No information was available on the cause of the accident.
SPRINGFIELD -- State Police in Springfield have reopened all three lanes on Interstate 291 eastbound after a two-car rollover accident around noon blocked the road, officials said.
Police said there are no major injuries and traffic should be moving smoothly now that the scene has been cleared.
No information was available on the cause of the accident.
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Union chief Donald Fehr has asked for time to review the offer.
TORONTO - The stalled talks between the NHL and the players' association finally got a jumpstart.
After watching 34 days pass without a new proposal being offered from either side in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, Commissioner Gary Bettman made a new offer to the NHLPA that proposes a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue and a full 82-game season starting Nov. 2.
As talks resumed for the first time since last week between the league and the union, Bettman proudly announced the offer, which is crafted for — if nothing else — a quick response from the head of the players' association, Donald Fehr, followed by some serious negotiations either here or in New York.
"It was done," Bettman said, "in the spirit of getting a deal done."
Fehr told reporters that the proposal is for six years. Bettman did not confirm that number.
"Our hope," he said, "after we review this is that there will be a feeling on the players' side that this will be a proposal from which we can negotiate and try and reach a conclusion."
When asked if the new proposal was an improvement over previous offers made by the NHL, Fehr said: "In some respects I think it is. In other respects, I'm not sure. We have to look at it."
The NHL locked out its players on Sept. 15, and the regular season was scheduled to begin on Oct. 11. A Nov. 2 start date would extend the season well into June, but would preserve some of the marquee events, such as the Jan. 1 Winter Classic in Michigan.
"I don't want to get into the substance other than to say we believe that this was a fair offer for a long-term deal, and it's one that we hope gets a positive reaction," Bettman said. "We have about nine or ten days to get this all put to bed, signed, sealed and delivered, in order for this offer to be effective and for us to move forward."
Bettman said the long-term deal takes steps to guarantee the players will get full value from their existing deals. And in order to pull off the logistics of the schedule, each team would have one additional game every five weeks in order to get a full season in.
"Gary indicated to me and I assume he indicated to you that they would like to get a full 82-game season in," Fehr said. "We, of course, share that view and would like to get a full 82-game season in. But, we are not in a position to make any comments about it beyond that at this point."
All teams would also hold a makeshift training camp, lasting approximately one week. Veteran players who signed contracts overseas would need to scramble back to their team headquarters, as will the younger players who are working in the minor leagues, like the AHL, this month.
It is clearly the best offer — or counteroffer, for that matter — that has been made in the months of negotiations since last season ended in June. And the proposal is now in the hands of Fehr and his team of executives, who acknowledged that the proposal was stronger than the previous ones the union had received.
"We're going to be on-call to them. They have some work to do internally. Obviously, we didn't put this proposal, this offer, together overnight, and they're going to need a little time to review it," Bettman said. "I'm hoping that review will get us to a positive and constructive place."
To that end, the union has formally requested time to look the proposal over.
"We're focused on getting the puck dropped on Nov. 2 and playing a full 82-game regular season and full playoffs," Bettman said. "That's what this offer is all about."
This is the third lockout under Bettman's watch, but unlike the previous two, dialogue has remained steady. The two sides last met last week in New York.
"We've given it," Bettman said, "our best shot."
And at the least, Fehr is encouraged.
"I would like to believe that it will be an excellent starting point," he said. "And we can go forward and see if there is a deal to be made."
Brady’s uncharacteristic play in the closing minutes of Sunday’s loss to Seattle had some wondering if a hit he took affected his decision-making.
By SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Sporting News
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.—Tom Brady’s uncharacteristic play in the closing minutes of Sunday’s loss to Seattle had some wondering if the hit the quarterback took on the final play of the third quarter affected his decision-making.
Brady was drilled by Jason Jones, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness.
In the first three quarters, Brady was 31-for-45 with two touchdowns and an intentional grounding call. After the hit, he was 5-for-13 with two interceptions, a second intentional grounding, and took his only sack of the game.
But Brady denied the Jones hit impaired him during a Tuesday morning radio appearance, saying, “It was just poor execution by myself and poor fundamentals, and that’s the cause of it. I give Seattle a lot of [credit] for defense and I credit the way they play.”
Also not surprising, Brady refused to respond to the taunts from Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who crowed about Seattle being a team, then taking to Twitter to post a photo of him and Brady coming off the field with “U mad bro?” photoshopped in, an image Sherman later removed.
Brady said his father taught him at a young age to play with “class and respect” and that opponents also deserve his respect, and again said he respects the Seahawks.
President Barack Obama was looking to rebound in a White House debate rematch Tuesday, promising a more aggressive charge against rival Mitt Romney to stop the Republican's gains since their first face-off two weeks ago.
By NEDRA PICKLER,Associated Press
STEVE PEOPLES,Associated Press
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — President Barack Obama was looking to rebound in a White House debate rematch Tuesday, promising a more aggressive charge against rival Mitt Romney to stop the Republican's gains since their first face-off two weeks ago.
