The 5-year-old earned his 86th best in show, a day before he was set to fly back to the Netherlands with his owner.

By BEN WALKER
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK — Banana Joe didn't monkey around this time.

The little affenpinscher with the bouncy step and shiny black coat walked off as America's top dog Tuesday night, winning best in show at the 137th Westminster Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show.

Affectionately called a monkey dog because he looks just like one, Banana Joe made up for near misses the last two years at Madison Square Garden.

The 5-year-old wagged his tail a mile a minute after earning his 86th best in show title overall. It was a timely win, too, coming a day before he was set to fly back to the Netherlands with his owner.

It was a timely win, too, coming a day before he was set to fly back to the Netherlands with his owner. That trip has now been postponed for his victory lap.

"He's won a lot of big shows, but not like this one," handler Ernesto Lara said.

A class clown, Banana Joe also is pretty bright.

"He speaks German, Dutch, Spanish and English," co-owner and breeder Mieke Cooijmans offered.

An old English sheepdog only 20 months old was picked as the runner-up on the green carpet of the Garden. Swagger the sheepdog drew the most cheers, but judge Michael Dougherty picked Banana Joe.

"He was presented in immaculate manner," Dougherty praised. "He was on the minute he walked in. ... He's in perfect condition, perfect body."

"He's in perfect condition, perfect body," he added.

Also in the best-of-seven final ring were a German wirehaired pointer ranked as the nation's No. 1 show dog, an American foxhound, a Portuguese water dog, a bichon frise and a smooth fox terrier.

Banana Joe had never gotten this far before. He entered the last two Westminsters with a lot of fanfare, yet didn't perform to perfection and finished second in toy group judging each time.

Lara kept hoisting Banana Joe after the victory at the country's premier dog show. The playful pooch enjoys tugging at his squeaky mouse toy — now he'll be able to put it in the prized silver bowl he won.

There were 2,721 entries in the 2013 Westminster.

The old English sheepdog was clearly a crowd favorite. Maybe that's because fans knew his backstory — this was just the fourth dog show Swagger had ever entered.

In fact, Swagger didn't even come to Westminster as a champion. In past years, only dogs who had won a lot in the past were eligible. This time, with a larger exhibition space along the Hudson River during the day, more dogs were allowed.

Certainly, it was worth the $75 entry cost for Swagger's owners.

Banana Joe, meanwhile, gets no prize money for winning Westminster. Instead, along with the silver bowl, the Garden champion earns a lifetime of prestige, plus lucrative breeding fees for its owners.

The Portuguese water dog — the same breed that romps around the White House with President Barack Obama's family — also arrived at 20 months old. Matisse, who got his name because his owners are art lovers, showed well while Obama was delivering his State of the Union address.

Matisse beat out Fifi the Doberman in the working group. The Fifinator, as she's known by her thousands of Facebook fans, won the group last year and came in second this time.

Hours earlier, Fifi was sound asleep in her crate, a red rabbit stuffed toy at her paws, looking like the most docile dog in the world. Not exactly how many people see a Doberman pinscher.

"They can be intimidating," owner-breeder-handler Jocelyn Mullins said.

That's why her rooters hoped she could win best in show this time.

"It would humanize the breed," Westminster Kennel Club President Sean McCarthy said. "A win for the Doberman would be an acceptance of that breed."

Republicans warned Tuesday that President Barack Obama's second-term agenda would bring more tax increases and escalate deficit spending, vowing that they would guard against Washington-centric policies and help middle-class families rebound from years of tepid economic growth.

In this Feb. 7, 2013 photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks with The Associated Press in his Capitol Hill office in Washington. In the nearly 100 days since President Barack Obama won a second term, the Florida senator has taken calculated, concrete steps to emerge as a next generation leader of a rudderless party and put a 21st Century stamp on the conservative movement. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans warned Tuesday that President Barack Obama's second-term agenda would bring more tax increases and escalate deficit spending, vowing that they would guard against Washington-centric policies and help middle-class families rebound from years of tepid economic growth.

Republicans responded to Obama's State of the Union address with fresh appeals to voters on the economy, promises to rein in federal spending and address the future of entitlement programs like Medicare. The party sought to portray itself as an alternative source of policies to grow the economy after the president swept to re-election last November.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, delivering the Republican response, urged Obama to "abandon his obsession with raising taxes" and said the president had shifted the nation away from free-market economic principles that had helped middle-class families achieve prosperity.

"Presidents in both parties — from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan — have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity. But President Obama? He believes it's the cause of our problems," Rubio said.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, in a separate tea party response, said both parties had failed voters by driving up trillion-dollar deficits. "Washington acts in a way that your family never could — they spend money they do not have, they borrow from future generations, and then they blame each other for never fixing the problem," Paul said in prepared remarks.

Rubio appeared to wipe away sweat during his rebuttal from the Speaker's conference room in the U.S. Capitol. At one point, he reached out with his left hand and took a small swig from a Poland Spring water bottle. As the incident generated heavy attention on Twitter, Rubio later tweeted a photo of the water bottle.

Republicans sought to characterize Obama as overly reliant on government, even as the president made his case to the nation that he could generate new jobs without raising the federal deficit. Defending his policies against GOP critics, Obama said the nation needed a "smarter government" instead of a bigger one and pledged to increase federal spending to fix roads and bridges and boost the minimum wage.

Both Obama's address to Congress and the Republican responses around the Capitol sought to position each party as the champion of average Americans in a nation still grappling with high unemployment and a slow economic recovery. Republicans noted that the nation's jobless rate ticked up to 7.9 percent in January and the economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the final months of 2012.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Obama offered the American people "little more than more of the same 'stimulus' policies that have failed to fix our economy and put Americans back to work. We cannot grow the middle class and foster job creation by growing government and raising taxes."

