MSNBC host Chris Hayes says he's sorry for his comments about his discomfort with the use of the word "heroes" to describe fallen soldiers.

05/30/11-Agawam-Staff Photo by Dave Roback- Memorial Day ceremonies mark the 10th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Veterans' Cemetery in Agawam on Monday. Here flowers and flags sit in a row at the gravesites.

NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC host Chris Hayes says he's sorry for his comments about his discomfort with the use of the word "heroes" to describe fallen soldiers.

Hayes made the comments during his show on Sunday, the day before Memorial Day. He was met with a strong backlash, including from a veterans' group.

Hayes said he was "uncomfortable" with the word because it seemed like a rhetorical device that could justify engaging in more wars.

In a blog post Monday on the show's website, Hayes apologized for not living up to his own "standards of rigor, respect and empathy."

He says he was trying to discuss the divide between the military and civilians but ended up reinforcing a stereotype of a pundit talking about something he hasn't experienced.

Brown has made bipartisanship a central theme in his campaign against chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren.

The Republican file photo | Michael S. GordonU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown will begin airing a new TV ad on Tuesday, focusing on his bipartisan work in the Senate.

The 30-second ad, featuring Brown walking into James' Breakfast and More in Wrentham with rolled-up shirtsleeves, emphasizes the image Brown cultivated during his successful 2010 run for Senate, as someone who can relate to everyday voters.

“The problem with Washington is that people down there are always battling. That's not how I operate,” Brown says in the ad. “I was the tie-breaking vote on Wall Street reform, led the way on a jobs bill for veterans and helped pass a strong new ethics law for Congress.”

The ad will air in the Boston, Springfield, Providence and Albany markets, and on statewide cable, according to the Brown campaign.

The bills that Brown is referring to include the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which Brown was one of three Republicans to vote for in the Senate. Brown also frequently talks about the “Hire a Hero Act,” which he co-sponsored, giving tax credits to businesses that hire veterans. The ethics law refers to the STOCK Act, a bill that passed the Senate overwhelmingly and that Obama signed into law prohibiting insider trading by members of Congress. Brown was one of the main sponsors of the bill, which was introduced in response to a “60 Minutes” segment showing how members of Congress benefitted from investing based on inside information.

Brown faces a close race against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. Running in a heavily Democratic state, Brown has centered his campaign message on the bipartisan aspects of his record.

The Richmond man was rendered unconscious after being struck by a cow on Swamp Road in Richmond, according to Fireground360, a local public safety website.

RICHMOND — A man was knocked out by a cow in the Berkshire County town of Richmond on Monday, according to a report by Fireground360, a public safety website maintained by area firefighters and emergency medical responders.

A medical call was received just after 4 p.m. regarding an unidentified man who was struck by a cow on Swamp Road, Fireground reports. The man was unconscious and breathing, according to the website, which had no updates on his condition.

The report could not immediately be verified with Richmond officials, who either were unavailable Tuesday morning or did not return calls. State police from the Lee Barracks, which covers that section of the county, had no information about the call, and Richmond Fire Chief Paul Sintoni did not immediately return a phone message.

Swamp Road, a north-south route near the New York state border, begins at the Richmond-Pittsfield line and runs south to West Stockbridge.

No further information was available.

Belchertown police said last week that two male sixth-graders attending Chestnut Hill Community School assaulted a male third grader at Swift River Elementary School.

Republican file photo

BELCHERTOWN — The school superintendent says she has taken action against students who were responsible for a May 7 incident on a school bus carrying elementary school children that the Belchertown police chief characterized as an assault.

The results of the internal school probe are contained in an email to parents that Belchertown School Superintendent Judith Houle sent on Sunday night.

Houle’s email states: “The school district has completed its investigation,” she said in the email. “As a result of the investigation, consequences were imposed on students whose behavior warranted it.” She did not elaborate on the nature of the consequences, nor specify the number of students involved as perpetrators or victims.

Belchertown police said last week that two male sixth-graders attending Chestnut Hill Community School assaulted a male third grader at Swift River Elementary School.

