Nicole Litchfield was previously arrested for stealing $400 worth of energy drinks from a Price Chopper in Lenox, but the charge was dropped after she agreed to reimburse the store.

Photo by Nattu / FlickrA Cummington woman is charged with stealing $268 in Red Bull from Pittsfield. The popular energy drink is also popular among shoplifters, in part because of its resale value.

PITTSFIELD - A 23-year-old Cummington woman charged in Pittsfield with stealing $268 worth of an energy drink from the local Price Chopper supermarket apparently intended to sell it on the streets of Holyoke in order to raise money for heroin, officials said.

Nicole Litchfield of 56 Main St., Cummington, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Central Berkshire District Court to larceny charges, according to the Berkshire Eagle.

The newspaper reported that her husband, William Litchfield, 23, same address, is also facing similar charges, told police they stole cans of Red Bull with plans to sell them in Holyoke to support their energy habit.

Across the country police and retailers report a spike in Red Bull thefts. Police said the popular drink is also popular with shoplifters because they can turn around and resell it for a quick profit.
The National Retail Federation lists Red Bull as one of the most commonly targeted items for thieves.

Nicole Litchfield was previously arrested for stealing $400 worth of energy drinks from a Price Chopper in Lenox, but the charge was dropped after she agreed to reimburse the store.

The Litchfields were arrested on Jan. 4 in West Springfield on charges of larceny of more than $250 after they were caught shoplifting more than $700 from Kohl’s on Riverdale Street.

Nicole Litchfield, who was already serving probation, was ordered held without bail until she is due back in court on March 1.

Agadi was known as a restaurant turnaround specialist and was credited with expanding the Atlanta-based Church’s Chicken chain.

The Republican / Michael S. GordonHarsha V. Agadi, left, Friendly's chairman and CEO, gives a "high five" hand slap to Brady Paquette of Ludlow on his 4th birthday during a stop at the company restaurant on Boston Road in September to announce new campaign to promote friendliness and a menu of favorite menu items for $5 each. Looking on is Brady's grandmother, Barbara A. Coelho of Wilbraham.

WILBRAHAM – Harsha V. Agadi, the chairman and CEO of the Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp. since August of 2010, has resigned one month after the restaurant chain emerged from federal bankruptcy protection, spokeswoman Maura C. Tobias said Thursday night.

Agadi was known as a restaurant turnaround specialist and was credited with expanding the Atlanta-based Church’s Chicken chain. At Friendly, he championed the Friendly’s ‘High 5” promotion of selling popular menu items for $5.

He also gave away Fribbles one Saturday last month to celebrate the company’s emergency from bankruptcy.

Agadi invested his own money in the business when he was hired. Chief marketing officer Andrea McKenna, who also was hired in August 2010, is leaving at the beginning of March, Tobias said.

Friendly’s chief operating officer James M. Parrish will step in as interim chief executive while a search for a permanent chief is conducted Friendly’s has about 10,000 employees across the country with just 900 employees locally including 300 at its Wilbraham headquarters and factory and another 100 at a distribution center in Chicopee.

While production is up at the Wilbraham factory due to increased sales to supermarkets including Walmart, those iconic Friendly’s restaurants have fared poorly in recent years due to the recession and persistent complaints of poor service and outdated menus. Friendly’s emerged from federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Jan. 9 after its corporate owners repurchased the iconic brand for $122.6 million.

The sales price was about a third of the $337.2 million owners Sun Capital Partners LLC paid for Friendly’s back in 2007.

Bankruptcy protection and in the process closed more than 100 locations and wiped away $297 million in debt. The company’s debt stemmed from its 2007 sale

Of those locations, nine were here in the Springfield area including Friendly’s restaurants in Springfield, West Springfield Longmeadow; and Holyoke.

Brothers Curtis L. and S. Prestley Blake founded Friendly in 1935 with $547 from their parents. They couldn’t find summer jobs in the depression, so they set out to create their own employment.

The state says the owners owe $61,000 in unpaid meals and employee withholding taxes.

Photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanCote's Family Restaurant at 353 Front St. has been seized by the state for non-payment of taxes.

CHICOPEE – The state Department of Revenue seized a family-owned restaurant this week after the owner allegedly failed to pay payroll and meals taxes.

The owner of Cote’s Family Restaurant owes a total of $61,000 in unpaid meals and employee withholding taxes, with some expenses dating back to 2008, said Robert R. Bliss, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue.

“This is money customers pay in their bills and ... money taken out of employees’ paychecks that the restaurant is supposed to forward to the state,” he said.

This week state officials locked the doors to the restaurant at 353 Front St. and placed a large orange sign saying “Seized” in the front window.

According to the Secretary of State’s office the restaurant incorporated in 2007 and listed Michael Cote as the president and director and Joanne Cote, who is now deceased, as the treasurer and secretary. The couple also later opened a second restaurant on Chicopee Street which later closed.

Cote could not be reached Thursday.

Photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanSigns announcing the closure of Cote's Family restaurant in Chicopee are seen at 353 Front St. Thursday

The owner leased the building but does owe the city about $430 in personal property taxes to the city from this year, said Ernest N. Laflamme, the city treasurer.

He can resume operations while they work out a plan to pay the money owned to the Department of Revenue. If they do not, the state will auction off the equipment in the restaurant in an attempt to recoup some of the unpaid taxes, Bliss said.

“The restaurant will have the opportunity to come up with a reasonable down payment of what is owned and then set up a payment plan to pay back the rest,” he said.

If the owner fails to contact the department, the debt will follow him, Bliss said.

The state seizes between 60 to 80 businesses every year statewide, many of them are restaurants, he said.

“I’ve seen seizures for $20,000 or $100,000. It depends of what level of communication they have with the state,” he said.

The vote, which will be non-binding, will be a way for MGM Resorts International to gauge voter interest in the "Rolling Hills Resort" casino project it is proposing on 150 acres in the northwest corner of town, William Hornbuckle, MGM's chief marketing officer, said.

