Police have identified a suspect in the slaying of a Worcester man who once spent time in a federal prison for selling Super Bowl tickets he didn't have.

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — Police have identified a suspect in the slaying of a Worcester man who once spent time in a federal prison for selling Super Bowl tickets he didn't have.

Michael Deppe was found shot in his apartment late last month.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that Christian Pizarro appeared in court on Wednesday on charges that he stole the 27-year-old Deppe's car hours after the victim's death. Not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.

Police said the 21-year-old Pizarro is considered a suspect in the slaying.

Deppe, a car salesman, was sentenced in 2006 to 6 1/2 years in prison for scamming 76 people out of $543,000 by promising them tickets he didn't have to the 2005 Super Bowl.

Flowing 410 miles from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut passes through Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

HARTFORD — Scores of federal, state and local officials gathered near the banks of the Connecticut River in Hartford on Thursday to establish that great body of water as the first National Blueway.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was joined by senators, congressmen, mayors and representatives of the many agencies that have been overseeing the health of the river over the past several decades as he announced the designation, which is part of President Barack Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Rivers Initiative. The thrust of the initiative is to get more people outdoors and using resources such as the Connecticut.

Andrew Fisk, the Executive Director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council, attended the event along with others who work out of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Sunderland. Established in 1997, the refuge is dedicated to conserving, protecting and enhancing the abundance and diversity of native plant, fish and wildlife species throughout the 7.2 million-acre Connecticut River watershed.

The first-in-the-nation honor was especially gratifying for Fisk and his colleagues at the Conte Refuge because it reflects on the groundbreaking work they have done. Salazar’s advance team visited all 50 states and were impressed, Fisk said, by the ability here to bring more than 40 organizations together to work with state and federal governments on issues such as water quality, land conservation and recreation.

“We showed we had the right stuff,” Fisk said.

Although the Blueway designation will not result in additional federal funds, Fisk said it will make it easier for those in and around the Conte Refuge to create new partnerships that could steer money their way.

“You’re not going to see one federal agency building a new park,” he said. “This is about lots of different people in different places working together.”

Yellow warblers are among the many birds that nest in the Connecticut River watershed.

The hope is that those different people can form a coherent network under the Blueway aegis, creating a more seamless system that will filter down to users in the form of easily accessible information on water quality, recreational opportunities and other aspects of the Connecticut and its watershed.

“All these pieces are snuggling together,” Fisk said.

One river user who is encouraged by the designation is Jonathan Moss, a former collegiate rower at Boston University and a member of the 1993 gold medal-winning national team. Moss, now a Longmeadow resident, has created the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club, which encourages rowing on the Connecticut. The club is about to move into a vacant building near the North End Bridge in Springfield that was abandoned by the Rockrimmon Boat Club.

“Having first-in-the-nation status certainly doesn’t hurt and, in fact, will be pretty helpful,” he said of the Blueway designation. “It integrates well with the mission of our organization.”

Flowing 410 miles from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut passes through Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, all of which were represented in Hartford on Thursday. The watershed comprises 7.2 million acres of mountains, streams and wildlife habitat as well as nearly 400 cities and towns. According to the Appalachian Mountain Club, more than 10 percent if the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the Connecticut’s watershed.

Although it was polluted so badly it was barely usable a generation ago, the Connecticut is thriving today in Massachusetts, thanks to the efforts of agencies like the Connecticut River Watershed Council and local communities, which have spent millions of dollars to clean it up. Salazar noted the river has come a long way since it was regarded as a “landscaped sewer system.”

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade, N.J., has been arrested in the killing of Etan Patz.

AP file photoThis undated file image provided Friday, May 28, 2010 by Stanley K. Patz shows a flyer distributed by the New York Police Department of Patz's son Etan who vanished in New York on May 25, 1979. New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday May 24, 2010, that a person who's in custody has implicated himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz.

NEW YORK (AP) — A man has been arrested in the 1979 disappearance of a 6-year-old New York City boy. It's the first arrest ever made in a case that helped give rise to the nation's missing-children movement.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade, N.J., has been arrested in the killing of Etan Patz. It's not immediately clear whether Hernandez has a lawyer.

Kelly says Hernandez confessed to the crime. Hernandez worked at a convenience store near Etan's Manhattan home. A law enforcement official says Hernandez told investigators this week he suffocated the boy and left his body in a box in an alley.

Etan vanished on his way to school on May 25, 1979.

The mayor said city officials have their work cut out for them in trying to get the state library board to allow them to use a grant awarded for a new building toward renovating and expanding the existing building instead.

File photo | The RepublicanThe Elm Street entrance to the West Springfield Library.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger, who recently signed off on a $7.1 million bond for a library building project, said he is committed to moving forward with renovation and expansion of the structure housing the West Springfield Public Library.

