The Alliance of Black Professionals is asking attendees to please wear a hoodie, the same thing Martin was wearing when he was shot.

Associated PressA demonstrator holds up a sign during a rally for Trayvon Martin, Wednesday in New York.

SPRINGFIELD – The Alliance of Black Professionals has scheduled “1,000 Hoodies - A Walk for Trayvon Martin” 10 a.m. March 31 at City Hall.

Martin, 17, was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford , Fla.

According to the Associated Press, George Zimmerman allegedly shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to death on Feb. 26.

Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious.

At some point, the two got into a fight and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.

Zimmerman claims the shooting was self-defense.

The Alliance of Black Professionalstarget=_blank> is asking attendees to please wear a hoodie, the same thing Martin was wearing when he was shot.

Organizers expect 350 exhibitors spread out offer two buildings at the Eastern States Exposition Grounds touting everything from $500,000 homes to rubber sieves for kitchen-sink drains.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanAnthony C. Azevedo, of Artec Landscaping in Wilbraham, checks out his company's display at the Original Western Massachusetts Home & Garden Show Thursday.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – For once the tulips blooming as part of the indoor landscaping at The Original Western Mass. Home & Garden Show aren’t too far ahead of their outdoor counterparts.

“Normally you get a week following the show to follow up with potential customers before your season really begins,” said Thomas Baurle, owner of Environmental Design & Landscaping in East Longmeadow. “But now it seems like our season began a week ago.”

Baurle was on of several landscapers with display boots at the show. All said they already have crews out in the field working on jobs already, unusual for March but not unusual for a sunny day with temperatures in the mid-80s, which is what the weather was like Thursday.

“People are calling,” said Anthony C. Azevedo, owner of Artec Landscaping in Wilbraham. “It seems like people are already thinking about spending time outdoors.”

Azevedo warns that with little snow all winter the ground is dry and people have to water everything they plant.

To decorate his booth, Azevedo planted a weeping pussy willow tree trained to grow in an s-shape. He also included a juniper bush with a long stem reminiscent of Asian gardens.

“We try to do more than the same old rhododendrons,” he said.

More than 20,000 visitors are expected at the show this weekend, said Bradford L. Campbell, executive director of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Western Massachusetts which sponsors and organizes the annual show.

Campbell also expects 350 exhibitors spread out offer two buildings at the Eastern States Exposition Grounds touting everything from $500,000 homes to rubber sieves for kitchen-sink drains. That’s about the same number of exhibitors as last year.

The show opened Thursday evening with a visit from Marine Sgt. Joshua Bouchard of Granby. Bouchard, 30, lost his leg in a 2009 explosion in Afghanistan, which also crushed his spine and killed two of his fellow Marines.

The Home Builders Association and a group called Homes for Our Troops are building Bouchard a handicapped-accessible home.

The Bouchard project dovetails nicely with the show’s theme “Rebuilding Western Mass — Rebuilding Lives”, Campbell said.

“A lot of people don’t know that we are still doing repair work from the tornadoes, the microburst, the hailstorms,” Campbell said. “It took some time to resolve a lot of those insurance issues.”

Non-storm renovation work is also picking up, said David Boyajian, a contractor in East Longmeadow.

“I’m getting calls about jobs I bid out six months ago,” he said.

Homeowners are more confident in their jobs and incomes, he said. Also interest rates are low making home projects more affordable. Other homeowners may owe more on their home than it is worth, making it hard to move in today’s real-estate market.

“So they build on to what they have now,” Boyajian said.

Supporters trumpet the project's jobs and tax revenue while foes warn about more traffic snarls and noise.

Photo by Greg Saulmon / The RepublicanHolyoke residents are seen at a packed a public hearing in January on Big Y-retail development proposed for Homestead Avenue.

HOLYOKE – The Planning Board earlier this week approved a $16 million retail project with a Big Y supermarket set for Lower Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue.

O’Connell Development Group told city officials the plan is to begin construction this year and have the project open late next year or in 2014, said Kathleen G. Anderson, director of the city Office of Planning and Development.

The board gave site plan approval for the project Tuesday, she said Wednesday.

Barring an appeal of the site-plan approval, which can be filed in the next 20 days, the next step is for O’Connell to seek permits from the state and a city building permit, she said.

“They’re trying not to waste any time,” Anderson said.

O’Connell Development is planning 110,000 square feet of retail in two buildings. A Big Y would be in one building and the other building could have a bank, restaurant and other stores, O’Connell representatives have said.

Supporters have said the project will benefit the city with 250 jobs, $400,000 a year in property tax revenue and reviving a dormant site. The site was formerly occupied by the Atlas Copco compressor factory, which closed in 2005.

Critics at public hearings said the project would pump traffic and noise in an area already busy with the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside and other stores.

The Planning Board placed about 30 conditions on the project. One prohibits illuminated signs on the building closest to Homestead Avenue, to be less intrusive to residents, Anderson said.

Another condition requires that O’Connell get board approval if changes are to be made to either of the retail buildings, she said.

Four other candidates have announced their intention of running for Governor's Council in light of Thomas Merrigan's recent decision not to seek reelection.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 11 o'clock this morning.

Thomas Ashe, Michael Bissonnette and Laura Gentile, clockwise from top left, are considering a run for Hampden Superior Court clerk. John DaCruz, bottom left, has already announced his candidacy

SPRINGFIELD - Brian P. Lees announced Thursday he will not seek re-election to a second six-year term as Hampden Superior Court clerk, dropping another political bombshell in Western Massachusetts and igniting a possible scramble for his seat.

Lees's decision follows by several months an announcement by U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, an Amherst Democrat, that he would not run for re-election. It also comes when speculation is occurring about whether the dean of the region's Beacon Hill delegation, Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati, a Ludlow Democrat who has been part of an investigation into patronage in the probation department, will seek re-election.

Lees, 58, an East Longmeadow Republican, surprised many observers when he e-mailed a statement to the media on Thursday, saying he would enter private life.

Lees, who served 18 years in the state Senate and was Senate Minority Leader for more than a dozen years, said he plans to finish his term as clerk and then obtain a job in the private sector, including possible consulting work in public policy areas and in the not-for-profit arena. Lees said he has always believed in term limits.

Brian P. Lees

"This is a very positive day for me," Lees said in a phone interview.

Laura S. Gentile of Springfield, an assistant clerk magistrate in Hampden Superior Court since 1996, Springfield City Councilor Thomas M. Ashe, 46, and Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette are among those considering seeking Lees's position. Democrat John P. Da Cruz of Ludlow, a private lawyer and Ludlow selectman who just attended his last meeting as selectman, also has said he is running for the Hampden clerk.

A race for an open Western Massachusetts seat on the Governor's Council is also drawing some top Democrats. Former Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano of Longmeadow, Springfield lawyers Kevin J. Sullivan of Westfield and Michael T. Kogut of Springfield and Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski are among those eyeing or definitely running for that seat, now held by Thomas T. Merrigan of Greenfield, who isn't running for re-election.

Add in the contest between U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal of Springfield and former state senator and now Berkshire Middle District register of deeds Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., of Pittsfield, and you have three hot Democratic primaries shaping up for Hampden county. The primary is Sept. 6, with winners advancing to the Nov. 6 the general election.

Bissonnette, 57, a four-term mayor, said he would think about a possible bid for the $110,000-a-year Hampden court clerk and make a decision at the end of this month.

Bissonnette, a lawyer, said that he would remain as mayor if he did campaign for the clerk's post. Bissonnette said his experience in education, law and public management could be an asset for the clerk's job. "It's an opportunity that doesn't come along too often to have an impact in the court system," Bissonnette said.

