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Obituaries today: Ana Judd was administrative assistant at MassMutual

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Obituaries from The Republican.

 
021613-ana-judd.jpg Ana Judd  

Ana Bertha (Azahares) Judd, 46, of Westfield, passed away on Tuesday. She was born in Springfield, was a 1984 graduate of Classical High School in Springfield and attended Bay Path Junior College. She was employed as a travel agent at Carroll Travel for many years, and most recently as an administrative assistant at MassMutual for the past 10 years. Ana was a communicant of St. Michael's Cathedral in Springfield. She loved to travel, and was known as a Red Sox fanatic, following her team to spring training and to many different stadiums throughout the season.

Obituaries from The Republican:


House Hunters International: From Chicopee to Barcelona

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The film crew planned to go to the Canal Walk, Chicopee City Hall and the figure of a giant waving statue outside the Plantation Inn New England on Burnett Road.

HOUSEHUNTERS1.JPG Tabitha Avery, left from Chicopee, and Linda Benya a producer from HGTV's House Hunters International get ready for the taping of a segment for a show featuring Tabitha and her husband James, on their move to Barcelona Spain.  

CHICOPEE – For local couple Tabitha M. and James Avery, the search for their dream digs in sunny Barcelona began Saturday in snowy Chicopee .

Or at least that’s the way it’ll be portrayed on HGTV’s “House Hunters International.” The show had a crew in Chicopee Saturday to interview Tabitha Avery, her friends and family and film a few establishing shots of the couple’s hometown to serve as the “before” portion of an upcoming episode.

The film crew planned to go to the Canal Walk, Chicopee City Hall and the figure of a giant waving statue outside the Plantation Inn New England on Burnett Road.

It’s unknown when the show will air.

Next week, it’s on to Barcelona where the couple is living and working now and will remain for two years.

“They pay us,” Tabitha Avery said Saturday as the film crew set up at the home of her in-laws, Judith and Henry Avery. “But that’s not really the reason to do it. It’s really to document our experience. It’ll be something we can show our children when we have them.”

James Avery didn’t make this trip home. He’ll only be filmed in Spain.

Both Tabitha and James Avery work for Vistaprint, an online supplier of promotional material like business cards and t-shirts. The company is based in the Netherlands but has offices in Lexington, where both James and Tabitha Avery used to work while living nearby in Billerica. The couple first found out that they were going to Barcelona late in 2011.

“It’s such a beautiful city,” Tabitha Avery said. “The food is wonderful. The people are so nice.”

And the weather, The average temperature in February is 50 degrees.

They have a temporary place in Barcelona and have been looking for a longer-term rental for some time.

“It’s in process,” Tabitha Avery said.

The show is cagey about exactly how far along subjects are in the house-hunting process when the film crew shows up, said Linda Benya, an independent producer working under contract with Leopard Films USA, the producers of “House Hunters International”.

“Because of the time it takes, most people have already picked out a home,” she said. “We film them looking at it and two others they considered. But we don’t like to talk about it, because part of the fun is trying to guess which house they will pick.”

Benya, based in New York City, won’t film the Averys in Spain. That’ll probably be a British crew, she said. She’ll be in Ecuador next week on another shoot.

While most people watch the show for the exotic locals, Benya said the segments shot in the subject’s hometowns are important.

“We are telling this couple’s story,” she said.

Judith and Henry Avery were part of the shoot Saturday, as were Tabitha’s parents, Wayne A. Laflamme Sr. and Theresa A. Laflamme and a number of other friends and relatives. Tabitha Avery grew up in Holyoke, James in Chicopee.

“This is our home base,” Tabitha Avery said.

No central agency oversees, inspects cruise ships

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Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find.

BY CURT ANDERSON, The Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they're about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.

Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find, in part because there's no one entity or country that oversees or regulates the industry with its fleet of ships that are like mini cities floating at sea.

In the case of Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner of the Carnival Triumph that spent days in the Gulf of Mexico disabled after an engine fire, the company is incorporated in Panama, its offices are based in Miami and its ships fly under the Bahamian flag — a matrix that is not unusual in the cruise line industry.

For potential passengers seeking ship information, there's no central database that can be viewed to determine a track record of safety or health inspections. No one agency regulates everything from the cruise line's mechanical worthiness to the sanitation of its kitchens.

The U.S. Coast Guard inspects each cruise ship that docks in the U.S. every year for a range of issues, from operation of backup generators to the lifeboats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a database of recent disease outbreaks and other health inspection information for cruise ships. Had Triumph vacationers looked up information about the cruise ship through those two agencies before boarding, they would have found mostly clean marks and few red flags.

And when something goes wrong, as it did on Triumph, there are limits to how much the Coast Guard can investigate.

These are not new issues — they had been raised by members of Congress before the Triumph incident.

"This horrible situation involving the Carnival Triumph is just the latest example in a long string of serious and troubling incidents involving cruise ships," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who led a committee hearing on cruise safety last year.

Last year, after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Giglio, Italy, Rockefeller held a Commerce Committee hearing to examine deficiencies in the cruise line industry's compliance with federal safety, security, and environmental standards and review industry regulations.

"As I remarked then, they seem to have two lives: One is at port, where the Coast Guard can monitor their operations; the other is at sea where, it appears once they are beyond three nautical miles from shore, the world is theirs," Rockefeller said in letter he wrote this week to Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., the commandant of the Coast Guard. "The Carnival Triumph incident only serves to further validate this view."

The Triumph left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 for a four-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. An engine-room fire paralyzed the ship early Sunday, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. Passengers described nightmarish conditions on board: overflowing toilets, long lines for a short supply of food, foul odors, and tent cities where vacationers slept on deck. Tugboats slowly towed the 14-story vessel to Mobile, Ala. It arrived there late Thursday.

Before a ship like the Triumph sets sail, it's possible — but not easy — to find information about past incidents and safety or health issues. The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program is viewable online. The database shows recent disease outbreaks aboard cruise ships and how they were addressed.

Records for the Triumph show it was last inspected July 7, 2012. It scored 96 out of 100. The CDC considers scores of 85 or lower unsatisfactory. The lowest score the ship received was an 88, in 2009.

The Coast Guard also has a database, known as the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Information Exchange, with inspections and any deficiencies found aboard ships, dating to when the vessels entered service. A search on the exchange's website for the Triumph turns up its certifications for things like passenger safety and pollution prevention as well as inspections. No violations or red flags are immediately evident. Searching a little deeper, the most recent report shows a propulsion issue from a Jan. 28 incident involving a short in a connection box of one of the ship's generators.

But the cause of the fire that crippled the Triumph is still under investigation. Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Saturday that he could not comment yet on damage, timeline or estimated costs. In the meantime, the ship is expected to remain docked in Mobile to be cleaned and sanitized before it's back on open waters.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board will lend their expertise to the investigation, but in a support role. The probe will be led by the Bahamas Maritime Authority, where Carnival registers or "flags" some of its ships. The arrangement is commonplace under international maritime law, and it puts U.S. agencies and investigators in a secondary position even though the Triumph and other Carnival ships sail out of U.S. ports with primarily American customers.

