The pageantry of the ceremony came against a national backdrop of announcements of massive defense budget cuts as an international coalition works to wind down the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

Photo by Manon L. MirabelliFrom left, Lt. Col. Alex Haldopoulos, Lt. Col. Harold Anderson, both of Longmeadow, and Vice Commander Kenneth T. Lambich at the Hometown Heroes ceremony held Saturday at the Barnes Air National Guard 104th Fighter Wing base. In this "change of command," for the 131st Figher Squadron, Haldopoulos takes over for Anderson as the squadron's commander, and Anderson assumes responsibility for the alert mission at Barnes.

WESTFIELD - The 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base hosted a sweeping reception on Saturday to welcome home returning soldiers and airmen, bid farewell to deploying members and recognize a change of command at the base.

In the shadow of an F-15 fighter jet parked in a hangar on the base, hundreds of servicemen and women assembled in a sea of camouflage alongside their families and high-ranking elected officials for the ceremony. The upcoming deployment to an undisclosed location for an undisclosed duration will be the first for the “Eagles,” or fleet of “air-to-air” F-15s that replaced the base’s prior fleet of “air-to-ground” A-10s in 2008.

“We don’t carry bombs. We have missiles and a gun. Our job is to get airborne. We squeegee the skies for bad guy airplanes,” said Lt. Col. Alex Haldopoulos, the new commander for the 131st Fighter Squadron who formally assumed power from Lt. Col. Harold Anderson at the reception.

A spokeswoman for the fighter wing said Haldopoulos is uniquely positioned as the new commander and leader of the deployment.

While addressing his troops, he asked one thing:

“I ask you one simple question: Are you ready?”

Haldopoulos, of Longmeadow, credited his wife Cathleen with keeping things stable at home for their three sons and helping other spouses in need.

“We do everything from helping to find someone willing to walk a dog or getting help if someone’s car won’t start,” Cathleen Haldopoulos said.

The couple has been married 19 years; this is Haldopoulos’ second deployment overseas.

The pageantry of the event came against a national backdrop of announcements of massive defense budget cuts as an international coalition works to wind down the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown, R-Mass., was among elected officials who attended the event and denounced what he potentially indiscriminate defense cuts.

“We can afford to cut $450 billion. We can do that,” through changes in procurement of defense contracts and phasing out obsolete programs, Brown said. “It’s taking the next step, to sequestration (across-the-board cuts) that we can’t do.”

The reception also included an awards ceremony for Bronze Star recipient Tech. Sgt. Robert Eisner, of Shrewsbury, and 10 recipients of Meritorious Service Medals.

The Massachusetts National Guard includes 8,500 soldiers and airmen, according to The Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard, Maj. Gen. Joseph C. Carter. It is the oldest of its kind in the United States.

Returns from caucuses in 29 percent of Washington state’s precincts showed the former Massachusetts governor with 36 percent of the vote, while Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each had 25 percent. Newt Gingrich trailed with 12 percent.

The Associated PressHenry S. Williams, right, laughs while counting votes at a Republican caucus March 3, 2012 in Yakima, Wash. Thousands of Republican voters crowded schools, town halls and homes across the state Saturday for Washington's GOP presidential caucuses, the first meaningful party contests in the state in recent memory.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney stepped out to a solid lead over his Republican presidential rivals Saturday night in Washington state caucuses, a quiet prelude to 10 Super Tuesday contests next week in all regions of the country.

Returns from caucuses in 29 percent of the state’s precincts showed the former Massachusetts governor with 36 percent of the vote, while Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each had 25 percent. Newt Gingrich trailed with 12 percent.

There were 40 delegates at stake, and a likelihood that at least two of the contenders for the nomination to oppose President Barack Obama would add to their totals.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had 173 delegates at the beginning of the day, according to an Associated Press count that includes party officials who will vote on the selection of a nominee but are not selected at primaries or caucuses. Santorum had 87, Gingrich 33 and Paul 20. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa.

The Republican race has shared the political spotlight in the past few days with a controversy in which conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh called a Georgetown University law student a “slut” and a “prostitute” - an issue that the GOP presidential rivals seemed reluctant to comment on.

Limbaugh apologized on his website during the evening to the woman, Sandra Fluke, who had spoken out publicly in favor of a requirement for most insurance coverage to include contraception.

Romney, Santorum and Gingrich were all campaigning in Ohio - the most intensely contested of the Super Tuesday states - as the first caucus returns were reported.

Romney criticized Obama after a woman attending a campaign rally in Beavercreek said she had a daughter stationed in Afghanistan who believes the U.S. mission there is unclear. The woman also asked when Romney would bring the troops home.

“If your daughter is not familiar with the mission that she’s on, how in the world can the commander in chief sleep at night, knowing that we have soldiers in harm’s way that don’t know exactly, precisely, what it is that they’re doing there,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

He said he’d bring troops home “as soon as humanly possible - as soon as that mission is complete.”

Romney also said he would seek the repeal of legislation that passed Congress in 2002 to tighten accounting standards in the wake of the collapse of Enron and an ensuing scandal that cost shareholders millions of dollars.

Santorum spent the day in Ohio, where he touted his plan to improve the nation’s manufacturing base and said part of the effort must include a reduction in the number of children born out of wedlock. In Cincinnati, the former Pennsylvania senator said there’s less freedom in neighborhoods “where there are no dads.”

While polls show him in a close race with Romney in the state, it is not clear he can fully convert any success in the primary into delegate strength. There are 76 delegates at stake in Ohio, of which 48 will be allocated, three at a time, to the winners of the state’s 16 congressional districts. Santorum has only 30 of the 48 delegate slots filled for those contests.

Gingrich also campaigned in Ohio and drew laughs when he recalled what a voter in Tennessee had told him recently about rising gasoline prices. He said the man had said Obama has his own version of former candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan: “He wants us to pay $9.99 a gallon.”

The former House speaker has said he must notch a Super Tuesday win in Georgia, where he launched his political career, but says he also has a chance to pick up delegates in Ohio.

Ron Paul was in Washington state as the caucuses began, searching for his first victory of the campaign.

It was a quirk in the campaign calendar that made Washington’s caucuses the relatively low-key event that they were, sandwiched between a high-stakes clash between Romney and Santorum in Michigan and next-up primaries and caucuses in 10 states with 419 delegates at stake.

Of the 10, Ohio is the crown jewel, a big industrial state where Romney and Santorum maneuvered for their next showdown, and where Gingrich said he hopes to pick up a few delegates as well.

Apart from Ohio and Georgia, there also are primaries in Massachusetts, where Romney was governor, and Virginia, where Gingrich and Santorum failed to qualify for the ballot. Other primaries are in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Vermont.

Alaska, North Dakota and Idaho have caucuses.

---
Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt, Dan Sewell, Ken Thomas, Steve Peoples and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.

Although the oil company still has a few major legal and financial hurdles to overcome nearly two years after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the tentative settlement with plaintiff’s lawyers sends important signals to investors, Gulf Coast states and federal regulators.

The Associated PressShrimp boats are seen parked in Venice, La., near the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, in this April 30, 2010 file photo. BP agreed late Friday March 2, 2012 to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.

NEW YORK (AP) – BP’s multibillion-dollar settlement with people and businesses harmed by its 2010 oil spill removes some uncertainty about the potential financial damages it faces. It also may help the company restore its all-important relationship with the federal government.

Although the oil company still has a few major legal and financial hurdles to overcome nearly two years after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the tentative settlement with plaintiff’s lawyers sends important signals to investors, Gulf Coast states and federal regulators.

Where once it seemed conceivable that BP’s spill-related costs could reach $200 billion, lawyers and industry analysts now say that figure will likely be less than a quarter that amount. If the class-action lawsuit by victims had gone to trial, BP could have faced much higher costs along with the embarrassment of having to publicly rehash the mistakes that led to the spill.

The settlement, which BP estimates will cost $7.8 billion, also shows its willingness to pay a huge sum to resolve issues related to the spill. That may improve its standing with the federal government, which controls access to oil reserves that are critically important to BP’s future.

“The only trial I thought we would see in this case is the one that just went away,” said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor who once headed the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section.

A blowout of the Macondo well in April 2010 destroyed a drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon. That killed 11 workers, spilled an estimated 200 million gallons of oil and disrupted thousands of Gulf Coast lives and businesses. The spill soiled sensitive tidal estuaries and beaches, killed wildlife and closed vast areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing.

The settlement announced Friday would apply to tens of thousands of victims along the Gulf Coast, including fishermen who lost work and cleanup workers who got sick. It still needs approval of a federal court in New Orleans.

BP expects to pay the victims using the remainder of a trust fund that the company had established to pay these types of claims. The trust has $9.5 billion in assets left out of an initial $20 billion. Whatever remains would return to BP.

Friday’s deal does not resolve lawsuits with federal, state and local governments or address environmental damage. Those other claims could total up to $25 billion.

BP, which is based in London, says it doesn’t expect to have to add to the $37.2 billion it has set aside to fund the trust and pay for other spill costs. Although some analysts expect BP to have to pay more eventually, the total would be much less than initially feared.

The settlement does not fully resolve all claims by victims, as individuals and businesses could reject it and choose to bring separate cases. It also doesn’t put a final cost on them. The settlement creates a new fund that will pay all claims, with no cap on the total amount. It could ultimately add up to more or less than what BP estimates.

Some Gulf Coast residents dissatisfied with the claims process under the trust fund are hoping the settlement makes it easier to receive compensation.

