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Nature's Path Foods issues granola recall

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The product is is sold locally in Big Y supermarkets.

Natures Path 121212.jpg This photo released by Big Y Foods shows a Nature's Path Foods granola display in a Big Y supermarket.  

SPRINGFIELD - Nature’s Path Foods is recalling its bulk hemp plus granola trail mix due to the fact that it may contain almond slices, an undeclared nut allergen.

According to a statement issued by Big Y Foods, Inc., in Springfield, the sell by date for this product is listed as June 12 to 14 of next year. This product is only sold in about 15 Big Y locations in the bulk nut areas.

Due to this recall Big Y immediately activated its recall system and pulled all lots of this product from store shelves.

At Big Y, the goal is to exceed customers’ evolving expectations by constantly seeking better ways to create and deliver World Class service and value, said said Cas Tryba, director of food safety for Big Y.

Customers who have purchased this product may return it for a full refund.


School Street barn wins support from Agawam residents for restoration

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A former city councilor said Agawam is losing its old barns at a high rate and that the city should restore the historic School Street Barn for that reason.

School Street barn 2007.jpg Agawam officials hope the city will be able to get funding to refurbish the School Street Barn, seen here, if the barn is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  

AGAWAM – Plans to restore the historic School Street Barn for reuse by the public drew about 40 people who turned out for a “visioning” session about the structure held by the Planning and Community Development Office Wednesday at the Senior Center.

Many, like former City Councilor Jill S. Messick, spoke in favor of stabilizing the structure and revamping it for use by the public. Messick said the city is losing barns at a high rate and it is important to preserve the School Street one.

Members of the public weighed in after William Crosskey of Crosskey Architects LLC of Hartford outlined the various options for the building.

The cheapest plan would be to stabilize the 130-year-old barn at a cost of about $61,000 by doing such things as replacing rotten sills and post beams.

For about $681,000 the city could do the work needed to have the facility open to the public for three seasons. For about $813,000 it could restore the barn and insulate it sufficiently for the building to be open year round.

Crosskey also outlined a scenario whereby the city could rebuild the exterior of the barn for $343,500, with interior work adding $395,179 to the tab.

Planning and Community Development Director Deborah S. Dachos told the approximately 40 people who turned out for the meeting that the barn, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, could be used by the public for such things as weddings. Other uses suggested in a brochure put out by her office include art exhibits, musical performances, farmers markets, dances, theater and class reunions.

Historical Commissioner member Karl H. Stieg said his board favors preserving the building as much as possible.

Henry A. Kozloski, chairman of the Community Preservation Act Committee, argued in favor of the project on the grounds that the city has money set aside for historical preservation that cannot be used for any other purpose.

Some residents, like Billy Chester J. Chester of Barry Street, argued for leaving the structure as is.

“I’m in favor of keeping the barn the way it is. To do what you want to do is not right,” Chester said.

Dachos said her office’s next step is to consider input from the meeting and then bring its proposal to both the City Council and the Community Preservation Act Committee in January. If the project is approved by the City Council and it gets funding, the city would select a contractor in March and begin construction in May.

Holyoke police investigate 3 gunpoint robberies

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Police had three robberies to investigate, but it was unclear if they were related.

HOLYOKE - Police investigated two armed robberies in which victims said guns were shown Wednesday night, hours after four men were arrested for taking money and a cell phone from a man at gunpoint at 110 Hampshire St.

On Clinton Avenue, a man said two men in dark clothing and both showing handguns took his cell phone and food stamps just before 5:30 p.m., Lt. Jim Albert said.

Three hours later, a man said his son and friends were robbed at gunpoint by two masked men wearing dark clothing while they sat on the bleachers at Roberts Field Sports Complex beside Holyoke High School on Beech Street, he said.

It was unclear if the robberies were related, he said.

After the 2:40 p.m. robbery on Hampshire Street, he said, police caught four men matching the victim's description in an alley between Sargeant and Hampshire streets. Melvin Santiago, 24, Kevin Colon, 17, Eduardo Ayala, 17, and Emanuel Santiago-Cintron, 18, all of Holyoke, charged with armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon. Santiago also was charged with marijuana possession, he said.

The four were held at the Police Station lockup at 138 Appleton St. and were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Holyoke District Court, he said.

UMass trustee James Karam to end 10 years on board

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Karam, whose term is set to expire in February, served two stints as board chairman.

James Karam.jpg James Karam  

AMHERST - James J. Karam, two-time chairman of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, announced Wednesday that he is stepping down Dec. 31, ending nearly 10 years of service on the UMass Board of Trustees, according to a press release from the UMass president's office.

Karam, whose term is set to expire in February, served two stints as board chairman, with his most recent term as chair ending last summer when Gov. Deval Patrick appointed vice chairman Henry M. Thomas, III to succeed him.

A Fall River businessman and graduate of UMass Dartmouth, Karam notified the governor by letter of his decision and told fellow board members Wednesday at a Board of Trustees meeting on the Amherst campus. Karam said he wanted to give Patrick the opportunity to appoint a successor early in the new year.

``I have been given a number of gifts in my life: a wonderful family, good health, good fortune in my business pursuits – but certainly one of the greatest gifts I have received has been the opportunity to serve on this board,’’ Karam said. ``Being a University of Massachusetts trustee has given me the opportunity to give back to the University that has given so much to me, and to my family.’’ He added, ``I will continue to be there with you as a proud graduate, as a businessman whose interests are so tied to the state’s fortunes, and as a concerned citizen.’’

Karam, whose brother Robert Karam is also a graduate of UMass Dartmouth and former board chairman, was first appointed to the 22-member UMass Board of Trustees by Governor Jane Swift in January 2002. He was reappointed in September 2007 by Patrick. He served as chairman of the board from August 2004 to August 2006 and from September 2011 to June 30, 2012.

During his tenure on the board, Karam has overseen the successful search for and the appointment of a new UMass president, three new campus chancellors, and a new dean of the UMass School of Law. He also played a critical role in facilitating the development and opening of the UMass School of Law in Dartmouth, the Commonwealth’s only public law school; and UMass Dartmouth’s Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center and the Massachusetts Accelerator for BioManufacturing, both in Fall River.

Also during his tenure, UMass enrollment surged from 58,000 to 71,000. The university’s endowment and research expenditures both grew to nearly $600 million. UMass has become a national leader in licensing income derived from faculty inventions, and a leading recipient of biotechnology patents in Massachusetts. A faculty member won the Nobel Prize, and students have won prestigious awards, including the Marshall, Fulbright, and Truman scholarships.

Karam’s service to the University and the board was widely praised.

"Jim has my deepest thanks for his ten years of invaluable contributions to UMass," said Patrick. "He has been a tremendous partner to the University and to me, and I hope to continue working with Jim on other civic projects in the future."

``Jim has been an indispensable leader and has led the Board of Trustees with distinction,’’ UMass President Robert L. Caret said. ``He has inspired us and he has challenged us, and the University of Massachusetts is in a much better place because of his leadership and service to his alma mater. I know, personally, I owe him my sincere gratitude for his role in bringing me to this University as president, and I will miss him.’’

``Jim was an extraordinary chairman who had an acute understanding of both policy and operations," said Education Secretary Paul Reville. "His vision and energy have been essential to the University's progress and his presence on the board will be missed."

Paul Pierce leads Boston Celtics past Dallas Mavericks in double overtime

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Paul Pierce scored 34 points, including a 3-pointer at the start of the second overtime.

12-12-12-paul-pierce-cropped.jpg Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce (34) shoots as he is fouled by Dallas Mavericks guard Darren Collison (4) during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Wednesday.  

BOSTON — Paul Pierce scored 34 points, including a 3-pointer at the start of the second overtime to give Boston the lead for good, and the Celtics held on to beat the Dallas Mavericks 117-115 on Wednesday night.