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman accused Obama of promoting "the same big-government policies that have failed to get our economy up and running again."

Rubio, a rising star in the Republican party and a potential 2016 presidential contender, pointed to his Miami roots to address Obama's frequent portrayal of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney — and his party — as only caring about the wealthiest Americans. Rubio said he still lived in the "same working-class neighborhood I grew up in" and his neighbors "aren't millionaires" but retirees, workers and immigrants.

"His favorite attack of all is that those who don't agree with him — that we only care about rich people," Rubio said.

Rubio pre-recorded the same speech in Spanish for Spanish-language networks, a nod to Republicans who have said that they must address their deficit with Hispanic voters in order to compete effectively with Democrats in the future. Obama won 71 percent of Hispanics last year against Romney.

President Barack Obama is telling Congress that he will take action to combat climate change if lawmakers don't do it themselves.

Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio applaud President Barack Obama as he gives his State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is telling Congress that he will take action to combat climate change if lawmakers don't do it themselves.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, the president said Congress should write legislation that would give polluters market-based incentives to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming. He said if lawmakers don't do that, his administration will craft executive actions that would cut pollution, help get communities ready for the effects of climate change and encourage increased use of cleaner sources of energy.

Obama says progress can be made against climate change without interrupting economic growth.

The president says that with extreme weather getting more intense and increasingly frequent, lawmakers can believe those events are a coincidence or they can act before it's too late.

The the body found in the cabin is found to be Dorner, it will end a massive manhunt for a rogue ex-police officer who is suspected of killing 4 people.

BIG BEAR, Calif. (AP) — The extraordinary manhunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of three murders converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where he was believed to have barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames.

A single gunshot was heard from within, and a charred body was found inside.

If the man inside proves to be Christopher Dorner, the search for the most wanted man in America over the last week would have ended the way he had expected — death, with the police pursuing him.

Thousands of officers had been on the hunt for the former Navy reservist since police said he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing. They say he threatened to bring "warfare" to officers and their families, spreading fear and setting off a search for him across the Southwest and Mexico.

"Enough is enough. It's time for you to turn yourself in. It's time to stop the bloodshed," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said at a news conference held outside police headquarters in Los Angeles, a starkly different atmosphere than last week when officials briefed the news media under tight security with Dorner on the loose.

A short time after Smith spoke Tuesday, smoke began to rise from the cabin in the snow-covered woods near Big Bear Lake, a resort town about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Flames then engulfed the building — images that were broadcast on live television around the world. TV helicopters showed the fire burning freely with no apparent effort to extinguish it.

This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer.
AP Photo




 

Until Tuesday, authorities didn't know whether Dorner was still near Big Bear Lake, where they found his burned-out pickup last week.

Around 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, deputies got a report of a stolen pickup truck, authorities said. The location was directly across the street from where law enforcement set up their command post on Thursday and not far from where Dorner's pickup was abandoned. The owner of the vehicle taken Tuesday described the suspect as looking similar to Dorner.

A warden for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife traveling down Highway 38 recognized a man who fit Dorner's description traveling in the opposite direction. The officer pursued the vehicle and there was a shooting at 12:42 p.m. in which the wildlife vehicle was hit numerous times and the suspect escaped on foot after crashing his truck.

After holing up in the cabin, there was a second gunbattle with San Bernardino County deputies, two of whom were shot. One died and the other was expected to live after undergoing surgery.

"We're heartbroken," Big Bear Lake Mayor Jay Obernolte said of the deputy's death and the wounding of his colleague. "Words can't express how grateful we are for the sacrifice those men have made in defense of the community and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families."

The man believed to be Dorner never came out of the cabin, and a single shot was heard inside before the cabin was engulfed in flames, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The official later told the AP that a charred body was found in the burned cabin. The official requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Officials were waiting for the fire to burn out before approaching the ruins to search for a body.

Police say Dorner began his run on Feb. 6 after they connected the slayings of a former police captain's daughter and her fiance with an angry Facebook rant they said he posted. Threats against the LAPD led officials to assign officers to protect officers and their families.

Within hours of the release of photos of the 6-foot, 270-pounder described as armed and "extremely dangerous," police say, Dorner unsuccessfully tried to steal a boat in San Diego to flee to Mexico and opened fire on two patrol cars in Riverside County, shooting three officers and killing one.

Jumpy officers guarding one of the targets named in the rant shot and injured two women delivering newspapers Thursday in Torrance because they mistook their pickup truck for Dorner's.

Police found weapons and camping gear inside the charred truck in Big Bear. Helicopters using heat-seeking technology searched the forest from above while scores of officers, some using bloodhounds, scoured the ground and checked hundreds of vacation cabins — many vacant this time of year — in the area.

A snowstorm hindered the search and may have helped cover his tracks, though authorities were hopeful he would leave fresh footprints if hiding in the wilderness.

Dorner's anger with the department dated back at least five years, when he was fired for filing a false report accusing his training officer of kicking a mentally ill suspect. Dorner, who is black, claimed in the rant that he was the subject of racism by the department and fired for doing the right thing.

He said he would get even with those who wronged him as part of his plan to reclaim his good name.

"You're going to see what a whistleblower can do when you take everything from him especially his NAME!!!" the rant said. "You have awoken a sleeping giant."

Chief Charlie Beck, who initially dismissed the allegations in the rant, said reopened the investigation into his firing — not to appease the ex-officer, but to restore confidence in the black community, which long had a fractured relationship with police that has improved in recent years.

