Authorities say winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the state lottery wasn't enough for two Massachusetts men.

Everybody has dreams about what they would do if they won the lottery.

BOSTON (AP) — Authorities say winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the state lottery wasn't enough for two Massachusetts men.

They also allegedly collected welfare benefits at the same time.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump says both men face larceny charges.

Her office alleges James Casey Jr. of Waltham did not tell welfare officials that he has won more than $700,000 while he was collecting more than $12,000 in state health benefits and more than $1,500 in food stamps.

Authorities say Frank Basile of Belmont collected more than $17,000 in state health benefits during the time he won $316,000 on the lottery.

Basile tells The Boston Globe the charges are "a mistake" because his gambling losses are higher than his winnings. Casey could not be reached.

Their arraignments have not been scheduled.

This is a little awkward.

The Associated PressIn this Nov. 10, 2008 file photo, President George W. Bush walks with President-elect Barack Obama down the Colonnade of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama frequently blames President George W. Bush for America's shaky economy, high unemployment and foreign policy woes. But he's sure to change his tune on Thursday when Bush comes back to the White House in a rare limelight moment, The man who led the country for eight tumultuous years will have his portrait hung and Obama will be there applauding. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — This is a little awkward.

President Barack Obama can't seem to stop bad-mouthing the record of former President George W. Bush. But on Thursday, Obama is going to welcome his predecessor and proudly preside as Bush's image and legacy are enshrined at the White House forever.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will join Bush and his wife, Laura, as their official portraits are unveiled. The incumbent is keeping up a presidential tradition typically defined by cheer and graciousness, but not without some uneasiness.

Hardly a day goes by without Obama or his aides talking about the mess they inherited — meaning, from Bush.

It was just one week ago that Obama, revving up campaign donors, turned Bush into a punch line. Obama depicted Republican rival Mitt Romney as a peddler of bad economic ideas, helping the rich at the expense of the middle class, and then added to laughs: "That was tried, remember? The last guy did all this."

Now the last guy is coming back.

So, too, will his father, former President George H.W. Bush and the former first lady Barbara Bush. The Obamas will hold forth in the ornate East Room as George and Laura Bush are honored for their service before an invited audience of Bush friends and former staff members.

It will be a rare limelight moment for Bush, who has not been back in more than two years.

Obama and Bush have a cordial and respectful relationship, but they are not close. Both are political veterans who are able to separate political tactics from what they see as an overarching community among people who have served in the Oval Office, according to people close to them.

Only 44 men in history, and five men alive, have held the job.

"President Bush has been around politics a long time. He's been around how presidents deal with each other for a long time," said Tony Fratto, one of his former spokesmen at the White House. "He has an understanding for separating the necessities of political rhetoric from the job itself."

Bush showed that all through 2008, when Obama assailed his record on war and the economy en route to the White House. It was hard to remember at times that Obama was running not against Bush, who was finishing the last year of a tumultuous eight-year term, but rather Arizona Sen. John McCain.

When it was done, Bush welcomed Obama to the White House with grace and demanded that his team ensure a smooth transition.

History has marked this moment before, with grudges put aside.

When Bill Clinton came back for his portrait unveiling, Bush lauded him for "the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president." Never mind that Bush had run for the presidency to "restore honor and dignity" after Clinton's sex scandal.

And when Clinton welcomed back George H.W. Bush, whom he had defeated, he said to him and his wife: "Welcome home. We're glad to have you here."

"I would be surprised if there's very much tension" this time around, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who has long followed Bush's career.

Obama has enlisted Bush's help on earthquake relief for Haiti, and the two stood together in New York City last year in marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America. They have also spoken at least three times at signature moments over the last three years, including the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Still, in the midst of a tight election year, the Obama-bashing-Bush's-record sets a backdrop.

"This president is looking for someone to blame," Romney said while campaigning in Colorado this week. "Of course, he started off by blaming George Bush, and that worked for a while but, you know, after three and a half years that wears kind of thin."

The White House points out that Obama praises Bush sometimes, too, as he did in March over Bush's willingness to take on immigration.

The visit is layered with political story lines.

Bush's brother Jeb is a potential vice presidential candidate to Romney. Bush's father has developed a kinship of sorts with Obama. And then there is Bush himself, who has endorsed Romney but is still viewed by many in his party as politically toxic.

More than any president in recent memory, Bush has not just intentionally faded from the public spotlight but all but disappeared from it.

"George W. Bush has been remarkably, and even strangely silent, even once you respect his sentiment that he did not want to get in Barack Obama's way," said Jillson. "I think part of that is just giving himself time to recover from what had to be an astoundingly difficult close to his presidency."

The politically impassioned issues of that time have faded. The Iraq war is over. The financial sector has stabilized after a devastating crash in late 2008. But the nation is still feeling the cost of the enormous recession, which is Obama's problem now.

Bush was last at the White House in January 2010. That was to join Obama and Bill Clinton in support of Haiti humanitarian relief.

Aides to both Obama and Bush are downplaying the Thursday reunion as a time of politics. Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said the former president and first lady are grateful to the Obama and looking forward to catching up with faces from their past, including staff at the Executive Mansion.

"I think there is a community here with very few members that transcends political and policy differences," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. He made that comment in the same briefing Wednesday in which he reminded everyone that Obama inherited a huge budget deficit (from Bush.)

Jenna Bush Hager, one of the George W. Bush's daughters, said she was invited for the ceremony and that the day will include a private lunch for the Bushes with the Obamas. She told "Fox & Friends" the day will be a chance to "celebrate his work, 'cause he worked pretty hard so I think he deserves at least a painting."

