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Judge hears recording of Paul Yeski Jr. trying to get out of burning house in Northampton arson case

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The court has been asked to exclude certain evidence in the case against Anthony Baye.

17 Fair St. 2009.jpgThis is the house at 17 Fair St., Northampton, seen two days after Paul Yeski Jr. and Sr. died in a fire in 2009.

NORTHAMPTON - A Hampshire Superior Court judge heard a frantic Paul Yeski, Jr. telling a dispatcher his house was on fire and crying that he couldn't get out, at a hearing Tuesday to determine the admissibility of evidence in the ase of Anthony P. Baye.

Yeskie died in the Dec. 27, 2009 fire at 17 Fair St. along with his father, Paul Yeskie, Sr. Baye 26, is charged with two counts of first degree murder in their deaths and some 40 other charges in connection with a series of blazes that prosecutoers say he set that night.

The hearing was called because Baye's lawyers, David P. Hoose and Thomas Miranda, filed motions to exclude the evidence gathered from police who stopped his car that night in the vicinity of the fires and from a Jan. 4 interview Baye had with police.

They maintain police lacked probable cause to stop and observe Baye and that he was denied his right to have a lawyer present at the interview. Prosecutors say Baye confessed to setting the 17 Fair St. fire during the Jan. 4 interview. He was subsequenbtly arrested.

The bodies of the father and son were found near a bathroom window through which they were apparently trying to escape when they were overcome by smoke. Elaine Yeskie, the widow of Paul, Sr. and mother of Paul, Jr, was present at the hearing and sobbed as she listened to her son's desperate cries.


More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.


Bill would let teens start driving at 15 1/2, with learner's permit

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It would not change the age at which they can get a junior operator’s license, which allows a teenager to driver without a parent.

BOSTON – Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a bill that would lower the age at which teenagers can get their learner’s permits from 16 to 15 and a half.

The proposed change would give young drivers the chance to get behind the wheel much earlier provided they have a parent or guardian by their side.

It would not change the age at which they can get a junior operator’s license, which allows a teenager to driver without a parent. That age is currently 16 and a half.

The bill’s supporters say it would give young people an extra six months of experience on the road under the supervision of an experienced driver.

The bill was being heard on at a public hearing Tuesday on Beacon Hill in front of the Transportation Committee.

Former Wilbraham Senior Center employee Bridget Wallace admits taking money from 90-year-old man

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Prosecutors said Wallace took the victim to a bank, where he would withdraw money and give it to her.

SPRINGFIELD – The former coordinator of social services at the Wilbraham Senior Center will agree to repay $50,000 she admits to taking improperly from an elderly client but wants her criminal record clear so she can receive her municipal retirement.

082405 bridget wallace.JPGBridget Wallace

Bridget Wallace, 64, of Wilbraham, faces sentencing on Friday in Hampden Superior Court. A prosecutor is also recommending a $10,000 fine and a probationary term.

Wallace admitted in proceedings on Tuesday before Judge Peter A. Velis that she took the money over the course of a year from a man who went to the senior center in 2006 looking for help.

Lawyers said Wallace and the man became friends, and the evidence documented some 100 bank transactions.

It will be up to Velis to decide if he will support a request from Wallace’s defense team to have the charges of larceny by scheme of a person over the age of 60 and attempt to commit a crime continued without a finding so they can be dismissed when she completes a probationary sentence.

The prosecution wants the guilty pleas recorded and for Wallace to complete five years of probation in addition to the repayment and fine.

One of Wallace’s lawyers said the recording of a guilty finding will mean she will lose her retirement benefits. She was employed by the senior center for 13 years.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said such cases would typically call for a recommendation of jail time. There were concerns in this case, however, about whether the prosecution could secure a conviction. The victim's age and declining health played a role in the decision and the ability to present testimony and evidence at trial, he said.

The plea agreement by Wallace ensures the victim’s family gets the $50,000 and Wallace is punished by the fine and probation, the district attorney said. Mastroianni said he would not have proceeded with the plea if the man’s family did not want this resolution. It was also supported by the police who investigated the case and senior services' officials who were involved, Mastroianni said.

The man is now 94 and lives in a senior community. His son addressed the judge, saying Wallace, in her capacity for the town, was in a position of trust and should have helped his father instead of doing what she did.

The prosecution dropped 14 counts against Wallace as part of the plea deal, according to assistant district attorney James M. Forsyth. The larceny by scheme charge covers Wallace’s multiple action during a year’s period ending in July 2007.

Wallace took the victim to a bank where he would withdraw money and give it to her, Forsyth told the court. “He suffers from dementia and memory issues,” he said.

Wallace also had the victim put her name, instead of his son’s name, to inherit some stock upon his death, action which has since been reversed, according to Forsyth.

Defense lawyer Michael O. Jennings told Velis the plea agreement was that Wallace would plead guilty to the crimes and admit the state has circumstantial evidence that, if believed, could cause a jury to convict her.

Velis then asked Wallace if she was guilty of each of the two charges, and she responded in the affirmative.

Jennings said Wallace, once sentenced, is prepared to turn over to the victim’s family the $50,000 bail posted in her case.

William J. Powers IV, who also represents Wallace, said the case was one of extensive documents. A trial, he said, would have presented “a battle of expert opinions.” The $50,000 amount set in the plea deal for repayment represented a compromise figure reached by prosecution and defense lawyers, according to Jennings.

Jennings said Wallace helped the man get guardianship over his ill wife and continued a relationship with him after his wife’s death. She took the man to the bank, cleaned his house and helped him with other things, according to the lawyer.

Jennings acknowledged the relationship “may not have been the thing to do,” given Wallace’s position at the senior center.

Tellers at the bank, Jennings said, knew both Wallace and the victim, and it was “well beyond a year when someone at the bank voiced their suspicions” and Wilbraham police became involved.

He said he could say many things about the relationship between the man and Wallace and about their conversations but “I’m not going to go there.”

Wallace, who said she was employed at the center for 13 years, has no prior criminal record.

Springfield police seek help in identifying Forest Park burglary suspect seen on video

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Prior to the burglary, the homeowner set up a hidden video camera pointed at the front door, and happened to record a clip of the suspect leaving the house, police said. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD - Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a suspect in a May 5 burglary of a Forest Park apartment who was recorded on surveillance video leaving the scene, police said.