One of the targets listed in the manifesto was former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who represented Dorner before the disciplinary board. Dorner claimed he put the interests of the department above his.

The first victims were Quan's daughter, Monica Quan, 28, a college basketball coach, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, 27. They were shot multiple times in their car in a parking garage near their Orange County condo.

Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.

He left the service on Feb. 1.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at 1033 Allen St.

2-15-13- Springfield - Faulty wiring in a range hood was the cause of a blaze that heavily damaged this vacant home at 1033 Allen St. No injuries were reported. Dennis Leger / Springfield Fire Dept.  

SPRINGFIELD – Faulty wiring in a kitchen range hood was the cause of a blaze that heavily damaged a vacant home in the East Forest Park neighborhood early Friday.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at 1033 Allen St. It was reported shortly before 3 a.m., Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Joseph Conant said.

The owner of the property moved out about six months ago and it is listed for sale, Leger said.

Damage is estimated at $50,000, he said.

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A Sandwich police officer is facing charges including assault with intent to murder after allegedly ramming a relative's vehicle.

SANDWICH, Mass. (AP) — A Sandwich police officer is facing charges including assault with intent to murder after allegedly ramming a relative's vehicle.

The Sandwich Police Department says in a statement that 46-year-old Michael Hoadley was taken into custody just before midnight Thursday.

Police allege Hoadley drove his car into the rear of a family member's vehicle multiple times on Route 6 Thursday night, forcing the other vehicle into the median. The driver, whose name was not disclosed, was not injured.

WXTK-FM reports that Hoadley is also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery, operating to endanger and leaving the scene of an accident. He's scheduled to be arraigned Friday. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

Chief Peter Wack says Hoadley has been placed on leave.

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Information from: WXTK-FM, http://www.95wxtk.com

U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz flew home from Washington last week, leaving behind a capital baffled by Republicans like him in Congress: those who stubbornly refuse to compromise with President Barack Obama, a tactic that some see as damaging the GOP brand and pushing the nation repeatedly to the brink of fiscal chaos.

NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Associated Press

HEBER CITY, Utah (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz flew home from Washington last week, leaving behind a capital baffled by Republicans like him in Congress: those who stubbornly refuse to compromise with President Barack Obama, a tactic that some see as damaging the GOP brand and pushing the nation repeatedly to the brink of fiscal chaos.

Back in his Utah district, Chaffetz drove to the Dairy Keen and barely had bitten into a bacon cheeseburger before a diner begged him to stop Obama's health care overhaul.

"It's the stupidest plan in the world," said Phoebe Eason, 69, leaning over her booth to complain about a clause that forces her husband, a podiatrist, to pay more for medical devices.

"I'm doing everything I can to repeal it or take out these sections," Chaffetz reassured her. Minutes later, he headed to a town hall where some constituents asked why the president hadn't yet been impeached.

To understand why the nation may remain politically gridlocked for the next two years, talk to people in a place like Heber City, a conservative farming and ranching hub nestled beneath the imposing peaks of the Wasatch mountains. Many voters here, and in conservative communities across the country, still want to do whatever it takes to stop Obama, despite his solid re-election in November, and the politicians they elect are listening.

In his State of the Union address this week, Obama laid out an ambitious agenda that includes gun control, raising the minimum wage, allowing most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country to become citizens and raising tax revenue to help cut the deficit.

But the president has acknowledged it will be difficult to get those proposals through a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

"The House Republican majority is made up mostly of members who are in sharply gerrymandered districts that are very safely Republican and may not feel compelled to pay attention to broad-based public opinion, because what they're really concerned about is the opinions of their specific Republican constituencies," Obama said in an interview with The New Republic magazine last month.

Analysts differ on whether gerrymandering — the practice of drawing district lines so your party can pick up more seats — fully explains why Obama handily won re-election in November, even as Republicans lost only a handful of seats in the House. One thing is clear: Compromise is a dirty word for many of the Republicans remaining in the House.

A Pew poll last month found that 36 percent of GOP voters would look favorably on a politician who compromises, compared with 59 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independent voters.

Virtually all House Republicans come from districts that voted against Obama in November. And in many states, primary voters have punished Republicans they see as too eager to cut deals with Democrats.

That's how Chaffetz, 45, won his seat in 2008. He challenged a 12-term Republican congressman who angered the party's base by backing an immigration overhaul that included granting citizenship to many illegal immigrants. Two years later, Utah Republican primary voters also pushed out Sen. Robert Bennett, replacing him with a tea party-supported candidate who is now the state's junior senator.

Though he has worked with Democrats on some bills, Chaffetz has refused to budge on some of the biggest issues in Washington. In 2011, he voted against raising the debt ceiling, arguing Congress and Obama weren't reining in entitlement spending. Most economists said that if the limit hadn't been raised it would have triggered a global depression. Last month, Chaffetz voted against the so-called fiscal cliff deal because it involved raising levies on those making more than $450,000 annually. Taxes would have risen on all income levels had the deal not passed.

Chaffetz also voted against aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy, saying the bill was larded with pork. He did vote to delay another debt ceiling confrontation until May, but said he won't budge on automatic spending cuts scheduled to kick in next month or on his opposition to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"The perception inside the Beltway is dramatically different than in hometown America," Chaffetz said. "Most people in my district believe we've compromised too much."

