Hatch urged that delegates endorse him so he can help repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and potentially lead the powerful Senate Finance Committee if Republicans regain control of the chamber in November.

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2011, file photo Republican Senator of Utah Orrin Hatch, 78, serving in his sixth term on Capitol Hill, calls on the president to kick start a dormant U.S. trade agenda in Washington. Every handshake counts in Utah’s unique nominating system, even for a senator seeking his seventh term. To avoid a primary, Hatch needs at least 60 percent of the 4,000 delegates expected to vote. In spite of Hatch having spent more than $5 million since the beginning of 2011 to defend his seat, the fate of one of the most powerful senators in the country is coming down to just a few hundred votes. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

By JOSH LOFTIN, & KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writers

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Utah Republicans denied U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch a clear path to a seventh and final term Saturday, forcing the 78-year-old lawmaker into a June primary with 37-year-old former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist. Hatch fell short of the outright nomination by fewer than three dozen votes from the nearly 4,000 delegates at the party convention.

In a matter of weeks, Hatch turned the question of whether he would survive the convention into a question of whether he would reach the 60 percent threshold to earn the nomination. Despite the setback, Hatch holds a significant fundraising edge in what has become the stiffest challenge since his election to the Senate in 1976. The eventual Republican nominee will be the heavy favorite in November because of GOP dominance in Utah.

"A few months ago, a lot of people weren't giving me a chance," Hatch said. "So I feel good. I consider it a victory with everything that happened in the past."

Hatch urged that delegates endorse him so he can help repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and potentially lead the powerful Senate Finance Committee if Republicans regain control of the chamber in November. Hatch argued that he was only candidate who had the ability to enact the GOP's priorities from day one of the next congressional session.

"I'm a tough old bird, and I've never felt more eager," he said.

But Liljenquist said Hatch's seniority was overrated and said that he was ready to work with freshmen Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky in changing how the Senate works.

"It is time for a new generation of leaders," Liljenquist said shortly after the results were announced. "We know it to our bones."

While most states rely on primaries to secure a party's nomination, Utah elects delegates to get first crack at determining whether a candidate should earn the nomination outright. In all, 10 candidates ran for the Senate seat and took turns Saturday attempting to convince the delegates to support them. Hatch and Liljenquist advanced from the first round of voting after Hatch got 57 percent of the vote and his challenger took 28 percent.

In the second round, the incumbent earned 59.2 percent of the vote, just short of the 60 percent needed for the outright nomination. As a result, they will face each other in the June 26 primary.

Hatch told delegates that experience can make all the difference in getting conservative priorities passed. "It will be my last six years in the U.S. Senate, but they'll be the best six years and the most critical six years of all," he said.

Liljenquist took issue with Hatch's assertion that his seniority was such a critical asset. He noted that Hatch had used a similar argument in previous elections and that the GOP would still be in good hands without Hatch's influence because Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, a graduate of Brigham Young University, was next in line to serve as the Finance Committee chairman if the Senate changes hands. That's by no means assured as other senior senators will also have a shot at heading the committee.

"No one senator is too big to fail," Liljenquist said. "No one senator is too important to lose."

Hatch began laying the groundwork for the convention even before he watched former Utah Sen. Bob Bennett lose to a tea party challenger two years ago. With a game plan designed to answer his critics' every claim — and with a boost from GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney — it became clear that he wouldn't experience a similar fate.

His top challengers were Liljenquist and state Rep. Chris Herrod, who didn't make the second round after getting just more than 10 percent of the first-round voting.

Whoever wins the Republican primary will face former state Sen. Scott Howell, who received the Democratic nomination on Saturday. Howell lost to Hatch in 2000 and no Democrat from Utah has been elected to the Senate since 1970.

Hatch has urged delegates to nominate him for a seventh term so that he can spend his time, money and energy on supporting other Republican candidates in tight races around the country. Most notably, he points to the assistance he could provide Romney in defeating Obama.

Romney is extremely popular in Utah because of his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his leadership during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Hatch has emphasized Romney's endorsement during speeches and debates, and it has seemingly paid dividends among first-time delegates, in particular. He introduced Hatch via a recorded video message. Romney said the GOP needed Hatch back in the Senate "if we're going to turn this country around."

Liljenquist and Herrod argued for new leadership in Washington. They said Hatch had his chance to push through meaningful reforms on entitlement programs and to rein in government spending.

This year's race essentially began in 2010, when Bennett was ousted by delegates fueled by tea party politics.

Hatch immediately recognized the challenge he would likely face from those groups and launched one of the most well-organized and expensive campaigns in the state's history. Since the beginning of 2011, he has spent more than $5 million — and he still has $3 million to spend on a primary. Hatch used his vast financial resources to build a formidable campaign team that consisted of former state GOP leaders as well as some of the tea party supporters who helped orchestrate Bennett's defeat.

Hatch also shifted to the right rhetorically and with his voting record over the past two years to address the claims that he was not conservative enough.

Bennett's loss frustrated many Republicans, who believed that a vocal minority hijacked the nomination process. This year, turnout at the neighborhood caucus meetings more than doubled and many attendees said they wanted to make sure Hatch wasn't treated in the same way.

Grant Warner of Salt Lake City said he supported Bennett two years ago and that he also supported Hatch. He said that he didn't agree with all of the votes Hatch had cast, but he agreed with most of them.

"We don't want to do what they did two years ago — throw our people with seniority out the door," Warner said.

Both prosecutors plan initiatives to reach out to youth and raise awareness about domestic violence.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayHampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni in his Springfield office.

An instant before the funnel cloud collided with the Hampden Hall of Justice in downtown Springfield on June 1 and the plate-glass windows in his third-floor office shattered, he wedged his lanky frame in between a door jamb to take cover.

With long shards of glass still swinging in the gale of wind and papers swirling through his office, Hampden district attorney Mark G. Mastroianni had one thought: the Denson files.

“There were these huge boxes filled with those case files,” he remembers, “my first six months of work here. So I crawled across the floor to get them and ran back out.”

The case against Eric B. Denson, accused of fatally stabbing Cathedral High School soccer star Conor W. Reynolds during a chaotic teen party in 2010, had been a high-profile homicide from the time it occurred; it was certain to be a closely-watched test of Mastroianni’s new administration.

In early November, after three weeks of testimony rife with identification problems and a grainy, convenience store surveillance video among the centerpieces of the prosecution’s case – presented by Mastroianni, the jury returned a swift conviction.

“It’s just a verdict,” Mastroianni told reporters afterward; recently, he conceded it was a big moment in his rookie tenure.

“That was a really good development for this administration,” the 47-year-old Mastroianni said in reflecting on his first year in office. “It established the principles that I ran on during my campaign, and the way I want to do the job.”