As to where it will go, she said: "Probably in the very back somewhere. I'm just kidding."

The painting will actually hang prominently in the formal entrance hall to the White House, the Grand Foyer.
___

AP News Researcher Julie Reed Bell and AP writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

A man walked into an arts cafe university and opened fire, then later killed a woman during a carjacking before shooting himself.

Associated PressPolice block a street in the University district in Seattle near where a gunman killed two people and critically wounded three others at a cafe Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Not long after the cafe shooting, a woman was shot to death in downtown Seattle and her car taken and later abandoned in Seattle's West Seattle neighborhood. It was not immediately clear if the incidents were connected.

SEATTLE (AP) — A city already anxious about a recent spate of shootings was rattled further when a man walked into an arts cafe near a Seattle university and opened fire, fatally wounding four people. Police say he later killed a woman during a carjacking before shooting himself.

As officers closed in during a widespread manhunt late Wednesday afternoon, the suspect put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He died at a local hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The five victims brought the number of homicides in Seattle so far this year to 21, matching the total for all of last year, and left city leaders wondering what could be done to stop the bloodshed.

"Two tragic shootings today ... have shaken this city," Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference. "It follows on the heels of multiple, tragic episodes of gun violence that have occurred throughout the city."

In the last month, there had already been two random killings. A man died last week when he was hit by a stray bullet as he drove, and a woman was killed in a drive by shooting in late April. No arrests have been made,

Police did not publicly name the suspect in Wednesday's shootings, but the Seattle Times identified him as Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, of Seattle, citing unidentified law enforcement sources.

Andrew Stawicki, 29, of Ellensburg, told the Times he recognized a photo shown on TV newscasts of the alleged gunman as his brother Ian. Andrew Stawicki said Ian Stawicki was mentally ill.

"It's no surprise to me this happened," he told the newspaper. "We could see this coming. Nothing good is going to come with that much anger inside of you."

A phone number for Andrew Stawicki rang busy when The Associated Press tried to reach him for comment.

Gunfire erupted about 11 a.m. at Cafe Racer, a restaurant and music venue north of the University of Washington.

Police quickly released two photos from inside the cafe, apparently taken from a security camera. One showed a man walking into the establishment, with a woman nearby reading a book and people chatting at the nearby cafe bar. Another photo about a minute later showed stools overturned, and the man standing and holding what appeared to be a handgun.

Two men died at the cafe, and a third man and a woman from the cafe died at a hospital.

Police said it appeared the gunman fled to the First Hill neighborhood near downtown, where he fatally shot a woman in a parking lot and stole her SUV.

He then drove the SUV to West Seattle and ditched it, leaving a gun in the car. After officers found the vehicle, they flooded that area with uniformed and plainclothes officers.

A detective spotted the suspect late in the afternoon and called for backup and a SWAT team, Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said. As those officers arrived, the man shot himself, he said.

A King County medical examiner's spokeswoman said her office might be able to release the dead victims' identifications Thursday.

One man wounded in the cafe shooting was reported in critical but stable condition late Wednesday at Harborview Medical Center following surgery earlier in the day. Hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg confirmed his name as Leonard Meuse. Meuse's father, Raymond Meuse, told the Times his son was shot in the jaw and armpit but was expected to survive.

Evan Hill, who lives above the building where the shooting happened, said the cafe was an artists' collective and performance space.

"It's the strangest place to think of a shooting," said Hill, who heard four to five shots. He said he ran to his balcony and called 911, but didn't see a suspect.

On a street corner across from the cafe, friends of the victims gathered by the ivy-covered wall of an apartment building. Some collapsed in grief. The cafe's owner hugged them and commiserated.

Units of police officers marched by with rifles and shotguns, knocking on doors and checking driveways and yards in the neighborhood of single-family, bungalow-style homes, restaurants and businesses.

During the manhunt, Roosevelt High School, Eckstein Middle School and Greenlake Elementary were locked down, according to the school district.

In other recent violence to hit Seattle, a bystander was wounded near the Space Needle Saturday when he was struck by a bullet that police say was fired by a gang member involved in a dispute with another man. Later that night, about 60 shots were fired in drive-by shootings at four houses. No one was hit.

Besides a plan to increase the number of officers on patrol in high-crime areas, police are urging people with information about shootings to come forward.

They also said Seattleites could expect an increased police presence in the near future.

City Councilman Bruce Harrell said leaders needed to consider everything — from changing laws to addressing the culture of violence.

"If we are to be honest, there's no easy fix," he said.

Minney spends his days trying to figure out his next step, and caring for his 20-year-old cat, Shadow, which survived the tornado but has been slowly failing over the past few months. Shadow had a stroke and is blind and deaf.

The Republican/Don TreegerBrett Minney with his cat "Shadow" in front of the RV he has been living in since a tornado ripped apart his home on Hollow Road in Brimfield a year ago. He and Shadow were in his mobile home when it was lifted up and spun around by the tornado.

BRIMFIELD – A year after the tornado flung Brett F. Minney’s mobile home into the sky while he was inside it, clutching his cat, his life is still up in the air.

“I’m doing the same actually. I’ve been in a camper for 11 months. . .I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I still don’t know,” Minney said during a recent interview on his Hollow Road property.

Minney, 49, lives in a Prowler camper he borrowed from a friend. He says he never thought he would be in it this long, but his life is at a standstill.

