A student project at UCLA determined Osama Bin Laden's location in 2009, a 19-year-old W.Va. man high on bath salts was arrested after he was found standing over a dead goat wearing bra & panties, and more headlines.

While the world has been focused on the death of Osama Bin Laden, residents of Alabama are still dealing with the aftermath of tornadoes that killed nearly 300 people. Pictured: A Cadaver dog Chance searches for survivors in the rubble of homes in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, April 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

• UCLA Undergrads Were 80 Percent Sure Where Osama Bin Laden Was Hiding in 2009 [LANews.com]


• Man arrested after being found standing over dead goat, wearing women's underwear [CharlestonDailyMail.com]


• FBI Warns That Fake Bin Laden Video Is a Virus [PCWorld.com]


• Four Western Mass. men implicated in cocaine distribution ring stretching to Texas [GazetteNet.com]






• Who gets bin Laden's $25 million bounty? [CNN.com]


• Five Cops Struggle To Subdue Middletown, Ct. Man, Taze Him 34 Times [Courant.com]


• 67-year-old Mass. man accused of drug dealing [CapeCodTimes.com]






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


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William Crites, 42, of West Springfield was taken into custody by Holyoke police and U.S. Marshals on Tuesday on a warrant charging him with possession of child pornography.

HOLYOKE - William Crites, 42, of 1583 Riverdale St., Apt. D006, West Springfield, was taken into custody by Holyoke police and U.S. Marshals Tuesday for allegedly possessing child pornography.

At about 8:47 p.m., Holyoke police and federal agents approached Crites in the parking lot of the Denny's Restaurant on Northampton Street to execute a search warrant, according to Holyoke police Lt. Manny Febo.

"We assisted with the execution of a federal search warrant of his person and his phone," Febo said. "On his phone, the officers found images of child pornography and he was arrested."

Crites was taken to the Holyoke police station for booking and on Wednesday was expected to be turned over to U.S. Marshals, who will bring him to Federal District Court in Springfield for arraignment.

Police said the suspect was too intoxicated to perform a breathalyzer test,

Jose Rivera

SPRINGFIELD – Police charged a 60-year-old city man with drunken driving for the fourth time after he allegedly hit a pedestrian Monday night in the Forest Park neighborhood.

Jose A. Rivera, of 37 Horace St., who was visibly intoxicated, told police that the pedestrian “just walked in front of his car,” according to a release issued by Springfield police. The accident, near 147 Belmont Ave., was reported shortly before 6:15 p.m.

Rivera told police that he had consumed several vodka drinks. Rivera was arrested and then brought to the state police barracks to perform a breathalyzer test but he was too intoxicated to properly complete the test, according to the release.

The condition of the pedestrian was not immediately available.

Holyoke police arrested Rafael Rodriguez, 19, of 181 chestnut St., Apt. 3, Holyoke, on a slew of gun charges Tuesday night after he ran from police near Summer Street.

Republican file photo

HOLYOKE - Holyoke police arrested city resident Rafael Rodriguez, 19, of 181 Chestnut St., Apt. 3, on a slew of gun charges Wednesday morning after he ran from police near Summer Street.

According to Holyoke Police Lt. Manny Febo, officers Kristen Leary and Stephen Norton were on patrol when they noticed a group of people loitering and trespassing on stairs along Summer Street Tuesday evening.

"This is a high-crime gang area and the officers dispersed the group and advised them not to trespass," Febo said. "A short time later, the officers drove back by and saw the group loitering again."

Febo said that as the officers approached the group this time, Rodriguez took off running and was allegedly seen reaching into his waistband for something.

"The officers saw him throw a pistol and recovered it," Febo said. "It was a 380-caliber semiautomatic pistol and he has a prior gun arrest."

Rodriguez was taken into custody and charged with carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of a pistol without an FID card, resisting arrest and trespassing .

He was held while awaiting arraignment in Holyoke District Court later Wednesday.

Mulveyhill must complete 100 hours of community service, working with underprivileged or at-risk youth.

File photo / The RepublicanSean Mulveyhill, at a September 2010 court appearance.

NORTHAMPTON - Sean Mulveyhill, one of six teens charged in connection with the bullying-related suicide of South Hadley High School freshman Phoebe Prince, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment in Hampshire Superior Court this morning.

Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder accepted the recommendation to the court and sentenced Mulveyhill, 18, to one year of probation, with several provisions:

• He is to have no contact with Prince's family, without their consent.


• He must complete 100 hours of community service, working with underprivileged or at-risk youth.


• He must complete his GED.


• He may not financially profit in any way from his role in the case.

Mulveyhill was arraigned in April 2010 on charges of statutory rape, violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly. The criminal harassment charge carried a maximum penalty of 2 1/2 years in a house of corrections or a $1,000 fine.

Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, was present for the proceedings, and offered a tearful victim impact statement. O'Brien said she had trusted Mulveyhill to care for and guide her daughter as a new student at South Hadley High School.

