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World War II auction to feature original Iwo Jima Monument

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The "World War II: The Pacific Theatre" auction at Bonhams New York will feature authentic World War II items including the original Iwo Jima Monument created by Felix de Weldon in February 1945.

An auction revolving around World War II memorabilia, including the original Iwo Jima Monument valued at over $1 million, is set to take place at Bonhams New York.

"World War II: The Pacific Theatre" will be held at the New York location of Bonhams, one of the world's oldest and largest antique and fine arts auction companies, on Friday. Friday's auction featuring authentic World War II items will include the original Iwo Jima Monument created by Felix de Weldon in February 1945.

The monument, with a flag, stands 20 feet tall, 18 feet 7 inches long and is cast in stone over a steel skeleton on a steel base, then finished with a bronzed lacquer. The monument weighs 10,000 pounds and is expected to be auctioned off for $1.2 million to $1.8 million.

Originally unveiled on Constitution Avenue in Washington in 1945, the monument had a home at New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum until 2007. The monument is currently owned by Rodney Hilton Brown, who will donate 10 percent of the sale's proceeds to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation.

Many people will recognize the monument from its secondary, 80-ton version that stands at the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va. Both versions were derived from Joe Rosenthal’s groundbreaking photograph of the second flag-raising by Marines at Iwo Jima on the fourth day of battle.

Other noteworthy pieces of history will hit the auction block throughout the day. Original maquettes for the original 1945 Iwo Jima Monument and the 1954 Marine Corps Memorial at Arlington are valued between $25,000 and $30,000, and a personal photo album belonging to Rosenthal is expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000.

Other items up for auction include; flags, over 40 models of various warships, relics from numerous battleships, medals and photographs.

The monument will serve as the highlight of the auction, which includes 186 lots. An "island-hopping" style of sale will be used, beginning with items related to Pearl Harbor, continuing on to Japan, China and so on.

Items are on view at Bonhams and are viewable on Bonhams' website.


Former Agawam police officer Danielle Petrangelo got 'preferential treatment' in wrong-way driving incident, Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni says

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Police and city officials were not immediately available for comment.

AGAWAM - Hamdpen District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni has criticized Agawam police for giving former police officer Danielle Petrangelo what he described as preferential treatment following a vehicle incident that he said should have resulted in her being charged with drunken driving and operating to endanger.

Mastroianni, in a letter to Lt. Richard Light, dated Oct. 24, 2012, mentions a June 29 incident in which Petrangelo was alleged to have been driving the wrong way on Route 5. She was off-duty at the time, according to the letter. Light was serving as acting police chief at that time.

Damage to the vehicle’s front-end indicated that she had likely struck a guard rail some time before, according to the letter.

No charges were filed against Petrangelo.

“The failure of investigators to arrest or issue a citation for criminal motor vehicle infractions at the scene is inexplicable based upon the facts included in the report of Lt. [Eric] Gillis,” Mastroianni wrote. “Public safety and public trust were each compromised by the actions of officer Petrangelo and the response of Agawam police to the situation. A reasonable conclusion from these circumstances suggests officer Petrangelo received preferential treatment from the Agawam Police Department based on her status as a police officer.”

Petrangelo, who accidentally shot a pregnant mother in the face while responding to a call last May, is no longer employed by Agawam police, Mayor Richard A. Cohen has said.

She was on leave from the department at the time of the traffic incident.

Mastroianni announced in September that a probe by his office found that the shooting by Petrangelo was accidental and there was no evidence of criminal conduct.

Mastroianni said that in his opinion, state law prohibits any application for criminal complaint for the June traffic incident being sought now

Mastroianni said that police pulled their fellow officer over near the West Springfield line.

Mastroianni, citing a request made by Gillis to review the incident and undertake further investigation, said he declined to initiate any further investigation.

Agawam City Solicitor Vincent F. Gioscia referred all questions to Light.

“I have no comment for you,” Gioscia said.

As to why Petrangelo is no longer with the Police Department, Gioscia said he cannot comment because it is a personnel matter.

Light could not be reached for comment.

Gillis said he created an Internal Affairs report about the driving incident and that there was discipline, but would not say of whom. He referred a reporter to the Law Department.

Gioscia said he does not know whether the report is a public document and won’t be able to determine that until he comes back to work on Monday.


Staff writer Sandra Constantine contributed to this report.

Kiley Middle School pupil's death being probed for possible negligence by Hampden District Attorney's office

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The District Attorney's office would determine if there was any negligence rising to the level of criminal activity in the boy's death at Kiley Middle School last Friday.

SPRINGFIELD – Were “negligence or recklessness” factors in the death of a 12-year-old boy last Friday during a swim class at M. Marcus Kiley Middle School? The Hampden District Attorney's office is investigating to see if either of these factors might have been involved.

The name of the sixth grade boy was still not released Thursday by law enforcement agencies or the School Department six days after the death. A School Department spokeswoman said the school system is not permitted to release personal information about a student.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said the investigation is ongoing, and his office is awaiting the results of an autopsy conducted Monday. The preliminary report stated that results are pending the return of certain testing that has been sent out by the local office of the State Medical Examiner, he said.

“The investigation revolves around whether or not there was negligence or recklessness that rose to the level of criminal activity,” Mastroianni said.

All information received thus far indicate the death was a drowning, “however there is no way I can say that conclusively without the benefit of an autopsy that will give us information regarding the health of the young person,” Mastroianni said.

