Vasquez, a 20-year veteran attached to the Springfield barracks, had non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. Watch video

Updates stories posted at 11:47, 10:09 and 9:12 a.m.

CHICOPEE — State Trooper John Vasquez, shot in the left hand and thigh while responding to a 911 call of shots fired Friday morning at a West Street multi-family home, is undergoing surgery at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

The state trooper’s injuries are not considered life-threatening, officials said at a press conference. Vasquez is a 20-year veteran attached to the Springfield barracks.

Vasquez was the first to arrive at the scene, Col. Marian J. McGovern, head of the state police, and Chicopee Police Chief John R. Ferraro Jr., said at the press conference.

Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette credited Chicopee Police officer Dave Benoit with coming to Vasquez' aid. "Special recognition to Chicopee Officer Dave Benoit who managed to get Trooper Vasquez into his cruiser while under fire and get him to the hospital," Bissonnette posted on his Facebook page.

The 911 calls regarding the disturbance at 102 West St. came in at about 7:45 a.m.

Officials said the suspect took a boy, approximately 6 to 8 years old, and possibly his the boy’s mother, as hostages. Police said the gunman had two weapons, a handgun and an assault rifle.

Bissonnette, speaking at the press conference, called the incident “just short of Armageddon” and said it had the potential to be a “disaster of major proportions.”

That’s because numerous school children were on their way to Bowe Elementary School at the time of the shooting and there was a large gasoline tanker parked at the Shell service station directly across the street.

The mayor, before the press conference, said that the suspect turned on the gas burners to the stove after he entered the home.

Officials have yet to release the dead suspect’s name or any potential motive.

Bissonnette touched on the New Hampshire police chief fatally gunned down on Thursday during a drug raid and thanked all the public safety workers for their “professionalism and heroic efforts” as the horror unfolded on West Street.

The investigation is being conducted by state police assigned to Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni’s office with assistance from the Chicopee police.

A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the name will be replaced by Irma.

MIAMI — Irene is being retired from the list of storm names because the 2011 hurricane killed 49 people and caused more than $15 billion in damage.

A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the name will be replaced by Irma. Irene was retired Friday from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization's hurricane committee.

The report says storm names are reused every six years unless retired for causing considerable casualties or damage. Irene is the 76th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954.

Five people were killed in the Dominican Republic after Hurricane Irene stormed through the Caribbean last August. Three died in Haiti. And 41 died in the U.S. when Irene barreled up the Eastern Seaboard.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Garian Robinson Caulton

Garian Bernice Robinson Caulton, 65, of Springfield, passed away on April 5. She was educated in Springfield schools. After receiving an associate's degree in business from the Andover Institute of Business, she moved to Boston, where she lived for many years, working as an executive assistant and office manager in real estate, publishing and Bridge Community Service. While in Boston she studied graphic design at the Massachusetts College of Art and took courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and Suffolk University. She returned to her hometown in 1992 and began a career with the City of Springfield, first as administrative assistant to Mayor Robert T. Markel, then in the Office of Labor Relations and at the time of her death with the Pension Retirement Board.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Allan M.D., James D.
  



• 
  Aykanian, Suran
  



• 
  Balicki, Sally K. (Klin)
  



• 
  Bronner, Muriel A.
  



• 
  Bruno, John A.
  



• 
  Cariddi Sr., James Vincent
  



• 
  Caulton, Garian Robinson
  



• 
  Coutu, Erson F. "Ernie"
  



• 
  Dasilva, Arminda "Mimi"
  



• 
  Davidson, Edith L. (Packard)
  



• 
  Desforges, Sylvia M. (Stejna)
  



• 
  Donihue, LaVonne C.
  



• 
  Dreher, Sarah A.
  



• 
  Elovirta, Jarrod L.
  



• 
  Howard, Daohne Jessica
  



• 
  Hoyt, Florence L. (Luchini)
  



• 
  Jekanowski, Sally A. (Opielowski)
  



• 
  Joy, Lorraine C.
  



• 
  LaPlace, Gregory F.
  



• 
  Makol, Alexander
  



• 
  Mathieu, Charlene T.
  



• 
  McLean, Bruce Adam
  



• 
  Montemagni, Edward "Monty"
  



• 
  Pilon Jr., Henry R.
  



• 
  Quesnel, David Henry
  



• 
  Russo, Louis J.
  



• 
  Savoy, James M.
  



• 
  Scagliarini, Annette (Caplette)
  



• 
  Thomas, Betty Jean (Moore)
  



• 
  Van Wickler, Norman P.
  



• 
  Wood, Robert A.
  

Derek Cook will explore all legal avenues to fight for his pension rights, his lawyer said.

The Republican | Michael S. GordonSpringfield police officer Derek Cook appears in Springfield District Court.

SPRINGFIELD - City Patrolman Derek V. Cook, who pleaded guilty to attacking two superior officers in a station house assault in 2008, forfeited his pension on Friday by vote of the Springfield Retirement Board.

The vote to strip the pension occurred just two days after the Retirement Board revoked the pension of former Springfield Patrolman Jeffrey M. Asher. Asher is serving an 18-month jail sentence for the beating of Melvin Jones III during a 2009 traffic stop.

The board voted 3-1 to strip Cook of his pension, although he remains on the job and could be many years away from retirement. The vote followed a 45-minute, closed-door meeting with Cook and his lawyer, Kevin B. Coyle.

“We really had no choice,” board acting Chairman Philip J. Mantoni said. “He pleaded guilty to a felony. It is quite clear what the action of the board must be. We don’t have choices ‘A,’ ‘B,’ or ‘C,’ or ‘none of the above.’”

Cook, 43, and a 20-year member of the police force, will pursue all options to fight for a return of his pension to work “with the same protection of all officers.” Coyle said. Cook has a dangerous job, and faces a situation where he could be shot and paralyzed, and not have access to a public disability pension, Coyle said.

City Solicitor Edwrd M. Pikula said Friday that the Law Department is reviewing the legal ramnifications and liability issues related to the pension forfeiture, as requested by Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.

“I have not found any cases where an officer who remained employed was expelled from the retirement system,” Pikula said.

Cook pleaded guilty to assaulting Lt. Robert P. Moynihan and now-retired Sgt. Dennis M. O’Connor, which followed a disagreement between Cook and Moynihan at the station after roll call, according to police.

