Daisey misled dozens of news and entertainment outlets, including the popular public radio show "This American Life," The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC and HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

The Associated PressIn this undated image released by The Public Theater, Mike Daisey is shown in a scene from "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in New York. Daisey, whose latest show has been being credited with sparking probes into how Apple's high-tech devices are made, is finding himself under fire for distorting the truth. The public radio show “This American Life” retracted a story Friday, March 16, 2012, that it broadcast in January about what Daisey said he saw while visiting a factory in China where iPads and iPhones are made.

NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Daisey, the off-Broadway performer who admitted that he made up parts of his one-man show about Apple products being made in Chinese sweatshops, has cut questionable sections from the monologue and added a prologue explaining the controversy.

Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater, where the monologue is being performed, said Saturday that Daisey has "eliminated anything he doesn't feel he can stand behind" from the show and added a section at the beginning in which he addresses the questions raised by critics.

Eustis called the prologue "the best possible frame we could give the audience for the controversy" and said Daisey agreed to make the changes himself, which are "his and his alone."

"Mike is a great storyteller, not a journalist. I wish he had been clearer about that distinction in the making of this piece," Eustis said after seeing Saturday's matinee performance. "If we had understood the rules Mike was using to make the show, we would have framed it differently from the outset."

Daisey portrayed his work as fact during a media blitz to promote his critically acclaimed show, and he misled dozens of news and entertainment outlets, including the popular public radio show "This American Life," The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC and HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

But in an interview with "This American Life" host Ira Glass broadcast Friday, Daisey acknowledged that some of the claims in his show, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," weren't true. The show retracted its Jan. 6 episode because Glass said he couldn't vouch for the truth of its claims.

Daisey, who admitted Friday on his website that the work is a mix of fact and fiction, did not respond to questions sent to his personal email account, and his publicist did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The controversy is unlikely to lessen the media scrutiny of the Chinese factories that make Apple products, since news outlets including the Times have reported about the dangerous working conditions in them, including explosions inside iPad plants where four people were killed and 77 were injured.

But some of Daisey's older monologues might get a second look.

"If he had only chosen to actually utilize what theatre allows you to do — which is to transform fact into something that retains an emotional truth," said Howard Sherman, a former executive director of the American Theatre Wing and an arts administrator and producer. He didn't see Daisey's show but said he thought it might "call into question people who do this in the future."

Daisey is just the latest artist to apparently get tripped up by the truth — joining a list that includes James Frey, who admitted that he lied in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces," and Greg Mortenson, who is accused of fabricating key parts of his best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea."

The controversy raised once again the question of the artist's role in society and what his or her responsibility is to the truth. And has Daisey ultimately hurt or harmed the very people he was trying to help?

Terry Teachout, chief theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, called Daisy a talented artist but said the episode was "unforgivable," and Peter Marks, the critic for The Washington Post, tweeted that Daisey's "zeal seems to have gotten the better of his judgment." Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune suspected Daisey "was seduced by the glare of attention."

The controversy put The Public, where the work ends its second run on Sunday, in a difficult spot — protective of artists and their right to free expression but also sensitive to audience concerns.

"We do not and cannot fact check our artists; we're a theater, not a news organization. The vast majority of what occurs on our stages is fiction. If we didn't believe fiction could reveal truth, we would have to give up our profession. With that said, it obviously matters a great deal to me that our audience understands what they are seeing," Eustis said.

Daisey, who performs his monologues seated at a desk and using notes, has previously tackled everything from dysfunctional dot-coms to the international financial crisis. A movie has been made of his monologue "If You See Something Say Something," and in a weird twist, he did a 2006 show called "Truth" about how art and fact mix. In it, Daisey admitted he once fabricated a story because it "connected" with the audience.

Daisey told Glass he felt conflicted about presenting things that he knew weren't true. But he said he felt "trapped" and was afraid people would no longer care about the abuses at the factories if he didn't present things in a dramatic way.

In an interview with the AP last year when his show was first in New York, Daisey's passion for humane treatment of Chinese workers was evident. "Artists are people who are called to action," he said. "If they're not active then they're probably asleep."

An Apple spokeswoman declined again Saturday to comment on the revelations about the monologue. The company has been rebutting Daisey's allegations for months, to little effect.

Before he scrubbed the monologue, Daisey described traveling to the Chinese industrial zone of Shenzhen and interviewing hundreds of workers from Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer. Daisey said he stood outside the gate with a translator and met workers as young as 12 and some whose joints were damaged because they performed the same action thousands of times a shift.

"I talk to people whose joints in their hands have disintegrated from working on the line, doing the same motion hundreds and hundreds of thousands of times. It's like carpal tunnel on a scale we can scarcely imagine," he says, according to a transcript of the show. Later in the monologue, he said he met workers poisoned by the chemical hexane, used to clear iPhone screens.

But "This American Life" reported Daisey's Chinese interpreter disputed many of the artist's claims when contacted by Rob Schmitz, a China correspondent for the public radio show "Marketplace." Among them, the translator said guards outside the factory weren't armed, Daisey never met workers from a secret union and he never visited factory dorm rooms.

Daisey told Glass he didn't meet any poisoned workers and guessed at the ages of some he met. He also said some details he used were things he read about happening elsewhere.

"I'm not going to say that I didn't take a few shortcuts in my passion to be heard," he told Glass. "But I stand behind the work. My mistake, the mistake that I truly regret is that I had it on your show as journalism, and it's not journalism. It's theater."

In the edited monologue, Eustis said Daisey acknowledges "that his translator, Cathy, does not remember things which he does remember."

Apple's popularity among consumers and investors alike has only grown while Daisey has been railing against the company. Since Daisey's one-man show hit the stage in the summer of 2010, Apple has sold more than 74 million iPhones, more than 35 million iPads and more than 29 million iPods.

Propelled by the surging sales of Apple's devices, the company stock price has climbed nearly 70 percent to create an additional $220 billion in shareholder wealth. Apple now reigns as the world's richest company, with nearly $100 billion in cash and a market value of $546 billion.

Daisey's embellishments threaten to set back the efforts to improve the working conditions in China and other countries where many trendy gadgets are made, said veteran technology analyst Rob Enderle.

He fears Daisey's tainted credibility will embolden more U.S. companies to turn a blind eye to how the assembly-line workers are being treated in the overseas factories run by their contractors. "It will make it more difficult to correct these labor injustices in China," Enderle said. "Daisey tried to make this out to be an Apple problem, but it really wasn't. It's a China problem."

Eustis hopes audiences will not let the controversy distract them for Daisey's main points. "The subject matter of this piece — the way we allow working people who make our objects elsewhere in the world to be treated — is incredibly important, and it is vital that we not be distracted from that subject by this controversy."

Daisey — a performer in the vein of Spalding Gray and John Leguizamo — has performed the monologue for more than 50,000 people from Seattle to Washington, D.C. He was expected to take the show on tour after its run at The Public Theater.

Industry officials and many Republicans in Congress contend that cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices.

Associated PressGasoline prices above five-dollars a gallon are posted at a gas station in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, March 16, 2012.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pump prices on his mind, President Barack Obama says Congress should kill tax breaks for the oil and gas industry and help develop alternative sources of energy.

Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that he expected Congress to consider in the next few weeks ending $4 billion in tax subsidies, a move he has failed to persuade lawmakers to make during his term. He said the vote would put them on record on whether they "stand up for oil companies" or "stand up for the American people."

