Obama is using the May 2 anniversary to help maximize a political narrative that portrays him as bold and decisive.

By ANNE GEARAN and STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama gave a steely defense of his handling of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and his use of it to burnish his re-election credentials a year later, saying Monday that it is appropriate to mark an anniversary that Republicans charge is being turned into a campaign bumper sticker.

He then jumped at the chance to portray presumed Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney as unprepared to make the kind of hard call required to send U.S. forces on that highly risky mission. Without mentioning Romney by name, Obama recommended looking at people's previous statements on the manhunt for the 9/11 mastermind.

Obama's re-election team has seized on a quote from Romney in 2007, when he said it was not worth moving heaven and earth to go after one person. On Monday, Romney said he "of course" would have ordered bin Laden killed, but his campaign criticized Obama for turning the successful death raid to political gain.

"I assume that people meant what they said when they said it," Obama said at a White House news conference. "That's been at least my practice. I said that I'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did. If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they'd do something else, then I'd go ahead and let them explain it."

Obama is using the May 2 anniversary to help maximize a political narrative that portrays him as bold and decisive. Romney has sought to cast Obama as weak and too quick to compromise on other foreign policy matters, including Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Obama and his national security team will be featured in an NBC prime-time special Wednesday night that reconstructs the operation from inside the White House Situation Room. White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan discussed Obama's command of the raid on a Sunday talk show and in a speech Monday.

"The death of bin Laden was our most strategic blow yet against al-Qaida," Brennan said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Credit goes to the special forces who carried out the raid and the intelligence experts who led them to the hideout, Brennan said, "and to President Obama, who gave the order to go in."

Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs. The terror leader was living in a compound outside the capital of Islamabad, having evaded capture for nearly 10 years.

Obama sent in the U.S. forces with no assurance that bin Laden was at the site, leading to a heart-pounding scene in the Situation Room that was captured in one of the most famous photos of Obama's presidency.

"It's unfortunate that President Obama would prefer to use what was a good day for all Americans as a cheap political ploy and an opportunity to distort Gov. Romney's strong policies on the war on terror," Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Monday. "President Obama's feckless foreign policy has emboldened our adversaries, weakened our allies, and threatens to break faith with our military."

File photo | Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Monday of the decision to raid Osama bin Laden's compound last year: "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order." (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Romney was scheduled to appear Tuesday in New York City with firefighters and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to help mark Wednesday's anniversary of bin Laden's death.

"I hardly think you've seen any excessive celebration taking place here," Obama said at the news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. His voice was taut and his smile thin.

"I think that people, the American people, rightly remember what we as a country accomplished in bringing to justice somebody who killed over 3,000 of our citizens."

In 2007, Romney told The Associated Press that it was not worth "moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

In a debate days later, he clarified the remark: "We'll move everything to get him. But I don't want to buy into the Democratic pitch that this is all about one person — Osama bin Laden — because after we get him, there's going to be another and another," Romney said.

Romney was critical of then-candidate Obama's vow to strike al-Qaida targets inside Pakistan if necessary. Obama said at the time that he would be willing to launch military strikes inside Pakistan with or without the government's approval.

Ultimately, that's exactly what Obama did to get bin Laden. The decision outraged Pakistan's U.S.-backed civilian government and fanned anti-U.S. sentiment across the country.

Romney and his advisers suggested Monday that the decision to order the raid was an easy one.

"Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said Monday following a campaign appearance in New Hampshire.

Romney probably meant that as a jab at the Democratic record on foreign policy generally, but invoking Carter may actually cloud Romney's message.

Carter demonstrated how dangerous and politically perilous such decisions can be when he ordered an attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran.

The 1980 mission ultimately embarrassed the nation, ending with the death of eight servicemen and the loss of several American helicopters. The hostage crisis lasted more than a year and helped deny Carter a second term.

If the bin Laden raid had gone similarly awry, Obama would have been badly damaged by a military debacle on top of the country's economic woes.

A spokeswoman for Carter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Peoples reported from Portsmouth, N.H.

Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma, said she's proud of her family ties to Cherokee and Delaware tribes — a heritage she said she learned through stories passed down to her from older family members.

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren, center, greets Bruce Trotto, of Shrewsbury, Mass., right, owner of Dinky's Blue Belle Diner, during a campaign stop at the diner in Shrewsbury, Sunday, April 29, 2012, as U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., left, looks on. Warren and her opponent Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown have vowed to fight attack ads on television, radio and the Internet, but in their emailed appeals to supporters, the two routinely portray each other in the harshest light possible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate campaign pitting Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown and likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren has taken an unexpected turn by delving into whether Warren has claimed Native American heritage in her academic career.

Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma, said she's proud of her family ties to Cherokee and Delaware tribes — a heritage she said she learned through stories passed down to her from older family members.

At the same time, Warren has said she wasn't aware officials at Harvard Law School had promoted her as a Native American faculty member in the 1990s, even though academic directories from 1986-1995 indicated Warren had identified herself as a "minority law teacher" before being hired by Harvard.

Warren hasn't talked about her Native American heritage on the campaign trail up until now.

Warren's campaign has yet to produce any documentation of her Native American ties, although they say they are looking. Warren also told reporters that she couldn't recall using her heritage to claim a minority status when seeking a job.

Brown's campaign manager, Jim Barnett, said the story "raises serious questions about Elizabeth Warren's credibility."

"Prof. Warren needs to come clean about her motivations for making these claims and explain the contradictions between her rhetoric and the record," Barnett said.

Warren's campaign accused Brown of using smears to call into question "the qualifications and ability of a woman."