Sgt. John Delaney, aide of Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said the homeowner had set up a video camera in a window pointing at the front door.

He reviewed the footage after the robbery and was able to supply police with a 10-second clip showing the suspect leaving carrying a bag.

Delaney said the suspect broke the glass front door to the second-floor apartment. He grabbed a laptop computer and then walked out the front door as if he was the resident,

If anyone knows who this suspect is please contact the Springfield Police Department through "text-a-tip" or call the Detective Bureau at 413-787-6355.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may text a tip via a cell phone by addressing a text message to “CRIMES,” or "274637," and then beginning the body of the message with the word "SOLVE."

Former law associate Steven Topazio says Salvatore DiMasi assured him on Cognos payments

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DiMasi, the former speaker of the Massachusetts House, stands accused of pocketing bribes in exchange for steering state contracts toward Cognos, the software firm at the center of the charges.

Salvatore DiMasi 2009.jpgFormer Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi leaves federal court in Boston, where he is on trial on federal corruption charges.

By KYLE CHENEY

BOSTON – Salvatore DiMasi, the former speaker of the Massachusetts House, fixed his gaze Tuesday upon a stack of legal paperwork, never glancing up as his friend of 20 years, Steven Topazio, entered a federal courtroom and swore to testify truthfully.

In a trial in which DiMasi stands accused of pocketing bribes in exchange for steering state contracts toward a favored software firm, Topazio, the prosecution’s second witness, has been identified by government attorneys as the “unwitting conduit” through which DiMasi received those bribes – monthly payments from Cognos, the software firm at the center of the charges.

Topazio, according to prosecutors, shared a law office with DiMasi, signed a sham $5,000-a-month lobbying contract and directed $4,000 of each payment to DiMasi as part of a preexisting fee-sharing arrangement. DiMasi, Topazio testified, had alerted him to anticipate the work from Cognos, which he said would be arriving in the form of a phone call from Richard McDonough, a Cognos lobbyist and friend to DiMasi who has been charged as a coconspirator.

The call eventually came, and Topazio signed the deal, but Cognos never asked him to perform any work, despite paying him monthly for two years, the bulk of which was immediately relayed to DiMasi. At the same time, Cognos was seeking the approval of a $15 million software contract and believed DiMasi was the key to getting it approved, prosecutors contend. Eventually, prosecutors said, Cognos got the contract, which was awarded by the Patrick administration.

On Tuesday, Topazio – who specialized in criminal defense – said he began to ask questions when Cognos offered to pay him for “contract interpretation” but was repeatedly reassured by DiMasi that he should accept the offer and be ready to perform work for the company, if it ever came.

Topazio, the prosecution’s second witness in a trial expected to last six weeks, told jurors DiMasi – 15 years his senior – had been a mentor and a guide for decades.

“I looked up to Sal,” he said.

In 1982, Topazio recalled, he had just gotten into law school when a friend at the State House introduced him to DiMasi. After he graduated, DiMasi, then a rank-and-file representative from the North End of Boston, helped Topazio get a job on a special commission dealing with “uniform sentencing.” Later, DiMasi hired Topazio as a clerk in his private law office, which DiMasi ran for most of his tenure as a state representative, including from 2004 to 2009, when he was speaker of the House.

After a brief stint as a lawyer in New Jersey, Topazio returned to Boston to work as a salaried employee for DiMasi’s law practice in about 1986. Eventually the two developed an agreement to refer clients to one another in exchange for a portion of their legal fees.

From the outset, Topazio made clear that he had no desire to testify against his former boss and friend.

“I don’t want to be here,” he said.

Topazio agreed to testify under an agreement in which he cannot be prosecuted for statements he makes unless he is untruthful. The agreement was read aloud to the jury.

At prosecutors’ urging, Topazio also highlighted a series of $4,000 checks he cut to DiMasi immediately after being paid by Cognos between March 2005 and March 2007.

Topazio told jurors that he once asked DiMasi, prior to 2004, whether the speaker could use his position as chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee to win legal business for them both.

“He liked to say to me, ‘It’s not worth doing anything to get into trouble. It’s better to have a clear conscience,’” Topazio said.

When DiMasi became speaker in 2004, Topazio testified, “he did not want to actively go into court anymore” and began referring criminal, real estate, probate and other types of cases to Topazio instead.

When the Cognos deal landed in his lap, Topazio said, he met with McDonough – the company’s lobbyist – and Joseph Lally, a Cognos sales executive who pled guilty in February to his involvement in the alleged kickback scheme.

Defense attorneys worked feverishly over the first few days of the trial to discredit Lally – who has since pledged to cooperate with prosecutors – as a desperate, dishonest, “degenerate gambler” who agreed to plead guilty to save his own skin.

Tuesday was no different. William Cintolo, one of two lawyers for DiMasi, suggested that Lally overstated his relationship with DiMasi, bragging to colleagues that he could get “Sal” to take actions on his behalf, even when other evidence indicated that some of those actions never took place.

But prosecutors countered by highlighting phone records suggesting that DiMasi and Lally had direct cell phone conversations that matched with at least one email Lally had sent to his colleagues. And, prosecutors noted, Cognos eventually got its contract, despite some setbacks along the way.

Topazio’s testimony will continue Thursday – jurors were given Wednesday off to accommodate a member of the panel whose grandmother passed away. Jurors will also get Friday off when Judge Mark Wolf, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts who has been presiding over the trial, travels to administer a wedding for his niece.

After Topazio, jurors are expected to hear testimony from former Rep. Lida Harkins, a Needham Democrat who was appointed by DiMasi to the speaker’s leadership team. After Harkins, Maureen Chew, a state official, and James Eisenberg, chief of staff to Speaker Robert DeLeo and chief of staff to the Ways and Means Committee when DiMasi was speaker, former Rep. Robert Coughlin, who sponsored the funding proposal for the Cognos contract, are expected to testify. Prosecutors said they’re still deciding whether to call David Driscoll, the former state education commissioner.

Lally, whose testimony has been presented as a critical part of the prosecution’s case, is expected to follow soon after Coughlin. Richard Vitale, DiMasi’s longtime friend and accountant, is also a defendant in the matter.

Federal judge denies bail to Julio Hermida, Pablo Drullard, suspected in Mexico-to-Easthampton cocaine ring

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Hermida, of Easthampton, and Drullard, of Hadley, are charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine; also charged was Joaquin Carrillo, of Easthampton.

