Thousands of people, many holding signs with names of gun violence victims and messages such as "Ban Assault Weapons Now," joined a rally for gun control on Saturday, marching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

People walk from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, during a march on Washington for gun control.  

By BRETT ZONGKER

WASHINGTON — Thousands of people, many holding signs with names of gun violence victims and messages such as "Ban Assault Weapons Now," joined a rally for gun control on Saturday, marching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

Leading the crowd were marchers with "We Are Sandy Hook" signs, paying tribute to victims of the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and other city officials marched alongside them. The crowd stretched for at least two blocks along Constitution Avenue.

Participants held signs reading "Gun Control Now," ''Stop NRA" and "What Would Jesus Pack?" among other messages. Other signs were simple and white, with the names of victims of gun violence.

About 100 residents from Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six teachers, traveled to Washington together, organizers said.

Participant Kara Baekey from nearby Norwalk, Conn., said that when she heard about the Newtown shooting, she immediately thought of her two young children. She said she decided she must take action, and that's why she traveled to Washington for the march.

"I wanted to make sure this never happens at my kids' school or any other school," Baekey said. "It just can't happen again."

Once the crowd arrived at the monument, speakers called for a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition and for universal background checks on gun sales.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the crowd it's not about taking away Second Amendment gun rights, but about gun safety and saving lives. He said he and President Barack Obama would do everything they could to enact gun control policies.

"This is about trying to create a climate in which our children can grow up free of fear," Duncan said. "This march is a starting point; it is not an ending point ... We must act, we must act, we must act."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting representative in Congress, said the gun lobby can be stopped, and the crowd chanted back, "Yes, we can."

"We are all culpable if we do nothing now," Norton said

James Agenbroad, 78, of Garrett Park, Md., carried a handwritten sign on cardboard that read "Repeal the 2nd Amendment." He called it the only way to stop mass killings because he thinks the Supreme Court will strike down any other restrictions on guns.

"You can repeal it," he said. "We repealed prohibition."

Molly Smith, the artistic director of Washington's Arena Stage, and her partner organized the march. Organizers said that in addition to the 100 people from Newtown, buses of participants traveled from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. Others flew in from Seattle, San Francisco and Alaska, they said.

While she's never organized a political march before, Smith said she was compelled to press for a change in the law. The march organizers support Obama's call for gun control measures. They also want lawmakers to require gun safety training for all buyers of firearms.

"With the drum roll, the consistency of the mass murders and the shock of it, it is always something that is moving and devastating to me. And then, it's as if I move on," Smith said. "And in this moment, I can't move on. I can't move on.

"I think it's because it was children, babies," she said. "I was horrified by it."

After the Connecticut shootings, Smith began organizing on Facebook. The group One Million Moms for Gun Control, the Washington National Cathedral and two other churches eventually signed on to co-sponsor the march. Organizers have raised more than $50,000 online to pay for equipment and fees to stage the rally, Smith said.

Lawmakers from the District of Columbia and Maryland rallied the crowd, along with Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund and Colin Goddard, a survivor from the Virginia Tech massacre.

Goddard said he was shot four times at Virginia Tech and is motivated to keep fighting for gun control because what happened to him keeps happening — and nothing's been done to stop it.

"We are Americans," he said, drawing big cheers. "We have overcome difficulties when we realize we are better than this."

Smith said she supports a comprehensive look at mental health and violence in video games and films. But she said the mass killings at Virginia Tech and Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., all began with guns.

"The issue is guns. The Second Amendment gives us the right to own guns, but it's not the right to own any gun," she said. "These are assault weapons, made for killing people."
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March on Washington for Gun Control: http://www.guncontrolmarch.com/

The newly formed New Leadership Parent Board announced Saturday that it would essentially stage a coup with a vote of "no confidence" in the board. Dozens of parents and teachers who met at the church settled on fighting the fight themselves.

Left to right are New Leadership Charter School parent Eutrina Holley, 11th-grade year teacher Frances Swain, and parent Zaida Govan as they meet Saturday at the Spring of Hope Church in Springfield to discuss the board of trustees decision to close the school. The Republican / Mike Beswick  

SPRINGFIELD - As New Leadership Charter School appears to be gasping its last breath after 15 years in the city, a group of bewildered parents are still fighting against hope to keep it open.

Drawing on the resources of the NAACP and a student petition drive, a group of parents, students and supporters met at the Spring of Hope Church at 35 Alden St. on Saturday to discuss their concerns and outlying hopes to keep the school afloat.

Chairman of the Board Peter Daboul announced earlier this week that members withdrew their application for a fourth, five-year charter renewal. He and state education officials confirmed that the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education had signaled it would yank the charter for long-standing underperformance.

The newly formed New Leadership Parent Board announced Saturday that it would essentially stage a coup with a vote of "no confidence" in the board. Dozens of parents and teachers who met at the church settled on fighting the fight themselves.

"We thank you for the time you served, although there is no evidence that you have accomplished very much during your time of service. Therefore we are taking over and accomplishing what we need to do for our children," the letter to the trustees read.

Daboul said after the meeting that he doubted the parents' chances considering the charter was granted to the board of trustees.

The charter school on Alderman Street in the former Holy Name school site served 500 students in grades 6 to 12.

Daboul said that the school is a Horace Mann model, which hobbled the school in that its funding flowed from the state through the city, which shaved a significant portion of its budget for administrative costs and shuffled the school to four different sites in 15 years. The Horace Mann model also requires unionized teachers, which Daboul said impeded personnel decisions.

"The state doesn't see these as hurdles. We do. The board fought very hard to keep the school open. If people question our commitment to the school, they're just mistaken," Daboul said.

Though the school was placed on probation in 2011 by Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, several parents said they were unaware the school had remained on that status. In fact, Daboul said he had received verbal notice that the school had emerged from probation.

During an interview on Thursday, however, Chester said the school was still on probation when their charter came up for renewal and the overall academics at the school had slipped even further since the last review.

In a May 2011 memo Chester submitted to the Board of Secondary and Elementary Education, he called the school's academic performance "lackluster" and noted organizational and financial problems.

"I have given substantial consideration to revocation," Chester wrote. "Unless there is substantial improvement in the school's operation and in the academic performance of its students between now and early 2013, I will consider non-renewal."

Chester on Thursday said he felt the school had limped along for long enough.

"We’re seeing a school that’s been in business a long time but not on an improvement trajectory. They've been at odds with the school district; they've had troubles with finances and facilities and struggled with its mission with a focus on leadership development," Chester said. " (But) if I had been looking at a school where academics were on the rise it likely would have trumped all those other concerns."

The probationary period was publicized at the time but many parents on Saturday said they were unaware the school was in such a tenuous position. Students are slated to be absorbed into the conventional public schools - bumping up that population by 4 percent and swelling waiting lists for the city's four high schools.

Among the weak points noted in the 2011 memo were comparatively low English and math MCAS scores; though, proponents of the school note they were higher than most of their counterparts in the district. Also highlighted were the school's ongoing financial struggles with the school district for reimbursements; its commitment to its "leadership" mission and scant supplies.

Daboul conceded the school was under-supplied for a time as it battled the school district for better reimbursement. In addition, he noted that after the latest move to Alderman Street (where the city has a 10-year lease with the Catholic Diocese) it lacked phone lines and access for the handicapped for an extended period. For example, one student who uses a wheelchair had to be carried in and out of the rest room by fellow students for more than a year and could not get into the cafeteria to eat with his peers.

Board Treasurer Robert Schwarz of Peter Pan Bus Lines resigned his position on Jan. 16, raising eyebrows among already skeptical staff and parents.

Schwarz, however, said his resignation had nothing to do with the school's dire straits, but more to do with his hectic traveling schedule - primarily focused on a casino proposal for the city that would take the bus lines' property.

"I was not a stellar volunteer. And I feel very, very badly that I was absent during this period," Schwarz said, adding that he tried to stayed apprised of school affairs via email when he was traveling.

Daboul said Schwarz had been a diligent member of the board previously and his recent spotty attendance had nothing to do with the school's demise.

Michael Nai, a math teacher at New Leadership who attended Saturday's meeting, raised the fact that the school had been through four principals in five years and lacked consistent leadership.

Social studies chairwoman Frances Swain said wondered if supporters should have had the foresight to override the board long ago.

"I feel the board is culpable," she said.

One parent, Omayra Pimentel, has five children at the school and said she was temporarily rebuffed by the school department when she sought new placements for them.

"They told me to come back in February," she said.

Her daughter, Kaira Cortes, 17, said she was on the verge of dropping out of school until her mother moved her to New Leadership.

"I cried when she said she was going to put me here. I thought it would be too strict. Now I'm on the honor role and I cried when they told me we had to leave," Cortes said.

A group of New Leadership supporters intend to travel to a Department of Secondary and Elementary Education business meeting in Bridgewater on Tuesday, where they will be allocated six minutes to speak.

Despite several falls in the long program, the reigning U.S. champion won her second straight crown.

By NANCY ARMOUR

OMAHA, Neb. – Flawed, but still first.

