Loving will be honored at the Mason Square Senior Center on Union Street.
SPRINGFIELD – The local chapter of the National Association of Black Veterans is honoring local activist Ruth B. Loving on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., at the Mason Square Senior Center, 439 Union St., in Emerson Hall.
The speaker is City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke. The event chairman is Morris Jones and co-chairman is Wes Pinckney.
William Delgado, 26, of 14 Berard Circle, Springfield, was arrested on a warrant for attempted murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
HOLYOKE – Police arrested a Springfield man late Monday night on a warrant for attempted murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Details about the case were unavailable early Tuesday, but William Delgado, 26, of 14 Berard Circle in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood, was arrested and charged just before 11:30 p.m. Monday, according to Holyoke Police Department records.
Police did not provide details about Delgado's alleged victim, the date of the alleged offense, or any other information. Updates will be posted on MassLive as more details become available.
The Asher trial went to the jury, which deliberated for 3½ hours before calling it a day.
Here are the five most-viewed stories that appeared on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now:
1) Jeffrey Asher police brutality trial: Live updates from closing arguments, jury deliberations, by Buffy Spencer. Jurors in the police brutality trial against former Springfield patrolman Jeffrey M. Asher will continue deliberations Tuesday after about 3½ hours deliberating the case Monday.
» Read Spencer's wrap-up of Monday's proceedings
2) Unsolved killing of Amanda Plasse remembered in Chicopee, by Jeanette DeForge. Long-term friends, acquaintances and family released balloons into the sky in memory of a 20-year-old homicide victim described as sweet, funny and a great friend.
3) Ludlow police charge Chicopee man with third drunken driving offense, by Jeanette DeForge. A 44-year-old Chicopee man was arrested on his third drunken driving offense after he allegedly hit a car parked in a driveway parallel to the street.
4) Springfield police will seek criminal complaint against Fabricio Maradiaga of Hartford, driver who crashed into city 7-11 store, by Greg Saulmon. Police will seek a criminal complaint against a 26-year-old Connecticut man who was allegedly driving drunk when he lost control of his SUV and crashed into a 7-11 store in the city's Liberty Heights neighborhood early Monday.
5) Luke Gelinas settles lawsuit with South Hadley officials for $75,000, by Patricia Cahill. Luke Gelinas, who sued the chairman of the South Hadley School Committee following the suicide of South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince in 2010, has been awarded $75,000 in a settlement.
The most-viewed photo gallery
Yesterday's most-viewed photo gallery, seen above, was the Oscars red carpet arrivals of Hollywood's stars. A close second: The 2012 Miss Western Mass/Miss Greater Holyoke Scholarship Pageant
In case you missed it:
This story wasn't among the most-viewed, but may interest readers:
Sen. Scott Brown wrestles with Ted Kennedy's legacy over health care conscience exemption, by Robert Rizzuto. Although no one knows where Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy would stand on the issue of a broad conscience exemption to the President's health care mandate requiring insurance providers to cover female preventative care procedures and contraception, past legislation and letters he left behind offer some clues.
It's February Madness:
Plenty of high school basketball fans want to know the schedule of the Western Massachusetts tournament, and we have it here for all six boys and girls divisions:
» Basketball Brackets: Complete listing of all six fields
Chicopee firefighters quickly extinguished a blaze that broke out at 217 Broadway St., a residence near Lincoln Park.
CHICOPEE – A residential fire reported around 3 a.m. Tuesday forced people from their home at 217 Broadway St., according to a Chicopee Fire Department official.
No one was injured in the fire, which was quickly extinguished and caused minimal damage, the official said. "It wasn't very big," he said.
The cause was not immediately known. Officials did not identify the owner of the home, which is near Lincoln Park and Falls Branch Library.
THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of a Chicopee house fire that was quickly extinguished early Tuesday morning:
Kevin Jenkins, 31, was arrested by Norwich police and U.S. Marshals on an attempted murder warrant. Details about the alleged underlying crime were unavailable.
NORWICH, Conn. – A former Springfield man was arrested here Monday morning on an attempted murder charge, according to Norwich Police Sgt. Robert Blanch.
Kevin Jenkins, 31, is being held on $250,000 bond following his capture as a fugitive from justice, Blanch said.
"He's wanted for attempted murder," said the sergeant, adding that he was unsure where the alleged crime took place.
After receiving information that Jenkins was hiding out at an East Main Street address, Norwich police and U.S. Marshals moved in to make the arrest at about 7:30 a.m. Monday, Blanch said.