Cook, after pleading guilty, was suspended for three months without pay in by Fitchet in connection with the assaults.

Retirement Board member Thomas M. Scanlon, who is also a city patrolman, was the only board member to vote against the forfeiture of Cook’s pension.

“I can’t see how somebody who was allowed to keep their job cannot keep their pension,” Scanlon said. “I don’t believe that was the intent of the (forfeiture) law. That section of the law needs to be better defined so we don’t end up with more instances like this.”

The state pension law states in part that in “no event shall any member (of the retirement system) after final conviction of a criminal offense involving violation of laws applicable to his office or position be entitled to receive a retirement allowance under the provisions (of state law) nor shall any beneficiary be entitled to receive any benefits under such provisions on account of such member.”

The board had delayed a vote on the forfeiture issue last week, but was directed by the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Administration to take up the matter promptly.

Moynihan, who was injured in the Cook assault, is a member of the Retirement Board, but did not attend Friday’s meeting and recused himself from last week’s hearing. Moynihan and Scanlon were elected to the five-member Retirement Board by active city employees and retirees.

Mantoni was joined in voting for the pension foreclosure by board members Haskell O. Kennedy and Patrick Burns. Mantoni said Cook has a 20-year track record that has included praise from the City Council and legislators.

“We simply had to follow through and now it is up to him to go through the appeal process,” Mantoni said. “I certainly wish him well.”

Coyle also represented Asher before the Retirement Board, and said the appeal process may be to Springfield District Court or the state Contributory Retirement Appeal Board, or both.

Cook, during the prior hearing before the Retirement Board, said he was not aware that his pension would be in jeopardy in pleading guilty, nor was told it would be in jeopardy. His criminal lawyer, Charles W. Groce, declined comment.

U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is joining other Democrats distancing themselves from remarks made by a Democratic strategist about Ann Romney, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Associated PressDemocratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren, right, looks up while delivering signatures to get her name on the fall ballot, Friday, April 13, 2012, at the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office in Boston. Warren is running against Republican Sen. Scott Brown. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is joining other Democrats distancing themselves from remarks made by a Democratic strategist about Ann Romney, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and mother of two adult children, said Friday no one has to convince her how difficult it is to raise a family. She said society should respect the work women do in many different ways.

Hillary Rosen has apologized for saying that Ann Romney — who mostly stayed home to raise the couple's five sons — "hasn't worked a day in her life," and wasn't familiar with economic issues facing most women.

Warren said the comments are "not the right the conversation to have," and that women know how tough it is to raise kids.

The shooter moved into the home about 3 months ago, neighbors said. Watch video

CHICOPEE - Ward Hamilton said he was just starting his work day at Central Oil when he heard somebody yelling about a man with a gun.

When the Enfield resident, a former police officer in the New Haven area, heard the gunfire himself, he ran toward the noise to see if he could help.

“I guess I went back into cop mode for a little while,” he said.

Hamilton said he saw the wounded state trooper, 20-year veteran John Vasquez, and that he, another state trooper and a city police officer helped him into a Chicopee cruiser.

“The trooper took a round to the legs and to, I guess his hand,” said Hamilton, his hands still crimson with the trooper's blood.

The injured trooper’s marked cruiser "was just strafed by bullets, right out of Hollywood, right out of Hollywood," he said.

Hamilton said the shooter opened fire the front porch of the home: “He had the front door propped open and he was just... I mean it was OK Corral time.”

Vasquez was conscious and alert after he was shot. “We kept telling him he’s OK, he’s OK,” Hamilton said. “He hadn’t lost any color in his face and that is usually a good indicator, he was alert and focused. He was able to talk and that for me was a relief.”

Hamilton said the shooter had long, silvery hair. “He looked like an older gentleman.”

The Chicopee cruiser then left the scene with Vasquez, leaving Hamilton and the other trooper in the street. “I just got down,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton, still struggling to recall the series of events in his mind, said much of it was surreal. As gunfire was going off, a number of people were sitting in the parking lot of a nearby Dunkin Donuts, talking on their cell phones, unaware of the horrific -- and potentially deadly -- drama that was unfolding.

“People were banging on the (vehicle) doors yelling 'Get out! Get out!';" Hamilton said. ”One woman was just talking away. I banged on the car, I said 'Listen, get out! Get out!' She got out her passenger side door, I think.”

Hours after the shooting, Vasquez’s cruiser remained at the scene, the pavement around it was littered with shattered glass, what appeared to be bullet fragments and blood.

Two rounds could be seen lodged in the headrest of the driver’s seat. The rear window and two front side windows were blown out.

“But for the grace of God, the outcome could have been much worse,” State Police spokesman David Procopio said.

Numerous yellow evidence markers could be seen on the cruiser and the ground.

Neighbors said the shooter moved to the home about three months ago and immediately caught everybody’s attention because he drove a pink Lexus.

They described him as an Hispanic male, about 40, with a slightly muscular build. They said he would sit on the steps and drink beer and smoke cigarettes.

Anatoliy Ionkia, whose brother lives in the neighborhood, said he used to muse aloud to his wife as they drove by the pink Lexus, speculating on what kind of person might drive such car.

"Well, I wouldn't mess with him," his wife replied.

Fusco faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the murders charges after a two week trial.

NEW YORK - Lawyers in the Emilio Fusco mob murder case on Friday wrangled over the breadth of evidence jurors will hear during a trial scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court on Monday.

Fusco will stand trial for charges including a racketeering conspiracy that includes the 2003 murders of Springfield Genovese crime family boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and police informant Gary D. Westerman amid an organized crime power shift that year.

Prosecutors say Fusco sought permission to have Bruno killed after he received a court report in 2003 drafted for Fusco's sentencing on loan-sharking and gambling charges that year. The report stated that Bruno told an FBI agent that Fusco had been "made," or formally inducted into the Genovese crime family, thus violating one of the basic tenets of gangsters: don't talk to law enforcement - particularly about the inner workings of the rackets.

The revelation sealed the fate of Bruno, who was shot dead on Nov. 23, 2003 by a paid hitman.