Ashe, 46, a two-term city councilor and former member of the Springfield School Committee, said he intends to run for the court clerk's position and will soon make a formal announcement. Ashe, director of community corrections for the Worcester County Sheriff, also cited his experience in public service.

Gentile, a lawyer, said it's "a huge decision" and she needs to speak with her husband and son. She said she knows the court system inside and out.

A spokesman for the Secretary of State's office on Wednesday said that the office had no record of Petrolati, a member of the state House of Representatives since 1987, taking out nomination papers to run for another term. The spokesman said people are not required to leave their name when they take out papers.

Petrolati's aide and media contact, Colleen Ryan, said in a phone interview that he had taken out papers, but she didn't say where he obtained the papers. "He is running again," she said.

Ryan this week did not respond to a request to make Petrolati available for an interview about his re-election plans. "Have a great day," Ryan said, terminating a brief phone conversation.

Petrolati has also been connected in court papers to the case of Christopher J. Hoffman , 39, of Hatfield, acting chief probation officer in Hampshire Superior Court. Hoffman was arrested and charged with intimidating and harassing another probation officer who is a witness in the federal investigation of hiring practices at the state Probation Department, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

During an appearance in Worcester before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman in December, Hoffman was released on several conditions requested by the prosecution including one to have no contact "with any persons who are or may become a victim or potential witness in the subject investigation or prosecution," including Petrolati or his family members.

Hoffman was charged in a criminal complaint with two counts of obstruction of justice. A preliminary exam for Hoffman is set for April 11.

John P. Pucci, a lawyer for Petrolati, said Thursday he was not part of the Hoffman proceeding and he does not know why the no-contact order was issued. Petrolati had little or no relationship with Hoffman, Pucci said.

The contest for the Western Massachusetts seat on the Governor's Council could mark a return to elective politics for Albano, who was elected mayor in 1995 and decided against seeking re-election in 2003.

Michael Albano, Michael Kogut, John Stobierski and Kevin Sullivan, clockwise from top left, have all declared their intentions of running for Governor's Council.

Albano, 61, said Thursday he is not interested in running for the Hampden clerk's job. Albano said he has taken out nomination papers and is preparing to run for Governor's Council, which votes whether to confirm judges appointed by the governor.

Albano and other candidates said the 8-member council provides an important check on decisions by the executive branch, including the naming judges and clerk magistrates.

"I really had no intention of seeking elective office again," said Albano, a former probation officer and member of the state Parole Board from 1982 to 1994. "This is what I would describe as a rare opportunity that fits my background and experience."

Sullivan, 46, vice-chairman of the Westfield School Committee and the younger brother of Richard K. Sullivan Jr., the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said he is definitely planning on running for Governor's Council. "It's important to make sure people in Boston understand there's real estate west of Worcester," Sullivan added.

Stobierski, 51, of Deerfield, a former county commissioner in Franklin County and noted as a lawyer for victims of clergy sex abuse in Western Massachusetts, said he wants to make sure the best judges are selected. He said the state needs good judges so that people will have confidence in the court system.

Kogut, 56, who ran as an independent for the Governor's Council in 2006, said he is exploring another run for the council. As part of testing the waters for a run, Kogut, a former assistant attorney general for 11 years, said he mailed letters to Democratic city ward and town chairs in the 93 cities and towns in the council district.

In an interview, Lees said he chose to unveil his decision by e-mail partly because he held a press conference in 2006 when he announced he was retiring from the state Senate. Lees also said the e-mail was a fair and appropriate way of publicizing his decision.

Lees said it wasn't a factor in his decision, but he said that from a budget standpoint, it's been a difficult five years as court clerk. The state's court system has endured some deep budget cuts in recent years.

After consulting with his wife Nancy, Lees said he decided it is the appropriate time in his life to explore other options outside of elective office.

Sen. Michael R. Knapik, a Westfield Republican and close friend of Lees, said Lees set a high standard for public life with his passion and hard work. Knapik said Lees has been one of the dominant voices in Western Massachusetts for almost 25 years.

"Hampden County is going to be losing a giant in public service with Brian leaving," Knapik said.

The police captain who will fill in as chief has been a member of the West Springfield Police Department since the mid-1960s.

West Springfield Police Capt. Ronald Campurciani will be interim police chief when Thomas Burke retires until a permanent chief is appointed.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger has tapped West Springfield Police Capt. Ronald P. Campurciani to be provisional police chief until a permanent chief is named.

Campurciani’s appointment will take effect April 1, the day after the retirement of longtime Police Chief Thomas E. Burke.

“It’s great to have a native son from West Springfield so highly qualified and dedicated to law enforcement to serve in the capacity as the town’s provisional police chief,” Neffinger said during a press conference Tuesday. “I’m proud to have him on board and look forward to working with him.”

“I’m pleased that the mayor has recognized me for this important position in our town,” Campurciani, 49, said, noting that he has served as acting chief when Burke has been on leave.

Campurciani identified getting the budget in line by bringing down costs yet still maintain a high level of services as one of the top issues facing the department. He expects to get all officers cross-trained.

Born in Springfield, Campurciani started work in the West Springfield Police Department as a patrolman in 1986.

He said he is most proud of having taken part in the 195th session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va. in 1999.

“It is considered the most prestigious law enforcement school in the world,” Campurciani said. “There were 275 participants representing every state and 24 foreign countries. I was elected class spokesman, which was particularly humbling. That participation and those American and worldwide contacts were then, and continue to be most valuable networking resources.”

Campurciani served as lead instructor at the West Massachusetts Regional Police Academy at Springfield Technical Community College from 2000 to 2011. That position included discipline and oversight of in-service classes for veteran police officers.

He joined the drug squad in the narcotics unit in 1987 and from 1988-1994 served on the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. Through that he worked undercover in Florida, California and Boston. He became a sergeant in 1994 and was promoted to captain in 1999.

Campurciani holds a master’s degree in criminal justice administration and a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement from Western New England University. He is working on a doctorate from Northcentral University in Prescott, Ariz.

The killings were another blow to U.S-Afghan relations, following a series of missteps, including the mistaken burning of Qurans, which prompted violent protests and revenge killings of American troops.

The Associated PressIn this Aug. 23, 2011 Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 1st platoon sergeant, Blackhorse Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder and other charges related to the shooting deaths of 17 Afghan civilians (AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock)

By PAULINE JELINEK and LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder as well as assault and a string of other offenses in the massacre of Afghan villagers as they slept, a U.S. official said Thursday.

The charges against Bales include 17 counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder and six counts of aggravated assault as well as dereliction of duty and other violations of military law, the official said on condition of anonymity because the charges had not been announced.

The 38-year-old soldier and father of two, who lives in Lake Tapps, Wash., will be charged with a shooting rampage in two villages near his southern Afghanistan military post in the early hours of March 11, gunning down nine Afghan children and eight adults and burning some of the victims' bodies.

The charges are to be read to Bales on Friday at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where he has been held since being flown from Afghanistan last week. He faces trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it could be months before any public hearing.

Military authorities had originally said Bales was suspected in the killing 16 Afghan villagers, nine children and seven adults. They changed that Thursday to 17, raising the number of adults by one but without explaining how the change came about. It's possible some of the dead were buried before U.S. military officials arrived at the scene of the carnage. Six Afghans were wounded in the attack.

Bales' civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, said he wouldn't comment on the charges because he has not been officially provided a copy of what they are. He said he spoke Thursday with prosecutors, who told him they will formally present the charges Friday.

The killings were yet another blow to U.S-Afghan relations, following a series of missteps, including the mistaken burning of Qurans, which prompted violent protests and revenge killings of American troops in the war zone.

