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Minnechaug Scholarship Foundation celebrating 50th anniversary

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This year's raffle includes a "golden ticket" to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

WILBRAHAM – The Minnechaug Scholarship Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

To celebrate, the foundation announced the kickoff of its annual raffle fund-raiser by mailing raffle tickets to more than 7,000 residents of Hampden and Wilbraham.

This year’s raffle includes a “golden ticket” to celebrate the foundation’s 50th anniversary of providing scholarships to college bound students who attend Minnechaug Regional High School.

Proceeds from the raffle will be used to provide scholarships to students entering college next fall.

Ann Marie Bonsall, president of the scholarship foundation’s Board of Trustees, said that over the past 50 years more than 1,160 students have been awarded scholarships totaling $640,649.

In 1961 the Minnechaug Scholarship Foundation was established and awarded scholarships to four students for a total of $2,000, Bonsall said.

Last year the foundation awarded a record $41,450 to 59 college-bound students.

This year’s “golden ticket” offers an opportunity to win a pair of 14 karat white gold “Margarita Salt on the Rim” diamond earrings, donated by Quinn Fine Jewelers.

This year’s ticket prizes include: an AAA Driving School Course Certificate, plus a one-year membership to AAA upon completion of the course; round trip Century Limo transportation to the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut and a $200 Restaurant Golf Certificate; four Red Sox tickets in the first row behind the on deck circle; two nights, double occupancy at the Woodstock Inn and Resort in Woodstock, Vt.; a Sony BRAVIA BX300 32 inch HDTV; an IPod Touch; and a Pave Bangle Bracelet.

Raffle ticket books and a golden ticket can be purchased for $20 each or for $35 for both.

Raffle ticket stubs and money is to be sent to the Minnechaug Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 441, Wilbraham, MA, 01095-0441 no later than May 17.

Prizewinners will be drawn May 17 during the Minnechaug Regional High School Spring Concert. Attendance at the concert is not necessary to win.




Your comments: readers react to possible budget cuts to state parks, beaches

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Possible budget cuts to state parks and beaches may result in less services being provided to visitors.

forest park.JPGMarsh's Rest in Forest Park in Springfield

Massachusetts residents face the possibility of receiving reduced services at state parks, beaches and other recreational areas unless cuts to the governor’s spending plan aren’t restored.

Cuts to funding for state parks and recreational areas are being mulled over. If the reduction in funding is approved the results would cause more than 100 employees to lose their jobs and less services being offered at parks and beaches, according to Richard K. Sullivan, secretary of energy and environmental affairs.

Here is what some of our readers had to say about the proposed cuts:

kasmira says: Cut the welfare from deadbeats. Don't cut the parks and swimming areas for those of us that work. Oh yeah, if we don't have any place to swim, we'll work more and you can take more in taxes for the DEADBEATS!!!!

Yes, this is a joke, or it had better be.

cyeah90 says: why don’t the lawmakers take a cut in pay?????? Thats right they wont have to when they up the bottle bill. AGAIN picking on the middle class or should I say the poverty people.

bsgwmass says: I liked the idea of our elected officials cutting the fat from their budgets. I think I will do some investigating, but does anyone know how much $$ is allotted to each state rep. for office space, aides, materials, travel, etc.? They need to throw themselves on the action block as they are cutting everything from the rank-and-file Average Joe.

ritphot says: You'd be surprised how many people are sapping the state and federal government with permanent disability claims they are so distraught they can't work. Meanwhile they go on vacations to the tropics and lead normal lives... Cops, Firemen, service men etc..

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Lottery tickets stolen during break-in to Chicopee store worth over $600 when cashed in at Springfield store hours later

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Security video showed two men inside the store during the early Sunday break-in.

1999 chicopee police car cropped.jpg

CHICOPEE – Lottery tickets, stolen early Sunday during a break-in to the Honeyland Farms convenience store on Newbury Street, yielded over $600 in cash when they were cashed in a few hour later at a store in Springfield’s Bay neighborhood.

Sgt. Jeffrey A. Nadeau said that a security video recorded the break-in at the 206 Newbury St. store shortly after 1:30 a.m. The video, which shows two suspects inside the store, is dark and does not provide much detail, he said.

The suspects broke in through the store’s glass front door to gain entry. Along with lottery tickets, the suspects stole cigarettes and a small safe, Nadeau said.

The winning tickets in the stolen batch, some $652 worth, were cashed in about 4½ hours later at the Racing Mart store at 475 St. James Ave. in Springfield, Nadeau said.