Clara Gerica, a 59-year-old shrimp vendor at a downtown farmers’ market in New Orleans, said she and her husband, a commercial fisherman, had not been compensated even though they filed claims with the fund.

If the new process isn’t any better, she said, “I’m going to put up a fight.”

Tony Buzbee, a Houston-based attorney who represents people and businesses with roughly 12,000 spill claims, questioned whether the settlement will be more beneficial to his clients than the existing fund.

“There better be a golden nugget in there,” Buzbee said. “Otherwise, this smells. It doesn’t benefit my clients any.”

Still, BP’s willingness to agree to a settlement with no cap will help it in future talks with states and the federal government, experts say.

BP is facing Clean Water Act fines of $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion, depending on whether BP is judged to have been grossly negligent in the design, construction or operation of the well.

Eric Schaeffer, who investigated oil spills for the Environmental Protection Agency as a former head of civil enforcement, said that a settlement with the government could reduce those charges by half.

Friday’s deal with victims could also help BP work with the government in the future as it drills for oil in the federally controlled waters in the Gulf, one of the most important drilling regions in the world for BP. It’s especially important for BP because its reputation was already tarnished from other recent environmental disasters, including a Texas City refinery fire in 2005 that killed 15 people and pipeline spills in 2006, 2009 and 2011 in Alaska.

“If the government doesn’t have confidence in the company because of their track record, it’s going to look harder for a reason to reject their permit,” Schaeffer said.

In the wake of the disaster, BP was forced to cut its dividend, borrow money and begin selling off assets to pay for expenses. So far, it has sold $21 billion worth of oil fields, refineries and chemical plants on four continents, and it is trying to sell assets worth another $17 billion.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward was forced to step down in the fall of 2010 after making a series of gaffes related to the spill. BP’s attempts to create an environmentally friendly image were crushed, and independent gas station owners with BP-branded stations lost business from upset customers.

The company’s share price of $47.50 is still 21 percent below its $60.48 close before the spill on April 20, 2010. The well was finally capped on July 15 of that year.

Despite the spill and the legal and financial setbacks that followed, BP remains one of the world’s biggest and most profitable companies. It is the fourth-largest investor-owned oil company. BP earned $27.5 billion in 2011 on revenue of $376 billion, helped by historically high oil prices that have padded the profits of all oil producers. Its shares have almost doubled from their low of $27.05 on June 25, 2010, when the well was still spewing oil and a series of efforts to plug the well had failed.

BP CEO Bob Dudley said in a statement that the settlement “represents significant progress toward resolving issues” from the disaster.

At times during the summer of 2010, BP’s survival as a company was questioned. Goldman Sachs had estimated the spill costs could reach $200 billion.

BP took an accounting charge of $40.9 billion in 2010 to cover such costs. The company has received four payments from partners in the project, including $4 billion from minority owner Anadarko Petroleum and $250 million from Cameron International Corp, which made the blowout preventer that failed to prevent the spill. These settlements and other adjustments brought BP’s total write-off to $37.2 billion.

The company has paid out $28.1 billion in expenses, claims and contributions to the victims’ trust fund. That leaves the company with $9.1 billion to pay fines and other penalties from states, the federal government and others. That would not be enough to cover federal environmental fines if BP is faced to pay the maximum fine of $4,300 per barrel, or $21.1 billion.

BP is suing Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig and Halliburton, the contractor hired by BP to cement the Macondo well, to help pay for cleanup costs. Phil Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research, does not expect BP to win much, though.

Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said that by agreeing to a substantial settlement with individuals and businesses, BP is proving it is willing to pay whatever it needs to try to put the oil spill behind it.

“They have been telling the government: ‘We’ll do whatever it takes. We’re just going to pay and get this over with. We want to be back in business,’” Gheit said.

Conservative talk show host had labeled a female college student a 'slut' and 'prostitute' for expressing pro-contraception views.

AP file photoSyndicated talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, shown here in a Jan.27 2010 photo, ignited controversy Friday for his on-air comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke. Fluke testified before a Congressional hearing about the need for contraception coverage in insurance plans, and Limbaugh called her a "slut" and "a prostitute."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh apologized Saturday to a Georgetown University law student he had branded a "slut" and "prostitute" after fellow Republicans as well as Democrats criticized him and several advertisers left his program.

The student, Sandra Fluke, had testified to congressional Democrats in support of their national health care policy that would compel her college to offer health plans that cover her birth control.

"My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir," Limbaugh said on his website. "I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."

Attempts to reach Fluke by telephone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

Fluke had been invited to testify to a House committee about her school's health care plan that does not include contraception. Republican lawmakers barred her from testifying during that hearing, but Democrats invited her back and she spoke to the Democratic lawmakers at an unofficial session.

President Barack Obama, whose landmark health care overhaul requires many institutions to provide birth control coverage, telephoned her from the Oval Office on Friday to express his support.

The issue has been much debated in the presidential race, with Republican candidates particularly criticizing the Obama plan's requirements on such employers as Catholic hospitals. Democrats — and many Republican leaders, too — have suggested the issue could energize women to vote for Obama and other Democrats in November.

Limbaugh was not swayed by Fluke's statements before the House panel.

He said on Wednesday, "What does it say about the college coed ... who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex."

He dug in a day later, refusing to give ground.

"If we're going to have to pay for this, then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke," Limbaugh said. "And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we're getting for our money."

He also asked the 30-year-old Fluke: "Who bought your condoms in junior high?"

And on Friday, still defiant even after Democrats beat back Republican challenges to the new health care law, Limbaugh scoffed at the Democrats' talk of a conservative "war on women."

"Amazingly, when there is the slightest bit of opposition to this new welfare entitlement being created, then all of a sudden we hate women. We want 'em barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen," he said. "And now, at the end of this week, I am the person that the women of America are to fear the most."

By Saturday, six advertisers had pulled sponsorship of Limbaugh's show and Republicans distanced themselves from the comments.

Republican Newt Gingrich said reporters were more excited to talk about Limbaugh's language than Obama's record.

"I think that's a vastly bigger issue than anything a radio host says," Gingrich told reporters in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Even so, Limbaugh decided to yield late Saturday.

"For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week," Limbaugh said in his statement. "In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke."

But he also said the entire debate was "absolutely absurd."

"In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom, nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a presidential level," he said.

Limbaugh's critics were not swayed by his statement.

"In all seriousness, this isn't an apology. It's a public relations statement. It's hollow and deceitful. Don't be fooled," tweeted the account StopRush, the effort online to pressure advertisers to abandon the popular host.

And even after the apology, some advertisers still planned to abandon Limbaugh.

"Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show," Carbonite CEO David Friend said on his company's Facebook page. "We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse."

The latest furor involved putting in place a requirement in the president's health care law mandating that religious-affiliated institutions such as hospitals and universities include free birth control coverage in their employee health plans. Georgetown, a Jesuit institution, does not provide contraception coverage in its student health plan.

Many Republicans and some religious organizations accused Obama of waging a war on religion. As protests mounted, Obama said religious employers could opt out, but their insurers still must pay for the birth control coverage.

In his apology, Limbaugh repeated his aversion to the rule.

"I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities," he said. "What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?"

After 2 years of seeing the firefighting staff reduced one by 1, the Chicopee Fire Department will soon be up to a full complement.

File photo | The Republican

CHICOPEE – After two years of seeing the firefighting staff reduced one by one, the Chicopee Fire Department will soon be up to a full complement.

On Monday, 11 people will officially be hired as firefighters. They will spend about 13 weeks in intensive training, which includes one week learning protocols to be an emergency dispatcher, before being placed on regular duty, Chief Stephen S. Burkott said.

Firefighters who retired or resigned had not been replaced for about 21/2 years. The department is budgeted for 143 firefighters, but is now down to a staff of 132, Burkott said.

"It has been difficult. It caused us to expend more overtime than we liked, but it is difficult for us to run a class for two or three people," he said.

One of the main reasons for the delays in hiring is Chicopee runs its own firefighter academy courses for new hires so it makes sense to wait and hire a group of firefighters at the same time. The city does not send recruits to the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow because it is expensive, Burkott said.

The city's curriculum mirrors the state firefighting academy courses and at the end of their training, the recruits take a state certification exam given at the academy so they do not lose anything by taking classes in Chicopee, Burkott said.

The new firefighters were selected from the list of people who passed the Civil Service exam. Each was interviewed by Burkott and others. The mayor makes the final appointments with the recommendations of the interviewers, he said.
The new firefighters will earn $42,839, Scott Szczebak said.

"We are very happy with the class. I think we have 11 good candidates and they are all certified as EMTs (emergency medical technicians)," he said.

Since the Chicopee Fire Department also runs ambulances, it is recommended people who are interested in becoming firefighters earn the medical certification because it allows them to work on the ambulance immediately, he said.

"The more knowledgeable a recruit is regarding emergency medical training, the better it is for the local fire department," he said.

Some of the new firefighters come to the department with associate's and bachelor's degrees, although most are not in fire science. Some are also veterans and have prior firefighter training.

The proposed fiscal 2013 Longmeadow budget is $56.6 million

LONGMEADOW – Town Manager Robin L. Crosbie is proposing a $56.6 million budget that includes new information technology equipment, additional human resources and fire department and library employees but does not include collective bargaining salary increases.

Select Board member Marie Angelides said she is concerned about the budget, which reflects a 3.75 percent increase from the fiscal 2012 budget and still does not include salary increases.

