The town administrator said the forum will be an opportunity for residents to voice their opinions, particularly on the new Town Hall-Police Station project.

Here is the condemned Monson Town Office Building on Main Street. Lori Stabile, The Republican

MONSON — A public forum will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the former Hillside School on Thompson Street to give residents an opportunity to talk about their vision for downtown public places damaged by last year's tornado.

The forum will be held in the selectmen's meeting room, and will be led by the town's disaster recovery manager, Daniel J. Laroche.

In a press release from Laroche, he wrote that he wants to know if residents have ideas regarding the new Town Hall-Police Station site. The new building is slated to be constructed at the site of the former Town Hall, which took a direct hit from the June 1, 2011 tornado and has been closed ever since. Veteran's Field is behind it.

At Tuesday's selectmen's meeting, Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers explained that the forum will allow residents to voice their opinions about that specific area.

When the Town Hall-Police Station project came before voters, she said many wanted to see what the facility would look like, but a design wasn't available. This is their chance to weigh in, she said.

She gave the following examples: Do residents want a skate park built behind the Town Hall-Police Station again? Where would they like to see parking? How about baseball dugouts? Or a senior fitness trail? The Senior Center is across the street from where the new town offices will be built.

"Whatever you want to share, this is the time, and this is the place," Neggers said.

The Community Design Resource Center, Western Massachusetts Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and town officials all will be in attendance at the forum.

Neggers said the forum will set the foundation for an event at the Architecture Boston Expo on Nov. 15, in which Monson's tornado-damaged downtown again will be discussed.

Laroche noted that this planning effort comes from the visioning work completed by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission this past spring that was featured in "A Community Plan for Monson Center," a supplement to the town's master plan.

Feedback for the supplement came through community meetings and workshops, along with an online survey. One suggestion that is being implemented is keeping the Town Hall-Police Station on Main Street.

Proposals are due Nov. 21, and open houses are scheduled.

This house at 120 Mill St. in Springfield is up for sale by the city for redevelopment. Dave Roback, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD — The city, in an effort to save two tax-foreclosed historic houses on Mill Street, is seeking proposals from interested buyers willing to redevelop the sites, with the city offering to provide federal Community Development Block Grant assistance.

The city has extended the deadline for proposals, now due Nov. 21, for the properties at 120 and 175 Mill St., in the Maple Hill Historic District.

“We are very hopeful we can get these properties redeveloped,” said Tina Quagliato, deputy director of housing. “They are obviously historical assets to the city.”

Robert McCarroll, a member of the Historical Commission, praised the city for offering incentives.

The city is willing to provide an interest-free, forgivable loan of up to $50,000 to the buyer of the house at 175 Mill St. and an incentive of up to $25,000 for the house at 120 Mill St. from the federal block grant money. Half the loans will be forgiven upon issuance of certificates of occupancy, and the remaining amount will be forgiven over a five-year period if they remain owner-occupied, according to the request for proposals.

There is an open house scheduled Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at 175 Mill St., and on the same date at 2 p.m. at 120 Mill St., for potential buyers.

Both houses were constructed circa 1890.

Under a request for proposals, the city is not obligated to take the high bid, but rather evaluates the proposals based on factors such as: experience and capacity; project feasibility; readiness to proceed; level of investment; owner-occupancy preferred; and historic preservation.

The ultimate goal is that buyers are found that are willing to fix up the houses, put them back on the tax rolls and become neighborhood assets, McCarroll said.

“We create local historic districts to preserve the historic buildings that are within them,” McCarroll said. “Some, sadly, stop paying taxes, stop maintenance, and quite often when the city gets them, they are in rough shape.”

The city has also offered block grant incentives to help redevelop other similar historic properties that have fallen in disrepair, McCarroll said.

Proposals received will be reviewed by an appointed committee, and the purchase needs approval from the mayor and City Council.

The project will cost about $10 million and create 40 apartments for veterans.

This is an undated photo of Chapin School, which has been closed since 2004. File photo / The Republican

CHICOPEE — The long-closed Chapin School will get a new life as housing for homeless veterans.

Last week Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, flanked by officials from the Community Development office, announced the non-profit agency Soldier On and its partner, the O’Connell Companies, submitted a $100,000 bid to purchase the old school. It plans to renovate it and create studio apartments with private baths and kitchenettes.

“It will put this building on the tax rolls for the first time, it will put more feet on the streets of Willimansett,” he said. “The most significant is it is providing a service for veterans.”

The $10 million project will provide housing for about 40 veterans, Bissonnette said.

“I am very grateful to know we will have a project with Soldier On,” said City Council President George R. Moreau, who represents the Willimansett neighborhood where Chapin School is located. “I want to put some life in this old building.”

Soldier On, which has similar projects in Northampton, Pittsfield and Agawam, works with homeless veterans to provide services geared to each individual. That includes job training, care for addiction services and medical services, said John F. Downing, president of Soldier On.

An estimated 300 veterans are currently working with Soldier On. The average age is 49, 84 percent had an addiction problem, 82 percent need mental health treatment and many have medical problems. About 60 percent served in the Vietnam War and a growing number are returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, he said.

The program works like cooperative housing, where each veteran will buy a $25,000 share in the building and will pay a monthly rent that is set under the Housing and Urban Development guidelines for low-income residents. In Chicopee it will likely be about $600, Downing said.

Veterans typically receive veterans’ benefits, Social Security income and a number work full or part-time. Some use their benefits or get loans from banks, he said.

The money earned through rent is put into an account to make loan payments, pay utilities, property taxes, maintenance and other expenses. The veterans often do their own maintenance when possible and are careful with expenses to save money, Downing said.

“The number one reason we want to be in this community is its commitment to its veterans,” Downing said.

The school, on Meadow Street, is also next to bus lines and across the street from a park.

It will take the partners between 18 months and two years to secure financing for the project, which will be done with a combination of tax credits, private money, grants and other sources, said Dennis Fitzpatrick, president of The O’Connell Companies.

It should take another year to renovate the building, he said.

Fitzpatrick said the age and design of the building will make it challenging to convert and maximize space so as many apartments can be added as possible. It will also be made handicapped accessible.

All three floors will be used for apartments and a meeting room. The only space that will not be apartments is a basement meeting room and an area for mechanicals, he said.

The senior is tied for second in the MAC in tackles per game.

UMass linebacker Perry McIntyre makes a tackle on Bowling Green's Josh Pettus. J. Anthony Roberts

AMHERST — Ho hum.

That’s how University of Massachusetts senior linebacker Perry McIntyre’s double-digit tackle performances are normally treated.

That is, until this week, after a 12-tackle performance against Bowling Green on Oct. 20 earned him the following praise from Falcons coach Dave Clawson.

“I have to give UMass credit … Their inside linebacker McIntyre is one of the best players we’ve seen all year,” Clawson said on the Mid-American Conference weekly media conference call.

McIntyre was taken aback when told what Clawson said about him.

“I was very surprised by that. Usually I don’t get much attention,” McIntyre said. “It’s an honor coming from the simple fact that they’ve played a lot of great schools like Florida, Virginia Tech and Toledo.”

Huge tackle totals have become such a McIntyre routine that he finds himself tied with teammate Kassan Messiah for second in the MAC in tackles per game, with 11.

Defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian noted that McIntyre’s numbers are for real.

“Sometimes tackling numbers can be misleading,” Elmassian said. “Not with Perry.”