Mastroianni, of Westfield, last year succeeded former Hampden district attorney William M. Bennett, while David E. Sullivan, of Easthampton, succeeded former Northwestern district attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel, marking the first shift in law enforcement leadership for Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties in two decades.

For Sullivan during his first six months in office, he had to confront a figurative tornado that had built around the Phoebe Prince “bullycide” case in South Hadley. He completed the prosecution which Scheibel had initiated involving six South Hadley High School students charged in connection with the death of Prince, an Irish immigrant who hanged herself in her home on Jan. 14, 2010, after being subjected to bullying by classmates.

The investigation revealed Prince had become a target of constant bullying in connection with adolescent romantic entanglements. Her tormentors and what were labeled as lax school officials were booed across the globe amid calls for justice for Prince; bullying took an international stage upon which Sullivan, 50, a former Hampshire County register of probate, found himself in the spotlight.

AP photoMassachusetts Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, center, is flanked by members of his office while addressing members of the media during a news conference in Amherst, Mass., Thursday, May 5, 2011. Sullivan faced reporters following court hearings in Northampton, Mass., in connection with accusations that six teens bullied 15-year-old Phoebe Prince so relentlessly that she hanged herself.

As Mastroianni’s history as a seasoned trial attorney served him well during his first high-profile challenge in year one, lawyers around the region say Sullivan’s expertise as a politician, and thus something of a diplomat, worked to his advantage in bringing the Prince case to a resolution.

Four of the teenagers in the Prince case admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding and one pleaded guilty to criminal harassment. Charges were dropped against the sixth teenager at the request of Prince’s family. None was sentenced to jail time.

“We weren’t going to be swaying with public opinion. We looked at the law; we listened to Phoebe Prince’s survivors; we considered all factors and we brought it to a fair conclusion,” said Sullivan.

Comparing probate court to the criminal courts is at least apples and oranges, but those who know Sullivan say his smarts, affability and political savvy have thus far made for a smooth transition.

“I like the people side of the DA’s business, and that’s just my personal style,” Sullivan said. “I’m kind of the accidental DA. It wasn’t on my radar screen, but when the opportunity came up, I got encouraged by a lot of people around me.”

Michael O. Jennings, a defense lawyer of one of the defendants in the Prince case, was among attorneys who straddled their negotiations between the Sullivan and Scheibel administrations.

“I had sensed a softening in the position of (Scheibel’s) administration, and there were some kind of cool efforts to resolves before, but we just never got there,” Jennings said. “The new administration was reasonable and fair .¤.¤. and though I still get kind of angry about how the case was handled from the beginning, I thought it was well-resolved.”

Sullivan campaigned on hiring “the best and the brightest” to staff his office. He crossed county lines to find people to work with him, including Steven Gagne, a veteran prosecutor from Bristol County as first assistant district attorney, and Janice Healy, chief of the Western Massachusetts office of the state attorney general and a former public defender, as his deputy district attorney. He also wooed a handful of prosecutors and administrators from Bennett’s staff, including assistant district attorney Yvonne Pesce as chief of juvenile justice.

Gagne has been out in front on many of the office’s high-profile criminal cases, including the Prince case and the 2010 homicide of Annamarie Rintala, a paramedic, who is alleged to have been beaten and strangled by her wife, Cara Rintala, at their Granby home.

Jennings, for one, says Gagne is among the staff members who provide a good balance for Sullivan’s lack of experience as a prosecutor. “I think he’s put together a competent and experienced staff,” Jennings said.

Both Sullivan and Mastroianni required all staff to reapply for their jobs under their new administrations; it’s a practice that’s not unusual and not unexpected given the natural instinct to want to create one’s own team after such an important metamorphosis.

The Republican | Dave Roback10.24.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - Mark Mastroianni questions forensic pathologist Elizabeth Laposada during the murder trial of Eric Denson.

Mastroianni wound up retaining many of the line prosecutors as well as Bennett’s first assistant, James Orenstein. Orenstein, however, recently announced his retirement, and Mastroianni said he sees no need to hire a successor.

In perhaps one of his most significant personnel changes, Mastroianni developed his own hybrid form of a leadership team, naming a chief of staff, Jennifer Fitzgerald, a former head of District Court prosecution who served on Mastroianni’s transition team; chief trial counsel, Donna Donato, an assistant district attorney for Bennett; and legal counsel, Elizabeth Dunphy Farris, who was Scheibel’s deputy first assistant and original lead prosecutor on the Prince case.

Mastroianni did lose several of Bennett’s longtime staff members to retirement before he even took office, and James R. Goodhines, a longtime assistant district attorney who had run for district attorney but lost in a Democratic primary, left the office in November.

Mastroianni would not discuss the circumstances of Goodhines’ departure but confirmed he no longer worked for the office. Goodhines also declined to comment on the details but said leaving the office was his choice. He is now in private practice in Springfield, doing civil and criminal defense work.

Mastroianni and Sullivan oversee very different districts as the top law enforcement officers.

In addition to dealing with spikes in street violence and one of the busiest court dockets in the state, Mastroianni also has had to contend with race-relation in cases of white officers and black suspects including the prosecution of former Springfield police officer Jeffrey M. Asher and the shooting death of Tahiem Goffe, an 18-year-old allegedly shot by a Springfield patrolman he hit with a stolen car. Asher was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in jail for beating motorist Melvin Jones III during a traffic stop in 2009. A review of the Goffe case is said to be nearing completion.

While the cases are very different, both involve a beleaguered Police Department with officers working in a crime-riddled city versus apparently troubled young black men from poverty-stricken neighborhoods. The situation is, in short, a potential nightmare for a novice district attorney attempting to do the just thing while also maintaining good relations with law enforcement leaders and civil-rights advocates.

Mastroianni opted to drop charges against Jones with regard to the traffic stop and advance the case against Asher in District Court, which had languished under Bennett.

The Asher conviction became something of a watershed moment for Mastroianni, as he was applauded by civil-rights activists and faced a potential rift between his administration and the Springfield Police Department.

“I’d be naive to think there aren’t cops out there sitting around being critical of how I handled that case,” Mastroianni said. “But, I only tried to treat it in a fair way. I respect cops, and 99.9 percent of them do their jobs well. It’s a job that deserves a lot of deference, but at the same time, you can’t give a cop a pass if he commits a crime.”

In his campaign for DA, Mastroianni was endorsed by numerous law enforcement groups, including the Springfield police patrolman’s union.

In the Goffe case, he assigned a state police ballistics investigators and a member of his office to review the case as a Police Department internal investigation unfolds.

The Rev. Talbert Swan II, president of the Springfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says he feels Mastroianni is trying to make strides in race relations.

“He’s been open to modifying long-standing processes within the DA’s office in handling cases that are racially sensitive,” Swan said. While Mastroianni’s handling of the Goffe case is not chapter-and-verse what his organization requested, Swan sees it as a compromise.