Chaffetz's district stretches from the southern Salt Lake City suburbs and Provo, home to Brigham Young University, to the high valleys of Wasatch County. Nearly half of the county's 23,000 residents live in this town. Once an overlooked rural community far from the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, it has recently seen an influx of more liberal-minded residents drawn by its proximity to storied ski resorts like nearby Park City. In Utah, this place is almost a swing county. Nonetheless, it voted 3-1 for Romney in November.

Here's how things look from Heber City: Obama hiked taxes while pushing through his health care reform. Then he got another round during the fiscal cliff negotiations. Now he's making a third attempt during the latest debt ceiling standoff. Meanwhile, the federal budget has been trimmed, but only slightly. The debt is still huge. Republicans are folding at every turn.

"I'm sick of Republicans not sticking to their principles," said Tina Peterson, 45, who works at a resort in nearby Park City. She recently moved her family here from Arizona after the recession destroyed their construction business. A new arrival in Utah — "I'm a Christian but not LDS" — she sees Obama as the unbending force in Washington, not her own party.

"His ideology is what it is and he can stick to it," Peterson said. "We do the same and we get demonized."

Not everyone here wants to just say no.

"There's no sense in falling on our sword and throwing a wrench just to destroy things," said Aaron Gabrielson, chairman of the Wasatch County Republican Party. Still, he added: "It doesn't seem like compromise has gotten us very far."

Jaren Davis, 53, a Republican Salt Lake City real estate developer who owns a second home here, sat in Chick's Cafe on Main Street and bemoaned polarization in politics.

"Both sides, right and left, with 24-hour news, they just need to get more fanatical to get on TV," said Davis, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the state Legislature. He noted that partisans have to cater to their extreme wing to win a primary — the same as winning the general election in this deeply red state.

Chaffetz held his town hall in a county education building. He began by giving a presentation on the weight of the federal debt. Voters asked about the value of the dollar, how to keep the federal government from converting more of the state's land to protected wilderness and the use of drones in the U.S. They also voiced their frustration about the president.

"Have you not found anything to impeach the president of the United States?" asked Jeff Riddle, 34, an attorney. "Losing a drone to Iran? Killing Americans with drones? Infringing on Second Amendment rights?"

Chaffetz asked for patience. He said the best course was to allow congressional investigations into possible administration wrongdoing, like the Fast and the Furious gun-running program, to continue.

"What is it going to take to make the change in Washington?" asked retired commercial airline pilot Robert Wren, 74. "Are we going to have to have a minor revolution of the people? Are we going to have to wait until the next election?"

Chaffetz said the problem is that Republicans haven't communicated well with voters. Later, asked if he ever felt pressure to back down, he acknowledged occasional disagreements with GOP leadership on whether to subpoena the White House.

"I don't know if we have stood up for ourselves as much as we should," he said.

Wren said he was pleased with his congressman's unflinching stance. "He's representing his constituents."

Firefighters required 2 sets of Jaws of Life equipment to extricate the victim

 

HOLYOKE — Firefighters required two sets of Jaws of Life equipment to extricate two victims from a vehicle crash on Main Street early Friday.

Lt. Thomas Paquin, spokesman for the Holyoke Fire Department, said the crash was reported at about 1:30 a.m. in the area of 1025 Main St.

Two of the three people inside the vehicle were taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment of unknown injuries.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

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An Adams man police say raped a woman just hours after his release from jail is tentatively scheduled to go on trial in September.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — An Adams man police say raped a woman just hours after his release from jail is tentatively scheduled to go on trial in September.

The trial's start is dependent on DNA testing. Prosecutors say Jeffrey Vigiard was connected to the crime through DNA, but in court Thursday said further testing is necessary.

Authorities say the 39-year-old Vigiard broke into the 20-year-old woman's home in Pittsfield last March just hours after his release from a New York jail where he had served time for larceny.

Police say Vigiard fled to San Francisco, where he was caught in July,

Vigiard has pleaded not guilty to aggravated rape, witness intimidation, burglary, assault, and breaking and entering. The Berkshire Eagle (http://bit.ly/YcOMDF ) reports that his lawyer calls the pattern in the case "strange."

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Information from: The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle, http://www.berkshireeagle.com

Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, was involved with OPSEC, which released a video attacking Democratic President Barack Obama for jeopardizing national security by releasing information relating to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Gabriel Gomez  

Before he was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, Gabriel Gomez was active in an organization that released a controversial video attacking President Barack Obama for jeopardizing national security by releasing information related to the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden.

Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, was a media spokesman for Special Operations OPSEC Education Team, a group of former members of the military and intelligence services who say their mission is to stop politicians – particularly Obama – from “politically capitalizing on U.S. national security operations and secrets.”

The group released a 22-minute film in August, during Obama’s reelection campaign, titled “Dishonorable Disclosures: How leaks and politics threaten our national security,” which got more than 5 million views on YouTube.

Much of the film is dedicated to Obama’s handling of the killing of bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. In the film, retired intelligence and military officers criticize Obama for taking credit for the killing and revealing too much information.

“Mr. President, you did not kill Osama bin Laden, America did,” says Navy SEAL Ben Smith. “The work that the American military has done killed Osama bin Laden.”

Jamie Williamson, a retired Special Forces colonel, says he “was appalled to hear secrets I spent 25 years protecting,” such as the cover name, actual name and location of a special mission unit, reported. He says tactics, techniques and procedures were compromised.

The film says politicians turned the raid into an “intelligence disaster.” Bill Cowan, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, says Obama should have waited a week before announcing the raid to exploit any intelligence found in bin Laden’s compound. Others criticized Obama for releasing information that allowed Pakistani officials to find the doctor that helped U.S. troops, for briefing Hollywood filmmakers and for using the raid in a campaign ad. The video concludes by telling Obama to “shut up.”