The stakes could not be higher for the incumbent and challenger locked in a dead heat in polls nationally and some key states three weeks before Election Day. Many Americans are already casting ballots in early voting, giving the pair little chance to recover from any missteps during the 90-minute debate at New York's Hofstra University.
"I feel fabulous," Obama told reporters on his way into a meeting with top aides that ended three days of intensive "debate camp" to prepare. The pressure was especially high on Obama after even he admitted he lost the first debate.
Obama spent about 20 minutes inside Hofstra's basketball arena to get familiar with the town hall-style setting that will feature questions about domestic and foreign policy from an audience of about 80 voters uncommitted to either candidate. Romney arrived an hour later for his own walk-through.
The town hall-style format makes it especially tricky for Obama to strike the right balance in coming on strong against Romney without turning off the audience — and tens of millions of television viewers — by going too negative. Obama had said his first performance was "too polite."
"I think it's fair to say that we will see a little more activity at the next one," he told radio host Tom Joyner last week.
Both sides have unfurled new ads, hustled at the grassroots level to lock down every possible voter, dispatched surrogates to rev up enthusiasm and kept the running mates busy raising cash and campaigning in the most hotly contested states. Leading into the debate, Obama released a new commercial embracing his economic record, which many Republicans see as his biggest liability.
But the president has been encouraged by recent signs the economy is improving.
New reports Tuesday showed consumer prices stayed tame and homebuilder confidence rose, while factory output grew only modestly. The Romney campaign pointed to battery maker A123 Systems Inc.'s filing for bankruptcy protection Tuesday as evidence Obama's economic policies are failing, since the alternative energy company received a $249 million grant from his administration to build U.S. factories.
"A123's bankruptcy is yet another failure for the president's disastrous strategy of gambling away billions of taxpayer dollars on a strategy of government-led growth that simply does not work," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.
On foreign policy, Obama refused to answer when reporters asked Tuesday whether Secretary of State Hillary Rodman Clinton was responsible for security at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed last month. Clinton said in interviews that she was responsible, not the White House.
Romney pressed the White House on the matter last week after Biden said in the vice presidential debate that "we weren't told" about requests for extra security at the consulate. But State Department officials, testifying before Congress that day, said they were aware of those requests. Clinton backed up the White House's assertion that the issue didn't rise to the president or vice president's attention.
With both candidates preparing for the debate and Vice President Joe Biden attending former Senate colleague Arlen Specter's funeral, Romney running mate Paul Ryan was the only member of either ticket out campaigning. Ryan sought the support of Bible-belt voters in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Wisconsin congressman arrived for a Lynchburg rally in a pick-up truck with a large American flag flapping behind in the cab as AC/DC's "Rock 'N Roll Train" blared. In an interview with Virginia's conservative radio host John Fredericks, Ryan said supporters working to get out the vote for the GOP ticket "have been just really doing the Lord's work all throughout the state."
Romney political director Rich Beeson laid down a marker that Romney would be victorious in one of his most challenging swing-state contests — Ohio. "To be clear, the Romney-Ryan campaign will be victorious in the Buckeye State," Beeson said in a memo, written with the campaign's Ohio director, Scott Jennings, and arguing that several factors are working in Romney's favor there. No Republican has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio, where polls show Obama running strong.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and a top Romney supporter, wouldn't go as far as Beeson to predict a GOP win in Ohio.
"I can draw a scenario where Mitt Romney can win without Ohio, but it's a very, very difficult path," McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press while campaigning in Ohio for Romney. "And so I think the eyes of the world will be on Ohio and, from the polling that I see — and this is obviously a very dynamic situation — we could be up late."
Romney picked up the backing of former independent presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. "We can't afford four more years in which debt mushrooms out of control, our government grows and our military is weakened," Perot wrote in an editorial announcing his endorsement Tuesday in the Des Moines Register.
First lady Michelle Obama told students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that every vote will count in the closely fought contest and "to work like you've never worked before." Early voting starts Thursday in the battleground state Obama narrowly won in 2008.
"I'm going to be honest with you," she said. "This journey is going to be hard. And there will plenty of ups and downs during this next 21 days."
Obama's campaign turned to former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday to make the case against what it says is Romney's $5 trillion tax cut. Clinton appears in a Web video for the campaign, picking apart Romney's tax plan piece by piece, saying his approach "hasn't worked before and it won't work this time."
The president's campaign says Romney hid from his tax proposal during the first debate, and pledged Obama would be more aggressive in calling out his rival's shifts on that and other issues this time around. Clinton, who has been praised by Democrats for explaining Obama's economic arguments more clearly than the president himself, appeared to be laying the groundwork in the video released hours before the second faceoff.
Obama's campaign, seeking to improve some of the optics that reinforced his poor performance, planned to send several elected Democratic officials to the "spin room" to speak with reporters immediately after the debate.
