President Anthony W. Marx will be speaking at his last commencement May 22 as he will become president of the New York Public Library.

File photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanOutdoing Amherst College president Anthony Marx shares a laugh with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007.

AMHERST - Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, is among the eight receiving honorary degrees during Amherst College’s 190th commencement exercises May 22 at the school.

Volcker, who was Federal Reserve chairman under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and other honorees will speak to graduates families at the college on May 21 and the series of conversations are open to the public.

Others speaking and receiving honorary degrees are Amherst alum John Abele, retired founder of the Boston Scientific Corporation; Adam Falk, president of Williams College; Andrew Kendall, an Amherst alum who is president of the nonprofit Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts; Christine Lagarde, France’s Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry; Gail Kern Paster, outgoing director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC; Alice Waters, chef and owner of Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, Calif. eatery soon to be celebrating 40 years; and Kimmie Weeks, who while at Amherst College, founded the Youth Action International, a nonprofit that provides education, health care and economic empowerment to women and children in several postwar African nations. Weeks is from Liberia.

President Anthony W. Marx will speak during commencement. This will be Marx’s final commencement address as president as he is leaving June 30, after eight years, to become president of the New York Public Library.

There is no word yet on who might succeed him at the college.

Commencement begins at 10 a.m. May 22 in the quadrangle weather permitting. Otherwise it will be held in LeFrak Gymnasium.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Michael J. Polansky

Michael J. Polansky, 61, passed away on Monday. Born in Springfield, Polansky served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam conflict. Upon his return from overseas service, he received a B.S. in physical education from Westfield State College and an associate of arts degree from Holyoke Community College. Polansky then began his career in 1978 at the West Springfield Boys and Girls Club, as a program director, and became executive director in 1984. Through events such as the "Everybody's Neighborhood House" campaign in 1987, the annual golf outing and the 1996 Purchase of Moseley Arms, Polansky helped reinvigorate the club. He also was a past member of the West Springfield Boosters Club and Director of the West Springfield Lions Club.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Burek, Anita Miner




• 
  Conti, Joseph Francis
  



• 
  Cruz, Veronica A. (Rusinowski)
  




• Dougherty, Nolan Reed
  




• 
  Duffy, Joan A. (Doyle)
  



• 
  Duteau, Margaret M. (Whalen)




• 
  Dynak, Joseph J.
  



• 
  Erwin, Linda L. (Huff)
  




• Hathaway, Marshall R.
  




• 
  Hooper, Dianne M. (Hachey)
  



• 
  Johnson, Richard S.




• 
  LaFrance, Earl G.
  



• 
  Lyons, Robert T.
  




• Medeiros, Manuel
  




• 
  Pepin, Germaine A. (Bernard)
  



• 
  Polansky, Michael J.




• 
  Presnal, Thaddeus J. "Ted"
  



• 
  Samuels, Alica Bernice (Gibson)
  




• Schaff, Patricia A. (Tinder)
  




• 
  Torres, Angel L.
  

The Town Council is expected to meet next week to continue budget discussions for the assessors and school departments.

PALMER – The Town Council this week supported salary increases of 1.5 percent for all 10 department heads, along with doubling the money for a recreation director position and adding an extra $10,000 for park maintenance.

Town Council President Eric A. Duda said a recent agreement by all municipal and school unions to increase co-pays from $5 to $10 and emergency room visits from $25 to $50 saved the town approximately $200,000, and is helping to make a difference in the fiscal 2012 budget.

Eric A. Duda

“This helps save positions, and fund departments better. It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Duda said on Wednesday.

“There is more money available now basically because of the changes in health insurance,” Duda said.

Regarding the salary increases, Duda said it shows employees that they are valued. At-large Councilor Paul E. Burns said it would have been the fourth consecutive year without raises for the department heads.

Duda said park maintenance is now budgeted at $60,200, whereas before it was approximately $47,000. Other changes include a new 9-wheel dump truck for public works, which will be leased for five years at $45,000 each year, and a new police cruiser, he said.

The council met Tuesday night to discuss the budget, and is expected to revisit budgets next week for the assessors and school departments.

Duda said the council opted to cut $12,000 in funding for a new part-time economic development director and shift it toward the $12,000 part-time recreation director. That means that $24,000 is now being budgeted for the recreation director, and $4,000 for expenses. The economic development director’s expenses also were transferred to recreation.

“This is the first step in really improving and enhancing Palmer’s quality of life issues,” Burns said.

Burns said it’s time that the council “bite the bullet on this” as it’s talked about every year, but never funded.

Duda later said that he has been pushing to have the recreation position funded, and called it a “step in the right direction.”

“The charter does require it. We can’t keep saying every year we don’t have the money when the people of Palmer voted for it,” Duda said.

In other news, the council also heard from Library Director Nancy Menard, who asked councilors to reconsider the proposed 3.5 percent cut to her fiscal 2012 budget, suggesting a 2.75 percent reduction instead.

With the larger budget cut, she would lose a part-time librarian assistant position and weekly hours would go from 48 to 44. She said she has yet to determine where four hours would be cut.

Including the cut, the fiscal 2012 library budget would be $660,990, down from last year’s appropriation of $684,965. There are 11 full-time employees at the library, including Menard, and two part-timers, including the one slated to be eliminated. She said the librarian assistant is critical to the day-to-day operations at the service desk, and works about 18.5 hours per week. She suggested changing the hours to 12 hours per week, which would be possible with the lesser cut.

Said District 4 Councilor Donald Blais, “I hope we can come to a number so we don’t impact the community as severely ... I know these are tough times but we don’t want to hit the community too hard.”

Burns said the library does a “tremendous job” of serving the residents, but said the council has the task of trying to make sure the needs of all departments are met.

Oil gained nearly 4 percent to move back above $100 a barrel.

View full sizeAssociated Press photoBystanders take snapshots as bare-chested models pose in front of the Abercrombie & Fitch shop on the Champs Elysees in Paris last week as of the promotion of the opening of the new U.S. brand shop in Paris. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported Wednesday that international sales helped pushed it to a first-quarter net income of $25 million.