UMass coach Charley Molnar said that McIntyre definitely doesn’t fly under the radar internally, but that we’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see how the rest of the coaches view the senior.

“I don’t know how he’s perceived by the rest of the coaches in the league,” Molnar said. “It’ll be interesting to see at the end of the day when the all-conference voting comes out. Then you can tell what kind of impact he made.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the Royal Palm Beach, Fla. native. Though he started 26 games over his first three seasons in Amherst, he was getting no preferential treatment from Molnar’s staff, which took over this past winter.

“He was overweight when we got here … It was disappointing because he was obviously a team leader, and either mentally or physically, couldn’t make it through the winter workouts,” Molnar said. “He was clearly behind the rest of the guys not only at his position but on the football team.”

At that point McIntyre could have folded. With just one year remaining in his career, he didn’t have to make pleasing Molnar, and getting better a priority.

But he did.

“It would have been very easy for him to say, ‘I’m not going to go through the pain of losing this weight. I’m a good football player, the coaches are going to play me no matter what,’” Molnar said. “He made the effort to lose the weight. It wasn’t fun for him.”

A spring and summer of grueling workouts transformed McIntyre.

“He showed up to summer camp, he was a good 12-14 pounds lighter than he was in spring ball,” Molnar said. “He was a different guy. He ran faster, and could go harder longer.”

Most importantly, he set an example for the two freshmen linebackers that now flank him in the starting lineup in Messiah and Jovan Santos-Knox.

Santos-Knox is McIntyre’s roommate on road trips, and says from minute one McIntyre has set an example for him.

“Without him, we’re lost out there. We’ve got two young freshmen, and he’s kind of anchoring all of us,” Santos-Knox said. “It was the first day of summer workouts, and all I just remember is him coming up and just trying to help us, teach us.”

Now, McIntyre has made enough of an impression on his coach with his work ethic and play that Molnar says he sees McIntyre staying in football after this season is over.

“I think he’s going to be a coach one day, and I think he’s going to be a pretty darn good one because he really understands the game of football. He works hard at his trade,” Molnar said. “If his playing career ends with his last game at UMass, hopefully he takes that knowledge, and he uses to help other guys get better.”

ONE LINERS

Offensive lineman Nick Speller remains suspended and will not play Saturday at Vanderbilt… Freshman Matt Sparks will get his second straight start in Speller’s place at right guard … Viral video superstars Daniel Maynes and Rob O’Connor are scheduled to appear on ESPNU’s “UNITE” program, which airs at midnight Wednesday night (or Thursday morning, depending on how you look at it).

New Yorker magazine's Hendrick Hertzberg said negative campaigning has been part of American elections for as long as there have been elections, but the recent trend has become more disturbing in many ways.

Left to right, panelists Shannon O'Brien, Hendrick Hertzberg, Dan K. Thomasson and Douglas Brinkley talk back stage at the TopTrend Politics 2012 panel discussion at Westfield State University on Wednesday evening. Dave Roback, The Republican

WESTFIELD — If voters are turned off by the negative climate in today's political campaigns, then the voters have only themselves to blame, said panelists during a Westfield State University discussion of politics Wednesday night.

"The fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves," said Lowell Weicker, former Connecticut governor and U.S. senator. "The reason we have negative advertising is because negative ads work. We are all listening to them and absorbing them."

Before an audience of about 500 people in the Woodward Center, Weicker and fellow panelists – former Massachusetts Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, New Yorker magazine political commentator Hendrick Hertzberg and syndicated columnist Dan K. Thomasson – discussed the state of the modern-day campaigns and the what it means about the modern-day electorate.

With Westfield State President Evan Dobelle serving as moderator, the consensus among the panel was that, for better or worse, honesty among politicians has become among the rarest elements in the universe.

"The thing that scares me in this election," O'Brien said, "is it is almost as if the electorate is not troubled by the lack of integrity and honesty (among the candidates)."

O'Brien, a Democrat who lost the gubernatorial race against Mitt Romney in 2002 ("and I still have the scars to prove it."), said in that campaign she saw the first signs that Romney was acquiring the "shape-shifting" ability he has demonstrated throughout the 2012 presidential run.

"It is very difficult to debate someone when they are not telling the truth," she said.

Hertzberg said negative campaigning has been part of American elections for as long as there have been elections, but the recent trend has become more disturbing in many ways.

Panelists Lowell Weicker Jr., left, and Douglas Brinkley await their turn to go on stage at the TopTrend Politics 2012 panel discussion at Westfield State University on Wednesday evening. Dave Roback, The Republican

"Negative politics are not something that was invented a couple of years ago," he said.
Other than holding politicians to their positions and the truth, he said, "I don't know what you can do about it."

Brinkley said that the final stretch run of the presidential campaign may well hinge upon one big mistake made by each of the candidates.

For Barack Obama, who inherited a recessed economy when he took office in 2009, it was his pledge to reduce unemployment to 5 percent. While the unemployment rate has gone down to just under 8 percent, it pales in comparison to his 5 percent boast, he said.

For Romney, his mistake was his writing an article that suggested the government should have "let Detroit go bankrupt," he said.

"It is not very smart to infer that any city could go under," he said.

The school district will be trying to improve its math scores, Curriculum Director Timothy Connor says.

The Republican staff (file)

WILBRAHAM — The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District is reviewing replacement math curriculums, School Committee member Marianne Desmond told the School Committee Tuesday.

“The school district is now considering two new math curriculums,” she said.

Curriculum Director Timothy Connor said parents will be informed about the curriculums being considered before a decision is made about a new math curriculum.

He said the school district will evaluate how a new curriculum will align with the state common core curriculum for mathematics.

Connor told the School Committee Tuesday night that 100 percent of grade 10 students in English language arts scored in the proficient category for English language arts on the MCAS tests.

Connor said he would like to see the school district score a little higher in math on the MCAS tests.

“We will be trying to get our math scores up,” he said.

Connor said the school district scores very well in English language arts compared with similar communities such as Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and Amherst.

He said the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District could do a little better in math.

Hampden-Wilbraham School Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said the MCAS test is a good tool to assess a school’s curriculum.

“It also helps us to monitor students’ progress and to identify gaps,” O’Shea said.

Connor said the school district is using a universal screening tool that helps to identify struggling students earlier so it can give assistance earlier.

Connor said the school district is looking at reading interventions for readers who struggle in kindergarten through grade 3 so their reading level can be improved earlier.

Connor said that while grade 10 students did well on the English language arts test, students in grade five were just above the state average.

“We feel these scores should be higher,” Connor said.

Connor said the school district’s goal is to have a consistent curriculum and to get more “needs improvement” students into the “proficient” category.

Bettman stated that a deal needed to be in place by Thursday for the season to begin Nov. 2 and allow for each team to play a full 82-game slate.

APNational Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks during a press conference Wednesday in New York, announcing that the Islanders hockey club will move from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., and play at Brooklyn's Barclays Center starting in 2015.

NEW YORK – NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says it looks as if a full-82 game schedule “is not going to be a reality,” as the lockout nears its seventh week.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday announcing the New York Islanders’ move from Nassau Coliseum to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2015, Bettman seemed resigned to looking at a shortened season with the NHL and the players’ association still at odds after months of negotiations.

Bettman stated, in making the NHL’s most recent offer, that a deal needed to be in place by Thursday for the season to begin Nov. 2 and allow for each team to play a full 82-game slate. With no negotiations scheduled, reaching a deal in one day appears very unlikely.