Fusco's lawyer, Richard B. Lind, told Judge P. Kevin Castel that the government appeared to be resisting Lind's efforts to call as a witness Springfield FBI agent Clifford W. Hedges, who "squeezed" Bruno for information in 2002 as the agent caught Bruno going into a politician's party. The elected official was not named in court.

However, the conversation was memorialized in a two-page FBI report that has not yet become public in extensive court proceedings. Lind unsuccessfully attempted to get Bruno's statement excluded from evidence, and argued Hedges should be compelled to testify about the conversation.

"As a lawyer, how do I deal with something as dramatic as this?" Lind asked Castel.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Goldman told the judge defense lawyers are required to file an affidavit detailing why a federal investigator should be called to testify as a witness in a trial, accusing Lind of trying to do "an end run" around regulations.

Fusco will be tried one year after three co-defendants were tried and convicted of parallel charges in the same Manhattan courtroom. Former mob enforcers Fotios "Freddy" Geas, his brother Ty Geas, formerly of West Springfield, and onetime New York crime boss Artie Nigro were sentenced to life in prison for the Bruno murder and other charges.

Fusco gained the reprieve because he fled to Italy, prosecutors contend, to avoid prosecution in the case. Fusco denies any involvement in the Bruno and Westerman murders.

Westerman's remains were unearthed in an eight-foot grave in a wooded lot in Agawam in 2010, after government witness Anthony Arillotta led investigators to the spot where he said he, the Geas brothers and Fusco shot and bludgeoned Westerman to death before burying him.

Fusco faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the murders. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

The U.N. Security Council issued a statement deploring North Korea’s failed rocket launch but stopped short of imposing any fresh penalties on the government for its defiance of previous U.N. demands.

Photo by Debbie Noda / The Modesto BeeOfficials survey the scene of a fire Friday in Modesto, Calif., at an apartment where gunfire broke out Thursday morning as two deputy sheriffs attempted to serve an eviction notice. Click on the link, above left, for a report from the San Francisco Chronicle that says a deputy and a civilian were killed.

• Man who allegedly shot New Hampshire police chief reportedly had criminal past [SeacoastOnline.com]


• Fire reported out at California apartment where gunman allegedly shot deputy, civilian [San Francisco Chronicle]


• United Nations Security Council condemns North Korean rocket launch [Washington Post]


• Severe storms threaten central section of United States [USA Today]


• Scott Brown shrugs off criticism after drinking beer, driving off to campaign stop [Boston Herald]


• Bullying documentary inspires discussion, revives painful memories in Connecticut [Hartford Courant]


• Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin escapes 4 bears in back yard [Burlington Free Press]


• Massachusetts high court rules that breast-feeding mothers must be accommodated during medical licensing exams [Boston.com]


• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


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A late-night encounter with four bears trying to snack from backyard birdfeeders gave Vermont's governor a lesson in what not to do in bear country.

Associated PressGov. Peter Shumlin, right, holds a news conference with Lt. Gov. Phil Scott Thursday, March 15, 2012 in Montpelier, Vt.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A late-night encounter with four bears trying to snack from backyard birdfeeders gave Vermont's governor a lesson in what not to do in bear country.

One of the bears chased Peter Shumlin and nearly caught the governor while he was trying to shoo the animals away, he said Friday.

"I had a close encounter with a bear, four bears to be exact," Shumlin said.

Shumlin said he had just gone to bed inside his rented home on the edge of Montpelier late Wednesday when the bears woke him up. He looked out the window and saw the bears in a tree about five feet from the house trying to get food from his four birdfeeders.

"I open up the window and yell at them to get away from the birdfeeders. They kind of trot off," Shumlin said Friday. "I go around to the kitchen to turn the lights on and look from the other side and they're back in the birdfeeders. So I figure I've got to get the birdfeeders out of there or they're going to make this a habit."

He said he then ran out and first grabbed two of the feeders. As he grabbed the other two and made his escape, "one of the bigger bears was interested in me."

"It was probably six feet from me before I slammed the door and it ran the other way," Shumlin said.

Shumlin said he didn't stop to get dressed, though he didn't reveal exactly how little he was wearing.

"I sleep like many Vermont boys, without too much clothing at night. I'm not a big pajama person," he said. "The bottom line is: The bears were dressed better than I and they could have done some real damage."

Shumlin, 56, a first term Democratic governor from Putney, said he had part of the encounter on video, which he refused to release. He first described the wild encounter in an interview with the editorial board of the Valley News newspaper of Lebanon, N.H. He told the newspaper he was within "three feet of getting 'arrrh.'"

"The lesson is as a Vermonter who grew up in this state and should know better, if you're going to feed birds at this time of year, bring your birdfeeders in at night," he said.

But Col. David LeCours, Vermont's chief game warden, said bringing feeders in at night won't make a difference because the bears will return to eat the birdfeed on the ground. The Department of Fish and Wildlife urges homeowners to remove birdfeeders in the spring.

While homeowners like to watch the birds, they don't need to be fed once the snow melts, LeCours said.

In certain circumstances, such as if someone is deliberately trying to attract bears, people can be fined for keeping feeders out, but that wouldn't apply in the governor's case.

"If someone does it inadvertently, there's no violation of law," LeCours said.

LeCours said it was likely Shumlin was dealing with a sow with three cubs. He said he'd never heard of a bear chasing after a person with food, but mother bears will protect their young.

"She most likely felt her cubs were being threatened," LeCours said.

A lawyer representing two bars has asked a Superior Court judge to block a 1 a.m. curfew on those businesses, with the court's decision pending.

McCaffrey's Public House, on top, and Mike's East Side Pub are two of the eight additional bars that Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has granted late night entertainment permits to.

SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has approved special late night permits for eight additional bars and clubs that will allow them to provide entertainment beyond a new 1 a.m. curfew.

Sarno, who enacted the 1 a.m. curfew last weekend, initially granted late night permits to two bars — Theodore’s on Worthington Street and Mattie’s Cafe on Boston Road — allowing them to offer music, television and other forms of entertainment until 2 a.m. Both bars provided documentation that food sales exceeded 40 percent of their income, leading to their exemption from the 1 a.m. curfew, officials said.

On Friday, the mayor’s office announced that eight additional bars have received the late night permits after providing documentation of food sales beyond the 40 percent mark. The bars granted permits were: McCaffrey’s Public House; Kick Back Lounge; JT’s Sports Pub; Sophia’s; Samuel’s Tavern; Mike’s East Side Pub; Shakago’s; and Coconuts.