"If Scott Brown has questions about Elizabeth Warren's well-known qualifications ... he ought to ask them directly instead of hiding behind the nasty insinuations of his campaign and trying to score political points," said Warren's campaign manager, Mindy Myers.

Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions raised by the media.

"If there are questions, she should answer them just like we've been asking and answering questions about our taxes," he said, referring to the candidates' recent release of their income tax returns. "If you're in this position and you're asked to be transparent, then you should do so."

The professor who recruited Warren to Harvard said that any suggestion that she got her job in part because of a claim of minority status is wrong.

"That's totally stupid, ignorant, uninformed and simply wrong," Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried said Monday. "I presented her case to the faculty. I did not mention her Native American connection because I did not know about it."

Former Boston mayor and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn, front right, faces reporters as U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left, looks on outside Sullivan's restaurant, in Boston's South Boston neighborhood, Monday, April 30, 2012. Flynn endorsed Brown for re-election to the senate seat over his opponent in the race Democrat Elizabeth Warren. Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions about her ancestry which are raised by the media. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The story first surfaced last week when the Boston Herald found a 1996 article in Harvard's student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, about student dissatisfaction about the number of women and minority professors on the Harvard Law faculty. In the story, Harvard Law spokesman Mike Chmura referred to Warren as Native American.

Warren said on Friday that she was unaware Harvard had promoted her as a minority professor.

Law school directories from the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 to 1995 put Warren on the association's list of "minority law teachers" when she was teaching at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania.

According to the directories, the list is made up of "those legal educators who stated they were members of a minority group."

Warren's campaign said she was told by older family members that her grandmother and grandfather on her mother's side could trace their lineage back to the Cherokee and Delaware tribes.

"She learned about her heritage the way most Americans learn about their heritage, from conversations with her parents, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles," said Warren campaign aide Kyle Sullivan.

Michael Dean with the Oklahoma Historical Society said it's not unusual for families from Oklahoma to claim some Native American heritage.

"There was so much intermarriage back in the 1890s that was fairly common," Dean said.

Tara Damron, assistant curator of the society's American Indian collection, said finding a definitive answer about Native American heritage can be difficult, not only because of intermarriage, but also because some Native Americans opted not to be put on federal rolls, while others who were not Native American did put their names on rolls to get access to land.

"There are a lot of people in Oklahoma who do have native lineage but can't prove that," Damron said.

Voters shot down debt exclusions to build a new police station in 2001 and 2002.

The Republican | Lori StabileOne of the holding cells for men at the Palmer police station.

PALMER — The Town Council unanimously voted on Monday night to bring forward a debt exclusion question for the construction of a new $7.4 million police station.

The council voted against bringing questions for a new Public Works Department facility at this time, despite councilors acknowledging the problems with the current facility on Bridge Street.

Councilor Barbara A. Barry said she felt there were too many unanswered questions regarding the two potential sites discussed for a public works facility.

One proposed site was Burleigh Park for $6 million; the other was 1221 South Main St., the site of Baldyga's Auto, for $4 million. She said she thought a facility at the park would cost less, and also noted that special legislation would have to be approved to build a facility there, as the land is a park.

Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard said other land in town would have to be designated for recreation as a swap to use Burleigh Park.

Public Works Director Craig Dolan took the news in stride.

"It was not unexpected," he said of the votes against the two projects. "It needs to be better pinned down, I agree."

"There's no question in my mind, the need is much greater for a police station," Dolan said.

Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said he was pleased the council endorsed putting the debt exclusion on the June 12 ballot.

"We're on the way, but we've got a long way to go. I just hope we get support from the voters," Frydryk said.

Frydryk said he doesn't like the idea of a tax increase any more than anyone else, but he thinks the amounts are reasonable.

Blanchard provided figures that showed over the 20-year bond, the impact on the average home valued at $185,000 that first year would be either $137.39 or $122.93 (depending on an interest rate of 4.5 percent or 3.5 percent). By the 20th year, the tax impact would be $106.48 or $98.88.

The votes followed a lengthy presentation from Reinhardt Associates, the firm that was hired for $70,000 to do the feasibility study for the buildings.

A 21,000-square-foot police station would be built on town land behind the Town Hall-Police Department on Main Street. The current building is 2,000-square-feet, and what was supposed to be a temporary trailer that was added in 2002 accounts for 900-square-feet of that space.

The trailer was supposed to last only five years.

Frydryk explained that the police have been in the Town Building since 1964, and he offered some statistics to show how things have changed.

Back then, there were 12 full-time officers. Now there are 20. There were 210 arrests in 1964. Last year, there were 890. There were 44 motor vehicle accident investigations in 1964. Last year, there were 375, he said.

He said the department has outgrown its space. There is no room for expansion, and he cited results of a dispatch center assessment that criticized a number of areas. Radio equipment is stored in the attic amid dead foul. The 911 equipment is in the basement in a spot that floods when prisoners overflow the toilets.

Frydryk said there are no lockers, or shower facilities for the officers. One officer recently had to go home and change outside his residence because his uniform was covered in blood after he responded to a car accident. He said detainees are brought in through the main lobby and often cross paths with people who are there for other services.

The new police station would have a 1,200-square-foot community meeting room that could be used for training. There is no space for that now.

Frydryk said the longer the town waits, the more expensive the project will become, and the need is not going away. He said everything could be fixed, but the facility would still be too small.

"It's terrible to consider we have this many officers working out of a space like this," Blanchard said. "The condition of the entire police facility is really deplorable."

District 4 Councilor Donald Blais called the station "unacceptable."

The new station would feature a sally port, where officers could drive their cruisers, allowing them to book prisoners in a specific area, away from the public. There would be lockers, and space for fitness equipment, storage and evidence, in the basement.

