans have been awarded thus far, he said.
“We want to encourage anyone affected by the June 1 tornadoes to call the number and verify their eligibility,” Nelson said. “We don’t want to exclude anyone from the program.”
For information, call toll-free 1-877-524-1325, or email rebuildwma@icfi.com to access funding.
The funding can be obtained for such work as attic, wall and basement installation; high efficiency heating and hot water systems; Energy Star replacement windows and doors; and solar electric and solar hot water systems, officials said.
Ronald Alpine, a homeowner at 34 Kipling St., in East Forest Park, said Wednesday he is “very interested” in the program, possibly for a new heating system and a solar system for his new roof. His home was severely damaged in the tornado, and renovations are under way.
Property owners willing to do the energy-efficient renovations should apply, “regardless of what stage you are in for the project,” even if the work is completed, Nelson said, in case it can be reimbursed under that or other programs.
The amounts vary depending on the level of energy efficiency and the extent of work, he said.
Rebates can vary from $4,000 to $20,000. The program is funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and by funding from utility companies, Nelson said.
The program is a “wonderful opportunity” for property owners to go beyond meeting code requirements and rebuild to reduce their heating and electric bills, conserve energy and to make their home more comfortable, Nelson said.
“Frankly, one of our greatest challenges is getting the word out,” Nelson said, who was joined by City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke during part of his outreach effort.
Nelson also met with builders and architects and with a Federal Emergency Management Agency representative this week.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-public agency, is partnering with the state Department of Energy Resources to oversee and promote the program. Representatives of both agencies have visited communities affected by the tornadoes in recent months.
Applications are considered from building owners in Agawam, Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield, Southbridge and Sturbridge, all affected by the tornadoes.
The new Bruce Springsteen single will be released Thursday.
"We Take Care of Our Own," the first single from the upcoming Bruce Springsteen album, will be available for digital purchase on Thursday through Amazon.
The Springsteen camp has done an outstanding job of keeping details about the new album under wraps, although pre-release interviews have hinted that the record will be a loud, angry, rocking statement. Springsteen himself was in loud and rocking form at Light of Day last weekend, and seems poised to have a big year.
The new album is called "Wrecking Ball," according to Jay Lustig, also of n.j.com. He writes that the album has a March 5 release date in Britain, which likely means a March 6 release in the United States. Lustig cited the following song list:
"We Take Care of Our Own"
"Easy Money"
"Shackled and Drawn"
"Jack of All Trades"
"Death to My Hometown"
"This Depression"
"You've Got It"
"Rocky Ground"
"Land of Hope and Dreams"
"We Are Alive"
"Swallowed Up" (bonus track)
"American Land" (bonus track)
Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, told Rolling Stone that the new album is a "big-picture piece of work. It's a rock record that combines elements of both Bruce's classic sound and his Seeger Sessions experience, with new textures and styles."
“He gets into economic justice quite a bit. It’s very rock ’n’ roll. He feels it's the angriest album he's ever made. Bear in mind, though, that [Springsteen] wrote and recorded the majority of the album before the Occupy movements started, so he's not just setting headlines to music.”
The album also will be the first from Springsteen since the death of longtime E Street Band member and on-stage foil Clarence Clemons.
Photo by Mark M. Murray/ The RepublicanHampden County Register of Deeds Donald E. Ashe talks about the last year's real transaction numbers during a press conference at his office Wednesday.
SPRINGFIELD – The total amount of money spent on real estate in Hampden County dropped 8 percent in 2011 from $992.9 million in 2010 to $913.4 million, according to figures released Wednesday by Hampden County Register of Deeds Donald E. Ashe.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Ashe said at his twice-a-year news conference.
He’s been in office for 29 years.
The real-estate slowdown was reflected across the board, Ashe said. Real estate filings of all types dropped in 2011 compared with 2010; there were fewer deeds, fewer mortgages and fewer mortgage foreclosures.
The 2011 decrease was part of a trend. The total amount spent on real estate throughout Hampden County fell 7 percent in 2010 from $1.07 billion in 2009 to $992 million in 2010. The year 2010 was the first time since 1998 that the total amount spent on real estate in the county has fallen below $1 billion.