“It is a hybrid of what we asked for. What they normally do is wait until the police are finished to review the files and ask questions. He’s not doing that,” Swan said. “It’s still very early in his tenure, but to date, attorney Mastroianni has been open to suggestions .¤.¤. and thus far, I’d give him high marks.”

The Republican | Dave RobackNorthwestern District Attorney David Sullivan in his Northampton office.

In Hampshire County, race relations are not so typically a problem, but Sullivan says he’s worked to rebuild relationships with law enforcement agencies that he contends felt alienated or disconnected under the prior administration.

“We needed to build bridges to our law enforcement communities on the local, state and federal level,” Sullivan said. “They had diminished over time and like many relationships, started to atrophy.”

While law enforcement officials are unwilling to compare Scheibel’s administration to Sullivan’s budding style, Northampton Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz said Sullivan has offered new training opportunities to all police departments.

“There have been some trainings that he’s funded that involve travel to other states that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford .¤.¤. which is very helpful in tough financial times,” Sienkiewicz said, adding that Sullivan’s largess in training is particularly helpful to small, rural police departments,

Attorney David P. Hoose, who has represented countless defendants in both counties, including alleged Northampton arsonist Anthony Baye and recently-convicted sexual predator David Fried Oppenheim, is cognizant of the vastly differing styles of Mastroianni and Sullivan. Mastroianni is the consummate prosecutor, while Sullivan the affable politician, but both can be successful formulas, Hoose said.

“Sully never ran as a trial lawyer. He’s a great guy. He’s a good leader. His employees genuinely love working for him. He knows his strengths and never pretended to be something he wasn’t,” Hoose said. “Mark ran as a trial lawyer, and he’s living up to that, too. Neither model is wrong; you just have to know what you’re good at.”

Mastroianni wants to continue outreach to youth throughout the county, including an aggressive campaign against distracted driving in high schools and a ramped-up youth diversion effort for the youngest offenders to try to keep them out of the criminal justice system. He also is establishing a new cold case unit and continuing the office’s focus on domestic violence and its victims.

For the first time, thanks to Mastroianni, the Hampden district attorney’s office has its own website, and the office is embracing other advances in trial technology – many of which he publicly debuted during the Denson trial.

Sullivan has opened a new child advocacy center and is pursuing major anti-bullying, anti-sexting, anti-fire-setting and other youth-focused initiatives. He said he also plans leadership summits for his team.

Mastroianni concedes he’s yet to ease into the political side of his position; he said he still gets uncomfortable if he enters a room and people treat him like a power broker.

“When I ran, I always wondered what in the world this office had to do with politics,” he said, noting that his political affiliation will remain unenrolled. “When I tried the Denson case, you don’t know how many people told me what a political risk it was for me if we lost the case. And I thought, ‘I so don’t care.’”

Mastroianni plans to run for a second term, but doesn’t plan to have a “Bennett run.” (Bennett actually said he planned to only serve two terms when he was first elected in 1990.)

Sullivan, meanwhile, indicates he’d like to stay as long as he can.

“This is the best public service job there is,” Sullivan said. “And, this isn’t pie-in-the-sky-stuff. This is the real stuff of community life.”

The Republican | Mark M. Murray and Dave RobackHampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni, left, and Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan

Police in Ludlow look for robbery suspects.

LUDLOW - Police are looking for two men involved in a robbery at the Cumberland Farms on West Street Saturday night.

Police said that two black men armed with handguns and masks demanded money from the clerk and then ran away on foot with less than $40 in cash.

Police said a K9 from the Wilbraham Police Department tried to track the suspects. Officers from the Springfield and Chicopee police departments also assisted.

Police are investigating the robbery. Anyone with information should call the Ludlow Detective Bureau at (413) 583-8305.

Michelson said his talk at Calvin College centered on “writing outside your comfort zone” and would touch on writing as a white Jew about blacks and Christians.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanRichard Michelson, Northampton's newest poet lauriat, is seen in the R. Michelson Galleries with a book he wrote about African American golfer and golf course designer William Powell.

NORTHAMPTON – The wreathe has been passed on. Richard Michelson is Northampton’s latest poet laureate.

Michelson, whose far-flung involvement in the arts extends from his many children’s books and poetry collections to R. Michelson Galleries, one of the city’s most prominent art galleries, was named by the Arts Council this week to succeed Lenelle Moise.

Michelson is the sixth poet laureate since former judge W. Michael Ryan proposed the post in 2001, joining Martin Espada, Leslea Newman, Janel Aalfs, Jack Gilbert and Moise. Traditionally, the poet laureate has organized events around poetry with an eye towards bringing the art form to adults and young people in the city.

Michelson is the author of more than 20 books, including his most recent poetry collection, “Battles and Lullabies.” His subject matter has ranged from the fantastic to the horrid as he has written about everything from dragons to the Holocaust.

His book “Twice as Good” tells the story of William Powell, a black man who was denied the opportunity to play golf but built and owned his own golf course. It earned a book jacket blurb from President Barack Obama. “Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King” focuses on the first Jewish player in major league baseball.

Michelson has won numerous honors from Jewish organizations and has been on the New York Tines’ Notable Children’s Book list. He is also a board member of Poetry Advocates for Children and Young Adults.

Reached by phone on Thursday from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was speaking at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, Michelson said he is honored by the designation and already contemplating how to fulfill his duties.

“I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” he said.

Michelson said his talk at Calvin College centered on “writing outside your comfort zone” and would touch on writing as a white Jew about blacks and Christians.

Noting that he has a finger in almost all the arts, Michelson said he hopes to do a lot of “cross-fertilization.” One idea he has is to incorporate poetry in the Arts Night Out, a regular event at his and other city art galleries. He also hopes to reach out to young people.

Michelson is scheduled to give his inaugural reading as poet laureate at Forbes Library on May 3.

The work on the second roundabout is slated to take six weeks.

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanThis is the site of the second roundabout at Bay Road and Route 116 in Amherst that will be constructed this summer.

AMHERST – Motorists will be able to test out the first new roundabout across from Atkins Market just after Memorial Day when a detour is put in place to allow for contractors to put in the second roundabout on Route 116 near Bay Road.

Contractors wanted to wait until after college students left before beginning the work on the second roundabout so there would be less traffic, Public Works Superintendent Guilford B. Mooring said.

The second roundabout will be put in north of Bay Road heading from Atkins to Hampshire College.

Bay Road has to be built up to enable to the roundabout to be built and detours through Hadley and Amherst will be put in place.

Sara Lavoieâ¨, press secretary for the state Department of Transportation, said work is expected to last about six weeks depending on the weather. “The roundabouts will be operational by fall,” she said in an email.

The details of the detours as well as traffic mitigation are still being worked out, she said. But to avoid the work area, motorists will have to use South East Street, Pomeroy and West Pomeroy lanes on the Amherst side and Moody Bridge Road and South Maple Street on the Hadley side. Atkins will remain open, officials said.

