The 2011 construction program will help fund about 450 projects, including 300 active construction projects and 150 maintenance projects.

Associated PressMass. Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during a news conference outside his office at the Statehouse in Boston in this AP file photo.

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick is kicking off the 2011 construction season by announcing $931 million in road and bridge projects across Massachusetts.

Patrick said this year's funding builds on previous record annual investments and is nearly double the amount spent on infrastructure projects in 2007.

The 2011 construction program will help fund about 450 projects, including 300 active construction projects and 150 maintenance projects.

The money for the projects includes $550 million from the Statewide Road and Bridge Program, $208 million from the state's Accelerated Bridge Program, and $173 million in federal stimulus funds.

Patrick said in 2010 road and bridge construction projects created or sustained about 30,000 jobs.

The projects include a $57.5 million Great River Bridge project in Westfield and bridge projects along the Charles River basin.

The 10-month investigation into the mass shootings at Hartford Distributors in Manchester has found no evidence of racism directed against shooter Omar Thornton.

File photo by Jessica Hill / Associated PressWorkers and family of workers from Hartford Distributors gather at Manchester High School in Manchester, Conn., following a mass shooting in August. Click on the link, above right, for a report from the Hartford Courant that says police found no evidence of racism that would have lead to the shootings.

• 2 men arrested in terrorist plot against New York City synagogue (video) [abclocal.go.com/wabc]


• Average gasoline price hits $4 per gallon in Massachusetts [WWPL.com]


• Police find no evidence of racism as motive in mass shootings at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, Conn. (video) [HartfordCourant.com]


• Key prosecution witness Steven Topazio says he funneled $65,000 to former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi [Boston.com]


• Crime wave in Egypt, has people, including police, afraid [NYTimes.com]


• AIDS breakthrough finds drugs can radically reduce spread of virus to spouses, partners [LATimes.com]


• Lesbian murder case highlights South African justice system's slow response [CSMonitor.com]


• Facebook reportedly hired public relations firm to smear Google [TheDailyBeast.com]


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


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Baye told investigators that when he looks back on the events of the night a rash of fires terrorized Northampton, his actions seem to be those of a different person.

Anthony P. Baye.

Updates stories posted Thursday at 10:57 a.m., 1:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.

NORTHAMPTON – Anthony P. Baye told investigators that when he looks back on the events of Dec. 27, 2009, his actions seem to be those of a different person.

“It’s like it’s somebody else,“ Baye tells state police fire investigator Michael Mazza and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper in a video of his Jan. 4, 2010, interrogation that was played Thursday in Hampshire Superior Court.

Police interviewed Baye, 26, for more than 10 hours that day, after identifying him as a suspect in the Dec. 27, 2009 rash of firesthat terrorized Northampton. His lawyers are seeking to exclude evidence from that interview, saying that Baye was denied his right to a lawyer. They have also moved to suppress information gathered by two police officers who stopped Baye on the rainy night of the fires while he was driving around in his Toyota Camry.

Those officers noted that Baye appeared to be soaking wet and had alcohol on his breath. His defense team maintains they lacked probable cause to stop him. Judge Constance Sweeney will determine how much, if any, of the evidence will be admissible at Baye’s trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 20.

After hours of questioning by Mazza and Zipper, Baye admitted to setting some of the fires, but said he had no recollection of others. When he woke up the following morning, Baye said, he asked himself how he could have done the deeds of the previous night.

“What was I doing last night?“ he recalled thinking, “Like, why would I do that?“

Previously, Baye admitted to Mazza and Zipper that the fire at 17 Fair St. that took the lives of Paul Yeskie, 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39, was a mistake. However, he subsequently denied any memory of starting it. Baye said he “kind of“ remembered a box on the porch of the house where Mazza suggested the Fair Street fire started.

“Maybe, vividly there was a box,“ he said.

Baye also denied setting previous fires in the neighborhood, which had been plagued by suspicious blazes for several years. At one point, Mazza tells Baye he suspects him of setting a prior fire on Hawley Street, but Baye says he knows nothing about it.

Zipper is shown telling Baye that investigators who spoke with some of his friends believe he has a history of lighting fires. He cited a fire near a dike in Northampton that Baye’s friends mentioned. Baye dismissed it as “stupid kid stuff.“

Baye told investigators he had 13 beers that night, and suggested his actions were due to the alcohol.

“It must have been the booze,“ he says.

Mazza and Zipper ultimately got Baye to initial locations on a map of Northampton where he admitted setting fires. In the ensuing down time, the investigators are seen trying to puzzle out his motives.

Baye told the officers he was not abused as a child and did not act out of anger. He also said he did not stay to watch any of the fires, he said. However, Baye told Mazza and Zipper that he suffers from inexplicable bouts of anxiety that cause his hands and feet to sweat. He described sweating through his clothes in middle school during such episodes.

“I always wanted to find an answer to that,“ he says.

Mazza and Zipper tell Baye that such information is useful in their work analyzing arsons.

“(What you told me) will help me tomorrow,” Mazza says.

But Baye’s lawyers, David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser, contend that Mazza and Zipper strong-armed their client into confessing. In his cross-examination of Mazza, Hoose asked if he and Zipper were specially selected to interview Baye.

“You’re the confession guy, aren’t you?“ Hoose asked. “At that point, your goal is to get a confession.“

Mazza denied telling Baye he would have to shoot him if he tried to escape. The defense plans to present an expert witness on coerced confessions when the pretrial hearing resumes on June 8.

Baye, who lived with his parents on Hawley Street near the fires, faces two counts of first degree murder and some 40 other crimes in connection with 15 separate fires set that night. During their interview with Baye, Mazza and Zipper repeatedly assured him they did not believe he intended to hurt anyone. Mazza told Baye the Yeskies died because they had modified their house so that the front door was their only exit.

“They couldn’t get out of there on a good day, let alone a bad day,“ he said.

Mazza also called the Yeskies “hoarders,” suggesting that the fire in their house spread so quickly because of all the stuff they accumulated. He also noted that mutual aid from Amherst did not arrive at Fair Street until 15 minutes after the alarm, a time gap Mazza called “inexcusable.“

The day-long interrogation ends with Baye’s arrest by Northampton police Det. Craig Kirouak. Mazza explains to Baye that he will be arraigned in Northampton District Court and later indicted in superior court.

The Republican file photo | Don TreegerAnthony Baye

The teenager called the case “a very difficult and emotional experience for all involved.”

An updated version of this story, complete with the full text of the statement issued by Renaud, was posted at 7:21 p.m. Thursday

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanAustin Renaud is seen in Northampton District Court in February.