“That is a huge contingency,” she said.

“The collective bargaining contracts expire on June 30, so the budget does not include any salary increase because they have not been negotiated,” Crosbie said.

She said $343,318 in free cash will be necessary to fund the budget.

“Overall we’ve gained in some revenue through property taxes, but new growth, state aid and local receipts are down,” Crosbie said.

There are increases in information technology of about $186,900. The fire department is requesting a new deputy chief and firefighter, which would cost $82,700 total, and Storrs Library is requesting $35,000 for a circulation librarian.

Crosbie said her proposal for the school department is $190,000 less than the $33.3 million the schools are requesting.

“This year the school budget request is substantially higher in order to cover some loses in special revenue,” she said.

Select Board member Paul Santaniello said the board needs to have a conversation with the School Committee regarding their budget, which does not meet the criteria the Select Board requested.

“We asked for a budget with a zero percent increase other than things that were contractual. The reason this directive was given was that next year we have the new Longmeadow High School bond in the tax rate,” he said.

Santaniello said the board’s hope was not to raise the tax levy by the 2.5 percent they are allowed by law in order to reduce the financial burden on residents.

“We are not even looking at storm cleanup costs, which will be about $3 million after FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimbursement,” he said.

Select Board Chairman Mark Gold said the school department lost more than $300,000 in special grants, which accounts for their increased request.

“We have to learn to deal with this loss in revenue some other way,” he said.

The final budget will be presented to the town during the annual Town meeting in May. To view the proposed budget visit http://www.longmeadow.org/government/select-board/.

Monitored by web cameras and a network of volunteer civilian observers, Russians voted in presidential elections expected to return Putin to the Kremlin.

Associated PressA man casts his ballot at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 4, 2012. Russians headed to the polls Sunday to vote in the country's presidential election. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

By JIM HEINTZ

MOSCOW — Monitored by web cameras and a network of volunteer civilian observers, Russians voted Sunday in presidential elections expected to return Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin.

Allegations of widespread vote fraud in last December's parliamentary elections set off an unprecedented wave of massive protests against Putin, who has remained Russia's paramount leader despite stepping down from president to prime minister four years ago due to term limits.

The protests, the largest public show of anger in post-Soviet Russia, demonstrated growing frustration with corruption and political ossification in Putin's Russia. But despite the increased dismay, opinions polls have shown Putin positioned to easily defeat four other candidates and return to the post he held in 2000-2008.

Putin presided over a significant growth in Russia's prosperity and growing stability that contrasted with the disorder and anxiety of the 1990s, when Boris Yeltsin led Russia's emergence from the wreckage of the Soviet Union.

"Under Boris Naikolayevich, life was simply a nightmare, but, you know, now it's OK. Now it's good, I'm happy with the current situation," said 51-year-old Alexander Pshennikov, who cast his ballot for Putin at a Moscow polling station.

Putin has dismissed the protesters' complaints, portraying them as a coddled minority of urban elitists and as dupes of Western countries that he claims want to undermine Russia. But, sensitive to the galvanized opposition, he ordered installation of web cameras at all of Russia's more than 90,000 polling stations.

How effective they will be in recording or discouraging vote violations was unclear.

Putin's disdain for the protesters became more marked in the last week of campaigning, as he publicly suggested the opposition was willing to kill one of its own figures in order to stoke outrage against him. That claim came on the heels of state television reports that a plot by Chechen rebels to kill Putin right after the election had been foiled. Some of Putin's election rivals dismissed the report as a campaign trick to boost support for him.

Protests after the election appear certain.

"People in Russia are not going to recognize Putin's victory in the first round," Alexei Navalny, one of the loosely knit opposition's most charismatic figures, declared flatly last week.

Another prominent protest figure, Ilya Ponomarev, a parliament member from the opposition A Just Russia party, said the protesters' mood has become more truculent as authorities consistently brushed off their initial demands for nullifying the results of the December parliament election.

"It has evolved from 'we demand a rerun' to 'go to hell'," he said.

The Interior Ministry called in 6,000 police reinforcements to the capital from other regions, the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported Friday.

Whether Sunday's vote is seen as honest is likely to be key; a count without reports of wide violations could deprive protesters of a galvanizing issue.

"Cameras cannot capture all the details of the voting process, in particular during counting," the election observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted in a report on election preparations.

Along with the OSCE mission, tens of thousands of Russians have volunteered to be election observers, receiving training for activist groups on how to recognize vote-rigging and record and report violations.

In the December election, observers from the non-governmental group Golos reported being threatened and kicked out of polling stations. Hostility to the group among officials remains; in January, the head of the Federal Security Service in the Komi republic called the group "extremists" inspired from abroad.

In his past four years as prime minister, the steely Putin remained Russia's dominant political figure, overshadowing mild-mannered successor Dmitry Medvedev, who spoke often of reforms but accomplished little.

Putin has promised to appoint Medvedev prime minister if he wins the presidency in order to pursue his reform ideas, but many regard Medvedev as lacking the hard-edge political skills to be an effective reformer.

None of the other candidates have been able to marshal a serious challenge to Putin.

A mid-February survey by the independent Levada Center polling agency found Putin getting more than 60-percent support -- well above the 50 percent needed for a first-round win. The Communist Party candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, got support of about 15 percent, according to the survey, which claimed accuracy within 3.4 percentage points. The others — nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergei Mironov of A Just Russia and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov — were in single digits.

Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into how a train ended up on the wrong tracks after 2 engines collided head on.

Associated PressRescuers work at the site of the train collision in Szczekociny, southern Poland Sudnay, March 3, 2012. Two trains collided head-on in southern Poland late Saturday, killing several people and injuring around 50 in what appears to be one of the worst rail disasters in the country in recent years, officials said. (AP Photo/Michal Legierski )

WARSAW, Poland — Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into how a train ended up on the wrong tracks after two engines collided head on late Saturday, killing 15 people and leaving 54 in hospitals.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the accident the most tragic train catastrophe in Poland in recent years after visiting the site in the early hours of Sunday.

He said it was too soon to say what had caused the accident.

Several of the passengers were foreigners, including people from Ukraine, Spain and France, but none of them appeared to be among the dead or badly injured, Tusk said.

Polish media broadcast images from the site of green and white train cars mangled and knocked off the tracks.

"Even more dramatic than the pictures are the facts," Tusk said. "This is our most tragic train disaster in many, many years."

Rescue workers ended their search for the dead and prosecutors opened their investigation early Sunday.

The trains, carrying about 350 people in total, were traveling toward each other on the same track when they collided head-on in the small town of Szczekociny in southern Poland.

One train was traveling from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw, while the other — on the wrong track — was heading south from Warsaw to Krakow. Some maintenance work was being done on the tracks in Szczekociny before the accident happened, official said.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski was also planning to visit the site on Sunday, his office said.

Claiming his victory, Romney said in a statement that the win meant Washington state's voters "do not want a Washington insider in the White House."

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pays for his take-out order at the Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati, Saturday, March 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney rolled to a double-digit victory in Washington state's Republican presidential caucuses Saturday night, his fourth campaign triumph in a row and a fresh show of strength in the run-up to 10 Super Tuesday contests in all regions of the country.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul battled for second place, while Newt Gingrich ran a distant fourth.

Claiming his victory, Romney said in a statement that the win meant Washington state's voters "do not want a Washington insider in the White House. They want a conservative businessman who understands the private sector and knows how to get the federal government out of the way so that the economy can once again grow vigorously. "

Romney's West Coast victory came on the heels of twin primary triumphs over Santorum earlier in the week in hard-fought Michigan and lightly contested Arizona, as well as a narrow win over Paul in Maine caucuses earlier in February.

Returns from caucuses in 60 percent of Washington state's precincts showed Romney with 37 percent of the vote, while Paul and Santorum each had 24 percent. Gingrich was drawing 11 percent.

Romney's win was worth 30 of the 40 delegates at stake. Paul and Santorum each won five.

That brought Romney's overall total to 203 delegates, according to an Associated Press count that includes party officials who will vote on the selection of a nominee but are not selected at primaries or caucuses. Santorum had 92, Gingrich 33 and Paul 25. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa and challenge President Barack Obama in the fall.

The Republican race has shared the political spotlight in the past few days with a controversy in which conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh called a Georgetown University law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" — an issue that the GOP presidential rivals seemed reluctant to comment on.

Limbaugh apologized on his website during the evening to the woman, Sandra Fluke, who had spoken out publicly in favor of a requirement for most insurance coverage to include contraception.

Romney, Santorum and Gingrich were all campaigning in Ohio — the most intensely contested of the Super Tuesday states — as the first caucus returns were reported.

Romney criticized Obama after a woman attending a campaign rally in Beavercreek said she had a daughter stationed in Afghanistan who believes the U.S. mission there is unclear. The woman asked when Romney would bring the troops home.

"If your daughter is not familiar with the mission that she's on, how in the world can the commander in chief sleep at night, knowing that we have soldiers in harm's way that don't know exactly, precisely, what it is that they're doing there," the former Massachusetts governor said.

He said he'd bring troops home "as soon as humanly possible — as soon as that mission is complete."

Romney also said he would seek the repeal of legislation that passed Congress in 2002 to tighten accounting standards in the wake of the collapse of Enron and an ensuing scandal that cost shareholders millions of dollars.

Santorum spent the day in Ohio, where he touted his plan to improve the nation's manufacturing base and said part of the effort must include a reduction in the number of children born out of wedlock. In Cincinnati, the former Pennsylvania senator said there's less freedom in neighborhoods "where there are no dads."