Inquiries to Carnival about inspections and foreign flags were met by a response from the Cruise Lines International Association, which represents all of the major cruise lines. Bud Darr, the group's senior vice president for technical and regulatory affairs, said the industry is "very heavily regulated," from the way ships are designed to how crews train for emergencies. He said standards are set by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization.

But Jim Walker, a Miami maritime attorney and author of the www.cruiselaw.com blog, said, "the IMO guidelines are not law and there is no consequence if the cruise lines ignore the guidelines and recommendations. Customers have no way of knowing whether they are well maintained safely. There is no federal oversight with real teeth."

Fires — though not all as major as the Triumph's — happen virtually every year on cruise ships. There were 79 onboard blazes from 1990 to 2011, according to a list compiled by Ross Klein, a professor who specializes in cruise industry issues at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada.

In 2010, the IMO adopted rules that require any large cruise ship built after July 1 of that year to have a separate, redundant system able to maintain the ship's propulsion, steering and so forth in case one engine is disabled by fire. The rules also mandate that ships be capable of maintaining basic services such as sanitation, water, food and lights in such circumstances.

The Triumph was built in 1999 and isn't covered by the rules, as is the case for most ships among major cruise lines. Experts say the Triumph might have been able to limp into port more quickly if it had the newer systems, but retrofitting is costly and time-consuming.

"Provided the emergency generators worked and had enough power, they would have been able to return to port under their own power, but much slower," said Andrew O. Coggins, Jr., a Pace University management professor who focuses on hospitality and tourism industries.

"Once Carnival has evaluated the full cost of this incident," he added, "it might be cost effective to retrofit their older ships."

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Associated Press writers Connie Cass in Washington and Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., contributed to this report.


Russians mobilize for cleanup in wake of meteor explosion

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Damage in Chelyabinsk from the high-altitude explosion has been estimated at $33 million.

CHELYABINSK, Russia – As a small army of people worked to replace acres of windows shattered by the enormous explosion from a meteor, many joked on Saturday about what had happened in this troubled pocket of Russia.

One of the most popular jests: Residents of the meteor were terrified to see Chelyabinsk approaching.

The fireball that streaked into the sky over this tough industrial city at about sunrise Friday was undeniably traumatic. Nearly 1,200 people were reported injured by the shock wave from the explosion, estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs.

But it also brought a sense of cooperation in a troubled region. Large numbers of volunteers came forward to help fix the damage caused by the explosion and many residents came together on the Internet – first to find out what happened and soon to make jokes.

Chelyabinsk, nicknamed Tankograd because it produced the famed Soviet T-34 tanks, can be as grim as its backbone heavy industries. Long winters where temperatures routinely hit minus-30 Celsius (minus-22 Fahrenheit) add to a general dour mien, as do worries about dangerous facilities in the surrounding region.

In 1957, a waste tank at the Mayak nuclear weapons plant in the Chelyabinsk region exploded, contaminating 23,000 square kilometers (9,200 square miles) and prompting authorities to evacuate 10,000 nearby residents. It is now Russia’s main nuclear waste disposal facility. A vast plant for disposing of chemical weapons lies 85 kilometers (50 miles) east of the city.

“The city is a place where people always seem bitter with each other,” said music teacher Ilya Shibanov. But the meteor “was one of the rare times when people started to live together through one event.”

“For most people, it’s a good excuse for a joke,” he said.

It also is why Shibanov quickly concocted a rap video that got wide Internet attention, including the lines: “”Pow, pow, pow – everything flew and factory windows crumbled. This Friday the bars are going to be full, so be ready for the aftermath.”

But for many, it’s been a reason to roll up their sleeves and get to work repairing the more than 4,000 buildings in the city and region where windows were shattered, or to provide other services.

More than 24,000 people, including volunteers, have mobilized in the region to cover windows, gather warm clothes and food, and make other relief efforts, the regional governor’s office said. Crews from glass companies in adjacent regions were being flown in.

Gov. Mikhail Yurevich on Saturday said that damage from the high-altitude explosion –believed to have been as powerful as 20 Hiroshima bombs – is estimated at 1 billion rubles ($33 million). He promised to have all the broken windows replaced within a week.

But that is a long wait in a frigid region. The midday temperature in Chelyabinsk was minus-12 C (10 F), and for many the immediate task was to put up plastic sheeting and boards on shattered residential windows.

Meanwhile, the search continued for major fragments of the meteor.

In the town of Chebarkul, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Chelyabinsk city, divers explored the bottom of an ice-crusted lake looking for meteor fragments believed to have fallen there, leaving a six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide) hole. Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius told Russian news agencies the search hadn’t found anything.

Police kept a small crowd of curious onlookers from venturing out onto the icy lake, where a tent was set up for the divers.

Many of them were still trying to process the memories of the strange day they’d lived through.

Valery Fomichov said he had been out for a run when the meteor streaked across the sky shortly after sunrise.

“I glanced up and saw a glowing dot in the west. And it got bigger and bigger, like a soccer ball, until it became blindingly white and I turned away,” he said.

In a local church, clergyman Sexton Sergei sought to derive a larger lesson.

“Perhaps God was giving a kind of sign, so that people don’t simply think about their own trifles on earth, but rather look to the heavens once in a while.”

In Chelyabinsk, university student Ksenia Arslanova said she was pleased that people in the city of 1 million generally behaved well after the bewildering flash and explosions.

“People were kind of ironic about it. And that’s a good thing, that people didn’t run to the grocery store. Everyone was calm,” the 19-year-old architecture student said. “I’m proud that our city didn’t fall into depression.”

As Chelyabinsk began its healing process, residents of San Francisco, on the other side of the planet, worried that they might be next. A science institute in Northern California says it has received numerous reports of a bright streak of light over the San Francisco Bay area on Friday night.

Cuba apparently experienced a phenomenon similar to the meteorite that
detonated over Russia this week, island media reported, with startled residents describing a bright light in the sky and a loud explosion that shook windows and walls.

There were no reports of any injuries or damage such as those caused by the Russia meteorite, which sent out shockwaves that hurt some 1,200 people and shattered countless windows.

Cuba apparently experienced a phenomenon similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor several days earlier, island media reported, with startled residents describing a bright light in the sky and a loud explosion that shook windows and walls.

In a video from a state TV newscast posted on the website CubaSi late Friday, unidentified residents of the central city of Rodas, near Cienfuegos, said the explosion was impressive.

“On Tuesday we left home to fish around five in the afternoon, and around 8 p.m. we saw a light in the heavens and then a big ball of fire, bigger than the sun,” one local man said in the video.