Initially, there were 41 applications for the late night entertainment permits and just two were granted with all others having to comply with the 1 a.m. curfew.

Sarno ordered the curfew, saying it will help protect public safety by reducing late night violence and will ease the burden on limited police resources. Opponents say bars remain open until 2 a.m., and the halt on entertainment at 1 a.m., does nothing to improve public safety.

In related news, Daniel D. Kelly, a lawyer representing two downtown bars that were denied late night permits by Sarno, brought a challenge of the curfew before Hampden Superior Court Judge Bertha D. Josephson, who took the matter under advisement, with a decision pending.

Kelly is asking for a preliminary injunction to permit the bars — Glo Ultra Lounge and Kush, both on Worthington Street — to keep entertainment going past 1 a.m. The city was represented by Assistant City Solicitor Stephen M. Reilly Jr.

Kelly said those bars meet the requirement for food sales, as documented by tax records and a report from a certified public accountant, and argued that the curfew unreasonably harms both businesses.

City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula said the city’s hearing officer found that the evidence submitted for the “restaurant exemption was not credible in that neither business has kitchen facilities.”

Kelly said food such as appetizers is sold, some from outside sources, and some from one of the kitchens.

Pikula was unconvinced.

“Nobody submitted a menu from either place, and I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘hey, let’s get something to eat at Glo or Kush,” Pikula said.

The motorcycle was traveling at a speed close to 100 miles per hour, police said.

Republican file photo

WILBRAHAM – Police on Friday identified the motorcyclist who was killed when his motorcycle crashed head-on into an oncoming car on Main Street Thursday night as John T. Lander, 46, of 3 Colonial Village, Hampden.

Police said the operator of the motorcycle, a 2010 Honda 1300 Fury, was thrown approximately 45 feet from the point of impact and sustained severe injuries as a result of the crash that took place at approximately 7:23 p.m. Thursday on Main Street in the area of Merrill Road.

Police said they responded within minutes of the call and found a motorcycle on the side of the road and a mid-size SUV in the middle of the northbound lane on Main Street, both severely damaged.

Emergency medical care was administered to Lander by police and fire personnel, and he was transported to Baystate Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the second vehicle, a 2001 Ford Explorer, was identified as Albert Scagliarini, 56, of Wilbraham. The vehicle sustained heavy damage to the front driver’s side. The driver and a passenger in the SUV were not injured, police said.

Police said the preliminary investigation shows the operator of the motorcycle was traveling south on Main Street and then entered into the northbound lane and into the travel path of the Ford SUV. The collision occurred in the northbound lane and the impact cause the motorcycle to travel approximately 60 feet after the collision, police said.

Police officer John Siniscalchi, a crash analysis and reconstruction specialist for the Police Department, said he determined that the motorcycle was traveling at a speed close to 100 miles per hour and was operating in a manner to endanger the public.

Police said the crash is still under investigation, but it appears that no charges will be filed against Scagliarini.

Those working on the capital campaign have raised $2.1 million of the $2.5 million cost.

View full sizeThe Republican | Don TreegerA groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Amherst Survival Center on Friday. Guests at the event were asked to bring shovels, and here, many of them participate in the groundbreaking by tossing dirt.

AMHERST – The plan was to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Amherst Survival Center before the foundation was laid, but the builders were too fast, the center’s president said Friday.

“It is a foundation appreciation event,” Jan Eidelson said of ceremonies Friday marking the beginning of construction of the $2.5 million facility on Sunderland Road.

More than 150 including town and state officials, volunteers, board members, donors and people who use the center gathered on the site that once was home to Rooster’s restaurant to celebrate the building of the new facility.

They brought their own shovels or trowels, in some cases, or borrowed their neighbor’s to toss the ceremonial dirt.

John and Elizabeth S. Armstrong were among those wielding shovels. John Armstrong was a former University of Massachusetts trustee and director of research and later vice president for science and technology at IBM.

The couple helped the center find the new location and donated during the silent capital campaign that raised $2 million of the $2.5 million cost.

Elizabeth Armstrong said the former board president invited them to have lunch at the center about five yeas ago.

View full sizeThis is an artist's rendering of the new Amherst Survival Center building.

“I was struck by everyone’s good spirits,” she said, referring to the staff and those using the services. “I wasn’t really taken with the facility. It was dismal. It was such a contrast to the energy of all the people.”

The center offers meals, food, clothing and medical care to more than 4,000 people a year from 11 communities. It operates in the basement of the town-owned North Amherst School.

Fundraising went public in January, and Lynn Griesemer, the chairwoman of the capital campaign, said $100,000 more has been raised.

State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg came to do his part, just about 10 days after returning to work. The Amherst Democrat was out for about four months while he recovered from cancer treatment and subsequent complications.

“For John and me it’s great to be anywhere,” he joked. Town Manager John P. Musante was out of work in the autumn after being hospitalized following a fall.

“They’re going to have a building worthy of what they do,” Rosenberg said.

“Amherst is not perfect,” said state Rep. Ellen Story. “If you look at this project as a case study, it’s pretty perfect.”

Musante told those gathered that public works crews would be repaving Sunderland Road, the site of the new facility, and extending the sidewalk across the street to make it safer for those who walk there for services.

He said he’ll talk to the chairman of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Advisory Board about extending bus service to the site.

The new building is expected to open at the end of the year.

The Stooges were vaudeville veterans who began making shorts for Columbia in the 1930s.

AP photo/ Columbia PicturesThe original Three Stooges: Larry Fine, Curly Howard and Moe Howard.

In this image released by 20th Century Fox, from left, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Sean Hayes are shown in a scene from "The Three Stooges." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Peter Iovino)

WEST SPRINGFIELD — It would be entirely accurate, if incomplete, to say the reason I don’t hit people on the head is I’d be disappointed the sound would be so unlike the comforting “Boink!” when Moe hits Curly.

Life is a struggle of adjustments, which brings us to the new “The Three Stooges” movie that opened Friday.

It was pretty good. Funny spots included Larry David as a nun. The boy’s hard Brooklyn accents, the sound effects and most of the sight gags are there. About a dozen people (yes, mostly guys) attended the 1:45 p.m. show at Rave Motion Pictures.

