The rate of U.S. cases of autism and related disorders rose to about 1 in 88 children. The previous estimate was 1 in 110.

Associated PressChristopher Astacio reads with his daughter Cristina, 2, recently diagnosed with a mild form of autism, in her bedroom on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 in New York. Autism cases are on the rise again, largely due to wider screening and better diagnosis, federal health officials said Thursday, March 2012. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

ATLANTA (AP) — Autism cases are on the rise again, largely due to wider screening and better diagnosis, federal health officials said Thursday.

The rate of U.S. cases of autism and related disorders rose to about 1 in 88 children. The previous estimate was 1 in 110.

The new figure is from the latest in a series of studies that have been steadily increasing the government's autism estimate. This new number means autism is nearly twice as common as officials said it was only five years ago, and likely affects roughly 1 million U.S. children and teens.

Health officials attribute the increase largely to better recognition of cases, through wide screening and better diagnosis. But the search for the cause of autism is really only beginning, and officials acknowledge that other factors may be helping to drive up the numbers.

"We're not quite sure the reasons for the increase," said Coleen Boyle of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Autism is diagnosed by making judgments about a child's behavior; there are no blood or biologic tests. For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe language and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors. The definition of autism has gradually expanded, and "autism" is now shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions, including Asperger's syndrome. Meanwhile, there's been an explosion in autism-related treatment and services for children.

As in the past, advocacy groups seized on the new numbers as further evidence that autism research and services should get greater emphasis. The new figures indicate "a public health emergency that demands immediate attention," said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks.

The CDC study released Thursday is considered the most comprehensive U.S. investigation of autism prevalence to date. Researcher gathered data from areas in 14 states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.

They looked specifically at 8-year-old children because most autism is diagnosed by that age. They checked health and school records to see which children met the criteria for autism, even if they hadn't been formally diagnosed. Then, the researchers calculated how common autism was in each place and overall.

An earlier report based on 2002 findings estimated that about 1 in 150 children that age had autism or a related disorder such as Asperger's. After seeing 2006 data, the figure was revised to about 1 in 110. The estimate released Thursday, based on 2008 data, is 1 in 88.

The study also found that autism disorders were almost five times more common in boys. And that an increasingly large proportion of children with autism have IQs of 85 or higher — a finding that contradicts a past assumption that most autistic kids had IQs of 70 or lower.

Also, higher autism rates were found in some places than others. For example in Utah, as many as 1 in 47 of the 8-year-olds had an autism spectrum disorder. In New Jersey, 1 in 49 did.

Alabama was at the other end the scale, with only about 1 in 210 identified as autistic. The difference was attributed to less information out of Alabama. Researchers were not able to access school information in that state and a few others, and as a result believe they have a less complete picture.

That's a reasonable explanation, said Zachary Warren, director of an autism treatment and research institute at Vanderbilt University.

"How you go looking for something is going to affect what you find," he said.

In the early 1990s, only a few out of every 10,000 children were diagnosed with the condition, based on some small studies in individual states or cities. But the numbers began to change dramatically after 2000, when Congress directed federal health officials to do more autism research, and CDC started the larger study to see how common autism is.

CDC is also studying the cause of autism, which has remained a mystery.

Genetics is believed to play a role. Some parents and others have believed childhood vaccines trigger autism, even though many studies have not found a connection.

CDC researchers are looking at other possible factors, including illnesses that mothers had while they were pregnant with children who later were diagnosed as autistic. The researchers also are looking into medications that the pregnant women took and those given to their children took when they were young. The first results of that study are expected next year.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Jean Poirier Fouche

Jean Marie Patricia (Gaynor) Poirier Fouche, 82, of Springfield, passed away on Monday. She was born in Springfield and was a lifelong resident. She graduated from Cathedral High School, and received her bachelor's degree in teaching from Westfield State College and her master's degree from Springfield College. She taught at many Springfield Public Schools, and retired after 33 years of service. Fouche was a communicant of St. Patrick's Church, Springfield, and was a longtime member of the Catholic Women's Club and a member of the Massachusetts Retired Teachers Association.

Obituaries from The Republican:

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  Beaulieu, Leo E.
  



• 
  Brown, Patricia J. "Pat"
  



• 
  Cook, Virginia "Ginny" (Channell)
  



• 
  Finn, Joan A. (Finn)
  



• 
  Fouche, Jean G. Poirier (Gaynor)
  



• 
  Girace, Marilyn J. (Kellogg)
  



• 
  Gouty, Betty J. (Gaston)
  



• 
  Hogan, Joseph K.
  



• 
  Hosmer, Eileen (Ryan)
  



• 
  Kupiec, Adela M. (Wojcik)
  



• 
  Letourneau, Brian J.
  



• 
  Quicksey, Gloria J.
  



• 
  Rizzo, Jean Baldwin
  



• 
  Roos, George E.
  



• 
  Roy, Edward H.
  



• 
  Shields, Robert
  



• 
  Sullivan, Paul J.
  



• 
  Wadsworth, Leslie R.
  



• 
  Whelihan, Michael "Wally"
  



• 
  Williams, Jessica L. (Merrill)
  



• 
  Zanghi, Doris M. (Boutotte)
  

Police said 1 or more troopers fired at the car after the driver hit the trooper and fled.