Rajon Rondo had 16 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds, and Kevin Garnett added 16 points for Boston.

O.J. Mayo scored 24 points for Dallas, and Shawm Marion had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Pierce made five of six free throws in the second overtime to help clinch the Celtics' second straight victory. With his basket with 59 seconds left in the first overtime, he surpassed 23,000 points in his career. He is the 25th player in NBA history to reach the mark.

Springfield business gives $300 to Toy for Joy, thinks community service important to 'help fellow man'

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International Valve & Instrument Corp. owner Marianne Brodeur has been donating to Toy for Joy for the past 40 years.

ToyForJoyLogo2010.JPG  

Springfield business owner Marianne Brodeur has been donating to Toy for Joy for the past 40 years, ever since she realized there were people less fortunate who needed help.

Sponsored by the Salvation Army and The Republican, Toy for Joy brings holiday gifts to children in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. Hasbro Inc. joined as a partner last year, and donated a portion of the toys. The goal is to raise $150,000 by Christmas Eve.

“Back when I was a child, maybe 12, my mother had shown me the (Toy for Joy) article in the paper and she said ‘You know, people give donations to help people less fortunate than themselves and to help families.’ I thought about it, and with the Christmas money I saved from babysitting, I decided to send my first $10 in. I’ve been doing it on a personal basis ever since,” said Brodeur.

Brodeur is the owner of International Valve & Instrument Corp., located on Bay Street in Springfield. This year her company contributed a donation of $300.

As a business owner, Brodeur spends four days of each week traveling, doing sales for the company. International Valve & Instrument Corp. serves businesses in New England and New York, even reaching down to Baltimore.

“When I founded National Valve 30 years ago, I said if I was ever in a position where I could donate again I would give, and we’ve finally been able to do that,” said Brodeur.

International Valve & Instrument Corp. has since made it a goal to help everyone in need in their local community.

“We’re a service company, so we like helping out in the community when we’re able to. On Thanksgiving, we always give a turkey to the Open Pantry and give canned goods. That’s what it’s all about, helping out your fellow man,” said Brodeur.

Other employees know how passionate Brodeur is about helping others as well.

“She just loves children. She loves to help out whenever she can,” said Office Manager Carol Pease. “We feel great about donating. It’s a good feeling to help others, especially children at Christmas time.”

Today’s donations total $2,664. To date, Toy for Joy has received a total of $28,953, and still needs $121,047 to reach its fund-raising goal of $150,000.

Salvation Army units in Springfield, Greenfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Westfield are participating in Toy for Joy. The Northampton unit completed its registration last Wednesday.

For more information, call 733-7581. To make a contribution to the Toy for Joy fund, write: Toy for Joy, P.O. Box 3007, Springfield 01102. Contributions may also be dropped off with the coupon at The Republican, 1860 Main St., Springfield, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. until Dec. 21.

Here’s a list of the latest contributors:

  • For the blessings of our beautiful healthy granddaughter Chloe, $50
  • In loving memory of Grandpa Dale, love Sarah, $20
  • Jeanne, still miss you and love you from Georgie, $25
  • In loving memory of Dad, Mom, Mel and Stella from Terry and Sandy, $20
  • In loving memory of Pa, Ma, Gwen, Bob, Doug and Cay from Terry and Sandy, $20
  • Merry Christmas from Lois, $20
  • ET, $10
  • In loving memory of Peanut, the best mom in the world, $25
  • In loving memory of our parents from Bernie and Maureen, $20
  • Merry Christmas in heaven to Vo-Vo Joe and Vo-Vo Lilly from Cole and Ava, $20
  • In loving memory of Beverly M. Baloyga, love and miss ya, love Diane, $25
  • In honor of Kevin, Katie, Nikki, Alli and Erin from G’ma and Grandpa, $50
  • In loving memory of John P. Toohey, love Pots, $100
  • Golden sunset birthday and holiday wishes for Christopher Bizilj, $20
  • In memory of Kyla and Darryn, $20
  • Merry Christmas from Robert, $25
  • For Nancy and Kay, gone but not forgotten, $100
  • In memory of John and Joyce Ethier from your children, grandchildren and great grand, $15
  • In memory of my wonderful husband Charles, love Edna, $10
  • Janet, $25
  • Merry Christmas from Marie, $20
  • Merry Christmas from Fontaine Bros, $100
  • Memory of Rose, Al and Bob Chartier, love Lori and Dave, $25
  • Memory of Margaret P. Seaver, thanks from the letter carriers at Main St. station in Springfield, $77
  • Thank you St. Jude for favors received, JMC, $20
  • In loving memory of PaPa Devoie, love his grandchildren and great grandchildren, $80
  • Happy Holidays from Marty and Chris, $50
  • In memory of Betty Harper from Carol and Albert, $20
  • In loving memory of my John, $10
  • Merry Christmas from Jim and Carol Lawson, $25
  • For the children, $105
  • In memory of Armand and Winifred Beaulieu, $100
  • Paula and Peter, $25
  • In loving memory of our parents Bergers, Nadeaus and Roland miss you, $50
  • In loving memory of Dick Hayden, miss you from your family, $50
  • In memory of Nan and Gramps for the children, MLD, $50
  • In memory of Ed Wesloski, we miss you river rat, love Diane and Vickie, $10
  • In memory of Bobby Blair, love Mom, Vicke and sister Diane, $10
  • In memory of Paul, Doris and Al from Sunday moneymakers, $50
  • In loving memory of Jason DeGray, $50
  • In loving memory of Andrew Manzi, Merry Christmas from your family, $20
  • In memory of Michael S., $50
  • Merry Christmas from Skywalker, $30
  • In memory of my mom and dad, Peg and Frank Walker, $100
  • In memory of Shane, love Mom, $50
  • In memory of our parents Don, Jackie, Morgan and Evie from Terry and Judy, $25
  • In memory of deceased family members from Allan and Lorraine, $10
  • Loving memory of Tim and Dee-Jay Bassett from their family, $25
  • In memory of Pa Pa Bill Marlowe and Cace, $10
  • In memory of Jim Harp, $50
  • In memory of Tanner Simpkiss from twin brother Hunter and family, $20
  • Merry Christmas to all from Debora, $20
  • In loving memory of Michael J. Jester, $50
  • In memory of Stanley and Nellie Lysik 2012, $10
  • In memory of Henry and Alice Roberts 2012, $10
  • In memory of Janet Lysik, Aunt Jean Dupuis and Tanya Dennis 2012, $10
  • In memory of Paul Borkowski, Rich Watson, Bonhomme Dulude, Bruce Crowther and tom Poulin 2012, $10
  • In memory of Mark Roberts 2012, $10
  • Thank you St. Jude for favors granted, Joni Smith, $20
  • In memory of my Mom, Blanche E. Roberts 1/25/07 - 9/9/01, so dearly loved, so sadly missed, Joni, $30
  • In memory of my precious son, Tim Smith 10/18/60 - 11/30/80, all my love Mom, $32
  • In memory of my Dad, Michael A. Roberts 5/22/07 - 6/6/85 from Joni, $30
  • In memory of Tiger, Tasha, Bandit, Candy, Nero, Gypsy, Buffy, Buford, Smitty, Missy and Skeeter, $30
  • Thank you St. Anthony for favors granted, $20
  • In memory of Freddie Facchini, $20
  • Jesus is the reason for the season, $25
  • Merry Christmas to all and God bless American from Gallerani Electric Co., Inc., $100
  • International Valve & Instrument Corp., $300

RECEIVED: $2,664
TOTAL TO DATE: $28,953
STILL NEEDED: $121,047

Music, comic royalty rock NYC to fight back from Superstorm Sandy destruction

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Bruce Springsteen opened what turned into a six-hour show to help out residents of the New York region hit by Superstorm Sandy.