While polls show him in a close race with Romney in the state, it is not clear he can fully convert any success in the primary into delegate strength. There are 63 delegates at stake in Ohio, of which 48 will be allocated, three at a time, to the winners of the state's 16 congressional districts. Santorum has only 30 of the 48 delegate slots filled for those contests.

Gingrich also campaigned in Ohio and drew laughs when he recalled what a voter in Tennessee had told him recently about rising gasoline prices. He said the man had said Obama has his own version of former candidate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan: "He wants us to pay $9.99 a gallon."

The former House speaker has said he must notch a Super Tuesday win in Georgia, where he launched his political career, but says he also has a chance to pick up delegates in Ohio.

Ron Paul was in Washington state as the caucuses began, searching for his first victory of the campaign.

It was a quirk in the campaign calendar that made Washington's caucuses the relatively low-key event that they were, sandwiched between a high-stakes clash between Romney and Santorum in Michigan and next-up primaries and caucuses in 10 states with 419 delegates at stake.

Of the 10, Ohio is the crown jewel, a big industrial state where Romney and Santorum maneuvered for their next showdown, and where Gingrich said he hopes to pick up a few delegates as well.

Apart from Ohio and Georgia, there also are primaries in Massachusetts, where Romney was governor, and Virginia, where Gingrich and Santorum failed to qualify for the ballot. Other primaries are in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Vermont.

Alaska, North Dakota and Idaho have caucuses.

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt, Dan Sewell, Ken Thomas, Steve Peoples and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.

The poll of registered voters revealed that Brown remains popular in the Bay State, including with independent voters. Watch video

Reporter's note: This story is the first in a series based on information developed from polls conducted by Western New England University in a partnership with The Republican and MassLive.com. We will cover the presidential race data on Monday followed by traits framing the Senate candidates on Tuesday.

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is holding a lead over Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren in the latest poll by Western New England University in a partnership with The republican and MassLive.com. (AP photos)

SPRINGFIELD – In the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Republican Sen. Scott Brown is leading chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren by a margin of eight percentage points according to the first poll conducted by Western New England University's Polling Institute for The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino this election season.

The statewide survey of 527 registered voters was conducted between Feb 23 and March 1, and bears a 4.3 percent margin of error.

The poll revealed that Brown remains popular in the Bay State, with 49 percent of those surveyed saying they would vote for him if the election was held today. Warren, a consumer advocate and Harvard Law School professor vying for the Democratic nomination to take on Brown in November's general election, pulled 41 percent of the projected vote.

Since a late fall poll conducted by the university, Brown saw his overall support climb two points while Warren's dropped one point.

When broken down by demographics, the numbers tell an even more intriguing tale.

Brown's support, classified by party identification, shows that while 94 percent of Republicans polled said Brown is the ideal candidate for the job, 22 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents also agreed.

Warren drew support form 70 percent of Democrats polled as well as 29 percent of Independents and four percent of Republicans.

This bar graph shows the percent of poll participants that have a favorable opinion of U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

“Warren needs to shore up her base of support among Democrats and make progress with independent voters if she is to close the gap with Brown,” said Tim Vercellotti, associate professor of political science and director of the Polling Institute at Western New England University. “As it stands now, Brown is in a strong position to win re-election.”

Among those polled who identify themselves as independents, the reasons for supporting a candidate varied.

Tim Taylor, a Pittsfield resident who is supporting Brown in the race, said the senator's independent image helped sway his decision.

"I feel like Scott Brown isn't afraid to cross the party line and do what he feels is the right thing to do," Taylor said. "I know that has made him somewhat unpopular with Republicans in Washington, but I give him a lot of credit for that."

David Fisher, a Stoughton resident supporting Warren at this point in the race, said her experience holding Wall Street firms accountable and her part organizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resonates with him.

Complete coverage of the Western New England University poll

Methodology of the Western New England University poll

The Western New England University Polling Institute conducted telephone interviews with 576 adults ages 18 and older drawn from across Massachusetts using random-digit-dialing Feb. 23 through March 1, 2012. The sample yielded 527 adults who said they are registered to vote in Massachusetts. Unless otherwise noted, the figures in this release are based on the statewide sample of registered voters.

The Polling Institute dialed household telephone numbers, known as “landline numbers,” and cell phone numbers for the survey. In order to draw a representative sample from the landline numbers, interviewers first asked for the youngest male age 18 or older who was home at the time of the call, and if no adult male was present, the youngest female age 18 or older who was at home at the time of the call. Interviewers dialing cell phone numbers interviewed the respondent who answered the cell phone after confirming three things: (1) that the respondent was in a safe setting to complete the survey; (2) that the respondent was an adult age 18 or older; and (3) that the respondent was a resident of Massachusetts. The landline and cell phone data were combined and weighted to reflect the adult population of Massachusetts by gender, race, age, and county of residence using U.S. Census estimates for Massachusetts. Complete results of the poll are available online at www.wne.edu/news.

All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. The sampling error for a sample of 527 registered voters is +/- 4.3 percent, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Thus if 55 percent of registered voters said they approved of the job that Scott Brown is doing as U.S. Senator, one would be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 50.7 percent and 59.3 percent (55 percent +/- 4.3 percent) had all Massachusetts voters been interviewed, rather than just a sample. Sampling error increases as the sample size decreases, so statements based on various population subgroups are subject to more error than are statements based on the total sample. Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, or context effects.

Established in 2005, the Western New England University Polling Institute conducts research on issues of importance to Massachusetts and the region. The Institute provides the University’s faculty and students with valuable opportunities to participate in public opinion research. Additional information about the Polling Institute is available at www1.wne.edu/pollinginst.

Follow politics reporter Robert Rizzuto on Twitter


Follow Robert Rizzuto on Twitter

"I don't feel like Wall Street has her in their pocket," said Fisher, who identified himself as a retired investor. "That's more than I can say for a lot of politicians. Scott Brown is a likeable guy in an impossible situation. He is in the wrong party. There are no moderate Republicans left just like there are no conservative Democrats."

As far as the genders go, Brown remains popular with women despite his recent stance on a health care bill that would have allowed any business or insurer to deny coverage of any procedure or prescription they find in contradiction to their moral or religious convictions. Critics charged that it would have left millions of women without affordable access to contraception. The Blunt Amendment, as it is known, was killed by a 51-48 vote in the Senate last week.

Female voters approved of the job that Brown is doing as senator by a margin of 50 percent to 28 percent in the latest survey, compared to a 47 percent job approval rating and a 31 percent disapproval rating among women in the fall survey.

Vercellotti noted that the differences are within the margin of error for the latest survey.

Cheryl Johnson of East Bridgewater said she is supporting Warren in part because she is a woman.

"I like what she has to say and the way she comes across," Johnson said. "And I'm not happy with the other candidate and just about everything he's said. More and more it feels like no one is going to step up and help the middle class but I'd like to see her get a shot. I think it's time to send another woman to Washington to clean things up."

Alice Ovitt of Sheffield, said that she is supporting Brown in part because she knows more about him than Warren.

"I don't know much about Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown isn't bad on the eyes," Ovitt said. "If I had some way to know she wouldn't go to Washington and end up like the rest of them, I might give her my vote. But people can promise anything and make you believe them but they can't make changes alone. They need to have someone on their side. He (Brown) has already been working down there and knows how the system works."

In a breakdown of the state's various regions, Warren led in Boston and its suburbs with 48 percent support compared to Brown's 46 percent. In Western and Central Massachusetts, Brown led Warren 44-42 percent and 46-40 percent, respectively.

In the north and south shores, which were considered one category in the survey, Brown's lead was greater – he pulled support from 54 percent of those surveyed compared to Warren with 33 percent.

And on the age-scale, in a somewhat surprising twist, Brown pulled 58 percent of voters ages 18-29 compared to Warren's 29 percent. Fifty percent of voters ages 30-49 are supporting Brown while 38 percent are supporting Warren.

But the consumer advocate remains popular with those ages 50-64, as 52 percent are pushing for Warren compared to Brown's 40 percent.

Of the 65-and-older category, 49 percent said they are supporting Brown while 42 percent are supporting Warren.

Compared to the university's late fall poll, Brown's overall favorability rating fell from 52 to 47 percent. His favorability among Republicans dipped five points to 85 percent, and his Independent support also dropped from 61-58 percent.

But among those who identify as Democrats, Brown's favorability climbed from 23 to 27 percent.

Warren's overall favorability and unfavorability each climbed four points to 37 and 20 percent of those surveyed, mirroring the trend of Democratic opinions of her. Her favorability among Republicans climbed one point to 11 percent while it dropped five points among Independents to 28 percent.

Warren has become better known among voters since the fall survey, when nearly half of registered voters said they hadn’t heard of her or did not have an opinion of her. About one-third of voters offered those responses in the latest survey.

Twenty-one percent of voters said they had not heard of Brown, or did not have an opinion of him, up two percentage points from the fall survey.

“Warren, and to a lesser extent Brown, still have opportunities to shape their images with a segment of the electorate,” Vercellotti said. “But each candidate’s opponent also has that opportunity.”

Brown, who has had two years to prove himself to the people of Massachusetts since winning the special election following the death of longtime Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, holds a 54 percent job approval rating, according to the latest poll.

His approval among Republicans and independents is steady at 88 and 58 percent with 39 percent of Democrats surveyed agreeing that they approve of his job performance.