Instead of two holding areas, for men and women/juveniles, there would be four holding cells for men, two for women and two for juveniles. The cells now are frequently criticized by the state Department of Public Health for their poor condition, Frydryk said. Asbestos tiles are exposed in the women/juvenile cell.

If the question is approved, bids would go out in December.

Voters shot down debt exclusions to build a new police station in 2001 and 2002.

Hundreds of activists across the U.S. joined the worldwide May Day protests on Tuesday, with Occupy Wall Street members in several cities leading demonstrations against major financial institutions.

AP Photo/Eric RisbergCalifornia Highway Patrol members stand watch at the Golden Gate Bridge in preparation for possible May Day protests in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. Protesters had backed away from a call to block the bridge. But scores of California Highway Patrol officers nonetheless lined the span and gathered around the toll plaza this morning.

By MARCUS WOHLSEN
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hundreds of activists across the U.S. joined the worldwide May Day protests on Tuesday, with Occupy Wall Street members in several cities leading demonstrations against major financial institutions.

In New York, police in riot gear lined the front of a Bank of America, facing several dozen Occupy activists marching behind barricades. "Bank of America. Bad for America!" they chanted.

About 50 demonstrators in Chicago rallied outside another of the bank's branches. They allowed patrons to go inside, but the doorway was eventually blocked by police who placed their bicycles end to end.

Across the world, protests drew tens of thousands of demonstrators into the streets from the Philippines to Spain. They demanded everything from wage increases to an end to austerity measures.

Tuesday's U.S. protests were the most visible organizing effort by anti-Wall Street groups since Occupy encampments were dismantled last fall. May Day protests have in recent years focused on immigrant rights.

From New York to San Francisco, organizers of the various demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience said they were not too concerned about muddling their messages. They noted that the movements have similar goals: jobs, fair wages and equality.

Organizers of Chicago's rally said they welcomed participation from the Occupy groups. "I definitely see it as an enrichment of it," Orlando Sepulveda said. "It's great."

In Los Angeles, at least a half a dozen rallies were planned. A rally was also planned in Minneapolis.

In Atlanta, about 100 people rallied outside the Georgia Capitol, where a law targeting illegal immigration was passed last year. They called for an end to local-federal partnerships to enforce immigration law.

The May Day protest was significantly smaller than last year's, which drew about 1,000 people. Organizers said turnout last year was greater, in part, because the rally was on a Sunday, rather than during the work week.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, service on the Golden Gate Ferry was shut down as ferry workers went on strike. They have been in contract negotiations for a year in a dispute over health care coverage.

A coalition of bridge and bus workers said they will honor a picket line of at least 50 workers outside the ferry terminal. Several Occupy protesters joined them in the protest.

Organizers had backed away from earlier calls to block the Golden Gate Bridge, but scores of police — some carrying helmets and batons — lined the span during the morning rush hour nonetheless.

Some protesters with signs stood nearby, but did not disrupt traffic.

In New York, where the first Occupy camp was set up and where large protests attracted some of the earliest attention — and mass arrests — to the movement, protesters gathered at Bryant Park in Manhattan.

They prepared to march to various financial institutions, including Chase and Citibank. The crowd grew to several hundred toward noon, with a drum-and-brass live band as a soundtrack.

John Connors, who said he was a financial analyst, took the day off, as well as his shirt, revealing a chest with the words, "Black Hole of Finance," painted on it.

Threatening letters containing a white powder that appeared to be corn starch were sent to some institutions.

Three letters were received Tuesday, two at News Corp. headquarters and addressed to the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, and one to Citigroup. The message in the letters said: "Happy May Day."

Seven letters were received Monday at various banks. One was sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Occupy activists had said they planned to bring business to a standstill, but the crowds protesting in the rain Tuesday morning were modest.

The Occupy movement in New York has relied on demonstrations and marches around the city since Nov. 15, when police ousted hundreds of protesters from their base in Zuccotti Park, where they had camped since Sept. 17.

Paul Browne, the police department's chief spokesman, said recently that the department was "experienced at accommodating lawful protests and responding appropriately to anyone who engages in unlawful activity.

"And we're prepared to do both," he said.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press photographer Eric Risberg and writers Terry Collins in Oakland, Samantha Gross, Colleen Long and Verena Dobnik in New York, Christina Hoag in Los Angeles, Peter Prengaman and Dorie Turner in Atlanta, Doug Glass in Minneapolis and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.

.

President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan Tuesday night on an unannounced visit on the anniversary of the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Obama is signing an agreement cementing a U.S. commitment to the nation after the long and unpopular war comes to an end.

AP Photo/Charles DharapakPresident Barack Obama is greeted by Lt. Gen. Curtis "Mike" Scaparrotti, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker as he steps off Air Force One at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

By BEN FELLER
AP White House Correspondent

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan Tuesday night on an unannounced visit on the anniversary of the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Obama is signing an agreement cementing a U.S. commitment to the nation after the long and unpopular war comes to an end.

The partnership spells out the US relationship with Afghanistan beyond 2014, covering security, economics and governance. The deal is limited in scope and essentially gives both sides political cover: Afghanistan gets its sovereignty and a promise it won't be abandoned, while the U.S. gets to end its combat mission but keep a foothold in the country.

The deal does not commit the United States to any specific troop presence or spending. But it does allow the U.S. to potentially keep troops in Afghanistan after the war ends for two specific purposes: continued training of Afghan forces and targeted operations against al-Qaida, which is present in neighboring Pakistan but has only a nominal presence inside Afghanistan.

Obama was greeted at Bagram Airfield by Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Obama then flew by helicopter to the presidential palace in Kabul, where he was to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and sign the strategic partnership.