Work on the project, which took more than a decade of planning, began in March of 2011. Lavoie said the project completion date is July 12, 2013 and is on schedule to finish by then.

The redesign is intended to improve safety and traffic flow with the roundabouts at Route 116 and West Bay Road, and at Route 116 and Bay Road. The road will be slightly wider. The design also includes a multi-use bicycle lane.

Ludlow-based Baltazar Contractors were awarded the contract for the $6 million project in January of 2011.

set for completion is the $114 million new Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy in Springfield, although demolition and site work at Putnam will take another year to complete, said Rita L. Coppola-Wallace, director of capital asset construction for the city of Springfield.

The Republican / Michael S. GordonApril 19, 2012 - Wilbraham - staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - Alan Wishart of Chicopee, a union carpenter with Colmac Construction of Westfield, installling a decorative polymarble half column in the main hallway of the new Minnechaug Regional High School under construction now and exptected to open for the 2012-2013 academic year.

SPRINGFIELD – In 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available, school building projects in Massachusetts accounted for $1.07 billion in construction costs and created 5,350 construction jobs.

“We are a major player in the construction industry in Massachusetts,” said Jack McCarthy, the executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. “Some construction people say we were really the only player. That’s a credit to the way we are set up.”

What McCarthy meant was that because the authority gets a dedicated one-cent share (or 16 percent) of the state’s sales tax revenue, it doesn’t have to go to the legislature for a yearly appropriation. It also means it gets a steady stream of revenue when funding for other projects, both public and private, dried up.

Also, the state had a moratorium on school building projects in the early 2000s, creating a backlog of facilities that need to be replaced, expanded or renovated.

The state School Building Authority pays a percentage of the building cost based on the community’s economic condition, ranging from 31 percent to 80 percent; Springfield, for example, gets 80 percent.

The School Building Authority lists 80 projects set for completion in 2012, including the $53.6 million Minnechaug High School in Wilbraham, which has 300 to 400 construction workers at any given time.


Also set for completion is the $114 million new Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy in Springfield, although demolition and site work at Putnam will take another year to complete, said Rita L. Coppola-Wallace, director of capital asset construction for the city of Springfield.

Set for completion in 2013 will be Easthampton High School at $39.2 million and Longmeadow High School, at which broke ground in May 2011 and will cost about $78.4 million.

Coppola-Wallace said Springfield’s Forest Park Middle School renovation also will also completed in 2013. The school is also expanding, with a 10,000-square-foot addition of a gym on Garfield Street.

Set for completion in 2014 is the new West Springfield High School at $107.1 million.

“We’re just getting off the ground in West Springfield,” said David P. Fontaine, president of Fontaine Brothers in Springfield. Fontaine is also doing Minnechaug and other area building projects, including the renovations to the Holyoke Library.

He said business is better now than it was at the depths of the recession and better now than he was doing at this time last year.

“We are optimistic,” Fontaine said.

The company’s staff, both office and field, is up to 120 employees up from about 60 this time last year.

But Fontaine said he’s having to travel further away to get work. His company is going to build the new East Bridgewater Junior-Senior High School.

He said commercial work is still slow and he hasn’t done any industrial work in the past few years.

But with low interest rates, now is a great time to build.

Coppola-Wallace said competition is still fierce among contractors looking for large-scale work.

“Yeah, they are hungry,” she said. “Putnam went out to bid in 2009. It couldn’t have gone out at a better time.”

Before the recession, she used to add 8 percent a year to construction budgets to cover cost escalation. Since 2008, she’s figured on zero cost escalation and projects have still come in on time and under budget. Lately she’s been building in a hedge of 1 or 2 percent, anticipating a recovery.

State bomb squad removes chemicals from home on Jarvis Avenue.

File photo

HOLYOKE- The Massachusetts State Police haz-mat team cleared blasting caps from a home on Jarvis Avenue Sunday morning.

Holyoke Fire Department spokesman Lt. Tom Paquin said Elizabeth Mish, the owner of the home at 125 Jarvis Ave., found the blasting caps and contacted the fire department around 8:15 a.m.

"The owner was not sure how the blasting caps got there," Paquin said.

A blasting cap is a small detonator used to detonate larger explosives, he said.

While the haz-mat team was in the home they found other chemicals which will be removed by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Paquin said a member of the household is a chemist and kept some chemicals at home.

"There was nothing hazardous to the neighborhood, just some pesticides and other chemicals which will all be removed safely," he said.

The state fire marshal is investigating the incident, but Paquin said the there was no suspicious activity in the home.

The Western Massachusetts seat on the Governor's Council is up for grabs with the incumbent deciding against running for re-election.

Six candidates from Western Massachusetts poised to run for Governor's Councilor are, from top, left, Michael J. Albano, Gerard J. Roy, Michael Franco, Kevin J. Sullivan, John J. Stobierski and Michael F. Case.

BOSTON - Three Democratic candidates from Hampden county might be too much of a crowd when it comes to a candidate from the county winning a contest for a seat on the Governor's Council.

Springfield lawyer Michael T. Kogut said he is ending his possible candidacy for the open, two-year Western Massachusetts council seat, but three Democratic council candidates from Hampden remain.

That raises the prospects for a divided vote in Hampden that would help provide a victory for the lone candidate from another county in the Democratic primary.

"You are going to split it," said former Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano of Longmeadow, one of the four Democrats in the contest and one of three from Hampden. "To what degree, you don't know."

The three other Democratic candidates for council include two from Hampden - lawyer Kevin J. Sullivan from Westfield and Chicopee City Councilor Gerard J. Roy - and Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski of Deerfield, who is from Franklin county, the least populated area of the district.

The main duty of the eight-member council is to interview and then vote on whether to confirm the governor's judicial nominations including judges and clerk-magistrates.

The Western Massachusetts district, after some minor changes in redistricting, has 96 cities and towns including all of Berkshire and Franklin counties, all except Ware in Hampshire, most of Hampden and one community in Worcester county.

Kogut said he decided against running for business and family reasons and will support Albano. He cited Albano's long history of public service as one factor for his endorsement.

The four Democrats are set to compete in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary. A Democrat has held the council position for about at least the past 35 years.

The winner of the Democratic primary would face the winner of the Republican primary in the Nov. 6 general election.

The two Republican candidates are Michael F. Case, a selectman in the Berkshire town of Washington and retired Pittsfield police sergeant and Michael Franco of Holyoke, a veterans agent-investigator for the city of Holyoke who will be making his fourth run for the council.

Two candidates from Hampden competed in 2004 in a Democratic primary won by a candidate from Hampshire.

Don Davenport, a political consultant from Boston who is watching the Western Massachusetts council contest, said Albano might benefit from name recognition in the low-profile contest.

