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State police warn of 'treacherous' road conditions in Western Massachusetts

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WMECO and National Grid reported minimal power, if any, power disruptions for Western Massachusetts

SPRINGFIELD - As dawn broke over Western Massachusetts Saturday state police warned of treacherous road conditions in wake of winter storm Nemo.

Between 13 and 20 inches of snow fell in most parts of the Pioneer Valley, according to National Weather Service Data, with a high of 24 inches reported in Blandford.

A statewide driving ban remains in effect, and public transportation has been suspended across Massachusetts.

"It's slow-moving. It's pretty bad," Trooper Robert Church of the Springfield barracks said of the road conditions Saturday morning.

Although around 400,000 customers remained without power Saturday morning in the eastern part of the state, Western Massachusetts Electric Co. and National Grid reported minimal disruptions.

Major roadways like Interstate 91 and Interstate 291, as of about 6:30 a.m., were mostly down to one plowed lane, Church said.

Western Massachusetts, New England digs out after Winter Storm Nemo 02.09.2013 | HOLYOKE -- A PVTA employee was part of a crew working to clear snow from the Holyoke Transportation Center Saturday morning. Public transportation was suspended statewide Saturday.  


"The roads are treacherous," said State Trooper Joseph Tetrault, who is attached to the Westfield barracks on the Massachusetts Turnpike. "If people aren't out responding to an emergency, they should stay home."

Motorists for the most part have heeded the warnings to stay off the roads, however. "Thank god they kind of got the message," Church said, adding that state police in Springfield dealt with only "four or five" disabled vehicles over the course of the night.

State police in the Westfield barracks responded to about a half-dozen stuck vehicles on the overnight shift, including a tanker truck that had been been driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of the turnpike near Exit 4 in West Springfield.

Tetrault said when he arrived at the stuck truck at about 11:20 p.m., conditions were so bad that he could barely see five feet in front of his cruiser. Tetrault said the driver told him that he had no idea how he ended up going the wrong way and that he had been following tire tracks in the blinding snow.

Tetrault said he believes the driver may have been following tracks left by a plow that had made a U-turn at the emergency crossover in Chicopee.

The driver received a citation for negligent operation, Tetrault said.

Springfield police reported no major problems overnight, but a growing issue of cruisers getting stuck in the snow prompted them to redeploy in four-wheel drive vehicles during shift change at midnight.

"We had to improvise," said Capt. Larry Brown, adding that the officers used a combination of personal and departmental vehicles.

Brown said major roadways within the city are in pretty good condition. Some side roads have yet to be plowed, police said.

State police attached to the Northampton barracks reported that roadways remain in tough shape.

"The plows are out, but not everything is clear yet," said Adam Hakkarainen, as of about 7:15 a.m. "There is such significant snowfall that they were overwhelmed. Some secondary roads are down to one lane. Some of the two-lane roads have piles of snow in the middle."

Hakkarainen reported only a handful of stuck vehicles overnight."People did the right thing and stayed off the roads," he said.

State police attached to the Shelburne Falls barracks reported no major problems overnight. Like everywhere else, however, driving conditions are poor. "The roads are slick," said Trooper Nick Pellegrino at about 7:20 a.m..

The biggest problem of the night, Pellegrino said, was a series of attempted break-ins to vehicles in a parking lot on Wells Street in Greenfield. The trooper said that judging from the tracks left in the snow it appeared that the suspects, most likely juveniles, appeared to have tried to break in to at least 11 vehicles.

No windows were broken, leading police to believe the suspects were looking for unlocked vehicles. It's not yet clear if anything was taken, Pellegrino said.


Bradley International Airport looks to add airlines, routes and flights

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Expanding service to the West Coast and to Europe are considered key game-changers for the future of the Hartford-Springfield airport.

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Upon the creation of the new Connecticut Airport Authority, 2012 was a monumental year for Bradley International Airport.

The hiring of a new executive director, the addition of new conveniences for travelers and a renewed focus on strengthening the business environment surrounding the airport are among major accomplishments over the past 13 months.

The year-old authority hired its first executive director, Kevin A. Dillon in June following the creation of the state agency created by the Connecticut Legislature in 2011. Dillon, the former president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, arrived at Bradley with 36 years of aviation experience.

Dillon said the first items on his agenda have involved getting operations in order.

“In large measure, I have been focusing quite a lot of energy and time on transferring operations from the Connecticut (Department of Transportation) to the (authority),” Dillon said. “That has really been on a two-track process.”

The process involves talking about how airport assets would be transferred to the authority, how employees would be transferred and other procedural matters.

“We’re working toward closing on the property and assets sometime at the end of February,” Dillon said. “That will culminate in (handing over) complete authority, and we can move forward to start managing these airports directly.”

Dillon said he has several main goals as the new executive director, including enhancing Bradley's overall route structure.

“We want to add additional airlines, additional frequencies to existing routes and additional cities,” he said. “Everything that happens here at the airport flows from a healthy route structure.”

The airport recently announced the re-launch of Delta Airlines’ seasonal weekly non-stop round-trip service to Cancun, Mexico. The flights operate on Saturdays through March 30.

That news followed reports of lower passenger numbers in 2012. Through November, year-to-date passenger statistics were down 4 percent, at 4,960,795. However, the month of November saw the first passenger increase – of 1.3 percent – since February 2012, and airport officials are optimistic the upward trend will continue.

The new authority, Dillon said, has been proactive in reaching out to the business community to understand what their destination routes are.

“Over the summer, we made an effort to reach out to ask businesses what their travel budgets were and what their service needs are,” he said. “We were impressed with the level of information we got back. We received a lot of valuable data to share with the airlines to (convince them) to start new service here.”

The authority is focused specifically on long-haul domestic service, West Coast non-stop service, and international routes, Dillon said.. Los Angeles is particularly desirable as a West Coast destination, and there is passenger interest in overseas travel.

