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How much did old photos shape public perceptions in Trayvon Martin shooting case?

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"When you have such a lopsided visual comparison, it just stands to reason that people would rush to judgment," said Kenny Irby, who teaches visual journalism at the Poynter Institute.

trayvon martin george zimmerman.jpgThe photo on the left is an undated file family photo showing Trayvon Martin, and on the left is a 2005 booking photo provided by the Orange County Jail via The Miami Herald of George Zimmerman. Martin was slain in the town of Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26 in a shooting that has set off a nationwide furor over race and justice. Zimmerman, a neighborhood crime-watch captain, claimed self-defense and has not been arrested, though state and federal authorities are still investigating. When he was shot, Martin was not the pint-sized baby-faced boy in photos that have been on front pages around the country. And Zimmerman wasn't the hulking figure in the mugshot that has been making the newspapers. These photos are several years old, yet they may well have shaped public perceptions of the shooting. (AP Photo/Martin Family, File)

By MATT SEDENSKY

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When he was shot, Trayvon Martin was not the baby-faced boy in the photo that has been on front pages across the country. And George Zimmerman wasn't the beefy-looking figure in the widely published mugshot.

Both photos are a few years old and no longer entirely accurate. Yet they may have helped shape initial public perceptions of the deadly shooting.

"When you have such a lopsided visual comparison, it just stands to reason that people would rush to judgment," said Kenny Irby, who teaches visual journalism at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The most widely seen picture of Martin, released by his family, was evidently taken a few years ago and shows a smiling, round-cheeked youngster in a red T-shirt. But at his death, Martin was 17 years old, around 6 feet tall and, according to his family's attorney, about 140 pounds.

Zimmerman, 28, is best known from a 7-year-old booking photo of an apparently heavyset figure with an imposing stare, pierced ear and facial hair, the orange collar of his jail uniform visible. The picture, released by police following the deadly shooting, was taken after Zimmerman's 2005 arrest on an assault-on-an-officer charge that was eventually dropped.

In a police video made public this week of Zimmerman being brought in for questioning a half-hour after the shooting, the 5-foot-9 man appears much slimmer.

george zimmerman recent.jpgThis recent but undated photo taken from the Orlando Sentinel's website shows George Zimmerman, according to the paper. This image accompanied an Orlando Sentinel story posted to their website Friday March 23, 2012 containing information the paper says is related to Zimmerman's employment history. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in the town of Sanford, Fla., told police he shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. This photo of Zimmerman is a sharp contrast from the widely used 2005 booking photo from an arrest in Miami Dade County. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel)

In a case that has caused a nationwide furor over race and the laws of self-defense, Martin was shot to death by Zimmerman in the city of Sanford on Feb. 26 as the unarmed black teenager was walking back from a convenience store.

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, has claimed self-defense, saying he opened fire after Martin punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and began slamming his head on the sidewalk.

Black leaders and others are demanding Zimmerman's arrest on murder or manslaughter charges, but state and federal authorities are still investigating.

Betsi Grabe, a professor at Indiana University-Bloomington who has studied the effect of news images on public opinion, said photos that gain the most traction play into the desires of both journalists and the public for a story with a distinct victim and aggressor.

"At the center of most stories we tell in our society, cross-culturally and across the centuries, is the struggle between good and evil," she said. "If the ingredients are there, that is what journalists will grab onto and present."

Grabe said it is natural to present the most innocent-looking image of the person believed to be the victim, and the most menacing one of the suspect.

A more complex portrait of the two figures has emerged since then. A photo of a beaming Zimmerman looking sharp in a jacket and tie has come out, along with a more recent picture of Martin, with gold teeth and a white sleeveless undershirt. At the same time, it was learned that Martin had been suspended from school for marijuana residue in his backpack.

The Associated Press has not been able to verify the sources or creators of what are purported to be more recent photographs of Martin circulating online and elsewhere. The family's attorney has not released the photos.

"Everyone's views seem to be gyrating back and forth with each new scrap of evidence that comes out," said David O. Markus, a prominent Miami defense attorney. "This is why we have courts and juries, and why the process is slow. No one should rush to judgment."

Gordon Coonfield, a communications professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, said the early perceptions of Zimmerman as a vigilante may ultimately have no bearing on the case.

He cited the case of Rodney King, the black motorist beaten two decades ago by white Los Angeles police officers in an episode captured on video. The officers were acquitted in state court, though two were later found guilty on federal charges.

"I think the nation felt quite certain it saw the truth of what happened to Rodney King, and the DA tried the case as if the images spoke for themselves," Coonfield said. "Yet the state criminal court decided the images were not self-evidently true. The defense won by offering a more convincing explanation of the images, focusing on what could not be seen — officers' motives, reasoning, and judgment."

Associated Press writer Curt Anderson contributed to this report from Miami.


Victoria Kennedy: '... a sad day for me and an even sadder one for the church I love'

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Anna Maria College said it's withdrawn an invitation to Kennedy to speak and receive an honorary degree at commencement after Worcester Bishop Robert McManus objected.

042911 victoria kennedy.JPG04.29.2011 | SPRINGFIELD – Victoria Reggie Kennedy speaks at the 16th Annual Bay Path College Women's Leadership Conference at the MassMutual Center.

By JAY LINDSAY

BOSTON — A Roman Catholic college in Massachusetts said Friday that it's withdrawn an invitation to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy's widow to speak and receive an honorary degree at commencement after the local bishop objected.

In a statement, Anna Maria College said that "with deep regret" it told Victoria Kennedy about the decision by its board of trustees on Thursday. The college cited concerns raised by Bishop Robert McManus, head of the Worcester diocese, but did not specify what his concerns were.

A diocese spokesman, Ray Delisle, said McManus was upholding a 2004 statement by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, in which the bishops said "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

Victoria Kennedy has publicly backed abortion rights and gay marriage, both of which are opposed by the Catholic church.

Delisle said McManus's objections aren't based on a lack of "tolerance or intellectual openness" to Kennedy's speech, but on the Catholic school's decision to honor someone who publicly defies important Catholic teachings.

"It just seems contradictory," he said.

Kennedy said she was disheartened by the decision and described herself as a lifelong Catholic whose faith was very important to her. She said McManus didn't contact her about his objections, or speak with her pastor to learn about her faith.