The alleged assault occurred on Belchertown school bus number 16 on May 7, according to police. The bus is owned and operated by the First Student transportation company. Belchertown public schools contracts with First Student to provide transportation.

Neither school officials nor law enforcement officials have commented on concerns expressed by parents about whether the alleged assault was sexual in nature.

“It appears to be some kind of assault, and we are investigating,” Fox said.

Houle told parents in the email that she met with all school administrators and the police officer assigned to the district on May 22, a little more than two weeks after the incident, “to ensure that full investigation and communication procedures are followed for all future incidents.” School officials were criticized by some parents for not providing information about the matter in a timely matter.

The school chief said she met with the manager of First Student for Belchertown and all the bus drivers for the town May 23, “regarding student discipline on the buses and to discuss strategies to ensure that all students are safe.”

Houle also told parents an “assigned seating plan” is now mandatory on bus number 16 – “to ensure that students will be safe.”

Police said prosecution of the May 7 school bus incident is in the hands of Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan’s office.

The Republican and MassLive.com present a six-part series, photo galleries and videos to mark the first anniversary of the tornadoes that hit Massachusetts.

The Republican and MassLive.com present a six-part series marking the first anniversary of the tornadoes that hit Massachusetts:

PHOTOS:

Then & now photos

New aerial photos

VIDEOS:

Other recipients today include author Toni Morrison and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

AP file photoBob Dylan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will honor a diverse cross-section of political and cultural icons — including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, astronaut John Glenn, basketball coach Pat Summitt and rock legend Bob Dylan — with the Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony Tuesday.

The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor. It's presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States, to world peace or to other significant endeavors.

Other recipients this year include:

—Toni Morrison, author of such novels as "Song of Solomon" and "Beloved."

—John Paul Stevens, former Supreme Court Justice.

—Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.

—Shimon Peres, former president of Israel.

—John Doar, who handled civil rights cases as assistant attorney general in the 1960s.

—William Foege, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped lead the effort to eradicate smallpox.

—Gordon Hirabayashi, who fought the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

—Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.

—Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America.

Albright was the first woman to hold the top U.S. diplomatic job, while Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. Summitt led the University of Tennessee women's basketball team to more NCAA Final Four appearances than any other team. And Dylan's vast catalog of songs includes such rock classics as "Like a Rolling Stone," "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Mr. Tambourine Man."

A crackdown on aggressive and drunken drivers netted 70 arrests and led to the issuance of more than 2,600 tickets and citations, according to Connecticut authorities.

Connecticut troopers responded to 286 motor vehicle accidents over the Memorial Day weekend, including one fatal crash and 43 involving injuries.

The holiday enforcement operation, in effect from midnight Friday until 4 p.m. Monday, resulted in 70 arrests, said Connecticut State Police Trooper Kelly Grant, a public information officer for the statewide police force.

Troopers also issued 1,690 speeding tickets, 764 seatbelt violations and 150 cellphone violations, Grant said.

The stepped-up enforcement campaign, which entailed increased patrols for drunken drivers, speeders and aggressive drivers, is expected to continue throughout the summer months, according to a release from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

Next up is an 80,000-square-foot exhibition hall that will allow the fairgrounds to operate year-round, increasing the number of annual events it hosts from 22 to about 70.

The Republican file photo | Michael GordonOne of the new barns at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton.

NORTHAMPTON — Gov. Deval Patrick got a tour of the Three County Fairgrounds Monday, complete with a pitch for help from the state in pushing forward the $40 million project. Although the governor said he likes what he saw, he was non-committal on money.

A bevy of local and fairgrounds officials, including Mayor David J. Narkewicz, state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Barry Roberts, the president of the Three County Fair Association, walked Patrick through the three new barns and the new indoor riding rink. Although those buildings cost more than $4 million, they represent a fraction of the more than $40 million that the association expects to spend before the fairgrounds are revitalized.

Next up is an 80,000-square-foot exhibition hall that will allow the fairgrounds to operate year-round, increasing the number of annual events it hosts from 22 to about 70. Before the exhibition hall can go up, however, the fairgrounds must solve the drainage problems that plague it and the surrounding neighborhood. Several of Patrick’s guides suggested that the state could help fund the infrastructure improvements.