The number of foreclosure deeds fell 22 percent from 1,086 in 2010 to 851 last year, Ashe said. That bested a statewide average decline in the number of foreclosure deeds of about 12 percent.
Ordinarily, a drop in foreclosures would be a good sign. But Ashe said foreclosures have slowed only because lenders swapped and sold mortgages without properly recording ownership at registry offices like his. That means they can’t foreclose until they straighten out their paperwork. Once that happens, he expects a flood of foreclosure filings.
“There are people who have been in a house one, two years without paying their mortgage and without being foreclosed upon,” he said. “For the real-estate market to recover, all that needs to be cleaned up.”
Also on Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said mortgage-related complaints to her office have quadrupled and have exceeded complaints made in relation to used-car sales for the first time, according to The Associated Press.
Ashe said foreclosures and high unemployment saps consumer confidence, especially for real estate despite 30-year mortgage rates as low as 3.9 percent.
“People are afraid to buy a home,” Ashe said. “Why should I buy a home on the block with four foreclosure homes. What if a I buy a home at $200,000 now and in six months it’s worth $150,00?”
In Hampshire County, the total amount paid for real estate fell 3.2 percent from $464. 2 million in 2010 to $449.3 million in 2011.
In Franklin County the total amount spent on real estate in 2011 was $163.7 million, down 4.5 percent from $171.4 million in 2010, according to the Franklin County Register’s Office.
The showroom includes a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Special, a 1937 Martin R-17 Archtop and a 1937 Martin R-17.
The Republican | John SuchockiJane Hamel, co-owner of Luthier's Co-op, works at planing the fingerboard of a customer's 1940 bass at the Easthampton shop.
EASTHAMPTON – Luthier’s Co-op’s entry into the entertainment world has taken another step forward with the gaining of a wine and beer license for the owners of the Cottage Street shop where stringed instruments are repaired and sold.
Luthier's Co-op LLC already had become the stage for the displaced Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton weekly open mike nights and the host of its own concerts.
And with a new wine and beer license, owners hope to have shows throughout the week. The License Board this month granted them a beer and wine license.
A luthier is defined as a maker of stringed instruments. The shop was founded by Dameron Midgett, of Easthampton Violin, and the late Frank Lucchesi, of Lucchesi Vintage Instruments, in 2004 and is now owned by Jane Hamel and Steven Baer, who work with three other luthiers to repair, restore and sell instruments.
“There are very few centers like this group,” said Hamel who moved to Easthampton from New York City and has been doing this kind of work for decades.
They repair everything from violins to banjos to upright bases and ukuleles and sell used instruments as well.
“We don’t deal in new instruments,” she said. “It’s the character of old instruments, preserving them. It’s what we’re all about.”
As luthiers, Baer said they do everything from setting up entry-level instruments that people might buy online to more detailed repairs.
All the luthiers share tools in the backroom workshop. “It’s meticulous work, it’s detailed work,” Baer said.
In the showroom, dozens of guitars of all types, violins, banjos and ukuleles hang on the walls. They sell items such as a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Special, a 1937 Martin R-17 Archtop, and a 1937 Martin R-17.
Each instrument “has its own voice its own character, that’s what keeps me into it,” Hamel said.
The instruments hang on the walls and it’s not unusual for musicians to wander in and pull an instrument off the wall to start to play. “We encourage them to come to play,” she said of the impromptu jam sessions. “We’re all musicians,” said Hamel. They all teach.
When the arts center lost its space more than a year ago, the shop opened its doors for their weekly open mike nights and built a stage. It made sense for them, Baer said.
They started having their own shows as well, Baer said. “It’s a great place to see live music.” With just a capacity for 38, “It’s a very intimate space.”
On the first Friday of the month, they’ll have a bluegrass night and on the third Friday, an acoustic jam session.
“People come to sit and listen, it’s not like playing live music in a bar,” Baer said. People don’t talk over the music as if it’s merely background.