NEW YORK — Widespread gains in commodity prices lifted energy and materials companies as part of a broad stock market rally Wednesday after three days of declines. Stocks built on morning gains after the Federal Reserve released minutes that showed that officials agreed that the economy is improving, which could lead to higher demand for raw materials like steel and fertilizer.

The Fed's bond-buying program has kept interest rates low and sent commodities and stock prices higher overall since late August. The U.S. stock market has gained nearly 25 percent since the central bank signaled that it would begin the asset-purchase plan. Commodity prices had fallen over the last two weeks after months of gains on concerns about the impact of high energy prices on the economy.

Oil gained nearly 4 percent to move back above $100 a barrel, due in part to a Dept. of Energy report that inventories of crude oil did not rise last week as expected. Energy stocks like Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. rose nearly 2 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 80.60 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 12,560.18. The S&P index rose 11.70, or 0.9 percent, to 1,340.68. The Nasdaq composite gained 31.79, or 1.1 percent, to 2,815.

Commodity prices halted their slide after floods damaged wheat, corn and soybean fields, with traders anticipating a supply shortage would lead to higher prices. Materials companies in the S&P 500 rose 2.1 percent, led by a nearly 5 percent gain in CF Industries Holdings. The company sells fertilizer.

Stock indexes inched up slowly in morning trading as investors tried to make sense of mixed earnings reports. Reports from Dell Inc. and Staples Inc. sent contrasting messages about how much corporations are spending. Dell's strong results suggested that companies were spending more on technology, but Staples' report suggested businesses were reluctant to lay out cash for basic needs like office supplies.

"Businesses are spending in the technology sector to improve productivity," said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "But in the business-supply area, they might not buy quite as many paper clips."

Dell jumped nearly 6 percent after the computer maker reported late Tuesday that its income nearly tripled on lower costs and better profit margins. Strong sales of servers, storage devices and computers to businesses also contributed to its results. Another tech company, Analog Devices Inc., rose 6 percent after the chip-maker said its profit jumped 44 percent.

Staples plunged 15 percent after the office-supply company reported that sales were weaker than investors were expecting. The company also lowered its full-year earnings forecast. Target Corp. fell 1.6 percent after the company also reported weak sales. Target's CEO Gregg Steinhafel said shoppers are "cautious" about spending.

The release of the Fed minutes sent bond prices lower because some of the central bank's members said it might need to start easing interest rates higher this year to guard against inflation. The higher price drove the yield of the 10-year Treasury note up to 3.17 percent from 3.12 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices rise when their yields fall.

Four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.5 billion shares.

Firefighters needed hydraulic equipment to raise the 5-ton stone off the injured woman.

Springfield Fire Department photo by Dennis LegerSpringfield Rescue Squad firefighter Brian Wanat collects equiptment from under a 10,841 pound granite monument slab that fell on female worker and pinned her. Firefighters used specialized air bags to free her.

SPRINGFIELD - A 56-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital Wednesday afternoon after she was seriously injured when pinned underneath a 5-ton tombstone at a State Street monument company, officials said.

The woman, identified as Nancy Power, co-owner of Venezian Monumental Works, 1587 State St., suffered serious injuries to her upper body when pinned under the stone, said Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger.

Firefighters using hydraulic equipment were able to life the stone up enough to free Power from underneath it, he said. She was rushed by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center for treatment. Leger said he was waiting for an update on her conditions but believed her injuries were serious.

The incident, which happened just after 4:30 p.m., resulted in State Street being blocked off as several police and fire vehicles responded to the scene. The monument company is located in Pine Point across from Tilton Street.

Employees waiting in the parking did not wish to be interviewed.

Leger said Power and another employee were working on the stone in the shop's sandblasting room. The other worker was moving the stone on a dolly when it tipped and fell over, Leger said. The sandblasting room was described as a tight fit by Leger, and Power was apparently unable to get out of the way.

He said the stone was being prepared as a grave marker. He described it as about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and about 12 inches thick. It weighed 10,841 pounds, he said.

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The May 21 rapture prediction originates with Harold Camping, who founded Family Radio Worldwide, an independent ministry.

Associated PressIn this Dec. 12, 2002 file photo, Harold Camping speaks while holding the Bible, in San Leandro, Calif. A loosely organized Christian movement has spread the word around the globe that Jesus Christ will return to earth on Saturday, May 21, 2011, to gather the faithful into heaven. While the Christian mainstream isn't buying it, many other skeptics are believing it. The prediction originates with Camping, the 89-year-old retired civil engineer, who founded Family Radio Worldwide, an independent ministry that has broadcasted his prediction around the world.

For some, it's Judgment Day. For others, it's party time.

A loosely organized Christian movement has spread the word around the globe that Jesus Christ will return to earth on Saturday to gather the faithful into heaven. While the Christian mainstream isn't buying it, many other skeptics are milking it.

A Facebook page titled "Post rapture looting" offers this invitation: "When everyone is gone and god's not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we're going to squat in." By Wednesday afternoon, more than 175,000 people indicated they would be "attending" the "public event."

The prediction is also being mocked in the comic strip "Doonesbury" and has inspired "Rapture parties" to celebrate what hosts expect will be the failure of the world to come to an end.

In the Army town of Fayetteville, N.C., the local chapter of the American Humanist Association has turned the event into a two-day extravaganza, with a Saturday night party followed by a day-after concert.

"It's not meant to be insulting, but come on," said organizer Geri Weaver. "Christians are openly scoffing at this."

The prediction originates with Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer from Oakland, Calif., who founded Family Radio Worldwide, an independent ministry that has broadcast his prediction around the world.

The Rapture — the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time — is a relatively new notion compared to Christianity itself, and most Christians don't believe in it. And even believers rarely attempt to set a date for the event.

Camping's prophecy comes from numerological calculations based on his reading of the Bible, and he says global events like the 1948 founding of Israel confirm his math.

