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Stocks post modest gains as price of oil drops following earthquake in Japan

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The prospect of falling Japanese oil demand sent crude prices down to $101 a barrel.

Wall Street Japan Earthquake 31111.jpgSpecialist Christopher Gildea watches images from the earthquake in Japan on a television screen at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up nealy 60 points that day.

NEW YORK — Stocks finished a down week with modest gains Friday as investors gauged the fallout from a massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan and triggered tsunami waves from Asia to California.

The prospect of falling oil demand from Japan sent crude oil prices down to $101 a barrel. Industrial and materials companies rose on expectations that they will benefit from Japan's rebuilding efforts.

One day after its biggest fall since August, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 59.79 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,044.40. The S&P 500 rose 9.17, or 0.7 percent, to 1,304.28. The Nasdaq composite gained 14.59, or 0.5 percent, to 2,715.61.

In addition to the earthquake, oil prices fell after a scheduled day of protests in Saudi Arabia only drew a few hundred people, and the capital remained quiet. Oil traders have been worried the violence in the Middle East and North Africa would spread to the world's No. 1 oil exporter.

"The market is going to be see-sawing back and forth" until the long-term effects of the unrest in the Middle East and the disaster in Japan become clear, said Anthony Chan, chief economist for J.P. Morgan Wealth Management.

The earthquake and oil protests largely overshadowed a report from the Commerce Department that retail sales rose 1 percent in February, the biggest gain in four months and more than the 0.8 percent analysts had expected. Shoppers laid out more cash for cars, clothing and gadgets in February, leading to an eighth month of gains.

Despite Fridays' gains, each index finished the week lower. The Dow fell 1 percent, while the broader S&P index lost 1.3 percent.

Stocks fell sharply Thursday on weak economic news from China, the U.S. and Spain combined with a slump in oil company shares. The Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest drop since August 11. Other than several large swings in the past month, stocks have been climbing steadily since September.

"It could be time for a well-deserved rest," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist for Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The markets had a spectacular six-month rally and now they're showing some slight cracks."

The quake caused a selloff in global stock markets, led by sharp drops in insurance companies. Japan's Nikkei closed down 1.7 percent. The yen remained stable, however, because it is seen as a relatively safe investment for international traders.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. treasury note rose to 3.40 percent from 3.37 percent late Thursday.

Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 920 million shares.


Springfield police arrest Luis Torrez for Friday afternoon bank robbery

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Torrez was found hiding in an Oak Grove Avenue basement and covered with ink from an exploded dye pack 90 minutes after the robbery.


This is an update of a story originally posted at 4:16 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - Police arrested 46-year-old Luis Torrez of Springfield Friday afternoon and charged him with robbing a State Street bank 90 minutes earlier, said Sgt. John Delaney, spokesman for Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.

Torrez was found hiding in the basement of 71 Oak Grove Avenue, about two blocks away from the TD Bank branch at 958 State St. that was reported robbed at about 3:30 p.m.
When police found him, he was covered with paint from an exploding dye pack that was hidden in the money from the bank, Delaney said.

Members of the Springfield police Detective Bureau and the Street Crimes Unit trailed him to Oak Grove Avenue and had him in custody at about 5 p.m. Delaney praised the work of officers to close the case within 90 minutes.

Torrez was charged with armed robbery, Delaney said.

Police allege he walked into the bank and showed the teller a note demanding cash. No weapon was shown, but Torrez implied he was armed, Delaney said.

Torrez fled the scene on a bicycle with an undisclosed amount of cash.
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It was the second time in four days the same bank branch, directly across State Street from American International College, was robbed, and each ended in an arrest..

The first robbery was Tuesday afternoon at about 5 p.m., and a suspect, identified as 35-year-old Sean Moynihan of Holyoke, was arrested the following day in Easthampton.

Times of London gives high marks to UMass once again

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The Times ranked UMass as the 19th best university in the world based on reputation for teaching and research.

UMASSLOGO.JPG

BOSTON - The University of Massachusetts once again has received high ranking from the Times of London, this time as the 19th best university in the world based on reputation for teaching and research.

In September the Times of London has named the University of Massachusetts as one of the top 200 schools in its annual World University Rankings, the only public university in New England to receive that ranking. UMass ranked 56.

For ranking reputation, the Times of London surveyed more than 13,000 academic experts in 131 countries. Harvard was the top ranked by reputation with MIT placing second.

“This magnificent ranking is a testament to the work of the students, faculty, staff and administrators of the University of Massachusetts and to the power of five campuses working together to serve and advance the interests of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” President Jack M. Wilson said in a prepared statement.

To view the complete ranking visit: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Holyoke Mall Apple store sees long iPad 2 lines

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Across the U.S., thousands of people waited in line for their chance to purchase Apple's newest tablet computer.

031111 ipad2 goes on sale.jpg03.11.2011 | HOLYOKE – Hundreds of people line up outside the Apple Store at the Holyoke Mall, waiting for the store to open and the new iPad 2 to go on sale.

HOLYOKE – Hundreds of people in Western Massachusetts joined thousands of others across the country hoping to snag an iPad 2 tablet computer when it went on sale at 5 p.m. at the Apple Store at the Holyoke Mall.

The line snaked through the mall and outside to the parking lot, according to The Republican photographer Mark M. Murray. A person answering the phone at the store couldn't say how many people sought the device or how many the store had on hand, referring all questions to Apple's public relations department, which did not immediately return a call.

The iPad 2 is a thinner, more light-weight and faster-working version of the original iPad. Apple sold more than 300,000 iPads on its first day of sale last April, and sold more than 15 million in the first nine months.

031111_ipad2_goes_on_sale_holyoke_mall.jpgView full size03.11.2011 | HOLYOKE – The Holyoke Mall's Apple store was a busy place Friday afternoon.

Outside the Apple Store in New York, college student Amanda Foote sold her first-in-line spot for $900, according to the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail reported Foote had been in line since 5 p.m. Wednesday.

According to the website Wired, between 200 and 300 people were lined up by noon in San Francisco, and the New York line was more than a block long.

