Stubbs, a part-Manx cat, was elected through a write-in campaign when residents didn't like the human candidates.

Associated PressIn this photo provided by Sandy Bubar, a cat named Stubbs lies on a tarp in an alley in Talkeetna, Alaska. Locals know him as Mayor Stubbs, a 15-year-old yellow cat who has been overseeing the town since shortly after he was born. KTUU-TV reports that residents didn't like the candidates who were running for mayor years ago, so they encouraged enough people to elect Stubbs as a write-in candidate. Talkeetna is at the base of Mount McKinley and has nearly 900 residents. (AP Photo/Sandy Bubar)

TALKEETNA, Alaska — The mayor of a sleepy Alaska town is feline fine.

The part-Manx cat clawed his way onto the political scene of Talkeetna, Alaska, through a write-in campaign shortly after he was born 15 years ago.

KTUU-TV reported that residents didn't like the mayoral candidates years ago, so they encouraged enough people to elect Stubbs as a write-in candidate. The town has nearly 900 residents.

Although his position is honorary, Stubbs' popularity is real. His election earned him enough press to catapult the town at the base of Mount McKinley into a tourist destination.

Residents say they're happy that their stubby-tailed mayor is promoting tourism. The general store where Stubbs hangs out says it gets dozens of tourists a day asking for him.

State police said a wrong-way vehicle on Route 24 struck a pick-up truck, which burst into flames and killed the driver.

WEST BRIDGEWATER — State police said a crash involving three vehicles in West Bridgewater has left two people dead.

State Police spokesman David Procopio told The Boston Globe that a wrong-way vehicle on Route 24 struck a pick-up truck, which burst into flames and killed the driver.

He said a female passenger from Rhode Island got out of the truck and is expected to survive.

A female motorist from southeastern Massachusetts who investigators believe was driving southbound also was killed.

Police have not released the names of those involved until their families are notified.

No other details were immediately available.

Tosha Miles was arrested after neighbors called police to report that a woman was abusing her Chihuahua, who is named Cujo.

WEBSTER — Police say a Webster woman who is accused of repeatedly slamming her Chihuahua to the ground is scheduled to be arraigned in Dudley District Court on animal cruelty charges.

The Telegram & Gazette reports that Tosha Miles was arrested Friday night after neighbors called police to report that a woman was abusing her Chihuahua, who is named Cujo.

The 30-year-old Miles was charged with animal cruelty, disorderly person and disturbing the peace.

She does not have a listed phone number and it was not known Sunday if she's represented by a lawyer.

She won the Academy Award for her performance in "Gentlemen's Agreement" and received nominations for "Come to the Stable" and "All About Eve."

APCeleste Holm

NEW YORK (AP) — Celeste Holm, a versatile, bright-eyed blonde who soared to Broadway fame in "Oklahoma!" and won an Oscar in "Gentleman's Agreement" but whose last years were filled with financial difficulty and estrangement from her sons, died Sunday, a relative said. She was 95.

Holm had been hospitalized about two weeks ago with dehydration after a fire in actor Robert De Niro's apartment in the same Manhattan building. She had asked her husband on Friday to bring her home, and she spent her final days with her husband, Frank Basile, and other relatives and close friends by her side, said Amy Phillips, a great-niece of Holm's who answered the phone at Holm's apartment on Sunday.

Holm died around 3:30 a.m. at her longtime apartment on Central Park West, Phillips said.

"I think she wanted to be here, in her home, among her things, with people who loved her," she said.

In a career that spanned more than half a century, Holm played everyone from Ado Annie — the girl who just can't say no in "Oklahoma!"— to a worldly theatrical agent in the 1991 comedy "I Hate Hamlet" to guest star turns on TV shows such as "Fantasy Island" and "Love Boat II" to Bette Davis' best friend in "All About Eve."

She won the Academy Award in 1947 for best supporting actress for her performance in "Gentlemen's Agreement" and received Oscar nominations for "Come to the Stable" (1949) and "All About Eve" (1950).

Holm was also known for her untiring charity work — at one time she served on nine boards — and was a board member emeritus of the National Mental Health Association.

She was once president of the Creative Arts Rehabilitation Center, which treats emotionally disturbed people using arts therapies. Over the years, she raised $20,000 for UNICEF by charging 50 cents apiece for autographs.

President Ronald Reagan appointed her to a six-year term on the National Council on the Arts in 1982. In New York, she was active in the Save the Theatres Committee and was once arrested during a vigorous protest against the demolition of several theaters.

But late in her life she was in a bitter, multi-year legal family battle that pitted her two sons against her and her fifth husband — former waiter Basile, whom she married in 2004 and was more than 45 years her junior. The court fight over investments and inheritance wiped away much of her savings and left her dependent on Social Security. The actress and her sons no longer spoke, and she was sued for overdue maintenance and legal fees on her Manhattan apartment.