The campaign only had a handful of Obama advisers in the room after the first debate. Because those same advisers also had to meet with the president after the event, they showed up noticeably later than the Republican officials promoting Romney.
Their late arrival reinforced the notion of a campaign struggling to comprehend the president's lackluster performance.
Tuesday's debate audience of uncommitted voters was selected by the Gallup Organization. Moderator Candy Crowley of CNN will choose who gets to speak after reviewing proposed questions to avoid repeats.
The final debate of the campaign will be Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., focusing on foreign policy.
___
Pickler reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, Bob Lewis in Lynchburg, Va., Nancy Benac in Washington and Julie Pace in Williamsburg, Va., contributed to this report.
The Red Sox have a hole at the first base position. Who will they find to fill the key offensive position in 2013?
It's been a while since the Boston Red Sox had a genuine hole on the right side of the infield.
Whether it was Kevin Millar, Kevin Youkils or Adrian Gonzalez, the Red Sox have had a fairly solid run at first base since the current ownership group took over.
Not anymore.
By the time the last place 2012 Red Sox finished their lost season, the first base position was manned by either the all-glove,very-little-bat James Loney, who is a free agent this offseason, or by Mauro Gomez, a prospect with a fairly low ceiling who doesn't field the position particularly well.
Long story short; the Red Sox need a first baseman.
It just might not be a superstar. As the American League playoffs have unfolded, it has become apparent that to be successful a team doesn't need to have a superstar at first base.
Yes the Tigers have Prince Fielder and the Yankees have Mark Teixeira, but the Orioles have Mark Reynolds and the A's primarily used a platoon of Brandon Moss and Chris Carter to get through the regular season. In the playoffs they've relied on Moss.
If the Red Sox thought success absolutely required a big-name, big money first baseman then they never would have shipped Adrian Gonzalez out of town this past August.
Odds are that the Red Sox will have a new first baseman next spring, but it might not be an All-Star. The photo gallery to the right provides some players who could potentially play first base for the Red Sox.
Fluke, who was called a "slut" and a "prostitute" by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, spoke before a crowd of mostly Warren supporters at The Roost, a cafe on Bridge Street. Watch video
NORTHAMPTON — Swamped by a crowd of admirers, feminist Sandra Kay Fluke made a pitch for Democrat Elizabeth Warren's U.S. Senate campaign at a local cafe Tuesday, calling the U.S. Senate one of the last barriers between conservatives and women's rights.
Fluke, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention, has been a lightning rod for women's rights over the past year. In February, Republicans refused to let her testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on insurance coverage for birth control. Soon afterwards, right wing commentator Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his national talk show.
Fluke spoke before a crowd of mostly Warren supporters at The Roost, a cafe on Bridge Street. She was introduced by former Northampton Mayor Mary L. Ford, the city's first woman mayor, who urged a crowd of Smith College students to build on the achievements of previous generations.
"These fights have been going on cross-generation," Ford said.
Flanked by current Mayor David J. Narkewicz, Ford said the sight of Fluke facing down a room full of conservative Republicans in Washington was "one of the most enduring images" in recent politics.
`"There's a war on women," Ford said. "That's the subtext in this election. Don't let them turn back the clock."
Fluke, who was hustled out by Warren campaign workers afterwards without taking questions from the media, said Warren will champion women's rights, in contrast to Warren's opponent in the Massachusetts Senate race, incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
"We've been getting a part-time senator," Fluke said. "This race has national implications. No sleep until November."
Learning of Fluke's appearance, Brown's campaign released a statement affirming his support for women's rights.
On the way out of the cafe, Fluke stopped to talk and take pictures with more than a dozen students. Jesse Klein, a member of the Smith Demorcats, called her well-spoken.
"You can tell she really cares," Klein said.
Shabia Furkan, a freshman at Smith, was among the throng waiting for Fluke to arrive. She said there was a buzz at Smith about her appearance.
"People who knew were letting other people know," she said.
Northampton resident Yana Tallon-Hicks did not come to The Roost to see Fluke but was pleasantly surprised by the event. Although she described herself as apolitical, Tallon-Hicks has unequivocal feelings about Limbaugh.
"I think he's stupid," she said. "You can quote me."
The accident, which happened just after noon, closed two lanes to traffic for nearly an hour as the scene was cleared.
SPRINGFIELD - A 63-year-old city man and a 20-year-old driver from Georgetown escaped injury Tuesday afternoon in a two-car rollover accident by exit 3 in the eastbound lane of Interstate 291, state police said.
The accident, which happened just after noon, closed two lanes to traffic for nearly an hour as the scene was cleared.
The two drivers involved, Carmen Cruz, 63, of Springfield and Andrew Sinkewicz, 20, of Georgetown, were not injured and did not require medical treatment, police said.
Their vehicles each had to be towed from the scene.
State police are still investigating how the accident happened and no determinations have been made regarding citations, police said.