The new iPad model comes with several improvements over the original version but the same price tag — $499 to $829, depending on storage space and whether they can connect to the Internet over a cellular network — hobbling efforts by rivals at breaking Apple's hold on the emerging market for tablet computers.

The iPad 2 looks much like the first iPad, only with a sleeker, lighter body with a curved back. Among changes is the inclusion of cameras for videoconferencing, one on the front and one on the back.

Material from The Associated Press included

Nicolas Cauchy of Cambridge accused of car bomb hoax at Logan International Airport

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Police said Cauchy told attendants his 2001 Dodge Dakota had a bomb in the trunk as his he prepared to park it.

Airplanes 31111.jpg

BOSTON – A Massachusetts man has been arrested after allegedly claiming to have a bomb in his car as it was undergoing routine security screening at a Logan International Airport parking garage.

State police said 51-year-old Nicolas Cauchy of Cambridge was charged with making a false bomb threat and disorderly conduct.

Police said Cauchy’s 2001 Dodge Dakota was being screened as he prepared to park it in the Terminal B garage on Friday afternoon when he told the attendants he had a bomb in the trunk.

A state police bomb squad checked the vehicle and determined it was a hoax.

Cauchy was in custody and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Baystate Health, Smith & Wesson, pledge to hire veterans

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Smith & Wesson is relocating 225 jobs from New Hampshire to Springfield.

Gen. David Puster 31111.jpgU.S. Army Brigadier General David W. Puster speaks during an armed forces employer partnership meeting Friday at Baystate Medical Centers' conference center in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – Two of the city’s largest employers gunmaker Smith & Wesson and Baystate Health – reaffirmed their commitments to hiring veterans with separate events Friday at their respective locations.

Baystate Health had a ceremony detailing its work with the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces, a public-private partnership that connects veterans and current members of the National Guard and Reserves with civilian employment opportunities.

Gun maker Smith & Wesson hired 10 veterans the same day they graduated from an intensive two-week precision manufacturing course offered by the Mobile Outreach Skills Training program of the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, an industry group that provides technical assistance and training opportunities to manufacturers.

Smith & Wesson is relocating 225 jobs from Rochester, N.H. to its Springfield plant as it consolidates manufacturing of its Thompson/Center rifle brand.

“We know that we have a need to fill some very skilled jobs,” said Paul J. Pluff, director of marketing and customer service at Smith & Wesson.

Pluff said these are manufacturing jobs paying from $17 to $20 an hour.

David Lussier 31111.jpgDavid J. Lussier

At Baystate, David J. Lussier of Chicopee is an operating-room nurse.

In military life, he’s Army Capt. David J. Lussier of the 405 Combat Support Hospital based in West Hartford. Many of his Army Reserve colleagues have difficulty getting their civilian employers to work with their military commitments.

“Here at Baystate I’ve never had problems working around my training schedule. I just give them my orders and they give me the time away,” he said. “Others are not that lucky.”

Michael D. Tanner is manager of the nuclear medicine program at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and a Navy veteran having served during the Vietnam era. He said military skills, especially when it comes to the medical fields, are readily transferable to a hospital setting.

“It’s fantastic training that the hospital doesn’t have to do,” Tanner said. “Veterans make great employees.”

Tanner said Vietnam veterans often returned home to a lot of animosity and sometimes had difficulty getting jobs.

“Today, people are much more welcoming,” he said. “Those attitudes have improved.”

Also on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the unemployment rate for veterans who served at any time since September 2001 was 11.5 percent in 2010. The jobless rate for veterans of all eras combined was 8.7 percent, a figure likely skewed by the large number of older veterans, compared with 9.4 percent for non-veterans.

The Bureau of Labor statistics placed some of the blame on veterans being younger and more likely to be male than the population at large. Young men have had a hard time in this economy because industries like manufacturing and construction got hit hard.

Young male veterans ages 18 to 24 had an unemployment rate of 21.9 percent in 2010, not statistically different from the jobless rate of young male nonveterans which was 19.7 percent.

Young veterans who were current or past members of the Reserve or National Guard had an unemployment rate of 14 percent in July 2010, also higher than the national average.


Japan earthquake: First-hand account from former Wilbraham resident Thom Burns

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Burns, a dean at a junior college in Tokyo, said the Japan earthquake was far different from previous ones he's experienced.

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Editor's note: Thom Burns, a native of Springfield who was raised in Wilbraham, e-mailed this first-hand account of the Japan earthquake to The Republican's newsroom.

By THOM BURNS

March 11, 2011 | 2:46 p.m.

I was working at my junior college as usual on a crisp but sunny Friday afternoon, anticipating a relaxing weekend. I was alone on the second floor doing the important work of a dean - ordering the curriculum materials for the coming year (my junior college starts April 1 in Japan). With book order in hand ready to feed the fax machine, the first shockwave started and although such earthquakes happen often in Japan (like Wednesday's also near Miyagi Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo) this one soon became very different. The shaking quickly became extremely violent and soon the entire building was rocking back and forth with glass creaking like it was ready to burst. Staff screamed and got under desks, and I grabbed a support column near the elevator (which had automatically shut down), remembering the recent Christchurch, NZ quake where only the elevator shaft was left standing in one downtown building.

What was most alarming was that it didn't stop after a few seconds which is often the case. It just kept going and going and going and every few seconds it got really bad where we thought the building might come down. It wasn't just a rhythmical back and forth as is normal in earthquakes, but it felt like the whole area was being pushed to the northwest in suddenly larger and more violent strokes. Thoughts of mayhem, death and a feeling that this is that big one we had always feared flowed through my mind as I anticipated the ceiling to come crashing down at any moment. "Stop!" "Stop!" "It has to stop; it always does!" - were my clear and only thoughts.

Out on the street, the wires were dancing around and traffic light poles were bouncing back and forth like toys in the hands of children. Cars stopped and after what seemed like an eternity (actually: 3-4 minutes) of non-stop shaking we made for the stairwell and joined thousands of evacuees pouring onto the streets, a few with tears in their eyes.