"Had I known the truth, I would have viewed his interest in my daughter as predatory," she said.

In her attempt to "measure a future loss," O'Brien described her family's treasured vacations to France: trips filled with games of tennis, and Phoebe going from stall to stall at markets practicing her French. O'Brien said she has not returned to France since her daughter's death, saying the country is "[n]ow a place of the ghosts of laughter and love lost."

Kinder was also provided with impact statement's from Phoebe's sister and from her father, Jeremy Prince. The judge read the statements silently at the bench. Copies were not made available to the media.

Mulveyhill was represented in court by Springfield lawyers Vincent Biongiorni and Frank E. Flannery.

Representing the Commonwealth was Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, who said the agreement was reached "with the informed consent and support of Phoebe Prince's family."

Another defendant, Kayla Narey, is scheduled to appear in court at 10:30 a.m. today.

Three more defendants are due in court on Thursday.

Sharon Velazquez is scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. Ashley Longe and Flannery Mullins will appear in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court at 2 p.m. for what will likely be a resolution of the charges against them.

The five teens -- all former South Hadley High School Students -- were charged in the wake of the Jan. 2010 suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince. Former Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel, who filed the charges, said the teens had subjected Prince to an extended campaign of bullying. Prince was in her first year at the high school after her family moved here from Ireland.

A sixth defendant, Austin Renaud, still faces a count of statutory rape for allegedly having sex with Prince -- a charge he has denied. He is not accused of harassing Prince. A pretrial conference in his case is scheduled for July 6.

This is a developing story; it will be updated as our reporting continues.

Some social conservatives testified at a confirmation hearing that Lenk might bring a pro-gay rights political agenda to the high court.

File photo by Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston GlobeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court nominee Barbara Lenk, center, listens to testimony during a confirmation hearing at the Statehouse in Boston, last week. If confirmed by the eight-member Governor's Council, Lenk, a state Appeals Court judge would be the first openly gay member of the high court.

BOSTON – Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s nomination of Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Barbara Lenk for a seat on the state’s highest court is set for a vote by the Governor’s Council.

The council, which votes on all judicial nominations, is expected to decide on Wednesday whether to confirm Lenk.

If confirmed, Lenk would be the first openly gay justice on the Supreme Judicial Court.

Some councilors have criticized Patrick for referring to Lenk’s sexual orientation while announcing the nomination last month. But the governor has said Lenk was chosen for her qualifications and experience.

She has served on the superior and appellate courts.

Some social conservatives testified at a confirmation hearing last week that Lenk might bring a pro-gay rights political agenda to the high court.

Lenk said as a judge her only allegiance was the rule of law.

More details coming in on MassLive and in The Republican.

Investigators have yet to name the cause of fire which broke out at 170 River Road on Saturday night.

West Springfield, 5/1/11, Staff Photto by David Molnar -- The West Springfield Fire Department and the State Fire Marshall on the scene of a fatal fire on river St.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Fire officials have identified the man who lost his life in an apartment complex fire on River Street Saturday night as 27-year-old Mikhail Kaprynin.

Investigators have yet to name the cause of the blaze which left 23 families without a home. It broke out at 170 River St., shortly before 11:30 p.m.

Fire Chief William Flaherty said the victim helped his wife out of the apartment and then, for some unknown reason, ran back into the burning building.

Flaherty said many people don’t realize just how quickly a fire can spread. “Once you are out you want to stay out,” he said.

Kaprynin lived with his wife in Apt. 5 which was on the building’s third floor. Flaherty said the fire started in a bedroom in the second floor apartment immediately below.

A woman who lived in that bedroom was taken to a hospital where she was treated for smoke inhalation.

It took firefighters more than ten hours to put out the blaze and Flaherty said the complex is a total loss.

The deadly fire is part of an unusually busy stretch of fires for Western Massachusetts that is quickly exhausting the resources of the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter.

Paige Thayer, deputy director of chapter support, said the cost of providing local disaster relief for the River Street fire alone, which took a man’s life, will exceed $23,000.

Thayer said the 36 people who were displaced have been provided with relief services, including food, shelter and clothing assistance.The chapter, which provides coverage in the Pioneer Valley from the Connecticut state line to the Vermont state line, is on track to exceed the $125,000 budgeted this fiscal year for local disaster relief, Thayer said.

The chapter has provided food and clothing, meanwhile, to two families who were displaced by a fire that broke out in a home early Tuesday morning at 493 King’s Highway. No injuries were reported in that blaze.

The following are ways to help Western Massachusetts’ American Red Cross Chapters. Donations should be designated for local disaster relief. Pioneer Valley Chapter, 506 Cottage St., Springfield, 01104. Phone is (413) 737-4306.

Donations can also be made online at www.redcrosspioneervalley.org.