2009 springfield federal courthouse summertime.jpgFederal courthouse in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday denied bail for two Hampshire County men federal investigators say helped orchestrate a Mexico-to-Easthampton cocaine ring.

Julio V. Hermida, 25, of Easthampton, and Pablo Drullard, 30, of Hadley, were arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine after a yearlong investigation by the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local police departments. Also charged was Joaquin Carrillo, of Easthampton.

Court records state investigators seized between two and three kilos of cocaine from Hermida’s apartment at 322 Main St., Unit H, on May 3. According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the co-defendants arranged for cocaine shipments from Mexico and Texas and sold it throughout New England until their arrests last week.

A paid informant for the DEA tape-recorded conversations with the men and made buys at the behest of federal agents, according to filings, bolstering the prosecution of the men. The recorded conversations included the co-defendants haggling over prices and defending the quality of the cocaine, in one case, court filings state.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Neiman refused to release Hermida and Drullard on bail despite requests by their defense lawyers to set them free with electronic monitoring and other controls.

Of Hermida, Neiman noted Hermida’s ties to Mexico.

“An (electronic) bracelet does not act as an unbreakable leash,” Neiman said. “And it’s not as if he just happened to get caught up in other people’s bad acts,” the judge said.

Charles E. Dolan, a defense lawyer for Drullard, said his client has been a freelance software consultant and concert promoter just a few college credits shy of a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Drullard presently is a stay-at-home father for a nearly 2-year-old daughter, Dolan said.

Prosecutor Kevin O’Regan told Neiman that Drullard should be held, in part, because he was spotted by investigators in July with a man at Bradley International Airport who was apprehended the next day with 10 kilos of cocaine in the trunk of a Ford Taurus.

Dolan argued his client’s presence at the airport is “miles away” from proving Drullard is a major drug trafficker.

Carrillo’s detention hearing has not yet been scheduled.

As Springfield readies for its 375th anniversary, it remembers its 350th

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The actual anniversary date, May 14, when William Pynchon “swapped wampum” with the Agawam Indians for what is now Springfield, fell on a Wednesday.

Richard Neal 1987.jpgThen-mayor Richard E. Neal helps load a time capsule in this May 17, 1986 photo.

By KEITH J. O'CONNOR

When Springfield celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, was mayor.

The Spirit of Springfield, organizers of this year’s 375th anniversary celebration, didn’t exist. It was MOCA – the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs – that put on the 350th birthday party.

The Internet wasn’t mainstream back then, so you couldn’t check out the 350th event schedule online or email MOCA for more information. And there was no making a DVD of some of the events for posterity; everyone was using videotape.

But the word got out as news normally would through the media, fliers, posters, and mailings. Big mailings.

A 350th birthday card was mailed to every resident of the city.

“What was striking to me about the 350th anniversary celebration was how inclusive it was. It was an opportunity for us to highlight the city as the first Springfield in America,” said Neal. “Springfield has an extraordinary industrial history, and I remember wanting that fact stressed as part of the celebration back then along with a look at the future. And I think we did a great job in accomplishing that through what I recall as quite a memorable celebration.”

The U.S. congressman said the “real” highlight for him during the 350th anniversary was a visit to Springfield by Theodor S. Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, the popular children’s author who was born in Springfield in 1904.

“We visited his home on Mulberry Street and then he met with children at Springfield’s main library, and it was just extraordinary,” said Neal.

The former Springfield mayor also had an idea as part of the 350th to establish “Significant Trees” in Springfield, resulting in a brochure funded by Milton Bradley entitled the “Great Trees of Our City.”

“What we did was to ask people to nominate their favorite trees in the city, where they were located and why it was their favorite. The ‘most significant’ tree ended up being in the Springfield Cemetery and was the second largest beech tree in the United States,” said Judith A. Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield, who at the time was commissioner of MOCA.

The actual anniversary date, May 14, when William Pynchon “swapped wampum” with the Agawam Indians for what is now Springfield, fell on a Wednesday. To celebrate the occasion, there were special activities at Court Square during the afternoon, including a cake and performance by the brass ensemble from the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and a huge balloon release. In the evening, there was a free concert at Symphony Hall by the United States Army Show Band of New England.

Toy Hay 1987.jpgToy Hay, of Springfield, spots a birthday hat which clapped when he pulled a string, during the city's 350th anniversary in 1986.

Also, as part of the year-long celebration – which included special concerts, the Big Fourth Celebration, pancake breakfast and many other activities – The Republican arranged for national cartoonists such as Jerry Scott to create a cartoon for Springfield. Scott, who drew the cartoon “Nancy,” had everyone’s favorite cartoon girl looking at a newspaper and saying “Hmm ... Springfield is 350 years old. That calls for an ice cream celebration.” Other cartoons included birthday greetings from the “Drabble” and “Peanuts” gangs.

The 350th anniversary celebration ended the year with the free “A Gala 350th Anniversary Ball” on New Year’s Eve at the then-Springfield Civic Center. At 11:15 p.m., the party moved to the Municipal Group Esplanade for the 350th Anniversary closing ceremonies, followed by fireworks.

“As honorary chair of this year’s 375th anniversary, it’s hard for me to imagine that some of the schoolchildren who participated in various 350th events now have families of their own and will be attending this year’s activities with them,” said Neal.

Chicopee ready to sell former Belcher School building

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The 110-year-old elementary school was vacated in October when the city bought a former Catholic school and renovated it.

Belcher school move 2010.jpgWorkers from Sitterly Movers in Springfield move furniture and equipment from the Belcher School on Southwick Street to its new location on Montgomery Street, site of the former St. Patrick's school in October,

CHICOPEE - Saying the city no longer has a use for the now-empty Belcher School building, officials have agreed to begin the process to sell the building.

The 110-year-old elementary school building at 10 Southwick St. was vacated in the fall when the 260 kindergarten to second-graders moved to the former St. Patrick’s School on Montgomery Street. The new school was renamed Belcher School as well.

“There is some market interest in (the old) Belcher School,” Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said. “We will strike while the iron is hot.”

The City Council voted 12-0 recently to authorize the city to request proposals from developers who may be interested in purchasing the former school building.

“The building isn’t currently being used. There was interest expressed in the property,” City Councilor Frederick T. Krampits said.

If there is some interest in the school, instead of waiting, the city should market it right away, he said.