They successfully applied for the beer and wine license to help bring in a little money for the free live shows. And they’re also hoping to eventually offer music most nights of the week.
Facing a new controversy, his campaign confirmed that Romney has money invested in the Cayman Islands but said he was not getting any tax break.
AP Photo/Charles DharapakRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., on Wednesday. His campaign is dealing with another taxes controversy after it was reported he had millions invested in the Cayman Islands.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney tried doggedly Wednesday to sidestep the political furor he had started a day earlier by revealing he pays federal taxes at a rate of about 15 percent, less than millions of middle-income American families.
Facing a new controversy, his campaign confirmed that Romney has money invested in the Cayman Islands but said he was not getting any tax break.
Newt Gingrich, his main rival in this weekend's South Carolina primary, poked at Romney anew and disclosed that he personally pays more than twice what Romney does.
Just before Saturday's South Carolina voting, Romney is trying to wrap up his push for the Republican nomination, but it's been anything but smooth. He's spent nearly two weeks answering questions and criticism about his personal wealth and tenure at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, and those subjects are sure to come up again in Thursday night's debate.
Gingrich slapped at the GOP front-runner, saying in Winnsboro that he himself paid 31 percent of his income in taxes for 2010, more than twice what Romney said he paid. Gingrich's campaign said the 31 percent was the effective federal rate on income, apparently not including Social Security payroll taxes.
Gingrich told reporters that he is not criticizing Romney for paying a tax rate below what many wage-earning Americans pay. Gingrich has proposed a plan that would give Americans the option of paying a 15 percent flat tax — which he notes is the same rate Romney is citing.
"My goal is not to raise Mitt Romney's taxes but to let everyone pay Romney's rate," Gingrich said.
There may be more fallout.
Romney's campaign was confronted with new questions about his finances Wednesday when ABC News reported that Romney has millions of dollars of personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, known as a tax haven for Americans. The report said that Romney had the ability to pay a lower tax rate by investing in funds located offshore.
A spokeswoman for Romney's campaign confirmed that the Romneys have money in the Caymans. But the campaign did not say why. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul also said: "ABC is flat wrong. The Romneys' investments in funds established in the Cayman Islands are taxed in the very same way they would be if those funds were established in the United States. These are not tax havens and it is false to say so."
While a supporter rushed to Romney's defense, the former Massachusetts governor tried to duck the issue entirely on Wednesday, making no mention of his tax returns or tax rate during a rally at Wofford College here and declining to take questions from the news media. Instead, he delivered his standard campaign speech and assailed Gingrich, who has been running second in opinion polls in South Carolina.
Romney aides, too, refused to comment about his tax returns or details of his tax rate when pressed. His campaign held a conference call featuring surrogates who tried to cast Gingrich, the former House speaker, as an unreliable leader, but the wealth and taxes issue showed no signs of going away.
At an event in Rock Hill, S.C., Romney kept away from the issue of his taxes, but he criticized Republicans who "jumped on that bandwagon" of criticizing free enterprise. "My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talk about the enterprises I've been associated with," Romney said. "I'm proud of the fact that I worked in the private sector, that I've achieved success."
ABC News: Romney Parks Millions in Cayman Islands
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has endorsed Romney, sought to help by defending Romney's tax status on TV. But that may have backfired when Christie, on NBC's "Today" show, suggested Romney put out his tax returns "sooner rather than later."
"It's always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you're the front-runner," Christie said.
After months of resistance and under pressure from Republican presidential rivals, Romney now says he will release tax information for 2011 — but not until April, close to the tax filing deadline and when, presumably, the GOP race will have been decided.
Romney disclosed for the first time on Tuesday that, despite his wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been paying in the neighborhood of 15 percent, far below the top maximum income tax rate of 35 percent, because his income "comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past." During 2010 and the first nine months of 2011, the Romney family had at least $9.6 million in income, according to a financial disclosure form submitted in August.