Like other tornado victims, he received assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but it’s not been enough for him to rebuild on his lot.

He didn’t have insurance on the mobile home, and the experience of surviving the tornado left him so shaken that Minney does not want to live in another one. He thinks they are unsafe.

He’s also still dealing with the physical and mental aftermath of the twister, which hurt his back and shoulders and fractured his skull. He was in between construction jobs when the tornado struck, and has been out of work ever since. He’s seen a psychiatrist about his anxiety.

“Everything just fell apart,” Minney said.

Ideally, Minney would like to build a modular home on his land, but he says he doesn’t have enough money.

After losing two homes, Anita Rivera has been blessed with two new ones.

Photo by Lucila SantanaAnita Rivera, left, stands in front of her new duplex house on Taylor Street in Springfield with her daughter, Shianttely Rivera. Her previous house on Beech Street was destroyed by last year's tornado. Photo by Lucila Santana

SPRINGFIELD -- After losing two homes, Anita Rivera has been blessed with two new ones.

In 1985 Rivera lost her North End home in a devastating fire that also took the life of three of her daughters. On June 1, eight years after she had purchased a new home on Beech Street, a tornado destroyed the home she had worked for with devotion.

"I worked so hard to buy that house. I had two jobs. I just couldn't believe it," she said.

Rivera is known for being a woman of faith and lending a hand for the needy. Even as she had lost her home and stayed at a hotel with her youngest daughter, Shianttely Rivera, she helped others who struggled after the tornadoes, serving food and allocating resources such as clothing and furniture to area residents.

"I see the need, and I have to do something. It's just in me. I can't be still when others are needed," says the radio personality and founder of the El Pueblo Latino weekly newspaper published by The Republican.

Eventually, Rivera was reimbursed by her insurance company and was able to demolish her house, but she was not going back Beech Street.

"The insurance company gave me the option to sell or rebuild, but going back there affected me emotionally. To see how the community was, it was very sad," she said.

In November, Rivera bought a new home, a two-family duplex house on Taylor Street.
"God blessed me. I just thank God," she said.

Being able to sleep in their own home makes her daughter happy. "I really missed the warmth of a home. It's peaceful. There is no place like home, and, when you have a house, it is your home," said Shianttely Rivera.

But, there was not just one house in Anita Rivera's life now. In January, with money she had left from her insurance settlement, she was also able to purchase a three-floor, two-family house on Longview Street.

"After all the sadness that I felt, now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said.

Rivera plans to move into her Taylor Street house this summer and rent the downstairs apartment, along with renting her duplex house on Longview Street.

The Boston Globe finds Harvard listed Warren as a Native American in federal diversity statistics.

AP PhotoDemocratic candidate for U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren faces reporters during a recent campaign stop at a diner in Shrewsbury.

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren told the Boston Globe late Wednesday that she informed Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania that she was Native American. This is the first time Warren has acknowledged that she provided the information to the schools where she taught as a law professor.

“At some point after I was hired by them, I . . . provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard,’’ Warren told the Globe in a statement. “My Native American heritage is part of who I am, I’m proud of it and I have been open about it.’’

Warren continued to say that the information was not used during her recruitment process. Warren previously said she learned Harvard was claiming her as a minority from the Boston Herald, which broke the story.

The Globe found documents in Harvard’s library showing that Harvard Law School began reporting a Native American female professor in federal statistics in 1992-93, when Warren was a visiting professor at Harvard. The school reported a Native American female professor again beginning in 1995-96, when Warren returned to Harvard as a tenured professor.

The federal statistics use a definition of “Native American’’ that requires ancestry and an official affiliation with a tribe or community, the Globe reported. Warren has so far not provided any evidence of her family affiliation with the Cherokee tribe, saying only that she has family history that tells her so.

Read the full Globe story here.

It had been previously reported that Harvard touted Warren as a "woman of color" and that the University of Pennsylvania described her as a minority in a diversity report.

Some of Harvard’s annual diversity reports can be seen here, but only for recent years.

The story has plagued Warren for weeks. On Wednesday, a group of Cherokees created a website criticizing Warren for saying she is Cherokee.

The jet was enroute to Bradley from Memphis, Tenn.

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. - A FedEx cargo jet landed safely at Bradley International Airport Thursday morning after its crew was forced to shut down one of its two engines due to a blocked oil line.

Bradley spokesman John Wallace said the aircraft, with a crew of four enroute from Memphis, Tenn., shut down the engine as a precaution and reported the problem to the airport’s operations office at 8:30.

The aircraft, an A310, safely landed about ten minutes later. Airport firefighters and other emergency personnel were standing by as the jet landed.

Bradley was the intended destination, Wallace said.

The parade is privately run and funded, and in some years the parade has faced controversy.

AMHERST — At least for this year, the July 4th parade is off.

Difficulty raising money is the leading factor, according to Larry J. Kelley, who has been involved with the parade since 2002 when Kevin P. Joy brought the parade back to town after a 26-year hiatus.

Also, Kelley said the parade committee is tired.

“It’s hard work. We’ve gotten very little support from the town, but that’s gotten dramatically better.”

The parade is privately run and funded. And in some years the parade has faced controversy.

In 2009, then-Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer said he would not allow police or fire apparatus to participate in the parade because organizers were not allowing people to march with political signs. That was resolved.

Hundreds would line the route that ran from Amherst College to the University of Massachusetts and watch dancing horses and politicians parade by along with myriad bands and floats. Many would toss candy at the children who would wait with bags and buckets.