BOSTON — A Massachusetts state trooper is hospitalized after being struck by a reported stolen car that he and fellow troopers on a construction detail were attempting to stop.

State police said three troopers at the Neponset Street Bridge work site tried to stop the car, which was slowed in traffic Thursday morning. It had been reported stolen at a Rhode Island airport March 16 and was spotted speeding earlier Thursday in Quincy.

Police said the driver drove at the troopers, hitting 41-year-old Scott Flaherty, and then fled. One or more troopers fired at the car. Flaherty was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries

Police said the 2012 Toyota Yaris was found later in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. One person believed to have been inside was later arrested, and police searched for a second person.

Given the number of arrests Asher has made in the city and the sensational nature of the case, the Hampden County Jail in Ludlow seemed and unlikely – and potentially unsafe – spot for Asher to serve his time.

SPRINGFIELD – Former police officer Jeffrey M. Asher will serve an 18-month sentence for beating a motorist with a flashlight at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction, according to the superintendent of the facility in Greenfield.

Asher, a 16-year veteran of the police force until his firing over the beating of Melvin Jones III caught on video in 2009, was led out of a courtroom in Chicopee District Court on Wednesday against a backdrop of grim police faces.

Judge Maureen Walsh opted to sentence Asher, 40, at the higher end of sentencing guidelines despite his defense lawyer’s pitch for probation and a term of home confinement.

Given the number of arrests Asher has made in the city and the sensational nature of the case, the Hampden County Jail in Ludlow seemed and unlikely – and potentially unsafe – spot for Asher to serve his time.

David A. Lanoie, superintendent of the medium-security campus in Franklin County, on Thursday said that Asher was undergoing the same orientation and evaluation as every other new inmate that enters the facility. He will receive a security classification in about a week, Lanoie said.

“There are twin concerns. You have to assess the inmate and you want to understand the inmate’s potential security risks. In this particular case we also have to be concerned about his safety, which we will,” Lanoie said.

The facility is comprised of a 125-year-old building and a new one built in 2008. It currently houses about 240 inmates.

Lanoie said he has very few inmates from the Greater Springfield area – unlike Ludlow and even the Hampshire County jail, where Sheriff Robert J. Garvey said he has about 80 with Springfield addresses.

In addition, Jones is being held in the Ludlow jail awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.

Lanoie said jail officials determine appropriate housing assignments based on a set of nationally accepted criteria that allows for some flexibility based on the inmate.

“There’s a standard approach but we have to be flexible,” he said, adding that administrative segregation away from the general population is an option for high-risk inmates.

Prosecutors have identified Alex Scesny as a "person of interest" in the unsolved slayings of 5 prostitutes from the Worcester area, although he has not been charged.

WORCESTER — A Berlin man has been convicted of the 1996 strangulation of a Fitchburg woman.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that a Worcester Superior Court jury found 42-year-old Alex Scesny guilty of murder and aggravated rape on Thursday on the third day of deliberations and after a weeklong trial.

The body of Theresa Stone was found on a rural road in 1996, but Scesny was not charged until he was tied to her death by DNA evidence a decade later.

The defense said evidence pointed to one of two other men acquainted with Stone.

Prosecutors have identified Scesny as a "person of interest" in the unsolved slayings of five prostitutes from the Worcester area, although he has not been charged.

The discourse reflects police sentiments over the change in policy since Gov. Deval Patrick approved the use of civilian flaggers on construction jobs in 2008.

Photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanCivilian flaggers at a construction site on Roosevelt Avenue in Springfield have alleged police have been harassing them over lost road details.

SPRINGFIELD – Two construction flaggers have raised red flags with claims they have been harassed by police embittered over losing road jobs to civilians at a Roosevelt Avenue project.

A police spokesman said Commissioner William J. Fitchet attempted to quell the tensions through a gentleman’s agreement with a union boss, but two workers say they have been continually tormented.

Mark Granger, of Springfield, is one of two flaggers on the job who says his car has been ticketed, patrolmen have snapped photos of him with their cell phones and he has gotten frequent views of their middle fingers as they drive by his post in their cruisers.

“I understand their frustrations, but don’t get mad at me. I didn’t design the contract,” said Granger, a union laborer and licensed traffic flagger. “I don’t want to get in a war with the cops but I’m not going to be intimidated every day.”

The federally-funded project, with oversight by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, allows for 5,000 flagger hours (at approximately $32-per-hour) and a four-hour police overtime detail each morning.

The discourse reflects police sentiments over the change in policy since Gov. Deval L. Patrick approved the use of civilian flaggers on construction jobs in 2008. Massachusetts was the last state in the nation to do it.

Critics of the policy say it has not realized the cost-savings it was intended to. Proponents say it has been an underused resource as contractors and utility companies have largely bent to the will of police unions.

Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said Fitchet was made aware of sophomoric antics by a few police officers aimed at the flaggers and put the word out for it to end. Fitchet then called the head of the Construction Laborers Union Local 999, Carlo Tranghese, and assured him he would put a stop to it.

“We pride ourselves on being professionals. There’s not a police officer out there who’s going to jeopardize their jobs for a couple of road details on Roosevelt Avenue,” Delaney said, adding that Fitchet would be willing to launch n internal investigation but neither flagger has come forward to make a formal complaint.