And although many of the voters surveyed said they have made up their minds, there is a significant number of them still on the fence.

"In terms of likelihood that voters may change their minds, almost one-third of the sample says they might change their minds between now and Election Day," Vercelotti said. "So the race is still very fluid at this early stage. When breaking down the numbers by candidate, Warren's support seems a bit more solid than Brown's, with 72 percent saying very sure compared to 66 percent for Brown. It is worth noting that 40 percent of independents still might change their minds, so much can happen over the next several months and Warren still has opportunities to close the gap."

Among those who could still change their mind before election day is Fisher, who said that although he is supporting Warren now, he could still be swayed.

"I think we're lucky to have these candidates to choose from. When I look at some of the other candidates at the national level and in other states Senate races, it makes my skin crawl," Fisher said. "Warren and Brown have things in common but they are different. I think professor Warren can bring truth to power. But it's still early in this race and a lot can and probably will happen. I'm leaning toward Warren but I'm an educated person and open to a good argument."

Frederick Douglass, famed author, orator and lecturer, spoke at the Music Hall on the topic of "Emancipation." Douglass was no stranger to Springfield, where he met with John Brown in 1847 when the famous abolitionist was living here.

Harper's Weekly depiction of the March 14,1862 Battle of New Bern, N.C. which included Springfield area troops.

Springfield & The Civil War

We at The Republican are launching a four-year project to tell the story of how our community coped with 48 months of war, from April of 1861 to April of 1865.

On the first Sunday of each month we will run a report of what was happening here 150 years ago during that month.

by Wayne Phaneuf, Executive Editor

• Part 1 -- The Civil War is upon us: The events of April 1861 changed Springfield and the nation forever

• Part 2 -- A call to arms: President Lincoln upgraded call for troops in second month of Civil War

• Part 3 -- Boom Town: Springfield becomes vital to the Civil War effort

• Part 4 -- The Springfield Republican recounts 'Saddest day this country ever saw'

• Part 5 -- John Brown's spirit marches with Union soldiers

• Part 6 -- Springfield Armory fuels the remaking of a city

• Part 7 -- October 1861 finds a nation and Springfield divided over slavery

• Part 8 -- The 27th Massachusetts was Springfield's second regiment to go to war

• Part 9 -- Humble pie for Christmas, near-war with England, slave catching outlawed, St. Michael's Cathedral opens and D.H. Brigham burns

• Part 10 -- January 1862: Storm-ravaged Springfield troops live to fight another day

• Part 11 -- February 1862: 1st battle of the 27th Massachusetts a 'glorious victory'

• Introducing the project

"The hard hand of power is relentlessly closing upon and crushing the rebellion.”

As the Civil War entered its 12th month in March of 1862, the people of Western Massachusetts could take comfort from that lead paragraph which led The Springfield Republican edition on the first day of the month.

The war news was good. A string of Union victories in the West, in North Carolina, where local boys fought and died for the cause, and the rebels abandonment of Nashville all contributed to the idea that the end was near.

President Abraham Lincoln was preparing a message for Congress calling for the gradual abolition of slavery by compensating any rebel state that would desire to emancipate the slaves. It was far from total freedom, but represented a beginning and also a movement away from Lincoln’s sole purpose of preserving the Union and towards ending slavery.

At Camp Brightside in Maryland, some troops of the 10th Massachusetts, the first Springfield regiment to leave for the war, were also deeply involved in the slavery issue. And they were about to take action. The following is an excerpt from the regimental history:

“Saturday afternoon March 1st while the Regiment was on dress parade six Marylanders came into camp after some Negroes who were cooking and washing for the soldiers.

Some of the men who were off duty followed the Marylanders to a cook house where was employed a Negro whom one of the men claimed as his property. On being asked if he belonged to the man the man replied ‘I did once but I belong to myself now.’”

The slave, whose name was George, went on to tell the Union soldiers how his former master was a rebel sympathizer and approved of the mob killing of Massachusetts soldiers on April 19th while they marched through Baltimore. He also told them the man named Nolan had said Massachusetts soldiers were released convicts.

The slaveholder did not deny any of the allegations and he and his fellow slavecatchers left camp in a hurry without any slaves.

Many of the soldiers thought it would be a good idea to administer the oath of allegiance to some of the arrogant planters of Maryland and accordingly after roll call eight different squads took their guns and equipment and started due north.

On reaching the Nolan house the soldiers compelled the residents on bended knee to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

They headed back to camp with “feathered trophies” for the dinner table.

On that same day The Republican ran an ad proclaiming “New Spring Goods at low prices” have arrived Tinkham & Co. dry goods merchants on Main Street. But regardless of the announcement, winter refused to lift its grip on the region.

The heavy snows were beginning to take their toll on buildings both public and private, several barns and houses had collapsed throughout the region and on March 4, the town house in Belchertown was destroyed by the crushing ice and snow. “Had the catastrophe occurred twelve hours sooner, during the session of the annual town meeting, it would have probably been fatal to hundreds,” the newspaper reported.

The weather wasn’t the only danger. Springfield was being plagued by an arsonist. The Republican ran a story stating “the barnburners were engaged in their villainy again” setting fire to a barn behind the United States Hotel on Main Street. A group of local insurance companies posted a $500 reward for the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the series of blazes that began in January.

The railroad ran both north and south and east and west through Springfield and served as a constant reminder of the war. In that first week of March, 49 Confederate officers captured at the fall of Fort Donelson stopped in the city on their way to imprisonment at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, the 8th Vermont regiment of 1,200 men passed through on its way south, and a huge crowd at The Depot gathered to welcome Springfield resident Horace L. Niles home after he was released from a rebel prison.

The trains also gave people who worked in Springfield but could not find affordable housing in the booming city a chance to commute to work. The Republican reported that men with families “who are employed in Springfield can be accommodated by the morning and evening trains from Northampton and are choosing to live there.”

By the second week of March the ice was breaking up on the Connecticut River and the steamer “City of Hartford” made its first trip of the season to Springfield. It may have carried passengers eager to attend the play “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which was drawing large crowds to the Music Hall.

On March 9, 1862 the ironclads Monitor and Merrimac met in battle.

On March 10th The Republican ran a story under the headline “GREAT NAVAL FIGHT” in which the rebel iron-clad steamer “Merrimac” would sink the U.S.S. Cumberland, capture the frigate Congress and run the U.S.S. Minnesota aground. The Confederate behemoth was finally driven off by the U.S.S. Monitor as the two iron clad gunboats blasted away at each other for four hours off the coast of Virginia. The age of the wooden warship was over.

On March 18, a special EXTRA edition of The Republican hits the streets at 5 p.m. once again proclaiming victory for the Union cause and paying special attention to the local soldiers under the headline in all caps “MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS COVERED WITH GLORY.” It would be their bloodiest battle yet.

“Our gallant 27th covered itself with glory in the fight at Newbern N.C. It opened the engagement, firing the first gun and fought straight through .... Its list of killed and wounded shows that it stood fire well .... Cheers for Col. Lee and the 27th,” The Republican reported.

The 27th suffered seven killed and 78 wounded. The total for the battle of all regiments engaged was 87 killed and 430 wounded.

Among the local soldiers killed at Newbern was adjutant Frazar A. Stearns of the Massachusetts 21st regiment. He was the son of Amherst College President William A. Stearns and was in the junior class. His funeral was attended by hundreds.

The day after news of the battle of Newbern arrived in Springfield, Frederick Douglass, famed author, orator and lecturer, spoke at the Music Hall on the topic of “Emancipation.” Douglass was no stranger to Springfield where he met with John Brown in 1847 when the famous abolitionist was living here. Douglass would refer to the meeting as a turning point in his views on achieving freedom for his people and made him rethink his more peaceful approach.

“The cause of the black man in America was argued with much wit and eloquence by Frederick Douglass Wednesday evening,” a review of the speech in The Republican stated. “He exposed the origin of the great insurrection in the poisonous system of slavery...The question, What is to be done with four million of slaves if they are emancipated? Mr. Douglass thought had better be put in a different form — What is to be done if they are not emancipated?”

Frederick Douglass

He went on to say that, “The true way of dealing with the blacks is to manifest justice, humanity and fair spirits toward them; to give them a decent chance in the world; to substitute Mr. Cash for Mr. Lash as the compensation for their labors.”

Once again the trains from the South brought precious cargo to Springfield on March 25th. Forty-two wounded soldiers from the battle at Newbern arrived on the 9 o’clock express from New York. They were mostly from the 27th and 21st regiments and, according to The Republican, “During their stay in the depot, they were bountifully supplied with refreshments of all kinds, hot coffee and anything, in fact they desired.”

On March 27th, the newspaper ran a story on Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles request to the Senate Naval Committee for $30 million for iron-clad vessels and heavy ordnance. “I deem it imperative that we should commence construction of armored vessels on a scale commensurate with the great interests at stake,” Welles wrote the committee.

Amid the stories of war were the bits and snatches of normalcy. On March 28th the first fly of the season was reported captured in the telegraph office, the same story recounted the 40th snowfall of the winter that has fallen the night before. “But it was too thin to do much good or harm.”

The Republican declared the last day of the month “Moving Day” where anxious tenants would be loading carts with boxes and bundles with many heading out of town because they could no longer afford the rise in rents driven out of sight by the bidding of workers at the armory and other shops fueling the war effort.