This is an update of a story posted at 12:33 p.m.

Photo by Lori Stabile / The RepublicanWilliam Hornbuckle, chief marketing executive for MGM Resorts International, talks about the Brimfield casino project on Thursday in Brimfield.

BRIMFIELD - An article is expected to be on the May 21 annual Town Meeting warrant that will ask voters if they support a resort casino development in town accessible from the Massachusetts Turnpike that will generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for Brimfield.

The vote, which will be non-binding, will be a way for MGM Resorts International to gauge voter interest in the "Rolling Hills Resort" casino project it is proposing on 150 acres in the northwest corner of town, William Hornbuckle, MGM's chief marketing officer, said on Thursday.

A petition was delivered to the selectmen's office on Thursday morning by two MGM Resorts International representatives, according to Selectmen Chairwoman Diane M. Panaccione, who received it. Panaccione said the 24 signatures still need to be certified to ensure they are registered voters in town.

Hornbuckle has been in town this week to meet with officials and residents about the project. While designs have not been unveiled yet, he said they are envisioning a campus-like setting that would include the casino, a restaurant complex featuring "the best of what Western Massachusetts has to offer" and a spa, among other attractions, including an entertainment venue. He said they are considering having both indoor and outdoor entertainment venues.

"It will not look and feel like a casino. It will not have neon. It will not have bright lights. It will be subtle, respectful of the community," Hornbuckle said, adding it will be "tucked" into the hillside.

"This is not Las Vegas by any stretch," he said.

The non-binding question is not required by state law. However, a binding referendum must go before voters once a Host Community Agreement has been negotiated between the town and casino developer.

Hornbuckle said he is looking forward to the Town Meeting vote, but acknowledged the company has a lot of work to do before then. He expects a design will be revealed before the annual Town Meeting, with more details to emerge in the coming months. MGM will sponsor community meetings to educate residents about the proposal, he said.

"We only want to be where we are invited. We are fully prepared to address traffic, public safety and environmental concerns, as well as outline the thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in new taxes that can be generated by a resort," Hornbuckle said.

He said he realizes there is opposition to the project. When the project is presented to the Gaming Commission, Hornbuckle said they want to demonstrate they have the town's support, through the non-binding and binding votes.

MGM representatives said the petition was originated by a group of pro-casino supporters calling themselves "Brimfield First." But several of the people who signed the petition that were contacted said they had not heard of the group.

Janet L. Hastings, of Cubles Drive, said she found out about it through her grandson's mother, Kirsten Gaskell, who works for Rolling Hills. Hastings said she supports the project for the jobs it will bring.

"I've been for it from the beginning. I think the town really needs the money," Hastings said. "There are a lot of people in town that are out of work."

Robert Sturtevant said he found out about it from his mother, Diane L. Sturtevant, who is an antique show operator. They both said they support the project, so they signed the petition. Diane Sturtevant said she signed it when she visited the Rolling Hills office, which is next to her property.

"With the town devastated by the tornado, the town needs money . . . We have no industry to speak of," Diane Sturtevant said. "The town would not be impacted by it. If Palmer gets (a casino) the traffic would come right through here."

Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun wants to open a resort casino in neighboring Palmer, across from the Massachusetts Turnpike exit. There are also casino proposals for Holyoke and Springfield, but only one Western Massachusetts casino license will be awarded.

If the vote does not go MGM's way, Hornbuckle said they will focus on what the overall issues may be. He said MGM will make an assessment on how to move forward, unless the negative vote is "resounding."

"We're not going to give up on Massachusetts, that's for sure, and we're not going to give up on Western Massachusetts," Hornbuckle said.

The main concern continues to be traffic, he said.

MGM has said there will be no impact on the town, as access would be through the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Because a ramp cannot be built for a private business, Hornbuckle said the local access would be from Smith Road in Warren - currently a dirt road. He said it could cost $25 million to $30 million to build a ramp, a cost to be borne by the developer.

Hornbuckle said MGM is excited to have the opportunity to have the question before voters in May, even if it is non-binding.

"We would like a benchmark of where we stand," Hornbuckle said.

The warrant article reads as follows: "To see if the town will vote to support a resort casino development, accessible from the Massachusetts Turnpike, and located in the secluded northwest corner of the town (north of the turnpike), which will generate millions of dollars annually in tax revenues for the town. This article is non-binding."

Last month, David J. Callahan, a principal with Rolling Hills Estates Realty Trust, announced a partnership with Las Vegas-based MGM to build a resort casino on his land, which is north of the Massachusetts Turnpike. MGM Resorts has signed a contract to purchase the property.

Also last month, MGM announced it selected Gensler, a "green" architectural firm, to oversee design of the Rolling Hills Resort project.

East Longmeadow selectmen have received five applications from within the department.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanEast Longmeadow Fire Chief Richard J. Brady stands next to one of the the town's fire engine durng an open house at the Fire Department in 2010.

EAST LONGMEADOW- The Board of Selectmen is looking for a new fire chief to fill the position once current chief Richard Brady retires in July.

The position was posted internally and firefighters who have been officers for more than five years could apply. The board received five applications from within the department and is in the process of reviewing them.

Brady became one of three call firefighters ever to serve as chief of the department when he was hired for the position in 2008.

The state requires that fire chiefs retire at the age of 65.

Brady's "service has been exemplary and its regretful that he has to retire, but we appreciate the job he's done," said Board of Selectmen Chairman James D. Driscoll.

During their Feb. 7 meeting the board approved a transfer of $10,000 to the fire department's vehicle repair fund to address issues with several of the department's vehicles.

Town Accountant Thomas Caliento said the money will cover the costs of repairs on a fire engine and a deputy fire chief car.

Driscoll voted in favor of the transfer, but said there should be a better way to predict what repair expenditures will be from year to year without having to ask for more funds beyond the department's budget.

Currently the fire department and the Department of Public Works have full-time mechanics on staff.