There were approximately 45 students in the swim class at Kiley and two instructors, according to police. The boy was rushed to Baystate Medical Center after the incident shortly before 2:30 p.m., but was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Mastroianni said Lisa McHugh, deputy director of his office’s victim witness program, talked with family members of the student.

One reason was to explain the role the District Attorney’s office has in reviewing the facts and circumstances. He said the family was told it is standard practice to review facts and circumstances.

He said at the appropriate time, after the review he has to do from a legal point of view is over, he will give the family all the facts and circumstances they are interested in finding out. He would also make his findings public, he said.

Mastroianni said he would like to have all findings from the Medical Examiner’s Office before he makes findings, but if that is going to take as long as six months he could issue preliminary findings.

The family was offered services from the victim witness program which specializes in services for families who suffer “tragic, horrible, unexpected loss,” Mastroianni said.

His office does that a lot in cases where there are not necessarily going to be criminal charges but when his office is investigating, he said. Another instance where that is done is when someone is killed in a motor vehicle crash and his office is investigating, but there would not necessarily be charges.

“Out of absolute respect for the family and the situation that the family is in there is no information we are going to give out otherwise,” Mastroianni said.


More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

Staff writer Buffy Spencer contributed to this report.

Witnesses in Cara Rintala's trial on murder charge describe condition of slain wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala

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Hoose objected when Pandora said Cochrane Rintala had paint “dumped all over her” and when he said the paint looked “freshly spilled.”

» Read the transcript of Thursday's live trial coverage


SMITH.JPG Granby police Sgt. Mark Smith testifies during the murder trial of Cara Rintala Thursday.


 


NORTHAMPTON - Annamarie Cochrane Rintala’s body took center stage at the murder trial of her wife Thursday as police and firefighters testifed about its morbidity amid graphic photographs and videos.

Cara Rintala, 45, is charged with murder in the death of her wife. Prosecutors say Rintala beat and strangled Cochrane Rintala in the Granby home they shared with their young daughter on March 29, 2010. If convicted of first degree murder, she will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Granby police officers, firefighters and paramedics took the stand in Hampshire Superior Court during the second day of the trial, which is expected to last up to a month. Several of them testified that they knew Cara and Annamarie Rintala, who were both paramedics.

Gallery preview

According to the prosecution time-line, Rintala killed her wife in the early afternoon, then went out with their daughter on various errands. At about 7 p.m., Rintala went to a neighbor’s house and asked him to dial 911, saying, “Ann’s in the basement.” Police arrived to find Rintala cradling her wife’s body in the basement and wailing.

Defense lawyer David P. Hoose has disputed the prosecution’s estimate of how long it took for morbidity to set in. Paramedics Gene Os and Michael Pandora and Granby police officer Mark Smith all testified that Cochrane Rintala’s body was cold and stiff when they arrived, her arms stuck in an upright position.

With Smith on the stand, prosecutor Steven Gagne played a vidoe taken by state police of the Rintala house. The camera panned slowly through the rooms on the first floor before descending into the basement, where Cochrane Rintala’s body lay, covered in white paint amid several pools of blood.

Cochrane Rintala was wearing jeans and a bra, her midriff bare. The left side of her face and much of her torso were covered with paint, here eyes slightly open.

Os and Pandora said they had worked with Cara and Annamarie Rintala as paramedics. Pandora said Cara Rintala had once told him in a personal conversation that Annamarie had obtained a credit card in Cara’s name without her knowledge and run up a $25,000 tab.

Defense lawyer David Hoose has said the two women kept their finances separate and that money was not a motive for Cara Rintala.

Hoose objected when Pandora said Cochrane Rintala had paint “dumped all over her” and when he said the paint looked “freshly spilled.” Judge Mary-Lou Rup sustained his objections.

Several witnesses said Cara Rintala told them she had rolled Annamarie’s body onto her and asked for help getting out from under it. Annamarie was the bigger of the two women.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Friday morning.

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, announced as Smith College commencement speaker

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Smith's commencement ceremonies are scheduled for Sunday, May 19 at 10 a.m. in the campus Quadrangle.

huffington5.jpg Arianna Huffington, founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, will deliver the main address at this year's Smith College Commencement.  
NORTHAMPTON Smith College announced Thursday that it has selected Arianna Huffington, founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post internet news portal, to be the main speaker at its 135th commencement.

The commencement ceremonies are scheduled for May 19 at 10 a.m. in the campus Quadrangle.

Huffington founded the Huffington Post in 2005 and its mixture of bloggers, aggregated news articles and original content soon made it among one of the most popular and widely read media brands on the Internet. In 2012, it won a Pulitzer Prize for national a 10-part series about wounded veterans called “Beyond the Battlefield.”

In 2011, Huffington Post was purchased by AOL, and Huffington was named president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group.

Huffington is also a frequent guest on television news programs, a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of 13 books. Forbes named her one of the most influential women in the media, and Time Magazine twice named her to its Time 100 list of the 100 must influential people in the world.

The college will award honorary degrees to Huffington and three other influential women during the commencement.



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From left: Loretta J. Ross, Joan Tower and Melanne Vereer





 

They are activist Loretta J. Ross, composer Joan Tower, and Melanne Verveer, first U.S. ambassador-at-large for women’s issues.

Ross was the co-director of the 2004 National March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C. She founded both the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective and the National Center for Human Rights Education, a training and resource center for grassroots activists on using human rights education to address social injustices in this country.