Jenkins attempted to flee a second-floor apartment and was caught as he descended a gutter outside the building, police said.
More information will be posted on MassLive as it becomes available.
A winter storm watch will be in effect from noon Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.
SPRINGFIELD – Accumulating snow will likely make for a messy Wednesday evening commute, abc40 / Fox 6 meteorologist Dan Brown said.
Western Massachusetts could see as much as 2 to 5 inches of snow before the storm temporarily winds down Wednesday night, Brown said.
Another band of moisture, however, will arrive in the region later Wednesday night into Thursday. Brown said, however, it’s not yet clear whether the storm’s second phase will bring rain, snow or some kind of wintry mix.
"Thursday is still the wild card, it's still in question," Brown said.
The National Weather Service has put a winter storm watch into effect for noon Wednesday through 6 p.m. Thursday.
Although Western Massachusetts has seen a dearth of snow during the winter months, the 2011-2012 winter season is not in the running to break any records thanks to the October snowstorm that brought as much as 20 inches or more, Brown said.
A new study says federal budget cuts could cost Massachusetts more than 50,000 jobs in the next decade, many in key sectors including defense, technology and health care.
BOSTON — A new study says federal budget cuts could cost Massachusetts more than 50,000 jobs in the next decade, many in key sectors including defense, technology and health care.
The study by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts says the losses would "strike at the very heart" of the state's innovation economy.
Automatic across-the-board cuts are scheduled to start in 2013 unless Congress agrees to a better deal to lower the national debt. The cuts would reduce federal spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years by slashing the defense budget and support for programs, including Medicare.
Martin Romitti, director of economic and public policy research at the Donahue Institute, tells The Boston Globe that the job sectors that have made Massachusetts so strong are essentially underwritten by federal aid.
The Amherst-based climate research center, made possible by a $7.5 million federal grant, is expected to focus on how climate change affects ecosystems, wildlife, water and other resources.
BOSTON – Officials are scheduled to gather at noon on Tuesday for a public event at the UMass Club, 225 Franklin St., Boston, to introduce the new Northeast Climate Science Center at the University of Massachusetts. The Amherst-based center was established last year to focus on how climate change affects ecosystems, wildlife, water and other resources
In October 2011, the federal government awarded a $7.5 million grant to the University of Massachusetts to create the Northeast Climate Science Center, which will study how climate change affects ecosystems, wildlife, water, and other resources from Maine to Missouri. The Amherst center is among eight national climate centers created to study the effects of climate change.
Today's session in Boston is expected to include information about the initiative and will feature various special guests, including state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan, state Commissioner of Energy Resources Mark Sylvia, among others.
UMass officials expected to attend include Richard Palmer, Curt Griffin and Raymond Bradley, all professors at the Amherst campus who will serve as climate investigators for the project. Palmer is head of civil and environmental engineering at UMass, Bradley is director of the Climate System Research Center and Griffin is professor of wildlife ecology and conservation and co-director of the university's environmental sciences program.
The five-year grant will sponsor research at UMass-Amherst as well as at institutions in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts.
A student wounded in an Ohio school shooting has been declared brain dead, authorities said Tuesday, the second reported fatality in an attack that began when a teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school a day earlier.
CHARDON, Ohio — A student wounded in an Ohio school shooting has been declared brain dead, authorities said Tuesday, the second reported fatality in an attack that began when a teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school a day earlier.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office received the word about Russell King Jr. just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, according to office administrator Hugh Shannon.
"The cause and manner of death of this case are under on-going investigation and will be released upon completion," Shannon said in a statement.
King, 17, was one of five students injured when a suspect identified by a family lawyer as T.J. Lane began shooting at Chardon High School Monday morning. King was studying alternative energy at nearby Auburn Career Center and like the others who were shot was waiting for a bus for his daily 15-minute ride to the center. Student Daniel Parmertor died hours after the shooting.
A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that the one who was killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.
Lane's family is mourning "this terrible loss for their community," attorney Robert Farnacci said in a statement.
FBI officials would not comment on a motive. And Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation of the shooting, which sent students screaming through the halls at the start of the school day at 1,100-student Chardon High.
An education official said the suspected shooter is a Lake Academy student, not a student at Chardon High. Brian Bontempo declined to answer any questions about the student. Bontempo is the superintendent of the Lake County Educational Service Center, which operates the academy.
The alternative school in Willoughby serves 7th through 12th grades. Students may have been referred to the school because of academic or behavioral problems.
The FBI said the suspect was arrested near his car a half-mile from Chardon. He was not immediately charged.