“Hopefully something good will go in there,” Krampits said.

The city had originally planned to use the school to house students from Chicopee Academy temporarily while the school they currently attend, the former Chicopee High School, is under construction. The city is planning to convert that four-story high school into a middle school.

City Council members said they were happy to put the former Belcher School out to bid as long as there is an alternative solution for Chicopee Academy students.

When construction begins on the former Chicopee High School, Chicopee Academy can be moved to Chapin School, which has been closed since 2005. A less attractive option is to keep students at the former Chicopee High while renovations are occurring and move them to different areas depending on where work is being done, Bissonnette said.

After renovations are finished, students and staff will be transferred to different schools and Chicopee Academy will get its own permanent building.

The city has tried to market the former Chapin School with little success. One 2008 proposal from a private developer who wanted to convert it into housing for the elderly fell through because he could not get proper financing.

“The last thing we want is another boarded-up building,” Bissonnette said.


Vermont bank robbery suspect Brian Aubuchon arrested in Indian Orchard

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Aubuchon was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon on near the Pot Belly Pub in Indian Orchard.

Aubuchon_Brian cropped.jpgBrian Aubuchon

SPRINGFIELD – A man wanted by Vermont police in connection with a bank robbery Monday in Hartland, Vermont, was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Springfield police and U.S. Marshals on Main Street in Indian Orchard.

Police arrested Brian Aubuchon, 34, of Randolph, Vermont near Pot Belly Pub, 152 Main St. at about 3:30 p.m. He was charged with two counts of being a fugitive from justice on a warrant issued by the Vermont State Police.

He was taken into custody without incident by U.S. Marshals and officer Christopher Bates of the Springfield police anti-gang unit.

Vermont police issued a warrant for Aubuchon after he was identified as a suspect in a robbery at Mascoma Savings Bank in Hartland, Vermont.

According to police, the robber handed the teller a note indicating he had a gun and demanded money be placed in a bag. No weapon was shown. He reported fled the scene with two other unidentified men in a car that headed south.

When he was arrested in Springfield, he had in his possession a large amount of cash and some drugs, police said. No weapon was found.

He was being held in Springfield Tuesday night, until he can be sent back to Vermont to stand trial.

The Windsor County, Vermont, District Attorney’s Office has already indicated it will contact Massachusetts authorities to seek custody of Aubuchon.

Police narrowed in on Aubuchon as a suspect because he matched the description of the robber given by witnesses at the bank, namely he's 5 feet, 7 inches tall and heavy, bald and has several distinctive tattoos, including one of a skull on the back of his head, said Vermont State Police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro.

In addition to being a suspect in the bank robbery, Aubuchon was also wanted on a charge of being an escapee from a furlough, stemming from a 2010 robbery in Braintree, Vermont.


Developing: Man in custody following gun disturbance at Westfield apartment complex

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Police blocked off Feeding Hills Road to all traffic as they sorted out the scene.

treeger1.jpgWestfield police officers on the scene of a disturbance at 22 Feeding Hills Road. Several gunshots were fired, but no one was hit, police said.

WESTFIELD - One man is in police custody following a 7 p.m. disturbance at an apartment complex at 22 Feeding Hills Road in which several shots were fired , police said.

No one was hit by gunfire, and the disturbance was over in about 10 minutes, said Westfield Police Sgt. Eric Hall.

The man who fired the weapon was brought to Noble Hospital by ambulance after he was placed in custody. Hall said he could not say what the man was being treated for, but he said it was not for a gun-shot related injury.

He did not disclose the man's name but said he is believed to be a resident of the apartment.

Police responding to the scene blocked off Feeding Hills Road to all traffic for several minutes.
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Hall said he had not yet been fully briefed by officers at the scene and did not have many of the details. He said he did not yet know what kind of weapon was used or what led to the disturbance.

More information will be posted as it become available.

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Verizon stops delivering residential white pages in phone book

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Phone books will still contain alphabetical business listings and the yellow pages organized by category; residential directories will be available by request.

2011-12 phone book.jpgThe 2011-2012 Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke Area photo book.

SPRINGFIELD – From now on, fingers looking for home phone numbers are going to do their walking on a computer keyboard.

Verizon is no longer including residential white-pages listings with most phone books distributed in Massachusetts, said Philip G. Santoro, a Verizon spokesman for Massachusetts.

“People are finding phone numbers online and they seem to prefer it,” he said. “For many years people have said to us they end up in a landfill. This is a statewide initiative.”

Laurie A. Cassidy, executive director of the West Springfield Council on Aging, said some older adults like the familiarity of the phone book. But others have followed the trend and given up their land-line phones for cell phones.

“I guess with technology, everybody has to adapt,” she said.

Phone books will still contain alphabetical business listings and the yellow pages organized by category, Santoro said. Business listings are largely paid advertisements, Santoro said.

Competitor Yellow Book Sales and Distribution Co. hasn’t included residential listings in recent editions of its Springfield book, according to an e-mail from Yellow Book. Yellow Book’s Hampshire and Franklin County edition has had those listings at least in recent years.

Verizon makes residential listings available on its own website www.verizon.com/whitepages. When customers visit the site, there’s a number posted for people to order residential directories if they want a regular old-fashioned. The residential listings are a separate book now.

Customers also may call (800) 888-8448 to get a book with a residential listing or to opt out of the phone-book delivery.

Verizon issues new editions of phone books constantly with each city and town getting its annual update at about the same time each year, Santoro said.

“But those times of year vary from city to city, so we are always putting out new phone books all year long,” Santoro said.

Massachusetts didn’t have state regulations requiring Verizon to supply each residence with a residential directory, Santoro said. But other states had those regulations, so Verizon’s had to do some state-by-state lobbying.

Public forum scheduled at Minnechaug Regional High School on proposed cuts for Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District

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Proposed cuts include 5th grade instrumental music and 7th grade foreign language.

WILBRAHAM – The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee has scheduled a public forum on the fiscal 2012 regional school budget Thursday night at 7 in the Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee has approved a fiscal 2012 school budget which calls for the reduction of 16 teaching positions.

School Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said the regional school district “is experiencing its most challenging budget in many years.”

martino'shea.JPGM. Martin O'Shea

He said the school district needs to cover a $1.5 million shortfall.

O’Shea said many valued programs are slated to be eliminated, including fifth grade instrumental music, seventh grade foreign language and art instruction at Thornton W. Burgess Middle School in Hampden.