Ashley Wagner became the first woman since Michelle Kwan in 2005 to win back-to-back titles in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, managing to hold off up-and-comer Gracie Gold despite three major mistakes Saturday night.

Wagner was subdued as she waited for her marks, surely thinking she’d blown her chance to repeat. When her score was announced and she saw she was still in first, a look of shock crossed her face.

Wagner finished with 188.84 points, about two ahead of Gold. Gold won the free skate – posting the second-highest score ever at the U.S. meet, no less. But the 17-year-old had too much ground to make up after a dismal performance Thursday night in the short program left her in ninth place, more than 13 points behind Wagner.

There is something about defending the title that brings out the worst in the American women. Six women have won the last seven crowns, and the reigning champion almost always has a meltdown.

Wagner, though, seems to be made of different stuff. She’s been rock solid since moving to California to train with John Nicks in the summer of 2011. She won the U.S. title last year, had the best finish by an American at worlds since 2007 and won the silver medal last month in the Grand Prix final.

And she sure looked loose as she came out from the dressing rooms, clapping along to Agnes Zawadzki’s music. Her opening triple flip-double toe loop-double toe combination was gorgeous, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd. She also did a triple loop in and out of a spread eagle – incredibly difficult.

But she didn’t have her usual fire, almost as if she was skating not to lose rather than skating to win. And then came the falls. She was off-balance in the air on the lutz, and couldn’t right herself in time to save it. With the triple loop only seconds later, she didn’t have time to regroup. She pulled herself together only to two-foot her last jump, the triple flip.

With blonde good looks and a made-for-the-Olympics name, Gold has all the makings of that “next big thing” the United States has been craving. That she can skate only fueled the hype, and some were ready to put her on the Sochi medals stand after she won the U.S. junior title last year and finished second in the junior world championships.

But she’s been wildly inconsistent this year, winning the silver medal at Cup of Russia after falling apart at Skate Canada. After her weak short program Thursday, she needed a dazzling performance just to have a chance at one of the spots on the world championships team. She came through, posting a 132.49 that was the second-highest score for a free skate at nationals. Sasha Cohen scored 134.03 in 2006, the year she won her only U.S. title.

“I stopped focusing on what was around me – the crowd, the screaming, the other skaters, the pressure, the expectations. I let it all go,” Gold said. “I just pictured myself at my rink in Chicago and even the practices here – how I would skate if I was practicing. Just the feel of the knees, the feel of the ice, one thing at a time.

“I didn’t get over my head with thoughts or expectations. I just went out there and skated like I know how to skate.”

Gold’s jumps are fabulous, easily the best of the entire field. Maybe the whole world. They’re done with power, and her combinations are so smooth she looks like a stone skipping across the water. She did seven triples, and even Kim Yu-na would be impressed with her triple lutz-triple toe loop combination.

But skating is both sport and art, and Gold will have to add some substance between the jumps if she wants the prize to match her name. Her footwork was basic and most of her spins were adequate, and she didn’t display that passion that makes a good program great.

The divisive verdict and bloodshed highlight challenges being faced by President Mohammed Morsi, who took office seven months ago following an Egyptian revolution that ousted autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms in the country's judiciary and police force, and claim little has improved in the two years after the uprising against Mubarak.

An Egyptian soccer fan of Al-Ahly club displays scales to fans celebrating a court verdict that returned 21 death penalties in last years soccer violence, inside the club premises in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say military to deploy in Port Said after at least 8 people died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. Associated Press  

AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press

CAIRO — Relatives and angry young men rampaged through the Egyptian city of Port Said on Saturday in assaults that killed at least 27 people following death sentences for local fans involved in the country's worst bout of soccer violence.

Unrest surrounding the second anniversary of Egypt's revolution also broke out in Cairo and other cities for a third day, with protesters clashing for hours with riot police who fired tear gas that encompassed swaths of the capital's downtown.

The divisive verdict and bloodshed highlight challenges being faced by President Mohammed Morsi, who took office seven months ago following an Egyptian revolution that ousted autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms in the country's judiciary and police force, and claim little has improved in the two years after the uprising against Mubarak.

The Islamist leader, Egypt's first freely elected and civilian president, met for the first time with top generals as part of the newly formed National Defense Council to discuss the deployment of troops in two cities. The military was deployed to Port Said hours after the verdict was announced, and warned that a curfew could be declared in areas of unrest. The military was also deployed to the canal city of Suez, where protesters attacked the main security compound there after eight people were killed late Friday.

Saturday's riot in Port Said stemmed from animosity between police and die-hard soccer fans know as Ultras, who also were part of the mass uprising against Mubarak that began on Jan. 25, 2011, and at forefront of protests against the military rulers who assumed temporary power after his ouster.

It also reflected tensions after the uprising that reached into all sectors of Egyptian life, even sports.

Survivors and witnesses said Mubarak loyalists had a hand in instigating last year's attack, which began Feb. 1 after Port Said's home team Al-Masry won a match, 3-1, against Cairo's Al-Ahly. Some say "hired thugs" wearing green T-shirts posing as Al-Masry fans led the attacks.

Others say, at the very least, police were responsible for gross negligence in the Feb. 1 soccer brawl that killed 74 Al-Ahly fans.

Anger at police was evident in Port Said, home to most of the 73 men accused of involvement in the bloodshed, although the trial was held outside Cairo.

Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid did not give his reasoning when he handed down the sentences for 21 defendants. Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.

Verdicts for the remaining 52 defendants, including nine security officials, are scheduled to be delivered March 9. Some have been charged with murder and others with assisting the attackers. All the defendants — who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons — can appeal the verdict.

Supporters of those sentenced to death said they were being used as scapegoats. The rioters attacked the city's prison after the verdict was read live on state television to try and free the defendants. A police lieutenant and police officer were killed in the assault.

Residents also focused their anger against the government, attacking a power station, the governor's office and local courthouse. They staged a sit-in along the main road leading into the city and occupied a police station.

Security officials said a total of 27 people were killed and some 400 wounded, many by gunfire, throughout the city. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Victims were killed when police fired tear gas, bird shot and other live ammunition at the mob. Two soccer players who died— one from Port Said's Al-Marikh club and the other a former player of its Al-Masry club — apparently were killed on their way to do training near the prison. One of the players was shot three times, a local health official said.

Some 135 miles away in Cairo, the divisive nature of the trial was on display.

Relatives of those killed at the soccer game erupted in joy in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.

Families yelled "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great" and pumped their fists in the air. Others held up pictures of the deceased, most of whom were young men from Cairo's poor neighborhoods. One man fainted while others hugged. The judge smacked the bench several times to try to restore calm.

Supporters of Cairo's Al-Ahly celebrated the verdict in the team's club before heading toward Interior Ministry headquarters, which manages the police, for more protests.

Lawmakers had formed a fact-finding committee that found some evidence toward collusion from authorities, but the evidence was not conclusive.

Nine of those on trial are security officials, charged with assisting the attackers for failing to search for weapons as is customary and allowing known criminals to attend the game. One was a senior officer who locked the exit designated for Al-Ahly fans. Many victims suffocated or were trampled to death in the corridor trying to escape the violence. Others were thrown off bleachers, undressed, beaten with iron bars and had the words "Port Said" carved into their skin.

Police reform researcher Karim Ennarah said the lack of a proper investigation raises the specter that some of those on trial are innocent. The state prosecutor's office, tasked with investigating the case, was long run by a Mubarak holdover.

"We still operate in a state that doesn't hold its employees, specifically in the security sector, to account," Ennarah said. "There might have been democratic elections, but it still is a very undemocratic state in terms of how police work."

The most high profile case since Egypt's uprising was that of Mubarak himself. He was found guilty of failing to stop the killing of around 900 protesters. The verdict angered people who wanted him executed on charges of ordering deadly force. He was sentenced to life in prison in what even some of his opponents argue was a verdict based on flimsy evidence aimed at appeasing an angry public.

A lawyer of one of the defendants given a death sentence Saturday said this verdict too was political.

Days before the verdict, Morsi declared the victims "martyrs of the revolution", granting families up to $15,000 in compensation.

"There is nothing to say these people did anything and we don't understand what this verdict is based on," Mohammed al-Daw told The Associated Press by telephone.

"Our situation in Port Said is very grave because kids were taken from their homes for wearing green T-shirts," he said, referring to the Al-Masry team color.

The president, once a detainee under Mubarak for his political activities with the Brotherhood, had vowed to restore security in his first 100 days in office. Instead, critics say he has waged a personal campaign against anti-Brotherhood figures rather than carry out comprehensive reform.

His Muslim Brotherhood allies blamed "misleading" media outlets for enflaming the public against the government. The main opposition bloc said it holds Morsi responsible for "the excessive use of force by the security forces against protesters."

Fans of Al-Ahly, mostly young men in their teens, promised more violence in the days leading up to the verdict if the death penalty was not handed down. Their main Facebook page had called for bloodshed.

"This was necessary," said Nour al-Sabah, whose 17-year-old son Ahmed Zakaria died in last year's melee. "Now I want to see the guys when they are executed with my own eyes, just as they saw the murder of my son."

