As polls closed, exit polling showed Gingrich with a slight lead over Romney overall, and leading by a wide margin among the state's conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

AP Photo/Matt RourkeRepublican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary.

Update: The Associated Press reported at 7:24 p.m. that Newt Gingrich as been declared the winner of the South Carolina primary. More will be posted as it becomes available.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Newt Gingrich bid for an upset Saturday night in the South Carolina primary, the first Southern testing ground in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and historically a harbinger of the final outcome.

As polls closed across the state, exit polling showed the former House speaker ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney overall, and leading by a wide margin among the state's conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

Romney held a small advantage among moderate and liberal voters.

Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul rounded out the field in a campaign defined by its unpredictability.

There were 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake, but political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.

In all, more than $12 million was spent on television ads by the candidates and their allies in South Carolina, much of it on attacks designed to degrade the support of rivals.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in next-up Florida with a significant ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date. The state's primary is Jan. 31.

Interviews with voters as they left polling places showed nearly half saying their top priority was finding a candidate who could defeat Obama in the fall, followed by wishes for experience, strong moral character and true conservatism.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, concern about the economy was high, and almost one-third of those voting reported a household member had lost a job in the past three years.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 1,577 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph — GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won — while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

AP Photo/Matt RourkeRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Tommy's Country Ham House, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., on South Carolina's Republican primary election day.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

One piece of primary day theater failed to materialize when the two men avoided crossing paths at Tommy's Ham House in Greenville, packed with partisans holding signs that read either "Romney" or "Newt 2012."

Romney rolled in earlier than expected, and had left by the time Gingrich arrived.

Santorum got a lift hours before the polls closed when the Iowa Republican Party declared him the winner of the caucuses on Jan. 3. Romney was pronounced the victor by eight votes initially, but on Thursday, party officials said a recount showed Santorum ahead by 34. Even so, they declared the outcome a tie.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years.

Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.

He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.

Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.

Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.

It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.

Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.

Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.

A wintry mix of snow and sleet late Sunday night, followed by freezing rain early Monday, could make for a tough commute just in time for the start of the work week.

SPRINGFIELD – An overnight snowfall that deposited as much as three inches made for slippery roadways and more than a few spinouts and fender benders throughout the Pioneer Valley.

No serious injuries were reported, but police up and down the Valley were encouraging drivers to slow down until roads could be properly plowed and sanded.

“Slow down,” said Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew W. Gladu.

The Springfield state police barracks where Gladu is assigned had roughly a half-dozen minor accidents by midday Saturday. Most were along Interstate 91 in the area of Exit 13 in West Springfield, and on Interstate 291 in Springfield.

“A lot of these wouldn’t have happened if people would slow down,” he said.

The speed limit on the Massachusetts Turnpike was reduced to 40 mph from the New York line to Boston for most of Saturday, even after the snow stopped falling in the early afternoon. The restriction was lifted and the speed limit returned to normal at about 6 p.m.

Area police also reported dozens of spinouts, skid-outs and minor wipeouts throughout the day.

As the storm picked up Saturday morning, firefighters from Granby, South Hadley and Westover Air Reserve Base responded to a 5:18 a.m. report of a house fire at 46 Morgan St. No one was injured, but the house sustained heavy damage, officials said.

Northampton was among the local communities to declare an emergency winter parking ban, which will remain in place until further notice. The ban prohibits parking on most city streets and parking lots from midnight to 6 a.m.

The only exceptions are Main Street, where parking is banned from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Also, the Armory Street parking lot is open for overnight parking during emergency parking bans, but all cars must be removed between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to allow for plowing.

In Holyoke, a ban was enacted Friday night until 7 a.m. Sunday, forbidding parking on the even-numbered side of any streets.

In Chicopee, the ban extends from 5 p.m. Saturday through 7 a.m. Sunday. During that time, cars will not be allowed to park on any designated main street, or on the odd-side of any side street.

Snowfall amounts varied in the Pioneer Valley.

According to the National Weather Service, Southwick recorded the most, 2.8 inches, and Ware the least with 1 inch. Most other locations received at least 2.

Amounts were higher in the eastern part of the state. The South Coast town of Acushnet in Bristol County recorded 11 inches of snow, the highest in the state.

Windsor Locks, Conn., had 2.4 inches, while Enfield tallied 2.1.

Sunday's forecast calls for clear skies but temperatures below freezing throughout the day and a high that won't make it out of the 20s. However, the wind chill will make it feel more like 1 degree below zero, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS reports there's a slight chance of snow and sleet between midnight and 4 a.m. Monday, then a slight chance of freezing rain and sleet from roughly 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by rain and a high near 44.

The rain could last through Monday night until around 3 a.m. Tuesday, with patches of fog before 4 a.m. and a low around 35. Winds will pick up into Tuesday, which is predicted to be mostly sunny with a high of 46.

The wintry mix beginning Sunday night and lasting through Monday morning could make for difficult road conditions just in time for the morning commute.

Republican reporters Stephanie Barry and Conor Berry contributed to this report.

Gingrich stormed to an upset win, dealing a sharp setback to Romney and scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

By DAVID ESPO and THOMAS BEAUMONT

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives with his wife Callista during a South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and abruptly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

In victory, Gingrich praised his Republican rivals and attacked President Barack Obama and "elites in New York and Washington."

Obama is "the most effective food stamp president in history," he said. "I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history." Those declarations and his attack on the "elite news media" reprised two of his more memorable lines from a pair of debates that helped fuel his victory.

Exit polls showed he led among voters who said their top priority was picking a candidate who could beat Obama – a group that had preferred Romney in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney, the national front-runner until now, was unbowed. He vowed to contest for every vote "in every state," an acknowledgement that the race would likely be a long one. He also unleashed a double-barreled attack on Obama and Gingrich.

Referring to Gingrich's criticism of his business experience, Romney said, "When my opponents attack success and free enterprise, they're not only attacking me, they're attacking every person who dreams of a better future. He's attacking you," he told supporters, the closest he came to mentioning the primary winner's name.

Returns from 99 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 40 percent of the vote to 28 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 17 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Nearly 600,000 voters turned out, according to an AP estimate. That eclipses the previous record turnout for the primary in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated John McCain

Based on the vote total, Gingrich won at least 15 of the 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake and none of the other contenders was yet assured of any.

But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to Obama still in its early stages.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during the South Carolina Primary night rally as family members look on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.

Gingrich readily conceded that he trails in money, and even before appearing for his victory speech he tweeted supporters thanking them and appealing for a flood of donations for the Jan 31 primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his tweet.

Aides to the former Massachusetts governor had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination — if South Carolina didn't first — but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.

Romney swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

But in the sometimes-surreal week that followed, he was stripped of his Iowa triumph — GOP officials there now say Santorum narrowly won — while former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman dropped out and endorsed Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit and backed Gingrich.

Romney responded awkwardly to questions about releasing his income tax returns, and about his investments in the Cayman Islands. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, benefited from two well-received debate performances while grappling with allegations by an ex-wife that he had once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress.

By primary eve, Romney was speculating openly about a lengthy battle for the nomination rather than the quick knockout that had seemed within his grasp only days earlier.

