Mayor Domenic Sarno has announced his support for acting Commissioner Joseph Conant, insisting a national search was unnecessary.

01.11.2012 | SPRINGFIELD -- Rev. Talbert W. Swan, President of the Springfield NAACP, talks with the editorial board of The Republican. Don Treeger, The Republican

Rev. Talbert W. Swan, President of the Springfield NAACP, says the city should launch a national search for its new fire commissioner. The Republican file photo | Don Treeger

SPRINGFIELD — Local NAACP chapter president Rev. Talbert W. Swan II has called on the city to conduct a national search for a new fire commissioner, rather than lowering hiring qualifications to allow acting Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant to keep the job.

One day after winning re-election as president of the Springfield NAACP chapter, Swan said the handling of the fire commissioner’s vacancy suggests that politics, rather than professional credentials and experience, is the prime concern of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and other city officials.

“Watering down the requirements for the sake of a single preferred candidate sends a questionable message to the rank and file within the fire department, our youth and city residents,” Swan said.

“It only solidifies the well-known adage that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” he added.

Sarno announced his support for Conant two weeks ago, insisting a national search was unnecessary because the acting commissioner was a “highly qualified individual with hands-on experience.”

The job requirements include a master’s degree in fire science and seven years experience as deputy chief, neither of which Conant possesses.

In announcing support for Conant, the mayor asked the City Council to change the requirements to an associate’s degree and two years of experience as deputy chief.

Swan said a national search was conducted before filling the superintendent of schools and police commissioner posts, and should be used to find the most qualified candidate for fire commissioner too.

By not seeking outside applicants, the city is also calling attention to its troubled history in hiring and promoting minorities within the Fire Department, Swan said.

The city is still subject to a federal consent decree governing the hiring of minority candidates for police and fire positions, Swan said.

The department’s history, Swan added, is a “perfect example of structural and institutional racism.”

Wilson was originally scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 14 but did not appear in court because authorities were unable to locate her.

Amanda Wilson with her lawyer, Jonah Goldsmith.Don Treeger

NORTHAMPTON — A Belchertown woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to having sex with an underage boy who is the son of a friend.

Amanda Wilson, 27, is charged with four counts of aggravated rape of a child. According to prosecutors, Wilson had sex with the 13-year-old boy at his Amherst house on several occasions while his mother was at work or visiting her own mother. The boy told police Wilson had showed him and another boy pornography on her laptop. Wilson said she would kill herself if anyone found out about the sex, the boy told police.

Some of the sexual encounters allegedly took place in June, when the rest of the boy's family were out of the country and he was staying with Wilson, according to prosecutors. Wilson confessed to the rapes, saying she had "daddy issues," according to court documents.

Hampshire Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Rup released Wilson on her own recognizance with the conditions that she stay away from the boy and that she not work or have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.

Defense lawyer Jonah Goldsmith persuaded Rup to drop the condition that Wilson be constantly tracked by a Global Positioning System device, maintaining that she is not a flight risk. He also said Wilson, who has lost her job, is too poor to pay for the telephone line necessary for the monitoring.

Wilson was originally scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 14 but did not appear in court because authorities were unable to locate her. Goldsmith said she is currently living with her boyfriend in Belchertown and that she came to court Wednesday of her own volition.

"If she wanted to run, she could have by this point," he said.

Rup scheduled a pretrial hearing for June 3, 2013.

The City Council must decide if there should be a citywide vote on casinos, or just a vote in the ward where a casino would be located.

Artists' renderings of the proposed MGM Resorts International (top) and Penn National Gaming casinos, both of which would be situated in Springfield's Ward 1. MGM (top), Penn National

SPRINGFIELD — Approximately 65 residents attended a meeting Wednesday night in the North End, most indicating in a show of hands that they believe Springfield should have a citywide vote on any casino proposal rather than just in the ward where a casino would be located.

The meeting was conducted by the City Council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee at the German Gerena Community School on Birnie Avenue. The committee, which has been meeting in various neighborhoods, will forward a recommendation to the full council regarding if the future vote on casinos should be citywide or limited to the home ward.

A casino, if located in Springfield, will need approval from the mayor, City Council, voters and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

There are three proposals for a casino in Springfield, including two projects planned in Ward 1, which consists of the North End, Metro Center and part of the South End. Penn National Gaming is proposing a casino in the North End of the downtown, and MGM Resorts International is proposing a casino in the South End.

A third casino has been proposed by Ameristar Casinos on Page Boulevard in East Springfield.

Early in the meeting at Gerena School, an informal vote by residents found 30 were in favor of a citywide vote, and four were in favor of a ward vote.

“It affects everyone,” said Rashad Fardan of College Street, who was in favor of a citywide vote. “You (Ward 1) are the most directly affected, but you are not alone. I am not putting my head in the sand.”

Yolanda Cancel and Calvin Feliciano, both residents of the South End, raised concerns about a citywide vote, saying that Ward 1 could oppose a casino in their neighborhood, but get outvoted by residents in the outlying areas of the city.

“East Forest Park will vote way bigger,” Feliciano said. “If it’s a citywide vote, you might not matter.”

Under state law, up to three casinos would be permitted in Massachusetts, including one designated for Western Massachusetts. There are also casinos being proposed in Palmer and Holyoke, competing with the Springfield projects for the sole casino license in the region.

Ward 1 Councilor Zaida Luna and Council President James J. Ferrera III attended the meeting at Gerena. Luna helped provide Spanish translations of some of the comments being made by city officials and some residents.

Williams and some residents said there needs to be a community meeting in the neighborhood regarding the impacts and concerns of a proposed casino.

Anthony Perez involuntarily became a symbol of the worst of Black Friday as reports circulated the globe of him leaving a child in a car while he shopped for television.

SPRINGFIELD — A city man who allegedly left his girlfriend's toddler in a running car in the Kmart parking lot while he waiting in line for a Black Friday deal on a flat-screen television is telling local media that he was acting in the child's behalf.

Anthony Perez, in an interview with abc40, said he left the child in a running car with the heat on because he did not want to subject the child to a long wait in line at K-Mart.

“I checked on him periodically throughout the night,” Perez, 34,  said.