Tokyo is such a densely developed city that large parks and safe havens like ball-fields are few and far between. The only safe places were in the middle of large boulevards as modest-sized office towers (avg. of 10-15 stories) line all the streets around Kanda in the heart of Tokyo. The small park nearby became overflowing within minutes and a local crew with their familiar white hard-hats and blue jump suits arrived to give initial instructions to the horde. TV choppers flew overhead. Word had it that a fire had broken out by the bayside. One rumor had it that three workers had fallen off of the enormous Tokyo Sky-tree Tower now under construction nearby. None of us knew quite what to do; I was with five or six students and a colleague who soon made his way to our very elderly president's office to see if he was all right (he was). A huge 7-ft. stone lantern had toppled in the park and a few buildings had lost tiles; you could see some minor cracks in sidewalks here and there but the damage beyond that was minimal.

Eventually people felt that it was safe enough to go back inside even though the aftershocks were substantial and coming in at about the rate of 7-10 per hour. Your mind plays tricks on you in these situations and after a while you feel as if you are constantly being rocked and look to antennae and the like for proof that another shockwave is or isn't passing through.

We had all survived the largest earthquake in Japanese history, but those to the north and east unfortunately took the brunt of this major event. (The death toll is not clear at this time.) The tsunami warnings were flashing nationwide and the TV soon gave us the sad pictures of inundation and flames. As of this time, there are still fears that a nuclear reactor might be in peril. Thousands and thousands of people were left stranded within the city at stations, Starbucks, and the like though many businesses like McDonald's had closed immediately. All trains and subways were instantly shut down across the Kanto Plain. My colleagues made their way for any local shelter they could find: a capsule hotel, love hotel, etc. I joined the thousands walking home (8km). Once back at my apartment it looked as though someone had laid into it for five minutes or so with a baseball bat. I am cleaning out of the mess as I write glad that this one didn't get me or my friends. In the end I can only conclude that we humans are feeble pawns in the hands of Mother Nature.

Springfield School Committee's Christopher Collins calls for quick repayment of $1.2 million overpayment to teachers

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Collins said underpaying teachers for 14 weeks next year will make up for overpayments this year.

052010 christopher collins.jpgSpringfield School Committee member Christopher Collins has suggested a quick solution to recouping the $1.2 millions in overpayments to Springfield teachers caused by a payroll error.

SPRINGFIELD – As the School Committee held another closed session Friday to consider ways to recover $1.2 million in overpayments to teachers, school board member Christopher Collins called for a simple and quick solution to the matter.

Collins said continuing to pay about 1,400 teachers above their pay scale made no financial sense and possibly violated state law. The best solution would be to subtract from teachers paychecks next year the amount they were overpaid this year, he said.

“To me, it seems pretty simple: I overpaid you for 14 weeks, now I’ll underpay you for 14 weeks,” said Collins, who did not participate in Friday’s executive session because his brother, Timothy, is president of the teachers union.

Superintendent Alan J. Ingram acknowledged two weeks ago that more than half of the city’s teachers had their pay inflated each pay period dating back to September. Ingram attributed the overpayments to a payroll error, and promised to work with teachers and the School Committee to resolve the matter.

As of last week, school officials were still trying to determine how the overpayments occurred, why they went undetected until February, and who was responsible. The next paychecks will reflect the accurate pay rate, school officials said.

082710 timothy collins mug.jpgTimothy Collins

As leader of the Springfield Education Association, Timothy T. Collins requested a series of repayment options, depending on how much teachers owe.

Neither Ingram nor Timothy Collins could be reached after Friday’s session.

Azell Cavaan, chief school communications officer, said she could not comment on whether a timetable for repayments had been approved or offer details of the discussion.

For the second time in two weeks, the committee decided to close the meeting on the repayments, citing the collective bargaining exemption to the state Open Meeting Law. It was unclear, however, how the repayment schedule was linked to the teacher union contract, and Christopher Collins said the committee appeared to be using a “broad” interpretation of the law to keep the session closed.

“In the best interests of everyone, I think we need closure on this soon,” he said.


Ex-Tim Cahill campaign aide Jennifer Murphy of Wilbraham named to top Gateway Cities position

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The Gateway Cities initiative targets state assistance to help revitalize those mostly urban, one-time industrial centers like Springfield and Holyoke.

030107 jennifer murphy.JPGJennifer Murphy of Wilbraham, former political director for Timothy Cahill, was named Friday to coordinate the Patrick administration's "Gateway Cities" agenda.

By MATT MURPHY
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON – The former director of Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray's political committee has been hired to a new $105,000-a-year job in charge of coordinating the Patrick administration's "Gateway Cities" agenda.

A day after it was announced that Jennifer Murphy of Wilbraham would be leaving as director of the Citizens Committee to Elect Tim Murray, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki introduced Murphy as the state's new assistant secretary for gateway cities initiatives.

The job, newly created within the Patrick administration for Murphy, will pay a salary of $105,000 and involve "work across the eight cabinet secretariats to develop, coordinate and implement the Patrick-Murray Administration's Gateway Cities agenda to best address the needs and fully maximize the potential of these twenty-four distinct municipalities," according to Bialecki, who is traveling with Gov. Deval Patrick in Israel.

A spokesman for the state Republican party criticized the appointment.

"All the hard talk we saw from the Patrick-Murray team about ending patronage and cleaning up state government doesn't apply when it is their personal friends looking for six-figure state jobs," said the Republican party's spokesman.

In an e-mail to staff on Friday morning, Bialecki said Murphy will become the "point person" for the administration to build on the work it has done to help revitalize the older so-called Gateway Cities targeted for state assistance to help revitalize those mostly urban, one-time industrial centers like Lowell, Fitchburg, Pittsfield, Worcester, Springfield and Holyoke.

"This will involve creating true city-state partnerships, with each party accepting and executing its respective responsibilities, including the Governor's stated priorities of job creation, closing the achievement gap, health care cost containment, and ending youth violence," Bialecki wrote.