Exit polling showed Gingrich, the former House speaker, leading by a wide margin among the state's heavy population of conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, about 80 percent of all voters said they were very worried about the direction of the economy. Gingrich's edge over Romney among that group tracked the overall totals closely, the former speaker winning 42 percent and the runner-up 28.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 2,381 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Santorum vowed to continue, although his weak third place finish could well portend financial difficulty for a campaign that has never been flush with cash. It's a wide-open race. Join the fight" he urged supporters at a rally in Charleston.

Paul had his worst finish of the year, and isn't expected to make a strong effort in Florida. Even so, he said to supporters, "Keep fighting." He has said he intends to focus his efforts on caucus contests in Nevada on Feb. 4 and Missouri several days later.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

Romney's stumbles began even before his New Hampshire primary victory, when he told one audience that he had worried earlier in his career about the possibility of being laid off.

He gave a somewhat rambling, noncommittal response in a debate in Myrtle Beach last Monday when asked if he would release his tax returns before the primary. The following day, he told reporters that because most of his earnings come from investments, he paid about 15 percent of his income in taxes, roughly half the rate paid by millions of middle-class wage-earners. A day later, aides confirmed that some of his millions are invested in the Cayman Islands, although they said he did not use the offshore accounts as a tax haven.

Asked again at a debate in North Charleston on Thursday about releasing his taxes, his answer was anything but succinct and the audience appeared to boo.

Gingrich benefited from a shift in strategy that recalled his approach when he briefly soared to the top of the polls in Iowa. At mid-week he began airing a television commercial that dropped all references to Romney and his other rivals, and contended that he was the only Republican who could defeat Obama.

It featured several seconds from the first debate in which the audience cheered as he accused Obama of having put more Americans on food stamps than any other president.

Nor did Gingrich flinch when ex-wife Marianne said in an interview on ABC that he had been unfaithful for years before their divorce in 1999, and asked him for an open marriage.

Asked about the accusation in the opening moments of the second debate of the week, he unleashed an attack on ABC and debate host CNN and accused the "liberal news media" of trying to help Obama by attacking Republicans. His ex-wife's account, he said, was untrue.

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.

While Democrats hope a ticket topped by President Barack Obama will sweep Brown and other Republicans out of office later this year, state GOP officials and activists believe Brown’s star power will draw like-minded voters out to the polls, helping down-ticket candidates as well.

The Republican Party in Massachusetts is hoping that Sen. Scott Brown's popularity will translate into more GOP wins in elections across the Bay State in 2012. (Staff Photo by Robert Rizzuto)

By Andy Metzger, State House News Service

BOSTON - The new Republican power center in Massachusetts is a street-level office in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, where U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and the Massachusetts Republican Party opened a joint operation Saturday afternoon.

While Democrats hope a ticket topped by President Barack Obama will sweep Brown and other Republicans out of office later this year, state GOP officials and activists believe Brown’s star power will draw like-minded voters out to the polls, helping down-ticket candidates as well.

“In my district it helps me, not just a little bit. He’ll do very well in my district,” said Jeff Bailey, a Baptist pastor and first-time Republican candidate running for the Bristol-Norfolk state Senate seat. “It’s going to be important for those of us who are down-ticket to assist Senator Brown every way that we can.”

Robert Maginn, the new chairman of the state party, said that a Mitt Romney primary victory would woo even more Republican voters in November. Brown will also lure people to the polls, helping local candidates on the party ticket, Maginn said.

“If the presidential nominee is Romney that’s going to just take us over the top,” Maginn said in an interview. “He will lift the other candidates up, as Scott’s going to . . . They will bring more people to vote for Republicans at the top of the ticket.”

While Maginn is counting on Brown and possibly Romney to lead the way, he said he has raised enough money to help the lesser-known candidates running for state office.

“I got them seed corn,” said Maginn, a Belmont resident. “We’re looking for an opportunity to have a really historic time in Massachusetts.”

Robert Maginn, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. (Republican file photo)

Brown and his wife Gail Huff arrived at the new headquarters to applause from the group. Brown posed for photos with supporters and then took his probable Democratic opponent to task for what he says was Elizabeth Warren’s failure to agree with him on a binding agreement to discourage involvement in the race from special interest groups or super political action committees.

“Shame on Professor Warren,” said Brown. “It’s like she agrees and then she doesn’t agree… Either you want to have the super PACs in or you don’t. I don’t want them.”

Brown said Warren walked away from a deal that would have required either candidate to contribute half of what a super PAC spent on his or her behalf to a charity of the opponent’s choosing.

Warren campaign officials said the proposed agreement lacked a mechanism to track online ad spending and “sham organizations” running ads to hurt one campaign or the other.

In a statement Friday, the Warren campaign alleged Brown’s proposal to stop third party ads “includes loopholes that Karl Rove could drive a tank through,” but that she was confident an enforceable agreement could be reached.

As he runs for re-election for the seat he won in a 2010 special election, Brown has positioned himself as an independent thinker and a moderate, rather than a strict Republican.

“I am the most bipartisan person in the entire delegation by far,” Brown said. “We don’t need rock throwers. We need bridge builders. We need problem solvers.”

Brown’s new campaign signs underline his “independent” voice, and Brown said he is hoping to build a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans to win in November.

“People ask what kind of Republican are you? I tell them I’m a Scott Brown Republican,” Brown said in an interview. “I need everybody’s support.”

The politicos gathered in South Boston were hardly discouraged by Warren’s fundraising prowess, trudging through the city’s first big snow storm of the year to show support for their star candidate.

“Scott Brown is the de facto head of the Republican party in Massachusetts,” said Brad Marston, a Republican consultant who in 2010 launched a somewhat Quixotic campaign against state Rep. Marty Walz (D-Boston) in a district that includes parts of Cambridge.

Marston said he has recruited someone from his Back Bay neighborhood to run against Walz later this year, and said state Republicans would make inroads in the heavily Democratic cities.

Even if urban Republicans fail to put one of their own in the State House, the turnout from cities would help Brown and the Republican presidential nominee, said Marston, who said he did consulting for Herman Cain’s campaign.

“We’ve got to stop having our statewide candidates start the race 150,000 votes behind,” Marston said. He said local candidates and town committees should become more proactive, rather than relying on the state party to do the work for them.

Like many star politicians, Brown got his start as a local candidate, starting out as a selectman in Wrentham before winning a state representative seat in 1998 and then joining the state Senate.

Maginn said there would be “synergy” between grassroots energy from down-ticket candidates and Brown.

“We’ve got a United States senator, who’s a Republican, who’s going to be leading the charge,” said Maginn to the packed house in South Boston. “We’re going to unite and we’re going to win this together.”

It's soul-searching time for Republicans. It might not be pretty.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a South Carolina Republican presidential primary night rally, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

By CHARLES BABINGTON

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took a giant step Saturday toward becoming the Republican alternative to Mitt Romney that tea partyers and social conservatives have been seeking for months.

Gingrich's come-from-behind win in the South Carolina primary snatches away the quick and easy way for the GOP to pick its presidential nominee. Only days ago, it seemed that party activists would settle for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who stirs few passions but who has the looks, money, experience and discipline to make a solid case against President Barack Obama in November.

Now, the party cannot avoid a wrenching and perhaps lengthy nomination fight. It can cast its lot with the establishment's cool embodiment of competence, forged in corporate board rooms, or with the anger-venting champion of in-your-face conservatism and grandiose ideas.