The future Broadway star was born in New York on April 29, 1919, the daughter of Norwegian-born Theodore Holm, who worked for the American branch of Lloyd's of London, and Jean Parke Holm, a painter and writer.

She was smitten by the theater as a 3-year-old when her grandmother took her to see ballerina Anna Pavlova. "There she was, being tossed in midair, caught, no mistakes, no falls. She never knew what an impression she made," Holm recalled years later.

She attended 14 schools growing up, including the Lycee Victor Duryui in Paris when her mother was there for an exhibition of her paintings. She studied ballet for 10 years.

Her first Broadway success came in 1939 in the cast of William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life." But it was her creation of the role of man-crazy Ado Annie Carnes in the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" in 1943 that really impressed the critics.

She only auditioned for the role because of World War II, she said years later. "There was a need for entertainers in Army camps and hospitals. The only way you could do that was if you were singing in something."

Holm was hired by La Vie Parisienne, and later by the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel to sing to their late-night supper club audiences after the "Oklahoma!" curtain fell.

The slender, blue-eyed blonde moved west to pursue a film career. "Hollywood is a good place to learn how to eat a salad without smearing your lipstick," she would say.

"Oscar Hammerstein told me, `You won't like it,'" and he was right, she said. Hollywood "was just too artificial. The values are entirely different. That balmy climate is so deceptive." She returned to New York after several years.

Her well-known films included "The Tender Trap" and "High Society" but others were less memorable. "I made two movies I've never even seen," she told an interviewer in 1991.

She attributed her drive to do charity work to her grandparents and parents who "were always volunteers in every direction."

She said she learned first-hand the power of empathy in 1943 when she performed in a ward of mental patients and got a big smile from one man she learned later had been uncommunicative for six months.

"I suddenly realized with a great sense of impact how valuable we are to each other," she said.

In 1979 she was knighted by King Olav of Norway.

In her early 70s, an interviewer asked if she had ever thought of retiring. "No. What for?" she replied. "If people retired, we wouldn't have had Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud ... I think it's very important to hang on as long as we can."

In the 1990s, Holm and Gerald McRainey starred in the CBS's "Promised Land," a spinoff of "Touched by an Angel." In 1995, she joined such stars as Tony Randall and Jerry Stiller to lobby for state funding for the arts in Albany, N.Y. Her last big screen role was as Brendan Fraser's grandmother in the romance "Still Breathing."

Holm was married five times and is survived by two sons and three grandchildren. Her marriage in 1938 to director Ralph Nelson lasted a year but produced a son, Theodor Holm Nelson. In 1940, she married Francis Davies, an English auditor. In 1946, she married airline public relations executive A. Schuyler Dunning and they had a son, Daniel Dunning.

During her fourth marriage, to actor Robert Wesley Addy, whom she married in 1966, the two appeared together on stage when they could. In the mid-1960s, when neither had a project going, they put together a two person show called "Interplay — An Evening of Theater-in-Concert" that toured the United States and was sent abroad by the State Department. Addy died in 1996.

Funeral arrangements for Holm haven't been made. The family is asking that any memorial donations be made to UNICEF or to The Lillian Booth Actors Home of The Actors Fund in Englewood, N.J.

Thunderstorms finish our weekend tonight, then back to triple-H weather for the workweek.

After a dry day so far, showers and thunderstorms are ready to move into western Massachusetts. This system will bother the region through the better part of the evening. while the threat of severe weather will be very small, a brief heavy downpour and frequent lightning is possible. The best chance of thunderstorms will be before midnight. It remains mild and muggy overnight with low temperatures in the upper-60s.

Hazy, hot, and humid weather continues for Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday. High temperatures through the first half of the workweek remain in the low-to-mid 90s with excessive humidity still in the region. Temperatures in the low-90s and dewpoints in the low-70s may briefly push the heat index close to triple digits.

A broken line of scattered showers and thunderstorms will move through the region on Wednesday. While this does not appear to be the day-long soaking rain that western Massachusetts needs (we've only recorded 0.06 inches of rain at Bradley Int'l since July 3), it will provide relief in the temperatures. Behind this frontal system will be a cooler, less humid airmass for the second-half of the week.

Sunday night: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight, mild and muggy, low 67.

Monday: Hazy, hot, and humid, high 93.

Tuesday: Hazy, hot, and humid, high 94.

Wednesday: A few showers and thunderstroms, partly sunny, humid, high 92.

The proposal is to remove the entire police and fire departments from the system.