Fundraising has always been an issue because the parade never had a single sponsor, Kelley said. “This year it was a tiny bit worse,” Kelley said.

He said if an underwriter offered to pay for the cost of the parade – in the $7,000 to $8,000 range- they could make it happen.

He said there is a chance, the parade will return next year.

“It’s surprising and terribly disappointing,” said Select Board chairwoman Stephanie J. O’Keeffe. “I know the parade means a lot to a lot of people in town. Organizers have a done a tremendous job of making it a tradition.”

She hopes that it can come back next year.

“It’s good to raise people’s awareness. This kind of thing, it costs money.” She is hoping people will contribute if organizers decide to bring it back.

The traditional Amherst Leisure Services and Supplemental Education events and fireworks will still be held at UMass July 4.

A group of protesters led by Cherokee Indians upset about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's heritage claims are planning to protest outside the state Democratic Convention in Springfield on Saturday.

Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren faces reporters during a news conference at Liberty Bay Credit Union headquarters, in Braintree, Mass., Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Warren responded to questions from reporters on her Native American heritage. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A group of protesters led by Cherokee Indians upset about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's heritage claims are planning to protest outside the state Democratic Convention in Springfield on Saturday.

In an email from Twila Barnes, an amateur Cherokee genealogist in Missouri who has taken the lead with a new website targeting Warren, it states that the Harvard Law School professor's endorsement from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick was disrespectful to Native Americans in light of the controversy.

"Governor Deval Patrick's recent support of her and his statement that this is a non-issue is an arrogant slap in the face and a direct attack on sovereignty and the Cherokee's legal right to determine citizenship," Barnes said in the email. "Elizabeth Warren and others like her must understand OUR history belongs to us and no one has the right to try to rewrite it or make up fictitious stories so they can fit in it or take advantage of it. Only those who meet the requirements under Cherokee law should claim to be Cherokee."

For several weeks, Warren, who is fighting against immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco for the Democratic nod to take on U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in November, has faced questions about whether she is actually Cherokee as she claimed she learned through family lore and whether she used her heritage to boost herself as an affirmative action hire.

Although Warren has repeatedly denied such claims, and the universities that previously hired her released statements saying they weren't aware of such heritage claims or that they played no part in her hiring, the specter of such allegations has lingered.

She told the Boston Globe late Wednesday that after she was hired, she informed Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania that she's Native American.

According to Barnes, the group will be assembling at 10 a.m. on Saturday outside the MassMutual Center where Democrats from across the state will be present, voting to endorse a Senate candidate to officially take on Brown.

Flaherty was removed from committees on finance, long-range bonding and city property.

Westfield City Councilor David Flaherty, left, and Westfield City Council President Christopher Keefe

WESTFIELD – City Councilor David A. Flaherty has challenged Council President Christopher Keefe’s authority to remove him from various committee assignments.

Flaherty this week sent letters to Keefe and the city’s Law Department outlining the challenge and asking the city solicitors to review council rules and the city charter concerning committee appointments.

New rules adopted by the City Council in February give its president the authority to make committee appointments in January and provides no provision for removal of councilors from committee assignments.

Keefe welcomed the challenge, saying “I lightened his (Flaherty) responsibilities and I acted well within my authority.”

City Solicitor Susan C. Phillips said she is reviewing the matter as requested.

Flaherty’s committee assignments were stripped by Keefe following the May 17 regular City Council meeting. At that meeting the council elected Ann Callahan to its vacant Ward 3 seat, succeeding Peter J. Miller, who resigned April 30.

Flaherty’s letter to Keefe states in part: “I do not believe you have the authority to remove me or anyone else from any committees. I have not resigned from any committees. Therefore, I will assume that I am a member of the committees you assigned in January until I receive a legal order stating otherwise.”

Flaherty said Wednesday his committee assignments “are kind of in limbo.” He noted he attended the council Finance Committee meeting Tuesday night but was not allowed to vote.

Keefe removed Flaherty from Finance, Long Range Financial and City Property committees.

The president said the councilor’s removal is the result of conduct and said the council’s Legislative and Ordinance Committee is currently addressing a need for a code of conduct for its members.

The change in committee assignments stems from a heated debate during the May 3 council meeting concerning the process of filling Miller’s seat.

Flaherty said he wanted time to allow Ward 3 candidates to address the council. Instead the council decided to nominate candidates for the vacancy on May 14 and vote on those candidates at the May 17 regular meeting.

“Councilor Flaherty ignored council rules and failed to yield to the gavel,” Keefe said of the May 3 debate.

The president said “Councilor Flaherty took out a newspaper ad demeaning the City Council.”

Flaherty admitted authoring a newspaper ad that referred to the Ward 3 vacancy nomination process.

Flaherty is one of three plaintiffs in an alleged First Amendment violations federal court suit filed against Mayor Daniel M. Knapik in U.S. District Court in Springfield in March.

That suit, still in fact-finding stage, accuses the mayor of ordering city workers to remove political campaign signs owned by Flaherty and Municipal Light Board Commissioner Jane Wensley from property owned by David Costa of Russell on East Silver Street on Nov. 7.

City Hall officials argue that sugary drinks are the largest driver of rising calorie consumption and obesity.

AP PhotoNew York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presents his proposed executive 2013 New York City budget at City Hall in New York, Thursday, May 3, 2012. The total proposed city budget exceeds $68.7 billion this year and Bloomberg has until the end of June to negotiate a final version with the City Council.

NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity — an expansion of his administration's efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents' choices.