Bomb in crowded market kills dozens in Pakistan

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The blast targeted the country's minority Shiite Muslim sect, according to police.

QUETTA, Pakistan – A bomb hidden in a water tank ripped through a crowded vegetable market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in a southwestern Pakistani city Saturday, killing at least 65 people and wounding nearly 200, officials said.

Police said many of those wounded in the explosion in Quetta remain in critical condition. The blast, which police said targeted the country’s minority Shiite Muslim sect, left many victims buried under rubble, but authorities did not know how many.

It was the deadliest incident since bombings targeting Shiites in the same city killed 86 people earlier this year, leading to days of protests that eventually toppled the local government.

Shiites have been increasingly attacked by militant groups who view them as heretics and non-Muslims in this Sunni Muslim dominated country. Many of the Shiites in Quetta, including those in the neighborhood attacked Saturday, are Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan more than a century ago.

Quetta police chief Zubair Mahmood told reporters that the bomb was hidden in a water tank and towed into the market by a tractor. He said the blast destroyed shops in the neighborhood and caused a two-story building to collapse.

“We fear some victims may be found buried there,” he said.

Mahmood said police did not yet know who was behind the bombing but a local television station reported that Lashker-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni extremist group that has targeted Shiites in the past, had called to claim responsibility.

Senior police officer Wazir Khan Nasir said the bomb, set off in a residential suburb, was detonated by remote control.

Another officer, Samiullah Khan, said the bomb was detonated while dozens of women and children were buying produce for their evening meal. Local residents rushed the victims to three different area hospitals, often in private vehicles because there weren’t enough ambulances to transport the victims.

A massive plume of white smoke rose over the area after the bomb blast. Television footage of the scene showed the streets littered with rubble from destroyed buildings, mixed with fruits and vegetables and shattered street carts.

Near one of the hospitals where the dead and wounded were taken, a man stood weeping as people were being taken in on stretchers.

“Look at our misery! We are helpless,” he said.

Members of the minority Shiite sect took to the city’s streets in angry protest, blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones at passing vehicles.

Many also started firing into the air in an attempt to keep people away from the area in case there was a secondary explosion. Sometimes insurgents stagger the explosions as a way to target people who rush to the scene to help and thus increase the death toll.

Police cordoned off the area. Most of the Shiites in the area are Hazaras, and they were quick to blame Lashker-e-Jhangvi.

“This evil force is operating with the patronage of certain elements in the province,” said Qayum Changezi, the chairman of a local Hazara organization.

Saturday’s attack was the worst since a series of bombings on Jan. 10 killed 86 people in Quetta, almost all Hazara Shiites. Residents were so furious that they refused to bury their dead for days, instead camping out on the streets with the bodies in coffins in protest and demanding the government address the problem.

After days of protests, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf flew to the city to meet with protesters and sacked the chief minister and his cabinet. But Saturday’s attack showed the still potent power of the militant groups behind such incidents.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where the Shiite minority has been attacked several times in recent months. Baluch nationalist groups are fighting an insurgency there to try to gain a greater share of income from the province’s gas and mineral resources. Islamic militants are also active in the province.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi took their name after a firebrand Sunni cleric who gave virulently anti-Shiite sermons.

Pakistan’s intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely.

Last year was particularly deadly for Shiites in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country. The human rights group said more than 125 were killed in Baluchistan province, most of whom belonged to the Hazara community.

Rights groups have accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites in the country.

Yacht sets record in sailing voyage from New York to San Francisco

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The Maserati finished the trip in 47 days, two hours and 33 minutes, easily beating the most recent record of 57 days, three hours and two minutes set in 1998.

Bjoern Kils.jpg The crew of the 70-foot racing sailboat Maserati.  

SAN FRANCISCO — A racing yacht named after one of the world's fastest cars has docked in San Francisco after what organizers said was the fastest passage of a single-hulled sailing vessel from New York to San Francisco.

The 70-foot Maserati sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge late Saturday morning and tied up at Pier 39 Marina around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, 47 days after pulling out of New York City, said Judy Laws, a spokeswoman for the event.

The 13,225-mile journey around Cape Horn at the tip of South America is what sailors have said for centuries is one of the most challenging sailing journeys in the world.

The Maserati finished the trip in 47 days, two hours and 33 minutes, easily beating the most recent record of 57 days, three hours and two minutes set in 1998, Laws said.

"They beat it by a little more than 10 days. They smashed it," Laws said.

"This is a big deal," Andy Turpin, managing editor of Latitude 38, the Marin County-based sailing magazine, told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week. "This is one of the most difficult sailing records."

The eight-member crew of the Maserati — led by its Italian skipper 47-year-old Giovanni Soldini — left New York City on New Year's Eve.

Though calm winds late Friday had pushed back the vessel's expected arrival by a few hours, Laws described a festive atmosphere as dignitaries, including Mauro Battocchi, Consul General of Italy in San Francisco, and others greeted the crew when they arrived at the dock.

"It's just been a happy, happy time," Laws said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to host $3,800-a-head Boston fundraiser

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Hosts include former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, Ambassador Christopher Egan, 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Baker, and GOP National Committeeman Ron Kaufman.

NORTHEAST_SNOW_NJ_11979651.JPG New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie talks in Trenton, N.J. on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 about the state's plans for a predicted snow storm.  

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is marshalling the Republicans’ A-list of Massachusetts politicos for a top-dollar Boston fundraiser, a move likely to stoke speculation about Christie’s 2016 presidential ambitions.

Christie will be the guest of honor at a $3,800-a-head dinner fundraiser on Friday night, March 1 at the home of Ambassador Christopher Egan and his wife, Jean, in Boston. Egan, president of the Westborough real estate investment firm Carruth Capital, was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the U.S. ambassador to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

According to a copy of the invitation obtained by MassLive.com, other hosts include former Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown and Charlie Baker, the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee. Both Brown and Baker are rumored to be considering runs for office – Baker has not ruled out a run for governor in 2014, while Brown could potentially run for Senator or governor that year. That could put them both in positions of political influence should Christie launch a 2016 presidential campaign.

Other members of the host committee include Republican National Committeeman Ron Kaufman, who is a former adviser to President George H.W. Bush and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney; former Springfield City Councilor and Paper City Development partner Anthony Ravosa; former U.S. Attorney and likely U.S. Senate candidate Michael Sullivan; David Tamasi, a leading GOP fundraiser for Romney and Brown; Craig Carlson, CEO of The Carlson Group, an automotive technology and innovation consulting firm; and Dan Meyers and Seth Gelber, the CEO and chief operating officer of the student loan company First Marblehead Corporation.

The event will benefit Christie’s gubernatorial campaign committee.

Multi-vehicle crash on Route 9 in Hadley causes injuries, snarls traffic

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Reports indicated people were injured in the multi-car crash near the EconoLodge on Russell Street (Route 9).