But the actors playing Moe, Larry and Curly presented to this long-time Stooges fan a see-saw effect. Periods of seeing the actors present remarkable resemblance to the so-familiar lugs – view and look-away tells your mind “there’s the Three Stooges” – usually detoured to an almost creepy “How dare they! That’s not them” let down.

The Curly was too big, the Moe a bit too thin, the Larry too silken-voiced.

Then again, as folks like Terry Wasielewski said, it’s just the Three Stooges.

“That was great entertainment,” said Wasielewski, 55, in town visiting from Buffalo, N.Y.

“We love the Stooges. These guys love the Stooges,” he said of his sons, John, 15, and Joseph, 10.

“When these guys were kids, we’d give them a bottle and put them in front of the TV to watch the Stooges,” Wasielewski said.

He walked away with his two boys, one of the three making Curly’s “woo, woo, woo” sound.

That’s part of the point, that with the Stooges and their slapstick and sounds so ingrained in the culture, making a movie like this is almost bound to fall short.

The Three Stooges began on the 1920s vaudeville stages. By the early 1930s, they were making the “shorts” (16- to 18-minute movies) for Columbia that would make them famous, especially in TV reruns. They made nearly 200 shorts and about 100 were with the Moe, Larry, Curly lineup that was the best by far.

Brothers Moe and Jerry “Curly” Howard and frizzy-haired Larry Fine (known by former Republican colleague Mike McAuliffe as “the first hippie”) are long dead. But that the directors, Peter and Bobby Farrelly (“There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber”) are fans of the Three Stooges comes through in this 90-minute movie.

The plot finds the Stooges out in the modern-day world trying to raise $830,000 to keep the orphanage where they grew up and still work as maintenance men from closing.

Will Sasso as Curly, Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe and Sean Hayes as Larry do well with the choreographed snoring, dancing, huddling, face-slaps, eye-pokes and eye-poke blocks.

They also spit out many of the favorite catch phrases like “Spread out!” “I’m a victim of circumstance” and “We’re getting nowhere fast.”

Missing, though, was my favorite: “Wake up and go to sleep,” usually barked out by Moe to a snoring Larry or Curly.

“It was very good,” said Joe Provoda, of West Springfield. “They actually did a very good job with making their voices sound like them.”

The movie had some of the word-play familiar to the Stooges’ shorts: The name of a divorce-lawyer firm was Ditcher, Quick & Hyde.

Just as the original Stooges offended many people, the movie included ample inappropriateness to upset today’s prim and politically correct. It wasn’t just the slaps, pokes and noggin-knocks. At one point Moe says to a boy, “We’ve known you since you were a baby. We were the ones that taught you how to play with matches.”

Modern touches in the flick include references to the iPhone and Twitter, and scenes with Snooki and the Jersey Shore cast that weren’t all cringe-worthy.

Jeffrey Daley, city advancement officer, said Mayor Daniel Knapik does not want "a slots in a box" facility in the city, and would want to see a resort casino with entertainment that would be beneficial to the entire city.

WESTFIELD - Casino developers have shown interest in the former Pavilion Mall site, and while city officials are not revealing who they are yet, if a formal proposal is made the mayor supports having a referendum on the issue so the residents can have their say.

Jeffrey R. Daley, city advancement officer, said the 200-acre property in question - between Barnes Regional Airport and East Mountain Road - has attracted the interest of three to four casino developers, who have reached out to the landowner. Only one of them, however, has met with city officials and "talked about what they envision doing there if they pursue the site," Daley said. He declined to name them.

"Until we know more, we're not really going to go into details," Daley said on Friday. "No one has signed on the dotted line."

Right now, Daley said there is no access to the site, except for a road through the airport. Infrastructure improvements were what caused the $140 million mall project's failure four years ago. At the time, then-Mayor Michael R. Boulanger said the city could not afford the infrastructure, and was canceling its terms of agreement for the project. The city's cost had ballooned to $25 million. There was a plan to construct a road and bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike to get to the site.

To get to the site, Daley said access would have to be either off the turnpike, or across the turnpike via a bridge.

Daley said Mayor Daniel M. Knapik does not want "a slots in a box" facility in the city, and would want to see a resort casino with entertainment that would be beneficial to the entire city.

The property is owned by Westfield 1 LLC, Owens Road LLC and Billerica Realty Associates Limited Partnership of Needham. Three individuals affiliated with the company, Deborah E. Shalom, Richard D. Gass and Jon R. Levine, each did not return a call for comment.

Which casino operators that are interested in the property remain to be seen.

MGM Resorts International of Las Vegas recently backed out of its proposal for a resort casino on 150 acres in Brimfield, citing infrastructure issues. A spokesperson for MGM said the company is continuing to look for a new site in Western Massachusetts, but is not ready to announce anything.

Hard Rock International of Florida, in partnership with Paper City Development, have targeted Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke for a resort casino, but Mayor Alex B. Morse has been blunt in opposing a gaming resort. Anthony Cignoli, a partner with Paper City Development, said they still have an option on the Wyckoff property. Cignoli had no comment regarding the Westfield site.

Another player in the mix is Penn National Gaming of Pennsylvania. Eric Schippers, spokesman for Penn National, said the company continues to focus on Springfield for a resort casino, and will select a final site soon.

"We're looking at a lot of potential sites in the city . . . We're kicking a lot of tires and want to get this right. It's going to be a site that has community support," Schippers said.

Only one casino license will be awarded in Western Massachusetts.

Mohegan Sun of Connecticut wants to build a resort casino across from Massachusetts Turnpike exit 8 in Palmer, and Ameristar Casinos of Las Vegas in January closed on the purchase of the former Westinghouse site off Page Boulevard in Springfield for $16 million for a casino.

In a smoky stairwell, with embers falling from the ceiling and his neighbor slung over his shoulder, Booker called it his "proverbial come to Jesus moment."

Associated PressNewark Mayor Cory Booker, second right, has a bandaged right hand in front of a home in Newark, N.J., Friday, April 13, 2012, as he describes the scene Thursday when he rescued a woman from her burning home. Booker said Friday he feared for his life as he helped rescue a neighbor from a fire before firefighters arrived. He described how he returned home Thursday night and saw his neighbor's home engulfed in flames. The woman Booker helped save is in stable condition. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

By SAMANTHA HENRY

NEWARK, N.J. — In a smoky stairwell, with embers falling from the ceiling and his neighbor slung over his shoulder, Cory Booker called it his "proverbial come to Jesus moment."