“There is a demonstrated international market,” Dillon said. “We need to share that information with the airlines and convince them to start that level of service.”

The airport authority also has a renewed focus on customer service, not only to include new route service levels, but also infrastructure improvements. One such improvement made over the past year was the creation of a “cell phone lot,” located a three-minute drive away. The parking lot allows folks picking up passengers to wait for a short time until the passenger arrives, rather than circling the airport repeatedly like they had to do in the past.

“It’s a relatively small customer-service improvement, but it demonstrated that a new aviation administration can hear and respond quickly to what the needs are here at the airport," Dillon said.

Future goals will including making concessions improvements, consolidate car rental businesses into one location, demolish the old Terminal B and realign some of the roadways to make travel around the airport easier.

The other major goal of the airport authority is to develop and promote the new economic development zones surrounding Bradley in Suffield, Windsor Locks and East Granby. Businesses receive tax breaks and other incentives to open their business in the designated zones surrounding the airport.

“A lot of airports don’t have this in place,” Dillon said. “Here, the dedicated focus is to try to develop business in and around the airport, and to generate economic activity around the airport. One of our missions is to serve as the economic catalyst for the entire state.”

Michael J. Graney, senior vice president of business development for the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, said his organization supports that mission. Graney said the fact that the airport will soon be under complete control of the authority is welcome news.

“There’s professional management with board oversight, and they’re not hamstrung by public sector rules and regulations,” Graney said. “They can more aggressively recruit new flights – coast to coast, international – and new airlines, putting the knowledge corridor region on the map.”

Graney said the Economic Development Council’s research also finds that West Coast and international routes are needed at Bradley.

“All the other stuff helps, but the game changers are the West Coast and Europe,” Graney said. “To the extent that they can pursue and land airlines to make those flight connections, it opens up longer-range business prospects.”

Graney, who said he has great faith in the authority’s board chair, Mary Ellen Jones, said anything the new agency can do is progress.

“The key to the kingdom will be, will they be able to deliver flights to the West Coast and Europe,” he said. “Hopefully, one day, it’s all three – San Francisco, L.A. or Seattle. If we start making that incremental progress, Bradley starts moving up in the rankings.”

Graney said while he is thrilled with the new authority, he is hoping for more Western Massachusetts representation in the future.

“About 28 percent of Bradley’s (passengers come from Western Massachusetts), so it’s not a paltry number,” he said.

Dillon said while he does not choose the members of the authority's Board of Directors, he is committed to working with the Western Massachusetts communities.

“Springfield, in particular, and all of Western Massachusetts are very, very important constituencies to the airport,” he said. “We also intend to strengthen ties with the Hartford community. I do know the importance of those markets and we want to make sure they continue to have a good relationship with us, and we want to understand their needs.”

West Springfield Mayor Gregory Neffinger yanks high school building project away from Planning and Construction Committee

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The mayor has said that change orders for the $107 million high school building project are concerning.

West Springfield High School groundbreaking 2011.jpg West Springfield School Superintendent Russell Johnston, then-Mayor Edward J. Gibson, state Sen. James T. Welch, Massachusetts School Building Authority interim executive director Jack McCarthy, state Rep Michael J.Finn, former state Sen. Stephen Buoniconti, and David Partridge, chairman of the city's Planning and Construction Committee are take part in groundbreaking ceremonies for a new high school in 2011. Current Mayor Gregory Neffinger recently declined to reappoint Partridge to the planning committee, and now has removed control of the building project from the committee.  

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The mayor has decided to take oversight of the $107 million high school building project away from the Planning and Construction Committee because of what he termed problems with change orders on the massive undertaking.

Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger said earlier this week that he is in the midst of forming a building committee to oversee the project.

Meanwhile, Patricia A. Garbacik, the School Committee representative to the committee, said Friday change orders have been under what can be expected for such a large project and that what Neffinger is doing is contrary to the city charter.

The mayor has said that Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is funding much of the project, approached him about problems. No one from the authority could be reached about the matter Friday.

Neffinger said he has become concerned about the fact that by mid-week there had been more than $700,000 in change orders for the project.

“I think the high school (project) has gone out of control,” the mayor said.

Garbacik said that change orders are under 1 percent and that change orders for a building project like the high school can typically be 3 percent to 5 percent of the total cost.

“We are nowhere near that,” Garbacik said.

The School Committee member also said the city’s owner’s project manager on the job, SBS, is working on the situation.

Garbacik said the city charter has designated the Planning and Construction Committee as the standing committee to oversee major building projects. She did allow that many communities choose to appoint committees to oversee major projects as they arise.

Neffinger has argued that the charter gives him oversight of building projects in his role as the city’s chief procurement officer. Both the mayor and his adversaries in the matter have quoted from sections of the city charter to back up their contentions.

Garbacik said the Planning and Construction Committee is awaiting an opinion from the town attorney to clarify the matter.

The mayor said he has sent the names of the people who would like to be on the new building committee to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for approval. Among them are Superintendent of Schools Russell D. Johnston, acting Assistant Superintendent Kevin A. McQuillan and West Springfield High School Principal Michael Richard as well as himself, according to Neffinger.

The mayor, who had earlier taken oversight of the library building project from the Planning and Construction Committee, said he may give that project back to the committee.

Garbacik said she questions whether an official like the school superintendent will have the time to give to scrutinizing the millions of dollars in bills that come with such a building project.

Planning and Construction Committee Chairman Jeffrey N. Bergeron could not be reached for comment.

Report: Worcester sees 28 inches of snow, surpassing totals for Blizzard of '78

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Worcester officials say they measured 28 inches of snow since Winter Storm Nemo arrived in the city, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Saturday, surpassing totals for the Blizzard of '78.