Bialecki noted that the Patrick administration has invested $246.9 million in capital funds to help modernize affordable housing units in the designated cities, and put $7.1 million in federal stimulus funding toward upgrading heating systems in public housing developments for those communities.

Before spending four years working on Murray's political team, Murphy gained experience working in the Legislature, the Hampden County district attorney's office and the city of Springfield.

The announcement of Murphy's hiring came a day after Murray's political committee named Daniel Donahue as her replacement, but declined to elaborate on Murphy's next move.

Last week, the administration similarly announced the hiring of former state Democratic Party executive director Stacey Monahan as chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Judy Ann Bigby on a Friday afternoon, a day after the party named her replacement.

"It's got to be Friday if we're hearing of a Patrick-Murray patronage hire. It's kind of sad to see with everything going on at the Probation Department that patronage is still alive and well in the Patrick-Murray administration," said Tim Buckley, communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Buckley said that with the state facing deeps gaps between spending and revenue and contemplating cuts to vital programs and services, now is not the time to be creating jobs. "Any time we're adding six figure salaried jobs to state government, it is usually a bad idea, but especially in these times," Buckley said.

Defendants' lawyers in Phoebe Prince case get new grand jury minutes

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The lawyer are preparing motions to dismiss the charges against their clients, Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Velazquez.

2010 alfred chamberland colin keefe.jpgAlfred Chamberland, the lawyer for Flannery Mullins, and Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Velazquez, will have new grand jury minutes to consider as they prepare their motions to dismiss the charges against their clients in the Phoebe Prince case.

HADLEY – The lawyers for three juvenile defendants in the Phoebe Prince case have new grand jury minutes to consider as they prepare their motions to dismiss the charges against their clients.

Flannery Mullins, Ashley Longe and Sharon Velazquez are charged with violating the civil rights of Prince, a 15-year-old South Hadley High School freshman who took her life on Jan. 14, 2010, after what investigators described as weeks of harassment and bullying by classmates. Mullins and Velazquez are also charged with stalking Prince. The three are facing charges both as juveniles and youthful offenders. Sean Mulveyhill, Austin Renaud and Kayla Narey, who also attended South Hadley High School, were charged as adults.

All six cases have been under intense media scrutiny since former Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel announced the charges in March 2010, but the defense maintains it has been slow to receive information.

First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, who is part of the new prosecution team under recently elected Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, told Judge Daniel J. Swords on Friday that he has filed a certificate of compliance indicating that he has now turned over to the defense all the information he has in the cases, including recently discovered grand jury minutes. Those minutes from a February grand jury session came to light last month when Assistant District Attorney Thomas H. Townsend, who is prosecuting the case against Renaud, found them filed under “Commonwealth v. Jane Doe.”

2010_a.j._o'donald.jpgA.J. O'Donald

Gagne also told Sword he has come to terms with the lawyers for Mullins, Longe and Velazquez on sharing information about Prince’s medical history. A.J. O’Donald, who represents Longe, Colin Keefe, who represents Velazquez, and Alfred Chamberland, the lawyer for Mullins, all filed motions to modify a protective order put in place to restrict the dissemination of that information. Under the agreement, the lawyers may discuss the material among themselves and provide it to their investigators.

The parties also agreed to extend the deadline for filing motions to dismiss the charges against Mullins, Longe and Velazquez to April 26. Swords set a hearing date for May 5 to argue those motions.

Phoebe Prince's father to MSNBC'S Martin Bashir: Teacher's appearance at Obama bullying conference 'rather disgusting'

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Jeremy Prince said he believes the teacher, who represented South Hadley High School, vilified his daughter.

Phoebe-Prince.jpgUndated family photo of Phoebe Prince.

NORTHAMPTON - Phoebe Prince’s father said he reacted in “shock and disgust” when he learned that a teacher he believes vilified his daughter represented South Hadley High School at a White House conference on bullying Thursday.

Jeremy Prince told MSNBC’s Martin Bashir that the teacher’s presence at the gathering with President Barack Obama appeared to be “a cynical public relations exercise carefully orchestrated and frankly rather disgusting.”

His 15-year-old daughter Phoebe, a freshman at South Hadley High School, committed suicide in January 2010 following intense harassment from some classmates, according to prosecutors who have charged some students with civil rights violations.

Among the others at the White House event was Sirdeaner Walker, whose son, 11-year-old Carl Walker-Hoover, took his life in 2009 after being bullied at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, his mother has said.

The suicides of Carl and Phoebe helped spark a national campaign against school bullying that led to Thursday’s White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. Obama told the media that he himself was targeted by classmates because of his unusual name and big ears.

Prince did not identify the teacher by name, but Stephanie Viens, a history teacher at the high school, was the only staff member from the South Hadley school system at the first such White House conference. She could not be reached for comment at school or at home.

However, School Superintendent Gus A. Sayer called the allegation against Viens “totally unfair” and rebutted Prince’s characterization of her attendance at the White House as a public relations ploy.

Sayer said Friday it was the Massachusetts Teachers Association, not his school system, that nominated Viens to attend the conference.

Viens was one of the people in South Hadley who took action following Phoebe’s death, starting “Count Me In,” an organization that encourages students in and around town to volunteer for community-oriented projects as a way of achieving healing in the community following the girl’s suicide.

In an interview Thursday with Bashir, Prince said his family knew nothing about the conference until they began receiving telephone calls from reporters Wednesday night. Unlike Walker, who has spoken publicly about her son and the issue of bullying on many occasions, the Prince family has generally shied away from the media. Prince told Bashir they have been trying to “create a cocoon of normality” for Phoebe’s younger sister, who is now 13.

However, Prince said he was upset that Viens was chosen to attend the conference, saying the family believes she spread untruths about Phoebe online. Prince declined to mention Viens by name, saying he does not have conclusive proof of his allegation, but Eileen Moore, his sister-in-law and Phoebe Prince’s aunt, confirmed Friday that Viens was the person in question.

Sayer vouched for Viens’s work on bullying and noted that the allegation against is unsubstantiated.