O’Shea also has proposed eliminating information technology and a science and engineering program at Wilbraham Middle School.

In a letter to the community posted on the school district website, O’Shea said, “I deeply understand the importance of foreign language, the arts, science and engineering. In these programs our children learn to imagine, create and innovate.”

O’Shea said he remains hopeful that additional revenue or savings can be identified which will lessen the need for cuts.

He said the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School Committee is scheduled to enter into formal discussion with the main collective bargaining unit, the Hampden Wilbraham Education Association.

He said staffing and program reductions will be needed unless negotiations with collective bargaining units to reduce costs are successful.

Existing contracts are not set to expire until 2013.

“It may be several days or weeks until the budget picture becomes clearer,” O’Shea said. He added that the Thursday night forum will provide residents “the opportunity to ask questions and provide the administrative team and School Committee with critical feedback.”

Massachusetts Senate expected to change House plan to control costs of municipal health insurance

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The Massachusetts Senate may be more favorable to public employee unions than the plan approved in the state House of Representatives.

051011 municipal health insurance chart.jpgView full size

BOSTON – State senators next week are set to unveil an overhaul of municipal health insurance that might be more favorable to public employee unions than the plan approved two weeks ago by the state House of Representatives.

Seeking to raise the stakes in the debate, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released a new report on Tuesday that found communities across the state could have together saved $3 billion over 10 years if they had been granted powers in 2001 to design municipal health insurance.

Two weeks ago, the state House of Representatives voted 113-42 to approve a bill that a union leader has called "Wisconsin-esque" because it aims to take away union bargaining rights on municipal health insurance. During an appearance 10 days ago on a national cable television show to promote his new memoir, Gov. Deval L. Patrick criticized the House bill, saying that labor lacks a "deep enough voice" in the House plan.

The House bill gives a community the option to increase co-pays, deductibles and certain other features up to the amount included in the most popular health-insurance plan offered to state employees or to move into the state health insurance plan if savings would be greater.

010410 stanley rosenberg.jpgStanley Rosenberg

Municipal managers and unions would talk for 30 days. If no agreement is reached, the community could unilaterally put its plan into effect under condition that it set aside 20 percent of one year’s estimated savings for a health reimbursement account to offset health costs for employees.

The Massachusetts Senate may not go that far, local senators said on Tuesday. Last year, for example, the Senate narrowly voted to approve a bill that included 45 days for negotiations and then binding arbitration if there is no deal between municipalities and unions. There is no provision for binding arbitration in the House plan.

Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said he would support the involvement of a "third party" to settle differences over health insurance between unions and municipal management, though not necessarily an arbitrator. Rosenberg said he would like to see more consultation and negotiation with unions than is reflected in the House plan.

"I want to be clear that there is real negotiation," Rosenberg said.

Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said it is expected that the Senate plan on municipal health insurance will be included in the committee's version of the state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The committee's budget is set to be released on May 18.

brewer.jpgStephen Brewer

Brewer said a final decision has not been made on the Senate plan to overhaul municipal health insurance.

Sen. Gale D. Candaras, D-Wilbraham, said the goal is to give unions a voice and give municipalities an ability to control rising costs. Candaras said the process worked very well about five years ago when a state-appointed mediator helped settle a contract being negotiated between the now-defunct Springfield Finance Control Board and the city's teachers union.

Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, said he would like a plan that would be perceived as fair to both municipalities and unions, but may not please both sides. "I think we'll probably come up with our own way of addressing it," he said.

Welch did say that he is firm believer in collective bargaining. Welch said he wanted to control costs of municipal health insurance, not just shift more of those costs from one side to the other.

welch.jpgSen. James Welch of West Springfield

Raymond F. McGrath, political director for the National Association of Government Employees, said he believes the Senate will be more receptive to unions than the House of Representatives. "It will be somewhat more inclusive than the House language," McGrath said.

McGrath also credited the governor, who he said may prompt a compromise between the House and the Senate. "He will not accept Wisconsin-like language in any version that comes to him," McGrath said. "It kind forces them to the middle."

West Springfield Mayor Edward J. Gibson said he supports the House plan on municipal health insurance, calling it a very good measure that balances the needs of cites and towns and organized labor. Gibson said the House plan is a win for local taxpayers.

Gibson said he would oppose the kind of binding arbitration included in last year's Senate plan. "I don't think it makes sense for anybody," Gibson said. "It's adding to the costs for both sides."

011311 edward gibson mug small.jpgWest Springfield Mayor Edward Gibson

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the Senate is clearly more pro-union than the House. He said he is concerned the Senate could approve a plan that would be inadequate for producing savings.

Widmer said the House plan is a critical step for giving some relief to cities and towns.

A final plan to change municipal health insurance is likely to be decided by a House-Senate committee that would approve a compromise state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The House plan is in its version of the budget.

The foundation's report, the third it has issued this year on the issue, warned that cities and towns have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and the equivalent of 6,500 of jobs in the last decade because local officials have had limited authority to manage exploding growth in health insurance costs.

The report compared each community’s actual health insurance spending between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2010 to what spending would have been if it matched the annual growth of the state’s health insurance plan, which can set co-pays and deductibles without negotiating with unions.

More than 90 percent of Massachusetts cities and towns saw health insurance costs grow at much faster rates than the state plan's average increase of 6.4 percent per year between fiscal years 2001 and 2010.

Monson Town Meeting voters approve preserving Jean Porwoll's 60 acres on Reimers Road

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Voters approved launching a government study, and taping all future Town Meetings and Finance Committee meetings.

MONSON – The late Jean Porwoll wanted to ensure that her 60 acres of woodland on Reimers Road would be protected for years to come, so she contacted Leslie A. Duthie, Conservation Commission chairwoman, to make it happen.

Porwoll, a former Conservation Commissioner herself whom Duthie described as her mentor, had fallen ill, and did not want the land to be developed.

“My goal was to carry out Jean’s wish,” Duthie said.

On Monday night, voters at the annual Town Meeting granted that wish. They approved the acquisition of the property by the Conservation Commission from the Jean M. Porwoll Trust, restricting it from future development and guaranteeing its preservation for wildlife and agriculture.

Porwoll, the director of emergency services at Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer for 25 years, died in August. She was on the Conservation Commission from 1992 to 2004. Duthie described Porwoll as “very smart” and knowledgeable about wetlands issues.