Teachers locked down their classrooms as they had been trained to do during drills, and students took cover as they waited for the all-clear in this town of 5,100 people, 30 miles from Cleveland. One teacher was said to have dragged a wounded student into his classroom to protect him. Another chased the gunman out of the building, police said.
Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But others disputed that.
"Even though he was quiet, he still had friends," said Tyler Lillash, 16. "He was not bullied."
Farinacci, representing Lane and his family, told WKYC-TV that Lane "pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."
Long before official word came of the attack, parents learned of the bloodshed from students via text message and cellphone and thronged the streets around the school, anxiously awaiting word on their children.
Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, and another was in serious condition.
"I looked up and this kid was pointing a gun about 10 feet away from me to a group of four kids sitting at a table," Komertz said. He said the gunman fired two shots quickly, and students scrambled for safety. One of them was "trying to get underneath the table, trying to hide, protecting his face."
Slain student Daniel Parmertor was an aspiring computer repairman who was waiting in the cafeteria for the bus for his daily 15-minute ride to a vocational school. His teacher at the Auburn Career School had no idea why Parmertor, "a very good young man, very quiet," had been targeted, said Auburn superintendent Maggie Lynch.
Officers investigating the shooting blocked off a road in a heavily wooded area several miles from the school. Federal agents patrolled the muddy driveway leading to several spacious homes and ponds, while other officers walked a snowy hillside. A police dog was brought in. It wasn't clear what they were looking for.
Teacher Joe Ricci had just begun class when he heard shots and slammed the door to his classroom, yelling, "Lockdown!" to students, according to Karli Sensibello, a student whose sister was in Ricci's classroom.
A few minutes later, Ricci heard a student moaning outside, opened the door and pulled in student Nick Walczak who had been shot several times, Sensibello said in an email. Ricci comforted Walczak and let him use his cellphone to call his girlfriend and parents, Sensibello said. She said her sister was too upset to talk.
Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she saw a boy she recognized as a fellow student come into the cafeteria and start shooting. She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a middle school and others locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.
"Everybody just started running," said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. "Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway."
Farinacci said Lane's family was "devastated" by the shootings and that they offered "their most heartfelt and sincere condolences" to Parmertor's family and the families of the wounded students.
"This is something that could never have been predicted," Farinacci told WKYC-TV.
Rebecca Moser, 17, had just settled into her chemistry class when the school went into lockdown. The class of about 25 students ducked behind the lab tables at the back of the classroom, uncertain whether it was a drill.
Text messages started flying inside and outside the school, spreading information about what was happening and what friends and family were hearing outside the building.
"We all have cellphones, so people were constantly giving people updates — about what was going on, who the victims were, how they were doing," Moser said.
The school had no metal detectors, but current and past students said it had frequent security drills in case of a shooting.
Anxious parents of high school students were told to go to an elementary school to pick up their children.
Joe Bergant, Chardon school superintendent, said school was canceled Tuesday and grief counselors would be available to students and families.
"If you haven't hugged or kissed your kid in the last couple of days, take that time," he said.
Soto and Leary disagree about whether the councilor's questions are legitimate queries or trespass into collective bargaining.
HOLYOKE – The firefighters union president and a city councilor disagree about whether the councilor’s questions are legitimate queries or trespass into collective bargaining.
Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto filed two orders at the Feb. 7 council meeting that were referred to the Finance Committee. One order called for responsibility of traffic lighting and maintenance to be transferred from the Fire Department to the Department of Public Works.
The other order asked that the fire chief and Fire Commission meet with the council's Public Safety Committee – of which Soto is chairman – to discuss personnel costs and staffing levels here in comparison to nearby communities.
Work on traffic signals is by contract and practice a duty of the firefighters who belong to Holyoke Fire Fighters Association, Local 1693, International Association of Fire Fighters, President Timothy J. Leary said Monday. That means a change in such work must occur as a result of bargaining between the union and the city, not a change voted by the City Council, he said.
Any discussion about staffing levels can only be intended to harass the union, Leary said, because the union and city aren’t currently involved in contract negotiations and no appropriation request regarding firefighter wages is now before the council.
Leary said he hopes to resolve the issues with council President Kevin A. Jourdain, but the union is prepared to take legal action against the city. He declined to say whether that means a lawsuit or a grievance.
“We have prepared everything to go forward. We have just not gone forward yet,” Leary said.
Soto, who began his first term on the council Jan. 3, said the traffic signal and staffing questions are legitimate pursuits of information on behalf of taxpayers. Traffic signal work is appropriately a public works function, he said.