He has been derided for an earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994, but his followers say that merely referred to the end of "the church age," a time when human beings in Christian churches could be saved. Now, they say, only those outside what they regard as irredeemably corrupt churches can expect to ascend to heaven.

Camping is not hedging this time: "Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment," he said in January.

Such predictions are nothing new, but Camping's latest has been publicized with exceptional vigor — not just by Family Radio but through like-minded groups. They've spread the word using radio, satellite TV, daily website updates, billboards, subway ads, RV caravans hitting dozens of cities and missionaries scattered from Latin America to Asia.

"These kinds of prophecies are constantly going on at a low level, and every once in a while one of them gets traction," said Richard Landes, a Boston University history professor who has studied such beliefs for more than 20 years.

The prediction has been publicized in almost every country, said Chris McCann, who works with eBible Fellowship, one of the groups spreading the message. "The only countries I don't feel too good about are the 'stans' — you know, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, those countries in Central Asia," he said.

Marie Exley, who left her home in Colorado last year to join Family Radio's effort to publicize the message, just returned from a lengthy overseas trip that included stops in the Middle East. She said billboards have gone up in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

"I decided to spend the last few days with my immediate family and fellow believers," Exley said. "Things started getting more risky in the Middle East when Judgment Day started making the news."

McCann plans to spend Saturday with his family, reading the Bible and praying. His fellowship met for the last time on Monday.

"We had a final lunch and everyone said goodbye," he said. "We don't actually know who's saved and who isn't, but we won't gather as a fellowship again."

In Vietnam, the prophecy has led to unrest involving thousands of members of the Hmong ethnic minority who gathered near the border with Laos earlier this month to await the May 21 event. The government, which has a long history of mistrust with ethnic hilltribe groups like the Hmong, arrested an unidentified number of "extremists" and dispersed a crowd of about 5,000.

No such signs of turmoil are apparent in the U.S., though many mainstream Christians aren't happy with the attention the prediction is getting. They reject the notion that a date for the end times can be calculated, if not the doctrine of the Rapture itself.

"When we engage in this kind of wild speculation, it's irresponsible," said the Rev. Daniel Akin, president of the Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. "It can do damage to naive believers who can be easily caught up and it runs the risk of causing the church to receive sort of a black eye."

Pastors around the country are planning Sunday sermons intended to illustrate the folly of trying to discern a date for the end of the world, but Akin couldn't wait: He preached on the topic last Sunday.

"I believe Christ could come today. I believe he could choose not to come for 1,000 years," he said. "That's in his hands, not mine."

No one will know for sure whether Camping's prediction is correct until Sunday morning dawns, or fails to dawn. In the meantime, there will be jokes, parties, sermons and — in at least one case— a chance to make a little money.

Bart Centre, an atheist from New Hampshire, started Eternal Earth-bound Pets in 2009. He offers Rapture believers an insurance plan for those furry family members that won't join them in heaven: 10-year pet care contracts, with Centre and his network of fellow non-believers taking responsibility for the animals after the Rapture. The fee — payable in advance, of course — was originally $110, but has gone to $135 since Camping's prediction.

Centre says he has 258 clients under contract, and that business has picked up considerably this year. But he's not worried about a sales slump if May 21 happens to disappoint believers.

"They never lose their faith. They're never disappointed," he said. "It reinforces their faith, strangely enough."

The mother was identified as Julianne McCrery, believed to be an author from Irving, Texas.

View full sizeAssociated Press photosA woman is escorted by emergency workers from the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Concord, Mass., Wednesday, May. Police in Massachusetts on Wednesday were questioning a woman in the investigation of a young boy whose body was found along a dirt road in Maine.

A body of a boy found dead on a back road in Maine road has reportedly been identified as Camden Pierce Hughes, a 6-year-old from Texas.

WBZ-TV in Boston reported Wednesday afternoon that Juli McCrery, the child's mother, confessed to Massachusetts State Police that she administered an overdose of medication that killed her son.

McCrery, of Irving, Texas, was in Massachusetts State Police custody in Concord and confessed to giving her son an overdose of cough syrup that resulted in his death, sources told the television station.

“We were together for two years, but I’ve known (the boy) since the day he was born,” Robert Miller, McCrery’s ex-boyfriend who also lives in Irving, Texas, told WBZ. “He was a very nice boy. He was an innocent boy.”

The Sun of Lowell reported that a Julianne McCrery of Texas is listed as a self-published author, issuing "Good Night, Sleep Tight: How to Fall Asleep and Go Back to Sleep When You Wake Up."

"McCrery's author page on Amazon.com, written in 2009, states: "Julianne McCrery was born in San Jose, Ca. in 1969. She has made her home Dallas, Texas since the early 80's," the Sun reported. "She enjoys two sons, one who serves in the U.S. Navy and the other one much younger aged three and a half years."

This is a computer generated likeness of a young boy found dead along a remote road in South Berwick, Maine, Saturday.

A friend in Texas told the Boston Herald that McCrery was in Maine with her son.

“I can’t imagine her hurting him. She wasn’t even violent. She was a passive, passive person,” Christian von Atzigen told the Herald, adding he called the cops in Maine to tell them he recognized the boy as McCrery’s 6-year-old."

After the boy's body was discovered along a rural road in South Berwick, investigators released a computer-generated image of the child and were swamped with hundreds of tips about the boy's identity.

"Authorities focused their attention on witnesses who said they saw a woman driving a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck near the location where the child was discovered," according to the Huffington Post.

The investigation and internal audit began nine months ago.

Timothy J. Rooke

SPRINGFIELD – City councilors met in closed session with the city solicitor and internal auditor Wednesday, seeking further information regarding alleged financial irregularities and abuses at Putnam Vocation Technical High School.

The council’s Audit Committee voted to conduct the meeting in executive session because of the potential for “disciplinary and criminal” action, Councilor Timothy J. Rooke, said committee chairman.

The audit and investigation, which began nine months ago, has already led to an undisclosed number of suspensions, resignations and termination’s, City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula said in late March.

Pikula and other officials have declined releasing names of any employee who was disciplined, citing the ongoing investigation and audit.