Neffinger said he wants to move forward even if the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners turns down the city’s request to let it use $6,272,143 awarded it to help build a new library at the site of Mittineague School for a project at the Park Street library building instead. City officials changed their plans earlier this year when it became clear that the Mittineague site would not be available.

“This project has huge hurdles to overcome,” Neffinger said, adding that he has been told the state library board has never allowed a municipality to which it has given a building grant to change the site for its project. “I’m told the chances (of persuading state officials) are not very good, but we are making every effort.”

Earlier plans were to construct a new $13,441,200 library building with the help of a $7,165,057 bond. Officials are hopeful they can reduce the amount of money bonded for the project by as much as $2 million using money to be raised in a local fundraising campaign.

An architect, Neffinger said he expects the cost of renovating and expanding the existing library will be quite a bit less than the earlier $13.4 million project. New plans call for keeping the historic Carnegie wing, which, at about a century old, is the oldest part of the library building.

The mayor said if the state library board, which local officials plan to lobby at its June 7 meeting, denies their request to move the site of the project he will still pursue a project.

Neffinger said that there is an old plan for expanding and renovating the library dating back to 2001 that might just need some updating. That could cut the length of time it would take to put together a new grant application for a library project to be sent to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, according to the mayor.

The Town Council voted 9-0 on May 7 to authorize the floating of a $7.1 million bond to renovate and expand the West Springfield Public Library building on Park Street.

Following the failure in the U.S. Senate to advance two bills which would have frozen student loan interest rates at 3.4 percent for another year, the debate came home to the Massachusetts Senate race.

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren is and Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

Following the failure in the U.S. Senate to advance two bills which would have frozen student loan interest rates at 3.4 percent for another year, the debate came home to the Massachusetts Senate race.

Democrats and Republicans have both come out in favor of extending current rates for subsidized Stafford loans which will double this July without action. But the idea of how to pay for such a freeze, which is estimated to cost $6 billion, is something that neither side agrees on.

On Thursday, a Republican bill proposing to pay for the rate freeze by cutting the preventative health-care fund which the GOP says is ridden with wasteful spending failed in a 34 to 62 vote with U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., supporting it.

A Democratic proposal which would have ended a provision in the tax code that allows small business owners to claim some income as business profits to limit the payroll taxes paid also failed in a 51-43 vote mostly along party lines.

Following the vote, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's campaign took aim at Brown, saying that he put "partisan interests ahead of preventive health services and college students."

"Massachusetts families are well aware of the high cost of tuition, but Scott Brown doesn’t get it, and he has now voted a second time to allow student loan interest rates to double," said Mindy Myers, Warren's campaign manager. "Scott Brown is trying to distract from his record, but the facts are clear. He voted against students and their families again today."

When asked about Brown's vote, Marcie Kinzel, Brown's director of communications in Washington, said it was identical to a situation in early May when the senator voted against using a "tax increase" to pay for the bill. She pointed to a quote previously made by Brown regarding the debate.

“It’s time to stop playing politics and get to work on a real bipartisan compromise to preserve current student loan rates. The job market is dismal and the cost of getting a college education is out of control,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “We should be working together on a solution that prevents these rates from skyrocketing in July."

Brown has proposed his own legislation which he says would cover the $6 billion by reducing incorrect and improper payments made by the federal government.

A 2011 study by the Office of Management and Budget estimated that improper payments from the federal government totaled approximately $115 billion for that fiscal year.

Brown's bill, the Subsidized Stafford Loan Reduced Interest Rate Extension Act of 2012, currently has no co-sponsors and was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on May 7.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said the bill was "for show," saying that Brown's proposal would never be able to generate the $6 billion needed to pay for a one-year extension of the student loan interest rate.

The planes will be auctioned off in a gala event June 15.

Photo by John Suckocki / The RepublicanA group of veterans met recently at Chicopee Savings Bank to check out their service time portraits painted on the C-5 model that will be featured in the Memorial Day parade on Monday. John Arthur, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam points to his portrait.

CHICOPEE – Richard Viens says he served as a “Jeep jockey” for the U.S. Army in Germany at the tail end of World War II in 1945 and 1946.

Zygmunt Watchta served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953.

And, John Arthur served in the Army as a medical supply officer in Vietnam from 1965 through 1967.

Portraits of the three men from their time in the military are among those that adorn one of the fiberglass models of a C-5 Galaxy jet which are being launched this Memorial Day as part of a fund-raiser for a new senior center here.

The aircraft for which Chicopee has most recently gained fame in its aeronautic and military history is taking center stage in the “Planes Over Chicopee” fund-raiser. It’s modeled after similar fund-raising efforts in cities and towns across the country in which fiberglass creations, from bears in Easthampton to terriers in West Springfield, are used as art, placed on public display and then auctioned to raise money for community causes.

Three of the 21 C-5s in “Planes Over Chicopee” will be highlighted in this year’s Memorial Day parade on Monday. They’ll be placed on a flatbed truck and ride the parade route in between military units, bands and other marching groups.