By RUSS BYNUM SAVANNAH, Ga. — The GOP presidential candidates are fighting to win over conservative voters in the Bible Belt as the race takes on a more prominent Southern focus. After bowing out of recent contests north of the Mason-Dixon line, Newt Gingrich is staking his entire campaign on a big victory Tuesday in Georgia, where the onetime...

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks in Brunswick, Ga., Friday, March 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

By RUSS BYNUM

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The GOP presidential candidates are fighting to win over conservative voters in the Bible Belt as the race takes on a more prominent Southern focus.

After bowing out of recent contests north of the Mason-Dixon line, Newt Gingrich is staking his entire campaign on a big victory Tuesday in Georgia, where the onetime House speaker represented a suburban Atlanta district for 20 years. Rick Santorum is making inroads in Tennessee with a message that the state's evangelical voters should feel right at home with the former Pennsylvania senator's socially conservative views.

Both candidates hope to capitalize on Super Tuesday victories to propel their campaigns forward to Alabama and Mississippi on March 13 and to Louisiana on March 24. None of those Southern states was very hospitable to Mitt Romney during the former Massachusetts governor's White House bid in 2008, so there's prime recruiting ground to entice conservative voters who want an alternative to Romney.

"I fully believe that the South will be a key player," said Joe Dendy, Republican chairman for Cobb County in metro Atlanta. "I think we're going to see a clearer picture between Newt and Rick as to which one the South has seen as more conservative. And that's going to play a big role in the rest of the campaign."

With 76 delegates up for grabs, Georgia holds the biggest prize on Super Tuesday, and Gingrich spent most of the past week touring the state by bus. Still, a victory largely would be seen as meeting expectations and might not generate much momentum.

For Santorum, any victory in the South would come off as a sign of strength.

Jacob Wilkins, a 19-year-old student at a Tennessee Bible college, said he's decided Santorum is the superior candidate "as far as moral issues are concerned." He heard Santorum speak last week at a Baptist church in Powell, Tenn.

"America's a mess and he's got a better hold on what we need than any other candidates," Wilkins said.

Romney hasn't completely conceded the South. He stopped once in Atlanta last month, and his wife stood in for him at an event in the city Thursday. He planned to return Sunday for a pancake brunch in Snellville outside Atlanta and a rally in Knoxville, Tenn.

In the 2008 race, Romney finished third in each of the upcoming Southern primary states except for Mississippi, which voted after Romney quit the race. He still faces trouble connecting with Southern conservatives, who see him as too moderate, and with evangelicals, who might be troubled by Romney's Mormon faith.

"I'm a Christian and he's a Mormon," said Tamara McGhee, 45, a teacher from Douglasville, Ga., who remains undecided between Gingrich and Santorum. "That may create some bias with me because we have very different religions."

After Super Tuesday, the Southern campaign moves to Alabama and Mississippi, which hold primaries a week later.

"Super Tuesday, I'm sure, will set the tone for Mississippi and Alabama particularly," said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member and Romney supporter from Mississippi.

His uncle, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, has said he won't endorse until the party picks a nominee.

Most of the Republican statewide elected officials in Mississippi, including U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, are backing Romney. Gov. Phil Bryant hasn't made an endorsement since his initial pick, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, ended his run, although he said he is leaning toward Romney.

Dot Ward, a 73-year-old homemaker from Madison, Miss., said she is leaning toward Gingrich.

"I think Newt stands the greatest possibility of being able to debate with him intelligently and present a good case," Ward said. "But then I'm not sure about Newt and his ability to be president. See, that's what worries me the most. I'm unhappy about all of the candidates. And Rick Santorum, I do like very much. I like what he stands for. But I don't think he's got what seems to me the maturity."

Louisiana has received scant attention with its primary still three weeks away. Gov. Bobby Jindal hasn't endorsed anyone since Perry, whom he supported, dropped out. Campaign ads, mailers, bumper stickers and yard signs are largely missing from the state, which has 46 delegates up for grabs.

Jason Dore, executive director of Louisiana's state GOP, expects candidates will spend time and money in his state if the nomination remains undecided by the March 24 primary.

"It's going to be a last-minute thing," Dore said.

The state's Republican voters are staunchly conservative and are expected to favor Gingrich or Santorum in the primary over Romney.

"I would think Louisiana voters would gravitate toward Gingrich as a fellow Southerner and conservative and toward Santorum as a conservative, and not in the Romney camp, except only in the reluctant sense," said Kirby Goidel, a Louisiana State University political science professor.

In Georgia, evangelicals and tea party voters have struggled with their choices.

The group Georgia Right to Life endorsed both Santorum and Gingrich as equally strong abortion foes.

The Christian Coalition of Georgia hasn't endorsed anyone, but its leaders have sent emails opposing Gingrich. Jerry Luquire, the group's president, said Gingrich has too much "anti-family baggage" associated with his three marriages and past infidelities.

"He may have been forgiven by his family and by his God," Luquire said. "But there is still a penalty he has to pay."

Mike Morton, a tea party leader in Rome, said members of his group have been favoring Santorum. But he sees Gingrich gaining ground by focusing on Georgia and promising $2.50-a-gallon gasoline.

"What I kind of see now is the question of Santorum's electability starting to rear its head again," said Morton, who sees the candidate's focus on social issues turning off some fiscal conservatives. "It causes people to think if that's where he is, is he really electable in a cycle where the economy and getting jobs are the top issues?"

Associated Press writers Erik Schelzig in Powell, Tenn., Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Miss., and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

The spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of New York said the U.S. government is engaged in "an unwarranted, unprecedented radical intrusion."

Associated PressCardinal Timothy Dolan leads a morning prayer service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. — Cardinal Timothy Dolan called on Roman Catholic worshippers Saturday to become more involved in politics as the church stands against the government in what he called a "freedom of religion battle," as he spoke about the recent controversy involving contraceptive coverage.

Speaking at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville, the spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of New York said the U.S. government is engaged in "an unwarranted, unprecedented radical intrusion." He told the crowd they "live in an era that seems to discover new rights every day."

"We're not trying to impose our teachings on anybody," said Dolan in his 45-minute speech to a packed auditorium of about 1,000 people. "We're simply saying, don't impose your teaching upon us and make us do as a church what we find unconscionable to do."

Some religious organizations protested when President Barack Obama moved to mandate that religious-affiliated institutions such as hospitals and universities include free birth control coverage in their employee health plans.

Obama later said religious employers could opt out, but insurers must pay for the coverage.

Proponents say the plan is a breakthrough for women's rights, but Dolan and other leaders say it violates religious freedom.

Dolan, who is also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told reporters after the speech that they are in discussion with legal experts and constitutional scholars to determine whether legal action is necessary.

Sen. Scott Brown's popularity among women remained steady despite his backing of the Blunt Amendment.

Complete coverage of the latest Western New England University poll

SPRINGFIELD – To the surprise of some, Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's popularity among female voters remains high, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute through a partnership with The Republican and MassLive.com.

The question as to whether Brown would lose ground with women came after he took a vocal stance in support of the Blunt Amendment, a Republican bill that would have allowed any business or insurer to deny coverage of any procedure or prescription, such as contraception, which contrasts their moral or religious beliefs.

The measure was killed in the U.S. Senate last week by a 51-48 vote, but prior to its death, Brown's position drew several predominately female protests at campaign stops and outside his Boston office.

He also drew criticism from consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Brown's chief Democratic opponent in his re-election bid.

The poll revealed that female voters approve of the job that Brown is doing as senator by a margin of 50 percent to 28 percent in the latest survey, compared to a 47 percent job approval rating and a 31 percent disapproval rating among women in a fall survey conducted by the university.

Tim Vercellotti, associate professor of political science and director of the Polling Institute at Western New England University, noted that the differences are within the margin of error for the latest survey.

Brown’s favorability rating among women showed slight changes, but those changes were also within the margin of error for the latest survey. His favorability rating of 43 percent among women was down three percentage points from the fall survey, while his unfavorability rating of 31 percent among women was up one percentage point from the last survey.

Warren's popularity with women grew to 38 percent compared to 32 percent in the fall poll.

At the same time, Brown's popularity among men dropped from 59 percent in the fall survey to 52 percent in the current one. His unfavorable rating among men also increased one percentage point to 25 percent.

Massachusetts will send 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention.

File photo | The Republican

BOSTON — Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is reminding voters they have until Monday at noon to apply in person at their local election office and cast absentee ballots for Tuesday's presidential primary.

Voters who had ballots mailed to them must have those completed ballots returned by mail to their election office before 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Voters in the Republican primary will choose between Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich.

Massachusetts will send 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Party rules require a candidate receive at least 15 percent of the statewide vote to receive any delegates.

Green-Rainbow voters will choose between Kent Mesplay, Jill Stein and Harley Mikkelson.

President Barack Obama is the only candidate on the Democratic ballot.

When asked which candidate they were leaning toward at this point, 42 percent of Western Mass. residents said Warren while 44 percent said Brown.

Complete Coverage of the Western New England University Poll

Candidate Support by Region

Western Massachusetts
• 42 percent-Warren
• 44 percent-Brown
• 13 percent-Undecided
Central Massachusetts
• 40 percent-Warren
• 46 percent-Brown
• 14 percent-Undecided
North & South Shores
• 33 percent-Warren
• 54 percent-Brown
• 12 percent-Undecided
Boston & Suburbs
• 48 percent-Warren
• 46 percent-Brown
• 6 percent-Undecided

SPRINGFIELD – Among the various regions of the commonwealth, Western Massachusetts residents seem to be supporting Republican Sen. Scott Brown and chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren at nearly an equal rate in the U.S. Senate race.