Rooke and Councilor Zaida Luna met Wednesday at City Hall with Pikula and Mark Ianello, the city’s director of internal audits, for an update on the audit and investigation.

Rooke said he was not able to comment on any specifics provided, but expects to have a full report within 30 to 45 days.

Pikula has not stated how many employees or how much money was involved, but said the audit was initiated after new principal Gilbert E. Traverso discovered financial irregularities in his first weeks on the job.

Rooke said he, too, sought an audit many months ago based on rumors of irregularities.

Kevin McCaskill, former principal at Putnam, said in April that he was unaware of financial problems at the school but accepts responsibility if any abuses occurred during his tenure. McCaskill left as principal in June for an administrative job in the Hartford school system.

Rooke said that if there has been “any misappropriation of taxpayer money, abuse of taxpayer money, no-show jobs or any other unacceptable behavior, we will ask for them to be prosecuted, and we will ask that the money be repaid.”

Police found large amounts of cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, oxycodone, and marijuana when they raided Hook's apartment.

The Republican file photo

Springfield police photoAnthony R. Hooks

SPRINGFIELD - A 33-year-old Oswego Street man was ordered held on $250,000 bail in Springfield District Court Wednesday following his arrest on multiple drug charges.

Anthony R. Hooks was arrested at 94 Oswego St. Apt. 1R, following a Tuesday night raid by Springfield Police narcotics detectives. The raid, led by Sgt. Martin Ambrose, came following a police investigation into drugs being sold from that apartment, located in the Hollywood section of the South End.

Police found large quantity of illegal pills, and bags of heroin and marijuana, said Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.

He was charged with five counts of possession with intent to distribute for cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, oxycodone, and marijuana. He was also charged with violating a drug-free school zone.

Hooks denied the charges at his district court arraignment. He is due back in court on June 16 for a bind-over hearing to determine if his trial should go forward in superior court.

“I’m only going to be speaker for so long, so it’s important that we make as much hay as possible,” Lally said DiMasi told him during a 2006 golf outing.

File photo by David L. Ryan / The Boston GlobeFormer Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi walks into federal court for the start of the trial at Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston on Feb. 5. On the left is step daughter Ashley and on right is wife Debbie.

BOSTON – A key figure in the federal corruption trial of former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi testified DiMasi personally lobbied top administration officials to sign off on two lucrative contracts that prosecutors say were central to a kickback scheme.

Joseph Lally, a former software salesman, testified Wednesday that DiMasi spoke with Gov. Deval L. Patrick and Patrick’s former budget chief Leslie Kirwan about one of the deals – a $15 million software contract – and that DiMasi was interested in using his position as speaker for personal gain.

“I’m only going to be speaker for so long, so it’s important that we make as much hay as possible,” Lally said DiMasi told him during a 2006 golf outing.

Lally also testified that once the details of the alleged scheme began to come to light, an agitated DiMasi warned in a conference call that “if one of us breaks, we all fall.”

Lally, who pleaded guilty and could receive a lighter prison sentence for his testimony, added an insider’s view of what prosecutors say was a burgeoning plot to defraud the state.

Lally testified he’d known another key player in the alleged scheme, lobbyist Richard McDonough, for more than two decades and in 1996 hired him as a lobbyist for the software firm Cognos. McDonough was initially paid $5,000 a month – a fee that would grow to $25,000.

The two hit on a scheme to use DiMasi’s influence to land Cognos the first of two lucrative contracts, a $4.5 million software deal with the state Department of Education, Lally said.

To funnel money to DiMasi, Lally said they brought in Steven Topazio, a former law associate of DiMasi. Prosecutors said Cognos agreed to pay Topazio, who was not charged, a monthly $5,000 fee, $4,000 of which went to DiMasi.

Lally knew it to be a “sham contract,” he said, since Topazio, a personal injury lawyer, would not do any actual work for Cognos. McDonough urged that some work be found for Topazio, in case the scheme ever unraveled, Lally testified.

They also brought a fourth individual into the alleged conspiracy, Richard Vitale, an accountant and close DiMasi friend. Lally said he agreed to pay McDonough and Vitale $100,000 after the education software contract was approved and was told the money would be used to set up a $250,000 line of credit for DiMasi, who had lost income from his law practice after becoming speaker.

The second alleged scheme would require the state to approve a $15 million software contract – although the total was negotiated down to about $13 million.

Lally said he and McDonough again relied on DiMasi to get the funding into an emergency bond bill in 2007, after Patrick had taken office.

When the administration balked, Lally said he sent talking points through Vitale to DiMasi so DiMasi could make the case to Kirwan, then Patrick’s secretary of administration and finance.

Kirwan wasn’t convinced. Lally said DiMasi also spoke with Patrick during a weekly leadership meeting. He said McDonough said he would also try to press the case for the contract with Patrick’s former top political strategist Doug Rubin.

Kirwan ultimately signed off on the contract although it was later canceled.

Before the administration agreed, Lally said McDonough told him he had to sign another consulting contract with Vitale for $500,000. Lally said that Vitale later told him that he and DiMasi were going to form a business partnership after DiMasi left office.

Defense attorneys are challenging Lally’s credibility as a witness.

Under cross examination from Vitale’s attorney, Martin Weinberg, Lally conceded that he had not always been truthful in his dealings with the defendants and had also lied or misled Cognos on several occasions. He also acknowledged cheating on his income taxes and gambling away much of the money he made from commissions.

Weinberg also asked Lally if he stood to benefit from his plea deal not only by getting a lighter sentence, but also because the government agreed he would not have to forfeit his $1 million home in North Reading.

Lally said proceeds from the sale of the home would be used to pay off gambling debts and repay money he borrowed from family and friends as his finances soured. But he told Weinberg he wasn’t getting any “big pile of money” from the deal and that he pleaded guilty because he wanted to clear his conscience.

Lawyers for DiMasi and McDonough are expected to question Lally on Thursday.