Driscoll suggested looking at the possibility of hiring a full-time mechanic to deal with the police cruiser vehicles, which have most of the repairs outsourced.

Caliento said the fire department's mechanic does a good job of keeping the vehicles maintained, but there are unforeseen problems that need to be dealt with occasionally.

Caliento also presented the board with a draft of the annual town report which has detailed information about the town's 261 funds including federal grants, water and sewer funds, revolving funds, recreation and more.

He said the report summarizes the financial activity of every fund in town and also lists the town's 112 outstanding bonds.

Caliento said he often gets questions from residents about town finances and hopes the report can answer some of those.

"This is a great tool for people to go through before the annual Town Meeting (in May)," Driscoll said.

Once the board approves the report it will be posted in the town's website.

Suher is a Holyoke native who bought and reopened the city's storied Mountian Park as a music venue In 2009.

Eric Suher

According to a press release from the Iron Horse Entertainment Group, IHEG owner Eric Suher has finalized the purchase of Holyoke Country Club and all its assets, and will take over the club immediately.

The 106-year-old club, which operates seasonally, will reopen April 1. Tom Taylor, the club's president since 1999, said Thursday, "The members are confident that Eric will preserve the club's proud heritage."

Suher is a Holyoke native who bought and reopened the city's storied Mountain Park as a music venue In 2009.

Five candidates are running for one seat on the East Longmeadow School Committee.

Angela Thorpe

EAST LONGMEADOW – Former School Committee member Angela K. Thorpe has filed nomination papers for a seat on the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee, something that has not been done in town before.

“I don’t know of anyone who has applied for these two seats at one time,” said Town Clerk Thomas P. Florence.

She will be joining four other candidates in a preliminary election for one School Committee seat on March 13. The other candidates include current School Committee member Joseph Cabrera, Susan DeGrave who ran as a write-in candidate in 2010 and newcomers Robert Richardson and Diedre Mailloux. Two will advance to the general election on April 10.

Thorpe could not be immediately reached for comment to talk about her plans.

Florence said he has spoken with the Secretary of State’s Office regarding the unusual situation.

“There is a compatibility issue that would make it impossible for her to serve on both. If she had applied for say the Board of Assessors and the Board of Library Trustees she could do both, because they do not correlate with each other,” he said.

Florence said if Thorpe were elected for both seats she would have to resign from one.

Joseph Cabrera Jr.

Cabrera, who has served one-term on the School Committee, has become well known
for his efforts to get the town to pay for a lighting project for the East Longmeadow High School athletic field.

A warrant article sponsored by Cabrera was passed Feb. 1 and the $115,000 lighting project will be paid for through the town’s free cash fund.

In the only other race, incumbent Board of Selectmen member Paul L. Federici will have some competition from Thorpe as well.

“If she was elected for both and chose to stay on the School Committee then a special election would be necessary to elect a Selectmen. If she chose to keep the selectmen seat the board would appoint a member to the School Committee,” he said.

The deadline for submitting nomination papers has passed. Candidates have until Feb. 16 to withdraw their nominations before their names are officially placed on the ballot.

Western Massachusetts school officials said the decision will give them more flexibility, but will not allow them to relax efforts to improve.

Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated PressPresident Barack Obama, accompanied by Education Secretary Arne Duncan speaks about No Child Left Behind, Thursday in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

President Barack Obama Thursday freed 10 states, including Massachusetts, from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind education law in exchange for promises to improve the way schools teach and evaluate students.

Officials for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Western Massachusetts school officials said the decision will give them more flexibility, but will not allow them to relax efforts to improve.

“It doesn’t lessen the mission to achieve and the deadline is more realistic,” Holyoke Superintendent David L. Dupont said.

With the waiver, schools will no longer be required to ensure all students be proficient in math and English by 2014, a deadline all superintendents called unrealistic. Every year each school was required to show more progress toward that goal or face sanctions.

This year 80 percent of schools and 90 percent of school districts statewide fail to meet the so-called adequate yearly progress goals, Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester said in writing.

The state will continue to keep its system of identifying troubled schools. Those labeled Level 4, or underperforming, must comply with state demands and face takeovers if they fail to improve. There are two in Holyoke and 10 in Springfield.

The waiver will allow the state to focus more on closing performance gaps between high achieving students and children who are struggling, Chester said.

“Massachusetts has already adopted legislation that targets low performing schools and districts, rigorous standards for students to ensure readiness for college and careers and regulations to evaluate educators. This waiver will enable us to build on those key reforms by calling out and remediating performance gaps, incentivizing continuous improvement of schools and districts, rewarding strong performance, and aggressively intervening in the lowest performing schools,” he said.

The waiver will require schools to continue Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems testing in most grades and will not change the common core standards, which dictate what children must learn at each grade.

One of the benefits is schools will no longer have to use a portion of their federal Title 1 grant money, designed to boost reading and math skills for poor children, to hire private companies to offer after-school educational programs.

Holyoke spends about $250,000 on vendors. It can now use that money to fund programs to focus on specific goals, Dupont said.

“The big one is it allows us flexibility on how we support students,” he said.

Chicopee Assistant Superintendent Deborah A. Drugan said she appreciates the flexibility the waiver brings.

“With this waiver, the district can work together with teachers, principals and (administrators) and we can decide where we can best makes improvements. It gives us more latitude,” she said.

The state already judges students using several methods, including tracking the growth each student and watching graduation rates. Drugan said she feels those evaluations are far more helpful than those used by No Child Left Behind.

In a prepared statement, Springfield Superintendent Alan J. Ingram agreed the change will give the schools more flexibility.

The waiver will allow the city to more away from the “cookie cutter regulations” and allow the city to focus on reforms that are tailored to strengths and weaknesses of students, he said.

He cited Gerena School, one of the Level 4 schools, that saw big improvements on the MCAS last year. The achievements came through staff ideas including giving teachers more time to plan together, focusing on attendance and targeting improvements in students’ reading comprehension.