The brutal shooting rampage also prompted renewed debate in the United States about health care for the troops, who have experienced record suicide rates and high rates of post-traumatic stress and brain injuries during repeated deployments over a decade of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bales was on his fourth tour of duty, having served three tours in Iraq, where he suffered a head injury and a foot injury. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

Browne has portrayed his client as a patriot, loving father and devoted husband who had been traumatized by a comrade's injury and sent into combat one too many times.

But there have been conflicting reports about what exactly Bales saw relating to the comrade's injury. A U.S. defense official said that while it is likely that a soldier from Bales' unit, based in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, suffered a leg wound a day or two before the March 11 shootings, there is no evidence that Bales witnessed it or the aftermath, or that it played any role in his alleged actions.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal review.

Afghan officials have asked the United States for some role in the criminal proceedings, perhaps as observers, and to be kept up to date on the process of the case. The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has not demanded that Bales be turned over to the Afghan justice system, although some in the country's parliament did. The Afghans have also urged a fast resolution of the case.

Browne has also said that Bales has some memories from before the incident and some from after but very little of the time when the military says he went on the shooting spree.

"I'm not putting the war on trial," Browne has said, "but the war is on trial." He added: "If I can help create a discussion about the war, that would be a great way for me to go out."

Army officials have said Bales was cleared for return to duty after the head injury he suffered in Iraq.

Bales joined the Army in 2001 after a Florida investment business failed and after he had worked with a string of securities operations. Bales and a broker at one company were hit in 2003 with a $1.5 million arbitration ruling after an elderly couple charged that their holdings were decimated.

He also was arrested in 2002 for the drunken assault of a casino security guard and had to complete an anger management class. There also are reports of a second incident involving alcohol, although Bales was never formally charged.

A sheriff's department report released Thursday says Robert Bales was accused in 2008 in Washington state of shaking hands with a woman, pulling her hand into his crotch and then punching and kicking her boyfriend. It describes Bales as "extremely intoxicated."

A message seeking comment from Bales' attorney was not immediately returned.

The man police believe fatally shot himself after a standoff at his Enfield home has been identified as Denis Boucher, a 54-year-old corrections officer for the state of Connecticut.

File photo by Paul Sancya / Associated PressNew England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady watches from the bench during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game against the New York Giants, in Indianapolis, Feb. 5. Brady recently restructured his contract.

Here are the most-read stories that appeared on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now.

1) Tom Brady restructures contract, saves Patriots more than $7 million in cap space [Nick Underhill]

2) Springfield Public Health Council bans sales of tobacco products at drug stores, supermarkets with pharmacies [Peter Goonan]

3) Enfield standoff victim identified as Denis Boucher, 54; dead from 'self-inflicted gunshot wound' [Conor Berry]

4) Chicopee mayor Michael Bissonnette considers run for seat as Hampden Superior Court clerk [The Republican Newsroom]

5) Springfield group plans '1,000 Hoodies - A Walk for Trayvon Martin' [Jim Kinney]

Here are the average energy prices in the Pioneer Valley for the week ending today.

View full size

Nearly 13 million Americans, or 8.3 percent, were unemployed in February, the U.S. Department of Labor says.

AP photoMichelle Chesney-Offutt, poses in her home before leaving for work as an insurance customer service representative, Thursday, March 22, 2012, in Sandwich, Ill. Chesney-Offutt, who was unemployed for nearly three years before landing a job, said a recruiter who responded to her online resume two years ago liked her qualifications and was set to schedule an interview. But he backed away, she said, when he learned she had been out of work for 13 months. The employer he represented would not consider applicants who were unemployed for more than six months, she said. More than a dozen states are considering legislation that would forbid employers from refusing to hire workers just because they've been unemployed for months or years. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Few job seekers who fail to get an interview know the reason, but Michelle Chesney-Offutt said a recruiter told her why she lost the chance to pitch for an information technology position.

The 54-year-old, who had been laid off from her IT job in Illinois, said the recruiter who responded to her online resume two years ago liked her qualifications and was set to schedule an interview. But he backed away, she said, when he learned she had been out of work for 13 months.

The employer he represented would not consider applicants who were unemployed for more than six months, she said.

"What they don't consider is that these are not normal times," said Chesney-Offutt, who was unemployed for nearly three years before landing a job.

As high unemployment persists more than four years after the start of the Great Recession — and nearly three years after it was officially declared over — many who have struggled for years without work say they face discrimination. Nearly 13 million Americans, or 8.3 percent, were unemployed in February, the U.S. Department of Labor says.

As of January, California, Connecticut Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Tennessee were considering legislation to prohibit employers from discriminating against the unemployed in help-wanted ads or in direct hiring or in screenings by employment agencies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Employers typically would face fines if found violating the law. The Oregon House, for example, voted last month to fine employers $1,000 if they post a job ad telling unemployed workers to not apply.

Some personnel managers say evidence of discrimination is sketchy and that hiring decisions are based on a host of subjective reasons that defy remedies imposed by laws.

"There's much more subliminal discrimination against the unemployed that's hard to document," said Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University's College of Business Administration. "Hiring is an art, not a science. You rely on a gut reaction."

For example, employers may suspect that an unemployed applicant is seeking an available job for the wrong reasons, she said.

"A manager is going to get the vibe that they'll take anything to get a job and if something better comes along they're out the door," Sarikas said.

Also, some long-term unemployed applicants may come across as too urgent for work, "and desperation doesn't translate well in an interview," she said.

Terri Michaels, who manages a Hartford employment firm that primarily staffs temporary employees, criticized hiring practices that screen out unemployed job seekers. Despite the policies of small staffing companies such as hers, some large employers have an unspoken policy against hiring applicants who've been out of work for two years or more because they want workers with a stable job history and recent references, she said.

"They won't be able to say it but they'll act on it," said Michaels, manager of Stewart Staffing Solutions.

Employers generally expect job candidates — even while unemployed — to show they did some work such as volunteering or working temporary jobs, she said.

"People who did not work in any capacity, didn't do anything are not as desirable to prospective employers," Michaels said. "One has to question, is that discriminatory? I don't know."

Michaels said employers may use unemployment to weed out applicants for no other reason than to cut down a huge number of resumes for coveted job openings.

"When you have 14 million unemployed, everyone is applying for everything," she said. "You have to be somewhat discriminating."

A New Jersey lawmaker who co-sponsored the nation's only law barring ads that restrict applicants to those already with a job, agrees that job hunters need to show they've been active, even in unemployment.

"Don't sit at home. Make yourself available to your community," said Assemblywoman Celeste M. Riley.

Still, she said she backed the legislation after colleagues showed her employment ads specifying that the unemployed should not bother applying.

"I found that absolutely reprehensible," Riley said. "When you apply for a job, you should be viewed based on your skill level, not whether you have a job or not."

Connecticut lawmakers are proposing legislation that would ban discriminatory job ads, but may back off from a more far-reaching provision that would permit unemployed job seekers who claim discrimination to file a complaint with the state's human rights commission or sue in court.

The largest business group in the state, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, sees a ban on discriminatory job ads as reasonable, but lobbyist Kia Murrell said businesses will fight efforts to give workers the right to sue over claims of discrimination.

"You as the employer will be shaking in fear of a claim of unemployment discrimination," she said.

The state's human rights commission told lawmakers that substantiating bias in hiring would be difficult and could require its staff to be nearly doubled if just a small fraction of Connecticut's 150,000 unemployed were to file a discrimination claim.

State Sen. Edith Prague and Rep. Bruce Zalaski, who head the legislature's Labor and Public Employees Committee, said they may drop the provision allowing claims of discrimination.

"It's not our intent that everyone can be sued," Zalaski said.