Republican file photoChicopee Police officers who were honored in June for work above and beyond the call of duty at the April 13 shooting on West Street. From left are Chicopee Police Meritorious Service Ribbon recipients Chicopee Police Officer Mark Page, Sgt. Roy Landry, Captain Thomas Charette, Officers Timothy Foley, Ryan Romano, Joseph Brunelle and Massachusetts StateTroopers David Podworski.

CHICOPEE – Last week’s retirement of the police chief could spark an effort to remove the police and fire departments from the state’s Civil Service system.

“Change is always difficult but we have to understand when something has outlived its usefulness. We need to move forward,” Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said. “It duplicates a lot of protections that exist and adds one more bureaucratic layer.”

The system, created originally to help protect municipal employees before the days of labor unions, oversees hiring and discipline mostly in police and fire departments.

When there is a vacancy in a department, Civil Service holds an exam and, using a formula, community leaders then select candidates from the top scorers. Special provisions move people, mainly military veterans, to the top of the list despite the scores.

It is partly frustration with the cumbersome hiring process that is sparking the consideration. Bissonnette said he has asked for a police chief’s test to be held but the next one is not scheduled until the spring.

The process is also limiting since test scores are not the only indicator of a candidate’s ability to be a good patrolman or firefighter, he said.

Removal of Civil Service would need legislative approval.

“The City Council would have to approve it and the Legislature would have to approve it. I will submit it to the City Council and it will be up to them,” Bissonnette said.

City Councilor Robert J. Zygarowski, a retired police officer who served as a past president of the patrolmen’s union, said he wants to hear both sides of the proposal.

“I would like to keep an open mind,” he said. “It has some good values and I have some concerns about losing the protections.”

John Shea, current president of the Chicopee patrolmen’s union, declined comment saying the union has yet to talk to its lawyers.

A number of police departments, including those in Springfield and Holyoke, have removed the police commissioner or chief’s position from Civil Service and many small towns never used the system.

Northampton is one of the rare police departments that has withdrawn from using the Civil Service system entirely. The process, which took two years, was finalized in 2005.

Police Chief Russell Sienkiewicz said there has been some recent interest from department officials who want to withdraw from Civil Service. Recently he has received calls from departments in Palmer, Greenfield and several in eastern Massachusetts.

He started the effort after getting frustrated with the hiring system. Sienkiewicz said he had to reject too many qualified candidates.

“It was a crazy way to hire,” he said. “The exam became rote learning, and it cut down a pool of candidates, some of who were already trained and working for a non-civil service department.”

Now Northampton hires a professional testing agency that gives an entry exam, which includes a writing component, and a mini-assessment center. Candidates are interviewed and their education and job experience are considered, Sienkiewicz said.

The change allows the department to hire non-residents, which gives them a larger pool of candidates. In the past he was able to hire a Washington state trooper who wanted to move to Massachusetts, as well as police officers from small towns.

The downside is there is a bigger turnover of officers since some will leave if there is an opening in a department in their hometown, he said.

Northampton now requires an associate’s degree to be a police officer, but it will waive the requirement in cases where a candidate may have technical training, most often through the military, he said.

“We are just using best professional practices in hiring,” he said.

It did take years to go through the process. The biggest issue was coming to an agreement through the collective bargaining process so contracts could be written to provide officers with protections that were previously provided through Civil Service, he said.

“Part of it is educating the personnel. They were not really risking anything because of collective bargaining,” he said.

James Machado, president of the Massachusetts Police Association and a sergeant on the Fall River Police Department, said he is not comfortable with the idea of removing departments from Civil Service protections.

The trend has been to take the police chief out of Civil Service. Few have tried to take the entire department from the system.

That creates a morale problem because Civil Service requires promotions from within. Without the system, anyone could be hired as a chief, he said.

“You can’t say you have a terrific department and then say we don’t have anyone from within to lead it,” he said.

Civil Service was designed decades ago to take the politics from hiring since the only way to bypass high scores is to appeal to the Civil Service Commission. It also protects police officers from being disciplined incorrectly and possibly for political reasons.

Machado said he does not have a problem with one of the complaints that the rules give military veterans absolute preference.

“We are a paramilitary organization,” he said. “I think they deserve that privilege.”

Micheletto is the Associate Head Coach at Vermont.

According to Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, University of Vermont associate head coach John Micheletto will be named the new head coach at UMass.

UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon could not be reached to confirm this report.

We'll have more right here at MassLive as this develops.

Holyoke residents celebrate Puerto Rican Parade of Western Massachusetts.

HOLYOKE – Waving Puerto Rican flags, dancing to bomba, plena and salsa and enjoying the hot weather hundreds of spectators gathered in Holyoke for the annual Western Massachusetts Puerto Rican Parade.