Gomez appeared on MSNBC after the video was released as an OPSEC spokesman. Gomez took a less harsh line against Obama than the film did, saying Obama deserves credit for deciding to kill bin Laden. “You have to give him absolutely 100 percent credit for making the call to send the unit in to get bin Laden,” he said. But Gomez criticized Obama for taking too much credit and not giving enough to the troops.

“The only time that…(Abraham) Lincoln and (Dwight) Eisenhower and other wartime presidents ever used the word 'I' was when they said 'I thank you' to the troops,” Gomez said. “The point of the video is to highlight the difference between the current administration and how they viewed giving credit as opposed to other wartime presidents that have given credit in a different way.”

The Obama campaign accused OPSEC of trying to “Swift Boat” the president, a reference to attacks regarding 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s military service in Vietnam.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst for the Lexington Institute, a conservative think tank, said he believes the charges that Obama jeopardized national security “are largely unfounded.” Thompson said the president has discretion to disclose things that would normally be kept secret, if he believes it benefits national security. “My impression is that Obama has been very careful about what is disclosed to whom,” Thompson said.

Thompson said these types of charges are part of “a continuous Republican campaign to discredit the president on both economic and defense policy.”

Asked whether Gomez is still involved with OPSEC and agrees with the film, Gomez spokesman Lenny Alcivar said, “Gabriel Gomez is not a politician. But Democrats, Republicans, and independents all agree with Gabriel Gomez and senators like Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican John McCain – America cannot afford national security leaks that jeopardize the lives of our men and women in combat. If the Democratic machine in Massachusetts disagrees with that, they should say so.”

Feinstein has criticized national security leaks coming from the federal government, though not the president himself. McCain has called for an investigation of government leaks of national security information, which he said were made to bolster the president’s image.

Though OPSEC said its members included Republicans, Democrats and independents, Reuters reported that the group has extensive Republican Party ties. Reuters found that the group's treasurer, lawyer and TV producers all have connections to Republican Party-related groups.

In the Reuters story, one of the OPSEC members who the group’s spokesman pointed to as an example of OPSEC’s bipartisanship was Gomez, noting that he had donated to Obama’s 2008 campaign.

According to FEC filings, Gomez gave $230 to Obama in 2007, one of several donations he has made to Democrats. In 2012, Gomez gave $500 to Bruce Bowen Shuttleworth, a former Navy pilot and Democratic congressional candidate from Virginia, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. James Moran in a primary. In 2009, Gomez donated $1,000 to Alan Khazei, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, who lost in the primary for the 2010 special election.

On the Republican side, Gomez gave $2,500 to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign and $250 to former President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign.

The meteor over the Chelyabinsk region shattered about 18-32 miles above ground.

MOSCOW (AP) — A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb Friday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring nearly 1,000 people.

The spectacle deeply frightened many Russians, with some elderly women declaring that the world was coming to an end.

The meteor — estimated to be about 10 tons — entered the Earth's atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered into pieces about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time, just after sunrise, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

The meteor released several kilotons of energy above the Chelyabinsk region, the science academy said. The shock wave blew in an estimated 100,000 square meters (more than 1 million square feet) of glass, according to city officials.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening," said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow.

"We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

The meteor hit less than a day before Asteroid 2012DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid to the Earth — about 17,150 miles (28,000 kilometers). But the European Space Agency in a tweet said its experts had determined there was no connection — just cosmic coincidence.

The Interior Ministry said 985 people sought medical care after the shock wave and 44 of them were hospitalized. Most of the injuries were caused by flying glass, it said.

There was no immediate word on any deaths or anyone struck by space fragments.

Meteors typically cause sizeable sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are traveling so much faster than the speed of sound. Injuries on the scale reported Friday, however, are extraordinarily rare.

"I went to see what that flash in the sky was about," recalled resident Marat Lobkovsky. "And then the window glass shattered, bouncing back on me. My beard was cut open, but not deep. They patched me up, it's OK now."

Another resident, Valya Kazakov, said some elderly women in his neighborhood started crying out that the world was ending.

Lessons had just started at Chelyabinsk schools when the meteor exploded, and officials said 204 schoolchildren were among those injured.

Yekaterina Melikhova, a high school student whose nose was bloody and whose upper lip was covered with a bandage, said she was in her geography class when they saw a bright light outside.

"After the flash, nothing happened for about three minutes. Then we rushed outdoors. I was not alone, I was there with Katya. The door was made of glass, a shock wave made it hit us," she said.

Russian television ran footage of athletes at a city sports arena who were showered by shards of glass from huge windows. Some of them were still bleeding.

City officials said 3,000 buildings in the city were damaged by the shock wave, including a zinc factory where part of the roof collapsed.

The vast implosion of glass windows exposed many residents to the bitter cold as temperatures in the city hovered around minus 9 Celsius (15.8 Fahrenheit).

The regional governor immediately urged any workers who can pane windows to rush to the area to help out.

Some fragments fell in a reservoir outside the town of Chebarkul, the regional governor's office said, according to the ITAR-Tass.

A six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide) crater was found in the same area, which could come from space fragments striking the ground, the news agency cited military spokesman Yaroslavl Roshchupkin as saying.

Small pieces of space debris — usually parts of comets or asteroids — that are on a collision course with the Earth are called meteoroids. They become meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere, but if they survive the frictional heating and strike the surface of the Earth they are called meteorites.

The site of Friday's spectacular show is about 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) west of Tunguska, which 1908 was the site of the largest recorded explosion of a space object plunging to Earth. That blast, attributed to a comet or asteroid fragment, is generally estimated to have been about 10 megatons; it leveled some 80 million trees.