This according to one data table from the poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute in a partnership with The Republican and MassLive.com.

In the survey, 527 registered voters from across the commonwealth were asked various questions pertaining to the 2012 Senate and Presidential races. The poll has a 4.3 percent margin of error, according to the polling institute.

When asked which candidate they were leaning toward at this point, 42 percent of Western Mass. residents said Warren while 44 percent said Brown.

But state-wide, 41 percent of those surveyed said they were leaning toward Warren with 49 percent supporting Brown.

Overall, 10 percent of those surveyed said they were still undecided, signifying that there is enough time for either candidate to rise or fall based on what happens over the coming months on the campaign trail.

Boston and its suburbs hold the highest concentration of support for Warren with 48 percent saying they are leaning toward her. The area with the lowest concentration of support, according to the poll, is the North and South shores, with 33 percent support.

Brown has the highest concentration of support on the North and South shores with 54 percent, with 46 percent of those polled in Central Massachusetts and Boston and its suburbs also supporting the senator.

This bar graph shows the percent of poll participants that have a favorable opinion of U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

Frederick Douglass spoke at the Music Hall on the topic of "Emancipation." Douglass was no stranger to Springfield, where he met with John Brown in 1847 when the famous abolitionist was living here.

Harper's Weekly depiction of the March 14,1862 Battle of New Bern, N.C. which included Springfield area troops.

Springfield & The Civil War

We at The Republican are launching a four-year project to tell the story of how our community coped with 48 months of war, from April of 1861 to April of 1865.

On the first Sunday of each month we will run a report of what was happening here 150 years ago during that month.

by Wayne Phaneuf, Executive Editor

• Part 1 -- The Civil War is upon us: The events of April 1861 changed Springfield and the nation forever

• Part 2 -- A call to arms: President Lincoln upgraded call for troops in second month of Civil War

• Part 3 -- Boom Town: Springfield becomes vital to the Civil War effort

• Part 4 -- The Springfield Republican recounts 'Saddest day this country ever saw'

• Part 5 -- John Brown's spirit marches with Union soldiers

• Part 6 -- Springfield Armory fuels the remaking of a city

• Part 7 -- October 1861 finds a nation and Springfield divided over slavery

• Part 8 -- The 27th Massachusetts was Springfield's second regiment to go to war

• Part 9 -- Humble pie for Christmas, near-war with England, slave catching outlawed, St. Michael's Cathedral opens and D.H. Brigham burns

• Part 10 -- January 1862: Storm-ravaged Springfield troops live to fight another day

• Part 11 -- February 1862: 1st battle of the 27th Massachusetts a 'glorious victory'

• Introducing the project

"The hard hand of power is relentlessly closing upon and crushing the rebellion.”

As the Civil War entered its 12th month in March of 1862, the people of Western Massachusetts could take comfort from that lead paragraph which led The Springfield Republican edition on the first day of the month.

The war news was good. A string of Union victories in the West, in North Carolina, where local boys fought and died for the cause, and the rebels abandonment of Nashville all contributed to the idea that the end was near.

President Abraham Lincoln was preparing a message for Congress calling for the gradual abolition of slavery by compensating any rebel state that would desire to emancipate the slaves. It was far from total freedom, but represented a beginning and also a movement away from Lincoln’s sole purpose of preserving the Union and towards ending slavery.

At Camp Brightside in Maryland, some troops of the 10th Massachusetts, the first Springfield regiment to leave for the war, were also deeply involved in the slavery issue. And they were about to take action. The following is an excerpt from the regimental history:

“Saturday afternoon March 1st while the Regiment was on dress parade six Marylanders came into camp after some Negroes who were cooking and washing for the soldiers.

Some of the men who were off duty followed the Marylanders to a cook house where was employed a Negro whom one of the men claimed as his property. On being asked if he belonged to the man the man replied ‘I did once but I belong to myself now.’”

The slave, whose name was George, went on to tell the Union soldiers how his former master was a rebel sympathizer and approved of the mob killing of Massachusetts soldiers on April 19th while they marched through Baltimore. He also told them the man named Nolan had said Massachusetts soldiers were released convicts.

The slaveholder did not deny any of the allegations and he and his fellow slavecatchers left camp in a hurry without any slaves.

Many of the soldiers thought it would be a good idea to administer the oath of allegiance to some of the arrogant planters of Maryland and accordingly after roll call eight different squads took their guns and equipment and started due north.

On reaching the Nolan house the soldiers compelled the residents on bended knee to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

They headed back to camp with “feathered trophies” for the dinner table.

On that same day The Republican ran an ad proclaiming “New Spring Goods at low prices” have arrived Tinkham & Co. dry goods merchants on Main Street. But regardless of the announcement, winter refused to lift its grip on the region.

The heavy snows were beginning to take their toll on buildings both public and private, several barns and houses had collapsed throughout the region and on March 4, the town house in Belchertown was destroyed by the crushing ice and snow. “Had the catastrophe occurred twelve hours sooner, during the session of the annual town meeting, it would have probably been fatal to hundreds,” the newspaper reported.

The weather wasn’t the only danger. Springfield was being plagued by an arsonist. The Republican ran a story stating “the barnburners were engaged in their villainy again” setting fire to a barn behind the United States Hotel on Main Street. A group of local insurance companies posted a $500 reward for the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the series of blazes that began in January.

The railroad ran both north and south and east and west through Springfield and served as a constant reminder of the war. In that first week of March, 49 Confederate officers captured at the fall of Fort Donelson stopped in the city on their way to imprisonment at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, the 8th Vermont regiment of 1,200 men passed through on its way south, and a huge crowd at The Depot gathered to welcome Springfield resident Horace L. Niles home after he was released from a rebel prison.

The trains also gave people who worked in Springfield but could not find affordable housing in the booming city a chance to commute to work. The Republican reported that men with families “who are employed in Springfield can be accommodated by the morning and evening trains from Northampton and are choosing to live there.”

By the second week of March the ice was breaking up on the Connecticut River and the steamer “City of Hartford” made its first trip of the season to Springfield. It may have carried passengers eager to attend the play “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which was drawing large crowds to the Music Hall.

On March 9, 1862 the ironclads Monitor and Merrimac met in battle.

On March 10th The Republican ran a story under the headline “GREAT NAVAL FIGHT” in which the rebel iron-clad steamer “Merrimac” would sink the U.S.S. Cumberland, capture the frigate Congress and run the U.S.S. Minnesota aground. The Confederate behemoth was finally driven off by the U.S.S. Monitor as the two iron clad gunboats blasted away at each other for four hours off the coast of Virginia. The age of the wooden warship was over.

On March 18, a special EXTRA edition of The Republican hits the streets at 5 p.m. once again proclaiming victory for the Union cause and paying special attention to the local soldiers under the headline in all caps “MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS COVERED WITH GLORY.” It would be their bloodiest battle yet.

“Our gallant 27th covered itself with glory in the fight at Newbern N.C. It opened the engagement, firing the first gun and fought straight through .... Its list of killed and wounded shows that it stood fire well .... Cheers for Col. Lee and the 27th,” The Republican reported.

The 27th suffered seven killed and 78 wounded. The total for the battle of all regiments engaged was 87 killed and 430 wounded.

Among the local soldiers killed at Newbern was adjutant Frazar A. Stearns of the Massachusetts 21st regiment. He was the son of Amherst College President William A. Stearns and was in the junior class. His funeral was attended by hundreds.

The day after news of the battle of Newbern arrived in Springfield, Frederick Douglass, famed author, orator and lecturer, spoke at the Music Hall on the topic of “Emancipation.” Douglass was no stranger to Springfield where he met with John Brown in 1847 when the famous abolitionist was living here. Douglass would refer to the meeting as a turning point in his views on achieving freedom for his people and made him rethink his more peaceful approach.

“The cause of the black man in America was argued with much wit and eloquence by Frederick Douglass Wednesday evening,” a review of the speech in The Republican stated. “He exposed the origin of the great insurrection in the poisonous system of slavery...The question, What is to be done with four million of slaves if they are emancipated? Mr. Douglass thought had better be put in a different form — What is to be done if they are not emancipated?”

Frederick Douglass

He went on to say that, “The true way of dealing with the blacks is to manifest justice, humanity and fair spirits toward them; to give them a decent chance in the world; to substitute Mr. Cash for Mr. Lash as the compensation for their labors.”

Once again the trains from the South brought precious cargo to Springfield on March 25th. Forty-two wounded soldiers from the battle at Newbern arrived on the 9 o’clock express from New York. They were mostly from the 27th and 21st regiments and, according to The Republican, “During their stay in the depot, they were bountifully supplied with refreshments of all kinds, hot coffee and anything, in fact they desired.”

On March 27th, the newspaper ran a story on Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles request to the Senate Naval Committee for $30 million for iron-clad vessels and heavy ordnance. “I deem it imperative that we should commence construction of armored vessels on a scale commensurate with the great interests at stake,” Welles wrote the committee.

Amid the stories of war were the bits and snatches of normalcy. On March 28th the first fly of the season was reported captured in the telegraph office, the same story recounted the 40th snowfall of the winter that has fallen the night before. “But it was too thin to do much good or harm.”

The Republican declared the last day of the month “Moving Day” where anxious tenants would be loading carts with boxes and bundles with many heading out of town because they could no longer afford the rise in rents driven out of sight by the bidding of workers at the armory and other shops fueling the war effort.