“We hope people have a great time and enjoy the day,” said Helen J. Cruz, one of the organizers of the parade which is part of the yearly Hispanic Family Festival weekend held at Springdale Park.

Marchers kicked off from Holyoke High School and made their way down to City Hall on High Street.

Leading the parade was Grand Marshal Margarita Montañez, a 40-year resident of Holyoke and founder of the children’s folkloric dance group “El Coquí.”

“I was so honored to be selected and represent my culture and my city in the parade,” she said.

Local officials including Mayor Alex Morse also participated. Wearing a traditional guayabera, a linen or cotton shirt worn in many tropical islands, Morse said the parade is a wonderful way to celebrate the city.

“This is a great representation of the city’s rich diversity,” he said. “ The entire festival is family oriented and highlights Puerto Rican music, food and traditions.”

Luis A. Dávila, of Holyoke, said he attends the parade every year. He moved to the United States from Puerto Rico 21 years ago.

“I like the parade because it identifies us as a people and showcases our heritage,” he said.

Following the parade there was a concert at Springdale Park featuring salsero Willi González and his orchestra.

“We put this event on every year so that people will come together and celebrate our culture,” Cruz said.

Norma Rodriguez is the director of the folkloric children’s group “El Coquí.” The young dancers learn traditional Puerto Rican dances including bomba y plena ,which features a variety of drums.

“This program is really meant to keep kids involved in something positive,” Rodriguez said. “ Our hope is that this will help children learn about their heritage and cultural traditions.”

Sunday was the culmination of the three-day festival which included local and international musical performances as well as dance troupes and a family breakfast at the Yankee Pedlar on Saturday.

The event was dedicated to Carlos Vega, an Ecuadorian man, who was very influential and respected in the Latino community for his efforts to help the underprivileged, officials said. 

Food donations are needed weekly to keep emergency food pantry in Springfield open.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayJael Williams, a worker at the Open Pantry food program at 2460 Main St. in Springfield, wipes down the bare shelves which need to be restocked with food.

SPRINGFIELD – The Open Pantry’s Emergency Food Pantry will be accepting donations at its 2460 Main St. location this week. The pantry had to close its doors last Friday due to lack of food.

Candace Larger, program director of the Emergency Food Pantry, said that on Fridays alone she serves from 70 to 170 clients.

The pantry will be open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For information on what to donate please call (413) 737-5353.

The fire is under investigation but the cause does not appear to be suspicious.

Doron Tyler Antrim/The RepublicanSeen here from across the street, firefighters shoot water onto the roof.

CHICOPEE – An early morning fire at a single-family home at 98 Mt. Vernon St. caused at least $100,000 in damages Sunday.

The blaze started at about 5:45 a.m. and the fire burned through the roof of the house. There were no injuries, but extra crews had to be called to allow firefighters to take more breaks because of the high heat and humidity. Three firefighters received minor injuries in the blaze, Deputy Fire Chief Dean F. Desmarais said.

The three residents were displaced and are staying with relatives, he said.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by Chicopee firefighters and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. It does not appear to be suspicious, Desmarais said.

Eight of the 24 units at the apartment complex cannot be occupied. Residents of 16 units were allowed to return to their homes.

Doron Tyler Antrim/The RepublicanThe fire was contained to the top floor unit, but there is smoke and water damage to several nearby units.

CHICOPEE – A Saturday morning fire at a large apartment complex remains under investigation and it could take several more days until the cause is known.

The fire, reported at about 3:15 a.m. at the building at the corner of Debra Drive and Memorial Avenue, initially caused the evacuation of 24 units. Eight of the units continue to be closed to the residents while 16 families were allowed to return to their homes, Deputy Fire Chief Dean F. Desmarais said.

The fire is believed to have started in a fourth-floor unit that was heavily damaged. The remaining seven units sustained mainly water and some smoke damage, he said.

The cause is being investigated by the Chicopee Fire Department and the state Fire Marshal’s Office, Desmarais said.

No one was injured in the blaze, he said.

Rain desperately needed in July, meteorologist Mike Skurko said.

AP Photo/ Mike GrollA man walks on a path surrounded by dry grass at Schulyer Flatts Cultural Park in Menands, N.Y., on Friday, July 13, 2012. State officials are warning campers and boaters about low water levels due to hot weather and a lack of rain over the past 10 days.

SPRINGFIELD – Every morning when she gets to work Cynthia Espinosa hopes it will rain.

“This weather has been very hard on the crops,” said Espinosa, the program manager for Nuestras Raíces farm in Holyoke.

Like many farms, Nuestras Raíces, has suffered from the unusually dry weeks the area has had lately.