Scientists believe that a far larger meteorite strike on what today is Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula may have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. According to that theory, the impact would have thrown up vast amounts of dust that blanketed the sky for decades and altered the climate on Earth

The panic and confusion that followed Friday's meteorite crash quickly gave way to Chelyabinsk residents' entrepreneurial instincts. Several people smashed in the windows of their houses in the hopes of pretending they were broken by the meteorite and receiving compensation, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Other quickly took to the Internet and put what they said were meteorite fragments up for sale.

The Russian-language hashtags for the meteorite shot into Twitter's top trends, and the country's lively blogosphere quickly reacted with black humor.

One of the most popular jokes was that the meteorite was supposed to fall Dec. 21 last year — when many believed the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world — but was delivered late by Russia's notoriously inefficient postal service.

Others joked that the meteorite was par for the course for Chelyabinsk, an industrial town long held to be one of the world's most polluted areas. The area around Chelyabinsk is also home to nuclear and chemical weapons disposal facilities.

Vladimir Chuprov of Greenpeace Russia noted that the area where the meteor exploded was 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Mayak nuclear storage and disposal facility, which holds dozens of tons of weapons-grade plutonium. He said the Russian government has underestimated potential risks of the region.

A chemical weapons disposal facility at Shchuchye in the Chelyabinsk region contains some 6,000 tons (5,460 metric tons) of nerve agent including sarin and VX, accounting for about 14 percent of the chemical weapons that Russia is committed to destroy.

The dramatic events prompted an array of reactions from prominent Russians.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, said the meteor could be a symbol for the forum, showing that "not only the economy is vulnerable, but the whole planet."

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist leader noted for vehement statements, said "It's not meteors falling. It's the test of a new weapon by the Americans," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the incident showed the need for leading world powers to develop a system to intercept objects falling from space.

"At the moment, neither we nor the Americans have such technologies" to shoot down meteors or asteroids, he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

___

Max Seddon and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this story.

The suspect implied that he had a weapon, but one was neither shown nor found, police said.

George Radosavljevic Holyoke Police Dept.  

HOLYOKE — Police arrested a 41-year-old Northampton man early Friday after he allegedly robbed a Dunkin' Donuts on Northampton Street.

Lt. Matthew Moriarty said the suspect implied he had a gun, but one was neither shown nor found.

The armed robbery was reported shortly before 5:40 a.m., Moriarty said. Employees gave police a description of the suspect and officers Thomas Leahy and Eric Martin and Lt. James Albert found a man fitting the description a short time later near 54 Shawmut Ave.

George Radosavljevic was charged with armed robbery and two counts of armed assault to rob.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Alma Amoro  

Alma (Bailey) Amoro, 58, of Springfield, passed away on Wednesday. She was born in Bridgeport, Conn., on Feb. 8, 1955, a daughter of the late James and Blanche (Dion) Bailey. She was employed by Custom Carbide Corp. in Springfield.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Amoro, Alma
  



• 
  Beauchene, Frederick R.
  



• 
  Colaccino, Antonio
  



• 
  Del Greco, Elaine A.
  



• 
  Desmarais, Daniel J.
  



• 
  Green, Paris Y.
  



• 
  Hannah, Richard H.
  



• 
  Heino, Anita R.
  



• 
  Hoynoski, Alfred J.
  



• 
  Hurd, Winifred O.
  



• 
  Judd, Ana (Azahares)
  



• 
  Krawczyk, Barbara Ann
  



• 
  Manzi Jr., Frank A.
  



• 
  Nareau, Paul V.
  



• 
  Paradis, Ronald H.
  



• 
  Partyka, Edward
  



• 
  Rodzen, Edward G.
  



• 
  Saxe, James P.
  



• 
  Shonak, Carol Ann
  



• 
  Shore Esq., Joseph Jay
  



• 
  Tangredi, Dominick M.
  



• 
  Watts, Mark M.
  

The city is to receive a $23,000 state grant which it must match with and additional $23,000.

A tree service employee works on trees in Szot Park. The city is eligible to receive a grant to track all the trees in city parks and on other city property. Dave Roback / The Republican [file]  

CHICOPEE — A small grant that would help the city create an inventory of its trees and possibly start its own tree farm has created some questions and controversy among City Councilors.

The city recently won a $23,000 Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Urban Community Forestry Grant, which the city was required to match with an additional $23,000 designed to come out of the free cash account.

The money will allow the city to do an inventory of the types and conditions of trees across the city that will be filed on a Global Positioning System to show areas where plantings are needed and what type of trees would be appropriate for different areas, said Lee Pouliot, planner and administrator for the Community Development Department.

The grant will also require the city to form a tree board of residents and city officials that would assist in an educational campaign to teach citizens about the value of urban trees, he said.

“We are hoping to create our own tree garden. We want to plant saplings; instead of paying $200 a tree, we will pay $25 for one and grow it on our own,” Mayor Michael Bissonnette said.

But with a number of questions, the City Council decided to send the issue to subcommittee instead of approving the grant.

“This doesn’t pay for trees,” said Councilor Gerry Roy. “ It seems like wasted money to me.”

Roy said one of his concerns is the trees are assigned values and he is worried that eventually people would be charged that cost if they cut down a tree.

But Councilor Dino A. Brunetti argued there is already an ordinance that bans people from cutting down trees on city property. If people are caught, they are required to replace the one tree with two.

“They will suggest to the city the proper types of trees for the soil,” he said, adding they will also try to make sure areas have a variety of trees so they will not be vulnerable to blight.