“It wasn’t done to harm the child. You know, like I said, the only reason why he was in the car is because I was trying to protect him from being out in the cold," he said.

Perez involuntarily became a symbol of the very worst of Black Friday last week when it was reported locally that police had questioned him for leaving a child inside a car in a busy parking lot while he did some late night shopping.

The story was picked up nationally and even internationally.

Police were forced to break into the car at about 1:20 a.m. Friday after someone reported seeing an unattended infant in the vehicle. The child was taken to the hospital to be checked out and was found to be in good health.

Police are apparently still looking at whether to charge Perez with child endangerment, and the state Department of Children and Families are also investigating.

Police said they initially tried to have the store page the owner of the car, but when that drew no response, they broke into the vehicle.

Police later found Perez at his residence, where they reported he had a brand-new 51-inch television.

WWLP TV22 reported that when questioned by police, Perez denied leaving the child in the car, and that he brought the child with him into the store and the boy got lost.

The Minutemen's third win came just as the other two did – in buzzer-beating fashion.

ALBANY, N.Y. – This time, it was his turn.

Two game-winning shots in 2012 had ended up in the hands of other Minutemen, but Wednesday night, Chaz Williams took care of things for the University of Massachusetts basketball team.

Williams drove to his right past Siena’s Evan Hymes, coaxing a layup in traffic to roll in with 3.3 seconds left and lifting UMass to a 64-63 victory in front of 5,749 at the Times Union Center.

The Saints tried a long baseball-style pass on the ensuing inbounds play, but Sampson Carter knocked it away from Siena star O.D. Anosike to seal the Minutemen’s third heart-pounding victory.

“It’s probably the strangest 3-2 I’ve ever seen in my life,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said of his team’s record. “Three last-second game-winners is probably unheard of and unfathomable.”

Any sort of win seemed unfathomable the way the Minutemen played in the first half, at one point trailing by as many as 17 points and looking like lost puppies on the offensive end.

The strategy was simple. Siena packed its players down low and dared UMass to beat it from long distance.

The Minutemen simply couldn’t do that, starting 0 for 12 from 3-point territory and allowing the Saints to open up a 33-16 lead 17:30 into the opening half.

“When you’re the underdog … you can do some things to just try to win the game,” Kellogg said. “Not covering Sampson, going under on Chaz and doing some different things I think was a good move by them, but one that is a little risky if we’re making shots.”

The Minutemen got their first two 3s in the waning minutes of the half, using an 8-1 run to get within 34-24 at the break.

Then, Williams took over, scoring eight of the 20 points the Minutemen needed to take a 44-43 lead with 11:54 remaining, including two big 3-pointers after starting 1 for 6 from there.

“In the first half, guys were trying to run (the offense) through me, and I was kind of disappointing,” said Williams, who finished with a season-high 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “I really didn’t want to shoot anymore, but Terrell (Vinson) kept telling me to keep shooting and that they would go in eventually. And they kept falling.”

After making his first four field goals after the break, though, Williams went cold, missing five straight as the Saints retook the lead with 4:59 to play.

With 1:35 remaining and the Saints up by 3, Anosike missed two free throws that could have made things difficult for UMass. Instead, after the teams traded missed shots, Jesse Morgan picked up a steal and a dunk to bring the Minutemen within 1 at 63-62 with under a minute to go.

Rob Poole’s missed jumper for Siena ended up out of bounds, and UMass had a chance to win the game with 20 seconds to go.

For the third straight time in a late-game situation, Kellogg elected not to call a timeout and leave the ball in the hands of his point guard.

“It’s a play that we usually run at the end of games,” Williams said. “Coach had the faith in me. He didn’t call any timeouts.”

This time, a Williams drive, which initiated the previous two buzzer-beaters for the Minutemen, ended in a made layup, and Kellogg’s faith was rewarded with another narrow victory.

“We’re very, very fortunate to be 3-2,” Kellogg said. “But I’m not giving it back.”

President Obama does not want to see himself presiding over a recession, or that will be his legacy, Buchholz said.

Economist Todd Buchholtz holds a Hot Wheels car while talking about the United States economy at the Springfield Public Forum at Springfield Symphony Hall on Wednesday evening. The Republican / Dave Roback

SPRINGFIELD — Economist and author Todd Buchholz said that in order for the “fiscal cliff”; to be averted, a federal budget must be approved by the Super Bowl, retroactive to Jan. 1.

Buchholz, the author of “New Ideas from Dead Economists,” who worked in the White House of George H.W. Bush, said that if the budget debate goes on until May, the U.S. would most likely fall back into a recession. Buchholz was the speaker at Wednesday’s Springfield Public Forum at Symphony Hall which was sponsored by Wilbraham & Monson Academy.

Republicans know that President Obama just won re-election, and has the bigger microphone, Buchholz said.

Republicans “know they are behind in the P.R. battle,” he added.

Obama, on the other hand, does not want to see himself presiding over a recession, or that will be his legacy, Buchholz said.

He said he feels optimistic that the fiscal cliff will be averted.

Buchholz said that in his opinion, the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, could slow the pace of economic recovery.

He said there is some evidence that the automobile industry and a recovering housing market are providing for moderate economic growth.

Buchholz said countries like Greece, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain have too much debt and countries like Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Turkey now are in a better position to grow economically.

He said the middle class in the United States is being “squeezed between two pincers” because the standard of living is suddenly increasing in India and China and their billions of workers are now competing for jobs with the American middle class.

Many American workers now find themselves in the position of having a job, but having gone a long time without getting a raise, Buchholz said.

In the meantime, the price of oil and other commodities keeps going up, he said.

Buchholz said he believes the biggest problem facing the United States is not the fiscal cliff, but the numbers of American students who lag behind students in other countries in math and science.

“We need to do something for our kids besides bankrupting them and shackling them to schools which are not teaching them the way they should,” Buchholz said.

There are some counties where the drop out rate is 50 percent, he said.

The future of America is dependent on all children, not just an individual’s children, Buchholz said.

He said in his opinion free markets have lifted more countries out of poverty than organizations such as Unicef.

“Free trade is a good thing,” Buchholz said, although he said he acknowledges that it also creates losers.

Rondo came to Kevin Garnett's defense after the Boston Celtics center was fouled by Kris Humphries.