The planes are part of the Friends of the Chicopee Senior Center fund-raiser. Area artists designed and painted the models, which have a 7-foot wingspan. Sponsors adopted them for display about two months ago, and the models will be auctioned off in a gala affair on June 15 at the Knights of Columbus on Memorial Drive.

“It is appropriate for the Memorial Day parade (to include some of the planes),” said Sandra Lapollo, executive director of the Council on Aging. The featured planes “recognize people who served our country so it seemed like a natural fit,” she said.

Photo by John Suchocki / The Republcian Harvey Lafleur, a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946 stands above his painting on a model C-5 Galaxy jet.

One of the most popular is “In Your Honor,” which features paintings of about 35 veterans, including Arthur, Viens and Watchta, on the wings and body of the model.

The other featured planes will be “Cold War Guardians” and “Freedom Isn’t Free,” Lapollo said.

Arthur is also among the veterans who will join in the parade with the aircraft models.

Arthur served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam with an Army evacuation hospital from 1965 to 1967. His main job was in medical supplies but also did a variety of other things including guard duty.

“It is an honor to be on one of the planes,” Arthur said.

Jennifer Dorgan, the artist who painted “In Your Honor,” said she wanted to focus on Chicopee veterans and first received about five photographs from the Senior Center. When she started running out of time to receive more photographs upon which to base her work, she reached beyond the city.

“People were throwing me pictures left and right of those who served in Vietnam, World War II and Korea,” she said.

Her plane is painted blue and black for the soldiers, and there are poppies honoring veterans’ organizations’ tradition of distributing poppies on Memorial Day in fund-raising efforts.

“I thought this is for the senior center, and there had to be plenty of vets there because it is a military town,” she said. “It is the perfect way to honor the seniors.”

It was not immediately clear when the chamber will vote on the entire budget proposal.

By SHANNON YOUNG

BOSTON – Massachusetts senators voted on Thursday to give a reprieve to a psychiatric hospital that Gov. Deval L. Patrick had planned to close as they made progress toward voting on the Senate’s nearly $32.3 billion budget proposal.

After passing 55 of the 250 budget amendments they discussed Wednesday, the state Senate resumed debate on the remaining proposals Thursday. It was not immediately clear when the chamber will vote on the entire budget proposal.

Sen. Marc Pacheco said no one ever gets exactly what they want in the budget.

Photo illustration / The RepublicanThe Massachusetts Senate rejected Thursday a proposal from one of its members to ban the sale of plastic water bottles as a way of updating the state's bottle deposit law.

The Taunton Democrat pointed to the amendment that would keep the Taunton State Hospital open by maintaining 72 beds. The proposal passed, despite efforts by Gov. Deval Patrick and the state’s House of Representatives to close the over 150-year-old facility.

“Though it’s not everything I would like, we now have a proposal I can support,” Pacheco said.

In January, the Patrick administration announced it was closing the hospital, saying it was antiquated and not cost effective. The House and governor have suggested moving most of its patients to a new state hospital opening in Worcester.

The Senate’s original budget plan calls for one-time revenues and some spending cuts to close a projected $1.4 billion gap between spending and revenues in the next fiscal year, and would tap the state’s reserve fund, commonly known as the “rainy day” fund, for $290 million.

During the debate, senators passed a proposal to provide $1 million in new funding for the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity Inc. grant program – a voluntary education initiative that brings inner-city children to suburban school districts.

They also approved an amendment sending $4 million to community colleges to help them create a system that makes it easier for graduates to transfer credits to four-year schools.

Despite this, Republicans raised concerns over the financial impact some amendments would have on the bill.

“The dollars and cents in this budget are very, very tight,” said Sen. Michael Knapik, R-Westfield.

Other measures attached to the bill include an amendment that allowing schools to allocate funding to implement suicide and violence prevention efforts for gay and lesbian students and a proposal that would create a “pretrial diversion program” to educate and deter first-time offenders caught soliciting or engaging in prostitution.

Meanwhile, an $11.3 million proposal to reimburse cities and towns for providing school transportation for non-resident homeless children did not pass, despite support from multiple senators. The proposal, which would have funded a school transportation mandate, was included in the House of Representatives’ budget proposal.

Additionally, Senate put aside an effort to expand the state’s bottle deposit law to include plastic water bottles and other types of non-carbonated beverage containers, voting to study the issue further.

They rejected a similar amendment from Newton Democrat Cynthia Creem calling to ban the sale of plastic water bottles unless they were made subject to the deposit law.

The House’s plan included no new taxes and called for a larger withdrawal of $400 million from the rainy day fund.

Once the Senate completes its work, a six-member conference committee will be appointed to iron out differences between the chamber and the House of Representatives, which passed its version of the budget last month.

Before it can be signed into law, the final version of the state’s budget must be approved a final time by both chambers and sent to the Democratic governor.