Voter turnout is usually a problem for a primary. The key attraction on Sept. 6 could be the Democratic primary for the 1st congressional seat between U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and former state Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. of Pittsfield.

Five Democrats might also run in the Sept. 6 primary for the Hampden Superior Court clerk's position being vacated by Brian Lees.

Governor's Councilor Thomas T. Merrigan, a Greenfield lawyer who is not running for reelection, said he will support Stobierski. Merrigan said he has known Stobierski for a long time and that he would be a strong voice for Western Massachusetts. Click here to read about a dispute that involved Merrigan on the council.

Sullivan, vice chairman of the Westfield School Committee and younger brother of Richard K. Sullivan Jr., the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said he is not concerned with splitting the vote in Hampden.

He said it will be key for candidates from Hampden to hold their own turf and then do well in Pittsfield, Greenfield, Northampton and Amherst.

Sullivan said the council job is about making sure that judicial positions in Western Massachusetts are filled with people who understand the region.

Albano said he has already turned in his nomination papers to the secretary of state's office with more than the required 1,000 signatures of registered voters for a council seat, making him the first candidate to accomplish that step.

Nomination papers must be turned in to local election officials for certification of voter signatures by May 1 and then brought to the secretary of state by May 29. Click here for the schedule.

Albano said he will be touting his "liberal credentials" and running as the progressive candidate. Albano was elected to four consecutive terms as mayor before he stepped down in January 2004. Click here for Albano's website.

Stobierski is a former county commissioner in Franklin County and is well known as a lawyer for victims of clergy sex abuse in Western Massachusetts.

"I have a geographic disadvantage," Stobierski said. "I'm hoping my personal background .. would overcome that."

As a trial lawyer who has been in every court in Western Massachusetts over the past 25 years, Stobierski said he has a sense of what makes a good judge. A bad judge can destroy people's lives, he said.

Roy, a real estate broker with his own real estate business, said he wants to bring the perspective of someone who is not a lawyer. Roy said he will be "absolutely independent" in voting on judicial appointments. Click here for a web site of Roy.

"We shouldn't have attorneys deciding who the judges are," Roy said.

Franco said he learned that the judiciary can be problematic when he went through a lengthy contested divorce about 15 years ago. He said he would vote for fair and honest judges and then look to hold them accountable at the ballot box.

He said that after judges are appointed, he would support a bill to put their names unopposed on the ballot every six years. A judge would need a majority vote for another term.

Case, a member of the Republican State Committee and candidate for state representative in 2010, said he dislikes patronage. He said the court system is riddled with patronage.

As a retired Army sergeant major, including four combat tours, Case said he has experience selecting people for top jobs.

The project is meant to unclog a bottleneck in the region’s electric grid identified by ISO New England and is funded by charges to power bills across New England. It is one of four projects collectively called the “New England East-West Solution.” The other three projects are in central Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island and are not scheduled to begin until 2013.

SPRINGFIELD – Northeast Utilities’ $718 million plan to upgrade 39 miles of high-voltage power lines from Ludlow to Bloomfield, Conn., is just about halfway done, helped along by a mild winter, and set to be completed in late 2013.

The reliability project also has created 350 direct construction jobs and helped to support or create a total of 1,400 jobs in construction, design, government oversight, health care, food service and accommodations, real estate and retail, said Frank J. Poirot, senior communications specialist with the utility.

Northeast Utilities is the parent company of Springfield’s Western Massachusetts Electric Co.

Workers at the job site include operating engineers running the cranes and heavy equipment, electricians and carpenters. Most of those workers are local and members of local construction trades unions, Poirot said.

But the general contractor on the project is PAR Electric of Kansas City, Mo. PAR Electric is pretty much the only contractor in the country capable of such a job, Poirot said this week.

“You just don’t find people who can work on 345,000-volt line,” he said.

The project is meant to unclog a bottleneck in the region’s electric grid identified by ISO New England and is funded by charges to power bills across New England. It is one of four projects collectively called the “New England East-West Solution.” The other three projects are in central Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island and are not scheduled to begin until 2013.

Workers are replacing the relatively low-capacity 115-kilovolt copper lines with 345-kilovolt steel and aluminum lines during the three-year project.

Contractors also are upgrading electrical substations, including the Agawam Substation on Springfield Street and Ludlow Substation. They are also building two new switching stations: Cadwell Switching Station in Springfield and Fairmont Switching Station in Chicopee. There will be upgrades at Shawinigan Switching Station in Chicopee and South Agawam Switching Station in Agawam.

Earth Day events were held at the Springfield Science Museum.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD- In an effort to bring awareness to environmental causes and celebrate Earth Day the Springfield Science Museum held the 22nd annual Earth Day celebrations.

With a performance by the blue grass band The Boys of the Landfill, a birds of prey presentation, an aquarium display and more there was plenty to do.

“We had a live band, free ice cream from Friendly’s and several companies and organizations here to help children and families become more aware of the efforts being made to take care of our forests, wildlife rivers and more,” said Daniel Augustino, aquarist at the museum.

Springfield forester Edward Casey was on-hand to donate white pine seedlings which families could take with them.

“The seedlings are provided by the Massachusetts Tree Wardens and Foresters Association,” he said. “I’ve been bringing seedlings to this event for many years and it’s a great way to make children aware of their environment and to help them remember the day they spent here. These trees can grow up to 100 feet.”

Casey said he always hands out native trees and this year especially it’s important to plant trees after the devastating effects of the October snowstorm.

“We lost a lot of trees and now is the time to replant,” he said.

Next to Casey’s display of seedlings was Susannah Lerman of the US Forest Service Northern Research Station. She is inviting residents to participate in a new program that brings scientists into the back yards of homeowners throughout the city to look for several varieties of native birds including American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal and more. The program is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute and is called Neighborhood Nestwatch.

“We trap the birds and tag their legs and then we are able to track them over the years to see how they are doing, how long they are living and what affects an urban or rural environment have on their development” she said.

Lerman said it’s a great opportunity for residents to work with scientists. Anyone interested in participating can contact her at slerman@cns.umass.edu or call (413) 545-5447.

The Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society had an aquarium on display and suggestions on how to make fish decorations using recycled materials like plastic bottles and old compact discs.

Elva Hughes, of Pittsfield, has been a member for many years and enjoys learning about fish .

“People think they can just get an aquarium fill it with fish and that’s all, but they require a lot of care,” she said. “It’s a fun group and a great fit for anyone who wants to learn.”

Linda and David Giza of Palmer have been members of the society for more than ten years.

David Giza said the club also focuses on conservation efforts for endangered fish.

Augustino said the event is also a great way to promote the Great American Clean Up, which will be held in Springfield and across the country on April 28.

“We are encouraging people to come out and help clean up the city,” he said.

The program is organized locally by Keep Springfield Beautiful. For more information visit www.keepspringfieldbeautiful.com.