Also: Greater Westfield Chapter, 48, Broad St., Westfield, 01085. Phone is (413) 562-9684. Donations can be made online at www.redcrossgreaterwestfield.org.

The senior center will be built with a combination of private, city and federal funds.

Republican file photoThis is one of the former Facemate buildings which will be razed to make way for a new Senior Center.

CHICOPEE – The City Council approved the final funding needed to build a new Senior Center Tuesday night.

The 12-0 vote will allow the city to borrow up to $4 million to construct the building on the former Facemate property located off West Main Street. The Council had previously approved borrowing another $5 million in federal grant money to fund the rest of the project.

After the vote, Sandra Lapollo, executive director of the Council on Aging and the senior center, said she was delighted with the decision.

“It is key to this project to move forward to get an appropriate building for older adults in this city,” she said.

The vote will allow the Friends of the Senior Center to kick off the next phase of its fund raising efforts. The group has already earned about $475,000, Lapollo said.

Some City Councilors said their concerns about building a new center were based on being able to afford the estimated $6 and $8 million construction cost. Another about $2 million is needed to raze some of the vacant industrial buildings and clean up any hazardous waste on the site.

“I would support it. Creative funding is the issue here,” Councilor Charles M. Swider said.

But Swider said he still has concerns about the increased costs for operating expenses when the new, larger senior center is built.

There are three sources of funding for the center construction. The city will borrow up to $4 million, the Friends of the Senior Center has agreed to raise $2 million toward the building and the city will borrow $5 million from the federal government and pay that money over 20 years using some of the annual federal Community Development Block Grant funds it receives.

The city receives about $1.4 million annually from the federal entitlement program that is designed to assist anti-poverty agencies and improve neighborhoods with a large number of low-income residents.

“I’ve never been against a new senior center. It does tie up Community Development Block Grant money for 20 years,” City Councilor John L. Vieau said.

His concern about using the former industrial site for the center had been assuaged by engineers who assured any contamination can be cleaned before the center is built.

For some City Councilors, the promise of being able to clean up part of the 72-acre property, which also houses more than a dozen buildings from the former Uniroyal Company, is a big benefit.

“That property will be cleaned up with this arrangement,” City Councilor Robert J. Zygarowski said.

Of the $5 million being borrowed through the federal block grant program, $2 million will be used to raze some of the buildings and clean the property. The remaining $3 million will go to the construction of the center.

“The most important thing is we are voting in favor to get this property cleared,” Councilor George R. Moreau added.

Town Manager John Musante said he met with potential planning candidates before making a recommendation.

Amherst Town Hall

AMHERST - The Select Board approved Town Manager John P. Musante’s recommendation to appoint a former town planner to the town’s Planning Board.

Musante said he made the recommendation even after receiving a petition signed by about 100 town residents asking him to appoint former member Denise-Renee Barberet to the position.

Barberet served one term but was not reappointed by former manager Laurence R. Shaffer to a second term as is the custom.

Musante said he met with Barberet and “with other potential candidates.”

When it came time to make a decision though he said he felt it “we would be most effective and most valuable” to the town to appoint Connie Kruger to the board instead.

In his memo to the board, Musante wrote that Kruger “ brings to the Planning Board over 25 years of professional planning experience in a variety of state and local positions and is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners.”

She was a senior planner with the town from 2002 to 2010, and was senior program manager for the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a quasi-public state agency that works with state government and with business, civic and community leaders to increase the supply of affordable housing across the state. She was also a former member of the Board of Assessors.

“I am particularly impressed by Ms. Kruger’s judgment, temperament, and commitment to social justice. I believe Ms. Kruger will be an effective and independent contributor to the Planning Board,” he wrote.

The Select Board vote was unanimous. Kruger will serve until June 30, 2013.

Barberet thinks she was passed over because she offered differing opinions.

She feels that there is a bias in the planning department and on the board toward developers to the exclusion sometimes of voices from the neighborhoods. She felt she represented those people who are not heard. She said at "I think it’s important to have many different points of view” on the board.

She also presented minority reports to town meeting, something that she felt was necessary.

The fire was reported shortly before 3:30 a.m. at 493 Kings Highway.

May 4, 2011 - West Springfield - Republican staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - House fire aftermath at 493 Kings Highway Wednesday morning.

This updates a story originally posted at 6 a.m.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Careless disposal of smoking materials was the cause of a blaze that displaced five people from a Kings Highway duplex early Wednesday.

No injuries were reported in the blaze, reported shortly before 3:30 a.m. at 493 Kings Highway. A cat perished in the blaze, Fire Chief William Flaherty said.

“The first floor tenant heard the smoke detector going off and he went up and alerted the second floor tenant, Flaherty said.

All five people - two families - were out of the building before firefighters arrived on scene, Flaherty said.

The fire broke out in a second floor porch and extended into the kitchen and roof areas. There is also smoke and water damage on both the first and second floors, Flaherty said.