DiMasi was often alternately referred to as “boss,” “coach,” or “the big guy” in emails exchanged by defendants. At one point, Lally said he was admonished by Vitale that DiMasi’s real name should not appear in any emails.

At one point when Cognos stopped making the $5,000 payments to Topazio, Lally fired off an email warning that the company should resume the payments so they don’t upset anyone “this late in the game.”

Lally said the pressure intensified in 2008 after he got a call from a Boston Globe reporter.

During a subsequent meeting in Lally’s basement, he said McDonough was worried he might be hiding a secret recording device.

According to Lally, McDonough said: “I want you to frisk me and then he said I want to frisk you.”

The report states, "The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time."

File photo | The RepublicanGreenfield lawyer John Stobierski, who says he has more than 100 clients who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, call a report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on clergy abuse "hogwash."

A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states that incidents of sexual abuse by priests increased dramatically between the 1960s and mid-1980s before declining, and “The increased frequency of abuse is consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during the 1960s and 1970s.”

John J. Stobierski, a Greenfield lawyer who said he has more than 100 clients who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, calls the report “hogwash.”

“What they should have looked at is ‘Why did the hierarchy let this kind of behavior continue?’ ” Stobierski said. “Why did they put the interests of the institution over the interests of the children.”

Regarding the statements in the report that there was an increase in the number of reported cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests that coincided with “increased deviance of society,” Stobierski said, “I think it is hogwash to try to blame the '60s for this.”

The 156-page report, “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010,” was researched and written by the John Jay College Research Team, headed by Karen J. Terry.

It was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and released Wednesday.

In a statement accompanying the release of the report, the conference of bishops said the researchers found “that situational factors and opportunity to abuse played a significant role in the onset and continuation of abusive acts.”

The bishops statement quoted Terry saying, “The bulk of cases occurred decades ago,” and “The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time.”

The Republican requested comments Wednesday from Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, or any other appropriate diocesan spokesperson, but there were no responses to the requests.

Terry presented the report in Washington Wednesday to Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., who chairs the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.

The conference of bishops quoted Cupich saying that the report shows “what we are doing works” in addressing child sexual abuse.

“The Catholic Church has taken a position of zero tolerance of any cleric who would sexually abuse a child,” Cupich was quoted as saying by the bishops conference.

“The shame of failing our people will remain with us for a long time. It should. Its sting can keep us resolute in our commitments and humble so as to never forget the insight we came to nearly a decade ago in Dallas,” Cupich said.

Responding to the statistics in the report indicating that the number of reports of sexual abuse by Catholic priests peaked in the 1970s and 1980s and has since declined, Stobierski said, “I think the vast majority of victims never report their abuse. For a man who was molested as a little boy, it is rare that anyone reports it under the age of 40. Most of the reports come when a man is seasoned enough to realize it wasn’t his fault.”

Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States 1950-2010

The tombstone, 6 feet tall and weighing nearly 11,000 pounds, tipped over and Power was unable to get out of the way.

Springfield Fire Department photo by Dennis LegerSpringfield Rescue Squad firefighter Brian Wanat collects equiptment from under a 10,841 pound granite monument slab that fell on female worker and pinned her. Firefighters used specialized air bags to free her.

This is an update of a story that was filed at 5:26 p.m. Wednesday

SPRINGFIELD - A 56-year-old woman was critically injured Wednesday at a State Street monument company when a 10,000-pound tombstone fell on her, officials said.

The woman, identified as Nancy Power, co-owner of Venezian Monumental Works, 1587 State St., suffered serious injuries to her upper body in the 4:30 p.m. accident, said Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger.

She was rushed by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance. A hospital spokesman said Wednesday night that she is in critical condition in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

Firefighters using hydraulic equipment were able to life the stone up enough to free Power from underneath it, Leger said.

State Street was blocked off to traffic for several moments as several police and fire vehicles responded to the scene. The monument company is located in Pine Point across from Tilton Street.

Employees waiting in the parking did not wish to be interviewed.

Leger said Power and another employee were working on the stone in the shop's sandblasting room. The other worker was moving the stone on a dolly when it tipped and fell over, Leger said. The sandblasting room was described as a tight fit by Leger, and Power was apparently unable to get out of the way.

He said the stone was being prepared as a grave marker. He described it as about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and about 12 inches thick. It weighed 10,841 pounds, he said.

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Choephel had been missing since he left home on April 28.

NORTHAMPTON - The office of Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan confirmed on Wednesday night that the body found this weekend in the Connecticut River in Holyoke was that of missing Hadley resident Tsering Choephel.

A statement issued by First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven E. Gagne said Choephel's identity was confirmed by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner through an examination of dental records.

He said no other information was available, and his office is waiting for additional information from the medical examiner. No information on the cause of death was disclosed.

Choephel was last seen leaving his Bay Road home on the morning of April 28. His car was later found in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, and his wallet was in the front seat.

His body was found Saturday in the river near 25 Gatehouse Road, Holyoke.

Choephel, 46, a native of Tibet, lived in Hadley for the last several years with his family and worked at Whole Foods, according to family friends.

Kathleen Lamson and Jorge Martinez admitted buying a pick-up truck and a Honda in 2007 with money from their business food stamp account.

File photo | The RepublicanThe federal courthouse in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – Two former convenience store owners on Wednesday pleaded guilty in a $1.1 million food stamps scam, admitting they bought a pick-up truck and a Honda with money they pilfered from the taxpayer-funded antipoverty program.

Kathleen Lamson, 57, of Enfield, Conn., and Jorge Martinez, 41, of Springfield, onetime owners of L&M Market in Holyoke, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy, food stamp fraud, money-laundering and wire fraud.

Prosecutors say the three-year scheme amounted to the storekeepers allowing customers to exchange food stamps benefits for cash, and skimming portions of the illegal transaction into their business bank account. The couple then frequently wrote checks or drew cash off that account between 2007 and 2008 – many just under the $10,000 withdrawal amount that trips mandatory reporting to the IRS.

The food stamps program allows low-income beneficiaries to purchase certain types of groceries. In Massachusetts, recipients receive “EBT” cards that function essentially as debit cards, which are replenished up to a certain amount each month. Cash withdrawals from the card are prohibited.