The National Employment Law Project, based in New York, wants states to add laws that do more than ban discriminatory ads. Laws should explicitly prohibit employers and employment agencies from eliminating from consideration candidates who are unemployed, the advocacy group says.

"You want to tell employers they can't screen workers out of the process because they're unemployed," said George Wentworth, a lawyer for the group.

Chesney-Offutt, of Sandwich, Ill., said she took a 4-hour-a-week job teaching voice lessons so she could tell prospective employers she was employed.

"They didn't care I was unemployed," she said. "They just wanted to know if I could teach voice lessons."

The strategy worked and she eventually got a job in insurance customer service, taking calls from customers reporting claims. It doesn't allow her to use her information technology skills, but she's glad to be working.

It is still not known if the soldier accused of killing 17 Afghans was ever diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — but even if he had been, that alone would not have prevented him from being sent back to war.

Associated PressIn 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. (AP Photo/DVIDS, Spc. Ryan Hallock)

by JULIE WATSON, Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It is still not known if the soldier accused of killing 17 Afghans was ever diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — but even if he had been, that alone would not have prevented him from being sent back to war.

The Army diagnosed 76,176 soldiers with PTSD between 2000 and 2011. Of those 65,236 soldiers were diagnosed at some stage of their deployment.

Many returned to the battlefield after mental health providers determined their treatment worked and their symptoms had gone into remission, Army officials and mental health professionals who treat troops say. The Army does not track the exact number in combat diagnosed with PTSD nor those who are in combat and taking medicine for PTSD.

The case of Sgt. Robert Bales has sparked debate about whether the Army failed in detecting a soldier's mental instability or pushed him too far. The Army is reviewing all its mental health programs and its screening process in light of the March 11 shooting spree in two slumbering Afghan villages that killed families, including nine children.

For some Americans, Bales is the epitome of a soldier inflicted by war's psychological wounds, pushed by the Army beyond his limits.

Bales' attorney says he does not know if his client suffered from PTSD but his initial statements appear to be building a possible defense around the argument that the horrific crime was the result of a 10-year military veteran sent back to a war zone for a fourth time after being traumatized.

Mental health professionals say it's reasonable to consider PTSD but it was likely not the sole factor that sent the 38-year-old father from Washington state over the edge. Still, there is much that is not known about the psychological wounds of war and how they can manifest themselves, and even less is known about the impact of multiple deployments.

Military officials say they have to rely on their mental health experts to decide whether someone is mentally fit to go back into war, and they cannot make a blanket policy of not redeploying troops diagnosed with PTSD. The provider makes a recommendation, but the ultimate decision to deploy a soldier rests with the unit commander.

Army Secretary John McHugh told Congress this week that "we have in the military writ large over 50,000 folks in uniform who have had at least four deployments." Some have served double-digit deployments, where they witnessed traumatic events.

"People do not understand that you can be treated for PTSD," said Dr. Heidi Kraft, who cared for Marines in Iraq in 2004 as a Navy combat psychologist. "It's a matter of turning a traumatic memory into just that — a memory rather than something that haunts you.

"You can't say the person hasn't live through trauma, but symptoms can go completely into remission, where a person is very functional and in fact emerges from treatment better or more resilient. There is the misconception out there that if you have this diagnosis, you will always be disabled, and that's just not true."

It also depends on the severity of the PTSD, which can last anywhere from months to years.

Some troops treated for PTSD yearn to return to the battlefield where they feel more comfortable surrounded by their fellow troops and on a mission than in the unsettling quiet of their home life, mental health professionals say.

But Bales' attorney said that was not the case with his client.

John Henry Browne of Seattle said Bales had suffered injuries during his deployments, including a serious foot injury and head trauma and did not want to go on a fourth tour.

Military officials insist that Bales had been properly screened and declared fit for combat.

Army officials say soldiers sent to war may be checked up to five times, including before being deployed, during combat, once they return home and six months and a year later. The Army screens soldiers for depression and PTSD, asking questions to find out about any social stressors, sleep disruption and other problems. Those who are detected as having problems go on to a second phase of screening.

Officials say, however, that no test is considered diagnostically definitive for mental illness in general or PTSD in particular.

Critics say the Army has a history of bandaging the problem and rushing troops back into combat by loading them up on prescription drugs. Military courts also do not recognize PTSD as a legitimate defense, said attorney Geoffrey Nathan who has represented a number of court martialed troops.

"They're still in a state of denial as to what combat soldiers go through in the field of battle," Nathan said.

The Army says it's committed to the health of the force, pointing out it has invested $710 million in behavioral health care and doubled the number of mental health workers since 2007.

"The Army has a robust policy to return soldiers who are fit for duty to combat units as soon as possible," said Army spokesman George Wright. "If a soldier has a broken leg, and he is healed, and fully capable of conducting the mission, he's eligible to return to duty. It's the same when qualified medical doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists determine a soldier suffering from a behavioral health disorder is healed. If he displays the signs that he's fully capable of accomplishing the mission as a solider, he'll be returned to duty."

Treatment can result in cure for some patients with PTSD, but more often results in improvement in symptoms and functioning, not a complete cure, according to the Army. PTSD can recur after treatment on exposure to other traumatic events or stressors. According to some studies, up to 80 percent of people with PTSD also suffer from another psychiatric disorder, making it challenging to make an accurate diagnosis.

The Army says its doctors look at a soldier's current clinical condition and rely heavily on the soldier telling the provider whether symptoms have subsided. The Army says it recognizes that deploying a soldier who is not medically ready puts both the individual and unit at risk.

PTSD is a condition that results from experiencing or seeing a traumatic event, whether it's being in a car crash or witnessing a battlefield casualty.

Browne said a fellow soldier's leg had been blown off days before the rampage and Bales had seen the wounds. He also remembers very little or nothing from the time the military believes he went on the rampage, according to his attorney.

Not remembering a traumatic event or avoiding the memory is a classic symptom of PTSD, along with recurrent nightmares, flashbacks, irritability and feeling distant from other people.

But mental health experts believe other factors were at play. Bales' personal history shows he had a past assault charge against a former girlfriend that required anger management classes, and also financial troubles.

Those who suffer from PTSD are prone to acting out, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD. But the violent behavior is usually against family members or fellow troops, not strangers, mental health professionals say.

Dr. Harry Croft, a San Antonio, Texas psychiatrist who has diagnosed 7,000 veterans with PTSD for the Veterans Affairs Department and written the book "I Always Sit With My Back to The Wall" about PTSD said the case has set back years of work to erase the perception that veterans are walking time bombs who can go off without warning. Veteran advocates point to one tabloid headline labeling the then-unidentified suspect "Sergeant Psycho."

That stereotype, they say, has caused employers to shy away from hiring veterans returning from war and steered singles away from getting involved in relationships with them.

"Even the most severe cases of PTSD alone would not have caused such a heinous act like this," said Croft. "Something else was definitely going on, most probably severe depression, psychosis, substance abuse or he received some terrible news from home that pushed him over the edge."
____

Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama blocked construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a gift to environmentalists. Newt Gingrich calls Obama "President Algae" for supporting research on biofuels. And Rick Santorum says Obama's environmental views constitute a "phony theology" that prioritizes the earth over people.

The Associated PressPresident Barack Obama speaks during a visit to The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

By BETH FOUHY and DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama blocked construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a gift to environmentalists. Newt Gingrich calls Obama "President Algae" for supporting research on biofuels. And Rick Santorum says Obama's environmental views constitute a "phony theology" that prioritizes the earth over people.

The leading Republican presidential hopefuls have cast Obama as environmental extremist whose policies have put him out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans. It's a characterization that may resonate with GOP primary voters, but it has surprised environmental activists, many of whom say they are let down by Obama's record on their issues.