Gallery preview

NEW YORK (AP) — Musicians were so intent upon helping victims of Superstorm Sandy that they didn't seem to want their benefit concert in New York to end.

The final notes of Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" closed the star-studded show at 1:19 a.m. Thursday, nearly six hours after Bruce Springsteen set a roaring tone with "Land of Hope and Dreams."

In between, the Madison Square Garden stage hosted a mini-Nirvana reunion with Paul McCartney playing the part of Kurt Cobain, a duet between Coldplay's Chris Martin and former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, Kanye West wearing a leather skirt and enough British music royalty to fill an old rocker's home.

The sold-out show was televised live, streamed online, played on the radio and shown in theaters all over the world. Producers said up to 2 billion people were able to experience it live. The audience's stamina may have depended on their time zone.

"I know you really wanted One Direction," Martin, speaking onstage at 12:15 a.m., said of the popular British boy band. "But it's way past their bedtime. That's why you get one-quarter of Coldplay." Stipe joined him for that band's "Losing My Religion."

The participants, many natives of the area and others who know it well, struck a defiant tone in asking for help to rebuild sections of the New York metropolitan area devastated by the late-October storm.

"When are you going to learn," comic and New Jersey native Jon Stewart said. "You can throw anything at us — terrorists, hurricanes. You can take away our giant sodas. It doesn't matter. We're coming back stronger every time."

Jersey shore hero Springsteen addressed the rebuilding process in introducing his song "My City of Ruins," noting it was written about the decline of Asbury Park, N.J., before that city's renaissance over the past decade. What made the Jersey shore special was its inclusiveness, a place where people of all incomes and backgrounds could find a place, he said.

"I pray that that characteristic remains along the Jersey shore because that's what makes it special," Springsteen said.

He mixed a verse of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" into the song before calling New Jersey neighbor Jon Bon Jovi to join him in a rousing "Born to Run." Springsteen later returned the favor by joining Bon Jovi on "Who Says You Can't Go Home."

Adam Sandler hearkened back to his "Saturday Night Live" days with a ribald rewrite of the oft-sung "Hallelujah" that composer Leonard Cohen never would have dreamed. The rewritten chorus says, "Sandy, screw ya, we'll get through ya, because we're New Yawkers."

Sandler wore a New York Jets T-shirt and mined Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg, the New York Knicks, Times Square porn and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez for laugh lines.

The music lineup was heavily weighted toward classic rock, which has the type of fans able to afford a show for which ticket prices ranged from $150 to $2,500. Even with those prices, people with tickets have been offering them for more on broker sites such as StubHub, an attempt at profiteering that producers fumed was "despicable."

"This has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden," Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger said. "If it rains in London, you've got to come and help us."

In fighting trim for a series of 50th anniversary concerts in the New York area, the Stones ripped through "You've Got Me Rockin" and "Jumping Jack Flash" before beating a quick retreat — perhaps not to upstage their own upcoming Pay-Per-View show. Actor Steve Buscemi later made light of that, saying producers made room for him by cutting the Stones short. "I said, 'if they play more than two songs, I'm out of here.'"

Jagger wasn't in New York City for Sandy, but he said in an interview before the concert that his apartment was flooded with 2 feet of water.

The Who weaved Sandy into their set, showing pictures of storm devastation on video screens during "Pinball Wizard." Pete Townshend made a quick revision to the lyrics of "Baba O'Riley," changing "teenage wasteland" to "Sandy wasteland." The Who and West didn't follow the Stones' lead, and played lengthy sets that disrupted the show's momentum.

Keys, a New York native, asked the audience to hold their cell phones high for her song, "No One," triggering a sea of light that is the modern version of an earlier generation's holding cigarette lighters in the air. "We love you," Keys said, "and we'll make it through this."

Keys' "Empire State of Mind" is this century's most indelible song about her hometown. Billy Joel performed one of the last century's favorites, "New York State of Mind." Joel's "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" sounded prescient, with new Sandy-fueled lyrics smoothly fitting in. He was also the only artist to mark the season, working in a little of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Liverpool's McCartney has strong New York ties, including a Manhattan office, Hamptons summer home and a third wife, Nancy Shevell, who spent a decade on the board of the agency that oversees New York's public transit system. Backed by Diana Krall, McCartney performed "My Valentine," a song he had written for Shevell.

Otherwise, McCartney kept things lively. His James Bond theme "Live and Let Die" set off a light show and he opened his set with the Beatles' screamer "Helter Skelter." His big surprise was inviting Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smears — all ex of Nirvana — to jam on a punky new song.

An energetic West worked up a sweat in a hoodie, black leather pants and a black skirt. He told the audience that he had friends displaced by Sandy who were staying at his house, before getting the crowd swaying with a version of "Gold Digger." He ended his set by shouting, "I need you right now!" tossing his microphone and stalking off stage.

Eric Clapton switched from acoustic to electric guitar and sang "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" and "Crossroads." New York was a backdrop for Clapton's personal tragedy, when his young son died after falling out of a window.

Roger Waters played a set of Pink Floyd's spacey rock, joined by Eddie Vedder for "Comfortably Numb." Waters stuck to the music and left the fundraising to others.

"Can't chat," he said, "because we only have 30 minutes."

The sold-out "12-12-12" concert was being shown on 37 television stations in the United States and more than 200 others worldwide. It was to be streamed on 30 websites, including YouTube and Yahoo. The theaters showing it included 27 in the New York region.

Proceeds from the show will be distributed through the Robin Hood Foundation. More than $30 million was raised through ticket sales alone.

The powerful storm left parts of New York City underwater and left millions of people in several states without heat or electricity for weeks. It's blamed for at least 140 deaths, including 104 in New York and New Jersey, and it destroyed or damaged 305,000 housing units in New York alone.

Many of the artists told personal stories of friends or family affected by the storm, like Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.

"I had to hold back the tears really," he said about visiting the devastation in New Jersey. "My mom's house (in Point Pleasant, N.J.) got trashed. They had to evacuate her. She's living with me until we fix it up."

E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt said backstage that musicians are often quick to help when they can.

"Yes, it's more personal because literally the Jersey shore is where we grew up," he said. "But we'd be here anyway."


Latest concept for Westfield downtown redevelopment includes 6-story commercial building, 5-story parking garage, glass bus shelter

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Westfield already has $7 million in federal and state funding earmarked for downtown redevelopment.

WESTFIELD — The latest concept envisioned for downtown redevelopment calls for a six-story commercial-retail-residential building, a 500-vehicle parking garage and a single-story glass-enclosed Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus shelter.

The new plan, which replaces two others dating back to at least 1986, was unveiled to the public Wednesday night at South Middle School. The meeting was attended by about 100 local residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the downtown area.

The cost of the plan, still being refined, is estimated at between $20 million and $30 million, involving private investment in the multi-use building and state, federal and local funding for the parking garage and bus stop. The city already has $7 million in federal and state funding earmarked for downtown redevelopment.

The latest concept is an ongoing design being created under a $400,000 study launched earlier this year under by the city, PVTA and HDR Architecture Inc. of Boston. This study is funded with state and federal resources under the state Department of Transportation.

Chamber of Commerce director Kate E. Phelon and Westfield Business Improvement District director Maureen L. Belliveau called the concept “promising.”

“I’m excited. This is a dynamic concept for our downtown. It will be beautiful, a pedestrian paradise,” said Belliveau.

Phelon offered “This is more that I expected. It is absolutely encouraging and the Chamber is excited to be part of this in its early stages.”