The proposal — expected to be announced formally on Thursday in a City Hall briefing — would take 20-ounce soda bottles off the shelves of the city's delis and eliminate super-sized sugary soft drinks from fast-food menus. It is the latest health effort by the administration to spark accusations that the city's officials are overstepping into matters that should be left in the hands of individual consumers.

"There they go again," said Stefan Friedman, spokesman for the New York City Beverage Association, who called the proposal "zealous" in a statement. "The New York City Health Department's unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top. The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates."

But City Hall officials, citing a 2006 study, argue that sugary drinks are the largest driver of rising calorie consumption and obesity. They note that sweet drinks are linked to long-term weight gain and increased rates of diabetes and heart disease.

The administration's proposal would impose a 16-ounce limit on the size of sugary drinks sold at food service establishments, including restaurants, movie theaters, sports venues and street carts. It would apply to bottled drinks as well as fountain sodas.

The ban would apply only to drinks that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. It would not apply to diet soda or any other calorie-free drink. Any drink that is at least half milk or milk substitute would be exempted.

The ban, which could take effect as soon as March, would not apply to drinks sold in grocery or convenience stores that don't serve prepared food. Establishments that don't downsize would face fines of $200 after a three-month grace period.

The proposal requires the approval of the city's Board of Health — considered likely because its members are all appointed by Bloomberg.

Under the three-term mayor, the city has campaigned aggressively against obesity, outlawing trans-fats in restaurant food and forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus. The mayor has also led efforts to ban smoking in the city's bars, restaurants, parks and beaches.

Bloomberg often cites the city's rising life expectancy numbers as proof the approach is working, but his efforts have drawn criticism from others who accuse him of instituting a "nanny state."

His administration has tried other ways to make soda consumption less appealing. The mayor supported a state tax on sodas, but the measure died in Albany, and he tried to restrict the use of food stamps to buy sodas, an idea federal regulators rejected.

City Hall's latest proposal does not require approval beyond the Board of Health, although public hearings will be held.

4 people escaped the house, and no one was injured.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayFirefighters on the scene of a three-story house fire at 107 Albemarle St. in Springfield Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD — A fire destroyed a three-story house at 107 Albemarle St. in the Old Hill neighborhood on Thursday morning.

Four people escaped the house, and no one was injured. The fire was reported at 10:37.

Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant, said it appeared the fire fire may have started in the front of the house. The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad is investigating.

The intensity of the flames caused an estimated $10,000 in damage to houses on either side. Firefighters were still working on the scene late Thursday morning.

Evinn Brantley, who lives on the first floor, said he was in the home, heard popping noises on the porch and ran out.

This story will be updated as our reporting continues

The map below shows the approximate location of 107 Albemarle St.:

View 107 Albemarle St., Springfield in a larger map

In Springfield to tour a neighborhood struck by the June 1 tornado, Brown was asked by reporters about Warren's acknowledgement that she informed Harvard and Penn that she was Native American.

The Republican | Robert RizzutoU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., speaks to reporters Thursday morning during a tour of the area in the East Forest Park neighborhood damaged by the June 1 tornado.

SPRINGFIELD — Responding to a report that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren identified herself as a Native American while employed at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., on Thursday renewed his call for the consumer advocate to come clean about whether she used her heritage to boost her career.

"I’m asking for the same things I’ve asked for from the beginning: for Elizabeth Warren to tell the truth and answer the questions you guys are asking," Brown told reporters when asked about the latest development in the ongoing controversy.

Warren told the Boston Globe late Wednesday that she informed Harvard and Penn that she was Native American. This is the first time Warren has acknowledged that she provided the information to the schools where she taught as a law professor.

"I’ve released over 32 years of my military records. She needs to release her employment records," Brown said.

He said Harvard also needs to correct the record. He called on Harvard President Drew Faust to correct the federal record based on Warren’s status.

"This goes right to the integrity and character of a person. When you check that box (that claims Native American heritage), you’re getting benefits from people who have historically been discriminated against," Brown said.

Last week when pressed by reporters, Warren said she knows she has Native American ancestry because her mother told her so.

"My mom and dad have told me a lot of things too, but they’re not always true," he said.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman discriminates against gay couples because it doesn't give them the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples.

Associated PressMarriage equality supporters Teri McClain, left, and Mary Beth Brotski stand with signs supporting President Barack Obama outside a fundraising event for the president, Thursday, May 10, 2012, in Seattle. Obama said Vice President Joe Biden got "a little bit over his skis" in publicly embracing gay marriage, forcing Obama to speed up his own plans to announce support for the right of same-sex couples to marry. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

DENISE LAVOIE | AP Legal Affairs Writer

BOSTON — A federal appeals court Thursday declared that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a ruling all but certain to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman discriminates against gay couples because it doesn't give them the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples.

Jennifer Levi, a constitutional law professor at Western New England University in Springfield, said the ruling means the federal government must follow state’s laws on marriage.

Jennifer Levi

“It is tremendous. It is important that the federal government cannot pick and choose about lawful marriages,” said Levi, who argued the original court case that legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

The court didn't rule on the law's other politically combustible provision, which said states without same-sex marriage cannot be forced to recognize gay unions performed in states where it's legal. It also wasn't asked to address whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The law was passed at a time when it appeared Hawaii would legalize gay marriage. Since then, many states have instituted their own bans on gay marriage, while eight states have approved it, led by Massachusetts in 2004.

The ruling will allow those in legal same-sex marriages to be eligible for Social Security benefits from their spouses and will be able to file joint tax returns, which they cannot currently, Levi said.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court judge who ruled in 2010 that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.