Officials have previously said as many as 20,000 U.S. troops may remain after the combat mission ends, but that still must still be negotiated.

The United States does promise to seek money from Congress every year to support Afghanistan.

Obama was to be on the ground for about seven hours in Afghanistan, where the United States has been engaged in war for more than a decade following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The trip carries major symbolic significance for a president seeking a second term and allows him to showcase what the White House considers the fruit of Obama's refocused war effort: the demise of bin Laden.

Air Force One touched down late at night local time at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base here.

Media traveling with Obama on the 13-plus-hour flight had to agree to keep it secret until Obama had safely finished a helicopter flight to the nation's capital, Kabul, where Taliban insurgents still launch lethal attacks.

Obama is joining Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign the agreement that will broadly govern the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the American combat mission stops at the end of 2014 — 13 years after it began.

Obama will also give a speech designed to reach Americans in the U.S. dinnertime hour of 7:30 p.m. EDT. It will be 4 a.m. here when Obama speaks.

His war address will come exactly one year after special forces, on his order, began the raid that led to the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.

Since then, ties between the United States and Afghanistan have been tested anew by the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. base and the massacre of 17 civilians, including children, allegedly by an American soldier.

Obama's overarching message will be that the war is ending on his watch but the U.S. commitment to its ally is not.

Politics, too, set the tone for what the White House hoped would be a positive message and image for Obama: the commander in chief setting a framework to end the war while reassuring Afghanistan, on its soil, it will not be abandoned.

At home, Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has retorted to the Obama campaign's suggestion that Romney might not have gone after bin Laden as Obama did.

"Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said of the Democratic president ousted after one term.

Obama has tried to portray inconsistency in Romney's position on the merits of targeting bin Laden. Without mentioning Romney by name, Obama has said he has been consistent and if others have not, "let them explain it."

Obama aides said the anniversary of bin Laden's killing is not a focus of the trip. But they do not mind that Obama's mission will serve as a reminder, six months before Election Day.

More than 1,800 U.S. forces have been killed and 15,700 more have been wounded in Afghanistan.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined have cost almost $1.3 trillion. And public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan seems lower than ever.

Obama has gone twice before to Afghanistan as president, most recently in December 2010, and once to Iraq in 2009. All such trips, no matter how carefully planned, carry the weight and the risks of considerable security challenges. Just last month, the Taliban began near-simultaneous assaults on embassies, government buildings and NATO bases in Kabul.

Still, it would have been unusual for Obama to sign the "strategic partnership" agreement without Karzai at his side.

The deal is essential for locking in America's commitment and Afghan's sovereignty when the post-war period comes. Negotiations have dragged as Afghan officials have demanded specific assurances, financial and otherwise.

Both sides have scrambled to get a deal before the NATO conference in Chicago later this month. Negotiators seemed to clear the way for Obama and Karzai by finding agreement over the conduct of night raids and authority over detainees.

The president was to travel back from Kabul to the Bagram base to spend some time with troops.

He was then to give his speech in a straight-to-camera delivery reminiscent of an Oval Office address, before flying back to the U.S. He is expected back in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.

The United States has 88,000 troops in Afghanistan. An additional 40,000 in coalition forces remain from other nations.

Obama has already declared that NATO forces will hand over the lead combat role to Afghanistan in 2013 as the U.S. and its allies work to get out by the end of 2014.

One important unsettled issue, however, is how many U.S. troops may remain after that.

U.S. officials are eying a residual force of perhaps 20,000, many in support roles for the Afghan armed forces, and some U.S. special forces for counterterror missions. The size and scope of that U.S. force — if one can be agreed upon on at all, given the public moods and political factors in both nations — will probably have to be worked out later in a separate agreement.

Support for keeping American troops in Afghanistan is dropping all along the political spectrum, a new Pew Research poll says. And just 38 percent of people say the military effort is going well, down from 51 percent only a month ago.

Overall, polling shows, Obama gets favorable marks compared to Romney in handling terrorism, and the president's public approval for his handling of the Afghan war has hovered around 50 percent of late.

The trip allows Obama to hold forth as commander in chief in the same week he plans to launch his official campaign travel with rallies in Virginia and Ohio.

"We've spent the last three-and-a-half years cleaning up after other folks' messes," Obama said at a fundraiser last weekend. "The war in Iraq is over. We're transitioning in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida is on the ropes. We've done what we said we'd do."

___

AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan, Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story.

Two members of McKenzie's church were in the courtroom and described the man as a good person.

The Republican | Don Treeger05.01.2012 | SPRINGFIELD - George McKenzie appears in Springfield District Court for his arraignment on charges that he threw items at and stomped on a hawk Tuesday morning.

Updates a story posted at 9:20 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD -- District Court Judge William P. Hadley set bail for George McKenzie at $1,000 personal surety after the 64-year-old city man denied a felony animal cruelty charge Tuesday afternoon.

McKenzie, of 71 Florida St., allegedly hit a hawk and stomped on the bird as police officers watched in the city’s Metro Center neighborhood Tuesday morning.

After describing the scenario behind the charge to judge Hadley, Assistant District Attorney Marie Angers asked for $1,000 cash bail. But Jesse Burch, a public defender representing McKenzie at the arraignment, argued against any cash amount of bail.

He said McKenzie has had no involvement with the criminal justice system in this country in the 10 years he has lived here.

Two members of McKenzie's church were in the courtroom and described McKenzie as a good person.

McKenzie's next court date is June 12.

Under state law, animal cruelty carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in state prison or 2 1/2 years in a house of correction. A $2,500 fine may be levied in addition to or in place of imprisonment.