“The fact of the matter is there are just sometimes that you need to take time off because it’s clear that you can’t do anything to move the process forward,” Bettman said. “We’re at one of those points right now because we gave our very best offer. That offer, for better or for worse, was contingent on playing an 82-game season. So I think things actually in some respects may get more difficult.”

The players’ association reached out to the NHL on Tuesday night in an attempt to set up a face-to-face bargaining session Wednesday, but the league declined. The NHL’s position is if the union isn’t willing to talk about the league’s offer that is on the table and isn’t prepared to make a new proposal of its own riffing off that offer, there is no reason to talk.

“There seems to be no interest in making any sort of deal along the lines of what we have expressed a desire and a need for,” Bettman said. “Sometimes in collective bargaining you have to take a deep breath before you can move forward.”

The union wants anything and everything open for discussion. Bettman wouldn’t agree to those terms, so the hockey season remains in peril.

“The players made multiple core-economic proposals on Thursday that were a significant move in the owners direction,” union executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Wednesday night. “We are and continue to be ready to meet to discuss how to resolve our remaining differences, with no preconditions. For whatever reason, the owners are not. At the same time they are refusing to meet, they are winding the clock down to yet another artificial deadline they created.”

A partial season is still a possibility, and the NHL hasn’t called off any marquee events such as the outdoor Winter Classic on New Year’s Day or the All-Star game.

But at some point a deal will have to be made to get the players back on the ice.

“Sure, you can play an abbreviated season. I would rather play a full season, and I am sure our fans would rather we play a full season,” Bettman said. “That’s why we made the offer we did. That was our fourth offer against really one offer from the union in all the time that we’ve been negotiating from the summer. We very much want to play and we’re very disappointed that we’re not.”

Following a conference call held by the union’s executive board on Tuesday night, the players’ association informed the NHL it was willing to meet on Wednesday “or any other date, without preconditions, to try to reach an agreement,” the union said in a statement.

The NHL’s response wasn’t what the players’ association had hoped to hear.

“We said to them that we are prepared to meet if you want to discuss our offer or you want to make a new offer,” Bettman said. “They have no inclination in doing either, and so there really was no point in meeting at this point.”

The sides haven’t met since the league turned down three counterproposals from the union last Thursday, two days after the NHL’s offer that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue.

“The league is apparently unwilling to meet,” NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr said in a statement Tuesday. “That is unfortunate, as it is hard to make progress without talking.”

There is a major divide between the sides over how to deal with existing player contracts. The union wants to ensure that those are all paid in full without affecting future player contracts.

Bettman refused to say whether the 50-50 split in the NHL’s most recent offer would come off the table if a full season isn’t played.

“I’m not going to negotiate publicly,” he said.

This is the third lockout of Bettman’s tenure. The stoppage began Sept. 16.

Ferrier said one of the children's parents scared the fox off with a leaf blower before it could inflict any more harm.

The Republican staff (file)

WESTFIELD — Leaview Drive resident Sherry Ferrier saw the fox that bit three children this week roaming the neighborhood all summer.

“It’s been around for months. I would see it go through the front yard,” she said. “I thought it looked pretty healthy – not rabid or mangy. I thought it was a very good looking red fox.”

The children, aged 2, 6 and 7, were playing outdoors in their Eastwood Acres neighborhood off Union Street Monday evening when the fox approached them and bit them through their pants, causing minor scrapes to their legs.

Ferrier said one of the parents scared the fox off with a leaf blower before it could inflict any more harm.

Animal Control Officer Kenneth Frazer said the children did not suffer puncture wounds, but he nevertheless advised the parents to make sure their children received the rabies shots.

“Their clothing deterred the teeth from puncturing the skin,” he noted. “Everyone is in the process of having their rabies shots.”

Frazer said it is likely the fox has rabies and mange, and that it was not attracted to the neighborhood by backyard chickens belonging to a neighbor.

While keeping chickens in the yard of a residential neighborhood is in violation of city ordinance and the owners have been asked to remove them, Frazer said the fowl would not have attracted an animal with rabies.

In addition, Frazer said he suspects the fox, which remains at large, is infected with rabies because those animals do not usually attack people unless they are sick.

“Foxes don’t usually attack people arbitrarily, “he said Wednesday morning. “When rabies hits the brain, they don’t know what they’re doing. It sounds infected, based on its behavior.”

So far, the fox has not been located, another indicator that it was likely very sick, Frazer said.

“It has eluded everyone,” he added. “We searched for it for two hours yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and we were hoping to it was still alive and that we would be able to subdue it. If it did, in fact, have rabies, it would be dead within 72 hours. It probably crawled off in the bushes to die.”

Frazier advises that residents keep a close eye on children or keep them inside for the next several days.

Opinion polls show the race is neck and neck.

President Barack Obama greets and young boy, and other supporters, on the tarmac upon his arrival on Air Force One, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora Colo. The president is making a two-day non-stop campaign blitz through eight stops in key background states of Colorado, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey) Associated Press

BEN FELLER and
DAVID ESPO
DAVENPORT, Iowa — President Barack Obama is confidently predicting speedy second-term agreement with Republicans to reduce federal deficits and overhaul immigration laws, commenting before setting out Wednesday on a 40-hour campaign marathon through battleground states that could decide whether he'll get the chance. Republican Mitt Romney looked to the Midwest for a breakthrough in a close race shadowed by a weak economy.

Romney declared, "We're going to get this economy cooking again," addressing a boisterous crowd in Reno, Nev., before flying back eastward to tend to his prospects in Ohio and Iowa. Romney urged audience members to consider their personal circumstances, and he said the outcome of the Nov. 6 election "will make a difference for the nation, will make a difference for the families of the nation and will make a difference for your family, individually and specifically."

With 13 days until Election Day, opinion polls depicted a close race nationally. Romney's campaign claims momentum as well as the lead in Florida and North Carolina, two battleground states with a combined 44 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Obama's aides insist the president is ahead or tied with his rival in both of those states and in the other seven decisive battlegrounds.

Not even Obama, in an interview with radio host Tom Joyner, predicted that fellow Democrats would win control of the House from Republicans, who are looking to renew a majority they won two years ago in a landslide triggered by the tea party.

The Democrats and Republicans are struggling uncertainly for control of the Senate. And for the second time, a hard-fought Senate campaign was jolted by a dispute over abortion, in this case a statement by Republican Richard Mourdock of Indiana that when a woman becomes pregnant by rape, "that's something God intended" and there should be no abortion allowed.

Romney said he disagreed with the remarks. However, unlike an earlier abortion-related controversy involving Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, Romney did not disavow his support for Mourdock, who is locked in a close race with Rep. Joe Donnelly, his Democratic opponent.

The president's major focus was his coast-to-coast-and-back again tour.

"We're going to pull an all-nighter. No sleep," the president said shortly after Air Force One touched down in Iowa, first stop of a swing that included Colorado, California, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Florida, with a quick stop in Illinois to cast an early ballot, before he returns to the White House on Thursday evening.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a child as he greets supporters at an election campaign rally at the Reno Event Center in Reno, Nev., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)Associated Press

On his second stop of the long day, Obama told a crowd of about 16,000 people at Denver's City Park that he as "fired up" — though temperatures dropped near 50 degrees. It was in Denver that Obama had his lackluster first debate performance early in the month. He didn't mention that on Wednesday.

