Prosecutors said Eric Sideri beat Lou Oliveira with a baseball bat, punched him in the face and accused him of taking $21,000 from the restaurant.

WOBURN — A Tyngsborough pizza restaurant operator has been sentenced to four to five years in prison for assaulting an employee he accused of theft.

Eric Sideri of North Andover was sentenced Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court. He was convicted in February, when he was acquitted of a more serious kidnapping charge. A co-defendant prosecutors said was present at the time of the assault was found not guilty in the case.

Prosecutors said Sideri ambushed Lou Oliveira, a manager at Angela's Coal Fired Pizza in Tyngsborough, while he was working late in March 2009. Prosecutors said he beat Oliveira with a baseball bat, punched him in the face and accused him of taking $21,000 from the restaurant. Oliveira denied he stole any money, and authorities found there was no proof that he had.

There are 52 students in the manufacturing technology program at Westfield Vocational Technical High School.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanJordan Kornacki, right , of Blanford, a junior in the Westfield Vocational -Technical High School machine technology department explains what he is working on to Massachusetts Secretary of Education S. Paul Reville, during a tour of the school Tuesday.

WESTFIELD – When David A. Amanti, vice president of Advance Manufacturing in Westfield, hires a graduate of Westfield Vocational Technical High School he knows he is getting someone trained to step in to his shop and get to work.

After all, Amanti and the people who run other area precision manufacturers had a hand in designing the program at Westfield Vocational Technical in a partnership state Education Secretary S. Paul Reville said Tuesday should be a model for the entire state.

“Not just at the vocational schools,” Reville said following a tour of the Westfield program. “I would like to get employers more involved in the comprehensive schools as well. There are so many students at our high schools who are bright, but they aren’t engaged. They don’t see a connection between what they are learning and a career.”

Richard T. Lanier is an adviser to the program who is recently retired from Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks and worried about the impact of standardized testing on vocational training. Lanier said he doesn’t want classes designed to get students to pass the MCAS crowding out technical courses.

Reville said he understands the concern, but he believes technical courses are a good way to teach skills measured by the tests. For example, algebra makes more sense to students who use the skill in shop.

Reville said vocational education is a big part of the Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s Gateway Cities Agenda, a plan for helping the economies of older manufacturing cities that have fallen on hard times in recent decades.

There are about 500 students at Westfield Vocational Technical High School and 52 in the manufacturing technology program, said Clement D. Fucci, manufacturing technology teacher. Each year the senior class has jobs in hand before they graduate. Fucci said starting salaries run in the $40,000 to $50,000 a year with benefits.

Many of the workers on those shop floors now are nearing retirement age, said David M. Cruise, director of business and employer services at the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. Through a survey, the Regional Employment Board estimates that the 330-or-so machine shops in the Pioneer Valley and northern Connecticut will have 1,500 to 1,600 job opening s in just the next three years.

Amanti said Advance has about 200 employees and he’s very busy machining parts for the aircraft, space and defense industries.

But for student Jordan T. Kornacki, a 16-year-old junior from Blandford, said the challenge of working on tolerances as small as millionths of an inch is what get him into the program.

“If I didn’t enjoy what I was doing, I wouldn’t do it,” said Jordan T. Kornacki, a 16-year-old junior from Blandford.

Kornaki showed Reville how he uses a computerized coordinate measuring machine to check the dimensions of a machined part.

The jury went out around 10 a.m. Tuesday and throughout the day asked several questions of U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel

This is an updated version of a story posted at 6:32 this evening.

Western Massachusetts mob figures mentioned in the Emilio Fusco murder trial in New York include, clockwise from top left, Fusco and Anthony Arilllotta, and Adolfo Bruno and Gary Westerman, both deceased.

NEW YORK - Jurors in the Emilio Fusco Mafia murder trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan concluded their first day of deliberations without a verdict on Tuesday.

Fusco, 43, of Longmeadow, is accused of a racketeering conspiracy prosecutors say spanned 10 years and included the 2003 murders of Springfield, Mass., organized crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, gunned down in a downtown parking lot, and low-level associate Gary D. Westerman, whose remains were unearthed by law enforcement officials in Agawam, Mass., in 2010.

Fusco has denied involvement in any of the scams in a five-count criminal indictment unsealed in 2009. Other allegations include illegal gaming rings, marijuana trafficking and shakedowns of western Massachusetts business owners including strip bar owner James S. Santaniello.