"They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century or they can place their bets on America's future," Obama said.

Industry officials and many Republicans in Congress contend that cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices, raising costs on oil companies and affecting their investments in exploration and production. The measure is considered a long shot, given that Obama couldn't end the subsidies when Democrats controlled Congress earlier in his term.

Republican presidential candidates have accused Obama of delaying drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in a national wildlife refuge in Alaska and faulted him for not advancing the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. They have also criticized policies pursued by the Environmental Protection Agency as inhibiting energy development.

Obama said there is no quick fix to high gas prices, which climbed to $3.83 on Friday according to AAA, but he pushed back against critics who say he is opposed to more drilling. He said the U.S. is producing more oil than at any time in the past eight years and has quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs.

"If we're truly going to make sure we're not at the mercy of spikes in gas prices every year, the answer isn't just to drill more — because we're already drilling more," Obama said. He said his administration was trying to develop wind and solar power, biofuels and usher in more fuel-efficient vehicles to make the nation less dependent on oil.

In the weekly Republican address, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said his constituents have been hard hit by an increase in gasoline prices and were "fed up with the way the president is handling this issue, and rightfully so. The most forceful thing the president has done about high gas prices is try to explain that he's against them."

Gardner said the $800 billion stimulus spending sought by Obama promoted energy companies that went bankrupt, wasting taxpayer money.

"After spending money we don't have on what won't work — and overregulating what would — is it any wonder gas prices have more than doubled on the president's watch? Make no mistake, high gas prices are a symptom of his failed 'stimulus' policies," Gardner said.

Obama is expected to keep up a drumbeat on energy this week, traveling to four states over two days to push his administration's "all of the above" energy strategy. The trip includes stops in Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio.

A December Gallup poll showed Americans' fear of big government has reached near-record levels, with 64 percent deeming it a bigger threat to the country than big business or big labor.

Associated Press/Jessica HillIn this Friday, April 15, 2011 file photo, Tea Party activists rally at the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, are asking some fundamental questions about the state of the union that go beyond how to grow the economy or curb foreclosures. Among the most profound: What is - and perhaps should be - the role of government in our lives?

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
AP National Writer

They're coming. The mom from North Carolina who opposes vaccinations and dislikes doctors and chooses to forgo health coverage because, she says, it is her right as an American. The Massachusetts Navy vet who feels health reform in his state has limited choice and ballooned costs. The husband-and-wife private investigators from Georgia who are satisfied with their own health plan and fear being forced to buy something more expensive.

They're coming, along with so many others, to Washington, D.C., this month. They will stand a few blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court, clutching handmade signs and chanting as one as the high court prepares to hear arguments — and renew debate — over a health care law that has divided Americans and become a rallying point among a chunk of the electorate for whom "change" has come to mean "repeal."

"Obamacare" unites them. But what inspires them to converge in protest is less the law itself than what it has come to represent to a lot of people: Big government at its worst.

"It is the epitome of being in my face and telling me what I can and can't do for the rest of my life," says Christine Gates, the North Carolina mom.

"What's next? They gonna tell you you can't wear a black T-shirt?" says Carlos Hernandez, the Massachusetts veteran.

"With Bush is when I became more and more aware of the fact that government was spending more and requiring more ... when Obama took over, it went from second or third gear to fifth or sixth gear," says Michael Mancha, the private investigator in Georgia. His wife, Elizabeth, feels the health care law "truly exemplifies how out of control the federal government has gotten. It's the big trophy on the mantle."

These are more than just rants from the anti-Obama crowd, but rather a sampling of the national conversation underlying so much of the angst among voters this election year — from Occupy protesters who rail not just against Wall Street but for the idea that "we don't need politicians to build a better society" to tea partiers who carry pocket copies of the Constitution and espouse the principle of "constitutionally limited government."

Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, are asking some fundamental questions about the state of the union that go beyond how to grow the economy, add jobs, lower fuel prices and curb foreclosures.

Among the most profound: What is — and perhaps should be — the role of government in our lives?

That many Americans believe government, the federal government in particular, has grown too big and powerful is hardly an earth-shattering revelation. It is one of the very reasons the tea party was born. Why debates over bailouts, stimulus packages and the national deficit have intensified. Why state legislatures are pushing back against congressional regulations. Why the champion of libertarianism, GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, draws dedicated followers who cheer his proposals to end the Federal Reserve, repeal the federal income tax and abolish the Internal Revenue Service (along with the federal departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and more). And why more than two dozen states sued over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A December Gallup poll showed Americans' fear of big government has reached near-record levels, with 64 percent deeming it a bigger threat to the country than big business or big labor. Driving the increase was a rise in the percentage of Democrats who view the government as ever-more threatening.

"I think more and more people across the political spectrum are saying, 'Whoa. We don't want these people having this kind of power,'" says Michael Boldin, executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, a think-tank that supports limited government. "'Obamacare' is the symbol for conservatives. Things like the NDAA" — the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law in December and could allow for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism — "are now becoming a symbol across the political spectrum."

"The way we see it is no matter what political party's been in power for probably a hundred years now ... government keeps growing. And people can protest, vote the bums out, or sue in court. It keeps happening."

And now the anti-big-government mantra has become a dominant theme on the Republican campaign trail, with the health care law fomenting much of the furor.

"Are we a great country because we have a great and powerful federal government?" Republican candidate Rick Santorum asked the crowd at a Lincoln Day lunch in Arizona.

"Noooooo!" the audience shouted in response.

"Are we a great country because we have free people that will go out and pursue their dreams and build a great and just society from the bottom up?"

"Yesssss!"

"That's really the question in this campaign ..."

In some ways it is, especially for conservative Americans who embrace the low-tax, limited-regulation, free-market principles of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

The statistics alone are enough to fuel the fire. Prior to the Great Depression, with the exception of times of war, the federal budget was either in surplus or close to balanced, according to the U.S. Office of Budget and Management. Then came the 1929 stock market crash, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal reforms to get Americans back to work — and a rising tide of federal spending, government expansion and budget deficits.

In 1930, federal spending was 3.4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. By 1941, with the nation on the cusp of World War II, it was 12 percent. Today — after still more wars, economic crises, growth in government entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, savings and loan troubles, bailouts, decreased revenues, tax cuts and more — federal spending is 24 percent of GDP, our national debt is $15 trillion and we face yearly federal budget deficits in the $1 trillion range.

This didn't just happen in a vacuum; government grows for a reason, and the United States is hardly alone among rich nations sporting big bureaucracies. Think back over the 20th century: Postwar growth spurred demand for roads and services; scientific advancements brought about new agencies and bigger investments (consider the "space race"); defense spending increased during times of war; the 9/11 attacks brought on more spending for counterterrorism and training of first responders as well as new agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.

Health care reform was a response to the fact that more than 50 million Americans lack health insurance — and that their care in clinics and emergency rooms costs nearly $75 billion a year. The Obama administration's signature achievement would ensure that all receive medical insurance; the flip side is that the government says all MUST have medical insurance or pay a penalty.

Add to the mix the residue of the financial crisis — the bank and auto industry bailouts, the stimulus bills that contributed to a burgeoning federal debt — and the result is anger on both sides of the political spectrum.

But the issue has as much to do with emotion as it does economics. The "big government" debate challenges some of our most intrinsic beliefs as Americans, the very values on which the nation was founded: freedom, liberty, the right to live our lives as we see fit in the pursuit of happiness.