“What I will say is this was a thoughtful and careful decision by a well-respected court and it looks at all justifications and said there is no justification for disregarding the lawful marriages of same-sex couples,” Levi said.

The 1st Circuit said its ruling wouldn't be enforced until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by DOMA until the high court rules.

That's because the ruling only applies to states within the circuit, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico. Only the Supreme Court has the final say in deciding whether a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional.

During arguments before the court last month, a lawyer for gay married couples said the law amounts to "across-the-board disrespect." The couples argued that the power to define and regulate marriage had been left to the states for more than 200 years before Congress passed DOMA.

An attorney defending the law argued that Congress had a rational basis for passing it in 1996, when opponents worried that states would be forced to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. The group said Congress wanted to preserve a traditional and uniform definition of marriage and has the power to define terms used to federal statutes to distribute federal benefits.

Since DOMA was passed in 1996, many states have instituted their own bans on gay marriage, while eight states have approved it, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, Washington state and the District of Columbia. Maryland and Washington's laws are not yet in effect and may be subject to referendums.

Last year, President Barack Obama announced the U.S. Department of Justice would no longer defend the constitutionality of the law. After that, House Speaker John Boehner convened the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to defend it.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based legal group that brought one of the lawsuits on behalf of gay married couples, said the court agreed with the couples that it is unconstitutional because it takes one group of legally married people and treats them as "a different class" by making them ineligible for benefits given to other married couples.

"We've been working on this issue for so many years, and for the court to acknowledge that yes, same-sex couples are legally married, just as any other couple, is fantastic and extraordinary," said Lee Swislow, GLAD's executive director.

Staff writer Jeanette DeForge contributed to this report.

All three occupants safely escaped the burning three-family home at 107 Albemarle St.

Mark M. Murray / The Republican5-31-12 - Springfield - A Springfield College police officer and two neighbors entered this burning home at 107 Albemarle St. and alerted a man and woman who had been sleeping on the third floor. The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad continues to probe the cause of the blaze.

This updates a story originally filed at 11:34 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD –The quick actions of a Springfield College police officer and two neighbors who braved the flames of a burning house in the Old Hill neighborhood Thursday morning are credited with getting two occupants who had sound asleep on the third floor out to safety.

Evinn Brantley, who lived on the first floor at 107 Albermarle St., alerted by what he described as popping sounds on the front porch, also escaped injury.

“I got out in time,” said Brantley

Dennis G. Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant, said Springfield College Police Officer Dave Cupillo saw the smoke while patrolling the nearby campus.

When Cupillo arrived at the scene, flames were coming from the front of the three-family home. The officer, along with two neighbors, entered the rear of the building to alert any occupants that may have been inside, Leger said.

Brantley had already escaped from the first floor, the rescuers determined nobody was on the second floor and they awakened a sleeping man and woman on the third floor.

“We said ‘Hurry up, hurry up, it’s spreading!” said Ernest Dukes, a neighbor who said he entered the building along with his brother-in-law and Cupillo. “I was scared, this is the first time that I went into a house like that and saved somebody.”

Leger said he believes the fire started in the front of the building. Dukes said it started on the first floor and spread rapidly up to the second and third floors.

The Springfield Arson and Bomb Squad continues to probe the blaze.

Leger, asked about the popping noises that Brantley heard on the porch, said any number of factors, including exploding areosol cans, could be responsible.

The fire threw up dark plumes of smoke that could be seen for miles and firefighters continued to pour water onto the smoking remains of the building an hour after the fire started.

Tammy Stanek, standing across the street from the burning building, said she first spotted the smoke while she was in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood near the Wilbraham line.

“The smoke was real black, it was real thick,” she said.

Leger said the blaze caused about $10,000 in damage to the siding of the homes on either side of 107 Albemarle.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Stephen Clare

Stephen P. Clare, 51, of Holyoke, died on Tuesday. He was born in Holyoke, attended Blessed Sacrament School and was a 1979 graduate of Holyoke High School. He was previously employed at James River Graphics in South Hadley and more recently was an independent truck driver. He was a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus #90, and an avid New York Giants fan.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Bailey, Robert J.
  



• 
  Clare, Stephen P.
  



• 
  Gifford, Donald L.
  



• 
  Kisiel Jr., John Robert
  



• 
  Lane, William C.
  



• 
  Lariviere, Shirley (Weldon)
  



• 
  Lepine, Eileen Marie
  



• 
  Liptak, Helen Anna (Howson)
  



• 
  Martin, Ivy Rose
  



• 
  Miller, Linda (DeRoy)
  



• 
  Savoy, Marie O. (Goupil)
  



• 
  Shumway II, Wilbur Oakes
  



• 
  Touchette, Albert F.
  



• 
  Warga, Steven
  



• 
  Whalen Sr., Bernard "Joe"
  



• 
  Zukosky, Janina R. (Olechna)
  

Water drainage has been improved, and new features include areas for ice skating, dogs and security cameras.

The Republican | Michael S. GordonMichael Allen Jr. of Palmer stands on top of a CSL Landscaping of Ludlow truck driven by owner Al Finta as they spray hydroseed grass mixture onto the field at the Holyoke Community Field construction project, in April.

HOLYOKE – Community Field will reopen after a $3.1 million renovation with a ceremony June 23 at 12:30 p.m., a Parks and Recreation Department press release said Friday.

Work began in June 2011 on the park off Cherry Street near Interstate 91.