"This may not be the last time you'll see me," Obama told the crowd. Colorado is considered one of the toughest of the battleground states for him to hang onto in this election.

The Electoral College map explained Romney's focus on Ohio — a state no Republican has lost in a winning presidential campaign — as well as on Iowa. Together, they account for 24 electoral votes out of the 270 needed.

Barring a last-minute change — some Republicans said there is still time for a late play in Pennsylvania or Minnesota — Obama is ahead in states and the District of Columbia with 237 electoral votes. The same is true for Romney in states with 191 electoral votes.

That leaves North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada and Colorado and their 110 electoral votes up for grabs, more than enough to give either contender a chance at the presidency.

Obama's far-flung rallies were somewhat overshadowed by a day-old interview with top editors of the Des Moines Register, originally meant to be off the record, made public by the White House under public pressure from the newspaper. Without ever saying so, by his comments Obama sought to undercut Romney's oft-repeated claims that he had worked successfully with Democrats while governor of Massachusetts and would do so again in the White House.

The president said he is "absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain" on the federal budget that he and Republicans futilely pursued in 2011, including $2.50 in spending cuts for every $1 in higher revenue, with steps to reduce the costs of health care programs.

"We can credibly meet the target the Bowles-Simpson Commission established of $4 trillion in deficit reduction" over a decade, he said.

Efforts to agree on a sweeping deficit-cutting deal with House Speaker John Boehner more than a year ago fell apart when liberals resisted measures Obama has accepted, including a gradual increase in the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67 from 65, and conservatives balked at the speaker's willingness to include higher tax revenue in any agreement.

Nor did the president embrace the recommendations put together by the Bowles-Simpson Commission, a panel of outsiders that he appointed to recommend a solution to the nation's long-running budget deadlock.

As for immigration, another issue that seems permanently gridlocked, the president said, "Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community."

It was a suggestion that Republicans will have to ease their opposition to measures giving illegal immigrants a path to permanent residence or citizenship if they lose the election.

Romney, in Reno, departed from previous campaign speeches and sought to personalize the choice voters face.

He ticked through several different hypothetical situations — a senior citizen struggling to pay for health care, a young family trying to educate their kids, an unemployed worker looking for a job — and insisted each would be better off under a Romney administration.

"How many here identify with stories like that in your own home?" he asked, and hands shot up across the room.

"This is an election about your family," the Republican challenger said.

Romney running mate Paul Ryan was in Ohio, but not for a typical, late-campaign rally. Instead, in a speech at Cleveland State University, he said that in the nation's long-running "war on poverty, poverty is winning." He said community — the work done by churches, charities, friends and neighbors — is critical, although government, too, has a role in helping the disadvantaged.

"There has to be a balance, allowing government to act for the common good, while leaving private groups free to do the work that only they can do," he said.

Vice President Joe Biden, too, campaigned in Ohio, where he insisted that Republican protests notwithstanding, Romney and Ryan back a massive tax cut for the rich.

"My mother said, Joey, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Man this is one quacking duck," Biden said.

Obama did not mention the abortion controversy in Indiana, but his campaign spokeswoman did. Jennifer Psaki told reporters that the president finds Mourdock's comments "outrageous and demeaning to women."

Nor did Romney mention the flap. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the campaign has not asked Mourdock to stop airing the endorsement TV ad Romney recorded.

There were echoes of the Republican National Convention in a new television commercial featuring Clint Eastwood and paid for by the super political action committee American Crossroads. A second term for the president would be a "rerun of the first, and our country just couldn't survive that," says the actor, who sharply criticized an imaginary Obama during a GOP convention speech to an empty chair.

Obama's campaign unveiled a new 30-second ad reminding supporters of the dangers of complacency. Recalling the 2000 Florida recount that tipped the election to George W. Bush, the narrator says, "If you're thinking your vote doesn't count, that it won't matter, well, back then, there were probably at least 537 people who felt the same way." Images of war, economic hardships and the infamous hanging chads from disputed Florida ballots scroll by.

Christie campaigned for Scott Brown in Watertown and Framingham, and stressed Brown's bipartisan credentials.

FRAMINGHAM — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday called Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren “part of the partisan liberal Democratic elite,” as he encouraged Massachusetts crowds to help re-elect Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

Christie, a popular Republican figure, was considered a potential 2012 presidential candidate, though he ultimately decided not to run. He delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention this year. In November 2009, he became the first Republican elected to statewide office in New Jersey in a dozen years – and he was inaugurated the night Brown was elected the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in decades.

“We have been connected ever since,” Christie said.

Though Christie is closely connected with his party, Christie said he and Brown are similar in their ability to get elected and work across party lines in Democratic-leaning states.

“I’m not up here just because Scott’s a Republican,” Christie said. “I’m up here more because he’s a problem solver.”

Christie said Brown will work with members of both parties and does not care about the “power of political parties” but about “the power of ideas that will put America back on track.” Christie also issued a strong denunciation of Warren, who he said, “won’t even look across the aisle, let alone reach across the aisle.” He said Warren will be part of “the most partisan part of the Democratic caucus in the United States Senate.”

Brown praised Christie as “somebody who understands what it’s like to tackle the budgetary problems we’re facing.”

Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman Matt House responded that national Republicans are turning out for Brown in order to help Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate.

“Republicans from across the country are marching into Massachusetts because they know majority control of the Senate could be decided here,” House said. “National Republicans will do everything they can over the next two weeks to give Scott Brown the edge and their party the keys to the U.S. Senate, but voters won’t buy their agenda of choosing billionaires over the middle-class, rolling back women’s rights, and backing Wall Street over small businesses.”

The Warren campaign did not immediately respond to Christie’s comments.

Brown also recently campaigned with Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, while Warren has campaigned with former Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia and U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. Singer/Songwriter James Taylor is holding a concert benefiting Warren Wednesday evening.

With less than two weeks before the election, voters are turning out in larger numbers to hear the candidates speak. More than 150 supporters rallied outside the Aegean Restaurant in Watertown, and a standing-room-only crowd filled Ken’s Steak House in Framingham to hear Brown and Christie.

Brian Hoffman, a Woburn Republican who works as a manager in a Watertown company that sells reconditioned lab equipment, said he supports Brown because he is more conservative than Warren, and can reach across party lines. Hoffman said he respects Christie’s reputation as a governor who is known for taking on the unions in his state.

Christie signed into law a controversial reform of the teacher tenure system in New Jersey, and frequently butted heads with the teachers’ unions.

“(Christie) doesn’t care what people think. He seems to be pragmatic in his policies, and I like that he fights the unions,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman’s boss, Richard Epstein, an independent voter from Needham, said he supports Brown because he believes government should be smaller. He was interested to hear Christie, who he believes is “a great governor who helped get New Jersey’s finances in order.”

The 20 Air Force Reservists served in an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

The Republican file photo / Michael S. Gordon

CHICOPEE – A total of 20 members of the 439th Airlift Wing’s Security Forces Squadron returned to Westover Air Reserve Base Thursday after spending six months in Southwest Asia.

The Air Force Reservists, who are based at Westover, flew in after 10 a.m. and were greeted by their families and friends.

The exact location of where they served for the last six months was not released because of security reasons, said Lt. Col. James G. Bishop, chief of public affairs for Westover.