She is also the co-author of “Undivided Right: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice,” and most recently she spent February at Smith as the college’s activist-in-residence.

Tower is considered one of the most important contemporary American composers.

During her career of more than 50 years as a composer, performer, educator and conductor, her works have been commissioned by major ensembles, soloists and orchestras, including the Emerson, Tokyo and Muir quartets; soloists Evelyn Glennie, Carol Wincenc, David Shifrin and John Browning; and the orchestras of Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

In 1990 Tower became the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for “Silver Ladders,” a piece she wrote for the St. Louis Symphony where she was composer-in-residence from 1985-88.

Verveer was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues in 2009. She left the post recently to lead Georgetown University’s new Institute on Women, Peace and Security.

In her role as ambassador, she coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women around the world. During that time, Verveer visited some 60 countries, including Afghanistan and the Republic of the Congo.

She also founded and chaired Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders and works to expand women’s roles in generating economic opportunity, promoting political participation and safeguarding human rights.

She served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to first lady Hillary Clinton.

Hannah Chapman of Northampton selected as West Springfield's first animal control officer

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The city will not be renewing it agreement with Agawam to share an animal control officer when the pact expires at the end of this fiscal year.

Hannah Chapman hired 22113.jpg Hannah L. Chapman, of Northampton, is seen with West Springfield Mayor Gregory Neffinger. Neffinger announced Wednesday that he has hired Chapman as West Side's first animal control officer.  

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The mayor Wednesday announced the hiring of Hannah L. Chapman of Northampton as the city’s first animal control officer.

She is responsible for dealing with stray, roaming and injured animals, pet licensing and cruelty investigations and will enforce local ordinances and state regulations, according to Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger. She will also process dog licenses and investigate animal concerns as well as coordinate community outreach to increase the number of licensed animals throughout the city.

“I believe West Springfield is in desperate need of increased compliance with licensing and vaccinations,” the mayor said during a press conference Wednesday. “We saw very soon in my administration that we need a full-time animal control officer in West Springfield.”

Chapman, 27, will be paid $39,020 a year. She was sworn and started work on Tuesday.

Neffinger said the city will not continue its arrangement of sharing the services of Agawam’s animal control officer when it expires June 30. West Springfield needs more attention than it was getting, according to the mayor.

Chapman is working out of the town clerk’s office, where she will enforce local ordinances and state regulations. She will be responsible for stray, roaming and injured animals, pet licensing and animal cruelty investigations.

She will report to Town Clerk Otto J. Frizzell and Health Director Jeanne Galloway.

Chapman said she is “excited” to be able to build an animal control program from the ground up.

Stray dogs will continue to be taken to the Westfield’s animal shelter.

Chapman said the city has a program with feral cats and she would like to turn her attention to that sometime in the future.

Prior to taking the position with the city, Chapman was an animal control officer for the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center in Springfield. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Chapman has worked with insects, reptiles, amphibians, pet companion animals, wild and farm animals. She is also considered well versed in diseases communicated from animals to people and is Pet First Aid certified.

Chapman has also worked as an assistant herpetological curator at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Herpetology is the branch of zoology dealing with reptiles and amphibians.

Berkshire County declared wood quarantine zone to help contain invasive beetle, emerald ash borer

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Beginning next month, no hardwood firewood, ash nursery stock or untreated ash lumber will be allowed outside Berkshire County, where the emerald ash borer was found last summer in trees in Dalton.

By JAY LINDSAY

BOSTON – Massachusetts officials said Thursday they have declared Berkshire County a quarantine zone, beginning March 1, to help contain an invasive beetle that’s killed millions of ash trees nationwide.

Beginning next month, no hardwood firewood, ash nursery stock or untreated ash lumber will be allowed outside Berkshire County, where the emerald ash borer was found last summer in trees in Dalton, a few miles from the New York border.

The discovery made Massachusetts the 18th state where the Chinese beetle has appeared since it was detected in Michigan in 2002. Berkshire County also borders Connecticut, where the borer has been found, and Vermont, where it has not.

Emerald Ash borer trap 2011.jpg A trap for emerald ash borer beetles hangs in a tree in Moreau, N.Y., two years ago. The triangular, purple kite-like contraptions placed in trees nationwide are helping agriculture officials learn more about the invasive pest, which has killed tens of millions of ash trees in the United States and Canada.  

Massachusetts officials have since tried to determine how to best limit the damage and have held public hearings on the problem. They settled on the countywide quarantine, amid pressure for a measure that would affect as small an area as possible to allow timber businesses to freely move their products throughout Massachusetts. Some wood businesses did push, however, for a state-wide quarantine.

“We believe a county-wide quarantine will allow the best chance at slowing the spread of emerald ash borer,” said Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Edward M. Lambert Jr..

Ash trees are about 4 percent of the state’s forests, and 80 percent of the state’s 45 million ash trees are found west of the Connecticut River. It’s used in a variety of products, including baseball bats, railroad ties, and picnic tables.

Under the quarantine order, proper wood treatments would include removing the bark plus a half inch of wood, fumigation and dry kiln sterilization. Businesses will still be able to transport wood across the border to mills in New York, which has emerald ash borer quarantines in counties that border Berkshire County. Wood can move between quarantined counties without restriction.

The emerald ash borer is green and so small that seven can fit on the head of a penny. The insect eats only ash trees, with the larvae feeding just below the bark and adults eating the leaves. Once the beetles hit a tree, it’s as good as dead.