The jury went out around 10 a.m. and throughout the day asked several questions of U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel including: a clarification of the federal "aiding and abetting" statute - specifically, whether a criminal plan that was initially hatched had to be the plan that came to fruition. The panel also inquired of the date of a 2001 surveillance photo of Fusco, and to see the direct testimony of cooperating witnesses Anthony Arillotta and Felix Tranghese, regarding meetings with Santaniello about stepped-up extortions in 2003.

Fusco faces up to life in prison if convicted of the murders. Jurors are scheduled to resume deliberations Wednesday morning.

Background investigations to qualify casino companies could reduce the commission's previous estimate that a casino resort in Massachusetts could open in about three to five years from now.

File photo by Bizuayehu Tesfaye / Associated PressMassachusetts Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby is seen last year at the time of his appointment.

BOSTON - Seeking to speed the process for opening casino resorts, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is moving to qualify potential casino operators before they submit full-blown bids for licenses.

During a meeting on Tuesday in Boston, members of the commission, which is overseeing the state's gambling expansion, talked about a proposal to have a two-step process for selecting companies to build casinos. Click here for the commission's home page on the web.

Under the first step, casino companies would have to submit materials to pass financial and integrity background checks. If they pass those checks, the companies would then be qualified and allowed to file separate applications for licenses to operate a casino.

Stephen P. Crosby, chairman of the commission, said the background investigations to qualify companies could reduce the commission's previous estimate that a casino resort in Massachusetts could open in about three to five years from now.

"We will be looking for ways that don't compromise our ability to do our job right and can cut time out of this," Crosby said. "I think this does that. This might pick up three to six months. This can make a material difference."

Critics, including Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, have questioned if the commission is moving fast enough to approve casino resorts, considering the need for jobs and generating taxes for communities.

Crosby said the process for awarding licenses would move faster if companies were pre-qualified for submitting bids for licenses. The qualification process would expedite the selection of licensees by possibly weeding out applicants who do not comply with the necessary integrity and financial standards, according to Crosby.

Under the first stage, called "requests for qualifications," casino companies would not be required to list the location of their project. The process, if approved, would require all casino companies to step forward and show their interest in Massachusetts, but not necessarily where they want to build.

"Everybody has got to put their cards on the table," Crosby said.

According to a summary from the commission, the qualification process would avoid having a potential host community vote on a project only to have it later rejected by the commission for failing to pass integrity and financial checks.

Bruce Stebbins

"The process could potentially save some municipalities a lot of time and effort," said commission member Bruce W. Stebbins of Springfield.

The commission will only review bids from companies that include voter approval in a city or town where a casino would be located.

Crosby said the commission might be able to seek qualification proposals in about a month.

If qualified, companies would submit bids for licenses that would include an economic analysis, the nature of the project, employment and financial projections, environmental issues and methods for dealing with impacts on communities that surround a municipality where a casino would be sited.

The state's expanded gambling law, signed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick in November, authorizes up to three minimum $500 million casino resorts including one for anywhere in the four counties of Western Massachusetts. The law also calls for a separate slot facility.

In Western Massachusetts, the Mohegan Sun is planning a casino on 152 acres of leased land located in Palmer just off Exit 8 of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Ameristar Casinos of Las Vegas is planning a casino resort for Springfield. Ameristar paid $16 million in January for a 41-acre site on Page Boulevard and I-291 in Springfield.

Hard Rock International in Florida, teamed up with a local group called Paper City Development, may select a new site in Western Massachusetts after being rebuffed by the Holyoke mayor for a casino in Holyoke.

In late March, MGM Resorts International dropped out of a casino project planned for Brimfield. MGM has said it will seek an alternative site in Western Massachusetts.

Also on Tuesday, the commission selected C. Stanley McGee of Boston as its acting executive director. McGee is currently assistant secretary for policy and planning for the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. McGee's salary will remain the same at $121,000.

The commission also named Elaine B. Driscoll of Boston as director of communications. Crosby said Driscoll may receive a small raise from her current salary of about $107,000. She now works as director of communications for the Boston Police Department.

Foster the Bear wouldn't budge from his branch, so authorities turned to a local hardware store owner who rents inflatable houses and castles for children's birthday parties.

By JEANNIE NUSS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — When a black bear climbed a tree in a central Arkansas city and refused to come down, authorities turned to unconventional rescue tools: bouncy houses.