The Transportation Security Administration says it is making the switch in technology to speed up lines at crowded airports, not to ease passenger privacy concerns.

n this Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 photo, passengers are scanned at a Terminal C security checkpoint at Logan Airport in Boston using a millimeter wave body scanner, which produces a cartoon-like outline rather than naked images of passengers produced by a similar machine using X-rays. The Transportation Security Administration is deploying more of the millimeter wave machines at seven major U.S. airports where the agency is removing all of the full-body X-ray scanners that have been criticized by privacy advocates. Associated Press

By JASON KEYSER

CHICAGO — The federal government is quietly removing full-body X-ray scanners from seven major airports and replacing them with a different type of machine that produces a cartoon-like outline instead of the naked images that have been compared to a virtual strip search.

The Transportation Security Administration says it is making the switch in technology to speed up lines at crowded airports, not to ease passenger privacy concerns. But civil liberties groups hope the change signals that the equipment will eventually go to the scrap heap.

"Hopefully this represents the beginning of a phase-out of the X-ray-type scanners, which are more privacy intrusive and continue to be surrounded by health questions," said Jay Stanley, a privacy expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The machines will not be retired. They are being moved to smaller airports while Congress presses the TSA to adopt stronger privacy safeguards on all of its imaging equipment.

In the two years since they first appeared at the nation's busiest airports, the "backscatter" model of scanner has been the focus of protests and lawsuits because it uses X-rays to peer beneath travelers' clothing.

The machines are being pulled out of New York's LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, Chicago's O'Hare, Los Angeles International and Boston Logan, as well as airports in Charlotte, N.C., and Orlando, Fla.

The TSA would not comment on whether it planned to remove machines from any other locations.

Some of the backscatter scanners have gone to airports in Mesa, Ariz., Key West, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The TSA is still deciding where to send others.

The switch is being made as the TSA is under political pressure. Legislation approved in February gave the agency until June to get rid of the X-ray scanners or upgrade them with software that produces only a generic outline of the human form, not a blurry naked image. The agency, however, has the authority to grant itself extensions, and the current deadline is now May 31.

So far, the upgrades have been made only to the TSA's other type of scanner. Called millimeter-wave scanners, they resemble a large glass phone booth and use radio frequencies instead of X-rays to detect objects concealed beneath clothing.

The scan is processed by software instead of an airport security worker. If the software identifies a potential threat, a mannequin-like image is presented to the operator showing yellow boxes over areas requiring further inspection, by a pat-down for example.

Besides eliminating privacy concerns, the machine requires fewer people to operate, takes up less space in crowded security zones and completes a scan in less than two seconds, allowing screening lines to move faster.

"It's all done automatically to look for threats, so you don't have anybody in a back room that has to look at the imaging," said Doug McMakin, who led the team that developed the millimeter-wave technology at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The TSA did not announce the change until after news reports revealed it last week. In a statement, officials said speed was the reason for the switch to the millimeter-wave machines.

In addition to speed and space advantages, the millimeter-wave technology does not produce the ionizing radiation that has led to safety concerns with the X-ray machines, which required passengers to stand between two refrigerator-sized boxes.

The TSA and other experts have said the amount of radiation is less than what passengers get on the flight itself.

A TSA spokesman would not say whether the change was the beginning of a phase-out for the X-ray scanners. The agency said in the statement that it was confident both types of machine could ensure passenger safety.

The government began deploying both types to airports in 2010 after a foiled al-Qaida plot to bomb a U.S.-bound jet using explosives that can be missed by traditional metal detectors.

The scanners can cost as much as $170,000 each. There are currently about 800 of them at 200 U.S. airports. About two-thirds of them are the millimeter-wave machines.

The TSA has spent nearly $8 million developing the upgraded privacy software and plans to spend more as it works to develop software for the backscatter machines, according to a September report by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.

The committee's Republican chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, said the TSA needs to be more forthcoming about when it will have that upgrade "rather than simply shuffling" the machines from one airport to another.

"Travelers deserve to see a concrete timeline for implementing privacy software on all (scanning) machines and a commitment from TSA to sponsor an independent analysis of their potential health impact," he said.

Aviation expert Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation said it made sense to switch to the millimeter-wave scanners at busier airports, noting that "the faster processing time is a huge advantage."

"But it still seems like a very poor decision to still be foisting those flawed machines — or certainly less good machines — on people in the smaller airports," he said.

Prospects of the cease-fire taking hold are dim, given Assad's history of broken promises and the rebel momentum in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, where fighters said they advanced into several regime-held neighborhoods.

In this Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter sights a government position as rebel fighters belonging to the Liwa Al Tawhid group carry out a military operation at the Moaskar front line, one of the battlefields in Karmal Jabl neighborhood, in Aleppo, Syria. Associated Press

By KARIN LAUB

BEIRUT — The embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad promised Thursday to observe a U.N.-proposed truce during a four-day Muslim holiday, while rebels claimed major gains in the key battleground of Aleppo.

But prospects of the cease-fire taking hold are dim, given Assad's history of broken promises and the rebel momentum in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, where fighters said they advanced into several regime-held neighborhoods.

The truce plan by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, including Assad allies Russia and China. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged all countries and groups with influence in Syria to pressure both sides to stop the violence in the civil war, his spokesman said.

The holiday cease-fire was the least a divided international community could agree on after the failure of a more ambitious plan for an open-ended truce and political transition talks by Brahimi's predecessor, Kofi Annan, in April.

Even the current truce, to begin Friday with the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, appears in jeopardy from the outset. Neither side has shown an interest in laying down arms, instead pushing for incremental military gains.

The truce plan remained vague Thursday evening. It wasn't clear when exactly it was supposed to begin, and there were no arrangements for monitoring compliance. Brahimi never said what would happen after four days, a potentially dangerous omission considering that Assad and those trying to topple him sharply disagree on a way forward. Assad refuses to resign while the opposition says his departure is a prerequisite for talks.

"It's a longshot," Beirut-based analyst Paul Salem said of the cease-fire. "We are completely in war mode, at least for the next many months."

Both sides kept fighting into late Thursday.

In an apparent setback for the regime, activists said rebel fighters pushed into predominantly Christian and Kurdish neighborhoods in northern Aleppo that had previously been held by pro-Assad forces.

"It was a surprise," local activist Abu Raed said via Skype. "It was fast progress and in an unexpected direction."

He asked to be identified only by his nickname for fear of reprisals.

The battle for Aleppo, a former regime stronghold and Syria's business hub, has been largely deadlocked since rebels first captured parts of the city in late July. A complete rebel takeover could change the momentum of the war, although in recent months, front lines have shifted repeatedly and it was not clear if rebel fighters could maintain Thursday's gains.

Activists also reported fighting and shelling by government forces near the capital of Damascus, and scores of people were reported killed nationwide. Since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, more than 35,000 people have been killed, including more than 8,000 government troops, according to activists.

Even as it lost some ground in Aleppo, the Assad regime said Thursday it would abide by the holiday truce. With Russia backing the truce and presumably bearing down on Damascus, such a step had been expected. Another Syria ally, Iran, welcomed what it called a "positive action" by Syria's army.

But in endorsing the plan, the Syrian military added major loopholes, saying it would respond with force not only if attacked, but if it believes opposition fighters are reinforcing positions or smuggling weapons from abroad.

The regime also accepted the previous cease-fire plan — proposed by Annan — which called for an open-ended truce to begin April 12. But it failed to implement major provisions, such as withdrawing troops and heavy weapons from urban centers. The truce soon collapsed.