Romney still might win the nomination, of course. He carries several advantages into Florida and beyond, and party insiders still consider him the front-runner. And it's conceivable that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum can battle back and take the anti-Romney title from Gingrich. After all, he bested Gingrich in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Santorum's third-place finish in South Carolina will doubtlessly prompt some conservative leaders to urge him to step aside and back Gingrich, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry did Thursday.

Even if Santorum revives his campaign in Florida, the fundamental intraparty debate will be the same. Voters associate Gingrich and Santorum with social issues such as abortion, and with unyielding fealty to conservative ideals. That's in contrast to Romney's flexibility and past embraces of legalized abortion, gun control and gay rights.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul will stay in the race, but he factors only tangentially in such discussions. His fans are largely a mix of libertarians, isolationists and pacifists, many of whom will abandon the GOP nominee if it's not the Texas congressman.

Strategically, Romney maintains a big edge in money and organization. He faces a dilemma, however. Gingrich resuscitated his struggling campaign in this state with combative debate performances featuring near-contempt for Obama and the news media. Romney likely would love to choke off that supply by drastically reducing the number of debates.

Ducking Gingrich after losing to him in South Carolina would suggest panic or fear, however, and all four candidates are scheduled to debate Monday in Florida.

Gingrich is benefitting "from the inherent animosity and mistrust GOP primary voters have with mainstream media," said Republican strategist Terry Holt. "Their first instinct is to rebel, and that's what they did. The question is whether he can sustain that anger and build it into a legitimate challenge to the frontrunner."

Gingrich tried to stoke that anger with his victory speech Saturday. He referred repeatedly to "elites" in Washington and New York who don't understand or care about working-class Americans. He decried "the growing anti-religious bigotry of our elites."

Gingrich made $3.1 million in 2010, but he nonetheless is tapping middle-class resentment in ways reminiscent of Sarah Palin. "I articulate the deepest-held values in the American people," he said.

Despite their contrasting personalities, Romney and Gingrich don't differ greatly on policy. Both call for lower taxes, less regulation, ending "Obamacare" and a robust military. They promise to cut spending and increase jobs without offering many details of how they would do so in a divided nation and Congress.

Romney vs. Gingrich in some ways mirrors the Democrats' 2008 choice between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, which turned mostly on questions of personality, style and biography. The Republicans' choice, however, will plumb deeper veins of emotion and ideology.

Romney appeals to Republicans who want a competent, even-tempered nominee with a track record in business and finance. His backers are willing to overlook his past support of abortion rights and his seeming tone-deafness on money matters — even if it feeds caricatures of him as a tycoon.

Until Saturday, GOP polls had shown Romney easily ahead on the question of who would be Obama's toughest challenger. South Carolina exit polls, however, showed Gingrich with an edge among those who said it was most important that their candidate be able to beat Obama.

Romney will try to regain that advantage in Florida, which votes Jan. 31. It's not clear what strategies will work. In his concession speech Saturday, Romney said Obama has attacked free enterprise and "we cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined that very assault on free enterprise."

He was alluding to Gingrich's past criticisms of Romney's record running Bain Capital, a private equity firm. But Gingrich and a friendly super PAC dropped their references to Bain days ago.

Romney hinted at another approach. "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state," he said. Gingrich's background didn't seem to bother South Carolina's Republicans, however.

What they've done is steer the primary contest into more emotional, and possibly dangerous, waters. They rewarded a candidate who gave voice to their resentment of the news media, federal bureaucrats and what they see as undeserving welfare recipients and a socialist-leaning president.

Two South Carolina debate moments crystalized Gingrich's rise. Both involved an open disdain for journalists, whether feigned or not.

In Myrtle Beach on Monday, the Martin Luther King holiday, Gingrich acidly told Fox News' Juan Williams that he would teach poor people how to find jobs, and that Obama has put more Americans on food stamps than any other president. Gingrich repeated the food stamp lines in his speech Saturday night.

At Thursday's debate in North Charleston, Gingrich excoriated CNN's John King for raising an ex-wife's claim that Gingrich once asked for an "open marriage," to accommodate his mistress.

Conservatives inside the hall and out seemed to love the tongue-lashing. The details of Marianne Gingrich's allegations, which Gingrich denied almost as an afterthought, seemed to matter much less to voters. That's remarkable in a state whose GOP electorate is nearly two-thirds evangelicals.

Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist, said Gingrich seems to be drawing many people, including tea party activists, who are fairly new to politics. They don't know or care much about Gingrich's legacy of leading the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress, or his subsequently lucrative career as a writer and speaker that sometimes veered from conservative orthodoxies, McKenna said.

Instead, he thinks these voters are reacting emotionally to someone they hope "can take the fight to the president, to the media, to whomever. They are not particularly concerned about what kind of president he will be."

Therein, of course, is the potential peril of a Gingrich candidacy. Along with his verbal fireworks he carries baggage that might give Democrats more to exploit than do Romney's policy flip-flops and record at Bain.

Gingrich's impressive South Carolina victory will force Republicans in Florida and other states to make a hot-or-cool choice.

They can pick the data-driven Harvard MBA grad who smoothed out the Winter Olympics and now runs a by-the-numbers nationwide campaign. Or they can pick the pugnacious firebrand who didn't manage to get his name on the Virginia primary ballot but who wows an angry electorate that can't wait to lay into Obama in debates next fall.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

Information about the special session was unavailable, but residents have until Jan. 30 to register to vote in the Feb. 9 meeting.

WARREN – The town will hold a special town meeting on Feb. 9 in the Shepard Municipal Building, 48 High St., according to Nancy J. Lowell, clerk of the western Worcester County town.

Residents have until Jan. 30 to register to vote in the special town meeting, Lowell said, adding that registration will take place in her office from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Next month's special town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of Shepard Municipal Building.

A copy of the meeting agenda was unavailable Sunday. The town's website had no information about the warrant, or what items are up for consideration, for the special meeting.

The Warren Board of Selectmen are scheduled to meet this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Hometown Buffet, 935 Riverdale St., closed abruptly last week after Minnesota-based Buffets Inc. announced it was handing over control of the company to its senior lenders in a restructuring agreement.

abc40Hometown Buffet on Riverdale Street in West Springfield closed abruptly last week after its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – In the latest grim news for the restaurant history, Buffets Inc., parent company of a half-dozen restaurant chains including Hometown Buffet in West Springfield, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it grapples with $245 million worth of debt.

As a result of the Jan. 18 filing, the Minnesota-based company will immediately close 81 of its 500 restaurants nationwide, including the popular West Side eatery at 935 Riverdale St. in the Riverdale Plaza.

The filing enables the company to reorganize under a restructuring agreement that hands control to senior lenders, who hold 83 percent of the company's debt. Lenders will recapitalize, or change the company's capital structure, to eliminate virtually all of its outstanding debt in exchange for all the equity in the reorganized company, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Mike Andrews, CEO of Buffets, said the plan marks "the beginning of a new era for Buffets," which will "eliminate a burdensome debt load" and increase the company's cash flow while strengthening its ability to "invest in the improvement of our restaurants through our reconcepting program and other growth-oriented initiatives."

No word yet on what that "reconcepting" will entail, but in the short run it means job losses for employees and vacant storefronts in many communities throughout the U.S.