Councilor John L. Vieau said he wanted more information about the grant before approving it to make sure the city is not wasting money.

City Councilor Timothy McLellan agreed, saying he had some questions about the program.

“I want know what we will do with the inventory. What will happen next?” he said.

While Markey is holding onto support from Democratic voters, Lynch is attracting those who are unenrolled in a party.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston; and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Malden, will square off in a Democratic primary on April 30 in the special election to replace John Kerry. The Republican [file] 

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey is holding the lead over U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate special election, according to a new poll released Friday by WBUR.

The poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, found that while Markey is holding onto support from Democratic voters, Lynch is attracting those who are unenrolled in a party.

The poll found Markey leading Lynch, 38 percent to 31 percent. Among registered Democrats, Markey’s lead widened to 42 percent to 25 percent. However, among unenrolled voters – who can vote in either party’s primary – Lynch was ahead 38 percent to 34 percent.

“The question is do unenrolled voters actually turn out on primary day or does this turn out to be more of a base primary election, with diehard Democrats who vote every time?” said MassINC pollster Steve Koczela. “If it’s that, it looks like an advantage for Markey.”

Markey and Lynch will compete for the Democratic nomination in an April 30 primary. Markey has so far gotten support from a number of the state’s top Democratic establishment figures. Lynch is relying on support from labor and more conservative Democrats.

The Republican field has been more turbulent. So far, GOP candidates include State Rep. Daniel Winslow, former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, former Nantucket selectman Douglas Bennett and former Ashland selectman Jon Fetherston. Former congressional candidate Sean Bielat is considering a run. All the candidates must gather 10,000 signatures by Feb. 27 in order to appear on the ballot. The general election will be held June 25.

Koczela said the Republican primary could also influence the Democratic race. If Republicans have a contested primary that attracts unenrolled voters, it could pull potential Lynch supporters away from the Democratic primary.

The poll found that the most popular and well-known political figure in the potential field of candidates is former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who ultimately decided not to run in the special election. Brown, who lost his Senate seat in November to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, was seen favorably by 58 percent of respondents, and unfavorably by 27 percent. Sixty two percent of respondents thought Brown should run for office again. Brown recently signed a contract as a contributor to Fox News. Most respondents (58 percent) said that would not influence their decision whether to vote for him in the future, though 26 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for him and 13 percent said it would make them more likely.

Markey and Lynch had identical favorable ratings – 29 percent – though Markey also had a slightly higher unfavorable rating, 19 percent compared to 12 percent for Lynch. Around a quarter of respondents had never heard of each of the Democratic Congressmen. But name recognition was even worse among the Republican candidates. More than half of respondents had never heard of either Winslow or Gomez, and more than a quarter of those who had heard of them did not know enough to form an impression.

“Right now name recognition is pretty low on all the candidates,” Koczela said.

The poll found that Markey and Lynch would beat an unnamed Republican candidate by double-digit margins. Both would also easily beat Winslow in a head to head matchup. MassINC did not include head to head matchups with any other Republican candidates, many of whom only announced their intentions to run this week.

The poll of 498 registered voters was conducted Feb. 11-13 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

The suspect's bail was revoked in Hampden Superior Court, according to court documents.

 

EAST LONGMEADOW — Police have arrested a 19-year-old Granby Street man, who has a statutory rape case pending in Hampden Superior Court, after he allegedly violated his conditions of release by having contact with the victim.

Sgt. Patrick Manley said police arrested Kyle A. Connors at his 30 Granby St. home shortly after 4 p.m. on Feb. 7.

Police arrested Connors on the statutory rape charge in June 2012, Manley said.

Police, learning that Connors had contacted the girl, who was 14 at the time of his original arrest, sought and received a warrant for his arrest on the conditions violation in Superior Court, Manley said.

Connors' bail was revoked in Hampden Superior Court during a hearing on Feb. 11, according to court documents. He was ordered to return to court on Feb. 26.

Lewis Lent Her was convicted in the 1990 death of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield and has been a suspect in the unsolved 1992 disappearance of 16-year-old Jamie Lusher of Westfield.

Authorities are considering resuming the search for the body of Sara Anne Wood, left, of Frankfurt, N.Y., who was killed in 1993. Three years later, Lewis Lent of North Adams admitted killing her, and said body was buried in the Adirondacks Mountains.  

HERKIMER, N.Y. – Authorities are discussing the possibility of resuming the search for a 12-year-old central New York girl who was abducted and killed nearly 20 years ago, according to the district attorney in the county where the victim was kidnapped near her rural home.

Her killer was convicted in the 1990 death of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield, Mass., and has been a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of 16-year-old Jamie Lusher, who set off from his father’s house on Ridgeway Avenue in Westfield, Mass., on his brand-new bicycle on Nov. 6, 1992, and was not seen again.

Herkimer County District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter told the Observer-Dispatch of Utica that his office and state police investigators have rekindled their discussions on tips that might one day lead to Sara Anne Wood’s body. The possibility of new searches hasn’t been ruled out, he said.

“There have been efforts to locate her body in the past and, at this point in time, I think we will once again make an attempt to locate her body,” Carpenter told the newspaper.

Sara was walking her bike to her family’s home in the Mohawk Valley town of Litchfield in August 1993 when she was abducted. Lewis Lent of North Adams, Mass., pleaded guilty three years later to killing the girl and later told authorities he buried her off a logging road in the Adirondack Mountains.

More than a dozen searches over the years, including in the Raquette Lake area of the Adirondacks, have failed to find her body. Lent later recanted his story and has since refused to cooperate with authorities seeking Sara’s burial site.