Opposition leaders and rebel commanders dismissed Thursday's announcement by the regime as empty talk. Some said opposition fighters would halt their fire but respond if attacked by regime troops.

Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, a commander of the Free Syrian Army, said that "the brigades operating under the umbrella of this council will respect the cease-fire, if the regime indeed stops operations."

"However, we have experienced the regime's promises and lies before, ... Unfortunately with such dictatorial and sectarian regimes, you cannot believe such promises will be kept," he said.

The Syrian opposition is fractured and rebel fighters are organized in different groups, with rival agendas and command structures. Jabhat al-Nusra, a radical Islamic group that has been fighting alongside the rebels and has taken a lead in the battle for Aleppo, said it won't comply with the truce.

The U.S. put the onus on the Assad regime. "What we are hoping and expecting is that they will not just talk the talk of cease-fire, but that they will walk the walk, beginning with the regime," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi welcomed the cease-fire as a "positive action" in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moallem, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

In Aleppo, it remained unclear how significant the rebels' gains were, as their forces often push into new areas only to swiftly abandon them when the regime bombs their positions.

An Aleppo activist reached via Skype said rebel fighters had seized the predominately Kurdish neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh and were pushing into Al-Siryan al-Jadideh, a nearby Christian neighborhood, where they were trying to capture a security office used as an army post.

The advance expanded the fight for Aleppo from the poorer, mostly Sunni Muslim neighborhoods on its eastern and southern sides — where the rebels can often count on support from the local population — into a new section of the city farther north.

The city's northwest has seen very little rebel activity since fighting in Aleppo began, and it was unclear how residents would react to the rebels, who are mostly from the countryside.

While the uprising has split Syria's Kurds between the rebels and the regime, the country's Christians have tried to remain neutral.

Abu Raed, the activist, said neither group had actively joined the uprising and that many were fleeing as the regime struck back.

"They have started leaving the neighborhoods because the shelling has started," he said.

Amateur video posted online Thursday showed gray smoke rising from a cluster of apartment buildings in Aleppo. A narrator said the video showed the aftermath of government shelling in the Midan neighborhood. In another video, a rebel fighter fired a machine gun from the back of a pickup truck before the vehicle sped off to take him out of the line of fire.

The videos appeared to be genuine, matching activist descriptions of events.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists, said more than two dozen people were killed in the city Thursday, including eight Kurds who died when mortar rounds exploded in their neighborhood. It was unclear who fired them, it said.

The Observatory also said about 20 people were killed in shelling and clashes near Damascus, most of them in the restive suburb of Duma.___

The owl did not appear to be injured, and will likely be transferred to the temporary care of Conway-based raptor expert Tom Ricardi.

Updates a story published at 2:44 p.m. Thursday.

HOLYOKE -- A Barred Owl that spent the day roosting atop a glass awning above the entrance to the Holyoke Health Center on Maple Street was taken into protective custody shortly after 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Police closed the street for a short time as a ladder truck from the city's fire department assisted in the rescue and a large crowd of spectators gathered.

Eric M. Velez, an animal control officer with Springfield's T.J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center, said animal control officers had told concerned onlookers all day that the owl would likely fly away once darkness fell. But, over an hour after sunset, Velez said he decided to take the owl into custody as a precautionary measure.

"If he's still there at one, two o'clock in the morning, who knows what could have happened to him," Velez said, adding that he'd heard reports of someone throwing rocks at the owl earlier in the day.

The owl did not seem to be injured. "It appears to be in good shape," Velez said. On Friday, Velez said, he planned to contact the Massachusetts Environmental Police and Conway-based raptor rehabilitator Tom Ricardi and his son, Tom Ricardi Jr.

"We're going to hold onto him for the night. We'll give him fresh water and a nice place to rest," Velez said. After that, the Ricardis will likely care for the owl until they determine it is ready to return to the wild.

The owl was the second bird of prey Velez has dealt with in the past two days. Earlier in the week, he rescued a Red-tailed Hawk found injured in Springfield.

After taking its perch at the health center early Thursday morning, the owl delighted scores of onlookers over the course of the day.

"No one can believe it," Ginger Taillefer of Agawam, an office manager at City Clinic, said around noon Thursday.

Jody Spitz of Amherst -- a family literacy coordinator at the nearby Picknelly Adult and Family Education Center on Maple Street who also spent her lunch hour viewing the bird -- marveled at the owl's draw.

"Just look at this crowd of people who are so excited to see an owl downtown," she said.

The suspect catalogued at least 100 women on his computer, federal investigators said, but there was no information that anyone was harmed.

A man claiming to be the brother of New York City Police Officer Gilberto Valle is questioned by the media Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, in the Queens borough of New York. The officer was charged Thursday in a ghoulish plot to kidnap and torture women and then cook and eat their body parts. Associated Press

NEW YORK — A city police officer was charged Thursday with leading a ghoulish double life by using a law enforcement database and fetish chat rooms to dream up a plot to torture women and then cook and eat their body parts.

Gilberto Valle left a trail of emails, instant messages and computer files detailing the bizarre cannibalism scheme, according to a criminal complaint, which identified two women as Victim 1 and Victim 2.

He catalogued at least 100 women on his computer, federal investigators said, but there was no information that anyone was harmed.

One document found on his computer was titled "Abducting and Cooking (Victim 1): A Blueprint," according to the complaint. The file also had the woman's birth date and other personal information and a list of "materials needed" — a car, chloroform and rope.

"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus ... cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible," Valle allegedly wrote in one exchange in July, the complaint says.

In other online conversations, investigators said, Valle talked about the mechanics of fitting the woman's body into an oven (her legs would have to be bent), said he could make chloroform at home to knock a woman out and discussed how "tasty" one woman looked.

"Her days are numbered," he wrote, according to the complaint.

The woman told the FBI she knew Valle and met him for lunch in July, but that's as far as it went.

The officer's estranged wife had alerted New York authorities to his chilling online activity, triggering the investigation that led to his arrest by the FBI on Wednesday, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Valle, 28, was to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon to face charges of kidnapping conspiracy and unauthorized use of law enforcement records. The name of his attorney was not immediately available, and no one answered the door to his home in a quiet, middle-class Queens neighborhood.

A search of Valle's computer found he had created records of at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos, the complaint says. Some of the information came from his unauthorized use of a law enforcement database, authorities said. He claimed, according to the complaint, that he knew many of them.

"The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us," said Mary E. Galligan, acting head of the FBI's New York office. "They speak for themselves. It would be an understatement merely to say Valle's own words and actions were shocking."

There was no immediate response to a message left with the NYPD on Thursday.

The complaint alleges that in February, Valle negotiated to kidnap another woman — Victim 2 — for someone else, writing, "$5,000 and she's all yours."

He told the buyer he was aspiring to be a professional kidnapper, authorities said.

"I think I would rather not get involved in the rape," according to the complaint. "You paid for her. She is all yours, and I don't want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl."

It says he added: "I will really get off on knocking her out, tying up her hands and bare feet and gagging her. Then she will be stuffed into a large piece of luggage and wheeled out to my van."

Cellphone data revealed that Valle made calls on the block where the woman lives, the complaint says. An FBI agent interviewed the woman, who told them that she didn't know him well and was never in her home.

Valle had been assigned to a Manhattan precinct before his suspension on Wednesday.

His Facebook page cultivated the image of a very different man. Postings were filled with photos of a smiling wife, a baby girl and an English bulldog puppy named Dudley. A Yankees fan, Valle had more than 600 Facebook friends, including dozens of young women.