SOUTH HADLEY – A teenager who was exonerated in connection with a Massachusetts classmate’s bullying-related suicide says he’s grateful to her family for asking prosecutors to drop the charge against him.

Austin Renaud expressed condolences to 15-year-old Phoebe Prince’s family Thursday and called the case “a very difficult and emotional experience for all involved.”

The South Hadley High freshman hanged herself last year after incessant bullying. Five former classmates accepted plea deals last week in their criminal cases.

Renaud was charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sexual contact with Phoebe, an accusation he steadfastly denied. Prosecutors dropped the charge last week, citing what they called “the interests of justice.”

Renaud said he will resume his high school education and hopes the public and media will respect his desire for privacy.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

The rate of revenue increase, however, has slowed in the last four months as gas prices have surged near the $4 mark.

BOSTON – Gasoline tax revenues are running higher in Massachusetts than at this time a year ago despite the sharp spike in prices at the pump.

The rate of revenue increase, however, has slowed in the last four months as gas prices have surged near the $4 mark, suggesting that some residents may be at least modifying their driving habits, state tax officials said.

Massachusetts took in $96.8 million from the 21 cents per gallon excise tax during the months of March and April. That was a $200,000 increase from the same two months a year ago, according to Robert Bliss, spokesman for the Department of Revenue.

Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, the state had collected $493 million in gasoline taxes, $6.4 million higher than at this time last year.

Because the tax is assessed as a fixed amount per gallon, and not as a percentage of the total sale, gas price fluctuations alone have no bearing on the amount of tax collected. But the state could see revenues from the tax drop if higher prices led to significant changes in gasoline consumption.

The fact that revenues have not dropped indicates that “despite the rise in prices, people are not buying less gasoline and in fact have bought somewhat more,” Bliss said.

During the first six months of the fiscal year that began July 1, gas tax revenues rose about $5 million compared to the previous year. During the January-April period the cumulative increase was slightly over $1 million, indicating that people may be trying to curtail driving a bit in response to the price surge.

According to weekly surveys conducted by the American Automobile Association of Southern New England, the average price for a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline stood at $3.94 per gallon in Massachusetts at the end of April. The average stood at $3.30 per gallon at the beginning of March and at $3.06 per gallon at the start of the start of the calendar year.

The average was $2.86 per gallon a year ago at this time.

Mary Maguire, a Massachusetts spokeswoman for AAA, said it was surprising that gas tax revenues had not declined in light of national surveys showing a drop in demand of 3 to 5 percent as people respond. “ I think people are shopping the low end of the price range for gasoline,” she said.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority reported that ridership on the public transit system rose 5 percent in March compared to the same month in the previous year, another signal that more commuters might be eschewing their private vehicles in favor of other modes of transportation. April ridership figures were not yet available.

The state’s improving economy and lower unemployment rate may be helping to offset any drop in revenue that might otherwise result from reduced gasoline consumption, Bliss said.

The vast majority of gas tax revenue is deposited into the Commonwealth Transportation Fund and used for transportation-related purposes, including the repayment of money borrowed for highway construction projects. A tiny portion of the tax also goes to a fund to protect fish and wildlife.

In addition to the 21 cents per gallon tax, Massachusetts since 2003 has also charged an additional 2.5 cents per gallon tax, ostensibly to support the cleanup of underground fuel storage tanks. Proceeds from that tax are deposited into the state’s General Fund, with much of it redirected to programs other than the underground tanks.

Maguire said AAA does not expect gas prices to significantly affect summer travel in Massachusetts, since many residents drive relatively short distances to reach vacation destinations such as Cape Cod.

A drop in unemployment claims helped the market to get off to a positive start.

Associated Press photoNissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks during a press conference in the automaker's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, Thursday. Nissan says it rounded out a record year for car sales by returning to the profit in the fiscal fourth quarter after a loss the year before. Nissan Motor Co., allied with Renault SA of France, reported a $380 million profit for January-March, a turnaround from a loss a year earlier.

NEW YORK – A small recovery in commodities and a rally in companies that make consumer staples like toilet paper and pasta helped the financial markets reverse a decline Thursday to end the day with modest gains.

Consumer staples and health care led the market due in part to concerns that high gas prices will erode consumer spending and cut into corporate earnings. Companies that sell everyday items or provide health-related products and services are less dependent on economic growth for their profits since people typically spend money on such items even if they cut back elsewhere. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Kraft Foods were among the day’s biggest gainers.

Retail sales rose 0.5 percent, but that number dropped to 0.2 percent after excluding gas prices. Higher energy costs also pushed wholesale prices – the amount companies pay for goods – up 0.8 percent in April, the government said.

The market “is watching to see the extent to which higher energy prices crowd out consumption more broadly,“ said Andrew Goldberg, a strategist at JP Morgan Funds. If that happens, consumer staples – along with utilities – are typically better investments because their products serve needs, not wants and because they pay higher dividends.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 65.89 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,695.92. The S&P 500 added 6.57, or 0.5 percent, to 1,348.65. The Nasdaq composite rose 17.98, or 0.6 percent, to 2,863.04. The Dow Jones industrial average came back from a 93-point deficit earlier in the day.

The Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to 434,000, slightly less than what economists expected. That report also contributed to the early morning market losses.

Crude oil recovered from steep losses earlier in the day and finished nearly 1 percent higher, but remained below $100 a barrel. Other commodities also recovered. As copper and gold prices went up, materials companies moved higher. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. reversed its losses from the morning and finished nearly 1 higher.

Stock trading has been affected by huge moves in commodities markets over the past two weeks, including a 9 percent drop in the price of oil a week ago and a 27 percent plunge in the price of silver last week. The volatility in commodities and stocks led investors to park money in less risky and more stable assets like government bonds.

Energy companies dropped slightly. ConocoPhillips fell 1.3 percent. A drop in oil prices translates into declining revenues for energy companies.

U.S. government bonds and the dollar both fell as investors became more comfortable holding stocks, commodities and other riskier assets. The dollar fell 0.2 percent against a group of six other currencies, and the yield on the 10-year note rose to 3.23 percent from 3.16 percent late Wednesday. Bond yields rise when their prices fall.

Commodities and stocks have both benefited from the Federal Reserve’s program to boost the economy by buying $600 billion in Treasury bonds. The Fed’s program had the effect of pushing yields on government bonds lower, encouraging investors to move money into stocks and commodities.