Worcester officials say they measured 28 inches of snow since Winter Storm Nemo arrived in the city, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Saturday, surpassing totals for the Blizzard of '78.

The Saturday snow totals were the third highest the city has ever recorded, the Telegram & Gazette reported:

The city had a relatively quiet overnight, with only a two-alarm fire on Pleasant Street. No one was injured in the fire.

>> Stick with MassLive.com's winter storm live blog for the latest updates in Western Massachusetts.

Massachusetts police to offer drop boxes for drugs in Amherst, Easthampton, Northampton, South Hadley and more

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Fifteen police departments in western Massachusetts are offering permanent drop-off boxes where residents can dispose of unwanted prescription drugs.

David Sullivan Northampton, 9/11/12, Staff Photo by David Molnar -- Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan addresses those attending the meeting of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association at Bridge Street Elementary School.  

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — Fifteen police departments in western Massachusetts are offering permanent drop-off boxes where residents can dispose of unwanted prescription drugs.

Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan and the state Department of Public Health plan to unveil the new boxes this week.

Previously, Sullivan's office has participated in National Prescription Drug Days to allow residents to get rid of unwanted drugs.

Now, permanent drop boxes will be located at police stations in Amherst, Athol, Belchertown, Erving, Easthampton, Deerfield, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Montague, Northampton, Orange, South Hadley, Sunderland and Ware.

Prescription and non-prescription drugs, vitamins and veterinary medications can be dropped in the boxes.

Needles, liquid medications, IV equipment and chemotherapy drugs will not be accepted.

Snowstorm snips power for more than 664,000 in Northeast

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The massive snowstorm sweeping across the Northeast has left at least 664,000 homes and businesses without electricity from Maine to Pennsylvania.

BOSTON (AP) — The massive snowstorm sweeping across the Northeast has left at least 664,000 homes and businesses without electricity from Maine to Pennsylvania.

Officials say wet, heavy snow and high winds snapped power lines in eight states.

Massachusetts has been hardest hit, with more than 400,000 utility customers without power Saturday morning. Snow totals ranging from 17 to 28 inches have been reported across the state.

Fire officials in Quincy say power is out in most of the city.

More than 38 inches of snow and 82-mph wind gust have been reported in central Connecticut.

The power outages also are in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey.

Chicopee City Council, School Committee to review school safety in wake of Newtown shootings

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The police chief, school superintendent and others will be invited to the meeting to discuss school safety next month.

CHICOPEE – The School Committee and the City Council’s public safety subcommittee plan to join together to discuss school security in response to the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 children and six staff dead.

The meeting, scheduled for Feb. 27 in City Hall, was proposed initially by the City Council. School Committee member Adam D. Lamontagne, who serves as liaison between the two groups, requested a joint gathering.

Adam Lamontagne 2011.jpg Adam D. Lamontagne  

“In general, let's find out what is going on. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing,” said City Councilor Robert J. Zygarowski, chairman of the public safety subcommittee and a former police officer.

Zygarowski, who worked in the schools as a DARE officer before he retired, said he feels the schools are safe but wants parents to be at ease and will welcome their questions and comments during the meeting.

He said he will invite the police chief, superintendent and the principals of the three parochial schools to the meeting as well.

Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said the Police and Fire departments have recently walked through each of the 14 schools with the building principals to review the school security.

“A safety audit has been conducted by the school resource officers,” he said.

The school resource officers, who are police officers assigned to the two high schools and two middle schools, are also examining different types of drills with Assistant Superintendent Alvin Morton and Ronald Simard, the school maintenance director, Rege told the School Committee.

However, he cautioned the School Committee that officials need to be careful about releasing details about drills and other issues for security reasons.

Zygarowski said he understands there are issues that police and educators do not want to reveal publicly.

“If they feel there is something that will jeopardize public safety, I don’t want it said,” he said. “I just want to put parents at ease.”

While many say a similar mass shooting could not happen in Chicopee, Zygarowski disagreed. He used the example of the shooting in April on West Street, where a man armed with three guns shot and injured a state trooper and sprayed more than 70 bullets across downtown. The shooter, Carlos Gonzalez-Lauger eventually killed himself.

Part of the meeting is also to share ideas since someone may come up with recommendations others have not considered, he said.

Northeast storm disrupts travel for sports teams

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Several professional and college sports teams were forced to rearrange their travel plans as a massive storm swept through the Northeast, dumping a few feet of snow in some areas.

Several professional and college sports teams were forced to rearrange their travel plans as a massive storm swept through the Northeast, dumping a few feet of snow in some areas.

The NBA's New York Knicks were stuck in Minnesota after playing the Timberwolves on Friday night, hoping to try to fly home sometime Saturday. The San Antonio Spurs were also staying overnight in Detroit after seeing their 11-game winning streak fall to the Pistons, awaiting word on when they might be able to fly to New York for their game Sunday night at Brooklyn.

"We can't get there tonight — we know that," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "So we're going to stay here tonight and try to get there (Saturday). Hopefully, we will be able to get there, but at this point, we don't know."

Airlines canceled more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and New York City's three major airports and Boston's Logan Airport closed.

The Brooklyn Nets planned to take a train home instead of flying from Washington D.C. after losing to the Wizards on Friday night.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said before a 100-94 victory that his team initially planned to fly home after the game, but the flight had already been postponed. New York is scheduled to play the Los Angeles Clippers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

The NHL's Boston Bruins pushed back the start of Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning by six hours because of the blizzard. The game originally slated for 1 p.m. was rescheduled for 7 p.m., but Boston was expected to be one of the cities hit hardest by the storm.
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The storm had dumped more than 2 feet of snow on New England by early Saturday and knocked out power to 650,000 customers. The National Weather Service said up to 3 feet of snow is expected in Boston, threatening the city's 2003 record of 27.6 inches.

The Bruins and Lightning each already had road games scheduled for Sunday night.