Another flagger on the job, Brian Hoyle, also of Springfield, said he has endured similar tactics and that last Friday a cruiser narrowly missed hitting him as it sped past his flag as Hoyle was holding up traffic on the south side of Roosevelt Avenue to make way for a construction vehicle.

“In the past month, it’s been something every day or every other day, whether it’s flipping you the bird or taking your picture or ticketing,” said Hoyle, who just re-upped his flagger’s license for another two years on Wednesday.

Delaney said that if Hoyle’s story about the near-miss with the cruiser is true, the officer behind the wheel could have been going on an emergency call.

“If a police car tried to run me over I’d at least have gotten the number of the car,” he said skeptically.

At least at the Roosevelt Avenue site, it doesn’t look like the most invigorating job in the world. A hooded flagger was spotted sitting on a jersey barrier with his feet dangling in the morning, and slouched against the same barrier later in the day, leafing through a brochure – albeit at light traffic times.

Delaney said he has received complaints from citizens that traffic gets maddeningly snarled around the site at certain times of the day, particularly when Springfield Central High School and the swing shift at Smith and Wesson empty out at the same time.

“They’re basically adding to the congestion and the traffic problems in the area and we’re getting complaints,” Delaney said.

Kent said he agreed to go on the show in the first place as a way of showcasing the South Deerfield company's employees.

Studio LambertHarlan Kent, President and CEO of Yankee Candle, shown before and after his transformation, goes undercover on "Undercover Boss," to be broadcast Friday from 8 to 9 p.m. on CBS.

DEERFIELD – Yankee Candle CEO Harlan M. Kent has been with the company in various capacities since 2001.

But it was only when he was working on the line in the company’s factory in Whately last fall as part of CBS television’s “Undercover Boss” that he fully comprehended what it is to make, package and ship 200 million candles a year.

“It’s astounding,” Kent said this week as part of a publicity blitz for the show. “The realization was almost like a frying pan upside the head. This experience just reiterated to me just how amazing our employees are.”

Kent said he agreed to go on the show in the first place as a way of showcasing those employees. Yankee Candle has about 1,600 employees. Yankee Candle Co. founder Michael Kittredge II sold most of his interest in the company in 1998 for an estimated $400 million. The company is now privately held. “What it came down to is I believe in our company,” Kent said.

His episode airs Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS3 television. The show averages about 9 million viewers a week, according to The Nielsen Co.

The show’s premise is simple. Kent ditched the suit and tie and got made up in a wig and tiny soul-patch beard. Then producers took him to the factory, to the flagship store in South Deerfield and a few other Yankee Candle stores around the country, where they introduced him as new employee “Dan,” who is being filmed as part of a training video or some other ruse.

Filming took place over a few days.

“I really got to see a cross section,” Kent said. “I did all the things you do in a retail environment. I stocked shelves, I interacted with customers. I cleaned.”

On the show, each episode typically ends with a human-interest story involving one of the regular employees the “Undercover Boss” meets. That employee often receives prizes or gifts in a cliffhanger reveal at the end of the show.

Of course Kent was under strict orders not to spoil the surprise. But he could talk about what he learned.

“I have to say that my number-one takeaway was that we have to put a premium on our folks having a positive attitude,” he said. “Positive attitudes generate positive business outcomes.”

He’s going to start asking specifically about positive attitudes during job interviews. He’s also going to put a premium on active listening within the company. That means asking follow-up questions and really paying attention to coworkers, he said.

Harlan Kent, President and CEO, Yankee Candle, the leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles, making more than 200 million candles per year, goes undercover, on UNDERCOVER BOSS, to be broadcast Friday, March 30 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Kent, left, before the transformation and after, right. Photo: ©2012 Studio Lambert. All Rights Reserved. EPISODIC

He was cutting down the tree when it apparently started to fall in a different direction than what had been planned.

EAST LONGMEADOW - A 28-year-old Southwick man employed with a tree cutting company was killed Thursday in an accident on Donamor Lane, apparently when struck by some limbs as the tree came down, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was rushed to Baystate Medical Center following the 3:30 p.m. accident at 42 Donamor Lane, said Police Sgt. Jeffrey Dalessio. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

The accident remains under investigation, but it appears the man was struck by some limbs from the upper part of the tree as he tried to get out of the way, Dalessio said.

The man was employed with Tyler's Tree Service of Southwick, Dalessio said.

He was cutting down the tree when it apparently started to fall in a different direction than what had been planned. The man was between the tree and a garage and apparently did not have very much room to maneuver, Dalessio said.

The tree was about 2 feet thick at the trunk, and some of the limbs were as much as 4 to 6 inches thick, he said.

A representative from the federal Office of Occupational Health and Safety Administration was notified and responded to the scene.

Dalessio said several co-workers of the man were on scene and they were all shaken up.

Footage of the scene from CBS3

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These are the first decisions to release lifers since the fatal shooting of Woburn police officer John Maguire in 2010, the chairman of the parole board said.

BOSTON - In the first early releases of convicted murderers since a parolee shot and killed a Woburn patrolman in 2010, the state Parole Board on Thursday unveiled decisions to parole one man convicted of a Springfield murder and two other men convicted of murder.

In the Springfield case, the board voted unanimously to release Raborn Allah, formerly known as David A. Warrick of Springfield, who had actually been released on parole once before.