David P. Hoose, a lawyer for Martinez, said the charges against the two far overstate the actual profits they made.

“The numbers make it sound like it was this big-profit thing,” Hoose said outside court. “There’s a lot of pressure from neighborhoods to do this sort of thing, and they were not prepared for it.

Hoose said Lamson and Martinez were former longtime employees at a greeting card company and took early retirement and their life savings to open the little bodega on High Street, which sold diapers, food, cigarettes and drinks.

“Jorge works a job, lives with his parents, has a seven-year-old car and that’s all he has in the world,” Hoose said.

However, the government contends he purchased the car with money he pilfered from the food stamps program. The charges state that in 2007, Martinez paid $12,500 from the business food stamps account toward a down payment on a Dodge Dakota and grabbed $11,000 from the account to buy a Honda.

Lamson and Martinez face up to five and six years in prison, respectively.

The two are scheduled for sentencing in U.S. District Court on Oct. 18.

Indictment: United States of America v. Kathleen Lamson and Jorge Martinez

Mary Lou Callahan said she was not aware of any students being denied college acceptance or financial aid because of the school's mistakes.

File photo | The RepublicanPalmer High School.

PALMER – Grade point averages that were incorrectly calculated at Palmer High School had no negative impact on college acceptance or financial aid prospects for six seniors who inquired about them, according to Principal Mary Lou Callahan.

Callahan told the School Committee on Wednesday that the college officials working on admissions and financial aid do their own calculations of applicants’ grade point averages and assured her that no Palmer students were denied acceptance or financial aid because of the mistake.

School Committee member Gary Blanchette told Callahan that the mistake and the failure to notify parents or the School Committee about the mistake for two months were unacceptable.

“It’s appalling,” Blanchette said.

The budget includes $671,000 in new spending to provide an additional 12 beds at the Holyoke Soldiers Home.

The Republican | Joe DeburroThe Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston.

BOSTON – Leaders of the Massachusetts Senate unveiled a $30.54 billion state budget for the next fiscal year that overhauls health insurance for municipal employees, closes a $1.9 billion shortfall through cuts to local aid and reducing growth in Medicaid and adds beds to the Holyoke Soldiers Home.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, unanimously approved the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The budget is $2 million less than the budget approved by the House last month and $7 million less than the governor’s budget proposal submitted in January.

Brewer, presiding over his first budget as chair of the committee, said the budget includes $671,000 in new spending to provide an additional 12 beds at the Holyoke Soldiers Home.

Brewer said the budget also includes $150,000 for a program to train military veterans to counsel returning veterans suffering from brain injuries or other problems.

The proposal reduces or eliminates 277 budget line items. Tax collections are projected to increase by $1.2 billion in the next fiscal year but that would be offset by the loss of $1.5 billion in federal funds used to support this year’s budget and unavailable for next year.

File photo | The RepublicanStephen Brewer

“Cuts had to be made this year as in previous years during this recession,” Brewer said. “We have worked our way through this spending plan with a scalpel, making precise and educated cuts where necessary.”

Under changes to municipal health insurance, cities and towns could either transfer workers into the state’s Group Insurance Commission or create their own system of co-payments and deductibles that could be no greater than the median co-pays and deductibles offered by the state insurance plan.

Any cost-saving proposal from a city or town must also include plans to ease the impact on retirees, low-wage employees and heavy users of health insurance.

Geoffrey C. Beckwith, executive of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said he was encouraged and appreciative of the plan put forward by Senate leaders.

The House approved a similar plan for municipal health insurance. One difference is that the Senate plan sets up a mediation panel to review any changes in co-pays and deductibles to determine that they do not exceed those in the median state insurance plan.

The Senate budget bill is set to be debated by the full Senate starting on Wednesday.

Like the budgets of the House and the governor, the Senate budget would cut unrestricted local aid to cities and towns to $834 million, down by $65 million, or 7 percent, from this year. Total general education aid would drop to $3.9 billion, down about 2 percent. The Senate increased state funding on education aid by $139 million, but it did not offset the loss of about $200 million in federal funds used on education aid this year.

The budget also cuts the state’s annual clothing allowance for income-eligible families from $150 to $40, saving nearly $8 million.

The budget also level funds regional school transportation, and increases funding for special education by $50 million to $183 million. Both Gov. Deval L. Patrick and the House had proposed $213 million in funding for extraordinary expenses on special education.

The budget has 152 riders including proposals to waive the fee on freshwater fishing licenses for people younger than 18 and to reduce the fee for a hunting license from $100 to $25 for people younger than 18.

The Senate budget would also create an $8 million competitive grant fund for cities and towns to promote efficiencies through regionalization of education and public safety services and improve data collection. That’s less than the $9.7 million approved by the governor and the House.

Patrick generally praised the budget, a spokesman said in a statement.

“The Governor is pleased with the Senate Ways and Means Committee’s budget, and commends them for putting forward a proposal that is fiscally responsible, reflects many of the Administration’s plans to fundamentally reform the way government does business, and supports the Governor’s key priorities of job creation and health care cost-containment,” Alex Goldstein, Patrick’s press secretary, said in a statement.

Sen. Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, applauded Brewer’s stewardship of the budget and said he was “grateful” that the budget plan avoids broad-based tax increases and focuses on efficiencies in government. “It’s been awhile since we supported the budget out of the gate,” Knapik said.

The budget plan also creates a new Office of Commonwealth Performance, Accountability and Transparency to track the effectiveness of programs throughout state government and make determinations on which deserve funding and which could be eliminated.

Material from The Associated Press and the Statehouse News Service was used in this report

The authority owes money to various city agencies, but officials disagree whether it's nearly $3 million or less than $1 million.

File photos | The RepublicanHolyoke City Councilor John O'Neill, left, took issue with an advertisement in the Sunday Republican paid for by Holyoke Mayor Elaine Pluta, right, about the Holyoke Geriatric Authority's financial woes.