The scene was cleared and traffic began flowing normally at about 12:50 p.m., police said.
The owner of Furnari Jewelers on Memorial Drive said he shot a robber when he launched himself over the counter and attempted to attack him.
Updates a story posted Tuesday at 2:04 p.m.
CHICOPEE — One man accused of robbing Furnari Jewelers is under arrest and suffering from at least one bullet wound after being shot by the owner of the long-established business.
The man, whose name was not released, was shot when owner Anthony J. Furnari pulled a gun from the top of his desk and fired multiple times as the accused jumped over the counter. Another suspect remains at large, acting Chicopee Police Chief Thomas Charette said.
The robbery started at about 4 p.m. Monday at the store on 1189 Memorial Drive. Employee Cindy Schachter said the door was propped open since the weather was warm, and she saw two men walking through the entrance.
“When I see two guys come in the store, it always makes me nervous. ...They were kind of scary,” she said.
Schachter said she gave her boss a quiet warning, and a second later, the two pulled clothing over their face and ran across the store floor.
At the time Furnari was sitting in his desk in the corner, facing the showroom. Next to him was the .38-caliber handgun, which he has kept on his desk since he was robbed about two years ago.
One of the two men jumped over the chest-high counter heading for Furnari.
“As he was launching toward me, I shot him, boom, boom, boom. I was thinking I was a dead man,” Furnari said.
Even though the man was shot at least once, he kept coming. He grabbed the barrel of the gun and the two grappled for the gun, Furnari said.
“He was on me, I can’t believe he is alive, and the other joined in,” he said. “I was fighting with two guys, and I won.”
At that point, the two grabbed a velvet covered board full of gold chains and ran out of the store. Furnari is unsure of the value of the jewelry taken.
Furnari did not get out of the fight unscathed. His nose was broken, he suffered a concussion, he has stitches closing a large cut in his index finger where he was holding the gun and more stitches over one eye, which is also blackened. The most painful injury is a fractured rib.
He was brought to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield by ambulance after police arrived. Furnari said he was treated and went home at about 2 a.m.
When the fight started, Schachter, of Easthampton, was knocked onto the floor. She said she feels lucky to have only suffered a bruise to one of her arms when she was kicked by one of the two men.
But they got off better than one of their assailants. A man checked into Baystate Medical Center some time Monday night seeking treatment for the bullet wounds, Charette said.
He remains in the hospital with non life-threatening injuries and was served an arrest warrant Tuesday charging him with armed robbery while masked and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Police are pursuing a number of leads and hope to make quick progress in finding the second suspect in the case, Charette said.
Officers are releasing limited information in the case because it is still under investigation and declined to release the age or address of the man arrested. Charette did confirm at least one of the suspects was armed, and they were covering their faces with some type of clothing.
Furnari said he thinks he fired at least three rounds, one of which hit the front window. Charette declined to say how many times the assailant was hit, but said it was not three times.
Furnari said everything happened so fast that he really could not describe the men. He said he knows they were young because they were so strong.
“I was lucky. I don’t know why they didn’t shoot me,” he said.
One dropped a gun while they were fleeing and left it on the floor of the store, leaving no doubt that they were armed, Furnari said.
Furnari, of Suffield, has been in the jewelry business for 35 years and owns several stores in the area, including one his son runs in the Enfield Mall. He opened the store on Memorial Drive at least a dozen years ago.
He admits he hates guns. He only got a firearms license after an attempted robbery about two years ago. That time he was alone in the store when someone came in and said it was a robbery. That man did not take anything, and Furnari was able to chase him away by pretending someone else was in the back room calling police.
Police confirmed the businessman is legally licensed to own a firearm. Although the investigation is ongoing, they do not expect to charge the owner.
Just a day after the robbery, Furnari and Schachter reopened the store despite the bullet hole in the front window. Most of the display cases were empty, and most of the people who stopped in were friends and family checking to see if they were OK. One customer did come in looking for a gift but said he would stop by again tomorrow when things calmed down.
He said people have been very kind. Several neighbors who found gold chains the robbers dropped while fleeing the store stopped in to return them. The chains are worth several hundred dollars, and he was shocked how honest people have been.
“There is no way this is going to stop me,” Furnari said.
Women's rights activist Sandra Fluke campaigned for Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren at the Roost in Northampton on October 16, 2012.
The Boston Celtics announced Tuesday that they have waived guards Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith to cut the current roster to 16.
The Boston Celtics announced Tuesday that they have waived guards Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith to cut the current roster to 16.
Though Smith's failure to make the opening day roster came as no surprise, Christmas entered training camp with a contract partially guaranteed for $260,000 and what seemed like an inside track on a roster spot. He impressed during summer league, spent the latter stages of the offseason learning from Jason Terry and seemed to have an attitude the Celtics liked, plus a skill set in which they saw potential.