The community farm on Jones Ferry Road grows everything from lettuce, tomatoes and beans and other vegetables and herbs used often in Puerto Rican and Asian cooking including cilantro, kale, sweet red peppers and more.

“We have to come in early and water the crops in the morning as well as the afternoon,” Espinosa said.

She said June had several rainy days in a row which doesn’t help either.

“The perfect conditions would be rain every other day or so,” she said. “When you get too much rain day after day it affects the soil.”

Espinosa said due to a late frost the vegetables were not planted until later in the season which means they are just starting to see them grow in.

“This year has been very difficult for farms,” she said.

According to National Weather Service data collected at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. it’s not only July that has been very dry.

So far this year the region has had about 17 inches of rain, well below the 24 inches it had at this time last year. In June the region got 3.6 inches of rain, but most of that was in the beginning of the month. In July there has been 0.06 inches of rain, well below the typical 4 inches for the month.

“We are well below normal for this month,” said Mike Skurko, a meteorologist for CBS 3 Springfield. “In fact every month this year has been below normal.”

Several cities including Northampton, Shelburne Falls and Ware have issued water restrictions until the rivers rise.

In Northampton Superintendent of the Water Division David Sparks said the city’s reservoirs are near capacity, but the Mill River has been running low. By the terms of the city’s permit from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, it must institute a ban asking residents to refrain from non-essential outdoor water use between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Residents may deviate from the ban one day a week on a day of their own choosing.

Ware Public Works Director Thomas Martens issued a memo to the Board of Selectmen Friday informing them that residents are required to restrict non-essential water use between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Martens said restrictions include irrigating lawns with sprinklers or automatic irrigation systems, washing cars and washing driveways, sidewalks or the exterior of buildings. The restriction does not apply to businesses.

Martens said the ban will be lifted when Water Management Act requirements for stream flow in the Ware River are met for at least seven consecutive days.

While some thunderstorm are expected Sunday night, most of the week will be hot and humid, with temperatures in the low to mid 90s, Skurko said.

“The beginning of the week is going to be very hot with little relief,” he said. “There will be occasional scattered thunderstorms, but not a full day of rain which is what we desperately need,” he said.

However, the heat should subside by Thursday with much more pleasant temperatures in the low 80s, he added. 

Michletto has spent the last ten years under Kevin Sneddon at the University of Vermont.

J. Anthony RobertsUMass hockey took on Vermont back in January at Fenway Park. Reports have UVM Associate Head Coach John Micheletto becoming the new head coach of the Minutemen.

Multiple reports surfaced Sunday evening, first from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, that John Micheletto, Associate Head Coach at the University of Vermont, will be named the next head coach of the Minutemen, replacing Don “Toot” Cahoon, who stepped down on June 19.

UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon and Micheletto did not return calls Sunday from The Republican.

Micheletto interviewed for the position on July 10.

Since Cahoon resigned, reports surfaced that UMass had offered the position to Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold, Holy Cross’s Paul Pearl and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL) coach Mark Carlson, all of whom elected to stay where they were. The latest of those was Carlson, who took himself out of the running on Friday.

Micheletto is currently the director of recruiting, and works with Vermont’s forwards, power play, video analysis, practice planning, and bench coaching duties, according to the UVM website.

Micheletto is from the Chicago area, but went to prep school at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and played his collegiate hockey at Dartmouth.

He then went on to play professionally in the Netherlands, as well as in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League before taking a job as a hockey coach, dean of students, English teacher and dorm parent at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa., according to the University of Vermont website.

After five years at The Hill, Micheletto moved into the collegiate game at Union College as an assistant to current Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon. Micheletto also spent time as an assistant at Notre Dame, before joining Sneddon at UVM in 2003.

Micheletto has also spent time coaching in USA Hockey’s development program, and was an assistant on the Under-18 national team in 2000.

The Massachusetts contest is one of the most closely watched in the country, with Democrats and Republicans both viewing the outcome of the race as key to control of the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and his Democratic rival, Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren. (AP & Republican file photos)

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — In Massachusetts' contentious U.S. Senate race, few issues divide the two candidates more sharply than the health care law signed by President Barack Obama and upheld by the Supreme Court.

Republican Scott Brown ran for the Senate in 2010 vowing to be the crucial 41st vote needed to block the initiative, which ultimately passed despite his opposition. He remains critical of the law.

His Democratic challenger, Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, has praised the Affordable Care Act, which was modeled after a 2006 Massachusetts law signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican. Warren said the federal law has helped expand access to health care in Massachusetts and the nation.

Last month's Supreme Court ruling has only intensified the debate.

The latest salvo came from Brown in response to reports that U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent.

Brown called the numbers "grim" and faulted in part what he said were the "job-killing taxes on individuals, families and small businesses" that Warren supports, including those in the health care law.