We could argue whether Rajon Rondo should have maintained his cool in the second quarter Wednesday night and kept his hands to himself. He probably should have. But he saw Brooklyn Nets forward Kris Humphries push Kevin Garnett while the Boston Celtics center was in the air, off balance, and Rondo reacted almost immediately.

He either temporarily forgot about his double-digit assists streak, which stalled at 37 games when he got ejected, or decided in a split-second he would rather have his teammate's back than reach 10 assists yet again. Frankly, Humphries didn't give the hardest foul. But Rondo saw his teammate fall hard to the floor and decided to go after an opponent who outweighs him by at least 50 or 60 pounds. It was probably an overreaction. It probably wasn't the smartest decision, especially if it results in a suspension. But Rondo will fight in his teammate's defense. Even if that sometimes hurts the Celtics, it should bring him even more respect in the locker room. And he already had plenty of it.

Here's a clearer view of the pushing match:

Only six of the 15 city councilors attended the assessors' hearing on tax classification.

Holyoke City Hall.

UPDATED AT 11:51 p.m. to list councilors who didn't attend the hearing.

HOLYOKE - City councilors should think of a $40 tax rate on business property as throwing sand on the snow slide of progress, a chamber of commerce official said.

"To go over $40 is that magical barrier that says, 'I don't want you,'" said Robert W. Gilbert Jr. of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, at a hearing Wednesday.

The setting was the Board of Assessors' annual public hearing on tax classification at City Hall in a process that will result in the City Council next month deciding how to divide the property tax burden between home and business owners.

Only six of the 15 city councilors attended the hearing: Joseph M. McGiverin, David K. Bartley, Linda L. Vacon, Peter R. Tallman, Jason P. Ferreira and Rebecca Lisi.

"I wish there were more councilors here," said Helene A. Florio, president of the Holyoke Taxpayers Association.

Councilors who weren't at the hearing were President Kevin A. Jourdain and Gordon P. Alexander, Aaron M. Vega, Gladys Lebron-Martinez, Brenna M. McGee, James M. Leahy, Anthony Soto, Daniel B. Bresnahan and Todd A. McGee.

Tension this year includes the city's nearing its levy ceiling, that is, the maximum amount of taxes that can be raised. The levy ceiling under state law for the city now is $52,284,714.

The amount the city plans to seek in property taxes with the setting of the next tax rate is $51.28 million.

That leaves flexibility of only about $1 million, with expenses -- not to mention capital costs such as for fire, police and public works vehicles -- increasing.

The way to counter that, Gilbert and other business people said, is to increase taxable growth by having new businesses locate here and existing ones expand.

But a $40 tax rate on business property kills that, they said.

"It's like throwing sand on the snow slide of progress," Gilbert said.

The current tax rate is $16.85 per $1,000 for residential property and $38.53 per $1,000 valuation for commercial property.

Business owners will bypass a city with a $40 tax rate if a neighboring community's is lower, and Holyoke's current rate is the third highest business tax rate in the state, officials said.

"Business pays the bills, so don't scare them away," said Charles J. Davignon, of Charles V. Davignon Real Estate. "At a time when you can have Holyoke open for business, why kick them in the shins when they're walking across the bridge?"

The total value of all residential, business and personal property in the city is $2,091,388,565. That's a decrease in value of 3.5 percent, or $75,514,743 from the previous year's $2.16 billion, Chief Assessor Anthony Dulude said.

Residential accounts for 72 percent of the property and commercial 28 percent, he said.

But, said Gilbert, during the comment period, business is paying 50 percent of the bill.

Chamber President Kathleen G. Anderson and Florio also urged avoidance of the $40 tax rate on business.

Councilors also were urged to cut city spending, which has far outpaced property values, speed the process of auctioning tax-title-seized properties to restore them to the tax rolls and approve the proposed new urban renewal plan for the Flats, South Holyoke, Churchill and Prospect Heights-Downtown neighborhoods.

Anosike got his double-double, but the Minutemen kept the nation's leading rebounder from dominating down low

ALBANY, N.Y. — The University of Massachusetts basketball team’s third skin-of-its-teeth victory of the year will likely be looked upon by fans — and rightfully so — as an escape.

That doesn’t mean the Minutemen did everything wrong in Wednesday’s 64-63 win over Siena.

The main challenge that UMass coach Derek Kellogg knew the Saints presented was center O.D. Anosike, who entered Wednesday as the nation’s leading rebounder at 14.3 per game, and had recorded a double-double in each of the Saints’ first six games of the 2012-13 season.

But the Minutemen, whether it was starting center Cady Lalanne, his newly anointed backup Sampson Carter, or Terrell Vinson, did a good job denying Anosike in the post, and kept him relatively quiet on the offensive glass, holding him to four offensive rebounds.

“That’s the one thing I was happy with. I thought we did a great job on him even in the first half,” Kellogg said. “It was nice that they listened on a scouting report that if he has an open layup, don’t be afraid to put him to the free-throw line if you have to.”

Anosike was just 3 for 8 from the line including two misses with 1:35 to go that left the door open for the eventual UMass comeback.

A huge part of that defensive effort was Carter, who gives up 20 pounds to Anosike according to each team’s roster, yet played 23 minutes to Lalanne’s 17.

“He was great, he was fantastic,” Kellogg said of Carter. “I just feel more comfortable with an older, more mature guy. He knew where to be on defense.”

FREE-THROW SHORTFALL

One of the things Kellogg said after the Puerto Rico Tipoff that he wanted to correct was the giant disparity between his team’s free-throw attempts and its opponents.

Entering Wednesday, opponents had shot 114 times from the line to UMass’ 63. It didn’t get any better against Siena. The Saints had 19 trips to the line compared to UMass’ 8.

While part of that is due to the Minutemen’s attempts to foul Anosike, UMass itself earned an unacceptable zero trips to the line during its abysmal 24-point first-half performance.

HITTING THE GLASS

UMass’ top three scorers, Jesse Morgan, Chaz Williams and Terrell Vinson, took 70 percent of the shots (48 of 69) Wednesday night, a figure Kellogg said he was mostly OK with because other guys were doing other things without feeling like they had to shoot.