Foster the Bear — named for the residential street where he holed up in a tree — wouldn't budge from his branch Monday. So, authorities turned to a local hardware store owner who rents inflatable houses and castles for children's birthday parties.

They asked him to set up two of the bouncy contraptions beneath the tree. Then, wildlife officials shot the bear with tranquilizer darts.

"He would slide to one side, and we're like, 'Oh, oh, oh, he's going to come down, he's going to come down,' " Conway police spokeswoman La Tresha Woodruff said. "And then he'd balance himself again."

Foster finally passed out, but he still didn't come down from his perch. Eventually, firefighters turned a hose on him until he tumbled down onto the edge of the inflatables below.

The bear, about a year old, wasn't hurt, though he did land in between a blow-up castle and the other inflatable house — kind of "like if you get something stuck between the wall and the bed," as Woodruff put it.

Spectators who had been watching the bear in the tree for hours cheered and clapped, Woodruff said.

"Foster was fine, just knocked out," she said.

Wildlife officials plan to release the bear somewhere in the Ozark Mountains.

Police said the bear's big-city adventure in Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock, started before he moseyed up the tree on Foster Drive. Someone had spotted the bear in a different tree on a nearby street before dawn Monday.

"Somehow, he crawled down out of the tree without them seeing him and got away," Woodruff said.

Then, he managed to climb into another tree and inspire a Twitter feed, where someone posted updates — from the bear's perspective — into the night.

"You ever have that dream where you're falling and then you wake up with a dart in your butt?" one post read.

Another tweet summed up the bear's day out.

"The cops want to shoot me," one post read. "Fire dept says I'm too big for their cat getter-downer and 75 townies are below cheering my name."

The fire apparently started in the dryer, Ludlow Fire Chief Mark Babineau said.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonA firefighter works on a fire at 46 Haviland St. in Ludlow on Tuesday night.

LUDLOW — Firefighters responded to a basement fire Tuesday at 46 Haviland St. around 8:30 p.m.

All of the home occupants escaped unharmed, Ludlow Fire Chief Mark Babineau said.

The fire apparently started in the dryer, Babineau said. He said when firefighters arrived, the fire was confined to the basement and firefighters were able to put it out before it spread.

He said the rest of the house suffered heat and smoke damage. The extent of structural damage won't be known until fire officials can go back in after the smoke clears, and the occupants would not be able to stay in the house tonight, Babineau said.

The street was blocked off as fire and utility crews worked.

An article on the May 14 town meeting warrant will ask residents to approve the $1.25 million bond.

File photo | The RepublicanThe administration building at the former Belchertown State School.

BLECHERTOWN - There will be a public hearing on a proposal to borrow $1.25 million to fund a road project and related infrastructure improvements at the former Belchertown State School property Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Lawrence Memorial Hall, 2 Jabish Road.

The town Economic Development and Industrial Corp. is sponsoring the meeting.

An article on the May 14 town meeting warrant will ask residents to approve the $1.25 million bond.

Selectmen on Monday unanimously recommended approval.

The finance committee is expected to make its recommendation on the matter when it reviews the town meeting warrant on May 8. 

Holyoke's teen-pregnancy rate has led the state for five years.

Staff Photo by John SuchockiEveryone in the community has a stake in dealing with the issue of teen-age pregnancies, in which Holyoke leads the state, Mayor Alex B. Morse said.

HOLYOKE – An effort to highlight steps to deal with the city’s status as first in the state in teenage pregnancies is set for Thursday at 4 p.m. at City Hall.

The issue of pregnant teen-agers affects the whole community because young people who are hardly adults themselves but have become parents invariably will need government help, and that means tax dollars, officials said.

“Teen pregnancy has a social and economic impact on the community in the short and the long term,” Mayor Alex B. Morse said Tuesday.

Morse and the Holyoke Adolescent Sexual Health and Pregnancy Prevention Task Force will hold a press conference in front of City Hall. Morse said he will urge the city to support the National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign.

In 2009, the most recent year covered by the state Department of Public Health, Holyoke had a rate of 96.8 births by mothers who were between the ages of 15 and 19 per 1,000 female teens. The statewide average was 19.5

That marked the fifth straight year in which Holyoke led the state in teen birth rate, but the rate did drop from the 115.3 births in 2008.