The New Jersey Devils were still scheduled to host the Pittsburgh Penguins at 1 p.m., while the New York Islanders were slated to play at home against the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m.

Two Ivy League men's college basketball games that were scheduled for Saturday night were moved back to Sunday because of treacherous travel conditions.

Dartmouth will play at Cornell at noon on Sunday in Ithaca, N.Y., and Harvard will visit Columbia at 2 p.m. Sunday in New York. Dartmouth played at Columbia on Friday night, and Harvard played at Cornell. Two other Ivy League games were still scheduled to be played Saturday night, with Yale visiting Princeton and Brown playing at Pennsylvania.

Aqueduct also called off Saturday's card because of the storm. The track and Belmont Park were expected to remain open for wagering on out-of-town races, with racing scheduled to resume Sunday.


Bankers see a strong 2013, potential consolidation for local banks

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Customers are demanding more electronic options for online bill paying, yet also require brick-and-mortar branches to go to when there is a problem.

United Bank Chief Executive Officer Richard B. Collins is shown in the bank headquarters building on Elm Street in West Springfield.  


WEST SPRINGFIELD – Bank of America closed its branch office at the corner of Park and Elm streets in this city in 2012, much to the mock frustration of United Bank which has its headquarters a half a block north on Elm Street.

“Our people hate that its gone,” said Richard B. Collins, president and chief executive officer of United. “Because every once in a while one of their customers would get really annoyed and just stomp up to our office and open an account. Now, we won’t have that opportunity anymore.”

Local banks have been looking to pick up frustrated customers from national institutions. It’s just one of the avenues for growth open to them in what is a tough, but improving, business climate.

Customers are demanding more electronic options for online bill paying, yet also require brick-and-mortar branches to go to when there is a problem. Low interest rates punish savers who continue to deposit money while rewarding borrowers. Regulation means expense for banks.

Stockholders at Hampden Bank in Springfield even passed a formal resolution calling for the bank to take steps, up to and including selling out or merging, in order to improve shareholder returns.

Bank of America has closed or plans to close two branches in Springfield, one in West Springfield and one in Turners Falls. It’s part of a national strategy to reduce the banking giant’s footprint.

The story seemed to be different across the region with banks opening new locations even a PeoplesBank branch inspired by the Apple stores under construction on King Street in Northampton. Greenfield Savings Bank recently opened a new branch on the same stretch of Route 5 in Northampton.

Douglas A. Bowen, president of PeoplesBank, said experts have long predicted the end of the physical bank branch. it just hasn’t happened.

“It’s where people come in and open the account,” Bowen said. “They might do most of their banking online, or with mobile devices, but they come in to open the account.”

Branch offices are also where the bank meets the community, both the business and consumer, says Bowen. “I think the branch is evolving,” he said.

John F. Heaps, president of Florence Savings Bank in Northampton, said even with all of that, 2012 was the best year for local banks since the recession began.

“We have all come through it as an industry,” “The reason the earnings were better is because most of the loan problems out there have worked out,” Heaps said.

Loan demand was up in late 2012, and Florence Savings had its best quarter ever in terms of commercial and industrial loans, according to Heaps.

“Real estate will go from being a headwind to a tailwind, an engine for the economy,” said Bowen. “Well, clearly, we have turned the corner, and the recovery is underway. I think you are going to see a strengthening real-estate market,”

An FDIC report said that total deposits in this region grew last year from 11.4 billion in June 2011 to 12.6 billion in June 2012. That’s 5.4 percent growth. Peoples Bank grew its deposits 12.3 percent in that same time period.

Sean Gray, a senior vice president for Berkshire Bank, said his bank aims to grow its base of checking-account holders by 10 percent each year. He said it beat that goal in 2012.

“That’s the heart of a banking relationship,” Gray said. “Everything flows from that.”

Daniel J. Forte, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said Massachusetts banks are still doing better than their peers in other states.

Delinquencies, loans that are more than 90 days overdue, are just 1.25 percent in Massachusetts, compared with 3.75 percent nationally, according to Forte.

There will be consolidation, however, observers say.

Collins said United finalized its $91 million purchase of Enfield-based New England Bank on Nov. 16. Announced in May, the deal has already been approved by a number of regulators. All the banks will be rebranded as United Bank locations.

With this deal, United Bank will have $2.4 billion in total assets and becomes the largest bank with headquarters in Greater Springfield and the 10th-largest bank headquartered in New England.

In this case, the two banks ere perfect fit: both locally managed but with no branches near each other. All New England Bank’s branches were in Connecticut, and United had no branches there before completing the deal.

In North Adams, Mountain One Financial Partners plans to run Hoosac Bank, Williamstown Savings Bank and South Coastal Bank into one charter. The company has already integrated operations of Hoosac Bank and Williamstown Savings in 2012.

Regulation, including those in the federal Dodd-Frank bill that have yet to go into force, will probably drive consolidation in the future, bankers agree.

it costs money to comply with rules, money the banks can save by combining back-office operations. They can spread the expense out over more account holders, Collins said.

Heaps said the number of compliance professionals at Florence Savings has gone from just one a few years ago to five or six. He points out that those five or six salaries represent money and talent he can’t have out there in the marketplace bringing in business, as business loan officers for instance.

“All these things getting put in place are being done because of what happened with the bigger banks,” he said. “It’s killing the smaller banks.”

Gray, of Berkshire Bank, said Dodd-Frank has also limited the interchange fees, or fees that banks can charge merchants for talking debit cards. But those limits only apply to banks with $10 billion or more in assets, much larger than Berkshire or any other bank based in Western Massachusetts.

“The problem is, those limits set the market place,” he said. “So that is something we are going to see in 2013.”

So, too, are the problems caused by low interest rates. Those low rates squeeze the margin between what a bank has to pay to get deposits and what a bank can charge borrowers.