The injury is not life-threatening.

File photo | The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – A 23-year-old city man was shot in the leg while walking down Maple St. at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday.

He was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment of the wound in his lower left leg. The injury is not life-threatening, Police Capt. William Collins said.

The victim told police he was near the intersection of Avon Place when an unknown vehicle approached him, an occupant yelled something and then shot him. He was not cooperative with officers and did not give a description of the car or the person or people in it, Collins said.

Anyone who witnessed the crime is asked to call detectives at 787-6355. Those who wish to remain anonymous can anonymous 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.”

Police have blocked Cady and Fuller streets to traffic.

LUDLOW – More than 1,200 residents are without power after several electrical transformers exploded and caught fire Sunday evening.

The problems started at about 6:30 p.m. when police received a report of an utility pole on fire near the intersection of Cady and Fuller streets. When an officer arrived there was an explosion and he found power lines on the ground. That was followed by a second explosion on a pole near Cady and Wilno Avenue, Police Sgt. Daniel Valadas said.

Police have blocked off portions of Cady and Fuller streets until the wires can be repaired. Western Massachusetts Electric Company is currently trying to fix the lines, he said.

The company’s website said 1,273 people are without electricity. There is no estimation of how long it will take to restore power but Valadas said people should expect to be without electricity for several hours.

ROCKPORT, Mass. (AP) — An approaching storm has forced police to temporarily halt a search for a missing 2-year-old girl who apparently disappeared from a Rockport beach when her mother went to retrieve a lost ball. State and local police said Sunday that heavy rain and poor visibility will prevent officers and police divers from searching nearby waters Sunday....

ROCKPORT, Mass. (AP) — An approaching storm has forced police to temporarily halt a search for a missing 2-year-old girl who apparently disappeared from a Rockport beach when her mother went to retrieve a lost ball.

State and local police said Sunday that heavy rain and poor visibility will prevent officers and police divers from searching nearby waters Sunday.

Police say Caleigh Anne Harrison of Gloucester went missing around noon Thursday on an outing with her mother and 4-year-old sister on Long Beach in Rockport. Her mother said she lost sight of the girls for about two minutes, and Caleigh was gone.

Police officers, helicopters, divers and dogs searched for Caleigh Saturday.

Investigators are also trying to determine if Harrison was abducted. The beach is known for strong riptides. The search will resume Tuesday.

The last time there was an inch of rain was Jan. 12 and 13.

Republican staff photo by Michael Water washes away pollen, debris and pine needles at Forest Park Sunday afternoon.

Bicyclists and picnickers may not have been happy, but firefighters and farmers were cheering about the first drenching rain in three months.

The heavy rainstorm began shortly after noon Sunday, was expected to be at its height early Monday morning, and will continue through Tuesday, said Mike Skurko, a meteorologist for CBS3.

The storm could bring as much as 3 inches of rain. Although soil is very dry, there may be some flooding because the ground cannot absorb that much water in a short time, he said.

But, it is definitely needed, Skurko said.

“Our precipitation totals are six inches below normal,” he said. “The last time we had an inch of rain in a 24-hour period was January 12 and 13.”

There has been some scattered rain and snow since then, but no soaking rains, he said.

Even with the threat of flooding, many called the rain good news.

The combination of dry conditions and fallen trees and limbs from the June tornado and October snowstorm have caused multiple brush fires across in Western Massachusetts. The worst burned 52 acres in ">Brimfield early this month.

“We have had seven to 10 a week for the last three weeks. This is unprecedented because we haven’t had significant rain,” said Dennis G. Leger, aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

Some of the bigger Springfield fires were off Plumtree Road; at Hillcrest Park Cemetery off Parker Street; and near East Columbus Avenue, where a blaze was sparked by a passing train, he said.

“This is really going to be very beneficial for everyone. It will soak way down into the ground,” he said.

Because it is so dry, fires that are believed to be extinguished can smolder a foot underground and ignite again days later, Leger said.

Firefighters are not the only ones working hard because of the dry conditions. At Red Fire Farm, owner Ryan Voiland said he had had to irrigate seedlings planted in his fields in Granby and Montague because it has been so dry.

So far, watering has saved cold-weather crops of cabbage, broccoli, kale, carrots, spinach and onions, but Voiland said the effort is costly, as well as a lot of extra work.

“I’ve never seen it so dry,” he said. “We are very thankful for the rainstorm.”

Voiland said he is so happy for the rain he is not concerned possible flooding could damage the fields.

“I would be surprised if any of our fields get flooded. I think the soil will be able to take it up,” he said.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Joseph Guzzo

Joseph James "Jim" Guzzo, 83, of East Longmeadow, passed away Wednesday. Born and educated in Springfield, he was a resident of East Longmeadow for over 45 years. He was a retired employee of the former Springfield Armory, and was a communicant of Sacred Heart Church in Springfield, where he sang in the choir. He was also a member of the Dan Kane Singers and a member and Past Commander of the ITAM VETS Post 64 in East Longmeadow. Guzzo was an Army veteran of the Korean War.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Anderson, Terri (Trela)
  



• 
  Armstrong, Thomas P.
  



• 
  Bachand, Mary E.
  



• 
  Baker, Donald H.
  



• 
  Bizon, Jane N.
  



• 
  Boudreau, Derrick J.
  



• 
  Breton, Annette
  



• 
  Byrnes, Mary D. (Rock)
  



• 
  Chase, Eileen T. (Landers)
  



• 
  Dragon, Bertille (Horton)
  



• 
  Florian, Raymond V.
  



• 
  Gilmore, Diana M. (Mantoni)
  



• 
  Gouvan, Dorothy A.
  



• 
  Guerci, Demetria
  



• 
  Guzzo, Joseph James "Jim"
  



• 
  Jackson, Raymond Thomas
  



• 
  Kilfeather SSJ, Sr. Anna James
  



• 
  LaPorte Jr., Orlanda (Joe)
  



• 
  LaPorte Jr., Orlando
  



• 
  Leab, Louise A. (Lohmann)
  



• 
  LeMay, Lucille I. (Aubrey)
  



• 
  Lizak, Theodore
  



• 
  McClary, Emma (Davis)
  



• 
  Montanari, Rose Alice (Quilty)
  



• 
  Munoz, Alejandro
  



• 
  Niziolek Jr., Joseph W.
  



• 
  O'Brien, Evelyn G. (LaVoice)
  



• 
  Orchulek, Hedwig (Lis)
  



• 
  Perez, Angel Rafael
  



• 
  Ribeiro, Jose
  



• 
  Ricard, Anne Marie (Lemieux)
  



• 
  Rondeau, William
  



• 
  Senecal, Marie J. (Menard)
  



• 
  Szewczyk, Dennis D.
  



• 
  Tanner, Edna R.
  