"The environmental movement has been at odds with Barack Obama for much of his three years in the White House," said Bill McKibben, founder of the environmental group 350.org. "The president is very much in the center — far too much in the center for many environmentalists."

As a candidate, Obama's pledge to limit the gases that contribute to global warming and embrace cleaner forms of energy pleased many environmental activists. But nearing the end of his first term, Obama's record on the environment is mixed — and many of his decisions have irked the very activists who Republicans suggest have broad sway over administration policies.

"Absolutely, he has been a disappointment," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. "When Obama was elected, I think public health and environmental advocates thought a number of unresolved problems would be dealt in short order. And we learned that environmental protection did not prove to be a first-tier activity for the White House."

Some Obama actions have cheered environmentalists. He successfully ushered in historic increases in fuel economy standards for automobiles as well as the first-ever regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming and on toxic mercury pollution from power plants. He has invested heavily in cleaner forms of energy; the U.S. produces more energy from alternative sources such as wind, solar and biofuels now than it has at any point in history.

But Obama failed to persuade a Democratic Congress to pass promised legislation limiting carbon emissions. He abandoned the legislative effort entirely after Republicans gained control of the House in the 2010 elections.

And in a move that deeply angered environmentalists, the president in September scrubbed a plan to set a stricter health standard on lung-damaging smog, sticking with one set by his GOP predecessor George W. Bush that scientists say is too weak.

The Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign stop at an American Legion post in Arbutus, Md., Wednesday, March 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

For the GOP presidential candidates, it all amounts to a zealous pursuit of policies that have slowed the nation's economic recovery.

In his appeal to evangelical voters, Santorum has framed Obama's environmentalism as "phony theology" — a belief espoused by many Christian conservatives that environmental activism places nature above man and promotes veneration of the earth instead of God.

Recently, Santorum, Romney and Gingrich have cast the rising cost of gasoline, currently averaging about $3.88 a gallon, as a consequence of Obama's decisions to limit oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. However, U.S. oil production is unrelated to gasoline prices, given that oil is a global commodity, and factors that influence gasoline prices are generally beyond the control of a president or a nation.

In Louisiana on Wednesday, Santorum blamed Obama's "radical energy policy" for slowing oil production on federal lands and off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

"The underlying reason is because he believes in man-made global warming," Santorum said of Obama. The former Pennsylvania senator has dismissed climate change as "political science" despite a broad consensus among climate scientists that human activity has contributed to a warming of the earth.

Gingrich has made the price of gasoline the central tenet of his sputtering candidacy, insisting he will bring gas prices down to $2.50 a gallon if elected.

"This is a very anti-fossil fuels administration. The left wing environmental movement hates oil," Gingrich said recently at a campaign stop in Alabama.

Romney has called on Obama to fire his "gas hike trio" — Romney's term for Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson.

And Romney has chided Obama for his interest in renewable energy. "You can't drive a car with a windmill on it," the former Massachusetts governor told a campaign audience in Ohio earlier this month.

In fact, Obama has walked a fine line with environmentalists on energy.

Many cheered when he decided to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline after widespread protests from environmental groups. But his administration is now pledging to fast-track a smaller segment of the pipeline to bring oil from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast, to environmentalists' dismay.

Obama has drawn praise from environmentalists for instituting a temporary moratorium on deep-water drilling after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last spring. But he is pushing more oil and gas drilling in part because of high fuel prices and has recently given approval to Shell to drill in the Arctic Ocean — a step that environmental groups have been fighting for years.

Obama has also given a guarded endorsement of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, even as the EPA and Interior Department are pursuing several new regulations on the controversial drilling practice to extract natural gas and oil from shale rock.

Obama has pleased environmentalists with improvements in energy efficiency, fuel economy and investment in clean-energy technologies. But he has infuriated many by embracing nuclear energy as part of a so-called clean-energy standard.

"This administration has expanded drilling in the Arctic, has delayed protections from smog, and at the same time done more for clean energy and to cut oil consumption than any administration ever," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. "By our view, that's a combination of wins and losses, or advances and retreats, that shows a pragmatic and moderate record."
___

Cappiello reported from Washington. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.

The document provides the latest example of how, in the name of fighting terrorism, law enforcement agencies around the country have scrutinized groups that legally oppose government policies.

Associated PressIn this May 3, 2011 file photo, One Police Plaza is seen in New York. New York Police Department documents show that undercover officers attended meetings of liberal political groups and kept intelligence files on activists. The records show how, since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, counterterrorism tactics have been used to monitor even lawful activities.

NEW YORK — Undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.

The infiltration echoes the tactics the NYPD used in the run-up to New York's 2004 Republican National Convention, when police monitored church groups, anti-war organizations and environmental advocates nationwide. That effort was revealed by The New York Times in 2007 and in an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit over how the NYPD treated convention protesters.

Police said the pre-convention spying was necessary to prepare for the huge, raucous crowds that were headed to the city. But documents obtained by The Associated Press show that the police department's intelligence unit continued to keep close watch on political groups in 2008, long after the convention had passed.

In April 2008, an undercover NYPD officer traveled to New Orleans to attend the People's Summit, a gathering of liberal groups organized around their shared opposition to U.S. economic policy and the effect of trade agreements between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

When the undercover effort was summarized for supervisors, it identified groups opposed to U.S. immigration policy, labor laws and racial profiling. Two activists — Jordan Flaherty, a journalist, and Marisa Franco, a labor organizer for housekeepers and nannies — were mentioned by name in one of the police intelligence reports obtained by the AP.

"One workshop was led by Jordan Flaherty, former member of the International Solidarity Movement Chapter in New York City," officers wrote in an April 25, 2008, memo to David Cohen, the NYPD's top intelligence officer. "Mr. Flaherty is an editor and journalist of the Left Turn Magazine and was one of the main organizers of the conference. Mr. Flaherty held a discussion calling for the increase of the divestment campaign of Israel and mentioned two events related to Palestine."

The document is available here.

The document provides the latest example of how, in the name of fighting terrorism, law enforcement agencies around the country have scrutinized groups that legally oppose government policies. The FBI, for instance, has collected information on anti-war demonstrators. The Maryland state police infiltrated meetings of anti-death penalty groups. Missouri counterterrorism analysts suggested that support for Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, might indicate support for violent militias — an assertion for which state officials later apologized. And Texas officials urged authorities to monitor lobbying efforts by pro Muslim-groups.

Police have good reason to want to know what to expect when protesters take to the streets. Many big cities, such as Seattle in 1999, Cincinnati in 2001 and Toledo in 2005, have seen protests turned into violent, destructive riots. Intelligence from undercover officers gives police an idea of what to expect and lets them plan accordingly.

"There was no political surveillance," Cohen testified in the ongoing lawsuit over NYPD's handling of protesters at the Republican convention. "This was a program designed to determine in advance the likelihood of unlawful activity or acts of violence."

The result of those efforts, however, was that people and organizations can be cataloged in police files for discussing political topics or advocating even legal protests, not violence or criminal activity.

By contrast, at the height of the Occupy Wall Street protests and in related protests in other cities, officials at the U.S. Homeland Security Department repeatedly urged authorities not to produce intelligence reports based simply on protest activities.

"Occupy Wall Street-type protesters mostly are engaged in constitutionally protected activity," department officials wrote in documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the website Gawker. "We maintain our longstanding position that DHS should not report on activities when the basis for reporting is political speech."

At the NYPD, the monitoring was carried out by the Intelligence Division, a squad that operates with nearly no outside oversight and is so secretive that police said even its organizational chart is too sensitive to publish. The division has been the subject of a series of Associated Press articles that illustrated how the NYPD monitored Muslim neighborhoods, catalogued people who prayed at mosques and eavesdropped on sermons.