“I don’t like it,” Collins said. “There are an awful lot of people who worked hard to save and they should get some reward for that. They are not getting rewarded.”

Forte said low interest rates also make bankers think twice about holding on to mortgages.

“You have to assume the longevity of that asset, people are not going to refinance if they have a loan at 2.5 percent,” he said. “You will have that loan on your hands even as interest rates go up in the future.”

But, he said, banks are still eager to make loans.

“Loan demand is erratic. I guess that’s the best way to explain it,” Forte said. Banks have plenty of money to lend and for the most par t have been beating their brains out to make that happen.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren looking to regulations to protect small banks and businesses

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As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren said defining and enforcing existing rules is as important as new legislation.

WARREN_NEW_OFFICE.JPG 01/08/13 Springfield- Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, speaks at the podium during a press conference at the location of her new office at 1550 Main Street.  

Regulators, beware.

As newly-elected U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, takes her seat as a member of the Senate Banking Committee, she says defining and enforcing existing rules is as important as new legislation.

“Regulators should be held accountable when they fail, and big banks should be held accountable when they break the law,” Warren said in a telephone interview with The Republican and MassLive.com.

Warren was elected with a reputation as a consumer advocate - a stance she has taken with her to the Senate. She developed the idea for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumer interests in the financial-products market. She helped found the bureau after it was included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, though President Barack Obama did not choose her to lead it due to Republican opposition. Warren chaired a congressional panel overseeing the use of federal bailout money.

Asked about her priorities on the banking committee, Warren cited the need to bring “real transparency and accountability” to Wall Street and Washington. “It’s about transparency throughout the financial system. That’s all the way from how the largest financial institutions operate through the…visibility of the terms of a credit card,” she said.

Warren declined to identify specific legislation to increase transparency, but said transparency is about legislation and oversight. “One of the opportunities for the Senate Banking Committee is to monitor our regulators to make sure they’re doing their jobs,” she said.

Several federal policies that could impact banks this year involve regulation. Federal regulators are completing the regulations governing the Volcker Rule, a provision of Dodd-Frank aimed at separating commercial and investment banks, to prevent banks that accept customer deposits from using that money for risky trades.

While campaigning, Warren called for a renewed Glass-Steagall Act, a law enacted in 1933 and repealed in 1999 that separated commercial and investment banks.

Asked whether she still believes Glass-Steagall must be revived, Warren said, “Let’s see what happens with the Volcker Rule…. If it is not adequate to get the job done, we need to think about a new version of Glass-Steagall.” Warren said the regulations should completely separate commercial and investment banking.

Another significant regulation is “Basel III,” an international framework for banking regulations, which U.S. regulators must decide how to adopt. Basel III includes increased capital standards, which means banks must hold more money in order to issue residential mortgages. Small banks worry this will hurt their business.

Warren said Basel III should be applied to large financial institutions, not small banks. “There’s no reason to believe that current regulations are not completely adequate for managing the risks posed by small banks,” Warren said. “Basel III is about risks posed to the American economy, and that means how to reduce the risks posed by the large financial institutions. Small financial institutions do not pose the same risk.”

Warren’s approach to small banks fits with her approach to small business in general. Warren has said she wants to streamline regulations and simplify the tax code to help small businesses.

“Small business can’t park their money overseas or take advantage of special accounting loopholes,” Warren said. “They can’t hire the lobbyists to get them the special hand-crafted, carefully fitted loopholes that give them great deals and nobody else.” (During her campaign, Warren pointed to oil and gas subsidies as one break she wants to eliminate.)

Warren did not specify which regulations she would seek to change. But, she said in banking, for example, even neutral regulations fall hardest on community banks and credit unions. “Big banks hire lawyers, figure out every twist and turn in the regulation and every possible loophole and spread that cost across hundreds of thousands of customers,” she said.

With another fight likely in Congress over government spending, Warren voiced support for two industries vital to Massachusetts – the defense and medical industries.

Congress at the end of the year delayed “sequestration,” across the board cuts of $1.2 trillion over 10 years split between domestic and defense spending. Warren said sequestration is “the wrong way to manage the economy and the wrong way to deal with financing the federal government.”

Warren said Congress should make targeted cuts. In defense, she said as the U.S. winds down two wars, the country can cut the size of the standing army while investing in research and development and cyber security. “We need to shape our defense spending to fit our defense needs,” she said. “In Massachusetts, the defense work we do is the kind that’s needed in the 21st century.”

Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee stands to lose half its current fleet of C-5 Galaxy transport jets to a base in Texas if a defense spending plan is ultimately approved. There have been concerns voiced about the future of Westover if that occurs.

While cuts to domestic or entitlement spending could impact health care, Warren said cuts to medical research would be “the ultimate penny wise pound foolish approach to spending.”

“Much of the medical research ongoing in Massachusetts and around the country is about how to get better outcomes at lower long term costs, and interrupting that research is the wrong direction for this country to go,” Warren said.

Car buying driven by need, excitement over new models

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Through the end of 2012, the U.S. market for cars and light trucks was up 13.4 percent to about 14.4 million, that’s up from 12.7 million in 2011, according to Autodata.

Carla Cosenzi of the Tommycar Auto Group shows an artist's rendering of what will be her new Northampton Volkswagon dealership on King Street.  


For years there were fewer and fewer new car dealers in Northampton as names like Cahillane Dodge and Dana Automotive Chevrolet and Volkswagen fell by the wayside.

All that changed in 2012, and most of it changed along the King Street sector of Route 5. Ford of Northampton, owned by Agawam’s Sarat Ford Lincoln, moved into the old Dana building and Tommy Car Auto Group moved its Volkswagen and Hyundai dealerships into the old Steve Lewis Subaru space on Damon Road as it prepared for a brand-new site at the old Kollmorgen plant in Route 5.