HADLEY — A multi-vehicle crash with injuries was reported late Saturday afternoon near the EconoLodge, 329 Russell St., according to local public safety websites.

A Hadley emergency dispatcher told The Republican/MassLive.com that she's unauthorized to release any information about the crash, including when it happened, how many vehicles were involved or if anyone was injured. Messages left with ranking Hadley police and fire officials were not immediately returned.

Hamp Scanner, a privately operated Facebook page that posts information gathered from scanner reports in the Northampton area, said the Russell Street (Route 9) collision involved up to four cars and apparently resulted in injuries. That information could not immediately be verified with police and fire officials.

The crash was reported at 4:21 p.m., according to Fireground360, a public safety website maintained by members of the region's first-responder community.

Local social worker Jessica Wierzbowski, in a post on Hamp Scanner's Facebook page, warned motorists to avoid the Route 9 area. It's a "big mess," she reported.

The EconoLodge is just east of the Mountain Farms Mall, home of Whole Foods Market and other national and regional retail businesses.

More information will be posted on MassLive.com as it becomes available.

MAP OF ROUTE 9 CRASH SITE near the Mountain Farms Mall in Hadley:


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Howdy Awards nominees sought by Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau

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The 18th Annual Howdy Awards for Hospitality Excellence won’t be until May. But the Visitors bureau is looking for nominations now, according to a news release.

05/16/12-Holyoke-Staff Photo by Dave Roback-Michael E. Hurwitz, was the master of ceremonies at the 2012 Howdy Awards at the Log Cabin in Holyoke on Tuesday. The Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau is looking for nomnations for the 2013 Howdys  


SPRINGFIELD – The Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau is hoping to get more nominations for its annual Howdy Awards before the March 1 deadline.

The 18th Annual Howdy Awards for Hospitality Excellence won’t be until May. But the visitors bureau is looking for nominations now, according to a news release.

Each year the visitors bureau honors eight front-line hospitality workers such as valet parkers, check-in clerks and restaurant wait staff for providing the kind of exemplary customer services that might make someone want to keep coming back to Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, according to a news release.

It’s a way for the industry to say “thank you” to workers who often do thankless work. Each Howdy winner gets an etched award and a gift bag which is filled with passes to area attractions, restaurants and sometimes overnight hotel accommodations.

A team of tourism professionals from outside the area selects the winners from a list of more than 45 finalists announced each year in April.

But before finalists are identified, the visitors bureau needs nominations. Anyone can nominate at the website, www.valleyvisitor.com. The form there asks people to identify someone who gave them great customer service with that person’s place of employment, job title and a short description.

Nominations received after March 1 will be rolled over to the 2014 Howdy’s.

Springfield officials offer grief counseling as probe continues into death of 12-year-old boy who drowned at Kiley Middle School

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In addition to the police investigation, school officials are launching their own probe of "events preceding the tragic loss," School Superintendent Daniel Warwick said.

SPRINGFIELD — A group of grief-stricken teachers, administrators, students and parents gathered at M. Marcus Kiley Middle School on Saturday to mourn the loss of a 12-year-old boy who drowned at the Cooley Street school on Friday.

"It was an opportunity for people to come together and start to process this terrible loss that we've all suffered,” School Superintendent Daniel J. Warwick said, adding that counseling services are available to help students cope with the death of their classmate.

Authorities have not released any new information about the case. On Saturday, a commanding Springfield police officer and a detective said they had no information about the victim, who has not been publicly identified. The boy drowned during a swimming class just before 2:30 p.m. Friday. The detective said the earliest any new information might be released is Monday, when Capt. Thomas A. Trites returns to duty.

"We are fully cooperating with the (police) investigation. Also, we are launching our own independent investigation," Azell Cavaan, a Springfield Public Schools spokeswoman, said Saturday.

The school investigation will focus on "the events preceding the tragic loss," Warwick said in a statement.

Authorities said the boy was found dead in the school's swimming pool. He had been participating in a regular physical education class at Kiley, located at 180 Cooley St. in the Outer Belt section of Sixteen Acres. The student was was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

It was not immediately clear how many children were participating in Friday's swimming class. The class was supervised by a gym teacher, who has not been publicly identified. As a result of the tragedy, all swimming classes have been postponed until the investigations are completed, according to school officials.

More than 50 Kiley faculty and staff members, along with a small group of students and parents, gathered at the middle school on Saturday to mourn and use grief-counseling services. Kiley officials used an instant phone-messaging system to inform the school community of the services, which will be available through winter vacation and after students return from break. Vacation begins Monday, with classes resuming Monday, Feb. 25.

A crisis hotline is also available by calling (413) 733-6661.

Guidance department officials reached out to students who were classmates of the boy.

"We know that students have family and other supports, but we feel the need to make available an extra layer of support for those families that may choose to use it," said Yolanda Johnson, director of student support services. "This is a time of great pain and grief for all of us."

No central agency oversees, inspects cruise ships

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A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they're about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.

217cruise.JPG The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is moored at a dock in Mobile, Ala., Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The ship, which docked Thursday in Mobile after drifting nearly powerless in the Gulf of Mexico for five days, was moved Friday from the cruise terminal to a repair facility. Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how good or sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find, in part because there's no one entity or country that oversees or regulates the industry with its fleet of ships that are like mini cities floating at sea. In the case of Carnival Cruise Lines, vacationers looking up information about the ship before boarding would have found mostly clean marks and few red flags.  

By CURT ANDERSON

MIAMI — A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they're about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.

Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find, in part because there's no one entity or country that oversees or regulates the industry with its fleet of ships that are like mini cities floating at sea.

In the case of Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner of the Carnival Triumph that spent days in the Gulf of Mexico disabled after an engine fire, the company is incorporated in Panama, its offices are based in Miami and its ships fly under the Bahamian flag — a matrix that is not unusual in the cruise line industry.

For potential passengers seeking ship information, there's no central database that can be viewed to determine a track record of safety or health inspections. No one agency regulates everything from the cruise line's mechanical worthiness to the sanitation of its kitchens.

The U.S. Coast Guard inspects each cruise ship that docks in the U.S. every year for a range of issues, from operation of backup generators to the lifeboats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a database of recent disease outbreaks and other health inspection information for cruise ships. Had Triumph vacationers looked up information about the cruise ship through those two agencies before boarding, they would have found mostly clean marks and few red flags.

And when something goes wrong, as it did on Triumph, there are limits to how much the Coast Guard can investigate.

These are not new issues — they had been raised by members of Congress before the Triumph incident.

"This horrible situation involving the Carnival Triumph is just the latest example in a long string of serious and troubling incidents involving cruise ships," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who led a committee hearing on cruise safety last year.

Last year, after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Giglio, Italy, Rockefeller held a Commerce Committee hearing to examine deficiencies in the cruise line industry's compliance with federal safety, security, and environmental standards and review industry regulations.