Locally, some loyal customers expressed disappointment.

"Well, we saw it dark and I said, 'Oh my goodness, I can't believe it,' because we've always come here, and it's very good," Sally Maciolek, of Chicopee, told 22News.

Financial troubles have hounded Buffets for several years. In 2009, the company emerged from bankruptcy after a 2008 filing that coincided with a major economic downturn that prompted cash-strapped consumers to turn to cheaper fast-food chains, the Wall Street Journal reported.

After a 36-year career as an attorney, Van Lanckton became a rabbi. He's now the spiritual leader of Temple B'nai Shalom in Braintree.

AP Photo/The Patriot Ledger, Gary HigginsRabbi Van Lanckton became the spiritual leader of Temple B'nai Shalom in Braintree after a 36-year career as an attorney.

FRED HANSON, The Patriot Ledger

BRAINTREE — As he recovered from triple bypass surgery, Rabbi Van Lanckton found his calling. "It was a real showstopper," Rabbi Lanckton said of his surgery in 2001. "It was a chance to reflect on life."

Rabbi Lanckton had been a practicing lawyer for 36 years, working for state agencies and in private practice. And he had been active in the Jewish community, serving as president of Temple Emanuel in Newton and having just completed a four-year term as regional president of the American Jewish Congress.

"I've always been interested in religious matters," he said.

So, a year later when Hebrew College opened a rabbinical school a mile away from his Newton home, he became one of its first students at the age of 60.

When he was ordained in 2009, he became the second rabbi in the family. His son, Benjamin, works as a chaplain at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Rabbi Lanckton, now 69, in August was named the spiritual leader of Temple B'nai Shalom, Braintree's only synagogue and which serves about 75 families.

He has been part of synagogue for six years, first as a student rabbi and as associate rabbi since his ordination.

One of Rabbi Lanckton's priorities is to help increase the membership of the temple, reaching out to Jews who aren't members of any congregation and newcomers to the town.

"To have a Jewish presence in the town, you need to have a presence in the town," Rabbi Lanckton said. "The way you attract members is by making it an exciting place to be, by the programs you are offering."

Among his outreach efforts are starting a Facebook page and an on-line discussion group. Upcoming programs include a trip to Israel in April and a Jewish book club.

"We do the things synagogues do, but we do them in a way that tries to excite people and inspire them," Rabbi Lanckton said. "One of my hopes is to encourage those who have been passive members to become active members."

Born in Connecticut, Lanckton spent much of his childhood in Bulgaria, Lebanon, Greece and Turkey due to his father's career as an oil executive. He earned a bachelor's degree at Yale, and a law degree at Harvard.

Raised a Presbyterian, he converted to Judaism, a few weeks before graduating from law school.

"I was searching for a better way to connect to God than as a Christian," Rabbi Lanckton said of the decision.

He still does some legal work, serving as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

Rabbi Lanckton said what he has learned in his first career has helped with his second.

"A lot of what one studies in rabbinical school is law from a higher authority," Lanckton said.

And his weekly sermons are timed to last 18 minutes, or three-tenths of an hour, the rate at which lawyers bill for their time.

The partnership will bring unique and in-depth political coverage to the readers of The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino.

SPRINGFIELD – It won't be politics as usual in the Bay State this election season as The Republican's reporters and editors team up with the Western New England University Polling Institute to deliver a series of in-depth surveys looking at just what you, the voter, is thinking this election season.

A series of five surveys will be conducted over the coming months as politicians and Super PACs work to sway voter opinions and in turn, change the course of the country.
These polls will tackle the typical "horse race" questions, but add much more depth as Tim Vercellotti, director of the polling institute, brings a decade of experience and lessons to the table.

Tim Vercellotti

"We will certainly look at the match-ups, but we will be working to address the issues the readers care most about when making their decisions this election year," Vercellotti said. "And our polling method allows The Republican's reporters to follow up with the participants to put a human face on the information. When you get to learn the reasons behind their answers, it makes the poling much richer."

The surveys will cover a number of election-year issues and focus on several important races, including the U.S. Senate race and U.S. House of Representatives races in Massachusetts.

The partnership, which will bring unique and in-depth political coverage to the readers of The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino, is the latest effort by the Springfield-based news organization to deliver the most comprehensive election-year coverage in Massachusetts.

"The five polls over the course of the election cycle will provide our readers and MassLive.com users with an ongoing stream of information and data which they can use to make their decision on election day and also keep score along the way," said Wayne Phaneuf, The Republican's executive editor.

"Polls give readers a chance to quickly see what's important to other voters and how those issues compare with their own feelings," said Ed Kubosiak Jr., editor-in-chief of MassLive.com. "They measure the emotional connection candidates are making with voters and provide natural talking points for readers to become more engaged online."

"The Western New England Polling Institute was launched in 2005, and since then has established a national reputation as a provider of accurate, thoughtful, nonpartisan research," said Anthony S. Caprio, president of Western New England University. "This new partnership will allow us to expand our polling efforts, while providing additional opportunities for our students and faculty to explore public policy questions and for the public to better understand the critical issues facing our community, state and nation."

Vercellotti, a one-time newsman, is excited about the project, which bridges the gap between two chapters of his life. He said that because 2012 is an odd election cycle with so many Super PACs playing a significant part in the races, the surveys will attempt to quantify their influence as well.

"The traditional metric for a candidate's eligibility is funding. But when you look at how much cash they have, you also have to look at the PACs and how much they are spending," Vercellotti said. "The norms and values of an election are changing and these outside groups could sway the vote. It's a brave new world and we have to consider everything."

In addition to the in-depth print reports which will follow the release of each survey's data, the articles on MassLive.com will feature a number of interactive elements crafted by The Republican's online desk and MassLive.com staff.

The news organization's aim is to provide a report on the data and also allow readers to sift through the information and make their own comparisons of different variables, which the Internet has made possible.

Workers should take safety measures like wearing harnesses whenever they do work on a roof or other high place, an expert cautions.

SPRINGFIELD - The recent fatality involving a man working on a tornado-damaged house in West Springfield has highlighted the need to take safety measures to prevent falls, according to an official with the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.

“We did not have a lot of fatalities,” Michael J. Florio, the executive director of the Western Mass COSH, said during an interview Wednesday regarding the June 1 tornadoes that devastated the area. “Let’s not create them rebuilding.”

The Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health is a nonprofit organization with 37 offices around the country.

Nineteen-year-old James Ivanov of Agawam died Jan. 11 at the scene of a tornado-damaged building in West Springfield’s Merrick section after falling four stories from the roof to the basement. He was working with a crew reframing the house at Union and George streets next door to 687 Union St. where a woman died in the June 1 tornado shielding her daughter.

The Springfield office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death, which has been ruled accidental. Mary E. Hoye, director of the office, has declined to say whether Ivanov was wearing a harness or taking other safety measures, citing the ongoing nature of her investigation, which may not wrap up for about a month.

However, Hoye would say that it is important to take such measures such as using a harness or guardrails to prevent falls.

“It is a huge emphasis for us,” she said of preventing falls.

Florio, whose organization teaches OSHA-certified training classes, said falls are the leading case of accidental deaths. Even taking a spill from just three feet can result in fractured bones, according to him.