"These are the first decisions to release lifers," since the fatal shooting of Woburn Patrolman John Maguire on Dec. 26, 2010, Joshua Wall, chairman of the parole board, told The Republican after his visit to Springfield. "We've had other decisions to deny," including Frances Soffen formerly of Ludlow.

Each of the so-called lifers previously had their parole revoked because of violations. Each convicted murderer had served additional time and now is being paroled again.

Sheila Dupre

The decisions were posted on the web site of the parole board and released the same day the chairman of the Parole Board and another member, Sheila Dupre of East Longmeadow, held parole hearings at the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center in Springfield.

Here is a copy of the decision on Allah.

To help avenge his father's death, Warrick and two friends chased George Greer 's car on Central Street in Springfield before Orlando Loman shot Greer 17 times on March 5, 1994 in Springfield, The Republican's archives show.

In 1995, Warrick, then 20, and Loman, then 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Greer. Both received mandatory life sentences with eligibility for parole in 15 years.

The shooting was in retaliation for the death of Warrick's father, William "York" Warrick, 44, on Jan. 17, 1994.

David Warrick believed that Greer and another man bore some responsibility for the death of the elder Warrick. Police arrested a man on a murder charge, but it was later dropped.

Warrick, or Allah, had been released by an old parole board in 2009 but his parole was revoked on April 13 of last year by new parole board members appointed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick in the wake of the shooting of the Woburn patrolman by Dominic Cinelli. A public uproar occurred because Cinelli was serving three concurrent life sentences when he was released in early 2009 after a parole hearing in late 2008.

In its decision to again parole Allah, the board said that he did not interact with Greer, pursue Greer or fire his gun.

In a unanimous decision made on March 26 and released Thursday, the board listed seven factors in re-paroling Allah, saying that he showed good conduct when he was jailed again and success in his parole for 15 months before his violation, which involved associating with a co-defendant in his case, though not for nefarious reasons.

The board also noted his solid community support in Boston, his religious practices and backing from a spiritual group.

In the two other decisions posted on Thursday, the board voted unanimously for an early release from prison for Benley Thompson, who pleaded guilty to second degree murder in the 1985 fatal shooting of a Boston appliance store owner; and voted 6-1 for Vernon Miller, 73, who was convicted of first degree murder for the 1971 shooting of a West Medford convenience store clerk. Former Gov. Michael S. Dukakis commuted Miller’s sentence to 22.5 years to life in 1986.

Thursday's decision also occurred the day after a coalition of community groups criticized the overhauled parole board for several reasons including "bleak rates" of parole since the killing of the Woburn officer and being rude to potential parolees and their families.

"It is creating a very bad climate for people in prison to even think they could be paroled," Jean Trounstine, a professor at Middlesex Community College in Lowell and member of the Coalition for Effective Public Safety, which cites research to show that parole works and is more economical than paying for inmates.

Wall, a former first assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, declined to respond to the criticism by the community groups.

Wall said the goal is to make a good decision at every parole hearing.

"We don't have any specific parole rate as a target or goal," Wall said. "The numbers will take of themselves."

After Patrick accepted the resignations of five board members who voted to release Cinelli, as well as the executive director at the time, the parole board did not have hearings for the first three months of last year.

Starting last April, the board held 139 hearings for lifers and decided to released 17, or 12 percent, according to Wall. In comparison, the old board had voted to approve 34 percent of parole bids by lifers in 2010 and 40 percent of requests in 2009, said Wall, who was appointed chairman by Patrick in January of last year.

Wall acknowledged that the current board is paroling a lower percent of lifers. Wall said he couldn't speak to past practices, but he said the current board is making decisions carefully based on a full record and with public safety as the top priority.

Wall confirmed a report in the Boston Globe on Monday that the number of all inmates from state prisons released under parole was 1,028 in 2010 and 435 in 2011, a 58 percent drop that concerns advocates for inmates.

Wall said a total of 2,400 inmates were paroled in 2011, including county and state inmates. In 2010, 4,500 were released.

Wall told The Republican that since May of last year under the new parole board, the board's statewide parole rate has been 52 percent, including all inmates, county or state. During 2010, under the old board, it was 62 percent, he said.

"Our philosophy of parole is to identify those who have earned parole and give them a chance to live in the community with supervision and accountability," Wall said.

The new board is posting decisions on the Internet for the first time in the board's history and is also releasing the votes of each individual board member for the first time, Wall said. The parole board has also added a Spanish-speaking parole officer in Springfield, he said.

One developer has been billed close to $1 million in sewer betterment assessments for two tracks of land he owns.

AGAWAM – The owners of eight properties expected to benefit from the first phase of the Southwest Sewer Project have petitioned the City Council for abatements of their sewer betterment assessments, including one who has gotten two bills totaling close to $1 million.

Ralph DePalma has gotten a bill of $423,721 for about 50 acres he owns to the rear of 683 South Westfield St. and another bill for $496,292 for another large tract of land at 497 South Westfield St. that he owns with Giuseppe Tirone.

The betterment assessments are to cover the $1.7 million it cost the city to do the project, which involved installing sewer lines along Route 57 starting at Shoemaker Lane near the Route 57 Bridge to South Westfield Street and along South Westfield Street to the neighborhood of the former state police academy. That project was completed last fall.

The assessments were figured at the rate of $2,341 per housing unit, which can be paid off over as long as 20 years. Another fee of $3,200 would be charged at the time of hookup to the sewer line.