Damage to the property is estimated at about $150,000, Flaherty said.

The American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter, which has been taxed of late by an unusually large number of building fires in Western Massachusetts, is providing those displaced in the Kings Highway fire with food and clothing.

“They think they have a place to stay,” said Paige Thayer, deputy director of chapter support.

The school budget represents an increase of about $1.2 million over current school funding.

Kevin J. Sullivan

WESTFIELD – Acknowledging that it is not yet complete, the School Committee this week forwarded a request for $52.4 million to operate city schools for fiscal 2012 to Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and the City Council for approval.

The amount represents an increase of 2.3 percent or about $1.2 million above current funding levels. It provides for no staff cuts or reduction in programs and services to students.

“We know this is still a liquid budget but we are trying to get it to the council for review earlier then in recent years,” School Committee finance chairman Kevin J. Sullivan said.

“We still need to make some adjustments and we know the budget will come back to us at some point before final adoption,” he said.

Sullivan was referring to a need to trim some $317,000 from spending to balance the budget for the new year that begins July 1.

The school amount will be included in the city’s overall Fiscal 2012 budget that Knapik will present to the City Council Thursday night.

He has declined specific comment on the budget amount for the new year but indicted this week that it, like the school request, will not reflect staff cuts or any sizable reduction in municipal services.

The city’s current $117 million budget forced staff concessions in the form on employee furloughs that ranged from one to three days for various employee groups, including the School Department.

Knapik said Monday night “this will be the first time in at least 10 years that the requested city budget will go to the council this early.”

“There are a lot of things in flux,” the mayor said referring to confusion over state funding. “But, I am confident things cannot get worse then the present House budget for the new year.”

The Massachusetts House of Representatives last week voted to approve a $30.4 billion FY12 budget.

Westfield schools anticipate a $173,792 increase in state education aid, Chapter 70 funding during the new year. Currently the School Department receives $32.4 million in Chapter 70 funding.

The city anticipates receiving about $4.9 million in unrestricted state aid for the new year, down about $500,000 from this year.

Knapik said he will use a portion of the city’s estimated $8 million in reserve funding to offset next year’s budget needs.

Team members' names won't be released for their personal safety.

Associated PressAn Army-Navy store owner displays a U.S. Navy Seal Team Six patch. Seal Team Six carried out the mission to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

SAN DIEGO — The highly secretive Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden will likely be honored in the only way such a covert group can be: in private with nobody but themselves and their commanders in the know.

Quietly recognizing heroic actions for clandestine operations is not new in the military. Some service members wear war decorations but refuse to talk about how they earned them. Others stash away their medals, either because they've been ordered to hide them or they have chosen to for their own security.

And there are those heroes who have never lived to see a medal, their families sworn to secrecy until they were honored posthumously. For the elite few who dropped from the sky into the walled compound in Pakistan, they must carry on without breathing a word about their participation in Sunday's spectacular raid that eliminated the world's most-wanted terrorist.

It is a secret that surely must burn in their souls, but military officials say they have no doubt it will be kept. The stakes are too high.

The Navy still hasn't confirmed its SEALs carried out the much-lauded, 40-minute operation. But privately, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, at Naval Special Warfare Command in California, sent an email congratulating his forces and reminding them to keep quiet because "the fight is not over."

Winters is the chief of the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU," which is made up of only a few hundred personnel based in Dam Neck, Va. They call themselves "the quiet professionals."

Team members' names won't be released for their personal safety, Naval Special Warfare Command spokesman John Scorza said.

"I can understand the conundrum that commanders are in about how much can you tell," said defense analyst Paul Giarra, a retired U.S. naval officer. "Because it's news that's good for morale and it also makes it clear to al-Qaida that they're losing. That's important. They need to know they're losing."

Revealing too much, on the other hand, can give the upper hand to groups like al-Qaida, Giarra said.

Gauging how much to tell is a growing challenge as military special operation groups increasingly work side by side with the intelligence community, like the SEALs and CIA did Sunday. There are benefits to touting such fantastic successes, something the U.S. government has long seized upon: President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Marines photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima to come home and be identified so they could use interest in the picture to raise billions of dollars in war bonds.

President Barack Obama's ratings went up after the announcement of bin Laden's death, as did donations for the Virginia-based Navy SEAL Foundation, which helps the families of SEALs.

Other details of the raid that emerged Tuesday — including that Navy SEALs handcuffed those they encountered in the compound with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target, code-named Geronimo — could boost the public image of a force, whose raids have not always gone as planned. In a 2008 raid, the intended targets at a compound in Pakistan fled and instead a number of civilians were killed.

Sunday's raid was nearly textbook perfect, and officials say its participants will likely receive some of the military's highest medals. As military personnel, they are not eligible for the $25 million reward that was offered for hunting down bin Laden.