Doc Rivers had indicated he would keep players around through this week's busy slate of games, but the Celtics might have decided to cut Christmas and Smith early so they have time to explore other opportunities before the season gets underway. Christmas has said he turned down bigger offers overseas to join the Celtics. One would think he won't be out of work for long, whether his next stop is overseas or with another NBA team. Smith should also be desirable elsewhere, at least overseas.
The Celtics now have 13 players under guaranteed contracts, plus Rob Kurz, Micah Downs and Kris Joseph, who are all operating with non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deals. Joseph, a second-round draft pick, would seem to have a solid hold on a spot at this stage. Downs is likely next in the pecking order if the Celtics keep the maximum 15 players, but there's a possibility the Celtics sign another veteran, especially a point guard. Though Jason Terry can handle some backup point guard responsibilities, Rivers prefers having him off the ball so he can better utilize his scoring prowess.
Brown, receiving an endorsement from the State Police Association of Massachusetts, attacked Elizabeth Warren for supporting Obama's health care reform.
Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is seizing on a tax provision included in the Affordable Care Act as he tries to sway union members away from Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.
“These health care hikes threaten to burden the hard working men and women who serve our state,” Brown said Tuesday, referring to the so-called “Cadillac tax” included in Democratic President Barack Obama’s health care reform law. “(They are) a change that we and they can just not afford.”
Brown made the comments at an event at his Boston headquarters, where he was endorsed by the State Police Association of Massachusetts and the National Troopers Association. Overall, unions have been a powerful organizing force for Warren’s campaign. More than 15 unions have endorsed her. Unions have rallied members on Warren’s behalf outside debates and events, sent out mailers and worked to get out the vote among union members and others. But Brown has been making efforts to cut into that support.
In particular, Brown has focused on getting endorsements from public safety unions. When Warren announced the support of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, Brown announced an endorsement from the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition. Brown held an event earlier this month in which he was endorsed by a coalition of 10 law enforcement agencies.
On Tuesday, as he has in the past, Brown touted his support for the Secure Communities Initiative in Massachusetts, a policy under which local law enforcement agencies would share fingerprints with federal immigration officials. Warren has said she believes the law must be improved to address concerns that it divides police officers from their communities. Brown said he supported the Violence Against Women Act, which provides funding to law enforcement to help stop violence against women.
He also focused on the “Cadillac tax,” which could affect not only public safety unions, but union members in general.
“Another big difference between me and my opponent is she supports a federal health care bill that will increase, with an excise tax, (the cost of) union insurance policies, affecting many police officers such as the ones that are standing behind me,” Brown said. Brown said groups such as construction workers, teachers and other public workers will be impacted. Brown said he believes health care reform should be left to individual states, and taxes should not be raised.
Warren has been a supporter of Obama’s health care reform, arguing in favor of provisions such as allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26, ending lifetime coverage limits, closing the prescription drug coverage gap for seniors on Medicare, and requiring insurers to cover preventive services with no co-pays. The Republican/MassLive.com has contacted Warren’s campaign seeking comment on the excise tax.
The so-called “Cadillac tax” will be applied to health care plans with high premiums, beginning in 2018. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health care policy, the tax will be applied to plans costing more than $10,200 for an individual or $27,500 for a family for most people. (The thresholds will be higher for high-risk workers like firefighters.) Insurers will have to pay a 40 percent tax on the amount of premiums above those thresholds. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Health News reported that the goals of the tax are to generate revenue to pay for covering the uninsured and to make the most expensive plans less attractive. The tax will raise an estimated $11 billion in 2018, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Pioneer Institute, a free-market think tank, released a study this month looking at the tax’s impact in Massachusetts. The study looked at several hypothetical examples and found that the average Massachusetts police patrol officer would pay an additional $53,900 in taxes over 10 years for a family insurance plan.
“What ended up in the final law is less of a ‘Cadillac tax’ and more of a ‘Ford tax,’” The Pioneer Institute’s director of health care policy Josh Archambault wrote, noting that the tax will add costs for the middle class. The study says Massachusetts will be among the states where insurers – and by extension consumers – pay the most for the new tax because of the state’s high premiums.
The State House News Service reported that Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman said his members are not happy about the tax, though he also said the benefits of Obama’s health care reform outweigh the negatives – for example, the guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and the ability of young adults to remain on their family’s insurance plans until age 26.
Other studies have focused on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Massachusetts residents. For example, a 2011 study by Families USA, an advocacy group that supports Obama’s reform, found that the law would expand affordable insurance options for families through the use of tax credits, a health insurance marketplace and an expansion of Medicaid.
Weld will be joining the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.
Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld is returning to Massachusetts.
Weld will be joining the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C. as well as the firm’s government relations and consulting unit, ML Strategies LLC. He will be working out of the firm's Boston office, according to a press release from the firm.