“All I’m doing is being fiscally responsible. All I’m doing is asking questions,” Soto said.
Soto, a former Fire Commission member, said he wants the comparison of staffing with other communities because he believes the Fire Department has too many top officials.
The department is budgeted for a chief, six deputy chiefs, nine captains, 22 lieutenants and 88 firefighters. The budget is $8.2 million.
“We’ve very top heavy,” Soto said.
Jourdain said the mayor, and not the City Council, is authorized to get involved in collective bargaining. But he said such a dispute highlights the threshold that councilors, who are authorized to scrutinize spending, must navigate.
“I think any councilor has a right to ask questions,” Jourdain said.
It has been scheduled to March 6 from 4:30 - 7 p.m. in cafeteria #2 at Springfield Central High School, 1840 Roosevelt Ave.
SPRINGFIELD - In anticipation of a snowstorm that is expected in Western Massachusetts on Wednesday afternoon, the Springfield School Department has opted to reschedule the Magnet and Middle Schools Information Night to another date.
It has been scheduled to March 6 from 4:30 - 7 p.m. in cafeteria #2 at Springfield Central High School, 1840 Roosevelt Ave.
For more information, call Kathe Harbour at (413) 787-7478.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Springfield and the eastern part of Hampden County for Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast calls for between 4 and 6 inches of snow, beginning sometime after 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The $2 tickets, offering a grand prize of $1,000 per day for life, will be rolled out in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
By KYLE CHENEY
BOSTON – In an effort to drive up profits, Massachusetts Lottery officials are preparing to unfurl the first-ever New England-wide drawing, enticing players with a grand prize of $1,000 per day for the rest of their lives.
Two-dollar “Lucky for Life” tickets will be rolled out in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont on March 11, after a year of planning and coordination, according to Massachusetts Lottery officials, who discussed the game at a Lottery board meeting Tuesday morning.
Because the Bay State is expected to drive sales of the game, Massachusetts Lottery chief Paul Sternburg was appointed to oversee the regional effort.
The first drawing is scheduled for March 15, and all drawings will be held in Connecticut on Mondays and Thursdays, broadcast live on the Nutmeg State’s Fox station. Results will be posted on Masslottery.com
The board of the State Lottery Commission, chaired by State Treasurer Steven Grossman, voted unanimously to approve regulations governing the new game, which will replace the scandal-marred Cash WinFall. Cash WinFall came under assault last year when the Boston Globe revealed that several well-connected, well-moneyed players had figured out how to statistically guarantee massive payouts.
At the meeting, officials played a TV ad that will air in participating states that shows New Englanders exercising in stereotypically regional ways: while lobstering, cross-country skiing, rowing and overlooking the Prudential Center. “All over New England, people are getting in shape, trying to stay alive as long as they can because they know if they win New England’s new Lucky for Life game, they win 1,000 dollars a day for the rest of their lives,” a narrator booms.
Asked by a board member to discuss challenges in negotiating the agreement, Massachusetts Lottery officials said some other states struggled to grasp the implications of a lifetime payout.
“They’ve never had a lifetime game so it didn’t fit nicely into their regulatory scheme,” said Lottery general counsel William Egan. But Egan said Massachusetts generally drove the discussion on structuring the game, with an assist from Connecticut on privacy protections.
According to the game rules adopted by the commission, players will pick five numbers from 1 to 40, as well as a “Lucky Ball” number from 1 to 21. Winners of the top prize will receive a minimum of 20 years of payouts but would receive additional payments of $7,000 per week if they live longer than 20 years. Winnings for players who pass away before their 20-year minimum payout would be transferred to their estate.
To win the top prize, a player must match all five numbers plus the Lucky Ball number. Those who get all five numbers but miss the lucky ball win a $25,000 prize. Four matching numbers plus the Lucky Ball earns $2,000 and other prizes ranges from $4 to $100.
The discussion of the game came as Sternburg, the executive director of the Lottery, described across-the-board increases in January sales driven by a warmer-than-usual winter. Keno, instant tickets, Powerball, Cash WinFall, MegaBucks Doubler, and MassCash saw upticks in sales compared to January 2011.
“We had great weather this year. It makes a huge difference when you have good weather,” Sternburg said. “We’ve had seven inches of snow this year. Last year we had 70.”
Bad weather, he added, tends to steer customers away from establishments that offer Keno or from retailers that sell instant tickets.
Only the multi-state game Mega Millions trailed last year’s sales, falling $10 million short, a result that Sternburg attributed to a sharply reduced jackpot – $15 million compared to $380 million last year.