The tickets were cashed in before the theft had been reported and video at the Springfield store was not available, Nadeau said.

Somebody attempted to break into the same Honeyland store by kicking in a window last Monday about 3:30 a.m. but entry was not gained, Nadeau said.

Several hours later somebody broke into the Fairview Deli at 193 Fairview Ave., and stole lottery tickets, Nadeau said.

Business Monday from The Republican, April 25, 2011

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From this week's Business Monday from The Republican.

M. Dale Janes, Jeffery S. SattlerNUVO Bank & Trust Company , M. Dale Janes, chief executive officer, left, and Jeffery S. Sattler, president.

From this week's Business Monday from The Republican:

Local banks stepping up in business lending according to study
Community banks based in Massachusetts are doing a larger share of the state’s business lending, making just more than 80 percent of the small-business loans in the state.
Read more »

QR codes helping to revitalize print advertising
For the uninitiated, quick response codes are those small squares of seemingly abstract line drawings that are scannable with smartphones. Once scanned, QR codes usually lead back to Web pages with content - from recipes to coupons to information about local events. Read more »

Big E begins construction on new practice arena
The 66-foot-by-170-foot arena is designed to keep equestrians and their mounts out of the weather before competitions at the Big E Coliseum. It will be attached to the 5,500-seat coliseum by a covered walkway. Read more »


More Business Monday

Voices of the Valley: Bud Stockwell, owner of Cornucopia in Northampton

Clean energy is good business for Massachusetts

Digital advertising growth outpacing traditional mediums

Connecticut's United Technologies profit grows as work force shrinks

McDonald's serves burgers, job offers

University of Massachusetts grad Fatemah Giahi opens nutrition counseling service in Amherst

Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston sues to rescind $6 billion in bond purchases


Notebook

Pioneer Valley Business Calendar: April 25 - May 13, 2011

Pioneer Valley Business etc.

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

24-year-old former Springfield resident Tamik Kirkland, convicted of firearm and other charges, has escaped from state prison in Shirley

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Kirkland, formerly of 20 Carver St., was declared an escapee Monday morning.

Tamik Kirkland.jpgTamik Kirkland

SPRINGFIELD – A 24-year-old city man, who pleaded guilty to firearm and other charges some 17 months ago in Hampden Superior Court, was declared an escapee from state prison Monday morning.

Tamik Kirkland, formerly of 20 Carver St., was declared an escapee shortly after 7:30 a.m., according to a release issued by the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

The Republican Newspaper and Masslive.com reported that Kirkland was one of three suspects arrested on July 2, 2008 after shots, which missed their intended victims, were fired at State and Andrew streets.

Charges against Kirkland, city resident Seneca Slaughter (then 24) and a juvenile included armed assault with intent to murder.
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Kirkland pleaded guilty and was sentenced Nov. 19 in Hampden Superior Court on charges of possession of a large capacity firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, according to The Republican.

Kirkland was serving 2½ to 4 years. He was sentenced that same day, with an effective date of Oct. 14, 2009. His parole eligibility was February 15, 2012, and his release date was August 16, 2013, the release states.

Local and state police and the department’s Fugitive Apprehension unit have been notified of Kirkland’s escape.

The release states that Kirkland, when apprehended, will be released to higher custody. The department will work with the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office to pursue criminal charges. If Kirkland is convicted of escape his sentence could be extended.

Slaughter faced identical charges as Kirkland. They were dismissed by the prosecution which instead charged Slaughter with being an accessory after the fact to unlawful possession of a firearm.

Slaughter also pleaded guilty before Judge Judd J. Carhart. He received a suspended, 18-month jail term and was placed on probation for two years.

Gabrielle Giffords cleared to attend husband Mark Kelly's space shuttle launch

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Rep. Giffords will travel for the first time since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover from a gunshot wound to the head.

Gabrielle Giffords, Mark KellyFILE - This undated file photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, shows her, left, with her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. Looking back on the horror of Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, this seems miraculous today: that Kelly would indeed command the next-to-last space shuttle flight and that his wounded wife would be in Florida watching. Yet that is what is expected to happen Friday, April 29, 2011 provided doctors approve her travel. The Kelly-Giffords ordeal has been a national drama since the congresswoman was shot in the head at a meet-and-greet in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend husband Mark Kelly's space shuttle launch in Florida on Friday, Kelly said, allowing the Arizona congresswoman to travel for the first time since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover from a gunshot wound to the head.