First, the Navy would have to confirm who did what exactly, and then a letter outlining their achievements would be written. Usually, the immediate commanding officer presents the honor. The entire process could take months, and would be meticulously carried out to ensure the names of those involved are not revealed, officials say.

In other cases, the government has chosen not to honor service members of covert operations until the mission has been declassified.

Last year, Obama posthumously recognized Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. "Dick" Etchberger for his courage under fire in 1968 during a mission on a remote Laotian mountain that was kept secret for decades because the U.S. wasn't supposed to have troops in the officially neutral Southeast Asian country. Etchberger was awarded the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, after the government declassified his mission.

Sunday's raid was one of a countless number that U.S. special operation forces have carried out in their pursuit of terrorists from Africa to the Middle East. While the SEALs were applauded for bin Laden's death, they've also been told their mission is not over.

The SEALs involved in Sunday's mission were back in the U.S. at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for debriefing on the raid, lawmakers said after meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Craig Sawyer, a former Navy SEAL, speculated the team will likely be invited to the White House to meet the president and attend a private, small ceremony acknowledging their grand achievement.

"The operators of their unit and they themselves will know about it, but nobody else will," he said. "That's just the nature of the business."

Many Americans, like Omar Quintero, a San Diego contractor, said it's a shame the nation cannot give them the thanks they deserve.

"It would be very exciting to see who they are," the 34-year-old father of two said. "Then we could treat them like celebrities. The guy who killed him (bin Laden) would be like our Superman."

Narey offered an apology to Prince's family during the proceedings.

An updated version of this story is now available at MassLive.com.

Pool photo by Gordon Daniels / Daily Hampshire GazetteKayla Narey appears in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton Wednesday.

FOLLOW RECENT UPDATES

• Phoebe Prince case defendant Sean Mulveyhill pleads guilty to criminal harassment; other charges dropped

• Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan to hold press conference on Phoebe Prince cases Thursday

• More stories »

NORTHAMPTON - Kayla Narey, one of six teens charged in connection with the bullying-related suicide of South Hadley High School freshman Phoebe Prince, admitted to facts sufficient for a guilty finding on a misdemeanor criminal harassment charge in Hampshire Superior Court this morning.

As a result of the agreement, which Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder accepted, Narey's charge will be continued without a finding for one year, pending her completion of a probationary term. Her additional charges of civil rights resulting in bodily injury and disturbance of a school assembly were dropped. The conditions of her probation are:

• She is to have no contact with Prince's family, without their consent.
• She must complete 100 hours of community service, working with underprivileged or at-risk youth.
• She may not financially profit in any way from her role in the case.

Narey, 18, of South Hadley, was represented by attorney Michael Jennings.

Reading from a prepared statement, Narey apologized to both Phoebe Prince and her family during the proceedings.

Referring to her behavior as "unacceptable," Narey said, "I am immensely ashamed of myself."

She added: "Phoebe, I wish we could go back to December 10th and 11th of 2009, when you bravely apologized to me. It was my hurt, anger and jealousy that caused my attitude to change after Christmas vacation. That was when I had the chance to be the person I was raised to be. I failed."

Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, delivered a victim impact statement tailored to Narey's alleged role in her daughter's death.

"Kayla had the opportunity to be a true leader of her school community, and put an end to Phoebe's torment," she said.

Instead, O'Brien told the court, "Kayla Narey is not capable of compassion."

When judge Kinder asked O'Brien if she supports the joint recommendation being made by the prosecution and defense, a long pause followed.

"Yes, your honor," O'Brien ultimately said.

Steven Gagne's Statement in Prince Case 5411

Pool photo by Gordon Daniels / Daily Hampshire GazetteSean Mulveyhill is seen in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment.

In earlier proceedings Wednesday, Sean Mulveyhill pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment in Hampshire Superior Court this morning.

Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder accepted the recommendation to the court and sentenced Mulveyhill, 18, to one year of probation, with several provisions -- including a requirement to complete 100 hours of community service and an agreement that he may not profit financially from his role in the case.

Three more defendants are due in court on Thursday.

Sharon Velazquez is scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. Ashley Longe and Flannery Mullins will appear in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court at 2 p.m. for what will likely be a resolution of the charges against them.

The five teens -- all former South Hadley High School Students -- were charged in the wake of the Jan. 2010 suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince. Former Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel, who filed the charges, said the teens had subjected Prince to an extended campaign of bullying. Prince was in her first year at the high school after her family moved here from Ireland.

A sixth defendant, Austin Renaud, still faces a count of statutory rape for allegedly having sex with Prince -- a charge he has denied. He is not accused of harassing Prince. A pretrial conference in his case is scheduled for July 6.

Staff writer Fred Contrada and assistant online editor Greg Saulmon contributed to this report. This is a developing story; it will be updated as our reporting continues.

A spokesman says the former president appreciated the offer.