Grossman said the strong sales permitted the lottery to raise its fiscal year profit estimate to $916 million, up from an original estimate of $894 million on July 1.
According to figures disclosed by the Lottery Commission, instant ticket sales in January outperformed the same month a year ago by $35 million; keno increased by $5 million; Powerball sales increased by $3 million; and MassCash increased by $3 million.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will still have a long battle in Super Tuesday states even if he wins Michigan Tuesday.
If presidential candidate Mitt Romney wins the Republican primary in Michigan, it will give his campaign a boost going into the 11 primaries in the next week.
If GOP rival Rick Santorum wins, party members fear it could send the primary race into uncharted territory with an outcome that's anyone's guess.
In the worst-case scenario of the Michigan and Arizona primaries Tuesday, The National Journal predicts, "Santorum would claim to be the new front-runner, and quiet murmurings about recruiting a new candidate would explode publicly."
Republican voices have grown louder recently in expressing their displeasure with the four presidential candidates, the rhetoric and tone of the campaigns, and the possibility of a brokered Republican convention if there isn't a clear winner. Senior Republicans have reportedly begun approaching several politicians asking that they throw their hat into the presidential race.
At the core of the Republicans' complaints is the campaigns' use of nasty, personal attacks against the other Republican candidates, which Politico has termed "a knife fight" between the candidates.
"I think the candidates, in my mind, have injured themselves and injured the party by not following Ronald Reagan's 'never speak badly of another Republican.' They beat themselves up so badly that I'd think it'd be nice to have a fresh face," Maine Gov. Paul LePage told Politico.
Even if Romney wins both Arizona and Michigan Tuesday, he'll still face pressure to win Washington on March 3 and 10 states, including Massachusetts, during Super Tuesday on March 6, senior GOP strategist Mike Murphy told The Washington Post.
A poll released Tuesday by the University of Cincinnati has Santorum leading with 37 percent and Romney at 26 percent in the high-profile Super Tuesday state of Ohio. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows Santorum with a 7-point lead in Ohio, with 45 percent of voters likely to change their minds before March 6.
Two other charters were granted in Lowell and Boston as well, a spokesman for the state Department of Elementary Education
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday voted to grant charters to the founders of four proposed charter schools including one each in Springfield in Holyoke, according to state officials.
Members voted overwhelmingly to grant charters to the Baystate Academy Charter School - a venture between Baystate Health and Springfield Technical Community College - and the Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School in Holyoke. Two other charters were granted in Lowell and Boston as well, a spokesman for the state Department of Elementary Education
The Baystate Academy Charter School will open in fall 2013. The school will be located in Springfield and will enroll a maximum of 560 students in grades 6-12. The Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School will open in fall 2012. The regional school will be located in Holyoke and include the towns of West Springfield, Chicopee, Westfield, South Hadley and Northampton. The school will enroll a maximum of 500 students in grades 9-12.
More details to follow in The Republican and on MassLive
Baystate officials and local dignitaries hosted a formal dedication ceremony for the 640,000-square-foot, $296 million "Hospital of the Future" project.
SPRINGFIELD – Despite tornadoes, blizzards, an earthquake and credit markets that crashed just as Baystate Health was to finance the project, the “Hospital of the Future” becomes the hospital of the present this week.
Baystate officials and local dignitaries hosted a formal dedication ceremony Tuesday for the 640,000-square-foot, $296 million Hospital of the Future project. The building, which occupies the last buildable space on Baystate Medical Center’s 759 Chestnut Street campus, will now be called the MassMutual Wing. The wing will contain the Davis Family Heart & Vascular Center, where the first-ever patient is scheduled to arrive Friday morning.
The project had 250 to 300 construction workers on site at any given time. The majority of them were from this region.
“Today is really a day about promises fulfilled,” said Mark R. Tolosky, president and CEO of Baystate Health.
In response to the financial crisis, Baystate relied more heavily on its own money, on philanthropy and on New Market Tax Credits, a federal program that encourages investment in poor neighborhoods, to fund the program. Less money was borrowed conventionally.
The wing also has the D’Amour Family Healing Garden, a rooftop refuge for patients and their families, as well as the still-under-construction 70,000-square foot emergency department that will not open until November.
The remaining space, about half of the 640,000 sqare-feet total, is unfinished shell space that might one day become more operating rooms or an expanded children’s hospital, Tolosky said. Over time, Baystate wants to move all patients out of the Springfield Building, built in 1956.
“Many people in out community are familiar with that building with its double rooms,” Tolosky said.