Although he did not commit any funds, Patrick said he is impressed by the improvements at the fairgrounds and that they are consistent with his priorities of education, innovation and infrastructure investment.

More details will be added later today on MassLive.com

Officials with the Chicopee Electric Light Co. were still trying to figure out what caused the outages, none of which lasted longer than 15 seconds, according to a spokesman for the public utility.

CHICOPEE — Multiple electrical outages were reported in Chicopee Tuesday, beginning at about 8 a.m. and continuing sporadically throughout the morning, according to officials with the Chicopee Electric Light Co., who were investigating the cause of the outages.

"We are making every effort we can to find out what caused them," said Jim Lisowski, assistant manager of the public utility.

There were no scheduled power outages, according to the electric company's website, though Lisowski said officials were trying to determine if the disruption in service was linked to ongoing work at the Davitt Bridge. The bridge is scheduled to remain closed until August 2014 to accommodate an $8.1 million state rebuilding project.

Several brief outages were reported Tuesday morning, none of which lasted longer than 15 seconds, Lisowski said. There were no obvious reasons for the temporary outages, he said, adding that utility workers were assessing the situation.

Velez allegedly threatened the two boys who were walking the leashed pitbull with a knife

Luis Velez

SPRINGFIELD – A poodle with an apparent taste for trouble got its owner into even deeper doo-doo with the law Monday night after it allegedly attacked a pitbull on Benton Street

Sgt. John M. Delaney said the incident began shortly before 8:30 p.m. as a15-year-old male walked his leashed pitbull near 48 Benton St.

“During their evening walk the pitbull was suddenly attacked by a poodle,” Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

The 15-year-old, along with his 14-year-old friend, tried, but couldn’t separate the two fighting dogs.

The owner of the poodle looked out his window and didn’t like what he saw,” Delaney said, adding that the poodle owner then went after the two boys with a knife.

The boys, fearing they were about to get stabbed, dropped the leash and ran, Delaney said, adding that responding Police Officers John Corey and Howard Lockwood then spoke with the youths, their parents and witnesses.

Police then went to the poodle-owner’s home at 48 Benton St. and placed him under arrest. The suspect, Luis Velez, still had the knife in his pocket, Delaney said.

Velez, 42, was charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon.

Delaney said the dogs weren’t seriously injured and did not require treatment. The pitbull was returned to the owner, he said.

The average price of gas has fallen 28 cents per gallon over the last six weeks and is down from an average of $3.83 a year ago this time.

The Associated PressThis Feb. 23, 2012, file shows gasoline dripping from a nozzle at gas station, in Lake Oswego, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Gas prices are down in Massachusetts for the sixth consecutive week.

AAA Southern New England reported Tuesday morning that its most recent survey found regular unleaded gas selling for an average of $3.61 per gallon, down 4 cents from one week ago.

The average price of gas has fallen 28 cents per gallon over the last six weeks and is down from an average of $3.83 a year ago this time.

AAA found gas selling for as low as $3.45 per gallon in its latest survey and for as much as $3.89 per gallon.

After polling our readers to see which topic they wanted addressed, MassLive.com sat down with Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse to talk about teen pregnancy in the city. Watch video

After polling our readers to see which topic they most wanted addressed, MassLive.com sat down with Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse last week to talk about teen pregnancy in the city.

When it comes to teenage birth rates, Holyoke ranked first in the state in 2009. The city had 96.8 births per 1,000 resident females aged 15 to 19, or 146 births to teens that year, according to MassLive.com archives.

"I want young people to be young people -- go to school and get a job," Morse said, "to make sure that they're in an economic and social position where they can better take care of a child."

Holyoke and Springfield are in year two of sharing a $5.5 million state grant aimed at reducing their teen pregnancy rates. Early this year, the city's School Committee approved a more comprehensive sex ed curriculum for middle schoolers -- something that's already in place in Holyoke public high schools, Morse said.

Holyoke has also had a policy in place for several years that that offers condoms to students in seventh grade through high school.