When asked what matters most to them this election year (aside from defeating President Barack Obama), Republican voters often respond with answers that have nothing to do with the economy or jobs or housing or, even, debt and deficits. Rather, they begin talking about a loss of independence, a sense of powerlessness and mistrust, a feeling that government is simply too much in their business.

They refer to recent news reports about North Carolina schoolchildren who were made to eat cafeteria meals after a teacher decided their home-packed lunches failed to meet federal dietary guidelines required for government-funded school lunch programs.

"It's that outlook on things that is just so wrong. Like we can't run our own lives," says Margaret Birkemo, a missionary from Fountain Hills, Ariz.

Or they condemn the controversial "light bulb law," setting new energy-saving standards that would have meant an eventual end to old-style 100-watt bulbs in favor of those newfangled fluorescents. After a Republican-led fight last year to overturn the standards entirely, a deal was instead reached to delay enforcement until October. (In fact, the law including the new standards was signed by Republican George W. Bush.)

"I'm hoarding those old light bulbs," says Gates, who serves as president of her tea party group in Lenoir, N.C. "I don't want any of those little curlicue ... things in my house. Uh-uh."

Or they paraphrase the conservative champion of limited government.

"I think it's Reagan that said government's not the answer to your problem, it is your problem," says Don Graves, a school bus driver in Chandler, Ariz. "You need to always worry when they say the government's going to take care of you. It's not the government's job. Yet that's what we've evolved to, and more so over the last three years than in the 200 years prior combined. That's the way I see it."

Historian Ballard Campbell, author of a book called "The Growth of American Government," sees all of this mostly as recycled, election-year propaganda intended to rally the Republican base. A presidential election "kicks up a lot dust on issues that intersect with the growth of government," he says. "It's an old song that I've heard over and over again."

David Ropeik puts it another way: "America is juiced about government butting out."

Ropeik, author of the book "How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts," is a Harvard instructor and an expert in risk perception who has examined the concerns over big government. He and Campbell agree that the debate has little to do with the actual size of government but rather is a manifestation of something deeper in the human spirit: the anxiety that comes with scary times brought on by a bad economy, concerns over terrorism, the widening gap between rich and poor, congressional gridlock and so on.

"There's something about these times that feels more threatening because people feel less control over their lives," says Ropeik. "That triggers an afraidness inside that brings all of this to the fore."

These feelings also closely parallel Americans' overall degree of trust in elected leaders. Consider that Congress ended 2011 with its lowest approval rating since Gallup started polling on the subject in 1974. It was during that decade that the anti-big-government axiom really gained steam, says Jeff Madrick, a former financial columnist for The New York Times whose book "The Case for Big Government" argues the more optimistic view of government playing a vital role in society.

In the '70s, he says, "we had very high inflation and very high unemployment simultaneously, and everybody lost confidence in government's ability to manage the economy. Things turned, and they never really turned back. Even (Democrat) Bill Clinton ... announced in a State of the Union address that it was the end of the era of big government. ... Ideologically, more and more people advocated this point of view."

Now, argues Madrick, the "big government" crusade has been hijacked and exploited by those who, on the one hand, oppose government mandates that contraception be covered by health insurers, but on the other want more government regulation of abortion.

"It's kind of schizophrenic. Government is so demonized and objectified that people don't realize how much they benefit from it," he says. "It's very irrational what's going on."

Yet even Madrick acknowledges the importance of all of this as Americans choose the next president. "This election will determine the role of government in America," he says.

This is why the throngs will head to Washington this month, with Christine Gates, Carlos Hernandez and the Manchas among them. And why amid the signs warning "Beware Obamacare" you'll see just as many that don't mention health care at all. Gates dusted off her own posters this week in preparation for the bus ride north. They read: "It's the Constitution Stupid!" and "No More Spending" and "Bankrupting America one unread bill at a time!"

They would tell you, these voters, that they aren't so zealous as to expect — or even want — some radical obliteration of government as we know it today (although many Americans, including some of Paul's supporters, do). Increase efficiency, they say. Eliminate redundancy. Reduce regulation.

As Gates says: "The Department of Agriculture does a lot of the same things the FDA does, but I don't think we should get rid of the entire FDA." Even when it comes to the oft-lambasted Environmental Protection Agency, "I understand clean air and clean water. Of course I want those things.

"No," she says, "I don't need everything eliminated. I certainly don't want to live in anarchy. But can you show me a big, efficient government?

Her conclusion: "They're mutually exclusive."

Puerto Rico's residents cannot vote in general elections, but are set to award 20 delegates in their Sunday Republican primary.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop on Saturday, March 17, 2012, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. At left is Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno, and at right is Ann Romney.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are campaigning in next-up primary states of Illinois and Louisiana, while Puerto Ricans get their say in picking the GOP's presidential nominee.

Puerto Rico's residents cannot vote in general elections, but are set to award 20 delegates in their Sunday Republican primary.

Meanwhile, Romney was hoping to cement his lead in Illinois ahead of Tuesday's primary, with chief rival Santorum in Louisiana ahead of that state's vote on March 24.

Both Santorum and Romney weighed in on Afghanistan as the campaign briefly moved to the Sunday morning talk shows.

Romney said that President Barack Obama has failed in Afghanistan, and he blamed the president for the chaos there. Romney told "Fox News Sunday" that the president should have been "more engaged" with military commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The former Massachusetts governor has emerged as the only Republican candidate not to question the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan, even as polls show that most Americans want to end it.

On ABC's "This Week" that Santorum said the U.S. should commit to "winning" in the region or get out, echoing comments rival Newt Gingrich made last week.

The former Massachusetts governor and former Pennsylvania senator both campaigned in Puerto Rico ahead of the voting.

But Romney dramatically curtailed his trip to the U.S. territory Saturday in favor of spending more time in Illinois, where polls have shown him slightly ahead of Santorum.

At issue in Puerto Rico's primary is the island's political status — statehood, independence or no change. Puerto Ricans will vote on that in November.

Romney has support from much of the establishment here, including Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno, who supports making the island the 51st state. Romney is confident about his prospects for winning many of the island's delegates.

Santorum has said he would support statehood if the November vote were decisive. He also has spent days explaining his comment that English would have to become the island's main language for Puerto Rico to realize statehood. Only a fraction of Puerto Rico's residents speak English fluently.

Puerto Rico's delegates will be split proportionally among the candidates, though if someone wins more than 50 percent of the vote they'll sweep them all.

Robert Bales was eyeing a way out of his job at a Washington state military base months before he allegedly gunned down 16 civilians in an Afghan war zone.

AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan HallockIn this Aug. 23, 2011 Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, soldiers from Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, including Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, left, take part in exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Five days after an attack on Afghan villagers killed 16 civilians, a senior U.S. official identified Bales as the suspect in that attack.

By DAN SEWELL
& DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press

LAKE TAPPS, Wash. (AP) — Bypassed for a promotion and struggling to pay for his house, Robert Bales was eyeing a way out of his job at a Washington state military base months before he allegedly gunned down 16 civilians in an Afghan war zone, records and interviews showed as a deeper picture emerged Saturday of the Army sergeant's financial troubles and brushes with the law.

While Bales, 38, sat in an isolated cell at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.'s military prison Saturday, classmates and neighbors from suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, remembered him as a "happy-go-lucky" high school football player who took care of a special needs child and watched out for troublemakers in the neighborhood.