Lent, a 62-year-old former handyman and janitor, was sentenced to a prison term of 25 years to life in Wood’s killing.

He is currently serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield, Mass. In 1993, Lent was sentenced to an additional 17 to 20 years in prison for the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old Pittsfield girl as she walked to school.

In the Jamie Lusher case in Westfield, Lusher’s bicycle was found a few days later near a pond off Bennett Road on the north side of Westfield, about four miles north of his father’s house and in the opposite direction from Blandford where he was head to see his grandmother.

Police drained the pond, and found nothing. No trace of Jamie has ever been found.

Westfield police have previously said that witnesses placed Lent in Westfield on the day Jamie disappeared.

In New York, officials believe “significant steps” have been made over the years to at least narrow down the possible location of Sara’s body.

“As time goes on, the brand-new tips diminish but re-examining other avenues that we’ve currently examined, in light of new technology, becomes more of the focus,” said state police Capt. Mark Lincoln of Troop D based at Oneida.

Town Councilor Brian C. Griffin says it is time to turn the page on the issue of whether the city should have one or two casino advisory committees.

West Springfield City Councilor Brian Griffin, left, chair of the council’s Ad Hoc Casino Mitigation Committee, and Edward Sullivan, chair of the West Springfield Casino Commission, will meet weekly to share information. The Republican [file]  

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The chair of the mayor’s newly created West Springfield Casino Commission will meet weekly with Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin, chair of the council’s Ad Hoc Casino Mitigation Committee, in what appears to be a rapprochement between the mayor and Griffin over how the city will handle the whole casino issue.

Earlier, Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger and Griffin had agreed they wanted to merge the two groups. Later the mayor changed his mind, saying the legislative branch does not mix well with the executive branch.

The Town Council created the mitigation committee to deal with any ill effects on the community should either of the two casino projects proposed for Springfield just across the Connecticut River come to fruition. That was before plans were rolled out in mid-January for a $500 million to $800 million casino resort project proposed for the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds.

However, Neffinger said Thursday that the two committees will share information and work together. Edward C. Sullivan, the chair of the mayor’s commission, said earlier this week that he and Griffin will meet to share information and will work well together.

In addition, Neffinger said the commission and the consultant it will soon hire will provide information to the Town Council .

“The Town Council really needs more information than I originally thought,” Neffinger said. “We want the council to be as informed as they need to be. ... I’m trying to build bridges by opening up all information to them.”

“Right now we need to turn the page on the issue,” Griffin said. “We will work in tandem for the best interests of the community.”

Griffin said he looks forward to working with Sullivan, a businessman who is a former president of the Town Council.

The councilor noted that three of the commission’s members, Sullivan, Diane Crowell and John P. Weiss, had been on the council’s committee. A fifth person, federal prosecutor Todd E. Newhouse, may join the commission if he can get government clearance.

The mayor was recently criticized during a special Town Council meeting on the casino project by Town Councilor Lida M. Powell. She complained that the council would lack information as a result of Neffinger’s recent removal of the two town councilors on the Casino Commission. Neffinger took town councilors Griffin and George D. Condon III off the commission, saying he thought a smaller mayoral advisory board would be more effective.

It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,000 miles.

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world is safe — at least from one asteroid.

A 150-foot cosmic rock hurtled safely past Earth on Friday.

It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,000 miles. That's closer than some satellites.

The flyby occurred just hours after a much smaller meteor exploded above Russia's Ural Mountains.

Astronomers say the two events were coincidental, and the objects were traveling in opposite directions. At least one scientist called it an exciting day and "like a shooting gallery here."

The asteroid was invisible to astronomers in the United States at the time of its closest approach on the opposite of the world. But in Australia, astronomers used binoculars and telescopes to watch the point of light speed across the clear night sky.

In a press release, Markey proposed 2 general debates – in Boston and Springfield – and 4 other debates on specific issues.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston; and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Malden, will square off in a Democratic primary on April 30 in the special election to replace John Kerry. The Republican file 

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey today proposed a debate in Springfield and a series of five additional debates in the Democratic primary to fill a U.S. Senate seat.

But Markey's proposal immediately drew fire from the camp of his opponent, U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch of Boston.

In a press release, Markey, a Malden Democrat, proposed two general debates and four other debates on specific issues. General debates would be held in Boston and Springfield.

Conor Yunits, a spokesman for Lynch, said that at least six general debates should be held and then as many other debates as possible, including debates limited to single issues. Yunits said there should be no limit on the number of debates.

Yunits said the two camps are planning to meet Sunday to discuss a debate schedule and format.

The Markey campaign proposed that each issue-specific debate be held in different locations throughout the state and be jointly sponsored by independent news organizations and relevant issue organizations.

In 2009, five debates were held in the Senate Democratic primary and in 2012, Democratic Senate candidates participated in two debates, the campaign said.

The primary is April 30 and the special election is set for June 25. The election is being held to fill the unexpired term of former Sen. John F. Kerry, who is the new Secretary of State.

Markey campaign manager Sarah Benzing said in a press release that voters deserve to hear the Senate candidates debate the issues that matter most to the state. "With such a short primary, this proposed plan is aggressive and will bring the debate forum to as many voters as possible throughout the state," she said.

In a statement, Lynch said there is strong demand across the state for debates.

"The people of Massachusetts deserve to hear both candidates discuss all the issues, especially issues that are important to their region," Lynch said. "In addition to the general issue debates, I think we should hold a number of issue-specific debates, sponsored by independent, non-partisan organizations who will not be working for either candidate in this primary election.”