"We are not really that happy," Mohamed Ahmed, a survivor of the attack, said. "The government helped the Ultras of Port Said by blocking the gates of the stadium until people suffocated to death."

Meanwhile, Port Said resident and activist Rasha Hammouda said the city wants those involved in killings to be brought to justice.

"We have no problem with execution of those who killed, but bring everyone who is involved," she said.

Associated Press writer Mariam Rizk contributed to this report.

By the time Gov. Deval Patrick puts his signature on the budget around July 1, history suggests that it could bear little resemblance to the plan he rolled out with considerable fanfare this past week.

Gov. Deval Patrick speaks at a news conference at the Statehouse in Boston, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. Patrick unveiled his proposed $34.8 billion state budget, which includes a hike in the income tax rate, from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent, and a sales tax cut, from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent.  

By BOB SALSBERG

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick can certainly relate to an old adage about state government: ‘‘The governor proposes, the Legislature disposes.’’

So it wasn’t surprising that Patrick was among the first to concede that his ambitious budget request that calls for major adjustments in the income and sales taxes to support new spending on education and transportation may not survive the upcoming legislative process intact.

By the time the governor puts his signature on the budget around July 1, history suggests that it could bear little resemblance to the plan he rolled out with considerable fanfare this past week.

The reason is not partisan gridlock, nor any gaping philosophical divide. After all, Democrats hold an overwhelming majority in both chambers and leaders, for the most part, have enjoyed a solid working relationship with the Democratic governor over the past six years. It has resulted in noteworthy laws as diverse as pension and health care payment overhauls and the legalization of casino gambling.

But the Legislature’s independent streak, especially when it comes to taxes and spending, is well-documented.

In 2009, when the recession battered state revenues, Patrick included in his budget request a series of targeted tax increases, including hiking the gasoline tax 19 cents per gallon and raising taxes on soda, candy and alcohol. But lawmakers rejected most of his proposals and substituted a 25 percent increase in the sales tax.

Patrick threatened to veto the sales tax hike but ultimately accepted it after the Legislature agreed to other measures he supported, including an overhaul of the state’s transportation bureaucracy.

Last year, Patrick proposed a 50-cents-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax that was dead on arrival in the Legislature after Speaker Robert DeLeo announced he would not support any new taxes.

Patrick’s $34.8 billion budget request for the next fiscal year calls for hiking the income tax rate from 5.25 to 6.25 percent, while rolling back the sales tax from 6.25 to 4.5 percent, which would result in a net revenue gain of $1.2 billion. He said the changes would make the state’s tax code fairer and actually reduce taxes for many lower- and middle-income taxpayers.

Unlike a year ago, legislative leaders are not ruling out tax increases. Still, they've been notably cautious in their public response to Patrick’s plan. Senate President Therese Murray told reporters the devil would be in the details while DeLeo said only it would give ‘‘food for thought’’ to the House.

‘‘It’s unlikely that something this sweeping will make its way through the Legislature,’’ said Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan, business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Widmer, a longtime observer of the legislative process, said lawmakers face a dilemma knowing that failure to raise new revenues could force additional budget cuts on top of the billions of dollars in spending reductions over the last four years. At the same time, however, they risk angering constituents by voting for a tax hike when many in their districts are still reeling from the impact of the recession.

Even some who strongly support the governor’s budget, such as Noah Berger of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, acknowledge the likelihood that the tax plan will be altered in the months ahead.

‘‘There are a lot of different ways you could put together a package that could achieve the basic objectives (of) raising enough money to be able to both avoid deep cuts that would hurt families, but also make investments in things that really grow our economy,’’ said Berger.

‘‘You could imagine other mixes of taxes that could do the same thing,’’ he added.

One possibility, Berger said, would be to eliminate more deductions and loopholes that favor wealthier taxpayers.

Widmer suggested that lawmakers might seek a more ‘‘modest’’ tax package, perhaps one that focuses exclusively on raising money for the state’s ailing transportation network through higher gasoline taxes or other targeted revenues.

Patrick will not seek a third term in 2014 and while he may harbor future political aspirations, his current status may give him more freedom to act on taxes than legislators who must face voters again next year.

In his budget announcement, he said the ability to make new investments in education and transportation hinge on the various budget threads ‘‘hanging together.’’ Simply put, you can’t have the new spending without new revenues.

But he understands that compromise may be necessary.

‘‘I don’t think there is anything I've sent down the hall into the Legislature that has come back exactly the way that I've asked,’’ Patrick said. ‘‘I get that.’’

The 'no budget, no pay' measure temporarily would withhold pay from any member of the House or Senate whose chamber doesn't pass a budget this year.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House GOP leadership speak to reporters Jan. 22, 2013, after a closed-door meeting on avoiding a potential debt crisis, at the Capitol in Washington. Joining Boehner, from left, are Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the Republican Conference, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. House Republicans have said that they will not agree to a long-term debt ceiling increase unless the Senate works with them to pass a budget deal and have also threatened to withhold Congress’s paychecks if either chamber fails to adopt a budget by April 15.  

By Andrew Taylor

WASHINGTON — In an earlier era, a move like the one engineered by House GOP leaders to pass a "no budget, no pay" measure probably would have been stopped in its tracks.

But with Congress' approval ratings in the gutter, House lawmakers pushed aside questions about fairness and constitutionality and tacked the idea on to an unpopular, must-pass measure to increase the government's borrowing cap.

The measure temporarily would withhold pay from any member of the House or Senate whose chamber doesn't pass a budget this year. The Senate is expected to approve it in the coming week, but only after leaders make clear they think "no budget, no pay" is rife with flaws and is not going to be repeated.

The proposal is before the Senate because the House breezed past objections that the idea is unconstitutional because it could "vary" the pay of lawmakers in violation of the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. The House ignored concerns that the measure is unfair to members who are in the minority and are powerless to determine whether a budget passes or not.

Nearly unmentioned was the prospect that withholding lawmakers' pay favors wealthy members over those of more modest means and could, in theory, attract more affluent candidates better able to withstand having some of their $174,000 salary withheld.

"The last thing we want to do is to say to people running for Congress, 'If you're not a millionaire, don't run because there's no guarantee you'll be paid,'" said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

For these reasons and more, the idea went nowhere in the last congressional session. But it was embraced about a week ago by House GOP leaders such as Speaker John Boehner of Ohio as they struggled to avoid a potential market-crippling default on government obligations.

The proposal is a slap at the Democratic-controlled Senate, which hasn't passed a budget since 2009. Republicans advanced the measure as a one-year experiment rather than a permanent law.

The logic behind "no budget, no pay" goes like this: Passing a budget is the core responsibility of Congress, so why should lawmakers get paid if they don't do their main job?

"The hardworking people that I represent wouldn't be paid if they didn't show up and they didn't do their job," said Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. "And this place should operate no differently."

For Republicans, much of the appeal of the measure was that it was a rare opportunity to cram something down the Senate's throat. Two years of polarizing battles over issues big and small have left little good will between the GOP-run House and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

In the Senate, traditionalists such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., opted to set aside their concerns and avoid the task of beating back such an irresistible message. Reid also welcomed the reprieve from a potential economy-rattling government debt crisis.

"The House Republicans had to add a gimmick or two to the bill, but I understand, we all understand," Reid told reporters. "The tea party plays a big part in what goes on in the House and they need a gimmick or two to get things done over there. But to spare the middle class another knock-down, drag-out fight we are going to ... get it out of here as quickly as we can."

Reid's announcement came hours after the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., issued a statement saying the committee would produce a budget for the first time since 2009. The four years without one caused much frustration for Republicans and embarrassment for junior Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a co-sponsor of "no budget, no pay."

Democrats said "no budget, no pay" had nothing to do with the decision to move forward with a budget. Republicans weren't convinced. Murray's earlier statements on the chances of Democrats' moving ahead on a budget were noncommittal.

With congressional control divided, members of both parties have reason to chafe at "no budget, no pay."

For starters, the measure makes members of the minority party in House or Senate dependent on the majority to determine whether they get paid on time. Passing a congressional budget is typically a party-line exercise.

Then, of course, the measure puts a far greater burden on the relatively few people in Congress of modest means. For some lawmakers, the $174,000 congressional salary is barely enough to get by on, especially if a spouse doesn't work and the family maintains a residence in the Washington area in addition to back home.

"I don't know that it's really fair to members that do not have significant means and have no control over whether a budget is brought to the floor or not," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who noted she fits into that category. "Having said that, if this works it will have been shown to be a good technique."

It also has the potential to give wealthier members an advantage during budget debates because it would make it easier them to refuse to go along with a budget they don't like or make greater demands during the course of budget debates in exchange for their vote.

Then there's the question of constitutionality.

The 27th Amendment to the Constitution states that no law "varying the compensation" of members of Congress can take effect until an election has passed.

To deal with that problem, the measure doesn't deny pay. Rather, it withholds the salaries of members hit by "no budget, no pay," and would release the money on the last day of the congressional term in January of 2015.

Some legal scholars say that approach is in sufficient.