Associated PressThe National September 11 Memorial and Museum, center, is under construction, Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at the World Trade Center site in New York. President Barack Obama will meet at the memorial Thursday with families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, following the death of Osama bin Laden on Sunday in Pakistan. The memorial is scheduled to open to the public in time for the tenth anniversary to be held Sept. 11, 2011. The tower under construction, top left, is 4 World Trade Center.

WASHINGTON— A spokesman for George W. Bush says the former president has declined an invitation from President Barack Obama to attend an observance at New York's ground zero.

Obama plans to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers Thursday in the aftermath of a Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The al-Qaida attack, which killed about 3,000 people, occurred in the early months of Bush's presidency in 2001.

The spokesman, David Sherzer, says the former president appreciated the offer to attend but has chosen to remain out of the spotlight during his post-presidency.

Sherzer says Bush celebrates bin Laden's death as an "important victory in the war on terror."

The emergence of new technology for electric cars makes the subject even more appealing to Shulman.

Thomas Alva Edison with an early model of his light bulb.

NORTHAMPTON – The race is on to come up with a battery that will make the electric automobile a viable alternative to gas guzzlers, and Seth Shulman is chronicling it. The Northampton journalist and author has a lot of archives to pour through. The race he’s writing about took place a century ago between Thomas Alva Edison and Henry Ford.

Shulman, who writes about science and technology, got a recent boost on his current project when he was awarded a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The $40,000 fellowship was one of 180 bestowed upon scholars, artists and scientists in the foundation’s 87th Annual Competition this spring. For Shulman, who has five books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, the gift means a lot of visits to Edison’s archives in West Orange, New Jersey.

Shulman worked out of Boston until ten years ago, when he moved to Northampton with his wife, a University of Massachusetts professor. His field of interest has taken him both to the cutting edge of science and back into the past.

“I love the period around the turn of the last century,” he said. “In many ways it was like the times we’re living in.”

Photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanAuthor Seth Shulman, who has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to write a book on Thomas A. Edison, is seen last week in his Northampton home.

Shulman has already penned non-fiction books on the birth of flight and the telephone. In “The Telephone Gambit,” he explores the possibility that Alexander Graham Bell plagiarized the ideas for his invention. Edison, perhaps the preeminent inventor of that era, has long been on Shulman’s to-do list.

“I’ve wanted to learn more about him,” he said. “Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most amazing inventors the world has ever known.”

In particular, Shulman is interested in Edison’s efforts to come up with an electric car. As he explains it, Edison was vying with Henry Ford at the time to produce an affordable automobile.

“It looked like he had a shot of winning that race,” Shulman said. “At one time there were more electric cars than gas-powered cars. We all know what happened.”

The emergence of new technology for electric cars makes the subject even more appealing to Shulman. He notes that in the course of his work on the electric automobile, Edison came up with the alkaline battery, which proved to be his most profitable invention. For more information, he plans to explore Edison’s voluminous New Jersey archives.

“There are a million pages of documents just on the stuff I’m looking at,” he said.

The Guggenheim fellowship has been a boon to his work, Shulman said.

“It allows me to do a lot of research, and it’s helpful to get a book advance.”

Beyond the financial perks, Shulman sees the fellowship as an affirmation of his work.
“It’s a nice honor to get recognized in that way,” he said.

One of the suspects wore a tan sweatshirt and had a distinctive scar or tattoo on his face.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD – A woman, attacked at the front door of her Liberty Heights neighborhood home by two would-be purse snatchers Monday night, managed to scare them off when she hit the panic button to her alarm system.

Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said the attack occurred about 10:15 p.m. as the woman arrived at her Leroy Place home and opened the front door.

Two Hispanic males ran up, one grabbed the woman’s purse and struggled to take it from her. “He then grabbed her by the shirt and threw her into the home through the open door as he continued to try to take her purse,” Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

One of the suspects was wearing a tan hooded sweatshirt and had a distinctive scar or tattoo on his face, Delaney said.

Those with information are asked to call the detective bureau at (413) 787-6355. Those who wish to forward anonymous information to investigators may text a tip via a cell phone by addressing a text message to “CRIMES,“ or “274637,“ and then beginning the body of the message with the word “SOLVE.“

Lisa Fusco, a former part-owner of Northampton Airport, said she will not be a candidate after all.

NORTHAMPTON – With eight days left to take out papers, there is a two-way race stacking up for the vacant Ward 3 city council seat in the August 2 special election.

According to City Clerk Wendy A. Mazza, Owen D. Freeman-Daniels of 53 Woodmont Road and Arnold Levinson of 14 Hancock St. have taken out nomination papers to date. With a May 10 deadline, the window of opportunity is closing fast for other would-be candidates. Lisa Fusco, who had previously announced her intention to run for the seat, said Monday she is no longer a candidate.