“I like that Sampson (Carter) and Maxie (Esho) contributed and did a lot of the little things without acting like they had to shoot. That was good to see. Ten rebounds from both of those guys.”

The double-digit efforts in the rebounding column for Esho and Carter were the first for UMass since the opener against Harvard, when Cady Lalanne had a season-high 13 rebounds.

Trevor Scott may have to step up against the Dolphins.

Chandler Jones The Associated Press

It may be time for Trevor Scott to step up.

According to report by CSNNE, rookie defensive end Chandler Jones is expected to miss Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins with an ankle sprain suffered Week 11 against the Indianapolis Colts.

With Jermaine Cunningham out for four games due to a drug suspension, Scott will likely be asked to move into a starting role.

“I feel like I’ll be ready for it,” Scott said. “You can’t control what goes on, but I will control what I do on Sundays, and I’ll go through preparing well this week and just get ready to win the game.”

Signed during the offseason as a probable starter, Scott has played just 110 snaps this season due to unlikely rise of Jones, considered a project following April’s draft, and Cunningham’s emergence following a disappointing 2011 season.

Scott says he will be ready for whatever role he’s placed in Sunday.

“We have a setup so as soon as somebody goes down, it’s the next man in,” Scott said. “You’re expected to perform just as well as anybody else. That’s why we work hard every week to stay mentally and physically prepared.”

The jackpot is the 2nd-largest in the history of the U.S.

A customer, left, reaches for a Powerball ticket that he purchased in a convenience store in Baltimore, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. There have been no Powerball winners since Oct. 6, and the jackpot has grown into the second highest in lottery history, behind only the $656 million Mega Millions prize in March. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Associated Press

Do you now have more money than you ever imagined? You just might, if you have the winning Powerball numbers for the $550 million jackpot for Nov. 28, 2012 that was drawn on Wednesday night.

And just to be sure, here are those winning Powerball numbers:

5-16-22-23-29
Powerball: 6

The jackpot is the largest in the history of Powerball, and the second-largest in U.S. history, coming in behind the $656 million Mega Millions prize that built up in the spring.

And $550 million is the estimated jackpot. That $656 million Mega Millions prize had been estimated at only $640 million as the drawing neared. Late tickets sales ultimately boosted the total. So if you really needed, say, $560 million, that's not outside the realm of possibility.

Another option is to forgo the full annualized Powerball prize and take the cash value, estimated at $360.2 million – before taxes.

The owner said she wants to be open by the Super Bowl.

The Republican, Michael S. Gordon (file)

WILBRAHAM - The Board of Appeals Thursday approved a special permit for a new pub-style restaurant which will be located at 2000 Boston Road next to the CVS.

The restaurant will be known as Johnny Black Pub & Grill.

It will be owned by Michael B’Shara and Kathy Kelly.

Kelly told the Board of Appeals the restaurant will serve high end pub food as well as draught beer, liquor and wine.

It will contain a long bar and various flat screen TVs, she said.

She said her goal is to be open by the Super Bowl.

Kelly is the manager of Michael’s Pasta in the Pan in Wilbraham. She previously was the manager at the Scantic Pub & Grill in Hampden.

The new restaurant will have indoor seating for 67 and an outdoor patio which can seat an additional 36.

No residents voiced an objection to the restaurant at the public hearing.

Police Chief Roger Tucker said he had no safety concerns.

An alcoholic beverages permit will be sought from the Board of Selectmen.

According to co-workers of Edward Bunce, Anthony's father, Yolanda Bunce was not coherent when seen Thursday afternoon with her son, police said.

Yolanda Bunce and Anthony Bunce Connecticut State Police

UPDATE: Connecticut State Police canceled the Amber Alert at 9:02 p.m.

SIMSBURY, Conn. — Connecticut State Police have issued an Amber Alert for 3-year-old Anthony Bunce of Simsbury.

Police said Anthony was seen with his mother, Yolanda Bunce, 40, sometime between 3 and 3:30 p.m. at the state armory on Broad Street in Hartford. According to co-workers of Edward Bunce, Anthony's father, Yolanda Bunce was not coherent, police said. The co-workers said she was looking for Edward for unknown reasons and dropped off miscellaneous items.

Yolanda Bunce was last seen driving a black 2006 Volvo S60 sedan bearing Connecticut license plates 881-YCN.

Yolanda Bunce is described as a white female, 5-foot-1, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Anthony Bunce is a 3½-year-old white male, 3-feet tall, 45 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Police asked anyone coming into contact with Anthony or Yolanda Bunce to call 911.

Activists said President Bashar Assad's regime pulled the plug on the Internet, perhaps in preparation for a major offensive.

In this citizen journalism image provided by the Homs City Union of The Syrian Revolution, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian citizens walk in a destroyed street that was attacked on Wednesday by Syrian forces warplanes, at Abu al-Hol street in Homs province, Syria, Thursday Nov. 29, 2012. Two US-based Internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off the Internet nationwide. Associated Press

BEIRUT — Internet service went down Thursday across Syria and international flights were canceled at the Damascus airport when a road near the facility was closed by heavy fighting in the country's civil war.

Activists said President Bashar Assad's regime pulled the plug on the Internet, perhaps in preparation for a major offensive. Cellphone service also went out in Damascus and parts of central Syria, they said. The government blamed rebel fighters for the outages.

With pressure building against the regime on several fronts and government forces on their heels in the battle for the northern commercial hub of Aleppo, rebels have recently begun pushing back into Damascus after largely being driven out of the capital following a July offensive. One Damascus resident reported seeing rebel forces near a suburb of the city previously deemed to be safe from fighting.

The Internet outage, confirmed by two U.S.-based companies that monitor online connectivity, is unprecedented in Syria's 20-month-old uprising against Assad, which activists say has killed more than 40,000 people.

Regime forces suffered a string of tactical defeats in recent weeks, losing air bases and other strategic facilities. The government may be trying to blunt additional rebel offensives by hampering communications.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned what she called the regime's "assault" on Syrians' ability to communicate with each other and express themselves. She said the move spoke to a desperate attempt by Assad to cling to power.

Syrian authorities often cut phone and Internet service in select areas to disrupt rebel communications when regime forces are conducting major operations.