Morse said adults have a responsibility to advise young people they have options such as going to college or getting a job instead of becoming parents.

It is often the case that the reasons young women become pregnant include lack of awareness of options, lack of an authority figure for guidance, pressure from a boyfriend to have sex and inconsistent use of birth control, state and other health-care professionals have said.

The task force consists of representatives of groups like Girls Inc. and the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club

Councilors referred to committee a proposal from Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto that calls for restricting the non-fire calls to which firefighters respond.

Republican file photoHolyoke City Hall

HOLYOKE — The City Council Tuesday failed to override Mayor Alex B. Morse’s veto of a transfer that would have sent $344,352 to the School Department.

Also, with Fire Chief John A. Pond and firefighters union president Timothy Leary present and opposed to the proposal, councilors referred to committee a proposal from Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto that calls for restricting the non-fire calls to which firefighters respond.

Holyoke Ward 2 Councilor Anthony Soto

Councilors voted 8-7 in favor of the motion by Councilor at Large Joseph M. McGiverin to override Morse’s veto, but 10 votes were needed.

Councilor Rebecca Lisi and others said they were prompted to sustain Morse’s veto by School Superintendent David L. Dupont having said the system would prefer the full $344,352 but could operate with a smaller amount.

Only the mayor is authorized to initiate spending, and Morse said late Tuesday, “I have no plans to do that as of now.”

But, he said, he would listen if Dupont wanted to discuss such a step.

The School Department budget is short $344,352. The reason for that is preparations of the school budget for the current fiscal year were based on best estimates of what the state funding totals to the city would be.

It turned out school officials had over-budgeted, and, in order to abide by the net school spending formula the state requires of the city, the $344,352 had to be returned to the city side of the budget. But services in the school budget for the current fiscal year were based on having the original estimated total of state aid, and that included the $344,352, officials have said.

The City Council on April 17 approved the transfer from the free cash account to the School Department by a 9-5 vote.

Three days later came the veto from Morse, who is chairman of the School Committee. He cited as reasons that the city can’t afford such a large transfer this late in the fiscal year, which ends June 30, and Dupont’s saying the department could function with a smaller transfer to cover some of that shortfall without drastic consequences such as employee layoffs.

Soto, who didn’t speak about the proposal during the council meeting, said before the meeting that his intention was to try to save money by reducing calls for which firefighters aren’t needed. So many calls are wearing down fire vehicles, he said.

“It just seems like we’re paying a lot of money and the ones bearing the cost are the taxpayers, who else,” Soto said.

Private ambulances are available for emergency calls, he said.

“The firefighters are just standing around,” Soto said.

Pond and Leary in separate interviews said that was untrue.

“We have the best opportunity to get there for the citizens throughout the city because we have stations throughout the city,” Pond said after the council meeting.

“I’m perplexed at why he would do this,” Pond said of Soto.

Most firefighters are certified emergency medical technicians. They know the city so well they can respond anywhere in two to three minutes, said Leary, president Holyoke Fire Fighters Association, Local 1693, International Association of Fire Fighters.

“It’s a disservice to the citizens of the city,” Leary said of Soto’s proposal.

Ward 6 Councilor Todd A. McGee said another concern is whether such responses are built into the contract the city has with firefighters, a collective bargaining step the City Council is unauthorized to deal with.

Councilor at Large James M. Leahy said his preference would be to withdraw Soto’s order, but at that point the motion to refer it to committee already had been made, by Lisi.

The council referred the order to the Public Safety Committee, of which Soto is chairman. The order also was sent to the Law Department and mayor.

Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan said orders from Soto, a former Fire Commission member, in which he questions the Fire Department were “alarming.”

Bresnahan praised the Fire Department, saying, “They are all the time the first ones there.”

He also suggested if Soto has issues with the Fire Department a “sit down” be scheduled to hash them out.

Lisi said Bresnahan should file an order, which she would support, to arrange such a meeting if he felt it was necessary.

Councilor at Large Aaron M. Vega said discussion of Soto’s order in committee should include long-standing issues such as whether the Fire Department should run an ambulance service.

"Pizza delivery drivers won't have any trouble finding this place," Jim Deitz said

Associated PressJim Deitz poses with a grin and a can of paint in front of his house in north Grand Forks, N.D. The retired house painter on Tuesday was putting the final polka dots on his home-turned-apartments, where passers-by have been gathering to watch him work and to request colors from his palette of a dozen cans of brightly colored paint. (AP Photo/Grand Forks Herald, Eric Hylden)

By JAMES MacPHERSON

BISMARCK, N.D. — Jim Deitz believes he's creating a Grand Forks landmark, but the downtown apartment house he's painting one polka dot at a time is making a city planner cringe.