The AP left phone messages with Cohen and two NYPD press officers last week seeking comment about the undercover operation in New Orleans. They did not return the calls.

The NYPD has defended its efforts, saying the threat of terrorism means officers cannot wait to open an investigation until a crime is committed. Under rules governing NYPD investigations, officers are allowed to go anywhere the public can go and can prepare reports for "operational planning."

Though the NYPD's infiltration of political groups before the 2004 convention generated some controversy and has become an element in a lawsuit over the arrest, fingerprinting and detention of protesters, the surveillance itself has not been challenged in court.

Flaherty, who also writes for The Huffington Post, said he was not an organizer of the summit, as police wrote in the NYPD report. He said the event described by police actually was a film festival in New Orleans that same week, suggesting that the undercover officer's duties were more widespread than described in the report.

Flaherty said he recalls introducing a film about Palestinians but spoke only briefly and does not understand why that landed him a reference in police files.

"The only threat was the threat of ideas," he said. "I think this idea of secret police following you around is terrifying. It really has an effect of spreading fear and squashing dissent."

Before the terrorist attacks of September 2001, infiltrating political groups was one of the most tightly controlled powers the NYPD could use. Such investigations were restricted by a longstanding court order in a lawsuit over the NYPD's spying on protest groups in the 1960s.

After the attacks, Cohen told a federal judge that, to keep the city safe, police must be allowed to open investigations before there's evidence of a crime. A federal judge agreed and relaxed the rules.

Since then, police have monitored not only suspected terrorists but also entire Muslim neighborhoods, mosques, restaurants and law-abiding protesters.

Keeping tabs on planned demonstrations is a key function of Cohen's division. Investigators with his Cyber Intelligence Unit monitor websites of activist groups, and undercover officers put themselves on email distribution lists for upcoming events. Plainclothes officers collect fliers on public demonstrations. Officers and informants infiltrate the groups and attend rallies, parades and marches.

Intelligence analysts take all this information and distill it into summaries for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly's daily briefing, documents show.

The April 2008 memo offers an unusually candid view of how political monitoring fit into the NYPD's larger, post-9/11 intelligence mission. As the AP has reported previously, Cohen's unit has transformed the NYPD into one of the most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies in the United States, one that infiltrated Muslim student groups, monitored their websites and used informants as listening posts inside mosques.

Along with the political monitoring, the document describes plans to use informants to monitor mosques for conversations about the imminent verdict in the trial of three NYPD officers charged in the 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell, an unarmed man who died in a hail of gunfire. Police were worried about how the black community, particularly the New Black Panther Party, would respond to the verdict, according to this and other documents obtained by the AP.

The document also contained details of a whitewater rafting trip that an undercover officer attended with Muslim students from City College New York.

"The group prayed at least four times a day, and much of the conversation was spent discussing Islam and was religious in nature," the report reads.

Eugene Puryear, 26, an activist who attended the New Orleans summit, said he was not surprised to learn that police were monitoring it. He said it was entirely peaceful, a way to connect community organizers around the issues of racism and the rights of the poor. But he described it as a challenge to corporate power and said the NYPD probably felt threatened by it.

"From their perspective, they need to spy on peaceful groups so they're not effective at putting out their peaceful message," he said. "They are threatened by anything challenging the status quo."

A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant Thursday, the first day of the plant's operation after the expiration of its 40-year license.

The Associated PressHundreds of anti-nuclear activists march to the local corporate offices of Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Corp., Thursday, March 22, 2012 in Brattleboro, Vt. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

WILSON RING, Associated Press

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant Thursday, the first day of the plant's operation after the expiration of its 40-year license.

Frances Crowe, of Northampton, Mass., said she wants Vermont Yankee to cease operations because she feels it's a threat to the people who live nearby.

"As I was walking down, all I could think of was Fukushima and the suffering of all the people, and I don't want that to happen to New England," said Crowe in referring to the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged last year after an earthquake and tsunami.

When asked how many times she'd been arrested, she answered: "Not enough."

A heavy police presence and ropes blocked off access to the offices in Brattleboro. The arrests were made calmly and without any confrontation, with obvious signs that protesters and police had worked out the logistics beforehand.

Brattleboro Police Chief Gene Wrinn said in a statement that more than 130 people had been arrested for unlawful trespass. He said after being processed, they were later released.

A company spokesman said work continued as normal at the plant 10 miles south in Vernon.

"We greatly appreciate the backing of our supporters and respect the rights of opponents to peacefully protest," said a statement issued by company spokesman Larry Smith. "Inside the gates, our employees will not be distracted. As it is every day, their focus on safety will be laser sharp."

A crowd estimated at more than 1,000 gathered in a downtown Brattleboro park before they marched the 3 ½ miles to the headquarters. Some marched on stilts. Others with painted faces carried signs that read "hell no, we won't glow." Many chanted: "Shut it down."

The Associated PressAnti-nuclear activists ninty-three-year-old Francis Crowe, center, and her friend Anneke Corbett are escorted off the property of the local corporate offices of Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Corp., , Thursday, March 22, 2012 in Brattleboro, Vt. after being arrested for trespassing. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Gov. Peter Shumlin was sympathetic to the protesters.

"I am very supportive of the peaceful protesters gathered today in Brattleboro to express their — and my — frustration that this aging plant remains open after its agreed-upon license has expired," he said.

In a coordinated action in New Orleans, the headquarters of Vermont Yankee's parent company, Entergy Nuclear, another group of seven activists were arrested after they went into the building and refused to leave, police said. The Journal News reported that five others also were arrested at Entergy offices in White Plains, N.Y.

Loyola University law professor Bill Quigley said the New Orleans protesters live near the Vermont plant and traveled to Louisiana to request a meeting with Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard. They didn't get that meeting before they were arrested.

"We're trying to tell Entergy that the whole world is watching, and you can't pollute in one area of the country without consequences for everybody," Quigley said.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the plant a 20-year license extension, but the state of Vermont wants the plant to close and the two sides are fighting a legal battle. In January, a federal judge issued an order that allows the plant to continue operating while the legal case continues in court.

While the protesters gathered on the Brattleboro Commons, Vermont Yankee supporters sat across the street and watched. A half-dozen signs saying "VT4VY" were posted on the lawn.

"The thing is these people are not going to realize it until it's too late what a benefit it is down there. I feel bad for them. I don't think they're looking at the big picture," said Steve Shaclumis of Brattleboro.

Some protesters, including Crowe, were released immediately with citations to appear in court. Others were handcuffed and led onto a waiting school bus. It was expected they would be taken to a police station and then released.
___

Associated Press reporters Michael Kunzelman and Chevel Johnson in New Orleans and Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains, N.Y., contributed to the story.

All three were arrested this morning, court documents show.

Former Massachusetts Probation Commissioner John O'Brien, center, appears for his arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston on a previous conspiracy charge. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring with another state official, Scott Campbell, a top aide to former state treasurer Timothy Cahill, to get O'Brien's wife a job at the state lottery.

BOSTON - The ongoing scandal involving hiring at the state's probation department has resulted in the indictments of three former probation officials on charges that include mail fraud and racketeering.

Indictments were filed Thursday against former Springfield deputy probation commissioner William H. Burke III of Hatfield, former probation commissioner John J. O'Brien and former second deputy probation commissioner Elizabeth V Tavares, U.S. District Court documents show.

According to the documents, all three were arrested this morning.

The indictments, unsealed today, charge Burke with mail fraud and conspiracy.

Tavares, of Newton, and O'Brien, of Quincy, were indicted on conspiracy, racketeering and mail fraud, according to federal court records.