Angela D. Plassmann

The seat became vacant last month when Angela D. Plassmann, a first-term councilor, abruptly announced her resignation. Plassmann said on her Web site that she was being harassed by an unnamed city department head for political reasons. She declined to name that person, however, or elaborate on the alleged harassment.

It subsequently came to light that the Planning Department had asked the Building Commissioner to investigate complaints that Plassmann had an illegal structure on her property. According to Building Commissioner Louis Hasbrouck, the building in question appeared to be a “manufactured home” that violated city zoning ordinances. Plassmann’s mother was reportedly living in the home. Before Hasbrouck could investigate further, the structure was removed from the property.

Plassmann retained a lawyer who has demanded to know the names of the complainants, maintaining that Plassmann has the right to confront her “accusers.” The city has responded that people who complaint about zoning violations are, by policy, allowed to remain anonymous. Plassmann has threatened legal action against the city.

Fusco, formerly a part-owner of Northampton Airport, said Monday that she is trying to sort out her business affairs. She and business partner Michael Vito recently closed the restaurant half of Venus & the Cellar Bar in Easthampton. The bar-restaurant opened in June of 2009, but the recent harsh winter and other factors contributed to financial problems, according to Fusco.

“I gave a lot of thought (to the election) and decided the timing is not right,” she said.

Fusco, who owns the building, said she will keep the Cellar Bar open as the sole proprietor. She sold her share in the Northampton Airport in an effort to compensate for losses at the restaurant. Fusco said she wants to make the popular Cellar Bar into more of a music venue.

Freeman-Daniels is the vice president of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association. He was actively involved in organizing the community in the wake of the December, 2009, rash of fires, one of which took the lives of two Ward 3 residents. Anthony P. Baye, who lived in the ward, is facing murder and arson charges in connection with those fires.

Levinson, a retired orthodontist, has lived in Ward 3 for 15 years. On his Web page, Levinson calls the ward’s mix of gardens and large farms “unique,” and says he will work towards preserving the city’s historical and natural features for future generations.

The crash was reported near 981 Roosevelt Ave. at about 12:25 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - Firefighters required the Jaws of Life to extricate a male and two females injured early Wednesday afternoon in a two-car crash on Roosevelt Avenue.

The accident was reported about 12:25 p.m. near 981 Roosevelt Ave.

Fire Department spokesman Dennis G. Leger said the male was extricated from a Ford Focus and the females, who suffered serious injuries, were extricated from a Chevrolet Cavalier.

All three victims were taken to Baystate Medical Center. Additional information was not immediately available

If the town had grown to 16,001 people, it would have had to add another precinct.

Enrico J. Villamaino

EAST LONGMEADOW – The population in town has grown more than 11 percent in the last 10 years, according to the 2010 Census Bureau.

The Board of Selectmen discussed Tuesday whether the growth would require adding another precinct for elections.

“Although we have seen a significant increase in population, we did not make it to 16,000, which means we do not have to add another precinct,” said Board of Selectmen member Enrico J. Villamaino.

The town went from 14,100 in 2000 to 15,720 in 2010.

“I think we were the suburb with the largest increase in Hampden County,” Villamaino said.

The town has four precincts. If the town had grown to more than 16,000 residents, another precinct would be required.

“The law does not allow us to have more than 4,000 people per precinct. So if we had gone to 16,001 we would have had to add a precinct,” Villamaino said.

The board rearrange some of the neighborhoods. In future elections, voters might find that they are listed under a different precinct.

“It has to be approved by the state first, and we will be sure to post it on the town website and provide other notices before it happens,” he said.

The precinct change will not have a significant impact on voters, since there is currently one polling location for all four precincts.

“For some folks, it will simply be a matter of moving to a different line at the polls. There will not be any major changes,” he said.

The courtroom was silent as O’Brien described her last embrace with Phoebe at the crematorium.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 11:13 this morning.

Sean Mulveyhill, left, and Kayla Narey appear in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday.

NORTHAMPTON – Summoned by her mother, the spirit of Phoebe Prince was present briefly in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday as two of the former schoolmates accused of bullying her had their reckoning.

Prince, 15, hanged herself on Jan. 14, 2010, ending her life along with what prosecutors say was a period of intense harassment by some fellow students at South Hadley High School. Six were ultimately charged in connection with her treatment. Two of them, Sean M. Mulveyhill and Kayla E. Narey, both 18, were ordered to serve one-year probation terms Wednesday after admitting to some of the charges.

Prince’s mother, Anne O’Brien, sat in the front row with a victim-witness advocate. Her sister, Eileen Moore, sat a few rows behind her. The rest of the courtroom was packed with journalists waiting to see how justice would play out in the groundbreaking case. When former Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel announced the charges against the six defendants at a press conference last year, it catapulted Prince’s already compelling story into an international cause. Prince became an icon for countless people who had suffered at the hands of bullies and the focal point of campaigns across the globe to stamp out school bullying.