“I’ve never heard anything negative about her,” he said. “I’d like to see what (the allegations) are based on. That was totally shocking to me, and terribly unfair.”

In his interview with Bashir, Jeremy Prince spoke of the difficulties his own family has encountered trying to achieve closure in the wake of his daughter’s death. Among them, he said, is the intense media coverage of the bullying issue.

“We cannot let my little girl lie in her grave in peace because we’re continually being pestered by the fact that she is a poster child for a campaign which is not about her,” he said. “This is about how people behave in schools, how those schools administer it, and about the law. Couldn’t they leave our daughter alone?”

On a personal level, Prince said simple things, like seeing grapes, Phoebe’s favorite fruit, at the supermarket bring back the pain of her death.

“It keeps coming back and it keeps hitting you and it keeps giving you immense distress,” he said.

Westhampton, Northampton officials optimistic about the purchase of 87 acres straddling the two communities

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Northampton and Westhampton are moving closer to purchasing 87 acres of land off of Turkey Hill Road that straddles both communities.


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NORTHAMPTON - With a March 7 deadline, the city was able to raise the community part of the money needed to buy the city’s share of land off Turkey Hill Road.

Now Westhampton, its partner in the purchase, has to finish its fund-raising, so the city can close on the project at the end of May.

The city had received is a $135,960 Massachusetts Land Acquisition for Natural Diversity grant towards the purchase of 30 acres on the westerly end of Turkey Hill Road but needed to raise money $20,000 toward its total $221,000 share of the project. Some of that is coming from additional grants that are still pending as well as money from the Community Preservation Act funding, said Planning Director Wayne M. Feiden.

“It is exciting,” Feiden said. “The funds are critical; it makes grant writing easier.”


This land is considered a keystone parcel that holds the Mineral Hills Conservation Area together. Nearly 400 acres of open space in the area are either owned by the city or protected from development. The city bought 120 acres in 2006 for $680,000. Northampton’s goal has been to preserve a corridor between the Turkey Hill conservation land and the Mineral Hills natural area.

The Westhampton total cost is $96,000 for its 57 acres, said Sally Loomis projects manager with the Hadley-based Valley Land Fund who is helping with grant writing on the project.

Loomis said that the land owner John Skibiski “doesn’t want to close separately,” so they need to raise the Westhampton money by the end of May when Northampton wants to close on the project.

They are applying now for a $48,000 State Conservation Partnership Grant - half of the project cost. They are also applying for $10,000 more from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.

The land in Northampton has greater development potential than the Westhampton parcel, hence the higher price tag.

Westhampton is getting close, said Sheila Marks who has been helping that community raise money. She said as of Thursday they had answered a challenge from the Valley Land Fund. With $10,000 raised, the trust will give them $5,000. She said they were just about at a second challenge grant of $2,500 from Nonotuck Land Fund by raising $5,000.

They have received an additional $2,500 from the Highland Community Initiative and a $10,000 Wharton Grant

The Pascommuck Conservation Trust has also contributed $1,000 which was included in the Valley Land Fund challenge. “It’s very exciting.” She said they are getting support from so many different groups.

“It’s a beautiful piece of land” especially in the context of the other preserved land. She said a trail committee is being formed in Northampton looking at connecting the parcels.

But they are still short of money - about $18,000 if they are unable to receive the $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation because so many groups are in need. And she said time is running out.

Anyone wishing to help can send donations to the Valley Land Trust, P.O Box 522, Hadley, MA. 01035. Any amount would help, Marks said. People should write the Westhampton Mineral Hills project on the check memo line.



Resident injured defending himself against four masked assailants in Cambridge Street home invasion

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Though being beaten with a hammer, the resident managed to stab 3 of his attackers.

63 cambridge springfield crime scene jpgA Springfield police cruiser sits parked in front of 63 Cambridge St. Saturday afternoon. A strand of police tape is struck across the front gate barring entry.

This is an update to a story originally posted at 12:19 p.m. Saturday

SPRINGFIELD - A Cambridge Street resident who was assaulted by 4 masked assailants who broke into his home Saturday morning was able to defend himself by stabbing three of them, police said.

Capt. Peter Dillon of the Springfield police Detective Bureau said the occupant suffered serious injuries to his head when he was repeatedly struck with a hammer during the 6 a.m. home invasion.

The occupant was still able to defend himself with a knife and stabbed three of the four assailants, Dillon said.

One of the assailants was stabbed twice in the chest, he said. He is being treated at Baystate Medical Center. The other two suffered minor injuries.
One of the three has been discharged from the hospital and is in the process of being charged by police in connection with the home invasion. Charges against the others will also be filed, he said.

Dillon said the man's name would not be disclosed until booking is completed.

The occupant, whose name was not disclosed, was admitted to Baystate for injuries he suffered in the attack.

Police are still trying to determine the motive for the attack, he said. Police were still at the scene Saturday afternoon processing evidence.

The occupant told police the four men stormed into his house just before 6 a.m. Each was wearing a mask, He told police that one was armed with a gun, another had a hammer and a third had a baseball bat.

Cambridge Street is off Bay Street in the city's Bay Neighborhood.


Discount supermarket, tire store proposed for Chicopee's Memorial Drive

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The project will be located across the street from the $30 million Chicopee Crossing development.

chicopee crossingEmployees for Gomes Construction of Ludlow start work on the Chicopee Crossing project in December. A new discount grocery store and tire store is to be built across the street from the project.

CHICOPEE – A discount grocery store and a tire dealership will be part of a new development that is expected to be constructed on Memorial Drive.

Building plans were submitted this week to build an Aldi supermarket and a Firestone Tire store at the site of the former Casey Chevrolet dealership at 505 Memorial Drive, City Planner Catherine L. Brown said.

If approved, the project would be located across the street from the about $30 million Chicopee Crossing project, which includes a hotel, about 23,000 square feet of retail space, three additional restaurants and a stand alone bank. Both are located near the exit to Interstate 90.