• 
  Wroblewski, Louis
  

Priozhkova has been a member of the USA Wrestling National Team for four years and has been training in Colorado.

Elena Pirozhkova reacts after beating Adeline Gray in the 63-kilogram freestyle final at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials, Sunday, April 22, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa.

By PAUL D. BOWKER

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Minutes after her victory in the U.S. Olympic Trials for Wrestling on Sunday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Greenfield’s Elena Pirozhkova began to understand the reality of it all.

In July, she’ll be in London to compete in her first Olympic Games.

Tears of joy began to drip down her sweaty face as she was nudged toward an NBC-TV interview. Words were hard to come by. The emotions? They flowed easily.

“Amazing,” said Pirizhkova, 25, a 2005 graduate of Greenfield High School. She has been a member of the USA Wrestling National Team for four years, and during that time has lived and trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

She has never been to London, except for a stop at London’s Heathrow Airport to connect to another international flight for a wrestling tournament. She has never been to the Olympics, either, and remembers watching only a few Olympic events on television while growing up.

So the prospect of becoming an Olympian “feels really good,” she said Sunday night. “It feels good.”

Pirozhkova, a four-time national champion, dominated Adeline Gray in the championship match of the 63-kilogram (139-pound) women’s freestyle competition by a total score of 12-1 over two rounds of matches. Except for one point in the final minute of the final period by Gray, Pirozhkova did not give up a point.

“She does not like to give up a point,” said Joe Corso, her coach at the Gator Wrestling Club.

And it was that strong defense which frustrated Gray, who had advanced through three matches in Sunday’s challenge round to meet Pirozhkova for the spot on the Olympic team. Each time Gray mounted an attack, Pirozhkova matched it.

“I did what I had to do,” Pirozhkova said.

Once it was over, thoughts turned to family. Pirozhkova broke down emotionally when asked if last year’s passing of her father, Sergey Pirozhkova, motivated her for a run toward an Olympic spot.

“It means a lot, you know?” she said.

Her brother, Viktor, made the trip from California to watch the match on the University of Iowa campus. Elena Pirozhkova, a native of Russia who moved with her family to Greenfield when she was 3 years old, was first introduced to wrestling by Viktor when she was in the seventh grade.

Saturday, he told his sister: “I wish this was in Massachusetts.”

Meanwhile, back in Greenfield, Tatyana Pirozhkova, Elena’s mother, among others, watched the action over the Internet.

“She was so excited to watch it,” Elena Pirozhkova said. “She’s such a huge supporter.”

Pirozhkova sometimes returns to Springfield to help put on wrestling clinics and meet youngsters competing in wrestling clubs. And she had a message for them Sunday night: “Dream big. You never know where it’s going to take you. I’m a girl from Springfield, Massachusetts.”

The tears suddenly turned into a smile.

“The things I think about my family, my mom, by brothers and my sisters, all my coaches.”

Pirozhkova advanced to the finals without having to wrestle in Sunday’s earlier challenge round. Her victory in the U.S. Open established Pirozhkova as the No. 1 seed at the Trials.

Zimmerman's ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it could be outside Florida.

George Zimmerman, left, walks out of the intake building at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility with an unidentified man on Sunday, April 22, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman posted bail on a $150,000 bond on a second degree murder charge in the February shooting death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin In Sanford, Fla. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman was released around midnight Sunday from a Florida county jail on $150,000 bail as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

The neighborhood watch volunteer was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans and carrying a paper bag. He walked out following another man and didn't look over at photographers gathered outside. He then followed the man into a white BMW vehicle and drove away.

Moments before, two Seminole County sheriff's vehicles blocked access to the intake building parking lot where Zimmerman was being released. Zimmerman emerged after two public information officers confirmed the credentials of the photographers outside.

No questions were shouted at Zimmerman, and he gave no statement.

His ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it could be outside Florida.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said at a hearing Friday he cannot have any guns and must observe a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew. Zimmerman also surrendered his passport.

Zimmerman had to put up 10 percent, or $15,000, to make bail. His father had indicated he might take out a second mortgage.

Zimmerman worked at a mortgage risk-management company at the time of the shooting and his wife is in nursing school. A website was set up to collect donations for Zimmerman's defense fund. It is unclear how much has been raised.

Bail is not unheard of in second-degree murder cases, and legal experts had predicted it would be granted for Zimmerman because of his ties to the community, because he turned himself in after he was charged last week, and because he has never been convicted of a serious crime.

Prosecutors had asked for $1 million bail, citing two previous scrapes Zimmerman had with the law, neither of which resulted in charges. In 2005, he had to take anger management courses after he was accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest Zimmerman's friend. In another incident, a girlfriend accused him of attacking her.

Zimmerman, 28, fatally shot Martin, 17, Feb. 26 inside the gated community where Zimmerman lived during an altercation. Martin was unarmed and was walking back to the home of his father's fiancée when Zimmerman saw him, called 911 and began following him. A fight broke out — investigators say it is unknown who started it.

Zimmerman says Martin, who was visiting from Miami, attacked him. Zimmerman says he Martin in self-defense, citing Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives broad legal protection to anyone who says they used deadly force because they feared death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman was not charged for over six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin's parents, civil rights groups and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is from Peru.

Earlier Sunday, Zimmerman's attorney was working to secure the money for bail and a safe place for Zimmerman to stay. But residents in Sanford, where Martin was killed, didn't expect a ruckus once Zimmerman was released.

City commissioners said they hadn't received calls from nervous residents. Protesters didn't show up outside the jail. And talk at one local coffee shop seldom focused on the case.

"It's just kind of a non-issue now," said Michele Church, a server at Mel's Family Diner. "That's pretty much all anybody in Sanford wanted, was an arrest, so it could be sorted out in the court system."

On Friday, a Florida judge agreed to let Zimmerman out on $150,000 bail. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara has said there are several options for where Zimmerman should go, but would not disclose any of them. Lester on Friday indicated Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state if arrangements with law enforcement could be made for him to be monitored. He will be fitted with an electronic device.

About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked "Bonds Rooms," where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited. Zimmerman had entered the jail about a week earlier after more than a month of nationwide protests calling for his arrest.

"The mood in Sanford has calmed down tremendously," said Sanford Commissioner Patty Mahany, whose district includes the neighborhood where Martin was killed. "I think now that people are able to see the justice system taking place, even though they understand it's going to be quite slow, people are willing to just remain calm and really we're all getting back to our daily routines."

A spokeswoman for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office declined to release any information about whether they were increasing patrols or security.

Defense attorneys for other high-profile clients who awaited trial on bail have said Zimmerman should leave Florida and refrain from going out in public. Sanford residents say they aren't expecting to see him around the neighborhood anytime soon.

"They've already said they're going to move him to a safe place," Church said. "Everyone has calmed down. That's all anyone in Sanford wanted, an arrest."