President Obama made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on the one-year anniversary of the attack that killed terrorist Osama bin Laden.

• Police chief in Middleborough proposes $20 fine for swearing [CBS Boston.com]


• Father and son found guilty of illegally killing bear in Royalston [Telegram & Gazette]


Photo by Charles Dharapak / Associated PressPresident Barack Obama is greeted by Lt. Gen. Curtis "Mike" Scaparrotti, left, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker, second left, as he steps off Air Force One at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, Tuesday. Click on the report from the Washington Post, above right, for a report on the president's surprise visit.
• President Obama makes surprise visit to Afthanistan on anniversary of Osama bin Laden's slaying [Washington Post]


• FBI arrests 5 accused of plotting to blow up Ohio 82 bridge in Cuyahoga valley [Cleveland.com]


• $1,000 reward offered for information in shooting of 2 cats in Palmer [WWLP-TV, 22 News, Chicopee]


• 2 women found dead behind Lynnhurst Elementary School in Saugus; foul play suspected [Boston.com]


• Oklahoma Superme Court refuses to give 'personhood' rights to embryos [Tulsa World]


• Illegal alien accused of running down Watertown man won't be deported, after all [Boston Herald]


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


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The panel overseeing the state's new casino gambling law has selected an interim executive director.

The Associated PressMembers of the five-person Massachusetts Gaming Commission are shown in this panel of photos taken during a news conference in Boston Tuesday, March 20, 2012, where the last two appointees were introduced. From left the members are: Enrique Zuniga, James F. McHugh, Chairman Steve Crosby, Bruce Stebbins, and Gayle Cameron. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

BOSTON (AP) — The panel overseeing the state's new casino gambling law has selected an interim executive director.

Stan McGee is expected to serve in the post for the next several months until a permanent executive director is named.

McGee is currently assistant secretary of policy and planning for the state's executive office of Housing and Economic Development.

The five-member Gaming Commission also announced at a meeting on Tuesday that it was tapping Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department, to serve as the panel's full-time communications director.

The commission will eventually select among bidders for up to three resort-style casinos and one slots parlor in Massachusetts, and will regulate the gambling facilities once they begin operations.

The area is home to bears, deer, bobcats, fishers and other wildlife.

File photo | The Republican08.11.2008 | NORTHAMPTON — Rosel A. and Armand R. LaPalme are seen during a ceremony honoring their help in establishing the Mineral Hills Conservation Area on Sylvester Road in Northampton. The Mineral Hills Conservation Area has an extensive trail system.

NORTHAMPTON — The city has closed on a deal to buy 96 acres of land in the Mineral Hills, bringing the vision of a preserved, uninterrupted wildlife corridor one step closer to fruition.

The $612,500 deal with Joan C. Sarafin of Northampton went through on April 27. A state grant and Community Preservation funds helped finance the deal. According to Northampton Planning Director Wayne Feiden, no other taxpayer dollars went into the purchase.

The 96 acres is the companion parcel in the northern section of the Mineral Hills to a 5.8-acre parcel in the southern end near Turkey Hill Road. With help from conservation organizations such as the Kestrel Trust, a large swath of undeveloped land near Northampton’s border with Westhampton has been preserved for recreation and as wildlife habitat.

In 2006, the city bought 120 acres at the end of Turkey Hill Road for $680,000 with the help of a fundraising campaign. The area is home to bears, deer, bobcats, fishers and other wildlife.

According to Feiden, the city is working with the Kestrel Trust to buy another 25 acres in Westhampton that abuts the conservation area. The fundraising effort for that purchase is ongoing.

New Hampshire police issued a warrant for Trainor's arrest after determining he was a suspect in an April 20 knife assault.

Jeffery Trainor

SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Marshals arrested a 28-year-old Springfield man Monday evening in the parking lot at Allen and Cooley streets, charging him in connection with a knife assault ten days earlier in Newport, N.H.

Jeffery S. Trainor of 88 Maple St. Springfield, was arrested on a charge of first-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a knife.

He was taken into custody by member of the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force,
Springfield and Holyoke police and the state police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section.

Police in Newport, N.H. issued a warrant for Trainor after identifying him as one of the suspects in an April 20 stabbing. A man suffered a large slashing injury to his arm
during what police called a large fight involving several people.

Newport police were able to develop information during the investigation that Trainor was from Springfield.

He is scheduled to be returned to Newport, N.H. to face charges.

Newport, N.H. is roughly 110 miles north of Springfield.

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Town offices will reopen on Thursday at 9 a.m.

The Republican/John SuchockiTown offices, including the town clerk's office, are at the former Hillside School on Thompson Street in Monson.

MONSON — The town offices at the former Hillside School on Thompson Street will close at noon on Wednesday so that staff can attend professional development training.

Town offices will reopen on Thursday at 9 a.m.

The terrier mix, who was found tied on a leash to a tree on a trail behind the Shell Station on Route 181, has been adopted. No one ever called to claim him, the animal control officer said.

submitted photoThis is an X-ray of Tom, Stephen G. Fellers' cat, which was shot twice by a BB or pellet gun last month. The BBs can be seen in the X-ray.

PALMER — Animal Control Officer Wendy LeSage said a $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of the person, or persons, who shot two cats with a BB or pellet gun in the area of Main Street in Bondsville recently.

Half the reward money came from Lt. Alan Borgal of the Animal Rescue League in Boston. The other $500 came from Stephen G. Fellers, whose 12-year-old cat Tom was hit twice with BBs or pellets, LeSage said.

"I hope the rewards are enough, so people doing it should realize they should stop," Fellers said. "Hopefully it will make them realize what they're doing is wrong."