"I want young people to know they have options, that they have choices," Morse said, "that you can go to school and get a good education and go on to college if you choose to do so."

If you have a question for a future "Ask Mayor Morse" segment, email it to feedback@masslive.com or leave it in the comment section below.

Students at the school will read "The Revealers" this summer.

EAST LONGMEADOW - Birchland Park Middle School students will all be reading the same book this summer as part of a revamped summer reading program.

Principal Kathy Hill met with the School Committee earlier this month to discuss school handbook policy changes their new approach to summer reading.

Hill said the current program gives students in sixth grade one book option while seventh and eighth grade students get two options.

"They are required to read the book during the summer and then when they get back to school in September they take a 25 question test about the reading material, " she said.

The new reading program is called "One School, One Book" and it's a model being used across the country, she said.

All students will read the same book, this summer it will be "The Revealers," by Doug Wilhelm. Students will come back to school and celebrate "Revealers Week" a week-long set of activities geared towards discussing the book.

"There will be a writing prompt as well as other activities that will culminate on Friday with a visit from the author himself," she said.

Hill said the author will talk to aspiring writers, sign autographs and more.

She said the book also serves another purpose, because it deals with bullying.

"State legislation requires us to address the issue of bullying with our students and this book will allow us to do that," she said.

During the meeting the School Committee also voted to support National Night Out which is held in the high school parking lot and baseball field annually. The program promotes safety and celebrates the work of local police departments.

The committee also voted to march in the 4th of July parade. In the past the parade kicked off at Birchland Park Middle School, headed down Hanward Hill to Elm Street to Mapleshade Avenue to North Main Street and to Maple Street, and concluded at East Longmeadow High School. This year the route will be reversed and will begin at the high school.

The names of three Democrats and two Republicans will be on primary ballots in September.

John Stobierski

BOSTON - Greenfield lawyer and Democrat John J. Stobierski on Tuesday announced that he is withdrawing from the contest for the Western Massachusetts seat on the Governor's Council, leaving three Democrats and two Republicans in the final field for the position.

While Stobierski is no longer a candidate, lawyer Kevin J. Sullivan of Westfield, Chicopee City Councilor Gerard J. Roy and former Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano of Longmeadow all have qualified for the Sept. 6 Democratic primary ballot for 8th District seat on the Governor's Council, said a spokesman for Secretary of State William F. Galvin. The council's main duty is to vote whether to confirm judicial nominations made by the governor.

Two Republican candidates will appear on the GOP primary ballot including Michael F. Case, a selectman in the Berkshire town of Washington and retired Pittsfield police sergeant and Michael Franco of Holyoke, a veterans agent-investigator for the city of Holyoke, according to Galvin's spokesman.

The winners of the two primaries will compete in the Nov. 6 general election. Incumbent Thomas Merrigan of Greenfield is not running for re-election to the council.

Stobierski endorsed Sullivan for the two-year position on the council, saying Sullivan shares his vision of providing a strong voice for Western Massachusetts in Boston and for an independent judiciary.

In dropping out of the race, Stobierski cited the demands of representing a victim of clergy sex abuse at a trial set to start in late July.

The warning, issued at about 6 p.m., predicts storms capable of producing quarter-sized hail, and winds of up to 60 mph.

SPRINGFIELD - The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Pioneer Valley as a line of thunderstorms are seen on radar heading into the area.

The warning, issued at about 6 p.m., predicts storms capable of producing quarter-sized hail, and winds of up to 60 mph.

The storms were observed on a line extending from Rowe toward Chester and moving east at 30 mph.

The warning directs people in the area to seek shelter immediately.

A tornado watch that has been issued earlier in the day for parts of New York, Vermont and Berkshire County remains in effect.

Due to a 2011 budget compromise, the Defense Department is facing $500 billion in automatic cuts, called "sequestration," in January.

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., questions U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and the Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards as they testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

QUINCY — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., on Tuesday began staking out a position on what is likely to be one of the most contentious issues Congress will face before the end of the year, opposing the $500 billion in automatic cuts facing the Department of Defense.