But court records and interviews show that the 10-year veteran — with a string of commendations for good conduct after four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan — had joined the Army after a Florida investment job went sour, had a Seattle-area home condemned, struggled to make payments on another and failed to get a promotion or a transfer a year ago.

His legal troubles included charges that he assaulted a girlfriend and, in a hit-and run accident, ran bleeding in military clothes into the woods, court records show. He told police he fell asleep at the wheel and paid a fine to get the charges dismissed, the records show.

Military officials say that after drinking on a southern Afghanistan base, Bales crept away on March 11 to two slumbering villages overnight, shooting his victims and setting many of them on fire. Nine of the 16 killed were children and 11 belonged to one family.

"This is some crazy stuff if it's true," Steve Berling, a high school classmate, said of the revelations about the father of two known as "Bobby" in his hometown of Norwood, Ohio.

Bales hasn't been charged yet in the shootings, which have endangered complicated relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan and threatened to upend U.S. policy over the decade-old war.

His former platoon leader said Saturday Bales was a model soldier inspired by 9/11 to serve who saved lives in firefights on his second of three Iraq deployments.

"He's one of the best guys I ever worked with," said Army Capt. Chris Alexander, who led Bales on a 15-month deployment in Iraq.

"He is not some psychopath. He's an outstanding soldier who has given a lot for this country."

But pressing family troubles were hinted at by his wife, Kari, on multiple blogs posted with names like The Bales Family Adventures and BabyBales. A year ago, she wrote that Bales was hoping for a promotion or a transfer after nine years stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord outside Tacoma, Wash.

"We are hoping to have as much control as possible" over the future, Kari Bales wrote last March 25. "Who knows where we will end up. I just hope that we are able to rent our house so that we can keep it. I think we are both still in shock."

After Bales lost out on a promotion to E7 — a first-class sergeant — the family hoped to go to either Germany, Italy or Hawaii for an "adventure," she said. They hoped to move by last summer; instead the Army redeployed his unit — the 2nd Infantry Division of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, named after armored Stryker vehicles — to Afghanistan.

It would be Bales' fourth tour in a war zone. He joined the military two months after 9/11 and spent more than three years in Iraq during three separate assignments since 2003. His attorney said he was injured twice in Iraq — once losing part of his foot — but his 20 or so commendations do not include the Purple Heart, given to soldiers wounded in combat.

Alexander said Bales wasn't injured while he oversaw him during their deployment — Bales' second in Iraq. He called Bales a "very solid" noncommissioned officer who didn't have more difficulty than his fellow soldiers with battlefield stress. Bales shot at a man aiming a rocket-propelled grenade at his platoon's vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, sending the grenade flying over the vehicle.

"There's no doubt he saved lives that day," Alexander said. The charges he killed civilians is "100 percent out of character for him," he said.

Bales always loved the military and war history, even as a teenager, said Berling, who played football with him in the early 1990s on a team that included Marc Edwards, a future NFL player and Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots.

"I remember him and the teacher just going back and forth on something like talking about the details of the Battle of Bunker Hill," he said. "He knew history, all the wars."

Bales exulted in the role once he finally achieved it. Plunged into battle in Iraq, he told an interviewer for a Fort Lewis base newspaper in 2009 that he and his comrades proved "the real difference between being an American as opposed to being a bad guy."

Bales joined the Army, Berling said, after studying business at Ohio State University — he attended three years but didn't graduate — and handled investments before the market downturn pushed him out of the business. Florida records show that Bales was a director at an inactive company called Spartina Investments Inc. in Doral, Fla.; his brother, Mark Bales, and a Mark Edwards were also listed as directors.

"I guess he didn't like it when people lost money," Berling said.

He was struggling to keep payments on his own home in Lake Tapps, a rural reservoir community about 35 miles south of Seattle; his wife asked to put the house on the market three days before the shootings, real estate Philip Rodocker said.

"She told him she was behind in our payments," Rodocker told The New York Times. "She said he was on his fourth tour and it was getting kind of old and they needed to stabilize their finances."

The house was not officially put on the market until Monday; on Tuesday, Rodocker said, Bales' wife called and asked to take the house off the market, talking of a family emergency.

Bales and his wife bought the Lake Tapps home in 2005, according to records, for $280,000; it was listed this week at $229,000. Overflowing boxes were piled on the front porch, and a U.S. flag leaned against the siding.

The sale may have been a sign of financial troubles. Bales and his wife also own a home in Auburn, about 10 miles north, according to county records, but abandoned it about two years ago, homeowners' association president Bob Baggett said. Now signs posted on the front door and window by the city warn against occupying the house.

"It was ramshackled," Baggett said. "They were not dependable. When they left there were vehicles parts left on the front yard...we'd given up on the owners."

The diverging portrait of the sergeant rippled across the country on Saturday.

"It's our Bobby. He was the local hero," said Michael Blevins, who grew up down the street from him in Norwood, Ohio. The youngest of five boys respected older residents, admonished troublemakers and loved children, even helping another boy in the area who had special needs.

In Washington state, court records showed a 2002 arrest for assault on a girlfriend. Bales pleaded not guilty and was required to undergo 20 hours of anger management counseling, after which the case was dismissed.

A separate hit-and-run charge was dismissed in Sumner, Wash.'s municipal court three years ago, according to records. It isn't clear from court documents what Bales hit; witnesses saw a man in a military-style uniform, with a shaved head and bleeding, running away.

When deputies found him in the woods, Bales told them he fell asleep at the wheel. He paid about $1,000 in fines and restitution and the case was dismissed in October 2009.

Dan Conway, a military attorney who represented one of four Lewis-McChord soldiers convicted in the deliberate killings of three Afghan civilians in 2010, said whether legal scrapes affect a soldier's career depends in part on whether they prompt the Army to issue administrative penalties. The punishments are typically recorded in official personnel files.

Over the past decade, Conway said, the military has sometimes been lax in administering such punishments. As a result, soldiers who might be bad apples sometimes remain in service longer than they otherwise might have.

"It's something you want to note," Conway said. "The best predictor of future violence is past violence."

Bales' lawyer, John Henry Browne of Seattle, said he didn't know if his client had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the shootings, but said it could be an issue at trial if experts believe it's relevant.

He also said Friday he didn't know if his client had been drinking the night of the massacre.

Browne didn't return telephone calls on Saturday. His legal team has said Browne will be meeting with Bales at Fort Leavenworth next week.

_____

Sewell reported from Norwood, Ohio. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, Manuel Valdes in Auburn, Wash., Haven Daley in Lake Tapps, Wash., Jennifer Kay in Miami and AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington.

2012 Holyoke St. Patrick's parade is underway

Brian CanovaChance and Cheyenne Smith, of Gilbertville, Mass watch the 2012 St. Patrick's Parade.

HOLYOKE- Early birds gathered on tree belts, porches and sidewalks to get a first look at the 61 annual St. Patrick's Parade.

"It's fun to watch the bands and the people gathering on the street," said Gail McNee, who lives on the corner of West Glen and Northampton streets.

McNee gets up around 7:30 a.m. every year for the parade and decorates her porch with streamers and a sign that reads Shamrock Street. Friends and family help with preparations.

"I've lived here about ten years and we always enjoy the day," she said.
Parade organizer Ray Feyre said he loves to see the excitement on the faces of parade watchers.

"This is really an event for families and for children," he said.

Feyre said there are about 15,000 participants in the parade each year from local cheerleading troops and high school bands to military organizations and more,
A major attraction are the floats created by local civic organizations.