Burke, a 35-year veteran of the probation department in Western Massachusetts who retired in 2009 with an $83,000 pension, was enmeshed in the hiring at probation, according to a 307-page report issued in 2010 by Paul Ware, an independent counsel appointed by the state Supreme Judicial Court to investigate probation hiring. Here is a copy of the report from Ware.

"My client, William Burke, denies that he ever committed any criminal act while employed by the state in the probation department," his lawyer John Amabile said when reached by telephone by the Associated Press. "We're pleading not guilty and we intend to fight the charges vigorously."

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge James Burrell had scheduled a 10:30 a.m. press conference today to discuss the indictments.

According to the indictment, Burke, deputy commissioner for 10 years before retiring, O'Brien and Tavares are charged with taking part in a conspiracy between 2000 and 2010 including multiple acts of mail fraud.

They are charged with using a "sham hiring system" that favored candidates sponsored by legislators, judges and others including one hire, listed as only "K.P.," in the indictment, an apparent reference to Kathleen Petrolati, wife of Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati of Ludlow. She was hired as a manager in the electronic monitoring program of probation. Rep. Petrolati has long been tangled up in the probation scandal.

"K.P.," who was sponsored by former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, was hired as a manager in the electronic monitoring program in Springfield in 2001, though she was not the most qualified, according to the indictment.

No legislators or other elected officials have been charged with criminal offenses in connection with the probation scandal.

The indictment, however, said the Senate President in 2008 -- who was Therese Murray, the current Senate president, -- sponsored three candidates for probation officers who were hired in Plymouth courts even though they were not the most qualified.

Murray and other current and former legislators who sponsored candidates are not identified by name in the indictment but only by position or title in the Legislature. Murray, for example, is only mentioned as "the President of the Senate" in the indictment. Other sponsors are mentioned only as "a member of the state judiciary" or "a member of the House of Representatives," for example.

Burke's daughter, called "M.B." was also hired as an assistant manager in the electronic monitoring department in 2001 in Springfield. She also was not the most qualified, and she was sponsored by her father, the indictment said.

The three former probation officials sought favor with legislators by creating a rigged hiring system that catered to requests by legislators and others to employ and promote candidates in probation, the indictment said.

They hired people sponsored by legislators but also maintained a facade of a merit-based hiring system that increased their ability to win favorable votes on the budget and other interests, the indictment said.

Instead of hiring the best qualified, the former probation officials promoted the most politically connected or sponsored candidates, the indictment said. This was done to increase the probation budget, gain control over the enterprise and build their power, the indictment said.

They kept "sponsor lists" to ensure that legislators' candidates were hired, the indictment said.

The three created "a sham" hiring system, including interviews, job postings, scoring sheets, letters. O'Brien certified to the chief justice that people hired were in compliance with the trial court standards.

"This sham system was used to conceal that the hiring systems were pre-determined and not based on the merits but upon the nature and extent of the sponsorship," the indictment said. "O'Brien would take names from sponsor lists and give them to Tavares, Burke and interview panels."

They sought to ensure that preferred candidates reached the final round and also had the highest score at the final interview, it said. Scoring sheets were falsified and other methods skewed to reach this result, prosecutors charged, prosecutors said in the indictment.

The sham system created the aura of a legitimate-based hiring process.

The indictment includes only the initials of sponsored candidates for probation officer who were hired including the son of a member of the state judiciary and a friend of the Cape and Island district attorney, and a third person, all sponsored by the Senate President Therese Murray.

Neither was the most qualified candidate but all were hired in 2008.

Other sponsored hires, none the most qualified, included the daughter of a member of the judiciary sponsored by former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, now serving a prison term on federal corruption charges.

The mail fraud charges stem from the delivering of rejection letters to unsuccessful candidates and to receive and deliver other documents related to employment.

The official court hiring system stressed the importance of interviews based on objective standards and called for committees of court officials to hold interviews with applicants.

State law included appointment, performance, promotion, continuing education requirements for the Trial Court.

The state Legislature changed law in 2001 to vest hiring authority in O'Brien, the former probation commissioner. The chief justice for administration and management could still reject any appointment that didn't comply with the trial court's standards.

An earlier investigation ordered by the state Supreme Judicial Court found what appeared to be "an understanding" between O'Brien and certain lawmakers linking generous state funding for the department to O'Brien's willingness to give jobs to applicants recommended by lawmakers.

O'Brien has pleaded not guilty to a state charge involving a promotion for an assistant probation officer following a request from former House Speaker DiMasi. Attorney General Martha Coakley has charged O'Brien and a former treasury aide with conspiring to trade political contributions in exchange for a job for O’Brien’s wife.
.

Indictment of former probation officials

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. This is a developing story. Details will be added as our reporting continues.

Readers offer their thoughts on plans for a march in support of Trayvon Martin in Springfield on March 31.

Associated Press photoA demonstrator holds up a sign during a rally for Trayvon Martin, Wednesday in New York.

The Alliance of Black Professionals has scheduled “1,000 Hoodies - A Walk for Trayvon Martin” at 10 a.m. March 31 at City Hall.

Martin, 17, was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford , Fla.

According to the Associated Press, Zimmerman allegedly shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to death on Feb. 26.
Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious.

Martin was unarmed. Zimmerman claims he acted in self defense.

The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and the local prosecutor has convened a grand jury April 10 to determine whether to charge Zimmerman.

In Springfield the planned march in support of Martin has inspired a range of reactions. Here's is a sampling of what MassLive.com's readers have said on the topic:

Reader Snapneck781 said:

It's a damn shame that a 17 year old black male who wasn't causing any disturbance in a community that his father's girlfriend lived in was gunned down in cold blood by an overzealous, ill-equipped, non-licensed neighborhood watch VOLUNTEER who was advised by dispatchers NOT to pursue Trayvon when it wasn't necessary or prudent.

Oh, and before you jump the gun in an attempt to undermine what I stated or label me a "sympathizer", I'm a white male. From the suburbs. Who happens to be quite tired of miscarriages of justice and the anonymous racists that use message boards to spit vitriolic garbage consistently.

Reader DVMMC said:
I'm a fan of Fox News, I listen to both Glenn Beck and Rush. I am a conservative Republican, and I think the "race card" is played way too often. But when some injustice has been done to a person regardless of race I'm not, just because I am white, say it doesn't matter. Because it matters a great deal, a life was taken for no good reason. I ask those of you who made jokes or snide remarks, where in God's name is your compassion. It honestly makes me sad that some of you can be so callous.

Mr. Zimmerman called the police and he was told NOT to follow the young man. His girlfriend heard him cry out for help and then heard the shot that killed him. Then he was taken to a morgue and for 3 days his family had no idea where he was. Although he had his cell with numbers for both "mom" and "dad" they were never called.

I ask those of you who commented with hate or humor please think how you would feel if it were your child.

Reader hadathought said:

The fact that basic gathering of evidence didn't take place tells me the police didn't treat this as they should have. I can't believe a Massachusetts legislator is introducing this bill here. Even if he says it's being 'tightened up' to get rid of ambiguities I hope the lawmakers wait to see what comes out in light of the Florida shooting before they vote it in.

Reader swingtownkid said:

I remember multiple marches/ demonstrations when it was a black on black crime...last one I remember was for the kid Mario Hornsby who played basketball and also for the Shepard boys who were twins that were both murdered...

Also I remember a very touching rally that though it was black on white crime but the entire black community was present for Conor Reynolds rally at Cathedral and Masslive posted a great picture of the father of the basketball star embracing Reynolds father...

So think a bit before you try to spin this into some racist thing...

The next UMass chancellor is expected to visit the campus Tuesday morning.

Photo by Diane Lederman/The RepublicanSusan D. Phillips has withdrawn her name from UMass chancellorship consideration.