In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Kelly said Giffords' doctors had given her permission to travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the launch of Endeavour, which is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. Friday. Kelly is the commander of the shuttle mission.

CBS released excerpts of the interview Sunday, and it was scheduled to air Monday on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric," according to a network statement.

"I've met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and her doctors, and ... they've given us permission to take her down to the launch," Kelly said in the interview in Houston. The network statement did not specify when the interview occurred.

James Harsfield, spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, referred all questions about Giffords to the congresswoman's office, where there was no immediate comment.

President Barack Obama and the first family also are scheduled to watch the launch, although it's unclear if they will watch it with Giffords.

Families view launches at Kennedy Space Center from a restricted area, and there are no plans for Giffords to make a public appearance.

It will be the first time Giffords has traveled since she was flown from Tucson, Ariz., to Houston on Jan. 21 for rehab. The Democrat was shot in the head Jan. 8 in a shooting in Tucson that killed six people and injured 12 others.

Giffords' spokesman, C.J. Karamargin, and her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, plan to hold a news conference after the launch to discuss the congresswoman's reaction, but Giffords will not go to the news conference because it could be an emotional moment for her, Karamargin said.

Giffords went to Kelly's last launch in 2008, when he commanded the space shuttle Discovery. The two married in 2007.

Obama last saw Giffords on Jan. 12, just four days after the shooting, when he visited her intensive care hospital room in Tucson and reported that she opened her eyes for the first time a few minutes after he left.

More recently, he wrote a tribute about the congresswoman in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people in the world, saying that she wasn't known before the shooting, but now "she's got the prayers of a nation rooting for her."

He also wrote that Giffords is "a needed voice that cannot return soon enough."

The shooting happened as Giffords was holding a community outreach event in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center. A gunman shot her in the head and worked his way down the line of her staff members and people waiting to talk with her. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack and is in custody.

Giffords has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing — as part of musical therapy — asking for her favorite foods and visiting with family, friends, and her rabbi.

Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife's hospital bedside.

Endeavour's two-week trip will be the last for that shuttle and the next-to-last shuttle mission. Shuttle Atlantis will close out the 30-year shuttle program this summer. Kelly and five crewmates will deliver a $2 billion physics experiment to the International Space Station, as well as critical spare parts to keep the orbiting outpost running for another decade.

East Longmeadow School Committee begins search for high school principal

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Current East Longmeadow High School principal Michael Knybel will take a job in Lenox.

east longmeadow town hall.JPGEast Longmeadow Town Hall

EAST LONGMEADOW - The school district has begun the process of looking for a new East Longmeadow High School principal after the current principal Michael Knybel decided to leave the district for a position with the Lenox Public Schools.

Superintendent of Schools Gordon C. Smith said he would like to have three finalists by early June and make a decision by the week of June 21.

"It is an aggressive time-line, but I think it can be done," he said during the School Committee meeting Monday night.

The School Committee voted to appoint members Richard L. Freccero and Elizabeth Marsian- Boucher to a preliminary principal search committee. The committee also voted to appoint School Committee Chairman Gregory Thompson to a smaller committee that will make site visits to the finalists schools and give the final recommendation to Smith, who will hire the principal.

Smith recommended that the committee follow South Hadley's lead and have the three finalists interviewed by the search committee as well as the general public.

School Committee member Joseph Cabrera said he approves of this idea.

"I think some parents were upset with how things went before and they would like to know what they are getting this time," he said.

The School Committee also voted 4-1 not to accept the School Choice program for the 2011-2012 school year. Cabrera gave the opposing vote.

Members cited current class size issues at Birchland Park Middle School and the high school as reasons not to participate in the program.

Smith said he also believes many school districts become reliant on the money they get from School Choice.

"Once you get used to that money as a budget booster it is hard to get away from that," he said.

Freccero, who voted against allowing School Choice, said he is fundamentally opposed to the program because it takes funds away from struggling and less wealthy school systems.

"It's a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer," he said referring to the fact that many School Choice students leave urban school districts. The district then has to pay to send the child to their chosen school.

Holyoke police respond to shooting on South Canal St. with at least 1 victim

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Firefighters also responded to the shooting scene, but were back in station after 9:30 p.m.

police lights.jpg

HOLYOKE – A 34-year-old man was shot in the groin and the arm Monday and police were on the scene investigating at 557 South Canal St.