Pool photo by Gordon Daniels / Daily Hampshire GazetteKayla Narey weeps while making a statement in the Phoebe Prince bullying case in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday.

Neither Mulveyhill nor Narey will serve jail time as a result of those charges, however. Mulveyhill pleaded guilty to criminal harassment, a misdemeanor. Three other charges— statutory rape, disturbing a school assembly and violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury— were dropped. Narey admitted to sufficient facts for a finding of guilty on the criminal harassment charge, which was continued without a finding for one year. If Narey stays out of legal trouble during that time, she will have no criminal record of that charge. The prosecution also dropped the civil right violation and disturbing school assembly counts against her.

As conditions of their probation, both Narey and Mulveyhill must stay away from the Prince family without their consent and perform 100 ours of community service with at-risk youth. Mulveyhill must also earn his high school diploma or GED. Narey has completed her first year of college.

According to the evidence cited by Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne, the defendants’ harsh treatment of Prince resulted from Prince’s role in the relationship between Mulveyhill and Nary. As he explained it, the two had a brief dating relationship in eighth grade that they rekindled sometime in 2009. When Prince arrived in South Hadley that year, Mulveyhill began seeing her as well. He even drove both Prince and Narey together in his car on several occasions.

When Prince learned that Mulveyhill was dating Narey, she approached Narey and apologized. At first, Narey was impressed by Prince’s courage, telling her, “I have more respect for you than for my boyfriend.” She then texted Mulveyhill, saying, “We’re done.”

When word circulated after the Christmas holidays that Prince was dating Austin Renaud, who also had a girlfriend, Narey became hostile to Prince, Gagne said, posting an unkind remark about her on Facebook. Mulveyhill, meanwhile, was encouraging other students to be mean towards Prince, notable Ashley Longe, who is scheduled to appear in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court Thursday on similar charges of harassment and civil rights violation. On Dec. 14, the day Prince hanged herself, Mulveyhill got Longe to taunt Prince in school, taking pleasure from the harassment, Gagne said. When Mulveyhill, Longe and Narey encountered Prince that same day outside the school auditorium, Mulveyhill tried to get Longe to fight her. Instead, Longe called Prince a series of names while Mulveyhill and Narey laughed, according to Gagne.

Later that day, Longe threw an empty soda can at Prince from a car while Prince was walking home from school, Gagne said. Prince hanged herself with a scarf in her home shortly afterwards.

Pool photo by Gordon Daniels / Daily Hampshire GazettePhoebe Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, listens to the proceedings in Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday.

O’Brien, who has made few public statements or appearances throughout the ordeal, had to pause repeatedly as she read Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder an emotional victim’s statement. Describing her daughter as “beautiful, gregarious and kind-hearted,” O’Brien said, “It’s nearly impossible to measure the impact of Phoebe’s death on our lives.”

Phoebe enjoyed reading the love letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and discussing literature with her mother. All that has been lost.

“My kitchen table is a very quite place to be these days,” said O’Brien.

She told of trips to France in which Phoebe fly around the marketplace.

“She would return with a huge smile on her face, laden with fruits and vegetables,” O’Brien said.

The courtroom was silent as O’Brien described her last embrace with Phoebe at the crematorium.

“I lifted the lid of the coffin and held her for the very last time,” she said. “My little girl, so very full of life, was now so cold.”

Although she consented to the dispositions in the two cases, O’Brien chastised Narey and Mulveyhill for their treatment of her daughter. She cited Phoebe’s last text, which called the harassment on Jan. 14 “one of the final nails in my coffin.”

“I can’t take much more,” Phoebe wrote. “It would be easier if he or the other of
them handed me a noose.”

A weeping Narey read the court a statement in which she directly addressed Phoebe Prince, apologizing for her behavior.

Phoebe Prince

“Phoebe, I wish we could go back to December 10 and 11 of 2009,” she said, referring to the time Prince had approached her about Mulveyhill. Narey said she had the opportunity to do the right by Prince but anger and jealously got the better of her.

“My failure will always be with me,” she said. “I’m sorry, Phoebe... I allowed my emotions to spill into acts of unkindness.”

Michael O. Jennings, Narey’s lawyer, said his client has no history of bullying and frequently volunteered for school and community service projects. Although Narey has been “skewered across the globe” for repeatedly harassing Prince, Jennings said he has seen no evidence that her actions went beyond the Facebook posting and the events of Dec. 14, 2010.

Jennings also suggested that Prince had considered killing herself before that day, citing evidence found on her computer that “gave a chilling indication of what she already had in mind.”

Gagne interrupted him at this point, saying Jennings’ remarks were beyond the scope of his sentencing argument.

Along with Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Velazquez are due in Juvenile Court Thursday for what is expected to be the resolution of their cases. Renaud, the sixth defendant, is charged with statutory rape but not with harassing Prince. His next scheduled court date is July 6. Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan is holding a press conference at the University of Massachusetts Thursday to talk about the cases.