OSHA regulations require that when working at heights of more than six feet, roofers, electricians and bridge workers should take measures such as wearing a harness attached to a lanyard anchored to something that can withstand 5,000 pounds of force, Florio said.

“The biggest problem is getting our workers to use the equipment. It is a case of ‘I am only going to do it for a second’,” he said. “‘I’m only going to go up on that roof to nail something down for a second.’ How long does it take to fall?”

Florio said most of the local contractors are pretty good about taking safety precautions, but there are some problems with contractors from out of the area.

Holyoke has $300 million in unfunded liabilities, working out to about $18,000 in unfunded liability per single-family home, or about 59 percent of Holyoke’s median household income, according to a study recently released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

SPRINGFIELD – This city has $761.6 million in unfunded liabilities for municipal retiree health benefits, which works out to more than $12,000 in unfunded liabilities per single-family home.

Holyoke has $300 million in unfunded liabilities, working out to about $18,000 in unfunded liability per single-family home, or about 59 percent of Holyoke’s median household income, according to a study recently released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The foundation, a Boston-based independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research on state and local taxes, government spending, and the economy, says the liabilities are not some hypothetical obligation but represent actual amounts taxpayers owe in today’s dollars for retiree health-care benefits already earned by current retirees and eligible employees and payable during the next 30 years.

For the study, the foundation calculated the cost per single-family home by figuring out how much of each city’s budget comes from real-estate taxes on single-family homes then applying that ration to each city’s liability.

“It is a classic problem of the public sector,” said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “You vote for all these benefits knowing the cost will be in the future. But of course you are not going to be in office by then.”

Cities and towns are now taking a “pay as you go” approach, paying the cost of retiree health benefits each year, but setting no money aside to cover future costs that Widmer expects to rise with the growing cost of medical care.

Springfield’s pay-as-you-go cost is $25 million a year, according to Widmer. Holyoke’s is $7 million a year.

The foundation’s study looked at 10 of the largest communities in Massachusetts of Springfield, Holyoke, Worcester, Pittsfield, New Bedford, Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Fitchburg and Boston.

Researchers found that homeowners of just those 10 cities face either paying an average of $13,685 now to fund the liability, or an average 20 percent tax increase over the next 30 years.

The study focused on those cities as a means of illustrating the problem, one which looms in nearly every municipality in the state, Widmer said.

Cheryl A. Dugre, executive director of the Holyoke Retirement Board, said cities just never funded the program.

“They should have funded it years ago,” she said. But, Dugre said, she doesn’t know of any plan in Holyoke to address the issue.

Springfield is studying the problem in hopes of coming up with a list of solutions, said William E. Mahoney, the city's Human Services Director. The best tonic would be a recovering economy which would increase local tax revenues.

Carolyn C. Ryan, policy analyst for the taxpayers foundation, said only two cities in the state have started planning for their health-care liabilities: Wellesley and Needham. “And, both those places are very wealthy communities,” she said.

Springfield has 3,800 municipal retirees. Employees qualify for health-care coverage in retirement after 10 years of service and upon reaching the age of 55 or after 20 years of service and retirement at any age. Rules vary slightly for members of the police and fire departments.

“We have had years of skyrocketing health-care costs,” he said. “Those liabilities never go away.”

Mahoney and Widmer both said health-coverage for retirees is most expensive for those age 55 to 65. Once a retiree hits age 65, Medicare becomes the primary insurer and the city’s plan takes on a secondary role.

There are solutions, according to Widmer.

First, people covered by municipal health-care insurance typically pay less for care than those with private coverage. He says municipalities should have plans that more closely reflect the private sector, a move that would increase the cost of health care for municipal retirees.

Ryan said the problem will be helped by a state reform measure passed over the summer that takes health-care costs out of the collective-bargaining process for municipal-worker unions.

Also, health-care benefits should be earned in phases over a longer period of time, like pension benefits accrue over time, Widmer said. Ten years is just too short a period of time in which to earn a benefit as valuable as lifetime health-care coverage, Widmer said.

“You have scads of people who work 10 years then retire at 55 and use this medical care from 55 to 65 before they are eligible to collect Medicare,” Widmer said.

It may also be time for cities and towns to review retirement ages in light of changing demographics, Widmer said.

“People today are starting new careers at 65,” he said. “If they are alive at 55, they are going to live into their 80s; most people will anyway.”

Associated PressFILE - In this Tuesday July 19, 2011 file photo James Meunier, a retired police office on disability listens to the pension cuts he and others are being asked to accept at Central Falls High School in Central Falls, R.I. Meunier retired on disability in 1979 after being shot in the line of duty in 1978. The state appointed receiver running the financially troubled city asked retired police officers and firefighters to accept significant pension cuts to help avoid municipal bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Obituaries from The Republican.

Eleanor Stewart

Eleanor M. Stewart, 88, of Springfield, passed away on Wednesday. She was a lifelong resident of Springfield. She was an avid sports lover and devoted fan of the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. Prior to her retirement, Stewart was employed for 38 years at Western New England University, where she operated the Faculty Dining Room. She was a member of Foster Memorial Church and was active in school and church activities for her daughter over many years.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Barre, Janice H. (Pampel)
  



• 
  Belton, Helen Marie
  




• 
  Carnevali, Dr. John F.
  



• 
  Flores, Noemi
  



• 
  Flynn, Michael N.




• 
  Hazlett, Dr. WIlliam
  



• 
  Hurley, Margaret "Peg" (Doyle)
  




• Jensen Jr., Walter T. "Sonny"
  




• 
  Langley, Stephanie (Dolumba)
  



• 
  Madeja, Mary




• 
  Redfern, Ruth E. (Bombard)
  



• 
  Sawula, Helen F. (Marcinkowski)
  




• Snyder, Geraldine Ester
  




• 
  Stewart, Eleanor M.
  

Seats are available on the Board of Health and Conservation Commission, among others.

File photo | The RepublicanHolyoke City Hall.

HOLYOKE – Residents interested in volunteering to serve on city boards are urged to contact the mayor’s office.

Seats are available on the Cultural Commission, Conservation Commission, Board of Health and Board of Public Works, a press release from Mayor Alex B. Morse’s office said Friday.

Residents should submit a letter of interest and resume by Jan. 25 to the mayor’s office at City Hall, at High and Dwight streets, or at morsea@ci.holyoke.ma.us, the press release said.

Westfield is among a growing number of communities across the country which are seeking to ban sales of synthetic marijuana.

Photo by Frederick Gore, The Westfield News. Westfield police officers Mark Carbaneau, front, and Brian Freeman, center, are shown carrying quantities of synthetic marijuana and alleged drug paraphernalia from the Quick Mart on Southwick Road, Westfield, on Jan. 11. The convenience store was one of two stores from which detectives seized materials as a result of an investigation into sales of the synthetic marijuana. Assisting in the raid was Sgt. Stephan Dickinson, rear. Photo by Frederick Gore, The Westfield News.

WESTFIELD – The packages were clearly labeled: “Not for human consumption.”

The owners of the stores where the product was being sold were warned last fall by police that they should stop selling it.

Now, Westfield is among a growing number of communities across the country which are seeking to ban sales of synthetic marijuana.

Ten days ago, police here raided two convenience stores and seized an estimated $12,000 worth of K2 XXX Bomb, other synthetic drug products and a large quantity of paraphernalia which can be used for drug use.