The current fiscal year ends June 30.

Molly Anne Bish's murder has never been solved.

Molly Bish

WARREN – An Iraq war veteran who testified before a grand jury about the abduction of teenage lifeguard Molly Anne Bish died recently in Florida.

Heather Bish, Molly Anne’s sister, said she was told by a private investigator that 30-year-old Kenneth G. Tatro had passed away. Bish said she knows the Tatro family well, and said Tatro spent several tours of duty in Iraq.

Kenneth Tatro, who was in the Army, was called before the grand jury in 2006 to testify about Molly Anne Bish, who disappeared from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond in 2000. Three years later, her remains were founded in a wooded area of Palmer. The case has never been solved.

There was interest in Tatro because investigators thought he may have seen something regarding Molly Anne’s disappearance. He told The Republican in 2000 that he was concerned because a man in his 40s driving a white Corsica had been hanging around the parking lot and staring at Molly Anne. He said the man was not known to the area kids.

While nothing came of the grand jury, Heather Bish and her mother Magdalen M. Bish lamented the loss of another young life that was connected to Molly Anne.

Steven Lukas was 25 when he died in October 2008 after a car crash on Palmer's Fuller Road. He was Molly Anne's boyfriend at the time of her abduction. He was not a suspect.

“Steve Lukas was the first victim . . . and I think Kenny Tatro was another secondary victim,” Heather Bish said.

Magdalen Bish said she was saddened to hear about Tatro's passing, and said there is a "black cloud or sadness that followed Molly's death," noting the death of Lukas as well. She said they never found out what Tatro said to the grand jury.

Next month will mark the 12th year that has passed since Molly Anne disappeared. The family will hold a vigil at 7 p.m. on the town common on June 27 to remember her. They are still seeking justice for Molly, Magdalen Bish said.

"We're reminding the public there is someone out there who harms children. It is a sad time for our family, and it is hard," Magdalen Bish said. "We're still saying we haven't forgotten Molly."

The Bish family also will attend Missing Children's Day at the Statehouse in Boston on Wednesday.

Magdalen Bish said they also are trying to change the license plates in Massachusetts to include a recognizable symbol, such as a heart, circle, star or diamond, along with numbers and letters. That would make plates easier to remember, she said.

Columbia Gas is seeking approval from the state Department of Public Utilities of its proposal to increase its distribution and administration charge by $6.10 a month.

SPRINGFIELD — Only two people testified at a public hearing Wednesday night at Springfield City Hall on a petition by Columbia Gas to raise its base distribution rates.

Both spoke in opposition to the proposed rate increase.

Columbia Gas formerly called Bay State Gas, is seeking approval from the state Department of Public Utilities of its proposal to increase its distribution and administration charge by $6.10 a month.

Despite the gas company’s request for a rate increase, the average bill for a home-heating customer who also cooks with gas is expected to drop by $15 annually, from $1,268 to $1,253, gas officials said.

Gas bills, like electricity bills, are based on the cost of the energy and getting that energy to consumers’ homes.

An increase in distribution costs is offset by falling gas commodity prices, which are expected to remain low due to a glut in the natural gas market, company officials said.

Attorney General Martha M. Coakley has filed a notice to intervene in the proposed rate increase.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Saunders, speaking at Springfield City Hall, said Coakley has filed to intervene on behalf of the ratepayers.

He said Columbia Gas is seeking “a 16 percent increase in its base distribution revenue in spite of the tough economy.”

He said the company has asked for a profit of 11.75 percent.

Fitchburg Gas has a profit rate of 9.2 percent, he said.

“This is the least risky business in the utility industry,” Saunders said.

Peter Wingate, co-chair of the Massachusetts Energy Directors Association for Weatherization and Fuel Assistance, said that any rate increase, even a modest one, would disproportionately affect lower income households.

“The lower funding level for fuel assistance, coupled with a rate increase, will make it much more difficult for households, many of which are elder-occupied or in a fixed income, to make ends meet,” Wingate said.

The proposed rate hike is designed to raise an additional $29.2 million annually, Columbia Gas officials said. The revenue will be used to replace aging infrastructure, according to gas officials.

Columbia Gas distributes natural gas to about 300,000 customers in 60 communities throughout the Commonwealth.

Evidentiary hearings on the proposed rate increase will by held by the DPU in July in Boston.

The jury gave Kathleen Crowley $50,000 in punitive damages for her firing.

The Republican / File photo

SPRINGFIELD — A Hampden Superior Court jury has awarded a former local woman $100,000 in her sexual harassment and discrimination suit against Pride Convenience Inc.

The jury decided Kathleen Crowley, who now lives in South Carolina, was sexually harassed and subjected to a hostile work environment. For that the jury awarded her $5,000.

The jury, in its decision last week, said Pride retaliated against her by firing her. For that they awarded Crowley $20,000 in lost wages, $25,000 in emotional distress, and $50,000 in punitive damages.