Further focusing attention on his wealth was Romney's offhand remark to reporters that his income from paid speeches amounted to "not very much" money. In the August disclosure statement, he reported being paid $373,327.62 for such appearances for the 12 months ending last February, a sum that alone would him in the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers.
It recalled other politically awkward moments for Romney in which he unintentionally put a spotlight on his own wealth, including his offer to wage a $10,000 bet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry during a GOP debate last month over a disagreement on health care policy. He also joked to a group of voters that, since leaving Bain in 1999, he has been "unemployed."
Romney has been consolidating GOP support before Saturday's South Carolina primary in which a victory could all but seal his nomination.
But the focus on his wealth is an unwanted distraction for him as he seeks to win votes in a state where the unemployment rate, at 9.9 percent, is among the highest in the nation, and amid rising public concern over income inequality. President Barack Obama's campaign advisers contend voters are unlikely to back a wealthy Republican with financial-industry ties at a time of lingering economic distress.
And White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that, "as a matter of fairness, it does not make a lot of sense for millionaires and billionaires to be able to pay taxes at a much lower rate than somebody making $100,000 a year."
The maximum marginal U.S. income tax rate of 35 percent applies — in theory more than practice — to households with taxable income of over about $388,500.
But like many wealthy people, the Romneys have been helped by changes in federal tax policy that have placed much lower tax rates on investment income — from dividends, interest and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets — than on wages and salaries, the source of income for most Americans.
Under the Bush-era tax cuts strongly supported by most Republicans, such income, including gains on securities held for a year or longer, is subject to a tax rate of 15 percent.
In addition, the Romneys are able to claim another tax break because of his 15 years with Bain. Although he retired from there in 1999, Romney is still able to benefit financially from the firm's profitable investments and from "co-investment" deals in which he can invest alongside Bain.
A provision in the tax code treats profits earned by private equity funds such as Bain and hedge funds as "carried interest" — and thus subject to the 15 percent capital gains rate — rather than as ordinary income.
In addition, only income up to $106,800 is subject to the separate payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, so the wealthy often pay much lower effective rates on their total income than other Americans.
According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, an average federal tax rate of 15 percent — including both income and payroll taxes — would apply to households with taxable incomes of from $75,000 to $100,000.
Those with incomes below $94,000 earn less than 4 percent of their income from capital gains, interest and dividends, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while such investment income represents 43 percent of the income of households earning more than $1.87 million a year.
Obama and his wife paid federal taxes of just over 25 percent of their 2010 income of $1.7 million, mostly from the books he's written.
Perry and his wife paid roughly 24 percent of their 2010 income of $217,447.
File photo by John Suchock / The RepublicanSupporters for a casino in Holyoke wanted to make sure Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo saw their signs when he came to town in February. Here they are seen Easthampton Road
HOLYOKE – The managing partner of Paper City Development said his company has not given up on opening a casino in the city, but is considering other options after receiving a cold reception for the proposal from the city’s new mayor.
The announcement by Joseph Lashinger Jr., a former Pennsylvania state lawmaker and a partner in the group, followed what he called a disappointing meeting with Mayor Alex B. Morse and three of his staff members.
“I did not expect to be welcomed with open arms, but I did not expect a blank stare,” he said.
Last week a top executive for Hard Rock International, a giant entertainment company working with Paper City Development to build a gambling resort on the Wyckoff Country Club, met with Morse to discuss their proposal.
Joseph Lashinger
They released a long list of jobs the casino would create, complete with qualifications and salaries, engineering options that could improve roads in Ward 7, and preliminary ideas about concessions the company could give to Holyoke that could total more than $7 million annually, Lashinger said.
Following the meeting, Morse said he continues to be against bringing a casino to the city and is focusing on other development. Lashinger said the mayor asked no questions and gave no input.
The mayor has said that he wants to build the city’s economy around technology, innovation, the arts, a revitalized downtown and a high-performance computing center now under construction.
Although the partners have spent a “significant” amount of money developing plans for the casino in Holyoke, without any support, it will begin looking elsewhere in Western Massachusetts.
Alex Morse
“What we want to be clear about is we are committed to Western Massachusetts. We wanted and still would like to be in Holyoke,” he said.