The Davis Family Heart & Vascular Center will have all single rooms and hallways free of portable equipment. Support functions are hidden on every floor so patients can rest without feeling like they are in an office or a factory floor.
The Davis center also includes six advanced procedure and operating rooms, a dedicated 20-room unit for outpatient cardiovascular procedures, 96 private in-patient rooms and 32 cardiovascular critical-care rooms. Dr. Aaron D. Kuglemass, chief of the Division of Cardiology & Medical Director of the heart & Vascular Program at Baystate, explained that those six advanced procedure and operating rooms mean that doctors can now do bypasses and angioplasty at the same time. That means fewer trips to the procedure room and shorter hospital stays.
“Its about bringing the care to the patient, not moving the patient through the system,” said Deborah S. Morsi, vice president for patient care and chief nursing officer at Baystate.
For nearly a month, medical teams at Baystate have been practicing in the new heart and vascular center using lifelike patient simulators.
The hospital set a goal of raising $23 million in philanthropic donations for the project. Baystate is currently just $1.2 million short of that goal. Funds collected so far include an unspecified gift from the Davis family, $3 million from MassMutual and $1 million from the D’Amour family.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno was among the speakers who cited personal stories of how Baystate has served themselves and their families. He speculated that nearly everyone in the he region has a personal story associated with Baystate and its 10,000 employees
“Baystate is not only saving lives, it is transforming lives,” Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said.
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich predicts he'll win Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma on Super Tuesday.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been focusing on winning the southern states on Super Tuesday, absenting himself from Arizona and the hotly contested Michigan primaries Tuesday.
Gingrich predicted on NBC's "Today" that he'll win Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma March 6. He also defended President Barack Obama on the program.
Gingrich is currently in third place in the Republican primary race.
"I think we'll come out of Super Tuesday with a number of delegates, then to Alabama and Mississippi where we'll win both of those. We'll continue to amass delegates," Gingrich said.
At a campaign stop in Nashville Monday, Gingrich said, "I have the longest record of any candidate in this race of being able to somehow re-emerge over and over again."
Gingrich also defended Obama against Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's "snob" comment. Santorum called Obama a "snob" for requesting in a 2009 speech that Americans receive education past the high school level. Gingrich said on NBC that Obama's request was reasonable, adding, "I do think every American ought to be trained, but it doesn't matter what your degrees are, it matters if you're employable."
Later on Fox & Friends, Gingrich criticized Santorum's disagreement with President John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech on the separation of the church and state.
"It was a remarkable speech at a particular point in American history and it was making a key point that no president would obey any foreign religious leader. It was to reassure people that in fact his first duty as president was to do the job of president and I think that's correct," Gingrich said.
Two former Republican Congressmen assisting in Gingrich's campaign have also written a nine-page letter to newspapers in Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Ohio on behalf of Gingrich.
A portion of the letter written by Robert Walker of Pennsylvania and J.C. Watts of Oklahoma reads: "Governor Romney's negative attack mentality, unfortunately, is a reflection of his own persona. We ask you to speak out against a candidate with a great sense of entitlement and very little sense of accountability. We ask you to protest a candidacy and a campaign without a conscience. We ask you to censure and thwart a way of politics that if left unchallenged could corrupt our electoral process and democratic system for a generation. ...We ask that you use the mighty voice of America's newspapers to warn voters about Governor Romney's attempt to use money and mendacity to secure the Republican nomination."
Meanwhile, casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson gave a "substantial" donation to the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future. The amount is unknown but is said to be around the same amount as two previous donations of $5 million. The super PAC is planning to begin running ads in seven states Tuesday.
A ex-Massachusetts wrestling coach indicted on possession of child pornography had his bail revoked for recently viewing Internet pornography at work and is back in jail.
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Snowe, a Republican who's viewed as a moderate, said she sees a "vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us."
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine's U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe says she's not running for re-election.
The three-term senator's campaign office issued a statement Tuesday afternoon that was confirmed by her campaign manager. The Republican senator said in the statement that she was confident she would've won re-election but said she was frustrated by "an atmosphere of polarization and my-way-or-the-highway ideologies."
Snowe has served 33 years in Congress.
Snowe, who's viewed as a moderate, said she sees a "vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us." She said she sees unique opportunities to build support for such change from outside the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said he will miss Snowe in the Senate.
"I have a great deal of respect for Senator Snowe. She has been a voice of reason in the Senate representing Maine well for many years," Brown said in a statement. "We all are going to miss her independence and her ability to build bridges on some of the toughest issues. Her legacy of service to America in the United States Senate should serve as an inspiration to all of us."