The bug’s spread, blamed largely on transported firewood, has included a steady march east, with New York seeing the beetle in 2009 and Connecticut finding it last summer. It has yet to reach the other New England states, but a federal forestry official has said it inevitably will.

The already broad geographic range of the beetle has forced a strategy of containment, since eradication is unrealistic.

In Massachusetts, officials are planning future surveys, as well as attempting to limit the infestation with a process called girdling. The process stresses trees in an attempt to attract and trap any nearby emerald ash borers.

Friends and family searching for West Springfield resident Shawn Dunson, 33, last seen in Springfield on Super Bowl Sunday

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Dunson was last seen on the night of Feb. 3 when he walked out of McCaffrey's Pub on Main Street.

SPRINGFIELD -- A bitter wind blew at Riverfront Park Thursday morning as friends and family of Shawn Dunson, missing since Feb. 3, scoured the area looking for clues to his whereabouts.

The 33-year-old West Springfield man was last seen sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight as he walked out of McCaffrey’s Pub at 1171 Main St. The pub is not far from the park.

shawn-dunson_n.jpg Shawn Dunson

Investigators probing Dunson's disappearance found his image on surveillance video taken from the MassMutual Center, said Malik Andrade, one of Dunson's six brothers and sisters.

Andrade said the video showed Dunson exit the pub, turn right and start to cross State Street.

“Then the video cut out,” said Andrade, one of nine friends and family members searching the park Thursday. Since that night, there has been no sign of Dunson, the father of twin 7-year-old girls who lived in West Springfield for most of his life and has worked in downtown Springfield for the last 15 to 20 years.

Friends and family have searched for him nearly every day since he was reported missing after failing to show up for a shift at Chef Wayne's Big Mamou, where he was a cook.

Flyers featuring a photograph of Dunson have been posted along State Street and in downtown areas.

Members of the close-knit family say it would be completely out of character for Dunson to disappear without letting anybody know where he is.

“It’s very, very unusual,” said Armando Weathers, another of Dunson’s brothers. “This is the first time in his life that he has been somewhere and we don’t know where he is.”

Weathers said Dunson has long been known as reliable and hard-working. “He hasn’t missed work in years,” he said.

A sister, Barbara Wells, was among those searching the park Thursday. “It’s scary not knowing,” Wells said when asked what might have become of her beloved brother. “My heart is hurting.”

Andrade said Dunson was especially close to his daughters, Annjalease Ruby and Chanel Rose Nugent-Dunson. "They keep asking for him every day,” he said.

“We just want him home,” said Tiffany Nugent, the mother of the twins.

Nikki Allen, a waitress at the Big Mamou, said Dunson was extremely reliable and a “great caring person.”

Allen said the staff at the restaurant, much like Dunson’s family, is close-knit.

“We are family here," she said. "When something like this happens to someone that you care for it’s a real eye-opener.”

Dunson is described as approximately 5 feet, 9-10 inches tall and weighing between 135 and 150 pounds.

Friends and family say they are certain that somebody knows something about Dunson's disappearance, and they urge whoever might know something to help resolve the agonizing mystery.

Family members have created a Facebook page, "Missing: SHAWN Dunson", to serve as a kind of clearinghouse for information on the search.

Those with information are asked to call Officer Richard Rodrigues in Commissioner William J. Fitchet’s office at (413) 787-6313.



After 4 decades, Springfield-based Massachusetts Career Development Institute announces plan to close

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Twenty-nine employees will lose jobs, according to Sneed, who said he hopes they can secure new ones by the September.

2001_mcdi.JPG The Massachusetts Career Development Institute on Wilbraham Avenue in Springfield  

SPRINGFIELD — After four decades as the city’s best-known job training center, the Massachusetts Career Development Institute plans to close in September.

Citing declining declining public funding and competition from other providers, the Wilbraham Avenue-based agency will shut down vocational training classes in June and English language classes by September, said Timothy L. Sneed, executive director.

Twenty-nine employees will lose jobs, according to Sneed, who said he hopes they can secure new ones by the September shutdown.

“The good news is that no one in our community will be without the services as our core programming, such as nurses aide training, is available in the community college system or the vocational education system,” he said.

“Much of the funding that used to come to MCDI is now going to vocational schools and the community colleges,” he added.

From its inception in 1970, when it was known as the Skills Center, the agency has trained more than 31,000 people in Greater Springfield for jobs in clerical, construction, finance and medical fields.

As enrollment increased at community colleges, and private, for-profit schools became more popular, the agency’s $5 million annual budget shrunk to $2 million, as state and federal funding became more competitive.

Last year, the agency also lost $625,000 in annual funding from the city, which is struggling with its own budgetary troubles.

But if the taxpayer-financed agency was a victim of changing times, it also suffered its share of self-inflicted wounds.

By the 1990s, the school was known as a patronage haven for the politically-connected; in 2003, the agency was plunged into a federal corruption investigation focusing on then-Executive Director Gerald A. Phillips.

Phillips, whose salary was $111,000, also served as chairman of the city’s Police Commission. He was convicted on four fraud counts and sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. Three other employees were also convicted in the long-running federal probe.

In a sign of its changing fortunes, the agency laid off six employees last year, eliminated some vocational programs and began looking for a smaller alternative to its cavernous Wilbraham Avenue headquarters.

Trade programs in culinary arts, precision manufacturing, and sheet metal welding were shut down as the focus turned toward health care training, including nursing, home health aides and medical office training programs, he said.