“It would be a nice addition to Memorial Drive. We are excited to have people come off the (Massachusetts Turn)pike and see all the development here,” Brown said.

The plans have been submitted by Columbus Avenue Realty LLC. Records at the Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office list James E. Belise as the manager of the company. Hampden County Registry of Deeds records show the company purchased the land from Orr Realty Associates LLC and Sterling A. Orr II for $2.2 million in 2007.

The project calls for about 3.5 acres of the property being used for a 17,886 square-foot Aldi store and parking. The Firestone building to be constructed on another 1.75 acres. A third building is expected to be constructed on about 35,187 square feet of land, Brown said.

There is no information about how the third building would be used, she said.

“It could be just about any type of retail. It could be a store or a bank,” Brown said.

Because there are wetlands on a corner of the about 6-acre parcel, developers will have to get approvals from the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board before building, she said.

The company plans to work with the owners of the Chicopee Crossing project to install a new traffic light on Memorial Drive. The light will allow access from the north and south sides of the road, which is now prevented because of a barrier. The two projects will also have entrance roads that will line up on either side of the street so customers can drive straight from one to the other, she said.

Easthampton fire chief David Mottor receives state accreditation

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The Massachusetts Fire Service Commission developed the accreditation process last year as part of an initiative to ensure fire chiefs meet certain education, training and experience requirements.

DAMottor2009.jpgView full sizeEasthampton fire chief David A. Mottor at his 2009 swearing-in ceremony.

EASTHAMPTON – David A. Mottor joined the growing ranks of state-accredited fire chiefs on Monday.

The Massachusetts Fire Service Commission developed the accreditation process last year as part of an initiative to ensure fire chiefs meet certain education, training and experience requirements.

“If you look at any other professional position, there are requirements to get there,” said Mottor. Currently, there are no universal requirements for becoming a fire chief, he said, as there are for police chiefs.

“Not anybody can walk off the street and be a police chief, but you can and be a fire chief,” he said. “This is long overdue.”

The commission is pushing for a state law detailing fire chief qualifications and Mottor said this is the first step.

To receive accreditation, Mottor had to earn 50 points based on his qualifications.

A Bachelors degree in fire science administration earned him 10, while professional certificates from Texas A&M University and the University of Maryland earned him another 20. The final 20 points were for two decades of work history and experience in the position.

Credentialed chiefs are required to renew their accreditation every three years.

Northampton fire chief Brian Duggan was accredited last month. He said the new practice is “really designed to bring the fire service forward in terms of a new level of professionalism.”

Duggan is also nationally accredited through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, a Virginia-based non-profit corporation.

Westhampton’s Christopher Norris is the only other state-accredited fire chief in Hampshire County, said Duggan. Granby fire chief Russell Anderson said he will submit his paperwork to the commission in the next few months.

The requirements are such that full-time, on-call and volunteer chiefs can become accredited, according to State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.


14th victim dies in NYC accident of World Wide Tour bus returning from Mohegan Sun Casino, trucker sought for questioning

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According to the driver, the accident was triggered by a close encounter with a tractor trailer as the two vehicles were entering city limits from Westchester County at 5:35 a.m.

2b708649bacd5305e70e6a7067003f5b.jpgEmergency personnel stand the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York Saturday, March 12, 2011. At least thirteen people died when the bus, returning to New York from a casino in Connecticut, flipped onto its side and was sliced in half by the support pole for a large sign.


NEW YORK (AP) — Fourteen people died and others were maimed Saturday when a bus returning to New York City from a casino overturned on a highway and was sliced, end to end, by the support pole for a large sign.

The driver, who survived, told police he lost control while trying to evade a swerving tractor trailer. Police began a hunt for the truck, which did not stop after the crash, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. It was unclear whether the two vehicles made contact, he said.

The early morning wreck left a scene of carnage and closed the southbound side of Interstate-95 for hours while emergency workers attended to critically injured survivors and removed bodies.

The bus, operated by World Wide Tours, was headed to Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood loaded with passengers returning from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.

According to the driver, the accident was triggered by a close encounter with a tractor trailer as the two vehicles were entering city limits from Westchester County at 5:35 a.m. The bus was in one lane. The truck was in the lane to its left.

"The truck either starts to swerve or perhaps even hits the bus," Kelly said. He said both vehicles were moving at "a significant rate of speed."

As the bus took evasive action, it hit a guard rail, scraped along it for 300 feet, toppled and crashed into the support post for a highway sign indicating the exit for the Hutchinson Parkway.

The pole entered through the front window, then sheared the bus from front to back along the window line, cutting like a knife through the seating area and peeling the roof off all the way to the back tires.

Police and fire officials say the bus was carrying at least 31 passengers. A majority were hurled to the front of the bus by the sudden impact with the pole, fire chief Edward Kilduff said.

Doctors were still working to save the lives of other, gravely injured passengers. One patient who had initially survived the wreck died at a hospital Saturday afternoon, said a spokespeople for the police department and the city's medical examiner.

In addition to the fatalities, seven other passengers were critically hurt. As many as 20 were treated at area hospitals.

Survivors described a scene of horror and severed limbs.

Chung Ninh, 59, told The New York Times and NY1 News that he had been asleep in his seat, then suddenly found himself hanging upside down from his seat belt, surrounded by the dead and screaming. One man bled from a severed arm.

He said when he tried to help one bloodied woman, the driver told him to stop, because she was dead. "Forget this one. Help another one," he said.

Ninh said he and other passengers who were able climbed out through a skylight.

Limo driver Homer Martinez, 56, of Danbury, Conn. happened on the scene just moments after the wreck and saw other drivers sprinting from their cars to assist the injured. He said they were horrified by what they found.

"People were saying, 'Oh my God. Oh my God,' holding their hands on their heads," Martinez said. "I saw people telling other people not to go there, 'You don't want to see this.'"

Firefighters and medics were on the scene quickly, running to the vehicle with bags and stretchers, he said.

"I see a lot of accidents. I've even seen accidents happen. But I've never seen anything like this," said Martinez.