HOLYOKE – City Councilor John J. O’Neill said Wednesday Mayor Elaine A. Pluta’s advertisement in the Sunday Republican about the Holyoke Geriatric Authority’s financial woes was “disingenuous,” “propaganda,” “outrageous” and an “abomination.”

O’Neill’s comments came as he held up the three-quarter-page ad during a meeting with authority board members of the council Finance Committee at City Hall.

Pluta’s ad, for which she said she paid about $1,500 out of her own pocket, began “Dear Citizens of Holyoke.” The ad outlined what officials consider to be the authority’s nearly $3 million debt to the city that began accruing in 2007 and how taxpayers can no longer bail out the authority.

Authority officials contend the debt is actually less than $1 million.

The meeting included authority officials discussing ways to increase revenue. One was a proposal to lease a facility on the 45 Lower Westfield Road site known as Building B or save maintenance costs by shutting down Building B.

Another proposal is to establish a unit for Alzheimer's and dementia patients, officials said.

The debt, and orders from councilors frustrated at the authority’s failure to pay it, prompted the meeting of the Finance Committee, of which O’Neill is a member.

“This is perhaps the most disingenuous piece of propaganda that has ever come across my desk. ...This is just outrageous. ...This is shameful,” O’Neill said.

The issue should be about helping elderly people and working with the authority on its problems, he said.

“We need to be working collaboratively,” said O’Neill, calling Pluta’s ad “garbage” and “an abomination.”

Reached later, Pluta said the ad details what the authority owes. She used her own money to place the ad, she said, not city funds or money from her re-election campaign.

“No, because I didn’t want it to be a political statement. I just wanted to present the facts to the taxpayers, so that we can come up with a plan to help this place. (Authority officials) just refuse to acknowledge the facts,” Pluta said.

According to Pluta, City Treasurer Jon D. Lumbra, City Solicitor Lisa A. Ball and some councilors, the authority owes $1.2 milliion to the city as repayment for a 2007 purchase of 9.5 acres on Lower Westfield Road from the authority; more than $734,000 for health and life insurance for retired authority employees; more than $502,000 to the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department; nearly $340,000 to the Holyoke Contributory Retirement Board; and $60,000 as payment in lieu of taxes.

Authority board Chaiman Joseph T. O’Neill repeated to councilors the authority doesn’t intend to pay the health and life insurance costs because that is a city cost.

But O’Neill became the first authority official to acknowledge publicly a willingness to review the $1.2 million related to the land purchase. That came at the urging of council President Joseph M. McGiverin, who said it was agreed at the time that the money was a loan to help the authority, not a straight land purchase.

“Since I’ve been there, Joe, we haven’t had that discussion,” O’Neill said.

“Why (else) would the city pay $1.2 million for land that’s not worth that much?” McGiverin said, leaning forward slightly to look at O’Neill.

“You know me well enough,” McGiverin said.

“We’ll discuss it at the next (board) meeting,” O’Neill said.

The facility at 45 Lower Westfield Road is an 80-bed nursing home and a day-care program that serves another 80 senior citizens.

The authority is a quasi-official municipal agency. The council appoints three members of the board of directors, the mayor appoints three and those six then vote in a seventh member.

The surgery was the latest milestone in her recovery from an assassination attempt and a procedure that experts say will improve her quality of life.

File photo | Associated PressGabrielle Giffords

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI

HOUSTON — Doctors repaired Gabrielle Giffords' skull on Wednesday, the latest milestone in her recovery from an assassination attempt and a procedure that experts say will improve her quality of life.

A gunman shot her in the head more than four months ago in Tucson, Ariz., and doctors had to remove a portion of her skull to relieve pressure on her brain.

On Wednesday, they put a plastic implant in place to fully cover her brain, according to a statement from TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital. The hospital planned a briefing on Thursday to give an update on her medical condition and discuss the next steps in her rehabilitation.

Giffords is "recovering well after her surgery today," a hospital statement said.

Giffords' astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, is orbiting Earth on space shuttle Endeavour and is getting updates on her condition, NASA said.

Doctors familiar with the procedure and not involved in her care said it was fairly routine, will significantly improve her quality of life and help her feel more normal.

"It's a very significant milestone in the recovery," said Dr. Robert Friedlander, chair of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The implant — or bone flap as doctors call it — will protect the brain and the skull, Friedlander said. It will allow Giffords to freely move about without her helmet, adorned with the Arizona state flag, for the first time since she began therapy in late January.

In addition, it makes therapy easier because the helmet can be uncomfortable and cumbersome, Friedlander said.

Dr. Reid Thompson, chairman of neurological surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, said there is also an important psychological element to removing the helmet.

"They look in the mirror and they don't see someone who's been injured or shot. They look normal," Thompson said.

The flap itself is custom made, manufactured to slip perfectly into place based on a three-dimensional model of the skull built from a CT image, Thompson said. Usually, the implant is made of clear or white plastic, and tightened into place with titanium screws.

Bill Kolter, a spokesman for Biomet, the manufacturer of Gifffords' implants, said the material is porous to allow bone to fuse to the edges of the object in the future.

"She'll look like everyone and when walking down the street you wouldn't know." Thompson said.

Even the shunt — or tube — placed in Giffords' head to drain excess spinal fluids from her brain will not ruin the image, Friedlander said.

That tube, which is permanent, is generally placed in the front of the head and is no more than a small bulge under the skin, usually hidden by hair. The tube drains the fluid into the abdomen.

"Externally ... once the swelling is gone, her head will be nice and round the way she was beforehand," Friedlander said.

From the start, doctors have marveled not only at Giffords survival, but also at her recovery.

Within weeks of arriving at TIRR Memorial Hospital in late January, Giffords' family and staff reported she could speak a few words, then sing some songs and string together short sentences. By March, she was able to walk with assistance, according to her doctors, and her personality was shining through.

On Monday, according to her staff, she said "good stuff, good stuff" while watching her husband rocket into space.

Still, doctors caution that she has a long recovery ahead of her and have repeatedly talked about reaching a new "normal."