"Receiving $1,000 today is obviously worth more than receiving that same dollar amount at some time in the future," said Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe. "It follows that 'varying' the timing of compensation is just another way of 'varying the compensation itself,' which is what the 27th Amendment expressly forbids."

One of the ironies is that it's seems House Republicans driving "no budget, no pay" probably will struggle much more than Senate Democrats to pass it. Boehner is promising that, unlike two earlier GOP budgets, this one will come to balance by the end of the decade, which could force Republicans to cut Medicare much more deeply than they have sought to do in the past.

Congressional budget resolutions are nonbinding measures that usually sound more important than they really are. Often they're not followed up with binding legislation. While the House has passed budget plans, it failed last year to address several important pieces of bipartisan legislation that passed the Senate.

"As I recall, we passed a farm bill last year ... and they never found time to vote on it," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "We passed the Violence Against Women Act; they never found time to vote on it. I think they maybe ought to demonstrate they're willing to vote before they tell us how to vote."

Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen Coan is advising consumers to use caution when warming homes with alternative heating sources during the region’s cold snap.

Springfield Fire Department Public Information Officer Dennis G. Leger holds a portable electric space heater while standing near an illegal kerosene heater in front of a house at 17 Shillingford St., which was the scene of a fire Dec. 16, 2007, started by a faulty electrical space heater. Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen Coan is advising consumers to use caution when warming homes with alternative heating sources during the region’s cold snap.  

BOSTON — Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen Coan is advising consumers to use caution when warming homes with alternative heating sources during the region’s cold snap.

Space heaters should be switched off at night and have a three-foot ‘‘circle of safety’’ free of items that can catch fire such as bedding and furniture.

Fire officials advise not to use extension cords with space heaters, but say if necessary, make sure a cord is rated for the same amps as the heater.

Coan says to never burn cardboard, trash or debris in fireplaces or wood stoves.

Fireplaces should have screens to keep sparks and embers from flying out.

Ashes should be disposed of outdoors in a metal can with a tight lid.

Coan also recommends installing fresh batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

A largely overlooked, yet lucrative black market for toner cartridges and other office supplies is emerging in New York City.

Marque Gumbs pleads guilty to grand larceny July 26, 2011, in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York. Gumbs, who worked for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer, financed his lavish lifestyle by selling toner for copiers and printers that he stole from the hospital. The $1.5 million scheme at the prestigious hospital exploited what New York City authorities describe as a largely overlooked, yet lucrative black market for toner cartridges and other office supplies.  

By TOM HAYS

NEW YORK — Manhattan hospital clerk Marque Gumbs was doing so well moonlighting as a peddler of stolen property that he drove a BMW, shopped at designer stores like Burberry and vacationed in Las Vegas and Mexico.

But unlike other more common thieves brazenly living beyond their means, his contraband wasn't jewelry or electronics – it was toner for copiers and printers.

The $1.5 million scheme at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center exploited what New York City authorities describe as a largely overlooked, yet lucrative black market for toner cartridges and other office supplies.

Businesses have long endured employees pilfering pens, paper clips and other items for personal use, called "supply-jacking." But schemes like Gumbs' go much further, with the perpetrators using business accounts to place false orders for more costly items such as toner, then reselling them at a steep discount.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, a large law firm in Manhattan's financial district, recently became the scene of another toner caper that ended with grand larceny charges against Adrian Rodriguez, who worked in the duplicating department.

"This defendant didn't just take a box of Post-it Notes out of the office supply closet," District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in announcing the case.

Prosecutors allege the 38-year-old Rodriguez, who pleaded not guilty this month, ordered more than $376,000 in excess toner from two vendors over a two-year period. He would sell the cartridges – worth $80 to $259 a piece – for as little as $10 "out of the firm's back door ... and using the money to party and otherwise finance his lifestyle," according to court papers.

During a sting operation in late December, undercover investigators went to the law firm and delivered a shipment of cartridges that was marked so it could be tracked. They then watched as Rodriguez stashed the cartridges away before directing an unidentified buyer driving a van to pick them up at a loading dock, the court papers say.

Who buys the stolen toner and the scope of the thievery in the city, and what the victims have done to keep from happening again, is unclear. Authorities declined to discuss an ongoing investigation of the black market and where it's leading, and there was no response to messages left with the Fried Frank law firm and Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

Alicia Ellis, a spokeswoman for the National Office Products Alliance, said the Washington, D.C., trade group has heard many stories about office products dealers getting ripped off by bogus clients using stolen credit cards to order products – primarily toner, but not about employees of legitimate purchasers enriching themselves with inside toner jobs.

Still, there have been isolated cases.

In 2007, two Pennsylvania men were accused of stealing $187,000 worth of ink and toner from their office-supply employer and then selling the goods on the Internet. The same year, an account executive at a New Jersey stationery supply company pleaded guilty to stealing 30,000 toner cartridges valued at $1.75 million.

The con game at Memorial Sloan-Kettering dates to 2007, when one of Gumbs' duties as a receiving clerk paid $37,800 a year was to order supplies from an Office Depot website. Prosecutors accused him of ordering $1.5 million in cartridges – priced at $200 a piece – that didn't fit any of the copiers and printers at the hospital.

Gumbs also short-circuited hospital procedures by having delivery drivers call his cellphone and meet him at the curb outside. He then stashed the toner in a garbage area so he could retrieve it later.

By the time he was done, Gumbs had used his fraudulent profits to rent a luxury apartment in suburban Westchester County, make a $50,500 down payment on a BMW, and pay for shopping sprees at Burberry, Fendi and Gucci stores. Bank and credit card records showed deposits of $150,000, and purchases of airline tickets and hotel rooms in Las Vegas; Cancun, Mexico; and Orlando, Fla.

Gumbs, 34, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years behind bars. He also was ordered to forfeit his BMW, Rolex, laptop computers, four Louis Vuitton bags and other items bought with ill-gotten gains.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who's leading the push to restore an assault weapon ban, acknowledged on Sunday that the effort faces tough odds to pass Congress and she blamed the National Rifle Association.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association.  

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who's leading the push to restore an assault weapon ban, acknowledged on Sunday that the effort faces tough odds to pass Congress and she blamed the nation's largest gun-rights group.

Feinstein, D-Calif., on Thursday introduced a bill that would prohibit 157 specific weapons and ammunition magazines that have more than 10 rounds. The White House and fellow Democrats are skeptical the measure is going anywhere, given lawmakers who are looking toward re-election might fear pro-gun voters and the National Rifle Association.

"This has always been an uphill fight. This has never been easy. This is the hardest of the hard," Feinstein said.

"I think I can get it passed because the American people are very much for it," Feinstein said of the measure that follows a similar measure she championed into law 1994 but expired a decade later.

She acknowledged, however, the NRA's political clout.

"They come after you. They put together large amounts of money to defeat you," Feinstein said.

She also said the group was a pawn of those who make weapons.

"The NRA is venal. ... The NRA has become an institution of gun manufacturers," she said.

The NRA disputed her characterization.

"The NRA is a grass-roots organization. We have more than 4 million dues-paying members and tens of millions of supporters all across this country. Our political power comes from them. Decent and logical people would understand that," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to take up the proposal on Wednesday and hear from the NRA's CEO and senior vice president, Wayne LaPierre. Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in an assassination attempt, also plans to testify.

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2012, said Congress should focus on the causes of violence and not the weapons alone.

"We need to look beyond just recycling failed policies of the past. ... Let's go beyond just this debate and make sure we get deeper. What's our policy on mental illness? What's going on in our culture that produces this kind of thing? You know, we need to have that kind of a discussion and debate," Ryan said.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also urged lawmakers to consider mental health issues.

"When I hear some of this conversation, I think that we're looking at symptoms, we're not looking at the root causes," she said. "And I understand the senator's passion for this, but I got to tell you, an assault ban is not the answer to helping keep people safe."

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who favors the assault weapons ban, expressed skepticism that it would be returned to law.

"It's probably a heavy lift in Congress," he said.

In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. In December, President Barack Obama has pushed to expanded background checks, restoring the assault weapons ban and banning high-capacity ammunition magazines. But members of his own party may thwart his hopes.

Feinstein appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union." Ryan was on NBC's "Meet the Press." Blackburn and Kelly were on CBS.

Holocaust survivors, politicians, religious leaders and others marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday with solemn prayers and the now oft-repeated warnings to never let such horrors happen again.

A woman lights a candle as she attends a memorial ceremony during the International Holocaust Rememberance Day on Sunday Jan. 27, 2013, at Raoul Wallenberg Square in Stockholm, Sweden.  

By VANESSA GERA

WARSAW, Poland — Holocaust survivors, politicians, religious leaders and others marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday with solemn prayers and the now oft-repeated warnings to never let such horrors happen again.

Events took place at sites including Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former death camp where Hitler's Germany killed at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, in southern Poland. In Warsaw, prayers were also held at a monument to the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking from his window at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, warned that humanity must always be on guard against a repeat of murderous racism.