DePalma, who could not be reached for comment, has filed for an abatement from the city on the $423,721 bill on the grounds that the fee was figured based on the land being capable of supporting 181 housing units. Instead, he has argued that there should not be any assessments for potential housing units. He also argued that potential housing units are subject to an agricultural preservation restriction and a conservation restriction.

DePalma has contended he should be billed for one housing unit instead of 212 on the land at 497 South Westfield St. He has also stated in that abatement application that the land is subject to a conservation restriction and an agricultural preservation restriction.

City Councilor Robert E. Rossi, who chairs the council’s Administrative Subcommittee, said he has asked for information about how the assessments were calculated that he hopes to receive by the subcommittee’s meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Agawam Public Library. The subcommittee has been charged with coming up with a recommendation regarding the abatement requests to be sent on to the full City Council.

“There are some questions as to the fairness of the calculations,” Rossi said Monday.

The committee may want to consider assessing DePalma as he develops the property and hooks into the sewer line, Rossi said.

DePalma’s properties have A-3 zoning, which means his bills were based on eight potential housing units per acre.

Romney's team now faces a far greater challenge: persuading a more centrist general electorate to bounce Obama, who polling shows has much higher favorability ratings than Romney himself.

File photo | Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in Boston. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

By BETH FOUHY

NEW YORK — Rick Santorum doesn't care about the unemployment rate. Newt Gingrich has "more baggage than the airlines." Both are Washington insiders who have bent their principles for money and influence.

So say Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his allies.

That advertising playbook has helped make Romney his party's likely presidential nominee and could offer a preview of what awaits President Barack Obama in this summer's general election campaign.

Voters in early primary states have seen plenty of this ad strategy already: a torrent of attacks on Romney's opponents along with a few positive spots about the GOP front-runner's biography and business experience. The strategy, devised by Romney's campaign and an allied independent group, has been focused and unforgiving, all but eviscerating the former Massachusetts governor's rivals while portraying the candidate as an effective manager and devoted family man.

"The ads have been very effective," says Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for American Crossroads, a conservative-leaning super political action committee. They've catapulted Romney "into a very strong position in the Republican primary without going so far that he's alienated swaths of independent voters."

The general election phase of the campaign will tell whether that's true.

One thing that's certain is that the Romney team's approach has successfully shepherded him through a primary season in which voters have been far more conservative than the candidate was perceived to be.

Romney's team now faces a far greater challenge: persuading a more centrist general electorate to bounce Obama, who polling shows has much higher favorability ratings than Romney himself.

The Romney campaign and Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting his candidacy, together have poured about $50 million into television ads in the primary campaign so far, according to information provided to The Associated Press by ad buyers. No other candidate or super PAC has come close to that level of spending.

Restore Our Future, which is run by several former Romney advisers, has spent more than $35 million on TV ads alone, almost of which have been negative attacks against Santorum and Gingrich.

ROF's approach has been clear and unadorned: Cut straight to the heart of Romney's rivals' vulnerabilities, often using their own words against them. Make accusations about their records, citing news sources as support.

There are signs a similar approach will be used against Obama.

ROF has released one ad scoffing at the president's history as a community organizer and law professor. And while Romney's campaign itself has run mostly positive ads during the primary, it has released several online videos using Obama's words against him, including his observation in a TV interview that if the economy doesn't improve under his stewardship, his presidency will be a "one-term proposition."

Democratic media strategist Tad Devine says the approach has served Romney well so far but will face limitations against Obama, who, unlike Romney's Republican rivals, will not lack for resources to go after his challenger on the air

"There's a great risk to the strategy he's pursued," Devine said of Romney. "When you define yourself as totally negative, you don't give voters any reassurance against the attacks that might be made against you."

Devine, who advised Democrat John Kerry on media strategy during Kerry's unsuccessful effort to unseat President George W. Bush in 2004, said Kerry's campaign had run largely positive ads about the Massachusetts senator even after the Bush campaign went on the air with attack ads. A host of liberal-leaning independent groups ran negative ads against Bush, but they were less closely aligned with the Kerry campaign than the current breed of super PACs is to the GOP campaigns those groups support.

"The Romney campaign and Restore Our Future are not functionally separate," Devine said.

ROF clipped Gingrich's rise in Iowa and later in Florida by airing ads that slammed the former House speaker as an ethically challenged Washington influence peddler. The group also taunted Gingrich with his own words, noting the many times he said he'd made mistakes and boasted about working closely with President Ronald Reagan.

"Reagan rejected Newt's ideas," the ad said.

ROF has also slowed Santorum by painting the former Pennsylvania senator as an unprincipled deal-maker and an outspoken champion of home-state spending projects known as earmarks.

"I'm very proud of all the earmarks I put in bills," Santorum is shown saying in one ad.

In Wisconsin, which holds its primary April 3, Restore our Future is spending $2.3 million on ads against Santorum, including one that begins and ends with a clip of him saying "I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. It doesn't matter to me."

Santorum made that remark at a campaign appearance earlier this month in Illinois. He later clarified his comment by saying his campaign was about freedom from an intrusive government, not just monthly jobless figures.

Collegio, the spokesman for American Crossroads, one of many independent groups that are expected to spend millions this year attacking Obama, said Romney and Republicans wouldn't be alone in running negative ads during the campaign.