When the partners started considering locating a casino in the area, the only proposal had been submitted more than a year earlier by Mohegan Sun for Palmer. The company could have gone anywhere but liked the site in Holyoke and the fact city residents voted to support a casino in 1995 and 2002, he said.
“We are not taking our ball and going home,” Lashinger said. “If the mayor persists and there is no leadership from the City Council we will go somewhere else.”
The new law which legalizes casinos calls for up to three resorts in the state, including one for Western Massachusetts.
A lack of support from the mayor may make it difficult for a casino to locate in a city, since the law calls for developers to sign comprehensive deals with officials of communities where they want to locate and place the details before the community’s residents for an up or down vote.
Lashinger would not discuss other possible locations.
In addition to the Mohegan Sun plan, the Nevada-based Ameristar Casinos Inc. has proposed building a casino off Page Boulevard in Springfield and MGM Resorts International is pushing a Brimfield site. Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said he has been contacted by three companies interested in his city as a location for a casino.
Brown and Warren traded letters as they work to enter into an unprecedented agreement to counteract PAC ads in the election.
File photos | The Republican (Brown) and The Associated Press (Warren)U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left, and Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the Democratic Senate nomination.
Ahead of the unorthodox meeting scheduled for Friday to craft an agreement to "block Super PACs" from advertising in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Challenger Elizabeth Warren each sent letters to each others campaigns on Wednesday, highlighting ideas about how to move forward.
They also both forwarded those letters to their media distribution lists minutes apart Wednesday evening.
Brown's proposal, which he has already signed, would require a candidate to spend 50 percent of the cost of a PAC ad on a charity of the other candidate's choice should an outside group air an ad in their favor.
Warren's letter says that any agreement should explicitly notify Super PACs and other third-party groups of the agreement and also cover sham ads, which could still hurt a candidate's finances depending on the angle of an ad.
Warren's condition would make it so a PAC supporting one candidate couldn't make an ad supportive of another just to hurt them financially in accordance with the agreement.
Both sides came to this point after Brown, for a second time, requested Warren join him in condemning the attack ads by Super PACs such as Crossroads GPS or the League of Conservation Voters. Warren previously joined Brown in condemning negative advertising, but stood by a third-party group's right to promote their interests in the Bay State.
Campaign managers from both Brown and Warren's camps are scheduled to meet on Friday to see if they can agree on a set of terms that would be the first agreement of its kind in relation to third-party advertising in U.S. elections.
Gleason, Benjamin Haskell and Michael Jacques, all of Springfield, set fire to the Macedonia Church of God in Christ hours after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.
Thomas Gleason is seen twice outside U.S. District Court in Springfield in 2009, on Jan. 26, the day he was released following his arrest, left, and on Jan. 29, the day of his arraignment on arson charges.
Thomas Gleason, 24, of Springfield, was also ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after finishing his sentence. The restitution amount is to be shared by the three defendants.
Most of the members of the church’s congregation are black.
“This is something that never should have happened anywhere, and certainly not in Springfield, Massachusetts,” said Judge Michael A. Ponsor moments after imposing the sentence in U.S. District Court.
The 54-month term represents just a fraction of the prison time being served by defendants Benjamin F. Haskell, 25, and Michael F. Jacques Jr., 27, who received 9- and 14-year prison terms, respectively, for their roles in the church arson.
With credit for 18 months detention already served, Gleason – who was a star prosecution witness last year in Jacques’ trial – will be released in three years.
Explaining the disparity, Ponsor noted that Gleason not only confessed to the crime and cooperated with prosecutors, but also showed greater potential for rehabilitation after prison.
“He is a highly salvageable young man who has grown up during this experience. It’s unfortunate that that’s what it took,” the judge said.
The crime drew international media coverage, thrusting Springfield into the spotlight in the days after Obama’s victory.
After being snared in an FBI and state police sting operation in January 2009, Gleason confessed. Testifying during Jacques’ trial in the spring, he recalled leading Jacques and Haskell through the woods near his home to the church construction site on Tinkham Road, with the intention of burning down the partially completed building.
