The man was at the rail threatening to jump as police arrived.

03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen – A West Springfield Police Department cruiser.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Police responding to a report of a suicidal man on the Memorial Bridge at 9:15 p.m. Monday were able to persuade the 59-year-old man to back away from the railing long enough to place him in custody, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was not arrested but was taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

West Springfield firefighters deployed rescue boats onto the Connecticut River as a precaution, but they were not needed, police said.

The town's fiscal 2012 funds will be down less than one percent from fiscal 2011 now that voters have passed a $23.58 million budget, down from $23.7 million.

Ware Town Hall

WARE – Residents passed a slightly lower budget and defeated an article to join a utility aggregation program at the annual Town Meeting on Monday.

The town's fiscal 2012 budget will be $23.58 million, down from $23.7 million in fiscal 2011. The difference comes from a lower schools appropriation, a modest salary drop for some town officials and public safety workers and other minor cutbacks.

In fiscal 2011, the school department was appropriated $11.28 million, but will have about $11.22 million to work with in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The budget was recommended unanimously by the board of selectmen, the finance committee and Town Manager Mary T. Tzambazakis.

"My goal is to try not to lay off any people this year," said Tzambazakis.

Residents defeated an article allowing the town to take steps to join Hampshire Power, an electricity aggregation program run by the Hampshire Council of Governments.

William R. Braman, vice chair of the board of selectmen, said the council would have to offer a lower rate for electricity than National Grid in order for the town to continue the process.

"Every time somebody says this is too good to be true, it probably is," said selectman John A. Desmond. "I think it would be premature to do it and we don't have to do it tonight."

Resident Vincent Bradley said utility companies "offer a carrot on a stick" and wondered if it would be simple to be dropped from the program.

Jeffrey Rogers, a Hampshire Power representative, spoke to voters about the program and said that every resident who has used it has saved money on electric bills. Every resident has the opportunity to opt out at any time, he said.

Six residents spoke out against lowering the quota for future Town Meetings from 100 to 75, citing the need for more advertising and educating the public about the importance of civic engagement. The article was defeated in a landslide.

Voters also authorized the town to seek special legislation from the state to let two men apply for jobs on the police force even though they are above the age limit of 32.

Several "housekeeping" articles related to the town's financial appropriations and activities were passed unanimously, including three allowing the town to accept grants from the state and federal government.

At a special town meeting beforehand, voters unanimously approved two interdepartmental transfers, one for an actuarial study to ensure the town's compliance with accounting regulations and another to balance and supplement various department budgets.

Voters rejected by a 114-75 margin a motion to develop a plan to repair Kellogg Hall.

File photo | The RepublicanGranby Town Meeting voters rejected a motion to develop a plan to repair Kellogg Hall.

GRANBY – It’s not often that someone goes before Town Meeting to give money back to the town instead of asking for it, but that’s what Virginia Snopek, head of the trustees of Granby Free Public Library, was able to do on Monday night.

In 2010, supporters of the library had asked for $30,000 to help fund a feasibility study to build a new library, promising to repay it if they were able to raise the sum themselves.

Since then, the library was offered a $150,000 challenge grant by Dr. Thomas Bombardier. Snopek announced that supporters of the library have been able to match that challenge, drawing applause from voters who filled the gymnasium at the Junior-Senior High School.

Snopek also reminded the assembly that Granby residents Fred and Alice Steward had donated a site for the proposed library.

On this night, Town Meeting was asked to approve the design of the proposed library, which appeared on a stand in the front of the gym.

Voters approved.

In June the library will learn whether its application to the Massachusetts Public Library Construction program was successful, meaning that it would get 60 percent reimbursement for the first $3 million in costs for the building.

Another important building in Granby drew impassioned debate. To some, the aging Town Hall is the heart of Granby, while to others it is a hopeless wreck that should be demolished.

Supporter Pam Maheu told voters that the 1889 building was eligible not only for the State Registry of Historic Buildings, but for the National Registry as well.

She enjoined voters to “take the necessary action to protect and preserve Kellogg Hall” - as the building is known, after the Victorian family that paid most of the cost of building it - “and immediately develop a plan for repair within six months.”

Although supporters were well-organized, with a slide show and a flier, participants voted against the motion 114-75.

The fire caused an estimated $20,000 in damage to a two-family home at 11 Clark St.

WESTFIELD – Careless disposal of smoking materials was blamed for a fire Monday that caused an estimated $20,000 in damage to a two-family home at 11 Clark St.

Both families, including five small children, were forced to seek other housing.