"The memory of this immense tragedy, which above all struck so harshly the Jewish people, must represent for everyone a constant warning so that the horrors of the past are not repeated, so that every form of hatred and racism is overcome, and that respect for, and dignity of, every human person is encouraged," the German-born pontiff said.

Not all words spoken by dignitaries struck the right tone, however.

On the sidelines of a ceremony in Milan, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage when he praised Benito Mussolini for "having done good" despite the Fascist dictator's anti-Jewish laws. Berlusconi also defended Mussolini for allying himself with Hitler, saying he likely reasoned that it would be better to be on the winning side.

The United Nations in 2005 designated Jan. 27 as a yearly memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust — 6 million Jews and millions of other victims of Nazi Germany during World War II. The day was chosen because it falls on the anniversary of the liberation in 1945 of Auschwitz, the Nazis' most notorious death camp and a symbol of the evil inflicted across the continent.

"Those who experienced the horrors of the cattle cars, ghettos, and concentration camps have witnessed humanity at its very worst and know too well the pain of losing loved ones to senseless violence," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Obama went on to say that like those who resisted the Nazis, "we must commit ourselves to resisting hate and persecution in all its forms. The United States, along with the international community, resolves to stand in the way of any tyrant or dictator who commits crimes against humanity, and stay true to the principle of 'Never Again.'"

As every year, Holocaust survivors gathered in the cold Polish winter at Auschwitz — but they shrink in number each year.

This year the key event in the ceremonies was the opening of an exhibition prepared by Russian experts that depicts Soviet suffering at the camp and the Soviet role in liberating it. The opening was presided over by Sergey Naryshkin, chairman of the Russian State Duma.

Several years ago, Polish officials stopped the opening of a previous exhibition. It was deemed offensive because the Russians depicted Poles, Lithuanians and others in Soviet-controlled territory as Soviet citizens. Poles and others protested this label since they were occupied against their will by the Soviets at the start of World War II.

The new exhibition — titled "Tragedy. Courage. Liberation" and prepared by the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow — removes the controversial terminology. It took years of discussions between Polish and Russian experts to finally complete it.

The exhibition narrates the Nazi crimes committed against Soviet POWS at Auschwitz, where they were the fourth largest group of prisoners, and at other sites. And it shows how the Red Army liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945, and helped the inmates afterward.

Also Sunday, a ceremony was held in Moscow at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, which opened in November and is Russia's first major attempt to tell the story of its Jewish community. The museum portrays Russia as a safe and welcoming place for Jews today despite its history of pogroms and discrimination.

In Serbia, survivors and officials gathered at the site of a former concentration camp in the capital, Belgrade, to remember the Jewish, Serb and Roma victims of the Nazi occupation of the country.

Parliament speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic said it is the task of the new generations never to forget the Holocaust crimes, including those against Serbs.

"Many brutal crimes have been left without punishment, redemption and commemoration," he said. "I want to believe that by remembering the death and suffering of the victims the new generations will be obliged to fight any form of prejudice, racism and chauvinism, anti-Semitism and hatred."

A technology-driven teaching method known as "flipped learning" is catching on in schools across the nation as a younger, more tech-savvy generation of teachers is moving into classrooms.

Marisa Wilkerson, 11th grader, and her classmate use their hands to make the shape of a conic section in Crystal Kirch's pre-calculus class at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. A growing number of teachers are implementing what is known as "flipped learning," in which students learn lessons as homework, mostly through online videos produced by teachers, and use classroom time to practice what they learned.  

By CHRISTINA HOAG

SANTA ANA, Calif. — When Timmy Nguyen comes to his pre-calculus class, he's already learned the day's lesson — he watched it on a short online video prepared by his teacher for homework.

So without a lecture to listen to, he and his classmates at Segerstrom Fundamental High School spend class time doing practice problems in small groups, taking quizzes, explaining the concept to other students, reciting equation formulas in a loud chorus, and making their own videos while teacher Crystal Kirch buzzes from desk to desk to help pupils who are having trouble.

It's a technology-driven teaching method known as "flipped learning" because it flips the time-honored model of classroom lecture and exercises for homework — the lecture becomes homework and class time is for practice.

"It was hard to get used to," said Nguyen, an 11th-grader. "I was like 'why do I have to watch these videos, this is so dumb.' But then I stopped complaining and I learned the material quicker. My grade went from a D to an A."

Flipped learning apparently is catching on in schools across the nation as a younger, more tech-savvy generation of teachers is moving into classrooms. Although the number of "flipped" teachers is hard to ascertain, the online community Flipped Learning Network now has 10,000 members, up from 2,500 a year ago, and training workshops are being held all over the country, said executive director Kari Afstrom.

Under the model, teachers make eight- to 10-minute videos of their lessons using laptops, often simply filming the whiteboard as the teacher makes notations and recording their voice as they explain the concept. The videos are uploaded onto a teacher or school website, or even YouTube, where they can be accessed by students on computers or smartphones as homework.

For pupils lacking easy access to the Internet, teachers copy videos onto DVDs or flash drives. Kids with no home device watch the video on school computers.

Class time is then devoted to practical applications of the lesson — often more creative exercises designed to engage students and deepen their understanding. On a recent afternoon, Kirch's students stood in pairs with one student forming a cone shape with her hands and the other angling an arm so the "cone" was cut into different sections.

"It's a huge transformation," said Kirch, who has been taking this approach for two years. "It's a student-focused classroom where the responsibility for learning has flipped from me to the students."

The concept emerged five years ago when a pair of Colorado high school teachers started videotaping their chemistry classes for absent students.

"We found it was really valuable and pushed us to ask what the students needed us for," said one of the teachers, Aaron Sams, now a consultant who is developing on online education program in Pittsburgh. "They didn't need us for content dissemination, they needed us to dig deeper."

He and colleague Jonathan Bergmann began condensing classroom lectures to short videos and assigning them as homework.

"The first year, I was able to double the number of labs my students were doing," Sams said. "That's every science teacher's dream."

In the Detroit suburb of Clinton Township, Clintondale High School Principal Greg Green converted the whole school to flipped learning in the fall of 2011 after years of frustration with high failure rates and discipline problems. Three-quarters of the school's enrollment of 600 is low-income, minority students.

Flipping yielded dramatic results after just a year, including a 33 percent drop in the freshman failure rate and a 66 percent drop in the number of disciplinary incidents from the year before, Green said. Graduation, attendance and test scores all went up. Parent complaints dropped from 200 to seven.

Green attributed the improvements to an approach that engages students more in their classes.

"Kids want to take an active part in the learning process," he said. "Now teachers are actually working with kids."

Although the method has been more popular in high schools, it's now catching on in elementary schools, said Afstrom of the Flipped Learning Network.

Fifth-grade teacher Lisa Highfill in the Pleasanton Unified School District said for a lesson about adding decimals, she made a five-minute, how-to video kids watched at home and in class, then she distributed play money and menus and had kids "ordering" food and tallying the bill and change.

A colleague who teaches kindergarten reads a storybook on video. The video contains a pop-up box that requires kids to write something that shows they understood the story.

The concept has its downside. Teachers note that making the videos and coming up with project activities to fill class time is a lot of extra work up front, while some detractors believe it smacks of teachers abandoning their primary responsibility of instructing.

"They're expecting kids to do the learning outside the classroom. There's not a lot of evidence this works," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, a New York City-based parent advocacy group. "What works is reasonably sized classes with a lot of debate, interaction and discussion."

Others question whether flipped learning would work as well with low achieving students, who may not be as motivated to watch lessons on their own, but said it was overall a positive model.

"It's forcing the notion of guided practice," said Cynthia Desrochers, director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at California State University-Northridge. "Students can get the easy stuff on their own, but the hard stuff should be under the watchful eye of a teacher."

At Michigan's Clintondale High School, some teachers show the video at the beginning of class to ensure all kids watch it and that home access is not an issue.

In Kirch's pre-calculus class, students said they liked the concept.

"You're not falling asleep in class, "said senior Monica Resendiz said. "You're constantly working."

Explaining to adults that homework was watching videos was a little harder, though.

"My grandma thought I was using it as an excuse to mess around on the Internet," Nguyen said.

The cold weather made it more difficult to fight the fire but no one was injured.

03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen – A Belchertown Fire Department truck. File photo / The Republican  

BELCHERTOWN – A chimney fire that spread displaced a family and caused an estimated $60,000 in damages Sunday.

The fire was reported at about 5:50 p.m. at 621 Franklin St. When firefighters arrived they discovered a chimney fire in the single family house had spread outside the chimney, Belchertown Fire Capt. John Workman said.

“There was a fair amount of water and smoke damage in the house,” he said.

The family was able to escape from the house safely. There was too much damage for them to return and they will be staying with family or friends, Workman said.

The fire was brought under control fairly quickly but firefighters remain on the scene putting out spots that may ignite again. Franklin Road is also expected to remain closed until at least 9 p.m.

The cold weather made fighting the fire more difficult but there were no injuries. Palmer firefighters from the Bondsville and Three Rivers stations assisted Belchertown firefighters at the blaze while Amherst firefighters manned vacant stations in Belchertown, he said.