"Obama will have a much harder time winning if it's a referendum on him and his administration. More than anything they want 2012 to be about their challenger," Collegio said. "And if that's Mitt Romney, it means (his former private equity company) Bain Capital, his net worth and other things they view as comprising Romney's negatives."

Or not.

Ken Goldstein, of Kantar Media/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising, said the TV ad strategy on both sides may bear little resemblance to how the Republican nominating contest has gone so far.

"People either love or hate Obama, and those in the middle, who are going to decide the 2012 election, haven't tuned in yet," Goldstein said. "Do you think they'll be moved more by ads or by realities like the economy?"

Housing authority officials want to demolish the 74-year-old complex because renovation would cost $24 million. Watch video

This updates a story posted at 9:33 p.m.

HOLYOKE – The toll of displacing 400 tenants collided with a prohibitive $24 million renovation cost in a meeting Thursday about the Lyman Terrace housing complex.

The meeting of the City Council Redevelopment Committee drew about 100 people to the Holyoke Transportation Center at 206 Maple St.

The meeting was held there instead of City Hall to accommodate the expected large crowd.

The Holyoke Housing Authority is seeking federal approval to demolish the 18 brick buildings that comprise the 74-year-old Lyman Terrace. The complex has 167 units.

Many, if not most, of the 100 people at the City Council Redevelopment Committee meeting opposed the Holyoke Housing Authority’s plan to seek federal approval to demolish the complex’ 18 brick buildings.

“And, yes, it does have a human impact. The majority of the people who live at Lyman Terrace are Hispanic. This is a Hispanic community,” said Darlene Elias, of Clark Street, who said she grew up at Lyman Terrace.

Elias’ remark was a reference to legalese that some people have objected to in the Lyman Terrace issue. Wording on a Housing Authority notice about the demolition plan stated the demolition will have “no significant impact” on people.

Authority officials have said that was language generated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The complex’ buildings are in rows bordered by Lyman, Front and John streets in the Downtown neighborhood.

Because the complex was built to 1930s specifications, the buildings lack handicap access and windows, plumbing, heating and other systems are problematic, officials said.

Environmental, mechanical and hazardous-material firms have determined that bringing the 167 units up to current building codes, expanding units’ square footage, making interior and exterior structural improvements and providing energy efficiencies would cost $24 million, authority Executive Director Rosalie M. Deane has said.

But tenants, some councilors and others said they doubted assertions of Housing Authority officials that enough other places to live would be found for the 400 Lyman Terrace tenants. They also questioned whether all or many of the current tenants would get first shot at living in the units of a development that could replace Lyman Terrace.

The reason for the meeting is the council on Feb. 21 referred to committee a resolution that opposed the Lyman Terrace demolition because “Holyoke’s revitalization depends on preserving, rehabilitating, and capitalizing on our historic architecture and infrastructure.”

The decision to seek HUD approval for demolition – an applicaton that has yet to be filed – was made after failure to obtain a so-called Hope 6 grant, Deane said.

The goal was that such federal funding would allow for a revamp of the area into housing similar to the refurbished Jackson Parkway, on Resnic Boulevard, which has owner-occupied and rental housing, she said.

With Hope 6 no longer funded by the federal government and renovating Lyman Terrace too expensive, the decision was made to demolish, she said.

Deane said the process has included regular updates of Lyman Terrace tenants.

“We did meet with all of the residents of Lyman Terrace,” Deane said.

“We notified that we didn’t get the Hope 6....We thought the tenants were all on board, but now I guess there’s been some misinformation out there” about the Housing Authority’s tenant relocation abilities, she said.

Marcella Jayne, a Lyman Terrace resident for four years, said it wasn’t misinformation. Lyman Terrace has been treated poorly over the years by police and the city in a mode of thinking that treats white people partying as normal but Puerto Ricans celebrating as “pathological.”

Sylvia Robello, of St. Kolbe Drive, who was president of the first Lyman Terrace tenants association, disputed Housing Authority officials about the condition of the complex.

“The apartments are in good shape....Lyman Terrace is a beautiful place to raise kids,” Robello said.

Deane said a problem in terms of upkeep is that the Housing Authority gets only $850,000 a year to maintain all of its more than 2,000 units.

A rally was held before the meeting across the street at Veterans Park. Among the signs participants held were those reading “We want more affordable housing, not less” and “Holyoke Housing Authority HHA is a slumlord.”

Simison was a teacher and residence hall director at Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, now Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech.

SUFFIELD – The volunteer firefighter who lost his life in a two-vehicle accident on Mountain Road Wednesday morning has been identified as 60-year-old Paul Simison, a Suffield resident and Northampton native.

Simison was pronounced dead at the scene following the 8 a.m. head-on crash in the area of 3876 Mountain Road, said Suffield police Sgt. Ryan Burrell.

The second driver in the crash, Shawn Phelps, 29, of Southwick, was seriously injured and taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. The hospital on Thursday evening listed him in good condition.

Fire Chief Michael Thibedeau said Simison was a 25-year veteran of Company 2 on Ratley Road.

“The department is currently dealing with the tragic loss of Firefighter Paul Simison,” Thibedeau said in a statement released Thursday. “Due to his tenure with the department, his experience and knowledge will be a terrible loss to Company 2 and the department as a whole. He was a well-liked member and a valuable asset to our department. He will be greatly missed.”