"As I remarked then, they seem to have two lives: One is at port, where the Coast Guard can monitor their operations; the other is at sea where, it appears once they are beyond three nautical miles from shore, the world is theirs," Rockefeller said in letter he wrote this week to Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., the commandant of the Coast Guard. "The Carnival Triumph incident only serves to further validate this view."

The Triumph left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 for a four-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. An engine-room fire paralyzed the ship early Sunday, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. Passengers described nightmarish conditions on board: overflowing toilets, long lines for a short supply of food, foul odors, and tent cities where vacationers slept on deck. Tugboats slowly towed the 14-story vessel to Mobile, Ala. It arrived there late Thursday.

Before a ship like the Triumph sets sail, it's possible — but not easy — to find information about past incidents and safety or health issues. The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program is viewable online. The database shows recent disease outbreaks aboard cruise ships and how they were addressed.

Records for the Triumph show it was last inspected July 7, 2012. It scored 96 out of 100. The CDC considers scores of 85 or lower unsatisfactory. The lowest score the ship received was an 88, in 2009.

The Coast Guard also has a database, known as the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Information Exchange, with inspections and any deficiencies found aboard ships, dating to when the vessels entered service. A search on the exchange's website for the Triumph turns up its certifications for things like passenger safety and pollution prevention as well as inspections. No violations or red flags are immediately evident. Searching a little deeper, the most recent report shows a propulsion issue from a Jan. 28 incident involving a short in a connection box of one of the ship's generators.

But the cause of the fire that crippled the Triumph is still under investigation. Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Saturday that he could not comment yet on damage, timeline or estimated costs. In the meantime, the ship is expected to remain docked in Mobile to be cleaned and sanitized before it's back on open waters.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board will lend their expertise to the investigation, but in a support role. The probe will be led by the Bahamas Maritime Authority, where Carnival registers or "flags" some of its ships. The arrangement is commonplace under international maritime law, and it puts U.S. agencies and investigators in a secondary position even though the Triumph and other Carnival ships sail out of U.S. ports with primarily American customers.

Inquiries to Carnival about inspections and foreign flags were met by a response from the Cruise Lines International Association, which represents all of the major cruise lines. Bud Darr, the group's senior vice president for technical and regulatory affairs, said the industry is "very heavily regulated," from the way ships are designed to how crews train for emergencies. He said standards are set by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization.

But Jim Walker, a Miami maritime attorney and author of the www.cruiselaw.com blog, said, "the IMO guidelines are not law and there is no consequence if the cruise lines ignore the guidelines and recommendations. Customers have no way of knowing whether they are well maintained safely. There is no federal oversight with real teeth."

Fires — though not all as major as the Triumph's — happen virtually every year on cruise ships. There were 79 onboard blazes from 1990 to 2011, according to a list compiled by Ross Klein, a professor who specializes in cruise industry issues at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada.

In 2010, the IMO adopted rules that require any large cruise ship built after July 1 of that year to have a separate, redundant system able to maintain the ship's propulsion, steering and so forth in case one engine is disabled by fire. The rules also mandate that ships be capable of maintaining basic services such as sanitation, water, food and lights in such circumstances.

The Triumph was built in 1999 and isn't covered by the rules, as is the case for most ships among major cruise lines. Experts say the Triumph might have been able to limp into port more quickly if it had the newer systems, but retrofitting is costly and time-consuming.

"Provided the emergency generators worked and had enough power, they would have been able to return to port under their own power, but much slower," said Andrew O. Coggins, Jr., a Pace University management professor who focuses on hospitality and tourism industries.

"Once Carnival has evaluated the full cost of this incident," he added, "it might be cost effective to retrofit their older ships."

Associated Press writers Connie Cass in Washington and Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., contributed to this report.

On the Internet:

Coast Guard cruise ship inspections database: http://cgmix.uscg.mil/PSIX/PSIXSearch.aspx

CDC Vessel Sanitation Program: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/

Vatican raises possibility of early March conclave to elect new pope

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The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

217pope.JPG Pope Benedict XVI is presented with a gift by Italian Premier Mario Monti during a private audience at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. The Vatican is raising the possibility that the conclave to elect the next pope might start earlier than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.  

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."

Any change to the law itself would have to be approved by the pope before he resigns.

But if Vatican officials determine that the matter is just a question of interpreting the existing law, "it is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of the conclave, Lombardi said.

The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don't live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28, with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.

The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17, because of the strong tradition to hold installation Mass on a Sunday. Given the tight time frame, speculation has mounted that some arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.

Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled since Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, by announcing that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death. His decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its plans for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between papacies are based on the process starting with a papal death.

"In this moment we are not prepared," said Cardinal Franc Rode, the former head of the Vatican's office for religious orders who will vote in the conclave. "We have not been able to make predictions, strategies, plans, candidates. It is too early, but we will get there. In two or three weeks things will be put in place."

Meanwhile, a German journalist who has published several long interviews with Benedict over the years suggested that the pope strongly foreshadowed his retirement during an August conversation.

Peter Seewald said in an article for the German weekly Focus published Saturday that the pontiff had told him that his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pope.

"I am an old man and my strength is running out," Seewald quoted the pope as saying. "And I think what I have done is enough."

Asked by Seewald whether he was considering resignation, Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to." The summer interview, as well as another in December, were for a new Benedict biography.

Seewald's 2010 book-length interview with Benedict, "Light of the World," laid the groundwork for a possible resignation.

In it, he quoted Benedict as saying: "If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign."

He stressed then, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics which had erupted earlier in 2010.

In Saturday's article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the 2012 scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.

Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of office. "It is simply incomprehensible to me," he said.

The journalist said that when he last saw Benedict about 10 weeks ago, his hearing had deteriorated and he appeared to have lost vision in his left eye, adding that the pope had lost weight and appeared tired.

Benedict, however, appeared in good form on Saturday for some of his final audiences. He met with the Guatemalan president, a group of visiting Italian bishops, and had his farewell audience with Italian Premier Mario Monti.

"He was in good condition," Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told reporters afterward. "He didn't seem tired, rather smiling, lively — and happy and very clear in his decision to resign."

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading contender to succeed Benedict, said several of the visiting bishops noted at the end of their audience that they were the last group of bishops to be received by the pope. "'This responsibility means you have to become a light for all,'" he quoted Benedict as saying.

Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final public audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people had requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27.

He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.

That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.

He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass. Like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, Lombardi said, both issues simply haven't been resolved.

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III easing family name back into national politics

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Carrying the weight of his family name and a self-deprecating sense of humor, Rep. Joe Kennedy III is living in relative obscurity as he eases the Kennedy brand back into national politics.

217kennedy.JPG U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass., greets people in the lounge of the Seven Hills Foundation's new facility in Milford, Mass., Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. Seven Hills features the ASPIRE! program for people with developmental disabilities. Kennedy is the grandson of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy is his great-uncle. Both were assassinated more than a decade before he was born. Joe Kennedy says he’s working to earn the respect of his colleagues on his own.  

By STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON — He glances down the hallway to his left, takes three steps to the right and, with a smile, spins back left.

It's another wrong turn for Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., who was raised among political royalty but is just another lost freshman on Capitol Hill six weeks after taking office. His family served in Washington for most of the past six decades, but this Kennedy exits elevators on the wrong floor, struggles to locate bathrooms and has yet to make many friends.

"It's kind of that freshman hazing ritual where nobody really will tell you where you are," the 32-year-old Kennedy said on a recent walk to the Capitol. "It was actually yesterday where I made it over from my office through the underground tunnels and actually popped up where I thought I was going to pop up in the Capitol. First time. I was very proud of myself."

Indeed, carrying the weight of his family name and a self-deprecating sense of humor, he is living in relative obscurity as he eases the Kennedy brand back into national politics. It was a brand without a face following the 2011 retirement of his troubled cousin, Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, whose departure created the Kennedy family's first extended absence from elective office since John F. Kennedy became a congressman in 1947.

The boy-faced Joe Kennedy III, a redhead with little political experience, is quietly bringing the name back.

He has no entourage. He shies away from national media interviews. He introduces himself simply as "Joe." And there is little sign of entitlement when he talks about a new career in public service.

"This is gotta be on my own," says Kennedy, a former state prosecutor and Peace Corps volunteer. "People have got to get to know me, they gotta get to know who I am, what I stand for, what my values are. And I recognize that takes time."

He mentions the credibility his great-uncle Ted Kennedy built up over decades as a senator from Massachusetts in a career so accomplished that he earned the nickname "the liberal lion." Even some of the Senate's most conservative members respected him, the younger Kennedy pointed out.

"That just isn't something that's going to be given to you," he says. "It's something you gotta go earn."

The Kennedy label, of course, evokes intrigue just as it stirs whispers of scandal, death and elitism. Patrick Kennedy left office after high-profile struggles with substance abuse and mental health. Ted Kennedy's legacy is marred by the 1969 car accident on Chappaquiddick Island that left a woman dead.

And Joe Kennedy III never met his grandfather, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, or his great-uncle President John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated more than a decade before his birth. His grandfather was in Congress himself when he was killed, serving as a senator from New York.

The young Kennedy flashes his family's youthful good looks, ease with people and prosecutorial wit. But he also has an aw-shucks manner at times that won him the affection of colleagues when he served as Sen. Ted Kennedy's volunteer state campaign chair in 2006.

"He's a little in awe of where he is already, which is the best kind of representative to be," said Stephanie Cutter, a senior aide for President Barack Obama's campaign who had worked for Ted Kennedy. "I think a lot of other people think he should be in a rush. But I don't think he thinks so."

Indeed, Joe Kennedy III comes to Congress in the seat previously held by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., with a passionate belief in the power of good government and modest expectations as freshman member of the minority party. He says little about long-term goals, instead focusing on bridging the current political divide and helping constituents back home.

In particular, he cites an opportunity to work with Republicans on the Foreign Affairs Committee, in addition to protecting research and development on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. He hopes this is the beginning of a long career in public service.

"Members of my family — both my mother's side and my father's side — have found ways to serve," Kennedy says. "And as long as I feel like I can continue to contribute — and if I get the support of the people that I'm representing — I hope to be able to. ... I am enjoying this."

But his inexperience is easy to see.

He nibbled on his fingernails while waiting more than an hour to speak during the first hearing of the science committee. With just a hint of a Massachusetts accent, the soft-spoken Harvard Law graduate stumbled over his words at times before asking a Texas Instruments official about the company's effort to address cancer rates in his district.

But there is little doubt that his name gives him more weight than the average freshman.

The audience perked up when Kennedy was called on to speak at the committee hearing. And the other elected officials are well aware of his background.

"It was extra special for me to sit with a Kennedy at a presidential swearing-in," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., another freshman who sat next to Kennedy at Obama's recent inauguration.

"But he's one of the most modest, humble individuals you'll ever meet," Swalwell continued. "He stands on his own two feet. That's what's important. He would be in Congress regardless of what his name is. ... He's demonstrated nothing but a willingness to do the grunt work like the rest of us."

Back in his Massachusetts district, Kennedy has drawn admiration and curiosity in an overwhelming Democratic state where the family name is an institution. Ted Kennedy's widow, Vicki, is still mentioned as a potential candidate for statewide office. And Ted Kennedy Jr., 51, has considered political runs.

Despite his lack of experience, Joe Kennedy III easily won his general election last fall with more than 60 percent of the vote.

"I wanted to get to know him. I voted for him. I didn't even know if he was 30!" said Franklin attorney Deb Batog, 48, who attended a recent luncheon for the Milford Area Chamber of Commerce simply to hear Kennedy speak.

But she said his name would only carry him so far.

"He's still going to have to prove it," Batog said. "Can he create his own legacy? Nobody knows."

Rhode Island records: Relatives worried about Catholic widow Gabrielle Mee's ties to Legion of Christ

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The disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ bent its own rules for a wealthy elderly woman while it also isolated her from some relatives, according to newly released court documents.

217legion.JPG Attorney Bernard Jackvony poses at his office in Providence, R.I., Friday Feb. 15, 2013. Documents released Friday shed light on the inner workings of a secretive and now-disgraced Roman Catholic order called the Legion of Christ, including new details on how the organization took control of Gabrielle Mee finances and persuaded her to bequeath it $60 million. Jackvony represents Mee's niece.  

By MICHELLE R. SMITH and NICOLE WINFIELD

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ bent its own rules for a wealthy elderly woman while it also isolated her from some relatives, according to newly released court documents, and a lawyer says the moves show the order was intent on becoming the beneficiary of her $60 million fortune.

The Legion counters that widow Gabrielle Mee was independent, strong-willed and happy and was never coerced into anything. The fact she led a less-restrictive life than others in its community shows she freely gave them her money, the Legion argues. Mee died in 2008 at age 96.

The Legion, founded by the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, was taken over by the Vatican in 2010 after a church investigation determined that Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children. The Vatican knew of Maciel's abuse for decades yet held him up as a model for the faithful because of the order's perceived orthodoxy and ability to attract money and vocations.

Part of a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island by Mee's niece, the documents include thousands of pages of testimony from high-ranking leaders at the Legion, its members, and Mee's relatives and friends. They were sealed until Friday, after The Associated Press and other news organizations successfully argued that it was in the public interest to release them.

Mee's niece, Mary Lou Dauray, sued the Legion after her aunt died. She said Mee was defrauded by an order whose leaders orchestrated an effort to hide its founder's misdeeds from her aunt.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Dauray did not have standing to sue. But Judge Michael Silverstein took pains in his order to detail the process by which the Legion wooed Mee, bending the rules to let her become a "consecrated" member of its lay movement, giving her privileged access to Maciel and inviting her on special trips to Rome and Mexico.