But former Mayor Michael E. O’Connell questioned the size of the commercial-retail building. “I think it will be difficult to find a developer for the structure. I am overwhelmed by the size. I don’t know if there is a supply and demand balance here.”

Also supporting the prospect was Friends of the Columbia Greenway Trail president Jeffrey J. LaValley, who likes dual use of the bus shelter for users of the bike trail through the downtown. The project location sits one block west of where the bicycle and hiking trail will pass through the city’s downtown in about two years.

“I love it. This is very promising,” LaValley said.

The project, titled Elm Street Intermodal Center, will be located between Arnold, Church, Summer and Elm streets. The area includes the long-vacant lot which housed J.J. Newbury's Department Store until it burned to the ground in 1986.

The project replaces previous concepts such as the Elm Street Commons approach in the 1980s and a hotel and intermodal center in supported from the 1990s through 2007. That is when local developer John E. Reed, owner of Mestek Inc., withdrew his $12 million support for a hotel at the site.

PVTA administrator Mary I. MacIness told the audience Wednesday “PVTA is involved to assist the city in redevelopment of the downtown.”

She said PVTA plans to continue its two existing bus routes to Westfield along with a para-transit service for seniors and people with mobility issues. She indicated a fixed route service may be added and all will be served by the pavilion shelter.

Mayor Daniel M. Knapik predicted the bike trail will produce hundreds of thousands of bike trips annually through the downtown, making the Greenway Trail an “important part of this project.

“This concept is our latest effort associated with Elm Street, and it has the promise to link with professional services, executive office space, restaurants, public transit and a vast variety of new business,” Knapik said.

City Advancement Officer Jeffrey R. Daley called it a “catalyst for the future of Westfield bringing new shop owners, restaurants, services and transportation.”

But Daley also characterized the plan as “just a development plan that will guide us toward an urban renewal plan.”

HDR planner Abnik Jhaveri said the concept will support a bookstore, coffee shops and outside dining along with other retail, commercial and residential uses.

Daley said some potential tenants may include the Westfield Police Department’s Detective Bureau and Westfield State University.


CBS3 Video: Holyoke backs out of running for casino resort

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CBS3 Video: "Initiating this process was a mistake and I accept that responsibility," Mayor Alex Morse said today, reversing course on a Nov. 26 announcement that he would consider proposals for a casino in Holyoke.

2 Bridgeport, Conn., men face federal charges in theft of 111 guns from Smith & Wesson plant in Springfield

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Only 28 of the 111 stolen guns have been found.

Stolen Smith wesson guns Some of the stolen Smith & Wesson handguns that were recovered in Connecticut. Eighty-three of the 111 guns remain missing, according to officials.  

SPRINGFIELD — A federal grand jury has indicted two Bridgeport, Conn., men in connection with the theft of 111 handguns from the Smith & Wesson manufacturing plant in Springfield last month.

Indicted were Elliot Perez, 27, and Michael Murphy, 24, according to David B. Fein, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. The charges include conspiracy to possess and sell stolen firearms, trafficking stolen firearms and possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon. Murphy also was charged with two counts of making a false statement to a federal law enforcement official.

If convicted, each could be sentenced to at least 35 years in federal prison.

Perez was arrested by Stratford, Conn., police and federal officials on Nov. 23, and Murphy on Nov. 30, on weapons charges. Each has been in custody since his arrest.

Only 28 of the 111 handguns have been recovered, according to officials.

According to the federal affidavit, Perez, a driver with Pace Motor Lines of Stratford, had been dispatched on Nov. 8 to pick up an order of 5 crates of guns from Smith & Wesson in Springfield. He had made the same trip at least once before for the company.

gunguys mugshots.jpg From left, Elliot Perez, and Michael Murphy  

Surveillance footage from the loading area shows Perez placing eight crates onto his truck. Also, a check of the global position tracking device on the truck showed that on the return trip to Connecticut, Perez stopped at his residence for approximately 35 minutes before returning to the Pace facility, where he delivered the five cases and ended his shift.

The affidavit charges Perez delivered the three cases of stolen guns to Murphy, who apparently sold several of them on the street.

Fein said an investigation involving the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Bridgeport and Stratford police is ongoing to find the remaining weapons.

Perez Murphy Affidavit

UMass point guard Chaz Williams says, 'I'm back'

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By both his own and Coach Derek Kellogg's assessment, Williams hasn't been aggressive enough early in games this season.

chaz.JPG Chaz Williams is looking to push the ball earlier in games.  

AMHERST – University of Massachusetts point guard Chaz Williams would like you to know he’s back.

He hadn’t actually gone anywhere. He’s averaged a team-high 15.7 points and 35.6 minutes per game through the team’s first seven contests.

But the Chaz Williams that plays each minute with a foot pressed firmly to the gas pedal – that Chaz Williams has been absent at times, especially in the first half of games.

That will change beginning in Saturday’s game against Elon at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, according to Williams.

“I take the blame on it, me not pushing the ball, looking to be aggressive early on in the games, and just being more of a facilitator. I think that’s kind of taken away from our offense and our style of play,” Williams said. “In the last couple of days of practice, I’ve been playing as coach wants me to play. I’ll try to stick with that.”

Coach Derek Kellogg listed a few other factors that have kept the Minutemen from running the floor the way he’d like. Defensive rebounding, keeping the opponent off the free throw line and clogging the paint for Williams were all reasons he cited for why his squad hasn’t quite found its stride in transition thus far.

“It’s time to start playing UMass basketball on a consistent basis. Not for 28 or 30 minutes a game; we need to up this to 40,” Kellogg said. “I think we’ve done some good things in spurts, but we haven’t really put together the whole package of UMass basketball yet.”

That has meant quite a bit of running in practice, especially as the team gets used to a lineup that doesn’t include a true center without suspended sophomore Cady Lalanne. With Lalanne out, the Minutemen have turned to Sampson Carter, who along with Terrell Vinson and Raphiael Putney, plays what Kellogg calls a hybrid position.

“Now that we’re playing some different lineups and have some different groups out there, I think we can run a little bit more,” Kellogg said. “I’m trying to play where those guys are all interchangeable. One guy can run inside, two guys to the wing, and really get it to where we’re a little bit more of a free-flowing team.

“It’s been a work in progress. I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but the little pieces are starting to come together slowly but surely, little by little.”

What drives it all, though, is Williams.

“His speed determines our speed,” Vinson said. “If he goes fast, we have no choice but to go fast.”

Kellogg said he has seen progress in Williams over the past few days of practice.

“Chaz seems to be playing at a high rate of speed right now,” he said. “At times, I think earlier in the year, he was looking to get everybody involved and kind of push it and survey. I’m telling him to really push it, and then survey after you look to make the plays.”

And now that Williams is back, he said fans can expect to see something special.

“A lot of points. A lot of highlights, a lot of excitement, a lot of fun. You’ll see it in us playing, and you’ll get the kind of vibe and the kind of feel that we’re just out there ready to play and having fun and enjoying the game,” Williams said. “It’ll be something that’ll be cool to see.”

Commentary: Season's greetings, thanks for your consideration

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In my attic I have a box full of Christmas cards that friends have sent me over the years.

CARDS.JPG A simple one of these with some news of the kids will do.  

As usual, the one from our newspaper carrier was the first to arrive. It came right around Thanksgiving, maybe even before, describing the hard work required to deliver the newspaper so early in the morning and thanking us for our consideration.

The scene was of a cozy home in the snow at night, glowing with warmth.

I got a piece of tape and hung it over the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

The second one hasn’t come yet, but we expect it any day. It will show cartoon cats and dogs with Santa Claus hats, perhaps at an office party. Inside will be a simple salutation, most likely a neutral one like “Season’s Greetings.”