Lawyers Daniel J. O’Connell and Michael O. Shea represented Crowley.

Robert Aronson, the lawyer for Pride at the trial, could not be reached for comment.

Crowley worked as a cashier at Pride Convenience in Westfield and alleged she was sexually harassed by Daniel Tolson, a manager who supervised her for a 7-day period in 2009.

Crowley charged Tolson, who no longer works for Pride, orchestrated her termination as a result of her rejecting his advances.

The suit said Pride did not do a thorough investigation of the harassment.

One town councilor has questioned if it might not be a long time before the city is able to implement form-based zoning, as recommended in the city's master plan.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanThe owners of the Lyon's Package Store shopping plaza on Westfield Street in West Springfield are seeking a zoning change to allow more business uses.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Town Council has overridden a veto by the mayor of a zone change it recently granted to Lyons Package Store Plaza.

The council voted 8-0 Monday to override the veto by Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger.

The Town Council had approved changing the zoning for the 1399-1425 Westfield St. property from Neighborhood Business to Business A. Lyons family members sought the change, saying it would make the site more attractive to developers.

Neffinger had wanted the council to put off acting on the request until completion of a zoning study being done in the Merrick neighborhood expected to be finished in June. The mayor has said it could produce information about form-based zoning that could be applied to the Westfield Street situation. Form-based zoning concerns itself with physical structures as opposed to uses.

Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque said Wednesday she voted for the override because she saw no reason to change her original vote.

“I don’t like to see us stop progress while studies are being done,” Bourque said. “I just don’t think it is necessary to hold people up from continuing their lives while studies are being done.”

Town Councilor John R. Sweeney said he voted to override the veto because it could take considerable time for form-based zoning to be implemented in the city. The councilor said the city’s master plan called for it to be in place by 2011 and it still isn’t.

“Who knows when we are going to go to form-based zoning?” Sweeney said.

Meanwhile, Neffinger has said he plans to move forward to change the rest of the zoning around the package store to Business A and add an overlay to the area that would prohibit the building of four story buildings, which is permitted under that zoning designation. Such a tall structure would cast shadows on nearby residences and be out of character with the neighborhood, the mayor said.

Callahan served 5 years as assistant to former Mayor Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

WESTFIELD — Ann Robinson Callahan will spend the next two weeks doing her “homework” before taking her seat as the new Ward 3 City Council member.

Ann Robinson Callahan

Callahan is expected to officially assume her new council responsibility effective June 7 after being elected by the City Council last week to succeed Peter J. Miller who resigned after eight years on the council.

“I’m doing my homework and plan to focus on the downtown revitalization effort and several projects that impact the downtown and Ward 3 specifically,” Callahan said.

Those include a $2 million Gas Light District infrastructure project for the area bounded by School, Arnold, Washington and Elm streets expected to start later this year.

The ongoing revitalization of the downtown is moving forward with a new Pioneer Valley Transit Authority-Westfield study to determine business and transit needs expected to begin shortly.

“There are many important projects either ready to begin or in the planning stages that will impact Ward 3 and the city as a whole,” Callahan said.

Callahan was elected from a field of nine candidates for the Ward 3 seat May 17.

Council president Christopher Keefe said this week her appointment will become official upon full City Council acceptance of the May 17 meeting records.

“The intent is to have her officially sworn in as Ward 3 councilor at our June 7 meeting,” Keefe said.

Keefe has already assigned Callahan to three council sub-committees. They are Legislative and Ordinance, Government Relations and city Properties and Facilities.

A property manager for Falcone Retail Properties, Callahan served from 2002 to 2007 as assistant to former Mayor Richard K. Sullivan Jr. and has been a member of the board of directors at Westfield Business Improvement District since 2009.

Callahan, who holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Boston College, said her experience as a property manager, former mayoral assistant and on the BID board of directors are strengths she will bring to the City Council.

Ware will convene its 1st public auction to assign tax title to a 3rd party who would be free to try and collect the arrears.

WARE – Thirty Ware property owners who owe a total of $148,000 in delinquent taxes are in danger of having their assets taken for nonpayment, Town Manager Stuart Beckley disclosed at Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting.

But to get the overdue tax money into town coffers, Ware government is trying something different.

The town will convene its first public auction to assign tax title to a third party who would be free to try and collect the arrears, Beckley said.

At the auction, scheduled for June 19, Ware would transfer the tax title covering the delinquent properties to the highest bidder. The idea is the town collects the overdue taxes from a third party’s auction bid.

The town’s collection mechanism is the auction of tax title of the 30 bundled properties that are in arrears totaling a combined $148,000. The town is paid by the third party if it can match or exceed the total owed with the auction bid.

Owners have until the start of the auction to pay their bill; otherwise, tax title may be transferred from the town to the third party, Beckley said.

After paying the town the delinquent tax amount, the third party is then free to try to obtain the arrears from the property owner.