The man was taken to Baystate Medical Center, in Springfield, and he was expected to survive, Police Sgt. Daniel F. Reardon said.

It was unclear what prompted the shooting, he said, but police had responded to a disturbance in the area at 8:25 p.m. At about 9 p.m., he said, the call came in about a shooting.

Police were interviewing witnesses, and as for whether police had suspects in the shooting, Reardon said, "They are speaking to people."

Update: Holyoke police investigate shooting that injured a man Monday night


Vote in Hampden will require debt exclusion override for new fire engine

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The borrowing was approved by a two-thirds show of hands.

johndflynn.JPGHampden Board of Selectmen Chairman John D. Flynn said it will take 12 to 14 months to special order a new fire truck.

HAMPDEN – Voters at the Monday annual town meeting approved the borrowing of $360,000 for a new fire engine, subject to passage of a debt exclusion override vote on Monday’s town election ballot.

The borrowing was approved by a two-thirds show of hands.

Selectmen Chairman John D. Flynn said it will take 12 to 14 months to special order the new fire truck.

Next year, if there is sufficient money in the town’s stabilization account, the entire $360,000 will not be borrowed, Flynn said.

“We want to put down some and finance the rest,” Flynn said. He said town officials want to keep the yearly payment for fire vehicles to about $50,000 per year. The town will take out a five-year bond for the fire truck, Flynn said.

The town has just over $1 million in the town’s stabilization, or savings, account, Flynn said.

At the town meeting, voters approved the transfer of $254,000 of the $1 million to help fund the fiscal 2012 town budget.

Of the $254,000, $144,000 will go to pay some of the debt on the new Minnechaug Regional High School now under construction, $100,000 will go to renovate the fire station and $10,000 will go to repair a second Fire Department vehicle.

The fire station will be renovated so it can hold the new engine and provide additional storage, Flynn said.

The total fiscal 2012 town budget approved at the town meeting was $10.3 million.

Also approved at the town meeting was the appropriation of Community Preservation Act funds. Voters approved $3,000 in Community Preservation funds to digitize a history collection at the Hampden Public Library, $60,000 to replace breaker panels at the Centennial Commons housing project and $52,000 for erosion control at Memorial Park.

Also at the town meeting, voters approved $10,469 to pay the town’s share of a community resource police officer at Minnechaug Regional High School.

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said the community resource officer is a first responder at the high school and “key from a public safety point of view.”

Private lawyers for the poor assail Massachusetts House leaders' plan to reduce pay

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Gov. Deval Patrick wants to do away with the system of contracting with private lawyers to represent poor defendants.

072210 anthony bonavita.JPGSpringfield lawyer Anthony C. Bonavita says a lower cap on billable hours could cause a shortfall of lawyers available to accept indigent clients.

BOSTON – Private lawyers for the poor are opposing a plan by House leaders to reduce their pay and replace some of them with about 200 full-time public defenders.

The House Ways and Means plan is more moderate than a proposal by Gov. Deval L. Patrick. Patrick wants to add 1,000 public defenders to the state’s payroll and do away with the current system of contracting with private lawyers to represent poor defendants.

“We’re pleased the House didn’t adopt the governor’s plan,” said Anthony J. Benedetti, chief counsel for the state Committee for Public Counsel Services, which oversees about 3,000 private lawyers for the poor.

Under the House plan, a yearly cap on billable hours for private lawyers for the poor would be reduced to 1,500 hours, down from the current 1,800 hours. The House plan would ban lawyers from accepting new cases after 1,200 hours, down from the current 1,400 hours. The private lawyers receive pay that includes $50 an hour for District Court cases, $100 an hour for a murder case and $60 an hour for Superior Court.

Benedetti said he would at least like the ability to waive the cap in certain instances.

Anthony C. Bonavita, a Springfield lawyer, said the lower cap on billable hours could cause a shortfall of lawyers available to accept indigent clients. Bonavita, who works as a private lawyer for the poor, said lawyers will hit 1,200 hours and stop accepting new cases.

“It’s going to cause, at various times of the year, a shortage of attorneys,” Bonavita said.

Bonavita said he doesn’t see how the state could save money by hiring an additional 200 staff public defenders. He said the state would need to bring on support staff and pay benefits, such as pensions and health insurance, in addition to providing more office space and computers.

Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, D-Haverhill, said the state could cut costs by reducing the cap on billable hours.