Deputy Fire Chief Patrick J. Kane said the fire started about 9:30 a.m. between the first and second floors of the wood-frame structure. It was extinguished before flames entered the attic.

There were no injuries. Kane identified the owner as Sandy Pourde, who lived at the house.

The American Red Cross assisted the families with funds for food and clothing. Both families were able to find alternative housing.

Police Chief Stephen Kozloski said Monson and Chicopee police began a joint investigation into the house break, as well as one in Chicopee that involved the theft of several firearms.

MONSON – Monson police have charged two Springfield residents in connection with a house break last month on Stafford Road, Police Chief Stephen Kozloski Jr. said.

Kozloski said Todd A. Faust, 29, and Kristina L. Leighty, 26, both of 220 Pearl St., fourth floor, were charged with daytime breaking and entering to commit a felony, larceny over $250 and vandalism.Their arraignment date in Palmer District Court has not been set, Kozloski said.

Kozloski said Monson and Chicopee police began a joint investigation into the April 22 house break, as well as a house break in Chicopee on May 2 on Outer Drive that involved the theft of several firearms. Once information was developed linking the two individuals to the Stafford Road break, Monson police obtained a search warrant for their residence in Springfield.

Kozloski said police recovered items stolen in the Monson break, as well as a gun stolen in the Chicopee incident.

Chicopee police said the break-in in their city is still under investigation.

Obama's comments came after Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton argued earlier that China's security crackdown, the largest in years, threatened the country's long-term stability.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and MATTHEW PENNINGTON

Associated PressVice President Joe Biden greets Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan during the opening session of the joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), Monday, May 9, 2011, at the Interior Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and top members of his administration raised pointed concerns Monday about Beijing's recent security crackdown on democracy advocates during the first day of high-level talks between the two nations.

Obama, meeting with the leaders of a large official Chinese delegation, voiced his concerns about the situation in China, the White House said in a statement.

The president "underscored his support for the universal human rights of freedom of expression and worship and of access to information and political participation," the White House said in a statement after Obama's meeting with Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

Obama's comments came after Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had argued earlier Monday that China's security crackdown, the largest in years, threatened the country's long-term stability which the U.S. side said depended on a respect for human rights.

The world's two biggest economies clashed over America's massive trade deficit with China. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it would be in China's self-interest to allow its currency to appreciate at a faster rate and allow Chinese consumer interest rates to rise. The stronger yuan and higher Chinese interest rates would help boost domestic demand and help lower America's trade deficit, which hit an all-time high with China last year.

But a Chinese official blamed U.S. policies for the ballooning trade gap. Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a news conference that China's currency appreciation was being carried out in a "very healthy manner." He said the United States needed to change its own policies on high-tech sales and investment as a way to spur American manufacturing.

The sparing occurred as the two nations began two days of talks aimed at addressing disputes in foreign policy and economic areas under discussions that began in 2006 during the Bush administration. Both countries hoped to use the Strategic and Economic Dialogue discussions to further ease tensions that had been inflamed by last year's U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and American unhappiness over a rising U.S. trade deficit with China at a time of high U.S. unemployment.

The dispute over human rights threatened to overshadow other issues at this week's meeting which comes three months after Obama served as host to Chinese President Hu Jintao during a state visit to Washington in January.

In recent months, Chinese authorities have pursued a crackdown that has involved a large number of arrests of lawyers, activists, journalists and bloggers. The crackdown was widely viewed as a Chinese response to forestall any Middle East-style democracy protests.

During the opening ceremony, Biden said that Obama believed strongly that protecting fundamental rights and freedoms was "the best way to promote the long-term stability of any society." Clinton said that China's actions on human rights had an impact beyond its own borders, including triggering a domestic political backlash in the United States.

Dai said in his opening remarks that China had made progress in the area of human rights, but he did not discuss the recent security crackdown.

This year's talks for the first time included high-level military leaders from both nations, a move seen as a way to defuse tensions and increase understanding between military commanders. Clinton said the inclusion of top military leaders was needed to reduce "dangerous risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation." China's military has expanded rapidly in the past 15 years, deploying missiles and naval assets that could challenge American supremacy in the region.

The talks, which will wrap up Tuesday with news conferences, were started by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as a way to bring pressure to bear on China on the currency issue. The Obama administration expanded the discussions in 2009 to include foreign policy concerns.

China is facing threats of U.S. economic sanctions on goods shipped to America unless Beijing halts trade practices such as its currency undervaluation. U.S. critics believe that violates global trade rules.