Valle respected his colleagues on the force, took the sergeant's exam and spoke out against Occupy Wall Street, cop killers and others who broke the law, according to the page. His current photo was a blue line, a sign of mourning for when an officer is killed, and expressed condolences for the family of a Nassau County officer who was shot to death this week.

"Keep Nassau County police in your prayers what a brutal week," he wrote earlier this week.

The page was taken down Thursday afternoon.

Valle lived in a six-story apartment building with white pillars on a quiet residential street in Queens with a playground on the corner. No one answered his door Thursday.

Raphael Castillo, the superintendent of the building, said he was surprised by the arrest.

"I think it's a normal person and a very good person," he said. "When I talk to him, I never see nothing wrong. I don't think this is the person that I know."

Historical society members John Zwisler and Desiree Smelcer chosen six prominent figures from South Hadley's history for the event.

Young actors from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley will enact prominent people from South Hadley's history in the first-ever Village Cemetery Lantern Walk on Oct. 27. From left: Theo Merrill as Ariel Cooley, Isabelle Brinton-Fenlason as Bessie Skinner, Jared Franz as Joseph Carew, Faolain Bobersky as Mary Lyon, Ian Pittsinger as Josiah Bardwell and Aaron Collette as Daniel Lamb. Michael Beswick, The Republican

Young actors from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley will enact prominent people from South Hadley's history in the first-ever Village Cemetery Lantern Walk on Oct. 27. From left: Theo Merrill as Ariel Cooley, Isabelle Brinton-Fenlason as Bessie Skinner, Jared Franz as Joseph Carew, Faolain Bobersky as Mary Lyon, Ian Pittsinger as Josiah Bardwell and Aaron Collette as Daniel Lamb. Michael Beswick, The Republican

SOUTH HADLEY — Costumed actors from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School will offer a combination of local history, education and the Halloween-friendly thrill of a graveyard in the dark, when the South Hadley Historical Society presents a "'Village Cemetery Lantern Walk" on Oct. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Village Cemetery.

Admission is a donation of $5. First responders and people under 18 are admitted free. Proceeds will benefit the South Hadley Historical Society.

Society members John Zwisler and Desiree Smelcer chose six prominent figures from South Hadley's history for the event, five of whom are buried at Village Cemetery. "We wanted to include people who were instrumental in forming the personality and culture of the town," said Smelcer.

They include Josiah Bardwell, a salt-seller and landowner who awarded the water rights that made possible one of the first paper mills in South Hadley. He was born in 1778.

"He was known as Uncle Josiah," said Ian Pittsinger, of Chesterfield, the Performing Arts student who will play the part of Bardwell. "He was very wealthy but very down-to-earth."

Dressing all the young actors for their parts is Performing Arts student Shawnay Barton, of Springfield, who is studying advanced costume design.

Some of the historical figures in the tour - Joseph Carew, Ariel Cooley, Daniel Lamb, Bessie Skinner - will sound familiar because their names live on through descendants or because streets or landmarks were named after them. The South Hadley Library, for example, is on Bardwell Street.

The only historical personage in the tour not buried at Village Cemetery is Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College. "Her connection to South Hadley is so obviously strong that it would be silly not to include her," said Smelcer.

Student Faolain Bobersky, of South Hadley, will play the role of Lyon, who lived from 1797 to 1849 and also founded Wheaton College.

The students are writing five-minute monologues for their characters to speak as visitors are led through the cemetery by other volunteers. A new "walk" will start every 10-15 minutes

Members of the Historical Society visited Performing Arts and gave presentations about the historical figures. "The students have taken what they said and run with it," James Cox, the faculty member who drew the young actors together. "'They're bringing it to life."

The roles of Revolutionary War veterans Lamb and Cooley will be played by Theo Merrill, of Amherst, and Aaron Collette, of Chicopee, respectively. Jared Franz, of Chicopee, will play Carew, a mill owner and congressman.

The name of Skinner is usually associated with the historic silk mills, but Bessie Skinner is remembered as a school principal and writer. She was born in 1872 and lived to age 86. She will be portayed by Isabelle Brinton-Fenlason, of Northampton.

The first Lantern Walk will also include information about historic Village Cemetery, provided by the cemetery's treasurer, John Camp.

Parking is available at the Beachgrounds on Main Street (land originally donated by Daniel Lamb, who died in 1819), a short walk from Village Cemetery on Cemetery Ave. and Spring Street. Rain date is Nov. 3.

A candidate must receive seven votes from the full City Council to become treasurer.

WESTFIELD – City resident Meghan C. Miller earned the endorsement Wednesday from the City Council’s Personnel Action Committee as the next city treasurer.

Councilors Brent B. Bean II, Brian P. Sullivan and Anne W. Callahan will ask the full City Council next week to appoint Miller, one of four finalists for the job, to succeed retiring Treasurer Gregory I. Kallfa.

Brent B. Bean II

Miller is the only Westfield resident among the four candidates, a point noted by the three members of the Personnel Action Committee.

Bean, chairman of the committee, said he is “confident” in Miller’s ability “to learn the business of treasurer.”

Miller is an assistant controller at Appleton Corporation in Holyoke, a position she has held since June. Prior to that she was employed as a senior auditor, since 2006, at Wolf & Company in Springfield.

Councilors said they based their recommendation on interviews that were held Oct. 17 with the four candidates. They said all four candidates were “highly” qualified to succeed Kallfa who has served as treasurer for nearly 30 years.

Other finalists were Springfield Treasurer-Collector Stephen J. Lonergan, Palmer’s Treasurer-Collector Paul A. Nowicki and Kathleen Cooley, a fiscal manager at the New England Farm Workers’ Council fuel assistance program.

Lonergan was the only candidate to attend Wednesday’s PAC meeting, called to select a candidate to recommend to the full City Council for appointment Nov. 1.
Following the meeting, Lonergan said he was disappointed he did not receive the recommendation. But, he said the process used by the committee was fair.

Seven votes of the current 12-member City Council are needed for appointment of a new treasurer. In addition to the recommendation from the Personnel Action Committee, nominations for treasurer can be made by other city councilors.

The only other councilors present at Wednesday night’s meeting were president Christopher Keefe, David A. Flaherty and Mary L. O’Connell.

They were in agreement with the qualifications of the four finalists but indicated they favored someone with municipal financial experience for the job.

“It is hard to overlook the municipal experience,” said O’Connell.

Flaherty said he “favored an experienced municipal employee for the job.”

Keefe noted “the lack of municipal experience” by Miller and he and Flaherty suggested Miller be appointed assistant treasurer.

Lonergan has served the past three years as Springfield’s treasurer-collector while Nowicki is a former treasurer-collector in Ware, Southwick and Watertown and has been Palmer’s treasurer since 2010.

Comcast has 12,000 customers in Holyoke as its current 10-year contract enters the final year.

Aaron L. Saunders of Comcast speaks during public hearing on Holyoke's cable television contract Thursday evening, while Alex Morse listens in the background. The Republican Dave Roback

HOLYOKE - A station for residents to produce their own cable television programs, companies to compete against Comcast and an increased say in channels were among topics expressed Thursday at a public hearing on cable TV service.

"It's just such a joy for the family and such a joy for the kids and, I don't know, there's just something powerful about the children seeing" their work on TV, said Nancy Howard, of Pearl Street.