Even though the town may transfer the tax title, the third party cannot take possession unless Massachusetts Land Court has entered a Judgment of Foreclosure of the Right of Redemption.

In other business, selectmen voted 4-0 to allow Police Chief Dennis Healey to recommend to the board the provisional promotion of a patrolman to the rank of sergeant.

Selectman Nancy Talbot recused herself, left the room and did not vote.

Chief Healey said the department currently has eleven patrolmen and a sergeant is needed.

The chief said the provisional appointment is required because none of the officers who took the previous promotional civil service examination in Oct. passed the test. He said another test would be administered later this year and that a sergeant could be selected from the new civil service list.

The city's conservation officer said if the state had applied for local wetlands permits when asked to months ago it would have its paperwork in order by now.

Photos by Sandra Constantine / The RepublicanA couple of workers could be seen moving dirt Thursday in the area of the Route 20 railroad bridge in West Springfield in the top photo. The photo below shows the approach to the bridge.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - A Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman said Thursday his department is working with the community to address concerns about the controversial $6.5 million Route 20 bridge project.

This week, the department has been issued two stop work orders from city officials concerned about the undertaking, the latest one from the Conservation Commission.

“We haven’t received any formal notice from the Conservation Commission, however, we have been in contact with the community and are working cooperatively to address some of the community’s outstanding concerns regarding the project,” Michael W. Verseckes, state Department of Transportation spokesman, stated by e-mail Thursday.

Meanwhile, two workers from SPS New England Inc. of Salisbury could be seen moving dirt on the west side of Route 20 across from Charles Avenue mid-afternoon. Work had halted Monday after the city shut down efforts because workers had cut down trees and stored equipment allegedly on municipal land.

Wednesday night, the Conservation Commission issued cease and desist orders to the state and its contractors on the grounds they had failed to get permission to do work within 100 feet of wetlands as mandated under the state Wetlands Protection Act.

Verseckes said state officials are hopeful of setting up a public meeting during which they can walk people through the project and explain the exemptions the state has in the undertaking.

Verseckes said there are aspects of the bridge project that make it unique, but said he could not elaborate on them at this time.

State officials have said state projects involving bridges and their approaches are exempt from local regulations. Local officials have argued that some work, like that involving in relocating Charles Avenue near Squassick Brook falls under local jurisdiction.

The Conservation Commission voted 5-0 Wednesday night to issue the orders to the state as well as contractors on the project, Gordon’s Tree Service of Pittsfield, White Wolf General of Washington and SPS New England Inc. of Salisbury.

Meanwhile, Neffinger could not be reached for comment.

City Conservation Officer Mark A. Noonan said following the Conservation Commission’s vote that the city is willing to take its battle to court if need be.

“All we are asking is that the state comply with the laws anybody would have to,” Noonan said.

The conservation official said it takes about a month to complete the process the state needs to go through with the Conservation Commission, something that would have been done by now if state officials had complied with the regulations when asked to several months ago.

1 person who was home at the time got out of the house safely.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonSpringfield firefighters inspect the damage to a second-floor bedroom at 55 Burnside Terrace. The fire caused heavy damage to the second floor but was extinguished by firefighters before it could spread.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonA firefighter exits 55 Burnside Terrace, the scene of a fire Thursday night that caused damage to a second floor bedroom.

SPRINGFIELD — Firefighters were called to a fire that broke out in a second-floor bedroom Thursday night at 55 Burnside Terrace off Sumner Avenue in the East Forest Park neighborhood.

The fire caused an estimated $35,000 damage, said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

One person was home at the time of the fire, but he was able to make it out safely, Leger said. There were no injuries.

The call came in at 9 p.m. for a report of a fire in a second-floor bedroom.

Firefighters were on scene within 2 minutes, he said.

The fire was quickly knocked down and all of the fire damage was confined to the second floor, he said. The first floor likely sustained some water damage.

The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad responded to the scene to investigate the cause.

Investigators determined a faulty electrical cord in the second-floor bedroom was determined to be the cause, Leger said.

The property is owned by John A. and Suzanne C. Szczepanek, according to city records.

The map below shows the approximate location of 55 Burnside Terrace:

View Fire at 55 Burnside Terrace, Springfield in a larger map

Casey Douglass wants to open a new restaurant-bar, but the license board awarded the last available full license to Anup Sangar for an Indian restaurant on Union Street.

File photo | The Republican

EASTHAMPTON — Following the License Board recommendation, the City Council has supported the owner of the Apollo Grill’s request to seek a liquor license from the Legislature, which would allow him to obtain a license although it would surpass Easthampton’s quota.

Casey Douglass wants to open a new restaurant-bar at 60-62 Main St., but the license board in March awarded the last available full license to Anup K. Sangar for an Indian restaurant on Union Street that is to open later this month or the first week in June.