Brian Dempsey 2010.jpgBrian Dempsey

Dempsey said he was concerned about the governor’s plan. Dempsey questioned whether it makes sense to hire an additional 1,000 lawyers to the state payroll, along with support staff.

Dempsey said full-time state public defenders should eventually provide 20 percent of the work to defend the poor, up from the current 10 percent.

The House budget calls for cutting money for defense of the indigent to $151 million for the next fiscal year, a 27 percent drop from $208 million this year, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a private, nonprofit research organization. Those numbers include both private lawyers and staff lawyers who defend the poor.

Joseph A. Franco, of West Springfield, who also accepts cases to represent the indigent, said the current criminal defense system works well and has been recognized by national legal organizations as one of the best in the nation.

Franco said significant savings could be achieved if legislators would reduce some misdemeanors – first offense shoplifting or trespassing, for example – to civil infractions. If they were civil offenses, they would no longer require the appointment of a lawyer for poor defendants.

According to the Committee for Public Counsel Services, a private lawyer or staff lawyer is appointed in approximately 155,000 District Court criminal cases each year in the state, including 96,000 misdemeanors. Of these, 90 percent or 86,400 cases, result in no jail sentence, the committee said.

The Patrick administration says the 3,000 private lawyers handle about 90 percent of the cases assigned to the committee for public counsel. The state has 230 public defenders who represent only criminal defendants. If legislators adopt his proposal to replace them with public employees, it would eventually save $45 million a year, according to the governor’s office.

Dempsey’s committee rejected the governor’s plan to overhaul the Committee for Public Counsel Services and place it under the executive branch. The committee, led by 15 members appointed by the state Supreme Judicial Court, would remain a quasi-public agency under the judicial branch if the House plan is approved.

Dempsey’s bill also would save money through improved screening of the incomes of defendants, resulting in some defendants being denied a state-paid lawyer.

Springfield cyber cafe's future sparks City Council debate

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The 777 Cyber Cafe's lawyer said it had ample parking, good security did not encroach on neighbors at the Five Town Plaza.

luckyinsideab.jpgFILE – The scene inside a cyber cafe on Worthington Street in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – After nearly two hours of wrangling, the City Council Monday postponed a decision on granting a special permit to the 777 Cyber Center at Five Town Plaza.

City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke withdrew a motion to allow 30 computers at the 296 Cooley St. cyber cafe after councilor Kateri B. Walsh said more information was needed.

Instead, the council voted to refer the permit request for study by its economic development subcommittee. The cafe was ordered to shut down by the city three weeks ago until it obtained a special permit.

The council’s vote Monday came after the cafe’s permit request and the larger issue of sweepstakes gambling and Internet cafes touched off a spirited debate by residents and councilors. Springfield lawyer Thomas J. Rooke, representing the cafe, said the business had operated without any trouble before the city decided it needed a special permit.

The site has ample parking, good security and does not encroach on neighbors living near the plaza, according to Rooke, who urged councilors to take a vote on the request, rather than refer it for study.

Opponents, including members of the Outer Belt Civic Association, said the operation bordered on gambling, and posed many of the same risks to city residents.

They also warned that giving a permit to the 777 Cyber Cafe could set a precedent that other would-be cafe owners could exploit.

City Solicitor Edwdard M. Pikula urged the council to continue the hearing, rather than referring it to subcommittee, to give time for city planners to submit findings on the cafe’s operation and potential impact on the neighborhood.

Without those findings, any decision on the special permit would be vulnerable to a legal challenge in court, Pikula said.

The council voted down Pikula’s recommendation to continue the hearing, and was poised to vote on Rooke’s motion to grant the permit, with a series of conditions, when Walsh and several other councilors objected.

Like a number of Internet cafes around the area, the 777 Cyber Center offers people a chance to purchase time on the Internet, and encourages them to play various games of chance that offer cash prizes.

A 2007 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, based on a Hyannis case, determined that such cyber cafes are permissible in Massachusetts. Since then, there has been a proliferation in cyber cafes throughout the state.

But critics, including state Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, said they are too close to slot parlors, and should be shut down. Rivera has filed a bill to outlaw cyber cafes, arguing that they prey on elderly and low-income residents.

Holyoke police are investigating a shooting that injured a man Monday night

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Police said the shooting occurred in the same spot where two officers were fired upon in February.

Updates a story published at 9:40 p.m. Monday.