The other nine states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval, the White House said.

The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the law’s main goal, getting all students up to par in reading and math by 2014, is not within reach.

Obama said he was acting because Congress had failed to update the law despite widespread agreement it needs to be fixed.

A total of 28 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled they plan to seek waivers.

Material from the Associated Press and Jeanette DeForge, staff writer for The Republican, was used in this report.

The organization planning the group home apologized for not consulting in advance with the neighborhood.

SPRINGFIELD – Residents of the McKnight neighborhood have urged the City Council to block plans for a group home on Bowdoin Street, but a city lawyer said the use is protected under state law.

The South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) is planning a 13-bedroom group home at 175 Bowdoin St., that would provide supportive housing for 12 formerly homeless women described as committed to recovery from substance abuse. The house would also have a live-in female manager.

More than 30 people including neighborhood residents and city officials attended a meeting of the City Council Public Health and Safety Committee on Thursday to discuss the housing plan and neighborhood concerns about safety and oversight.

Johnathan R. Elliott, a neighbor at 163 Bowdoin St., presented a petition signed by 107 residents that urges the mayor and council to stop the plans.

SMOC had previously proposed a group home for former inmates at the Bowdoin Street house, dropped the idea and switched to a group home for homeless women, without meeting with the neighborhood, Elliott said.

“SMOC has already proven itself to be bad neighbors,” Elliott said. “By their actions, they have already shown they don’t care about what we want, how we feel or what we need.”

James Cuddy

James T. Cuddy, executive director of SMOC, apologized repeatedly at the meeting for not communicating with the neighborhood in the past year, saying he feels “horrible” about the lack of community outreach. SMOC, a nonprofit organization, provides various programs statewide involving housing, behavioral health, children services, education, nutrition and substance abuse recovery, he said.

“We pledge to be a good neighbor,” Cuddy said.

Neighborhood residents said they are concerned their neighborhood is being over-saturated with group homes, and have concerns about safety and security and the type of oversight the group home will have.

Assistant City Solicitor Lisa DeSousa said the group home will have an educational component, and thus is permitted by right in the neighborhood under the state’s Dover Act for educational uses. Court cases have shown that a group home falls under that act and cannot be regulated by the City Council, she said.

Cuddy said the program includes teaching daily life skills, and has a structured program for the residents. He said he will share the full description of that program with the council and neighborhood.

Walter Kroll

Walter Kroll, president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council, said the project is clearly for housing, and that claiming to have an education function is a “loophole” being used.

“The (federal) grant is about housing people, not about education,” Kroll said. “To say nothing can be done about this until something bad happens is ridiculous.”

In other action, the council committee met with representatives of the Police Department on Thursday to discuss a proposed city ordinance that would regulate city barbershops salons.

Police said there have been incidents of violence and drug dealing at some barbershops, and the ordinance would allow local inspections and oversight.

Currently, the shops are licensed by the state. Police are limited to responding to criminal activity, officials said.

A group of barbers, represented by local lawyer Jeffrey Rahm, said after the meeting that they object to being singled out for local regulation. It's not fair to single out barbers for the actions of a couple of shops, they said.

The council kept both issues under review. Councilors Thomas M. Ashe, chairman, and councilors Kenneth E. Shea, Melvin Edwards and Timothy C. Allen attended the meeting.

The next superintendent should cultivate a higher profile than current school chief Alan Ingram by making appearances at school events and meeting with students in classrooms or smaller settings, one of the students said.

Christopher Collins

SPRINGFIELD – David Hernandez had no trouble being heard at Thursday’s public meeting to gather student opinions on hiring the next superintendent of schools.

For 45 minutes, the junior at the Renaissance School was the only student talking.

Arriving at the Central High School auditorium at 5:30 p.m., Hernandez realized he was the first – and only – student to show up for the session.

Sitting alone in row 12, he became the voice of the 26,000 student body, offering opinions and fielding questions from School Committee members conducting the hearing.

The next superintendent, Hernandez said, should cultivate a higher profile than current school chief Alan J. Ingram by making appearances at school events and meeting with students in classrooms or smaller settings.

“I would visit every high school – and not just for assemblies” said the 16-year old who plans to major in business in college.

Responding to a question from committee vice chairman Christopher Collins, Hernandez said he had never seen Ingram or his predecessor, Joseph Burke, during his 11 years in the public school

“I’ve seen the mayor, though,” Hernandez said, referring to Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who serves as chairman of the seven-member school board.

Eventually, two Central High students appeared, relieving Hernandez of his role as student spokesman. The pair – Yamilette Lopez, 16, and Patricia Chavez, 17 – were recruited from the gym, where Chavez had been shooting baskets and Lopez was doing her homework.

Without much prodding, they offered opinions on subjects ranging from Central’s lunch menus, thermostat settings and discipline code to the rigors of Algebra II.

“Can we get a Subway here,” Lopez asked, after expressing her disappointment with the school cafeteria.

Both Central students said they had never met Ingram and did not realize he was leaving in June, when his four-year contract expires. They also said they had never seen the School Committee in action until Thursday night.

“I’ve seen the mayor – you see him at a lot (of Central’s) games,” Lopez said.

Collins thanked the students for their participation, and urged them to fill out the survey on the School Department’s website at http://www.sps.springfield.ma.us.

He said the low attendance was partly due to the lack of notice; phone calls to homes of all students were planned, but apparently not made, Collins said.

The next meeting is Monday, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the Rebecca M. Johnson Elementary School, for families in Wards 4 and 5.

An officer in a marked car glanced at the car in the next lane and spotted driver Michael Porcello snorting heroin, police said.

HOLYOKE - Police arrested a 50-year-old Longmeadow man Thursday afternoon on Main Street after an officer in a marked cruiser stopped at a light on Main Street spotted the driver in the car next to him snorting heroin, police said.