Speaking to the council, Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said, “I’m not a fan of quota licenses.” He said he supports a license request from any restaurant or related business. The process could take a year, and Douglass still has to apply to the License Board. 

Officials with the Hampden County District Attorney's Office said Jailanyz Anaya was left unattended in a bath tub.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 6:26 p.m. Wednesday

HOLYOKE - The 9-month-old baby who died Wednesday in an South East Street apartment apparently drowned after being left unattended in a bathtub, CBS3 Springfield, the media partner to The Republican and Masslive.com, is reporting.

The child, identified as Jailanyz Anaya died at Holyoke Medical Center after she was rushed there following an 11:30 a.m. 911 call.

Officials with the Hampden County District Attorney's Office said Jailanyz was left unattended in a bath tub.

Holyoke detectives were back at the apartment speaking with neighbors and trying to figure out what happened in the minutes leading up to her death.

Police said the baby's mother, Isamari Otero, was home when her daughter died. The 26-year-old has three other children, all boys ranging from 3 to 9 years old.

Holyoke police said an autopsy will be conducted Thursday night or early Friday morning to determine Jailanyz's exact cause of death.

Reign said she hopes the photo won't jeopardize his re-election chances "or whatever he's trying to run for."

A screen shot of Brooklyn Lee's photo from her Twitter page. Pictured from left are Jennifer Taule, who runs a drug-testing business, Tasha Reign, former President Bill Clinton and Lee.

Former President Bill Clinton sure gets around – but then we all knew that already.

The Internets were a'buzzin' Thursday as a photo started circulating showing the former president posing with two adult film actresses, Brooklyn Lee and Tasha Reign, at a fund-raiser in Monaco.

Lee started the social media commotion by posting the photo on her Twitter page.

Brooklyn Lee, who is described by the New York Daily News as "an award winning porn star," told the TMZ that she and Reign attended the event, a dual fundraiser for the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Prince Albert II Foundation, as the guest of Marc Bell, the CEO of the corporation that owns Penthouse Magazine.

She said she spotted Clinton on the other side of the room and tried to meet him, but the Secret Service detail assigned to the former president ran interference.

Or tried to.

"The Secret Service guy wasn't having it but then (Clinton) let us come over," Lee told TMZ.

Clinton posed briefly with Lee, Reign and another woman, who was identified as Jennifer Taule, who runs a drug-testing business. It is not clear if he knew who Lee and Reign were or if he was familiar with their work.

Lee said she told him she thought he was a great president, and Clinton responded with a wink, a smile and a hug.

Reign, in a comment to TMZ that is practically a Hollywood-style punchline, said of the photo, "I hope this doesn't hurt his re-election or whatever he's trying to run for"

On Memorial Day, people want to know that the past is not forgotten and the future of their country is in good hands.

Air Force photoBonnie Harper, 22, of Amherst, a senior airman in the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes National Guard Air Base in Westfield, will be grand marshal and keynote speaker at South Hadley's newly expanded Memorial Day ceremonies on May 28.

On Memorial Day, people want to know that the past is not forgotten and the future of their country is in good hands.

Bonnie Harper, 22, seems to be an affirmation of both.

Harper is a senior airman in the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes National Guard Air Base in Westfield.

She will be grand marshal and keynote speaker at South Hadley’s newly expanded Memorial Day ceremonies on May 28.

“We are very proud of her,” said Timothy Anderson, director of the Minuteman Marching Band at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where Harper was a drum major, leading and conducting students in the band. “She is absolutely terrific.”

Harper, who graduated from UMass earlier this month, is eloquent on the meaning of Memorial Day.

“As citizens of the United States, we are so blessed to have the freedoms that we do,” she said on the phone from Eagle, Idaho, where she was visiting her family, “and those freedoms wouldn’t exist without the many men and women who have given their lives for our country.”

Harper came to UMass to study flute performance and music education. After two years, she joined the Air National Guard in Westfield to help fund her studies, and discovered she loved it.

Before South Hadley asked her to reflect on Memorial Day, the music department at South Hadley High School had sought her out to help train their drum major Katie Godfrey.

The town’s Memorial Day event on May 28 will begin with a series of ceremonies in different locations in South Hadley between 7 and 11 a.m., in this order: Canal and Everson Parks, Notre Dame and Evergreen Cemeteries, the Common and St. Rose and Village Cemeteries.

The parade, with Harper as grand marshal, will set off at 11 a.m. from South Hadley High School. At noon, the ceremony at Town Hall will feature speakers and music, followed by a catered reception at St. Patrick’s Church, hosted by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3104.

In the afternoon, there will be music, games and a raffle at Buttery Brook Park, with a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. to honor those whose sacrifice makes it all possible.

In case of rain, the ceremony will take place at South Hadley High School at 11 a.m. For more details, go to sites.google.com/site/shmemorialday/.

Starting this weekend, there will be other ceremonies all over Western Massachusetts. The following are some of those events.

FRIDAY:

Springfield – A ceremony will be at noon at City Hall.