When Gleason backed out, the two men – both carrying gasoline cans – began to taunt him, Gleason said.
“They were saying, ‘Don’t be a (coward),’” said Gleason, adding that he began walking back through the woods toward his home at 315 Tinkham Road. “The last sound I heard was glass breaking,” he said.
With 20 family members sitting in the first three rows, Gleason apologized for the “frustration and pain” he inflicted on both his family and the predominately black parishioners who lost their church was in the Nov. 5, 2008 blaze. “Don’t let one night of stupidity define who I am,” Gleason said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul H. Smyth had recommended a 71-month term, citing Gleason’s cooperation.
Outside the court, defense lawyer Mark J. Albano declined to comment, other than saying: “Justice has been done.”
Ponsor also praised state and federal investigators for their “extraordinary” work in solving the high-profile case.
After the sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s office had no comment.
The executive director of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative said it would be better for her organization, which is a tenant at the Five Star Transportation facility in Agawam, to own the property.
Anne S. McKenzie, executive director of the West Springfield-based educational collaborative, confirmed Wednesday that talks are continuing. The collaborative, which provides transportation to educational programs in the region, is already a tenant at the 384 Shoemaker Lane facility.
“In the long run it makes sense to be an owner rather than a tenant,” McKenzie said.
The collaborative keeps buses and other vehicles at garages in Hampden, Wilbraham and Ludlow in addition to the buses it stores at the Agawam facility.
The Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative is a partnership of Agawam, East Longmeadow, the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, Longmeadow, Ludlow, the Southwick-Tolland Regional School District and West Springfield.
It is one of about 30 educational collaboratives around the state.
Among the many services the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative provides are career programs, special education programs, transportation, bulk buying, grant writing, and research and technical support.
Theresa Lecrenski, who owns Five Star, could not be reached for comment. Five Star provides transportation for public schools.
Emergency services were dispatched to lower Belmont Street for a report someone threw a flammable object inside an apartment building. Officials found signs of smoke but no fire.
Staff photo by Patrick JohnsonThe scene outside 164 Belmont St. in Springfield.
SPRINGFIELD - Police and firefighters were called to an apartment building at 164 Belmont St. Wednesday night for a report that someone had thrown sort of flaming object inside the building, police said.
The first units on scene shortly at about 10:15 p.m. reported finding signs of smoke in a first floor room but no fire, said Capt. William Collins of the Springfield police.
Police were also investigating a report of a man at the scene with a knife, but Collins said he had not heard back from officers whether the man had been located.
The building was evaculated when fire alarms went off but people were allowed back inside once it was determined there was no fire.
Collins said police are still at the scene investigating.
Traffic investigators with the Pittsfield Police Department have requested a judge to reconsider possible criminal charges against Meredith Nilan, who fled the scene after hitting a jogger with Clifford Nilan's car.
The Pittsfield Police Department has requested a judge to reconsider the clerk’s decision to forgo criminal charges against 24-year-old Meredith Nilan in connection with the Dec. 8 incident in Pittsfield.
Police said the woman was driving her father’s 2001 Subaru Forester in The Orchards section of Pittsfield after dark when she struck and seriously injured the jogger. Meredith Nilan left the scene and did not immediately report the accident, and the jogger, who suffered a concussion, did not seek medical attention right away, according to Pittsfield police.
Google+Meredith Nilan
The appeal of the clerk-magistrate’s ruling – formally called an application for redetermination – was filed Wednesday afternoon in Central Berkshire District Court in Pittsfield, according to law enforcement officials, who continue to investigate the accident.
If a redetermination hearing is granted, the clerk-magistrate who conducted the so-called show-cause hearing is required to provide a judge with the police department’s criminal complaint application and any supporting materials so a prompt decision can be made.
A judge can deny a redetermination application or decide to reconsider the factual allegations previously provided to the clerk-magistrate. If additional evidence or arguments are presented, the accused party has the legal right to be heard, according to state law.