For their part, the Chinese, who are America's largest foreign creditor with $1.2 trillion in holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, are seeking assurances that Congress and the administration will resolve their differences and boost the U.S. borrowing limit before an August deadline. At that time, Geithner has said, Treasury will run out of maneuvering room to pay America's bills, including interest payments on U.S. debt.

In the opening economic discussions, Geithner said that a top priority would be encouraging China to adopt a more flexible currency and more open capital markets.

He said that the United States would pursue financial sector reforms that would "put more money in the pockets of Chinese consumers" as a way to boost further Chinese domestic demand for foreign-made products. U.S. briefers have said that the United States would like to see China relax controls on the amount of interest that Chinese savers can earn, a move that would provide Chinese households with more money.

Geithner seemed to soften some of the recent U.S. criticism of China's policies, possibly in a belief that the outside pressure was proving counterproductive to Chinese reformers who are seeking changes in the country's economic system.

Geithner praised the efforts, which include a decision by the Chinese last June to resume allowing the yuan to rise in value against the dollar after freezing the currency's value for two years during the height of the financial crisis. The yuan has risen by about 5 percent against the dollar since last summer. American manufacturers contend the yuan is still undervalued by as much as 40 percent.

"Over the past two years, we have seen very promising changes in the overall direction of Chinese economic policy — towards a more flexible exchange rate, a growth strategy less reliant on exports and stronger protections for U.S. companies operating in and exporting to China," Geithner said.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan, the head of the Chinese delegation and a top Chinese economic policy-maker, said that while the world economy was slowly recovering from a deep recession, the situation remained "complicated and fraught with uncertainties." He said the European debt crisis, the Japanese earthquake and nuclear crisis, and the political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa had "all seriously affected market confidence."

Monday was a rough day on eastern Massachusetts roadways, where a New Bedford man was killed in Plymouth and a New York City man escaped harm after his tractor-trailer caught fire in Newton.

Republican file photoIt was a busy day for state troopers in the eastern part of the state, where a fatal car crash in Plymouth and a tractor-trailer fire in Newton forced road closures.

Monday was a busy day on the roads for state police in the eastern part of Massachusetts, where a fatal wreck in Plymouth and a tractor-trailer fire in Newtown forced lane closures and shut an exit to the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Exit 16 westbound on the Turnpike was shut to traffic around 10:45 a.m., as public safety officials dealt with a tractor-trailer that spilled around 100 gallons of diesel fuel.

Police said the 37-year-old driver from New York City was uninjured. But the truck's fuel tanks ruptured from the heat, spilling diesel all over the roadway and destroying the vehicle. It took crews several hours to clean the mess before reopening the highway interchange around 4:30 p.m.

The truck, which was westbound on the pike at the time of the crash, was registered to Abilene Motor Express of Richmond, Va. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Shortly before 2:30 p.m. Monday, state troopers responded to a fatal crash on Route 3 in Plymouth, just north of Exit 3.

Police said Christopher E. Richert, 49, of New Bedford, was southbound in a 2001 GMC Sierra pickup truck that suddenly left the roadway and entered the center median, striking several trees and rolling onto its side.

Richert was killed in the crash, according to state police, who are probing whether speed or mechanical problems contributed to the crash. Police said Richert wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

The crash scene was cleared around 4:45 p.m., police said.

The couple, who married at a Cape Cod ceremony back in 1986, have four children.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2005 file photo, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives with wife Maria Shriver for the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Schwarzenegger has announced, Monday, May 9, 2011 that he and Shriver, his wife of 25 years, are separating. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

LOS ANGELES - It was a storybook marriage in 1986 on a spring weekend on Cape Cod that united a princess of an American political dynasty, Maria Shriver, and the gap-toothed muscle-clad movie star famous enough to be known by one name, Arnold.

In many ways, it was a pairing of opposites: Her uncle was a United States president; his father was an Austrian policeman. She was the rising star of a network TV news show; he was the pot-puffing star of "Pumping Iron." He was a Republican with a soft spot for Richard Nixon; her family was a pillar in the nation's Democratic establishment.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their separation late Monday, cleaving a sometimes-turbulent 25-year relationship after "a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us," the couple said in a joint statement.

The breakup comes about four months after Schwarzenegger ended a bumpy, two-term run as California governor, a job his wife never wanted him to pursue. Since then, Schwarzenegger, 63, has been fashioning a role as an international advocate for green energy, giving speeches and lining up work in Hollywood. Shriver, 55, has guested-edited an edition of Oprah Winfrey's magazine but also talked about the stress of changing roles after serving as California's first lady.