HOLYOKE -- Police are investigating a Monday night shooting in South Holyoke that sent a city man to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The shooting occurred around 9 p.m. in an alley behind 569 South Canal St. and 5 Adams St., according to Holyoke Police Lt. Matthew Moriarty.

The alley, which includes parking for the apartment buildings, is the same spot where two Holyoke officers came under fire on Feb. 14. The officers, who were uninjured, were investigating a call on Adams Street when gunfire erupted from an upper-floor window. No arrests have been made in connection with that incident.

Police said the 34-year-old victim in Monday night's shooting was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for gunshot wounds to the arm and groin. His condition was not immediately known.

The shooting location is about two blocks southwest of the Williamansett Bridge.

Moriarty said "no arrests" had been made as of 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"It doesn't look like anything life threatening," he said of the victim's injuries.

Police did not indicate how many shots were fired or if any shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Holyoke Police Sgt. Daniel F. Reardon, speaking to The Republican shortly after the shooting, said it was unclear what prompted the gunfire. But, he noted, officers had responded to a disturbance in that same area about a half-hour earlier.

BELOW IS A MAP showing the approximate location of Monday night's shooting in Holyoke, which injured a man in a lot behind 569 South Canal St. and 5 Adams St.


View Larger Map

Agawam City Council authorizes borrowing to construct $129,000 Building Maintenance Department structure

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The City Council has approved borrowing $129,465 to construct building to store items the Building Maintenance Department buys in bulk.

AGAWAM – The City Council has authorized borrowing $129,465 to construct a building on Main Street for a storage area for the Building Maintenance Department.

The council voted 9-0 to take that action last week at the request of Anthony Albro, director of building maintenance.

The building is needed because the department has been asked to move out of its current quarters at Agawam High School, according to him. It will be used to store paper supplies and other materials the city buys in bulk to save money.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen said the space at the high school is needed for a television studio for video production and classes to help maintain the school’s accreditation. The building will create a central shipping and receiving area that Cohen said will eventually track material electronically.

“I think this is great,” Cohen said of the vote.

The building will be constructed at 1347 Main St. next to the old Department of Public Works facility, which will be used to house the rest of the Building Maintenance Department’s operations.

The vote will allow the city to hire the low bidder for the project. R.A.C. Builders Inc.

City Councilors Robert E. Rossi and George Bitzas said they feel that although times are tough the community really has no choice but to construct the building because of the savings that are realized through bulk buying.

“There is really no place else to store the supplies,” Rossi said, explaining that the city needs the building to keep its ability to save money by buying in bulk.

“I know it is tough economic times, but this is a necessity, not a luxury. The more we wait the more the cost will be,” Bitzas said.

City Councilors James P. Cichetti and Dennis J. Perry voted against the borrowing.

Given that city employees have been asked to agree to a pay freeze and the School Department is laying off workers, Cichetti said he would have liked to have waited on making a decision at least until the mayor releases his proposed fiscal year 2012 budget.

Cichetti said it is time for officials to “think outside the box” to resolve the problem.



Springfield police are looking for suspect who stabbed a teenager

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A fight on Wilmont Street Monday night resulted in the stabbing of a 15-year-old city resident in the city's Forest Park neighborhood.

SPRINGFIELD -- City police continue to search for a suspect wanted in connection with stabbing a teenager outside a Wilmont Street home in the city's Forest Park neighborhood shortly after 8 p.m. Monday.

The condition of the victim, a 15-year-old city resident who was stabbed in the upper torso, wasn't immediately known. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center and is expected to recover from his injuries, according to authorities.

Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl C. Clapprood said no arrests have been made in the case, which remains under investigation.

Police released no information about the victim or suspect.

Authorities said the stabbing stemmed from a large street fight that was reported around 8:15 p.m. Monday. The fight involved as many as 20 participants, according to various news reports.

The 15-year-old victim was found lying on Beaumont Street, about a block away from Wilmont Street. He is not cooperating with police.

No further information was available early Monday morning.

Wilmont Street -- located between Dickinson and Ranney streets, just a few blocks north of the "X" -- has figured prominently into several high-profile crime cases in recent years.

An 18-year-old woman was shot to death inside her Wilmont Street home in October 2009, and a 24-year-old Westfield man was fatally stabbed on Wimont Street in July 2008.

More recently, a 17-year-old male from Wilmont Street was shot to death in February 2010 on James Street in the Six Corners neighborhood.


THE MAP BELOW is an approximate location of a Monday night stabbing that injured a 15-year-old in the city's Forest Park neighborhood.