The house on the property was not part of the acquisition, Duthie said. She said the land is fairly wet, and near 12 Mile Brook.

“Hopefully some day we will have public trails to memorialize Jean, who really loved her property,” Duthie said.

Voters rejected a donation of two lots – 25,374-square-feet and 65,785-square-feet – on McCray Circle owned by Charles Richard. The lots were to be kept as open land under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission, and not to be developed, but critics of the proposal won out. One said the acquisition would benefit some immediate neighbors, but not the entire town.

Finance Committee Chairman James Pennington said he has a problem with landowners who have land they cannot build on who want to “dump it back on the town.”

“I think it’s a wrong move,” Pennington said.

In other Town Meeting news, voters approved launching a government study, and taping all future Town Meetings and Finance Committee meetings.

Law Day program at Central High School spotlights Internet issues

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Students on a mock city council said there should be no filters on public computers.

AE_LAW_2_8742581.JPGLawyer Kyle Guelcher speaks at Law Day event at Central High

SPRINGFIELD –The Massachusetts Bar Association’s Law Day Initiative brought a program on “Freedom of Speech on the Internet” to Central High School on Tuesday.

District Court Judge Philip Contant and attorney Kyle Guelcher were the speakers at the Law Day program at Central.

Other speakers go to Renaissance School and the High School of Commerce on Wednesday and Thursday.

Students were asked to deliberate whether, and to what degree, there should be limits on children’s use of computers in public schools and libraries.

Contant divided a class into two groups, one to come up with reasons there should be filters on Internet use in public schools and libraries. He called those students the “concerned parents.”

The other group, who worked with Guelcher, were to come up with reasons filters went against constitutional rights.

“There’s certainly room for vigorous argument today,” Contant said.

Nashira Navarro, in the latter group, said freedom of speech protects the right to read what you want.

Five students were chosen to act as city councilors, hearing from the audience on both sides and voting on whether to put filters on the public computers.

Shamarr Minto, one of the “councilors,” said filters should be put on computers and parents should teach their children about any issues they will face as they grow up.

Tylia Cole, who voted in the majority of three against putting in filters, said even if filters were put in children could learn inappropriate things from “random people” with whom they come in contact.

The session ended with Contant telling the students to beware what they chose to put on their social network page.

He said “it does so much damage to you” when “you put that crazy stuff up” when you are younger then find prospective colleges or employers find it and use it to decide if you are the kind of person they want to have represent them.


Brimfield Antiques Shows draw customers from all over the world

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Brimfield Antiques Shows opened Tuesday and will run through May 15.

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BRIMFIELD – Robert Lloyd can and does sell his antique silver items in his Manhattan gallery and at indoor shows in Miami, Baltimore, Boston and other locations.

He has also spent a couple of weeks in each of the last 20 years with selected silver items from the 16th through 19th centuries in a tent at Shelton’s field on Route 20 at the Brimfield Antique and Collectibles Shows.

In just a few minutes Lloyd came up with several reasons for the recurring Brimfield trips.

He has clients from all over the world, including some who prefer to meet with him and look at this silverware at the Brimfield setting.

On Tuesday, Lloyd met at this tent with clients from Belfast who could have gone to New York or Miami but like the May shows in Brimfield where they can walk around and see the wares of 5,000 other antiques and collectibles dealers.

Lloyd said he likes to go to the Brimfield shows because they are a place for him to do some buying, both for his gallery and his personal collections, which include silver items made on Long Island in the 18th century.

“A lot of Brimfield is the hunt, finding things,” Lloyd said.

He makes clear that he lives in the antiques world for business reasons and to support his family, but Lloyd also talks about the times spent in Brimfield as fun, and as opportunities to renew contacts with people who have become friends over the years.

“If the shows are slow, we find a way to have a good time,” Lloyd said.

He said the Brimfield shows are “very similar to summer camp.”

And while reflecting on the people and events and scenes he has witnessed in two decades of Brimfield, Lloyd said, “This show mimics life more than any antique show.”

This week’s Brimfield shows opened Tuesday and will run through May 15.

Individual fields have different schedules, but there will be some open from dawn to dusk each day.

Greg Peacock has been selling a general line of antiques at the Brimfield shows for several years at the Sturtevant field.

Peacock has a shop, Log Cabin Antiques, in Lake Placid, N.Y., and he selects for his week in Brimfield items such as a set of large, decorative columns, which might not sell as well back home.

In addition to having the opportunity to sell his antiques to new and different sets of buyers in Brimfield, Peacock said he enjoys spending a week where so many people with similar interests gather.

Federal judge blocks Utah immigration law, citing similarities to Arizona law

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The law would have allowed police to check the citizenship status of anyone they arrest.

illegal border crossing.jpgFILE - Two men illegally cross the border fence separating Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

By JOSH LOFTIN

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a Utah immigration law that would have allowed police to check the citizenship status of anyone they arrest, citing its similarities to the most controversial parts of an Arizona law that seems bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups issued his ruling in Salt Lake City just 14 hours after the law went into effect, saying that there is sufficient evidence that at least some portions of the Utah legislation will be found unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigration Law Center last week sued to stop the implementation of House Bill 497, saying it could lead to racial profiling. The civil rights groups submitted hundreds of pages of evidence and affidavits to prove their claims ahead of Tuesday's hearing.

Utah Assistant Attorney General Jerrold Jensen said the ruling was "not a surprise."

Jensen said after the hearing that the law is "fully constitutional" and that his office plans to "argue it vigorously."

Utah's law is significantly different from Arizona's because it doesn't allow police to check the status of every person they encounter, Jensen said in court.

"They want to try the Arizona law, and they make allegations against Utah that may well have applied to Arizona," Jensen said. "But just because the Arizona law is unconstitutional doesn't mean the Utah law is unconstitutional."

The next hearing on is set for July 14, where both sides will be expected to argue whether the law is constitutional. Waddoups could then decide whether to allow the law to go into effect or overturn it because of constitutional issues. If he overturned it, the measure's fate could depend on the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion on the Arizona law.

Waddoups' decision comes a day after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced a plan to ask the nation's high court to overturn a ruling that put her state's immigration enforcement law on hold.

The state must file the appeal by a July 11 deadline. The Supreme Court has discretion on whether to hear the case.