With the Fed’s effort coming to an end in June, the same investments are likely to fall, said Doug Roberts, the chief investment strategist for Channel Capital Research.

“When the Fed pulls back, investors cut back,” Roberts said.

Some well-known companies fell more than the broad markets. Cisco Systems Inc. fell 4.8 percent after the maker of computer networking equipment reported an 18 percent slide in earnings and lowered its profit forecast. It also plans to cut jobs.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 3.5 percent after it was downgraded by analysts due to a Senate investigation and a Rolling Stone article that argued that the Justice Department should bring charges against the investment bank for defrauding investors.

Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.7 billion shares.

At DiMasi's corruption trial in Boston, Harkins testified DiMasi told her that if education commissioner David Driscoll would support such a program, "he would make sure Bobby DeLeo put it in the budget."

File photo | The RepublicanFormer Massachusetts Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi is on trial in federal court in Boston on corruption charges.

By KYLE CHENEY

BOSTON – Former Rep. Lida Harkins testified in federal court Thursday that former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi approached her years earlier with a simple request: seek out David Driscoll, then commissioner of education, and ask him if he would support a proposal to fund data collection software.

But DiMasi didn’t stop there, Harkins – a longtime senior lieutenant to DiMasi who worked as majority whip during his speakership – told a jury at the Moakley Courthouse on the Boston waterfront. Rather, she said, he told her that if Driscoll would support such a program, “he would make sure Bobby DeLeo put it in the budget.”

Robert DeLeo, at the time of DiMasi’s request, was the chairman of the House budget committee, responsible for vetting and revising most spending legislation. When DiMasi stepped down in January 2009 amid suggestions he traded the power of his office for bribes, DeLeo, who had been a trusted deputy to DiMasi, was quickly elected speaker.

For Harkins, obtaining funding for education data collection software was the fulfillment of a long-held goal – to better organize student performance data in order to help craft well-informed policy – which she testified had been a priority for her since at least 2000, when as co-chair of the Education Committee she was tasked with rewriting special education laws.

“It was very difficult to set policy without having that kind of data available,” she said, blaming personnel cutbacks during the Romney administration for the shortage of education information data.

File photo | The RepublicanLida Harkins

Her testimony, delivered at the behest of the prosecution in the corruption trial of DiMasi and two associates, highlighted the moment prosecutors allege that DiMasi put in motion a scheme to steer millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts to Cognos Corp., a Canadian company, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Lobbyist Richard McDonough and accountant Richard Vitale, both close friends of DiMasi who are also charged in the scheme, allegedly received six-figure sums from Cognos for their efforts as well.

Eventually, in 2006, Cognos was awarded a $4.5 million contract to provide an “education data warehouse” application to Massachusetts, the first of two contracts that Cognos won during DiMasi’s tenure totaling $17.5 million. At the same time, prosecutors allege, DiMasi had been collecting $4,000 a month from Cognos, funneled through his law associate, Steven Topazio, who was signed to a $5,000-a-month consulting contract with Cognos but was never asked to perform any work.

DiMasi, McDonough and Vitale are charged with conspiring to defraud taxpayers, mail fraud and wire fraud. DiMasi is also charged with extortion. A fourth defendant, Joseph Lally, who sold software for Cognos during DiMasi’s tenure as speaker, pled guilty in February and has pledged to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a more lenient sentence. Lally is expected to testify next week.

Defense attorneys for DiMasi, McDonough and Vitale have contended that DiMasi’s pursuit of Cognos was a high-minded attempt to improve the state’s education system and that the money he collected from Topazio was the resulting of a long-standing – and legal – fee referral arrangement between the two men. Thomas Drechsler, McDonough’s attorney, said McDonough had only been paid for legitimate lobbying work.

Harkins’s testimony underscored the degree to which Beacon Hill figures on the margins of DiMasi’s alleged plot may be drawn into the storylines unfolding in a week-old trial expected to last until the middle of June. Now a reprecincting specialist in the office of Secretary of State William Galvin, she appeared to have a shaky recollection at times, failing to recall what year DiMasi became speaker – it was 2004 – and wavering for a few seconds when asked to recall whether 2006 was an election year.

While he was waiting to testify, Harkins was seated on a bench outside the courtroom. Durign a break in the trial, DiMasi walked past her without ever making eye contact or glancing in her direction. McDonough, following closely behind, looked in her direction and said, “Hi, Lida,” before returning to the courtroom.

Speaker DeLeo has been battling to regain public confidence in governmental institutions since he took office in January 2009. Harkins’s testimony, for the first time in the trial, placed DeLeo in the sequence of events that led to Cognos’s successful bid for state business.

DeLeo’s role – or lack thereof – in the crafting of legislation that ultimately benefited Cognos was a factor in 2009, when DiMasi resigned under an ethical cloud and DeLeo vied with Norwood Democrat John Rogers for the speakership.

As a vote neared to choose the next speaker, eight of Rogers’s allies urged colleagues to delay a vote until DeLeo’s role in the controversies that had been dogging DiMasi had been further explained. Those members – only three of who are still sitting in the House: Reps. Robert Koczera (D-New Bedford), Thomas Calter (D-Kingston) and Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) – described “grave concern” among their colleagues about DeLeo’s involvement in the “Cognos budget item.”

“Representative DeLeo has never been contacted by any officials concerning the controversy over Cognos,” a DeLeo spokesman responded at the time.

DeLeo’s chief of staff, James Eisenberg, is slated to testify Monday in the trial. Eisenberg was DeLeo’s chief of staff when DeLeo chaired the Ways and Means Committee under DiMasi.

DiMasi’s lawyer, Thomas Kiley, is seeking to prevent the prosecution from introducing a page from Eisenberg’s personal notes during the crafting of the fiscal 2007 budget. In his notes, Eisenberg wrote “Ck w/Speaker” next to the budget amendment that funded the education data warehouse. According to Kiley, those words were crossed out.

“It is prejudicial as it is intended to indicate the Speaker’s personal involvement in the particular amendment even though the declarant who made the note has no memory of such involvement,” Kiley wrote in a memo to Judge Mark Wolf. “The document is neither a business nor government record; it was produced by James Eisenberg individually, not the House Committee on Ways and Means and is instead a single page from the booklet he personally carried.”

Prosecutors countered in their own filing, contending that Eisenberg’s notes should be admissible because Eisenberg “will testify that the line through the “check w/ Speaker” note indicates that he either checked with DiMasi directly or checked with a person on his staff before the recommendation was made to include the [Education Data Warehouse] line item” in the House’s education budget amendment.