The joint statement, issued by a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the two were working on the future of their relationship while living apart and they would continue to parent their four children together.

"After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion, and prayer, we came to this decision together," the statement said.

School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Lord said the district "is very lucky" to have Dardenne as its superintendent.

Patrice Dardenne

MONSON - The School Committee recently completed its annual evaluation of Superintendent Patrice L. Dardenne, who received some of his highest marks in budget management and lowest in communications and public relations.

"We're a tough crowd," School Committee Chairman Jeffrey D. Lord said on Friday.

In a written statement, Lord wrote that the committee believes the school district "is very lucky" to have Dardenne, who came to the district two years ago. Despite budget constraints, Dardenne has worked effectively, and found ways to improve the schools, Lord wrote.

He was rated on a scale of one to five: one, unsatisfactory; two, needs improvement; three, achieves all requirements in a satisfactory manner; four, consistently exceeds requirements; and five, exceptional performance. His average rating was 3.9.

He was rated in seven categories: relationship with the School Committee, educational leadership, general management, budget management, personnel management, communications and public relations, and personal qualities and characteristics. He received all 4s in budget management.

Wrote committee member Holly Battige, "To the best of his ability, taking the economy into consideration, Mr. (Dardenne) manages the budget appropriately."

Dardenne received some low scores from former Committee Chairman Edward A. Maia in the communications-public relations category, including a 1 in the subcategory "encourages open communication with staff, administrators, community representatives and School Committee members," and a 2 in "maintains community respect and support for the school district." Maia said this was the main area that Dardenne had to improve.

Battige added, "Generally, public opinion has been low in regards to Mr. Dardenne's overall demeanor toward the general public. This has improved greatly over the past year after it was brought to his attention."

Committee member Joel Farber wrote that Dardenne's "reception by the community at large has been challenged by budget and issues of change which can create tension, leaving him to manage that tension."

Maia also criticized Dardenne in the educational leadership category, saying he felt his collaboration with staff could be better, and cited the proposal to move the eighth grade from the middle school to the high school, a plan that was later abandoned after numerous residents spoke out against it.

In "personal qualities," Maia gave Dardenne a 5 in the subcategory of "maintains high standards of ethics, honesty and integrity in personal and professional matters at all times."

Lord, in a follow-up interview, said Dardenne is the best superintendent Monson has had in years. Lord said the School Committee also must do a better job of following up on the goals that are set for Dardenne.

Dardenne said he is pleased with the evaluation's results.

"It's a positive evaluation and we continue to try and work to make things better here," Dardenne said.

Today's poll: Will Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to create new gun-related crimes help curb the tide of youth violence?

Michael S. Gordon / The Republican05.092011 | AMHERST - A student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst skateboards across campus Monday.

The Forecast

ABC40 / FOX 6 meteorologist Dan Brown reminds us that the long days are here to stay: "On Wednesday the sun will set at 8:00 pm! And it wont set before 8:00 pm again until August 10th."

And if you're an early riser, you get to enjoy the light at both ends of the day. By 6:30 the sun's so high it feels like mid-morning.

More great weather today, with a high in the mid-60s, the National Weather Service predicts. Looks like more of the same tomorrow, too.

Find the full forecast here.

Today's Poll

Gov. Deval Patrick has said that addressing the problem of youth violence is a priority for his second term.

On Monday, he announced a bill intended to tighten existing gun laws. The Associated Press reports:

The bill would also create three new gun-related crimes — assault and battery with a firearm, assault with a firearm, and a "felon in possession" law that matches existing federal law.

What do you think -- will creating new gun-related crimes help curb the tide of youth violence? Vote in our poll, and check back tomorrow for the results.

Monday's results: Yesterday, we asked, "Are high gas prices influencing your summer travel plans?" 18 people voted. 77.78% said, "yes," and 22.22% said "no."

Monday's Top 5

1. 2011 Hampshire Regional prom [photo gallery]
2. 2011 Central High School Junior prom [photo gallery]
3. 30th annual Pride March in Northampton, Ma. May 7, 2011 [photo gallery]
4. Valley Food Championship Pizza Playoffs: Help us pick which restaurants to review
5. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers exit without grace or class

Quote of the Day

“I don’t ever want to hear from another landlord again.”

— Shime Bilal, whose family will be moving into a duplex built by Habitat for Humanity. Read Jack Flynn's story here.

Granby, Conn., police captain picks up drug charges on top of kiddie porn case, Wilbraham is poised for Boston Road firehouse upgrade, and more of this morning's headlines.