"It seems like this is a big enough national issue that it will ultimately be determined by the United States Supreme Court," said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne on Monday.

In its April ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Justice Department is likely to prove the law is unconstitutional and succeed in its argument that Congress has given the federal government sole authority to enforce immigration laws.

Brewer's lawyers have argued the federal government hasn't effectively enforced immigration law at the border and in Arizona's interior and that the state's intent in passing the law was to assist federal authorities as Congress has encouraged.

The federal government argued the law intrudes on its exclusive authority to regulate immigration, disrupts relations between the U.S. and Mexico, hinders cooperation between state and federal officials, and burdens legal immigrants.

The Utah law, signed by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in March, would require police to check the citizenship status of anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony or class-A misdemeanor, while giving officers discretion to check the citizenship of those stopped for traffic infractions and other lesser offenses.

Class A misdemeanors include theft, negligent homicide and criminal mischief, while felonies range from aggravated burglary to rape and murder.

In a statement after the ruling, Herbert said he has told law enforcement officials the law is on hold but was confident the state would prevail.

"Utah's Attorney General and state Legislature worked hard to craft a bill that would withstand constitutional scrutiny," Herbert said in a statement after the ruling. "Utah will have ample opportunity in court to demonstrate this bill is on solid footing."

ACLU managing attorney Cecillia Wang said the law is potentially worse than the Arizona law because anyone stopped by police could be required to prove their citizenship status. Making it optional for lesser offenses makes racial profiling even more likely, she said.

"This violates the Constitutional right of every American," Wang said. "The times where officers have discretion are the vast number of times that people encounter police."

Police chiefs and county sheriffs have said very little will change in their handling of immigration laws. That was true on Tuesday — for 14 hours, at least — when no arrests were made based on the new law.

There has also been very little public outcry about the law, and no protests or rallies were reported Tuesday.

That is due in large part to the generally positive response from the public to the bipartisan immigration overhaul passed by the Legislature in March, said National Immigration Law Center managing attorney Karen Tumlin.

The package of reforms is based on compassion in immigration laws, and includes a guest worker program starting in 2013 to allow illegal immigrants to remain, live and work in the state, winning support from some liberal immigration advocates but has been criticized by opponents as an amnesty program.

43-year-old Ronald Skroczky taken into custody after shots fired in Westfield

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Skroczky was shot with a taser after being combative toward officers, police said.

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Updates a story posted Tuesday at 8:05 p.m.


WESTFIELD – Forty-three-year-old Ronald P. Skroczky was taken into custody by police shortly after 7 p.m. in his Feeding Hills Road apartment after having been shot with a taser after being combative toward officers, police said.

Police took Skroczky into custody and had him brought by ambulance to Noble Hospital for observation following a report of several shots fired in his apartment, which is in a complex at 22 Feeding Hills Road, according to Westfield Police Sgt. Eric D. Hall.

Hall said police brought Skroczky to the hospital because he had been stunned by the taser as well as to determine whether he had any substance abuse issues.

Investigators are still interviewing a woman who was in the apartment with Skroczky at the time the shots were fired as well as other people who were in the complex at the time of the incident.

Hall said police are still sorting out what charges will be filed against Skroczky. No one was hit by gunfire and the disturbance was over in about 10 minutes, according to Hall.

“I don’t know exactly what the issue was,” Hall said.

About seven police officers were sent to the scene, according to Hall, who said they confiscated several guns from the apartment. Police responding to the scene blocked off Feeding Hills Road to all traffic for several minutes.

FBI arrests long-sought Puerto Rican militant wanted for $7 million West Hartford heist

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Authorities say Norberto Gonzalez Claudio took part in the $7 million robbery of an armored car depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983 as a member of the militant independence group Los Macheteros. He was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday.

Luis FraticelliPuerto Rico's top FBI official Luis Fraticelli stands next to a wanted poster showing Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, right, at a news conference after Claudio's arrest, at FBI headquarters in San Juan, Tuesday May 10, 2011. The poster on left shows Victor Manuel Gerena who the FBI believes is living in Cuba. Claudio and Gerena are two of three alleged Puerto Rican militants sought in a 1983 Connecticut robbery that according to authorities was among the largest in U.S. history at the time. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo))

By BEN FOX, Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rican nationalist who was one of two remaining fugitives sought for one of the largest bank robberies in U.S. history was arrested Tuesday as he took a morning stroll in a central town on the island, the FBI said.

Authorities say Norberto Gonzalez Claudio took part in the $7 million robbery of an armored car depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983 as a member of the militant independence group Los Macheteros. Gonzalez calmly admitted his identity and then refused to say another word as federal agents and local police arrested him along a jogging track in the town of Cayey, said Luis Fraticelli, special agent in charge of FBI operations in Puerto Rico.

"He seemed surprised" but did not put up any resistance, Fraticelli said.

Authorities did not disclose what led to the arrest.

Luis FraticelliLuis Fraticelli, Puerto Rico's top FBI official, stands next to a wanted poster showing Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, at a news conference after Claudio's arrest, at FBI headquarters in San Juan, Tuesday May 10, 2011. Gonzalez Claudio is one of three alleged Puerto Rican militants sought in a 1983 Connecticut robbery that according to authorities was among the largest in U.S. history at the time. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

Fraticelli said that he believed Gonzalez had been hiding out in Puerto Rico the whole time he was a fugitive and that the FBI is looking into who might have helped him elude authorities during the more than 25 years since his indictment. Later Tuesday, a judge in San Juan approved a search warrant for his house.

Gonzalez, 65, was living alone in a modest home under a false name, and authorities believe he still had an active role in the militant group, which has claimed responsibility for a series of robberies, murders and bombings in the name of Puerto Rican independence, Fraticelli said.

An older brother, Avelino, was sentenced last year to seven years in prison after spending more than two decades as a fugitive for his role in the heist. A third brother, Orlando, was also convicted of taking part in the robbery and has since been released.

James Bergenn, a Connecticut lawyer who represented Avelino Gonzalez after he was captured in 2008, said U.S. law enforcement had been closing in on Tuesday's arrest.

"There's heavy interest in this case. They wanted it done," Bergenn said. "It's been dormant, but then they started investigating again when they arrested Avelino."