The Republican said that backing away from the plan he signed as governor would be politically expedient given that health care has become a liability rather than an asset for him among conservative critics.

View full sizeAssociated Press photoW. Mitt Romney lays out his plan for health care reform during an address at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., Thursday.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.– Former Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney outlined a national health care plan Thursday that would empower states to decide coverage rules, spelling out differences with President Barack Obama’s overhaul but refusing to renounce his own Massachusetts law that was a precursor to Obama’s.

The all-but-declared 2012 presidential candidate said that backing away from the plan he signed as governor or changing his overall health care vision would be politically expedient given that health care has become a liability rather than an asset for him among conservative critics in the past two years.

But he declared, “I am not adjusting the plan to reflect the political sentiment.“

The former Republican governor tried to address a huge vulnerability in an appearance in Michigan, as well as counter the notion that he bends his positions to suit the current political environment. He was lambasted during his first White House run for reversing his positions on abortion and gay rights for what critics called political reasons. The health plan he described Thursday was the same one he proposed during his presidential run

Romney used a 29-minute appearance in this early primary voting state where he has family roots to lay out differences between the Massachusetts and federal plans. Instead of speaking from prepared remarks at a GOP-sponsored event at the University of Michigan hospital, he talked from notes and used a slide presentation to deliver what at times felt like a college lecture on health care.

Comparing his state version with Obama’s, he said, “Our plan was a state solution to a state problem. And his is a power grab by the federal government to put in place a one-size-fits plan across the nation.“ He added that his state’s plan was “a more modest approach.“

His pitch is unlikely to appease critics who want him to make a clean break from the Massachusetts law’s requirement that all residents obtain health insurance. That mandate is a cornerstone of the Obama-backed plan passed by Congress last year and despised by conservatives who have much power in determining the Republican presidential nominee.

Much of what he said Thursday, he’s said before.

Romney again said the law he backed as governor was right for Massachusetts but Obama’s, which requires federally mandated health care coverage for all U.S. residents, is a bad idea and should be repealed. He said that many pundits argue that he should stand up and say his own state law was a mistake, “that it was just a bone-headed idea and I should just admit it.“

“There’s only one problem with that,“ Romney said. “It wouldn’t be honest. I, in fact, did what I believe was right for the people of my state.“

Romney devoted one of his first major policy presentations of an expected 2012 presidential bid to the issue that many conservatives believe could keep him from the nomination. He sharply criticized Democrats’ health policies and outlined an alternative.

He said the Democrats’ law, which is being phased in over several years, amounts to a takeover of the health care system that raises taxes and cuts services to seniors. Romney said his 2006 version expanded coverage through private insurance plans without adding taxes in Massachusetts and, if elected president, he would let states come up with their own plans.

Numerous analysts say Romney’s Massachusetts law raised taxes indirectly, by redirecting Medicaid funds to pay for the expanded coverage.

“The states would be responsive to the people closest to them and the solutions could be tailored,“ Romney said. “My experience is that health care delivery in Massachusetts is different than Montana.“

Romney previously has had to explain reversals in his stands on abortion and gay rights. Critics say the changes were a politically expedient way to transfer a Massachusetts moderate-liberal into a staunch conservative who could win GOP presidential primaries.

This time, the health care issue is one of Romney’s biggest hurdles.

Like the federal law, the Massachusetts plan requires individuals to buy health insurance and imposes tax penalties on those who don’t. Both plans penalize small businesses above a certain size that don’t provide coverage to their employees. Both rely on new taxes for some of the financing.

Since Congress approved the national health overhaul a year ago, Romney has struggled to answer criticism of his role in the Massachusetts plan.

Thursday’s speech – in both the timing and the content – is an indication of just how much Romney’s second bid is informed by his missteps four years ago.

Last time, he spent months dogged by questions about his Mormon faith. Aides now acknowledge he never fully answered voter concerns in the yearlong run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Just weeks before them, he delivered what aides now call “the Mormon Speech.” But after much buildup, the speech failed to undo months of a whisper campaign that suggested Mormons are not Christian.

This time, Romney’s advisers suggested that he deliver a health care policy speech early and get past it, even before he launches a full-fledged campaign and weeks before he participates in his first presidential debate.

Romney finds himself in a position that’s somewhat similar to the one Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself in during the Democratic presidential primary in 2008 over her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. Liberals dogged her with questions about that 2002 vote; she refused to apologize, though she made several attempts to explain her thinking. Still, Clinton was never able to convince liberals that her position was not disqualifying.

Romney will spend the next months trying to convince conservatives of the same.

Cook filed requests seeking assault and battery charges against the 2 supervisors he stands accused of assaulting.

The Republican | Michael S. GordonFILE – Springfield police officer Derek Cook appears in Springfield District Court.

SPRINGFIELD – More than three years after a station-house fight in which he was charged with attacking a lieutenant and sergeant, city patrolman Derek V. Cook now claims he was the victim.

Cook, accompanied by his lawyer, on Thursday filed requests in District Court seeking assault and battery charges against the two supervisors he stands accused of assaulting in February 2008.

Attorney Charles W. Groce said the action was taken “as a result of recent developments” in Cook’s case.

Those “recent developments” include Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni leveling a felony wiretapping charge against Cook three weeks ago in connection with the Feb. 2, 2008 incident.

Coming on the eve of Cook’s scheduled trial, the new charge accused the 18-year patrolman of illegally recording the altercation and the events which followed on a cell phone. Investigators had been aware of the recording, but no charge was brought until Mastroianni initiated a review of the case in April.

At the same time, the new district attorney also resumed prosecution of Cook on charges he assaulted Lt. Robert P. Moynihan in the incident. Apparently unbeknownst to Mastroianni, paperwork in which former district attorney William M. Bennett dropped the prosecution of case involving Moynihan as the victim was filed after Bennett left office in January.

Cook is now asking that complaints be issued against Moynihan and Sgt. Dennis M. O’Connor, who has since retired, because he claims they assaulted him. Police reports of the incident were that O’Connor entered the fray to try to break up the fight between the lieutenant and patrolman.

Informed of Cook’s request for a show-cause hearing, Mastroianni said such a move isn’t unusual. “Often in criminal cases there are cross complaints made,” he said. He added that the clerk-magistrate will look at the timing of the request.

Cook’s case had been scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Thursday; it was delayed until May 19 because the prosecutor assigned could not be present.

Cook faces two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, one of threat to commit a crime and the wiretapping charge. If convicted on the wiretapping charge, Cook could face a fine or as long as five years in state prison.