As a volunteer firefighter, Simison was involved with Suffield’s annual fireman’s carnival, the fireman’s association 5k run and, according to the Hartford Courant, a key organizer of the department’s centennial celebration in 1996.

The flags at the Fire Department and Suffield Ambulance Association were lowered to half-staff in his honor. A memorial service is to be conducted Sunday at the Fire Department’s Station 2 in West Suffield, where Simison served.

Simison was a teacher and residence hall director at Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, now Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, before continuing his education with a master’s degree in audiology from the University of Connecticut. For many years, he maintained an audiology practice, the Hearing Improvement Center, based in West Hartford.

He leaves his wife of 32 years, Nancy, their three daughters, Elizabeth E., Erin M. and Kathryn A., and his sister, Cynthia G. Simison, of Northampton.

The accident occurred in the area of Mountain Road, also known as Route 168, just east of the Southwick line near Congamond Lakes.

The Suffield police, fire department and volunteer ambulance responded to the scene, as did the Southwick Fire Department.

The accident remains under investigation by the North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Team.

Burrell said Simison was driving a Jeep east while Phelps was operating a pickup truck west. One of the vehicles drifted across the center line into the other lane causing a head-on collision. The impact caused Phelps' truck to flip over, he said.

He said they have ruled out speed and alcohol as possible factors.

Witnesses to the accident should call Burrell at (860) 668-3870.


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The project targets 312 homes for noise mitigation and 52 homes for purchase and demolition.

The Republican | Dave RobackWestfield-Barnes Municipal Airport will become Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport to better reflect its scope of operations and to improve marketing opportunities.

WESTFIELD – Work started this week to upgrade 13 homes near Barnes Regional Airport against noise pollution as part of a nine-year $22 million project.

And, bids are now being sought for a third round of upgrades scheduled to start in the fall.

Jane W. Verbeck, of Wyle Laboratories which oversees the noise mitigation project, said 13 homes are currently targeted for new windows and other upgrades. Bids for another 19 homes are due May 1 at the city’s Purchasing Department at City Hall.

Noise mitigation affecting 312 properties around the airport started last year. The project is funded 90 percent through the Federal Aviation Administration with the state and city sharing in the remaining 10 percent of the cost. The average cost to upgrade homes with new windows, doors, fresh air systems and central air conditions is about $65,000, officials have said.

Airport Manager Brian P. Barnes said the goal is to continue the project annually with plans to complete upgrades for about 19 homes each year, depending upon funding. “As long as we continue to get funding the project will continue until completed,” Barnes said.

The project is in response to the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing’s F-15 Eagle fighter jets flown as part of the unit’s Homeland defense mission.

The project also aims to purchase up to 52 homes that are located within a 70-decibel or higher noise level range abutting the airport. Wyle Laboratories completed the purchase and demolition of three homes late last year. Another three are scheduled for purchase and demolition this year, Verbeck said.

She said a total of 16 homes, within a 65-decibel range, were upgraded for noise mitigation during the past year.

While bids for upgrades are due May 1, repairs will not begin until September, said Wyle.

“We need as much as 90 to 120 days to order product for the project because the windows and some other items are custom made,” she said.

Some residents complained that the state is just now getting around to getting their input into a $6.5 million railway bridge project that starts on Monday.

File photo by David Duprey / Associated PressA double stack CSX train is seen passing another train in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2010.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – More than 100 people crowded into a public hearing in the municipal building Thursday about an imminent $6.5 million state project raising the height of a Route 20 railway bridge.

The state Department of Transportation, which is doing the project at Charles Avenue, conducted the hearing to get comments prior to completing designs for the undertaking. Some surveying and sign-posting is set to start Monday. Plans call for a temporary bridge to be in place by Aug. 1 and a new bridge opening to traffic by Dec. 1, 2013.

The raising of bridge at the intersection with Charles Avenue is to allow CSX, which has a yard in the city, to double stack freight cars.

They are part of a deal the governor signed with CSX. Among the benefits to the state cited during the hearing was right of ways granted by CSX for commuter rail lines in the Boston area, increased jobs at a rail yard in Worcester and cheaper freight costs.

Residents used the hearing to complain bitterly that that section of Route 20 is unsafe as it is with cars speeding and accidents being frequent. They predicted that reducing the four-lane highway to two lanes around the project area for construction of the project will worsen problems.

Residents as well as local officials complained about just now getting a chance to weigh in with comments on a project that will start Monday.

“I don’t know how you could possibly take our comments to your office and incorporate them,” Town Councilor George R. Kelly said. “I think there is a rush to get things done here. Let’s do it the right way, not the quick way.”

Photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanThis Route 20 railroad bridge in West Springfield, built in 1981, is scheduled to be replaced under a Massachusetts Department of Transportation project.

The project calls for routing two lanes of traffic over a temporary bridge to be built on the Charles Avenue side of Route 20 and construction of a new, higher bridge followed by demolition of the temporary bridge.

Thomas J. Yarsley of 53 Alderbrook Lane asked why the railway bed is not being lowered instead of the bridge height being raised.

“If they lowered it they would not need a new bridge,” Yarsley said, generating applause.

Kenneth Lamontagne, the DOT manager for the project and who conducted the hearing, said that was considered but rejected because it would be too much effort among other reasons.