Not too many years ago, we received enough Christmas cards to cover all three doorways to the kitchen. Now, I wait anxiously for the cards from the veterinarian, the newspaper carrier, the postman and, if I’m lucky, my doctor’s office.

OMG where are the Christmas cards?

When I was a kid, they’d come every day at my parents’ house, from Thanksgiving right up to Christmas eve. Uncles, aunts, friends of my mother and father. None of them were great works of literature. They were just signed. A few would say something like, “I hope you are well.”

In my early post-collegiate years I was too on-the-move for Christmas cards. I either had no address, or it changed too often for people to keep up. By the same token, I wasn’t about to write Christmas cards out of my car.

The flip side of this is that I made lots of friends in lots of places. By the time I got married, settled in Northampton and found myself with a houseful of kids, I had friends in New Mexico, Montana, California, New Orleans, Chicago, Ohio, Nevada, Atlanta, Oregon and other places.

And, so it was that I shook out my ballpoint, opened a package of holiday cards and began to write.

I write for a living. Over the course of 40 years, I have also trained myself to sit down at inconvenient times and write fiction. It takes me maybe 10 minutes to write a Christmas card. No big deal.

I don’t believe this is the case for other people.

Letter writing has had it. Between new technology that allows for instant, ephemeral communication and the break-neck pace of modern life, no one wants to sit down with a pen and paper and tell friends what they’ve been doing. By extension, my kitchen doorways have gone bare.

It’s been a cumulative thing. Years ago, my friends would write back from Montana and North Carolina and Utah and let me know what’s been going on in their lives. But, time has gone by since I’ve seen many of them. They’ve forgotten what I looked like or why they liked me. I’ve become this recurrent Yuletide ringing in their ears.

One by one, they have fallen by the wayside. Some, in keeping with tradition, still send simple cards with no personal info. A few, a very few, describe in detail the growth of their children, the ups and downs of their jobs and the development of their inner lives. I appreciate their sacrifice in subjecting themselves to such a dated practice.

I wonder sometimes how history will survive without letters. Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, James Joyce and Jack Kerouac are more alive today because of the letters they wrote and received. Books have been written in the epistolary technique, notably “Dracula” and “Flowers for Algernon.”

But texts get wiped off sim cards, and emails get deleted. The affairs of our lives spark and fade without trace.

In my attic I have a box filled with Christmas cards that friends have sent me over the years. I can’t bring myself to throw them away. All I can hope for is a few new ones to add to the pile this season.

This just in from the lady who used to live next door: Her tomato plants were going great guns before the drought. She moved to Illinois a decade ago and writes us every Christmas. This past year she traveled to Tennessee, Wisconsin and Ohio. She’s 87 and keeps busy playing bingo and Trivial Pursuit at the elderly housing complex where she lives. I taped her card to my kitchen doorway.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick introduces 4 new cabinet members

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Patrick asked his cabinet secretaries to commit for another two years or to leave to allow him to pick replacements.

4 cabinet secretaries 121212.jpg Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez, Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, Public Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan and Education Secretary Paul Reville, clockwise from top left, are leaving the Patrick administration next month.  

The superintendent of Brockton public schools will be the new state education secretary.

Matthew H. Malone, who also used to be superintendent of schools in Swampscott, was among four new cabinet members introduced by Gov. Deval L. Patrick during a Statehouse press conference. Malone will supplant S. Paul Reville as education secretary.

Malone became a possibility for education secretary after he and the Brockton School Committee clashed on certain issues and then both agreed last month to terminate his contract a year early. He is a former headmaster in Boston public schools and was also a special assistant to the superintendent in San Diego.

"The overwhelming feedback on secretary-designate Malone from his time in Brockton and before that in Swampscott and San Diego has been overwhelmingly positive," Patrick said "I think he's exactly the kind of implementer we need at this moment. He's also a protege of the outgoing secretary, so he's been touched by the seeder of education reform and I think he's going to be great."

On Wednesday, a Patrick administration official announced that Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, Public Safety and Security Secretary Mary E. Heffernan, and Reville were departing from the administration.

After last month's election, Patrick, a Democrat, said that he told cabinet members that he wanted them to commit to serving the final two years of his term or to leave to allow him to select replacements.

sully.JPG Richard Sullivan  

Richard K. Sullivan Jr. of Westfield, the state's energy and environmental secretary, was among four cabinet members to agree to stay for the next two years.

Glen Shor, who formerly was an assistant secretary in the administration and finance office, will replace Gonzalez. Shor has been executive director of the state Health Insurance Connector Authority, an independent agency established by the state's 2006 health care law. Shor has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor's degree from Yale University.

John Polanowicz  square 121312.jpg John Polanowicz  

John Polanowicz, president of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston since last year, will become the new secretary of health and human services. He will replace Dr. Bigby, who is the longest serving secretary under Patrick, having taken office in 2007.

Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, a lawyer and the first woman to be sheriff in Suffolk County, will take over for Heffernan as public safety and security secretary.

In agreeing to remain in the cabinet the next two years, Sullivan was joined by Housing and Economic Development Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne Goldstein and Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey.

"We're in the middle of a lot of great work," Bialecki said. "We have some unfinished business, both on the jobs front and the housing front."

"The governor has a great agenda moving forward on the environment and on clean energy," Sullivan said. "It's going to be an exciting two years at energy and environmental affairs. I wholeheartedly signed on."

Sullivan said he wanted to continue to work on the Cape Wind project, a giant wind farm planned for Nantucket Sound, and on initiatives for energy efficiency.

Sullivan started in June 2007 as commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation after serving 13.5 years as mayor of Westfield. He took the oath as the new energy and environmental secretary in January of last year.

"The governor said .. there certainly is wear and tear in these jobs," said Sullivan, who commutes to work each day from Westfield. "I still have a lot of enthusiasm and energy for the job."

As secretary, Sullivan, 53, who oversees the state Department of Public Utilities, on Tuesday unveiled the largest fines in state history against investor-owned utilities.

The department penalized National Grid $10.575 million for the Oct. 29 storm of last year and $8.15 million for tropical storm Irene in August, for a total of $18.725 million in fines.

Western Massachusetts Electric Co. was fined $2 million for its response to the October storm.

NSTAR, which serves eastern Massachusetts, was fined $4.075 million for its performance during both storms.

The companies will apply the fines as a credit to customers.

"They sent a very clear message to the utility companies that they have a responsibility to reasonably and safely restore service after a storm," Sullivan said on Thursday.


Material from the Statehouse News Service was used in this report.

Eastern States Exposition considering casino options for its West Springfield fairgrounds

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The leader of the Eastern States Exposition says the organization may have an announcement regarding a casino being developed on its grounds in the near future.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The chief of the Eastern States Exposition acknowledged Thursday that the organization is looking into the possibility of siting a casino on its fairgrounds here on Memorial Avenue.

“We are enthusiastically exploring all of our options, and may have a major announcement in the near future,” Eugene Cassidy, the organization’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement released Thursday evening.

The press release did not touch on reports saying Hard Rock International is interested in setting up a casino here, although West Springfield officials confirmed that is the case.

A spokeswoman for Hard Rock International on Thursday dodged questions about whether its officials have expressed any interest in siting a casino on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition.

Jennifer Jackson of The Zimmerman Agency, a public relations concern in Tallahassee, Fla., representing Hard Rock, released the following statement:

“Hard Rock International remains highly interested in new casino development opportunities in Massachusetts and has evaluated a number of prospective locations.

“If Hard Rock proceeds with development, further detail will be provided at that time, and we would expect to meet all deadlines and requirements of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.”

The statement was in response to questions about whether Hard Rock has spoken with Cassidy about developing a casino at the fairgrounds.

However, two West Springfield officials confirmed Thursday that Hard Rock has expressed some interest in locating a casino in their community, but that there have not been any concrete proposals.

Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger said Hard Rock has talked to him casually about West Springfield, but no one has made a formal proposal.

Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin, who heads that board’s Casino Mitigation Study Committee, confirmed that the Hard Rock has talked to Cassidy about possibly siting a casino at the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds. Griffin cautioned that there has not been any formal proposal or presentation. He said it would be premature for him to comment on whether he would be for or against such a development.

Griffin initiated formation of the committee to study how a casino, if one were to be built across the Connecticut River in Springfield, would affect West Side. Among the issues he has raised are concerns about traffic, law enforcement and housing as well as the effect on West Springfield school enrollment and businesses.

There are currently two proposals on the table to site casinos in neighboring Springfield. One is by MGM Resorts International for the city’s South End and the other is by Penn National Gaming for a site in the North End of the downtown district that would include the current headquarters of The Republican.

Cassidy, in the statement, called the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds the “number one tourist attraction in Western Massachusetts and New England, strategically located at the crossroads of New England, with a 175-acre campus and millions of visitors ...” The organization is “continuously engaged in the discovery of economic opportunities that will enhance the entertainment options we offer to the public. Consequently, we have in recent weeks embarked on an investigation as to whether-or-not it would be feasible for the Eastern States Exposition, as a nonprofit organization, to pursue the concept of citing a regional resort entertainment destination casino on our grounds, that would benefit the entire Western Massachusetts region.”

Noreen Tassinari, the exposition’s marketing director, said her boss, who could not be reached for comment, had no more to say right now.

Adore nightclub in Springfield gets 2 day license suspension for continued sales of spark-shooting bottles of liquor

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The license suspension will be served Jan. 11 and 12.

SPRINGFIELD - The License Commission on Thursday approved a two-day suspension of an entertainment license for the nightclub Adore at 280 Worthington St.

In early November the city’s Law Department demanded that Adore stop selling full bottles of liquor equipped with “pyrotechnic devise/firework which burns and shoots off sparks approximately 12 to 18 inches for 5 to 10 seconds.”

Selling spark-shooting bottles “represents a significant threat to the safety of your employees and patrons,” Assistant City Solicitor Stephen M. Reilly Jr. wrote in a letter to the club’s manager, Dennis Brantley. The club, owned by Springfield-based 4 Boys LLC, was called before the License Commission to answer a police report that it was selling full bottles, rather than individual drinks, allowing fireworks displays and drug use in rest rooms and locking the door at 1 a.m., even though patrons were still in the bar.

Lawyer Thomas Rooke, representing 4 Boys LLC, said that what is needed is an educational outreach so that club managers know that sparklers are a violation of law and that a bottle which contains 16 drinks, for example, must be served to a table of eight.

Full bottle purchases are popular with younger people, downtown, Rooke said.

He said that if Brantley violated the law, it was through ignorance.

Reilly said the sparkler issue is “a safety issue.”

A police officer working a security detail at Adore noticed that sparkling Champagne bottles were being sold on Nov. 2. The officer, Eleni Mendez, said the sparklers posed an obvious fire hazard.

“Throughout the night these pyrotechnics were being ignited and several intoxicated patrons were allowed to walk freely with the buckets through the crowd of people,” she wrote in a report submitted to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and the License Commission.

Rooke proposed that 4 Boys LLC would accept a suspension of its license for up to five days.

He said it was a first offense for the establishment which received its late night entertainment license from the city in October.

Rooke asked that the suspension be served after the first of the year.

According to the vote taken by the License Commission, the suspension of the license will be served Jan. 11 and 12, with three additional days being held in abeyance.


Ludlow assessors announce fiscal 2013 tax rate

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The average tax bill should show very little change from last year, assessors said.

LUDLOW — The state Department of Revenue has approved a fiscal 2013 tax rate for the town of $17.17 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, Assessor Beverly Barry said.

The increase is a 19-cent increase over last year’s tax rate of $16.98.

The fiscal 2013 tax rate means the tax bill on the average $209,800 home in town will be $3,602.27, Barry said. In fiscal 2012 the average home was valued at $212,800 and the average tax bill was $3,613.34.

This year’s average tax bill should change very little from last year’s bill, Assistant Assessor Juanita Testori said.

Initially the Board of Assessors forecast the fiscal 2013 tax rate as $17.27. Selectmen asked the assessors to do everything possible to lower the tax rate so residents would not see a tax increase.

Testori said Town Accountant James Young refinanced some school borrowing, which allowed the tax bill to be set at a lower rate.

Tax bills are now collected quarterly, on Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1.

In fiscal 2012 the new tax rate increased 8.2 percent, and the average tax bill increased by $232. Selectman William Rooney said last year, “From the perspective of the average taxpayer, we are spending too much.”

Last March hundreds of Ludlow residents packed the Lusitano Club to voice concerns over property tax hikes.

Selectmen said the town budget is set by residents elected to a representative annual Town Meeting, not by the Board of Selectmen.

Selectmen said they would look for savings in town health insurance costs. Selectmen also supported increasing the restaurant meals tax to generate more property tax revenue.

Russia positions itself for fall of Syrian regime

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The Kremlin wants to distance itself from the crisis even though Moscow believes the violence will continue after Assad's fall.

syria14.jpg In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather next to cars that were destroyed by a car bomb in Qatana, (25) kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. A bomb blast near a school in a Damascus suburb killed more than a dozen people, at least half of them women and children, the state news agency reported. Russia, Syria's most important international ally, said for the first time that President Bashar Assad is increasingly losing control and the opposition may win the civil war.  


By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY

BEIRUT — Syria's most powerful ally and protector, Russia, began positioning itself Thursday for the fall of President Bashar Assad, saying for the first time that rebels might overthrow him and preparing to evacuate thousands of Russian citizens from the country.

The head of NATO echoed the Russian assessment, saying the Syrian government is near collapse following a nearly two-year conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and threatened to ignite the Middle East. Assad appears to be running out of options, with insurgents at the gates of the capital and the country fracturing under the weight of a devastating civil war.

"An opposition victory can't be excluded, unfortunately, but it's necessary to look at the facts: There is a trend for the government to progressively lose control over an increasing part of the territory," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Moscow's Middle East envoy, said during hearings at a Kremlin advisory body.

Still, Bogdanov gave no immediate signal that Russia would change its pro-Syria stance at the U.N. Security Council, where Moscow has shielded Damascus from world sanctions.

The U.S. commended Russia "for finally waking up to the reality and acknowledging that the regime's days are numbered," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

"We call on Russia to work with us ... work with the various stakeholders in Syria to start moving towards a transitional structure, and we would like to have their help in doing that," she added.

Russia's acknowledgment that Assad could lose the fight is an embarrassing blow to the regime, which describes the rebels as terrorists sent from abroad with no popular support.

But the rebels have made significant gains in recent weeks, seizing large swaths of territory in the north and expanding their control on the outskirts of the capital, pushing the fight closer to Assad's seat of power.

The opposition still faces enormous obstacles, however, including the fact that some of its greatest battlefield successes are by extremist groups the West does not want to see running Syria — something that could hamper international support.

On Wednesday, the U.S., Europe and their allies recognized the newly reorganized opposition leadership, giving it a stamp of credibility even though it remains to be seen if the new bloc holds much sway with the fighters on the ground.

At the same time, the regime has come under fresh condemnation as Western officials raise concerns that Assad might use chemical weapons against rebels in an act of desperation. The U.S. and NATO also say Assad's forces have fired Scud missiles at rebel areas.

"We can't confirm details of the missiles, but some of the information indicates they were Scud-type missiles," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday in Brussels. "In general, I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse. I think now it's only a question of time."