A show-cause hearing takes place before a clerk-magistrate and requires that all parties be present. The clerk-magistrate will decide if the court will issue criminal complaints.

Charles Groce

Groce said the time elapsed since the incident did not affect Cook’s ability to seek charges against the superior officers. A report filed by Cook about the incident was attached to the complaint.

“He made the allegations against Moynihan specifically but also indicated he had been assaulted by O’Connor,” Groce said.

Police reported that Moynihan and Cook were behind closed doors discussing an incident that occurred at roll call. Several officers reported hearing the sound of a body hitting the ground, according to reports of the incident. They rushed in, the reports said, and found Moynihan on the floor appearing unconscious with Cook standing above him with a raised fist.

O’Connor tried to restrain and calm Cook, according to the reports. Cook is accused of shoving O’Connor across a room, resulting in the sergeant sustaining a broken tailbone.

Cook has been assigned to the records division since the incident. He also served a five-day suspension in the immediate aftermath. Once the court-case is decided, Cook will be subject to a departmental disciplinary hearing.

Moynihan, a police officer for more than 35 years, encountered his own troubles in October 2009 when he was charged in District Court in an unrelated domestic assault case; the lieutenant denied that charge. That case is still pending. He has remained on duty also.

Michael O. Jennings, an attorney who represents Moynihan and O’Connor in their role as victims in the case against Cook, said Groce advised him of the filings. Jennings declined comment.

Renaud in his statement also expressed a desire to fade from public view.

Staff Photo by Dave RobackAustin Renaud as he appeared during a February hearing in Hampshire District Court related charges against him in the Phoebe Prince case.

SOUTH HADLEY - Austin Renaud, one of six teens who had been facing prosecution in the Phoebe Prince suicide case, publicly offered his condolences Thursday to the Prince family for their loss, and expressed thanks for their “recommendation” to the district attorney that he drop the charge against him.

“My thoughts and prayers continue to be with her family as they endure the pain of the passing of Phoebe,” he wrote in his statement.

Renaud, 19, who for more than the past year has been in a spotlight of notoriety from the international fallout from the Prince case, also expressed his desire now to fade from public view.

“I will be resuming my education and will continue to work. I would ask the public and the media to respect my request for privacy,” his statement read. “I will have no further public comment.”

The statement was released Thursday afternoon through his lawyer, Terrence M. Dunphy, of Springfield. Dunphy said he had nothing to add.

Renaud was one of six former South Hadley High School students charged with felonies following Prince’s suicide in January 2010.

Investigators said Prince, an Irish immigrant new to the South Hadley schools, hanged herself following a period of intense harassment and bullying at school. Her death helped spark an state campaign to address school bullying and focused international attention on the problem.

Renaud was not charged with bullying Prince, but he was charged with a single count of statutory rape, which he denied.

Prosecutors charged that Renaud, then 17, had sex with Prince while she was 15, under the age of consent in Massachusetts.

The Republican file photoPhoebe Prince

Renaud was scheduled for a pretrial conference in Hampshire Superior Court on July 6, but Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan last week announced his office had dismissed the case against Renaud at the request of Prince’s family.

Renaud in his statement expressed his deep appreciation to the Prince family for intervening with authorities to recommend the charge be dropped.

“This has been a very difficult and emotional experience for all involved, and their kindness and consideration is appreciated,” he wrote.

The case itself came to a close last week.

Sharon C. Velazquez, 17, and Flannery Mullins, 18, admitted that the facts were sufficient for a delinquency finding of criminal harassment, while Ashley Longe, 18, did the same for the misdemeanor counts of disturbing a school assembly and a civil rights violation. The charges will be continued without finding until Mullins and Longe turn 19 and Velazquez turns 18. At that point, the charges will be dismissed.

Kayla Narey, 18, admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding on a criminal harassment charge. That charge will be dropped after a year’s probation.

Sean Mulveyhill, 18, pleaded guilty to the same charge and will have it on his criminal record. He was also ordered to serve a year’s probation.
Austin Renaud Statement for the Media 5-12-2011

WFCR has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement giving it a year to raise the money and close the deal. After that, it’ll take a year to renovate and add equipment at a cost of $2.275 million.

Photo by Don Treeger / The RepublicanPublic radio station WFCR-FM, which has been broadcasting from the University of Massachusetts campus, has announced plans to purchase the first floor of the Fuller Building, seen here..

SPRINGFIELD – Public radio station WFCR-FM plans to buy the first floor of the historic Fuller Block at 1537 Main St. and move the bulk of its operations to downtown Springfield.

The station, which celebrated its 50th anniversary Wednesday night, will keep studios and a news bureau in the Hampshire House building on the University of Massachusetts at Amherst campus and it will keep the Peggy & David Starr Broadcast Center in the WGBY building on Hampden Street in Springfield, said Martin C. Miller, WFCR’s CEO and general manager.

But once the Fuller Block studios open in 2013, 23 of WFCR's 30-or-so employees will work tin Springfield, Miller said.

“We’ve been working out of an old dormitory on the UMass campus,” Miller said. “We’re grateful, but it is not adequate, the university knows it is not adequate. After this, we’ll still be able to do everything we can do at Hampshire House now, just in a smaller space.”

He sees the move as part of the Greater Springfield-UMass partnership that seeks to build ties between this, the region’s largest city and the flagship campus.

“There will be visibility from the street of our studios. We felt access was important,” Miller said. “People will be able to look in and see radio being made.”

Francis J. Cataldo Jr., owner C & W Realty and chairman of the Springfield Business Improvement District, said WFCR’s commitment is a symbolic boost to Springfield. The studios will also mean more workers and more activity downtown to go with the Baystate Health and School Department offices across the street in the old federal building.

“Those people go out for lunch,” he said. Miller said WFCR Foundation has already raised $900,000 toward its $7-million capital goal.

Of that, $625,000 will go to purchase the 12,000-square foot first floor in a condominium agreement with building owner The Dennis Group and its president Thomas P. Dennis Jr.

Dennis is also donating to the project and will donate mechanical services, Miller said. The Dennis Group, an engineering firm, occupies the upper floors of the building.

WFCR, located at 88.5 on the FM dial, has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement giving it a year to raise the money and close the deal. After that, it’ll take a year to renovate and add equipment at a cost of $2.275 million.

The remaining $7 million will go to various uses. There will be $200,000 for renovations at Hampshire House. WFCR will put $600,000 in a technology fund to upgrade transmitters and finish paying for WNNZ-AM in Westfield which it bought last fall after leasing for years. There will be $1 million set aside in a building endowment fund for upkeep of the Springfield facility; $500,000 for news talk, a new youth radio program focused on the inner city and a new performance series called “Street Sounds”. WNNZ is located at 640 on the AM dial.