The milestone comes at a time when Americans are feeling better about the economy than they have in a year.
By DANIEL WAGNER | AP Business Writer
The Dow Jones industrial average on Tuesday reclaimed the last of the ground it held before the carnage of the Great Recession — bailouts, bank failures, layoffs by the million and a stock market plunge that cut retirement savings in half.
The Dow closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 19, 2008, almost four months before the fall of the Lehman Brothers investment bank triggered the worst of the financial crisis.
It just cleared the mark — 13,005.12, up 23.61 points for the day.
"I think it's a momentous day for investor confidence," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. "What this number implies is that the financial crisis that we were all losing sleep over, it never happened, because now we're back."
The milestone comes at a time when Americans are feeling better about the economy than they have in a year. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its consumer confidence index was 70.8 for February, up from 61.5 in January.
The report came out at 10 a.m. and lifted the Dow above 13,000. It stayed there most of the day.
"Two months ago, we were talking about a double-dip recession. Now consumer confidence is growing," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist for Schaffer's Investment Research.
He said the Dow's milestone "wakes up a lot of investors who have missed a lot of this rally."
The average first pierced 13,000 last Tuesday but fell back by the close. It floated above the milestone again on Friday and Monday, but slipped below both days. A strong rally for stocks this year seemed stalled as worry built on Wall Street about climbing prices for oil and gasoline.
Tuesday's gain puts the Dow 1,160 points below its all-time high, set Oct. 9, 2007. The Great Recession began two months later.
The milestone could draw some fence-sitting investors back into the market and add to the gains, said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Cetera Financial Group.
"Already here in the first two months, we've blown past the consensus expectations for the entire year, and that certainly gets people's attention," he said.
The breaking of the 13,000 barrier continues a remarkable run for stocks this year. The Dow started with its best January since 1997 and has added to that gain. The index is up 6.5 percent for the young year.
Other averages have fared even better: The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 9 percent, the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks is up 11 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index, dominated by technology stocks, is up 14 percent.
The other major indexes sit at multi-year highs as well. The S&P closed Tuesday at its highest level since June 2008, and the Nasdaq has not traded so high since December 2000, during the bursting of the bubble in technology stocks.
Just last August, the Dow dropped 2,000 points in three frightening weeks. Investors were worried about the European debt crisis, gridlock in Washington over the federal borrowing limit, a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and the threat of another recession.
After Labor Day, the recession fears melted away. Since then, the stock market has been engaged in a tug-of-war between optimism over the improving American economy and fear that crisis in Europe would derail the U.S. recovery.
The optimists have been winning.
The Dow cruised to 13,000 the old-fashioned way, riding the economy higher. The unemployment rate has come down five months in a row, the first time that has happened since 1994.
The economy added 243,000 jobs in January, one of the three best months since 2006. Gains were surprisingly robust in industries across the economy, including the strongest hiring in manufacturing in a year.
In the stock market, the improving economy has translated to slow, steady gains — about 20 points a day for the Dow, averaged over the eight weeks. The index has gained more than 100 points on only three days, and it has not fallen 100 points on any day.
On Tuesday, seven of the 10 industry groups within the S&P 500 index were higher, with information technology and consumer discretionary stocks leading the way. Utility stocks, traditionally solid investments in a weak economy, were lower.
Microsoft led the 30 stocks in the Dow with a gain of 1.7 percent for the day. Johnson & Johnson had the biggest price change. It gained 73 cents and was responsible for 5.52 points of the Dow's gain, enough to clear the 13,000 level.
The S&P 500 gained 4.59 points for the day and closed at 1,372.18. Technical traders said it was a breakthrough because the S&P has been hemmed between 1,100 and 1,370 for months.
The Nasdaq gained 20.60 and closed at 2,986.76.
Prices for U.S. Treasurys were little changed. Besides the consumer confidence figure, investors wrestled with a Commerce Department report that businesses cut back on machinery and equipment in January.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note dropped 12.5 cents for every $100 invested. The yield edged up to 1.94 percent from 1.93 percent late Monday. Shorter-dated Treasurys were nearly all unchanged.
The euro rose against the dollar a day before the European Central Bank is expected to give banks in the region another round of loans. A jump in U.S. consumer confidence also pushed traders to buy the euro.
The Dow first cracked 13,000 on April 25, 2007, when the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent, far below today's 8.3 percent, and the economy was growing at a relatively healthy clip.
From there, it was a quick ride to the Dow's all-time high. The average crossed 14,000 in July 2007, then peaked at 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, 2007. Concerns about weak corporate earnings and tighter credit were already haunting the market, though.