The mayor of New Jersey's largest city was carrying out a constituent he had rushed into a burning home to save, first pushing aside his security detail who tried to hold him back by his belt. He didn't feel like a hero: "I felt terror," he told reporters on Friday, holding a children's fire safety video with his burned, bandaged right hand.

The 42-year-old mayor, who has dug out snowbound residents in a blizzard, lived in a rundown housing project to make a point and tagged along on police patrols to lecture drug dealers, took on a new status Friday: the politician who can do almost anything.

Thousands took to Twitter, calling Booker Superman and inviting him to solve the North Korean missile crisis or run for president. The governor called it a "brave move" and the fire director said the mayor was one of the most heroic men he'd ever met.

Booker, standing in front of the boarded-up home Friday, said, "I did what any neighbor would do — help a neighbor."

He ended up with second-degree burns and smoke inhalation after he brought out Zina Hodge, 47, from her smoky bedroom in the home next to his in a rough neighborhood of brick homes, storefront churches and small bodegas. He was coughing heavily after the rescue late Thursday.

Booker rushed into the burning home shortly after returning from taping a television appearance on Thursday, after Hodge's mother screamed that her daughter was trapped. Following her faint calls of; "I'm here, I'm here. Help! I'm here," Booker lifted her from her bed and carried her on his shoulders through the burning kitchen, where flames had rolled over the roof and back down the wall.

He nearly panicked in the stairwell, where Newark Det. Alex Rodriguez was helping him bring Hodge out. He couldn't see through the smoke.

"That was the moment I had a conversation with God," Booker said. "I really didn't think we were going to get out of there."

Hodge was listed in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of the burn center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Fire officials said she had suffered second-degree burns to her back and neck and smoke inhalation.

Hodge's mother, Jacqualine Williams, called the second-term mayor "a super mayor" who should become president.

Booker — a former All-American football player at Stanford — downplayed his actions and said he's no hero.

"I didn't feel bravery, I felt terror," he said. "I couldn't breathe. It was a moment I felt very religious, let me put it that way."

Even critics of the mayor, some who refer to him as "Story Booker" for what they call a history of courting publicity to boost his national image while ignoring problems in the impoverished city, offered grudging praise.

"I commend the mayor for what he's done, but the people in this city need jobs," said Joanne Miller, who lives in Booker's neighborhood. "That's the real kind of hero we need in this city."

As mayor, Booker has been known to ride along with police on late-night patrols, once even chasing down a robbery suspect. The Peabody award-winning Sundance Channel series "Brick City" documented his efforts to decrease the city's crime rate and tackle ongoing financial problems. Profiles have appeared in Time magazine and Esquire. He's even shoveled out resident's cars during a blizzard that snarled his city and the rest of the Northeast in 2010.

As a city councilman, he spent months living in a trailer parked on some of the city's most drug-infested corners, and publicly fasted for 10 days outside a violent housing project. He lived in another tenement for years to call attention to blight; it has since been shut down.

Booker, who has attracted names like Oprah Winfrey and the $100 million donation to schools of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has brushed off rumors that he has his eye on higher office. But he set up a federal political action committee, fueling speculation that he might run for governor or the U.S. Senate.

When the mayor arrived at his neighborhood on Thursday, two members of his security detail had already taken several members of the family from the home; Williams was screaming that her daughter was still inside.

The officers tried to keep him from going, but Booker, who is 6-foot-3, and a former All-American tight end from Stanford, was no match for Rodriguez, who is trained to protect him, not fight him.

"It wasn't easy trying to hold him by the belt," Rodriguez, who is considerably shorter and slimmer than Booker. "He was insisting, 'If I don't go in there, this lady is going to die.'"

Rodriguez helped Booker take Hodge down the smoky stairwell and out. Then, "we both just collapsed," the mayor said.

"I had my proverbial come-to-Jesus moment in my life," he said.

Hodge and the mayor were apparently burned as embers fell from the apartment ceiling while Booker was carrying her. The officials said the fire likely started in the kitchen.

A prolific social media user, Booker tweeted late Thursday and early Friday that he was fine and thanked his followers for their well-wishes. "I will b ok," he wrote.

The Twitter-sphere was blowing up Friday with thousands of tweets from Booker's million-plus Twitter followers about the rescue. Hundreds of tweets were being posted every few minutes throughout the day Friday on (hash)CoryBookerStories, one of several new hashtags created to celebrate Booker's heroics. Even Gov. Chris Christie tweeted, wishing Booker a speedy recovery and adding; "Brave move, Mr. Mayor."

Booker himself tweeted that he seen the hashtag, but cautioned: "Grateful to (hash)CoryBookerStories 4 bringing smiles, fire safety, however, is a serious matter," and linked to tips on the U.S. Fire Administration's website.

"I really feel thankful to God," he said on Friday. "I feel a sense of gratitude today, to God, that I'm here."

The filmmaker, Jason Russell, makes the point that, through Facebook and other social media, ordinary people can rise up and, by dint of sheer numbers, stop people like Joseph Koma, who kidnaps African children and turns them into child soldiers.

SOUTH HADLEY – About 160 young people from high schools across Western Massachusetts met at South Hadley High School on Wednesday for a convention of the Western Massachusetts Association of Student Councils.

The youths attended workshops promoting leadership, teamwork and community. They also viewed and discussed an activist film that has gone viral on YouTube.

The film, “Invisible Children,” was chosen because it is “so popular in the youth community,” said Juliette Chenier 18. Chenier and Sophie Weinstein, 18, are co-presidents of the South Hadley Student Council. For anyone who uses Facebook.com, said Chenier, “Invisible Children” is hard to avoid.

The film is about child soldiers in Africa. It focuses on the reign of terror of Joseph Koma, leader of a rebel army from northern Uganda, who has kidnapped thousands of African children and turned them into sex slaves and child soldiers.

The filmmaker, Jason Russell, makes the point that, through Facebook and other social media, ordinary people can rise up and, by dint of sheer numbers, stop people like Koma.

The film also shows Russell and his team pressing legislators into the cause and getting support from Hollywood celebrities. They were elated when President Obama has sent 100 advisors to Uganda in October.