AMHERST – One of the finalists for the University of Massachusetts chancellorship position has withdrawn her name from consideration.

In an email, Susan D. Phillips, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Albany / State University of New York wrote that she had withdrawn her name from further consideration.

“A complicated decision, of course, but I know that the other three finalists are all excellent candidates and that the very special place that is UMass will be well-served with their leadership.”

Phillips, who called her style collaborative, was one of four finalists.

UMass President Robert L. Caret is slated to name a new chancellor Monday evening in Boston at a special Board of Trustees meeting convened to vote on that recommendation.

The new chancellor is then expected to visit the campus Tuesday morning.

The remaining candidates are Carlos E. Santiago, chief executive officer of Hispanic College Fund in Washington and former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee; Kumble R. Subbaswamy, provost at the University of Kentucky and
Sona Andrews, vice chancellor for academic strategies for the Oregon University system. All visited campus last week meeting with various campus groups.

The chancellor would replace Robert C. Holub who has been chancellor for four years.

Massachusetts State Police say a man is dead and a woman has been taken to the hospital after a shooting on Martha's Vineyard.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts State Police say a man is dead and a woman has been taken to the hospital after a shooting on Martha's Vineyard.

Authorities say the violence erupted shortly after 8 a.m. Friday.

A man who lives on Skiffs Lane told The Associated Press that the shooting happened at the house across the street from him.

He says the woman who lives there is estranged from her husband, and the couple split up after once living in the home together.

Neighbor Jonathan Harris says the retired couple has owned the home for decades and decided about a year ago that the husband would move back to the mainland.

Although police didn't release further details to the Associated Press, Martha's Vineyard Times reports that 64=year-old Kenneth Bloomquist died at the scene while his estranged wife Cynthia was rushed into surgery at a local hospital.

President Barack Obama called the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in a Florida suburb a "tragedy" on Friday and said that "every aspect" of the case that has rallied civil rights activists should be investigated.

The Associated PressPresident Barack Obama answers a reporter's question about the death of Trayvon Martin, Friday, March 23, 2012, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/ Haraz N. Ghanbari)

By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama called the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in a Florida suburb a "tragedy" on Friday and said that "every aspect" of the case that has rallied civil rights activists should be investigated.

Speaking in personal terms, Obama expressed sympathy for the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, by a neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense.

"I can only imagine what these parents are going through and when I think about this boy I think about my own kids," Obama said. He aimed his message at Martin's parents, saying, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans take this with the seriousness that it deserves and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened."

Obama said that "every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and everybody pulls together, federal state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened."

The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation and a grand jury is considering whether to charge George Zimmerman, who acknowledged shooting the teen but said it was self-defense. Martin's parents, civil rights activists and others who have rallied to the cause say they won't be satisfied until Zimmerman is arrested.

Police Chief Bill Lee stepped down temporarily this week to try to cool the building anger that his department had not arrested Zimmerman. Hours later, Gov. Rick Scott announced that the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, had recused himself from the case in hopes of "toning down the rhetoric" surrounding it.

Stop & Shop said that while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said the product is safe for consumption, it will stop selling the beef due to customer concerns.

Associated PressA hamburger made from ground beef containing what is derisively referred to as "pink slime," or what the meat industry calls "lean, finely textured beef," right, and one made from pure 85% lean ground beef are displayed in front of uncooked portions of those meats Thursday, March 15, 2012 in Concord, N.H. Under a change announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, districts that get food through the government's school lunch program will be allowed to say no to ground beef containing the ammonia-treated filler and choose filler-free meat instead. The low-cost filler is made from fatty meat scraps that are heated to remove most of the fat, then treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

NEW YORK — Supermarket chains Kroger Co. and Stop & Shop said Thursday they will join the growing list of store chains that will no longer sell beef that includes an additive with the unappetizing moniker "pink slime."

Federal regulators say the ammonia-treated filler, known in the industry as "lean, finely textured beef," meets food safety standards. But critics say the product could be unsafe and is an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.

The Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocer with 2,435 supermarkets in 31 states, also said it will stop buying the beef, reversing itself after saying Wednesday that it would sell beef both with and without the additive.

Earlier Thursday, Stop & Shop said that while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said the product is safe for consumption, it will stop selling the beef due to customer concerns. Stop & Shop is a unit of Dutch supermarkets owner Royal Ahold NV and operates 400 stores in the Northeast U.S.

The chains joined Safeway, Supervalu and Food Lion, among others, who have said they won't sell beef with the filler.

"Our customers have expressed their concerns that the use of lean finely textured beef — while fully approved by the USDA for safety and quality — is something they do not want in their ground beef," Kroger said in a statement. "As a result, Kroger will no longer purchase ground beef containing lean finely textured beef."

The low-cost ingredient is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. The bits are heated to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and spun to remove most of the fat. The lean mix then is compressed into blocks for use in ground meat. The product is exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.

Though the term "pink slime" has been used pejoratively for at least several years, it wasn't until early March that social media suddenly exploded with worry and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools lit up, quickly garnering hundreds of thousands of supporters.

The Agriculture Department said last week that, starting next fall, schools involved in the national school lunch program will have the option of avoiding the product.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the retail giant that sells significantly more food than any other chain, said Wednesday that its Walmart and Sam's Club stores will begin selling meat that doesn't contain the additive. It did not say it would stop selling beef with the filler altogether.

On Thursday Wal-Mart updated its statement to say that it will have new products in stores as quickly as possible, and that its meat department and customer service staffers will tell customers who inquire about the new meat offerings.

Other stores have come out in recent days saying either that they never sold beef with the filler or they plan to stop doing so.

"Our ground beef vendors do not use an ammonium hydroxide treatment in their production processes," Target said in a statement. "Any additional questions can be directed to vendors."

Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, and Giant/Martin's, which operates Giant Food Stores and Martin's Food Markets and in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, all said Thursday they will no longer sell beef with the additive.

BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. also said it will stop selling beef products with the additive, starting April 7 for fresh products and April 20 for frozen.

Whole Foods, A&P and Costco said they have never sold beef products with the additive.

On Wednesday, Supervalu Inc. — which operates stores under the Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy banners — said that customer concern prompted it to stop carrying products containing the filler.

Delhaize America, the U.S. unit of Belgium's Delhaize Group, also said Wednesday that its Food Lion, Hannaford, Bottom Dollar Food and Sweetbay chains have made similar decisions.

And Safeway Inc., which operates the Genuardi's and Dominicks chains, as well as Safeway stores, also said Wednesday that it has announced it will stop selling fresh or frozen ground beef with the filler.

The theft happened just after 12 p.m. Thursday. Watch video

CHICOPEE - The thieves were in and out in well under two minutes.

Three men in a black pickup truck backed into Darrell Thompson's driveway on East Street Thursday, hitched up a trailer and drove off with two blue Yamaha "quad"-style all-terrain vehicles. Thompson's home security camera caught the brazen mid-day theft on video.

"One of them must have busted the lock off" of the trailer, said Thompson, who estimated the value of each vehicle at $1,700. The trailer, he said, is worth about $500.

Thompson described the suspects' pickup truck as a Dodge Ram. The trailer carries the license plate B31373.

Thompson noticed the trailer and vehicles were missing when he accessed his security system while at work. "I ran straight home," he said. The theft happened just after 12 p.m. Thursday, a time stamp on the video shows.

An avid rider, Thompson had already taken advantage of the mild spring by hitting the trails over the past few weeks at Granby's Farview Sportsman's club.

Thompson turned the video over to Chicopee police, and said he'd offer a reward of up to $300 for information leading to the return of the vehicles.

The phone number for the city's police department is (413) 592-6341.