The cuts, referred to as “sequestration,” are scheduled to go into effect in January. Leading congressional Republicans oppose the defense cuts, and Brown said Tuesday that he shares their concern. “Sequestration is a real problem,” Brown told an audience of around 60 people, mostly veterans, at American Legion Post 294. Brown, who serves in the National Guard, said effects of the cuts to the military would be “dramatic.”

The pending cuts are the result of a fierce budget battle that took place in Congress in 2011 over whether to raise the debt ceiling, the amount of money the federal government can borrow. A deal in August 2011 required a committee to come up with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts by January 2012. If cuts could not be made, the government would be forced to automatically cut $1.2 trillion – including $500 billion from defense – on Jan. 2, 2013. Brown voted for that bill. Congress failed to agree on the necessary cuts, so the sequestration is scheduled to go into effect.

In a brief interview with MassLive.com after the event, Brown said, “There’s a general consensus no one wants to see the military be devastated by another half a trillion cuts and there’s an effort, as there was in the Defense Authorization bill, to try to find a way to revisit it.”

“It’s not over,” Brown said. “There’s a general consensus in a bipartisan manner to (revisit it), and it’s just in its infancy right now.”

Brown was referring to a provision in the 2013 defense budget that was adopted by the Armed Services Committee, of which Brown is a member. The provision would require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on the impact of the sequestration. Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and ranking member John McCain, an Arizona Republican, have said the cuts should be reversed, but the bill did not offer a proposal to do so.

The battle over the cuts, however, is likely to come down a debate over whether to raise taxes to alleviate them. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said in a recent interview with Politico that he would be willing to go ahead with sequestration if Republicans are unwilling to raise taxes – for example by lifting some of the Bush-era tax cuts. “To now see the Republicans scrambling to do away with the cuts to defense, I will not accept that,” Reid told Politico. (Levin has also said Republicans must compromise on accepting new revenues.)

Brown declined to say where he would find money to rescind the proposed cuts. “Senator McCain and I and others are looking at it in an effort to try to deal with that,” Brown told the veterans. “We are in a financial emergency. We do need to find ways to consolidate, streamline, cut, find revenues, that sort of thing.”

Asked afterward for specific proposals – and what revenues he would be open to looking for – Brown did not give specific ideas. “I’m going to wait and see, and work with the delegation and work with obviously other members of the Senate to try to find a solution,” Brown said.

The budget deal reached in 2011 already included nearly $500 billion in defense cuts over 10 years. Brown said he believes those cuts are achievable by getting rid of waste in military programs and procurement.

The debate over sequestration has been stalled, as members from both parties agree it is unlikely Congress will be able to accomplish anything before the November election.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said the effects of the proposed cuts will start to be felt this summer when the Department of Defense must develop a plan in anticipation of potential cuts, resulting in possible furloughs or a hesitancy to invest in defense projects.

House Republicans proposed a bill that would cut social programs such as food stamps instead of defense, and President Barack Obama has said he will veto it. Eaglen said senators have been working on proposals in closed-door sessions, but no plan has been released.

“People are paying lip service to no one wants sequestration to happen, but at the same time, the Senate has not and will not move any bill with a proposal to alter it,” Eaglen said.

Across the whole of Hampden County, April foreclosure deeds were up 35.6 percent from 59 in April 2011 to 80 in April 2012.

Associated PressA foreclosure sign sits atop a for sale sign in front of a single-family home in Denver in this April 4, 2010, file photo.

SPRINGFIELD – The number of completed mortgage foreclosures in the city more than doubled in April, from 23 in April 2011 to 48 in April 2012.

The number of foreclosure deeds filed in the first four months of 2012 was up from 104 from January through April in 2011 to 175 foreclosure deeds in the same time period this year, according to statistics released Tuesday by The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data and publishers of Banker & Tradesman newspaper.

A foreclosure deed is typically one of the last steps in the foreclosure process.

“The economy has not really picked up,” said Deborah L. Broaden, director of the Western Massachusetts Foreclosure Center and of the home ownership department at HAP Housing Inc. “We have a lot of people who are still dealing with the loss of jobs and the loss of income even if they still have their jobs.”