He said his cat seems to be OK; the cat was treated at Mill Valley Veterinary Clinic in Belchertown.

Fellers' neighbor, Melissa A. McDonough, said her 2-year-old cat, Gizmo, also was struck by a BB in the back. She said she could feel it under the cat's skin. McDonough said she hopes the reward works. She and Fellers live in the same building.

submitted photoA BB was removed from Gizmo the cat's back at Palmer Animal Clinic.

McDonough said the cat belongs to her 6-year-old daughter and it is upsetting to think somebody would hurt it intentionally.

"We're happy that she's OK," McDonough said.

Dr. Michelle Haroules at VCA Palmer Animal Clinic donated more than $200 of services to remove the BB from Gizmo's back, LeSage said.

While there initially were three reported cat shooting incidents, LeSage said they have evidence of only the two. She hopes the reward brings more leads. Even though finding the culprit may be difficult, LeSage said she is not letting this go.

"Both of these cats are dearly loved members of their families. It is heartbreaking to think they have been in pain and no one knew why. We will not accept cruelty to animals as a way of life; we will be the voice that the animal does not have, and we will do everything possible to get a conviction," LeSage said.

She added that cruelty to animals is a felony in Massachusetts.

"Please help us find the monster who did this," LeSage wrote in an email.

Anyone with information about the cat shootings is asked to call the police at (413) 283-8792.

In other news, LeSage said she never got any leads about the 4-year-old terrier mix that was found in Bondsville last month, tied on a leash to a tree on a trail behind the Shell Station on Route 181.

Because no one contacted her about the dog, it was put up for adoption at Medfield Animal Shelter; a family recently adopted the dog, she said.

State police announced they plan to run a sobriety checkpoint in Hampden County on the evening and morning of May 5 and 6

Republican file photoIn this file photo from Dec. 30, 2007, Mass. State Trooper Thomas Jensen conducts a series of tests to check the sobriety of a suspected drunk driver at a checkpoint in West Springfield. The man was later arrested for drunken driving. State police are planning a sobriety checkpoint for March 30-31 somewhere in Hampden County.

SPRINGFIELD – State police announced they plan to run a sobriety checkpoint in Hampden County on the evening and morning of May 5 and 6

The exact location was not disclosed.

The state police conduct periodic checkpoints throughout the state to look for drivers who are impaired by drugs or alcohol.

State police say such checkpoints are operated during varied hours and that the selection of vehicles is arbitrary. Announcement of the event is made in advance by the state police as a way of minimizing any inconvenience, anxiety or fear on the part of drivers.

The checkpoints are funded by a grant from the Highway Safety Division of the state Executive Office of Public Security and Safety.

At a similar checkpoint April 21-22, state police arrested nine people for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, made six arrests on other charges, recovered a stolen vehicle, issued 50 motor vehicle citations.

A US News & World Report survey ranked UMass 42nd among public universities, up 10 spots from 2010 to 2012.

AMHERST – University of Massachusetts Chancellor Robert C. Holub, in an email sent Tuesday to the campus community, outlined some of the accomplishments achieved during his four years here.

Robert Holub

Holub is preparing to step down June 30. He announced June 30 of last year he would step down in a year. Kumble R. Subbaswamy, a physicist and provost at the University of Kentucky, was hired as chancellor in March. His starting date is July 1.

Holub’s three-year contract was not extended last year, but he agreed to remain for the year. The evaluation committee never issued its report, but unnamed sources at the time said the committee would not recommend Holub be rehired. Since then Robert L. Caret became UMass president, replacing Jack M. Wilson.

In his message, Holub thanked the greater community for all its work. “These campus records, national recognitions, and achievements could not have been accomplished without the dedicated work of hundreds of individuals across the campus, as well as many individuals from the community and from our wonderful and loyal alumni,” he wrote.

Holub wrote that he came to UMass in 2008 “to help move the Amherst campus into the top tier of public research institutions in the country … while we may not have achieved everything we set out to do, we certainly made tremendous progress.”

Holub has wanted the university to be invited to join the American Association of Universities.

Subbaswamy has said he wants to reexamine that goal. He said he felt UMass is already there in academic quality and it makes sense to talk about whether the university wants to focus on the requirements of membership.

Photo by Don Treeger/ The RepublicanKumble Subbaswamy

Holub cited among the highlights of his tenure bringing in a record $170 million in research grants, raising $57 million in a single year in campus fundraising and securing the first two eight-figure gifts in campus history.

Also he pointed out the university's move from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, the top level of college football.

“I am particularly proud of our achievements in campus inclusion, represented not only by our record percentages and numbers of racially diverse undergraduate students, but also by our recognition as a campus friendly to veterans and LGBT students," Holub wrote. "We were ranked 27th in Military Times and in the top 15% of “military friendly” schools by GI Jobs, and cited as a “welcoming campus” by the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index.”

He touted a number of records, including retaining 88.7 percent of the first-year students into the second year and a 70 percent six-year graduation rate.

A US News & World Reportsurvey ranked UMass 42nd among public universities, up 10 spots from 2010 to 2012. “We are at the highest point in campus history,” he wrote.

“We have concluded a partnership agreement with Springfield and established a physical presence in the city, and achieved the best relationship with the town of Amherst in many decades,” he wrote.

He also wrote, “I am confident that UMass Amherst will continue its ascent, and I hope that in a very few years it accomplishes the goal that first attracted me to lead this great institution: the rise into the very top echelon of public research universities in the nation.”

The fastest growth in U.S. manufacturing in 10 months gave stocks a lift.