The southbound lanes of I-95 were still closed Saturday afternoon. The wreck also closed the northbound side of the highway for a time, but those lanes were moving again by mid-morning.

Kelly said investigators had been given some numbers from the license plate of the tractor trailer, but hadn't identified or located a vehicle yet.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators.

After the crash, firefighters took out seats and cut through the bus roof to reach a handful of passengers pinned in the wreckage. Kilduff called it "a very difficult operation."

Many of the passengers on the bus were residents of Manhattan's Chinatown. They ranged in age from 20 to 50, officials said.

Fifteen were being treated at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. A hospital spokeswoman, Barbara DeIorio, said some of the injuries were serious, but she had no immediate information on how many were gravely hurt. Another five patients were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where two were on life support, breathing with the assistance of machines.

"We've had skull fractures, rib fractures ... internal bleeding, we've had lung contusions," said Dr. Ernest Patti, senior attending physician at St. Barnabas.

The bus driver was "awake and conscious," Patti said.

World Wide Travel said it in a statement that the company was "heartbroken."

"We are a family owned company and realize words cannot begin to express our sorrow to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured in this tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with them," it said.

The company said it was cooperating with investigators.

The bus was one of scores that travel daily between Manhattan's Chinatown and the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in northeastern Connecticut.

Mohegan Sun has estimated that a fifth of its business comes from Asian spending and caters to Chinese-American gamblers; its website has a Chinese-language section offering gaming and bus promotions.

Foxwoods is a major destination for Asian-American gamblers and has an Asian gaming room.

Westfield plans to lease office space for School Department

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The School Department headquarters must move to allow construction of a new school.

WESTFIELD – City officials are looking to lease 10,000 square feet of office space as temporary headquarters for the School Department.

The request for proposals is a first seeking office space for Westfield, City Purchaser Tammy B. Tefft said this week.

The lease will be temporary, three years with two optional one-year extensions, to provide offices for the School Department during construction of a new elementary school and locating future permanent headquarters for school officials.

Tefft said this week proposals must be submitted to her City Hall office by April 8.

Proposals must provide good access to the public and meet Americans with Disability Act compliance. Proposals must also include adequate parking for up to 50 spaces.

The lease arrangement will be effective on or about July 1.

“That is the best time for moving, while the school system in on summer vacation,” said Tefft.

City officials have identified the present School Department location on Ashley Street at the site for a new elementary school currently in the planning stages.

The state’s School Building Administration is working with city and school officials to expedite construction with hopes of opening the new school within the next three years.

The estimated $40 million school will allow the School Department to close and consolidate classes at three schools now in use, Abner Gibbs, Fort Meadow and Franklin Avenue. Westfield is in line for 64 percent state reimbursement for the new facility.

The School Building Committee has identified Margo Jones Architect of Greenfield as the architect for the project. The committee has also selected Skanska USA of Boston to serve as its project manager consultant.

Bill aimed at curbing beaver population would repeal ban on leghold traps in Mass.

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Animal rights groups say steel-jaw leghold traps are cruel and cause unnecessary suffering for animals.

Beaver Lunching in Forest Park Duck Pond Beaver in Springfield's Forest Park

BOSTON (AP) — The state's 15-year-old prohibition on using leghold traps to capture beavers and other animals is being reconsidered on Beacon Hill.

The Legislature's Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture has scheduled a hearing for Monday on several bills dealing with trapping, including one that would repeal the ban on leghold and other body-gripping traps.

Supporters of the bill say the beaver population in Massachusetts has exploded since voters approved the ban in 1996. They say beaver dams are causing flooding and other environmental problems.

Animal rights groups say the steel-jaw leghold traps are cruel and cause unnecessary suffering for animals.

Box or net traps that ensnare the entire animal can still be used, and cities and towns can issue permits for body-gripping traps under certain emergency circumstances.

Obituaries today: John Day was FDIC bank examiner

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Obituaries from The Republican.

031211_john_day.jpgView full sizeJohn I. Day

John I. Day, 83, of Ludlow, passed away on Thursday. He was born in Holyoke. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during the latter part of World War II. After the war, he served on the Holyoke Democratic City Committee. He married Patricia (Rooney) Day in 1958, and moved to Ludlow, where he remained a resident for the rest of his life. While working as a U.S. postman, Day returned to the classroom to receive his high school diploma. He then attended Western New England College at night to earn his Bachelors Degree. Upon graduation, Day became a bank examiner with the FDIC, from which he eventually retired.

Obituaries from The Republican:


For battered Japan, a new threat: nuclear meltdown follows quake and tsunami

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Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles of the Japanese coast, and thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off from rescuers and aid

48fa7bf2b9bd4e05e70e6a706700344d.jpgCargo containers are strewn about in Sendai, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Japan launched a massive military rescue operation Saturday after a giant, earthquake-fed tsunami killed hundreds of people and turned the northeastern coast into a swampy wasteland, while authorities braced for a possible meltdown at a nuclear reactor. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)


IWAKI, Japan (AP) — An explosion at a nuclear power plant on Japan's devastated coast destroyed a building Saturday and made leaking radiation, or even outright meltdown, the central threat menacing a nation just beginning to grasp the scale of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

The Japanese government said radiation emanating from the plant appeared to have decreased after the blast, which produced an intensifying cloud of white smoke that swallowed the complex. But authorities did not say why, and the precise cause of the explosion and the extent of the ongoing danger were not clear.

Japan dealt with the nuclear threat as it struggled to determine the scope of the earthquake, the most powerful in its recorded history, and the tsunami that ravaged its northeast Friday with breathtaking speed and power. The official count of the dead was 686, but the government said the figure could far exceed 1,000.

Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles of the Japanese coast, and thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off from rescuers and aid. At least a million households had gone without water since the quake struck. Large areas of the countryside were surrounded by water and unreachable.

The explosion at the nuclear plant, Fukushima Dai-ichi, 170 miles northeast of Tokyo, appeared to be a consequence of steps taken to prevent a meltdown after the quake and tsunami knocked out power to the plant, crippling the system used to cool fuel rods there.
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The blast destroyed the building housing the reactor, but not the reactor itself, which is enveloped by stainless steel 6 inches thick.