Wednesday's operation is considered fairly routine, though there is a 1 percent chance of infection or bleeding, Thompson said.

Infection, normally resulting from the introduction of a foreign body, would not be apparent for a few weeks, but bleeding could occur in surgery when doctors lift the skin to reach the open area, Friedlander added.

Yet doctors say it wasn't necessary to have Kelly on Earth to go ahead with the surgery.

Not only can closing the hole alleviate some of the headaches associated with brain injuries, it helps prevent any future injury, Thompson said.

The surgery itself is only about 90 minutes long. From start to finish, including recovery from anesthesia and pre-operating preparations, the procedure will take no more than three hours, the doctors said.

And once it's over, the real countdown for Giffords' release will begin, they added.

"That may actually be quite soon," Thompson said.

She was ordered held without bail on second-degree murder charges in New Hampshire.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 12:44 this afternoon.

Associated Press photosJulianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, arrives in District Court Thursday in Portsmouth, N.H. McCrery was charged with killing her six-year-old son. McCrery is charged with asphyxiating her son, 6-year-old Camden Hughes, on Saturday in Hampton.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Even as her son’s image was plastered across TV and computer screens nationwide while authorities worked to identify the little boy found dead along a dirt road in Maine, his mother dutifully called his Texas school daily to report his absence.

Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, was ordered held without bail Thursday on second-degree murder charges in New Hampshire, where she made her initial court appearance in the death of her son, 6-year-old Camden, after waiving extradition from Massachusetts.

Information offered by authorities and friends paint a portrait of a loving but troubled mother who suffered from mood swings that sometimes culminated in road trips – but she’d always come back.

This time, after one such trip to New England, she won’t be returning to Texas anytime soon.

A lawyer representing McCrery at a brief hearing in Massachusetts said that judging by conversations with his client, he thinks McCrery traveled hundreds of miles from home with the idea of taking her son’s life and committing suicide.

“I believe she was up here to bring both herself and her son to heaven,” Murphy said in Concord, Mass. “She told me, ‘I love my son very much. I know where he is. He’s in heaven. I want to go there as soon as possible.’”

View full sizeThis undated handout photo provided by Shirley Miller shows Camden Hughes.

The 6-year-old’s body was found Saturday in an isolated area in South Berwick, Maine, and state police were at a loss to identify him because no one had reported him missing. Police believe he was killed in Hampton, N.H.

The last day the boy attended school in Texas was Friday, May 6. The next Monday, his mother called to report that he was absent because he was ill, and she continued to call this week, saying he was still sick, said Pat Lamb, director of security for the Irving Independent School District.

Meanwhile, the case was drawing national attention as the boy went unidentified for days. State police in Maine distributed a picture of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes – an image taken of his corpse, but altered to show how he would have looked alive.

It’s extremely unusual for a missing child to go unreported. Similar cases happened only twice over the past two years, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Preliminary autopsy findings showed that Camden died of asphyxiation and was killed, according to Maine’s chief medical examiner. The homicide remains under investigation.

McCrery was detained Wednesday at a highway rest stop in Chelmsford, Mass., after police got a tip about her pickup truck, which matched a vehicle seen near the spot where the boy’s body was found covered with a blanket.

Her son died Saturday, the same day his body was discovered by a resident in Maine. Investigators believe Camden was killed that same day in Hampton, N.H., where he and his mother had stayed a night in a motel and checked out Saturday morning.

All the developments in New England occurred within 65 miles of one another.

After the New Hampshire court hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said McCrery’s family was traveling to New England and will claim the boy’s body, which is in Augusta, Maine. She did not say which family members or when they would arrive.

“I think it’s just a tragic case. There’s not much more I can say right now,” said Monica Kaeser, McCrery’s public defender in New Hampshire.

Back in Texas, some of McCrery’s friends didn’t even know she and her son had left the modest mobile home she had bought for $5,000. But some of them say they wouldn’t have been overly alarmed because she sometimes disappeared.

She had done it before but always returned eventually. Just last fall, McCrery took her son out of kindergarten to travel to Seattle, said Shirley Miller, a longtime friend from Irving, Texas.

McCrery, known to friends as Julie, suffered from mood swings and sometimes would just “up and go” without telling anyone, Miller said.

“I would say she was a caring mother,” Miller said. “I don’t know why she did this unless she just flipped out.”

Like most people, the woman appears to have harbored both demons and accomplishments.

Texas public records show that she was arrested at least twice on prostitution charges and once for possession with intent to distribute drugs.

And Amazon.com features a book for sale by a woman named Julie McCrery about how to get a good night’s sleep, titled: “Good Night, Sleep Tight!” The biography says the author drove a school bus and operated a cement mixer. Her latest job, according to court records in Massachusetts, was as an “auto parts delivery contractor” in Texas.

Miller said that she baby-sat for Camden about two weeks ago and that he was wearing the same clothes he had on when his body was found in Maine. She said the clothes were brand new.

“Why did she leave him beside the road? I cannot get past that. That does not seem like her,” she said. “I know she probably did it, but I can’t get past why.”

Lamb described McCrery’s son as “a gifted and talented” kindergartner at W.T. Hanes Elementary School in Irving. Grief counselors were on hand to assist children and staff as news of his death spread on 600-student campus, Lamb said.

“He was a really bright student,” Lamb said. “His teachers described him as a sponge who loved to learn.”

Police said no weapon was shown, but they believe a threat was made by the bank robber.

HOLYOKE – A man wearing sunglasses and a hooded sweatshirt robbed the TD Bank at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside about 5 p.m. Thursday, police said.

“I think threats of weapons were made but no weapon was shown,” Sgt. Manuel T. Reyes said.

The man got into the passenger side of a gray, four-door Chevrolet Beretta driven by what was believed to be a man, he said.

Witnesses described the robber as a white male who was unshaven and wearing large sunglasses, a hat and a gray hooded sweatshirt, he said.

Police were on the scene and it was unclear if the robber passed a note to a bank employee demanding money, which he got and fled, he said.