"Yet by objecting to my appearance at Anna Maria College he has made a judgment about my worthiness as a Catholic," she said in a statement. "This is a sad day for me and an even sadder one for the church I love."

Anna Maria College, located in Paxton in central Massachusetts, has about 1,100 students.

On Friday, the school said it believed its invitation to Kennedy for the May 19 commencement was appropriate, given her work to tighten gun control laws and improve the safety of children. But it said McManus's objections had the potential to create bad publicity and a difficult situation for Kennedy and the school's students on a day when their graduation is supposed to be the focus.

"As a small, Catholic college that relies heavily on the good will of its relationship with the bishop and the larger Catholic community, its options are limited," the statement said.

Victoria Kennedy's views aren't nearly as well-known as those of her liberal late husband, but she has occasionally spoken publicly on contentious issues. For instance, in a May 2004 editorial in The Washington Post, she blasted Catholic church leaders for threatening to deny communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

"The pro-choice position recognizes that the United States is a diverse, pluralistic society where a woman has the constitutional right to make a decision based upon her own conscience, religious beliefs and medical needs," she wrote.

At an April 2010 dinner in which gay-rights activist David Mixner was honored, she praised his fight for equality for gays: "Not second-class equality, but the right to live free, and to marry, and to raise a family," she said.

Delisle said McManus's objection to Anna Maria's decision to honor Kennedy was consistent with diocese precedent. He noted McManus's predecessor, Bishop Daniel Reilly, skipped the 2003 commencement at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, where pro-abortion rights political commentator Chris Matthews spoke and received an honorary degree.

NStar to pay Cape Wind more than double market price for electricity under 15-year contract

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The contract filed with state regulators totals about $1.6 billion over 15 years, $940 million above the market price of electricity during that period.

By JAY LINDSAY

BOSTON — The Massachusetts utility NStar has agreed to buy power from the proposed offshore Cape Wind farm for more than double what conventional energy is projected to cost during the length of the 15-year deal.

nstar logo with cape wind logo.jpg

The contract filed with state regulators Friday totals about $1.6 billion, assuming Congress renews certain tax credits. The contract says that's $940 million above the market price of electricity during that period.

NStar estimates the deal will add $1 to the average customer's bill.

Critics say Cape Wind isn't worth the cost, especially since cheaper renewables are available. But NStar says a diverse mix of renewable power will be needed to meet state mandates.

Cape Wind developers also say the project is worth the cost because it means local jobs, cleaner air, and other benefits.

Mitt Romney's wealth in focus on presidential campaign trail

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Romney, who is worth up to $250 million, would be among the nation's richest presidents if elected.

By BETH FOUHY and STEVE PEOPLES

033012_mitt_romney.jpgRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets the audience during a campaign stop at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., Friday, March 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

APPLETON, Wis. — Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney on Friday defended his personal wealth amid intensifying criticism from his main GOP rival and President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, unlikely allies working to portray the former businessman as out of touch with most Americans.

Romney, who is worth up to $250 million, would be among the nation's richest presidents if elected. His Democratic and Republican opponents have thrust Romney's success to the forefront of the presidential contest as he tightens his grasp on the GOP nomination.

"If we become one of those societies that attacks success, one outcome is certain — there will be a lot less success," Romney said during a speech thick with general election undertones at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. "You're going to hear a deafening cacophony of charges and counter-charges and my prediction is that by Nov. 6 most of you are going to be afraid to turn on your TV."

The former Massachusetts governor argued his case several days before the GOP primary Tuesday in Wisconsin, a state that has general election implications as he courts the working-class voters who make up the bulk of the electorate.

Obama won Wisconsin by 14 percentage points in November 2008.

Speaking to Wisconsin voters 250 miles to the west, Rick Santorum suggested anew that Romney has little grasp of the problems facing working Americans.

"We need someone who can talk and relate to folks battling in this economy, not someone talking about being a CEO of a company and making jokes about firing people," Santorum said.

"No, I don't do very well among people with incomes over $200,000 in the Republican Party. Those aren't the Democrats and independents we're going to get in the general election," he said. "We're going to get the voters Ronald Reagan brought to the table — folks who are blue-collar folks who shared our values but were suspicious Republicans weren't on their side."

Though Romney grew up with wealth and privilege as the son of a Michigan governor, he has tried to downplay his early advantages and said in Friday's speech that he took "an entry-level job" after graduating from Harvard law and business schools.

"I loved cars and I was very tempted to stay in Michigan and go into the car business as he had, but I knew I would always wonder if any success I had was due to my father," Romney said. "So when I got out of business school, I stayed in Massachusetts where I went to school and got an entry-level job with the best company that would hire me."

Despite efforts to connect, Romney has repeatedly reminded voters — unintentionally — that he lives a different kind of life. He casually bet a rival $10,000 during a December presidential debate. He's adding several expensive upgrades, such as a car garage, to a home in California. And he's mentioned multiple times that his friends include the owners of professional sports teams.

Romney spent virtually his entire business career with Bain Consulting and Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firms where he earned the fortune that has allowed him to go for more than a decade without earning a regular paycheck.

Obama's campaign is pushing Romney to release years of tax returns dating to his career at the companies. The campaign distributed a Wall Street Journal article on Friday that raised questions about Romney's investment income.

"First, we learned that Gov. Romney may keep his investments offshore in order to claim special tax breaks," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "Now, we found out that he may have engaged in questionable maneuvers to drive up the value of his IRA."

Obama himself is far more wealthy than the average voter, though not in Romney's class, and he earned his fortune in recent years. The president and his wife, Michelle, reported income of $1.73 million in 2010, mostly from the books he's written, according to his tax return. That was down from the $5.5 million of a year earlier.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a rising star in the GOP who endorsed Romney on Friday, suggested that criticism from Obama and Santorum would fall flat.

"Here in Wisconsin we appreciate people who are successful. We reward hard work," Ryan said. "Since when is that a bad thing?"

Exit polling suggests that Romney may have to broaden his appeal to middle-class voters.

He has consistently performed better than his rivals among voters with higher family incomes. Although Romney has lost the overall vote in eight of the 18 states where exit or entrance polls were conducted, he only lost voters with six-figure incomes in three of them.