The retired house painter on Tuesday was putting the final polka dots on his home-turned-apartments, where passers-by have been gathering to watch him work and to request colors from his palette of a dozen cans of brightly colored paint.

"Pizza delivery drivers won't have any trouble finding this place," Deitz said of the century old-two story home that houses six apartments. "You can't miss it."

The house is next to a church, a fraternal organization building and a new low-income apartment complex. Deitz and the city had negotiated a deal to buy out the property to expand the low-income housing facility.

Deitz said he was offered $100,000 for the home a year or so ago.

"They were going to buy me out and they backed out," Deitz said. "I want $150,000 for it now."

Ryan Brooks, the city's senior planner, said the polka dot house is an eyesore and that he thinks it's Deitz's way of protesting the city's decision not to buy the property.

"It's hard to say what this gentleman's true motives are," Brooks said. "I think my opinion is the same as everybody — I wouldn't want to be living next to it."

Brooks said the city doesn't have a code that forbids homeowners from painting their houses in certain colors or schemes, however garish.

Deitz insists the polka dots are meant simply to brighten up the neighborhood and are not a form of protest.

About eight tenants live in the home, and none mind the new paint scheme, he said.

"I got people waiting in line to get in this place," he said.

Deitz researched several different paint jobs before picking the polka dots.

"I looked at all kinds of crazy paint jobs on the Internet and came up with this polka dot deal," Deitz said. "She looks good."

Brooks believes the polka dots won't migrate to other neighborhoods in the city.

"I don't see this as a trend because most people take a little pride in their homes," Brooks said. "The paint he's putting on that thing is the only thing new on it. It's in rough shape."

Including figures from the 2007-2008 year, Springfield reported 461 school arrests in two years, with most coming for non-violent behavior, rather than weapons, drugs or assaults.

SPRINGFIELD — Students are getting arrested for minor offenses at a much higher rate in Springfield schools than in Boston or Worcester, according to a new study that calls for less aggressive handling of disruptive students.

The report — by the Massachusetts chapter of American Civil Liberties Union and the Boston-based Citizens for Juvenile Justice — found the school arrest rate in Springfield was three times higher than in Boston and five times higher than in Worcester during the 2009-2010 academic year.

The arrest rate in Springfield’s alternative high schools was 10 times higher than the district-wide rate, with two-thirds of those for defiant or disorderly behavior, the study found.

Including figures from the 2007-2008 year, Springfield reported 461 school arrests in two years, with most coming for non-violent behavior, rather than weapons, drugs or assaults.

Many of the incidents began as minor disciplinary actions, then intensified when a police officer was called, said Lael E.H. Chester, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice and one of the report’s authors.

“Instead of de-escalating, the situation escalated,” Chester said. “You see it over and over again. Kids are getting arrested for misbehavior – having a meltdown or a tantrum in the hallway. The consequences need to fit the actions.”

School Committee member Antonette E. Pepe rejected the suggestion that students are routinely arrested for minor offenses. “That’s way off base,” said Pepe, adding that police often defuse situations without arresting students.

“I’d like to invite the ACLU and (the Citizens for Juvenile Justice) to spend a few days in an alternative high school,” Pepe said.

The report offers a breakdown by category for arrests on school property. In 2007-2008, 251 arrests were made on school property — 134 for disruptive behavior, 23 for drug possession, 72 for assaults, 11 for weapons possession and 10 for destroying school property.

For 2009-2010, 210 arrests were made — 110 for disruptive behavior, three for drug possession, 74 for violence, five for weapons possession and eight for vandalizing property.

During the same two years, Worcester reported 52 and 13 arrests, respectively, while Boston had 325 and 173 arrests.

Adjusting for differing size of the school districts, the report found Springfield averaged 14 arrests for 1,000 students in 2007, compared to six in Boston and two in Worcester.

The Citizens for Juvenile Justice began researching the issue after discovering that 40 percent of juvenile arrests in Springfield were made in schools, Chester said.

“We were shocked; we decided to look at other cities to get a comparison,” she said.