Improvements include water drainage, an ice skating path, water spray area, dog park, walking and hiking paths and a video security system.

“This is one of our flagship parks and it has been transformed into a unique venue,” Recreation Supervisor Peter R. Leclerc said.

“It is now a four-season park that has summer appeal and winter features that our citizens will be able to use and will also draw people to Holyoke from all over the region,” he said.

City borrowing of $2.3 million and $800,000 in state and federal grants funded the project.

Ward 6 Councilor Todd A. McGee said a goal is that the surveillance cameras will discourage illegal dumpers and other troublemakers at Community Field. Disrepair and crime had spoiled the park but residents wanted that to change, he said.

“The community wanted it back and they’re getting it back,” McGee said.

Mayor Alex B. Morse thanked department staff, other city employees and volunteers for getting the project done.

“This park holds a special place in the hearts of many Holyokers, and the renovations will make it a popular place for families and children to visit once again,” Morse said in a press release.

An uptick in joblessness to 8.2 percent also give new resonance to Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney's campaign and put Obama on the defensive.

Associated PressThis combination of Associated Press file photos shows from left, President Obama speaking at the TPI Composites Factory, a manufacturer of wind turbine blades on May 24, 2012, in Newton, Iowa, and Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaking at the Solyndra manufacturing facility on May 31, 2012, in Fremont, Calif.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (AP) — The discouraging new unemployment numbers present President Barack Obama with a sobering reminder that an uneven recovery from the recession can be a fragile argument for his re-election. It's all deepening his anxiety over the political and economic threat posed by the European debt crisis.

Anemic job growth and an uptick in joblessness to 8.2 percent also give new resonance to Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney's campaign and put Obama on the defensive after a winter when the job trends were in his favor. Job growth now has been disappointing for three straight months, accentuating challenges ahead for the president.

Obama, speaking about the economy Friday in Minnesota, kept up an optimistic front. While he said the latest jobs report indicated that the economy was not growing fast enough, he predicted, "We will come back stronger; we do have better days ahead."

Romney called the figures "devastating news."

The Republican said in an interview Friday with CNBC that Obama's policies and his handling of the economy had "been dealt a harsh indictment."

Shortly after the report was released, Obama was in Minnesota to push his proposal to expand job opportunities for veterans and to raise money for his campaign. In the meantime, the world anxiously awaits the impact of the European debt crisis, which could stall the recovery in the U.S.

"What we're looking at is the longer-term trend," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with Obama. The economy is still adding jobs, as it has for more than two years, Earnest said, "but it's readily apparent that we're not adding those jobs at a rapid enough pace."

The unemployment numbers, while imprecise and a typically lagging indicator of economic performance, are nevertheless an undeniable marker of the human cost of a weak economy.

May's 69,000 new jobs and downward adjustments for March and April mean the economy averaged just 73,000 jobs a month over the past two months. That's half of what's needed simply to keep up with population growth and is a dramatic drop from the 226,000 jobs created per month in the January-March quarter.

May's 8.2 percent jobless rate, the first increase in 11 months, reflects more people coming back into the job force, a thin silver lining to an otherwise dismal report

No president since the Great Depression has sought re-election with unemployment as high as that, and past incumbents have lost when the unemployment rate was on the rise.

Romney wants this presidential election to be a referendum on Obama's 3 1/2 years in office. Obama wants it to be a choice between two distinct visions for the country.

Obama is counting on an unemployment trajectory that has brought the rate from a high of 10 percent in October 2009. The president likes to point to the 3.8 million jobs created since he became president, though 12.5 million Americans remain unemployed. He highlights the resurgence of the auto industry following government bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors.

Friday's report seriously dampens Obama's message.

The United States has experienced periods of jobs slowdown for the past three years, only to bounce back. Last year, from May to August, job growth averaged 80,000 a month and from June through September of 2010, the average was 76,000. But Obama can't afford a prolonged period of feeble growth.

What's more, this downturn comes at a time of elevated worry over the eurozone's debt and economic crises. The issue has consumed Obama's time. It was the central subject at an economic summit with major powers at Camp David last month and took up most of the time in a secure conference call this week among Obama and the leaders of Germany, France and Italy.

Obama is pushing Congress to enact several proposals designed to spur job growth and secure the housing industry. "Congress has a responsibility here," Earnest said.

At the same time, his campaign has mounted a step-by-step assault on Romney's economic record, from his days as a venture capitalist to his tenure as Massachusetts governor from 2003-2007.

The Obama campaign released a new online video Friday that features several of Romney's former Republican political foes, including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, criticizing Romney's economic record.

The campaign also said it would hold a series of conference calls with reporters to discuss Romney's "failure to fulfill the economic promises he made" when he was running for governor of Massachusetts.

Romney, now freed from his primary contests, has aimed heavily at Obama's economic policies, arguing that they have slowed the recovery, not aided it. The Republican has emphasized his background in private business to argue that he's qualified to lead a nation in economic turmoil.

On Friday, his campaign released a new television ad promising "a better day" and declaring that a Romney presidency would focus from the start on the economy and the deficit, unleash U.S. energy resources and stand up to China on trade.

"President Romney's leadership puts jobs first," the ad states.

Obama could face the highest unemployment rate on Election Day of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But his aides argue that the trend line is more important than the actual number. Jimmy Carter lost his re-election bid in 1980 to Ronald Reagan as unemployment climbed from 6 percent to 7.5 percent. George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992 as unemployment rose from 6.9 percent to 7.6 percent.