In Louisiana, the high-dollar tilt in Romney's support was particularly pronounced: A majority of those who voted for Romney had six-figure family incomes though that group made up just three in 10 voters.

He's trying to broaden his appeal, in part, by chatting about gambling.

"We were talking about that. I guess there is a massive, massive lottery," Romney said while visiting a restaurant Friday evening as Mega Millions ticketholders across the country awaited a record drawing. "I'm not planning on playing the lottery."

With a dry smile, he took a shot at a mega-donor and casino mogul who supports Newt Gingrich's campaign. "I understand that Sheldon Adelson has bought some tickets," he said.

Fouhy reported from Hudson, Wis. AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.

Westfield blaze destroys 2-family home on Chestnut Street

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The residents of the second story unit were not home when the fire started, and one first-floor resident exited the home without injury.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 8:05 this evening.


Flames escape from the roof of this two-family house at 13 Chestnut St., Friday night.

WESTFIELD – Firefighters on Friday evening spent hours battling a blaze that totally destroyed a two-family home on Chestnut Street and filled the sky with thick, black smoke that could be seen miles away but did not result in injuries.

Deputy Fire Chief Patrick Kane said the fire at 13 Chestnut St. was reported at 6:44 p.m., and firefighters were on the scene at 6:45 p.m. to find the street shrouded in heavy smoke.

“This is a tough one,” Kane said surveying the scene where firefighters sprayed foam and water from the ground and ladders. Also on site were city fire engines, ladder trucks and state officials.

The residents of the second story unit were not home when the fire started, and one first-floor resident exited the home without injury, Kane said. He added that it appeared the fire started on the second floor.
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“It’s too early to tell what happened, but it appears the fire started on the second floor,” Kane said.

The fire was mainly evident in the interior back portion of the structure where firefighters used axes to tear through walls in order to spray water and foam inside. Firefighters also entered the burning home and while none sustained serious injuries, some had to be treated with oxygen.

“My guys are taking a beating in there,” Kane said while passing out bottles of water to the first group of firefighters who entered the burning home.

A witness on the scene, Brendan P. Bastible, of Western Avenue, said he and his mother were traveling down Western Avenue toward Court Street when they smelled the smoke. Chestnut Street is located off Court Street.

“I asked my mom, ‘Do you smell smoke,’ and then we saw the smoke, and we called it in.”

Several state police troopers in uniform and state Fire Marshal Michael Mazza were also on the scene, but Mazza said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire or whether it could be considered suspicious.

“We don’t know anything yet….we just got here,” he said.

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Massachusetts man convicted of stabbing ex-girlfriend to death

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Prosecutors said Antonio Marcos Ferreira stabbed 26-year-old Sheila Dos Santos at least 37 times outside her Everett apartment.

WOBURN — A Boston-area man has been convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of a woman who had ended a relationship with him.

The Middlesex District Attorney's office said 41-year-old Antonio Marcos Ferreira of Somerville was found guilty on Friday and sentenced to the mandatory life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors said he stabbed 26-year-old Sheila Dos Santos at least 37 times outside her Everett apartment, where she was found early on the morning of Oct. 2, 2009. Authorities said surveillance video placed him at the scene, and her blood was found on one of his shoes.

Prosecutors said Ferreira had an off-and-on relationship with Dos Santos and continued to pursue and threaten her after she tried to end it several months before she was killed.

Robert Koncal arrested by Springfield police for stabbing roommate

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The stabbing occurred after the two roommates spent much of the day drinking, police said.


SPRINGFIELD - Police arrested a 50-year-old man for stabbing his roommate in their Belmont Avenue apartment Friday night.

Robert Koncal of 321 Belmont Ave, 4th floor left, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon: a knife, following the 9 p.m. incident, said Police Capt. William Collins.

The roommate, a 39-year-old man whose identity was not disclosed, suffered three to four stab wounds to the stomach and a slashing wound to one of his arms, Collins said.

He was being treated Friday night at Baystate Medical Center. The injuries are considered serious but the man is expected to survive, Collins said.

Police were called to the scene shortly after 9 p.m. after Koncal called to report he had just stabbed his roommate. He met officers in front of the building and surrendered peacefully, Collins said.

Koncal told police he and the roommate had been drinking alcohol for most of the day and at some point the roommate started hitting him and would not stop. Koncal told police he went into the kitchen to get a knife to defend himself. He said he lashed out with the knife when the roommate continued to hit him, Collins said.


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Mega Millions winning lottery numbers for $640 million jackpot

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Are you the world's newest multi-millionaire?

mega millions screen grab.JPG

Here are the winning lottery numbers in the Friday, March 30 Mega Millions drawing for the U.S. record jackpot estimated by lottery officials at $640 million:

2-4-23-38-46
Mega Ball: 23

So, are you the world's newest multimillionaire? Did you beat the 1 in 176 million odds and correctly match all five numbers and the Mega Ball? Were you the one who ended the two-month drought during which no one was able to match the five winning numbers plus the Mega Ball?

If you did, congratulations – and don't spend it all in one place! Are you going to take the cash option estimated at $462 million? Or do you want all $640 million, payable in equal installments of $24,615,384.62 a year over a 26-year annuity?

If you didn't win, at least you have company in the tens of millions of Americans who dreamed the dream and must wait till another day.

According to an Associated Press report, you, me and our fellow Americans spent just under $1.5 billion on Mega Millions tickets for this drawing. And whether you bought just the one ticket or more chances than you'd like to admit, your odds were the same – bad.


Springfield police deploy 'Blue Knight' foot patrols in neighborhoods across city

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Blue Knight has been successful in establishing rapport between police and city's many law-abiding residents. Residents have an easier time approaching officers who are on foot rather than in their patrol cars, or even over the telephone, officials said.

blue knight ann marie condon russell frameSpringfield police officer Ann Marie Condon, left, talks with Russell Frame outside Frame's home on Mobile Home Way. Condon was making a walking patrol through the Boston Road Mobile Home Park as part of the police department's Operation Blue Knight.

SPRINGFIELD – There were lots of looks and waves, and in some cases, people came out of their yards or even stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road just to talk.

As Springfield police officer Ann Marie Condon walked through the winding streets of the Boston Road Mobile Home Park on Friday afternoon, excitement hung in the air about a cop on the beat.