"These are bad ideas under normal circumstances, but with our economy teetering on the brink, Professor Warren's economic prescription would push us over the precipice," Brown said in a statement.

Warren has been equally emphatic in her support of the law and her criticism of Brown.

"This decision ensures that millions of children, seniors, and families will continue to benefit from health care reform," Warren said in a statement after the ruling was announced.

Warren has highlighted some of the law's more popular elements — including banning insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions and allowing adult children to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.

"Scott Brown doesn't spend a lot of time talking about the issues. But he is very clear on one position: Scott Brown wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act," Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers wrote in a letter to supporters.

One reason the debate is so testy is the role Massachusetts played in helping craft the federal law.

The 2006 state law served as a blueprint for Obama's law — including one of its most debated elements, the "individual mandate" that requires nearly everyone be insured or pay a tax penalty.

In 2010, 44,000 Massachusetts tax filers were assessed the penalty, a drop from the 67,000 required to pay the penalty in 2007, the first year it was assessed. Since the law took effect, an additional 400,000 individuals have gained insurance, meaning about 98 percent of residents are now covered, according to state officials.

When he was pushing the bill in 2006, Romney favored the mandate, saying it would target "free riders" — those who can afford health coverage but instead rely on emergency rooms for free care, driving up insurance premiums for everyone else.

Romney ended up winning bipartisan support for the measure among Massachusetts lawmakers, including Brown, then a state senator.

Despite their support for the state law, Romney and Brown both say the federal law should be repealed. Brown has said that since Massachusetts passed its own health care overhaul, it doesn't need a federal law.

Brown has been particularly critical of a 2.3 percent tax on the sale of medical devices included in the federal health care law, which he said would put an added burden on the more than 200 medical device manufacturers in Massachusetts.

More recently, Brown's campaign has tried to paint Warren as a supporter of a single-payer health care system — a government-run health care system intended to provide universal coverage. Neither Massachusetts' law nor the law signed by Obama creates such a system.

Brown's campaign points to a book chapter Warren co-authored in 2008 that stops short of explicitly endorsing a single-payer system.

"We approach the health care debates from a single perspective: maintaining the financial stability of families confronting illness or injury," Warren and co-author Deborah Thorne wrote. "The most obvious solution would be universal single-payer health care. This would allow people to get the care they need — without risking bankruptcy to pay for it."

In an interview on NECN after the Supreme Court decision was announced, Warren answered "no" when asked if she supported a single-payer system.

"The point is, what we've got to do, is we've got to keep moving in the direction of getting more families covered and bringing down the costs of health care, and I think we've taken a big step in that direction," Warren added.

A spokeswoman for Warren said the single-payer idea is just one of "many possible solutions to the health care crisis" that Warren has outlined over the years.

Warren has also said the country shouldn't revisit the battles of two years ago, but should move forward and focus on job creation, echoing in part Obama's comments following the court ruling.

Brown's campaign manager Jim Barnett, however, said voters should reject what he said was Warren's support for "a radical European-style, single-payer health care scheme."

The Massachusetts contest is one of the most closely watched in the country, with Democrats and Republicans both viewing the outcome of the race as key to control of the Senate.

Westover officials have been working with state and local police for months to prevent traffic jams.

Republican file photoA Blackhawk helicopter flies over head perfroming at the Great New England Air Show at Westover Air Reserve Base in 2008.

CHICOPEE – The Great New England Air Show is still three weeks away but organizers aren’t taking any chances with the traffic.

In fact, months ago officials from Westover Air Reserve Base started figuring out how they were going to bring as many as 500,000 people to the free air show on Aug. 4 and 5 without clogging the roadways and trapping fans of military aviation in traffic.

“We have spent a lot of time meeting with local and state police, said Lt. Col. David M. Heroux, deputy mission support group commander who is leading the air show organization.

The last air show in the area, held at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield in 2010, created hours-long traffic jams in Holyoke, Westfield and on area highways. At it’s worst, traffic was bumper-to-bumper westbound on the Massachusetts Turnpike past Palmer and it took three-and-half hours to drive four-and-a-half miles.

The traffic snarl was caused in part by weather. It was cool and clear Saturday, drawing a record 180,000 people, while it rained Sunday reducing the crowds to about 55,000.

But Heroux said he and his team of organizers are taking no chances that the tie-ups will be repeated.

State police have been very cooperative. They will have a helicopter in the air monitoring traffic and reporting tie-ups. They will also alert motorists of any traffic jams and of alternative routes through electronic message boards on Route 91 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, he said.