Sons of Erin in Westfield creates a brightly colored child friendly float every year.
"We like to do something that stands out and really appeals to children, said Denise Quinn, who helped make the float.

This year's theme is an Irish Christmas complete with an Irish Santa Claus known as Daidi na Nollaig. The float incorporated elves, children's wish lists and a mechanical waving arm for Santa created by Michael Conroy.

"We like to do something fun every year," Quinn said. The float took over three months to build.

Chicopee residents Pauline Belanger and Brenda Lauren sported bright green wigs in honor of the parade.

"I'm excited to watch all the marchers go by," Lauren said. This is her first time watching the parade up close. The duo found seats right in front of the Kmart Plaza where the parade kicks off.

"We wanted to sit near the front where no one was blocking our view," Belanger said.

Although it was cloudy all morning and it looked like it could rain, the sun came out around 11:45 right before the parade kicked off.

"It's going to be a great day for a parade," Feyre said.

Paraders weren’t the only ones wearing costumes in Holyoke on Sunday. Almost everyone was.

View full sizeHOLYOKE - A friendly leprechaun adorns Cooper Skibel, 5, of Holyoke, with the face-painted luck of the Irish at the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade (Photo by Brian Canova)

HOLYOKE - Paraders weren’t the only ones wearing costumes in Holyoke on Sunday. Almost everyone was.

In a sea of green, complete with Leprechaun hats, Celtics jerseys en masse, and even the emblems of Notre Dame’s own Fighting Irish, spectators went to differing lengths to distinguish themselves along the crowded sidewalk.

Cheyenne Smith, and her brother Chance, at the parade for the second year in a row, started preparing their costumes as early as Valentine’s Day with gifts colored-green from their mother, and continued to add to that wardrobe Sunday morning in Holyoke. Cheyenne’s mother bought her a green feather from one of the street-vendors.

“We can’t keep all of this stuff though,” mother Courtney Voiland of Gilbertville warned the children once they’d settled on their outfits, “We’ve already got way too many toys at home.”

But the children in Holyoke were hardly the only ones donning flashy costumes. In fact the adults were the most spirited of the bunch.

“This is my one day, this and New Years’,” Jeffrey Reed, 36 of Holyoke, said from behind a bushy, bright green afro-style wig. Reed’s afro wasn’t the only in the crowd either. Keith White, Jeff O'Connor, and Pedro Coutinho, all originally of Holyoke, wore them too. They didn’t wear shirts, but they did wear kilts.

Asked why, a simple, “It’s St. Patrick’s Day!” exclaimed in unison by the Holyoke natives and their families on the sidewalk behind them, proved all the explanation needed for the day’s occasion.

Elsewhere, other costumes were more engaging still.

A face-painting artist, who would only identify himself with first name “The,” and last name “Leprechaun” as he painted a cloverleaf on the cheek of Cooper Skibel, 5, of Holyoke, claimed an age of around 350 years, but refused to disclose any further personal information for fear of tipping thieves off to the prized location of his mythical pot o’ gold.

The 2012 St. Patrick's Parade is well underway with more than 15,000 marchers this year.

HOLYOKE – Sporting a bright green and orange mohawk Thomas Delong, 9, of South Hadley watched the 2012 Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade roll by on Cherry Street.

“I come every year,” he said. “ This time I used some spray stuff that I got at iParty to make my hair green and orange for the parade.”

Holyoke Police Chief James M. Nieswanger said mid-parade there have been no problems.

“The crowds have been well behaved and everybody has been very welcoming as I march in my first parade,” he said. “The parade is huge and the crowds are fantastic.”

Spectators crowded the streets of Holyoke and cheered as hundreds of marchers and floats passed them by during the 61st annual parade.

“I’m living the dream,” said parade president Russell McNiff Jr. He waved and walked the parade route along with many of this year’s award winners.

The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino are also getting a good response from employers wanting to advertise at the second annual Virtual Job Fair, which started Sunday and will run through April 19 at www.masslive.com/jobs/

The Republican / John SuchockiHolyoke , 3/15/12, Staff Photo by John Suchocki - Career Point Executive director David C. Gadaire speaks with HR Generalist Kristen Pospolita from McNair packaging of Westfield on the interview process they were conducting.

David C. Gadaire, executive director of the CareerPoint one-stop career center in Holyoke, has one piece of advice for every job seeker still struggling with a sluggish economy.

“The first thing is never give up,” Gadaire said. “Rejection is going to be part of this process. Every rejection is just getting you ready for the next opportunity. I know it is hard. But it’s the way people have to approach their job search.”

The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino are also getting a good response from employers wanting to advertise at the second annual Virtual Job Fair, which started Sunday and will run through April 19 at www.masslive.com/jobs/target=_blank>

Paul Emery Fritz, general manager of MassLive, said job seekers should post their resumes or update resumes they have already posted on the site. Advertisers on the site looking for employees can browse that catalog of resumes, he said. He said MassLive.com has 1.27 million unique visitors and 744,000 page views to its job-search site.

Advertisers include Yankee Candle Co. in South Deerfield, The Center for Human Development in Springfield and Canyon Ranch, a resort in the Berkshire County town of Lenox.

There are a large number of people looking for work.

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statisticstarget=_blank> said that the city of Springfield’s unemployment rate went up from 10.7 percent in December to 12.5 percent in January compared with a seasonally-unadjusted statewide average of 7.7 percent. Last year at this time, the city had an unemployment rate of 13.8 percent.

And the gap between the local unemployment rate and the statewide average has been growing, according to statistics analyzed by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston. Back in 2002, the statewide average unemployment was a little higher than the local number: 5.3 percent versus 5.1 percent. They rose and fell in parallel for a while, but by 2011 local joblessness was nearly a full percentage point higher than the statewide average.

Costumed parade goers lined up early for the 2012 Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade. Some went all out with full leprechaun garb or kilts, but many others just sported wigs or facepaint.

Costumed parade goers lined up early for the 2012 Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade.

Some went all out with full leprechaun garb or kilts, but many others just sported wigs or facepaint.

Check out some of these other photo galleries, covering the best of St. Patrick's Day weekend in Holyoke:

Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade 2012

Highlights from the 2012 St. patrick's Day Road Race

2012 Holyoke, Mass. St. Patrick's Day Road Race fun

2012 Holyoke, Mass. St. Patrick's Day Road Race

Photographers and videographers from The Republican and Masslive.com were on hand to capture the excitement of the St. Patrick's Parade in Holyoke

HOLYOKE – Photographers and videographers from The Republican and Masslive.com spread along the St. Patrick’s parade route in Holyoke Sunday captured the excitement, the celebrations, and the character of the annual Western Massachusetts festivity.

Republican staff photographer David Molnar photographed the beginning of the route in the area between the Yankee Pedlar Inn, Holyoke High School, and the K-Mart plaza.

His gallery can be seen to the right.

“The people that come to this parade are always really nice. Everybody’s really friendly. Towards where I shoot from it’s a lot of families that stake out their spot every year and stay in the same area every year. I’m always amazed at how nice the people year,” Molnar said.

Republican staff photographer Michael Beswick photographed the opposite end of the parade near the judge’s tent on High Street.

“It seemed like the numbers were up. The people in the parade and the parade watchers were all having a good time. People were playing around and joking. In fact I have a pretty good picture of Mayor Bissonnette holding up a sign saying ‘Kiss me I’m Irish,” said Beswick.