Criminal charges are being sought against the store owners in District Court.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency since November 2010 has listed five chemicals used to manufacture synthetic marijuana as illegal under its emergency powers. And, a bill is now pending before Congress to permanently ban the use of such chemicals and substances.

K2 is just one of several names for synthetic marijuana that is now available in Western Massachusetts. Police in other area communities say they are monitoring the sales of such substances in their cities and towns.

The criminal charges being sought against the owners of the two Westfield stores are under the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 270, Section 18 which applies to substances that release toxic vapors. Users of the synthetic marijuana, according to police, smoke the substance with pipes and as cigarettes.

The city’s Board of Health, meanwhile, is drafting municipal legislation that, if approved, will ban the sale of such substances within city limits.

Dr. Stanley D. Strzempko, vice president of medical affairs at Noble Hospital who is a member of the health board, characterizes synthetic marijuana as being “much worse than (real) marijuana with side effects that are much more severe.”

Since no formal tracking of medical emergencies involving the synthetic drug is currently in use, Strzempko estimated that in the past six months Noble has treated about a half-dozen cases.

Strzempko personally treated one such case in late summer which involved a teenager who had smoked a version of the synthetic marijuana called Cloud 9.

“I didn’t know at the time it was synthetic cannabinoids,” the doctor said. “The patient was very anxious, had high blood pressure and high pulse rate, similar to the effects of cocaine.”

“That package of Cloud 9 was clearly marked not for human consumption,” Strzempko said. “The effect it had on the patient was in reality dramatic and quite the opposite from the effects of smoking (real) marijuana.”

Staff photo by Dave RobackK3 "synthetic marijuana" as evidence at the Westfield Police department.

According to Police Lt. David A. Ragazzini, one of the detectives leading the Westfield investigation, “It is difficult to estimate the cost of the seized material. It is probably in the range of $12,000.”

Ragazzini and community police Sgt. Stephan Dickinson explained that the 3-gram packets were selling in the range of $7 each to $20 for two packets, depending on the outlet. K2 may not actually be a controlled substance as defined under state law, they said, but some of its ingredients are and the way it is used is prohibited.

The substance looks like real marijuana, the packets identify the contents as aromatic herb and it is typically burned and inhaled by users through pipes, as cigarettes and with other paraphernalia commonly used for marijuana and other drugs.

The synthetic marijuana is also marketed under other names including Spice, Blaze and Red X Dawn, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency publications.

Last October, a 19-year-old Anderson (S.C.) University basketball player died after using synthetic marijuana, according to a ruling by a county coroner there. The coroner, Greg Shore, determined the cause of death was acute drug toxicity. Lab tests on the athlete found JWH-018, a chemical used to make synthetic marijuana.

That chemical, along with others, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47 and 497, are among those which made the list in the DEA emergency controlled-substance order issued in November 2010 that made their possession or use illegal.

In Chicopee, Police Chief John R. Ferraro Jr. said his department is aware of synthetic marijuana and his detectives are keeping a “close eye” on the situation. “We are aware of this product, and our drug unit is monitoring the situation,” said Ferraro.

In Springfield, Sgt. John M. Delaney said he was unaware of any incidents or issues involving synthetic marijuana.

The Westfield Police Department put convenience stores on notice last fall that it was illegal to sell synthetic pot and, according to Ragazzini and Dickinson, some store owners voluntarily removed the product from the shelves. Others, however, kept the product and continued selling it away from public view, the officers said.

“We went to all stores in the city after getting complaints from parents and the high schools about kids using these substances,” said Dickinson.

Westfield High School principal Raymond K. Broderick said the sale of synthetic marijuana was brought to the school’s attention last September by the Police Department’s school resource officer, James Summers.

“It had been selling in some stores for some time, but we first heard of it at the start of the current school year,” said Broderick.

The principal said only one situation involving synthetic marijuana has occurred at the high school. It involved a student found to be in possession of the substance.

“That student was placed on long-term suspension,” said Broderick. “The student has since returned to school, and we have not witnessed another incident.”

Ragazzini said several complaints and information provided to his department involved Westfield Vocational-Technical High School, and that led investigators to S&S Mart which is located a short distance from the school.

“We initiated a search warrant at S&S Mart,” said Ragazzini. “While doing that, our community police unit went to two other stores and found violations,” the lieutenant said.

More than 1,000 packs of the drug were confiscated from S&S Mart, which is located on Franklin Street, he said.

Westfield Vocational-Technical principal James M. Laverty said two students at his school were suspended because of suspected use of the synthetic marijuana.

“There were incidents of students being determined not ‘school ready’ when they got here, and that led to interaction by administration and our school resource officer Tracy Ploof,” Laverty said. Effects from use of the substance appear similar to those experienced from the consumption of pain killers or alcohol, according to Laverty.

“Officer Ploof did a wonderful job working with students and identifying” the source of the product, Laverty said, referring to the S & S Mart. “Unfortunately the location is on a main route most of our students walk or drive by on their way to school.”

Dickinson said authorities believe the substance is being marketed as an incense and that store owners are clearing an estimated $3 per package profit.

Criminal complaints were sought in Westfield District Court against owners of both Quick Mart, located on Southwick Road, and the S&S Mart. Once show-cause hearings are held to determine if complaints are issued, the owners will be summoned to appear in court.

Conviction under the statute being used as a basis for the charges carries a punishment of a fine of not more than $200, six months in jail or both.

The bill before Congress is known as the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2011; it was referred to the U.S. Senate’s Community on the Judiciary for review. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives last December.

Strzempko called the use of synthetic drugs an “emerging issue.” “This is one of those things that pops up on everyone’s radar screen at the same time, and we are just beginning to recognize what is happening,” he said.

The Board of Health plans to move quickly on drafting its legislation and will work to ensure it can withstand legal review, Strzempko said.

The newly scrambled presidential contest shifted to Florida after Gingrich stopped Romney's sprint to the nomination with a convincing victory in the first-in-the South primary.

View full sizeAP file photoFormer Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

By STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by a South Carolina setback that capped a bad week, Mitt Romney said he would release his tax returns Tuesday in hopes of ending a campaign distraction while revived rival Newt Gingrich said he was the strongest Republican to go "toe to toe" with President Barack Obama.

Rick Santorum, third in the South Carolina primary, maintained he was the lone "consistent conservative" left in the race and pledged to keep campaigning in Florida, next on the calendar with its Jan. 31 primary, and beyond.

The newly scrambled presidential contest shifted to Florida after Gingrich stopped Romney's sprint to the nomination with a convincing victory in the first-in-the South primary. That removed the air of inevitability that surrounded Romney's candidacy. But Florida is larger, more diverse and more expensive, and brings new challenges for Gingrich. Once again, he must show he can overcome financial and organizational disadvantages, as he did in South Carolina.

"One of the reasons I think people in South Carolina voted for me was a belief that I could debate Obama head to head, that I could convey conservative values," said Gingrich as the candidates made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows.

View full sizeNewt Gingrich speaks at Pinkerton School in Derry, N.H. (Photo by Brian Canova)

"I think we had better be prepared for a tough campaign, whoever we nominate," the former House speaker said. He added, "I can go toe to toe with President Obama on big things. ... I think you can draw a very strong case that in the end the dynamics of a Gingrich/Obama fight are much better for Republicans than the dynamics of a Romney/Obama fight."