The base will have all three gates open, the one off Westover Road, the one off James Street and one in Granby, so people will have multiple ways to enter the base. The website greatnewenglandairshow.com and the Westover Facebook page will list multiple ways people can reach the air show, Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe said.

“We will get real information and updates about traffic throughout and it will go out via Facebook,” he said.

Officials are recommending people arrive early to avoid the worst of the traffic. The gates will open at 8:30 a.m.

The owner of cyber cafes in Holyoke and Springfield has filed a lawsuit to challenge attorney general's regulations.

The Republican photo by John SuchockiThe Express Internet Center in Chicopee is continuing to operate in the face of a civil lawsuit by the attorney general.

Internet gambling cafes could be facing some long odds to continue operating in Massachusetts.

The state House of Representatives last month approved a bill to ban the cafes, including those operating in Chicopee, Holyoke and Springfield.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is also continuing to use criminal and civil enforcement actions to investigate the cafes and shut them down in several cases. Coakley's efforts, including emergency consumer-protection regulations, have also restricted expansion of the cafes, according to court records.

The move to ban the cafes is similar to efforts in other states such as Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio. New Hampshire last month also passed a law aimed at closing the so-called cyber cafes.

The owner of cyber cafes in Holyoke and Springfield is fighting back by challenging Coakley's regulations with a civil lawsuit in Hampden Superior Court, asking that the regulations be thrown out as unconstitutional.

Operating in a murky legal area, the cafes generally sell Internet time along with points that can be used to bet on casino-style computer games. Players can redeem points for cash, but might end up paying more for Internet time than they win in points.

In her most recent action, Coakley, a two-term Democrat, filed a civil suit in May in an attempt to close the Express Internet Center at 205 Exchange St. in Chicopee. Coakley's lawsuit says the center and its operator, Anthony M. Ardolino of Springfield, are providing gambling with computer slot games that violate consumer-protection regulations she approved last year.

Martha Coakley

The lawyer for Express Internet and Ardolino, Daniel D. Kelly of Springfield, said Coakley's actions are an "interesting use of resources" for her office.

Kelly said there is no deception involved with a popular slot game at the center, saying odds are posted.

"She can allege anything she wants," Kelly said of Coakley. "We're confident we will prevail. It's not gambling. It's really paying for computer time."

Ardolino, former chief of staff for former Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Springfield to one court of conspiring to defraud the federal government and four counts of filing false personal income tax returns. He was sentenced to a year in a minimum-security federal prison for the charges that involved his part ownerships of a couple of bars in Springfield.

In its lawsuit in Hampden Superior Court, City Cyber Cafes, LLC, which owns cafes located at 2271 Northampton St. in Holyoke and 1377 Liberty St. in Springfield, says that Coakley's regulations have had a chilling effect on business expansion and frightened customers.

City Cyber says the regulations deprive the businesses of their right of free commercial speech and that its games do not constitute illegal gambling.

A judge in Hampden Superior Court last year denied City Cyber's request for a preliminary order to block the enforcement of the attorney general's regulations.

Coakley has maintained that the Internet cafes say they sell goods and services such as Internet time but they can be a pretext for illegal lotteries, online slots, sweepstakes or other games.

Brad Puffer, director of communications for Coakley, said the office doesn't know how many of the cafes are open in the state, but they are spread out statewide.

Puffer said the office has been told that numerous establishments have closed in response to the attorney general's legal actions. The attorney general is continuing to investigate Internet cafes that appear to be in violation of state law, he said in an e-mail.

Coakley and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo are co-sponsors of the bill to ban the cafes. The bill, which is pending in the Senate, would close the cafes by making clear that it is a crime to hold a sweepstakes with an electronic machine. Violators could face fines up to $250,000 per electronic machine or they could be put in prison for up to 15 years. The bill was stalled until House members approved it last month.

State Rep. Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, a Springfield Democrat who had a similar bill to prohibit the cafes, said gambling at the establishments is unregulated.

Coakley-Rivera said the cafes can also take some revenues from the state Lottery. She said she has two of the cafes operating in her House district.

"They are predatory,' Coakley-Rivera said. "They tend to prey on the most vulnerable – the working poor and senior citizens."

Coakley's actions also forced the shut down last year of Cafeno's Inc., which was located at 76 Main St. in Chicopee.

A statewide grand jury indicted Steven Sheldon, co-owner of the closed cafe, and his business partner, Steven Megliola of Longmeadow, on charges of promoting gambling services and operating an illegal lottery. Both men pleaded innocent to the charges in January in Hampden Superior Court.

Thomas Lesser, a lawyer for Sheldon, has said Sheldon received advice of a lawyer before opening and notified the state police exactly how he intended to operate the business. He ran the business for more than a year and neither the attorney general nor any other law enforcement official ever suggested anything was illegal, Lesser said in March.