Chester said she believes local school officials should develop less drastic ways of handling out-of-control students.

State and federal education officials should look into the school arrest rate in Springfield, especially since the problem has been under-reported, Chester said.

In filings with the U.S. Department of Education, Springfield reported no arrests and 75 referrals to law enforcement for 2009-2010, in contrast to the 210 arrests disclosed in police reports, Chester said.

A spokesperson for Springfield Superintendent Alan J. Ingram said he had not seen the report and would have no comment.

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.

1) Springfield police: Suspect booked on charges of hitting, stomping on hawk that was eating pigeon Photo gallery at right.[Conor Berry]

2) Massachusetts high school assault caught on video, posted on YouTube [Conor Berry]

3) Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry claims under fire in US Senate race [Associated Press]

4) Funeral of Marine stabbed to death in Washington scheduled in Agawam [The Republican Newsroom]

5) 2 women found dead near Massachusetts elementary school [Associated Press]

The Associated Industries Business Confidence Index rose last month to 57.1 point on a scale where 50 is considered neutral. That’s up from 54.8 points in March and 56.1 points a year ago in April 2011.

SPRINGFIELD – Economists say the recession ended back in June 2009, but 41 percent of Massachusetts employers, including 58 percent of businesses with 10 or fewer employees, say we are still mired in it.

A lesser number of all employers, 32 percent, said the recession is over but this pattern of slow and uneven growth is the new normal, according to results of the monthly business confidence survey released Tuesday by the statewide business lobbying group Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Just 22 percent of all employers said, in the words of the survey question, “we are still working our through a recovery that will eventually lead to stronger growth and job creation.”

“I’m not saying its over,” said David C. Southworth, president of Sourthworth Co. in Agawam a manufacturer of high-quality paper and envelopes. “It’s still a pretty challenging environment.”

Southworth said his company is seeing growth in some product niches but the overall market for paper is not growing. With 160 employees, he estimates he replaces only about half the employees who leave the company through the regular course of attrition.

Andre Mayer, senior vice president for communications and research at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, said gloominess on the part of smaller business doesn’t bode well for job creation . Those companies, ones with fewer than 10 workers now, are typically the biggest sources of new jobs in an economic recovery.

Economists measure the end of a recession as the low point in the nation’s gross domestic product, often thought of as bottom of the trough, Mayer said.

In April, the Associated Industries Business Confidence Index rose to 57.1 point on a scale where 50 is considered neutral. That’s up from 54.8 points in March and 56.1 points a year ago in April 2011.

At 57.1 points, the confidence level is at its highest point since August 2007, before the recession hit, said Michael D. Goodman, associate professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

But Goodman said economic good news seems to be concentrated in and around Boston. Also, trouble with the European economies or federal budget cuts could derail Massachusetts’ recovery.

Mayer said his survey says 36 percent of all employers reporting that they have expanded their staff in the last six months. Just 18 percent have cut staff with the remainder standing pat.

Over the next six months, 31 percent plan to add staff and 10 percent plan to cut employees.

In April 36 percent said they have added in last six months compared with 18 percent reported having dropped

“We are not seeing a surge in job creation ,” Mayer said. “That’s what we would all like to see.”

Katherine E. Putnam, president and CEO of Package Machinery Co. in West Springfield, said companies put holds on plans to buy machinery in 2011, but those deals are getting completed now.

“I’m just seeing more velocity,” Putnam said.

She said she’d expand to ten employees if she could find the right candidate.

“We can’t find qualified machinists,” Putnam said.

The crash happened at the intersection of Washington Road and Till Street, about 2,000 feet south of the Longmeadow town line. Three of the four victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to Enfield police.

ENFIELD – Four people were taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield after the vehicle they were traveling in struck a utility pole and rolled over near the intersection of Washington Road and Till Street late Tuesday night.

The crash, reported at about 10 p.m., occurred about 2,000 feet south of the Longmeadow border. Three of the occupants of the vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries, but the status of the fourth person was not immediately known. Enfield police had no additional information on the victims' conditions. A published report cited a police source as saying the victims were in stable condition.

Police identified the driver of the car, a 2003 Honda Accord, as Adam Wayne Gegenheimer, 21, of 11 Sherwin Drive, Enfield. Police said Gegenheimer had three passengers in his car — a male and two females.