Lt. Laurence P. Cournoyer said the driver, Michael Porcello of 11 Harwich Road, Longmeadow, and a front seat passenger, Robert Martone, 44, of Bliss Street in West Springfield, were each charged with possession of a class A substance.

A passenger in the rear seat, Vincent Lollio, 24, of Grandview Avenue, West Springfield, got out of the car and ran, Cournoyer said.

Lollio was eventually found after he climbed a fence and tried hiding out at the city’s
sewage waste treatment facility. Police blocked the exits to the facility, and the state police helicopter, which was in the vicinity, aided police by watching him from overhead, he said.

He was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, disorderly conduct and being in a place where heroin was knowingly kept. He also had five outstanding warrants, Cournoyer said.

According to the police report, an officer in a marked car had just stopped at a red light while traveling south on Main Street. A car pulled up alongside him in the left lane, and when the officer glanced over, he spotted Porcello snorting a powder from his hand.

Cournoyer said when Porcello looked up and spotted the officer watching him, he hung his head.

Police recovered five bags of heroin that were each marked with a label reading “blue ray.”

Police dismantled the encampment on Dec. 10, citing public safety and health.

Associated PressOccupy protester Lauren Chalas of Plymouth, Mass., center, sits on top of a folded tent wrapped in plastic as it is removed from the Dewey Square area of Boston, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011.

BOSTON — Boston spent $1.4 million on police overtime at the Occupy Boston encampment, but overall police overtime was down in 2011 by about 6 percent.

About 200 people camped out in Dewey Square for two months to protest economic inequality before police dismantled the encampment on Dec. 10 citing public safety and health.

A media representative for Occupy Boston tells the Boston Herald there was no need to spend $1.4 million to patrol and dismantle the encampment because protesters were "not an armed gang."

City payroll figures released Thursday show that eight of the top ten highest paid city employees last year were police officers, whose pay is boosted by overtime and detail pay.

School superintendent Carol Johnson was the highest paid city employee at more than $323,000.

The Marine Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable.

AP Photo/knightarmco.comThis Sept. 2010 photo posted recently on the Titiusville, Fla.- based arms manufacturer Knight's Armament's Internet blog, shows members of Charlie Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Marine Corps confirmed Thursday Feb. 8, 2012 that one of its scout sniper teams in Afghanistan posed for a photograph in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS.

SAN DIEGO — The Marine Corps on Thursday once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS — a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.

The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the Marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 will not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naïve mistake.

The Marines believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to be associated with a racist organization, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton, where the Marines were based.

"I don't believe that the Marines involved would have ever used any type of symbol associated the Nazi Germany military criminal organization that committed mass atrocities in WWII," Chapin said. "It's not within who we are as Marines."

The Corps has used the incident as a training tool to talk to troops about what symbols are acceptable after it became aware of the photograph last November, Chapin said.

The image has surfaced on an Internet blog, sparking widespread outrage and calls for a full investigation and punishment, including bringing those in the photograph and anyone who condoned it to court-martial.

"This is a complete and total outrage," said Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M. His organization sent a letter to the head of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday, demanding punishment for those involved.

It was the second time this year the Marine Corps had to scramble to contain the damage after images were posted on the Internet of troops in inappropriate acts. Last month, Pentagon leaders faced the fallout from an Internet video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses — an act that appears to violate international laws of warfare and further strains U.S.-Afghan relations.

Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to offer assurances of a full investigation, and the top Marine general promised an internal probe as well as a criminal one.

"First we have Marines peeing on dead bodies and now this," Weinstein said.

The Marines in the photograph are no longer with the unit. Chapin said she did not know if they are still in the Corps.

In the photo taken in the Afghanistan district of Sangin in Helmand province, members of the Marine Corps unit are seen posing with guns in front of an American flag and a large, dark blue flag with what appear to be the letters "SS" in the shape of white jagged lightning bolts.

Camp Pendleton spokesman, Master Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva, said he did not know where the flag came from but it was likely the property of one of the Marines in the photograph.

The photograph appeared on the blog for a military weapons company called Knight's Armament in Titusville, Fla. The company did not respond to emails or phone messages left by The Associated Press.

The SS, or Schutzstaffel, was the police and military force of the Nazi Party, which was distinct from the general army. Members pledged an oath of loyalty to Adolph Hitler.

SS units were held responsible for many war crimes and played an integral role in the extermination of millions of Jews along with gypsies and other people who were deemed undesirable. The SS was declared to be a criminal organization at the Nuremberg war crime trials.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, headquartered in Los Angeles, said he does not buy the explanation that posing with the flag was an innocent mistake and insisted the American public has a right to know what happened.

"If you look at any book on the Nazi period, this is the dreaded symbol of the SS, and to have a Marine Corps unit adopt it and put it beside the American flag when 200,000 Americans died to free the world of that dreaded symbol is just beyond the pale," he said.

The administration instead will demand that insurance companies, not religious employers, will be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.

Associated PressPresident Barack Obama speaks about a mortgages settlement, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Retreating in the face of a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.

Obama's abrupt shift is an attempt to satisfy both sides of a deeply sensitive debate, and most urgently, to end a mounting election-year nightmare for the White House.

Women will still get guaranteed access to birth control without co-pays or premiums no matter where they work, a provision of Obama's health care law that he insisted must remain. But religious universities and hospitals that see contraception as an unconscionable violation of their faith can refuse to cover it, and insurance companies will then have to step in to do so.

Obama will speak about his decision at 12:15 p.m. EST.

Senior administration officials confirmed the details to the AP but insisted they remain anonymous in advance of the president's announcement.

By keeping free contraception for employers at religious workplaces — but providing a different way to do it — the White House will assert it gave no ground on the basic principle of full preventative care that matters most to Obama.

Yet, it also was clear that Obama felt he had no choice but to retreat on a three-week-old policy in the face of a fierce political furor that showed no signs of cooling.

The White House consulted leaders on both sides of the debate to forge a decision.