AP Photo/Beth HarpazAn Irish inlet near Galway? A Scottish Loch? Try Western Massachusetts' own Quabbin Reservoir, shown here April 24 as a cyclist takes in the views near Goodnough Dike. Sometimes referred to as an "accidental wilderness," the park and watershed area surrounding the Quabbin feature a mix of engineering, human history and open space.

• Bin Laden raid: SEAL team was 'ready to use force' against Pakistani soldiers [BBC.com]


• Cramped Wilbraham fire station ready for $2.4 million makeover [CBS3Springfield.com]


• Microsoft in talks to buy Skype [Bloomberg.com]


• Prominent Quincy developer denies raping adolescent [Boston.com]


• Faneuil Hall attracts Big Apple buyer [BostonHerald.com]


• Insult to injury: Granby, Conn., police captain now faces drug rap on top of kiddie porn probe [Courant.com]


• Splitsville for Schwarzenegger and Shriver? The couple separates after 25 years of marriage [LATimes.com]


• Reports indicate Iran nuclear plant operating at low level [Reuters.com]






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


• Read more News Links »


• Do you have News Links? Send them our way or tweet them to @masslivenews

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

A payroll consultant for an inner city health clinic in Boston has been accused of stealing $750,000 from the facility to fund his lavish lifestyle.

BOSTON (AP) — A payroll consultant for an inner city health clinic in Boston has been accused of stealing $750,000 from the facility to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Prosecutors say 33-year-old Nzeribe McKenzie of Cambridge was indicted Monday on multiple counts of larceny and making false entries on corporate books. He will be arraigned May 25.

Authorities say from 2003 to 2008, McKenzie's actions put the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center in Dorchester on the verge of financial collapse. Meanwhile, he was living in a penthouse and driving a Lamborghini.

Things got so bad the clinic that provides health care to low-income families nearly closed.

The medical center's current executive director tells The Boston Globe he hopes a "dark chapter" has closed.

Neither McKenzie nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

The state of Connecticut had asked for $227 million in federal railroad funds.

Associated PressAn Amtrak train leaves the station in Detroit Monday, May 9, 2011. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that Michigan has been awarded almost $200 million for high-speed rail projects, including infrastructure upgrades.

This story updates the story posted at 1:36 p.m. on Monday, May 9, 2011.

SPRINGFIELD - The federal government will spend $30 million double-tracking the railroad line between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, part of a long-term plan to speed and improve passenger service along the Connecticut River as far north as St. Albans, Vt.

But the state of Connecticut had asked for $227 million from the $2 billion in federal railroad funds originally put toward a project in Florida. The money became available when political power in Florida shifted, and the project was abandoned.

"Connecticut got about 13 percent of what they had asked for," said Timothy W. Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. "At least in this particular round."

In the $227-million request, Connecticut transportation planners had included $20 million for Springfield's Union Station. The money would have gone to repair pedestrian tunnels at the station and bring the platforms at the 1926 building up to modern handicapped accessibility standards.

The city has plans to renovate Union Station into a bus and train station with office space, retail, enclosed parking and a child-care center at a total cost of about $70 million with construction beginning in summer 2012.

Brennan said he doesn't know if Union Station will share in the $30 million Connecticut actually received. The request promised to fund projects on the Massachusetts side of the state line in ratio to the request no matter how much was received. That would have worked out to $3 million to $4 million of the $30 million received, Brennan said. But the federal grant announced Monday specifies double-tracking, or creating two parallel sets of tracks so trains going in each direction can pass safely.

"It appears they went after projects that are shovel-ready with an idea towards getting the projects started and putting people to work," Brennan said. A total of $795 million of the $2 billion available will be used to improve rail service along the heavily-used Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor, according to The Associated Press.

That work would boost train speeds on the well-traveled corridor to 130 to 170 mph, Brennan said.

"We need to get more of that backbone upgraded," Brennan said. "That's where the population is. That's where the traffic is.

"The Boston-Washington Corridor is also the trunk that feeds the Springfield line through the connection at New Haven, Brennan said.

Massachusetts also received $20.8 million to improve Downeaster service from Boston to Portland, Maine, according to a federal news release. The money will go to double-track a 10.4 mile section of right-of-way between Wilmington and Andover, Mass.

Passenger rail in the Connecticut River Valley received Federal funding last year as well. Massachusetts was awarded $73 million in 2010 to improve tracks from Springfield to the Vermont state line. That work could begin later this year once the state, Pan Am Railways and the federal Railroad Administration can reach an agreement.