Syria denied the Scud allegations. The government also has been careful not to confirm it has chemical weapons, while insisting it would never use such weapons against its own people. Syria is believed to have a formidable arsenal of chemical weapons, including sarin and mustard gas, although the exact dimensions are not known.

At Thursday's hearings in Moscow, Bogdanov said the Foreign Ministry is preparing evacuation plans for thousands of its citizens, most of whom are Russian women, married to Syrian men, and their children.

"We are dealing with issues related to the preparation for evacuation," Bogdanov said. "We have mobilization plans. We are finding out where our citizens are."

Russia's ties to Syria date back to Assad's father, Hafez, who ruled from 1971 until his death in June 2000. In the last four decades, Russia has sold Syria billions of dollars' worth of weapons. A change in power in Damascus could not only cost Russia lucrative trade deals, but also reduce Russia's political and strategic interests in the Arab world.

Those interests include a naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartus — the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

The Russians also strongly oppose a world order dominated by the United States, and they are keen to avoid a repeat of last year's NATO air campaign that led to the ouster of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a former ally of Moscow.

Bogdanov's remarks will likely be seen in Damascus as a betrayal of longstanding ties. There was no immediate reaction from the Syrian regime.

Abu Bilal al-Homsi, an activist based in a rebel-held neighborhood of Homs in central Syria, said he is encouraged by Bogdanov's comments because Russia is in a position to know about the strength of Assad's forces.

"The Russians know his capabilities and his military force. Russia knows what warplanes and what weapons he has," Abu Bilal said via Skype. "The Free Syrian Army is on the verge of strangling Damascus, and this indicates that the regime is reaching an end," he added, referring to the main rebel fighting force.

Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs, agrees the Russian stance may reflect new information about the situation on the ground.

"A public statement like that appears to indicate that the balance is shifting," he said.

Analysts say that by backing Damascus, Russia has lost any chance of holding any influence in a post-Assad Syria. Now, Lukyanov says, the Kremlin wants to distance itself from the crisis even though Moscow believes the violence will continue after Assad's fall.

"If Syria plunges deeper into violence after the regime's fall, Russia would say: We have warned you that it would happen."

Meanwhile, violence was escalating in and around the capital.

Syrian state TV said that a car bomb went off Thursday in Jdeidet Artouz, a suburb southwest of Damascus, killing eight people.

In an online video that activists said showed the bomb's aftermath, dozens of people scrambled over piles of rubble looking for survivors. When two men dragging a woman away accidentally lifted her shirt, someone yelled to them, "Cover her! Cover her!" Other men pulled a wounded man from the rubble, his face covered in blood and his clothes gray with dust.

A bomb near a school in the Damascus suburb of Qatana killed 16 people, at least half of them women and children, the state news agency SANA reported.

The blasts were the latest in a string of similar bombings in and around Damascus that have killed dozens of people in the last two days, state media said.

The government blames the bombings on terrorists, the term it uses to refer to rebel fighters. While no one has claimed responsibility for the bombs, some have targeted government buildings and killed officials, suggesting that rebels who don't have the firepower to engage Assad's elite forces in the capital are resorting to guerrilla measures.

Similar attacks hit four sites Wednesday in and around Damascus. Three bombs collapsed walls of the Interior Ministry building, killing at least five people. One of the dead was a parliament member, Abdullah Qairouz, SANA reported.

Assigning responsibility for the blasts remains difficult because rebels tend to blame attacks that kill civilians on the regime without providing evidence, while competing groups often claim successful operations.

The conflict began amid the Arab Spring in March 2011 as peaceful protests against the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for four decades. But a ferocious crackdown on demonstrators led many to take up arms against the government, and the uprising soon transformed into a civil war.

As the death toll mounted, Assad, a 47-year-old eye doctor by training, has become a global pariah. Russia, China and Iran are among his last remaining allies.

On Thursday, Bogdanov warned that it would take the opposition a long time to defeat the regime and said Syria would suffer heavy casualties.

"The fighting will become even more intense, and you will lose tens of thousands and, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of people," he said. "If such a price for the ouster of the president seems acceptable to you, what can we do? We, of course, consider it absolutely unacceptable."

Egypt vote means fateful choice for nation

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The deadly violence and harsh divisions of recent weeks — combined with the inability of most Egyptians to even comprehend the densely written 63-page document — have turned the vote into a stark choice on whether the largest Arab nation takes a serious step toward theocratic rule.

egypt14.jpg Egyptians walk past a mural depicting a man who was killed during the revolution with Arabic that reads "martyr Gaber, your blood will be the spark of the revolution," at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists have been plastering posters across much of the country urging Egyptians to vote “yes” and listing what they call the advantages of the new charter. “Yes, to protecting (Islamic) Sharia (laws),” says a Brotherhood website. The Islamists have also been using mosques to disseminate the “yes” message and putting to use their appeal to uneducated Egyptians in rural areas. But the pros and cons of the draft constitution and the question of whether it will be passed have grown more akin to being a secondary narrative to the worst crisis to hit Egypt since the overthrow nearly two years ago of Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime.  

By HAMZA HENDAWI


CAIRO — Two days before a constitutional referendum it considered boycotting, Egypt's secular opposition finally launched its "no" campaign Thursday with newspaper and TV ads detailing the argument against the charter drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi.

The Morsi camp has a simpler message: A "Yes" to the constitution is a yes to Islam.

"This constitution is supposed to protect the rights of the minorities, but it is written by the majority for the majority," said Haitham Sherdi, a young opposition supporter from Cairo.

"If it passes, it will be used to crush the minority until they vanish," he added, referring to Egypt's Christian community.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists have been plastering posters across much of the country urging Egyptians to vote "yes to protecting (Islamic) Sharia (laws)."

The opposition's campaign on TV, in newspapers and in flyers is focused on the slogan "A constitution to divide Egypt." Activists also took to the streets with loudspeakers atop pickup trucks touring Cairo and other cities.

The opposition campaign began a day after the National Salvation Front — an umbrella group of opposition parties — announced it was calling on supporters to vote "no" rather than boycott the referendum. The delay reflected divisions within the alliance.

Reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who was among those initially favoring a boycott, made an emotional appeal to Morsi on Thursday to postpone the vote, warning of "the specter of civil war." He called on his supporters to vote "no" if the referendum goes ahead as scheduled.

Jehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, said it will accept the referendum result regardless of the outcome, but added: "We want to have a constitution in place because it's a pillar of a functioning state. The fact that it is lacking encourages a lot of people to resort to undemocratic means."

In many ways, the pros and cons of the draft constitution have been overshadowed by the worst crisis to hit Egypt since the overthrow nearly two years ago of Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime.

With killings and mass street protests defining the past three weeks, newspaper and TV commentators have warned of a country moving toward civil strife and a schism that may not be bridged.

There are also fears that Egypt's already ailing economy could hit new lows after the Morsi government delayed a $4.8 billion standby loan from the International Monetary Fund. While the money is nowhere near enough to tackle the country's woes, the agreement with the IMF on restructuring and reforming the economy was desperately needed to convince other donors and investors to return to Egypt.

A comfortable win would significantly strengthen the Islamists' hand and embolden them to push ahead with their agenda of turning Egypt into an Islamic state, something that may prolong the standoff and raise the specter of more and widespread violence.

Already, there are signs of what may lie ahead.

Morsi supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood and opposition protesters fought street battles for hours outside the presidential palace in Cairo last week. The fighting left at least 10 dead and wounded about 700. Rights activists say Brotherhood supporters operated detention and torture centers just outside the palace walls, where dozens of opposition protesters were taken before eventually being released into police custody.

Worse still, the rights groups say, Morsi publicly compromised the due process rights of dozens of protesters detained by police when he said in a nationally televised address that they had confessed to being "paid thugs."