Carla Cosenzi, president Tommy Car Auto Group, says the Volkswagen and Hyundai dealerships will be ready to move into their new building next year as the old Kollmorgen Electro-Optical plant is demolished.

Elsewhere in Northampton, work continues on Lia Auto Group’s building that will be a 9,000-square-foot- Kia dealership on King Street where Lia already has a Honda dealership.

And, owners Anthony F. Troiano and Robert Artioli opened Northampton Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram pickup in November in the former Ford dealership building at 55 Damon Road.

“I think it's a great market, and it's a growing market,” Cosenzi said “The manufacturers are seeing that as well. I think King Street is really coming back to life.”

She sees the neighborhood developing into an “auto mile” stretch of dealerships like Riverdale Street in West Springfield. While they compete with each other, a string of dealerships on the same street help each other by drawing customers who want to check out models from different models in one place and at one time.

“There is a lot of opportunity up there in Northampton. said Jeffrey J. Sarat, general sales manager at Sarat Ford in Agawam. “I think most of the customers there were coming down into the Springfield marketplace because there were not a lot of options in Northampton. If you move up there, you have a better chance of selling to them.”\

Other dealers are also expanding. Balise Ford in Wilbraham is getting a new building. In Chicopee, Curry Honda-Nissan has completed a new Honda showroom and repair garage.

Dealers of all new-car makes are finding an easier time selling, according to national statistics. It’s a rebirth fed by new models, low interest rates and demand left unfulfilled during the depths of the recession. With people keeping their cars longer, more than 11.3 years on average, good, clean used cars are also at a premium.

“I’m very excited that we ere able to get past the fiscal cliff,” said Gary D. Rome, owner of Gary Rome Hyundai in Holyoke and Gary Rome Kia in Enfield.


Through the end of 2012, the U.S. market for cars and light trucks was up 13.4 percent to about 14.4 million, that’s up from 12.7 million in 2011, according to Autodata.


Robert F. O’Koniewski, executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Auto Dealers Association predicts some growth to continue in 2013.

“We are not necessarily breaking any records here,” O’Koniewski said. “There is still a lot of economic disruption that consumers and dealers are dealing with. People are worried about jobs.”

Among domestic manufacturers, General Motors was up 3.7 percent, Ford 4.7 percent and Chrysler 20.6 percent.

Gabriel A. Faria, general manger of Bertera Chrysler Jeep Dodge and Fiat in West Springfield said the rejuvenation of Chrysler has been remarkable. In 2011, the brand was still suffering with very few new models . Now. the automaker has 10 new models, including the new Dodge Dart.

Lia Honda of Enfield general manager Geoff Lutley said new car sales were up 30 percent from 2011. Used car sales were up 10 percent, he said.

The Japanese tsunami and earthquake made it difficult to get new Hondas in 2011, so 2012 was an opportunity to rebound, according to Lutley.

Accords and Civics are 60 percent of Lutley's business, and both models have new designs.

Incentives are also in force to help drive buying. He was offering a 0.9 percent for 60 months.

Todd M. Volk, the president at Central Chevrolet in West Springfield, said consumers are feeling better about the economy and the average car on the road is 11.3 years old. Modern cars are designed to last longer than cars of previous generations, but most repairs on an 11- or 12-year-old car are not worth it.

“It’s all replacement, he said.

Clean used cars are in short supply, partly because people are holding on to their cars longer. It's also partly because the leasing market ground to a halt three and four years ago. That means there are fewer cars coming off leases and hitting the used-car market, Volk said.

Lenders are also aggressive, offering interest rates under 3 percent in some cases.

“Auto loans have a very low default rate,” Volk said. “People pay their auto loans because they need that car to get to work.”

Chevrolet is also competing better with the import brands for first-time car buyers, Volk said. Smaller, entry-level models like the Spark, Sonic and Cruz will competel for buyers who might otherwise look towards a Honda Civic or a Toyota Camry.

“We are seeing a lot more import cars as trade ins,” Volk said. “In the past, General Motors really didn’t have anything to appeal to those buyers.”

Massachusetts driving ban remains in effect, Springfield trooper says they're not ticketing motorists

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Trooper Sean Dennehy, who is attached to the Springfield barracks, said troopers are not ticketing motorists who are out on the roads despite the statewide ban that remains in effect.

Trooper Sean Dennehy, who is attached to the Springfield barracks, said troopers are not ticketing motorists who are out on the roads despite the statewide ban that remains in effect.

"We have been advised not to," he said. "People -- including doctors,nurses and other key personnel -- need to get to where they have to go," he said. That said, however, Dennehy stressed that road conditions remain bad and people should stay put if they can.

Dennehy said troopers have not yet been told when the ban might be lifted. "We have no idea," he said.

>> Check MassLive.com's live blog for continued updates.

Gov. Deval Patrick to tour areas hard hit by blizzard

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Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is scheduled to tour some of the areas hit hardest by the weekend blizzard and meet with local officials.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is scheduled to tour some of the areas hit hardest by the weekend blizzard and meet with local officials.

The governor is scheduled to be at Scituate High School on Monday morning, followed by Furnace Brook Middle School in Marshfield.

The community of Scituate was hit hard, with seawater flooding coastal roads and rocks and boulders tossed onto the shore by powerful waves and winds. Some coastal residents had to be evacuated.

Some residents of waterfront homes in Marshfield were also evacuated, and the community was among the hardest hit by power outages.

Massachusetts urges caution on first work day since blizzard

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Commuters heading back to work in Massachusetts for the first time since the blizzard are being urged to use caution and leave extra time.


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BOSTON (AP) — Commuters heading back to work in Massachusetts for the first time since the blizzard are being urged to use caution and leave extra time.

Many secondary roads still have a thick coating of snow, and high snow banks that block sight lines at intersections and near highway ramps make turning and merging hazardous.

In many communities, snow removal crews were out early, making driving even more tricky.