Among the documents released Friday was a deposition from one of Mee's friends, Joanne McKosker, who testified how the two had bonded in the 1980s through their deep Catholic faith. She said she would visit after Mee moved into a Legion center in Smithfield, R.I. Around 2001, she asked Mee for a $5,000 donation for an anti-abortion charity. After Mee gave it to her, McKosker was prevented from visiting or calling Mee again.

"Months that went on, my trying to see her," she said. "I was getting, I was angry because I, I wanted to be still friends with her, you know, and I wanted, I felt she wanted, too."

The Legion says Mee had her own private phone line in her apartment and it never screened her calls.

Mee's grandniece, Jeanne Dauray, testified that a visit to her aunt left her feeling "something was amiss" in the restrictions that Mee lived under compared with other relatives who were members of other religious orders. For example, someone else always had to be in the room during the visit. Mee was also forbidden by a panel of Legion members from going to visit her sister, Fifi, in California, before Fifi died.

After they made the decision, "Gabrielle was visibly upset," Jeanne Dauray said. "She grabbed my hand very tightly and grabbed on to my arm and she said, 'Oh, I'm so disappointed. I understand that they, you know, they have to make their decision, but I'm so disappointed, I really wanted to see Fifi.'"

The order tried cutting her off from other potential beneficiaries of her money, Mary Lou Dauray's lawyer, Bernard Jackvony, has said.

"When you have a goose that lays golden eggs, you clip its wings and don't let it leave the farm," he wrote in one filing.

However, other family members, including nephew Stephen Kelley, reported that Mee seemed happy when they saw her, and that they could visit with her in private.

In fact, Mee led a far less restrictive life than the vast majority of the women at the facility, according to Heather Sellors, a former member of the community.

The Legion points out Mee lived in her own apartment, had newspaper subscriptions, cable television and her own Mercedes-Benz she could take out on outings. She often took the other members out to lunch or for ice cream and would shop at the mall or grocery store, Sellors said. The Legion argues in court documents that the fact that she paid her own way showed she had control over her own finances.

That would violate many of the rules that other consecrated women were forced to live under. Former consecrated women have said they lived regimented, isolated lives where nearly every minute of their day was occupied with chores and prayers, where they were forbidden from forming close friendships and were told how to eat, speak and interact. They said they were told that a violation of the most minor norm was a violation of God's will.

Jackvony said in an interview Saturday that the order's decision to bend the rules for Mee was designed to "gain her favor and keep her under their wing."

"The rules did not apply to her, and when you look at it the reason why is clear: because she had the capability of providing enormous amounts of money on a regular basis," he said.

Among the other documents that were released Friday were some that showed the group's former second-in-command testified he discovered that Maciel, the order's founder, had fathered a daughter in 2006, but never confronted Maciel about his double life and didn't share the news with the group's broader membership.

Winfield reported from Rome.

Springfield police probing Eastern Avenue shooting incident in Old Hill neigbhorhood

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Multiple shooting incidents, including a homicide, have taken place within a roughly two-block area of Eastern Avenue since Oct. 26, according to police and media reports.

eastern avenue sign 2.JPG Gunfire continues to plague a stretch of Eastern Avenue in the city's Old Hill neighborhood, the scene of multiple shooting incidents and a homicide in less than four months.  
SPRINGFIELD — Police are probing an apparent shooting that reportedly injured a 26-year-old man early Saturday in the city's Old Hill neighborhood.

A commanding Springfield police officer and a detective contacted by The Republican/MassLive.com said they had no information about the incident, but a media report indicated the shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. near the intersection of Eastern and Pendleton avenues – a known trouble spot.

The victim said he was approached by a light-skinned man wearing a white hooded sweatshirt who asked him for a lighter. As the victim reached into his pocket, the suspect pulled out a silver handgun, according to abc40, which did not cite police sources in its report.

The victim said the weapon discharged as he tried to grab it, leaving him with a gunshot wound to the leg. The injured man said a family member took him to Baystate Medical Center for treatment, according to abc40.

The detective contacted by The Republican confirmed that the area has been the scene of recent gun activity, including a Jan. 19 incident in which the front window of Universal Cuts was raked by gunfire while people were inside the barbershop at 172 Eastern Ave. There were no reported injuries.

Two days earlier, multiple shots rang out in the vicinity of Pendleton Avenue and King Street, where a home was struck by bullets. And last year, 19-year-old Dwayne Kelly Jr. was fatally shot in what police described as a gang-related killing on Oct. 26 outside Emely Market, 168 Eastern Ave.

All of the incidents took place within a 3½-month period along a roughly two-block stretch of Eastern Avenue, according to police reports.


GUNFIRE IN SPRINGFIELD'S OLD HILL NEIGHBORHOOD reportedly injured a man who showed up at Baystate Medical Center for treatment of a bullet wound to the leg:


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Chicopee Police investigating Hess robbery

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Anyone with information is asked to call (413) 594-1733.

A surveillance photo from the robbery at the Hess store, 1423 Memorial Dr., Chicopee at 5:30 a.m. Saturday  


CHICOPEE -- Chicopee police are looking for help identifying the man who robbed the Hess store at 1423 Memorial Drive at about 5:30 Saturday morning.

The robber, described as a dark-skinned male between 5-feet-3 and 5-feet-6 inches tall, demanded money, implied that he had a weapon and made off with cash, said Chicopee Police Detective Timothy Foley.

Anyone with information is asked to call (413) 594-1733.

Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette: 'The state of the city in Chicopee is great and getting better'

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Bissonnette updated residents on his ongoing efforts to fight to protect Westover Air Reserve Base from expected cuts that will reduce its current fleet of C-5 jets.

010212 michael bissonnette horz.JPG Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette said to city business leaders at his annual "State of the City" address: "The state of the city in Chicopee is great and getting better."  

CHICOPEE — With continuing business growth on Memorial Drive, the conversion of old, contaminated mill land into usable property and a high bond rating, the city continues to be on sound footing, the mayor told city business people on Wednesday morning.

“The state of the city in Chicopee is great and getting better,” Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said during his annual "state of the city" address to the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning.

City officials continue to be able to combine careful spending with providing solid services that taxpayers expect, including collecting the trash weekly with no fees and plowing the streets after a snowstorm. Despite the ongoing economic downturn, no firefighters, police officers or teachers have been laid off in the past eight years, he said.

Bissonnette also talked about ongoing projects, especially the construction of a new $8 million senior center, which is expected to begin in April on the site of the former Facemate factory.

At the same time, the long and difficult process to tear down buildings and clean up hazardous waste at the former Uniroyal site is continuing so that property can be redeveloped. The city is also embarking in a project to try to clean up brownfields in the downtown area so they can be used again.