On Thursday, 20 Egyptian rights groups issued a joint statement warning of possible election fraud and expressing concerns that a state-run human rights council has taken charge of issuing monitoring permits, which in the past were obtained directly from the elections committee.

The council is headed by Judge Hossam el-Ghariyani, also the head of the controversial constitutional drafting panel.

Meanwhile, the Carter Center, the main international group monitoring earlier Egyptian votes, said it would not deploy monitors for the referendum because of the government's late release of monitoring regulations. The absence of the center, founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, increases the likelihood that the rushed process could undermine the constitution's legitimacy if it passes.

Egypt's crisis began on Nov. 22 when Morsi issued decrees, since rescinded, that placed him above judicial oversight.

But the confrontation now centers on the draft charter. Morsi's opponents contend the document gives religious authorities too much influence over legislation, threatens to restrict freedom of expression and opens the door to Islamist control over day-to-day life.

Islamists, on the other hand, have embraced the draft as a victory for Islam.

"I am not in favor of parts of the constitution, but I am happy with the greater role it gave to Sharia," said Moataz Abdel-Hafeez, a pharmacist who follows the ultraconservative Salafi doctrine of Islam. "I am hopeful that an Islamic parliament will be elected and change all laws that contradict or don't conform with Sharia."

The fallout has divided Egypt, with Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood and their Salafi allies on one side, and the rest of the country, including liberals, leftists and Christians, on the other.

The Supreme Constitutional Court had been expected to rule earlier this month to dissolve the panel that drafted the constitution. But the Brotherhood has prevented the judges from entering the building for three weeks.

As a result, the panel — packed with Morsi supporters — rushed through the document in an all-night session on Nov. 29-30, voting overwhelmingly in favor of each of its 236 clauses.

"A constitution that is adopted overnight is definitely a flawed one," said Ahmed el-Fiqqi, a 30-year-old musician. "I will vote 'no' but if it is passed and implemented in the spirit it was written I will seriously consider leaving the country."

Skiing Weatherman reports on conditions from Windham Mountain in the Catskills

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In the Berkshires, Jiminy Peak resurfaced all its trails late in the week and will be open this weekend. Watch video

Want to know the best places in the Northeast to go skiing?

Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman, went to Windham Mountain in the Catskills of New York to launch his weekly ski report.

Windham has been making snow since Tuesday, he says, and several top to bottom trails are open.

Windham will be hosting a skiing and riding Sanda day on Sunday this week.

In Western Massachusetts, Jiminy Peak in Hancock resurfaced all its trails late in the week and will be open for business this weekend.

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Night talks: Obama, Boehner meet on 'fiscal cliff'

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The meeting came shortly after Obama suggested that the sluggish pace of deficit-cutting talks between the administration and congressional Republicans was a result of a "contentious caucus" of GOP lawmakers who were making it difficult for Boehner to negotiate.

obama14.jpg President Barack Obama waves to reporters as they shout questions to him regarding the fiscal cliff as he walks across Pennsylvania Avenue back to the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. Obama had dropped by a holiday party for the National Security Council at Blair House.  
By JIM KUHNHENN


WASHINGTON — Face to face with time running short, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner negotiated at the White House Thursday night in what aides called "frank" talks aimed at breaking a stubborn deadlock and steering the nation away from an economy-threatening "fiscal cliff."

Boehner returned to the Capitol an hour later, briskly walking past reporters without comment. There was no indication whether any progress had been made, though the use of the word "frank" by both sides to describe the talks suggested the president and the speaker stuck hard to their opposing positions.

The meeting came shortly after Obama suggested that the sluggish pace of deficit-cutting talks between the administration and congressional Republicans was a result of a "contentious caucus" of GOP lawmakers who were making it difficult for Boehner to negotiate.

Boehner saw it differently. He said earlier in the day: "Unfortunately, the White House is so unserious about cutting spending that it appears willing to slow-walk any agreement and walk our economy right up to the fiscal cliff."

Thursday night's meeting was the two men's second face-to-face encounter in five days as they seek to find an agreement that avoids major tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to kick in January. Also attending were Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Obama's chief congressional lobbyist, Rob Nabors.

Before the meeting, Boehner accused Obama of dragging out negotiations. Obama is insisting on higher tax rates for household incomes above $250,000 to cut federal deficits; Boehner says he opposes higher rates, though he has said he would be willing to raise tax revenue instead by closing loopholes and deductions.

Obama, in an interview during the day with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, said that he was hopeful of a "change in attitude" from Republicans on raising taxes on the wealthy. "It shouldn't be hard to get resolved," he said.

He added that the notion of not raising taxes "has become sort of a religion for a lot of members of the Republican Party. I think Speaker Boehner has a contentious caucus, as his caucus is tough on him sometimes so he doesn't want to look like he's giving in to me somehow because that might hurt him in his own caucus."

While the impasse over the president's demand for higher tax rates continues to be a main obstacle in negotiations, Boehner complains that the president refuses to offer spending cuts to popular benefit programs like Medicare whose costs are rapidly rising.

The White House has pointed out that it has offered about $600 billion in specific savings over the next decade, including about $350 billion in spending reductions in health care programs such as Medicare.

There's increasing resignation within the GOP that Obama is going to prevail on the rate issue since the alternative is to allow taxes on all workers to go way up when Bush-era tax cuts expire on Dec. 31.

"I think it's time to end the debate on rates," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. "It's exactly what both parties are for. We're for extending the middle-class rates. We can debate the upper-end rates and what they are when we get into tax reform."

"He's got a full house and we're trying to draw an inside straight," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. When it was observed that making a straight would still be a losing hand, Isakson said: "Yeah, I know."

Boehner remains the key figure, though, caught between a tea party faction and more pragmatic Republicans advising a tactical retreat. He dodged a question Thursday on whether he would be willing to schedule a vote that would permit the top two tax brackets on family income exceeding $250,000 and individual income over $200,000 to rise back to 1990s levels.

Meanwhile, one of Obama's top Senate allies said Thursday that an increase in the Medicare eligibility age is "no longer one of the items being considered by the White House" in negotiations.

Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters that he did not get the information directly from the president or the White House. But as the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Durbin is regularly apprised of the status of negotiations by key players such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Senior White House aide Gene Sperling briefed Senate Democrats on the talks Thursday and declined to tell them whether the administration was taking the issue off the table, said a senator who was present. That senator spoke only on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to describe a meeting that was confidential.

Increasing the eligibility age, currently 65, is a key demand by Republicans seeking cost curbs in popular benefit programs in exchange for higher tax revenues.

Durbin's comments on the Medicare eligibility age were surprising, since negotiators including Reid have been careful to not preclude the possibility of agreeing to such an increase — perhaps as a late-stage concession in a potential deal between Obama and Boehner.

At a news conference, Reid again called on House Republicans to allow a vote on renewing Bush-era tax cuts for the 98 percent of taxpayers whose incomes are below $250,000. Obama vows to force rates on family income exceeding $250,000 from a top rate of 35 percent to the Clinton-era rate of 39.6 percent. He said the alternative is to allow tax cuts for everyone to expire.

"At some point, reality should set in," Reid said.

Reid cited comments by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to Politico.com, in which Cornyn, soon to be the No. 2 Senate Republican, said, "I believe we're going to pass the $250,000 and below sooner or later, and we really don't have much leverage" because those rates are going to expire anyway on Dec. 31.

On Thursday, Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican and leading conservative figure, predicted that Obama would prevail in the fight over taxes.

"He's going to get his wish. I believe we're going to be raising taxes, and not just on the top earners," DeMint, who is leaving the Senate to become president of the Heritage Institution think tank, said in an appearance on "CBS This Morning."

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