The superintendent said Northampton High School Assistant Principal Bryan Lombardi acted hastily and without proper consultation by instructing teachers to tell students to provide written statements that, unbeknownst to students, would be used as handwriting samples by police trying to determine who wrote a threatening note found at the school.

An investigation into a threatening handwritten note found last month at Northampton High School continues to generate discussion about the tactics used by police and school officials. Students were told to provide handwritten statements that, unbeknownst to them, would be used in a criminal probe into who wrote a note found in a school bathroom on Dec. 19. John Suchocki, The Republican  

NORTHAMPTON — School Superintendent Brian L. Salzer has criticized a ranking Northampton High School official for requesting student handwriting samples to help with a criminal investigation of a written threat found at the school on Dec. 19.

"This was not our way of doing business, not our protocol. I believe had we had more heads together, we would not have gone forward with this," Salzer told the Daily Hampshire Gazette, by way of criticizing Assistant Principal Bryan Lombardi's decision to collect written statements from students.

Lombardi, without consulting Salzer or the school's principal, instructed teachers to have students write a pledge related to school violence on Dec. 21, just two days after an anonymous threat was found in a bathroom at Northampton High School and one week after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The decision to collect handwriting samples under the guise of having students sign an anti-school-violence pledge has proven to be controversial, with both the American Civil Liberties Union and some parents objecting to the tactic. Prior to last week, however, it was unclear who specifically had authorized the exercise.

William Newman, lead attorney for the Western Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, used the public records law to receive copies of an anti-school-violence pledge written by Northampton High School students that was really intended to match handwriting samples with a threatening note found at the school Dec. 19. The ACLU and some parents have objected to the tactic. The Republican  

After a Northampton police detective suggested soliciting handwritten statements from students to see if writing samples matched the threatening note – a "legally permissible" move, according to Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan – Lombardi sent a Dec. 21 email to teachers telling them to have students write out a pledge acknowledging the gravity and importance of reporting threats of school violence to officials.

"You will need to dictate a planned statement to the students. They will need to print the statement, not cursive, and print their name," Lombardi said in the email, requesting teachers to review statements as they were collected. "If you notice any student with clearly different writing then [sic] you usually see please make a note, also if any student refuses please let me know. Students are not to know that this is a writing sample!"

Attorney William C. Newman, director of the Western Massachusetts Legal Office of the ACLU in Northampton, said using statements from students as possible evidence in a criminal investigation without their knowledge raises constitutional concerns.

"There's a serious First Amendment issue here. This is forced free speech," he said, adding that he believed the statements were required, not optional. "I would say that the claim that this was voluntary was disingenuous," Newman said. "I think it is of significant concern that the police utilized teachers as law enforcement agents to secure handwriting samples from the students."

The tactic was not only misleading to students, but "no parental input" was sought before authorities requested the written statements, Newman said.

On Jan. 16, the ACLU asked for copies of public records related to all electronic and written documents pertaining to the pledge, including how many students participated, how many refused, and their reasons for declining, among other queries. Newman also inquired about who made the decision to keep students and parents in the dark about the true reason for the pledge: to solicit potential evidence for a criminal investigation.

Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said it was "legally permissible" to have Northampton High School students write and sign a pledge that was used to compare students' handwriting to that found in a threatening note found in the school's bathroom Dec. 19. Many students provided the statements, which pertained to an anti-school-violence pledge that were asked to write and sign. But they were not told ahead of time that their statements may be used in an ongoing criminal investigation. The Republican  

On Friday, Salzer sent Newman copies of the pledge and the email Lombardi sent to teachers on Dec. 21. There was no written documentation for several items requested by Newman, according to the superintendent, who acknowledged that school officials mishandled the matter.

"In this case, fair criticisms have been raised about how we handled this situation," Salzer said. "We have reviewed our communication and decision-making protocols; now, and in the future, we will gather more people and perspectives around the situation, respect the trusting relationship we have with our students, and we will work to resolve future crises in a proper and respectful manner."

Investigators have declined to release any details of the threatening note that was found at the high school on Dec. 19. Sullivan said the handwritten note "exposed an imminent danger to the lives of the students and staff at Northampton High School." The district attorney also pointed out the context of the threatening note, coming just "five days after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School and two days before the end of the Maya calendar." Both events had produced "heightened alert in schools across the country," he said.

Sullivan defended the decision to solicit statements from students, calling the action a reasonable response "to quell the tension permeating the school."

Northampton School Committee member Howard Moore said he understood that the threatening note followed one of the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history and concerns over possible copycat crimes, but he also wondered if soliciting handwriting samples from students was a "proportional response" to the crisis at hand.

"I don't know what the threat was, but apparently it was determined not to be credible ... because school was held the next day," Moore said.

Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes.

The Empire State, MetLife and Chrysler buildings are seen against a hazy backdrop July 18, 2012, in New York. Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. At least that is what a surprising study suggests.  

By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON — Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes.

In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, according to the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change.

Meteorologists long have known that cities are warmer than rural areas, with the heat of buildings and cars, along with asphalt and roofs that absorb heat. That's called the urban heat island effect and it's long been thought that the heat stayed close to the cities.

But the study, based on a computer model and the Northern Hemisphere, now suggests the heat does something else, albeit indirectly. It travels about half a mile up into the air and then its energy changes the high-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictate prevailing weather.

"Basically, it changes the flow." said Guang Zhang of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. He wrote the paper with Aixue Hu at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

This doesn't change overall global temperature averages significantly, unlike man-made greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Instead it redistributes some of the heat, the scientists said.

The changes seem to vary with the seasons and by region because of the way air currents flow at different times of the year. During the winter, the jet stream is altered and weakened, keeping cold air closer to the Arctic Circle and from dipping down as sharply, Hu explained.

The computer model showed that parts of Siberia and northwestern Canada may get, on average, an extra 1.4 degrees to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 to 1 degree Celsius) during the winter, which "may not be a bad thing," Zhang said. The effect isn't quite as much in northern North Dakota and Minnesota, where temperatures might be about half a degree warmer (0.3 degrees Celsius), and even less along the East Coast.

In contrast, Europe and the Pacific Northwest are cooled slightly in the winter from this effect. The jet stream changes prevent weather systems from bringing warmer air from the Atlantic to Europe and from the Pacific to the U.S. Northwest, thus cooling those areas a bit, he said.

The biggest cooling occurs in the fall, but Hu said he's not quite sure why that happens.

Several outside scientists said they were surprised by the study results, calling the work "intriguing" and "clever." But they said it would have to be shown in more than one computer model and in repeated experiments before they could accept this theory.

"It's an interesting and rationally carried out study," said David Parker, climate monitoring chief of the United Kingdom meteorology office. "We must be cautious until other models are used to test their hypothesis."

Nature Climate Change: http://www.nature.com/nclimate

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Private landowners are reaping billions of dollars in royalties each year from the boom in natural gas drilling, transforming lives and livelihoods even as the windfall provides only a modest boost to the broader economy.

Shawn Georgetti pauses on his 167 acre family dairy farm, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, in Avella, Pa. With royalties from a Range Resources gas well on his property Georgetti has been able to buy newer farm equipment that's bigger, faster, and more fuel-efficient.  

By KEVIN BEGOS

PITTSBURGH — Private landowners are reaping billions of dollars in royalties each year from the boom in natural gas drilling, transforming lives and livelihoods even as the windfall provides only a modest boost to the broader economy.

In Pennsylvania alone, royalty payments could top $1.2 billion for 2012, according to an Associated Press analysis that looked at state tax information, production records and estimates from the National Association of Royalty Owners.

For some landowners, the unexpected royalties have made a big difference.

"We used to have to put stuff on credit cards. It was basically living from paycheck to paycheck," said Shawn Georgetti, who runs a family dairy farm in Avella, about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

Natural gas production has boomed in many states over the past few years as advances in drilling opened up vast reserves buried in deep shale rock, such as the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania and the Barnett in Texas.

Nationwide, the royalty owners association estimates, natural gas royalties totaled $21 billion in 2010, the most recent year for which it has done a full analysis. Texas paid out the most in gas royalties that year, about $6.7 billion, followed by Wyoming at $2 billion and Alaska at $1.9 billion.

Exact estimates of natural gas royalty payments aren't possible because contracts and wholesale prices of gas vary, and specific tax information is private. But some states release estimates of the total revenue collected for all royalties, and feedback on thousands of contracts has led the royalty owners association to conclude that the average royalty is 18.5 percent of gas production.

"Our fastest-growing state chapter is our Pennsylvania chapter, and we just formed a North Dakota chapter. We've seen a lot of new people, and new questions," said Jerry Simmons, the director of the association, which was founded in 1980 and is based in Oklahoma.

Simmons said he hasn't heard of anyone getting less than 12.5 percent, and that's also the minimum rate set by law in Pennsylvania. Simmons knows of one contract in another state where the owner received 25 percent of production, but that's unusual.

By comparison, a 10 to 25 percent range is similar to what a top recording artist might get in royalties from CD sales, while a novelist normally gets a 12.5 percent to 15 percent royalty on hardcover book sales.