Thompsonville firefighters had to extricate two passengers from the vehicle. Police said the utility pole that was hit snapped in half, prompting a crew from Connecticut Light and Power to respond to the scene.

Enfield Police Sgt. James Lefebvre said Washington Road, which runs north to Maple Road in Longmeadow, was closed from Roosevelt Boulevard near the Longmeadow line to Till Street. Washington Road reopened to traffic just before 6 a.m. Wednesday, Lefebvre said.

MAP of crash scene in Enfield, just south of the Longmeadow border:

View Larger Map

At the 1st Congressional District caucus in Westfield, tensions between the Romney and Paul supporters hit a boiling point before a common goal realigned the group.

View full sizePeople stand in line, waiting to vote at the Massachusetts Republican party caucus at North Middle School in Westfield on April 28, 2012. (Submitted photo by Ellen Michaliszyn)

Although the results of the Massachusetts Republican Party caucuses are awaiting certification, preliminary reports suggest that GOP Presidential hopeful Ron Paul's supporters may have trumped those aligned with former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney.

On Saturday, Republicans turned out in large numbers across the commonwealth to select which local delegates will attend the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. in late August. At the convention, delegates will officially pledge their support for a presidential candidate, or in the case of Massachusetts Republicans, support for Romney.

"Because Governor Romney won 73 percent of the vote in the state's primary, all of the delegates are bound to Romney," said Tim Buckley, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Republican Party. "It was great to see so much enthusiasm for the chance to support Governor Romney at the convention."

But despite the kind words for Romney, more than half of his chosen delegates, including former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former gubernatorial hopeful Charles Baker, Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins Jr. and House minority leader Bradley Jones, were not selected at their respective caucuses.

At the 1st Congressional District caucus in Westfield, tensions between the Romney and Paul supporters hit a boiling point before a common goal realigned the group.

"There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm at the Western Massachusetts Republican caucuses on Saturday," said John Michaliszyn, who attended the event. "There was one heated exchange between the Ron Paul people and the Mitt Romney people but that was dwarfed by the overwhelming desire to oust Barack Obama from office."

Michaliszyn said the caucus had one of the highest turnouts in recent memory with 207 people casting votes for the convention delegates.

"It was a lot of fun being in a room where you could tell history is about to made," Michaliszyn said in an email. "Many are new to the political landscape but the learning curve was being embraced and Massachusetts politics may never be the same."

The Massachusetts Democratic Party recently held its caucuses and selected delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Romney currently has 847 of the required 1,144 delegates needed to obtain the party's official nomination.

Former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, suspended his campaign on Wednesday, saying he would endorse and pledge his support for Romney.

Once the list of delegates is certified by the Massachusetts Republican Party, it will be published on MassLive.com.

Republican US Senator Scott Brown today brushed off criticism about his use of President Obama's health care reform law to insure his daughter, despite Brown's own opposition to the law.

Shira SchoenbergRepublican US Senator Scott Brown signs autographs after speaking at Bunker Hill Community College May 2, 2012.

Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown today brushed off criticism about his use of President Obama's health care reform law to insure his daughter, despite Brown's own opposition to the law.

Brown's Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren has called Brown hypocritical for taking advantage of a provision in Obama's health care overhaul allowing children to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26. Brown's daughter Ayla is 23.

Today, speaking to reporters after a speech on bipartisanship at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Brown said he was actually taking advantage of the law in Massachusetts that allows children to remain on their parents' insurance plan until age 24.

"You can do that in Massachusetts, I voted for that," Brown said. Massachusetts' current health care system was put in place by presumptive Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

"For (Warren) to call me a hypocrite as to how Gail and I provide for our family, it's sad," Brown said, referring to his wife, Gail Huff.

Brown said he supports the Massachusetts plan, not Obama's national law, which he said took a "one size fits all approach." But he acknowledged that there could be positive features that are part of the Democratic president's overhaul.

"This isn't news," Brown said. "I've said this for almost two years. If there are things in federal plan we like, like the fact you can cover your kid until 26 in the federal plan, we should incorporate it here in Massachusetts."

Deputy Chief Steven Rybacki and Captain Paul Morrisette are scheduled for public interviews next month.

EAST LONGMEADOW — The the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday announced the two finalists for the position of fire chief.

Current Fire Chief Richard Brady will retire at the end of June. He is currently paid $63,547.

Villamaino said the finalists for the position are Deputy Chief Steven Rybacki and Captain Paul Morrisette. Public interviews will be held June 12.