Amherst psychologist Katherine Appy fined $2,200 by state for failing to keep up with educational requirements

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Appy agreed to pay the fine according to t he Division of Professional Licensure.

massachusetts seal massachusetts state seal.jpg  

BOSTON - An Amherst psychologist has been disciplined by the state for failing to keep up with her continuing education requirements and thus practicing without a valid license.

Katherine Green Appy agreed to pay a $2,200 fine, according to t he Division of Professional Licensure, a regulatory agency within the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

The division also announced Friday that Rosemary Milner Calverley of Foxborough resolved allegations that she improperly billed a patient under her care. The allegations stemmed from an incident in which Calverley billed a patient in manner that failed to comply with applicable state regulations and the Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association.

Under the terms of the consent agreement, Calverley will serve a six month term of supervised probation, during which she must meet once a month with a clinical supervisor who will review, monitor, and evaluate her practice.

Easthampton school advocates pressure City Council for more funding

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Easthampton parents hoping city council will advocate for school spending.

MCCOY.JPG City Councilor Joseph McCoy  

EASTHAMPTON – Even without a budget for fiscal 2014 to look at, a teacher’s association representative and some parents have made a pitch to the City Council to provide more money to the schools.

Voters last year rejected a request for a $1.4 million Proposition 2 ½ property tax override for the schools in part to close a budget gap in fiscal 2013 as well as restore programs that have been cut over the last several years and to improve education into the future.

That left school officials addressing a $660,000 budget deficit between what they said was needed and what was awarded to the schools.

Paul DeMarco, regional services consultant for the Massachusetts Teachers Association in the Holyoke office, said there appeared to be $700,000 available in the employee benefits and insurance account that could be used to fund a deficit in the schools. He said that seemed to be money that had not yet been spent.

But Finance Director/Treasurer Melissa Zawadzki said during the Wednesday council meeting that there is no money available and that city officials will also be looking for additional money to cover health insurance costs for the current fiscal year. DeMarco spoke with the School Committee earlier this month about the issue as well.

Parent Peter Marks then asked what each council member plans to do about school spending. He said the councilors were quiet during the override request last year and with a city election, he asked, “What are you going to do about it?” He was a proponent of the override and held lead a campaign to pass it.

But it will have to be a discussion for another time.

Councilor Joseph P. McCoy said that because of open meeting law they couldn’t have a discussion because the issue, presented during public speak time, was not on the agenda. “Without prior announcement it is not legal for us.

Councilor Joy E. Winnie pointed out that according to council rules, only the president is allowed to address speakers during speak time.

President Justin P. Cobb asked Marx for contact information to figure how and when a meeting will be set up. Councilors do not yet have a fiscal 2014 budget; typically a budget is presented to the council in May. Councilors hold discussions and then vote on the budget later in the spring.

Cobb said to DeMarco that the council would bring up the issue then.

State police investigate carjacking at Mass Pike rest area in Lee

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The car jacker had stolen a car earlier in Troy, N.Y. and apparently decided to switch vehicles at the rest stop, police said.

LEE - A motorist was attacked and his car stolen during a 6 a.m. carjacking Friday at the Lee rest area in the east bound lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike, state police said.

The motorist, whose name was not disclosed, told police he was walking to his car when a man appeared and demanded the car keys, said Trooper Thomas Murphy of the Massachusetts State Police media relations office.

When the motorist refused, the man hit him and wrestled his keys away from him. The man then got in the motorist's car and drove off, Murphy said.

The motorist was taken by ambulance to the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield for treatment of undisclosed injuries, Murphy said.

His car was a 2002 tan-colored Honda Accord.

An investigation showed that the robber had apparently stolen a car sometime earlier in Troy, New York, and switched cars at the rest area. The original car was found at the rest area. Murphy said it may have developed mechanical problems, forcing the robber to look for a new car.

The attacker was described as black, about 6 feet tall, 190 pounds, and in his 20s or early 30s.

The case is being investigated by state police assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney's office.


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Irish nanny accused of Massachusetts baby beating in court

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A lawyer for an Irish nanny charged with beating an infant who later died won a request Friday to preserve evidence in the case, including the baby's travel records and a list of people who had access to her.

Nanny-Baby-Killed_Grif.jpg This undated file booking photograph provided by the Middlesex District Attorney's office shows Aisling McCarthy Brady, a nanny charged with assault and battery of a one-year-old girl in Cambridge, Mass., who subsequently died. Brady made a brief appearance Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Cambridge District Court, where her lawyer won a request to preserve evidence in the case. Brady, who lived in Quincy, Mass., arrived from Ireland in 2002 on a tourist visa.  

DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer


MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — A lawyer for an Irish nanny charged with beating an infant who later died won a request Friday to preserve evidence in the case, including the baby's travel records and a list of people who had access to her.

Aisling McCarthy Brady, 34, made a brief appearance Friday in Cambridge District Court as her lawyer asked a judge to preserve an extensive list of potential evidence in the case.

Brady is accused of assault and battery in the beating of Rehma Sabir last month. The girl was hospitalized with severe head injuries on Jan. 14, her first birthday. She died two days later.

Prosecutors allege Brady was the only person with the child when she received her injuries.

Brady's lawyer, Melinda Thompson, asked authorities to preserve all records related to the baby's travel from June 2012 until her death, including who she traveled with, where she stayed and whether she was examined by medical personnel during any trips.