If a judge agrees there is probable cause to charge Meredith Nilan, she would then be arraigned on criminal offenses in District Court.
Although investigators filed a redetermination application Wednesday, it remains unclear if a judge agreed to schedule a hearing on the matter, or where that hearing might be held.
Meredith Nilan is being represented by attorney Timothy J. Shugrue, a well-known Berkshire County defense lawyer and former candidate for district attorney.
Shugrue told The Berkshire Eagle that Westfield District Court Assistant Clerk-Magistrate Nathan A. Byrnes conducted a “full evidentiary hearing” on the matter on Jan. 12. Byrnes determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the criminal complaints filed by the Pittsfield Police Department, according to Shugrue.
“There was no probable cause found to go a step further,” Shugrue told The Eagle.
Because Clifford Nilan, a veteran Massachusetts Trial Court employee, is a longtime colleague of two of the three clerks in Central Berkshire District Court, a decision was made to bring in a clerk from an outside jurisdiction to avoid a potential conflict of interest. As a result, Byrnes traveled to Pittsfield for the show-cause hearing.
Clifford Nilan
Meredith Nilan told authorities she believed she had hit a deer or dog, not a person. She and her father returned to the scene later to investigate, and Clifford Nilan called the police, according to police and published reports.
When police asked to examine the Subaru Forester, Clifford Nilan told officers they would need a warrant to search the vehicle. Police did so and, several hours later, investigators determined that the probation chief’s vehicle was involved in the crash.
After that, police moved forward with an application for criminal charges against Meredith Nilan, believing there was enough probable cause to charge her with negligent operation and leaving the scene of an accident that injured a person.
According to police reports, Meredith Nilan was driving the Forester when she swerved into the oncoming lane and struck Peter Moore, who lives in the same Orchards neighborhood as the Nilans. Moore was jogging with his dog on Winesap Road near East Street in Pittsfield when he was hit, police said.
Moore sustained a concussion, broken leg, bruised colon and abrasions “from head to toe,” among other injuries, according to police records.
Shugrue told The Eagle that his client “feels bad someone was hurt,” but it was “an accident.”
The incident, which involves the daughter of a high-profile Berkshire County official, has dominated online discussion forums on Pittsfield issues and has become fodder for local bloggers.
Former newspaper editor Dan Valenti, whose Planet Valenti blog has become required reading for anyone trying to keep up with Berkshire County scandals, has closely followed the hit-and-run case, and Glenn Heller's Berkshire Blog also has posted updates on the issue.
The reason for heightened interest in the case revolves around Clifford Nilan, who in June 2010 resigned from the board of directors of Greylock Federal Credit Union, the Berkshires' largest financial institution, after it was revealed that the credit union's CEO was serving a probation sentence under Nilan's watch.
Angelo Stracuzzi, Greylock's chief and Nilan's friend and colleague at the credit union, was on probation for misdemeanor convictions in Maine that were transferred to the Berkshire Superior Court Probation Department, which Nilan still heads today.
Nilan was eventually admonished by his Probation Department superiors, who said they were unaware of Nilan's personal and professional relationship with Stracuzzi. They cited Nilan for failing to follow proper protocol, which requires probation employees to avoid possible conflicts of interest.
Probation officials said they conducted a "full review" of Nilan's department to determine how Stracuzzi's case was handled, but to date they have not said what punishment, if any, Nilan received as a result of the transgression.
Stracuzzi resigned from the board of directors at the same time as Nilan. About a week later, Stracuzzi resigned as CEO of Grelyock.
In this undated photo, an opossum hides under a seat on the subway in New York. Startled riders abroad a Manhattan-bound train spotted the opossum around 4:30 a.m. last Friday. The New York Times reports that finding the nocturnal creature on a subway train was rare in several ways. Opossum tend to like trees and they are not burrowers although they sometimes go below ground in search of food or warmth. After the animal bared its teeth at officers who tried to remove it with heavy gloves, animal control experts were called. NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said it was the first anybody could remember seeing a wild animal in the system. (AP Photo/New York Times)