By MATTHEW CRAFT | AP Business Writer

File photo | Associated PressThe entrance to the Sears Holdings Corp. Prairie Stone campus area in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Sears Holdings Corp. stock soared 15 percent on Tuesday, the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The operator of Kmart and Sears stores expects to post a first-quarter profit thanks to a gain from the sale of some U.S. and Canadian stores. The company's stock has jumped 99 percent so far this year.

NEW YORK — The fastest growth in U.S. manufacturing in 10 months gave stocks a lift Tuesday and pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close in more than four years.

Manufacturing expanded last month at the strongest pace since June, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Orders, hiring and production all rose.

A measure of manufacturing employment also reached a nine-month high, a hopeful sign ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report.

The manufacturing news jolted stock indexes out of a morning stupor, although the gains waned throughout the afternoon. The Dow added 65.69 points to 13,279.32, its highest closing mark since Dec. 28, 2007, during the first month of the Great Recession.

"It definitely changed the direction of markets," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.

Treasury prices fell, and benchmark crude oil rose $1.29 to settle at $106.16 per barrel. Both of those things tend to happen when investors expect stronger economic growth.

Ablin saw an irony in the reaction to the ISM report. Europe's debt crisis has knocked markets around for months, jerking stocks down on worries its troubles could cross the Atlantic. But Europe's woes have made U.S. manufacturers look more attractive to companies, Ablin said.

"It's gotten to a point over last 10 years where it's better to manufacture here than in pretty much any other developed country in the world," he said.

In a separate report Tuesday, the Commerce Department said construction spending ticked up in March, following two months of declines.

Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, said the two reports looked like evidence that the U.S. economic recovery is solid despite turmoil in Europe and weaker job creation in March.

"I think investors are encouraged there's at least one place in the world where it's still worth investing," Stovall said. "They're not ready to give up on this bull market yet."

Other indexes pushed higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points to 1,406. The Nasdaq composite climbed four points to 3,050.

All 10 industry groups within the S&P 500 climbed, led by energy companies. Chesapeake Energy Corp. jumped 6 percent on reports that the company will strip CEO Aubrey McClendon of his chairman's title.

McClendon, Chesapeake's founder, was under fire for taking out more than $1 billion in loans using the company's wells as collateral. Chesapeake recently agreed to end the program that allowed McClendon to take personal stakes in the wells.

The S&P finished April in the red, its first losing month since November. The Dow managed a tiny gain.

Judging by its track record, May isn't a promising month for stocks. Since World War II, the S&P 500 has gained an average of 0.31 percent in May. For all months, the average gain is 0.67 percent.

"It's a very undistinguished month," Stovall said.

Among stocks making big moves:

• Sears Holdings Corp. soared 15 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The operator of Kmart and Sears stores expects to post a first-quarter profit thanks to a gain from the sale of some U.S. and Canadian stores. The company's stock has jumped 99 percent so far this year.

• Archer Daniels Midland Co. gained 7 percent after the food conglomerate reported profits that beat analysts' expectations. Profits dropped by nearly a third over the past year, pulled down by one-time charges and lower weaker results from its ethanol and oilseeds businesses.

• Avon Products Inc. fell 8 percent, the largest drop in the S&P. The company said earnings plunged 82 percent, hurt by a bigger restructuring charge, commodity costs and rising labor costs. The results were worse than analysts had expected.

Fusco is accused of 5 criminal counts, including a racketeering conspiracy prosecutors say lasted 10 years and included the 2003 murders of Mafia boss Al Bruno and low-level associate Gary Westerman.

NEW YORK — Jurors in the murder trial of Longmeadow gangster Emilio Fusco ended deliberations on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan without reaching a verdict.

Emilio Fusco

The jury is scheduled to resume consideration of the charges on Wednesday morning. They began deliberations Tuesday morning after listening to eight days of testimony and arguments.

Fusco, 43, is accused of five criminal counts including a racketeering conspiracy prosecutors say lasted 10 years and included the 2003 murders of Springfield, Mass., Mafia boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and low-level associate and police informant Gary D. Westerman.

Fusco has denied involvement in the murders and has rebutted arguments by the government that he fled to his native Italy in 2010 to avoid prosecution in this case. He was arrested by Italian authorities in a small village on the Amalfi Coast four months after he boarded a flight from the United States. However, his lawyer told jurors Fusco was delayed by his ailing mother's health and an Icelandic volcanic eruption that interrupted European air travel.

This story will be updated with more details later tonight

Campaign donations in the contest between GOP incumbent Sen. Scott Brown and chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren have already topped $30 million.

View full sizeRepublican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren. (AP photos)

By STEVE LeBLANC

BOSTON — The U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts is not only one of the most closely watched in the nation, it's also turning out to be the most expensive.

Campaign donations in the contest between GOP incumbent Sen. Scott Brown and chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren have already topped $30 million, with Election Day still more than six months away.

A review of Federal Election Commission records by The Associated Press found the next most expensive race was in Texas, which includes a crowded Republican primary. Donations in the Texas race have neared $28.5 million.

The state with the third most expensive race in terms of total donations is Florida, where candidates have collectively pulled in more than $17 million.

Brown and Warren have signed a pledge limiting advertising by third-party groups.

Obama's re-election campaign has used his decision to order the U.S. military raid that ended with the 9/11 mastermind's death to suggest that Romney would not have made the same call.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, accompanied by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani speaks to the media after touring New York Fire Department Engine 24 Ladder 5, Tuesday, May 1, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

By BETH FOUHY

NEW YORK — Republican Mitt Romney said Tuesday that it was "totally appropriate" for President Barack Obama to claim credit for taking out Osama bin Laden a year ago but that his decision to politicize a unifying event for the country was not.