Thompson said last month that the baby had traveled overseas — including trips to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and London — and was malnourished when she returned to the United States.

The defense also asked for a list of all occupants and visitors to the Cambridge apartment where Rehma lived with her parents, as well as all Internet searches, email correspondence and the hard drive from the family's laptop computer.

Brady is "devastated because she didn't do this," Thompson told reporters outside court.

Authorities have said Brady could be charged with murder once an autopsy is complete. A spokeswoman for District Attorney Gerry Leone said Friday that prosecutors are still waiting for the autopsy results.

In court documents, state police said a pillow, blanket and baby wipes stained with blood were found in the baby's bedroom. Police also said an upstairs neighbor told police that on the day the baby was taken to the hospital, she heard the girl crying for almost an hour before the sound changed to "extreme crying." The woman said her knocks on the door went unanswered.

Dr. Alice Newton, medical director of the Child Protection Team at Boston Children's Hospital, diagnosed Rehma as a victim of abusive head trauma, according to a police report.

The baby's parents, Nada Siddiqui and Sameer Sabir, told police Aisling had been their nanny for about six months, caring for the baby while they worked.

Immigration officials have said Brady, of Quincy, had been living in the United States illegally since 2002, when she arrived from Ireland under a tourist program. She was only authorized to stay 90 days.

Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Lynch, a top prosecutor who has handled many high-profile murder cases for Leone's office, has been assigned to the case, along with Assistant District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Among the defendants Lynch has prosecuted are: Michael Bizanowicz, convicted in the murder of a Woburn woman and her 12-year-old daughter; Thomas Mortimer IV, of Winchester, who pleaded guilty to killing his wife, two young children and mother-in-law; and Alexander Pring-Wilson, a Harvard graduate student convicted of manslaughter in the death of a Cambridge man during a street fight.

Brady, who is being held on $500,000 bail, is due back in court March 22 for a probable cause hearing.

Rebel Apple investor Greenlight Capital scores court victory as judge blocks shareholder vote

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Greenlight Capital has been trying to rally Wall Street to vote against the Apple proposal as a way of showing their displeasure with the company's capital-allocation policies.

By PETER SVENSSON
AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is blocking Apple from conducting a shareholder vote on a package of governance proposals, handing a victory to a rebel investor who is trying to persuade the company to share more of its cash with its investors.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in New York ruled Friday that Apple was wrong to bundle four amendments to its corporate charter into one proposal for a vote at next Wednesday's annual meeting. Shareholders should get to vote on the amendments separately, he said.

Greenlight Capital, a hedge fund run by Wall Street maverick David Einhorn, sued Apple over the proposal because it would remove the board's ability to issue preferred stock without shareholder authorization. Einhorn wants Apple to issue "iPrefs," preferred shares with a guaranteed dividend, as a way of committing the company to sharing its massive profits with shareholders.

Einhorn has been trying to rally Wall Street to vote against the Apple proposal as a way of showing their displeasure with the company's capital-allocation policies. Right now, Apple hands only a small amount of its profits to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. The rest of the money goes in the bank, where Apple's cash hoard amounted to $137 billion at the end of last year. That amount grows by about $40 billion every year, much of it from selling trend-setting gadgets such as the iPad and the iPhone.

Investors almost universally want Apple to hand out at least some of that cash, but Einhorn hasn't gotten much support for his "iPrefs" idea or his "No on Proposal 2" campaign.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's proposal puts more power in the hands of shareholders, making it difficult to understand why a shareholder would fight it. Calling Greenlight's campaign a waste of time, Cook said Apple wouldn't squander money by mailing letters to shareholders to persuade them to vote for the proposal.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the country's largest pension fund, had said it would vote for Apple's proposal, because it would have strengthened shareholder rights. Among other measures, it would let shareholders vote against directors.

Apple's stock fell 41 cents to $450.40 in extended trading after the ruling came out.

"This is a significant win for all Apple shareholders and for good corporate governance," Greenlight said in a statement. "We are pleased the court has recognized that Apple's proxy is not compliant with (federal securities) rules because it bundles different matters in Proposal 2. We look forward to Apple's evaluation of our iPref idea and we encourage fellow shareholders to urge Apple to unlock the significant value residing on its balance sheet."

A company with excess cash will usually reward shareholders by raising its dividend or issuing a one-time dividend. It could also buy back more shares. Einhorn believes none of these routes would yield as much shareholder value as the iPrefs, because their 4 percent annual dividend yield would make them attractive to investors that otherwise wouldn't look at Apple shares, such as pension funds and endowments.

Greenlight has been an Apple shareholder since 2010 and has 1.3 million shares worth about $580 million.

Body recovered from Connecticut River near Springfield's South End bridge

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The body was discovered shortly after 2:30 p.m. along an isolated stretch of the river roughly 600 yards south of the bridge.

Springfield firefighters recover the body of a middle aged man from the bank of the Connecticut River near the Julia B. Buxton (South End) Bridge.  

SPRINGFIELD - Springfield police and firefighters recovered a man's body that was found Friday afternoon just south of the Julia Buxton Bridge in the South End of the city, officials said.

Springfield police Capt. C. Lee Bennett said Friday afternoon the body was recovered but an identification or a cause of death had not been determined.

The body was discovered shortly after 2:30 p.m. along an isolated stretch of the river roughly 600 yards south of the bridge, said Dennis Leger, aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

Leger said the body appeared to be that of a middle-aged male.