Pan Am, based in North Billerica, owns the north-south railroad running along the Connecticut River.

Once completed, Amtrak trains will be able to follow the river North, not detour through Palmer as they do today. Once completed, Amtrak will be able to average 65 to 70 mph along the river.

"We need to be competitive with people driving their own car," Brennan said.

Vermont received $50 million and that state signed an agreement with the Railroad Administration and Pan Am earlier this spring and that work has begun.

Connecticut already has received $40 million for a 10-mile section of track in the first round of funding and $121 million for further work in the second round. Work on the $40 million project could begin in the fall, Brennan said.

Construction is expected to last two years with the tracks being ready by 2013 or 2014 at the latest, Brennan said.

Jim Kinney can be reached at jkinney@repub.com

Democratic Newton Mayor Setti Warren will address supporters and the press Tuesday, one day after announcing he's jumping into the U.S. Senate race against Republican Scott Brown.

AP Photo/The Boston Globe, Suzanne KreiterNewtown Mayor Setti Warren, a Democrat, will make a bid for the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat currently held by Scott Brown, a Republican.

BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press

NEWTON, Mass. — Democratic Newton Mayor Setti Warren plans to address supporters and the press a day after announcing he's jumping into the U.S. Senate race against Republican Scott Brown.

Warren is an Iraq War veteran serving as the state's first popularly elected black mayor. He has also worked in the White House under former President Bill Clinton and as a staffer for Sen. John Kerry, the senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

Warren said Brown has let down Massachusetts voters by backing GOP leadership in Congress on issues such as extending the Bush-era tax cuts and opposing an extension of unemployment benefits.

Warren is planning the Tuesday morning event in Newton followed by campaign stops in Brockton and New Bedford.

He joins a growing Democratic field against Brown, including City Year co-founder Alan Khazei and former lieutenant governor candidate Robert Massie.

Microsoft said it will marry Skype's functions to its Xbox game console, Outlook email program and Windows smartphones.

Associated PressIn this Jan. 11, 2011 file photo, the Skype logo is reflected in the eye of a reader using a handheld smartphone, in Berlin, Germany.

NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy the popular Internet telephone service Skype SA for $8.5 billion in the biggest deal in the software maker's 36-year history.

Buying Skype would give Microsoft a potentially valuable communications tool as it tries to become a bigger force on the Internet and in the increasingly important smartphone market.

Microsoft said it will marry Skype's functions to its Xbox game console, Outlook email program and Windows smartphones. The company said it will continue to support Skype on other software platforms.

The sellers include eBay Inc. and private equity firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.

About 170 million people log in to Skype's services every month, though not all of them make calls. Skype users made 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls last year.

Most people use Skype's free calling services, which has made it difficult for the service to make money since entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis started the company in 2003. An average of about 8.8 million customers per month, or just over 1 percent of the user base, pay to use Skype services.

Skype lost $7 million on revenue of $860 million last year, according to papers that the company has filed since announcing its intentions last summer to launch an initial public offering of stock. The IPO was later put on hold. Skype's long-term debt, net of cash, was $543,883 at the end of 2010.

The Skype takeover tops Microsoft's biggest previous acquisition — a $6 billion purchase of the online ad service aQuantive in 2007.

Microsoft said Skype will become a new business division headed by Skype CEO Tony Bates, who will report directly to Ballmer.

Although it makes billions from its computer software, Microsoft has been accustomed to losing money on the Internet in a mostly futile attempt to catch up to Google Inc. in the lucrative online search market. Microsoft got so desperate that it made a $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc. three years ago, but withdrew the offer after Yahoo balked. Yahoo is now worth about half of what Microsoft offered.

Microsoft would be Skype's second large-company owner. EBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion in 2005, but its attempt to unite the phone service with its online shopping bazaar never worked out. It wound up selling a 70 percent stake in Skype to a group of investors led by private equity firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz for $2 billion 18 months ago.

Besides eBay, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, Skype's other major shareholders are Joltid and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Syrian troops backed by tanks entered several southern villages near the flashpoint city of Daraa on Tuesday as the government pressed its efforts to end a nationwide uprising.

(AP Photo/SANA)SANA, Syria's official news agency, released this photo showing weapons that were confiscated by armed forces from groups that the government has characterized as terrorists. These weapons were taken in the coastal town of Banias on Monday as the government continues its crackdown on the revolt that has engulfed the Middle East nation.

BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press

BEIRUT -- Syrian troops backed by tanks entered several southern villages near the flashpoint city of Daraa on Tuesday as the government pressed its efforts to end a nationwide uprising, an activist said.

The activist said heavy gunfire was heard when the troops entered Inkhil, Dael, Jassem, Sanamein and Nawa after midnight. It was not clear if there were casualties, he said.

He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

In recent weeks, army troops carried out an 11-day operation in Daraa that killed more than 80 people, residents and activists said. The city, near the Jordanian border, has been cut off for the past two weeks.

President Bashar Assad has dispatched troops and tanks to many areas to crush the seven-week uprising that poses the most serious challenge to his family's 40-year rule.

The regime appears determined to crush the uprising by force and intimidation, despite rapidly growing international outrage and a death toll that — according to rights groups — has topped 630 civilians since the unrest began.

Syria is among the Middle East and North Africa nations that have erupted in violence this year.

Human rights activist Mustafa Osso said some of the most intense operations were taking place in the Damascus suburb of Maadamiyeh, which has been sealed for days. He said telecommunications have been cut and checkpoints were preventing anyone from entering or leaving the area.

"Maadamiyeh is isolated from the rest of the world," Osso said.

The army was also conducting operations in the coastal city of Banias, the central city of Homs, and the northern city of Deir el-Zor, Osso said.

"Any area where there are demonstrations, the government is sending the army," he said.

Rights groups said hundreds of people have been detained over the past few days in different areas.

Also Tuesday, a religious leader who resigned last month in disgust over the killings of protesters in the province of Daraa withdrew his resignation. Sheikh Rizq Abdul-Rahim Abazeid, mufti of the Daraa region, resigned April 23 after shootings by security forces killed scores of people.

"I cannot tolerate the blood of our innocent sons and children being shed," Abazeid told The Associated Press after stepping down. But in an interview with a Syrian satellite TV channel, Abazeid said his resignation was a result of "severe pressure and intimidation," including death threats.

In neighboring Jordan, Jordanian taxi driver Shadi Zouebi said he was mistreated while in Syrian custody for three weeks. The man, who ferries passengers and goods between Jordan and Syria, refused to provide details.

Jordanian newspapers reported that Syrian intelligence agents pushed his head into a toilet and beat him so badly that he considered committing suicide.

Zouebi is the first of 20 Jordanians held by Syria to be freed under negotiations by Jordan's Foreign Ministry.

The government's heavy-handed response to the widespread protests has triggered new international sanctions.

On Monday, the European Union imposed an arms embargo. The measure, which followed U.S. sanctions, also prohibits 13 Syrian government officials from traveling anywhere in the 27-nation EU and freezes their assets.

Trying to increase the pressure on Assad's regime, the United States has imposed sanctions targeting three senior Syrian officials as well as Syria's intelligence agency and the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, a key Syrian ally.

The United Nations said Monday that a planned humanitarian mission had not been allowed access to Daraa.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the mission was postponed until later this week, and she was trying to find out why the initial plan was thwarted.

The unrest gripping Syria was triggered by the arrests of teenagers caught scrawling anti-government graffiti on walls in Daraa. Despite boasts by Assad that his nation was immune from the kind of uprisings sweeping the Arab world, protests against his rule quickly spread across the country of 23 million people.

Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, has blamed "armed thugs" and foreigners. The regime has hit back at protesters with large-scale military operations.

Syria has also banned foreign media and restricted access for reporters to many parts of the country, making it difficult to independently confirm witness accounts of the violence.

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report. Bassem Mroue can be reached at http://twitter.com/bmroue

Di Tzeitung says it doesn't publish images of women.

Associated PressA photograph of President Barack Obama and his staff watching the operation that killed Osama bin Laden that was digitally altered to remove Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Counterterrorism Director Audrey Tomason is shown in last week's edition of the Brooklyn weekly Di Tzeitung, Monday May 9, 2011. The Orthodox Jewish newspaper has apologized for digitally altering the photo, saying that its photo editor had not read the "fine print" accompanying the White House photo that forbade any changes.

NEW YORK — An Orthodox Jewish newspaper on Monday apologized for digitally deleting Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton from a photo of President Barack Obama and his staff watching Navy SEALs move in on Osama bin Laden.

The Brooklyn weekly Di Tzeitung, which says it doesn't publish images of women, printed the doctored photo Friday. It issued a statement saying its photo editor hadn't read the "fine print" accompanying the White House photo that forbade any changes. The newspaper said it has sent its "regrets and apologies" to the White House and the Department of State.