One of Russell's strategies is to organize a "Cover the Night" event on April 20. The idea is to plaster images of Koma all over the world, making it hard for him to elude capture.

The "Invisible Children" phenomenon has not been without controversy. Some have called it “naive” and pro-war.” Credibility also suffered when Russell had a public breakdown in mid-March. His associate Margie Dillenberg, whose keynote address included the showing of the film, said he was "recovering."

At the South Hadley convention, young viewers welcomed the chance to see the film – even if they had seen it before.

“We’re the leaders of tomorrow,” said Samuel Guiod, 16, of Greenfield High School. “If we don’t care about this now, when do we?”

“It made me really want to do something to light up the night,” said Timothy LeBlanc, 17, of Mahar Regional High School in Orange. “You can’t let things like this go by.”

His classmate Carly Mongeau, 17, said she planned to do more research on the topic. “It’s important to start young, so you will have a background when you get older,” she said.

Nashley (“Nacho”) Ortiz, 17, of Dean Technical School in Holyoke said she was “really pumped” to watch the film with other young people who care.

“It was really moving and emotional,” said Cailan McClure, 14, of Ware High School. “We focus on ourselves in this country, but it’s important to know about the rest of the world.”

“It had a really big impact on me,” said Sarah Johnston of Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham.

Other student council members came from East Longmeadow High School, Westfield Vocational School and Minnechaug, Mohawk Trail and Mount Greylock Regional High Schools.

In an unusually early and strong warning, national weather forecasters cautioned that conditions are ripe for violent tornadoes to rip through the nation from Texas to Minnesota this weekend.

View full sizeAssociated PressThis graphic provided Friday, April 13, 2012, by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center shows a high risk of severe weather in portions of Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday, April 14. According to forecasters, there is a 60 percent chance of tornadoes, high wind and hail within 25 miles of a point in an area from Salina, Kan., to Oklahoma City. Also, in the area marked with dashed lines, there is a 10 percent or greater chance that storms within 25 miles of a point could be significant. That region stretches from near Omaha, Neb., to west of Dallas. (AP Photo/NOAA)

By SEAN MURPHY

OKLAHOMA CITY — In an unusually early and strong warning, national weather forecasters cautioned Friday that conditions are ripe for violent tornadoes to rip through the nation from Texas to Minnesota this weekend.

As states across the middle of the country prepared for the worst, storms were already kicking off in Norman, Okla., where a twister whizzed by the nation's tornado forecasting headquarters but caused little damage.

It was only the second time in U.S. history that the Storm Prediction Center issued a high-risk warning more than 24 hours in advance, said Russ Schneider, director of the center, which is part of the National Weather Service. The first time was in April 2006, when nearly 100 tornadoes tore across the southeastern U.S., killing a dozen people and damaging more than 1,000 homes in Tennessee.

This weekend's outbreak could be a "high-end, life threatening event," the center said.

The strongly worded message came after the National Weather Service announced last month that it would start using terms like "mass devastation," ''unsurvivable" and "catastrophic" in warnings in an effort to get more people to take heed. It said it would test the new warnings in Kansas and Missouri before deciding whether to expand them to other parts of the country.

Friday's warning, despite the dire language, was not part of that effort but just the most accurate way to describe what was expected, a weather service spokeswoman said.

It's possible to issue earlier warnings because improvements in storm modeling and technology are letting forecasters predict storms earlier and with greater confidence, said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. In the past, people often have had only minutes of warning when a siren went off.

"We're quite sure tomorrow will be a very busy and dangerous day in terms of large swathes of central and southern plains," Vaccaro said. "The ingredients are coming together."

The worst weather is expected to develop late Saturday afternoon between Oklahoma City and Salina, Kan., but other areas also could see severe storms with baseball-sized hail and winds of up to 70 mph, forecasters said. The warning issued Friday covers parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

The weather service confirmed a tornado touched down about 4 p.m. Friday near the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, where it is based. Non-essential personnel at the storm center and students were ordered to take shelter, officials said.

Video from television helicopters showed several buildings damaged in the city of about 100,000 about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, but Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said there were no reports of serious injuries.

"This is just a fraction of what's to come tomorrow," Vaccaro warned.

Storms were developing as cold air from the west hit low-level moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. The difference in wind direction and speed was creating instability in the atmosphere that can spawn tornadoes, said Scott Curl, another weather service meteorologist.

Emergency management officials in Kansas and Oklahoma warned residents to stay updated on weather developments and create a plan for where they and their families would go if a tornado developed.

"We know it's a Saturday and that people are going to be out and about, so stay weather aware," Cain said. "Have your cell phone on you, keep it charged and make sure you're checking the weather throughout the day so you don't get caught off guard."

People also should put together an emergency preparedness kit that includes a pair of boots, rain gear, flashlight, battery-operated radio, first-aid kit and a few days' supply of food and water.

"It seems like it's kind of a big deal this time," said Monte Evans, a 42-year-old middle school teacher in Wichita, Kan., who said he planned to keep a close eye on the weather and take shelter in his basement with his wife and four children, ages six to 11, if tornadoes hit. "But they always say it's coming and then ends up somewhere else. You just do the best you can and get ready if it happens."

Medical officials in Oklahoma warned residents not to seek shelter at hospitals or other public buildings, but rather to stay inside their homes in a basement or interior closet.

During a tornado outbreak last spring, hundreds of residents packed Oklahoma City hospitals seeking shelter from a violent series of twisters that killed seven people in Oklahoma and Kansas.

"We had people actually lining the halls," said Michael Murphy of the Emergency Medical Services Authority. "Had we experienced a mass casualty incident, it really could have placed a strain on our resources."

Each home will cost $150,000, with about 75 percent of the funding already pledged by the charity’s sponsors.

SPRINGFIELD – Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity announced plans Friday to build four new homes in one week for families displaced by the June 1 tornado.

Marking the first anniversary of the storm, the building blitz will begin June 1 and conclude on June 8. The homes will be on Mill, Leitch, Clayton and Quincy, Habitat’s board president Robert Perry announced at a news conference at the Quincy Street site.

Perry said the local chapter of the international home-building charity was frustrated that it could not help victims in the aftermath of the tornado that killed four and damaged or destroyed building from Westfield to Charlton.