Beswick's gallery can be seen to the left.

Masslive.com producer Mandy Hofmockel spent the afternoon photographing parade-goers with eye-catching costumes near the corner of Northampton and Beech streets.

“This was my first year in Holyoke for the St. Patrick’s Parade. I had a great time shooting and met a lot of really interesting people. I’m excited to hopefully check it out again next year,” Hofmockel said.

Be sure to check out the accompanying video that compliments Hofmockel’s gallery.

The shooting happened about 1 1/2 hours after the annual Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade finished.

Republican file photo

HOLYOKE Police were investigating a shooting that happened at about 6:30 p.m. on the street outside 339 Hampden Street.

Police were at the scene and were searching for suspects. Little information was immediately available, Sgt. Manuel Reyes said.

The victim was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield by ambulance. It was not immediately known how serious his injuries are were, he said.

The shooting is not related to the annual Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade, which finished about 2 hours earlier, Reyes said.

Costumed parade-goers filled the Holyoke's crowded streets Sunday to watch the parade and celebrate with friends and families. Watch video

HOLYOKE - Costumed parade-goers filled Holyoke's crowded streets Sunday to watch the parade and celebrate with friends and family.

Some costumes were subtler - shamrocks painted onto children's cheeks and tall, green leprechaun style hats - while others were more likely to turn a head - half-naked men sporting kilts and green afro-wigs, and full-on leprechaun costumes complete with the accent to boot.

Watch the video for a taste of Holyoke's Sunday spectacular.

There were four arrests at the parade. A shooting and a stabbing following the event were unrelated.

HOLYOKE – Fans wearing green hats and shirts, shamrock beads and green-tinted sunglasses turned the city into a sea of green, Sunday, for the 61st St. Patrick’s Parade.

Unusually warm temperatures had marchers peeling off their Irish knit sweaters and delighting in the 70-degree day that made the 2012 version one of the biggest success in the long history of the parade.

“I don’t know what I did to make it happen. We have had nice days in the past, but nothing like this,” said Russell McNiff Jr., this year’s parade president.

Saying he feels blessed, McNiff talked about past parades where the Department of Public Works removed shoulder-high snowbanks from the route and people wrapped in blankets and shivered through the event.

He thanked the about 200 volunteers on the parade committee who have been working since last April to prepare for the event.

Barry Farrell Jr., this year’s parade marshal, has officially marched in two other parades and unofficially as a band monitor in dozens.

“It was fantastic. I’ve marched in the parade for many, many years and I’ve never seen so many people,” he said.

He said he was impressed with the State Police Marching unit, which won the citizenship award this year for all the work troopers do for the city.

No crowd estimates were available, but organizers and police agreed the good weather brought out one of biggest crowds in recent history. People lined the route from the start at K-Mart plaza on Route 5 to the end on Main Street.

Larry Stock, of Connecticut, who has been selling horns, shamrock hats and green feather boas at the parade for 40 years, said parade-goers quickly bought up his souvenirs Sunday as he walked down Appleton Street.

“It is always big and it always depends on the weather,” Stock said of the parade.

Chicopee residents Pauline Belanger and Brenda Lauren sported bright green wigs in honor of the parade.

This was Lauren’s first time watching the parade up close. The duo found seats right in front of the Kmart Plaza where the parade began.

“We wanted to sit near the front where no one was blocking our view,” Belanger said.

Maeve and Madden O’Sullivan ages 7 and 4 and Molly Delaney, 7, of East Longmeadow, cheered as bands and floats passed by. Wearing green and white furry leg warmers the girls had front row seats on Northampton Street.

“I like seeing the cheerleaders,” Maeve O’Sullivan said.

“I like the whole parade,” Molly Delaney added.

Everyone had their own favorites, whether it was the bagpipe bands that lead the event; the mummers bands that marched in the middle; or the Mela Shriners clowns, motorcycles and stunt riders that finished the parade.

“The floats are a big attraction, but so are the bands and the local groups that march. It’s just a great experience all around,” said Raymond H. Feyre, a parade organizer.

While the award winners, Colleens and floats got cheers, there were a few small furry creatures who also got big support from the crowd. Perhaps the most popular was Nero, the 10-month-old German Shepherd who walked the route with his owner Sgt. Pete Signorelli.

“He’s the star of the show,” Signorelli said. They marched with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.

Kevin O’Hara, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Award winner for 2012, said he was thrilled by the crowd and honored to win the most prestigious award given by the committee.

“I feel like I’ve been knighted. It’s a true honor,” said the Pittsfield resident.

The JFK Award is presented annually to Americans of Irish decent who have distinguished themselves in their chosen profession. O’Hara has written books, including “Lucky Irish Lad,” and “Last of the Donkey Pilgrims.” He just retired after more then 30 years as a psychiatric nurse at Berkshire Medical Center.

“An award like this makes me feel validated,” he said. “I’m happy that my story resonated with members of the committee and that they felt I represented the Irish American experience in a way they can relate to.”

This was the first parade for new Police Chief James Neiswanger. He said he was impressed there were few problems despite the large crowds.

In total, four people were arrested for disorderly conduct during the parade. There was a stabbing and a shooting reported two hours after the event finished, but neither were related to the parade, Sgt. Manuel Reyes said.

“Everybody has been very welcoming,” Neiswanger said. “The parade is huge and the crowds are fantastic.”

It was also the first time Alex B. Morse marched in the parade as mayor. He said enjoyed seeing so many people come to Holyoke.

Good weather or not, Laura Roe of Westfield said she never misses a parade and always dresses the part.

This year she wore an Irish knit sweater over a green shirt and green and white stripped leggings. Her green shamrock beads and a green cowboy hat light up and she also wore green glitter lipstick, green false eyelashes and a gold glittery wig.

“It is just so much fun,” she said.

Part of the tradition is those living on the parade route hold enormous parties. Some invited hundreds and cheered on marchers with bullhorns.

“It’s fun to watch the bands and the people gathering on the street,” said Gail McNee, who lives on the corner of West Glen and Northampton streets.

McNee gets up at 7:30 a.m. every year for the parade and decorates her porch with streamers and a sign that reads Shamrock Street. Friends and family help.

Annette Keogh O’Connor, 94, and three of her children, Mary Ellen, John and Kevin O’Connor gathered with friends and family members at the matriarch’s Beech Street home as they have since the 1970s when the parade route started going past the house.

A banner strung from the porch read “Holyoke High School Band,” denoting a tradition that started in 1978, when O’Connor’s husband, John J. “Jinx” O’Connor, a long time Holyoke High School coach, lead his basketball team to the state championship. The band stopped and played to the house and has been doing it ever since, Mary Ellen O’Connor said.

“They do it every year. We cry a little and we cheer a little,” she said of her father who died in 2005.

Despite the loss of her father and the fact that all of the siblings cannot made it every year the party continues for every parade.

“We had four generations of one family here today,” said Kevin O’Connor, of Holyoke.

Staff writer Elizabeth Roman contributed to this report.

The awards are given in four categories and one float is selected as best of the parade.

HOLYOKE – They saved the best for last.

The West Springfield colleen float — the last of its kind to roll down the St. Patrick’s Parade route Sunday — was the winner of the grand prize for the best float in the parade.

Every year towns and organizations enter floats in the parade. While all are admired by the crowds, judges select winners in four categories: Irish, patriotic, religious and an open division. A final float is selected as the best in the parade.