But while Reagan faced unemployment of 7.4 percent in October 1984, the rate had been dropping since the spring of 1983. He went on to win re-election.

Obama can find some solace in unemployment rates that have dropped sharply in several swing states. But those numbers can be deceiving and an employed voter is not necessarily an Obama voter.

A May Associated Press-GfK poll showed that 52 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy while 46 percent approved.

After the ceremony, a movie was set up inside Memorial Hall highlighting the new growth and progress in the year since the tornado.

MONSON — A year after a devastating tornado pummeled the town last year, more than 300 people gathered at Memorial Hall on Friday to remember that day, and to reflect on the progress made.

At 4:45 p.m., church bells rang out, signifying the time the tornado cut its destructive swath through Monson. The crowd stood under the cloudy sky, facing the direction where the twister entered the town.

Numerous speakers spoke of the town's strength, and of the commitment of public safety officials, town officials and volunteers right after the tornado and over the past year.

"Monson strong!" state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said to cheers.

That phrase was coined in the days after the June 1, 2011 tornado and was frequently repeated by speakers at the ceremony.

Brewer recalled that he arrived in Monson about a half hour after the tornado struck, and the scene looked unreal, like the movie "Twister."

"For you it was real," Brewer said.

He spoke about Fire Chief George L. Robichaud, Highway Surveyor John R. Morrell, Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers and how they worked on behalf of the town. He spoke about how National Grid restored power within 72 hours. How the churches helped out. How the high school students drove around with drinks and sandwiches to feed tornado victims.

"I think of the word community and you people have defined it," Brewer said.

State Rep. Brian M. Ashe, D-Longmeadow, said he still finds it hard to believe that a tornado happened, and that a year has passed. Just like the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and assassination of president John F. Kennedy, he said people will always remember where they were when the tornado hit.

Despite the tornado's destruction, Ashe said it brought out the best in people.
"It was difficult to fathom just how powerful and devastating mother nature was . .. but human nature was even more powerful," Ashe said.

Ashe said he talked with Pia Rogers, who was sitting outside her destroyed home on Bethany Road, after the tornado. He said she talked about how her checkbook was found in Milton, which put in perspective how powerful the tornado was. He said she was so thankful that they were alive and healthy.

Pia Rogers later said she cried when Ashe mentioned her by name. She said her family is moving to Brimfield, and may someday rebuild on the Monson property.

Ashe said Monson is "stronger and better than ever," crediting Karen King and her street angels volunteer team, and all the volunteers who rallied over the past year. He announced that he had a citation for the entire town of Monson, to thank everyone for the work that has been done.

Senior Joseph A. Willis, accompanied by fellow seniors Dennis D. Vacon and Merissia A. Phipps, talked about his Eagle Scout project, in which he replaced mailboxes for tornado victims. The project was a way to restore normalcy to the tornado survivors' lives, he said.

"It touched my heart . . . helping others is the truest form of self fulfillment," Willis said.

State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan noted that Robichaud's home also was affected by the tornado, but he put that aside for the betterment of the community, serving as the incident commander.

Robichaud said his department immediately went into action. If firefighters couldn't get to the station, they went directly to hard hit areas to help, Robichaud said.

"Thanks to those who stood beside me . .. for what was one of our most challenging times," Robichaud said. "In my 44 years of being a member of the Monson Fire Department, I have never seen so many people work so well together in such a coordinated fashion. It made my job as incident commander easier. I know that every person who played a role in this event is truly a hero in their own way."

After the ceremony, a movie was set up inside Memorial Hall highlighting the new growth and progress in the year since the tornado.

Monson Savings Bank handed out ‘Forget Me Not Seeds’ and Monson Lions Club gave out mini-flashlights.

Besides welcoming the family back to Pennsylvania Street, the event highlighted the role insurance companies have played in the tornado recovery process – a point Donovan and his wife Jane made during the press conference on their new front steps.

The Republican | Michael S. GordonMassachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, left, greets Jane Donovan and F. Robert "Bobby" Donovan prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday for their new home on the same Pennsylvania Avenue lot as the house destroyed by the tornado exactly one year ago.

SPRINGFIELD — Fred "Bobby" Donovan didn’t need a weatherman to know his house was going to be blown apart.

From his living room on Pennsylvania Avenue, the retired machinist heard something big coming – fierce swirling winds accompanied by a “a strange winding sound,” recalled Donovan, who has relied on a wheelchair since contracting multiple sclerosis a decade ago.

A minute later, the June 1 tornado was tearing at the two-story house as Donovan clung to the basement stairs.

“It kept pulling at the house, like it was trying to pull it off the foundation,” Donovan said. “And then it was gone,” he said.

A year later, Donovan cut the ribbon on a new home at a ceremony attended by Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, state Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and other state and local officials.

Besides welcoming the family back to Pennsylvania Avenue, the event highlighted the role insurance companies have played in the tornado recovery process – a point Donovan and his wife Jane made during the press conference on their new front steps.

At the suggestion of their insurance agent, the Donovans opted for a single-story ranch-style home, with a handicapped-access ramp. The agent, Joseph Leahy from Leahy and Brown Insurance, also attended the event.

“Everybody came through for us; thank you for everything,’ Jane Donovan said.

A year later, Fred Donovan was still struck by the storm's almost supernatural power. Powered by winds estimated at 160-mph, the storm seemed driven by its own needs, Donovan said.

“It was like it had an intelligence ... like it was searching for water,” he said, noting that Watershops Pond was just a few hundred yards away.