Brown's job approval was highest in the North and South Shore with 61 percent approval and lowest in Western Massachusetts, where only 44 percent of those polled said they approve of his job performance.

(Courtesy file photo)U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., holds a 54 percent job approval rating in Massachusetts, much higher than Congress as a whole which holds a record low approval rating of 10 percent.

SPRINGFIELD – Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's job approval rating remains higher than many members of Congress, according to a new poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute through a partnership with The Republican and MassLive.com.

Of the 527 registered voters surveyed between Feb. 23 and March 1, 54 percent said they approve of the job Brown is doing as the junior senator from Massachusetts while 28 percent say they disapprove. The poll has a 4.3 percent margin of error.

Congress as a whole, has a dismal job approval rating of 10 percent, an all-time low, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Brown's job approval was highest in the north and south shore towns with 61 percent approval and lowest in Western Massachusetts where only 44 percent of those polled said they approve of his job performance.

Complete coverage of the Western New England University poll

Sen. Scott Brown's job approval by region

Western Massachusetts
• 44 percent approve
• 29 percent disapprove
Central Massachusetts
• 51 percent approve
• 26 percent disapprove
North & South Shores
• 61 percent approve
• 20 percent disapprove
Boston & Suburbs
• 51 percent approve
• 33 percent disapprove

In Central Massachusetts, 51 percent said they approve of Brown's performance while 26 percent disapprove.

Support for Brown's performance was higher among men than women, 58 and 50 percent respectively, although neither is considered bad in the realm of politics.

Democrats polled said they approve of Brown's performance by a margin of 39 percent to 42 percent, while 88 percent of Republicans approved.

Independents approved of Brown's performance by a margin of 58 percent to 21 percent, with 20 percent saying they didn't know enough to respond or refusing to respond.

Compared to the university's late fall poll, Brown's overall favorability rating fell from 52 to 47 percent. His favorability among Republicans dipped five points to 85 percent, and his Independent support also dropped from 61-58 percent.

But among those who identify as Democrats, Brown's favorability climbed from 23 to 27 percent.

Brown's chief Democratic rival in his re-election bid, Elizabeth Warren, saw her overall favorability and unfavorability ratings each climb four points to 37 and 20 percent of those surveyed, mirroring the trend of Democratic opinions of her. Her favorability among Republicans climbed one point to 11 percent while it dropped two points among Independents to 28 percent.

Warren has become better known among voters since the fall survey, when nearly half of registered voters said they hadn’t heard of her or did not have an opinion of her. About one-third of voters offered those responses in the latest survey.

Twenty-one percent of voters said they had not heard of Brown, or did not have an opinion of him, up two percentage points from the fall survey.

This bar graph shows the percent of poll participants that have a favorable opinion of U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

This bar graph shows the percent of poll participants that have an unfavorable opinion of U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

Western New England University Polling Institute March 2012 Senate Data Tables

Obituaries from The Republican.

Muriel McNulty

Muriel Irene (McQuade) "Mim" McNulty, 78, of Springfield, died on Friday. She was born in Springfield, was a graduate of the former Classical High School, and received a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Lesley College in Boston. McNulty was employed with the Town of East Longmeadow as a second grade teacher at the Meadowbrook School for 33 years, and retired in 1995. Her students referred to her as "Mrs. Mac." The town and school also honored her when she was named to the East Longmeadow Teacher's Hall of Fame.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Brunelle, Raymond
  




• 
  Gallant, Robert Francis "Bob"
  



• 
  Gardner, Donald M. "Don"




• 
  Garner, Samuel E.
  



• 
  Giannetti, Rita Kay
  




• James, Althea Jenada
  




• 
  Jewell, Eddie B.
  



• 
  Jodoin, Leopold H.




• 
  Lowell, William B. "Will"
  



• 
  Malone, Rosemary M.
  




• McNulty, Muriel I. "Mim" (McQuade)
  




• 
  Menzel, Ruth L. (Kellerman)
  



• 
  Morgan, Richard "Dick"




• 
  Page, Maria D.
  



• 
  Phillips, Evelyn Duncan
  




• Riendeau, Norma Cavallon (Chiarini)
  




• 
  Riley, Edward F.
  



• 
  Roberge, Edna A. (Bolduc)




• 
  Spring, Lynne P.
  



• 
  Trusiewicz, Alexander "Al"
  

Freddie Mac Already agreed to a price, but the taxpayer-owned entity seems intent on punishing Giovanni and Linda DeCaro.

The Republican / Dave Roback03/01/12-Springfield-Staff Photo by Dave Roback- Linda J. and Giovanni S. DeCaro at the kitchen table of their Lucerne Road home in Springfield. To go with a foreclosure battle they are having with Freddie Mac.

SPRINGFIELD – Freddie Mac is willing to take a loss on the mortgage it holds for the DeCaro family home on Lucerene Road.

But the federally-backed mortgage holder won’t go through with the short sale, a common method of avoiding mortgage foreclosures, if the DeCaro family is able to buy back the home or even rent it from new owners.

“These guys took a bailout,” Giovanni S. “John” DeCaro said this week in an interview arranged by Springfield No One Leaves, a group that tries to fight on behalf of those facing foreclosures. “Freddie Mac took a bailout. Chrysler, General Motors got the same thing. Now I need the bailout.”

What unnerves DeCaro and his wife, Linda J. DeCaro, is that it’s not about the money. Freddie Mac Already agreed to a price. It’s that the taxpayer-owned entity seems intent on punishing them.

“We just want to save our house,” Linda DeCaro said.

Springfield No One Leaves will host a vigil at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday on the DeCaro’s front lawn, 152 Lucerne Road.

The DeCaros are trying to save their home through a short sale arranged by Boston Community Capital, a community development financial institution in low-income neighborhoods in the state. Boston Community Capital’s Stabilizing Urban Neighborhood’s , or SUN, program has used $22 million in private-investor money to prevent 105 mortgage foreclosures across the state and save 175 units of housing, including some duplexes, since its inception in 2009, said Rachael M. Dorr, general manager of the SUN program.

Boston Common Capital is just now starting to spread its work into Western Massachusetts and has deals pending in Springfield and Chicopee, Dorr said.

But “arms-length” provisions like the one insisted upon by Freddie Mac are making it harder for Boston Common Capital to do its job, she said.

Brad German, a senior director of public relations at Freddie Mac, said no one is accusing the DeCaro family or Boston Community Capital of fraud. But the provision preventing the DeCaro’s deal is part of Freddie Mac’s anti-fraud efforts. It’s also about preserving the value of the mortgages it owns.

“We are trying to minimize losses,” German said. “Therefore we are trying to maximize the best price.”

The DeCaros took out a $184,000 mortgage through Bank of America in 2007. But by 2009 they both had had their hours at work and wages cut, Linda DeCaro said. They thought they’d negotiated a lower mortgage payment with Bank of America. But they only had a verbal agreement.

In July 2011, Bank of America returned part of the lower payment and told the DeCaros they were in arrears. By August they had a foreclosure warning.

Jumana Bauwens, a Bank of America spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that the DeCaros were the U.S. Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program. “ And during that process, we made multiple attempts to collect the necessary paperwork so that we can complete the underwriting but we never received all of the necessary paperwork,” Bauwens wrote. “We continued working with them to try to identify a modification program but our latest notes show that we still have not received all the necessary paperwork. If they are still interested in a modification, we will need the updated, complete paperwork and we will review them for any possible modifications available through their investor.”

Eventually, the DeCaros found Boston Community Capital. Dorr said Boston Community Capital negotiated a short sale with Bank of America and with Freddie Mac. In a short sale, the lender agrees to take less than the value of the mortgage, in this case $100,000. Door said Boston Community Capital had the house appraised in November and December.

After it bought the place, Boston Community Capital planed to sell it back to the DeCaro family for $100,000. They would keep living in it with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6.375 percent.

In return, the DeCaro’s credit would be ruined, Dorr said. They also wouldn’t be able to sell the house for more than the $100,000 they paid for it, ever, without sharing some of that profit with Boston Community Capital.

“We are not giving them something for nothing,” Dorr said. “No one goes into this situation because they think it is going to fun and profitable.”

But Freddie Mac won’t let the deal move forward.

Bauwens of Bank of America said it’s happy to work with Boston Community Capital.

Most lenders, including Bank of America, require that the homeowners rent as tenants for a time before Boston Community Capital can sell, Dorr said.

But Freddie Mac is holding firm.

Dorr said she finds Freddie Mac’s position especially vexing because by agreeing to a short sale in the first place, they admit that they will lose money on the deal.

“It’s not about money at that point,” she said. “And once you sell a house, who are you to say what happens to it later.”

The alternative is to foreclose and have the house boarded up.

Jon K. Skarin, a senior vice president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said the association backs Boston Community Capital’s efforts. But he said there is fraud, especially in housing-boom-and-bust states like California and Florida.

“To someone who doesn’t understand what Boston Community Capital is doing and understand their mission, that’s what it looks like,” he said.

It doesn’t help that Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, which allows this type of short sales, are run by federal regulators, Skarin said.

“The regulators mission, at least their stated mission is not to keep people in their houses,” he said. “It’s to maximize the revenue stream.”

But bankers usually loose more money on a foreclosure than they do on a short sale, Skarin said. The real estate market is hurt anytime there is a foreclosure as well.

“The faster you get these properties out, back on the market and back in circulation, the better the market is going to be,” he said. “Let’s turn these things around. It’s just unfortunate in these cases, Freddie is dug in on this.”