Broaden said those needing help should call the center’s hotline at (413) 233-1622.

Also, large lenders were inactive in 2011, sitting on paperwork and waiting for the regulatory environment to clarify and the housing market to settle down, she said.

Some homeowners in arrears were placed in trial modifications, programs that lowered their monthly payments, but lenders are not making those modifications permanent, Broaden said. That leaves homeowners either reapplying in desperation or preparing to lose their homes.

Springfield’s recent experience is part of a larger tend, according to The Warren Group

Across Hampden County, April foreclosure deeds were up from 59 in April 2011 to 80 in April 2012.

For the first four months of the year, foreclosure deeds were up from 210 in January through April 2011 to 329 in the same time period this year.

In Hampshire County, foreclosure deeds went up from 9 in April 2011 to 11 in April 2012. Over the first four months of the year, the number of foreclosure deeds filed in Hampshire County rose from 23 in 2011 to 32 in 2012.

In Franklin County, April’s foreclosure deeds rose from 11 in April 2011 to 12 last month. For the first five months, Franklin County foreclosure deeds rose from 32 to 33.

Statewide, April deeds rose from 598 to 714. Over the first five months, the number of foreclosure deeds statewide rose from 2,275 in January through April in 2011 to 2,968 in that same time period of 2012.

Broaden said the Western Massachusetts Foreclosure Center has applied for up to $499,000 of the $250,000 Massachusetts has received from a multi-state settlement with mortgage lenders. The money could pay for counseling and homeowner education.

Lawyer Kevin B. Coyle, representing the patrolman’s union, said police received information from a reliable informant that Thomas was selling cocaine at the Blue Eagle, and that cocaine was found during a strip search at the station.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD — Terrence Thomas was not just embarrassed when police pulled down his sweatpants and punched him at a busy intersection in 2007, his lawyer said Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

“He was scared, he was in pain, and he had no idea of what was going on,” Northampton lawyer Alan J. Black told a jury during opening arguments in Thomas’s lawsuit against the Springfield Police Department and four officers for assault and battery, violating his civil rights and other charges.

But lawyers for the accused officers said Thomas was never deprived of his pants or his civil rights while being frisked, arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking on May 18, 2007. Thomas was acquitted on drug charges in 2008.

“Don’t check your common sense or life experience at the door” while weighing the credibility of witnesses during the trial, lawyer John T. Liebel told the eight-person jury.

The lawsuit, filed in 2010, initially named 10 police officers as defendants, but six were dropped before the trial, leaving Sgt. Steven Kent and officers John Wadlegger, Gregg A. Bigda and Robert Patruno. Judge Michael A. Ponsor told jurors the case should take about four days.

The suit alleges that police followed Thomas, 37, and a friend after they left the Blue Eagle bar before stopping his car at Dwight and Congress streets. While frisking him for drugs, the officers pulled down his sweatpants, punched him and later repeatedly assaulted him and planted cocaine in his clothes at the police station.

Lawyer Kevin B. Coyle, representing the patrolman’s union, said police received information from a reliable informant that Thomas was selling cocaine at the Blue Eagle, and that cocaine was found during a strip search at the station.

Injuries suffered by Thomas were minor and resulted from his aggressive behavior toward police, Coyle said.

But Black told jurors no drugs were turned up during three searches of his client, and were only found after police returned his clothes following a strip search.

The group has raised nearly $20,000 for its effort to bring trees to homeowners.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanForest Park Middle School students, from left, Ivan Santana, Raymond Carrasquillo, and Jeffrey Gruen, along with their classmates, help the Parks Department plant more than 70 red oak and red maple trees at the Camp Wilder Park off Parker Street in Springfield.

WILBRAHAM – Tod O’Brien remembers nearly every detail of the day the tornado blew through his neighborhood a year ago.

“It was very stressful. Until we knew everybody was OK, we were very upset,” he says.

O’Brien tried frantically to get home during the storm on June 1, but fallen trees and downed power lines blocked the way. His street was closed so he was forced to scramble through an obstacle course of limbs and lines only to find utter devastation in his back yard.