Romney said it was "not a good week for me" and cited all the time he had spent talking about his tax returns as his rivals pressed him to make them public before his promised date in April.

After months of resistance, Romney had said last week that he would release tax information for 2011, but not until close to the tax filing deadline. That also was seen as a time, before the South Carolina race rattled his front-runner status, when the GOP nomination might have been decided.

"I think we just made a mistake in holding off as long as we did. It just was a distraction. We want to get back to the real issues of the campaign: leadership, character, a vision for America, how to get jobs again in America and how to rein in the excessive scale of the federal government," said Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist.

Romney disclosed last week 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."

"Given all the attention that's been focused on tax returns, given the distraction that I think they became in these last couple of weeks," Romney said Sunday he would release his 2010 returns and estimates for his 2011 returns at the same time "so there's not a second release down the road."

"We'll be putting our returns on the Internet, people can look through them," Romney said. "It will provide, I think, plenty of information for people to understand that the sources of my income are exactly as described in the financial disclosure statements we put out a couple of months ago."

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. That sum alone would him in the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers.

In addition, Romney owns investments worth between $7 million and $32 million in offshore-based holdings, which are often used legitimately by private equity firms to attract foreign investors. Such offshore accounts also can enable wealthy investors to defer paying U.S. taxes on some assets, according to tax experts.

"I know people will try and find something," Romney said, adding, "We pay full, fair taxes, and you'll see it's a pretty substantial amount."

Santorum, who beat Romney and Gingrich in lead-off Iowa, scoffed at the suggestion he might leave the race so conservatives could rally behind Gingrich against Romney.

View full sizeAssociated PressRepublican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during a campaign stop with college students, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

"The idea that conservatives have to coalesce in order to beat Mitt Romney, well, that's just not true anymore. Conservatives actually can have a choice. We don't have to rush to judgment," he said.

"The longer this campaign goes on," Santorum said, "the better it is for conservatives, the better it is for our party."

Santorum's continued presence ensures at least some division among Florida's tea party activists and evangelicals that could help Romney erase questions about his candidacy.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul likely will not be a factor in Florida. He already had said he was bypassing the state in favor of smaller subsequent contests.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Santorum was winning 17 percent and Paul 13 percent.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date.

Gingrich appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union." Romney was on "Fox News Sunday," while Santorum was on ABC's "This Week" and CNN.

Police are searching for evidence to connect the two crimes.

CHICOPEE - Police are continuing to investigate the stabbing of one man and the shooting of a second man early Saturday morning at the Maximum Capacity club on School Street.

The shooting victim, Mike Diaz, 24, of Chicopee, remains in Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. He was shot twice in the lower leg at about 1:55 a.m. in the club parking lot, Lt. Mark D. Gilbert said.

The stabbing victim, Keyshawn Narcisse, 27, of Bridgeport, Conn., was injured in the right side of his chest. He was treated and has been released from the hospital, Gilbert said.

Police are still trying to piece together what happened and are searching for evidence to connect the two crimes, he said.

"All the victims are being uncooperative," Gilbert said. "This is a very active investigation."

The shooting occurred just as the club was closing. Two police officers in the area heard the shots and quickly responded and found the victim, Gilbert said.

About 30 minutes later the stabbing victim was brought to the emergency room at Baystate Medical Center by unknown people. He told police he was at Maximum Capacity and did not know what happened to him until he woke up in the hospital, Gilbert said.

Police are searching for any information to either crime. They are also trying to find a dark-colored Chrysler Pacifica suspected to be connected with the shooting. The vehicle contained three people and was last seen fleeing toward Center Street in downtown Chicopee.

The fire caused about $150,000 in damages and left the house uninhabitable

Photo by Patrick BroughFirefighters work to extinguish a blaze at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton

EASTHAMPTON – A fire severely damaged a home at 37 Pepin Ave. and nearly trapped firefighters in the basement.

The blaze was reported at about 9:15 a.m. Sunday by homeowners. When firefighters arrived the family of four was out of the house and the homeowner told firefighters there was smoke in the basement, Easthampton Fire Capt. Dennis Peck said.

“In the basement there was heavy, black smoke. There we had a hard time finding the fire,” he said.

A firefighter on the first floor then called to them that he saw flames in a closet that had traveled through a duct in the basement. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze on the first floor and then follow it down to the basement, Peck said.

It took about 30 minutes to get the blaze under control but firefighters remained at the home until about 3 p.m. searching for and extinguishing small fires that had spread behind the walls. One team stayed until 4 p.m. to ensure the fire did not ignite again, he said.

Firefighters from Holyoke, Westhampton, Northampton and Southampton assisted the Easthampton department, Peck said.

Clothing stacked too close to a gas water heater ignited the fire, he said.

“It was very extensive. The house is uninhabitable at this time,” Peck said.

He estimated the damage to the two-story cape at about $150,000.

The family is staying with relatives. The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is also assisting them, he said.

Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week: Agawam Mon.- Agawam Small Business Administration Board of Directors, 8 a.m., Town Hall. Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., Agawam Public Library. Tues.- Council on Aging, 3 p.m., Senior Center. School Committee, 7 p.m., Roberta G. Doering. Wed.- Community Preservation Committee, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library. Thurs.- Conservation...

Republican file photo by Don TreegerHolyoke City Hall

Here is a list of major municipal meetings for the coming week:

Agawam

Mon.- Agawam Small Business Administration Board of Directors, 8 a.m., Town Hall.

Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

Tues.- Council on Aging, 3 p.m., Senior Center.

School Committee, 7 p.m., Roberta G. Doering.

Wed.- Community Preservation Committee, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

Thurs.- Conservation Commission, 6:30 p.m., Agawam Public Library.

Chicopee

Mon.- Municipal Light Board, 6:15 p.m., 725 Front St.

Commission on Disabled, 6:30 p.m., Chicopee Public Library.

Tues.- Rules Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall.

Parks and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m., 687 Front St.

Wed.- Sewer Commission, 5:30 p.m. 80 Medina St.

Water Commission, 6 p.m., 115 Baskin Dr.

Easthampton

Mon.- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m., 50 Payson Ave.

Manhan Rail Trail Committee, 7 p.m., 50 Payson Ave.

School Policy Subcommittee, 5 p.m., 50 Payson Ave.

Tues.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., 50 Payson Ave.

Wed.- Highway Business Review Committee, 6 p.m., 50 Payson Ave.

Easthampton High School Council, 2:15 p.m., School library.

Thu.- City Arts + Coordinating Committee, 5:30 p.m., Old Town Hall.

Granby

Mon.- Planning Board, 7 p.m., High School Library.

Wed.- Dufresne Ad Hoc Committee, 6:15 p.m., Public Safety Complex.

Greenfield

Mon.- Appointments and Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., Police Department.

Retirement Board, 4 p.m., 14 Court Square.

Tues.- Community Relations and Education Committee, 6:30 p.m., 270 Main St.

Wed.- Franklin County Technical School Superintendent Search, 5:30 p.m. Town Library.

Thu.- Council on Aging, 2 p.m., Senior Center.

Hatfield

Mon.- Capital Improvement Planning Committee, 8 a.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Wed.- Community Preservation Committee, 6 p.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Thu.- Selectmen, 9 a.m., Memorial Town Hall.