“Having made an indelible mark during his career in public service, Bill Weld has skillfully translated his skills into the private sector,” R. Robert Popeo, chairman of Mintz Levin, said in the release. “Since leaving public life and establishing a highly successful law practice, he has continued to play an important role in domestic and international affairs, while building extensive relationships with major companies around the world.” Weld had been working for the law firm McDermott Will & Emery in New York.
Weld, a Republican, was governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. He resigned when Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated him to be ambassador to Mexico, though the nomination ultimately fell through. Weld ran unsuccessfully for the Senate against Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry in 1996. He is a former federal prosecutor and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Weld has recently gotten involved in Massachusetts politics, endorsing Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in his reelection bid against Democrat Elizabeth Warren.
Speaking to WBUR in August, Weld did not rule out another run for Massachusetts office.
Once fully up and running, the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange will help doctors avoid dangerous drug interactions and redundant tests that now plague the health-care system, a Baystate executive said.
SPRINGFIELD – With the press of a button, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston transferred Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s medical records to Baystate Medical Center here Tuesday morning, the first step in what doctors hope will be a statewide network of medical records sharing.
Once fully up and running, the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange will help doctors avoid dangerous drug interactions and redundant tests that now plague the health-care system, said Dr. Evan M. Benjamin, Baystate’s senior vice president for health care quality.
Benjamin said a Baystate-led system linking doctors' offices and hospitals all over the Pioneer Valley will be up and running about a year from now. The state system, which debuted with Tuesday’s demonstration, will take longer to roll out.
An easy system of information sharing will also spare patients from having to explain every detail of their care and answer the same tedious questions for every doctor they see, said Joel L. Vengco, Baystate’s vice president and chief information officer.
Baystate and other hospitals have been keeping electronic records for years, Vengco said. But transferring those records is much more complicated than sending an email. There is a lot of data. There are privacy concerns, and different doctors and hospitals often have computer systems that are not compatible.
Vengco said another obstacle is a cultural reluctance on the part of doctors and nurses to share patient information.
“Quite honestly, it has just been a clinical culture that sharing of information is not acceptable,” Vengco said.
State Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby acknowledged that health-care consumers are frustrated. After all, banks share this type of information every time someone uses an ATM.
“Health information is much more complicated than that,” she said. “There are much more pieces of data.”
Vengco said the end result is that patient files were printed out and faxed to the next hospital. Or patents were lugging physical printed copies of their records, including laboratory reports and X-rays in huge binders.
“That happens all the time,” Benjamin said.
A current push toward more integrated care makes records sharing much more important, Benjamin said. Imagine doctors knowing a diabetic never filled a prescription, then being able to follow up with that patient to find out why.
“It would make sure more people are compliant with their doctor’s instructions,” he said. “It would help provide that continuum of care.”
In August, the federal government granted $16.9 million tot he state to support the medical-records sharing plant.
Vengco said Baystate is due to get $30,000 to $40,000 of that $16.9 million for its expenses related to the file sharing.
Villamaino, who resigned amid an investigation into phony absentee ballot votes allegedly intended to tip the polls in his favor in the race for 2nd Hampden District state representative, was being booked at the East Longmeadow police department.
EAST LONGMEADOW — Massachusetts State Police on Tuesday arrested former East Longmeadow Selectmen Chairman Enrico "Jack" Villaimaino III at his office at the state Department of Transportation in Boston on suspicion of voter fraud, according to Hampden Country District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni.
Villamaino, who resigned from the board amid the investigation into phony absentee ballot votes allegedly intended to tip the polls in his favor in the race for 2nd Hampden District state representative, was being booked at the East Longmeadow police department Tuesday afternoon.
Villamaino was pitted against Longmeadow Republican Marie Angelides in the state primary before the voter fraud investigation became public and Villamaino's campaign basically imploded.
His new wife and suspended East Longmeadow public television employee Courtney Llewellyn was not arrested but surrendered herself and was arraigned in Hampden Superior Court on Tuesday on 12 criminal counts all related to voter fraud.
Mastroianni said she was released on $50,000 surety bail after pleading not guilty to nine counts of absentee voting violations, one count of illegal voting or attempting to vote illegally, one count of interfering with an election official, and minor larceny, relating to the alleged theft of the absentee ballots.
The two were suspected of lifting hundreds of absentee ballot applications from the Town Clerk's office and casting at least a portion after changing voters' affiliations from Democrat to unenrolled, Mastroianni said.
"The nine counts were a random sampling of the behavior we suspect here. There likely were many more examples," Mastroianni said, remaining tight-lipped about Villamaino's suspected involvement in the alleged scheme, since Villamaino is not scheduled to appear in court until Wednesday morning.
The scandal prompted state election officials to ascend on the polling station in East Longmeadow for the primary, plus a reshuffling of the Board of Selectmen and a special election to elect two new members on Nov. 20.
Certain counts against Llewellyn, who married Villamaino in the midst of the investigation, carry five-year maximum prison terms and fines of up to $10,000.
The procedure was described as a “clean-up” and is considered minor.
Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols had arthroscopic knee surgery last week, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The procedure was described as a “clean-up” and is considered minor.
Pujols, 32, reportedly already is rehabbing the injury and will be at 100 percent far before the start of spring training in February.
In his first season with the Angels after signing a 10-year, $240 million contract last offseason, Pujols hit .285 with 30 homers, 105 RBIs, a .343 on-base percentage and a .516 slugging percentage.
The three-time NL MVP and nine-time All-Star began the 2012 slowly, not homering until May 6. As late as May 14, he was hitting below .200.
With just one weekend left, the push is on to get your best photo submitted to the 2012 Fall Photo Contest.
This has indeed been a beautiful autumn here in New England. The trees have all leaned heavily toward yellow and gold this year, rather than the bolder reds but it has been lovely just the same.
We hope you have been out and about with your cameras documenting the changing colors and cooler days and now is the time to get your very best photo entered into the contest. With just one weekend left, the push is on.
We have already received over 200 beautiful entries which we have uploaded into 4 galleries for your viewing pleasure and we look forward to building several more galleries but we need your photos to make that happen!
Submit your best photo of the fall landscape. Each contestant will be entered for the chance to have their photo published on the front page of The Republican, and all entries will be published on MassLive.com. Anyone who has their photo printed on Page One will also receive a plaque displaying the page on which their photo was featured.
The top seven photos, as voted by our panel of editors and photographers, will be published for seven consecutive days on Page One of The Republican. They will be displayed from Thursday, Nov. 8 to Wednesday, Nov. 14. Runners-up will also be printed inside the newspaper for each of the seven days.
Oct. 21 at 11:59 p.m. is your last chance to submit a photo. To enter, simply fill out the online entry form, and attach your photo. We will upload your photo to the website, and it will be added to the photo gallery within 72 hours after it is submitted.
Only one submission will be accepted per person, so make sure that the one you submit truly is your best fall photo. Please be sure that the photo you submit is your own, and that it is not a violation of copyright. A brief summary of the rules is posted below, and you can read the complete rules if you have further questions as well as our privacy policy.
The staff members of The Republican and MassLive.com greatly appreciate your entries, and look forward to seeing all the beauty that New England has to offer this time of year. This contest is a favorite of ours, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Hurry: Upload your 2012 Fall Photo Contest entry today!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter and for full rules, go to www.masslive.com/fall-foliage/. Starts 12:01 AM ET 10/04/12 and ends 11:59 PM ET 10/21/12. Open to legal residents of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and Maine who are at least 18 years old as of the date of entry, except employees of Sponsors, their immediate families and those living in the same household. Void outside Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and Maine and where prohibited. A.R.V. of prize $35. Sponsors: MassLive.com and The Republican.
Springfield City Solicitor Edward Pikula said the proposed tax rebate would not be appropriate for a non-tax issue.
SPRINGFIELD — City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke said this week the city should give a tax rebate to many businesses that were required to install more expensive fire detection systems under a city ordinance that was challenged and overturned by two court rulings.
Rooke said the ordinance drew objections from various businesses and himself in recent years, including a lawsuit filed by St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, but the city continued to defend the ordinance, losing in Hampden Superior Court in 2010, and again when the city appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Judicial Court.
“In this case, the city exercised terrible judgment and penalized businesses financially,” Rooke said. “There are consequences that are realized for bad judgment.”
Rooke, in a resolution filed with the full council, said he recommends the city establish a “one-time cost differential tax rebate program for any business owner who paid in excess of $1,000 to purchase and install his fire alarm box system.”
Under his proposal, the business would get a rebate on the difference in price between the city-required system and any documented past offer from a company offering a less expensive, legal system, he said.
Rooke’s non-binding resolution was referred to the council’s Finance Committee for further review.
City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula said Wednesday that a tax rebate “would not be appropriate as no taxes are at issue.”
“While the court held that the regulation was beyond the scope of local authority, from a financial standpoint, those who have put the systems in place and may have incurred higher installation costs, have also had, and will continue to have, lower ongoing operation costs,” Pikula said. “As such, over time anyone using the system will end up saving money.”
Rooke said the city of Lawrence faced a similar situation and did provide a rebate to affected businesses, and Springfield should do the same.
The Supreme Judicial Court overturned the Springfield ordinance in May, but the great majority of businesses had already installed the city-required systems, officials said. The city estimated earlier this year that 280 organizations had installed the city-mandated systems, and about 10 had not.
The initial ruling in Superior Court, upheld on appeal, stated that the city requirement for large-occupancy buildings to install a new, city-approved fire detection system violated state law by exceeding requirements under the state building code. St. George had installed a less expensive system at its cultural center on Plainfield Street, defending its system as fully compliant with state law, spending an estimated $300, rather than about $4,000, according to its lawyer.
In Springfield, the new systems were required for buildings such as hotels, apartment complexes, hospitals and office buildings to replace hard-wire master box systems.