And officials said Obama has the legal authority to order insurance companies to provide free contraception coverage directly to workers. He will demand it in a new rule.

Following an intense White House debate that led to the original policy, officials said Obama seriously weighed the concerns over religious liberty, leading to the revamped decision.

It was just on Jan. 20 that the Obama administration announced that religious-affiliated employers — outside of churches and houses of worships — had to cover birth control free of charge as preventative care for women. These hospitals, schools and charities were given an extra year to comply, until August 2013, but that concession failed to satisfy opponents, who responded with outrage.

Catholic cardinals and bishops across the country assailed the policy in Sunday Masses. Republican leaders in Congress promised emergency legislation to overturn Obama's move. The president's rivals in the race for the White House accused him of attacking religion. Prominent lawmakers from Obama's own party began openly deriding the policy.

The sentiment on the other side, though, was also fierce. Women's groups, liberal religious leaders and health advocates pressed Obama not to cave in on the issue.

The furor has consumed media attention and threatened to undermine Obama's re-election bid just as he was in a stride over improving economic news. Political reality forced the White House to come up with a solution to a complex matter must faster than anticipated.

The fact that Obama himself will deliver the news was a sign of the stakes.

Under the new policy, religious employers will not be required to offer contraception and will not have to refer their employees to places that provide it.

If such an employer opts out, the employer's insurance company must provide birth control for free in a separate arrangement with workers who want it.

The change will still take affect with an extra year built in, in August 2013.

Already, 28 states had required health insurance plans to cover birth control before the federal regulations were issued.

However, they appear to have differing exemptions for religious employers.

Obama's health care law requires most insurance plans to cover women's preventative services, without a co-pay, starting on Aug. 1, 2012. Those services include well women visits, domestic violence screening and contraception, all designed to encourage health care that many women may otherwise find unaffordable.

The White House says covering contraception saves insurance companies money by keeping women healthy; how the insurance industry will see the mandate is another question.

Without adjusting his stand, Obama has risked alienated Catholics who have become courted swing voters in such pivotal political states as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2008, Obama won 54 percent of the total Catholic vote, compared to 45 percent for Republican John McCain.

As the week wore on, the White House increasingly signaled that a change was coming.

Vice President Joe Biden, a Catholic, said in a radio interview Thursday that "there is going to be a significant attempt to work this out and there is time to do that."

Outside advocates were urging a quick resolution.

"As a Catholic I don't want to hear about this in Mass every week until the election," said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America. "I don't think it's good for the party and I don't think it's good for Obama's re-election chances."

The blaze destroyed the home at 92 Chicopee Street last September.

Scott Szaban

GRANBY - Investig ators arrested a 45-year-old man at his East State Street home Thursday night and charged him with arson in a fire that destroyed a Chicopee Street home last September.

Scott Szaban, of 399 East State St., was armed with what appeared to be a rifle equipped with a laser sight when officers arrived at about 8 p.m. At one point Szaban aimed the weapon, with the laser engaged, in the direction of the officers, according to a release issued by Granby police.

Szaban put the weapon down when the officers identified themselves and was arrested without further incident. It was later determined to be pellet gun.

The suspect, arrested on a warrant for arson of a dwelling issued by Eastern Hampden District Court in Belchertown, is slated to be arraigned there Friday.

The fire, at 92 Chicopee St., was reported on the night of Sept. 27 and firefighters from South Hadley, Ludlow and Belchertown provided mutual aid.

The two-story home, which was built in 1875, was destroyed.

The property, unoccupied at the time of the blaze, is owned by Ted LaBorde and family. It was, and continues to be, for sale.

The investigation was conducted by state police personnel assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, agents from the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and personnel from the Granby fire and police departments.

A compromise is expected as early as Friday on the ruling that religious-affiliated organizations are required to cover the costs of employees' contraception.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., speaks about birth control and contraceptive coverage, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama's administration is expected to announce a compromise on a controversial contraception ruling while political pundits are saying the move has lost him the Catholic vote.

Obama announced in January that religious-affiliated organizations are required to cover the cost of employees' contraception as preventive care for women by August 2013. Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the ruling. The rule is part of a interim ruling on preventive services. The Department of Health and Human Services hasn't released a final version of the decision.

The move has fired up Republicans, who vowed to reverse the policy. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, a Catholic, said, "This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country cannot stand, and will not stand."

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said in a statement Thursday, "One of our most cherished liberties is freedom of religion. Like Ted Kennedy before me, I support a conscience exemption for religious organizations in health care. No one should be forced by government to violate the teachings of their faith. I encourage President Obama to re-examine his health care law and make sure no one is being forced to do something that is contrary to their religious beliefs."

The decision has also split the Democrats in the Senate. Some Catholic Democrats have joined the Republicans to overturn the policy.

Republicans added an amendment to a highway funding bill that would get rid of Obama's contraception ruling, but the amendment was blocked Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid told Republicans to "calm down" and wait until a final ruling had been announced.

The move has also outraged the Catholic church and bishops across the United States were instructed to write letters last week opposing the decision. Cardinal Francis George took it one step further and has written a letter to be read this weekend in all churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He asks Catholics to pray and fast "so that wisdom and justice may prevail."

Vice President Joe Biden spoke on the decision Thursday. Biden, a Catholic, said the dispute over the ruling can be worked out. Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that Biden warned Obama that the decision could be politically divisive.

However, women's groups have rallied around Obama after his decision. The decision has pitted Obama's female base against the Catholic church and Republicans.

The move has also created a division among White House staff. After conferring with staff on the decision, White House aides say Obama made the decision based on his personal belief that women who work for religious-affiliated organizations should have access to contraception.

A compromise meant to quell the anger by Catholics is being worked on and could be announced as soon as Friday.

Nationally, manufacturing had a good year in 2011, according to statistics released in December by the Federal Reserve. Factory output rose by 0.9 percent from November to December, marking the biggest gain since December 2010. Over the year, manufacturing was up 3.7 percent and up 15 percent from its lows from three years ago.