A second woman, Counterterrorism Director Audrey Tomason, also was deleted from the photo, which captured a historic moment in the decade-long U.S. effort to apprehend the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Di Tzeitung said it has a "long standing editorial policy" of not publishing women's images. It explained that its readers "believe that women should be appreciated for who they are and what they do, not for what they look like, and the Jewish laws of modesty are an expression of respect for women, not the opposite."

AP Photo/The White HouseIn this image released by the White House and digitally altered by the source to diffuse the paper in front of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Washington.

The weekly said Clinton, a Democrat who represented New York as a U.S. senator, had won overwhelming majorities in the Orthodox Jewish communities because they "appreciated her unique capabilities, talents and compassion for all."

Di Tzeitung, published in Yiddish, is sold at city newsstands, especially in Brooklyn's Williamsburg and Borough Park neighborhoods, which have many Orthodox Jewish residents. It acknowledged it "should not have published the altered picture."

An editor at a Manhattan weekly that has covered Jewish issues since the 1890s addressed why the Brooklyn newspaper might have altered the image. The Forward's managing editor, Lil Swanson, said that removing women from photos is "in keeping with" the belief of some ultra-Orthodox Jews that showing images of the female form is "immodest."

In the original photo of the White House Situation Room, Obama and his national security team are gathered around a table, following in real time the operation that culminated in the killing of bin Laden at his Pakistani compound on May 1.

The White House, which issued the photo, had no comment Monday on the removal of the women from it.

A federal air marshal says a man who was arrested after causing a disturbance on a San Francisco-bound American Airlines flight twice tried to open the cockpit door.

AP Photo/Andrew WaiIn this image captured by citizen journalist Andrew Wai, passengers, top right, subdue a man identified as Rageh Almurisi (not pictured) aboard an American Airlines flight bound for San Francisco on Sunday. Federal investigators are looking into the background of Almurisi, a Northern California resident with a Yemeni passport, who pounded on the cockpit door of an American Airlines flight as it was preparing to land.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal air marshal says a man who was arrested after causing a disturbance Sunday during a San Francisco-bound American Airlines flight twice tried to open the cockpit door, the second time after a crew member told him that the restroom was to his left.

In a court affidavit filed on Monday, Paul Howard says Rageh Al-Murisi (rah-GAY al-moor-EE'-see) then made eye contact with the crew member, lowered his shoulder and rammed the door. He says the crew member got between Al-Murisi and the door, but Al-Murisi kept yelling and pushing forward in an attempt to open it.

The 28-year-old Murisi was subdued and taken into custody after the flight landed safely at San Francisco International Airport.

Federal investigators said they are looking into the background of Almurisi, a Northern California resident with a Yemeni passport. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in California on a charge of interfering with flight crew.

Federal aviation safety investigators are in a densely wooded area in upstate New York where two small planes collided and crashed after taking off Tuesday from a local airport, killing both pilots.

WAWAYANDA, N.Y. (AP) — Federal aviation safety investigators were combing a densely wooded area in upstate New York where two small planes collided and crashed Monday after taking off from a local airport, killing both pilots.

State police Capt. Joseph Tripodo said investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were continuing to inspect the wreckage in the Orange County town of Wawayanda (way-way-AHN'-dah), about 60 miles north of New York City.

Authorities say the planes, both single-engine Pipers, collided Monday afternoon about 15 minutes after departing Orange County Airport en route to Sussex, N.J. The two pilots were the only ones on board the planes. Their names haven't been released.

The planes crashed about 200 yards apart on muddy ground. Emergency crews had to use all-terrain vehicles to reach the wreckages.

Buzzell argued he should have been allowed to tell the jury that the workers were illegal immigrants. Watch video

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanSpringfield police officer Steven Buzzell is seen in Hampden Superior Court in 2009 during his trial for stealing nearly $2,000 from three Mexican farm workers during a traffic stop.

SPRINGFIELD– A Springfield police officer convicted of stealing nearly $2,000 from three Mexican farm workers during a traffic stop has lost a bid to overturn his conviction based on his argument that he should have been allowed to tell the jury the workers were illegal immigrants.

Officer Steven Buzzell was convicted of larceny in 2009 and sentenced to three to four years in state prison.

In his appeal, Buzzell argued that during cross-examination at his trial, he should have been allowed to bring out the fact that the three tobacco workers he stopped were undocumented immigrants. Buzzell contended that would have shown the workers’ bias and undermined their credibility.

The state Appeals Court agreed with the trial judge that such questioning would be irrelevant. The ruling was issued Tuesday.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.