Simmons added that for oil and gas "there is no industry standard," since the royalty is often adjusted based on the per-acre signing bonus a landowner receives. While many people are lured by higher upfront bonuses, a higher royalty rate can generate more total income over the life of a well, which can stretch for 25 years.

Before Range Resources drilled a well on the family property in 2012, Georgetti said, he was stuck using 30-year-old equipment, with no way to upgrade without going seriously into debt.

"You don't have that problem anymore. It's a lot more fun to farm," Georgetti said, since he has been able to buy newer equipment that's bigger, faster and more fuel-efficient. The drilling hasn't caused any problems for the farm, he said.

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said the Fort Worth, Texas-based company has paid "well over" $1 billion to Pennsylvania landowners, with most of that coming since 2008.

One economist noted that the windfall payments from the natural gas boom are wonderful for individuals, but that they represent just a tiny portion of total economic activity.

For example, the $1 billion for Pennsylvania landowners sounds like a lot, but "it's just not going to have a big impact on the overall vitality of the overall economy," said Robert Inman, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school. "I think the issue is, what difference does it make for the individual families?"

Pennsylvania's total gross domestic product in 2011 was about $500 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Inman noted that total gas industry hiring and investment can have a far bigger effect on a state or region, and companies have invested tens of billions of dollars just in Pennsylvania on pipelines, infrastructure, and drilling in recent years.

For example, in North Dakota the shale oil and minerals boom contributed 2.8 percent of GDP growth to the entire state economy in 2011, according to Commerce Department data.

Another variable in how much royalty owners actually receive is the wholesale price of gas. That has dropped significantly over the past two years even as production has boomed in Pennsylvania and many other states. Average wholesale prices went from about $4.50 per unit of gas in 2010 to about $3 in 2012. For many leaseholders, that meant a decline in royalties.

The boom in natural gas royalties has even led to niche spinoff companies that look for lease heirs who don't even know they're owed money.

Michael Zwick is president of Assets International, a Michigan company that searches for missing heirs.

"It was an underserved niche," Zwick said of oil and gas leases. When a company can't find an heir to lease royalties, the money often goes to state unclaimed property funds.

Zwick said he has found a few dozen people whose gas lease money was being held in escrow, including one who was owed about $250,000 in drilling royalties. But the average amount, he said, is far lower.

The CIA thriller "Argo" continues to steamroll through awards season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Ben Affleck, center, and the cast of argo accept the award for outstanding cast in a motion picture for “Argo” at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday Jan. 27, 2013.  

By DAVID GERMAIN

LOS ANGELES — The CIA thriller "Argo" continues to steamroll through awards season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

SAG's lead-acting honors Sunday went to Jennifer Lawrence for her role as a troubled widow in a shaky new relationship in the lost-souls romance "Silver Linings Playbook" and Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War epic "Lincoln."

Anne Hathaway of "Les Miserables" and Tommy Lee Jones of "Lincoln" won the supporting-acting honors.

"It occurred to me — it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln," said Day-Lewis, a solid front-runner to join an exclusive list of three-time acting Oscar winners. "And therefore, somehow it is only so fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again."

It was a brisk, businesslike and fairly bland evening as the actors union handed out honors to a predictable lineup of winners who generally had triumphed at earlier Hollywood ceremonies or past SAG shows.

The SAG cast win came a day after "Argo" claimed the top honor from the Producers Guild of America, whose winner often goes on to claim best picture at the Academy Awards. "Argo" also was a surprise victor two weeks ago at the Golden Globes, where it won best drama and director for Ben Affleck.

The awards momentum positions "Argo" for a rare feat at the Feb. 24 Oscars, where it could become just the fourth film in 85 years to be named best picture without a nomination for its director.

"To me this has nothing to do with me, it has to do with the incredible people who were in this movie," said Affleck, who also stars in "Argo" and accepted the SAG prize alongside his cast.

A directing nomination at the Oscars usually goes hand in hand with a best-picture win. When Affleck was snubbed for a directing slot, awards analysts initially were counting "Argo" out for the best-picture Oscar, along with Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" and Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables," which also missed out on directing nominations.

Only once in modern times has a film won best picture without a directing nomination, with 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy." The other two times came in the show's early years, at the first Oscars in 1929 with "Wings" and for 1932's "Grand Hotel."

But "Argo" has proven a resilient crowd-pleaser, dominating at awards shows since then over Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," which leads the Oscars with 12 nominations.

The cast prize at SAG adds some weight to the Oscar prospects for "Argo," though the guild honor has a spotty record at forecasting eventual best-picture winners. Only eight of 17 times since the guild added the category has the cast winner gone on to take the best-picture Oscar. "The Help" won the guild's cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named "The Artist" as best picture.

The next playoff round before the Oscars is Saturday's Directors Guild of America Awards, where Affleck, Bigelow, Spielberg and Hooper all are nominated, along with Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." The winner there typically goes on to triumph with directing and best-picture Oscars, but only Spielberg and Lee are nominated for both the Directors Guild and Oscar prizes this time, throwing the awards picture into a muddle.

Sunday's acting prizes solidify those categories, though. "Silver Linings" star Lawrence won a Golden Globe and has become one of Hollywood's hottest talents, with part two of her blockbuster franchise, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," due out in November.

"Now I have this naked statue that means some of you even voted for me, and that is an indescribable feeling," Lawrence said after explaining she earned her SAG card at age 14 by filming a spot for MTV.

Hathaway won for her role as a doomed single mother forced into prostitution in the adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo's epic novel. Her win came over four past Oscar recipients — Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith.

"I'm just thrilled I have dental," Hathaway said. "I got my SAG card when I was 14. It felt like the beginning of the world. I have loved every single minute of my life as an actor. ... Thank you for nominating me alongside incredible women and incredible performances."

Jones, who was not at the show, won for his turn as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens in the Civil War epic. The win improves his odds to become a two-time Academy Award winner. He previously won a supporting-actor Oscar for "The Fugitive."

Day-Lewis, a two-time Oscar winner for "My Left Foot" and "There Will Be Blood," could become the fifth actor to earn three Oscars, along with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan. Katharine Hepburn has the acting record with four Oscars.

Backstage at SAG, Day-Lewis was hardly ready to predict a third Oscar win.

"There's a good chance I won't. I feel the same way at all these occasions. Mostly, we're traveling as a group, the fellow nominees, give or take one here or there," Day-Lewis said. "I would happily recognize any single one person whose name is called."

On SAG's television side, with "30 Rock" ending its run, its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won the SAG awards for best comedy performers. It was Baldwin's seventh-straight win, while Fey earned her fifth SAG prize.

"Oh, my God. It's ridiculous," Baldwin said. "It's the end of our show, which is sad. Everybody is sad about that. It was the greatest experience I've ever had."

Fey gave a plug for the show's finale airing Thursday, noting that it's up against "The Big Bang Theory."

"Just tape 'The Big Bang Theory' for once, for crying out loud," Fey said.

"Modern Family" won for best overall cast in a TV comedy show. Accepting for the cast, "Modern Family" co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson offered thanks to the makers of "30 Rock" and another departing series, "The Office," saying "you all have set the comedy bar so high."

Ferguson joked that if the "30 Rock" or "The Office" stars need jobs, they should contact the "Modern Family" casting director.

The TV drama acting awards went to Claire Danes of "Homeland" and Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad."

"It is so good to be bad," Cranston said.

"Downton Abbey" won the TV drama cast award.

Julianne Moore's turn as Sarah Palin in "Game Change" earned her the TV prize for best actress in a movie or miniseries. Kevin Costner won for best actor in a movie or miniseries for "Hatfields & McCoys."

Fey, who memorably spoofed Palin herself in "Saturday Night Live" sketches, said backstage that Moore's performance was "incredible. She really disappeared into the character, she did a real film acting job. You wouldn't want a sketch acting job in that movie."

Earlier, the James Bond adventure "Skyfall" and the fantasy series "Game of Thrones" picked up prizes for best stunt work, honors announced on the red carpet before the official SAG Awards ceremony.

Receiving the guild's life-achievement award was Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last year to his "The Dick Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.

After waiting on stage for a prolonged standing ovation to end, Van Dyke said, "That does an old man a lot of good."

Associated Press writers Beth Harris, Christy Lemire and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

Richard Dupre, a former U.S. Army veteran and owner of Red Zone Tactical, a North Brookfield gun-and-ammo store, organized the pro-gun rally on the North Brookfield Town Common.

Richard Dupre, owner of a North Brookfield gun-and-ammo shop, issued this call to arms on his store's website to rally gun-rights supporters to attend Sunday's "Let Freedom Ring" event. Facebook  

NORTH BROOKFIELD — Local gun shop owner Richard Dupre issued the call to arms, and gun supporters came out in force for Sunday's "Let Freedom Ring" rally on the North Brookfield Town Common.

Dupre, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, announced the 1 p.m. rally on the website for his North Brookfield business, Red Zone Tactical, a gun-and-ammunition store on Brown Street.