State officials are urging commuters to take public transportation when possible. The MBTA says regularly scheduled service will resume Monday, but warns that customers should expect significant delays.

Schools in Boston and many other communities remain closed, which could ease some congestion.

Nearly 113,000 Massachusetts electric customers remained without power Monday morning, mostly on the South Shore and Cape Cod.

Wayland teen slaying trial scheduled to start

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The trial of a Wayland man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend is scheduled to get started.

WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — The trial of a Wayland man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend is scheduled to get started.

Jury selection in the trial of 20-year-old Nathanial Fujita (foo-JEE'-tuh) is expected to start Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.

Fujita has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the July 2011 death of Lauren Astley. Both were 18 at the time and had just graduated from Wayland High School.

Prosecutors say Fujita stabbed and strangled Astley, then left her body in a marshy area of town.

The prosecution and the defense say they expect the trial to last about two weeks.

Fujita's lawyer has previously indicated he may use an insanity defense.

Wayland High is making counselors available to students and staff to help them cope during the trial.


New survey ranks Boston as 7th most literate city

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A national survey of America's most literate cities has found that Boston has dropped two places in the ranks to seventh place.


BOSTON (AP) — Better go dig out your library cards, Boston residents.

A national survey of America's most literate cities has found that Boston has dropped two places in the ranks to seventh place.

Central Connecticut State University president Jack Miller conducts the annual survey that measures resources for reading in America's 75 biggest cities.

The study uses research data for a half-dozen key indicators, including library and Internet resources, newspaper circulation and booksellers.

The data are compared against population rates to develop literacy profiles for each city.

Topping the charts this year was Washington, followed by Seattle, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver and St. Paul.

NRA's Wayne LaPierre: Wonk with million-dollar megaphone

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Wayne LaPierre would just as soon read a book as fire a gun.

By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wayne LaPierre would just as soon read a book as fire a gun.

That's right, the National Rifle Association's fire-breathing defender of gun rights is more academic than marksman.

"A policy wonk," says Joseph Tartaro, president of the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation. "He is more professorial than you would think."

"Wayne is a Washington-type person," says John Aquilino, a former NRA spokesman who worked with LaPierre. "He is best characterized as an absent-minded professor."

A professor, that is, with a million-dollar megaphone and a well-honed ability to dish apocalyptic warnings about a tyrannical government angling to grab people's firearms.

"It's about banning your guns ... PERIOD!" LaPierre wrote in a January email to the NRA's 4 million-plus members.

For decades, LaPierre, 63, has been serving up heated us-vs.-them rhetoric to rally the NRA faithful. Usually it works; sometimes it backfires.

There was his 1995 reference to federal law enforcement agents as "jack-booted government thugs." (He later apologized.)

And his 2000 declaration that President Bill Clinton was "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda." (No apology.)

And his 2002 complaint that tougher airport screenings after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks signaled that "I guess it's OK to wand-rape someone's daughter in public."

A week after the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn., LaPierre gave a fiery speech calling for armed guards in every school. He blamed violence on a culture that celebrates gory video games and "blood-soaked slasher films" and rewards killers with fame.

"Gun nut!" the New York Post screamed on its front page.

"The most revolting, tone-deaf statement I've ever seen," tweeted then-Rep. Chris Murphy, now a Democratic senator from Connecticut.

"Call me crazy," LaPierre retorted on NBC's "Meet the Press." ''I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it," referring to armed school guards.

In fact, a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted in January found that 55 percent of Americans said they would support a law "placing an armed guard in every school in the country."

In the weeks since Newtown, LaPierre has been the ever-present public face of gun-rights forces, shuttling between speeches, hearing rooms and TV studios to forcefully reject proposals for tighter gun controls as misguided ideas that will do nothing to stop criminals and everything to tangle law-abiding citizens in a bureaucratic nightmare.

Jimmy Carter was president when LaPierre first went to work for the NRA in 1977, and for the past 22 years LaPierre has been the organization's executive vice president, steering it through a transformation from a clubby marksmanship group into a political movement adept at beating back efforts to tighten firearms regulations.

Along the way, says Josh Sugarman, head of the pro-gun-control Violence Policy Center, LaPierre's tenure has been marked by a willingness to push the envelope with over-the-top language that casts the government as the enemy and stokes "fear-driven paranoia."

LaPierre has been richly rewarded for his efforts: NRA tax returns show he earned $835,000 in salary and $126,000 in other compensation in 2010.

For all of LaPierre's tough talk, friends and former colleagues describe a soft-spoken man who's a little scattered.

Aquilino, the former NRA spokesman, remembers his former colleague oversleeping and missing a golf outing with Vice President Dan Quayle. Leaving a trail of dropped notebooks and papers on the path from his office to a cab. Sitting head in hands in an airport terminal, unable to remember what flight he was booked on.

Aquilino says he once asked LaPierre what he wanted to do eventually and was told, "To tell the truth, I'd like to run an ice cream parlor in Maine."

How does all of that square with LaPierre's combative reputation?

"It's all done on purpose," says Grover Norquist, an anti-tax crusader and member of the NRA's board. "It's hard to say: 'The Second Amendment's in danger' and say it in a shy, soft-spoken way."

Or, as LaPierre himself put it in a 2000 interview: "When I used less strong words for the last three years, everyone dozed off."

No one snoozed in 1995 when LaPierre signed an NRA fundraising letter that accused the Clinton administration of empowering police to "murder law-abiding citizens" at will and described the ban on semi-automatic weapons as a law giving "jack-booted government thugs more power to take away our constitutional rights, break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and even injure or kill us."

Even some NRA members were aghast. Former President George W. Bush very publicly quit the group. LaPierre at first defended the letter then offered a qualified apology.

He'd slipped over the line from hard-nosed to incendiary in an episode that will always brand him.