Mark M. Murray/ The Republican01/16/12 Springfield - Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray - Susan M. Kasa, at Boulevard Machine & Gear Company at 785 Page Boulevard in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD – Boeing’s 747 Dreamliner has landed on factory floors in Western Massachusetts.

“ It is really just getting started,” explained Susan M. Kasa, president of Boulevard Machine & Gear. “Orders for the planes are coming in. Orders for the parts are coming in.”

Kasa’s company, a precision manufacturer, makes tiny parts that make up larger components all over the new $193-million Dreamliners as well as in other aircraft and space equipment. The company has 22 employees now and is looking to add to its workforce, if Kasa can find the skilled machinists and technicians her company requires.

“We really have just seen a rebound,” Kasa said. “I can see nothing but good things.”

The old days of sprawling American Bosch or Westinghouse plants employing thousands of workers may be over in the Pioneer Valley. But, precision manufacturing, mostly done by small operations like Boulevard Machine & Gear, which make highly specialized parts as subcontractors, still employs 7,800 workers in the region.

Nationally, manufacturing had a good year in 2011, according to statistics released in December by the Federal Reserve. Factory output rose by 0.9 percent from November to December, marking the biggest gain since December 2010. Over the year, manufacturing was up 3.7 percent and up 15 percent from its lows from three years ago.

The Federal Reserve pointed to Americans buying more cars and companies buying more equipment and computers in addressing the gains. Businesses also restocked their inventories following years of razor-thin stockpiles.

James H. Cepican, general manager for tooling and accessories for Citizen Machinery America Inc. in Agawam, says manufacturers have been outfitting shop floors with the latest in technology. “I think it is going to be fairly consistent, comparable to next year,” Cepican said.

The making of medical devices, which can include artificial hips, bone screws and stents, is strong in this region. Elsewhere around the country, companies are gearing up to make parts for wind turbines and solar panels.

“Plant owners are doing more things with more equipment but less people,” Cepican said.

But, all was not rosy. According to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, Greater Springfield lost 1,000 manufacturing jobs last month. There were 2,100 jobs lost in manufacturing in Greater Springfield in all of 2011. It was the only sector of the economy to post a year-over-year job loss.

The drop was blamed on a few larger manufacturers deciding to layoff workers or extend a seasonal layoff longer than usual, according to the state.

Locally, many manufacturers reported a successful 2011, and they are optimistic for 2012.

Iconic gunmaker Smith & Wesson was down to just 600 employees in Springfield back in 2001. Now it has 1,200 employees at its Roosevelt Avenue facility after moving 225 Thompson Center employees there from a closed factory in New Hampshire. The company received a $6 million state tax break over seven years and a $600,000 city tax abatement over five years in return for moving the Thompson-Center jobs here.

Warren Pumps added 30 jobs after closing a factory in Maine, according to Thomas F. Spock, vice president of global defense. Much of Warren Pumps’ work is for the Navy, so Spock can’t discuss its work publicly. But, the company is seeing a growing demand for its work from the oil sector.

“When oil hits a certain price per barrel, they start drilling,” Spock said. “We make the pumps that go on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a growing sector for us.”

It makes sense to manufacture here in Western Massachusetts even though it’s a high-cost state, according to Spock.

“We have such a highly-engineered product,” he said. “They sell for $500,000 or more a piece. They have to be right. We need the expertise we can find here.”

Peter J. Letendre, director of operations at Titeflex in Springfield, describes his company’s 120 employees as a “rare resource.” Titeflex added workers in 2011 after tearing down unused factory space on its Springfield property to make its operations more efficient.

Titeflex makes Teflon hoses shielded with braided material, most commonly stainless steel. “Our automotive customers have been steady,” Letendre said. “Our aircraft business had been very hot, both to Boeing and Airbus.

Titeflex is also gaining customers frustrated with parts made in China. The cost of making things in China is rising, and long lead times make it difficult to fix problems, according to Letendre. His company has started using a machine shop in Chicopee to make parts for exactly that reason.

Still, inflation costs are making it difficult to buy raw materials, especially for Teflon. The Chinese government controls the supply of a mineral used in the process, he said.

Chicopee’s John R. Lyman Co. and its high-tech subsidiary Lymtech Scientific moved into a new 80,000-square-foot, $3 million factory at 225 Westover Road in March.

Business is good, according to Lyman’s president, William S. Wright. Lymtech makes specialized, alcohol-infused wipes used in the manufacture of medical devices and electronics. They once made a lot of wipes for makers of electronics.

“The electronics business has totally gone offshore,” Wright said. “You just keep looking for new markets.”

The company has a total of about 100 employees, 18 at the old facility in Chicopee’s Cabotville Industrial Park where Lyman makes old-fashioned rags for companies including piano makers Steinway & Sons in New York City.

Wright said he’s not looking to hire more people, though. “We’re doing it with overtime,” Wright said. “Everybody is a little afraid to hire right now. We don’t know what is going on with federal health care. What new requirements will there be? It’s got everybody a little scared.”

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren is being endorsed by the Service Employees International Union, the third union this week to throw their support behind the consumer advocate.

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren

SPRINGFIELD- Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren is being endorsed by the Service Employees International Union, the third union this week to throw their support behind the consumer advocate.

The announcement by the SEIU comes on the heels of endorsements by the United Auto Workers and the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

And like the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the SEIU contributed $250,000 in 2011 to the "Rethink political action committee," which has attacked Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown on the web and in TV ads.

With more than 75,000 social workers, healthcare employees, security officers and janitors represented by the SEIU in Massachusetts, the group said it is pledging to help Warren "win her election with a mandate to create and advance policies that help the 99 percent."

"Scott Brown went to Washington and in the blink of an eye broke his pledge to put aside party differences and be a champion for workers like me," said Margarita Restrepo, a cleaner at the Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett and member of SEIU Local 615, in a statement released by the union. "Elizabeth Warren is different. She understands people like me because she has been fighting for middle class families, taking on big banks and working to save the American Dream her whole life. She never backs down and will never stop fighting for us."