View Larger Map

Hampden District Attorney's office probing breaching of sewer pipes in Agawam

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Officials are looking into an incident late last month on land off Meadow Street in which a backhoe nicked sewer pipes, sending raw sewage onto wetlands near the Westfield River.

Mark Mastroianni 2010.jpgMark G. Mastroianni

AGAWAM – The Hampden District Attorney’s office is looking into the breaching of two sewer pipes that spewed raw sewage onto wetlands near the Westfield River.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Friday that his office has taken over the investigation, which was referred to it by the Agawam Police Department. An assistant district attorney has been assigned to the matter, according to Mastroianni.

“So far there are no charges so there are no names that can be released,” Mastroianni said.

The incident took place late last month on land known locally as “The Meadows” at 140-179 Meadow St. at or near a turf farm, according to his office.

Carmino Grimaldi, the manager of Tuckahoe Turf Farms Inc. at 179 Meadow St., said the break did not take place on the farm’s land, but on wooded land to the west of it. Some of the sewage flowed onto property the farm leases in the area, he said.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen has declined to say how much repairs have cost the city or identify who breached the pipes, referring all questions to the district attorney’s office.

Catherine Skiba, regional spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection, which worked closely with the Department of Public Works on repairs, would not identify the contractor who breached the pipe. She cited the ongoing investigation as the reason.

A contractor doing work at the site hit a 10-inch and a 20-inch sewer pipe, according to Department of Public Works Superintendent Christopher Christopher J. Golba. His department got involved when it was notified there was a backhoe unattended and submerged in wetlands.

The pipes run from a pump station on Main Street to the Springfield Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility on Bondi’s Island.

The city has made repairs with the idea of seeking reimbursement from the contractor.




AM News Links: Congress curious about online tracking practices, 'untouchable' public pensions are suddenly 'touchable,' and more

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Rising food prices could turn a cup of Joe into a luxury, 'cop-hating' law school students, and more of this morning's news headlines.

statehouse tree.jpgWarm, moist weather has helped spring arrive -- finally. A flowering crabapple tree only recently bloomed on the lawn of the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

Nurses at hospitals in Boston, Worcester plan to strike next month

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Nurses at two Massachusetts hospitals are planning a one-day strike to protest what they call staffing levels that endanger patient safety.

BOSTON (AP) — Nurses at two Massachusetts hospitals are planning a one-day strike to protest what they call staffing levels that endanger patient safety.

Nurses at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester plan to strike on May 6.

About 1,000 nurses are expected to walk off the job at Tufts, about 740 at St. Vincent's. The hospitals are not affiliated.

The unions organized the strikes after getting "last, best, and final offers" from management in labor negotiations. A sticking point for both has been staffing levels.

Management at both hospitals says nurse-to-patient ratios are safe.

The hospitals say they have already made arrangements to bring in temporary nurses in the event of a strike that can still be averted with a labor agreement.

Jury selection set to begin Tuesday in trial of former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi

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DiMasi is accused in a bid-rigging scheme in which he allegedly pocketed nearly $60,000, according to federal prosecutors.

DiMasi body shot.jpgFormer Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, shown here in a file photo leaving federal court in Boston, is on trial for corruption charges. Jury selection is scheduled to get underway in Boston Tuesday.

BOSTON (AP) — Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is set to go on trial in a bid-rigging scheme that allegedly pocketed him tens of thousands of dollars.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in federal court in Boston, but opening statements aren't expected until next week.

DiMasi and two others -- Joseph McDonough and Richard Vitale -- have pleaded not guilty to charges that they schemed to rig lucrative state contracts for the software company Cognos in exchange for payments. DiMasi is accused of pocketing $57,000.

Joseph Lally, a fourth man charged in the scheme, cut a deal with prosecutors and is expected to testify against the others.

The list of potential witnesses in the case reads like a Who's Who in Massachusetts politics, including Gov. Deval L. Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and DiMasi's successor, House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

Chicopee students, athletes will volunteer to clean up city to benefit Lorraine's Soup Kitchen

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The clean-up will be held in conjunction with a long-established one held by the Parks and Recreation Department.

track.jpgThe Chicopee Comprehensive High School track team is one group that has raised money recently for Lorraine's Soup Kitchen

CHICOPEE – As many as 500 volunteers are expected to spend Saturday raising money for Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and cleaning the city at the same time.