“They are very happy to see an officer in their neighborhood,” she said. “Many of them are willing to stop and ask me about the issues they are having.”

Condon was one of several police officers making foot patrols throughout neighborhoods around the city as part of the department’s first Blue Knight deployments of the summer.

The deployments, now in their third year, are less about the police making arrests than they are about engaging the community, said Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet.

“It’s outreach to the community,” he said. “We encourage people to come out and talk to the officers.”

Residents were asked to place blue lights in the windows or tie blue ribbons on their porches as a show of support to police, and officers were encouraged to stop and talk to people they encountered.

Delaney said the program has been successful in establishing rapport between police and city’s many law-abiding residents. Residents have an easier time approaching officers who are on foot rather than in their patrol cars, or even over the telephone.

joe Dambrosia Ann Marie Condon Blue KnightOfficer Ann Marie Condon, right, gets a hug from Joseph Dambrosia on Mobile Home Way in the Boston Road Mobile Home Park. Condon was making a walking patrol through the mobile home park and encountered Dambrosia while he was bringing in groceries.

At the mobile home park, people asked Condon about the status of investigation into Monday’s stabbing death of Charles Gamache at his home at 44 Pioneer Way. As yet, there have been no arrests.

But people also asked her what they could do about other problems, like traffic, noisy neighbors, or drug activity inside the park.

“One woman complained the people keep stealing her lawn ornaments but she didn’t feel it was a important enough to call the department and file a report,” Condon said.

Russell Frame, who came out of his yard to meet Condon, said he read about Blue Knight in The Republican, but he didn’t think the mobile home park would be included. He said it was a pleasant surprise to learn that it was.

“Having cops walking around here is a good thing,” he said.

For Condon, a 16-year veteran who is normally assigned to the Quebec unit at Putnam High School, pounding the pavement and meeting people is a nice change of pace.

“I think it’s neat that people are excited about it,” she said.

Before she went to work Friday, one of her close friends was grilling her for Blue Knight and what size ribbon she should tie on her porch to make sure police would stop at her house.

Condon said she found her friend’s excitement puzzling.

“She talks to a police officer every day,” she said.

Click here to hear Reporter Patrick Johnson's interview with Office Ann Marie Condon.

Winning Mega Millions lottery ticket sold in Maryland, official says

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There could be others nationwide.

Mega MillionsVicki Sharples sells a Mega Millions lottery ticket at the Royal Farms on N. Salisbury Blvd. in Salisbury, Md., on Friday, March 30, 2012. A record $640 million winning lottery ticket has been sold in Maryland, an official says.

CHICAGO (AP) — An official with the Maryland lottery says a record $640 million winning lottery ticket has been sold in Maryland, and there could be others nationwide.

Carole Everett, director of communications for the Maryland Lottery, says the winning Mega Millions ticket was purchased at a retailer in Baltimore County. She said it's too early to know any other information about the lucky ticket-holder or whether others were sold elsewhere in the nation.

Everett says the last time a ticket from the state won a major national jackpot was 2008 when a ticket sold for $24 million.

She says, "We're thrilled. We're due and exciting."

The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.

Yesterday's top stories: Southwick man killed by falling tree; Springfield man stabbed trying to break up fighting teens; and more

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How would you have spent all that money if you had the big Mega Millions winning lottery numbers?

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These were the most-read stories on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now. The most viewed photo gallery – things more likely to happen than hitting the Mega Millions jackpot – reflects popular articles on the top story list. It is seen at right.

1) Falling tree in East Longmeadow takes life of 28-year Tyler Granfield of Southwick [George Graham]

2) Springfield man, 43, stabbed while trying to break up fighting teens [Patrick Johnson]

3) Mega Millions: 10 things you could buy with the biggest jackpot in U.S. history [Joe Deburro]

4) Springfield's Lido restaurant to close [Jim Kinney]

5) Mega Millions winning lottery numbers for $640 million jackpot [Joe Deburro]

Keith Olbermann sacked by Current TV

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Founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt said Current TV was founded on values of respect, collegiality, and loyalty - values no longer reflected in their relationship with Olbermann.

olbermann.jpgIn this May 3, 2012 photo, Keith Olbermann poses at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Current TV has dismissed Keith Olbermann from its talk-show lineup after less than a year, Friday, March 30, 2012. (AP photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Keith Olbermann is looking for a new job after less than a year as a talk show host at Current TV.

The left-leaning cable network announced just hours before airtime on Friday that Olbermann's show "Countdown" would be replaced with a new program called "Viewpoint" hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, beginning that night.

The sometimes volatile Olbermann came to Current in June as the centerpiece of its new prime-time initiative after a stormy eight-year stint at MSNBC — his second at that network— followed by his abrupt departure in January 2011.

Shortly after, Current announced his hiring — reportedly with a five-year, $50-million contract — as the start of an effort to transform the network's prime-time slate into progressive talk. His official title was chief news officer, charged with providing editorial guidance for all of the network's political news, commentary and current events programming.

In a statement, Current TV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt said the network was "founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it."

They offered no details, but it is known that the temperamental Olbermann repeatedly clashed with his employers. During the primary season he declined to host certain hours of election coverage and has missed a number of regular broadcasts, as well as complaining about technical problems he said undermined his show.

Current considered some of those missed shows to be in "serial, material breach of his contract," terming them "unauthorized absences," according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person wasn't authorized to discuss details of Olbermann's dismissal.

"We are confident that our viewers will be able to count on Gov. Spitzer to deliver critical information on a daily basis," Gore and Hyatt said in their "open letter" to viewers.

In a statement posted online, Olbermann countered that "the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently."

He said he had been attempting "for more than a year" to resolve his differences with Gore and Hyatt internally, "while I've not been publicizing my complaints." Instead of "investing in a quality news program," he said, his bosses "thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract."

He called his decision to join Current "a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one."

The rupture between Olbermann and his bosses echoed Olbermann's past employment history. At NBC there was ongoing friction between the brash host and his bosses, just as there had been at earlier jobs as far back as Olbermann's star-making, often tumultuous turn as a "SportsCenter" anchor at ESPN in the 1990s.

Just weeks before his exit from MSNBC, Olbermann was nearly fired but instead was suspended for two days without pay for violating an NBC News policy by donating to three political campaigns.