“We all came up with the concept of it together,” said Christopher Thompson, the chairman of the float committee for West Springfield.

The group agreed they wanted their colleens to ride a replica of an 1800s fire truck, in recognition of the many Irish immigrants who became firefighters.

In the back, there was a hand-carved plaque in tribute to the firefighters who were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers.

It took dozens of volunteers more than two months to build it.

Other winners included the Chicopee St. Patrick’s committee, which placed first in the open category for its float; the Springfield Elks, which earned first in the patriotic category; and St. Mary’s in Westfield, which placed first in the religious category.

The Easthampton Parade Committee won first in the Irish category for its depiction of an Irish cottage. The Distinguished Young Women of Easthampton rode on the float.

“This is our third float, but our first in the Irish category and there is a lot of competition in that category,” said Melissa Pike, the Easthampton parade marshal and the head of the float committee.

The float was created from an old shed she and her husband had. Most of the things on the float, including the plants and furniture, were recycled or will be reused, she said.

The Sons of Erin in Westfield create a brightly colored child-friendly float every year. This year it decided on the theme of an Irish Christmas complete with an Irish Santa Claus, known as Daidi na Nollaig, who had a mechanical waving arm and was surrounded by elves and children’s wish lists.

“We like to do something that stands out and really appeals to children, said Denise Quinn, who helped make the float.

While it did not come in first, Chicopee’s Moose Family Center Cub Scout Pack 1849 was happy with its third-place win in the open class. Its float was of a toy car with smoke coming out of the back. Scouts traveled on and marched around the float.

“The Moose Club is hosting the district Pinewood Derby April 21, so we thought this would be a good way to tell people about it,” said Paul Aube, the Cub Scout master.

One difference, is the car on the float is 25 times larger than the ones the scouts will build. There will also be no smoke because the cars must propel themselves, he said.

The fight was not related to the St. Patrick's Parade, which ended two hours earlier.

Republican file photo

HOLYOKE – A man was stabbed after an altercation with two brothers Sunday night.

The man was injured at about 6 p.m. in the third-floor apartment at 378 Appleton St. He drove himself to Holyoke Medical Center and was later transferred to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Police Sgt. Manuel Reyes said.

Police are still investigating the cause of the stabbing. Reyes said the fight was not related to the St. Patrick’s Parade which ended two hours earlier.

The victory in Puerto Rico was so convincing that Romney, the GOP front-runner, won all 20 delegates to the national convention at stake because he prevailed with more than 50 percent of the vote

Photo by Steven Senne / Assciated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center right, greets people during a campaign stop Sunday in Moline, Ill.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Mitt Romney scored an overwhelming win Sunday in Puerto Rico's Republican presidential primary, trouncing chief rival Rick Santorum on the Caribbean island even as the two rivals looked ahead to more competitive contests this week in Illinois and Louisiana.

Romney's wife, Ann, urged Republicans to unite behind her husband. "It's time to come together," she said at a rally in suburban Chicago. "It's time to get behind one candidate and get the job done so we can move on to the next challenge, bringing us one step closer to defeating Barack Obama."

The victory in Puerto Rico was so convincing that Romney, the GOP front-runner, won all 20 delegates to the national convention at stake because he prevailed with more than 50 percent of the vote. That padded his comfortable lead over Santorum in the race to amass the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Romney announced the Puerto Rico win at the Illinois rally and told the crowd, "I intend to become our nominee and I intend to get Latino voters to vote for a Republican and take back the White House."

Nevertheless, the GOP nomination fight is unlikely to end anytime soon, with Santorum refusing to step aside even though Romney is pulling further ahead in the delegate hunt.

As the day began, Santorum claimed he was in contest for the long haul because Romney is a weak front-runner.

"This is a primary process where somebody had a huge advantage, huge money advantage, huge advantage of establishment support and he hasn't been able to close the deal and even come close to closing the deal," Santorum said. "That tells you that there's a real flaw there."

Yet, Santorum sidestepped when asked if he would fight Romney on the convention floor if he failed before August to stop the former Massachusetts governor from getting the required number of delegates.

Romney, in turn, expressed confidence that he'd prevail.

"I can't tell you exactly how the process is going to work," Romney said. "But I bet I'm going to become the nominee."

Both campaigned in Puerto Rico last week — in a campaign focused on statehood for the U.S. territory — but Romney cut short his trip so he could head to Illinois and Santorum spent Sunday in Louisiana. Illinois, a more moderate Midwestern state, votes Tuesday and is seen as more friendly territory for Romney, while Santorum is the favorite in the more conservative Southern state of Louisiana, which votes Saturday.

After the Puerto Rico victory, Romney had 521 delegates in his camp and Santorum had 253, according to The Associated Press' tally. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trailed with 136 delegates and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 50.

Enrique Melendez, the Republican representative on the Puerto Rican State Electoral Commission, told the AP that Romney "won the Puerto Rican primary by a huge margin and we are granting him the 20 delegates."

At this rate, Romney is on pace to capture the nomination in June unless Santorum or Gingrich is able to win decisively in the coming contests.

Both have said they would stay in the race and perhaps force the nomination to a fight at the GOP's convention in Tampa if Romney doesn't amass enough delegates to arrive with a mandate. That would turn the convention into an intra-party brawl for the first time since 1976.

Even as Santorum declined to commit to forcing a brokered convention, his advisers were working behind the scenes on a plan to persuade convention delegates to switch candidates if the former Pennsylvania senator fails to derail Romney before that.

Romney's aides call this a fantasy scenario even as they try to prevent delegates from defecting.

Half of the states have yet to weigh in on a race with seemingly no end in sight anytime soon. That's prompted fresh speculation within the GOP over whether a contested convention is likely.

Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus insisted that party will have a nominee sooner rather than later.

"We're only at halftime," Priebus said. "I think that this process is going to play itself out. We will have a nominee, I think, fairly soon — one, two months away."

In Puerto Rico, the race was focused on the issue of statehood, and Melendez said, "This proves Gov. Romney's electability and his ability to reach out to Hispanics and minorities."

Whether that's true or not, Romney told Puerto Ricans he would support statehood while Santorum said English would have to be the official language of the island if it were to join the United States — a statement that roiled residents.

"In Puerto Rico, we get along fine with both languages," said Francisco Rodriguez, a 76-year-old architect who supported Romney and hopes Puerto Rico becomes the nation's 51st state.

Even as Puerto Rico voted, Romney and Santorum traded barbs from afar.

"Sen. Santorum has the same economic lightweight background the president has," Romney told a crowd in Moline, Ill. He went a step further in Rockford, Ill., saying, "We're not going to replace an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight."

That drew a Santorum retort: "If Mitt Romney's an economic heavyweight, we're in trouble."

Aside from a pair of TV interviews, Santorum spent the day visiting a pair of churches in Louisiana, sharing how his faith has shaped his political career and his opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. He didn't mention Romney or any of his other Republican opponents during talks at both churches.

Yet, he was curt when asked about hisHe made clear he didn't plan to exit the race anytime soon, saying in Bossier City, La., "One of the great blessings I've had in every political campaign is people underestimate me, people underestimate what God can do." odds in Illinois.

"Keep working," Santorum said after services there. "That's all we can do."

Santorum spoke with CNN's "State of the Union" and ABC's "This Week." Romney appeared on "Fox News Sunday," and Priebus was interviewed on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Speculation had been rife since last summer that Pratt would sell its Rocketdyne division, as NASA ended the Space Shuttle program and overall demand slowed for its rocket engines.