The O’Brien family had 17 trees adorning outside of their home before the storm hit – a morning view of apple blossoms, old wood with stately maples and Douglas firs. The family’s most prized maple had a 4-foot wide trunk and was well over 100 years old.

“All those trees are gone. Every tree we had in our yard either snapped in half or was completely up rooted,” he said.

The June tornadoes and July microburst devastated much of the region’s landscape. Fallen trees and split trunks still serve as constant reminders of the fury nature unleashed in the summer of 2011. But, there’s hope – Trees Bring Hope – an organization that has raised more than $20,000 and will have planted more than 200 trees by the end of October.

“Our mission is to empower families to restore our local landscape to beauty. We feel responsible for taking care of our creation,” says the group’s executive director, Meri Blanchard.

Trees Bring Hope was founded just after the storms as a means of helping victims recover. Some 200 volunteers in the group have been delivering and planting maple trees at homes in the disaster-stricken areas of Springfield, Wilbraham and Monson.

“Trees Bring Hope is really helping people to stop looking back on the devastation and start looking forward to the things to come,” said Erin O’Brien, a volunteer with the group.

Trees Bring Hope has brought four trees to the O’Briens, four now tiny steps to help restore the natural richness of the property they call home.

“Just to have one live living thing on their property, (a place) where a bird can come and make a nest and to look on something living gives them a lot of hope for the future,” said Blanchard.

Hampden Nurseries has played a key role in giving hope to the group. Owner Mike Sicbaldi has been rounding up trees, no easy task since the group needs more than 200.

Sicbaldi has been contacting other nurseries in the area, negotiating deals, paying and caring for the trees until they could be planted. He’s made no profit, selling the saplings at his cost to Trees Bring Hope.

“After seeing it all and knowing what happened to these people and hearing stories of their lives, it just makes you feel bad for them. I’ll do anything I can to help them,” Sicbaldi said.

Trees bring oxygen to the air, create habitats for birds, help prevent erosion – and now they are bringing hope and healing to a region still reeling from nature’s devastation, one year later.

“We’re not going to live to see these trees mature, but our children will so we’re planting for the future,” said Blanchard.

The School Committee plans to interview the two finalists for the superintendent job next month.

Jesus F. Jara

SPRINGFIELD - Three School Committee members plan to visit Key West, Fla., on June 8 to do a site visit in the school district of Jesus F. Jara, one of two finalists for the Springfield superintendent job.

Jara is superintendent of the Monroe County Public Schools in Florida.. The administrative offices for the Monroe School District are in Key West.

The other finalist is Springfield Deputy Superintendent Daniel J. Warwick.

The School Committee members who will fly to Key West are Peter Murphy, Antonette Pepe and Norman Roldan.

Three other School Committee members - Christopher Collins, Denise Hurst and Barbara Gresham will do a site visit on June 13 in Springfield for Warwick, the other finalist.

Three finalists for the superintendent position were chosen by a 13-member screening committee. One of the three has already withdrawn.

The School Committee is planning to interview the two finalists in a public session on June 18 and then to vote on an appointment.

Pepe said she is concerned that Jara will receive a job offer from Monroe County and withdraw as a candidate in Springfield.

Collins, who chaired Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, said he was not prepared to discuss that contingency.

Collins said there are other possible contingencies which could arise as well, and he was not prepared to discuss a contingency unless it occurs.

Current Superintendent of Schools Alan J. Ingram is leaving the superintendent job, effective June 30, marking the end of his five-year contract. He announced months ago he was not seeking reappointment.

Pepe said she did not participate in a site visit before Ingram was hired, and she did not want to repeat that mistake.

“That was an error on my part,” she said. She said she was adamant about visiting the Monroe County School District.

Jarvis, 42, has served as school superintendent in Monroe County for the past nine months and is a former principal of the High School of Science and Technology in Springfield.

Warwick, 57, has been deputy assistant superintendent in Springfield since July of 2004, and previously was a principal at Glenwood School, a special education supervisor and a teacher in regular and special education. He began working for the Springfield public schools in 1976.