The government sent mixed signals about the Internet outage but denied it was nationwide. The pro-regime TV station Al-Ikhbariya quoted Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi as saying that "terrorists" have targeted Internet cables, interrupting service in several cities.

Separately, state-run TV said the outage was due to a technical failure that affected some provinces, adding that technicians were trying to fix it.

Activists in Syria, reached by satellite telephones unaffected by the outage, confirmed the communications problems.

A young Syrian businessman who lives in an upscale neighborhood of Damascus, which some refer to as part of "the green zone" because it has remained relatively safe, sent a text message to an Associated Press reporter Thursday that said the Internet had been cut in his area and that mobile phone service was cutting out.

He said he was driving Wednesday through the Damascus suburb of Aqraba, near the airport, and saw dozens of rebel fighters for the first time in the area, riding in pickup trucks and motorcycles, and wielding AK-47s.

Their presence so close to the "green zone" may have led to the Internet being cut, said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared government reprisal. He said the military was positioned a few hundred meters away from the rebel fighters and had built large speed bumps to enclose the area.

The opposition said the Internet blackout was an ominous sign that the regime was preparing a major offensive.

"I fear that cutting the Internet may be a prelude to a massacre in Damascus," said Adib Shishakly, a Syrian opposition figure from Cairo, Egypt. "The regime feels it is being choked off by rebels who are closing in on the capital from its suburbs. It's a desperate move; they are trying to sever communications between activists."

Renesys, a U.S.-based network security firm that studies Internet disruption, said in a statement that Syria effectively disappeared from the Internet at 12:26 p.m. local time.

"In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet," Renesys said. It added that the main autonomous system responsible for Internet in the country is the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment, and that "all of their customer networks are currently unreachable."

Akamai Technologies Inc., another U.S.-based company that distributes content on the Internet, also confirmed the complete outage.

Jim Cowie, the chief technology officer at Renesys, said the abruptness of the outage suggested it wasn't due to a severed cable. Syria has several cables that connect it to the outside world, and all of them would have had to be cut at once for a complete outage. A power outage or an intentional shutdown at central Syrian telecommunications facilities is a more likely cause, he said.

"We saw everything go in three to four minutes, which looks like a light switch," Cowie said.

He said the profile of the outage was similar to what the Egyptian government did in January 2011 during the Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Egypt switched off the Internet for five days, halting businesses, banking and — at the height of the demonstrations — the ability of protest leaders to organize and communicate with each other.

Bahrain's Sunni rulers also jammed cellphones during the military offensive on the protesters' encampment in the capital of Manama in March 2011. Internet service remained at a crawl when the Bahrain's military stormed the city's Pearl Square — the headquarters of the revolt — after weeks of street protests.

Ann Harrison, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement that the group worried the communications were cut in Syria "to shield the truth of what is happening in the country from the outside world."

The shadowy group of hacker-activists known as Anonymous sent out a tweet Thursday saying that as of 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Friday) it would "begin removing from the Internet all web assets belonging to the Assad regime that are NOT hosted in Syria. We will begin with the websites and servers belonging to ALL Syrian Embassies abroad, which we will begin systematically removing from the Internet tonight." It said the first target was the website of the Syrian Embassy in China.

"By turning off the Internet in Syria, the butcher Assad has shown that the time has come for Anonymous to remove the last vestiges of his evil government from the Internet," Anonymous said in its statement.

Thursday's violence appeared to be focused on southern suburbs near the Damascus international airport, forcing the military to shut the road to the facility. The surrounding districts have been strongholds of rebel support since the uprising began.

At the United Nations, the secretary-general's office said at least four soldiers assigned to the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights were injured in the crossfire on the airport road as their unit was heading out for a routine rotation of forces.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the regime has started a major offensive around the airport where rebels have been particularly active in recent weeks.

Abdul-Rahman, who relies on a network of activists in Syria, said large convoys of government reinforcements were seen heading south toward the airport, which is 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Damascus. The fighting was concentrated in and around the suburbs of Aqraba and Beit Saham, he said.

The Syrian Information Ministry later said the airport road was secure after attacks by "terrorist groups" on motorists, according to state TV. It was not immediately clear whether the road had been reopened.

The fighting prompted both Emirates airline and EgyptAir to cancel flights to Damascus.

Despite months of sporadic fighting and deteriorating security in Damascus, the airport has remained open.

But EgyptAir said in a statement that the airline will halt all flights to Damascus and Aleppo starting Friday, until further notice. EgyptAir head Rushdi Zakaria said the decision was due to deteriorating security conditions in Syria.

Syrian TV also said government forces were chasing "al-Qaida elements" around Damascus, mostly in the eastern suburbs of Douma and the southern suburb of Daraya.

The Observatory said the regime used warplanes to hit districts including Daraya, where fighting has raged for days.

The operation around Damascus comes days after rebels made significant advances in the area. Last week, they captured a major helicopter base just outside the capital.

In the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began, rebels detonated a car bomb near the house of a senior member of the country's ruling Baath Party, killing him and his three bodyguards, activists said. Rebels frequently target regime figures and military commanders.

Details of the deal, which comes after prosecutors dropped related criminal charges last year, weren't immediately known and likely will be veiled by a confidentiality agreement. That could prevent the two from speaking publicly about a May 2011 encounter that she called a brutally sudden attack and he termed a consensual "moral failing."

This combo made from file photos shows former International Monetary Fund chief leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn on May 19, 2011, left, and Nafissatou Diallo on July 28, 2011, in New York. A person familiar with the case says Strauss-Kahn and Diallo, a New York City hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her, have reached an agreement to settle her lawsuit. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiation. The details of the deal are unknown Associated Press

By JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK — Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her have reached an agreement to settle her lawsuit, likely ending a legal saga that forced the onetime French presidential contender's resignation and opened a floodgate of accusations against him, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.

Details of the deal, which comes after prosecutors dropped related criminal charges last year, weren't immediately known and likely will be veiled by a confidentiality agreement. That could prevent the two from speaking publicly about a May 2011 encounter that she called a brutally sudden attack and he termed a consensual "moral failing."

Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, made the as-yet-unsigned agreement within recent days, with Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon facilitating that and a separate agreement to end another lawsuit Diallo filed against the New York Post, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private agreement. A court date is expected next week, though the day wasn't set, the person said.

Strauss-Kahn lawyer William W. Taylor III declined to comment. Lawyers for the housekeeper didn't immediately respond to phone and email messages.

Diallo, 33, and Strauss-Kahn, 63, crossed paths when she arrived to clean his luxury Manhattan hotel suite. She told police he chased her down, tried to yank down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex.

The allegation seemed to let loose a spiral of accusations about the sexual conduct of Strauss-Kahn, a married diplomat and economist who had long been dubbed the "great seducer." He now faces charges linking him to a suspected prostitution ring in his home country.

With DNA evidence showing a sexual encounter and Diallo providing a gripping description of an attack, the Manhattan district attorney's office initially said it had a strong and compelling case. But within six weeks, prosecutors' confidence began to ebb as they said Diallo had lied about her past — including a false account of a previous rape — and her actions after leaving Strauss-Kahn's room.

Diallo, who's from Guinea, said she told the truth about their encounter. But the district attorney's office dropped the charges in August 2011, saying prosecutors could no longer ask a jury to believe her.

Diallo had sued Strauss-Kahn in the meantime, with her lawyers saying she would get her day in a different court. Strauss-Kahn called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued her for $1 million.

Her lawsuit against the Post concerned a series of articles that called her a prostitute and said she sold sex at a hotel where the Manhattan DA's office had housed her during the criminal case. The News Corp. newspaper has said it stands by its reporting; a spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday.

In helping resolve the cases, McKeon averted what could have been an ugly court drama.

Strauss-Kahn initially said he had diplomatic immunity, an argument the judge turned down in May. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers had since asked McKeon to throw out part of her claim for other legal reasons. Court records show the judge had yet to rule on that and several other legal issues, and it appeared that a high-stakes step — depositions, or pretrial questioning under oath — had not yet been taken. Depositions can give both sides information and a better picture of how strong the key parties and other witnesses might be in court.

While the vast majority of civil cases end in settlements, some legal observers were surprised that the deal between Strauss-Kahn and Diallo came before the legal arguments were resolved.

"I really expected it to go a little farther," said Matthew Galluzzo, a criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator who has been following the Strauss-Kahn case closely.

Still, the case likely had taken a toll on both Diallo, a single mother of a teenage daughter, and Strauss-Kahn, who has found himself plagued by accusations of sexual misconduct that further tarnished his reputation. The Socialist had been seen as a potential leading candidate for the French presidency before his New York arrest.

In France, judges are to decide by Dec. 19 whether to annul charges linking him to a suspected prostitution ring run out of a luxury hotel in Lille. He acknowledges attending "libertine" gatherings but denies knowing that some women present were paid.

In August, a separate case against Strauss-Kahn, centered on allegations of rape in a Washington, D.C., hotel, was dropped after French prosecutors said the accuser, an escort, changed her account to say she wasn't raped.

Soon after Strauss-Kahn's arrest in New York last year, French writer Tristane Banon accused him of attempting to rape her during an interview in 2003, a claim he called imaginary and slanderous. Prosecutors said they believed the encounter qualified as a sexual assault, but the legal timeframe to pursue her complaint had elapsed.

Strauss-Kahn has separated from his wife, journalist and heiress Anne Sinclair, who stood by him through the allegations in New York. The two said they were filing a lawsuit this summer against a French magazine, citing invasion of privacy, for reporting they had split, but Sinclair later acknowledged it was true.

One homeowner urged the city to stop spending "like the federal government."

Springfield City Council Photo by Michael Beswick/The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – The homeowners stayed home in droves on Thursday rather than attend the City Council’s third public hearing on the new tax rates for the current fiscal year.

Not counting city officials, just 10 residents attended the latest tax rate hearing conducted at the Holy Cross/St. Michael’s School gymnasium on Eddywood Street in East Forest Park. Two spoke: one resident urged the city to stop spending so much money, and the other said he wished a separate, higher tax rate could be created for absentee landlords of multi-family apartment buildings.

Hank Flebotte, a resident of Forest Park said that whenever he makes improvements to his property, his taxes go up. Meanwhile, the city fails to curb high pension costs or to stop many employees from taking home their city cars, he said.

“You can’t keep bleeding me,” Flebotte said. “The city just refuses to stop spending like the federal government. You need to reduce spending.”

A final public hearing is scheduled Monday at 5 p.m., at the council chambers at City Hall. The council has a special meeting scheduled Monday at 5:30 p.m., to consider setting the new rates.

Assessors Chairman Richard J. Allen, in a presentation made at each hearing, shared the news that property values continued to decline in Springfield, and the average tax bill will also decline this year.

The total tax levy, the amount the city can bill, is $167.4 million in the current fiscal year, a reduction of $2 million from last year, he said. The council has the power to increase or decrease the gap between the homeowner tax rate and the business rate, but the average bill will decline.

In the current fiscal year, the average single family home is worth $127,200, as compared to $133,800 in fiscal 2012.

Under the current gap between residents and businesses, the average tax bill for a single family home would drop by $147, but the impact varies depending on market sales in neighborhoods and other factors, Allen said.

John Wojcik of Sixteen Acres suggested a three-tier tax system — one for homeowners and one for commercial/industrial properties, as exists now, and a separate new tier for absentee landlords of apartment buildings.

“They are no different than Joe Barbershop,” Wojcik said, of absentee owners. “They are here to make money.”

Allen said the third tax classification is not allowed under current state law. The law would have to be changed at the state level, he said.

Wojcik also said he would hope that more could be done by the city to get payments in lieu of taxes from tax-exempt properties in Springfield. Allen said there has been “a lot of effort and not much in the way of results” in seeking the voluntary in-lieu-of-tax payments.

The two prior tax rate hearings were conducted at City Hall and the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, also attracting few attendees. Councilors Clodovaldo Concepcion, John Lysak and James J. Ferrera III were among city officials attending Thursday’s hearing in East Forest Park.