Miller said the station will also set $500,000 set aside for classical and jazz programming.

About 170,000 people listen to WFCR or sister news/talk WNNZ at least once a week according to the station’s Arbitron data.

The station is also getting a new name: New England Public Radio. Call letter will remain the same.

The reduced staff, including more than 70 paraprofessionals, includes retirements, unfilled vacancies and layoffs.

SPRINGFIELD – A proposed $410.3 million school budget for next fiscal year includes the elimination of approximately 145 employee positions, including more than 70 paraprofessionals.

School officials, however, said the cut positions include many that will be achieved through attrition, including retirements and unfilled vacancies, and an unspecified number of layoffs. The actual number of layoffs likely will not be know until sometime in June, officials said.

The budget is increasing by approximately $8 million. The bulk of the school budget, $335.6 million, is the general fund financed primarily by state Chapter 70 aid and local funds.

The School Committee’s Budget and Finance Subcommittee reviewed the budget proposal on Wednesday, voting to forward it to the full committee. There is a public hearing Friday followed by a scheduled vote on the budget Tuesday.

File photo | The RepublicanSpringfield School Committee member Christopher Collins said he believes the fiscal 2012 budget proposal has “fulfilled the School Committee’s goal to keep as many personnel as possible in the classroom for direct services to the children.”

The budget subcommittee chairman, Christopher Collins, said he believes the budget proposal has “fulfilled the School Committee’s goal to keep as many personnel as possible in the classroom for direct services to the children.”

The budget proposal includes the elimination of: 20.5 teaching positions; six fine arts teaching positions at the middle school and high school levels; 31 instructional leadership specialists, four mediation specialists; five development life skill-certified nursing assistant positions; and 74 paraprofessionals.

Some of reductions were accomplished due to declining enrollment at the high school level, Collins said.

The reduction in paraprofessionals targeted the special education program, and was recommended by an audit of that program by the District Management Council, based in Boston, said Azell M. Cavaan, communications director for the School Department.

The audit determined that the use of paraprofessionals was excessive in the special education program as compared to similar districts nationwide, Cavaan said. The school system, as recommended, will increase the integration of the students into regular classrooms, Cavaan and Collins said.

Suzanne DeFranco, president of the paraprofessional association, could not be reached for comment.

Superintendent of Schools Alan J. Ingram and Chief Financial Officer Timothy J. Plante said recently they focused on keeping budget cuts from having a negative impact on class size or from hurting direct student services.

Republican file photoTimothy Collins

Timothy T. Collins, president of Springfield Education Association, representing teachers, said the true number of layoffs is not yet known.

Even with a drop in enrollment, “any time you reduce the number of adults working with children, you are going to impact the quality of education,” Timothy Collins said.

“If it was better times, we would be lobbying for more teachers so that we could reduce class size and more effectively meet the needs of the children,” Timothy Collins said.

Timothy and Christopher Collins are brothers. Christopher Collins said he has clearance from the state Ethics Committee to act on the school budget despite his family ties to the teacher union president.

The instructional leadership specialists’ duties included helping teachers design classroom curriculum, analyze information and implement programs, whose grant expired, Cavaan said.

Parents and residents are invited to meet both when they are interviewed by the School Committee.

GRANBY – The search for a new principal for East Meadow Elementary School has been narrowed to two finalists, according to Granby Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez.

They are Louis Tirsch, assistant principal at Chestnut Accelerated Middle School in Springfield, and Rita Detweiler, principal of Gill Elementary School in the Gill-Montague School District.

Parents and other members of the community are invited to meet both when they are interviewed by the School Committee on May 17 at East Meadow Elementary School.

Tirsch will be interviewed at 6 p.m. and Detweiler at 7 p.m.

The new principal will replace James Pietras, who has been at East Meadow for 38 years and is beloved by generations of schoolchildren in Granby.

Pietras is retiring, but has said he will remain in place until August to ease the transition of the new principal.

Rodriguez said her search committee received 18 applications from a “very strong pool of certified candidates.”

Working through the April vacation, the committee narrowed the group down to eight and interviewed them over the past two weeks.

The prosecution charged Wright came into possession of stolen guns and traded them for crack cocaine

photo by Brian Turner (Creative Commons)

U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor scheduled sentencing for October 6.

The prosecution presented evidence during the 6-day trial that in January 2005, Wright came into possession of the two handguns that had been reported stolen from a home in Westfield. Wright then traded the two guns for crack cocaine in Holyoke. Four months later, Wright took possession of three shotguns and a rifle that had been reported stolen in Easthampton, and again traded them for crack cocaine.

Wright, because of his prior convictions, faces at least 15 years in prison and could receive a life sentence. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000.

The charity is hoping to have the full $115,000 and about $15,000 in lawyers' fees and lost interest returned by the end of the month.

Republican file photoChicopee Public Library

CHICOPEE – Elizabeth Wilk, the former treasurer of the Chicopee Friends of the Public Library who pleaded guilty to stealing $115,000 from the charity, has paid back about half of the money she took.

Friends President John L. Michon said he received a check for $71,000 from Wilk’s lawyers on Thursday.

“We want the people to know we are doing everything we can do to restore those funds,” Michon said.

In March, Wilk, 57, pleaded guilty to siphoning the money from the Friends of the Public Library accounts by using her positions as vice president of mortgage lending for Chicopee Savings Bank and treasurer of the charity. She no longer holds either position.

The money was donated to the Friends of the Public Library to be used to provide children’s programming and to purchase equipment which cannot be financed in the regular budget, Michon said.

The thefts took place between Dec. 22, 2007, and Sept. 16, 2010. Her lawyer said Wilk has a gambling addiction and spent the money at casinos and to buy scratch tickets.

Republican file photoElizabeth Wilk

Wilk was scheduled to be sentenced today on one count of larceny over $250 by a single scheme, but the appearance was postponed until May 31. Because Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder will be sitting in Hampshire Superior Court, the sentencing will in Northampton.

“I just deposited $71,000 with the full expectation of getting full restitution by May 31,” Michon said.

The Friends of the Public Library has asked that Wilk to pay a total of $130,000 to the organization to cover lost interest and the cost of fees for a lawyer and financial officials who assisted in balancing the charity’s books after the theft was discovered, he said.

The judge has not ruled on whether it will ask Wilk to pay for the lost interest and professional fees, Michon said.