Students from Chicopee and Comprehensive high, Fairview Veterans and Edward J. Bellamy middle, Chicopee Academy, Holyoke Catholic and Holy Name schools are collecting pledges from friends and family who will sponsor them as they spend four hours raking, clearing brush and picking up trash, said Alfred J. Picard, a member of the Board of Directors for the kitchen and a retired school principal.

“It is a win for the soup kitchen because they can get needed funds and it is a win because the city gets its spring cleanup done,” he said.

The idea of taking pledges and having students perform community service was done years ago when volunteers raised money for a group home. The board decided to try it as the soup kitchen has been seeking new ways to raise money, Picard said.

Since the soup kitchen opened a new building off Meadow Street, fund-raising has become vital because it has new expenses, Kim Goulette, the kitchen director said.

“The schools already do an incredible job for us,” she said. “Any time we can collaborate with schools and churches and others, it makes it a wonderful event all around.”

The clean-up will be held in conjunction with a long-established one held by the Parks and Recreation Department. The two groups will share materials and other things, but they are working different hours and will mostly be in different places.

“We have done this for the last 11 years,” said Stanley J. Walczak, Parks and Recreation superintendent. “We solicit donations from local businesses and we issue money for each group which participates and that money goes to purchase equipment and other things they need.”

Mostly it is youth sports organizations that volunteer for the parks department. They work from about 9 to 11:30 a.m., he said.

The Recreation department brings anywhere from 200 and 400 volunteers. Because this is the first year for the Lorraine’s clean up, the number of volunteers who will attend is unknown, but Picard said he is hoping for 100 to 200 people.

The volunteers for the parks department are expected to fan out to work on 11 of the city’s 29 parks. The groups for Lorraine’s will be working at schools and other locations identified by the board, Picard said.

“We have a staff of 17 to 18 maintenance people and this is a tremendous help. This time of the year there is so much to do,” Walczak said.

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said he wasn’t going to complain when Picard brought the idea to him, Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. and Walczak.

“I think it’s a great idea. The city employees can’t do the cleanup that is necessary especially after a long, hard winter,” he said.

Groups interested in participating in the clean up can contact Picard at Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen.

Sunrise report: Forecast, poll and more for Tuesday April 26

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Today's poll: Should welfare recipients be required to submit to random tests for alcohol and drug use?

umbrella-april-26_4889.jpg04.26.2011 | HOLYOKE - A pedestrian on Dwight St. Tuesday morning.

The Forecast

There was more fog early this morning than you'd see during a guitar solo at a Dokken concert. The Willimansett Bridge was invisible from I-391, the river a white void.

The mossy weather continues today, with a high in the mid-70s and a sky full of clouds. Showers may move in after 3 p.m.

The temperature tonight is only forecast to drop to 62; rain is likely with thunderstorms possible.

Right now Wednesday is looking like a near repeat of today -- only a little cooler, and with more thunderstorms on the horizon.

Find the full forecast here.





Today's Poll

State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) is advocating for random drug and alcohol tests for welfare recipients.

"For however many decades up to 2011, we just keep giving people a monthly check when we know that they have addictions to whether it's drugs or alcohol and we just keep writing them a check every month," Boldyga said in an interview with CBS3 Springfield.

Boldyga's bill, the station reports, would first form a commission to determine how much random testing would cost.

What do you think -- should welfare recipients be required to submit to random tests for alcohol and drug use? Vote in our poll, and check back tomorrow for the results.

Thursday's results: Way back on Thursday, we asked, "Is 7:25 a.m. too early for high school classes to start?" 23 people voted. 60.87% said "no"; 39.13% voted "yes".




Monday's Top 5

The top 5 headlines on MassLive.com on April 25 were:

  1. 'Dancing With the Stars' Best Moments of Season 12 (so far) [photo gallery]

  2. Westfield's 'Big Dig': Now-$80 million Great River Bridge project adds $500,000 clock tower

  3. South Windsor Kennel Club Dog Show 4/24/11 [photo gallery]

  4. 24-year-old former Springfield resident Tamik Kirkland, convicted of firearm and other charges, has escaped from state prison in Shirley

  5. Lottery tickets stolen during break-in to Chicopee store worth over $600 when cashed in at Springfield store hours later




Quote of the Day

“I don’t think they actually comprehended how this was going to affect the community.”

— Ludlow Police Sgt. Louis Tulik, on the Holy Week vandalism of the Stations of the Cross, a shrine and another area on the grounds of Our Lady of Fatima Church. Read George Graham's article here.

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