At the heart of his grievance with MSNBC, as he later explained it, was the media consolidation that he felt threatened his independence on the air.

In January 2011, Comcast Corp., the giant cable operator, acquired a controlling stake in Olbermann's already huge employer, NBCUniversal.

The night of Jan. 21, Olbermann told his viewers he was leaving. He said, a bit cryptically, that "there were many occasions, particularly in the last two and a half years, where all that surrounded the show — but never the show itself — was just too much for me."

After that, Current, the privately held network co-founded in 2005 by former Vice President Gore and Joel Hyatt, seemed the perfect fit: It is an independent media outlet.

"Nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news that is produced independent of corporate interference," Olbermann said at the announcement of his coming to Current.

Current was then beginning its effort to redefine itself after ditching its original concept as the go-to site for viewer-generated short videos.

Since "Countdown" premiered, Current has fleshed out its prime-time lineup of liberals with "The Young Turks," hosted by Cenk Uygur, and "The War Room" with former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

This week, it introduced a six-hour morning talk block, with live simulcasts of the radio programs "The Bill Press Show" and "The Stephanie Miller Show."

Springfield City Councilors Michael Fenton, Timothy Allen seek crackdown on crime

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The city councilors’ public safety package includes proposals to support a “Gun Court” to handle gun cases, and resurrection of a city Youth Commission.

Michael Fenton Timothy Allen.jpgSpringfield City Councilors Michael A. Fenton, left, and Timothy C. Allen have filed multiple proposals aimed at cracking down on crime.

SPRINGFIELD – Two city councilors, Michael A. Fenton and Timothy C. Allen, have filed multiple proposals aimed at cracking down on crime, including an ordinance that would allow the city to seize and sell cars when illegal guns are found.

The proposals will be considered at the next council meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m., at City Hall.

“This package will not solve all our public safety problems but it creates comprehensive tools to solve some of our most pressing concerns,” Fenton said Friday. “There is a general feeling that the bad guys are winning. We’ve got to be more proactive and less reactive.”

The public safety initiatives include a proposed ordinance that would create revolving funds for the following purposes: creation of a “Gun Squad” modeled after program in Hartford that focuses on reducing illegal guns; creation of a neighborhood public safety fund that allows each ward to determine how to spend public safety dollars in concert with the Police Department; and creation of an “Illegal Gun Tip Line,” that would be anonymous.

A separate ordinance, in which cars found with illegal guns would be impounded by police and sold, could provide funding for the three proposed revolving funds, the councilors said.

The third ordinance, proposed by Fenton and Allen, would create a “Nightlife & Entertainment Commission,” an advisory commission made up of community leaders and city officials to offer ideas on how to improve the downtown,” the councilors said.

Fenton and Allen, in a prepared summary, said they are also proposing the council adopt five resolutions as follows:

• Creation of a Gun Court — Asks the district attorney to create a Gun Court modeled after Middlesex and Suffolk County, that would be dedicated to gun-related crime.

• Revive the Youth Commission — Asks Mayor Domenic J. Sarno to appoint and revive the Youth Commission already on the books.

• Safety Certification of owners, bouncers and managers — Owners, bouncers and managers would be certified and trained on how to property de-escalate trouble and work with the Police Department.

• Asking Congress to fix gun checks — Endorses “Mayors Against Guns” petition to Congress to fix gun checks.

• Endorsing Massachusetts Dropout Prevention Legislation — Asks the state legislative delegation to support Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz’s dropout prevention legislation.

Resolutions are non-binding.

AAA Pioneer Valley CEO Chris Mensing to be honored by Western Massachusetts Boy Scouts

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Guest speaker for the Western Massachusetts Boy Scouts annual distiguished citizen award dinner to be New England Patriots star defensive tackle Vince Wilfork.

chris e. mensing.JPGChris E. Mensing

AGAWAM – The Western Massachusetts Council of the Boys Scouts of America plans to recognize businessman Chris E. Mensing with its annual distinguished citizen award at a dinner April 25 at Chez Josef.

Last year’s honoree, Denis Gagnon, president and CEO of Excel Dryer Co., will present the award to Mensing, who is being recognized for his service to Scouting and to the community. Mensing is president and CEO of AAA Pioneer Valley.

“We are very pleased that Chris is our honoree. Both Chris and the AAA Pioneer Valley have been very strong supporters of our community. Chris has been instrumental in the support AAA Pioneer Valley has given us, including volunteer support,” Lawrence A. Bystran, Boy Scout council executive and CEO, said.

Mensing also planned last year’s award dinner and is involved in other community organizations, including those for youth sports, Bystran said.

Guest speaker for the event will be New England Patriots star defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. The dinner is the Boy Scout council’s largest annual fund-raiser.

Mensing began his career with AAA in 2004. Prior to that, he was business unit manager for Sonoco Products Co. in Holyoke. He was born in Staten Island, N.Y. and grew up in Piscataway, N.J.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Furman University in Greenville, S.C. and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Mensing, who is active nationally with AAA, is chair of the Eastern Conference of Clubs, past chair of the Northeast Conference of Clubs and secretary of the Smaller Clubs Conference. He is also a trustee for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Mensing serves on the board of a new, local startup company, CellAssist LLC. He has worked in the United Way of Pioneer Valley annual campaign. In 2011, he chaired the Scouts Distinguished Citizen Award Campaign.

Mensing lives with Wilbraham with his wife, Martha. They have two children, Kyle and Marquet.

Previous distinguished citizen honorees have included John and Stephen Davis of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation and David Southworth of Southworth Paper.

The Western Massachusetts Scout council serves youths in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.

West Springfield School Superintendent Russell Johnston gets rave review, contract extended

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Johnston was praised about everything from how he handles budgeting to increasing the morale of teachers.

Russell Johnston 2010.jpgRussell D. Johnston

WEST SPRINGFIELD School Committee members gave glowing reviews of School Superintendent Russell D. Johnston’s job performance Wednesday and then voted to extend his employment to June 2018.

The School Committee Wednesday voted to give him a new contract effective July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2018. He is currently paid $137,500 a year and the amount of his pay under the new contract has not been set yet, according to Roberta Page, the mayor’s spokesperson.

During the meeting, Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger had high praise for Johnston, saying, “I feel that Dr. Johnston has been really great to work with. We do sit down periodically to discuss what is going on.”