A second traffic stop resulted in the arrest of Katelyn M. Gralinski of Hadley for possession of more than 100 illegal pills.

Springfield police photoDion Charles

SPRINGFIELD - City police made their first significant arrest Wednesday night under a trial program that emphasizes rigorous enforcement of traffic offenses in high-crime areas, police said.

Dion Charles, 32, of 177 Lebanon St., was charged with trafficking between 28-100 grams of cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and violation of a drug-free school zone, said Sgt. John M. Delaney.

He was stopped just before 8 p.m. by Sgt. Robert Tardiff, after Tardiff saw him fail to use a directional signal while turning and then fail to come to a complete stop for a stop sign at Chestnut and Grosvenor streets, Delaney said.

Tardiff was on patrol as part of a deployment called the Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety, or DDACTS, which was launched this month on trial basis under a federal grant for $147,000. It focuses on reducing crime in parts of the city by strict enforcement of motor-vehicle laws.

Tardiff asked Charles to step out of the car after he smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car and saw scales and packaging materials in plain view, Delaney said. A recent state Supreme Judicial Court ruling determined the smell of marijuana is not alone grounds for police to search a suspect's car, but Delaney said the presence of drug paraphernalia gave sufficient grounds.

Police found 29.8 grams of cocaine and some marijuana, each packaged for sale, and $360 in cash, Delaney said.

"Charles is facing 7 years in jail due to his not signaling his turn and running a stop sign," Delaney said.

Springfield police photoKatelyn M. Gralinski

A second motorist was arrested on drug charges following a traffic stop on Worthington Street at 2 a.m. Thursday, although that arrest was due to routine patrol and not specifically to a DDACTS deployment, Delaney said.

Officers Maciej Jasiniski and Michael Rivera stopped 26-year-old Katelyn M. Gralinski of 57 Mount Warner St., Hadley, after a routine check of her license plate showed Gralinski had a suspended license, Delaney said.

After she was taken into custody, officers searched her car and found a gym bag containing 120 different pills, including oxycodone, morphine, and amphetamines, $119 and a fake ID.

She was charged with driving with a suspended license and possession of a class E substance with intent to distribute.

The boy, who will be charged with bringing a weapon to school, was charged because the school district has a "zero tolerance policy" regarding weapons on school grounds.

The Republican | Don TreegerAndy J. Banner, manager of the Army Barracks store in West Springfield, shows an Airsoft pistol. A child in Palmer recently was caught with an Airsoft gun on a school bus.

PALMER – A 9-year-old pupil at Old Mill Pond Elementary School will be summoned to Juvenile Court on a charge of bringing a weapon to school after he brought an Airsoft toy gun on the school bus last week.

The boy was charged because the school district has a “zero tolerance policy” regarding weapons on school grounds. The toy is still considered a weapon because it “fires,” Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said.

“It was inappropriate to bring it to school ... Anything that can shoot a projectile is considered a weapon,” Frydryk said.

Frydryk said the charge the student is facing is a misdemeanor, and said he doubts the child will be found delinquent, or guilty, by the court.

“That’s not going to happen in this case. We have to file the charge because it is not appropriate to bring any kind of weapon on school grounds. Nobody, neither us, or the school administration, thinks he brought it to school to harm anyone,” Frydryk said.

The chief said the boy told police that he realized he had the gun in his jacket pocket and was putting it in his backpack when another student on the bus spotted it.

The boy then shot himself in the leg with the plastic gun to prove it wasn’t real, Frydryk said. The gun fires soft plastic pellets and retails for approximately $20.

The incident happened on May 5. When police arrived, the boy was already in the principal’s office. Frydryk said the boy told authorities that he used the plastic gun the day before and forgot he had it on him.

“No one was in danger. It had nowhere near the velocity of a BB gun,” Frydryk said.

Superintendent Gerald A. Fournier said it is a “school issue” and the administration has taken appropriate action “based on the policies and procedures we have in place.” Fournier refused to say more, citing confidentiality issues involving the juvenile student.

The district’s weapons policy states: “in the interest of safety and security of all students, school personnel, and school property, all weapons are prohibited from school grounds, buildings, and activities. The only exception to this policy will be police and military authorities who may carry weapons during the course of their duties. The term ‘weapon’ includes, but will not be limited to, a firearm, knife, object, or article that can be used or is intended to be used by a person to injure another.”

Said Old Mill Pond Elementary School Principal Susan J. Farrell, “We take the safety of students very seriously.”

Airsoft guns are widely available on the Internet and at major retailers.

At Army Barracks on Riverdale Road in West Springfield, manager Andrew J. Banner said the Airsoft guns are a popular item, and are rivaling paintball guns because they are less expensive. Like paintball, Airsoft users will gather in a field and shoot the plastic pellets at each other, he said.

“Barring misuses of it, it doesn’t really leave a mark,” Banner said.

A 9-year-old would probably use an Airsoft for target practice or for games in the backyard, he said.

“Some parents use it as a way to teach gun safety,” Banner said.

Banner said the store carries a variety of models, from the $20 spring pistol to the more expensive $600 electric sniper rifle, and all have the distinctive orange tip that means they are not real guns. Anyone who wants to buy an Airsoft gun also must be at least 18, he said.

The RepublicanAn airsoft pistol.

The School Committee will use some contingency funds to restore popular programs which were slated to be cut.

WILBRAHAM – Fifth and sixth grade band will be restored at Wilbraham Middle School, but seventh grade French will not.

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea announced a list of programs which will be restored at a public forum for parents held Thursday night in the Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium.

O’Shea said the School Committee has decided to apply up to $490,000 in contingency funds to restore some popular programs which were slated to be cut.

The programs that will be restored include fifth grade band, a science and engineering program at Wilbraham Middle School, which also will be expanded to Thornton Burgess School in Hampden, and an information technology program at Wilbraham Middle School, which also will be added to Thornton Burgess School in Hampden.

O’Shea said an art program at Thornton Burgess School will be added to Wilbraham Middle School.

He said the school district is making an effort to insure that equivalent programs are offered at schools in Wilbraham and Hampden. The two towns share a high school, but have their own elementary and middle schools.

O’Shea said Spanish will continue to be offered to eighth graders, but French will no longer be offered to seventh graders.

After the current French students complete high school, the school district is considering replacing French with Mandarin Chinese and continuing to offer Spanish and Latin.

There is increasing interest in Latin by students in the region, O’Shea said. He said the school district feels it should offer a non-Western foreign language such as Chinese instead of French.