The board also announced that they will be starting a search for the position of Parks and Recreation Director. Current Director Carolyn Porter's contract will expire June 30.

The position will be posted May 3 and includes a salary ranging from $44,000-$59,000. Porter's salary is $59,555. The board is hoping to hire someone by June.

The current PVTA service will still be offered, and the new service will help supplement it; East Longmeadow will share the van with the Hampden Senior Center.

EAST LONGMEADOW — A new transportation service will be offered to seniors thanks to the efforts of Council on Aging Director Carolyn Brennan.

Brennan met with the Board of Selectmen Tuesday to discuss the van that The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority has loaned to the town in order to provide rides to the senior center for $1 per day. The current rate is $2.50.

Brennan said the current PVTA service will still be offered, and the new service will help supplement it. The town will share the van with the Hampden Senior Center. A dispatcher in Hampden will coordinate the schedule and a part-time driver has been hired by the town.

Newly elected Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Enrico J. Villamaino said this transportation option will help seniors struggling on a fixed income, so that they may still visit the senior center regularly.

Brennan said the shuttle service will begin on May 7. Seniors who are residents of East Longmeadow and would like to use the service should call (413) 525-5412 beginning Monday.

Police are seeking to determine if the suspect and at least one other are responsible for a series of vehicle break-ins in the County Road area.

Republican file photo

SOUTHAMPTON - Police are attempting to determine if a 17-year-old Holyoke man, arrested early Friday after an officer discovered him inside a stolen vehicle, can be linked to nearly 20 motor vehicle break-ins reported over the last week or so in the County Road area.

The suspect, along with another male who fled the scene at Strong Road and Brickyard Road Extension, may also be linked to additional vehicle break-ins in Holyoke and South Hadley, Lt. Michael Goyette said.

Police in those communities could not be immediately reached for comment.

Officer Scott Gove, responding to another call at about 5:15 a.m., came upon the stolen vehicle and saw the second suspect apparently rifling through a vehicle parked in a nearby driveway.

A state police K-9 unit was not able to locate the suspect, said Goyette, adding that police have identified him and he will be facing charges.

The stolen vehicle, a white GMC Jimmy, was reported stolen from South Hadley overnight. Items taken from a recent vehicle break-in in Holyoke, meanwhile, were found inside, Goyette said.

Jonathan Resto, 529 South Bridge St., sitting in the passenger seat of the Jimmy, was charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, larceny over $250, larceny under $250, breaking into a vehicle in the nighttime for a felony and breaking into a vehicle in the nighttime for a misdemeanor, Goyette said.

All the Southampton break-ins involved unlocked vehicles. In one instance, however, a suspect smashed a vehicle window with a coffee cup, Goyette said.

“People should be locking their property at night,” he said.

Goyette said police responded to 15 vehicle break-ins in the County Road area over the last week or so and another four last Thursday night into Friday morning.

Earlier in April, police responded to a rash of break-ins in the Hampton Ponds area, he said.

A Florida man reportedly heading to Framingham to shoot Cumberland Farms executives after authorities said he killed two people and shot a third in Kissimmee has been arrested in Louisiana.

Photo by Julio Cortez / Associated PressPatricia Krentcil, 44, left, stands with her lawyer John Caruso during a court appearance on charges of child endangerment at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, in Newark, N.J. Click on the link, above right, for a report from the Star-Ledger of Newark about Krentcil being accused of taking her 5-year-old child into a tanning booth.

• New Jersey mother denies allowing daughter, 5, to get burned in tanning salon [NJ.com]


• Thirteen people charged in hazing death of Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion (video below) [ABC News]


• Suspected Florida killer, reportedly on way to Framingham to shoot Cumberland Farms executives, caught in Louisiana [Metro West Daily News]


• Lynn man charged with killing mother, grandmother, dumping bodies behind Saugus school [Boston Herald]


• Questions surround blind Chinese activist, reportedly forced to leave United States embassy in Beijing [Christian Science Monitor]


• Trial begins for Luther Gorahkov, of Amherst, accused of 2 assaults on UMass campus [Daily Hampshire Gazette]


• More than 1 1/2 tons of drugs turned in in Take Back day in Hampshire, Franklin counties [WGGB-TV, abc40, Fox6, Springfield]


• Why teen behavior sometimes makes sense [Boston.com]


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


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