Obama's re-election campaign has used his decision to order the U.S. military raid that ended with the 9/11 mastermind's death to suggest that Romney would not have made the same call. Romney, the president's all-but-certain Republican challenger in the fall election, says he would have made the same decision.

Marking the anniversary at a New York City fire house that lost 11 men on Sept. 11, 2001, Romney said he understood the president's desire to take credit for killing one of the world's most-wanted men.

"It's totally appropriate for the president to express to the American people the view that he has that he had an important role in taking out Osama bin Laden," Romney said after visiting the lower Manhattan fire station with Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center's twin towers and killed nearly 3,000 people.

"I think politicizing it and trying to draw a distinction between himself and myself was an inappropriate use of the very important event that brought America together," Romney said.

He and Giuliani had just eaten pizza with several fire fighters.

For his part, Obama marked the occasion by putting the power of incumbency on display. He flew unannounced to Afghanistan to sign an agreement cementing the U.S. commitment to that country after the unpopular war there ends. His predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, sent in troops shortly after 9/11 to eradicate Taliban and al-Qaida forces.

Romney insisted that he, too, would have ordered the strike on bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan.

"Of course I would have ordered taking out Osama bin Laden," Romney said outside the fire house, echoing comments from a day earlier. "This is a person who had done terrible harm to America and who represented a continuing threat to civilized people throughout the world. Had I been president of the United States I would have made the same decision."

Democrats have pointed to Romney's suggestion, during his failed 2008 presidential bid, that he would have taken a different course of action. He said in 2007 that it was "not worth moving heaven and earth" to catch one person.

Obama was asked about the matter on Monday at a White House news conference and, without saying Romney's name, suggested that people should be held accountable for past statements about the pursuit of bin Laden.

Giuliani, a former Romney rival and critic who since has endorsed the former Massachusetts governor's bid, also said Obama shouldn't use the anniversary to attack Romney.

"If he wants to take credit for it I have no problem with that at all. I wish he wouldn't use it as a source of negative campaigning. I think that's a big mistake," he said. The former mayor had staked his failed 2008 bid for the Republican presidential nomination on his post-9/11 leadership of the city.

Romney also tried to clarify another comment from 2007, when then-candidate Obama was being criticized for saying he would conduct unannounced raids inside Pakistan if high-level terror targets were determined to be hiding there. Romney criticized Obama at the time, saying: "I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours."

Romney sought to soften that Tuesday by suggesting he had simply criticized Obama for signaling his intentions about what he would do as president.

"We always reserve the right to go anywhere to get Osama bin Laden," Romney said. "I said that very clearly in the response that I made, but that I thought — and many people believed as I did — that it was naive on the part of the president at that time, the candidate, to say he would go into Pakistan."

Before visiting the fire station, Romney ate breakfast with the current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who has avoided endorsing anyone in the presidential race so far. Bloomberg was elected as a Republican but is now an independent. He flirted with the idea of running for president in 2008 as an independent.

Asked Tuesday whether he would make an endorsement, Bloomberg didn't shut the door.

"I'll see down the road," he said after Romney had departed. He said Obama and Romney are "both very smart, very formidable candidates. They're very different and they give the public a real choice."

The money for the grants was included in the 2010 federal health care law.

Two community health centers in Western Massachusetts on Tuesday won federal grants that will help them improve dental services.

The Holyoke Health Center received two grants, one for $2.8 million and another for $414,000.

The Caring Health Center in Springfield received $310,000.

The money for the grants was included in the 2010 federal health care law.

Jay Breines

Jay A. Breines, executive director of the Holyoke Health Center, said the larger grant will be used for building a pediatric dental center to meet a strong need and expand dental services for children and people up to 21 years old. The pediatric dental center, which will include new equipment and eight chairs, will be built at the health center's current building at 230 Maple St. in downtown Holyoke.

The new pediatric dental center would complement the health center's residency program that provides teaching to eight people in graduate training for dentistry. The center also has four faculty in the program, giving it 12 pediatric dentists in all, including the eight in the residency program.

"Obviously, it's fantastic," Breines said of the grant. "It's wonderful news."

The $414,000 grant will be for maintenance such as upgrading a ventilation system.

Kathleen Sebelius

Anne S. Awad, chief executive of the Caring Health Center, said the grant will be used for upgrading the dental clinic at the center's Forest Park site. The money will add a dental chair and finance new X-ray technology, she said.

"It will be a lot off work but it will result in our ability to serve more patients better," Awad center.

Separately, the Caring Health Center is also planning to start construction in July on an expansion to its main medical clinic in the South End of Springfield that will include new dental chairs.

President Barack Obama's health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, on Tuesday unveiled 13 separate grants to community health centers in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts grants together are worth $33.7 million.

A total of $728 million was awarded across the nation to the health centers, which are neighborhood clinics that mostly serve low-income people or people in regions with a lack of access to primary health care.

"This investment will expand our ability to provide high-quality care to millions of people while supporting good paying jobs in communities across the country," Sebelius said in a prepared statement.

Classes were canceled for the day and no children saw the bodies.

Republican file photo

SAUGUS — Investigators have identified a 54-year-old Lynn woman as one of the two apparent homicide victims found outside a Saugus elementary school.

A spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney's office said Tuesday that Donna Breau was identified through her fingerprints.

Carrie Kimball-Monahan said the other woman is believed to be a close relative of Breau's, but she hasn't been positively identified.

She said the state medical examiner's office is expected to conduct autopsies on Wednesday.

The bodies were found on the ground at about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday by an employee at Lynnhurst Elementary School. Classes were cancelled for the day and no children saw the bodies.

Monahan said there were obvious signs of foul play, but didn't provide details.