Mexico Puerto Rico FBIThis photo of a computer screen taken in Mexico City, Tuesday, May 10, 2011, shows a page of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, website that depicts Puerto Rican citizen Norberto Gonzalez Claudio. FBI authorities said they arrested Gonzalez Tuesday in the southern mountain town of Cayey, Puerto Rico. Gonzalez was sought in connection with a 1983 armored truck robbery of about $7 million in Connecticut. (AP Photo/FBI)

Most of the violent activities of Los Macheteros took place in the 1970s and 1980s, but the FBI still considers the group a threat as younger members have taken on the leadership.

"As long as they continue to advocate the independence of Puerto Rico by force they will always pose a danger," Fraticelli told The Associated Press. He spoke in the San Juan federal building that was damaged when members of Los Macheteros fired an anti-tank weapon at the sixth floor in October 1983.

Gonzalez is expected to be extradited to Connecticut to faces charges that include bank robbery, transportation of stolen money and conspiracy. A nephew, Juan Gonzalez, said family members and supporters were arranging for a lawyer to represent him.

"The only thing he is guilty of is supporting independence for Puerto Rico," said Juan Gonzalez, a real estate broker.

 

Prosecutors have said Los Macheteros, whose name is variously translated as "Machete Wielders" or "Cane Cutters," are suspected of using the stolen money to finance bombings and attacks in their push for independence for the U.S. territory.

The 1983 robbery allegedly was carried out by Victor Manuel Gerena, a Wells Fargo driver recruited by the independence group. Authorities say Gerena took two co-workers hostage at gunpoint, handcuffed them and injected them with an unknown substance to temporarily disable them. Members of Los Macheteros allegedly helped spirit the money out of the U.S.

Fraticelli said that Gerena is alive and living in Cuba and that the U.S. still hopes to arrest him. He is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives.

The alleged leader of the Macheteros, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, was killed in a 2005 shootout with the FBI at a remote farmhouse in Puerto Rico.

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Associated Press writer Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

AP-Gfk poll: Obama approval rating hits 60 percent

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President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Barack ObamaPresident Barack Obama waves to media as he walks from Marine One to the White House, Wednesday, May 11, 2011, in Washington, as he travels from Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

By JENNIFER AGIESTA & LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election — caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years.

Comfortable majorities of the public now call Obama a strong leader who will keep America safe. Nearly three-fourths — 73 percent — also now say they are confident that Obama can effectively handle terrorist threats. And he improved his standing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the United States' relationships with other countries.

Despite a sluggish recovery from the Great Recession, 52 percent of Americans now approve of Obama's stewardship of the economy, giving him his best rating on that issue since the early days of his presidency; 52 percent also now like how he's handling the nation's stubbornly high 9 percent unemployment.

The economy remains Americans' top issue.

Impressions of the nation's fiscal outlook have improved following last Friday's positive jobs report, which showed American companies are on a hiring spree. More people now say that the economy got better in the past month and that it's likely to continue doing so in the coming year.

Also, more Americans — 45 percent, up from 35 percent in March — say the country is headed in the right direction. Still, about half — 52 percent — say it's on the wrong track, meaning Obama still has work to do to convince a restive public to stay with the status quo.

Some have seen enough to know they'll stick with him.

"I was happy about bin Laden," says Brenda Veckov, 42, of Hollidaysburg, Pa. "I put my fists in the air. To me, it was just a little bit of closure for the United States."

"The president made the right decisions on this one. And I will vote for him again."

Not everyone has such an optimistic view of Obama.

"I'm very concerned" about the country, says Susan Demarest in Snellville, Ga., 56, who didn't support the Democrat last time and won't this time. "I'm in my 50s and I worry that I'm not going to be able to retire at a reasonable age and enjoy the end of my life because of Medicare and Social Security and the debt of the country." Still, she says Obama doesn't carry all of the blame.

Obama's overall political boost comes at an important time. He is embarking on his re-election campaign and is in the early days of a debate with Republicans who control the House over raising the country's debt limit. But it's unclear how long Obama's strengthened standing will last in the aftermath of bin Laden's death.

Americans say they overwhelmingly approve of the military's handling of the risky nighttime mission in Abbottabad, Pakistan. But it hasn't changed public opinion on the war in Afghanistan; most still are opposed to it, and a big majority favors Obama's plan to withdraw all combat troops by 2014.

Overall, Obama's approval rating is up from 53 percent in March and a 47 percent low point following last fall's midterm congressional elections, in which Republicans won control of the House and gained seats in the Senate. It was 64 percent in May 2009, just months after he was sworn into office.

Also, 53 percent now say he deserves to be re-elected; 43 percent say he should be fired, making it the first time in an AP-GfK poll that more people say he should get a second term than not.

"I have the impression that Barack Obama works really hard for Americans and that I see his leadership as something that should be continued," says independent voter Allison Kaplan, 25, in Austin, Texas, who voted for him in 2008. She praises the administration for handling bin Laden's raid well — "the way that it happened was the correct way" — and it reinforced her support of the president.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans who call themselves political independents now approve of him; only about half did in March. They were critical to his 2008 victory but many had fled as his administration increased government spending and passed a sweeping health care overhaul. They could just as easily turn away again between now and next fall.

Bryan Noonan, 23, of Hampstead, N.H., is one of those independents. He backed Obama in 2008 and is likely to vote for the president again, given the other options.

"I haven't been real impressed by the Republicans," he says. He doesn't hold Obama accountable for the sluggish economy or rising gas prices, issues Noonan says seem "out of his hands. It's not like there's a magic solution."

Noonan likes Obama's foreign policies and applauds the killing of bin Laden, saying: "I was pretty much relieved, happy to hear that we got him. The president absolutely deserves credit."

Among the poll's other findings:

— Sixty-nine percent say Obama will keep America safe, up from 61 percent in March; 65 percent call him a "strong leader," up from 57 percent.

— Sixty-three percent say Obama cares about people like them; 63 percent also say that he understands the problems of ordinary Americans.

— Sixty-three percent view Obama favorably, up from 59 percent in March.

Still, his re-election is far from certain. And there are warning signs in the poll.

—Nearly two-thirds of people — 61 percent — disapprove of his handling on gas prices, even though there's little a president can do about them.

—Less than half give him positive marks on dealing with the federal budget deficit or taxes, two big upcoming issues.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted May 5-9 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

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Sidoti is the Associated Press' chief national political writer; Agiesta is deputy polling director. Polling Director Trevor Tompson, News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writer Nancy Benac contributed to this report.

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