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More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

Sen. William 'Mo' Cowan talks agriculture during visit to Western Massachusetts

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Interim US Sen. William 'Mo' Cowan, D-Mass., visited Nourse Farms in Whately on Feb. 22, 2013 ahead of a showdown in the U.S. Senate to pass a new farm bill. He spent time speaking with the owners of the farm and learning about the operation. In the video, he discusses what he learned in Western Mass. and the looming battles in the Senate.

Boston Business Journal report: Ernie Boch Jr. exploring bid to buy Boston Globe

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Boch is president and CEO of Boch Enterprises and a lifelong Bostonian.

By GREG WALSH

Bay State car magnate Ernie Boch Jr. tells the Boston Business Journal he is interested in buying The Boston Globe.

Peggy Rose, a spokeswoman for the CEO of Norwood-based Boch Enterprises, forwarded this statement to the BBJ on Friday:

“Ernie Boch Jr., president and CEO of Boch Enterprises and a lifelong Bostonian, is exploring the opportunity of purchasing the Boston Globe. Ernie is teaming up with Bruce Mittman, president and CEO of Mittcom (the Newton marketing agency), and partner in Community Broadcasters (the radio station group in upstate New York). Together they bring the financial resources and decades of experience in media and marketing necessary to make this purchase viable.”

Boch issued the statement two days after The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), which bought the Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion, disclosed that it had hired investment bank Evercore Partners to manage the sale of its New England group. The group includes the Globe, the Telegram & Gazette and the papers’ websites, as well as a 49-percent stake in the free Metro daily in Boston.

Boch Jr. was not immediately available for comment today. It was unclear whether Boch and Mittman are also interested in buying the Telegram.

Ballpark estimates to buy the Globe are ranging from under $100 million to as much $150 million, assuming that the buyer doesn’t have to take on the Globe’s pension liabilities.

Selling the Globe has been a goal of the Times Co. since 2009 when it had been working with Goldman Sachs to find a buyer.

The Times Co. reported earlier this month that ad sales at its New England group fell 7.8 percent in 2012 compared to the same 52-week period in the previous year. That’s slightly worse than the 7.2-percent decline that the Globe and T&G suffered in the previous year.

Overall revenue at the New England group fell by only 2.5 percent in the year, to a total of $388 million. But the Globe received a onetime surge in printing revenue last year after it began printing the Boston Herald. That increase will be almost impossible to duplicate in 2013. The company reported that paying digital subscribers to BostonGlobe.com grew in the past quarter by 8 percent, to 28,000. Meanwhile, sales of the print version of The Boston Globe continued to decline: A Times Co. executive said earlier this month that volume fell by 10 percent for the daily Globe in the fourth quarter, and by 6 percent for the Sunday paper.

Kiley Middle School student Marlon Brown, identified as boy who died in swimming class, remembered for 'special smile, caring heart'

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The family of Marlon Brown said it greatly appreciates the acts of comfort and kindness it has received since his death.

Marlon Brown.jpg Marlon Brown is seen in this family photograph. He was identified Friday as 12-year-old Springfield boy who died last week while involved in a swimming class at the M. Marcus Kiley Middle School.  

SPRINGFIELD – Family members grieved the loss of Marlon Brown this week, saying the 12-year-old boy who died during a swimming class at M. Marcus Kiley Middle School a week ago will be remembered for his “special smile and caring heart.”

Brown, who is son of Delroy Brown and Tanya Evans, is also survived by his two sisters, Dalajah and Shamekka, his brother Jamare, and many other relatives, according to a family obituary provided by Henderson's Funeral Home, scheduled to appear on Sunday.

“We will always remember that special smile, that caring heart, that warm embrace you always gave us,” a family statement read. “We will always remember you, son, because there will never be anyone to replace you in our hearts. We will always remember and love you deeply.”

The funeral home also stated that the family “wishes to acknowledge with deep appreciation and gratitude the many comforting messages, prayers and other expression of kindness, concern and love shown during this difficult time.”

The funeral services will be conducted at Wesley United Methodist Church, 741 State St., on Tuesday. Calling hours are 10 a.m., and the service will begin at 11:30 a.m.

The burial will be at Hillcrest Park Cemetery.

Superintendent of Schools Daniel J. Warwick said Friday that all pool-related activities are suspended in the district as investigations continue into Brown’s death.

Warwick, in a prepared statement, said the school system has worked closely with police officials since the death last Friday, and knows there are “an avalanche of questions and concerns” regarding the death of the sixth grader and the circumstances. People inside and outside the school system are desperate to know if there was negligence or recklessness that rose to the level of criminal conduct in connection with the death, he said.

“As superintendent, I assure you I am just as desperate to learn the answers to those questions and based on those answers to make thoughtful determinations about what must occur next,” Warwick said. “I promise that those decisions will be made with one thing and one thing only in mind – what is best for all of our students in moving forward.”

“Sadly, today marks one week since the unspeakable tragedy occurred where we lost one of our students,” Warwick said. “As a school district, we are doing all that we can in the aftermath of such a tragedy. We have reached out to the family. We have made counseling available. We have suspended all pool-related activities at all of our schools for the time being. And we have begun reviewing the events leading up to this tragedy with the purpose of conducting a full review to determine exactly what occurred.”

The school system did confer with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, verifying that it was operating within prescribed guidelines for swimming curriculums,” Warwick said.

“Nonetheless, I have made the decision to suspend all swimming classes throughout the district because I expect and understand that there may be a high level of angst and anxiety around the program at this point,” Warwick said.