Mayor Alex B. Morse held the hearing at the War Memorial as part of the process in which the city is negotiating a new cable TV contract. About 30 people attended the hearing.

The current, 10-year contract with Comcast expires in next October. Comcast has about 12,000 customers in Holyoke, Morse said.

A Comcast representative at the hearing refused to say whether the company is amenable to providing a public access station or programming choices.

Aaron L. Saunders, manager of government and community relations for Comcast, referred questions later to Comcast spokeswoman Laura Brubaker Crisco, who wouldn't address such questions last week from The Republican and MassLive.com

“While we can’t comment on specifics related to franchise discussions, I can tell you that we value our relationship with the city of Holyoke and its residents, and look forward to the renewal process over the next year and reaching an agreement that is beneficial to all,” Brubaker Crisco wrote in an email.

During the hearing, Saunders said Comcast looked forward to the contract renewal process and noted the company had given out $40,000 in student scholarships here.

Morse said information from the hearing would be sent to Comcast.

"Thus, the testimony that you will give tonight is very important," Morse said.

As for competition, Morse said, the city in March expects to issue a request for proposals from companies that want to bid on the cable contract.

The city has no authority over the rates the cable TV provider charges customers or the programming it offers, he said.

Many of those who spoke were like Sandy Ward, of Nonotuck Street. She said a public access station would allow for an expression of the artistiic talents and ethnic backgrounds of residents.

"I would very much like to see that opened up," Ward said.

William F. Welch, of Martin Street, was among those offering caution. A public access station could work if well regulated, he said.

"There's nothing to eliminate what could be construed as hate speech by some people from being broadcast....There is nothing to prevent somebody from having a talk show in the nude," Welch said.

Millie Marengo, of the Sisters of St. Joseph here, said senior citizens struggle to fit rising cable bills into fixed incomes. She suggested Comcast offer a package of channels for seniors or at least a fixed monthly rate for seniors.

Zebrowski had been employed as a delivery man for a linen service in Springfield up until the time of his arrest.

Photo by Jim Russell / Berkshire RecordIn this photo from his April arraignment, Stuart P. Zebrowski, 54, of Chicopee, is pictured in Great Barrington after being charged with multiple arsons in Berkshire County.

PITTSFIELD – Stuart P. Zebrowski, a Chicopee man charged with setting multiple fires in Berkshire County as he worked as a driver for a linen service, will not go on trial until May, according to published reports.

The Berkshire Eagle reported that Zebrowski, 54, appeared in court Thursday for a hearing, at which time Judge John A. Agostini set his trial to begin sometime in May. The exact trial date was not set, but Zebrowski is scheduled to appear in court for a final pre-trial hearing on April 25.

Zebrowski, of 449 Oldfield Road, Chicopee, was charged with setting 15 brush fires, four building fires, two counts of breaking and entering in the daytime, two counts of larceny from a building and seven counts of larceny under $250.

He is being held at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction on $25,000 cash or $250,000 bond. He has been in custody since his arrest in April.

He has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Eagle reported that Zebrowski told police that he started the fires to get rid of things he considered unsightly. State Trooper Michael Mazza, an arson investigator assigned to the state fire marshal, previously testified that Zebrowski told him that “people in the community should thank me.”

Zebrowksi's lawyer, Richard D. LeBlanc, told the court on Thursday that he may file a motion to suppress statements made to police.

Zebrowski had been employed as a delivery man for a linen service in Springfield up until the time of his arrest.

Police had identified him as a suspect at least two months prior to his arrest, because investigators gained permission from his employer to attach a GPS tracking device to his delivery van.

A growth in early voting and tough economy for the media are forcing changes to the exit poll system that television networks and The Associated Press depend upon to deliver the story on Election Night, all with the pressure-filled backdrop of a tight presidential race.

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A growth in early voting and tough economy for the media are forcing changes to the exit poll system that television networks and The Associated Press depend upon to deliver the story on Election Night, all with the pressure-filled backdrop of a tight presidential race.

The consortium formed by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel, NBC and the AP is cutting back this year on in-person exit polls while upping the amount of telephone polling. This is to take into account more people voting before Nov. 6 and households that have abandoned land lines in favor of cell phones.

"It makes it trickier," said Joe Lenski, executive vice president of Edison Research, the company that oversees the election operation for the news organizations. "It means there are a lot of different pieces to keep track of."

On a perfect Election Night, Americans who are tracking results won't notice all the work being done behind the scenes. The Associated Press reports actual vote counts nationwide and news organizations use those numbers, plus the exit polls, results from precinct samples in some states and telephone polls of absentee voters to do their own race calls.

But things haven't always gone perfectly. The news organizations completely rebuilt their exit poll system after the 2000 embarrassment, when TV networks mistakenly called the race for George W. Bush when it wasn't decided until a month later (the AP mistakenly called Florida for Al Gore, retracted it but, unlike the networks, never called the overall race for George W. Bush). In 2004, early exit poll results overestimated the strength of Democrat John Kerry.

To save money this year, the consortium is doing bare bones exit polling in 19 states. Enough voters will be questioned in those states to help predict the outcome of races, but not enough to draw narrative conclusions about the vote — what issues mattered most to women voting for Mitt Romney, for instance, or how many Catholics voted for Barack Obama.

The affected states are: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, along with the District of Columbia.

Each is considered a non-battleground state with polls showing a strong advantage for one of the presidential candidates. Some non-battleground states will get the full exit poll for other reasons, like Massachusetts and its hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren.

"What we are doing is taking our resources and using them where the stories are," said Sheldon Gawiser, NBC's elections director and head of the steering committee for the AP-network consortium.

Spending figures were not made available. News organizations have had a tough few years financially, but the consortium noted that it is interviewing a total of 25,000 voters this year, up from 18,000 in 2008.

Because of early voting, there are no traditional exit polls in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. A phone poll is done prior to Election Day in those states, taking in a mixture of people who have and haven't voted. Others states have a mixture of telephone polling and exit interviews. California, North Carolina and Arizona are among the states where the percentage of telephone polls has grown because of more people voting early.

More people are interviewed on cell phones because it is the primary way to contact them. The consortium said cell phone interviews are twice as expensive as those on land lines because of manpower costs, in large part because it is harder to reach people and federal law requires the phone numbers to be manually dialed instead of done by computers.

In addition to the exit poll changes, the news organizations are taking steps to improve their ability to include actual vote counts in their decisions on when to call particular states as a winner for either candidate. This usually involves collecting sample precincts that reflect a state's demographics.

Even this is complicated by local customs. Some states report precinct results more quickly than others. New Mexico, for example, sets up polling places where anybody from a particular county can cast a ballot; while this makes voting easier, it makes projections based on precinct samples more difficult.

Television viewers may notice that networks are being slower than in the past to project winners in certain states, but the consortium believes people won't see a difference.

If the actual election is as close as the pre-election polls are suggesting, it will be a long night, anyway.

With all the factors increasing the difficulties and costs associated with exit polling, it's worth wondering whether a time will come that the news organizations abandon them in favor of the pre-election polling. The experts say that time is nowhere near.

"One of the great advantage of exit polls is you don't have to worry about who voted. You don't have all of these 'likely voter' issues that you have now," said Lee Miringoff, a pollster at Marist College.

Gawiser noted how the minds of voters can change, even up until the last possible minute.

"It's a story we want to be able to tell on Election Night and we want to be able to tell it accurately and rapidly," he said. "I really don't think it's much different than any other story we tell."