Councilors Linda Vacon and Aaron Vega, vying to be state representative, disagree on whether a councilor also can be a state lawmaker.
HOLYOKE — A proposal to ban elected city officials from holding other elected positions is virtually certain to remain unresolved before the Nov. 6 election.
The proposal was intended to affect the two councilors – Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon and Councilor at Large Aaron M. Vega – who are both running for state representative.
Vacon filed the order that “no member of the City Council or other elected office of the City of Holyoke shall be permitted to hold any other elected office including positions in the Massachusetts General Court.”
Vacon, a Republican, has said if she wins the state representative race, she would quit the council because one person couldn’t devote the time both seats deserve. Vega has said he probably would stay on the council and do both jobs.
The council referred the order to the Charter and Rules Committee.
State law allows for the holding by a single person of municipal and state legislative positions at the same time, according to Brian S. McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William F. Galvin.
Ward 4 Councilor Jason P. Ferreira said the order merits discussion, but only after the election. His motion to table the order failed.
“It’s already been a subject of public discussion. It’s not a new issue,” Vacon said.
Vega, who sits next to Vacon’ at council meetings, didn’t comment during the discussion.
Council president Kevin A. Jourdain tried to assure Ferreira that Vacon’s order would require a change to the city charter, a lengthy process requiring approval by the City Council, mayor and state Legislature.
“This wouldn’t be something that in any way wold be approved until after the election,” Jourdain said.
Jourdain has said he would want a councilor devoted entirely to that body and not racing back and forth to Boston for legislative duties.
The next meeting of the Charter and Rules Committee is Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, Jourdain said.
How did Bowling Green lose out on an eventual world-record holding track athlete? What is the Stroh Center Rap? These questions and more are answered in this week's campus report.
What is a Bowling Green anyway?
To my knowledge bowling is normally done in an alley. As a former league bowler back in my college days, I can attest that all competitions were held indoors on wooden alleys.
But, history proves me mistaken. Lawn bowling, or "bowls" is definitely a thing.
According to the Internet's most reliable source, Wikipedia, a bowling green is essentially a bowling field, which is divided into strips called "rinks."
I thought hockey was played on rinks. I'm even more confused now.
Anyways, from reading the Wikipedia page, my understanding is that bowls is an awesome combination of bocce, shuffleboard and curling.
I want to play. So should I just show up in Bowling Green, Ohio (or Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, South Carolina or Virginia)?
Dude, wrong Bowling Green
In case you didn't realize just now, there are a bunch of places in the United States called "Bowling Green" despite the fact that it doesn't seem you can actually lawn bowl in any of them (huge disappointment, I have to say).
Once, though, this fact came back to bite Bowling Green State University in its behind.
According to the school's website (which has a bunch of fun facts by the way — I know you're curious), this happened:
Nick Rose, a BGSU National Recruit from England, accidentally took the wrong plane to campus, and ended up in Bowling Green, KY., home of the Western Kentucky University. The WKU track coach convinced him to stay and he went on to place in the mile at the NCAA meet.
More research on the Internet's most reliable website didn't mention this, but it did turn up that Rose was the world record holder in the half marathon at one point, and competed in two Summer Olympics (1980 and 1984).
I have to know if this story is true. I'm making it my personal crusade. By 2013, I will talk to Nick Rose, mark my words. If it is, that's amazing. If not, shame on Bowling Green State University for claiming they almost had a world-record holder.
Where my Falcons at?
Sometimes I really have to root around YouTube for a while to find a video for UMass' opponent. This week, that was not a problem. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy this, it's as good as it gets as far as school spirit videos go. At some point later in the year, I'm doing a "School Spirit YouTube Video Power Rankings." This will be on there.
Bravo, Bowling Green. Bravo.
Hernandez doesn't believe that his ankle will be an issue moving forward.
When Aaron Hernandez rolled his ankle during a Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals, he immediately thought it was broken and that his season may be in jeopardy.
It wasn't broken, though. Hernandez suffered a low-ankle sprain and was able to return for last week's game against the Seattle Seahawks and caught a pass on the first play from scrimmage. While he was admittedly a step slower than usual, the 22-year-old New England Patriots tight end finished with six catches for 30 yards and added confidence.
"I got some more practice time in and gained some more confidence cutting off the ankle, because I cut a lot," Hernandez told reporters at his locker Thursday. "And so I gained some confidence and it me feel comfortable to go out and play in the game."
Hernandez said there was some talk about him possibly returning the week before against Denver, but the medical staff determined that he was not ready for action. In fact, he wasn't even sure if he was going to be ready for the Seattle game.
"When you're out there on the field, you kind of forget about everything and just hope for the best," Hernandez said. "Once I caught that first pass and got back into the game, then I wanted the ball some more."
Hernandez is now no longer worried about his ankle and doesn't believe that it will be an issue moving forward.
"You get nervous at times, but it's feeling great," Hernandez said. "So it's nothing to worry about no more."