School Committee member Nancy M. Farrell praised Johnston as having great communication skills and being able to make budget cuts farthest from the classroom.

“He presents a clear budget to the community,” Farrell said.

School Committee member Patricia A. Garbacik, could not be present at the meeting, but submitted comments in writing that were read by School Committee member Michelle M. Serafino.

Garbacik wrote that teacher morale has never been higher and that Johnston is a wise manager of the School Department budget. She also praised Johnston for adding the job of curriculum director to his responsibilities.

Serafino commented that the school superintendent has always responded to her telephone calls and e-mails.

Johnston became interim school superintendent about two years ago after Suzanne Marotta left the city’s employ. About six months later, he was given the superintendent’s job on a permanent basis.

He has a doctorate in education from Boston College. He taught in Newton Public Schools from 1994 to 2001 and then went on to become head of elementary special education in Wellesley. In 2004, he became administrator of special services for West Springfield.


President Obama gets customized New Balance sneakers from Maine

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The sneakers, with "President Obama" sewn on the heels, also were made in Maine by New Balance, part of a dwindling number of shoe brands that carry the "Made in the USA" label.

Obama MaineView full sizeThis photo released Friday, March 30, 2012 by Rep Mike Michaud, D-Maine, and New Balance, shows details of a pair of New Balance running shoes, customized for President Barack Obama, at the company's Norridgewock, Maine, facility. Michaud had the special pair of shoes made for the president to underscore the company's production in Maine, where it employs 900 workers. (AP Photo/New Balance via Rep. Mike Michaud)


By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud used President Barack Obama's visit to the state on Friday to try to give a boost to what's left of its shoe industry, urging the commander-in-chief to insist that the Department of Defense provide U.S.-made sneakers to new recruits.

Michaud, D-Maine, had a special pair of New Balance sneakers made for the president, underscoring the company's continued production in Maine, where it employs 900 workers.

"The Department of Defense is circumventing the Berry Amendment that requires the military to be attired head to toe in American-made clothing," Michaud said Friday, adding that U.S.-made sneakers would be consistent with Obama's goal of bolstering domestic manufacturing.

Obama, who overwhelmingly won Maine in the 2008 election, returned to the state to attend a pair of re-election campaign fundraisers, the first at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, where it was moved to accommodate a larger number of supporters.

Later, a private reception and dinner for about 130 people paying $5,000 or more apiece was held at the Portland Museum of Art in downtown Portland, where a small group of Occupy-inspired protesters complained about economic inequality.

Barack ObamaView full sizePresident Obama greets supporters after speaking at a campaign stop at Southern Maine Community College, Friday, March 30, 2012, in South Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In South Portland, a boisterous crowd of nearly 2,000 supporters cheered the president, who told them that his administration has helped to foster job creation, avoided an economic meltdown and improved health care, in contrast to the GOP's "you're-own-your-own economics."

Obama told supporters that he fulfilled his promise to end the war in Iraq, and he said some of the savings should be invested in infrastructure and research.

"Let's take the money that we're no longer spending on the war," he said. "Let's use half of it to pay down our national debt and the other half to do some nation-building here at home."

The back-to-back events featured some of the best of Maine, with lobster corndogs, lobster rolls, oysters, smoked salmon and beef, all produced in the state.

The sneakers, with "President Obama" sewn on the heels, also were made in Maine by New Balance, part of a dwindling number of shoe brands that carry the "Made in the USA" label.

Nationwide, the number of shoe-manufacturing jobs has dropped from more than 200,000 in the 1970s to about 12,500, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In Maine, well-known Maine brands such as G.H. Bass, Cole Haan, Sebago and Dexter have shuttered factories and moved production out of the country.

New Balance, which has three factories in Maine and two in Massachusetts, plus others overseas, is the last major athletic shoe manufacturer in the U.S., company spokesman Matt LeBretton said.

The Department of Defense circumvents the Berry Amendment by giving new recruits allowances so they can buy their own shoes for athletic training, Michaud said. The shoes used for physical training should be put out to bid just like military boots, he said.

The Obama administration declined to comment. But Obama did mention manufacturing in his speech, saying he wants the next generation of manufacturing "to take place right here in Maine."

New Balance contends that there are several other U.S. companies that would be interested if the Department of Defense chose to put the athletic shoes out to bid.

"It's the right thing to do," said LeBretton, the company spokesman. "We're asking the Defense Department to follow the law. We're not asking for special treatment or an earmark for our company. We're just asking them to follow the law on the books."

Mitt Romney, who thrived at Harvard, ties Barack Obama to 'Faculty Lounge'

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His Ivy League pedigree undercuts Romney’s appeal to many Republicans who already doubt that he shares their values.

By DAVID J. LYNCH | Bloomberg News

033012 mitt romney.JPGRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop on the campus of Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wis., Friday, March 30, 2012. (AP Photo/The Post-Crescent, Wm. Glasheen)

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney likes to take jabs at President Barack Obama for representing the values of the Harvard faculty lounge. He should know.

Like the president, the former Massachusetts governor is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Unlike the commander-in-chief, Romney also has a second Harvard graduate degree, in business.

While bashing Harvard is intended to paint Obama as an ivory tower theorist out of his depth in the presidency, Romney owes his chief White House credential — his business career — to the school.

That Ivy League pedigree undercuts Romney’s appeal to many Republicans who already doubt that he shares their values. So as he heads for his party’s nomination, Romney lacerates his alma mater on the campaign trail, seeking to channel the resentments of voters soured on elite institutions.

“I didn’t learn about the economy just reading about it or hearing about it at the faculty lounge at Harvard,” Romney, 65, said on March 18 in Illinois, in a swipe at Obama.

Yet by all accounts, Romney thrived at Harvard, reveling in the intellectual challenge and impressing classmates with his drive and discipline.

“He was years ahead of us,” says Howard Brownstein, a law school classmate. “He had a gravitas. You thought: ‘This guy could be president.’ And I remember thinking that in 1971.”

That year, Romney enrolled in a joint law and business school program, which allowed him to earn two graduate degrees in four years rather than the customary five. Of the 1,350 students in Romney’s combined law and business school classes, only 15 earned the joint degree.