Total tax levy in Springfield
This is what the tax levy has been in Springfield for the past five fiscal years, and the amount proposed for the coming fiscal year.
2008 – $153.5 million.
2009 – $163 million.
2010 – $170.8 million.
2011 – $166.5 million
2012 – $169.4 million
2013 – $167.4 million

With barely a month remaining until a year-end deadline, the hardening of positions seemed more likely to mark a transition into hard bargaining rather than signal an end to efforts to achieve a compromise on the first postelection challenge of divided government.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures as he speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks
Associated Press

By DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON — The White House is seeking $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade and an immediate infusion of funds to aid the jobless, help hard-pressed homeowners and perhaps extend the expiring payroll tax cut, officials said Thursday as talks aimed at averting an economy-rattling "'fiscal cliff" turned testy.

In exchange, the officials said, President Barack Obama will support an unspecified amount of spending cuts this year, to be followed by legislation in 2013 producing savings of as much as $400 billion from Medicare and other benefit programs over a decade.

The offer produced a withering response from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, after a closed-door meeting in the Capitol with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "Unfortunately, many Democrats continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement that will reduce our deficit," he declared.

Boehner added, "No substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the two weeks since Obama welcomed congressional leaders at the White House.

Democrats swiftly countered that any holdup was the fault of Republicans who refuse to accept Obama's campaign-long call to raise tax rates on upper incomes.

At the White House, presidential press secretary Jay Carney said, "There can be no deal without rates on top earners going up." Taking a confrontational, at times sarcastic tone, he said, "This should not be news to anyone on Capitol Hill. It is certainly not news to anyone in America who was not in a coma during the campaign season."

With barely a month remaining until a year-end deadline, the hardening of positions seemed more likely to mark a transition into hard bargaining rather than signal an end to efforts to achieve a compromise on the first postelection challenge of divided government.

Boehner suggested as much when one reporter asked if his comments meant he was breaking off talks with the White House and congressional Democrats.

"No, no, no. Stop," he quickly answered.

"I've got to tell you, I'm disappointed in where we are, and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple weeks. But going over the fiscal cliff is serious business."

Republican aides provided the first description of the White House's offer, although Democratic officials readily confirmed the outlines.

Under the proposal, the White House is seeking passage by year's end of tax increases totaling $1.6 trillion over a decade, including the rate hikes sought by Obama.

Obama also asked for approval by year's end of $30 billion to renew expiring jobless benefits, $25 billion to prevent a looming Jan. 1 cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients and an undisclosed amount to help homeowners hit by the collapse in real estate values.

The White House also wants a new stimulus package to aid the economy, with a price tag for the first year of $50 billion, as well as an extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut that is due to end on Dec. 31, or some way to offset the impact of its expiration.

In political terms, the White House proposal is a near mirror image of what officials have said Republicans earlier laid down as their first offer — a permanent extension of income tax cuts at all levels, an increase in the age of Medicare eligibility and steps to curtail future growth in Social Security cost-of-living increases.

In exchange, the GOP has offered to support unspecified increases in revenue as part of tax reform legislation to be written in 2013.

The GOP said the White House was offering unspecified spending cuts this year. Those would be followed next year by legislation producing savings from Medicare and other benefit programs of up to $400 billion over a decade, a companion to an overhaul of the tax code.

For the first time since the Nov., 6 elections, partisan bickering seems to trump productive bargaining as the two sides maneuvered for position.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, "We're still waiting for a serious offer from Republicans," the Nevada Democrat said at a news conference.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was more emphatic.

Referring to a meeting at the White House more than a week ago, he said both sides agreed to a two-part framework that would include a significant down payment in 2012, along with a plan to expand on the savings in 2013.

"Each side said they'd submit a down payment. We have. Our preference is revenue. What is theirs?" he said, speaking of the Republicans.

The White House also circulated a memo that said closing loopholes and limiting tax deductions — a preferred Republican alternative to Obama's call to raise high-end tax rates — would be likely to depress charitable donations and wind up leading to a middle class tax increase in the near future.

At issue is a bipartisan desire to prevent the wholesale expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and the simultaneous implementation of across-the-board spending cuts. The potential spending reductions, to be divided between military and domestic programs, were locked into place more than a year ago in hopes the threat would have forced a compromise on a deficit reduction deal before now.

Economists in and out of government warn that sending the economy over the "cliff" would trigger a recession.

To avoid the danger, Obama and Congress are hoping to devise a plan that can reduce future deficits by as much as $4 trillion in a decade, cancel the tax increases and automatic spending cuts and expand the government's ability to borrow beyond the current limit of $16.4 trillion.

In the first few days after the elections, Boehner said he was willing to accept a deal that included new revenues, a long-time Democratic demand, and Obama has said he will sign on to savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other benefit programs that Democrats have long defended from proposed Republican cuts.

At the same time, both sides have worked to tilt the bargaining table to their advantage. As part of that effort, Obama travels to Pennsylvania on Friday to campaign for his tax proposal.

Boehner, who will begin a second term as House speaker early next month, has appealed to his rank and file to remain united. At a closed-door meeting this week, he displayed polling data that showed the public would rather see loopholes closed than rates raised as a means of raising revenue for the government.

At the same time, there are tremors within the GOP ranks, with a small number of Republicans saying they are willing to let tax rates rise at upper incomes in view of the election returns, and others predicting legislation to that effect would pass the House if put to a vote.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines a brownfield as a site which is contaminated or potentially contaminated and complicates the future development of the site.

BOSTON - Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray on Thursday announced that the 170-acre Ludlow Mills site in Ludlow has been designated for “a brownfields support team,” a state initiative that brings together state, local and federal agencies to help speed environmental cleanup and the reuse of industrial properties for economic development.

During an event at the Statehouse, Murray said that since 2008, 24 state, local, and federal agencies have joined to tackle some of the state’s most complex “brownfields” projects.

Murray designated five new projects around the state for the initiative.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines a brownfield as a site which is contaminated or potentially contaminated and complicates the future development of the site.

Back in September, ground was broken on another part of the property for the new $27 million HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Western Massachusetts.

By MATT MURPHY BOSTON - Disappointed with the tone and substance of her testimony at two oversight hearings, House Republican leadership on Thursday demanded that Gov. Deval Patrick remove his top health official as the Department of Public Health strives to rebound from two serious health and safety crises. The Patrick administration has been dealing for months with the fallout...