Joseph M. Kelly, a professor of business law at State College in Buffalo, N. Y. who has studied the cafes, said the establishments are proliferating throughout the nation, especially in Florida, where there are up to 1,400 cafes, usually in strip malls.

Kelly said the cafes operate in a gray area of the law, because people can enter the games for free when they buy Internet time. Gambling usually involves paying something of value such as money for a chance to win a prize.

But Kelly said it would be very difficult to overturn in court a law to ban the cafes.

Michael G. Jachym, zoning administrator for the city of Springfield, said three of the cyber cafes remain in the city, after two apparently recently closed.

Springfield still has City Cyber Cafe at 1377 Liberty St., the Full House at 1060 Wilbraham Rd and the Lucky 777 Cyber Cafe at 806 Main St., according to Jachym.

The city has complaints in Western Housing Court against the ones on Liberty Street and Wilbraham Road, charging they are violating a city ordinance by operating with more than five machines for public use without a special permit.

The precise cause of the mechanical failure was not immediately available, but the extremely hot and humid weather forecast prompted school officials to cancel classes while the cooling issues are resolved.

SPRINGFIELD — Day and evening classes at Springfield Technical Community College have been canceled for Mondy, July 16, "due to power plant issues," according to a message on STCC's website.

It was not immediately clear if the closure might extend into Tuesday. STCC's website indicates that today's shutdown was prompted by a "catastrophic failure" of the school's cooling system.

A 22News report said classes will not take place today because of the extreme weather forecast, which calls for high heat and humidity levels over the next few days. Maureen Socha, STCC's director of facilities, told the TV station the school is experiencing power plant and air-conditioning issues.

The mechanical issues also affected a Freestyle Wrestling Tournament, which had been scheduled to take place at STCC on Sunday, July 15. The event was canceled "due to the catastrophic failure with the school's cooling system," according to a message on STCC's website. "We apologize for this unavoidable cancellation," the message goes on to state.

However, today's One Stop Enrollment for incoming students will take place as scheduled at STCC's Student Success Center.

Todd O'Neill, 32, of 20 Hampton Ave., Apt. 303, was charged with malicious destruction of property, assault with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct after he reportedly became angry over a broken air conditioner.

NORTHAMPTON — A city man allegedly blew a fuse over the lack of air conditioning at his Hampton Court apartment on Friday afternoon. The alleged meltdown landed the tenant in hot water with authorities, who charged him with assault and other offenses after he reportedly flew into a rage over a faulty cooling system at the apartment and condominium complex.

A Northampton police official reached early Monday was unable to immediately confirm details of the incident. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that Todd O'Neill, 32, of 20 Hampton Ave., Apt. 303, was charged with disorderly conduct, assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of property in excess of $250 after allegedly trashing the office of the condo complex at about 1:30 p.m. Friday.

The Northampton newspaper, citing police reports, said O'Neill went to the office, where he overturned a desk and hurled a fan and other items around the room.

MAP of alleged crime scene area:

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Police apprehended Edwin Datil, 43, of 86 Florence St., Springfield, and charged him with multiple counts of larceny and breaking and entering a car at night to commit a felony.

EAST LONGMEADOW — Police arrested a Springfield man who allegedly broke into a woman's car early Sunday morning.

The incident happened on Prospect Street at about 2:15 a.m., according to East Longmeadow police, who charged 43-year-old Edwin Datil of 86 Florence St. with multiple offenses.

Datil, who lives in the city's Six Corners neighborhood, is expected to be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court on six counts of breaking and entering a vehicle at night to commit a felony; five counts of larceny in excess of $250; one count of larceny less than $250; one count of receiving stolen property valued at less than $250; and one count of resisting arrest.

Police said they received a 2:16 a.m. report of a man seen inside a woman's car on Prospect Street. The man, later identified by authorities as Datil, fled the scene, sparking a police manhunt that included a state police K-9 unit. He was apprehended and taken into custody, police said.

Authorities say a man who bragged he could swim across the Merrimack River in Haverhill has died in the attempt.

HAVERHILL, Mass. (AP) — Authorities say a man who bragged he could swim across the Merrimack River in Haverhill has died in the attempt.

The body of the man was pulled from the waters near the Basiliere Bridge about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, about two hours after he jumped in.

A witness tells The Eagle-Tribune (http://bit.ly/NLT6sf ) the man climbed over a railing and was boasting he could swim across the river, and fought off people who tried to stop him.

Police did not immediately release the man's name.

State police dive team members arrived on scene and began searching the river about 10 p.m.

The area where the man jumped in is known as a place where the homeless gather.

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Information from: Eagle Tribune (North Andover, Mass.), http://www.eagletribune.com