Brains and determination were taken for granted at Harvard, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution that is consistently ranked among the world’s top universities. Romney, seen as smart, though not exceptionally so, stood out for the intensity of his work ethic and his commitment to his Mormon faith.

“He was very serious about his religion and his relationship with God,” says Mark Mazo, a member of Romney’s law school study group. “That was highly unusual at the time.”

Mazo recalls peppering his friend with questions about Mormonism one day over lunch. Romney, who regularly attended church services and abstained from alcohol, tobacco and caffeine in accord with Mormon practice, fielded the queries genially. Then he offered to talk more in depth if Mazo were interested.

“Contrary to the stereotype of Mormons, he was not a proselytizer,” says Mazo, now a Washington lawyer who has donated $2,400 to Romney’s presidential campaign and $2,000 to a political action committee that supports his candidacy. “He was not going to bug you about it.”

Romney was a traditionalist at a time when tradition was out of favor. At Harvard Business School, his class was among the first in which male students didn’t routinely wear jackets and ties.

032169 mitt romney.jpgMitt Romney, 1969

He reached Harvard after graduating from Brigham Young University and completing an overseas mission as a member of the Mormon Church. As the son of a prominent national politician, he bore a famous name. He wasn’t alone: His law school classmates included Susan Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s great-granddaughter. A year behind him in the business school was the son of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, George W. Bush.

At 24, Romney was older than many of his classmates. Married and a father, he lived with his wife, Ann, in an off- campus rental in suburban Belmont. Apart from the occasional lunch or pickup basketball game, the demanding course work didn’t leave much time for socializing.

“When study time was over, he wanted to get back to his family,” says classmate Tom Phillips, who later became chief justice of the Texas state Supreme Court.

One night, while the Romneys, Brownsteins and a third couple were strolling through town, some Cambridge youths began verbally harassing them. Romney instantly positioned himself between his wife and the local toughs in a way Brownstein recalls as “chivalrous.”

Romney had agreed to attend law school at his father’s request and carried George Romney’s battered, light-brown briefcase to classes. The elder Romney, a former Michigan governor, was then serving in President Richard Nixon’s Cabinet after seeing his own White House ambitions dashed.

The early-1970s were a tumultuous time. U.S. troops were still in Vietnam. At Harvard, memories were fresh of the student occupation of the school administration hall in April 1969, which had ended when police cleared the building using billy clubs and mace.

On Cambridge Common, a city park adjacent to Harvard Yard, the counterculture was in full swing. “Cambridge Common was a constant party,” says Phillips. “There were musicians, jugglers, and people doing things the law said they shouldn’t be doing. If you opened your window for some fresh air, you were likely to get a whiff of something else.”

If that doesn’t sound like Romney’s natural habitat, the business school — across the Charles River in Allston — proved more hospitable. Howard Serkin, who sat next to Romney for the introductory lecture, teamed with him to establish a study group, whose members shared responsibility for preparing the individual cases that formed the core of the MBA program.

“He wanted our study group to be the No. 1 study group,” says Serkin, chairman of Heritage Capital Group, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based investment banking firm. “He wanted us all to get straight A’s.”

Romney’s innate bottom-line orientation found a home at Harvard Business. Devoid of ideology, he instead sought truth through facts, the essence of the business school approach.

“Mitt is the ultimate pragmatist. He’s only interested in what will work,” says Brownstein, who later worked alongside Romney at Boston Consulting Group and now runs his own crisis- management firm in Conshohocken, Pa.

At Ivy League rival Yale University, law students often went on to careers in government service. Harvard, in contrast, sent more graduates to legal careers on Wall Street or in the corporate world.

Still, the law school was a cerebral institution, populated with aspiring politicians and devoted to understanding the norms that govern society. The business school was defined by empiricism, what worked and what made money.

“It’s on the other side of the river,” says Brownstein. “But the difference is more than a river.”

HBS was regarded by Harvard faculty and students with a mix of disdain and condescension, seen as both academically suspect and financially gifted. For clean-cut business students, venturing onto the main university campus meant running a gauntlet of hostile looks.

“You felt like they didn’t want you to be there,” says Mitch Kurz, who was a year behind Romney at HBS and later became chief executive officer of Wunderman, an advertising agency.

At a time when many questioned authority, Romney embraced it. To Harvard Law Professor Detlev Vagts, who headed the joint program from 1969 to 2005, that trait prevented Romney from ranking as a truly exceptional student, such as the late investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, who graduated in 1971. Romney, Vagts says, lacked “a certain sense that the way things are are not the way they have to be — that you could do things differently.”

Still, Romney excelled at both schools, proving especially suited to the MBA program’s emphasis on isolating key questions and then answering them by vacuuming up every bit of data.

As the Vietnam War wound down, the Watergate crisis began to dominate political discussions, especially at the law school. His friends recall Romney as interested in current events, though memories of specific conversations are scarce. If the business school was relatively immune to the forces buffeting society — just 11 percent of Romney’s HBS class was female — it was an institution in transition.

With the stock market in free fall — down more than 40 percent in 1973-74 — the professional school began cutting spending on new course materials and computers.

The MBA program traditionally had trained managers to run large corporations. Now, one of the most popular courses, “Management of Service Operations,” dealt with retail franchises. As economic growth slowed and inflation soared, employers such as General Motors and Ford took the extraordinary step of rescinding job offers to graduating students.

“It was the last part of an era at HBS,” says Kurz.

Far more than previous generations of Harvard Business students, Romney’s class went into small business, consulting and financial services, according to John Kotter, an HBS professor who wrote a book on the class of 1974 called “The New Rules.” Romney, who joined Boston Consulting Group upon graduation and later built a private-equity startup into an industry power, personified the shifting tides.

Today, as he advances toward the Republican nomination, he scorns the school. Matthew Dowd, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, says Romney’s anti-Harvard jibes are aimed at aligning him with Main Street constituents.

“Romney needs that,” says Dowd, now a Bloomberg political analyst. “One of his big vulnerabilities — because of his wealth — is he does not have a great connection with middle- class and blue-collar voters.”

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney, didn’t return an email requesting comment.

Romney doesn’t have problems connecting with those who studied alongside him years ago. Many of his former classmates support his presidential bid. Some are baffled by the public perception of their Harvard friend.