But he said he told city business leaders he continues to worry about the high unemployment rate, which he monitors monthly, and said every job created in the city is important. He specifically mentioned proposals to build several restaurants, including a Chick-fil-A on Memorial Drive.

“All that growth on the drive can be encapsulated in one word – Westover,” he said.

Bissonnette updated residents on his ongoing efforts to fight to protect Westover Air Reserve Base from expected cuts that will reduce its current fleet of C-5 jets from the existing 16 to eight by 2016. He said he has recently met with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren to push the importance to the base and continues to work with the governor's office and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield.

He cited some of the statistics of the base, including the 5,500 full- and part-time jobs the base provides and the $238 million it pumps into the local economy. He reminded many of the business owners they or their neighbors often sell goods and services to the base or its employees.

The one issue Bissonnette did not mention in his speech is the proposal to build a casino in the former Cabotville mill. Later, he said the idea has died since potential developers have instead decided to pursue a license for just a slot parlor.


Massachusetts forensics chief tells legislators crime lab scandals contributed to two-year backlog

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One district attorney describes the crime lab scandals as having a devastating impact comparable to a tornado or hurricane.

Sonja Farak.jpg Sonja Farak, left, appears for arraignment in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown in January on drug charges brought in connection with her work at a state crime lab in Amherst. She has denied all charges.  


WORCESTER - Even with 38 new chemists joining the state’s crime labs, it will be years before the criminal evidence backlog begins to recede, according to Curtis Wood, undersecretary of forensic science and technology.

“We expect the backlog will probably take at least two years to get down. The backlog grows every day,” Wood told the Joint Ways & Means Committee, gathered at Worcester State University to discuss the judiciary and public safety budgets. Lawmakers are mulling their own versions of Gov. Deval Patrick's $34.8 billion spending plan.

Exacerbating nearly every budget across the spectrum of criminal justice is the actions of Annie Dookhan, the former chemist at the now shuttered Hinton drug lab, whose practice of identifying drugs by sight alone and manipulating evidence has thrown prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys and others into crisis mode.

“I’m amazed at the impact that one individual can have on our entire judicial system,” Rep. Viriato deMacedo, R-Plymouth, told a panel of district attorneys appearing before the committee.

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley likened Dookhan’s impact to that of a tornado or hurricane, telling the News Service, “It’s like a natural disaster hitting a community.”

The state lab at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst has been temporarily closed since January, when authorities suspected chemist Sonja Farak of stealing drugs from the lab.

Both labs had been under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Health, and it will be the Office of Public Safety and Security that will take up both labs’ cases.

State education team surveys underperforming Monson schools; report expected by spring

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Monson schools are ranked at Level 3 on the state's 1-to5 rating system, with Level 1 being the best and Level 5 being the worst.

2012 Edward Malvey mug 220.jpg Superintendent Edward Malvey says Monson schools are not performing at the expected state level.

MONSON — A state report on underperforming Monson schools is expected to be issued by late April, and local education officials say they're ready to implement changes if necessary.

A four-member team from the Center for District and School Accountability, an initiative of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, spent four days last week observing and and evaluating Monson's three-school, 1,255-student district.

"We enjoyed the week with them," said Edward M. Malvey, the interim school superintendent since December. "They reviewed very thoroughly the operations of the school district."

Malvey said Monson officials are now "anxiously awaiting" the report, which should be issued sometime this spring.

All state schools are now rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with Level 1 being the highest-performing schools and Level 5 representing "chronically underperforming" schools. The lowest performing 20 percent of schools are classified as Level 3, the designation given to Monson. The school district has an elementary, middle and high school.

"Change won't happen over night," Malvey said, adding that district officials will "roll up (their) sleeves" and come up with an improvement plan after the report is issued.

A Level 3 school district may have positive performance aspects in some areas, but it can still receive the rating if just one of its schools is "experiencing poor outcomes for students with disabilities and/or are having compliance issues," according to state education guidelines.

"This (state review) is really predicated upon achievement levels in the district," said Malvey, who believes Monson's ranking is "primarily driven" by special education and issues at the elementary level.

"As you pull apart different groups, you can clearly see it's affected by special education," he said.

A Level 3 designation is not as bad as a 4 or 5, but it does mean the district is not performing at the expected level, according to Malvey. "Three means we're a slight bit below what is considered the performing level," he said.

Last week's team visit was the first site survey by state education officials since 2006, according to Eva Mitchell, associate commissioner of the Education Department's Center for District and School Accountability.

"The report will list several findings and recommendations that the district might put in place to further improve the rate at which good things are happening," she said.

Local school officials will receive a draft report to review and correct before the state issues its final report. That should happen in about three months, according to J.C. Considine, director of board and media relations for the Elementary and Secondary Education Department.

"The district was prioritized for a review because it is a Level 3 district under our state accountability system," Considine said.

The state team interviewed a range of stakeholders including school committee members, district and school leaders, teachers and union leaders, according to Considine. The team visited all three Monson schools and observed classes while they were in session, he said. Before and during the review, the team analyzed data, documents and reports provided by state and local school officials, Considine said.

Massachusetts education officials conduct about 40 district reviews annually. Depending on the outcome of these reviews, underperforming districts may receive support services or be ordered to implement policy changes. Findings and recommendations from the Monson visit will be published online at www.doe.mass.edu/apa/general.


Republican Sean Bielat decides against Massachusetts special election run

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The two-time congressional candidate said in an email to supporters that his candidacy never left the exploratory phase.

Sean Bielat Sean Bielat, a U.S. Marine reservist and businessman, is a Republican running to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate.

Republican Sean Bielat announced Wednesday that after mulling for less than a week, he will not join in the special election to replace Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. Senate.

The two-time congressional candidate said in an email to supporters that his candidacy never left the exploratory phase, although he recently filed papers with the Federal Election Commission as well as an official statement of candidacy for the Senate seat.

"The numbers looked pretty good and the fundraising went well so I think we could have mounted strong campaign but now is just not the right time for us," Bielat said. "After spending some time thinking it through with Hope, we decided running another campaign just wasn't a good fit for our family right now, given the age of our one and two year old children and their needs."

With Bielat deciding against a run, the Republican candidates working to collect the 10,000 signatures necessary to appear on the ballot include State Rep. Daniel Winslow, former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez and former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.

Bielat, who unsuccessfully ran against now retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank in 2010 and now U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in 2012, talked up the Republican candidates, one of whom, presumably, will go on to face either Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey or Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in the general election on June 25.

"The great news is that we have three candidates with great backgrounds in the race and our fundraising has created an opportunity to support our donors intentions by working to ultimately get the Republican nominee elected," Bielat added.

Calls to Bielat's cell phone weren't immediately returned.

Bielat works for the nonpartisan politics website oneclickpolitics.com, which allows the public to easily contact their federal representatives on a myriad of issues with pre-written or customizable messages.

The Rochester, N.Y. native lives in Norfolk with his wife and their two children.

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