By those standards, his words have been generally more measured since. But when LaPierre speaks, those who watch him wonder what undercurrents he's tapping.

The NRA's website describes LaPierre as "a skilled hunter, from Chesapeake waterfowl to African Cape buffalo." Online, there are lots of suit-and-tie photos of LaPierre, and a couple of hunting shots, including a picture of him next to a downed buffalo in Botswana.

The NRA declined to make LaPierre available for an interview or to answer questions about him.

But former colleagues say LaPierre did not show great interest in shooting. And they're hard pressed to recall any LaPierre hobbies beyond devouring nonfiction. LaPierre is married but does not have children.

"There was an opportunity for him to learn about firearms, and he certainly knows about them," says Tanya Metaksa, who hired LaPierre at the NRA and later worked under him. "But he's more the intellectual in his understanding of the history of the issue and the philosophical underpinnings of what it means to uphold the Second Amendment."

LaPierre's path to the top of the NRA began with an interest in politics, not guns.

Richmond attorney Tom Lisk grew up across the street from LaPierre in Roanoke, Va., and remembers him as an avid bowler, passionate about hockey and politics. As a teenager, LaPierre would take his young neighbor along to the bowling alley on Saturday mornings, and he'd hang out at Lisk's house to talk government with Lisk's father, who was on the city council.

The NRA executive who's worked against many a Democratic presidential candidate over the years actually cut his teeth working for Democrat George McGovern's campaign in Roanoke back in 1972, when LaPierre was 22. LaPierre, who has a bachelor's degree from Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., and a master's from Boston College, got a job early on as an aide to Vic Thomas, a pro-gun Democratic state legislator in Virginia. He worked on gun legislation for Thomas, and that led to his hiring by the NRA in 1978.

Lisk, whom LaPierre later recommended for an NRA job, remembers LaPierre as "a person that people gravitated toward" at the organization.

"Wayne wanted to be liked," says Lisk, noting that he'd send out for ice cream as the group's lobbyists met to decide which candidates would get campaign contributions.

Richard Feldman, who worked with LaPierre at the NRA but later had a falling out and now runs the Independent Firearm Owners Association, says LaPierre's success as a lobbyist came in part from never saying "no" to those he might need.

"Wayne's approach would be, 'That's a good idea. Yeah, I'm with you on that,'" says Feldman. "Meanwhile, he's doing everything around your back to kill it."

After a surprisingly long run as the NRA's executive vice president, surviving insider plots along the way, LaPierre remains the hero to many a gun lover and villain to opponents.

The sharpened battle lines since Newtown have made it easier for LaPierre to pitch his uncompromising message that gun owners must band together to fight liberal elites out to take their firearms.

LaPierre has been here before.

When he went before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, one of the questioners was Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., his longtime nemesis on the subject of banning assault weapons.

Feinstein welcomed the witnesses and made a point of saying, "Even you, Mr. LaPierre. It's good to see you again. I guess we tangled, what was it, 18 years ago? You look pretty good, actually."

___

Associated Press news researcher Monika Mathur and AP writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this report.

Tips to help avoid a preventable hospital return

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Patients too often leave the hospital without knowing how to care for themselves, leading to a preventable return.

Patients too often leave the hospital without knowing how to care for themselves, leading to a preventable return. Here are tips to improve your chances of a successful recovery at home:

—Be sure you understand your illness and the care you received in the hospital.

—Ask if you will require help at home. Can you bathe yourself? Climb stairs? Will you need bandages changed or shots? If so, do you have a caregiver to help, or will you need to arrange a visiting nurse?

—Repeat back your care instructions, to be sure you understand them.

—Ask for a written discharge plan that lists your medical conditions, your treatments, and the plan for your ongoing care.

—Get a list of all medications, how to use them, and what to do if you experience side effects. Be sure to ask whether to continue medications you were taking before this hospitalization.

—Ask what symptoms suggest you're getting worse and what to do if that happens, especially at night or during the weekend.

—What follow-up appointments will you need and when? Ask if your hospital will make the appointments for you, and send your records.

—Do you have transportation home, to follow-up appointments, and to the drugstore?

—If you have a regular physician, make sure the hospital sends a report of your hospital stay.

—If you are uninsured or will have difficulty affording prescriptions, a hospital discharge planner or social worker may be able to link you to community resources that can help.

—Get a name and number to call if questions about your hospitalization or discharge arise.

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Sources: Dr. Eric Coleman, University of Colorado in Denver; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Journal of the American Medical Association.

Unattended cooking leads to fire, heavy damage at Barney Lane apartments

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The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting two residents displaced by the fire.

02.11.2013 | SPRINGFIELD -- Firefighters at the scene of a blaze on Barney Lane Monday morning.  

SPRINGFIELD -- A kitchen fire that heavily damaged two public housing units on Barney Lane early Monday was caused by food left unattended on a stove, fire officials said.

The blaze, reported at 4:59 a.m., caused an estimated $60,000 in damage to the units at 32-34 Barney Ln., said Dennis Leger, executive aide to Springfield fire commissioner Joseph A. Conant.

The units are located in the Springfield Housing Authority's Forest Park Manor development.

The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting two residents displaced by the fire.

"The number one cause of fires in Springfield is unattended cooking," Leger told The Republican in November. "Never leave something cooking unattended."

Jennifer Mieth, public education manager for the Office of the State Fire Marshal, offered additional fire safety tips: "Stand by your pan. Should (a fire) occur, what we want people to remember is to put the lid on it and turn the heat off, it should go right out. If that doesn't work, get out and call 911."

Pope selection: How will the next pope be chosen?

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With the news of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming resignation, a papal conclave must be set up by mid-March to pick a new pope. Allen Pizzey reports.

With the news of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming resignation, a papal conclave must be set up by mid-March to pick a new pope. Allen Pizzey reports.

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