Holyoke

Mon.- Board of Health, noon, City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Morgan School Council, 3:45 p.m., 587 South Summer St.

Board of Public Works/Sewer Commission/Stormwater Authority, 5:30 p.m., Department of Public Works, 63 Canal St.

School Committee, 6:15 p.m., Dean Technical High School, 1045 Main St., Fifield Community Room.

Tues.- Planning Board, 6 p.m., McMahon School, 75 Kane Road.

City Council Ordinance Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Sullivan School Improvement Council, 6:30 p.m., Sullivan School, 400 Jarvis Ave.

Water Commission, 7 p.m., Holyoke Water Works, 20 Commercial St.

Wed.- Holyoke Charter School, Board of Trustees, 5 p.m., 2200 Northampton St.

Thu.- Retirement Board, 9 a.m., City Hall Annex, Room 207.

City Council Redevelopment Committee, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Fri.- Handicap Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, City Council Chambers.

Northampton

Tues.- Tree Committee, 6:30 p.m., 125 Locust St.

Wed.- Board of Public Works, 5:30 p.m., 125 Locust St.

Human Rights Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall.

Thu.- Planning Board, 7 p.m., Council Chambers.

Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers.

Zoning Administrator, 4 p.m., City Hall.

Conservation Commission, 5 p.m., City Hall.

South Hadley

Mon.- Board of Assessors, 9 a.m., Town Hall.

Capital Planning Committee, 5:15 p.m., Town Hall Selectboard Meeting Room.

Public Library Building Committee, 6:15 p.m., Public Library.

Planning Board, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall 204 Selectboard and Appropriations Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall Selectboard Meeting Room.

Tues.- Fire District 2 Prudential Committee, 9 a.m., 20 Woodbridge St. School Committee, 6:30 p.m., High School Library Selectboard, 7 p.m., Town Hall Selectboard Meeting Room.

Thu.- Open Space and Recreation Issues Forum, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall.

West Springfield

Mon.- Library Ad Hoc Committee, 4 p.m., municipal building.

Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Park and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m., municipal building.

Tues.- Board of Library Trustees, 6:30 p.m., West Springfield Public Library.

Giffords announced she intends to resign this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago that shook the country.

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent

Associated PressThis video image provided by the Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shows Giffords announcing her plans to resign, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Giffords announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Office of Gabrielle Giffords)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago that shook the country.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," the Democratic lawmaker said on a video posted without prior notice on her Facebook page.

"I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high," she said. "I have more work to do on my recovery. So to do what's best for Arizona, I will step down this week."

Giffords was shot in the head and grievously wounded last January as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Her progress had seemed remarkable, to the point that she was able to walk dramatically into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Her shooting prompted an agonizing national debate about super-charged rhetoric in political campaigns, although the man charged in the shooting later turned out to be mentally ill.

In Washington, members of Congress were told to pay more attention to their physical security. Legislation was introduced to ban high-capacity ammunition clips, although it never advanced.

Under state law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer must call a special election to fill out the remainder of Giffords' term, which ends at the end of 2012.

President Barack Obama on Sunday called Giffords "the very best of what public service should be."

"Gabby's cheerful presence will be missed in Washington," Obama said. "But she will remain an inspiration to all whose lives she touched — myself included. And I'm confident that we haven't seen the last of this extraordinary American."

Vice President Joe Biden said he had spoken with Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, and told him "the most important thing is Gabby's recovery."

"I know that Gabby will continue to make significant contributions to her state and country, and I stand with her in whatever endeavor she decides to pursue," Biden said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he saluted Giffords "for her service and for the courage and perseverance she has shown in the face of tragedy. She will be missed."

In a statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that "since the tragic events one year ago, Gabby has been an inspiring symbol of determination and courage to millions of Americans."

Democratic officials had held out hope for months that the congresswoman might recover sufficiently to run for re-election or even become a candidate to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.

The shooting on Jan. 8, 2011, left six people dead, a federal judge and a Giffords aide among them. Twelve others were wounded.

A 23-year-old man, Jared Lee Loughner, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the shooting. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and is being forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison facility in an effort by authorities to make him mentally ready for trial.

In the months since she was shot, Giffords, 41, has been treated in Houston as well as Arizona as she re-learned how to walk and speak.

She made a dramatic appearance on the House floor Aug. 2, when she unexpectedly walked in to vote for an increase in the debt limit. Lawmakers from both parties cheered her presence, and she was enveloped in hugs.

More recently, she participated in an observance of the anniversary of the shooting in Arizona.

In "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," a book released last year that she wrote with her husband, she spoke of how much she wanted to get better, regain what she lost and return to Congress.

She delivers the last chapter in her own voice, saying in a single page of short sentences and phrases that everything she does reminds her of that horrible day and that she was grateful to survive.

"I will get stronger. I will return," she wrote.

Giffords was shot in the left side of the brain, the part that controls speech and communication.

Kelly commanded the space shuttle Endeavour on its last mission in May. She watched the launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Kelly, who became a NASA astronaut in 1996 and made four trips into space aboard the space shuttle, retired in October.

A 3-year-old boy and his parents, both in their 40s, were pulled from an Arlington kettle pond after falling through the ice.

Patch.com/Neal SimpsonSpy Pond in Arlington, pictured here in warmer weather, was the scene of a near-tragedy Sunday evening after a toddler and his parents fell through the ice. The family was rescued from the pond and taken to area hospitals for treatment.

ARLINGTON – A tragedy-in-the-making was averted when firefighters rescued a toddler and his parents from an icy pond Sunday evening.

Arlington firefighters used a rescue sled to save two adults and a 3-year-old boy who fell through the ice at Spy Pond, a large kettle pond in the center of this Middelesex County town northwest of Boston.

The Associated Press said all three were taken to area hospitals for treatment of hypothermia, but their conditions were not immediately known.

Authorities were called to the town pond around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, and the family was pulled from the water about 10 minutes later, according to a report by Boston.com.

Firefighters had to wade about 100 feet into the icy pond to reach the family, who fell through the ice in a section with depths reaching up to 8 feet.

Police did not release the identities of the boy or the couple, both of whom were in their 40s.

Boston.com reported that Arlington police officers initially tried to use rescue disks attached to ropes, which were not quite long enough to reach the victims. Firefighters arrived at the scene and made their way onto the thin ice as police cruisers illuminated the pond from the shore.

An Arlington fire official told Boston.com that rescuers fell through the ice while attempting to retrieve the family, which had to be plucked from the water a person at a time. Once in the water, a firefighter swam to the victims and first saved the toddler, taking him to the rescue sled. Firefighters next retrieved the mother, then the father.

Despite recent cold weather, many Boston-area ponds have yet to fully freeze because of this winter's warmer-than-normal temperatures. Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan urged people to use caution on ponds, rivers and streams. "This is one in a series of incidents involving thin ice, and we are encouraging the public to err on the side of caution and stay off lakes and ponds until further notice," hen said in a statement.

The body of a 23-year-old New Hampshire man was recovered from Spy Pond last month, according to Patch.com. Police said there were no clear signs of trauma linked to the death, which remains under investigation.

While Sunday's incident in Arlington had a happy ending, a 2002 incident in Lawrence ended in tragedy when four boys died after plunging through thin ice on the Merrimack River.