By MATT MURPHY

BOSTON - Disappointed with the tone and substance of her testimony at two oversight hearings, House Republican leadership on Thursday demanded that Gov. Deval Patrick remove his top health official as the Department of Public Health strives to rebound from two serious health and safety crises.

JudyAnn Bigby

The Patrick administration has been dealing for months with the fallout from a state chemist who admitted to tampering with evidence, jeopardizing thousands of convictions and leading to the release so far of 195 prisoners. More recently, the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, linked to tainted steroids that caused a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak, was determined to be operating outside its state pharmacy license.

House Minority leader Brad Jones, joined by several of his colleagues at a statehouse press conference, said the Executive Office of Health and Human Services was “desperately in need of new leadership” and said now was the time for Secretary JudyAnn Bigby to resign or be removed by Patrick.

The North Reading Republican also said Bigby might have been “distracted” by the intensive efforts of the Patrick administration to pass a major health care payment reform and cost control bill last year, and was slow to react to the drug lab crisis after first learning of problems last January.

“We feel the time has come that in order for the agency to move ahead that this is a necessary move by the governor. It’s not one we take lightly,” Jones said.

A spokeswoman for Patrick said Bigby has the governor’s support.

“She has served the public with distinction and integrity throughout her tenure and has accepted full responsibility for the breakdowns at the Department of Public Health. The governor expects her to focus on fixing what went wrong and restoring the public's confidence in the Department. That is where her focus is now,” said press secretary Kim Haberlin, in a statement.

Alec Loftus, a spokesman for Bigby, responded to the calls for her resignation and said the secretary “serves at the pleasure of the governor.”

“She has and will continue to take the necessary actions to restore confidence in our public health department as it continues to provide quality services to the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable populations,” Loftus said.

Five House Republicans signed a letter to Patrick calling on the Democrat to remove his longest serving Cabinet secretaries. Jones was joined by Rep. George Peterson, of Grafton, Rep. Brad Hill, of Ipswich, Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, of North Attleborough, and Rep. Fred “Jay” Barrows, of Nansfield. Barrows’s name was not on the letter, while Rep. Viriato deMacedo signed the letter to Patrick but did not attend the press conference.

“With all due respect to the secretary, I feel that it is imperative that she reflect on what has happened over the last months and year, quite frankly, and do the right thing to step down to give that position to someone who can step in with fresh eyes to right the wrongs that have been done,” Poirier said.

Patrick has already asked all of his cabinet secretaries to consider whether they want to remain in the administration through the end of his term in 2014, and Bigby has not committed yet.

In the letter to Patrick, the Republican lawmakers took particular exception to Bigby’s testimony on Wednesday before three House committees investigating the Hinton drug lab fiasco.

While acknowledging “serious lapses in oversight,” Bigby told lawmakers that even the most stringent quality controls might not always be able to prevent someone like indicted chemist Annie Dookhan from acting inappropriately. Bigby had planned to tell lawmakers that, “There are no good answers,” to the questions of what happened and how one chemist could cause so much damage, but dropped the line from her prepared remarks.

“That response is simply unacceptable. Most public managers understand that while certain initial actions might not be prevented, appropriate policies and procedures would have caught the continual mishandling of evidence,” the lawmakers wrote.

Loftus reaffirmed Bigby’s commitment to rectifying the problems at the Department of Public Health that allowed both situations to play out for so long undetected.

“The events that led to the crisis at the former DPH drug lab and the national meningitis outbreak are tragic and unacceptable, and people have been held accountable for these lapses. The former chemist and the owners of NECC have committed potentially criminal and wholly immoral actions that have caused significant harm to the public. We are taking action to ensure that these events are never allowed to happen again,” Loftus said.

Jones called the testimony “uninspiring, lacking and I would say less than forthcoming,” and suggested some Democrats share that sentiment though they have not publicly called for Bigby to be replaced.

Asked whether their public call for Bigby to be removed might cause her to dig in her heels to avoid the appearance that she was being bullied from her position, Jones said, “I would certainly hope that our calling for what should be readily obvious move that she should do wouldn’t inspire her to make the wrong decision. More importantly our letter was to the governor. She serves at the pleasure of the governor.”

Jones also said he would be “deferential” to the governor if Patrick wanted to keep Bigby on in a limited capacity to oversee the implementation of the health care payment reform law, but there are also other “talented” people who could step in.

“I think you can make an argument that she’s been so involved in this and so focused on this that potentially it was a distraction to other duties that fell under her secretariat,” Jones said of health care reform.

The proposal would be a nonprofit venture - the Good Samaritan Casino Hotel - with mini-museums dedicated to Elvis Presley, Norman Rockwell and the Miss America Pageant.

Mountain Park in Holyoke is once of two sites proposed, so far, for a casino in the Paper City. The Republican / Dave Roback

HOLYOKE - A third casino proposal could be in the works here, though it appears to fall short of a state requirement that all gaming projects be at least $500 million each.

Charles J. Petitti, of Newton, said in a telephone interview Thursday he is proposing a $300 million gaming facility for a five-story building he owns at 195 Appleton St. near the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center downtown.

He was unfazed at his project coming beneath the $500 million limit, he said.

"Ours is going to come out a little lower than that," said Petitti, saying laws can be amended.

His proposal would be a nonprofit venture - the Good Samaritan Casino Hotel -- with mini-museums dedicated to Elvis Presley, Norman Rockwell and the Miss America Pageant, he said.

It was unclear how the nonprofit part of the casino would work, but Petitti said charities would benefit from the facility's profits.

Petitti was among recipients of a Nov. 28 letter from the city's Office of Planning and Economic Development detailing the minimum criteria that must be met by those proposing casino projects here.

Petitti, who said he has been involved in real estate, construction, property appraising and consulting, said he would have no problem coming up with the $400,000 nonrefundable fee that the state is requiring from companies proposing casino projects by Jan. 15.

He declined to identify partners he said will help raise the $300 million he said his project will cost.

Entertainment venue owner Eric Suher is proposing a casino resort at Mountain Park. Paper City Development, a limited liability company, is proposing one for Wyckoff Country Club on the Mount Tom Range along Interstate 91.