"We need a show of force that we will not sit idly by while our rights and freedoms are trampled upon by our self-serving government and the puppet masters at the United Nations," Dupre, who claims to not be political, wrote on his website.

Hundreds of people, including former and active-duty military personnel, braved Sunday's cold to attend the rally, according to 22News.

December's incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman used his mother's legal weapons to slaughter 20 young children and six school employees before killing himself, has revived the national gun-control debate as Second Amendment supporters and those hoping to curtail the firepower of weapons legally sold in the U.S. clash over President Barack Obama's call to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines after the massacre in Newtown, Conn.

While many hunters and gun-rights advocates have long supported the constitutionally enshrined "right to bear arms," Dupre, who majored in criminal justice and minored in military history in college, said he also supports the rights of people to be armed due to certain threats, including the continuing economic downward spiral and catastrophic events such as drought, food shortages and global health pandemics, among other perceived risks.

He says his company aims to meet customers' gun needs, "whether they be for competition, hunting, survival and preparation, or your day-to-day profession."

Some of those who attended Sunday's rally expressed a strong desire to hold onto their guns even if the government were to impose new regulations regarding high-capacity weapons. "If they try to disarm us, I'm prepared to refuse to do that, and I'd encourage everybody else to do the same," Dave Kopacz told 22 News, which did not identify the man's hometown.

"Let them know that they took an oath of office to defend the Constitution, and let them know that they have to live up to that oath if they want to stay in office," Scott Forbes told the Chicopee-based TV station, which did not indicate Forbes' address, either.

Dupre said he hopes other Massachusetts communities will hold similar Second Amendment-rights rallies in light of the growing national conversation. Among those expected to speak at Sunday's rally were representatives of Red Pill Politics, the Tea Party, the Gun Owners' Action League, and the Libertarian party.

A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws.

U.S. Sen Charles Schumer, D-New York, is part of a bipartisan group senators that has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws.  

By ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws.

The deal, which was to be announced at a news conference Monday afternoon, covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.

Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.

President Barack Obama also is committed to enacting comprehensive immigration legislation and will travel to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his vision, which is expected to overlap in important ways with the Senate effort.

The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue. McCain collaborated with the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn't get enough GOP support.

Now, with some Republicans chastened by the November elections which demonstrated the importance of Latino voters and their increasing commitment to Democrats, some in the GOP say this time will be different.

"What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle — including maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle — that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill," McCain said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"I think the time is right," McCain said.

The group claims a notable newcomer in Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate whose conservative bona fides may help smooth the way for support among conservatives wary of anything that smacks of amnesty. In an opinion piece published Sunday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Rubio wrote that the existing system amounts to "de facto amnesty," and he called for "commonsense reform."

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the senators will call for accomplishing four goals:

—Creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here, contingent upon securing the border and better tracking of people here on visas.

—Reforming the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university.

—Creating an effective employment verification system to ensure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants.

—Allowing more low-skill workers into the country and allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can demonstrate they couldn't recruit a U.S. citizen; and establishing an agricultural worker program.

The principles being released Monday are outlined on just over four pages, leaving plenty of details left to fill in. What the senators do call for is similar to Obama's goals and some past efforts by Democrats and Republicans, since there's wide agreement in identifying problems with the current immigration system. The most difficult disagreement is likely to arise over how to accomplish the path to citizenship.

In order to satisfy the concerns of Rubio and other Republicans, the senators are calling for the completion of steps on border security and oversight of those here on visas before taking major steps forward on the path to citizenship.

Even then, those here illegally would have to qualify for a "probationary legal status" that would allow them to live and work here — but not qualify for federal benefits — before being able to apply for permanent residency. Once they are allowed to apply they would do so behind everyone else already in line for a green card within the current immigration system.

That could be a highly cumbersome process, but how to make it more workable is being left to future negotiations. The senators envision a more streamlined process toward citizenship for immigrants brought here as children by their parents, and for agricultural workers.

The debate will play out at the start of Obama's second term, as he aims to spend the political capital afforded him by his re-election victory on an issue that has eluded past presidents and stymied him during his first term despite his promises to the Latino community to act.

"As the president has made clear for some time, immigration reform is an important priority and he is pleased that progress is being made with bipartisan support," a White House spokesman, Clark Stevens, said in a statement. "At the same time, he will not be satisfied until there is meaningful reform and he will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved."

For Republicans, the November elections were a stark schooling on the importance of Latino voters, who voted for Obama over Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent, helping ensure Obama's victory. That led some Republican leaders to conclude that supporting immigration reform with a path to citizenship has become a political imperative.

The trial of a key figure in a prostitution scandal at a Zumba studio in Maine has gone through four days without a jury being selected.

Mark Strong, Sr. talks with his attorney Dan Lilley after Justice Nancy Mills dropped most of the charges against Strong, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 at York County Superior Court in Alfred, Maine. Strong is on trial for helping Alexis Wright run a one-woman prostitution business from a Kennebunk dance studio.  

By DAVID SHARP,

ALFRED, Maine — The trial of a key figure in prostitution scandal at a Zumba studio in Maine has gone through four days without a jury being selected. And it's unclear if the process will resume Monday.

A pair of appeals to the state supreme court delayed the trial of Mark Strong Sr. in Superior Court in Alfred.

The defense is worried that the lengthy delays could cause potential jurors to turn against Strong even before jury selection is completed and the trial begins in earnest with opening statements and testimony.

Jury expert Valerie Hans from Cornell University Law School says surveys show jurors hate delays. But she says there's no research showing that they'd punish a defendant.

As part of an overhaul of the juvenile justice system, Gov. Deval Patrick plans to file legislation Monday to prohibit mandatory life sentences without parole for youthful offenders convicted of first degree murder.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick delivers his State of the State address in the House Chambers at the Statehouse in Boston, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)  

By Matt Murphy, State House News Service

BOSTON - As part of an overhaul of the juvenile justice system, Gov. Deval Patrick plans to file legislation Monday to prohibit mandatory life sentences without parole for youthful offenders convicted of first degree murder.

The proposal is a response to the Supreme Court decision over the summer that ruled such mandatory sentences violate the Constitution’s Eight Amendment restricting cruel and unusual punishment.

Patrick is also proposing to extend the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court and the Department of Youth Services to 18-year-olds, and would eliminate the Superior Court and District Court’s jurisdiction over 17-year-olds.

In Miller v. Alabama, the Supreme Court found that mandatory life sentences without parole for youthful offenders violated the Constitution. The case involved 14-year Evan Miller and another teen who got into a fight with a neighbor. The teens beat the man with a baseball bat and set fire to his trailer, and he died of smoke inhalation.

Patrick has been seeking to reform the state’s sentencing laws for some time, pursuing a package of criminal justice reforms last session that would have eliminated some mandatory minimums for drug offenses.

While a scaled back law eventually passed the Legislature stiffening penalties for repeat violent offenders, the governor sought a commitment from House and Senate leaders to return to sentencing reform over the next two years. The Legislature also overruled Patrick when he attempted to amend the bill by asking for limited judicial discretion to give certain three-time violent felons a chance at parole.

The governor’s push for juvenile sentencing law changes to start the two-year session is likely to be the first of many ideas from Patrick to reform sentencing laws, and the ban on mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles is necessary, according to the administration, to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision.

The bill would eliminate the state’s mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles aged 14-18 convicted of first-degree murder. Judges could either sentence those offenders to life with parole eligibility in 15 to 25 years, or life without parole after considering factors such as a defendant’s maturity, prospects for rehabilitation, and whether the youth acted alone.

If the court wants to take away parole eligibility for a juvenile defendant, the judge would need to indicate in writing why the sentence is necessary for public safety, and why a lesser sentence would not suffice.

Also under the bill, a juvenile convicted under the felony-murder rule, which allows anyone involved in a felony to be held responsible for any deaths that occur, would become parole eligible in 10 to 25 years, or be sentenced to life without parole after a judge considers the extent of the juvenile’s participation in the crime.

“As every parent knows, teenagers are different from adults – they can act in the moment, be impulsive, and be unduly influenced by their peers and by adults,” said Massachusetts Child Advocate Gail Garinger, in support of the governor’s proposal.

“After the Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, Massachusetts judges must take these differences into account in sentencing, even when the adolescent has committed the worst of acts – the taking of another’s life. It is wrong to give up on any young person without considering the circumstances of his crime, his life experiences, and without asking whether he is capable of being rehabilitated before we sentence him to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Garinger said.

The legislation also proposes to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18, and to require prosecutors to declare during or before the pretrial conference if they intend to seek a sentence of life without parole for a juvenile accused of first degree murder.

Youth aged 14 to 18 and convicted of second-degree murder would be sentenced to life and become eligible for parole after 15 years, under Patrick’s proposal.

By reforming the sentencing laws and expanding the reach of the Department of Youth Services and the Juvenile Court to 18-year-olds, the administration says it is attempting to provide youth with “age-appropriate resources for rehabilitation.”

To that end, the bill would also allow juvenile delinquents to voluntarily accept DYS post-discharge services until they turn 21 and youthful offenders could voluntarily receive the same services until they turn 23.