Meanwhile, Martin's parents published a "Card of Thanks" in The Miami Herald obituary page Sunday. The note says Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin express their appreciation for all the public's support since their son's death. The notice includes a photograph of Trayvon Martin dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, similar to one he was wearing the evening he was killed.

"Words will never express how your love, support and prayers lifted our spirits and continue to give us the strength to march on," the letter says.

The Electrical Workers will bring in a class of 15 to 17 apprentices in the spring. He said they have 60 applicants.

The Republican / Don Treeger3-22-11 Amherst - Republican photo by Don Treeger- New Laboratory Science Building at UMass under construction.

SPRINGFIELD – Construction workers in the Pioneer Valley have dreamed for years about the long-promised resort-style casino in Western Massachusetts and the 1,500 to 2,000 construction jobs that project would create.

But they also hold out hopes for a $400 million gas-fired power plant in Westfield that could mean 400 to 500 construction jobs. Then there is the long-talked-about rehabilitation of Springfield’s Union Station, said Daniel D’Alma, business manger of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 7 and president of the 5,000-member Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council in Springfield.

“I can honestly say that school construction has been good for the building tradesmen, and the road construction has helped, too,” D’Alma said, adding that unemployment in local construction unions runs as high as 25 or 30 percent.

He cited the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s new $186.5 million residential and teaching building for the Commonwealth Honors College.

“And things are getting better,” D’Alma said. “We’d like to see it a lot busier than it is.”

There were 10,300 construction workers, both union and nonunion, in Greater Springfield back in 2008, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The next year, that number fell to about 9,200 and has stayed there ever since. Construction employment was lower in the first two months of 2012 than it had been the year before, despite a mild winter in which a number of projects never shut down.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute say the picture might be brighter, though. They take issue with Bureau of Labor Statistics and say that more jobs in general, including construction jobs, were created last year than the federal government estimated based on its survey. That includes 4,200 construction jobs statewide.

At FutureWorks Career Center in Springfield, about 24 people were hired for construction jobs of all types in March. That was about 6 percent of the 419 people hired through FutureWorks that month.

“But when you drill down, you find out that it’s a lot of companies hiring early because of the mild weather,” said Rexene A. Picard, executive director of FutureWorks. “Even with the tornado recovery, private general contractors are very slow.”

Five or six years ago, construction was a reliable growth industry, she said. Back then, housing subdivisions and condominium complexes were sprouting up all over the region.

“It’s not going to be like it was in the past. There is more competition and, quite frankly, shrinking margins for contractors,” Picard said. “They have to bid less money to get jobs.”

D’Alma said local construction unions are keeping up with their apprentice training. Their members are getting older, he said. To keep the industry alive, the unions have to keep bringing in new talent.

“It’s a five-year process,” he said. “So we can’t wait.”

The Electrical Workers will bring in a class of 15 to 17 in the spring. He said they have 60 applicants.

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has 230 employees and it uses about 60 workers from an outside contractor.

SPRINGFIELD – Columbia Gas of Massachusetts plans to spend $44 million replacing nearly 15 miles of decaying steel and cast-iron gas pipe. It’s part of a 20-year program to replace infrastructure that dates back to just after World War II, said Sheila A. Doiron, director of communications and community relations for the gas company.

Formerly called Bay State Gas, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts distributes natural gas to about 300,000 customers in 60 communities throughout the state.

Of the $44 million, $16 million will be spent in Columbia Gas’s Springfield-area service territory. That territory includes 16 towns and cities including Springfield itself.

“All this pipe went in over a period of 15 or 20 years and was meant to last for 80 years,” she said. “And it has.”

Columbia Gas is replacing it with modern plastic pipe that resists corrosion and has more give to allow movement like frost heaves. The new pipe costs about $100 a foot to replace, she said.

Locally, Columbia Gas crews are already working on a mile-long replacement project on Union Street in Easthampton and about five miles of main replacement in Chicopee, which is being done in coordination with a sewer separation project there, Doiron said. There are 14 other smaller projects identified for action this year.

All that work means a lot of workers, Doiron said. Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has 230 employees and it uses about 60 workers from an outside contractor.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 6,387 units of new housing, single- and multi-family, given building permits in Massachusetts in 2011. That’s down from the 7,075 building permits issued in 2010, but a far cry from the 24,000 new housing units authorized in 2005, the height of the residential building boom.

The Republican / Michael S. GordonApril 10, 2012 - East Longmeadow - William P. Laplante, president of R. E. Laplante Construction, Inc. at the construction site of his company's new headquarters on Maple Street.

EAST LONGMEADOW -- Beginning in February, a strange thing started happening to East Longmeadow-based building contractor David Boyajian.

He started getting calls from people he’d met with six months before to discuss extensive remodeling projects in their homes.

“People have a little more confidence now,” Boyajian said. “They are willing to spend their money.”

That’s a welcome change for area builders, who have found themselves scrambling for work despite all those emergency house repairs made necessary by 2011’s floods, tornadoes and ice storms.

New home construction was especially hard-hit.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 6,387 units of new housing, single- and multi-family, given building permits in Massachusetts in 2011. That’s down from the 7,075 building permits issued in 2010, but a far cry from the 24,000 new housing units authorized in 2005, the height of the residential building boom.

“Fortunately we had a couple of large projects going on that carried us through,” said William P. Laplante, owner of R. E. Laplante Construction, also located in East Longmeadow.

Those projects included retail, like the Kringle Candle complex in Bernardston. His crews are now building a 7,500-square-foot office building at 94 Maple St. in East Longmeadow. It’ll be home to his company as well as another rental office suites. He’s got 95 percent of the space already spoken for.

“We’ve owned the property for five years now,” he said. “We’ve held off from doing something just because of the economy.”

There will always be a market for new office space, as long as it is at a visible, high-traffic location, said Kenneth Vincunas, general manager of Development Associates in Agawam. Development Associates is the broker-developer-manager for the I-91 Professional Center just off Interstate 91 Exit 18 at Northampton, near the Clarion Hotel.

The 33,000-square-foot-medical and professional office building is 65 percent leased, Vincunas said.

The company has also moved forward with a new professional-services complex at 200 Silver St. in Agawam.

Businesses may be moving, but homeowners are not, Boyajian said. Many, through no fault of their own having bought at the top of the market, are “upside down” on their homes and owe more than that home is worth. That means they are reluctant to move and lose money on the home they own now.

“So if a new child is on the way or if they need money, they build on where they are,” Boyajian said.

Laplante said his company is currently working on about 15 renovation projects.

“They are going through and doing windows, doors and just staying where they are,” he said.

When a customer does come to Laplante to build a new home, that person tends to want a smaller home than was common in the boom years. But homes are still full of features like fancy kitchens and bathrooms, just in less space.

“People are energy conscious,” Laplante said.