“Everyone says he’s robotic and can’t connect with people,” says Serkin. “When he’s in an environment with people he knows and likes, he’s just like everybody else.”

On the campaign trail, Harvard’s imprint can be glimpsed. Phillips, a legal policy adviser to Romney’s campaign, says his candidate took from the law school a respect for the judiciary that kept him from endorsing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s call to haul judges before Congress to explain controversial rulings.

Serkin says a 59-point jobs plan that Romney announced in September is classic Harvard Business School. Even the candidate’s reputation for changing positions on key issues may originate in the agile, unemotional brand of analysis he imbibed at HBS, according to Kurz.

Romney, he says, “seems to be doing what they teach you in business school.”

Kansas, Illinois, Maryland tickets win $640M lottery jackpot

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Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes, lottery spokesman says.

Mega MillionsA man checks his Mega Millions ticket before leaving Towne Market, Friday, March 30, 2012 in Phillipsburg, N.J. Lottery ticket lines swelled as the record Mega Millions jackpot grew to $640 million, thanks greatly to players who opened their wallets despite long odds of success. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matt Smith)

RED BUD, Ill. (AP) — Three lottery tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland hit the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said Saturday.

Illinois' winning ticket was bought at a convenience store in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis, and the winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said.

"This is very exciting, people are extremely happy, and of course everybody wants to know who it is," Denise Metzger, manager of the Motomart where the winning ticket was sold, said Saturday morning. "Hopefully I sold that ticket to someone who comes in every single morning."

In Maryland, television cameras were descending on the 7-Eleven in Baltimore County where the state's winning ticket was purchased. The harried manager could only repeatedly say "No interviews" to the reporters pressing for details, and customers pushed through the media crush for their morning coffee on Saturday.

The store will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, which was purchased Friday night.

The third winning ticket was purchased in northeast Kansas, but no other information would be released by the Kansas Lottery until the winner comes forward, spokeswoman Cara S. Sloan-Ramos said in an email.

No information has been released yet about the winners in Maryland and Illinois.

Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes, Lang said. The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball 23.

Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said the last time a ticket from the state won a major national jackpot was in 2008, when a ticket sold for $24 million.

"We're thrilled," she said. "We're due and excited."

The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.

Americans spent nearly $1.5 billion for a chance to hit the jackpot, which amounts to a $462 million lump sum and around $347 million after federal tax withholding. With the jackpot odds at 1 in 176 million, it would cost $176 million to buy up every combination. Under that scenario, the strategy would win $171 million less if your state also withholds taxes.

From coast to coast, people stood in line at retail stores Friday for one last chance at striking it rich.

Maribeth Ptak, 31, of Milwaukee, said she only buys Mega Millions tickets when the jackpot is really big and she bought one Friday at a Milwaukee grocery store. She said she'd use the money to pay off bills, including school loans, and then she'd donate a good portion to charity.

"I know the odds are really not in my favor, but why not," she said.

Sawnya Castro, 31, of Dallas, bought $50 worth of tickets at a 7-Eleven. She figured she'd use the money to create a rescue society for Great Danes, fix up her grandmother's house, and perhaps even buy a bigger one for herself.

"Not too big — I don't want that. Too much house to keep with," she said.

Willie Richards, who works for the U.S. Marshals Service at a federal courthouse in Atlanta, figured if there ever was a time to confront astronomical odds, it was when $640 million was at stake. He bought five tickets.

"When it gets as big as it is now, you'd be nuts not to play," he said. "You have to take a chance on Lady Luck."


Chicopee School Committee expands School Choice for older students

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Chicopee earns about $1 million by taking in children from other communities.

CHICOPEE – The School Committee voted to invite 61 new children from other communities to attend city schools under the School Choice program.

All the new slots will be in grades six through 12 and would be for Edward J. Bellamy Middle, Fairview Veterans Memorial Middle, Chicopee High and Comprehensive High schools.

The School Choice law allows children to attend school in other communities with the sending school paying tuition to the receiving school tuition. Chicopee receives just over $5,000 for every child it accepts from another community.

This school year it accepted 192 students and earned slightly more than $1 million through the program. At the same time a total of 101 students from the city chose to attend schools in other communities, so the city paid $610,179 to the districts who accepted the children.

Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said the program is important in part because it helps offset the loss of money from Chicopee children who attend school in other districts.

Chicopee has one of the larger acceptance rates of children in the state, but there are a dozen which accept higher numbers this year. Greenfield accepted 529 children and earned $2.7 million; Northampton accepted 209 children earning $1.2 million; the Quabbin Regional District in Barre accepted 350 children and received $1.9 million; and the Lenox School District which accepted 218 children and received $1.14 million, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education records.

School Committee member Chester J. Szetela said he is in favor of School Choice, but said he is concerned the city only receives $5,000 for a student when the average cost to educate a student in Chicopee is $12,317.

Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said the average amount factors in students who are disabled and cost a large amount to educate while a regular education student costs far less than $12,317. He also explained the city is not hiring extra teachers instead it is filling empty slots in existing classrooms.

“It does not cost the Chicopee Public Schools any more to have those empty desks filled,” Rege said.

State law allows the city to dictate what grade and school the school choice children will fill. The only caveat is once a student is accepted, they are a permanent student even if there is an influx of children in that grade or that school.

Of the new slots, 32 will replace the group of existing School Choice students who will graduate in June. The other 29 are new openings, Assistant Superintendent Alvin W. Morton said.

The School Committee approved the 61 new slots in a 9-1 vote.

Obituaries today: Paul Simison was audiologist, Suffield Fire Dept. volunteer

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Obituaries from The Republican.

033112_paul_simison.jpgPaul Simison


Paul R. Simison, 60, of West Suffield, Conn., died Wednesday. Born in Northampton, he was an audiologist, and a 25-year volunteer firefighter with the Suffield Fire Department, Co. 2. He previously served as a volunteer with the Broad Brook Fire Department in East Windsor, Conn. Active in his community, he was one of the founding coaches of the Suffield Youth Lacrosse program for girls. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he earned master's degrees in education of the deaf from Smith College and in audiology from the University of Connecticut. He was previously a teacher at Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton. He owned the Hearing Improvement Center, in West Hartford, with his business partner and friend, Alan Dumaine.

Obituaries from The Republican:

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