The endorsement came after SEIU brass met with Warren and Democratic challenger Marisa DeFranco on Feb 4, where the candidates answered a series of questions by union members. James Conye King didn't attend.

The union, which has financed attacks against Brown, said they invited him to the forum as well, but his campaign didn't respond to the invitation.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor hoping to gain the Democratic nomination to take on Brown in November, said that if elected, she would continue fighting for working families in the Bay State.

"I am delighted to receive the endorsement of SEIU's 75,000 members," Warren said. "I've worked closely with SEIU for years now - advocating for working families and fighting to get a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created. I look forward to continuing to work with them to improve the lives of working men and women here in the Commonwealth and across the country."

The SEIU voiced its dissatisfaction with Brown, citing his Senate vote on issues such as Wall Street reform and Pell Grant funding.

"It is time to reclaim the people's seat," said Veronica Turner, the executive vice president of SEIU Local 1199 in Springfield. "SEIU members, like hardworking voters across the state, want a senator who will put the 99 percent first, believes every American deserves a good job to support their family and shares our vision that our country is better when we all do better. Elizabeth Warren will be that senator."

Colin Reed, a spokesperson with the Brown campaign, said the SEIU's characterization of Brown's record is off base, citing a recent report which concluded that he was the second-most bipartisan senator, according to his 2011 voting record.

“It’s not surprising that left-wing union bosses who have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars distorting and misrepresenting Scott Brown's independent, pro-jobs record are embracing a fellow left-wing extremist who has pledged to carry their special interest water in the Senate," Reed said.

Ward 5 Councilor David Murphy said the council will probably take up the charter issue at its Feb. 16 meeting.

The current city charter was written before Calvin Coolidge was mayor.

NORTHAMPTON – After months of discussion, citizen in-put and fine-tuning, a revamped City Charter is ready to go before the City Council for approval.

A specially appointed Charter Drafting Committee has been reexamining the current charter, which was created in the 1880s, in an effort to bring it into better compliance with modern needs. To this end, the committee has held a number of public hearings to gather ideas and opinions from citizens.

The document has already come up before the City Council, which elected to hold its own public hearing on Wednesday. With members of the committee there to explain their recommendations, the public head a chance to voice concerns one last time.

Among the more notable changes proposed are extending the term of mayor from two to four years, shifting the chairmanship of City Council meetings from the mayor to the council president and transferring the authority to set water and sewer rates from the Board of Public Works to the City Council. The revamped charter also calls for the election by the City Council of a council vice president who would preside over meetings in the absence of the council president.

Other changes call for across-the-board two-year terms for School Committee members. Currently, at-large members serve for two years while ward members have four-year terms. The new charter also sets new guidelines for filling vacancies in the mayor’s office and proposes an increase in the signatures needed to run for City Council, School Committee and mayor.

The committee recommended no changes to the current practice of having the mayor chair the School Committee. It also proposed keeping the city clerk an elected position rather than an appointed one. Although it did not codify the proposal in the charter, the committee recommended that the City Council create a permanent advisory committee to recommend compensation and benefits for elected officials.

Ward 5 Councilor David A. Murphy said much of the discussion Wednesday centered on proposals by members of the public to install a recall process for mayor in the charter and mandate that minority positions on all ordinances be listed on the documents. Each has problems that would have to be resolved, he said. In the matter of the recall, there was some debate over how many signatures would be required to initiate a mayoral recall. With the mayoral term expanding to four years, Murphy said it could be a useful tool of government.

“I think that one’s got some legs,” he said.

Murphy said the council will probably take up the charter issue at its Feb. 16 meeting. The city needs to get the revised document to the state Legislature for its approval by mid-March. If the Legislature signs off on the changes, it would come back to the City Council for final approval.

According to Murphy, the new charter would not go into effect until the 2013 municipal elections.

Santorum never mentioned Romney by name, but he left no doubt of his intent by criticizing his rival's record as Massachusetts governor.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, accompanied by his family, addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012. He is joined by his wife Karen, waving at right.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential candidate Rick Santorum implored conservatives Friday not to settle for Mitt Romney's more moderate record, and to instead insist on nominating an unapologetic conservative that "the party's excited about."

Speaking to a packed crowd at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the former senator tried to capitalize on his surprising victories over Romney in the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses this week. He dismissed the idea of reaching out to moderates, saying conservatives' whole-hearted enthusiasm is needed this year.

Santorum said Romney's record on health care and global warming would make it impossible for him to draw the needed contrasts with President Barack Obama this fall.

Santorum never mentioned Romney by name, but he left no doubt of his intent by criticizing his rival's record as Massachusetts governor. Romney's policy of requiring that state's residents to obtain health insurance is "the stepchild of Obamacare," Santorum said.

He said the Obama-backed 2010 health care law "will crush economic freedom." He urged Republicans not to nominate "someone who would simply give that issue away in the fall."

Santorum suggested it's not enough to defeat Obama. But that might be a tough sell with Republicans who say ousting the president is their top priority.

"We will no longer abandon and apologize for the policies and principles that made this country great for a hollow victory in November," he said.

Santorum, a Catholic with a strong record of fighting legalized abortion, criticized the Obama administration's bid to require Catholic-affiliated employers to cover birth control in their health insurance plans. "He's now telling the Catholic Church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tenets and teachings," he said. "It's not about contraception. It's about economic liberty."

Santorum spoke before Obama was expected to announce changes to his contraception policy.

In his remarks, the former senator called for far more exploration of domestic energy sources. Throughout the world, he said, "the more energy consumption, the higher the standard of living. That's just the bottom line."

Santorum made no obvious allusions to his other GOP rivals, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Romney and Gingrich were scheduled to address the CPAC crowd later Friday. The speeches come the day before Maine's caucus results will be announced.

Many Republicans expect Paul to do well there.