The school system will continue to keep details of its investigation and personnel matters confidential for now, Warwick said.

“Jeopardizing the integrity of this process is simply a risk that I am not willing to take,” he said.

The Hampden County District Attorney’s office is investigating the death to determine “whether or not there was negligence or recklessness that rose to the level of criminal conduct,” District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Thursday.

The investigation process will take time, Warwick said.

“We need time to fully investigate, making sure that every aspect is covered and that we can be confident in our process once it is complete,” Warwick said.

The School Department supports ongoing efforts to investigate the death by law enforcement officials, and local and state public health officials, he said.

There will be grief counselors at Kiley all day Monday and during the week, to aid students and adults, Warwick said.

Lionel Lopez of Springfield receives 18-year sentence for 2010 fatal shooting of Jose Colon in Van Horn Park

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A 2nd defendant, Jomar Maldonado, of Springfield, was ordered to serve 3 years probation and 808 days in prison.

120910 lionel lopez.JPG Lionel Lopez  

SPRINGFIELD — A gun sale that turned into a shoot-out at Van Horn Park and left 16-year-old Jose Colon dead resulted in a 18-year prison sentence Friday for one defendant and three years probation with time served for the other.

Lionel Lopez, 21, of Springfield, was given a 15½- to 18-year sentence for manslaughter and 2½ to four years for illegal firearm possession by Judge Bertha D. Josephson in Hampden Superior Court.

The second defendant, Jomar Maldonado, 24, of Springfield, was ordered to serve three years probation. He also given an 808-day prison sentence, but will serve no time because he spent 808 days in custody.

The two men and a third defendant, Hector Lopez, 24, of Springfield, were charged in the killing of Colon while attempting to buy a shotgun from him on Dec. 7, 2010.

Hector Lopez, who pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter, has not been sentenced.

Assistant District Attorney Diane M. Dillon said Maldonado gave police a six-page statement on Dec. 8, 2010 explaining what happened during the shooting. She said his cooperation helped prosecutors investigate and bring charges in the killing.

Route 5 section closed by rail derailment in West Springfield expected to reopen soon

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A half dozen residents of the Merrick section were forced to leave their homes and given the option of staying at the middle school.

West Springfield tanker derailment: Scenes from the neighborhood evacuation and recovery efforts02.22.2013 | WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Route 5 was closed to traffic Friday after two railroad tankers derailed Thursday evening.

FACTS ABOUT BUTYRALDEHYDE
  • What is it? A colorless, flammable liquid produced by five companies in the United States. Used by companies that make rubber accelerators, synthetic resins, solvents, plasticizers, and high molecular weight polymers. Occurs naturally in some plants and foods; evaporates when exposed to air, dissolves if mixed with water, but toxic to aquatic life.

  • Hazards: Highly flammable; vapor / air mixtures are explosive

  • Exposure risks: Cough, sore throat (inhalation); redness (skin contact); redness, pain (eye contact); burning sensation (ingestion)

  • Disposal warning: "Do NOT let this chemical enter the environment."

  • Packaging / labeling requirements: Highly flammable liquid and vapour; May be harmful if swallowed; May be harmful in contact with skin; Causes serious eye irritation; Harmful to aquatic life.

  • Additional warnings: "The vapour is heavier than air and may travel along the ground; distant ignition possible."

  • Sources: CDC; EPA

This post updates our previous coverage of the derailment. Stories were published at 6:44 p.m. Thursday, and on Friday at 8:00 a.m., 9:33 a.m., 1:22 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m.


WEST SPRINGFIELD — As of late Friday afternoon, Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger said plans are still on track to reopen a closed section of Route 5 and let people evacuated from the Merrick section back into their homes by 6 or 7 p.m.

He said during a late afternoon press conference that a private contractor is still working to upright two railroad tankers derailed near a railroad trestle over Route 5 at the end of Chapin Street in the Merrick neighborhood.

Route 5 is expected to remain closed from the Memorial to the North End bridges until the tankers are ready to be hauled to the nearby CSX Corp. yard. Meanwhile, traffic has clogged such Merrick main arteries as Memorial Avenue and Union and Main streets.

The mayor reported that a crane was in the process of righting a white tanker filled with butyraldehyde, a chemical more flammable than gasoline, that had slipped the tracks. The other tanker, a black one that came off its front and back wheels, will also be righted. It is partially filled with as much as 1,000 gallons of a flammable chemical.

Inspections have shown that neither tanker has shown any signs of leaking, according to the mayor.

Neffinger said the two tankers became derailed early Thursday night because of a cracked rail that CSX has since repaired.

The city has been prepared to evacuate 30 streets in the Merrick neighborhood should a leak develop.

Earlier Friday, about two dozen residents of the three streets closest to the tankers, Globe, Bridge and Railroad streets, were subject to a mandatory evacuation to. Some 14 of those residents opted to take provided school buses to the middle school.

The mayor said CSX has provided them with food and that the railway company will put evacuees up in hotels overnight should the need arise.

Robert Sullivan, a spokesman for CSX Corp., said getting the tanks back on the rails is preferable and less time-consuming to the only other alternative, which would be transferring the contents of the tankers to other tankers.

The section of railroad in question has two parallel tracks. Both lines were closed for a time Thursday night, but after the scene was inspected, officials were able to open one of the lines to regular train traffic Thursday night.

Sullivan said the second line was opened only after officials at the scene deemed it was safe.

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