Inside that superheated steel vessel, water being poured over the fuel rods to cool them formed hydrogen. When officials released some of the hydrogen gas to relieve pressure inside the reactor, the hydrogen apparently reacted with oxygen, either in the air or the cooling water, and caused the explosion.

"They are working furiously to find a solution to cool the core," said Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Nuclear Policy Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Nuclear agency officials said Japan was injecting sea water into the core — an indication, Hibbs said, of "how serious the problem is and how the Japanese had to resort to unusual and improvised solutions to cool the reactor core."

Officials declined to say what the temperature was inside the troubled reactor, Unit 1. At 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, the zirconium casings of the fuel rods can react with the cooling water and create hydrogen. At 4,000 degrees, the uranium fuel pellets inside the rods start to melt, the beginning of a meltdown.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said radiation around the plant had fallen, not risen, after the blast. Virtually any increase in dispersed radiation can raise the risk of cancer, and authorities were planning to distribute iodine, which helps protect against thyroid cancer. Authorities urged people within 12 miles of the reactor to leave.

It was the first time Japan had confronted the threat of a significant spread of radiation since the greatest nightmare in its history, a catastrophe exponentially worse: the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, which resulted in more than 200,000 deaths from the explosions, fallout and radiation sickness.

Officials have said that radiation levels at Fukushima were elevated before the blast: At one point, the plant was releasing each hour the amount of radiation a person normally absorbs from the environment each year.

The Japanese utility that runs the plant said four workers suffered fractures and bruises and were being treated at a hospital.

As Japan entered its second night since the magnitude-8.9 quake, there were grim signs that the death toll could soar. One report said no one could find four whole trains. Others said 9,500 people in one coastal town were unaccounted for and that at least 200 bodies had washed ashore elsewhere.

The government said 642 people were missing and 1,426 injured.

Atsushi Ito, an official in Miyagi prefecture, among the worst hit states, could not confirm the figures, noting that with so little access to the area, thousands of people in scores of towns could not yet be reached.

"Our estimates based on reported cases alone suggest that more than 1,000 people have lost their lives in the disaster," Edano said. "Unfortunately, the actual damage could far exceed that number considering the difficulty assessing the full extent of damage."

Japan, among the most technologically advanced countries in the world, is well-prepared for earthquakes. Its buildings are made to withstand strong jolts — even Friday's, the strongest in Japan since official records began in the late 1800s. The tsunami that followed was beyond human control.

With waves 23 feet high and the speed of a jumbo jet, it raced inland as far as six miles, swallowing homes, cars, trees, people and anything else in its path.

"The tsunami was unbelievably fast," said Koichi Takairin, a 34-year-old truck driver who was inside his sturdy, four-ton rig when the wave hit the port town of Sendai. "Smaller cars were being swept around me. All I could do was sit in my truck."

His rig ruined, he joined the steady flow of survivors who walked along the road away from the sea and back into the city Saturday.

5036570cb8bb4a05e70e6a7067003053.jpgA woman carries belongings she collected from a house swept by a tsunami at Rikuzentakada, northeastern Japan, on Saturday March 12, 2011, one day after a giant quake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast.

Smashed cars and small airplanes were jumbled against buildings near the local airport, several miles from the shore. Felled trees and wooden debris lay everywhere as rescue workers in boats nosed through murky waters and around flooded structures.

The tsunami set off warnings across the Pacific Ocean, and waves sent boats crashing into one another and demolished docs on the U.S. West Coast. In Crescent City, Calif., near the Oregon state line, one person was swept out to sea and had not been found Saturday.

In Japan early Sunday, firefighters had yet to contain a large blaze at the Cosmo Oil refinery in the city of Ichihara. Four million households remained without power. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that Japan had asked for additional energy supplies from Russia.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said 50,000 troops had joined the rescue and recovery efforts, helped by boats and helicopters. Dozens of countries offered to pitch in. President Barack Obama said one American aircraft carrier was already off Japan and a second on its way.

Aid had just begun to trickle into many areas. More than 215,000 people were living in 1,350 temporary shelters in five prefectures, the Japanese national police agency said.

"All we have to eat are biscuits and rice balls," said Noboru Uehara, 24, a delivery truck driver who was wrapped in a blanket against the cold at a shelter in Iwake. "I'm worried that we will run out of food."

The transport ministry said all highways from Tokyo leading to quake-stricken areas were closed, except for emergency vehicles. Mobile communications were spotty and calls to the devastated areas were going unanswered.

One hospital in Miyagi prefecture was seen surrounded by water, and the staff had painted "SOS," in English, on its rooftop and were waving white flags.

Around the nuclear plant, where 51,000 people had previously been urged to leave, others struggled to get away.

"Everyone wants to get out of the town. But the roads are terrible," said Reiko Takagi, a middle-aged woman, standing outside a taxi company. "It is too dangerous to go anywhere. But we are afraid that winds may change and bring radiation toward us."

Although the government played down fears of radiation leak, Japanese nuclear agency spokesman Shinji Kinjo acknowledged there were still fears of a meltdown — the collapse of a power plant's systems, rendering it unable regulate temperatures and keep the reactor fuel cool.

Yaroslov Shtrombakh, a Russian nuclear expert, said it was unlikely that the Japanese plant would suffer a meltdown like the one in 1986 at Chernobyl, when a reactor exploded and sent a cloud of radiation over much of Europe. That reactor, unlike the reactor at Fukushima, was not housed in a sealed container.

a3761f51b9854d05e70e6a706700c01a.jpgIn this video image taken from NTV Japan via APTN, smoke rises from Unit 1 of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Government spokesman Yukio Edano said the explosion destroyed the exterior walls of the building where the reactor is placed, but not the metal housing enveloping the nuclear reactor, however the government has ordered the evacuation of all people within a 12-miles (20 Km) radius of the plant. (AP Photo/NTV Japan via APTN
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