“We’re not first responders, we’re not rebuilders,” Perry said, adding that building homes was Habitat’s way of helping storm victims’ long-term housing needs.

Each home will cost $150,000, with about 75 percent of the funding already pledged by the charity’s sponsors – Babson Capital, TNT General Contracting, Catuogno Court Reporting, Vartanian Cabinetry, Lane Construction, and National Stabilization Project Funds.

Habitat volunteers working on the project will get help from the Habitat affiliate in Guatemala, where the Greater Springfield chapter built homes in 2011, said Jennifer Schimmel, the local chapter’s executive director.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, city Housing Director Geraldine McCafferty, City Councilor Bud Williams joined Habitat for the event, along with representatives of the sponsoring groups.

Sarno said the four-home campaign demonstrated the crucial role that Habitat plays in helping needy families in Springfield and beyond.

“This epitomizes what Habitat is all about – helping out and giving back,” Sarno said before the participants grabbed shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

Habitat officials said anyone interested applying for one of the homes should contact the agency at 104 Memorial Ave., West Springfield or through its website at www.habitatspringfield.org.

On trial in New York, Fusco faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the murders of Bruno and Gary Westerman.

Updates a story posted Friday at 3:01 p.m.

NEW YORK — Jurors in an upcoming mob murder trial will hear details about Longmeadow loan shark Emilio Fusco's rise in the Springfield faction of New York's Genovese crime family, including his longstanding desire to kill rival Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, according to prosecutors.

Emilio Fusco

Jury selection in Fusco's case will begin in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, one year after three co-defendants were tried and convicted on parallel charges. Fusco earned a year-long reprieve after he fled to his native Italy, prosecutors contend, to escape the repercussions of an FBI investigation into the 2003 murders of Bruno, Fusco's then-crime boss, and police informant Gary D. Westerman.

Fusco is charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion and other crimes. He has denied any involvement in the murders and has argued he traveled to Italy on routine family business, not to escape prosecution.

Bruno and Westerman were killed in what federal prosecutors have called an "epic spasm" of violence in Greater Springfield spearheaded by a group of upstart gangsters looking to usurp power from Bruno, a longtime fixture in organized crime in Western Massachusetts. Fusco is accused of winning permission from New York crime bosses to kill Bruno by producing a reference in a court document stating that Bruno had discussed Fusco's standing in the Genovese family with an FBI agent in 2002, then furnishing a hitman with the .45-caliber gun used to kill Bruno.

Government witness Anthony J. Arillotta, Bruno's young successor before turning informant in 2010, led the charge against Bruno and Westerman, who disappeared in 2003. Also Arillotta's brother-in-law, Westerman was regarded as a slippery thug who had secretly cozied up to police. Arillotta testified in the previous trial that he and Fusco were among four who had lured Westerman to a property in Agawam under the guise of a home invasion, then shot and bludgeoned him to death before burying him in a wooded lot behind the house.

Westerman's remains were not unearthed until 2010; Arillotta led investigators there after he was arrested in the Bruno case. His testimony was critical in the trial of Fusco's co-defendants: Fotios "Freddy" Geas, Ty Geas, both formerly of West Springfield, and Arthur "Artie" Nigro, the former New York crime boss who sanctioned the Bruno hit. The Geas brothers were once Arillotta's enforcers who bolstered Arillotta's bid for the top spot in Springfield's underworld, central to every violent plot Arillotta hatched. They and Nigro are serving life prison sentences.

Arillotta is expected to be among the earliest witnesses in Fusco's trial, federal prosecutors told U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel during a final pretrial hearing on Friday.

During the hearing, lawyers on both sides of the case wrangled over the breadth of evidence jurors will hear over what is expected to be a two-week trial. Fusco's defense lawyer, Richard B. Lind, attempted to restrict testimony about his client's alleged rise in Springfield's organized crime rackets.

According to prosecutors, Fusco was cherry-picked by late crime boss Albert "Baba" Scibelli to be his driver and protege when Fusco emigrated to Springfield from Italy in the early 1990s. Fusco, 43, served as Scibelli's driver in the early years and impressed Scibelli with his brashness and dislike for Bruno, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Goldman.

"Fusco said he wanted to kill Bruno in the mid- to late-1990s. Anthony Arillotta will testify that Baba Scibelli laughed about it but didn't take it seriously. (Scibelli) told him you didn't do that, Bruno was another made member, but it was one of the reasons Scibelli liked Fusco," and ultimately sponsored Fusco to be inducted into the crime family in 2001, Goldman said.

Fusco ultimately realized his goal to take Bruno out in 2003, according to prosecutors, while awaiting sentencing on loan-sharking and illegal gaming charges that year. It was revealed in a pre-sentence report that Bruno had confirmed to Springfield FBI agent Clifford W. Hedges that Fusco had been "made." The agent caught Bruno at a political fund-raiser in 2002 and "squeezed" him for information, according to court records, most of which have not been made public.

The political event and its beneficiary was not detailed in court. But, the interview was memorialized in a two-page FBI report and yielded a reference in Fusco's pre-sentence summary, which Fusco then delivered to New York gangsters as proof Bruno had committed the ultimate sin in organized crime circles: talking to law enforcement officials about the inner workings of the business.

Lind argued to Castel that the government had been cagey about producing Hedges as a witness to expand on the context and other details of the Bruno-Hedges conversation for jurors.

"I'd ask the court to direct the government to make this witness available," Lind said.

Goldman said he had informed Lind that the defense lawyer must submit an affidavit detailing why a government agent should be called to testify.

"He's basically trying to do an end-run around the regulations," Goldman said.

Fusco faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the murders. Goldman told Castel that the parties started tentative, informal plea talks over the winter, but when prosecutors told Lind they would require Fusco to admit to the murders, "it was a non-starter" for Fusco.

Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif, also known as MMI, is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna.

By WILL LESTER

WASHINGTON — The government says a yellowfin tuna product used to make dishes like sushi and sashimi sold at restaurants and grocery stores has been linked with an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened more than 100 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

The Food and Drug Administration reported Friday that 116 illnesses have been reported, including 12 people who have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif, also known as MMI, is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna. It was labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA when it was sold to grocery stores and restaurants and is scraped off the fish bones and looks like a ground product.