By HOWARD FRENCH
Special to The Republican

HARTFORD – United Technologies Corp. plans to divest Pratt & Whitney’s Rocketdyne business and Hamilton Sundstrand’s non-aerospace industrial operations, as well as a wind power business – all based outside Connecticut.

UTC Chairman and CEO Louis Chenevert told a group of investors and analysts last week that the sales – expected to net $3 billion – will be used to help finance the Hartford-based corporation’s proposed $18 billion acquisition of North Carolina-based Goodrich Corp.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which UTC bought only seven years ago, made engines for the Space Shuttle and does work for other NASA programs and is based in California. Clipper Windpower also is based in California.

Windsor Locks-based Hamilton Sundstrand’s industrial businesses include: Milton Roy, an industrial pump maker based in Pennsylvania; Sullair, an industrial compressor manufacturer based in Indiana; and Sundyne, also a manufacturer of industrial pumps and compressors, based in Colorado.

Those businesses will be treated as “held for sale” and have been moved to discontinued operations in UTC’s financial statements, Chenevert said.

UTC announced last fall that it planned a buyout of Goodrich, which makes aircraft landing gear and related components. UTC officials have said that after the buyout is accomplished, they will create a new UTC Propulsion and Aerospace Systems division that will bundle UTC’s Hamilton and Pratt subsidiaries with Goodrich. The new division’s headquarters will be at Goodrich’s Charlotte, N.C., base, where Hamilton’s senior executives will be moved. UTC has not yet said whether Pratt’s senior executives also will be transferred to North Carolina.

In addition to the Goodrich acquisition, proceeds from the sales will help finance East Hartford-based Pratt’s buyout of its International Aero Engines partner Rolls-Royce last fall. IAE is an aircraft engine consortium led by Pratt, which in October bought out former primary partner Rolls-Royce for $1.5 billion.

The IAE partnership, based in Glastonbury, also includes two minority partners, Japanese Aero Engines Corp. and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines.

Chenevert said Tuesday that proceeds from the sale of Rocketdyne and the industrial “noncore” businesses will help UTC through what he called “a transformational stage,” while reducing the need to issue additional stock to pay for the Goodrich and Rolls-Royce deals.

“The Goodrich transaction remains on track for a midyear close,” he said.

In a memorandum to employees at Hamilton Sundstrand industrial businesses, Hamilton Chief Financial Officer Robert Bailey said the announced sale, and classification of the businesses to be divested as “discontinued operations,” does not mean the operations will be shuttered.

“This is an accounting classification indicating that the businesses are being actively marketed and that a sale is expected within a year,” Bailey said. “It does not mean any sites are being immediately closed. Until a potential sale is final, the businesses will remain part of the UTC portfolio.”

Bailey also said that the decision to sell “is not a negative reflection on the performance of the industrial businesses – they are well-managed, well-respected, and highly profitable.”

Speculation had been rife since last summer that Pratt would sell its Rocketdyne division, as NASA ended the Space Shuttle program and overall demand slowed for its rocket engines. The speculation ramped up in January when representatives of potential buyers visited the company’s California offices, according to published reports in the Contra Costa, Calif., Times.

The report cited “company sources who do not want to be identified” as confirming that Pratt Rocketdyne had hosted visits by executives from two aerospace companies; GenCorp of California and Virginia-based Alliant Techsystems Inc., also known as ATK.

Similar visits took place in 2005 when the Boeing Co. sold Rocketdyne to UTC for $700 million.

A national selection committee composed of professionals specializing in youth development and education reviewed all submitted applications and Rivera came out on top.

submitted photoDianese Rivera

By JULIE KRISTENSEN

When 18-year-old Dianese Rivera walked into the Holyoke location of Girls Inc. in February and learned she was selected to receive the Lucile Miller Wright $15,000 college scholarship, she was confident, impactful, exuberant, strong and independent – a very different young lady from the girl who was “finding it hard to open up” two years ago.

She was now being recognized for the traits she gained through the camaraderie and mentoring she received from Girls Incorporated of Holyoke. A national selection committee composed of a broad range of professionals specializing in youth development and education as well as previous national scholarship recipients reviewed all submitted applications and Rivera came out on top.

According to Rivera, none of these adjectives described her just two years ago. She didn’t want to listen to her mother describe her as “very closed off and needing to open up.” But when her mother was then diagnosed with breast cancer and met an instructor from Girls Inc., Dianese decided to give it a try. She was initially afraid that with a group of all girls, there would be a lot of “drama” that she didn’t want to deal with. Instead, she found trust as the other girls in the program came to her, instead of her having to reach out.

“I learned what it meant to have healthy relationships and be comfortable enough with myself to open up,” Rivera said.

Through Girls Inc. programs such as FIT (Fresh, Innovative and True), a spoken word and performance group, and financial literacy programs with partners like ING and Peoples Bank, Rivera learned how to budget money, communicate effectively with other adults and become motivated to succeed. Through FIT, she discovered poetry which she “didn’t think she was good at,” but realized that through poetry, she could “get out her feelings, get rid of the anger and replace it with positive thinking.”

She has performed her poetry at local talent shows, the Girls Inc. Spirit of Girls fund-raisers and at the Women of Color Leadership Network’s Body Politics event at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

When Sarah Dunton, director of youth development programs at Girls Inc., pushed her to apply for the scholarship, Rivera leaned on what she had learned at Girls Inc. and from her mentors to “go for it.” Strict program requirements and three essays later, Rivera found that she had won. She talks excitedly about how she can now, hopefully, study abroad and attend Westfield State University, where she wants to major in social work and minor in accounting and math. She hopes to be an ambassador and mentor for girls like herself in the future.

It’s hard to believe that she hasn’t always been the confident and motivated young woman standing in front of crowds of hundreds and expressing herself with pride and confidence. In just two years, she has become the epitome of every right that Girls Inc. fosters, especially the right “to express themselves with originality and enthusiasm, to take risks, to strive freely and to take pride in success.” For a young woman like Rivera, the environment and people you surround yourself with are paramount to your success, and winning this scholarship has proven that to her.

For more information on the complete Girls Inc. Bill of Rights, how you can participate in a tour or support this program through mentoring or sponsorship, visit www.girlsincholyoke.org/

Julie Kristensen is a freelance writer and business consultant and can be reached at thelifeofjewels@aol.com
Part of a continuing focus on Springfield’s future work force readiness

The three-day conference is a chance for auditors and accountants to compare notes and better understand the tricky business of municipal finance.

File photo | The RepublicanMassachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump

AMHERST – It's like March Madness for accountants whenever the MMAA rolls into town to talk "assets", "balance sheets" and "cash flow."

Better known as the Massachusetts Municipal Auditors and Accountants Association, the MMAA is holding its three-day conference at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst from Monday through Wednesday. The busy schedule includes workshops and other activities and culminates in a buffet dinner tonight at 6 at the Marriott Center.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump, the Bay State's top defender against municipal fraud, waste and government abuse, was scheduled to speak at the conference this morning at 8:30 a.m.

Much of the action will take place at the UMass Hotel and Conference Center, 1 Campus Center Way, before things wind down Wednesday afternoon.

According to its website, the MMAA's mission is to develop a closer relationship and understanding "among those concerned with municipal accounting and finance in Massachusetts."