“If there is any way to lower the rail bed it is a no-brainer,” Yarsley said.

Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger said lowering the grade would mean doing work up to a half mile in each direction.

Neffinger also said the city just got the plans a couple of days ago and that he believes the state should go through the Conservation Commission in doing the project as there is a stream nearby rather than exercising its option to bypass it.

The Northampton Elks have adopted 24 local veterans to date.

Photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanKorean War veteran Robert F. Perkins, 82, greets family members at the start of a ceremony for him at the World War II Club in Northampton.

NORTHAMPTON – Sixty-two years after an act of courage that earned him the Silver Star and 82 years to the day after he was born, Korean War veteran Robert F. Perkins was honored for both accomplishments at the World War II Club Wednesday.

The former Marine is the latest honoree in the Northampton Elks Lodge’s Adopt-A-Veteran program, created to acknowledge local veterans for their service to the country. Some 40 people, including family members, dignitaries and U.S Marines assigned to Westover Air Reserve Base were on hand to salute Perkins, deliver citations in his honor and shake his hand.

Currently a resident of the Community Living Center at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, Perkins, a Connecticut native, was 20 years old when he dodged enemy fire in Korea to deliver ammunition to his rocket gunner while under attack in 1950. The gunner, Walter C. Monegan, Jr., was killed in the attack and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Perkins received the Silver Star for gallantry in action.

Over the years, Perkins lost his Silver Star and other war medals as he moved from place to place. The Elks Club petitioned the government for replacements, which were presented to Perkins on Wednesday, along with gifts and plaques citing his bravery. Mayor David J. Narkewicz read a proclamation from the Massachusetts House of Representative honoring Perkins. The Marine contingent also gave the former Private 1st Class an award to go along with his new Silver Star and serenaded him with the Marine Corps hymn.

Perkins was grateful and a little overwhelmed by the ceremony. In accepting one plaque, he said, “I don’t know where you got it, but it’s really beautiful.” When asked if he was ready for more gifts, he replied, “I got plenty.”

The Northampton Elks have adopted 24 local veterans to date. John Kingsley, who spearheaded the Elks program, said the honor is mutual.

“It’s the least we can do to honor these veterans,” he said. “They are true American heroes.”

The man, whose name was not released, was admitted to Baystate Medical Center with a stab wound to his lower left side, police said.

The Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD - A 43-year-old man who attempted to break up a fight between teens in the city’s Forest Park neighborhood Thursday afternoon was injured when one of the teens stabbed him in the stomach, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was admitted to Baystate Medical Center with a stab wound to his lower left side, said Police Capt. William Collins.

He said the injury is serious but does not appear life-threatening.

Police were called to the area of Dickinson and Trenton streets, roughly one block south of “The X,” at about 3:45 p.m. for a report of a disturbance.

When officers arrived, they could not find a victim, Collins said. A short time later, police were called by a man on Trafton Road reporting he had been stabbed.

The man apparently walked home after he was injured, Collins said.

He told police a group of teens were beating up one teen at Dickinson and Trafton. When he walking in the middle of it in an attempt to stop it, he was stabbed, Collins said.

Police have identified a suspect and are in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant, he said.

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Kerrigan has worked for Congress for 14 years, including six for Sen. John Kerry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Springfield, Mass., native Kathy Kerrigan was confirmed as a U.S. Tax Court judge, according to the office of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., where she served as a long-time aide.

President Barack Obama nominated Kerrigan on May 24.

“This day was a long time in coming, but I’m so glad it’s come now for a remarkable public servant who has made invaluable contributions to my work in the Senate,” said Kerry in a prepared statement. “Public service is written into Kathy’s DNA, along with a ‘keep your head down-avoid the limelight-do the work’ approach to life that was instilled in her at home in Springfield, Mass., where her father, Bill Sullivan, served as mayor.”

“She learned there what a difference humble, earnest people can make in government to help people. She’s never lost sight of that for an instance.”

Kerrigan has worked for the United States Congress for 14 years, including six for Kerry. Kerrigan was born and raised in Springfield, where her father, William C. Sullivan, served as mayor from 1973 to 1977.

She earned her bachelor’s of science degree from Boston College and her law degree from the University of Notre Dame. Before arriving in Congress, Kerrigan was a Partner at Baker and Hostetler LLP, working in the government affairs practice group. She also previously served as legislative director for Congressman Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at 22 Huntington St.

SPRINGFIELD - A suspicious fire on Huntington Street in the North End destroyed a vacant two-family home Friday morning.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at 20 Huntington Street. It was reported about 6:20 a.m. and filled the neighborhood with dense smoke.

“I guess the second floor was going good when they got down here,” Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant. “Obviously, it looks like it was totally destroyed.”

Leger said, however, it appears that the blaze started in a bathroom on the first floor of the three-story building.

Hector Sanchez, who lives next door, said he saw smoke coming from the building and notified the fire department.

Sanchez said he saw people inside the vacant home last week. “I called the city last week, people got inside that house but they didn’t do anything about it,” he said.

Leger said it appeared that vagrants had been living inside the home.

Although the fire was originally reported as being at 22 Huntington St., assessor records indicate the property is 20 Huntington Street. It is owned by Elvis Rodriguez, according to city records.

The victim, owner of Tyler's Tree Service, had been removing storm-damaged trees on Donamor Lane.