West Springfield – Officials will visit veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers Home at 10 a.m. and at Wingate Healthcare at West Springfield at 2 p.m.

Palmer – A ceremony will be at 8 a.m. at the War Memorial at Converse Middle School on Converse Street.

Chicopee – Starting at 8:30 a.m., veterans’ organizations visit a dozen schools to talk about Memorial Day.

SUNDAY:

Chicopee – At 7 p.m., Vietnam Veterans of America, Western Massachusetts Chapter 111, will hold a candle-lighting remembrance service at Chicopee Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, Chicopee Street, Willimansett.

Belchertown – At 11 a.m., Veterans’ Council of Belchertown, in conjunction with friends of the Quabbin and state Department of Conservation and Recreation, will hold traditional memorial services at Quabbin Park Cemetery.

Leeds, Northampton – At 1 p.m., Leeds Civic Association hosts a ceremony with speakers, student-led songs, memorial wreath, and a cannon salute at Memorial Park, opposite grammar school.

MONDAY, MEMORIAL DAY:

Amherst – The parade leaves Town Common at 9:30 a.m. for War Memorial Pool.

Easthampton – The parade leaves Clark Street at 10:30 a.m. for Veterans Memorial.

Belchertown – A salute to veterans is held at South Cemetery at 8:30 a.m. The parade leaves Town Hall at 10 a.m. for Town Common ceremony. The speaker is Chief Master Sgt. Kathleen M. Wood, U.S. Air Force, retired.

West Springfield – A ceremony with West Springfield and Agawam officials is at 7:30 a.m. at Vietnam Veterans Bridge off Front Street. The parade steps off at 9 a.m. from St. Thomas School, proceeds to King’s Highway, Elm Street, Park Street to Town Common for speeches and ceremony at 9:45 a.m.

Agawam – A parade starts 10:30 a.m. from Agawam Middle School, and marches down Main Street to Veterans Green. A ceremony follows.

Another ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 1390 Main St.

Chicopee – At 10 a.m. a parade sets off at 10 a.m. from Dana Park, goes down Springfield Street to Fairview and Bonneville Avenues, ends at Veterans’ Memorial Plaza for ceremony at 11:15 a.m.

Palmer – A parade leaves Thorndike Street at 10:30 a.m., proceeds down Main Street and Central Street, ends at the War Memorial at Converse Middle School for ceremony. A reception for marchers will be at American Legion Post 130.

Granby – Marchers leave Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish for 9 a.m. ceremony at Veterans Memorial Boulder, then proceed to West Cemetery and Batchelor St.

Springfield – A Bishop’s Mass will be at 9 a.m., St. Michael’s Cathedral, followed by ceremony at Veterans’ Monument at St. Michael’s Cemetery.

Florence, Northampton – A parade departs at 10 a.m. from Trinity Row on South Main Street, and ends at Park Street Cemetery with speakers, cannon and taps. Memorial Day Road Race 5K run starts at 9:45 a.m.

Leeds, Northampton – An 11 a.m. service with Eventide Singers will be held at Veterans Administration Medical Center Chapel. The Medical Center will also be turnaround point for 5K Run that started in Florence.

Monson – American Legion holds its annual parade at 10 a.m. Marchers gather at Wing Medical Center parking lot on Route 32 at 9 a.m., and proceed down Main Street.

East Longmeadow – From 11 a.m. to noon, a small procession walks from East Longmeadow High School parking lot to flagpole for laying of wreath, followed by Sen. Gale Canderas, Rep. Brian Ashe and Rep. Angelo Puppolo speaking in high school auditorium.

Westfield – Westfield Veterans Council’s parade leaves at 10 a.m. from the Westfield State University commuter lot, marches east on Western Ave., and proceeds to Parker Memorial Park on West Silver Street for an 11 a.m. ceremony.

Air Force photoBonnie Harper, 22, of Amherst, a senior airman in the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes National Guard Air Base in Westfield, will be grand marshal and keynote speaker at South Hadley's newly expanded Memorial Day ceremonies on May 28.

Police charged a 13-year-old boy with domestic assault and battery and other charges at Chicopee Academy after he allegedly pushed his pregnant mother against a wall.

These were the most-read stories on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now. The most viewed item overall was a collection of William J. Dean Technical High School prom photos. Photos from this year's prom are at right.

1) Elizabeth Warren says she knows she is part Native American 'because my mother told me so' [Shira Shoenberg]

2) Harry Delmolino of Hadley, who died from injuries in Northampton bicycle accident, was college graduate, Eagle Scout, adventurer [Jeanette DeForge]

3) Chicopee police arrest 13-year-old boy after he allegedly pushed his pregnant mother against wall at school [George Graham]

4) Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is angry and he has a right to be [Ben Shapiro]

5) Daniel Warwick, Jesus Jara named finalists for Springfield schools superintendent [Peter Goonan]