The trip back down to 13,000 was less pleasant. It took little more than a month. Ten months later came the fall of Lehman Brothers and the financial meltdown. The Dow hit bottom on March 9, 2009, at 6,547.05.
Analysts say the stock market has grown accustomed to lingering threats this year, including a debt crisis in Europe and an economic recovery in the United States that is still not as strong as economists would like.
The price of gasoline has emerged as the latest worry. A gallon of regular costs $3.72 on average. The price has risen 21 days in a row. Economists worry about whether gas will climb high enough to cut into consumer spending in the rest of the economy.
"It's important to remember that the stock market is not the U.S. economy, and the U.S. economy is not the stock market," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist for the brokerage BTIG. "Most people are likely to say, 'Dow 13,000. So, where's my job?"
The consumer confidence reading of 70.8, while much stronger than the 63 that economists were expecting, is still far below the level of 90 that indicates a healthy economy. It was above 110 in mid-2007, before the recession.
Still, Greenhaus said, while 13,000 is just a round number, "it's a round number that's likely to make many Americans feel better about the economy and the stock market. It's another sign that things are getting better."
AP Business Writers Matthew Craft and Christina Rexrode in New York contributed to this report.
T.J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning.
KEVIN BEGOS,Associated Press
THOMAS J. SHEERAN,Associated Press
CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — The teenager accused of killing three students in a shooting spree in an Ohio high school cafeteria chose his victims at random and is "someone who's not well," a prosecutor said Tuesday as the slightly built young man appeared in juvenile court.
T.J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning, Prosecutor David Joyce said. Joyce said Lane will probably be charged with three counts of aggravated murder and other offenses.
The hearing came hours after the death toll rose to three, and as schoolmates and townspeople grappled with the tragedy and wondered what could have set the gunman off — a mystery the court appearance did nothing to solve.
Afterward, though, the prosecutor appeared to rule out rumors and speculation that the gunman lashed out after being bullied or that the shooting had something to do with drug-dealing.
"He chose his victims at random. This is not about bullying. This is not about drugs," Joyce said. "This is someone who's not well, and I'm sure in our court case we'll prove that to all of your desires and we'll make sure justice is done here in this county."
Joyce would not elaborate. Both sides in the case are under a gag order imposed by the judge at the prosecutor's request.
Lane, a slight figure with short dark hair, seemed small next to sheriff's deputies leading him into court. His face twitched lightly while the prosecutor recounted the attack, and he sniffled and half-closed his eyes as he walked out of the room with deputies.
Lane's grandfather, who has custody of the teenager, and two aunts joined him in court; the women reached over and lightly embraced the grandfather as the hearing began.
Judge Timothy Grendell ordered the boy, who is considered a juvenile, held for at least 15 days. Prosecutors have until Thursday to charge him. In addition to imposing the gag order, the judge told the media not to photograph the boy's face in court.
Meanwhile, shaken residents offered condolences and prayers to the families of those killed and wounded at the 1,100-student high school, and the community offered grief counseling to students, staff and others at area schools. All three of the dead were students, as are the two wounded victims.
"We're not just any old place, Chardon," Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II said. "This is every place. As you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday."
A Cleveland hospital said Demetrius Hewlin, who had been in critical condition, died Tuesday morning. The news came shortly after Police Chief Tim McKenna said 17-year-old Russell King Jr. had died. Another student, Daniel Parmertor, died hours after the shooting.
Both King and Parmertor were students at the Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting in the Chardon High cafeteria for a bus for their daily 15-minute ride when they were shot.
Lane's family is mourning "this terrible loss for their community," Robert Farinacci, an attorney for Lane and his family, said in a statement.
Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting up close, said it appeared that the gunman singled out a group of students sitting together. He said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But other students disputed that.
Farinacci told WKYC-TV that Lane "pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."
Lane did not go to Chardon High, instead attending nearby Lake Academy, which is for students with academic or behavioral problems.
Student Nate Mueller said that he was at the table in the cafeteria where the victims were shot, and a bullet grazed his ear. Mueller told The Plain Dealer that King — one of those killed — had recently started dating Lane's ex-girlfriend.
Lane "was silent the whole time," Mueller said. "That's what made it so random."
Frank Hall, an assistant high school football coach who has been hailed as a hero by students who say he chased the gunman out of the cafeteria, told a Cleveland TV station that he couldn't discuss what happened, but added: "I wish I could have done more."
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AP writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Julie Carr Smyth and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, and photographer Mark Duncan in Chardon contributed to this report.