He said the school district anticipates cutting teachers for the next school year, but the cuts will be accommodated due to some declining enrollment. Class size will be kept at 22 to 23 per class, he said.

The regional school district anticipates that state aid to education may be low again next year which could result in more cuts if there are not concessions by the Hampden Wilbraham Education Association, which represents the towns' teachers.

The teachers are due to get a 3 percent raise for the 2012-2013 school year, Hampden-Wilbraham School Committee Chairman Peter Salerno said.

Topazio said he collected $125,000 from Cognos Corp. despite performing no work on the company’s behalf.

By KYLE CHENEY

BOSTON – Steven Topazio, the former law associate of ex-Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, said Thursday he collected $125,000 from Cognos Corp., a Canadian software company at the center of corruption allegations against the former speaker, despite performing no work on the company’s behalf.

Salvatore DiMasi

From April 2005 to March 2007, Topazio said he collected monthly $5,000 checks from the company and directed $4,000 of each payment to DiMasi to fulfill a fee referral arrangement he said was standard practice for the two men. Of the $125,000 he collected, $65,000 went to DiMasi, Topazio told jurors in federal court.

Prosecutors contend that Topazio was the “unwitting conduit” through which DiMasi accepted bribes from Cognos in exchange for ensuring that Massachusetts signed two contracts totaling $17.5 million for the company’s software products. Topazio described signing a consulting agreement with Cognos earlier in 2007, when company official Joseph Lally, along with longtime Beacon Hill lobbyist Richard McDonough, visited him in his law office.

McDonough, along with DiMasi’s friend and accountant Richard Vitale, are also charged in the case. The three are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. DiMasi is also charged with extortion.

During several hours of testimony that spanned two days, prosecutors displayed a collection of checks that Topazio had stored for years, detailing each of his payments to DiMasi, made shortly after he received his checks from Cognos. When his contract with the company expired, Topazio said he would call McDonough, who would in turn see to it that the contract was extended and any lapses in payments would be filled retroactively.

After one such lapse in 2006, Topazio said he contacted McDonough and eventually received a $25,000 check from Cognos. Topazio said he told DiMasi about the check, including that it came from Cognos, and said DiMasi demanded the whole thing, saying Topazio owed him $25,000.

“All I know is we had an argument,” Topazio said.

Topazio testified that he eventually mailed DiMasi the $25,000 check to his State House office but DiMasi returned it, demanding that Topazio break it down into four, smaller checks of varying amounts.

“I asked him why he wanted me to change a check,” Topazio said. “He didn’t answer me. He said, ‘That’s the way I want it.’”

Topazio then ripped the $25,000 check in two and saved it in his files. Prosecutors put the ripped check on display for jurors Thursday morning.

After questions about DiMasi’s role in the Cognos contracts began appearing in the Boston Globe, Topazio met with DiMasi to ask for an explanation. Topazio said he showed DiMasi the contract he signed with the company and that DiMasi asked him, “‘Why did you sign that contract?’” “I said, ‘Well this is the contract that two years earlier you told me to sign.’”

DiMasi’s lawyer, William Cintolo, pointed out that Topazio only paid DiMasi once in 2006 – the $25,000 check in December that year.

Other updates from the trial:

• Prosecutors told Judge Mark Wolf they still haven’t decided whether to call former Education Commissioner David Driscoll to the witness stand. Prosecutor Theodore Merritt noted Driscoll is on the witness lists of both the prosecution and the defense.

• Judge Wolf said he had concerns about an image one of the jurors posted on Facebook and cautioned that jurors can’t conduct any online research on the trial.

• Court is scheduled to resume on Monday at 9 a.m. Although proceedings are scheduled to wrap up at 1 p.m. each day, Wolf asked jurors and attorneys to anticipate afternoon sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week to make up for unexpected delays and lengthier-than-expected testimony from the first few witnesses.

DevelopSpringfield has already funded 7 rehab projects as part of Corridor Storefront Improvement Program.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayNick Fyntrilakis, chairman of DevelopSpringfield and assistant vice president of community responsibility at MassMutual Financial Group, speaks at the podium during a press conference about the State Street Corridor Storefront Improvement Program. The event was held at Mirkin's Clearners at 583 State St., one of the businesses that has benefited from the program.

SPRINGFIELD - DevelopSpringfield showed off the results of its Corridor Storefront Improvement Program Thursday just a block away from the State Street location it’s identified as a good spot to build a new supermarket.

A 7-acre site across State Street from the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park and bordered by Walnut, Oak and Union streets would provide plenty of room and access, said Nicholas A. Fyntrilakis, chairman of DevelopSpringfield and assistant vice president of community involvement for MassMutual Financial Group.

The Oak and Walnut streets site provides good access to people who live in the neighborhood as well as those who work downtown or at the Technology Park, he said. Plans now call for a 55,000-square-foot supermarket with 27,000 square feet of other retail.

DevelopSpringfield is talking with supermarket operators and with landowners, including the Springfield Technical Community College Assistance Corp., owner of the park and of a parking lot on the site.

“Anything that improves the neighborhood is good for the park and its tenants,” said Paul D. Adornato, chairman of the Assistance Corporation.

He said the park will need to replace the parking on the site.

Zaida I. Govan, clinical director of Martin Luther King Family Services, said her group already provides transportation for Mason Square residents to nearby supermarkets. “The health disparities in our neighborhood are troubling. It’s because they can’t eat healthy, not because they don’t want to,” Govan said in reference to the lack of grocery stores and fresh produce in Mason Square for residents.

John T. Horrigan, general manager of Mirkin’s Cleaners at 583 State St., said retailers can do well in the neighborhood.

Business at Mirkin’s increased once Horrigan installed a sign with the help of DevelopSpringfield’s Corridor Storefront Improvement Program, Horrigan said. Thursday’s news conference was at Mirkin’s Cleaners.

“We’ve had so many people come and say they didn’t know we were here,” he said.

So far, DevelopSpringfield has funded seven completed projects including Mirkin’s, and there are more on the way accounting for $97,500, Fyntrilakis said. Businesses pay a 25 percent match toward the project that can include signs, awnings, doors, windows or anything to improve the appearance of the building.

DevelopSpringfield started in 2008 as a nonprofit economic development agency focused exclusively on Springfield. It started the program with $1 million, $500,000 in city money and $500,000 in corporate donations. Fyntrilakis said DevelopSpringfield is reaching out to the Latino Chamber of Commerce in hopes of recruiting more minority-owned businesses.

Anyone interested is asked to contact the Western Massachusetts Enterprise Fund at (413) 420-0183, extension 107.